I am headed to 'Bamaburg on Thursday. G-Fest is held right outside of Chicago in Rosemont. Hello, Crowne Plaza! A Godzilla convention is great fun, and J.D.Lees and crew ALWAYS do it up right. We print their convention shirts, and take our own super-cool and groovy kaiju (giant monster) designs, which the con-goers buy with gusto! Here is our latest design, a take-off of the "Yo Gabba Gabba" show on Nick, with a kaiju flavor. The Mothra makes me so happy! Marty Whitmore did the art for us, which we printed four-color process on pastel shirts. We will have 12-14 kaiju-related designs this year, besides the other pop-culture stuff we do. Check the Aardvark Tees link to your right and check out our goodies!

Phony headlines that would not surprise us

"Obama Administration Implicated in Michael Jackson Death"

Hey, who's the King NOW?

Sure is taking the minds of the dumb masses off of Cap and Trade, and the Bernanke Follies, idd'n it?

I must make a new tinfoil bowler.
--------------------------------------------------------

I emailed AND called our local Congressman Parker Griffith Friday. The poor, sweet lady who answered was bumfuzzled as to why they were being hammered so, so I gently 'splained it to her. She was still surprised at the fuss since "Congressman Griffith had sent a letter out in April presenting his opposition" to this carbon energy tax thingie. I thanked her gave my "Vote NO!" message, and left her to figure out that congressional opinions are only exceeded in lifespan by the Mayfly.
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Do you hate the product name "Salonpas" as much as I do?

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

We have some pretty neat kids, the Dread Dormomoo and I. The boys and we went out to Jose' Pepper's (a new Steakhouse/Mexican restaurant in Ardmore) after church for nom noms, I had the 12 oz NY strip, rare, and everyone else had fajita-type goodies, 'cept for Loen, who had Pollo Vallarta, a chicken, cheese, rice, and pineapple plate of yum. Very good, after which we adjourned home, where I was gifted. Mr. McLeod gave me his at the restaurant parking lot: a brown paper bag twisted closed. It was two hundred rounds of .22 gun candy, for the plinking. Thank you. Loen and Riatsila, who know my fondness for kitsch, got me a Slap Chop, so I can now slap my troubles away, and not have a boring life.
Gothgeek had seen me earlier in the week, and gave me Invasion Iowa, the Shatner "reality" show where he fools the town whose claim to fame is being the birthplace of a Starfleet Captain, except that now he isn't because of the movie so why does J.J.Abrams hate Iowa boy I hate time travel stories. Thankee kindly!
Then Loen gave me a dodgeball to the ballocks. Lookit, tearing my throat out to establish his dominance would have been more elegant than that.

Happy Fathers Day!

It has been a frightfully busy few weeks! I am ending a four-week stint on the road, where I have done Animazement, Mobicon, Wrath of Con, and now Anime Alabama.

Animazement, in Raleigh,NC. What can I say? It is my favorite con...period. April is the dealer room Queen of Queens, and has my huckster's heart! Sabrina, Jenny, and the rest of Crew AZ: you ALL rock. The AZ Powers that Be always put on a boffo show, with Japanese guests and artists. We print the con shirts, and Koichi Tsunoda always does great art for the shirts and program books. It's a joy to print them. Domo arigato, Tsunoda-san! The attendees are...enthusiastic about our shirts, and despite Washington's best efforts, this year was record-breaking sales wise. AZ love from the Aardvark.

And there was Tir Na Nog, a most excellent Irish pub. Riatsila, Loen, Zoomerdog and I went with Frank and Lisa of Frank's Cool Stuff (Anime DVDs, new and used). The hangar steak and the fish & chips are so very good, and they have a great selection of import beers, and local brews on tap. And then there's Amanda, our server on Saturday night. She was amazing, efficient, winsome, pretty, full of personality, pretty...we all kicked in for a primo tip for her. We had a sparkling evening. Sunday night, we had another server who was entirely adequate, but Amanda was there with her mother, saw us, ran over and side-hugged Riatsila and me. Sweet. We decided that she MUST be there for us next Animazement!

