Man of Red Earth

A Well-Dressed Revolution

2010-09-11T14:23:00.001-04:00

People who spend some time with me soon recognize my affection for a bit of fancy dress. This heightened sartorial sense certainly doesn't extend into being a clothes-horse, but I like sweater vests over buttoned shirts, a dapper hat, or perhaps some argyle somewhere. And, it should be said, I like pretty swell in a suit.

Where did we come into such bad ideas that being well-dressed is uncomfortable? That nice clothing indicates stuffiness, lack of creativity, or restriction? These items are by and large untrue. It is very easy today to arrange a striking ensemble on the cheap and look like a million bucks... and be comfortable! For example, I have sagged three different suits off clearance racks at Target. I made certain to try them on, check the fit, and note the comfort. Once satisfied, I plunked down 75% off the original price and had an entire suit for about $30. Sure, it's not Brooks Bros., but they look nice, feel nice, and were inexpensive.

What fanciness can you find on the cheap? Give it a shot and perhaps consider joining my Well-Dressed Revolution.

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Objects/Possessions & Identity (or "A Very Parenthetical Post")

2010-08-29T21:34:00.001-04:00

What do you own that becomes a part of who you are? Maybe you firmly believe that your identity has nothing to do with material goods, and that's great, but what would your friends notice is missing if you left home without it? Looking at it that way, how much of "you" can be abstracted by listing a few of your possessions? If my friends stumbled across a fountain pen, blank journal, droid/HTC phone, black-framed glasses (metal our plastic, I have/wear both) and plaid fedora (it's a trilby, but do they know that?), they would almost certainly begin to look around for me or call me to say I forgot my stuff... again (wait, why would I have left my glasses?).

So, list five items, more or less, that form a fairly accurate description of you. You can even do so here in the comments, go ahead, I've provided some space...

Looking over the list, are these things you could lose or part with without existential turmoil? Please discuss (we'll all be the better for it).

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Green Spaces

2010-08-27T21:34:00.001-04:00

Do you know where your green spaces are? These places are parks, fields, walking & bike paths, hiking trails, ball fields, hills or mountain sides, beaches, woods, meadows, etc... Certainly many of these places near you may be private property, but how often do you visit the ones that are not? These spaces stew beneficial on many levels. They assist in cleaning the air, they provide exercise & recreational space, they are a change from most persons regular urban our suburban environ, and they clear the mind. Study shows a marked improvement in mental and behavioral health with regular exposure to green spaces. Also, with use comes conservation. People will lend support to save and create green spaces if they believe them to be integral to individual and communal living.

This week, commit to finding and using a green space at last three times. Feel free to post here about your experiences, too. Here are some helpful examples to get you started:

- Read a book
- Pray, meditate, or ponder
- Walk, jog, or run
- Picnic
- Collect leaves for pressing
- Draw or paint
- Watch the sun rise or set

Good luck, enjoy yourself, and be well.

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Choices

2010-08-26T04:36:00.001-04:00

What about choices we make when we don't make a choice? I fail to sufficiently educate myself on the origins of raw materials that make up my electronics and, as such, most likely hasn't blood on my hands. When does "I didn't know" stop being an exuse? When does, "I didn't do it" no longer apply? Perhaps if every electronic device comes about at the cost of spilled blood we should stop looking the other way...

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Mental Health

2010-08-18T22:18:00.001-04:00

While the stigma attached to mental health its eroding (perhaps an upside to Oprah & Dr. Phil?), there its still an apparent hesitation for people to express a need for, or acknowledge as normal, mental health services. This should be as abnormal to us today as it would be for one to declare she is going to heal a broken leg by "just walking it off."

Mental health services are an important function of a healthy society. Disregarding the need for assistance in areas of mood disorders, attention/motivation disorders, grief/marriage/general counseling/therapy, etc... is reckless and detrimental. Ostracism, violence, even suicide and more are just some results from our society's inability to seriously consider the positive mental health of its citizens. No one should feel embarrassed about these services, not should it be considered exceptional out even out of the ordinary. This should be reversed: just like dental visits and physicals, it should be part of one's regular health routine to have some form of mental health service a couple times a year. Even the simple act of during down to talk out how things are going can carry a vast improvement in one's mental AND physical health, such as lower stress, lower blood pressure, and a healthier heart. Persons engaged in some form of mental health activities are also, on average, better equipped to handle traumatic events such as changes in socioeconomic status or the deaths of friend and family.

So let's work hard to drop the aversion to mental health services. Support the inclusion of mental health care in insurance plans. Tell elected officials that you care deeply about the well-being of our society and will expect her to treat mental health measures and funding accordingly. Anything less is to damage the fabric of our communities and society. It is time to recognize such a simple yet vitally important fact.

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Pay Cuts & Term Limits

2010-08-17T20:54:00.001-04:00

Here's an idea: Lower the pay of every elected position to a living wage (if not minimum) and limit persons to two terms in any office.

There is something wrong with us as the public when we allow elected positions to pay higher wages than we can earn at decent jobs. There its an argument that the pay matches the work. Bullocks. Politicians should get at the end of the line if there's not enough to go around. Look at our teachers: there is a group that should swap wages with politicians. We stand idly by and are complicit in this utter disrespect and disgrace. It had also ben argued that higher wages are needed to attract the best and the brightest to elected positions. If they are running for the compensation, they are neither the best nor the brightest and shame on us.

Two term limits allows one term to get one's bearings and one term to actually do something. Two terms for all keeps others from monopolizing the experience and bullying newcomers with their "experience" (read: cronyism). There are 360 million people in the United States and our founders were farmers, soldiers, shop keepers, etc... We can and SHOULD expect "average" people to perform to similar results today.

