death penalty and prisons… we call ourselves civilized?

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1000th “Death Penalty” murder since reinstating in 1976

Doesn’t it seem strange to be killing people for killing people?  I am aware that there are people that are dangerous enough to never let back into the population, but it seems hypocritical to kill them… Aside from the people who are significant dangers to our society, prisons should generally be cleared out a lot.  

We are a nation built on and ruled by fear.  That fear has driven us to quadruple (400%) our prisons and prisoners from 1980 to 2000.  Violent crime has stayed about the same… (there was a decline every year under Clinton and a rise every year under Bush)  We spend a lot of our money, making the prison construction workers rich, providing low paying and high-risk jobs to many, and encarcerating many many others…  If you can’t tell, I’m reading a book called “No More Prisons” by William Upski Wimsatt – I highly recommend it.

and on a lighter note….

Now playing: [Death Cab for Cutie][11] – [What Sarah Said][12]

[11]: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/advancedSearchResults?artistTerm=Death Cab for Cutie [12]: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/advancedSearchResults?songTerm=What Sarah Said&artistTerm=Death Cab for Cutie

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