What was Jesus?

A blogger friend of mine posted the following meme on one of his blogs, directing it at "political conservatives" who also "profess to be Christians". 

And rather than plaster my thoughts all over his blog, I thought I'd post them here.  He reads here, so he'll know I'm not doing it behind his back.

#1- "Jesus was a radical, non-violent revolutionary."  True on the radical, true on the non-violent, but the revolutionary part has become more associated with the political aspects of the term.  Of course the definition does include someone who avows "constituting or bringing about a major or fundamental change ".  I guess what bugs me here is WHY this should be conceived as a dig at Christian conservatives.  Are we against change?  Certainly not, when it makes sense and is beneficial.  Witness the Reagan Revolution.  Jesus sought to create a fundamental change that would lead to anyone willing having the ability to be with Him in heaven.  He certainly never said, "Just pass the Bible and we'll find out what's in it later."  The Bolsheviks were in favour of fundamental change as well; some thought the world should accept them non-violently.  75 years later, the fruit of their labors were people that mostly non-violently changed them out fundamentally.

#2- "who hung around with lepers, hookers, and crooks."  Of course they were REPENTENT lepers, hookers, and crooks, who were leaving their old lives and considering them as rubbish.  Again, I wonder what the point of this in the meme was- do liberals have the exclusive on compassion for the dregs of society?  Hmm, let's see.  Who would rather these people be given a chance to WORK for a better life; and who would rather sustain them in their position so that they never strive to be better?  Think about this, how many times did Jesus say, "Here, let me pick you up and carry you around, " and how many times did he say, "Pick up your mat and walk"?

#3- "Wasn't American and didn't speak English".  Overlooking the stupidity of expecting Him to be a citizen of a nation that wouldn't exist for almost 2 millennia and speak a language that wouldn't be heard for about 1,500 years, there is a point to the underlying assertion.  As a Christian, we shouldn't look at an alien (individual) as dirt because of his nationality.  However, in the world of mortal man, a world that Christ told us to be in but not of, you need look no further than what happened to Rome when they no longer could keep "illegal immigrants" out.  You can debate if Rome was worth saving; likewise, you can debate whether it was right for a nation who was able to use economic barriers to rise above the rest of the world to maintain those barriers or to drop them and sink to the "mediocrity" of the rest of the world.

#4- "was anti-wealth".  Not sure where you gather that one at.  Wealth is not a sin of itself.  It is the way it modifies a man's life that brings the problem.  He certainly had no problem being buried in a rich follower's tomb; He likely spent his first three years on earth sojourning in Egypt, living off the gifts of the Magi.  Ask Harry Reid if he's anti-wealth.  I have, but never seem to get an answer.

#5- "was anti-death penalty".  On the basis of rescuing the woman caught in adultery.  But the point of His action wasn't that stoning her was wrong.  Indeed, His Father gave the Law to Moses, and "the Father and I are One."  WHY He acted as he did was that He read the hearts of the men accusing her.  Some of them, she may have slept with, others might have been ones who tried to sleep with her  (or someone like her) and got turned down.  And, of course the main motivation was to try and trip Him up.  This, also, was the point of the writer of the meme (not the poster), as will be seen shortly.

#6- "was anti-public prayer", on the basis of saying, "Do not be like the Pharisees who wear long robes and pray long prayers in public for all to see."  I'd have to say that this section is the closest to hitting a bullseye.  We should pray in private, just us and God.  TO GOD, not for the benefit of sycophants.  But that private prayer can be done anywhere, and worship cannot be restrained to one's bedroom.  The meme writer never bothered to look at 2 Samuel 6:


²⁰ When David returned home to bless his household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, going around half-naked in full view of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!”
²¹ David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the Lord’s people Israel—I will celebrate before the Lord. ²² I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor.”


So Jesus wasn't anti-PUBLIC prayer.  He was anti-PRETENSE prayer.


#7- "but was never anti-gay".  What, just because the Gospel writers never told the "story of James and Thomas when Jesus caught them in the hayloft?"  Again, Jesus said in Matthew 5:18:

For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.


And that Law included that to "lie with a man as with a woman is an abomination," and Paul confirmed that that still held true in SEVERAL places.  Peter himself, the Rock on which Christ would build His church, gave Paul's writings equal weight with the rest of Scripture.  Nice try, try again.  Oh, look, they did:

#8- "Never mentioned abortion or birth control".  Do I really need to mention how He knew us in the womb (many places including Psalm 139;13) or what happened to Onan (Genesis 38)?  Again, once the meme writer really gets into their agenda, their words just don't hold up.


#9-  "Never called the poor lazy".  No, but he did call the lazy lazy (see Matt. 25:26).  The people that conservatives have a problem with, Jesus would have likewise told to "pick up your mat and work!"