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Empire Avenue

2010-08-16T17:21:00.002-04:00

I can now be found on Empire Avenue trading my influence under the ticker (MoRE). Hopefully this will be fun. Out of all the things I have tried online over the years, only Facebook seems to have stuck. Will the novelty of a stock market style Facebook be enough? My hunch is that if the only draw to Empire Avenue is that it is the game itself (as opposed to Facebook being a platform that allows for games to be played on/in it), perhaps Empire Avenue will not last as a contender in the social networking ring.

Oregon Beginnings

2010-08-11T19:32:00.002-04:00

Time to start fresh in the Willamette Valley region of Oregon. This place is gorgeous.

Return of the Blog

2010-07-13T08:44:00.001-04:00

The ability to post from my phone, including pictures, my restore this big to an active state.

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Begin Again

2009-06-09T13:18:00.000-04:00

I have been away for too long and expect to have lost even the most ardent of readers. I hope to revitalize this space in the coming weeks. Fear not, it is still a place to post items of personal interest, so if you liked it before, you should like what's in store.

Be well!

Speaking Words of Wisdom

2006-11-12T10:53:00.000-05:00

Have any of you read Rachelle's Urban Abbess blog at Monkfish Abbey? It's amazing and Rachelle is my hero. This recent post regarding Ted Haggard's unfortunate situation is a perfect example of why I love to see her site highlighted in bold at my Bloglines account (though that keeps me from seeing a great looking site as well).

So This post is really two wrapped into one:

1. Rachelle's thoughts on this are as close to mine as anyone else's I have come across, so this is all I have to say as far as Ted Haggard (but not necessarily homosexuality with Haggard's situation as an example, watch for my next post) is concerned.

2. Don't miss out on all the great things you can find at Monkfish Abbey. They are an amazing group of people. If we had more groups like this around, the world would be a greater place.

Democrats Control the Congress

2006-11-09T17:17:00.000-05:00

Democrats take control of the House and Senate. The final action to push Democrats over the top was Webb's concession to Allen in Virginia's senate race at 4:15pm today.

As an added bonus, Democrats hold a majority of governor's seats as well.

Democrats lost no previously held seats and gained everything they needed to provide the necessary governmental checks and balances that had been lacking over the last six years.

The Great Winds of Change in America

2006-11-08T01:51:00.000-05:00

Just in case anyone wishes to take a look at what the elections spell for issues on a national stage, consider this: No Democrat seeking re-election for the House, Senate, or Governorship lost their race. None. Democrats took control of the House and are currently positioned to take control of the Senate (both independents would caucus with the Democrats to give the Democrats a 51-49 majority). If this fails to register as a wake-up call for Republicans, perhaps nothing will. After a stolen presidential election in '00 and a dubious-at-best election in '04, the chickens are coming home to roost. The number one issue voters claim as the reason to vote the way they did: corruption. Last time around it was "values", but both sides claimed that term even as it was being snatched up by Republicans as their own. Now we see republicans voting for democrats and saying that the corruption must end. To be honest, corruption can be found on both sides, but to maintain that honesty would be to admit that it's been found in the Republican party in spades lately.

It should come as no surprise that George Bush refused to speculate on a Democratic win tonight. He claimed to believe that Republicans would hold both the House and the Senate, no questions asked. When pressed to comment on any plans he had just in case the Democrats won one or both portions of Congress, Bush refused, insisting that he knew a Democratic shift just wasn't going to happen. Just like he knew the mission was accomplished back in '03, that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, that Iraq had anything to do with 9/11, and that we'd be greeted by a rose-petal parade in Iraq and Afghanistan. Funny how that works.

Disgusted by "Christian" Nationalism

2006-11-02T23:09:00.000-05:00

I'm watching TBN right now. George Bush just wrapped up an interview and was followed by some correspondents extoling Bush's unblemished Christian virtue. This was followed by remarks that make me want to puke. This is not hyperbole. My stomach is upset and I feel physically ill. I am a Christian and I am not a supporter of the republican party, yet TBN unabashedly links the two together. War, prayer, nationalism, patriotism, faith; it's all thrown together in a manner that should raise red flags in rational minds. TBN blatantly ties being American to be Christian and a Republican. Why is there no shame in there action? A man on this show said that he was saddened to know that 20 million Christians didn't vote and then he said that if every Christian voted "we'd" take every election. Ok. Bullshit. "Take"? Where? Not to mention the astounding arrogance to assume that every Christian votes in lock-step. What kind of Christian nation will we have? There is a place in politics for faith in that our beliefs inform our actions, but that's it. America will not be a Christocracy, theocracy, or theocratic republic. I'm just going to wonder whose Christianity will get to be the "American" political religion...

Methodist? (United, AME, Free....?)
Catholic?
Lutheran? (Missouri Synod, ELCA?)
Pentecostal?
Evangelical?
Mainline Liberal?
Charismatic?
Quaker?
Mennonite?
Amish?
Anglican?
Baptist? (Southern, Free, American....?)
Presbyterian?
Reform?
Fundamentalist?
Emergent?
Liberal?
Protesant?
Conservative?
Eastern Orthodox?

another wretching update: Now some guy on TBN is spewing on about how Christians can better market (shitty) movies becuase our faith traces back to martyrs dying thousands of years ago....

Books

2006-10-02T17:23:00.001-04:00

1. One book that changed your life: Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. After reading this book, I began searching for information, either for or against, much of the ideas and situations in this book. It has lead me on a great adventure of shifting paradigms and broadened horizons. The next book, My Ishmael, had a similar effect.

