Sunday update

(Before I get going here, I point you out to the caps blog link to see the great Summer Sampler Taste Test.  Go on, it'll just take a minute!)

Yesterday, a day I've been eagerly awaiting arrived.  The atheists in Florida finally unveiled the world's first atheist monument (at least, the first since the Tower Of Babel).  I've been waiting to see what it had on it, all these famous quotes and whatnot.  I finally found a site that showed it and gave at least the main quotes, and I'd like to put in my two cents.

Before I start, though, I should say I was reading in the mainstream news some of what happened at the ceremony.  Demonstrations, "honk if you love Jesus", that's a part of free speech, and no worse than what the atheists would do at a similar function.  One guy threw a toilet seat and a roll of paper at the monument as he drove by.  Amusing?  Yes.  Necessary?  Productive?  Not really.  Another dude leapt up on top of it and thanked the atheists for providing a higher perch on which to preach the Gospel.  My opinion here is, I thought you weren't supposed to preach in desecrated temples.  Long story short, there are plenty of ways to make your feelings known and serve God without being juvenile.

That said, let's look at this monument, which appears to be a four-sided pillar with a park bench attached.

First quote:  "The Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion"  1796 Treaty of Tripoli.


First off, when you quote something, you are supposed to put in the indicia that it is part of a larger context, instead of just chopping out the part you want as if it stood alone.  Here's the whole thing:

As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion,—as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility, of Mussulmen [Muslims],—and as the said States never entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mahometan [Mohammedan] nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.

 

 

And either way, the statement has some truth-  the Constitution (excuse me, Frank, the Declaration of Independence) says, "...endowed by our Creator..." (Note the dots?  That means it is part of a larger whole.  They used to teach that in English grammar, you know).  However, the constitution, the Founders, even Thomas Jefferson recognized that there IS a Creator.  There is no "...or lack of one..." in any of the founding documents.

 

This is the central hypocrisy of atheism.  I have never heard of an atheist shouting down a Muslim, a Jew, or a Hindu.  Their only concern is deleting Christianity.  They claim this is because "it is the dominant religion in society".  I think that perhaps there is someone pulling their strings- and that someone has a vested self-interest in destroying the one true faith.  But if the atheists enjoy being played, good for them.

 

Oh, before we move on, I should point out that the pirate states broke the treaty within 5 years.  I guess that's what happens when you deal with people whose only moral foundation is "the innate goodness of evolved mankind".

 

Next quote:  "...When a religion is good, I conceive it will support itself; and when it does not support itself, and God does not take care to support it so that its professors are obliged to call for help of the civil power, ‘tis a sign, I apprehend, of its being a bad one."  Benjamin Franklin (In a letter dated October 9, 1790)

Here Franklin is speaking as a man come from a world where the government actively collected taxes and tithes FOR THE PURPOSE of supporting an established church.  This has NOTHING to do with the relationship between the church and government in the US of A.  That Franklin was right is born out in the spread of atheism and indifference in the European nations that did have the churches on "tithe welfare" for so long.  What it does NOT have to do with is the protection of the church and its members and their freedom rights JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE HAS.  The second great hypocrisy of atheism is that they are being "persecuted" every time a Christmas display is put up or a prayer is said in a public place.  Freedom of religion means that if the Valedictorian wants to thank the God he believes in for what he has achieved, he has as much right to do so as the atheist salutatorian has to give credit where they want in their speech.  But that's not what atheists want, they want the Christian to be silent.  Why is that?  Are they afraid of a "fairy tale"?  Do they then go home and get offended by Bugs Bunny because he isn't real either?  Or is there a reason behind keeping Christ in particular out of public life?


Third quote: "...It will never be pretended that any persons employed in that service had interviews with the gods, or were in any degree under the influence of Heaven..." John Adams, A Defense of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America, 1787-8.

Nice quote.  Here's another from the same man, to his wife concerning their sons:

"Let them revere nothing but religion, morality and liberty." 


Here's another, from the same writing the monument quotes:

The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the law of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.

Hmmm.  Sacred as THE LAW OF GOD, eh?

Here's another quote by Adams, in a letter to Jefferson:

"Twenty times in the course of my late reading have I been on the point of breaking out, "This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it!!!" But in this exclamation I would have been as fanatical as Bryant or Cleverly. Without religion this world would be something not fit to be mentioned in polite company, I mean hell."


