John F wrote on August 31, 2009 07:30 AM: It's the bubble I didn't want to burst, not the ubble.

The full quote is:

The quality of mercy is not strain'd,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown;
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptred sway;
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God's
When mercy seasons justice...

Shakespeare (of course)

But there's mercy and then there's mercy. Al Megrahi received all the mercy due to him many times over long before he was released.

John F wrote on August 30, 2009 09:12 PM: br,

I hate to burst the ubble, but I'm not sure we agree on this.

The quality of mercy is not strain'd,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes...

My argument with Professor Bayer is not over whether we should show mercy - I believe we should - it's just that I believe we already had shown al Megrahi all the mercy he was due and then some. Allowing him to go free was going above and beyond the call of duty, even for the merciful.

Mercy is defined as compassionate treatment of those in distress. We have to show the families of those al Megrahi killed a little mercy, too. We also have to think about having mercy on those he may be plotting to kill during his final days.

HELEN WEILS wrote on August 30, 2009 03:44 PM: AND OBUMMER STANDS WITH THE MUSLIMS.

Author and lecturer Nonie Darwish says the goal of radical Islamists is to impose Shariah law on the world, ripping Western law and liberty in two.

She recently authored the book, Cruel and Usual Punishment: The Terrifying Global Implications of Islamic Law.

Darwish was born in Cairo and spent her childhood in Egypt and Gaza before emigrating to America in 1978, When she was eight years old, her father died while leading covert attacks on Israel . He was a high- ranking Egyptian military officer stationed with his family in Gaza.

When he died, he was considered a20“shahid,” a martyr for jihad. His posthumous status earned Nonie and her family an elevated position in Muslim society.

But Darwish developed a skeptical eye at an early age. She questioned her own Muslim culture and upbringing. She converted to Christianity after hearing a Christian preacher on television.

In her latest book, Darwish warns about creeping sharia law – what it is, what it means, and how it is manifested in Islamic countries.

For the West, she says radical Islamists are working to impose sharia on the world. If that happens, Western civilization will be destroyed.

In twenty years there will be enough Muslim voters in the U.S. to elect the President! I think everyone in the U.S. should be required to read this, but with the ACLU, there is no way this will be widely publicized! This is your chance to make a difference….!



Muslim woman stoned to death for adultery...

OBUMMER STANDS WITH THE MUSLIMS wrote on August 30, 2009 03:44 PM: Author and lecturer Nonie Darwish says the goal of radical Islamists is to impose Shariah law on the world, ripping Western law and liberty in two.
She recently authored the book, Cruel and Usual Punishment: The Terrifying Global Implications of Islamic Law.
Darwish was born in Cairo and spent her childhood in Egypt and Gaza before emigrating to America in 1978, When she was eight years old, her father died while leading covert attacks on Israel . He was a high- ranking Egyptian military officer stationed with his family in Gaza.
When he died, he was considered a20“shahid,” a martyr for jihad. His posthumous status earned Nonie and her family an elevated position in Muslim society.
But Darwish developed a skeptical eye at an early age. She questioned her own Muslim culture and upbringing. She converted to Christianity after hearing a Christian preacher on television.
In her latest book, Darwish warns about creeping sharia law – what it is, what it means, and how it is manifested in Islamic countries.
For the West, she says radical Islamists are working to impose sharia on the world. If that happens, Western civilization will be destroyed.
In twenty years there will be enough Muslim voters in the U.S. to elect the President! I think everyone in the U.S. should be required to read this, but with the ACLU, there is no way this will be widely publicized! This is your chance to make a difference….!

Muslim woman stoned to death for adultery...

HELEN WEILS wrote on August 30, 2009 03:42 PM: AND OBUMMER STANDS WITH THE MUSLIMS.
Author and lecturer Nonie Darwish says the goal of radical Islamists is to impose Shariah law on the world, ripping Western law and liberty in two.
She recently authored the book, Cruel and Usual Punishment: The Terrifying Global Implications of Islamic Law.
Darwish was born in Cairo and spent her childhood in Egypt and Gaza before emigrating to America in 1978, When she was eight years old, her father died while leading covert attacks on Israel . He was a high- ranking Egyptian military officer stationed with his family in Gaza.
When he died, he was considered a20“shahid,” a martyr for jihad. His posthumous status earned Nonie and her family an elevated position in Muslim society.
But Darwish developed a skeptical eye at an early age. She questioned her own Muslim culture and upbringing. She converted to Christianity after hearing a Christian preacher on television.
In her latest book, Darwish warns about creeping sharia law – what it is, what it means, and how it is manifested in Islamic countries.
For the West, she says radical Islamists are working to impose sharia on the world. If that happens, Western civilization will be destroyed.
In twenty years there will be enough Muslim voters in the U.S. to elect the President! I think everyone in the U.S. should be required to read this, but with the ACLU, there is no way this will be widely publicized! This is your chance to make a difference….!

Muslim woman stoned to death for adultery...

br wrote on August 30, 2009 02:10 PM: John F

I am greatly surprized to find myself agreeing with you since we are normally on different sides of all other issues.
Maybe there's hope for us yet.

Bayer's braying for mercy to supposedly dying terrorist murderer of 270 innocent persons is not unexpected. After all, Bayer is a tenure protected elite sitting in his ivory tower. He is also a lawyer. That's enough to destroy his crediablity. Had his family members, friends or professional peers been on that plane he would have a more realistic view.

I've heard only ONE doctor's opinion declared the terrorist has three months to live. Whether that's true or not, he should not have been released for return to Lybia as a hero.

Terrorist show no mercy They should not be shown any.

It is my opinion, Professor Bayer, that you are an educated idiot.

Tom, Burbank wrote on August 30, 2009 01:13 PM: Forget the Bayer, I need a double Excedrin after this logic twisting exercise in mea culpa self-flagellation. Thank goodness this guy is just a professor and not a judge. Weak, weak, weak.

Says it All. wrote on August 30, 2009 11:37 AM: Hey Professor Pete of Billy Boyd School of Law,

Eat another mushroom and let us know when it's O.K. to free O.J.

Until then, STFU.

L Goldman wrote on August 30, 2009 11:16 AM: Except that it now appears it was not mercy, it was a desire to work out an oil contract between Libya and BP. This is not a compassionate act. It's a sell out. And I am so tired of people telling me I have to feel for mass murderers.

Jack wrote on August 30, 2009 10:18 AM: Somewhere in your meanderings as a college student of political science or whatever worthless degree you got, then through your four years of sitting on your duff, reading law(mostly at taxpayer expense no doubt), you may have had children M. Bayer. if that is so I have to ask if your feeling of "morality" would be as strong if your child was on that airliner.
I listen and read this drivel, from morons like you havent worked in years, if ever at all, who want to preach morality, gun control, anti military and anti-death penalty crap to me. I am reminded of Louis L'Amours words in one of his westerns, "deciding to never committ violence is all very well as long as you get the other person to agree"
You are a coward M. Bayer. You are a coward not necessarily in the physical sense, but morally and intellectually, you are a coward hiding behind your soft science education, sitting safe in your study, smoking your pipe and telling the people who are willing to go out and make the tough choices, what you think of their actions. In short you are a lawyer with all the villany and cowardice that that title implies. The RJ would do well to stop printing your pacifist views. We the readers do not generally agree.

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