I have found a website that makes me happy. I'm grinning like a mule eating briars. My world is a better place with these folks in it.
No, it's not meg_ryan.com or hillaryantichrist.org. It's better than that.
Every time I go off on a Liberal Theology Rant, I get emails or anonymous comment posts that either a) damn me to an eternity of torment, or b) express genuine concern for the state of my soul.
(For those of you new to this site, I believe that most of our scriptures and holy books are best understood as metaphorical and symbolic.)
So, Ladies and Gentlemen, please let me introduce You've Been Left Behind. What are they about? Here's some text from their site:
We all have family and friends who have failed to receive the Good News of the Gospel. The unsaved will be 'left behind' on earth to go through the "tribulation period" after the "Rapture". You remember how, for a short time, after (9/11/01) people were open to spiritual things and answers. (We are still singing "God Bless America" at baseballs' seventh inning stretch.) Imagine how taken back they will be by the millions of missing Christians and devastation at the rapture. They will know it was true and that they have blown it.
There will be a small window of time where they might be reached for the Kingdom of God. We have made it possible for you to send them a letter of love and a plea to receive Christ one last time. You can also send information based on scripture as to what will happen next. Each fulfilled prophecy will cause your letter and plea to be remembered and a decision to be made.
"WHY" is one last chance to bring them to Christ and snatch them from the flames!
In other words, if and when Jesus returns and takes all the believers to glory, those left behind can get an email from you explaining what has happened, asking them to repent, etc etc etc. Or maybe you just want them to feed the cat and change out the litter box. It's up to you.
How does it work? How can they release the emails if the site administrators aren't on the planet to hit "send"?
We have set up a system to send documents by email, to the addresses you provide, 6 days after the "Rapture" of the Church. This occurs when 3 of our 5 team members scattered around the U.S fail to log in over a 3 day period. Another 3 days are given to fail safe any false triggering of the system.
It only costs forty dollars to send post-rapture emails to 60 of your lost friends. If you are a literalist, you really have no choice but to take advantage of this. You're only risking $40 dollars, an insignificant sum compared to the loss of just one of your friends suffering for eternity in the flames of hell.
I happen to believe that all the apocalyptic stuff at the end of the New Testament was written about 1st century issues, not the end of the world. But that's just me. Millions of people disagree.
If you truly, honestly, believe that God is going to take a few of us into the sky and leave the rest behind, you WILL immediately log onto youvebeenleftbehind.com and give them $40, won't you? And you'll send me a username and password? Because I'm going to write post-rapture letters to the online acquaintances of mine who probably won't make the cut, just in case I don't have a way to get in touch with them:
The Grouchy Old Cripple
Greta Christina
The Bacon Eating Jew
Hell's Handmaiden
and lots of others. All good people, who just can't swallow the atonement concept.
Wouldn't you spend $40 to save one person from cancer, a relatively mild, short-term earthly disease? Surely you'll spend the same sum to save up to 60 people from eternal pain.
I eagerly await your response.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
The Minimum Wage Increases Are Working ! ! !
Bloomberg.com has announced that the new minimum wage increases are working !
As the arbitrary amounts that must be charged for teen-age labor are dramatically increased by congressional mandate, demand for teen-age later decreases ! Businesses are responding rationally by hiring fewer low-skilled workers.
I'm sure that the ultra-compassionate individuals who lobbied for this are pleased. I know I am. You know why? I'll tell you later....
We've got two more increases to go ! There is no telling what kind of unemployment we can achieve among low skill workers and teenagers if we just keep trying. So let's get out those hacksaws, and slice a few more of the bottom rungs off the career ladder, shall we? You know why I want Congress to slice a few more of the bottom rungs off the career ladder? I'll tell you later....
Let's do what we can to destroy the ladder for racial minorities. The Davis-Bacon act, one of our first minimum wage laws, was highly succesful in its stated goal of ensuring full white employment at the expense of African-Americans.
Let me quote the great Dr. Thomas Sowell: "Most economists have long recognized that minimum wage laws increase unemployment among the least skilled, least experienced, and minority workers. With a little experience, these workers are likely to be worth more. But they cannot move up the ladder if they can't get on the ladder."
But I don't want them on my ladder. I think it's mine by birthright.
So lobby your congressperson and your senators for more increases in the minimum wage. Hell, let's double it. It's highly effective when the government jacks around with the economy. Especially if you're an old white guy.
Heh heh heh heh....
As the arbitrary amounts that must be charged for teen-age labor are dramatically increased by congressional mandate, demand for teen-age later decreases ! Businesses are responding rationally by hiring fewer low-skilled workers.
I'm sure that the ultra-compassionate individuals who lobbied for this are pleased. I know I am. You know why? I'll tell you later....
We've got two more increases to go ! There is no telling what kind of unemployment we can achieve among low skill workers and teenagers if we just keep trying. So let's get out those hacksaws, and slice a few more of the bottom rungs off the career ladder, shall we? You know why I want Congress to slice a few more of the bottom rungs off the career ladder? I'll tell you later....
Let's do what we can to destroy the ladder for racial minorities. The Davis-Bacon act, one of our first minimum wage laws, was highly succesful in its stated goal of ensuring full white employment at the expense of African-Americans.
Let me quote the great Dr. Thomas Sowell: "Most economists have long recognized that minimum wage laws increase unemployment among the least skilled, least experienced, and minority workers. With a little experience, these workers are likely to be worth more. But they cannot move up the ladder if they can't get on the ladder."
But I don't want them on my ladder. I think it's mine by birthright.
So lobby your congressperson and your senators for more increases in the minimum wage. Hell, let's double it. It's highly effective when the government jacks around with the economy. Especially if you're an old white guy.
Heh heh heh heh....
Friday, June 6, 2008
Dear Daughter....
The Future Aggie graduated from Paschal High School in Fort Worth last night.
At the party afterwards, a friend of mine recommended this recent column by Leonard Pitts of The Orlando Sentinel. Mr. Pitts has a daughter the same age.
Good stuff.
I'm also saving it here, just in case the Sentinel takes it down.
At the party afterwards, a friend of mine recommended this recent column by Leonard Pitts of The Orlando Sentinel. Mr. Pitts has a daughter the same age.
Good stuff.
I'm also saving it here, just in case the Sentinel takes it down.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Cal Thomas Says Barack Obama's Not A Christian
Journalist Cal Thomas has written a column entitled "Barack Obama Is Not A Christian".
Hmmmmm.....
I'll be needing a few tools....
Righteous Indignation - I've got plenty.
Various Unitarian Websites - check.
Online Concordance - there are dozens.
Chainsaw - yep.
Let the Fisking begin ! Here's Cal Thomas:
Religion is a topic that makes most journalists uncomfortable, unless they can expose hypocrisy — as in preachers who speak of virtue while carrying on an affair — or outrage such as Rev. Jeremiah Wright and the doings at Barack Obama’s now former church in Chicago.
Let's divide journalism into reporting and editorializing.
The reason for the journalistic discomfort is that journalists are supposed to deal with facts, and only facts, when doing straight reporting.
Journalists are supposed to combine logic and opinions when editorializing.
But religion is an area where many of the "facts" are debatable, and logic is secondary to emotion, feeling, and tradition. Therefore, it's difficult to do straight reporting or editorializing about religion unless the thrust of the journalism is something like exposing hypocrisy or generating outrage.
For instance, amazing things happen during Pentecostal worship services. When taken at face value, these events are credited to the movings and workings of the Holy Spirit. Many Pentecostal worshippers believe that God, in the form of the Holy Spirit, enters their bodies and allows them to speak in foreign languages, have feelings of ecstasy, etc etc etc. Anyone attempting to "report" on this would have difficulty determining what is fact. Anyone attempting to "editorialize" on this, would probably be skeptical. But the True Believers would then claim that the journalists simply don't wish to transcend themselves or take a journey of personal and spiritual discovery.
Most journalists think taking religion seriously might require them to study the claims of various faiths and too many of them have already decided this might lead them to a faith higher than themselves or politics and they don’t wish to take such a journey of personal discovery.
Yeah, that's what it would sound like.
That is too bad, because such an attitude exposes one of the main gaps between most Americans — who believe in God — and most journalists, who don’t.
At this point, Cal does a bit of equivocating. Most of the time when we say "equivocate", we mean "to use intentionally misleading language". But in the rhetorical sense, To Equivocate is to toggle back and forth between two different meanings of the same word as if they meant the same thing.
The Americans surveyed above who believe in God are referenced as if they're a unified block.
That ain't the case. Muslims, who believe in Allah, generally take offense to being lumped in with the Jewish devotees of Yahweh. Many Christians believe that God is not one, but three. Others see God as a life force, or the driving energy behind the universe, like Paul Tillich's "The Ground Of Our Being" concept.
