Today's TPRS Site of the Day: Protein Wisdom. This weekend has not been a Chamber of Commerce weekend. This afternoon, the sun is shining, for the first time in perhaps three days. Unfortunately, after all the rain we've had, all that the heat from the sun is accomplishing is to turn this area into a sauna. It's about 90 degrees, and the humidity is about 85%. Yeah, it's the kind of day when the mere act of stepping outside is enough to induce prodigious amounts of perspiration. Fifteen minutes after taking a shower, I needed another one. Welcome to South Texas, y'all....
TIME.com's World
Cup weblog.
The Department of Fear and Uncertainty: Of course he didn't provide any evidence for his statement - but then again, it should be
obvious. US troops are bagging just a few Taliban soldiers a day (if they're lucky), meaning
that Mullah Omar's men are either in full retreat or just plain dead. Authorities in several
countries have thwarted terror attacks since last autumn, and Iraq is looking like a juicy
next target.
So all thinking people should know that the US/British coalition forces (that is, freedom)
are winning the war over fear. Right?
Maybe not. It's pretty much an axiom by now that the situation is always more complex than
Bush makes out - and the issue of who is 'winning the war' is a fine example of this
point. Get over yourselves already.... "It would be good for those doubters to see that even though we are from different
religions it is possible for us to work together and have some fun. A Jew and a Muslim playing
together is not the end of the world. We are all human beings. We have the same blood, the
same skin." Pluck off.... The Daily Express said the Irish team were "brave beyond belief, as their hearts and minds
were assaulted by extraordinary drama and controversy." Brave beyond belief? For playing
football? The Express made the Irish squad sound like special needs children who should have
got a medal for just turning up. "They are a team with all the moral courage you could wish,"
gushed the Express -- before adding, "if only they had more players who could score with a
penalty kick ... "
For the Mirror, the Irish team had far more warmth and emotion than any other World Cup
squad, but were lacking in those cold, nasty, un-Irish things called goals. "For all their
passion, for all Ireland's incredible desire and the subsequent outpouring of tears, the cold
statistics sliced through the sentiment of this emotional night", said the Mirror's Des Kelly.
Damn those cold statistics! The All-Hair Team.... Today's TPRS Site of the Day: Ethel the Blog.
Today's Essay: Howling at the wind....
TIME.com's World
Cup weblog.
Feelin' the love.... Apparently, the XFL wasn't
enough. Now, we have a new made-for-TV trash sport: Slamball.
Can't find (or afford) a Segway? Try the Megway.
The Chinese are STILL
harrassing US surveillance aircraft in international airspace.
From the Federal Dept. of Homeland Security: I suppose this means I should get rid of that copy of "The Vagina Monologues", eh?? Comments Vegan like me.... It's not clear whether there are more vegans in Portland than in other cities, but it sure
seems that way. Bruce Carey, co-owner of the famed Zefiro restaurant and currently an owner of
Bluehour and Saucebox, says that when Zefiro opened in 1990, it was rare for a vegetarian
order--vegan wasn't even part of the equation--to come through. Carey says the kitchen staff
was less than pleased when one did. "They'd say, 'What a freak--why are you even eating out?'"
Carey admits. But by the time Zefiro closed in 2000, vegetarian dishes were regularly on the
menu. Now he even gets requests for vegan dishes at Bluehour.
Two years ago, a vegan bakery popped up; run by Amanda Felt, Black Sheep Bakery supplies
animal-free sweets to local restaurants. Felt isn't even a vegan herself; she started whipping
up batches of vegan desserts to woo a meat- and dairy-free girl. "It made me recognize that
there was nothing available in that market and there was a demand," she says.
A public vision for Ground
Zero.
Shrub lays out tough terms for Palestinians to qualify for 2006 World
Cup.... "It is the goal of every nation to be free, independent, and well into the qualifying
rounds," said Bush in a much-anticipated speech. "But this can only happen when the
Palestinian people have new leaders, new institutions, and a 4-5-1 formation utilizing at
least three defensive midfielders."
"Also they must be good in the air off set plays," he added. Personally, I can't WAIT until those qualifying round games against Israel....
Comments Trying to write their own ending.... Today's TPRS Site of the Day: Triptych Cryptic.
TIME.com's World
Cup weblog.
Don't cry over spilled
fondue....
Head for the border.... "They came into my home, made me pay for my own TV, then double-booked the revenues," said
Rachel Sanchez of Las Cruces, just north of El Paso. "Right in front of my
daughters." This is what you get when you try to be nice.... "TPRS is such a funny and irreverent site, and Jack strikes me as such a
down-to-earth, grounded, fun guy...."
Just as long as I remember to take my medication, Doug....
Comments The affable Eva Braun of morning television?? Katie Couric, the grande dame of the Today Show, interviewed Ann Coulter, that noted
and open-minded Conservative know-it-all. Apparently, a good time was
had by all, as decorum was laid waste and claws were unsheathed. Oh, the humanity.... Comments Sure, we'll protect your civil rights.... The Supremes, in a split decision, ruled that schools can drug-test students for no other
reason than, well, because they can. Previously these tests had been allowed only for student athletes.
"We find that testing students who participate in extracurricular activities is a
reasonably effective means of addressing the school district's legitimate concerns in
preventing, deterring and detecting drug use," Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for himself,
Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony M. Kennedy and Stephen
Breyer. Today's TPRS Site of the Day: Erewhon Notebook. TIME.com's World
Cup weblog.
You think
YOU have a rough job. Try being an Iraeli bus driver....
This is what you get when you try to be nice.... Scott did make a good point in an email he sent to thank me, and it seemed a good thing to
pass along: "Why are we always so much more thrilled when total strangers like us than when
we hear it from the ones we love?" Indeed....
Comments I can hear Conservatives beating their chests even now.... The phrase "under God" was not even a part of the Pledge of Allegiance until 1954, when
Congress inserted the phrase at President Dwight Eisenhower's insistence. The Pledge is an
oath of allegiance to our country, not the majority religion. As it is currently
written, it is clearly a violation of Church and State.
Most likely, the ruling will not survive the legal and political meatgrinders it has yet to
endure. It does raise interesting questions, though. Just because the Pledge of Allegiance is
a sacred cow (How many of us can STILL recite it from memory?) does not mean it is exempt from
the constitutional standards that apply to all aspects of our lives. There is a very simple
solution available to this problem: remove the words "under God". In doing so, you will
recognize the legitimacy of the beliefs of millions of Hindus, Muslims, etc. who are as
American as you or I.
Or you can beat your breast and moan about the injustice of it all. Your choice. Comments Interesting fact of the day.... Today's TPRS Site of the Day: Captain Scott's Electric Love Bunker.
TIME.com's World
Cup weblog.
Yasser Arafat? The man is
a living lie....
This week's sign that the Apocalypse is upon us.... "The bottom line is that voice recognition tends to not work very well," said Ben Bederson,
director of the Human-Computer Interaction Lab at the University of Maryland at College Park.
"The challenge is for the systems to adequately recognize a broad set of commands."
To make matters more complicated, existing voice-command systems aren't programmed to
understand the wide variety of sexual directives that usually end in "baby" or "oh yeah."
At stake is even more growth for the interactive DVD market, already a major segment of the
adult video industry. VCA, billed as one of the top three porn studios, said its interactive
DVDs allow viewers to watch more than two-dozen versions of a single sex scene, each featuring
a different combination of position, camera angle and intensity level. From the Archives.... It could be worse.... One of every 26,392 Israelis has been killed in a terrorist attack in the past six months.
The same ratio applied to the population of the United States would equate to 10,888 American
citizens. That's more than three times the number of people killed in the September 11 attacks
against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and aboard United Airlines Flight 93.
For a country the size of the United Kingdom, that ratio would mean 2,260 people killed.
For Germany, it would mean 3,146 victims.
In Israel, people still move about their daily lives. But the impact of the attacks that
have seemed constant for the past two years is taking its toll. Terror? We don't know from terror. Comments - Elayne Boosler Today's TPRS Site of the Day: A Small Victory. Would the person who found TPRS by doing a Google search for "PICS OF DROWNED PEOPLE" please take your sorry ass elsewhere....
TIME.com's World
Cup weblog.
Say it isn't so.... It appears a that a recent study in Sweden found that certain starchy foods (potatoes,
f'rinstnace), when deep-fried (french fries), contain alarmingly high amounts of a potential
carcinogen. While such starch-rich foods as potatoes do not contain acrylamide when used fresh, in such
processed food products as french fries and potato chips the level of acrylamide was
alarmingly high.
So high, in fact, that the Swedish researchers said that if it had been found in a less
ubiquitous product, they would demand that it be taken off the market
immediately. You WILL experience the Ninja Burger
difference!! Honestly, I have no idea what the hell this site is even about (I don't even
eat beef...). I just like the name. And any place that guarantees delivery in 30 minutes or
they commit ritual suicide can't be all bad....
Sure, you can read it- but ya gotta ask first.... "He begged me to let him take swimming lessons," she said. "I wouldn't let him, because I
was afraid he would drown."
True story.
So is the one about the fine public radio network, National Public Radio, and its silly
website policy requiring other websites to obtain permission before linking to content within
its site. Said permission, incidentally, could take "a while."
At least the woman's intentions were honorable, if tragic and misguided. NPR? Well, let's just say they should stick to what they know
best, which obviously isn't the Internet. And just because I'm ornery enough to do it, here is something from
NPR, and here is yet more content.
Egads!! Stop him before he links again!!!! (Anythink) Comments What, me hurry?? There is an entire generation, of which I am a proud part, that grew up on the sophomoric
humor that was (and still is) the hallmark of MAD. It employed words in its commentary the same way people did. Here's a fail-safe bet:
BLEC-C-C-CH, in various forms and spellings, has appeared more times in Mad than in any other
publication worldwide. We're not even including the Mad editions in other languages and other
countries, 80 percent of whose BLEC-C-C-CHs are translated from the original American edition,
and the other 20 percent added locally.
Now, a half-century after the first number -- Alfred E. Neuman as Spider-Man-in-sneakers
adorns the cover for June, No. 418 -- Mad continues to be run by two longtime editors who have
a sense of continuity even as they take the magazine in new directions. Mad in 2002 continues
to pack laugh-out-loud firepower.
