GUILTY WA - Delbert Belton, 88, beaten to death, Spokane, 21 Aug 2013

[WhoaIsMe]

We live in a culture with no respect for human life. It's so depressing as to be willfully ignored as much as possible else I might go completely Sigourney Weaver in Copycat.

How can these guys find any support? How? How far have we slumped into the abyss that people aren't ashamed to even know them, let alone defend them and protect KK's whereabouts? I won't even go near what kind of parenting led to this... except to say that THIS is the kind of adult I was trying to avoid raising, which is why, when I laid my head down to go to sleep, my children were already snoring. FFS at least TRY!

I hope this second suspect is taken off the streets soon. He is not fit to live in a free society.

 

[miimaa]

Lengthy criminal record and still roaming the streets committing more crimes. Our judicial system is broken. Build more jails and get these animals off the streets when they get started instead of waiting until they kill or maim someone.

We can't do that. It's not politically correct to incarcerate criminals. It's not their fault after all.... we must understand their problems and give them opportunities and resources.

 

[miimaa]

These are acts of souless individuals and this violence has to stop....

Parents---> please really look at your children and what is going on with them.

Agreed and STOP lying for them, saying they were home watching SpongeBob.

 

[Cappuccino]

We can't do that. It's not politically correct to incarcerate criminals. It's not their fault after all.... we must understand their problems and give them opportunities and resources.

America has one of the highest incarceration rates in the entire world, and by far the highest in the developed world. If more prisons and longer sentences were the answer you would have very few problems with crime. It should be clear by now that there's something else wrong - something that more prisons and more punitive sentences won't fix.

 

[LambChop]

Stop with the racial comments. They are unnecessary and are totally off topic.

 

[Sonya610]

America has one of the highest incarceration rates in the entire world, and by far the highest in the developed world. If more prisons and longer sentences were the answer you would have very few problems with crime. It should be clear by now that there's something else wrong - something that more prisons and more punitive sentences won't fix.

These days the prisons are training grounds for criminals! In the old days they were a PUNISHMENT as in work on a chain gang breaking up rocks for 10 hours a day.

Now days going to prison is a "badge of honor" for many. It shows they "made it" and are real. It is a social experience that even includes cable TV and a gym!

Start enforcing "hard time" and the coolness factor of going to prison will be erased. Not many seem admirable when they are covered in sweat and tied to a chain breaking up boulders all day.

 

[Cappuccino]

Prisons in every developed country have cable TV and a gym. In fact, the US penal system would be one of the harsher ones, and yet you have one of the highest crime rates - so its not that your prisons are too soft either.

By the time you're talking about punishment and prisons, its already too late IMO. A crime has already been committed at that stage.

 

[LambChop]

Prisons in every developed country have cable TV and a gym. In fact, the US penal system would be one of the harsher ones, and yet you have one of the highest crime rates - so its not that your prisons are too soft either.

By the time you're talking about punishment and prisons, its already too late IMO. A crime has already been committed at that stage.

Yes. And where are they housed for the next extended amount of years.....with other hardened criminals. Some learn a lesson, most don't. jmo

 

[Sonya610]

By the time you're talking about punishment and prisons, its already too late IMO. A crime has already been committed at that stage.

Uhhh...usually SEVERAL crimes have been committed before they go to prison. But those crimes were just minor, like burglary, assault, illegal weapons, etc....

What do you suggest Cappuccino? How do we fix this problem? Throw more money at it? More money at the schools? Ensuring those "poverty" stricken kids have access to education and the internet? The schools teaching the lower income children already receive MUCH MUCH more money per student than those of the middle class.

Word up....the kids living on public assistance in the US are MORE likely to have access to cable, big screen tv's and such than the kids of working middle class families.

 

[Cappuccino]

Then clearly cable, big screen TVs etc aren't the answer either. I'm not going to pretend to know the answer, if I did know it I'd probably be rich and powerful. I'm not rich and powerful, but even I can see that by the time you're screaming for longer sentences and chain gangs its already too late.

There's something else wrong there - what kind of a mentality does a young person have to develope if they see prison as, to quote your words, "a badge of honour"? And where do they get it from?

 

[Sonya610]

There's something else wrong there - what kind of a mentality does a young person have to develope if they see prison as, to quote your words, "a badge of honour"? And where do they get it from?

Yes I agree, there is something else wrong here. How does beating an 88 year old man to death get the support of others? Just like shooting a 13 month old baby in the FACE intentionally in Brunswick GA, how did that get tons of others to step up and support the killer?

It is a cultural thang. If you don't get it I can't explain it.

 

[Cappuccino]

I'm afraid I don't get it, but then I've never been to the States. Whatever that "cultural thang" is, it needs to be changed.

