Goodbye Ward Churchill

I am all fore freedom of speech. Without my basic right to speak what I think and feel will turn us into a modern day "1984". That being said I believe other people have the right to correct me when I am speaking foolishly and to disagree with me. Heck, I am a nobody with a little blog that a few people read. I don't have the power of a Ward Churchill who each year has hundreds of young minds eating out of his hands. I have been trying to think of a nice way to put my feelings on this buy, but I can't. The dude is a whacko and a fraud. And he finally has gotten fired from his teaching position at a prestigious college. A few of his more colorful claims are that he is a native american and part of elite forces in Viet Nam and the people who died in the Twin Towers were little Eichmann's. I don't have a problem being taught by people I disagree with because it is nothing new. I do have a problem with people giving false information and not being held accountable for it.

Life After Potter

With the final Harry Potter book coming out I saw on the news this morning a psychologist teaching parents coping skills to get through their loss. OK, I can appreciate people love the Harry Potter series. Heck, I was giddy as a school boy when I heard they were making a new Dr. Who series. I even dressed up as Doctor Who for Halloween. Twice! And when Sci-fi or fantasy series I particularly loved were done I just moved on to the next series I could find or just re-read them at a later time. All things come to an end. And as scripture says, "...all flesh is like grass". Are we so soft that this is the worse that can happen to us?

Can We Laugh At Ourselves?

I just perused the titles of the articles listed by The Soma Review. The Onion is probably some of the best spoofing humor in the world. When you read these articles what do you think? Do you laugh? They tend to make us look a little silly and perhaps foolish. Maybe we have had it coming this whole time? Or at the very least it can be expected. Fortunately we are able to poke fun at ourselves. We get the joke.

Miscellany

I wish I could remember who it was that first point out to me The Bible Fight game, but apparently there are some Christians who enjoy it as well. I wasn't too interested in the game myself. I'd much rather protect villagers from being carried off.

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After reading Christopher Hitchens' book God Is Not Great and hearing his comments on Jerry Falwell I have come to the conclusion that Hitchens is the atheists Jerry Falwell. Think about it: 1) Both make outrageous claims 2) Both claim to speak for the whole of the people the represent 3) Both enjoy imensely grabbing as much as the spotlight as they possibly can. Hat tip to Slacker for first bringing this video to my attention. Though I do not think Falwell ever flipped off an audience for hissing him.

Added points if you can guess what picture came up when I did a google image search of Hitchens book by title. Even I was surprised.

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What do you value? I have to admit this video choked me up a bit. Hat tip to Pulpit Pimps.

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Though Millinerd assures me it is no big deal he does make it sound so attractive to be visiting Greece, Constantinople, and Turkey. OF course I wouldn't know if it wasn't a big deal or not since I haven't been outside of New Jersey for more than a weekend in a few years.

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I happened to catch the tale end of this interview with local religious guru Shane Claiborne. It is a good interview and at the very least he is trying to practice what he preaches. He conveniently skates around the issue of salvation in a much more poetic and less straight forward fashion than most people I have heard. I still liked some of the things he had to say and what he is trying to do.

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After hearing this Pod cast with Jersey boy John Shelby Spong and having read a few of his books I have come to the conclusion that the God and Jesus Spong wants us all to follow and believe in is not a God I'd like to know. All the mystery, pageantry, wonder, and awe of the most powerful and beautiful God are stripped away to reveal one of nice stories who may or may not have done the things he says he done. At least Spong was nice enough to drop the price of joining his website from $35 a year to $25. Am I being too snarky again?

Milton's Paraphrase of Psalm 114

John Milton -- A Paraphrase of Psalm 114

When the blest seed of Terah's faithfull Son,
After long toil their liberty had won,
And past from Pharian fields to Canaan Land,
Led by the strength of the Almighties hand,
Jehovah's wonders were in Israel shown,
His praise and glory was in Israel known.
That saw the troubl'd Sea, and shivering fled,
And sought to hide his froth-becurled head
Low in the earth, Jordans clear streams recoil,
As a faint host that hath receiv'd the foil.
The high, huge-bellied Mountains skip like Rams
Amongst their Ews, the little Hills like Lambs.
Why fled the Ocean? And why skipt the Mountains?
Why turned Jordan toward his Crystall Fountains?
Shake earth, and at the presence be agast
Of him that ever was, and ay shall last,
That glassy flouds from rugged rocks can crush,
And make soft rills from fiery flint-stones gush.

Short Review: Transformers

In short it ruled. It was kind of cheesy and they didn't take themselves too seriously. Great one liners, the robots look incredible, and there was a lot of action. I had a blast and will try and see it again.

Fan boys transform.



Kick butt scene from the original movie.

The Private Is Made Public

Did you hear the one about the pastor who got sued by a former member of his congregation? It isn't a joke I am sad to say. I am sure there is a time and a place to reveal a members dirty laundry, but not in this fashion.

Cuban Medical Care

Is medical care in Cuba better than what you can get in America? According to Michael Moore yes it is. Watch this clip of a woman who appeared in Sicko and see what she thinks.