“It’s easy to take the quitter’s way out.” –Sarah Palin, in her resignation speech.
A lot of people are piling on Sarah Palin right now. They’re saying that she resigned because it’s the easy way out, that she doesn’t want to risk sagging popularity getting in the way of her next political campaign. They’re saying that she’s only interested in her personal political goals, that she doesn’t want to do the hard work of actually governing like she was elected to. They’re saying she’s just another politician who only cares about the next election and that this is a cynical attempt to free her up to campaign for the presidency in 2012. To these people I have one thing to say.
You are absolutely, one-hundred per cent ….. correct.
That’s right. I am one of those people. You can pretty much already cross her off my ballot for the 2012 Republican primary. Before I start listing reasons why I’d like to say a few things I do like about her.
-She gave a very good speech at the convention. The best I heard last year.
-She brings out the worst in the Left. At no time am I more cognizant of the moral and intellectual bankruptcy of the modern Left than when Sarah Palin is being discussed. (Sadly this is similar to one of my negatives with regard to Ms. Palin.) This is particularly true of the so-called feminist leaders. If you did still take them seriously (and I have no idea why you would after the last 20 years or so) their behavior toward Governor Palin should serve as a reminder that the line about “advancing women’s issues” is exactly that, a line of BS.
-At one time I thought perhaps she embodied the Jeffersonian/ Jacksonian ideal of the citizen serving their country as opposed to the idea of a permanent political class like we see in the stagnating nations of Europe, and increasingly the United States. This could be the case with Sarah Palin I suppose, but not for long. It certainly seems less likely to me than it did last September.
-She agrees with me on most political issues. Can she intelligently articulate to others why they should agree? I doubt it. She’s a lot like Sean Hannity to me in that I agree with his positions on most issues, but hearing him try to explain why makes me cringe and grip the steering wheel tightly.
-That’s it for positives. Now for what I don’t like.
-I once read a comment that Sarah Palin’s main qualification with the Right is that she didn’t have an abortion. This is somewhat blunt. It is also, I feel, accurate.
-Now that the emotion of the campaign is over, go back and watch the debate with Biden. There are more cringe-inducing moments than I remember back when I was watching it happen live. In many cases she goes into the old North Carolina four-corners “kill the clock” offense, throwing out a lot of meaningless phrases to fill the allotted time and avoid having to say anything of substance. If she’d been a man Biden would have lit her up like a Christmas tree.
-Gender cuts both ways. Has there been sexism directed at her? Absolutely. But she’s gotten some bounces herself from that one. Can you imagine a male candidate trying to wriggle out of questions by winking and saying something cute? I can actually. Bush took that route a few times. I didn’t care for it then either.
-Her hold on many of the crucial issues of the day was about as steady as the vertical hold on a 30 year old RCA television set that had been dropped down a flight of stairs. Not knowing what the Bush Doctrine is? That was straight up embarrassing. 90% of America could not have answered that question, but they weren’t running for Vice President. I’d bet my right eye that Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton are in the 10% or less that could answer the question. This would have been a softball for me to slam into the parking lot beyond the left field fence, but I digress.
-The sports references are really flowing tonight.
-In the past 8 months I really haven’t seen any development in terms of depth. Do you think if Sarah Palin were ugly she’d be allowed to slide by so many people? It is ironic how the two ends of the political spectrum mimic each other’s worse qualities. Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton have some of the same jokes being thrown around about them (you could include Mrs. Obama here too), the only difference is which end of the political spectrum they’re coming from, and whether the epithet used is “Nazi” or “Communist”.
-“She did a good job as governor of Alaska. Look at their economy.” Just for fun, look at how the Alaskan oil economy works. I remember a few months back when Glen Beck had an expert on Socialism on his show. I also remember the priceless look on Glen’s face when the expert told him that the real Socialist in the race was… that’s right, Sarah Palin.
-The behind the scenes political moves made during the late stages of the ’08 campaign (among other things Todd Palin telling major donors to hold their powder 2012) seemed to me to be indicative of political social-climbers of the worst sort. Is that what the rest of the pols do? Yeah, probably. So if she’s just like the rest, I’ll take one with a better resume and who can articulate the issues. Even though she does read “all of the newspapers”.
-She is another in a line of style-over-substance feel-good candidates. She seems more about hype and image than reality and hard work. This kind of fits the direction our society is going even further into. A kind of society where the average person under 25 takes like a thousand photographs of themselves every year doing absolutely nothing just to boost their online personas.
-This is why I’m leaning toward Newt for 2012
-Does it bother you how much people on the Right seem to love her more because they don’t view her as an intellectual? It does me. I don’t mean “intellectual” the way the left views it. They mistake academics for intellectuals on a daily basis, trotting out some professor who is incapable of dressing himself and telling me I should listen to this person without question due to what’s hanging on their wall, no matter how asinine the statements they make are.
