...Walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.

Galatians 5 is often referred to when doing Cautionary Lessons against the gross activities of bodily lust, but the list of "deeds of the flesh" contains a majority of non-squishy activities and attitudes:

...idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying...

It's really interesting to look at those, and compare them to the Whole State of Christ's Church today. Jesus' prayer that we may be one is at variance with that list. I have a pet peeve, and that is cool, distinctive names of churches. The Crossroads, Crosspointe Church, The Church of No Color (honest...there really is one), New Life Family Worship Center. Second to that is preacherly "gimmicks": "My preacher wears camo and preaches on spiritual warfare...". These things serve to make that particular group different from the others, as well as making the message distinct from the others.

This distinction militates against the unity Jesus prayed for. The purpose of God for the church is that we make disciples of the nations, as part of His redemptive plan for the world: one mission, one message, one purpose, one plan.This bespeaks of Unity in the church.There is no hint of "look at ME...look at MY MINISTRY...look at MY METHOD...we're DIFFERENT from Those Other Churches.".The imagery in the New Testament is of the Body of Christ, the collectivity of brothers and sisters in Christ, each having "a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let(ting) all things be done for edification.", striding through the earth with redemption on every side, unified, authoritative in the Word, by the Spirit, redemptive and reconciling.

Sadly, the image the world has of the church is of a Frankenstein's monster of mismatched and disunified parts, shambling across the world scene, shedding rejected bits across the landscape, making incoherent and disjointed noises this way and that, blown from here to there by the blows it suffers from the world, and reacting to the things it sees in the world.

A local church (Athens, AL) recently made the national news by initiating a Temperance Drive in an attempt to get the sale of alcohol repealed.Try as I might, I cannot see a single instance in the New Testament where Jesus, Paul, Peter, James or John initiated a march, drive, petition, or mass pout to stop people from doing something that offended. Take slavery, f'rinstance. Paul did not start a campaign to stop the Offending Practice. Brights and other annoying persons find this terrible, for clearly it meant that Paul Did Not Care, that God Did Not Care, and thus ANY modern atheist is morally superior to either if he opposes slavery. (Perhaps they should stage Abolitionist Marches in Sudan.) The fact is, Paul recognised that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation (rescue, deliverance from bondage), and was thus sufficient to quell the deed, which indeed it began to do, as believing slave owners learned the difficulty of calling Property whom he also called Brother. Long and short: you teach the Word. Do something silly like. oh...do it like Jesus said. Make disciples of the nations. That means show them, teach them HOW to live the Kingdom life. This takes years, like it took years for Jesus to teach His disciples. Saying a prayer and sitting in a pew doesn't cut it. Baptise them by the authority of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. You are promised to receive the Holy Spirit, God Himself residing in your person.This is for starters.

Back to the point.If everyone does JUST what the Word says, it will result in unity. If, however, I insist on MY neat name, MY cool new way to do the gospel, thinking MY way is THE way, then I make myself distinct from my brothers and sisters. I become the enemy of unity.I become factious, jealous of other "ministries", become angry when you don't agree with MY way.

The world will not hear us unless we are unified. They will not believe our message unless we love. They will not believe in forgiveness in Christ if the church puts on its judge's robe.Wait...it HAS no such robe, 'cos it's NOT OUR JOB.

Yes. I yelled.

Fashion faux pas

The rolling-up of the trousers leg is not my sole sartorial sin.

Oh my, no.

Besides having short legs (when descending stairs, my gait is not dissimilar to that of Dr. Loveless) I also have size 8 1/2 wide schoon. The local shops have what are purportedly 8.5 W, but are exaggerating somewhat.Thus I was driven to try... (Pretty Lady, I struggle )

To try Crocs.

A local head shop (what used to be called such...now it's Trendily Nostalgic) "Crossroads" carries the artless beasts, so I went to check them out. I picked the black original design for guys, and mercy, it's the best idea I've had since the last best idea I had. I have no discomfort after a prolonged bout of printing t-shirts. Relatively cheap, and very comfy. And ugly. I just wish the old-style Earth Shoes were available, or even the Thom McAn knockoffs.

'Course, they were ugly, too.

How I Left My Ministry, and So Single-Handedly Ended the Charismatic Movement.


No fire burns longer than the banked embers of Regret.I have long considered that this will be the most potent pain of Eternal Judgment.The woulda, coulda, shouldas, whether regarding relationships, poor business decisions, or Dark Secrets, are an abiding source of internal darkness, and hold the power of unhappy wakefulness in the dismal AM's.

I have not had a terrible life. My major testimony earlier on was that I was a mediocre sinner. Nonetheless, I find Regret lurking betimes, and must be vigilant lest I begin to auger in. It is SO easy to take a measure of comfort in an old friend, regret. It is familiar, and so ready to spend time with you.

Back in college, my best buddy and boon companion, Brad Bradfield, a core of other Christian kids, and I began an experiment in New Testament Reality. We sought to do the church the way the early church did it, and we had a wonderful time of it. We had an enthusiastic group, members from all kinds of backgrounds, including an Iranian girl.
We were, as they say, "Spirit-filled", Charismatic, Neo-Pentecostal. We did not give way to emotional excesses, having a Reformation view of the primacy of the Scripture.
(The way I have explained it: the Written Word of God is the corral in which the Holy Spirit acts.-how can the Inspirer of the Word act in contradiction to it?)

After the Dread Dormomoo and I were married, we stuck around, and I still worked in leadership of the church with Brad and a couple of others. We had oversight by a dear brother and overseer, Roger Bush (whose wife went to seminary with Fred Rogers, no less.). My "calling" was clear, but one must keep body and soul together, so I did work as a variety-store portrait photographer, as well as doing product shots for the same store chain. This of course had us away on weekends, which kinda puts a crimp in helping lead a young congregation. The situation caused me to be out of fellowship. A lot.
This creates Hunger, unless you are wilfully seeking the Jonah route and running from your God-appointed Task. I was not intentionally wilfully rebellious; I was merely in the situation at the time.The DD and I went to a store on the coast, where I ran into some Christian pals from high school days, who invited me to their church.

I was beguiled.

The LOVE...the SINGING...the UPBEAT PREACHING...it was What I Wanted.
The upshot: we moved. I left the place in which a Sovereign God had placed me, left the people I served, and the people with whom I served. I rationalized the move as a Career One, as I sought to open a photo studio of my own. It failed spectacularly, in the Hindenburg style. The church turned out to be a "Faith Walk, name-it-and-claim-it" variety. The DD and I were ultimately rejected- partially due to immaturity on my part, partially due to taking people up on offers of help once too often (also a function of immaturity), partially due to the pernicious nature of the doctrine which produces an "MLM love". As long as you Measure Up, and Do the System, we'll back you, but step outta line, and well...

I was a shepherd who left his flock. The college group puttered along for a time with the others, but ultimately fizzled out. The Brave experiment in New Testament Church Life was successful 'til it died.A Word-based Spirit-led congregation disappeared. Perhaps it was the plan of that same Sovereign God all along...

