Peter Boyle Was a Funny Guy

It's weird how death can sanitize life. Nixon and Reagan are dead. Remember? Do you remember too, that after their deaths no one remembered anything about Watergate, Cambodia, Viet Nam, Iran-Contra, Savings & Loan Collapses, El Salvador, attacking Labor, yadda, yadda, yadda?

Or, if they did remember, they weren't allowed to say anything about it without being a jerk.

Why is it so difficult to remember people without mythologizing them?

Why can't we remember this:

Without forgetting this:
I'm a jerk.

Less Frequently Feingold

I'm over my recent breakup with Russ Feingold. I'm not only over it, I actually agree with him that he can best serve us right now in the Senate. To wit:
"Unfortunately, while the Iraq Study Group's report recognizes that the Administration's policy is not working, it doesn't correct the myopic focus on Iraq that has so dangerously weakened our national security. In the end, this report is a regrettable example of 'official Washington' missing the point. The growing threats we face in places like Afghanistan and Somalia are every bit as important to our national security as Iraq. Until Congress and the Administration recognize that, we will only perpetuate the deeply misguided policies that got us into Iraq in the first place."

You can find this gem, and generally keep track of Russ-doings here. I recommend checking it out frequently.

Unless you'd rather not. Which would just be crazy.

I guess you could always stop by here every now and then for the return of the Frequently Feingold
Geez- how can you not love this guy?

I think Russ will be, as the Simpsons once were and systematic Reformed Theology still is, a useful aposematic device.

Ugh- I'm Such a Baby

So I've been grading papers, answering emails from studying students, contemplating papers, and altogether preoccupied with my redacted post. I am preoccupied with the fact that I felt compelled to exclude the context of my rant.

I think my mind keeps going back to it because eliminating the context seems contrary to why I wrote that last post. That probably doesn't make any sense. It doesn't make any sense because the last post is missing so much.

I feel like a.) part of the point of my previous post is that actions have content in their context and the context of that post is hidden so the action of its writing is inexplicable. It seems, in a very layered way, that I am excluding the key to its meaning. And b.) our Ministry and Counsel chair really provided a good and faithful opportunity for us to deal with some of our Yearly Meeting nonsense and I excluded all that because it doesn't seem like it should be shared. But then my point about sin being overcome as we move forward faithfully together seems impossible if I can't address how and why that happens in real life.

Oh well, somebody's nicknmame is going to be Fritos Isn't Free- I don't know who it will be yet but I do know that makes everything awesome.

I Do Well to be Angry, Angry Enough To Die [harumph]
Wave of Mutilation- Pixies
Spiders- Wilco
Higher Ground- Stevie Wonder
Sitting on Top of The World- Howlin' Wolf
Global Probing- Descendents
Rock is Dead- Marilyn Manson

If That's Moving Up, Then I'm Moving Out

[redacted]

An evangelistic trope to get people to recognize that they are sinners is to ask if they have ever stolen anything, or lied, or looked at someone lustfully and then follow the inevitable "Yes" with:

-Well what do you call someone who lies...?
-You've lied, you're a liar. Liars go to hell.
-You don't want to go to hell do you?
-Oh, okay... Well then let me explain how bad hell is. It's hot and desolate and you're tormented night and day by the cries of the damned and the devil's minions get to torture you.
-Well, I suppose it does sound a bit like San Bernardino...

In fact it goes a little something like this.

I don't know why, for those who bear witness to a Christ via this script, this type of essentializing isn't universal. That is, if I've lied ergo I'm a liar is true, then why is it not just as true to essentialize the good things about me? I've told the truth, I've sacrificially helped people, I've saved others from all manner of crud, I've given generous gifts, I've acted morally. Hell, I guess I'm pretty great. You know, even in thinking about the Ten Commandments right now... I'm golden.

I don't buy it. I guess it's supposed to help people reflect upon who they really are, but it's a bit superficial isn't it? Maybe that's as deep as you can get with people you don't know- people you've approached on the street or who happen across your web site but will never actually meet. It's hard for me to find that worth much.

