Slate.com Serves up the Puppy Love

Slate.com, an online editorial magazine, served up some unintentional humor with an illustration to a story about what gifts to avoid for Christmas. While the gift may be for the daughter, the dad seems to be giving it to the puppy....

(highlighted areas added by me)





Here's the story with the pic, which can be clicked for a larger version:





Summing things up, let's do it for the kids, not in front of the kids. With a puppy. On Christmas.

Happy Holidays!

The images presented in this post are for reporting purposes only and are not intended as a challenge to the copyright holder.

While at Wal*Mart....

Alright, I didn't write this list. This was sent to me in an email, but it was too hilarious not share. I also added one that was on another list but fits in great with this one. Bonus points if you can guess which one was added to this list!

While at Wal*Mart:

1. Get 24 boxes of condoms and randomly put them in peoples' carts when they aren't looking.

2. Set all the alarm clocks in Housewares to go off at 5-minute intervals.

3. Walk up to an employee and tell him/her in an official tone, "Code 3 in housewares" and see what happens.

4. Go the Service Desk and ask to put a bag of M&M's on lay away.

5. Move a 'CAUTION - WET FLOOR' sign to a carpeted area.

6. Set up a tent in the camping department and tell other shoppers you'll invite them in if they'll bring in pillows from the bedding department.

7. When a clerk asks if they can help you, begin to cry and ask 'Why can't you people just leave me alone?'

8. Look right into the security camera; use it as a mirror, & and pick your nose.

9. While handling guns in the hunting department, ask the clerk if he knows where the anti- depressants are.

10. Dart around the store suspiciously while loudly humming the 'Mission Impossible' theme.

11. In the auto department, practice your Madonna look using different size funnels.

12. Hide in a clothing rack; when people browse through, say PICK ME!

13. When an announcement comes over the loudspeaker, assume the fetal position and scream "NO! NO! It's those voices again!"

14. Go into a fitting room and shut the door and wait a while; and then yell, very loudly, "There is no toilet paper in here!"

15. Take some peanut butter into a bathroom stall next to one that's being used. Wipe a bit of peanut butter onto some toilet paper and drop it under the divider. Then say, "Oh dang, can you kick that back over hear?"

These things may all be 100% more effective if caught on video by a close personal friend willing to share the video over the internets. Or my inbox.

Enjoy!

...and Blingo was it's name-o.

I stumbled across this search engine:



It uses Google to search, but your first ten searches on any given day are potential prizewinners. About every hour, a random search wins a prize ranging from movie tickets or song downloads all the way up to iPods and PSPs. No one pays to register or anything like that; they just buy the stuff with the ad revenue they bring in. I think it is an ingenious way to generate more users and a loyalty base. It will be interesting to see if their award structure changes as their user base grows. When there are more users, there is a lower chance of winning. However, that same increase also brings about an increase in funds for more potential prizes. I will be watching to see if the increase the prize rate as the user base increases. Overall, I think it is a good model for the time being. What are your thoughts on this?

Historic Tale Construction Kit

Made with the
Historical Tale Construction Kit


How I came across this wonderful site remains a mystery, but I'm glad that I did. The Historical Tale Construction Kit is a flash-based program that allows you to use images culled from the Bayeux, a middle-ages tapestry depicting a battle between Harold King of England and William the Conqueror. I love the anachronistic styling and the ability to create multiple panels for longer stories. I wish it were possible to rotate the images, but the images can only be reduced/enlarged and mirrored. Even so, there are so many things that can be done with this, from one-shots to a lengthy web comic, that I keep coming back to it every couple of weeks.

Enjoy!

Rope and Sound from SQUID Labs

SQUID Labs has created some amazing rope that is able to monitor its own condition, and yet I get excited about the fact that they've made music with it. The piece, "Sound and Rope" is a design that incorporates the rope into a structure that takes feedback from a plucked rope and transforms it into a signal that modulates music from a sythesizer. (I may have erred in that explaination, so check out the site yourself.) I am sure that the technological implications of this material may have a much broader range than mere ambient music, but I must admit that the sound is hauntingly beautiful. Also, I was more interested in the music than in the technology.

