Friday, July 02, 2010

Hither and thither 7/2/10

Here is your weekly weekend welcome wagon. Enjoy, and have a great Fourth of July weekend!

(Programming notes: may or may not be updates, but none after noon PT. Plus, comment moderation may be spotty today, so be patient.)
  • Serious public service announcement: ABC reports that increasing numbers of kids die in hot cars in the summer. Regardless of the accuracy of the stats, it happens, and it shouldn't. Never be that distracted; and glance in cars as you walk by. I do, often, when I see car seats.
  • Senator Robert Byrd died this week at age 92. It is often said, and usually appropriately so, that if one has nothing good to say of the dead, he should say nothing at all.
  • A man who can't afford to die faces death. Pray for Christopher Hitchens.
  • Reader Berry Davis found some pretty cool lunchboxes crafted after album covers. Also from Berry....
  • No jokes about this, though some will spring to your mind... until you see her picture. There's a girl who has to eat 60 times a day, 5000-9000 calories, just to stay alive. She's skeletal; but every picture shows her smiling. Only three people in the world are known to share her genetic disorder.But she's plunged into her life in a way that shames healthy sluggards. I do not know whether she's a Christian, but she says God made her as she is for a reason, and she wouldn't change it; if she hasn't already, I pray she finds the reason in Christ.
  • In yet another Wow, Who Could Have Seen That Coming? alert, turns out Obama's last female nominee to the Supreme Court lied about her firm convictions regarding the Second Amendment... or changed them really, really fast.
  • Ooh. Ice Cream Pizza. (Thanks to reader Gil.)
  • Similarly, we are observing the fact that the Obama administration is far more interested in fighting American citizens than in preventing illegal break-ins. (Or, as a caller on the Limbaugh show re-dubbed them, "undocumented Democrats.") Isn't that remarkable? We keep hearing about the bad economy, we know the government needs to cut spending, yet President Obama manages to find the money to try to intimidate a state for trying to do something about his refusal to do his job.
  • That's right: his job. You'd think the notion of securing America's borders would be sort of basic, and not requiring explanation — any more than one would expect to have to explain to a McDonald's employee "That's right, you are going to have to cook hamburgers." Yet Mr. Obama's main response seems to be "I caaaan't, it's too haaaaard!" (My kids could mimic the proper tone of voice perfectly.) No wonder Representative John Boehner objects to the President spending so much energy and "time making excuses and whining about others."
  • Meanwhile, back to border control: President Obama's idea of action on the issue, apparently, is putting up signs...80 miles from the Arizona border. Brilliant. And he's going to sue them to stop them from trying to protect their own borders, in light of his failure. It's tempting to find some way of vacationing in Arizona to support them.
  • Now, your (someone's) tax dollars at work:

  • You know, you want your kids to set goals, to stand out, to achieve. But... like this?
  • Oh my. If you get past fleeting images of movie violence, Conan: the musical is hilarious.
  • Then there's the Dad life, a video with at least one LOL moment. (H-T Turk, via Twitter.)
  • You'll love this, and love Julie for alerting me to it: a Princess Bride quiz. Prepare to die. (I scored 80.)
  • Remember last week's sperm-donor (hard to call him a "dad") who tried to sell his baby at WalMart? Prison life isn't being a ride at Disneyland for him. Seems that some things are even below convicts' tolerance-level.
  • Okay, this is painful. Cowboy hip-hop.
  • Homeschoolers could give their kids a good, well-documented read in economics via this article on the minimum wage hike in Nevada. Among other things, the author asks, "Well, why not raise the minimum wage to $100 an hour?"
  • Reader Kerry Garrett (Mr. Grasshopper) envisions what will happen when McDonald's opens on the African veldt:

