Con Wonking

I sparred all weekend with Wade, the squirrel-haired dealer in anime inaction figures, mostly ones featuring pronounced hemispheres in their sculpting. He sells posters, the little cell-phone charms designed to fall off and make one cry at the loss, and body pillows (the oversized pillows you lie alongside in bed, imprinted with anime babes posed languorously thereon. When you see a guy with one or two of those newly-purchased, he may as well be wearing a sandwich-board: "I will never, ever get a date.".) To be fair, they also have guys printed on some of them. I don't look at those.

Wade is a talk-show Conservative. He makes me look like Alan Colmes.

Selah.

I finally learned that there is conservatism, and then there are Conservatives. The two are not necessarily congruent. Then there is the Constitutional, which is often incongruent with the other two.( I am amusing myself thinking of an SNL sketch starring Christopher Walken "The Constitutional". Just not on a body pillow.)

Conservatives, the crowd championed by the likes of Limbaugh and the Hannitoad, have as doctrine that the YouEssofAY is the policeman of the world, that we must have tight drug laws, so that apparently it is illegal to feel good beyond what well-taxed libations can supply, and the Constitution is trumped by The Way We have Been Doing It. I suspect that this is not really what Buckley and Goldwater had in mind at all.

"We must conserve the way we've been doing it all along!" Because we are The Right! I find far less of a Constitutional bent in Radio Conservatism than I do in the tinfoil hat brigade with the likes of Alex Jones. Even FOX News, the alleged Right-wing mouthpiece, can barely acknowledge the mere existence of a Constitutionalist like Ron Paul, at least without rolling their eyes like a twelve-year-old given a curfew.

Wade likes Paul's fiscal policy, but "his foreign policy scares me" sez himself. We must be The World Police. Sometimes Limbaugh surrogate Roger Hedgecock was dismissing Paul in doctrinaire fashion, horrified that if there was a war in Rwanda (What? Really?) Ron Paul would not immediately dispatch our olive drab pizza delivery and security detail to the fray.

Entangling alliances? I realise that "entangling" has four syllables, but the Jefferson's inaugural intent should not be that hard to divine. Oh, wait.

Washington's thoughts (and they are more commercial than military) are reasoned and clear:

So likewise, a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter without adequate inducement or justification. It leads also to concessions to the favorite nation of privileges denied to others which is apt doubly to injure the nation making the concessions; by unnecessarily parting with what ought to have been retained, and by exciting jealousy, ill-will, and a disposition to retaliate, in the parties from whom equal privileges are withheld. And it gives to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens (who devote themselves to the favorite nation), facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of their own country, without odium, sometimes even with popularity; gilding, with the appearances of a virtuous sense of obligation, a commendable deference for public opinion, or a laudable zeal for public good, the base or foolish compliances of ambition, corruption, or infatuation.  

If the Alex Jones brigade have connected the dots properly, "Fast and Furious" has revealed the most egregious betrayal of the Founders' intentions by linking gun-running (our people actually making deliveries!),  cocaine importation, and our Government. Iran-Contra 2.0!

Ron Paul may be the most dangerous man in politics, but if The Powers That Be have their ineffable way, he will become the most invisible.

Herman Cain is the one that makes me nervous. The single Liberal bone in my body thrills at the thought of being able to vote for a black man (that he is ostensibly conservative apparently matters little to the Liberal bone. It is, after all, quite small. I think it resides in my ear, that or my left wrist.) His Fed connections worry me. His assertion that internal vulpine Fed audits are sufficient to secure the Federal Reserve henhouse appalls me. His 9-9-9 plan annoys me (though I quite liked the movies). He used to be a FairTAX man. Now he's a pragmatist with a trademark.

Not happy with the Cain.
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Whilst away at TsubasaCon in Huntington WV (an amazingly well-run anime convention!) politics marched on, and the Babelisation of the Repuglican hopefuls continued apace. A Texas Baptist preacher with a 10, 000-member flock introduced Rick Perry as a Christian, as opposed to Romney who is a cultist. "

“Do we want a candidate who is a good, moral person — or one who is a born-again follower of the lord Jesus Christ?”

We are not amused. I am no Romneyite. Captain Underoos (c) Vox Day holds no charms for me, but neither do the piaculative pretentions of professional politicians. My thoughts on pols who run "as Christians" are to be found elsewhere on the blog; suffice to say that EVERY time I have drunk the grape juice offered by candidates touting their faith - or allowing it to be touted by others - I have been bitten well and hard on the keister, from Jimmuh Cahter on.

I would vote for a cannibalistic Cargo Cultist IF he swore or affirmed to adhere to the Constitution, and did it.

SEC Hijinks!

Alabama:38

Florida:10

Isn't college GREAT ?!

This picture is from our local paper, The News Courier, and the Earnest Young Miss is a stoont at UAH, and I am sure that she believes her little sign.

It just hurts my head. NOT THE POINT. Their PRESENCE is illegal. They have broken our immigration laws.

Read my lips: THEY HAVE BROKEN THE LAW.




Doing so has consequences. If I rob a bank, and am caught, I will go to jail, and not even pass "GO". Likewise, if I murder someone, I will go to jail, and depending on where, I may well be executed for my trouble. If someone sneaks into our country, and is caught, he may well be sent home. He surely should be. I do not care if he is here "for a better life". We have a method in place for immigrants to enter legally.

Our little miss above has forgotten a major Kindergarten rule: Don't Jump Ahead.

UAH has accomplished its goal. Teach them what to think, not how to think.

The Alabama newsreaders are bleeding all over their HD studios about stories of widdle kiddies whose parents made bad choices, and because of crackdowns on illegal immigrants are having to go home, or risk deportation, meaning these widdle kiddies won't be in Alabama schools anymore.

Alabama is MEAN. Poor widdle kiddies...they won't learn self-esteem in schools. Or get free lunch.

Because Daddy and Mommy sneaked into the country to pick veg and cut the heads off of chickens.

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In other news: US has abandoned rule of law in favor of fiat assassination.

Sleep well.

OOOOOOH! Did you FEEL that?!?                                                                                                                                                                             

Well, it appears that our Aardvark shop has a haint!

Riatsila and I have both experienced our Walker. Late at night, and in the wee hours, we have both heard footsteps in our second floor, where no-one was. Going upstairs has often yielded near-terminal cases of goosebumps and hair standing on end (no mean feat for me!), but no evidence of Anyone There. (The sound we hear is not "floor-settling" nor mouse scurrying. It is the sound of someone walking.) The previous tenant reports the same, as well as seeing an apparition at the top of the stairs.

