A Laugh a Day keeps the Executioner Away

I’ve got some really great new that I’d like to share with those out there who are concerned that many, including myself, may face an unjustified execution at the state’s corrupt hands. We have the power to now effectively abolish the death penalty… honest. All we have to do is truly believe and za-sham, no more executioners.

As many of us know the latest feel-good fad sweeping America is a book by now best-selling author Rhonda Byrne, “The Secret.” Already dear Oprah has devoted two entire shows to this book and sales have gone into the millions as those looking for a quick fix run to their nearest bookstore and buy into this pseudo-scientific babble.

Basically the premise of this latest craze is a contemporary application of the long talked of “Law of Attraction,” which preaches that each of us can miraculously change any circumstance in our life by positive thinking – just ask and believe and it will be. It’s so simple kids can even do it. Then again, the blind and trusting faith of a child helps facilitate this concept.

Myself I think Rhonda Byrne is a genius – but not because she’s now sharing “The Secret” with the masses. Rather, after years as a rather unsuccessful television producer she realized her own true calling… a master thief. Her recent best selling book is really nothing more than glamorized theft of the thoughts and ideas if the renowned and respected Pentecostal minister Norman Vincent Peale, who during the dark days if the American Depression (early 1930’s) ministered to the less fortunate on the streets of New York city. He shared a message of hope and faith to the down trodden and depressed; listing them from their own circumstances.

Many years later Norman Vincent Peale wrote a book called “The Power of Positive Thinking” in which he provided the message that Rhonda Byrne now preaches as if her own. With the donations and profits derived form his inspirational messages Peale established the still open “center for Positive Thinking” about an hour North of New York City. This was and still remains the legacy of a man who was motivated by his selfless desire to help those less fortunate. Yet in just a few months Rhonda Byrne has now shanghaied his message and made millions of dollars with the help of apparently clueless Oprah Winfrey – and how much of that money will be going to help those less fortunate or establish a foundation intended to perpetuate the gift so free given to others.

But what of the message itself? Can there be any truth to this “Secret?” Can in be that all I’ve really got to do to hold the executioner at bay is believe that it won’t happen? Could it really be that simple?

I believe in the power of faith and the perseverance of hope. But I do not and I cannot believe in the American judicial system. If all it takes is believing then perhaps rather than beg so many to simply care enough to help expose my wrongful conviction I should instead stand at my death row cell door clicking my heels together, chanting repeatedly, “there’s no place like home.” That worked for Dorothy as I saw it myself on T.V. So I know it has to be true, right?

But as I read Rhonda Byrne’s twist on Norman Vincent Peale’s inspirational message, even if I could get beyond my belief that she’s stealing an idea that was intended to help those less fortunate and shamelessly exploiting it through mass market sensationalism – all for her own selfish profit, then how do I get over the even greater obstacle in my ability to have faith in this corrupt system? How do I overcome my knowledge of just how inherently corrupt our judicial system is?

Perhaps if I believe strong enough those prosecutors who are perpetuating this injustice against me will miraculously develop a moral conscience and bow their heads in shame and admit that they were wrong. But the problem with that is that these parasitic prosecutors are psychopaths that prey upon those unable to defend against the seemingly infinite resources of the state, targeting those socially and financially disadvantaged for wrongful prosecution – convicting and condemning innocent men and women for no reason but to advance their own careers by maintaining a high conviction rate. See, “Southern Injustice: Exposing the New Face of Bigotry and Injustice in The South.” at (www.southerninjustice.com) and rather than address why these state sanctioned serial killers simply have no conscience. My common sense tells me that you simply cannot appeal to the conscious of a person who by their very nature has no conscience.

What if these state prosecutors who are already personally responsible for innocent people having been wrongfully convicted and condemned to death now miraculously did develop a conscience? Would they admit they were wrong? The fact is that despite over 125 men and women being exonerated and released from death row across the country, I have yet to see even one prosecutor actually admit that maybe – just maybe they were wrong, which brings us back to my belief that these prosecutors are cold blooded psychopathic state sanctioned serial killers not at all unlike a blood crazed rabid dog – and we all watched “Ole Yeller” and know that there’s really only one way to cure a rabid dog.

The problem is there’s virtually no accountability… these prosecutors act with complete impunity, knowing that the judicial system will protect them from being held accountable even if they deliberately coerce witnesses to lie, fabricate evidence and deliberately send an innocent man to death row. See, Prosecutorial Misconduct: Does Immunity Invite Injustice?

What has to be understood is the corruption that drives these parasites. Most prosecutors actually do follow the law and their own conscience – but it’s the relatively few who are corrupted by the power entrusted in them and rather than seek justice the job becomes a means in which to build their own career… by any means necessary. Not surprisingly when wrongful convictions are exposed a pattern begins to show that it’s the same state attorneys who break the law to wrongfully convict and condemn innocent men and women. That a relatively small group of corrupt state attorneys actually account for an alarming rate of wrongful convictions and yet the judicial system continues to protect them, even promoting them to higher office rather than tar and feather them as it should be. See, "The Anatomy of A Corrupt Prosecutor".

If only it were so simple as to just believe that an injustice could come to and end by believing in the power of positive thought. But then, how much faith could a person out into a message from a person who shamelessly stole the concept from someone who intended only good for it?

The good news is that a few weeks ago I read an article in the USA Today newspaper that I can believe in. (See, USA Today, March 12th, 2007 “A laugh a day may help keep death farther away.”) According to this scientific study conducted at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology having a sense of humor has now been proven to prolong a person’s life. And I’ve now got it in writing, conveniently taped to the space over the door of my death row cell. If the power of positive thought can move mountains and make miracles happen, then just imagine what I can accomplish with the power of a sense of humor! A laugh a day keeps the executioner away – bite me, you slimy bastard! Ha Ha Ha! See, now I know the true “Secret” – all I got to do is stand at my cell door clicking my heels together chanting “There’s no place like home” repeatedly while spontaneously laughing and I can escape the executioner… they can’t kill a crazy man, right? Beam me up, Scotty, the jokes on them. (And now I close with a big smile!)

Michael Lambrix