Friday, May 27, 2005

Defending Newsweek

Slow day today so a couple postings while I rock along to Regatta de Blanc (Stewart, Andy and Sting before he became a pain-in-z-butt). Seems the Pentagon is confirming the Quran was “mishandled” by interrogators at Gitmo. The ACTUAL cases involved don’t sound like the MONSTEROUS desecrations Newsweek got people killed over. One situation was “an interrogator stacked two Korans on a television set.” (GASP!!!) Well hell, that’s a reason to rile people up, get them to riot and kill each other for a good story. While some cases (details withheld while under investigation) may be more grievous from interrogators just being “mean,” or (sob, snort) "insensitive," I’m having a hard time feeling bad for the detainees at Gitmo. These are people that would cut my throat and those of my family given the chance.

As for disrespecting the Quran, what do Newsweek and the MSM expect from the state-separated-from-church they promote as the way society should be? What I mean is these interrogators may be EXACTLY the secular purists the left demands government employees to be. Perhaps they don’t understand the importance of the Quran to the detainees because they are the faithless secularists the MSM and the left demands? I could start ranting about “if-this-was-the-Bible,-the-MSM-wouldn’t-even-print-this-story-because-Christians-don’t-riot-and-kill-each-other-over-the-Bible-getting-flushed-down-the-toilet-or-burned-or-what-have-you-as-a-general-rule-anyway,-and-besides-who-cares-what-a-bunch-of-right-wing-Christian-fanatic/facists-think-anyway, but I won’t do that. The point is a faithless, secular people will do all sorts of rotten crap to each other. I can’t see a true God-fearing Christian flushing a Quran down a toilet to make a detainee cry. I could see them proselytizing to the detainees as to the violence of their misguided beliefs and trying to steer them towards redemption, but always treating one of God’s children with respect.

“GOOD GOVERNMENT, that’s worse for the CFR’s sake!!! Take those military people and humiliate them publicly before the thugs of the world think less of us!”

None of this changes the fact Newsweek got people killed by being lazy turds, no matter how hard the rest of the MSM tries to deflect attention from that crime with trivial things spun to sound large. However, if interrogators at Gitmo are really desecrating books held holy by the murderous thugs being held there, well lefties; You’re getting what you asked for with a purely secular society. Get used to it.

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CTA, CNA, (R)nold, etc.

Got this e-mail from a connected friend, so I'm going to call this person Major Kong in this site's Dr. Stopworrying (juxtaposed to Dr. Stranglove) theme, or General Turdgison if this person so prefers!

"Thousands of teachers and nurses come to protest "cutbacks" in their state funding. If the bus fare cost $35, that's thousands times $35. If it's a plane fare, it's six or seven times as much. But the more important question is, who's in the emergency rooms and in the classrooms while the loudspeaker is blaring to the crowd outside the Capitol?

Coming from a family of teachers, this behavior of clamoring for political influence does not strike me as having been thought of by a teacher. I mean, unions do an important job in protecting their members and assuring that they are treated fairly in contract negotiations, but since when did a union's need to maintain its membership, if not grow their numbers, take precedence over the state's need to take a balanced approach to funding its obligations? That the unions feel this need is clear, when tens of thousands of dollars are so easily spent to bring "protesters" up to Sacramento, and millions are spent on televised political ads - when there is no election.

The bottom line: We as a state would be better off if our politics were not based on the "me-first" principle, but based on a system far older and permanent: the Golden Rule. This is what we were supposed to learn in pre-school and kindergarten: sharing with others is best; grabbing your own and keeping it from others is not. Shouldn't we make sure there's enough to go around for everybody before demanding our own take? Anyone who doesn't should have to sit in the corner.

Not at all a rant Major Kong! Some serious truths!

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Surprise, Surprise ...

