Penalty Is Productive

The editorial in the March 30-April 5 issue on the death penalty is deeply flawed, particularly the cliché that it lacks ‘deterrent’ effect. 

The short answer is that the death penalty has deterred the likes of Timothy McVeigh, Ted Bundy and John Wayne Gacy. Gary Gilmore too. 

In truth it’s complete nonsense to argue the deterrent effect of a procedure that is so infrequently applied that a cold blooded killer realistically worries more about being struck by lightning than the execution chamber. When every 10 murders are followed by nine executions, then and only then will it make sense to examine the deterrence question.

The editorial also argued that life without parole is an ‘acceptable’ alternative. Okay, but I will put a question to the writer. 

Suppose a criminal so situated becomes bored and for amusement kills a fellow prisoner. Do you reduce his library privileges? And assume he next kills a guard, do you cut back his television time?

The editorial praised former Illinois Governor George Ryan for his blanket clemency. Did the writer speak with any of the parents of the many children murdered by the serial killers Ryan let off the hook? 

Ryan himself faces trial this year on felony corruption charges, thanks in no small part to the able efforts of Pat Fitzgerald, Chicago’s most welcome borrowing from New York. Ryan will spend his dotage incarcerated with those same moral monsters he exonerated. 

The death penalty is the only means whereby society can effectively pronounce that the innocent lives snuffed out by the predators in our midst had value.

Our Catholic bishops do not grasp this. Of course they themselves cannot sense the pain felt by parents of murdered children, just as they did not sense the harm done by serial molesters in religious garb. 

When they mount their campaign against the death penalty they are making a hierarchical pronouncement that no moral distinction exists between executing a Timothy McVeigh and killing an unborn child in a partial birth abortion.

The Catholic laity, of course, will pay no attention to them and church attendance will continue its inexorable slide toward single digits.

Tom Mahoney. Buffalo Grove, Illinois

Gaelic Is Relevant

I would like to address your cranky regular letter writer Jerry Hoosier, who is constantly going out of his way to criticize the Gaelic language. I don’t know how that Irish ‘lassie’ he’s married to can stand his lunatic ravings.

Promoting interest in one’s heritage and culture is part of what we all should be. Clearly poor Mrs. Hoosier retains an interest in the land where she was born, otherwise why would the Irish Voice arrive into the Hoosier household each week?

I am Irish American. My parents were born in Ireland. I have taken Gaelic classes on and off for years, and I thoroughly enjoy them.

Mr. Hoosier says the language is dead. It’s more like he’s dead, because if he made any effort at all to understand where his wife came from, he’d know that the language is a vital part of the Irish experience.

He intimates it is not relevant anymore. So what? Is American Idol really relevant to anyone, other than the producers who make tons of money? No, but it’s fun to watch. And Gaelic is fun to speak and learn.

Mr. Hoosier should lighten up and try it himself. Maybe he’d even enjoy it.

Mary Ellen Whelan. Boston, Massachusetts

Respect the Unionists

John Spain is always right on the money with his columns about the North. It’s hard to justify why the Irish Voice keeps on hero-worshipping at the feet of Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams.

Yes, he and his party are crucial to a final settlement, but they’re hardly the only pieces to the puzzle. What about the other parties? What if Ian Paisley’s Unionists aren’t satisfied? 

It would be nice to see more respect paid to Unionist concerns in Northern Ireland. They are the majority population, after all, and they deserve the same respect that Adams gets.

Robert Hanlon. Cincinnati, Ohio

Right on U2!

I was lucky enough to have tickets for one of U2s shows in San Diego last month. What a treat. They are back and better than ever. 

It’s hard to see U2 going the way of the Rolling Stones or other bands with a catalog of big hits. The music they make today is still as relevant as it ever was. Their shows are a great mix of the oldies and the new songs, which their fans still crave and care about. When was the last time the Stones released a new single that got any attention?

The boys are back in town, thank God, and long may they reign. There’s not another band around that can touch them.

Karen Simmons. San Francisco, California

Make Peace Permanent

I am hoping that the Westminster elections next month will finally usher in a new era of permanent peace in Northern Ireland, and that all the political rhetoric just goes away.

I have been to Northern Ireland on numerous occasions, both during the height of the Troubles and since the IRA ceasefire in 1994. 

The change in the province, particularly Belfast, since the ceasefire has been striking. The city is beautiful, and business are booming all over the place. There is a sense of well-being and normalcy that was never prevalent when bombs were going off all over. 

How the politicians on all sides can’t recognize this and act immediately to nail down a permanent settlement is beyond me. The people do not want to go back to the bad old days of random violence, and they don’t want to return to a life lived in a constant state of fear.

Who’s done what to whom is really irrelevant at this stage. People need to come together and get the North straightened out for once and for all. 

Stephen McManus. Huntington, New York

Backwards GAA

The decision last weekend to open Croke Park is a fantastic tribute to the GAA, but no thanks to the diehards on the New York GAA board who voted to keep it closed.

How could an organization that shares its Gaelic Park field with soccer, baseball, American football and every other type of game see fit to deny a sporting venue like Croke Park to worthy similar groups at home?

The New York GAA has been very progressive in the recent past, planning a new center of their own and working hard to sort out their problems with players arriving in from Ireland for weekend games.

I’m sure if any poll of New York GAA players would have been taken, the vast majority would have voted in favor of lifting the ban on Croke Park being used for soccer and rugby. 

I think New York should have learned from its own problems from finding a permanent home for their own games, that sometimes it is far better to work with other organizations than working against them.

A great result for the GAA, but a disappointing day for local Gaels here in the Big Apple.

Raymond Murphy. Tarrytown, New York