St. Pat's New Steeples

St. Pat's downtown will finally get steeples after 100 years in the waiting...

Religious Right Backlash Against Santa Claus?

I'm wondering why there isn't a backlash against Santa Claus among the religious right. They rail against Halloween as a pagan holiday. While Easter and Christmas are clearly pagan holidays that were conveniently adapted to Christianity (Feasts for the changes of seasons...I think in Roman times it was Saturnalia and Lupercalia but I lack the wherewhithal to look it up right now.)

If he (Santa) sees you when your sleeping, knows when your awake, and knows when you've been bad or good, he's either a member of the NSA or some sort of omniscient god. Since it's probably not the NSA thing, I'm going with the latter.

If it's the latter, then Santa Claus is either the GOD or "a" god. Doesn't this go against the monotheistic claims of Christianity? The religious right certainly takes a more literal reading of the bible, and I don't think there are any claims about gift-giving, mall-habituating, red-coated elders that fly reindeer from here and yon. Clearly then, Santa Claus screws up the whole monotheistic tenet of Christianity. Why haven't I heard Bill O'Reilly or Mike Huckabee decry Santa Claus? Sure it's fine when there's a specter of witchcraft involved, as with Halloween. But, I would contend that getting reindeer to fly is certainly witchcraft.

Yes, I'm being hyperbolic and cynical, but again all I want is consistency. I wonder how many Christian children ask about the relationship between God and Santa, and I am especially curious about the responses given by the evangelicals. It may be easier with Catholics, because there is a trace of paganism intrinsic to the religion...worshipping of saints and whatnot.

It seems the truth is that Santa Claus is all about marketing, just like Valentine's Day. Some merchant in New York City read some stories from Europe and the U.S. and concocted what we now know as Santa Claus.

In 1863, a caricaturist for Harper's Weekly named Thomas Nast began developing his own image of Santa. Nast gave his figure a "flowing set of whiskers" and dressed him "all in fur, from his head to his foot." Nast's 1866 montage entitled "Santa Claus and His Works" established Santa as a maker of toys; an 1869 book of the same name collected new Nast drawings with a poem by George P. Webster that identified the North Pole as Santa's home.

Not noted was that this was in the middle of the American Civil War (which is the only "war" to outlaw slavery...every other nation seemed to figure out slavery was wrong without a war.)

I have no children, except cats who could give a shit about Santa Claus, but how does an avowed monotheist justify Santa Claus? For those that are not literalist Christians, it seems like a fun thing for kids, but for the hardcore Christians, I wonder how they can justify this? Rudolph's nose is clearly deviltry.

S-T Article on Our Friend in Baghdad

I'm certainly no war-mongering neo-con Cheney zealot, but I admire my friend Steve for making a decision to make some sacrifices to be part of the solution in Iraq rather than sit here and complain. Here's an article on him from yesterday's Star-Telegram.

More Polls

As a feller with quite a bit of statistics under his belt, I'm compelled to keep adding polls now that I figgered it out. However, as a feller with quite a bit of statistics under his belt, I realize I got me a serious issue with sample size and the resulting confidence intervals I can use to infer actual preference (along with some pretty serious demographic issues). Fuck all that. I encourage all readers to vote just for the hell of it. It's anonymous and interesting, and I can do some mild inference based on this blog's demo.

Consistency Found!

I'm always prattling on about consistency and hypocrisy. There's finally an organization that I can applaud for "Outstanding Consistency in 2007" award. And the winner is...Blackwater.

Blackwater shot the NY Times' dog after the dog refused to comply with their orders. Outstanding consistency. They treat everyone the same whether Iraqi civilian or canine. I have a feeling they view them both about the same, and both have the same command of the English language. Way to go, Blackwater.

It's five A.M. and I'm obviously idealistic, naive, and delusional

I was speaking with a friend the other day that is a died-in-the-wool advocate of supply-side economics that is knowledgeable enough to correct my misconceptions about the Laffer Curve. He told me that it was necessary that our government reduce the tax rate on corporations lest they would all relocate to Caribbean tax shelters, thus diminishing our revenue.

I haven't really thought about it until just now...a sleepless night, and I'm lying in bed thinking about the relative effect of tax rates on government revenues, what a life a mess can be. Back to the story, he's promised me statistically inviolable evidence that cutting taxes increases revenues, by the way. I hope to share that with you good people. But that's not what's been eating at my craw while I lie awake in bed.

What's eatin' at me is the constant assault on the patriotism of individuals and small groups coming from the likes of Bill O'Reilly and his Fox cohorts. A lack of patriotism for one or two folks while traditional (that's a key word here) American companies dive for the nearest tax shelter or overseas headquarters to avoid paying American taxes to fund the programs that they have lobbied to enact. If patriotism is so damn important to these Fox people, why don't they apply the same standard to the people that really have their hands on the wheel? (Answer: because they know who butters their bread.)

It's no secret that our government is run by corporations that pay huge amounts of money to K-Street firms to write legislation that increases their bottom line or eliminates their liability. But they do this while employing teams of lawyers and accountants to take advantage of every loophole and offshore opportunity to duck paying the taxes that pay for their legislation.

O'Reilly gets his ratings on a kind of traditional populism. He's a classic patriotic flag waving fear monger that is willing to shred the constitution if it means killin' terrorists. He conducts "War on Christmas" campaigns to rally the bigoted elderly Christian majority against the sometimes equally repugnant far left multiculturalists (that he labels Secular Progressives). It's a pretty easy fight considering his major demographic is the seventy plus crowd.

Well I've got a storyline for you Mr. O'Reilly. Stop being a hypocrite and start some true populism. Rage against the machine (that owns you). If O'Reilly were true to his populizm, he should demand that corporations that are profiting from war pay their taxes. Likewise, corporations benefiting from lenient regulations garnered through lobbying should pay their taxes. Corporations based in Nassau should lose their lobbying privileges (in the US, that is. They are welcome to lobby the government of Bermuda for anything they like.)

