originally 9/24/00
Usually I try to have some laughs when doing this. Not in the mood yet. In
the paper it said some yo-yo (my term, not the papers) went on a rampage in
Virginia. He went to a gay bar and dispensed his justice with a gun. The
only time that ever appears to be a good idea is when you're judge, jury and
executioner. And though there are times you can sympathize with vigilante
justice, capital punishment should be reserved for capital crimes.

Shooting up bar because it caters to gays makes no more sense than a Cyclone
fan shooting up a Hawkeye bar. Nobody was getting hurt until the
self-righteous yo-yo walked in the door. There may have been people in the
bar who deserved to die but the shooter couldn't have known who, or why.

It would not make me happy if the shooter claims to be a fundamentalist
Christian and doing the work of God. Guys like this give God a bad name.
There are a number of reasons he couldn't have been doing God's work. I know,
you already agree with me, but I'm not going to stop till I'm done.

First, God does not send individuals to be judge, jury, and executioner. I'm
not aware of one instance in the Bible where he does that.

Second, Jesus said "Judge not, lest ye be judged." In one famous incident he
saved an adultress from being stoned. She was guilty, certainly was guilty.
But he refused to allow a personal morality crime to cause a punishment with
death. It makes sense, you can't repent and be saved if you're dead. And God
looks at the big picture.

Third, in the Bible it clearly says ,"All have sinned and fallen short of the
glory of God." In Christianity 101 you're taught we all deserve to die, but
Christ paid the penalty so we might live. So, if he wanted to be
theologically sound, he should have just walked down the street and shot
everyone he saw, men, women, and children, and saved the last round for
himself.

The last part always gets me. How many times do you hear of some flake
killing his family, fully intending to kill himself last. They almost always
lose their nerve when it comes to themselves. Killing the wife and kids was
easy. But looking down the barrel and pulling the trigger is just too
personal. To get rid of him is going to take 20 years of appeals while he's
on death row.

And there you have it. A good case for capital punishment. And you'd have to
agree, if killing a family warrants death, so does killing somebody who just
went out to have a beer.

You may be thinking I'm taking the death of a gay kind of personally. Well, I
am. Because before I married The Wife, or even dated her, I was frustrated
and decided to attend a singles' dance in Rock Island. I don't know Rock
Island very well at all. And as I was walking down a block trying to find the
dance a car full of guys drove by and started yelling at me.

They yelled in mass quantities, most of which I couldn't understand, but
"faggot," and "queer" were pretty recognizable. There wasn't anybody else
around I could have been associating with. Looking back, I'm glad it wasn't
dark, and that they didn't have bats or guns. Because there was no doubt in
my mind they were quite hostile towards me.

I have never been offended by a gay. Straights have hurt me mucho, but I
don't hold it against them. I have never heard of carloads of gays cruising
to beatup straights. Or gay-supremacists holing up in Idaho. Or gay-cultists
drinking poison kool-aid.

While we're at it, may I say I disagree with prisons? Because I do. In the
Bible God's people do not have prisons. If you're guilty you pay restitution,
or in a capital crime you die. A much simpler way to do things, and it ends
punishment creating a harder, more vicious, and knowledgeable criminal. Saves
the State mucho bucks also.

So the gay-killer in Virginia should be shot, since it's impossible to pay
restitution to a dead man, and prison time isn't going to help him. On the
other hand, prison time may give him a new perspective on the gay life-style.
He may completely change his attitude the first time he's called
"girlfriend."

Well it's late, got to end this. Will e-mail you again later. That's a
promise, not a threat. Actually, that depends on your attitude. Even so it's
not a jailable offense. So sue me.