Yes, that's right, I am disconnected. From being wire-bound when it comes to networking that is. The replacement router arrived this afternoon and is running along fine, allowing me to post random and essentially pointless items like this from anywhere in the house:
In the grand bazaars of twelfth-century Arabia, it was occasionally possible, if you knew where to look and you had a lot of cash and a tote bag you didn't care about, to procure an item known as mellified man. The verb "to mellify" comes from the Latin for honey, mel. Mellified man was dead human remains steeped in honey. Its other name was "human mummy confection," though this is misleading, for, unlike other honey-steeped Middle Eastern confections, this one did not get served for dessert. One administered it topically and, I am sorry to say, orally as medicine.Mmmm, pass the mellified man, please!
*burp*
Someone just turned four years old.
An elderly man recently diagnosed with a brain tumor leaped to his death from a vintage airplane he rented to celebrate his 88th birthday, officials said Tuesday.Too bad no one had Joseph Harold Frost on their Amish Tech Support Dead Pool list - not that he would have been worth that much.
Anyway, I can understand wanting to end it all while you're still of relatively sound mind and body, faced with the prospect of painful suffering and decline, but...
"I think that was Dad's idea, to go out in a flash of glory," said Robert Frost, who had helped his father arrange the chartered flight on a biplane similar to the ones the elder Frost flew in World War II.Yep, nothing yells "glory!" quite like endangering the life of the pilot as he tries to stop you and the lives of those on the ground when you land on someone's apartment patio, probably providing a fair bit of mental distress for them in the near future. Yep, glorious indeed.
Idiot.
I've been saying that a lot lately. Is the world getting more stupid?
...for the man who has everything?
Well, if he's a complete idiot, maybe this fine piece of software from Download.com:
An advanced radionics and electronic magic program that protects you against black magic, sorcery, sortilegies, and psychic attacks. Based in powerful rituals of ceremonial magic and the properties of Sun divinities, and taking profit of the occult power of the computers. It comes with two modes: normal protection mode and extreme protection mode. Make your computer protect you now while you are making your normal life. Are you in a period of bad luck, in a short time a lot of illnesses have taken you or your family, things go wrong suddenly? Do you suspect some person is making black magic over you or your family? Well, probably you are being attacked magickly or psychicly; Ultra Spiritual Protection is the solution to your problem. It will give you full spiritual protection and with the continued use of the program, a psychic wall of unpenetrability will be built around you.Once you're more-than-satisfied with the amazing magical powers radiating from your CPU, you'll certainly want to visit the Tifareth.com website to get some of their other quality products.
If they make anything off of this, I am so in the wrong field. I should be out helping some fools part ways with their money.
(found via D.C. Thornton)
I'm not sure what else can explain a post such as this, in response to this story:
Hey, never let it be said that I have anything but love, honor and respect for women's breasts (1,2,3,4). But there's a time and a place for everything, including suckling your baby.I agree, and that time and place is "when the baby is hungry."
No doubt proponents would indulge in flights of near-orgasmic prose extolling the beauty of Nursing a Child. OK. Then why would one choose to deny the public a chance to share in the beauty? If a woman isn't discreet enough to cover up in public during the process it's clear that she craves attention, and I think she should have it. Don't the rest of us have the right to stare, comment, or perhaps even critique?Or perhaps the woman thinks that most men aren't slope-browed troglodytes who get erections anytime they see a tit out in the open, especially when being used in a non-sexual manner. Sorry, but this yabo-phobia* being exhibited says more about those who have a problem with a woman breastfeeding than it does about the woman herself.
Are we such a sexually-repressed society that the mere thought of a naked breast, even when being used in its most natural, life-giving manner, gives us all giant woodies that then require us to self-flagellate before the Lord for forgiveness? Isn't this a greater indictment of the back-asswards views on sexuality and women's breasts held by the offended than of the desire of the woman to feed her child?
I guess so. That's sad.
My wife breastfeeds the wee Fiona in public regularly. We usually have a small blanket with us, but not out of any sense of modesty or decency - more to avoid the harsh stares and complaints of people with screwed up sexual proclivities. Thankfully, most people see it for what it is: simple nourishment for the child, with the added bonus of encouraging bonding between mother and infant. There's a jackass in every crowd though.
