Flaming Carrot (C) Bob Burden

I'm late on resolutions. Srsly. I am beginning a three-week meatless regime. The bod is really craving fruits and veg, and has a serious need to drop avoirdupois. We shall see. I will allow bare amounts of dairy or egg to maintain sanity, but the leafy and globular is the thing. Our local Publix has 25 lb. bags of organic carrots, which run nicely through the juicer. Fresh carrot juice is an oddity. It has no fat content, but it has the mouth-feel of milk.Mix it with a little fresh Fuji apple juice for the yum factor.

I'll continue report along the way.

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Overall, I like Chuck Jones' work. I LOVE his Looney Tunes at Warner Bros., but his later work seems a tad self-absorbed, and ultimately self-caricaturing. His Tom and Jerry work is loathsome to me, taking a second to the Gene Deitch East European cartoons. Much of my issue with those is the oddball sound design. I fondly remember Deitch's Tom Terrific cartoons from my childhood. (There was a Jones T&J on TV, which jogged my rant.)

Sharktopus concept art by Matt Leach

The Loen asked a potent question whilst watching Mike Rowe collect giraffe poo.

"I wonder if SyFy is going to make Giraffetopus?"

Using his Adam's Apple as a trigger,
Nidworth activated his Phlegm-Ray.

Yet another reason it ain't easy bein' green.




This blatant ripoff of John Kricfalusi hurts to watch. Some find John K to be an acquired taste, but this horror is like zombie Ren & Stimpy, or The Ripping Friends. All the life has been sucked out of the cartoon, with only slavish form remaining. Sadness.

I am relieved.
Balance is restored to the Universe.

I'm sorry. I was Googling Fair Tax stuff, and noticed a number of anti Fair Tax blogs out there. The all seem to revert to the tired old arguments, first referring to "the so-called Fair Tax". This is just kindergarten-level grumping, almost on the level of saying "Neal Boortz is a poopy-head".

"So-called". Yes. It is so-called, because it is called so. "Fair Tax" is the name of the plan. So? The effort to prejudice the reader before any substantive arguments are made is disingenuous and low. It is the sign of a weak argument."It is called the Fair Tax, but it's not REALLY fair, so nyahh nyaaaahhhh."

"We can't afford another so-called economic 'expansion' like the one from the last decade—what some call the 'lost decade,'" Obama explained in his State of Obama address. An expansion that had a max of 5.6% unemployment, heady halcyon days, compared to the 10% unemployment we currently enjoy.

So-called. Man up, people. Range your arguments. Get out of play school.

The FairTax has far more pros than cons. I have trouble dredging up even one con.
To date, all the objections to the FairTax I have heard are from people who haven't read up on it, or who have an axe to grind. Mrs. P once expressed a concern relative to her hubby's business, as I recall, and many people wax horrified when they contemplate that "I won't be able to deduct interest on my mortgage!!" We have all been schooled in the importance of taking advantage of ALL the legal outs so lovingly provided by our benevolent Uncle Sam. Thus, we quail when our favorite loophole is unaddressed or eliminated in discussion of the FairTax. I would have to say that ALL objections to the FairTax stem from a single misapprehension of the facts; not recognizing one salient point:

Under the FairTax, there will be NO I.R.S. Period.

The most important part of the FairTax is the repeal of the Sixteenth Amendment. There will be NO withholding, No FICA, no need for deductions. No I.R.S. No government bullies holding a gun to your head, robbing you of your pay to hand to some bureaucrat to disburse.

You will take home your entire paycheck. Your first check after the enactment of the FairTax will be like getting a raise.

You won't need deductions, because the government won't be taking your money.

"But Mr. Aardvark, sir, isn't the FairTax still a tax?"

Yes. Yes it is. But it is truly a voluntary tax.The FairTax is a national retail sales tax, a tax you pay when you purchase something at retail. If you buy a new car, 23% of the cost of that car is what you pay as FairTax. (NOT 23% added to the price of the car. It is a part of the sticker. The lying liars in Washington like to accuse the FairTax proponents of wanting to add 23% tax ON TOP OF all the current taxes. This is NOT TRUE.

Every can of beans, DVD, or automobile that you buy already has 22% of its price as tax. Each time a raw material is changed, at each level of manufacture, a tax is levied by the government, so that by the time it hits the shelf or the showroom, 22% of its price consists of tax. At the abolition of the I.R.S., all of those taxes will vanish in a puff of justice. The FairTax will then be made a part of the price of your beans. Your $1 can of beans will remain your $1 can of beans (it may go up a penny, but with the business cost of manufacturers' compliance with I.R.S. regs vanishing, their cost of doing business decreases dramatically, and they may choose to eat the penny. I would.)

Considering that your take-home pay has increased by a third or better, you could afford a penny on the dollar.

You will have no tax forms to fill out, no accountants or tax preparers to hire, no headaches. You pay your tax when you buy your beans, your steak, your new car.

Golly, Madge, let's go to Target and pay our tax!

You even get a check or credit at the first of each month, a prebate check, to cover whatever tax would be paid up to the poverty line, meaning that the poor will pay no tax on the necessities of life, and neither will you.

If you buy a used car, no national retail sales tax. Buy a used TV, no FairTax. Only new, retail sales will have the FairTax.

All this, and no I.R.S.

But what about the Flat Tax?
You will still have the I.R.S. You will still have to file. The Givemint will still be in your bidness.

Go HERE to read the basics of the FairTax, including answers to the most popular attacks used against it.

