Thursday 23 September 2010
Teresa Lewis, 41, a grandmother with an IQ of about 70, who would be classified here as having a severe learning difficulty, is about to be exacuted in southern Virginia. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad contrasted the lack of protest over her impending execution to the "storm" surrounding a woman sentenced to be stoned in Iran. He has a point, regardless of guilt, severity of crime, method of exacution, etc.............if exacution is wrong in Iran, methinks, its got to be pretty much wrong in Virginia.
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Perhaps the difference here is the Iranian woman supposedly had sex with two men and that's why she is to be killed. This woman in Virginia, knowingly and willingly hired two men to kill her husband and step son. Without sex, none of us would be here. If we were to murder anyone we please, only murderers would thrive. I'm not arguing that Lewis should be spared or not, but her crime is against humanity as a whole. The Iranian woman's crime is the crime of a vast majority of females that have ever existed and if we allow the governments to take control of our bodies any more than they already have....... How long before that kind of control is world wide ? She harmed none but her "religion" while Lewis murdered someone as sure as if she stabbed them herself. Death for pleasure and companionship vs. death for willingly taking part in a heinous murder.. no contest, IMHO However, Lewis has a low IQ and should possibly be spared the death sentence, so she can keep being an idiot in prison for another 40 years. Grandmother or not... anyone can be a grandmother, it doesn't make you special. She's a murderer who happened to have had some babies that were lucky enough to survive her as a mother.
ReplyDeleteSo, your argument is that (1) the death penalty is more-acceptable depending upon the degree of the crime, and (2) it costs too much to keep someone in prison, so let's kill them?
ReplyDeleteThere's no difference in that argument from the 'logic' employed 200 or more years ago.
The death-penalty is wrong in its essence. When the 'state' puts a needle in someone's vein and pumps them full of caustic chemicals, they do it in our name.
I do not want the state committing murder in my name. And yes, before you say something else - it is that simple.
By extension, granting the 'state' the power to commit murder is barbaric. We are the only first-world/industrialized nation other than Japan to do so - and they're having serious second-thoughts.
If we murder someone - by virtue of 'law' or no - we only prove that we are as barbaric and heinous as the person who committed the crime.
I thought retarded or I should say people with below normal IQ and 70 is pretty low, could not be executed anymore
ReplyDeleteThis is today's official news release from the Associated Press.
ReplyDeletehttp://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100923/ap_on_re_us/us_woman_s_execution_virginia
I haven't followed this story too closely. Since it's in Virginia and their law makers are half nuts, I stay away from the news there. But that State legally has capital punishment as the penalty for pre-meditated murder, in this case double murder paid for with sex and money. Comparing that to adultery and being stoned as a punishment is mixing apples and oranges.
Whether one agrees with capital punishment isn't really the issue here. The issue is she is responsible for two murders and the state that convicted her has the death penalty.
As far as what is wrong for Iran should be wrong for Virginia, there's a helluva lot wrong in both places. Both places have allowed religion into law and government - an eye for an eye and in Iran the woman and her body are the property of man and the state.
This is today's official news release from the Associated Press.
ReplyDeletehttp://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100923/ap_on_re_us/us_woman_s_execution_virginia
I haven't followed this story too closely. Since it's in Virginia and their law makers are half nuts, I stay away from the news there. But that State legally has capital punishment as the penalty for pre-meditated murder, in this case double murder paid for with sex and money. Comparing that to adultery and being stoned as a punishment is mixing apples and oranges.
Whether one agrees with capital punishment isn't really the issue here. The issue is she is responsible for two murders and the state that convicted her has the death penalty.
As far as what is wrong for Iran should be wrong for Virginia, there's a helluva lot wrong in both places. Both places have allowed religion into law and government - an eye for an eye and in Iran the woman and her body are the property of man and the state.
Quite right.
ReplyDeleteTess, my understanding is that her IQ is slightly above 70. The "cut-off" for retardation (cognitive impairment) varies from place to place and depends on whether one is using it for educational purposes (to give extra help), or entrance into the army, or eligibility to be killed.
There is a helluva lot wrong in both places, one can argue who's wronger all day. I totally agree that religion and government do not mix well. Which is odd, because one would think that a religious government would be a merciful one.
ReplyDeleteI certainly wouldn't dream of saying anything else...............I know its that simple, the point is we in the west point the finger at others on a regular basis.................maybe we should put our own house in order first, or rather ( because I know how pedantic you are about accuracy........YOU should put YOUR own house in order).
ReplyDeleteps...............don't worry about the spelling mistakes my friends are used to it and polite enough to ignore it.
