>
>Speaking of degrees of civilization, it struck me when I re-read _Crime
>and Punishment_ a few years back that even Tsarist Russia had eschewed the
>death penalty by the 19th century as barbarian.
>
A point made with great passion and a good deal of detail by Solzhenitsyn, who unfavorably compares the Stalinist Gulag with the Tsarist practices, which were pretty barbaric nonetheless. And now the Supremes, having decided that it is OK to execute the innocent of they have had a fair trial, and to ignore statistical evidence of racial bias in capital cases, is going to further make us a mock among the nations by okaying our practice of executing the mentally retarded. --jks _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com