This morning when we went out for our walk, I caught a very familiar scent. I don't know its actual origin, but I knew what my senses told me. The smell of incense from high mass at church. For those who don't know, I was raised Catholic, along with my 4 siblings. And the smell brought back days of Christmas vigils and Easter mornings, of funeral masses and Good Fridays. And just for a moment, I was taken by the thought that something so intimate with the worship of God should seem so odd, so out-of-place.
Despite being raised in one church, not all of us ended up staying. Four of us have come to personal relationships with Jesus, a concept that really wasn't taught in Catholic church in our day. I mean, it was there if you paid attention, but buried, if you didn't, in the Pope and Purgatory and Saturday afternoon confession. Still, our mother planted a seed of simple faith in us, and our father showed us the example of not missing church- in other words, the importance.
One of my sisters was able to reach an understanding of worship beyond the ritual and politics that allowed her to remain at our ancestral parish. I was not, not at first, because I had to weave my way through the inconsistancies and non-Biblical teachings of the Popes to understand the truth of worship and salvation, and ultimately was led to faith through the agency of non-denominational friends. My brother had to learn the division between faith and religion the hard way when rigid adherance to misapplied Church Law would have led to his not being able to bury his first grandchild "in the church" had not the "money people" of the parish went to the Bishop.
But we all assembled before Christ in the end, because in the end, God is a very simple concept. All you really need to know are two things. First, you have to recognize Jesus as God, not a man but God manifest in flesh. Second, you have to accept that you have no means to enter heaven due to your fallen state, except through accepting His death for your sins in your heart. Simple.
What has made it difficult over the ages has been man's desire to apply his own logic to the situation. Within a couple hundred years of Jesus' death and ressurection, man was battling over the "nature of Christ". Was He God and man? Was He God, but acting through a human shell? Or was He a human given a divine task and Godhood became His reward at completion? Wars, murders, excommunications followed, because Jesus did not easily fit into the boxes of man's conceptions. Was the eucharist the transformed Body and Blood, or merely symbolic? Could heaven be bought by money? All of these and more were asked by men trying to "understand" Jesus.
But I don't think we ever had that problem. It was as simple as "God made man in His own image." Man has mind, body, and spirit, seperate things yet still part of one person. And God was Father, the will or "mind"; Jesus, the action, or "body"; and the Spirit. God was just on a higher scale than us. While theologians argued, "How could Jesus possibly be both God and man?" we knew the answer was, "Because He chose to be." Simple.
Man has difficulties in conception. One is a Catholic because he is aided in his faith by the ritual- the Palms on Palm Sunday, the ashes on Ash Wednesday, the Gregorian feel of the hymns, the focus that a PROPERLY prayed rosary can bring. Another has to ground himself in the Bible alone. One likes the feel of an open service, with singing, mingling, and Bible study; another gets more out of a traditional service with a sermon focus. One is lifted up by a service with a cultural identity, another can walk into any church and be comfortable. Non-believers laugh and say, "Oh yes, God tells so many stories it's impossible to follow"; but the point is that while God is one, we are many, and He took that into consideration. God is not the one who is limited in perception.
We are. We are too small to see the big picture, bound by time where He is not, limited in ability where He is not. And He brings comfort in His measure as well. I have friends right now dealing with cancer on every side, etc. And it is hard for us to see His comfort sometimes. But it is there; sometimes in burdens for our benefit, sometimes in the easing of them for our encouragement. But it is always with the big picture, the life beyond, in mind, not this life. And we who are bound in this life have a hard time seeing that, and He knows that.
And that's why He made us as an image of Himself. And why He only gave us two things we really had to remember. Jesus became man. Jesus died for us. Simple.
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Friday, September 28, 2012
Time Machine week thirty five
Normally here I would be telling you that on September 28th, 1970, we had the death of Egyptian dictator Gamel Abdel Nasser, best known in the free world for getting throughly whupped in 4 wars with Israel; best known in the formerly Communist world for merging his nation with Syria to prevent communists from taking it over in 1958, having the Syrians kick him out in 1961, and then buying arms from the USSR with which to get his butt whupped; and best known in the Arab world for having King Faud of Saudi Arabia give a check to a member of the Jordanian military to shoot him down (which that dude promptly gave to Nasser).
But today, I'm starting things a different way (just mentally move that last bit down farther). This week, we lost yet another of music's icons.
Andy Williams was more than just another singer. He crossed generations and genres. He gave up a successful singles career to be himself- and went from a star to a legend. He was a bright spot in summer re-run season, a singing uncle at holiday time, and now, he is another giant hole in my heart. I'm going to get to the usual stuff here as well, but the specials are going to be overtaken by something even more special, even as my typing keeps getting overtaken by the lump in my throat.
This week in 1970, we had fifteen hot 100 debuts, of which 4 are in the mention category. The Partidge Family break onto the charts for the first time at 100 with I Think I Love You. Bread's follow up to the top dog Make It With You, It Don't Matter To Me, debuts at 75. Blood Sweat and Tears has their own follow up, following the top 10 Hi-De-Ho with Lucretia McEvil at 68. And at 65, the Who with See Me, Feel Me from Tommy.
Those songs turn 42 today. Turning 30 this week are a couple of R&B crossovers, Jeffery Osbourne's On The Wings Of Love, and Patti Austin and James Ingram with Baby Come To Me, along with Billy Squier's Everybody Wants You, Timothy B. Schmitt's cover of the doo-wop hit So Much In Love, and one of the worst top ten songs in history IMHO, Diana Ross' slutty classic Muscles. Turning 35 are James Taylor's Your Smiling Face, Barry Manilow's Daybreak, the Babys' Isn't It Time, and Player's Baby Come Back. Turning 40 are the immortal If You Don't Know Me By Now by Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes, and Donna Fargo's Funny Face. Hitting 45 are Aretha Franklin's cover of You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman, the Bee Gees' Holiday, and Partridge Family forerunners the Cowsills with The Rain The Park And Other Things, probably better known by the chorus line, "I love the flower girl". And finally, turning 55 today, Little Richard's classic Keep A Knocking. Blow out the candles...
It is hard to know how to pay tribute to this man, who collected 28 top 40's, 8 top tens, and the 1957 #1 Butterfly. I imagine the best place to start is at the beginning, when he and his brothers formed a successful quartet. That quartet hit the heights of its popularity when they sang behind Bing Crosby (see, I still managed to bring Bing into the show) on his huge #1 Swinging On A Star. It was #1 for seven weeks in 1944, in a year where Bing had the top spot for eighteen weeks with four different songs. He went solo as a singer on Steve Allen's Tonight Show, and that got him a recording contract with Cadence Records and its boss, Archie Bleyer. His first single was Walk Hand In Hand, which was released somewhat after Tony Martin's version which went to #10; Andy only got to #54. But his next release was Canadian Sunset, which made the top ten at #7.
Our big mover this week on the countdown is God, Love, And Rock And Roll by the duo of Teegarden and Van Winkle, zipping up 21 spots to #51. Dave Teegarden went on to become the drummer for Bob Seger's Silver Bullet Band on the Stranger In Town and Against The Wind lps. Dropping the most this week are The Chairmen Of The Board with their former top 40 Everything's Tuesday, falling 25 to #64. And if tragedy can have a good side, this one's is in the fact that it interrupts this week's Where Are They Now Segment, because the song at #50- Elvis' The Next Step Is Love- hits on the way down after already hitting on the way up. The King's a bit greedy, eh?
The vast majority of Andy's singles success came in the Cadence years, with Bleyer picking and choosing what he thought would appeal to teenagers. Six of his eight top tens came in those years with Bleyer and Cadence (1954-61), but Bleyer's influence was most famous for the one that got away.
