A few years ago, George Carlin did a rather hilarious bit called "A List of People Who Ought To Be Killed". George excelled at dark humor, but it led me to wonder how serious he was about it.

How many Americans have lists of people they wish weren't around to cause any more trouble? I doubt that few people shed a tear when Jeffrey Dahmer got his. Not too many people were around to protest to execution of "the Beltway Sniper" John Allen Muhammad. I knew a few people locally to me that hoped that his partner, Lee Boyd Malvo would be tried in Virginia so that he would qualify for the death penalty despite that he was a minor.

It seems that this person wasn't alone. Gallop poll after Gallop poll has shown that the vast majority of Americans are in favor of the death penalty, by margins of near 70%.

http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/opinion.htm

So it seems that most Americans have no moral problem with people being killed, given the right set of circumstances.

But I wonder how many people would be in favor of the death penalty for someone like Bernie Madoff.

The FBI estimates that 19,000 Americans are murdered every year. 56,000 are killed on the job or from occupational diseases. Those murders are usually left unprosecuted, and if they are, the criminals involved usually get a slap on the wrist, and a small fine.

http://www.corporatepredators.org/top100.html

When the housing bubble popped, and the Great Recession began, the nation lost 20% of it's wealth, and literally tent cities spring up all over the country. It wasn't frequently reported by the US press, but the BBC ran a story on a tent city that spring up in Los Angeles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnnOOo6tRs8

And despite that this housing collapse (mark my words) was premeditated, no one ever went to prison for it.

Class war is a real thing, as Warren Buffett readily admits. It has life and death consequences, and those deaths are not prosecuted, and when they are they are not prosecuted equally.

When Paris Hilton was sentenced to 45 days in jail for violating her probation, the local Sheriff sent her home early to finish her sentence at home due to "medical reasons". This despite that she's young and seemingly healthy. Recently, she plead guilty to possession of cocaine. In a plea deal, her sentence will be nothing more than a year of unsupervised probation. Does anyone here have any doubt that this would not have happened if her family wasn't obnoxiously wealthy?

And yet every night in this country, there's probably something along the lines of a million vacant hotel rooms and a million homeless people.

When I was 18 years old a friend of mine gave me some grief for being a leftist, but not doing anything positive about my beliefs. He had a point. I had just finished spending 6 months of homelessness, and yet I was repulsed by other people who were homeless. So I began volunteering at a soup kitchen in a rather seedy part of D.C.

After countless hours getting to know these people, and getting glimses of their life stories, I could see that they weren't there by accident. Some were there because they were crazy. Some were down on their luck. Many had serious drug addictions. But most had something done to them against their will that led them to their present condition. More often than not, they weren't very aware of this, but I could see it.

It's quite a blow when you find that some of the people you were trying to help didn't make it. Whatever I was trying to do and help them with, it just wasn't enough for them to stay alive. And whatever set of circumstances that led them to their deaths, and the people responsible for those circumstances, not only walk free, but more often than not, are reviled as heroes.

So, should some people be killed? In Willy's own humble opinion, you bet your ass they should. That isn't sick or demented. That is JUST.

-- Modified on 10/5/2010 8:18:03 AM

i fit in. I'm a white, southern, college educated ultra-conservative. However, if ONE person dies, who is innocent, the system is flawed. If ONE person escapes justice, who is guilty, the system is flawed. I don't have an answer to this problem. There are two available forms of justice. Mans justice, often skewed and Gods justice.....much more precise and appropriate but i find myself unwilling(at times) to wait for it.

it seems that the point of this rambling tome
is to function as a rationalization for your post
humorously gloating over the death of Jimi Heselden. Dude, you may not think so, but that post was a mean spirited,tasteless & pointless mistake,despite your numerous protestations.

In my case, there are people that I despise
who I think are bad for the country ( Limbaugh /Ailes/Hannity/Beck/Palin )---however, I DON'T think they should be "killed"----they just need to be "forcefully taken on" the way Edward R Murrow & Joseph Welch took on Senator Joe Mccarthy in the 50's.

Have there been people in history who I thought should have been killed ? Certainly. Imagine how much better off the world would have been if Hitler, Mao & Stalin were "taken out" early.

Willy, best to move on---forget this & go back
to attacking socially conservative extremists----you're on much "firmer ground" there.

This isn't a rationalization, so much as an explanation of where I'm coming from. And I gotta tell Pria, there's nothing Limbaugh, Hannity, or Beck could do that would even stack up to the horrors I'm talking about.

