Divisive in Any Language
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/22/AR2006052201156_pf.html/
From his column today in the WP he covers this subject so much better than I could ever attempt to do in this space. He goes on to say, "There is no point to this amendment (English as the "OFFICIAL LANGUAGE") except to say to members of our currently large Spanish-speaking population that they will be legally and formally disrespected in a way that earlier generations of immigrants from -- this is just a partial list -- Germany, Italy, Poland, Russia, Norway, Sweden, France, Hungary, Greece, China, Japan, Finland, Lithuania, Lebanon, Syria, Bohemia, Slovakia, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia were not."
The Senate passed this utterly useless amendment sponsored by Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) declaring English to be our "national language" and calling for a government role in "preserving and enhancing" the place of English. A very strange stance for a "NATIVE AMERICAN" to place himself, considering his native language is not English either.
Talk about pandering to the BASE.
"Fanaticism consists in redoubling your effort when you have forgotten your aim." ~ George Santayana, Spanish philosopher and writer
"Logic is the art of going wrong with confidence." ~ Morris Kline
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Watching Politicians Work an Event
This weekend I attended a local civic function on the square where I live. Among the various merchandise vendors and church groups were food vendors selling everything from ice cream to pretzels.
It was interesting to see our local anti-war protester with a booth directly across the narrow street from the flag-waving republican party booth. Yet she was drawing a substantially large crowd in this overtly conservative part of the South. She is not afraid, outspoken and dressed as lady liberty she speaks her peace to anyone that will listen and even to those who won't.
I watched local political personalities mingle through the larger than usual crowd due to mild morning temperatures growing to hot in the afternoon. It brought back memories of traveling with my parents to rallies in my youth to drum up support for candidates and the party in elections gone by. Today's encounters were brief yet just as effective, they were to allow the public to see the "PUBLIC SERVANT" as one of them. Some of these "PUBLIC SERVANTS" actually are effective, others are bodies taking up space.
"However far you may travel in this world, you will still occupy the same volume of space." ~ Traditional Ur-Bororo saying
Unfortunately some of these folks take up valuable space!!! Effective leadership is needed in every town, city, county (parish)(township), district, state, and especially in our nation.
Back to another thought: If the Senate is to pass a law regarding the use of English as the official language; two things:
1. Laws should be in that plain English for everyone to understand. Period.
2. The President should have some command of the language, himself. Period.
Those should be fairly easy, if we require new residents to know English, so should everyone in the Bronx, South Beach, Chicago, Boise, Las Vegas, Crawford, Park City, Toledo, Miami, Nashville, Houston, and everywhere in-between.
"He who knows only his side of the case, knows little of that." ~ John Stuart Mill
"We turn to God for help when our foundations are shaking, only to learn that it is God who is shaking them." ~ Charles C. West
NOTICE: Due to Presidential Executive Orders, the National Security Agency may have read this blog without warning, warrant, or notice. They may do this without any judicial or legislative oversight. You have no recourse or protection save to call for the impeachment of the current President.
It was interesting to see our local anti-war protester with a booth directly across the narrow street from the flag-waving republican party booth. Yet she was drawing a substantially large crowd in this overtly conservative part of the South. She is not afraid, outspoken and dressed as lady liberty she speaks her peace to anyone that will listen and even to those who won't.
I watched local political personalities mingle through the larger than usual crowd due to mild morning temperatures growing to hot in the afternoon. It brought back memories of traveling with my parents to rallies in my youth to drum up support for candidates and the party in elections gone by. Today's encounters were brief yet just as effective, they were to allow the public to see the "PUBLIC SERVANT" as one of them. Some of these "PUBLIC SERVANTS" actually are effective, others are bodies taking up space.
"However far you may travel in this world, you will still occupy the same volume of space." ~ Traditional Ur-Bororo saying
Unfortunately some of these folks take up valuable space!!! Effective leadership is needed in every town, city, county (parish)(township), district, state, and especially in our nation.
Back to another thought: If the Senate is to pass a law regarding the use of English as the official language; two things:
1. Laws should be in that plain English for everyone to understand. Period.
2. The President should have some command of the language, himself. Period.
Those should be fairly easy, if we require new residents to know English, so should everyone in the Bronx, South Beach, Chicago, Boise, Las Vegas, Crawford, Park City, Toledo, Miami, Nashville, Houston, and everywhere in-between.
"He who knows only his side of the case, knows little of that." ~ John Stuart Mill
"We turn to God for help when our foundations are shaking, only to learn that it is God who is shaking them." ~ Charles C. West
NOTICE: Due to Presidential Executive Orders, the National Security Agency may have read this blog without warning, warrant, or notice. They may do this without any judicial or legislative oversight. You have no recourse or protection save to call for the impeachment of the current President.
Do you have the CODE?
So much furor, so much dinero, (oops! money for those language challenged in the US Senate). So many francs, no wrong language too. So many lira, oops, that's another non-english tongue, how about yen, no not that one either. Well they say money talks and bs walks........ except in the Senate. There it VOTES!
Looks like the critics were wrong about the buying public, AGAIN! Multitudes went out despite being told by the Catholic League, Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Bill O'reilly and the like to see the latest offering from Hollywood. Ron Howard's adaptation of Dan Brown's NOVEL The DaVinci Code. (Key word in the code in that sentence is NOVEL)
Everyone from Christendom has either been stirred up in anger or in anticipation awaiting an opportunity to witness to the un-churched masses going to attend the film. It seems that it just happens to be a very good interpretation of the book, which critics don't like, but the public loves. Truth, or in this case fiction is stranger than manipulation.
Every time a movie is made based on a best selling book, critics seem to want the director to take liberties by forcing the screenplay in a totally different direction, yet when they don't; the public rewards them by making it a hit movie and a box office success.
Then there is MI:III or MI:3, oh! whatever: Tom Cruise, jumping, sliding, dropping, staring, explosions, etc. Critics - LOVED. Most of the public stayed away. Could have been Tom, Scientology, TomKat, Tom, Bad movie, Tom, who knows? Couch jumping is up for an Olympic event in the world of Battleship Earth, I hear. Or is it Matt Lauer screaming? I forget.
"The right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken seriously." ~ Hubert H. Humphrey
gall 1 (gôl) n.
1. See bile.
2. a. Bitterness of feeling; rancor.
b. Something bitter to endure: the gall of defeat.
3. Outrageous insolence; effrontery.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/gall/
How dare the US Senate pass a resolution demanding English being the OFFICIAL and ONLY language of the United States of America, I guess all of their ancestors were born English speaking when they were born, huh? Why now? They did not require this of the Middle Europeans of many diverse backgrounds when they landed on Ellis Island and other ports of entry in years past. Why now?
It is easy to see the CODE as to why the Preznit wants to allow a GUEST worker program: He and his friends (read cronies) need gardeners, dry wallers, carpenters, masons, and restaurant workers at below the PRESENT MINIMUM WAGE that they don't want to raise for "REAL" Americans. So "Joe and Jill Republican" the reason you can't make a living wage is your guvment you elected, so keep it up, unless you break the CODE.
