Since Texas is in the news today for eliminating the traditional “special meal”, I thought it might be the perfect time to address some of our more primitive inclinations.

While I applaud Texas I do wonder how much time Sen. Whitmire spent on getting it repealed. I also wonder if he shouldn’t be spending his time on more serious matters.

Of course, it’s a done deal now, so why not run with it?

When I lived in South Florida, I remember this radio station that would from time to time announce the final meals of death row inmates. It was always the same guy (a prison official) that did the list and his voice was as macabre as the idea of announcing the list in the first place.

Now I’m not one that enjoys things of this nature but for some odd reason I had to hear that list. As each person was read off and their meal verbalized I often wondered what they might be thinking about as they consumed their feast. Other thoughts that came to mind? Why certain items seemed to repeat quite a lot and then there were the oddball requests. Some requests were specifically to make a statement.

Sometimes I’d wonder about the guilt or innocence of the person and how the meal was somewhat an indicator of the finality of their lives. Once that meal is served, you know it’s over, there’s no turning back. In other words, this is one of the signs that the Grim Reaper is coming quickly to claim you.

Here is a list of some famous last meals:

Adolf Eichmann declined a special meal, preferring a bottle of Carmel, a dry red Israeli wine. He drank about half of it.
Aileen Wuornos declined a special meal, but had a hamburger and other snack food from the prison’s canteen. Later, she drank a cup of coffee.
Allen Lee Davis: 350-pound “Tiny” Davis had one lobster tail, fried potatoes, a half-pound of fried shrimp, six ounces of fried clams, half a loaf of garlic bread, and 32 ounces of A&W root beer.
Andrey Chikatilo: porridge with a small piece of beef.
Ángel Nieves Díaz declined a special meal. He was served the regular prison meal for that day, but declined that as well.
Barton Kay Kirkham: Pizzas and ice cream, “because you get cheese, meat and everything in one meal. Not so much fuss.”
Clarence Ray Allen: Buffalo steak, Kentucky Fried Chicken, sugar-free pecan pie and sugar-free black walnut ice cream.
Danny Rolling: Lobster tail, butterfly shrimp, baked potato, strawberry cheesecake, and sweet tea.
Dennis Wayne Bagwell: Medium rare steak with A1 Steak Sauce, fried chicken breasts and thighs, BBQ ribs, French fries, onion rings, bacon, scrambled eggs with onions, fried potatoes with onions, sliced tomatoes, salad with ranch dressing, two hamburgers, peach pie, milk, coffee, and iced tea with real sugar.
Dobie Gillis Williams: Twelve candy bars and some ice cream.
Edward Hartman: A Greek salad, linguini with white clam sauce, cheese cake with cherry topping, garlic bread, and a Coke.
Eric Wrinkles: Prime rib, a “loaded” baked potato, pork chops with steak fries, rolls and two salads with ranch dressing, served three days before execution because Indiana State Prison found that condemned inmates tend to lose their appetite near the end.
Francis Crowley: Steak and onions, french fries, apple pie, ice cream and melted ice cream.
Gary Gilmore: A hamburger, hard-boiled eggs, a baked potato, a few cups of coffee, and three shots of contraband Jack Daniel’s whiskey.
Gary Lee Davis: Chocolate and vanilla ice cream cups, shared with the prison superintendent and a manager.
Gary Michael Heidnik had two slices of a cheese pizza and two cups of black coffee.
Henry Martinez Porter: Flour tortillas, T-bone steak, refried beans, tossed salad, jalapeño peppers, ice cream, and chocolate cake.
Ignacio Cuevas, perpetrator of the 1974 Huntsville Prison Siege – Chicken dumplings, steamed rice, sliced bread, black-eyes peas, and iced tea.
James Edward Smith requested a lump of dirt, which was denied. He settled for a small cup of yogurt.
Joan of Arc: Holy communion.
John David Duty: A double cheeseburger with mayonnaise, a foot-long hot dog with cheese, mustard and extra onions, a cherry limeade, and a large banana shake.
John Wayne Gacy: A dozen deep-fried shrimp, a bucket of original recipe chicken from KFC, French fries, and a pound of strawberries.
Joseph Mitchell Parsons: Three Burger King Whoppers, two large orders of fries, a chocolate shake, chocolate chip ice cream, and a package of grape Hubba Bubba bubblegum, to be shared with his brother and a cousin.
Karl Eugene Chamberlain: A variety of fresh fruit and vegetables, cheese, lunch meat, deviled eggs, six fried cheese-stuffed jalapeños, a chef salad with ranch dressing, onion rings, french fries, a cheeseburger, two fried chicken breasts, barbecue pork rolls, an omelet, milk, and orange juice.
Karla Faye Tucker: Banana, peach, and garden salad with ranch dressing.