I don't think you really believe that. I know I don't.

Now, this is not a pity-party. I do not lie awake in despair over the awful thing wot I done.
God's grace and mercy are, well, gracious and merciful. (I coulda been King David's understudy!). In the years spanning the mid-50's into the 80's, the Holy Spirit was doing a work of biblical and spiritual unity.The Wave of the Spirit had disparate factions coming together under the banner of Jesus' Lordship. Things were happening that had not been seen in 1500 years. Spiritual gifts manifested in orderly fashion for the most part. Men and women took seriously their roles of servants and teachers, making disciples. There were controversies, sure, but unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace was happenin'. Arminians were loving Calvinists, who were loving Orthodox who were loving Catholic believers, who were lovin' up on Messianic Jews. Walls of sect and faction were tumbling down, until folks were spooked by the Spirit, and wanted a return to The Familiar. " We'll STILL be Spirit-filled, but, you know, let's have our own Presbyterian charismatic conference, to better meet OUR peculiar needs. Likewise, Methodist, Catholic, you name it. No sooner does the Spirit work to de-Babel-ize the church factions, we have to go and Balkanize the church once more. I am of Paul, I am of Apollos, I of Calvin, I of Moody, eye of newt.

So, the soulish desire for What I Want put the kibosh on the Dream. Sovereignty vs. Free Will. How to reconcile them? As one preacher said, "I never try to reconcile friends." The answer lies in taking seriously the heart of the Gospel. Jesus is Lord.
As Roger Bush was fond of saying: "How do you spell Lord?".

B-O-S-S.

We need to ACT like we believe it. Me, I'm in the water paddling on my board.

I want to be ready for the Next Big Wave.

Back from Ft. Wayne.

Riatsila and I went to IkasuCon in Ft. Wayne, Indiana.this weekend. Nice town, good con.
The weekend before we were in Orlando at AFO. Another excellent convention. We have done very well.Yaaay. I suffer from car lag big time, though.
--------------------------------------------------------

This weekend I reacquainted myself with the exegetical stylings of W.J. "Ern" Baxter.
His teaching, along with that of the other Gulf Coast Fellowship worthies did much to form me spiritually in my high school and college days. A quote that means a lot to me is:

"God is more intent on the production of Character than the provision of Comfort.".

Bro. Baxter was known for taking the long view, for seeing the Big Picture. I know of no preacher or teacher better able to communicate the vastness of scope of the Redemptive work of Jesus Christ, the Very Reclaiming of our silent planet into the song of Moses and the Lamb, as 'twere.

The impact is that of Scale. God works a work of cosmic redemption, while we argue over the arrangement of toys in the sandbox. At the risk of being utterly misunderstood, I see in the Scripture Jesus praying for the Church, that "they may be one, as (the Father) and I are one". Jesus prayed that we be One, not that we be Right.

I must bow to His will in that prayer.

Clearly, Jesus is not praying for "peace at any price", or tea parties with the Gnostics.
The scope of our unity is clearly defined in God's Word.

I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in all. (Ephesians 4:1-6)

The point I see is that I must not sacrifice Unity on the altar of my rightness.I hold views and opinions which may be at variance with my brethren. The heretic (the factious man) insists upon "my way or the highway". This leads to division. I must instead trust that God is Sovereign:

All of us who are mature should think in this same way. And if any of you think differently, God will make it clear to you. Philippians 3:15 (Contemporary English Version)

Once again, the Word defines our bases for unity. My opinions do not. The Issues do not. Only the Word. To borrow again from Bro. Baxter, "the Word of God is the Intelligence of the Holy Spirit". He will not act at variance to that which He has so ably inspired.

Coming next:
How I Left My Ministry, and So Single-Handedly Ended the Charismatic Movement.

We have pictures.

Here is our praise band




Actually this is Riatsila, your Aardvark, the Dread Dormomoo, and Loen.

Being Gangster, yo.

We make Wonder Bread look like Pumpernickel.

Pardon whilst I take a curmudgeonly turn.
I HATE glurge.
This email is a perfect example:

This is a beautiful photo of a giant American flag in Arizona The photo is authentic, UN-Touched and was taken on regular Kodak 35mm film. The person who took the picture couldn't believe the image created by the suns rays.
Nice of them to share it with the world!
Read what is says under the picture...


Here is what it says:


"For those that prefer to think that God is not watching over us...go ahead and delete this.
For the rest of us...pass this on"

Once again, my faithfulness is determined by whether-or-not I pass along a photo, or meme, or chain letter. It is a weariness.

The cross image is in no way miraculous. The warp and woof of the fabric of the flag acts as a star filter, showing the sunlight in a cruciform image.

God does indeed watch over us, but this photo merely shows His dabbling in physics. and it certainly does not show His approval of our nation or our foreign policy.

Boy...sometimes dealing with stuff in the Blog-o-Verse tm is like playing Whack-a-Mole.

The issues of Marriage and Family particularly pop up repeatedly. The issue of polygamy (BOY that's a ripe pun...) or specifically Biblical polygyny keeps being flogged in the Virtual Debates.

Beyond the obvious (apparent) attraction of being able to do more than one woman ethically (tho' not simultaneously- threesomes are frowned upon in much "Biblical" polygynous ettiquette) I cannot fathom the attraction. There is the putative Biblicality of it all (David, Solomon...like that), but having lived in a two-nuclear-family household for a time (no hanky-panky there) having two ummm, strong willed women under the same roof was a trial at best.

Perhaps separate tents would have been the answer.

Most of the proof of God's happiness with the arrangement is circumstantial.

David was King, and a man after God's own heart.
David had multiple wives.
Therefore God wants men to have multiple wives.

Solomon had multiple wives.
God blessed Solomon.
Therefore God was happy with Solomon's multiple wives.

Not good syllogisms, no, but the reasoning tends to run that way.

God did not condemn it, therefore He is happy with the arrangement.

When God states a thing, he does NOT have to repeat it. Once "Thou shalt not steal" is chiseled into stone, well, He has published it. He does not therefore have to go to each man-jack of us in serial theophanies and say "Y'all don't be five-finger-discountin' at the Wal-Mart, y'hear?".

The most basic Scripture on marriage is this:

So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

23 The man said,
"This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called 'woman, '
for she was taken out of man."

24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. (Gen.2)

Jesus went on to quote this in Matthew:

4"Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,' 5and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'? 6So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate." (Matthew 19:4-6)

The math here is simple: 1 man + 1 woman = 1 marriage.

God said it, Moses wrote it, Jesus agreed with it.

As an acquaintance is fond of saying, "two or three witnesses".

As Barbie says, though, "Math is hard."

Is this a deep defense of historical Christian marriage? No, but I find that where there is much verbage, there can be much obfuscation. If the Gospel is simple (not simplistic), I find that it can work to be simple in explanations. (...as a little child, mayhaps?)

G-Fest...Job Well Done.




Riatsila drove the AardVan to Chicago (dreading the Dan Ryan) and arrived Thursday night (the 5th) at the Crowne Plaza in Rosemont. Nice digs, amazing mattresses (I slept through the night. This is a mackerel.), great takeout to be had. Mama Mia's is the pizzeria of choice for Clan 'Vark.