No law against being a jackass though, so keep on jackassing on. And snickering at the word "breast."
Don't get me wrong - I'm all for the right of a property owner to dictate what behaviors will and will not be allowed on his own property. We certainly don't need more laws dictating how property must be handled by its rightful owner.
That doesn't change the fact that people who are offended by the site of a boob, any boob, completely regardless of context, are - quite simply - idiots. I'm only surprised they have yet to compare it to pedophilia and animal-humping, a favorite tactic of those with "uber-conservative views on human sexuality."
Give'em time. Give'em time.
Update: J Bowen responds in the comments (with my selected responses):
You and I both know that there are a lot of people who'd rather not see this, for reasons of their own, and if they're "yabophobes" makes no difference....I'm willing to wager that those reasons have something to do with the sometimes sexual nature of the female breast. Unless they suffered some childhood trauma, attacked by a raging horde of boobs, or simply hate children and think they should starve, I can't come up with many other reasons to be breastfeeding-averse.
It doesn't strike me as much of a concession to cover up, especially when you probably have a spit rag handy anyway.And, like I said, we generally do, but only to avoid having to hear another comment from some old woman who knows that back in the day a proper baby was bottle fed like God intended. Now, that said, I don't think a woman should have to cover up in a public place if she's comfortable with the stares and furrowed brows of J. Bowen and company.
Do you scratch your crotch in public? How about picking your teeth? Both are perfectly natural.Well, it's not pedophilia or bestiality, but comparing breastfeeding to scratching one's crotch strikes me as, at best, sloppy, and at worst, bizarre.
Anyway, if my crotch itches? Yep, I will take care of that itch. Nothing says it has to be a Stifler-inspired over-exaggerated tug-of-wiener-war. Something in my teeth? If the tongue can't get it out, and it's uncomfortable or unsightly ("Hey, you've got something in your teeth."), you can bet I'm going to take care of it - but again, that doesn't mean I'm going to over do it by pulling at my lips, sticking out my tongue, and using a dentist's scraper to fetch ye olde food particle.
I happen to believe in respecting the wishes of that large group of people who would rather see the breasts covered discreetly. I won't speculate as to their reasons and I don't believe that they owe me an explanation. I do know that the only ones who demonstrably are thinking about sex in this context are the ones who are making charges about "screwed up sexual proclivities".So, are you offended by the sight of a mother changing a diaper? How about a picture of your 2-year old niece (if you have one - if not, play along) in the bathtub? If not, why not? I'm going to say that everyone I know would have no problem with the above, based on what I know of them. Why is that? Is it because an infant or toddler is not yet a sexual object to a normal individual? Wouldn't this then imply that to take offense at a woman breastfeeding has everything to do with the sight of the breast itself, and one's own inability to assign a positive, non-sexual context to it?
I agree we're debating about what is and what isn't offensive, which are matters of opinion and custom. However, that doesn't mean I'm ever going to understand why someone cannot see a woman breastfeeding as a beautiful thing or how they can compare it to having something half-chewed and soggy protruding from one's teeth.
Finally, there's more here.
* Yabo-phobia: fear of yabos. Yabos being my favorite grade school playground name for that wonderful anatomical creation, the female breast.
And the tin looks remarkably like a Porsche Boxter:
Internet giant AOL has ratcheted up the war against unsolicited e-mail with a publicity-grabbing coup - an online raffle of a spammer's seized Porsche.There is some bad news though:AOL won the car - a $47,000 Boxster S - as part of a court settlement against an unnamed e-mailer last year.
The Porsche sweepstake lasts until 8 April, and will be open only to those who were AOL members when it was first announced.Darn, and I was hoping somebody smart might win.
From the World Wide Rant "voices in your head" bureau:
In opening statements Monday, a Texas prosecutor described how a mother smashed the head of her infant son with a rock and then led her two older boys outside and did the same to them, killing the two oldest boys...Naturally, the non-murdering Christians among us will proclaim that this was not the voice of God telling her to do this. Unfortunately, they have absolutely no grounds on which to say that other than their sheer distaste for wanton slaughter, a distaste which Yahweh - if you believe the reports from days of old - has never really seemed to share.[Attorney] Files said Laney believed that God had told her the world was going to end and "she had to get her house in order," which included killing her children.