Finally, let's tackle the arch-quote of the piece, from Madalyn Murray O'Hair:

“An atheist believes that a hospital should be built instead of a church.
An atheist believes that deed must be done instead of prayer said.
An atheist strives for involvement in life and not escape into death.
He wants disease conquered, poverty vanished, war eliminated.”


Well, perhaps if she had any idea of what being a Christian was all about, she'd have known that:

Christian churches minister to the sick, run hospitals.  Until liberals take away their right of conscience and try to shut them down.  So does an atheist want hospitals- or only atheist hospitals?

A Christian prays for guidance in finding the proper action, and prays that God's blessing be upon it.  And then, the Christian does the appropriate action.

A Christian looks at death not as an escape, but a reward.  Their involvement in life is geared towards reaching that reward.

And, if she was a historian at all, she might have a hard time explaining how much atheists like Lenin, Stalin, and Mao fought against disease, poverty, and war.

But since she is no longer with us, I'll direct the question to the atheists out there:

If you think we should be fighting poverty, disease, and war- then why are you so proud of building a park bench?



Anyone?



Okay, then let me give my take:  Atheists are just as evangelical as Christians, Muslims, or any other religion.  They just don't admit which god they evangelize for.

Sunday Message

Here I sit Saturday morning after a battle with self-pity.  Things aren't in the best shape here, I won't lie.  They also could be a lot worse, again I won't lie.  Trying to figure out how this and that will get paid for with no money coming in, trying to find help when every help site seems more interested in those who come to help THEM.  (Charities, I get it, but where are the "if you need help" pages on their sites?)  Even tried to apply for a loan and was rejected because they said I put my monthly gross income as $0.01.  (I mentioned that one might say, "That's gotta be a mistake", and contacting the applicant before denying.)  It really seems that to get any help you either have to have enough money that you don't really need it, or else be broke, homeless, and fighting addiction.


One thing that hit me in the head, as Laurie sought to lift my growing depression, was her mentioning using all this as "a perfect opportunity to work on relying on my faith."  After noting that it was somewhat difficult in my current frame of mind to view this as an opportunity, I agreed that that's what is needed.  I told her that part of the problem today has been trying to make sense of the 3-chapter readings this week (Ruth through 1 Chronicles), and that indeed, my little voice has been yelling, "Apply it, idiot!"

Even as she spoke, I was looking at the chapters in that light.  In Ruth, she had a chance to live off her birth family, but instead followed Naomi to a place where they had NO men, NO money, NO food, NO land- but did it anyway, following the harvesters for gleanings, because of Faith ("...and your God shall be my God...").   In 1 Samuel, Hannah used her faith to trust in God, even to the point of giving up the most precious thing in her life to God- and God rewarded not only her but all Israel.  In giving up the child Samuel, she received more children.  In 2 Samuel, David kept the faith in not approving the actions of his nephew Joab, choosing to honor God instead of man- and not only was his house blessed, but eventually God repaid those who acted sinfully.  In 1 Kings, Solomon had the opportunity to enrich himself, but instead through faith humbled himself, asking only the ability to do what God had assigned him.  For that, he was granted his request, AND was enriched.

But 1 Chronicles was a mashup of genealogy so confusing that people were being mentioned by two different names, generations were skipped and backtracked, and most of the people who had a mention beyond "he begat" were questionable at the very best:  Nimrod, the first to exalt himself above God; the Canaanites, so evil their individual members weren't even mentioned; Hezron, who at 60 years old, raped a girl, got her pregnant, and LATER married her; Achon, called the Troubler of Israel; And a figure we mentioned before, Er son of Judah.  He was wicked, and God killed him.  Why?  A little speculation here.  We know God intended the Messiah to come through the line of Judah.  Judah had to "take" a wife (Tamar) for Er, giving us the impression that Er wasn't hot on finding one himself.  Was Er homosexual?  We don't know, because apparently it was just one of his many problems, but regardless he was refusing his honor of being part of the line that led to Christ.  So God "slew him", and the honor went to Onan.  And as you recall, Onan declined the offer by "emitting his seed into the ground"- because with Er dead, he had the birthright, and if he had a son by Tamar, that son would assume the birthright.  So God killed him, too.

