January 5, 2007:

This week saw the video of Saddam’s execution broadcast all over the Internet. By all accounts, it depicts a brutal revenge killing, and not a solemn act of justice. Bad for the state of affairs in Iraq, and bad for the American inspired democracy President Bush is hoping to promote. But after all, America is the only democratic nation that still resorts to capital punishment, and Bush presided over one of the busiest death rows in all 50 states. Even though I have not watched the unedited video, I think the revenge style execution reveals something about capital punishment that opponents have been saying all along: that it is about revenge and has little to do with justice. If the Iraqis and the U.S. truly wanted Saddam to face justice, they would prosecute him for all of his crimes against the Iraqi people, including the gassing of the Kurds, which the Bush Administration loved to make note of time and time again to show how much of a bad guy Saddam was. But of course, a long trial would surely resurface information on how those chemical weapons were given to Iraq by the U.S. and how even after he gassed the Kurds, the U.S. coddled up to the Dictator, producing the famous photo of Rummy shaking hands with the “Butcher of Baghdad”. So perhaps his execution was rushed for U.S. political expediency as well.

When I grow up, I want to be Mark Fiore, who does such a great job at these cartoons, full of truth and satire! He summarizes Saddam’s execution better than anyone.

This all comes at a time when my state of New Jersey is considering repealing the Death Penalty from its law books. Blogger Steven Hart has a nice piece over at Blue Jersey about NJ’s thoughts about abolishing the Death Penalty, and how Pro-Life Christian Conservatives are still screaming for blood.

Lastly, one year after Bush’s warrantless wiretapping program was revealed, the NY Daily News uncovers yet another in a long list of Presidential signing statements that allows the President to open your mail without a warrant, effectively covering all bases of communication known to man. All for national security, of course, but come on, how many friggin’ al Qaida cells are writing instructions and mailing them to other pen-pal cells? I know Democrats want to dance delicately around the word Impeachment because we want to hold onto the majority through the 2008 election, but come on, how many laws can we allow this self-coronated Imperial President to break before we hold him accountable?