...When All is Said and Dunn

In the 1990 film “Gandhi”, “It’s just an eye for an eye!” a man said to Mahatma Gandhi when looking to justify the revenge against an enemy. Gandhi’s response was, “If we did that the whole world would end up blind.” There is also a line where he says there was no cause for which he would be willing to kill for.

This was of course long before he was shot at point blank range by an extremist Hindu assassin. We will never know if he may have had second thoughts on this subject due to the fact that he died immediately from his wounds. I have always felt that Gandhi was one of the greatest men to ever walk the face of this planet, but I cannot share his view on never taking a life. Sometimes it is necessary, especially when it comes to the death penalty for convicted murderers and terrorists.

Which brings us to all the hoopla concerning the recent dispatching of Timothy McVeigh. If ever there was a poster boy for people who should be executed, he was it. This white supremacist, terrorist, scumbag killed 168 men, women, and children. That is 167 more than necessary in my book to have him terminated. Had his bomb never gone off he should have been put to death for even building the device.

But his incendiary weapon of death did go off, killing people ranging in age from 4 months to 73 years. It took 13 ½ hours to find the last survivor and she only made it out alive after having her leg amputated. It took a total of 40 days just to recover all of the bodies.

The day following his execution his attorneys were in front of the press trying to dredge up sympathy for their ex-client sighting the pain that his family was experiencing. While I am sure that they are suffering, and I am sorry for them, it is nothing in comparison to the vast devastation caused by their son. Not only to the families of all of the victims, but to the nation as a whole.

The way in which this dog was put down was equally offensive to me. We, being the compassionate society that we are, have adopted lethal injection as our termination of choice. The death chamber, which in the past struck fear in the hearts of inmates, now has the look of nothing more than a brightly lit room with a padded table in the middle of it which has the look of a flattened out Lazy Boy recliner. Boy is that scary.

I have always contended that the punishment should fit the crime. You kill someone with a gun, it’s the firing squad for you. With so many people using guns we could probably do more than one at a time and free up some of those overpriced apartments in our prisons. Strangulation? Why not that perennial favorite of the old west, hanging. Use a knife or sharp object? How about bringing back the guillotine? It’s quick and easy to use and it seemed to do a pretty good job during the French Revolution.

The other plus factor is that in these energy conscious times they are all death penalties that are “power free.” Which should be of some consideration here in California should we ever decide to get off the stick and start getting rid of some the dead weight in our prisons. No pun intended. Well, maybe it was intended.

In McVeigh’s case I think something special should have been done and yes, it should have been televised, preferably on Pay-Per-View with a video or DVD release following. It would help defer all of the court and housing costs. My plan would be that he be taken to a building that is about to be condemned, strapped to a pillar at the bottom of the building with about a ton of explosives around him and light the fuse.

Of course many of the European nations don’t agree with our use of the death penalty. When the “Shrub” arrived in Madrid this week, he was made painfully aware of that fact. And while I don’t agree with him on anything, short of the death penalty, he shouldn’t pay much attention to what Spain has to say about our logic. After all this is a country that condones the annual “Running of The Bulls.” Any country stupid enough to allow its citizens to participate in something that dangerous and moronic should really keep its mouth shut.

The last time a Federal execution took place was in 1963, 38 years ago. Since that time we have stockpiled a total of 19 death row residents who are waiting for their moment to approach the light. Next up is Juan Raul Garza, who is scheduled to be executed on June 19th in the same spot McVeigh departed from, the Federal Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana. He has the dubious distinction of being the first death row inmate to be executed under the “drug kingpin law.” A law that has been on the books since 1988 and has 6 contestants waiting to play. So let’s get on with the game.

I hope this is a beginning of a new trend that will bleed over to the states that seem to think that stockpiling death row inmates is some sort of contest.

Unfortunately, California is the winner with 591 and it costs our state over 13 million dollars a year to keep them housed and alive. It’s probably more now with the escalating costs in electricity, but that total is based on the last figures given.

All of these criminals committed their crimes knowing what the penalty would be. So if they were willing to take that eye, the government should be willing and able to take one in exchange. Those are the laws as they stand right now. So the eyes have it.

The Shrub Speaks: “It’s important for young men and women who look at the Nebraska champs to understand that quality of life is more than just blocking shots.” - Remarks to the University of Nebraska Women’s Volleyball Team, the 2001 National Champions. Washington D.C., May 31, 2001