We set up Friday morning in the dealer room. We had printed the con shirts, and they were well-liked. (The con ran out mid-Saturday. Nice.) I had forgotten the Friday hours from last year.

G-Fest have a sane policy for opening the room. Friday hours are 6PM-9PM. Three measly hours, right- I hear other convention vendors grumping. They forget one thing, these fictional but accurately portrayed dealers: Con attendees buy when the Dealers Room is open. Period. 3 hours, 8 hours, they buy when the room is open. We did on Friday in 3 hours what some regular sci fi cons grossed for us all weekend. This is me smiling. While waiting for the room to open, Riatsila and I dozed like cats in our room, and watched monster movies.

G-Fest is NOT a regular convention. It is a giant monster con. Godzilla, Mothra, Ghidorah...like that. Amazing. The fans are simply mad about monsters, and happily purchase their fannish goods, often saving for a year to have enough boot. Most importantly, this is a family friendly con. No exhibitionist otakettes almost wearing costumes, no Man-Fayes, no creepy con guests propositioning attendees; just good clean kaiju fun. It was neat seeing whole families together enjoying the con.

If you like Godzilla movies, or remember Ultraman or Space Giants from the 70's, then you would enjoy this convention. Shucks, if you just stayed in your room, you could watch non-stop monster movies and guest-related shows on the hotel's access channel.

J.D.Lees and his primo con crew deserve Kaiju-sized kudos for putting on a wonderful show, with great guests, a well-balanced dealers room, and great panels. Well played. I'm already anticipating next year.

Thank you!

Well, here is The Thing:

1. All right, here are the rules.

2. We have to post these rules before we give you the facts.

3. Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.

4. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight
things and post these rules.

5. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged
and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re
tagged, and to read your blog.

Eight random facts, huh. I'm a simple guy. Could there even BE eight separate things about me that could possibly interest the Madding Crowd?

1) I was one of the college-types who went to see STAR WARS scores of times. Despite this, I now rain down anathemas upon George Lucas and his seduction to the Dark Side...and for his revealing that Darth Vader was just a big emo kid.

2) Two of my ancestors were signers of South Carolina's Ordinance of Secession. That and four bucks will buy me coffee at Starbucks.

3) A wish I have is to Make It Big in the Blog-o-Verse tm. This requires time away from work that I cannot afford, which affords me much angst.

4) I love cream cheese and green olive sandwiches on white toast.

5) Color gets in the way of the story. I much prefer black and white photography.

6) I look more like a grocer than a burglar.

7) I have a vestigial third nipple. It is the only thing I have an extra one of.

8) I have been personally punched in the arm by the Fed chairman.

There. Happy?

Mr. McLeod
Billiam
Wonder Woman

You're it.

Pretty Lady, you are not forgotten.
I have been too, too busy to blog.

Riatsila and I head up to Chicago...well, Rosemont...to attend G-Fest.

It is a kaiju convention. That is the Japanese word for critters like Godzilla and Mothra.
A very enthusiastic fan group. Above is a kaiju t-shirt design you may like. Kez Wilson did the actual artwork.

Will report back Monday or Tuesday.

PL, my sweet, I shall try Manfully to do the meme thingie over the weekend, if the hotel's wi-fi is cooperative.

Pray, wish, or think us a safe and prosperous convention, please.

Coming soon:

The Meme so graciously gifted by PL.

On a completely personal note, Atkins is doing that voodoo that it do so well. I have dropped 5 pounds.

"Oooooh, you know it's all water weight! "

Nope, 'cos I'm on diuretics already for a mild blood pressure thing.

I'm doing it this way for sanity and health's sake: Monday through Friday I do severe Atkins.
Saturday I do fruit and melon like mad as a cleansing and "Boy that tastes good" regimen. Sunday I eat a more-or-less normal diet, a good mix of protein and carbs and such. Monday I start again.

It works for me. What's funny is that I drop weight from my head first. (You may stop laughing, now.) My face slims down, and people ask "Have you been sick?".

Twenty five pounds to go.

There has been response to my post a few days ago regarding Jesus' teaching on marriage.

I am coming from a place that it has taken me awhile to get. I was long a greasy grace proponent (It doesn't REALLY matter what you do, 'cos Jesus will forgive you.) While at first blush this appears credible (1 John 1:7, "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.") it ignores the difference between "sins" and "sin". (It also ignores the previous verse 1 John 1:6, "If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:".)

The thing that motivates me now is Jesus' own words: "If you love me, you'll keep My commandments.". Not 'salvation by works', as the gainsayer might intone whilst waggling an admonitory digit, but my response to the love and grace He proffers.

The standard evangelical answer to the idea of marrying an illegitimately divorced person is 'Well, Jesus will forgive me!", as though you had "hooked' one of Aunt Polly's doughnuts. That relationship yields a lifetime of sin, whether the relationship itself is the transgression, or the (mere) individual instances of sexual union constitute the individual sins; you live in a continual state of rebellion against God and His righteous commands. It is not a matter of "Oopsie...I made a mistake...." (Another peeve: calling willful transgression a "mistake".), rather, it is entering into a lifetime relationship of trangression.

If this sounds harsh and [Neal Boortz voice] "leg-al-IS-tic", well, sorry. Jesus set the rules and his disciples clearly understood the ramifications by their response: “If such is the case of the man with his wife, it is better not to marry.”

On a positive note, Jesus entire ministry was spent teaching how to live in a Covenant Kingdom fashion, and thus the majority of His teaching is applicable to having a strong, joyous, loving marriage with a person whom you may legitimately marry. The fact is, there are some people it is OK to marry, and some it is not. Scripturally speaking, you may not be eligible to marry, if you have divorced illegitimately. It is up to you to determine this through the counsel of God's Word.

Our generation feels a sense of entitlement as far as pleasure is concerned. "I deserve to feel good!" However, He Who made the rules is entitled to be obeyed. If He set the rules for marriage, covenant, and who may-or-may-not, then we should take care in the decisions we make as far as who our marriage partner is. American society, churchy or not, may not care, but our Father does, and be sure that He Who made us, loves us, and so wants to spend eternity with us that He sent His Son to die to make it so does not do so by mere whim or fiat; He constrains us for our good.

Always for OUR good.

That Marriage is also a material picture of the relationship of Christ and His church should give ample reason for marriage to be under the gun, culturally speaking. I bet YOU weren't taught that aspect before you got married! If the Enemy can sully marriage, and pervert the intent of covenant, then there is yet another inroad made against a Christendom in decline.

Don't take my word for it. Check the Word out for yourself.

Then DO it.

The Evil face of Yahtzee

TAMPA, Fla. -- Mark Kelvin Allen, 49, was playing the dice game with 47-year-old Edith Elliot at her home in Tampa's Ybor City neighborhood on Saturday night, an arrest report said. They began to argue and Elliott went into a bedroom with her 49-year-old boyfriend.A dispute over a game of Yahtzee ended in a fatal stabbing, police said. Allen kicked in the door, scuffled with the boyfriend and then stabbed him twice, police said. The man, whose name is not being released until his relatives can be notified, later died at a hospital. --AP

Well, I've had enough!

