What kind of society kills off its mentally disturbed and low-IQ citizens? Us, as is shown by two executions earlier this week. A Missouri inmate who was considered mentally disturbed was executed, as was a Georgia man with an IQ of 70. This is not uncommon in our American justices system.
I find this VERY unsettling.
I’m not surprised that Ray Rice assaulted his fiancé (now wife) or that the NFL is letting him off with a slap on the back, er, I mean, on the wrist. A look at the history of NFL game suspensions (rather than kicking them off the team) shows that these Good Old Boys think that violence is a healthy part of the sport—or is it a sport in itself? Consider these suspensions:
Felony aggravated assault on your fiancé/wife = 1 -2 games
Assault on a former roommate = 3 games
Alleged sexual assault in a nightclub = 4 games
Altercation with a bodyguard = 4 games
Attacking a stripper and threatening a security guard, or DUI that killed someone = 16 games
Participating in a “bounty” = 3 – 16 games
Illegal hits on opposing players during a game = 1 – 2 games
Shooting self in the leg = 4 games [my personal favorite]
Participating in dog fighting = 2 games
DUI = 2 – 3 games
Multiple DUIs and other incidents = 32 games
Involvement with steroids or tattoos = 6 games
For a more offenses and penalties, see the chart at CBS.com.
By the way, Commissioner’s Roger Goodell and the league’s excuse for Rice’s mild penalty is that they have to go by precedent. I guess reason and justice don’t count, especially if the offender wins games for you.
What do events in Arizona a few days ago, in Oklahoma in April, and in Ohio in January have in common? Three botched executions, in which the condemned man tried to gulp air for nearly two hours (Arizona), writhed in agony for several minutes before dying of a heart attack (Oklahoma), and snorted, gasped, and struggled for some time before the lethal drugs killed him (Ohio). These–and many similar events–also show that carrying out a death sentence can be far from the humane practice it’s legally supposed to be.
I feel compassion for families of victims. I understand their need for “closure” (whatever that is) and that they believe in “an eye for an eye” (even Christians, whose faith says that Christ came to bring mercy and forgiveness, replacing the Old Testament law of getting even). And I know that executions are codified in our laws. But unless they can be carried out in a legal (meaning humane) fashion, they should be discontinued. Otherwise, they aren’t justice but simply vengeance.
A thought for this day when patriotism swells in our hearts:
I’m going to miss Maya Angelou. I admired her as a poet–may some of my poems be as deeply human as hers some day–as well as a person who put her early life’s adversities and injustices into a personal force to fight such inhumanity aimed towards others. She was Woman at Womanhood’s best.
If Ryan Ferguson had been in Texas or some other states, would he have been executed before he could have been exonerated and released? As the judge pointed out, he is definitely and obviously innocent of the murder of sports editor Kent Heitholt.
I keep thinking that executions are far too permanent and irrevocable to use in such an imperfect legal system.
Atheists are Americans, too. Therefore, religion doesn’t belong in a Presidential Inauguration. That’s what I’m hearing from my atheist friends. They don’t like the Oath of Office taken on a Bible and ending with “so help me God.” And they certainly don’t like today’s National Day of Prayer at (gasp!) the National Cathedral.
My reply to them is this: When our country was formed, even atheists who helped frame the Constitution agreed to the inclusion of the Deity, as long as the rights of non-believers were secure. The National Day of Prayer goes back to those same times, when George Washington participated. Today we continue what has become a national tradition, one that harks back even farther, when Pilgrims sailed here so they could exercise their right to worship. (I like to think that a few of them were, in reality, atheists and agnostics, coming along because they felt that they could help form a new nation in which they, too, were not persecuted.)
Is something right or good simply because it’s tradition? Of course not. But if it’s based on fighting injustice, and if it’s nurtured into something that allows justice for all…that makes it good and right.
Besides, if atheists are right, all we are doing is promoting good (although they call it “brainwashing”). On the other hand, if believers are right…well, we and our country can use all help can get .
