Another week, another cornucopia. It's early, but...
- ...I know how some of you are if I'm late!
- Dude, now that is a tool-chest!
- Susan found us just the thing: a bacon-scented bar of soap! (Amazon helpfully explains that it's a "gag.")
- And further to enhance one's array of personal enhancements, reader Angus Nicolson discovered a cologne with a certain definable something.
- Legalities make me nervous, and I have a perfect illustration why. Jury duty makes me nervous; walking into a court house makes me nervous. Not because I have done or am about to do something worthy of legal sanction — but because anything might have a legal sanction by an unaccountable authority. Take the following case. Is it a jailing offence to say something demeaning about people of certain races, or policemen? I am not asking whether it is stupid, immoral, offensive, or worthy of social sanctions. I am asking whether someone should be jailed for it. Well, Federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis evidently thinks so. A juror said something he didn't like, so he "sentenced" her to indefinite jury service. She's deprived of liberty — indefinitely! no end-date, no parole! — because she ticked off a judge. A murderer gets 20 years, she gets life.
- In short, then: no murder, no rape, no theft... and no saying anything Judge Garaufis finds offensive. Hunh. What legislature crafted, drafted, debated and passed that law? Legal blog Volokh Conspiracy also spanks the judge pretty well.
- Good thing for her she didn't list "petty judicial tyrants" among the people she least admired.
- Update: the judge read her mind and released her from her life term. Made no sense, though; he says he "knew" she was lying, yet didn't find her in contempt. Looks like another liberal activist judge, doing what they do.
- Too bad for her she wasn't connected with a crime family and charged with murder.
- Yep, this is about right:
- You know... I am afraid that this is going to result in a lot of minor household disasters. And yet!
- Reviewers have questioned Rob Bell's accuracy as a writer. Now, if the report is accurate, this item reader Joel Griffith found gives ground to question his honesty as well. One can't judge another's heart, but that Bell wouldn't anticipate a firestorm simply defies belief... unless there's another issue in play.
- I am trying to figure out a way to strike a balance in expressing contempt and disgust, between dispassion and wild-eyed ranting. Not coming to me. Just (if you want) take this peek into the inner workings and rationalizations of a God-hating soul, watch Jeremiah 17:9 in action: whether in video or in print. (Links from Robert Sakovich.)
- Okay, now to cheer you up: Yurie Hwang found is this absolutely terrific video of Michael Jackson's "Thriller," as performed by... Transformers! Man, those 'bots got moves. (To enjoy it, really, you'd probably have to know the original... which is pretty long, but a classic.)
- Mm. Bacon maple sundae:
- In related news: you know how America has a "strategic oil reserve"? Reader Neil Shay points out that those wily Canadians also have a reserve: a strategic maple syrup reserve. Now, unfortunately, the page is in Canadian, and Google doesn't have a Canadian-to-English translator. So as an added service, no additional fee, I will explain that 1.4 million kgs, in real-world measurements, is 3086471.67059 pounds. You're welcome.
- As you know, President Obama has announced his 2012 re-election campaign and is running unopposed. As before, he's already got the terrorist-sponsoring despot vote sewed up.
- Reader Dwayne Warren found a gif that sums up pretty well what it feels and looks like around here, sometimes.
- Liberalism drives another business out of Illinois.
- I see dead people.
- (But I want one.)
- MSM Alert: So a questioner complains to President Obeyme about the price of gas for his 8mpg SUV (he has a family of ten). The president criticizes him, lectures him, and tells him to do a trade-in for a different car. That's a story, but not the story. The story is that the AP first briefly noted the exchange... then scrubbed it from the record. Thank God for the intrawebs, though. But catch it: The AP — Running Interference for Liberals Since the 19th Century. Must be nice.
- Reader Pierre S found a chucklesome envisioning of a Star Wars intro — Hawaii Five-0 style.
- Pathetic, but unsurprising in our abortion-as-a-sacrament culture: pro-life medical students facing discrimination.
- BTW, in case you haven't seen it (and want to), here's Paul Ryan introducing his path to prosperity.
- OTOH, more conscience-alerts for Christians who try to be Democrats: the GOP-led house has passed a temporary bill that (A) cuts spending and (B) pays the military — but the Dems and President O call it "dead in the water." Why? For sacramental and religious reasons. That is, it defunds DC abortions and some environuttiness.
- Multiple-Irony Alert: a congressfeminoid (A) named Slaughter who is (B) pro-abort (C) says that GOP freshmen came to Washington "to kill women."
