Execution

The customers were all over the place this week and especially yesterday. The bars were a hubbub with some folk whining and showing their hearts for all to admire and others sipping deeply and slowly on their pints, keeping their 'feelings' out of it. And all to do with the executions in Indonesia.

Those in the news were not innocent people having their heads cut off with knives on a beach; they were not innocents being burned and dismembered in a womb. I can understand furore about that.

No. these were drug runners, and at least one, we are told, was a 'King-Pin'. 

'Australians', apparantly.

For weeks and indeed months, great effort has been expended on getting 'Mercy' for these two men. They were, after all, Australians.

Andrew Chan, Myuran Sukumaran were ‘perfect’

One has to wonder about the media.

 http://www.themercury.com.au/news/world/bali-nine-indonesia-says-executions-of-andrew-chan-myuran-sukumaran-were-perfect/story-fnj3ty5y-1227327478332

INDONESIA has declared the executions of Andrew Chan, Myuran Sukumaran and six others to be “perfect” and a “success”, as revulsion for the brutal midnight slaughter crossed the globe.

The executions were carried out. The Indonesians claimed they were carried out without a hitch: it was 'perfect'. So the media headline is that the two drug runners were 'perfect'.  Where do they find these media people? 

As the bodies of the Bali Nine duo reached Jakarta, local Catholic priest Charlie Burrows described how the men had been executed in a macabre new way, strapped by cable ties with their arms outstretched on what were effectively crucifixes.

“They were singing on the crosses and we were in a tent not too far away from the execution place trying to support them,” Father Burrows told News Corp. “The Australians seemed to be more or less leading the singing.”

He said they sang Amazing Grace and other hymns.

The Australians met most of their fellow victims for the first time just before the executions. Father Burrows said all the men hugged and said goodbye to each other.

Indonesian Attorney-General HM Prasetyo appeared satisfied with the result.

“The executions have been successfully implemented, perfectly,” said Mr Prasetyo, who in a previous role had personal oversight of his country’s execution program.

“All worked, no misses,” he said of the executions of Mr Chan, Mr Sukumaran, four Nigerians, a Brazilian and an Indonesian man.

No mention of the Names of the 'four Nigerians', the Brazilian and the Indonesian. Just the Australians. 

No mention of these other 'victims' being similarly arms outstretched. Just the Australians.  

The partiality is astounding.

This is men's lives that are being talked of but only the 'Australians' are given a small respect of their names. 

It says a lot about the bleeding hearts.

As 'Breaker' Morant said, "Shoot straight you bastards" 

Chan and Sukumaran courageously declined the offer of hoods and watched the firing squads take aim and fire. Medical teams declared all the men dead three minutes after they were shot.

Did the 'others' decline? We are not even told. 

Hours later, in Canberra, Tony Abbott branded the killings “cruel” and ordered the Australian Ambassador to Indonesia, Paul Grigson, home.

As the world took a closer look at the stone-hearted resolve of President Joko Widodo, the Indonesian embassy in Canberra said its ambassador, Nadjib Riphat Kesoema, would not be recalled to called to Jakarta, because he was already there.

Joko's 'stone heart' would be welcomed by the judges in Oz' Family Courts, where he might even be given lessons. 

A spokesman was unable to say whether he would remain in Indonesia in retaliation for the Australian withdrawal.

Chilling ... Father Charlie Burrows says Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were executed with their arms outstretched on what were effectively crucifixes. 

The Prime Minister took dual positions as a father who could understand the pain of the Chan and Sukumaran families, and as a leader who was deeply disappointed Indonesia had not taken the path of mercy.

He said he could understand the anger of Australians, but the government would not fall into the trap of overreacting. The purpose of the recall of Ambassador Grigson was discuss a “way forward in relation to the Indonesia-Australia relationship in the longer term.”

“We respect Indonesia’s sovereignty but we do deplore what’s been done and this cannot be simply business as usual,” Mr Abbott said.

Not a mention of the 8 kilos of heroin these men had which they were going to bring into Oz. Caught red handed. 

Not a mention of others languishing in Indonesia's jails because of Chan and Sukumaran. Not a mention of the people they conned and blackmailed into becoming drug mules.  

Not a mention of the heroin deaths from overdoses that occur every day in Oz, because of scum like these two. Not a mention of the addicts hooked by their import business. Not a mention of the thousands of families ruined. 

Candlelit ceremonies were held all over the place, it seems. For 'Mercy' Someone wanted one in the Tavern too, but I would not allow that. 

Fire regs.

And Mercy Regs.

You can look those up in your Bible.

I mainly kept quiet as rival factions sounded off at the bar. I had pints to pull. Most were quite nice people who showed compassion along with their passion. Their passion often won out over their compassion which all too often - as is all too common - showed itself to be more 

sentimentality and 'virtue-selfies' 

than actual Love.

 Bill Muehlenberg was his usual consistent self, making his voice heard.

The Hypocrisy of ‘Compassion’

 http://billmuehlenberg.com/2015/04/30/the-hypocrisy-of-compassion/

Does showing compassion make one a hypocrite? No, of course not – well, at least not necessarily. But I have seen far too many people just recently going on and on about compassion and mercy in a rather hypocritical fashion, and I for one am growing a bit tired of it to be honest.

In fact, I have been really quite astonished at the degree of duplicity and hypocrisy being exhibited by so many. While this of course occurs often, it has been on display big time over recent headlines about what has transpired in Indonesia. There are a number of examples of obvious hypocrisy going on here.