- Michael Steele should get honorable mention in the “embarrassment sweepstakes”.
-Do you really think “being close to Russia” is foreign policy credentials? Be honest. I guess every governor of a border state can claim foreign policy experience.
-The left is doing her a huge favor politically by going after her family. With everything I just listed, (far from a complete list just what came to mind in the last hour or so) all they want to talk about is her daughter having a baby?
-These views are not set in stone. If she showed me some substance, some willingness to work hard and actually make me believe that she believes in something, that she has a vision other than advancing her career, I may change my mind. I’m not sure that can be done with speeches or fielding easy questions from sympathetic interviewers. She’s not going to have the easy road that Obama had in terms of media coverage. This actually could be a blessing in disguise if she manages to hold her own against hostile opponents. Anyways, you probably didn’t see that coming.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Summertime... and the Living is Greasy.
It's been a while since my last post, and I thought I'd give you guys a look into how my mind works. This post is a collection of random, mostly work-related thoughts I've had in the last 6 weeks or so. This will be a rather "blue" post in terms of language and humor. Some concepts just would be funny without using any profanity (one phrase in particular). But none of you three that read this are particularly squeamish. Between working on construction sites, driving taxi cabs, college, fighting in a war, and working in youth ministry you guys have heard and seen worse.
This will be in no way political, and will kind of transition into a series of posts about the hits and misses (okay, actually just the misses) of my love life in my late teens and early twenties. Those are some very funny stories, many of which have only recently stopped being too embarrassing to relate. A lot of interactions with younger co-workers have brought these flooding back to mind over the past month or two. But for now, here is where we get to the bottom of this interesting sense of humor of mine.
-First, there is a topic we in this country need to have a serious "dialogue" about. Every American needs to take a few minutes, take a long hard look in the mirror and seriously consider the question, "can I really get away with wearing these shorts in public?” This is not directed strictly at women or fat people. I know damn well that no one wants to see my legs. I think some rules would be in order. I'll let someone else draw up the legislation but I want a provision about no short-shorts on men. My job has some fringe benefits in terms of scenery, but it really cuts both ways some times. A few weeks ago I wanted to walk up to a woman and say, "ma'am I will never be able to eat cottage cheese again as long as I live because of you. Seriously, I have the exact, literal opposite of an erection right now."
-I ran a lot of these ideas past Bob last night. We talked for like four hours. This is cool because I won't feel ripped off when I pay my cell phone bill this month. Last month, I used 3 minutes the entire month. Not even full minutes. That's just the smallest billing increment.
-I get to meet a lot of idiots working in a hardware store. But I'd say per capita in college than any place I've ever been except for Battle Creek, MI.
-I find Asian women have the hardest foreign accents for me to understand. Not sure why, but no other group is even close.
-German women are my least favorite customers to deal with. I actually got a full sentence out in response to a question from one once without being interrupted and I felt like I had just made a major accomplishment. It was probably a very short sentence.
-I heard that in France if you go into a store and don't speak the language they rip you off like crazy. Here you get to be angry at the employees because they speak the language of the country you snuck into illegally.
-Yeah, I said it. Someone's got to say it.
-I'm mainly writing these down so that I can remember them when I'm ready to write my book "Excuse Me Sir, Do You Work Here?" about my work experiences. This will be followed up by my book "Never Get into a Fist-fight Over a Woman You Haven't Slept With... and other dating lessons I learned the hard way." (That's kind of a working-title.)
-I never cease to be amazed how small of an amount of money people are willing to humiliate themselves in public over. "This is 2 dollars more than I thought. I'm going to make a complete idiot out of myself. That'll show 'em!"
-I love it when people argue with me over what brand of paint I sell. It's not like I would know having been there 40 hours a week for the last 5 years. A close second are people who say, "What do you mean you're out of it?” It takes every drop of self-control I have not to say: "What the fuck did that sentence sound like it meant?”
-Two quick non-work things: One of my least favorite phrases is "good eatin'", "eatin' good", or any variation thereof. Any time I hear this said, I'm half-expecting the person to be talking about road-kill. Second, the oddest pairing of songs I've ever gotten from having my MP3 player on random mode just happened. It was "Big Iron" by Marty Robbins followed by "The Beast and the Harlot" by Avenged Sevenfold. Talk about a train-wreck.
-I suggested to the manager of my store that if they put a few more things out on the sidewalk in front of the building people wouldn't be able to use the doors at all. Apparently this isn't the goal. The goal is just to make it so that people have to run a gauntlet of incoming traffic to get in. This way you know they're serious about spending money.
-Attention America: you and your plants are out of control. I can't even go near that area as a customer, let alone dressed like an employee. It's like the thunderdome in all honesty.
