Wright/Obama Kerfufel

Its a difficult reconciling disagreement and friendship, but of course its something we have to do quite often throughout our lives. For those in politics, its even more challenging, to reconcile public positions with both public and private relationships, having so many speak for you overtly or through their own words and actions. McCain faced this recently when a minister with which he had met used Obama’s middle name Hussein to remind his audience of Obama’s father’s religious ancestry. Clinton faced this with the Ferraro Kerfufel. Now Obama faces this with Rev. Wright’s, the minister who brought him to Jesus, divisive comments on America.

I’m used to vehemently disagreeing with members of my own faith, so this doesn’t seem all-to-shocking for someone to deal with, particularly in this age of renewed fundamentalist rhetoric from various faiths. I am, however, glad to see Obama deal with it so directly. David Kuo provides the response, from which came the following:

The statements that Rev. Wright made that are the cause of this controversy were not statements I personally heard him preach while I sat in the pews of Trinity or heard him utter in private conversation. When these statements first came to my attention, it was at the beginning of my presidential campaign. I made it clear at the time that I strongly condemned his comments. But because Rev. Wright was on the verge of retirement, and because of my strong links to the Trinity faith community, where I married my wife and where my daughters were baptized, I did not think it appropriate to leave the church.

and later

With Rev. Wright’s retirement and the ascension of my new pastor, Rev. Otis Moss, III, Michelle and I look forward to continuing a relationship with a church that has done so much good. And while Rev. Wright’s statements have pained and angered me, I believe that Americans will judge me not on the basis of what someone else said, but on the basis of who I am and what I believe in; on my values, judgment and experience to be President of the United States.

As many Christians are so fond of saying, we should remember to “love the sinner and hate the sin.” It is clear that Obama can reconcile his friendship with Wright, his commitment to his family’s church, and these terrible, terrible statements.

Say No to Chick’s

from a particularly nasty, anti-gay comic by the notorious fundamentalist Christian cartoonist Jack Chick

Smearing Obama

While I’m certainly more sensitive to smears against Obama than any other of the candidates, I still believe that Obama has had to handle more than his fair share of nasty misinformation. What blows my mind are that some of my friends and family have believed or even passed along these claims. Here are some of the more pernicious ones and their factual responses.

Obama is a secretive Muslim - He’s actually a Christian, not that it should matter.

Obama belongs to a blacks-only church - His church Trinity Church of Christ, though predominantly black, welcomes anyone regardless of their color.

Obama won’t support Israel - Obama has frequently acknowledged the importance of supporting Israel, though not without acknowledging the plight of the Palestinians.

Obama doesn’t have enough experience - Though this one is less a smear than a simple opinion, Obama has actually been an elected official for longer than Hillary Clinton.

Finally, here’s Obama himself speaking to a paper in Nevada. In lieu of reading and/or listening to his two books, this interview is an excellent snapshot capturing a little bit of why I support him over any other candidate.

Fallwell’s End

I do not write this post to celebrate his death as others have. I am saddened for his family, both in their personal grief and in the inevitable glut of media they must now face. Jerry Falwell was not a man that I agreed with, obviously. In his own misguided way, he probably did more harm than good in both the recognition of normality in gays and lesbians and in the vast misunderstanding of Christianity.

The latter bothers me more than the former, because though I can understand his not accepting homosexuality, I cannot understand why the media in the country have latched on to his fringe and outright hate-filled beliefs as an accurate representation of the modern ministry of Jesus. I take that back, I can understand it, I just abhor it. And once again, the media will spin its tales, relating one caricature of a Christian with the rest of us, oversimplifying, distorting, and dishonoring the truth.

The only hope now is that Jerry, at least, knows the truth.

Dumb Dumb Dumb Dumb Dumb

Not surprisingly, your average American doesn’t know much about the world’s major religions. I admit, I have a slight advantage having been taught from cradle to college at Christian schools, but I did miss a few of the questions on their quiz, specifically those surround Catholicism. In spite of learning about Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism, my religious education was woefully lacking in the practice of the original, universal church. It should, then, be no surprise that some of my teachers in high school considered Catholicism as removed from “true” Christianity as other religions.

