god bless george ryan... and god help him. today he commuted the death sentences of everyone on death row in illinois... my home state, as you may know.

i am not a political junkie... to my own shame, i don't know a lot about the details of illinois politics... what i do know i usually don't like... like many (of you?) i am frequently just this side (the good side, i hope) of utter ignorance about who's who and what's what... but i've got my issues... life/death issues (for the innocent - born and unborn - AND the guilty)... basic principal: if it's wrong for an individual to take the life of another person (and it sure is), it is just as wrong for the State to do it...

i never voted for george ryan... i tend not to vote for republicans... i haven't liked his politics... i guess i don't like anybody's "politics"... but his decision today leaps up to some higher ground... and his speech was just fine. still, i figure ryan's got nothing to lose... we all know something about the scandals...

for ryan, this may or may not be above politics... but for the other polticians, it's nothing but... i am not heartened by incoming guv rod blagojevic saying ryan has made 'a big mistake.' seems to me ryan has done just fine... and i wish old rod were with him... but he can't afford that high ground.

well, ok, so maybe the ground is not as high as it might be... ryan said:

Because the Illinois death penalty system is arbitrary and capricious-- and therefore immoral-- I no longer shall tinker with the machinery of death.

my take is that even if it were not arbitrary and capricious, it would still be immoral... it just ain't right... and i know that this is a minority opinion... but that's where i've always been, i guess.

How could a man be satisfied with a decision between such alternatives and under such circumstances? No more than he can be satisfied with his hat, which he's chosen from among such shapes as the resources of the age offer him, wearing it at best with a resignation which is chiefly supported by comparison.

George Eliot

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