Important Stuff -- Or Not: What? Again?

Saturday, June 24, 2006

What? Again?

It seems Philippine President Gloria Arroyo wants a little extra attention when she goes to visit the Pope.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) -- President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo signed a law abolishing the death penalty on the eve of her trip to the Vatican, but vowed she will not relent in battling terrorists and criminals.

The Philippines was the first Asian nation to abolish the death penalty in 1987 -- and one of the first to bring it back six years later. Crime and terrorism in the already violent country soared in those six years. The politicians couldn't scramble fast enough to bring the death penalty back. Then, President Joseph Estrada declared a moratorium on the death penalty in 2000. Again with the soaring violent crime rate. President Arroyo restored the death penalty a few years later. I'm sure Estrada appreciates this latest flip-flop because now he faces death if convicted of looting during his corrupt tenure. This too shall pass.

Reuters published some Amnesty International figures about the death penalty around the world. I post it here only because I wonder if they keep such precise figures on abortion.

June 24 (Reuters) - The Philippines on Saturday became the 25th country in the Asia-Pacific region and the 125th in the world to abolish the death penalty when President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo signed a law ahead of a visit to the Vatican. Here is an overview of the use of the death penalty around the world:

THE DEATH PENALTY IN 2005: ª At least 2,148 people were executed in 22 countries last year, according to Amnesty International. ª 94 percent were killed in four countries: China (1,770), Iran (94), Saudi Arabia (86) and the United States (60). ª An additional 5,186 people were sentenced to death. SITUATION IN PHILIPPINES ª Seven Filipinos were executed by lethal injection after a 1993 law reimposed the death penalty. ª In 2000, then-President Joseph Estrada, under pressure from the Roman Catholic Church, declared a moratorium on executions. Since then around 1,200 convicts, including 28 women, have been confined on death row. TREND TOWARDS ABOLITION: ª There are now 125 countries which have abolished the death penalty in law or practice. Some 70 countries and territories retain and use it, although the number which actually execute prisoners in any one year is much smaller. ª The number of countries carrying out executions dropped for a fourth consecutive year in 2005. Over the past 20 years, the number has halved. WHO HAS THE HIGHEST EXECUTION RATE? ª Singapore has hanged about 420 people since 1991, mostly for drug trafficking. This gives the city state of 4.4 million the world's highest execution rate per capita. PROBLEMS WITH STATISTICS: ª China refuses to publish full official statistics on executions. Amnesty International estimates at least 1,770 were executed in 2005, others put the figure at around 8,000. ª Vietnam classifies its death penalty statistics as a state secret. ª Amnesty says the true numbers of executions are "certainly higher" than its estimates. TYPICAL METHODS OF EXECUTION SINCE 2000: ª Beheading (Saudi Arabia, Iraq) ª Electrocution (United States) ª Hanging (Egypt, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Pakistan, Singapore) ª Lethal injection (China, Guatemala, Thailand, Philippines, United States) ª Shooting (Belarus, China, Somalia, Taiwan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam) ª Stoning (Afghanistan, Iran) Sources: Reuters, Amnesty International

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Talking Points

I don't use talking points, I create them.

1. Hate makes people stoopid.

2. There is nothing so impenetrable as a closed mind.

3. A stupid person is not someone who can't learn, but someone who refuses to learn.

4. It is a small mind that has no room for God.

5. You can take Stalin out of the gene pool, but you can't take Stalinism out of liberals.

6. The best way to sabotage a bad plan is to follow it to the letter.

7. The race card is the first refuge of people who have nothing to say.

8. Ignorance is the cornerstone of arrogance.

9. Which is more racist, to hate someone who is not white or to assume someone is racist because he is white?

10. Children are not stupid. If a child is taught, the child will learn. If a child is not learning, the child is not being taught.

11. To express righteous indignation, one must first be righteous. And that's a label that doesn't stick to liberals.

12. Profanity is ignorance made audible.

13. An open mind is a liberal's worst enemy.

14. Paternalism is the purest form of racism.

15. People who bend the truth, usually bend it in their favor.

16. If you always stand in opposition to liberalism, you will never be wrong.

18. Life is simple. People who make it complicated usually have an agenda.

19. Getting your news from the corrupt, liberal media is like sticking your head in the sand, except you don't get grit in your teeth.

20. Liberals' emotional development stops at the age of 16.

21. To anger a conservative, lie to him. To anger a liberal, tell the truth.

22. Idealism seldom matches up with reality.

23. Those who don't hate communism have never lived it.

24. This was a much more civil country when men walked about heavily armed.

25. This economy will never heal as long as Obama keeps picking at the scab.

26. Liberals don't think outside the box; they ARE the box.

27. You cannot change the hearts and minds of liberals, because they possess neither.

28. There is no such thing as a kind liberal.

29. Reading Democratic Party platforms is like reading the history of human rights abuses and crimes against humanity in this country.

25 Immutable Truths About Liberals

Over the years I've been writing this blog, I've been throwing out little self-evident truths that seem to have no exceptions that prove the rule. I've made a list of some of them and will add to it as I remember them or make up more. Most of this list I've come up with myself. A few I've borrowed from others.

1. Always expect the worst from a liberal and you will never be surprised.

2. Never try to reason with a liberal. They disregard any evidence that conflicts with their beliefs.

3. You can always tell what liberals are up to by what they accuse conservatives of doing.

4. Liberals don't debate, they argue.

5. The only standards liberals have are double standards.

6. Liberals feel, conservatives think.

7. Whenever you don't understand a liberal's motives, just look for the money.

8. Liberals cannot be embarrassed. They lack the gene to blush.

9. The Liberal Golden Rule is, "Do unto others but scream bloody murder if they do unto you."

10. Liberals don't have leaders, they have demi-gods.

11. There are no honest liberals. If they were honest -- especially to themselves -- they would be conservatives.

12. A liberal's business is nobody's business, but everyone's business is a liberal's business.

13. Liberals have an inflated sense of self-worth. They are like house flies that criticize the air-worthiness of a Stealth fighter. (Sarah Palin, George W. Bush, ad infinitum are morons.)

14. Liberals lack a sixth sense that conservatives have in abundance -- common sense.

15. Liberals never stop hating.

16. There are only two types of liberals -- the deceivers and the deceived. The difficulty is telling them apart.

17. Every time liberals get on their high horse, they get bucked off.

18. Liberal programs are so wonderful that they have to be forced on people.

19. Liberals always choke on their own medicine.

20. When given a moral choice, liberals always come down on the wrong side of the fence.

21. The only way liberals can build themselves up is by tearing others down.

22. Liberals not only refuse to learn from their mistakes, they refuse to admit them.

23. Liberals have only two political positions -- blind devotion and blind hatred.

24. Liberals are incapable of attacking the message, so they always attack the messenger.

25. Liberal diversity is only skin deep.