2. One book that you’ve read more than once: Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card and Imajica by Clive Barker. They're significantly different from one another, but I've enjoyed them repeatedly over the years. Also, collections of Calvin and Hobbes remain regularly re-read fair.

3. One book you’d want on a desert island: The Soul of Rumi, a collection of Sufi poet Rumi's works as translated by Coleman Barks.

4. One book that made you laugh: Pronoia is the Antidote to Paranoia by Rob Brezsny. This could easily be listed under "changed my life" as well. It's a great book.

5. One book that made you cry: I have never read a book that caused me to shed actual tears, but parts of Speaker for the Dead (when the piggies are dying) brought me close.

6. One book you wish had been written: The Progressive Christian Youth Ministry Handbook. And I'll write it, too.

7. One book you wish had never been written: the left behind series

8. One book you’re currently reading: Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson (to be followed by parts two and three, The Confusion and Systems of the World respectively)

9. One book you’ve been meaning to read: I have to pick just one? Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke.

10. One book you’d like to write: The Life and Times of the World's Worst Youth Minister, a humorous psuedo-memoir I'm actually hunt-and-pecking away at already (but will not finish for the forseeable future, for certain).

Admit It: It's a Griffin Baby

2006-09-06T13:09:00.000-04:00

At first, I was reading this article because I am always interested in reading about the rare animal oddity that pops up every so often. Taking a good look at the picture, however, gave me cause for even greater joy: this thing is a griffin!

Alright, it may not have the body of a lion (or other great cat, if you so desire), but this bird certainly looks like a griffin chick. I would love to see more pictures, especially some of the bird standing or walking. If all goes well (and the limbs are seperately functional), this chick will adapt to a life of extra appendages. If so, I'd be curious to see more pictures of this fine critter as an adult.

Now if only I could find one for myself....

Amazing Papercraft Artistry

2006-08-20T00:46:00.000-04:00

Peter Callesen creates amazing works of art by cutting white paper into delicate sculptures making incredible use of both the positive and the negative space. I would love to try and emulate this style of artistry, but where would I begin? It appears as if Mr. Callesen has spent very long periods of time examining not only what effect his cuts would have on paper, but what exactly can be done with what's removed by those cuts.

The Large Scale Paper and A4 Paper galleries are my favorites, but his whole site is worth wandering through with child-like wonder.

My Site as a Graph

2006-08-19T10:41:00.000-04:00

I came across this site that takes URLs and turns them into a neat graph image. I've provided this site as an example:

I'm not too sure what practical use this has, but it looks cool.

The Infantile Nature of a Miserable Failure

2006-07-29T21:29:00.000-04:00

Pardon my hostilities during this post, but our Miserable Failure continues to astound me even when I continue to believe he could not do anything else, short of resign, that would surprise me. Honestly, there are several things I could write about in this area, since it has been so long (aside from yesterday's Penis Pokey post) since I have posted, but I have two today. The first issue is serious while the second issue is serious as well, but will certainly be decried by a few zealots as frivolous.

Issue One: Possible Indefinite Detention, Without Representation, of US Citizens

It should frighten every American that the idea has been put forth by our own government that American citizens, no matter how heinous their actions, could be seized and held without trial or explanation for as long as the president or the military desires to do so. That is what has been proposed by Bush's new ~~endless war~~ anti-terror bill. Thankfully it appears to be coming under heavy scrutiny, but where is the action and the outrage from the average American? As unthinkable as this bill is, so, too, is the massive dose of apathy oozing from the American public. At no point in our history have Americans been subjected to the erosion of their civil rights and civil liberties than under the reign of President Bush. Spineless non-thinkers will put forth the weak strawman argument that I am grossly exaggerating because we are more free than any other country and that no law abiding citizen has anything to fear. How shameful it is that these few administration echo-chambers actually seem to have most of the country nodding in agreement. It is not that anyone has anything to hide that we enjoy our freedoms, it is because those are our inalienable freedoms from the beginning. Privacy, speech, belief, and dissent are not granted to us, they are ours from the very start. Those who proclaim the innocent have no need to fear from surveillance are the least patriotic among us as they seek to pacify Americans into forgoing there rights and privileges as a citizen of the US and as a human being. It is my hope that we collectively begin to realize this and beat back the creeping tide of anti-American sentiment expressed by these people and, apparently, our own presidential administration.

Issue Two: The Unabashed Infantile "Nyah-Nyah" With Regards to Church/State Separation

Why does this garbage continue to flow over our land? In the interest of full disclosure, I am a Christian and trust in God as I know God, but that has absolutely nothing to do with our country. This is Bush (and his brother, Jeb, my governor) acting like a small child. His rampant crusade to Christianize the United States in a way unheard of by American founders is baffling given his blatant lie regarding himself to be a uniter, not a divider. As the link shows, Bush has done nothing but actively, of his own volition, divide the country through shallow partisan politics and a push for recognition of an American generic-though-monotheistic religion. So, if I may ask, in whose God do we trust: Muslim, Jewish, Christian, or other? If, perchance, the Christian God, which Christianity are we speaking of: Catholic, protestant, Baptist, Unitarian, charismatic, Mormon, or other? And what of the atheistic Americans that find a phrase such as, "In God We Trust" to be practically opposing to the very idea of American government? You were not assuming I meant today's atheists, were you? Not so, I am referring to patriotic America atheists such as Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson (say 'deist' if you want to, but it is fairly clear that they did not differentiate themselves all that much other than to avoid a lynching of one sort or another). "E Pluribus Unum" ("Out of Many, One") was, for over one hundred years, our American motto; a magnificent and aptly fitting motto to be certain. It was sectarian American Evangelicals in the 1800s who pushed for recognition of phrases akin to "In God We Trust" to be stamped onto our coinage. Sadly, atheists continue to be unmeritorious mistrusted, held in suspicion merely for their belief that there is no supernatural portion of our existence. How, with an honest examination, is this to be seen as far-fetched or untrustworthy? And yet they continue to be consciously and unconsciously persecuted for their beliefs/unbelief while the ~~liar~~ "uniter" shuts his eyes and sticks out his tongue at them, like the runt of the playground he has shown himself to be.

