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[SuperSaiyan4Godzilla]

I discover that I feel an increasing contempt for those that think death is the only action against things we deem immoral.

[Cimmerian Dragon]

^ I have a strong affection for this father, given the uncommonly horrendous situation of catching a man in the act of molesting your four-year-old daughter. Not hearing about it after the fact, but actually witnessing the violation in person.

Now, that said, I strongly oppose the death penalty as a legal institution. I don't like the idea of the government deciding which of its citizens it has the power to kill. I also don't like the idea of a group of random citizens making that determination.

Also, what good does the death penalty do? Studies show that it is neither a deterrent, nor a cost-benefit over life incarceration. All the death penalty does is give the criminal an early reprieve. I want that person to spend the rest of his life facing what he did, not taking the easy way out.

The Father needs to have no charges brought up against him all he was doing was protecting his 4 year old child from a monster.

No, let's not sugar-coat it. Once he pulled the man off the girl, the "protecting" was done. The beating was either a conscious or semi-reflexive act of retribution, whether you support it or not.

[wataru]

Let's totally not sugar coat it, some people just need to be beaten to death.

[SuperSaiyan4Godzilla]

^ I have a strong affection for this father, given the uncommonly horrendous situation of catching a man in the act of molesting your four-year-old daughter. Not hearing about it after the fact, but actually witnessing the violation in person.

I'm not going to speak on what this man did morally.

I hate how people say death is the best punishment for people, though. And that vigilantes that punish with death deserve no kickback.

My belief with the death penalty is so: It is the last choice we have to take. Someone like the Joker, or even bin Laden, are the only ones that deserve the penalty.

[wataru]

Most people dont understand that the law is meant to punish and dissuade.

The death penalty isnt meant as revenge (though most people view it as such), it's meant to dissuade others from perpetrating an act of similar magnitude.

It's also why I think plea deals are utter bullshit. Most plea deals are negotiated by non-elect ADAs to secure convictions and are not uniformly offered or structured to all defendants. I think they're Unconstitutional because like I stated offered by non-elected ADAs and blackmail scared defendants into deals without actually proving the case. A plea deal makes someone admit guilt out of fear of going to jail. All offered, brokered and signed off on by non-elected officials and not the people.

[Legionmaster]

The death penalty isnt meant as revenge (though most people view it as such), it's meant to dissuade others from perpetrating an act of similar magnitude.

Except it doesn't do that.

[wataru]

The death penalty isnt meant as revenge (though most people view it as such), it's meant to dissuade others from perpetrating an act of similar magnitude.

Except it doesn't do that.

Duh. If the fear of death worked, the crimes meriting it's execution would rare if ever happen. Also doesnt help you can appeal out the asshole a death conviction and live in death row for 25 years.

[Cimmerian Dragon]

Study after study has shown that the death penalty is a near-totally ineffective deterrent. A basic theory all law students are taught is that for a penalty to effectively deter potential offenders, it must possess: 1.Severity, 2. Certainty, 3.Speed.

The death penalty could be made to conform to those last two aspects, but that means stricter mandatory sentencing (less room for understanding and mitigation for the defendant), and means curtailing the appeals process severely. Given the fact that a false conviction is always a serious possibility, do we really want to limit that avenue of review? Yes, appeals are routinely abused, but we shouldn't take that tool away from those who deserve it, in order to control those who don't.

Do some people need to be beaten to death? Yes, IMO.

Does that necessarily mean the government should be given the right to determine which ones deserve it? Hell no.

[Blackout286]

I'm not sure if anyone posted this or not (probably though, and if so, then sorry!)

Plague confirmed in Oregon man bitten by stray cat

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Health officials have confirmed that an Oregon man has the plague after he was bitten while trying to take a dead rodent from the mouth of a stray cat.

The unidentified Prineville, Ore., man was in critical condition on Friday. He is suffering from a blood-borne version of the disease that wiped out at least one-third of Europe in the 14th century — that one, the bubonic plague, affects lymph nodes.

There is an average of seven human plague cases in the U.S. each year. A map maintained by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that most cases since the 1970s have been in the West, primarily the southwest.

The plague bacteria cycles through rodent populations without killing them off; in urban areas, it's transmitted back and forth from rats to fleas. There's even a name for it, the "enzootic cycle."

The bacteria thrive in forests, semi-arid areas and grasslands, which plague-carrying rodents from wood rats to rock squirrels call home.

Once a coin flip with death, the plague is now easier to handle for humans in the U.S. The national mortality rate stood at 66 percent before World War II, but advances in antibiotics dropped that rate to its present 16 percent.

Central Oregon health officials don't blame the cat.

"The reality is that, in rural areas, part of the role of cats is to keep the rodent population controlled around our homes and barns" said Karen Yeargain of the Crook County Health Department.

The Prineville man, who is in his 50s, remained in critical condition Friday at a Bend hospital. His illness marks the fifth case of plague in Oregon since 1995.

State public health veterinarian Dr. Emilio DeBess told The Oregonian (http://is.gd/XkSL7Y ) that the man was infected when he was bitten by the stray his family befriended. The cat died and its body is being sent to the CDC for testing.

DeBess has collected blood samples from two dogs and another cat that lives with the man's family, the newspaper reported. DeBess also collected blood samples from neighbors' pets and from animals in the local shelter to determine whether the area has a plague problem.

More than a dozen people who were in contact with the sick man have been notified and are receiving preventive antibiotics.

http://health.yahoo.net/news/s/ap/plague-confirmed-in-oregon-man-bitten-by-stray-cat

I'm somewhat surprised that thing is still around, well, maybe not all that surprised. But a bit caught off guard.

[miguelnuva]

Why did he try to take the dead rodent from a stray cat?

[Cimmerian Dragon]

^ He was hungry.

