I have just finished reading Mr. Wasserman's article and would like to comment on it.  I live in Marshall, Texas, and was here during the Karla Fay Tucker episode.  I recall vividly how angry and saddened I was at the treatment she received under the Bush regime.  I am not condoning her actions; she deserved to be punished for the crimes she committed.  But I did not feel that the death penalty was appopriate for her.  She admitted her wrongs and had sought and apparently found the absolution in, as Mr. Wasserman noted, the religious conversion that Bush credits for making him a man worthy of receiving direct instructions and guidance from God on how to rule the country and dominate the world.  

Ms. Tucker was a bright, articulate woman that had made a difference in the lives of the women she came into contact with in the prison system.  She was seen as a shining beacon, a person to teach them how to cope and learn from their mistakes.  For her efforts she was put to death and then ridiculed by the one person who could have used the "compassion" he credits himself with.  The good people of Texas and the world mourned the loss of Karla Faye and the potential she had. It is a blight that will never be erased from my memory.  I recall that even the Pope begged Bush to spare her.  And the most horrific follow-up to this?  He commuted the death sentence of Henry Lee Lucas, one of the most prolific, and confessed, mass murderers in history.   The one and only time he ever intervened in a death sentence ruling in the great State of Texas.  And the nation wonders if this man could be so cold as to look the other way when human lives are being degraded and blotted out in the prisons under his control now?  I'm not a "religious" person but I am a Christian and I know there is a higher court that will convene and George W. Bush will be held accountable for his actions.  And there will be no appeals.

Bobbie