Ibrahim wrote:Yeah, I don't think he has any plans for future office.
Caught him on the news speaking about these pardons, justifying his actions as motivated by Christian charity. In that light I think he has a point. This is a case where Christian theology and mainstream American Christian culture diverge.
Thank you Very Much for your post, Ibrahim.
This is a case where Christian theology and mainstream American Christian culture diverge.
You are correct and many of my friends quite support the death penalty while I generally oppose it.**
But there is being forgiving and there is being stupid............
Given the crimes of the most notorious of these convicts, Murdering an ex-wife who was carrying a child in her arms and then shooting her new boyfriend,
IMVVHO a large measure of mercy was already shown in not enacting the death penalty........... He was given all the rest of his life to repent and pray......
And the surviving victim and the family of the deceased are NOT agreeable to his being loose again possibly to come after them again...........
There is a saying that "To know all is to forgive all" .......... Not 100% true........ Can go the other way........... But I suspect that it is somewhat true in this case.....
IMVHO Governor Barbour has gotten a bad case of "clientitis": too much time spent with the trusty convict servants sympathizing with them and not enough time with the victims.............
Remember that decades ago, Gov. Michael DiSalle of Ohio gave freedom to a trustee guilty of murder who went back jack and did it again.........
One of the reasons, DiSalle did not get re-elected.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Di ... punishment
If the Governor's daughter had been the slain mother and he wanted to pardon then............. then he would have more admiration from me.......... ***
G_d knows the hearts of men, women and monsters............ who has truly repented and who has not.......... who is safe and who is not...........
In a way it is braver for a human to totally forgive than G_d because we/US don't know this*..........
It is possible to make a religious case that we/US/you should do it but.............
If you're going to do it, be ready that it may cost some or all of your blood..................
*Reason for that classic refrain about the difference between dogs and men: If you take in a sick, starving dog and feed and cure it, it is not likely to turn on you................ human beings, maybe not so much...............
EDITS contained below:
**As yet irreversible and mistakes too likely. Let G_d enact His will on the perp while he/she/it is in prison for life.............
One of my friends' biggest resentments is the cost of keeping prisoners in prison. This is a traditional complaint. In the frontier period, punishments were more physical: floggings, stocks, pillory, branding........ for the same reason: cost of maintaining an idle prisoner......... which eventually lead to things like the chain gang.......
According to what I have the penitentiary was supposed to be a revolutionary costly merciful development: prisoners were supposed to be confined so they could repent and be "penitent".......... Unfortunately it frequently doesn't work that way............. Way too much recidivism.............
Remember a joke: Prisoner is asked if he is sorry and if he has learned anything in prison. Says yes he has: "Next time I'm gonna wear gloves".
I know that prisoners complain about the loss of freedom but IMVVHO based on prison conditions I have seen as an outsider (medium security)...... it isn't BAD bad.........
Not to say there aren't BAD bad prisons: Remembering some of G.Gordon Liddy's experiences in the slammer......... Some scary......... Some amusing.......
Where you stand depends on where you have sat: Liddy prefers prisoners to guards!!!
But also remembering cases where people committed crimes so they could access the prison medical and (especially) the dental program.........
AIUI Sheriff Joe runs one of the more successful "penitentiaries" (actually a jail) in that the prisoners DO NOT want to return and AVOID Maricopa County there after..........by setting conditions similar to US Army conditions in the Middle East...............
with at one time speeches by Newt Gingrich being one of the two selections on the TV..........TORTURE
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arpaio#Jails
*** One of the few things I slightly like about the Saudi justice system it that there is a provision for the family to forgive the perpetrator which they sometimes do......... often for hefty payments of cash......... but can see the potential for the rich and especially the powerful to abuse that......... Suspect Mafia/Narco gang members would often get forgiven on the cheap............
We in the West used to do that too: Weregild............
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WergeldFor the love of G_d, consider you & I may be mistaken.
Orion Must Rise: Killer Space Rocks Coming Our way
The Best Laid Plans of Men, Monkeys & Pigs Oft Go Awry
Woe to those who long for the Day of the Lord, for It is Darkness, Not Light
