John Edwards--SUPERSTAR

One of the first projects I undertook when I became a Christian as a teen was to do a line-by-line comparison of Jesus Christ Superstar to what the Gospels actually taught. Now, I LOVED the rock opera (and as a musical work, I still do), but that exercise revealed the paucity of Biblical knowledge that Webber and Rice enjoyed. (Yes, I understand, they were NOT writing a Bible study program, rather a Jesus as feckless revolutionary who let it get out of hand, and Judas as hero, whose effort to "save" Jesus also goes awry. Then there is the "I Don't Know How To Love Him" Magdalen bit. If there had been no JCS, there would be no da Vinci Code.) It also set a pattern for me, in that I do my best to insist on Biblical authority for what I teach and do, which is why my reliance upon grace is so important, as I blow it with astounding frequency.

In the words of Charles Simpson, "I'm not where I ought to be, but praise God, I'm not where I used to be!".

Now I have NEVER seen the like: amazing ignorance of Jesus and His teaching cascading from the lips of commentators and politicos alike. (unless it was the time the Press was shocked and amazed that Jesus had something to do with the Jews, as revealed in "The Passion of the Christ".) It's kind of an "Everything I Learned About Jesus Wasn't Really About Jesus But Was Twaddle I Learned In Kindergarten" moment.

WA-A-A-A-Y back in olden times, the disciples of Socrates, f'rinstance, would write whole dialogues, and posthumously attribute them to old hemlock-breath, sort of philosophical fanfic.
Jesus is getting the same treatment from the political hacks of today. John Edwards is asserting that Jesus would be ashamed of the You-Ess-of-Ay:

During an interview with the faith and spirituality website Beliefnet.com, Edwards, who unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic presidential bid in 2004, said ""I think that Jesus would be disappointed in our ignoring the plight of those around us who are suffering and our focus on our own selfish short-term needs...I think he would be appalled, actually.

He also asserts that our lack of National Healthcare would wring tears from the Son of God.
The focus on the Nation is telling. The liberal mindset operates in terms of Groups, the masses.

Jesus championed the individual. Our relationship with God, one-on-one through Christ, certainly joins us to the church, but we still stand before God on our own. Come Judgment Day, we each of us will stand before Christ as individuals. I will not be able to hide with My Group.
Jesus commands ME to do alms, to give, to help, to teach. He works through relationships, not Groupthink. America is not a Christian nation, by definition it cannot be. America cannot be A Christian. It is incumbent therefore that we individual Christians do our part where charity and helps are concerned.

Proverbs 19:17, "He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and that which he hath given will he pay him again."

I like the "Message" rendering:

Mercy to the needy is a loan to God, and God pays back those loans in full.

That is so neat.

If you are a Christian, you have a responsibility to help the poor. Specifically help fellow believers first and foremost:

And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith. Gal.6:9-10

Certainly we should help unbelievers who ask, but not to the hurt of our brethren. (Not to appear crass, but the care Christians have one for another can and SHOULD be a potent incentive for becoming a member of God's Family.)

Matthew 5:42, "Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away."

John Edwards is pulling "Jesus" fanfic from his nethers, and what Edwards is saying is worth precisely that. Allow Jesus to suggest what all of the weepers from the Left who are interested in directing MY charity by robbing me through taxation and giving MY money in "our" name, while keeping their houses and lands, and carbon footieprints can do:

So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”
(Luke 18:22)

In the words of Stan Lee: 'Nuff said!

The current kvetchfest about Pretty Women and Their Higher Wages is most droll.
(The added plus of having it reported by the Fox Newsfoxes just makes it more gigglesome.)

The Dread Dormomoo posits that it is all because the Pretty are also the Smarter. They know, instinctively or otherwise, that the putting forth of the best foot, dressing for success, and utilizing What God Gave Ya is the best way to go. (Not the exposure of hectares of boobosity, but rather dressing attractively.)

The Liberal Arts College dressing-down, Birkenstocked, unshaven "I'm being Honest: this is Me" may win points at the coffee house or poetry saloon, but it ain't the Nineties any more.
Verbal self-control is a winner as well. The office is one environment, the bistro is another entirely. What may be acceptable at The Macaroni Factory and Potable Palace is likely a tad loose for business, and gettin' stuff done.

Frankly, given the choice between, say, Laurie Dhue and Amanda Marcotte (or any of the Womyn's Studies crowd from my Alma Mater), whether for Journalism or for fetching a latte (ha, I said "Laurie Dhue" and "fetching" in the same sentence) I think that Ms. Dhue gets the job.

(Of course, if it were Shep Smith, The Dread Dormomoo and I would both hire. He's dreamy....)

"Thanks for taking our quiz. You answered 100% of the questions correctly. "


I took the Religion quiz.
I scored right up there with Mr. Mensa! Missed one, made 100%
(The Sunni / Shiite question got me. Hey, they BOTH begin with "s".)
Vox is right...they must grade on a curve.

"What we're trying to say to the president is, you can't send people in who are not trained for urban warfare . . . who are not prepared to contend with an insurgency." ---Nancy Pelosi.


This is Murtha's plan, and at first blush, it appears reasonable.

But y'know, I do not trust the bounders. There has never been a riper time for Public Discontent in the US to boil over into Uprising. The majority of troops, and much materiel, is to be found overseas. The Leadership would be stupid (!) not to recognize this. The training of our soldiers in urban tactics would go a long way toward making the Crowned Heads Rest Easy. Internecine fighting would be distasteful to many in the armed forces, but there are enough soldiers who are desensitized to the idea of firing on a countryman that it would be a tough row to hoe for any rebels with Constitutional demands. These guys have sought explicit answers from the government as to the Constitutionality of the Income Tax, f'rinstance. Their Constitutional demand for Redress of Grievance has been met with stony silence from the Hallowed Halls.

So Murtha's Plan makes me a tad queasy. A non-responsive government wants to specifically train its Protectors in methods well suited to keep the rabble in line.

Queasy, I tells ya.

It's so difficult!

I am hearing this all over the place- especially where discourse on "illegal aliens" is concerned, and frankly, usually when a female advocate is speaking. "This is a Difficult situation." This usually goes hand-in-hand with the idea of "humanizing" the illegals.

I do not understand what is so difficult or complex about this.

You have people who have broken our country's laws, who are now being given a pass by the media, and largely left-leaning (and well-meaning) advocates. This seems simple. I do not get the problem here.

There are more American citizens killed in the US by illegal aliens per year than the number of our soldiers killed in Iraq to date. This includes traffic fatalities as well as felonies.

Now, to be fair- and this is a sticking point for me- I have NEVER seen an (apparently) Hispanic guy leave a public restroom without washing his hands. It's always the white guys. Ewwwwww.
I am not anti-people. I am not anti-black, brown, pink, red, or yellow. (Frankly, I have trouble with the Purples.) I am anti-illegal. Anti-lawbreaking.

I just cannot understand how this is complex. Perhaps I am just simple-minded.

Hey, I'm givin' you a free shot, here!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
TO ME!


Well, February 25th passed, and I didn't.

Your Aardvark is now 50.

Your Aardvark does not go to sleep with the Grim Spectre hovering over his thoughts. Your Aardvark does live with an abiding annoyance with his mortality. One could say that he has Issues With Adam.

"Isn't that cute." the agnostics and atheists are saying. "He has issues with a myth...."

The Aardvark does in fact believe in Biblical Creation. He believes that Adam did the Big Stupid.
He believes that he has Words for Adam when they meet. "The fruit could not have been THAT good.", he will say, "And Eve could not have been THAT pretty...."

He believes that Death is not a kind of creepy pal, but is in fact the Final Enemy, and he is not happy about it. The Aardvark likes life, and because he has only experienced life here, he has no basis for comparison, and is not sanguine about Major Change. He believes in Heaven, looks forward to it, but is in no hurry. The big Five-Oh only aggravates the issue, because What Has He Done With 50 Years, And Where Did They All Go?

Oh well.

