| THIS IS A READ-ONLY ARCHIVE FROM THE SORABJI.COM MESSAGE BOARDS (1995-2016). |
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*********** Mike Heiskell, Mallard's attorney, called the woman's arrest on a murder warrant premature. "I think this is overreaching on the part of the prosecution and the police, and in the end, I believe the law will shake out that this was simply a case of failure to stop and render aid," Heiskell said. *********** ???????? Christ, where's a cleansing fire when you need one? |
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really, if you think about it, she's the victim here. wasn't her fault some homeless guy ran out in front of her and stuck his head through her windscreen. he was probably drunk. i can picture him running out in front of her car, slurring 'wash your winder for five dollars'. fucking men. fucking homeless. |
I WON'T GO THERE. |
heh. All I gotta say is DAMN |
cobb park is way east down rosedale street. here's a journal entry from about 1984: "Around that time Pat was suggesting that we fuck with the whores on Rosedale. Nick was all for it, he wanted another free handjob from the black girls. First though, we went to Crow's house...But Pat was set on going to Rosedale. It made me nervous, shit, being out there. I wasn't as prepared as last time. Last time I was drunk and I was driving. There's something about being the driver that calms you down, you know you can get the hell out of there when you want to, know your life's in your own hands. we must've gone up and down Rosedale about 5 times, but it felt like 500. I felt like I was going to be shot at by pimps at every corner. It drove me nuts when we talked to the whores." |
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were a Bush daughter. |
mmmmm LS |
And how the hell was he trapped in the windshield? Don't you think he could have, some how, freed himself? I suppose not since he didn't. Bizarre. Bitch needs to be impaled on a stake in. |
Maybe that was harsh, but damn. |
this was the lead story in the local news tonight - reporters live at her house and everything. |
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I don't think any physical harm could hurt him any more than the mental torture he is probably putting himself through. He deserves it. But, I still pitty him. He should be placed in a mental health facility for the rest of his life. And, never allowed out again. |
"There was no thought . . . there was an existence of motion, of colours. There was a stream of insanity."" ************** there are no words, simply no words. |
a part of me makes this arguement: people are sick. all people are sick. anyone here could do those things. i know i could. its not a "oh, that guy is sick" sort of thing. its a disease essential to humanity. last night i went to sleep instead of finishing my paper, even though I knew it wouldn't be any easier in the morning. i wasn't even tired. it was an avoidance tactic. so the girl with the guy on her windshield avoided the problem instead of dealing with it. the ethical implications of the situation have a small impact on the way in which an individual deals (or fails to deal) with it (this is a point that I am not sure about... but my point is that its the same psychological mechanism). the greatest difference between good and bad people is in self-control. the thing about the death penalty, is that while i can almost come to terms with the psychological aspects of what individuals do, i find the idea that we can take the life of an individual (no matter how fucked up that person is), clinically, for the good of the community, to be even more repulsive. to label the taking of life as an ethically sound practice, to endorse it as a society... that is SCARY to me. killing is not ethically okay. period. |
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Do you REALLY believe this? "the greatest difference between good and bad people is in self-control" Some people have no self-control. That doesn't make them bad people; but it can make them do bad things. Sometimes when we say people are "sick" it actually means that they are ill. Mentally ill and by extension, physically ill, because the brain (like the liver or heart) is a body part and it fails sometimes and people lose control. Does that mean that we should excuse them? Absolutely not. But it does mean that we have to examine things carefully, otherwise, we end up creating situations which are far worse. "that while i can almost come to terms with the psychological aspects of what individuals do" No you can't. You're previous comments show that you have no idea of how complex human psychology is or what kind of circumstances shape human behavior. Does that mean that we should blame society? NO. Again, it means that SOME cases require extra care. This is not just for the sake of the criminal; if we can learn to assess these situations critically, perhaps we can prevent SOME things from happening again. My grandmother had a severe case of manic-depressive illness that was exacerbated my grandfather's mental abuse. She was not a bad person, but she did a horrible, bad thing. Now, I don't blame my grandfather for what she did, but there is a good chance that had he gotten her the help she needed she would not have drowned the little girl that would have been my aunt. When my father was first diagnosed with mental illness he was accidentally diagnosed as schitzophrenic and given anti-psychotics until he saw a better doctor who properly diagnosed him with manic depressive illiness. Now, who was responsible for things he might have done while on the wrong medication. You can bet that, while not excusing him, his previous doctor would have heard about it. It wouldn't change the situation at hand, but it might prevent another. |
Random, but related vent: I hate when people think I am unable to look critically at these kinds of issues because of how close it is to me. Yes, I am severly biased. But I am reluctant to ever label a criminal mentally ill based on media descriptions alone. And, If there is one thing that makes me angrier than when people refuse to acknowledge that mental illness can diminish people's capacity, it's when people (lawyers, criminals) use it unfairly. I don't know how often that really happens. Maybe I just watch too much television. |
