Mississippi governor Haley Barbour pardons 4 killers before leaving office.

I guess it's safe to assume he won't be running for president anytime soon!

http://www.thegrio.com/politics/haley-b ... ansion.php

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This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it.
--Emerson

Just goes to show how hard it is to see anyone you know go to death. No governor should have to have that on their conscience. In fact no one period should have to. Wonder what could be done about that? Hmm...

Completely unacceptable. So somehow it's "tradition" to slap the faces of the family of murder victims if the convicted person acts nice and cleans up well around the gov's house?

Somehow I don't think they'd get pardoned if it was the gov's wife/son/daughter that was murdered.

Agreed.

This is a freaking joke, i'm glad it's been stopped.

Yeah! How wrong not to kill those people! What could he be thinking recognizing a glimpse of humanity in them when they're obviously less than human! For the love of all that's right, someone please kill these people!

I myself believe in the death penalty in the cases of murder and sexual abuse on children. In those cases they will have ended life or traumatized and corrupted life and in MY eyes have lost the privilege of their own. I just dont think its fair to the victims or society that they pay to keep the most twisted people sheltered and fed.

Take a life lose a life. It's only fair.

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"Counting all the assholes in the room, I'm definitely not alone!" ~ Michael Poulsen, Volbeat, Still Standing.

You eat meat? Guess you should be killed then.

Don't think animals and humans are the same? Must be nice to know exactly what's right and wrong, and who deserves to live and die. Does God consult you on major decisions?

The people you need to be most scared of are the ones that think they can speak for God (or Justice or whatever).

I'm not speaking based on God. I'm speaking on the ground that a human being was killed, and if you think an animal is equal to a human then you're crazy.

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"Counting all the assholes in the room, I'm definitely not alone!" ~ Michael Poulsen, Volbeat, Still Standing.

So all soldiers that have killed someone deserve to be killed at the very least according to your formula.

I find it very disturbing that an official shows a moment of doubt and human compassion, and I am the only one here applauding that. Every other voice I read is asking for 4 people they don't know, and know nothing about, to be killed.

You all do realize our justice system is incredibly flawed right? People on death row are far more likely to be poor and of a minority than the population at large, because minorities are more likely to be arrested, and they and the poor are less likely to be able to buy good representation. People are prosecuted by mistake.

Oh, this is not to mention that it's far more expensive to society and the taxpayer to put someone to death than to imprison them for life.

The knee-jerk "kill" sentiment I read here is just baffling.

That's not murder. Are the soldiers supposed to let themselves be shot? War is a completely different story.

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"Counting all the assholes in the room, I'm definitely not alone!" ~ Michael Poulsen, Volbeat, Still Standing.

Stu, id guess what most people have a problem with is the way this happened. Dude leaves office and willy nilly pardons a bunch of people who have caused untold grief in OTHER peoples lives, and have (at least according to our system) earned their fate.
If you want to change the system, or stop war, or omnivores, or whatever...it doesnt have a lot to do with this situation. These violent people have not paid their debt because some bloated republican shitbag had an attack of some sort of conscience and inappropriately used them to ease his mind.
Would you want the murderer/rapist of your family member to be let free because he kissed some politicians ass?

Hmm, so you're saying you have to take the circumstances into consideration first eh? I'm sure you did just that before making your pronouncement in this case now didn't you? Sure you know everything about all four cases.

The fact that everyone thinks they're certain about everything and doesn't take the time to question things is exactly what's wrong with American politics as they are.

OK, I just reread the article and realized there was nothing about them being on death row. I apologize for making this about capital punishment when on a closer reading it's not. Just an assumption that made me an ass that time.

Even though you've come down from your outrage I'd like to take issue with your logic here...

Sure, there are more minorities on death row and they're more likely to be arrested and less likely to have good defense...but...there is also far more violent crime where poor minorities live.
By that simple fact we can assume more poor minorities are guilty of those violent crimes (and murders)...unless you're asserting some rich white guys are sneaking into the ghetto at night to frame innocent people.

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Hold my beer and watch this...

Selective enforcement. Not hard to prove that minorities are far more likely to get stopped by police. They aren't commiting that many more crimes, just getting caught more.

Also different treatment from the jury/judge.

Selective enforcement happens (to a much lesser degree than some people portray) but that has nothing to do with the arrest and conviction rates for serious crimes like robbery/rape/murder. Those crimes are far and away more provable in court, and rarely do those cases fizzle out once a suspect is determined. These are the cases that lead to bloated demographics in prisons where serious offenders serve long terms at the state and federal level.

Stu, I know it's never going to happen and you won't change your mind (and I'm not trying to) but if you could spend a month with me at my job you would see how it works, and how race really doesn't have a damn thing to do with how the results of my (and my co-workers') efforts pan out.