The younger 'varks and the Dread Dormomoo all went out of their way to ease the blow by distracting him with presents, and cake. It went a long way. The list of Goodies includes:

• A diecast Zero-X model, with amazing detail (see picture above). It is from a favorite movie, Thunderbirds Are GO.
• A boss Tiki figure, to go with the whole Space-Age Bachelor Pad motif.
• An awesome McFarland Jonny Quest diorama
• A comfy terry robe, for the Lounging. Not a smoking jacket, 'cos your Aardvark is housebroken.
• The Requisite Birthday Lifesavers...a family tradition of obscure beginnings.
• More To Come, as the post is still handling them...

The CAKE, now, was a departure; an utterly decadent, repentance-worthy confection called "Raspberry Heaven". Dark chocolate bundt cake with a cream-cheese, semi-sweet chocolate and fresh raspberry filling. A white vanilla icing glaze.

Oh, goodness. 4-stars.

Thank you!

GOD DOES NOT CARE.

I have come to several realisations. Most of them are less-than-Pollyanna material.

First, if you choose to do things YOUR way, rather than God's, as revealed in His Word, then it really doesn't matter if you volunteer for Hospice, attend Imus' "First Church of the Gooey Death and Discount House of Worship", meditate on the "Aquarian Gospel of Swithin the Unsure" in the centre of a butterfly and sunflower filled field, or take unholy orders in a Crowleyesque Church of Satan. Really, it just doesn't matter. It's binary! You either choose God's way, or not.

God is an articulate...mmm....God. I mean, His Son is the Word made flesh, so c'mon.
Like the loser bumper sticker says: "I believe in the Big Bang...God said it, and >BANG<, it happened!" Thus, He is able to get His point across. His apostle Paul warns:
"Don't be unequally yoked with unbelievers." People, this does not mean merely to avoid getting into an MLM with some unrepentant clown (though it remains a good idea!) but it also means DON'T MARRY AN UNREPENTANT CLOWN.

Oh wait...I hear a voice from the back:

"If my wife hadn't married me back when, then I would NEVER have become a Christian."

OK, let's take this apart: NEVER. Never say never. You cannot possibly know that. (This is not a Straw Man. I hear it every time this comes up, and it's always the guys that say it. Eve couldn't follow God's instructions to godliness, neither can these chicks apparently follow God's clear instruction. God may well REDEEM their choosing their own way; this can not be construed as God's blessing their rebellion.)

Back to the original point. You may trot out a myriad of perfectly reasonable rationales WHY you should do your own idea, rather than follow a sovereign, loving God's clear instruction.
Many people DO. I have a dear friend who has fallen for an addicted unbeliever. "He's a GOOD man...and if I can bring him around, it will all be worth it." I can see her already in my mind's eye, dressed in black, with prematurely white hair, calling out to God for this guy, years down the pike. This is not Obedience and Witnessing. This is rebellion and self-martyrdom. It comes down to this: What does God say. Forget your Very Good Ideas.

God does not care about them.

He has His will, and He knows it works. Do His will, and be amazed.

UPDATE...UPDATE...UPDATE...

To quote a John Astin character, "I'm feeling MUCH better, now.".
Back is better, and the HEADACHE is gone.

"It's gone, it's gone...my head is gone...." --Dishonest John

Many thanks for the prayers!
.............................................

More prayers are needed:

Please pray for the honeybees.
This is not a joke. If you like to eat, pray health and long life for the bees.
Curious?

This is a worldwide phenomenon.

Sex with "no strings attached".

Oh BOY! The tubes of the interWeb have made me more popular than EVER.
My Yahoo mail is always bringing news about Friends Who Want to Meet Me, especially Friends With Whom to Have Sex With No Strings Attached.

Wow.
Wowee wowwowwow.

The limitless cyber-vistas beckon.

These emails, which get deleted instanter, raise an interesting issue. (Why is it impossible not to get Freudian when one writes about sex?) The concept of "sex with no strings attached". Not to get all Harry-met-Sally, but I question that this is even possible, even amongst the most fillintheblank-pathic.

A 70-year-old man is rocking on the porch with his wife of five decades. No words pass between them as they sit and watch the world go by. Finally, she hoists herself up from her chair, and shuffles into the house. Minutes pass, then the screen door squeaks opens, and the old lady shuffles behind her hubby's chair, whereupon she raises her arm and >CLANG< wallops him with a cast-iron skillet.
What's THAT for?" He complains. "Fifty years of bad sex." is her reply.

Three days pass, and the missus is sitting, knitting on the porch. The old man comes up behind her and >WHACK<, he hits her on the head with an axe handle.

"That's fer knowin' th' diff'rence." he grumps.

Point- there are ALWAYS strings with sex, whether the memories of Other Partners, the worry of Measuring Up to an experienced partner's other lovers, the microbial leftovers of previous encounters, or the emotional ties you have with a sex partner- and there ARE emotional ties, as you are at your MOST naked in that embrace. Sorry, no footnotes, you'll have to go to the library for that.

Besides, you know it's true.

I may be spotty as far as blogging goes for awhile.
I have torn my back up. It hurts.

whine, whine

It HURTS.
Missed church yesterday :^(
Loen gave the Dread Dormomoo a back massaging chair cushion for HER birthday.
She let me use it. It helped, but I woke up the same way this morning.

Evil.

The fun news is that I can't work very well either, so it's going to be aspirin and Doans pills for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

How bad do I feel?
The family are going to Mikawa Japanese Restaurant.
I'm not.

This is getting to the place that sent me to a chiropractor over a decade ago.

Sorry to seem all pouty, but this is old...

Any prayers would be appreciated.

*cue Twilight Zone theme*

Art Bell had a UFO guest on last night, James Gilliland, who claims to be able to summon UFOs on demand. Bell broke with his standard discomfort re: group mind experiments, and had his audience "summon" UFOs during the last hour of his show. Bell had the listeners ""invite" the saucers, and then go out to look for them.

They came.

We are currently in a major UFO flap across the world, so awareness is high. Bell, of course, defines his audience, from the True Believers to nuts with chronic insomnia, hence his audience is READY for the chance to see a UFO. But there may well be more at work than hyperactive expectation.

The mind experiments are the closest Bell will come to prayer. He has (successfully) conducted tests of Group Will on the air, such that it freaked him out, and seriously evoked ethical questions in his mind. Dare he summon the awesome dynamo of mental dunamis at his mere whim? (Frankly, I'd be comfy voting for a man with scruples like that, UFOs or no.)

So, you may expect that you FIND what you're LOOKING FOR. Bell's and Gilliland's experiment may point to another angle: the spiritual nature of UFOs. If Diversity is the True God of the Cosmos, then SOMEWHERE there must be a UFO contactee who has been instructed in the Gospel by the aliens...at least something approaching the Biblical plan of redemption. But to a man...little green, grey, or saurian...the humans So Taught by the UFOnauts are given Anti- Biblical, "new agey" all-is-one, it doesn't matter WHAT you believe, just BELIEVE, Ascended Master stuff. Thus as a Christian, I see a disconnect as far as the enlightenment found in these encounters.

The saucer guys go out of their way to either degrade humans (probing), or inoculate them against the Faith Once Delivered.

To quote an old hero: "DANGER, DANGER, WILL ROBINSON!".

Insofar as the mind experiments go, the old Monkey's Paw lesson comes to mind:

Be careful what you ask for.

Thursday was a BEAST; the Entire Cosmos was engaged in preventing me from getting anything done, timely or otherwise.

Now you know how important I am.

Thus, it is 3:45 am Friday as I write this pathetic screedlet. I was printing a job 'til 2:30, then I got home and coated some screens so that I will have summat to work with later today. I showered and Got Things On My Mind, so here I am.

Allow me to prophesy: In the next 18 months be prepared for an economic downturn. Despite Ben Bernanke and his Magic Helicopter, the economy will slow considerably. Y'see, it's part of The Plan. The Party of Compassionate Givemint has engineered the whole thing. The increased Minimum Wage, that Benison from Yonder DC-way, is already having the true Desired Effect (and kiddies, it is not to enable pimply-faced burger flippers and bluevests to better handle the Demands of Fiduciary Responsibility. Nossir.) Small businesses are already reducing hours, and letting workers go, due to the increased expense of the higher M.W.