Ignorance? Possibly.
Bliss? Certainly.

Plague-infested Mice Escape from Lab

An interesting story at www.psyorg.com is telling us that a reasearch lab at the University of Medicine and Dentistry in New Jersey has reportedly lost three mice carrying Yersinia pestis. Yersinia pestis was better known when it ran amok as the Bubonic Plague. Each of these three mice were in seperate containers and have been gone for longer than two weeks. Apparently this is not a big deal because, if treated quickly, modern antibiotics can deal with the plague. Isn't that the kicker? When was the last time you checked out a sore on your arm and said, "Crap, I got me some plague."? And did you catch that line? If treated quickly..." So, again, one: the average person does not know what the hell the plague would look like if it were to take up bodily residence, and two: how quick is quickly? Not only that, but some guy from some place who is a critic of some program says that "You have more security at a McDonald's than at some of these facilities." (Alright, so the guy was Richard Ebright, a microbiologist from Reutgers University, but he's kind of dropped into that news story out of freakin' nowhere...) Well, I'm off to go scrub with some soap and water; I think I remember hearing that a good bath was all one needed to fend of the Black Death.

Crazy Videos for your Enjoyment

I've stumbled upon some crazy videos that may or may not brighten your day, I suppose it all depends upon your attitude. Suck it up and laugh, creampuff.


Fabulous Adam of Eternia




Barrester Video



Those are it for now. Enjoy. It's mandatory.

More Great RenFestness...

Just in case you were jonesing for a fix of me and my wife in Renaissance garb, here I am to spread much merriment. She made both of these outfits (plus two more dresses and bodices) in under ten days. I also think she vowed never to work with textiles again, so that would be a downside.

Florida Community College of Jacksonville had a campus awareness day, and we wore these costumes to draw attention to the campus learning center and a new Shakespear class being offered next semester. I can say that we drew a lot of attention alright (she more than I).

Now we're itching for a renfest.
Or maybe that was just the fabric of my robe...

For Your Listening Pleasure...

Music Video Codes By VideoCodeZone.com



This is The Duhks. Purchasing of their album and listening to it repeatedly is purported to cause much happiness for folk who dig folk.

Utter Bullshit

Governor Schwarzenegger is vetoing the bill passed by both the California House and Senate that would legalize same-sex marriage. Governor Schwarzenegger claims that it is the will of the people that this not pass (according to a previous state proposition), and yet there is a fundamental flaw in this line of thought: The United States is a representative democracy, not a popular democracy. If the United States were a popular democracy, Bush would not have been able to have stolen the election as he did in 2000, since he lost the popular vote. The idea that the "majority rules" has never, EVER, been a cornerstone of American democracy. If it were, we'd still be an ass-backwards slave-holding nation that denied women the right to vote. Arnold has committed a grave mistake here by citing a popular-vote initiative as reason for his veto. This is politics at its worst, and a serious blow to a humane and just course of action. No true Christian or humanitarian would stand in the way of two adults in love choosing to commit one's life to each other.

Gott ist tot

"God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we, murderers of all murderers, console ourselves? That which was the holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet possessed has bled to death under our knives. Who will wipe this blood off us? With what water could we purify ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we need to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we not ourselves become gods simply to be worthy of it?"

- Nietzsche, Also sprach Zarathustra

Bill Moyer protects his ears...

So apparently this is Bill Moyer, a 71 year old veteran who carefully discerns just what exactly passes through his ears. I stumbled across this photo as I was browsing the Boing Boing feed on my Bloglines account and couldn't resist sharing him with you. I really wanted to let you know more about him, but an article on Canada's National Post site was all that my A9.com and Google searches could turn up. Instead, I now bring you replica ear covers, courtesy of The Talent Show. Just click on Bill's lovely ear-covered mug for a spiffy .pdf of the BS protectors.

Today's link-infested fun-filled post is brought to you courtesy of a rampant case of unmedicated Adult ADD.