The FairTax will truly make April 15th just a pretty Spring day.

Iran is now a 'nuclear state' says Ahmadinejad

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1250127/Iran-Revolution-day-protests-Islamic-Republic-nuclear-state.html#ixzz0fFFqFd0h

Oooooooh, he gave us such a PINCH!

I shudder, I reel.

Big deal. This is news? We didn't know this was coming? If Mr. Ahmadinejad and the mullahs rattle their Aladdin swords a little too loudly, Israel will take the job and deal with it. All the US will have to do is wag our Big Finger at Israel and admonish them to never EVER do that again.

Bad Israel. You need a time-out.

And that will be that.At least until some Jafar wannabe mines the Strait and dams it with a supertanker or two. Start saving your pennies. You'll need it to buy gas to go to the store for milk, bread and eggs to tide you over during the Global Warming-generated snowstorms.

Mmmmmmm...snow day French Toast!
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Incidentally, Go to Flying Buffalo, and order Nuclear War. It is a HI-larious card game, great for whiling away those blizzard days.

OK, so I was listening to the talking heads at Faux News (I say "Faux News" because it is terribly chic to dump on FOX News, and I do so want to be terribly chic.), and someone began burbling about Social Security. Boortz has also been ranting on Social Security. There is no lock-box. No-one has "their own Soc. Sec. account". There is no money in Social Security, because the PEE-pul's honored representatives have plundered it for decades for pet porcine projects. Our kids, and their kids, will have to pay for Sen. Phogbound's roundabout back in Dogpatch. All of the money you pay in to Soc.Sec. is already gone. You lose.

Then, I was struck by A Thought. This being an unaccustomed sensation, I sat down and gathered my Thought.

Social Security was never about the money at all.

It is about Keeping Up With You. It is the pecuniary carrot to the Government's Big Stick. You have a number, and you are not a free man, Number 6.

Have a nice day.

Be Seeing You.

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


















Let me help you....















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

In space.

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

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

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


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


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

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

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

You can comparison shop ANYTHING except belief-systems.

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

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

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

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

OK, back to normality.

Vidad can Google his own panties henceforth.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We need kids.

pic by leadervance

Here, Vidad.
Are we happy, now?

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

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

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

Jesus made a cogent point to his disciples:

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

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

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

SarcMark website.

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

I thought not.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This is overwhelmingly cute.
(Fumiko's Confession)




The dialog (from the Anime News Network forum)

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

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

The Aardvark has been blessed with a number of things in his life...the Dread Dormomoo, the other denizens of Chez 'Vark, friends, a business which is tottering along reasonably well, a lovely church family where he is loved AND tolerated, and an IQ somewhere in the genius stratum. No, I am not bragging, as will become evident (obvious from my inability to maintain the third-person pose). If nothing else, I serve as the poster child of high-IQ non-exceptionalism. My mind is like a Formula One racer being used solely to go to the market and back. IQ represents potential, and not much else. Vox Day's touted (and much-maligned) Mensa-approved cyber-intelligence has much the same stiff bloody lard between his ears as I, the major difference being training. He has been well-trained in the use of his biological Calculation Engine.

Your Aardvark has, alas, not been.

As a child, he was often admonished by his paternal grandmother that "God has given you a wonderful mind. It is a sin not to use it." His first-grade teacher got a mini Real School Desk to keep next to her desk, to more easily keep him fed with work to keep him occupied and thus less-disruptive. Lesson learned: If you are smart, you get to do more work. Your Aardvark even did reading aloud for the THIRD GRADERS to show 'em how it is done. (Imagine how his popularity skyrocketed amongst the other kiddies!) Even skipped the second grade - Vox and John Taylor Gatto can detail precisely how much that is worth. By sixth grade he was a confirmed under-achiever; blowing off homework was normative, even de rigueur . It was only his rescue by Christ that got him on a righteous road of nominal intellectual rigor, but the damage was done. By college, he blew off attendance in some classes, and aced them (c'mon...philosophy?) The predations of Late-Great-Planet-Earthism (now Left-Behindodoxy) took their toll, and I dropped out of college, did not finish my Environmental Studies major, so the Earth was not saved through his efforts, because, hey, you don't polish brass on a sinking ship.

So, your Humble could possibly qualify to hand out cards like Wile E. Coyote's (if not quite) if native ability were the measure. Training is the key, however: how to reason, how to think , logic.

All that said, the point of this screed is not to be a paean to himself's smarts, rather the opposite.... On Christmas Eve, Loen and Riatsila ran across this atheistic YouTube tour-de-force: Why god won't heal amputees.

This Dawkins and Harris approved video is part of an Evangelistic Atheist effort to dissuade nominal believers from their folly by Embarrassing Them For Their Putative Beliefs, primarily by showing How Loathsome Is the Bible, and What A Jerk God Is, and You Are a Delusional Nutcase for Believing.

Some people won't believe in God until pasta flies.

I have no desire to go point-by-point on his entire sales-pitch, for that is what it is: a series of points, questions and answers to lead the viewer ineluctably to the conclusion that There Is No God, and I Need Therapy For Having Believed In One. Generally, the author's arguments consist of claiming that historical exegetical Biblical answers to his shaming questions are mere Excuse-Making for the putative Almighty. I work for a living, and have no time for the task. I have my own answers which satisfy me, but his format and program make it clear that he is interested merely in axe-grinding rather than truth-seeking. The one point which does interest me is this:

Chapter 13: Why Does God Love Slavery?

