Well, Guest, that was quite a mouthful. I agree with most of it, but, I always bridle at that meaningless phrase, "bleeding heart". What the hell is so awful about having concern for your fellow man?

Your statement about the police is right on, they are not obligated to protect any indivdual. They cant. As for body guards, most of us cant afford that, and, the only one I know who is totally trustworthy, is me. In my state, you need only convince a jury that you believed your life to be in danger to get away with killing another person. Just recently, one scum bag shot and killed three other scum bags who, he said, were a threat to his life. One was urinating on the guys lawn, another was sitting in his car. The shooter walked. Juries are made of people who are sick and tired of crime, so, even though none of these men were worth the powder to blow them to hell, they were still human beings, and, entitled to be treated as such.It's a sad place we have come to when that kind of justice is common. Man is a lot closer to the apes than to the angels.