The death penalty i see as a reward... Because death is the ultimate peace. Why would you grant ultimate peace to the evil? That is a lot like sending them to "heaven", is it not?

Quote: Because death is the ultimate peace.

In YOUR opinion. Not mine; death=extinction,it's not an experience of any kind,including peace.

Survival is THE strongest instinct. I doubt an aweful lot of human beings would see being killed involuntarily for any reason as a reward.

It peeves me enormously that deluded suicide bombers and their recruiters probably won't wake up in hell.

Exactly the point: there IS nothing... therefore: True peace

One cannot ever experience true peace, because to do so would mean one would have to be dead, and one cannot experience anything when they are dead. What you give people with the death penalty... is the ability to EXCAPE the pain, boredom, memories... you give them peace.

I know that *I* would rather die... than be locked into a prison for the rest of my life until death. Quick death>never ending boredom, and eventual slow death.

(September 3, 2009 at 6:27 pm)dry land fish Wrote: The Libertarians are the only real party in America that is balanced.

Lead by Bob Barr, who completely reversed his stances on The War of Drugs, gay marriage, the Patriot Act, and the Iraq War upon running for President with the Libertarians?

Don't kid yourself.

On the topic of racism and affirmative action. As long as our government keep writing laws that create legally defined differences between races, racism will always be a problem.

Quote:I know that *I* would rather die... than be locked into a prison for the rest of my life until death. Quick death>never ending boredom, and eventual slow death.

Not me. I'd rather be alive and miserable than dead.--and that's MY point;you've stated an opinion,that's all, just as I have.

(September 5, 2009 at 4:31 am)Meatball Wrote:

(September 3, 2009 at 6:27 pm)dry land fish Wrote: The Libertarians are the only real party in America that is balanced.

Lead by Bob Barr, who completely reversed his stances on The War of Drugs, gay marriage, the Patriot Act, and the Iraq War upon running for President with the Libertarians?.

I wish Ron Paul would have run with the Libertarians again.

(September 4, 2009 at 2:23 pm)Tiberius Wrote:

(September 4, 2009 at 1:30 pm)Kyuuketsuki Wrote: Anti-racist laws are, unfortunately necessary, but I believe education is a better way to deal with these things ... witness the fact that we are now (IMO) a far less "ist" society at least on the surface.

Agreed. The anti-racist movement as simply turned the whole situation on it's head, making a fuss about white people getting a job when they are the most qualified (not because of their race).

Only with education will we finally have a society that looks at a black man, a white man, and an asian man, and sees three men.

Kyu/Adrian, people " make a fuss " when a white person gets a job for being preferred to a black person similarly qualified. That's racism in action.
We boast about our education system in this country, about how good it is. Year-on-year cse and a -level results suggest our young people are doing better than ever before. More people go to university.
Despite all this education,racism persists. Legislation is needed....you can't wish equality into being.

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Dlf,
You think everybody here ( and presumably everywhere else ) should favour executing people? Get real!!

As regards racism, do you condemn the racism of white supremacists, or that of your fellow Americans for whom a black president is anathema, in the same strident way as you do towards the young blacks
you talk about in your post?

(September 5, 2009 at 12:19 pm)bozo Wrote: Kyu/Adrian, people " make a fuss " when a white person gets a job for being preferred to a black person similarly qualified. That's racism in action.
We boast about our education system in this country, about how good it is. Year-on-year cse and a -level results suggest our young people are doing better than ever before. More people go to university.
Despite all this education,racism persists. Legislation is needed....you can't wish equality into being.

I'm afraid that's not what happens bozo, at least not how I've seen it. What happens is that if the demographics of a company are slighted towards a specific race, the company will hire more members of that race. The problem with that is it is unfair towards everyone else; what if one of the people interviewed was clearly the best, but was turned down because the company needed more black people? That is the very purpose of affirmative action, to increase the proportions of ethnic minorities in certain job positions. The question should not be "Do they get the position because they are an ethnic minority?", it should be "Do they get the position because they are the best person for the job?".

Legislation is needed in as much as if a black person is turned down for a job, and can make a good case for the company having a discrimination policy against black people, then he should be able to take them to court over it. What the legislation should do is promote equality. What it shouldn't do is promote affirmative action.

(September 5, 2009 at 12:19 pm)bozo Wrote: We boast about our education system in this country, about how good it is. Year-on-year GCSE and A -level results suggest our young people are doing better than ever before. More people go to university.

This is more about marketing that education. Results that schools need to achieve to survive as a business have no correlation whatsoever with educational attainment in the real sense. /rant

Adrian, I fear we are about to flog a dead horse.
People not getting jobs because of their ethnicity is racism. It's not about anything more sophisticated.
It would be very very difficult to prove that an employer turned you down on racist grounds.
I am not hung up on affirmative action...racism worries me so much more.

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Frodo, if you are suggesting what I think you are suggesting I agree with you.
However, others believe education will eliminate racism, which I reject. Lots of " educated " people are racists.