The iconic movie Breakfast At Tiffany's (which is most definately on my bucket list) was filmed in 1961, and the music of the movie was a point of controversy. Henry Mancini co-wrote Moon River for the film's star, Audrey Hepburn. After an advance screening, the producer decided he wanted to cut Audrey's performance of the song from the movie; legend has it that her response was a somewhat pimped-out rendition of "Over my dead body". So it stayed in the movie, but the soundtrack instead had Mancini's instrumental (which of course, is Edith Bunker's favorite song). This version was released at the same time as Jerry Butler's version; they hit #11 one after the other. Andy recorded it on his latest album, and quickly adopted it as his theme song. But Bleyer thought that the teenage record buyer was not sufficiently sophisticated to appreciate lyrics like "my huckleberry friend", and refused to release it. While I don't have the evidence to say it's so, this might have been the last straw for Andy; The Everly Brothers had left Cadence the year before for Warner Brothers, and Andy left for Columbia right after. Those were two very large broadsides for the relatively small label, and within 3 years, Bleyer folded Cadence. Andy bought the entire label songbook rights in 1964, because he didn't want discount labels buying them and "recording my hits onto recycled asphalt parking lots". He would eventually put the songbook into a label he named Barnaby Records. Barnaby would go on to revive Ray Stevens' career and give Jimmy Buffett his start.
Five songs came into the top forty this week in 1970. Isaac Hayes, who was the Where Are They Now with this song a couple of weeks ago, moves up 1 to #40 with I Stand Accused. The Carpenters leap 10 to come in at #39 with the greatest ad a local bank ever had, We've Only Just Begun. 100 Proof Aged In Soul blast up 19 to 38 with Somebody's Been Sleeping. And two of those draggy songs we've been waiting for finally make it this week. Up 11 to 36 after 8 weeks of climbing are Sugarloaf with Green Eyed Lady. And "draggy" takes on a whole new meaning on the song that finally hits the 40 after 7 weeks of climbing- up from 46 to #31, the Kinks with Lola.
Moving to Columbia meant that he could be more himself, singing the sweet ballads that would earn him (in the UK) the nickname "the Emperor of Easy". In fact, once the Easy-Listening (later Adult Contemporary) chart was established, he had 44 top 40's, fifteen landing in the top five- and the charts were after most of his Cadence hits. Even then he scored top forty hits with many of his classics: Cant Get Used To Losing You (#2, and also a #7 hit on the R&B chart), Days Of Wine And Roses (#26), On The Street Where You Live (#28), Music To Watch Girls By (#34), Happy Heart (my favorite, #22), and Where Do I Begin (Theme From Love Story, #9). He was much bigger as an album act, scoring a huge hit with Days Of Wine And Roses And Other TV Requests (1963), which contained the title single along with the big hit Can't Get Used To Losing You, as well as covers of What Kind Of Fool Am I and I Left My Heart In San Francisco. But another big lp had another "one that got away" story. And that was 1963's Andy Williams' Christmas Album. Perhaps no song is more associated with Andy by non-groupies than his It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year- and like Moon River it was not released. Instead they released Andy's cut of White Christmas, which hit #1 on Billboard's special countdown of the year's Christmas songs, and #81 on Cashbox's regular survey.
I have a couple of almost-but-not-quite shoutouts to give out this week. The Guess Who peaked last week at 13 with Hand Me Down World and this time drops to 32. And the second coming of Neil Diamond's Solitary Man gets short-shrifted again, peaking at 20 last week and dropping to 35 this time around. In the meantime, one song joins the top ten, one drops out. That dropper was In The Summertime, falling from 8 to 19 this week.
Andy was good friends with the Kennedy clan, often serving as an escort for Bobby's wife Ethel after his assassination; he sang the Battle Hymn Of The Republic at Bobby's funeral. Despite this, he himself was a lifelong conservative, even giving Rush Limbaugh permission to use Born Free cut with sounds of bombs going off for the bumper music for his Animal Rights Updates. He had strong feelings about the current President, which I will not go into here; suffice it to say his sentiments mirror my own.
For fifteen years he was married to Claudine Longet; he also was her main support when, a couple years later, she was accused of murdering her new boyfriend, skiier Spider Sabich. It wasn't until 1991 that he married again, to Debbie Meyer. They were still together at his death.
Back to this week's business, here's the top ten.
Aretha Franklin and the Dixie Flyers remain at 10 for a second week with Don't Play That Song.
Rare Earth blasts its way into the top ten, moving three to 9 with (I Know I'm) Losing You.
Chicago slips a pair to 8 with 25 Or 6 To 4.
Edwin Starr's former top dog War falls three to #6.
I would be remiss to not mention a show I watched my entire childhood, the Andy Williams Show. Running from 1962-71 (sometimes year round, sometimes not) It alway began with Moon River, and always ended with Happy Heart. In between, stars like Bobby Darin, Ray Stevens, Johnathan Winters, Dick Van Dyke, the Lennon Sisters, and the Osmond Brothers sang and danced and made people laugh with innocent joy. But for me, it was all about the Bear.
Every week, the Cookie Bear would find some way to try to scam Andy out of a cookie. Andy had a standard answer every week: "Not now, not ever, NEVER!!!" And then he would slink away for another week. Legend has it that an early internet virus was a cookie bear that would interrupt a program with "I WANT COOKIE" and wouldn't go away until you typed in "cookie"; legend also says this is where internet cookies got their name. Facts say that the "character" actor who played the Bear was Janos Prohaska, who played in many such costumes on shows from Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea to Star Trek. He appeared on What's My Line in a monkey suit, and appeared in a handful of Gilligan's Island episodes as the gorilla. Prohaska died with 34 others in a 1974 plane crash.
Candida climbs two to #5 for Tony Orlando and Dawn.
Clarence Carter slips to #4 with last week's top dog, Patches.
Bobby Sherman, who along with fellow top ten-ers CCR and Aretha Franklin, appeared on Andy's show, climbs a pair to 3 with Julie Do Ya Love Me?
CCR is in a familiar position- #2- with Looking Out My Back Door.
And our new #1 song is....
...Diana Ross with Ain't No Mountain High Enough!!!
And now, we close this tribute... well the way I think Andy would have wanted. Thanks for coming along.
But today, I'm starting things a different way (just mentally move that last bit down farther). This week, we lost yet another of music's icons.
Andy Williams was more than just another singer. He crossed generations and genres. He gave up a successful singles career to be himself- and went from a star to a legend. He was a bright spot in summer re-run season, a singing uncle at holiday time, and now, he is another giant hole in my heart. I'm going to get to the usual stuff here as well, but the specials are going to be overtaken by something even more special, even as my typing keeps getting overtaken by the lump in my throat.
This week in 1970, we had fifteen hot 100 debuts, of which 4 are in the mention category. The Partidge Family break onto the charts for the first time at 100 with I Think I Love You. Bread's follow up to the top dog Make It With You, It Don't Matter To Me, debuts at 75. Blood Sweat and Tears has their own follow up, following the top 10 Hi-De-Ho with Lucretia McEvil at 68. And at 65, the Who with See Me, Feel Me from Tommy.
Those songs turn 42 today. Turning 30 this week are a couple of R&B crossovers, Jeffery Osbourne's On The Wings Of Love, and Patti Austin and James Ingram with Baby Come To Me, along with Billy Squier's Everybody Wants You, Timothy B. Schmitt's cover of the doo-wop hit So Much In Love, and one of the worst top ten songs in history IMHO, Diana Ross' slutty classic Muscles. Turning 35 are James Taylor's Your Smiling Face, Barry Manilow's Daybreak, the Babys' Isn't It Time, and Player's Baby Come Back. Turning 40 are the immortal If You Don't Know Me By Now by Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes, and Donna Fargo's Funny Face. Hitting 45 are Aretha Franklin's cover of You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman, the Bee Gees' Holiday, and Partridge Family forerunners the Cowsills with The Rain The Park And Other Things, probably better known by the chorus line, "I love the flower girl". And finally, turning 55 today, Little Richard's classic Keep A Knocking. Blow out the candles...