"Surely Ted Kennedy missed seeing this unfortunate Unintended Consequence!" Sure, and he also bought Mary Jo Kopechne water wings. No, the Dems are VERY aware of this side-effect of "their" largesse. With an increasingly moribund economy, the Jackasses....er...Donkeys will slide into Election 2008 pointing at slowing business and increased unemployment, and they will say:

"Lookit! See what 8 years of a Republican White House has done to your pocketbook? WE can fix it by soaki...errrr, raising taxes on the wealthy, and giving that money to the Littul PEE-pul in the form of entitlements and increased services."

That's it. "Abbadee, abbadeee, That's All Folks!!"

Next: What can we do??

Well, the Utah yout' who gunned down five random folks before being reduced to worm fodder himself had an interesting twist to his life.

Yep, he was a Lutheran.

I kid...I KID...

Yeppers, this murderous kid, described by his aunt as "a good boy" was a Muslim. Apparently he took all the lessons from The Religion of Peace, Love and Tolerance to heart.

Wow...this is a real twist: all that teen angst running headlong into Islamic fervor. Instead of going Emo and cutting himself, he went Jihad and cut down strangers at the mall, busting, as they say, a cap.

Maybe there just wasn't a Hot Topic there....

I am robbing from my comments here

An affectation which I abhor is avalanching (my term), or "Hannitizing".
You repeat yourself, you iterate, you restate in a triad to hammer home your point. It is like a verbal avalanche to the ears.

I think he has a good start, there.

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

The most egregious example of marketing humbuggery is the "hand dryer".
You know, those blow-ey things in public restrooms that are rarely good enough to do more than shove the water around on your hands.

But...but...they are environmentally friendly!
They reduce disease-spreading paper towel waste!!
They SAVE TWEES!!!

Hateful.

They are run on Electricity.
Electricity production has considerable environmental impact. Mining...burning fossil fuels...greenhouse gases...in short, hand dryers are likely a major culprit in the Global Warming
issue.

I AM thankful for the reduction in paper towel waste. I can't TELL you how many family members I have lost to Paper Towel Pestilences. I caught the plague from a W*l-M*rt a couple of weeks ago, I think. All those rats burrowing through the piles of sodden paper towels. I get at least a couple of bites every time I go in one. I got a neat pet, though. Caught 'im whilst he was still hanging on. We call him "Snappy".

"They save trees". HOW MANY TREES had to die in the Pliestocene age to supply YOUR greed for tepid blown air in your wretched bathrooms; what Cretaceous carnage was wrought to save some desksitter the trouble of ordering paper towels? Hypocrites!
Oh...and trees are a renewable resource. They keep growing! You can't stop 'em...unless you pave over the land to build a shopping center in which to install hand dryers.

The best thing that hand dryers accomplish is to discourage people from washing their hands.
Now, I have a virtual fetish for hand-washing, and I note...and mutter to myself...when people bypass the lavatory on their way out of the bathroom.

I'm so glad that disease won't be spread THAT way!

The power to Tax is the power to destroy.

Especially my piece of mind.
The Dread Dormomoo and I have spent hours today counting and evaluating the physical property used in our business. Why?

So that bureaucratic yahoos at town hall can charge us for purchasing equipment used in plying our trade. Sales tax is not enough, no. The gravedigger must pay tax on the shovel he uses, the baker on his kneading-bowl and oven. Men (and women, for we must give the succubi their due) who produce NOTHING take it upon themselves to dream up novel ways to steal from the producers like us.

Ooooooh, oooooh....Romans 13....kneel and kiss the ring.

Nope. The limit of human government is to reward the good, and punish the evil.

Precisely what reward is this contrary and arbitrary robbery to the good? Or am I evil, and must be punished with the confiscation of my goods or money in the course of doing business?
What possible Biblical rationale can justify the continual predatory escalation of taxation from all levels of government? And to what purpose? The increase of an anti-Christ system's implementation of ungodly, un-Biblical programs and justifications.

I am boiling...and we aren't EVEN talking income tax yet....

A thought I had from reading another blog (Vox Popoli):

The seminaries are themselves the enemy. --bw

Seminaries and denominational structure represent the "federalisation" of the Christian faith. What began as-and was designed to be- a decentralised system based around the local church, led by multiple elders (bishops, pastors, presbyters, shepherds, overseers...names showing different facets of the same office) of proven character and worth, and facilitated by deacons, responsive to local situations, has been twisted into a biblically unrecognisable monolithic, top-down structure. Biblical teaching was handled by the local leadership; disciple-making was the olders leading the youngers in the Way they should go. All were enabled to accurately handle God's Word (2 Timothy 2:15, "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.")

Now, we have congregations hiring a seminary indoctrinated preacher ("Pastor") to do their work, feeding predigested teaching as ably as any penguin parent.

The Mega-Church movement is the feedlot outgrowth of this phenomenon.
Kind of a doctrinal Golden Corral.

Feel free to argue, but provide Biblical proofs.

There is much sturm und drang over t' Vox's.
GUNS!
FIREARMS!
PARASITISM!!
CANNIBALS!!!

Now, I own a shootin' iron. I need to practice. I need a shotgun, too. I believe that it is wise to own firearms, when they are handled responsibly. There is no Scriptural mandate to own weaponry. Much has been blathered about Jesus telling his apostles to sell their spare cloak and buy a sword. They came up with two swords amongst them, and Jesus said "That's enough.".
(Luke 22:35-38) Two swords among twelve guys.

Hardly sounds a militia, does it?

One rule of thumb in Bible reading...or ANY reportage...is to find
Who is spoken TO, and what the situation (or context) is.

Again, I believe it wise to own and know how to use a gun.
There is hardly enough in Scripture to Build A Doctrine from.

That said...

Two of the funniest firearm things I know of:

Screwing a silencer on the barrel of a revolver.

This paraphrased bit from "Get Smart": Agent #8 (Burt Mustin)

Agent #8 - "My grandfather invented the first silencer"
Smart: "Really?"
Agent #8 - "Yes...when he fired his pistol, he yelled as loud as he could."

Now THAT'S Comedy!

SORRY, GUYS & DOLLS!

I have had to reactivate the wretched word verification.
The Plumbline is being assailed by...inappropriate comment spam.
(That was humorous...I repeated myself, there.)

What they were advertising was not up to the the normal altitude of standards here,
and my time is worth more than wasting it on weeding out tares.

I leave you to figger out the height.

Lest I be misunderstood...

My "Jesus Loves Osama" post - from MY perspective- had nothing to do with politics.
I recognise that the left-leaning churches attempt to realise God's Kingdom on Earth through
"Social Justice", which ultimately springs from Socialist Liberation Theology.

This is one reason why I attempt to keep things on a firm Biblical base.

Regardless of what motivated the Offending Signage, the WORDS were utterly correct.

Reminds me of Paul's attitude in Phillipians regarding those who were preaching the Gospel from less-than-pure motives:

15 Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some also from good will;
16the latter do it out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel;
17the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives, thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment.
18What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice...

We live in a depraved and degenerate world. Contradiction and paradox rule the day, but the Gospel remains a clarion call to a Kingdom of Life, Light, and eternal verity.

Our proclamations declare to whom we owe fealty. I desire to be clearly walking in the Light.

I have changed my mind.
Because of his apparent r-tardness, I think the bill for Boston's
Anti-ATHF bomb squads should go to the Mayor.



Was the guerrilla ad campaign stupid?

yes.



Was the dreadlocked "performance artist" an imbecile?

yes.



But the Mayor deserves the bill.
Maybe Homeland Security can leave a tip.

Photo courtesy Telegraph Media Group

Now, a church in Sydney, Australia has put up a billboard proclaiming "Jesus Loves Osama".
PM John Howard criticized the move. To quote Lex Luthor:

WRO-O-O-O-NG!

There has been no truer word spoken. The sign is utterly appropriate and correct. The church MUST act as Nathan to the country's David, proclaiming the truth of God's Word. The Scripture
verse below the sign is apt. "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you".

Jesus said that. So should we.

All of this is NOT to say that Jesus condones bin Laden's murderous bent, any more than he does our various lying, covetous, prideful, or adulterous proclivities, but rather that Jesus' redemptive sacrifice extends EVEN to the Osamas, Pol Pots, and Castros of the world, if they would but repent, and take the proffered gift, obeying Messiah as Lord.

