I had insomnia last night! It was horrible. Didnt go to sleep until like 5:00 a.m. Crawled in bed with Gabriel...he was ALL TOASTY WARM! I stole his body heat like any good mother would.
Okay. This post is pretty dark and pretty hostile so be prepared!
I was so upset this morning to read that Schwarzenegger, a man that should never even be in politics, did not stop the execution of Tookie Williams. I know that man made some horrible mistakes and did some horrible things. He wasnt born in the best place in the world, either. I really feel like he tried to reform himself, really contributed to society and isn't that what the prision system is supposed to be for? Why couldn't they just keep him in prision for life and let him keep doing his work? The man was nominated 5 times for the Noble Peace Prize. I think many, many people can testify to the number of people he saved from a gangster life.
I just dont get it anymore and I feel like I am losing my sense of humanity. The US is in Iraq, murdering innocent people - both our own citizens by virtue of a stupid war and Iraqi citizens. Murder is murder. I am not saying that soldiers should be accused of murder but there seems to be a strange code here for the way some people decide what is a real murder, acceptable loss, and what is an acceptable murder. I feel so torn inside right now. Really sad.
Isn't Charles Manson in prision for life...in California? The message here: He murdered more people but he just murdered them at the right time when CA didnt have a death penalty sentence?
I wonder if any of this is a race issue, making a hard stand by the Conservative Right? Schwarzenegger was supporting Kurt Waldheim, the presidential nominee for Austria who was AT/PRESENT FOR/ENGAGED IN the mass murder in the Kozara region of western Bosnia during World War II. He was even put on the Wehrmacht's "honor list" for being wounded here. So, hold up. This man only escaped the Nuremburg trials because nobody knew he was an ex-Nazi. He served in the UN, deceived the world for as long as he could until he was found out. Nobody seems to be holding him accountable for his murders. Schwarzenegger, as far as I know, has never spoken out against him. Puke, puke, puke.
I hate to be so dark but the lines here seem very blurred to me. Grotesquely blurred.
PLEASE FRIENDS, TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK. I would really like to know.
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4 comments:
I find it strange, reprehensible, and slightly cannibalistic that a democratic government kills its own citizens. Also, as the criminal justice system cannot be relied upon to execute only the guilty, the problem is compounded.
It doesn't seem like a tough call to me.
Quoting from the pasted article:
Opponents of capital punishment make much of the theoretical possibility that an innocent defendant might be killed.
This is far from "theoretical." I suggest the author look into recent cases in Illinois, Tennessee, and especially Texas.
What they never acknowledge is that the abolition of capital punishment guarantees that innocent victims will die.
This is a non sequitur. The author does what he accuses the opponents of the death penalty of doing. He ignores the direct cause of murder: murderers. The abolition of the death penalty does not kill people. It does quite the opposite.
The illogic of this aside, I understand what he's saying: the death penalty is a deterrent.
That isn't only because executing murderers has a powerful deterrent effect, as a number of recent studies confirm. It is also because prison bars can't keep some killers from killing again.
There are many "recent studies" that suggest that the death penalty both is and is not a deterrent. I suggest that the author read (and cite) a bit more. As for the failure of prisons in preventing murders, perhaps we should reevaluate our prison system rather than continue condoning the death penalty. Again, the author is mistaking cause and effect.
That entire article is riddled with fallacies, half-truths, and nonsense. My favorite part is the end, where the author cites "a statement about the demands of justice and the sanctity of human life a statement as old as Genesis." I wouldn't drag the Bible into this. It advocates the revenge-killing of children if they call an old man "Baldy" (see 2 Kings 2:23-24). Sanctity of human life indeed.
I completely agree, Joey. Given the little number of people who are actually executed, how the hell can it be a deterrent? Doesn't compute at all. And, I truly believe, we need to rethink our entire penal system. Are we housing criminals, keeping them away from society, who gets the chance to reform, who doesnt? Who knows why this man did what he did and anything he did later in life will certainly never make up for what he did. But, did he try to reform himself. I think so. Did he attempt to help others not to make the same mistake. Yes, I think he did. Was killing him making a statement about punishment? No. It is beyond punishment. It is a redundant, hypocritical act. Do I feel safer at night knowing that Ted Bundy is dead? Not really. He was in prision. He didnt threaten me and I bet other psychotics were deterred by his murder.
I know that if I had to sit on a jury and condemn someone to death, I couldn't. Regardless of their crime, that is a burden I could never bear. It is a choice that could be wrong.
The State should not dictate this. It borders on Fascism and Dictatorship like regimes.
When is murder acceptable? When is it wrong? Depends on who you are it sounds like. Depends on your color, your status, your friends and your politics.
According to Amnesty International, there have been 1003 people put to death in the United States since 1976. Compared to China, we're doing pretty good! However, if the death penalty really were a deterrent, we might expect murder rates to decrease rather than increase if execution rates increase.
Look at Amnesty International's list:
http://www.amnestyusa.org/abolish/listbyyear.do
The increasing number of death sentences perhaps stems from an increasing number of captured and convicted criminals. If the death penalty were really a deterrent, shouldn't we instead see fewer executions?
Sadly, USA is not #1 in everything. In number of executions per year, we are a lowly 4th place behind China, Iran, and Vietnam. These three nations truly represent the highest form of democratic responsibility and humane government. We should strive to be more like them. I certainly want to live in a society where state-sponsored murder is A-OK!
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