…Sergeant Carter. So the Demokook Party flexes it’s newfound muscle, thanks to Maverick McCain, and filibusters John Bolton as UN Ambassador after saying it wouldn’t filibuster nominees from straight votes anymore as I heard from Hogue this am. They’re saying it’s not a filibuster but it sure smells, err, sounds like one. The reason? The White House won’t release classified information for the more slow-witted members to wave all over the Senate Floor in front of friend and foe alike. It’s a specious argument based on the testimony of false witnesses that exposes this has little to do with John Bolton and everything to do with stalling Dubya and making him look impotent. Why am I not surprised? Why should anyone be? The fact my former party of choice cares little for America, Americans or the suffering in the world in general just makes me want to gag.

John Bolton won’t “improve our credibility in the international community. He’s the poster child for what an international diplomat shouldn’t be,” according to Senator Voinovich from Ohio. As opposed to what – the United Nations itself?!?! Those lovely folks who brought us the Oil-for-Food scandal? The organization that epitomizes the word oxymoron with inclusion of one of Africa’s most despotic nations (Zimbabwe) on the Commission of Human Rights? Maybe Robert Mugabe was one of the “world leaders” that wanted to see Captain Talltales as our President. When you have an organization as corrupt, as ineffective (except in getting people killed or gang raped) as the UN, you need someone willing to bounce it on its head and shake all the garbage out of its pockets. Bolton sounds like Da Man! Our UN Ambassador can’t go over there to play patty-cake with some of the most thuggish nations on Earth if that body is ever going to help us export freedom as some of the dim bulbs in the Senate are whining about – one of which is from our great state to our shame.

Why would anyone with half a brain expect help from an organization partially made up of some of the most brutal regimes on Earth to help install free and democratic nations where despots rule now? How does that even make sense? This is the organization by which we are to pass “global tests” regarding our foreign policy? The sheer idiocy of what became of my and Zell Miller’s party is just astounding. I have to agree with SactoDan. He was of the opinion (in a comment to one of his posts) that what we’re seeing now with DemoKook self-immolation is a grand “stratergery” of the Clintons to run Hilliary in ’08 as the savior of the party. That’s the ONLY plausible explanation for the nuttiness going on right now. This has nothing to do with restoring the Democrat Party by crushing the DemoKook Party and everything to do with the Clintons and power. They don’t care about you my friends. Never did, never will.

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Wednesday, May 25, 2005

Speaking of the Prayer Deficit...

Funny how things develop into a nexus of thought sometimes. My last post was on what I'm going to call the "Prayer Deficit" in America. Artist Tom Graffagnino has a plausible theory as to why that may be. A-science!

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Tuesday, May 24, 2005

Diagnosis America VI – Lack of Sustained Prayer

“I want you to pray, son"
"Umm. Lord, feed the hungry, aanndd... bring peace to all of mankind”
“How's that?”
“Great. If you wanna be Miss America. Now come on, what do you really care about?”

- Jim Carrey and Morgan Freeman (Bruce Almighty)


“I wished for peace on Earth, not this”
“Oh very nice! And just what did you expect?!?! Peace on Earth?? Come on! Ghandi couldn’t pull that off. Even Christ Himself couldn’t make that happen, but you Fox Mulder, are going to make everything right with one wish and the world will rejoice and give thanks to you.”

- Fox Mulder and Jen the Jaded Genie (Je Souhaite, The X-Files)

Two amusing (to me anyway) dramatic moments where our Hollywood culture actually got it right for a change. Jim Carrey (Bruce “Almighty” Nolan) offering up a prayer to Morgan Freeman (acting as God) that he probably heard on Miss America. Freeman calls him to the mat for that and instructs him to tell him what’s really buggin’ him. Then there’s Agent Mulder going to fix things on Earth once and for all and screws it all up by making a not so ironclad wish to a world-weary genie with a perverse sense of humor – “There’s no people!” “Yeah! Peaceful isn’t it?!?!”