I know for many people it's revolutionary and it feels like it's at the heart of what they think they should be doing as Christians. I don't know what to do with that. On one hand I think it's important to help people grow into their particular roles in a community. Maybe this has some place in that and I need to accept that. On another hand I think it's false.

The Christ it presents seems just as shallow as the reflection it supposedly forces. It doesn't confront what's really wrong with us, part of which is that tendency to think abstractly about ourselves. It's a part of that inability to think how we really exist. I mean, even though you can get someone to admit they have lied at some point in their life, and may be able to get them to think of themselves as a liar, and then might even get them to say they don't want to be a liar and will become a Christian so they are now a liar but identified through Christ- that's still a pretty abstract way of thinking about one's self. It doesn't require much self-examination or reflection about their actual life or what a life pursuing right relations and actions might look like in light of our interconnected existences.

I mean, right now, at this very moment, I really am golden. At any given, objective and frozen moment in time I am very easily perfect. If that is my goal, all I have to do is further remove myself from any interconnections that might spoil that. I can do this by fleeing humanity-living in a cave or choosing some Stylitic existence or by reifying the idea of sin so that it is some stilted and permanent concept that has no meaning to my actual existence except as some facile artificial identity which leads a just as artificial remedy. But it's easy.

Unfortunately I have not been able to live like that. I have to live with other people, not in sin, but in overcoming sin. Only we can't overcome sin if we see it as something static and objectively overcome- then we really are living (as it were) in sin.

[redacted]

ed- I've removed a large portion of backstory and set up before posting. I thought it offered a very helpful context, but I guess some people, crybabies mostly, might think it improper to give light to our Yearly Meeting, I mean, our EFCSW's problems, even obliquely, in this forum. That's kind of ironic isn't it? I think it makes less sense without that context, but as of posting it seems best to do this.

Have You ever Sung? Then You're a Singer
Mic Check- Rage Against the Machine
Blister in the Sun- Violent Femmes
Santo- Pixies
Body and Soul- Stan Getz
Life on a Chain- Pete Yorn
Positively 4th Street- Bob Dylan
Infinitely Late at Night- The Magnetic Fields
Rudie Can't Fail- The Clash
Holidays in the Sun- Sex Pistols
Holiday in Cambodia- Dead Kennedys
(That's a weird coincidence isn't it- I wonder if iTunes knows it's Christmas time... or it knows I'm so punk rock grading papers in my knit sweater)
Inner Vision- System of a Down
F**k the System- System of a Down
Many Rivers to Cross- Jimmy Cliff
Coney Island Baby- Lou Reed
Cut Your Hair- Pavement

Marching As to War

I am a busy and lazy man. So my desire to start email forwards has been thwarted. But what should I find in my inbox this morning? Not a forward per se, but an email from Sojo.net with all the potential to be a great Christian forward: it's got Christian persecution, commitment to faith, a support the troops moment, plenty of opportunities to use the word "radical," and a perfect "go make disciples" denouement.

Here's the source material.

I couldn't send it in its entirety. I figure it's too long for a classic forward. But true to the genre, it shouldn't be a problem to condense and adapt it without citing the origin. I know it doesn't really fit with my original intent for forwarding. I wanted to see how outlandish my story could be and who would hop on the forwarding bus. This might have to do though- since I am so lazy.

It'll go something like this:

This is a TRUE STORY

Sergeant Logan Laituri came to Jesus at a dramatic time in his life. He was back from 14 months in Iraq as a front-liner in the U.S. Army, and scheduled to return. It was spring, 2005.

His new girlfriend's family welcomed him with a Christian love so genuine he couldn't resist. He ended up in a New Testament history class at a local college, and was also faced with the incisive questions from his philosophical brother and roommate. Soon he found himself immersed in scripture, filled with the spirit and brimming with passion.

His conversion brought change. He started heeding his college instructor's directive to let the Bible shape his opinions, rather than his opinions shaping it.

