Friday, July 10, 2009

Hither and thither — 7/10/09

Well I thought it'd be scarce pickings today. But no. Rich assortment of laughs, groans, points to ponder, and weirdness.
  • Happy John Calvin's birthday! Five hundred years old, and his vision of the sovereign glory of God remains undimmed, and still drives the otherwise-inclined absolutely barking mad.
  • And by starkest contrast: Yesterday, among other shark-jump indicators, we noted Episcopilpalpalian "Bishop" Katherine Jefferts Schori denying individual salvation. Some saw a worthy point (in one interpretation of her words) in her denial that a simple prayer brings salvation. Here's a little more of a reminder of Schiori's thinking. It isn't remotely Christian.
  • So I was jolted, like everyone else, with the resignation of Sarah Palin. As the dust clears, we're getting some more thoughtful and calm analysis. John Fund builds a case that makes sense and fits what we know of Palin. Additionally, Ann Coulter makes her usual mild, dainty, on-target sorts of observations. And finally, a local Alaska writer (Tim Lindell) may make the best case of all.
  • And to nod to the other big story, here's a compressed and intelligent article on Michael Jackson and religion... if you care.
  • If not, here's this:

  • Sexual perversion makes you an expert on Jesus Christ, Christianity, and church growth. Or what other sense can you make of this? Or can you make any sense of it at all?
  • Fellow iPhone junies may be interested in today's Woot deal — a combination iPhone case and battery extender.
  • Lose your laptop? Maybe it's at LAX.
  • And then there are... NERDCAKES!
  • There's a little burger bistro in Sacramento which I mean to visit someday. It's called the Squeeze Inn, because it's such a tiny place. Turns out I'd better hurry. A disability-fascist may get it closed down. This story pretty well illustrates why I sometimes call myself a "Republitarian."
  • Clarifying discourse: I think accommodations for genuinely disabled folks is a great thing. I'm all for it. I think it's kind, merciful, humanitarian, and otherwise good. I also think it isn't my inalienable right to force the entire world — at gunpoint, or at writpoint — to accommodate me and my needs. And I hate that the land of the free and the home of the brave is becoming the worst place in the world to try to succeed at anything; and I blame the courts for a lot of it. For instance: I can't climb a rope to save my life. But if a restaurant gets built in a treehouse and is accessible only by ropes, I wouldn't dream of suing it into building an elevator. Now, if I had a disabled friend who really wanted to do business at a store that wasn't constructed to accommodate him, I would be willing to ask the store to make accommodations — assuming there is no other such store at which he can do business. I might be willing to do lots of things to try to persuade them to do so. Or I'd offer to shop there for him. But bring the whole force and weight of government down on their heads to force them to do so at gunpoint, or jail them or put them out of business? No sir.
  • Our British bro Gary Benfold brings a relatively rare bit of good news from the mother country. Tenuous protection of free speech vis-a-vis homosexual (and other immoral) conduct remains in place, though by what seems to me a close vote.
  • Now as the semi-regular feature for our Lego fans, this photographer's page, thanks to a loyal reader (who I think prefers to remain anonymous). They've got prominent copyright notes, and I don't want to annoy the photog. Do note at least the one captioned It's a trap!
  • Cone pizza. Nom nom nom.
  • "I'm the King of the... Death Star!"
  • Want a peek into how an evil mind views abortion? Witness Supreme Court Justice Ruth "Darth" Bader Ginsburg. This is cold-blooded pro-abort absolutism at its ugliest; the spirit of Margaret Sanger and her racist eugenics lives on in the highest court of the land.
  • BTW and in related news, don't ever forget that Hillary! is a huge fan of that selfsame bloody-handed racist.
  • Also related: breaking news! The LAT favors racism! Well... only good racism.
  • When liberals try to call themselves "progressives," just chuckle. Drives them nuts.
  • Soon, your child may be able to sleep in a Tauntaun — just like Luke Skywalker! (Warning: crude word in article title.)
  • And finally, what would H&T be without....









34 comments:

Fred Butler said...

Wasn't it Luke that slept in the TaunTaun? Han just cut it open to stuff him in side.

By the way, I have an original tauntaun complete with the Luke Hoth edition action figure.

DJP said...

Gah! Correct. Fixed.

Joe W. said...

Cone pizza? Genius!!

NoLongerBlind said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
NoLongerBlind said...

Poor Sparky! He obviously needed to learn the chorus of this song!

Solameanie said...

I actually commented on my blog about the Ginsburg thing. I try to ignore her in general, but this was too appalling to pass up. The media, of course, will remain silent on her statement. If Antonin Scalia had said that, Katie bar the door!