The truth in that scene from Bruce Almighty is most people don’t know how to pray. The truth in the X-Files scene is we think we could fix everything ourselves if only we had the power, but we’d wind up botching it anyway. How many things have you screwed up on your own? Care to tackle world peace? Just don’t mix in Oil-for Food! O.K, a cheap shot but quite relevant to the X-Files episode theme. Once things are worse then they were, then what? Quite often when we Americans pray, we have not clue one how to do it because we’re inexperienced. So when we do, when it’s really hit the fan (like overdue credit cards bills, lawsuits, etc.) we wind up looking buffoonish, virtual mascara running down our cheek and so on, asking for HUGE, outlandish things that make little too no sense to everyone else, probably even God:

“I pray for world peace, Amen.”
“Yeah. Like I haven’t heard that one before. Come on son, what’s that mean anyway? Tell Me what’s really on your mind. Talk to Me.”

Talk to me. How often have people in your life said that to you? How often does your better half say that (hopefully not often!)? Your friends? Family? God???? God says that to you ALL THE TIME. Every waking moment and the sleeping ones, too.

“Talk to ME. Every struggle in your life, I want you to tell Me about. Ohhh, and quite frankly, your heart could use the work – little bit of plaque build-up in those veins there - so you’ll find a space out at the far corner of the mall parking lot.”

Either our prayers are buffoonishly large or stupidly simple. A parking stall closest to the store doors? Are we kidding? Some apparently not. Friends, God is not our errand boy, we are His! But we don’t know God and what He wants for us because we don’t talk to Him, hardly ever. A close parking stall ain't it! We do pray when we’re in trouble, as the Bible DOES instruct, BUUUTTTT, if only we had talked to Him beforehand we probably would have avoided the fine mess we made for ourselves. Ever offer up that piece of 20/20 advice to your own kids? Why should we not take it ourselves? As a matter of fact, do that right now. I’m going to stop typing and we all are going to talk to our God. Tell Him what you’re struggling with right now at this moment and then keep talking. Every day. Do it.

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Monday, May 23, 2005

Diagnosis America V - Spirit of Selectivity

"If we ever forget that we're one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under." -Ronald Reagan

“Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.” – Paul (Romans 1:28)

Ours is a fast food culture is it not? “Have it your way, have it your way,” went Burger King’s jingle. Or Frank Sinatra telling us how he did it his way. Yup, America is one giant buffet table. So goes our faith as well. New Age Spiritualism, Transcendental Meditation, Wicca (witchcraft), etc, etc. The above aren’t Satanism, most are naturalism of one form or another to be fair and honest about it, but they are surely giant wastes of time. I was at a New Age wedding once – just once. The “priest” held up an incense scepter at one point – I believe it was the benediction - and asked the “Spirit of the West, and the Spirit of the East” and so on to “bless this union.” Huh? A bunch of us looked around at each other wondering what this nonsense was about. I made eye contact with a friend’s wife. She rolled her eyes and very publicly shook her head in disbelief. I couldn’t look at her for the rest of the ceremony for fear of busting out in laughter. It was funny, but kind of sad as well. The “Spirit of the East??” Seriously??? What a colossal waste of time. We drove all the way down to the south Bay Area, got a hotel room for the night for THAT?!?! A wedding before a judge would have had more spiritual and emotional meaning. Marriage is supposed to be a covenant made before God in which the man cares and loves his wife as Christ does for His church. But there I go judging other people and their life style choices. Ohhh….. get used to it! Wherever you go, whatever you do, you will be judged, potentially for being judgmental. Judgment waits for all of us at the very end. Christ will either defend you or say "I don't know him."

“Judge” is a key word here. The Spirit of Selectivity in this country that Jackson Senyonga observes is driven primary by judgment or the fear of it to be exact. People hate to be judged. Someone I know is still a bachelor (at +50 years old), because he doesn’t want to be “judged” on a date. Oh yeah, better to be lonely your entire life. Our multicultural society thinks it has it figured out and God isn’t needed because He’s such a party pooper. Hence the rise of New Age, TM, Wicca, Eastern spiritualism and other feel good, self help type faiths. The Sacramento Beast (Bee) had a sympathetic article not too long ago about a Wiccan conclave along Highway 16 somewhere. The “witch” interviewed dismissed Christianity as just another blood cult like any other pagan belief. Complete misunderstanding of the Passion, perhaps intentionally so. Not long after that, Bat Jr. (not his real name) was watching a “new” Scooby Doo cartoon and I was shocked to see it was about some Wiccan conclave the “gang” had stumbled onto and befriended. I stood there with my jaw hanging open dumbstruck by the genius of that strategery by the Dark One. Distracting my son from God using Scooby-dooby-doo of all things! Pure genius. I had to tip my hat to the Old Bastard on that one. Clever little turd he is. However, the TV in the loft has been disconnected from the cable box. "TV viewing will be under adult supervision from here on" – Thank You, the Management.