Pray for those...for the weapons in our spiritual war are not physical, but are mighty before God....

-------------------------------------
From the sublime to the ridiculous:

Hello, Boston.

HOW STUPID CAN YOU BE?

I mean, you have kept Ted Kennedy in drink for decades, and I shan't even discuss John Kerry.
Your Big Dig project is a fiasco, but this?

Out of nine cities that were targeted by this guerrilla marketing ploy, only you went tilt.

Boxes with a cartoon character outlined in LEDs paralyzed the city. What an amazing example of the Nanny State in action.

On the flip side, Turner Broadcasting should pony up every penny for the defense of the two fellows who placed the ad displays.

Wouldn't hurt to pray for the media mavens who shape our popular culture. Here are my thoughts on that. Please read it all. It's short.

Huzzah! Here is a picture (thanks to timewarptoys)
"Mr. Joggy" is really spelt Mr. Joggi. It was manufactured by
Tigrett Industries, who did some unusual toys, including an early sonic remote control toy.

Happy memories from whem Momma was still living!

WWJB

A question that came up at home is What Would Jesus Blog?
(This of course begs the question of Whether We Need A Life.)
There are weblogs and journals of the utmost pristine purity,
nary a questionable question, no shade of unorthodoxy.
Then, there are those of Dark Design, used to promulgate
the eldritch, the shadowed, the bent. Between are endless ratios
of Mixture.Jesus was the sinless Son of God, yet many brethren today
would have serious trouble with him because of Who He Was Seen With.
Seems He was none too picky about whom he ate with, whom he taught,
whom he celebrated with.

Jesus did have some standards, however. He was not shy about letting the self-
proclaimed Orthodoxy know that they were rotten within, no matter how
perfect they appeared to those whom they lorded it over. The religious leaders
who made new rules to burden the hoi polloi were termed vipers, lumped
in with The Serpent himself. Yet Jesus was lambasted as a glutton, a drunkard,
as well as being a bad judge of character. As they say, where there's smoke,
there's fire! After all, his close retinue of followers included salty-tongued fishermen,
quisling tax agents , at least one terrorist, a thief, and a cynical doubter. He was acquainted
with Women Of Questionable Virtue, and actually...touched...lepers. His first miracle
provided potent potables for a wedding party- that would deny him membership at
Certain Congregations.

The point of this ramble is that if the sinless Son of the I Am was not loath to be in contact
with the imperfect, the sinful, neither then should we, as His disciples. As Paul -no shrinking violet, he- said, how shall they hear without a preacher? Whether it is online, at work, or in the marketplace, we are called to meet humanity and deliver the Good News of Jesus' life, death, resurrection, and the promise of His return, not huddle in sanctified self-righteousness, fearing contamination. It is incumbent upon us to spread the Word in whatever venue the Lord opens up for us. I have personally been able to multiply my opportunities sharing on different blogs through their comments. ONLY sharing the truth that is on topic, though, otherwise I would come across like a crank with an axe to grind. Read how Paul dealt with the idolatry in Athens.
Not a torch or anti-pagan march in sight! No flailing about with ten-pound KJVs. He met the Athenians where they were, and taught the appropriate truth. Listening to the Holy Spirit helped him, too, which indicates that God had no problem with Paul's modus.

Happy blogging!

I wish these things did not come to me in the shower.
I shower late, and hate writing on the wall with soap, so here
it is, 1:44AM Sunday morning, and I'm blogging.

Much has been done with the argumentum a silentio, where church polity is concerned.
Our fellowship, f'rinstance, does not utilize musical instruments in worship. The New Testament enjoins us to "sing and make melody in our hearts to the Lord"

Ephesians 5:18-20, "And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;" (cf Colossians 3:16)

We are explicitly told "sing and make melody". We are not told to have an orchestra, a one-man-band, nor a kazoo, for which I am profoundly grateful, as I despise music practice, and if God had said "piano", then the sea-lawyers among us would make it a salvific requirement for me to tickle the ivories.

The Argument From Silence concludes that because God does not mention "musical instruments" in the New Testament, the church should not use them, as there is no specific authority. Unfortunately, one can use the same "proof" to show that the apostle Paul did not believe in the Virgin Birth of Christ, because he never mentions it.

It is not my desire or interest therefore to drag an aging upright into the sanctuary....errr, auditorium, nor to install a Righteous pipe organ around the baptistry. I merely want to call a style of reasoning into question, to have it examined.

The type of argument here used springs from Aristotelian logic, a Greek -or Gentile- construct.
Well and good, but what is the wellspring whence the church sprang? Is it not Hebraic thinking, a covenant-based process, a mode of thought alien and barbaric to the Greek? Should we not be trained to think in the terms and ways Jesus, Peter, and Paul thought? (And, no, I am NOT advocating "judaizing" the church. I've read Galatians, too. The idea is to attempt to think and reason the way Jesus did.)

I can go no deeper now than to say that it seems to me that attempting to "decode" Hebraic Scriptures using Greek methods will ultimately be as useful as trying to decrypt 128 bit encryption using a pear. You might get something, but likely it will be sticky, unpleasant, and expensive.

Of course, this one is quite nice, too!

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: His Grace Lord Weatherly the Charitable of Kesslington under Ox Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: The Most Honourable Weatherly the Weary of New Scagglethorpe Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Beyond their Promulgating the Lie, I have another reason to avoid H&R Block.

Their new commercials have the hapless hubby using a "box" tax software product.
He gets stumped, so his redheaded (usually a major plus) wife proceeds to he...

You think I'm gonna say "help".

Proceeds to heckle him: "Ask your tax people. Oh, wait...you don't have people. You have a BOX. Ask the BOX." She talks to the box, then holds it up to her ear and hears nothing, you know, just to REALLY illustrate what a stupid yutz her hubby is.

Endearing.

There is a second one that is even worse. Sadly, from many of the blogs I see, her attitude is FAR from aberrant, so far as current norms are concerned. Of course, at least as far back as old time radio, the showcasing of hubby as a boob, and wifey as Einstein-once-removed has been the standard. Hmmm, could be why SO many men do not want to marry, especially the no-fault, feminist, covenant-bereft, anemic, government-ridden travesty that passes for marriage these days.

Personally, I am blessed to be married to a woman who not only read Proverbs 31, but chose to emulate it, one who also does not "trouble her own house".

I am thankful for the Dread Dormomoo.
Happy Birthday, sweetheart.

What does it mean?

I am on the cusp of becoming fifty years old, and I have no inkling of what this means.
I look like the men that I have always called "Sir".
Yet, in my own head, I am as I was in my twenties and thirties. Fact is, I have no idea where the last twenty years have gone. This is no paean of regret, but rather a Bemusement.

I love toys, and the kids shows of my youth. I am a devotee of the animation arts. Fact is, I find them to be the most creative and original motion picture story forms extant. I get on well with The Younger Set, and try desperately hard NOT to be the Dutch uncle.

Bottom line, I don't know "how to be fifty", so I guess I'll just carry on as usual.

Maybe I'll get it when I'm seventy.

Honest...given the parameters of the quiz, and things it did NOT say as well, it was the only way to answer.

...then again, maybe I'm NOT that nice a guy!

Which House MD Character Are You?
House You're House! You're mean, insolent, gruff, callous, intelligent, and all the other awesome things that makes House a meaningful and memorable character. You have drive and a dominating dedication to the rules of logic and reason, even in the face of day to day trivialities. Not afraid to back down or change your stance or even be PC, you totally stand out wherever you go, despite standing out in an often negative way.
Take The Quiz Now!	Quizzes by myYearbook.com

Loen caught the Bug.

My youngest is 16 years old, and he has caught a Dire Contagion.
Not sure I want him to get over it.

He and his best bud have started a business "Gamers" is a video console arcade. For an hourly fee, or for a monthly membership, you get to play the hottest games on the hottest systems. They will also have Old School Gaming systems like the Atari 2600, up through the XBox 360 and the Wii.
Guitar Hero and DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) will be major draws.
They have a storefront just off of the Square in our town, where a Comic Shop used to be. They open February 8th.