  • Another week, another loss of right to free access qua Christians for Christians, thanks to the Supreme Court. (Thanks to Gil Sebenste for link.)
  • Baptist pastor John pointed me to St. Lambert church, where the cages in which the corpses of tortured Anabaptists were displayed still hang.
  • Educate your kids: before CGI, there was Ray Harryhausen. (Also check the comments, which contain links to more clips.)
  • Oh my. Reader Fred found something a little coarse and a lot funny: an AT-AT day afternoon.
  • OK kids, let's think this through. A boy dog marries a girl dog, and they have a...? Dog, right. A boy cat marries a girl cat, and they have a...? Cat, right! Very good. Now: a boy human marries a girl human, and they have a...? Nothing of consequence, it turns out — until it feels pain sufficiently. (Thanks to Barbara for link.) The capacity for rationalization is that most damnable of human traits.
  • Yet another call for Michael Steele to resign as head of the GOP. Which, I think, is a great idea.
  • Things are different, now I'm not totally focused on either of my manuscripts.
  • My mother-in-law sent me a video on a futuristic public parking structure... in Budapest!
  • Google remains, unfortunately, the best search-engine I know. It has been oft-noted that Google does cutesy things with its name on the home page for many holidays - except for many American holidays, and all Christian holidays. Now it turns out that they pay employees more for practicing a particular sexual perversion. Weird company, that.
  • Oooooh, nom nom.

  • Another "Religion of Peace" alert, which could be called "Harry Potter and the Attempted Honor Killing." The Muslim father and brother of the actress who plays Padma Patil in the movies allegedly tried to kill her for not being Muslim enough for them. (H-T The Corner.)
  • Well, now both rude louts and Proverbs 12:4b women might get locked up in France. (Thanks, Paula.)
  • Now, for an And These Knotheads (A) Get Paid to (B) Teach Our Kids alert, click here, and weep.
  • These reworked images of pop icons include some pretty great pictures.

  • Reader Joel Griffith wonders whether meat-flavored Vodka is a "liquid nom." I'm thinking no.
  • Stay away from the red shirt! (Star Trek fans will get it.)













18 comments:

Aaron said...

Mike Adams had an interesting take on the Supreme Court ruling
http://townhall.com/columnists/MikeAdams/2010/07/01/an_immodest_proposal

The kids dying in cars thing really is sad and shocking. 51% of the time its by a parent who just leaves or forgets their kid! I remember when that father left his kid when he went into work (he apparently forgot the kid was there). Wowsers.

Herding Grasshoppers said...

Hurray :D

For a few minutes this morning, I wasn't quite sure it was Friday.

Thanks for the fun,

Julie

The Squirrel said...

I couldn't help but notice that the AT-AT was chasing squirrels...

Bad AT-AT! Bad! Bad!

Squirrel

CGrim said...

- Those Anabaptist cages = crazy. Do they remain as a reminder to never do it again, or as a warning, "Don't cross us?"

- That Budapest parking garage could be cool, although a 4 minute wait for your car to be returned might feel like a while. I can also imagine you accidentally getting someone else's car, or when parking, the system keeps giving you an error message over and over, "Parking garage has encountered an error and needs to shut down. Please reposition your vehicle."

- Best President in my opinion is either Washington or Lincoln - both men who saw it as "service" not as a means for self-aggrandizement.

The Squirrel said...

The turtle things... is that... hotdogs?... and bacon?... Oh, YUM!!!

Squirrel

Herding Grasshoppers said...

Love that parking garage. Though I find myself thinking of Monsters, Inc.

Yah... also wondering about the cages, and which message they are trying to convey by leaving them there?

Julie

SolaMommy said...

I'm sorry, the salmon is cute but the turtle things are a bit much...

lee n. field said...

No surprise on "the wise Latina"'s stand on the 2nd.

A good pic of John of Leyden & Co.'s cages is at the Wikipedia Muenster Rebellion article. I post it occasionally on Freerepublic, when the "rambling prophet" is holding forth.

"- Those Anabaptist cages = crazy. Do they remain as a reminder to never do it again, or as a warning, 'Don't cross us?'"

Check Wikipedia on the Muenster Rebellion. It wasn't "folks pickin' on Baptists". More like what happens when somebody who gets "words from God" takes over.