-A good deal of energy is spent by me trying not to have to help anyone else in other areas after closing. If asked if I'm done in my department the answer is always "no". There has only been one exception this year. Me and my co-worker Mike were closing when this manager, Fred, who is a nice guy but always looks a little overwhelmed comes over and asks us to go help outside after the store closes.
The conversation went like this:
Fred: Is there any way you guys can go help out in garden?
Me: No, I think we’ve got plenty to do to keep us busy over here.
Fred: It’s just that those girls are getting slammed out there and…
Me (interrupting): We’ll both go. You had us at “girls are getting slammed”. Wherever there’s a girl getting slammed I’ll be there.
-Did you catch the literary reference there?
-So I had typed out like 15 more of these and hit POST, only to have it disappear. Fucking Blogspot. So I’m skipping most of them only to re-type the Michael Jackson related ones.
-This just in. Michael Jackson is dead. I’m sure for the next several weeks you’ll hear a lot of “entertainer of the century” talk, as though Elvis Aron Presley never lived. In tribute I’ll say “Your legend burned out long before your candle ever did.”
-I should do a complete parody to be called “Candy-ass in the Wind”. Too soon? Too bad. There was no moratorium when John Denver died.
-You know he was doing those kids allegedly, right?
-If a woman told you you “kiss like a girl”, is that good? Bad? What the hell does that even mean?
-Some one just called the station I’m listening to to say “Michael Jackson touched every one in one way or another allegedly”. And the “another” is what I’d like to talk about right now.
-“Billie Jean’s not my lover….because I’m a homosexual pedophile allegedly”
-Now a grown man has called up taking it horribly. In the words of the Godfather “you can act like a man”. Pour yourself a shot of something and then go take a walk in the rain.
-I’m so pissed about having to re-type this. They were flowing one after another earlier.
-I’m waiting for someone to call in and say “ I lost my virginity to a Michael Jackson song… to my Little League coach in the 4th grade.”
-The song? Beat It allegedly.
-When I die make all the jokes you want. I won’t care at that point.
-Michael Jackson leaves behind three kids….who, to be brutally honest, are probably way better off this way. It's horrible, yes. But maybe now they can take the damn blankets off their heads.
-Now people are sharing their memories of Michael. My memory is him on MTV talking about having his penis photographed by the police. That was pretty messed up. Just his ultra-high voice saying "my penis" scarred my young mind allegedly.
-Anyway, mercifully those are all I can remember. Maybe I'll post more of the work related stuff but I'm not re-typing it again today. Oh well, lesson learned. Also, RIP Farrah Fawcett, who as far as I know was never accused of molesting anyone.
This will be in no way political, and will kind of transition into a series of posts about the hits and misses (okay, actually just the misses) of my love life in my late teens and early twenties. Those are some very funny stories, many of which have only recently stopped being too embarrassing to relate. A lot of interactions with younger co-workers have brought these flooding back to mind over the past month or two. But for now, here is where we get to the bottom of this interesting sense of humor of mine.
-First, there is a topic we in this country need to have a serious "dialogue" about. Every American needs to take a few minutes, take a long hard look in the mirror and seriously consider the question, "can I really get away with wearing these shorts in public?” This is not directed strictly at women or fat people. I know damn well that no one wants to see my legs. I think some rules would be in order. I'll let someone else draw up the legislation but I want a provision about no short-shorts on men. My job has some fringe benefits in terms of scenery, but it really cuts both ways some times. A few weeks ago I wanted to walk up to a woman and say, "ma'am I will never be able to eat cottage cheese again as long as I live because of you. Seriously, I have the exact, literal opposite of an erection right now."
-I ran a lot of these ideas past Bob last night. We talked for like four hours. This is cool because I won't feel ripped off when I pay my cell phone bill this month. Last month, I used 3 minutes the entire month. Not even full minutes. That's just the smallest billing increment.
-I get to meet a lot of idiots working in a hardware store. But I'd say per capita in college than any place I've ever been except for Battle Creek, MI.
-I find Asian women have the hardest foreign accents for me to understand. Not sure why, but no other group is even close.
-German women are my least favorite customers to deal with. I actually got a full sentence out in response to a question from one once without being interrupted and I felt like I had just made a major accomplishment. It was probably a very short sentence.
-I heard that in France if you go into a store and don't speak the language they rip you off like crazy. Here you get to be angry at the employees because they speak the language of the country you snuck into illegally.
-Yeah, I said it. Someone's got to say it.
-I'm mainly writing these down so that I can remember them when I'm ready to write my book "Excuse Me Sir, Do You Work Here?" about my work experiences. This will be followed up by my book "Never Get into a Fist-fight Over a Woman You Haven't Slept With... and other dating lessons I learned the hard way." (That's kind of a working-title.)
-I never cease to be amazed how small of an amount of money people are willing to humiliate themselves in public over. "This is 2 dollars more than I thought. I'm going to make a complete idiot out of myself. That'll show 'em!"
