On Jon Stewart, Stop Hurting America!
sorry, it's not "ultimate" or "mega" or any kind of justice when people are put to death for crimes they did not commit. i don't think jon stewart was really the right person to take to task for lambasting the republican base for their views. we have to remember, he's on comedy central, not the ABC evening news; he's the fake news. he made fun of an absolutely disgusting and horrifying moment in a "debate" that was rich with horror. that said, not all republicans are evil, but anyone who would cheer for that record of executions is grossly inhumane. ps - why was japan brought up in this regard as some sort of measure of civility qua death penalty? this is a culture that would train its military to suicide bomb targets and commit sepuku at the loss of honor. that is, they have a completely different relationship, socially, to death as a public act. furthermore, to say japan is an ethnically more homogenous country is a gross understate and another obvious factor in evaluating how the state carries out capital punishment. just sayin'.
the US, esp. the western US, has the legacy of "rough justice" and "get a rope." if we hope to evolve toward better standard of civility and justice, we might look to europe. not that anyone in power will, mind you.
0
On How To Write The Great American Novel
@barnhouse Also dying of hyperventilating laughter over here. As for feline-centric novels, don't forget the classic Japanese satire, I am a Cat. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_a_Cat . I also remember reading _Tailchaser's Song_ when I was, like, 12 y.o. It's YA fantasy lit, I guess, probably written under the spell of latter-day T.S. Eliot and a lot of benzedrine in the early-'80s.