In conclusion, it's five A.M. and I'm obviously overwhelmed by idealism, naivety, and delusional thinking. I'll return to my normal cynicism sometime tomorrow (today) or the next day (tomorrow).

Speaking of Food...

I darkened the door of Lili's for the first time today at lunch. I've read and heard reports that I was missing out on the best new thing to hit the hospital district. They were doing a land office business so it took us a while to get in, but get in we did. Man, did I throw down on the Lili's Burger. This was a sloppy burger, because of the gorgonzola dressing, bounded by two jalapeno buns (that may have been biscuits.) It was a rare nap-inducing treat. Of the table of four, the CFS was also highly recommended, with the King Ranch Casserole and the Lettuce Wedge/Grilled Chicken garnering only middling reviews. They should have known to go straight for the burger. Soup was good too.

The environment at the joint seems equally suited to hipsters, business types (we saw a lady being interviewed), and your run-of-the-mill Joe...although it'll cost you eight bucks for a burg. High female-male ratio.

I may have illegally parked at Panther City Bikes, so I apologize for any lost sales I may have caused.

On a Lark...Adding Voting to the Page

Just for the hell of it, I decided to try out blog voting. To start out with, I picked the ever-contentious topic of food - namely Italian (or, in some cases, what passes as Italian).

So for the love of everything Stromboli, vote! I just want to see if this sumbitch works.

I guess I could have been more controversial and asked which type of music do you like best...country or western?

Ownership Society

I was reading an article earlier about how Greenspan and Bush were defending themselves against accusations that they enabled the sub-prime crisis because of their Orwellian "Ownership Society".

Then in this article about Iran shutting down Internet Cafes, I realized an entire new level of ownership society. Witness the following quote:

"Our people want their women to be able to go in the streets with respect and want their dignity to be protected," senior Iranian cleric Ahmad Khatami told worshippers in Tehran on Friday. "Our people want the society to be morally clean."

The keyword in the quote above is the first "their". Women are still property over there. I bitch quite a bit about about the erosion of freedom in this country, and I'm shocked that women have only been enfranchised for 87 years, but I really feel sorry for people with no freedom.

Which is reason enough to protect the rights we have. There are plenty of people in America that are willing to shred the constitution to make America "morally clean" in their eyes.

I urge support Chris Dodd's filibuster of the Telecom legislation that pretty much holds them harmless for their illegal collusion with the Bush Administration on wiretapping. I anxiously await what Sens. Clinton and Obama do to support Dodd's actions (I have a feeling I know how Ron Paul would vote).

Speaking of Bush's dint for Orwellian titles, I think the name of the legislation in question is the Protect America Act or some such.

Progress in Iraq?

You can't swing a cat without hitting three or four people trumpeting all of the success we're now experiencing in Iraq and what a great strategy we have in the "surge". I find all of this unsuprisingly short-sighted given that the "surge" was supposed to be about abating violence to foment political reconciliation and progress. No less a surge advocate than Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said this back in September:

"What we do can affect the outcome. But if we don't see progress on two of the three big issues -- oil revenues, de-Baathification, provincial elections -- in the next 90 days, it may not happen. And Iraq could be a failed state."

Last I checked, no political progress along these lines has occurred? Is Sen. Graham (for whom I have some respect for his independent thinking and tough questioning) ready to make a pronouncement? Or do we just keep dragging it along...?

Will on Subprime Crisis

Here's a quote from George Will on the subprime crisis that I find particularly salient:

Perhaps Washington's intervention in the subprime problem reveals the tiny tip of an enormous new entitlement: People who voluntarily run a risk, betting that they will escape unscathed, are entitled to government-organized amelioration when they lose their bets. The costs of this entitlement will include new ambiguities in the concepts of contracts and private property.

I like the analogy of an ARM to a bet, because that's basically what it is.

Scat Lounge Question + Whisky tasting

I have it on pretty good authority that there's no cigar smoking inside the Scat Lounge. Can anyone from the W&C community confirm? I can see both sides, but a few of our readers (and the writer) enjoy a good smoke now and then.

By the way, I attended a very good scotch and cigar tasting at Bar 9 tonight and heard that there will be another one next week on Wednesday about six. Scotch is provided by local distributors and smokes by my good friends at Tobacco Lane downtown (in the Sinclair Building at 5th and Main).

New Oil Maps

I love these new maps that show the relative importance of areas according to criteria. Here's a map that depicts countries by size according to their oil production. Click on the map to take you to where I found this on Andrew Sullivan's site.

Christmas Season - Political Jokesterism

From an email I received:

For my Democrat friends:

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, nonaddictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all.

I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2007, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere . Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wisher. By accepting these greetings, you are accepting the aforementioned terms as stated. This greeting is not subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for herself/himself/others, and is void where prohibited by law and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher.

This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.

For my Republican friends: Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Big Fort Worth Doings

Some interesting new developments here in Cowtown. Check out the opening night review of the Scat Jazz Lounge downtown and a comprehensive list of what's about to happen on W. 7th Street. Both on the West and Clear website which is becoming a really first rate local blog with some great photography accompanying the verbiage.

Churchin' Up

Scary.

Government may have dropped the ball in modern American society, but religion dropped it first, Gov. Mike Huckabee told Southern Baptist pastors Sunday night. "The reason we have so much government is because we have so much broken humanity," he said. "And the reason we have so much broken humanity is because sin reigns in the hearts and lives of human beings instead of the Savior."

Stones in FW 1978

Here's a video I ran across that claims to be from the infamous 1978 Rolling Stones show at the Will Rogers Theatre. My brother Bruce attended that show...can Bruce authenticate this vid?

Question to the Grammarians

No, not a book from the old testament...I have a legitimate question for the grammarians in the audience. My Strunk & White is in a box somewhere, so I'll defer to more professional writers. When ending a sentence with a quotation, what is the proper use of a period or a question mark? Should it be inside the quotes or outside the quotes? Example:

Marie said, "Steve is a crack-dealin' no-good sonofabitch." or
Marie said, "Steve is a crack-dealin' no-good sonofabitch".