I have no inclination to take steps against our guest; I do not believe that "ghosts" are the disembodied dead, unconvinced of their moribundity. Nor do I think that they are fell apparitions protecting their psychic turf. I don't even think it is Farmer McGillicuddy in a rubber mask, muttering about "meddling kids". I suspect, in a Lewisian way, that things like this are part of the spiritual flora and fauna of a place. The dryads and nymphs may have existed as part of the ecology of our world, no harm, no foul, but the decision to worship these entities was the error.

Whatever it may be, something is making itself known- perhaps inadvertently- and I will be interested to watch this play out.

Mr. McLeod notes on Fa-CHAYBook that O'Bama Is doing the Tried and True, taking money from those who create jobs to give to them wot's not got jobs; all this to create jobs.

Our Prexy is a genius, he is. I'm so glad we have a man who has been a CEO and knows how business works in the White House.

...oh wait...

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In other news- a dear friend who has been dangling on a bureaucratic thread for months finally got the news: he cannot buy the house, because the property has a garage separate from the house. He might open a business and make money in the garage, and the particular government loan program cannot permit that. Because he MIGHT do something. Welcome to Minority Report.

"There is no help in the House of Jesse."

Shirt by Planetary Bargains

The Dread Dormomoo and I are in a Perilous Place. Whilst we have not drunk the Kool-ade, We have eaten the cookies.

I find that I no longer have any problem believing that our Givemint is capable of doing anything. Not in a good way. Not in a "We can go to the Moon, and thence to the planets, thence to the STARS!" way, but in an "inside job to bring down major skyscrapers, to enable us to start some wars, and take the People's liberty in the name of national security" way.

I mean, when you have congressmen who justify outrageous and unConstitutional spending by invoking "the Good and Plenty Clause", it is certain that you are not gonna get any sense or truth out of Congress. The President passes off his old jobs stimulus speech as a NEW jobs bill speech, I guess because the dog ate his homework. That's credible. We have flag waving lackeys burbling about "Our boys protecting Our Way of Life", which on the face of it is true, but not the constitutional, Norman Rockwell American way of life you think. They protect the gate rape, email-scanning, surveillance camera-ridden, SECURE way of life we currently enjoy.

 I am developing the firm conviction that when The Opposition starts the name-calling, then you are on the right track. They have no substantive argument, so instead they go "Nya-nya-nya-nya-boo-boo."  "Truther", "(fill-in-the-blank) Denier!" Like that.

"Full faith and credit." Like fun.

Time to reprint my old Ben Franklin shirt. "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

Yet more doctrinal stupidity.

Our local talk station (the one that launched the Hannitoad) shall we say changes formats on Sunday mornings. Local churches sponsor half-hour preaching sessions. I know if I was a wastrel coming off of a Saturday-night bender, the first thing I would tune in would be radio preaching.

One thing I appreciate: churches of Christ do not beg money on radio or TV, being convinced that all church funding come from the local congregants' contributions. No bake sales, bazaars, or swap meets. And no begging.

What a victorious message for churches of whatever stripe to go begging to the world for funds!

Radio preaching...a local Primitive Baptist church sponsors recordings from the Cincinnati Primitive Baptist Church, The Baptist Bible Hour, with Elder Lasserre Bradley Jr. Listening to this seasoned pulpiteer is like listening to Pat Buttram, but that is only a stylistic thing. He beats the "sovereign grace" drum loud and long. Today he was talking about a particularly stupid teaching making the rounds nowadays, that of "needing to forgive God". He gave it precisely as much credence as it deserves. The idea that I, the creature, must magnanimously "forgive" the Creator so that I can get past summat is comical, and tragic. Behold My Feelings upon the Throne of the universe. In order to feel better, I may have to forGIVE the Almighty because He didn't keep Fluffy Muffins the kitty from running out into traffic. My Momma died when I was five. I must forGIVE God because "He took my mommy". This whole idea reeks of hubris, showcasing the idea that my feelings are the ne plus ultra of creation (the truth being that even my feelings must bow the knee to the Lordship of Christ. Practical examples of this reside in the Psalms - yes, I know, old covenant, but the mechanism is there). The idea of my forgiving The Sinless is astoundingly, astonishingly foolish, in the Biblical sense.

Now, Bradley was working off of a riff with which I disagree, that one should never be angry at God.
God can take care of Himself. The man after God's own heart, King David, was acquainted with Having a Mad On at God. He could be a sulky-boy. 

1David again brought together out of Israel chosen men, thirty thousand in all. 2He and all his men set out from Baalah of Judah  to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the Name,  the name of the Lord Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim that are on the ark. 3They set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the new cart 4with the ark of God on it,  and Ahio was walking in front of it. 5David and the whole house of Israel were celebrating with all their might before the Lord, with songs  and with harps, lyres, tambourines, sistrums and cymbals.

6When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. 7The Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down and he died there beside the ark of God.

8Then David was angry because the Lord’s wrath had broken out against Uzzah, and to this day that place is called Perez Uzzah. 

 ^{I Samuel 6 1-8}

^{David was clearly mad at God, and he was not struck down for it.  Three months later, he was back dancing before the Lord.  This follows a pattern in David's life. Psalm 77 is a perfect example. In verses 1-9, David pours out his complaint to the Lord. Then, verses 10-12 serve as a pivot:}

10 Then I thought, "To this I will appeal: the years of the right hand of the Most High." 11 I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. 12 I will meditate on all your works and consider all your mighty deeds.

He moves through the rest of the psalm, putting his focus on God's mighty acts on behalf of Israel, and in that, appropriating them as his own. This is no "name it and claim it" thaumaturgy; David is reprogramming his attitude, and re-establishing his relationship with God.

A quick perusal of the entire collection of psalms will yield a trove of examples like this. If I am grumpy at God, or even mouth-frothingly angry, the issue is most likely with me. If I do as David did, and think of the manifold works of God, through history, in Christ Jesus, and in my life, I will reprogram myself, get myself out of myself, and get my attention and attitude back to where it should be.

Bottom line: there is nothing in the Scripture that states "don't get mad at the Almighty". There is even less instructing us of some need to "forgive God". Such New-Agey feelgoodism is foreign to the Scriptures. And it's foolish and stupid and dumb, oh my.

 

R.I.P.