#10- "Never justified torture".  Well, there's one I can say is correct.  He endured torture, but didn't condone it.

#11- "Never fought for tax cuts for the wealthiest Nazarenes".  No, but in Luke 3:12, he told them, "Collect no more than you are authorized to."  Can we talk about the Cincy IRS office raping the horrible Tea Party?

#12- "Never asked a leper for a co-pay".  Really?  Matthew, Chapter 8:

8 When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. ² A man with leprosy^[a] came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”

³ Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy. ⁴ Then Jesus said to him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

A co-pay is when you have to do something to gain the insurance benefit you seek.  The leper's co-pay was to present himself according to the Law.  A SWING AND A MISS!


#13- "and was a long-haired, brown skinned, homeless, community organizing, anti-slut-shaming, Middle Eastern Jew."
In order:
- Prove He had long hair.  Paintings by men who weren't alive at the time don't count.

- Race baiting much?  Conservatives want all men of all color to have the benefits derived from being a productive member of society.  Liberals seem happy to keep them in the slave chains of entitlements.

- But He was always productive, lived a worthwhile existence, wasn't a drunkard or an addict, and didn't make $200 a day begging for hand outs at the corner of Coldwater and Wal-Mart.

- Oboy, Obama and Jesus had a job description in common.  Of course Jesus showed the same face to everyone; Obama organized his "fellow African -Americans" in one hand while helping slumlords kick out residents into freezing cold without penalty in the other.  Do a little research before you call someone Messiah, people.

- And I'm sure He would have found something nice to say about Sandra Fluke, too.

- You mean, like the ones Obama wanted to give all their land and security over to the Palestinians?

In conclusion, I hope that my blog friend will realize this is not an attack on him, and he can believe as he likes.  But as for the memes he chooses to promote, I quote Captain America:

"You have your definition of a hero, and I have mine.  But mine involves being a little more aware."

Sunday message: Celebrating the day

Obviously the elephant in the room today is IT'S EASTER!  But to get to the major incident, I am going to go through a minor one.

Friday, I had mentioned to a co-worker who was VERY frustrated over another co-worker's work ethic, "Well, everyone has Easter on the brain."  His snapped response was, "I don't have Easter on the brain!  It's not even a Christian holiday!"  To which I responded "Paul said it doesn't matter if you celebrate it or not, as long as you celebrate or don't celebrate to the Lord."  Whether through my deathless wisdom, the realization of facing a person versed in the Bible, or just realizing he was dangerously close to opening a can of worms that belonged not at the time and place he let it slip out, he thoughtfully shrugged and said no more about it.  And truthfully, whether he may be a Jehovah's witness (with which I've had this discussion before), an atheist just spouting the company sound-bite, or a religious person not willing to debate in the middle of a workplace catastrophe, it doesn't really matter.

The point is, this idea of attacking Easter and Christmas over their "pagan origins" has been all the rage in recent years.  May I introduce you who think that is important to the verses I semi-quoted, in Romans 14:

14 Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things. ² For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. ³ Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him. ⁴ Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.

⁵ One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. ⁶ He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord;^[a] and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks. ⁷ For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. ⁸ For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord.


This is basically Paul telling those who make a deal out of this, "SO WHAT?"   So at one point the Church Fathers wanted to give the people a celebration of the Lord's birth and the Lord's resurrection- and decided to kill two birds with one stone by overwriting popular pagan holidays with them.  So what if we do not know the actual days?  If you are such a perfectionist, why do you not celebrate Independence Day on July, 2nd, since the 4th was merely the day that news of what happened on the second was announced?  Let's hear from John Adams on the subject:

The second day of July, 1776, will be memorable epocha in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations, as the great Anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the day of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp, shews, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations, from one end of the continent to the other, from this time forward forever.


The point was NEVER supposed to be the day, but the celebration.  And while when we were under the Law, God had set up a string of festivals on certain days during the growing season, once we were under grace, Jesus commanded but one celebration- that of the Lord's Supper.

But there again, there is a big fight and hurt feelings between Catholics and the rest of Christendom- is it symbolic of His body and blood, or transubstantiated INTO His body and blood.  Now there, to me, I believe it was supposed to be strongly symbolic.  Here's why.  Jesus told Peter back when he was just Simon, "You are Rock, and on this Rock I shall build my Church, and the gates of hell will not stand against it. "  Did Peter turn to stone?  Before you dismiss that as ridiculous, as Jesus once said, "Remember Lot's wife".  And minutes later, Jesus also told Peter, "Get thee hence, Satan!"  Now Peter, the flawed man, was no more the Devil himself that He was a rock on which the Church was built.  One was symbolic of the Faith that drove Peter to say one thing- and that Faith is the actual Rock for which Peter was a symbol- and the other was symbolic of the concern with this world over the next which drove Peter to say another thing.  So either the Rock of the Church is Satan, or the Lord needs to be taken literally when He's obviously being literal, and figuratively when He's obviously being figurative.

