http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/oklahoma-halt-executions-supreme-court-drug-review-28489823
Oklahoma may put three executions of prisoners on hold until the Supreme Court rules on a case concerning the drugs used to put criminals to death. Lethal injection is a three stage process that uses three different drugs to first sedate the prisoner, then paralyze them, and finally stop their heart. The issue is with the sedative, midazolam. The three inmates whose execution may be halted, along with a fourth who has since been put to death, sued the state over concerns that the sedative would not prevent their suffering during the procedure. These concerned were raised after Oklahoma used midazolam for the first time in an execution which ended with the prisoner dying painfully 43 minutes after the lethal drugs were administered. The government is still investigating the drug, so any executions may be halted until a substitute is found.
I could get into whether death or a life sentence is worse and whether or not death is actually too good for our worst criminals, but that's not what this is about. I think people who do get lethal injection shouldn't have to suffer horribly during the procedure. We're not barbarians. This is not the medieval ages where people were killed by being drawn and quartered. If we kill people in cruel and awful ways, we're no better than the criminals. We are no more humane. Some people might see criminals suffering as justice or something they deserve, but then we're getting into revenge which doesn't solve the problem. Hopefully the Supreme Court will get this fixed if there is, in fact, a problem with the drugs.
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
Thursday, January 22, 2015
*slams head into keyboard* I'm in.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2015/01/14/no-one-at-homeland-security-is-addressing-cyber-threats-for-government-buildings/
According to a report from the Government Accountability Office, the Department of Homeland Security is totally unprepared for cyberattacks on vital government buildings and networks. There are no strategies for fending off cyber terrorists, hackers, or 35 year olds with laptops, a misplaced sense of social justice, and a little too much Mountain Dew in their systems. Ok, maybe I made that last one up, but the fact of the matter remains that the DoHS has no clue what they're doing when it comes to threats from hackers. Evidently not only are their computer networks vulnerable, but things like elevators, heating and cooling systems, and other electrical things in federal buildings are also open to cyber attacks, and no one is doing anything about it.
Admittedly making a building a little too hot or stopping an elevator isn't a great strategy if you want to cripple a country, so I don't think we're going to see hackers getting into that any time soon, but given that government social media accounts and companies like Sony have all recently been hacked by our enemies, I think that cyberattacks are definitely going to become a problem in the future. While the information age is still a baby at this point, technology has been around long enough that Homeland Security should have some idea of what they're doing. Even if it's really simple, at least it would be a plan, and they don't even have that. It's pretty pathetic.
According to a report from the Government Accountability Office, the Department of Homeland Security is totally unprepared for cyberattacks on vital government buildings and networks. There are no strategies for fending off cyber terrorists, hackers, or 35 year olds with laptops, a misplaced sense of social justice, and a little too much Mountain Dew in their systems. Ok, maybe I made that last one up, but the fact of the matter remains that the DoHS has no clue what they're doing when it comes to threats from hackers. Evidently not only are their computer networks vulnerable, but things like elevators, heating and cooling systems, and other electrical things in federal buildings are also open to cyber attacks, and no one is doing anything about it.
Admittedly making a building a little too hot or stopping an elevator isn't a great strategy if you want to cripple a country, so I don't think we're going to see hackers getting into that any time soon, but given that government social media accounts and companies like Sony have all recently been hacked by our enemies, I think that cyberattacks are definitely going to become a problem in the future. While the information age is still a baby at this point, technology has been around long enough that Homeland Security should have some idea of what they're doing. Even if it's really simple, at least it would be a plan, and they don't even have that. It's pretty pathetic.
Wednesday, January 7, 2015
A vote of no confidence
http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/day-old-congress-hated-ever
America isn't interested in giving second chances. According to a survey done by the University of Minnesota, Congress' approval rating is at 8%. Only 8% of the country likes Congress, and it's only the first day that the 114th Congress is in session. And to make matters worse, one of the senators, Joni Ernst (a Republican from Iowa) said this: "If you ask somebody to pick a number between one and ten, eight is a pretty high number. So it's all good." After that, the approval rating dropped to 4%.
Where do I begin? It's bad enough that this is the most hated Congress in history, but Ernst's comment has pretty much made me lose all faith in humanity. People, this lady was just sworn into office. This lady is part of the majority party in the most powerful house in Congress. This lady is helping run our country. It's official. I'm moving to Australia.
America isn't interested in giving second chances. According to a survey done by the University of Minnesota, Congress' approval rating is at 8%. Only 8% of the country likes Congress, and it's only the first day that the 114th Congress is in session. And to make matters worse, one of the senators, Joni Ernst (a Republican from Iowa) said this: "If you ask somebody to pick a number between one and ten, eight is a pretty high number. So it's all good." After that, the approval rating dropped to 4%.
Where do I begin? It's bad enough that this is the most hated Congress in history, but Ernst's comment has pretty much made me lose all faith in humanity. People, this lady was just sworn into office. This lady is part of the majority party in the most powerful house in Congress. This lady is helping run our country. It's official. I'm moving to Australia.
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