I’ll Make An Exception

As most of you know, I oppose the death penalty.

And even that’s not quite right – I favor it for every reason but one – the inevitability that an innocent person will, between human imperfection, the politics of the prosecution system, bad defense, the emotions of death-penalty cases and just plain bad luck, be executed.

(And I was right about that).

But I’m writing today to say I’m willing to make an exception. Someone busted out Willy’s American Guitars in Saint Paul.

That’s like plundering the Vatican; like jacking up Graceland.

There is no punishment cruel or unusual enough for these people, when they’re caught.

12 thoughts on “I’ll Make An Exception

  1. According to that Wikipedia article, one of the reasons that Willingham was sentenced to death as a dangerous sociopath was because there was evidence that he was an Iron Maiden fan.

    Learned Foot and I are doomed.

  2. Hey Mitch! I just got a sweet deal on some vintage Rickenbachers! I bought 4 of them.

  3. Careful, Mitch, they may have been inlaid with wood from India, thus requiring the United States Government to seize them in the interests of national security. You wouldn’t want to wind up on the wrong side of President Obama – he’s a ruthless killer, you know.

  4. The 1% are making music tonight courtesy of the evil corporate thieves at Willie’s.

  5. I’m not surprised by some of the moon-bats’ fervent opposition to capital punishment. But don’t worry Mitch; the odds of you being an innocent man and being put to death are one in a billion. Obviously there are much more important things to worry about, like the bastard that busted out Willy’s American Guitars!

  6. Krod,

    For starters, this is a thread-jack.

    And as the Willingham case, to which I linked, showed us, the odds are a lot worse than one in a billion. I mean, at least be honest.

  7. If you found out the perps had also blown up an accordian emporium you’d have to figure it was even-stevens and let them go.

  8. I would simply suggest that if Iron Maiden fans were involved in this dastardly deed, we should probably use the Megadeth Penalty.

  9. I’ll admit that when I saw your headline, I was all set to self righteously say “I’m ALWAYS opposed to the death penalty.” (‘cuz I’m a (self) righteous) dude.

    Then I saw what they did. Drawn and quartered, I say.

    I am wondering if the report got it a little bit wrong, though. They said that the dirty bastards took 15 guitars worth $15,000.00. Now, I’ve been to Willie’s quite a few times, and if they managed to get 15 guitars worth $15K, they must have been looking on the discount rack. I don’t know the market well for Rickenbachers, but $15K sounds low.

  10. mItch, be honest and correctly count the population for the denominator in your calculation; your odds are one in a billion that you will be put to death for a crime you did not commit.

    I’m thinking drawn and quartered is fitting for this crime.

  11. KRod,

    That’d make sense if there were a billion capital crimes committed. I think we’d hear about that.

    There have been a few thousand executions in the past 35 years. We *know* one was innocent. There is evidence of more. That changes the odds.

    But as re Willy’s, complete agreeement.

  12. If you found out the perps had also blown up an accordian emporium you’d have to figure it was even-stevens and let them go.

    My hero, Weird Al, wouldn’t,.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.