You'll probably laugh a little louder and longer if you're young and carrying a major dose
of testosterone, because it's true, Mad is sort of a guy thing. Current reader demographics:
80 percent male, average age 26. Circulation: between 250,000 and 300,000 monthly, down from a
peak 2.8 million in 1973. Today's TPRS Site of the Day: VodkaPundit. Swaziland soldiers ordered to strip women naked!!
TIME.com's World
Cup weblog.
Let them eat cake.... When the original bond issue for Bayport was passed, the vote was county-wide. What this
meant was that people all over Harris County, one of the nation's largest and most populous
counties, were voting on something that directly impacts only the far southeastern (and
relatively unpopulated) corner of the county (see map below- the highlighted area is Seabrook
and it's immediate surroundings).
I, and most residents of Seabrook, resent having the Bayport terminal shoved down our
throats. We live here in large part because it's a quiet area with far less traffic than most
of the Houston area. Bayport will change that, and yet all the voters of Harris County seemed
to care about was the Port's campaign promise of "Jobs, jobs, jobs". Those in the Seabrook
area who have been working to stop Bayport have been
outspent and outvoted, even though most of the voters know nothing of this area, and certainly
can't be expected to care about those of us who live here. There is money to be made!!
Can you understand why we're so upset??
So, while the port and various shippers and container companies will benefit, what will the
residents of Seabrook get out of it? We get increased traffic, more air pollution from diesel-burning 18-wheelers,
increased truck traffic (24 hours a day), and the increased noise and activity levels that
come with a facility of the size of Bayport. It doesn't seem to matter what the residents of
Harris County WHO WILL ACTUALLY BE IMPACTED think. There's money to be made!!
I'm reminded of a line from a Joni Mitchell song: "Pave Paradise, put in a parking
lot...."
Comments
Today's TPRS Site of the Day: Benjamin Kepple's Daily Rant. TIME.com's World
Cup weblog.
It really IS just a game.... Texas 12, South Carolina
6. The Longhorns win the College World Series for the first time since 1983, when someone
named Roger Clemens pitched them to the championship.
Something to think about when planning your Halloween costume.... What next?? He would produce a "Big Plan'' policy initiative but be peppered with questions about his
Playboy Magazine interview. Serious policy, wacky culture and an inability to keep his
gravelly voice out of a news cycle created a carnival ride of a governorship, and Minnesotans
were paying attention, perhaps, as never before.
Not that they can agree on what they saw — or what it meant. But since Ventura announced he
would not run for a second term as governor, there has been no shortage of speculation on how
history will treat this most uncommon governor.
"Minnesota was fly-over country — people didn't know Minnesota, until Jesse came with his
'Minn-e-soh-tah,''' said Eileen Corry, a longtime Ventura admirer who has been active in
Ventura's party.
"The legacy of this guy is going to be remarkably slight,'' said Steven Schier, a Carleton
College political science professor.
"People will little note nor long remember,'' chimed in Steve Frank, a St. Cloud State
University political science professor.
"A lot of people nationally and internationally paid more attention to politics because of
him,'' said Bill Hillsman, who created Ventura's 1998 ad campaign. "He did have an effect on
politics.''
Ventura's announcement last week that he would step out of the election fray — at least as
a candidate — gives him an opportunity go on the lecture circuit and into the broadcast booth
and tell the tale his own way. And it opens the way for latter-day Jesseologists to
deconstruct the meaning of it all. He also demonstrated, as did Ronald Reagan, that the line between entertainment and
politics is quite often so thin as to be invisible. People paid more attention to politics, if
only because Governor
Ventura became a larger-than-life lightning rod. At this point, though, most Minnesotans seem to be relieved
that Ventura is not running for re-election. Perhaps they're tired of feeling like their
state is a laughing stock. Comments Today's TPRS Site of the Day: The Presurfer. TIME.com's World
Cup weblog.
Why does this have to be so unusual?? Let them eat grass.... "Teachers say attendance at school is down because children are out collecting wild foods.
Teachers themselves and so-called caregivers at kindergartens, nurseries and the like are
having to take time off from work for the same reason."
....North Korea's food shortage started in 1991, when the former Soviet Union collapsed and
its satellite states stopped sending food and other economic aid. Since 1995, floods, droughts
and tropical storms have exacerbated the country's agricultural and industrial problems.
Aid agencies estimate that hundreds of thousands of North Koreans have died of famine,
malnutrition and related diseases since the mid-1990s.
The food crisis and claims of political repression are spurring an exodus of refugees, with
tens of thousands sneaking into China to escape hunger, analysts say. A recent series of
embarrassing defections at foreign missions in China have further highlighted the hardship
faced by many North Koreans.
Official North Korean estimates indicated that 45 percent of children under five are
chronically malnourished. "It all comes down to definition".... Kentucky, Maryland, New Mexico, Nebraska, South Dakota, Tennessee and Washington look to an
IQ level of 70 or below as evidence of retardation. Arkansas sets the level at 65 or below.
Other states, such as Kansas and Colorado, don't mention an IQ level, but define mental
retardation as "significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning" combined with
deficits in adaptive behavior.
Many states require evidence that symptoms of mental retardation occurred before a
defendant reached adulthood. "The justice system in the state of Texas is basically for Texans.
"I understand people from other places in the country and the world are always critical of
Texas. But the justice system that's put in place in Texas is made for and voted upon by
Texans, overseen by the United States Constitution." You think YOU've got problems?? Then think about standing there during a World Cup shootout. The game's tied, and it's just
you, the ball and that big-ass goal. This is no way to decide an international sporting event
of this magnitude, but what can you do about it? You've just got to keep moving, keep
anticipating, and hope you're right....
You do it right, you get your own statue. You blow it, look out. And the way it looks from
here, your fate is almost completely beyond your control. Today's TPRS Site of the Day: Surf Houston. TIME.com's World
Cup weblog.
Can you say "sore loser"?? "(The case) would seek to have FIFA reimburse damages suffered by (RAI) following the exit
of the Italian team from the World Cup on the basis of universally recognised refereeing
errors, errors that were so blatant they could only be described as the product of serious
fraud," the statement said.
Last year, RAI agreed to pay German company KirchMedia around $140 million to show all
games from the Korea/Japan 2002 World Cup and 25 matches from the 2006 tournament in Germany.
Until Italy's 2-1 defeat to South Korea earlier this week, games involving the national
squad were drawing up to 20 million viewers and substantial advertising revenue for RAI. But
with Italy's exit, viewing figures are expected to drop sharply.
RAI's threat of legal action is the latest assault by Italy against soccer's world
governing body, with the Italian media firmly laying the blame for the team's exit on poor
refereeing and even suggesting that behind-the-scenes powers were brought to
bare. That angered the [Asian Football Confederation], which threatened to blacklist Perugia if
it gets rid of Ahn, meaning it would tell Asian players to stay away from the Italian team.
"I've warned all football officials in Japan, China and Korea about sending players to
Perugia," confederation head Peter Velappan said Thursday. "We are really outraged that
Perugia would even consider terminating the contract of a superstar. It's such bad taste.
"I hope they cool down and come to their senses." I had NO idea that Bud Selig was involved.... That simple act, her husband said, would help the family cope with the tragedy of June 20,
2001, when the psychotic mother systematically drowned her five children in the bathtub of
their Clear Lake home.
"Andrea is a woman who needs compassion, who needs to be held and comforted," Russell Yates
said in an interview. "But here she is, 23 hours a day in a cell, isolated for the rest of her
life from everyone who loves her. It's hard to accept. That has caused me a lot of stress this
last year."
Andrea Yates, 37, is serving a life sentence for capital murder. She was convicted after
pleading not guilty by reason of insanity. There goes our weekend entertainment.... Mentally retarded people should still be tried and punished when they "meet the law's
requirements for criminal responsibility," Justice John Paul Stevens wrote for the majority in
the 6-3 ruling.
"Because of their disabilities in areas of reasoning, judgment, and control of their
impulses, however, they do not act with the level of moral culpability that characterizes the
most serious adult criminal conduct," he wrote.
The ruling was part of a piecemeal examination of capital punishment laws the court
undertook this year, 26 years after reinstating the death penalty. The court is expected to
rule next week on whether judges, not juries, can impose a death sentence. That ruling could
affect 800 inmates in nine states.
There are more than 3,700 death row inmates nationwide.
The court ruled today in favor of a Virginia inmate, Daryl Renard Atkins, who was convicted
of shooting an Air Force enlisted man for beer money in 1996. Atkins' lawyers say he has an IQ
of 59 and has never lived on his own or held a job.
"The decision is consistent with increased concern about application of the death penalty,"
said Diann Rust-Tierney, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's capital punishment
project. Until we can fix the death penalty system, assuming it IS fixable, I cannot see how it is
morally defensible to continuing applying the death penalty as it is currently constituted.
The system is broken. "Much has changed since then," Stevens wrote.
Now, 18 of the 38 states that allow the death penalty exempt mentally retarded people.
Twelve states and the District of Columbia do not impose the death penalty.
"It is not so much the number of these states that is significant, but the consistency of
the direction of the change," Stevens wrote for himself and Justices Sandra Day O'Connor,
Anthony M. Kennedy, David H. Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer.
The majority used state legislatures as a barometer, but also looked beyond them at why
mentally retarded killers might be different from killers of normal intelligence and whether
any wider social purpose would be served by executing them.
"With respect to retribution -- the interest in seeing that the offender gets his just
desserts -- the severity of the appropriate punishment necessarily depends on the culpability
of the offender," Stevens wrote. Today's TPRS Site of the Day: The Bleat. TIME.com's World
Cup weblog.
This has "Public Relations Nightmare" written all over
it.... "It's a policy that has been in place since 1980," Turneabe-Connelly said. "Over the years,
we allowed some flexibility with the agents at the time of check-in. As of June 26, we will be
consistent." Free speech? Not in Amerika.... Do you know the seven REAL
deadly sins?
Democracy, or cute, safe doggies??
Want to stalk
Martha Stewart? It's not as easy as you might think....
It's official! The voters have spoken! These are web sites that REALLY suck. Thankfully, I
didn't make the list....