At this point, Judah was unable or unwilling to see the evil in his boys, and rather than give Tamar to his next son (who was just a boy) just to see him dead (which he thought Tamar was doing), he told her to "wait until the boy grows up", and then ignored her.  So she dressed up as a harlot, got pregnant by Judah without his knowing who she was, and when Judah found out, he had to admit "she was more righteous in this than I was".  So the line to the Messiah led through Tamar's child, Perez.  And where do you find faithfulness in this mess?

Because God was faithful.  The line was going to go through Judah; and if Satan was going to intercept the plan of Salvation, stopping the line right here would be the way.  But God was determined that the line was going to go through Judah, through Tamar, and despite every stupidity Satan could through at the situation, GOD WAS FAITHFUL.  And that, in the end, is the most important faithfulness of all.

Oh, I just got an e-mail.  I gave the reason on my loan application, "laid off till September", which is pretty close to what we're looking at.  Their response was, since you are going to be laid off that long,
We are unable to extend loans out even if it is a temporary layoff.  Because of this we are unable to verify income. 

So like I said, if I didn't need the money, they'd give it to me.  Okay, God.  Your turn.  I'm out of kids to give Tamar to.

Time Machine week 74

It's June 28, 1971.  Today, a very odd battle occurred in the Supreme Court.  You see, Cassius Clay, AKA Muhammad Ali, had been drafted into the army, but claimed conscientious objector status because of his conversion to Islam.  The local draft board denied him and had him arrested.  The board of appeals asked the DOJ for advice, and they said he did not meet ANY of the three requirements (of thought, conscience, or religion)  for the status.  The appeals board  thus turned him down; and despite their disagreeing with DOJ on 2 of the 3 requirements, the Fifth Circuit also denied him.  After Thurgood Marshall recused himself, the court had voted 5-3 against Ali.  But in researching to write the majority opinion, Justice J.M. Harlan found he was convinced that DOJ had misrepresented the case and changed his vote (this according to Bob Woodward and Scott Armstrong's book The Brethren).  This would have left a 4-4 deadlock which would have sent Ali to prison; but Justice Potter Stewart came up with a compromise.  Throw out the basis for the deadlock, and judge it on the fact that the board of appeals had never given Ali the reason for his denial after they got their "advice" from the DOJ.  Therefore, they had violated his rights; and today, the court voted 8-0 in Ali's favor.

"I ain't got no quarrel with them Viet Cong ... They never called me nigger."

Welcome to Time Machine, and a bit different one than you're used to.  This week, we begin the Great Fifties Countdown!  Along with the handful of fifties songs each week for the next five weeks, I'll be doing just one of the usual features... and this week, it's the 45 at 45 with Bobby Goldsboro!  Also, a decent sized set of birthday songs, and a new top dog!  And I'll even throw you in a video.  Let's float like a butterfly, sing like a bee!


15 songs debut this week, and three of them get a mention.  The Undisputed Truth come in at 91 with Smiling Faces Sometimes; Chicago stops in at 74 with Beginnings; and the high debut was Marvin Gaye at 67 with the haunting Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology).

I thought we were going to have another bumper crop of birthday songs this week, but it fizzled out in the sixties and totaled a decent 14.

 Turning 30, we have Taco's Puttin' On The Ritz, a song first performed by Harry Richman 84 years ago.  Along with it, we also have Men Without Hat's Safety Dance (a song the rest of the world loved far more than I), and an overlooked hit by ELO:



Turning 35 are Foreigner's Hot Blooded; Eddie Money's recent Geico hit, Two Tickets To Paradise;  one of my all timers, Chris Rea and Fool If You Think It's Over; Teddy Pendegrast's Close The Door; Alicia Bridges' I Love The Nightlife; and Rick James' debut single You And I.  Wings' Bond theme Live And Let Die turns 40 this week.

An unusual anomaly in the 45th birthday songs:  nestled in between the debuts of two different versions of the song Dreams Of The Ordinary Housewife (Wayne Newton's at #75, Glen Campbell's at #77) lies the Moody Blues with Tuesday Afternoon.  Also turning 45 are the Doors' Hello I Love You, Tammy Wynette's D-I-V-O-R-C-E, and Mason Williams' Classical Gas.  And with that, blow out the candles...

And now, the first five for this week...

100- Love Potion # 9, The Clovers, #23, 1959.  One of those great Lieber/Stoller comps that the Coasters did so well with, it would be more famously redone in 1965 by the Searchers.  The Clovers would hit #14 R&B with another hit made bigger later- Blue Velvet- in 1954.

