The United States is one of only a very few industrialized nations that still have the death penalty. Illogical as it is, we still kill people in order to show that killing people is wrong. By retaining the practice of executing people, the United States finds itself aligned on this issue only with such nations as Afghanistan, Botswana, Cameroon, Chad, Cuba, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guatemala, and Mongolia.
And the world has noticed.
According to an article published yesterday by the Inter Press Service News Agency, "the Human Rights Committee called on the United States last month to place a moratorium on the death penalty because it is imposed disproportionately on minorities and the poor, [but] the Bush administration curtly ignored the recommendation." [Read story.]
This is not surprising. After all, when Bush was Governor of Texas, it seemed like he couldn't execute prisoners fast enough, often ignoring any mitigating evidence, with help from none other than Alberto "Torture Boy" Gonzales.
Bush keeps telling us about his "culture of life". He keeps talking about human rights. But talk is cheap.
This is just one more example of the U.S. being out of step with the rest of the developed world.
And this is just one more black mark on the reputation of this once-great nation.
No comments:
Post a Comment