There were a few interesting items handed down by the Supreme Court this week. Some of you have written on them and some of you have commented. I will have to say, that I am in agreement with both of these decisions. The first is the 2nd amendment being upheld and striking down the DC handgun ban. I know that it is an unpopular decision with many. There is a point that needs to be considered. If this government were to ever face a serious challenge from the people, the first thing to go would be the guns. Are we really so naive that we are going to give up home security to the type of government we see now? Do you realize that urban security companies, like Blackhawk, are in Iraq now training for the same type of insurgency here at home? This whole mess over there is not just about Iraq. It is also about what this country is going to be like in the next 5, 10 or 20 years. I am really afraid of the country my daughter will be living in when she grows up.

And on the subject of my daughter, the Supreme Court overturned Louisiana's law allowing the execution of child rapists. As a parent, that is a crime of horrific, nightmare proportions. However, the death peanlty for a crime involving sexual deviancy is a slippery slope we need to be very careful before we put out foot upon it. I am in favor of the death penalty for Capital Crimes, if it is equally applied and not used as a political tool. However, here in Texas, there is a saying,"If you kill someone here, we will kill you back." Harris County, where Houston is located, sends more men to death row than any other state except Texas. I would say that many of those deserve it. However, because of the shoddy trial and defense system here, not all defendants are properly counseled. Here, if your lawyer sleeps through your trial, it is not grounds for ineffective counsel.

Let me also add this, as a father, if, God forbid, anything like that were to happen to either Amy or M. I would torture and then kill the low-life piece of shit motherfucker that did it. I would drop the remains off at the Police Station and then I would do the time, day for day, without blinking.

Yes, vigilante justice is wrong. However, there are somethings that I believe a man has to do. And that is one of them. God can forgive them,but not me.

The measure of a society is how it treats it's prisoners. Are we going to degenerate into Stalinist Russia were everything is a crime punishable by death? It is a common, knee jerk reaction to want to see someone put do death for that sort of crime. And let me you in on a secret. It is a crime punishable by death if that person goes into the General Population of a prison.

Many of you who read the old Pirateviews blog on Blogster will remember that I am an ex-con. I am now going to relate to you a story that happened in prison that I have never told anyone, not even Amy.

I was the third shift SSI on the medium security, lockdown wing. That means I worked from 10 at night until 6 in the morning. I cleaned up, ran errands for the bosses and had lots of time to read and do crossword puzzles.

There was a younger guy, in his 20's who caught a case for something and was sent to lockdown. It was commonly though he was a child molester but no one was certain. It is not something you talk about inside. Anyway, one night while doing there walk downs, one of the bosses looked into his cell and he was masturbating to pictures of children. He didn't say anything. There was no case given. However, a couple of nights later. One of the Aryan families had a soldier moved into medium security. That night, I was sent by the boss to the ODR (officers dining room) to get breakfast tacos. While I was gone, the doors were rolled and that soldier beat that guy to death with a can of roast beef in a sock. I found him doing my walkaround. I looked in and his blood and brains were scattered all over the floor. He was locked in his cell alone. It was officially called a suicide. It was said by the staff that he hung himself.

Everyone knew what happened. the story got out quick. Mainline cons do not suffer child molesters. I would say that his death was much more excruciating than a lethal injection.

I was transferred off of that unit and sent to a pre-release facility about two weeks later. I was not supposed to be there. Air Conditioning. Free world clothes. I had kept my mouth shut about it and I was given a perk.

That is our criminal justice system today.