"The dilemma she faced is a terrible one for a mother," Files said. "Does she follow what she believes to be God's will, or does she turn her back on God?"
Files said he would present witnesses who would corroborate Laney's love of her children as well as her belief "that the word of God was infallible."
"It destroyed her ability to discern the wrongness of her act," he said.
If you believe in God, no one bats an eye. If you believe in God and claim he says nice things or impresses upon your heart that you should pet puppy dogs and feed the hungry, some might think you're a bit off, but generally no big deal. However, if you believe in God and go out and do his apparent bidding, which happens to involve bludgeoning children with rocks, suddenly you're a pariah among the religious.
But how do you know it wasn't God telling her to do it? Obviously, as an atheist, I think she's a right looney - but on what rational ground can a Christian say it wasn't the Big Guy Upstairs encouraging her to do this? Disgust won't cut it. Faith? Not much of an argument, at least if we're looking for reason. Morality? If good is whatever God says it is, then killing can be good (and God, as I've said, has shown a penchant for spilling blood).
If it all boils down to "God wouldn't do that," on what basis can one make that claim, particularly about the all-powerful creator of everything? Who are you to judge the Lord your God?
Just askin'.
(yes, I'm in one of those moods - why do you ask?)
You've probably already visited, but the newest Rocky Mountain Blog Roundup is available here.
Going to be a busy day here in the the land that provides Andy a living wage, so instead of being delightfully entertained by my wit, banter, and intelligent commentary on various topics du jour, I trust you shall find favor with a space-taker-upper list of the books currently being consumed by my beautiful mind.
At least that little one about unlawful search and seizure:
It's a groundbreaking court decision that legal experts say will affect everyone: Police officers in Louisiana no longer need a search or arrest warrant to conduct a brief search of your home or business.I've not read the decision, but I am wondering if their "road to Hell" comment was preceded by something about "good intentions." Remember, anytime the government looks to increase its power and decrease yours, it's "for your own good."Leaders in law enforcement say it will provide safety to officers, but others argue it's a privilege that could be abused.
The decision was made by the New Orleans-based 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. Two dissenting judges called it the "road to Hell."
New Orleans Police Department spokesman Capt. Marlon Defillo said the new power will go into effect immediately and won't be abused.I have my doubts, but whether or not something will be abused is hardly the issue. Stomping on "the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures" is the issue.
But that's ok, I trust the powers that be to know what is best for me.
* Obligatory Echelon-friendly closing to throw them off the trail of the blog resistance.
Update: Mike points out another Fourth Amendment issue over at Talk Left.
Update Two: A comment by Eric sparked me to re-read the article in question, only to find that it has now been updated with much, much - and much - more detail about the case, which casts it in a new light. I still have concerns about the extra powers provided down the road, but in this case, it looks like the guy asked for it. Thanks, Eric.
Maybe it's just me, but for some time now I've noticed a striking similarity between Condi Rice and The Brain (of "Pinky and the Brain" fame, naturally). Granted, one is white, the other black, ebony and ivory together in perfect harmony, but still...
Sorry, folks, that's the best you're going to get tonight.
The Transportation Superstition Administration, apparently.
A self-described psychic's tip that a bomb might be on a plane prompted a search with bomb-sniffing dogs that turned up nothing suspicious, but forced the cancelation of the flight.Unbelievable. Well, not the fact that they didn't find anything, that's to be expected - but that they actually took the *ahem* psychic seriously.
The purported psychic's call was "unusual," conceded Doug Perkins, local administrator for the federal Transportation Security Administration director.The appropriate measure to take when a psychic tells you anything about the future is to roll your eyes, walk away, and lament the sad state of reason in America."But in these times, we can't ignore anything. We want to take the appropriate measures," he said.
...it's a wired world.