Speaking of not-quite-Christianity, here’s a flub SO MASSIVE by Mitt Romney that its almost as if someone were trying to embarrass him. His success or (likely) failure as a conservative Republican candidate will be so fascinating to watch! I cannot see how fundamentalist, evangelical Christians will come to terms with his not being truly “saved”, by their standards anyway. Likewise with his rather pronounced “flip-flops” on issues like homosexuality and abortion. Or the fact that he was the governor of such a bastion of liberalism - Massachusetts.

Voting Record for the 109th Congress

Click here to see the Voting Record for 109th Congress. Checking how your senators and house reps voted on key issues this past Congress is the most accurate way to determine how you’ll vote in a few weeks. After checking the recent vote on the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (aka the torture/enemy combatants bill), I was very disappointed to see Senator Bill Nelson vote to approve it. This doesn’t mean I’ll vote against him in November, given that his opponent is, well, Katherine Harris crazy.

Also curious enough is the fact that our House Representative Ric Keller actually didn’t vote. I wrote letters to all three of our Congressional representatives expressing my concerns about the potential implications of that bill, and only Senator Mel Martinez’s office wrote a letter back. The letter was actually quite well written, and though it didn’t change my mind, it certainly made me appreciate the job Martinez and his staff are doing in the Senate. Now if only we could get him to not pander to the Christian conservative base.

Anyway, check out the voting record, get informed on the issues, and vote in November. Its the least you can do as a citizen of these United States. And quite frankly, given the way things are going, we need all the informed voters we can get.

The Lord Giveth, and the Lord Taketh Away

No, there’s no drama quite as extreme as the story of Job going on with us, but its still kinda funny how life gives and takes at odd moments without warning. Last Wednesday (as the Rain Delay post visually demonstrates, we got rained out of our usual night at the British pub. Shortly before that happened, however, we found out that business had slowed down over the last few nights and because of that, the bar owner didn’t want to pay for the full trio next time. So as of now, until he changes his mind again, we’re not playing at the British pub.

Earlier that same day, I received an email from Valencia asking me to teach a couple classes for them, one of which was the same class I taught in the spring. It was difficult, but I ultimately declined because of the effects on my work schedule (I’d be away from my full-time job too much during the main business hours). On Friday, I got an IM from a friend (and former student) of mine at Digital Media at UCF. They have yet another class they’d like me to teach. Oy!

So now I’m torn. Taking this additional class would fit in well with my schedule because it meets immediately after the other UCF class and runs after regular work hours. The biggest challenge will be prepping for and teaching two 3 hour classes back-to-back. I need to decide soon, and I’m currently leaning towards doing it. The schedule works, the money will be nice, and the topic is project organization and (some) management, which is something about which I would really like to learn more. What do you guys think?

Finally, to tie us back into the Bible, check this great article about all the recent salivating about the END OF THE WORLD as seen by certain Christians. I grew up in the pre-Left Behind tradition that really got spun up about the Rapture, and it did sometimes breed a lack of maturity in people who were constantly expecting it all to be over. Why should we worry about achieving peace in the Middle East or treating the environment like it will need to be around for more than another generation when Jesus is going to return any minute? Christianity should be about more than just what happens when its over, and for many generations and different denominations, it was.

The dispensationalist Christians working the Republican party these days do not accurate reflect the priorities of Christ and most of His followers throughout history. Of course, in some cases this is a good thing (eg., the Inquisition, Crusades, indulgences, etc.), but on the whole, its rather distorting and counter-productive to spreading the good news. Alright, enough of that, read the article and check out other denominations’ perspectives.

Rants

Anyone who thinks Robert Wexler is foolish for his now immortal interview on the Colbert Report is absolutely clueless and tragically unhip. Any politician willing to be put in such an uncertain and potentially damaging situation as that should be given props for the bravery alone, nevermind those that go that extra step to help Colbert deliver the funny. I’m proud that the Congressman represents my district of birth, and I wish him all the best in representing the constituents in South Florida.

