Ann Coulter is an Idiot
Before I show you why I think Ann Coulter is an idiot, let me tell you of a tragic event that befell a Knoxville, Tennessee couple in the North Carolina mountains last month. Richard Butler, 30, wanted his girlfriend Bethany Lott, 25, (photo) to think they were just taking a scenic hike, but he had a secret plan: When they got to the top of Max Patch Bald, he planned to pull out a ring and ask her to marry him.
There was heavy rain and thunder as the two walked toward the bald peak, but that did not deter them from their climb. Just before reaching the top and just before he could get on his knee and propose, lightning struck three times and on the third strike hit Butler and his girlfriend, killing her on the spot. He suffered second and third degree burns. (1)
"Her last words, about 30 seconds before it struck us, she turned to me and said, 'God baby, look at it. Isn't it beautiful?'" Richard Butler says.
Thunderstorms had rumbled across the region that day, and some were severe. Most would have turned around and returned home, but not Butler. I suspect that he must have googled "How many women are struck by lightning on top of mountain when being proposed to?" before the trip. Do you know what he would have found? Zero people. Now of course, there are hundreds of links to this story.
The odds of getting killed by lightning are less than 1 in 3 million. The odds of getting killed shortly before being proposed to on top of a mountain are probably 1 in a trillion.
Now what do you think would happen if some idiot took this event and broadcast the idea that since this is such a rare occurrence, everyone should take their future fiancee to the top of some mountain during a thunderstorm and propose to her?
I'll tell you what will happen: this would no longer be a rare occurrence. You see, one cannot take a single occurrence of an event and maintain that even if a million people did the same thing, that only 1 in a trillion would at most die. That's not how statistics work.
Using this as background: consider this bit of nonsense from Ann Coulter:
Jewish World Review, 27 Jun 2000, The last guys 'proved innocent'
By the time they were finished with the Bedau-Radelet Study, Markman and Cassell were able to state without contradiction: There is no documented case of a factually innocent person being executed for at least the past 50 years.
Nor is there likely to be. Probably 99.9 percent of defendants convicted of murder are guilty. Less than 1 percent of all convicted murderers will receive the death penalty. We could triple the number of murderers sentenced to death without ever executing an innocent man.
Let's take the number supplied by Ms Coulter, that probably 99.9% percent of defendants convicted of murder are guilty. I have been in many courtrooms and I have had personal experience with thousands of convicted criminals. My experience has been that most juries are asleep at trials, witnesses mis-identify the perpetrators, police lie to get a conviction, and prosecutors hide evidence to further their careers. Judges know this. Trial Lawyers know this. Prosecutors know this. The only one who doesn't know this is Ann Coulter.
Even One Wrongful Death is Too Many
But let assume she is right. Probably, maybe, perhaps 99.9% of those convicted of murder are guilty. Now let's take the second statistic: Less than 1 percent of all convicted murderers will receive the death penalty. There were 37 executions in 2008. A simple calculation tells us that if future years maintain this number of executions then only one innocent man will be executed in the next 30 years. I could not live with this number, but life is so bereft of value to Ms Coulter that this is fine with her.
Now let's get to the idiot part. Death penalty advocates now use this one person executed in 30 years to promote the idea that the death penalty, because so few innocent people get executed, be expanded to all the states and to execute every person convicted of murder; in addition, the process should be sped up to eliminate all those needless appeals. But just as in the rare lightning strike scenario, few people are struck by lightning while proposing on top of mountains because few people are so stupid as to be on top of mountains during thunderstorms. But this would not be the case if we packed every mountain top with people during thunderstorms.
So, yes, it is true, few innocent people are executed. But this is only true because few people are executed. There are about 6,000 people convicted of murder every year. If we adopt the idea to allow capital punishment in every state and we also speed up the process so that there are fewer chances for someone to be found innocent before execution, then according to Ms Coulter's own statistics, we can expect hundreds of innocent people to be executed every 30 years.
The Innocent are Rarely Executed Because We Rarely Execute Anyone
You see, Ms Coulter, if we executed everyone found guilty of murder, there would be more than one person executed who is innocent. You cannot argue that Capital Punishment rarely executes innocent people and then argue for an increase in its use. If you weren't an idiot in this regard, you would see that the very fact that we rarely execute innocent people because we rarely execute, is in fact an argument to make execution even more rare.
I am proud of my country, but there is one thing that does make me ashamed: a little over 800 years ago, some men were more civilized than we are today in America: Moses Maimonides wrote, "It is better and more satisfactory to acquit a thousand guilty persons than to put a single innocent man to death." It amazes me that I, an atheist, follow the Bible and God's word more than the Christians in this country. Even God sent His angels to warn the four innocents in Sodom to get out, so that He would not kill even one innocent person along with the wicked.
It is time for the Christians in this country to start being real Christians.
Disclaimer: I agree with Ann Coulter on about 90% of the issues. On the death penalty, she is not only wrong, she's an idiot with little regard for innocent life.
ENDNOTES
(1):
Myfox Tampa Bay, 8 Jun 2010, Woman Killed by Lightning Moments Before Marriage Proposal
A 25-year-old woman was killed by lightning while hiking in North Carolina -- just minutes before her boyfriend was to ask for her hand in marriage, the Asheville Citizen-Times reported Tuesday.
Richard Butler, 30, said he had taken girlfriend Bethany Lott to Max Patch Bald, a bald mountain near Asheville, to propose when she was struck by lightning Friday.
The young couple from Knoxville, Tennessee, were walking to the top of the mountain on Lott’s favorite trail when thunderstorms rumbled across the region.
Butler, who suffered second-degree burns, said he remembered three bursts of lightning and believes the third struck Lott.
“She was probably five feet (1.5m) in front of me, so given the incline, she was a good bit higher than me, but it jumped to me,” he said.