Six Feet Under is now six feet under...

Some of you may know that I have no subscription to cable or satellite television. However, this has not stopped me from seeing every episode up through season three of the amazing and fantastic show, Six Feet Under on HBO. Granted, this has been through the miracle of DVD rather than as the episodes actually air. I am not sure if that is a good thing or not, seeing as how my wife and I have been known to pop in one of the discs and say, "OK, we should just watch one or two, but we really need to get to sleep before 4am this time". Sure enough, six hours later, we're half way through a season. The following night contains more of the same. We just can not stop. As Ralph Wiggum would say, it's unpossible. We heard about the show through my wife's sister, who watched it fanatically. We thought she was a little too nutty about the whole thing. Then I found the soundtrack. I needed a piece of music to represent visually for a design class project, and I stumbled across the Six Feet Under soundtrack in at the public library. I checked it out, popped it in, and was amazed at the incredible selection of great music. I listened to that CD on repeat for about a week. I thought that if the music was this good, I may as well give the show a shot. My sister-in-law's season one boxed set had been sitting on top of our TV for three weeks, untouched. Shame on me. Six Feet Under is one of the most brilliant shows I have ever watched. Most of the episodes are touching or meaningful, many are hilarious, some are almost too emotionally tough to sit through, and none of them have disappointed us. Oh sure, we didn't like what a character may or may not have done, but the show itself has yet to disappoint us. The writing by multiple authors, story lines, character development, and acting are top-notch. I have honestly never enjoyed a show as much as I have enjoyed Six Feet Under.

My wife and I are slightly more than halfway through the entire series. We have seen every episode through season three at least twice. We never watch it elsewhere lest we spoil a surprise by seeing things out of order. The worst moment of this sort came after a marathon viewing of season two. Unable to take the suspense of some event or another (most likely the outcome of the story about Nathan's head condition), my wife journeyed to HBO's official Six Feet Under website just to make sure Nathan was going to be ok. Lo and behold, we came across all sorts of info we didn't even know was a possibility, like Lisa's baby, Lisa's death, Brenda's help raising Lisa's baby... The Brenda thing didn't even happen in season three! We thought our heads were going to explode, it was just too much foreknowledge. That in itself is a testament to how incredible this series is, because I am the type of guy who asks how a movie ends because I'm going to see it anyway. Knowing stuff in advance never bothered me before, and it still doesn't bother me about any other show or movie. We have since steered clear of all the juicy goodness of which I am sure the website has to offer.

But now it's over.

It is with a sad and heavy heart that I say goodbye to our dear friend, Six feet Under. The very last episode aired on August 21st. Sadly, it may be a solid year or more before I ever have the chance of seeing it due to DVD release schedules. Thankfully, season four is being released way sooner in relation to season three than seasons three, two, and one were in relation to each other and their airing on HBO. Hopefully season five is already in the can. Or the casket.

Thanks for the great ride, Alan Ball & Friends!


Postscript:

We watch my sister-in-law's DVDs. She usually gets them from her parents as a birthday or Christmas gift. I see on Amazon.com that season four is already out. I can't believe we haven't seen it yet. At $70 (discounted) a pop for each season, we have yet to become the proud owners of our own Six Feet Under DVDs. If you want to snag a copy of your own, here is the Six Feet Under series page on Amazon.com.

Unshackled

Truth be told, the single-most reason why there are such long gaps between posts is because I don't feel like what I want to write is what I should write. Many, many times I have thought about writing on being an adult fan of Lego, a cool movie I saw, a crappy movie I saw, a relationship event, or any other countless topics that didn't seem to fit with the direction I thought this space was intended to take. Today I say: no more. I have a few things going on that have led to need to branch out in this space.

One: I have ADD and am possibly bipolar (we're checking on that one, honestly). My "enthusiasms" are very fluid. One week, all I can spew forth from my frothy thoughts is something about politics. Another week, I'd rather be building with Lego than listening to a single word from a news source. Still another week, I'm up to my eyeballs in table-top roleplaying games, metal miniatures, and polyhedral dice. And every once in a while I wish people would just leave me the hell alone (not this week, though). Naturally, none of this bodes well for a single-train-of-thought blog.