Entrepreneurism is good to catch, but know this: once contracted, it ruins you for working for anyone else. Pray for their success, them wot does such.

....and if you find yourself in Athens AL, stop in after school hours at 210 S. Jefferson St. and PLAY!

Twaddling my thumbs...

Twaddle:  To talk in a weak and silly manner,
like one whose faculties
are decayed; to prate;
to prattle. --Stanyhurst.

I had never seen "twaddle" used as a verb, but this morning I have seen
it in action.
I print Vacation Bible School (VBS) shirts for several local churches.
They normally purchase a canned curriculum for their program,
but have us do a design that is cooler than the one provided with
the materials.

I wanted to get ahead of the game, so I got my Sunday morning java,
aimed my household Logic at the 'Net, and went Here.
I wanted to check the download clipart, to see if any of it was usable.

Let's imagine Paul the apostle, or Peter, or Stephen the first
martyr of the church: faced with persecution and death for
preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, yet driven still to do
so by the Holy Spirit. Imagine their coming up with the stuff
that currently passes for Gospel teaching. Imagine Paul and
Barnabas doing "Avalanche Ranch", twaddling
the Gospel.

I wonder why Islam and other "isms" have made such inroads
in the West?

I have a perverse fascination in the Judas Pig.

You know, the porker that lures you, invites you, nay, begs you to eat himself and his kin.

They are famously used as BBQ come-ons, as you see here.

Periodically I shall share the most infamous, or at least the most bizarre that I find on my travels to conventions.

Mmmmmmmmm...hickory!

Your Aardvark has been remiss in his duties.

The new year is starting with a bang, not a whimper. Business-wise, we are doing very well, even in the winter doldrums. For this we are all profoundly Thankful.

As to areas of Politics and Governance, well, my interest begins to pall. The Ship of State is foundering on the shoals of Pragmatism and the Foolishness of the Pee-pul. The most cogent counsel I am receiving from many quarters is COME OUT! Don't vote. Don't participate.

Frankly, it becomes an increasingly tenable position. If, as one fellow put it, Theft is wrong (according to God's Immutables), then it is equally wrong to put in a representative who will steal for me by proxy. Our representatives...DO NOT. At least, they do not represent ME.

The Lie of the Moral Majority and the Christian Coalition is that a united Christian vote Means Something in our post-Christian times. To quote a favorite Lewis character: Show it me i' the Book!". I find no indication of Jesus or Paul advocating political activism. To practice such seems antithetical to Christ's explanation to Pilate that "My kingdom is not of this world".

Political doings have been my life for twenty years. Vote Christian! Sadly, EVERY putatively Christian candidate for whom I have voted has bitten me on the bum, from Jimmuh Cahter on.
As far as activism, I remember well the parties in the streets that followed the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Do you remember where you were that day; remember how our Representatives listened to the majority outcry for the unborn, moved by the peaceful, hymn-singing, praying marchers standing for innocent lives?

Behold the spectacle of the American Church NOT speaking as Nathan to Washington's David, but wavering and keeping silent so as to maintain 501c3 status, for we all know that American Christians will contribute, not because cheerful giving delights their Lord, but because they can deduct their "charity" from their Income Taxes. Maybe my right hand should not know what my left is doing, but by Goo, Washington will.

The producers are robbed to pay for policies they do not often agree with, and their wealth given often to the lazy, and those who feel "entitled" by race, neighborhood, or ancestry.
Foul. FOUL.

Our Leaders drag our nation into international conflicts that ultimately are not our business. I have NO MORE patience with the stupidity which passes for Foreign Policy.

Our crime rates are going up, and much of it is IN FACT caused by the Hard Working But Undocumented Neighbors From South Of The Border Who Do The Work That Lazy Americans Won't Do Anymore. The illegal ones, the ones whose very presence here proclaims their disdain for our laws. The ones Our Representatives have so ably combatted by beefing up border security.

Then there is the North American Union.
FOUL!

I cannot take it anymore. To be ignored by "my representatives" is more than I can bear.
To be billed for it is an indignity too great.

I do not know what to do. For once it appears that there is no good answer. Everyone whines about it, but NO-ONE has an answer.

HAPPY HORN DAY!!

(Search the blog. You'll find out.)

If you are on the Northern Gulf Coast of Florida, Sandestin or Niceville, or in Memphis, TN, or in Spanish Fort, AL, you NEED to go to Ciao Bella Pizza. Riatsila and I go there when we attend Anime South. Honest, it is one of the reasons that I go. Amazing Italian food. This is NOT an Americanized cardboard-crust chain, nossir; this is the Real Deal. Here is the TripAdvisor review page.

Do yourselves the favor. Enjoy. It's not just pizza, either. Their salads and desserts are amazing.
Then there's the bread and dipping oil. Between the garlic and the olive oil, I'll NEVER have a coronary! Absolutely amazing.

OH! They are in Jacksonville, FL as well!

Go. eat. Rejoice!

For a veritable avalanche of right-of-center interest news stories, check out and sign up for W.G.E.N.

Follow the link, and follow the instructions if you want a great source of news and commentary delivered to you. Your Aardvark is a partaker of Jackie Juntti's newsy goodness. You will find it all useful, amusing, and maddening by turns.

http://grassrootsgranny.com/wgen.htm

Do it!

The Aardvark is comforted.
The Queen Bee, Nancy Pelosi, is ensconced in the Seat of Power as the new House Speaker.
The Lizard Queen, aka the Hilldebeest, aka Hillary is slouching towards the White House, aka The Cherry-Blossom Throne.
He feels so safe and secure, especially in light of this.

Your Aardvark may be reactionary in this, but to me this says that a State of War exists between the US and Mexico. It has been de facto as far as the Aztlan crowd are concerned, but should now be declared de jure. (More pro-Aztlan stuff here)

Now, THIS little forgotten incident occurred in 2000.

The Aardvark has his knickers in a twist (just don't think about it) because our armed forces
RETREATED
before the Mexican Horde. Armed May-hee-can nationals CROSSED OUR BORDER, "overran" our troops, causing them to retreat. The invaders then faded back across the border.

This little sortie showed Our Good Neighbors To The South Who Just Want To Work Hard By Doing The Jobs Spoiled Americans Won't Do a simple truth:

We will not stand up to them.

What this says to your Aardvark: May-hee-co has declared war on us.

Enjoy your enchiladas!

I have not provided the churlishly yclept "loot list" of Christmas goodies. This shall be rectified partially now.

We have been enjoying the wonderful Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry series "Jeeves and Wooster".
I was gifted a boxed set this year. Dr. House as a brainless but good-hearted Rich Young Man.
Laurie can pull faces only cartoonists dream of. P.G. Wodehouse wrote the stories, and I chafe to read them now.

Get the books, and get the vids. They are painfully funny, and well worth the time spent. Witty, charming, arch, and not an unclad bosom in sight, nor unclean tongue.

Wow. It CAN be done!

An Aardvark Aware.

I was (not) amused to note that when the rector quoted Jesus:

"I am the way, the truth, and the life"

he neglected to finish the statement:

"no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John 14:6)

Seems to me that weasel-wording is not a fit way to send an honorable man like Gerald Ford into the Great Beyond. And quoting the Founder of the Faith in such an abridged manner truly does violence to the intent of the Founder.

Jesus was NOT inclusive. He was the Prince of Peace, not the prince of wuss. Christ draws the line in the sand and says "these are Mine". The promise that "the Lord knows those who are His" encompasses the fact that There Are Those Who Are Not; hence the Great Commission, hence the need for evangelism.

Brethren, we must redouble, reTRIPLE our efforts in spreading the Good News.

A happy and blessed New Year to you all!

Also...I hate Blogger Comment spam.

WOO HOO!!!
I just got called a JERK!
By someone who DOESN'T EVEN KNOW ME!

Well, we agree on Jerry Lewis. Utterly.

The point of my little exercise is to point out that... the stereotype in an animated cartoon is generally NOT offensive to the stereotypee. The Speedy Gonzales cartoons are a case in point. They are LOVED in Mexico and South America. I have yet to meet a single living soul who was offended by a cartoon lampooning their ethnic persuasion. Even the most egregious large-lipped, watermelon-eating Negro in, say, "Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs" STILL outsmarts the bad guys! He is a "comical" hero, but still the hero of the piece.