But does that mean you go to hell if you don't believe the wafer is now supernaturally become the material of flesh?  What did Paul just say?  The important thing is, whether it is a wafer, the flesh of Jesus, or a soda cracker, what are YOU saying to Jesus, what are you hearing FROM Him, when you take it?


We live in a society that wants to waste it's time battling over every square inch of air they can puff through their vocal cords.  Thus we have people taking what WAS a night where kids could dress up like super heroes or princesses and get candy from neighbors and turn it into either "That's celebrating evil" or "I'm a witch and that offends me."  We have Christmas trees becoming holiday trees and Easter eggs becoming "spring eggs".  Jimmy can't even give a Valentine to Sally because then little Julie might be sad that she only got 19 valentine cards to Sally's 25.  I think I can speak, at least for Paul, in saying this:


GET OVER YOURSELF!!!!


Thank you, have a blessed Easter.  The Lord has risen indeed!

A Saturday morning...

...waiting for the temps to warm up enough to take Scrappy for a walk.  Listening to Rewound Radio, they're playing Bobby Hebb's Sunny.  Before I get around to pictures from Thursday's walk, I have a couple announcements.

First, there will be a post coming Monday morning in which  I take on someone that thinks they can write a meme about Jesus without knowing who he is really.  Someone who thought he could use the Lord for His agenda... and likely would tell Him to His face not to interfere in his life.  The dissection of the meme will begin at 9 AM Monday right here.

Second... stay tuned for a MAJOR announcement on the future of the Friday Time Machine post.  As soon as I work out the details in my mind and accept the decision in my heart, you'll know more.

Dean Friedman's Ariel is playing.  "I said, "Hi", she said, "Yeah, I guess I am...."

First tree leaves... a young buckeye, I think.

First flowers out in our woods... the Dutchman's Britches!

And a dead mole.  Thanks, Chris!

PS:  When we left for the walk, I told Laurie, we were going to "find the first small creature and beat it to death."  Stress much?  But this was not our work.  When the half-inch of SNOW (yes, again) on Monday melted, I think the little feller got caught in a flooded den.

Yet another hill he likes to climb, and look for dens on.

At the alumni pond.

These two came steaming over as if we were there to feed them.  Sorry, guys...

Mrs. Robinson is on now.  "Where have you gone, Joe Di Maggio?  Our nation turns it's lonely eyes to you..."

Dude was rocking his head up and down the whole way.

Ass-deep in muck...

Scrappy's supermodel pose.

Remember last winter (seems like only days ago) when Scrappy found the hole in the snow?  It's a LOT bigger now...

First turtle sighting, on the south canal.  Wasn't sure at first, because of the crazy splayed-leg way he was sunning.

A while back, a friend posted on FB about IPFW's recent decision to be a smoke free campus, and how the smokers showed their displeasure by leaving butts by the sign.  Over here at the soccer fields, they just show it by simply tossing the sign away.

Blue flowers!

When I first saw them, I thought they were necking.  Nope, just bobbing for food in the muck.

Somewhere under the bubbles were little frogs he-in' and she-in' in the water.  A group just across from the Plex's side doors.

Time Machine week 116.

Today is April 18, 1972.  An East African Airways jet out of Nairobi was getting ready to take off from Addis Ababa after a fuel and passenger stop.  Two things, though, had occurred to prevent this from happening.  First, mechanics in Nairobi had worked on the front brakes and not re-assembled them properly.  Second, a Cessna had left a jacking pad in the runway, and it had become imbedded in the tarmac.  The plane hit the pad and blew a tire in the nose gear.  With the plane's nose rocking up and down, the pilots decided to abort.  But the brakes wouldn't slow her; she careened down the runway, briefly lifted off, hit the lip of the ditch at the end of the runway, clipped a light tower with a wing, and broke apart.  As stunned passengers tried to escape, the plane burst into flame.  The Captain, three more crew and 34 of almost one hundred passengers died.  Many of them were students returning to Rome and London from adventurous spring breaks in Kenya.



You won't have to worry about that riding on Time Machine... no incompetent mechanics, no runways, and no wings- ever!   This week: a feature found en route to looking up another feature; a six degrees with Bob Dylan on both ends- but not in the story!  Plus, another Eurovision story, and a new #1 song! 

We start you off with the tops of the international charts this week, and here's a twist.  Beg Steal Or Borrow by the New Seekers, which we featured a while back on our story about Eurovision contest songs hitting the US charts, takes over the #1 spot in Norway.  Meanwhile in the Netherlands, Vicki Leandros of Luxembourg hits #1 with Apres Toi  (After You), a song with which she won the 1972 Eurovision contest, beating out runner-up... Beg Steal Or Borrow by the New Seekers!  Vicki also sang an English version of the song, re-named Come What May, which would go on to hit #2 in both the UK and Ireland (and is quite good, I just tried it out.).  Vicki will ascend to the top in Switzerland next week.