Today's TPRS Site of the Day: Pop Culture Slut. TIME.com's World
Cup weblog.
So it's finally come to this.... We're mad as hell, and we're not going to take it anymore.... The government "decided to take several military actions against the Palestinian Authority
and the murderous organizations," a statement from Sharon's office said.
"Israel will respond to acts of terror by capturing PA territory. These areas will be held
by Israel as long as terror continues," the statement said. "Additional acts of terror will
lead to the taking of additional areas. As a result of yesterday's murderous act of terror in
Jerusalem, Israel will shortly take PA territory as outlined above." Palestinians, predictably, are accused Israel of using suicide attacks as a pretext for
re-occupying Palestinian territory. Realistically, though, what other option does Israel have?
If the Palestinian Authority is unable (or unwilling) to control radical terrorist groups,
they cannot be upset when Israel attempts to do their job for them. Until and unless
Palestinians show a willingness to negotiate and stop assassinating innocent women and
children, they have no claim on moral indignation. They are every bit the murderers and
butchers that they accuse the Israelis of being. They must first clean their own house;
perhaps then there will be hope for peace. Comments You know you're in for a good time when not even the nutcases know what to
do.... But there is the possibility that "lone wolves" (such as Oklahoma City bomber Timothy
McVeigh) might be lured into supporting foreign terrorists – perhaps to precipitate the kind
of race war envisioned in "The Turner Diaries," the anti-Semitic, racist, and apocalyptic
novel many on the extreme right see as prophetic....
At the same time, the new push for federal "homeland security" is firing up the camouflaged
crowd in ways that have some militia-watchers worried. Today's TPRS Site of the Day: Snarky Bitch. TIME.com's World
Cup weblog.
Come to Seabrook- and bring your granola!! "I think it will put us on the global map for ecotourism," Kuhlman said. "Rockport has
their hummingbirds and Seabrook has their pelicans. Seabrook also now has the Galapagos
Islands as its sister city."
The relationship will be incorporated into Seabrook's advertisements in such national
publications as Bird Watcher's Digest and Birding.
Seabrook and Puerto Ayora, the largest city on Isla Santa Cruz in the Galapagos Islands,
will celebrate their alliance during an Ecuadorean-American Business Summit in Seabrook on
Wednesday through Friday.
"I think there are lots of opportunities in both camps to leverage off the relationship
between Ecuador and the United States," said Mayor Robin Riley, who was elected last month.
"As for ecotourism, there is probably no spot more noted for ecology than the Galapagos
Islands."
As Seabrook proceeds with marsh restoration, city leaders are considering making a small
replica of the Galapagos Islands. Now THIS is something I don't think I'd be volunteering
for.... Joesph Paul Jernigan was a miserable excuse for a human being, the type that even most of
us liberals who oppose the death penalty would agree deserved to be executed. Now, after his
timely demise, he is finally doing something good. His body was donated to Visible Human Project, and
now his body is all over the Internet. It is also used by litigators, medical researchers, and
those with little more than morbid curiosity. Either hoping for a measure of redemption, or fearing the ignominy of a pauper's grave,
Jernigan willed his body to science, not knowing his corpse would be selected for the National
Library of Medicine's now-famous Visible Human Project. Images from the project are on exhibit
through Sept. 8 at Houston's Museum of Health and Medical Science, 1515 Hermann Drive.
"If he'd known what was going to happen to his body, he'd never have done it," said Pat
Batchelor, the Navarro County district attorney who prosecuted Jernigan in 1981. "He wasn't
the type of person to do anything for anybody. But fortunately, we've been able to use his
body to maybe save some lives and train some medical students." Growing up and growing old.... The Astros have called up Allen Zinter from AAA New Orleans.
Normally, the calling up of a minor leaguer would be no particular cause for celebration,
except that Zinter is 34 years old, and has played minor league baseball for 14 seasons
without getting a sniff of The Show. The Zephyrs were in Colorado Springs, Colo., when Zinter learned of his promotion, which
happened while his father, Alan, was visiting him from El Paso....
"We talked last year about calling him up," said [Astros GM Gerry] Hunsicker, who was with
the Mets when Zinter was taken with the 24th pick in 1989. "He had a great year last year at
Triple-A. This is just a kid that worked very hard.
"Obviously, he loves the game to have played as long as he has. This is his 14th year in
the minor leagues. Believe me, he hasn't gotten wealthy playing baseball during the last 14
years. It's a special moment for him and, to some degree, a special moment for me."
Note to self: since you are starting a new job today, you CANNOT keep working on your blog
all day long. Remember, laziness is NOT next to godliness, and your new employer will NOT
appreciate you showing up for work unshaven and in your underwear. Just don't do it....
Today's TPRS Site of the Day: Tonypierce.com. TIME.com's World
Cup weblog.
Since when is bigotry and misogyny a good thing?? Growing up and growing old.... So I had an important choice to make.
I could have elected to stay angry -- and I would have been justified in doing so. After
all, I was a "victim." I had been subjected to yelling and screaming and a father who put job
and alcohol before his family. Any rational person could see that my father's conduct had been
totally and incontrovertibly wrong.
But I needed to decide: Did I want to be "right" or did I want to be happy?
Trying to repair a relationship with a long history is never an easy thing to do. I'm
discovering that it is possible, though, and I think it will be rewarding in the long run.
Remember, the quality of the relationship is your responsibility. You must tell your loved
one how you feel and be willing to forgive.
This won't be easy. It can be an awkward conversation that feels forced, embarrassing and
uncomfortable. But you still need to have it. Today's TPRS Site of the Day: Reflections. TIME.com's World
Cup weblog.
No longer an academic exercise.... In the village of Shishmaref, on the Chukchi Sea just south of the Arctic Circle, it means
high water eating away so many houses and buildings that people will vote next month on moving
the entire village inland....
In Alaska, rising temperatures, whether caused by greenhouse gas emissions or nature in a
prolonged mood swing, are not a topic of debate or an abstraction. Mean temperatures have
risen by 5 degrees in summer and 10 degrees in winter since the 1970's, federal officials say.
While President Bush was dismissive of a report the government recently released on how
global warming will affect the nation, the leading Republican in this state, Senator Ted
Stevens, says that no place is experiencing more startling change from rising temperatures
than Alaska.
Among the consequences, Senator Stevens says, are sagging roads, crumbling villages, dead
forests, catastrophic fires and possible disruption of marine wildlife. The politics of dog.... I see nothing wrong with working towards reducing the consumption of dog meat worldwide,
but then I would like to see the same done with beef, although for very different reasons. The
production of beef worldwide has a direct correlation to world hunger (anyone who has ever
read Jeremy Rifkin can probably recite the arguments as well as I can...), simply because
grain is diverted from the feeding of people to the feeding of cattle intended for export to
developed economies.
Before we begin to condemn people for the type of meat they consume, then, perhaps we
should look at the hamburger on our dinner plate and reconsider our own hypocrisy. Comments Today's TPRS Site of the DAY: Lying in ponds: The absurdity of partisanship.
TIME.com's World
Cup weblog.
File this under "Too much information".... On top of everything else, Eric's bedroom window is about eight feet from theirs, and he
has been telling his mother that the "bedroom noises" are keeping him awake at night. Now,
these folks have two boys under the age of ten. If the grunting and groaning is keeping Eric
awake, I wonder if their two boys under their roof are getting any sleep?
Of course, things could be worse. One of the previous neighbors who lived in their house
made amateur pornographic videos. That was (thankfully) before I arrived on the scene. I can
only imagine what the parade of people going in and out of the house at all hours must have
been like.... Comments Swing and a miss.... Almost none of that was mentioned by the bishops in more than eight hours of public debate
on Friday. And nothing like that was in the document approved Friday.
Some critics said that omission was a fatal flaw in the new policy.
"They didn't address at all the accountability of bishops who shielded or moved perpetrator
priests, causing hundreds of additional victims," said the Rev. Thomas Doyle. He was one of
three people who prepared a document in 1985 that warned bishops about the dangers of predator
priests. Just try being a stepfather.... And yet Superdad is still confused. In learning the ways of the new age parent, a lot of
fathers have had no real guidelines to follow, and so they've followed the only one available:
mom's. If a new mother sits and coos and sings to a baby, losing her sense of time and
surroundings in the experience of parenting, dad should be able to do the same. If mom can
bring earnestness and even delight to a clap-along song or a game of Barbies on the nursery
floor, dad should be able to do that too. Never mind that plenty of women struggle themselves
with meeting these dreamy standards, and they've now been set for men as
well. Today's TPRS Site of the DAY: Catfish on the Table. TIME.com's World
Cup weblog.
It's just easier this way.... The new directive took effect immediately after midnight, as the famous Greenpeace ship
Rainbow Warrior was ordered to oppose the first thing available, which turned out to be
Barbados.
"Stupid Barbados. You must be stopped!" yelled wild-eyed Rainbow Warrior captain Niels
Sturngen as he drove the bow directly into what turned out to be a beach. "Surrender,"
Sturngen added. Rebels in the pews.... If the bishops gathering in Dallas are smart, they will realize that they cannot return to
business as usual. Catholics, historically a docile group used to toeing the line of their
patriarchal church, are no longer willing to be viewed
as sheep. After realizing that many of their sons and daughters have been sexually and
emotionally abused, they are now demanding accountability. It is the least they can expect
from those they have looked to for spiritual guidance for so many years. Comments One view of the mess that is the Catholic Church.... Now though, many find themselves trying to reconcile their conception of the Church they've
loved with pedohile priests and the bishops who have coddled, enabled, and protected them.
The sexual abuse crisis, while horrible in it's own right, is merely the match to the
kindling. The Church, by ignoring social and moral shifts worldwide, has lost much of it's
moral authority, simply because younger generations no longer see it as relevant to their
lives. In order for the Church to survive, and this likely WILL turn into a fight for it's
ultimate survival, the Vatican must recognize the lay of the land as it exists TODAY, not as
they want it to be, nor what it was 150 years ago. Unless the Church leadership is able to
adapt, it will ultimately die- like the dinosaur it is beginning to resemble. Comments Congratulations to the evil, blood-sucking Detroit Red Wings, who won the Stanley Cup with a 3-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes. Yes, I hate the evil, blood-sucking Red Wings with a passion few can imagine, but I do have to give them credit for being one of the best teams in NHL history. Finally, summer can begin- hockey season is over.... Comments
Today's Essay: Happy Father's Day....
