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Friday, November 30, 2007

Gillian Gibbons is apparently on par with most public school teachers here in the YouEssof Ay. What a stellar example of stupidity, to name a Teddy Bear "Mohammed" in a Muslim country.

But wait...it's the KIDS wot done it. The class agreed to the name after one child suggested it.

But wait...there's MORE! The boy who suggested it did so because Mohammed is his name. He was not thinking of the Prophet, nor the Prophet's beard, at all. He wanted to name the toy after himself.

Gillian should have known better to agree, but I'll betcha she fully believed that Islam at heart is a Religion of Peace and Love for the Betterment of its adherents. And who shouldn't believe it? Just look at Sudan! Darfur, anyone? If I were a leader in Sudan, I really wouldn't want to make my country more noisome than it already is.

Islam is a mongrel religion, cobbled from paganism, and the fever-dreams of a terrorist and pederast. That's a great start. The asses' heads who burble about the "great Faith of Islam" clearly haven't read their Bibles. (I pause for that revelation to sink in.) The book of Romans teaches that "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.". The Koran just doesn't pass muster doctrinally as an extension of Divine Thought.
No agreement 'twixt the two.

OH! now rioters are demanding that the teacher (who now must be longing for a cuppa by the fire), be executed for her Crimes against Islam. They want to execute a teacher whose students named the class Teddy Bear "Mohammed". Peace and Love, baby. Peace and Love.

Sorry, but this increases my level of respect for Islam no end. It makes me consider naming my next bowl of oatmeal "Mohammed".

PBUH.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

It's a train wreck, I tells ya.


I was feeling punk tonight...Loen and I may well be fighting the same bug. Thus we stayed home at church time. We made the grave error of watching the CNN-YouTube Republicrat debate.

Mercy.

Of course, I expected even-handed treatment at the hands of Anderson Cooper, as I expected piercing intelligent questions from the YouTube crowd.

...sorry, I just spewed hot tea out of my nose. I slay me!

It may be an obvious statement, but the entire debate was naught but an exercise in "How can we embarrass the candidates THIS time?". From the sad retired brigadier general whining about the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy, clutching the big microphone, to the (likely) atheist plant holding up a Big Black Bible and asking "Do you believe every word of this book?", it was an infinite sadness. Ron Paul's real weakness is a tendency to dither while choosing the right phrasing, and he got precious little opportunity to showcase that.

Mitt Romney with his Laser-Eye Action TM was best at deferring to the wisdom of his advisors. John McCain was at his twitchy best. Giuliani was the most convincing of the bunch, as far as steady-on delivery is concerned. That zombie mouth of his is creepy, though. He reminds me of that Mummy in the original Jonny Quest.

A major irritant was the graph. Twelve men and twelve women, undecided voters all (they did not specify whether they were Republicans and Democrats). Of course, the U.V. is the stupidest beast on the planet, and is likely the reason there are so many Moderates elected. These U.V.'s each had a keypad where they registered their like or dislike for the answer of the moment. The 1-10 graph used "5" as a baseline, and a graph was superimposed over the face of the candidate. Each sex had a different color line, and you could track the relative mood of the cattle. After the debate the newschick asked if anyone had changed their minds (sorry, tea in my nose, again) and one white-haired woman said yes, she had. To John Edwards. Another manatee (manashe?)
was all open-minded about gays in the military, and that was sweet from a behemoth in green Spandex.

Did I say after the debate? They interrupted Hunter or Huckabee (sorry, I can't remember. Vanilla or French vanilla) to share the collective wisdom of the Undecideds.

Wow, what a show. I have such Hope for the future of the Republic.

Sunday, November 25, 2007

OK, Alan Keyes

Get a grip. I've supported you in the past. I mean, I even had your BUMPER STICKER on my van, and I did business with that van. The problem is, you just don't learn. There is an important lesson that has escaped you over the years, and through the attempts. I've said it before, and because my own writing impresses me so, I'll iterate:


Jeremiah never won an election.

I believe that what you will do if your candidacy develops any legs at all is that you will siphon off the lunatic fringe that might go for Ron Paul (I know that many will rollick over the unintentional comedy of that prophecy.) And you will both lose.

Please, Alan, give your stance a chance, and let Ron Paul run. Don't be his Perot. I believe that he has a chance to win.

I know that you don't.

'Cause I learned the lesson.

Saturday, November 24, 2007

The Angry Little Aardvark, Part the Second

This is a departure. Not politics, per se, not Biblicality (Boy, what a fun "Finish him" in Mortal Kombat...A 300-pound armored King James on a chain takes your opponent out as Shao Khan sepulchrally intones "Biblicality", whilst your fighter appears in a powder-blue leisure suit and pompadour. "Say Bay-bee").

I am livid over the Liberty Dollar seizure by the Feds.The head of the Mint had written that the Liberty Dollar was NOT in violation of law.