In the meantime, Amazing Grace is now also #1 in Ireland, and Nilsson's Without You is now tops in Australia.  In the US of A, we have another one of them there consensuses (consensi?), with all but two of the stations we're watching going with The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.  The holdouts are the two Minneapolis stations, and they can't even agree with each other!  WDGY has I Gotcha (remember, the song that was #1 in Detroit a month and a half ago?) at the top (with Face in the wings at #3), while KDWB has Puppy Love (with Face already having been at #1 and this week dropping to 14).  And looking at out oft-ignored specialty charts, Aretha Franklin's Day Dreaming is now the #1 in R&B; Face is also on top in the AC chart; and Jerry Lee Lewis' Chantilly Lace is on top in the Country charts.


So let's amble on over to the hot 100 debuts this week. A short list of nine songs, with a shorter list of two I will note.  T-Rex's Telegram Sam, which we met when it hit #1 across the pond a few weeks back, comes onto the Cashbox charts at #87; and a little more well-known, Wayne Newton's Daddy Don't You Walk So Fast comes in at 93. 

And that brings us to one of my favorite parts of the show, this week's birthday songs.  Turning 30 is Duran Duran's The Reflex; a long list turns 35:  The Bee Gees' Love You Inside-Out, Donna Summer's Hot Stuff, Billy Joel's Honesty, Kenny Rogers' She Believes In Me, Rex Smith's You Take My Breath Away (gag), Ray Parker, Jr, and Raydio with You Can't Change That, and Cheap Trick live from Budokan with I Want You To Want Me.  Turning 40 this week, Anne Murray's You Won't See Me, the O'Jays' For The Love Of Money, the Hollies' The Air That I Breathe (should lend some to poor Rex Smith), and this hidden gem from ELO:





Marvin Gaye claims the only song turning 45 with Too Busy Thinkin' 'Bout My Baby; and a pair turn 50- Billy J Kramer and the Dakotas with Little Children, and one of those songs that stops my breath whenever it comes on- Dionne Warwick and Walk On By.

Finally, we have a trio turning 55-  Wilbert Harrison and Kansas City;  Bobby Darin and Dream Lover, and Dion and the Belmonts with A Teenager In Love.  Blow Out The Candles...

Well, I'd like to tell you I have a great 45 at 45 story, but this week that spot is held for another time by the 1910 Fruitgum Company, this time with Indian Giver on the way down.  But what I do have for you is something I found in trying to find six degrees material.

CBC radio in Canada had done a show called 50 Tracks, where a panel with fans' help voted for the most influential songs in history, done right around the turn of the century.  (Ooh, don't it make you feel old to say that?)  Anyway, it went so well they did a second show in 2005 called 50 Tracks: The Canadian Version, in which they limited the list to Canadian acts.  The panel was made up of TV personalities, music critics, current pop stars, and Jay Ferguson, who contributed the timeless classics Thunder Island and Shakedown Cruise to the musical lexicon.  So I looked through the list, took out the songs that didn't hit the American hot 100 and those outside the Martin Era.  This took out a lot of songs I didn't know, a few that were listed under the original but made famous by others (like Joni Mitchell's Both Sides Now), old time songs (like Hank Snow's Movin' On and Paul Anka's Diana), and a gaggle of later hits (Like Life Is A Highway, The Safety Dance, Rockin' In The Free World) and Rush's Fly By Night, which never charted in the US.  It left me with 10 songs, the crème de la crème of Canada in the Martin Era.  In the contest's order, with their rank in the 50 Tracks list:

3.  Neil Young, Heart Of Gold
5. The Guess Who, American Woman
9.  Joni Mitchell, Big Yellow Taxi
15.  The Band, The Weight
18.  BTO, Takin' Care Of Business
19. Anne Murray, Snowbird
23.  The Guess Who, These Eyes
25.  Gordon Lightfoot, Sundown
29. Bruce Cockburn, Wondering Where The Lions Are (#21 in 1979)
31. Trooper, Raise A Little Hell (#59 in 1978)

Some notes:  Chris smiles at the Guess Who and BTO taking three of the spots... Gordon Lightfoot had a couple other album tracks on the list... a couple more songs on the list you oughta know are Rush's Tom Sawyer, Bryan Adams' Summer Of '69, and, well, Alanis Morrisette's You Oughta Know.


Next week, I'll take on some of the worldwide list.  In the meantime:

The big mover this week is the Staple Singers' I'll Take You There, moving up 23 spots to #44.  The big dropper is Bread's Everything I Own, falling 31 places to land at #73 on its way out.