It takes ZERO courage for you to say that we'd be better off if Hitler had been taken out early. Can we have a raise of hands here for anyone who disagrees with that statement? They'd be in a smaller minority then even I find myself in.

If I cared about fighting on firm ground, then I'd be about as milque-toast as you are Pria. Of course, if I was, then I'd be part of the problem too.

...I spent closer to 10 years volunteering in soup kitchens and homeless shelters. When the shelters would run out of beds, I'd bring them back home to my apartment. My only regret is that I don't have very much time these days to volunteer with the increased workload.

who thinks spending five minutes in the ghetto makes him an expert on the subject.

I'd like to take his punk cracker ass into Compton or East LA and show him what a "hood" really is.

He does remind me of the make up of most left wing protest groups. Rich white kids without a fucking clue, who never missed a meal, or had to pay any dues in life, but who feel qualified to tell the rest of us the difference between right and wrong.

Seems I've struck a nerve GaG. I'd love to go to Compton with you, but how about instead we head on over to Anacostia and get you to volunteer some of your time doing some good? What do ya say?

you lose the intellectual argument; not that your arguments have been on firm intellectual ground of late.

"Milquetoast" ?!--------WOW-----even Liorr, Marikod or Quad never called me that-------kinda reminds me of classic Marx Bros film "Duck Soup"
where Groucho took great umbriage at being called
an "upstart", forcing him to engage the offending party into a duel.

So , how about it, Willy-------custard pies at 20 paces ?----------

-- Modified on 10/5/2010 11:24:46 AM

....efficient since your increased workload has limited your volunteer work there.

You list five people who you say that you despise and that are "bad for the country."  Four of those five are members of the media and the fifth "moonlights" in the media now that she currently doesn't hold an elected office.

So, apparently -- in your view -- the media is one of the biggest threats to our country.  And you want these people "taken out."

Yep, Willy is nuts for his despicable comments but you are nuts for your "media" paranoia.

South Central or East LA, but it would be fun to watch. You're right, there is nothing more embarrassing than a white bread kid going into the projects wearing a doo-rag, attempting a little hip-hop dance, trying to talk ghetto, and thinking they are going to make a difference.

I like his reference to the "ghetto hell hole" his middle school was. Someone probably robbed him of his "sweater jacket"

4 months before my 13th birthday my parents moved to VA. I was in the 6th grade, and it wasn’t long before I realized that the Middle School I was attending was a ghetto hell hole.

This post, if it is to be believed, would mean that Willy would have been almost 16, if not older when starting high school. No wonder he ended up working for the government. rofl

"Milquetoast" ?!--------WOW-----even Liorr, Marikod or Quad never called me that"

He was really dumb to quit school.I have to give him credit where credit is due. He made up much of his lost education, on his own, by studying the dictionary.
I am sure my idiot brother has no problem realizing, you are not timid or unassertive. LMAO

and I bet you he would be treated the same exact way. lol

AKA "Chicken little", who gets his panties in a crazed bunch when a picture of a drooling baby posted as a joke, formed a sinister intent in your warped mind ?

Also,you need a course in reading comprehension :
I said these people need to be "taken on" ( ala
assertive confrontation ), NOT "taken out".

Pw, are you on psych meds ?

In fact, I believe it is a federal law.  And you posting a child's picture on the same website that features pornography was seriously crossing the line.

But that is old news.

Marikod also for that matter. You guys been seeing some hot providers lately ? ------

You know, my conscience acted up after I said I wouldn't drink with WW yesterday. Quad, I extend invitation to you, Marikod & Willy to come out to Vegas to have some drinks with me. I'll buy whatever booze you & Mari want---but, for WW-----------what-----a Shirley Temple ?

you're nuts.

guess you've never heard of being facetious. I'd offer you a dictionary.com link if the site hadn't failed me once before today.

I can start fights between two people talking about me.

and letting them sleep there? Yeah, right. That is completely prohibited by CCNV, the largest homeless shelter operator in DC. They could never obtain insurance if they allowed employees to do that.

      But those old birds have a smell you will never forget. So, if indeed he has been doing that surreptiously, that tells me more about his apartment than I ever wanted to know.
Next time just write CCNV a check and assuage your liberal guilt like I do.

or at least they tell me they are underpriveleged. lol

Not being a liberal, or white. I don't suffer from guilt, but whenever I feel the urge to help someone(s), I usually cut a check to the Atlanta Food Bank, all the money they collect goes to feeding the hungry, none of it goes to bibles or spiritual counseling or any other bullshit waste of my money.