You put your penis in, you take your penis out.....

2006-07-28T12:45:00.000-04:00

....then you sell the book used on Amazon.com.

You may have seen the book, "Penis Pokey" (link to Amazon) in a post at BoingBoing, but they're mearly mentioning the fact that 60% of people who view this book on Amazon go on to buy a children's Bible instead (I don't even want to know....). I would like to point out something a bit more discomforting.

Or hilarious.

Let's split the difference and say discomlarious.

There are eight of these books available used. USED. There are eight available editions of this book pre-touched by male genitalia.

"Um.... It was a gift. I never used it. Really...."

Discomlarious.

NaCoDraMo's New Home

2006-05-25T15:47:00.000-04:00

NaCoDraMo now resides at the NaCoDraMo blog. You can also send messages and request information through NaCoDraMo@gmail.com rather than the comments section as previously suggested. Can you tell that I'm excited about this? I honestly can't wait for June 1st. Whether creator or spectator, I hope you feel the same.

NaCoDraMo

2006-05-25T12:12:00.000-04:00

I recently purchased No Plot, No Problem by the creator of the National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo and thought, "I'd enjoy this a bunch more if it had more to do with drawing rather than with writing". Now, don't get me wrong, I love to write and I really have a few ~~dead horses I've been beating~~ ideas I've been tweaking for the last ten+ years, but drawing is my first love. So the idea of creating a graphic novel, instead, came to mind. I googled "NaCoDraMo" and had no returns. Then I thought maybe people would be confused and think I was talking about the strips you read daily, rather than a book or collection. So I tried googling "NaGraNoMo" and... got a hit? Unbelievable. One hit. One person had the same idea I had and called for submissions... back in 2004. The blogger got one person to sign on, too, but that's no matter. Simultaneous idea generation (well, not so simultaneous, but still independent) wrecked my idea. I still wanted to go forward with the drawing portion of my idea, so I went back to NaCoDraMo and decided that the "wrong idea" people might get about it was actually a great idea. One comic per day, every day, for a month. Imagine the possibilities; journals, short dramas, serial adventures, political cartoons, it's nearly endless!

So this is my big idea: National Comic Drawing Month. I'm impatient when it comes to this "hits me in a flash" ideas, so we'll start in June. The rules are very loose to some degree. The hard and fast rule is this: One comic per day, every day. Maybe you won't post your comic every day, but stick with the timing or else you will bog yourself down in no time. Also, there's no rule against generating ideas ahead of time, but put out a finished comic (one panel, three panels, full page, you choose) once a day. I suggest posting your work to Flickr, Blogger, MySpace, or any other spot that lets you put up images on a regular basis and that has an RSS feed. If you wish for others to see how you're doing, send me the link to your work and I'll add it here in my Bloglines sidebar. The RSS part is important, so please make sure you're posting to a site that can be tracked in that way.

So here's the recap:
-June is NaCoDraMo, from the 1st through the 30th.
-Create a comic each day
-Post to an rss-enabled site
-send me (and your friends & neighbors) the link to your site.

Good luck and much enjoyment!

Unbelievably Far Behind

2006-05-25T11:27:00.000-04:00

This has certainly become "The Blog Without a Brain". I started it with the intent of posting political and theological thoughts, but I got burnt out on that. Then I posted who-knows-what in the aftermath. Now it's been updated once in the last several months, with a good two months since that post.

I don't want to quit, but I don't know what to put here. I didn't want this to be a diary, so I thought I'd post cool stuff I stumbled across. Every time I thought of that, though, I hated the idea of being a cheap copy of MetaFilter or BoingBoing. I even compiled a list of amazing Lego creations I've come across, but it seems that every thing I feel is "post-worthy" is posted on BlockLog, almost exactly post-for-post (I bet we're both one of the four subscribers to the BriskShel rss feed....). Well, he's got great taste in Lego creations, I can say that.

So maybe I don't want to quit merely for the fact that we're all raised thinking, "quitting=bad". If I really didn't want to quit, I'd actually post those two or three entries I actually think about each day. I've thought of keeping an "analog" blog of sorts. If I write down my posts, then I can go back and post in batches based on what I wrote in a notebook. Maybe I'll try that. Maybe.

Ok, there is some news that made me smile, though. Two bits, actually, but one will be posted separately in just a moment. The other one has to do with my penchant for cobbling together Lego parts for fun and wonder. A couple months ago, I posted some pics of a Lego creation to Flickr and BrickShelf of a nifty little two-legged walking machine piloted by a Victorian-looking gentleman. Recently, the pics were found and displayed by a steampunk-Lego oriented site called "The Rusty Clank". I was pleasantly suprised and happy to see that something I had created was "post-worthy" by somebody else on their own space. So, here's my steamwalker on Rusty Clank. (Yeah, it's only a sentence or two, but it still got noticed!)

The Truth Fish feeds again....

2006-03-28T14:20:00.000-05:00

Imagine what hilarity/spasming/sorrow ensued within my feeble mind when I stumbled across a blog post pointing me towards this mockery of sane thinking. Well, within a short while, I was able to merrily go about my business knowing I had restored some modicum of rational thought in my life through my creation of this:

I bet this will look great on my bumper, too.
I also bet that some of you nifty FSM folk could whip up a mean decal, too.
Let me see it if you do.

