Death Penalty?

[think positive]

[David]

1. That's a superficial explanation of how people become overweight, but you're ignoring the factors that lead to overeating, lack of exercise, poor self-control and so on. They differ from person to person, but I think you'll find a high correlation with low socioeconomic background, depression, lack of family/friend support networks, other medical issues and/or family history of obesity. And once someone is obese, they are much more likely to be discriminated against, vilified and ostracised. Any exercise in pointing the finger at overweight people and morally condemning them is almost certainly misguided and unjust.

2. "Some people have no personality." What does that even mean? That's a pretty absurd claim.

3. Yep, indeed they are.

4. The article stated that the police found heaps of images of child pornography on his computer. This habit appears to be what got him into contact with the FBI agent in the first place.

5. I don't know your father, obviously, and I'm hesitant to speculate about what led to him being physically and psychologically abusive, but I have no doubt that there were some underlying dysfunctions there. It may well be an undiagnosed mental disorder, antisocial tendencies developed in his upbringing or some deep feeling of powerlessness or unhappiness arising from a multitude of factors (or a combination of some or all of these). Violence, particularly habitual violence, doesn't come from nowhere; the desire to commit it has to come from somewhere, and well-adjusted people tend to either lack that desire or have the ability to effectively suppress it. The fact that your father didn't means there must have been something going wrong along the way.

There are always reasons.

[think positive]

[David]

You've just provided a reason, though: your willpower dipped. Why did it dip? It could well be that the stresses you list were major factors, though only you would know whether that's true; either way, something caused it, right? But you also have strong enough willpower to bounce back. Some people never quite develop that, or only have it in small doses, or just haven't learned how.

As for Gina et al, socioeconomic background is only one potential reason out of many. It's not as simple as lying on a psychoanalyst's couch and putting all your life's troubles down to that day when you were 3 and Dad left for work without saying goodbye; to understand this stuff you need to look at a huge range of factors. All I know is that there always will be factors.

Somehow, the vast majority of us get along in life without even considering selling our children's bodies on the internet, let alone making concrete plans to do so. Such highly dysfunctional behaviour is only ever going to emerge from serious dysfunction. This isn't about 'excuses'; he'll do his time, and rightly so (though thankfully won't be getting executed). It's about recognising the fact that human behaviour is caused.

That's not just my opinion; it's widely accepted scientific fact. You can reject it and go on claiming that "some people are just evil", but if so you're arguing with reality, not me.

[think positive]

[1061]

[think positive]

[1061]

edited to make more sense.

[think positive]

[David]

Sorry, but every Australian court would convict you, and rightly so.

[1061]

And every talking head would be calling a non custodial sentence, maybe even a pardon. But your honor I did it in an act of vengeful rage and I'd turn my life around maybe making pretty pot plants for the needy to sell at open air street markets.

I'd expect those calling for clemency for those in Bali out to be shot they would surely get behind my cause as well.

[David]

You'd be a legend among the Derryn Hinch set, but the rest of us would see you as a sad wannabe vigilante playing out twisted revenge fantasies. Not sure there's much of a market for prison-made potplants, though.

We've discussed an incident on here in the past in which something like this actually happened. As many of us agreed, your Hollywood fantasy is a bit uglier, messier and more traumatic than you might like to think.

http://www.magpies.net/nick/bb/viewtopic.php?t=67320

[Tannin]

[1061]

Actually I'm thinking eye dropper, battery acid .......

[think positive]