John Howard thinks he speaks for me, huh?

Australians expect executions, says PM

AUSTRALIANS would feel "let down" if the Bali bombers on death row were not executed, Prime Minister John Howard said yesterday.

He said a shift from capital punishment had "been festering" for some time in Indonesia, where a legal challenge to the death penalty was under way. "I think there would be a sense of letdown if that was the sentence delivered, but not carried out," Mr Howard said on the anniversary of the 2002 bombings, in which 88 Australians were killed.

He expressed "outrage" that two of the Bali bombers were allowed out of jail to attend a function for rehabilitated radicals hosted by Indonesia's anti-terrorism chief last month.

Link: The Age: Australians expect executions, says PM

Well I have a few words for the man who hasn't represented this Aussie since he first took office... He doesn't represent me at all. He doesn't speak for me. And I sure there will be others who will agree with me.

I don't expect there to be any executions at all. Australia is an execution free country, so why would I expect it?

I was always torn between the death penalty until a few years ago. Someone very dear to me worked very closely and patiently with me in order to bring me to the right way of thinking regarding the death penalty.

I felt like the DP should not stand. Especially after knowing that innocent people have been killed at the hand of the government. But I also always felt that if anyone dare kill any loved one of mine, I would want to see that person pay the ultimate price for what they had robbed me of.

But then I realized (after working with this very dear person), they wouldn't be paying the ultimate price now would they? They are dead, and what sort of punishment is that? They aren't paying for any crimes they had committed, because they are dead. Their death isn't bringing back the person/people they killed is it? But perhaps the biggest reason for my shift in beliefs of the DP is simple; I am not a Bible believer, and knowing that, how can I follow the eye for an eye crap?

What I want of the Bali Bombers is simple; I want them to serve a proper punishment for their crimes. If that means life in jail then so be it, give them life in jail. Rob them of their life that way, like they have robbed the people they blew up of their lives, because killing them, isn't punishment at all. Punishment is a life spent in jail doing hard labor, it isn't being placed in a coffin and thrown in a hole and buried.

So Mr Howard, do not plural that when you say Australians because you would be lying (nothing new there I guess.) Because you do not speak for me. Come sit at my table and ask me before you include me in anything that comes out of your mouth again.