On Monday the 11th, New Jersey moved closer to becoming the 14th state to abolish the death penalty, the first state to do so since 1964. It's a simple issue really, and should be no problem for right-to-lifers in particular, as the bottom line on both the death penalty and abortion is, put simply, life is either sacred or it's not.
Before the death penalty proponents jump on me, there are a couple things they should consider.
How much deterrence does the death penalty provide? If a miscreant KNOWS s/he is going to die fro his/her crimes, where is the incentive to hold back? If you've already killed one Texas Ranger, and God help you if you do, what's to stop you from killing another or anyone else that gets in your way? Life in prison is a far worse and more real punishment than being strapped to a gurney and ushered out of everyone's pain.
Am I saying that a full-bore Texas Ranger killer is the same as an embryo? Of course not. I am saying that criminals deserve real punishment, not a free lift into whatever afterlife exists.
In the interest of full disclosure, I have to point out that I am pro-choice.
So, how do I justify my pro-choice stance with my belief that life is sacred?
Like it or not, an embryo is, to use incendiary language, a parasite. It is NOT a living breathing choice-making entity.
In further disclosure, I will say that while I am pro-choice, meaning I believe women should have control over what happens to their bodies, I am anti-abortion, meaning if the choice is mine a baby will be born. It goes without saying I hope never to be confronted with the choice.
But this entry is about signs of life. Here's another:
Al Gore and a boatload of scientists have been officially given the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of their work bringing the issue of global warming to the forefront of human consciousness... where it would have been years ago had Bush and the neoconservative mob not stolen the 2000 election.
At this point, it is unrealistic to expect Gore to run for the presidency in 2008. The country and the world are worse off for that fact. Gore apparently thinks he can do more for the cause as a private citizen than as president... which I find hard to believe. I'm fairly sure a President Al Gore would have been at the United Nations Framework Convention on Global Warming this week in Bali.
The sitting President, meanwhile, continues to deny that global warming is real, and continues to thwart any efforts to combat it. It doesn't take much of a leap to know he's doing so at the behest of the oil lobby.
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