This sort of thing has gone on for TOO LONG.

The Aardvark calls for...nay, he DEMANDS that there be Federal oversight of All Things Yahtzee. The poor girl on the "Superman" ride lost her feet, and the usual whiners started yammering for Federal investigations of thrill rides, but she did not lose her life. Yahtzee is at the heart of Murder Most Foul.

Let the committees commence.

Mingle² - Online Dating

Humph. Here's why:

This rating was determined based on the presence of the following words:
crack (2x) porn (1x)

Boy, the disciples actually GOT something!

3 The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?”
4 And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6 So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”
7 They said to Him, “Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?”
8 He said to them, “Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. 9 And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.”
10 His disciples said to Him, “If such is the case of the man with his wife, it is better not to marry.”

Oh, yeah. They got it. Note the amazing reaction they had to Jesus' pronouncement:

"And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.”

They understood the finality of covenant commitment. They understood the limits of God's "winking". They realized that if you cannot divorce for just any reason and expect grace to flow,
then it is better not to marry at all. You can read Jesus' intent in the reaction of his disciples.

The insanity, the serial adultery that fills what passes for Christendom is painful to see. The Old Covenant rebuilders of the Jerusalem walls and temple were required to put away their unsanctioned (foreign pagan) wives. If the church were to get serious about obedience rather than relying upon the false salve of greasy grace, there would be an upheaval the likes of which has not been seen since Nehemiah snatched them bald, who dared marry the pagans.

Jesus is all about grace and forgiveness, but He also said: If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

How much do we love Jesus?

Wiki Woes Redux


The essential problem I see with Wikipedia, and our current cultural view of scientia overall, is the assumption that consensus yields Truth. We see this most glaringly in the Global Warming "discussion". It appears that few have a handle on the concept of objectivity. 2+2=4.

No, 2+2=42, assuming very large values for 2.



If I feel like assigning those values.



And I do.


Wikipedia, however, only allows the robust exchange of ideas and concepts if you toe an ideological line. Or if you have an ID that is acceptably pristeen to the many proctors and overseers that make sure that you stay on Massa's biased plantation.

Gravity pulls us toward Gaia's bountiful bosom at a rate of 32 feet per second, per second.
This is an objective measured fact...unless you happen upon some anomaly that Art Bell would be keen on. My feelings, my personal politics, my opinions on stem cell research, none of these alter the gravitic pull of Earth upon my person. Outcome-based Wiki might find another answer if your screen name is incorrect. (Hey, I have no axes to grind...Heavens, no!)

So what brought about this colicky bleat? This:

Blu Aardvark has left a new comment on your post "I dearly love the concept of "Zero Tolerance". It ...":

Heh, sorry about that. They do get quite paranoid there on Wikipedia.

Did you ever get them to lift that ban? If not, I can probably make a point of showing this blog post to them. Not that I imagine you'd have a large desire to edit after being treated like that.

Then again, "being treated like that" is the exact reason I went on several vandalism sprees. Ah, irony.

But apologies for the mistaken identity.

Apology accepted, though my beef was never with you. (Hmmm...perhaps I should say "My lentil stew was never with you". Then the Wiki gods would smile again. Just a feeling I have.)
Hope your business does well, Blu!

Well, it begins...again.
Atkins. I've got thirty pounds I would LOVE to drop by fall, and Atkins works well with my metabolism. Now, if I can just stay SANE. There are sweets that one can eat sparingly (Russell Stover has several excellent goodies). I'll keep you posted.

***********************

We are having RAIN! We are suffering the worst drought in Alabamastan since 1924, so even spitting on the ground helps. Texas gets floods, and we're bone-dry.

***********************
Spiritually, your wise and loving Aardvark is in a staredown contest with The Almighty. What big eyes You have....

I wonder who'll blink first.

***********************

David is recorded as having been in a snit with God. The whole Uzzah thing. God didn't Smite David for his impertinence, and David got over it. The accretion of superstition and opinion upon the Faith Once Delivered (atheists note: I did not just repeat myself.) utterly astounds me.
To read the image of the Christian Faith as represented in Twain's writings is staggering when compared to the Actual Teachings. Read "Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven". Better yet, go HERE and buy Will Vinton's Claymation classic The Adventures of Mark Twain. Not just a kiddy romp; it conveys much of the darkness of Twain's later years, when he blamed God for taking his wife Livy. Stormfield's race with a comet garners him trouble in the afterlife. You will laugh.
To be plain: buy the DVD. AND read the story.

Back to cases: The amazing collection of junk that passes for Christian thinking saddens me.

Don't get mad at God.
God helps those who help themselves.
Cremation is bad.
The devil is So-o-o-o-o powerful.
Forgive and forget.
Getting angry is BAD.

...like that.

Anger is wired into our circuitry, as surely as is sex or hunger for food.
The scripture says "Be angry, and sin not". Anger is not sin. What you do with it can be.

I personally blame the hymns that we sing. There is no better way to insinuate an idea into your brain than to link it to music. Tragically, there are MANY bad ideas, and MUCH bad theology linked to hymns. Considering the "Heaven as Escape" motif from the Depression Era (Albert Brumley was a hack in my book, but a popular one. The Stamps-Baxter machine has churned out scads of theologically glurgey ummmmm...fertilizer, that is sung by millions.) The most harmful is the Heaven is Escape stuff: "I'll Fly Away", "This World Is Not My Home, I'm Just a-Passing Through", "There's a Rainbow in the Cloud". Mercy, I get ill just writing the titles.

There is precious little actual "Heaven" talk in the Bible. The majority of the teaching of Jesus was not about getting you into Heaven, but getting Heaven into YOU. The Kingdom of God is transforming to you, and to the world around you. Living as a Kingdom person makes you other than the world, and sets you apart. As your life attains Kingdom order, that order spills over to those around you, and opens opportunity for sharing what God has done in you through Christ.

Bottom line: We are to make disciples of the nations, not whine about escaping the mean ol' nations by flying away to heaven. I can't find THAT attitude anywhere in the Bible.

If it's not in the Bible, then as Christians, it shouldn't be in us.

The death of Matthew Winkler, and the jury's finding his wife Mary guilty of voluntary manslaughter, and the judge's (apparently) lenient sentencing seems a gross miscarriage of justice to some. I see a different dynamic at work.

Believe it or not, not every American is sexually "sophisticated". This is to say that not every American has had her character sullied by exposure to porn and other uncleannesses.

Take a deep breath. I know that was a shock.

Mary Winkler is a member of the Church of Christ. This is a fellowship that rates VERY conservative on the continuum that is American Christendom. She is in fact a member of a very theologically conservative wing of that fellowship. Here are some core beliefs of that group:

• Marriage is for life.
• The only Scriptural (accepted-by-God) reason for divorce is the sexual unfaithfulness of the spouse.
• The husband is to love the wife as Christ loves the church.
• The wife is therefore to submit willingly to her husband.