Two: I can't bring myself to cover political issues for every post because so many of the issues end up being such a load of crap it makes my head hurt. Of course, the original intent was to cover politics and religion, but what I post is a direct result of my faith in God and where I see God moving in the world.

Three: There are movements afoot, movements tapping in to who God is and what God is doing, movements that have almost everything and yet almost nothing to do with the face of modern, Western, Christianity. I have felt drawn into this for quite some time now, and as it flows over everything, seeping into every niche, crevice, and corner of our lives, I feel like returning here and just writing. I feel that writing about the things that occur in my life and the lives of others around me is a way of being in this occurrence.

Four: The only shackles I was bound by were of my own devise. Ultimately, this is my own area. The only reason there's an ad banner on the side of the page is to generate some extra spending money, whether it's for my own pleasure or to feed the man in front of the convenience store who applauds the empty sidewalk and makes grand, sweeping gestures while addressing an unseen crowd. Adsense promises "relevant ads" and I will be amused to see what a "relevant ad" looks like as this page winds down this new path.

If you were coming here for the commentary, it will continue. If you were coming here because of our friendship, it will continue. If you were coming here because I have an account with blog explosion or whatever that thing is called, it will continue. If you were coming here because I leave comments on your blog and you wanted to see what this was all about, sucker...no, wait... that will continue, too. Now, however, there is the added bonus of some extra diversions. Some of it you will like, some of it you will hate; but in the end, it will be a lot like me.

On the side: does Blogger support post tags? i think I'll need them...

Also: If you use bloglines or another blog subscriber account, feel free to add me to your list. I just discovered Blog Lines and it's pretty spiffy.

iPod Flea

Doug Pagitt over at the Pagitt Blog has posted a link to the incredible new iPod Flea. Come on kiddies, run right out and get yours now before they're all gone.

(If you're not familiar with Doug Pagitt, he's involved with the Emergent Church movement, a movement finding new ways to navigate the Christian faith in the postmodern world. He's associated with the Solomon's Porch community in Minnesota. Check it out if you get a chance.)

Reuters Pulls "Tasty" Page?

So yesterday I laughed so hard my cheeks hurt over a headline put out on Reuters for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Now it looks as if the page has been pulled.

See for yourself...

I find it very hard to believe that the piddly traffic from my own sight generator much notice to a site like Reuters, so I have to believe that other sites raised awareness to this headline, as well. Either that, or I am a very secret internets super power...

In any event, my screen-grab still exists here.

Enjoy!

Does Anybody Actually Read This?

Just curious...

Maybe if you enjoy what you are reading here, one of you faithful readers would be interested in sending this my way. Yes, for the mere cost of less than $5 (Twice as much as my adsense ads have generated in the last 6 months), you could make me the proud papa of three Lego dinosaurs!

Two things led to this moment:
1. That Triceratops and Stegosaurus have to be the coolest looking Lego animals ever.
2. The fact that I am actually unable to afford a measly $5 on myself at this time is very sad.

Two more things, I have serious doubts that:
1. Anyone is actually reading this.
2. Anyone would actually take the time and cash to go through with this.

Ok, If I'm really so lucky as to have a compassionate fan of MoRE.bs.com©*, (holy crap, that is now mine if it's available...), and you're making this small-yet-incredibly-awesome purchase on my behalf, let me know. I can be reached through manofredearth(at)gmail(dot)com.

/wishful thinking

*...on second thought, registering a domain name is way more work than I'm able to invest in at the moment. Until then, however, a cursory websearch affirms that I am the sole user of the phrase "more.bs.com"which is, obviously, the abbreviated form of http://manofredearth.blogspot.com ^_^

In Other News...

Wow... um... I find it really hard to believe that this made it past every editor without anyone else picking up on some rather awkward verbiage...

(found here)


Guilty confession: I'm still laughing like a junior high guy after hearing a silly poop joke.

