>> Get thee to an eco-nunnery — because the Sisters of Providence at the White Violet Center for Eco-Justice offer everything from individualized earth sabbaticals to alpaca sales and breeding opportunities to farmers’ markets. I’d be tempted book a vacation there if the sisters weren’t so religious.
>> Commission a graffiti message of peace on the Israeli separation wall. For $40, “a trio of Palestinian graffiti artists will spray your words on the wall and e-mail you a photo as proof. The only restriction: no messages of hate or anti-Semitism.” See more photos of the group’s work on Flickr.
>> Abolish the death penalty because even if you care only about money, doing away with capital punishment would be a much saner small step towards balancing the budget. One Michael Ray Burgener’s case has cost California $5 million over 20 years.
The judge who presided at Burgener’s penalty retrial is dead. The judge who replaced him is now dead. The attorney who defended Burgener at trial is dead. And the prosecutor who won the guilty verdict no longer works for the Riverside County District Attorney. None of the state high court justices who heard his first appeal are on the court anymore.
[Santa Clara University Law Professor Gerald F.] Uelmen said that by the time Burgener’s appeals are exhausted, the cost to the state could total $5 million more than the expense of a life term without parole. An inmate on death row costs $92,000 a year more than an inmate in regular prison, Uelmen said.
Most common cause of death for a death row inmate is old age, making the results of the death penalty and life without parole practically the same — except the former’s a lot more expensive. As of Jan. 1, we’ve got 678 inmates on Cali’s death row. At $92K extra an inmate a year, that comes to $62 million taxpayer dollars lost a year. If each of their cases ends up costing $5 million, we’ll be out $3.4 billion by the times all these inmates die — most of old age.
Photo by ipetepix
Don’t let the religiosity scare you off. Nuns are the coolest people on earth.
Don Hosek’s last blog post..The Streets of Santa Monica (in Alphabetical Order) Bryn Mawr Avenue and California Avenue
Comment by Don Hosek — May 25, 2009 @ 12:40 pm
Are you Catholic?
Comment by Siel — May 25, 2009 @ 2:12 pm
I was going to keep this to myself, but…
I recently imagined a scheme where convicted criminal are sentenced not to years or months but rather to kilowatts. Prisons could put in a grid of exercise bikes hooked up to generators. There are a couple of flaws in this plan, not the least of which is the difficulty in catching a second time offender that has legs like Lance Armstrong.
Martin’s last blog post..Saving Kittens and Plastic Waste
Comment by Martin — May 26, 2009 @ 1:01 am
Another flaw is that it favors the strong — What about the downtrodden and drug addicted who can’t cycle so well? :P
My idea’s non-jail related but related to your idea: TVs should only be able to run by power generated via an attached bike. This would effectively solve our obesity problem — and hopefully make people watch less TV, hangout with people more –
Comment by Siel — May 28, 2009 @ 6:22 pm
Hi Siel! Just stumbled upon this post. I actually spent an Americorps year working at White Violet Center. Don’s right — nuns ARE great. I was nervous about the religious aspect at first, but once you watch a nun help to inseminate an alpaca, you don’t quite look at them the same way. I’m quite sure the sisters would welcome you and whatever religious views/lack of religious views you’d come with. They’re tops.
Comment by Christina — July 31, 2009 @ 10:38 am