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Finding their inner bigot.

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

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

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

This is not a thing to be concerned about:

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

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

OH, THE PAIN !



Your Aardvark is 52, has (controlled) high blood pressure, is somewhat overweight (no longer a svelte 165, but certainly not needing a piano-crate coffin, either), and has no health insurance.

Oh, the pain!

That's right, kiddies. When your Aardvark has pollen-impacted sinuses, or the galloping bronchitis, or has his arm yaw when it should have pitched whilst carrying a heavy piece of equipment, he goes to a local clinic, where he pays cash, either then, or in thirty days.

He is often prescribed pharmaceuticals, and more often than not, at least part of the scrip is in the form of free samples of the drug. When he thought he was having a heart Event at an out-of-town convention, the pain eased, and (we perhaps foolishly drove back to AL)) upon arriving home, to the local clinic he went, fast as he could caper. The nurse practitioner did an EKG, then asked about insurance. None. He went "Whoops" or somesuch, trundled the EKG out, and pretended he had not run the test, which had shown normal. Finally after much pokery and proddery, he put his palms on your hero's breastbone, and all but did a handstand. "Did it feel like this?" "Yessss" came the reply. Turns out the 'varky sternum had been strained from overmuch t-shirt printing, and himself was told to lay off for awhile. Your Aardvark was treated, and well, and paid in cash.

Your Aardvark has Health Care. No insurance, but health care.

The Dread Dormomoo, now, has insurance. She will be going in for a Small Procedure in a few weeks - nothing dramatic or to be flailing arms about, but needful. There will be a Deductible, which we will pay out over a few months, but the bulk will be paid for by insurance. She has Health Care, and insurance.

We both of us have Health Care.

A woman of our acquaintance does not work. She was kept out of school by her well-meaning parents because of "nerves". She has zero marketable skills, and I do mean zero. Both of her parents are dead, so now Everyone is her parent. She is on welfare, buys food with an EBT card, and lives in subsidised housing. When she is ill, she goes to the Clinic. If there were no clinic, she would likely go to the ER, where she would be treated.

She has Health Care. No insurance, but she DOES have Health Care.

Seems the ObamaCare argument uses the wrong terms. Everyone in the nation has Health Care available. By law.

The Aardvark drives Dodge minivans, firstly because they are so-o-o-o-o sexy, secondly because nothing gives him more pleasure than zooming past a Camaro on the Interstate in one, and thirdly because he is cheap, and refuses to pay Escalade prices. There are many such vehicles on the market, and each has its fans. So too health insurance. Some pay for insurance, some pay more for insurance, some cannot afford insurance, and some choose to use their money in ways other than paying for insurance. Some drive Vespas, some VW's, some Beemers, some bike, some walk. The market is filled with -dare it be said? -diversity. The Obama administration is proving that it does not truly believe in diversity, but in Tapioca. Very, very expensive Tapioca, that no-one really wants, and which purports to fill a need that does not truly exist.

Bite My Shiny
Metal Daffodil

The new FUTURAMA episodes are on order from Comedy Central...26 whopping episodes, due in 2010. i09 offers a disturbing twist to the gladsome tidings:

Excited about the return of Futurama to our television screens? Prepare to lose that feeling: Fox have apparently cut the original voices of Fry, Leela, Bender and many other characters from the revival and are about to recast the roles.

Meh. It's like casting Ben Stiller as Captain Kirk.
A move to write to the casting people is in the works, and is detailed in the comments for the i09 article. Here is mine:



Dear Mr. Moller:
The excitement over the restart of the FUTURAMA franchise is palpable in our household...or at least was until we heard of the announcement of the recasting of the main characters. We are hoping that this is a pro-wrestling type promo for a staged San Diego Comic Con dustup between the cast and FOX executives. If, however, the recast news is true, I predict major fan unrest, unpleasant faux audition CD's, and possibly dogs marrying cats in the streets.
FUTURAMA without its classic cast will not be FUTURAMA. It will be unwatchable, and thus, we will not watch it. Nor buy merchandise, nor DVD sets, nor purchase from show sponsors.
I strongly urge that you push for the original cast, and pass this on to the Powers That Be.
Thank you,
Weatherly Hardy

Photo by Loen (c)2009

This lovely bit of plating is from Loen. My youngest son made real croissants from scratch, the eighty-one buttered layers kind. The blackberry jam was made by the Dread Dormomoo, from our home-grown blackberries, and Fuji apples. The berries of the lovely garnish are what our homegrowns look like, pre-jam. The sugared mint sprig is a variety we brought from my home in SC. Butter by Sam's Club.

A lovelier num num I have never had.

Well-done, son.

Trot out the little carts, and those adorable little hats; the dog-and-pony show is set to begin Monday. Supreme Court la-TEEN-a nominee Sonia Sotomayor-r-r-r-r will be bunting softballs for a few days next week. (I am reminded of a rarity: a funny SNL skit from years ago, showing TV news reporters ordering Mexican for lunch, very white, very American newsreaders pronouncing the dishes as though they were reporting from Central America- Nee-ha-RAH-WAH, chee-mee-CHONG-ah.) Rightists are fulminating that a liberal woman will be on the Supreme Court, not realising that she will merely be replacing one.

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.
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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.

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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".