quote of the day

"If the president wants to go to war, our job is to find the intelligence to allow him to do so."

- Alan Foley, head of the CIA's Weapons Intelligence Non-Proliferation and Arms Control Center (WINPAC), December 2002

go ahead. make my breakfast.

I need a mugnum.

aaaaaaaaahh

The Boat on the Roof
Originally uploaded by rymdborje.

more great t-shirt ideas

If you're planning on being on a reality show in the near future, don't worry about having the labels and endorsements on your clothing pixelated-out by the producers-- pre-pixelate them yourself.

the virtue of weeds

Since using corn to make ethanol seems to get people worried, why not try a different plant?

This should be a top seller

sold here.

Do you use Firefox?

Some useful tips.

thanks Smithsonian

Delightful images.

not Hallmark

e-cards for the modern era. The extrememly modern era.

laughing stock

Well, I thought it was a fluke when someone from Montgomery made this ridiculous commercial, but now I realize that there may be something about this town that I'll never, ever understand. Watch the videos. Or don't.

sigh.

more on Falwell

Everyone seems to be fawning over Rev. Jerry Falwell, which bothers me not a little. Of course we should respect the family of the departed and I'm sure people are sad and bereaved yada yada, but that doesn't mean we get to whitewash his troubled legacy. President Bush issued a statement stating that "Jerry lived a life of faith and called upon men and women of all backgrounds to believe in God and serve their communities. One of his lasting contributions was the establishment of the Liberty University, where he taught young people to remain true to their convictions, and rely upon God's word throughout each stage of their lives." Is that really how we should remember this man? Is it really fair to paint such a flattering portrait of a man whose faith was filled with such outraged contempt for liberals, gays, other religions and non-evangelical Christians? We seem to forget that his quasi-radical evangelical views frequently offended and angered people, and that he had to retract his bombastic statements on several occasions. Was he so deserving of the fond farewell we've given him?

Let's take a look at a few more of the views he needs to be remembered for:

On birth control: "The argument that making contraceptives available to young people would prevent teen pregnancies is ridiculous. That's like offering a cookbook as a cure to people who are trying to lose weight."

On feminists: "I listen to feminists and all these radical gals - most of them are failures. They've blown it. Some of them have been married, but they married some Casper Milquetoast who asked permission to go to the bathroom. These women just need a man in the house. That's all they need. Most of the feminists need a man to tell them what time of day it is and to lead them home. And they blew it and they're mad at all men. Feminists hate men. They're sexist. They hate men - that's their problem."

"It appears that America's anti-Biblical feminist movement is at last dying, thank God, and is possibly being replaced by a Christ-centered men's movement which may become the foundation for a desperately needed national spiritual awakening."

On choosing your own faith: "If you're not a born-again Christian, you're a failure as a human being."

On sexuality: "AIDS is not just God's punishment for homosexuals; it is God's punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals."

"I do not believe the homosexual community deserves minority status. One's misbehavior does not qualify him or her for minority status. Blacks, Hispanics, women, etc., are God-ordained minorities who do indeed deserve minority status."

"Homosexuality is Satan's diabolical attack upon the family that will not only have a corrupting influence upon our next generation, but it will also bring down the wrath of God upon America."

On the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution: "The idea that religion and politics don't mix was invented by the Devil to keep Christians from running their own country."

"If we are going to save America and evangelize the world, we cannot accommodate secular philosophies that are diametrically opposed to Christian truth ... We need to pull out all the stops to recruit and train 25 million Americans to become informed pro-moral activists whose voices can be heard in the halls of Congress.
 I am convinced that America can be turned around if we will all get serious about the Master's business. It may be late, but it is never too late to do what is right. We need an old-fashioned, God-honoring, Christ-exalting revival to turn American back to God. America can be saved!"

"There is no separation of church and state. Modern US Supreme Courts have raped the Constitution and raped the Christian faith and raped the churches by misinterpreting what the Founders had in mind in the First Amendment to the Constitution."

"The ACLU is to Christians what the American Nazi party is to Jews."

On scientific truth: "The Bible is the inerrant ... word of the living God. It is absolutely infallible, without error in all matters pertaining to faith and practice, as well as in areas such as geography, science, history, etc."