It is hard to know how to pay tribute to this man, who collected 28 top 40's, 8 top tens, and the 1957 #1 Butterfly. I imagine the best place to start is at the beginning, when he and his brothers formed a successful quartet. That quartet hit the heights of its popularity when they sang behind Bing Crosby (see, I still managed to bring Bing into the show) on his huge #1 Swinging On A Star. It was #1 for seven weeks in 1944, in a year where Bing had the top spot for eighteen weeks with four different songs. He went solo as a singer on Steve Allen's Tonight Show, and that got him a recording contract with Cadence Records and its boss, Archie Bleyer. His first single was Walk Hand In Hand, which was released somewhat after Tony Martin's version which went to #10; Andy only got to #54. But his next release was Canadian Sunset, which made the top ten at #7.
 |
| Couldn't resist this one- Dick Van Dyke, Ann-Margaret, Andy, and Andy Griffith on Andy's show. |
Our big mover this week on the countdown is God, Love, And Rock And Roll by the duo of Teegarden and Van Winkle, zipping up 21 spots to #51. Dave Teegarden went on to become the drummer for Bob Seger's Silver Bullet Band on the Stranger In Town and Against The Wind lps. Dropping the most this week are The Chairmen Of The Board with their former top 40 Everything's Tuesday, falling 25 to #64. And if tragedy can have a good side, this one's is in the fact that it interrupts this week's Where Are They Now Segment, because the song at #50- Elvis' The Next Step Is Love- hits on the way down after already hitting on the way up. The King's a bit greedy, eh?
The vast majority of Andy's singles success came in the Cadence years, with Bleyer picking and choosing what he thought would appeal to teenagers. Six of his eight top tens came in those years with Bleyer and Cadence (1954-61), but Bleyer's influence was most famous for the one that got away.
The iconic movie Breakfast At Tiffany's (which is most definately on my bucket list) was filmed in 1961, and the music of the movie was a point of controversy. Henry Mancini co-wrote Moon River for the film's star, Audrey Hepburn. After an advance screening, the producer decided he wanted to cut Audrey's performance of the song from the movie; legend has it that her response was a somewhat pimped-out rendition of "Over my dead body". So it stayed in the movie, but the soundtrack instead had Mancini's instrumental (which of course, is Edith Bunker's favorite song). This version was released at the same time as Jerry Butler's version; they hit #11 one after the other. Andy recorded it on his latest album, and quickly adopted it as his theme song. But Bleyer thought that the teenage record buyer was not sufficiently sophisticated to appreciate lyrics like "my huckleberry friend", and refused to release it. While I don't have the evidence to say it's so, this might have been the last straw for Andy; The Everly Brothers had left Cadence the year before for Warner Brothers, and Andy left for Columbia right after. Those were two very large broadsides for the relatively small label, and within 3 years, Bleyer folded Cadence. Andy bought the entire label songbook rights in 1964, because he didn't want discount labels buying them and "recording my hits onto recycled asphalt parking lots". He would eventually put the songbook into a label he named Barnaby Records. Barnaby would go on to revive Ray Stevens' career and give Jimmy Buffett his start.
 |
| Andy and Mr. Barnaby, for which the Barnaby Records label was named. |
Five songs came into the top forty this week in 1970. Isaac Hayes, who was the Where Are They Now with this song a couple of weeks ago, moves up 1 to #40 with I Stand Accused. The Carpenters leap 10 to come in at #39 with the greatest ad a local bank ever had, We've Only Just Begun. 100 Proof Aged In Soul blast up 19 to 38 with Somebody's Been Sleeping. And two of those draggy songs we've been waiting for finally make it this week. Up 11 to 36 after 8 weeks of climbing are Sugarloaf with Green Eyed Lady. And "draggy" takes on a whole new meaning on the song that finally hits the 40 after 7 weeks of climbing- up from 46 to #31, the Kinks with Lola.
Moving to Columbia meant that he could be more himself, singing the sweet ballads that would earn him (in the UK) the nickname "the Emperor of Easy". In fact, once the Easy-Listening (later Adult Contemporary) chart was established, he had 44 top 40's, fifteen landing in the top five- and the charts were after most of his Cadence hits. Even then he scored top forty hits with many of his classics: Cant Get Used To Losing You (#2, and also a #7 hit on the R&B chart), Days Of Wine And Roses (#26), On The Street Where You Live (#28), Music To Watch Girls By (#34), Happy Heart (my favorite, #22), and Where Do I Begin (Theme From Love Story, #9). He was much bigger as an album act, scoring a huge hit with Days Of Wine And Roses And Other TV Requests (1963), which contained the title single along with the big hit Can't Get Used To Losing You, as well as covers of What Kind Of Fool Am I and I Left My Heart In San Francisco. But another big lp had another "one that got away" story. And that was 1963's Andy Williams' Christmas Album. Perhaps no song is more associated with Andy by non-groupies than his It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year- and like Moon River it was not released. Instead they released Andy's cut of White Christmas, which hit #1 on Billboard's special countdown of the year's Christmas songs, and #81 on Cashbox's regular survey.
 |
| Never missed an Andy Williams Christmas Special. |
Andy was good friends with the Kennedy clan, often serving as an escort for Bobby's wife Ethel after his assassination; he sang the Battle Hymn Of The Republic at Bobby's funeral. Despite this, he himself was a lifelong conservative, even giving Rush Limbaugh permission to use Born Free cut with sounds of bombs going off for the bumper music for his Animal Rights Updates. He had strong feelings about the current President, which I will not go into here; suffice it to say his sentiments mirror my own.
For fifteen years he was married to Claudine Longet; he also was her main support when, a couple years later, she was accused of murdering her new boyfriend, skiier Spider Sabich. It wasn't until 1991 that he married again, to Debbie Meyer. They were still together at his death.
 |
| Andy, Claudine, and the kids. |
 |
| Debbie and Andy. |
Back to this week's business, here's the top ten.
Aretha Franklin and the Dixie Flyers remain at 10 for a second week with Don't Play That Song.
Rare Earth blasts its way into the top ten, moving three to 9 with (I Know I'm) Losing You.
Chicago slips a pair to 8 with 25 Or 6 To 4.
Edwin Starr's former top dog War falls three to #6.
I would be remiss to not mention a show I watched my entire childhood, the Andy Williams Show. Running from 1962-71 (sometimes year round, sometimes not) It alway began with Moon River, and always ended with Happy Heart. In between, stars like Bobby Darin, Ray Stevens, Johnathan Winters, Dick Van Dyke, the Lennon Sisters, and the Osmond Brothers sang and danced and made people laugh with innocent joy. But for me, it was all about the Bear.
 |
| Bob Hope, Andy, and the Cookie Bear. |
Candida climbs two to #5 for Tony Orlando and Dawn.
Clarence Carter slips to #4 with last week's top dog, Patches.
Bobby Sherman, who along with fellow top ten-ers CCR and Aretha Franklin, appeared on Andy's show, climbs a pair to 3 with Julie Do Ya Love Me?
CCR is in a familiar position- #2- with Looking Out My Back Door.
And our new #1 song is....
And now, we close this tribute... well the way I think Andy would have wanted. Thanks for coming along.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Good news- but please, no hallelujah chorus yet
As of yesterday at 3:30 pm, I am again among the ranks of the gainfully employed (You know, the Mitt Romney way of removing oneself from the rolls of the unemployed, as opposed to the Obama method of "just stop looking"). Yeah, it's a Manpower Job, but it's a good one, and somewhat fun, and though my legs are protesting this next observation, somewhat easy. Perhaps now some of my meals will kindly descend down and become leg muscle rather than catching a room at the Abdomen Resort Hotel.
Other than that, the only thing I'll bring up about it (for now) is that It really didn't take a lot of technology and common sense to make my last job appear a LOT more stone age than it did even when we were there.
How 'bout that ref's strike ending? All it took was for me to make that one post about it, and it's all over! (Of course, the replacements really, REALLY embarassing the league might have helped). Now, I'd like an answer that all America is waiting for- were the guys that called Monday's game the crew that the Lingerie League fired for incompetancy?
Oh, before I get too far away from the job thing, Monday I had to go interview on site. On the way home I encountered a road-striping entourage- you know, an "arrow" truck on each end, and the striper in the middle. Now, if I am painting stripes on a road, that would make me a stripe-painter, because I am painting stripes, right?
And this is the part I really wish I'd had my camera with me at the time... because after several seconds of debate, I had to admit that there was something wrong with the trailing "arrow" truck's flashing sign saying, "Paint Striper Ahead." So you're putting stripes on paint, eh? Interesting... but if you want to put stripes on paint, howsabout doing it at Shermin-Williams and getting out of the road?
