While I oppose the death penalty, I wonder where Justice Kennedy's brain was on this one.

FOXNews.com - U.S. Supreme Court Strikes Down Louisiana Law Allowing Execution for Child Rape - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News

"In a 5-4 vote, the court said the Louisiana law allowing the death penalty to be imposed in such cases violates the Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

'The death penalty is not a proportional punishment for the rape of a child,' Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in his majority opinion. His four liberal colleagues joined him, while the four more conservative justices dissented.

There has not been an execution in the United States for a crime that did not also involve the death of the victim in 44 years."


Interestingly...

"Victim advocates also warned the death penalty could do more harm than good if it led perpetrators to kill victims who may be the only witness to the crime."

__________________
A panda walks into a cafe. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air.

"Why?" asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes toward the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.

"I'm a panda," he says at the door. "Look it up."

The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds an explanation.

"Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves."