Yesterday, when the online news sites were all aflutter of a jury verdict coming back on the Moussaoui sentencing, I switched on the
audio to…I forget whether it was Fox News or CNN…via the XM receiver I run at work.
The outcome was, as you probably know by now, Moussaoui got life rather than the death penalty.
I don’t have too much to say on that outcome. From the little that I’ve paid attention to his case, he seems a particularly
reprehensible guy, and the 9/11 attacks certainly rise above the threshold below which I’m morally uncomfortable with capital
punishment…but I can’t help but wonder if the feds made the guy to be more than he actually was — someone who wanted to do
Americans harm, who wanted attention and glory for himself, but was probably too nutty to be useful in any plots.
However, something that did catch my attention was a description of what life will be like for Moussaoui at the Supermax prison in
Colorado — 23 hours of solitary confinement per day, and essentially no contact with the outside world but for access to a TV
airing religious and educational programming approved by the warden.
It seems kind of insignificant in the face of a would-be terrorist being sent away for life….but I can’t help but wonder what sort
of religious television programming my tax dollars will be used to deliver to Moussaoui.
Also…why the heck are my tax dollars being used to pay for and to operate televisions in a prison in the first place?!