CA anti-death penalty measure qualifies for Nov. ballot

[WhyteRain]

Dear California,

Just keep doing what you're doing.

Sincerely,
Texas

[WhyteRain]

Dear California,

Just keep doing what you're doing.

Sincerely,
Texas

Dear Texas,

Keep thinking you're all that and ignore the judgment of history and every other civilized country for your state-murder-boner.

Sincerely,
States that don't think everything they do is automatically hot sh**t in a champagne glass

Why so much hate?

[WhyteRain]

Dear California,

Just keep doing what you're doing.

Sincerely,
Texas

Dear Texas,

Keep thinking you're all that and ignore the judgment of history and every other civilized country for your state-murder-boner.

Sincerely,
States that don't think everything they do is automatically hot sh**t in a champagne glass

Why so much hate?

Sorry. Instinctive reaction to Texan arrogance...

Where I come from there's a saying, "It ain't braggin' if it's true".  I googled for that saying, just to learn where it originated.  It seems it's credited to a few people, notably football coach Paul "Bear" Bryant (who coached at Texas A&M), baseball pitcher Jerome "Dizzy" Dean, and boxer Muhummad Ali.  Ironically on the first page of the search results was this entry from just last week:  http://pjmedia.com/tatler/headline/it-aint-bragging-if-its-true-texas-remains-the-top-state-for-business/

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Well, we like to think we keep our prisons the way they need to be to minimize the condemned men's complaints about the death penalty.  

[modify:]  It might help to think of it as our early and permanent release program.

[WhyteRain]

By the logic if Texas has a great death penalty usage, then China and Iran should be models to follow in this regard.

It seems to me pretty arrogant to tell other states and countries what their laws ought to be -- especially if they're not hurting me.

(I didn't vote in the poll here because it seems like it's none of my, or any other non-Californian's, business how California handles its criminals.)

[WhyteRain]

Ron White explains Texas vs. California on the Death Penalty:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgQRgT15f9U

[WhyteRain]

I think the best way to solve the death-penalty  views would be to implement affirmative action based on race and income in texas for death penalty and let them execute a few good ol boys. Although a revolution would be a lot more fun.

Most people here will think you are kidding with your call for a race-based system of punishments, with harsher punishments for whites.

I know you're not.  http://michellemalkin.com/2009/09/21/race-based-discipline-in-tucson-schools/

[WhyteRain]

I think the best way to solve the death-penalty  views would be to implement affirmative action based on race and income in texas for death penalty and let them execute a few good ol boys. Although a revolution would be a lot more fun.

Most people here will think you are kidding with your call for a race-based system of punishments, with harsher punishments for whites.

I know you're not.  http://michellemalkin.com/2009/09/21/race-based-discipline-in-tucson-schools/

The problem is that the actions of the whites result in far more deaths than actions of blacks and hispanics

What?  How so?

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Again, what?  How so?

[WhyteRain]

Governments shouldn't murder their citizens.  Citizens should murder their governments.

How about nobody murders anybody?

More reason to wonder about the appropriateness of that nick.

[WhyteRain]

Governments shouldn't murder their citizens.  Citizens should murder their governments.

I'll go along with that, but the sentiment is misplaced on this thread.

If capital punishment is murder, then imprisonment is kidnapping.

[WhyteRain]

I believe that every sapient individual has a fundamental right to life, something that no government can rightfully take away.

Only the sapient?  (I admit I had to look it up.)  So stupid and crazy people get no such right?

Anyway, by that standard you'd have to oppose a government using deadly force to oppose a military invasion.

[WhyteRain]

I believe that every sapient individual has a fundamental right to life, something that no government can rightfully take away.

Only the sapient?  (I admit I had to look it up.)  So stupid and crazy people get no such right?

Anyway, by that standard you'd have to oppose a government using deadly force to oppose a military invasion.

Stupid and crazy people are generally considered sapient, unless you are Peter Singer.

This.

I say "sapient" to preclude responses of "hurrdurr what about feetuses."

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I'm not sure how y'all define "stupid" and "crazy", but in mine the words "wisdom" and "appropriate judgment" aren't usually included.

Maybe you meant "sentient"?  But that would screw up your fetus deal.

Besides, you still have to advise the Polish government what to do when sapient individuals wearing Wehrmacht uniforms start pouring over the border.

[WhyteRain]

Sapient in the sense that it's being used here is more like what most people think sentient means. I'm not sure when this usage originated.

Yeah, but he's trying to exclude fetuses.  I'm pro-choice on abortion so I don't have a dog in the fight other than a sensible statement.  It looks like neither "sapient" (excludes stupid and crazy) nor "sentient" (includes fetuses) will do what he wants.

[WhyteRain]

I believe that every sapient individual has a fundamental right to life, something that no government can rightfully take away.

So governments aren't sapient to you, I take it?

"Governments are people, my friend!"

Sorry, couldn't resist.

[WhyteRain]

I believe that every sapient individual has a fundamental right to life, something that no government can rightfully take away.

So governments aren't sapient to you, I take it?

Well, government isn't a sapient individual, as it isn't an individual.

Shocking. I wasn't aware of that. *facepalm*

FallenMorgan specifically said that he wanted citizens to "murder their governments." You can't possibly murder an institution, you can only murder people. You can abolish, end, or reform  an institution, but you can't murder it. In order to "murder" a government, you'd have to murder the people who make up that government. From Morgan's argument, it sounds like he wants citizens to murder their legislators. If he meant otherwise, he should have used less extreme and more socially accepted language. By his logic that sapient individuals have to right to life, but legislators should be murdered implies that he doesn't think legislators are sapient.

     It's a figure of speech, you see.

Not one I've ever heard.

IT WAS A JOKE, GOSH

I had no problem understanding it as a figure of speech.

[WhyteRain]

I'd vote for it.  I like the requirement to work while in prison, and in today's system of constant appeals, the death penalty is a financial drain on the justice system.

Maybe this is just the Texas view, but it seems to us that if your state's getting a lot of appeals from Death Row, then maybe you need to make some adjustments in your prison system so that life there is not so "appealing".