Let me mention just a few of them. First, far too many of these people going on and on about the death of two convicted criminals are utterly silent on other cases of people being put to death. People I never hear from or who are utterly silent on the abortion holocaust are all of a sudden all over the place on this issue.

He had a lot more to say, and again, mostly spot on. (see his link).

There, I have hoisted a flag. My towel is off the taps.

My simple nodding agreement with Bill brought forth demands that I put my oar in the murky waters on 'one side or the other'. I am a Catholic, after all. Supposedly 'holier than thou'. 

(Actually, its before all. And I am still suffering from and for my own sins.)

And therein lies a big problem we have in our society. It has to be 'One side or the Other'. 

So let me look at some of the points. There were many offered which seem to suggest some very 'partial' attitudes. Biased. Frankly, thoughtless.

First. These two were Australians. 

So what?

There are many people in Australians that we can be thoroughly ashamed of. We have our fair share (for all who demand 'fair') of liars, false accusers, thieves (and that's is just in the family Court), murderers, thugs and, of course Drug runners.  We have bogans, welfare cheats and politicians. Let us not overlook lawyers.

There are people in Oz who personally I would prefer to send over to MacQuarie Island. Some I would prefer to send back from whence they came. Even scummy Englishmen. 

They cost Oz a huge amount in money, heartache, pain and disruption.

They are scum.

Those two are 'australian' only by virtue of name, not by any fine quality. Their 'nationality' is an affront to the rest of us.

They have no hesitation on 'using' others in the most dreadful manner.

We have had hundreds of thousands of people come to Oz, including myself, and most are fine people. But some start out illegal and continue a life of illegality. 

Some hate Oz. They make that clear. 

They hate our 'ordinary' Moral stance on most matters.

We have very highly qualified and well paid people in Oz who muder babies. They dispatch 100,000 a year. Innocents.

As Bill points out, where is the outrage?

Second. They committed a crime in Indonesia.  Not in Oz. That crime though was not peculiar to Indonesia nor to anywhere else in the world. It is illegal in Oz too. The penalty in Indonesia is somewhat more useful.

"Ahh, but...," some will say, " the death penalty does not work. It does not deter people from their crimes". 

To that I say nonsense. It deters many enough. It deters me, for a start.  I am supposing it has some small bearing on you as well. 

It did not deter them. True. But then they are them.  It deters people with a modicum of conscience.

And if it detered no-one else it still permanently removes some scum from the gene pool.

"But Indonesia has a cruel death penalty and we should not have anything to do with them". Oddly those who say that rarely seek the same isolation of the dozen or so other countries which have the death penalty and with whom we trade. China, for Instance. Or America. Pakistan? Saudi Arabia?  Have we 'withdrawn' our Ambassadors from those countries?

Indonesia's 'macabre new way' of 'brutal midnight slaughter' seems to me to be quite preferable to hanging, but that is just a personal view. Did Fr Charlie ever speak out aginst strapping people to a cruciform bench in America so as to hold them as they were injected to death? 

Did he speak aout against the Chinese who make the family pay for the bullets? Perhaps he did, but buggered if I have heard it mentioned in the tavern.

"But innocent people get convicted". Indeed. But were these two innocent? No. An arguement for better procedures for getting the Truth would be worth complaining about. But even in Oz there is precious little concern, let alone candleit protests, about the woeful nature of our family courts where truth is kept well outside the buildings. 

"But.... the 'War on Drugs' doesn't work"

Amazing. Show me a war that does. Of course white ants and enemies will fight but a war is only 'over' when the enemy is defeated, Roundly. Drug pushers included.

Third. They 'repented'.

Not that that had anything to do with the imminent finality awaiting them, of course.

And did they? What you see is not always what you get, and what we saw was 'singing Amazing Grace'. Heck, even I can sing that.  (not at all well, mind you). 

"But Chan became a pastor and baptised people".

This bit has been accompanied by snaps from the jail showing 'pastor Chan' being a holy man. Ahhhh. Ain't that nice. He's found Christ.

This 'could' also be seen as a typical ploy of a psychopath and narcissist gaining a 'position' in a jail amongst the thick, dangerous and influential. He has made himself out to be a 'holy man'. A Guru. What a following of willing believers he has gathered around him, both inside and outside jail.

To them he is a 'celebrity'.

The 'laying on of media hands' has made him so. 

And what or who 'made' him a pastor? Did he get a 'Rev' certificate from the Rolling Stone magazine? 

Has he spent the past ten years at a theological seminary to become a Catholic Priest? 

Suddenly he is Chan the Baptist ??!!

He may have added blasphemy to St Peter's charge sheet. It may not be a crime down here but clearly he is showing himself appealing to a Higher Authority.

But, let us charitably suppose that he did repent, that he was remorseful. So what? 

His crime still needs the time. The punishment fitted the crime not the attitude.

If he is truely repentant and confesses his sins, I am pretty sure he will now be in heaven. 

"He had done ten years already".  Indeed. So what?

Enough of the points.

I do not approve of the Death Penalty. In general.

Specific cases though? Perhaps.

We are all on a path to our deaths. Accidents, illnesses, volcanoes and earthquakes, stepping off the curb at just the wrong moment.......inevitability.

It is not wholly outside the remit of Man to speed someone on their way after due process, or even sufficient immediate provokation.

May the souls of those two be treated Mercifully by God.

And Justly. 

He is the only one who knows how to balance and meld the two. 

Pax.

And less of the hypocricy.