-I love it when people argue with me over what brand of paint I sell. It's not like I would know having been there 40 hours a week for the last 5 years. A close second are people who say, "What do you mean you're out of it?” It takes every drop of self-control I have not to say: "What the fuck did that sentence sound like it meant?”
-Two quick non-work things: One of my least favorite phrases is "good eatin'", "eatin' good", or any variation thereof. Any time I hear this said, I'm half-expecting the person to be talking about road-kill. Second, the oddest pairing of songs I've ever gotten from having my MP3 player on random mode just happened. It was "Big Iron" by Marty Robbins followed by "The Beast and the Harlot" by Avenged Sevenfold. Talk about a train-wreck.
-I suggested to the manager of my store that if they put a few more things out on the sidewalk in front of the building people wouldn't be able to use the doors at all. Apparently this isn't the goal. The goal is just to make it so that people have to run a gauntlet of incoming traffic to get in. This way you know they're serious about spending money.
-Attention America: you and your plants are out of control. I can't even go near that area as a customer, let alone dressed like an employee. It's like the thunderdome in all honesty.
-A good deal of energy is spent by me trying not to have to help anyone else in other areas after closing. If asked if I'm done in my department the answer is always "no". There has only been one exception this year. Me and my co-worker Mike were closing when this manager, Fred, who is a nice guy but always looks a little overwhelmed comes over and asks us to go help outside after the store closes.
The conversation went like this:
Fred: Is there any way you guys can go help out in garden?
Me: No, I think we’ve got plenty to do to keep us busy over here.
Fred: It’s just that those girls are getting slammed out there and…
Me (interrupting): We’ll both go. You had us at “girls are getting slammed”. Wherever there’s a girl getting slammed I’ll be there.
-Did you catch the literary reference there?
-So I had typed out like 15 more of these and hit POST, only to have it disappear. Fucking Blogspot. So I’m skipping most of them only to re-type the Michael Jackson related ones.
-This just in. Michael Jackson is dead. I’m sure for the next several weeks you’ll hear a lot of “entertainer of the century” talk, as though Elvis Aron Presley never lived. In tribute I’ll say “Your legend burned out long before your candle ever did.”
-I should do a complete parody to be called “Candy-ass in the Wind”. Too soon? Too bad. There was no moratorium when John Denver died.
-You know he was doing those kids allegedly, right?
-If a woman told you you “kiss like a girl”, is that good? Bad? What the hell does that even mean?
-Some one just called the station I’m listening to to say “Michael Jackson touched every one in one way or another allegedly”. And the “another” is what I’d like to talk about right now.
-“Billie Jean’s not my lover….because I’m a homosexual pedophile allegedly”
-Now a grown man has called up taking it horribly. In the words of the Godfather “you can act like a man”. Pour yourself a shot of something and then go take a walk in the rain.
-I’m so pissed about having to re-type this. They were flowing one after another earlier.
-I’m waiting for someone to call in and say “ I lost my virginity to a Michael Jackson song… to my Little League coach in the 4th grade.”
-The song? Beat It allegedly.
-When I die make all the jokes you want. I won’t care at that point.
-Michael Jackson leaves behind three kids….who, to be brutally honest, are probably way better off this way. It's horrible, yes. But maybe now they can take the damn blankets off their heads.
-Now people are sharing their memories of Michael. My memory is him on MTV talking about having his penis photographed by the police. That was pretty messed up. Just his ultra-high voice saying "my penis" scarred my young mind allegedly.
-Anyway, mercifully those are all I can remember. Maybe I'll post more of the work related stuff but I'm not re-typing it again today. Oh well, lesson learned. Also, RIP Farrah Fawcett, who as far as I know was never accused of molesting anyone.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Interesting Day at Work.
Some one got stabbed at my workplace today. This is a lot funnier that it seems at first glance. Here's a quick run-down of what I've heard.
-Two guys (we'll call them fat guy and skinny guy) are fighting over this woman (who I would be willing to wager any amount is not hot).
-Apparently she used to be with skinny guy but left him to be with fat guy.
-Fat guy and skinny guy just happen to run into each other at the lumber desk.
-Words are exchanged. (I'm sure the ebonics involved here were utterly hilarious.)
-Fat guy tells skinny guy something to the effect of "you couldn't satisfy her".
-Skinny guy plunges a knife into fat guy's belly. It was a short knife and a large belly, so apparently no major injury was done.
-Skinny guy proceeds to get on his cell phone and call (rumor has it) the police. He walks around holding the knife in one hand and the phone in the other until the police arrive.
-The police point guns and tasers at him and he complies. Unfortunately he was not tased, bro.
-I learn of this and am surprised that a stabbing occurred that did not involve parking lot behavior/parking space or people fighting over a potted plant in the garden center.