Either way, our beliefs in God aren't all the same.
An exception is Chicago Sun-Times columnist Cathleen Falsani, who interviewed Obama in 2004 for her book, “The God Factor: Inside the Spiritual Lives of Public People “and asked him specific questions about his religious beliefs.
“I’m rooted in the Christian tradition,” said Obama, who has declared himself a Christian. But then he adds something that most Christians will see as (gasp) universalism: “I believe there are many paths to the same place, and that is a belief that there is a higher power, a belief that we are connected as a people.”
Obama could've quoted some Saint Paul at this point: "Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous." (Rom. 5:18-19)
Or Obama could've continued by simply stating "I refuse to believe that God is creating people by the billions, simply to torture them forever for non-belief."
Falsani correctly brings up John 14:6 (and how many journalists would know such a verse, much less ask a question based on it?) in which Jesus says of Himself, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
That sounds pretty exclusive, but Obama says it depends on how this verse is heard.
Mr. Obama is correct on this point. Not only does it depend on how the verse is heard, it depends on whether Jesus really said it. According to the near unanimous opinions of the Biblical scholars in The Jesus Seminar, Jesus didn't say it.
Americans not only have widely divergent beliefs about God, they have diverse beliefs about scriptural authority.
According to Falsani, Obama thinks that “all people of faith — Christians, Jews, Muslims, animists, everyone — know the same God.” (her words)
Cool. Does this mean we can stop killing each other?
If that is so, Jesus wasted his time coming to Earth and he certainly did not have to suffer the pain of rejection and crucifixion if there are ways to God other than through Himself.
Only if the entire universe has to conform to the belief system you grew up with, Cal. One of my favorite theologians, a guy named Culver Nelson, has hypothesized that Jesus simply taught love and compassion and stood up to authority. This got him killed. The substitutionary atonement business got projected onto Jesus after the fact. Click here for details.
Here’s Obama telling Falsani, “The difficult thing about any religion, including Christianity, is that at some level there is a call to evangelize and proselytize. There’s the belief, certainly in some quarters, that if people haven’t embraced Jesus Christ as their personal savior, they’re going to hell.” Falsani adds, “Obama doesn’t believe he, or anyone else, will go to hell. But he’s not sure he’ll be going to heaven, either.”
OK, from what I've read here and elsewhere, George W. Bush believes that other people will go to hell, and he's going to heaven. Forever. Barack Obama doesn't believe that anyone is going to hell, and Obama isn't sure he's going to heaven.
Think about that a few minutes, and let me know which person you'd trust with the nuclear football.
Here’s Obama again: “I don’t presume to have knowledge of what happens after I die."
The rarest of all commodities: A politician telling the truth for a print publication.....
"When I tuck in my daughters at night and I feel like I’ve been a good father to them, and I see that I am transferring values that I got from my mother and that they’re kind people and that they’re honest people, and they’re curious people, that’s a little piece of heaven.”
Tucking in your daughters, being a good father, kindness, honesty, curiosity - those attributes are worth more than every creed, dogma, and doctrine ever invented.
Any first-year seminary student could deconstruct such “works salvation” and wishful thinking.
I believe that condemning your enemies to eternal torture and rewarding yourself with eternal bliss is "wishful thinking". Wishful thinking for sadists. But that's just me.
One thing I've noticed, though....you're correct that first-year evangelical college seminary students would probably deconstruct this as "works salvation". Willingness to do so tapers off at the Doctoral level, though. It's difficult to study Church History, Biblical Origins, and Textual Criticism at that level and see these little debates the same way.
Obama either hasn’t read the Bible, or if he has, doesn’t believe it if he embraces such thin theological gruel.
I suspect that Obama has read some Bible. I suspect that Obama "believes" the Bible is worthwhile. But I suspect that Obama has read some other books, books that lead him to believe that the Bible was created by a small group in a small place by people who had no idea that God just might like other people too, and that their enemies weren't necessarily God's enemies.
These people remind me of Cal Thomas.
Obama can call himself anything he likes, but there is a clear requirement for one to qualify as a Christian and Obama doesn’t meet that requirement.
A clear requirement? One clear requirement? Does one have to be baptized? Does one have to receive the Last Rites from a priest? Does one have to accept the doctrines given by the angel Moroni to Joseph Smith? Become a member of a Church Of Christ or some other restorationist denomination?
One cannot deny central tenets of the Christian faith, including the deity and uniqueness of Christ as the sole mediator between God and Man and be a Christian.
No, if Bob Barr can sponsor the Defense Of Marriage act and oppose all medical marijuana laws and still be called a Libertarian, then we can call Barack Obama a Christian.
Such people do have a label applied to them in Scripture. They are called a “false prophet.”
I prefer the term "Whited Sepulchres", but that's just me.
The best rebuttal I know of for this nonsense, if we're going to go Biblical, can be found in Wikipedia's "False Prophet" entry. None of these scriptures remind me of Barack Obama. But if you can read those verses without thinking of Benny Hinn, John Hagee, or Oral Roberts, then you're not watching enough religious programming.
I hope some national journalist or commentator with knowledge of such things asks Obama about this and doesn’t let him get away with re-writing Scripture to suit his political ends.
People have gotten away with re-writing scripture for 2,000 years.
I hope some readers with knowledge of such things will e-mail Cal Thomas about this, and not let him get away with spiritualizing politics to suit his political ends.
Hmmmmm.....
I'll be needing a few tools....
Scalpel - thanks.
Laptop - got it.Righteous Indignation - I've got plenty.
Various Unitarian Websites - check.
Online Concordance - there are dozens.
Chainsaw - yep.
Let the Fisking begin ! Here's Cal Thomas:
Religion is a topic that makes most journalists uncomfortable, unless they can expose hypocrisy — as in preachers who speak of virtue while carrying on an affair — or outrage such as Rev. Jeremiah Wright and the doings at Barack Obama’s now former church in Chicago.
Let's divide journalism into reporting and editorializing.
The reason for the journalistic discomfort is that journalists are supposed to deal with facts, and only facts, when doing straight reporting.
Journalists are supposed to combine logic and opinions when editorializing.
But religion is an area where many of the "facts" are debatable, and logic is secondary to emotion, feeling, and tradition. Therefore, it's difficult to do straight reporting or editorializing about religion unless the thrust of the journalism is something like exposing hypocrisy or generating outrage.
For instance, amazing things happen during Pentecostal worship services. When taken at face value, these events are credited to the movings and workings of the Holy Spirit. Many Pentecostal worshippers believe that God, in the form of the Holy Spirit, enters their bodies and allows them to speak in foreign languages, have feelings of ecstasy, etc etc etc. Anyone attempting to "report" on this would have difficulty determining what is fact. Anyone attempting to "editorialize" on this, would probably be skeptical. But the True Believers would then claim that the journalists simply don't wish to transcend themselves or take a journey of personal and spiritual discovery.
Most journalists think taking religion seriously might require them to study the claims of various faiths and too many of them have already decided this might lead them to a faith higher than themselves or politics and they don’t wish to take such a journey of personal discovery.
Yeah, that's what it would sound like.
That is too bad, because such an attitude exposes one of the main gaps between most Americans — who believe in God — and most journalists, who don’t.
At this point, Cal does a bit of equivocating. Most of the time when we say "equivocate", we mean "to use intentionally misleading language". But in the rhetorical sense, To Equivocate is to toggle back and forth between two different meanings of the same word as if they meant the same thing.
The Americans surveyed above who believe in God are referenced as if they're a unified block.
That ain't the case. Muslims, who believe in Allah, generally take offense to being lumped in with the Jewish devotees of Yahweh. Many Christians believe that God is not one, but three. Others see God as a life force, or the driving energy behind the universe, like Paul Tillich's "The Ground Of Our Being" concept.
Either way, our beliefs in God aren't all the same.
An exception is Chicago Sun-Times columnist Cathleen Falsani, who interviewed Obama in 2004 for her book, “The God Factor: Inside the Spiritual Lives of Public People “and asked him specific questions about his religious beliefs.
“I’m rooted in the Christian tradition,” said Obama, who has declared himself a Christian. But then he adds something that most Christians will see as (gasp) universalism: “I believe there are many paths to the same place, and that is a belief that there is a higher power, a belief that we are connected as a people.”
Obama could've quoted some Saint Paul at this point: "Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous." (Rom. 5:18-19)
Or Obama could've continued by simply stating "I refuse to believe that God is creating people by the billions, simply to torture them forever for non-belief."
Falsani correctly brings up John 14:6 (and how many journalists would know such a verse, much less ask a question based on it?) in which Jesus says of Himself, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
That sounds pretty exclusive, but Obama says it depends on how this verse is heard.
