From 'Schwarzenegger Stadium' to 'Stanley Tookie Williams Stadium'

It's amazing how many people lean on the Vatican's opposition to abortion and birth control but totally ignore its opposition to the Iraq War and the death penalty. If I don't agree with their conception of conception I can at least respect their intellectual consistency.

According to AP, via hatablog: "Pope Benedict XVI’s top official for justice matters denounced the death penalty for going against redemption and human dignity. 'We know the death penalty doesn’t resolve anything,' Cardinal Renato Martino told AP Television News. 'Even a criminal is worthy of respect because he is a human being. The death penalty is a negation of human dignity.'"

And it's not just the Vatican. The EU views capital punishment as barbaric (see below for the company we keep) and Austria in particular is more than a little ashamed at having their de facto representative be the public face of such a controversial execution.

The leadership of Austria's Green Party (not a fringe group by any means) have called for Arnie's citizenship to be stripped.

Richard Schadauer, the chairman of the Association of Christianity and Social Democracy, commented: "Mr. Williams had converted, and unlike Mr. Schwarzenegger, opposed every form of violence." Ouch.

German Green Party leader Volker Beck held nothing back: "Schwarzenegger’s decision is a cowardly decision."

But this is the best part: "In Schwarzenegger’s hometown of Graz, local Greens said they would file a petition to remove his name from the southern city’s sports stadium. A Christian political group went even further, suggesting it be renamed the 'Stanley Tookie Williams Stadium.'" (Playahata.com)

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Here's the illustrious list of nations that still execute people:

AFGHANISTAN, ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA, BAHAMAS, BANGLADESH, BARBADOS, BELARUS, BELIZE, BOTSWANA, BURUNDI, CAMEROON, CHAD, CHINA, COMOROS, CONGO (Democratic Republic), CUBA, DOMINICA, EGYPT, EQUATORIAL GUINEA, ERITREA, ETHIOPIA, GABON, GHANA, GUATEMALA, GUINEA, GUYANA, INDIA, INDONESIA, IRAN, IRAQ, JAMAICA, JAPAN, JORDAN, KAZAKSTAN, KOREA (North), KOREA (South), KUWAIT, KYRGYZSTAN, LAOS, LEBANON, LESOTHO, LIBYA, MALAWI, MALAYSIA, MONGOLIA, NIGERIA, OMAN, PAKISTAN, PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY, PHILIPPINES, QATAR, RWANDA, SAINT CHRISTOPHER & NEVIS, SAINT LUCIA, SAINT VINCENT & GRENADINES, SAUDI ARABIA, SIERRA LEONE, SINGAPORE, SOMALIA, SUDAN, SWAZILAND, SYRIA, TAIWAN, TAJIKISTAN, TANZANIA, THAILAND, TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO, UGANDA, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, UZBEKISTAN, VIET NAM, YEMEN, ZAMBIA, ZIMBABWE