All of us know that slavery is abhorrent. Slavery involves the loss of free will and the subjugation of one person to another. Slavery is a form of imprisonment. Slavery turns human beings into a type of livestock that can be bought and sold as the property of another person. As described by Frederick Douglass above, slavery is often accompanied by remarkable brutality. No human being would want to be enslaved. This is what makes the concept of slavery so repugnant.

Now that you have a clear image of slavery in your head, here is an important question: How would you imagine that God feels about slavery?

As the all-loving creator of the universe and of each human soul, you would expect God to be violently opposed to the enslavement of human beings. Our all-knowing God would certainly despise slavery in the same way that any normal person does. What other position could a perfect God take?

It is surprising, therefore, to discover that the Bible tells a different story. If we read the Bible, we find instead a God who embraces slavery wholeheartedly. The Bible is so supportive of slavery, in fact, that it was frequently used as a justification for American slavery prior to the Civil War.

We ALL know that slavery is BAD, and are universally repelled by it, but God really LIKES it! We are morally superior to God!

Stupid, stupid God.

This whinge is as fallacious as any I have read, which of course surprises me, since he would have no anti-God bias, a priori . To state that God embraces slavery, that He condones it, is like saying that the US Government condones cigarette smoking because they regulate and tax its sale. No industry has been more publicly reviled by Washington than the tobacco, so much so that the Givemint has cut its own throat, tax-wise.

Likewise slavery, vis a vis God. The historic church understanding is that we live in a bent, a fallen world, made so by mankind's rebellion. Thus the world is filled with bent, fallen activity, which God seeks to regulate by Laws, establishing His will, while also maintaining man's free will. People will fornicate; God regulates sexual practice covenentally for man's ultimate good. Some still choose to fornicate.

Rebel mankind enslaves one another. God provides behavioral guidelines to make the practice more humane. Some choose to abuse their slaves anyway. If they were in covenant with God, there were punitive actions to be taken against the slave-holders.

There is an important distinction between chattel slavery (A civil relationship in which one person has absolute power over the life, fortune, and liberty of another), and indentured servitude (a person who signs and is bound by indentures to work for another for a specified time especially in return for payment of travel expenses and maintenance). God regulates both, establishing what is and is not allowable in the master/slave arrangement.

First off, an admission: the Bible does not prohibit slavery. Let not the wrath of liberals fall upon my head. Sorry, it doesn't, which makes me wonder at the modern allergy to the subject. Few movements have been more set in fiction than the popular abolitionist movement which fueled the War Between the States. Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe presented theatrical caricatures of slave AND slaveholder, which drummed up popular support for war. Perhaps more ire should be leveled at the black Islamists who sold (and still do) their fellows than currently is. Contrariwise, New Testament Christian doctrine (first century and beyond) did more to eliminate slavery than anything else. The day-to-day living out of the faith renders it uncomfortable for me to call "slave", whom I also call "brother". The Letter that Paul wrote to Philemon lays down the groundwork for that change.

No, the Bible regulates the practice of slavery, establishes ground rules for treating a slave or an indentured servant and preventing their abuse. A cursory reading of the applicable passages will reveal a message 180 degrees from the one claimed by the YouTube Evangelistic Atheist.

Lev 19:20 And whoever lies with a woman with semen, and she is a slave-girl, betrothed to a husband and not at all redeemed, nor freedom given her, there shall be an inquest. They shall not be put to death, because she was not free.

Levitical law prescribed death to the fornicator or adulterer. In the case of intercourse with a slave-girl, there shall be an investigation, the parties shall not receive the death penalty, because she was not free. This protected the slave.

Please take time to read the passages quoted here.

Deu 15:12 If your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you.
Deu 15:13 And when you send him out free from you, you shall not let him go away empty.
Deu 15:14 You shall richly bestow on him from your flock, and from your grain floor, and from your winepress; with what Jehovah your God has blessed you, you shall give to him.
Deu 15:15 And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and Jehovah your God redeemed you. Therefore I command you this thing today.
Deu 15:16 And if he says to you, I will not go away from you, because he loves you and your house, because it has been good for him with you;
Deu 15:17 then you shall take an awl and put it through his ear to the door, and he shall be your servant forever. And also to your slave-girl you shall do so.
Deu 15:18 It shall not seem hard to you when you send him away from you free, for he has been worth a double hired servant in serving you six years. And Jehovah your God shall bless you in all that you do.

This is written in the context of the seventh-year release (or Sabbath year). All loans were to be forgiven, including indenture contracts. Please note: "And when you send him out free from you, you shall not let him go away empty." This proviso insures the indentured servant a fresh start, a chance at not having to resort to that situation again. If, however, the indentured servant loves his master, and is loath to leave, he may then sign on for life, by his own choice.

Deu 16:10 And you shall keep the Feast of Weeks to Jehovah your God with a measure of a free-will offering of your hand, which you shall give according as Jehovah your God has blessed you.
Deu 16:11 And you shall rejoice before Jehovah your God, you, and your son, and your daughter, and your male servant, and your slave girl, and the Levite inside your gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, those among you, in the place which Jehovah your God has chosen to place His name there.
Deu 16:12 And you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt. And you shall be careful to do these statutes.
Deu 16:13 You shall keep the Feast of Tabernacles seven days after you have gathered in your grain floor and your wine press.
Deu 16:14 And you shall rejoice in your feast, you, and your son, and your daughter, and your male slave, and your slave-girl, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow inside your gates.
Deu 16:15 Seven days you shall keep a solemn feast to Jehovah your God in the place which Jehovah shall choose. Because Jehovah your God shall bless you in all your increase, and in all the works of your hands, therefore you shall surely rejoice.