The bad news is, the preacher's family must (apparently) multiply this fourfold. When there are Problems, often there is no-one to whom the beleaguered wife may turn. This is, after all, the Preacher's family, and surely they must be the Best of us!

To those of us who would consider ourselves to be Sexually Sophisticated (read: have read Playboy-at least- and have squinted real hard at the scrambled pr0n channels on cable) the Horror of platforms and a wig is laughable in the extreme. In a time of silicone-wrapped bedroom power tools, and artificial pudendae molded from the Stars of Pr0n themselves, such naivete and -dare I utter it- Innocence is hard to comprehend. Nonetheless, it still exists.

Isn't that cute.

I would be willing to bet that Mary was still a virgin on her wedding night.

To such innocence what would the ultimate message of wig-and-sexy-shoes be from Him who should love her as Christ loves the church? What would she perceive from her "godly" preacher swain?

You

Are

Not

Good

Enough.


This is NOT an issue of feminism Rampant. It is an issue of Love Sullied.

Surely then her actions are justified?

Errrrrmmmmmm, no. I would be willing to conjecture that she was behaving as programmed.
Hubby, her Vicar in Shining Armor, taught her the seamy side of marital love. Taught her (apparently) the art of violence.

She (apparently) was a good student.

This is NOT to say that lingerie is bad, or that sexual games are a bad thing (within the rubric of Love). It is to say that husbands, you should truly love your wives as Christ loved the church, and self-sacrificially gave Himself for the church.

It's a good way to keep from being killed with a shotgun.

Animazement!

Well, I'm amazed!

Riatsila and I went to our favorite convention last weekend in Raleigh-Durham NC. Brian Exelbierd and his crack team of Convention-eers (like Disney Imagineers, only cooler) did their usual faboo job putting on a primo anime and Japanese culture convention. We saw old friends and customers, ate at our favorite Italian place, Ragazzi's, spent time with Frank and Lisa of Frank's Cool Stuff, and generally had a Grand Old Time.

That, and we made a pantload of money.

Our customer fan base is...enthusiastic about our shirts.
We were told that our shirts are happy, (as opposed to dark and brooding, I guess). Not a bad endorsement. I've always preferred humor and cultural comment on our shirts, rather than nastiness.

Back to Bex and crew. Four years ago, I approached them about printing their convention shirts, and they agreed. We haven't looked back. They sell lots of well-printed quality tees. So do we.
Everybody happy. The amazing thing is that they do not sell black t-shirts with a white design. (Sacrilege!) They sell colored shirts, with black artwork. (Scandalous!!)

The operative words being: they sell.

One thing I've noted over the forevers that I've done conventions is that many of the con officials have, um, Control Issues. Crack that whip. Not so the Animazement crew. I actually heard some teen con-goers comment on the laid-back nature of the Management. The local Sheriff's Department handles security for the Dealer's Room, and does so unobtrusively. This is not a draconian measure, and goes a LONG way toward discouraging the miscreants and oafs who might otherwise relieve us of our goods, sans shekels.

The Con Crew lets the attendees have fun. Outside things that might injure people or break stuff, most anything is OK. The Katamari fans have a big ball that they roll around certain allowed halls. People love it! Zero-Tolerance means Zero-Brains. The con allows costume weapons and such. One kid had a HUGE foam mallet. No prob. He behaved himself, and all was well. The Cosplayers maintain a family-friendly level of dress, and largely excellent quality.

I could go on, but I must sleep. Bex and Co. are great, and put on a great con.

They like us, and that's the best of all. We're like adopted family, or at least the like kids that ALWAYS show up at meal time, and you invite 'em in 'cos you like 'em.
We were invited to the apres-con staff dinner party. Thanks guys 'n' gals!

Lookin' forward to next year!

	Your super-secret codename is: HARDHAT RELY YEW
	Your mission is... Use your charm and wit to seduce everyone in the royal family
'What is your codename and mission?' at QuizGalaxy.com

The only metric which Jesus gave as to our relationship with Him is "If you love me, you will keep My commandments.".

The Dread Dormomoo and I were musing on this, and she adopted a Southern persona " Well, Ah went to church, and sang, and waved mah arms, and I got such a GOOD feeling. Ah jest LUV Jee-zus.".

Trust me, you do not wish to witness it in person.

We have both run the gamut from Charismania to the Restoration. We have lived through rampant emotionalism, unregulated spiritual gifts, Name-It-And-Claim-It "Saturday's comin'!" faith walk miseries, to legalistic bloodless American Protestantism. The metric is inviolate.


"If you love me, you will keep My commandments."

You may make Protestations Sincere, that your heart is FULL of the Love of Jesus, and Love FOR Jesus, but if you are not following His commandments, then your heart is full of Something Else.

Here endeth the lesson.

1996

Eleven years it's been. Eleven lo-o-o-o-o-o-o-ong years.
We first came aboard the Internets in January 1996. If my memory serves, we had been given a used 9600 bit/sec modem. We had also been gifted with an AOL disk, with their FREE TRIAL!
The Dread Dormomoo and I went to a filk-singing convention as dealers that snowy weekend, and wound up with a $600 phone bill for dialup charges. It was an innocent mistake by the kinder, and us, and marked the need for Due Diligence, and recognizing that TANSTAAFL is a Universal Verity.

(I was at the mall yesterday, and heard a clerk ask her customers if they "had an Internet". Made me wish for a coupon: Good for One Free Internet.)

Online communities entered our ken, and the magic began. Back when, there were amazingly funny and entertaining sites, like Yodel Dodel (The world's ugliest webpage. It was intentionally a Lesson By Bad Example). Alas so many have gone the way of all cyber-flesh (and I don't mean THOSE sites...). There are sites like the badly animated B&W face that barked "HA.........HAHAHAAHHAHAHAHA......, and then changed color and breathed in: Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.........HA!

I have no idea why it was funny, but it was.

To recycle a bit from my early bloggery:

Yes, I love the internet. Since 1996, and slo-o-o-o-ow modems, I have loved the 'net; back when every URL was a new discovery, and each web search unearthed untold treasures, and HTML was as mystical as speaking in tongues. Journey with me now to those thrilling days of yesteryear, before searches for "dominion theology" yielded sites full of people in odd black costumes, when search engines were egalitarian, unsullied by ranking for dollars. Back, way, way back when surfing the Web....was FUN!

What got me started on this was taking stock of ALL the computers we have gone through, and the utter wired-ness of our North Alabamastan menage.
We began with a blistering fast 286 business computer, back when Winders was on three 3.5 inch diskettes, as was CorelDRAW . Flying toasters were the rage. We learned that you ALWAYS unplug a logic when you work on it.

I remember our first CD-ROM computer. JOY!
It was amazing. It came with...GAMES. Not just side-scrolling goodies like Commander Keen,
but stuff like Retal, Pushover, Robocop, and Life & Death II ("Say 'Alice'."). Great sound, great graphics. As we emerged from life in Flandersville, we were introduced to Doom! Thanks Maalac! Then came Rise of the Triad, and (ZOMG!) X-Com.