In other news, Lokomotiv got goals from Niklas Hagman (#3) and Alexander Chernikov (#2) in the third period to rally the team to a 2-1 over Donbass. The win puts us into a fourth place tie with CSKA in the conference, and 2 behind former NHLer Sandis Osolinsh's Atlant club in the division. Next up is tomorrow morning with Severstal.
Other than that, the only thing I'll bring up about it (for now) is that It really didn't take a lot of technology and common sense to make my last job appear a LOT more stone age than it did even when we were there.
 |
| I mean really, what would be easier- trying to run while sitting down, trying to push three tons of solid stone- or just WALKING? |
How 'bout that ref's strike ending? All it took was for me to make that one post about it, and it's all over! (Of course, the replacements really, REALLY embarassing the league might have helped). Now, I'd like an answer that all America is waiting for- were the guys that called Monday's game the crew that the Lingerie League fired for incompetancy?
 |
| "Never mind helping me with my equipment! WHAT'S THE FRICKIN' CALL????" |
Oh, before I get too far away from the job thing, Monday I had to go interview on site. On the way home I encountered a road-striping entourage- you know, an "arrow" truck on each end, and the striper in the middle. Now, if I am painting stripes on a road, that would make me a stripe-painter, because I am painting stripes, right?
And this is the part I really wish I'd had my camera with me at the time... because after several seconds of debate, I had to admit that there was something wrong with the trailing "arrow" truck's flashing sign saying, "Paint Striper Ahead." So you're putting stripes on paint, eh? Interesting... but if you want to put stripes on paint, howsabout doing it at Shermin-Williams and getting out of the road?
In other news, Lokomotiv got goals from Niklas Hagman (#3) and Alexander Chernikov (#2) in the third period to rally the team to a 2-1 over Donbass. The win puts us into a fourth place tie with CSKA in the conference, and 2 behind former NHLer Sandis Osolinsh's Atlant club in the division. Next up is tomorrow morning with Severstal.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Sports Tuesday
At this point, the head referee (the "white hat") should have had his ass down there trying to get this sorted out. Seattle's coach beat him down there. On a normal officiating crew, the "white hat" sets the tone, coaches up his guys, let's them know what kind of game to call so that a pass interference on one side of the field is the same as one on the other side of the field. Frankly, the replacement white hats are having trouble figuring out what their best side is when it's time to announce a call over the loudspeaker.
I'm not going to fight the union v. management battle here. Jay Glazer tweeted last night in the midst of this debacle, "Yes I think the replacement refs blow but I think what the old refs are asking for is total BS too". That's good enough for me. But comes a time... and Roger Goodell et al should think about how much easier it HAS BEEN when negotiating with the players that the fans generally say, "Screw the players, they're rich anyway." Do you think the fans in Green Bay will be so supportive of you NEXT time? The boys at the top are pissing away a ton of good will they'll never get back. Are the gains you are shooting for worth it? Or as Drew Brees tweeted just moments ago, "Ironic that our league punishes those based on conduct detrimental. Whose CONDUCT is DETRIMENTAL now?"
NHL is a lot like that. They cashed in an entire season last time just to get the players to give in a small bit of their demands. Now, they put virtually the same deal- again, "take it or leave it"- that cashiered the last season on the table this time. What was that old saying about doing the same thing and expecting different results? Luckily for me, I follow the KHL closer than the NHL anyway. But you don't grow a league without new fans, and you don't get new fans without games. Seems kinda stupid to me, but what do I know? I mean geez, I can't even recognize all the good things Obama has done the last four years!
Anyway, here's the story on this week's NHFFL fantasy football. The B2s became the only remaining undefeated team by squeezing a 47-43 win out against the Elks. Thankfully for them, they needed just the 2 FGs from Mason Crosby to hang on, since the Elks got just one score out of their two MNF backs. Big Ben netted 12 for the winners, and MJD chipped in that long 9-point run. The Rangers had an off week, scoring two TDs below the league average this week and losing to the Greenwoods 30-27. Darus Heyward-Bey's TD sealed the deal for the Elves, who have a 2-1 record with the league's lowest-scoring offense. (It's not how you play, it's WHO you play!) The other previous-unbeaten, the Porkchops, lose in OT 60-55 to the Clock BBQs. With everything else a wash, it was the Clock BBQs bench D, Minnesota, beating Porkchop's bench D, Carolina, 6-1 that decided the game.
The KCAs lit it up again, topping the Angels 61-38 behind a receiving corps that scored 27 points. The Aguas kept the Beagles winless with a 51-37 victory. K Jason Hanson and the Chicago D accounted for 30 of the 51. Also still winless is the loser of the battle of two 0-2 teams, the Ducks, who lost to Buzz 26-19, mainly because of all those times Aaron Rodgers got sacked last night.
Next week features Beagles/Angels (Angels a 5-point favorite), the divisional Tommyknocker between the KCAs and the Rangers (KCAs by 7), Aguas/Greenwoods (Aguas by 5), CBBQ/Ducks (CBBQ by 8), B2s/Buzz (B2s by 11), and a big one between the Porkchops and Elks (Chops by 6).
Last week, the wonderful betting line had three winners (KCAs and Aguas covered, B2s hit their 4 points dead on) and three losers. Which makes us 6 covers and 6 losers for the year. Flip a coin, people.
Monday, September 24, 2012
Just pictures- and a video.
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| Last night's twi-night walk led us to a buck and his two friends. |
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| Don't let the light fool you. It was getting dark, and I was playing with the various functions of the camera to get these. How dark was it? Well, by the time we entered the woods less than five minutes later... |
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| I tried mightily to take a good moon picture. This was the best of them. |
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| If you zoom on that little blue dot, it's Vega. |
Today, the first part of our walk was a blur. Without TMI, let's just say the one thing I like about all the socceristas is they require port-a-johns. Afterwords, we played Scrappy's choice...
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| ...and naturally, he chose to go down to the creek. |
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| His next choice was to have me cross the creek on those stones. Really? |
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| Hey! Don't be yanking me now! |
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| Safe on the other side! See what I walked across? |
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| The first thing you run into on the far side is this enormous dirt mound... |
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| ...and you have to cross in this gap between it and a smaller mound. |
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| A mainly-dry stream bed winds its way around the big mound to the creek. |
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| Scrappy finds the deer's path into the retirement community yard. |
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| After that, a rise takes you up into the remaining woods on the south-west side of the bridge. As you can see, it's a little barren. |
Today, like most of the weekend, I'm feeling my years. Emotionally, not so much physically. A line from a song on the Beach Boys That's Why God Made The Radio hit me hard today:
You've been thinking 'bout some things we used to do
Thinking 'bout when life was still in front of you...
Of course I know you are getting sick of me talking about this album. But where Pet Sounds incapsulated life coming out of teen age, this lp showcases life now that it's all behind you, desperately trying to hang on, to go back to a younger day, and at last releasing the old dreams to the sunset that is reality. The last song captures where my soul is today. I hope you will bear with me and listen...
Summer’s gone
Summer’s gone away
Gone away
With yesterday
Old friends have gone
They’ve gone their separate ways
Our dreams hold on
For those who still have more to say
Summer’s gone
Gone like yesterday
The nights grow cold
It’s time to go
I’m thinking maybe I’ll just stay
Another summer gone
Summer’s gone
It’s finally sinking in
One day begins
Another ends
I live them all and back again
Summer’s gone
I’m gonna sit and watch the waves
We laugh, we cry
We live then die
And dream about our yesterday....
Digestion: Sunday + 1 Message
I actually have three different stories here that lead to my point, that point being to be effective Christians, we need to know the task assigned us. Sound familiar?
I told you yesterday that I had heard two effective, moving sermons that I needed to "digest" before turning into messages. About twenty minutes ago as I type, digestion on one of them occurred.
This was a sermon by David Jeremiah on the raising of Lazarus. One (just one) of his main points comes with the fact that while Jesus Himself did the miraculous, He made the people gathered do the "mundane" tasks of rolling back the tomb and unwrapping Lazarus. At first glance, this seems like the glorious TV surgeon who walks into the operating theatre, makes a few cuts and stitches, grabs a towel to clean his hands, and says, "Close up for me" as he leaves. But it's not, not when you frame it in terms of the Christian's new life. We are expected to "roll back the stone" by the preaching of the Gospel and witnessing; Jesus miraculously comes into their heart; and then it is our responsibility to "unwrap" the newbie by teaching him the Gospel.
