Susan Atkins dies in California prison

I’ll admit I’m a bit sensitive to the subject. :diablo::D:rolleyes::)
After living in the UK and seeing how the US is portrayed in the popular media (as opposed to news)…well, it’s left me a bit jaded.

All I ask is to remember there are people OTHER than:
-Movie Stars
-Hillbillies
-People who appear on Jerry Springer (see #2 above)
-Religious/UFO/Elvis fanatics

and:
Everyone doesn’t drive a 1959 Cadillac (the one with the huge tail fins)

Most Americans are fairly normal.
Except when they’re not.

It’s true many Americans have a sterotype of the UK/English, but it’s fairly benign…AT WORST…they’ll think you either live in a manor house or are really hip….or some think you’re still living in the time of Jane Austen…since most of the BBC shows we see are costume dramas.

Cor blimey guv’nor, any old iron, any old irony…:D

I think you have a more stereotypical view of your compadres than we do ! Maybe you should come back over here for a while and give it another go…:rolleyes:

….or some think you’re still living in the time of Jane Austen…since most of the BBC shows we see are costume dramas. [/I]

while in the colony’s a while ago,our bar man knew we were from yorkshire by our obvious generosity and devilmaycare attitude to money….lol

After three weeks we convinced him it was nothing like Last of the summer wine.
on our way home i was greeted with 3 old blokes sliding down castle hill on a tea tray.

Are there many posts on these fora you DO NOT interpret as anti-American Mr Boyle ? 😀 :diablo::rolleyes:

I’ll admit I’m a bit sensitive to the subject. :diablo::D:rolleyes::)
After living in the UK and seeing how the US is portrayed in the popular media (as opposed to news)…well, it’s left me a bit jaded.

All I ask is to remember there are people OTHER than:
-Movie Stars
-Hillbillies
-People who appear on Jerry Springer (see #2 above)
-Religious/UFO/Elvis fanatics

and:
Everyone doesn’t drive a 1959 Cadillac (the one with the huge tail fins)

Most Americans are fairly normal.
Except when they’re not.

It’s true many Americans have a sterotype of the UK/English, but it’s fairly benign…AT WORST…they’ll think you either live in a manor house or are really hip….or some think you’re still living in the time of Jane Austen…since most of the BBC shows we see are costume dramas.

Manson and his “Mesmerising powers of persuasion”. That kept her off the chair that boils skin. But to kill a pregant woman! Sorry, but this cow should have been fried.
And, why haven’t they killed Manson?

Firstly: Sentencing someone to and carrying out the death penalty gives the murderer an easy out. Guilt doesn’t traverse into an afterlife. If you believe in an afterlife, then Hell will be upon you soon enough. If you don’t believe in an afterlife then the only sufferers are those that are alive. Better to keep someone alive in a “hell” on earth, and be sure.

Secondly: No matter how strong the evidence, there will always be miscarriages of justice. Putting someone to death doesn’t give you the opportunity to say sorry and compensate someone for such a mistake if they are already dead.

I don’t believe in superstition and it’s mystical dieties, but that doesn’t make me a bad person (on it’s own), so I don’t believe in the death penalty as being the ultimate penalty. The ultimate sanction should be a rest of life imprisonment, with the requirement to do whatever work is within your ability and is presented before you, giving you a means to earn your keep while imprisoned. I understand this raises other questions – such as how such work is supervised and what sanction can be imposed for not earning your keep. That’s for brainier folk than I.

Had to read up on this because I had never heard of her before.

Interestingly enough Sharon Tate was married to Roman Polanski who’s just been arrested in Switzerland for carnal knowledge of a 13 year old some three decades ago

Been to London lately? You can’t blame the U.S. alone for that. Look at the difference betwewen nice homes in the UK and council flats is a bit jarring (a friend in the UK just spent 100,000 pounds remodeling her kitchen) 🙂 🙂

And I’m sure as a bright student, your daughter would know enough NOT to judge all of the U.S. by L.A. or Hollywood standards. A lot of rich people live there…by any standard.

.

Are there many posts on these fora you DO NOT interpret as anti-American Mr Boyle ? 😀 :diablo::rolleyes:

Why weren’t they executed? Good question. Here’s a bit of a history lesson…but since I’m not burdened with a law degree, I’ll keep it short and simple.

The U.S. Supreme Court (by a narrow margin), based on some concerns on how some states differed about what exactly constituted a capital offense…banned the death penalty in 1972-76.
All prisoners already sentenced to death…or undergoing trials facing death were changed to life in prison.

Many state laws were rewritten to satisfy the USSC…and states resumed executions in 1977. (BTW: Not all states have the death penalty).

I see, thank you.

I wasn’t implying any particular criticism of America and I well know that the same scenario exists in most countries.
She was only eighteen at the time,maybe that’s why she thought it so shocking to see people with so much living side by side with their fellow human beings who had so little.
In India this year,seeing respectable well paid office workers stepping over the homeless to get the train to their nice home,and seeing sheets of cardboard laid out alongside the road so they don’t have to sleep on the bare ground.
And in my own town today,the young Big Issue seller ignored by people hurrying to spend their money in our department store.There’s inequality and injustice wherever you look,and the older I get the angrier it makes me.
Anyway,she’s not that bright.She had to ask me what ” convalescent ” meant today.
As for the drugs culture,didn’t that actually originate in the U.S. with a guy called IIRC Dr. Timothy Leary ? Excuse my ignorance,it’s been a long time since the Summer of Love.

