Capital punishment

There was an article in the Sunday paper about the cost of capital punishment. Turns out that it makes no economic sense-it's much cheaper to imprison someone for life than to go through all of the years of appeals in a capital case. Yet another reason to end the barbaric practice of committing state sanctioned murder. As if turning officials into killers and taking a chance on condemning an innocent person aren't enough.

If you execute an innocent person, there is no do-over. Enough people have been exonerated in recent years to suggest that some people may have died for crimes that they didn't commit.

There is no evidence that capital punishment deters crime. Most criminals have poor impulse control and are not detered by potential punishment. Anyhow, they never expect to get caught. The money thrown away on capital punishment would be better spent toward hiring more law enforcement officers.

Capital punishment is more often applied to the poor and minorities. It's not an equal opportunity penalty.

If you believe that murder is wrong, then surely it is wrong to kill anyone-even a criminal.

The sad fact is that executions don't bring back the dead or always provide the closure that victim's families hope for. 

In no way am suggesting that we allow dangerous, antisocial people to roam the streets; some people can't be allowed to mingle with the rest of us. These people should get life without parole.

Sexy Chickens

I read a couple of posts that reminded me of raising chickens during my teenage years. My favorite chicken story-yep, I gotta fav chicken story-involves an avowed Christian lady from the big city who moved into the neighborhood. She saw my chickens do what comes naturally to chickens and assumed that I'd taught the chickens to dance and ride each other piggyback. I'm serious. She told my cousin about her preposterous theory, and he told her what the chickens were actually up to. Offended and alarmed, she came to my house and told me to teach the chickens to mate in private. Yes, I was supposed to teach the chickens to have sex inside the coop, away from her prying eyes, lest I go to Hell over the amorous display that the birds were putting on. To this day, I burst out laughing if I see her in public. I'm not trying to be rude; I can't help myself.