I've always operated with the former, but I've run into situations where it's not so clear. Is there a definitive answer?

Gift Ideas

I'm channeling Martha now, so stay with me...

For pet owners that have shedding issues, I highly recommend "The Furminator." This is a serious hair remover that works. If you look at their website, you'll see a Golden Retriever sitting in a mound of hair. I thought it was bullshit, but I bought one and it works. I have not been paid by the Furminator Syndicate, but I believe in their product. They offer them in varying widths, depending on the size of your beast. Since we're overrun with cats, we have the smallest model.

As far as the "Best of 2007," you're getting a sneak peek at the esteemed "Best Pet Hair Removal Device" category.

Blazin Hazen

I don't really know how to describe this. I guess if you are feeling lowdown, check this out and you'll realize that you're not that big of a douche.

If you can hang on long enough, look for the line, "My dancin' will cause the floor to cook."

Austin in Top Ten Drunkest Cities

Let's hear it for Austin (with honorable mention to Lubbock) for making it into the top ten dangerously drunk cities in America. I've certainly been dangerously drunk in Austin, but you can say that about most places I've been.

My Kind of Restaurant Review Site

This post will be of interest to anyone visiting the Nation's Capital anytime soon. To sum up their approach to reviews:

Too often, restaurant reviews focus on the trifling aspects of a meal, such as presentation and ambience, and omit vital facts, like whether the food will cause you to shit yourself.

My View on the Mortgage Bailout

Two words: caveat emptor. If people aren't smart enough to know that an adjustable rate mortgage may "adjust," they should be renting.

Earth Lights

NASA has a great page of images of the earth taken from space. I liked this one the best. Click image for a full-size picture. In the large image, check out the Nile River and see if you can locate the Trans-Siberian Railroad.

Best of 2007 Contributions

It's time we started collecting contributions for the Best and Worst of 2007. I say "contributions" instead of "votes" because this is a monarchy (similar to our presidency) and I'm the decider (plus there ain't that many of us.) I'm open to any categories, but please email me here with your contributions (I'd hate to spoil the surprise for the folks that have been waiting anxiously all year for this moment.) For those of you that care to reminisce, here's my last end of year list from 2005. Here's some category ideas, but, again, I'm open for new ones:

Remember, Best AND Worst:

In memoriam:
Song/Album that you dug the most (doesn't have to be released this year):
Book:
Accomplishment:
Prescription Drug:
Recipe (I'm going all Martha on your ass):
Technology:
Shoe Store:
Clothing Store (Men):
Clothing Store (Women):
Grocery Store:
Place to get a haircut:
Place to get a massage (the societally accepted variety):
New Purchase:
Pet:
Reunion (heh):
Movie:
TV Show:
Infomercial:
Spanish Language show that you watch but don't understand:
Home Improvement Project:
Thing you've subbed out (i.e. lawn mowing, plumbing, etc.):
Game:
Team:
Addiction:
Malady/Disease/Infection:
Sore that won't go away:
Gripe:
Vacation:
Cigar:
Bar - day:
Bar - night:
Nightspot:
Live Music Joint:
Drink:
Regret (kinda goes with drink, eh?):
Hangover Cure:
Patio/Al Fresco Dining:
Restaurant - Lunch:
Restaurant - Dinner:
Entree:
Appetizer:
Soup (the most anticipated category):

I'll also take:
Biggest fuckup:
Most embarassing moment:
Public nudity (could be combined with above):
Crimes that are beyone the statute of limitations:
Feats of cowardice:
Public crying:
Public fighting:
Any trips to jail:

Thanks for your participation!

McDavid Studio

Anybody been the McDavid Studio? I'd be interested in the Brave Combo show on December 21. I haven't seen them since my wedding. Friday night, I believe.

Israel - I'm missing something

JimL mentioned in a reply to a previous post that with respect to Islam I need to "(b)ear in mind, they want ISRAEL dead too." Judging by the caps, it sounds like Israel is another third rail in our political system. I'm very curious about the geopolitical ramifications of Israel. What do I not understand about strategic importance of Israel (compared to say France or China?)

• I think it goes without saying that they are a huge net importer of American goods because we pretty much subsidize their existence, including the arms to occupy the West Bank.
• I don't know what, if any, their strategic exports are? Do they have any natural resources that are important to us?
• How valuable is Israel as a compliant democracy in the midst of tyranny?
• How much influence does AIPAC have in our government?
• Do they have huge investments in our economy compared to China or Japan?
• Is it the presence of the IDF and the Mossad that provide a strategic advantage?
• Is it that if we weren't there to protect Israel, given the large Jewish population of the US, they would be overrun by their neighbors and thus we protect them to prevent another Jewish genocide?
• Why are they not subject to the free market? We fund the IDF. Why can't they pay for their own defense?

(n.b. I'm aware that the British are ultimately behind the creation of Israel and two-facedly granted this land to the Jewish diaspora AND the Palestinians through the Balfour Declaration and other promises during the first half of the last century.)

An Encounter with Christianity

Some background...

As most readers know, I am an atheist. I am not a proselytizing atheist, because I hate being the subject of missionary zeal, and, therefore, do not seek to dish it out. Maybe I'm just a "live and let live" atheist. I'm not afraid to engage in religious discussion, but never do I attempt "conversion."

Now to the story...

I ran into a fellow this evening at the cigar store. I'd shared a smoke with him many times before, but all conversations had been bereft of religious discourse. How we got onto the subject of religion, I do not know. He presented possibly the most compassionate view of Christianity that I've ever encountered. The man spoke of Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit and how they are the agents of love, not hatred. Passionately the man spoke of judgement, especially eternal judgement, and how it was singularly not up to him to decide. That's God's job, he said, and I'm just here to love all people.

I was gobsmacked. Here's a full-bore Southern Christian man preaching against judgement and prejudice. Here's a religious man I can deal with, I thought to myself. He was not bothered by my atheism, but spoke of how he enjoyed my company and sought to treat me as Jesus would have wanted him to treat me.

