This book appeared at the shop. I do not know of it, nor the author, but I DO recognise the ship. You know, the little teeny ship in the upper right corner....


















Let me help you....















Hmmmmm. Somebody watched cartoons as a kid. The ship is clearly the Starduster from Space Angel, only with added jet engine housings in the wings. Air-breathing jet engines.

In space.

Maybe somebody should have studied his science when he got home, instead of watching cartoons.

Well, here we are. Happy Sunday. A cold has sidetracked me today- to my way of thinking "Do unto others" includes not sharing The Virus in public meetings- so I am home instead of being at church.

Our local AM talk station, the birthplace of the Loathsome Toad, runs radio preachers on Sunday morning. Some are good...Arvid McGuire does a yeomans job of sharing the Bread of Life, some are nominal, and some make me think of Samson- how many conversions are slain with the jawbone of an ass? I got a surprise this morning: a preacher whose voice and style make me think that Pat Buttram is preaching from Beyond The Grave, began talking about Brit Hume. I do not know how we missed even hearing about the Hume / Tiger Woods Christian faith/Buddhism debacle, but we did! Not a word did I hear.


So Hume makes the earth-shattering gaffe of daring to suggest that if one's belief does not provide forgiveness and redemption, then maybe one should look into one that does, especially if one is in apparent need of those commodities. Oh, mercy! How insensitive, how closed-minded, how very FOX! Let the kneejerks begin...and such jerks there were.


The Dread Dormomoo (whose natal-day is today, so Happy Birthday!) said that what Hume did was perhaps the most altruistic act on the planet. All the Christian wants is to bring someone along on the way to Eternity. He wants to share the good things in his life with another. As Lisa Miller wrote in Newsweek: "I'm not at all sure why the liberal left is always so shocked that evangelical Christians want other people to become Christians."

The Sturm und Drang over Hume's comment betrays a complete ignorance of either Buddhism OR faith in Christ, which I'm sure comes as a shock. Hume was correct in his comparison: Buddhism offers a karmic balance sheet, with paybacks for all. The Gospel offers forgiveness, cancellation of debt, and a restored relationship with the God Who made the universe. The newsies of the MSM would look at a comparative religions course and scream "religious bigotry!!", except that the course would likely be taught by a bearded agnostic with suede patches on his elbows.

I have issues with back pain, because I tend to do stupid things with it, most of which involve not lifting with my knees- they hurt, too! - so I take OTC pain relievers from time-to-time. Tylenol is as effective as water to me, so I checked out a generic version of Doan's pills (I LOVE the old brands that identify their pills by their inventor: Doan's pills, Carter's little liver pills...) which are specific for back pain, They work, so the next time I hurt my back, I'll go back to Tylenol, because I don't want it to feel bad. Behold the reasoning of the MSM.

You can comparison shop ANYTHING except belief-systems.

Barry McGuire, the Eve of Destruction cat, was converted in the '70s, and said on a live album: "If you drop a rock on your foot, you don't go 'Oh, Buddha!'." The name of Jesus Christ is divisive and potent. The man who said "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me." leaves no room for anything but contention in the religious marketplace. The world therefore does its best to make the name of Christ Jesus an empty thing, either an expletive, a punchline, or just another religious thing.

Brit Hume found this out, and was surprised. I am very happy that he was man enough, disciple enough, to make a clear statement, a prescription that would do Tiger naught but good.

(I was more than amused, and less, to read comments on Tom Shales WashPo piece about this. They were divided between "attaboys" to Hume, and jerks who repeated the tired old, phony gossip that Hume had carried on with a Fox newsbabe, and then accused him of being a hypocrite. Tell the lie enough....)

Being a Christian today is much like being a red shirt in the original Star Trek. To be one in the news media is to have a bullseye printed on the red shirt. Pray for Brit Hume, and other men and women, disciples of Jesus all, who labor in the thorny fields of the news.

OK, back to normality.

Vidad can Google his own panties henceforth.

Massachusetts...I'm praying for Brown to win, srsly.

The President Tweeted for the first time today. Yay. The smartest man in the world is Social Network savvy. Maybe he'll friend me on Facebook. *sigh*

My head is an unpleasant place to be, now. I see the country I was born in, grew up in, rotting before my eyes. Men and women who have care for naught but there own political careers are mortgaging my children's, and their children's futures, and I feel RAGE. Seething fury. Utterly impotent fury, with no outlet. What can be done in the flesh?