But only because, last night, our Linksys wireless router went to the big Linksys wireless router depot in the sky, where its spirit is presently frolicking about with other Linksys wireless router spirits as Linksys wireless router spirits are wont to do (when they're not taking time out to haunt wired LAN computers, waving their translucent 802.11 antennae and leaving trails of ecto-packets).
Um, so - anyway - yeah, it died. Tits up. Gone. Gone. Gone, baby, gone.
Linksys is sending us a replacement, though, so all will be well - however, it was a bit of an annoyance to get to that point.
Let it be known that I have absolutely no problem with outsourcing jobs. Free trade, free markets, rah rah sis boom bah and Bob's yer uncle. I do, however, have a problem when those jobs are outsourced to (best I could tell) Indians and South Americans who:
Sir, is the power light blinking on and off very quickly?To which I replied:
Yes, indeed it is.To which he then replied:
We have to send you a new device.All of that to find out what could have been discovered with but a simple question. So, let me add to the list that I hate expert systems that have all the expertise of John Kerry being modest about Vietnam.
Anyway, that's my rant for the day. Linksys, if you're going to outsource jobs, how about outsourcing some training and talent as well? Lowering costs is great. Lowering customer headcounts isn't so much.
Update: (and welcome, Instapundit readers) ... the new router arrived yesterday and is working fine. Next issue will be whether Linksys will accept the returned router without the original receipt.
You see, when I initially bought the router, there was a rebate available on it. So, I had my 3-foot long Circuit City receipt all ready to be addressed and sent packing to Linksys for my money; however, life, as it sometimes does, gets in the way and the receipt sat in my drawer until well past the deadline for getting said refund.
Noticing that was the case a couple of months ago, I instead sent the receipt packing - next stop: Thornton landfill (or perhaps it was recycled, my moods are varied and often influence that decision; much like my wife asking me to take out the trash, the more you bother me, the less likely it's going to happen - eco-nuts be warned). I suppose I could direct Linksys to the landfill, but they might not be up for the adventure.
Anyway, if they aren't pleased with my offering, they'll charge my credit card $84 for the new router. This, of course, will ensure that I bad mouth them repeatedly and never buy another one of their products. So far though, all is well. I'll keep you posted.
Update for Mocking: Apparently some village with a work-release program for their idiot decided to send him my way:
Hey asshole, when you dont comply with the express terms of a warranty, why don't you just take the hit instead of being a repugnant, irresponsible, and sniveling fuckwad?Ummm, well, stay with me here, this answer is going to be complex:
Because that would be stupid.
Why would I not try to get a replacement, especially for a product that died a mere 5 months into use? Why would I not use my consumer power to influence Linksys to keep me happy? Why not?
Because that would be stupid.
Sit back and take it? Are you running for Spanish Prime Minister or something?
You might have read that Laci and Conner's Law has been passed by both the House and the Senate, and is on its way to the desk of the President. I have some thoughts on the law that I might get around to posting tonight or tomorrow.
In the meantime, however, I leave you with this blast from the past. Shudder.
Update: OK, some brief thoughts on the law and how, despite protests to the contrary, it is clearly a step toward trying to make abortion illegal in this country.
The bill states that an assailant who attacks a pregnant woman while committing a violent federal crime can be prosecuted for separate offenses against both the woman and her unborn child, "a member of the species homo sapiens, at any stage of development, who is carried in the womb."So, what the bill is saying is that - regardless of the level of development - the embryo or fetus is a human being entitled to the right to life and protection under the law. But...
It specifically excludes prosecution of legally performed abortions — a fact supporters cite in arguing that the bill would not undermine the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision affirming a woman's right to end a pregnancy.Absolute nonsense."The criminals who commit these crimes are not committing abortions," said Douglas Johnson, legislative director of the National Right to Life Committee (search). "They are depriving these unborn children of the right to life. It's a separate issue related to the right to life."
Does an abortion not deny "these unborn children...the right to life?" As defined in the bill, it most certainly does, and this "exclusion" - while an apparent compromise - is philosophically indefensible in light of the wording of the bill's protection of the embryo or fetus.
