...but it's what I think and I can't really help that...
Reading this story...
A Montgomery County jury's recent decision to sentence a paroled murderer to life in prison is a comfort to the widow of the man he killed nearly 25 years ago, she said Tuesday.
Brian Keith Balentine received a life sentence last week for a March 2008 shoplifting case in Conroe. Prosecutors and Balentine's defense lawyer said the August 1984 murder of Leroy Larson, disclosed during the punishment phase of the trial, played a decisive role in the jury's decision. Balentine, 43, will return to a Texas prison, joining his older brother, who was also convicted in Larson's slaying.
“These are mean people,“ said the woman once known as Marilyn Larson. “Whatever happened to make them the way they are, I don't know, but, they should not be on the street.“
...really set the stage for me to get good and riled when I read this one...
LUCASVILLE, Ohio — A man who went on a 1992 Christmas holiday killing spree that left six people dead, including an 18-year-old mother gunned down at a pay phone, was executed Tuesday, the state's second execution in two weeks and the 1,000th lethal injection in the U.S. since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.
...
The European Union presidency, currently held by Sweden, released a statement noting the number and calling on the U.S. to halt executions, pending the abolition of the death penalty.
"The European Union is opposed to the use of capital punishment in all cases and under all circumstances," the statement said. "We believe that the abolition of the death penalty is essential to protect human dignity, and to the progressive development of human rights."
The death penalty is abolished in the European Union, and the United Nations General Assembly has called upon all countries that use it to stop executions and end the practice.
Human dignity? Human rights? Sorry, but this is wrong. Creatures who do things like what was discussed in these two stories have lost all rights to be called human. I would say these people are animals, but they're even worse than that -- because, for example, if you get mauled by a mountain lion, well, that lion's just reacting as per his natural instinct, and the same can't be said of Messrs. Balentine and Keene. None of this is to say they should be tortured and such, but when you do things like what these creatures did, you've forfeited your right to live. And if those in progressive, tolerant, oh-so-enlightened Europe don't agree, well, that's their problem. I do find their whinging about "human dignity" and "the development of human rights" rather hypocritical considering that, for example, if I were walking down a London avenue and some street thug came up, whipped out a knife and demanded my cell phone and iPod, I would have no other legal option than to "just give him what he wants" because if I resisted I might well get in trouble with the authorities. What about MY dignity? What about MY rights? To say nothing of the people who actually find themselves in such situations...
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