This has all gotten entirely out of hand. We are now in Wireless Router Land. Each family member has his own logic. There are also older systems specifically rehabbed to run old-school DOS games. We are not a wealthy family by any means, but bits of our business are online, not counting eBay, and we all have friends across the planet (and a few we suspect may be from Somewhere Else). I know at least one cyber Superintelligence. The Internet has become an amazingly important part of our lives.

And like shaving my head, it's cheaper than a Corvette!

It always amazes me when I read someone referring to "The Jew", the way people referred to The Plague, The Pox, or The Towering Inferno. (I love Irwin Allen, but not THAT much.)

Here is the reason for this. Why is it the oddball "christians" manage to be the loudest? I have also wondered this about radio preachers. Why are the most cornpone, illiterate podunk preachers the ones with radio shows? I travel a LOT, and am often driving home on Sunday nights, and am also easily bored with driving, so I hit the search button on AM. FM is the Vast Wasteland. AM yields tasty bits like the cat finds under the table. But it also has the Podunk Brigade, preachers who sound like they have buzz cuts, short-sleeve white shirts, thin black ties, and voices that have gargled Drano and Lucky Strikes for decades. Generally, their theology is even worse. Rapture, Who The Antichrist Is This Month, and Why God Hates You, You Filthy Sinner, You.

Sigh.

Sin Is Bad. God's Love is Eternal. God's Son died to rescue you. You can live a wonderful life in Christ.

I could even say it like Jimmy Stewart.
-------------------------------------------------

"Paris Hilton: Celebutant". Shoot me now.

Fox News is showing its roots.

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

Tufts University is considering censuring (censoring?) a campus parodic magazine for a Christmas carol spoof entitled "O Come, All Ye Black Folk" (inviting blacks to apply to Tufts).
Imus gets fired for essentially doing what his contract with CBS Radio called for him to do.

Blacks have darker skin than whites.
Whites tend to have thinner skin about Other Races than other races. (Say "Speedy Gonzales". Also here.)

Beyond the "yelling 'movie' in a crowded firehouse" thing, where in "Freedom of Speech" do you find "Censorship"?
--------------------------------------------------
Have a good weekend. Go to church.

I has a blog entry.
You can has my blog entry....


We have a craft show AND a concert this weekend.
No time for blogification.
Enjoy THIS instead!

Raise the Threat Level!

SOON, we may need a FENCE AGAINST THE NORTH!

Canadians have drawn the short straw on the world's latitude lottery: From October to March, sunlight is too feeble for vitamin D production. During this time, our bodies draw down stores built by summer sunshine, and whatever is acquired from supplements or diet...Consequently, by mid-winter most Canadians have depleted vitamin D status. "We're all a bit abnormal in terms of our vitamin D," said Dr. Vieth, who has tested scores of Canadians, something done with a simple blood test. --MARTIN MITTELSTAEDT From Saturday's Globe and Mail

The Canadian Horde will soon be on the move. Doubtless the 'Net will be rife with pictures of kittens in the sand, saying:

"I'm on ur BEACHES,
stealin' ur SUNSHINE.
Eh?"

FEAR THE HORDE!

Sorry, kiddies...No time for Aardvark's Alley.

It has been an amazingly busy time. It has been non-stop at Aardvark Screenprinting. That is GOOD news for us, bad news for my blogging career. (Pause to cough and splutter)

I have been overwhelmed with EVERYTHING. Couldn't EVEN begin to deal with the VT horrors.
There is too much going on. I canceled my sub to a major news source. I can't deal with it all.
Sorry.

The negativity which surrounds me as far as the world is concerned is becoming impossible to address. I could be blogging twelve hours a day and not be able to handle it all.

Lookit, the BEST I can do for you is to suggest that if Pelosi, Murtha, Reid, and their ilk are so able to solve the Iraqi woes, then I suggest we make 'em happy, bring our boys and girls home, and send themselves over to pacify the region and make it safe for Democracy.

I'll even kick in for the plane tickets.

An Imus parting shot.


Don Imus has been around since they made radio valves out of rocks.
He has had practice. Prank calls (His Baby Huey call to a diaper service is a scream, as is the Army on bivouac calling in a to go order to Macdonalds), characters like Rev. Billy Sol Hargis of the First Church of the Gooey Death and Discount House of Worship in Del Rio, Texas...like that.

My Best Buddy and Boon Companion in college, Brad Bradfield, had several Imus comedy albums, and would infli....er....share them with us.

Whether you like him or not, Imus is good at what he does, whatever that is.

My son Riatsila (play with the letters, people), was listening to a replay of the Torquemada-fest when Imus appeared on Sharpton's radio show. Mind you, Imus has been at this a lo-o-o-o-o-ong time. Riat listened, and started laughing, perhaps even chortling. He then pointed out the raison for his mirth. He is an artist, but one who has a keen ear, as well as a painful facility with wordplay.

Imus kept using words in his self-deprecation, words like

HOrrible
HOrrific
HOrrendous.

Don Imus has been at this a long time.

Standing in the gap.



Poor Don Imus. He is sorry. He is repentant. He even went into the lions den to appear on REVEREND Al Sharpton's talk show. I saw some tape.


He looked very white and small.


Sadly, I must stand in the gap for Imus. He has asked forgiveness, yet the putatively Christian Sharpton and Jesse "Hymietown" Jackson continue to demonize him, and demand his ouster.
So, since my "brethren" refuse to do so, I must Do What Is Right.


Don Imus, I forgive you for your naughty mouth.


I also forgive you for the REAL problem that Jackson and Sharpton have with you.


Mr. Imus, I forgive you for being white.

A Happy Easter to those inclined.

A wonderful Passover past to you of different mind.

A lovely Sunday to all of irreligious bent.

Enjoy the day! All good wishes from your Aardvark sent.

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

Some Rhode Island busybody had too much time on his hands:

April 7, 2007 — A Rhode Island public school has decided the Easter bunny is too Christian and renamed him Peter Rabbit, and a state legislator is so hopping mad he has introduced an "Easter Bunny Act" to save the bunny's good name.

The Dread Dormomoo heard the news and said:

"Oh! Naming him after the first Pope.That's good."

----------------------
The Restoration movement has as a goal to restore faith and practice to their Biblical roots and limits. Thus, "Easter" is not celebrated per se: no purple draped crosses or pageants. The Resurrection we celebrate each Lord's Day (Sunday, the first day of the week) in meeting together to partake of the Lord's Supper, as the first century church under apostolic leadership did.

I don't have a prob with Easter, personally. I see Easter and Christmas to be useful holidays, both as reminders, and as opportunities to speak to a culture which becomes nominally more aware of its Christian roots at those times.
I wouldn't drag the Bunny into the sanctuary, but I am not above being utilitarian in my evangelism, using what's at hand.

Paul kinda did that. Not a bad model to work from.

Christ has died.

Christ has Risen.

Christ will come again.

Happy Easter!

Kidist said...

Aardvark, do you think people's behavior has turned for the worse over the years?

