In the news today: What justifies the death penalty?

So interestingly enough there was a decision today on whether or not someone could receive the death penalty in Louisiana for raping a child. This is obviously quite a contentious subject and not easily argued against but it is certainly a interesting article and has some good information on which states have what kind of punishment. I would maintain my protest at the death penalty on all counts but the debate on what is worthy of such a price is certainly a interesting debate. Does killing someone else justify killing them and is the rape of a child not as bad as murder.

I would go as far as to say that this is almost a more heinous crime in my mind (of course circumstances need to be taken into account on all factors) but in generality this is a crime that to anyone but especially a new parent this seems to be a horrendous act that deserves equal punishment to murder. Of course i believe they should both be punished without killing them.

Here is the whole article: court rejects death penalty for raping children

Teen Pregnancy Pact

So Gloucester High School in Massachusetts seems to be home to some of the most fertile or just plain misguided teenage girls to date. In a “outbreak” of teenage pregnancy some seventeen teenage girls under sixteen have become pregnant in what seems to be some sort of pact made by the girls. They all actively attempted to get pregnant at the same time, some rumored to have even been inseminated by a homeless guy (although this may be a misleading description of a displaced 24 year old guy) non the less this is another weird and wonderful story from the bowels of America.

I guess you automatically look to the parents, but i guess if your kid is sneaky and screwed up enough to become part of a preganacy pact before their sweet sixteen they can probably manage to get themselves knocked up without their folks figuring it out. I am sure there are many cases of teenage mums turning out ok and i dont want to judge all instances. But i am pretty sure i remember most of my decisions being based on my friends influence in school, this is probably one of those fads we can emphatically say is a all round bad idea.

Here is some interesting debate on the issue - teen pregnancy pact

“Obama says no to public financing”

Obama has in a unprecedented move decided to forgo his right to public financing money for his General Election campaign. In true Obama style he sighted his intent to not be held down or part of the “broken system” and wanted to continue along the grassroots style of campaign he has had so far (at least in the opinion of Obama supporters) Obama is the first president since the creation of the public financing system to turn it down, of course McCain spokesman claim he is seriously undermining the system and endangering it. This quite frankly is why we love Obama. However it is worth noting that Obama had managed to raise enormous amounts of funds from his supporters during his campaign $265m in donations in his presidential race, most of it from small donations given over the internet. This dwarfs the nearly $97m Mr McCain has so far raised. This puts this decision in a slightly different perspective as the public funding money is somewhere in the region of $80m and negates any other funding from supporters. This makes it a little more easier for Obama to make this decision as if his past track record is anything to go by he is likely to come out with a much bigger pot of gold.

So i support Obama for his open shunning of the broken system and it does stay in keeping with his rhetoric and actions so far; but i am cautious of the overall benefit he will receive from this. This is politics and we should all be weary that there is much more than meets the eye.

“..largest war profiteering in history.”

BBC UNCOVERS LOST BILLIONS IN IRAQ

This is a brief but eye opening insert from the BBC on the already questionable handling of the war in Iraq. This should be followed up by watching the documentary Iraq For Sale If we ignore the obvious oil interest in Iraq itself and the blatant illegal act of aggression by the USA, without any signs of apology. This now damning evidence of corruption and self profit by the US government should be a warning to us all that when war becomes this profitable it will never end. Of course it could simply transfer to the next victim of Americas imperialistic agenda (Iran ring any bells?). Support the troops would be bringing them home, not sending them to war so the Bush administration and their friends can make uncapped profits; oh and it is being paid for by the tax payers.. YOU! Now thats a wake up call.