On what it means to be a Christian: "Christians, like slaves and soldiers, ask no questions."

On environmentalism: "The whole (global warming) thing is created to destroy America's free enterprise system and our economic stability."

Most of these quotes taken from here.

I don't understand this either

Down at the rapture, I met my baaaaaby
Originally uploaded by mcdowell.

I don't understand this at all

uh oh

More than 800 Hong Kong residents have called on authorities to reclassify the Bible as "indecent" due to its sexual and violent content.

beautifully odd

This man knows his way around a camera.

anti-largesse

This is interesting. Four members of Congress have decided to see how the other half lives by pledging to subsist for one week on $21 worth of food, the amount the average food stamp recipient receives in federal assistance. The "Foof Stamp Challenege" accompanies legislation proposed by two fo the starvees that would add $4 billion to the annual federal food stamp budget, which was $33 billion last year and covered 26 million Americans. You can read a blog about the experience here.

Jerry Falwell, we hardly knew ye

Actually we knew him rather well, unfortuately. Here are some of his more endearing quotes:

On Sept. 11: "The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way—all of them who have tried to secularize America—I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen.' "

On public education: "I hope I live to see the day when, as in the early days of our country, we won't have any public schools. The churches will have taken them over again, and Christians will be running them."

On Islam: "I think Mohammed was a terrorist. I read enough of the history of his life, written by both Muslims and non-Muslims, that he was a violent man, a man of war."

flying

Sometimes you've just got to get away from it all.

Looking for a good bathroom?

Look no further.

photo sniper

it does not play around.

reflecting poorly on profession

The story is here.

lofty

I could get some serious reading done in this room.

Go Bill go

I highly suggest that everyone watch this edition of the Bill Moyers Journal entitled "Buying the War." You can read the transcript here. His topic is how the news media, in the months leading up to the invasion of Iraq, got everything so terribly wrong. Where was the hardline objectivity? How did the evidence disputing the existence of weapons of mass destruction and the link between Saddam Hussein to 9-11 go largely unreported? Moyers begins thus:

Four years ago this spring the Bush administration took leave of reality and plunged our country into a war so poorly planned it soon turned into a disaster. The story of how high officials misled the country has been told. But they couldn't have done it on their own; they needed a compliant press, to pass on their propaganda as news and cheer them on.

Since then thousands of people have died, and many are dying to this day. Yet the story of how the media bought what the White House was selling has not been told in depth on television. As the war rages into its fifth year, we look back at those months leading up to the invasion, when our press largely surrendered its independence and skepticism to join with our government in marching to war.

image:

life meets art

not-so-golden rules

After I read this story about an airline worker making an anti-gay announcement over the public address system at the airport, it occurred to me how utterly ridiculous it is to base one's modern sense of moral judgment on a code that was written over 3,000 years ago for a tribe of Jews living in the desert. What exasperates me is not the code itself but the selective manner in which we apply it. This is not a new problem. However, the most cursory glance at the Bible destroys any argument as to its ultimate moral authority and I am becoming intolerant of hearing it cited to justify mere personal prejudices. Here's what I mean.

1) It is the unfortunate stance of the Christian religion that either the Bible is either true or it's not. If you are Christian, you must accept the Bible as the ultimate God-authored authority. If you do not, you cannot be a Christian. If you are to call yourself a Christian, it is unmitigated doctrine that no selective reading is allowed--you are not allowed to claim one passage in the Bible is truth and another is not.

2) Long ago Thomas Paine pointed out that this extremely strict doctrine has important consequences, namely that Christians are ultimately responsible for everything in the Bible, even the most unsavory parts.

3) To my knowledge, there is no official doctrine that excuses Christians from living by every rule prescribed in the Bible. If I am wrong, please correct me! In the absence of such a doctrine, therefore, a particularly thorny problem is presented by the Christian who asserts that homosexuality is wrong because the Bible says it is.