"What soap is for the body, tears are for the soul." ~ Jewish Proverb
NOTICE: Due to Presidential Executive Orders, the National Security Agency may have read this blog without warning, warrant, or notice. They may do this without any judicial or legislative oversight. You have no recourse or protection save to call for the impeachment of the current President.
Looks like the critics were wrong about the buying public, AGAIN! Multitudes went out despite being told by the Catholic League, Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Bill O'reilly and the like to see the latest offering from Hollywood. Ron Howard's adaptation of Dan Brown's NOVEL The DaVinci Code. (Key word in the code in that sentence is NOVEL)
Everyone from Christendom has either been stirred up in anger or in anticipation awaiting an opportunity to witness to the un-churched masses going to attend the film. It seems that it just happens to be a very good interpretation of the book, which critics don't like, but the public loves. Truth, or in this case fiction is stranger than manipulation.
Every time a movie is made based on a best selling book, critics seem to want the director to take liberties by forcing the screenplay in a totally different direction, yet when they don't; the public rewards them by making it a hit movie and a box office success.
Then there is MI:III or MI:3, oh! whatever: Tom Cruise, jumping, sliding, dropping, staring, explosions, etc. Critics - LOVED. Most of the public stayed away. Could have been Tom, Scientology, TomKat, Tom, Bad movie, Tom, who knows? Couch jumping is up for an Olympic event in the world of Battleship Earth, I hear. Or is it Matt Lauer screaming? I forget.
"The right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken seriously." ~ Hubert H. Humphrey
gall 1 (gôl) n.
1. See bile.
2. a. Bitterness of feeling; rancor.
b. Something bitter to endure: the gall of defeat.
3. Outrageous insolence; effrontery.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/gall/
How dare the US Senate pass a resolution demanding English being the OFFICIAL and ONLY language of the United States of America, I guess all of their ancestors were born English speaking when they were born, huh? Why now? They did not require this of the Middle Europeans of many diverse backgrounds when they landed on Ellis Island and other ports of entry in years past. Why now?
It is easy to see the CODE as to why the Preznit wants to allow a GUEST worker program: He and his friends (read cronies) need gardeners, dry wallers, carpenters, masons, and restaurant workers at below the PRESENT MINIMUM WAGE that they don't want to raise for "REAL" Americans. So "Joe and Jill Republican" the reason you can't make a living wage is your guvment you elected, so keep it up, unless you break the CODE.
"What soap is for the body, tears are for the soul." ~ Jewish Proverb
NOTICE: Due to Presidential Executive Orders, the National Security Agency may have read this blog without warning, warrant, or notice. They may do this without any judicial or legislative oversight. You have no recourse or protection save to call for the impeachment of the current President.
Monday, May 22, 2006
Wow, it was great, wish you were here!
"Be not the first by whom the new are tried, nor yet the last to lay the old aside." ~ Alexander Pope
Friday, went to Tom Lee Park and Memphis in May "3 Days of Peace Love & Pork". It was beyond my imagination! The sensations of the aroma of roasting, smoking pork was almost more than I could contain. By going early we were able to get in free; yes free. As we entered the U of Tn was conducting a survey on why people attend festivals such as this. They paid ME a $2 bill for taking the survey.
Par for the course during a MIM it did rain, yet however not the hurricane force winds and rain typical of MIM. Just a short shower, enought to cool it back down with the breeze off of the Mighty Mississippi.
We visited several competitors booths, those that were friendly enough to speak to uninvited guests. Lawry's Seasonings sponsors a Cooks Caravan (tour of several competition booths) to initiate the public into the real world of competive Barbecue. We got to see a couple of the favorites that we wanted to see: Jack's Old South and Big Bob Gibson's. The folks at Big Bob Gibson's invited us to come back and eat with them at 7 PM that evening after the first meat came off the grill.
After taking it in my wife and I decided that we might try some of the amateur Patio Porker competition in this area next year.
"Don't ask yourself what the world needs - ask yourself what makes you come alive, and then go do it. Because what the world needs are people who have come alive." ~ Harold Thurman Whitman, Philosopher and Theologian
"I have found it easier to identify with the characters who verge upon hysteria, who were frightened of life, who were desperate to reach out to another person. But these seemingly fragile people are the strong people really." ~ Tennessee Williams, born Thomas Lanier Williams in Columbus, Mississippi (1911)
Friday, went to Tom Lee Park and Memphis in May "3 Days of Peace Love & Pork". It was beyond my imagination! The sensations of the aroma of roasting, smoking pork was almost more than I could contain. By going early we were able to get in free; yes free. As we entered the U of Tn was conducting a survey on why people attend festivals such as this. They paid ME a $2 bill for taking the survey.Par for the course during a MIM it did rain, yet however not the hurricane force winds and rain typical of MIM. Just a short shower, enought to cool it back down with the breeze off of the Mighty Mississippi.
We visited several competitors booths, those that were friendly enough to speak to uninvited guests. Lawry's Seasonings sponsors a Cooks Caravan (tour of several competition booths) to initiate the public into the real world of competive Barbecue. We got to see a couple of the favorites that we wanted to see: Jack's Old South and Big Bob Gibson's. The folks at Big Bob Gibson's invited us to come back and eat with them at 7 PM that evening after the first meat came off the grill.
After taking it in my wife and I decided that we might try some of the amateur Patio Porker competition in this area next year.
"Don't ask yourself what the world needs - ask yourself what makes you come alive, and then go do it. Because what the world needs are people who have come alive." ~ Harold Thurman Whitman, Philosopher and Theologian
"I have found it easier to identify with the characters who verge upon hysteria, who were frightened of life, who were desperate to reach out to another person. But these seemingly fragile people are the strong people really." ~ Tennessee Williams, born Thomas Lanier Williams in Columbus, Mississippi (1911)
Thursday, May 18, 2006
It is May in Memphis..............
"Insanity in individuals is something rare - but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule." ~ Friedrich Nietzsche
Smoke wafts up from the environs of Tom Lee Park on the banks of the Mississippi River in downtown Memphis. Competitors from all over the country have arrived to prove their prowess in Barbecue over all comers.
For three days in May each year, the best cooks from the Barbecue Contests of the country meet in Memphis to determine the divine swine. This year is no different. Weather has always be either glorious or totally uncooperative, depending on your point of view. Thousand Six is no exception. Today has been a gorgeous day, yet an ominous cloud has cast its shadow across the "Big Muddy" from Arkansas. Locals are praying for a weekend of good weather.
Either way the swine will be divine, the ribs tickled, sauce tasted, and "everything but" will be just fine.
Check out the official site at: http://www.memphisinmay.org/
Tomorrow I will visit the park to sample the offerings on the altar of the barbecue gods. Like football in the South, Barbecue is like a religion; everybody has their own preference and favorite. Don't disparage it, don't fight about it, if you don't like it, find your own and support it!!