Captain Kirk looks like he's sitting in the Alabama electric chair. Oh, wait..that one's yellow.

And finally, the cat photo (Aunt Bertha) is hilarious. I am thankful that I didn't have a mouthful of coffee.

CR said...

Do you get the WSJ Dan? I thought about emailing you the John Fund article but caught up with a bunch of things.

Loved the Coulter article.

DJP said...

I do not. Either stumbled on it, or someone mailed it. Hopefully the former, because I always try to say thanks if the latter.

The Squirrel said...

Ginsburg is an evil woman, that she has been given this authority is an example of God's judgment upon America.

Ann Coulter "mild" "dainty" - ROFL - Her take on things is always... unique, and mostly on-target as well.

Poor Sparky :o(

~Squirrel

Halcyon said...

That LAT racism article was ridiculous. The amount of "ad hoc, ergo poster hoc" fallacies was sad.

Examples:

The articles "proof" that racism is still rampant today in a milder variant is: (1) more blacks than whites are poor, and (2) more blacks than whites are in jail. Question: What evidence do they give that those two things are a direct result of racism as opposed to some other cause? None at all.

Mike Westfall said...

Are we not living in a Brave New World?

Look, British Scientists Claim to Create Human Sperm from embryonic stem cells.

Something seems backwards about this.

Jay said...

The Barrowman thing really does not make sense, not only because he's actively gay, but because he's a rampant anti-theist to start with. I've never understood when people who want nothing to do with religion, and don't even pretend they do (like Ms. Jefferts Schori), decide they get to comment on it and offer advice.

It's a pity. He's a good actor and seems like a nice man in interviews and whatnot. Someone I wouldn't mind having a beer and talking sci-fi with.

Aaron said...

I thought many pro-abortionists thought that way?

On the British note, I think we Americans need to pay attention. We need to know what we'll say when the police come knocking at our doors.

Herding Grasshoppers said...

Ha ha ha!

Something about that pizza reminded me of WALL-E, "Now enjoy your pizza... in a cup!"

The Nerd Cake... hmm, at first glance I though he was seated on a big toilet. Eww.

And long live the Squeeze Inn! My husband (an architect) has occasionally come up against mind-boggling applications of the ADA.

He once had a client that wanted to put a drive-through espresso stand in a very small space. That project was sunk because there was only room for two parking places (which would be for employees, not customers - you know, it's a drive-through.) The ADA required the first parking place to be a handicap-accessible parking spot. And not just an ordinary handicap-accessible spot, but the first handicap-accessible parking spot had to be the extra-large kind, which would accommodate a conversion van with a wheelchair lift.

All that effectively took up the space of two normal parking places. And, of course, the employees (who, in that setting, aren’t likely to be in a wheelchair), can’t use that spot… Well, you see the ridiculous lengths to which this can go.

Happy weekend,

Julie

CR said...

I'm surprised Dan that you didn't report on the President's lustful and covetous gaze at a 16 yr. old in Italy yesterday.

DJP said...

Oh, goodness; that's ALL OVER FreeRepublic. At the moment, I just think that's a major non-story. Don't we have enough substantial alarms in re. The One to occupy ourselves?

Fred Butler said...

I don't fault Barry's "lustful gaze." I could easily fall in to such a temptation myself.

DJP said...

Or even without a gaze. Good heavens, our heads and eyes don't click from location to location. But a camera does. Theoretically, a man (or woman) could dart his (or her) glance 180 degrees, and a camera will freeze one microsecond with no indication of whether it was fleeting or lingering.

Every regular reader is well aware of my issues with Obama. They're ideological, to put it broadly. Unlike The Nameless One, The One has not brought with him a well-known laundry list of immoralities. So I say focus on substance, not glances.

(And I don't really think my friend CR was seriously saying otherwise.)

CR said...

I don't know. I think there is a certain pathology in dictator-type leaders. Orientation towards pride (Obama), concerned with prestige and recognition (Obama) and popularity (Obama) and a certain sexual looseness in their behavior (the first time I observed it, yesterday).

The fact that he made no effort in restraining himself and blantantly, covetously and lustfully looks at a 16 year old like he did, gives me even greater concern that this guy is one real bad dude.

CR said...

Yeah, Fred, I do to. But I think instanteously we know it was wrong. And a 16 year-old? I don't know, maybe it's the former teacher in me.

I just found it surprising, that's all. Maybe I shouldn't have been surprised. Maybe it's nothing.

CR said...

Ok, I'll focus more on substance. It just gave me the weebee geebees.

DJP said...

Maybe I would too if I saw the video. I've just seen too many utterly misleading photos.

Gary said...

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/07/when-in-rome.html

There's the video. Looks more like Sarkozy is the one with the wandering eyes...