99- 16 Candles, The Crests, #2, 1958. A true multi-ethnic band, with an Italian-American, a Puerto Rican, and three blacks- including Luther Vandross' sister Patricia.

98- Love Is Strange, Mickey And Sylvia, #11, 1956.  This is the Sylvia who hit the charts in 1973 with Pillow Talk- but not, as Casey Casem once said, the same Sylvia who hit with  the country crossover Nobody in 1982.

97- Secret Love, Doris Day, #1, 1954.  One of two hits in this countdown for Ms. Day, Slim Whitman hit #2 at the same time with this.

And, another candidate for next year's beauty contest!

96- It's Late, Ricky Nelson, #9, 1959.  Written by Dorsey Burnette, father of Billy, who replaced Lindsay Buckingham in Fleetwood Mac.  One of 5 Nelson appearances.


The big mover, climbing 24 spots to #62, former Monkee Davy Jones with Rainy Jane; the big dropper- and it ain't very far- is in the top 40, falling-from-the-top-ten division.

Our 45-at-45 45 this week is Bobby Goldsboro, on his way down this week in 1968 with Honey.  Bobby had had moderate success in the early to mid sixties, starting with See The Funny Little Clown hitting #9 in 1964.  But Honey swept #1 in the US and Canada, country and pop.  Written by Bobby Russell, Goldsboro was introduced to it when Larry Henley (the lead on the Newbeats' Bread And Butter) took him to Russell's place.  Bobby wasn't impressed, but liked it better when he heard it again at Russell's place, in the company of producer Bob Montgomery, played by Russell on a different guitar.  Unfortunately for Bobby, his career thereafter returned to normal.  He hit the top 20 just twice more- the highest being a recent visitor to our countdown, Watching Scotty Grow.

Russell, BTW, also wrote Little Green Apples by O.C. Smith and The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia for future wife Vicki Lawrence.  In addition to its chart performance here, Honey hit #2 in the UK in 1968- and again in 1975!


Round two of the countdown:

95- Only You, The Platters, #5, 1955.  One of many hits on this chart featured on American Graffiti, written by manager Buck Ram- who got them their contract in a two-for-one deal for the Penguins.  After Earth Angel, the Pens were through- but the Platters will visit our countdown twice more.

94- Heartbreak Hotel, Elvis Presley, #1, 1956.  What can I say about this song that I didn't tell you in the six degrees with Hoyt Axton's Mom a few weeks back?  How about it's Elvis' first #1 song?  And he'll be back 4 more times?

93- Sweet Little 16, Chuck Berry, #2, 1958.  Chuck's biggest hit until My Ding-A-Ling, and the subject of a lawsuit with the Beach Boys over Surfin' USA.  He'll be back three more times.

92- Peggy Sue, Buddy Holly, #3, 1958.  Credited just to Holly- despite two Crickets playing on it, and being named after drummer Jerry Allison's girlfriend.

Peggy Sue Gerron- the real Peggy Sue.

91- Great Balls Of Fire, Jerry Lee Lewis, #2, 1957.  One of two for the Killer; written by Otis Blackwell, who gave Elvis Don't Be Cruel, All Shook Up, and Return To Sender.


And that brings us to the top 40, where we have 5 new entries.  Sneaking up 3 spots, recent Where Are They Now featurees Chee Chee and Peppy with I Know I'm In Love (BTW, we listened to this, and you can easily tell they are 12 and 14 years old).  Up 4 to 38, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band with an also recently mentioned song, The House At Pooh Corner.  Up 8 to #37, Tommy James with his first solo, Draggin' The Line.  Freda Payne's follow up to Band Of Gold, Bring The Boys Home, moves up 11 to 36.  And one of my favorites moves 16 to #25- The Fortunes with Here Comes That Rainy Day Feeling Again.

Three songs enter the top ten, three drop out.  One of them is our big dropper- Donny Osmond's Sweet And Innocent, falling 11 to #18.  It was a bad week for the Osmonds- the whole band drops from 9 to 13 with Double Lovin'.  And falling from 6 to 15, the Stones' Brown Sugar.

And the last five this week:

90- Kaw-Liga, Hank Williams, #19 Cashbox (combined with Deloris Gray's version*), #1 country, 1953.  Hank's posthumous hit was the flip side of Your Cheating Heart, although it chalked up 14 weeks at #1 on the C&W charts next to 6 weeks for the a-side.

