Death Penalty And A Funny Poem

    

    

Tucson Weather Today

____________________

 

"Since governments take the right of death over their people, it is not astonishing if the people should sometimes take the right of death over governments."
--Guy de Maupassant

After watching and listening to the various TV News reports about the recent botched execution in Oklahoma I was shocked at the media response, especially those using the incident to promote the seemingly inhumane aspects of the death penalty and using it to call for abolishing the death penalty.

After all, this event was just another one of the many examples of governmental and institutional incompetence.

More at Botched Execution

Don't get me wrong; I am neither for or against the death penalty. I don't have to have an opinion; I am not a judge. But...

It seems a bit surprising (to me) that after all these years Medical Science could not have developed a simple and effective method to painlessly perform a surgical procedure that will almost instantly transform a living human being into a non-living cadaver.

As they do in most hospital-based major surgeries, a doctor can administer sufficient anesthetics to render the patient unconscious and completely oblivious to pain. The doctor can then surgically sever the nervous system between the brain and the remainder of the body, stop the beating of the heart, and thereby deliver the patient into a permanent state of death.

I'm just sayin'...

_____

Yesterday I found a funny poem that was featured at The Writer's Almanac. It was titled The Pig. Since it is in the public domain and the poet is unknown, I am reproducing it here:

 The Pig
 by Anonymous
 
 It was the first of May
 A lovely warm spring day
 I was strolling down the street in drunken pride,
 But my knees were all a-flutter,
 And I landed in the gutter
 And a pig came up and lay down by my side.

 Yes, I lay there in the gutter
 Thinking thoughts I could not utter
 When a lady passing by did softly say
 'You can tell a man who boozes
 By the company he chooses' --
 And the pig got up and slowly walked away.

_____

Did You Know . . .?

Standing for one hour, watering your plants, and kissing for 10 minutes a day burns about 120 calories each.

_____

HISTORICAL EVENT

After nearly five decades as director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), J. Edgar Hoover died, leaving the powerful government agency without the administrator who had been largely responsible for its existence and shape. In 1956, Hoover initiated Cointelpro, a secret counterintelligence program that initially targeted the U.S. Communist Party but later was expanded to infiltrate and disrupt any radical organization in America. During the 1960s, the immense resources of Cointelpro were used against dangerous groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, but also against African American civil rights organizations and liberal anti-war organizations. One figure especially targeted was civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., who endured systematic harassment from the FBI.

_____

WORD FOR TODAY

humane  [hyu-MAYN]
adjective
characterized by tenderness, compassion, and sympathy for people and animals.

_____

 

CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Engelbert Humperdinck
(born May 2, 1936)

Engelbert Humperdinck is a British Indian pop singer, best known for his UK number-one hits "Release Me" and "The Last Waltz", as well as "After the Lovin'" and "A Man Without Love".

Christine Jane Baranski
(born May 2, 1952)

Christine Baranski is an American stage and screen actress. She made her stage debut in 1974 and her Broadway debut in Hide and Seek in 1980, The Real Thing in 1984 and Rumors in 1989. On television, she is known for her role as Maryanne Thorpe in the sitcom Cybill and her portrayals of Dr. Beverly Hofstadter in The Big Bang Theory and Diane Lockhart in The Good Wife. Her film roles include, 9 1/2 Weeks, Legal Eagles, Reversal of Fortune, Addams Family Values, Jeffrey, The Birdcage, Bulworth, Cruel Intentions, Chicago, and Mamma Mia!.

Theodore Meir Bikel
(born 2 May 1924)

Theodore Bikel is an Austrian-American actor, musician, and composer. He made his film debut in The African Queen (1951) and was nominated for an Academy award for his supporting role as Sheriff Max Muller in The Defiant Ones (1958).

Stephanie Kay Panabaker
(born May 2, 1990)

Kay Panabaker is a retired American film and television actress now working as a zoologist. She portrayed "Alice Brand" in 7th Heaven; "Melissa Rue" in ER; "Sara" in Port Charles; "Carrie Bauer" in The Brothers García; "Ellisha" in Medium; "Lindsey Willows" in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

In film, she appeared in Dead Heat as "Sam LaRoche".. Panabaker's breakout role came when she starred in The WB's Summerland as "Nikki Westerly", in the 2004-2005 season. She also appeared as "George" in the 2007 Nancy Drew: The Mystery in Hollywood Hills.

__________

"You do not cut a check in the state of Kansas to John Doe, executioner. The executioner is paid in cash so there's no trail to him"
--George Plimpton

NASA TV

This Is Who I Am