I also had a buncha Almost But Not Quiters this week starting their weary way back down the charts.  The Nite-Liters' Afro Strut had its peek-in at #39 last week; JJ Cale's Crazy Mama stopped at 35; James Brown parked at 32 with King Heroin; Elton John got short-changed with Tiny Dancer sitting it out at 29; The Grass Roots weren't as Glory Bound as they thought, peaking at 22; The Temptations stopped at 28 with Take A Look Around; and the real shame of the list-  BJ Thomas' Rock 'N' Roll Lullaby peaked at #12.

"...and she sang, sha la la la, la la la la la, it'll be all right..."

Taking their place are a grand total of three new top 40s this week.  Paul Simon finally hits #40, up 12, with Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard.  Harry Chapin's Taxi is at 37, up nine; and the Partridge Family come in at 35, also up 9 with Am I Losing You.

We also have three new top tens, so three drop out.  The droppers are Mother And Child Reunion (8 to 11), Jungle Fever (9 to 15) and The Lion Sleeps Tonight (10 to 17).


The first new top ten is Aretha Franklin and Day Dreaming, up but a notch to #10.

The second is Sonny and Cher with A Cowboy's Work Is Never Done, up 5 spots to #9.

And the final newbie at #8 belongs to the Stylistics with Betcha By Golly Wow.

Donny Osmond tumbles from 3 to #7 with Puppy Love.

Annnnnd... at #6, down 4, is our six degrees victim.

Heart Of Gold, a song that Bob Dylan was miffed at because it sounded like something he should have done, had some interesting happenstances in its pedigree.  For example, Neil was in Nashville when he recorded it, for an appearance on the Johnny Cash Show.  Also appearing were James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt, and they came over at Neil's request to do background vocals for Heart Of Gold and the follow up, Old Man. In fact, it was Sweet Baby James, who picked up Neil's six-string banjo and played it on Old Man.  Taylor was in process of recording his lp One Man Dog, while Linda had just released her self-titled third album.  This record drew on a variety of songwriters including both Cash and Young, along with Jackson Browne, a Lead Belly/Woody Guthrie composition, and one tune- In My Reply- written by James' brother Livingston.  Livingston Taylor would make his biggest mark in the late 70s with the single I'll Be In Love With You, which hit #30.  Taylor was produced on this record by Jon Landau, the famous associate of Bruce Springsteen who was quoted, "I have seen the future of music, and it is Bruce Springsteen."  Landau became a co-producer on Born To Run and also on later lps by the boss; a singer once compared to... Bob Dylan.


I Gotcha climbs a pair to #5 this week for Joe Tex

The Dramatics climb 2 to #4 with In The Rain.

America tumbles a two-spot to #3 with A Horse With No Name.

Does the consensus win out?  NO!  Roberta Flack climbs from 5 to #2 with The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.

And the new #1, up from that magic four spot...

Hah!  Thought you were going to sneak in another picture after getting your picture last week at #4?  I don't think so!  Here's the Dramatics instead!

.... Michael Jackson and Rockin' Robin!!!!!!!!!


Tune in next week for the most influential songs in history according to Canada! Next time!!

The A to Z mini challenge; or, at least the pooch enjoyed it today

The cryptic (if you missed yesterday) second half of that title references both the horrible day at work yesterday and the disaster that was today- which while not being as mistake filled or tension causing, certainly screwed the pooch just as thoroughly.  In short, I use, as you know, a computer-run fabric pattern cutter.  As such, the machine has a plastic belt which due to the cutting must be changed once in a while.  With a hump about six inches from the one side approximately 4 inches high and crunchy, today was that day.  Our maintenance guy can remove the belt, but needs the help of a pair of experts from corporate to fully attach the new one.  So he called them yesterday, saying that because A)we had to be down the least time possible, and B) the company big shot doesn't want him collecting OT (which, since he gets there 1/2 hr early, begins at 2 PM), they should call him when they were at the state line- about 2 hours out- and he would begin the process.  The call came about 10:45, and he and I had the old one off and the new one ready before noon.

The experts had not yet arrived at 2:30 when I left.

Where were they?  Well, I am told that they "were in Ft Wayne" when I left.  Though no one actually named what turned a two-hour straight-through drive into a 4-hr downtime for me, we have a very strong suspicion:

Which leaves the girls (not those girls, the sewers) with absolutely nothing to sew.  As the machine is "going to be ready to go" when I arrive tomorrow, and it will take me about 1/2 hour to get two covers cut, perhaps calisthenics will help the girls wake up.


And now, I have finally come to that day where I get a toe wet in the A to Z blogging challenge.  Now, the rules are to do alphabetical blog bits each day in the month of April, and today, several of my friends are on day letter N.  So today I thought I'd catch up with a series of A to Z "mini bits" for your viewing pleasure.  Right after I go feed the dog.