Long live Barbecue!!
"The supreme accomplishment is to blur the line between work and play." ~ Arnold J. Toynbee
Smoke wafts up from the environs of Tom Lee Park on the banks of the Mississippi River in downtown Memphis. Competitors from all over the country have arrived to prove their prowess in Barbecue over all comers.
For three days in May each year, the best cooks from the Barbecue Contests of the country meet in Memphis to determine the divine swine. This year is no different. Weather has always be either glorious or totally uncooperative, depending on your point of view. Thousand Six is no exception. Today has been a gorgeous day, yet an ominous cloud has cast its shadow across the "Big Muddy" from Arkansas. Locals are praying for a weekend of good weather.
Either way the swine will be divine, the ribs tickled, sauce tasted, and "everything but" will be just fine.
Check out the official site at: http://www.memphisinmay.org/
Tomorrow I will visit the park to sample the offerings on the altar of the barbecue gods. Like football in the South, Barbecue is like a religion; everybody has their own preference and favorite. Don't disparage it, don't fight about it, if you don't like it, find your own and support it!!
Long live Barbecue!!
"The supreme accomplishment is to blur the line between work and play." ~ Arnold J. Toynbee
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Other fascinating moments in Republican History
"Most truths are so naked that people feel sorry for them and cover them up, at least a little bit." ~ Edward R. Murrow, journalist (1908-1965)
The 1920s Republican administrations in Washington openly endorsed Mussolini, and with the aid of J. P. Morgan, they helped engineer hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of credits and loans to the Fascist government.
The relationship between Mussolini and the Republicans was so embarrassingly close that President Coolidge’s ambassador to Italy, Richard Washburn Child, helped ghostwrite Il Duce’s “autobiography," surely one of the odder and more (deliberately) forgotten moments in U.S. diplomatic history.
http://www.theorientalist.info/levs.php?location=New%20York&id=26/
"A man might die for honor or kill for arrogance. In broad daylight the terrible vision of sin might strike him down by the tavern well or back of his own corn crib. It was a land of the fiddle and whiskey, sweat and prayer, pride and depravity." ~ Robert Penn Warren
The 1920s Republican administrations in Washington openly endorsed Mussolini, and with the aid of J. P. Morgan, they helped engineer hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of credits and loans to the Fascist government.
The relationship between Mussolini and the Republicans was so embarrassingly close that President Coolidge’s ambassador to Italy, Richard Washburn Child, helped ghostwrite Il Duce’s “autobiography," surely one of the odder and more (deliberately) forgotten moments in U.S. diplomatic history.
http://www.theorientalist.info/levs.php?location=New%20York&id=26/
"A man might die for honor or kill for arrogance. In broad daylight the terrible vision of sin might strike him down by the tavern well or back of his own corn crib. It was a land of the fiddle and whiskey, sweat and prayer, pride and depravity." ~ Robert Penn Warren
Monday, May 08, 2006
Why is our Preznit so out of touch?
Not only did he not appeal to half of the country the first time, he did not appeal to half of the country the second time, and now he seems utterly clueless when selecting replacements for policy positions within his administration. Clearly he hears voices, but from where? Certainly the Almighty didn't choose Michael Hayden to be the CIA director. Or did he?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12685614/?GT1=8199
"All hat and no cattle" is, I think gone beyond even his base now. The conservatives never were a "real" political co-alition, they were at best, what they try to accuse the liberals of a "hate" group. They "hated" progressive ideas, they "hated" public schools, they "hated" social security, they "hated" medicare, and they "hated" any type of program that was green vs. absolute growth. Why you ask? It was contrary to the way they grew up. Now the pseudo-republicans-conservatives are starting to see the wolves in their right-wing/false-religious sheep's clothing for what it was a means to an end.
The only reason the BASE of the GOP wanted a repeal of inheritance taxes, was because they were the only ones effected by the law. Most pseudo-republicans did not even realize that the "death tax" did not kick in until after an enormous sum. The run of the mill repugs don't get a boost from an elimination of an inheritance tax; just like they don't get a benefit from the "massive" tax cuts the GOP pushed through to satisfy their "base". To be able to get a benefit from the tax cut the GOP got for the "base" you would need to make over $1 million dollars to reap any real benefit. Most of these pseudo-repugs don't make anywhere near that much in a lifetime, much less a year. But they support it!!!
"Rationalization may be defined as self-deception by reasoning." ~ Karen Horney
"There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in." ~ Leonard Cohen, musician
(1934- )
Let the light in.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12685614/?GT1=8199
"All hat and no cattle" is, I think gone beyond even his base now. The conservatives never were a "real" political co-alition, they were at best, what they try to accuse the liberals of a "hate" group. They "hated" progressive ideas, they "hated" public schools, they "hated" social security, they "hated" medicare, and they "hated" any type of program that was green vs. absolute growth. Why you ask? It was contrary to the way they grew up. Now the pseudo-republicans-conservatives are starting to see the wolves in their right-wing/false-religious sheep's clothing for what it was a means to an end.
The only reason the BASE of the GOP wanted a repeal of inheritance taxes, was because they were the only ones effected by the law. Most pseudo-republicans did not even realize that the "death tax" did not kick in until after an enormous sum. The run of the mill repugs don't get a boost from an elimination of an inheritance tax; just like they don't get a benefit from the "massive" tax cuts the GOP pushed through to satisfy their "base". To be able to get a benefit from the tax cut the GOP got for the "base" you would need to make over $1 million dollars to reap any real benefit. Most of these pseudo-repugs don't make anywhere near that much in a lifetime, much less a year. But they support it!!!
"Rationalization may be defined as self-deception by reasoning." ~ Karen Horney
"There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in." ~ Leonard Cohen, musician
(1934- )
Let the light in.
Monday, May 01, 2006
Old News
"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron." ~ H.L. Mencken
On Thursday:
Limbaugh returned to favorite mantra: Terrorists sound like Democrats
http://mediamatters.org/items/200604270016/
On Friday:
Rush Limbaugh Arrested On Drug Charges
http://cbs4.com/local/local_story_118200809.html
After THREE years of avoided admitted guilt, the obnoxious mouth of talk radio, agreed to pay $30,000.00 to the State of Florida for Court Costs and still maintains that he was not guilty of "doctor shopping", yet was in possession of over 2000 pills and numerous prescriptions from various Doctors and pharmacies in the area. He had used employees names and used multiple doctors to obtain painkillers.
Sounds like to me the "Voice of Reason" and "Morals" Has a DRUG problem. Mama would say that is like the pot calling the kettle, you know....
He has for years tried to laud himself over Americans as the "Voice of Reason", well, as it has been said homey don't play that!. Serve the time. If he had been poor, black, Hispanic, or white trash he would still be in jail. Send the Slob back to jail.
"The Texan turned out to be good-natured, generous, and likable. In three days no one could stand him." ~ Joseph Heller, author of "Catch-22" (I wonder if Heller was talking about all hat and no cattle?)
