Guard Dog

I agree. Nor should it mitigate the penalty. Remeber, we are talking about finger that pulls the trigger, the hand that wields the knife so to speak. One person deliberately taking the life of another. If Sand and I got into a bar fight and one of us kills the other with a punch by freak circumstance, that is not murder, it is Manslughter, a lesser crime where you cause a death but did not intend to kill. If during the bar fight one of us pulls a weapon and kills the other, that is murder. I do not want to hear any "crime of passion" excuse then. The moment a weapon is pulled, the whole ball game changes.

Yes it is possible but in most states this penalty is only availiable for first degree murder where there is a mitigating circumstance that rules out the death penalty. So it DP states it is an uncommon punishement. In non DP states it is the highest punishment and is more common there. But not much. A first degree murder conviction is rare because most of the time when a perp is on the hook for it, they will plead down to second degree murder which arries a penalty of 25 years to life. But they become parole eligible after half of their sentence (12-15 years). If it were up to me I would suggest that we eliminate the distinction between 1st and 2nd degree murder. Any murder done with malicious intent will get you life in prision without reprieve or parole. Then I would say ok, drop the DP.

Nothing would be different. It made headline on every paper down here and they guy is likely to be excecuted. No matter what the race of his victim was we can only kill him once.

NWN2 came out last December right? It is still selling for top dollar ($40-$50) in the US so it must be doing well.

You wouldn't have thought those feet capable of precision work. I still believe that anyone is capable of reform, though I respect the evidence, and reports from professionals in the field, that a great many do not reform. I've also wondered if releasing someone from jail on the judgement of a psychologist isn't sometimes giving too much weight to a very young and rather inexact science. Still not a convincing argument for the death penalty though. This is more an argument for truth in sentencing laws (which liberals in the US hate). Had he spent 30 years in prision that little girl would be alive today. Here is the death penalty argument. What good does sending him to prision do if he is just released after a few years. If he is excecuted, he will not hurt anyone else. We do not have truth in sentencing laws. We DO have a death penalty. you need to use what you have.

He is little more the a figure head but that may still be very important to their cause. I read somehwere that the King Charles the II who was King of Spain AND Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire was dead for a year before word got out. His strength of personality was so great they feared without it (and a stong successor) the two kingdoms would break apart. And did obviously. I could see two reasons why the US would want to keep it secret if he died. One, the hierarchy would become indepenant if they knew. Two, US support for the war might wane and it would definitely not be over if he were dead.

Well, we did. If I pretend to agree with you that we went in for the wrong reasons can you pretend to tell me WHAT BLOODY DIFFERENCE IT MAKES NOW? PLEASE......lock thread.....insanity MUST be stopped!

I have moderated my position on capital punishment. A little. But this guy attempted to murder somone earlier in his life and was sentenced to 30 years in prision. He was let out early and what was the first thing he did? Murder someone. It seems if the prisons are just going to let these vermin go, excecuting them is the only way to keep us safe. I'll abandon my support for capital punishment the day the US adopts truth in sentencing laws. If you draw a 30 year sentence, you spend 30 years in prison. If you get life, you leave the prision in a body bag. Plus US prisions are far too nice. They have air conditioning, cable TV, libraries, etc. If they were more like the one in The Count of Monte Cristo then I would say we don't need the death penalty. You can argue that capital punishment is not effective but I do not see how. This guy got a 30 year sentence and murdered someone later. If he is exceuted for this he will not be killing anyone else will he?

Nah, he is dead meat. His campaign has imploded.

That would be the boards text filter. The ladys last name was May(sounds like rock with a "c"),

You are dead on there. I did not like GWB as a candidate in 2000 but I voted for him because Al Gore just scared the bejesus out of me. I'll probably be doing the same thing next year if Hillary wins the nomination.

This thread is over. Nobody is topping that post.

This is what happens when you let these beasts out of jail early. I will bet there will be many of you who will tell me he does not deserve the death penalty. And I will admit I have softened my stance on it based on some of your arguments (particularly Enoch and Wals). But every now and then one comes along that is so heinous and revolting, any other punishment seems hollow. This is one of them.