Raleigh has rickshaws. Tricycle rickshaws, run solely on tips. We took those Sunday night to dinner. We tipped. Our driver even slalomed around facade columns. He earned his tip.
I really believe in tipping well for good service, especially as a Christian. I've been a waiter, given attentive service, and been rewarded with...

A tract.

It is fortunate that I was already a disciple when this occurred, because it would have surely driven me away. As it was, I wanted to chase him down, return it, and tell him that he needed it more than I. I chose instead to keep my job.

Lookit. Jesus said "the laborer is worthy of his hire". If someone does an adequate job, tip them adequately. If they are extravagant in caring for you, then tip them commensurately. As to evangelizing a server, get a tract that doesn't read like it's from the 1940's, and remember, the idea is to earn their reading time, as well as thanking them for a job well done, so slip a nice tip inside. The horror stories of the "great witness" that churchy types present at restaurants are epic. Most waitresses quail at the prospect of the Sunday-after-church crowd, who are generally the rudest, most demanding, least-tipping demographic out there. As I said, great witness. Behavior like that really earns the gospel a hearing, especially because others really want to be just like you! Jesus also said "I came that you might have life, and have it more abundantly". That abundance does not come from stiffing the help. Be a blessing to the people who serve you. You may claim to be a King's Kid, but if you act like a b*st*rd, then your legitimacy may be called into question.

Here endeth the Lesson.

-------------------------------------
MobiCon was a huge success...for a scifi con. I say this NOT as a slam, but as a comparison. At an anime con, we normally do on Friday what I do in the whole weekend at a scifi con. It's a matter of scale, and the rabidity of fandoms. Anime is where the Fan Dollar is.

Mobicon was a fun relaxacon this year, AND was rewarding sales-wise. The guys always put on a faboo show, tho' it is a decidedly adult con. I have some good friends down there, and they seem to tolerate me right well.

I posted from Wrath of Con whilst there. That is all that need be said. The high point of the con was going out to eat on Saturday night with Herb, Chris, Joe, and Tim Riley, dealers all. Such Harrowing Tales of Commerce there were. Bootleggers Undone, like that.

I am currently at Anime Alabama, and having a good time, as well as making sales. They have close to double the attendees of "Wrath", and they love our shirts. Marc Yu, the con organiser, has a felicitous knack for getting luxury venues, and wrangling two-star prices for his attendees. We are at the VERY plush Renaissance Riverview Plaza Hotel.

Marc does Anime South as well, at the Hilton Sandestin Resort. VERY nice. If Marc did a con in the middle of the Mohave in August, I would be inclined to go. He ALWAYS does a great job, by my observation. Thanks, Marc!

Toward An Evangelical Theology Of Cussing

This is amusing, and while humorous, seems to fit Pauline concerns better than the standard take on Colossians 3:8: ( But now, put off all such things as anger, rage, malice, slander, abusive language from your mouth.)

Every
Ferengi
needs a
Dabo girl!


Your Aardvark with Chase Masterson, of Star Trek DS9 fame. A sweet lady, who does jazz as well. I am at Wrath of Con this weekend, warehousing shirts.

The term for small, intimate sci-fi cons is "relaxacon". I dub this one a "comacon", but one with an impressive guest list. Kevin Sorbo (Hercules), Jerry Doyle B-5's Mr. Garibaldi), Andrea Thompson (B-5's Talia Winters), Chase, John Billingsley (Enterprise's Dr. Phlox) and his wife, Bonita Friedericy. A friendly lot. J.G. Hertzler, the Klingon Chancellor Martok from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, is a personable soul, and actually bought our "KlingON-apply directly to the forehead" shirt. He HAD to have it! Yaaaay! Tim Russ, (Voyager's "Tuvok) is here, looking older but good!

My buddy Starbase Atlanta's Herb McCaulla is a fellow huckster, here. Fellow fan and now publisher Tim Riley is here. I see a CAO or Macanudo in the offing!

I'm glad there are so many old pals here, 'cause camaraderie is all I'm gettin' out of this one.

And no, Vidad, she won't be at G-fest. All you get is a guy in a green rubber suit.

The perception of point-of-view offers a new dimension in understanding behavior.

Could that sound any more boring?