89- Come Softly To Me, Fleetwoods, #1, 1959.  The name was changed from "Come Softly" because some record exec thought that might be taken the wrong way.  The demo was a cappella except for Gary Troxel shaking his car keys.  They'll be back later.

Jingle them keys, Gary!

88- Be-Bop Baby, Ricky Nelson, #3, 1957.  This was the b-side of Have I Told You Lately That I Love You; the a-side made it to 29, this one  got to #3.

87- Maybe Baby, Crickets, #17, 1958.  One of ten songs that charted higher in the UK than here; in fact only That'll Be The Day (#1 in both nations) and Peggy Sue (#3 here, #6 there) charted as good or better in the US of A.  Go Figure.

86- Keep A-Knockin', Little Richard, #8, 1957.  A song written in  the late 20s, never charted until this, despite the fact that an answer-song to it was recorded in 1954 and hit the charts twice before Little Richard started knocking.  That song is familiar to youse who pay attention- Dave Edmunds took his version of I Hear You Knocking into the top ten a couple months ago.

(*- Cashbox back then combined ALL versions of a song currently on the charts.)

 And with that, this week's top ten.

Up a notch to #10, The Supremes vol. 2 with Nathan Jones.

Hamilton, Joe Frank, and Reynolds leap 6 to #9 with Don't Pull Your Love.

Wilson Pickett's Don't Knock My Love climbs a pair to #8.

The Raiders jump 6 to #7 with Indian Reservation (The Lament Of The Cherokee People).  Hopefully this is going to play over and over in Andrew Jackson's cell in eternity.

Okay, I know that Trail of Tears thing was wrong of me... but all eternity?

The Partridge Family slip to #6, a 4-spot fall for I'll Meet You Halfway.

The Cornelius Brothers and Sister Rose move three to #5 with Treat Her Like A Lady.

The Honey Cone, after falling from #1 last week, climb one notch back to 4 with Want Ads.

Dropping 2 from the top spot, Ringo Starr's It Don't Come Easy.

The Carpenters build their way to #2, up two with Rainy Days And Mondays.

And, the new top dog....

...Carole King with It's Too Late!!!!!

Tune in next week for the usual stuff, plus 15 more members of the great Fifties Countdown!

A kinder, gentler morning

So I see today that I lost a follower.  It didn't appear to be anyone important (but since I don't keep a list it's hard to tell), so I don't know for sure if somebody was cleaning out their reading list and said, "who the hell is this?" or if it was because of yesterday's post, which probably sank my chances of ever being hired by the Food Network, the NBA, or the ACLU.  Either way, oh well.  I warned them to scroll down!

Anyway, in order to keep it in a lighter vein, I thought we'd do a picture post.  And since it is yet too warm to do an excursion of any real length  (before you call me a weenie, remember, "bright sunlight, black fur"), we thought we'd give you a neighborhood tour.

Neighbors apparently had really disgusting Chinese take-out last night.

Have I ever shown you our yard medallion?  It says- repeatedly- "Woof spoken here."

Scrappy in the car door.

That's the pool house, right across the street.  Never been swimming there.

The most important thing on any walk- the doggie bag dispenser.  I always have one baggy in my pocket, but I grab another.  Because, like his daddy, it's rarely a one-stop thing.

Speaking of daddy, there he is, resplendent in his sleeveless tie-dyed shirt.

The stream that splits our complex.  Upper left is where the dumpster floated to during the flood.

The doggie park- no one home right now.

The park down the street.  The hill in the center I named "s#!t hill"  our first winter here, because everybody used it for a doggie bathroom and nobody used a baggy.  BTW, a doggie baggy station is visible right beside the tree on the right. 

The Good Boy is trained to stop and wait at every crossing.

Sometimes sit, sometimes stand, as long as he stops.

From left to right, the office, the other pool (which I've never been in), the Mailbox (which I've never been in), and the tennis court (which I've never played on).

In lieu of the forbidden home grill, the complex supplies grills at strategic locations.

Tiger Lilies on the canal bank.

I sometimes take this back route behind the tennis court so's I don't have to use a second bag when Scrappy's #2 #2 hits.  Meanwhile, just out of the picture...

This is where the footbridge used to be.

Must.. examine... every... hole!

And here's yet another of the several times per walk I'll have to unwind myself...