Today's TPRS Site of the DAY: Beatnik Pad. Thanks to The Israeli Blogs and Journals Index for linking to TPRS. They like me!! They really like me!!!
TIME.com's World
Cup weblog.
Catholic bishops fiddle while their church burns.... "Why should anybody's feet be held to the fire?" he asked. "The bishops made what they
thought were prudent decisions at the time. The decisions were made on the best advice
available.
"This is a very complex matter that the bishops have been trying to deal with for nearly 20
years," Monsignor Maniscalco said. As if the problem is not already big enough, the Morning News also compiled a database of known and accused
pedophile priests. Bon appetit.... Comments
Christianity and bigotry seem to go together like peanut butter and
jelly.... The Rev. Jack Graham, elected the convention's president on Tuesday, said the Rev. Jerry
Vines' comments about Islam were "accurate."
Vines, a former convention president, told conventioners at a pastors' conference Monday
that many of this country's problems can be blamed on religious pluralism.
Pluralists "would have us to believe that Islam is just as good as Christianity, but I'm
here to tell you, ladies and gentlemen, that Islam is not just as good as Christianity,"
Vines, pastor of First Baptist Church of Jacksonville, Florida, told several thousand
delegates at the gathering in St. Louis.
"Islam was founded by Muhammad, a demon-possessed pedophile who had 12 wives -- and his
last one was a 9-year-old girl. And I will tell you Allah is not Jehovah either. Jehovah's not
going to turn you into a terrorist that'll try to bomb people and take the lives of thousands
and thousands of people." Does Chairman George know about these?? If the energizer bunny attacks someone, is he
charged with battery?
Do sheep get static cling when they rub against
one another?
Why do the numbers on a phone go one way and
the numbers on the calculator go the other?
Why do we say "bye bye" but not "hi hi"?
Why are they called stairs inside but steps
outside?
Why is there a light in the fridge and not in
the freezer?
Who was the first person to look at a cow and
say, "I think I'll squeeze
these dangly things here, and drink what ever
comes out"?
Why is it that cargo is transported by ship
while a shipment is transported by car?
How come the sun makes your skin darker but
your hair lighter?
Why is a person that handles your money called
a BROKER?
If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable
oil is made from vegetables,
then what is baby oil made from?
Is a hot car cool or is a cool car hot?
Why does Donald Duck wear a towel when he comes
out of the shower, when he
doesn't usually wear any pants?
If a turtle doesn't have a shell, is he
homeless or naked?
If 7-11 is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a
year, why are there locks on the doors?
If a bus station is where a bus stops, and a
train station is where a train
stops, why do I have a work station on my desk?
If women wear a pair of pants, a pair of
glasses, and a pair of earrings,
why don't they wear a pair of bras?
What hair color do they put on the driver's
license of a bald man?
Why do they put Braille dots on the keypad of
the drive-up ATM?
Today's TPRS Site of the DAY: antwon.com. TIME.com's World
Cup weblog.
Truth is relative, after all.... As America's brave men and women continue the assault
on terrorism abroad, Sen. Tom Daschle and his accomplices
in Washington, D.C., have launched their own assault
attempting to twist reality to gain an advantage in the
coming political season. These self-absorbed liberals are
trying to operate under the radar in an effort to secure
a stronghold in the capital and in the hearts of American
culture, demonstrating their interest in power, rather
than in the Truth.
Truth is the enemy of those who hunger for power.
Truth must be pursued vigorously, honestly, and
intelligently.
Truth is what we offer in the pages of the Conservative
Chronicle. Hey, it beats the hell out of kissing babies.... Coming into an election year when some commentators like Bill O'Reilly have warned against
"wimpy" candidates, political hopefuls from Montgomery, Ala., to Mount Pleasant, S.C., are
resurrecting one of the oldest political stratagems in the book: Run as the populist, the
antipolitician. In other words, run as the owner of a pickup.
Indeed, when all else fails, incorporate farm tools of all kinds into your campaign. It's
happening perhaps more subtly all over the country's spring-seeded political landscape. But
here in South Carolina, the real peach state, showing off the "big ride" to voters is a
political art form. It echoes the days of Southern legends like Lester Maddox and "Kissin'
Jim" Folsom, who became famous for using farm implements like ax handles and flatbed trucks as
political props.
But the props had better be authentic to pass muster here. Mr. Sanford recently caused a
minor scandal when it was revealed it wasn't his truck in the ad, which shows the former
congressman and lawyer tooling around his family's Beaufort County farm. (His own was too
rusty to show on TV, he says.) There but for the grace of God (or so
"Brain: an apparatus with which we think we think.
" - Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary
Sunday 6.30.02
"Real beauty is
on the inside." Witty. Erudite. Well-informed. And, apparently, quite drunk. Jeff also has a lot to say on a wide range
of subjects. Nominations
Brazil's "Samba Kings" win the 2002 World Cup, defeating Germany 2-0.Is scaring the American public with
vague and unsubstantiated terror warnings a good way to lose the war against
terror??
When he announced a government shuffle and the creation of yet another
post-11 September damage-control department on 7 June, President George W Bush said: 'America
is leading the civilised world in a titanic struggle against terror. Freedom and fear are at
war - and freedom is winning.'
In my mind, the question is what do we need to know, and when do we
need to know it? Do government issued "warning" about "threats" accomplish anything? Or are
they merely an exercise in creating mass hysteria and a generalized fear of the unknown and
unimaginable? I don't pretend to know the answer, but if I am to believe the government, I
should be afraid of subways, tanker trucks, fire engines, cargo ships, bridges, and
I-don't-know-what-else. There has got to be a better way.... Comments
It's a real
pleasure to be here in lovely Tampa, Florida, for the 23rd annual Weight Watchers national
convention. I want to thank all of you for dragging yourselves away from the buffet for a
minute or two to listen to what I have to say. You know, when the Secret Service first brought
me in here, for a second I thought they had messed up and taken me to Sea World, what with
Shamu sitting over there and all. But then someone told me that was just Fergie.
It's a tennis tournament. One
player needed a doubles partner. He found a player in the same predicament. They shook hands,
and a team was born. It happens all the time, and it should be no big deal. In this case,
though, one player is a Muslim from Pakistan, the other a Jew from Israel. Suddenly,
Pakistan's Aisamul Haq Qureshi and Israel's Amir Hadad have become flashpoints for the
collective prejudices of their countries.
"Although he is playing in his private
capacity, we officially condemn his playing with an Israeli player and an explanation has been
sought from him," Pakistan Sports Board director Brigadier Saulat Abbas told the BBC. "Since
Pakistan has no links with Israel, Qureshi may face a ban."
At this point, Qureshi and Haddad have made it to the third round. While people around them
may be in high dudgeon over the religious implications, all Haddad and Qureshi are concerned
about is their next match. This is as it should be. "I don't care what people
think about it," Hadad told the BBC. "As long as we enjoy playing together we will continue.
When we agreed to get together it was all about doing well here, making some money and
improving our doubles ranking. If we win here then I would dedicate the victory to my family
and to peace.
Indeed. And all the narrow-minded bigots with their axes to grind...well, they can go to the
Hell they belong in. It's tennis...it's a game. Let them play, for god's sake.... Comments
Hey,
it's a free country....This is one man's ran rant about Ireland's World Cup team. While the rest of
the UK seemed to be applauding the pluck and bravery of the Irish as the lost to Spain,
Brendan O'Neill wonders why fans can't see what he did: a weak team, badly outplayed and saved
only by some fortunate officiating.
According to the Guardian, what Ireland
lacked in traditional footballing skills they more than made up for with "spirit, desire and
determination." The Mirror labeled the Irish team "never-say-die heroes," who even have the
"courage to take a penalty when the whole world is watching" -- as if that isn't something
World Cup squads have to do all the time.
It could have been worse, Brendan. Those plucky Irish lads could have been playing Brazil. Now
that would have been ugly.... CommentsESPN.com's Page 2 staff select's the 2002 World Cup All-Hair Team.
Will someone please tell Nigeria's Taribo West that he looks like a Chia Pet?? Comments
Saturday 6.29.02
"Observations (and occasional brash opining) on science, computers, books,
music and other shiny things that catch my mind's eye." This is the home of some very
eclectic collection observations, and I've always been impressed with the breadth of topics
covered here. Besides, judging from the domain, it's from just up the road a piece at Texas
A&M. An Aggie with what would seem to be liberal leanings? (Gasp!!) Nominations
I got an email from C-dog at Triptych Cryptic. Apparently, he was barely able to contain himself after being selected as yesterday's Site of the Day:
Hey Jack, thanks for the recog! I'm drunk off my
ass, but fully intend to add you to our linkbar. It
may not happen tonight. (again, i'm effin' hammered)
but it should happen soon!
Party on, Garth.... CommentsThe Terrorist Reading List. Librarians!
Citizens! Be advised that terrorists are easily identified by their chosen reading material.
Please study the list of terrorist-preferred volumes below - and promptly report any persons
you may encounter reading them to the FBI Terror Literature specialists who will soon be
visiting your community!
SW- You
would feel most at home in the Southwest region You advocate a large degree of personal
freedom and a large degree of government control over the economy. Your neighbors include such
folks as Jesse Jackson, Ralph Nader, Hilary Clinton, and Zack de la Rocha of Rage Against the
Machine, and may refer to themselves as "liberals," "left-wing liberals," "civil
libertarians," "democratic socialists," "egalitarians," or "anarcho-socialists."
One carnivore's journey into Portland's meatless marketplace.
Recently, a number of eateries have opened that cater to vegetarians (who eat
no meat) and vegans (who eat no meat or dairy). Just in the past year, vegan-friendly
restaurants such as Kalga Kafe, the Soul Shack, the Divine Cafe and the Purple Parlor put the
tofu in the pot, joining established veg-friendly cafes such as Vita and Paradox.