Especially since he is worth 25 million dollars!

Here are two articles detailing the charges in the indictment. Pretty freaking horrifying stuff. I think Goodell will suspend him today. Shocking Charges Vick, 3 Others Named in Gruesome Indictment

I know exactly where Bin Laden is. He is working in a 7-11 on Lyons Rd and Cypress Creek Rd in Ft. Lauderdale. Actually this guy does look exactly like Bin Laden (white streak in the beard and all) and he has a real sense of humor about it. He has a wanted poster with Bin Ladens name and HIS picture on his cash register. He is even wearing the camo jacket at headress in the picture. He is a pretty nice guy, I've got to get a piture of him next time I stop there.

Must.....stop......reading.....this....thread. ARRRGGGHHH!

McCain is dead in the water. Hell will freeze before Gingrich is elected. Romney and Guliani are the only credible candidates who are actually running at the moment.

Culpepper has been begging for an outright release. Heck the Dolphins would not even let him practice or use the gym at the training camp. But even with a new team he has a long way to go to come back from this kind of injury. Even so, the Dolphins did not treat him well. it was not his fault Saban rushed him back before he was ready. Vick is just a piece of garbage. Prison is EXACTLY where he belongs.

I've told you before, the Iraq war was more about Iran than Saddam. Iraq's strategic importance was greater than any threat Saddam might have posed. WMDs was just a pretext. With the US in control ot Iraq and Afghanistan, and with Uzbekistan and Pakistan allied, Iran would have an enemy on every border. The word for that is surrounded. It would have made them much easier to deal with and if it was necassary to invade, it would have made a tough fight much easier. But the highest objective in war is to win without fighting. Case in point, the Soviets were much more frightened of the several hundred Pershing II missles in Turkey than the were of the several thousand Minuite Man missles in Montanta. So having them there gave us a strategic advantage that made a war less likely. Where they screwed up was they did not count in Iran stirring up ethnic hatred in the aftermath. And they seemed to forget that these are people who would rather die than live peacefully next to each other.

Hmmm. That entire post is so wrong headed I cannot even frame a reply. Congrats Sand, I am speechless.

No argument there. I'd have handled the whole war on terror much differently had I been in the White House. But GHB and Clinton bear a big part of the blame for everything that has happened vis-a-vis the war on terror. When Reagan left office the CIA was strong, capable, and well funded. Bush then Clinton utterly destroyed it and left a pathetic joke behind right when we needed it the most. This is exactly the kind of fight an organization like the CIA should be dealing with. Armies battle countries, not invididuals or ideologies. To quote a movie "The military is a broadsword, not a scalpel." The invasion of Afghanistan was necassary beacause there the country was run by terroists. After that an capable intelligence service making use of Special Forces should have taken over. Too bad we did not have one.

I just can not understand why in the world you think we need the federal government to get things done in this country. Right now my company is rolling out a new mobile communications system that will literally change the way people watch TV, access the Internet etc. No other country on earth has anything like it or even close. The Federal Government did not do it, we did. Right this very moment Florida is building a hybrid diesel electric bullet train between Orlando, Tampa, and Melbourne. Eventually it will connect every city in Florida. Uncle Sam did not pay one penny or lay one rail. Floridians did with a hotel bed tax. And a Florida company employing Florida workers is doing the actual construction. Not an out of state or even country company that would do it for the lowest bid as a Federal contract would require. All we need Uncle Sam to do is follow the seven articles and twenty two amendments in the Constitution. And get the heck out of our way and lives otherwise.

He did that on Meet the Press more than once. I saw it myself. He spouted a lot of things he was not in a position to know given who he was and where he had been. Kinda makes you wonder what classified info his wife was passing on to him, who had no need to know. As to the second part of your post, I can see how you would feel that way. I mean with all of the terrorist attacks on US soil since the Iraq invasion what other conclusion could we draw?

Ideally even a divided government will still do what must be done. In other words is something is important (such as defense appropriations, budget approval, etc) is usually sails through with a minimal amount of bickering.