I am robbing from my comments here

An affectation which I abhor is avalanching (my term), or "Hannitizing".
You repeat yourself, you iterate, you restate in a triad to hammer home your point. It is like a verbal avalanche to the ears.

I think he has a good start, there.

------------------------------------

The most egregious example of marketing humbuggery is the "hand dryer".
You know, those blow-ey things in public restrooms that are rarely good enough to do more than shove the water around on your hands.

But...but...they are environmentally friendly!
They reduce disease-spreading paper towel waste!!
They SAVE TWEES!!!

Hateful.

They are run on Electricity.
Electricity production has considerable environmental impact. Mining...burning fossil fuels...greenhouse gases...in short, hand dryers are likely a major culprit in the Global Warming
issue.

I AM thankful for the reduction in paper towel waste. I can't TELL you how many family members I have lost to Paper Towel Pestilences. I caught the plague from a W*l-M*rt a couple of weeks ago, I think. All those rats burrowing through the piles of sodden paper towels. I get at least a couple of bites every time I go in one. I got a neat pet, though. Caught 'im whilst he was still hanging on. We call him "Snappy".

"They save trees". HOW MANY TREES had to die in the Pliestocene age to supply YOUR greed for tepid blown air in your wretched bathrooms; what Cretaceous carnage was wrought to save some desksitter the trouble of ordering paper towels? Hypocrites!
Oh...and trees are a renewable resource. They keep growing! You can't stop 'em...unless you pave over the land to build a shopping center in which to install hand dryers.

The best thing that hand dryers accomplish is to discourage people from washing their hands.
Now, I have a virtual fetish for hand-washing, and I note...and mutter to myself...when people bypass the lavatory on their way out of the bathroom.

I'm so glad that disease won't be spread THAT way!

The power to Tax is the power to destroy.

Especially my piece of mind.
The Dread Dormomoo and I have spent hours today counting and evaluating the physical property used in our business. Why?

So that bureaucratic yahoos at town hall can charge us for purchasing equipment used in plying our trade. Sales tax is not enough, no. The gravedigger must pay tax on the shovel he uses, the baker on his kneading-bowl and oven. Men (and women, for we must give the succubi their due) who produce NOTHING take it upon themselves to dream up novel ways to steal from the producers like us.

Ooooooh, oooooh....Romans 13....kneel and kiss the ring.

Nope. The limit of human government is to reward the good, and punish the evil.

Precisely what reward is this contrary and arbitrary robbery to the good? Or am I evil, and must be punished with the confiscation of my goods or money in the course of doing business?
What possible Biblical rationale can justify the continual predatory escalation of taxation from all levels of government? And to what purpose? The increase of an anti-Christ system's implementation of ungodly, un-Biblical programs and justifications.

I am boiling...and we aren't EVEN talking income tax yet....

A thought I had from reading another blog (Vox Popoli):

The seminaries are themselves the enemy. --bw

Seminaries and denominational structure represent the "federalisation" of the Christian faith. What began as-and was designed to be- a decentralised system based around the local church, led by multiple elders (bishops, pastors, presbyters, shepherds, overseers...names showing different facets of the same office) of proven character and worth, and facilitated by deacons, responsive to local situations, has been twisted into a biblically unrecognisable monolithic, top-down structure. Biblical teaching was handled by the local leadership; disciple-making was the olders leading the youngers in the Way they should go. All were enabled to accurately handle God's Word (2 Timothy 2:15, "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.")

Now, we have congregations hiring a seminary indoctrinated preacher ("Pastor") to do their work, feeding predigested teaching as ably as any penguin parent.

The Mega-Church movement is the feedlot outgrowth of this phenomenon.
Kind of a doctrinal Golden Corral.

Feel free to argue, but provide Biblical proofs.

There is much sturm und drang over t' Vox's.
GUNS!
FIREARMS!
PARASITISM!!
CANNIBALS!!!

Now, I own a shootin' iron. I need to practice. I need a shotgun, too. I believe that it is wise to own firearms, when they are handled responsibly. There is no Scriptural mandate to own weaponry. Much has been blathered about Jesus telling his apostles to sell their spare cloak and buy a sword. They came up with two swords amongst them, and Jesus said "That's enough.".
(Luke 22:35-38) Two swords among twelve guys.

Hardly sounds a militia, does it?

One rule of thumb in Bible reading...or ANY reportage...is to find
Who is spoken TO, and what the situation (or context) is.

Again, I believe it wise to own and know how to use a gun.
There is hardly enough in Scripture to Build A Doctrine from.

That said...

Two of the funniest firearm things I know of:

Screwing a silencer on the barrel of a revolver.

This paraphrased bit from "Get Smart": Agent #8 (Burt Mustin)

Agent #8 - "My grandfather invented the first silencer"
Smart: "Really?"
Agent #8 - "Yes...when he fired his pistol, he yelled as loud as he could."

Now THAT'S Comedy!

SORRY, GUYS & DOLLS!

I have had to reactivate the wretched word verification.
The Plumbline is being assailed by...inappropriate comment spam.
(That was humorous...I repeated myself, there.)

What they were advertising was not up to the the normal altitude of standards here,
and my time is worth more than wasting it on weeding out tares.

I leave you to figger out the height.

Lest I be misunderstood...

My "Jesus Loves Osama" post - from MY perspective- had nothing to do with politics.
I recognise that the left-leaning churches attempt to realise God's Kingdom on Earth through
"Social Justice", which ultimately springs from Socialist Liberation Theology.

This is one reason why I attempt to keep things on a firm Biblical base.

Regardless of what motivated the Offending Signage, the WORDS were utterly correct.

Reminds me of Paul's attitude in Phillipians regarding those who were preaching the Gospel from less-than-pure motives:

15 Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some also from good will;
16the latter do it out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel;
17the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives, thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment.
18What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice...

We live in a depraved and degenerate world. Contradiction and paradox rule the day, but the Gospel remains a clarion call to a Kingdom of Life, Light, and eternal verity.

Our proclamations declare to whom we owe fealty. I desire to be clearly walking in the Light.

I have changed my mind.
Because of his apparent r-tardness, I think the bill for Boston's
Anti-ATHF bomb squads should go to the Mayor.



Was the guerrilla ad campaign stupid?

yes.



Was the dreadlocked "performance artist" an imbecile?

yes.



But the Mayor deserves the bill.
Maybe Homeland Security can leave a tip.

Photo courtesy Telegraph Media Group

Now, a church in Sydney, Australia has put up a billboard proclaiming "Jesus Loves Osama".
PM John Howard criticized the move. To quote Lex Luthor:

WRO-O-O-O-NG!

There has been no truer word spoken. The sign is utterly appropriate and correct. The church MUST act as Nathan to the country's David, proclaiming the truth of God's Word. The Scripture
verse below the sign is apt. "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you".

Jesus said that. So should we.

All of this is NOT to say that Jesus condones bin Laden's murderous bent, any more than he does our various lying, covetous, prideful, or adulterous proclivities, but rather that Jesus' redemptive sacrifice extends EVEN to the Osamas, Pol Pots, and Castros of the world, if they would but repent, and take the proffered gift, obeying Messiah as Lord.

Pray for those...for the weapons in our spiritual war are not physical, but are mighty before God....

-------------------------------------
From the sublime to the ridiculous:

Hello, Boston.

HOW STUPID CAN YOU BE?

I mean, you have kept Ted Kennedy in drink for decades, and I shan't even discuss John Kerry.
Your Big Dig project is a fiasco, but this?

Out of nine cities that were targeted by this guerrilla marketing ploy, only you went tilt.

Boxes with a cartoon character outlined in LEDs paralyzed the city. What an amazing example of the Nanny State in action.

On the flip side, Turner Broadcasting should pony up every penny for the defense of the two fellows who placed the ad displays.

Wouldn't hurt to pray for the media mavens who shape our popular culture. Here are my thoughts on that. Please read it all. It's short.

