We Can't AFFORD An Eye And A Tooth

California is in the middle of a budget crisis so bad, we re-elected Jerry Brown as governor. Among his plans to solve it is allowing people to vote on whether they'll accept a tax increase, though the Republicans are blocking that one.

The Republicans won't allow people to decide for themselves. Now THAT'S what our founding fathers wanted!

Anyway, something that isn't on the table yet but also surely would be blocked - abolishing the death penalty. The case was made yesterday in an Op-Ed at the L.A. Times by Donald A. McCartin, who was also known as "The Hanging Judge" of Orange County. McCartin's point is that people sentenced to death are rarely executed because the appeals process capital cases is byzantine and endless (he sentenced 10 people to death, none have been executed) and this appeals process is incredibly costly compared to simply imprisoning someone to life without parole. Which these inmates are serving, because they'll never be executed. So that's essentially $125 million a year saved, starting today if we abolish the death penalty in California.

So biblical imperative aside, sounds like a pretty easy fix to me. Anybody want to take the Hanging Judge up on it?