Death Penalty

(an excerpt from another blog)
Before I get into comedic related issues a quick statement on the death penalty (due to some Facebook chatter on my page). I am against the death penalty in all cases. The recent revelation in Texas that an innocent man was executed for arson and capital murder in 2004 for allegedly setting fire to his home, which killed his two young children should be huge news. Can you imagine the man’s anguish (he never pleaded guilty)? But I am against it even when the person is actually guilty (yes even if DNA and videotape corroborate it). I think it is barbaric. China, parts of the Middle East and the U.S. are the world’s executors. No one else I believe.
One argument for the death penalty I get is - what if it was your friend or family member they killed – you’d be for it then? Well, being human I would want vengeance. But the government is in place to elevate society (at least we hope) beyond Old Testament justice, not to enforce it. It has no deterrent effect and I don’t think satisfying some sort of blood lust should be our main justification for imposing a punishment. Isn’t that why people get to watch UFC and MMA fights? This is to say nothing of the racial disparity in the application of the death penalty. It is a flawed and barbaric system because it relies too much on passion and prejudice, which is exactly what the law is supposed to reign in. There is a reason that a police officer can shoot someone during a potentially dangerous or lethal situation, but not when the criminal has his hands behind his back handcuffed and is unarmed. Of course the person is not convictedof anything yet, but even after conviction does he/she pose any more threat to society locked away for the rest of his life than the unarmed person on the sidewalk with his hands cuffed?

Any Questions?

Ethos: the source's credibility, the speaker's/author's authority

Logos: the logic used to support a claim (induction and deduction); can also be the facts and statistics used to help support the argument.

Pathos: the emotional or motivational appeals; vivid language, emotional language and numerous sensory details.

Angel Oak

About a month ago I went to Charleston, South Carolina. Now, in the general vicinity there is a very old and large tree. Every once in a while, genetics fuck up during cell reproduction and create a new genetic allele. Most times these mutations don't do much of anything, but other times they have massive results; like a single tree that covers nearly half an acre of land and is still growing after 1400 years. While there another member of the production crew (I was there on business) picked up an acorn as a souvenir. I did the same, but I decided to plant mine when I got back. Now, more than a month later it is sprouting. There is only a small chance that it will contain the same genetics as the angel oak tree, because oak trees pollinate with other oaks rather than with themselves and a lot of mutations are ironed out during reproduction. But here is hoping!

To the aid of friends

I was looking at facebook today and I arrived at the page of one of my exes. We are facebook friends now(the drama is over), but one of his friend had posted on his wall (just something random). Now. the moment we broke up, she deleted me as a friend and for some reason took it personally, saying things like "I invited you into my home..." and "My parents really thought you were great, but I guess not".
I was always rattled by those things. It wasn't what she said, but the fact that she said anything. The breakup was between him and me, but she was all offended by it. This confussed me for years. To be honest, I still don't know why she acted that way.

Moral: Some people are overly loyal. They are offended by osmosis.

sexism

Sexism saved a woman and her family the other day. She beat an intruder with a nearby iron after he broke in. If she hadn't had a huge pile of laundry that her husband had condemed her to, the iron would not have been near, and the family wight have been killed.

So... go make me a sandwich, woman!

One Phone Call Can Change Your Life!

I was watching television a few hours ago today and saw a commercial for the next episode of some show about rich people. On the commercial a guy says "Most people don't know what it is like to get a phone call that changes their lives".
uhm.. what? hold the press you egotistical piece of television crap. You honestly thing that you are the only one who can have their entire fate decided by someone on the opposeite ond of a telephone? Or perhapse it is just that you have had sucha stable and padded life that the idea that it could be so quickly ripped out from under you is so foriegn that you have never heard of it before. I think that everyone who has ever had to work for something can look back on a wowent and say thath they were not in control. Med students waiting to get into residencies, actor's praying for a role, cancer pationts on the verge of tears about bioepsy results. Wo have all had to admit that we are at the whims of fate.
Moral: People are not as different from eachother as you tnhink.

Six More Beautiful Movies

I have 4 Films in line for the second volume of my collection of beautiful movies and 2 shorts. I am not going to tell my readers what they are. But, I promise you will like them. These first four are very good! In my last release, five of the six movies were from after the turn of the millennium, all were in vivid color and the spoken language was English. So far I have one that is in black and white and one that is French with English subs. These films are so much more diverse.
Please stay patient, it won't be too long.