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Eugene

(61,900 posts)
Sat Oct 19, 2013, 11:00 AM Oct 2013

Larry Flynt urges clemency for Joseph Paul Franklin, the killer who shot him

Source: The Observer

Larry Flynt urges clemency for Joseph Paul Franklin, the killer who shot him

Edward Helmore in New York
The Observer, Saturday 19 October 2013 13.43 BST

By the brutal norms of American capital punishment, few recipients of a lethal injection will trouble consciences less deeply than Joseph Paul Franklin.

In a spree of racially motivated violence across the US in the late 1970s, the Ku Klux Klan-affiliated gunman murdered as many as 20 people on a mission to "cleanse the world" of those he considered to be of inferior status.

But if Franklin is strapped down to receive the fatal shot of drugs on 20 November, in conformity with the Missouri Department of Corrections' schedule, at least one of his surviving targets won't be raising a glass in celebration.

"If it was a deterrent, I'd support the death penalty, but it's not," Larry Flynt, the notorious pornographer and civil liberties campaigner who was paralysed by a bullet from Franklin's hunting rifle, told the Observer last week.

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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/19/larry-flynt-clemency-joseph-paul-franklin-crippled
24 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Larry Flynt urges clemency for Joseph Paul Franklin, the killer who shot him (Original Post) Eugene Oct 2013 OP
k&r idwiyo Oct 2013 #1
For a smut peddler, he can be amazingly classy Warpy Oct 2013 #2
Seconded. Jackpine Radical Oct 2013 #4
His politics are right on. loudsue Oct 2013 #5
...and Christian. roamer65 Oct 2013 #10
I agree gopiscrap Oct 2013 #14
This brought tears to my eyes to be Cha Oct 2013 #18
Flynt has always savaged the right men in his publications Warpy Oct 2013 #22
I remember how he exposed the hypocrisy of the Republicans during Clinton's impeachment Warren DeMontague Oct 2013 #23
king of pr deaniac21 Oct 2013 #3
Pink isn't smut. It's what most males spend most of their lives contemplating. hog Oct 2013 #6
Haven't picked up a Hustler in a while have you? MindPilot Oct 2013 #7
Another example of an Atheist acting more Christian MindPilot Oct 2013 #8
+1000 baldguy Oct 2013 #11
+1 Enthusiast Oct 2013 #17
I didn't know he was an "atheist" but many of the Cha Oct 2013 #19
Concur. Let's not make a martyr out of that loser Franklin. DinahMoeHum Oct 2013 #9
Couldn't agree more Cirque du So-What Oct 2013 #12
Must be hard not to be bitter LittleBlue Oct 2013 #13
And if Larry Flynt were his only victim, I might get on board. But he's not. WinkyDink Oct 2013 #15
i don't understand what difference that makes JI7 Oct 2013 #24
K&R Enthusiast Oct 2013 #16
"This nation is bent on executing people... Warren DeMontague Oct 2013 #20
Christian forgiveness from a gejohnston Oct 2013 #21

Warpy

(111,270 posts)
2. For a smut peddler, he can be amazingly classy
Sat Oct 19, 2013, 11:10 AM
Oct 2013

Thank you, Mr. Flynt. You are doing the right thing. Again.

Warpy

(111,270 posts)
22. Flynt has always savaged the right men in his publications
Sun Oct 20, 2013, 02:49 PM
Oct 2013

He's always fought the good fight as far as that goes. He's gotten into a lot of trouble over the years for over the top misogynism in his magazine (the woman being fed into the meat grinder being one glaring example although I identified with that feeling), but I know a lot of women who read his magazine for the humor.

So yes, he's keeping it classy. I'll always appreciate him for fighting Falwell all the way to the USSC.

Warren DeMontague

(80,708 posts)
23. I remember how he exposed the hypocrisy of the Republicans during Clinton's impeachment
Mon Oct 21, 2013, 05:07 PM
Oct 2013

half of the finger-waggers and huffy moralizing harumph-parumphers (even Henry Hyde, ewwwww) were busy having affairs of their own.

The media blithely ignored that shit while breathlessly reporting on every incoherent fart uttered by Linda Tripp or each sordid detail about the stained dress, etc.

 

MindPilot

(12,693 posts)
7. Haven't picked up a Hustler in a while have you?
Sat Oct 19, 2013, 12:12 PM
Oct 2013

Pink is what they started with, now it's hard core. No judgement; merely observation.

And welcome to DU.

Cha

(297,285 posts)
19. I didn't know he was an "atheist" but many of the
Sun Oct 20, 2013, 03:36 AM
Oct 2013

RW Christians we hear about blaring their are CINOs.

My sister happens to be a Liberal Christian and is the most caring thing for her fellow human beings. She and her kind give true meaning to the religion. Too bad about the mean spirited ones who are so vocal, loud, and evil.

DinahMoeHum

(21,794 posts)
9. Concur. Let's not make a martyr out of that loser Franklin.
Sat Oct 19, 2013, 12:19 PM
Oct 2013

Let Franklin preach his hateful rhetoric to the bedbugs and cockroaches in a supermax, for the rest of his fucked-up miserable life.

For such a hateful, self-righteous fanatic with no remorse or forgiveness of heart, life in prison with no parole is worse punishment than death.

Cirque du So-What

(25,941 posts)
12. Couldn't agree more
Sat Oct 19, 2013, 12:53 PM
Oct 2013

and if one chose to get all fiscally responsible - for real - one would realize that capital punishment is a much bigger drain on tax revenue than life without parole...in addition to the myriad reasons why the death penalty has no place in a so-called 'civilized society.'

Enthusiast

(50,983 posts)
16. K&R
Sun Oct 20, 2013, 02:40 AM
Oct 2013

Larry has a greater sense of morals than many that cloak themselves in the mantle of piousness.

I have great respect for Larry Flynt.

Warren DeMontague

(80,708 posts)
20. "This nation is bent on executing people...
Sun Oct 20, 2013, 05:03 AM
Oct 2013

...and it’s hard to get people who feel that way to be rational"


Yeah. A lot of irrationality running around these days, 15 minutes hate type stuff.


I don't think the DP makes sense. Probably the strongest argument against is the fact that the justice system is at times unfair, and often gets the wrong person. A wrongful incarceration can be undone, at least somewhat. A wrongful execution cannot.

It says a lot about Larry Flynt that he can approach the topic rationally, even in regards to the person who shot him.

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