On Thursday:
Limbaugh returned to favorite mantra: Terrorists sound like Democrats
http://mediamatters.org/items/200604270016/
On Friday:
Rush Limbaugh Arrested On Drug Charges
http://cbs4.com/local/local_story_118200809.html
After THREE years of avoided admitted guilt, the obnoxious mouth of talk radio, agreed to pay $30,000.00 to the State of Florida for Court Costs and still maintains that he was not guilty of "doctor shopping", yet was in possession of over 2000 pills and numerous prescriptions from various Doctors and pharmacies in the area. He had used employees names and used multiple doctors to obtain painkillers.
Sounds like to me the "Voice of Reason" and "Morals" Has a DRUG problem. Mama would say that is like the pot calling the kettle, you know....
He has for years tried to laud himself over Americans as the "Voice of Reason", well, as it has been said homey don't play that!. Serve the time. If he had been poor, black, Hispanic, or white trash he would still be in jail. Send the Slob back to jail.
"The Texan turned out to be good-natured, generous, and likable. In three days no one could stand him." ~ Joseph Heller, author of "Catch-22" (I wonder if Heller was talking about all hat and no cattle?)
Friday, April 28, 2006
So what's in a name?
"Biographical history, as taught in our public schools, is still largely a history of boneheads: ridiculous kings and queens, paranoid political leaders, compulsive voyagers, ignorant generals; the flotsam and jetsam of historical currents." ~ Martin Gardner
So the Preznit isn't the only Bush in trouble, fancy that?
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-bush28apr28,0,1771601.story?track=tothtml/
Seems as if Heisman Trophy Winner was a little premature on his arrangements for financing and other matters before getting drafted into the pros. Will an investigation of USC follow? Who knows?
Especially since this years QB has been sidelined due to of campus activities, this same week. Come on guys, keep 'em in, keep your head on your shoulders. These rich donors are paying gazillions of $$$'s for your scholarship and the facilities for you to train in to play on Saturdays, preparing for a possible career on Sundays. So don't blow it!!!!
Now on to important stuff. Rove, fifth time, oops. Darn the walls are tumbling down, the sky is falling, the emperor has no clothes, the "Snow" will soon be 'melting' and Cheney is again sleeping in the hallway during the breaks in coverage.
Rummy and Rice, no not a new dish from Emeril's but from the Neocon Nueve Cocina visited (unannounced) Iraqmire this week, to not so rave reviews.
Gasoline prices went up almost as fast as the profits of the Oil Companies and the salaries of their executives. And I thought to get screwed you had to go to the Watergate Hotel in Washington with "duke" cunningham and other, yet unnamed associates.
"The greatest enemy of knowledge isn't the ignorance of knowledge but the illusion of it." ~ Stephen Hawking
"I know what I believe. I will continue to articulate what I believe and what I believe - I believe what I believe is right." ~ George W. Bush
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Usual Suspects, Faux Press Secretary
"Most truths are so naked that people feel sorry for them and cover them up, at least a little bit." ~ Edward R. MurrowIt has been "leaked" that a Fox News anchor may become the Presidential Press Secretary, well at least now he will get paid for doing the job he has been doing for the last several years. You know like letting a Fox in the Whitehouse, oh they already had that thing going on. We must just be like Alice in Wonderland and ignore the jabberwocky, once it begins. This will be an interesting change of events if any.
Gather all of the names, put them into one big pile and pull out a likely suspect, that seems to be the way the Creative Inferance Agency does things now days. At least in the case of the supposed "leaker" of information last week. Now it seems, she was just up for retirement and they did not want to pay it, sounds kind of conservative to me, how about you?
"The obscure we see eventually. The completely obvious, it seems, takes longer." ~ Edward R. Murrow
Monday, April 24, 2006
Las Vegas Line: Bush Drops-Gas Prices Rise!
"The stories that made up America and the stories that America made up." ~ Robert Wuhl
What had happened was the decider made a deal with the devil, no that was with the religious right, no the oil companies, darn I can't keep this straight anymore. Well he was supposed to stay up in the polls and the price of gas was to stabilize, but as Zero Mostel once said, "a funny thing happened on the way to the forum". Things got on a turntable and someone put the plug in backward or hardwired the device wrong, 'cause its spinning out of control.
The Oil Exec's are getting fatter, our wallets are getting thinner, and the oil in the middle east is NOT paying for the WAHR ON TERA, like we were told. Well with oil approaching $80 per barrel, I guess the oil has a chance of eventually paying for the war, but only if the exec's stop getting the platinum parachutes when they retire or leave to take a consulting job with Haliburton/KBR. Or maybe they can get a job as a HR specialist for Wally-World, since they work so hard at pleasing their employees.
Conservatives, republicans, libertarians, and populists never have worked well together because they really don't believe in the same things. They were just confused into thinking they could get along for a few years. Good Ole boys never will understand that they didn't come from 'merica to begin with, they were brought here on a ship either as an indentured servant or as personnel chattel of some conservative aristocrat. Democracy is not for the faint of heart, it takes daily involvement, exercising of the brain; and not listening to some spouting neo-republican-conservative-xenophobe-drug addict that cannot maintain a monogamous relationship of any kind due to personality defects.
"Permanent good can never be the outcome of untruth and violence." ~ Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)
"I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what." ~ Harper Lee
What had happened was the decider made a deal with the devil, no that was with the religious right, no the oil companies, darn I can't keep this straight anymore. Well he was supposed to stay up in the polls and the price of gas was to stabilize, but as Zero Mostel once said, "a funny thing happened on the way to the forum". Things got on a turntable and someone put the plug in backward or hardwired the device wrong, 'cause its spinning out of control.
The Oil Exec's are getting fatter, our wallets are getting thinner, and the oil in the middle east is NOT paying for the WAHR ON TERA, like we were told. Well with oil approaching $80 per barrel, I guess the oil has a chance of eventually paying for the war, but only if the exec's stop getting the platinum parachutes when they retire or leave to take a consulting job with Haliburton/KBR. Or maybe they can get a job as a HR specialist for Wally-World, since they work so hard at pleasing their employees.
Conservatives, republicans, libertarians, and populists never have worked well together because they really don't believe in the same things. They were just confused into thinking they could get along for a few years. Good Ole boys never will understand that they didn't come from 'merica to begin with, they were brought here on a ship either as an indentured servant or as personnel chattel of some conservative aristocrat. Democracy is not for the faint of heart, it takes daily involvement, exercising of the brain; and not listening to some spouting neo-republican-conservative-xenophobe-drug addict that cannot maintain a monogamous relationship of any kind due to personality defects.
"Permanent good can never be the outcome of untruth and violence." ~ Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)
"I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what." ~ Harper Lee
Friday, April 21, 2006
As long as there are tests there wil be prayer in school.