Joseph DuRocher is a Hero

2006-03-10T15:24:00.000-05:00

I believe the following to be an open letter, of public domain, and fit for public reprint. Whether or not this is true, please view the original page.

President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President:

As a young man I was honored to serve our nation as a commissioned officer and helicopter pilot in the U. S. Navy. Before me in WWII, my father defended the country spending two years in the Pacific aboard the U.S.S. Hornet (CV-14). We were patriots sworn to protect and defendÂ. Today I conclude that you have dishonored our service and the Constitution and principles of our oath. My dad was buried with full military honors so I cannot act for him. But for myself, I return enclosed the symbols of my years of service: the shoulder boards of my rank and my Naval Aviator's wings.

Until your administration, I believed it was inconceivable that the United States would ever initiate an aggressive and preemptive war against a country that posed no threat to us. Until your administration, I thought it was impossible for our nation to take hundreds of persons into custody without provable charges of any kind, and to "disappear" them into holes like Gitmo, Abu Ghraib and Bagram. Until your administration, in my wildest legal fantasy I could not imagine a U.S. Attorney General seeking to justify torture or a President first stating his intent to veto an anti-torture law, and then adding a "signing statement" that he intends to ignore such law as he sees fit. I do not want these things done in my name.

As a citizen, a patriot, a parent and grandparent, a lawyer and law teacher I am left with such a feeling of loss and helplessness. I think of myself as a good American and I ask myself what can I do when I see the face of evil? Illegal and immoral war, torture and confinement for life without trial have never been part of our Constitutional tradition. But my vote has become meaningless because I live in a safe district drawn by your political party. My congressman is unresponsive to my concerns because his time is filled with lobbyists' largess. Protests are limited to your "free speech zones", out of sight of the parade. Even speaking openly is to risk being labeled un-American, pro-terrorist or anti-troops. And I am a disciplined pacifist, so any violent act is out of the question.

Nevertheless, to remain silent is to let you think I approve or support your actions. I do not. So, I am saddened to give up my wings and bars. They were hard won and my parents and wife were as proud as I was when I earned them over forty years ago. But I hate the torture and death you have caused more than I value their symbolism. Giving them up makes me cry for my beloved country.

Joseph W. DuRocher

I took a moment to respond to Mr. DuRocher. My response is free to be posted elsewhere under the conditions that it be done so only in conjuction with Mr. DuRocher's letter and only in its entirety. My requests are made in the quest to prevent malicious intent through intentional misquotation and juxtaposition.

Dear Joseph W. DuRocher,

My name is Adam Myers and I will be 28 this December. I have had nowhere near the experiences in life as you have had, but your words resonate within me. I serve as a youth minister for a United Methodist church outside of Jacksonville, FL. There are two military facilities nearby, Mayport Naval Station and Naval Air Station: Jacksonville. This is also a largely Republican-dominant and Evangelical-dominant (with much crossover) region. As a person who loves God and as many other human beings as I humanly can, I can't express how frustrated I have become during these last six years. This, too, is a very safe area for Republicans. I am regularly ribbed (many times good-natured, many times not) as to my political and social beliefs, that I am a "liberal who will grow up someday". I often campaign civilly and nonviolently for the protections you both mention and served for, while many people exclaim how un-American, misguided, and disrespectful I am for opposing the war or our president in war-time. I have been told from within my own congregation that God blesses the US to go to war because we are the "peacemakers" as mentioned in the beatitudes. I've had recent conversations where people explain that they're not worried about wire-tapping, the Patriot Act, or other measures because they're not doing anything wrong. People have said to me that it is better to torture others who may have information we need because it would be worse if we didn't and another 9/11 or worse were to occur (are they trying to convince me or themselves?). I, too, support and engage in nonviolent action yet wonder how effective can it be when relegated to nonsensical "free speech zones", is not the US a free speech zone?

Writing to you is part cathartic, part grasping for the solution you, too, seem to be grasping for. I have nothing to send the president as you have, but I should send a letter none-the-less. Thank you for your inspiration, its worth for me today is invaluable.

With warm regards,
Adam Myers

Why the Public is Fearful of Evolution

2006-03-08T13:35:00.000-05:00

Editorandpublisher.com is reporting a new Gallup Poll study stating that a whopping 54% of Americans believe God created human beings wholesale, as we are in present form.

What, exactly, is it that so many people find offensive regarding the wonder, majesty, and mystery of evolution? I believe it has less to do with the idea of evolution itself and more to do with the minority of religious fundamentalists espousing a fear of science. These preachers framed the debate long ago by referring to early life as "pond scum". It was, and continues to be, an emotional appeal based on semantics rather than either faith or science. Who wants to believe that they, a mighty human being, were ever related to algae or bacteria? Additionally, they continued to push the "Adam and Eve as factual history" line, which is impossible to support except by referring back to the story itself, which makes no claim to be history, and some conversational connection later on by something Jesus said, though that link between Jesus' comment and the historicity of Adam and Eve is tenuous at best.

Evolution is an incredible phenomenon supported by mountains of evidence, observation, and research. Yet people call for proof and then ignore the supplied material. There is an infinitely smaller amount of evidence for support of Creationism (or ID/Intelligent Design), and yet people will cling to it out of fear and lack of knowledge. Evolution says, "Here is a tremendous amount of information pointing towards evolution being the biological means in which we are what we are today". Creationism (ID) says, "There are some gaps in the theory of evolution and we think the authors of the book of Genesis had a good theory, so it must be that we are here by the creation of God". The trouble is that Creationism/ID continually falls back to being a "God of the gaps" theory where, if an event were to be unexplained, it must be that God did it. And yet the evidence for evolution continues to pour in, while the scant scientific support for Creationism continues to shift as it's picked apart.