"I realized I had to figure out what it meant to me to be a soldier," he says. "How do I act in my particular job and still follow the great commandment to love your neighbor as yourself? Ya know, how can I do that when I'm asked to basically lay waste to kinda large scale areas?" When it says love your enemies, he says he "can't kill someone in love."

Sgt. Laituri soon faced opposition and persecution for his faith. As his infantry company started gearing up for a return to Iraq, Lairturi was busy asking people about faith, war, and the decisions he faced. People told him it was morally wrong to do nothing about the nation's enemies. One commander, who is also a Baptist preacher, assured Laituri that since he was a Christian, Jesus had died for all his sins, and therefore he was already forgiven for whatever he would do on the battlefield.

The people who had welcomed him to the faith did not welcome his questioning of military morality. His then-girlfriend's father told Laituri he was part of God's hand in bringing judgement to Muslim extremists. The views he heard didn't fit with the convictions he felt, and his company was set to leave for a training session in California before heading back to Iraq.

Logan Laituri sat in the bus, he and his colleagues headed to Honolulu airport for their flight to California. It was April 20, 9:40 in the morning. Headphones on, local Christian band Olivia playing a song called "Heaven," and his thoughts on what in the world to do about his beliefs. Then, for a moment, heaven itself seemed to open.

"I felt like somebody was showing me something... I saw myself in the Middle East, I'm pretty sure it was Iraq," he says, describing the emotionally vivid experience. "What struck me were two things: number one, that I did not have a weapon." The second thing was a feeling of "confidence;" the confidence that he was "doing what was right."

It was his calling. He would go to Iraq, but without a weapon. At first he thought he might be able to do that as a non-combative member of his company. So after prayer and consideration, he applied for Conscientious Objector (CO) status, as per the Army regulation allowing a soldier to request discharge for reasons of conscience, as long as military officials deem the applicant "sincere" at the end of the stipulated process. He was ready to go to prison if need be, which, in today's for-us-or-against-us climate is a real possibility for CO applicants. Major Jones says the majority of CO applications are denied.

At that point Laituri was not actually trying to leave the Army, because he saw the human anguish within military ranks, and didn't think it was Christ-like to just abandon people in need. He just wanted to have the right to refuse to bear arms.

But the military is not going to send someone to war without a weapon, and, as it turns out, it may not treat you very well if you make such a request. With re-deployment looming, Laituri's superiors dragged their feet on the CO process, missing stipulated procedural deadlines without explanation.

Laituri talks of theological discussions with commanders, hostile rumors, and bureaucratic tangles. One superior berated him, saying his actions benefitted the enemies of America – an insult Laituri took as affirmation, given Jesus' invitation to love the enemy.

Laituri's military term expired. But, last Sunday he left for Israel/Palestine, not in the military, but as a Christian soldier, on a delegation with Christian Peacemaker Teams, the violence-reduction organization now famous for the four of their members abducted in Baghdad a year ago.

So off he goes, back to the front lines, disarmed and disarming, an "attitude of active compassion" at the ready. With the courage of a warrior and the love of God, he's living radically for Christ.

If you love Jesus you will forward this to as many people as you can. For every person you think of right now and do not send this to, a baby will die. Now that you've read that it's true.


Maybe I should change his name- Laituri sounds kind of foreign. And I should probably have him following the advice of a pastor not a college professor. Everyone knows college professors aren't really Christians and secretly want to destroy people's faith. And maybe I should include a picture of an eagle perched on a cross with a flag waving in the background.

That's tough, all I find when I do an image search for "eagle cross flag" is stuff like this.

We'll see, in any case, if you've ever sent me an email, get ready for this.

The Voice of One Crying in the Wilderness

... but crying for notoriety or help?

Spoiler Warning: Though what I possibly spoil is not just a movie ending.

"Thanks to Delta airlines, you can now sit back and enjoy pedophilia while you fly in comfort across America. While there are certain passengers who may appreciate it, I don’t think I am alone in my convictions when it comes to the sexual exploitation of our children. I don’t like it."