Further, what is the greater crime? The criminal who, while robbing someone, injures the fetus knowingly or unknowingly - or the woman who, deciding she can't support or doesn't want a child, willfully goes to a clinic to have her "unborn child" denied its "right to life," and in fact pays for the killing to be done? Not to be too blunt, but in the first example, the death is effectively collateral damage - and in the second, the death is premeditated murder (if we're going to be philosophically consistent).
Please note, I'm not against abortion (up to a point, somewhere in the second trimester - Google away for "Sagan" and "abortion" and you'll find Carl's thoughts which are similar to my own). I'm simply demonstrating that, well, those who say this isn't a veiled attack on Roe v. Wade are either idiots or liars.
With politicians, it's often hard to tell the difference.
Newsflash, the pro-life-at-all-costs crowd just lost another argument:
Miscarriages and induced abortions do not increase a woman's risk of developing breast cancer later in life, according to a study of 83,000 women worldwide being published on Friday.Naturally, one more study isn't going to sway the opinions of those whose minds are firmly entrenched in the "every sperm is sacred" camp, those who equate lying to protect an undifferentiated blastocyst with lying to keep the Nazis from finding Anne and her family in the attic.The study's authors, from the University of Oxford in England, said it was the largest to examine the issue, which has been highly charged politically and scientifically.
They will argue that several other studies, albeit smaller ones, have shown a possible link. This, however, is much like arguing that if you pull one letter out of your mailbox to find it's from Arizona, that everything else in your mailbox must be too. Anyone with a functioning, honest brain would know that when it comes to samples: bigger is better (assuming each is a good, as-random-as-possible sampling of the population to which you hope to extrapolate).
So, the breast cancer argument is - for now anyway - laid to rest. I doubt they'll let it rest in peace.
Well, parts of him anyway:
Charlie, a boisterous 7-month-old Belgian Malinois, has changed quite a bit since Saturday.It's not that Charlie had spent the last 7 months (that's 49 months to you and me) feeling like a girl dog trapped in a boy dog's body, but rather that his unfit owners left him outside, exposed to the elements, continually, since he was some 10 weeks old. Freezing temperatures aren't kind to exposed skin areas, particularly of the pee-pee variety. Not that I know from personal experience or anything, but one can imagine.He is happier, heartier and now a girl.
Anyway, the good folks at Double J Pet Ranch Companions took Charlie in and raised a couple thousand dollars for his "transformation." There will be follow-up expenses as well. We're doing our part, as my wife is a regular volunteer* there - but I'm sure that any donation you care to make (through Paypal on their website) would be most appreciated.
* She also volunteers for Cavy Care, a no-kill guinea pig shelter. Stop laughing. Guinea pigs need love - and money - too.
...of god actually existing?
A "scientist" says the probability is about 67%.
Dr Stephen Unwin has used a 200-year-old formula to calculate the probability of the existence of an omnipotent being. Bayes' Theory is usually used to work out the likelihood of events, such as nuclear power failure, by balancing the various factors that could affect a situation.One million points to the first person who can identify where the good doctor's methodology jumped off the Science highway, waved goodbye to rationality, and started off-roading in Pulled-It-Out-Of-My-Ass country.The Manchester University graduate, who now works as a risk assessor in Ohio, said the theory starts from the assumption that God has a 50/50 chance of existing, and then factors in the evidence both for and against the notion of a higher being.
Naturally, the Raving Atheist has done his own calculations, with somewhat dissimilar results.
“So the ultimate answer is 4%,” said TRA. "Multiplied by zero."Heh.
(found via fellow doubter Strange Doctrines)
It's scary when a mentally-challenged Palestinian boy is smarter than those "normal" ones who blow themselves up:
A mentally slow Palestinian boy told Israeli soldiers he did not want to die after he was caught approaching them with a bomb strapped to his body yesterday.Even scarier is what little respect for life - even the life of their fellow Palestinians - these terrorists have:
Israeli officials claimed the boy was paid about $20 and promised sex in heaven to carry out an attack at West Bank's Hawara checkpoint.At worst, we make tasteless jokes about "very special forces" - these people make them a reality. Culture of death, indeed.
