Service Announcement

Okay, so you'll notice the post below this post is my attempt at religious humor. A special thanks to the church member who just sent it. But you'll also notice the post after that, is a post about racism. Just so you, my dear reader, won't say, "Dude, like it's okay to smear someone based on their religious convictions and not someone based on their racial persuasion?" Just so you know, I thought about that before posting the joke.

You'll notice that the religious element in the joke is only an aside to the greed of the old man rather than an indictment between one faith and another. In other words, the greedy old man only "uses religion" to justify his greed rather than living by its conviction.

As I am one who often challenges religious systems of belief, I found this joke both appropriate to my critical self and, a joke that was really, really funny.

*End of service announcement*

And, I hope you find that this joke is funny too.

An Old Irish Joke

An Irish daughter had not been home for over five years. Upon her return, her father cursed her. Where have ye been all this time? Why did ye not write to us, not even a line? Why didn't ye call? Can ye not understand what ye put yer old mum thru?

The girl, crying, replied, "Dad... I became a prostitute...".

"Ye what!!? Out of here, ye shameless harlot! Sinner! You're a disgrace to this family."

"OK, Dad -- as ye wish. I just came back to give mum this luxurious fur coat, title deed to a ten bedroom mansion plus a savings certificate for $5 million."

"For me little brother, this gold Rolex and for ye daddy, the sparkling new Mercedes limited edition convertible that's parked outside plus a membership to the country club... (takes a breath)... and an invitation for ye all to spend New Years' Eve on board my new yacht in the Riviera , and..."

"Now what was it ye said ye had become?" says dad.

Girl, crying again, "Sniff, sniff....a prostitute dad! "

"Oh! Be Jesus! Ye scared me half to death, girl! I thought ye said a Protestant. Come here and give yer old man a hug."

Noticing Racism

It isn't difficult to see, once you start looking. When racism is no longer overt (even though in many situations, conversations, and places it is very overt), you have to look just below the surface of a situation to discover it. Listen to someone's motivation, read the background to a story, or compare how one situation is looked at from a different perspective--or how a story is interpreted when it involves a person of color and a Caucasian.

Take this photo for example. Notice the difference between "looting" and "finding".

Unfortunately, once you start noticing the differences, it becomes absurd how often you see, hear, and witness it.

Ten Dollars?!

Flying couldn't be cheaper now; although where you fly is a bit limited. It seems everything works to or through Columbus, OH. And, everything is bare bones--but hey, its only $10!! Go here for that $10 flight to wherever.

Kurt Vonnegut Quotes

After the jump, you'll find yourself at a webpage devoted to 15 of the post writer's favorite quotes of Vonnegut. Here is one post:

"We must be careful about what we pretend to be."

In Mother Night, apolitical expatriate American playwright Howard W. Campbell, Jr. refashions himself as a Nazi propagandist in order to pass coded messages on to the U.S. generals and preserve his marriage to a German woman—their "nation of two," as he calls it. But in serving multiple masters, Campbell ends up ruining his life and becoming an unwitting inspiration to bigots. In his 1966 introduction to the paperback edition, Vonnegut underlines Mother Night's moral: "We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be." That lesson springs to mind every time a comedian whose shtick relies on hoaxes and audience-baiting—or a political pundit who traffics in shock and hyperbole—gets hauled in front of the court of public opinion for pushing the act too far. Why can't people just say what they mean? It's a question Don Imus and Michael Richards—and maybe someday Ann Coulter—must ask themselves on their many sleepless nights.

Go here to read the rest.

Predictions from the year 1900

...from the Ladies Home Journal, no less. Who knew they've been around that long?! Anyways, the story is fascinating to read (if true). Go see it and let me know if it is indeed an accurate document. It is filled with things that are funny, many that are true, and some that are strikingly true.

It kind of make me wonder what predictions we're making about life 100 years from now.

Book Art

Follow the jump to some great projects made out of books, of all things.

The Best Debt Management Program Ever

I found this video tonight and found it priceless. It is a way that demonstrates to all of us how to get out of debt and how to stay out of debt.

Snl_dontbuystuff
Uploaded by shosterman

The New Sanctuary Movement

There is a new movement happening across progressive America in which local congregations reach out to specifically help and aid struggling immigrants from Empire's long-arm of the law and uncompassionate heart. That movement is called The New Sanctuary Movement and it is a small but ever growing mission to reach out to the aliens in the land in the name of religious and Christian hospitality.

Here is an excerpt from their pledge statement:
The New Sanctuary Movement is a coalition of interfaith religious leaders and participating
congregations, called by our faith to respond actively and publicly to the suffering of our
immigrant brothers and sisters residing in the United States.