Even slaves were included as part of the feasts of the covenant community.

Deu 21:10 When you go forth to war against your enemies, and Jehovah your God has delivered them into your hands and you have taken them captive,
Deu 21:11 and see among the captives a beautiful woman, and have a desire to her, that you would take her for your wife,
Deu 21:12 then you shall bring her home to your house. And she shall shave her head and dress her nails.
Deu 21:13 And she shall put off the clothing of her captivity, and shall remain in your house, and shall sorrow for her father and her mother a full month. And after that you shall go in to her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife.
Deu 21:14 And it shall be, if you have no delight in her, then you shall let her go where she will. But you shall not sell her at all for silver, you shall not make a slave of her, because you have humbled her.

This regulates the treatment of women taken as spoils of war. The idea is abhorrent to modern sensibilities, but the point here is that the victor is not given carte blanche to do as he wills. He is to grant her a time of adjustment, and then take her as wife. He may not thereafter sell her as a slave.

Deu 24:7 If a man is found stealing a person of his brothers, the sons of Israel, and makes a slave of him, or sells him, then that thief shall die. And you shall put evil away from among you.

Kidnapping for slavery was punishable by death.

Deu 24:14 You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, of your brothers, or of your strangers that are in your land within your gates.
Deu 24:15 At his day you shall give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down on it. For he is poor and sets his heart on it; lest he cry against you to Jehovah, and it shall be sin to you.

Clearly God had NO interest whatever in the welfare of the hireling, whether Israelite or no.

1Sa 8:10 And Samuel told all the Words of Jehovah to the people who asked a king of him.
1Sa 8:11 And he said, This will be the privilege of the king who shall reign over you. He shall take your sons and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and his horsemen. And they shall run before his chariots.
1Sa 8:12 And he will appoint commanders over thousands, and commanders over fifties, and some to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and make his weapons of war and weapons for his chariots.
1Sa 8:13 And he will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers.
1Sa 8:14 And he will take your fields and your vineyards and your olive-yards, the best, and give them to his servants.
1Sa 8:15 And he will take the tenth of your seed and of your vineyards, and give it to his eunuchs and to his servants.
1Sa 8:16 And he will take your male slaves and your slave girls, and your finest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work.
1Sa 8:17 He will take the tenth of your sheep, and you shall be his servants.
1Sa 8:18 And you shall cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, and Jehovah will not answer you in that day.

God is showing here that slavery is not a thing to be desired, yet He recognises the thing exists, and that the government's propensity for taxation, conscription and slave-taking is a bad thing, not to be borne.

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

There is much more, but should I go through it all, this will never be published, because of my time constraints. A simple Old Testament concordance search for "slave" will show that the video atheist is utterly canted and incorrect in his opinions about the Biblical topics of slavery and indentured servitude, that the God of the Old Testament limits slavery, and mitigates the abuses and harm which are potentials in the master/slave relationship through regulating what may-or-may-not be done to a slave.

This is me being shocked .

Merry Christmas!

Chez 'Vark has been full of happiness, lovely things to nosh, goodies, and fun.

It is a great day to be thankful for the matchless present the Father gave to mankind.

The (grown) kids are playing Dark Tower in the kitchen, and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is on the DVD player.

Oh, and I forgot to press "PUBLISH".

Have a blessed and prosperous New Year!

OK, I am tired of it. (He didn't say "Merry Christmas!) I am weary beyond words with the
"culture war" foofooraw about NOT saying "Merry Christmas". We are in a season chock-full of holidays: Thanksgiving, Hannukah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, New Years. When I hear "Seasons Greetings". "Happy Holidays", Merry Christmas, Cunning Kwanzaa, no problem.
The wishing of kind sentiments is inoffensive to me. Come on, people, is the season celebrating the birth of the Prince of Peace really the time to rattle sabers, and mutter darkly about the culture war ?

I am reminded of a poem by Victor Buono which he recited on Johnny Carson in the mid-70's at this time of year, ending on the irony of giving Mattel toy guns to celebrate the Prince of Peace. (I even prowled YouTube to find it, to no avail.)

It is time to lighten up, I believe. Laugh at the foolishness of the Christmas Haters, for it is not your lights and Nativity decorations that they disdain. They just hate The Light, period. So Merry Christmas, Cool Yule, Happy Hannukah, Kewl Kwanzaa, Scintillating Solstice, and all that.

Happy Holidays!

The vast purple MP3 widget to the right has our latest Aardvark ad, to be run in January.
Listen, and enjoy! Also, your comments would be appreciated. The ad was written and voiced by Your Humble, tweaked and produced by Vidad, who is also the Interviewer.

The McHorror.



Micky-D's has a new advert flogging their Breakfast Burrito. It shows a string of Little-League types swatting the ball a mighty swat, but not with the resounding *CRACK* of a Louisville Slugger. No. They swing, and a tooth-piercing *TINK* signals the connection.



I hate aluminium bats. Postmodern baseball, all rules, no soul.

Depression Glass is back in vogue!




















Signs of the times, kiddies. Depression glass was given as a premium during the Great Depression at movie theaters, stores and such. It was a classic loss-leader item to get people into your place, with a something-for-nothing cachet.

McDonald's is re-introducing the concept in the second photo: free Coke glasses as a premium!
They are pretty, stylish, and a sign of our current times.