Runt 

Runt was as he was named, the puny one of the litter. Mr. McLeod adopted him, named him, and made certain that he survived. Runt not only survived, he thrived, and grew to become the pater familias of the yard cats. We live in a rural area, with many pesky vermin about, and the cats,if not actively hunting them, at least keep them away. Runt became the biggest cat here, and lived it, until two interlopers were left here, cats of irredeemable natures, whereupon he faded into the woods for a couple of years, opting for solitude rather than interminable quarrels. When they went away, Runt returned in full vigor, and stayed on. He was big, not fat, and grumpy. He sired a veritable race of tuxedo cats, and did not let them get out of line. At feeding time, Runt had His Bowl, and whoever stuck his nose in to poach from it was soundly cuffed. He was silent, giving a growly chuckle when you scratched his head. He would tolerate a minimum of head-scratching , maybe a stroke of his neck and back, and that was enough. He would shake his head and walk away. He did not enjoy being picked up in the least. He was a Cat's Cat, a tom with no tolerance for fuss or foofery. Periodically he would range back into the woods, and the screams were horrible to hear. Imagine the cries of a rabid baby. Like that. He would come back, sometimes with a limp, ears bitten, legs clawed, and he would set about healing, until the next time. 

In the past year, a large and unpleasant yellow tom has been coming into the yard, and I believe Runt's woodland battles were with him.  Runt was ten-to-twelve years old, and the final battle got the better of him. He limped for a long time, and then began to lose ground, growing thin and stiff. We were used to his vernal catting about, disappearing for some weeks, then returning thin and hungry. He would eat and lounge and bulk up again.

This year, he didn't. He became increasingly slow, but not doddering. Runt kept his faculties until the end, recognising us, and allowing the indignity of more pets and pats than was normal. He became a more tolerant cat, mellow and more affectionate, actually encouraging being petted, just not for too long. I suppose he had his reputation to see to. This weekend past, while I was away at a convention, Runt went missing, and my wife found him under a bush in the back yard. Cats have a wisdom about this, it seems, and know when the spirit is to return to the God Who gave it. It had rained, and he ws cold, and having trouble moving. She dried him and saw to his comfort - he ate well to the last - and later found him...gone. 

I had been praying for Runt for some weeks, that his ending would be peaceful, and that he would go to that place where good cats and faithful go.  He lived well, and died where he chose.

If animals have an Undying Part (and the scripture cited above makes me wonder), I shall hope to see him again somewhen. If  not, well, we have a host of memories of the Old Man, and that will be sufficient.

Thank you, Runt. You chose to walk with us, when the woods could have been enough.

The Truth of the Day is:

If all the people who say

"I love Ron Paul, but there's no way he can win, so I don't want to waste my vote."

would stop saying that and would vote for him, then Ron Paul would be our next President.

Economics is known as The Dismal Science, and listening to economists talk proves why. Between the bowties and the Econ-speak, it's enough to make you saw your own head off.

Now, your Aardvark is a free-marketeer, and is a laissez-faire 'Vark therefore, but he also knows the limits thereof. Behold the kite: is there a freer aerial toy than that, swooping and soaring in the breeze? (This 'Vark prefers the box variety, himself.)

What does not come to mind at first glance is that the string may be the most important part of the kite. Without that tether to the ground, the kite becomes a bit of aerial flotsam, spinning and flopping through the air along with the escaped Wal-Mart bags, ultimately crashing uselessly to the ground. It is the limiting factor of the string that enables the kite to fly effectively.

So it is with the economy, and especially to my thinking, Wall Street. "GREED" is the word used most effectively by the Leftist, progressive crowd as they point quivering fingers, clawlike, while demanding of Congress that Something Must Be Done. Well, something HAS been done, millenia ago. A quick perusal of the Mosaic Law and the book of Proverbs will unearth a treasure of ethical guidelines for money and commerce. Just weights and measures, treating the rich and poor alike, not "adjusting" prices depending on who you are dealing with. Such simple ethical practices would go far toward fixing the Wall Street mess, but it will require personal decisions on the Street's denizens. Perhaps there is a fertile field for evangelism in the realm of commerce.

George Washington made his thoughts clear on the matter of governance:

Of all the dispositions and habits, which lead to political prosperity, Religion and Morality are indispensable supports...It is substantially true, that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule, indeed, extends with more or less force to every species of free government.

I would certainly extend this to the realms of commerce. "Religion and Morality" (how quaint!) provide the string to make the kite soar. The Madoffs, and the cartoony stock traders are all brought to heel by the tether of ethics and morality, but that tether brings the freedom to true success. Wall Street is currently governed by avarice. Perhaps if we believers can shed our own animosities and caricatures, we can share the faith once delivered to those with the knowledge and ability to do economics right. "Make disciples of the nations" said our Founder. Wall Street needs the discipline of the Gospel.

RON PAUL SUPPORTERS

The Aardvark is a Paulista, as well, and has an offer:

We will set up Ron Paul 2012 screens on our automatic press. Your group has white shirts drop-shipped to us (you pay for the blank shirts) and pay for shipping back to you. We will do the actual printing at no charge. It is a way for us to give the best way that we can. No hidden fees or anything. We just want Congressman Paul to get all the exposure he can get, and printing walking billboards is a great way.

Do not hesitate to contact us via this blog, or by email: aardtees(at)hiwaay.net.
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PS: No, we will not print any Mitt Romney shirts.

So, Anime Festival Orlando has come and gone, and great was its being! Karen Trudeau and her varied minions and goons have once again pulled off an outrageously good anime convention, and Robin Cascio helmed the dealers room with grace and dispatch, making for a drama-free weekend. Friday and Saturday seemed off sales-wise, but Sunday surpassed either, and grossed us higher than last year, I believe. THANKS GUYS!

We were across from Wolfhome Adventure Outfitters, and they were fun neighbors. Jennifer sells kimonos and other Japanese finery, with ball-joint dolls (Dollfi-type) and clothing, some steampunkery and suchlike.

Adorable Foxy was next to us, and her ears and tails were a hit at the con. She is such a sweetie, and her helper was a peach, too.

I am willing to lose another year of my life until the next AFO.

GenkiGoth, we love you!

The Dread Dormomoo is a smarty every day.

We were discussing the addiction to "compromise" so prevalent in Washington.
Compromise is averaging between two or more things that work in the given situation to varying degrees.

