Recent Correspondence

January 28, 2002

What's up? I got the viewcard you sent to me posted on Dec 29, which I got here on 1/4. So, before this month ran out, I thought I'd get a response in the mail by tomorrow. "Pink Houses" by John Mellencamp is on my personal stereo, and it is 3:36pm. The guards will be changing shifts in about 20 minutes or so at 4pm. "Only the Lonely" by The Motels came on next. I am tuned to WMXQ102.9FM, which plays only an '80's format, so they have a retro thing going:)

I put one liberty .34 cent stamp on the envelope, and one of those coupon-response int'l certificate over it, which are valued at .80 cents at the post office. So, let me know whether an .80-cent stamp was affixed next to the one I put in the upper righthand corner, okay? It saves me from having to put extra postage on the overseas mail, so I use the IRC's whenever possible. :) Can you help me with a book of .34-cent stamps? I don't know if I've asked you before? Have I? You CAN order US stamps via www.usps.com if you have no access to them in Tokyo. :)

I see that you finally moved to Japan, after a long vacation in Indonesia? The postcard was pretty cool. I've seen stuff in documentaries on PBS about Indonesia, plus, I was on the island of Okinawa, & I also went to Subic Bay, & Manila in the Philippines, but I've never been to Indonesia in my 4 years with the USMC. "Message in the Bottle," by The Police came on next.

I know that you've been getting settled in at your new job, which can be exhausting, huh? Eventually you'll pick up on the things you need to learn. :) I have faith in you, Elias. "Against the Wind," by Bob Seger is on now.

Check out the way the Al-Qaeda suspects were being handled by the army soldiers in the picture above [referring to newspaper clipping glued to the written letter], but they had to do it that way. Those were deadly, trained terrorists and couldn't be taken for granted. There are hundreds of Al-Queda terrorists from the Taliban at the base in Cuba, but they are merely "detainees," so they aren't entitled to the rights given to actual POW's. There has been a lot of debate over that recently by various human rights groups, but secretary of defence, Donald Rumsfeld, defends his position on the matter. When all that shit went down on 9/11, killing thousands of people, everyone was all gung ho to kick some Taliban ass! Now, they are crying about the way Al-Queda suspects are being handled! Go figure... "Spirit of Radio," by Rush was just on, followed by "Rock & Roll," by Led Zeppelin. We've also been fed supper which was a burger but no bread to put it on, so I put ketchup on it and ate it with my fingers. Everything else on the tray was garbage so I didn't bother with it...

There was to have been an execution here on 1/24 at 8pm, but the US Supreme Court granted the guy a reprieve, and they've agreed to review issues involving a judge being able to override a jury's recommendation, centered around a 2000 AZ case. It actually has the potential to get a lot of guys new penalty phases, buy my trial judge DIDN'T override the jury's recommendation. So, I doubt it will benefit my case in particular. The 12 jurors seated on my case unanimously voted to give me the death sentence, and the judge went along with their recommendation when he sentenced me to die in 1992. Can you believe I've been on death row for 10YRS?

I'm listening to 100.7FM now, which plays classic rock music, and there's less dee-jay chatter. "The Joker," by the Steve Miller band is on now. Check out the babe in the sexy lingerie [again referring to a magazine clipping attached to the letter] Elias. :) She's waiting on you. How is your love life in Tokyo? I remember HOW hard it was to score a chick when I was on Okinawa, but it was an entirely different story when we had a port of call at Subic Bay & Manila in the Philippines! "Who Do You Love?," by George Thoroughgood came on next.

There was a main drag in Subic Bay called Magaysay Drive, which had hundreds of nightclubs along it! So, the ratio of chicks to guys was overwhelming, & even the ugliest of guys was sure to get the girl. :) I met a bar girl in Subic Bay while I was there, and stayed with her the entire time the ship was docked, and when it left to go to Manila, she took a train to meet me! :) They were mainly looking for a way to get "stateside," which is why they gave us the royal treatment.

The "powers that be" frowned upon us getting married while we were overseas, so it was disco-waged highly but a lot of guys got married anyway.

Sasha Cohen [again referring to a photo] is among the 3 ladies who'll be competing at the upcoming Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. Sarah Hughes placed 3rd but will be among them, so she oughta be happy, huh? I'm gonna watch the coverage on NBC whenever I can, since they'll be airing the games. All eyes will be focused on Salt Lake City, so I hope everything goes as planned, & there are no acts of terrorism...

The weather here has been unseasonably mild, and today's high was 80F! The low tonight will only be 56F which is higher than normal for this late in Jan. By the time you receive this it will already be Feb. My daughter's b-day is on Feb 9th, and she'll be 14! Unreal. In 4 years she'll have graduated from high school, and will have moved onto college. Time marches on... The last time I'd seen her she was only 1 1/2, so she grew up without me.

Still no word from my attornies, but there hasn't been much going on in my case at this point in time. The judge hasn't rendered a ruling on a post-conviction motion that was filed back on Oct. 3, 1995! I can't argue since it buys me more time. :) That's all for now, so let me go here. "Glass Onion," by the Beatles was just on, followed by "More Ways Than One," by Peter Frampton.

Peace Be With You.

Sincerely, Anton