While I’m on a somewhat angry roll, I’d also like to make this observation - no one can force you to change your mind without resorting to brainwashing or perhaps blackmail. At the end of the day, only you can decide what you believe. Whether or not you defer your decisions to religious leaders, politicans, pundits, authors, whoever, or just plain figure out things for yourself, is your choice alone. In particular, people who go on the show 30 Days are not forced to believe anything different after their experiences. This might be bleedingly obvious to most of you, but there was actually some debate about this over lunch today. Some coworkers of mine were actually critical that the show “forces people to change their minds” about such issues as whether or not “all Muslims are terrorists.” Seriously.

Oh yeah, and this whole “we should just nuke the Middle-East” bit is getting really tired, not that it was ever anything more than a horribly glib, hopefully sardonic remark. The region has problems, to be sure, but lest we forget just how contentious the America’s, Europe, Africa, and Asia have all been throughout world history. The vast majority of the people in Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, etc. etc. are all people just like you and I. They’re part of families, have their own dreams and art, and ultimately just want to live their lives in peace. The extremists, whether they be Jewish, Muslim, Christian, whatever, are in the minority. They just unfortunately have gotten into positions of power through the abuse of their religions and vacuums of secular leadership. While taking out Hizbollah is important, the innocent life that is lost must also be considered!

Closer to home, there’s one more issue about which I must write. Recently, the Orlando City Commission passed an ordinance restricting the organized feeding of the homeless on public land in downtown Orlando. While I do not know too much about the issues involved, I do respect Spider’s take on it as reported here. Should groups that want to combat hunger be forced to work under highway overpasses, or should be be able to serve food more than twice a year on public land? Take a read and see what you think.

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Blonder

My apologies for not posting much recently, but I was spending entirely too much time “conquering the blank page”, “leveraging prior work”, and uh, writing a bunch of bullshit for work (pardon my French).� As such, the last thing I wanted to do was chat on GTalk, much less pull random thoughts and anecdotes from my nethers.� Enough said about that.

Things are better now.� I’ve spent the last few days relaxing, catching up on yard work, Keith Olbermann, and trying to bring my blood pressure back down out of the red zone.� Watching the Daily Show doesn’t help, unfortunately.� There’s too much craziness going on in the world (eg., Israel v. Hizbollah, America v. Terror, Kim Jong Ill v. Sanity) and too many nutters excited about it (eg., rapture-obsessed Christians, Mahdi-obsessed Muslims, South Park-obsessed Scientologists).� Jane!� Stop this crazy thing!

On a happier note, it now appears I’ll be back teaching at UCF this fall.� First, though, some history.� For three years, I taught electronic music technology for the UCF Music Department.� Then, less than a month before the semester started and as part of the ramp-up to accreditation, I was let go because my graduate work wasn’t in music (though it was in technology).� I almost returned to UCF to teach Digital Media this past spring semester, but unfortunately that fell through because of the split in UCF’s College of Arts & Sciences (the adjunct money for the department got slashed).

Well, that same class that I almost taught in the spring has now been offered to me for this fall.� The course is named “Internet and Interaction”, so as an excercise for the reader, I’d like your thoughts on exactly what that should mean.� As a hint, the two technologies that are expected to be taught include Flash and some kind of web programming language (eg., PHP, Perl, Ruby, etc.).� My goal is to carve up a course that includes the above, works in some web services, and really tries to capture the student’s interest.� Oh yeah, and maybe some Marshall McLuhan for good measure.

On top of that, I’ll also be teaching a survey of computer concepts course at Seminole Community College in the fall.� I’m really looking forward to this course because of its broad, shallow scope and non-technical audience.� In addition to the expected computer and Internet basics, I’m going to throw in some basics of programming and Internet cultural items to mix things up.� If I’m really cheeky, I might even find a way to tie in some of my material from the I&I course, my past Web Publishing course, and even my Computer Music course from way back.� Happy Happy, Joy Joy!

Spider asked for a schedule of my band’s performances, so until further notice, here’s the deal.� We’re booked to play the George and Dragon Wednesday nights from 7:30-12:30 until the British tourist season dies down, which typically occurs around October.� After that, we’ll be playing at the Cypress Cove Nudist Resort the Saturday night before Halloween.� Good times!

Finally, here’s a list of do’s and do not’s, from me to you!