Lawrence Russell Brewer: Two chicken fried steaks smothered in gravy with sliced onions; a triple meat bacon cheeseburger with fixings on the side; a cheese omelet with ground beef, tomatoes, onions, bell peppers and jalapenos; a large bowl of fried okra with ketchup; one pound of barbecue with half a loaf of white bread; three fajitas with fixings; a Meat Lovers pizza; three root beers; one pint of Blue Bell vanilla ice cream; and a slab of peanut butter fudge with crushed peanuts. Brewer’s request was granted, but he refused the meal when it arrived, prompting Texas to stop granting last meal requests to condemned inmates.
Lowell Lee Andrews: Two fried chickens with sides of mashed potatoes, green beans and Pie a la Mode.
Mark Dean Schwab: Fried eggs (over easy), bacon, sausage links, hash browns, buttered toast, and a quart of chocolate milk.
Martha Beck: Fried chicken, fried potatoes and salad.
Murl Daniels: Orange juice, grape juice, fried chicken, fried oysters, chili, potatoes, Limburger cheese, bread and butter, vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup, chocolate cake and coffee.
Perry Smith and Richard Hickock: Shrimp, French fries, garlic bread, ice cream, and strawberries with whipped cream.
Odell Barnes: “Justice, Equality, World Peace.”
Peter Kürten: Wiener schnitzel, fried potatoes and a bottle of white wine. He requested seconds and received it.
Philip Workman: He declined a special meal for himself, but he asked for a large vegetarian pizza to be given to a homeless person in Nashville, Tennessee. This request was denied by the prison, but carried out by others across the country.
Rainey Bethea: Fried chicken, pork chops, mashed potatoes, pickled cucumbers, cornbread, lemon pie, and ice cream.
Ricky Ray Rector: Steak, fried chicken, cherry Kool-Aid, and a pecan pie. He did not eat the pie because he said he was saving it for later.
Robert Alton Harris: A 21-piece bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken, two large Domino’s Pizzas (no anchovies), ice cream, a bag of jelly beans, a six-pack of Pepsi, and a pack of Camel cigarettes.The pizza was actually from Tombstone Pizza, per the stipulation of Vernell Crittendon.
Robert Dale Conklin: Filet mignon wrapped in bacon, de-veined shrimp sauteed in garlic butter with lemon, a baked potato with butter, sour cream, chives, and real bacon bits, corn on the cob, asparagus with hollandaise sauce, French bread with butter, goat cheese, cantaloupe, apple pie with vanilla bean ice cream and an iced tea.
Ronald Clark O’Bryan’s last meal request consisted of a T-bone steak (medium to well done), french fries with ketchup, whole kernel corn, sweet peas, a lettuce and tomato salad with egg and French dressing, iced tea, sweetener, saltines, Boston cream pie, and rolls.
Ronnie Lee Gardner: Lobster tail, steak, apple pie, vanilla ice cream, 7-Up, and watching The Lord of the Rings film trilogy.
Ruth Snyder: Chicken Parmesan with alfredo pasta, ice cream, 2 milkshakes, and a 12-pack of grape soda.
Saddam Hussein: The Times states that “he refused their offers of cigarettes and a last meal of chicken.” Other sources state a variety of meal options.
Stephen Woods: Two pounds of bacon, a large four-meat pizza, four fried chicken breasts, two drinks each of Mountain Dew, Pepsi, root beer and sweet tea, two pints of ice cream, five chicken fried steaks, two hamburgers with bacon, fries and a dozen garlic bread sticks with marinara on the side.
Ted Bundy declined a special meal, so he was given the traditional steak (medium-rare), eggs (over-easy), hash browns, toast, milk, coffee, juice, butter, and jelly.
Teresa Lewis: Two fried chicken breasts, sweet peas with butter, a Dr. Pepper and German chocolate cake for dessert.
Thomas J. Grasso: Two dozen steamed mussels, two dozen steamed clams, a double cheeseburger from Burger King, half-dozen barbequed spare ribs, two strawberry milkshakes, half a pumpkin pie with whipped cream with diced strawberries and a 16-ounce can of spaghetti with meatballs, served at room temperature. He later complained “I did not get my SpaghettiOs, I got spaghetti. I want the press to know this.”
Timothy McVeigh: Two pints of mint chocolate-chip ice cream.
Velma Barfield declined a special meal, having a bag of Cheez Doodles and a 12-ounce can of Coca-Cola instead.
Victor Feguer requested a single olive with the stone still in.
William Bonin: Two pepperoni and sausage pizzas, three servings of chocolate ice cream, and three six-packs of Coca-Cola and Pepsi.
Source: Wikipedia

OK, now I’d like to read your last meal and maybe what you would be rolling around in your mind as you ate it.

Of course if you live in Texas you’d probably be cursing Senator Whitmire for ending last meal privilege and Lawrence Brewer for being spiteful with his last meal, which caused it all to happen.