> Why pay to keep him locked up?
> What possible contribution to society could
> be realized by keeping this guy alive?  He was
> a predator, now he's a parasite.
> If there's absolute proof, I say Terminate.
> But that's just me...

A significant part of what separates a worthwhile society from those 
who are not worthy to live in it is that the society acts very 
discernibly different from the unworthy, even under the most extreme 
of provocation. When this fails to be the case there is the gravest of 
risks that of the two groups becoming increasingly less 
distinguishable with time.

If I may stray relevantly. This will cause problems if not handled 
well. Lets see how well such a demanding subject can be dealt with 
here. (Not too many expectations alas, but ...). The above applies not 
only to civil/police situations but also to how a country is prepared 
to act in dealing with threats or perceived threats to itself. When a 
'worthwhile' country starts accommodating "black activities", 
assassinations, torture and more then it starts down the path to being 
like those who oppose it. There are always isolated exceptions - the 
trick is to ensure that when such are discovered they are eliminated 
and it is made clear that 'covert' acts are not tolerable. The US has 
been in this position with eg assassination in the past and with 
torture more recently and has on several past occasions risen to the 
challenge. Sadly it appears that it is failing to do so recently, with 
allegations not being plausibly denied that it is transporting 
prisoners to countries that use methods of 'information retrieval' 
that would be unconstitutional within the US and contrary to law and 
general public acceptance.

A fair measure of "acceptable" is - 'How unhappy would I be if these 
methods were used on my friends/children/parents/wide/self ? "



        Russell McMahon


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