I guess this was because I was white and straight. As the conversation proceeded, I prompted him on slavery in the bible. "Oh, that's what they did back then, " he said. Slavery in America wasn't stopped until about 150 year ago, I said. "Then the black folks didn't have it that bad, " he retorted. "The Jews were slaves for thousands of years. Blacks in America didn't have it near that bad." Uh, oh. I thought.

And then to gayness. He told me about how the bible explicitly forbade homosexuality and that he, for one, could never have a gay friend. "What happened to not judging and loving all people as Jesus wanted?" I asked. He remarked that it was against God's will. I asked about the condonement of slavery being God's will. That's different. "That's just what was done back then, " he repeated.

This man is, to me, a very nice fellow and, coincidentally, in a business not at all foreign to homosexualism. I've enjoyed his conversation in the past, on more blase subject, and I assume I will in the future. I departed with an "enjoyed talkin' to you about religion without breaking out into a fight" collegial handshake. So goes my latest brush with Christianism.

Consistency, people. That's all I want. I'm an avowed relativist and I'll accept "it depends" as an answer. Please don't tell me that your an absolute literalist and then pick the parts you like.

NIE Stuff

The National Intelligent Estimate on Iran was released yesterday. The NIE represents the combined wisdom (?) of all the U.S. intelligence agencies. It said that Iran had ceased their nucular weapons program like four years ago. Of course, the Bush administration was very aware of this and has been actively sitting on the information while actively rattling sabers about airstrikes on Iran and talking about WWIII.

I'd like to be able to conjure up a cogent syllogism to define why this may have happened but I can't seem to figure it out. Here's all I can figure:

1. It's better for the Republicans to be on a war footing because they feel it helps them politically.
2. Republicans, especially Cheney, hates and distrusts the CIA.
3. There is some precedent for not trusting the CIA, especially as it applies to WMD in the Middle East.
4. Releasing the report could make the Bush administration look silly, given all the saber rattling.

What I don't get is that the administration knew the report would eventually be made public, so why the runup to WWIII which is only likely to stir memories of them charging into Iraq under false pretenses...and all of this in the middle of a presidential election? Has their political acumen been so far reduced by the resignation of Rove? Do they really think that the public will buy the "we don't trust the CIA" rubrik? Why didn't they trumpet this to high-heavens when they found out about it, thereby equating Iran with the likes of Libya as a nation that was cowed into submission by their brilliant invasion of Iraq?

This just doesn't make sense to me.

Am I Biased?

I was hit the other night with a claim that I was biased, despite my claims that I am an independent. I'd love to criticize Democrats, but a pig has to eat and he goes where the food is.

I've been sketching out posts about two notable stories that are out:

1. Karl Rove said the war is the Democrats fault, based on his comments in an interview with Charlie Rose. Bush Chief of Staff Andrew Card completely repudiated this claim. There's also plenty of text and voice that absolutely disputes this claim. I checked right wing blogs and never saw this mentioned.

2. Giuliani charged the taxpayers for his dalliances with his current wife Judith, while he was Mayor and married to Donna Hanover. The evidence seems to be quite conclusive that Giuliani paid cops to cover him while he was diddling sweet Judith. Does America care? I checked right wing blogs and saw this deep down on Drudge's page. Never saw it on the National Review Online.

3. Hillary planted a gay General at the YouTube debate. This is currently addressed, as far as my research shows, on all left wing blogs. Front page top story at talkingpointsmemo.com.

Answer...yeah I'm biased because I hate these fucking idiots that are running my country. And so does everyone else....

Giuliani Troubles

We need to address what the right-wing cares about most...did Giuliani ever get a blowjob from his mistress in Gracie Mansion?

Tivo Alert

O'Reilly to Debate Alf. Tonight! I guess we'll see who the real puppet is.

Teddy Bear Imbroglio

I thought I'd seen everything. There are riots in the streets of Khartoum calling for the head of the fifty-something British teacher who had the temerity to name a Teddy Bear "Mohammed." The fifteen-day jail sentence was just far too lenient.

TEN THOUSAND people, some carrying knives and sticks, have marched on the capital of Sudan calling for the teacher jailed for naming a teddy bear Mohammed to be shot.

To be shot. I've long held that the arrogance of the Bush administration and their hubristic myopia with respect to other cultures has done the United States a great disservice (to put it very, very mildly.) But this, to me, is just too fucked up. Is this eighth-century bloodlust just a manifestation of poverty and hopelessness brought about by repressive theocratic regimes?

I doubt there's a very rich stand-up comedy scene in Sudan. Headline: 12 Killed by Angry Audience at Khartoum's Laugh Factory Open-Mic Night

Gumbel Bumble

For those of you who watched the Cowboys defeat the hated Packers last night, I think there's something we can all agree on: Bryant Gumbel is a shitty play-by-play guy. With four minutes left in the first-quarter, he had already mistakenly referred to the Cowboys as the Packers four times. At the conclusion of the game, he called Tony Romo "Rick Romo." My wife heard him refer to Brett Favre as "Frank." One time when Kevin Burnett came out of the game with an injury, Gumbel first said the injured player was Akin Ayodele, then said it was Bradie James, before finally settling on Burnett.

I'm sure play-by-play is much harder than it looks, but there's plenty of B and C-team guys out there that wouldn't make these fundamental errors that smack of a general lack of preparation.

Plenty more agreed. I googled "Bryant Gumbel play by play Cowboys Packers" and got a ton of results including flubs not mentioned above.

Thought Crimes

Let's go Orwellian...in a country that cherishes free speech, are ideas ever illegal?

I just read this piece in Slate about a new bill sponsored by Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) that is cruising through Congress. The overt parts of the bill, which some have dubbed the "Thought Crimes" bill, don't seem too nasty. It basically forms a study group to look into homegrown terrorism. Luckily homegrown terrorism hasn't happened much in the US, except for Pro-Life abortion clinic bombers, Timothy McVeigh, high-school shooter-uppers, and some radical lefty enviro-terrorists.