-News crews show up in mass. I counted 4 vehicles from channel 11, and the reporterette walks up to a number of customers leaving the building to ask them if they saw anything. Most of them would not have noticed if the building had been on fire the entire time they were shopping. I had invented a fanciful story for the media, but was not asked if I saw anything.
-15 minutes later, a van from News-First 5&30 (who were actually News-distant second in this case) arrives.
-For the rest of the day employees walk up to each other saying "you couldn't satisfy her" and pretending to stab each other. A nice change of pace, really.
- I drop $400 on an X-box 360 on my way home on a whim. I will have to cancel my weekly shooting trips for a few weeks.
-Anyways, kind of an interesting day.
-Two guys (we'll call them fat guy and skinny guy) are fighting over this woman (who I would be willing to wager any amount is not hot).
-Apparently she used to be with skinny guy but left him to be with fat guy.
-Fat guy and skinny guy just happen to run into each other at the lumber desk.
-Words are exchanged. (I'm sure the ebonics involved here were utterly hilarious.)
-Fat guy tells skinny guy something to the effect of "you couldn't satisfy her".
-Skinny guy plunges a knife into fat guy's belly. It was a short knife and a large belly, so apparently no major injury was done.
-Skinny guy proceeds to get on his cell phone and call (rumor has it) the police. He walks around holding the knife in one hand and the phone in the other until the police arrive.
-The police point guns and tasers at him and he complies. Unfortunately he was not tased, bro.
-I learn of this and am surprised that a stabbing occurred that did not involve parking lot behavior/parking space or people fighting over a potted plant in the garden center.
-News crews show up in mass. I counted 4 vehicles from channel 11, and the reporterette walks up to a number of customers leaving the building to ask them if they saw anything. Most of them would not have noticed if the building had been on fire the entire time they were shopping. I had invented a fanciful story for the media, but was not asked if I saw anything.
-15 minutes later, a van from News-First 5&30 (who were actually News-distant second in this case) arrives.
-For the rest of the day employees walk up to each other saying "you couldn't satisfy her" and pretending to stab each other. A nice change of pace, really.
- I drop $400 on an X-box 360 on my way home on a whim. I will have to cancel my weekly shooting trips for a few weeks.
-Anyways, kind of an interesting day.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Notes on Wing-Nuts.
This is going to be a post about mass hysteria, particularly of the right-wing variety.
First, I have to mention two things. The CHOW lesson I taught on Matthew 24 was probably the best I've ever done. Second, when I heard that the Navy SEALs had taken out the Somalian pirates the image in my head is of Johnny Depp's character Jack Sparrow standing around doing something latently homoerotic as Charlie Sheen's character from Navy SEALs jumps onto the boat and blows his head off. Now on to the matter at hand.
Obama Derangement Syndrome on the far right has become every bit as bad ad Bush Derangement Syndrome was on the left. To start out, I don't think President Obama has done one thing so far I have agreed with. That said, our children our going to grow up thinking the word 'Nazi' is defined as 'someone who's politics you disagree with'. A few examples.
-It seems everyone is looking to create the Founding Fathers in their own image. Reading any internet gun forum will give you several examples. Usually a quote from a letter is ripped completely out of context and used to say "The Founding Fathers believed.....". Of course the Founding Fathers were a monolithic entity who never disagreed on anything :::rolling eyes:::.
-Give the secession talk a rest already. Most of the States that would do this are ones I wouldn't really miss.
-While I'm on the subject all the states claiming their "sovereignty" might want to look that word up in the dictionary and remember the definition the next time a hurricane or ice-storm rolls through and they want monetary assistance.
-People talking about armed revolution should remember that the American Revolution was the exception, not the rule. Every other armed rebellion I know of has been much more similar to the French Revolution, with it's blood-letting and genocide than to the American Revolution. Are there really Washingtons, Jeffersons, etc. around these days? People trotting out Jefferson's quote about a revolution every 20 years would do well to assess the nations that have actually experienced armed strife on a frequent basis and see how well it's working out for them. It would be a sad irony if, in hopes of avoiding European-style Socialism we wind up bringing about African-style chaos.
-These same types like to make vague references to "respecting the Constitution", which pretty much only means the Second Amendment (which I agree with them on) and a few other portions they like. Then some mention of not recognizing Obama as President or ACORN "stealing the election" may come up. Apparently people are not familiar with Article 2 of the Constitution, according to which it only matters who the electors selected and that that person is the president until 2/3 of the Senate says otherwise.
-What set this off is my futile quest to buy three boxes of ammo for my rifle. No bullets to be found at the gun store, none online. Honestly people, I just need a few boxes to go shoot my AK-47, then you can go back to getting ready for the impending Zombie Apocalypse.
