As is now widely known, Saddam Hussein, genocidal extraordinaire, is to be executed within the next 30 days.

In my opinion, executing Saddam just makes him a martyr. In fact, I think it shows just how weak Iraq’s government remains. If they truly wanted to punish Saddam, they’d just keep him in prison for the rest of his life and let him suffer.

Note: The following is best read after reading this blog post, to which I am responding.

The way I see it, if we’re going to help third-world countries get on the path to the first-world, it’s undoubtedly going to take clean water and an adequate food supply, but it’s also going to take education. If these countries abdicate their imperative dedication to their youth in bringing them on par with children in developed nations, then they are facing grime fates as nations. So, to accomplish this feat, take a look at what perhaps not all, but a large of majority of children in developed nations I’d go so far as to say depend on in everyday life: technology.

Now, children in these less fortunate nations may have gotten along fine without laptops — as would children in developed countries — but this is because they are used far too often for superfluous activities, as we have the means for teachers, schools, textbooks, and all other things needed for education. But when used otherwise, these laptops open up a world of free knowledge and discovery available through the internet that could be at the fingertips of third-world children across the globe.

The $100 laptop is an investment in both the future of these nations’ youth and a resultant investment in the future of their country, and it’s going to go a hell of a lot further than one textbook for an entire village of children.