He called Tuesday the happiest day of his life, saying he would no longer have to deal with child support and mortgage payments.
November 10, 2005
Always look on the bright side of life.
Chai Soua Vang, sentenced to life without parole for murdering six persons:
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22 comments:
I love the quote: "He called Tuesday the happiest day of his life, saying he would no longer have to deal with child support and mortgage payments."
Sorry. I used exactly the same quote as Ann did. Comes from not seeing the original article when I posted (yes, I know there is an option for that, but I almost never use it).
Zen and the Art of Avoiding Being Punked in Prison
- always the practical fellow, this Mr. Vang. I wonder if he enjoys the taste of venison too?
Mary: Thanks. I didn't realize one of the victims was a woman. I was just trying to avoid saying murdering "six hunters," which most of the reports say. Murdering hunters isn't a special crime.
Anyway, as a usage matter, it should be "murdering six persons," not "murdering six people."
I know there's a level of humor in that comment, but ... dang. That's one heartless bastard. The day I go to jail for killing six persons is the best of my life? Because I get out of child support? What the...?
Well, it's in line with what we saw of this guy during the trial, but still...
Dave: We don't have the death penalty in Wisconsin -- unless you count what happened to Dahmer.
No, he shouldn't be executed. He should be made to work and continue to make child support payments (at the very least) from whatever he earns. That's one of the problems with the prison system -- the inmates don't have to work to earn their keep, or anything else. (I know that's a gross generalization, but it's basically true.)
Ann,
We were living in Racine at the time of Dahmer's trial and later death in prison. I support the death penalty, but what happened to Dahmer was just wrong. I imagine that Vang will be as much a target as Dahmer was. Is it more humane to execute a person painlessly or allow them to be beaten and bludgeoned to death?
Wait a minute - Ann, were you thinking of "The Life of Brian" when you wrote that title?
Saul,
I agree that Dahmer's life was forfeit when he was convicted. I'm simply saying that in outlawing the death penalty, the state has created a situation that is potentially more cruel. He deserved to die, not to be brutally beaten to death -- justice, not vengeance.
... though I might make an exception for people who don't bathe. That's just wrong. I hadn't heard that about Dahmer.
Murph, I don't think that's why he murdered those people. It's just a nihilistic thing to say afterwards. He reminds me of the lead character in Camus' "The Stranger," alienated, remorseless, affect-less. Now he has some certainty and accepts it, even welcomes it.
Pat,
I agree that doesn't seem to be why he killed those people. Acceptance is one thing, but "the happiest day of my life"? Compared to getting married, having kids? How bad of a home life do you have to have to make killing six persons and going to prison for life the high point? Unless he's acting, this guy is layers of messed up.
I live in Minneapolis: let me make that clear. But I'm a cosmopolitan hereabouts, in that I travel just as easily in St. Paul. (Meaning not all that easily but it's no different.) I know the neighborhoods where the Hmong have tended to live, and I read about the problems they have and see the gains they make. But I hate this case. This case makes me nervous. I would guess that many of the Hmong here believe the convicted man's story of epithets and being fired upon first.
I don't know enough about the case to know, though: is there evidence to back up the hunters' version: espeically that they didn't fire first? (This is aside from the question of whether it matters legally.)
paulfrommpls: seriously? So what if they fired first? Would *you* blow away six people/persons/human beings? These are not the acts of a rational person, which has been substantiated by his "best day of my life" comment.
If it makes us nervous, it should should make us nervous in the "what-if-our-neighbor-lost-the-plot" kind of nervous?
Pastor Jeff: I'm not saying Vang should get the "Dahmer death penalty." And yeah, I was thinking of that song.
Joan: I agree. Prison should entail hard work and the deprivation of ordinary pleasures (but no brutality). The death penalty is too easy, and it damages the souls of those who impose it, I'm afraid.
girlfriday -
If I understand what you're saying, that is how it makes me nervous. I'm hyper-attuned to the seductioons of victim-think. And all race relations seem dicey these days.
Pastor Jeff,
Agreed.
Layers of messed up=alienated, remorseless, affect-less.
paulfrommpls: I see now.
Regarding Dahmer, lest we forget:
"He achieved notoriety after his arrest following the discovery of several decaying bodies in acid vats in his apartment. Severed heads were found in his refrigerator and an altar of candles and human skulls were found in his closet. Accusations soon surfaced that Dahmer had practiced necrophilia and cannibalism. Dahmer admitted to eating the biceps of his eighth victim, Ernest Miller, whose skeleton he also kept, noting that human flesh "tasted like beef" to him."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Dahmer
Being tortured to death would seem more appropriate, a la Native American practice of yore, as well as English practice until the last couple of centuries
Ann,
Aaaaargh! Now I've got that whistling part stuck in my head!
I didn't think you were advocating for the Dahmer treatment. I was just making a general observation: in an attempt to be humane, the state ironically has created a situation which is potentially much more inhumane than execution.
I don't want to see Vang live out his days at taxpayer expense. But even less do I want him beaten to death by a mob. I disagree with the law against captial punishment, but the solution is not vigilante justice.
Pastor Jeff
Is it technically vigilante justice if the killer of Dahmer was merely seeking notoriety and credibility as a bad-ass in prison (though beating a a filthy smelly cannablistic nerd with a lead pipe is sketchy) and instead a "reap what you sow" justice. Karma for those who Bible quotes make itchy and angry. That wouuld make the inmate the karma police (so you can tel what song is in my head!)
Rumor has it Dahmer became a Christian (sincerely, not nominally) behind bars and if under that belief system, which I share, there is no hell waiting for him.... Just a thought.
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