-I heard an ad on the radio for "survival seeds", and how seeds that can reproduce (non-hybrid) may become more precious than gold in the impending Zombie Apocalypse, or whatever else people are terrified of. This is the largest AM station in my city by the way. Not late at night, at like 5pm. The ad, I kid you not, mentions how they could be valuable items for barter. Barter? Barter? WTF? Honestly. W.....T......F? If we come to a scenario where you're bartering you're going to have a million additional concerns too. Remember Civil Defense Myth #2: The Survivors Are the Lucky Ones.
-Anyways the anti-Obama zealots would do well to remember how pathetic the anti-Bush zealots were and try to argue their disagreements rationally without talk of Global Conspiracy, NWO, the Rothschilds, concentration camps, lizard people, etc.
First, I have to mention two things. The CHOW lesson I taught on Matthew 24 was probably the best I've ever done. Second, when I heard that the Navy SEALs had taken out the Somalian pirates the image in my head is of Johnny Depp's character Jack Sparrow standing around doing something latently homoerotic as Charlie Sheen's character from Navy SEALs jumps onto the boat and blows his head off. Now on to the matter at hand.
Obama Derangement Syndrome on the far right has become every bit as bad ad Bush Derangement Syndrome was on the left. To start out, I don't think President Obama has done one thing so far I have agreed with. That said, our children our going to grow up thinking the word 'Nazi' is defined as 'someone who's politics you disagree with'. A few examples.
-It seems everyone is looking to create the Founding Fathers in their own image. Reading any internet gun forum will give you several examples. Usually a quote from a letter is ripped completely out of context and used to say "The Founding Fathers believed.....". Of course the Founding Fathers were a monolithic entity who never disagreed on anything :::rolling eyes:::.
-Give the secession talk a rest already. Most of the States that would do this are ones I wouldn't really miss.
-While I'm on the subject all the states claiming their "sovereignty" might want to look that word up in the dictionary and remember the definition the next time a hurricane or ice-storm rolls through and they want monetary assistance.
-People talking about armed revolution should remember that the American Revolution was the exception, not the rule. Every other armed rebellion I know of has been much more similar to the French Revolution, with it's blood-letting and genocide than to the American Revolution. Are there really Washingtons, Jeffersons, etc. around these days? People trotting out Jefferson's quote about a revolution every 20 years would do well to assess the nations that have actually experienced armed strife on a frequent basis and see how well it's working out for them. It would be a sad irony if, in hopes of avoiding European-style Socialism we wind up bringing about African-style chaos.
-These same types like to make vague references to "respecting the Constitution", which pretty much only means the Second Amendment (which I agree with them on) and a few other portions they like. Then some mention of not recognizing Obama as President or ACORN "stealing the election" may come up. Apparently people are not familiar with Article 2 of the Constitution, according to which it only matters who the electors selected and that that person is the president until 2/3 of the Senate says otherwise.
-What set this off is my futile quest to buy three boxes of ammo for my rifle. No bullets to be found at the gun store, none online. Honestly people, I just need a few boxes to go shoot my AK-47, then you can go back to getting ready for the impending Zombie Apocalypse.
-I heard an ad on the radio for "survival seeds", and how seeds that can reproduce (non-hybrid) may become more precious than gold in the impending Zombie Apocalypse, or whatever else people are terrified of. This is the largest AM station in my city by the way. Not late at night, at like 5pm. The ad, I kid you not, mentions how they could be valuable items for barter. Barter? Barter? WTF? Honestly. W.....T......F? If we come to a scenario where you're bartering you're going to have a million additional concerns too. Remember Civil Defense Myth #2: The Survivors Are the Lucky Ones.
-Anyways the anti-Obama zealots would do well to remember how pathetic the anti-Bush zealots were and try to argue their disagreements rationally without talk of Global Conspiracy, NWO, the Rothschilds, concentration camps, lizard people, etc.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Glenn Beck pwns the AG of CT
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It gets good a minute or two in after he gets to the AIG bonuses. The first minute or two is just about Chris Dodd being corrupt, which isn't exactly news between his financial dishonesty and a sex life that would make Caligula blush. I love the look on this guy's face like "what is this 'law' you speak of? My job is to enforce my political agenda." This is kind of a microcosm of everything that scares me about both the current administration and the last one. Beck really goes after him like a shark in a goldfish bowl.
It gets good a minute or two in after he gets to the AIG bonuses. The first minute or two is just about Chris Dodd being corrupt, which isn't exactly news between his financial dishonesty and a sex life that would make Caligula blush. I love the look on this guy's face like "what is this 'law' you speak of? My job is to enforce my political agenda." This is kind of a microcosm of everything that scares me about both the current administration and the last one. Beck really goes after him like a shark in a goldfish bowl.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Thoughts on Matthew 24
I've been looking through some of my books on the Olivet Discourse in preparation for this week's Bible stud. I'm going to teach Matthew 24 as punishment for last week, and because it seems to be a climax of sorts after the last few chapters. I spent the better part of a year studying the various prophetic texts during 05-06, but was hesitant to do a study on it but have kind of stumbled into that direction anyway. It is a passage that was important enough to be included in all three synoptic gospels. When I googled this passage I was able to find links to people using it to support their theories about Barack Obama, black helicopters, UFOs, socialism, and a super computer in Belgium that apparently can suck your brain out. In other words, things that could not have less to do with this passage. I don't know if anyone in my group is succeptible to this kind of sensationalism, but if so this might give them something to think about. Hopefully we can attach some spiritual principles to this rather than have it turn into me giving an hour-long lecture on the history of Roman involvement in 1st century Judea (but I'm prepared to do that if I have to). Here are some thoughts I've had refamiliarizing myself with this topic over the last week.