4) The problem is that the Bible says many things are wrong, but most Christians just ignore the rules that aren't important to them. (actually, the problem is that things considered "wrong" 3,000 years ago don't always apply to modern thinking. But that fundamental issue aside...) Specifically, Leviticus 20:13, the most clear prohibition against homosexuality in the Bible,** states that "If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads." If we are to accept this as moral law and enforce it as such, shouldn't we also be enforcing the other rules concerning sex in the Bible? To wit:

• If it is discovered that a bride is not a virgin, the Bible demands that she be executed by stoning immediately. (Deuteronomy 22:13-21)
• If a married person has sex with someone else's husband or wife, the Bible commands that both adulterers be stoned to death. (Deuteronomy 22:22)
• Divorce is strictly forbidden in both Testaments, as is remarriage of anyone who has been divorced. (Mark 10:1-12)
• The Bible forbids a married couple from having sexual intercourse during a woman's period. If they disobey, both shall be executed. (Leviticus 18:19)
• If a man dies childless, his widow is ordered by biblical law to have intercourse with each of his brothers in turn until she bears her deceased husband a male heir. (Mark 12:18-27)
• If a man gets into a fight with another man and his wife seeks to rescue her husband by grabbing the enemy's genitals, her hand shall be cut off and no pity shall be shown her. (Deuteronomy 25:11-12)
• If anyone curses his father or mother, he must be put to death. (Leviticus 20:9)
• If a man sleeps with his daughter-in-law, both of them must be put to death. (Leviticus 20:12)
• A man or woman who is a medium or spiritist among you must be put to death. (Leviticus 20:27)

Obviously we can't do any of these, as we have for the most part escaped the frightening barbarism of our past. But if we no longer put virgins to death, how can we at the same time claim homosexuality is wrong on the basis of biblical authority? If we base our morality on the Bible in any way, then we are required to follow the Bible literally and fully in every other way. I'm not being simplistic or unfair here--if the Bible is the infallible Word of God, that's the rule.

The reality is that Christianity doesn't work like this. The official rule may be that the Bible is authoritative, but nobody except the kooks really believe or act like this is true. Which strikes me as a glaring hypocrisy. The problem, though, is that when it comes to passing judgment on people, we don't want to look like mere jerks so we look around for some authority on which to base our prejudices. Voila! Here's a handy Bible verse! But nobody talks about this. Well, almost nobody. But for me, I will remain a skeptic until someone can show me any biblical authority for the proposition that some biblical truths are more relevant than others.

---

** (disclaimer: I intentionally did not cite Romans 1:26-27, another possible exhortation against homosexuality, because it is so vague, confusing, and clearly subject to the ravages of poor translation. See this article. 1 Timothy 1:10 cannot be relied upon for the same reason. Nor did I cite the destruction of the Sodomites because there is simply no mention of homosexuality in Sodom. The only "sins" of Sodom were that "she and her suburbs had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not help or encourage the poor and needy. They were arrogant and this was abominable in God's eyes." (Ezekiel 16:48-49).

church ≠ state

Interesting article on the ten most "devout" Congressmen. Number 10 on the list, Rep. Robin Hayes (R-NC), actually stated at a town hall meeting in 2006 that "stability in Iraq ultimately depends on spreading the message of Jesus Christ, the message of peace on earth, good will towards men. Everything depends on everyone learning about the birth of the Savior." Oh, so the Iraq conflict is about religion now? (I'm sure many would hope so.) Thank goodness it's not about weapons of mass destruction. Oh wait, it's not about that either.

"The age of oil must end in our time." -- Barak Obama

Although it amazes me that car manufacturers need such short-term incentives to develop fuel-friendly cars, Obama has a sensible plan to encourage domestic automakers to make fuel-efficient hybrid vehicles by giving them health care assistance for retirees. His plan also would require automakers to invest half of their health care savings into technology to produce those vehicles. I like it.

turkish delight

It is refreshing to see thousands of Turkish citizens demanding the resignation of the government because they feel the religious zeal of the country's leaders threatens to destroy the country's modern foundations. I wish the same would happen in Iran. It sure would help defuse a lot of the anti-western rhetoric currently making the rounds over there. But alas, the conservative-religious factions are gaining in power, even going so far as to publicly condemn Iran's president for kissing the hand of his former teacher, who happens to be a woman. This was apparently "indecent" and a violation of "religious values." (Ahmadinejad has already come under fire for suggesting --Allah forbid -- that women be allowed to watch football matches.) As religious-based terrorism is on the rise, it is critical that we remove religious zeal from political discourse and from the government of our nations altogether. When will we get it through our thick skulls that religion in the political sphere is always a divisive element?

now I've got my Magic Bus

Budget carrier Skybus Airlines says it will have at least 10 seats priced at $10 available for the one-way tickets on its flights through Dec. 15.

hell yes

Spinal Tap is doing a reunion tour.

poem of the day

Genius Waitress

Of the genius waitress, I now sing.

