> Timothy Mcviegh will die tomorrow at 8:00am EST. What are your thoughts on this? He committed a horrible crime but does it give the government the right to take his life?

It's been a while since I've been involved in any sort of discussion on the forum, and this is something I feel somewhat strongly about, so I thought I'd put my two cents in. First of all, I think it is a shame for someone to sit on death row as long as Timothy McViegh has, not to mention the hundreds of others who are there for longer. I'm proud that Texas is a state that exercises the death penalty more than any other because I think that we as Americans are too quick to second guess ourselves in dealing out punishment. Punishment for crimes should be swift and certain, otherwise the punishment is without effect. If you knew that you would be killed immediately when you were found to have killed someone, and in a painful and humiliating way, that would deter people from thinking "hey, I could get away with this" or "I'll probably die on death row anyway". I think our quest for freedom and justice has blocked our way to achieving both. In wanting to make sure that innocent people aren't punished for crimes they didn't commit we construct a legal system with so many loop holes and technicalities that many criminals get away with murder, literally. And in the quest for humanity we have lost the ability to effectively imprison someone as a form of punishment. Prisons are no longer a place to be feared but rather just a place of annoyance and boredom. But that's a totally different story. My point is this, Timothy McViegh is getting what he deserves and what is just.

>My mom used to always say, "two wrongs don't make a right" when my excuse for hitting my sister was "she hit me first", but its very true.

Your mother was right, that two wrongs don't make a right, but first you have to determine if taking someone's life is always wrong, which it is not.

>The government (or anyone else for that matter) has no right to take anyone's life, no matter how horrible the crime. Life is precious, and most don't realize it until it has been lost.

That, simply, is not true. There is self-defence(I personally couldn't kill someone even for this reason), war(don't get me started. I'm a conscientious objector), and the death penalty. I cannot support someone in participating in the first two, but I will not condemn them for doing so. However, I would fully support the third because I believe that goverments have the right to end someone's life as a form of punishment, not only to terminate the life of a threat to society, but also as a deterrant to other would be criminals, sending a message that the protection of society and safety are of utmost importance and the life of a criminal falls pathetically short in comparison.

> ht"realizing how inappropriate his Sn is for this topic"aeD

Shan-punishment should be swift and appropriate-dar