Paula Bolyard said...

Our right to freely associate is under attack on a number of fronts. In Indiana, the Civil Rights Commission is going after a small homeschool group for booting out a member who was causing problems. Could set a chilling precedent.

Although that parking garage looks cool, I am very skeptical that it would work during rush hour. Really? 4 minutes? DH works in downtown Cleveland and even there, the backups to get in and out of parking decks can be terribly inconvenient (he's actually rather terrified of them after being trapped in one for 2 hours on 911 when they cleared out his building).

Request for our DM (dear moderator): would it be possible for you to indicate midday updates in some way, such as a different color font or adding them at the end? I do tend to check back, but it's time consuming to wade through the entire thing to look for the updates. : )

Rupert said...

It's a topsy turvey world DJP. You hold some views I consider extreme. That's your right. But you can't expect the world to revolve around your view of everything.

The supreme court did not ban the Christian club. It did not close it down. It simply said it could not get legal recognition on campus because it was discriminatory.

The gay club has to abide by the same rules and would have to admit Christian folk, which I am sure it would happily do.

Kinda like Christians at a Muslim rally.

David Regier said...

They could probably charge admission to go up in those cages nowadays.

Sonja said...

@Squirrel - and I betcha the little bodies are composed of baked beans!

Them's good eats!

Got a good idea for dinner in the future -- fun with food!

Ron (aka RealityCheck) said...

"The gay club has to abide by the same rules and would have to admit Christian folk, which I am sure it would happily do."

Maybe that is the solution to such issues. Maybe every single Christian that could possibly join that gay club should do so. They should all show up with bibles in hand and say, "I understand this is a gay club... great... we love talking about this stuff and here's what the bible says about it and why that is important!"

I bet it wouldn't take long after that for whoever wants to limit Christian clubs to start thinking maybe that's not such a great idea.

Rupert said...

It's not a problem RealityCheck. If any clubs, such as gay ones, don't want people of differing viewpoints to join all they need do is reject official recognition and go on their merry way.

The whole biblical viewpoint is another argument altogether, but I'm pretty sure DJP won't see any point in opening that can of worms as it would provoke a long and detailed debate and this forum is not intended for such.

Ron (aka RealityCheck) said...

Rupert,

“It's not a problem RealityCheck”

Ultimately you’re right of course…

“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap” – Galatians 6:7

IOW, man will play his games, like “official recognition” games, but in the end God will have His way.

As far as DJP not wanting to open some can of worms, from what I’ve seen here and on Pyro, I don’t see him being too afraid of doing such a thing if he thought it was necessary in order to defend the bible. That said, considering how crystal clear the bible is on “this” particular subject, I certainly could see him feeling that an “argument” on the subject might not be worth his time.

Of course if someone is really looking for the Truth on the matter (and not just an argument) it really isn’t too hard to find, for example Matt Chandler recently talked about it here:

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2010/06/23/matt-chandler-seminary-on-homosexuality/

a while back Fred Butler had a great series starting here:

http://hipandthigh.blogspot.com/2008/04/debunking-gay-christian-apologetics.html

John MacArthur on the subject here:

http://www.gty.org/search/homosexuality

R.C. Sproul here:

http://www.ligonier.org/search/?q=homosexuality

Joe Dallas (who came out of the gay life style) here:

http://www.joedallas.com/

Susan said...

Dan, just wanted to say how gross those bacon/hotdog turtles looked. For a moment there I thought you lost your mind when you labeled the pic as "om nom nom" because I thought (gulp) they were real turtles wrapped in bacon!! Even though I've seen and heard of pretty far-out delicacies, this successfully freaked me out for a moment....

RT said...

If only we could display heretics in cages nowadays. Of course there would be more cages on the outside than congregants on the inside, but aside from that inconvenience . . .

Solameanie said...

We could always dip the turtles in chocolate and have Chocolate Turtles. Then again, that might get you a copyright infringement suit in addition to a horrible case of ptomaine.