We heard, "Churp! Churp!"  above us.  I guess it was Robin for, "Here! Take one of me!"

The crossing back home.

Scrappy just met the little guy.  Moments later the little guy was greeted with a chorus of barks.

Hi, did you miss me?

After all, it's been a whole 24 hours.  Not that a lot has gone on, but some has.

Lawn mower was sure popular with the swallows.

See?    There's one.

Why Booogles get snuffalufagus (sneezes).

Wild raspberries- tiny and hard, but I'll bet deer like 'em.

Buckeyes- the intelligent kind

Last night's creepy fungi in daylight.

Blue jay hiding

Chipmunk ditto.

 

 

 

Why this picture?  Well, seconds before a fox was in front of me, rolling in the grass to get cooled off.  He took off before I could focus and shoot, and when I tried to follow, Scrappy was behind me, rolling in the grass to cool off.  By the time he got untangled, Mr. Fox was long gone.

But we did see Mr. Ground Hog.  As per usual, when we arrived at the scene, Scrappy tracked him from the hole he disappeared into to the bush he came out of in the first place.  He has a dyslexic nose, I guess.



Later on, to alleviate boredom, I thought it might be a swell idea to break out the metal detector.  We found a pull tab, a soda cap, and a penny (2001, sorry).  I also found that my shirt upon returning was near as wet as it was after the storm last night. (Well, the night before- this IS the next day.)

A better idea came to me later, and as a result I have an announcement.  For the next few weeks, your weekly trip on the Time Machine will include.....  (drum roll...)  The Great 50's Countdown!!!  For you newbies, I have done Great sixties, seventies, and eighties countdowns in stand alone columns previously, but this one will be a "short" 100 song, fifteen-a-week feature within TM starting this week.  PS_ If you are really bored and want to dig through the sixties countdown (October 8 through November 12, 2011) You will find a 60s cover of the 50s #1.  Or you can just wait five weeks like a sensible person would.

Today, it was rain, followed by hot, followed by rain.  Plus, we were off our game.  Scrappy failed to notice a chipmunk crossing his path 2 feet in front of him this afternoon.  In his defense... well, I can't defend it.  He didn't even get a good scent off him.  Rain seems to mess him up.


This morning was the great Paula Deen interview on the Today show.  Without a complete and thorough analysis of the interview (which was composed, as I figured, equal parts of Matt Lauer trying to get answers to specific questions and Paula trying to give her side sans the direction of said questions), I do have this to say.  I have watched words and actions bring down many public figures.  Wilbur Mills, Earl Butz, Gary Hart, many, many others.  But these days, it doesn't matter who you are inside or how you feel.  There are so many hypersensitive PC mavens out there, with agendas and axes to grind.  Watching every word that comes out of every mouth, like little members of the Nazi home front, waiting to get the least evidence against someone.  Purpose: to fulfill their lives by destroying someone else's.  I'm sure Serena Williams knows what I mean.  And the target du jour is Paula Deen.  If I haven't made it clear before, this is my take (once again, scroll down if slur-sensitive):  I don't care if Paula said nigger.  I don't care if she said it many, many times. Nigger nigger nigger, it's JUST A FREAKING WORD, and it ain't worth destroying someone's life.  And more than just a word, it's a double standard, when African Americans can say it to each other all theyt want and then go, "Nyah Nyah, you can't say that!"

In closing, I wish that those without sin would take that rock Paula told them to throw at her, and hit themselves in the head with it.  If they have no more of a life than to try and destroy the lives of others, then quit wasting valuable oxygen.

You all know I'm not prejudiced, just sick of PC double-standards.  Sick of watching my city be terrorized because the city's attorneys are too afraid of racial profiling to allow the FWPD to enforce the law properly.  And sick of people who have their computers set to "celebrity" and whatever buzz word fits their particular grudge so that they can descend like locusts on anyone with an opinion contrary to theirs.

I guess in the same vein, I have very little to say about the Supreme Court shooting down the Defense Of Marriage Act.  In this world of moral decay, it was a law designed to be overturned, and the only surprises were Bill Clinton's signature on it in 1996 and that it took this long to nail it.  Christians, this is NOT our world.  To expect laws to contain Christian morality (no matter how close the connection to common sense) is foolish.  To expect laws to defend the sanctity of marriage as God and nature intended, or laws to uphold and protect the dignity of life, or laws to protect Christians against those who have a self-interest in destroying the morality of society, is silly.  Even now on Facebook, the cry is "this isn't about gay rights, it's about freedom of religion". It's not about either one.  It's about the world reclaiming its own.  More to come.

