Kill 'Em All, and Let God Sort 'Em Out

I know, I've been slacking lately.

Sorry, been working on a review, and sometimes I get in one writing zone, and the other one slides off, you know?

Anyway, today I thought I'd write about something that's all the rage these days (pun intended): The murder of those poor little girls in Illinois.

Well, as you probably know, if you've seen any news or read any newspaper recently, this ex-con with anger management issues, Jerry Hobbs, wound up confessing that he killed his little daughter, Laura, and her friend, Krystal Tobias, both less than 10 years old, basically because Laura was out when she shouldn't have been.

Now, OK, disclaimer, he hasn't been convicted yet, so he's only an alleged murderer.

But he confessed, so for the purposes of this post, he killed them. Allegedly.

Either way, what I'm going to say, you can apply to the guilty party, whoever he is. There, have I covered my ass enough, legally?

Moving on...

Now, apparently Illinois hasn't used the death penalty in a number of years. I don't know why. I don't live there. But there are people out there suggesting it's high time they give this guy the gas, or whatever they're supposed to be using.

OK, now let's put one thing on the record: My parents, who raised me with their values, generally, are liberal Democratic types. And many of my political stances are what I'd call moderately liberal.

But I get conservative sometimes. And the death penalty is one of those places where I'm with the red state crowd.

Hey, I figure, I'm in favor of a woman's right to choose and the death penalty, so at least I'm consistent, unlike the sanctimonious conservatives who want to preserve some kinds of "life," and not others.

Anyway, my thinking is this: For a loser who kills his own 8-year-old daughter and her 9-year-old best friend, I think we can waive the Eighth Amendment and use cruel and unusual punishment.

And I'm a horror movie writer, remember? I can think of some seriously cruel and unusual punishments.

But seriously, I don't understand why we can't take a dirtbag like this and hang him in the town square under a sign that says, "You murder children, this is what happens."

This guy can't get shiv-ed in prison soon enough for me.

I guess I'm one of those blue-collar Democrats, tough on crime, tough on defense, but generally socially liberal.

But I mean, instead of letting the NYPD and LAPD do all that stuff to innocent people like beat 'em with a stick, sodomize 'em with a broom, shoot 'em 78 times, why can't we let them get their aggression out on sick bastards like this guy from Illinois, or the priests who molested dozens of boys, or serial rapists?

I mean, in the realm of "an eye for an eye," this guy stabbed his own freakin' daughter through the eyes. A little girl. I think they ought to execute him even if he pleads guilty.

(Off topic: Why is it, if you plead guilty to murder, admitting you did it, you get life in prison, but if you plead not guilty, and get convicted, you get executed? Does that make any sense? I mean, shouldn't we kill the people who admit to the crime, and maybe let the ones who don't sit around in jail, in case they turn out to be right?)

I don't have any kids, so I asked two co-workers who have children of similar age to the victims what they'd do if their child broke curfew or whatever. Sure, there was discipline and punishment involved.

But neither of them saw "stab her to death" as a viable option. Look, "time outs" may be contributing to the pussification of America, and a good spanking has its place, but you know, I think even one stab wound would probably be too many, much less 21 or whatever it was.

I was raised that parents are supposed to love their children more than anything. I don't understand how anyone could do that to any child, much less their own.

And if somebody did that to my child, God help them, because I'd hunt that fucker to the ends of the earth, and nothing in this world or the next would stop me from tearing their heart out.

Yet, this guy kills his own kid. And somebody else's. 'Cause he's pissed off. I get pissed off all the time, I don't kill anyone. Everybody I know gets pissed off. They don't kill anyone (that I know of).

If a dog killed a little girl, they'd put him down. Why should a man be any different?

I do wonder, though: One of the grandparents was talking about how hurtful it was that their granddaughter was dead. I wonder how they felt when the killer turned out to be their son, or son-in-law, or whatever. I think when it comes to the cold-blooded murder of a grandchild, that bit above about loving your kid more than anything ceases to apply.

Let's not forget, it's a terrible tragedy, for two families.

But that doesn't mean we can't make this guy suffer all the way to hell. He's going to burn for eternity, why hasten him on the way, when we can make him linger a little.

Let the folks from Abu Ghraib have him, maybe. Give Lynndie England another asshole to point at, and step on, and kick in the nuts or whatever. (I might point out, I'm not necessarily against ignoring the rules of warfare when fighting those who ignored them first.)

Men like that don't deserve to live. They don't even deserve to be called men. And they sure as shit don't deserve a swifter, more humane death than the one they inflicted on a child they were supposed to protect.

I'm really a nice guy. Most people who know me will tell you so. But stuff like this just infuriates me. It's not how life is supposed to be. And if God won't be merciful and protect little girls from madmen, I don't see why we need to take his word about us being merciful, either.

Links:
The latest news on the case
In the interests of fairness...
The Constitutional amendments
"NYPD means I will Nock Yo' Punk-ass Down"
Torture, U.S. military-style

A word of warning for my regular readers. I'm on vacation next week, so I may not have regular access to the Net. So that "(almost) daily" may become "when I'm around" for the week.

Here's a bonus link to make up for it: Charlize Theron, another hottie for y'all (and one who knows something of familial tragedy).