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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
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speaking of news...
Enough, already?
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Joined: Nov 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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speaking of news...
Enough, already?McVeigh's execution just shows that the American "justice" system is retributive in nature. Capital punishment, as "setting an example", is a failure. It's simple revenge by the state, and, of course, it's got to be totally counter-productive because it sends the ultimate mixed message. On the one hand the law says "citizens shall not kill" and on the other that it's okay if the state does it on citizens' behalf. Huh?  This is not in any way condoning McVeigh's actions, BTW.
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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I'm truly perplexed by the existence of this thread given the first comment within it...  CK - Nice try!  Justice, by definition, unfortunately cannot be achieved with a "scoundrel" such as him (I'm assuming it's the reason for the quotes around the word). BTW, I would stand beside you with all those words, however, we can't send him off to Australia for "isolation" anymore. 
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Not to put too fine a point on it but... the law does not say "citizens shall not kill" it says citizens shall not murder. If someone attacks you and you kill while defending yourself, you have killed but not committed murder. (One attack I have heard made against Republicans in the states is, "How can you be against abortion but for capital punishment." I have never heard the counter argument of how can the Democrats be in favour of abortion but not capital punishment.)
Having said all of that, I am 100% percent against the death penalty. In Canada, in the past ten years, or so, there have been several high-profile cases of people convicted of murder who were later found to be innocent. In one case, the person was repeatedly denied parole because he refused to admit his guilt and he served 23 years before being cleared. At least if the person has been wrongfully convicted it is possible for the wrong to be righted.
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I am inclined to agree with Rouspeteur. Those wrongful conviction cases sure are scary! All you have to do is accidentally be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and your life is completely ruined.
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Those wrongful conviction cases sure are scary
We have had enough of them in UK to make me wonder as well, particularly as the ones that were executed are less likely to be recognised as miscarriages of justice. While I used to be 100% against the death penalty, I have modified my views to be an arithmetician on the subject. If someone can convince me that significantly fewer innocent people will die as a result of executions, presumably because of deterrent effects and less reoffending, then I will relunctantly have to accept it. Mind you, while I find it distasteful that the state can execute people, I don't lose a lot of sleep over some of the "victims".
By the way, I still have the following article in my "Rod's Odds and Sods" folder from New York Times (??) 1984-ish on the Ronald O'Bryan execution:
"Another factor that could affect executions in Texas is a ruling by the US Court of Appeal for DC ... that such injections could not be carried out until the Food and Drug Administration approved the poison used". ...as being safe for human consumption, or what??
Rod
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C.K. writes:
not in any way condoning McVeigh's actions
So you believe they have the right man then? And he acted alone?
They'd better kill this guy before he writes a best seller :-)
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
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Yeah. Now that he's dead, we'll probably never know how many were involved.
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I cannot help but writing a few words on this subject. We have got plenty of murderers here and not only terrorists. This week a junkie was arrested after letting her kid die of starvation.
Those acts, specially the ones against kids, make my guts ask for revenge. My inner mind relishes thinking about how those monsters are suffering from a terrible death.
But I try not to let my guts do the thinking. And, sometimes, I’ve got to try hard. I want to be a better human being than those murderers so don’t want to participate, even ideologically, on any killing.
"Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster."
-- Nietsche
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Yeah. Now that he's dead, we'll probably never know how many were involved.
Even if he hadn't been executed we probably would never have found out through him. He wasn't planning on talking. Now he has, in a certain sense, become a martyr, and that's what he wanted.
The thing I find most confusing about the whole death penalty issue is that American seems to be, as a people, not a government, very religious. This is purported to mean peaceful, yet we're the country with the most crime and people in jail, and we support the death penalty (about 60% do at least). UK, on the other hand, where there is no death penalty and seemingly lower crime, has had, I've heard, 48% of the population describe themselves as not believing in a god. Does anyone else find this somewhat paradoxical?
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