"Some of it was gruesome, but I was detached and thinking clinically so it didn't penetrate really," Anita said. "The part that got to me was the parole system. I saw petty criminals retained in custody because the state needed the funding, and hard-core criminals released for the wrong reasons. It's an insane system, based on unsound thinking and emotional conclusions.
Like the pardoning of January 6th criminals in jail...
Nothing seemed to work as it should have; nothing was untouched by politics and money. It was a very disturbing experience." Her intense feelings forced her round face to tighten and shrink until the smooth skin looked gutted with deep dark lines. "That's when I came to believe that some people are simply evil," Anita said...
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...challenges the morality and personal consciousness of every last one of us. What would you do? That premise has launched philosophical debates, psychological studies and dinner table discussions. Nothing to Lose takes that premise to the farthest reaches of the imagination in a wildly entertaining story of determination, unexpected behavior and social justice. A few weeks later, I was getting dressed in a hurry when a Special News Break interrupted the morning talk show on television. I stepped out of my closet, half dressed, and stared at the television. The reporter stood at the side of the picture, huddled against the wind, waiting for her cue. Glass Lake looked like a serene but gray place, misty, cool, and damp. Tall, striking redwood trees covered the landscape. Huge Blue Mountains blocked the background. The lake in the foreground was still and dark. A layer of white mist stretched across the lake from shore to shore, hovering just above the waterline. The reporter drew the microphone up to her mouth and squinted into the false light of the cameras. She clutched the fake fur lapels of her coat up next to her neck. The tip of her nose was red, and her breath burst from her mouth in rhythmic white puffs. Suddenly, she looked alert; as a signal transmitted to her that she was on the air. "I'm standing across the street from the sight of the murder of Edmund Garetzky, the feared serial killer who seemed to be one step ahead of our own Federal Bureau of Investigation for the past three years. Garetzky had been on the FBI's Most Wanted list since the arrest and conviction of his partner, Martin Ling. Ling was tried on nine counts of kidnapping and murder and was sentenced to three life sentences in the penitentiary. He committed suicide after just three months in prison. "The FBI had been tracing Garetzky for three years. Ironically, the FBI was alerted to Garetzky's whereabouts just yesterday by an anonymous caller who saw his photograph on the television program America's Most Wanted. Special Agent Arthur Brucemann told KUBS News how the FBI discovered Edmund Garetzky." Agent Brucemann spoke soberly and carefully: "The FBI Special Unit for Criminals at Large received a tip from a citizen and we followed up on that immediately. We arrived in Washington last night and began our search at that time. We were in the process of conducting a sweep operation from Old Forge, thirty miles north of Glass Lake, through Adeho, when we discovered Garetzky's body in the lavatory of the Stop 'N Shop at Glass Lake. We believe Garetzky stopped for cigarettes at the Stop 'N Shop, and then went to use the lavatory. That's all I can say at this time." Brucemann moved through the cluster of microphones and tape recorders with his chin down, ignoring the excited and eager questions fired at him. "Who is that woman?" Several reporters shouted at once. The cameras whirled past Brucemann, losing focus as the lens sought out the next target. In the center of a pack of men wearing FBI windbreakers stood a woman of about fifty years in a smart green raincoat that shone like a beacon in the grim mass of men. The picture shook erratically as the cameraman ran toward the mystery woman. All around, reporters and camera crews stumbled over each other and equipment in a frantic stampede toward the woman in the green raincoat. "Who are you?" "Did you see anything?" "What's your name?" "What happened?" The questions came all at once, insistent and shrill. The agents surrounded the woman with their bodies and held their hands up to deflect the lights of the cameras. Within all the frantic pushing and shouting, the woman remained calm and quiet. Finally, she held up her arm and waved. "I would like to say something," she called to the reporters. The agents parted, exposing her to the cameras. "My name is Margaret Linen, and I killed Edmund Garetzky." A roar formed as the collective voices of reporters and crews blended together. The woman closed her eyes and put her hand out as if to ward off the noise. The microphones reached toward her as the crowd became quiet. "I killed him because I care about society. He was a threat. He deserved to die." She paused, and the cacophony rose up again. She waited for the thunder of voices to subside before continuing. "I will tell you about him. This man kidnapped people at knifepoint. He brought them, some of them children, to a cabin in the mountains where he and his accomplice repeatedly tortured and brutalized them beyond our most horrific imaginations. The screams, gasps for breath, cries, and moans were recorded on audiotape and labeled. On the labels was a rating. Stars. Five stars if the victim suffered well, and fewer stars the less entertaining the victim was. "Parents of missing children and families trying to find missing people listened to some of the tapes in an effort to identify the screams of their loved ones. Can you imagine?" She slowed her speech, letting the impact of her words settle. "This man was evil. Evil beyond our scope of understanding. Evil beyond humanity." "Were you victimized by him?" "Did they kidnap someone in your family?" "What is your connection to this serial killer?" "We are all victims of people like Edmund Garetzky. They perpetuate a circle of violence that affects us all. They are animals preying on us, and worst of all, they are protected by our laws. The criminal justice system does not work. We have all seen evidence of this at one time or another. In the states where the death penalty exists, it is rarely used. Special interest groups hold up the process by insisting that everyone deserves life. Well, the real truth is that some people do not deserve life. "Our government is unable to keep our families and our children safe. Bureaucracy clogs the arteries of the system and some violent criminals fly away scot-free. Well, not this one. Not anymore." "Did you know the victim?" "How did you kill him?" "Do you represent any organization or group, Ms. Linen?" "I came here on my own, to do what society is unable to do for itself — rid itself of Edmund Garetzky. Someone had to do something. And I couldn't stand by and watch our system grant this