Now one of the things I always mentally do during most any sermon is look for the "other-testamental analogue"; that is, if something happens in one Testament, it often has a similar occurance in the other. Here, I saw that analogue as Saul's big sin in I Samuel 13. Saul was the first King of Israel, and counted on guidance from the priest Samuel, the nation's spiritual leader. Saul had gathered the army of Israel for war against those pesky Phillistines. Samuel instructed Saul to wait seven days until he came to do the proper sacrifices. But just as Jesus had tarried days before arriving at Bethany- with Lazarus dying as a result- Samuel tarried past the seven days. The ever-fearful Israelites began to slowly go AWOL, and Saul knew he had to do something before the army dispersed.
But he did the wrong thing- he took up the job of Samuel and did the sacrifices himself before the people all scattered. Not surprising when you figure at his annointing he was found hiding in the baggage (I Sam 10:22). He took on the task of God (or at least his chosen servant) instead of doing his own job- rallying the troops. Even when his successor David was crushed by the kidnapping of his own families, he knew the job at hand was to rally the troops (I Sam 30), and he did so. Saul, as temporal leader, should have spoken to his men, encouraging them through the waiting, that they didn't lose heart until Samuel got there. Instead, he lost heart and panicked, and tried to do something that God reserved to Himself. And thus, he lost everything.
Which brings me to my final story. FoxNews reported yesterday that nearly 1,000 pastors, under the guidance of a group called Alliance Defending Freedom, are going to play a game of dare ya with the IRS. Every election year, the IRS warns pastors that preaching politics from the pulpit is against the Establishment Clause in the Constitution, and could result in the loss of their church's tax-exempt status. Generally, the IRS is all bluster and rarely does anything about violations. This group is going to preach politics anyway in an effort to force the IRS to act, at which point they will take it into the courts and try to get the action overturned as a free-speech issue.
Many Christians will loudly say, "Of course it's a free speech issue! Why shouldn't pastors be able to guide their flock in any way their conscience leads them?" And I agree- to a point. And the point of Saul is that point.
A pastor's job when preaching is twofold: evangelize and edify. Or, if you will, "roll away the rock" and "unwrap Lazarus". The goverment's job is "lead the citizens" or, again if you will, "rally the troops". If a note about politics is a tangetal issue in a message that brings the Gospel and enlightens the faithful toward the Word Of God, so be it. But if a sermon is focused on candidate, issue, platform, or personality, it has no part in a church. If a pastor feels the need to speak his mind on a political subject, there are rallies and speaking opportunities by the score. Let him go there. The church is for the preaching of the Gospel. Period. And there will be repercussions for crossing that line- just as there was for Saul.
You ask why it is that there is such a severe battle going on about whether "a Christian shouldn't vote" one way or the other? Why Christians cannot even agree on what SHOULD be preached about politics? Because pastors HAVE preached politics from the pulpit... while the army slowly drifts away. A good exmple of this is the Catholic Church preaching for years in the battle against abortion and renmoving prayer from school- both solidly Democrat ideals- while their parishes have voted Democrat for every Presidential election except Reagan's two terms and Nixon's second. There are more than enough people discussing politics and what it means to the voter's moral stands. Preacher, you want to keep your congregation, the Church in America, from drifting away? PREACH GOD.
I have never been afraid here to say when I think Christians are fighting the wrong battle. And perhaps it is not the wrong battle. But the pulpit is the wrong place.
I told you yesterday that I had heard two effective, moving sermons that I needed to "digest" before turning into messages. About twenty minutes ago as I type, digestion on one of them occurred.
This was a sermon by David Jeremiah on the raising of Lazarus. One (just one) of his main points comes with the fact that while Jesus Himself did the miraculous, He made the people gathered do the "mundane" tasks of rolling back the tomb and unwrapping Lazarus. At first glance, this seems like the glorious TV surgeon who walks into the operating theatre, makes a few cuts and stitches, grabs a towel to clean his hands, and says, "Close up for me" as he leaves. But it's not, not when you frame it in terms of the Christian's new life. We are expected to "roll back the stone" by the preaching of the Gospel and witnessing; Jesus miraculously comes into their heart; and then it is our responsibility to "unwrap" the newbie by teaching him the Gospel.
Now one of the things I always mentally do during most any sermon is look for the "other-testamental analogue"; that is, if something happens in one Testament, it often has a similar occurance in the other. Here, I saw that analogue as Saul's big sin in I Samuel 13. Saul was the first King of Israel, and counted on guidance from the priest Samuel, the nation's spiritual leader. Saul had gathered the army of Israel for war against those pesky Phillistines. Samuel instructed Saul to wait seven days until he came to do the proper sacrifices. But just as Jesus had tarried days before arriving at Bethany- with Lazarus dying as a result- Samuel tarried past the seven days. The ever-fearful Israelites began to slowly go AWOL, and Saul knew he had to do something before the army dispersed.
But he did the wrong thing- he took up the job of Samuel and did the sacrifices himself before the people all scattered. Not surprising when you figure at his annointing he was found hiding in the baggage (I Sam 10:22). He took on the task of God (or at least his chosen servant) instead of doing his own job- rallying the troops. Even when his successor David was crushed by the kidnapping of his own families, he knew the job at hand was to rally the troops (I Sam 30), and he did so. Saul, as temporal leader, should have spoken to his men, encouraging them through the waiting, that they didn't lose heart until Samuel got there. Instead, he lost heart and panicked, and tried to do something that God reserved to Himself. And thus, he lost everything.
Which brings me to my final story. FoxNews reported yesterday that nearly 1,000 pastors, under the guidance of a group called Alliance Defending Freedom, are going to play a game of dare ya with the IRS. Every election year, the IRS warns pastors that preaching politics from the pulpit is against the Establishment Clause in the Constitution, and could result in the loss of their church's tax-exempt status. Generally, the IRS is all bluster and rarely does anything about violations. This group is going to preach politics anyway in an effort to force the IRS to act, at which point they will take it into the courts and try to get the action overturned as a free-speech issue.
Many Christians will loudly say, "Of course it's a free speech issue! Why shouldn't pastors be able to guide their flock in any way their conscience leads them?" And I agree- to a point. And the point of Saul is that point.
A pastor's job when preaching is twofold: evangelize and edify. Or, if you will, "roll away the rock" and "unwrap Lazarus". The goverment's job is "lead the citizens" or, again if you will, "rally the troops". If a note about politics is a tangetal issue in a message that brings the Gospel and enlightens the faithful toward the Word Of God, so be it. But if a sermon is focused on candidate, issue, platform, or personality, it has no part in a church. If a pastor feels the need to speak his mind on a political subject, there are rallies and speaking opportunities by the score. Let him go there. The church is for the preaching of the Gospel. Period. And there will be repercussions for crossing that line- just as there was for Saul.
You ask why it is that there is such a severe battle going on about whether "a Christian shouldn't vote" one way or the other? Why Christians cannot even agree on what SHOULD be preached about politics? Because pastors HAVE preached politics from the pulpit... while the army slowly drifts away. A good exmple of this is the Catholic Church preaching for years in the battle against abortion and renmoving prayer from school- both solidly Democrat ideals- while their parishes have voted Democrat for every Presidential election except Reagan's two terms and Nixon's second. There are more than enough people discussing politics and what it means to the voter's moral stands. Preacher, you want to keep your congregation, the Church in America, from drifting away? PREACH GOD.
I have never been afraid here to say when I think Christians are fighting the wrong battle. And perhaps it is not the wrong battle. But the pulpit is the wrong place.
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Sunday notes
I know some of you out there have wondered where my Sunday messages have been. Well, I have some pretty stiff criteria on what to post on this subject. First, It needs to be based on something I had to learn. Second, it has to be something that I am taking to heart. Third it has to have the proper period of digestion. Lately, I have either struggled to have myself in the right mind-set, or haven't been led by something compelling enough, or haven't been compelled enough. Today, I heard a strong, compelling pair of sermons- but digestion is still working on them. In other words, if I am to give you the lesson I learn, two things must happen- I must learn, and I must be able to tellit in a beneficial way. On the bright side, you all aren't paying me for insight, so no one's getting short-changed.