Really?

You might think that showing kiddie porn would be a bad business move on Delta's part. You'd be right. However that doesn't stop Ray Comfort from accusing the airline of showing child pornography. From the sound of it, he saw (but didn't hear) Little Miss Sunshine on a Delta flight. (Well, I'm assuming it was Little Miss Sunshine based on his description).

If you don't know, Ray Comfort is a popular open air preacher. He and Kirk Cameron (yes, that Kirk Cameron) share a ministry that teaches certain methods of evangelism and a program called Way of the Master that is, sadly, not about ninja training.

It's hard for me to take this article seriously, that is, as serious outrage or a real call to arms. It seems too over the top and full of such hyper indignation. I don't see people that are really upset writing like this. It just seems disingenuous. But am I bothered simply because it's so laden with rhetorical outrage and sanctimony? Of course not, what do we have if not our feigned outrage- honest critique and dialogue? pffft.

Anyway, I'm bothered but I don't know if I'm disappointed or worried by this article. I don't necessarily share Ray Comfort's theological perspective and I'm suspicious of his coziness with reactionary and white supremacist people and groups, but I didn't take him for one of the Blue Meanies. I figured he was sincere and good but had some bad friends. But this?

We looked at each other and asked “How could this be happening?” This wasn’t some in-house meeting of NAMBLA where perverts were getting off on seeing a young child take her clothes off in the privacy of their own clubhouse. This wasn’t in some dirty little back room in Downtown Los Angeles. This was in front of mothers and fathers and their children on a domestic flight on Delta airlines.
What sort of twisted Hollywood scumbag is allowed to get this trash on a public airline?

What is this?

I'm disappointed if this is a shot at the big time. It's sad if this is Ray Comfort's attempt to catapult himself to prominence with a boycott- it's cynical and, frankly, unsophisticated (though, since first receiving the email, the article has been upgraded with a more forceful and clear form letter protesting to Delta). If he's trying to earn some Evangelical stripes, I understand. It's got the "think of the childen, save the flag, our enemies are monsters, Hollywoodphobic fear mongering, sign a petition if you love Jesus" marks that such a move needs but I didn't think this would be a move Ray Comfort would make. I'm disappointed; but I understand.

But maybe it's worse than that. Maybe I'm worried because the dance scene at the end of Little Miss Sunshine isn't sexy. There's something wrong with you if you view children as objects of sexual desire or interpret that scene as provocative. I guess that's a pretty horrible suggestion, but it's pretty horrible to know someone saw that scene as sexually stimulating. The intensity of the response only adds to the concern. The quick connection to pedophilia, child pornography, and NAMBLA seems like quite an odd jump to me. It makes me hope it is fake.

Maybe his not knowing what NAMBLA stands for should be reassuring.

We could probably challenge Delta's decision to show, R rated movies, even if they're edited, but this probably isn't the way to do it, especially if one really is sincere about it. Like I said, it doesn't seem like the article is really about what it says it's about- I just hope what it is about isn't as bad as what I think it could be about.

Maybe I'm just a jerk.

Crank

Spend five minutes reading my lame intertubes journal and it's pretty clear that I'm a crank.

That's fine, it's an important job... Or role, I don't get paid for this nonsense.

Of course I think the stuff I'm a crank about is worth cranking. Otherwise I wouldn't crank. But I know not everyone sees things as I do- for all kinds of reasons. Sometimes I'm dumb, sometimes other people are dumb. I'm sensitive to things other people couldn't care less about. Whatever- there is a whole world of crank out there.

For example, in another post I made reference to Jimmy Carter's new book where he describes what he thinks is necessary to ending the apartheid and violence in Israel. I think it's about an important subject, and from the excerpt I've read, it seems it's worth reading the whole thing. It's also worth mentioning again- it's on my Amazon Wishlist. He's not the first or only person to say these things. But because he's an Evangelical Christian, a veteran, a minister, a Nobel Prize winner, a Habitat for Humanitarian he's a bigger problem than the people that can be dismissed as crazy hippies. It's kind of difficult to impugn his character, patriotism, Christianity, or sincerity without really turning up the crank and looking like a lunatic or total jerk. Jimmy Carter, Jew hater. Really?