animal a trial and a life after what he did to us. He did not deserve a lawyer. He did not deserve a fair trial. He did not deserve a life, certainly not in a place that provides meals and a bed, and particularly not at our expense." She paused for a moment, thinking. "I am going to die." She said it like a statement. "What did she say?" "Who's going to die?" She continued to speak so quietly that the camera crews and reporters had to strain to hear. "I will not be around to protect my family, my grandchildren, from evil," she said. "But now I have assured that we are safe from the monstrous behavior of one terrifying criminal. I did it because I could. I believe that we fail as a society in terms of justice. I did it in order to accomplish something positive for society before I die. My family need not fear Garetzky, society need not fear him, nor will they be forced to spend any time or money on him. I feel I have truly contributed something. I have made the most extreme contribution to society; I have given something back to the good people in this world. I have given all of you freedom. Freedom from this monster. I am not sorry." She looked into the camera lenses, one by one. Then she concluded with a small smile: "I will die in peace." The agents and enforcement officials flanking Margaret Linen were silent. They responded to her cultured, quiet voice and stood back, letting her finish. Possibly, they agreed with her. Whatever the reason, they let her speak without interruption. After she finished they moved in a huddle toward a dark sedan parked nearby with all four doors open wide. The reporters continued to shout questions at her even after the doors slammed shut and the car drove off. Holy shit, I said to myself, and I stood there as if glued to the carpet. When the phone rang, I had to force myself to lift a foot up to walk toward the nightstand. "Hello?" "Are you ready? You sound asleep?" Lauren's voice sounded impatient. "I hope you didn't forget! We have a date to see my editor and go over your illustrations for my article." "No," I said, shaking off the shock of what I just saw. "I'm almost ready." "What's going on? Why do you sound so funny?" "It's nothing," I said, beginning to come back to life. "I was just watching something on television . . ." "What was it?" Lauren laughed. "Devil worshippers? S&M? People who were abducted by aliens, or women who fall in love with men on death row! Turn that thing off. It's just not safe!" I was laughing and it felt great. I glanced over at my desk to the illustrations I had finished the night before. They were good. I pulled the phone closer to the desk and blew some nonexistent dust off the top board before slipping it into its laminated cover for transport. "I'm ready," I said. "Come and get me." CH
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Abortion and the Death Penalty are the two most controversial legal issues in the world... Why is that? Is it because the legal system is and has been flawed? Is it because of religion, civil liberties, or lack of juries willing to put somebody to death. There are no answers in this book. It is psychological fiction, perhaps one of the best I've read. Mainly because of how the ending was created...
Actually, I didn't recall that Friedman was the same writer of Hello Wife which centers on drugs. It is quite obvious that this author is ready and willing to attack today's hard questions! And we all know she may be one of the few who is actually doing so with the divided country we now inhabit... Personally, I preferred this, her first book. It is unbelievably written in such a way that it is truly fiction, but there is much non-fiction of this important issue that she purposely includes, including blackmail. Many kudos to the author. Her amazing characters presented each possible side of the issue, the Death Penalty, with a group of women... Frankly, this decision was the best possible group that could occur, in my opinion. Women care more about the "personal," yet are quite willing to deal with the facts, learning as much as is needed to make their own decisions.
It all began when a woman living in a fairly rich neighborhood and sees a new neighbor being moved in. Roxanne soon found her way over to welcome Anita to the community--and to her small group of women who met for friendship and a little food, of course...
You might recognize quickly that these two women are the two main characters. Roxanne was obviously a leader who enjoyed gathering a flock to share news and more...There was nothing that this group did not discuss. And, later, unfortunately, one of the husbands heard a rather troublesome topic...
Because, soon, a change in the discussions became geared around Anita's work... She counseled those who were going to die. No, this wasn't hospice where you actually go to die... Anita's goal was to help each of her clients realize what was happening, how they felt about their past, the present, and the future... Frankly, learning that, I thought it was a great service for those who often didn't have family who were even willing to discuss their deaths...
I've purposely included an excerpt providing the "why" of what began to happen...Many of you will not be able to actually read this important book... Instead, I ask my readers. What would you do if you were dying and another Sandy Hook school murder of grade school children took place at that time. Would it affect you as it did me... Or have you and others become so accustomed of death, guns, and violence being around us daily? Personally? I think it would be on a case by case for me. But when the fanatics made videos of our citizens being beheaded? I would have no question about whether they should be put to death. Just as I would disagree that shooting out boat loads of people in South American waters, without any type of documentation of who they were or a trial of their guilt? I'd say that, instead, the instigator of that total destruction should pay via death penalty.
It is a time when we must trust what we know is right or wrong within our legal system... Even if it is not being followed at this time. Each of these individuals began discussions with Anita about their need to leave this earth, having done all they cold to help improve the world...
This book requires that you start thinking quickly... because I've already said, I would choose Jesus over Barabbas to live! It may have been planned that way, but, actually, those who chose a criminal that day is still choosing criminals in many ways for minor or major offenses. I call this as I see it. If we don't start using our minds to make our decisions, then what we do during our lifetime really doesn't matter if you're really just following the directions from anybody or everybody...
When we are facing decisions about Truth daily, I consider this book a must-read to help you start developing your own decision-making skills...
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