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

Now, THAT'S a question. As this is my blog, and my opinion reigns supreme:

Yes.

But a yes with caveats.

"Yes", because there are more people to behave badly, and more to interact synergistically, badly.

"Yes", because people have longer lives, and can get really good at being bad.

Violinist: How do you get to Carnegie Hall?
NY Cabbie: Practice.

I believe the accounts of longevity prior to Noah. In rejecting God, the people's thoughts "were only evil continually". When you live nigh unto a millennium, you can get really good at being really bad. (I also suspect things like the Cydonia Face are remnants of pre-Noahic technology.
With an 800-year lifespan, an Einstein could have developed a relativistic drive, or at least an atomic drive to get us there. How long did it take to go from horse-and-wagon to One Giant Leap for Mankind? This is mere speculation though, and perhaps I should keep it under my tinfoil hat.)

"Yes", because people have cut themselves from moral and spiritual moorings, and by that, self-control, through a cultural rejection of Biblical teaching. Like it or not, the strength of the West has lain in its Biblical Consensus. America has not been a "Christian Nation" (darn hard to baptise a landmass). I could argue that the concept is not tenable, but the fact remains that what governed The West was an overall "Judeo-Christian" mindset, with Biblical underpinnings in intellectual thought, common law and jurisprudence, and man-on-the-street morality. Francis Schaeffer and others have documented this ably, and I recommend Schaeffer as a start.

"Yes", because public behavior has coarsened, with...unpleasant results. Road rage was not a phenomenon when I was a kid. Public discourse has degenerated to who can out-F-bomb the other. (Yes, I have a problem with public vulgarity. It is low, demeaning to the speaker and the hearer, and unnecessary. And Jesus making a godly assessment of the Jewish leaders' character as being "sons of snakes" is NOT equivalent to my calling someone an "S.O.B.").

"Yes", because the church has become a Voters Auxiliary. Our proper mission is making disciples (telling folks how to live, and then SHOWING them how to do it. Jesus walked, talked, camped out, preached and taught with His disciples for three years. We drag 'em to a crusade, "get 'em saved", and ensconce them on a pew. NEXT!), NOT marching on Washington, or Montgomery. Can and should a Christian vote as an individual? Likely so, but the church's purview is not to be a Voting Bloc.

So, in a word, yes.

Stingra-a-a-ay.....
STINGRAY!

Is this not awesome
in its extreme awesomosity?

Here is the link.






Overall, I find SciFi Channel to be as cutting-edge as tapioca pudding, but occasionally they have some neat reportage on their website.

I got cable originally on the strength of the provider having SciFi Channel (or as Tony Papagermanos, a Greek nuke engineer I worked with said, the "Skiffy Channel". I miss Tony...a really nice guy, and personable.) This was back when they showed classic science fiction shows from the 50s and 60s, and it was the ONLY game in town for the Anderson shows like THUNDERBIRDS.

Alas, aside from a few stars in an otherwise paste crown, like The Dresden Files,
and Stargate: Atlantis, most of what they offer is Canadian-flavored Jello Instant Pudding with bad CG effects. Hey, at least Marina Sirtis is getting work. The best thing they do now is showing rather decent cancelled shows from UPN.

Instead of serving up fine cuisine, SciFi is diving in UPN's Dumpster.

Mmmmmmmm....pass some of that out-of-date baloney!

I'm thinking about Easter.

I abhor the cheesy Christmas-also-ran nature of the holiday. Christmas's poor cousin.

Easter trees are an abomination!

Being of a frugal nature, I resist the guilt-trip-inspired splurging on goodies, but I recently hit upon a plan. My younger kin have rabbits. This being a bunny-intensive season, I stole their rabbits and hid them. They are well-fed and cared for. It's been a couple of weeks, so the tears and sniffles have stopped, and therapy sessions have not yet begun.

Imagine the smiles of joy and relief come Easter Morning when I present them with their bunnies, their very own much-loved bunnies, as my Easter gift to them. I can hardly wait!

Who says all that middle-eastern news watching is a waste of time?

Wow.
I am SUCH a layabout.

Sorry for the hiatus. We have been snowed under with our business, and I've been unable to make time for all my reader.

Gimme a week, and I'll have some goodies up.

Now, I am NOT the biggest fan of Mark Levin.
His voice grates, and has the euphony of a dental drill.

The really FAST one.

Today I heard him say the finest thing a talk radio person has ever said. He REFUSED to politicize the family decisions of John Edwards and his wife. He offered prayer for them, and left it at that.
He did not drub them for this or that choice.

Mark Levin was a real mensch, and for that this Aardvark applauds him.
Please join him and me in prayer for the Edwards family, for healing, comfort, grace, and deeper understanding of God's plan for them (we can ALL use that last one!). If they have not yet, may they personally experience the love and watch-care of our covenant God.

Here is our latest foray into japery.

It should be on our website tonight.

You KNOW you want one.

The power of t-shirts compels you.

CoastCon has happened.

And a good time was had by all!
Biloxi has rebuilt sufficiently to host a do like this, but it has a LONG way to go.
Cheers to the Super 8 crew, who struggled against insurmountable odds to be the host hotel.
I met Noel Neill (go buy her biography), and my pal Jeff Breslauer was there.
_____________________

The Dread Dormomoo weighs in on Anna Nicole.
"She should be cremated, the ashes put in an urn, and joint custody awarded to Momma and Stern."

They could split the time, with 6 months for each.

A historical note:

Small things often stick with you the best.
When I was a child, my pater had a penchant for... odd cars. We had a vineyard, and sold Concord grapes at a roadside stand in the summer, and also sold grapes to a winery. This was back in the waning years of the Highway Road Trip, as I-95 was being built to suck the other asphalt arteries dry. US-9 went right past our house. This was in the early Sixties.

He acquired a used Checker. Yes, the cab Checker. It had a back seat floor area that could sleep four kids. He painted it a weird purplish-grey, and it became his pickup truck...a true pickup being too plebeian for his tastes. In the glove compartment there were several brake-fluid stained postcards of the Saucy and Tasteless variety, the sort procured at roadside stands selling State Spoons, marmalade of indistinct pedigree, and postcards, often of the big-lipped watermelon-eating black folk variety, or the crazed Salesman chasing the negligee-clad Farmer's Daughter.

Charming.

One card had a liver-lipped hobo, a cigar in the corner of his mouth, his bindle resting on his shoulder. He says" Me worry? I get mine from the GIVE-mint.".

Give-mint. I got the mechanics of the wordplay, but puzzled over its precise meaning. Why was this meant to be funny? This was pre-LBJ's Great Society. I was a proto-Bobby Hill, and was much concerned with understanding the clockworks of humor.

My puzzlement etched the word into my mind. He was rather apt, that hobo.
Give-mint.
-------------------

Giraffe scores a home-run:

Edwards wasn't trying to get the church to look after the poor, he wanted the government to do it. Maybe that is his church.

Give that man a SEE-gar!
That is pellucid.
The Give-mint is Church.
The politicians are the priests and acolytes, and the proffered goodies, the sacraments.