A Certain anime voice actor, Vic Mignogna - who is also a music minister at his church - catches a great deal of grief on the more Belial-oriented web forums. He is openly Christian, and offers a "chapel service" on Sunday mornings at anime conventions, a voluntary get-together for believers who wish a church service away from home. A sweet young miss of my acquaintance took umbrage upon hearing that he had said at one such meeting that someone might go to hell., Now, I know this artist, and have been to a couple of the meetings, and have never heard a tart utterance in his presentations, himself making a case for reconciliation with God through Christ. Now, if I go to a happenin' dance club, I do not get offended by the techno beat, because I expect it in that context. If you go to an as-advertised Christian meeting, you should not be surprised or offended by hearing Christian ideas.

Now, if I am a marathon runner, and upon approaching a treacherous mountain path, a man with a light baton starts waving wildly and shouting that if I continue on that path, I will fall to my doom because the bridge is out, I can either 1) be thankful that he cared enough for me to warn of the impending peril, or 2) I can get angry that he interrupted what I was doing, and tried to force his wacky ideas on me. Number one is my only reasonable response.

In Christian teaching, we have the concept of a loving Father God, who sent his very Son to be born a human, who taught us how to live lovingly, and was killed for his trouble. His death atoned for, paid the blood-price for our sins, and through faith in and obedience to Jesus Christ, we are reconciled to God, and to one another. But God is a gentleman, and does not force himself upon anyone. If we do not wish His company, we may go elsewhere. That is hell. It is the ultimate in Choice. So, if a Christian perceives that you may not have chosen company with God, and recognises the alternative, he is caring for you, showing you love by warning you of the consequences of your choice. That is his point-of-view, that is his motivation. Eternity in God's company, or a gnawing eternity of regret. One should always make informed choices.

I do not discount that there are hateful people (*cough*Westboro) who buttress their own insecurities and self-righteousness by verbally consigning people whose actions they do not like to Eternal Grilling. Their motivation and message are both horribly flawed. It is not their job to punch anyone's ticket. Judgment is above their pay grade. But the committed Christian believer is commanded to point the way to the Father, and to warn of the alternative. Each is a side of the same doctrinal coin. Whether YOU agree or not, please recognise that the major motivations are care and loving concern for you.

Lying Liars and the Imbeciles Who Vote for Them


Dear Varksters, I have been remiss in maintaining my efforts here. We are still percolating along with our business, with record-breaking sales at the anime conventions, and excellent local biz as well, for which we are profoundly thankful. Busy-ness abounds.

Policy people in Washington DC are looking at VAT or a National Sales Tax to goose the flagging income of the givemint.

Please read the piece. Also, please note that the FairTax is prominently not mentioned. The Europhiles are wanting to ADD additional taxes to the income tax, and all the extant invisible taxes we are so blessed with. The FairTax will disband the IRS, repeal the Sixteenth Amendment which established the income tax, and set up a national retail sales tax which will be offset by the reduction in retail prices due to the embedded hidden taxes disappearing in retail goods. You keep your earnings: no witholding, no FICA. You just pay a tax that YOU control by your spending habits. Please read the FairTax info linked above.

This is NOT what the Washington wonks are discussing. They want to ADD a VAT or sales tax to all the rest of the taxes we are burdened with, but I'll bet you credits to Navy beans that they will wrap it in FairTax clothing. It will be a dodge, and a lie; in other words, SOP.

PUSH the FairTax locally, to your friends, write and email your representatives, and teach them this is the ONLY national sales tax to consider. If you value your income, and the financial future of our children, don't be fooled by the liars who spend money to look good for re-election, and forget that it is YOUR money they are spending.

...and then I'm driving to Mobile for MobiCon, with a LOT of thinking time, and beaucoups of ideas for the blog come to mind. Many, many cogent and pithy remarks on The Human Condition, The Whole State of Christ's Church, and How Pocky Just Isn't Special Anymore.

None of which come to mind now.

