sad, pathetic and vile as some of them may be, they are still, deep down, our fellow human beings. maybe if enough of us treated them as such, it might rub off. or not. who knows?

would it really kill you to give a thought to them once a year?

How about a "shout out" to their victims?

This is a prime example of why I could never get aligned with the kook-left.

As far as cpinva's claim that if a murderer "sees the light" the victims death might not have been totally in vain. What hogwash.

 Why don't you volunteer to be a murder victim so someone can get to see the light?

And as for the "tough on crime Reagan epoch" the prison population skyrocketed during the reign of the "so-called" liberal Clinton Administration.

i'm going out on a limb, and guess that bx, a member of his/her family, or a friend, was a victim of violent crime. guess what? so have many of us been, as well. it's horrible, unfair, you want revenge, for yourself or a loved one.

guess what else? you get over it, and life goes on, whether you like it or not. spending the rest of your days in hate-filled agony does nothing, for you or your loved one. i hope you do recover some day.

What bx58 said might have been more appropriate during the Reagan "tough on crime" epoch say in 1986, but the "lock em up and throw away the key" and "three strikes" pendulum has swung too far.  While it won elections for some pols, spending more on prisons than higher education has not been good for the country.

Perhaps if bx58 read up on the November Coalition www.november.org or Families against Mandatory Minimums site, or Steve Tucker's story http://atlanta.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A10762 (10 years in fed prison for working in a hydroponics store) he might realize there's more to this issue that "Free mumia".  There was even a story in the NYT yesterday about conservatives worrying about prison recidivism and acknowledging that the lack of empathy for prisoners was wrong and contributing to the problem.

"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,
I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?
When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?
When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

You can call TChris or anyone else here "kooky" but would you consider the possibility that we aren't necessarily pro-criminal or anti-victim when we speak this way?  Perhaps we're simply pro-redemption, or trying to make sure people remember an often forgotten group that Jesus himself told us to visit.    

As far as cpinva's claim that if a murderer "sees the light" the victims death might not have been totally in vain. What hogwash.

you infer that somehow i think it's ok for the victims to have been victimized, as long as a murderer "sees the light". of course, i implied nothing of the sort. i certainly made no "claim". try to differentiate, will you?

geez, you probably also believe that the majority of women who prefer artificial christmas trees have breast implants as well, 'cause bill o'reilly told ya so!

i'm going out on a limb, and guess that bx, a member of his/her family, or a friend, was a victim of violent crime. guess what? so have many of us been, as well. it's horrible, unfair, you want revenge, for yourself or a loved one.

guess what else? you get over it, and life goes on, whether you like it or not. spending the rest of your days in hate-filled agony does nothing, for you or your loved one. i hope you do recover some day.