The final meal request for James Hubbard, Alabama, August 5, 2004.

Mr. Hubbard requested two eggs over medium, four pieces of bacon, fried green tomatoes, sliced red tomatoes, four slices of pineapple with mayonnaise, white bread, a banana, and a medium-sized V-8 juice.

A complete summary will be forthcoming shortly.

Reader's Last Meals...Dog Days of August Version...

Wendy in Boston , Massachusetts

One rare filet mignon, actually just walk it through a warm room, baked potato with butter and sour cream, garden salad with blue cheese dressing and crème brule for dessert and two cans of diet coke.

&

Deb B. from parts unknown...

1 New York steak sandwich From Kelsey's

2 Luscious turkey breast 1 foot sub from subway

3 a stay of my execution

4 a get away car

5 $1000,00 cash

6 Smartie Mcflurry

&

wendy in utah...

perogies fried in butter till crispy.
battered fish fillets with british HP Sauce.
jack-in-the-box ultimate cheeseburger, 10 tacos no lettuce.
last, make myself explode on homemade tacos, well, as homemade as a white girl can make. shreaded, boiled beef on oil fried corn tortillas with tons of extra sharp cheddar cheese.

now all i have to do is commit an awful murder, get convicted, put on death row and i'll eat better then i EVER have

&

Kim from Wisconsin

1 container of chocolate truffle explosion, 1 cheese tombstone pizza with extra cheese, 1 bottle of Riunite wine, 2 KFC extra crunchy chicken breasts with coleslaw, a double bacon cheeseburger with extra cheese and onion rings, a symphony candy bar, mint truffles, a heath bar, a glass of sprite soda, chicken stir fry with white rice and chow mein noodles, and a warm apple pie.

&

And let's close with STAR CHIK from parts unknown...

Breakfast: two bacon and cheese croissants from McD's; two buttermilk biscuits covered with white-milk gravy; lots of hashbrowns; kiwi, strawberries, pineapple, grapes, apricots, and peaches; ice cold water

Lunch: Lots of mac 'n cheese; tater tots; sourdough bacon burger melt; french fries, chicken fingers, brownies; ice cold water

Dinner: Pepperoni and cheese pizza; cheese burger, taco salad from Taco Bell; tacos with cheese from Taco Bell; good old fashioned corn dog from the local fair smothered in mustard; country fried steak; veal parmesian with marinara sauce; fettuccini alfredo; strawberry cheesecake...and lots of TUMS and Pepto Bismol

More Monster Meal Musings...

Morganna in Indiana writes....

I just watched the Nick Broomfield documentary on Aileen Wuornos, "The Life And Death of a Serial Killer" and he reported that she was given a last meal of KFC fried chicken and french fries (apparently the Florida death-row inmates have to stay within a $20 maximum for their last meal). I believe Nick Broomfield was the last person to ever interview Aileen Wuornos, so his information may be correct, I don't know.

DME writes...

That may be right. We took it from press accounts from the day. To refresh your memory...the DME "Monster" last meal...

Wuornos didn't order a last meal and skipped the regular fare of barbecued chicken, mashed potatoes, apple crisp and tea but had a cup of coffee about 12:30 a.m. Instead, ate a hamburger and other snack food from the prison's canteen.

NEXT...A "Monster" correction...from Wendy in Boston (her last meal to follow)...

"Attendance was low: Wuornos was the most famous Florida death row inmate to be executed since Ted Bundy, but her execution attracted only about a tenth of the crowd of supporters, opponents and curiosity-seekers that Bundy received in 1992."

Ted Bundy was actually executed January 24, 1989.

Then you go...the Monster meal never rest.

Dems no longer back death penalty

From a columnist in Wisconsin...

BOSTON - The Democratic Party platform that will be adopted tonight will include one particularly significant change from the platforms adopted by the party conventions of 1992, 1996 and 2000.

During the platform-writing process, the drafting committee quietly removed the section of the document that endorsed capital punishment.

Thus, for the first time since the 1980s, Democrats will not be campaigning on a pro-death penalty program.

Why the change?

Simply put, on the question of execution, John Kerry is a very different Democrat from Bill Clinton and Al Gore. Clinton and Gore, while surely aware that capital punishment is an ineffective and racially and economically biased vehicle for fighting crime, were willing to embrace it as a political tool. Clinton even rushed back to Arkansas during the 1992 campaign to oversee the execution of a mentally retarded inmate. With Clinton and Gore steering the party's policies, Democratic platforms endorsed capital punishment.

But Clinton and Gore are no longer at the helm. And as of tonight, the party will no longer be on record as supporting the death penalty. Asked about the removal of the pro-capital punishment language, U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., who chairs the committee that drafted the document, explained that "it's a reflection of John Kerry."

Kerry, who is often accused of flip-flopping by his Republican critics, is made of firmer stuff than most politicians when it comes to the issue of capital punishment. He opposes executions in virtually all cases - making an exception only after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, when he said he would consider supporting capital punishment, in limited cases, for foreign terrorists.

On the domestic front, Kerry has earned high marks from death penalty critics. Last fall, when the Students Against the Death Penalty project of the American Civil Liberties Union rated the nine candidates who were then seeking the Democratic presidential nomination on a variety of death penalty-related issues, Kerry and Congressional Progressive Caucus co-chair Dennis Kucinich were the only two who received perfect scores.

...Still, the death penalty remains a divisive issue. Not since 1988 has either major party nominated a critic of capital punishment for the presidency. The 1988 Democratic nominee, former Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis, was attacked by that year's Republican nominee, George Herbert Walker Bush, for opposing the death penalty.

Whether Kerry will face similar attacks from Bush's son, who is an enthusiastic backer and frequent practitioner of state-sponsored executions, remains to be seen. But the volatility of the issue may explain why Democrats have been so quiet about the shift in platform language.

It is notable, however, that, in addition to Kerry's home state of Massachusetts, 11 other states bar executions. Among them are a number of the battleground states that could decide the November election, including Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan, Maine and West Virginia.

Saving Grandpa in 'Bama...

The highlights:

A 74-year-old convicted murderer who is within days of becoming the oldest U.S. prisoner executed in decades asked an appeals court Monday to block his execution, arguing he is too old and sick to be put to death.

Death penalty opponents, meanwhile, asked Gov. Bob Riley to have mercy on James Hubbard, set to die by lethal injection on Thursday for a 1977 killing.

Psychological and medical screenings showed Hubbard is suffering from dementia, hepatitis, diverticulitis, hypertension, acute back pain and is mildly retarded, according to papers filed by his lawyers with the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Executing Hubbard would be cruel and unusual, they claim.

"We contend that he's basically too old," said Hubbard attorney Alan Rose of Boston.

The state is opposing any delay. It contends Hubbard is competent for execution.

Records from the Death Penalty Information Center show Hubbard would be the oldest U.S. prisoner put to death since executions resumed in 1977 with approval of the U.S. Supreme Court. In asking Riley to intervene, the Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty said Hubbard would be the oldest person executed in the United States since 1941.

The following was included in an e-mail newsletter we received last week. 



That note:



"Since black hats are using other people's e-mail addresses to send not only spam but viruses,

it's important for you to know that I NEVER send attachments or executable programs to my

subscribers. If you find any such file in something that appears to come from me, it is a dangerous

fraud. Do not open it."



Ditto from us.  The "black hats" love the deadmaneating.com address.  It is frequently hijacked.



We here at DME rarely deal with any e-mail, much less do something fancy like sending attachments.