I believe that is supposed to be the case, here they are not supposed to end up in prison, I don't know if it is the case there. However..............any report of the prison service ( here) will reveal a high proportion of mentally ill people, people with a low IQ and non white people.
ReplyDelete''wronger''...............what a brilliant word, note to self, must use it
ReplyDeleteHi Bennett and thanks...............agreed on both points, religion has far to much influence in both places and the irony is indeed that religion doesn't seem to make either place merciful.
I guess I can understand the logic of that, I don't agree with it but to a certain extent I understand it..............what I don't understand is why the two men who actually carried out the murders, and subsequently admitted planning them, were given life sentences and not the death penalty.
ReplyDeleteI would support the Nazi Waffen SS approach ( execution by firing squad ) for the following crimes:
ReplyDeleteMurder.
Conspiracy to commit murder
drug dealing
armed robbery
Dealing in drugs.
Child abuse / molestation
Failure to uphold an oath of office
Corruption ( government or private sector )
Lobbying a government official.
Lobbying???........................
ReplyDeleteA major source of government corruption
ReplyDeleteAs I said, I haven't followed the case. My best guess is that she was charged with first degree murder because of the premeditated manner that she organized it, in that case the law most likely requires the death penalty. The men may have been charged with murder in the second degree or manslaughter, perhaps in some drunken state or by her manipulation - I don't know.
ReplyDeleteNot all states have capital punishment, but I do believe that if they do, the death penalty is required for first degree murder. If the evidence showed anything other than blatant premeditation, they could have charged her with second degree murder and given her life in prison.
Many of the states that are pro on the death penalty, are anti-abortion and anti-gun control - they are walking contradictions. They use the bible and the constitution to justify all three positions. I guess you can have your cake and eat it too.
Evidently that doesn't apply in Virginia; dear....
ReplyDeleteIt is sad that she got the worst punishment and was not even the one that did the deed. It seems to me like the ones that actually pulled the trigger are the ones that committed the murder. They probably would have shot her once she had the insurance money and taken it and ran.
ReplyDeleteAlso I do not think adults having sex is on the same level as murder. Now was that two men at once? Or was she married to one and having sex with another? Or just had sex with one man at one point in life and another at another point in life? Regardless, if it were this country instead of Iran, she would get stoned first and then have sex.
ReplyDeleteShe got the most "severe" punishment. The "worst" punishment that can be forced upon any human being is 23 out of 24 hours in a cage smaller than the average household closet with total sensory deprivation. No reading, no writing, no radio, no TV, no furniture (the bed is usually a metal shelf on the wall slightly smaller than a twin bed. No window, no way of determining if it is day or night, summer, winter, fall or spring. You can only do so many push ups, you can only sleep so much, the rest of the time you spend pacing, screaming, crying, trying to remain sane. Food comes cooked in a large biscuit about the size of a dinner plate. You eat the food, then you eat the "biscuit" it is served in. No spoons, no forks, no knives, paper cup that is shaped like a cone that better come out when it is time or your boredom will broken by a team of large men with even larger sticks, tasaers, tear gas, pepper spray. If you are fortunate, the only thing that will be broken is the boredom, but most are seldom ever that lucky (7 or 8 strong men with clubs in a small area often results in "accidents" such as broken arms, broken jaws, cracked skulls, that's why they all wear protective gear.)
ReplyDeleteAt one point Barry Manilow music was pumped in 24/7 but the Supreme Court ruled that this violated the 8th Amendment (Cruel and Unusual Punishment.) They also decided it was not acceptable to make the offenders listen to it either.
If you can't do the time, don't do the crime.
lol..............you are right, yr not thinking straight, but..... this is no joking matter, and tasteless as it is..........it still gave me a guilty chuckle
ReplyDeleteYour right. It is sad and serious. I get a little punchy in the middle of the night after work sometimes. Tired brain syndrome. My apologies if I offended you or anyone on your list.
ReplyDeleteI was once called to jury duty, and asked to sit a death-penalty case.
ReplyDeleteI told the judge that the law was wrong; that the state did not have the right to kill a person in my name. He said, "Well, I have to sit here and judge the case." I said, "I rather think that's a personal problem."
I was 'excused' immediately.
The reality of the thing? There were plenty of moral-bankrupts who were perfectly willing to kill another human being under the shabby pretext of 'law'.
I live in a nation of barbarians....
you have my sympathy, I've often wondered what I would do in that situation. maybe tell the judge that no matter what I would have to find the accused innocent in the hope he would chuck me out of the court................tricky problem.
ReplyDelete