This morning, I read an excellent blog post on Surviving Boys about what it means to be an independant voter. I'd like to make two observations before you check it out, though. First, though Juli and I sometimes disagree on the candidates' "level of morality", we are pretty much in agreement on everything else, and I thought she did an excellent job on this piece. Second, I guess I hadn't really given much thought to the "levels" of being an independant voter. For example, with rare occasions of exception (many of which I came to regret), I have generally voted Republican. But being independant for me has always meant that, while voting one way, I had the freedom to vote the other on occasion without the broccoli gods smiting me for "betraying the party line". I believe that the other end of the spectrum for me are those who claim independant status because of an axe they wish to grind, whether they are a minority party adherant (say a communist, libertarian, or neo-nazi) who claim independance to deride all parties, or the system, or what have you. Juli clearly shows what it means to be an honest-to-gosh independant- one who does her own thinking, weighs what is said on her experience of what has been done, and votes her conscience. Okay, no go read her post, I promise you won't be missing anything.
Okay, in the meantime I thought I would bring up that the battle between myself and KC over who picks college football the best goes on. This week, he picked 46 winners to my 43 to win his first week out of four. So far this year, I've picked 206 winners for a 74.37%, and he has 203 for a 73.29 %.
In other news, as we speak I am keeping one eye on the text summary of the ongoing game between Lokomotiv and Dinamo Riga. Friday was out last game and we managed to snap a two game losing streak with a 4-2 win over Moscow Spartak. They took the early 1-0 lead in front of 9,000 screaming Yaroslavlians, but Alexei Kalyuzhny tied it with under 15 ticks to go in the first period, his 3rd of the season. We went on to score 4 straight times, all but one of them in scrambles out front like the first one. Mikelis Redlihis got #2 6 1/2 minutes into the second; Yegor Yakolev, a member of last years' VHL team, got his first at the game's halfway point; and Yegor Averin tallied his 3rd on a breakaway 4 minutes into the final stanza. Spartak got a goal late in the third, but came no closer.
Todays game has been a tight affair, and as I write is just now going to OT tied at 1-1. Andris Dzerins scored at the halfway point to put the Lithuanian visitors on top, but Stefan Kronwall bagged his third at the 7:04 mark of the third to tie things up. Despite a seven-shot advantage in the third, that's all we got.
While we're waiting for OT to get going, here's a new pick of Mr. Woody Pecker.
I guess while we're waiting I could mention that NHL star Alex Ovechkin scored his first goal of the year with Dynamo Moscow in a 3-1 loss to SKA St. Petersburg. Another NHLer, Ilya Kovalchuk had an assist for SKA in the win. Also, I see Martin Thornberg, a Swede in his second season with Torpedo after 12 years with HV71 in Sweden's elitserien, scored three times in a 10:04 stretch of the second in the ongoing game between Torpedo and Spartak. Wow! In the meantime, the 5 minite OT is finished with no scoring, so we go to the shoot-out. Our first two shooters are stopped, so are theirs. Jamie Johnson, a Canuck who spent last year with Grand Rapids of the AHL, scored for Riga on their third try; Niklas Hagman ties it back up with a score for us. Our goalie, Vitaly Kolesnik, stops their fourth shooter. And then Emil Galimov, one of last year's stars, beats Maris Jucers for the Lokomotiv win! It's only the second game he's gotten into, and he was hot late, with two of our four OT shots to go with his game-ender. That puts us at 3 regulation wins, two shootout wins, and 2 losses. Next up is Tuesday against Donbass, who just got a score from would-be Philly Fyler Ruslan Fedetenko to beat Spartak in a shootout.
This morning, I read an excellent blog post on Surviving Boys about what it means to be an independant voter. I'd like to make two observations before you check it out, though. First, though Juli and I sometimes disagree on the candidates' "level of morality", we are pretty much in agreement on everything else, and I thought she did an excellent job on this piece. Second, I guess I hadn't really given much thought to the "levels" of being an independant voter. For example, with rare occasions of exception (many of which I came to regret), I have generally voted Republican. But being independant for me has always meant that, while voting one way, I had the freedom to vote the other on occasion without the broccoli gods smiting me for "betraying the party line". I believe that the other end of the spectrum for me are those who claim independant status because of an axe they wish to grind, whether they are a minority party adherant (say a communist, libertarian, or neo-nazi) who claim independance to deride all parties, or the system, or what have you. Juli clearly shows what it means to be an honest-to-gosh independant- one who does her own thinking, weighs what is said on her experience of what has been done, and votes her conscience. Okay, no go read her post, I promise you won't be missing anything.
Okay, in the meantime I thought I would bring up that the battle between myself and KC over who picks college football the best goes on. This week, he picked 46 winners to my 43 to win his first week out of four. So far this year, I've picked 206 winners for a 74.37%, and he has 203 for a 73.29 %.
In other news, as we speak I am keeping one eye on the text summary of the ongoing game between Lokomotiv and Dinamo Riga. Friday was out last game and we managed to snap a two game losing streak with a 4-2 win over Moscow Spartak. They took the early 1-0 lead in front of 9,000 screaming Yaroslavlians, but Alexei Kalyuzhny tied it with under 15 ticks to go in the first period, his 3rd of the season. We went on to score 4 straight times, all but one of them in scrambles out front like the first one. Mikelis Redlihis got #2 6 1/2 minutes into the second; Yegor Yakolev, a member of last years' VHL team, got his first at the game's halfway point; and Yegor Averin tallied his 3rd on a breakaway 4 minutes into the final stanza. Spartak got a goal late in the third, but came no closer.
Todays game has been a tight affair, and as I write is just now going to OT tied at 1-1. Andris Dzerins scored at the halfway point to put the Lithuanian visitors on top, but Stefan Kronwall bagged his third at the 7:04 mark of the third to tie things up. Despite a seven-shot advantage in the third, that's all we got.
While we're waiting for OT to get going, here's a new pick of Mr. Woody Pecker.
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| Geez, I used to be neat and entertaining; now, I'm just halftime entertainment. What an upside-down world! |
Saturday, September 22, 2012
What's your take?
I have three stories this morning for you to weigh in on. The first will only be news if you don't generally read the comment sections, because I actually mentioned it on a comment. The star troll of our post yesterday returned to the blog and turned down my kind invitation thusly:
CW, I've had my fun stirring the pot here, but truthfully, the religious right bores me. I have no interest in reading your nonsense. Do you also believe in the Easter Bunny?
Thus confirming he is a troll ("had my fun stirring the pot"), re-running the same old lines, and adding the last comment so that we know that he is a troll working for Atheists For Obama. I did send him a reply:
That's okay, my arguments are too intelligent for you. As for what bores you, thank you for establishing yourself as a troublemaking troll. Too afraid to self-identify, too afraid to come over to my place and have me put a mirror to your face. Feel free to crawl back under your rock, I know your kind, and I know you'll stick your head out again sooner or later where people with real ideas and a sense of morality will play whack-a-troll with you once again. Too bad you won't come over, though, I am sure my readers would have found you just as "entertaining" as this group has.
And thus, our opportunity to play whack-a-troll ends. Oh, well. Next story is one for the ladies, involving the definition of a "slut" as modified by a certain gay activist. You may read the article here if you like, but let me just show you the gist of it:
"A lot of people define slut as someone who has too much sex or too many partners, but according to who?" (Francisco Ramirez asks as he makes a dramatic face. "The slut fairy?"
Ramirez shared the "positive" side to being called a slut. "But did you know that some people use slut in a positive way? They use it to define a woman who is confident in her sexuality and being the sexual being that she is," he said. "I personally think there's a little bit of slut in all of us. So embrace it!"
So, ladies, you tell me. Valid definition? Is there a little bit of slut in you? Or just another whack job with the courage to put his name and face to his stupidity (which puts him at least a half-step up the evolutionary rung from our troll friend)?
Next story is an "I told them so." Way back here and here I warned Barackobama.com through their attackwatch division that animals were out to get him. Now, it has come to pass:
First the raccoons, now deer? Where will it end? Will the President be ambushed with his family at the Washington Zoo? Oh, the humanity!
