Over half the nations in the world have abolished the death penalty. In 1967, the Supreme Court halted executions in the United States while it decided if the practice constituted cruel and unusual punishment.

Since 1976 (when U.S. capital punishment resumed) an average of three countries per year have abolished the death penalty, including Australia, Germany, and Spain. During this same time period, the U.S. has killed hundreds by lethal injection, electrocution, and the gas chamber; three have been hung (the last was Billy Baily in 1996); firing squads were used to kill Gary Gilmore in 1977 and John Albert Taylor in 1996.

To Kill or Not to Kill

The total cost of sending a person to death row, and executing them (average time on death row is 9 years…) costs roughly the same as keeping them in prison for life. No deterrent effect has been proven, either (and if there were a deterent effect, shouldn’t executions be public again, like they were in the 1930s?)

It should also be noted that no properly-executed criminal ever escaped or brought harm to another victim. Also, executions do bring closure to some of the people affected by serious crimes, some of the time.

Be Careful Playing God

Since 1973, 123 people have been released from death row with new evidence proving they were innocent.

Death Never Tasted So Good

Honoring a last meal request is a time-honored tradition on death row. For instance, just yesterday, Saddam Hussein asked for boiled chicken with rice, and a few glasses of water sweetened with honey (a drink dating back to his childhood.)

See more last-meal menus here: Dead Man Eating.

Read More: death penalty, capital punishment, execution, last meal, saddam hussein

In an interview conducted by Bob Woodward in 2004, former President Ford said:

“I don’t think, if I had been president — on the basis of the facts as I saw them publicly — I don’t think I would have ordered the Iraqi war. “I would have maximized our efforts through sanctions, through restrictions, whatever, to find another answer.

“Rumsfeld and Cheney and the president made a big mistake in justifying going into the war in Iraq.

“They put the emphasis on weapons of mass destruction. And now, I’ve never publicly said I thought they made a mistake, but I felt very strongly it was an error in how they should justify what they were going to do.

“I just don’t think we should go hellfire damnation around the globe freeing people, unless it is directly related to our own national security.”

Read More: Gerald Ford, Bush, Iraq, War

A whopping 15% of New Yorkers can’t afford daily food. Of 8.2 million people, about 1.2 million increasingly rely on charity meals.

Raw numbers illustrate the growing gulf between rich and poor. In 2006:

• Wall Street Bankers collected $24 billion in bonuses.
• The city’s streets were home to 3,800 homeless.
• More than 1.6 million adults earned less than $10,000, the national poverty line.
• Over 475,000 children live below the poverty line.
• Over 380,000 children rely on free food to survive.

More than 1,200 soup kitchens and food pantries across the city are currently providing food for these people who can’t afford it.

Faces of the Hungry

Contrary to popular belief, most of the hungry are not welfare deadbeats; most are working parents, children, and senior citizens who just can’t make ends meet anymore.

New York’s 1.2 million hungry are made up of people like Raymond, who lives with his school-aged son and disabled wife in a one-bedroom apartment.

Or Gina, who is working two jobs, but still doesn’t earn enough to feed her three children between the ages of 6 and 14.

Or Mark, who lost his professional job and went to work juggling three part-time jobs. His family had to rely on free food after the kids’ college funds were exhausted.

The Gap between Rich and Poor Grows

The sad fact is that Americans work more hours than any other industrialized nation. France, for example, has laws limiting the workweek to 35 hours.

And still, as noted by the CIA Factbook, “Since 1975, practically all the gains in household income have gone to the top 20 percent of households.”

The USA now has 37 million out of 300 million people living below the poverty line. That’s the combined populations of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Texas, and Arkansas. The US infant mortality rate compares with Malaysia’s.

And while median household income falls, congress passes more tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy, cuts funding for Medicaid and other safety nets, and each year asks for billions of supplemental dollars to fund an illegal war.

Read More: hunger, poverty, economy, NYC, New York

10. But hypothetically, if I do run for President again, you’ll vote for me, right? 9. Howdy, you’re talking to the War President. Shoot. No pun intended, heh heh heh. 8. Step outside your tent and wave. Me, Dick, and Condi can see you on Google Map over here! 7. If there’s anything I can do to help…well, besides not bombing Iran…and besides bringing you home to your children…yes, and besides—look, how about a new rifle and some grenades? 6. You’ve actually seen the oil? Fantastic! What’s it smell like? Can’t wait to get my hands on it, buddy. 5. You’re so lucky, over there in Iraq with all that sand, like vacation at the beach or something. If you were here in DC, you’d have to actually get your butt to work and make up excuses every day like me. 4. I’m sorry you never found your other arm or your leg, lady, but the important thing is that you keep looking, because I know weapons of mass destruction are there. Osama’s got ‘em. 3. Take out the blue hut—that’s where members of Al Qaeda are meeting Santa Claus for dinner. Yes, Santa Claus is acceptable collateral dammage in the war on terror.

2. I’m all about Peace on Earth. And you know what’s going to bring Peace on Earth? Bunker-busting mini nukes, that’s right.

1. What do you mean it’s dark there? I can see the sun right now.

Read More: Bush, Iraq, war, politics, terrorism, Christmas, military

In Georgia, 17-year-old Genarlow Wilson had oral sex with a 15-year-old, then lost 10 years of his life.

Wilson was an honor-roll student, track star, football player, and homecoming king. He had no previous criminal history. But after participating in consensual oral sex with another minor only two years younger than him, Wilson was convicted of aggravated child molestation.

Then, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison without parole.

He also got stuck with a lifetime registration as a sexual offender.

Wilson has already served almost two years in Lee State Prison in Leesburg, Georgia. The judge recently denied an appeal.

One Thousand New Inmates Per Week

Wilson’s case is one reason that the U.S. adds 1000 people to its prisons and jails each week. With over 2 million prisoners behind bars, the U.S. prison population is the largest in the world. Add to that the number of people on probation or parole, and the number climbs to 7 million.

That’s one out of every 32 U.S. adults.

According to Paul Craig Roberts, one of the problems is that America’s Injustice System Is Criminal:

The criminal justice (sic) system today consists of a process whereby a defendant is coerced into admitting to a crime in order to escape more severe punishment for maintaining his innocence. Many of the crimes for which people are imprisoned never occurred. They are made up crimes created by the process of negotiation to close a case.

This takes most of the work out of the system and, thereby, suits police, prosecutors, and judges to a tee. Police do not have to be careful about evidence, because they know that no more than one case out of twenty will ever be tested in the courtroom.

Prosecutors do not have to make decisions about which cases to prosecute or risk losing cases. By coercing pleas, prosecutors can prosecute every case and boast of extremely high conviction rates.

Read More: prison, crime, jail, law, court, politics, justice