# Eric Rudolph-Societal Excrement of the Highest Order **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 14, 2005, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-rudolph-societal-excrement-of-the-highest-order/299213 "2005-04-14T00:20:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mac\_Guffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Mac\_Guffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mac_Guffin)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-rudolph-societal-excrement-of-the-highest-order/299213/21 "2005-04-14T08:44:19Z")
Apparently the **Duke** thinks we are all one collective hive mind. If one person speaks out of step with the Hive mind then the mind, as a whole, is guilty of hypocrisy Must be how it works on his planet. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-rudolph-societal-excrement-of-the-highest-order/299213/22 "2005-04-14T09:31:49Z")
> [@Blalron](#): > > I believe the only reason Eric Rudolph isn’t facing the gurney right now with our current administration is because he targeted abortion clinics. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least bit if Bush offered him clemency on the 11th hour on the last day of his term. :smack: Utter tripe. I will right here and now bet you $100 or a case of Scotch or whatever the hell you like that the Bush Administration will do no such thing. Hell, I’ll bet you my $500 to your $5 that it doesn’t happen. And I say this as no fan of the Bush Administration. Eric Robert Rudolph will not be pardoned, offered clemency, or paroled, or given any deal beyond the dubious mercy of being locked up for the rest of his life rather than executed, which deal I have no real doubt he was offered because the prosecutors wanted to know where his bombs were stashed, and _maybe_ because they feared it would be difficult to get the death penalty in any case, and not out of any secret Republican sympathies for a cop killing anti-gay bigot who also murdered a mother of two for no better reason than that she was at a free concert in a public part, and who set off bombs designed to maim or kill paramedics and police. As for those of you who are bewailing the fact that Rudolph will be lying around in the lap of luxury on your dime, he will likely go to the “Administrative Supermax” prison in Florence, Colorado. He will then spend the rest of his life in an 8 foot by 12 foot room, with a concrete chair, a concrete desk, and a concrete bed, and a 4-inch wide window giving a view of a concrete recreation yard, in which room he will spend as much as 23 hours a day. After a few years of good behavior, he may be allowed the privilege of eating in a dining room full of other hardened criminals rather than eating all his meals in his cell. A lethal injection would probably be a less harsh sentence. Which is not to say I have any particular sympathy for the murdering fanatic, but come on, people, it’s not exactly a wrist slap we’re talking here. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-rudolph-societal-excrement-of-the-highest-order/299213/23 "2005-04-14T11:34:42Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > However, not everyone who posts here has exactly the same opinion. Some people who post here actually support the death penalty. **danceswithcats** and **Mr. Blue Sky** , judging by their posts here, are two such posters. I imagine there are all sorts of scenarios where they think the death penalty is appropriate. Even to people who aren’t abortion clinic bombers or radical right wingers. FTR, I support the death penalty when the person has admitted to murder or there is overwhelming evidence inidicating guilt (eyewitnesses, some sort of recorded evidence, etc). Eric Rudolph, that sleazebag in Florida who raped and murdered the 9-yr-old, that guy in Texas who killed the pregnant woman and her 7-yr-old kid are all well deserving. They have all admitted their guilt. As for Rudolph’s sentence of 23 hours a day in a concrete cell, I’m waiting for someone to come along and tell me how “cruel and unusual” THAT is. Let’s just gather all those guys at the supermax facility and fucking throw them a party every day. ---
**Author:** ![robertliguori](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/46a35a/32.png) [@robertliguori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robertliguori)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-rudolph-societal-excrement-of-the-highest-order/299213/24 "2005-04-14T11:44:47Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > Let’s just gather all those guys at the supermax facility and fucking throw them a party every day. I think this is a good idea. Reverend Jim Jones will be providing the punch. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-rudolph-societal-excrement-of-the-highest-order/299213/25 "2005-04-14T12:00:01Z")
> [@danceswithcats](#): > > Now I’ve gotta pay for this asshole’s three hots and a cot. If it’s the money that’s bugging you, just be glad he wasn’t sentenced to death; maintaining a prisoner on death row through the mandatory appeals (paid for by the government) is much more expensive than a sentence of life in prison. > [@](#): > > The most comprehensive death penalty study in the country found that the death penalty costs North Carolina $2.16 million more per execution than the a non-death penalty murder case with a sentence of life imprisonment (Duke University, May 1993). On a national basis, these figures translate to an extra cost of over $1 billion spent since 1976 on the death penalty. > > [http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=108&scid=7](http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=108&scid=7) ---
**Author:** ![Metacom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecae2f/32.png) [@Metacom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Metacom)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-rudolph-societal-excrement-of-the-highest-order/299213/26 "2005-04-14T12:04:32Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > Whew! Glad I’m an atheist and am not bound by a 2000 year storybook. Or morality, for that matter. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-rudolph-societal-excrement-of-the-highest-order/299213/27 "2005-04-14T12:52:44Z")
> [@Metacom](#): > > Or morality, for that matter. I have morals a lot higher than Mr. Rudolph. If I’m upset with the goverment, I don’t go around killing innocent people to show it. I don’t go around maiming and killing people because their beliefs don’t match mine. ---
**Author:** ![Metacom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecae2f/32.png) [@Metacom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Metacom)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-rudolph-societal-excrement-of-the-highest-order/299213/28 "2005-04-14T13:02:33Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > I have morals a lot higher than Mr. Rudolph. If ever there was a case of damning with faint praise. 😛 > [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > I don’t go around maiming and killing people because their beliefs don’t match mine. No, you just profess hope prison guards will do the dirty work for you… ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-rudolph-societal-excrement-of-the-highest-order/299213/29 "2005-04-14T13:03:24Z")
> [@Metacom](#): > > No, you just profess hope prison guards will do the dirty work for you… Strap him to a gurney and give me the needle. ---
