Headline via DrudgeReport.com
See video of gripping victim impact statements here
Parents of murdered British students criticise Barack Obama (via telegraph.co.uk)
The parents of two British students murdered in Florida have criticised President Barack Obama for his lack of compassion over their son’s deaths.
3:00PM BST 29 Mar 2012
They spoke out as teenager Shawn Tyson began a life sentence after being found guilty of the murder of James Cooper and James Kouzaris last April.
The 17 year old, who shot the men as they begged for their lives, will die in prison.
His conviction of first degree murder carries an mandatory life sentence without the chance of parole.
The powerfully built teen even looked bored as emotional DVD presentations about the dead men prepared by their grieving parents were shown in court.
Tyson, who has the word ‘Savage’ tattooed across his chest didn’t show a flicker of emotion, slumping in his seat as he was forced to watch a montage of photos showing the victims from early childhood to young men.
Two close friends of the dead men who had attended the eight day trial in Sarasota, Florida. had also delivered highly emotional impact statements to the court prior to the sentencing.
Paul Davies and Joe Hallett spoke of the “living hell” they and others who knew the men had suffered since the murders.
During the eight day trial they had been shown graphic crime scene and autopsy photos shown in court.
Later speaking after Tyson was jailed Davies and Hallett lashed out at Mr Obama saying the deaths of their friends was “not worthy of ten minutes of his time.”
Davies said:”We would like to publicly express our dissatisfaction at the lack of any public or private message of support or condolence from any American governing body or indeed, President Obama himself.
“Mr Kouzaris has written to President Obama on three separate occasions and is yet to even receive the courtesy of a reply.
“It would perhaps appear that Mr Obama sees no political value in facilitating such a request or that the lives of two British tourists are not worthy of ten minutes of his time.”
The rebuke follows Mr Obama’s personal intervention into the shooting in Florida of a young black teenager by a white-Hispanic neighbourhood watch captain.
The death of 17 year old Trayvon Martin has sparked nationwide protests with his supporters claiming he was victim of a racist attack.
Mr Obama entered the controversy last week by saying if he had a son he would have looked like Martin.
The alleged assailant in Martin’s death has not been charged with any crime having claimed he was attacked first and used Florida’s ‘stand your ground’ law to shoot in self defence.
The criticism of the US President was made on behalf of the Cooper’s parents Stanley and Sandy, from Warwicks, and Peter and Hazel Kouzaris, from Northampton by Davies in a statement read outside the courtroom.
The parents of the two victims did not attend the trial but they had access to the proceedings from a live video feed.
The filmed interview of the Kouzaris’s was played to the court while a message from Sandy Cooper was read out by the prosecutor.
The victims close friends delivered an emotional impact statement with Hallett telling Tyson he hoped he would be haunted by his actions.
He told him: “Imagine them being killed. Now try to imagine that they died because someone creept up on them and shot them numerous times for no good reason. Welcome to our world. Every night you go to sleep, every morning you wake up, I want you to think of my friends who you murdered. Their images will be imprinted on your conscience up until your very last breath in life.”
I think these idiots are really confused. You see, the person who did the shooting is going to jail, for life. Justice, as we define it, has been served.
I believe the president has better things to do than write condolence cards, although I agree with the political value purpose.
Also notice, black guy shoots white people, life in jail. White guy shoots black people, doesn’t even face trial.
Hey idiot, Zimmerman isn’t white.
He is a “white Hispanic” whatever that means.
He is not a white Hispanic anymore than Barack Obama is a black Caucasian. He is legally identified as Hispanic. Why must you lie about this? And this IS the point. This was ONLY about race because the media falsely labeled him as white.
Again, who cares about race, why the fuck should the president be expressing condolences or regret about murders, especially those that have been solved and successfully prosecuted? Is he now the consoler in chief?
“He is a “white Hispanic” whatever that means.”
You are truly a moron.
I am offended at your suggestion that our police don’t investigate crimes if they like the race involved. Only an ignorant foreigner could think such a thing.
it is fucking amazing how many of the leftards that comment in these hallowed halls are foreigners or misguided americans working in nanny states. keep up the good word, mad.
But please, overlook the point, you seem to be very adept at this.
How many hairs does a conservative have to split to win an argument?
How many conservatives does it take to get indignant about a retarded non-issue involving Obama?
Question for the liberal scum
If George Zimmerman would have won the Nobel Peace Prize would he be described as a “white-Hispanic”?
On average in the US 45 murders occur daily. Of these murders 49% are committed by blacks, 93% of which are black on black.
Ask yourself, why are we talking about Trayvon
Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals, doesn’t apply with murdered white people.
If you’re with us you are not a racist.
If you’re against us you are a racist.
If you’re with us you support women’s rights.
If you’re against us you oppress women.
If you don’t pay taxes and live off entitlements you are part of the 99%
If you go to work every day and pay taxes you are part of the 1%.
Saul Alinsky tactics:
1. “Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have.”
2. “Never go outside the expertise of your people. When an action or tactic is outside the experience of the people, the result is confusion, fear and retreat…. [and] the collapse of communication.
3. “Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy. Look for ways to increase insecurity, anxiety and uncertainty. (This happens all the time. Watch how many organizations under attack are blind-sided by seemingly irrelevant arguments that they are then forced to address.)
4. “Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules. You can kill them with this, for they can no more obey their own rules than the Christian church can live up to Christianity.”
5. “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon. It is almost impossible to counteract ridicule. Also it infuriates the opposition, which then reacts to your advantage.”
6. “A good tactic is one your people enjoy.”
7. “A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag. Man can sustain militant interest in any issue for only a limited time….”
8. “Keep the pressure on, with different tactics and actions, and utilize all events of the period for your purpose.”
9. “The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself.”
10. “The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition. It is this unceasing pressure that results in the reactions from the opposition that are essential for the success of the campaign.”
11. “If you push a negative hard and deep enough, it will break through into its counterside… every positive has its negative.”
12. “The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative.”
13. Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it. In conflict tactics there are certain rules that [should be regarded] as universalities. One is that the opposition must be singled out as the target and ‘frozen.’…
“…any target can always say, ‘Why do you center on me when there are others to blame as well?’ When your ‘freeze the target,’ you disregard these [rational but distracting] arguments…. Then, as you zero in and freeze your target and carry out your attack, all the ‘others’ come out of the woodwork very soon. They become visible by their support of the target…’