Not even God would support this argument. You are judging these kids and giving them a premature death, meaning that they will have no chance to say sorry to their victims or somehow make up for their mistakes. I mean, they are still kids for crying out loud.

Don't play God.

Edit: Also, about those initiatives that you are talking about in your last line. Do they include killing those with the worst bullying habits?

LOL!... It's not funny!

OT: That's just ridiculous. You can't really say much more than that other than that it is stupid, pathetic, rude, annoying, wrong, etc. Smh.

When Prime Minister David Cameron does. 

The US has 100 US troops in Uganda and has committed funds for the purpose of assisting in the removal of Joseph Kony.  The number of British troops in Uganda?  0.  The amount of money the British government has committed?  £0. 

Stop asking when the US will intervene on behalf of the world and start asking when the UK will.

I do wonder whether you read the rest of my post.

The point I am making is that Joseph Kony is not a priority target, and we shouldn't really be sending anybody to stop him. That's why the Kony 2012 campaign was so ridiculous - it ignored far worse dictators in favour of an unimportant man who isn't really a danger to anybody anymore.

You are an anti-theist, who has used arguments on here to try to get people to stop believing in God.  I don't think you are qualified to speak about what God would or would not support.  You actually aren't qualified to speak on anything connected with a mental construct you don't consider real.

In regards to them being "still kids" for crying out loud.  The kids on the bus fully knew what they were doing.  They were intentionally inflicting pain and suffering on the bus mom.  It is like the young men in the Bible story who got mauled to death by female bears for taunting someone for being bald and other things connected with degree of holiness.   They are being cruel and evil.  And who are you to say what is "premature" or not?  Way life works, you act in the wrong manner, you die from it.  Only thing that would save someone from this is a degree of mercy and compassion.

In regards to initiatives supported, I don't believe coersion is the answer to anything out there.  However, if individuals who lack mercy and compassion, and bully, suffer a fate that is horrible due to their situation, I don't shed a tear over them at all.  This includes bullies getting mauled by bears.  Call it karma if you like.  My first preference is redemption for all, even the worst.  A key to redemption is actual change though, not some sort of cheap grace where you steal a bike you want, ask for forgiveness, and don't return it.

I thought you were being facetious with the whole "children being mauled by bears" thing but it's becoming worryingly likely that you're actually serious :/

No, being clawed to death by wild animals is not a valid punishment for bullying, or anything else. Indeed, I don't see that this should result in a criminal prosecution at all. I approve of the suspension of the kids involved, but nothing more.

May I just say, you are a very peculiar liberal. I'm guessing you would oppose the death penalty for murder, but apparently it's okay for a bunch of kids who make fun of an old lady on a bus.

Take what I say as a person who is currently on the wrong side of things, and see on the internet things with people displaying the worst and most cruel of behaviors, and personally had been subject of such insults.  Like, one guy who says I should kill myself so his taxes would be lower.  Others, when I saw what was said with Occupy, advocated the use of lethal force.  You see political rhetoric like this and a lack of compassion.  And in my youth, I experienced a lot of bullying.  I have seen a lot of bad things out there, and have issues with things.

Reality is that I am arguably NOT a liberal.  You can call my political views peculiar, and they are.  I now tend to hang out more on the anarchist side of things.  I also have ethics somewhat in line with the Bible (at least core Christian values).  They are my own views, one of a person on a journey, likely not able to fully enlighten and inform, but hopefully can get people to ask better questions, and act better to one another.  

I am not in support of the death penalty, and my preference would be that people end up changing.  I am also pro-life, but non-legistlative, which makes me seem to be pro choice.  I don't believe the government is effective at much of anything.  So, end result is that if individuals who are lacking in basic compassion get what they dish out, based on their own view of things, it is fitting.  Maybe call it a system of justice, based on irony, out of the Twilight Zone.  Well, consider it fortunate I am not in government.  I also don't believe in artificial constructs like punishment and deterents, the use of more suffering to offset and deter other suffering.  So, what I come from isn't punishment, but more a chain of causality consequences.

Oh the last part, I would say it was ok for cruel kids to get mauled by bears, not to mock the old lady.  I am assuming you meant to say that as the last part of it but it got cut off short.