Mr. Obama is correct on this point. Not only does it depend on how the verse is heard, it depends on whether Jesus really said it. According to the near unanimous opinions of the Biblical scholars in The Jesus Seminar, Jesus didn't say it.
Americans not only have widely divergent beliefs about God, they have diverse beliefs about scriptural authority.
According to Falsani, Obama thinks that “all people of faith — Christians, Jews, Muslims, animists, everyone — know the same God.” (her words)
Cool. Does this mean we can stop killing each other?
If that is so, Jesus wasted his time coming to Earth and he certainly did not have to suffer the pain of rejection and crucifixion if there are ways to God other than through Himself.
Only if the entire universe has to conform to the belief system you grew up with, Cal. One of my favorite theologians, a guy named Culver Nelson, has hypothesized that Jesus simply taught love and compassion and stood up to authority. This got him killed. The substitutionary atonement business got projected onto Jesus after the fact. Click here for details.
Here’s Obama telling Falsani, “The difficult thing about any religion, including Christianity, is that at some level there is a call to evangelize and proselytize. There’s the belief, certainly in some quarters, that if people haven’t embraced Jesus Christ as their personal savior, they’re going to hell.” Falsani adds, “Obama doesn’t believe he, or anyone else, will go to hell. But he’s not sure he’ll be going to heaven, either.”
OK, from what I've read here and elsewhere, George W. Bush believes that other people will go to hell, and he's going to heaven. Forever. Barack Obama doesn't believe that anyone is going to hell, and Obama isn't sure he's going to heaven.
Think about that a few minutes, and let me know which person you'd trust with the nuclear football.
Here’s Obama again: “I don’t presume to have knowledge of what happens after I die."
The rarest of all commodities: A politician telling the truth for a print publication.....
"When I tuck in my daughters at night and I feel like I’ve been a good father to them, and I see that I am transferring values that I got from my mother and that they’re kind people and that they’re honest people, and they’re curious people, that’s a little piece of heaven.”
Tucking in your daughters, being a good father, kindness, honesty, curiosity - those attributes are worth more than every creed, dogma, and doctrine ever invented.
Any first-year seminary student could deconstruct such “works salvation” and wishful thinking.
I believe that condemning your enemies to eternal torture and rewarding yourself with eternal bliss is "wishful thinking". Wishful thinking for sadists. But that's just me.
One thing I've noticed, though....you're correct that first-year evangelical college seminary students would probably deconstruct this as "works salvation". Willingness to do so tapers off at the Doctoral level, though. It's difficult to study Church History, Biblical Origins, and Textual Criticism at that level and see these little debates the same way.
Obama either hasn’t read the Bible, or if he has, doesn’t believe it if he embraces such thin theological gruel.
I suspect that Obama has read some Bible. I suspect that Obama "believes" the Bible is worthwhile. But I suspect that Obama has read some other books, books that lead him to believe that the Bible was created by a small group in a small place by people who had no idea that God just might like other people too, and that their enemies weren't necessarily God's enemies.
These people remind me of Cal Thomas.
Obama can call himself anything he likes, but there is a clear requirement for one to qualify as a Christian and Obama doesn’t meet that requirement.
A clear requirement? One clear requirement? Does one have to be baptized? Does one have to receive the Last Rites from a priest? Does one have to accept the doctrines given by the angel Moroni to Joseph Smith? Become a member of a Church Of Christ or some other restorationist denomination?
One cannot deny central tenets of the Christian faith, including the deity and uniqueness of Christ as the sole mediator between God and Man and be a Christian.
No, if Bob Barr can sponsor the Defense Of Marriage act and oppose all medical marijuana laws and still be called a Libertarian, then we can call Barack Obama a Christian.
Such people do have a label applied to them in Scripture. They are called a “false prophet.”
I prefer the term "Whited Sepulchres", but that's just me.
The best rebuttal I know of for this nonsense, if we're going to go Biblical, can be found in Wikipedia's "False Prophet" entry. None of these scriptures remind me of Barack Obama. But if you can read those verses without thinking of Benny Hinn, John Hagee, or Oral Roberts, then you're not watching enough religious programming.
I hope some national journalist or commentator with knowledge of such things asks Obama about this and doesn’t let him get away with re-writing Scripture to suit his political ends.
People have gotten away with re-writing scripture for 2,000 years.
I hope some readers with knowledge of such things will e-mail Cal Thomas about this, and not let him get away with spiritualizing politics to suit his political ends.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
The world was our oyster
If you think our tendency toward nation-building is out of control now, check out this map. It was apparently drawn sometime in 1942 as the outgrowth of FDR's "Four Freedom's" speech - an address that I used as a jumping-off point for this post.
Looking back on it, the arrogance is astounding.
It takes a little while to download, but is worth the wait. You can click to zoom in or out.
Check out bullet-point number 26.
Looking back on it, the arrogance is astounding.
It takes a little while to download, but is worth the wait. You can click to zoom in or out.
Check out bullet-point number 26.
Bob Barr and Wayne Allyn Root - Non Factors?
Stuart Rothenberg, who writes The Rothenberg Report for Roll Call magazine, asks "Will Bob Barr And The Libertarians Be A Factor In The Presidential Race?"
Discouraging stuff, in need of rebuking.
Dr. Ralph, whose comments on 3rd parties can be found on almost every post I've done about Barr (click Bob Barr's name below), believes that 3rd parties can't resist the temptation to put a "sorehead" at the top of their ticket. The sorehead wants either revenge or attention; the 3rd party wants some name recognition. And attention. Because they're soreheads.
Discouraging stuff, in need of rebuking.
I'm still going to attend the Libertarian Party meetings, mostly because I've not found any other group whose beliefs about how the world should work so closely resemble mine. Plus, they're great people, interesting to talk to, and one day they just might nominate some people who can be a factor. I'm going to do what I can to support some of their candidates at the local level.
But Bob Freakin' Barr?
Discouraging stuff, in need of rebuking.
Dr. Ralph, whose comments on 3rd parties can be found on almost every post I've done about Barr (click Bob Barr's name below), believes that 3rd parties can't resist the temptation to put a "sorehead" at the top of their ticket. The sorehead wants either revenge or attention; the 3rd party wants some name recognition. And attention. Because they're soreheads.
Discouraging stuff, in need of rebuking.
I'm still going to attend the Libertarian Party meetings, mostly because I've not found any other group whose beliefs about how the world should work so closely resemble mine. Plus, they're great people, interesting to talk to, and one day they just might nominate some people who can be a factor. I'm going to do what I can to support some of their candidates at the local level.
But Bob Freakin' Barr?
Monday, June 2, 2008
I Think I Can Live Without Books
Damon W. Root, of Reason magazine, has an interesting little nugget in this month's issue. It's called "I Cannot Live Without Books".
Writing from the annual publishing industry brouhaha BookExpo America, which is being held this year in Los Angeles, New York Times reporter Edward Wyatt chronicles the fear and resentment sparked by electronic reading gadgets such as Amazon's Kindle. Have e-book buyers forsaken the physical originals? "We don't see people buying both versions," one publishing executive told Wyatt. "I think there is almost a one-to-one cannibalization."For a more optimistic, or at least more idiosyncratic case for the printed word, the great urban historian Luc Sante offers this gem at the end of a long, discursive Wall Street Journal essay on the endless book collecting that has shaped and dominated his life:
My favorite of this batch is in response to remembering that "the book is green, the margins are wide, and the quote is two-thirds down the page...."
A commenter named Austin suggested using CTRL-F.
Sometime soon I'm going to go way out on a limb and put all of my CD's on an iPod, or an MP3 player, or whatever the heck it is the kids use these days. My child hasn't bought a CD in two years, but my bedroom is covered with them. I think it's a matter of trust, since I've lost so much stuff with computer crashes.
If they ever come up with long-lasting batteries for a Kindle or its Sony equivalent, 90% of my books are going away.
Writing from the annual publishing industry brouhaha BookExpo America, which is being held this year in Los Angeles, New York Times reporter Edward Wyatt chronicles the fear and resentment sparked by electronic reading gadgets such as Amazon's Kindle. Have e-book buyers forsaken the physical originals? "We don't see people buying both versions," one publishing executive told Wyatt. "I think there is almost a one-to-one cannibalization."For a more optimistic, or at least more idiosyncratic case for the printed word, the great urban historian Luc Sante offers this gem at the end of a long, discursive Wall Street Journal essay on the endless book collecting that has shaped and dominated his life:
The comment field on all of Reason's online articles are usually instructive and entertaining.I would very much miss books as material objects were they to disappear. The tactility of books assists my memory, for one thing. I can't remember the quote I'm searching for, or maybe even the title of the work that contains it, but I can remember that the book is green, that the margins are unusually wide, and that the quote lies two-thirds of the way down a right-hand page. If books all appear as nearly identical digital readouts, my memory will be impoverished.
