Geesh:
Today, Obama Told CNN He Supports The Death Penalty For Osama Bin Laden:
In A CNN Interview, Obama Says He Supports The Death Penalty For Osama Bin Laden. “In an interview with CNN, the Senator says he’s no ‘cheerleader for the death penalty,’ but ‘I think plotting and engineering the death of 3,000 Americans justifies such an approach.’” (Mark Halperin, “Obama: Death Penalty For Bin Laden,” Time’s “The Page” Blog, thepage.time.com, 7/11/08)
In June, Obama Said That If Bin Laden Were Captured, He Would Not Make Him A “Martyr“:
Obama: “I think what would be important would be for us to deal with him in a way that allows the entire world to understand the murderous acts that he’s engaged in and not to make him into a martyr.” (Caren Bohan, “Obama: U.S. Should Avoid Making Bin Laden A Martyr,” Reuters, 6/18/08)
Its getting harder and harder to find a position Obama hasn’t betrayed yet. This is the guy the left wants as President? A man who can’t hold to a position for even a month? What happens, dear lefties, when its time to push that universal health care plan and he runs up against GOP opposition? Has he given you any indication that he won’t surrender?
Tags: Barack Obama, bin Laden, Death Penalty, John McCain, Obama Deceptions
July 13th, 2008
The case where the SC ruled that we can’t execute someone for raping a child:
As a father, I believe there is no more sacred responsibility in American society than that of protecting the innocence of our children. I have spent over twenty-five years in Congress fighting for stronger criminal sentences for those who exploit and harm our children. Today’s Supreme Court ruling is an assault on law enforcement’s efforts to punish these heinous felons for the most despicable crime. That there is a judge anywhere in America who does not believe that the rape of a child represents the most heinous of crimes, which is deserving of the most serious of punishments, is profoundly disturbing.
I have to say that its not particularly disturbing to me - there is a longstanding strain of thought amongst some judges that they really know better than anyone else, so no real surprise that the Supreme Court has ruled itself smarter than the people of Louisiana in this matter. The absurdity of the decision is very clear - unless capital punishment is in and of itself unconstitutional there is no rationale for a court to interfere with the particular reasons a jurisdiction imposes the death penalty as long as the trial and sentencing are in accordance with the United States Constitution. The people of Lousiana have determined that those who rape children put their own lives a jeopardy, and everyone outside Louisiana should just shut their traps about it unless they want to move to Louisiana and, by participating in Louisiana’s politics, work to change the law. But never let it be said that the Court is shy about sticking its nose in where it doesn’t belong.
That said, I’d like to remind everyone that I am an opponent of the death penalty - killing the SOB who raped a child won’t actually help the raped child and by putting the criminal at risk of death for rape we merely, in my view, increase the risk that it will be a rape/murder in order to dispose of the prime witness to the crime. Should such a proposal come up here in Nevada, I would work against it and vote against it - but its none of my particular business what the people of Louisiana decide, just at its none of theirs what we Nevadans decide. America does need a large dose of “mind your own business” education. What I am most disturbed with here is the judicial usurpation of the rights of the States, and the people. We are either free people ruling ourselves, or we are mere automatons carrying out the instructions of our judges - if this SC ruling is allowed to stand, then we will have surrendered another part of our precious right to self government.
This ruling also provides us with another strong reason for voting for John McCain in November - with McCain, we might get to a solid 5 conservative Justices, and thus start having a Court which obeys the Constitution at all times…with Obama, we’ll probably get to a solid 5 liberal Justices who will do the bidding of the kook left in matters of law. The choices in November are quite stark, and this case might end up playing a larger role than most expect at this point in time.
Tags: Death Penalty, John McCain, Supreme Court
June 26th, 2008
Seems that the UN is so doing:
New York, Nov 19, 2007 (CNA).- The president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, Cardinal Renato Martino, said this week the recent resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly calling for an international moratorium on the application of the death penalty is a “relevant step” in the defense of life, although it only has “symbolic value” since it is not “an agreement that binds countries.”
