Damascusmoments November 8, 2009

Here is a post, published on a blog called damascusmoments, regarding Khristian Oliver´s death sentence. I found it really interesting. Enjoy.

From the blog damascusmoments.wordpress.com:

The death penalty: just deserts or justice deserted?

In Texas yesterday another life ended in the USA’s most-used death chamber.

Khristian Oliver was 32 years old. He was declared dead 8 minutes after administration of a lethal injection.

In 1999 Oliver had been convicted of  a murder carried out in the course of a burglary. His victim was shot and beaten to death with the butt of a rifle. He accepted he carried out the shooting.

Texas is one of several US States to retain the death penalty for such cases. However, the decision to impose it on Oliver courted controversy. It was reported that during deliberations on sentencing, the jury brought biblical rather than purely state law into consideration. A juror allegedly read this aloud:

“And if he smite him with an instrument of iron, so that he die, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death.” (Numbers 35:16)

Another juror later reported that about 80% of the jurors had brought scripture into their considerations, considering that if civil law and biblical law were at odds, biblical law should prevail. He’s reported to have said that if he had been told he could not consult the bible, “I would have left the courtroom.” Another said jurors looked to and took comfort from the bible in making their decision.

Oliver’s lawyers appealed on the basis that the Jury ought exclusively to have considered state law in reaching their decision, and that accordingly there had not been a fair trial. They were unsuccessful because although it was established that impermissible information (biblical law) had been taken into consideration, no prejudice had resulted given it had been established that a murder, for which the death penalty was open to the Jury under state law, had been committed.

The death penalty is something that seems to escape our attention much of the time in the UK. It’s not something we think about very much. According to Washington’s Death Penalty Information Centre, there were 3297 convicts on Death Row in January 2009. Between January and October, 42 people were executed. Forty two human lives ended at the hand of the state.

Reflecting on Oliver’s death I’m troubled. I have questions.

How does a “Christian” state justify the death penalty? Can it?

Anyone can pick and verse from the Old Testament to justify a position, but what does Jesus have to say about this situation? What’s the effect of the new covenant on this Old Testament teaching? And what of Jesus teaching here:

Here’s another old saying that deserves a second look: ‘Eye for eye, tooth for tooth.’ Is that going to get us anywhere? Here’s what I propose: ‘Don’t hit back at all.’ If someone strikes you, stand there and take it. If someone drags you into court and sues for the shirt off your back, giftwrap your best coat and make a present of it. And if someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life. No more tit-for-tat stuff. Live generously. (Matt 5:38-42)

Where is the interface of justice and mercy here? We’re exhorted “to act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with God“. Is this the face of doing so?

Texas jurors send killer to death because the Bible told them to November 4, 2009

This morning on work I was reading a Danish newspaper, when I saw an article that made me think “what the BEEEEP!”. Is it acceptable to justify the choice of condemning a person to death, saying that it´s the Bible that told the jurors to do it? I don´t think that a religious book should be used to this purpose. So why are all together trying to fight against Muslims and the use they do of the Koran? The idea behind is the same.  And if someone would like to say, that USA is based on Christian values and so it´s acceptable to use the Bible as a “instrument of justice”, well… I say to these people, that kill a man is really not in line with the Christian doctrine. Maybe it´s in line with their interpretation of the Bible. In the end it´s a book, and it can be interpreted in many different ways.

This is not about being pro or against death penalty. It´s more about the fact that religion and personal values should being kept separated from the activity of the judicial branch. After all “The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment prohibits the establishment of a national religion by the Congress or the preference of one religion over another, non-religion over religion, or religion over non-religion”.

This is not the article I´ve read, but it´s just to give an idea of what happened.

 

From The Times

October 16, 2009

Texas jurors send killer to his death ‘because the Bible told them to’

A Texas man is due to be executed next month despite admissions by jurors that they consulted biblical passages advocating death as a punishment to help to decide his fate.

Before sending Khristian Oliver to his death after he was convicted of murdering his victim — who was bludgeoned with a gun barrel — jurors read passages of the Old Testament, including one that states that a killer who uses an iron object to kill “shall surely be put to death”. Oliver, 32, is due to be executed on November 5. He was convicted in 1999 of the murder of Joe Collins, 64, during a 1998 break-in at the victim’s rural East Texas home.

During the trial, the jurors were instructed by the judge not to refer to anything that was not presented as evidence in the courtroom.

Amnesty International called on the Texas authorities to commute Oliver’s death sentence because since his trial, jurors had admitted that they read the Bible while they decided whether he should live or die. In particular, they said that Bibles were passed around with specific passages highlighted, and that one juror read aloud to his fellow jurors the passage, from Numbers XXXV, 16: “And if he smite him with an instrument of iron, so that he die, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death.”

