Do what he say, do what he saaaayyyy... do what he saaaayyyy...

So, I was thinking (and I REALLY need to move into a lighter vein, but the nights are getting longer, and my temper, shorter.), if you are going to make the pretense of following historical, Biblical Christian doctrine, you might do well to stop pulling other doctrines out of your nethers.

Rapture: NOT IN THERE (Resurrection of the dead, yes, but that's a different basket of loaves and fishes)
Sinners Prayer: NOT IN THERE Period.
Ask JESUS into your heart!: NOT IN THERE (Rev.3:20 is to the erring church at Laodicea.)

(As to the latter two, a reading of Peter's prescription would be enlightening in Acts chapter two. Read the whole thing. Behold the birth of the church.) 

If you are going to be a Biblical Christian, then do what the Bible says. It may not be cool. It may not be hip. It may not popular. It may not be soPHISticated.

It will please your God. Jesus said "If you love me, keep my commandments.". That alone is the metric for our love for Christ. Do What He Says. Raising your hands isn't. Being there every time the door opens isn't. Doing quiet time isn't.

Do

What

Jesus

Says.

This requires more than a passing nod to the Scriptures. It requires reading them. Getting to know them. Doing them.Yourself.

The German soldiers at the Nuremburg trials were not cut any slack because "ve vere following orders.". Likewise, pointing and saying "My preacher said" or "the youth minister said" will not cut it. Adam blame shifted not only to Eve "the woman" but also to God Himself "that YOU gave me". That didn't work either. We are, each of us, responsible for Knowing and Doing. Biblical truth is findable and knowable. With your reading, and reading with others of like precious faith, you can apprehend a great trove of truth to practise and share.

The New Testament was written in koine Greek. Street Greek. Martin Luther translated the Bible into the language of the German people. Wycliffe translated it into English. It was written to be read and understood. It is not some mystic, gnostic tome. Read it. Then do it. Get help if you need.

Just be sure that you are not making it up as you go along.

 

 

Hmmmmmm. Still here. It was either a really quiet trumpet, or nothing happened. I'm betting on the latter, given that FOX and CNN are not full of video of massive automobile wrecks from driverless cars careening into those Left Behind.

Which raises an issue: If I were a raptured motorist, and my unmanned flivver kills a mother hysterically pushing her now-empty pram along Jefferson Street, would my rapture ticket be rescinded?
What of the Almighty's culpability in this fiasco? I mean, she would have no chance to come to Jesus during the Tribulation period, now. This should be especially alarming to Open Theists, who believe that God limits His foreknowledge, apparently because He likes surprises, or at least so they can fanwank a way for foreknowledge and free will to coexist amicably. (As an Arminian Calvinist, I have never seen the problem myself.) I mean, these victims will never be able to hear fine gospel preaching by the Two Prophets, or the 144,000. I have far less problem with God opening the earth to swallow Dathan and Co. than with Himself perpetrating Rapture-induced vehicular homicide.

Actually, I see this as a damning indictment of the whole damned teaching (see what I did there? And you thought I was just cussin'!). Airplanes falling from the sky, cars doing the Carmageddon thing on the roadways, all because God blew the Rapture whistle. No fairs, NO FAIRS! (Quick...what's the reference?!)

And I used to believe this stuff.

Now I am not so callow as to believe that ad doctrinum attacks are sufficient to disprove the thing, The Scriptures, and a passing acquaintance with them are sufficient (at least after you recognise any blind spots you may have.) Read the Scriptures and let them say what they say following normal rules of grammar and meaning, and you should be fine. No need for J.Vernon McGee, or John MacArthur, or Hal Lindsey to lead you by the nose.    
-------------------------------------

Mr. McLeod's offering on FaCHAYbook admirably bullseyes the political spectrum facing us:

The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of the Conservatives is to prevent the mistakes from being corrected. (G. K. Chesterton, Illustrated London News, April 19, 1924)

 I cannot argue with Mr. Chesterton.

I missed the Rapture on Aardvark's Plumbline

Well, I have an ear cocked for the Trumpet, even if Jack Benny isn't Gabriel.
On the other hand, Jesus saying "No man knows the day or the hour..." may give me some leeway as to my need for having a weather-ear out.

I guess 12:01am Saturday will be the kicker.

Hmmmmm...does God keep Zulu time?

Would You Buy a Used Eschatology From This Man?

How can ANYONE listen seriously to Hal Lindsey anymore? The other night I turned on George Noory's Coast to Coast AM, and there was ol' Hal, rabbiting on about Bible End-Timey-Wimey prophecies, Gog and Magog, Armageddon, and totally ignoring that he has been reliably wrong for forty-plus years.

His NYT Bestselling book (ALWAYS a good indicator of doctrinal correctness) The Late Great Planet Earth made a number of predictions, not the least of which involved the establishing of the nation of Israel in 1948 being the "budding of the fig tree" referred to by Jesus in Matthew:

"Now learn this parable from the fig tree:  When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near.  33 So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near — at the doors!  34 Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place.  35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away." (NKJV)  MATTHEW 24:32 

 This appears in Mark and Luke as well.  A Biblical generation is generally understood to be 40 years, The idea became popularized that Jesus would therefore return within 40 years of the re-establishing of Israel (or at least Rapture the church), in other words, by 1988. Come Jan 1, 1989, this was proven to be incorrect.

1948-1988......no RAPTURE. This alone is enough to establish Hal Lindsey as a false prophet, but there has been no word of repentance to date from Mr. Lindsey. Rather there have been several books from him updating his ideas.

No repentance for false prophecies, no rapture, no shamefaced shutting his prophetic pie-hole.

Why do we have an entire Christian culture addicted to this prophetic foofery. I came to Christ during the Late Great Planet Earth wave. I read the Bible, and listened to mature Christian teachers, and got over it.

Why can't people figure out that language and grammar don't get all gooey just because you are reading the Bible. "This generation" means "THIS generation", the generation to whom Jesus was speaking. The Gospel according to the New York Times is another gospel.

I have neither the time nor the inclination to examine all of a four-decades-old book. Read the Bible. Hear it.

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.

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


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...

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

____________________________________________

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.
-----------------------------



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.