New CBS TV Series Making Nuclear War Thinkable And Great Fun For Everyone

In the Year of the Dog, the Great and Powerful Eric Chomko declared:
Sean O'Hara wrote:

Unless you wish to argue that civilization began within the last
hundred years and has barely spread across Europe, yes.

Then why did the US abolish it as a form of capital punishment?


As others have pointed out, we haven't.

But that's irrelevant. Even if the US had abolished hanging, that
wouldn't mean it was uncivilized. We don't use chamber pots anymore
either, but that doesn't mean chamber pots were uncivilized. We
don't have full-service gas stations, but that doesn't mean
self-serve is more civilized.

Civilization has existed for thousands of years, and for most of
that time hanging (and much worse) has been an acceptable mode of
execution. If you argue otherwise, then you're saying that Britain
didn't become civilized until sometime around (IIRC) 1960.

--
Sean O'Hara | http://diogenes-sinope.blogspot.com
Chuck Norris is not hung like a horse... horses are hung like Chuck
Norris.

In the Year of the Dog, the Great and Powerful William December
Starr declared:
In article ,
Sean O'Hara said:

In the Year of the Dog, the Great and Powerful Eric Chomko
declared:

Is hanging Saddam civilized?

Unless you wish to argue that civilization began within the last
hundred years and has barely spread across Europe, yes.

Okay that's a nice trick, but I think you realize that in common
usage "civilized," used in a context like this, means "what people
in _today's_ local culture -- that of the speaker and listener --
believe to be right, humane, etc."


No I don't realize that. That's certainly not how I use the word.

--
Sean O'Hara | http://diogenes-sinope.blogspot.com
These people are what social scientists call "wrong."
-Jonah Goldberg

In the Year of the Dog, the Great and Powerful Eric Chomko declared:
Fred J. McCall wrote:

I know it's hard, but try engaging whatever brain you might have.

Now you have resorted in using English as if it were German by throwing
the verb at the end of the sentence. Nice Freddy going.


This is the sort of nonsense up with which we cannot put. As a
general rule, it's perfectly permissible to end an English sentence
with a verb, though the specific rules of word-order don't always
make it possible -- for example, "Nice Freddy going" is wrong
because you place the object before the verb, but "Nice going" with
the object implied is perfectly acceptable.

--
Sean O'Hara | http://diogenes-sinope.blogspot.com
Gunter: Eureka! The hat goes on the head! It's all so obvious now.
-Futurama

Eric Chomko wrote:

Is hanging Saddam civilized?

Yes.

What alternative punishment would _you_ recommend? Being forced to
write 100 times "I will not slaughter whole villages again" on a
blackboard?

Why are we letting them do it?

Because giving Saddam truly _just_ punishment for his many crimes is
beyond our technology -- we have no way to make someone endure multiple
lifetimes of mortal agony.

Oh, and also because Iraq happens to be an independent country -- you
may remember that we're no longer running an occupation government
there. Handed over power more than a year back.

Who will stand up and state that it is in fact uncivilized if not us?

Why can't we again?

Um, because there's nothing particularly uncivilized about it,
considering that he is a mass murderer?

- Jordan

Eric Chomko wrote:
When was the last time someone was hanged as a form of capital
punishment? I'm not talking about lynchings in the south and all.

I suspect that the last public lynching by hanging in the South
happened a much longer time ago than the last capital punishment by
means of hanging. The problem with lynchings today is that they are
now actually treated as murder by the law, and committing first-degree
murder in public is a fairly stupid thing to do for the obvious
reasons.

- Jordan

On Thu, 07 Dec 2006 01:52:50 -0500, in a place far, far away, Sean
O'Hara made the phosphor on my monitor glow in
such a way as to indicate that:

In the Year of the Dog, the Great and Powerful Eric Chomko declared:
Sean O'Hara wrote:

Unless you wish to argue that civilization began within the last
hundred years and has barely spread across Europe, yes.

Then why did the US abolish it as a form of capital punishment?


As others have pointed out, we haven't.

But that's irrelevant. Even if the US had abolished hanging, that
wouldn't mean it was uncivilized. We don't use chamber pots anymore
either, but that doesn't mean chamber pots were uncivilized. We
don't have full-service gas stations, but that doesn't mean
self-serve is more civilized.

They still do in Oregon, AFAIK. Last time I checked, it was illegal
to pump your own there.

