Skipping Merrily Through the Minefield

Argument for the Death Penalty Part Deux

So, if you're even minimally aware of The Outside World, you've heard about the homicidal, gene pool reject in Florida who decided to recruit some muscle to help beat 6 people to death over an X-Box, among other things. Although from reading the headlines, you’d think it was the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre in a game geek turf war. Aside from the brutality of the crime, any idiot who would do this kind of thing over a game system ought to be put in the express check out lane.

There are serious flaws in how the death penalty is applied in this country. Questions of race, adequate representation and the number of men who have been exonerated by modern science, all make a reasonable person question the application of the death penalty in this country.

However, while questioning it is necessary, and ultimately betters the process, I fail to see how anyone can argue that in some cases, there is any other appropriate response. Some call it vengeance, but they’re wrong. Vengeance would be leaving this guy in a locked room with the victims’ families. This is more along the lines of letting your Virus software do its job.

Vince the Bookie, who baby-sits my inner child while I’m out carousing, and has told me that as horrible as the crime is, the less moral elements in Vegas are giving even odds that at some point in the coverage of this here massacre, one of two things, if not both, will happen.

One, he figures that with the eerie similarities between this crime and crime portrayed in the film Wonderland – A rips off B; B and associates beat A and everyone in the house with A to death with blunt objects – at some point the Moral Majority will try and sue someone in Hollywood; if this psychotic toad’s defense team doesn’t think of it first.

Two, there will be some outraged, myopic jagoff who will try and tie the fault for these crimes to the video game industry. Why? Because the headlines are not so subtly inferring the X-Box to be the reason our alleged killer, killed those poor, dumb kids.

Aside from the fantastic leaps of logic you have to take in order to lay the blame for stupid, effed up people at the feet of the entertainment industry, my guess is that having his things stolen, regardless of what it was, would have resulted in the same outcome. We will see what comes out at trial.


Thank God The Man Knows How To Hold His Ground

So, despite voting for the use of force in Iraq, then voting against the funding for the war, John Kerry has now stated that even knowing then what we know now, he would have gone to war.

Why did John Kerry cross the road?

It doesn’t matter, he’s already back on the other side. Again.


To Protect and Serve Your Ass Up On a Silver Platter

I have had what you might call…an adversarial relationship with law enforcement. Not so much now, as in the past. And while I was brought up to believe that the cops were there to help you, I have found some serious holes in that argument and generally don’t trust them any further than I can toss the collected hosts of The View. Unless of course I were standing on the edge of a tall building and only had to toss them the half inch or so it would take for gravity to do us all one very big favor.

But I want to trust the cops. I really do, I want to believe that all the cops out there are like the heroic cops on TV. How much better would we be if every cop was Andy Sipowicz?

Then I read things like this. The U.S. Attorney Richard Convertino has stated that the city of Las Vegas didn’t publicize recent terror threats because of economic concerns: "The reason that he (the FBI agent) was given for the low turnout was because of liability. That if they heard this information they would have to act on it.” The city – surprise - denies it.

Given the general ambivalence, if not outright disdain, most non-pundits feel towards the terror warnings at this point, I’m not entirely sure what the outrage is. The unfortunate truth is, given this country’s lack of preparation, we won’t be able to prevent every attack, and the odds of one happening when the threat level is low are just as good, if not better, than it happening while we’re expecting it.


Like You Didn’t See It Coming…

I don’t even know where to begin. There’s a new reality show making its debut soon in Los Angeles, called Gana la Verde (Win the Green):

“Contestants have to perform stunts that include swallowing tequila worms, trying to catch a pig smeared in butter, and jumping between two trucks. The winner receives a year's legal help - but a green card is not guaranteed.”