The Poster Boy

A man who has known me a long time, a man who admirably puts bad guys in jail for a living, a man I consider one of my closest friends made me think a little.

People who know me know I don’t take many stands on the most controversial issues. I don’t talk about abortion. I don’t talk about gun control. I don’t talk about the drug war. And I rarely talk about the death penalty. My reasoning is pretty simple: I choose not to argue about subjects that don’t have an absolute answer.

At the same time, I have now sat through five death penalty proceedings. My opinion hasn’t changed much. Some people just deserve to die.

At the same time, in recent years I have found myself leaning a little to the left.

(A brief aside…I’ve always thought my autobiography should be titled “Lean to the right, hang to the left.” I’ll let you figure it out).

My leanings have been influenced by a sometimes flawed system of justice. In short, I would appreciate an absolute if we’re going to kill somebody. I don’t think it is too much to ask. Of course, we should weigh aggravating and mitigating factors. Of course, we should weigh the defendant’s future danger to society. But, I’m not naive enough to think the death penalty is a deterrant.

So…I guess my point is this: There was a point in my life where if you’d asked me my feelings on the death penalty, I would’ve said, “Kill’em all.” Now…I don’t know. Maybe I’ve softened.

But every time I feel my self getting soft, I run into jokers like the monster you’ll meet if you click here.

There are very few absolutes in this world. He happens to be one of them.

Absolute evil.