"Every year education gets more expensive, but ignorance costs even more." ~ Sam Ewing
Why are we arguing about "public prayer" in school and "public prayer" in public, when the scripture says in Jesus own words:
But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father secretly. Then your Father, who knows all secrets, will reward you.href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/nlt_full_copyright.html" linkindex="17" target="_blank">New Living Translation © 1996 Tyndale Charitable Trust
The only ones that will pray in school will be the desperate, the needful, or the truly faithful. And the faithful that pray, their voice will be heard, whether it is silent or aloud. So what is the diff'? We have made this and flag waving part of some kind of religious symbol, neither are Biblical.
The words public prayer don't occur together in the KJV of the Bible nor do the words school prayer occur together in the KJV either. (Search courtesy of www.blueletterbible.org/ )
The only reference to praying in public in the Bible is in a worship service with other believers; to do otherwise is to degrade it, to lessen its effectiveness.
Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord.New Living Translation © 1996 Tyndale Charitable Trust
"If you're looking for the key to the universe I've got some good news and some bad news. The bad news: there is no key to the universe. The good news: it was never locked." ~ Anon
Why are we arguing about "public prayer" in school and "public prayer" in public, when the scripture says in Jesus own words:
But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father secretly. Then your Father, who knows all secrets, will reward you.href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/nlt_full_copyright.html" linkindex="17" target="_blank">New Living Translation © 1996 Tyndale Charitable Trust
The only ones that will pray in school will be the desperate, the needful, or the truly faithful. And the faithful that pray, their voice will be heard, whether it is silent or aloud. So what is the diff'? We have made this and flag waving part of some kind of religious symbol, neither are Biblical.
The words public prayer don't occur together in the KJV of the Bible nor do the words school prayer occur together in the KJV either. (Search courtesy of www.blueletterbible.org/ )
The only reference to praying in public in the Bible is in a worship service with other believers; to do otherwise is to degrade it, to lessen its effectiveness.
Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord.New Living Translation © 1996 Tyndale Charitable Trust
"If you're looking for the key to the universe I've got some good news and some bad news. The bad news: there is no key to the universe. The good news: it was never locked." ~ Anon
Thursday, April 20, 2006
"I'm the decider, and I decide what's best."
"It is fashionable stupidity to regard everything one cannot explain as a fraud." ~ Carl Jung, psychoanalyst
Don't we wish we all could say that? No not really. I was reading an interesting article written by a Southern Baptist Minister, yes a Southern Baptist Minister in the Anniston Star by the way of Sojourners.net, here's the link:
http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=news.display_article&mode=s&NewsID=5345/
He compares today's conservative's especially the ones in the framework of Grover Norquist and the like as nothing but selfish babies (my words). Their obsession with small government, no taxes, self serving and actually an atheistic world view. He is relating an article written by Susan Pace Hamill, a University of Alabama law professor, recently in the Virginia Law Review.
This thinking makes the individual the center of the universe, which is totally contrary to the Gospel, which our "decider in chief" claims to answer to regularly. Well being a true believer, I've come to essentially doubt any sincerity from the oval orifice. Our Preznit's statements of the last few weeks may show loyalty, yet to some trained eyes they show desperation while holding onto the only things he still can control. But there are still only so many rats on a sinking ship...
I'm reminded of a game we played as children, holding up our fingers as we slowly sank below the surface of the water; each time taking one additional finger down as we sank an additional time until we pretended to drown in the pool. As for the administration the buoys are leaving the pool, the lead weights are being attached, the anchor has been tossed overboard, the S.S. Scooter has broadcast its message, the Generals have displayed there disapproval, the Frigate Fitzgerald is closing in and Cutter Cheney is already headed down; so its just a matter of time. THEN AGAIN MAYBE HE WILL DECIDE WHAT'S BEST.
"There is also an artificial aristocracy founded on wealth and birth, without either virtue or talents... The artificial aristocracy is a mischievous ingredient in government, and provisions should be made to prevent its ascendancy." ~ Thomas Jefferson, third US president, architect and author (1743-1826)
Don't we wish we all could say that? No not really. I was reading an interesting article written by a Southern Baptist Minister, yes a Southern Baptist Minister in the Anniston Star by the way of Sojourners.net, here's the link:
http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=news.display_article&mode=s&NewsID=5345/
He compares today's conservative's especially the ones in the framework of Grover Norquist and the like as nothing but selfish babies (my words). Their obsession with small government, no taxes, self serving and actually an atheistic world view. He is relating an article written by Susan Pace Hamill, a University of Alabama law professor, recently in the Virginia Law Review.
This thinking makes the individual the center of the universe, which is totally contrary to the Gospel, which our "decider in chief" claims to answer to regularly. Well being a true believer, I've come to essentially doubt any sincerity from the oval orifice. Our Preznit's statements of the last few weeks may show loyalty, yet to some trained eyes they show desperation while holding onto the only things he still can control. But there are still only so many rats on a sinking ship...
I'm reminded of a game we played as children, holding up our fingers as we slowly sank below the surface of the water; each time taking one additional finger down as we sank an additional time until we pretended to drown in the pool. As for the administration the buoys are leaving the pool, the lead weights are being attached, the anchor has been tossed overboard, the S.S. Scooter has broadcast its message, the Generals have displayed there disapproval, the Frigate Fitzgerald is closing in and Cutter Cheney is already headed down; so its just a matter of time. THEN AGAIN MAYBE HE WILL DECIDE WHAT'S BEST.
"There is also an artificial aristocracy founded on wealth and birth, without either virtue or talents... The artificial aristocracy is a mischievous ingredient in government, and provisions should be made to prevent its ascendancy." ~ Thomas Jefferson, third US president, architect and author (1743-1826)
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Something I've been wondering....
"Logic is the art of going wrong with confidence." ~ Morris Kline
While listening to the talking heads this week, I again wondered "What is America's love affair with Ronald Reagan"? So being an old fart, that remembers his movies, tv show and his governship of CA (my aunt was a teacher in SoCal during his disastrous terms); I remember his anecdotes, speeches, policies, etc.: And I DON'T GET IT!
He told false stories to back up his policies, does this sound familiar? He skated on Iran-Contra and all of those involved are analysts on Faux news. I don't have anything against Ollie North, but a criminal is a criminal, whether he sells dope or guns to the contras.
Read here from a very conservative source:
Sometimes, Reagan’s retentive memory – important for an actor – gave his handlers trouble. Evidently lacking the capacity for reasoned thought, Reagan’s mind is filled with anecdotes, most of them dead wrong, that he has soaked up over the years in the course of reading Reader’s Digest or at idle conversation. Once an anecdote enters Reagan’s noodle, it is set in concrete and impossible to correct or dislodge. (Consider, for example, the famous story about the "Chicago welfare queen": all wrong, but Reagan carried on regardless.)
