Friday, December 02, 2005

Death Penalty

Today, two significant executions were carried out from the East and the West of the World.


RALEIGH, N.C. - A double murderer who said he didn't want to be known as a number became the 1,000th person executed in the United States since capital punishment resumed 28 years ago.

Kenneth Lee Boyd, who brazenly gunned down his estranged wife and father-in-law 17 years earlier, died at 2:15 a.m. Friday after receiving a lethal injection.

After watching Boyd die, Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page said the victims should be remembered. "Tonight, justice has been served for Mr. Kenneth Boyd," Page said.

Boyd's death rallied death penalty opponents, and about 150 protesters gathered outside the prison.

"Maybe Kenneth Boyd won't have died in vain, in a way, because I believe the more people think about the death penalty and are exposed to it, the more they don't like it," said Stephen Dear, executive director of People of Faith Against the Death Penalty.

"Any attention to the death penalty is good because it's a filthy, rotten system," he said.

Boyd, 57, did not deny killing Julie Curry Boyd, 36, and her father, 57-year-old Thomas Dillard Curry. But he said he thought he should be sentenced to life in prison, and he didn't like the milestone his death would mark.

"I'd hate to be remembered as that," Boyd told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "I don't like the idea of being picked as a number."

The Supreme Court in 1976 ruled that capital punishment could resume after a 10-year moratorium. The first execution took place the following year, when Gary Gilmore went before a firing squad in Utah.

In the execution chamber, Boyd smiled at daughter-in-law Kathy Smith — wife of a son from Boyd's first marriage — and a minister from his home county. He asked Smith to take care of his son and two grandchildren and she mouthed through the thick glass panes separating execution and witness rooms that her husband was waiting outside.

In his final words, Boyd said: "God bless everybody in here."

In Boyd's pleas for clemency, his attorneys said he served in Vietnam where he operated a bulldozer and was shot at by snipers daily, which contributed to his crimes.

Execution No. 1,001 was scheduled for Friday night at 6 p.m., when South Carolina planned to put Shawn Humphries to death for the 1994 murder of a store clerk.

On the other side,

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore executed an Australian drug trafficker on Friday, despite repeated pleas from Australia's government for clemency and quiet protests by thousands opposed to the death penalty.

Nguyen Tuong Van was hanged at the city-state's Changi prison just before dawn. Within minutes, a large church bell in Nguyen's home city of Melbourne tolled 25 times -- once for every year of his life.

The hanging follows weeks of campaigning by his family and civil rights groups to stop the execution. Nguyen, who was born in a refugee camp in Thailand, was described by lawyers in his final hours as calm, resolute and ready to die.

Thousands of people gathered in Australia to pray for Nguyen while Singapore activists moved in pairs overnight to light candles at the prison. Public gatherings of more than four people require a police permit in the tightly controlled city-state.

"I hope the strongest message that comes out of this ... is to the young of Australia. Don't have anything to do with drugs, don't use them, don't touch them, don't carry them, don't traffic in them," Australian Prime Minister John Howard said.

Some 420 people have been hanged in Singapore since 1991, mostly for drug trafficking, an Amnesty International 2004 report said. That gives the country of 4.4 million people the highest execution rate in the world relative to population.

Opponents of the death penalty say support for capital punishment is weakening around the world. But at least 3,797 people were executed in 2004, according to Amnesty figures, which the group says is the second-highest number recorded since it started monitoring executions 25 years ago.

As Singapore and Australia absorbed news of the execution, the United States prepared to execute the 1000th prisoner since capital punishment was reinstated there nearly 30 years ago.

HELD HANDS

Diplomacy gave way to frustration this week in Australia, a staunch opponent of capital punishment, as its attorney-general branded Nguyen's impending execution a "barbaric" act.

About 70 people, including Australian politicians, gathered outside the Singapore High Commission in Canberra on Friday with a banner reading "Oh Singapore, how could you?" while protesters clutching flowers rallied in Sydney and Melbourne.

"The Singapore government had a very hard heart," said the Nguyen family's parish priest, Father Peter Norden, who led a service in Melbourne.

In a tiny concession to Australia, Singapore's prison authority allowed Nguyen to hold hands with his mother before his execution but rejected pleas to let them have a final hug.

Nguyen's twin brother Khoa and a lawyer arrived at the prison at dawn. They could not witness the execution but said they wanted to be as close as possible to him when he died. His mother Kim was in a Singapore chapel with friends, praying for her son.

"She said to me she was talking to him and able to touch his hair and face. It was a great comfort to her," Nguyen's lawyer Julian McMahon told reporters outside the prison.

Analysts said short-term relations between the countries would be strained because of the execution but said Singapore would not likely budge on its mandatory death sentence for crimes such as murder, firearms offences and drug trafficking.

"Singapore is a small, affluent society next door to one of the world's biggest suppliers of drugs -- the golden triangle. I think Singapore would have been a very different place if it was not tough on it," said political analyst Seah Chiang Nee.

Singapore is one of Australia's strongest allies in Asia and Howard has rejected calls for trade and military boycotts.