Drink up!

WEEABOO!

Well, it's been too long. I am too full of stuff to adequately express it all. The lying liars in Washington who keep saying that "the American Pee-pul DEMAND the health care reforms" are beyond me. The People have resoundingly said "NO!!!" time and again. Tea Parties, letters, emails, phone calls, town hall meetings, all have made it clear that the majority of Americans do not want this legislation, legislation that does not do as advertised. I am angry beyond words at Pelosi's stubborn inability to speak truth. "We want to give this as a Christmas present to the American people" or somesuch. AAAAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!

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

On the BPH study front: Wednesday last I received my REAL medicine. Since all indications are that I did in fact receive the real thing throughout the double-blind study, this will be all the more interesting. I got double shots of what we lovingly refer to at home as "Man-No-More Angry Juice", one in each...hip. I have already developed the hair-trigger over the top anger reaction (a legit side-effect). Meh.

A sad thing: my original study supervisor, Dr. Nadine, has shuffled off this mortal coil. She was an awesome doc, who succumbed to liver cancer. I actually caught myself grieving a little. I will miss her.

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

Ken Rogulski with WJR interviewed several of Detroit's sterling citizens in early October when they were lined up for free cash from the givemint.

Here is one exchange:

KEN ROGULSKI: Why are you here?

WOMAN: To get some money.

ROGULSKI: What kind of money?

WOMAN: Obama money.

ROGULSKI: Where's it coming from?

WOMAN: Obama.

ROGULSKI: And where did Obama get it?

WOMAN: I don't know. His stash. I don't know. I don't know where he got it from but he's giving it to us, to help us. We love him. That's why we voted for him. Obama! Obama!

This has firmed my resolve to see us return to the Founders' idea of only landowners being able to vote. Any color of person can own land, so there is no racial issue involved. If we do not do it, the US taxpayer will be enslaved to the voting whims of women like that.

Picture ganked from Toon Tracker



I have discovered The Invisible Man. There was a Sci-Fi cartoon from 1962-64 called Space Angel, which used the very odd Synchro-Vox mouth animation. The main character was voiced by Ned Lefebvre. Who? You know, Ned ...the guy who voiced such memorable characters as...then there was...and we musn't forget.... Yeah, like that.

Then, I tuned into When Radio Was on Wednesday night, and there, on The Whistler
(Originally broadcast: 11/7/1948, Cover Up) was...The Voice! Mr. Lefebvre was an OTR actor. If anyone has heard of any other work he has done, please let me know.

Well, I have found the BEST new diet. I mean, 10 pounds in less than one month. Amazing.
You take three weeks of H1N1, mix well with bronchitis. Get over that, then get bitten by a brown recluse spider on the inner thigh, really high up.

Well, that's my life for the last month.

At least I'm closer to my hot college 'Varkness.

One of my favorite pictures from college.

Chris Carter, the not X-files one.

The doing energy-independence one.

His site is here.

The camera jockey is Your Humble.

I was thinking about high school in the mid-seventies. We lived in a largely agricultural county, and it was not unusual for someone to have their shotgun or .22 in their truck. Many boys had a pocket knife on hand. This said, I do not recall a single instance of kids, white or black, being gunned down in the hall, or of someone being found stabbed to death in a bathroom stall. Ours was a very integrated school, yet there were no loud arguments with shoving and fisticuffs in the commons; certainly, no-one was bludgeoned to death with railroad ties.

Just thinking out loud, here.

So, then, each American man, woman and child owes $343,000 plus. This is what OTHER PEOPLE have charged to your account by making promises that will buy them votes and international prizes. Money that is wrested from you like armed robbery. Money YOUR REPRESENTATIVES have spent for you without asking...not only without asking, but in utter defiance of your stated will, and doing "the politically brave thing". Representatives who do not represent.

I suggest it is time to default.

The Loen and I are in Huntington, WV at TsubasaCon, which is surpassing itself. The kids are wild about our shirty goodness. We are both fighting the Deplorable Microbe. Not the Flu de Cochon, but the standard It's Fall, So Let's Fill Their Lungs With Crud bug. Meh. On the plus side, we have outdone the two previous years, sales-wise.

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

"L--so people with bad posture can cosplay"

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

I am unimpressed with UNO, the Chicago-style eatery at Pullman Station here. We were inveigled into going there with the promise of a Reuben and Fries combo for six dollars ninety-nine. We ordered beverages, and I ordered a seasonal brew (Shipyard, a Canadian ale), which would have served as a handy muscle-relaxant for various ills, as well as being tasty. Our waiter came back - I'll call him Chad, because he seems like a Chad - and told me "We don't have the things to make a Shapiro.", which is waiter-speak for "There is no such drink, you idiot.".

I would think a Shapiro could be made with Mogen David wine, with a pickled beet garnish.

I pointed out that what I wanted was a Shipyard ale. He trotted off to acquire one, and then returned to inform us that they could not get it in this region. This item in their full-color, printed, laminated seasonal chain-wide menu. I sighed the sigh of the long-suffering, and ordered iced tea. He brought the tea, and I inquired as to the Reuben combo, which was on the sign out front, enticing the unwary to enter.

Chad, who will likely make it big in middle-management, said, "We don't have the lunch specials on weekends.".

I asked him to go away while we figured out a different approach, whereupon I was seized with a heat rising from the back of my neck to the back of my head, and a fury in the front of my head. I maintained an outward control, but I wanted to break something. Chad allowed my to stew awhile, then walked back to take our order, which was "Let us pay for our drinks. We want to go.". He seemed surprised, but said no charge for the tea.