Huzzah! Here is a picture (thanks to timewarptoys)
"Mr. Joggy" is really spelt Mr. Joggi. It was manufactured by
Tigrett Industries, who did some unusual toys, including an early sonic remote control toy.

Happy memories from whem Momma was still living!

WWJB

A question that came up at home is What Would Jesus Blog?
(This of course begs the question of Whether We Need A Life.)
There are weblogs and journals of the utmost pristine purity,
nary a questionable question, no shade of unorthodoxy.
Then, there are those of Dark Design, used to promulgate
the eldritch, the shadowed, the bent. Between are endless ratios
of Mixture.Jesus was the sinless Son of God, yet many brethren today
would have serious trouble with him because of Who He Was Seen With.
Seems He was none too picky about whom he ate with, whom he taught,
whom he celebrated with.

Jesus did have some standards, however. He was not shy about letting the self-
proclaimed Orthodoxy know that they were rotten within, no matter how
perfect they appeared to those whom they lorded it over. The religious leaders
who made new rules to burden the hoi polloi were termed vipers, lumped
in with The Serpent himself. Yet Jesus was lambasted as a glutton, a drunkard,
as well as being a bad judge of character. As they say, where there's smoke,
there's fire! After all, his close retinue of followers included salty-tongued fishermen,
quisling tax agents , at least one terrorist, a thief, and a cynical doubter. He was acquainted
with Women Of Questionable Virtue, and actually...touched...lepers. His first miracle
provided potent potables for a wedding party- that would deny him membership at
Certain Congregations.

The point of this ramble is that if the sinless Son of the I Am was not loath to be in contact
with the imperfect, the sinful, neither then should we, as His disciples. As Paul -no shrinking violet, he- said, how shall they hear without a preacher? Whether it is online, at work, or in the marketplace, we are called to meet humanity and deliver the Good News of Jesus' life, death, resurrection, and the promise of His return, not huddle in sanctified self-righteousness, fearing contamination. It is incumbent upon us to spread the Word in whatever venue the Lord opens up for us. I have personally been able to multiply my opportunities sharing on different blogs through their comments. ONLY sharing the truth that is on topic, though, otherwise I would come across like a crank with an axe to grind. Read how Paul dealt with the idolatry in Athens.
Not a torch or anti-pagan march in sight! No flailing about with ten-pound KJVs. He met the Athenians where they were, and taught the appropriate truth. Listening to the Holy Spirit helped him, too, which indicates that God had no problem with Paul's modus.

Happy blogging!

I wish these things did not come to me in the shower.
I shower late, and hate writing on the wall with soap, so here
it is, 1:44AM Sunday morning, and I'm blogging.

Much has been done with the argumentum a silentio, where church polity is concerned.
Our fellowship, f'rinstance, does not utilize musical instruments in worship. The New Testament enjoins us to "sing and make melody in our hearts to the Lord"

Ephesians 5:18-20, "And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;" (cf Colossians 3:16)

We are explicitly told "sing and make melody". We are not told to have an orchestra, a one-man-band, nor a kazoo, for which I am profoundly grateful, as I despise music practice, and if God had said "piano", then the sea-lawyers among us would make it a salvific requirement for me to tickle the ivories.

The Argument From Silence concludes that because God does not mention "musical instruments" in the New Testament, the church should not use them, as there is no specific authority. Unfortunately, one can use the same "proof" to show that the apostle Paul did not believe in the Virgin Birth of Christ, because he never mentions it.

It is not my desire or interest therefore to drag an aging upright into the sanctuary....errr, auditorium, nor to install a Righteous pipe organ around the baptistry. I merely want to call a style of reasoning into question, to have it examined.

The type of argument here used springs from Aristotelian logic, a Greek -or Gentile- construct.
Well and good, but what is the wellspring whence the church sprang? Is it not Hebraic thinking, a covenant-based process, a mode of thought alien and barbaric to the Greek? Should we not be trained to think in the terms and ways Jesus, Peter, and Paul thought? (And, no, I am NOT advocating "judaizing" the church. I've read Galatians, too. The idea is to attempt to think and reason the way Jesus did.)

I can go no deeper now than to say that it seems to me that attempting to "decode" Hebraic Scriptures using Greek methods will ultimately be as useful as trying to decrypt 128 bit encryption using a pear. You might get something, but likely it will be sticky, unpleasant, and expensive.

Of course, this one is quite nice, too!

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: His Grace Lord Weatherly the Charitable of Kesslington under Ox Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: The Most Honourable Weatherly the Weary of New Scagglethorpe Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Beyond their Promulgating the Lie, I have another reason to avoid H&R Block.

Their new commercials have the hapless hubby using a "box" tax software product.
He gets stumped, so his redheaded (usually a major plus) wife proceeds to he...

You think I'm gonna say "help".

Proceeds to heckle him: "Ask your tax people. Oh, wait...you don't have people. You have a BOX. Ask the BOX." She talks to the box, then holds it up to her ear and hears nothing, you know, just to REALLY illustrate what a stupid yutz her hubby is.

Endearing.

There is a second one that is even worse. Sadly, from many of the blogs I see, her attitude is FAR from aberrant, so far as current norms are concerned. Of course, at least as far back as old time radio, the showcasing of hubby as a boob, and wifey as Einstein-once-removed has been the standard. Hmmm, could be why SO many men do not want to marry, especially the no-fault, feminist, covenant-bereft, anemic, government-ridden travesty that passes for marriage these days.

Personally, I am blessed to be married to a woman who not only read Proverbs 31, but chose to emulate it, one who also does not "trouble her own house".

I am thankful for the Dread Dormomoo.
Happy Birthday, sweetheart.

What does it mean?

I am on the cusp of becoming fifty years old, and I have no inkling of what this means.
I look like the men that I have always called "Sir".
Yet, in my own head, I am as I was in my twenties and thirties. Fact is, I have no idea where the last twenty years have gone. This is no paean of regret, but rather a Bemusement.

I love toys, and the kids shows of my youth. I am a devotee of the animation arts. Fact is, I find them to be the most creative and original motion picture story forms extant. I get on well with The Younger Set, and try desperately hard NOT to be the Dutch uncle.

Bottom line, I don't know "how to be fifty", so I guess I'll just carry on as usual.

Maybe I'll get it when I'm seventy.

Honest...given the parameters of the quiz, and things it did NOT say as well, it was the only way to answer.

...then again, maybe I'm NOT that nice a guy!

Which House MD Character Are You?
House You're House! You're mean, insolent, gruff, callous, intelligent, and all the other awesome things that makes House a meaningful and memorable character. You have drive and a dominating dedication to the rules of logic and reason, even in the face of day to day trivialities. Not afraid to back down or change your stance or even be PC, you totally stand out wherever you go, despite standing out in an often negative way.
Take The Quiz Now!	Quizzes by myYearbook.com

Loen caught the Bug.

My youngest is 16 years old, and he has caught a Dire Contagion.
Not sure I want him to get over it.

He and his best bud have started a business "Gamers" is a video console arcade. For an hourly fee, or for a monthly membership, you get to play the hottest games on the hottest systems. They will also have Old School Gaming systems like the Atari 2600, up through the XBox 360 and the Wii.
Guitar Hero and DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) will be major draws.
They have a storefront just off of the Square in our town, where a Comic Shop used to be. They open February 8th.

Entrepreneurism is good to catch, but know this: once contracted, it ruins you for working for anyone else. Pray for their success, them wot does such.

....and if you find yourself in Athens AL, stop in after school hours at 210 S. Jefferson St. and PLAY!

Twaddling my thumbs...

Twaddle:  To talk in a weak and silly manner,
like one whose faculties
are decayed; to prate;
to prattle. --Stanyhurst.

I had never seen "twaddle" used as a verb, but this morning I have seen
it in action.
I print Vacation Bible School (VBS) shirts for several local churches.
They normally purchase a canned curriculum for their program,
but have us do a design that is cooler than the one provided with
the materials.

