Expand the Death Penalty - Part 1: The Premise

It’s not a question of whether the death penalty is going to be expanded. It’s a matter of who is going to expand it. Many of the states here in the U.S. have eliminated or severely limited the application of the death penalty over the years. The reasons given were that it was uncivilized, barbaric, we might convict an innocent person, and it brought “us” down to the level of the criminals. In short, it made us feel good to be merciful. We were stupid. We chose to be stupid because we were afraid of getting our hands dirty and bloody. Guess what. Our hands are dirty and bloody anyway.

Every day we turn on the news (some of us do, anyway) only to hear that yet another released criminal has murdered yet another innocent. Every day we turn on the news to hear that another cowardly, suicidal, terrorist has killed more innocents. We all lament about how awful it is and how something should be done after having, ourselves, been the enablers for these criminals and terrorists.

Every so often, we are faced with the prospect of building new prisons. Everyone (except me, apparently) agrees that we ought to build those prisons, but none of us really wants to pay for them. We do pay for them, but we’re pissed about it. We treat these criminals very well and we’re pissed about that. And by very well, I mean much better than any of them treated their victims, whatever their individual crime was (with very few exceptions).

We, as a society, don’t like the idea of playing God, making decisions of life and death. What we choose to remain ignorant about is that we do it anyway, whether we like it and are aware of it or not. When we choose life for a violent criminal, we are choosing death for that criminal’s next victim. I believe it is time to take our heads out of the sand and take responsibility for the shape of our society.

In case you are wondering, yes, the fact that this is part one does mean that there will be at least a part two. This will deal with terrorism at the appropriate point.

Al Gore Really Cares – NOT!

I got home from work tonight to see a story about Al Gore III, son of our former Vice-President, the man who until recently claimed he was President despite the fact that the rules for winning and losing had been clearly laid out for over 200 years, and the man shoving guilt about global warming down our throats in the face of mounting evidence that we need not feel guilty. He was arrested again for reckless activity involving drugs and cars – the kind of things that usually ends with an innocent here at the bottom being dead.

So what did this stalwart public servant of many decades have to say about it? He is just glad that his son was safe. In the face of his son’s stupid, reckless actions, I heard nothing at all about being glad that the rest of us were safe.

Why? Because, as stated in the purpose for this blog, the vast majority of those at the top don’t really care about those of us at the bottom. If they did, we would be able to see it in their actions, without them constantly telling us that they care and trying to prove it by solving fictitious problems and claiming to have invented the internet.

Please go away, Mr. Gore and take care of your own problems.

Gordon Brown’s Reaction to Terror

Gordon Brown took office as Great Britain’s Prime Minister replacing Tony Blair on June 29, 2007. On the same day, two related terrorist plots were foiled – in part by the idiot terrorists themselves. The next day, they tried it again in Glasgow. With doctors like this roaming the face of the earth, it’s a wonder malpractice insurance is as low as it is. Gordon Brown has received accolades for the way he has handled the situation.

Personally, I don’t know a whole lot about Brown except that he stands in stark contrast in style to Blair and appears to be a friend of the United States as well. He is being roundly cheered for his response, which has essentially been to tell Brits to carry on.

OK. I get it, but I would have found him more likeable and more credible if I had heard him give Blair some credit for the phenomenal investigation that MI5, presumably in cooperation with other intelligence agencies around the world, has conducted in the past few days. Brown didn’t put together a team in a few hours capable of conducting a James Bond style operation reaching around the world to capture terrorists as far away as Australia-heading-for Pakistan within a few days. No, that was put in place by his predecessor during the previous 10 years.

It’s all well and good that Gordon Brown be the leader, the strong leader that learns from the mistakes of the past – as we all should. But Tony Blair deserves better than to be thrown out like yesterday’s garbage, and he will get better treatment than that here. Those are HIS fingerprints you see around the throats of these terrorists.

Thank you, Prime Minister Blair for that and so much more. May your successor be as successful and memorable – flamboyant and charismatic or not. We will see and assess Browns mettle during their prosecution.