Just saw an article about the new Planned Barrenhood facility being built in a mostly black and Hispanic area of Houston. The pro-lifers are out in force, countered by the lovely and articulate pro-choicers. High school otakettes with signs proclaiming "It's my body, not YOURS!", and shrike-voiced women accusing the pro-lifers of "not wanting women to have access to health care". I mean, I think they REALLY believe that. There are two pluses to the pro-abortion crowd: their aborted progeny are likely enjoying time in heaven, and these intellectual powerhouses are not breeding replacements for their tragically stupid selves.

The Dread Dormomoo and I had four kids. We are neither Catholics nor Mormon, though we did homeschool the lot of them, K-12. We saw the Scripture that
says

Psa 127:3-5 Lo, children are the inheritance of Jehovah; the fruit of the womb is a reward. As arrows in the hand of a mighty man, so are the sons of the young.
Blessed is the man who has his quiver full of them; they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

is a challenge to all seeking to live godly. Our kids are time arrows that we fire into the future to affect it for good. We endured the odd glances and catty remarks by people who should know better - "You do know what causes that...?". I have a friend

(there is a chorus: "YAAAAAAYYYYYY, he has a friend!")

I have a friend who is expecting a fifth child with his sweet wife. They REALLY get the looks and comments, but if believers don't have kids, what hope have we? I mean, the churches aren't evangelizing effectively in the US...in fact, they are effectively vaccinating people against contracting a case of faith in Christ. (I will not substantiate this...figure it out.)

We need kids.

pic by leadervance

Here, Vidad.
Are we happy, now?

"Something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it," Robertson said on his Christian Broadcasting Network show. "They were under the heel of the French . . . and they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, 'We will serve you if you'll get us free from the French.'

"True story. And the devil said, 'OK, it's a deal,' " Robertson said. "Ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after another."

God is punishing modern Haiti for something done by slaves in 1791. Well...Robertson did not exactly blame God. Exactly. But there will be abundant mouthpieces come Sunday more than happy to make the Almighty complicit in this horror. Haiti has voodoo. Haiti has corruption. Haiti has CATHOLICISM!!! Every independent church crank pulpiteer will point the Bony Finger and proclaim "God's Judgment - HUH!".

Jesus made a cogent point to his disciples:

Luk 13:1 And some were present at the same time reporting to Him of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.
Luk 13:2 And answering, Jesus said to them, Do you suppose that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans because they suffered such things?
Luk 13:3 I tell you, No. But unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.
Luk 13:4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were sinners above all men who lived in Jerusalem?
Luk 13:5 I tell you, No. But unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

Stuff happens. Sometimes, REALLY BAD stuff happens. We live in a fallen, bent world, a world that does not require God to take his finger and *FLICK* the tower at Siloam over, nor huff and puff and blow New Orleans down. However, we should view this tragic event as an opportunity to pray, and to give. Here's an opportunity: http://www.foodforthepoor.org/

Please consider giving. ANY amount is better than none. Food For The Poor is VERY efficient: 4% of donation dollars goes to running the operation. 96% goes to helping the hungry. Not bad at all.

SarcMark website.

Another in the rather short line of novelty punctuation. Remember the Interrobang?

I thought not.

The design of the sarcasm mark is uninspired, and the roundness of the glyph utterly fails to convey the sharpness of the sarcastic - sarcasm coming from the Greek "to tear the flesh".

No, this mark speaks to me of things passive-aggressive, going around to make your point. Sure seems to be the way most "sarcasm" plays out in blog comments. Not anyone here...I'm thinking more international sites.

Of course, Vidad haunts some of those , too....

The SarcMark should be something sharp, like an exclamation point made from a lightning bolt. I dub the current incarnation the PasAggMark.

They are asking $1.99 for the privilege of loading it into my computer. Only if they get it right.

The Grand Experiment has ended. The saga which began here is a wrap. Abbadee, abbadee, That's All, Folks!

My latest doctor at Medical Affiliated Research Center called a couple of days ago and told me that the BPH study was over. The pharmaceutical company had gathered enough data to determine that this mode of treatment is made of fail. Injecting testosterone-inhibiting brews is not a helpful modality in remedying enlarged prostate issues. Back to the drawing board.

I would not be averse to participating in other medical studies. It's a good way to keep tabs on one's basic medical state.

This is overwhelmingly cute.
(Fumiko's Confession)




The dialog (from the Anime News Network forum)

"Umm, umm. Please go out with me!"
"Sorry! Right now, I want to concentrate on baseball!"
--------------------------
"Takasu-kun, you idiot!"
--------------------------
"I'll make miso soup for you every morning!"
"Sorry! I want to concentrate on baseball!"

I found this on Jerry Beck's and Amid Amidi's excellent Cartoon Brew blog. If you like animation, PLEASE budget some time and visit the place!