However the undercurrents of the bill seem to swirl around the use of the internet as a means of dispensing some pretty nasty material (and I'm not talking about Britney Spears beaver). In a hearing about the bill, Harman said that Americans:

"no longer need to travel to foreign countries or isolated backwoods compounds to become indoctrinated by extremists or learn how to kill their neighbor. On the contrary, the Internet allows them to share violent goals and plot from the comfort of their own living rooms."

The author of the article, Dahlia Lithwick, concludes:

The point of this new legislation isn't just to interrupt existing homegrown terror plots but to do something about the radical ideas that inspire them. That may be a worthy goal, but it's assuredly a goal that implicates protected speech.

So here's the rub, as I see it. Ideas are OK, plots are not so OK. Free-speechers like me are faced with distinguishing between and idea and a plot...lots of slippery slopes here into murky waters. What about revolutionary talk about overthrowing the government? As I've heard, sometimes in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another. Ain't that why we still have guns?

But, is it okay to post instructions for making a pipe-bomb, or an IED, what about a nucular weapon or biological weapon? My answer is a reluctant yes, because I think free speech is that important, and that we have the FBI, Homeland Security, Police for something other than doughnuts.

Would we prefer the antithesis, China, where they have hundreds of thousands of people whose sole job is to censor the internet, including censoring anything smacking of political criticism or democracy.

Of course it all comes back to the see-saw between freedom and security, with 9/11 being the current fulcrum. I'll always err on the side of freedom, but, in fairness, I don't want to dismiss those that are willing to trade a little freedom for security. My problem is that those are the same people that generally want to apply the manacles of "Traditional values" and "culture wars" with charactheristic missionary zeal. At some point in that murky swamp down from the slippery slope, my non-traditional values and countercultural thinking might be the next Thought Crime.

Steve L's Turkey Trot

I wanted to give props to our good friend Steve for holding his own Turkey Trot in Baghdad. Steve's been running in the Cowtown Turkey Trot for the last several years (if not the last decade...I haven't made one yet.) The problem was, he couldn't make it this year because he decided to stop complaining about Iraq and, instead, try to do something about it. So he loaded up the truck and moved to...Baghdad...with the State Department working on reconstruction projects. But Steve's a doer*, and it will come as no surprise to any that he organized his own Thanksgiving Run in the Green Zone. He emailed me that it came off quite well.

*Except for that one August day when he left us with a moving van full of boxes, a new house, and a tepid water hose (in a dry city), then went to see his son's soccer game.

Sweet ROCK N ROLL

OK, I've been deep into youtube tonight, so here's my last salvo:

YouTube Music Continued - Uncle Tupelo

One of my all time favorite bands that inspired a movement. Here's Uncle T in their formative years...

Townes

"Townes Van Zandt's the best songwriter in the world and I'll stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that." Said Steve Earle. This man was the line between brilliance and insanity.

Witness his issues, as evidenced in the brilliant biopic Be Here To Love Me which I encourage everyone to watch, but his brilliance as songwriter can not be challenged. As I've said in posts several years past (which I would link if I weren't so fucking lazy), I don't buy complaints about his voice. He's no Pavoracci, or some such, but his voice is incredibly evocative with respect to the songs he sings.

I love YouTube because I can see things like this:

Brilliant Music

Steve Earle has always been one of my favorite songwriters. He learned from the best, Ft. Worth born Townes Van Zandt. Here's Steve's tribute to Townes from Austin City Limits...singing about Townes iffy relationship with his hometown:

More Moving the Goalposts...

Since the days of "shock and awe" how many times have we read articles like this:

With American military successes outpacing political gains in Iraq, the Bush administration has lowered its expectation of quickly achieving major steps toward unifying the country, including passage of a long-stymied plan to share oil revenues and holding regional elections.

How long until we declare complete victory and leave?

Liars - Plamegate

I thought this was worth mentioning because I beat it to death back when it was breaking, but it's nice to see that Scotty McClellan doesn't like being lied to and is willing to name a few names. It's no surprise that all the top dogs were involved, I think we knew it all along. It just makes Bush look like more of a sap than we already thought. They duped him too. "I'll fire anyone involved." Indeed.

Scare Tactics - Common in Monarchies and Totalitarian Regimes

What an asshole:

President Hugo Chavez warned his supporters on Friday that anyone voting against his proposed constitutional changes would be a "traitor".

But it sounds kind of familiar, doesn't it? I tried to include one of Bush or Cheney's comments about opposition to the war being traitorious, but when I googled "Bush Cheney traitor" I got about a million hits and none of them had to do with their rhetoric.

Crosswords

In case there are other readers that enjoy the occasional crossword puzzle, I thought I'd provide a useful link.

I'm a crossword fiend, and I might do six or seven crosswords a day. Crosswords typically get more difficult during the week with Monday the easiest and Saturday the hardest. The big Sunday puzzle is generally about a Thursday level of difficulty. The New York Times is the gold standard for crosswords, but there are many other good ones out there (that you don't have to pay for to get online). Other than the NYT, my favorite weekly puzzle is the NY Sun, followed closely by Newsday. The USA today is somewhat challenging. The Washington Post is pretty easy except for their Sunday Stumper. I really enjoy Newsday's Saturday stumper, which I just spent an hour solving.

Of course, you have to be a regular puzzler to be able to solve them as many of the answers are quite unique. To start you off, a sea eagle is an erne, and a high nest is an aerie.

Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, the unique American holiday. I spent mine with members of the Mineola tribe that had been run out of their land by smallpox and musket. Just kidding.

I watched the Cowboys pants the Jets on an outside patio in the midst of large snowflakes and even larger flagons of wine. I've spent the day after by not shopping (except for a brief foray into the local liquor store), napping, feasting on leftovers, and watching my energized Aggies kick a little longhorn butt for the second year in a row.

How do we know what we want?

Reading the comments from the "Am I Pawn Shop Material" posts, I thougt I'd put out a question. When did you you figure out what you wanted to spend your life doing?

