Jerry Fallwell Skids (and Grinds to a Permanent Halt)

If, as Jerry Falwell believed, there is a god who is all-knowing and all-powerful, and rewards and punishes people as appropriate, then that God has apparently had enough of Jerry's bullshit.

In rememberance, here's a few of Falwell's quotes:

"The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way—all of them who have tried to secularize America—I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen.'" --Jerry Falwell, referring to the attacks on September 11, 2001.

"AIDS is the wrath of a just God against homosexuals. To oppose it would be like an Israelite jumping in the Red Sea to save one of Pharaoh's charioteers . . . AIDS is not just God's punishment for homosexuals; it is God's punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals." --Jerry Falwell, circa 1991

"You've got to kill the terrorists before the killing stops and I am for the President—chase them all over the world, if it takes ten years, blow them all away in the name of the Lord." --Jerry Falwell

And so it goes ...

Kurt Vonnegut Jr. passed away earlier this month on April 11. For a certain generation, and I count myself among them, Kurt was the first author that caused us to laugh on the outside while simultaneously crying on the inside. This ability was his genius--truly his gift to generations of mostly adolescent boys who in turn look back on Vonnegut's novels today with gentle, warm regard. So it goes ...

FoxNews savaged Vonnegut in their broadcast obituary. It's up on Youtube but I'll not bother providing a link. It was as predictable (and unbalanced) as one would expect from the quasi-official administration mouthpiece. A classic example of the "Kick Down, Kiss Up" mentality that robs us all of our humanity. So it goes ...

During the week that brought Vonnegut's life to a close, the U.S. military suffered 23 fatalies in Iraq. Vonnegut, a survivor (as a prisoner-of-war) of the bombing of Dresden, Germany by Allied forces during World War II, often remarked that he was the sole person on the planet who profited in any way from the event, as measured by his royalties for the semi-autobiographical novel, Slaughterhouse Five. It would be instructive to see a list of the people and corporations profiting from the current insanity in Iraq. War was considerably more naive sixty years ago than it is today. And so it goes ...

So long, Kurt.

Ken Lay Dodges a Bullet

Enron founder and convicted felon Ken Lay artfully avoided jail time by cashing in all his chips on the coronary express yesterday, well in advance of his October 23 sentencing.

His all too timely death is a perfect illustration of why capital punishment should be abandoned in this country. It isn't punishment; it's a release. Mr. Lay will never have to spend years in prison reflecting on his actions and the thousands of employees' lives he ruined while at Enron's helm. He'll never experience the restrictive nature of a prisoner's life. He'll certainly never have to consider whether or how he may attempt to make amends for his wrongs. And he'll never feel regret over the year's taken from him by incarceration. He's gone. He doesn't even know what he would have missed had he not suffered the heart attack that ended his life.