Why weren’t they executed? Good question. Here’s a bit of a history lesson…but since I’m not burdened with a law degree, I’ll keep it short and simple.

The U.S. Supreme Court (by a narrow margin), based on some concerns on how some states differed about what exactly constituted a capital offense…banned the death penalty in 1972-76.
All prisoners already sentenced to death…or undergoing trials facing death were changed to life in prison.

Many state laws were rewritten to satisfy the USSC…and states resumed executions in 1977. (BTW: Not all states have the death penalty).

My daughter was in L.A. in her gap year and she too found the contrast between the number of homeless people and the presence of the obscenely wealthy.

Been to London lately? You can’t blame the U.S. alone for that. Look at the difference betwewen nice homes in the UK and council flats is a bit jarring (a friend in the UK just spent 100,000 pounds remodeling her kitchen) 🙂 🙂

And I’m sure as a bright student, your daughter would know enough NOT to judge all of the U.S. by L.A. or Hollywood standards. A lot of rich people live there…by any standard.

A typical U.S. city would not have that degree of contrast. I’d wager that my city..which has some rich people…doesn’t have anyone who makes the money made by Hollywood stars and producers (just think of the money made by Speilberg and Ford for a so-so movie like the last Indiana Jones “epic”…of how much Lucas makes a day from toy sales…).
Or is it better to live in Monaco…where only the rich seem to live? 🙂

Back to topic…the Manson murders didn’t have anything to do with money (but they wanted their victims to be rich for more publicity)…it had to do with the drug culture (that wacked out Manson’s brain and turned kids into virtual zombies) the popularization of which largely came from the UK music scene.

My daughter was in L.A. in her gap year and she too found the contrast between the number of homeless people and the presence of the obscenely wealthy.It’s interesting that Ren Frew can feel compassion for this woman.That’s what I should do too as a nominal Christian,but as a mother myself I could never understand or forgive her for what she did.

I wouldn’t say I feel compassion for her exactly, more the drug fuelled situation she and the other idiots who fell for Mr Manson’s ‘idealologies’ back then and the fallout from that era which (as said) can still be seen on the streets of LA today. Maybe they should have put a bullet in her head when they had a chance, but I suspect keeping her alive in prison was the best punishment available for someone like that.

My daughter was in L.A. in her gap year and she too found the contrast between the number of homeless people and the presence of the obscenely wealthy.It’s interesting that Ren Frew can feel compassion for this woman.That’s what I should do too as a nominal Christian,but as a mother myself I could never understand or forgive her for what she did.

Had to read up on this because I had never heard of her before. I am surprised that she wasnt executed.
Can’t say im the least bit sad at her passing.

I was working in Los Angeles a few years ago and based in an apartment in West Hollywood. A nice place, but what struck me as odd were the number of what I’d call ‘street beggars’ who bore a striking physical resemblance to Charles Manson and who were all obviously mentally impaired, presumably to the effects of LSD, Acid and whatever else they’d exposed their minds too in their younger days.

I couldn’t help but feel sorry for them, they’d been part of the California sub-culture in the 60’s and 70’s, and become zombies in their latter years. I also couldn’t help but feel sorry for the likes of Sharon Tate and the likes of Susan Atkins et al. Driving round those neighbourhoods and affluent places like Bel Air, left me gasping in despair…

A very confusing and dysfunctional scenario, I still wonder what will happen next out there ?

Hopefully it was a long lingering death.:D Should have put a bullet through her brain years ago.

Indeed…i don’t think any of us who were staggered and shocked by this horrific crime will be saddened by the passing of this animal…lets hope Manson meets the same fate soon…the whole gang should have been fried or gassed after they were sentenced

Susan Atkins… a member of Charles Manson’s “family” who was later convicted of murdering seven people in their horrific 1969 killing spree… has died in a California prison aged 61.

Atkins who had been terminally ill with brain cancer and had a request for compassionate release denied on September 2… died of natural causes late on Thursday at the Central California Women’s Facility.

The former Manson disciple was one of the most notorious members of the cult and admitted stabbing to death actress Sharon Tate eight months pregnant with husband Roman Polanski’s child as she begged for her life.

Atkins later said she had stabbed Tate because she was “sick of listening to her pleading and begging… begging and pleading… After stabbing Tate… Atkins used the actress’s blood to write “PIG” on the home’s front door
.
Atkins was sentenced to death after being found guilty of seven counts of murder and one count of conspiracy to murder… Her death sentence was commuted to life in 1972 when California’s Supreme Court overturned the death penalty.

Manson portrayed at his trial as a drug-crazed loner with mesmerising powers of persuasion… ordered devotees to carry out random killings in wealthy white neighbourhoods in an effort to trigger an apocalyptic race war.

Manson 74 …and three other members of his sect convicted of murder remain in prison.

Manson and his “Mesmerising powers of persuasion”. That kept her off the chair that boils skin. But to kill a pregant woman! Sorry, but this cow should have been fried.
And, why haven’t they killed Manson?