I haven't figured it out yet, but many of my readers have...some early, some late. I'd like to hear how you came to know your calling.

80's Videos

There's a contest for the best and worst video of the 80's going on over on Andrew Sullivan's site. I don't remember the video below from my adolescence, and that's probably a good thing. Check out the Dog Police...

Perspective - National Review

The National Review. Yeah, that's right....The bastion of the right. Get ready people. Check this shit out from John Derbyshire.

He says that liberals "want to transform people", and conservatives "want to leave people alone."

Given this definition, consider me a straight ticket man...on Elephant side.

Of course this is a magnificent lie. We all know the transformational inertia is on the right side, not the least of which are the Christianists who have missionary zeal behind their efforts. Just check out the greatest horror movie ever...Jesus Camp. The Christianists seek to impose their version of morality on the entire population.

Unfortunately, their version of morality keeps getting undermined by their leaders who do not act according to their votes and/or rhetoric; there seems to be a documentable trend highlighting more than a few Republicans hypocritically versifying while maintaining lifestyles that include hedonism and gay lechery. This seems to fit well with the recent scandals involving Catholic priests. We'll leave correlations between extreme piety and extreme lechery for another day. However, I don't believe it is coincidental that all of the exposed lechers are also people that spoke highly against lechery.

As for the claim that conservatives will "leave me alone" let's consider all of the activities the CIA, FBI, and NSA are now conducting against citizens. The Republicans (no longer conservatives) would have you believe that anything they do is in the interest of "National Security." Frankly this has become a party of "we know better, trust us." This theory is completely divergent with Goldwater-era conservatism and really turn a so-called government into a nanny-state.

This makes my election decision decidedly difficult becaust there's no real candidate that wants to let me be free. ( Ron Paul is a social conservative....he wants to tell you what to with you womb.)

In fairness, let me addres the "want to transform" liberals. Well, they've been out of power since 1994 for the most part so it's hard to evaluate their work. I guess Kennedy kind of agreed with Bush on the No Child bill, but that's been a disastrous failure. I'll be happy to criticize liberals once they've done something, but, right now, it seems like I can count on a liberal to leave me alone a lot better than a conservative.

And if you want to know who you should vote for, go here. As a statistical acolyte, this site has some cred. Let us know if who you like is who is chosen for you.

Moving the Goalposts

Brief post: I know I'm dollar short on this but I thought it was worth documenting for posterity:

The "end" of the "surge" was political reconciliation. The "means" was some additional forces and some new strategy. Well, the "means," by all notices, has been mildly effective. Yet when the critical September deadline occurred (which was, to most Americans, advertised to be a Go/No Go decision) we ended up with groveling equivocation by everyone. More of the same, we somehow agree to keep doing the same in the absence of any Iraqi political movement.

Streetlamp in Telluride

Click the pic to get a larger image...and see the great detail in the lamp.

Old Website

I had forgotten that I used to have a website. I did a little searching and was able to find it. It appears that this was about six or seven years ago, back when our only cat was the Sheep and when my digital photo library was pretty limited. I need to update this with the two newest cats (which are both old news and I have about a thousand pics of each) and new pics.

Am I Pawn Shop Material?

Here's an area where I need some feedback. I was solicited by a headhunter for an IT job locally. The thing is, it's a pawn shop. Worse thing is, it's a purveyor of usurious payday loans. Most people think us atheists are hedonistic, amoral bloodsuckers. But that, of course, is not true with me (as most readers know from personal experience.) Sure I like to drink scotch and smoke cigars but so do a lot of so called religious folk. As we've seen from the news over the last twenty years or so (and from personal experience), there's a lot of hypocrisy in those that would urge you to live as Jesus suggested. But that's a tangent....

So tell me, dear reader, do I have any business working in the pawn and usury trade? My initial thinking is no, but I might be persuaded by a good argument. Thoughts?

While I need answers on the above, let's ask a deeper question. Do you believe in the product that your employers produce, or do you just do it for the money? I had a tough time at RadioShack because I thought it was a tired concept with a (literally) dying market, even though I was quite happy working IT projects that had little direct relevance to the end-product. To what degree does support of your product matter to you? If I can make a good living making IED's or nucular weapons or toxic foreign policy memos, does it matter? Is our conscience today as connected as it should be or are we just looking to make a buck? I'd love to hear from someone who has turned down a lucrative offer on moral/philosophical grounds.

If you got a 100% raise, would you work for McDonald's? Halliburton? Moveon.org? (pick your demon.)

Anonymous Posting

As info, if you don't want to give your name when posting comments, you can post anonymously. This might be of value if you're going to throw your employer under the bus. I would, of course, prefer names so I know what kind of beast I'm dealing with....but I understand that there are people out there that actually care about their careers. Which should be a decent segue (if you're reading bottom up) into the next post.

Rabbit Run and other things literature

I've replaced a few Scotch benders with a reading bender. I just finished Rabbit Run, John Updike's first book published in 1960, I believe. I'm sure it was rather scandalous at the time, but now is pretty tame. It very well may have paved the way for Philip Roth and other major 60's writers who dealt with coarser subject matter. Just wondering if anyone else has read this and would like to discuss further. I've never read a book before where there was not one likable or remotely sympathetic character.

I think this is one of the things that makes the book grittily realistic...there is no such thing as pure good. I've read books with less sympathetic protagonists...the main character in Irvine Welsh's "Filth" comes to mind, and some might argue that Ignatius from A Confederacy of Dunces is irredeemably bad.

On another literary note, rumors abound from the Christianist-nanny goat right that they will be putting the full-court press on the upcoming movie, "The Golden Compass." This is because the writer, Philip Pullman, is one of the most outspoken atheists in England, and they believe the book/movie is a sinister plot to cleanse their children from religion. I read the book, and while there are definitely anti-religious overtones...the church is portrayed as a "magisterium," I don't think there is too much atheism that a child will be able to glean. The Catholic church and the current religious right only wish that they were a "magisterium." Kids'll like the big armored polar bears and will be oblivious to any message.