We left, walked two doors down, when I stopped and walked back to UNO's door. I reached for the handle, then decided not to go in. I was steaming, and no good would come of it. I stalked back to Loen, and we walked three or four blocks to Wendy's. Yum.

I muttered a lot.

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

We have beaten last year's total, and we still have a day to go. I hope that we feel better. This bug is no fun, and I am ready to be rid of it. I particularly despise the locomotive cough that barrels up the bronchii, through the throat, part goes on a siding out of your mouth, with the rest smashing painfully in your forehead. If Nyquil doesn't do the job, then we may pack up early. I would rather stay to the end, what with the money-making and all, but I do not want to drive seven hours home in the middle of he night feeling like we do.

I find this poem apropos, given the crop we have in Washington.

Elegy in a Country Churchyard

THE men that worked for England

They have their graves at home:

And birds and bees of England

About the cross can roam.

But they that fought for England,

Following a falling star,

Alas, alas for England

They have their graves afar.

And they that rule in England,

In stately conclave met,

Alas, alas for England

They have no graves as yet.

G. K. Chesterton

I have been worried about the new "Prisoner" mini-series coming on AMC in November. I just saw the trailer, and while the architecture more closely fits "The Villages" in Florida, the whole thing hangs together in a creepily good way. Something more than turkey to look forward to come the eleventh month.

Cuppa tea?

The placards, flags, and banners are back in the garage, becoming homes for blobby, splotchy spiders, people are back at work, and the gas cards need to be paid. The Tea Partyers and 9/12ers have come home. Hail the conquering heroes.

Don't misunderstand my tone. They accomplished some important things: they showed the nation that they made it to D.C., gave FOX News a day or two of sexy programming. Most importantly, they fellowshipped with each other, showed each other that they have common ground, common concerns, ideals, goals. They displayed an almost church-like level of koinonia and commonality of purpose, bound together across social, sectarian, and ethnic divides. I just don't want these good people to go home thinking that they accomplished much more than that. Remember Mr. Smith Goes to Washington ? Frank Capra was a prophet. Remember the scene of the Evil Political Machine cranking up to shut out any reporting of Mr. Smith's Congressional heroics? That is what happened the 9/12 Saturday. FOX reported in depth. NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, MSNBC mentioned. As far as the non-FOX watchers are concerned, a few thousand people had a tantrum on the Mall.

The marchers wanted their voices, their Voice, heard by their representatives. By-and-large, they weren't. Even the President was out-of-town that day. (And has anyone noticed Barack Hussein Obama's use of the word "rule" as to his office? He refers to "ruling" which betrays a misapprehension of his station. Mmmm, mmmm, mmmm.)

Two weeks have passed, and the rumblings have subsided, and A.C.O.R.N.'s corruption fills the news...at least on FOX. Our reps seem to have gotten that , at least, and are defunding that bunch of nuts, but this is only one thing: getting rid of something that shouldn't have been there in the first place. Congress and the Senate are being unprofitable servants, doing only what they ought to have done. Our government is so far out of bounds as to provide an endless menu of deconstruction.

I do not mean to discourage you doughty marchers, Tea Partyers, 9/12ers, but rather to encourage you stay the course, as Ronaldus Magnus said. Eat the elephant one bite at a time. Work to diminish the Federal, and enhance States Rights. Restore the Founders' vision. Do not lose sight of the Goal, in the flush of victory of beginning the race.

Dormammu (c) Marvel Comics

The Dread Dormomoo does not have a blog. She desperately needs one. Hear what the D.D. saith:

The current illegal alien / undocumented worker debacle is a bit of cleverness by the Left. A look at any demographical data shows that (1) The Boomer generation is getting overwhelmingly old, fast, and (2) the old majority white Euro-derived population is not reproducing at replacement levels, thus we have a shift in age and spectrum in our broad land. Social Security is bankrupt. Srsly. It consists of boxes filled with IOUs from Congress (which has used all the money for everything but Social Security) likely stored in the West Virginia warehouse that Scully and Mulder found the DNA records of every soul in the YewEssof AY. Congress has spent every dime. Every one. The S.S. checks issued to oldsters today are drawn on the money withheld from present-day workers, who will never see a penny of that money, and whose withholding will not be able to cover the vast needs of a populace pulling into Geezerville. Never, unless some alternative source of funding is found.

But WAIT! What if we IMPORT strapping young workers to pay into the system. But some are already here illegally. How shall we deal with them?

*coughamnestycough*

Once they are legal, they can be taxed, and the Union is SAVED!
The idea is amazing in its simplicity, and duplicity. Our "representatives" have come up with a way to save their rears, and save Social Security, unless of course they spend all of that money.

And she got here before Glenn Beck.

Of COURSE women never lie about rape.

(AP) Four New York men were released from jail Wednesday and authorities dismissed charges that they gang-raped a Hofstra University student after the 18-year-old woman recanted her story.

"I'm so happy the truth finally came out," said Stalin Felipe, 19, outside the Nassau County Jail in East Meadow where he and the other three had just been released Wednesday night.

Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice said in a statement late Wednesday that the woman told law enforcement officials that the sex encounter in a dormitory men's room was consensual.

Rice said a county judge then dismissed the charges against the four men and ordered their release. She said her office has launched a criminal investigation into the woman's statements.