A is for America, one nation under God, with Liberty and Justice for all... Except that now that the in thing is to get out from under God, we are hardly one nation, and liberty has been replaced with "tolerance" and justice with political correctness.  The prophets prophesy falsely, And the priests rule on their own authority; And My people love it so! But what will you do at the end of it? (Jer 5:31)

B is for Boofus.  Scrappy Boofus, who has now consumed his dinner and needs to go out.

C is for Christopher, the "C" in "CW".  A name born from the legend of St. Christopher, a giant of a man who made a living ferrying travelers across a river on his shoulders. Then one day the Christ Child came, and by the time the giant crossed the river the weight of the world was on his back.  Thus his new name was Christopher, "Christ-bearer".  All I can say is the river must have had a very rocky bottom.  And yes, I love the name.

D is for dog, who has taken care of his after dinner "mints" and is now patiently waiting for me to eat MY dinner.  I have a brother in law whose skin crawls at the mere thought of his dog begging.  I think he needs to stop shaving his head and let his hair grow back.  Honestly, what Scrappy saves us in labor by licking plates pays his way (but don't tell him I said that...).


E is for Education.  My daughter was released from high school sans diploma, as her mother was.  She (the mom)  told my son the other night that he shouldn't be so high and mighty because "you really don't need a diploma".  That is why she's probably had three jobs lasting approximately 3 years total in the last, oh, 25 years, and lives off with a guy who can't really stand her.

That sixth grade ejukatshun will come in handy...

F is for foxes.  They haven't been seen yet this spring, but are certainly in evidence.  Last Saturday I spied under the bush at our neighbor's front door a patch of skin, about 6X6, from the back of what I assumed was a rabbit.  The next morning, just over the rise from Ground Hog Road, we found the rest of the remains.  KC complained about the stench.  With a good breeze blowing, Scrappy and I wisely did not observe it from one yard straight downwind.  (BTW, KC did graduate.)

G is for God.  I solicited prayers for my patience today at work, and His peace kept me merely amused and not upset at the total mess tomorrow was becoming before my eyes.

H is for Harry Baals Drive.

Yesterday, I had to pick up my new safety prescription glasses that my company demands/foots the bill for (AKA leave the wallet in your pocket, sir).  I was talking to Laurie and missed that I was in a turn only lane on Parnell.  I thought, "What will be my best way back to where I'm going?"  Suddenly I found myself at Harry Baals Drive (named after a Ft Wayne mayor, look it up), and I exclaimed, "THAT'S  the road I need!"  HBD cuts through Johnny Appleseed Park and comes out, as you can see, on Coliseum just down from the turn I needed.  While Scrappy and I have walked HBD many times, this was the first time I drove on it.  (BTW I was at the other end and thus turned left.)


I is for idiots, without which there could be no Martin World News.  Like the scientists in this article whose gallant research has found what any dope smoking idiot (or former dope smoking idiot, in this case) could have told them...

...researchers claiming that marijuana consumption might have a profound impact on the parts of the brain that process decision-making, emotional assessment, addiction and the processing of rewards.

Can I give you experiential evidence?  One night, a friend and I were under the smoky embrace when a couple other friends in similar shape decided to interrupt our TV watching by throwing a flare (yes, a genuine roadside flare) against my front window (yes, glass window.).  So off we charged to find the culprits.  I came around a lilac bush and found culprit number one, hunched over hiding.  I looked at him, he looked at me- for what had to have been at least five seconds.  He finally jumped up and said, "Boo!"

I jumped and said, "AAAAAH!"

Moral of the story: I don't need study co-author Dr. Hans Breiter,  a psychiatrist mathematician at Northwestern University, to tell me something I've known for 35 years.

J is for Just think of something.  I was having a time trying to come up with a J topic.  So I googled "J" and the first thing that came up was Justin Bieber.  Not. Gonna. Happen.


K is for knee.  Remember that weird experience I had with my right knee a while back?  Well, the left one got it just as I was getting in the car to go home today- a fact I had forgotten until I exited said vehicle.  After an hours nap- and that after reading all your fine blogs-  it isn't painful per se, but certainly not very supportive.  Thankfully today wasn't a "walking the dog" stress level.

Yeah? Well, what about me?  What about MY stress?

L is for Laurie.  (Waves and smiles.)  I know you might be having a crappy (excuse the inside joke) night tonight, but I'm thinking about you, and I hope it went fast.

M is for Martin, the "M" in... well, Martin.  The name comes from, like many old surnames, the work done by the progenitor of the line.  In this case, a martin was the guy who put the metal hoops on barrels.  With this family, they most assuredly were beer barrels.  Or wine.  We are French.  (Well, Dad's dad's side, the Martins, were French, as were Mom's dad's side, the Girardots.  The matriarchal side of each, though, were German (Kline on Dad's, Weilman on Mom's).  So it's probably fifty-fifty.

