PRESIDENTS PAST

Gerald Ford was an adequate president and pretty much what we needed to help us settle down after Nixon's attempt at taking over the country. Most will let him rest in peace, and even feel gratitude and respect for him. Some, however, even among his own party, seem reluctant to acknowledge that he ever existed. Their farewells are belated, as if reluctantly offered. Notable among these is the current occupant of the White House.


Two words for Saddam Hussein: Good Riddance.

But we fool ourselves if we think we have punished Hussein for his crimes. Putting a person to death does not punish him or her. It merely thrust them into a nonexistence, not different from their nonexistence before birth. The only way to punish anyone is to torture them by inflicting either physical or psychcial pain while they are alive and conscious. In his nonexistence Saddam Hussein knows no pain, no pleasure, nothing. Moreover, he has lost nothing, because he has no memory. Light a light bulb, he is simply turned off.