Justice Served

There has been a lot of recent whining about the death penalty, based on a couple cases. But today we saw the death penalty serve its primary purpose: justice. The state of Texas executed Lawrence Russell Brewer for the incredibly vicious torture and murder of James Byrd back in 1998. In case you've forgotten, here's an account of the crime.

On June 7, 1998, Byrd, age 49, accepted a ride from Shawn Berry (age 24), Lawrence Brewer (age 31), and John King (age 23). Berry, who was driving, was acquainted with Byrd from around town. Instead of taking Byrd home, the three men took Byrd to a remote county road out of town, beat him with anything they could find, urinated on his unconscious body, chained him by his ankles to their pickup truck dragging him for three miles. Brewer later claimed that Byrd's throat had been slashed by Berry before he was dragged. However, forensic evidence suggests that Byrd had been attempting to keep his head up while being dragged, and an autopsy suggested that Byrd was alive during much of the dragging. Byrd died after his right arm and head were severed after his body hit a culvert. His body had caught the culvert on the side of the road, resulting in Byrd's decapitation.

Berry, Brewer, and King dumped their victim's mutilated remains in front of an African-American cemetery on Huff Creek Road; the three men then went to a barbecue.

Death penalty opponents often call execution "barbaric." In my opinion it is barbaric to allow those who would commit such a crime to go on living. It took a ridiculously long 13 years to execute just one of the murderers, but better late than never.

A Christian Who Gets It

At the Christian Post there's an article called "How Not to Fight Atheism." The author, R. Albert Mohler Jr. is writing in reaction to the controversy caused by a recent atheist bus ad campaign in Fort Worth, Texas. To recap, a local secular group ran bus ads with the slogan, "Millions of Americans are Good Without God." Naturally that was far too much for the easily offended religious, and a Christian group responded with both a bus boycott and complaints to municipal government. The end result?

The Fort Worth Transportation Authority voted December 15 to ban all religious ads on buses. The policy took effect January 1, 2011. According to press reports, “both sides cheered the decision.”

Mohler points out that by silencing an atheist message, Christians cut off their own noses to spite their faces, and also managed to silence their own religious messages.

Christians are sometimes our own worst enemy, especially when we claim to be offended. Those pastors and concerned Christians who demanded that the transportation authority ban the atheist ads actually gave the secularists the Grand Prize. By precipitating (and, of all things, celebrating) a ban on all religious messages from this public space, these Christians surrendered Gospel opportunities simply because they were offended by an atheist advertisement.

And he asks a great question,

Are Christians so insecure that we fear a weakly-worded advertisement on a public bus?

Yes, as a matter of fact many of them are. It's also good to see a Christian declare that Christians don't have a right not to be offended.

Being a Christian does not mean never having to be offended.

Would that there were more Christians (and members of other religions) with this writer's attitude and sense.

What's Fried and Full of Beer?

That would be deep-fried beer. Mark Zable, creator of other delicacies such as "chocolate-covered strawberry waffle balls," has invented a method of frying beer inside ravioli-like pieces of pretzel dough. 

"Nobody has been able to fry a liquid before. It tastes like you took a bite of hot pretzel dough and then took a drink of beer."

And it doesn't just taste like beer. It is beer. The raviolis are filled with Guinness, and are fried a short enough time to retain their alcohol content. You can harden your arteries and get drunk at the same time.

Zable is unveiling his new creation to the public at the Texas state fair. I'll go out on a limb and bet that fried beer will be a huge hit.

h/t Blue Crab Boulevard