Special Quote of the Day- Marcel Proust

First of all, we want to wish everyone in France a Happy Bastille Day. Secondly, we want to arbitrarily mention Rupert Murdoch, Casey Anthony and fringe right-wing nutcase Michele Bachmann so we can use three trending topics and increase our hit count for the day.

We'd also love to make fun of the Mormon missionary from Utah who made the very unwise decision to climb a concrete wall to pose with a pair of lions at the Guatemala City Zoo (I've actually been there), but since the lions attacked the 20-year-old missionary and he is hurting (to put it mildly), we will alas have to play nice.

Oh, we almost forgot to talk about Harry Potter! Is there anyone out there who is actually going to dress like a wizard for a midnight screening tonight?

They are showing a midnight screening premiere for the latest installment of the eight film series at the Grandin Theatre in my hometown of Roanoke, Va., tonight.

For Bastille Day, we are going to quote the great novelist/essayist Marcel Proust
(1871-1922), who is frequently quoted in "Zippy the Pinhead" comic strips:

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes."

Quote of the Week- Alfred Hitchcock

Yes, I am aware that something royally effed up with the image of Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), but for right now let's move on with our Quote of the Week from the late, great Alfred Hitchcock.

Of course, we're doing this because Halloween is just around the corner:

"I am a typed director. If I made Cinderella, the audience would immediately be looking for a body in the coach."

SIDEBAR: What am I doing at the moment you ask? Well, we don't have time to post this on Facebook or Twitter, but I am in fact: "Having a halal beer with Juan Williams at the Paradise Hookah Bar in Paterson, NJ."*

*-Yes, there is such a place. Paterson, NJ, has one of the largest Muslim populations in the United States. The Fox News commentator was literally fired from his day job at NPR for saying Muslims in garb scare him on airplanes. I have a similar fear of Mormons, actually (that is just a joke, Marie Osmond fans!).Halal beer is actually a product that is served in Malaysia!

PSA- Be Nice to Mormons

I must profess that we came with the idea because I heard that either a Mormon or Jehovah's Witness protylitizer was murdered after knocking on the proverbial wrong door in Newport News, Va. But, I couldn't find any info about the strangest of homicides.

Sure, it's annoying to have anyone protylitize to you, but there are creative ways to get rid of them. You can tell me you recently converted to Zen Buddhism and see the look on their face as you tell them they are interupting your meditation time.

I also found out while researching this piece that last year feds arrested Benjamin Speakman in South Jordan, Utah, for allegedly plotting to mass-shoot his Mormon congregation at the Jordan River Temple.

And, we also discovered that our favorite Mormon Donny Osmond (he edges out Mitt Romney who we love to make fun of!) was critical of Lady Gaga for her explicit video for her song "Telephone." Osmond, who won the coveted "Dancing with the Stars" championship, said he was all for free speech but as a parent he was concerned that the Gen Z Madonna had a gone a bit too far.

Perhaps, this means there will be no Donny Osmond* and Lady Gaga duets. That would be interesting, wouldn't it?!

*- I forgot if he spells his name with a 'y' or 'ie'!

PSA- An Eye for an Eye Makes the Whole World Go Blind

The State of Utah is planning to execute its first inmate since Joseph Mitchell Parsons in 1999 tonight (after midnight, Utah time).

A five-member firing squad is scheduled to shoot Ronnie Lee Gardner, 49, at the state prison in Draper. Due to the highly-debatable nature of the execution, it is getting more national coverage than most executions. Ironically, another controversial execution was scheduled to take place in Oklahoma, but the controversy regarding the condemned man's guilt led to the Sooner State's governor Brad Henry (D) to commute the sentence to life imprisonment.

There is no such controversy regarding the guilt of Gardner who was sentenced to death for the 1985 shooting murder of defense attorney Michael Burdell at a courthouse in Salt lake City. Gardner was standing trial for the murder of a bartender.

The Salt Lake City newspaper "The Deseret News" recently published a story regarding how Gardner was severely mentally and physically abused as a child, and how he was frequently sent to state institutions when he was as young as ten years old.

According to another article in "The Deseret News" (this one by Dennis Romboy, which was published today), Gardner is steadfastly refusing to eat anything though he did have his last meal on Tuesday which consisted of a steak, lobster tail, apple pie, vanilla ice cream and a 7Up.

Uthans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty is holding prayer services starting at 5:30 p.m. (7:30 p.m., east coast time). The abolition group will then hold a vigil outside the state capitol building in Salt Lake City from 9 p.m. until midnight.

Several militant pro-death penalty supporters posted over-the-top messages on a message board for comments regarding the Gardner case on the web site of "The Deseret News."

These included the following sentiments:

"Can't wait for the sound of gunfire in the distance all the way in San Diego."

"Last meal should've been a MickeyD's Happy Meal."

"I get tired of those who say he didn't have a chance because of his childhood."

"I am tired of hearing hearing other countries don't have the death penalty. We aren't other countries."

And, perhaps the most outlandish of all:

"I know it (the death penalty) deters me from killing anyone."

But, there were several posters with the opposing view that I fully agree with. This included a person who said that as a Mormon (it should be pointed out that I am agnostic) she was very troubled that people affiliated with his/her church hold such venemous views.

This was similar to a stance taken by The Rev. Carolyn Tanner, a retired Episcopalian minister from Utah, whose statement was posted on the Utahns for Alternatives to the Death Penalty web site:

"As Christians we condemn the taking of a human life, recalling that Jesus himself was a victim of state-sponsored murder. His death holds before our eyes the poverty of capital punishment and its capacity to dehumanize those who carry out its sentence."

The same organization posted an editorial from "The Salt Lake Tribune" which stated that: "the legal and ethical argument supporting capital punishment in Utah has been eroding like sand castles of high tide."

Similarly, Diane Rust-Tierney, the executive director of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (based in Washington, DC) said the following in a column she wrote for the online journal "The Huffington Post:"

"Despite the curiousity generated by the high-profile manner of imposing the punishment (she was refering to the Utah case), the death penalty is on the wane in America."

NOTE: For those of you who reside in Tashkent, Uzbekistan,and might not be entirely familiar with American pop culture, the above image is from the 1971 Clint Eastwood film "Dirty Harry." Of course, we also realize that people in Uzbekistan (who I gather might actually be reading my blogs on a regular basis) might be far more hip than many of my fellow Americans might realize!

UPDATE: Gardner was executed by a firing squad in Draper, Utah. I must profess outrage over things that death penalty proponents posted in regards to an article about the execution. First, there is this myth that those of us opposed to capital punishment feel more sympathy for the killer than his victims. This is utter nonsense, and it illustrates the pure hate and venom we get from the other side. Second, these uber-partisans point out that it is wrong to compare executions to the crucifixion of Jesus because Christ was not a murderer. But, they ignore the fact that the death penalty has evolved into a method in which people in power suppress their opponents. This is one reason why the death penalty no longer exists in my late father's county, Turkey. But, their reasoning also makes me further realize that many people who proclaim to be Good Christians are truly hypocrites. As for the name of the man who was to be executed in Oklahoma for a crime he may very well have not committed, it is Jeff Matthews.