Annnnnnd...

N is for never gonna do this with full blog posts.  So I hope you all enjoy this, and tune in on day "Z" for the second half!

Martin World News

ITEM: First up, many of you have wondered what kind of reception my "motivational poster" had at work today:

This wonderful 8X10 glossy got a handful of reactions- mostly because most employees were too busy either causing or trying to deal with disasters to stop by.  I'm in a slightly out-of-the-way area of the plant.  But here are the reactions so far:

- three counts of chuckling, "Aw, that's cute!"
- one, "Heh heh heh, you got THAT right!"
- one, "Perfect!"
- one hearty laughter followed by, "Does he have something in his mouth, or is his tongue hanging out?"

I'm still waiting for a, "You do walk him a lot, right?  RIGHT??!!?"

ITEM:  Once again I will spare you the gorey details of the day except for two notes:

One, the engineering department covered itself in "glory" above and beyond their usual today.  And the corporate head of their department was here to witness it all.

Two, at the end of the day, I told my boss, "Y'know, usually we let the poor thing up after a while, but we screwed the pooch pretty much all day today."
I don't think I ever saw someone double over in laughter quite that quick.


ITEM:  I have my THIRD hockey champion of the year!  The Oilers of Stavanger won the Norwegian title for the fourth time, with their third triumph over arch rival Valerenga.  More details will be on the update next weekend on the NHFFL page.

ITEM:  My faithful yet wishing to be anonymous friend  e-mailed me a story I told her just HAD to make MWN. 


BERLIN — A German furniture store chain has apologized for selling coffee mugs featuring faint portraits of Adolf Hitler it had mistakenly ordered from a Chinese supplier, a news report said on Thursday.

The vintage-style ceramic cups feature a faint image of a Nazi-era postage stamp that shows a black-and-white profile of Hitler, postmarked with a swastika stamp, all obscured by other design elements including a rose and cursive script.

 

 

 

The owner blamed the “terrible” mistake on “a stupid chain of unfortunate circumstances” involving a Chinese designer who has mistakenly chosen the image of the Nazi leader, the news report said.


Gee, sounds like the typical day at my job for the last two weeks!  Apparently the store had already sold 175 out of the 5,000 piece lot before somebody noticed.  Cheer up, guys, the fabric WE get from China ain't much better....

(PS- This article courtesy Times Of Israel.  The rest, save for the one below, were from BBC.)


ITEM:  Speaking of China, I found an article that I really am left scratching my head at who to laugh at.  The article was an op-ed on China's Xinhua, taking the current Japanese government to task for "denying their crimes in WWII".  Now I know that this has come up before- it recently got fanned to a flame again after the newly appointed head of their National public TV network opened his mouth.  This time it was chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga, who passed off the 35,000,000 number of Chinese casualties caused by Japanese soldiers during the war and the Nanking Massacre:

The secretary refused to recognize the number of the victims, saying that the Japanese government has yet to verify the "various views".


Uh, yeah, but if you've been around here long enough, you've read me mention a book called Japan's Imperial Conspiracy by David Bergamini which was a well-documented and damning profile of just what happened in Nanking and elsewhere.  For Japan to deny or quibble over numbers is as callous and sickening as listening to the Turks claim the Armenian Genocide never happened.  On the other hand...

Still, the Abe administration shamelessly denied the history to encourage the country's already growing rightist tilt, angering not only its victims but also every righteous nation in the world.
Were Tokyo a responsible player, it would nip in the bud the tilt which could jeopardize peace and stability of East Asia. Unluckily, its prime minister, carrying his family's "political DNA," become even a pioneer among the country's rightists.


Strong words from a country not all that willing to discuss the AT LEAST 18 million killed during the Great Leap Forward.  But just like the Left here, It seems evil is all the "rightists'" fault.


ITEM:  US Airways will probably want to watch who they give access to the company twitter account from here on.  Apparently, a lady sent several tweets to them regarding sitting on the tarmac for over an hour on a recent flight.  Eventually, they finally answered, and probably wished they hadn't...They sent a final tweet asking her to detail the trip and her complaints at what they INTENDED to be a web link.  Somehow, instead they posted the link to a picture that someone had sent to their twitter account that they "meant to delete..."


Now, you know me, I have no problem putting up pictures of the slightly risqué, but even the censored version don't make the cut here.  The pic was one of a lady with evidently loose morals, sitting naked and flying a model US Air jet into her coochie.  Buzzfeed learned that the image originally appeared in a German porn site.  How did it become the answer to a customer complaint?