I preached on Sunday. I could have worn an Armani suit, I could have worn a tunic made from a flour sack. I could have worn jeans and a t-shirt. I do not own either an Armani nor a flour sack tunic. I have Jeans and t-shirts. I compromised and wore a button-down shirt, tie, cuffed, pleated trousers, and a jacket.

Teh blistering hotness, I know.

Any of the choices would have served to cover my corporeal pulchritude, but I compromised on budgetary and event-drawn lines.

The "debt ceiling" issue is not compromise at work. They took two schemes, neither of which will work, and appeased as many groups as they could. Appeasement, not compromise.

I am reminded of Prof. Henry Higgins in "My Fair Lady" as he sings "I'm an Ordinary Man":

Let a woman in your life, and you're up against a wall,
make a plan and you will find,
that she has something else in mind,
and so rather than do either
you do something else that neither likes at all

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In other news, The Dow is crashing. Down 264 points.

But, but, but...we PASSED the Debt Ceiling increase. That fixed EVERYTHING!

Just like TARP did.

Just like The Stimulus did!

Now, with VIDEO!!



I keep hearing them: the plaintive bleats of the left about how one in six Americans struggle with Hunger. Radio ads are regularly played that trumpet this dreadful statistic. One person in six is going hungry.

Prove it. Shoot, I maintain that all Americans have a problem with hunger, several times a day. Six Americans out of six. That is not an epidemic, because meal-time solves the problem.

"That was unfeeling and hurtful."

No. I just want to establish that there are ways and times to ask questions to derive the answer you require.

I do not deny that some have poverty issues, but if the number of 16+% seems astonishingly high. I mean, if 44 million people are on food stamps, that would indicate one remedy for the situation, and that a big bunch of people have sussed it out.

I do NOT believe the 1 in 6 number.
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Of course, I have good reason to suspect skullduggery. Check out the anti-obesity fitness ads the US Givement is playing. Momma sends Daughter up and down stairs to look for Mom's purse...which Mom knows is in none of those places. She lies to her daughter to get her to scramble up and down the stairs and burn off some of those Skittles and Big Macs, but it's OK, because it's for the girl's own good.

Enjoy that nursing home, Mom!

The current administration thinks so little of truth, and the PEE-pul, that they encourage lying to your kids. For a Good Cause.

In other news, not raising the Debt Ceiling will automatically cause the US to default.

Why Do the Big Box Stores Hate the Poor?

The House of 'Vark has been without a washing machine for two weeks, now. Fear not, we do not smell like the third day of the gaming room at a con, for there is an abundance of decent laundromats, and the Dread Dormomoo has dealt with the necessities at the "Wash and Gossip", though she has foregone the latter. Our Frigidaire front loader uses a control board that had to be first used on Atlantis' final pizza run to the ISS, because it sure isn't here. Maybe they can find one on Ganymede. Our helpful and very good repairman, Jay, is still awaiting delivery. When the D.D. was inquiring as to perhaps getting a used machine to replace our venerable washer, Jay said that he didn't have one, and that they are very hard to get, now.

The devil being in the details, herself asked "Why?". "The big stores offer free pickup of the old machines when a customer buys a new one." came the reply.

The stores then strip 'em, and recycle them, thus removing them from the marketplace. Think "No Cash for Clunkers". This severely reduces the number of second-hand machines around that are repairable and resellable to folks of limited means by guys like Jay. Not a good situation. Our thought: guys like Jay could make a market by advertising, offering $25-$50 for the old machines. "Why give 'em away to Lowes, when we'll pay you for them?" The price of a used machine may go up marginally, but it would be a way to get the experienced washers, dryers and refrigerators back into the marketplace, and a little cash back in the hands of the original owners. I think it could work.

Freedom of Religion is a cornerstone of the YouEssofAY.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

What worries me is the historical context of the 1st Amendment to the Constitution. Just as (deliberate) misreading of the 14th Amendment outside of its historical milieu has saddled us with the anchor baby situation of today, has an over-broad view of the 1st Amendment opened the door to some of our thornier current issues? Since the majority of what was "religious" to the Founders came from "Biblical Religion", could it not be argued that religions foreign to our shores, non-Biblical in their scope, and inimical to the Founders' intentions, should not be included in our understanding of it? Even in Jefferson's time, the Muslim Barbary pirates were a pain. (I find "Dummies.com" to be preferable to Wikipedia.)

So, the obvious question lurking here is: Should Islam even be considered under the 1st Amendment, since it was foreign to our shores at the time of the writing of the Constitution and The Bill of Rights, and provably antagonistic to our Republic over two centuries ago?

I am serious in my question, and it is a question I believe should be asked. I am not printing up t-shirts and banners demanding the ouster of every Muslim, Scientologist, and Neo-Zoroastrian from our currently ill-championed borders, but as a strict constructionist kind of guy, I would like some discussion of this idea.

Speaking of city-destroying monsters, we of Chez 'Vark are in celebration mode. Saturday is The Dread Dormomoo's and my something-somethingth anniversary. We are celebrating on Friday however (which is a great departure for me, because I get the hives over people opening their presents on Christmas Eve), because our preferred Japanese restaurant is not open for lunch on Saturday, and we prefer their lunch menu. Lest you think it is my inner Jack Benny talking, the food does seem to be better, and there is a larger variety, with things like bento boxes and such. This is where we learned to eat sushi, and enjoy it (de rigueur for anime fans, you know). Loen, our youngest, is a waiter there, and will likely be serving us. Nice.

I have gotten her a...ahhhh, you thought you had me! What? You think she reads this train wreck?
Well, you'll just have to wait.
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As much as I love anime, my real entertainment love is Old Time Radio. The theater of the mind beats anything on any screen today, big or less-than-big. The works of Arch Oboler match any big-screen gore-fest, because the horror is in your head. (Click the link and go to the Internet Archives for downloads to whet your appetite.) Go to Jon at OTRCat for inexpensive and complete MP3 collections. The link is at the top of the page. Here is an example of the horror quotient from Lights Out, the series that established Oboler as heir-apparent of Willis Cooper:

Wyllis Cooper, who created, wrote, and produced it, was then a 36-year-old staffer in Chicago's NBC Studios. Cooper created his horror "by raiding the larder." For the purposed of Lights Out sound effects, people were what they ate. The sound of a butcher knife rending a piece of uncooked pork was, when accompanied by shrieks and screams, the essence of murder to a listener alone at midnight. Real bones were broken - spareribs snapped with a pipe wrench. Bacon in a frypan gave a vivid impression of a body just electrocuted. And the cannibalism effect was actually a zealous actor. Gurgling and smacking his lips as he slurped up a bowl of spaghetti. Cabbages sounded like human heads when chopped open with a cleaver, and carrots had the pleasant resonance of fingers being lopped off. Arch Oboler's celebrated tale of a man turned inside-out by a demonic fog was accomplished by soaking a rubber glove in water and stripping it off at the microphone while a berry basket was curshed at the same instant. The listener saw none of this. The listener saw carnage and death.

