Friday, September 18, 2009

Hither and thither 9/18/09

This week's edition is a bit different. It has that in common with every previous edition.



I thought Barack Obama would be a poor and troublesome president. Did I think he would yuk it up with Hugo Chávez, smirk with Daniel Ortega about the Bay of Pigs, turn his wrath on a Central American country trying to follow its constitution, denounce President Bush abroad, bow to the king of Saudi Arabia, endorse a radical Middle Eastern view of how Israel came into being, knock Western countries that try to protect Muslim girls from unwanted shrouding, invite the Iranian regime to our Fourth of July parties, stay essentially mute in the face of counterrevolution in Iran, squeeze and panic Israel, cold-shoulder the Cuban democrats in order to warm to the Cuban dictatorship, scrap missile defense in Eastern Europe, and refuse to meet with the Dalai Lama — in addition to his attempts to have government eat great portions of American society? No, I did not. You?
  • Am I the only one who thinks it's funny to watch Tim Challies pour out 1500+ words fretting about whether he's been too bare-knuckled and insensitive?
  • Evidently m'man Frank Turk doesn't think it's too funny. But his comments are hysterical... and make an excellent point. It's Classic Turk™, don't miss it.
  • Given our earlier grousing about Windows, this seems fitting.

  • The apology wasn't sincere? You're kidding me! Remember the idiot who threw two shoes at President Bush? The idiot who probably only is alive because the SS was slow? After he got in trouble for his assault, he made "Sorry-sorry-sorry" noises and asked to be "forgiven." Well, now he's out of prison, and guess what? He's not really sorry! Gollies, who ever could have predicted that? (I mean, besides me and anyone with a brain.)
  • The man who assaulted the President could well have ended up like this guy. Wonder whether he's done that calculation.
  • The Patriot Act? Oh, it's evil. Evil! Well... except when The One does it. (h-t- reader Curtis Scheidler)
  • You all think I'm exaggerating or bitter when I talk about what a Godforsaken wasteland Sacramento is. Fine. Check this.  Here's what I'd guess. While the Emerging movement is dying everywhere else in the world, Sacramento spiritual leaders are probably just beginning to say, "Hey... that looks really hip! Maybe that will help us Reach Out to The Kidz." That would be about right for this burg. h-t my DAOD)
  • Update/flashback. By the way, I remember that story, and the whole isn't being told. Check this. The stripper-mother violated an agreement she signed. The church tried to work with her at the time, tried to get her help and guidance. The mom did quit, at least for a time, so the girl could graduate. But now they're apologizing. But she was unrepentant at the time, and rationalized her strip-teasing in an interview with Playboy (which you can read on an old FreeRepublic thread).
  • So, would any morally-sane adult allow a twelve-year-old to make massive, irrevocable decisions that will mark him for the rest of his life? I'm saying "no."  (h-t- reader VCdeChagn, if I did that right.)
  • Theologian Trading Cards. Seriously. Oh, you scoff today... but all the cool kids will be trading them tomorrow.
  • This is good...

    • ...and this is funny.


    • If "some" is funny, more is better.


    • ...and 'way more is 'way better

    • Hmmm, I dunno.... OK! Sounds good to me!


    • And finally:













    21 comments:

    Fred Butler said...

    I wondered if that pastor apologized to all the people the elders disciplined out of their church, but then I realized, more than likely, they never exercised church discipline against any one.

    Anonymous said...

    12 years old?!?! And is now a girl????

    What's the immigration policy for the States nowadays? All sense of moral superiority from this side of the pond has now completely gone. I cannot believe it.

    Yours,
    Flabbergasted of Great Britain

    JackW said...

    I've been throwing (and yes, catching) boomerangs for many years. My cousin makes them out of wood or aircraft grade aluminum. He has a simple QC program: throw them away and if they don’t come back … fail.

    VcdeChagn said...

    All sense of moral superiority from this side of the pond has now completely gone.

    You can't run from the insanity. It's already beat you here.

    Fortunately, they can't run from God.(Rev 6:15-17 unless you spiritualize it in which case it can mean whatever you want! :) )

    BTW, VcdeChagn is right..it's a long storey how I came by the name. Nine characters used to be the limit on IRC, so I had to truncate it.

