File under: "People who don't know what they are talking about"

A surprisingly large number of European officials seem to fall under this category. The latest news flash comes from the Terry Davis, secretary general of Council of Europe, who says the days of the death penalty in the United States are at the "definitive beginning of the end... I have no doubt that this trend is welcomed by a lot of Americans who, given a proper choice, prefer just security to cruel revenge.'' (See Days numbered for US death penalty.)

Personally, I prefer cruel revenge. It's a dish best served cold. With a little apple sauce on the side.

But while we're on the topic of European officials and the apparent legalization of hallucinogenic drugs, if you ever wonder whether the Europeans have gotten off that whole "only-white-Western-Europeans-are-civilized-the-rest-of-the-world-is-a-bunch-of-primative-savages" thing, you don't really have to look farther than just about anything they have to say on the death penalty. For example, Davis says, "The United States of America is on its way to join the rest of the civilized world where this inhuman and barbaric punishment has already been rejected." Which, apparently, means Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea -- indeed, pretty much all of Asia -- are not part of the civilized world. (Seriously here. Whenever Europeans talk about "world opinion" or "international" this or that, they pretty much just mean Europe.)

But I suppose Terry could be right. On the other hand, since we in the U.S. currently are debating legalizing torture, I'm guessing the death penalty is not feeling too threatened.