Wait, they stopped hanging men for horse stealing? According to the Death Penalty Information Center, the last known execution for horse theft was in California in 1851. But it was never that common a sentence; of the roughly 3,500 executions from 1700 to 1860, only 51 were for steed stealing. Pennsylvania was the first state to abolish capital punishment for robbery in 1786—but believe it or not, the South was behind the curve. Robbery was still a capital crime in some Southern states until 1972, when the Supreme Court declared death penalty statutes unconstitutional. Guess the makers of The Horse Whisperer will never be brought to justice.
Animals suffer from mental retardation, and we’re better off because of it. Why? By observing impaired critters, scientists have learned how the condition affects people. Researchers at the Oregon Health & Science University found that mice lacking a protein called WAVE-1 suffer from balance, motor, learning, and memory shortages. Since WAVE-1 is important in human brain cell communication, its absence in people could have the same effects. And, yes, that does mean special ed rodents contribute more to humanity than you do.
The president is the best-paid public official in the United states — but it’s a recent development. Fortunately for poverty-stricken Dubya, Congress doubled the presidential salary to $400,000 before he took office, but this was the first presidential pay hike since 1969. We had the top public official in the country making what amounted to a low-level VP salary on Wall Street — and other public officials were making even more than that. For example, Dallas’ city manager pulls in $263,027 while the vice president, Speaker of the House, and chief justice of the Supreme Court make only $203,000. House and Senate leaders earn $175,700, but representatives and senators nab a measly $158,100. That’s still more than most governors, whose salaries typically range from $75,000 to $125,000. Of course, California’s governator chose not to accept his $175,000 salary—hey, you finally make more money than someone!