The woman had accused five men, including a Hofstra student, of taking her cell phone at an on-campus nightclub and luring her into a dormitory men's room and sexually assaulting her early Sunday.

I heard this from the corner of my ear yesterday, and it has been percolating. I like what Vox suggests:

One hopes that the lying woman will be prosecuted and jailed, as crying rape harms the interests of innocent men and real female victims alike. A woman who lies in an attempt to press rape charges should not only be prosecuted and jailed for years, but her picture should also be distributed as widely throughout the media as were the pictures of those she falsely accused.

Of course, it must be stated in all fairness that men never lie about sex either.

Happy 9/11 DAY!


You remember September 11, 2001. You know, the day when the US Government condemned and razed some real estate in NYC, added a door to the Pentagon, and attempted aerial plowing in a Pennsylvania field. That MUST be what happened, 'cos an actor and a Communist rabble-rouser both agree that it did. Don't forget, too, that today has been determined by some tool-or-other to be a National Day of Service. Find a member of Al Qaeda and polish his Quran.

I have fussed about the uselessness of psychological scab-picking at celebrations like the Oklahoma City Bombing, letting the wounds heal for a year, then reopening the thing with One More Remembrance. It would be like a wife buying her husband a Happy Adultery Day cake each year to commemorate his indiscretion. I don't have much patience for this kind of psychological self-injury.

That said, 9/11 is different. Our nation, and our fellow citizens were attacked by Muslims. Not Swedish Lutherans, nor Southern Baptists. Whack-job Muslims incited to murder, and then financed with Saudi money. Ron Paul AND Osama bin Laden have stated that the reason for the attacks was the US's involving itself in the Middle East and elsewhere. I trust Dr. Congressman Paul far more than I do bin Laden, and believe the the most prudent course for the US is to bring back our troops from every locale where we have overstayed our welcome, which is almost everywhere, except for one task: hunt everyone down who was involved with the attack on the US with extreme prejudice. For those unaware, that doesn't mean make fun of their clothing, coloring, or mode of speech. It means take them out. Kill them. Period. Then, get on with our lives.

Muslim extremists plotted, some acted, killed our people, and destroyed our buildings. That bunch needs to be made to go away. All Muslims are not murderous jihadists. There are many who do not accurately follow the Prophet's teachings. They likely make good neighbors. I am not worried about them, but the culpable jihadists still living need to be not living anymore.

Remember 9/11. Remember who our enemies are. Remember that they are out there still, and that they have made promises.

NOTHING has gone right today, and now The Prexy is talking on about his sorely needed healthcare revamp that is being begged for by millions whom I never see.

Nancy Pelosi is reacting to naysaying noises from the Right like the psycho mom in the Rollover Minutes adverts. Scary.


One salvo of applause from the Right: a promise of a measure of tort reform.

Obama beat the drum of TeddyCare, invoking the Ghost of Kopechnes Past. Lets win one for the Tedster.

I'm so reassured. I'm also waiting for the Givemint to start paying my mortgage. I mean, he's been President seven whole months.

Czar Van Jones is lookin' for work, and should be thankful that this is not 1917. Unknown Forces have promulgated "lies and distortions" about him, so he is pouting and taking his Fair Trade ball, and his eco-friendly bat, and going home. I'm not sure which cheeses me more, that he was in an unConstitutional "Green is the new Red" unvetted position in the first place, or that he weeniely folded after Glenn Beck and WorldNetDaily started digging out the truth about him. "They lied about me, so I'm leaving!" Wow, how loser. He could at least have identified the truth, and let the facts be known...

Awwwwwwwww....

Because I said so, that is why.

I had talk radio on as room noise whilst doing laundry - the Dread Dormomoo is recuperating nicely from her surgery, but still may not do much aboot the hoose - and heard Mark Steyn parrying a female caller who was claiming that conservative talk hosts were anti-ObamaCare because they are in the pockets of groups like Big Pharma (which oddly is supportive of nationalized healthcare here). What bugged me was her naked assertion that Limbaugh, Beck, Hannitoad, and the rest are bought-and-paid-for by Eeeee-vil Corporate Forces. No proof, no footnotes, just her insistence that This Is So. It has nothing to do with thoughtful opinion derived from study, or forensic digging into public records...just making a statement, 'cos she heard it from NPR, or heard it from a friend, or read it on HuffPo, or got an ACORN email, or merely pulled it from her nethers.

Ergo, it is all true.

When did we all become sixth-graders parroting gossip about The New Girl? Wait...most of us WERE in public school sixth-grade! From K through Twelve, we are prudently not taught how to think, nor how to effectively look into a matter. I mean, Wikipedia is now accepted as a legitimate source for term paper research. In college, liberal arts education is more about fitting in, and trying to be cool for the popular profs. Rather than the avowed raison d'etre of teaching one how to think, and how to learn, modern liberal arts education methods ultimately teach one what to think, whether through indoctrination, or peer-pressure. This was true when the Aardvark was in college; moreso now.

President Obama relies upon his charisma, more than even did President Clinton. (Have I mentioned lately how much I miss Bill Clinton?) The drum-bangers and tambourine-janglers in Congress support razing our vast healthcare system and building a Rube Goldbergesque structure to distribute inadequate care equally claim to support it "because the Peeeee-pul demand it!". The poll numbers do not support this claim, and a bit of reading will show it to be a top-down effort like HillaryCare, and is just as loved by the Peeeee-pul. Seen any good Town Hall meetings lately?