I read Richard Ford's "Lay of the Land" which finishes off his trilogy that began with "The Sportwriter." It was excellent despite a strange twist at the end that was probably unnecessary.

Other recent readings: The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald, reread), Shakespeare (bio, Bill Bryson), Thunderbolt Kid (memoir, Bill Bryson), Freakonomics (Dubner, Levitt)

Cowboy Quarterbacks

It's very timely that I ran across this over on the Observer's blog. Bruce and I spent quite a bit of time trying to remember all of the Dallas Cowboys starting quarterbacks last Saturday. Here's a vid that goes through all of them...

Christmas Season

I don't think I'm quite the holiday sourpuss in 2007 as I was back in 2005. This, of course, is always subject to change as events unfold. It is with this sentiment that I provide the loyal readership with advance warning of your holiday favorite TV shows, so get your Tivo ready:

Nov. 27 -- A Charlie Brown Christmas, 7 p.m. on ABC. Repeated at the same time on Dec. 3rd.

Nov. 28 -- Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas at 7:30 p.m. on ABC

Dec. 4 -- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, 7 p.m. on CBS. Also appearing: Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town, 7 p.m. on ABC.

Dec. 7 -- Frosty the Snowman and Frosty Returns, 7 p.m. on CBS.

Dec. 14 -- It's A Wonderful Life, 7 p.m. on NBC. Repeated at the same time on Christmas Eve.

See the whole list here.

The Future Energy Source?

The new Corporate Overlords of the Carter & Burgess, Jacobs Engineering, continue to amaze me with the breadth of their reach into really interesting fields. I may ultimately be made redundant, but this company is into some cool shit.

Yesterday as I'm making my way to the parking garage, I met a C&B employee on the elevator who went straight into a discussion of Helium 3 and how Jacobs is heavily involved with the research to make Helium 3 a future energy source. Helium 3 is very clean and can put out a tremendous amount of energy using very little of the product. There's one small problem with Helium 3, it's really only available on the moon.

Here's the lowdown from the article linked above:

Scientists estimate there are about1 million tons of helium 3 on the moon, enough to power the world for thousandsof years. The equivalent of a single space shuttle load or roughly 25 ton scould supply the entire United States' energy needs for a year

The scientists say getting a Helium 3 manufacturing facility up would cost around six billion bucks, which is a War in Iraq rounding error.

While we're on the topic, I don't understand why West Texas isn't covered with giant windmills. This is bleak countryside that could easily be used to generate mega-megawatts. I'm sure there are cost of production issues that make it less favorable in the short-run than petroleum, but the wind is not going to stop, which should lead to favorable payback period calculations.

Job Opportunities

For those of you that are not satisfied with your current station in life and may be looking for an exciting career change, I've found something that you might want to see. It will provide you the opportunity to interact with different cultures and appears to offer very stable work.

"We're trying to catch them but the difficulties are a shortage of monkey catchers."

Of course I'm referring to the ongoing monkey crisis in New Delhi, India. An Indian police official said:

"Wildlife officials are trying to find them. As police we're not experts in dealing with monkeys. We can deal with mad bulls but monkeys are more difficult,"

The monkeys are sacred animals, just like cows, in the Hindu culture that sees monkeys as reincarnations of one of the polytheistic religion's gods.

"I was talking to someone at my door at around 11 pm when a monkey appeared," Naseema, who goes by one name, told the Times of India. "As I moved inside, the monkey followed and sank its teeth in my baby's leg."

Six more bites were reported Monday in Shastri Park, while in an upscale neighbourhood in central Delhi, a rogue monkey bounded into the residence of Priyanka Gandhi, daughter of ruling Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi, The Indian Express said.

You've probably heard about the muckety-muck that met an untimely end a month or so ago while trying to fight off the marauding simians with a stick. He was on his balcony and was forced over the edge, falling to his death.

India is the next big up-and-coming superpower and largest democracy in the world. With its grip tightening around the global IT development and helpdesk world and other industries, will this calamity derail the flattening of the world? Will the offshore workers be able to fight their way through the crazed beasts to get to work and answer our help desk calls? It's time we answer their call.

Political Tip-Off

As past readers will know, this blog likes to dabble in politics. So a little about me, for new folks:

I hate Republicans.

I hate Democrats.

I think Bush is a monarchist who prides loyalty over competence to a catastrophic fault; he is a Christianist and a dumbass and he probably smells like a soiled diaper. Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and their ilk are dung beetles. Colin Powell was a good man who should have quit. Actually, anyone associated with the administration are now covered with the fetid stank of a cronyist militaristic constitution-hating compost-heap.

I detest the shrill wing of the liberal left. The left is a castrated cadre that is incapable of coalescing. While I wish more people would stand up in protest like crazy Cindy Sheehan, I wish they'd stand up with a more convincing message. Sheehan is the color-guard for the extreme left and will only serve to alienate. I'm not fond of Nancy Pelosi and I think the Democratic-led congress has been atrocious...notwithstanding the lack of a filubuster-proof majority in the Senate.

I consider myself a "Radical Centrist." I typically vote third party because I hate the other two, and. frankly my vote does not matter in Texas. I'd say radical because all parties these days are ruled by radicals who are funded by extreme interests. There doesn't seem to be anybody with money willing to contribute to a coalition style government like there is in European parliamentary democracies. I don't see why every other democracy in the world can support multiple parties, but we're subjected to worse and worser.

The GOP and Donkeys have plenty of internal divisions. The GOP has the schism between the awful social conservatives and the tolerable economic conservatives (at least their shit is based on data.) The Donkeys have separation based on war ideology as well as the division between "yellow-dog" and "blue-dog" persuasions and they are incapable of finding a coherent message.

Yes, I like third parties but I'm not falling for the Ron Paul bullshit because he's aligned with the Christianists and maybe worse.

