Oh, they go WAY back, gunslinger. Hap, im beginning to question your credibility overall.....now your channelling? ?
If "channeling" is what you call coming to a well-supported conclusion gleaned from study of the creature these past years....
Thank you all for your expressions of concern regarding my cousin. She was a beautiful child of 15 whose candle was so cruelly and brutally extinguished. Her attacker had a history, and had hoped to avoid capture by eliminating her as a witness. And the same has happened to so many before and after her. Remember that young girl twenty-odd years ago who was found wandering in the desert after having been raped and her arms chopped off at the elbows??? Her attacker served the prescribed sentence, was released and in his 70's, was arrested in Florida for the murder of a prostitute. Why was this butcher ever released??? Why are any of them ever released ??? Some may not actually murder their victims but they certainly do take their lives. And then they are later released or escape to prey again and again and again. There is only one sentence that would guarantee the public saftey against these predators. Call it revenge ... call it what you will ... but the fact is, I would not want to be the one to explain to my daughter that my compassion for those like her attacker was what allowed him his freedom to attack again. There is only one appropriate sentence for these predators.
It is inescapable that those who are against capital punishment have more compassion for the criminal than the victim. Yes, they clamor over and over that Life Without Parole is the answer, yet these are the same anti-capital punishment fanatics who complain about prison overcrowding. In the meantime, the justice system as it is allows such criminals out over and over by the thousands each year. .. And when the criminal is released, and murders others like your cousin, they are silent. Ask a Leftie how they would feel if their daughter was the victim of a repeat child sex offender, and they do what Zzzztroll did when asked: avoid the question.
You encapsulated the difference between justice that is based on feelings and rationalization of strong emotions and a justice system that is based on intellect, reason and law. The scales of justice are portrayed with a blindfold to signify the higher functioning of man, to reason and act on that reason, to elevate reason above feelings. Were we to act on our feelings in matters of law and justice, we would be no better than the criminals who ignore reason and act out on their own feelings. It is interesting to note that only man among all the members of the animal kingdom seeks to kill out revenge. Animals kill out of instinct to survive alone, humans often kill for pleasure, or revenge, or other lower emotions and feelings. It is the intellect that is supposed to separate us from animal behavior, yet the intellect who is the slave of emotions is not an intellect at all, it becomes nothing but a vehicle to rationalize behavior, speech, thought as somehow righteous on the basis of feelings alone. These lower human emotions of revenge are what brings down a society, and the higher reasoning leads us to and elevated level of society. Yes, it is human instinct to seek out revenge, but it is the ability to reason above lower instincts that places us in a civilized society, and not the barbarism of lowering our justice system to the level of the criminals, who act on feelings, then rationalize their behavior. We place criminals in prisons because they were not able to control their feelings, the could not resist their lower impulses, and they acted not out of reason. Reason took a back seat to powerful emotions and impulses. So what kind of response do we see from the victims of these crimes? Essentially the same type of feeling based thought process. The outrage someone feels, based on the powerlessness of a situation is again normal, but our justice system is designed to keep those emotions in check, and argue from reason and law. It is quite normal to feel, to have impulses, to long for revenge or retribution....but it is only the striving to rise above these lower impulses to act in the world with reason and law as our guide that will give us any chance of evolving as a society, both spiritually and in a secular manner. Oh, and animals have no power of forgiveness, acceptance, and faith in God and God's will.....only man has those options.
well, i think your all sick, really. " It is inescapable that those who are against capital punishment have more compassion for the criminal than the victim." bollocks. Simplistic, trollworthy bollocks. Did i mention, absolute BOLLOCKS? Nobody has yet addressed , the reality that (censored) overall (censored), , bearing in mind the (deleted). And thats the situation, quite frankly.
More obfuscation from the resident LozzerTroll. Did I say to go out and lynch child sex offenders? No, I did not. Am I emotional about this? Yes, as you are emotional as displayed in your baseless tirade. But I am not advocating lynch mobs. Instead, I'm saying that the LAW SHOULD BE CHANGED to make the punishment for such offenses death. I've explained this to you countless times when I had faith that it was possible to have a rational discussion with you, but of course you know that already. So tell us, Zzzzz, whose rights are more important: the child sex offender's or his victims'? Oh wait, can't expect you to answer this as you think pedophilia is a joking matter, and you avoided the same question ad nauseum when posed to you a long time ago. You're also the same guy who said if hundreds of innocent people are murdered every year by released criminals, that is proof to you that the parole system is working. So spare us your babble, and especially the prattle about God. You talking about God is akin to Resinate talking about objective moderating....mutually exclusive.
And again, here's the rub: the public - which sadly includes the victims - have to pay for the housing and incarceration of these predators!!! What's wrong with this picture ???? But ponder this: The assets of certain types of criminals are automatically confiscated and later sold at auction. The proceeds are then devided up between participating law enforcement agencies for use in fighting crime (yeah, right - but that's another thread!). Instead, confiscate ALL the assets of All criminals. Liquidate thru consignment to maximize returns and use the proceeds to fund their incarceration. Tie this in with automatic 100 year terms for first time felons with sentence reduction credits available for good behavior, completed education/vocational training goals and other acts that would indicate the prisoner's interest and intent on becoming a contributing member ov society. Upon parole, use this fund to provide them with a loan, monitored and used to help get them started once again. As for the violent predators ... it is good indeed that we show them love and compassion - so long as we don't turn our backs on them. But we should not have to live like this. We should NEVER have to concern ourselves with the consequences of a predator's early release or escape - EVER !!
And by the way ... these complaints about prison overcrowding are a part of concerns expressed about the "cruel and unusual punishment of convicted predators. I recall some years ago that a So. Florida County Sheriff, in an effort to releive overcrowding, directed that his inmates construct wooden platform to be used as floors for tents for housing (Army-style). The ACLU stepped in citing "cruel and unusual punishment" because the tents had no AC, subjecting the inmates to the heat and humidity. ( I guess only a law-abiding grunt is allowed such lavish accommodations - sans floor!!!!!). The colonists included the principle of cruel and unusual punishment as the Eighth Amentment to the Constitution: "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines inposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted." That phrase applied to "tortures" and other "barbarous" methods of punishment such as: pillorying, disemnoweling, decapitation, and drawing and quartering. I'll go out on a limb and say that I don't think they had in mind such things as overcrowding, no a/c, no tv and no high-speed internet access in mind. I'll go out on that limb even further by saying that I don't even believe that they would have a MAJOR problem with executing predators of our children. I could be wrong ...
When cruel and unusual punishment was mentioned, it was relative to the era of the 18th century. An era that included women having almost no rights, slavery, no child labor laws, etc. We have evolved socially to a more humane existence. To expect cruel and unusual punishment to be held to the same standards as 200 years ago, makes little sense in the overall scheme of societal evolution. We view the actions of the Islamic terrorists as they cut off heads as barbaric, but by our 21st century standards. Decapitation was the normal execution in France and England hundreds years ago, so things do change as society evolves. We must also apply 21st century standards, not 18th century standards to our own criminal justice system.