I wanted to get ahead of the game, so I got my Sunday morning java,
aimed my household Logic at the 'Net, and went Here.
I wanted to check the download clipart, to see if any of it was usable.

Let's imagine Paul the apostle, or Peter, or Stephen the first
martyr of the church: faced with persecution and death for
preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, yet driven still to do
so by the Holy Spirit. Imagine their coming up with the stuff
that currently passes for Gospel teaching. Imagine Paul and
Barnabas doing "Avalanche Ranch", twaddling
the Gospel.

I wonder why Islam and other "isms" have made such inroads
in the West?

I have a perverse fascination in the Judas Pig.

You know, the porker that lures you, invites you, nay, begs you to eat himself and his kin.

They are famously used as BBQ come-ons, as you see here.

Periodically I shall share the most infamous, or at least the most bizarre that I find on my travels to conventions.

Mmmmmmmmm...hickory!

Your Aardvark has been remiss in his duties.

The new year is starting with a bang, not a whimper. Business-wise, we are doing very well, even in the winter doldrums. For this we are all profoundly Thankful.

As to areas of Politics and Governance, well, my interest begins to pall. The Ship of State is foundering on the shoals of Pragmatism and the Foolishness of the Pee-pul. The most cogent counsel I am receiving from many quarters is COME OUT! Don't vote. Don't participate.

Frankly, it becomes an increasingly tenable position. If, as one fellow put it, Theft is wrong (according to God's Immutables), then it is equally wrong to put in a representative who will steal for me by proxy. Our representatives...DO NOT. At least, they do not represent ME.

The Lie of the Moral Majority and the Christian Coalition is that a united Christian vote Means Something in our post-Christian times. To quote a favorite Lewis character: Show it me i' the Book!". I find no indication of Jesus or Paul advocating political activism. To practice such seems antithetical to Christ's explanation to Pilate that "My kingdom is not of this world".

Political doings have been my life for twenty years. Vote Christian! Sadly, EVERY putatively Christian candidate for whom I have voted has bitten me on the bum, from Jimmuh Cahter on.
As far as activism, I remember well the parties in the streets that followed the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Do you remember where you were that day; remember how our Representatives listened to the majority outcry for the unborn, moved by the peaceful, hymn-singing, praying marchers standing for innocent lives?

Behold the spectacle of the American Church NOT speaking as Nathan to Washington's David, but wavering and keeping silent so as to maintain 501c3 status, for we all know that American Christians will contribute, not because cheerful giving delights their Lord, but because they can deduct their "charity" from their Income Taxes. Maybe my right hand should not know what my left is doing, but by Goo, Washington will.

The producers are robbed to pay for policies they do not often agree with, and their wealth given often to the lazy, and those who feel "entitled" by race, neighborhood, or ancestry.
Foul. FOUL.

Our Leaders drag our nation into international conflicts that ultimately are not our business. I have NO MORE patience with the stupidity which passes for Foreign Policy.

Our crime rates are going up, and much of it is IN FACT caused by the Hard Working But Undocumented Neighbors From South Of The Border Who Do The Work That Lazy Americans Won't Do Anymore. The illegal ones, the ones whose very presence here proclaims their disdain for our laws. The ones Our Representatives have so ably combatted by beefing up border security.

Then there is the North American Union.
FOUL!

I cannot take it anymore. To be ignored by "my representatives" is more than I can bear.
To be billed for it is an indignity too great.

I do not know what to do. For once it appears that there is no good answer. Everyone whines about it, but NO-ONE has an answer.

HAPPY HORN DAY!!

(Search the blog. You'll find out.)

If you are on the Northern Gulf Coast of Florida, Sandestin or Niceville, or in Memphis, TN, or in Spanish Fort, AL, you NEED to go to Ciao Bella Pizza. Riatsila and I go there when we attend Anime South. Honest, it is one of the reasons that I go. Amazing Italian food. This is NOT an Americanized cardboard-crust chain, nossir; this is the Real Deal. Here is the TripAdvisor review page.

Do yourselves the favor. Enjoy. It's not just pizza, either. Their salads and desserts are amazing.
Then there's the bread and dipping oil. Between the garlic and the olive oil, I'll NEVER have a coronary! Absolutely amazing.

OH! They are in Jacksonville, FL as well!

Go. eat. Rejoice!

For a veritable avalanche of right-of-center interest news stories, check out and sign up for W.G.E.N.

Follow the link, and follow the instructions if you want a great source of news and commentary delivered to you. Your Aardvark is a partaker of Jackie Juntti's newsy goodness. You will find it all useful, amusing, and maddening by turns.

http://grassrootsgranny.com/wgen.htm

Do it!

The Aardvark is comforted.
The Queen Bee, Nancy Pelosi, is ensconced in the Seat of Power as the new House Speaker.
The Lizard Queen, aka the Hilldebeest, aka Hillary is slouching towards the White House, aka The Cherry-Blossom Throne.
He feels so safe and secure, especially in light of this.

Your Aardvark may be reactionary in this, but to me this says that a State of War exists between the US and Mexico. It has been de facto as far as the Aztlan crowd are concerned, but should now be declared de jure. (More pro-Aztlan stuff here)

Now, THIS little forgotten incident occurred in 2000.

The Aardvark has his knickers in a twist (just don't think about it) because our armed forces
RETREATED
before the Mexican Horde. Armed May-hee-can nationals CROSSED OUR BORDER, "overran" our troops, causing them to retreat. The invaders then faded back across the border.

This little sortie showed Our Good Neighbors To The South Who Just Want To Work Hard By Doing The Jobs Spoiled Americans Won't Do a simple truth:

We will not stand up to them.

What this says to your Aardvark: May-hee-co has declared war on us.

Enjoy your enchiladas!

I have not provided the churlishly yclept "loot list" of Christmas goodies. This shall be rectified partially now.

We have been enjoying the wonderful Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry series "Jeeves and Wooster".
I was gifted a boxed set this year. Dr. House as a brainless but good-hearted Rich Young Man.
Laurie can pull faces only cartoonists dream of. P.G. Wodehouse wrote the stories, and I chafe to read them now.

Get the books, and get the vids. They are painfully funny, and well worth the time spent. Witty, charming, arch, and not an unclad bosom in sight, nor unclean tongue.

Wow. It CAN be done!

An Aardvark Aware.

I was (not) amused to note that when the rector quoted Jesus:

"I am the way, the truth, and the life"

he neglected to finish the statement:

"no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John 14:6)

Seems to me that weasel-wording is not a fit way to send an honorable man like Gerald Ford into the Great Beyond. And quoting the Founder of the Faith in such an abridged manner truly does violence to the intent of the Founder.

Jesus was NOT inclusive. He was the Prince of Peace, not the prince of wuss. Christ draws the line in the sand and says "these are Mine". The promise that "the Lord knows those who are His" encompasses the fact that There Are Those Who Are Not; hence the Great Commission, hence the need for evangelism.

Brethren, we must redouble, reTRIPLE our efforts in spreading the Good News.

A happy and blessed New Year to you all!

Also...I hate Blogger Comment spam.

WOO HOO!!!
I just got called a JERK!
By someone who DOESN'T EVEN KNOW ME!

Well, we agree on Jerry Lewis. Utterly.

The point of my little exercise is to point out that... the stereotype in an animated cartoon is generally NOT offensive to the stereotypee. The Speedy Gonzales cartoons are a case in point. They are LOVED in Mexico and South America. I have yet to meet a single living soul who was offended by a cartoon lampooning their ethnic persuasion. Even the most egregious large-lipped, watermelon-eating Negro in, say, "Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs" STILL outsmarts the bad guys! He is a "comical" hero, but still the hero of the piece.

All...literally ALL of the noise I hear is from Liberal Arts College educated white guys and gals who think that the Japanese should be offended by the AIP studios Dick Tracy cartoon character Joe Jitsu, f'rinstance, or that the guys at the local taqueria should be offended at Speedy Gonzales. No-one thinks I should be offended by Elmer Fudd.