Cooper left the show in 1936 and Oboler was given the job. Oboler lost no time establishing himself as the new master of the macabre. Between May 1936 and July 1938, he wrote and directed more than 100 Lights Out plays.

Comedy is amazing as well. The Jack Benny Program was a masterpiece in every sense of the word. Half-a-century and more before Seinfeld, his was a self-consistent alternate universe of lunacy, a radio show about a radio show. There is nothing funnier, unless it's Fibber McGee and Molly, or The Great Gildersleeve. AS funny...as funny.

If you enjoyed cartoons in the 50's and 60's, you were a beneficiary of OTR actors. Standards like Bud Collyer and Jackson Beck (Superman, both radio and cartoon), Sheldon Leonard (Jack Benny's racing tout, and Linus the Lionharted), Kenny Delmar (Sen. Claghorn on Fred Allen's show, and The Hunter on The King and Odie, Commander McBragg), Mel Blanc, Alan Reed, and Bea Benaderet to name a few.

With long drives and high cable rates, go OTR. You will have wonderful entertainment, from comedy to drama to fantasy, horror and wonderful science fiction. Jon will feed your habit for little coin.

You can trust this Aardvark. He knows.

So, the victory cigar is in fact Nathan's bigger-than-the-bun beef franks. Nathan's are well worth the premium price, as they are a frank with real flavor, not just extruded meat-paste flavor. Garlicky goodness!

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Why a victory cigar? Riatsila and I just got back from G-Fest 18, the Godzilla and other giant-monster fan convention in Chicago. Well...Rosemont, but a nod's as good as a wink to a blind Barugon. We have had another record-breaking sales weekend, but that isn't the best part. We had a good time, an awesome time, a fun time. YAAAAAAY! J.D., Ruth, and Peyton Lees put on as good and drama-free con as one could wish for. The attendee number I heard was 1200, but that isn't official. The amazing thing is that those 1200 people were smiling. They were happy. They were often happy families! I do dozens of conventions a year, and G-Fest takes the prize as the fun, happy con.

The Kaiju Brothers were there, three guys who love giant monster movies, and who love Things Aardvark. Great seeing you all!

We ate the fat and drank the sweet. especially at Romano's, a family Italian place in a little strip mall in Rosemont. I was verklempt, the food was so very good. It is as good a reason as any to visit Chicago. A Godzilla-sized reason!

My friend, the redoubtable Kez Wilson and his son were at our booth. Kez is the artist side of the Wilson-(Michael) Wolff pairing that produced the initial SUPERCAR comic in the early 2000s.
(Sign up to the Yahoo Group and enjoy the excellent writing, too!) The Wilson son discovered the gaming room and spent the weekend displaying superiority at the Wii Godzilla game. Kez stayed at the booth with us, doing Kaiju and cartoon character card sketches for fans, and flogging the MONSTERVERSE property he is involved with. Kerry Gamill is behind a horror comic with Bela Lugosi as the title's "Cryptkeeper" host. A good time was had by all!


That was this weekend. I'm ready for next year!

Celebrating our Freedom.

We are coming up to the end of a ten-year fireworks display. Trillions of dollars have been sunk at the military-industrial complex's roadside fireworks stand, along with the costs of shipping 'em to the Middle East, and sending guys over to set them off tactically. All the booms and pretty sparky flashes, set off with one idea in mind: protecting our freedom! Or is it to punish them wot did 9/11? Or is it to spread Democracy? Or is it all bushwah?

The thought that our men and women are deployed in the most forsaken parts of the world "to protect our freedom" is Fourth of July speech rhetoric. Since the attacks of 9/11/2001, our own citizens are a good deal less free than they were before. We didn't have to endure cop-a-feel cops at the aerodrome, nor subject ourselves to ionising radiation if ticklish. This is one small (?) example. We can be listened-in-on, and the cops can break in without a warrant, if their reason is good enough (thanks, Indiana!). The question which must be asked: are you as free as you would like to be? Another question: given the diminution of your liberty, do you have a commensurate rise in security in your life? Do you feel safer now than on 9/10/2001?

If "protecting our freedom" is their stated task, I must conclude that our armed forces are doing a terrible job fulfilling their mission. If there are other things they are tasked with, that requires a different assessment. But our freedoms have taken a beating in the past decade, and all indications, at least to this Aardvark, are to bring our soldiers home. There is no clear objective in any theater of operations, unless the objective is to withdraw, as our Commander-in-Chief has announced. We have many service opportunities within - and on - our own borders, with no punishingly long supply routes. Protecting our Homeland would be the acme of Homeland Security, and there would be no need for O'bama's well-funded civilian security force. (I shall avoid any comments that would earn a tiresome "Godwin's Law" comment.)

As you enjoy your fireworks and hotdogs and homemade ice cream, as shall I, please pause to mourn our lost freedoms, and consider what you and I can do to restore them. Mull over the upcoming elections, and think HARD about who would work to maximise your freedoms (*hint* Big Government types need not apply, of any party.)

And don't stick a sparkler in your eye!

Just heard a caller-in on Noory's show fulminating over whether the Christian Right (should Bachmann, et al, gain supremacy in 2012) will be able to censor video games or (the real concern) ban internet porn.

I understand his worry. I mean, look how successful the Religious Right has been in most of their undertakings. You know, like getting Roe v. Wade overturned.

If I were that guy, I would be quaking in my boots.

Every few years, we discover that what God has provided, what He has instructed, what He has commanded isn't quite good enough.Seems God Himself discovers this, too, as He apparently re-invents Himself, worship, and whatever else is needful to make the church for whom Jesus died trendy, with-it, and other than what He had previously revealed.

Some years back the joy of the Lord present in the disciple's life was not sufficient, so whole worship services, whole revivals, were given over to "holy laughter". The Toronto Blessing became a worldwide kick; it was the thing, very trendy, real george to go to church and giggle like those in the Dying Houses on Norstrilia.