That's bad crank. An AlterNet editor offers his thoughts and a summary of some of the other bad crank that's going around right now. But I can't wait until the Christian Crank gets rolling. It'll take a while, Christians are typically behind the curve on most things. But when it does, it'll be crazy. Because Carter's a pretty good dude, and because few people actually care to dialogue the crank will be turned up to 11... and it will be crazy.

People can get pretty nasty when it comes to politics, add idolatrous nationalism and crazy theology to the mix and they get even nastier- and wackier. We should get a pool going to see when someone will first call JImmy Carter a, or the, Anti-Christ.

Freedom Isn't Free

Well it's about time I got to this.

Last year I hopped on the bandwagon by gathering domestic intelligence and tracking Sexy Christmas. Clearly my gift is in counter-intelligence.

If you remember, we were barely able to celebrate Christmas last year, and, if we're not careful, the battle for this year's Holy Days can easily be lost. Our enemy is not bound by the same sense of decency we are. They have no respect for the values that hold the world together. Their goal is to undermine the very foundations of our civilization; they will not stop until there is no Christmas. So if I had to become more like our enemies to save us from our enemies, you'll understand. I've had to be extra crafty, to match the enemy's craftiness. But I think you'll agree that my findings prove it was worth it.

I've uncovered an old but effective method of the enemy so heinous that if you're squeamish, I suggest you stop reading- or take this link to something more pleasant.

It is a plot that involves children and reveals how pervasive and truly disgusting the War on Christmas is. This is your last warning before we go into the details.

That said...

SouthFlorida.com has documentary evidence of an ongoing and historic program to turn children against Jesus. Here's one example.
You might think that the effects of the War on Christmas are seen in the grimaces and tears. You might think that this fear of Santa Claus has to be overcome. You might think it is the crying children that are lost to the enemy.

YOU ARE WRONG.

These children are clinging to the last threads of decency and wholesomeness that are soon lost to the influence of family and a culture offering gifts, candy, love, and cajoling.

If you click through the evidence you can see that many children have an innate fear of Santa. In their innocence, they immediately recognize the vicar of evil that has come to steal glory from the Baby Jesus. It's up to older siblings and parents to turn them; through bribery and years of conditioning they are broken. They become part of a grand army of brainwashed soldiers turning the next generation away from the manger and to the malls, where the fat, red-suited idol of materialism and consumption sits on his throne demanding their fealty. Parents unwittingly participate in the creation of a latter day Wiehnachtenkriegjungvolk. Where these children were once sensitive to the Spirit's warnings- now they eagerly worship mammon and spawn the next generation of the Devil's evangelists.

Don't feel bad if you didn't see this. Remember, I have a gift. In fact here's me telling the devil like it is:"Whatever, Santa; you're a sucka' and your evil ways have no effect on me." No tears, no worship- A "What can you do to me? Nothing" attitude.

So a hearty, "Merry Christmas and Screw Whatever You Might Value, Here's Some Jesus in Your Face," to you.

ed- Oh right, scared children initialy via BOING

Der Krieg auf Wiehnachten
Listening to The Wall

And This

Well it seems Too Hot to Hoot is not satisfied with his nom de nets. Try this-

Liver even?
Oh, Bob… Ok?
Stews, “Ah!”
As we tsk, “O’ Bob.”
-Ho never evil!

Oh and I think King Kong belongs on my Man Canon. The new one- not that lame old one. Have you ever seen that one? It's so bad- I mean Jeff Bridges as a hero- yeah right.

Speaking of Jeff Bridges...

I think the Big Lebowski goes on my Man Canon too.

What's This For?

How can I stay away from you?

Well, There're some Festering topics that have been hovering on my desktop for a while now. In fact many of them are hovering over this picture. I need to get them off my raw turkey before I can finish writing papers and grading.

