A Small Penstroke for Man, A Great Leap for Mankind

New Jersey became the first state in the U.S. to ban the use of the death penalty and replace it with life imprisonment without possibility of parole through the use of the legislative process. By doing so, New Jersey has now joined the vast majority of civilized societies around the world that have discarded the notion of state-sanctioned murder, i.e. the death penalty, realizing that no one can be declared guilty 100 percent accurately and that the death penalty is one "mistake" that if made, can never be rectified.

I also take this opportunity to remind everyone that this once again marks New Jersey's quiet domination of liberal politics in this country, and along with New Jersey's legislative approval of gay civil unions and forthcoming legislative action on gay marriage, New Jersey is undoubtedly the most progressive state in the country.

I feel the need to mention this because I currently live in California. Californians possess gigantic egos in everything from supposedly how "badass" they are in driving to how liberal they are, flattering themselves with undeserved slogans like "the Left Coast." First of all, Californians need to visit the Phila.-NJ-NYC area to really see "badass" driving in the U.S. and secondly, they are nowhere near as progressive as New Jersey.

Rather than brag about it, New Jersey just goes about pushing back the boundaries of hypocrisy and antiquated policies in a quiet, unassuming manner. More power to it!