Update: The child's brother provided his own commentary:
Hosni Abdo said he was furious with whoever persuaded his brother to strap on the bomb vest.Note: he wasn't incensed that they had convinced his handicapped brother to wear a bomb to kill innocent Israelis and Palestinians at a checkpoint. He was angry because his brother would so easily name the terrorists behind it."The ones who sent him are stupid, because the army will give him two slaps and he will tell them who sent him," Hosni Abdo said.
Disgusting.
This is a battle that Western civilization must win.
That would be Jen over at the Greatest Jeneration, speaking about the Pledge of Allegiance being argued on the floor of the Supreme Court:
Hope your prayers are going up with mine that the USSC decides this dreadful case in the right way!Hmmm, to whom are you praying? If you're praying to the Christian god that the line "under God" should remain in the Pledge, then you've just made the case that it's clearly an endorsement of a specific religion. Or are you hoping that Muslims pray to Allah? That New Agers rub their crystals good and hard? That Wiccans dry hump a tree?
No?
Point made.
I'm also praying for the black heart of Michael Newdow (the atheist petitioner), too, because I know it's not right to hate someone but without Heavenly assistance, I can't help it!The logic of the kooky mind:
What I find most interesting is that Jen actually HATES the man for this - either for being an atheist, making a legal case about two simple words, or both - none of which justifies hatred in a rational mind. Of course, "rational" is the operative word in that sentence.
I'm also confused as to why she would accuse Michael Newdow of having the black heart in need of a-changin', when she's the one consumed by hatred. I dread to imagine a life of such petty bitterness.
Ed. note: While I hate to double her traffic by directing four of you over there, this kind of idiocy just boggles my mind - and makes for fun blogging!
So, Michele said that the last challenge, the Six Song Medley o'Goodness, was too difficult, the songs too obscure, the bands too non-commercially viable and/or defunct. She's probably right, but I was hoping someone would shock me.
But no! I remain unshocked!
OK, fine, something a little easier then. Twelve snippets of songs you should probably know if your vinyl/cassette/CD collection expands beyond the ends of the FM radio spectrum (yet includes some of its contents as well). Same rules: honor system, maybe a prize, general admiration for this blog and myself from all you pretty young thangs, whatever.
Ready - set - go!
The new frontier for pioneers is in our own backyard:
MARQUETTE, Kan. (AP) - Dean and Jennifer Krehbiel are modern-day pioneers on the prairie. The couple are building a home in this small rural town after being offered free land as part of a giveaway aimed at revitalizing Marquette.I'd jump at the opportunity, except that it's Marquette, Kansas. Of course, maybe that's not so bad since Salina is just 30 miles away. Not that Salina is really much more than a place to sleep between St. Louis and Denver.
OK, nevermind.
Venezuela has a bad case of it:
The Venezuelan government on Tuesday denounced Israel's assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, founder and spiritual leader of Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), and urged a peaceful solution to the conflict, said the Foreign Ministry in a statement,Deepest grief? Over the death of a terrorist mastermind?The Venezuelan government expressed "its deepest grief over Yassin's death and its solidarity with the Palestinian people and the Palestinian National Authority at such a moment of great consternation," said the statement.
Venezuela opposes the use of violence to achieve any objectives while hoping the two sides can pursue peace negotiations, the statement said.
Solidarity with the Palestinians and the PA? When they apparently support terrorism, or at least refuse to speak out against it (ok, the PA does, and then engages in it, but bear with me)?
Nice to see our friends down south engaging in "war is not the answer" idiocy. Apparently, in their effort to denounce "the use of violence to achieve any objectives," they overlooked Yassin's habit of planning the deaths of innocent Israeli men, women, and children.
Good lord (not that I'm a believer), what is the world coming to?
Hamas wastes no time picking a new leader:
The Palestinian militant group Hamas has named Abdel Aziz Rantissi its new leader, following the killing of Hamas founder Ahmed Yassin, Fox News has confirmed.Rantissi was selected for the job after failing to land a gig as the drummer for Spinal Tap.
Alright, a medley of six songs for your listening pleasure. Guess the artist and song title, and leave them in the comments.
