via www.people.com
People.com is just reporting that Ryan Jenkins has been found dead in a motel room in Canada. Right now authorities are suggesting that it looks like a suicide. I suppose we can't be completely surprised by this. Suicide is an act of the desperate and Jenkins was certainly desperate. Part of me feels thankful that he's dead and it's over, the state of California has just been saved the cost of a lengthy murder trial and yet it feels as though the U.S. judicial system has lost out. Here is a man that for what ever reason (probably jealousy) took the life of his wife. As if that wasn't bad enough, he then mutilated her body to try and throw the police off the scent. I'm sure Jasmine Fiore's family and friends will think that Jenkins got off lightly. Rather than have to face the music and pay for what he had done, he took the coward's way out through suicide. Clearly, Jenkins is someone who is deluded in thinking that death solves problems whether it's an imperfect wife or being hunted for her murder.
At the end of the day, I can't help but feel how wasteful and pointless violence is.
Tougher Penalties Sought for Driving Drunk With Children - City Room Blog - NYTimes.com
via cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com
You would think that the risk of getting yourself in an accident and seriously injuring yourself would be enough of an incentive to prevent people driving while intoxicated. Clearly, given the number of drunk-driving accidents, it is not. Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) report that in 2007 nearly 13,000 people died in accidents that were in part caused by drivers who were impaired by alcohol. That number is staggering. Obviously, we need tougher punishments to make people think twice about grabbing those car keys. This includes both tougher penalties if you are caught driving drunk and also if you cause harm while driving under the influence.
What bothers me about the current proposed changes in the wake of the Taconic State Parkway accident is that it is focusing on the victims who were children. Gov. Paterson is proposing legislation that would make it a felony to drive while intoxicated with a minor in the car. My issue with this sort of legislation is that it puts a higher value on the life of a child than on the life of an adult. I love kids, and my heart goes out to the family who lost three daughters in last week's crash but is their grief any more real or intense than the families of the men in the SUV that Diane Schuler hit? Those victims were all adults but does that make the pain their families feel any less? I think the answer is no and so I say, don't just make it a felony to have kids in the car, toughen the penalties if you have ANYONE in the car. The judgment of these politicians has been clouded by the image of the innocence that has been lost when a child is murdered. Innocence is lost, lives are shattered when anyone's, no matter their age, life is stolen.
Posted at 08:58 AM in Cultural Commentary, Current Affairs, New York Groove | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)