Mr Collins was shot by Oliver and then repeatedly struck with a gun barrel.

In a post-trial hearing two months after Oliver was condemned to death, four jurors acknowledged to the judge that Bibles had been present in the jury room, and that highlighted passages were passed around.

In 2002 a Danish journalist interviewed a fifth juror, who said that “about 80 per cent” of the jurors had “brought scripture into the deliberation” and that they had consulted the Bible “long before we ever reached a verdict”.

The fifth juror also said that he believed “the Bible is truth from page one to the last page”, and that if civil law and biblical law were in conflict, the latter should prevail.

He added that if he had been told he could not consult the Bible, “I would have left the courtroom”. He described himself as a death penalty supporter, saying that life imprisonment was a burden on the taxpayer.

The 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals said last year that jurors had wrongly used the Bible and that it had amounted to an “external influence” prohibited under the US Constitution. Yet the court said there was not enough evidence to show they were prejudiced when they decided to send Oliver to death row.

In April the US Supreme Court — the final chance Oliver had to appeal against his death sentence — refused to hear the case, despite being urged to do so by 50 former and current federal and state prosecutors. Kate Allen, the British director of Amnesty, called the use of the Bible in the juror’s deliberations “deeply, deeply troubling”.

Pink Cake Box October 30, 2009

I always say that sometimes you can find something nice on Facebook!  This morning I´ve read that an old highschool classmate became fun of Pink Cake Box, so I went to spy! And the first thing I though, when I saw the cakes, was: WOOOOOOOOOOOOOW, I WANT ONE! They are so amazing! Original, well made and beautiful! But I don´t think I could eat a cake like that! They are like cutie artworks!

Ho sempre detto che, a volte, si puó trovare qualcosa di carino girando su Facebook! Questa mattina ho letto che una vecchia compagna di classe dei tempi del liceo é diventata fan di Cake Pink Box, quindi sono andata a spiare di cosa si trattasse! E la prima cosa che ho pensato, quando ho visto le torte, é stata: WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW, NE VOGLIO UNA! Sono stupende! Originali, ben fatte e bellissime! Ma non penso riuscirei a mangiare una torta del genere! Sono delle piccole opere d´arte!

www.pinkcakebox.com

Corpse Bride Wedding Cake (www.pinkcakebox.com)

Old Hollywood Theme Wedding Cake (www.pinkcakebox.com)

Sweet 16 cake (www.pinkcakebox.com)

Surprise Knitting Birthday Cake (www.pinkcakebox.com)

Wedding Cupcake Tiers (www.pinkcakebox.com)

Autumn Wedding Cake (www.pinkcakebox.com)

"The Kiss" Wedding Cake (www.pinkcakebox.com)

GRANDE VALE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! October 25, 2009

Rolltop October 18, 2009

Here is the Rolltop, the laptop of the future. I want oneeeeeee!!! Here is the homepage of the agency that developed the concept: Orkin Design.

Ecco Rolltop, il portatile del futuro. Ne voglio unooooooooo!!! E questa é la homepage di chi ha sviluppato il concetto: Orkin Design.

I didn´t know what a OLED screen was, so I went to look on YouTube for a video or something that was able to enlighten me.

Non sapevo cosa fosse uno schermo OLED, cosí sono andata a cercarmi su YouTube un video o qualcosa che mi illuminasse un po´.

Goodnight Songs:) October 12, 2009

Birdiesays on Deviantart October 10, 2009

Go and see her works on deviantart.com, really sweet and funny! Here are some!

Andate a vedere i lavori di questa ragazza su deviantart.com! Carini e divertenti! Eccone alcuni!

My hippie bedtable September 17, 2009

I didn´t know what to do this week, while I´m still on vacation. But  few days ago I thought about a thing I wanted to do last year: paint my bedtable! I did decoupage once in my life, but I really didn´t like my bedtable! It was a plain wood thing, old and sad. So 2 days ago I went to buy all the stuff I needed to paint it, and today is done! It´s not perfect (I´m usually a perfectionist Sometimes I´m a nightmare!), but at least it´s better than before! I called it “hippie bedtable”, because of the flowers and the color! I like it! Some more color in my bedroom!