Now, it is apparently not enough to worship together, nor to meditate upon the Word, nor to pray and praise in God's presence on one's own. Now, we must soak. A Christendom that has all-but-abandoned baptism as taught by Jesus and Peter now must figuratively soak in the Ho-o-o-o-o-o-o-ly Spirit. We even have helps to enable this marination: worship CDs, with trance-like melodies and instrumental noodling, and apparent praying-in-the-Spirit. These help set the mood and usher you into the Presence emotionally ready for the experience.

Kind of like Cool Jazz used to put you in the mood for other things. As Gurney Halleck said "Mood's a thing for cattle and loveplay...."

The music I have heard is very "New-Agey", fluid stuff. Think "Enya" in Jesus' name.

I have not made a vast study of this. I have seen enough to recognise retooling, an attempt to fix what isn't broken, because the church, and worshiping our heavenly Father, always work, every time they are tried, as does playing Monopoly. You just have to do it by the rules, that is, in the way God set up simply.

Poor silly God, setting up the church two thousand years before the advent of the CD player. However did the church make it then? Or 'til now?

"This machine is powered by the soul of a forsaken child?"


So, didja hear that Pepsi puts extract of aborted human fetuses in its diet drinks?

No, really...this is making the rounds. And it is true, in a first-cousin-once-removed kind of way. Which is to say not.

The actual story is more involved, yet discomfiting as well.

LARGO, Florida, May 26, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Scores of prolife groups are calling for a public boycott of food giant, PepsiCo, due to its partnership with Senomyx, a biotech company that uses aborted fetal cells in the research and development of artificial flavor enhancers.

LifeSiteNews previously reported on Senomyx’s partnership with major food corporations, most notably PepsiCo, Kraft Foods, and Nestlé.

Pro-life watchdog group, Children of God for Life (CGL), is now joined by major pro-life organizations calling upon the public to target PepsiCo in a boycott.

Pepsi is funding the research and development, and paying royalties to Senomyx, which uses HEK-293 (human embryonic kidney cells) to produce flavor enhancers for Pepsi beverages.

“Using isolated human taste receptors we created proprietary taste receptor-based assay systems that provide a biochemical or electronic readout when a flavor ingredient interacts with the receptor,” says the Senomyx website.

“What they do not tell the public is that they are using HEK 293 – human embryonic kidney cells taken from an electively aborted baby to produce those receptors,” stated Debi Vinnedge, President for CGL, the watch dog group that has been monitoring the use of aborted fetal material in medical products and cosmetics for years.

The aborted fetal cells are not in the product itself. However, “there are many options PepsiCo could be using instead of aborted fetal cells,” noted Vinnedge.

The revelation about Senomyx’s research techniques motivated Campbell Soup to sever all relations with Senomyx.

So, Senomyx is making sensors with chemical receptors derived from the HEK 293 line of embryonic cells to determine whether-or-not a flavorant or sweetener will cause the proper taste receptors to fire, making the end product yummy.

This reminds me of Dr. Venture's Dream Machine, built with part of an orphan child. His justification? "Well, I don’t know, I mean I didn’t use the whole thing!"

Personally I have a measure of difficulty with Pepsico products, now; and Kraft; and Nestle. Bah. All companies I like that have taken advantage of this soul-less technology. Operation Paperclip, anyone?

...aaaaaaaaaand it begins...

While I was in Knoxville at the Knoxville Comics and Anime Con, and doing well, thank you, the Voices of Reason abdicated their positions, and a pro-life group gave the Republican nominees (or the Red Faction, as Vox puts it) a Paper to sign, a pledge promising solemnly, and swearing on pain of having their livers cut out whilst staked out on the beach ohLordmyGodistherenohelpforthewidow'sson
*ahem* or somesuch that they would not ever, never hire anyone for their staffs who is not staunchly pro-life. Mitt Romney refused.

So did Herman Cain.

(Boos and hisses from the gallery)

Mitt has already disqualified himself with his dumb MassCare or whatever it's called. His lack of repentance is breathtaking in light of mainstream America's disfavor of O'bamaCare. His polls are down. Herman Cain, that champion of the FairTax (and yes, I've read the site and much of the forum kerfuffles. I still like it, and I liked the Linder/Boortz "comic book" as well. Color me naive, and a potato-eater.), Cain has refused to sign the pledge. A bouquet of rotted veg rockets from the cheap seats.

Pause with me as I present my curriculum vitae: I am pro-life. I have marched in Montgomery for an awesome Pro-Life bill that was overwhelmingly ignored (and there were more of us than were ever at a civil rights march!). I was media liaison for an area pro-life group for a time. I have prayed, spoken, and been earnestly pro-life. I even blog pro-life. I am so pro-life that I actually considered thinking about joining Operation Rescue, and decided that my best family ministry was ministering to my family whilst not in jail. I taught my children not to kill their unborn children. One has obeyed my teaching, for the others it has never become an issue. Bottom line: I am pro-life, even if I don't pray the rosary.

That said, allow me once again to tenderise the insensate equine. Abortion is not a political issue. It is one of the heart. I just wish that the Bible quoters would go beyond individual verses and instead perceive the gestalt of the gospel call. It is easy to wave a placard with

" ¹³ For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be. " (Psalm 139:13-16 NIV)

It is easy to march, and hand out literature. It is harder to invest yourself in people's lives. It is harder to teach people the gospel, and that killing babies is less than God's best. It is harder to raise your children to do right. There are many who do that, and eternal huzzahs are due them. There are people who open their homes and pocketbooks to strangers to care for them through the pregnancy, and then provide an adoptive home for the baby. More huzzahs!!

The point is (going back to the gestalt thingie) that we are called as Christians to teach the Gospel, and live it. We have no command nor example to politicize issues like abortion. The clash of the Kingdom of God versus the kingdom of darkness occurs in the heart and mind, not in the streets. (insert West Side Story alley fight here).

Doing this political pledge is counterproductive. It could deny us the abolition of things like oppressive taxation, a clearly political issue. Mixing the gospel and politics is always a losing proposition...for the gospel. It requires admixture, adulteration, compromise. You spread the Gospel by teaching the Gospel, not trying to vote it in.

Caesar to Caesar, God to God.

Here endeth the lesson.

Rep. Anthony Weiner (D) will resign from Congress at the behest of Pres. O'bama, Nancy Pelosi, and many other Democratic worthies.

