Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D.

To the Editor:

I am a pacifist and against the death penalty but have no problem with the killing of Osama bin Laden even though he had no weapons. In my mind, and I am sure in the minds of many others, Bin Laden was one gigantic weapon, and the world is better and with luck will be a safer place with his demise.

STEPHEN DOCTOROFF
Plymouth, Mass., May 4, 2011

Note from KBJ: Can somebody explain this logic to me? The man is a pacifist yet endorses violence. He is "against" the death penalty but endorses an extrajudicial killing. Are there not domestic mass murderers about whom it can be said that they are "one gigantic weapon"? Sometimes I think progressives think with their hearts rather than with their brains, which is to say that they don't think at all. They emote.