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Dec. 31, 2006 Saddam Hussein is dead. So is any hope for a U.S. withdrawal, but that’s a different column. At least his death was reported by the five networks, cable news, and other media outlets at just after 6 a.m. Iraqi time. Approximately 7 p.m. PST, 10 in the East, and 8 central—except Utah, where it’s still 1947. Seriously folks, the streamlined Iraqi one-strike-yer-out system is vastly superior to three-strikes-you-might-be-out-unless-you-challenge-the-case-and-even-if-convicted-spend-twenty-years-in-prison-before-getting-sentenced-to-death system of “justice.” If only we could have such swift justice and could string up “Loudmouth of the Year” Rosie O’Donnell. I actually heard Iraqi scholars asking whether or not the trial and execution met U.S. standards of justice? The answer is simply, HELL NO! And that’s a good thing, The average “life row” prisoner in U.S. prisons hangs around for twenty years before biting the big one. Only Timothy McVeigh got it right; he wanted to die quickly. He didn’t want an appeal, but the courts MANDATED it. While other countries kill their inmates quicker, they also have more “creative” manners of doing the deed, including hanging (Iraq), beheading (Saudi Arabia), firing squad, hanging, and stoning (in Afghanistan). The American system of punishment is like Anna Nicole Smith the day after Thanksgiving: bloated and constipated, big time. Cases are backlogged, except in Texas, where 40% of death row inmates have been executed. By comparison, California has executed 1% of its death row population. And what’s the best we can do—electrocution. I say, bring back the guillotine! Singapore is the most hardcore country, where criminals can be hanged for drug offenses! (And you thought that caning—literally tearing someone a new @$$--for graffiti and possession of chewing gun was rough!) Imagine what they’d do to someone who took a whiz outside. Overall death penalty cases hit an all-time low, to only 53 this year, as compared to 60 in 2005 and 59 in 2004. Another thing, the justice department acknowledges that more than 40 percent of those on death row are in custody in three states—California, Texas and Florida—while more than two thirds of the executions were carried out in Texas, Oklahoma and North Carolina. The UN opposes the death penalty, meaning that the United States is in violation of that UN regulation. In fact, Uncle Sam is the only NATO country that uses the death penalty. Who I feel sorry for is the death row inmates who have been there longer than a decade, and are later freed on DNA-related evidence, or have their convictions thrown out because the DA withheld evidence. If they are freed, they have been killed in a sense, having lost ten years of their lives they cannot get back. In Pennsylvania, 49-year-old Floyd Kinney told authorities he sexually assaulted his daughters because his wife was out playing Bingo “three or four times a week.” Kinney pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated indecent assault, rape, involuntary deviant intercourse and sexual assault. Kenny faces up to 20 years in prison. I think he should be hanged. Reverend Paul Barnes, the hypocritical booty-bandit pastor of the Grace chapel “megachurch,” resigned after being outed by another pastor regarding sexual affairs with men. This just weeks after Ted Haggard, President off the National Association of Evangelicals, resigned after a former gay lover outed him. You go, girlie men! Rosie, the rapist, and the rotten reverend. I say, let’s take a page out of the Iraqi book and hang ‘em high—tomorrow. P.S.—Toodle-oo, Saddam. Enjoy your state-sanctioned trip to Hell. NOTE: I wrote this with tongue planted firmly in cheek. I oppose the death penalty. ------------ About the author: Timothy N. Stelly, Sr. is a 46-year old poet, novelist and aspiring screenwriter who resides in northern California with his three youngest children--Lawrence, Kimberly and Dante. He is a member of various writer's groups and has three novels in print, his most recent, "Like A Straight-Up Sucka," is available at www.lulu.com. website: http://stellbreadO@tripod.com Email: stellbread@yahoo.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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