DC Sniper Executed by Lethal Injection

John Muhammad

The man known as the DC sniper has been executed for the October 2002 killings of ten people in DC, Virginia and Maryland. John Allen Muhammad was killed by lethal injection Tuesday after Virginia Governor Timothy Kaine denied a last-minute appeal for clemency. Larry Traylor of the Virginia Department of Corrections announced Muhammad’s execution.

Larry Traylor: “The execution of John Allen Muhammad has been carried out under the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Death was pronounced at 9:11 p.m. There were no complications. Mr. Muhammad was asked if he wished to make a last statement. He did not acknowledge this or make any statement whatsoever.”

Defense attorneys had argued for sparing Muhammad’s life on grounds he suffered mental illness worsened by the Gulf War syndrome he developed while serving in the first US invasion of Iraq.


Report: 237 Members of Congress Are Millionaires
A new report by the Center for Responsive Politics has found that 237 members of Congress are millionaires. That’s 44 percent of the body. California Republican Darrell Issa is the richest lawmaker with a net worth estimated at just over $250 million. At least seven lawmakers have net worths greater than $100 million.


Unemployment Rate Reaches 10.2 Percent
The nation’s unemployment rate has reached 10.2 percent, the highest it has been in twenty-six years. The Labor Department announced on Friday that the economy lost 190,000 jobs last month. October marked the twenty-second consecutive monthly decline in jobs. This is the longest losing streak on record dating back seventy years. African American workers remain hardest hit. The black unemployment rate is now 15.7 percent and significantly higher for black men. In all, more than one out of every six workers were unemployed or underemployed in October. Many economists are projecting the unemployment rate will continue to rise.

Aneta Markowska, economist at Societe Generale: “It is obviously psychologically damaging. And I think it is likely to go up a little bit further, given that we’re already at 10.2 percent and the type of growth and the type of employment trends that we anticipate over the next few months. You know, it is quite possible that we might even test the post-war record high of 10.8 percent at some point early next year.”


Click here to post a comment.

Click here to view all our blogs and discussion groups, where you can comment on any news stories or post your own news.

Read and search hundreds of news stories on SeeingBlack.com's 411 Channel.

Do you shop at Amazon? Please shop through our link and support
SeeingBlack.com!

House Passes Healthcare Reform Bill
On Capitol Hill, the House of Representatives has narrowly passed its landmark health insurance reform bill by a vote of 220-to-215. Only one Republican supported the bill. President Obama praised the vote and called on the Senate to pass similar legislation.

President Obama: “Now it falls on the United States Senate to take the baton and bring this effort to the finish line on behalf of the American people. And I’m absolutely confident that they will. I’m equally convinced that on the day that we gather here at the White House and I sign comprehensive health insurance reform legislation into law, they’ll be able to join their House colleagues and say that this was their finest moment in public service—the moment we delivered change we promised to the American people and did something to leave this country stronger than we found it.”

While supporters of President Obama celebrated the passage of the healthcare bill, the legislation also marks a victory for opponents of abortion rights. On Saturday, anti-abortion Democrats helped push through an amendment to prohibit anyone who receives government health insurance subsidies from enrolling in an insurance plan that covers abortion. In addition, abortions won’t be covered under the proposed government-run insurance plan. The amendment has been described as the biggest victory in years for opponents of abortion rights.


When the War Comes Home: More Reaction to Last Week’s Mass Shooting at Fort Hood

As families and friends mourn the thirteen individuals who were shot dead at the Fort Hood military base in Texas, questions continue to be raised about what might have motivated Thursday’s rampage. The suspected gunman, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, was an Army psychiatrist who had spent most of his career at Walter Reed Hospital before being transferred to Fort Hood earlier this year. He had also recently received orders to deploy to Afghanistan. Hasan, who was shot four times by police, is reported to be in critical but stable condition. Investigators have tentatively concluded that Major Hasan acted alone and was not part of a terrorist plot.

But Independent Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut told Fox News Sunday that the shooting spree was, quote, “the most destructive terrorist act to be committed on American soil since 9/11.” He added he would initiate a Senate investigation into whether Major Hasan had, quote, “become an Islamic extremist” and whether the Army had, quote, “missed warning signs.”