I am a strong proponent of pragmatism and moral relativism (which our current prez eschews.) I don't believe the world is black-and-white. Despite rhetoric to the contrary, this is apparently becoming relevant to the Shrub administration with regard to Pakistan (and everywhere else). They bleat Wilsonian about bringing democracy to the world, yet support a corrupt dictator whose country is harboring Public Enemy Numero Uno. Said country happens to be nucular, so all bets are off on the democracy thang.

As for Rudy, he's another aspiring cronyist dictator. Witness Kerik. He scares me more than anything else, regardless of his lefty positions on abortion and gays.

I believe I've stopped making sense. With the lack of a good third-party alternative, I'm leaning Obama. I don't like Hillary-robot and I think she's the only thing that can energize the elephants to enough turnout for another victory. I read about her feeding questions to an audience and it sounds all too much like Bush's hand-picked audiences of his prior campaigns. We do not need another autocrat, which is surely what we'd get with Giuliani the megalomaniac, and I fear Hillary also.

Thoughts?

I've always had a feeling oenaphiles were a fraud...

Wine experts beware. Read the whole story here.

"So much for objectivity. But results like this shouldn't be surprising.
I've blogged about this before, but it's such a cool experiment that it's worth
repeating. In 2001, Frederic Brochet, of the University of Bordeaux, conducted
two separate and very mischievous experiments. In the first test, Brochet
invited 57 wine experts and asked them to give their impressions of what looked
like two glasses of red and white wine. The wines were actually the same white
wine, one of which had been tinted red with food coloring. But that didn't stop
the experts from describing the "red" wine in language typically used to
describe red wines. One expert praised its "jamminess," while another enjoyed
its "crushed red fruit." Not a single one noticed it was actually a white
wine.

The second test Brochet conducted was even more damning. He took a
middling Bordeaux and served it in two different bottles. One bottle was a fancy
grand-cru. The other bottle was an ordinary vin du table. Despite the fact that
they were actually being served the exact same wine, the experts gave the
differently labeled bottles nearly opposite ratings. The grand cru was
"agreeable, woody, complex, balanced and rounded," while the vin du table was
"weak, short, light, flat and faulty". Forty experts said the wine with the
fancy label was worth drinking, while only 12 said the cheap wine was."

While I know many folks that consider themselves fine arbiters of the grape, I'm tempted to call bullshit. I would love to hold a blind taste-test to see if anyone can separate the wheat from the chaff. We'll go screw-top to grand cru, white to red, Loire to Napa...any takers?

It's much easier with scotch...I generally like the one that's in front of me.

Whither Gas?

I'll try and stir up some controversy now that I'm back up and posting. I read on another blog that one of the jillion gas outfits in FW is planning on drilling practically in downtown. Maybe it's Chesapeake, I forget and I don't want to go seek out the reference, but the plans are to drill right behind (like 100 feet) the old T&P Warehouse on Lancaster. While I'm aware of all the benefits gas drilling and its associated revenue will do for the city, isn't this a bit risky? If we've mastered the art of horizontal drilling, why so close to downtown? I jes don wan no splosions. Pro/Con? What about all the schoolyard drillin'? Just primin' the pump.

A Year Later...

I sit in my favored spot on the patio, enjoying a cigar and a scotch (which my wife had hidden, but I found), whilst reddened leaves from my crape myrtle are unhooked by infrequent breezes and flutter onto my keyboard. At odd intervals, pecans are jarred loose from their branches and fall like lugnuts onto the roof. Our friendly cat, Poofus, sits idly on top of an outdoor ottoman across from me. She is safe, and ignores all of the menacing sounds. It is always unclear on the patio whether she is protecting me or I am protecting her.

It is November 12, 2007 and I am clothed in summer-wear...athletic shorts that have never seen an athletic endeavor, bare feet, and my favorite shirt which was purchased in the summer of 2001 (or thereabouts) for one American dollar at the annual charity sale held at the Possum Kingdom Volunteer firehouse. The shirt advertises the 1996 4-H Horse Show in Abilene, with a horsehead emblazoned over the 4H cloverleaf. The shirt is very large, as is necessary to gird my supra-Rubenesque torso. It is spattered with random food, blood, tobacco, and other detritus of my loafing existence. It has holes. Many holes, caused by overzealous cats and drunken collisions with sharp edges between the drinking zone and the sleeping zone. This shirt is a winner.

I noticed my last post was about a year ago, just short of Armistice Day 2006. What's changed?

I came in second at the club billiard tournament for the fourth year in a row. I'm going to have to get my bridesmaid dress altered. But I did get to shoot a few games with women's champ Vivian Villarreal.


Our frequent contributor and conservative voice from times past Jim is now a talking head on CNBC.

Seems like I've had about four jobs since my last post. I'd say that I'm now a project manager with Carter & Burgess, except Carter & Burgess just got acquired. Who knows what the future holds?

It appears the local FW blog scene is maturing. I've recently caught on to some of the following sites...some focusing on local politics (gas drilling), some on architcture, a few on food, some on culture, and some photography (with some live music photography included.)

Our twenty-year reunion was held. I was involved with the initial planning, but was frankly too busy drinking and regretting to follow through to the execution. These were all mistakes.

My wife and I went to Telluride in May with a buddy of ours which was a great getaway in a truly idyllic setting. The dog:human ratio in Telluride is rapidly approaching 1:1, which is not a bad thing, and I never saw dogshit anywhere. The girls there tend to the granola side, which allowed me to spend more time looking at dogs. Here's a few pics that I'm working on:

and...

and....

As was the old routine, I hope to post frequent topical posts that generate comments and conversation. We had a good thing going there for a while until I volunteered for separation from RadioShack and too much time on my hands for anything but waking up late and drinking late. Cogent thinking wasn't really in the mental portfolio back then.

I don't know that I'll be able to keep up the posting rate that I maintained while I was waiting to be laid off, but I hope to be able to chime in a few times a week. As always, anyone that wants a forum is welcome to become a poster and all readers should feel free to comment at will, but be aware that the comment forum is a lion's den...so if you're posting on issues, be prepared.

I'll be following this up with an email with link to all of our former contributors. Forward as you please.