[Quikngruvn]

Capitalism... Communism... Socialism... Aneurism!

Much as I want to resist, I can't help putting in my two cents worth (and putting on my asbestos coveralls in the process):

Smog: George W is an oil man. No way he's gonna support anything that hurts that business. (And no, I did not vote for him.)

Religious fanatics? I haven't heard of any of the hundreds of religious denominations in the US declaring a jihad (a Holy War) on anyone or anybody. With the possible exception of Southern Baptists, who tried to boycott Disney because they offered the same corporate benefits to same-sex couples as to married couples. (These are the same people who, in a Sunday sermon, told the congregation my stepdaughter attended that if they watched the Super Bowl on Sunday, they'd go to Hell.) The rest of us laugh at the Southern Baptists. (If there are any Southern Baptists in the audience, no offense is intended. I calls 'em as I sees 'em, especially in the Belt Buckle of the Bible Belt.) So, yeah, sure, there are SOME religious fanatics, but they hardly make up a majority.

The Death Penalty: oh, this is tricky. For Exhibit A, I present the late (deservedly so, IMHO) Timothy McVeigh, put to death by the Federal Government for blowing up the Alfred Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City and killing 168 people in the process. Personally, I'm glad the US offed him, because (a) I don't think a person so depraved and evil deserves to live, and (b) it's a helluva lot cheaper than the citizens' tax dollars supporting him in prison for fifty or so years. (Call me money-grubbing, I call it practical.) Note well that Mr. McVeigh was the first person put to death by the Federal Government in 30-odd years. Yes, I support the death penalty, but ONLY in these most extreme circumstances for the most heinous of crimes. This is my opinion only: many of the family members of the bombing victims did not want to see Mr. McVeigh put to death, and actually forgave him for his actions. (Does a barbarian have the capacity to forgive?)

Further complicating the matter is that the vast majority of inmates put to death are by individual STATE governments, not the Federal Government. In most states, the maximum possible punishment is life imprisonment without parole. Many states that have the death penalty are considering doing away with it. Also, most death-row inmates wait eight to fifteen years from the time the sentence is handed down to the time they are either put to death, have their sentence commuted to something lesser, or freed as innocent. There is a very long and exhaustive appeals process that automatically kicks in for any inmate sentenced to death. The advent of DNA analysis has brought about the freedom of quite a few wrongfully-sentenced innocent inmates. If it weren't for that lengthy appeals process, who knows how many more innocent people would have been wrongfully put to death?

The "inconvenient document called the Constitution": just a little piece of paper that a large number of fledgling democracies have used as a framework for their own system of laws. Hey, it's only been modified twenty-six times in 212 years; ten times in the first couple of years (an insignificant list dubbed "the Bill of Rights), and one time to annul a previous amendment (the 21st amendment repealed the 18th amendment's Prohibition against alcohol). Besides, I happen to like being able to express my thoughts, practice my choice of religion (even if I don't), and socialize with whomever I please without fear of reprisal or of indiscriminate searches of my property, being tried more than once for a single crime, or having to testify against myself in a court of law.

"I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend your right to say it." (I wish I could remember who said this....)

I love the idea of socialism. Unfortunately, it'll never fly in the US. People already think they give too much of their hard-earned wages to a wasteful and inefficient government.

And please, do NOT blame me for the actions of my forefathers. I've only been around for 28 years, and have yet to kill anyone, displace anyone, or desecrate anyone's sacred lands. I can sympathize with the plight of Native Americans, but I cannot and will not feel regret or remorse for actions I did not do. (By the way, Native Americans had no conception of land ownership. To them, the whole land belonged to everybody. The concept of an individual owning a parcel of land was brought to North America by European settlers.)

Finally, money isn't everything. It is a means to an end. "The love of money is the root of all evil." --Lord Acton (I remember that one!)

Now, if y'all will excuse me, I have a bomb shelter to jump into....

Quikngruvn

[This message has been edited by Quikngruvn (edited 20 July 2001).]