The United States, the self proclaimed “leader” in human rights, is now safe. Last night a man with an IQ of 76 was executed in Virginia’s electric chair. The US’ leadership in human rights is about as on par with its continued use of the electric chair, a gruesome, outdated device developed towards the end of the 19th century. It is a device which has failed to operate properly on many occasions but is still in use. Bob Butterworth, a former Attorney General of Florida, who now is the Dean of the law school of a Catholic University (yes, the church that is for right to life and supposedly against the death penalty), warned potential murderers in Florida that “our electric chair might fail to work properly.”

Don’t worry though. Americans see themselves as the paragon of virtue. But in between baseball games, football, reality tv, ipods, myspace, etc etc – its hard to find time to address that messy old issue of human rights. And now it is so convenient with the latest form of legal murder – lethal injection.

The US is a place where a person can be sick, terminally ill and in horrible pain but they won’t let you die because it’s not right to take a life. But a young, healthy, man with the prospect of more life can be put in an electric chair or injection gurney and snuffed out. Go figure. It’s called America.