Reports say Aussies Executed, page-55

As Australians we have to respect and uphold our own laws
and values of which capital punishment is not our standard of
punishment for any crime....I repeat, for any crime.

The 8 kgs of heroin which involved 9 Aussies. was a drop in the ocean
in relation to the tons imported to Australia annually.

Tobacco followed by alcohol kills twenty times the number of Aussies
over time than illicit drugs yet both are leagal and the Government
collects about $7 billion a year combined in excise and taxes.
i certainly hope that those on these boards advocating / condoning capital
punishment for these Bali 2 do not use either alcohol or Tobacco.

The biblical saying is very appropriate here:
" He without sin on his soul, let it be he who casts the first stone"

We have fought wars overseas on the principles of fairness, equity and justice
and we do so today. In a civilised world it is difficult to justify capital punishment
in principle (we abandoned it in the mid 60s) let alone for two people
in their early 20s who organised to couriering of 8 kgs of heroin to Australia.

I'll give you a relevant Australian example:

"In 1986, at the age of 21, he was imprisoned on a nine-year sentence for conspiracy to import narcotics. At the time he was a heroin dealer . He recovered from his addiction through a Salvation Army program.[1] He told the media in April 2007 that his criminal past made him more determined to do a good job.
Coutts-Trotter is married to Tanya Plibersek MP, a Labor politician and the federal Deputy Leader of the Opposition."
(Mr Coutts-Trotter is the NSW Director General of Education)
(source: Wikipedia)

i have just returned from Tasmania where I checked out hundreds of records of convicts. Many had been
sentenced to death in England & Ireland in Early Victorian era (1830-40s) for crimes as petty as
stealing goods over 20 pounds, homosexuality and minor assault. No doubt there were many
right wing Pommies advocating the death penalty at that time and had the internet been available
then , wouldn't their ancesters be embarrassed now!

This country was built on the backs of these convicts and living evidence that reformed convicts can
live long productive , rise respectable families and in some cases, become some of our historical
leaders.

If we want to be good Australians we have to respect our convict past as we have to respect
the lives of our Anzacs and diggers which were given to put Australia on the map as a fair,
just and proud democratic country which it is today.

As democrats we simply have to respect the will of the majority and that meand no capital
punishment for any reason: otherwise to argue this toss is simply not much better
than others who want to do us damage by not subscribing to and adhering to
our criminal and civil laws and the values that underpin them.

We have spent 100s of $billions on fighting wars injustice overseas for fairer
and more just global society (presumably similar to ours) and we shouldn't
be seen as defacto or directly supporting a corrupt 3rd world regime
in Indonesia whose laws are based on veiled "Sharia Laws" nor should we
be giving this regime comfort by saying to then:

" Go for it mate and top Aussies for minor crimes so that you can send
a coded message to Muslim Militants globally that this is Indonesia's
payback for killing our Brothers in the Middle East."

Just ask yourself the question:
Do you think that your grandchildren will pe proud of you in 50 years
time when they read your posts?

Moorookamick

PS: If parents bring up their children well, educate them well and give them the right values by example,
then there would be alot less need for illicit drugs.
As a country we condoned the cultivation and processing of heroin in Afghanistan (World's chief source
of heroin) by instruction our troops in Afghanistan to turn a blind eye to the poppy fields, the labs
and the tyrannical Drug-War Lords which sent the wrong message to the world that we are serious about heroin.
Posters here who are now advocating capital punishment for possession of 8 kgs of heroin were not posting
about our soldiers turning a blind eye to Afghanistan's 14,000 ton a year illicit industry from 2003 to 2013.
But of course the New Right would not dare to criticise our troops!!!
mm