Death Penalty Debate at UT-Austin

Can't see the video, I'm afraid (0.00 / 0)

Can you fix that?

Before you win, you have to fight. Come fight along with us at TexasKaos.

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by: boadicea @ Tue Feb 27, 2007 at 14:11:22 PM CST

SoapBlox (4.00 / 1)

I just added the video link rather than the embeded html link from yahoo. I do not know why SoapBlox doesn't work with embeded videos from yahoo!

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by: persiancowboy @ Tue Feb 27, 2007 at 14:18:49 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Thanks, I'll go check it out. (0.00 / 0)

Congrats to the debaters!

Before you win, you have to fight. Come fight along with us at TexasKaos.

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by: boadicea @ Tue Feb 27, 2007 at 15:09:29 PM CST

[ Parent ]

video (0.00 / 0)

yea CEDP kicked Ass! How did you fix the video?

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by: persiancowboy @ Tue Feb 27, 2007 at 19:33:00 PM CST

[ Parent ]

ah (0.00 / 0)

i see you figured out how to embed videos - now i'm gonna have to send you to gitmo.

sorry, saw this post later. figured you'd edit the diary & see the script but just so everyone knows add < object > tags.

Bush Failed us for 9/11 & Katrina

Delay is NO Martyr

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by: krazypuppy @ Wed Feb 28, 2007 at 17:26:44 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Thank you (0.00 / 0)

I'll have to watch it toninight from home.  I can't wait!

Barnett Shale: An Insatiable Thirst

My blog Bluedaze

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by: TXsharon @ Tue Feb 27, 2007 at 15:54:38 PM CST

[ Parent ]

video embedded (4.00 / 1)

link here

http://video.yahoo.c...

Bush Failed us for 9/11 & Katrina

Delay is NO Martyr

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by: krazypuppy @ Tue Feb 27, 2007 at 15:29:02 PM CST

Young conservatives? (0.00 / 0)

As Winston Churchill said, "show me a young man who is a conservative and I'll show you a man with no heart." Of course, he went on to say "show me an old man who is a liberal and I'll show you a man with no brain." At least he was half right.

-6.63, -6.87

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by: The Pretzel @ Tue Feb 27, 2007 at 15:35:57 PM CST

btw (4.00 / 1)

i think the best arguments (from a framing perspective in Texas) against the death penalty are these:

1. It costs society too much. After court appeals & increased costs due required for more severe cases, death penalty case cost society hundreds of thousands per inmate.

2. They simply doesn't deter. The wait time on death row is typically years, a decade or more & that delay affects the impact of the sentence.

3. The death penalty is biased against the poor and especially poor minorities who cannot afford the expensive lawyers to get them off.

moral issues aside. pfft.

Bush Failed us for 9/11 & Katrina

Delay is NO Martyr

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by: krazypuppy @ Tue Feb 27, 2007 at 16:39:58 PM CST

Off topic (4.00 / 1)

because, well, why the hell not. I can see the arguments against state sponsored executions, I just wonder how folks here feel about home defense. Do you have the right to kill someone in defense of yourself and/or your family? The reason I ask is because I had a conversation last year with someone who said a person never has the right to kill another person, ever. And since we are talking loosely about death, I thought I would ask here. Are we playing judge and jury if we kill someone, regardless of the reason? Or is there a difference?

I for one think there is, but reading this post for some reason brought that conversation to mind, so I thought I would ask ya'll.

"The next time everyone will pay for it equally, and there won't be any more Chosen Nations, or any Others. Poor bastards all." ~The Boomer Bible

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by: just another vet @ Tue Feb 27, 2007 at 17:32:53 PM CST

self defense (4.00 / 3)

Well if I can save my life by killing the other person I think it is justified. However after the murder, I don't think there is a reason to kill the person other than revenge!

