Posted on 01/08/2006 10:07:11 AM PST by Brian Mosely
A model citizen, the world is much better off with his release.
Well now isn't this rich. The man who caused so much pain to the CATHOLIC CHURCH is no goin to walk free. Well I guess God will have to handle that one too, cause, Italians don't keep ruthless killers behind bars. Oh that's right , it is being a radical to get angry at someone who only tried to kill the Pope Sorry.I guess I have too much respect for Pope John and how he suffered.But if they let him go God will take of it , cause we lost our sense of justice and His is better.
I heard that Pope Benedict has already given the Giants absolution. :O)
Forging the guy and letting him out of prison are two entirely different matters.
Anatolia said he was expected to be immediately enlisted by the military for obligatory service, Anatolia said.
So this guy's 46, former member of a known terrorist organization, convicted of one murder, one attempted murder, and two (presumably armed) robberies...and the Turkish military actually WANTS him for something? Man, if that doesn't get you a draft exemption, I don't know what would.
}:-)4
Hinckley was acquitted. Not guilty. The only appropriate question is whether he's "cured," whether or not he is a danger to himself or others.
Making punishment, retribution, deterrence or politics considerations in mental health evaluations is an incredibly dangerous path to start down. The Soviets, among many others, used mental illness as a proxy for punishing antisocial or criminal behavior (however defined), which perverted both justice and psychiatry.
Agca, on the other hand, was convicted in a court of law. Punishment, retribution and deterrence are perfectly appropriate considerations in his sentence.
Forgiveness is one thing; he can sleep at night and consider his conscience eased. The victim has the right to grant or withhold forgiveness. But society must decide, independently of that, whether someone is a threat and should continue to be held under the law. I see no contradiction between being forgiven by the victim and still incarcerated by the state.
OK, folks...calm down.
John Paul II expressed a great deal of compassion for this dupe of the KGB. Perhaps it's appropriate for us to do the same.
Hating this guy is not exactly consistent with what we purport to believe as Catholics.
Agca did not wrong me, so there is no reason for me to forgive him. He wronged Pope Paul II, and Pope Paul II personally forgave him.
The state, on the other hand, is not a candidate for eternal life and is not in the business of forgiving anyone according to the Christian model. An effective and wisely led state seeks to ensure justice and to discourage wrongdoing by causing wrongdoers to feel adverse consequences for their misconduct. The message is sent to would-be wrongdoers reminding them that the same thing will happen to them if they persist in wrongdoing.
On that basis, this decision to release at a relatively young age a cold-blooded murderer of not just one person but two persons does not send a sufficiently strict message to would-be wrongdoers. On the contrary.
Er, Pope John Paul II.
I'm calm. I don't know what gave the impression I wasn't.
John Paul II expressed a great deal of compassion for this dupe of the KGB. Perhaps it's appropriate for us to do the same.
I have a great deal of compassion for a lot of prisoners. I hope they find meaning in their lives, a worthwhile purpose, rehabilitation, redemption, and the love of their families. It's just that in some cases, that's all best done behind bars.
The Pope took the position of turning the other cheek, which is consistent with the religious convictions and moral leadership he exemplified throughout his life. That is the correct moral and theological position, and I do not for one instant question his reasoning or his sincerity.
But the criminal justice system is concerned with the safety of the public, including the damage that would be done by the assassination of one of its leaders, not with the fate of Mehmet Ali Agca's soul. You may feel free to forgive a man who wronged you, but that doesn't give you the right to free someone who is likely to harm me later.
Hating this guy is not exactly consistent with what we purport to believe as Catholics.
Hate doesn't enter into it. I don't want to see criminals in prison because it will make me feel better, give me a rush of vengeance; I want to see criminals in prison because, as a perfectly pragmatic consideration, it will make me and my loved ones safer.
My immediate read was that, if they can't hold him any longer under the criminal law, this is an end-run to keep him under the government's control and monitoring.
"When's Sirhan Sirhan going to be freed on parole?
He's served more time for killing (allegedly) just one person than most murderers in CA, 38 years. Isn't that enough penance."
Plus, according to most liberal blogs, the Bush family killed the Kennedys. lol
Probably right. There's only so many Kennedys out there. I wonder if he sued, if he could collect royalties for the name of the popular rock group, The Dead Kennedys?
He would be well advised to enter some sort of witness protection program, or he will not be long for this world.
The KGB no longer exists--though the Belorussian state security agency is still referred to as the KGB. After the fall of the Soviet Union, it was broken up based on the directorates' missions. Its direct successor is the FSB.
I'm willing to guess his knowledge of KGB activity, modi operandi, and structure is grossly outdated, and I'd imagine some of what he knows is knowledge available to the masses. Because of this, I don't think the FSB and its other sister organization consider him to be that big a threat--he's peanuts.
Though, I agree with the premise he ought to have been at least permanently locked in prison, it isn't a reality with a weak-hearted European community. But his release evokes emotion from a great many people, and it wasn't because he was a KGB stooge in the late 70's. Most people in Europe wouldn't give a rat's rear end about that fact--KGB stooges in Eurasia were a dime a dozen in those days.
Rather, it's from his attempted murder of Pope John Paul and the raw emotional action it evokes from a great many people in the world.
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