I am hurt.

I will say that I see a HUGE difference between "telling a joke" and an animated cartoon. I find racial jokes offensive. There is a PERSONAL aspect to telling a racial joke that separates it in my mind from, say, a cartoon from another era, with different sensibilities. Therein lies the key. Today, that sort of thing cannot fly. Warner Brothers won't be putting out wildly stereotyped propaganda cartoons for "The War on Terror", because the market will not bear it. Sensitivities have changed. What I militate against is redacting history by hiding Things We Don't Like Anymore. To trot out Santayana one more time: those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

You cannot learn from what is hidden.

Happy Hanukramakwanzzmas

I like Glenn Beck. He has brought fun back into the talk radio.
Enough about him.

When has the church been called to be militant on inconsequential things?
It disturbs me that Christians have lost the virtue of, well, shutting up.

I ask this as a Christian man.

And now a word from Our Founder:

Matthew 5:38-39, "Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also."

And this from His pal, Paul:

1 Corinthians 13:4-7, "Agape love endures long, and is kind; Agape love envies not; Agape love vaunts not itself, is not puffed up, Does not behave itself unseemly, seeks not her own, is not easily provoked, thinks no evil; Rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; Bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."

It appears at first blush that this "culture war" jazz is erroneous.
Having a Blue Vest wish you a "Merry Christmas" is of little value.
Sharing the Gospel is of inestimable value. I am worried that winning a cultural battle over holiday good feelings will lose us the war of bringing the world to Christ, if the church is made to appear pugnacious and thus odious by the secularists who picked the fight.

Sometimes it's best to pick up your toys, leave the playground, and go home.

The Angry Little Aardvark

No, I am not writing Little Golden Books, now. I am sufficiently exercised that I am dropping the third-person pose, even.

If I IMDB (yes, I used that as a verb) a cartoon from my childhood, and read one more review by some harbinger of White Guilt like this:

The Brothers Matzoriley

This third segment was unrelated to the Super Six, and featured a three-headed "Siamese Triplet". Each head had its own distinct personality, with one head being that of an Irish ruffian, another being a Jewish-American coward, and the third being a wisened Chinese. All three personalities were of a stereotypical nature that would be considered extremely politically incorrect by current standards, and quite probably offensive to the ethnic cultures which they misrepresented. (Wikipedia)

...well, the results won't be pretty! "...Quite probably offensive to the ethnic cultures which they misrepresented" indeed. These are CARTOONS. They naturally draw (ha, draw!) from the features most easy to exaggerate and caricature. If they were to be authentic, actual factual representations of ethnae, they would have been National Geographic specials on CBS, narrated by Alexander Scourby. But no, they are cartoons, done on the cheap to populate the Vast Wasteland, and voiced by actors who drew from vaudeville, and its electronic heir, Old Time Radio.
Shucks, "ethnic" actors like Eddie "Rochester" Anderson played to the stereotypes. Better a shuck-and-jive actor who eats, than a proto-"civil rights" activist who starves.
I am livid over what has been done to our cultural heritage. I am a collector of, errmmmm, impolitic cartoons, from WWII buck-toothed Japanese, to lederhosen wearing Nazis, to watermelon-eating saucer-eyed ne...no, Blac.....shoot, denizens from a minstrel show. Not because I am a bigot, (I find the "N" word as offensive as G** D***...and trust me, I find THAT offensive.), and as a target of cartoon bigotry myself (short, bald, kinda goofy...you figger it out) I sympathise with my fellow stereotypees, but c'mon... THEY'RE FUNNY!

Reminds me of the Turner execs who banned Speedy Gonzales to the Barrio of Offensive Toons.
"OH!"said they. "The Hispanics might be Offended by the broad May-hee-can stereotype."
They finally got talked back into showing them- especially by the Hispanic fans who lionize the rapid rodent for always triumphing over his foes. Of course, maybe this might have tilted it a bit:

Speedy boosters shouldn't expect to see their furry hero anytime soon, at least in the United States, Goldberg said. But there is a place where Speedy can still be found zipping across TV screens — and, presumably, where the crude stereotypes he embodies don't touch a cultural nerve.

That place: The Cartoon Network Latin America, where, ironically enough, Speedy Gonzales is "hugely popular," Goldberg said. --FoxNews

The Aardvark is one of those created with his hinder too close to the ground. Consequently, his pants legs are always too long. Seriously...he needs a 28 inch inseam. If he lived in New York, he would shop at "Shlomo's Short and Squat". (PL. call me!).

As a result, his jeans have that fashionable "denim-shredded-by-being-trodden-on-boy-EE" look which he so despises. If he were anorexic and looking for modeling work it would be one thing, but looking more like The Critic than a Gap ad puts a different spin on it all.

Couple that with being hagridden. (No he and the Dread Dormomoo are not at outs. He speaks of his Mistress: his business.) He is Just Too Busy to go out and find a decent haberdasher or seamstress (both of which being in short supply anyway in the Wilds of Alabamastan). The DD is accomplished with needle and thread, and has an aged Pfaff that does great machine work, but, well, SHE is hagridden, too.

Therefore, to avoid the terminally frayed look, your Aardvark has resorted to...
Resorted to...
Rolling up his pants legs.
Yeah, the Tom Sawyer look. Give him a fence to whitewash, and he'll be fine. Maybe he'll play at rolling a barrel hoop along with a stick.

Guess he needs to buy jeans online, too.

Big Fine for Underage 'Girls Gone Wild'

The AP has a triumphant writeup about the two 17-year-old heroines who have successfully litigated against Exploitation Most Vile. A most interesting part of the story:

U.S. District Judge Richard Smoak ordered Mantra's multimillionaire founder, Joe Francis, to read aloud in court a victim impact statement from one of the women, who said she was emotionally tormented by her appearance on a "Girls Gone Wild" video and that the video damaged her relationship with her family.

To borrow from myself: I weep.

According to Francis, the girls lied about their age. Of course, this is a stretch, as women never lie about anything. Hmmmmm. Let's think about this. They were underage high-schoolers in a party town, on an uber-party weekend. They had been drinking.

Of COURSE they lied. They almost certainly had phony IDs to facilitate their sozzlement.

The li'l darlins made CHOICES.
They chose to drink.
They chose therefore to become impaired.
They agreed to appear in the video "Look, LOOK! We have BREASTS. No really. HERE they are, SEE!". They apparently lied for the privilege.

They chose.
Now at least one of them is reaping "emotional torment" and damaged family relationships (read: Mom and Dad were mad as blazes, and she is grounded 'til she's forty.).

This is not a popular attitude, but they set themselves up for it all.

Let the Aardvark make it clear: I do not find Joe Francis' choice of work to by laudatory.
It is an evil source of gain, getting stupid girls to waggle their endowments for Your Late-Night Pleasure (this is what the Aardvark terms "loser porn". Wait. The Aardvark repeated himself!). But the way this whole pathetic hoedown is framed, I find him to be almost as much a victim as the chicks claim to be.

Some years back, Orson Scott Card made the rounds of Sci Fi conventions doing his "Secular Humanist Revival". Done in the style of a brimstone-laden Baptist preacher, the Revival got rollin' with Card yelling "Do you be-LEEVE?!" With no antiphonal response, he would repeat "Do you BE-LEEEEEVE?!". Caught up in the fervor, members of the congreg...er...audience would respond
"YES!" or "We believe!", whereupon Card would zing 'em with his "gotcha" line:

"In WHAT?"

OSC is a practicing Mormon, and has some passing knowledge of Religious Fervor.

I just saw "The Polar Express" on telly- a movie that I had assiduously avoided ever since it came out. The commercials invariably showed the Twaddly Bits, and the CG images looked fuzzy and poorly done. Great. A New Christmas Classic.