All...literally ALL of the noise I hear is from Liberal Arts College educated white guys and gals who think that the Japanese should be offended by the AIP studios Dick Tracy cartoon character Joe Jitsu, f'rinstance, or that the guys at the local taqueria should be offended at Speedy Gonzales. No-one thinks I should be offended by Elmer Fudd.

I am hurt.

I will say that I see a HUGE difference between "telling a joke" and an animated cartoon. I find racial jokes offensive. There is a PERSONAL aspect to telling a racial joke that separates it in my mind from, say, a cartoon from another era, with different sensibilities. Therein lies the key. Today, that sort of thing cannot fly. Warner Brothers won't be putting out wildly stereotyped propaganda cartoons for "The War on Terror", because the market will not bear it. Sensitivities have changed. What I militate against is redacting history by hiding Things We Don't Like Anymore. To trot out Santayana one more time: those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

You cannot learn from what is hidden.

Happy Hanukramakwanzzmas

I like Glenn Beck. He has brought fun back into the talk radio.
Enough about him.

When has the church been called to be militant on inconsequential things?
It disturbs me that Christians have lost the virtue of, well, shutting up.

I ask this as a Christian man.

And now a word from Our Founder:

Matthew 5:38-39, "Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also."

And this from His pal, Paul:

1 Corinthians 13:4-7, "Agape love endures long, and is kind; Agape love envies not; Agape love vaunts not itself, is not puffed up, Does not behave itself unseemly, seeks not her own, is not easily provoked, thinks no evil; Rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; Bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."

It appears at first blush that this "culture war" jazz is erroneous.
Having a Blue Vest wish you a "Merry Christmas" is of little value.
Sharing the Gospel is of inestimable value. I am worried that winning a cultural battle over holiday good feelings will lose us the war of bringing the world to Christ, if the church is made to appear pugnacious and thus odious by the secularists who picked the fight.

Sometimes it's best to pick up your toys, leave the playground, and go home.

The Angry Little Aardvark

No, I am not writing Little Golden Books, now. I am sufficiently exercised that I am dropping the third-person pose, even.

If I IMDB (yes, I used that as a verb) a cartoon from my childhood, and read one more review by some harbinger of White Guilt like this:

The Brothers Matzoriley

This third segment was unrelated to the Super Six, and featured a three-headed "Siamese Triplet". Each head had its own distinct personality, with one head being that of an Irish ruffian, another being a Jewish-American coward, and the third being a wisened Chinese. All three personalities were of a stereotypical nature that would be considered extremely politically incorrect by current standards, and quite probably offensive to the ethnic cultures which they misrepresented. (Wikipedia)

...well, the results won't be pretty! "...Quite probably offensive to the ethnic cultures which they misrepresented" indeed. These are CARTOONS. They naturally draw (ha, draw!) from the features most easy to exaggerate and caricature. If they were to be authentic, actual factual representations of ethnae, they would have been National Geographic specials on CBS, narrated by Alexander Scourby. But no, they are cartoons, done on the cheap to populate the Vast Wasteland, and voiced by actors who drew from vaudeville, and its electronic heir, Old Time Radio.
Shucks, "ethnic" actors like Eddie "Rochester" Anderson played to the stereotypes. Better a shuck-and-jive actor who eats, than a proto-"civil rights" activist who starves.
I am livid over what has been done to our cultural heritage. I am a collector of, errmmmm, impolitic cartoons, from WWII buck-toothed Japanese, to lederhosen wearing Nazis, to watermelon-eating saucer-eyed ne...no, Blac.....shoot, denizens from a minstrel show. Not because I am a bigot, (I find the "N" word as offensive as G** D***...and trust me, I find THAT offensive.), and as a target of cartoon bigotry myself (short, bald, kinda goofy...you figger it out) I sympathise with my fellow stereotypees, but c'mon... THEY'RE FUNNY!

Reminds me of the Turner execs who banned Speedy Gonzales to the Barrio of Offensive Toons.
"OH!"said they. "The Hispanics might be Offended by the broad May-hee-can stereotype."
They finally got talked back into showing them- especially by the Hispanic fans who lionize the rapid rodent for always triumphing over his foes. Of course, maybe this might have tilted it a bit:

Speedy boosters shouldn't expect to see their furry hero anytime soon, at least in the United States, Goldberg said. But there is a place where Speedy can still be found zipping across TV screens — and, presumably, where the crude stereotypes he embodies don't touch a cultural nerve.

That place: The Cartoon Network Latin America, where, ironically enough, Speedy Gonzales is "hugely popular," Goldberg said. --FoxNews

The Aardvark is one of those created with his hinder too close to the ground. Consequently, his pants legs are always too long. Seriously...he needs a 28 inch inseam. If he lived in New York, he would shop at "Shlomo's Short and Squat". (PL. call me!).

As a result, his jeans have that fashionable "denim-shredded-by-being-trodden-on-boy-EE" look which he so despises. If he were anorexic and looking for modeling work it would be one thing, but looking more like The Critic than a Gap ad puts a different spin on it all.

Couple that with being hagridden. (No he and the Dread Dormomoo are not at outs. He speaks of his Mistress: his business.) He is Just Too Busy to go out and find a decent haberdasher or seamstress (both of which being in short supply anyway in the Wilds of Alabamastan). The DD is accomplished with needle and thread, and has an aged Pfaff that does great machine work, but, well, SHE is hagridden, too.

Therefore, to avoid the terminally frayed look, your Aardvark has resorted to...
Resorted to...
Rolling up his pants legs.
Yeah, the Tom Sawyer look. Give him a fence to whitewash, and he'll be fine. Maybe he'll play at rolling a barrel hoop along with a stick.

Guess he needs to buy jeans online, too.

Big Fine for Underage 'Girls Gone Wild'

The AP has a triumphant writeup about the two 17-year-old heroines who have successfully litigated against Exploitation Most Vile. A most interesting part of the story:

U.S. District Judge Richard Smoak ordered Mantra's multimillionaire founder, Joe Francis, to read aloud in court a victim impact statement from one of the women, who said she was emotionally tormented by her appearance on a "Girls Gone Wild" video and that the video damaged her relationship with her family.

To borrow from myself: I weep.

According to Francis, the girls lied about their age. Of course, this is a stretch, as women never lie about anything. Hmmmmm. Let's think about this. They were underage high-schoolers in a party town, on an uber-party weekend. They had been drinking.

Of COURSE they lied. They almost certainly had phony IDs to facilitate their sozzlement.

The li'l darlins made CHOICES.
They chose to drink.
They chose therefore to become impaired.
They agreed to appear in the video "Look, LOOK! We have BREASTS. No really. HERE they are, SEE!". They apparently lied for the privilege.

They chose.
Now at least one of them is reaping "emotional torment" and damaged family relationships (read: Mom and Dad were mad as blazes, and she is grounded 'til she's forty.).

This is not a popular attitude, but they set themselves up for it all.

Let the Aardvark make it clear: I do not find Joe Francis' choice of work to by laudatory.
It is an evil source of gain, getting stupid girls to waggle their endowments for Your Late-Night Pleasure (this is what the Aardvark terms "loser porn". Wait. The Aardvark repeated himself!). But the way this whole pathetic hoedown is framed, I find him to be almost as much a victim as the chicks claim to be.

Some years back, Orson Scott Card made the rounds of Sci Fi conventions doing his "Secular Humanist Revival". Done in the style of a brimstone-laden Baptist preacher, the Revival got rollin' with Card yelling "Do you be-LEEVE?!" With no antiphonal response, he would repeat "Do you BE-LEEEEEVE?!". Caught up in the fervor, members of the congreg...er...audience would respond
"YES!" or "We believe!", whereupon Card would zing 'em with his "gotcha" line:

"In WHAT?"

OSC is a practicing Mormon, and has some passing knowledge of Religious Fervor.

I just saw "The Polar Express" on telly- a movie that I had assiduously avoided ever since it came out. The commercials invariably showed the Twaddly Bits, and the CG images looked fuzzy and poorly done. Great. A New Christmas Classic.

