PETA Ice Cream

Did you hear about this?

I love Ben and Jerry's ice cream, especially New York Super Fudge Chunk. Having it made with breastmilk seems creepy to me. Breastmilk is better kept for babies. Does PETA really want to treat women like cows? Apparently. Are we going to have factories that milk nursing mothers? Who's going to volunteer (or even get paid) to go through the embarrassing process of getting hooked up to pumps and get milked?

By the way-- adult humans shouldn't be drinking milk anyway, no matter where it comes from. You don't see a full grown cow having a glass of milk with dinner, do you? You never see any men who are still nursing. Milk is for infants and babies because of the growth hormones contained in milk, which they receive from mothers of like species.

But anyway, I'm glad PETA at least came up with an idea, which means there are people thinking about this stuff. But I don't think milking humans for their milk to make ice cream is a very good idea.

Wake-Up Call

Most of us are very concerned about the financial crisis looming before our eyes. We keep hearing about a government bailout that will hopefully save us from losing all assets and zeroing out our stock portfolios. I personally believe that our country will come out of this and that plenty of safeguards will be put into place in an attempt to make sure it doesn't happen again. But safeguards won't be enough until we address one glaring issue: greed.

It won't do to say, "Stop being greedy!" because that will fall on deaf ears. The best we can do is point out the rippling effects of greed and ask people if that's the kind of world they want to live in.

I heard from a banker friend this week that the phrase "you can't afford it" has been essentially stricken from the American vocabulary. Someone somewhere will see to it that anyone can afford anything. How can anyone refuse a loan that requires no money down and only payments on mortgage interest? No wonder first-time homeowners buy palatial mansions instead of modest starter homes!! But, as we're seeing now, it was a recipe for disaster.

This is what greed does. It looks great in the short term, but in the long term it has disastrous results. What it also tells me is that, by in large, we Americans are not very good stewards and managers of the resources that are God given. We have yet to understand that everything we have in our possession does not belong to us. We own nothing. In fact, the whole idea of human ownership is a fallacy. And since we own nothing we can give nothing. Everything belongs to God, and the best we can do is take our hands off of that which belongs to God.

We are witnessing something that to me is a wake-up call-- God can fire us as stewards and hire new ones by taking God's resources away from us and giving them to someone else who will manage them properly. God has done this before, so don't believe it can't happen to us. We are the wealthiest nation on Earth and yet there are people on this planet who go to sleep each night with an empty stomach. The problem is not God's provision. The problem is human hoarding and greed.

The answer is to repent-- to change our way of thinking, admit that we've been greedy, and realize that we live on a planet that we did not make and do not own, and that God is not concerned with borders, flags, or embassies. We live in one world and we must learn the art of living simply so that others may simply live. But we can't do this on our own. We need God's help and reassurance that God never fails to provide for our needs and not our greeds.

I hope and pray that this whole episode teaches us the importance of being servants of all and slaves of no one or nothing. Christ set us free from bondage to ourselves and our greed. May we follow Christ as we were baptized in him to walk as children of the Light.

Next Installment as Promised

Another made-up trialogue with me, Barack Obama and Joe Biden

Me: I would like to see all of us work for peace.
Barack: Me too! But we have to get bin Laden in Afghanistan.
Joe: Yes, and be patriotic once again.
Barack: Yeah, patriotism would be great for all Americans.
Joe: It's especially patriotic when rich people give up more in taxes.
Barack: And then we can have a national peace rally in D.C. with Oprah and give everyone a daisy and a yellow ribbon.
Me: *sigh*

Trialogue with John McCain and Sarah Palin

Yeah, I made it up.

Me: I'd like to see all of us work for peace.
John: Well, that would be nice, Doug. But we have some unfinished business in the Middle East.
Sarah: Yeah, let's kill those bastards!!!
John: Very good, Sarah. Then I was thinking we could have a national cookout.
Sarah: I love it!! I'll bring the moose meat and all the trimmings!
Me: *sigh*

My next installment: Trialogue with Barack Obama and Joe Biden (also made up)

Another *sigh* coming your way.

