Ariel Castro, no relation to Cuban leader Fidel Castro, found dead in prison cell. He was given multiple life sentences in prison for each of his heinous crimes.

This news neither surprises me, nor bothers me. I can understand why he wouldn’t want to spend the rest of his life behind bars. But life in prison doesn’t do justice for the things he did: kidnapping, rape, abuse, murder…again and again. Someone who can so easily ignore the basic human rights of others, doesn’t deserve any himself.

This is why I’m in favor of the death penalty. Some people just don’t deserve to live.

If we as a society can take away a life through abortion, then we can certainly take away a life through capital punishment. We kill the innocent, but give room and board to the guilty. Hmm. Our sense of morality is a little out of balance.

It bothered me when the sentence was passed. A thousand years in prison? Which doesn’t start until after he has died? How does that begin make sense? Anything beyond life is irrelevant. How does adding a millenium to his sentence make a difference?

According to that logic, we would have to leave his body in a cell to rot until the 31st century. Of course, his sentence would probably be cut in half for good behavior, so his corpse would get a burial just after Mal Reynolds and the Browncoats lose the Unification War of 2506 in Firefly.

The problem with the death penalty is time. The death penalty doesn’t work as a deterrent because too much time passes between sentencing and carrying out the verdict…about 15 years (2010 average) according to Wikipedia. There is no immediacy to the verdict. No one is afraid of something that might happen more than a decade down the road. (Ask anyone who smokes.)

But my support of it is based less on deterrence than simply getting people out of this world…permanently. I don’t want the possibility that they may be paroled for good behavior or get an early release due to budget cuts. I also don’t want to pay for their lives while they’re in prison. Why should I have my taxes increased to support those who spit in the face of our society?

Every community has rules and there are consequences if you break those rules. Show us that you can’t abide by the rules and we’ll sequester you away. But show us that you can’t abide by the basic laws of human nature and we’ll take away your right to live.

Who are we to judge? We are society. And we have a right to protect ourselves.

We knew it was coming.

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who opposes legalization of marijuana for recreational use, has approved legislation downgrading possession of an ounce or less from a misdemeanor to an infraction.

Supporters say the change will keep marijuana-related cases from becoming court-clogging jury trials, even though the penalty will remain a fine of up to $100, with no jail time. Violations will not go on a person’s record as a crime.

“I am signing this measure because possession of less than an ounce of marijuana is an infraction in everything but name,” Schwarzenegger wrote in a message released after he signed the bill. “In this time of drastic budget cuts, prosecutors, defense attorneys, law enforcement and the courts cannot afford to expend limited resources prosecuting a crime that carries the same punishment as a traffic ticket.”

Los Angeles Times

October 2, 2010

While I haven’t given this full thought yet, I agree with it on the surface. Not because the drug is harmless and should be legalized, but because the courts need to be freed up from minor transgressions that choke the system and allowed to focus on bigger cases.

It is apparent that the threat of jail time hasn’t stopped anyone from smoking pot in the past. So why the pretense? It would be like flooding the precincts and courts with jaywalkers. This is probably one less nuisance that the California cops have to worry about.