I repent in dust and ashes. "Express" is nowhere near as bad as I expected. Now that I have Praised It With Faint Damns, I shall elucidate. The movie has heart. The score is memorable, and orchestrated. Hail Silvestri. The motion capture as remarkable, the imaging is well-done for the most part. Alas, there is more diversity in Deep Roy's Oompa Loompas than in the elves at the North Pole- tho' the Jewish Elf Manager is a slice of genius. The rest of the workforce has the gaunt look of inmates at Auschwitz. There ARE shelves, though. She-elves. They dance well.

My underlying grump with "Express" is its generic message to "Believe!". The implied object is Santa, but it is not overtly stated. Merely "Believe". Now, I do not expect an evangelistic religious tract out of Tom Hanks...oh, wait...da Vinci Code....; I am merely pointing at the general
philosophical mood of the day, that of Both,And.

Both salmon and tilapia.
Both serge and seersucker.
Both A and B.
Both Buddhism and Scientology.

EVERYTHING is true. A and Not-A. All you have to do is believe.

Invariably, the protagonist of a film comes to a Point of Faith, which invariably resembles a bout of terminal constipation, judging from the facial expressions exhibited. The Leap of Faith in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" is a case in point. He must screw his courage to the sticking -place, empty his mind of the last faint gibbers of rational thought, and just Let Go.

This of course in no way resembles the biblical concept of Faith, where "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God". Faith is the response of a rational mind informed by the word of God, illuminated by the holy spirit. Faith is not a feeling that you can gin up by concentration coupled with the proper facial expressions.

Therefore, "A" and "not-A" are mutually exclusive.
You cannot worship God and Mammon.
Neither God and Molech.
Neither God and Yourself.

Let me say it again. Biblical faith is not "Both, and".
Contrariwise, it is Either, or.
Either God or not.
Either truth or error.
Rational decisions or feelings-soaked busy work.

The religion of feelgoodism says "just believe".
The Biblical balance is believe, then behave like you believe. That may also be thought of as obedience.

As Naruto would say:
"Believe it!"

Notes from our little ball of mud.


The mother / son combo who faked the son's mental retardation blows me away. The AP says:

"Court documents indicate prosecutors believe his mother pulled the same trick with a daughter, whom officials have been unable to locate. All told, she raked in $222,000 on their behalf, according to the documents."

So, they have scammed the taxpayers out of almost a quarter-of-a-million-dollars.
If they are convicted, they go to prison, where they will cost the taxpayers ANOTHER wad of cash.

This appears to be an argument for indentured servitude.

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

To be UTTERLY shallow, I cannot take Barack Obama seriously. Despite his well-spokenness, his erudition, his obvious accomplishment, I just cannot.

He reminds me of Barney Fife. I expect to see him begin fumbling in his shirt pocket for his bullet.
---------------------------------

More to come...

We at Chez Aardvark were immersing ourselves in Fox Newsness. Dick Morris was being interviewed by the o'Rly.

Morris was not on camera, but was talking.

Loen listened and asked "Is that Susan Estrich?".

The Dread Dormomoo explained: "Dick Morris' voice is higher.".

We SO need to get rid of cable.

Yesterday, Vox opened discussion on prominent atheist Richard Dawkins' apparent desire to see eugenics born again in the New Millennium.

The debate devolved into one over the relative evil of slavery. One "tcw" (alleged atheist, certified troll) babbled on about Judaism's and the Christian faith's relative evil because God, Moses, Jesus nor Paul NEVER said "Thou shalt not do slavery."

I must say, I believe I sparkled in the debate.

Well, a little, maybe.

Do I condone slavery? No.
Do I enjoy a good argument. Mmmmmm, maybe.
Can I tolerate fatuous pseudo-debaters with no reading comprehension?

No.

If you have a Seinfeld fan in your life...

BUY THEM SEASON SEVEN ON DVD!

Now, the Aardvark is not a fan of Seinfeld...actually he is not a fan of George, who evokes the same response he used to get watching Barney Fife: to put his foot through the television box screen.

But this Aardvark is even LESS of a fan of the race-baiting posturing of the irReverend Jesse Jackson, who is calling for a boycott of that DVD release...even though Michael Richards took the trouble to appear on Jackson's radio rant show. Rather a stab in the back, wot?

Maybe it's REALLY because Seinfeld's a Hymie. (Google "Jesse Jackson and Hymie". Don't lambast the humble Aardvark.)

So buy the DVD, already.

----------------------------------
The Dread Dormomoo said it best:

"Jesse Jackson picks up the stuff that's hit the fan,
and throws it back in!"

Meet Possum Kitty

We are cat people. We currently have ten outdoor cats, two of whom were abandoned by neighbors who moved, and figured they would be cared for by someone...I guess. We have NO mice.


But we have an eleventh, now. He is Possum Kitty. He shows up, enjoys the cat food, and toddles off. Tonight he showed up, and discovered some un-gnawed turkey bones. Loen was 2 feet or less from PK when he took this shot. Very tame, or at least characteristically possum-stupid.


We like Possum Kitty. We do not pet him, though. He has sharp teeth, and we are not possum-stupid.

The view from Tinfoil Hat mountain...

The Dread Dormomoo (She In Whose Mouth Butter Would Not Melt), and Your Humble Aardvark are STILL in the throes of whatever bug is doin' the asexual Nasty in our persons. It is not debilitating any more...just draining. Energy levels remain low (as does productivity) and this continual zonking, trying to dislodge...errrrr...STUFF from one's head begins to get old.

Gotten.
Has gotten old.

The DD mused this morning, and considered the idea that maybe the Givemint is putting these bugs and viri out amongst the Peepul to invigorate the National Immune System with an eye toward whatever microbial nasties are coming down the pike, either natural, or a gift from our "Terrace" friends. If a few elderly or infirm were to snuff it, well you can't make an omelette...

Hey, it would be For Our Own Good....

Poor Kramer.

I have one thing to say.

Who cares?

Michael Richards was doing his bit onstage. People had paid to see him, and to hear his comedic stylings.

They did not go to hear two bruvvahs mouth off. Frankly, them wot paid for tickets should have dealt with the hecklers, unless it was about a gladiatorial thing. "Let's see Kramer cut 'em off at the knees!"

Since the newsfeeds did not deem us able to withstand the verbal onslaught, I merely heard a series of beeps, but apparently verbal blood was shed. Bigoted blood, not racist.

The true sadness was seeing Seinfeld go all PC about it, as though having worked with Richards years ago might tar him with the same brush. The sight of Jerry and David Letterman bleeding smug Earnestness and Concern all over their chairs while Richards stumbled through his "I'm sorries" was far more sickening to me.

Of course, it's hard for me to get worked up over beeps.

Two guys heckled a comic from the audience. He responded with comments on their obvious part of the gene pool. Apparently responded in the extreme. With ANGER.
With non-PC words.

The hecklers feelings may have been hurt. Maybe they'll shut up next time.
Maybe Richards will do Anger Management.

Maybe I'll learn to care.

Hel-l-l-l-l-lp

I need to know that I am not hallucinating.
I had a toy as a child; a car that walked up walls. You pulled a string, which wound the spring, which caused a "wheel" of 5-or-6 suction cups to rachet with sufficient speed and force so as to enable the "car" to go up the wall.


It was called Mr. Joggy, I believe.
I can find NO mention of it online.

Has anyone heard of it?

EDIT: It's Mr. Joggi . Great to see all you folks remembering this little treasure.

I took another quiz.
I was born in Memphis.
Raised in SC.
Live now in Alabamastan.

And I really talk like this.

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Northeast Judging by how you talk you are probably from north Jersey, New York City, Connecticut or Rhode Island. Chances are, if you are from New York City (and not those other places) people would probably be able to tell if they actually heard you speak.
Philadelphia
The Inland North
The Midland
The South
Boston
The West
North Central
What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes

When I was a babe-in-arms, we lived on Houston Street in NYC, right across from a Franciscan Brother house...they actually babysat me. Apparently that was when the soundtrack got laid down. I've never caught a case of Magnolia Mouth.