I repent in dust and ashes. "Express" is nowhere near as bad as I expected. Now that I have Praised It With Faint Damns, I shall elucidate. The movie has heart. The score is memorable, and orchestrated. Hail Silvestri. The motion capture as remarkable, the imaging is well-done for the most part. Alas, there is more diversity in Deep Roy's Oompa Loompas than in the elves at the North Pole- tho' the Jewish Elf Manager is a slice of genius. The rest of the workforce has the gaunt look of inmates at Auschwitz. There ARE shelves, though. She-elves. They dance well.

My underlying grump with "Express" is its generic message to "Believe!". The implied object is Santa, but it is not overtly stated. Merely "Believe". Now, I do not expect an evangelistic religious tract out of Tom Hanks...oh, wait...da Vinci Code....; I am merely pointing at the general
philosophical mood of the day, that of Both,And.

Both salmon and tilapia.
Both serge and seersucker.
Both A and B.
Both Buddhism and Scientology.

EVERYTHING is true. A and Not-A. All you have to do is believe.

Invariably, the protagonist of a film comes to a Point of Faith, which invariably resembles a bout of terminal constipation, judging from the facial expressions exhibited. The Leap of Faith in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" is a case in point. He must screw his courage to the sticking -place, empty his mind of the last faint gibbers of rational thought, and just Let Go.

This of course in no way resembles the biblical concept of Faith, where "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God". Faith is the response of a rational mind informed by the word of God, illuminated by the holy spirit. Faith is not a feeling that you can gin up by concentration coupled with the proper facial expressions.

Therefore, "A" and "not-A" are mutually exclusive.
You cannot worship God and Mammon.
Neither God and Molech.
Neither God and Yourself.

Let me say it again. Biblical faith is not "Both, and".
Contrariwise, it is Either, or.
Either God or not.
Either truth or error.
Rational decisions or feelings-soaked busy work.

The religion of feelgoodism says "just believe".
The Biblical balance is believe, then behave like you believe. That may also be thought of as obedience.

As Naruto would say:
"Believe it!"

Notes from our little ball of mud.


The mother / son combo who faked the son's mental retardation blows me away. The AP says:

"Court documents indicate prosecutors believe his mother pulled the same trick with a daughter, whom officials have been unable to locate. All told, she raked in $222,000 on their behalf, according to the documents."

So, they have scammed the taxpayers out of almost a quarter-of-a-million-dollars.
If they are convicted, they go to prison, where they will cost the taxpayers ANOTHER wad of cash.

This appears to be an argument for indentured servitude.

---------------------------------

To be UTTERLY shallow, I cannot take Barack Obama seriously. Despite his well-spokenness, his erudition, his obvious accomplishment, I just cannot.

He reminds me of Barney Fife. I expect to see him begin fumbling in his shirt pocket for his bullet.
---------------------------------

More to come...

We at Chez Aardvark were immersing ourselves in Fox Newsness. Dick Morris was being interviewed by the o'Rly.

Morris was not on camera, but was talking.

Loen listened and asked "Is that Susan Estrich?".

The Dread Dormomoo explained: "Dick Morris' voice is higher.".

We SO need to get rid of cable.

Yesterday, Vox opened discussion on prominent atheist Richard Dawkins' apparent desire to see eugenics born again in the New Millennium.

The debate devolved into one over the relative evil of slavery. One "tcw" (alleged atheist, certified troll) babbled on about Judaism's and the Christian faith's relative evil because God, Moses, Jesus nor Paul NEVER said "Thou shalt not do slavery."

I must say, I believe I sparkled in the debate.

Well, a little, maybe.

Do I condone slavery? No.
Do I enjoy a good argument. Mmmmmm, maybe.
Can I tolerate fatuous pseudo-debaters with no reading comprehension?

No.

If you have a Seinfeld fan in your life...

BUY THEM SEASON SEVEN ON DVD!

Now, the Aardvark is not a fan of Seinfeld...actually he is not a fan of George, who evokes the same response he used to get watching Barney Fife: to put his foot through the television box screen.

But this Aardvark is even LESS of a fan of the race-baiting posturing of the irReverend Jesse Jackson, who is calling for a boycott of that DVD release...even though Michael Richards took the trouble to appear on Jackson's radio rant show. Rather a stab in the back, wot?

Maybe it's REALLY because Seinfeld's a Hymie. (Google "Jesse Jackson and Hymie". Don't lambast the humble Aardvark.)

So buy the DVD, already.

----------------------------------
The Dread Dormomoo said it best:

"Jesse Jackson picks up the stuff that's hit the fan,
and throws it back in!"

Meet Possum Kitty

We are cat people. We currently have ten outdoor cats, two of whom were abandoned by neighbors who moved, and figured they would be cared for by someone...I guess. We have NO mice.


But we have an eleventh, now. He is Possum Kitty. He shows up, enjoys the cat food, and toddles off. Tonight he showed up, and discovered some un-gnawed turkey bones. Loen was 2 feet or less from PK when he took this shot. Very tame, or at least characteristically possum-stupid.


We like Possum Kitty. We do not pet him, though. He has sharp teeth, and we are not possum-stupid.

The view from Tinfoil Hat mountain...

The Dread Dormomoo (She In Whose Mouth Butter Would Not Melt), and Your Humble Aardvark are STILL in the throes of whatever bug is doin' the asexual Nasty in our persons. It is not debilitating any more...just draining. Energy levels remain low (as does productivity) and this continual zonking, trying to dislodge...errrrr...STUFF from one's head begins to get old.

Gotten.
Has gotten old.

The DD mused this morning, and considered the idea that maybe the Givemint is putting these bugs and viri out amongst the Peepul to invigorate the National Immune System with an eye toward whatever microbial nasties are coming down the pike, either natural, or a gift from our "Terrace" friends. If a few elderly or infirm were to snuff it, well you can't make an omelette...

Hey, it would be For Our Own Good....

Poor Kramer.

I have one thing to say.

Who cares?

Michael Richards was doing his bit onstage. People had paid to see him, and to hear his comedic stylings.

They did not go to hear two bruvvahs mouth off. Frankly, them wot paid for tickets should have dealt with the hecklers, unless it was about a gladiatorial thing. "Let's see Kramer cut 'em off at the knees!"

Since the newsfeeds did not deem us able to withstand the verbal onslaught, I merely heard a series of beeps, but apparently verbal blood was shed. Bigoted blood, not racist.

The true sadness was seeing Seinfeld go all PC about it, as though having worked with Richards years ago might tar him with the same brush. The sight of Jerry and David Letterman bleeding smug Earnestness and Concern all over their chairs while Richards stumbled through his "I'm sorries" was far more sickening to me.

Of course, it's hard for me to get worked up over beeps.

Two guys heckled a comic from the audience. He responded with comments on their obvious part of the gene pool. Apparently responded in the extreme. With ANGER.
With non-PC words.

The hecklers feelings may have been hurt. Maybe they'll shut up next time.
Maybe Richards will do Anger Management.

Maybe I'll learn to care.

Hel-l-l-l-l-lp

I need to know that I am not hallucinating.
I had a toy as a child; a car that walked up walls. You pulled a string, which wound the spring, which caused a "wheel" of 5-or-6 suction cups to rachet with sufficient speed and force so as to enable the "car" to go up the wall.


It was called Mr. Joggy, I believe.
I can find NO mention of it online.

Has anyone heard of it?

EDIT: It's Mr. Joggi . Great to see all you folks remembering this little treasure.

I took another quiz.
I was born in Memphis.
Raised in SC.
Live now in Alabamastan.

And I really talk like this.

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Northeast Judging by how you talk you are probably from north Jersey, New York City, Connecticut or Rhode Island. Chances are, if you are from New York City (and not those other places) people would probably be able to tell if they actually heard you speak.
Philadelphia
The Inland North
The Midland
The South
Boston
The West
North Central
What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes

When I was a babe-in-arms, we lived on Houston Street in NYC, right across from a Franciscan Brother house...they actually babysat me. Apparently that was when the soundtrack got laid down. I've never caught a case of Magnolia Mouth.