The predations of, if not age, then sheer busy-ness, drives the best ideas away over sadly brief periods of time. Perhaps I should carry an actually useful version of those digital recorders the TV box flogs to an ever-senescent population; I do need one that can carry more than "Butter...eggs...milk...." I refuse to nod with obvious satisfaction as I listen to the replay of my prior thoughts and instructions.
---------------------------------

I am in the second phase of my BPH trials. I have a bum full of the Real Deal this time: three shots of Whateverol to reduce testosterone production, and so shrink the prostate. Side effects are lethargy, a tendency toward flash depression, decreased libido (hmmm...could there be a connexion?) and oddly enough, hair-trigger anger. The pluses are freer ability to urinate, ability to sleep through the night without having to get up and go, like that. There must be a better methodology.

Isn't Transparency a hoot ?

STAR TREK is BORN AGAIN!

I repent in dust and ashes. Srsly.

J.J.Abrams and company have dood it, and well. The new Trek movie is a hit, even without a James Horner score, he said waggishly. I shan't do spoilers as the movie is brand-new, but suffice it to say, the proto-crew of the indomitable USS Enterprise is as close to spot-on as I can imagine without a bunch of Trekkie impressionists doing the job. The actors caught the spirit of Kirk, Spock, Scotty and all, without scenery-chewing and mugging. You can begin to see the James Tiberius Kirk ot TOS fame in Pine's portrayal, and I did not see a speck of Sylar in Spock. The io9 crowd complained about Simon Pegg apparently beaming in his portrayal, and appearing to be in a different movie than everyone else. Pish and tosh. Pfui, even. Other expostulations as required. Simon Pegg is Scotty a-borning..

This movie even has Deep Roy. How keen is that?

I have devised a Star Trek movie drinking game. Every time you see a lens flare, you take a drink of a Potent Potable. Sadly, you will not last beyond the first 30 minutes without acute alcohol poisoning. It is a bright and sparkly film, except for the dark bits.

I have only one quibble, and it's not huge, and dammit, I'm a screenprinter, not an engineer, but you don't build a starship in Iowa or wherever. You build it in geostationary orbit above Iowa, or wherever. (BTW, Carl Urban is a great "Bones" McCoy.)

If you are a Trek fan, go and wallow in the Trekness. If you are not, go and enjoy a ripping action movie, with some old friends you didn't know you had.

Y'know, I'm increasingly of the opinion that most Christians are pansies (and I am a believer). We read of a Savior who stilled the seas with a word, and who told the storm "BE MUZZLED!" and got results; then we hear a bad weather report and close up shop. "There are bad storms rolling in from the West! We have to close the Event!!" We SAY we believe, but our belief seems not to extend beyond the comfort of our pews. Rather than stand with the faithful and pray in faith, expecting God to be faithful, we fold like Chinese cardboard in a drizzle.

If we do not behave like we believe God is faithful to His Word (and faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God - Romans 10:17 ), then the world can derive no other "truth" than that espoused by Mark Twain: "Faith is believin' what you know ain't so." .

"But..but...but...It's a liability issue!" God forbid that the young ones see anything about the faith that is outside their current experience, or their comfort zone. The churches surely would not want to be liable if the young faithful were to be censured in the public square, or jailed for teaching an unpopular Biblical truth to a hostile society. Let's teach them "Jesus loves me, this I know...", and how to get in out of the rain. That'll be enough. Their atheist college professors will surely respect that.

Liability? That sounds like you would expect fellow believers to sue you in court, even though Paul explicitly said not to, and shamed the litigious Corinthians for doing so. What? Christians doing what the Bible says not to?

The faith is about daring , daring to believe God, no matter what, daring to take the unpopular stand just because God says. The First Century church dared the weather, robbers, being stoned by enemies, dared the condemnation of religious leaders, and the very might of Rome to proclaim and live the Gospel. Two thousand years later, the American church dares...to be safe.

The Glutting of America

"In my day", he began in a crotchety tone, "we had one meal every three weeks! Di'n't hurt us none...." Here he trailed off as drool began to collect on his bib.

When I was in college, doing environmental studies things, I developed an intense loathing for McDonalds. The idea of perfectly good burgers being thrown away after a few minutes incensed me to no end, especially as there were the Poor and the Homeless to be fed. Vacuum-sealing the older burgers and having the homeless shelter pick 'em up seemed a perfectly reasonable solution to me. Of course, all the other burger mills do the same thing, tossing out perfectly good food after X minutes in the name of Quality Control.