And then:
In the early years of Reagan rule, the press busily checked out Reagan’s beloved anecdotes, and found that almost every one of them was full of holes. But Reagan never veered from his course. Why? God knows there are plenty of correct stories about welfare cheats that he could have clasped to his bosom; why stick to false ones? Evidently, the reason is that Reagan cares little about reality; he lives in his own Hollywood fantasy world, a world of myth, a world in which it is always Morning in America, a world where The Flag is always flying, but where Welfare Cheats mar the contentment of the Land of Oz. So who cares if the actual story is wrong? Let it stand, like a Hollywood story, as a surrogate for the welfare cheats whom everyone knows do exist.
And even more:
The degree to which Reagan is out of touch with reality was best demonstrated in his concentration camp story. This was not simply a slip of the tongue, a Bushian confusion of December with September. When the Premier of Israel visited Reagan at the White House, the President went on and on for three quarters of an hour explaining why he was pro-Jewish: it was because, being in the Signal Corps in World War II, he visited Buchenwald shortly after the Nazi defeat and helped to take films of that camp. Reagan repeated this story the following day to an Israeli ambassador. But the truth was 180-degrees different; Reagan was not in Europe; he never saw a concentration camp; he spent the entire war in the safety of Hollywood, making films for the armed forces.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard60.html/
Does this all sound familiar of someone making up facts?
The GADFLY says:
What made this loyalty so remarkable was the willingness to ignore Reagan's history and record. Moderate Republicans didn't mind his hard-right ideology. Libertarian Republicans forgave the fact that the government grew bigger on his watch than under any other president since World War II. Religious Republicans had no problem with the fact that he almost never attended church. Family-values conservatives averted their eyes from the fact that he was divorced and estranged from his own children. Anti-tax Republicans forgot that he raised taxes.
But it is apparent that conservatives are simply more prone to hero-worship, finding leaders whom they can hail as near-saints.
http://gadflyer.com/articles/?ArticleID=128/
Reagan was a member of the screen actors guild (SAG) in 1947, but to continue working and front for McCarthyism he switched from being a democrat to a republican. This sounds like he was covering his..... He refused to support the actors McCarthy questioned, since he was afraid of being branded a COMMIE himself!
Well you know what I mean. This info comes from below.
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAreagan.htm/
"Republicans were indifferent to the poor". ~ David Kuo, White House deputy director for faith-based initiatives
While listening to the talking heads this week, I again wondered "What is America's love affair with Ronald Reagan"? So being an old fart, that remembers his movies, tv show and his governship of CA (my aunt was a teacher in SoCal during his disastrous terms); I remember his anecdotes, speeches, policies, etc.: And I DON'T GET IT!
He told false stories to back up his policies, does this sound familiar? He skated on Iran-Contra and all of those involved are analysts on Faux news. I don't have anything against Ollie North, but a criminal is a criminal, whether he sells dope or guns to the contras.
Read here from a very conservative source:
Sometimes, Reagan’s retentive memory – important for an actor – gave his handlers trouble. Evidently lacking the capacity for reasoned thought, Reagan’s mind is filled with anecdotes, most of them dead wrong, that he has soaked up over the years in the course of reading Reader’s Digest or at idle conversation. Once an anecdote enters Reagan’s noodle, it is set in concrete and impossible to correct or dislodge. (Consider, for example, the famous story about the "Chicago welfare queen": all wrong, but Reagan carried on regardless.)
And then:
In the early years of Reagan rule, the press busily checked out Reagan’s beloved anecdotes, and found that almost every one of them was full of holes. But Reagan never veered from his course. Why? God knows there are plenty of correct stories about welfare cheats that he could have clasped to his bosom; why stick to false ones? Evidently, the reason is that Reagan cares little about reality; he lives in his own Hollywood fantasy world, a world of myth, a world in which it is always Morning in America, a world where The Flag is always flying, but where Welfare Cheats mar the contentment of the Land of Oz. So who cares if the actual story is wrong? Let it stand, like a Hollywood story, as a surrogate for the welfare cheats whom everyone knows do exist.
And even more:
The degree to which Reagan is out of touch with reality was best demonstrated in his concentration camp story. This was not simply a slip of the tongue, a Bushian confusion of December with September. When the Premier of Israel visited Reagan at the White House, the President went on and on for three quarters of an hour explaining why he was pro-Jewish: it was because, being in the Signal Corps in World War II, he visited Buchenwald shortly after the Nazi defeat and helped to take films of that camp. Reagan repeated this story the following day to an Israeli ambassador. But the truth was 180-degrees different; Reagan was not in Europe; he never saw a concentration camp; he spent the entire war in the safety of Hollywood, making films for the armed forces.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard60.html/
Does this all sound familiar of someone making up facts?
The GADFLY says:
What made this loyalty so remarkable was the willingness to ignore Reagan's history and record. Moderate Republicans didn't mind his hard-right ideology. Libertarian Republicans forgave the fact that the government grew bigger on his watch than under any other president since World War II. Religious Republicans had no problem with the fact that he almost never attended church. Family-values conservatives averted their eyes from the fact that he was divorced and estranged from his own children. Anti-tax Republicans forgot that he raised taxes.
But it is apparent that conservatives are simply more prone to hero-worship, finding leaders whom they can hail as near-saints.
http://gadflyer.com/articles/?ArticleID=128/
Reagan was a member of the screen actors guild (SAG) in 1947, but to continue working and front for McCarthyism he switched from being a democrat to a republican. This sounds like he was covering his..... He refused to support the actors McCarthy questioned, since he was afraid of being branded a COMMIE himself!
Well you know what I mean. This info comes from below.
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAreagan.htm/
"Republicans were indifferent to the poor". ~ David Kuo, White House deputy director for faith-based initiatives
Monday, April 17, 2006
Another day in America..
We get late broadcasts of the Charlie Rose PBS shows from the Memphis (TN) affiliate, so today I saw the Good Friday broadcast with Guest Host: JON MEACHAM, Managing Editor, Newsweek; GARRY WILLS, Author, "What Jesus Meant"and KEVIN PHILLIPS, Author, "American Theocracy". Meacham is a Chattanooga, TN native now living with the infidels his latest book is American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation. So needless to say I was very interested in this particular conversation.
Wills and Phillips both have in their past both been extreme right wing politically and Meacham, while trying to appear aloof, tended to lean that way also, yet each has seemed to have been on their own independent spiritual journey of enlightenment.
Wills has discovered that the right has missed the point of the gospel of Jesus, while focusing on the destruction and punishment of the Old Testament Scripture and ignoring the love, acceptance and assistance of the New Testament.
Phillips so too discovered that his brand of "main street" (Nixonion) Republicanism of conservative spending and separation of Church and State had been bastardized by the New-right into a sort of theocracy, that is doomed to fail, since their are far too many citizens to control with near sighted ideas and false science.
Meacham disturbed many of the new conservative right, when he paused to state that American Politics has used religion, but not held with it. That moral principles and values are not necessarily bound to a religious government, maybe in spite of it.
All three came to the conclusion that even though there is a movement to push creationism on the educational system of our nation, the present form is bunk. The Genesis story is allegorical in that the world is round, it never was flat. So when God created the first day, it was longer than the days as we now know them. Twenty four hours then, is twenty four hours now. Through God anything is possible, yet He does'nt expect us to believe in nonsense, either.
