And for those who stayed?

Yep. Some slight P.O.V. on various political and social content as it seems necessary. Besides� DaDiaristOfRecordHere made his own rules about the overweening raison d'�tre for this journal� So tough cookies.

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The Amazing CosmicCrayola brought up a salient point this morning. She had a spectacular entry (now a pair to include someone�s rebuttal) about the Death Penalty. From a guy who doesn�t ever claim to be more than the deeply agnostic person he is? How is it that this journal-writing-dullard finds himself continually amazed by those who claim to be Christians�and yet ignore (minus whatever happens to be comfortable for their VIEW) the teachings of Christ? Love One Another. WTF do you not understand about the words above, O� supposed Christian Love Espousers?

And back to one of the major tenets of all those who consider the Old Testament an important stepping stone book on their way to their own homebrewed flavor of faith?

Muslims, Jews, Gnostics, Christians, And on? Thou Shalt Not Kill.

What is it about those four major words out of a list of TEN MUST DO THINGS that you do not understand?

Please don�t start spouting an eye-for-an-eye� That�s bullshit. You learned better as a child.

So the death penalty?

Why is the ol' U.S. of A. a member of this heinous club? All reasonable thinking countries have gotten past it� We are part of an interesting crew of Death Penalty Givers. Iran? Yep. Iraq? Uh-huh. Saudi Arabia? Yep. China? Yes, again. Russia? Ditto. Cuba? Yeah. Afghanistan. Er, yeah. North Korea, Shit, yes. And the United States of America? What the hell is wrong with this member-list picture?

Innocents dead in the past hundred years? 13 percent (in the lowest possible statistics� rather than the 17 points one sees in the higher ones.) So. At minimum, we figure out AFTER WE�VE KILLED THE POOR PHUCKERS that more than TEN PERCENT WERE WITHOUT GUILT?!? Imagine this being your poor framed or railroaded butt? Please?

Don�t even bother with the sick-minded �So we have to break a few eggs� argument. That just makes me want to barf. Lives are not eggshells.

How can someone be ProLife (as in AntiChoice) and ProDeath Penalty? Hrm? ProLife should mean all human life. Not just those who you deem human (according to YOUR arguments about a peanut sized ZYGOTE!)

The cost of the death penalty including appeals? Hrm. Minimum estimates are 27 times higher than the cost of locking Murderers up without a chance of parole for the rest of their days until DEAD anyway.

And think about it? Which is worse? Trapped in a cell like the animal you are or a fast coup d� grace that lets you out of the pain?

The death penalty is wrong. We are better than that. It costs us more than keeping them in a disgusting-and-dehumanizing cage. ThisDiarist doesn�t ever want to be part of a club that includes the stellar human-rights list above. Period.

Oh? And Texas? You phrigging jerk-offs? That is...the governing body/majority who do not stand up for their franchise and kick some legislative butt...and not ALL the populace� Some of DaDiarist�s best pals are TEXAN BY BIRTH and often by region.

Um. Texas? This boy lived in your state. And, er, all the signage with proverbs, and noises about Christ and more Christian-Faith Churches per capita (and per block) than any other place in this nation? You�ve surpassed more than Half of The Above List of Death Dealing Countries on your own in this arena. You are ahead of Afganistan and Iran? Proud yet? What part of Love One Another are you missing?

Lock them up. Throw away all keys. Period. Get it? Don�t be as bad as they are. Besides. If innocent in 25 years, you can let them out with an apology (after cutting the bars as you�ve lobbed the key in the river.) Ideally a big one. But at least the innocent are not killed by butchers. Besides, SuperMax Prisons Rule. No human contact... none. From hearing any human noises to touching. That is a fate worse than death and a really good spot for the Ted Kaczynski-types.

Other than that My Dumb Ass� has no opinion on the subject.

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As part of this particular moment, over the past couple of days DaDiarist has gotten a couple of e-mails asking how he could put up a poem by Ferlinghetti on Good Friday and bashing him for not being a Christian and yet, seeming confused by his general decency and ability to love decided to tell him that he had not yet FOUND CHRIST.

Er, found Him/him with a leap of faith that dictates that His Nibs was the Son O� Jah-Ova? No phrigging chance. Found the teachings attributed to him swell? Sure.

This boy angrily resents the thought that anyone who is kind, moral, decent, and possibly even good (but at least strives to be) has to be part of a religion of any sort. Personally? That ain�t the reason to be part of any faith. Faith just might be the reason� but having it requires a leap that is not yet and probably never will be made here.

One ought to think about WHY PERCEPTION SEEMS TO BE that someone would require the bonus of heaven to be a nice person every day or the fires in the pits of hell to be scared into being a decent human.

Passing through other lives with a good feeling? Nothing better. Dancing through crowds with as much grace as a BigDumbAssOaf, like myself, can manage? Just the ticket.

There is honor here. Religion has nothing to do with it in this boy�s case� So back off on the proselytizing? Please.

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Now that DaDumbAssDiarist has pissed off a new batch of readers and is about to see lots more folks deleting him from their fave list (ah, well�) It might be fun to thank all you goofballs who nominated this complete idiot for various 1st Quarter Diarist Awards. The diary itself is not here for kudos�but they are swell, as it just means that something is clicking in folks who read it�and maybe it fits a need for them as it does fer me.

But, damn, pholks!

Four major nominations?

**snip**

Best Journal (Overall) category, in the Best New Journal category, and in the Best Writing category, and in the Best Comedic Entry category, for your entry, "DaSauce Explains All Males (really!) **snip**

You guys are truly out of yer trees� But it was kind. Really. Very nice. Now go vote for someone who is more deserving. Grin.

---DaDoneWidRantsFerABitSauce