>Recently, a number of eateries have opened that cater to vegetarians (who eat no meat) and
vegans (who eat no meat or dairy). Just in the past year, vegan-friendly restaurants such as
Kalga Kafe, the Soul Shack, the Divine Cafe and the Purple Parlor put the tofu in the pot,
joining established veg-friendly cafes such as Vita and Paradox.
There are those who would say that they didn't fight their way to the top of the foodchain to
be a vegan, or even a vegetarian. Meat is not the necessity that many think it is, however.
Vegetarianism has a long and distinguished history, and in places like Portland, it's a very
popular "alternative lifestyle". Of course, here in Texas, beef is still king, and vegetarians
are largely viewed as a threat to the established way of life. Me? I hate labels, but I
haven't eaten beef in years, and I don't miss it. I also feel a lot better for it. That's good
enough for me. Comments
In a surprise departure from the normal Administration rhetoric on
the Middle East, Shrub has laid out what he expects from
Palestinians:
[Shrub] today said Palestinians should elect new leaders and
adopt sweeping reforms if they wish to establish an independent state that would be secure in
its borders, at peace with its neighbors, and more importantly, eligible to qualify for the
2006 World Cup.
Of course, Shrub's speech was not met with universal approval, especially from Palestinian
President Yasser Arafat, who stated in no uncertain terms that Palestine must play a 4-4-2
until they have a lead to protect.
THIS is a joke?? Pardon us if we're not laughing....The Montreal Expos were
supposed to limp quietly through this season, and then fade slowly into the sunset, at which
time they would be cannibalized for parts. Well, guess what, kids?? Les Expos have been
playing some pretty good baseball this season, and they've apparently decided they're going to
be no one's whipping boy. On Thursday they acquired Cleveland's #1 starter, Bartolo Colon (he
of the 100MPH fastball), in a six-player trade. They likely aren't going to catch the Atlanta
Braves, but a wild card playoff berth is not out of the question. Hey, it's not as if the
Astros are going to use it. Stay tuned.... Comments
Friday 6.28.02
While not blessed with the most euphonious of names, this blog is truly worthy of your
consideration. The "Home of Aristotelian/Newtonian Hypotactic Logic" also has a bit of
an edge to it. I like that.... Nominations
Now we all
know that the 9th Circuit Court is in San Francisco - a city where satanic homos swarm around
like blowflies on corn shit, and liberal communists flaunt their hatred of America by daring
to question the status quo. In fact, it was with this in mind that the great Richard Nixon
appointed Judge Alfred T. Goodwin to that famously leftist court - hoping to infuse it with a
healthy and much-needed dose of honesty and honor. And to think that this is how Judge Goodwin
repays us. President Nixon (praise be upon him) must be turning over in his platinum Permaseal
coffin right now, just pounding on the walls with those semi-decayed little paws of his like
there's just no tomorrow.
This was bound to happen
eventually:
El Paso, Texas — Unwilling to wait for their eventual
indictments, the 10,000 remaining CEOs of public U.S. companies made a break for it yesterday,
heading for the Mexican border, plundering towns and villages along the way, and writing the
entire rampage off as a marketing expense.
Remember, when golden parachutes are outlawed, only outlaws will have golden parachutes...
CommentsThis from Doug
Miller at Erewhon Notebook:
Brian Kane promoting the growing sport of kitty
croquet....Oh, to have seen
this battle royale....
Cleanup- aisle six........Unless
you're high school students, in which case you have none.
The 5-4 decision would allow the broadest
drug testing the court has yet permitted for young people whom authorities have no particular
reason to suspect of wrongdoing. It applies to students who join after-school activities or
teams, a category that includes many if not most middle school and high school students.
So, let me get this straight, the mere desire to participate in extracurricular activities is
ample reason to force a student to piss in a bottle? Is the prevailing assumption here that
any student who wants to participate in extracurricular activities MUST be on drugs?
Of the estimated 14 million American high school students, better than 50
percent probably participate in some form of organized after-school activity, educators say.
The trend is toward ever greater extracurricular participation, largely because colleges
consider it a factor in admissions.
So, if you want to participate in extracurricular activities, you're almost certainly on
drugs, and if you want to go to college...well, you've obviously graduated from gateway drugs
to the hard stuff. CommentsThursday 6.27.02
This really is a fun
read, and Doug seemed to be having such a crappy day, I just had to do something nice for him.
So, be a sport, check it out.... Nominations
Saying
goodbye....From Scott Ganz @
Captain Scott's Electric Love
Bunker:
The People's Republic of Seabrook has awarded the Electric Love
Bunker with their prestigious TPRS Site of the Day award. We flew the entire staff down to
TPRS for the ceremony, and the natives could not have been friendlier. They met us at the
airport, their ceremonial headdresses swaying in the sticky south-Texan air. After performing
their ritual ovulation dance, they escorted us to our hotel. A short time later, I was
presented personally with the award itself; a large wicker idol to Rhodenzagon, the
Seabrookian god of war, clog dancing, and films that star Nicole Eggert. Overcome with
emotion, I declared a feast, and we soon dined heartily on cabbages, papayas, and Kevin, one
of my more slow-witted interns. Upon leaving Seabrook, there was nary a dry eye aboard the
plane. Then, we lost cabin pressure, and our eyes dried out like big white wasabi peas. I hope
to go back to Seabrook, but I fear I may lose the ability to travel there once my lecherous
physicians change my pain killer regimen.
Wow, I had no idea.... ;0)
Man, Enron was never like THIS when I worked there....OK, so
a liberal federal court yesterday declared the Pledge of
Allegiance unconstitutional, holding that the phrase "under God" constitutes "endorsement
of religion". The hue and cry from Conservatives (and politicians in general) was immediate
and furious as they scrambled to pander to those whose reaction was also immediate and
emotional. Too bad their brains weren't engaged before they raged at the court. The problem is
that, if you look at the court's ruling on constitutional grounds, they're right. The phrase
"under God" does constitute an endorsement of one religion (Christianity) over all others.
Now, some may argue that "God" is a generic term, but I can't begin to take that argument
seriously. "God", in the history of our country, has always meant the Christian "God".
Yeah, we only bought it for the high quality writing....
In Russia,
prisoners
pass
contraband
to one
another on
ropes they
swing from
cell to
cell. They
call it
the
"internet.
" Ten
years ago
no one
knew what
the word
meant, and
now it's
jail slang
in Russian
prisons. (The Bleat)
Comments
Wednesday 6.26.02
This is just plain fun. Thoughtful, playful, and not above ruffling a few
feathers, Scott Ganz has created something truly entertaining. Plus, he got to see "Minority
Report" before it was released. Now that's "A-list" stuff!!! Nominations
Happy 43rd wedding anniversary to Mom and
Dad!!!One of the
truly sad aspects of the Internet is that pornographers tend to be on the leading edge of any
new technology. Exhibit A:
voice-recognition software.
If it works, the software will allow DVD viewers
to control exactly how Debbie does Dallas without ever touching a mouse. But it's not yet
clear whether programmers will be able to get around their biggest hurdle -- those pesky
things called words.
On-line pornography just happens to be one of the most competitive Internet markets. With an
ever-growing number of sites competing for a relatively static supply of dollars, you'll be
seeing ever more sophisticated efforts by porn purveyors to finagle their wares onto your
monitor. Soon, you'll be able to tell Debbie exactly how to do Dallas. Oh, joy.... Comments
DSL makes your
kid stoopid (that's Saturn, dumbass...)Good news!! The annual homosexual recruiting
drive is nearing it's goal! Oh, joy!!! Comments
Run, Forrest,
run....Yes, we've suffered through Oklahoma City
and 9.11. Still, we should all thank our lucky stars that we're not living in Israel, where terror is a
daily and all too real phenomenon.
Since January 2002, about 225 Israeli
citizens have been killed in terrorist attacks, suicide bombings or shooting rampages
targeting innocent civilians at home, on buses, on city streets, at weddings, in discos or
pizzerias. Living with the fear and pain of terror has become a part of daily life for
Israelis in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Netanya and in neighborhoods in the West Bank and Gaza.
We don't have to live in fear that the bus we're riding on to work just might be our last
trip. Or that the lunch at a downtown pizzeria may turn into our last meal. Or that going to
the mall might be our last mortal act. This is the reality of day to day life in Israel.
The Vatican came down with a new ruling:
no surrogate mothers. Good thing they didn't make this rule before Jesus was born.
Tuesday 6.25.02
This has always been
one of my favorite blogs. It's well-constructed, visually pleasing, and (most importantly)
interesting and diverse. Check it out.... Nominations
Greetings from Hell,
Part one....French fries can cause cancer?? My God,
next it will be caffeine....
Consider a recent study in Sweden which found extremely high levels
of a potential carcinogen, acrylamide, in fried and baked foods that contain starch.
Acrylamide is a chemical that is used industrially to produce plastics.
So why haven't we heard about this in the mainstream media? Well, my friend, there's money to
be made!! Potatoes are the largest vegetable crop in the country ($2.7 billion). Americans
consume 16 pounds of french fries per capita per year. McDonald's just laid out $500 million for his "we Love To See
You Smile" advertising campaign. Remember this, dear friends: it's all about the Benjamins....
Greetings from
Hell, Part Deux....
You see
something on the National Public Radio website that you
like. In fact, you like it so much that you decide to post a link to it on your own site.
WRONG!!!!! You gotta get permission first. Yeah, you heard right....
A few hours
after rescuers dragged her young son's lifeless body from 3-foot-deep water in the San
Francisco Bay, the distraught mother tried to explain the drowning.
It is difficult to imagine what the folks at NPR were thinking when they came up with this PR nightmare. I can understand their
desire to protect their content, and to ensure that their content is used in the proper
context, but the Internet is not like print media. The sooner the Luddites at NPR comes to
grips with this the sooner they'll find themselves in the 21st century.
MAD magazine is turning 50. Damn,
I feel old...
It became a mecca for
caricature and artistic buffoonery, making such names as Don Martin and Harvey Kurtzman and
Mort Drucker as recognizable among baby boomers as Picasso. It poked fun at people who hold
basic values and people who fail to hold basic values -- sometimes in the same issue and on
the same page. It was ridiculous and realistic; when Betty and Veronica appeared as
big-bosomed targets in its early pages, they had acne. It had little time for grammar, which
is orderly and codified and therefore unusable.