CR said...

Okay, I thought the Gov. Palin poster was funny.

Also, I had to go to Webster to look up genuflecting. The genuflecting reminds me of something. When President Obama comes into a press conference, the media stands up. But when Bush came in, they didn't stand.

The Squirrel said...

"The Nerd Cake... hmm, at first glance I though he was seated on a big toilet. Eww."

Well, that would give "To Boldly Go" a whole new context...

~Squirrel

Herding Grasshoppers said...

HA HA HA!

Aaron said...

Fred:

I was at the beach with some Christians over the July 4th weekend. While I was being lectured about how The Way of The Master is the only Biblical method of evangelism, I was thinking about Dan's article "Sister...Show Mercy" and how this guy and his 16 year old daughter so needed to read it.

Needless to say, I can relate.

David Wolfe said...

Dan: Agree completely with your take on Squeeze Burger. People with disabilities have filed lawsuits over: doors having handles instead of openers, floor mats that moved too much, towel racks and mirrors that were inches too high or a toilet that was inches too low...and for what? So Basketball Town could close? So unemployment could increase? So disabled people's selfish desire that they somehow have "rights" could rule over and ruin it rest of us?

(http://cbs13.com/watercooler/Basketball.Town.Lawsuit.2.486148.html)

Newsflash: We are all created in the image of God, and life is not unfair because you are disabled. You want fair? Fair is eternal hell, for the disabled and the able-bodied alike.

And if that seems too harsh for you, try this. I am disabled! I walk with crutches and leg braces. I have trouble walking more then two city blocks without needing a rest. I have a score of 98% on Department of Rehab's disability ranking. Yet I'm not going to sit here and whine because God has given me this disability for a reason: that I might glorify Him with it! Yes, there are some stores I have trouble in, and that's a bummer. But my testimony for Christ means far more then vainly trying to get 'equal service.' I find great hope in, that "the sufferings of this present age are not worth comparing to the glory that is to be revealed in us in Him." If you all disagree, that's fine, but mine is not a perspective a fallen world (or even Christians) see often. I thought it was important to share.

Anonymous said...

David, Amen!

I'm colorblind. Is the government to change the traffic light system to have symbols rather than colors just for me?

I have celiac sprue. Is the government to forbid McDonald's from serving wheat, rye and barley?

Some disabled people, like some non-disabled people, are narcissists.

Aaron said...

David:

That story you linked to is just tragic. It sounds like the center did everything they could to accomodate and still wound up being sued.

Paula said...

Another extremist, pro-death goon: Obama's Science Czar John Holdren.

In a 1977 book he co-authored called "Ecoscience) Holdren says mass sterilization and forced abortion are needed to save the planet.

Adding a sterilant to drinking water or staple foods...would pose some very difficult political, legal, and social questions, to say nothing of the technical problems...it must be free of dangerous or unpleasant side effects; and it must have no effect on members of the opposite sex, children, old people, pets, or livestock.

The development of a long-term sterilizing capsule that could be implanted under the skin and removed when pregnancy is desired opens additional possibilities for coercive fertility control. The capsule could be implanted at puberty and might be removable, with official permission, for a limited number of births.

If some individuals contribute to general social deterioration by overproducing children, and if the need is compelling, they can be required by law to exercise reproductive responsibility—just as they can be required to exercise responsibility in their resource-consumption patterns—providing they are not denied equal protection.

In today's world, however, the number of children in a family is a matter of profound public concern. The law regulates other highly personal matters. For example, no one may lawfully have more than one spouse at a time. Why should the law not be able to prevent a person from having more than two children?


Brave new world indeed.

Associate-to-the-Pastor said...

Yeah, I don't think Obama was actually looking. Sarkozy was practically salivating but Hussein was merely helping the other person out. It even looked like pulled the whole 'bouncing eyes' trick.
Of course, since I don't appreciate his policies, I MUST be one of these evil right wing crazies who will tell everyone else he is a marriage destroying scuzzbucket, right?

I hate the MSM. Even when it's people I tend to agree.

Solameanie said...

It's always possible that Obama and Sarkozy had just watched Caddyshack and were doing their Carl Spackler impersonations.

Moon said...

Cone Pizza!? That looks delicious!!! I want one!! or two!

Obama Picture---> Now I'm no fan of obama whatsoever...but come on, I saw the video and I doubt he was looking at that girl the way the picture shows...and only because he kept staring down as he helped that other girl down the stair...now the other guy, Sarkozy, he did stare...but even so, if Obama would have lusted after her one cannot expect otherwise, he's not Christian...

On another note...Poor Sparky! :P that poster was just hilarious, and the ones on Palin...