On Thu, 07 Dec 2006 02:16:35 -0500, in a place far, far away, Sean
O'Hara made the phosphor on my monitor glow in
such a way as to indicate that:

In the Year of the Dog, the Great and Powerful Eric Chomko declared:
Fred J. McCall wrote:

I know it's hard, but try engaging whatever brain you might have.

Now you have resorted in using English as if it were German by throwing
the verb at the end of the sentence. Nice Freddy going.


This is the sort of nonsense up with which we cannot put.

You have to up put with all sorts of nonsense if you don't killfill
Eric. Almost every time he posts, he reminds me of that line from
Ruthless People: "This could very well be the stupidest person on the
face of the earth. Maybe we should shoot him."

"Rand Simberg" wrote in message
...
But that's irrelevant. Even if the US had abolished hanging, that
wouldn't mean it was uncivilized. We don't use chamber pots anymore
either, but that doesn't mean chamber pots were uncivilized. We
don't have full-service gas stations, but that doesn't mean
self-serve is more civilized.

They still do in Oregon, AFAIK. Last time I checked, it was illegal
to pump your own there.

Same in New Jersey.

David McMillan wrote in message
...
brique wrote:
David McMillan wrote in message
...
brique wrote:
David McMillan wrote in message
...
brique wrote:
BTR1701 wrote in message
...
In article ,
"brique" wrote:
I should worry, it's not my Constitution anyway.
That doesn't make any sense.
I am not a resident of the USA.
Then why should you worry? That's what you wrote, above: "I should
worry, it's not my Constitution anyway."
I'm assuming you *meant* to write "houldn't" rather than "should,"
but
the way you wrote that line was definitely self-contradictory.
Nope, it's pretty standard english were I come from, a colloquial
usage
(um....probably jewish in origin) : Imagine it said with a shrug of
the
shoulders 'I should worry'.. meaning.... 'well, its not my problem
anyway'.
Ahhh, I see. Yeah, I've heard that before. But the intonation really
doesn't propagate through UseNet very well, without a footnote.

Well, I did all the body language part while I was typing.... I guess
the
keyboard isn't up to scratch.... oh.....up to scratch.....
colloquial.....
derived from early bare-fisted boxing matches.... .... though some claim
it
originates in the game of cricket.....

It's not your keyboard, it's your Newsreader client. Microsoft Outlook
and other low-end/non-compliant ones don't append XML language.body
tags to your posts, which forces posters into exercising greater
linguistic literality to compensate for the reduced bandwidth.
"Up to scratch" has the advantage of not appearing self-contradictory
in contextless print, though, so you probably don't have to worry so
much about that one.
Still, a bit of additional work should get you past your newsreader's
limitations. For example, "I should care? It's not my Constitution"
would have conveyed your intended meaning *and* intonation (at least, to
people who've heard it before, even if it's not the first thing they
think of) clearly, even without body.language tags.



Right, so it's Bill Gates fault.. again?

Fred J. McCall wrote:
Lawrence Watt-Evans wrote:

:On Wed, 06 Dec 2006 19:32:17 GMT, h (Rand
:Simberg) wrote:
:
:On 6 Dec 2006 11:27:55 -0800, in a place far, far away, "Eric Chomko"
made the phosphor on my monitor glow in such
:a way as to indicate that:
:
:Fred J. McCall wrote:
:
: Hanging is still one of several methods of execution in Delaware, New
: Hampshire, and Washington. Note that there are still a couple that
: offer firing squad as an alternative, too.
:
:Actually, hanging is no longer an option in Delaware, ...

Actually, hanging is still an option even today if the offense (not
the trial, conviction, or sentencing) occurred before 6/13/86.

:... as of a few
:years ago, and only Utah offers firing squads.

Nope. Idaho and Oklahoma (if lethal injection and electrocution are
held to be unconstitutional) both allow firing squads. Utah has
eliminated firing squads as a choice, so it can only be used in
executions where it was selected prior to that abolition.

: Once again, Eric's ignorant alligator mouth overwhelms his
: hummingbird-brained ass...
:
:When Fred, when? Now answer the question or remain silent.
:
:1996.
:
:When was the
:last time anyone was hanged in the US as a form of capital punishment?
:
:1996.
:
:Two other people have already answered that question, you idiot.
:
:Apparently he only reads posts by people he already knows he disagrees
:with.

No, he's just too stupid to absorb data that doesn't fit in with what
he already thinks he knows.

Actually, it's only important that you believe that.


--
"Ignorance is preferable to error, and he is less remote from the
truth who believes nothing than he who believes what is wrong."
-- Thomas Jefferson