Non sapevo cosa fare in questa settimana di ferie. Ma qualche giorno fa mi é venuta in mente una cosa che avrei voluto fare giá dallo scorso anno: dipingere il mio comodino! Ho fatto decoupage solo una volta in vita mia, ma non mi piaceva proprio il mio comodino! Era un semplice pezzo di legno, vecchio e triste. Cosí 2 giorni fa sono andata a comprare tutto l´occorrente per dipingerlo, e oggi ho finito! Non é perfetto (sono una perfezionista solitamente A volte sono un incubo!), ma di sicuro é meglio di prima! L´ho chiamato il “comodino hippie”, per i fiori ed il colore! Mi piace! Un po´ piú di colore nella mia camera da letto!

I can use it in one week:(

Hippie flowers!

Santorini September 13, 2009

And I´m home again! I and my boyfriend came back at 3 am this morning from Santorini. A fantastic and relaxing week, even if the weather has been bad: 4 days of cloudy sky and rain, and 3 sunny days. But we enjoyed our holiday anyway. This was my first time in Greece, and I have to say, that it reminds me a lot about the south of Italy and the islands. People are relaxed and slow, because it´s hot and there´s no need to hurry. They are loud and tricky. The food is really good, because they have load of sun, and so vegetables and fruit taste really good. I was waiting for a bite of the real Greek food! We made it home sometimes, but it´s ever the same thing. I loved the feta (simple: grilled with tomato, red onions, red peppers and oregano), the moussaka, the grilled meat, the lamb made in so many different way and so tender and tasty, the saganaki shrimps and the fresh octopussy, the olive paté, the tsatsiki and the other sauces. We also had some disappointing experices, like 1 kg fish for 50 € ,that was supposed to be fresh, but it was bad frozen fish.

The island is really nice. It looks like they are still living in the ´50ies. The nature is wild and beautiful. It is worthed to drive around! The roads are old, narrow, many times on the edge of a cliff. The signs are not clear and not so many, and they drive like crazy! The two biggest cities, Fira and Ia, are built on the high cliffs that face the volcan Nea Kamini. The view from these cliffs is amazing, and seing the  white cities perched on the clfftop it´s fantastic.

E sono di nuovo a casa! Io ed il mio ragazzo siamo tornati alle 3 del mattino da Santorini. Una settimana bellissima e rilassante, anche se il tempo non é stato dei migliori: 4 giorni con cielo coperto e pioggia, e 3 giorni con sole. Ma ci siamo godut comunque la nostra vacanza. Questa é stata la prima volta che ho viaggiato in Grecia, e devo dire che mi ricorda molto l´Italia del sud e le isole. Le persone sono rilassate e lente, perché fa cosí caldo che non c´é motivo di affrettarsi troppo. Sono rumorosi e furbi. Il cibo é molto buono, visto che hanno un sacco di sole, e quindi frutta e verdura hanno un buon sapore. Morivo dalla voglia di assaggiare la vera cucina greca! A volte lo cuciniamo a casa, ma non é mai la stessa cosa. Mi sono piaciuti: la feta (semplice: alla griglia con pomodori, peperoni verdi, cipolla rossa e origano), la moussaka, la carne alla griglia, l´agnello cucinato in tantissimi modi differenti e sempre tenero e gustoso, i gamberi saganaki e i calamari freschi, il paté di olive, lo tsatsiki e le altre salsine. Abbiamo avuto anche delle esperienze un po´ deludenti, come il chilo di pesce a 50 €, che sarebbe dovuto essere fresco, ma non era altro che cattivo pesce surgelato.

L´isola é veramente bella. Sembra che il tutto si sia fermato agli anni ´50. La natura é selvaggia e stupenda. Si deve assolutamente noleggiare una macchina e guidare in giro! Le strade sono vecchie, strette e molte volte ci si trova a costeggiare le alte scogliere a strapiombo sul mare. La segnaletica stradale non é per nulla chiara e i cartelli non sono poi cosí tanti, e la gente guida come dei pazzi! Le due cittá piú grandi, Fira e Ia, sono costruite sulle alte scogliere che danno sul vulcano Nea Kamini. La vista da queste scogliere é stupenda, come lo é la vista delle due bianche cittá arroccate sulla roccia viste dal mare.

Very good restaurants – Ristoranti molto mmmm buoni: Alexander, Taverna Andreas.

Day 1 – Sunday 06-09-2009

We spent a day at the beach, enjoying the sun. The first day has to be realxing!

Abbiamo passato la giornata sulla spiaggia a goderci il sole. Il primo giorno deve essere rilassante!

Sunrise

Breakfast

Day 2 – Monday 07-09-2009

We drove to the south of the isle. We stopped to the Red Beach to jump in the sea, then we drove a bit around, from the south point to Perissa, and then back to Kamari, where our hotel was. We wanted to visit Akrotiri, an archeological site, but it has been closed since 2005 because they are restoring the Bronze Age village.