- Susan found us a surprisingly clear-eyed piece on the government shutdown — "surprisingly" because CNN hosts it.
- I doubt many of my readers panic at the thought of a government shutdown. Otherwise, you could calm yourselves by reviewing six myths about the government shutdown, and consult a survival guide.
- Warning: before you let your kids watch the following, be warned that it does not turn out well for the bird. Reader Al brought back to my attention this vid of a bird that got too annoying with a cat. Sad thing is the bird may have been distracting the cat from a nest, I'm guessing. It's an amazing display of feline power, grace, and hunting skills, though. Both animals, just doing what they do.
- ONOES!! Gramma crashed The Intrawebs!! (Thanks, Chris Carney.)
- And finally: it's... it's a...
Posts
50 comments:
The story about the woman leaving her family just made me very, very sad..thanks for that note to start the day on!!
And that cat is just plain awesome. Note to all birds: cats got skillz. Don't mess.
Presumably Obama would also make comment on the man's climate change irresponsibility for having 10 kids. More than 1 and the polar bears drown, you know.
Martin Jetpack...Apparently they're preparing a "emergency response" version...cuz it's the first thing you'd do in an emergency...you know:take off in your jetpack.
Me too..I tripped over my fat tuxedo cat this morning.
Obama-4 more years-breeaathh...just breeathh...Oh wait didn't they just shut down governemnt on his watch?
Something tells me bacon is a staple of the Phillips home.
Canadian-just EH?! to every sentence.
Thanks for referring the Five-0 Star Wars...as an aside to all us Star Wars fans,this one was way better than the same Star TREK version! oh yeah!
"...I know how some of you are if I'm late! "
Yeah, but now it's all over, half the fun is the anticipation.
Wait, updates!
Where are the updates???
There've already been two.
Keep up, dude!
(c:
I'm pretty unhandy, but the toolbox was amazing. It would free up a whole garage wall of pegboard.
There's a Dallas version of the Star Wars intro as well:
http://youtu.be/kAHYftmwY0U
INFINITE POWER!
That, for some reason, made me laugh the hardest.
(And that bacon maple sundae--ooh--looks tasty, and I'm not usually one to drool over food pictures.)
Have a great weekend. I've got to go chase down the kittens on the slide.
Does Obama look himself in the mirror and talk about riding in a limo or all of his trips across the world? Oh, wait...he has a limitless supply of money so whay does he need to worry, right?
The article about the med students is pretty disturbing. It is bad enough that there are people out there misinforming pregnant women about the sonequences of abortion, but now the med schools are trying to limit the amount of doctors who will actually tell the truth.
We're going to clearly have to save our last pack of home-reared bacon in the freezer for your visit in September...
- I'm not too worried about a government shutdown, although I do know quite a few people in the military (including my brother-in-law), so I'm slightly concerned for them and their week-to-week budgets until things get sorted out.
- That bird (a mockingbird, I think?) was almost certainly trying to distract the cat from a nest.
- That maple-bacon sundae looks delicious.
I've seen Bell interviewed on two different news shows. Where's the tape of John MacArthur interviewing him? THAT would be one to see. Very edifying, I would think.
Half of the time, I think them emergent types are loving the controversy just for the sake of it.
Concur with the Examiner commentary ("6 Myths") that the WH is making political hay with the shutdown, however it is somewhat shocking to see the delay in military pay so flippantly trivialized. I do not personally mind working for free for a while, but I find it as unconscionable as it is unprecedented that an 18 year old Rifleman in Afghanistan gets to take incoming rounds while wondering whether his wife will choose baby formula or rent this month.
That spider poster may keep me awake tonight.
DAOD found it disturbing also.
@DJP: Again, the jury duty issue with you. It's really amazing to me considering my great admiration for you...but a good reminder to me not to overly honor any one man.
It was obvious to me from the very first read of the first article that the problem wasn't the person's views but that the person intentionally wrote down every possible bias to avoid jury duty. Granted, I have the advantage of being involved in the process regularly so it may not be as obvious to other folks, like yourself. And frankly, I agree with what the basic premise of what the Judge did. If I were Judge, I would have simply said, "You aren't going to get out of Jury duty that easily" so I'm sending you back to the general pool to be called by another Judge and we'll keep doing that until your jury duty term is expired." Because, the judge doesn't have to dismiss somebody from jury Duty until they've fulfilled some basic time requirement.
And BTW, indefinte doesn't equate to life. It is indefinate.
And I'm no liberal.