**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-rudolph-societal-excrement-of-the-highest-order/299213/30 "2005-04-14T13:06:22Z")
but you want the government to kill a guy because he doesn’t operate by your moral standards, right? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-rudolph-societal-excrement-of-the-highest-order/299213/31 "2005-04-14T13:10:59Z")
> [@TwistofFate](#): > > but you want the government to kill a guy because he doesn’t operate by your moral standards, right? I want the guy to get what he deserves for the way he carries out his beliefs. If he was truly angry with the government, why not target it directly? ---
**Author:** ![robertliguori](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/46a35a/32.png) [@robertliguori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robertliguori)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-rudolph-societal-excrement-of-the-highest-order/299213/32 "2005-04-14T13:19:23Z")
> [@TwistofFate](#): > > but you want the government to kill a guy because he doesn’t operate by your moral standards, right? Er, not quite. People who think that abortion clinics should be bombed suck, but people aren’t advocating killing or imprisoning them. It’s the actual bombing that is the distinguishing factor. ---
**Author:** ![Metacom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecae2f/32.png) [@Metacom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Metacom)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-rudolph-societal-excrement-of-the-highest-order/299213/33 "2005-04-14T13:19:38Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > I want the guy to get what he deserves for the way he carries out his beliefs. I imagine Rudolph had similiar feelings about abortion doctors. ---
**Author:** ![LilyoftheValley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/54ee81/32.png) [@LilyoftheValley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilyoftheValley)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-rudolph-societal-excrement-of-the-highest-order/299213/34 "2005-04-14T13:23:15Z")
> [@Jeep's Phoenix](#): > > I remember when the local TV station sent a crew out to the mountains to interview some of the people in the town where Rudolph was captured. While no one would admit to helping him, the people being interviewed said they really didn’t see that he had done anything wrong; after all, the people in the abortion clinics and at the gay bar were the real sinners. :rolleyes: I heard a local woman interviewed yesterday. She said that Rudolph was not guilty of any of this. He was just admitting it because he had no choice – if he didn’t, the goverment would have railroaded him into the death penalty. Oh, and the 250 pounds of explosives? She said that was entirely normal and necessary. She said terrorists are everywhere, and we need to be prepared with firepower just like the Minutemen. Scary stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-rudolph-societal-excrement-of-the-highest-order/299213/35 "2005-04-14T13:28:43Z")
> [@Metacom](#): > > I imagine Rudolph had similiar feelings about abortion doctors. From what I’ve read, Rudolph was upset that the government was condoning abortions and that was wrong. Rather than directing his anger at the gov’t, he chose to kill the doctors and destroy the clinics (which do more than abortions). Since that wasn’t good enough, he chose the Olympics. Yeah, the best way to get me to believe in your cause is to randomly murder innocent people who have absolutely nothing to do with what you’re fighting against. Rudolph is a coward, plain and simple. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-rudolph-societal-excrement-of-the-highest-order/299213/36 "2005-04-14T13:28:48Z")
> [@Duke of Rat](#): > > I thought we had long since decided that the death penalty was bad In the immortal words of Tonto, “What you mean ‘we’, paleface?” The only serious issue I have with the death penalty is the record of inadequate safeguards to prevent wrongful executions. In a case like this (where there is no rational doubt of the perp’s guilt or the heinousness of his crimes), I regret that he will be permitted to keep using the planet’s oxygen supply. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-rudolph-societal-excrement-of-the-highest-order/299213/37 "2005-04-14T13:29:04Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > I want the guy to get what he deserves for the way he carries out his beliefs. > > If he was truly angry with the government, why not target it directly? Like Timothy McVeigh? I think Eric Rudolph deserves to die. He’s a serial, terroristic murderer of innocent people. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-rudolph-societal-excrement-of-the-highest-order/299213/38 "2005-04-14T13:33:54Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Like Timothy McVeigh? Not that I, in the least bit, admire this idiot, but he did take it directly to the target of his hatred (the gov’t). Unfortunately, his victims had nothing to do with Waco. He did the right thing and took the needle. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-rudolph-societal-excrement-of-the-highest-order/299213/39 "2005-04-14T14:10:15Z")
I’m seeing less that would lead me to believe he’s a man following his moral convictions and more that he’s just a bastard that likes to terrorize and/or kill. Many of his actions just don’t follow the logical rationale you’d expect from someone making those claims of purpose. I was in Centennial Olympic Park 40 minutes before the bombing and was on my hotel balcony several blocks away looking down toward the park when the bomb went off. Like **Maddy** mentioned, the atmosphere from that day on was such a sad departure from the enthusiasm of before. I grieve for the mother he killed there and for those from all the other incidents and was furious to hear that at his sentencing he was arrogant, joking and mocking the prosecution and families of the victims. While IMHO he deserves death, Like **MEBuckner** said this sentence is no cakewalk. For five years he’s lived in the mountains, tenaciously clinging to the freedom he apparently holds so dear. Now he’s permanently bound on every side by concrete and boredom and I think it’s going to drive him batshit crazy. Good, he’s got a lot of suffering to catch up on. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-rudolph-societal-excrement-of-the-highest-order/299213/40 "2005-04-14T14:16:32Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > Now he’s permanently bound on every side by concrete and boredom and I think it’s going to drive him batshit crazy. Good, he’s got a lot of suffering to catch up on. Somehow, I don’t think he’ll be suffering too much. Remember, what he did was right (in his twisted mind, at least). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-rudolph-societal-excrement-of-the-highest-order/299213.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-rudolph-societal-excrement-of-the-highest-order/299213.md?page=3)