I believe Creationism gets a larger podium than it deserves for several reasons. Firstly, it's what people want to hear. Human beings want to hear that we are special, that there is no way we could be related to other animals, much less algae and bacteria. For some, it's probably gross or unsettling, for some it's a matter of vain pride, and for some it would mean a fundamental shift in our actions towards either animals or other human beings. For example, it may mean that we should either rethink or use of beef or ponder why we're not hunting people in overpopulated areas. If we're all related biologically, why not treat all biological organisms the same? Except this falls apart for a very simple reason: we decide what type of world we will be accepting of and then act accordingly. Currently, I fear that (even with billions of people of varying faiths that should believe otherwise) the type of world we accept has fallen increasingly out of line with what each of the world's major belief systems says is acceptable. Secondly, Creationism is being touted by religious fundamentalist leaders who have large audiences and by high US government leaders who say it should be taught in schools. This allows the message to be repeated over and over and over again. An erroneous message, repeated often enough, by enough people in positions of authority, will eventually be clung to by many, if not most, people. There are many examples of such, the most famous of which I will refrain from mentioning for fear of invoking some form of Godwin's Law. I believe the majority of people who profess a belief in Creationism do so not out of an well-informed decision, but out of either an instilled fear of hell/God's wrath as if belief in evolution were somehow contrary to belief in God or out of a lack of knowledge on the support behind both Creationism and evolution. Many people I have spoken to who identify themselves as Creatonists/ID-ers say that evolution, "seems far-fetched" or, "is to scientific to understand", though this is merely personal anecdote. Thirdly, I believe that the scientific community has estranged itself from the general public in the same way that organized Christianity has estranged itself from the general public. Polls repeatedly show the vast majority of Americans claim to attend church while only a minority actually do so on a regular basis and that while a majority of people believe in God, a majority of people also have a distrust of "organized religion". In the same way, people generally benefit from science and scientific advancement every moment of their lives, and yet there appears to be a healthy dose of skepticism towards science, scientists, and scientific study. General comments include things such as, "Scientists are arrogant or out of touch" or "scientists don't speak in a way I can easily understand". Either of these may be true, and yet neither of these actually negates what it is the scientific community is trying to convey. Unfortunately, most listeners will turn away and make decisions based on information obtained outside of scientific study and credible peer review.

As a person who identifies himself as a Christian, and as a person who finds evolution the most compelling and credible explanation for our biological reason for existence,I feel trapped between two worlds: one community which rejects my beliefs which are based on reason, study, experience, and discussion, and another community which does exactly the same.

Slate.com Serves up the Puppy Love

2005-12-20T10:22:00.000-05:00

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....

2005-12-07T11:21:00.000-05:00

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.

2005-12-07T11:08:00.000-05:00

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

2005-09-27T16:33:00.000-04:00

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

2005-09-21T10:29:00.000-04:00

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

2005-09-20T09:15:00.000-04:00

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

2005-09-16T15:15:00.000-04:00

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...

2005-09-16T10:01:00.000-04:00

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...

2005-09-13T17:44:00.000-04:00

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

2005-09-10T03:57:00.000-04:00

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

2005-09-05T00:33:00.000-04:00

"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...

2005-08-24T22:08:00.000-04:00

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...

2005-08-23T10:13:00.000-04:00

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

2005-08-16T17:11:00.000-04:00

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

2005-07-29T13:07:00.000-04:00

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?

2005-07-28T09:53:00.000-04:00

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?

2005-07-27T16:44:00.000-04:00

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...

2005-07-27T16:09:00.000-04:00

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...

2005-07-22T12:54:00.000-04:00

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

2005-06-05T01:08:00.000-04:00

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?

2005-05-17T02:34:00.000-04:00

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

2005-04-28T14:18:00.000-04:00

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...

2005-04-20T20:56:00.000-04:00

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

2005-04-04T23:09:00.000-04:00

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

2005-03-16T19:49:00.000-05:00

"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...

2005-03-11T21:34:00.000-05:00

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

2005-03-05T22:42:00.000-05:00

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

2005-02-28T14:10:00.000-05:00

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

2005-02-19T00:32:00.000-05:00

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

2005-02-09T21:13:00.000-05:00

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...

2005-02-08T01:06:00.000-05:00

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

2005-02-05T01:55:00.000-05:00

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.

2005-01-25T10:42:00.000-05:00

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

2005-01-18T22:55:00.000-05:00

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 administrations 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 successdespite 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.

Stop Me if You've Heard This One...

2004-11-29T03:15:00.000-05:00

A liberal, a moderate, and a conservative Christian were walking down the street at 2:00am when they passed a homeless man in need of change...and a change.

No. Really.

And you know what? Their theology on paper made absolutely no difference when it came down to their theology in action. Here was a man in need of both material and spiritual blessing, and what did they do? They stood there and got in each others' faces about how wrong and screwed up the others' theologies were. They fought so much that the homeless man left them there in disgust, vowing to have nothing to do with any of them anymore. He even doubted that such a loving God could exist when God's followers were so deeply divided over almost every issue.

No, wait. That's what happens online and in the isolated halls of debate and discussion.

This was the real world.

This was where three people of differing theologies managed to give the homeless man some cash, talk with him about where he's been and wants to be, prayed for the man, and received prayer from the man, as well. This was where three young men walked away from a homeless man having been both a blessing and themselves been blessed. This was where three young men, of differing opinions on paper, shed real tears over the plight of the homeless and the destitue. This was where three young men found the presense of God in their midst.

