Thursday, May 25, 2006

Morally acceptable compared to what?

Doc Berman and the Gallup poll bring news that more Americans find the death penalty morally acceptable than wearing fur, stem cell research or gambling - 71 percent think the death penalty is morally right.

To me, it all depends on how you ask the question. Are there people in the world who need killing? Probably. Is the state of Texas competent to decide which people those are? No friggin way! The outcomes are too disparate: If nothing else, the poor go to death row while the rich are acquitted or even bump into the judge from their case shopping at the Galleria. The state's power should be limited - I don't mean any theoretical state, I mean this state, the state of Texas. The courts in charge of our criminal justice system
at the highest levels often seem governed by buffoons. Our prosecutors seek convictions, not justice.

Plenty of mistakes get made - too many to kill somebody on the government's say so.

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