NY Times: Justices Bar Death Penalty for Rape of a Child
Something one of my high school teachers said has stuck with me. I don't remember the exact issue that was being discussed in class, but the comment was that, "One of the first duties of a society is to protect it's children." For those of you who read here regularly and may have wondered what limits I have for behavior I will not tolerate, let me be clear. I am totally opposed to the sexual abuse of children. I am totally opposed to pedophilia.
So when I first heard about this decision on the radio yesterday, my reaction was, "What the Hell were they thinking?" The Times does a good job of explaining what the arguments were on both sides, not that I'm satisfied with either one. I note that both McCain and Obama disagreed with the decision.
Read the article and voice your opinion.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/26/washington/26scotus.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&th&adxnnl=1&emc=th&adxnnlx=1214569324-EgrDrM6ricflgSaNXR6/jA
So when I first heard about this decision on the radio yesterday, my reaction was, "What the Hell were they thinking?" The Times does a good job of explaining what the arguments were on both sides, not that I'm satisfied with either one. I note that both McCain and Obama disagreed with the decision.
Read the article and voice your opinion.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/26/washington/26scotus.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&th&adxnnl=1&emc=th&adxnnlx=1214569324-EgrDrM6ricflgSaNXR6/jA
Hundreds of millions have been killed by their own governments for the past 110 years or so. It is my contention that the government should never legally be allowed to kill a citizen regardless of how heinous their crimes.
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Nydra,
Thanks for posting. I always welcome your thoughts.
There is the thought that life imprisonment is actually less expensive, given the cost of the appeals process, than execution.
I guess the other point of view is execution as a deterrent. Either that or that execution precludes the possibility of the offender escaping to do similar acts.
Would you still feel the same way if the crime were exceptionally heinous and guilt was proven by corroborating witnesses and/or videotape?
Larry
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Larry, yes I would still feel the same. Principle tells me lots of excuses can be used to justify killing citizens. I'm not religious, Larry, but doesn't one of the commandments say 'Thou Shalt not Kill'?
I try to use this question when deciding what is moral and what is not. http://www.isil.org/resources/introduction.html Here is a little primer on self ownership and liberty.
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Nydra,
I liked your link. It has some elements of my "Three Circle Theory" in it.
Robert Burns said it best when he wrote, "O wad the giftie gie us, to see ourselves as ithers see us."
Larry
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