We want faith our way and the Dark One takes that selective nature of ours and skews it towards himself. No pain, no work, no judgment, just comfort and warm fuzzies, and on our time. “I’m Man’s biggest fan!” exclaimed Al Pacino playing the Great Deceiver in The Devil’s Advocate (a great movie even if Keanu Reeves can’t act). Some of us seek and he delivers the drive-thru window church if you will: “Hi, I want a serving of salvation with grace, a pain free life and hold the guilt and atonement for sins.” The problem is that isn’t what’s written, so it’s a lie. A pain free life was never promised post-Eden. In the Gospel of John, Jesus Himself in walking from the Last Supper to meet His destiny stops in a vineyard and described how God prunes from us that which will not bear fruit. Ever wonder how your garden feels when you prune it? Probably not a real enjoyable experience for the plants, but oh so necessary for it’s overall health. Otherwise, there’s random growth, overgrowth, suffocation, and eventually death. The healthy garden and healthy Christians are quite beautiful, but it took alot of work and some pain at times. No pain, no gain. We ignore God at our mortal peril as Paul warned the Romans. We been given freedom in this country and we currently seek to export that. That’s great, you go George, but the problem with freedom, as Ronald Reagan so clearly knew, is it’s often misunderstood. Yes, this is a “free country,” but that doesn’t mean you get to engage in every debauchery imaginable. Freedom was given to us by God to worship and glorify Him. The Freedom we export should be for God’s people to know Him, not the right to eat a Big Mac.

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Thursday, May 19, 2005

Newsweek, Erwin, Rather, etc.

Jeez. Newsweek gets people killed on the other side of the world and the MSM defends it against government critism. Hogue is on FIRE this morning over this!!! "Somebody turn on the sprinkler system!!"

"Just a bunch of Muslims so who cares, right? We got out a follow-up story to Abu Ghraib. Now that those soldiers are being punished, that JUST HAD TO BE the tip of the iceberg afterall. This is too easy."

The above quote is of course, a complete fabrication, but I'll wager not too far from the MSM's worldview. Notice I admitted I made that up, seems a columnist at the Sacramento Beast didn't have the stomach for that and got canned. Griego Erwin was never on my reading list when I did subscribe. I thought she was a hack then. Much to the Beast's credit, they pruned themselves somewhat, but to Rick Rodriguez' chagrin, I still don't trust the Beast enough to revive my subscription. I dropped that going on two years ago when I determined the Beast was nothing more than a multi-page gossip column. The only thing going for them is Dan Walters and Daniel Weintraub. But the Sacramento Union is on my internet favorite's list, not the Beast. Pruning themselves of a Rather-esque columnist just isn't enough.

As for Terry Moran, what should Newsweek do? Fire Michael Isikoff and John Barry. The industry should blackball them from the industry forever. Incompetent doctors, engineers, lawyers, and other "professionals" that get people killed through gross negligence and incompetence get their license to practice their profession very publically yanked. Why should journalists be exempt from this professional discipline process? To their credit, the Beast agrees with this.

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Monday, May 16, 2005

Newsweek: "Oops!"

This would be laughable except Newsweek got people killed and more will probably die. I'm sure this will be another "fake but accurate" whitewash of lazy journalism at it's rock bottom worse. Michael Isikoff and John Barry are the poster boys for the MSM showing signs of starting to dig. They should be hung by their thumbs.