My favorite of this batch is in response to remembering that "the book is green, the margins are wide, and the quote is two-thirds down the page...."
A commenter named Austin suggested using CTRL-F.
Sometime soon I'm going to go way out on a limb and put all of my CD's on an iPod, or an MP3 player, or whatever the heck it is the kids use these days. My child hasn't bought a CD in two years, but my bedroom is covered with them. I think it's a matter of trust, since I've lost so much stuff with computer crashes.
If they ever come up with long-lasting batteries for a Kindle or its Sony equivalent, 90% of my books are going away.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Black Jack, Missouri
Black Jack, Missouri, the town that would've turned away Joseph, Mary, and baby Jesus.
Hat Tip to Radley Balko of Reason magazine and The Agitator Blog.
QUEERS AND DYKES ARE GONNA GET MARRIED ! ! ! so don't worry about anything else
And so it begins.....
When California recently lifted the ban on gay marriage, it gave Republicans their first ray of sunshine in a long, long time.
This discussion will take the place of Iraq, socialized medicine, ANWR, free trade, tax rates, and just about every other vital issue.
Motherhood and the flag and Americas families will be invoked. Old Testament prophets and New Testament rabbis and 21st century witch doctors will be quoted at length. Priests, preachers, Imams, and Christian Science Reading Room attendants will appear on CNN and Fox News. Their words will be solemnly analyzed for their impact on the upcoming election.
Dr. Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission will be shown uncensored on The O'Reilly Factor, strenuously digging platitudes from his nether regions.
What would happen if gay and lesbian couples were allowed to have the same kinds of multiple marriages that John McCain, Dr. Phil, Newt Gingrich, Ted Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan experienced? Would the world spin off its axis if gays and lesbians could enter a sacred and holy matrimonial state like the one recently savored by Britney Spears? Even if Britney's only lasted for two and a half days?
The libertarian concept of "no harm, no foul" should be the guiding light here.
This will become a hot-button wedge issue only if we let it become a hot-button wedge issue.
It's going to become the #1 issue in the campaign, isn't it?
When California recently lifted the ban on gay marriage, it gave Republicans their first ray of sunshine in a long, long time.
This discussion will take the place of Iraq, socialized medicine, ANWR, free trade, tax rates, and just about every other vital issue.
Motherhood and the flag and Americas families will be invoked. Old Testament prophets and New Testament rabbis and 21st century witch doctors will be quoted at length. Priests, preachers, Imams, and Christian Science Reading Room attendants will appear on CNN and Fox News. Their words will be solemnly analyzed for their impact on the upcoming election.
Dr. Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission will be shown uncensored on The O'Reilly Factor, strenuously digging platitudes from his nether regions.
What would happen if gay and lesbian couples were allowed to have the same kinds of multiple marriages that John McCain, Dr. Phil, Newt Gingrich, Ted Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan experienced? Would the world spin off its axis if gays and lesbians could enter a sacred and holy matrimonial state like the one recently savored by Britney Spears? Even if Britney's only lasted for two and a half days?
The libertarian concept of "no harm, no foul" should be the guiding light here.
This will become a hot-button wedge issue only if we let it become a hot-button wedge issue.
It's going to become the #1 issue in the campaign, isn't it?
Saturday, May 31, 2008
A Few Predictions
Several months ago, I congratulated Al Gore for winning the Nobel prize.
This was only noteworthy because at the time, Al Gore had not yet won the Nobel prize. The winner wouldn't be announced for another week.
Since that worked out well and got this site its first attention, I thought I would lay a few other predictions out for all the world to see. I'll follow up on these shortly before George W. Bush leaves office.
1. Congratulations to Barack Obama for not selecting The Clintons for Vice President. Obama realizes he needs someone to help him carry some swing states, and those two can't do it.
2. Congratulations John McCain, President of The United States of America.
3. This one is a "pivot". The crystal ball is cloudy. But I think one of these two things will happen: We will capture Osama bin Laden, possibly in Iraq, shortly before the election. This will give everyone some warm and fuzzy feelings about our military adventure over there. OR.... Osama bin Laden will release a very scary video shortly before the election, scaring the crap out of everybody and putting John McCain in a better position to live in the White House.
Either of these scenarios will benefit Republicans.
4. The Dallas Cowboys will not win a playoff game this year.
5. Fuel prices are going to keep going up. So shortly before leaving office, George W. Bush will move to open ANWR and possibly more areas in the Pacific and Atlantic to oil rigs. No one in the house or senate will have the cajones to oppose it. Fuel prices will go down shortly afterwards.
This was only noteworthy because at the time, Al Gore had not yet won the Nobel prize. The winner wouldn't be announced for another week.
Since that worked out well and got this site its first attention, I thought I would lay a few other predictions out for all the world to see. I'll follow up on these shortly before George W. Bush leaves office.
1. Congratulations to Barack Obama for not selecting The Clintons for Vice President. Obama realizes he needs someone to help him carry some swing states, and those two can't do it.
2. Congratulations John McCain, President of The United States of America.
3. This one is a "pivot". The crystal ball is cloudy. But I think one of these two things will happen: We will capture Osama bin Laden, possibly in Iraq, shortly before the election. This will give everyone some warm and fuzzy feelings about our military adventure over there. OR.... Osama bin Laden will release a very scary video shortly before the election, scaring the crap out of everybody and putting John McCain in a better position to live in the White House.
Either of these scenarios will benefit Republicans.
4. The Dallas Cowboys will not win a playoff game this year.
5. Fuel prices are going to keep going up. So shortly before leaving office, George W. Bush will move to open ANWR and possibly more areas in the Pacific and Atlantic to oil rigs. No one in the house or senate will have the cajones to oppose it. Fuel prices will go down shortly afterwards.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Charlie Rose and Susan Schwab, Interpreted
A few weeks ago, Charlie Rose interviewed U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab.
Ms. Schwab's words should be chipped in granite and placed in the Alabama courthouse that recently housed the controversial 10 Commandments monument.
Even now, as we speak, her every utterance is being memorized by the prisoners I keep in my backyard mini-Guantanamo Bay re-education camp for unrepentant Nancy Pelosi supporters. (For every five minutes of text memorized, they get another helping of tuna.)
Here's a somewhat edited video of the interview.
Fortunately, for the benefit of future generations, I happened to TIVO the complete interview. This portion was worth transcribing:
Charlie Rose: Where is there protectionist legislation that embarrasses you...when you're having to deal with foreign trade negotiations?
Susan Schwab: The most embarrassing legislation right now is the legislation that is not moving. None of our trading partners can understand that when we have these really really strong trade agreements with Korea, with Panama, and as we're currently talking about with Colombia, why the Congress of the United States is not rushing to get these put in place.
Because all of our trading partners? They're trying to do (trade) deals with those same countries....
Unfortunately, as we sit there, on the sidelines, waiting for Congress to act, they are out there negotiating these kinds of agreements. There are over a hundred bi-lateral and regional trade deals being negotiated by other countries and with each other that have the potential to lock us out of preferential deals.
Charlie Rose: In other words, you're saying (that) while the Congress fails to pass trade legislation, other countries are going in and by making other agreements for themselves, they will close out the United States from opportunities?
Susan Schwab: (unhhh....Yeah !) See the video.
I know that many of my readers tend to doze off when uninterpreted trade/free market/geek stuff is presented without translation. so here's an interpretation of what's really being said in the interview:
Charlie Rose: Susan, you sound vaguely embarrassed that you have to represent a nation where someone as fundamentally ignorant as Nancy Pelosi can stop something as beneficial as the Colombian Free Trade Agreement. When you sit down at the bargaining table, do you feel totally humiliated? Do they laugh with you, or laugh at you? Is there anything you'd like to get off your chest? Want to take a penalty kick? Take some cheap shots?
Susan Schwab: Thanks for asking Charlie....yes, I would like to explain what its like being the figurehead on the bow of a ship of fools.
If I'm sitting across the table from the trade negotiator from, say, Liechtenstein, and they're proposing that both nations eliminate tariffs on each others' products, I have to stop and explain Pelosi. I have to explain the Democrat congress. I have to explain that they can be bought by anyone with $20 and a KFC 10-piece bucket.
The negotiator from Liechtenstein looks up at me, and says "You know, we're also negotiating with Bulgaria and Eritrea and The Vatican and just about every other nation on earth, right?"
And I'll have to say, "Yeah, but what can I do? Nobody understand that these agreements make our products more attractive overseas."
And then the Liechtensteinian negotiator will say "You're shitting me. You can't be serious."