All or None

Jesus' parable of the laborers in the vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16) demonstrates that the last shall be first and the first shall be last-- another way of saying that God's Kingdom is a level field of play and is not conducive to favoritism. The lowly are elevated and the high and mighty are cast down. There is no division between haves and have-nots or between peoples of different ethnicity. There is no class warfare in the Kingdom. It makes no distinction between the legalist and the libertine, so that no one can say he or she is above the other.

Also, don't be surprised when you discover that certain people you would have never thought of being included in God's Kingdom are in the Kingdom. And if they're in, they're in completely, not just halfway. The Kingdom is an all or none entity.

The Best Knock Knock Joke in the Whole World

Knock, knock!

Come in!!

WCPT

There's a radio station in Chicago that dubs itself as "Chicago's Progressive Talk". They are not progressive. They are liberal. Progressive and liberal are not the same thing. Liberalism is the same old "us versus them" mentality held by conservatives. The only difference is that liberals take the opposite position.

True progressives take the best and the worst of the warring camps and forge a third (and sometimes a fourth or fifth) way that both camps either fully embrace or fully reject, hopefully the former. This is not compromising or ignoring differences. It's a principle called "include but transcend".

Liberals and conservatives are so entrenched in their views that they feel threatened by someone who is truly progressive. That's why proposals put forth by progressives are usually rejected. Both parties cling to their foundationalisms.

The whole point of progressivism is to make progress. The D.C. Beltway, being currently run by both conservatives and liberals, only results in gridlock. That doesn't sound like progress to me. Promises to work together and change things have quite a hollow ring to them.

Watch This-- You Will Wet Yourself!!

This is absolutely hysterical!! Some guy took a video of Eddie Van Halen and dubbed over it with his own really lousy guitar playing that matches perfectly with the video. He makes it sound like Eddie is just learning to play the guitar.



Kudos to my brother, Jeff, for the link!!

Lipstick Bungle

McCain and Obama are not agents of change. Period. They are both Washington insiders using beltway lingo, such as "lipstick on a pig". Obama just happens to be the one who last used the phrase.

Change doesn't come to D.C. no matter what the politicians promise. Politicians go to D.C. and are changed by the beltway culture.

A politician next door
Swore
He'd set the Washington arena on fire.
Thinks he'll gladiate 'em,
But they're gonna make him a liar.
Well he's a good ol' boy who was born and raised
In the buckle of the Bible Belt.
But just remember when you step into your voting booth:
He'll never lie, he'll just embellish the truth!
--Steve Taylor: Whatever Happened to Sin?

Trouble Brewing

At one of the local hospitals, the cardiac care unit is on the same floor as the behavioral health unit. Who thought of this?

Well, I guess heart patients have to be put somewhere!

;>)

Get Right

People have told me that they need to get right with God, and it doesn't register with me, in the sense that I can't tell them how to accomplish what they've set out to do. I know what they mean, however. It's an angst that is expressed in a seeming distance from God. And so these poor people pray more, work harder, fret and fear, lose sleep, lose appetite, and have nervous breakdowns.

I just don't think God should be a source of anxiety for people. But it happens. And I don't believe for a moment that God is responsible for it. I think it comes from people treating God as a codependent. "I can't let God down," is often spoken by these benighted souls.

Is is possible to "let God down"? It just doesn't seem like it can be accomplished. The attempt to avoid this more often than not results in freak-outs.

Reconciliation is what God does through Christ. So leave the "getting right" to God (which has already been done) and stop fretting over something that can't be done by you.

Invite

I never seem to get invited to bar mitzvahs. I'm gonna try to find out why, but it could be because I don't know any Jewish people. Ya think... maybe?

Sing-a-Long

Do death metal audiences sing along with the band? Seems like an easy thing to do. Though it would probably be a good idea to hand out throat lozenges to people as they're leaving.

Why I Believe

I do believe in God. In a day when belief is hard (for some of us) and the road is difficult (for some of us), the end of the day arrives. At the end of the day, when the world is hushed from its feverish pitch of grasping at straws, there comes an ominous silence. And time to reflect.

I believe in God, not because I have scientific evidence, nor because I'm a master of puppets, nor because I have a wild imagination. I believe in God, not because I feel God in my heart, nor because I get telepathic signals, nor because I'm afraid not to believe.

