Spontaneous Musings

In 1994, I had an interesting experience in the Kansas State Senate that not many people get to witness. I stood on the floor, trying not to look uncomfortable, listening for two, possibly three hours as the Senate debated the re-instatement of the death penalty in Kansas.
Kansas had not had the death penalty since around the 1960s - in which a moratorium had been placed on it. Below is a link to a site that tells you in depth about Kansas and the death penalty.

http://www.aclu.org/capital/moratorium/10620prs20041221.html

The argument I heard on that Senate Floor was in some respects similar to the arguments posed in the Buffy episodes Beneath You and Selfless, as well as the argument posed in the BattleStar Galatica mini-film RAZOR. It was also similar in some respects to the arguments I heard in my own country and had inside my own head, and with my friends online and off after the events of 9/11.
( Meta on BTVS S7: Selfless and Beneath You )

Hurrican Hannah has hit NY with drenching rain, so I decided to stay indoors and finish Season 2 of Dexter courtesy of Netflix. Just finished watching it and was incredibly impressed. Season 1 was pretty good, but also slow in places. Season 2 on the other hand is flawless, perhaps the best season of a series that I have seen since Season 1, BattleStar Galatica (the new version). Everything worked. All the characters evolved and were interacted in the plotline.

The series also played with a couple of rather complicated issues, such as the Death Penalty, in fact I'd have to say this was the most complex take I've seen on the Death Penalty, leaving the audience to make up its own mind. Usually, tv shows that tackle the Death Penalty either preach against or for it, and leave the viewer feeling a tad bored or hollow at the end. This one leaves you feeling itchy and uncertain.

It ends with a wonderful line quoted by the lead character, a serial killer who murders serial killers: "I have stopped asking myself if I am good or evil, because does anyone ever know for certain? Aren't we all a little of both?"
( Dexter Season 2 - Cut for major plot and character spoilers )