Have you heard this one before?
Because I need to hear it again.
And again.
And again.

And This is What They Learn

2004-11-16T13:10:00.000-05:00

Tue Nov 16, 9:12 AM ET

Children who fled from the battle-torn town of Falluja play with toy guns at a temporary refugee camp in Baghdad November 16, 2004. Thousands of residents fled Falluja in advance of an offensive by U.S. military forces aimed at driving militants from the restive city. The Iraqi Red Crescent - one of the few aid agencies operating in Iraq - is still negotiating with U.S. forces after being denied access to Falluja. REUTERS/Namir Noor-Eldeen

When will we learn that a violent solution promotes repeated violence? The solutions we use to answer our problems give assent to the methods used within those solutions. It breaks my heart to know that whole generations of youth around the world continue to grow up with an ingrained belief that the appropriate response to any given conflict is escalating violence.

Recount '04

2004-11-15T20:11:00.000-05:00

David Cobb (Green Party) and Michale Badnarik (Libertarian Party) have joined their efforts in raising money for a full state-wide recount of Ohio. In just 4 days the two presidential candidates have raise over $150,000, well over the $115,000 needed to pay all applicable fees. They are currently continuing to raise money to support the workers and volunteers who will be involved in the recount effort.

This news closely follows Ralph Nader's (Reform Party) announcement that he is having New Hampshire's ballots recounted. These recounts come as a result of reports involving machine error, human error, tampering, and intimidation. No party has expressed any desire to overturn the election results, but to ensure that every voter has their vote counted. In a letter from this past August, Walden W. O'Dell, CEO of Diebold, said that he was "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes" to Bush. Cobb and Badnarik have asked Ohio's Secretary of State, Kenneth Blackwell, to recuse himself from the recount effort due to Blackwell being the head of President Bush's Ohio campaign/reelection activities.

Dear Christian Right,

2004-11-13T02:01:00.000-05:00

Thank you for your advice on how I could be a more moral person. While I am looking into whether or not depriving gays and lesbians of family rights is a spiritually healthy practice or whether or not a constitutionally protected reproductive health procedure should be struck down by activist Evangelical judges, may I offer you some ideas for your own reflection as well?

War is a Moral Issue
Many of us believe that a war based on lies is immoral. We also believe that a president who allows over 1100 American sons and daughters to die because of lies is acting in an immoral manner. We were told outright that Saddam had weapons to use against us. We were told that he was assisting Al Qaeda in their attacks against us and others. Then we watched as both of these were exposed as lies and were endlessly edited on an almost weekly basis, from having weapons to making weapons to having the capacity to make weapons to wanting to make weapons. We were not attacked by Iraq and we did not exhaust every possible action before going to war. That is not a "just war". It would be hard to argue that Jesus would even accept our own criteria for a "just war" in light of his admonitions to love our enemies and do good to those who hate us. War is a moral issue.

Economics is a Moral Issue
One of the greatest concerns Jesus had was to care for the poor. Are we taking care of our poor when a tax cut gives the most money back to those who already have the most money? Or when we engage in policies that seek to reduce the incomes of millions of workers by taking away their overtime pay? Or when we allow the medical coverage of millions of people to lapse because it has become unaffordable? Or when we engage in practices that reward large corporations seeking a higher bottom line at the expense of their hard working employees? Economics is a moral issue.

Idolatry is a Moral Issue
In your wide-spread turn to our government to carry out the will of the Christian Right, you have abandoned our God. We are told to trust in God. The changes that we desire for the world can not be brought about through laws and policies, but through grace and compassion. Bush and the government can not save us. For that matter, Kerry can not save us, either. The difference is that Evangelicals flocked to march under Bush's banner with such an idolatrous fervor that that Bush comes across as your new savior from those who do not share your cultural views. You went so far as to paint those who did not agree with you as being apostates and heretics. Even if you do not believe this to be true, where is your public outcry while the media portrays the issue in this way? Your silence speaks volumes. Idolatry is a moral issue.

It seems that we have much to think about. I hope that we can find common ground in our faith. I hope you can forgive any anger or frustration that comes out in this letter. I also hope that you can come to understand why there is anger and frustration, without attributing it to some un-Christian source. I do believe morals had much to do with this election, but it is not the Christian Right who owns the moral discourse.

Sincerely,
The Christian Left

Reflections on the Jesus I Know...

2004-11-11T23:15:00.000-05:00

But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.

Luke: Chapter 6, Verses 27-31, 35-38

This passage in the Gospel of Luke seems to get boiled down to one phrase and then glossed over. I believe this passage is a key passage to understanding the difference between those who say they are Christians and those who are Christians. This proclamation is not a judgment. I do not condemn those who say they are Christians but are not, I am merely disappointed with them. I also hope that my progressive friends who do not share my faith can see the progressive side of faith as it shines through in these verses.

Do to/for others what you would want others to do to/for you...

Squeezing this passage down to just this verse does the Christian faith an enormous disservice. While the actual living-out of this verse by every person who claims to be a Christian would be a progressive revolution unto itself, it is important to see the text before and after it as well. It reminds us that "Do unto others" is not a phrase to remind people to treat us well, it's a command for us to treat others well. Here it is, in the Bible, from the mouth of Jesus, an emphatic call to reject revenge, retribution, divisive behavior, condemnation, and judgment. Jesus tells us that his desire is to see us accept one another and serve one another in a beneficial way even if we disagree with each others' lifestyles, beliefs, positions, status, etc... It means that, as a Liberal, I will not deny a Conservative the assistance they may need. It means I will not exact revenge on a person who has slighted me. It means that I will love those who are unlovable. If one thinks being the president is hard work, try being a Christian the way Jesus intended. This is a passage that needs to be read and reread by every Christian in every congregation everyday until we get it and live it. I do not always get it or live it, but we can no longer accept Christian condemnation of a multitude of social practices in light of this verse. We must realize that if we proclaim a radical and thorough trust in Jesus and God, then we must shed every aspect of our condemnation and judgment of others, as directed by Jesus. If we are to err on an incorrect interpretation of scripture, let it be that we always err on the side of grace and love as found in Jesus’ life and God's message through Jesus.