    It's from Phantom of the Opera, btw.

    Rachael Starke said...

    Hailing from the country of origin for boomerangs, this tidbit:

    "but may be dangerous to throw

    made me laugh. Technically all boomerangs are supposed to be dangerous, given that they're designed to chop the heads off tasty furry creatures like kangaroos. (I'm sure the guy meant dangerous to the thrower, but it still made me chuckle.) Plus, the opening statement about boomerangs being "random objects" was utterly offensive. Boomerangs are in fact core objects of identity for the Australian Aboriginal people, and such deameaning language can mean only.... oh nevermind.

    And I wonder if I'm the only one who would be helped by some kind of ratings system for all these nuggets of joy, like DRUAB (for Don't Read Until After Breakfast). The piece about the pathetic Bizarro pastor absolutely turned my stomach.

    I used to think you were exaggerating about the state of things in our sorry state's capitol. But now I'm thinking not. We gotta pray you guys out of there. :(

    Andrew Faris said...

    Thanks for the trading cards link!

    DJP said...

    Rachael: "We gotta pray you guys out of there. :( "

    That. or pray God would raise up similar fire-in-the-heart folks who'd put their shoulders and resources to making a Christ-centered, Bible-preaching-and-teaching-and doing, Calvidispiebaptogelical-friendly ministry possible here.

    SolaMommy said...

    That Sacramento story is vomitously reminiscent of a passage from "Blue Like Jazz."

    jmb said...

    So now I have to start to think of Barack Obama as being a real person?

    DJP said...

    Baby steps, dude. Baby steps.

    jmb said...

    Good idea.

    FX Turk said...

    Yo DJP --

    I'm happy fo' you and your readers that you linked to my "real person" post and all ...

    Imma let you know that Kanye is a real person, and you need to think twice about whether your links to those meme graphics are things you would say to his face.

    All I'm sayin' yo.

    Jay said...

    You know, even in the United States, someone has to be 18 to legally undergo gender reassignment surgery (unless they were born with a hermaphroditic condition, of course, which is a completely different issue and one I wish would be addressed by theologians more often, since its implications are indeed confusing).

    The parents of that poor child are idiots, and I pray for him quite a bit.

    GrammaMack said...

    Supposedly we redheads could be wiped out within 100 years: "a study from the Oxford Hair Foundation... postulated that the recessive gene – MC1R – that causes red hair was vanishing because growing migration means it is increasingly unlikely for the few people who have the gene to meet and have children." Redheads unite! :-)

    VcdeChagn said...

    But wait..there's more.

    Things I can't make up:

    http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2645444/Now-boy-9-is-a-girl.html

    Jay said...

    Hmmm, nine? Nine seems far too young for a child even to express feelings of gender identity unless he or she was born with a hermaphroditic condition. Are the people at The Sun certain that this is not the case?

    NoLongerBlind said...

    Can't help but wonder if this is a case of the parents wishing they had a daughter......
    truly sad....

    "And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done."

    CR said...

    Was that a light saber that President Obama was suppose to be flashing? Why wasn't it red?

    The Kayne cartoons are hilarious.

    trogdor said...

    The list of things I've liked about Obama has grown to three. He got out of the way and let the military properly deal with the Somali pirate terrorists. He offered an accurate assessment of Kanye West. And when confronted by a fencer, he drew a lightsaber. Because I'm all about being fair and irenic.

    It's hard to disagree with this. Although I don't need to wait for kids; my wife has correctly assessed that legos are perfect gifts for significant occasions, such as Vader's TIE fighter and an AAT set (including Yoda) for this past Valentine's Day. That there is true romance.

    File this under "Coming Soon To America".

    Jon said...

    So, the Playboy article....

    It's very obvious now that the church has done nothing in teaching any proper Biblical doctrine to that poor confused woman. I would more blame her for the lack of any biblical understanding of sexuality, but the church has now shown complete incompetence. Ugh!

    And the racism? Well, at the very least the church has lost all ability to discern any common sense approach to rules or regulations. Stupidity at the finest!

    Sad... very sad...

    Solameanie said...

    Um, Dan. Don't you think -- in light of Barack Kenobi and the faux lightsaber -- that it's time for a reappearance of HillaPalatine giving him a little force lightning?