...correspondence between US Senator Bill Nelson of Florida and Edmond C Moy, Director of the US Mint. Of particular interest is Moy's statement that the (Liberty Dollar) paper Certificates are not covered by the Title 18, Section 486 and hence legal.


The whole sorry tale can be found here.

The Givemint has not only raided and seized the holdings of a legitimate business, but they have also stolen the money of those who hold some $20 million in Liberty Dollars. The Liberty Dollar is an alternative currency backed by precious metals. You know, like the Founders intended. Oh, and like God intended (Check the Mosaic Covenant on honest weights and measures).

The Feds are making it clear; Thou shalt have no other Currency before Mine.

Read the LD site. Join the fight for HONEST money.

Thursday, November 22, 2007

I have an experiment going.

There is a little also-ran auction site called BidVille.

My ID there is Aardvark3.

I would like to see if I can drive some traffic there. (Not necessarily to buy my stuff, but to build up the thing.) I have already begun getting Christmas goodies on BidVille. You can get good, new merchandise there. You can sell for far less than on eBay, as well.

So check it out, maybe open an account and sell that extra fondue pot for some extra Christmas cash!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING...and a Pox upon "Turkey Day"


What private property does -- as the Pilgrims discovered -- is connect effort to reward, creating an incentive for people to produce far more. Then, if there's a free market, people will trade their surpluses to others for the things they lack. Mutual exchange for mutual benefit makes the community richer.
Secure property rights are the key. When producers know that their future products are safe from confiscation, they will take risks and invest. But when they fear they will be deprived of the fruits of their labor, they will do as little as possible.
That's the lost lesson of Thanksgiving. -- John Stossel


I am thankful for my family. I am thankful for the few friends I have - few being more a function of my busy-ness than of inherent unloveability - and for the business we have been so blessed with. I am thankful for this nation, and for the wisdom of its Founders, and for men like Ron Paul and even (!) Neal Boortz who strive to point us back to their instruction and example. For God, the Gifts of His Son and the Holy Spirit, and the church for whom Christ died. I am thankful for that empty tomb.

I am also thankful for the readers here, who make this less an exercise in futility and hubris.

I am NOT thankful for the waggish term "Turkey Day", a noisome term coined by comics wishing a hat-tip to the day, but with none of the attendant theistic baggage. It is flip, and unworthy.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

On Charismania.


Unlike many of my brethren, I am not convinced that the completion of the Canon spelled Doom for the charismata. That view requires an assumption, one not supported in Scripture, that the Spiritual Gifts were primarily for the Inspiration of the Scriptures.
I don't make an issue of it, as it is a divisive idea, but I don't shrink from discussing it if anyone inquires.

What's the point? I have seen a lot of stupidity done in the name of "the Holy Spirit".
Such silliness places it in the realm of Charismania, as distinguished from the charismatic.
I was musing this afternoon on the phenomenon I call "The Thursday Night Cough-and-Spew". This house party masquerades as a prayer meeting or Bible study, when in reality it as a coffee-klatsch for the chronically demonized. Your besetting sin or habit like addiction to pR0n, or habitual nail-biting, is dealt with, Hey Presto!, and you have the offending problem cast out of you. Victory in Jesus! -- 'til next week.

Now, I have no problem with the idea of deliverance from demons. Jesus dealt with 'em, treated them as sentient personalities, and took authority over them. He bequeathed that authority to the church. Aside from one misapplied verse from Zechariah, there is no Scriptural indication that trouble with evil spirits would cease after the first advent of Christ. Where my problem lies is the quick-and-easy shortcut to discipleship called "deliverance ministry". There is nothing in the New Testament that remotely resembles what passes for "deliverance" today. I have a habit...I go to the meeting...the group prays for me (in my experience with these groups, they are USUALLY led by self-styled woman "pastors")...I begin a set of learned responses, to wit, coughing, gagging, and being brought to crisis. The deliverance complete, I go home to...

The problem beginning again two days later.

I am speaking in generalities, but you get the point. I believe in prayer as being effective. I also believe that I am to be discipled, taught how to live the Christian life by those older and more experienced. Deliverance-so-called is no shortcut or substitute for maturity and growth. Much of what is practiced is psychodrama in the name of Jesus, a quick fix for the seeker, another notch on the belt of the "minister".

I do not mean to lump true deliverance in with the sloppy doctrine of today. Jesus' ministry was fully a third involved with casting out demons from the demonized. One of the charismata granted the church is "discerning of spirits", but to turn such effective methodologies into a carnival sideshow, Pentecostal primal-scream therapy, or some other pop-psych substitute for discipline, for trying , does violence to the Gospel, which itself is the power of God unto salvation.

Monday, November 19, 2007

I have a confession.


I am a Christian. (Allow me the hubris of self-applying what should be a gift word).