Yeah, it seemed funny at the time, and it still is, although I think MAD touched a nerve in my
13-year-old self that has long since gone soft. It was satire before satire went uptown, and
the artwork was top-notch, which is more than could often be said for the subject matter. The
thing that I loved about MAD magazine, though, was it's ability to skewer sensibilities in a
way that was humorous without being offensive. It's a quality that seems to have long since
disappeared from modern satire. CommentsMonday 6.24.02
"The news with a twist-
of lime." Attitude, alocohol, recipes, and some interesting takes on the news of the day.
Take two of these and call me in the morning.... Nominations
The Port of Houston, playing the part of the
800-pound gorilla, is proceeding with it's plan to shove the Bayport container facility
down the throats of those of us who live in Seabrook. The port facility, while
overwhelming opposed by those who live in this area, is being presented by the Port of Houston as a great boon to the
economy of Houston.
I would not argue the economic benefits, but what about the wishes of those of us who live
here and do not want our way of life compromised in the chase for the almighty dollar? Those
of us who live in Seabrook have literally had the port forced upon us.
The Port has seen
tremendous growth over the last seven years. The Bayport Terminal is needed to accommodate
expanding needs of customers. The movement of an estimated 170 million tons of cargo ranks the
Port of Houston as the second largest U.S. port in total tonnage. It remains the nation's
number one port in foreign cargo
movements.
This is what Seabrook looks like currently.
This is what the Port of Houston wants to turn
Seabrook into.Sunday 6.23.02
Benjamin
Kepple is a journalist in New Hampshire. His posts have that crisp, well-thought out feel that
good journalists are wont to produce. I enjoy the rants, in part because Benjamin has no
particular ax to grind. If your mother understood weblogs, this is the one she'd have you
reading. Nominations
Happy 64th birthday to Dad!!!!Former Houston Astros pitcher Darryl
Kile, currently a member of the St. Louis Cardinals, was found dead in his Chicago hotel
room yesterday. Kile, who apparently died in his sleep of natural causes, was 33.
Comments
Sometimes life can be as fleeting as
fame....
Halloween decorations - Let's face it, almost no one is scared by a Jack O' Lantern anymore. However, a string of aborted fetuses strung up on your front porch not only scares the hell out of trick-or-treaters, it reminds them that they were one of the lucky ones. Already an effective pro-life tool in the states of Ohio and West Virginia. (greenfairy.com) Comments
Over the past four years, Jesse Ventura has brought a
staggering combination of the ridiculous and the sublime to Minnesota politics. Now that he
has decided not to seek re-election, the question is what comes next for "The
Body"?
Gov. Jesse Ventura would talk policy at the Capitol and trash as a pro
football broadcaster, all in the same week. He would go from a policy forum on third-party
governing to the set of "The Young and the Restless'' and not miss a beat. He once popped up
on the New York Times' front page in the morning and in a pro wrestling telecast the same
night.
Whatever history is written about Ventura's tenure, and I suspect there won't be much, there
were a couple of things that should stand out. He proved that someone can operate successfully
outside of the conventional two-party structure. Of course, this was also a handicap, since it
often created a "me against the world" situation with the Legislature.
Saturday 6.22.02
Now here is an eclectic
collection of thoughts. Gerard Vlemmings puts together a wonderful assortment of the
interesting, the unusual, and the "where did he find that?" Feel free to check out "The fatal
consequences of masturbation." Nominations
How many of us are hoping that we don't have to go to work on
Monday??The Chicago Cubs defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 2-1 yesterday...in an hour and 49 minutes. So you see, Mr. Selig, the game CAN be played in less time than it take to view a screening of "War and Peace". Why does a baseball game have to be a 3 or 3 1/2 hour marathon? If the rules that are currently on the books were to be enforced, the games might actually move along at a reasonable pace. As things stand now, with games growing in both length and tedium, baseball is running the risk of boring it's customers to death. Comments
While their neighbors to the south are tearing up the World Cup, many North Koreans have been reduced to eating grass
to survive.
"They're going up into the mountains in search of edible grasses.
They're on the beaches collecting seaweed," [World Food Programme] spokesman Gerald Bourke
said in Beijing after visiting North Korea.
Is the North Korean government willing to allow it's people to starve in order to maintain
their stranglehold on power? Apparently. Is the international community willing to sit by
while North Korea starves to death? That would seem to be the case. All of us should be
ashamed. The world's largest sporting event is taking place just a few miles away, and while
South Koreans celebrate, their brethren to the north are busy merely trying to survive.
Comments With the Supremes having
decreed that states can no longer execute the mentally retarded, states are having to wrestle
with the question of just who is mentally retarded.
While the generally recognized threshhold for mental retardation is held to be an IQ of 70 or
below, many states use different standards.
The 1994 law adopted by Congress
banning the execution of the mentally retarded in the federal system does not define mental
retardation or discuss at what stage in a criminal proceeding the determination must be made.
Of course, Governor Goodhair seems to think that our system for putting people
down works just fine. Of course, since Texas kills more people than any other state, we've
certainly had more practice."I think we've got a justice system that works in
the state of Texas," Perry told the Houston Chronicle in an interview, when asked about the
two recent cases involving the death penalty.
Of course, what seems to be missed by those law-and-order types who think that the death
penalty is a good thing (and I'm not necessarily arguing with that point) is that now just
might be a good time to
rethink whom we should execute and why.
Comments
Germany 1, US 0 - closer than it looked....When you start to think about how
tough and demanding your job is, consider the lot of a soccer goalkeeper. Now think about that
goalkeeper and the responsibility he bears on his shoulder during the World
Cup.
That soccer goal's big, you know that? Put one human in front of it, and
that human looks inconsequential. Forget how seldom the ball gets all the way to the net and
think for a second about standing in front of that goal, the hopes and fears and fate of your
whole soccer-crazed country on your normal-sized back.
I was a goalkeeper in college. There are few times I've felt more helpless than standing on my
goal line just before facing a penalty shot. You can't move until the ball is struck, and then
you just have to guess and dive where you think the ball is going. Invariably, you guess
wrong. Just imagine doing that with the World Cup on the line. Gaaacckkk..... Comments
Friday 6.21.02
A local boy who
loves to swing...dance, that is. There's also a wide range of topics, as well as a
surprisingly eclectic collection of Houston-related information. Nominations
Torii Hunter: the best baseball player you've never heard of....In an effort to recoup money that it
will likely lose now that Italy has been knocked out of the World Cup, RAI television is threatening to
sue FIFA, soccer's governing body. RAI is upset over what they feel were officiating
errors that led to Italy's elimination (and playing poorly had nothing to do with
it??).
In a statement, RAI said it had asked its legal department to study
building a case showing that FIFA was responsible for the poor quality refereeing.
RAI isn't the only example of poor Italian sportsmanship. Perugia, a Serie A soccer club, is
planning on cutting Ahn Jung-hwan, the South Korean forward who scored the golden goal
that gave the Red Devils a 2-1 victory over Italy, thus eliminating the
Azzuri.After Ahn Jung-hwan scored the overtime goal to eliminate Italy on
Tuesday night, the owner of Perugia of the top Italian division said Ahn would be cut.
I just hope these morons GROW up.... Comments 
It was one year ago yesterday that
Andrea Pia Yates drowned her five children after hearing "the voice of Satan". All this
time, and I thought Bud Selig was too busy trying to ruin baseball. OK, bad joke. Poor taste.
Sorry...couldn't help myself....
For one year, Andrea Pia Yates' family members
have been unable to hold her hand or give her a hug.
I'm sure that it has been a tough year for Russell Yates. I don't envy him his pain and the
loss he lives with every day. Still, I think Harris County DA Chuck Rosenthal summed it up
best when he said, "We prosecute murderers." Indeed. Comments
An oxymoron??The Supreme Court has declared the execution of
mentally retarded inmates unconstitutional. Damn, and living in Texas used to be SO much
fun....
Many inmates in the 20 states that theoretically allow execution of
retarded people can be expected to argue that their sentences should be converted to life in
prison.
In all seriousness, this ruling could be viewed from two perspectives. First, it may well be
that the Court recognizes that the mentally retarded are not fully cognizant of right and
wrong and not qualified and/or capable of participating in their own defense. Secondly, this
may be the beginning of a process that ultimately culminates in the total dismantling of the
death penalty. I think both points are good things. I'm not sure we can hold the retarded to
the same standards of understanding right and wrong, and I'm not at all certain the death
penalty is currently being applied in an equitable and race-neutral manner.
The high court last addressed the retardation issue in
1989, when it ruled there was no national consensus that executing retarded people was
unconstitutional. In 1989, only two states that allowed capital punishment banned it for the
mentally retarded.
Clearly, we as a society must decide if the death penalty is a just and appropriate method of
punishment. If it is held to be just and appropriate, the method of application must be
refined to reduce (elimination is likely impossible) the likelihood of innocent men and women
being executed. Anyone who thinks the system works fine the way it is ought to have a look at
Shrub's record on the death penalty during his tenure as Governor of Texas. CommentsThursday 6.20.02
As a former
Minnesotan, I enjoy James Lilek's riffs on Jesse Ventura. He also writes the "Backfence" column for the Minneapolis StarTribune, the newspaper I used to deliver for
when I was but a wee lad living in the Great White North of Minnesota. Lileks also has a website separate from his weblog. AND he has a new baby.
This is one busy man.... Nominations
Southwest Airlines has decided to remind it's ticket agents of it's
policy
regarding larger-than-usual passengers.
Starting June 26, Southwest
passengers who are booked on full flights and need seat belt extensions, or whose bodies
extend beyond the 18 3/4 inch cushions, will be required to purchase a second seat, said
Christine Turneabe-Connelly, a Southwest spokeswoman.
Of course, it would seems that Southwest's talking head is missing what should be an obvious
point: that airplane seats are too small. Whether you're an XXXL or not, it doesn't take a
rocket scientist to figure out that the problem is not with the passengers, but with
Southwest's "cattle car" mentality- stuff all of us into the same narrow seats regardless of
size. Why can't airlines accommodate their customers and provide seats that the flying public
can actually fit into? Oh, right; that would cut into their profit margins....