Why would I not be qualified after being Christian for 16 years? I know how Christians resonate and I know that it is up to God to judge people (unlike what you suggest we may do).

By killing bullies after they have made others' lives a misery you are trying to give them a short-cut to hell. And since when was it okay to kill people, according to God? That is also a major flaw in the US's reasoning where they kill people for their actions, as if the ten commandments allowed killing.

The kids on the bus obviously knew what they were doing, but the problem is not them choosing to do it. The problem is that they were not raised to understand how horrible it may feel to be the victim of such actions. And your ridiculous laws regarding "freedom of speech" where this kind of actions are legal are obviously not helping.

On another note: What makes you better than Hitler? Hitler wanted to kill people with certain skin colours and beliefs, you want to kill people who lack sympathy, mercy and compassion. In other words: People's deaths will be affected by their heritage. Sometimes more, sometimes less. Heritage will affect your choices in life. And they will be even more dependant on your parents and the society where you grow up (none of which are chosen by the individual), especially when we are talking about kids. So, where does the line go? How do I know if killing the neighbours' kid who bullied my kid is justified?

This entire discussion is absurd, and I'm not surprised at all that I'm talking to an American out of all nationalities.

People do those kinds of things on the internet. You shouldn't take it to heart. Good person + anonymity = vitriol. None of the people posting on blogs advocating for violent revolution are actually going to go out there and do it. They're frustrated, and they feel the need to complain and nothing more.

I'm really on the fence about the death penalty. Most people don't end up changing, but if they do, then you'll have killed somebody who would go on to be an honest citizen. On top of that, there is the awful risk of killing an innocent man or woman, and the enormous expense involved. I would agree with you that government is ineffective. However, I would have to disagree with this concept of retribution that you seem to be promoting. You don't know the motivations of people who say and do these things, and you don't know the full story. Neither does anyone else. A jury and judge know more than most people, so if anyone needs to make a decision, it's them.

As for this idea that evil people will somehow be automatically punished by the universe through some sort of karma system, that really doesn't hold any water. Mugabe is still alive well into his seventies, and affluent and powerful as ever. Kennedy tried to make a positive difference and didn't even make it to 50. Isn't it one of the core tenets of Christianity that even God doesn't judge a man until the end of his days? I suppose he does the exact opposite many times in the Bible, but you can't really hope for complete logical consistency, just some sort of general conclusion.

And that's what I was saying: you're advocating a death penalty for a group of children who made an old woman cry. Yes, their behaviour was despicable. Yes, they should be punished. I don't, however, think that they are necessarily bad people, and no, they do not deserve to be mauled to death by a bear. I can think of many people far more deserving of that fate.

I am of the belief that what people do in secret is a real measure of what is on their heart, and a true measure of their intentions.  If you want to test a person's character, put them under duress.  If you want to see what shape of the world they want, give them wealth an power.  If you want to see what their true intentions and motives are, put them behind a mask.  And I say this about the mask, because no one told them to do it.  They weren't under the compulsion of anything.  They didn't have to say it.  But they do say it, free of any negative fall out from things.  In their freedom, they act and express.  That is who they really are.   The person in question who said I should die to his taxes would be lower, also spoke a bunch of stuff regarding Obama with a bunch of racists overtones to.  If it was all a joke, then the person in question has some really deprived sense of humor.

Also, please understand the nuances in what I am saying.  I am of the belief that a person who shows mercy and compassion, should be cut more slack than those who don't.  Individuals who call for no mercy and compassion, if you understand what I am saying, would suitable be fit for coming under much harsher standards.  I say this as in, if the world work the way would be more preferable, this would happen.  And it is a case, if individuals act without mercy and compassion, they if what happened with the bear happened, so be it.   In this, the world functions as they want it to be, and so be it.  What I also say is in keeping with what the New Testament says.  I am to practice mercy and compassion, if I am to expect any.  I would also say that consequences don't necessarily happen until the end of days.  I am of the belief that a lack of consequences before the end of days, and a Christianity that holds to such as being such, is a weak one.  It is ineffective and fairly useless.  It is a faith without any works.

And I am advocating no death penalty here, just if such happened, so be it.  And it doesn't exclude others either from what I am saying.  And it isn't retribution either.  It is just there are sometimes consequences, that if someone is spared, would be more in keeping with mercy and compassion, than anything else.