"Renegade" by Styx released 1979

Renegade by the rock group Styx was released January 9, 1979.  It was the third single to be released from their eighth studio album Pieces of Eight, which had been released the September before.  Renegade reached #16 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the spring.  Tommy Shaw sang the lead and James Young played lead guitar.

The song is a first-person narrative of an outlaw who is about to be executed by hanging for the crimes he has committed.

Oklahoma gets an 'F' in Integrity Investigation

But at least we weren't at the very bottom of the list - rank: 40th.  The Center for Public Integrity and Global Integrity gave Oklahoma an 'F' in a nationwide study.  Oklahoma was one of eleven states to receive failing grade. Only three states, Alaska, California and Connecticut, scored above D+. 

Apparently, the researchers found out that money talks!  For example, Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert filed their divorce petition in Pottawatomie County.  The County Associate District Judge John  Gardner sealed the divorce "at the request of their attorney" even though those are public records.

Governor Mary Failing was sued in 2014 after a news outlet was denied access to records after the state botched an execution.  Then media and attorneys have to wait longer than six months normally to have records requests filled by Failing and the AG's office.  The law requires requests to be filled in a "prompt and reasonable" manner.

Of course, this is what we've come to expect from Oklahoma's government.

http://newsok.com/study-gives-oklahoma-f-for-lack-of-openness/article/5459383
http://www.publicintegrity.org/2015/11/09/18497/oklahoma-gets-f-grade-2015-state-integrity-investigation
http://www.publicintegrity.org/2015/11/09/18693/only-three-states-score-higher-d-state-integrity-investigation-11-flunk
http://oklahomawatch.org/2014/12/26/state-ethics-agency-fails-to-collect-most-fees/

Proof that Education is not required for Oklahoma politics

 

 

At the very last second, Governor Mary Failing granted a stay of execution for convicted murderer Richard Glossip for 37 days because ‘last minute questions were raised about the drug’.  Apparently, potassium acetate was going to be administered as ‘drug number three in a three-drug protocol’. 

 Potassium acetate is not authorized for use in executions according to Oklahoma’s lethal injection protocol, but potassium chloride (KCl) is.  The final KCl solution is what stops the heart, causing death by cardiac arrest.

Alex Weitz, the governor’s spokesman said, ‘potassium acetate is virtually identical to potassium chloride’. 

Are you kidding me?

He could have just said “I are stupid!”

Anyone who’s cracked the cover of a remedial chemistry book will know there is a BIG difference between the salt of a strong inorganic acid and the salt of a weak organic acid. 

They granted the stay of execution ‘out of an abundance of caution’.  Now, they’re being cautious?  Maybe Weintz got confused by ‘potassium’ and thought if they started with the same word, they had to be the same chemical.

Maybe the Oklahoma Department of Corrections hasn’t seen a science book either and thought they were identical, too. 

This isn’t rocket science, people!

Why wasn’t this discovered until now?  Why was potassium acetate ordered instead of KCl since it was known potassium acetate was not allowable?  Did the distributor of the potassium acetate deliver the solution directly to the execution chamber at precisely 3:00pm CDT and only then the error discovered?

Most people with rudimentary reading skills and an attention span longer than that of a fruit fly learn from their mistakes.  It seems Gov. Mary Failing is not one of most people.  The plethora of errors made during the Clayton Lockett execution clearly have not resulted in changes to Oklahoma’s lethal injection protocol.

But Clayton Lockett was an experimental lab rat since the Department of Corrections used an untested mixture of drugs due to ‘supply issues’.

Back to square one?  No.  Oklahoma never moved beyond square one.

Failing pushed for Lockett’s execution despite the lack of appropriate drugs and she has been pushing for Glossip’s execution.  Did she fear this could come back and bite her in the ass?  Again?

http://newsok.com/37-more-days-fallin-issues-last-minute-stay-of-glossips-execution-because-of-wrong-drug/article/5450412

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Execution_of_Clayton_Lockett#cite_note-guardian-2

 

 

The Glossip Execution

I've only recently been made aware of this story now that it's come down to the wire that Richard Glossip might be put to death today in Oklahoma. Since my sources are only from the internet, I'm sure many of the 'facts' can be taken with a grain of salt but the sources agree on one thing - Glossip was only convicted on the testimony of Justin Sneed, who actually carried out the murder of motel owner Barry Van Treese. 

The main question is why should Glossip be put to death while the actual murderer lives?  A very good question, since Sneed got a life sentence instead of the death penalty in exchange for his testimony against Glossip.

Unfortunately, Glossip's fate hinges on Gov. Mary Failing who has until 3pm today to stay the execution.  However, she seems disinclined to do so.


http://okiefunk.com/node/1611