Comments 
When will the madness end? How many have to
die??There is free speech and there is
offensive speech, which, while objectionable, is still free speech- unless you have a web
site. This abuse of
the Bill of Rights should give all of us pause. The author of the website may be a Grade A
nutcase, but he still has the right to say what is on his mind- and we have the right to
ignore his website. Comments
Wednesday 6.19.02
After an extended
hiatus, Laura Kiernan is back, and it would seem she hasn't missed a beat. I love the attitude
she brings to her blog, and I think you'll find it an entertaining read....Nominations
Congress is now making noises
about steroid usage in Major
League Baseball. I suppose that's all we need; well-fed, self-important white men waxing
indignant about drugs in sports. As soon as their hearing is over, they'll all go back and
toast their brilliance over tumblers of Glenlivet. Don't our elected representatives have
better things to devote their time to?? Comments
When will the madness end? How many have to
die??In
what seems to be an admission that negotiating and hoping for a mutual interest in peace is
not working, Israel
has announced a change in tactics in it's conflict with Palestinians.
The
announcement of "a change in the way Israel responds to murderous acts of terror" came after a
late-night meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and top government
officials....
I am no advocate of violence, but I can understand why the Israelis feel they have no other
option. There is clearly a segment of the Palestinian population that has no intention of
negotiating or compromising, and will not rest until they destroy Israel. From the standpoint
of a government in a civilized society, this is clearly unacceptable.
The
war on terrorism is making right-wing nutcases chase their tails. The paradox is that they
may become even more dangerous, or they could dampen their rhetoric given the perceived threat
posed by "foreigners".
Extreme militia and "patriot" types (especially white
supremacists of the Christian Identity movement) are likely to want to defend against attack
by non-European foreigners – and in fact see this as justification for their existence as
independent militias.
Increased homeland security efforts are already seen by a number of far right-wing patriots as
proof of their belief in a government conspiracy. Some even view the attacks of 9.11 as a
cynical attempt by the government to create the war on terrorism as a means of stifling
internal dissent. It's creating a "damned-if-they-do-and-damned-if-they-don't" environment
that really is rather entertaining. While the current confusion reigns, hopefully the real
nutjobs will be too busy to act. CommentsTuesday 6.18.02
A wise friend once told me
that the three most important things in a weblog are ATTITUDE, ATTITUDE, and more ATTITUDE. If
you subscribe to that theory, this is where you want to be. Let's hope you're not one of those
folks put off by people who like to make their feelings abundantly clear.... Nominations
Here in the People's
Republic of Seabrook, we're always looking for ways to separate eager tourists from their
money. We don't actually want you to move here, but we're more than happy to take your money,
AND we take all major credit cards. Our latest plan for total world domination is ecotourism ("sustainable
economic development based on nonconsumptive wildlife viewing").
The city
also has teamed up with the Galapagos Islands, off Ecuador in the Pacific Ocean, in a sort of
sister-city alliance.
Right. Then I'm going to stage a bloody coup, and annex them to the People's Republic of
Seabrook.... Comments 
And afterward he was made into a tasty soup....
Now his body -- computerized
images made from CT scans and photographs of prosciutto-thin slices of it -- is on view
throughout the world. It's on the Internet, in anatomy
classes, on medical students' Palm Pilots and even in stained-glass windows.
I suppose it's a good thing that at least something positive has come out of what was truly a
life miserably lived. Still, it is about the goriest damn thing I've heard of....
CommentsIf this doesn't make you feel good,
you need to check yourself for a pulse....
"When they told me, I went totally numb,"
said Zinter, who has been cut in major-league spring training camp in 10 of his professional
seasons. "It's unbelievable. It's the perfect gift for Father's Day."
Talk about chasing a dream.... CommentsMonday 6.17.02
Irreverent,
rambling, funny, and capitalization-challenged, tonypierce.com is really a rather
enjoyable ride. Actually, the capitalization thing is just my own person issue, but the
content and the attitude are first-rate. In a world where blogs are becoming more and more
similar, tonypierce.com is a truly unique experience. Nominations
I admit it. I
don't get it. What is it about Eminem that makes him so successful? From
what I've heard of it, his work is heavy on bigotry, hatred, and misogyny. Yet white, middle
class kids eat this stuff up.
Say what you will about redeeming social (or
artistic) value: At its hard core, Eminem's poetics is pornography, and it's accorded the same
privileges. Just as we've declared the XXX zone exempt from social thinking, we refuse to
subject sexist rap to moral scrutiny. We crave a space free from the demands of equity,
especially when it comes to women, whose rise has inspired much more ambivalence than most men
are willing to admit. This is especially true in the middle class, where feminism has made its
greatest impact. No wonder Eminem is so hot to suburban kids and Downtown alter cockers. He's
as nasty as they wanna be.
Ok, so I grew up in an era when music was about social protest, about trying to create a
better world. Far be it from me to try and suppress whatever Eminem's "message" might be, but
I do find it disturbing that someone whose songs convey such negativity can be so wildly
successful. I think I'm beginning to understand why my parents hated my music so much....
Comments
US defeats Mexico 2-0, reaches World Cup quarterfinals for first time since 1930.One of the lessons I'm beginning to
learn is that anger contaminates relationships. In my case, it's a lesson that has taken many
years to learn, and it has cost me many years of what could have been a relationship with my
family. Finally, I've realized that while my anger was real and legitimate, it no longer
mattered. All it was doing was keeping me apart from my parents. Dr. Phil McGraw (a frequent
"Oprah" guest) had issues with his father that are both different and yet strikingly similar
to my own. His challenge, and mine, was how to get past those issues.
[T]he
scars ran deep and my guard was always up -- even as an adult. I knew that if I didn't deal
with my feelings, I could wind up carrying them forever.
I had been "right" for years, and I knew it. In knowing that, though, I chose to cut myself
off from my family. Now, finally, I'm beginning to reconnect with my parents. It's going to
take some time and some effort, especially since they're in Wisconsin and I'm in Texas, but at
least they know (and I know) that I still care about them.
There are two things you can do to start repairing the relationship. First,
evaluate the relevance of the four truths I listed above to your own situation. Then ask
yourself: If I lost my loved one today, what would be left unsaid and undone?
I don't know what the future holds for my family, but I do know that I am happy that they are
once again part of my life. Calling my father yesterday and wishing him a happy Father's Day
was a very special feeling. I can't make up the time I lost, but I'm hoping that the time we
have left will be good. It's already off to a good start. CommentsSunday 6.16.02
Ken Whited, a
local boy, is at least as frustrated with the Astros as I am. For that reason alone, I've made
him the TPRS Site of the Day. There is, however, much more to Reflections, along
with an excellent links page. He and I do agree on at least one other thing: the Houston
Chronicle is a truly mediocre newspaper. Indeed. Nominations
Notice any resemblance??For most of us in the lower 48
states, global warming is largely a broad abstract concept. We all agree that it's not a good
thing, but there is little concrete evidence of it's effect on us. In Alaska, however, global
warming is a very real and evident problem.
To live in Alaska when the average
temperature has risen about seven degrees over the last 30 years means learning to cope with a
landscape that can sink, catch fire or break apart in the turn of a season.
The question, of course, is what the Shrub Administration will be willing to do about the
problem. Of course, it IS Alaska we're talking about here. There are, what, three electoral
votes at risk? From a crassly political standpoint, the Bushies can afford to blow Alaska off.
But what if Alaska is the canary in the coal mine? If we ignore the problem now, what will we
be forced to contend with later?"We've had so many strange events, things are
so different than they used to be, that I think most Alaskans now believe something profound
is going on," said Dr. Glenn Juday, an authority on climate change at the University of Alaska
at Fairbanks. "We're experiencing indisputable climate warming. The positive changes from this
take a long time, but the negative changes are happening real fast."
What is happening in Alaska today could be evident in the lower 48 tomorrow. Meanwhile, will
Shrub and his minions continue to fiddle while Rome burns? Must we wait until it is too late
to make a positive impact? If you're George W. Bush, the answer is most likely yes, and that,
I believe, will ultimately have tragic consequences. We ignore this problem at our own
peril.... (NY Times login: FRITOPIE, password: FRITOPIE) Comments
Like any society, we have our standards as
to what meat is acceptable to eat, what is borderline, and what is just plain wrong. Generally
speaking, consuming man's best friend
would fall under "just plain wrong".
While vegetarians naturally reject meat
of all kinds, the rest of America maintains some form of double standard -- chicken but not
crow, beef but not horse, venison but not reindeer, lamb but not mutton, legs and wings and
rumps but not hearts or lungs or tongues. Some Americans are adventurous meat eaters who will
cross the line and enthusiastically tuck into possum, ostrich, or alligator. One line in
America, however, is inviolable. Anonymous livestock and wildlife are fair game, but pets are
a different matter, and dog in particular remains the most potent meat taboo. Whenever I
mention to my friends that I have eaten -- and enjoyed -- dog stew, they look at me with the
sort of horror reserved for hangmen and white supremacists.
With South Korea co-hosting soccer's quadrennial World Cup, the consumption of dog meat is
once again on the radar screen of animal rights groups. While I personally would not consider
or condone the consumption of dog meat, I can't bring myself to condemn what is considered
acceptable in another culture. Yes, the idea of eating dog meat disgusts me, but there are
cultures that can't understand why dogs are pets. Is their attitude towards dogs more or less
valid than my own? Not necessarily. This is not an exercise in cultural relativism, but I do
believe that we must respect (if not always agree with) the values of different cultures.
Saturday 6.15.02
Lying in ponds is, as the description says, "is an attempt to quantify
and analyze partisanship in the American punditocracy. Lying in Ponds believes that a
lack of excessive partisanship is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for constructive
punditry. The views of pundits who are excessively partisan cannot be taken seriously, because
their ulterior motives or uncontrolled biases are certain to frequently contaminate their
judgements." Ken Wight takes on Liberal and Conservative pundits with equal fervor.