The resolution, which was supported by 99 countries, with 52 voting against and 33 abstaining, “is very important, and it is gratifying that so many Catholic organizations have worked for this and thus they have the right to be pleased.”
“I am very happy,” Cardinal Martino said. “I was the Holy See’s representative to the United Nations for more than 16 years and during that time I collaborated in two efforts during the 90’s to achieve this moratorium: we worked very hard and we were discouraged when the votes were tallied, the project had to be withdrawn because the numbers were just not there. This time the numbers are there and for this reason I am very pleased.”
Mario Marazzit, a spokesman for the Sant’Egidio Community, said, “The vote is historic, because it is very strong moral pressure and it points to a standard that has become important for all of the countries that do not use the death penalty yet.” He said he was hopeful the resolution would have an impact on the laws in individual countries.
One does question the actual motivations of the UN in lining up against the death penalty - but more importantly, it allows us to ask the basic question of the anti-death penalty forces worldwide: Why do you want the death penalty banned?
I know, it seems obvious - because killing people isn’t the answer. The problem is that most people who want to spare the lives of guilty criminals are also in favor of ending the life of innocent, unborn children. This is especially true of the UN, which has essentially taken the pro-abortion fanatic line on how available abortion should be - on demand. If killing is wrong, then abortion is wrong - but that seems to be something the anti-death penalty movement almost entirely misses.
As for me, it is easy - I’m opposed to abortion, and the death penalty. The reason I’m opposed to it is because one can never be 100% sure of what a person deserves to have happen to him. Certainly, the guilt of those on death row is not in doubt - the mental gymnastics some people go through to try and claim that an innocent man is on death row are rather bizarre, and pathetic. But even the guilty have a claim upon our mercy - a small claim, to be sure, but still very real. I don’t support an outright ban on the death penalty because there may always be that circumstance where it is the only thing we can do in the name of justice, but on the whole I would see these men and women sentenced to a life in prison - and really in prison. I’ve got a prison regimen ready for them which will make them wish they were dead…unless, of course, they start to think about it and understand the debt they owe; such people will come to love their regimen as the basis of their path to salvation…those who don’t get it will, then, get nothing but misery, and that is just.
I doubt that most anti-death penalty people can give a strong defense of their view - they can mostly shout slogans and appeal to emotion, but I’ve yet to see a carefully reasoned justification for ending the death penalty except by those opponents who are also of the Culture of Lfe, and thus also opposed to abortion, infanticide, assisted suicide and euthanasia. During the 2000 campaign you migth recall how the left tried to cook up a death penalty case to embarras then-governor Bush - Bush couldn’t actually commute the man’s sentence (per Texas law), but that didn’t matter…the “heartless Republican” narrative was too dear to the left to allow facts to get in the way. So, they raised up a death row inmate as an exemplar of what is wrong with the death penalty. The only trouble was that even if the man wasn’t guilty of the particular crime he was eventually executed for, he had done enough horrid things (rape, attempted murder, etc) to make one commentor coldly, but accurately, note that he could choke in hell on the irony of it all if he was, indeed, innocent of the murder.
In the unwillingness of most death penalty opponents to embrace the full Culture of Life is their fundamental weakness - but this weakness, in and of itself, would be surmountable if the anti-death penalty people would stop trying to generate sympathy for entirely unsympathetic people. If anyone really wants to seriously curtail and eventually end the application of the death penalty in the United States, the first step would be to reform our prisons to the point where life in prison really meant life in prison - and was under a rule of extraordinary strictness and austerity. The argument will always be lost as long as killers are portrayed as victims - portray them as they are, insist upon their punishment, and appeal to the sense of mercy of the American people - that would be the way to take a stand against the death penalty in the United States.
Tags: Death Penalty, International Law, Prisons, U.N.
November 24th, 2007
