BRITS STICKING THEIR SNOBBISH NOSES WHERE THEY DO NOT BELONG

The Guardian, a British tabloid, filed a request last December under the Texas Public Information Act for information about how much pentobarbital Texas had in stock. Pentobarbital is one of the three drugs used in executions.

The Guardian is in league with Reprieve, a British anti-death penalty group that successfully has pressured drug makers to stop selling to American states with death penalty laws. Reprieve wants to learn what drug maker is supplying Texas with its supply of pentobarbital.

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDJC) is seeking authorization not to release the information requested by The Guardian. In a brief filed with the Texas Attorney General’s office, TDCJ Assistant General Counsel Patricia Fleming asserts that releasing the information "creates a substantial risk of physical harm to our supplier. ... It is not a question of if, but when, Reprieve's unrestrained harassment will escalate into violence..." The AG’s response is expected later this month.

The Houston Chronicle noted that in a 2008 case, the Attorney General's Office sided with TDCJ in denying Forbes magazine the names of companies that supplied execution drugs, noting that "releasing the names of the companies would place the employees of those companies in imminent threat of physical danger." An appeals court rejected that ruling the following year.

Here is some information from the Chronicle about Reprieve’s efforts in cutting off the supply of lethal drugs to American states with death penalty laws:

__Pentobarbital was added to Texas’ lethal cocktail in May 2011, replacing sodium thiopental after that drug's maker stopped production, in part because of Reprieve's anti-drug agitation.

__Reprieve followed by directing international pressure on Lundbeck, pentobarbital's Danish maker, obtaining a July 2011 agreement that the company no longer would sell to prisons in death penalty states. The production plant later was sold, but the new owner abided by the agreement.

__Reprieve also targeted a pharmaceutical company that had supplied sodium thiopental to Arizona. On its website, Reprieve posted photos of the supplier's office along with its tax returns and the name, phone number and address of its owner.

The Brits are well known for looking down their snobbish noses at other countries. Mexico, the International Court of Justice (aka the World Court), Reprieve, Amnesty International and other foreign death penalty opponents have tried to interfere with executions that have been scheduled in the U.S.

The Brits, the Mexicans, the World Court and all the international groups opposed to the death penalty have no business involving themselves in America’s lawful executions of cold blooded subhuman killers. To them I say: MIND YOUR OWN FUCKING BUSINESS AND DO NOT STICK YOUR NOSES WHERE THEY DO NOT BELONG!