Diane Rehm Show partial transcript

2004-11-09T17:24:00.000-05:00

I was wrong about Senator Hutchison's remarks. Conservative Iraqi guerillas are not monsters, she said that they're animals.

At the 36:20 mark of the archived Nov. 9th Diane Rehm Show:

Diane Rehm:
Let's go first to St Augustine, Florida. Good morning David, you're on the air.

Caller (David):
Good morning Diane and Kay, how are you doing today?

Diane Rehm and Republican Texas Senator, Kay Bailey Hutchison:
Fine, thank you.

Caller (David):
Good. I find it a bit both hypocritical and absurd that so many people claim a moral high ground in voting for George W Bush. I don't see how there's any morality for the U.S. to go into a country disingenuously, as we are in Iraq, and kill one hundred thousand innocent civilians. I've been a student of the Bible some of my life, in my college days, and I don't remember Jesus or anywhere in the New Testament it saying anything about disenfranchising gay people, that poor women should die in back-alley abortions, or that the rich should acquire wealth at the expense of poor and working people. In fact, Jesus said exactly the opposite.

Diane Rehm:
Alright, sir, thanks for your call. Senator?

Republican Texas Senator, Kay Bailey Hutchison:
Well, first of all, I think that the president's economic policies, about which you referred in that last part of your comment, was meant to create jobs for people, and the tax cuts done that. The stock market has solidified, which has created more jobs for people, created more capability for us to increase the jobs that we in many ways lost after nine eleven. Secondly, America hasn't killed a hundred thousand people in Iraq. The insurgents are brutal animals. They are people who have shot the Iraqi police recruits cold-bloodedly in the head. They're people who have chopped peoples' heads off in front of a video camera. Terrorists have shot children in the back, in Russia, as they are running away from them to safety. And, so, I think that what the president is trying to do is protect America from these people who would come to our country and commit these atrocities here. And, so, I think he is committed to that, and I don't think that anyone is claiming moral superiority, but I do think the president is doing everything he can to protect American citizens.

A Disturbing Portrayal

2004-11-09T12:20:00.000-05:00

Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison appeared as a guest today on the Diane Rehm Show. Towards the end of the interview, a caller asked Ms. Hutchison to comment on the 100,000 civilian deaths in Iraq. Although the caller is using a flawed estimate of the death toll (Iraqbodycount.com provides a verifiable estimate of the death toll ranging from 14272 to 16405 as of this posting), the response given was one of the most dehumanizing remarks made by a government official since the holocaust. Ms. Hutchison remarked that we are not killing civilians, that we are fighting monsters. By stripping the combatants of their humanity, as atrocious as their actions are, killing becomes insignificant because those who die are not even considered to be human beings. We must not allow those whom we elect into office to perpetuate the vile stereotype that conservative Muslim combatants are somehow less than human. In our efforts to achieve justice we must retain our own humanity and morality.

Each Diane Rehm Show is archived an hour after its original broadcast. This post will be edited at that time to reflect Ms. Hutchison's exact remarks.

The Theft of '04

2004-11-08T23:21:00.000-05:00

I have been sitting on my hands for the last several days, and for good reason. There was no hiding the fact that I am a self-avowed Democrat. I wanted to take in as much information as possible before throwing my own thoughts into the arena. Now my self-imposed posting exile has come to an end.

I have spent a great deal of time pouring over raw voter data, conspiracy theories, opinion columns, radio talk show broadcasts, political blogs, and traditional print and broadcast news media. One thing is for certain, a whole lot of nutjobs come crawling out of the woodwork following almost every election. Another thing is also as certain, this election is being stolen from Senator John Kerry and the general public will only hear about it when it safely passes into the realm of "conspiracy theory".

Rather than choke this post with information that can easily be found elsewhere, I will simply point you to Blogging of the President and ask that you read each of the articles archived there. This is not an issue to be taken lightly. I was orginally concerened that Senator Kerry would win by electoral votes and not by popular vote, and the worst we would be dealing with would be a much needed call for electoral reform. I could not have been more wrong. Instead, we have a repeat of the election in 2000, where fraud and intimidation continue to to destroy our democracy.

I am deeply dissapointed that this is not being covered by mainstream media. What we get instead are light talking points that skirt the issue rather than a serious investigation. Now, with a major offensive operaton in Fallujah, I am deeply concerned that election results will be certified without any serious invesigation. The news from Falujah will conveniently bombard the news media and overshadow these dubious election results. There will be some who wish to claim that it's all part of a larger plan, but I'm not willing to endorse that idea. What I will endorse is the idea that no major news organization wants to go through what occured during the 2000 election aftermath or the CBS News airing of false documents regarding George W Bush's service history. They will refuse to pick up on and report this issue for fear of being wrong and, consequently, being pushed into irrelevance or shame by conservatively biased media outlets. I hope that every person who comes across the truth of this matter does what they can by passing it along to every media outlet, friend, neighbor, and stranger. This must not be an issue that we allow to sink into obscurity. Our freedom and democracy depend on it.