In a very uncharacteristic move by a Republican, Governor George Ryan does the morally right thing by changing the fates of those 167 people. Why though? A dirty Chicago cop (I know, I need to be more specific) named Jon Burge was finally busted for using torture and other forms of coercion in the confessions of four people he had convicted. Given how corrupt current mayor Lori Lightfood and her predecessor Rahm Emmanuel remain, we can be certain Burge’s tactics remain intact. Such a shame, I still have a soft spot in my heart for Chicago despite its horrible weather, terrible tastes in culture (namely music) and failure to realize the future is leaving it in the dust as Houston will take its spot by the next census.
Sadly, this good deed didn’t save Ryan from his own well-deserved prison sentence when all the bribes he received from being Secretary of State came to light via accidents with truck drivers who shouldn’t have been licensed. Believe me, his defense tried everything to keep him out due to his age. Hard pass. It’s just a shame how many more Republicans and NeoLiberal Democrats have avoided the proper fate’s they deserve, dying in prison.
In the end I do want to praise how my former home state wisely choice this course of action. I myself used to be a fan of capital punishment. I stopped thinking it would deter crime by college as a defense lawyer in high school said, “People used to be hanged for stealing bread in England and it didn’t work.” Then in the my twenties, I remember an author on NPR explaining how expensive the death penalty is. Gas chambers have to be decontaminated after every use; the electric chair often sets people on fire (violates the Bill of Rights on cruel and unusual punishment); hanging is often slow (again, Bill of Rights); firing squad is sick and hard on the shooters unless they’re psychos; and finally, the fave, lethal injection isn’t working as painlessly as believed. So I’m more on the economic team in it’s cheaper to just keep these people alive until they die of cancer, diabetes, old age, etc. Then throw in how many innocents are amongst the guilty; we also need to have a good formula for the compensation when they’re released. Lastly, this punishment is frequently and unfairly used on non-Whites and those lacking the intellectual capacity to understand what they’ve done. I do completely understand the anger of the victims. We all want to get even for our losses. It just ends up an empty victory in the long run.
There is one stance I haven’t changed on and here the EU states agree versus the insincere Libertarians; the State should have the monopoly on violence because we Americans are usually the State. It needs a lot of correction thanks to how much the Bags of Shit parties have privatized State functions, aka, voting is a sick joke lately. Death should remain the sentence for treason which could happen to this shitbag ex-Marine fighter pilot training the Chinese on how to land/attack aircraft carriers. Will it deter others in the armed services given the financial gamble? No. But I do feel better they won’t be alive to spend their traitorous gains given how many millions they’ve risked.