The day of his leave-taking should from henceforth be called "National Weiner Day".
The grilling of Oscar Meyers and Hebrew Nationals shall be de rigueur.

The Dread Dormomoo approved this message.

I'm just sayin'....

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In other important news:
The Ugliest Website in the World is back!

REJOICE!

No Job Too Odd!

Our business motto is "No job too odd". Our spokesvark Stan is always getting in trouble in our radio ads because of this business model (click on the purple MP3 widget to the right). Now my bum has been bitten for the same reason. I have spent two days as a "consultant" with an area fabricating firm, helping them learn to screenprint on acrylic-coated metal, which is a hoot, because first I had to learn. We mixed ink, fiddled with art sizing, made three screens in a row, got it all to work yesterday evening, then were informed that there was better art than what we had been given to begin with. One more screen done overnight, and Riatsila and I went in today so I could print whilst he loaded and unloaded the makeshift press we were using. We finished the job within an hour, after a two-day learning curve.

Customer happy, paid us in stuff...pricey inky stuff that they bought before I came on board.

You just can't print effectively on metal with PVC t-shirt ink, even if it is silver!

Glenn Beck is trotting out the old reliable "Promised Land" mantra re: the Israelis. God promised them the land, therefore it is theirs. Palestinians need not apply. I can agree with the last bit...Palestinians are not a nation, they are a loose slurry of desert-dwelling hobos that has made itself odious wherever it dwelt. Arafat got them into the West Bank, where they have been an international thorn since.

The "God Promised" canard seems ready-made for any who wish to look at God's positive statements, and conveniently ignore covenant penalties. It is no mistake that Beck is allied with John Hagee, the dispy toad that has been flogging end-timey-wimey stuff for decades. Hagee is also a faith-walk proponent akin to the Copelands, and heir to the illogical positivism of that error.

Deuteronomy 28 is a goldmine for God's promises to the children of Israel, at least the first half.

¹ “Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the LORD your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. ² And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the LORD your God:
³ “Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country.
⁴ “Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.
⁵ “Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
⁶ “Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.
⁷ “The LORD will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.
⁸ “The LORD will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand, and He will bless you in the land which the LORD your God is giving you.
⁹ “The LORD will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the LORD your God and walk in His ways. ¹⁰ Then all peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they shall be afraid of you. ¹¹ And the LORD will grant you plenty of goods, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your ground, in the land of which the LORD swore to your fathers to give you. ¹² The LORD will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. ¹³ And the LORD will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you heed the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them. ¹⁴ So you shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right or the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

The second half clearly details God's promises of a calamitous sort, if Israel chose to disobey God's dictates. Here it is:

¹⁵ “But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:
¹⁶ “Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country.
¹⁷ “Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
¹⁸ “Cursed shall be the fruit of your body and the produce of your land, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.
¹⁹ “Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.
²⁰ “The LORD will send on you cursing, confusion, and rebuke in all that you set your hand to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, because of the wickedness of your doings in which you have forsaken Me. ²¹ The LORD will make the plague cling to you until He has consumed you from the land which you are going to possess. ²² The LORD will strike you with consumption, with fever, with inflammation, with severe burning fever, with the sword, with scorching, and with mildew; they shall pursue you until you perish. ²³ And your heavens which are over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you shall be iron. ²⁴ The LORD will change the rain of your land to powder and dust; from the heaven it shall come down on you until you are destroyed.
²⁵ “The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them; and you shall become troublesome to all the kingdoms of the earth. ²⁶ Your carcasses shall be food for all the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and no one shall frighten them away. ²⁷ The LORD will strike you with the boils of Egypt, with tumors, with the scab, and with the itch, from which you cannot be healed. ²⁸ The LORD will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of heart. ²⁹ And you shall grope at noonday, as a blind man gropes in darkness; you shall not prosper in your ways; you shall be only oppressed and plundered continually, and no one shall save you.
³⁰ “You shall betroth a wife, but another man shall lie with her; you shall build a house, but you shall not dwell in it; you shall plant a vineyard, but shall not gather its grapes. ³¹ Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, but you shall not eat of it; your donkey shall be violently taken away from before you, and shall not be restored to you; your sheep shall be given to your enemies, and you shall have no one to rescue them. ³² Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, and your eyes shall look and fail with longing for them all day long; and there shall be no strength in your hand. ³³ A nation whom you have not known shall eat the fruit of your land and the produce of your labor, and you shall be only oppressed and crushed continually. ³⁴ So you shall be driven mad because of the sight which your eyes see. ³⁵ The LORD will strike you in the knees and on the legs with severe boils which cannot be healed, and from the sole of your foot to the top of your head.
³⁶ “The LORD will bring you and the king whom you set over you to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods—wood and stone. ³⁷ And you shall become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all nations where the LORD will drive you.
³⁸ “You shall carry much seed out to the field but gather little in, for the locust shall consume it. ³⁹ You shall plant vineyards and tend them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them. ⁴⁰ You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself with the oil; for your olives shall drop off. ⁴¹ You shall beget sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours; for they shall go into captivity. ⁴² Locusts shall consume all your trees and the produce of your land.
⁴³ “The alien who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower. ⁴⁴ He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.
⁴⁵ “Moreover all these curses shall come upon you and pursue and overtake you, until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you. ⁴⁶ And they shall be upon you for a sign and a wonder, and on your descendants forever.
⁴⁷ “Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of everything, ⁴⁸ therefore you shall serve your enemies, whom the LORD will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in need of everything; and He will put a yoke of iron on your neck until He has destroyed you. ⁴⁹ The LORD will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you will not understand, ⁵⁰ a nation of fierce countenance, which does not respect the elderly nor show favor to the young. ⁵¹ And they shall eat the increase of your livestock and the produce of your land, until you are destroyed; they shall not leave you grain or new wine or oil, or the increase of your cattle or the offspring of your flocks, until they have destroyed you.
⁵² “They shall besiege you at all your gates until your high and fortified walls, in which you trust, come down throughout all your land; and they shall besiege you at all your gates throughout all your land which the LORD your God has given you. ⁵³ You shall eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and your daughters whom the LORD your God has given you, in the siege and desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you. ⁵⁴ The sensitive and very refined man among you will be hostile toward his brother, toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the rest of his children whom he leaves behind, ⁵⁵ so that he will not give any of them the flesh of his children whom he will eat, because he has nothing left in the siege and desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you at all your gates. ⁵⁶ The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because of her delicateness and sensitivity, will refuse^[a] to the husband of her bosom, and to her son and her daughter, ⁵⁷ her placenta which comes out from between her feet and her children whom she bears; for she will eat them secretly for lack of everything in the siege and desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you at all your gates.
⁵⁸ “If you do not carefully observe all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, THE LORD YOUR GOD, ⁵⁹ then the LORD will bring upon you and your descendants extraordinary plagues—great and prolonged plagues—and serious and prolonged sicknesses. ⁶⁰ Moreover He will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you. ⁶¹ Also every sickness and every plague, which is not written in this Book of the Law, will the LORD bring upon you until you are destroyed. ⁶² You shall be left few in number, whereas you were as the stars of heaven in multitude, because you would not obey the voice of the LORD your God. ⁶³ And it shall be, that just as the LORD rejoiced over you to do you good and multiply you, so the LORD will rejoice over you to destroy you and bring you to nothing; and you shall be plucked from off the land which you go to possess.
⁶⁴ “Then the LORD will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods, which neither you nor your fathers have known—wood and stone. ⁶⁵ And among those nations you shall find no rest, nor shall the sole of your foot have a resting place; but there the LORD will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and anguish of soul. ⁶⁶ Your life shall hang in doubt before you; you shall fear day and night, and have no assurance of life. ⁶⁷ In the morning you shall say, ‘Oh, that it were evening!’ And at evening you shall say, ‘Oh, that it were morning!’ because of the fear which terrifies your heart, and because of the sight which your eyes see.
⁶⁸ “And the LORD will take you back to Egypt in ships, by the way of which I said to you, ‘You shall never see it again.’ And there you shall be offered for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.

