The link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10251767/
Let me get this straight... We, as a nation, spend at least some portion of our time debating the merits of capital punishment... And then I read this:
“Virginia’s governor on Tuesday spared the life of a convicted killer who would have been the 1,000th person executed in the United States since the Supreme Court allowed capital punishment to resume in 1976.”
I'm sorry, what? In 29 years, we, as a nation, have executed 999 people, and we're actually talking about it? Are you friggin kidding me? Every year, in a nation of about 296 million people, we execute 34 people, and this is a topic of debate? This issue, which effects about one in every 9 million Americans... We're debating this? Really?
I'm dumbfounded. I assumed we executed at least a thousand people a year. Hell, Democrats would have you believe that George W Bush personally carried out at least a thousand while he was Governor of Texas... But no. 34 a year, in the whole nation.
According to this page, there are some very serious issues we, as a nation, need to face.
First off, 219 people are killed by horses every year. When are we going to do something about the cruel and inhumane practice of equestrianism? Are we a first world nation, like France, which treats its citizens with compassion and love? Or are we a bunch of sadistic thugs, who trample our populace beneath the hooves of our retroactive and unilateralistic hate machine?
Domestic wiring and appliances are responsible for 131 deaths every year. That's more than 4 times as many people as we deliberately electricute with a special chair made specifically for the purpose. Maybe if we just sentence killers to wire ceiling fans 8 hours a day, we'd be ahead of the game?
Finally, dogs are responsible for 14 deaths per year, despite over 800,000 people seeking medical care for dog bites. If that tells you one thing, it tells you that we, as Americans, are not spending enough time focusing on the jaw strength of our pets.
Let me close by saying this: Our legal system seems to be saying that it could only find about 34 people per year that it was totally sure needed killing. I do not have any legal training, but I bet you I could find 34 people a day who most assuredly need killing, and I don't even leave my basement.