-I'll probably breifly summarize the events that immediately preceded this since a lot of people missed the last two weeks.
-I will start the actual study with 23:37, which looks like it would have been a better place for the chapter break.
-Note that "My Father's house" is now referred to as "your house". I think this sets the tone for the entire 24th chapter.
-There is a ton of language here that closely resembles the Old Testament prophets. This appears more in Matthew than in Luke. This makes sense since Matthew's Jewish audience would have been familiar with the OT, as opposed to the Gentiles Luke was writing to. This is why I'm using Matthew instead of Luke, because there is more that has to be explained.
-A lot of the passage, the spectacular stuff especially, is extremely similar to accounts of the Babylonian invasion, as well as the fall of Babylon.
-The "not one stone" prophecy is probably the most specific and easily verified prediction in the entire Bible. A lot of prophecies are not really understandable until after the fact.
-I don't think the disciples are asking about the physical second coming. They seem oblivious to a "first going" much less a second coming. I think the "coming" language is one of the bigger stumbling blocks in this passage. I may also tie in statements used in Matthew 10 and 17.
-The destruction of the temple and end of the age would not have been thought of as separate events by the disciples, in all likelyhood. I may need to get into the word aion and the word "age".
-verses 4-13 could apply to almost any period of history, hence they are always "being fulfilled".
-I'll need to point out Paul's statements as well as Luke 2:1 on the whole "entire world" (oikumene) thing.
-"the reader" will probably NOT understand the Abomination of Desolation thing. There are several theories about what this refers to, but I think the way it is stated by Luke makes it easier to understand. I have a parallel listing of the passage in all 3 gospels from one of the appendices of R.C. Sproul's book The Last Days According to Jesus that I will use in case I need to have 3 versions in front of me. Not sure if this will be necessary, but I don't know what to expect from a discussion like this.
-If I had to pick a song that this passage reminds me of, it would be "Run to the Hills" by Iron Maiden.
- I don't think verse 21 is literal, because from our perspective even 2/3 of the earth dying would not be worse then the flood. Similar language is used to talk about the Babylonian captivity. I'll probably also mention how Hezekiah and Josiah are both referred to as being "better than any king who came before or after". The same with 22, in regards to Babylon.
-I wonder if "vultures" or "eagles" is the better translation. Most modern ones use "vulture", I think it's cooler with "eagle" with regard to the Roman legions, but the metaphor works either way.
-The sun, moon, and stars language is something that occurs throughout the OT with regards to nations being destroyed.
-"coming on the clouds" is the same way". Easily confusing. Matthew 26:64 is a good one to use to explain the meaning
-I'll probably breifly summarize the events that immediately preceded this since a lot of people missed the last two weeks.
-I will start the actual study with 23:37, which looks like it would have been a better place for the chapter break.
-Note that "My Father's house" is now referred to as "your house". I think this sets the tone for the entire 24th chapter.
-There is a ton of language here that closely resembles the Old Testament prophets. This appears more in Matthew than in Luke. This makes sense since Matthew's Jewish audience would have been familiar with the OT, as opposed to the Gentiles Luke was writing to. This is why I'm using Matthew instead of Luke, because there is more that has to be explained.
-A lot of the passage, the spectacular stuff especially, is extremely similar to accounts of the Babylonian invasion, as well as the fall of Babylon.
-The "not one stone" prophecy is probably the most specific and easily verified prediction in the entire Bible. A lot of prophecies are not really understandable until after the fact.
-I don't think the disciples are asking about the physical second coming. They seem oblivious to a "first going" much less a second coming. I think the "coming" language is one of the bigger stumbling blocks in this passage. I may also tie in statements used in Matthew 10 and 17.
-The destruction of the temple and end of the age would not have been thought of as separate events by the disciples, in all likelyhood. I may need to get into the word aion and the word "age".
-verses 4-13 could apply to almost any period of history, hence they are always "being fulfilled".
-I'll need to point out Paul's statements as well as Luke 2:1 on the whole "entire world" (oikumene) thing.
