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IT’S ONLY MY OPINION: Stan on murder, the death penalty, and scams

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By Stanley P. Gershbein

Brooklyn Daily

In bars, barber shops, and at cocktail parties all over America, there is a lot of talk about the botched execution of the rapist and murderer in Oklahoma.

They discuss how the man was strapped to a gurney and injected with a new untried cocktail of lethal drugs. The Los Angeles Times described how he “writhed, grunted, and bucked in obvious agony.”

With tears in her eyes, one lady near me softly said, “Oh that poor man.”

No. She was not being sarcastic. And you’ll pardon me if I don’t shed a tear for Clayton Lockett.

We know about the execution, but how many of us are familiar with Stephanie Neiman, the 19-year-old girl who our murderer bound with duct tape, raped, shot twice, and then was buried while she was still alive.

You don’t? Well let me repeat that. She was bound with duct tape, raped, shot twice, and then was buried while she was still alive.

You want to talk about pain and torture, think first how she must have cried for her life and begged not to be hurt.

Talk about her, not the miserable excuse of a human being. The only thing I found wrong with his execution is that it took such a long time to get him on the gurney. He should have been put to death many years ago by public hanging. Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin, could have rented the 85,000-seat Gaylord Memorial Stadium, charged 10-bucks-a-head with all proceeds going to a victim’s relief fund. Perhaps, in that way, there would be something good from this horrible situation.

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Watch the ads carefully: In very large bold print the ad shouted “Free iPhone.” Then, under the last “e” in phone, in teensy, tiny print is the word “app.” I wonder how many of us fell for this deceptive ad.

Other words to watch out for are “up to” and “from.” If the ad reads “Up to 50 percent off” and they only offer 10 percent off on the particular item you need, technically they are not lying. They’re also within the margin of truth when the ad reads “from one dollar.” Sure, there is one item available for a buck. All the rest are five, 10, and more.

My favorite in the somewhat deceptive advertising arena is the word “Bogo.” It has come to mean “buy one get one free.”

Sometimes the second of the same item actually is free. Other times the price of the first item is doubled. The net result is that we wind up buying two of the same item at the identical price that each of them was the week before when we could have bought only one.

In my travels around America, I came across one of my favorite offenders, Albertson’s, a supermarket chain of more than 900 stores in 18 states. I have seen the following in several of them. “Buy one get two free.” I could not help but notice that the price for one is tripled to get the two free. I am StanGershbein@Bellsouth.net asking, where’s the bargain?

Read Stan Gershbein's column every Monday on BrooklynDaily.com.

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