One of These Things is not Like the Other...

This is a screen capture from Google News several weeks ago.


I just found this sitting in a misc. image folder on my desktop, having been forgotten after my several weeks of various travels and programs*. So why would this have been important enough for me to grab and post? Let's take a close look at each headline:

-Bush cool on climate deal, offers Blair no favors (Reuters)
-Bush wants to shift global warming debate** (CNN)
-US close to climate change concessions (Guardian Unlimited)

I started to explain what I found so humorous in this example, but why don't you leave a comment and tell me if you think it's funny or not.

I'm still chuckling.

*Flimsy excuse for having not post anything during the last 6 weeks
**Somebody please tell this man the debate has been over for quite some time...

Porn Sites get a Domain Address

Reuters (and others) are reporting on ICANN's (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) move to include .xxx as a domain name specifically assigned to pornographic content. First off, this is an idea I have advocated for the last half decade or longer, before (I believe) this was ever even considered. I can hear some of you out there asking me for proof (figuratively, of course). Well, if I find some post, blog, or message board comment I have made a long time ago regarding this issue, it will be posted here immediately. Regardless, it's a good move with one caveat: forced migration. ICANN must force sites with pornographic content to move to the .xxx domain without exception. The beauty of the .xxx domain name is that it allows for filters to work more efficiently. This is not the same as censorship. The availability of pornography on the internet, in a society that allows for that content as free speech, is not being infringed upon. Rather, it is being placed in an area that allows for easier controls to be put into place much like those already existing in "real space" aka brick & mortar locations. Without ICANN forcing sites to move off .com and into .xxx, we'll simply see a doubling of the available porn site addresses (think : www.hypotheticalpornsite.com AND www.hypotheticalpornsite.xxx)*.


*As of this posting, these sites may not actually exist. I assume that they do not, but I'm sure that any address with "porn" in its name has most likely been bought. The point is, the domain names in my example are exactly what they say: hypothetical.

"Revenge of the Sith" Breaking Corporate Banks?

This article from the Washington Times exclaims that:

Challenger Gray & Christmas, a Chicago outplacement firm, estimated that 51 percent of people attending opening day would be full-time workers, costing employers as much as $627 million in lost productivity.

This same type of bogus information was passed around during the previous Star Wars films and during the Lord of the Rings films. The fact is, the majority of employers offer sick days or some other for of leave to their employees. This "cost" of $627 million in lost productivity fails to take that fact into account. If every person who skipped work to see Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith had used up all of his or her sick days or personal leave days, then we would see these soaring costs of lost productivity that had not already been accounted for in employment packages/arrangements.

Having said that, I'll see you in line on Wednesday night.

PS- What does this have to do with progressive Christianity or politics? How about relating it to the economy? Or, wait, everyone knows God loves Star Wars. Yeah, that's the ticket.
May The Force Be With You.

My Ecological Impact

I try to live an ecologically sound life. I have now been put in my place. Even as I answered the various questions at MyFootprint.org, I knew that my results would be off from what I wanted to believe they would be. Granted, my "footprint" on the environment is smaller than the average American's, however I still use more than I regularly lead myself to believe. Here's are my results below, check out the site and see how you fair.


My ecological footprint.

Bourgeois? Bohemian? Bobo? I just thought I was a hippie...

Does the Birkenstock Fit?

*This was sitting in my account as a draft, so I'm just going to make it a real post. I'm still alive, and hopefully I'll start posting again soon.

Pope John Paul II

During a time when the world grieves, leaders make many speeches in regards to the Pope's passing. Let us not forget that the Pope strongly opposed the Iraq War and any doctrine of preemptive military action.

My thoughts and prayers are with our Catholic brothers and sisters during this time of loss.

American Empire Rising

"Mr Wolfowitz, a lifelong academic and diplomat with no direct experience of the financial world, is an incendiary figure in international circles because he has consistently pushed for an end to the US doctrine of containment in international affairs and believes the United States has the right to take pre-emptive action wherever it sees fit and extend what he has called a "benevolent hegemony" over the rest of the world."

