Death Penalty Week

[always_wright]

Supposedly it's some kind of Death Penalty Week. I read about it in my Cornell Catholic Bulletin. That's why there were all the liberal hippies passing out fliers in Ho Plaza this week. The liberal activists up here are starting to get on my nerves. First, I was in the grocery store and this family behind me in line was talking about when they

Comments

Hate Me

[anonymous]

Firstly, thatothersteve- go fuck yourself. I guarantee that you don't know every republican from Martin County. Don't ever assume that you know me. You don't. I extend you that courtesy, and that is the only one I will extend to you from now on. You don't know me or anyone from my neighborhood. I come from hick-ville where the vast majority of kids are republican, as are the parents. The kids are republican because that's what they believe in. They were forced to constantly defend their positions because I sponsored weekly debates between unprepared middle school students and experienced liberal teachers on current events. The students got to defend their beliefs from well-planned assaults on important political issues. Can you claim as much? My beliefs are constantly under siege, because that's the way I like it. If I cannot adequately defend my beliefs I change them. I was raised by one Republican and one Democrat, and you can go to hell if you believe in it. if you don't, choose something roughly analogous and take offense as appropriate.

You see no point in being polite? Seriously? If I had been polite that first paragraph would have been "I disagree with you. I for one defend my beliefs and I do my best to make everyone else do the same." See?? Isn't that nicer? Isn't that the better option? I am forced to admit that I cannot find the allure in being a rabid attack dog. I mean, how can you elevate yourself above my neighbor's Great Dane if you act like that? Isn't that the entire point of being an ivory tower intellectual?

I don't agree with the statement that bombing the entire Middle East would fix everything, but I do believe that creating a functional, secular Muslim oil state will spark a rebellion against the hardliners. How can we make friends with the Muslim world when those who desire to be our friends are being oppressed? We have to free them and then befriend them. Of course some Iraqis hate us now, that only makes sense. But they're not going to put hardline clerics in power. That's all we need. We can negotiate with a calm, secular Iraq on the same footing as we do with any nation. That's all we can expect.

I don't support the Death Penalty. I don't think we should kill them. That's hardly efficient. I say we work them to death. There are plenty of civil projects and construction efforts that could use unskilled labor. Instead of just sitting in the cell prisoners should be out, becoming healthier and more active. After all, with nothing to do all day they have the possibility to become exceedingly bored, and certain prisoner's rights activists might consider that undue and unnecessary punishment or even cruel or unusual, since isolation is a popular form of torture.

That's all for now.

Re: Hate Me

[xloveandloathex]

firstly, whoever wrote this is a douchebag. secondly why can't we all be nice, please? honestly i dont know much about the details on politics, but i know for a fact that you are ranting over nothing. i don't think i read a single reasonable argument for whatever point you were trying to make. please clarify and what not...

Re: Hate Me

[anonymous]

Sorry you don't like me, chris. Then again, your cocksucker argument was kind of surprising, too. I guess we all change after high school. I'd rather be nice and polite. I think everyone's political opinions are their own and not subject to attack from others, but when somebody tells me that they know everything about me I get a bit pissed off. All I'm asking for is respect. After all, I respect everybody else, even thatothersteve. I never assume that I know him or anything about him other than what he's written down. I just want the same respect that I give to everyone else.I really do believe in making prisoners work, but that's probably because I'm a fascist asshole, so it's understandable that nobody agrees with me.

I'm not really sure what you'd like me to clarify, but if there's a point you don't understand or that I made badly just ask and I'll try to fix it.

Thanks for being a voice of reason.

Re: Hate Me

[xloveandloathex]

i never changed. im the same as ive always been. youre the one that changed or rather stayed the same for the worst. now your just seeing the side of me that you never got to see during high school. the side of me that doesnt give a shit about anything and believes in morals over politics, and as far as respect i always give respect to those who deserve it.the things that i dont respect are lack of individuality, lack of charisma, and ignorance in the practical sense among other things. personally i think murderers, rapists and child abusers should be put to death after torture. but thats just how i roll.

Re: Hate Me

[anonymous]

Hold... on... Building a secular Muslim state in the Mideast will make the other states in the Mideast change aswell... Do you know why those hard liner states were able to rise? BECAUSE OF THE WEST MEDDLING IN THEIR AFFAIRS! CONTINUING TO MEDDLE WONT MAKE THINGS BETTER! Why do you think Iran *democratically elected* a man with quotes like "Israel should be wiped off the face of the Earth" to lead their nation? Because Israel exists thanks to western meddling. Why do you think the insurgents are fighting? Because the Arabs don't want us meddling. Why do you think the 9/11 attack was launched in the first place? Because Arabs don't want KFC's on every corner, they dont want US military bases in Saudi Arabia, they don't want the USS Cole parked in their backyard of Yemen. If Afghanistan had built a military base in northern New York, would you be happy about that? Don't you think that there'd be a large number of Americans, and probably Canadians as well, that would be willing to fly a jumbo-jet into a building in Afghanistan? Why do you think the twin towers and the Pentagon were targeted? It had nothing to do with the image that they portray, because did it really change American society? Did it change the way we look at the middle east? NO! They see American intrusion in their society as a declaration of war. The WTC was home to many businesses Americanizing them, many offices of Boeing, Northrup Grumman, Lockheed Martin, all military contractors that have built US warplanes... defense contractors who built the Abrams tank were there. They were military targets. We villianize Al Queda for targeting the Capital building (the failed attack that crashed in Pennsylvania), and yet when we attacked Iraq, the first missles were supposed to kill Hussein. It's ok for us to target foreign heads of state, but it's for them to attack ours makes them horrible human beings?

You said "they're not going to put hardline clerics in power" Who do you think has the power in Iraq? Who do you think has been recruiting the never ending string of insurgents in Iraq? Watch the show "Off to War" on Discovery Times, it follows some soldiers lives in Iraq... the soldiers repeatedly tell the world "the Iraqi people don't want us here."

As for working prisoners to death, I'm all for it... except that is cruel and unusual punishment. I don't think it should matter, these are the worst people in our society, the people who planned and then carried out the murders of other people, they deserve no rights.

(Hey Leah... I don't sound like much of your 'liberal stereotype' there do I?)

Re: Hate Me

[thatothersteve]

Up until recently (recently being the past year) I did oft play the role of attack dog. I went after people in an effort to break their will. Somewhat effectively, but it has it's limits. You'll never persuade someone that way; at least, not the person you argue with. I've recently taken a more gentle approach, for the most part. My goal is not to humiliate anyone- it is to educate. To inform. And I can certainly claim a *superior* background. I was involved in competitive debate statewide for the better part of three years and served as the dominant congress-event practitioner for two of those 3 years. Few were better informed than me; but my technique was sub-par. Thus my own philosophical adjustment.

You can't create any sort of political state in the Middle East: It simply cannot be done. Anything with Western fingerprints is instantaneously reviled or loathed; democracy itself can be tainted by the Middle East if they think it's our doing. They are best left to their own devices; combatted only should they attack something owned by us or a Eastern/Western ally of ours; This is not appeasement- it's common sense. Those that think we can control them clearly know nothing about them... them being denizens of the Middle East.