VivaCity

The Supreme Court ruled today that the death penalty cannot be sought when convicting someone of the rape of a child. In a 5-4 vote this morning, they more or less threw out the death sentence already handed down to a Louisiana man convicted of raping his 8-year-old stepdaughter. Apparently the conviction stands, but the monster must be re-sentenced. The five states that have heretofore allowed the death penalty for child rape must now, of course, abide by this tragedy of a decision.

Thanks so much, Justice Kennedy. Thank you for broadcasting the message that if you commit a crime of this particular nature, come on down, we'll house you, clothe you, and give you three square meals a day.

Yes, I understand when Justice Kennedy says execution is not a "proportional punishment" for child rape. You are absolutely right, sir, it is far too quick, painless and humane as opposed to what their victims will suffer with every day for the rest of their lives. It's not proportional at all. But to my thinking, this particular breed of criminal falls into another category entirely, one which we certainly can and will utilize the death penalty and/or torture the shit out of under guise of interrogation, and that is "terrorist." Merriam-Webster defines terrorism as "the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion," and further defines coercing as "to restrain or dominate by force."

In today's world, where we bend the rules and interpret the law to satisfy our own ends, to justify domestic espionage and strip us of our civil liberties and whatever the hell else Dubya feels like doing when he wakes up on any given day...Why not bend those rules a bit in our favor? I've heard the Patriot Act applied to just about every nonsensical scenario in which they simply couldn't come up with something better, and you know it. I've lost a lot of faith in my country since Dubya stumbled up to the podium and started rambling about God-knows-what because he isn't speaking English...I think I could find a little patriotism left in me to give to a country where Homeland Security means the security of our children in their own homes.

I sincerely hope "Patriot Act," "Homeland Security" and "terrorism" blip across some secret agent's radar screen and they read this. How about it, guys?