From The Independent comes the disturbing sequel to my previous entry, "If Only This Were..."

It is beyond my comprehension that men bent on creating an antagonistic empire out of the United States continue to be placed (or nominated/suggested) for such positions as they have been recently. Paul Wolfowitz believes that it is in the US's best interest and duty to violently suppress any country that could possibly cause any trouble for our position as the world's leading superpower. Mr. Wolfowitz's vision will now extend to, not only bloody battlefields, but a starnglehold on nations' pocketbooks. This is not a gut reaction based on fear and loathing of the Neoconservative agenda, but a reaction stemming from the cry of justice through a compassionate God who loathes the oppression of human beings, whether it be physical our monetary. The fear that rises now is that this will be no mere sequel, but a saga of epic proportions with disastorous repercussions.

If Only This Were Just A Cruel Joke...

Slate.com has an article regarding Bush appointing John Bolton as ambassador to the U.N. What I find more interesting is that I was surprised that Bush would knowingly appoint an individual who despises the U.N. to actually serve as an ambassador to the U.N. This move is akin to appointing a grand wizard in the KKK to head up a race-relations committee: Bolton doesn't just want to reform the U.N., he wants to see it dismantled entirely. Bolton asserts that there is no such thing as good international law, and that the only purpose of international law is to, ultimately, restrict the U.S. There is no possible way that Bolton, with the current issues involving Iraq, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, and North Korea, can serve in this position while acting on behalf of the best interest of the United States and a peaceful yet firm coexistence with the rest of the world. It should come as no surprise that the majority of our foreign allies and acquaintances responded to this move as if it were an insult.

Renaissance Wedding Night

These pics were from the night of the renaissance wedding. After the bride and groom went home, the wedding party (all four of us) headed out to an Irish pub. Talk about owning the place, all eyes were on us most of the night. Lots of good conversation and lots of fun.


Me with mine pint. Dost it looketh like Coke? You can thinketh that...
(slightly waving his hand) "That's not the drink you're looking for... move along now."

There were a few more pics I intended to post, but I currently cannot get them to load through Picassa/Hello. If I can, I'll add them and edit this out.

Manofredearth & Katieeden on Display

Manofredearth and Katieeden

Katie and I had an excellent time this past weekend at our friends' wedding. They had a Renaissance theme, and Katie made these outfits to wear. She also made two other dresses, plus the bodices. Her ability to create professional-looking clothing amazes me, and it's only a hobby! Between work required for her Masters degree, her job at the community college, and helping with Gabriel and things around the house, I believe she decided sleep was no longer a necessary function.

These outfits will also come in handy now that we're joining the Society for Creative Anachronism with the same friends who just got married. We also know of a few upcoming fairs and festivals we could wear these to. All in all, Katie did a phenomenal job, and I can't believe she pulled it off in the time she had!

Commence envy...

Constantine

The movie Constantine opened today, and I was glad to have seen it. I hope that people see this film and use it as a great jumping-off point for faith discussions in the same way that people who had seen The Matrix have done. The movie, while being visually impressive and captivating, is also brimming with juicy ideas begging to be discussed outside the theater. Some of the topics touched on include faith vs. works, the nature of God, the symbolism of spiritual warfare, and the ideas that the average non church-going person has regarding this issues and more. Constantine, while be based off of the DC/Vertigo comic of the same name, draws heavily from Christian/Catholic mythology, symbolism, and theology. Some Christian viewers may be dismayed over the absence of faith in Jesus by the characters fighting the demons, but it illustrates the very heart of the struggle of John Constantine who attempts to purchase his way into heaven through his service. How many people do we know who walk through life thinking "If I just do enough good, doesn't God have to take that into consideration?"