I do think that those cases need to be looked at carefully. But even I have been questioning my view on the death penalty lately. I just don't have any good answers. This is something I have been thinking about a lot lately. But I don't think that I have the right to ask for the life or to take the life of another person. Am I capable of doing that? Sure I am, but that doesn't mean it is the right thing to do. But this is a different case, that I think is particularly twisted. I won't make any judgements on the people involved, though, simply because I don't have all of the facts and it isn't my job to do that. It's sad and the whole situation is fucked up. |
i know that i have a very limited understanding of the complexities of psychology. i do understand the concept of a psychological disease. the concept. but (and this is something i've stuggled with for a long time) i have a hard time fully believing in it. why is this? i think it has a lot to do with the philosophy of mind over matter (as opposed to mind AS matter) that was drilled into me as a kid. so, on a basic level (and you are correct to point out that i have failed to justify this belief through logic, and i am willing to accept that perhaps it cannot be justified through logic), the answer to your question is yes, i do believe this. maybe not entirely, but, as much as i can believe something without a logical explanation behind it, i believe in mind over matter. scientifically this may be impossible. i am trying to come to terms with the concept of a chemical imbalance that leads to social behaviors. i can understand the biological part of it. it's just that it still blows my mind to think that we have no control over our actions. in some core part of my morality system, humans must be able to control our own actions. i guess what is key to these cases is that controlling our actions is harder for some people than for others, because of a chemical inequality? well okay. but i guess i still think that anyone is capable of failing to surpress chemical impulses, or of surpressing them. maybe that statement is totally wrong. maybe. i dont know. what i do know is that its central to how i currently view and judge the world, and therefore, yes, i believe it. its not a static belief, though. thank you for challenging it, it makes me think. |
Emotionally there are times when I hear of certain crimes where I think - "let me be the one to pull the plug, push the button, squeeze the trigger, etc.". But, they are usually of the most horrendous sort. |
capable of failing to surpress? If you mean that people are capable of supressing chemical impulses, that is not only wrong, but utter horseshit. Our brains are complicated entities that no one understands entirely. And what do you mean by "chemical impulses"? We don't have chemical "impulses" sometimes and not others. Everything is connected...mind and body, no division. The mind is ALWAYS working, processing info, controlling/regulating body functions. Mind/body work as a team, always. Try using your mind to control your circulation system. Right now. See, you can't do it. Same for same with neurotransmitters. Would you tell a cancer patient to just control that mass of cells? No. It is the same thing at least to the extent that we can't access our neurotransmitters the way that we can alter our mood slightly just be thinking about something different. Now that doesn't mean that we aren't capable of doing anything to affect our mind's processes, it just means that there are some things too powerful for us to control. I think most schitzophrenics would gladly control those voices if they could. Go drop a hit of strong, strong acid and then tell me how easy it is to control the mind when if it's been chemically altered. Or maybe you should take a class in neuropysychology. |
There is also some great information on how neuroscience is figuring out how "plastic" the brain really is, that it is not on some established developmental trajectory, but it is actually shaped by social interaction, that is, all the millions of signals that the brain takes in over a lifetime. That's me butchering it. I'll try to find a reference. |
There are few if any actual physical scientifficaly proven tests to confirm what they claim. Generally they can't prove a chemical imbalance in the brain because it can't be measured while the patien is alive. And, after death it's usually impossible to measure it then too. But, I also can recognize a severly mentally ill person on the streets when I see one. |
we can choose or not choose to act on impulses. the chemical bit was my attempt to acknowledge that our impulses (not in the electrical sense but in the broader meaning) are influenced by chemicals. or something like that. i dont know how to phrase it becasue i dont know what the hell i'm talking about and i'll just say something else i dont mean if i try to be more specific. as you say, i probably should take a class in neuropsychology. then i would have a better understanding, and also the vocabulary to express myself. i dont claim know much about this subject. i'm just trying to express (at the same time as i try to figure out) what the implications of the belief system i grew up with are. also, i feel about 5 years old right now. i'm going to stop talking about stuff i dont understand. |
I wasn't being mean, I was just trying to get the point across. I'm sorry if I made you feel bad. Love, Kazu |
If this keeps up, she'll have a nice tight white vanilla 'fro. |
have a good night. peace. |
I had a manic-depressive grandmother as well. I never once saw her standing. She lived well into my childhood and I never saw her leave that recliner. . Seems like I'm surrounded by manic-depressives. One of my best friends is bipolar. I know several others as well. Every last one of them has attempted suicide at least once. |
When i got to the 'i lied' part, i almost laughed. I'm so used to that sort of person being all growling and screaming about angels. That guy's witty. Ophelia, you don't need to worry about the morals of the death penalty for him. He won't be killed here. not legally, anyway. |