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Friday, May 13, 2005

Diagnosis America IV - Poor Obedience

The Cosmos is all there is, all there ever was, all that will ever be – Carl Sagan

Do you tend to ignore the Lord’s commands? Lord knows I do. I wind up paying for that eventually. Relying on myself typically brings disaster to the endeavor. Our study through Rick Warren’s A Purpose Driven Life exclaimed at one point that through obedience comes knowledge and wisdom. True. But the very word “obedience” is a tough pill to swallow isn’t it?

“I’m not a kid anymore and your not the Boss of me!” “You spelled ‘you’re’ wrong. It’s y-o-u-apostrophe-r-e” “ARRRGGGGGHHH!”

Ever have that conversation with your parents? I did. And now I have it AS a parent, Lord, give me strength. Yes, obedience is hard, but obey the Lord we must. To complicate it even further is it the Lord we’re obeying? The followers of Jim Jones obeyed his final wretched command. The Branch Davidians sure were obedient as were Heaven’s Gate. Blind obedience ISN’T what it’s about because they’re (Oops, sorry Dad; “there are”) lots of false prophets out there. Paul taught the Lord expects you to seek and discover Him to know He is the Lord. Stacking all your faith chips on one preacher, or a self-described prophet is laziness that eventually leads to death. If not physical death in one brutal, bloody manner or another, then spiritual death - which is far worse.

On this, I’m departing a bit from Jackson Senyonga’s particular critique of America on this topic. He said America’s obedience level is too low. True enough, but his observed root causes for that poor obedience are a little off the mark; “Americans are over-educated. You research. You read a book. And then you read a book about the book you just read. You go online.” There’s nothing wrong with knowledge. Obeying in the search for Him and His truth brings knowledge that brings life. The most brilliant man that ever lived in the world, as far as I’m concerned, was one of the most murderous thugs that ever lived in the world until he got knocked on his ass (like the jackass he was up to that point) on a dusty road to a town called Damascus by Christ Himself. He went on to testify about Christ to the Gentiles (that would be us) and write most of the books in the New Testament and is still having profound impacts for Christ nearly 2,000 years later. He was well educated, extremely brilliant, had a razor sharp tongue, and researched, researched, researched - all for God. No, America, get educated, get smart about God, Seek Him out and find Him. He’s not hiding from us, but the Dark One tries to obscure our vision of Him with silly things like “intelligent” arguments over naturalistic evolution, or “Separation of Church and State,” and so on and so on. Christ on a Crutch!!! What a useless, meaningless, endeavor to work so hard at being wrong!! Focused intelligence, focused education would verily move mountains. Can you imagine what would happen to this world if this so very gifted and educated nation unleashed a thousand Paul’s onto the world?? Or even just a hundred or ten?? Paul the Original moved at a donkey’s pace and look at the impact he had and still is. Our slumbering Paul’s in this country would move at at near super-sonic speed (alas the Concorde is nothing more than a museum piece now), or the speed of light via “going online.” This sleeping giant of a nation could turn the world and the Dark One on its head if only it would awaken to the Lord’s gentle shakes!

But to use a search for knowledge as a crutch, as an excuse for not obeying is a normal bureaucratic tactic that probably enrages the Lord even more so then it would enrage you or me. There are drawbacks to being over educated to the point of analysis paralysis as Senyonga observes, but the potential benefits lying just beneath the surface are too great to pass by. Christ could have passed up those smarty-pants travelers on the Damascus Road so long ago, but He didn’t. Who’s that in the lane next to you trying to get your attention?

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"Evolution's nihilistas"

Been awhile since I've been at my site. Lots going on, busy, busy, etc, etc. But received a wake up call this morning. Got a new poem from Tom Graffagnino and it's a doozy!! Goodstuff. He coined a new term I'm going to be using in my everday speech whenever possible from here on - "Evolution's nihilistas"

Amazing Grays

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Tuesday, May 03, 2005

Lies and Liars

“I detest the stench of lies” – Col Walt Kurtz, Apocalypse Now

From opening testimonies at Liars Anonymous:

“Hi, I’m Bat and I’m a liar.” “Hiiiiii, Bat.” “Welcome, Bat.” “You tell us, Bat …. the truth that is.”