"There are people so addicted to exaggeration that they can’t tell the truth without lying." ~ Henry Wheeler Shaw (sound like this quote could have been said this week)
"It is by acts and not by ideas that people live." ~ Anatole France
NOTICE: Due to Presidential Executive Orders, the National Security Agency may have read this blog without warning, warrant, or notice. They may do this without any judicial or legislative oversight. You have no recourse or protection save to call for the impeachment of the current President.
Wills and Phillips both have in their past both been extreme right wing politically and Meacham, while trying to appear aloof, tended to lean that way also, yet each has seemed to have been on their own independent spiritual journey of enlightenment.
Wills has discovered that the right has missed the point of the gospel of Jesus, while focusing on the destruction and punishment of the Old Testament Scripture and ignoring the love, acceptance and assistance of the New Testament.
Phillips so too discovered that his brand of "main street" (Nixonion) Republicanism of conservative spending and separation of Church and State had been bastardized by the New-right into a sort of theocracy, that is doomed to fail, since their are far too many citizens to control with near sighted ideas and false science.
Meacham disturbed many of the new conservative right, when he paused to state that American Politics has used religion, but not held with it. That moral principles and values are not necessarily bound to a religious government, maybe in spite of it.
All three came to the conclusion that even though there is a movement to push creationism on the educational system of our nation, the present form is bunk. The Genesis story is allegorical in that the world is round, it never was flat. So when God created the first day, it was longer than the days as we now know them. Twenty four hours then, is twenty four hours now. Through God anything is possible, yet He does'nt expect us to believe in nonsense, either.
"There are people so addicted to exaggeration that they can’t tell the truth without lying." ~ Henry Wheeler Shaw (sound like this quote could have been said this week)
"It is by acts and not by ideas that people live." ~ Anatole France
NOTICE: Due to Presidential Executive Orders, the National Security Agency may have read this blog without warning, warrant, or notice. They may do this without any judicial or legislative oversight. You have no recourse or protection save to call for the impeachment of the current President.
Sunday, April 16, 2006
My Apology to Jimmy Buffett...
Pharisees to the right, Pharisees on the right, Pharisees say they are the right, Pharisees claim they are the only ones that are right, Pharisees were mistaken then and Jesus said it. I believe it. And they are mistaken now. They are so caught up in turning religion into a structure and rote mechanism of non-devotional experience and self-help feel good manuals by Osteam's Press.
But Salvation is a personal experience with God, not some extra-curricular activity planned to keep you busy and away from the temptation of the "world". God wants his "saints" in the world, but seperated from it, as examples.
Tom Delay is a Pharisee. Bill Frist is a Pharisee. Jerry Fallwell is a Pharisee. Pat Robertson is a Pharisee. Ralph Reed is a Pharisee. Roy Moore is a Pharisee.
I just read a review about a new book about Huey P. Long of LouisianA, it discusses his populist appeal, even though he grew up privileged. He promised lots of change to get elected, yet once elected to the Senate, his plans proved to be detail-thin, without statistics to back them up. He became obsessed with power, using the state police in LA to provide services and enforce deals or retribution. Stop me if any of this sounds vaguely familiar...
"A perfect democracy can come close to looking like a dictatorship; a democracy in which the people are so satisfied they have no complaint." ~ Huey Long
Luke 7:37 A certain immoral woman heard he was there and brought a beautiful jar* filled with expensive perfume.
Luke 7:38 Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them.
Luke 7:39 When the Pharisee who was the host saw what was happening and who the woman was, he said to himself, "This proves that Jesus is no prophet. If God had really sent him, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She's a sinner!" (New Living Translation )
Jesus went on to explain that the Pharisee's motives, morals and values are all out of skew. Just like today. I am a Sinner not a Pharisee, how about you?
NOTICE: Due to Presidential Executive Orders, the National Security Agency may have read this blog without warning, warrant, or notice. They may do this without any judicial or legislative oversight. You have no recourse or protection save to call for the impeachment of the current President.
But Salvation is a personal experience with God, not some extra-curricular activity planned to keep you busy and away from the temptation of the "world". God wants his "saints" in the world, but seperated from it, as examples.
Tom Delay is a Pharisee. Bill Frist is a Pharisee. Jerry Fallwell is a Pharisee. Pat Robertson is a Pharisee. Ralph Reed is a Pharisee. Roy Moore is a Pharisee.
I just read a review about a new book about Huey P. Long of LouisianA, it discusses his populist appeal, even though he grew up privileged. He promised lots of change to get elected, yet once elected to the Senate, his plans proved to be detail-thin, without statistics to back them up. He became obsessed with power, using the state police in LA to provide services and enforce deals or retribution. Stop me if any of this sounds vaguely familiar...
"A perfect democracy can come close to looking like a dictatorship; a democracy in which the people are so satisfied they have no complaint." ~ Huey Long
Luke 7:37 A certain immoral woman heard he was there and brought a beautiful jar* filled with expensive perfume.
Luke 7:38 Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them.
Luke 7:39 When the Pharisee who was the host saw what was happening and who the woman was, he said to himself, "This proves that Jesus is no prophet. If God had really sent him, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She's a sinner!" (New Living Translation )
Jesus went on to explain that the Pharisee's motives, morals and values are all out of skew. Just like today. I am a Sinner not a Pharisee, how about you?
NOTICE: Due to Presidential Executive Orders, the National Security Agency may have read this blog without warning, warrant, or notice. They may do this without any judicial or legislative oversight. You have no recourse or protection save to call for the impeachment of the current President.
Friday, April 14, 2006
GOOD FRIDAY!
"We are not free, separate, and independent entities, but like links in a chain, and we could not by any means be what we are without those who went before us and showed us the way." ~ Thomas Mann
Ironic. That I would be cooking a pork shoulder and ribs today, huh? Well not really if you dig deep into New Testament scripture, the Law being fulfilled, replaces all of those dietary codes. Good for us. Because Southerners could not live with out our Barbeque.
I was also, pondering this thought, most of my evangelical compadres would really have a hard time with the Biblical Jesus, since he was Jewish. And Liberal. Would he be a "New York Jew" or an "Elistist California Jew" or a "Zionist Jew"?
You know the Bible/Torah mentions being liberal many times and conservative only in a negative sense. Which is totally opposite the meaning today's conservatives apply to it.
Sorry! the word conserve doesn't occur in the KJV. Sorry! the word conservative doesn't occur in the KJV. Liberal occurs 6 times in 4 verses. (search courtesy of www.BlueLetterBible.org/)
Isa 32:5 The vile person shall be no more called liberal, nor the churl said [to be] bountiful. KJV or in plain English:
( The foolish person will no longer be called generous, Nor the miser said to be bountiful; New King James Version © 1982 Thomas Nelson )
"Little things affect little minds." ~ Benjamin Disraeli
Ironic. That I would be cooking a pork shoulder and ribs today, huh? Well not really if you dig deep into New Testament scripture, the Law being fulfilled, replaces all of those dietary codes. Good for us. Because Southerners could not live with out our Barbeque.