Do

• Listen to the new albums by Muse and Radiohead’s Thom Yorke .
• Watch the new season of Cheap Seats on ESPN Classic.
• Check out MST3K’s Mike Nelson and his new project RiffTracks.
• Listen to Drew and Savannah on The Morning After Show on 105.9FM.

Don’t

• Freak out about the end of the world.� Doing the stuff above should help take your mind off the chaos.
• Stop.� Thinking about tomorrow!
• Waste your time watching the new Blade TV series.
• Miss any moment of the Colbert Report or Countdown with Keith Olbermann.

Marriage and Sheep

I am astonished by the bluntness of the most recent political maneuverings from the conservative Republicans. Two years ago, a Constitutional amendment preventing states from deciding their own definition of marriage was attempted and failed to pass even the Senate by a healthy margin. At the time, then running-for-reelection President Bush endorsed this endeavor, citing “activist judges” that were attempting to subvert the will of the people by redefining marriage. President Bush, as he has demonstrated with his extensive use of the signing statement and his withholding information from Congress about the NSA’s invasive domestic surveillance programs, doesn’t seem to appreciate that his is but one of the THREE branches of government. That darn activist President!

The Republican party used to be of the mindset that the government that governs least governs best. This translated into decisions being made less at the federal and more at the state and local levels. Now, under the influence of the religious right (because let’s face it, few non-religious Republicans could care less about this issue other than supporting their teammates), the party to which I still hold a tenuous allegiance has transformed into the very thing it used to oppose, a strong and expanding federal government that enjoys legislating and enforcing how people should live their lives.

The Senate just ended this fiasco with a vote well short of the 2/3 needed, but that was expected almost universally. Why then did the Senate majority leader Bill Frist and President Bush make sure a show of it? The religious right has been complaining as of late (like most people) that the President hasn’t been doing what they think he should. In their case, that means forcing their idea of morality on the rest of the country (eg., banning gay couples from ever marrying in any state, even if that state allows it). Given that the religious right helped secure Bush and the Republicans victories in 2000 and 2004, Bush and Frist had to throw them a bone. Sure, it wouldn’t accomplish anything except a “see, I tried!” to the Dobson’s, Robertson’s, and Fallwell’s, but that, they believed, was enough.

Unlike 2004 when, combined with several state marriage protection initiatives, it delivered the party’s base, I really hope that the religious right sees through this hollow effort and realizes that they’ve been used all along. From the very beginning, Bush and other Republicans have marketed themselves falsely as men of conservative Christian values. While I have no reason to question their Christianity, many of their friends and supporters have come out questioning just how important issues like gay marriage are to them personally. Rather, all this huff is just more fluff to reign in their fundamentalist sheep.

Sure, a certain amount of blind acceptance is expected when it comes to religion (particularly fundamentalist variants), but that should be limited to religious leaders. Everyone should have a healthy mistrust of their leaders, but particularly their political leaders. Its not their fault, but rather the inherent condition that they must be in to be human and do their jobs. People with jobs tend to like to keep them. Politicians, no matter what their role, are no different.

A marriage can be defined under religious, social, or civil authorities. The problem now is that many religious people are worried that changing one (ie., civil) will force them to change others. Allowing gay couples the same marriage rights as straight couples will neither threaten the social unit of the family nor change their own religious concept of a marriage. People who think otherwise are at best paranoid sheep and at worst zealot shepherds.

Offense intended. As you can imagine, this issue cuts a little close to home.

Reading

Last night, I finished Perelandraby C.S. Lewis, a book that I started back when my father was in the hospital. Perelandra is the second in Lewis’ Space Trilogy, the first of which is Out of the Silent Planet and is concluded with That Hideous Strength.

Unlike Lewis’ famous Chronicles of Narnia series, these books do not wrap elements of Christianity in metaphor. Rather, Lewis simply sets out to set several science-fiction journeys somewhat reminiscent of Verne and Wells in a universe consistent with his religious beliefs. What at first appears to be metaphor in Perelandra quickly reveals to be just another chapter in a story that both extends and closely parallels events in the Book of Genesis.