We apologize for an inappropriate image recently shared as a link in one of our responses. We’ve removed the tweet and are investigating.



Uh-HUH.

ITEM:  Austria's Andreas Moellzer, a candidate for the European Parliament from the Freedom Party, has been asked and will withdraw from the upcoming elections to the body.

Moellzer, the old boy on the left, has lost favor, even for a legislator in a far-right party, for describing the EU as "a conglomerate of Negroes," and that the EU made the Third Reich look "informal and liberal."  So, why was it you were running, anyway?


ITEM:  The self-proclaimed "Robin Hood of Liechtenstein" has struck his last-or has he?  This man, a fund manager named Juergen Hermann, had been having a hate-hate relationship with Juergen Frick, head of Liechtenstein's Bank Frick.  That ended when Hermann murdered Frick in the parking garage of his bank.  Hermann's website, where he fought his campaign against Frick and other financial institutions, was taken down the night before; the police have found his car, his clothes, his passport, and a confession note- but no body, the trail leading to the Rhine where they THINK he drowned himself.  But they are still investigating, and they have INTERPOL on the lookout for what may be a soggy, naked man fleeing the Sheriff of Nottingham.

ITEM:  In Sao Paulo, Brazil, it's bad enough that motorists need to watch out for falling soccer stadiums.  Now, the latest way the government has tried to ease traffic "by expanding the area where motorists can turn or wait at lights" really has them confused:

The drivers can't explain it.  I can't explain it... 


...But Sao Paulo's transit authority, the CET, says the road markings are normal and meet regulations. Correspondents say Sao Paulo's lane dividers sometimes expand to give turning drivers some extra room, but they admit the lines on Avenida Dr Francisco Ranieri in the city's north zone are rather odd.

Uh, yeah...


ITEM:  A UN "special rapporteur"  by the name of Rashida Manjoo has accused the UK of being especially sexist.

She said sexism was worse in the UK than in other places, and warned that the government's austerity measures were having a "disproportionate impact" on women's risk of violence.
She said sexism in the UK was more "in your face" than in other countries, and raised serious concerns about the portrayal of women and girls in the media.


It might just be me, but I would have thought she might have been safe...

(Crap.  She'll be after me next!)

ITEM:  And finally, one I know you'll love.  North Korean officials showed up at London's M&M Hair Academy wanting to know just what was so funny about this ad:

Apparently the owner of the salon didn't know the North Korean embassy was just "a 10 minutes walk" from the academy.  Nor did they know this little tidbit:

Last month it was reported by Radio Free Asia that male university students in North Korea were now required to get the same haircut as their leader.

Or did they?  As the old Clairol ads went, "Only the hairdresser knows for sure..."

 

Martin walking news

This is so going up in my workspace tomorrow.  And I hope they pay attention.


In other news, I have some walk pictures to share with you, oh, happy people.

Squirrel on Ground Hog Road, Friday afternoon.

Waiting out yet another poop stop...

Scrappy in his favorite murky, leaf-tinted puddle...

Then, Scrappy decided I HAD to climb that hill he climbed a couple weeks ago.  And I had to go up, the steepest, muddiest side he could find.  And he had to get tangled while I was fighting my way through a path too narrow for my ample girth.

Great view, though.

Then he wanted to try another hill.  I opted out.

And after a refreshing dip in the creek (well, IDK about refreshing, but he is a dip)...

Downstream along the north bank by the ravine!

Here we see the world's smallest stream, barely trickling from beneath a tree root.

Ah!  New growth!

Scrappy was like totally fascinated by the world's smallest stream.  Kept trying to figure out where it came from.

Still looking.  It came out right under that root.

Well, that was Friday, and Saturday we went to Shoaff Park.

I'm guessing these trees never paid attention to the sign, and it died a sad death.

"No Parking Any Time."

Lets figure this up.  Our second 70 degree day.  One week removed from 2 inches of rain.  Mud everywhere.  And yet, here's proof that someone was sprinkling their lawn.

Off the beaten path...

Um, that's a little steep there...

And officially at Shoaff, some 20 minutes walk later.

Scrappy meets Gracie, a lady Beagle about his own age.  She was a sweetheart.

Nothing says, "Somebody had a really fun night" like Orange Crush and Kleenex.

Flowers in the woods!

Dude was texting on a skateboard....

Not a dream!  Not an imaginary story!  Scrappy actually taking a break on a walk!

Goose Gang War.

Wanting so bad to get in the pond... but remembering the last time he walked out on leaves.

 

 

Ah... safer here...

And in we go at the boat landing- the highlight of every trip.

Damn,,, looks a lot steeper going back...



And finally, Sunday was a late trip to the dog park.  These pics are from the phone so, no grumbling!

This guy wanted his picture taken in the worst way... or just wondered if my phone was edible.  (He's the big white fellow.)