Show of Hands

Americans don't earn rights, we are born with them.
imprisonment - rights = Slavery.

Easy answer. Equal treatment under law. Same criminal conviction=same sentence. I say in a death penalty case, give the victims family the right to carry out the sentence. And an executed felon will NEVER be a repeat offender.

Is Felixdacat incarcerated or has he been. Why not put the prisoners to good use while serving their time. Prisoners should have no rights. They are there for crimes that often violated someone's rights. They've proven that they are unworthy of having the same rights as the rest of us.

Is Felixdacat incarcerated or has he been. Why not put the prisoners to good use while serving their time. Prisoners should have no rights. They are there for crimes that often violated someone's rights. They've proven that they are unworthy of having the same rights as the rest of us.

I'm not trolling...I am educating...

the primary objective of any organization is preservation and expansion of the organization...DEA..

the War on Drugs is big business for those who wage it and for the peripheral orgs associated with it...rehab centers populated by offenders who are forced by the courts to attend them for instance.

the Bush family is a major shareholder in a company which sells sundries to prisoners...a 'captive' market if you will.

private prison = slavery

..and surely you realize that the objective of any for-profit entity is to increase profits, dividends to shareholders and the price/value of their stock..

did u know that private prison are operated for profit, traded on the NYSE, and that the more prisoners they house the more profit they make?

did u know that private prison companies, operated for profit, lobby congress to maintain and increase the length of federal prison sentences?

ironic that, through capital punishment, the state affirms the sanctity of human life by snuffing one out

mdf...I would like to see proponents of the death penalty forced to carry out executions...we would send you a letter informing you of your duties just as we do jurors.

capital punishment is homicide by the state..

The irony of the death penalty is that in enforcing it, the state must pay a killer to enforce it. The death penalty is morally wrong no matter which way you slice it. Eye for an eye is flawed moral logic.

Mdf, how did you earn your rights?

prison for profit = slavery

think we've seen enough cases overturned and seen enough experts for higher discredited that honestly we need to relook at the death penalty

think we've seen enough cases overturned and seen enough experts for higher discredited that honestly we need to relook at the death penalty

crime surges of the 80's due to soft liberals? wow, that's some serious rewriting. Reagan, war on drugs, paramilitarization of our police forces so even Mayberry sports a SWAT team?

The whole judicial system needs an overhaul.
Bring back capital punishment.
Don't give rights to those who don't earn 'em.

Prefer situational but we need trustworthy wise judges and I'm not so certain that they are as common as they should be.

kenny1941; yeah sorry, you are right.

voted answer 2 !

@jopat stay on the subject

NE Ohio, up around Youngstown. there are so many plants closed down and just setting there getting rusty. the folks at Delphi absolutely had a chance to keep the plant running but wouldn't vote yes for a pay cut. many other examples!

thanks for being honest everyone! made for interesting conversation. I do apologize for putting you in neat little categories. I have a son that lives in cont

I agree with Soitgoes that unions can become to large for their own good. The union and the company should work to make sure the corporation can function while allowing it's employees to live comfortably. I've never been laid off from a union job but I guess if jopat says I have been it must be true

I'm not a Soviet, but I am a democratic socialist. Many companies become too large, destroy their competition, then leave customers with no choice. I don't believe any corporation should be allowed to control more than 50% of their market. It's not good for anyone.

@jopat- my point was not that corporations are evil, but that insanely wealthy people are capable of stealing. Very few corporations are evil even if some of their leaders are. Walmart is an example of a good company with decent people at the helm, yet it gets a rap for being evil because it is big.

Wait... this wasn't a union question...

The other extreme is Wisconsin, which is about to lose a ton of skilled workers, it's local economy is going to crumble, and, eventually, unemployment will follow.

Unions have a place, but if they become too strong, they become job killers. GM had one of the strongest unions around and after years of paying crazy pensions and way over the top wages, they closed all the plants here.

I've always been good. Just realized the fruitlessness is all.

Everything fits into nice neat categories. :)

mbauer; are you good now, it's hard to figure what someone's motives might be isn't it?

Ok

I'm just a good judge of character if someone says something stupid, it can't go unchallenged. not to mention I wasn't trying to be right just get his response.. I've been in a union for31 years. I know people just like him and why they get that way.

seriously dude...it's just satire. he's not an elected official making a press statement....he's identifying absurdity by stating something absurd.

2 wrongs don't make a right.

And assumptions are dangerous.

life is not so complicated, knowing what's happened in Ohio I would guess Rational1 is a former union member that voted himself out of a job because he thinks businesses are criminal and lie. Now his jobs gone and so it goes......

mbauer; if you take a look at what was said, he looks at most corporations as a criminal enterprise but if people had a good source of income they wouldnt have to steal. my response was purely meant to be as unreasonable as his.

So say that rather than calling them communist. That's a rational polite comment. Immediately calling them communist shuts the discussion down and puts everyone on the defensive.

mbuer; no I just don't care for people that think businesses are evil, what a joke! are there bad businesses? Sure but they are few and very far between.

That in itself is a slippery slope.

Jumping to the extreme for every case and every argument, in order to bullishly vilify an opponent, ensures a degradation of discourse and guarantees a lack of progress

...this country was to be a constitutional republic governed by the rule of law...not a democracy where the majority can simply create laws "willy-nilly" in order to fit their agenda.

mbauer: I think you missed jopats point. he was creating an extreme scenario, that illustrates what COULD happen once you get on the slippery slope of justifying illegal behavior on circumstances. the Founding fathers were very clear that....

these results kinda surprise me...if you break a law, you've broken a law...period. everybody has some stupid excuse as to why, but the bottom line is, a law on the books was broken, and there are certain laws which carry mandatory sentencing in order to discourage others from breaking that law...

Whoa, that was quite a jump jopat! Yes, yes we are all communist. That makes it easier for you doesn't it?

Situational, within reason. There Should be a guideline of what appropriate punishments are for different crimes and if the judge goes out of those guidelines a lot someone should look into it and make sure he isn't being paid off or something