Capital Punishment and Child Rape

Here's an article about the Supreme Court case (capital punishment for the death of a child) that a recent Boston Legal episode was based on. Allowing the death penalty in the case of rape of a child would highlight the disparity of capital punishment imposition as well as or better than any existing exercise of the punishment. It's pretty easy to picture any number of perpetrators being executed by states for this crime, but do you imagine that any state would ever execute a priest for it? Aside perhaps from rape by a parent, is there any type of rape that represents a greater abuse of trust and potential for psychological damage to the victim?

Obama and the Village

I could relate my thoughts on last night's debate, but Senator Obama has pretty well expressed my thoughts already:


The one thing I worry about is the effect of the Washington Village banding together in response to this. Remember how unfunny they viewed Colbert after the correspondents' dinner a couple of years ago and how those who didn't try to ignore him tried to bury him? Obviously, there's no ignoring Obama and he has essentially declared war on how the Russert/Matthews worldview. You can expect that they and their ilk will fire back.

Painful Answers to Simple Questions

Last night, as we settled down to watch the Democratic debate, my girlfriend asked me if I really thought John McCain could win the election in November. A few minutes later, a woman named Nash McCabe, given the opportunity to ask Obama or Clinton any question she wanted for them to answer in this debate, said,

"Senator Obama, I have a question, and I want to know if you believe in the American flag. I am not questioning your patriotism, but all our servicemen, policemen and EMS wear the flag. I want to know why you don't."

Ms. McCabe, no doubt, will be voting in November. How hard to you suppose it will be for McCain to win her vote?

Record Store Day

I've written here before about the many pleasant hours I've spent browsing in Records Stores and my dismay as such stores, both chain stores like Tower and independents like Santa Rosa's Clove Records, are increasingly falling by the wayside in a time of digital downloads. This Saturday you get a chance to show a little love, as record stores nationwide have banded together for a "Record Store Day." Click on the link to find a participating store near you and go shopping at your nearest Rasputin's, Amoeba, or Last Record Store equivalents, where you can hear the "click, click" of cds and the "thwip, thwip" of LPs as you flip through the bins in the company of other music lovers.