Two scriptures continue to rattle through my head since seeing this film:

John said to him, ‘Teacher, we saw someone casting out devils in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.’ But Jesus said, ‘Do not stop him; for no one who does a work of divine power in my name will be able the next moment to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us.
Mark 9:38-40

There is no greater love than this, that a man should lay down his life for his friends.
John 15:13

Again, I find Constantine to be a great jumping-off point for faith discussions. There are certainly issues of content and language to consider when deciding if this movie would be appropriate for you and whatever group you are in or forming, but the movie is, in my opinion, worth it. In general, this movie has received less-than-admirable reviews, so I have compiled a few links to some favorable reviews. Something I was told when writing a movie review in high school has stuck with me: "It's always easier to write a bad review than a good review, no matter what you thought of the movie." So keep that in mind, take all the reviews with a grain of salt, and see the film for yourself.


Minnesota Star Tribune - You may need a subscription, I was able to read it without one.

National Review Online - Contains a few tidbits that I'd consider "spoilers".

Daily Trojan USC Student Newspaper - Again, some "spoilers".

The Macon Telegraph - A short and to-the-point review.

Three Days in Heaven and in Hell

I have been reading a lot of information, these last three days. I have been reading scripture, I have been reading commentary, I have been reading web forum posts, I have been reading the news, and I have been reading my self. I was on a mission. It was a simple mission, so I thought, a mission to provide an acceptable and adequate theological reason why I am not, and why I believe God is not, any more offended by same-sex marriage than the marriage of a heterosexual. It was not a simple mission, and some may say I have failed, but I am finished. I will provide what I have come to realize are the guiding ideas I have regarding God and Christ, ideas that some will say are simply incorrect or down-right heretical. I will be alright with that; I am a heretic in good company, that is for certain.

I believe that one reading this expecting to have their mind changed (or expecting I am attempting to change one's mind), will not. These positions and thoughts are not taken and put on like masks or costumes, to be paraded about as fads or hip-thinking. These thoughts and ideas are ways of thinking, ways of life, that have been arrived at over years of prayer, tears, relationships, reading, living, and a little bit of dying, dying to old ways and to old selves. I do not wish one to read what I am writing as a challenge inviting argument, though you are free to do so. Read as if I am opening up to you who I am and why I believe the way I do, whether for wrong or for right, because I wish to convert no one through these particular thoughts today. I seek not to argue, but to explain, expose, and lay myself bare for you to understand.

First and foremost, God is Love. That's Love with a capitol "L". God is also just, holy, and righteous, but, knowing that God is Love, I have come to firmly believe that God's justice, holiness, and righteousness will look like Love. Because of this, I strive to err on the side of grace. When God judges what I have believed and done, I would rather hear that I loved too much to a fault than to not have loved enough. I do not say this to mean that anyone who does not accept same-sex marriage is unloving; I say this to mean that this is where the Love of God has led me.

Regardless of whether or not science ever produces a biological trigger for our sexual orientation, the fact remains that one can not genetically prove that they are biologically heterosexual or biologically homosexual. Neither group, as a being, chose their orientation, either. Demands of proof that one "is born gay" from the heterosexual community should be met with the same demands from the homosexual community that the others were "born straight". I have yet to meet a single person, on either side of the issue that is capable of telling me when they choose their orientation, because orientation is not a choice. I can no more choose to be gay than someone who is gay can choose to be straight; it is a matter of one's very being. A homosexual can choose to abstain from sexual relations, but they will still be a homosexual. The number of people from programs that claim to convert homosexuals to heterosexuals that say they either "reverted" or simply claimed to be "cured" in an attempt to believe it later on down the line, is staggering.

The most loving thing Christians can do is to provide every person with as much access to the fullness of life as possible. If some are right, and homosexuality can be "cured by God", then nothing will stop God's conviction in those lives. But if some are wrong, and homosexuality is a life-long orientation that one does not choose, then a grave disservice has been done to our homosexual brothers and sisters in denying them the same opportunities in life that the rest of us have.

In closing, I have essentially failed in the prime request that was asked of me: to provide scriptural basis for my belief. I will say this, that it my very reading of scripture that informs my belief. The passages of love, grace, and justice speak volumes over the traditional seven passages that are used to exclude our homosexual brothers and sisters to the fullness of life through love and acceptance. I wish I could list for you in neat detail every passage that would prove my position to you, but I cannot. I began to, but it came across as proof-texting, a practice I have learned to despise as it can be used to make scripture say whatever we want it to say. I can only say that the time may come when I will know whether I was right or I was wrong, and my only explanation can only be that I erred on the side of grace.