Army Chief of Staff General George Casey, however, appeared on three Sunday shows, warning against reaching conclusions about the suspected shooter’s motives. On CNN’s State of the Union, General Casey said such speculation could lead to a backlash against Muslims in the military.


Report: Obama to Send 34,000 More Troops to Afghanistan
The McClatchy Newspapers report President Obama is nearing a decision to send 34,000 additional US troops to Afghanistan next year. Under the proposed plan, the first additional combat brigade would arrive in Afghanistan next March, with the other three following at roughly three-month intervals. On Sunday, Army chief of staff, General George Casey, said the troops are needed in Afghanistan.

Gen. George Casey: "I believe that we need to put additional forces into Afghanistan to give General McChrystal the ability to both dampen the successes of the Taliban while we train the Afghan security forces.”
In other news from Afghanistan, a NATO air strike on Friday reportedly killed seven members of the Afghan security forces. The incident marks one of the worst cases of friendly fire in the course of the eight-year war.


CDC Criticized for Distributing Scarce Flu Vaccines to Wall St. Firms
And calls are growing for an investigation into why health officials have handed out swine flu vaccines to some of Wall Street’s leading financial firms while they’re unavailable to most Americans. More than a dozen companies were given the vaccines, including Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase. The Center for Disease Control says the companies met several criteria, including having a large number of employees and their own medical staff. But critics say the CDC has violated its own calls to distribute the vaccine only to those at highest risk. In a statement, Melanie Sloan of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington said, “Although CREW has been unable to uncover the demographic makeup of [these companies], it seems safe to assume the vast majority of their employees are not pregnant women, infants and children, young adults up to 24 years old, and healthcare workers.”


Italian Court Convicts CIA Operatives for ’03 Kidnapping
An Italian judge has convicted twenty-three Americans, mostly CIA operatives, for kidnapping a Muslim cleric from the streets of Milan in 2003. The Americans were all tried in absentia after the United States refused to hand them over. The convictions turn the CIA agents into international fugitives who risk arrest abroad. The case marks the first time any American has been convicted for taking part in a so-called “extraordinary rendition.” It centers around the Egyptian cleric Abu Omar, who was taken to US bases in Italy and Germany before being sent to Egypt, where he was tortured during a four-year imprisonment.


Palestinians Knock Down Part of Israeli Separation Wall
In the West Bank, Palestinian protesters on Friday knocked down part of the Israeli separation wall that divides much of the region. The protesters said the action was done to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the falling of the Berlin Wall. Palestinians hung a banner on the wall reading "No matter how tall, all walls fall.” Israeli troops responded by firing tear gas and skunk spray, a chemical concoction that smells of corpses and feces.


Palestinian Negotiator: Time to Rethink Two-State Solution
In Israel and the Occupied Territories, the continued Israeli takeover of West Bank land is leading the US-backed Palestinian Authority to begin openly questioning the viability of a two-state solution. On Wednesday, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Israel’s insistence on retaining large swaths of the West Bank would make a separate Palestinian state impossible.

Saeb Erekat: “Then maybe it’s the moment of truth for the Palestinian leadership, for Abu Mazen, who has done nothing in his life but to pursue the two-state solution, to come his moment of truth and tell his people the truth: that with the continuation of settlement activities, the two-state solution is no longer an option. Palestinians should refocus their attention to the one-state solution, where Muslims, Jews and Christians can live as equals. This is very serious. This is the moment of truth for us.”

As Erekat spoke, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton continued a Mideast tour in Egypt. Clinton has faced widespread criticism from Arab countries over the Obama administration’s refusal to insist Israel halt settlement expansion as a precondition for negotiations with Palestinians. Speaking in Cairo, Clinton defended the administration’s approach.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton: “We do not accept the legitimacy of settlement activity, and we have a very firm belief that ending all settlement activity, current and future, would be preferable. And that is what we have put forth, and that is what we have continued to support. What we have received from the Israelis, to halt all new settlement activity—and I’ll repeat that again, too—to halt all new settlement activity, and to end expropriation of land and to issue no permits or approvals, is unprecedented. It is not what we would prefer, because we would like to see everything ended, forever, but it is something that I think shows at least a positive movement toward the final status issues being addressed.”

© Copyright 2006 SeeingBlack.com

Top of Page