I was also, pondering this thought, most of my evangelical compadres would really have a hard time with the Biblical Jesus, since he was Jewish. And Liberal. Would he be a "New York Jew" or an "Elistist California Jew" or a "Zionist Jew"?
You know the Bible/Torah mentions being liberal many times and conservative only in a negative sense. Which is totally opposite the meaning today's conservatives apply to it.
Sorry! the word conserve doesn't occur in the KJV. Sorry! the word conservative doesn't occur in the KJV. Liberal occurs 6 times in 4 verses. (search courtesy of www.BlueLetterBible.org/)
Isa 32:5 The vile person shall be no more called liberal, nor the churl said [to be] bountiful. KJV or in plain English:
( The foolish person will no longer be called generous, Nor the miser said to be bountiful; New King James Version © 1982 Thomas Nelson )
"Little things affect little minds." ~ Benjamin Disraeli
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Tomorrow is Good Friday
"Food for the body is not enough. There must be food for the soul." ~ Dorothy Day 
If the weather continues to be nice, tomorrow will be a meat smoking day. Early the fire will start, heating the smoker to a nice temperature, before the meat goes on the fire. Depending on the prices at the stores I will be smoking a shoulder, ribs and chicken for the kids. We will be going to a Redbirds game on Saturday night, so they better get their act together before then. What can be better than Barbeque and baseball in the South?
So tomorrow as the smoke rises and the smell of hickory drifts around the house I'll just imagine the taste of the things to come.
"Every man has a right to be conceited until he is successful." ~ Benjamin Disraeli
"Toil, says the proverb, is the sire of fame." ~ Euripides, Greek tragedian
NOTICE: Due to Presidential Executive Orders, the National Security Agency may have read this email without warning, warrant, or notice. They may do this without any judicial or legislative oversight. You have no recourse or protection save to call for the impeachment of the current President.
If the weather continues to be nice, tomorrow will be a meat smoking day. Early the fire will start, heating the smoker to a nice temperature, before the meat goes on the fire. Depending on the prices at the stores I will be smoking a shoulder, ribs and chicken for the kids. We will be going to a Redbirds game on Saturday night, so they better get their act together before then. What can be better than Barbeque and baseball in the South?
So tomorrow as the smoke rises and the smell of hickory drifts around the house I'll just imagine the taste of the things to come.
"Every man has a right to be conceited until he is successful." ~ Benjamin Disraeli
"Toil, says the proverb, is the sire of fame." ~ Euripides, Greek tragedian
NOTICE: Due to Presidential Executive Orders, the National Security Agency may have read this email without warning, warrant, or notice. They may do this without any judicial or legislative oversight. You have no recourse or protection save to call for the impeachment of the current President.
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
The breeze is out of the South...
The weather is getting a little warmer and the senses are starting to draw me to the outdoors. I can almost smell the meat smoking on the grill and the hickory burning slowly. Spring and Summer yield an air temperature that allows us to cook out doors with much greater ease.
The fires do not have to be kept as hot to maintain internal temperature. Thank goodness.
We will soon be smoking meat....
"Welcome to Dixie. Please leave everything as you found it." ~ from a note left to the defense attorney in John Grisham’s The Chamber
"One of the sublimest things in the world is plain truth." ~ Edward Bulwer-Lytton
The fires do not have to be kept as hot to maintain internal temperature. Thank goodness.
We will soon be smoking meat....
"Welcome to Dixie. Please leave everything as you found it." ~ from a note left to the defense attorney in John Grisham’s The Chamber
"One of the sublimest things in the world is plain truth." ~ Edward Bulwer-Lytton
Monday, April 10, 2006
Why did the weather do what it did?
"The stench of corruption [from the White House] has grown so foul, that even the talking heads at Fox are finding it hard to fumigate their evening broadcast." ~ Jean Carnahan
"Fight for your opinions, but do not believe that they contain the whole truth, or the only truth." ~ Charles A. Dana
Sometimes we are so caught up in our own struggles we tend to forget the misfortunes of others. These past few weeks, the states of TN, AR, MO and parts of numerous other sections of other states have been struck with the force of violent storms dropping out of the sky.
Where are the talking heads now, speaking about the wrath of an omnipotent God and his disgust with the people that inhabit the vile areas around Marmaduke, AR and Gallatin, TN. It is because the self righteous find it much easier to raise alarm at big city problems, than the meth labs in trailers in rural southern communities and the abuse families suffer at the hands of overwork and alcohol. Racing on Sunday keeps as many people away from church as does ineffectual witnessing.
Nothing against the most popular sport in modern America, but beer, tight t-shirts, speed, loud engines and even louder mouth fans are not the evangelical's best friend. So why did all the open land in TX and OK burn, also? Same reasons that the hurricanes hit the gulf coast, maybe.
But more likely it is because they have had fewer years of constant rainfall in the last several than you could count and the policies of most conservatives don't plan for water conservation, only money conservation for the wealthy. Again the moral and ethics of Christians are in conflict with the policies of the politically conservative agenda and they stick with "Johnny two note" on only anti-abortion and the marriage amendment; when there are so many other issues that need their attention.
"Republicans were indifferent to the poor". ~ David Kuo, White House deputy director for faith-based initiatives for the George W. Bush administration
"Logic is the art of going wrong with confidence." ~ Morris Kline
"Fight for your opinions, but do not believe that they contain the whole truth, or the only truth." ~ Charles A. Dana
Sometimes we are so caught up in our own struggles we tend to forget the misfortunes of others. These past few weeks, the states of TN, AR, MO and parts of numerous other sections of other states have been struck with the force of violent storms dropping out of the sky.
Where are the talking heads now, speaking about the wrath of an omnipotent God and his disgust with the people that inhabit the vile areas around Marmaduke, AR and Gallatin, TN. It is because the self righteous find it much easier to raise alarm at big city problems, than the meth labs in trailers in rural southern communities and the abuse families suffer at the hands of overwork and alcohol. Racing on Sunday keeps as many people away from church as does ineffectual witnessing.
Nothing against the most popular sport in modern America, but beer, tight t-shirts, speed, loud engines and even louder mouth fans are not the evangelical's best friend. So why did all the open land in TX and OK burn, also? Same reasons that the hurricanes hit the gulf coast, maybe.
But more likely it is because they have had fewer years of constant rainfall in the last several than you could count and the policies of most conservatives don't plan for water conservation, only money conservation for the wealthy. Again the moral and ethics of Christians are in conflict with the policies of the politically conservative agenda and they stick with "Johnny two note" on only anti-abortion and the marriage amendment; when there are so many other issues that need their attention.
"Republicans were indifferent to the poor". ~ David Kuo, White House deputy director for faith-based initiatives for the George W. Bush administration
"Logic is the art of going wrong with confidence." ~ Morris Kline
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