Tortured Logic


Much of the fuss about the "torture" of terrorists, or non-military combatants, comes from the fuzzy thinking of the religious - both right and left - who somehow conflate the State with the Kingdom of God. This is not a biblically tenable position, for while the State "is a servant of God to you for good" (Romans 13:4), it is not presented as the Kingdom of God. This distinction is important. Were I to be a Roman householder with bondservants, they would be the servants of the household, not members of my family. While individual members of the government may be Christian, the government is not. While individual citizens of the country may be Christian, the country is not. A "Christian consensus" may hold sway in the Body Politic, but this does not make it Christian. The Kingdom of God is wholly Other than the kingdoms of mankind.

I believe that it says much of our society, and the echoes of former Biblical influence upon it, that so much effort has been put into finding non-lethal, non-maiming methods of persuading terrorists to part with intel. Torquemada and his ilk had quite an arsenal of effective persuasion; we could have gone with those, but instead, we have developed methods that leave the subject perhaps wet and breathless, perhaps emotionally shaken, but still whole. War is a nasty business, terrorism worse still, and that we still seek not to cross the line into Inquisitionville must needs be recognized and trumpeted.

Ooooooh, I'm wet.

Ooooooh, there is dog breath, and I'm scared.

Ooooooh, they shot the guy in the next cell, so I'll talk....Ah, they didn't really. Boy is my face red.



Ooooooh, they say that they will take out my family if I kill another three thousand of their citizens.

Seems rather tame, doesn't it? But even if it doesn't, the State, the governing authority HAS the authority to do that, and worse:

For if you practice evil, be afraid, for it does not bear the sword in vain; for it is a servant of God, a revenger for wrath on him who does evil. (Romans 13:4)

Much of the torture teapot-tempests are brewed from emotional squeamishness, not the accurate intel from God's Word. That said, what our interrogators do does not approach what has been ID'd as torture historically: beatings, maimings, burning, impromptu surgery, rape. Read some history, then maybe you will understand. The name "Club Gitmo" isn't as far-fetched as you thought.

The Dread Dormomoo keeps the yoks coming:



Q: How are the American people like Astroturf?


A: Neither of them needs government healthcare.

Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, the convicted Lockerbie bomber, arrived in Tripoli to a hero's welcome. Playing the strings of (very) nominally Christian Scottish sentiment won him his freedom. Confronted with combined Brit and American ire at Al Megrahi's being released on compassionate grounds because of his terminal prostate cancer, Kenny MacAskill, the Scottish justice secretary grumped about Scotland not having a "vigilante" justice system. Al Megrahi was convicted and sentenced by a Scottish court, not exactly what I would call vigilante justice. His release is blamed on "compassion". Read: he is dying of cancer, so he should do so in the bosom of his family. Not to release him would be mean, not compassionate. It is kindergarten reasoning. Likewise, the retort thet "He didn't show any compassion toward the victims of Pan Am Flight 103.". Well, DUH. Of COURSE he didn't, and the sky is blue, and water is wet. Kindergarten again.

The feelgood fairness of releasing the bomber is a foolish shadow of Christian justice. When you remove a culture and justice from the direct influence of Biblical teaching and discipline, as is evident in the UK and Europe, all that remains is silly sentimentality in the guise of moral certitude. His malady does not exonerate him. It does not mollify any of the victims' families, nor resurrect any of the dead. His having prostate cancer changes nothing, beyond the actual duration of his sentence.
Shucks, I'll bet that NHS Scotland offers better healthcare than does Libya, except that the Libyan reaction of Local Boy Makes Good might bode for preferential end-of-life care for the Hero Come Home.

Frankly, the Scottish justice minister makes me, a MacLeod, want to hang up my kilt.

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Finding their inner bigot.

Your Aardvark has been a civil rights proponent all his life. (It is rumored that the placards he waved about in utero were responsible for his premature birth. That, and the auto accident.) Thus he looks askance at the race-baiters and Klan types alike, if for no other reason that we all of us have sinned, and are in need of rescue, whatever one's hue. But it remains difficult to maintain a pristine reputation of Tolerance (what an awful thing, to be merely tolerated ...) when one disagrees with the President, and opinion has it that ANY disagreement is base bigotry: "You just don't like him 'cos he's BLACK!".

Perhaps your Aardvark should consider a run for the Maison Blanc, campaigning as the first 'Varky President. Mr. Obama's fans certainly raised the bar with the hosannas over the first black president, or African-American, or somesuch. I thought that Martin Luther King, Jr. expressed the ideal of content of one's character, rather than the color of one's epidermis, but then, Mr. Obama is from Chicago politics, so the character issue may be moot. Certainly much of the bigotry charged by his followers against detractors of his blatantly ruinous and unConstitutional programs is imputed rather than inherent in "them wot disagrees wiv 'im". While there are sheet-wearers and cross-burners out there, for the most part they do little more than hang around each other and indulge in paranoid conspiracy talk. ("If it ain't the blacks, then it must be th' Joos!")

The biggest problem is this imputed bigotry thing. If you are unjustly accused of being intolerant or bigoted for your disagreements with the first President of Color, is there a point where one throws up one's hands and says " if everyone says it, it must be true" and dons the figurative hood for oneself? Perhaps finding one's inner bigot is possible because others helped put it there.

This is not a thing to be concerned about:

There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov.

Surely sign up as an informant now! You could become the head of your Neighborhood Security Unit. It's a ground floor opportunity. Unlike MLM's, the payoff for taking advantage of this is POWER!