At the same time that BK or Micky-Dee's are tossing food into the trash, they are feeding overstuffed Americans a cheap diet of fat-infused potatoes, fatty burger 'n' bun combos, and syrupy soft drinks. Oh, and apple sticks, with caramel dipping goo. That makes it a healthy, balanced meal.

Cap'n D's, has a new product line: Biscuit-battered fish and shrimp. Not merely breaded; biscuit-ized, and served with white flour and grease-based sawmill gravy. And mashed potatoes. You CAN order green beans....So, you get fried biscuit dough coated fish, over which you pour peppery biscuit-goo, with a side of green be...no, I can't even say it.

We have a world filled with the hungry, some even in our country, yet we have ad campaigns like the above "Fourthmeal" abomination. People who may get a single poor meal a day are rife on the planet (primarily due to the unrighteousness of their ostensible leaders), yet we have advertisements here that tout "the meal between dinner and breakfast". Three meals are not enough in America. A single hunger pang at 10PM, and hey, presto, FOURTHMEAL!

In 1983, a spinoff of M*A*S*H, AfterM*A*S*H featured Klinger's Korean wife Soon-Lee. One of the amusing bits featured her being taken to a restaurant, where she refers to the appetizer as "the meal before the meal". Very apt. When I was a kid, desserts were sparse...one serving,as were snacks. Three Oreos and milk.
Now, who stops at five or six cookies? We get peckish, and eat a half-a-bag of chips. At Tuscaloosa last weekend, I was amazed at the number of buffet restaurants. There was one called "Buffet City". The ad writes itself:

"It's not just a Buffet...IT'S A CITY!!!! "

Look at the people walking down the street. How many are reasonably proportioned?
How many look like the poster child for Golden Corral? ( I say this as more grocer-than-burglar-like, meself.)

The unrestrained appetite of Americans for food food FOOD is troubling, and seems symptomatic of a general emptiness...lack of quality relationships, meaningful work, creativity, community. We try to fill the God-shaped hole with all sorts of other things; why not Twinkies amd Big Macs?

Ommmmmmm-nom-nom-nom.

The Obamster states:

We need somebody who's got the heart, the empathy, to recognize what it's like to be a young teenage mom, the empathy to understand what it's like to be poor or African-American or gay or disabled or old--and that's the criterion by which I'll be selecting my judges."

Of the Choosing of Supreme Court Justices:

"Now, the process of selecting someone to replace Justice (David) Souter is among my most serious responsibilities as president, so I will seek somebody with a sharp and independent mind and a record of excellence and integrity. I will seek someone who understands that justice isn't about some abstract legal theory or footnote in a casebook; it is also about how our laws affect the daily realities of people's lives, whether they can make a living and care for their families, whether they feel safe in their homes and welcome in their own nation. I view that quality of empathy, of understanding and identifying with people's hopes and struggles, as an essential ingredient for arriving at just decisions and outcomes. I will seek somebody who is dedicated to the rule of law, who honors our constitutional traditions, who respects the integrity of the judicial process and the appropriate limits of the judicial role. I will seek somebody who shares my respect for constitutional values on which this nation was founded and who brings a thoughtful understanding of how to apply them in our time."

The law is now a matter of feelings. What was a profession of dispassion, is now being redefined as a realm of the touchy-feely. This brings to mind the things the Scriptures say about the poor and governance.

If a king judges the poor with truth, His throne will be established forever. Proverbs 29:14

He who oppresses the poor to make more for himself Or who gives to the rich, will only come to poverty. 22:16

One who is gracious to a poor man lends to the LORD, And He will repay him for his good deed. Proverbs 19:17

Poor is he who works with a negligent hand, But the hand of the diligent makes rich. Proverbs 10:4

Vindicate the weak and fatherless; Do justice to the afflicted and destitute. Psalm 82:3

The righteous is concerned for the rights of the poor, The wicked does not understand such concern. Proverbs 29:7

Like a roaring lion and a rushing bear Is a wicked ruler over a poor people. Proverbs 28:15

[Commandment to kings.] Open your mouth for the dumb, for the rights of all the unfortunate. Open your mouth, judge righteously, and defend the rights of the afflicted and needy. Prov. 31:8

A useful investigation would be to see how MUCH the Scriptures have to say regarding our responsibilities to the poor, as well as their own responsibility. But unlike the Administration's revelation, God's way does not revolve around feelings, but around purposeful action. And God does not call on governments to do the Good...he calls on the king to act, personally and he calls on the people to act, personally.