Abbiamo guidato a sud dell´isola. Ci siamo fermati alla Spiaggia Rossa per buttarci in mare, e poi abbiamo guidato qua e lá, dal punto piú a sud dell´isola fino a Perissa, per terminare a Kamari, dove era il nostro hotel. Volevamo visitare Akrotiri, un sito archeologico, ma é chiuso dal 2005 perché stanno restaurando il villaggio dell´Etá del bronzo.

Red Beach

Some pasta?

Day 3 – Tuesday 08-09-2009

We drove to the north, to Ia. Beautiful city and beautiful view. A loads of dogs sleeping in the shadow, and a loads of tourists! Ia is famous for the amazing sunsets it offers. We didn´t see one, but the city is beautiful also in the sunlight!

Abbiamo guidato a nord, a Ia. Bella cittá e bellissima vista. Un sacco di cani appisolati all´ombra di un muro, e molti turisti! Ia é famosa per i bellissimi tramonti che offre. Noi non ne abbiamo visto uno, ma la cittá é veramente bella anche alla luce del sole!

Ia

Ia

It´s not sleeping in the shadow, I know!:)

The Italian and the Danish in Ia

Drinking an iced coffee and enojying the view:)

Day 4 – Wednesnay 09-09-2009

Another day at the beach, but the weather was not so good!

Un altro giorno in spiaggia, ma il tempo non era dei migliori!

Kamari beach

Day 5 – Thursday 10-09-2009

Sailing tour! It was worthed! We sailed to the volcan Nea Kameni, where we walked up to the top (with loads of water!!!) to enjoy the view. Then the boat took us to the Hot Springs, where we jumped in the sea to swim to the zone along the coast of Palea Kamini (the old volcan) ,where the water is around 33 Celsius and it contains sulfur, that is good for the skin but it´s also smelly and your clothes become yellow  But it wasn´t stinking so much like that time I was in Pozzuoli (Naples) at The Solfatara, where there is no water, so you can breath directly the sulfur vapor! After this we sailed to another Island called Thirasia, where we had lunch, and I and my boyfriend jumped in the sea again! Then we sailed to Ia, and back to Athinios harbor.

Gita in barca! Ne valeva la pena! Abbiamo navigato fino al vulcano Nea Kamini, dove abbiamo camminato fino alla cima del cratere (con un sacco di acqua a portata di mano!!!) per goderci la vista. Poi ci hanno portati alle Hot Springs (Fonti Calde), dove ci siamo buttati in mare per nuotare fino alla zona di fronte alla costa di Palea Kamini (il vecchio vulcano), dove l´acqua é attorno ai 33 gradi e continene zolfo, che fa bene alla pelle ma é anche puzzolente e colore i vestiti di giallo. Ma l´odore non era cosí forte come quella volta in cui sono andata alla Solfatara di Pozzuoli, dove non c´é acqua, e cosí si respirano i vapori sulfurei direttamente! Dopo il bagnetto siamo arrivati ad un´altra isola chiamata Thirasia, dove abbiamo pranzato ed io e il mio ragazzo ci siamo buttati in acqua di nuovo! Per finire abbiamo navigato fino ad Ia, e poi al porto di Athinios.

Little port, Nea Kamini

View from the top of the volcano

Hot Springs

Thirasia

Ia from below

Days 6 and 7 – Friday and Saturday 11 and 12-09-2009

Relaxing time at the beach in Kamari and… in our room, because it was raining a lot! Luckily we had my laptop with, and so we watched some movies.

Relax in spiaggia a Kamari e… in hotel, perché pioveva tanto! Fortunatamente avevamo portato il mio pc, cosí ci siamo guardati un po´ di film.

Nice weather:P

The road to Old Thira

Restaurant Alexander

William Clarke Wontner September 3, 2009

William Clarke Wontner (1857-1930)

Some weeks ago I was surfing through the Internet, when I found some images of Wontner´s paitings. I didn´t know him, but I´m happy I found him. Wontner was an English Academical Classical painter with a touch of Romanticism and an eye to the Orient. His women are really elegant and feminine, almost ephemeral. The Orient theme gives a dreamy sensation. Enjoy the view

Alcune settimane fa stavo girovagando in interner, quando mi sono imbattuta in alcune immagini di quadi di Wotner. Non lo conoscevo, ma sono felice di averlo trovato. Wontner era inglese ed un pittore accademico classico, con un tocco di stile romantico e un occhio all´oriente. Le sue donne sono davvero eleganti e femminili, quasi efimere. E il tema orientale crea un´atmosfera sognante. Buona visione

The Bracelet

The turquoise necklace

An elegant beauty

An egyptian beauty