Also in the news yesterday, they finally got the last Aum Shinrikyo son of a bitch:

Final fugitive in 1995 Tokyo subway gas attack arrested at Internet café

Daily Telegraph June 16, 2012 3:06 AM


The final fugitive sought in connection with the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system was arrested Friday.

Katsuya Takahashi, 54, was seized after an Internet café worker phoned police to say that a man resembling the bespectacled former member of the Aum Shinrikyo cult was on the premises.

Takahashi evaded capture 12 days ago when he fled an apartment in the city of Kawasaki an hour before police arrived. Updated wanted posters were issued throughout eastern Japan and police stepped up surveillance at train stations and bus terminals. Police called on the public to be on the look-out for Takahashi, who has been working as a labourer on construction sites since 1995.

Takahashi is wanted on suspicion of murder and attempted murder for the 1995 sarin attacks, kidnapping, a bombing that maimed an official in the office of the governor of Tokyo and three attacks with VX nerve gas that were carried out in 1994 and 1995. His arrest brings to a close the 17-year hunt but will reopen the legal process.

A total of 189 members of the quasi-religious cult, whose name means "supreme truth," have been indicted for a campaign which had the aim of over-throwing the government. Many have already completed prison terms, but 12 members - including Aum's founder, Shoko Asahara - are on death row.

[Legionmaster]

I'm somewhat surprised that thing is still around, well, maybe not all that surprised. But a bit caught off guard.

That last pandemic only officially ended in the 1950's (it lingered in India and a few other places with rampant poverty).

[godzilla898]

The cannibalism epidemic spreads west, hitting Louisiana.

[HayesAJones]

Oh shit. Am I gonna have to fight off drugged out cannibals now?

[Kiryu2012]

The cannibalism epidemic spreads west, hitting Louisiana.

Well, looks like we'll be Left 4 Dead.

[space godzilla]

That means Mississippi might be next...I'm in trouble.

[Sydney Aradi]

The cannibalism epidemic spreads west, hitting Louisiana.

Well, looks like we'll be Left 4 Dead.

I see what you did there but anyway I hope that none of this cannibalism spreads to Texas because I don't wanna have to go all Jill Valentine on any drugged up cannibal's ass

[Tyler]

That means Mississippi might be next...I'm in trouble.

Close your eyes baby...

[Cimmerian Dragon]

The father who beat his daughter's molester to death will not be prosecuted, but not just because of clemency. Texas law holds that deadly force is justified in order to stop a sexual assault.

The girl was taken to a hospital and examined, and authorities say forensic evidence and witness accounts corroborated the father's story that his daughter was being sexually molested. Although the father was never arrested, the killing was investigated as a homicide. Philip Hilder, a Houston criminal defense attorney and former federal prosecutor, said he would have been surprised if the grand jury had decided to indict the father. Hilder said Texas law provides several justifications for the use of deadly force, including if someone committing a sexual assault.

The father who beat to death with his fists a man molesting his 5-year-old daughter will not be charged, authorities said Tuesday as they released a dramatic 911 tape of the dad frantically pleading for help before the hired ranch helper died.

A Lavaca County grand jury Tuesday declined to indict the 23-year-old father in the death of Jesus Mora Flores, 47. Prosecutors said the grand jury reached same conclusion as police after reviewing the evidence: The father was authorized to use deadly force to protect his daughter.

Flores was killed June 9 on a family ranch so remote that the father is heard profanely screaming at a dispatcher who couldn't locate the property.

"Come on! This guy is going to die on me!" the father yells. "I don't know what to do!"

The Associated Press is not identifying the father in order to protect the daughter's identity. The AP does not identify victims of sexual assault.

The tense, nearly five-minute 911 call begins with the father saying that he "beat up" a man found raping his daughter. The father grows increasingly frazzled, cursing and crying into the phone so loudly at times that the call often becomes inaudible.

At one point tells the dispatcher he's going to put the man in his truck and drive him to a hospital before sheriff's deputies finally arrive.

"He's going to die!" the father screams. "He's going to (expletive) die!"

[Kiryu2012]

The father who beat his daughter's molester to death will not be prosecuted, but not just because of clemency. Texas law holds that deadly force is justified in order to stop a sexual assault.

The girl was taken to a hospital and examined, and authorities say forensic evidence and witness accounts corroborated the father's story that his daughter was being sexually molested. Although the father was never arrested, the killing was investigated as a homicide. Philip Hilder, a Houston criminal defense attorney and former federal prosecutor, said he would have been surprised if the grand jury had decided to indict the father. Hilder said Texas law provides several justifications for the use of deadly force, including if someone committing a sexual assault.

The father who beat to death with his fists a man molesting his 5-year-old daughter will not be charged, authorities said Tuesday as they released a dramatic 911 tape of the dad frantically pleading for help before the hired ranch helper died.

A Lavaca County grand jury Tuesday declined to indict the 23-year-old father in the death of Jesus Mora Flores, 47. Prosecutors said the grand jury reached same conclusion as police after reviewing the evidence: The father was authorized to use deadly force to protect his daughter.

Flores was killed June 9 on a family ranch so remote that the father is heard profanely screaming at a dispatcher who couldn't locate the property.

"Come on! This guy is going to die on me!" the father yells. "I don't know what to do!"

The Associated Press is not identifying the father in order to protect the daughter's identity. The AP does not identify victims of sexual assault.

The tense, nearly five-minute 911 call begins with the father saying that he "beat up" a man found raping his daughter. The father grows increasingly frazzled, cursing and crying into the phone so loudly at times that the call often becomes inaudible.

At one point tells the dispatcher he's going to put the man in his truck and drive him to a hospital before sheriff's deputies finally arrive.

"He's going to die!" the father screams. "He's going to (expletive) die!"

Now that's just wierd.