So what can I do?
And then we'll have to wrap things up, because I can't get anything done with that unrepentant protectionist witch in charge of the legislative branch of our government. And you know what really makes me feel bad? When we all go out for drinks afterwards, LIECHTENSTEIN picks up the tab. Freakin' Liechtenstein. They feel sorry for me.
Charlie Rose: In other words, you're saying (that) while the Congress protects a few jobs at the expense of many jobs, other countries are going in and by making other agreements for themselves, they can close out the United States from opportunities? Sorta like General Nathan Bedford Forrest's theory about "getting there firstest with the mostest"?
Susan Schwab: (unhhh....Yeah !) See the video.
Ms. Schwab's words should be chipped in granite and placed in the Alabama courthouse that recently housed the controversial 10 Commandments monument.
Even now, as we speak, her every utterance is being memorized by the prisoners I keep in my backyard mini-Guantanamo Bay re-education camp for unrepentant Nancy Pelosi supporters. (For every five minutes of text memorized, they get another helping of tuna.)
Here's a somewhat edited video of the interview.
Fortunately, for the benefit of future generations, I happened to TIVO the complete interview. This portion was worth transcribing:
Charlie Rose: Where is there protectionist legislation that embarrasses you...when you're having to deal with foreign trade negotiations?
Susan Schwab: The most embarrassing legislation right now is the legislation that is not moving. None of our trading partners can understand that when we have these really really strong trade agreements with Korea, with Panama, and as we're currently talking about with Colombia, why the Congress of the United States is not rushing to get these put in place.
Because all of our trading partners? They're trying to do (trade) deals with those same countries....
Unfortunately, as we sit there, on the sidelines, waiting for Congress to act, they are out there negotiating these kinds of agreements. There are over a hundred bi-lateral and regional trade deals being negotiated by other countries and with each other that have the potential to lock us out of preferential deals.
Charlie Rose: In other words, you're saying (that) while the Congress fails to pass trade legislation, other countries are going in and by making other agreements for themselves, they will close out the United States from opportunities?
Susan Schwab: (unhhh....Yeah !) See the video.
I know that many of my readers tend to doze off when uninterpreted trade/free market/geek stuff is presented without translation. so here's an interpretation of what's really being said in the interview:
Charlie Rose: Susan, you sound vaguely embarrassed that you have to represent a nation where someone as fundamentally ignorant as Nancy Pelosi can stop something as beneficial as the Colombian Free Trade Agreement. When you sit down at the bargaining table, do you feel totally humiliated? Do they laugh with you, or laugh at you? Is there anything you'd like to get off your chest? Want to take a penalty kick? Take some cheap shots?
Susan Schwab: Thanks for asking Charlie....yes, I would like to explain what its like being the figurehead on the bow of a ship of fools.
If I'm sitting across the table from the trade negotiator from, say, Liechtenstein, and they're proposing that both nations eliminate tariffs on each others' products, I have to stop and explain Pelosi. I have to explain the Democrat congress. I have to explain that they can be bought by anyone with $20 and a KFC 10-piece bucket.
The negotiator from Liechtenstein looks up at me, and says "You know, we're also negotiating with Bulgaria and Eritrea and The Vatican and just about every other nation on earth, right?"
And I'll have to say, "Yeah, but what can I do? Nobody understand that these agreements make our products more attractive overseas."
And then the Liechtensteinian negotiator will say "You're shitting me. You can't be serious."
So what can I do?
And then we'll have to wrap things up, because I can't get anything done with that unrepentant protectionist witch in charge of the legislative branch of our government. And you know what really makes me feel bad? When we all go out for drinks afterwards, LIECHTENSTEIN picks up the tab. Freakin' Liechtenstein. They feel sorry for me.
Charlie Rose: In other words, you're saying (that) while the Congress protects a few jobs at the expense of many jobs, other countries are going in and by making other agreements for themselves, they can close out the United States from opportunities? Sorta like General Nathan Bedford Forrest's theory about "getting there firstest with the mostest"?
Susan Schwab: (unhhh....Yeah !) See the video.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
What NAFTA Superhighway???
The Nation (a fascinating Old Leftie magazine), Lou Dobbs, and The John Birch Society all oppose the proposed NAFTA superhighway.
With a Trifecta like that all in opposition, it's GOT to be a great idea.
Have none of these jackasses ever ready any history? Do they not know that trade is the greatest builders of a nation? Amsterdam? Great Britain? Hong Freakin' Kong? Aren't they aware huge swaths of Africa remain impoverished, partially because of a lack of good deep water ports?
Nobody has ever protected themselves to prosperity. No, that's not true. Small numbers of people are trying to protect their prosperity at the expense of the larger group.
Imagine if you could only trade with relatives.
Or just people on your block.
Then imagine that there's an idiotic demogogue, like the ones above, who is warning you about the evils of mixin' and minglin' with them dern folks on the next block who do thangs different, and tellin' stories of Mexican truck drivers out of their minds on Mexican drugs.
Imagine if you could only trade with nearby states in the U.S.
Imagine that it's pre-1982, and there are idiotic shipping regulations that keep carriers from going across state lines.
I could go on forever.
Do people buy into this guy because he's on TV ? Is that it?
But there has to be a large contingent of Lou Dobbs viewers out there who finished grade school and who can read without their lips moving.
Does anyone know anyone Lou Dobbs loyalists that they can introduce me to?
I want to meet one, and study its habits.
Because you know what I really love about this? (there is no NAFTA superhighway ! read the Nation article !)
With a Trifecta like that all in opposition, it's GOT to be a great idea.
Have none of these jackasses ever ready any history? Do they not know that trade is the greatest builders of a nation? Amsterdam? Great Britain? Hong Freakin' Kong? Aren't they aware huge swaths of Africa remain impoverished, partially because of a lack of good deep water ports?
Nobody has ever protected themselves to prosperity. No, that's not true. Small numbers of people are trying to protect their prosperity at the expense of the larger group.
Imagine if you could only trade with relatives.
Or just people on your block.
Then imagine that there's an idiotic demogogue, like the ones above, who is warning you about the evils of mixin' and minglin' with them dern folks on the next block who do thangs different, and tellin' stories of Mexican truck drivers out of their minds on Mexican drugs.
Imagine if you could only trade with nearby states in the U.S.
Imagine that it's pre-1982, and there are idiotic shipping regulations that keep carriers from going across state lines.
I could go on forever.
Do people buy into this guy because he's on TV ? Is that it?
But there has to be a large contingent of Lou Dobbs viewers out there who finished grade school and who can read without their lips moving.
Does anyone know anyone Lou Dobbs loyalists that they can introduce me to?
I want to meet one, and study its habits.
Because you know what I really love about this? (there is no NAFTA superhighway ! read the Nation article !)
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Sparrows Are Falling
One of my employees rescued a kitten today. We had some sudden rain, and it was trapped in a truck well beneath an elevation ramp.
The kitten's eyes were swollen shut, probably from an infection, but my guy got some paper towels and started gently rubbing the kitten's face and eyes.
The cat can now see, but we didn't have any milk for it, and it's probably not old enough for solid food. It turned down hot dogs and Pringles.
I have three cats. If I came home with another cat, it would probably have to go live with the pig.
None of my employees need a cat.
The shots, food, getting it "fixed", etc., will be expensive.
If we take it to the animal shelter, they'll put it to sleep within a few days.
There are probably 5,000 kittens just like that one in Fort Worth. I bet 5% of them die every week.
It seems hopeless.
I volunteer for a charitable program called Family Pathfinders. A group of us try to help struggling families with job training, filling out job applications, financial aid, learning to call in to the workplace when running late, and all the tens of thousands of little skills that many of us take for granted.
We were assigned our first family about 9 months ago, and met with them as often as we could, and helped them as much as we could.
The family consisted of a single mother and her three daughters.
We eventually gave up and had to end the relationship. The mother wouldn't tell us the truth about where their money was going, and she wouldn't show up for meetings or appointments.
But I'm haunted by those three little girls. They're doomed.
What the hell do you do? Adopt them? Do what the State of Texas did at the YFZ Polygamist Ranch, and take the kids away from their mother?
A cyclone has hit the nation of Burma, a nation ruled for decades by its own military. Their government is so paranoid, they won't let aid flow into the country.
The United Nations, truly one of the most useless organizations to ever exist, is doing nothing but rationalizing ways to justify doing nothing.
Our Right Wing isn't willing to intervene, perhaps because there is no oil or any strategic advantage for doing so.
Our Left Wing isn't willing to intervene, because they have a puzzling infatuation with totalitarian governments (see Mao, Castro, etc etc etc.)
The Libertarian types generally oppose intervention because it's none of our business.
The suffering in that miserable nation is almost too great to comprehend.
