<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1"> <title></title> </head> <body> andie nachgeborenen wrote: <blockquote type="cite" cite="mid20051214061626.34521.qmail@web50404.mail.yahoo.com"> <pre wrap=""> We are not civilized enough to have the death penalty. Some people deserve to die, but we don't have the right to kill them in an unjust society.</pre> </blockquote> Agreed. And it remains to be seen when we are that civilized, whether we realize that mercy is the highest form of justice and whether we can apply that principle to the way that we deal with "criminals." (Which is not to say that we let them continue to kill/maim indiscriminately.) And Woj will probably say that entertaining this possiblity is just loony, idealistic nonesense. But I think that if it were not possible for human beings to find a state of grace out of which to act, then there would really not be a point to human life. Joanna <blockquote type="cite" cite="mid20051214061626.34521.qmail@web50404.mail.yahoo.com"> <pre wrap=""> </pre> </blockquote> </body> </html>