While I almost always enjoy seeing mythology and religion expressed in works of science fiction (eg. Wolfe, Chesterton, Tolkein, Gaiman, etc.), something about Lewis’ sometimes snarky and morally simplistic expositions doesn’t quite work for me. The narrator in these books are nowhere as pronounced as they are in the Narnia books, yet I can still clearly hear the author’s ideaologies chiming through almost like clockwork.

I love Lewis’ writing, I really do. His diction, turn of phrase, everything is just brilliant in its imagery and storytelling. I just get tired of him preaching at the expense of his imagination. Others have managed to slip ideas through in their stories without such a compromise, so its not as if it couldn’t be done. From what I’ve read, Tolkein even bugged Lewis about how transparent his metaphors were with Narnia, even though they shared each other’s Christian beliefs. Tolkein likewise managed to keep a decent amount of Christian imagery in his Lord of the Rings, painting from a vast palette of his imagination (with a little assist from existing mythology) and telling a fantastic story but without treading too heavily into his religion.

That all considered, I would gladly read Lewis over many, many others around today. His strong narrative voice has even made me appreciative of other authors like Lemony Snicket and Philip Pullman, demonstrating other layers to their works that without Lewis would go unnoticed. I haven’t yet even purchased the third book in the Space Trilogy, and a friend has warned me that its quite different in scope and style than the previous two. So long as Lewis’ wit and very British sensability is still there, I’m sure it will be fantastic.

Rants

Where to start, where to start? This is an interesting reminder that the history of Christianity was written by the victors. Biblical historians have known about this text for some time as it was referred to outright by an early Christian, but I dare say many conservative Christians out there will react with shock and disdain. Add to this story this little theory about how Jesus walked on water, and I’m preparing for an all-out freak and another round of Pat Robertson declaring hurricanes, brush fires, and earthquakes. All because of that liberal media conspiracy to attack Christianity, ya know?

Next up, Iran! You know, yet another country that we’ll likely attack. I really hope that our current leaders listen to the rest of the world and UN and only go forward with a multilateral coalition. I don’t want Iran to have nuclear weapons, but is it completely right to deny them nuclear power? Smarter and more diplomatic men and women than I will hopefully continue to fight this battle, so long as America can hold off on the war.

More to come when there’s time. For now, ciao!

Brokeback Budgets and Victorious Vendettas

Brokeback Mountain is now the 8th largest grossing movie of its genre (romantic drama) , beating out movies like The Notebook and The English Patient (among others). That’s no small feat, but likely due at least in part to the fact that it only had a budget of $14 million (contrast that with Failure to Launch’s still-somewhat-modest $50 million budget). Other recent Oscar-award winning movies have also had smaller budgets (eg. Capote $7 million and Crash $6.5 million), which definitely backs-up what George Lucas recently said, that “big pics are doomed”. While I don’t believe we’ll never see the likes of Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, or Titanic again, it is encouraging to see Hollywood work more frugally and yet still turn out movies with high critical and popular acclaim.

Speaking of which, you should more certainly spend a few hours with V for Vendetta, a movie that tries hard to appeal to all the various heights of brow currently in existence. Its got violence, tender moments, political theory, satire, hijinks, and a bit of terrorism thrown in to spice it up. Even if people take great offense to its subversive (circa our founding fathers) message, it above all else demonstrates that we live in a country where freedom is respected and lifestyle choice is still exactly that - a choice.

Unlike some places that we’ve supposedly liberated, cough, Afghanistan. Check this great bit about an aid-worker who has been condemned to death for converting from Islam to Christianity. So glad that spreading freedom thing is working out for us.

VFD

While I do feel that the modern incarnation of Valentine’s Day is largely a commercially-driven outing for couples to feed the machine in the guise of romance, the actual history of the holiday is far more seditious. There was no actual St. Valentine in the Catholic faith, but rather it is thought that the festival of St. Valentine’s was to commemorate an infamous early Christian named Valentinius. Infamous, you ask? And what’s all this have to do with love?