What can we do?
I know a lot of people who take comfort in Jesus' words in the Gospel of Matthew. Here's Matthew 10:29-31.... "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows."
Taken at face value, Jesus seems to be saying that God is aware when sparrows fall. "Apart from the will of your Father....", that phrase implies that the sparrow doesn't fall unless it's the will of God. And we are worth more than sparrows.
The kitten, who is now in a box in one of my offices at work, probably weighs as much as two sparrows. Do I take it back outside, now that the rain has stopped, and hope that Mom shows up? Do I get it over with, and simply wring its neck? Take it to the pound? Buy milk, teach it to drink from a saucer, raise it to adulthood, and turn it loose in the neighborhood? And what about the other estimated 4,999 stray cats in Fort Worth? They're out their breeding like, like....well, cats.
What do we do for the three little girls? Our Family Pathfinders group will be assigned a new family soon. Do we just give up on this other family and hope for the best? I can promise you, the girls aren't going to turn out OK by mistake. Not in that environment.
As upper income families have fewer and fewer children, the lower income families, right or wrong, perceive more and more economic advantages in having more kids. It is staggering to think of.
In Burma, at least 20 people died from neglect, hunger and exposure in the time it took you to read this far. Their military won't allow anyone from the outside to help. What can be done?
Sparrows are falling everywhere. What are we supposed to do? Just watch, pray about it, and congratulate ourselves for not being among the fallen?
And now that I've put all this in perspective....does anybody want a cat?
The kitten's eyes were swollen shut, probably from an infection, but my guy got some paper towels and started gently rubbing the kitten's face and eyes.
The cat can now see, but we didn't have any milk for it, and it's probably not old enough for solid food. It turned down hot dogs and Pringles.
I have three cats. If I came home with another cat, it would probably have to go live with the pig.
None of my employees need a cat.
The shots, food, getting it "fixed", etc., will be expensive.
If we take it to the animal shelter, they'll put it to sleep within a few days.
There are probably 5,000 kittens just like that one in Fort Worth. I bet 5% of them die every week.
It seems hopeless.
I volunteer for a charitable program called Family Pathfinders. A group of us try to help struggling families with job training, filling out job applications, financial aid, learning to call in to the workplace when running late, and all the tens of thousands of little skills that many of us take for granted.
We were assigned our first family about 9 months ago, and met with them as often as we could, and helped them as much as we could.
The family consisted of a single mother and her three daughters.
We eventually gave up and had to end the relationship. The mother wouldn't tell us the truth about where their money was going, and she wouldn't show up for meetings or appointments.
But I'm haunted by those three little girls. They're doomed.
What the hell do you do? Adopt them? Do what the State of Texas did at the YFZ Polygamist Ranch, and take the kids away from their mother?
A cyclone has hit the nation of Burma, a nation ruled for decades by its own military. Their government is so paranoid, they won't let aid flow into the country.
The United Nations, truly one of the most useless organizations to ever exist, is doing nothing but rationalizing ways to justify doing nothing.
Our Right Wing isn't willing to intervene, perhaps because there is no oil or any strategic advantage for doing so.
Our Left Wing isn't willing to intervene, because they have a puzzling infatuation with totalitarian governments (see Mao, Castro, etc etc etc.)
The Libertarian types generally oppose intervention because it's none of our business.
The suffering in that miserable nation is almost too great to comprehend.
What can we do?
I know a lot of people who take comfort in Jesus' words in the Gospel of Matthew. Here's Matthew 10:29-31.... "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows."
Taken at face value, Jesus seems to be saying that God is aware when sparrows fall. "Apart from the will of your Father....", that phrase implies that the sparrow doesn't fall unless it's the will of God. And we are worth more than sparrows.
The kitten, who is now in a box in one of my offices at work, probably weighs as much as two sparrows. Do I take it back outside, now that the rain has stopped, and hope that Mom shows up? Do I get it over with, and simply wring its neck? Take it to the pound? Buy milk, teach it to drink from a saucer, raise it to adulthood, and turn it loose in the neighborhood? And what about the other estimated 4,999 stray cats in Fort Worth? They're out their breeding like, like....well, cats.
What do we do for the three little girls? Our Family Pathfinders group will be assigned a new family soon. Do we just give up on this other family and hope for the best? I can promise you, the girls aren't going to turn out OK by mistake. Not in that environment.
As upper income families have fewer and fewer children, the lower income families, right or wrong, perceive more and more economic advantages in having more kids. It is staggering to think of.
In Burma, at least 20 people died from neglect, hunger and exposure in the time it took you to read this far. Their military won't allow anyone from the outside to help. What can be done?
Sparrows are falling everywhere. What are we supposed to do? Just watch, pray about it, and congratulate ourselves for not being among the fallen?
And now that I've put all this in perspective....does anybody want a cat?
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Must have two years driving experience at Class A level, good driving record, and the availability and desire to do long hauls.
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Call 817-560-6350 for details.
Must have two years driving experience at Class A level, good driving record, and the availability and desire to do long hauls.
WE HAVE THE LOADS ! ! !
Call 817-560-6350 for details.
Monday, May 26, 2008
I Get Questions....
Bloggers generally try to be helpful. They usually have an agenda that they believe will benefit humanity.
So in the name of bettering our species, I'm going to post a few of the search engine inquiries that have guided people to this site. According to my Statcounter, many were phrased in the form of a question, as if Google worked like a "Magic 8-Ball".
It doesn't.
I've given links to the post they were directed to, plus I'll try to give a better answer than I provided in the original post, if I gave one at all. I'm deleting a few numbers from each server address just to protect the privacy of the questioners....Here goes.
h149..40.69.ip.alltel.net (Alltel Communications Of North Carolina) [Label IP Address]
North Carolina, Matthews, United States, 0 returning visit
Date Time WebPage
26th May 2008 21:11:49 www.search.com/search?q=i went to a nascar race and now my ears are ringing how do i stop it
thewhitedsepulchre.blogspot.com/2008/04/texas-motor-speedway-samsung-500-my.html
This person, a North Carolinian from the cradle of NASCAR, went to a race and wants ME to explain how to stop his ears from ringing.
The short answer: it can't be done. When I went to the race that I blogged about above, my host gave me some earplugs shortly after we sat down. Take some with you next time.
76-14-0-12.sf-cable.astound.net (Wave Broadband) [Label IP Address]
California, San Mateo, United States, 0 returning visit
Date Time WebPage
26th May 2008 19:33:04 www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=when will recession be over&btnG=Google Search
thewhitedsepulchre.blogspot.com/2008/05/recession-is-over.html
When will the recession be over? There isn't one. All the talk of a recession was designed to increase Guvmint control over the economy, and give politicians a reason to do something, anything, other than leave everything alone. Which, of course, would be the most helpful course of action. (I still don't have my stimulus check....Just an FYI to the Keynesians out there.)
c-76-1-164-190.hsd1.pa.comcast.net (Comcast Cable Communications Inc) [Label IP Address]
Pennsylvania, Canonsburg, United States, 0 returning visit
Date Time WebPage
26th May 2008 05:31:39 search.yahoo.com/search?ei=UTF-8&y=Search&fr=yfp-t-501&p=can gunpowder be attracted to a magnet&
thewhitedsepulchre.blogspot.com/
I've gotten a lot of people wondering about this....
Somebody in Canonsburg PA wants to know if gunpowder can be attracted to a magnet.
They've obviously seen that waste of an Indiana Jones movie.
The answer is "no". But in the movie, gunpowder, light fixtures, and swords are attracted to magnets. Gun barrels are not.
A friend of mine suggested that I pay attention to how quickly peoples' shirts dry off around the waterfall. I don't plan on seeing the movie again, but thought I'd throw that suggestion out there.
Here's another one:
pool-96-22-188-193.tampfl.fios.verizon.net (Verizon Internet Services Inc) [Label IP Address]
United States, 0 returning visit
Date Time WebPage
25th May 2008 21:59:49 www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=barr libertarian not
thewhitedsepulchre.blogspot.com/2008/05/bob-barr-libertarian-for-president-why.html
Barr Libertarian Not?
I agree. Barr Libertarian Not.
This has been a public service of The Whited Sepulchre Outreach Ministry.
So in the name of bettering our species, I'm going to post a few of the search engine inquiries that have guided people to this site. According to my Statcounter, many were phrased in the form of a question, as if Google worked like a "Magic 8-Ball".
It doesn't.