Oh, and apologies for the 64KB quality of the recording - bandwidth and all, you understand.
Update: Crikey, people, nary a comment. Really, it's not THAT hard - I can name every single one of the songs. With my eyes closed. And one hand tied behind my back.
Inspired once again, this time by this post, I give you ten random songs from my MP3 player. They are:
Not only that, but for a limited time (act now! operators standing by!), you can download a two minute MP3 file giving you a taste of each of the songs! No, I don't know why you'd want that, but what the hell, we're all about giving until it hurts!
Ouch!
You never know, maybe it'll break you of that nasty Linkin Park / Christina Aguilera thing you've got going on!
Update: Michele says I should make a game of it - ok, I shall. Look for a new MP3 file of 5-10 songs sometime today, and you get to guess the artist and song. The first person with all the correct answers wins, well, who knows what. Maybe my admiration. Maybe a shirt. Maybe a thong!
John Stossel is back with ten more myths to investigate and debunk.
Now if he would just tackle this whole Jesus thing... of course, he might then have Michael Powell breathing down his neck for showing the Savior in naught but a loincloth.
If ever we needed proof that homosexuality is a case of nature over nurture, here it is:
18-month-old Lukas Mazurczyk rests in his stroller during an anti-war demonstration in New York, March 20, 2004.OK, OK, fine, so it's just some kooky moonbat exploiting their child in yet another idiotic anti-war protest. My take on it was more entertaining.
Playing catch-up after a week away from work at a conference. In the meantime, the wee Fiona - America's happiest baby and don't you forget it - says hi to all of you.
I know what you're thinking - "How is it that this adorable baby will someday grow to rule the world with ruthless might and menacing mayhem?" One of the mysteries of the universe, folks. Don't ponder it too hard or she might think you're an intellectual and you'll be first against the wall when the revolution comes.
Dies by Israeli missile strike:
Thousands of Palestinians jammed the streets of Gaza City for the funeral procession Monday of Hamas founder and spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, killed earlier in the day in an Israeli missile strike.Good riddance. Not everyone is pleased:
Britain condemned Israel's killing of Palestinian Hamas movement leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin on Monday and said it was unlikely to help fight terrorism.What? I'm sorry. Excuse me. What? Now Britain is condemning the targeting of terrorist leaders for assassination?
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said on arrival at a European Union foreign ministers' meeting that Israel had a right to defend itself against terrorism but had to act within international law.Uh, but if we knock off Osama and his cohorts, it's perfectly acceptable? If we march into Baghdad and plug Saddam's sons, hey, no worries? But if Israel dare defend itself against the same kind of bottom-feeding human refuse, they're in the wrong?"It is not entitled to go for this kind of unlawful killing, and we therefore condemn it," he told reporters.
I don't think so.
Did Spain suddenly annex the United Kingdom?
Other EU ministers made similar comments, voicing fears that retaliation by Hamas supporters could spread to Europe.Yes, it looks like they did. How very, very sad.
"Dr. Paul Cameron has consistently misinterpreted and misrepresented sociological research on sexuality, homosexuality, and lesbianism… Dr. Paul Cameron has repeatedly campaigned for the abrogation of the civil rights of lesbians and gay men, substantiating his call on the basis of his distorted interpretation of this research"- from an official memorandum of the American Sociological Association, full-text printed in “Sociology group criticizes work of Paul Cameron” (1985, September 10). Lincoln Star.
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The online version of Christianity Today has the following disclaimer:
Viewpoints published in "Speaking Out" do not necessarily represent those of Christianity Today.While this begs the question of "then why do you allow them to be published there?", I'll nevertheless make the following disclaimer:
Viewpoints expressed (and defended) by me, Jon Darby, do not necessarily represent those of The World Wide Rant or its owners, of who I am not one. I absorb complete and absolete responsibility for the views that I am about to publish and assert that they were not formulated or influenced in any way by Andy, Tom, or anybody else.I state this because my comments about Benne & McDermott, which in previous postings ranged from bitchy to ironic, are about to get really nasty. However, I believe that I will document my research sufficiently well that nobody will be able to accuse me of misrepresentation of any factual statements I will make.
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