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by: persiancowboy @ Tue Feb 27, 2007 at 19:31:50 PM CST

[ Parent ]

mixed response (4.00 / 1)

i agree on a rational level with you, but who is to say what you or i would do in such a situation.

if someone killed someone you loved, would you not hate them so much that you'd want make them pay?

now is that revenge or justice? and more troubling, is it possibly both?

these are more personal questions - and i think that's how most Texans & Americans see the question. and why we continue to support it b/c most Americans will say "yeah, i would kill that S.O.B!"

but if you make them stop thinking about someone they love being hurt - which brings an instant emotional response - and make it a stranger who they have no connection to, the emotional intensity diminishes & the answers get more grey i've seen.

i think the question that has to be answered is whether or not society benefits from the Death Penalty.

and any anti-death penalty argument must frame the debate in those terms - and out of the "personal" frame - in order to win Americans over.

Bush Failed us for 9/11 & Katrina

Delay is NO Martyr

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by: krazypuppy @ Tue Feb 27, 2007 at 23:37:20 PM CST

[ Parent ]

You can't ever know for sure but (4.00 / 1)

I am as certain as I can possibly be that, if someone killed either of my sons, I would be rational enough to know that insisting that they die would be not only committing another wrong but also completely useless.  I would prefer they be locked up for the rest of their lives to think about what they had done and possibly even regret their actions. 

Barnett Shale: An Insatiable Thirst

My blog Bluedaze

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by: TXsharon @ Wed Feb 28, 2007 at 09:40:29 AM CST

[ Parent ]

death penalty (4.00 / 3)

I don't know what I would do if someone killed one of my family members. But I hope that I will be powerful enough to do the right thing. The fact is that killing the person is not going to change anything or make me feel better. In return it would destroy another innocent family. Also the state has to spend extra $2 million dollar to execute the person than to give them a life sentence.

Also the Texas's criminal justice system is so corrupt that I would never know if we are executing the right person or no!

I would recommend you to watch the following video by three murder victim families:

 

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by: persiancowboy @ Wed Feb 28, 2007 at 10:43:29 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Thanks for the comments everyone. (0.00 / 0)

I think we are all similar of mind concerning the death penalty. What enters a gray area for me is in the moment killing. It's like owning a gun and hoping you never have to use it. Why buy the gun then? If you never want to shoot someone, then don't ever have a gun in your hand. When you buy one for "home defense", you are admitting to yourself that there are instances warranting the killing of another human being. But what defines those instances? What sets the limits, not the law per say, but an individual's limits in the moment?

Outlawing the death penalty is a no brainer in my opinion(I voted yes in the poll because I guessed no one else would, couldn't help myself), but being as how we live in an armed society, I can't help but wonder where we draw the line. For instance, I think most people would agree that it's ok to shoot someone if your death was imminent otherwise, but what about a late night thief? Or someone in your yard at night? What if you are walking alone and feel really uncomfortable with the person you think is following you?

 

"The next time everyone will pay for it equally, and there won't be any more Chosen Nations, or any Others. Poor bastards all." ~The Boomer Bible

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by: just another vet @ Wed Feb 28, 2007 at 18:41:21 PM CST

[ Parent ]

I have a gun (0.00 / 0)

because I live in the middle of nowhere witn a young child and the Sheriff told me that I should be armed.  If someone comes into my 1984 trailer house, they aren't there to steal anything from me.  LOL!  I would shoot them.  I'm not going to watch someone carve up my little boy.  If they are in my yard, since I am very far from the main road and there is no reason for them to be there, I would call 911 and wait.  If they tried to enter my house I would shoot them.  These are things I have thought long and hard about.

There is a HUGE difference in my mind in protecting my son to save his life and killing someone who killed my son.  After my son is dead, killing the person who killed him won't/can't save his life.

I have instructed both my sons that, should I be killed in a violent crime, I do not want my killer to be sentenced to death. 

Barnett Shale: An Insatiable Thirst

My blog Bluedaze

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by: TXsharon @ Thu Mar 01, 2007 at 10:06:10 AM CST

[ Parent ]

guns (0.00 / 0)

"have instructed both my sons that, should I be killed in a violent crime, I do not want my killer to be sentenced to death. "

Thats great comment! Most people would not act as you would!
It is reasonable to have a gun if you live in the Country side. Also if I was in your place I would probably try to shoot the person in the leg or somewhere that won't kill him. Unless I'm sure that the person is not here to steal something but to harm me.

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by: persiancowboy @ Wed Mar 07, 2007 at 20:50:51 PM CST

[ Parent ]