Well, it would seem that Valentinius was well known for being a gnostic Christian, that is, a Christian who believed in secret teachings that were passed down from teacher to teacher , straight from God’s mouth to Paul’s ears. Though widely labelled heresy by the better organized (and more skillful) ecumenical Christians (ie. what turned into the Catholic church), gnostic beliefs have survived and even resurfaced in the last century with the discovery of a bunch of “lost” gospels. Its not quite as scandalous as the stuff in The Da Vinci Code, but interesting none-the-less.

Anywho, Valentinius was a big fan of conjugal love, holding it right up there with the staple rituals and beliefs of Christianity. And since there was already a Roman pagan festival of fertility around the god Lupercus in mid-February, it seemed completely natural for the Christians to eventually transform this festival into something a bit more Jesus-centered (well, as Jesus-centered as the 33-year-old Virgin could endorse). Thus, the festival seemed to beg for honoring good ol’ Valentinius, now St. Valentine.

Years later, we’re still celebrating with sugary treats, store-bought epistles, and vast flotillas of roses. For our part, Patrick and I bought each other DVD’s that we had wanted, I receiving Mirrormask and he receiving The Golden Girls: Season Three. We capped off the evening with a trip to our favorite out-of-the-way spot Yellow Dog Eats in Gotha, then back home to relax and watch a little television. Exciting? No, but that’s ok. It was quiet and quite delightful. A veritably fantastic day, in case you were wondering.

Incompetence

President Bush didn’t cause Hurricane Katrina, nor did he intentionally delay aid because he doesn’t like black people. These outlandish, illogical outcries diminish the real issues at work here - the administrationt is out-of-touch with reality, engages in far too much cronyism, and has demonstrated repeated incompetence in its planning (or lack thereof) and execution of power to help people in a time of need.

I’m not saying this because I’m a Democrat (I’m still a Republican, though the kind that believes in less government, not the kind that wants the US to be a Christian theocracy), I’m saying this because its been demonstrated over and over and over again in the last few years and more recently in the last few days. Read this great article by fellow Republican Andrew Sullivan for a more comprehensive overview of this perspective. You’ll shake your head, sigh a few times, and overall lose hope for the balance of W’s presidency.

Just doing my part to spread the love!

The Upside of Ignorance

It sure makes things easier! I could go the rest of my life without having to do much thinking, which usually just leads to arguments anyway. I’m sure that everything our government and the major media outlets tell me are true anyway, so why should I concern myself with seeking out alternative sources? Indeed, igorance is bliss!

Sorry, this was all prompted by watching last week’s 30 Days where a literally ignorant, conservative Christian went to live with a gay man in San Francisco for the titular 30 days. The most vocal critics of homosexuality tend to be those that have almost no exposure to real gay people, and this guy was no exception.

Things change, though, when there’s a human connection, that is, unless that connection is intentionally strained or broken. That connection, when maintained, fights off the rhetoric by treating the root problem - ignorance. Once people realize that gay men and women are not that different from themselves, how can they maintain the hate and intolerance that seems to drive their protests? Well sure, religion helps a little.

More in a bit. Feeling chatty today.

Random Thoughts for June

I do so enjoy living in Florida sometimes. Its not 10 days since the official start of hurricane season, and already we’re getting some wet fun. Not that this storm will do too much damage, particularly to our specific neck-of-the-woods, but it certainly seems to portend a fun-filled summer ahead!

There hasn’t been too much excitement recently, what with school being out for me. As you might expect, most college departments don’t offer too broad or numerous a selection of classes in the summer. Now consider how vastly underfunded music departments are, and you can begin to imagine the likelyhood of them offering even a few courses each summer semester. Needless to say, my courses aren’t one of the few.

But this is good, since I am really enjoying the extra time in my day to do things like sleep, veg, and start various projects that I’ll likely not finish before my time is up. One project that I most certainly will “finish” is preparing music for my upcoming, very first solo set out at Cypress Cove. For this I’ll be searching through the archive of music to find songs that meet two very different sets of taste - the general public and mine.

Its not that I ever set out to hate what’s on the radio. Rather, I’m pleasantly surprised when I do happen upon a song that’s being broadcast and doesn’t instantly compel me to silence it by changing the channel. As you can imagine, this makes me a hoot at parties.
Nevertheless, through my gigs with the Charlie D. band, I’ve actually begun to stop hating the Buffet and love the Springsteen.

