Monday Musings

I am not really a college basketball fan but I did watch the Cardinals. I felt that their play was pretty lackluster at best and that they were in big trouble after trouncing Arizona. Sienna gave the Cards all they could handle but Arizona was such a pushover that I had this sick feeling that they would play Michigan State with an attitude that their opponent would ‘disappear’ on them. Alas, Michigan State played a full game and the Cards did not. Ugh.

I do not know how I feel about the President’s hard line with GM and Chrysler. These companies have obviously done a pretty pitiful job on many levels and deserve to go belly up, but doing so would devastate the economy. Interesting, perspective, however, is that one observer said that GM is a health care provider who makes cars to provide health care. I guess their point is that health care reform might also be necessary for the economy to recover.

In the Old Testament there were times of Jubilee when all debts were forgiven. I wonder what would happen with the American economy if they declared a time of Jubilee and forgave all debts and everyone started over? I am not an economist and I suspect that something really big and bad would happen, but it is fun to think about.

John McCain, the news says, is not endorsing Sarah Palin right off to be the next Republican Presidential nominee. Does not one think it is a bit early to even begin asking such a question? I mean, really, what is the man going to say? People often love to talk about the ideological slant of the news media when they seem to overlook the most obvious----there is a lot of lazy journalism. The same people are asked the same questions over and over again.

Except Sarah Palin who is still trying to figure out an answer a question. Ugh. I’m wondering if she will even be re-elected in Alaska. She now has leaders from both parties incensed at her over her refusal to take a third of the bail out money. Considering that Alaska lacks from major resources (because of climate), Alaska has always required a significant amount of Federal aid. Her recent things are stunts and the people of her state will suffer. Hopefully the legislators of both parties actually have scruples and will probably over-rule her.

I was reading an article about the Manson Family murders and their parole hearings in California. Charles Manson, Tex Watson, Susan Atkins, Leslie Van Houten, and Patricia Krenwinkel remain in prison and have been repeatedly been denied parole, despite the fact that all of them, except Manson, have all taken responsibility for their crimes and have denounced Manson. Manson remains, well, Manson.

Susan Atkins was most recently denied ‘compassionate parole’ because she is terminally ill with brain cancer and mostly paralyzed.

Should they be released? I have thought about this a great deal and I actually do feel compassion for the women involved because I genuinely believe them now, and I do not see them as a further threat to society. They might even have a positive contribution to give to society if released. But having said that, I’d say that they shouldn’t be released.

As an opponent of the death penalty there has to be an alternative sentence that offers and end of life as a person knows it. That alternative punishment is life without parole.

The murders committed by the Manson family were amongst the most dramatic, sadistic, and brutal murders in American history. If one questions this, one needs to read the book Helter Skelter. The brutality of the crime was beyond measure.

The death penalty was the sentence and when the law was repealed the sentence went to life.

Life without parole is a tough sentence. It is a sentence that tells a person that they will live in a prison cell for every day for the rest of their lives. They know where they will have every meal and they know where they will die. Each and every minute of every day spent in prison is a reminder of the crime they committed. In so many ways it is a harsher sentence than death. Timothy McVeigh is wherever he is at the moment and perhaps does not confront what he did. That’s a theological debate for some other time.

Imagine, young man that he was, that he was still alive, having to confront what he did. One would hope that the weight of time would weigh on him greatly so that he would truly be confronted by what he did.