I've given links to the post they were directed to, plus I'll try to give a better answer than I provided in the original post, if I gave one at all. I'm deleting a few numbers from each server address just to protect the privacy of the questioners....Here goes.
h149..40.69.ip.alltel.net (Alltel Communications Of North Carolina) [Label IP Address]
North Carolina, Matthews, United States, 0 returning visit
Date Time WebPage
26th May 2008 21:11:49 www.search.com/search?q=i went to a nascar race and now my ears are ringing how do i stop it
thewhitedsepulchre.blogspot.com/2008/04/texas-motor-speedway-samsung-500-my.html
This person, a North Carolinian from the cradle of NASCAR, went to a race and wants ME to explain how to stop his ears from ringing.
The short answer: it can't be done. When I went to the race that I blogged about above, my host gave me some earplugs shortly after we sat down. Take some with you next time.
76-14-0-12.sf-cable.astound.net (Wave Broadband) [Label IP Address]
California, San Mateo, United States, 0 returning visit
Date Time WebPage
26th May 2008 19:33:04 www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=when will recession be over&btnG=Google Search
thewhitedsepulchre.blogspot.com/2008/05/recession-is-over.html
When will the recession be over? There isn't one. All the talk of a recession was designed to increase Guvmint control over the economy, and give politicians a reason to do something, anything, other than leave everything alone. Which, of course, would be the most helpful course of action. (I still don't have my stimulus check....Just an FYI to the Keynesians out there.)
c-76-1-164-190.hsd1.pa.comcast.net (Comcast Cable Communications Inc) [Label IP Address]
Pennsylvania, Canonsburg, United States, 0 returning visit
Date Time WebPage
26th May 2008 05:31:39 search.yahoo.com/search?ei=UTF-8&y=Search&fr=yfp-t-501&p=can gunpowder be attracted to a magnet&
thewhitedsepulchre.blogspot.com/
I've gotten a lot of people wondering about this....
Somebody in Canonsburg PA wants to know if gunpowder can be attracted to a magnet.
They've obviously seen that waste of an Indiana Jones movie.
The answer is "no". But in the movie, gunpowder, light fixtures, and swords are attracted to magnets. Gun barrels are not.
A friend of mine suggested that I pay attention to how quickly peoples' shirts dry off around the waterfall. I don't plan on seeing the movie again, but thought I'd throw that suggestion out there.
Here's another one:
pool-96-22-188-193.tampfl.fios.verizon.net (Verizon Internet Services Inc) [Label IP Address]
United States, 0 returning visit
Date Time WebPage
25th May 2008 21:59:49 www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=barr libertarian not
thewhitedsepulchre.blogspot.com/2008/05/bob-barr-libertarian-for-president-why.html
Barr Libertarian Not?
I agree. Barr Libertarian Not.
This has been a public service of The Whited Sepulchre Outreach Ministry.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Bob Barr is the Libertarian Party candidate for President
Bob Barr is the Libertarian Party candidate for President.
Bob Barr is the Libertarian Party candidate for President.
Bob Barr is the Libertarian Party candidate for President.
Bob Barr is the Libertarian Party candidate for President.
I think I could type it a dozen more times, and it wouldn't truly sink in.
I feel like one of those Hillary supporters who say they're going to stay home on election day if Obama is nominated.
I can't see Bob Barr as a Libertarian. Bob Barr is not a Libertarian. Or he wasn't when I was keeping up with him. What the heck is going on here?
Radley Balko, of "Reason" magazine, and author of the link above, states that he's "become rather fond of Barr over his 5-year conversion to libertarianism."
And I've became rather fond of Herman Goering over the course of his 5-year training to become a rabbi.
Bob Barr, at least on social issues, was one of the leading anti-libertarian politicians we've known. Maybe he's converted. Maybe he was struck blind for three days on the Damascus Road.
Maybe he's going to start working gun shows, lobbying for marijuana decriminalization, and building floats for gay pride parades. But isn't this rather sudden?
As one Baptist preacher told me when I was doing church music in Mississippi: "Allen, I don't have anything at all against reformed whores. But maybe you should wait a few weeks before you let them lead out the choir."
Bob Barr is the Libertarian Party candidate for President.
Bob Barr is the Libertarian Party candidate for President.
Bob Barr is the Libertarian Party candidate for President.
I think I could type it a dozen more times, and it wouldn't truly sink in.
I feel like one of those Hillary supporters who say they're going to stay home on election day if Obama is nominated.
I can't see Bob Barr as a Libertarian. Bob Barr is not a Libertarian. Or he wasn't when I was keeping up with him. What the heck is going on here?
Radley Balko, of "Reason" magazine, and author of the link above, states that he's "become rather fond of Barr over his 5-year conversion to libertarianism."
And I've became rather fond of Herman Goering over the course of his 5-year training to become a rabbi.
Bob Barr, at least on social issues, was one of the leading anti-libertarian politicians we've known. Maybe he's converted. Maybe he was struck blind for three days on the Damascus Road.
Maybe he's going to start working gun shows, lobbying for marijuana decriminalization, and building floats for gay pride parades. But isn't this rather sudden?
As one Baptist preacher told me when I was doing church music in Mississippi: "Allen, I don't have anything at all against reformed whores. But maybe you should wait a few weeks before you let them lead out the choir."
Saturday, May 24, 2008
I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends - The Watchers Council Edition
Watcher of Weasels (love the name !) runs something called "The Watchers Council".
It's a group of a dozen bloggers who, every week, submit their best piece of writing to the rest of the council. They use a complicated Watcher of Weasels-like percentage vote on who did the best job, and the winner gets lots of links and web traffic to whatever he/she wrote.
They also nominate one blog post apiece written by someone from the outside.
Wolf Howling, who has been in the blogroll to your right from day one, took a liking to this thing I wrote about Blog for Human Rights Day. Mr. Howling threw it in the ring for consideration by the Watchers Council.
These people, out of all the stuff blogged about last week, out of all the millions and millions of worthwhile blog entries out there....they decided that my Human Rights Day thing was the best. So now I'm getting traffic from here and here and here and here and here and here and here and about eight other places.
If I were a Democrat, I'd say that I'm humbled by the recognition.
But that's a total misuse of the word "humbled", isn't it? If people throw rotten vegetables and eggs and dead animals at you, and then say you're a total idiot, then you're humbled. How did we ever start using the word "humble" incorrectly? Any time someone gets an award or recognition, they say they're humbled. In my opinion, when you don't get an award, or win the game, or finish the marathon....you're humbled.
Instead of saying "I'm humbled", I should say that I'm pretty dang proud to get some recognition from The Watchers Council.
In the name of LinkLove, here are my picks for the best things written by the Watcher's Council:
The Education Wonks have an interesting post on the recent gang warfare in the Los Angeles Public School System. Read this, and tell me if any parents in their right minds would consider sending their kid to these schools. One thing that would've been an interesting side note.... No real teaching is going on in these places, since they're Gladiator/Gangsta Training Academies, and students risk their lives by showing up. So what's the biggest news in education from California these days? The teachers union is lobbying the state to outlaw home schooling. The mind recoils.
The Glittering Eye is running a series of editorials that Gittering Eye's father wrote for The Saint Louis Post-Dispatch. The first one, Adolph The Great, is about students at Yale (and Time magazine) nominating Hitler as "Man of The Year" due to his turnaround of Germany's economy. There are several other pieces by his father in there - just keep hitting the "father's editorial" links.
Rhymes With Right takes one of my least favorite politicians to the metaphorical woodshed. Iowa Senator Tom Harkin recently claimed that John McCain's family having four generations of military service somehow makes McCain unfit for Presidential leadership. Mr. Rhymes With Right has some harsh words for Senator Harkin, and says he should be ashamed of himself. I agree, but for totally different reasons.
Tom Harkin, the senator from Archer Daniels Midland, should be ashamed of himself because he's a whore for the ethanol industry. A worn out, pimped out, used up, totally bedraggled slut. John McCain has proven that he can take care of himself.
Done With Mirrors takes a look at the problem we Christians know as "theodicy". Prompted by the historical and theological explorations of Reverend John Hagee, Done With Mirrors asks, as an outsider, how can monotheists reconcile the idea of an all-knowing, all-powerful God with some of the totalitarian outrages of the previous century. (The short answer: We can't.)
Joshuapundit specializes in deep lengthy posts about the Middle East, almost all of which are worthwhile. But I've got to give you a link to this YouTube parody of an academic sensitivity training session. Funny stuff.
SoccerDad is another blogger who focuses on Jewish issues, Israel, and the Middle East. He's got so much interesting stuff in there that my head hurts. I look forward reading all these people in the future. If I have to settle on just one post to highlight, it would be "What Makes A Pro-Israel President?"
The Colossus Of Rhodey has some commentary on a Mark Steyn piece about John McCain vs. The Democratic Party . Senator Tom Harkin, who is shaping up nicely as the villain of this post, also comes in for some well-deserved abuse. But not nearly enough.