Kinda unplesant, yes? God is a bargain-making God, but He makes the bargain on His terms, being God and all. We can sign up, and all is peachy, but we are then signatory to the penalties as well as the blessings. Jesus reminded the Jews of their comeuppance in Matthew 23, which Hagee, et al, cannot understand was a warning to the people then hearing Jesus' words. How hard is "This generation" to understand? As a nation, the Jews rejected Yeshua ha Meschiach, and every vestige of their service to God was shattered. The Temple was destroyed in 70 AD. Without the Temple, there were no sacrifices, no holy place, no Holy of Holies. No bronze laver, no altar, no table of showbread, no lampstand.

No Ark of the Covenant.

When Jesus died, the veil separating the Holy of Holies from the rest of the world was torn in two from top to bottom. Jesus' death in ~30AD did away with the need to sacrifice animals to cover sin.
God then gave the Jews 40 years to get with the new program. Some did, most didn't. 70 AD rolled around, Rome lay siege to Jerusalem, and when the Romans became disgusted at this:

. ⁵³ You shall eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and your daughters whom the LORD your God has given you, in the siege and desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you. ⁵⁴ The sensitive and very refined man among you will be hostile toward his brother, toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the rest of his children whom he leaves behind, ⁵⁵ so that he will not give any of them the flesh of his children whom he will eat, because he has nothing left in the siege and desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you at all your gates. ⁵⁶ The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because of her delicateness and sensitivity, will refuse^[a] to the husband of her bosom, and to her son and her daughter, ⁵⁷ her placenta which comes out from between her feet and her children whom she bears; for she will eat them secretly for lack of everything in the siege and desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you at all your gates.

they said "ENOUGH!" and destroyed the place. No more Jewish religion, for there was no Temple. What passes for Judaism today is a hodge-podge of traditions and superstitions, mixed liberally with Torah. It is not what God set up.

The cheerleaders for Israel today don't get it. They live where they live by UN fiat, and like their Scriptural cherry-picking, they choose to say yea and amen to THAT UN declaration, while decrying all the rest.

Israel, and then Judah rejected their God and His ways. Covenentally, He has returned the favor. The secular state of Israel now lives in a hell of the UN's (and their own) making. All the "Courage" rallies Glenn Beck can muster will not change the Scriptures, nor God's mind.
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Allow your Aardvark an addendum. Above is not an anti-Semitic tract. It is an anti-stupidity tract, aimed at the clueless pratings of the End-Timey-Wimey crowd, who see modern Israel as fulfillment of Biblical prophecies that have already been fulfilled in Christ, and who ignore God's promises of censure and sanction as surely as they cling to their Bible-Promise-Card theology of limitless blessing, with Jesus as Lord and Personal Valet.

As to the modern secular State of Israel, I am a fan. They have survived as a nation against all odds, and have been firm allies of the US (even whilst spying on us). I suspect that if Bebe Netanyahu chooses to ignore Obama's demands, and shrugs off the leash the US has used to control Israel, the Mid-East would soon be a safer place. On the other hand, if Obama continues in the role of Israel's Worst Enemy, he should start looking over his shoulder for Mossad agents.

Ultimately, it is not a safe thing to be an enemy of Israel.

It has been a huge couple of weeks. MobiCon was a record-setter for smaller SF cons, sales-wise. Part of the reason is their burgeoning anime track, with popular voice guests. Last weekend was Animazement in Raleigh, NC, again, a record-setter for sales at that particular con. The crew at AZ were unfailingly helpful, and put on an astonishing show. The dealer room was run very well, especially in that it appeared to this Aardvark that they had reduced the number of sellers there, which makes for happier remaining dealers. Rising tides floating all boats, and such. This is a key piece of wisdom missing at many larger and hoping-to-be-larger anime cons: more dealers does not really help anyone. The con-goers get frustrated with a multiplicity of dealers selling essentially the same stuff. The dealers get grumpy - and dealers can be a grumpy lot - when there is too much competition for a finite pool of money. Then the dealers grump at the con staff. Fun ensues.

The ideal situation is having a semi-juried room, with a couple of each type of merchandise mix for variety and a little competitive pricing. ACEN (Anime Central), the same weekend as MobiCon, was dreadful, with an overgrown dealer room with too many PVC figure dealers, too many t-shirt vendors, too many Pocky sellers...

Can there be too much Pocky?

ACEN typifies the worst in dealer room dynamics, unless it is the St. Louis show that places each type of dealer in its own ghetto...whole sections of 10-12 t-shirt sellers vying for your shekels. As super-cool and groovy as our designs are, they cannot stand up to the onslaught of dealer-room hypnosis induced in the buyers by endless vistas of the same kind of merchandise.

So there is the Aardvark's wisdom: limit dealers to a commodious mix of goods for the attendees, giving them enough but not too much. This is economics that works.

Bernanke needs to attend a good con. Oh, wait....