I am a Christian, and you have nothing to fear from me. I will not break down your door to stop whateveritisyoudo in your living room. I will DEFINITELY not intrude in your sanctum sanctorum to see what toys you have in your nightstand, and I certainly won't rummage in your medicine chest to see what creams and ointments you employ. (I make no promises about checking out your bookshelf.) You see, what you do, smoke, or imbibe in the sanctity of your home is NOT MY BUSINESS. It is certainly God's business; it is just as certainly not mine.

What's more... and this is KEY...I do not wish to employ the Armed Might of the Givemint to intrude into your bedroom, livingroom, or patio. This is to say. I do not wish to grant the Government what is surely only God's purview. If you murder your wife, that's one thing. Thou shalt not. However, smoking with, drinking with, or pleasuring her is not Government's concern.

What's MORE important is that I do not wish to vote for candidates who want to push their personal beliefs through the legislative sausage mill and make YOU eat it..
"But what about aBORtion?" Wow. See how successful the pro-life whine machine has been in fixing that little problem. (I say this as a pro-life person who has marched and donated and prayed and voted.) The only effective way to stop abortion is one at a time, through counseling and discipling. Go ahead and argue. History proves me right. Government is entirely the problem in the current abortion issue. (Well, maybe sin, selfishness and greed. Oh, wait...)

Now that the "A" word has been invoked, and none of my reader can think of anything else: It is no mistake in the banning of school prayer, Bibles in school, (Christian) public religious observance, and the coinciding zenith of Federal power. You cannot serve two masters.
The Federal government wants to be your master.I refuse to grant it more power. I will not vote for one who would make the Fed even more our master.

This is not to say that I believe in "anything goes". There are laws, and there is Law. If you are a lawbreaker, you should pay. Child molesters, murderers and such need not apply. The jury's out on jaywalkers. The point is, things that are between you and the Almighty need to remain so. If you bring the government into it, well, you get what you deserve for so doing. The Police Power of der Schtaat is a grievous thing and not something to be invoked lightly. It's like waving the MacLeod Faerie Flag to fend off Jehovah's Witnesses at the gate. I do not see Jesus, Peter, John, nor Paul marching to Rome to demand Christian Civil Rights, or to get legislation to stop the infernal practice of infant exposure (a kind of ex post facto abortion). Jesus said, make disciples of the nations. The rest of the gang proceeded so to do.

If through reading or hearing God's Word, with gentle enlightenment by the Holy Spirit, you become of the conviction that you are in error in a belief or practice, well, that's God's job, and if you want to talk, fine. But I'll not wag the Bony Finger of Judgment at you.

And I will not seek legislation against you.

Thursday, November 08, 2007

Your Inner European is Dutch!

Open minded and tolerant.
You're up for just about anything.
Oh come ON...

The Patster has placed his imprimatur on Rudy-Boy. "DANGER, DANGER, Pat Robertson!"
Apparently those mega-health shakes aren't cleaning out the baffles of your mind.

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Yes, I'm posting again. I have been so amazingly busy with printing and conventions that I have had to triage my time, and sadly, the Plumbline took the hit. Truly, sadly, as this outlet is important to me. I have YET to finish Roci's list of questions, but it HAS been on my mind.

David Goodman has stopped by and commented. I want to meet him and enjoy Convivial Good Fellowship, with potables and cigars. That would be neat. I shall link to his blog, as well as the OTHER person who linked to me, and no I did not forget, just haven't gotten around to the chore of inserting a line of HTML. And the dog ate my homework.

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Now, let it be known that I am not a rabid Paulist, as people were rabid Perotistas lo, those many years ago. I have one-or-two mild disagreements with him, but COME ON, people, why are the "Christian" voters not looking at this guy? Ron Paul is the most socially conservative guy to come along in A-while. Is it the war? Since when did Christians not like a guy for BEING AGAINST A WAR? Does Jesus want us to bomb the Jihadists straight to Gehenna? WAIT! It's because he is "pro-DRUGS"!

No, he isn't. He is AGAINST anything in the Federal government that violates the Constitution. You know, the CONSTITUTION! The "Bible" of our system of governance.
George W. Bush's "damn piece of paper". He wants to follow the rules, rules penned by men far smarter than Ted Kennedy, Harry Reid, or Nancy Pelosi. Or even Jeff Sessions or Richard Shelby.

I am weary to the point of nausea of the alleged conservative voices on radio not even MENTIONING Paul in their litany of Prexy hopefuls. I have respect for Laura Ingraham, but even she cannot utter the Dread Syllables.

His name is Ron Paul, and he is seeking the Republican nomination to run for President of These United States.

Hmmm...maybe I AM becoming rabid. I know that no-one else of any party gives me any sense of hope. The debates just look like the 1984 Apple ad, all massive and grey and droning. Makes me want to learn Russian.