@CGrim:
my wife and I are both government employees. I'm "essential" and my wife is not. The pay issue for us could be pretty significant.
There will obviously be serious repurcussions to getting work done too.
Aaron, evidently not all share your and the judge's mindreading abilities. Regardless, it doesn't affect my point. The judge was irritated with her answer, so he handed her a life sentence. What recourse did she have?
What's remarkable to me is that you're defending such tyranny. So, how long is "indefinite," without further definition (pun noted), Aaron? Would it seem better if instead of "life," I'd said "the judge's life," or "the judge's whim," or "the judge's mood"? If I put it that way, should everyone say "Oh, well, then, that's different; no problem!"?
Amazing.
In our system Federal judges are answerable only to God - - - and that may be merely a matter of seniority. In my experience, both as a judge and a lawyer, it is always better to articulate for the record the facts upon which you base your ruling. In this case, of course, no formal findings were required but it seems to me evidence of the judge's arrogance that he would not bother to make any kind of record, if only an informal one.
@SirAaron
Indeed, I'm very familiar with the strain that comes when a spouse's paycheck is suddenly absent. (Although the Lord used those circumstances for great good in our lives, forcing us to make decisions we would have been reluctant to make otherwise.)
In no way was I suggesting that government workers who are not in the military have less financial responsibilities than those who are.
Ahhh.
The new tone in Washington is refreshing.
The air appears purer.
Ahhh.
Dan I have to ask where you got the angry puppet graphic at the top of the page? I can't stopping laughing at it.
Ahh our wonderful government. I remember hearing this stuff in kindergarten. Instead of admitting it was a legitimate play, you take your ball, walk off the court crying because they didn't play by your rules. When do the adults come out and brake up the fight?
I have to give Paul Ryan a lot of credit for the radical budget cuts he's proposed. At least someone's willing to make hard decisions.
Oh man I missed the tool chest. That is one of the most amazing pieces of hardware i've seen. Now I know what to put on my wedding registry!
Three items on the "Hiroshima in the Morning" writer:
1. So her life is so much more [insert superlative adjective] now?
2. Another monument to the cottage industry of nobodies writing memoirs.
3. There's a book written in the early 90's (the title escapes me, but it's on my bookshelf at home) written by a fellow who claims that chuldren are better off as in the custody of their father than of their mother. It's a raging little rant by a fellow who was a 2- or 3-time divorced man, but in this case, I see his point.
Sad that Bell spoke to 1600 at CINO [Christian in Name Only] Belmont University. My friend's son goes there and...what a theological mess. The president there recently came out and stated that they don't discriminate against homosexuals in hiring or admissions and indeed, they have many homosexual professors and students, regardless of what their statement of faith might imply about their adherence to biblical principals. I imagine Bell was right at home there.
How would that cat do vs. those Decorah eagles everyone is watching via Eagle cam, even going so far as taking the computer into the bathroom and the laundry room so they don't miss the hatching of the third egg? (what, that's just me?) So far I've seen a squirrel and a muskrat in their nest-o-death. How long before it's someone's family cat and unwashed PETA members are scaling the tree so they can rescue the eagles and train them to be proper vegans?
Some people think that clip of Obama heckling the 8 MPG guy is hilarious. I think it is absolutely offensive. It reveals so much about the man's character and values which are more in line with China's one-child, government-controlled way of life than our historic American Constitutional government and lifestyle which values life and family and personal responsibility. He is mocking our very way of life. Sick.
The puppet is "Fizzgig" from the Jim Henson movie "The Dark Crystal.
Bird video: ouch.
Dan Phillips has a blog?
I wrote a post and Blogger wouldn't take it so now I have to rewrite it...
Ok, let me clear this up first. The Judge was wrong. He lost his cool with a person who was acting contemptuous and then issued an illegal order. What the Judge should have done is what I said before. He should have said, "Sorry, I don't have to dismiss you and I'm sending you back to the juror pool so that you can serve the remainder of your jury duty as required by law." That would have forced her to serve at least the rest of the day and depending on the location, the rest of the week.
As to the subject of intentions. Respectfully, and I truly do mean respectfully, I think your being a bit obstinate. You don't need to be a mindreader to make judgements about somebody's intentions. In fact, I dare say you do this on your blogs with trolls. You judge that their intent is to cause trouble and endless quarrels. Yet, you aren't a mindreader. A person demonstrates their intentions through their actions, facial expressions, demeanor, and through what they say. The second article makes it abundantly clear that the juror in question was clearly being overtly contemptuous. I think its fair to say that the Judge discerned the jurors intentions by her behavior.
