RE: The Washington Sniper —- Death???

To those who are opposed to the death penalty, I must ask the following questions:

1. What penalty should apply, if not death?
2. If life imprisonment is your recommended penalty, why should society be expected to house, feed, clothe, administer medical aid and in many cases, protect prisoners from other violent prisoners, for many years, at massive cost?
3. Why is the death penalty condemned on the grounds that this is the 21st century, which means we should all be civilised and not result to barbaric punishment for serious crimes?

The severity, level of violence exhibited, and degree of planning and pre-meditation that goes into some serious crimes today, far outweighs the nature and severity of crimes in the past. Today’s worst crimes are totally uncivilised, why deal with them by administering “civilised” punishment?

I have asked this question before, with no answer received, so I ask it again – how would those of you who oppose the death penalty, punish Bin Laden if he was captured and it was proven beyond any doubt that he was the planner and instigator of the WTC attacks?

Regards

Wombat

RE: Which countries build the best cars and why?

Andrew

No, certainly not, but neither of those Brit cars are what you would call “main-stream”. They are specialised high performance vehicles, with plenty of luxury and quality built in.

The sorts of trends I’m referring to are little design characteristics which appear first on Merc’s or Beemers, then within a couple of years, a lot of other manufacturers have picked up those characteristics and incorporated them in their own designs.

For example, the flush fitting four separate headlights from Merc’s, the clean, flush fitting bodywork and large flared guards from Audi’s, and the distinctive rear side window design from Beemers. Have a close look at the originals, then see how many of these little design traits are copied by others, usually Asian manufacturers. I realise that Europe and the UK don’t have the range of Asian rubbish we get out here – you are very lucky, as we don’t get anything like the range of Citroens, Peugeots, Fiats, etc, that you do. I’m a long standing car nut (though not as long as I’ve been an aircraft nut) and I hate copy-cat manufacturers who can’t come up with their own original designs, so most Asian cars are crap in my book. They will NEVER build the world’s best cars, because they don’t have the ability to be truly original.

I think the Aston Martins and some TVR’s are great (though some TVR’s were just plain dogs), but they are highly specialised cars.

Regards

Wombat

RE: Which countries build the best cars and why?

Guys

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then German cars are head and shoulders above the rest.

Not only are German vehicles generally of the highest quality, their engineering and design are often trend setters for others to follow. Have a look at the latest styling trends and you will probably find that a German vehicle had them first. Many little design traits that appear on Beemers, Audi’s and Merc’s, are seen on Jap or other Euro cars a couple of years later. Usually though, the imitation is never as well integrated as the original.

I wish Aussie cars were as good as the Germans. They win my vote by a mile.

Regards

Wombat

RE: The Washington Sniper —- Death???

Geforce

One thing I have on my side which I think you lack is a sense of humour. You obviously can’t tell when someone is serious and when they are not. Don’t ever accuse me of being sick in the manner you did as you don’t know me!

I do advocate the death penalty, simply because I see no reason for allowing “animals” to live after committing heinous crimes for which they are convicted. If the evidence is strong enough to convict these two BEYOND ANY REASONABLE DOUBT, then they deserve no better than death.

I do not advocate public executions – it was a joke (which you obviously missed!)

You and Rabie are certainly entitled to your opinions, as I am mine. We disagree strongly on this particular issue. Fine. You let them live and I reckon they should die. Simple as that. End of argument.

Wombat

RE: Should we interfere in other countries affairs?

Keltic

Good points re the whaling and deforestation. They are both of concern to the world at large, but are issues where the best form of foreign intervention is by unified protest through the UN, rather than physical intervention.

Japan is another nation that flaunts international maritime preservation agreements, with whales being taken for “research”. The arrogance Japan displays in doing this is amazing, as if it is their right to rape the world’s oceans of its resources for their own purposes. I suppose the same applies to Norway, I wasn’t aware they were still doing it too.

In the event that unified approaches can be taken by nations, economic sanctions are probably the most effective means of trying to bring the offenders to heel.

Regards

Wombat

E,R,S & L.

RE: The Washington Sniper —- Death???

Geforce

For God’s sake, why not?

You obviously are opposed to the death penalty, but how the hell can you state that these two, regardless of the age of the younger one, can claim to have any right to live if they are found guilty.

If guilty, they have forfeited any right they have to be treated as human beings or to live. Hang them – publicly!!!!!

Wombat

RE: Should we interfere in other countries affairs?

I agree with you two guys. I believe that countries must be allowed to deal with their own internal affairs without foriegn intervention.

I believe Iraq has to be left to strike the first blow. Attacking on suspicioun doesn’t make much sense to me. If another country attempted to tell us how to handle our own affairs, I know I’d be ticked off about it.

I believe that the only time other countries should intervene is when mass genocide exists, or where a situation which threatens other countries is not being addressed by the country in question. (For example, disease being rampant in one country, not being properly addressed and threatening neighbouring countries.

Regards

Wombat

E,R,S & L.

RE: The West responsability with the Third World

I don’t think we western nations should feel we are totally responsible for the woes of the poorer nations.

One has only to look at what is happening in Zimbabwe to see that the indigenous people there, with Mugabe at the helm, are very quickly destroying their economy bequeathed to them by Britain when Rhodesia became independent and changed its name. Other countries in Africa have done the same thing. Yes, they were colonised and yes, they were taken advantage of, but their economies, their industry and their infrastructure was, for the most part, left in place when they gained independence and wer effective in the way they supported the countries’ economies. Uganda, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Tanzania – probably a host of others I can’t think of. Once prosperous, now corrupt and ruinous.

Funny thing, too, that so many poor nations, which always have their hands out for help from other countries, have military juntas or despots running them, with much of their GNP being put towards military hardware.

I was apalled today to hear that Australia is providing Indonesia with $10 million to help them fight terrorism following the Bali bombing. Bloody hell!!! Indonesia is corrupt, inefficiently governed and no doubt will squander any assistance we provide. Megawati has asked our PM when we will stop deterring Aussie tourists from visiting Bali. She has some nerve!

No, I don’t think we should feel too guilty about the plight of many countries – it is self inflicted in too many cases.

Regards

Wombat

E,R,S & L.