And April 15 is when they pass the plate.

John Edwards--SUPERSTAR

One of the first projects I undertook when I became a Christian as a teen was to do a line-by-line comparison of Jesus Christ Superstar to what the Gospels actually taught. Now, I LOVED the rock opera (and as a musical work, I still do), but that exercise revealed the paucity of Biblical knowledge that Webber and Rice enjoyed. (Yes, I understand, they were NOT writing a Bible study program, rather a Jesus as feckless revolutionary who let it get out of hand, and Judas as hero, whose effort to "save" Jesus also goes awry. Then there is the "I Don't Know How To Love Him" Magdalen bit. If there had been no JCS, there would be no da Vinci Code.) It also set a pattern for me, in that I do my best to insist on Biblical authority for what I teach and do, which is why my reliance upon grace is so important, as I blow it with astounding frequency.

In the words of Charles Simpson, "I'm not where I ought to be, but praise God, I'm not where I used to be!".

Now I have NEVER seen the like: amazing ignorance of Jesus and His teaching cascading from the lips of commentators and politicos alike. (unless it was the time the Press was shocked and amazed that Jesus had something to do with the Jews, as revealed in "The Passion of the Christ".) It's kind of an "Everything I Learned About Jesus Wasn't Really About Jesus But Was Twaddle I Learned In Kindergarten" moment.

WA-A-A-A-Y back in olden times, the disciples of Socrates, f'rinstance, would write whole dialogues, and posthumously attribute them to old hemlock-breath, sort of philosophical fanfic.
Jesus is getting the same treatment from the political hacks of today. John Edwards is asserting that Jesus would be ashamed of the You-Ess-of-Ay:

During an interview with the faith and spirituality website Beliefnet.com, Edwards, who unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic presidential bid in 2004, said ""I think that Jesus would be disappointed in our ignoring the plight of those around us who are suffering and our focus on our own selfish short-term needs...I think he would be appalled, actually.

He also asserts that our lack of National Healthcare would wring tears from the Son of God.
The focus on the Nation is telling. The liberal mindset operates in terms of Groups, the masses.

Jesus championed the individual. Our relationship with God, one-on-one through Christ, certainly joins us to the church, but we still stand before God on our own. Come Judgment Day, we each of us will stand before Christ as individuals. I will not be able to hide with My Group.
Jesus commands ME to do alms, to give, to help, to teach. He works through relationships, not Groupthink. America is not a Christian nation, by definition it cannot be. America cannot be A Christian. It is incumbent therefore that we individual Christians do our part where charity and helps are concerned.

Proverbs 19:17, "He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and that which he hath given will he pay him again."

I like the "Message" rendering:

Mercy to the needy is a loan to God, and God pays back those loans in full.

That is so neat.

If you are a Christian, you have a responsibility to help the poor. Specifically help fellow believers first and foremost:

And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith. Gal.6:9-10

Certainly we should help unbelievers who ask, but not to the hurt of our brethren. (Not to appear crass, but the care Christians have one for another can and SHOULD be a potent incentive for becoming a member of God's Family.)

Matthew 5:42, "Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away."

John Edwards is pulling "Jesus" fanfic from his nethers, and what Edwards is saying is worth precisely that. Allow Jesus to suggest what all of the weepers from the Left who are interested in directing MY charity by robbing me through taxation and giving MY money in "our" name, while keeping their houses and lands, and carbon footieprints can do:

So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”
(Luke 18:22)

In the words of Stan Lee: 'Nuff said!

The current kvetchfest about Pretty Women and Their Higher Wages is most droll.
(The added plus of having it reported by the Fox Newsfoxes just makes it more gigglesome.)

The Dread Dormomoo posits that it is all because the Pretty are also the Smarter. They know, instinctively or otherwise, that the putting forth of the best foot, dressing for success, and utilizing What God Gave Ya is the best way to go. (Not the exposure of hectares of boobosity, but rather dressing attractively.)

The Liberal Arts College dressing-down, Birkenstocked, unshaven "I'm being Honest: this is Me" may win points at the coffee house or poetry saloon, but it ain't the Nineties any more.
Verbal self-control is a winner as well. The office is one environment, the bistro is another entirely. What may be acceptable at The Macaroni Factory and Potable Palace is likely a tad loose for business, and gettin' stuff done.

Frankly, given the choice between, say, Laurie Dhue and Amanda Marcotte (or any of the Womyn's Studies crowd from my Alma Mater), whether for Journalism or for fetching a latte (ha, I said "Laurie Dhue" and "fetching" in the same sentence) I think that Ms. Dhue gets the job.

(Of course, if it were Shep Smith, The Dread Dormomoo and I would both hire. He's dreamy....)

"Thanks for taking our quiz. You answered 100% of the questions correctly. "


I took the Religion quiz.
I scored right up there with Mr. Mensa! Missed one, made 100%
(The Sunni / Shiite question got me. Hey, they BOTH begin with "s".)
Vox is right...they must grade on a curve.

"What we're trying to say to the president is, you can't send people in who are not trained for urban warfare . . . who are not prepared to contend with an insurgency." ---Nancy Pelosi.


This is Murtha's plan, and at first blush, it appears reasonable.

But y'know, I do not trust the bounders. There has never been a riper time for Public Discontent in the US to boil over into Uprising. The majority of troops, and much materiel, is to be found overseas. The Leadership would be stupid (!) not to recognize this. The training of our soldiers in urban tactics would go a long way toward making the Crowned Heads Rest Easy. Internecine fighting would be distasteful to many in the armed forces, but there are enough soldiers who are desensitized to the idea of firing on a countryman that it would be a tough row to hoe for any rebels with Constitutional demands. These guys have sought explicit answers from the government as to the Constitutionality of the Income Tax, f'rinstance. Their Constitutional demand for Redress of Grievance has been met with stony silence from the Hallowed Halls.

So Murtha's Plan makes me a tad queasy. A non-responsive government wants to specifically train its Protectors in methods well suited to keep the rabble in line.

Queasy, I tells ya.

It's so difficult!

I am hearing this all over the place- especially where discourse on "illegal aliens" is concerned, and frankly, usually when a female advocate is speaking. "This is a Difficult situation." This usually goes hand-in-hand with the idea of "humanizing" the illegals.

I do not understand what is so difficult or complex about this.

You have people who have broken our country's laws, who are now being given a pass by the media, and largely left-leaning (and well-meaning) advocates. This seems simple. I do not get the problem here.

There are more American citizens killed in the US by illegal aliens per year than the number of our soldiers killed in Iraq to date. This includes traffic fatalities as well as felonies.

Now, to be fair- and this is a sticking point for me- I have NEVER seen an (apparently) Hispanic guy leave a public restroom without washing his hands. It's always the white guys. Ewwwwww.
I am not anti-people. I am not anti-black, brown, pink, red, or yellow. (Frankly, I have trouble with the Purples.) I am anti-illegal. Anti-lawbreaking.

I just cannot understand how this is complex. Perhaps I am just simple-minded.

Hey, I'm givin' you a free shot, here!