Lying in ponds is a must-read for those looking for a sense of balance. Nominations
Our next-door neighbor
(the one who lives on the other side from Mr. Asshole Neighbor) has decided to enlighten us on
the frequency and volume of the sexual escapades. My 14-year-old stepson is babysitting for
them while they are at work (lucky him...). One morning, before the Mrs. left for work, she
told Eric that she and her husband once had sex 21 times during the course of a single day
(that has GOT to hurt....). Eric, to his credit, was more grossed out than anything. This
woman has never been known for her class or discretion, but this episode was a bit much. What
possible reason could she have for discussing her sexual peccadilloes with a teenage boy, who
already thinks about sex 24/7/365??
The US Catholic Bishops Conference
has adopted a policy that will defrock
any priest who is caught sexually abusing minor. Conveniently, though, they managed to
protect themselves by neglecting to deal with the issue of bishops who protect and shield
abusive priests. But then, they'd have to come up with a policy for potentially punishing some
of their own. To date, the bishops have not shown a high degree of moral courage where this
issue is concerned. We can't very well expect much out of them now, can
we??
Leaders of abuse victims' groups said repeatedly that a bishop or cardinal
who seriously mishandled reports of sexually abusive priests should be disciplined or urged to
resign.
I wonder if the bishops can descend from their ivory tower long enough to get a grip on the
breadth and depth of the crisis the Catholic Church is facing? Or are they really that
oblivious to the anger and dismay of their parishioners??
Comments
Thousands of teenagers prepare for post-graduation
breakups....Father's Day is tomorrow, which
makes this a perfect time to struggle with the angst
involved with trying to be a good male parent. It's not easy now, and it wasn't easy for
our fathers. Of course, it was never supposed to be easy.
As father's day
approaches and families thank the resident dad for another good year's parenting, they might
also acknowledge him for simply being able to keep his head on straight. It's never been easy,
after all, to be an American father. At mid-century, the man of the house was a removed and
clueless thing, a second-tier parent looking on confusedly as mom tended the kids and passed
onto him only the childcare jobs she was sure he wouldn't botch too badly. By the 1980s and
?90s, of course, all that changed, as more and more weekend fathers became überfathers,
growing warmer and fuzzier and devoting themselves to parenting with all the commitment of
time and emotion that mom seems to exhibit so naturally.
Sure, being a father is not an easy role to play. It's not as if it comes with an instruction
manual. Still, before anyone begins to wax rhapsodic about the joys and stresses of
fatherhood, let me offer a caution from my own experience. Think about being a stepfather for
a moment. It's a role I struggle with daily, and while I'm learning to love it, the role does
come with certain limitations. Like anything, though, it's what you make of it. So, Dads,
maybe you should stop worrying so much and start enjoying the 18 or so years you have. They'll
be gone before you know it. CommentsFriday 6.14.02
Simple, easy to read layout.
Plenty o'content. Very diverse. Definitely has a wide range of interest, and a good eye for
interesting topics. Good stuff.... Nominations
Is "Scooby Doo" gay occult propaganda??Known for it's militant
pro-environmental stands, well as "its long-standing opposition to whaling, logging, strip
mining, genetically modified food, nuclear power, the chemical industry, wars, corporations,
politics, and weapons", Greepeace has announced that it will now stand in opposition to
everything.
"It's all bad, it all needs to stop," said a Greenpeace
spokesperson, who added the group will no longer send out action alerts calling for opposition
to specific issues, but will instead issue daily alerts to all members that read, "No" in 37
different languages.
While Conservatives have derided the change in philosophy as little more than a shallow
fundraising ploy, it seems clear that Greepeace still wants to feel relevant in a world more
concerned about terrorism than dolphins. Only time will tell if opposing everything from fruit
salad to paleolithic art to dead Scottish poets will be effective. Comments
I'll bet
she's a Southen Baptist....Regardless of what is decided by the
Catholic bishop's conference in Dallas, Catholic lay people are demanding that their voices be
heard.
The guerrillas are gathering in the basement. They used to meet Sunday
nights at St. John the Evangelist Church in Wellesley, Mass., but the crowd got too big, so
now they have broken into cells, gathering nightly by the dozen in parochial school cafeterias
or places like this spare church cellar, plotting and testifying under flickering
institutional lights. First up is a man in a gray suit. "If the church were a business," he
says, "the hiring manager would be out of a job, and the CEO would be on the next boat out."
Next comes a psychiatrist, who calls the Roman Catholic Church a dysfunctional family. Then a
theology student, then a young father, then the mother of an abused boy and, finally, Marie
Darcy. Darcy has 10 children back home in Merrimack, N.H., but left them tonight to conspire
with the Catholic lay group Voice of the Faithful because, well, because it touches on her
status as part of the body of Christ. "We are all heirs to Christ, but it doesn't feel that
way," says Darcy. "The decisions come down from above, and that's it. The people in the pews
quake, wondering what's going to happen."
The general feeling among those who make up Catholic laity is that it if there was ever a time
for reform, it is now. It's not the sex scandals alone; those go back as far as 1985. What has
Catholics up in arms is the attitude of their leadership. One lay group, Voice of the
Faithful, wants to turn the church into a representative democracy. Others suggest the
creation of independent diocesan advisory councils. Others demand financial transparency.
Clearly, the times, they are a-changing.
For Andrew
Sullivan, like many Catholics, the Church has been a source of stability and meaning, a
place to go when life seemed out of control and beyond rational comprehension. The ritual life
of Catholicism can for many be like home- a welcoming, familiar place, where you are always
welcome. The fact that the Church has been in place for many hundreds of years gives it, in
the eyes of many believers, a gravitas, an aura of seriousness and connection to the
truly profound.
Now I wonder. For the first time in my life, I look at this institution and ask
myself how it can have done what it has done. How can it have ever have been blithe about the
sexual abuse of children and minors? How could it have covered it up? How could it then have
compounded the hurt by scapegoating good gay priests for the crimes of others? These questions
have not gone away. And they resonate far more widely than on the question of sexual abuse. I
think it's fair to say that very few people in my generation of 40-year-olds and younger can
take the church's sexual teachings very seriously again. When so many church leaders could not
treat even the raping of children as a serious offense, how can we trust them to tell us what
to believe about the more esoteric questions of contraception, or homosexuality, or divorce?
What shred of credibility do these men have when they look out at the pews and see those of us
living in a world where our failings cannot be easily covered up by ecclesiastical power, or
bought off with other people's money, or simply ignored? This gulf between us and them cannot
now be concealed. We kneel and pray; we donate our time and money; we have attempted to
explain the moral lessons we have learned in the real world of family and sex and work and
conflict. But so many church leaders — from the Pope on down — do not seem to hear or even
care. And why should they? They are not answerable to us.
Indeed. The Church that has for so many years relied on it's absolute moral authority now
finds that same authority called into questions by it's actions. For years, the Vatican has
refused to recognized that the moral and social views of it's adherents have undergone a sea
change. People no longer necessarily want large families, so birth control becomes a must.
Abortion, still a hot-button issue, has become progressively more prevalent. Sex before
marriage is now the norm. Is it any wonder that young Catholics have begun to question the
relevance of the Church in their own lives? Is it any wonder that the number of men and women
entering religious orders have declined by half since 1965?
Thursday 6.13.02
Cool layout. Great graphics. Plenty
o'content. Very technically adept. Oh, and he's looking for work. Good stuff.... Nominations
The world's toughest golf tournament begins today.In a story
whose conclusions should shock absolutely no one, the Dallas Morning News is reporting
that 2/3 of
US bishops have allowed priests accused of child molestation to continue working.
Now, I don't know about anyone else, but I have a difficult time understanding how this
evidence can be anything but an indication of a church-wide plan to suppress evidence and
harbor criminals within the church. And yet there are church officials who still don't seem to
get it.The News' review found that at least 111 of the nation's 178 mainstream, or
Roman rite, Catholic dioceses are headed by men who have protected accused priests or other
church figures, such as brothers in religious orders, candidates for the priesthood, teachers
and youth-group workers. The study did not include about 100 other members of the U.S.
Conference of Catholic Bishops, most of whom serve in supporting roles but can vote this week
in Dallas.
The Rev. Francis Maniscalco, a spokesman for the U.S. Conference of
Catholic Bishops, expressed no surprise at the numbers.
Until and unless the Catholic Church pulls it's collective anterior out of it's collective
posterior, they are going to be suffering from a credibility crisis. When you are faced with a
problem, and your response is to dissemble, prevaricate, and rationalize, how can you expect
anyone to take you seriously?
This man is NOT-repeat, NOT- a suspect, but we'll trash his name and
reputation anyway....I have a great deal of respect for Christianity as a religion.
It's the people who practice it that all too often make me ill. If you're a Southern Baptist, it's
apparently OK to denigrate Islam as an inferior religion.
The new head of the
Southern Baptist Convention has rejected calls to repudiate what a Muslim group is calling
"bigoted" and "hate-filled" statements made by one of its pastors.
So, can I take this to mean that all of that "love thy neighbor as thyself" stuff is no longer
applicable? If your a Southern Baptist, you can take this however you choose, but your
leadership needs to crawl back into whatever swamped it emerged from. What arrogance....Comments
When you put 'THE' and 'IRS' together, it forms
'THEIRS'. Coincidence? I think not?
Wednesday 6.12.02
Antwon won me over during the NCAA
basketball tournament with a dead-on parody of Dick Vitale. Since then, he has continued to
skewer virtually everything that crosses his radar screen with an uncommon degree of wit and
humor. Not only does he have some interesting things to say, he is also a top-notch writer,
not always something that can be said about bloggers. Do yourself a favor and spend some time
in 'Twons world; it's worth the trip!! Nominations
Imagine my delight when I
received this beuaty in my email yesterday:
Dear Friend:
Isn't it comforting to know that our country is safe from gutless liberals such as myself as
long as the watchdogs at the Conservative Chronicle are on the job??
Comments
If you're wanting
to run for political office in the South, let me offer you some advice: buy yourself a pickup
truck.
Mark Sanford has a singular message he's trying to get across as he vies
for governor of South Carolina: He's built Ford tough.
I am set, should the need for me to seek public office ever arise. I drive a 1996 Ford F-150
with 80,000 miles on the odometer. I figure that in about seven or eight years, it ought to be
ready for my run for governor. The question is, will I be ready?? Comments