He does not call on the King to pick the people's pockets and give it to the poor. Whenever a left-leaning politician begins to talk about "justice", he is really talking about robbing the "rich" to give to the "poor".

Strangeness.


The Dread Dormomoo was doing number things in The Red Room, and felt a...thing...on her leg.
she reached down and picked up a sizeable ant. It screamed.
----------------------
Loen and I were at a surprisingly good convention this weekend. The otaku at the University of Alabama-Tuscaloosa put on Kami-Con. This was the first year for the con, and the keeds loved our shirts. The con putter-onners had about double the attendance than they had expected.

We arrived Friday night (it was a Sat, Sun. con) and delivered the convention shirts. On our way back to the La Quinta, we saw a Chipotle Grill, and pulled in for supper. Their offerings taste good, but come on, the burritos look like they are pregnant to bursting with ANOTHER burrito, like some fat larval...something, or a mutated termite queen. As far as investment strategies go, forget gold and silver: guacamole is the commodity to trade. At $1.80 for a couple of tablespoons, it has real growth potential. I bet Glenn Beck could get behind this one.

If you go to Tuscaloosa, you MUST try The Snappy Tomato. This is a pizzaria for those who prefer tomato sauce to the normal corn syrup sludge that passes for sauce at, say, Papa John's. Sweet pizza is an abomination. The Snappy Tomato has a tomato-ey, peppery sauce made of win. It is not hot...but spicy. Om nom nom nom. Even their Hawaiian pizza is Not Sweet, though it has lots of pineapple. It is not a huge chain, but it's growing, deservedly so!

Meh...now I need to write about death. One of the reasons that I'm "not a minister" is that I do not relate to it well: read: "at all".
 Here's the thing: when someone dies, they are out of my life. That's all. I do not grieve, as a rule, whether friend or family. No, I am not a tight little bundle of neuroses; I do not suck my thumb, nor cry myself to sleep at night. The departure of a person in death affects me as little as a person leaving town on a trip. Maybe this means I am very well adjusted insofar as death is concerned. I have not shed a tear over my father's murder, nor the death of my wife's mom and dad, both to cancer. I lost it when my mom died, but I was only four or five. I found my eighty-six year old grandfather dead in his bed when I was in eighth grade, and had the presence of mind to call the hospital and get the arrangements rolling, only then going upstairs to awaken my grandmother. No tears. I have cried over The Dread Dormomoo's sister's death, years after the fact. As to Public Figures, there is one whose departure affected me deeply. Beyond that, nope. They are gone, and my attention is now elsewhere.

The obsession with Death and Heaven in many churches is beyond me. There is an amazing amount of work right here to occupy us 24/7, without cow-eyed singing about "over there", and "crossing over Jordan". Ummmmm, people, nowhere in Scripture is the Jordan River a metaphor for Death, and Going to Heaven. It is an entry into Kingdom life, either in a figure, as in Israel crossing Jordan to enter the Promised Land, or in the image of baptism in the Jordan. Jesus has defeated death in the Resurrection, period. For the believer death is a Customs counter as we move from one realm to the next. The Bible is relatively quiet about our life in eternity, sufficiently so that we really don't need to yammer on about it. Jesus came that we might have life, and that more abundantly. That's what the Kingdom is about. Let's work with that.
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This week also brings us to celebrations, that of the Oklahoma City Bombings, and Columbine. These masochistic parties are also beyond my ken. Everyone burbles on about closure and healing, but every year that rolls around, we give the lie to that. We tear off the bandage of closure, and peel off the scab of healing. Pointless. Shall we get on with our lives, please? This cannot be healthy. Oh, Happy Holocaust Awareness Day!
Because I surely wouldn't remember the Holocaust without video of traffic stopping in Israel in memory of it.