CW, I've had my fun stirring the pot here, but truthfully, the religious right bores me. I have no interest in reading your nonsense. Do you also believe in the Easter Bunny?
Thus confirming he is a troll ("had my fun stirring the pot"), re-running the same old lines, and adding the last comment so that we know that he is a troll working for Atheists For Obama. I did send him a reply:
That's okay, my arguments are too intelligent for you. As for what bores you, thank you for establishing yourself as a troublemaking troll. Too afraid to self-identify, too afraid to come over to my place and have me put a mirror to your face. Feel free to crawl back under your rock, I know your kind, and I know you'll stick your head out again sooner or later where people with real ideas and a sense of morality will play whack-a-troll with you once again. Too bad you won't come over, though, I am sure my readers would have found you just as "entertaining" as this group has.
And thus, our opportunity to play whack-a-troll ends. Oh, well. Next story is one for the ladies, involving the definition of a "slut" as modified by a certain gay activist. You may read the article here if you like, but let me just show you the gist of it:
"A lot of people define slut as someone who has too much sex or too many partners, but according to who?" (Francisco Ramirez asks as he makes a dramatic face. "The slut fairy?"
Ramirez shared the "positive" side to being called a slut. "But did you know that some people use slut in a positive way? They use it to define a woman who is confident in her sexuality and being the sexual being that she is," he said. "I personally think there's a little bit of slut in all of us. So embrace it!"
So, ladies, you tell me. Valid definition? Is there a little bit of slut in you? Or just another whack job with the courage to put his name and face to his stupidity (which puts him at least a half-step up the evolutionary rung from our troll friend)?
Next story is an "I told them so." Way back here and here I warned Barackobama.com through their attackwatch division that animals were out to get him. Now, it has come to pass:
Texas couple snaps photo of deer destroying Obama front yard sign
Published September 21, 2012
FoxNews.com
- The offending deer, caught on camera by Tom Priem's wife seconds after destroying the Obama campaign sign. (Courtesy: Tom and Beth Priem)
Rudolph the red-state reindeer?
A Texas couple determined to find out who had been damaging a sign in their front yard proclaiming their support for President Obama's re-election bid caught the offender on Wednesday. Tom Priem, a software support engineer in Austin, told FoxNews.com he and his wife, who live on a block where political signs dot front yards, were fed up with seeing only their Obama sign repeatedly defaced.
“The sign had holes poked in it like somebody had stuck a knife through it,” Priem said Friday. “At first I thought it was somebody who didn’t like Obama.”
Priem said he even called a city hotline to document the incident in case a more insidious offender was to blame. He couldn’t believe his eyes when his wife showed him the surveillance photo she snapped seconds after the campaign sign was destroyed - by a buck.
The varmint's vandalism began about 10 days ago and it’s unclear what the animal has against the sign.
“People across the street have signs and their signs have not been attacked,” he said. “It’s just a weird thing. Maybe they don’t like something in the front yard where they graze.”
Priem’s wife, Beth, captured the deer on camera early Wednesday, just seconds after the Obama sign fell from its antlers. The commotion sent the family’s Yorkshire terrier, Charlie, into a frenzy.
“Charlie chased him until the deer jumped the fence and got away,” Priem said. “I’m just glad it wasn’t a human, either a silly kid or a strange adult.”
The Priems will now bring the sign closer to their home in hopes that the proximity keeps the non-diplomatic deer away.
“It’s just a weird thing,” Tom Priem said. “We were making fun of it, saying the deer must be a Republican.”
A Texas couple determined to find out who had been damaging a sign in their front yard proclaiming their support for President Obama's re-election bid caught the offender on Wednesday. Tom Priem, a software support engineer in Austin, told FoxNews.com he and his wife, who live on a block where political signs dot front yards, were fed up with seeing only their Obama sign repeatedly defaced.
“The sign had holes poked in it like somebody had stuck a knife through it,” Priem said Friday. “At first I thought it was somebody who didn’t like Obama.”
“We were making fun of it, saying the deer must be a Republican."- Tom Priem, Austin resident
Priem said he even called a city hotline to document the incident in case a more insidious offender was to blame. He couldn’t believe his eyes when his wife showed him the surveillance photo she snapped seconds after the campaign sign was destroyed - by a buck.
The varmint's vandalism began about 10 days ago and it’s unclear what the animal has against the sign.
“People across the street have signs and their signs have not been attacked,” he said. “It’s just a weird thing. Maybe they don’t like something in the front yard where they graze.”
Priem’s wife, Beth, captured the deer on camera early Wednesday, just seconds after the Obama sign fell from its antlers. The commotion sent the family’s Yorkshire terrier, Charlie, into a frenzy.
“Charlie chased him until the deer jumped the fence and got away,” Priem said. “I’m just glad it wasn’t a human, either a silly kid or a strange adult.”
The Priems will now bring the sign closer to their home in hopes that the proximity keeps the non-diplomatic deer away.
“It’s just a weird thing,” Tom Priem said. “We were making fun of it, saying the deer must be a Republican.”
First the raccoons, now deer? Where will it end? Will the President be ambushed with his family at the Washington Zoo? Oh, the humanity!
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| "Don't worry, Mr. President! We're still with you!" |
Friday, September 21, 2012
Opinion, judgement, and trolls.
I've just come from a blog wherein a mighty firestorm is raging, because the blogger dared to ask the question, "How can you be a Christian and a democrat?" Based on not only the platform of the party but also the responses of delegates at that convention. YES, MORE POLITICS. I'm sorry, but it is important and especially now! Those that wish to skip on can scroll down because I have pictures that I intend to put up when I'm done unless I get too long winded.
This blogger has been accused of being judgemental, along with those who have supported her. Don't speak evil of others, they say. Judge not lest ye be judged. Funny how they can pretend that they live their lives according to that Biblical tenet and ignore such as, "Thou shalt not kill," and "Before you were formed in your mother's womb, I knew you." But here's the point. The question was a valid one, and not "judgemental". If you are a Christian that believes the Bible to be the inerrant Word Of God, then the democratic party supports a plethora of ideas that are against your faith. (Not to mention that Obama's lackeys have told approximately 5% of the lies ever told by mankind in the last two weeks {the following was a made up statistic, meant to inject humor while pointing out a severe liability of the Obama administration}) If you are a "pick and choose Christian" then by all means, disagree. Just be prepared to give an accounting in the next life why you didn't follow the playbook. If you are a non-believer, then the whole thing never applied to you, so why get involved?
Which is a nice segue into my next point. Among the commentors was someone who fits my definition of a troll. I'm going to put up some of his and my exchange (with the understanding that other people said things within this but I am respectfully leaving them out). So without further ado, let's play, "You Might Be A Troll If..."
Anonymous (date/time link redacted)
Sorry, you must watch too much Faux News. No one cheered 'abortion any time, any age, etc.) and no one booed God. Time for you to get into the 21st century and turn off Rush Limbaugh and his hate-filled propaganda. No one is forcing you to have an abortion. I am personally against it, except for rape and incest. Tell me you would carry a rapist's child and raise him/her and I know you are the misguided one. Four More Years!
First clue that you are dealing with a troll- "anonymous". Not every anonymous is a troll. Some have legitimate phobias about putting themselves out there. This person, however, clearly has not ever been a follower of the blogger, was "trolling along" for political/religious discussions to invigle themselves into, and has not the courage to self identify.
Second, lead with an insult, even if it is a sideways one (Fox News is false news, therefore you are deluded.) Follow with more insults ("get into the 21st century", "hate-filled propaganda", "you are the misguided one".) This way, as you'll soon see, you can get all self righteous and claim that the other person isn't being a good Christian if and when they snark back.
Third, bring up Rush Limbaugh/Glenn Beck/ Bill O'Reilly. Even though you've probably never listened to any of them- at least, not long enough to hear anything except you don't agree with them.
Four, stupidly declare your true agenda ("Four more years!"). This way, we'll know how to respond to you in a way that you can bring out the rest of your sound-bytes (in this case, generated by Barackobama.com) in following posts.
Okay, here's my rejoinder, and his next response.
