We love to kill people here in Texas. But make no mistake, this is no Hansel and Gretel affair here. Turns out that unlike the wicked witch, we don’t like feeding the people before we kill them.
A recent outlandish last meal request from a Texas death row inmate has caused quite a stir. A Texas state senator demanded that the Department of Criminal Justice stop the practice of allowing inmates whatever they want as a last meal. The Department agreed. So no more crazy last meal requests. Are we inhumane? Are we wasting money? And so the arguments drone on.
To my way of thinking the best way to get rid of the last meal dilemma is to get rid of the death penalty. Two birds, one stone. But that's another argument for another time.
The argument run out there by the aforementioned Texas state senator this week was "hey, these criminals didn't give their victims the courtesy of a last meal request, why should they get one?" True enough, but there's a couple of issues here. (1) are you sure the victim didn’t eat what he wanted prior to being killed? (2) Are you sure the criminal is the one who killed the victim? Absolutely sure? Because you're about to absolutely kill him. (3) the senator’s argument is somewhere on a slippery slope that ends with the criminal being killed in the same manner in which he killed the victim. In this case dragging behind a pick-up truck. That's a little too eye-for-an-eye for the Christians here in Texas who want to humanely kill the person BUT want to deny them a last meal request to show them, one last time, who’s boss.
I guess in the end, I just don't care. I don't think it's a big deal if they do get a final meal request, and I don't think it’s a big deal if they don’t. I'm thinking a last meal - OK - a total binge - No. But why the hell should we feed them anyway? Save a few more dollars by cutting him off a week or so before killing him. Why not? We're going to kill him anyway and if he’s starving to death maybe he’ll appreciate it. Lately the prisoners themselves seem to be making a joke of it by ordering crazy last meals. So I can see why people are offended, but what are you going to do if you're offended? Kill the guy? Well… yes. Yes you are.
Perhaps the guards should just take the guy down to Golden Corral for an afternoon and let him loose on the buffet. But if you really want to do the guy a favor, run a hooker in there about 20 minutes before you kill him. At least that way he won't vomit four bacon cheeseburgers, a meat lover’s pizza, a pint of ice cream, two root beers, and a pound of barbeque ribs on the floor when you fry him.
1 comment:
You mentioned something key in your post - "slippery slope" - the death penalty is on the ultimate slippery slope. If you believe the death penalty is an appropriate penalty for someone who kills, then the world will be left with one person - the last executioner.
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