Frankly, while the judge can't put somebody into an undefined time-out for bad behavior, this juror got what she deserved. The same goes for people who demean policeman. An officer of the law should never abuse his authority even when demeaned. But if he does, don't expect me to feel sorry for the jerk who asked for it.
Secondarily, The Bible makes it very clear that we ought to fulfill our obligations to the government and do so without being a jerk. It is neither Biblical to act contemptously to a Judge nor is it wise.
@RT, see my post to Dan. I will say that I see judges lose their cool...usually it's ferreted out when they regain their composure.
@CGrim: I know you didn't. I just felt compelled to share.
Hate to say I agree with the president, but I don't think telling a guy driving an SUV complaining about gas prices to consider getting a more fuel efficient car is cruel or heartless. Seems like prudent advice. The incident reminds me of the YouTube clip where Chris Christie told the teacher whining about her salary that she didn't have to teach. I thought he hit the nail on the head too. As for the AP changing the record - lame move on their part.
Pierre Sailakey - We like bacon, a lot; but we don't actually eat it all that much. It's just become a fun meme here at BibChr.
Though, Pastor Pants, that sounds terrific.
Scooter - as LeeC said, it's Fizzgig from Dark Crystal.
Frank - I kept meaning and meaning to tell you. My bad.
Aaron - I don't know any way beyond repeating myself to get across the points you seem to keep missing. I don't mindread when I ban, I comment-read. And I am, in fact, the ultimate authority on this blog. Judges aren't.
The point is that he did in fact sentence her to an indefinite term. He just happened to reverse himself, perhaps when he calmed down and looked at the future. Plus, he's not the only one of his kind. I never said a word in defense of what the juror did, except that she had the right to have and express thoughts that the judge didn't like.
Whether or not the thoughts were themselves right is beyond my point.
Andy, among the big differences are that Obama is tut-tutting the man for talking to him about a crisis of his own creation, while Christie is remedying a crisis. Gas is increasingly expensive in part because Obama and his party stand in the way of America developing its own resources. For him to respond, during a financial and oil crisis of his party's and his ideology's creation, by lecturing a free American citizen on what he should and should not buy and drive — and then climb into his own 8mpg-er — is offensive.
Andy...perhaps you don't know any large families like the one in this story with 10 kids. We have two such families at our church. They can either drive the 15-passenger conversion van and fit the whole fam, take two mini-vans, or three cars. Even if they could afford three new cars that got 35 MPG, they're still not going to be much better off gas-wise. Shame on them for being such prolific reproducers in this age of high gas prices, I guess.
Obama and others of his ilk apparently just think people are too stupid to buy and drive more energy efficient cars. I think he really thought that guy with the 8 MPG car really didn't know any better and just needed to be enlightened.
@DJP: I'm not missing your points. The Judge had no right to do what he did and shouldn't have done it. Judge can and sometimes do wield power that flirts with tyranny. What you seem to be missing is that the Judge wasn't upset because this person was expressing her true opinion but was upset because the person was a jerk who was just trying to get out of jury duty. Your response is that how does the Judge know that? Is he a mind reader? My response is that one doesn't need to be a mind reader to see what somebody's intentions are.
@Paula:
I'd bet money that Obama and his ilk very much think 10 children are excessive.
Plus, liberals are such hypocrites. They just want us to conserve while they have their SUVs, planes, yachts, and mansions.
I want to hear from Rachael on the spider poster.
*Rachael Starke, that is.
Just wanted to add some support for Dan's comments about Obama stifling our development/use of our own natural resources. Back when all this mess happened in the GoM (Gulf of Mexico), they had a panel that worked up a paper for the President. They did not recommend the moratorium because all that did was send all of the new drilling and installation equipment to other parts of the world (where everybody else is developing their resources), leaving us with the older equipment, which is not as safe or efficient. Then on top of that, he goes and tells South America that we'll support them as they produce their oil. What happened to becoming more independent with regards to oil?
@Robert: You should check out the book $20 Per Gallon Gas. It will tell you everything you need to know about the leftist agenda on fossil fuels (and social engineering).
speaking of Tyranny, I'm anxious to see how homeschoolers handle the potential new CA law requiring students to learn about the valuable contributions of gay, lesbians, transgendered and bisexuals.
Dan,
I can see the distinctions you draw. Thanks for the correction.