The Aardvark is amused beyond words. Your EQ is 133

50 or less: Thanks for answering honestly. Now get yourself a shrink, quick! 51-70: When it comes to understanding human emotions, you'd have better luck understanding Chinese. 71-90: You've got more emotional intelligence than the average frat boy. Barely. 91-110: You're average. It's easy to predict how you'll react to things. But anyone could have guessed that. 111-130: You usually have it going on emotionally, but roadblocks tend to land you on your butt. 131-150: You are remarkable when it comes to relating with others. Only the biggest losers get under your skin. 150+: Two possibilities - you've either out "Dr. Phil-ed" Dr. Phil... or you're a dirty liar.

What's Your EQ (Emotional Intelligence Quotient)?

DAN MURTAUGH
Staff Reporter of some Mobile rag writes:

Under the new system, voters use pens to fill out paper ballots. To write in a candidate, all they have to do is fill in the "write-in" bubble and scribble whatever name comes to mind.

Allow me to weep bitter tears...

The (17,733) write-ins wreaked havoc on election night efficiency and delayed returns for hours, as poll workers have to copy every real name submitted onto a separate piece of paper, according to Roxann Dyess, election coordinator for the Mobile County Probate Court.

"That can be very tedious," she said.

I mourn...I bleed...

It sounds to me that the system is working, and that the Peee-pul, however ineffectually, Have Spoken. If the two-headed snake that serves as Party Politics in Alabamastan were effectual, there would be no need for write-ins, but the Peee-pul have figgered out that it's really one critter masquerading as two, and shutting out other parties from the game.

Loretta Nall opines in her platform:

Proposal: Ditch all the anti-competitive ballot access laws so the Republicans and
Democrats have to run with the Black Panther, Green, Libertarian, Natural Law, Reform, Constitution and other parties. Then at least elections will convey some information about the electorate.

Not a bad idea. Would there be crackpot parties? Certainly, always have, always will. It would be refreshing and fair to let everyone on the playground, not just the two bullies.

Your Aardvark has had an early flu this year, and it has taken a full week out of his life.He is currently in the "someone you know and trust beat you about the chest with a Louisville Slugger" stage of the epizoodic. Yesterday, it was the "Insert wire bottle-brush into nostril, move to the sinuses, then straight into the lung, wiggle it around, then yank it out" stage of coughing.

You shall not be treated to further descriptions.

It appears to be God's Own Flu. No, the Almighty does not get a sniffle; rather that when He thought of the Concept of Flu, the Template so envisioned so closely matches what this one is experiencing. Nor does this Aardvark believe that God "sends us the flu", nor gives the baby cancer to teach us something. (Now, Beaver, did you Learn your Lesson?) For further thoughts, go HERE.

No, it's just that the perfection of the mechanism is so elegant that one must marvel at it, even while wrapping one's head in duct tape to keep it from exploding during the next coughing fit.
___________________

For them wot thinks the Aardvark to be a Callow Pretender and Copycat THIS JUST IN:

He did not pick up emphatic Capitalization from "Pretty Lady". He is Well Read, and learned from the Classics. Not to say that PL is not classic, no. It seems a neat way to Emphasize the Point. Easily overdone, of course.

He is still struggling to shed himself of British variant spelling, which while far better than reDneck vareeunt speling, still tends to pall betimes.

Read this.

Now.

Pretty Lady: The Etiquette of Eating


Raisin Brioche...........I HUNGER!!!!

Pretty Lady Weighs In, And Slaps My Sassy Mouth,
Wherein We Discover My Bad Behaviour Got Me What I Wanted


For them wot ignores the "comments" section I have SO obligingly provided, I post a bit from my election night hissy fit.

prettylady said...

I voted for gridlock! I still have hopes that I won!

Seriously, darling, have you been looking at the Republican's financial stats, lately? I hear a wee rumour that they've gone a teensy bit over-budget.

And when I read Nancy Pelosi's off-the-cuff little agenda, she did mention a few details regarding 'fiscal responsibility' and the like. As well as addressing those constitutional violations of habeas corpus, and 9/11 commission recommendations, and realistically reassessing our mandate to Bring Democracy to Murderous Savages, Hang The Cost.

Ever the eternal optimist, I.

----------------------------------------

To which I winningly reply:

The Aardvark said...

Absolutement! I have lived in tooth-grinding frustration over the "can't tell who from whom" these past years.
(See the shards!)

Lookit, this was a tantrum, not a reasoned political treatise.

As to fiscal responsibility from the Dems, well, the major (alleged) philosophical difference between the two parties is that the Dems see Government as the source of all succour and aid for whatever ill you wish to name. The classic repub view is that the private sector can and should provide the aid and answers. This, of course, is far closer to the Founders' Constitutional intent. As with anything from the Christian faith to putting together a gas grill, if you deviate from the instructions, you are in for mischief!

Given the current state of the givemint, it is clear that no-one has learned to read.

We are on the same page, Dear Heart, re: the "Patriot" act, as well as the other "Bring Democracy to Murderous Savages, Hang The Cost" things. I do not believe that Vox overstates the issue.

-----------------------------------

Yes, this is a cheap way to do a post, but it was worthy of sharing, and 'sides, I have the epizoodic. There is a nasty virus using me as it's reproductive organs, and I don't appreciate it a bit.

I feel so USED.

...and what I wanted?

Attention.

DER!

WAY
TO
GO,

MORONS!

You have voted in a majority that has PROMISED to
RAISE YOUR TAXES.

I salute you,
you IMBECILES.

I wish that there was an f-bomb level
word for exponential abject and willful
STUPIDITY,
'cos I would use it right now.

At you, idiots.

The only hope we have is that the Repubs
retain the Senate.
Gridlock is a GOOD thing.
Maybe Wubble-yu will learn the word
Veee-toe.

Sleep well, schlemiels.

Here we go again...

Ted Haggard,prexy of the "National Association of Evangelicals", and "Senior Pastor" of his congregation is in a mess, but this Aardvark is not gonna pile on with the rest of the finger-pointers and punditry-mongers. (Please do not bring the "furry" CSI episode to mind. I do not own a plush aardvark suit.)

Ummmm....what is a "Senior Pastor"? Perhaps I should restate that. Where in the Christian Faith Owners Manual is there a critter called a "Senior Pastor"?

Not there.

So, the "New Life Church (A Family Ministry Center)" has a church leadership system not quite according to Hoyle -and by "Hoyle" I mean God's Word, inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Then there is Haggard's leadership of a "Christian" organisation, the National Association of Evangelicals. Sorry, but I can't find THAT in the Bible, either. (Ooooh, you can't find the National Rifle Association in there, either.) That's NOT the issue. The Bible is, or should be, the sole rule of Faith and Practise for things Churchy. And there's the rub, because most of the problems in this situation are directly due to the pigheaded refusal to follow Biblical guidelines for Things Christian.

Jesus did not die for the National Association of Evangelicals, nor for the Billy Graham Association, nor even for CBN. According to God's word, Jesus died for one "organisation".

• Ephesians 1:20-23, " Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all."

• Ephesians 5:25-27, "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish."

There is more, and I encourage you seek it out.
The church is the ONLY "Christian" organisation authorised and governed by God's Word.
Apparently God believes that the church is sufficient to accomplish His purpose without the addition of multitudes of "para-church" organisations to be His Little Helpers.

When you abrogate God's Rules on a thing, you remove yourself from his authority, power and protection.

And that is just like wearing a red shirt on Star Trek.

The Aardvark sez:


VOTE!!!
Vote your CONSCIENCE.
Vote what is RIGHT.

Not right-wing.
RIGHT.
...and maybe, try praying before you vote.
Read your Bible. Maybe a part you haven't underlined.
-----------------------------
Saddam. Hang 'im high.

Pope. Read your Bible.