The Aardvark is amused beyond words. Your EQ is 133

50 or less: Thanks for answering honestly. Now get yourself a shrink, quick! 51-70: When it comes to understanding human emotions, you'd have better luck understanding Chinese. 71-90: You've got more emotional intelligence than the average frat boy. Barely. 91-110: You're average. It's easy to predict how you'll react to things. But anyone could have guessed that. 111-130: You usually have it going on emotionally, but roadblocks tend to land you on your butt. 131-150: You are remarkable when it comes to relating with others. Only the biggest losers get under your skin. 150+: Two possibilities - you've either out "Dr. Phil-ed" Dr. Phil... or you're a dirty liar.

What's Your EQ (Emotional Intelligence Quotient)?

DAN MURTAUGH
Staff Reporter of some Mobile rag writes:

Under the new system, voters use pens to fill out paper ballots. To write in a candidate, all they have to do is fill in the "write-in" bubble and scribble whatever name comes to mind.

Allow me to weep bitter tears...

The (17,733) write-ins wreaked havoc on election night efficiency and delayed returns for hours, as poll workers have to copy every real name submitted onto a separate piece of paper, according to Roxann Dyess, election coordinator for the Mobile County Probate Court.

"That can be very tedious," she said.

I mourn...I bleed...

It sounds to me that the system is working, and that the Peee-pul, however ineffectually, Have Spoken. If the two-headed snake that serves as Party Politics in Alabamastan were effectual, there would be no need for write-ins, but the Peee-pul have figgered out that it's really one critter masquerading as two, and shutting out other parties from the game.

Loretta Nall opines in her platform:

Proposal: Ditch all the anti-competitive ballot access laws so the Republicans and
Democrats have to run with the Black Panther, Green, Libertarian, Natural Law, Reform, Constitution and other parties. Then at least elections will convey some information about the electorate.

Not a bad idea. Would there be crackpot parties? Certainly, always have, always will. It would be refreshing and fair to let everyone on the playground, not just the two bullies.

Your Aardvark has had an early flu this year, and it has taken a full week out of his life.He is currently in the "someone you know and trust beat you about the chest with a Louisville Slugger" stage of the epizoodic. Yesterday, it was the "Insert wire bottle-brush into nostril, move to the sinuses, then straight into the lung, wiggle it around, then yank it out" stage of coughing.

You shall not be treated to further descriptions.

It appears to be God's Own Flu. No, the Almighty does not get a sniffle; rather that when He thought of the Concept of Flu, the Template so envisioned so closely matches what this one is experiencing. Nor does this Aardvark believe that God "sends us the flu", nor gives the baby cancer to teach us something. (Now, Beaver, did you Learn your Lesson?) For further thoughts, go HERE.

No, it's just that the perfection of the mechanism is so elegant that one must marvel at it, even while wrapping one's head in duct tape to keep it from exploding during the next coughing fit.
___________________

For them wot thinks the Aardvark to be a Callow Pretender and Copycat THIS JUST IN:

He did not pick up emphatic Capitalization from "Pretty Lady". He is Well Read, and learned from the Classics. Not to say that PL is not classic, no. It seems a neat way to Emphasize the Point. Easily overdone, of course.

He is still struggling to shed himself of British variant spelling, which while far better than reDneck vareeunt speling, still tends to pall betimes.

Read this.

Now.

Pretty Lady: The Etiquette of Eating


Raisin Brioche...........I HUNGER!!!!

Pretty Lady Weighs In, And Slaps My Sassy Mouth,
Wherein We Discover My Bad Behaviour Got Me What I Wanted


For them wot ignores the "comments" section I have SO obligingly provided, I post a bit from my election night hissy fit.

prettylady said...

I voted for gridlock! I still have hopes that I won!

Seriously, darling, have you been looking at the Republican's financial stats, lately? I hear a wee rumour that they've gone a teensy bit over-budget.

And when I read Nancy Pelosi's off-the-cuff little agenda, she did mention a few details regarding 'fiscal responsibility' and the like. As well as addressing those constitutional violations of habeas corpus, and 9/11 commission recommendations, and realistically reassessing our mandate to Bring Democracy to Murderous Savages, Hang The Cost.

Ever the eternal optimist, I.

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

To which I winningly reply:

The Aardvark said...

Absolutement! I have lived in tooth-grinding frustration over the "can't tell who from whom" these past years.
(See the shards!)

Lookit, this was a tantrum, not a reasoned political treatise.

As to fiscal responsibility from the Dems, well, the major (alleged) philosophical difference between the two parties is that the Dems see Government as the source of all succour and aid for whatever ill you wish to name. The classic repub view is that the private sector can and should provide the aid and answers. This, of course, is far closer to the Founders' Constitutional intent. As with anything from the Christian faith to putting together a gas grill, if you deviate from the instructions, you are in for mischief!

Given the current state of the givemint, it is clear that no-one has learned to read.

We are on the same page, Dear Heart, re: the "Patriot" act, as well as the other "Bring Democracy to Murderous Savages, Hang The Cost" things. I do not believe that Vox overstates the issue.

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

Yes, this is a cheap way to do a post, but it was worthy of sharing, and 'sides, I have the epizoodic. There is a nasty virus using me as it's reproductive organs, and I don't appreciate it a bit.

I feel so USED.

...and what I wanted?

Attention.

DER!

WAY
TO
GO,

MORONS!

You have voted in a majority that has PROMISED to
RAISE YOUR TAXES.

I salute you,
you IMBECILES.

I wish that there was an f-bomb level
word for exponential abject and willful
STUPIDITY,
'cos I would use it right now.

At you, idiots.

The only hope we have is that the Repubs
retain the Senate.
Gridlock is a GOOD thing.
Maybe Wubble-yu will learn the word
Veee-toe.

Sleep well, schlemiels.

Here we go again...

Ted Haggard,prexy of the "National Association of Evangelicals", and "Senior Pastor" of his congregation is in a mess, but this Aardvark is not gonna pile on with the rest of the finger-pointers and punditry-mongers. (Please do not bring the "furry" CSI episode to mind. I do not own a plush aardvark suit.)

Ummmm....what is a "Senior Pastor"? Perhaps I should restate that. Where in the Christian Faith Owners Manual is there a critter called a "Senior Pastor"?

Not there.

So, the "New Life Church (A Family Ministry Center)" has a church leadership system not quite according to Hoyle -and by "Hoyle" I mean God's Word, inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Then there is Haggard's leadership of a "Christian" organisation, the National Association of Evangelicals. Sorry, but I can't find THAT in the Bible, either. (Ooooh, you can't find the National Rifle Association in there, either.) That's NOT the issue. The Bible is, or should be, the sole rule of Faith and Practise for things Churchy. And there's the rub, because most of the problems in this situation are directly due to the pigheaded refusal to follow Biblical guidelines for Things Christian.

Jesus did not die for the National Association of Evangelicals, nor for the Billy Graham Association, nor even for CBN. According to God's word, Jesus died for one "organisation".

• Ephesians 1:20-23, " Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all."

• Ephesians 5:25-27, "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish."

There is more, and I encourage you seek it out.
The church is the ONLY "Christian" organisation authorised and governed by God's Word.
Apparently God believes that the church is sufficient to accomplish His purpose without the addition of multitudes of "para-church" organisations to be His Little Helpers.

When you abrogate God's Rules on a thing, you remove yourself from his authority, power and protection.

And that is just like wearing a red shirt on Star Trek.

The Aardvark sez:


VOTE!!!
Vote your CONSCIENCE.
Vote what is RIGHT.

Not right-wing.
RIGHT.
...and maybe, try praying before you vote.
Read your Bible. Maybe a part you haven't underlined.
-----------------------------
Saddam. Hang 'im high.

Pope. Read your Bible.

Europe. Go angst yourselves. Make an avant-garde film.
___________________

Anonymous: Get a life. Get a job. Get over it.
I know who you are. You need to deal with whomever you perceive did you wrong, not take cowardly pot-shots on a third-rate blog.

I would seriously recommend you find an honest-to-God Bible-believing church, get discipled, and deal with forgiveness. Jesus REALLY loves you, and wants GOOD things for you, and part of that is getting the hurt in your life dealt with. I can steer you to one if you wish, or you can look, but wallowing in a venomous pool of anger and pain is only hurting YOU. There are lots of people on the Net that only find amusement in it.