Interesting Links, few comments...

I'm still taking in way more information than I am willing to comment on at this time. Instead of commentary, tonight I have selected links to articles I have found of interest. Happy reading.

A Breathtaking Budget
from WashingtonPost.com

City Will Request a Quick Decision on Gay Marriage
New York City may step forward for citizens' marriage rights
from NYTimes.com

FOIA Eyes Only
The US Gov't and the torture memos problem
from Slate.com

Christian Family Values
and how they've changed over time
from Sojo.net

Sony, IBM, and friends
This is a bit of a departure for this blog, but if this continues to progress as it is, I will finally be leaving the Nintendo camp for Sony and the PlaySatation III. There's only so much abuse a Final Fantasy fan can withstand, and I have not heard anything from Nintendo that sounds like it could even remotely compete with this. And if I put the words "God" and "Politics" under here, I can pretend like it's related somehow.

Mental Drain

There has been quite a bit of information to post on, but I can't bring myself to write much about it. What have been the items I feel need an opinion of my own attached to them?

-Bush's State of the Union address (various points. Some good, a few more than that not so good.)
-Appointment of Gonzalez despite being pro-torture.
-The US Gov't's deceit over the last decade while Iraq sold oil to other countries while we knew about and secretly assented to it.
-A 3-star general's remarks about the fun of killing resulting in merely a "stern talking-to"

So, I just don't have the energy to make any more remarks about this than I have already. it's too late at night/early in the morning and I need to get some sleep. Maybe I'll pick up one of these topics and address it, but for now I just felt like posting that I had noticed them and opted not to expound upon them.

That's all. Move along now.

President Bush Asks For More Iraq War Money, Representative Pelosi Asks Plain Questions.

Responding to the President Bush's request for an additional $80 Billion (US), House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi asked several questions which should be both taken seriously and answered sufficiently.

Representative Pelosi's comments and questions:

"As Members of Congress, our highest responsibility is to provide for the common defense, and we have pledged to give our armed forces the support they need in these difficult and dangerous days -- both to win this war and to win the peace.

"As Congress works to ensure our troops have what they need to be safe, we owe it to them to critically examine President Bush's request and ask: What are the goals in Iraq, and how much more money will it cost to achieve them? Why hasn't the President and the Pentagon provided Members of Congress a full accounting of previous expenditures? Why, after all the effort dedicated to training Iraqi troops, aren't more Iraqi troops trained, equipped, and prepared to play a bigger security role?"

There is cause for concern when several hundred billion dollars is spent and yet even elected government officials on both sides of the isle are unaware of how exactly it is being put to use.

In an effort to reach out to my conservative friends, please note both my desire for fiscal responsibility and the wry humor of this sentence.

The Salvador Option

The Salvador Option

Now, NEWSWEEK has learned, the Pentagon is intensively debating an option that dates back to a still-secret strategy in the Reagan administration’s battle against the leftist guerrilla insurgency in El Salvador in the early 1980s. Then, faced with a losing war against Salvadoran rebels, the U.S. government funded or supported "nationalist" forces that allegedly included so-called death squads directed to hunt down and kill rebel leaders and sympathizers. Eventually the insurgency was quelled, and many U.S. conservatives consider the policy to have been a success—despite the deaths of innocent civilians and the subsequent Iran-Contra arms-for-hostages scandal.

The idea that the American government would set up and support teams whose aims are to kidnap and assassinate is repulsive and possibly the most counter-productive move in a "War on Terrorism".

In what way can we retain even a shred of credibility during this struggle if we resort to terrosrism? We cannot simultaneously fight and commit terrorist acts.

I thought that I would have more to say regarding this issue, but I am speechless. The most I can hope for is to see a strong effort made by citizens to pressure our elected officials to combat this initiative at every level.