I believe in God because there is love.

Love is all around us. It can be seen if we set ourselves aside for a moment and really take a look.

By love, I'm not talking about a sticky, sappy emotion that only seeks to benefit the self, nor am I talking about romance and being swept off of the feet. By love, I mean a selfless and sacrificial service that seeks the good of the other. This love is a giving away of the self to others so that others can be placed in a position to give themselves away to others. But this love doesn't demand the love of the other in return.

This kind of love cannot be measured in a laboratory. But it can be seen. Here's one example.

Think of the woman whose husband has been stricken with Alzheimer's Disease. She gets out of bed every morning knowing that her day is going to be completely spent in caring for her husband. She bathes, dresses, and feeds him. She has to stay with him because he can't take care of himself.

She can't hop in the car and go see a movie. She can't go for a hairdo and a manicure. She can't go sit in a park and read a book. She can't go out for lunch.

Oh, wait... I take that back. She can do all of those things if she wanted to. But she doesn't because that would leave her husband to fend for himself, which he is incapable of doing. So she stays home with the man she married.

To us, it would look like this woman doesn't have much of a life. To her, she wouldn't have it any other way. Perhaps she has more of a life than do many of us, for her life is not centered on herself. She gives of herself so her husband can be safe. She is present with him. And she has no regrets.

That is love. There are countless other examples, but this love cannot be bottled or placed in a beaker. It can only be seen in and through what it does. But the love itself is unseen.

And that's why I believe in God-- because there is love. It's all the evidence that's necessary.

And the end of the day, love reigns supreme.

"Political" Media Coverage is Great Entertainment

I'm not against politics. Actually, the root of the word "political" is polis (Greek, meaning "city"). Politics determines public policy and jurisprudence. It's necessary for an orderly and functioning society. We are a nation of laws, and most of us wouldn't have it any other way. So, in my book, politics is necessary.

Both Republicans and Democrats are trashing each other in this national election cycle. And people say, "It's just politics." And I say, "No, it isn't!" Trashing your opponent is trashing your opponent. It is not politics. Politics is what goes on in the crevices and crannies of governmental institutions, such as legislatures and executive offices.

The stuff you're seeing on Fox Noise, Cable Nuisance Network (CNN), and MicroSoft Nutcase Barack Climaxes (MSNBC) has very little to do with politics. It has more to do with party loyalties and personalities. If they were honest they would say their coverage is about politicians. But they're nothing more than big sales pitches to a consumer public without making this important distinction. There isn't much in the way of substance or something to think about. It's more like an unfolding soap opera. Politicians become rockstars and rockstars become politicians. Great stuff!!

And don't fall for this "fair and balanced" nonsense. Fox is definitely slanted right; CNN and MSNBC are definitely slanted left. There will never be a truly unbiased news network because next to no one would watch it. I certainly wouldn't. I would be bored out of my skull.

So, I watch the news networks. But I don't watch them to bolster positions I might hold. I watch them because they just ooze with B.S. And it's a lot of fun to me. It's great entertainment. Better than watching Survivor. My personal faves are Bill O'Reilly's Pinheads and Patriots segment, and Keith Olbermann's Worst Person in the World segment. Truly magnificent works of television artistry and punditry.

Please note that the terms pinhead, patriot, and worst person are descriptive terms originating from the biases and opinions of the people speaking them. They are not political terms. But they continue to call their programs "political coverage", and I love them for that.

Undoubtedly, my most favorite shoutfest is HANNITY!!!!!!! and Colmes. They bring on these supposedly insightful commentators and just let them talk over each other so you can't understand what they're saying. That's a pretty neat trick. Nobody is allowed to get their point across. It's just a bunch of noise. And it's hilarious!!

Character assassinations, half-truths, innuendos, rhetoric, hyperbole, hubris-- it all makes for a great evening of entertainment. Forget politics. If you want to watch politics, go to a city council meeting. Yawn. But if you want to watch people destroy each other, then the news channels are where you oughta be!!

On second thought, you're probably better off turning the tv off and reading a book before you become a miserable cur like me- hee hee!!