 

[Blondie in Spokane]

I'm glad to see that Mr. Belton's family is receiving lots of support...

http://www.krem.com/news/Memorial-support-grows-for-murdered-WWII-vet-Delbert-Belton-221002451.html

 

[Sonya610]

I'm afraid I don't get it, but then I've never been to the States. Whatever that "cultural thang" is, it needs to be changed.

What country are you in? You don't sound Italian but maybe you are.

Don't buy what Hollywood depicts. It is way different in reality.

 

[LambChop]

I'm afraid I don't get it, but then I've never been to the States. Whatever that "cultural thang" is, it needs to be changed.

I don't think "cultural" is a correct definition of what is going on with some of our young people. Some children have bad role models because a member of their family may be in jail, or friends may have been arrested, etc. Some children are just desensitized to the violence around them.

I agree that finding out about the dynamics of these families will be important. jmo

 

[stmarysmead]

Years ago, kids grew up in extended families...they were known as one of the "Smith kids." They had grandparents,auntsand uncles and there was a sense thate everyone'sbehavior reflected on the entire family. There was pride in Dad being a "provider"....my sister's husband worked three jobs to pay the bills. They did not have $100 athletic shoes in that family...but they had respect. And the Dad was respected for making an honest living. The music and TV and movie industry reflected those values. They reinforced the notion of honest work,not gold chains, tatoos, filth talk and so-called "manly"values of beat-downs and swarming into stores and theiving.

Now Dad is just a guy that drops by, living with various women...Mom might send you to a girlfriend for a few years.A gang is a sense of belonging, of identity. The name of the gang replaces that pride in the family name.

Politicans feed anger and get votes by pushing the notion that working people are "privileged" and if you don't have the material things you lust after,it is the faultof someone else. Anger builds in young people and if they are told they are "marginalized"enough, some think that is an excuse to rob,beat,orjust kill. The men in our family were too busy working to blame others.Politicans were not using buzzwords like "marginalized" or "privileged" to create excuses,envy,and hate. Families ASPIRED to more for their kids...like education,not goldchains.

The idols of the day werenot rappers who droned HATE in their music. No, there were silly songs about cars,beaches, and summer love...not killing cops.

We live in a time when hate sells CDs and elects politicans. We throw money into programs,but ignore the culture. Look at the Facebookpages of all these kids. It is the same thing over and over.

 

[Cappuccino]

What country are you in? You don't sound Italian but maybe you are.

Don't buy what Hollywood depicts. It is way different in reality.

Ireland.

 

[Sonya610]

I don't think "cultural" is a correct definition of what is going on with some of our young people. Some children have bad role models because a member of their family may be in jail, or friends may have been arrested, etc. Some children are just desensitized to the violence around them.

I agree that finding out about the dynamics of these families will be important. jmo

Sorry but they aren't "our young people". If any of my younger relatives started victimizing others, whether it was by stealing or God forbid violence, they would have heck to pay, they would be told in no uncertain terms to straighten up or face the law and go to jail/prison. There would likely also be a slap upside the head followed by the question "What in the heck is wrong with you????". It is called family and standards and responsibility.

These little cold blooded killers aren't "my young people" and I feel no obligation towards them whatsoever. Guess that makes me part of the problem? Because I am not apologizing for them?

Yeah...because apologizing for them and making excuses seems to be working so well.

 

[LambChop]

In terms of American youth, they are "our young people." No one is apologizing for what they have done.

 

[stmarysmead]

There is a line from a classic play..."I guess in a way...they were ALL my sons." Like it or not, these kids committing these hideous crimes ARE "all our sons." Because we are all in this together. We cannot be safe from them by hating them. We can ban guns,but they are killing with flashlights and fists. They are swarming stores, putting some smallbusinesses out of business. They are making parts of our cities and rural countrysides places for meth, murder, and beatdowns....and the boundaries are spreading.

Cops are presented as the problem,not as protection....so our safety is further impaired. These kids come in all colors and mixes of colors....the main commonality is their sense banality to the pain of others,their sense of ENTITLEMENT to take from others....and the fact that the words of politicans and popular cultural icons give them a sense that their anger justifies violence.

"You are MARGINALIZED"....you deserve luxury goods, and leather coats and rings like Rappers wear...because you would be making BigMoney if the "privileged"ones were not keeping you down. That old man has a car...thatold lady has a house...they need a beatdown because we have been told WE should have those things.

Do politicans and leaders believe that inciting Rage will bring us all together and make this country a safer,kinder place? Yesterday, at a March that SHOULD have been a reflection on one of the most revered and blessed moments of our history, one speaker told the crowd that today..."skin color is a license to kill."

Really? There are plenty of crimes in various "colors."

How does that heal, or help? No, it is shameful. These kids are ALL our sons...the victims and the murderers. We had better stop pushing The Divide because solutions can onlycome...at that Table of Brotherhood that the First MLK spoke about .