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

A local custom which eludes me, but which does bring in some shekels, is remembering the Dearly Departed by purchasing shirts with their picture on them. Add to that the "In Loving Memory of (insert name here)" vinyl lettering on back car, truck, or SUV windows. It's just creepy to me, and does not seem conducive to getting over it. I guess tearing off psychological scabs is just so deliciously painful and rewarding.
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One more thing: I DO NOT GET these execrable roadside displays where fatal road accidents have occurred. You know the ones: a white cross with the decedent's name on the patibulum, with faded plastic flowers draped thereon. They make me consider legislation. To echo a Scroogian sentiment, "Are there no cemetaries?". That's what they are for, you know, the whole gravestone and flowers thing. My belief is that they are a sufficient distraction to cause MORE road accidents. The writing is sufficiently small to cause inattention to the road as you squint to read it. They either need to be a billboard (you have to pay for the sign, which stimulates the economy, too), or they need to be gotten rid of. If you care enough to vomit your grief on the public roadways, then you can pay for the privilege.

Hmmmm...no takers.

Humbug.

I have tasted
the future,
and it is
YUK!














Kellogg's latest foray into merchandising is sub-par. Sweetened oat swirls (Just flip 'em to face the right way for your hemisphere) with gold Starfleet insignia marshmallows, and blue-and-white swirly galaxy-thingy marshmallows (also hemispherically adaptable). The cereal I had hopes for. It is the standard sweet Alpha-Bits-type* sweetened oat cereal, apparently basted with space-y industrial waste, trilithium resin or somesuch, which leaves an icky aftertaste...or is it foretaste, since time-travel plays an important part in the new Trek movie? The marshmallows are the expected dense singularities of artificially-flavored what-they-call-FUN in the Trade. This is the Star Trek V of movie-related cereals.

Gothgeek gave me a box as a giggle, and Loen asked to open it and try it. So much for collectability (wink). I had to taste it. I wish I could go back in time.

Thanks for the fun gift, though. The package graphics are excellent!

Maybe the movie will be better than the cereal.

*I know that Alpha-Bits are a Post cereal. Take your lateral lisp elsewhere.

Oot-fray Oops-lay
Ea-tay Arties-pay













This is REAL Tea Party season. with this week being the watershed. This tax protest movement a-borning is really taking on, and it has me worried. ACORN, it is reported, plans to crash Tea Parties across the nation in an attempt to make them appear kooky, fringe-y and well, Froot Loop-y. A local talk radio guy, Dale Jackson, is taking part in the Huntsville, AL event, and has warned of loopiness crouching at the door. He played an excerpt from a tea party speaker elsewhere in the Union who began by sounding sane-if-excitable, then spectacularly moved off-message, swerving into CrazyTown with a rant about "Obama's hypnotic mind-control speech techniques". Maybe true, maybe not, but irrelevant to the event at hand, and made me squint from the glare of his aluminum-foil hat. The idea is that the ACORN types and Huffingtonians will infiltrate and do weirdnesses to turn the rallies into media circuses crying for cartoon sound FX and a laugh track on the evening news. The leaders of these Tea Parties need a firm hand to keep the events on-track. Area bloggers like this are rattling on about "Violence on Twitter" and "Hate Speech" coming from the tea party movement. My response:

Hate speech? HATE SPEECH? Come on, now. Being angry at being robbed by non-representative government is anger, not hate. Let's get a refresher on our emotions. Throwing around inflammatory terms like "hate speech" is not helping dialog at all, unless of course "hate speech" really means "doesn't agree with us".

The lunatic fringe and crazies have always been around. The Dread Dormomoo ID'd this follower of Jesus:

Luke 11:27 And it happened as He spoke these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice and said to Him, Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which You have sucked.

Jesus had been teaching, and this lady was so emotionally charged that she...yelled...THAT at Jesus. (Though frankly I'm surprised it never happened at an Obama rally....)

Jesus proceeded to get the situation back on track. He did not scold, but merely said:

Luke 11:28 But He said, No; rather, blessed are they who hear the Word of God and keep it.

(Read the chapter for the whole event.)
Jesus retained control, and prevented the thing from becoming a Springer Moment. I would encourage the leadership of the several Tea Parties to

1) Know your people.


2) Have some SANE people to work your security (hint...the ones who volunteer specifically to work security...don't use 'em.)