CW Martin
Then how about not voting democrat because they booed including God in their platform? Or that they rejected gift baskets from the local Christian Churches because "You don't believe in abortion"? THESE THINGS HAPPENED. I don't need to listen to any radio guy to recognize the many lies this President has told, and he's probably doubled that amount in just the last two weeks! Perhaps you listen to too much of the news-from-the-left on CNN and MSNBC. You might want to dig into a few of the things your guy has gotten caught in- particularly the Libya thing- and maybe instead of saying 4 more years, you'll sing a different tune.
Come on over to my blog, anonymous, and read my post on the Libya mess. I'm not afraid of trolls.
AnonymousCNN is in the middle...first thing propaganda does is marginalize other news sources. You are too ignorant to figure this out. As a Christian, you are OK with the hate spewed from Faux News and Rush. The churches I grew up in preached compassion for your fellow man/woman. By voting Republican, you must have skipped that part...Good luck reconciling your faith and all the hate from the far, far, right...
Notice how it was alright to put "Rush Limbaugh and his hate-filled propaganda" and "Faux News" on HIS post, but attacks me for saying something about CNN and MSNBC by accusing the Great Destroyer of "marginalizing other news sources". Can you repeat after me: "What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander..."
Then, I am ignorant. Why? Because I don't bow to his superior wisdom, of course!
Next, to be a troll in a religious discussion, you HAVE to say you were raised in a church. Perhaps he was, but if it was any Church I went to- or would go to- I obviously missed the part about Republicans having no compassion for their fellow man. I guess I should go back in the Bible and look up the parts where compassion equals enslaving people to a welfare system too insidious to easily escape, or the part where compassion means killing babies seconds before their first breath. {The preceeding was a reference to partial-birth abortions, and not an attack on a woman's right to choose. I have no problems condemning doctors for skipping the Hippocratic oath to do this abomination; other abortions, the woman will have to weigh her conscience on her own.}
Oh, and don't forget to throw in the "attempt to guilt" ("Good luck reconciling your faith..."). Easy to add this when faith is just a thing to be mocked, isn't it? But, I digress.
CW Martin (First part a reference to another comment and thus removed) ... but what do you expect from a troll. Frankly, the lamestream media does enough to marginalize itself. Trolls like anonymous help that out, and if he/she were as intelligent as they think, they'd see how everything they say is a contradiction. BTW, troll, the invite's still open.
Anonymous (after other pro and con comments by others)
Pitiful responses...call Rush tomorrow and he'll tell you how to think...
And the number one rule of being a troll- Don't be original! Repeat worn out lines as often as possible!
So let's review the rules for being a troll:
Always post anonymously.
Be sure to insult early and often, so that you can be self-righteous later.
Third, bring up sources that oppose you and use them derogatorially.
Fourth, slip in a nugget that lets everyone know where you came from and how you got there.
Five, set up rules that must be followed by your opponant and flagrantly disregard them yourself.
Sixth, remind opponant that they are ignorant for not agreeing with you.
Seventh, claim a background of having been raised in the environment which you now oppose. That way you have more ammunition for being self-righteous.
Eighth, Use that supposed background to shame opponant for not being a very good whatever.
Ninth, sum up by repeating earlier "arguments".
If you can do all that, then you, too, might be a Troll! Good luck with that!
And now, pictures!
This blogger has been accused of being judgemental, along with those who have supported her. Don't speak evil of others, they say. Judge not lest ye be judged. Funny how they can pretend that they live their lives according to that Biblical tenet and ignore such as, "Thou shalt not kill," and "Before you were formed in your mother's womb, I knew you." But here's the point. The question was a valid one, and not "judgemental". If you are a Christian that believes the Bible to be the inerrant Word Of God, then the democratic party supports a plethora of ideas that are against your faith. (Not to mention that Obama's lackeys have told approximately 5% of the lies ever told by mankind in the last two weeks {the following was a made up statistic, meant to inject humor while pointing out a severe liability of the Obama administration}) If you are a "pick and choose Christian" then by all means, disagree. Just be prepared to give an accounting in the next life why you didn't follow the playbook. If you are a non-believer, then the whole thing never applied to you, so why get involved?
Which is a nice segue into my next point. Among the commentors was someone who fits my definition of a troll. I'm going to put up some of his and my exchange (with the understanding that other people said things within this but I am respectfully leaving them out). So without further ado, let's play, "You Might Be A Troll If..."
Second, lead with an insult, even if it is a sideways one (Fox News is false news, therefore you are deluded.) Follow with more insults ("get into the 21st century", "hate-filled propaganda", "you are the misguided one".) This way, as you'll soon see, you can get all self righteous and claim that the other person isn't being a good Christian if and when they snark back.
Third, bring up Rush Limbaugh/Glenn Beck/ Bill O'Reilly. Even though you've probably never listened to any of them- at least, not long enough to hear anything except you don't agree with them.
Four, stupidly declare your true agenda ("Four more years!"). This way, we'll know how to respond to you in a way that you can bring out the rest of your sound-bytes (in this case, generated by Barackobama.com) in following posts.
Okay, here's my rejoinder, and his next response.
CW Martin
Come on over to my blog, anonymous, and read my post on the Libya mess. I'm not afraid of trolls.
Anonymous
Notice how it was alright to put "Rush Limbaugh and his hate-filled propaganda" and "Faux News" on HIS post, but attacks me for saying something about CNN and MSNBC by accusing the Great Destroyer of "marginalizing other news sources". Can you repeat after me: "What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander..."
Then, I am ignorant. Why? Because I don't bow to his superior wisdom, of course!
Next, to be a troll in a religious discussion, you HAVE to say you were raised in a church. Perhaps he was, but if it was any Church I went to- or would go to- I obviously missed the part about Republicans having no compassion for their fellow man. I guess I should go back in the Bible and look up the parts where compassion equals enslaving people to a welfare system too insidious to easily escape, or the part where compassion means killing babies seconds before their first breath. {The preceeding was a reference to partial-birth abortions, and not an attack on a woman's right to choose. I have no problems condemning doctors for skipping the Hippocratic oath to do this abomination; other abortions, the woman will have to weigh her conscience on her own.}
Oh, and don't forget to throw in the "attempt to guilt" ("Good luck reconciling your faith..."). Easy to add this when faith is just a thing to be mocked, isn't it? But, I digress.
CW Martin (First part a reference to another comment and thus removed) ... but what do you expect from a troll. Frankly, the lamestream media does enough to marginalize itself. Trolls like anonymous help that out, and if he/she were as intelligent as they think, they'd see how everything they say is a contradiction. BTW, troll, the invite's still open.
So let's review the rules for being a troll:
Always post anonymously.
Be sure to insult early and often, so that you can be self-righteous later.
Third, bring up sources that oppose you and use them derogatorially.
Fourth, slip in a nugget that lets everyone know where you came from and how you got there.
Five, set up rules that must be followed by your opponant and flagrantly disregard them yourself.
Sixth, remind opponant that they are ignorant for not agreeing with you.
Seventh, claim a background of having been raised in the environment which you now oppose. That way you have more ammunition for being self-righteous.
Eighth, Use that supposed background to shame opponant for not being a very good whatever.
Ninth, sum up by repeating earlier "arguments".
If you can do all that, then you, too, might be a Troll! Good luck with that!
And now, pictures!
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| Later in the evening... |
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| Oh, say, does that Star-Spangled Banner yet wave.. |
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| In my continuing effort to bring you the finest in odd fungi... |
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| Faerie toilet? |
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| A little blue jay colony is forming on the woods beside "fields 15-17". |
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| Here began our journey exploring the ravines to the north of the trail. This moust be the low spot of the woods. |
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| Mostly it was more like this. |
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| Footholds to an ancient tree house... |
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| ..and by the looks of the tree, I mean ancient! |
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| You tell me, we'll both know. |
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| I don't know what the heck he was, but I sure had a hard time evicting him! |
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| Finish with a stop at The Spot. |
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| This morning, it was the all-chipmunk revue... |
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| Then we stumbled onto the lame-legged doe and her chillun. They weren't of a mood to pose, despite appearances. |
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| This was the doe that was stomping me in the video. Didn't see her kids until they took off. |
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| Oh, and chipmunks. |