Bookworm Room liked the new Indiana Jones movie even less than I did. She's correct when she states that Cate Blanchett looks fabulous. She's mistaken when she states that (the fight scenes were) "like a Rock ‘em Sock ‘em robot, only the heads stayed attached at the end," because Cate Blanchett's head doesn't. But that's trivial. The movie was not good.
BWRoom also has a link where like-minded commenters can recommend their favorite books.
Cheat Seeking Missiles has a discourse on the lowered height requirement in the North Korean Army. (It's now 4'3". That's four feet, three inches tall.) Cheat Seeking Missiles believes this is due to systemic malnutrition in the Socialist Paradise of North Korea.
Well, there's a perfect control group of people with identical ethnicity in the Raging Capitalist Hellhole of South Korea. I wonder how the two nations compare? Can someone let me know if the South Korean military has to admit 4'3" recruits? I think not.
Wolf Howling, who was good enough to get me into all this, has a post on Oil, Gas, Supply & Demand. He talks about the belief that supply and demand have nothing to do with cost and price. He's also the 3rd or 4th one of these folks to post the YouTube video of Rep. Maxine Waters threatening to nationalize the oil companies.
As a small "l" libertarian, I think Maxine Waters' statements are mildly comical. (Imagine what The U.S. Postal Service could do for UPS. Imagine what a V.A. hospital could do for Harris Methodist hospital in Fort Worth. Imagine what the Department of Motor Vehicles could do for Toyota.) The Watchers Council apparently thinks this video is knee-slapping, rolling in the floor laughing, blow-your -drink-through-your-nose funny.
If you can imagine Maxine Waters and her minions taking over an oil company....yeah, it's pretty funny.
Also, while you're in there, check out the various wolf pictures above each blogroll category. The first time I saw the one he picked for "The Left", I laughed for hours.
Hillbilly White Trash has some marketing advice for the Republican party in "Rebranding The G.O.P." One explanation that may be needed for those with other belief systems....RINO stands for "Republican In Name Only".
The Hillbilly has the largest blogroll I've ever seen. He also did 2,200 posts in 2007. The Hillbilly is committed to his cause.
In his leisure time, he runs something called The Hillbilly Ecosystem. (Go ahead and click the link.... it's a blog traffic ranking system using redneck stereotypes as the hierarchy categories.) By one of his standards - blogrolls - I'm a Heavily Armed Moonshiner. By another - hits and comments - I'm a Heavily Armed Saloon Keeper.
Perhaps if all these good folks keep sending traffic my direction, I'll achieve a solid "Heavily Armed Saloon Keeper" status by the end of summer.
It's a group of a dozen bloggers who, every week, submit their best piece of writing to the rest of the council. They use a complicated Watcher of Weasels-like percentage vote on who did the best job, and the winner gets lots of links and web traffic to whatever he/she wrote.
They also nominate one blog post apiece written by someone from the outside.
Wolf Howling, who has been in the blogroll to your right from day one, took a liking to this thing I wrote about Blog for Human Rights Day. Mr. Howling threw it in the ring for consideration by the Watchers Council.
These people, out of all the stuff blogged about last week, out of all the millions and millions of worthwhile blog entries out there....they decided that my Human Rights Day thing was the best. So now I'm getting traffic from here and here and here and here and here and here and here and about eight other places.
If I were a Democrat, I'd say that I'm humbled by the recognition.
But that's a total misuse of the word "humbled", isn't it? If people throw rotten vegetables and eggs and dead animals at you, and then say you're a total idiot, then you're humbled. How did we ever start using the word "humble" incorrectly? Any time someone gets an award or recognition, they say they're humbled. In my opinion, when you don't get an award, or win the game, or finish the marathon....you're humbled.
Instead of saying "I'm humbled", I should say that I'm pretty dang proud to get some recognition from The Watchers Council.
In the name of LinkLove, here are my picks for the best things written by the Watcher's Council:
The Education Wonks have an interesting post on the recent gang warfare in the Los Angeles Public School System. Read this, and tell me if any parents in their right minds would consider sending their kid to these schools. One thing that would've been an interesting side note.... No real teaching is going on in these places, since they're Gladiator/Gangsta Training Academies, and students risk their lives by showing up. So what's the biggest news in education from California these days? The teachers union is lobbying the state to outlaw home schooling. The mind recoils.
The Glittering Eye is running a series of editorials that Gittering Eye's father wrote for The Saint Louis Post-Dispatch. The first one, Adolph The Great, is about students at Yale (and Time magazine) nominating Hitler as "Man of The Year" due to his turnaround of Germany's economy. There are several other pieces by his father in there - just keep hitting the "father's editorial" links.
Rhymes With Right takes one of my least favorite politicians to the metaphorical woodshed. Iowa Senator Tom Harkin recently claimed that John McCain's family having four generations of military service somehow makes McCain unfit for Presidential leadership. Mr. Rhymes With Right has some harsh words for Senator Harkin, and says he should be ashamed of himself. I agree, but for totally different reasons.
Tom Harkin, the senator from Archer Daniels Midland, should be ashamed of himself because he's a whore for the ethanol industry. A worn out, pimped out, used up, totally bedraggled slut. John McCain has proven that he can take care of himself.
Done With Mirrors takes a look at the problem we Christians know as "theodicy". Prompted by the historical and theological explorations of Reverend John Hagee, Done With Mirrors asks, as an outsider, how can monotheists reconcile the idea of an all-knowing, all-powerful God with some of the totalitarian outrages of the previous century. (The short answer: We can't.)
Joshuapundit specializes in deep lengthy posts about the Middle East, almost all of which are worthwhile. But I've got to give you a link to this YouTube parody of an academic sensitivity training session. Funny stuff.
SoccerDad is another blogger who focuses on Jewish issues, Israel, and the Middle East. He's got so much interesting stuff in there that my head hurts. I look forward reading all these people in the future. If I have to settle on just one post to highlight, it would be "What Makes A Pro-Israel President?"
The Colossus Of Rhodey has some commentary on a Mark Steyn piece about John McCain vs. The Democratic Party . Senator Tom Harkin, who is shaping up nicely as the villain of this post, also comes in for some well-deserved abuse. But not nearly enough.
Bookworm Room liked the new Indiana Jones movie even less than I did. She's correct when she states that Cate Blanchett looks fabulous. She's mistaken when she states that (the fight scenes were) "like a Rock ‘em Sock ‘em robot, only the heads stayed attached at the end," because Cate Blanchett's head doesn't. But that's trivial. The movie was not good.
BWRoom also has a link where like-minded commenters can recommend their favorite books.
Cheat Seeking Missiles has a discourse on the lowered height requirement in the North Korean Army. (It's now 4'3". That's four feet, three inches tall.) Cheat Seeking Missiles believes this is due to systemic malnutrition in the Socialist Paradise of North Korea.
Well, there's a perfect control group of people with identical ethnicity in the Raging Capitalist Hellhole of South Korea. I wonder how the two nations compare? Can someone let me know if the South Korean military has to admit 4'3" recruits? I think not.
Wolf Howling, who was good enough to get me into all this, has a post on Oil, Gas, Supply & Demand. He talks about the belief that supply and demand have nothing to do with cost and price. He's also the 3rd or 4th one of these folks to post the YouTube video of Rep. Maxine Waters threatening to nationalize the oil companies.
As a small "l" libertarian, I think Maxine Waters' statements are mildly comical. (Imagine what The U.S. Postal Service could do for UPS. Imagine what a V.A. hospital could do for Harris Methodist hospital in Fort Worth. Imagine what the Department of Motor Vehicles could do for Toyota.) The Watchers Council apparently thinks this video is knee-slapping, rolling in the floor laughing, blow-your -drink-through-your-nose funny.
If you can imagine Maxine Waters and her minions taking over an oil company....yeah, it's pretty funny.
Also, while you're in there, check out the various wolf pictures above each blogroll category. The first time I saw the one he picked for "The Left", I laughed for hours.
Hillbilly White Trash has some marketing advice for the Republican party in "Rebranding The G.O.P." One explanation that may be needed for those with other belief systems....RINO stands for "Republican In Name Only".
The Hillbilly has the largest blogroll I've ever seen. He also did 2,200 posts in 2007. The Hillbilly is committed to his cause.
In his leisure time, he runs something called The Hillbilly Ecosystem. (Go ahead and click the link.... it's a blog traffic ranking system using redneck stereotypes as the hierarchy categories.) By one of his standards - blogrolls - I'm a Heavily Armed Moonshiner. By another - hits and comments - I'm a Heavily Armed Saloon Keeper.
Perhaps if all these good folks keep sending traffic my direction, I'll achieve a solid "Heavily Armed Saloon Keeper" status by the end of summer.
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