Sadly, the death penalty will continue to exist in the modern developed societies today. Why? Because it is a strong deterence, proponents said. However, we are taking a live here. Who are we to judge who live or die? Yes, the murderer killed someone and must be punished. However, must we stoop to his inhumane level and murder him just for retribution and revenge? Why is the death penalty truly there for? To act as a deterrene or act as a revenge for the victims and retribution for the culprit. Two wrongs do not make a right.

Awful memory

Arghh, I have an awful forgetful memory. I don't know why but I keep on forgetting my password to log in to my blog. I have changed my passewords a number of times already. I hate remembering usernames and passwords. Type it in and forget it moments later. It's so troublesome to retrieve my passwords from the system.

Only solution? Blog more, I guess. Once you blog more, you will log-in more, then you will remember passwords...guess that is the only alternative...

However, the weird thing is that I can remember numbers very clearly. I can remember pple's NRIC no, handphone no etc. I recently took an IQ test. The results stated that I was a visual mathematican. Perhaps I am not forgetful after all...

Sunday, November 20, 2005

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire


Watched Harry Potter during this weekend at midnight. Wow, what a show!! I think that this is the best movie ever for the Harry Potter series. Cool CGI effects and great acting from the actors and actresses. And there was British humour!! At last! There were funny light-hearted moments, like the ferret scene which made me wanna laugh. The storyline is at times choppy and cut up, but understandable. However, those who haven't read the book yet maybe in the lost like in the maze...as a lot of stuff have been cut off e.g spew, action from Quidditch World Cup etc...

Some grips The ending is too fast paced. How come Dumbledore doesn't explain the reverse spell effect for the audience? Dumbledore. At first, when I watched the trailer, I thought Michael Gambon was protraying Dumbledore as a different person from the book, too feisty and always shouting "HARRY POTTER". But then when I watched the movie, Dumbledore was alright. A bit too feisty at times but toned down a little near the end. However, I missed Dumbledore's wisdom. The actor doesn't seem to be protraying Dumbledore as a wise wizard, instead as an out-dated wizard struggling to make sense of what is going to happened in the wizarding world.

Miranda Richardson protrayal as the Rita Skeeter was good. A pity she is not recurring her role again in her next HP movie.


The graveyard scene was one of my best. Ralph Fiennes was excellent in his protrayal of Lord Voldemort-creepy, scaring looky and at times snake-like. It will be great to look forward to the epic battle between Lord Voldemort and Dumbledore in the next movie.

Overall, great movie to watch. However, if you are a HP purist, then this movie may be disappointing as many side storylines were cut. So when you watch the movie, just watch it as it is and don't compare with the books.


Wednesday, November 09, 2005

In memorial of Shannon of "Lost"

On 09 Nov 05, we lost a well-beloved character from my fave hit series "Lost". Shannon was shot by Ana Lucia. Ana Lucia saw Shannon running through the forest and thought that she was one of the 'Others', thus accidentally shot her.

Shannon was not really my fav character from my show. Why? Coz I thought that she was a bitchy spoilt brat back in Season 1. But on that particular episode, her flashback showed her in a different light. She was forced into circumstances by her stepmother and had to fend for herself.
Her stepbrother, Boone, also died during the series in Season 1.

God Bless their Souls. May they rest in peace...







Saturday, November 05, 2005

Age gap too huge??

I am now at my friend's house typing this post. I am bored at his house...all my friends are in their teenage years, screaming and shouting at their top of their lungs. I mean, I am not enjoying myself here. All my friends are still in their secondary school years, underage, playing computer games and shouting for no apparent reasons. Grow up!! Or is it me? Have I grown up too much that I can't mix around with them anymore...

At my friend's house, I feel like I am the one babysitting them instead of hanging out. Perhaps there is a huge age gap between them and me. My notion of hanging out will be sitting at the coffee bar or pub, drinking and chit-chating...that's all. No fuss and worries...

Saturday, October 08, 2005

Today, it seems to be a long, long day...I am bored and nothing to do, so I watched all my shows which I have. Watched the recent episode of Desperate Housewives, Smallville and Boston Legal...I think I am hooked to US shows...they seem to be more interesting than local shows that Singapore produces. I mean, wat's with PCK and Police and Thief? Slapstick comedy?? More like some lame production...PCK used to be quite nice and funny to watch. However, it slowly seems to be deterrioting. Luckily, the producers have stopped producing them already...

Now, I am watching Oprah Primetime. There have a two-part special on the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina. When I watched it, I watched the horrors of destruction and devastation that Hurricane Katrina had caused. I saw one half collapsed house. The house was supposed to be hurricane-proof, but thenthe hurricane was too strong that it tore the top half of the house apart. Also, I watched how the victims are coping and staying refuge in the stadiums. They are very resilient and determined to get on with their life. Even the American actors and actress showed their support for the victims by comforting and consoling them. They seemed to be a united bunch of folk. I wonder about this Singapore. When we faced a great tragedy, can we really rise up to the occasion and help others in need?

Thursday, October 06, 2005

Wow! What a long time...

Yup, what a long time since I last posted. Basically, I kinda forgot my password and username, so have to go through the tedious process of retrieving them...sighz

So far, nothing much happened dramatically in my life.

Wat you know about me: I am a young male Singaporean who is still undergoing National Service (NS). Yup, I am sure there are some human rights violation against conscription....but my country choose to ignore that anyway...

More to post later, so see ya!!