I Am Troy Davis

[ruckman101]

In 66 percent of the Earth's nations, the death penalty has been abolished. Of the 33 percent of Earth's nations still putting people to death, only five nations account for 90 percent of the executions. Saudi Arabia, China, Iran, Pakistan and the United States, in no particular order.

Barbaric. I am ashamed.



neal

[Sylvester]

There was lots of security here in downtown Atlanta near the capitol and the building where the parole board meets the week leading up to this.

[hambone]

A nation of phony. Yet, people do seem to care. At least about themselves...
Is the notion of Progressive America an illusion? We have been technical trendsetters at least.
We live in barbaric times. It has been normalized. Always the next generation of meatheads born anew to lust to be cannon fodder. The problem is, the rules are different for each individual. Some prefer blondes, or jumbo shrimp. It's amazing we can even agree on a common language.
With such a tendency to blindly follow the leader, I can't imagine things being much different. Some sink, some float.

[glasseye]

Barbaric. I am ashamed.
neal

Truly.

Like, totally.

[grandfatherjim]

Hadn't heard a lot about it when I was talking to a colleague who lives in Atlanta. I thought maybe there was also a guy in Texas about to be executed but wasn't sure if I was confusing the two.
I said "not sure if I'm thinking of the right guy; what does he look like?"
He answered: "you don't have to ask".

[sailorkh]

I'm not a big fan of the death penalty, but what do you do with a person who chains up another human being and drags them behind their truck until it decapitates them......just because of the color of their skin??

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/ ... 5B20110921

[ruckman101]

I'm not a big fan of the death penalty, but what do you do with a person who chains up another human being and drags them behind their truck until it decapitates them......just because of the color of their skin??

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/ ... 5B20110921

Yes, that guy was executed in Texas the same evening. No question there of guilt. Barbaric, heinous act. Inhuman. So let's punish him through an equally barbaric, heinous, inhuman act. Lower ourselves as a nation to the same level.


neal

[poptop tom]

Yeah, let the taxpayers pay for the rest of his years behind prison bars. We can feed and house him, and give him better medical care than many Americans receive.

Maybe we could pay for his continuing education while we're at it.

[grandfatherjim]

To me that line of reasoning leads to trying to figure out what a human life is worth in dollars.

Then, there arises the question about euthanasia - when is it too expensive to keep a person on life support?
And then - if you can then figure out the dollar value of a human life (thinking here of health care costs), why might a life be worth more dollars in a wealthy country than in a poorer country?
Where does it lead?

Jim

[steve74baywin]

Tis the nation of doublethink.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doublethink

The power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them....To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just as long as it is needed, to deny the existence of objective reality and all the while to take account of the reality which one denies - all this is indispensably necessary. Even in using the word doublethink it is necessary to exercise doublethink. For by using the word one admits that one is tampering with reality; by a fresh act of doublethink one erases this knowledge; and so on indefinitely, with the lie always one leap ahead of the truth.

We are bringing peace to the middle east--by fighting.
You get a say, we elect officials to do our will--when they get in office they do what others who know more say.
This is the free country--we have the highest percentage of people in jail
We are compassionate and giving--we need to force more money from others.

[Amskeptic]

Yeah, let the taxpayers pay for the rest of his years behind prison bars. We can feed and house him, and give him better medical care than many Americans receive.

Maybe we could pay for his continuing education while we're at it.

Stop. Life imprisonment is cheaper than the death penalty process. Put him to work stamping out license plates or something, (the taxpayers are actually paying private prison corporations to profit mightily).

Education of prisoners has proven to reduce recidivism, and it is the Human Thing to do.
What kind of self-hating dead-inside unbelievably cruel deranged person would drag someone behind their truck? Someone we as a society did not get to in time.

The issue of better medical care than many Americans ... let's improve the medical care of many Americans instead of diminishing the already abysmal medical care known to be rampant in prisons. A majority of prisoners in America do not belong there, have mental illnesses not being treated, and you resent what, exactly?
Colin

[poptop tom]

Yeah, let the taxpayers pay for the rest of his years behind prison bars. We can feed and house him, and give him better medical care than many Americans receive.

Maybe we could pay for his continuing education while we're at it.

Stop. Life imprisonment is cheaper than the death penalty process. Put him to work stamping out license plates or something, (the taxpayers are actually paying private prison corporations to profit mightily).

Education of prisoners has proven to reduce recidivism, and it is the Human Thing to do.
What kind of self-hating dead-inside unbelievably cruel deranged person would drag someone behind their truck? Someone we as a society did not get to in time.

The issue of better medical care than many Americans ... let's improve the medical care of many Americans instead of diminishing the already abysmal medical care known to be rampant in prisons. A majority of prisoners in America do not belong there, have mental illnesses not being treated, and you resent what, exactly?
Colin

If life in prisonment is cheaper than putting someone to death, then there are serious issues in this country. Whats the purpose of leaving a guy on death row for 10 years and then going forth with the capital punishment? No wonder it's more expensive. If the crime was unequivocably committed by that person, and it was a heinous enough crime, why the wait?

Education of prisoners may reduce recividism. I won't dispute that. And those not spending LIFE imprisonment, or on death row, I'm sure benefit greatly from the continuing education they receive before re-entering society. And I'm all for their rehab and schooling. I don't agree that the guy spending life in prison, or on death row get much benefit.

Hell, Charles Manson should have been to death MANY years ago. Yet he still gets to do appeals!! The Tate and Bianc afamilies don't deserve to even hear his name mentioned , let alone be it him alive, and worse yet, trying to appeal.

Yes, the whole healthcare system is a crock.

Yes, there are many prisoners that shouldn't be imprisoned, and many doing waaaay more time than the crime warrants. And yes, they do need and should receive help. No disagreement there. I mean death row inmates who have been 100% accurately convicted of a heinous crime.

Why do I have to resent something to have a different belief than those here?

[Lanval]

Why do I have to resent something to have a different belief than those here?

Because some people here refuse to think through carefully about what their position implies; knee-jerk idealistic responses seek to put down arguments that counter their beliefs, even if such beliefs aren't well informed, or worse, lead to places that we would reject if we only knew them (i.e. a complete welfare state, or its Libertarian opposite).

The world is a massively complex place; the death penalty is a reactionary topic (because of it's absoluteness); that makes for a difficult to find a middle ground. People also approach topics with a range of values that makes agreement nearly impossible; for example, some oppose the death penalty on moral grounds, as Neal seems to (i.e. it's wrong to take another life); others on economic grounds (Colin). How do we reconcile those two ideas with a third concept, which you seem to offer (death penalty = safety valve) [apologies if I'm putting words in your mouth here ~ I'm interpreting from what you wrote. FWIW, I argue the "safety valve" issue myself; we kill the most dangerous to protect the herd] which is essentially biological?

I don't think you resent anything; but I'll bet I get shouted down right along with you. What's funny is how easily and quickly some here have adopted the fascist tactic of allowing any ideas as long as they agree with the dominant narrative. Question/challenge that and watch the fireworks.



Mike

[hambone]

I read a book where the solution wasn't death, it was sterilization. Very effective.

[RussellK]

FWIW, I argue the "safety valve" issue myself; we kill the most dangerous to protect the herd] which is essentially biological?
Mike

We get convictions wrong. How are you sure we are killing the most dangerous?