-"the reader" will probably NOT understand the Abomination of Desolation thing. There are several theories about what this refers to, but I think the way it is stated by Luke makes it easier to understand. I have a parallel listing of the passage in all 3 gospels from one of the appendices of R.C. Sproul's book The Last Days According to Jesus that I will use in case I need to have 3 versions in front of me. Not sure if this will be necessary, but I don't know what to expect from a discussion like this.
-If I had to pick a song that this passage reminds me of, it would be "Run to the Hills" by Iron Maiden.
- I don't think verse 21 is literal, because from our perspective even 2/3 of the earth dying would not be worse then the flood. Similar language is used to talk about the Babylonian captivity. I'll probably also mention how Hezekiah and Josiah are both referred to as being "better than any king who came before or after". The same with 22, in regards to Babylon.
-I wonder if "vultures" or "eagles" is the better translation. Most modern ones use "vulture", I think it's cooler with "eagle" with regard to the Roman legions, but the metaphor works either way.
-The sun, moon, and stars language is something that occurs throughout the OT with regards to nations being destroyed.
-"coming on the clouds" is the same way". Easily confusing. Matthew 26:64 is a good one to use to explain the meaning
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Flop
Worst. CHOW. Ever.
It was one of those nights where I felt like I was talking to an oil painting. Most of our talkative people weren't there, so I was a little worried going in that I would ask questions and then hear crickets chirping. But I thought that with 5 other people there I could at least get some conversation going. Wrong. I taught Matthew 22:1-14 (Parable of the marriage feast) then jumped to chapter 23 where I did verses 1-12, 23-28, 29-36, (Jesus pissed at the Pharisees) and then 37-39 teasing the lead-in to Chapter 24. There is some seriously harsh stuff in here which you'd think would lead to some feedback. It went like this:
Me: Anything stand out to you in this parable?
Group: .........................(lots of tired eyes looking at me)
Me: The King kills them and burns down their city, any thoughts?
Group:.........................
Me: What does the king want here?
Group: ....long pause..... "to throw a party?"
Me: Yes, thank you.
Me: 'Strain a gnat and swallow a camel', thoughts?
Group:..................
Me: 'Brood of vipers', 'whitewashed tombs', 'work anecdotes', 'your house is left to you desolate', anything out of the ordinary?
That was pretty much the evening. Kind of goes to show how you never know how something will go over. When doing Romans, I had chapters that I absolutely dreaded but which led to interesting insights. This was a case where people were either tired or didn't have anything to say about the material. Everybody says "good lesson" afterwards, but it still feels like a complete flop.
So now I'm not sure where to go with it. I was going to do Chapter 24 next, but now I'm not sure. 24 is a very interesting chapter, and I've spent a lot of time studying it and have a lot of resources on it. This one would work well with a quiet group, because it would be a lot of Greek words, and how phrases are used in the prophetic sections of the OT. I think I can teach it without it being a "here let me push a theological system on you" situation. I was originally going to skip the entire section because of the hype that surrounds that passage, but it seems like a glaring omission since the last 2 or 3 weeks have kind of led up to it. Enough rambling. Anyways, you win some you lose some.
It was one of those nights where I felt like I was talking to an oil painting. Most of our talkative people weren't there, so I was a little worried going in that I would ask questions and then hear crickets chirping. But I thought that with 5 other people there I could at least get some conversation going. Wrong. I taught Matthew 22:1-14 (Parable of the marriage feast) then jumped to chapter 23 where I did verses 1-12, 23-28, 29-36, (Jesus pissed at the Pharisees) and then 37-39 teasing the lead-in to Chapter 24. There is some seriously harsh stuff in here which you'd think would lead to some feedback. It went like this:
Me: Anything stand out to you in this parable?
Group: .........................(lots of tired eyes looking at me)
Me: The King kills them and burns down their city, any thoughts?
Group:.........................
Me: What does the king want here?
Group: ....long pause..... "to throw a party?"
Me: Yes, thank you.
Me: 'Strain a gnat and swallow a camel', thoughts?
Group:..................
Me: 'Brood of vipers', 'whitewashed tombs', 'work anecdotes', 'your house is left to you desolate', anything out of the ordinary?
That was pretty much the evening. Kind of goes to show how you never know how something will go over. When doing Romans, I had chapters that I absolutely dreaded but which led to interesting insights. This was a case where people were either tired or didn't have anything to say about the material. Everybody says "good lesson" afterwards, but it still feels like a complete flop.
So now I'm not sure where to go with it. I was going to do Chapter 24 next, but now I'm not sure. 24 is a very interesting chapter, and I've spent a lot of time studying it and have a lot of resources on it. This one would work well with a quiet group, because it would be a lot of Greek words, and how phrases are used in the prophetic sections of the OT. I think I can teach it without it being a "here let me push a theological system on you" situation. I was originally going to skip the entire section because of the hype that surrounds that passage, but it seems like a glaring omission since the last 2 or 3 weeks have kind of led up to it. Enough rambling. Anyways, you win some you lose some.
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