Today is the anniversary of the murder of Police Officer Daniel Faulkner. Officer Faulkner was 25. He was shot dead in the line of duty by Mumia Abu-Jamal [né Wesley Cook] on December 9, 1981. Mr. Abu-Jamal was charged with murder, was convicted, and sentenced to death in two separate trials. The death sentence was overturned in December 2001 and a new sentence hearing ordered.
After becoming a death row celebrity, Mr. Abu-Jamal was made an honorary citizen of Paris and has his very own street in the city of St. Denis.
There are certain issues that transcend party politics. The conferral of crank honors on cop-killers you might think something everyone can agree is wrong. Last Wednesday the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning St. Denis for its Mumia street-naming prank (Paris escapes censure). The resolution easily passed 368-31 with 8 present votes and 21 absentees (no vote).
BILL TITLE: Condemning the decision of St. Denis, France, to name a street in honor of Mumia Abu-Jamal, the convicted murder[er] of Philadelphia Police Office Danny Faulkner.
All the Nay votes were Democrats. All thirty-one. All.
Neil Abercrombie (Hawaii) Carolyn Kilpatrick (Mich.) Robert Scott (Va.) William Clay (Mo.) Barbara Lee (Calif.) Jose Serrano (N.Y.) Emanuel Cleaver (Mo.) Cynthia McKinney (Ga.) Fortney Hillman Stark Jr. (Calif.) John Conyers (Mich.)* Gregory Meeks (N.Y.) Edolphus Towns (N.Y.) Jim Cooper (Tenn.) Jerrold Nadler (N.Y.) Tom Udall (N.M.) Danny Davis (Ill.) James Oberstar (Minn.) Nydia Velazquez (N.Y.) Raul Grijalva (Ariz.) Major Owens (N.Y.) Maxine Waters (Calif.) Maurice Hinchey (N.Y.) Ed Pastor (Ariz.) Anthony Weiner (N.Y.) Mike Honda (Calif.) Donald Payne (N.J.) Lynn Woolsey (Calif.) Jesse Jackson Jr. (Ill.) Charles Rangel (N.Y.) Eddie Bernice Johnson (Texas) Bobby Rush (Ill.)
All the ditherers were Democrats. All eight. All.
Voting "present": Sam Farr (Calif.), Al Green (Texas), Luis Gutierrez (Ill.), Sheila Jackson-Lee (Texas), John Lewis (Ga.), George Miller (Calif.), Janice Schakowsky (Ill.) and Melvin Watt (N.C.).
Every member of the Pennsylvania delegation who was present voted "yes."
* John Conyers, a ranking crank Democrat, will be the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee in the new Congress.
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