Cross Posted at Legal Schnauzer
If you are like me and grew up in a mainstream Christian home, you probably learned that it's important to feel sorrow upon learning that someone you know (or know of) has died. Along those lines, you also probably learned that one should never "speak ill of the dead."
A couple of recent events have caused me to rethink those notions and ask this question: Is it OK to be glad when a sorry human being--a real son of a b*tch--dies? The answer, I've decided, is yes. This blog, more than anything else, is about honesty--about exposing SOBs and the harm they cause to others. So why should we drum up false sorrow when such an individual is no longer among the living? I don't think we should, even if it conflicts with what I was taught as a child.
What brought this issue to mind? First, came the death--unexpected, as far as I know--of a relatively minor character in our Legal Schnauzer story. This guy was minor enough that I have not mentioned his name or written about his actions on this blog. But he lived a few doors over from us and took it upon himself to act like a major horse's ass toward Mrs. Schnauzer and me. I would call him a "neighbor," but that term suggests some level of good will, and this guy showed nothing but ill will toward us--over issues that did not even involve him. I will refer to him as The Jackass Who Lived Nearby (JWLN).
This guy twice acted in a threatening manner toward my wife, both times while she simply was trying to walk Murphy, the beloved miniature schnauzer for whom this blog is named. And he did this even though Murphy, Mrs. Schnauzer, and I had never wronged him in any way--or anyone else, for that matter. In fact, Mrs. Schnauzer and I had never even spoken to the guy--and for the record, neither had Murphy. But he saw fit to twice act like such a bully toward my wife that she thought seriously about calling the police. Those acts earned JWLN my eternal hatred, which brings up another old Christian saying: "It's wrong to hate anyone." My response is, "Why?" If someone has earned your hatred, I say go ahead and hate them. It doesn't have to consume your life, but holding a genuine hatred probably is more healthy than pretending all is well.
The second event was the death last week of Dunn Lampton, the former Bush-appointed U.S. attorney who instigated the Paul Minor case in Mississippi. I probably have written more about the Minor case than any human on earth, and our blog has shown beyond any doubt that the prosecution was bogus, driven by the fact that Paul Minor was a highly successful trial attorney who generously supported Democratic causes and candidates. We also have shown that the case was unlawfully handled and wrongly decided, causing Minor and codefendants Wes Teel and John Whitfield (former state judges in Mississippi) to be imprisoned for "crimes" that do not exist under the actual law.
Oliver Diaz, a former state supreme court justice, twice was prosecuted in connection to the Minor case and was acquitted both times.
How evil were the Minor prosecutions? Paul Minor, who clearly committed no crime, was in prison when his wife died and his son got married. Paul Minor was not allowed to attend either the funeral or the wedding.
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