By and large I am pretty content with making sure none of my employees ever gets laid off or receives a rubber check.  I worked hard to get where I am today, when you count the families of the people who work for me, several dozen people are kept happy, fed and clothed because of my efforts, no guilt for me.

Now OTOH if I were a parasitic government employee who begrudged every nickel made by a successful person, 25 hrs a day in a soup kitchen wouldn't be enough to assuage the guilt.

BTW, is this your polite way of calling Willy a liar? There is an easier way of course

WILLY, YOU ARE A FUCKING LIAR!!!!!

See how easy that was. rofl

This was 10 years ago Mari, back before I was a homeowner. Let's just say I'm glad my apartment had two full baths.

And sometimes he works through men working His divine Will.

Just sayin'.

this dolt thinks doing 6 months in a soup kitchen makes his the arbiter of life and death

talk about messianic delusions..

And if he happens to roll off a cliff while smoking organic reefer and driving a segway I'll just call it poetic justice.

...people generally don't feel guilt unless they're guilty.

If the death penalty is used to eliminate those of us who don't value the "sanctity" of life, then why hasn't our last few ex-Presidents been executed?

The Death Penalty is generally only applied when someone dies. It's applied to the insane and the mentally retarded. It's applied to the poor and the disadvantaged. It's not applied if you're in the business of making a buck, and someone dies because of your negligence.

In 2006 47 West Virginians died in coal mines. Was a single coal company executive brought to justice, much less sentenced to death? If those deaths had happened in any way other than in the process of making a buck, someone would have stood trial as a serial killer.

Breaker, the death penalty isn't used to protect anyone. It's not there to give victims' families closure. It's not there to administer justice, or to prevent other murders from happening. It's there to "protect the minority of the opulent against the majority", to quote James Madison.

Psychologists have yet to grasp the direct cause of most mental disorders. Many of them are thought to be genetic. One disorder they have a firm handle on is what the DSM-IV-TR calls Anti-Social Personality Disorder. Psychologists think that it is caused by a lack of bonding between the mother and the child. Rampant poverty is also usually present.

This causes the empathy center of the child's brain to not develop normally. A psychopath (ASPD) has no ability to feel for the plight of others. For instance, setting someone's car on fire to them would seem like a practical joke.

In other words, Breaker, if we lived in a society that sought to eliminate poverty, had schools that taught kids how to be good parents when they decide to have kids, and had a health care system that involved regular mental checkups the same way we have regular physcial checkups, then we could quite possibly eliminate serial murder.

Rather, we just execute people after the damage has been done. And we use that execution to stir up a sense of righteous vengence amongst the populace against one of their own.

And yet in 2006, 47 coal miners were killed, and their killers walk free with immunity.

words to a subordinate who advocated revenge against the enemy.

For many of us who advocate the Death Penalty for Jeffery Dahmer, Ted Bundy et al, the rationale is to preserve the sanctity of life. Society must be able to protect themselves from those who do not share the same value for life. If sanctity of life was not important we all be living characters in "The Lord of the Flies". Perhaps in the future a methodology can be develop to protect society from the murderers without the death penalty. Today capital punishment, is what we do. Seeking death is not what we do to seek vengenance.

You wrote much in your post to comment on but I'm still trying to figure out why do you mention Bernie Madoff and Paris Hilton. Paris Hilton may not have talent but has she murdered someone I was not aware of?

Then again, as you said in previous posts, "we have a natural right to commit murder, but is a bad idea". You do not make sense, half the time.

You must of been doing quit well.

I believe in the sanctity of rational human life belonging to those who are not initiating force, threat, or fraud against others.

It is debatable to me whether other metabolically active featherless bipeds constitute "human life." I wouldn't gratuitously harm them for shits and grins; but see no moral or ethical issue with their removal if their continued existence poses a threat to the rational human life of those who are not initiating force, threat, or fraud against other rational humans.

Life is not in and of itself sacred. When I eat plants or animals their lives are sacrificed to my need. I am a predator at the top of the food chain that will one day be returned to the earth as humus at the bottom of the food chain.

Human life is not all sacred. This is why wars and the death penalty are permissible; and why doctors get paid to perform even partial birth abortions so that women who decide not to keep babies aren't inconvenienced.

So all we are debating then is WHICH human lives are sacred and under which circumstances.

And that, I believe, is a matter about which reasonable people might reasonably differ,

Well said. I agree 100%. I tire of rich liberal assholes who tell the rest of us how we should be paying more taxes to feed the lazy....