3) Be prepared to remove a speaker from the microphone IF he strays too far from the message and starts huffing ozone. Have an "announcement" ready in case you need a "reason" to reclaim the mike (don't lie, I'm not saying that, but have an announcement ready as a contingency plan. You don't want to appear to "limit free speech" on-camera!)
*NOTE: keeping the message focused is NOT "censorship". It is staying on-topic. The left would portray it as "censorship". Don't give 'em the chance. Imagine the preacher interrupting his Easter sermon to give out his grandmother's Sally Lunn bread recipe. Yummy, but inappropriate. The tea party is not a time to debate, say, FairTax vs. Flat tax. Unite the hearers.

Enjoy the events, beat the drum, stir up the Vital Fluids of the Body Politic, but don't let the day be hijacked by well-meaning loons. Stay on-message, and make this Mean Something, and Lead Somewhere. The Tea Party is not the point...holding Washington accountable IS.

Happy Easter to all!

The Dread Dormomoo has assembled the requisite calorie-laden celebratory fare for the kinder tomorrow, the sacramental sweets. The littlest 'Vark, the grand-Vark, has the traditional pail-and-shovel thing happening.

Several of my Easter memories of a yout' are getting a Junior Detective kit in my Easter basket, complete with ink for taking fingerprints. My cousin Shawn and I did inkblots. I got a pastel-colored duckling, which my cousin's dachsund killed. Never have had much to do with the breed since.

The Sisters of St. Mary, the religious order which ran the St. Eugene hospital in Dillon, SC, would bake a lamb-shaped cake, iced and colored, and send it over to us. They were sweet ladies, those nuns.

One year I received a spun-sugar egg with a window in one end, with a pretty scene inside.
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As a child, I could never understand how Jesus' declaration of "three days and three nights" in the earth could be fit into Friday evening through Sunday sunrise. It's the sort of thing that must have led Mark Twain to say "Faith is believing what you know ain't so.", except I didn't believe it. I preferred to believe what Jesus said over what a cleric said. I figured it was merely representational, that Friday evening through Sunday sunrise thing.
Years later, Lowell Blankenship, one of our elders, and a REAL rocket scientist, explicated it clearly and plainly and Scripturally, the three days and three nights thing. I will find the notes and show a diagram one day.

It is fascinating what people will believe traditionally, in the face of the clear statements of the Bible.

It's the First Day of the week. Please consider going to commemorate the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Plastic eggs and candy are optional.

Courtesy of Dept of Special Collections/UCLA Library, A1713 Charles E. Young Research Library, 405 Hilgard Ave, Box 951575, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575; http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/special/scweb/

Give Me Your Huddled Masses, Yearning To Work Cheap.

All the pro-illegal crowd, and lionizers of the Humble May-hee-can sans carte verte , listen up. The Aardvark is now a victim.
He has LOST work, specific shirt-printing work, to a shop that uses "undocumented workers". A convention promoter who "wanted to give the opportunity" gave a quote for us to meet-or-beat. I know shirt prices, labor, and the rest. The only way to charge that little for multi-color printing on decent quality shirts is to have the work done by workers who can be paid very little. Your Aardvark told him in essence that if he wanted shirts from Planet Pedro, that was fine. He got offended, somewhat. No moreso than your servant. This is work that an American WILL do, does do, being taken by those who do not belong here, and that frankly are being victimized themselves.

To add insult to injury, the Voxster reports thus.

Makes me ponder the truth of a Remo Williams quote about Public Service.

Love affairs are fascinating to witness. The news media are ardent in their infatuation, nay, their lust for the economic meltdown we currently enjoy in the You-Ess-of-Ay, and true to the dynamics of amorous fixation, they ignore the obvious bad dentition, warts and hunchbacks on their intended. Case in point: the report on ABC radio news today trumpeting that a GOOD thing has come out of "the recession" - fewer traffic deaths. Higher gas prices and lower disposable incomes have synergised into a life-saving force of nature. The recession has saved lives! YAAAAAY. What's not to love? After all, Hitler brained out the Volks-Wagen, too! People cannot (or will not) drive as needlessly, thus reducing their chances of a close encounters with the illegal, the unlicensed, and the inebriated motorist. The Recession is doing GOOD for us!


BUT, does it have a grrrrr-eat personality?