Paula,
Folks should have as many children as they can, assuming they have the ability to provide for them: food, clothing, tuition for a biblical education, etc. If a man and wife can support 10 children, and raise them in the admonition of the Lord, I think that's wonderful, and may their tribe increase. However, children are not an automatic blessing, so parents should be wise about how large a family they take responsibility for. Six faithful children are better than four faithful and three wicked children. On the other hand, if a Christian couple decides they can't have more than let's say two kids because it means canceling the membership at the country club, I think that's disgusting. For those hurting in this current crisis, I hope their family and church can step in to assist them until they are able to manage the added financial stress.
Scripture does address "the valuable contributions of gay, lesbians, transgendered and bisexuals", at least of the unrepentant. For example, there's Romans 9:22-24.
I'm looking at the jury duty situation, and immediately my first thought is that yeah, this idiot most likely was trying to lie to get out of it. Obviously it's possible that she's that colossally wicked, but it came across as a bad joke about how to avoid jury duty.
Of course, seeing what they get paid to serve, I can completely understand not wanting to do so. $40 a day? Forget paying the mortgage, that's not much more than our property taxes and insurance! I'm suddenly in dread of being forced to serve on the Blagojecivh re-trial or some other case that drags on endlessly. We have a nice emergency fund and all, but it would be nice to save it for an actual emergency, and not have to dip into it to keep our house because I'm serving the country on a jury for six months.
Hey, don't we have tons of people we're paying not to work? Can't we make them work to earn their pay - $40 a day sure is better than nothing! And having to listen to lawyers all day, every day, would no doubt motivate many of them to actually try to get a real job.
My favorite Star Wars credits redo? Han Solo, P. I.
Squirrel
@Trogdor: Romans 9, HA! Funny and true as it is, I doubt it will be on the forced state curriculum.
As to jury duty, usually the Judge will say before you make it to the box that the trial is expected to be a certain amount of days. If the trial is going to be long, you just need to tell the Judge that you are willing to do your duty, but four weeks of jury duty will mean you can't pay your mortgage. Usually, you'll get dismissed for that reason. Most Judges and attorneys are reasonable...It's just that so many people try to get out of any jury duty that it starts to wear out any sympathy one might have. But somebody who is honest and willing to work something out will likely be very refreshing.
@ Andy: People have different views on whether they are financially capable of having more kids. Those people who can't usually refer to God's commandment to mankind to be fruitful and multiply and the passages about children being a blessing.
God bless those people who can afford and can handle many kids. I can barely handle two, I'm not sure what I'd do with ten.
Well, everybody and his mother will want to be on the Michael Jackson jury trial...you'll be dismissed in no time. I mean, who hasn't heard of his songs?? Even the Japanese robots dance to them....
SolaMommy:
I took one look at the spider picture yesterday, and it's taken over a whole day for the psychic wound to begin healing. If my tranqulizer meds aren't covered by my increasingly expensive insurance plan, I'm sending Dan the bill.
Re: the gas-sucking SUVs, another reason the "well, just trade the thing in" trope was so utterly tone-deaf is because anyone who owns one at the moment (like us), knows full well that you're going to get next to nothing for it because the resale value is so low. We recently bought a Ford Fusion Hybrid to offset the mileage issue, and as a missional endeavor to raise our streed cred with all our locavore liberal friends.
On the jury duty thing - this seems like yet another case of a person in authority getting sucked into reacting out of irritation ala Proverbs 14:29, rather than calmly pointing out that, given that the defendant's race was not on her out list, and the cops weren't the ones on trial, there shouldn't be a problem. Of course, the defendant's lawyers would still have objected, but that would have been it for her for that case.
Frankly, after having served as a foreperson on a jury right out of college, I find the modern interpretation of "peer" in terms of qualifications to be a juror, more than sufficient motivation to lead a peaceable, quiet life. I'm sure the Founding Fathers had good reasons at the time for mandating that a jury be by one's peers, but that was before government-run schools turned our "peers" into cloth-eared numbskulls ( to quote my dear British Mum).
Wait, wait, wait - we import maple syrup? What purpose does Vermont serve then?
And how exactly are we supposed to spell the Libyan leader's name? I've seen it with a K and mostly with a Q, suddenly now it's with a G, but his letter to his pen pal was signed with the Q-spelling. Who decided we all needed to switch to the G spelling nobody had ever seen before like a month ago? Was it the same secret cabal that tried to get us all to start using Usama Bin Laden?
Trog wrote, "Wait, wait, wait - we import maple syrup? What purpose does Vermont serve then?"
Funniest thing I've read all week : )
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