Have you lied yet today? I just did actually. My name’s not really Bat, but you knew that. I’ve explained why that is before, but what is my real name isn’t important, but rather what I’m saying hopefully. Through that you should know who I am. Anyway, back to topic:

Have you lied yet today? A rather ballsy question I’ll grant, but an important one. I’ve already admitted to you that I lie, and not just about my name. My source for this topic was our bible study this morning. We’re undertaking Inductive Study of the Bible, which means you study the Bible in context as well as its historical context with the other events and issues of the time it was written, a who, what, where, when, why, and how type approach to understanding the Word. Reading in context is hugely important. Many Christian critics take issue with the “cruelness” of the Old Testament, the Book of Leviticus in particular. The cruelness is, of course, in the Word of God’s treatment of homosexuals. A contextual reading of Leviticus reveals the early Israelites were not very nice people and engaged in all sorts of debaucheries right down to the lowest of lows - bestiality. Homosexuality was just one of the issues on the Lord’s mind – not THE issue -when He started handing down the rules of engagement through Moses. More than once Moses talked the Lord out of wiping the slate clean and just starting over with Moses and his clan. That speaks to the Lord’s love of His people even when He became frustrated with the ugliness they desired more than Him.

Beginning the Inductive Study, today’s Scripture was:

And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in
his Son. 12He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does
not have life. – 1 John 5:11-12
Taken in overall Biblical context, God delivered the hugest promise of all in Christ regardless of prior as well as current frustrations He had/has. As one reads through the Old Testament, you feel lower and lower. Many people in the Old Testament, I would not have given the time of day, let alone a glass of water or a helping hand. Frankly, I would have gladly hung most of them with my own hands so wonder abounds at why Someone perfect in His very nature would tolerate something so imperfect. A true mystery, but love can be the only answer. Especially when so much of the sin in the Old Testament is so doggone familiar – hence the low feelings. “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” That’s fer shure. John ends that thought by explaining we will either choose that life, or not choose it depending on what sort of decision we’ve made about Christ.

However, John doesn’t let you off the hook with just making a simple decision. Reading verses before and after the quoted one (that contextual thing that causes the silly misinterpretations of Leviticus when ignored). We will choose to believe or not believe God’s testimony to us through Christ. If we don’t believe Jesus is the Christ, then we in effect are calling God a liar (verse 10 in the before). Whooooaaa! Somebody check for thunderheads outside!! Me?? Call God a liar???? God forbid!!! But what is a lie? A little white lie versus a bald-face lie? Some people are “exceptionally good liar”-s (name that quote and you get a cookie!) while others are just casual liars. Does that mean some lies don’t stink as bad as others? Not at all! The “Father of Lies” knows the answer to that question, but sure wants to confuse you about it. God is absolute when it comes to lies. He hates all of them. Since we know God to be the Truth and His testimony about Himself through Jesus is truth, then to deny Him is to lie, period. Lies then, any lies are especially detestable because they are models of the Big Lie. One who denies (e.g. lies) about Christ is “an” antichrist (1 John 2:18-27) not just "THE" antichrist, so to dabble in lies is to dabble in being an antichrist. John explains there were many antichrists during his time as there are many today. Maybe even you or me. Bottom line is, from one lie comes others. All eventually end at the Big Lie if unchecked. In the recent issue of Christian Research Journal, Hank Handegraff boils it down to “Lies are the Anti-Christ.” Ow. Now that hurts.

Col. Walt Kurtz started out detesting lies as Williard dug into his life on that bizarro boat trip up the Nung River. Eventually Kurtz, “a good and humanitarian man,” bought into the Big Lie - about himself no less. “Kurtz got off the boat. He split from the whole mm-mmm program” (expletive deleted – this is a fambly website you know!). Howsa bout you? Are you still on the boat? As for me, I regret to admit I sit on the gunwale and dangle my feet in the waters of the antichrist every once in awhile. Lies are the antichrist. Ow.

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