Speaking of papers...

Welcome to 1970
A recent Kentucky editorial seems to be confusing our contemporary historical situation with a previous. Given the milieu of an over-reaching impeachable executive, an interminable no-win military quagmire, looming fuel shortages, Middle-East violence, and an odd turn for otherwise great musicians, it's hard to fault them for coming to the conclusion they do. But hippies? Really? I don't see many around anymore, but then I live in Southern California- not really the hotbed of liberalism that Lexington, Kentucky is.

Speaking of hippies...

Simplify, Man
The Supreme Court is listening to a case regarding the EPA's role in actually protecting the environment. You would think the the Environmental Protection Agency might have a role in that- you'd be wrong. The case started sometime ago when EPA was petitioned to set greenhouse gas emission standards.

In 2003, the agency denied the petition, saying that it lacked statutory authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, even though the agency in previous administrations had held that it did. Further, the agency said, even if it did have authority, it was not required to use it.

From here on, it'll just be known as the Agency.

So how does it look for this particular case, especially given the controversy in the non-scientific community over whether we contribute to climate change? Well how's this:
"I mean," asked Justice Antonin Scalia, "when is the predicted cataclysm?"
At one point, he acknowledged the role of carbon dioxide as a pollutant in the air but wondered about it being a pollutant in the "stratosphere."
"Respectfully, Your Honor, it is not the stratosphere. It's the troposphere," Milkey said.
"Troposphere, whatever. I told you before I'm not a scientist," Scalia said to laughter.

I'm sure things will be just fine.

Speaking of hell...

That Whole "Christian" Thing- It's Just a Name, Dude

The president-elect of the Christian Coalition announced Tuesday that he was stepping down, saying that the religious group appeared to balk at his proposals to focus on environmental and anti-poverty issues rather than on purely "moralistic" issues such as abortion.

This is no lefty president-elect; he's a Southern giga-church pastor who just happened to think the Bible is concerned with more than stone monuments to the ten commandments and gays burning flags at their weddings. I guess he thinks being a Christian is not the same thing as being a right wing kook. Seriously. Weird eh?. That whole full Gospel approach to faith won't really play to their base.

This might be one of those times when someone would say, "At least they're being honest." I guess. But it seems like that kind of honesty one finds when a spouse is caught cheating or a tumor metastasizes when you hoped it would just go away.

Speaking of not going away...

Word To your Father
Turns out MY PRESIDENT isn't so popular in the rest of the world and some people in the rest of the world wanted his father to get that message to him.

"We do not respect your son. We do not respect what he's doing all over the world," a woman audience member bluntly told Bush after his keynote speech.
Bush appeared stunned as the audience of young business leaders whooped and whistled in approval.
The retired president had just finished a folksy address on leadership by telling the audience how deeply hurt he feels when his son the president is criticized.

Or maybe they just wanted him to feel deeply hurt. I mean, why else criticize his boy?

Is this this?

Then how about something that's decidedly not Wrong, Terrible, or... Freaky... Funny... Foul? Yes, Foul. It's more of a thank God there's at least one American Christian thinking of this.

Jimmy Carter's new book identifies conditions in Israel as they are- apartheid. I know that sounds horrible. There's two reasons for that: 1.) we hear nothing of the conditions the majority of Palestinians suffer and 2.) it's a horrible thing.

Do you think that's an overstatement? Do you think that somehow I'm being hard on Israel? It's weird how most American Evangelicals were on the wrong side of the fence with South Africa too. And that was without the looney tunes Left Behind theology.

If you'd like to learn more about the apartheid conditions in Israel, visit your local library, or if you're worried about being put on a government watch list, you can go here. But that'll probably get you on a list too. You could also just buy the Christian Former President's book. I'm going to. I suppose that's list fodder as well.

Speaking of lists...

It's on my Amazon Wish List.

Thanks to Grandpa for turning me on to the celebration of greed and materialism that is the Amazon Wish List.

Now Rocking
Buzzcocks- Encore Du Pain: Live in Paris