Okay, that's two rants in two days, I'm sorry.

Finally, as the sports guy I am, I have to have my say once again on Aaron Hernandez.  First, as my son says, why would anyone making millions of dollars TO PLAY A GAME still have to tie his manhood to the thug life?  Well, it starts with a lack of intelligence.  Let's get together underneath MY surveillance cameras.  Let's let the guy text while we're driving him around with intent to kill him.  Let's dump the body near MY home.  Let's scrub the house top to bottom, and smash up said surveillance system (but apparently not the tapes).  Let's throw shell casings in a nearby dumpster, and for an added bonus, a wad of MY chewing gum that I just chewed (full of MY DNA) goes in, too.  Let's leave another gun at the scene with MY fingerprints.  (Can't believe it?  here's the FoxNews story.)  Now you tell me, who is dumber: the man who said this:

Hernandez became a father on Nov. 6 and said he intended to change his ways: "Now, another one is looking up to me. I can't just be young and reckless Aaron no more. I'm going to try to do the right things."


Or the people who did this:

Later, as he was taken from the North Attleboro police station to court, two dozen supporters cheered, some yelling, "We love you, Aaron!"

Yeah, read that and tell me again you are surprised Barack Obama was elected president twice.

The Big Wet One

If you are a Facebook friend, you already have a clue about what's coming next.

The story begins at around 9 PM last night.  I assumed it would be cool enough to get that walk in and maybe see some things in the gloaming.  What I hadn't seen was this:

Note the time stamp...

So off we went.  The are wasn't humid per se, but it was heavy... hard to breathe.  Especially when you are 1 foot tall, going through buckhorns taller than you, and aren't smart enough to turn off your sniffer for a few minutes.  Nonetheless, we made it to the soccer fields and thence across to the woods.

Just starting to get dark.

Lotsa lightning bugs!

If anything, the air was even worse in the woods- no air movement.  Scrappy seemed to be struggling.

By the time we went down the back side and back into the woods, it was even darker.

Some people might say it was getting creepy, but not us.  Any of our friends who might jump out and scare a person were nowhere around.

There were creepy new fungi...

...and bats!

However as we cleared the woods down Dead Tree Lane, I saw the FIRST thing I didn't want to see...

 

 

Yup, that looks like a storm coming!  So we were gonna cut up along the lane beside the soccer fields, when I saw the second thing I didn't want to see...

...a skunk!

 

Worse, Scrappy saw him, too!

 

 So now I have to change course, take the longer way to the road, pull Scrappy from trying to go after the skunk...

...and the wind hits.

And I'm not talking a pleasant breeze.  No, this was 41 gusting to 63 mph, grab yer hat, is that rain or dust coming towards us, run for your life wind- so strong it rolled up my sleeve!

  By the time we hit the Plex, it had slowed a bit, but the rain was starting.  We had 750 feet of parking lot, 975 to the fence line, and a third of a mile home.  No problem!

So we took off running (imagine that, Juli) and just as we started the rain REALLY let loose, and threw in the occasional lightning bolt just for fun.  Scrappy could only run for about 5 seconds without slowing to shake, and at about the 700 foot mark I was so out of breath I was contemplating what a nice wet corpse I'd make.  We finally made it to the fence line...

...pouring behind us...

...pouring ahead of us.

What's worse, the wind kept shifting so that no matter where we were in the fence row, we were getting poured on!  So after just long enough to catch our breath, I took off my now-less-than-useless glasses and we ran the remaining 800 feet for home... albeit a lot slower than we did the first 700 feet.

Click on Scrappy to see just how wet he really is.

How I managed to have one dry sleeve, I don't know.  God knows nothing else was!

By morning, my shorts were almost dry, hat and shoes still damp.  Scrappy is dry, but he was still wet- even after toweling off- two hours later when Laurie got home.  My legs told me on no uncertain terms what they thought of running- the rest of the night, going from sitting to standing was a two-attempt deal, and the first step upstairs one knee buckled.  The second step, the other knee buckled.  And by halfway up, my back was trying to convince me to try slithering up.  But a night's sleep and all is good as new.  And I can breathe without coughing again!