Bust in Slay of Rudy Aide

New York Post ^ | August 31, 2006 | Philip Messing with Brian Hammacher

[SJackson]

jla: I'll have to review the Virginia Code after Mr. J and the others revised it, as I think you're mistaken in a few of your allegations…Though you do seem to be trying to paint TSOM as being easy on criminals. This would be a grave error on your part…...but then again, I guess it's a more simple task to misrepresent Thomas J than it is to come up with any cogent reasons as to why Giuliani is deserving to occupy the same house that Jefferson, Madison, and Reagan once did. The former men being infinitely more qualified than your former mayor/gay parade aficionado.

Torie: It may be that Jefferson drafted the castration law regarding sodomy as the only politically feasible way to reduce the penalty from death. I am not asserting that that is the case, I don't know, but see my post above.

JLA, I didn’t misrepresent Jefferson at all.

You provided a paragraph from a private letter, context unknown, to support your position that buggery and rape should be punishable by castration. As an aside, let me note that buggery/sodomy relates to a sex act practiced by non-homosexuals. Only a third of so of the states with sodomy laws on the books at the time of the 2003 Supreme Court decision criminalized only male-male sodomy.

A private letter can certainly provide insight into a mans mind. I noted, accurately, that this might not have been a widely held punishment, as a ban on cruel and unusual punishment worked it’s way into our laws. That’s not a misrepresentation.

I also noted that Jefferson supported the death penalty for murder, and maybe treason. I asked, you didn’t answer, whether you support Jefferson all the way, should we rescind the death penalty for the many crimes other than murder for which it exists? You can add to that castration for rape and male-female sodomy too I suppose. That’s not a misrepresentation either.

As I’ve noted before I’ll, unlike you I suppose, vote for Giuliani (or McCain) before Hillary or any Dem I can think of. If that makes Rudy my former mayor/gay parade aficionado, so be it. Most people would simply call me a Republican, also a pejorative in some circles.

Torie—I don’t know that there was a castration law. All I’ve seen on the thread is a paragraph from a letter. Presented as though it were a deeply held position to support the castration concept already proposed on the thread. A single paragraph 200+ year old letter does nothing to convince me. As your link clearly demonstrates. Laws do change, as culture changes. As I noted we have the death penalty for numerous crimes other than murder. And in most peoples minds treason, though rarely charged, wouldn’t be a maybe.

[SJackson]

BTW, you can find a history of Virginia's sodomy laws here