My goal for these gigs is to play some music that they’ll know and perhaps a few that they might not. I’m going to attempt to mix some Frank Sinatra with some Tori Amos, some Charlie Parker with some Coldplay, and maybe a little Bennie Goodman with some They Might Be Giants. It might work, it might bomb. Just doing it is going to be a major milestone for me in my life with music, so whatever the crowd reaction I’ll be pleased as punch just to make it through.

Finally, if you’re looking for good TV these days now that Lost, Alias, 24, Deadwood, Arrested Development, etc. are in hiatus, check out 30 Days on FX, a new show from the makers of Supersize Me. It places people in drastically different situations for 30 days to see what they can learn about other lifestyles. I’m particularly excited about the conservative Christian guy living with Muslims and another conservative Christian guy living with a gay man in San Francisco. Now if only we could have episodes that reversed that, we’d truly have a mutual exchange of ideas (and potentially a higher insurance premium for the producers).

I’m straight

That’s right, I suddenly realized today how much I want to be with a woman and make babies. Must be that whole “Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve” instinct kicking in finally. Who would have thought that all those Southern Baptist sermons, Sunday school lessons about autoerotic asphyxiation (ok, there was just the one, but it did actually happen), and Christian high school Bible classes about the Gay Agenda would actually one day make sense? I mean, that gay lifestyle was just too much for this closeted heterosexual to take anymore. All that fashion, culture, and superb cuisine were just lures and false gods to draw me away from a life in the suburbs with the Mrs., 1.5 children, and the picket fences.

Ha ha…I’m just foolin’, it being the first day of the month of April and all. Sorry to worry (or excite) any of you out there reading this. I know its not the most original or elaborate April Fool’s prank, but most of you know I’m not known for exhibiting my inner-prankster often. Here’s to hoping that none of you fall for any pranks worse than this for many years to come.

Its all Casey’s fault

I blame musician Casey Stratton for this huge chunk of virtual estate now consumed by yet another blog quiz. These things truly objectify the concept of a meme. I beg all of your forgiveness for my indulgence in this kind of knowledge-biological warfare.

You scored as Christianity. Your views are most similar to those of Christianity. Do more research on Christianity and possibly consider being baptized and accepting Jesus, if you aren’t already Christian. Christianity is the second of the Abrahamic faiths; it follows Judaism and is followed by Islam. It differs in its belief of Jesus, as not a prophet nor historical figure, but as God in human form. The Holy Trinity is the concept that God takes three forms: the Father, the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Ghost (sometimes called Holy Spirit). Jesus taught the idea of instead of seeking revenge, one should love his or her neighbors and enemies. Christians believe that Jesus died on the cross to save humankind and forgive people’s sins. Christianity 71% Buddhism 58% Paganism 58% Islam 54% Hinduism 54% agnosticism 50% Judaism 33% Satanism 29% atheism 25% Which religion is the right one for you? (new version) created with QuizFarm.com

2004 Election Aftermath

“When religion and politics ride in the same cart, the whirlwind follows.”
- Frank Herbert from his politcally prescient novel Dune

I’d like to know exactly what Bush supporters’ “moral values” are, and how they fighting an unnecessary war, committing attrocities to prisoners, and allowing people who love each other the right to commit to marriage can be excluded from those values. Likewise, do these supporters realize how much socialism borrows from the life of Christ with his disciples and the communities of early Christians? They hold up their understanding of the Christian Bible as an unquestionable, unambiguous guide to both personal and governmental problems, failing to realize the full history and ramifications of such policy.

Not to say that there aren’t self-thinking Bush supporters out there. They’re quite happy with the Bush administration’s pandering to the wealthy and the corporate interests, and they trust men like Karl Rove to spin the right messages to the Christian conservatives in Bush’s base. The Republican party under George W. Bush has truly realized the big tent idea in at least these very disparate groups.

Anyway, I’m eager to see the results of a cabinent shake-up. I’m hoping for a few more Colin Powell’s and a few less John Ashcrofts, but at this point its only wishful thinking. Especially after statements like being given a “mandate” from the people or earning “political capital” to spend, I worry that “we ain’t seen nothing yet.”