3 posts tagged “murder”
Sheridan FCI in Oregon looks like a modern college campus as you drive by on the highway. Compared with the other institutions that hosted me, it was as good as it gets in the Federal system, especially for a "medium-high" security facility. Unlike anyplace else I visited, the administration actually had a non-punitive mind-set. They allowed inmates to teach classes in Buddism and art. Nevertheless, that didn't detract from the grim realities of the Gulag. I was there less than a year, just long enough to have my bookie arrested by the FBI for bashing a guys head in, and a for a mini-war between the Cubans and Columbians to have us on lockdown for a week.
I had a "bunkie" or "cellie" who always wore a heavy coat whenever we went to the chow hall. That was pretty much the only time he left the room. Being a "fish," I never thought much about it until one day I saw him stuffing magazines into his coat. I got it immediately; he was putting on his armor. He expected he might be attacked between the time he left the room and the time he got back. I guess that's when I really realized that I was in the Gulag. As humane as the surroundings were, death was just around the corner. MY death.....
MEMORIALIZE THIS.....
It is admirable that some people in what's left of the progressive media are trying to make sure the public is aware of the Winter Soldier hearings on Capitol Hill, wherever the Hell that is. I can't listen to the testimony, because the gruesome details of how and when these individuals killed innocent civilians makes me angry and vomitous. I am not at all certain that many of these individuals shouldn't be charged with war crimes, human rights abuses, and/or murder.
I have no doubt that these youngsters are sincere in their regrets. But one, and by "one" I mean "me," is tempted to ask a few questions: What the Hell did you think was going to happen after you trained diligently for months or years how to kill people, and then were given the motive and opportunity to do so? What life experience did you have that allows you the moral authority to be judge, jury, and executioner odf another human being, especially one you don't even know? What part of "Thou shall not kill" is not clear?
I truly have compassion for anyone who has taken a life. Thinking about that act everyday for the rest of your life is probably punishment enough for anyone except a psychopath. "I was just following orders" is not a reason, nor is it an excuse. Ultimately, the decision to pull the trigger is an individual one. Aside from self-defense or accidents, there can never be a valid reason for killing someone. And by "accident," I don't mean drunk driving.