Europe. Go angst yourselves. Make an avant-garde film.
___________________

Anonymous: Get a life. Get a job. Get over it.
I know who you are. You need to deal with whomever you perceive did you wrong, not take cowardly pot-shots on a third-rate blog.

I would seriously recommend you find an honest-to-God Bible-believing church, get discipled, and deal with forgiveness. Jesus REALLY loves you, and wants GOOD things for you, and part of that is getting the hurt in your life dealt with. I can steer you to one if you wish, or you can look, but wallowing in a venomous pool of anger and pain is only hurting YOU. There are lots of people on the Net that only find amusement in it.

Repudiating the Holy Leaf


OK, I'm just tired of it.
The Libertarian Party is about more than marry-joo-wanna.
At the moment, I'm not sure WHAT more, but I am sure there must be SOMETHING.

I wore my "write-in Loretta Nall" t-shirt on a delivery, and then stopped off at my favorite tortilla factory, where they also serve authentic tortilla-based meals. The owner and his wife are becoming friends of mine, and so his reaction meant a lot.

"Oh, no....you're a pot smoker?"

Sigh.

I do not indulge in the sacramental smoke, no, and I am becoming weary of being forced into cannabis conversations whenever my libertarian leanings are revealed. Yes, I believe the current "War on _______" (insert favorite bellicosity) mentality is unconstitutional and wrong.
Poverty goes on strong. The Drug Trade is still robust. The jails are full of recreational tokers, just as Thomas Jefferson and Co. intended. It is an immense waste of manpower and resources.
There. That is established.

There must be a platform. Oh, wait...HERE IT IS!

I knew that there was more to it than that.

Sad that the Man on the Street doesn't know about it!

...Then there are those church marquees.
You know, the signboards used to teach the heathen who refuse to enter the Hallowed Doorway.

There is a popular Clever Thing making the rounds of our area.

"Forbidden Fruit
Creates
Many Jams"

Was Confucius ever so profound?

It is sad that God's Word is not meaningful enough to be proclaimed on the signs.
Perish forbid that we should waste content from the Sanctuary on the hoi polloi in the highways and hedges. What really boils my bottom is that Time is spent digging these nuggets up.

You can make your own, too! The Church Sign Generator is ready to serve your needs.

We have a busy weekend, so my blogging may be sparse. Keep checking.

HELLO, EAST TENNESSEE!

Have a faboo weekend.

It's been a busy week, so now I'm sitting here, waiting for a plumber. We are having a tankless water heater installed, preparatory to delivery of a new washer & dryer. That's the way the money goes.

Had my teeth cleaned today, so my dentition has that exquisite ache that outlines each tooth. I am not such a weenie that I need nitrous for a cleaning, but BOY, that Cavitron thingie really sends me 'round the bend. It's like thousands of ants scraping their mandibles on thousands of tiny blackboards. In your head. It is essentially an ultrasonic jackhammer.

The weatherman that lives in my forehead lets me know a front is moving through. Another pain.

--------------------------------------------

I have had my first real troll this week. People with personal axes to grind need not apply.
I am very curious, though, when the sea-change happened in the workplace. pre-Sixties, it seems, the rule of work etiquette was: Work talk at work, personal palaver on your own time.
You could mumph about "that darn Anderson account" all you wanted, but home and family stuff was kept there at home, beyond the most perfunctory "How's the Missus, and the kids? Is Johnny over the mumps?". Much has been said about the "hypocrisy" of having a "work-face" and a "home-face", but it seems to me that there was less trouble back when there was clearer delineation of one's roles in life. Fewer illicit office dalliances, besides less time-wasting jabber all around. Muzak may have it's detractors, but the endless lite-rock radio stations pumped into the office with sex, sex, romance, love affair, "if lovin' you is wrong" as the message du jour is a distraction. I don't see how ANY work gets done.

----------------------------------------

This Aardvark is not a prude. I just have a case of the wistfuls for when work was work, and not an endless Oprah/Dr.Phil/Maury fest.

The Aardvark is, however, in pain, and thus grumpy.

"Castle of Cagliostro" DVD review, as promised.


I finally got the time to actually sit and watch the new release of Hiyao Miyazaki's movie directorial debut. Miyazaki-san was a series director in the original "Green jacket" series "Lupin III" - or"Rupan sansei", but cut his teeth on the glass-beaded screen with "Cagliostro", which he both wrote and directed.

Arsene Lupin III is a third-generation master thief; perhaps THE master thief. Aided by crack-shot Jigen, Goemon, the samurai, as well as by sexiful Fujiko (when she is not double-dealing) Lupin (the Wolf) schmoozes and robs his way amongst the glitterati of the world, with Inspector Kouichi Zenigata hot on his trail.

Lupin and Jigen rob the National Casino, only to find that their loot is in fact counterfeit. Almost perfect "goat money", virtually undetectable- though Lupin has reason to recognise it.
This leads him to the tiny country of Cagliostro, where his search for a world-economy-ruining plot, and the source of the bogus bills, introduces him to a runaway bride, whom he rescues from well-armed and lethal louts in a physics-shattering car chase.

I shan't do any spoilers. Suffice to say that the movie is a MAJOR bit of fun, and well worth the meagre price. As one who is NEVER impressed by "DVD extras" (hey, I buy it for the movie!), I find that this little jewel has an amazing goodie, the complete animatic, set to the complete soundtrack of the film. Wikipaedia says "An animatic typically consists of pictures of the storyboard synchronized with the soundtrack." On this DVD, you can see Miyazaki-san's storyboard sketches brought to life. It is delightfully good.

Buy "Castle of Cagliostro". Buy several. Christmas is coming!

On the Tinfoil Hat front...

I have heard nothing about this from The Usual Suspects, but
what if the nuke set off by Kim Jong Oink was not merely a test of a bomb,
but was the test of a trigger?

The quakes in Japan and Hawaii may be the end of the experiment.

Discuss.
Or at least talk to yourself.

So THAT'S why his name is Johnny Knoxville.

The redoubtable host of Jackass has an odd name. Why not Richard Peoria, or Paul Schenectady?
Now, I have never been impressed by his acting acumen, and the Cultural Excellence for which he stands hasn't won points for him. either. This Aardvark has, however sussed out the why of his nomen.

We went to Kajonk-a-Con this weekend. We did the official con shirt, and set up in the dealers room...which was part of a single larger room. The convention was held at the Knoxville Convention Center, the warmed-over site of the 1982 World's Fair. You never heard of that?

I.....am.....shocked.

Knoxville in years past has been termed "The Scruffy Little City". So the The Scruffy Little City had a Scruffy Little World's Fair. I lived in the Gatlinburg area at the time, and remember the fuss. Rather than calling it "Fair" I called it the "World's Barely-Adequate".

Since that time, the city has angsted over what to do with the property. The Fair's theme tower, the Sunsphere, which juts proudly 266 feet skyward on the Scruffy Little Skyline, and was so ably destroyed by Bart Simpson and Crew in That Simpson's Episode, has been tenantless for years.

The Fair site is now run as the Knoxville Convention Center.
It is run by thugs.

Kajonk-a-Con is the dream of Damian Zannini, a likeable and rail-thin student with a love for anime and gaming. No mere geek, he; Damian engineered the con with little help from anyone else. He has a business partner, but the vision and impetus were Zannini-san's.

The Poxville CONvention Center's staff began to load additional charges at the last minute, including charges for electricity, insurance, and "security" (which security allowed the theft of some vendors' merchandise: one was hit for $800 worth of goodies. One rent-a-cop "got cold", and actually "borrowed" two shirts from another vendor's covered table after hours to use as a blanket. He DID return the then-used merchandise to the dealer the following morning). In a final "we really don't want you here" move, the Officials claimed that the convention's checks "had not cleared" and that they would require the full amount in a cashiers check "in 40 minutes" or there would be no convention. While the CONvention Center staff were technically correct- the checks had not cleared- they neglected to add that they had not cleared because they had not posted at the bank, BECAUSE THEY HAD NOT DEPOSITED THEM. I saw the actual checks.
There were three: only one had even been endorsed. They were going to axe Kajonk-a-Con by fiat alone, and one vendor had come from California!

