This is one of those rare occasions, but I've just got to say it: I AGREE WITH YOU ON THIS ONE!!! (BTW - Buck, how do you like my new avatar?)

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Theodore Lamar Heiks
BA, History/Political Science, Western State College of Colorado, 1984
MBA, Entrepreneurship/Marketing, City University of Seattle, 1993

There are some people in society that have been intrusted with power. These are the people we put our trust in and when they break that trust many people are harmed. I think more of these people should face the death penalty. Let them know the people hand them special priviledges but expect a higher standard from them in return.

You have a better chance of going to prison stealing $10.00 on the street than billions on Wall Street. Need to turn that around and give these people a taste of what peons have to face.

Studies have shown that it costs more to put someone on death row then giving them life in prison. Not to mention that fairly recently 13 prisoners on death row in Illinois were proven innocent due to DNA evidence. If DNA technology hadn't advanced as quickly as it did some of those innocent people would be dead now. Thats called state sponsered murder.

Mack;
Remember that bureaucracy, we talked about in education?? How is it that an entire exhibit at the local zoo can be financed annually for what it takes to keep a few men in a concrete box??? I can see humane treatment but that doesn’t mean nice and comfortable!! Our prison system is a corporate entity, funded by government contracts, and they are the highest bidders! Not too many private prisons popping up lately, to create any competition? Although I wish the government would let me look after 6-8 of 'em, hell make it an even dozen? At $25,000 per head annually, they would be well provided for, and would be given the positive reinforcement necessary in convincing them, that this is not a place, that they would want to return too!!!

Mack;
Which is why I say;
I am for it in cases of absolute guilt!!! DNA, video, etc... Thu Apr 13, 2006 12:48 pm
I am for life on all circumstantial cases!!!

Moosouwee is a psycho and a military threat, and he wants all infidels dead (that’s you and me by the way)!!! A firing squad would be too good for this guy!!!

heikstheo;
Thought you was still mad at me?? Tap dancing donkey, I like!!! Much more subtle, with a touch of light heartedness, than “the face” was, we once shared!!

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There are only two things wrong with this great nation of ours, democrats and republicans!

Not necessarily in that order.

George Carlin said it best, as he usually does. There's no point in caring one way or the other about the death penalty because it doesn't do anything... except fulfill some religious need for vengeance.
Being that religion is separate from state, the need for vengeance shouldn't hold much clout. The argument comes down to which is the default. Since neither way really does a thing, it should come down to a question of which is the more natural thing. Some would say that the death penalty is default because it exists now. Others would say that letting someone live is the default because killing is more of an action. Who knows? Perhaps at this point we just yield to the democratic process.
But as a question of right and wrong, politics aside, I think it comes down to something more personal. No matter what, I believe there is a slim possibility that even if it looks like absolute guilt, one person may be wrongfully executed. Doesn't matter if it hasn't happened or if it ever will. It's possible. When that happens, we all take part in the wrongful execution. And for what? Vengeance. A primal emotional reaction manifested for centuries in cyclical tribal warfare, still remaining in the form of gang violence and religious conflict.

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That information is classified and to be given only on a need-to-know basis...

And I do not need to know.

How is it punishment? I agree with what usama-bin-bush said in the previous page...put the people into labor camps and have them pay their rent as they rot in jail their whole life. No women, no alchohol, etc. I don't care if they read some books and enlighten themselves, but honestly, most people would rather kill themselves then work 8 hours a day making license plates or what have you, only to come back to prison food and a crappy jail cell.

but if the man's insane then he needs a treatment plan.

for the fact that we have laws and responsibilities in this most important area and if we disagree with the laws, we must work to change them by voting etc.
pt

thank you. i'm also for giving life the very chance that death would take away.
pt

that i blame society? i assume we will *all* meet the consequences of our acts, but that's not the issue here. the issue is, are you for or against the death penalty and you've shown us where you stand on the issue. pt