Thursday, January 18, 2007

George W. Bush - is there hope?

Bush…is there hope yet?

I thought so when I read the headline of the Associated Press article in yesterdays newspaper here at the convent…”Bush criticizes Iraqi hangings.”

Maybe George W. has seen the light.

I was wrong. The article quotes George W. as saying, “I was disappointed and felt like they fumbled the – particularly the Saddam Hussein execution.” The quote is from a PBS interview with Jim Lehrer. The article points out, “In his toughest assessment yet, Bush criticized the circumstances of Saddam’s hanging last month, as well as Monday’s execution of two top aides, including Saddam’s half brother.”

George W. isn’t upset that the leader of a foreign country, that he forcible removed from power, has been executed. HE IS JUST UPSET THAT THEY DIDN’T DO A BETTER JOB. Perhaps this is to be expected when we look at some of the statistics of people executed in his home state of Texas. As of yesterday, since 1976, more people have been executed in Texas than any other state – nearly 18 times more than the average of all the other states that have allowed capital punishment. In that time Texas executed 381 people, compared to the next leading state, Virginia, which executed 98.
(source:http://people.smu.edu/rhalperi/texascounty.html)

Think for a moment, what has gone on in Iraq. The United States of America, as ordered by George W. Bush, invaded another country and removed that country's leader from power. What would happen if another country invaded the United State, removed the President of the United States from power, and put him in jail – and then executed him?

In an earlier article I spoke about a comedian from the “Blue Collar Comedy Tour.” One of the comedians was from Texas. He joked that Texas is speeding time spent on death row for capital punishment where there was three or more credible witnesses. The comedian joked, “some states are abolishing capital punishment, mine is putting in an express lane.”

How incredibly sad.

Has it reached the point in humanities regression, where the death of another human being is considered funny? We aren’t talking about a play or movie, but the death of another human being. How is this funny? When the death of another human being is funny we have not only regressed as a culture – I am surprised that we still manage to walk upright.

God Bless You All,

Sister Juliemarie

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