Word to the wise: under NO circumstances do business with the Knoxville CONvention Center.

The good news is, the Kajonk business partner -a VERY nice guy, does business with several good lawyers and judges in the area. I don't think that the Poxville CONvention Center has heard the last of Kajonk-a-Con. But I AM certain that they have squeezed the last shekel from those guys.

The convention was FUN, they had GREAT gaming prizes, like cases of Bawls, as well as game computer cases, power supplies, and such. They are not pikers. Do these guys a favor. Go to their site, and buy a con shirt from them. They went $5000 over budget because of the predations of the lice that run the CONvention facility. You'll get a comfy shirt, and a warm feeling that you helped some really nice guys with a dream.

Go to Kajonk-a-Con next year, too. It will be held in Knoxville, but at a Marriott or Ramada-type convention hotel.

...unless they wind up OWNING the Knoxville Convention Center when it's all over.


So, now I understand why his name is Johnny KNOXVILLE.

BOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The Mad Little Piggy has gone BOOM!

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea said Monday it had performed its first-ever nuclear weapons test, setting off an underground blast in defiance of international warnings and intense diplomatic activity aimed at heading off such a move....the test was conducted at 10:36 a.m. (9:36 p.m. EDT Sunday) in Hwaderi near Kilju city on the northeast coast, citing defense officials.

North Korean scientists ``successfully conducted an underground nuclear test under secure conditions,'' the KCNA report said, adding this was ``a stirring time when all the people of the country are making a great leap forward in the building of a great prosperous powerful socialist nation.''

A great prosperous powerful socialist nation. One where 3000 people starve a month, and many of the rest subsist upon tree bark.

Kimmy has his nukes. It might be good to consider a blockade.

North Korea needs money, but has nukes.

The jihadist adherents of the Religion of Peace and Love have money but want nukes.

You got your chocolate in my peanut butter.

He has every right to produce a nuke in his country, but now he has broken treaty, and detonated the thing. He has lots of subs to transport them, so Kim Jong Il needs to be kept from exporting nukes. I'm just thinkin' out loud here.

Cue Dame Vera Lynn: "We'llllll meet agaiiiiinnnnnn....."

We have met the Enemy, and he is US.

I miss Pogo.
Walt Kelly was the liberal Al Capp .

Here endeth the nostalgia.

The Dread Dormomoo and I sleep with George Noory. No REALLY...we SLEEP. With the radio on.
He is the host of Coast-to-Coast AM, the venue which warped Art Bell above the Galactic Plane.
I have grown used to Noory. and have realised his apparent credulity is merely his allowing the New Age freaksters and their ilk a forum. I repent of having said thet he is so open-minded that his brain fell out. Noory is a smart cookie, and a radio animal. Last night he had "open phones", which generally causes me to bleed from the ears. The D.D. heard a caller fulminate over "if North Korea has a Nook-yoo-lur Bomb, then why don't we just "go in and stop them"?

Just go in and stop them. Simple as pi.

The Dread Dormomoo then noted that if we do not recognise the sovereignty of nations, and believe the the Yoo-Ess-of-AY should be the Planetary Defense Force (Robots...WHERE are our GIANT ROBOTS??!?), then we are therefore THE de facto One World Government. The US is the Beast, the New World Order, enter current conspiracy moniker here_______.

Mr. Just Go IN does not recognise sovereignty, OR authority, beyond of course the putative authority of the schoolyard Bully to shake down smaller folk for their lunch money and Pop Tarts. Might, sadly, does NOT make right. To get all symmetrical on your keisters, only Right makes might. De Tocqueville apparently did not say this, but the truth holds nonetheless, that "America is great because America is good." Sadly being the Schoolyard Bully is not "being good".

Bottom line...North Korea is a sovereign nation. Not a NICE one, and Kim Jong Il is a loathsome little piggy who deserved his treatment in "Team America". But it IS its own nation. Until it actually launches at us, we have NO business "going in and stopping them"

(OTOH, if they launch, then everything above the 38th Parallel probably should become flat and highly reflective.)

As the US continues its behavioural slide into the Abyss, our True authority shall wane, and all we shall have left to us is sabre-rattling and fiddling with the Button. The world does not hear us anymore. Our leaders seek further to strip us of national sovereignty and border integrity.

Soon the United States will be nothing more than a roadside stand on the road from Points South, a stopover for Central American touristas on their way to The Land of Maple Syrup, Hockey, and Government Subsidised Film-making.

Don't forget to try the Cactus Candy. It's really good.

I am surprised that there have been no outraged cries at my choice to leave the Republican Party, and throw in my lot with the Libertarians. Either no-one cares, or it is such a screamingly obvious point that all of my Faithful Reader thinks "Well, DUH...". Ten years ago, my choice would have been the Constitution Party, but even as a conservative Christian, I find them to be too fringe for my tastes; too apt to insist upon Things Not Found In The Constitution, in the name of The Faith. Give me Strict Constructionist, Small Government any day. Christians ostensibly follow The Bible as their Rule of Faith and Practise, therefore they of all people should understand the need of our Republic to follow ITS founding document.

Ergo, by my way of thinking, EVERY Christian Soul in America should be a Libertarian.

-------------------------------------------------

The Voxoscenti were dealing with the subject of forgiveness yesterday. Here was a brief thought of mine, followed by one which explains an apparent discontinuity between MY "faith and practise".

Here is the rule of thumb (re: forgiveness), Biblically speaking:

A) If I sin, I need to repent.
B) If I am "In the light, having fellowship with my Father, and my brethren" (THERE is the barometer for spiritual health) The blood of the Anointed Jesus cleanses me of all unrighteousness.
I still must repent (do a 180) and go and sin no more. If I am weak and fall again, goto B.
C) If someone sins against me, I must forgive. (Forgive us our trespasses AS WE FORGIVE those who tresspass against us.) This is not giving the evil a pass, because "I will repay, saith the Lord". My forgiving releases the debt to me. The malefactor must go to God if he wants God's forgiveness.

Thank you Vox, for holding forth on this. It finally crystallised the whole thing for me, Biblically speaking.
****************
How do you justify not embracing the person you forgave if you have wiped the slate clean by forgiving him?--VD

Because I do not have God's ability to perfectly expunge the deed. "As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us."
My memory still carries the pain ("forgive and forget" is NOT a Biblical rubric), and I do not wish to relive the pain. Does that mean that I will NEVER embrace the one whom I forgive. No, but I must be healed of the hurt as well to wish to.
****************
A-HA!

I have sussed out the problem.
Forgiveness is NOT "a feeling".
The Greek word used for "forgiveness" is an ACCOUNTING term, signifying the cancellation of a debt.

Accounting, people. Not a huggy discipline.

If my loan shark (this is an example) chooses to forgive my $10,000 debt, he does not necessarily wish to hug me as well. The FORGIVENESS, if you will, shows his heart. A hug may be a precursor to the Kiss of Death, or other such backstabbery. Paul and Jude both warned of false brethren in the church who would do us harm.
My point again...it is my cancelling the debt (forgiveness) which is the important thing. Any warm fuzzies are optional, and may be subject to further personal growth on my part.

*****************
More as I'm able...

Well, the Aardvark makes it official:
This Aardvark backs Loretta Nall, Libertarian,
in her write-in candidacy for Governor of the great state of Alabama.

No more "pragmatism".
No more "Lesser of two evils".
No evils at all.

The Aardvark is rebelling, voting his conscience, and boy, it feels good.
Loretta is none-too-shy about speaking her mind, and like Diogenes, this Aardvark
searches the streets for one with no equivocation, no hedging, no fuh-fuhs.

Hi, Loretta.