Of hidden knowledge, buried ambition, and secret
sonnets scribbled on cocktail napkins; of aching
arches, ranting cooks, condescending patrons, and eyes
diverted from ancient Greece to ancient grease; of
burns and pinches and savvy and spunk; of a uniquely
American woman living a uniquely American compromise,
I sing. I sing of the genius waitress.

Okay, okay, she's probably not really a genius. But
she is well-educated. She has a degree in Sanskrit,
ethnoastronomy, Icelandic musicology, or something
equally valued in contemporary marketplace. Even if
she could find work in her chosen field, it wouldn't
pay beans--so she slings them instead. (The genuis
waitress is not to be confused with the
aspiring-actress waitress, so prevalent in Manhattan
and Los Angeles and so different from her sister in
temperament and I.Q.)

As a type, the genius waitress is sweet and sassy,
funny and smart; young, underestimated, fatalistic,
weary, cheery (not happy, cheerful: there's a
difference and she understands it), a tad bohemian,
often borderline alcoholic, frequently pretty (though
her hair reeks of kitchen and bar); as independent as
a cave bear (though ever hopeful of "true love") and,
above all, geniune.

Covertly sentimental, she fusses over toddlers and old
folks, yet only fear of unemployment prevents her from
handing an obnoxious customer his testicles with his bill.

She doesn't mind a little good-natured flirting, and
if you flirt with verve and wit, she may flirt back.
Never, however, never try to impress her with your
resume. Her tolerance for pretentious Yuppies ends
with her shift, sometimes earlier. She reads men like
a menu and always knows when she's being offered
leftovers or an artificially inflated souffle.

Should you ever be lucky enough to be taken home by
her to that studio apartment with the jerry-built
bookshelves and Frida Kahlo posters, you will discover
that whereas in the public dining room she is merely
as proficient as she needs to be, in the private
bedroom she is blue gourmet virtuoso. Five stars and
counting! Afterward, you can discuss chaos theory or
the triple aspects of the mother goddess in universal
art forms--while you massage her swollen feet.

Eventually, she leaves food service for graduate
school or marriage; but unless she wins a grant or a
fair divorce settlement, chances are she'll be back, a
few years down the line, reciting the daily specials
with her own special mixture of warmth and ennui.

Erudite emissary of eggs over easy, polymath purveyor
of polenta and prawns, articulate angel of apple pie,
the genius waitress is on duty right now in hundreds
of U.S. restaurants, smile at the ready, sauce on the
side. So brush up on your Schopenhauer, place your
order--and tip, mister, tip. She deserves a break today.

Of her, I sing.

-- Tom Robbins, Playboy, 1991

Raining cats and dogs

So what is the origin of the phrase "The whole nine yards" anyway? What about "The real McCoy" or "Scot-free"? You can find the real deal here. The Phrase Finder has a lot of other interesting information such as popular misquotations and other meanings and origins of common English idioms. Note though that the purpose of this information is to learn how to avoid saying these things. Or as Sam Levenson said,

"It's so simple to be wise. Just think of something stupid to say and say the opposite."

this is absolutely crazy

penultimate

You've got the Time 100, but then you've also got the Alt Time 100.

UPDATE: A small bit of chatter has resulted over the fact that the blurb for Richard Dawkins, atheist extraordinaire and number 73 on the list, was authored by Michael Behe, a scientist and outspoken advocate of Intelligent Design and other creationist claptrap. Behe explains what he really wrote here.

whew

The world may be filled with violence and terror and suffering, but I know we're going to be OK because Jesus had a puppy.