You can go here to learn more about the movement and to ask yourself how you can participate with it.

A Practical Response

A friend of mine wrote one heck of a practical response about Don Imus' on-air racist and sexist comments that got him fired from his radio show. You can read his response as a father of little girls and how Imus' comment shows the ever-constant concern to remind our little girls of their self-worth in a world of such intolerance.

You can also read another constructive response to Imus over at Dolly Mama. The writer of that blog is the pastor at Judson Memorial Church, in NYC (I used to be a member there).

Conan O'Brien went to Harvard?!

Okay, so that isn't such a big thing but what is a big thing is the graduation speech he wrote and delivered to his alma mater in 2000. I found it to be a wonderfully funny and poignant speech. I hope you enjoy it too.

Stop what you're doing...

...and watch this video. Bill O'Reilly and Geraldo Rivera are at each other's throats in a debate concerning immigration. Bill is commenting about a little girl killed by a drunk driver who is also an illegalimmigrant. Geraldo is rebuffing Bill by saying this issue is about drunk driving and not illegal immigration. Geraldo is brilliant and then he says something amazingly profound. It's toward the end.

I should warn you, there is a lot of shouting-- so you'll have to mentally focus. But, in my opinion, it's well worth it.





This video is on youtube.com here.

The Real Issues of MLK, Jr.

Martin Luther King, Jr. has become quite the symbol of racial equality, as he should be. But King didn't just stop talking about discrimination when the Civil Rights Act passed, he continued to discuss the economic inequalities that existed in the 1960's and how race played a huge factor in it. He contended that unless we dismantle and redistribute certain economies of privilege, then racism will never truly be eradicated.

Here is an interesting article that speaks to King's rationale behind his economies of justice. One has to wonder how or what a Christian should do when faced with King's call to justice. So often, America's form of economy is based on a capitalism that seeks to reward those who have much by enabling them to give more to those who are poor through both tax incentives and monetary reward. Our form of capitalism seems to have served America well--although there are a number of folks who are looking for a better system of economic equality that isn't as much communistic as it is communal. A good example of this is called Christian communism, while pejorative sounding in nature, it does seem to draw on the Christian's in the Book of Acts as the primary directive with creating an economic equality that seems to evade the minds of capitalistic Americans.

However it is we examine our economy, one thing is for certain: Few people are going to hear it well. As our political parties have been so eloquent to achieve, many Americans tie capitalism with Christianity is what appears to be an unholy alliance. In some ways, what we are experiencing sounds a lot like what Amos experienced when he prophesied against the economic abuses of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Who will be our prophet now? What will that prophet say? Who will offer up a better way that provides a fair way to provide for all of God's children? Honestly, how does the responsible Christian address economic and justice related inequalities? From the example of MLK, Jr. we must surmise that such an address will not be received well, if at all.

The Secret White House Communication System

This post is kinda scary. It details a secret and dedicated email server that the White House uses instead of the one run by the official email server as mandated by a law in the Presidential Records Act. The idea is that all emails must be ran through the official one in the event an email might be needed for future examination.

Instead, many folks around Bush use a different email server to help keep their actions secret and outside the venue of accountability.

Honestly, who can blame them, right? Sometimes a person may do a thing in secret for a greater good. Still, the post articulates a scary scenario in which accountability left unchecked can cause great mischief.

Are ya’ll from these parts?

A special thanks to Sieg for this post.

SOUTHERN WOMEN

Southern women appreciate their natural assets:
Clean skin.
A winning smile.
That unforgettable Southern drawl.

Southern women know their manners:
"Yes, ma'am."
"Yes, sir."
"Why, no, Billy!"

Southern women have a distinct way with fond expressions :
"Y'all come back!"
"Well, bless your heart."
"Drop by when you can."
"How's your Momma?"


Southern women know their summer weather report:
Humidity
Humidity
Humidity

Southern women know their vacation spots:
The beach
The rivuh
The crick

Southern women know the joys of June, July, and August:
Colorful hi-heel sandals
Strapless sun dresses
Iced sweet tea with mint

Southern women know everybody's first name:
Honey
Darlin'
Shugah

Southern women know the movies that speak to their hearts:
Fried Green Tomatoes
Driving Miss Daisy
Steel Magnolias
Gone With The Wind

Southern women know their religions:
Baptist
Methodist
Football

Southern women know their country breakfasts:
Red-eye gravy
Grits
Eggs
Country ham
Mouth-watering homemade biscuits with momma's homemade jelly

Southern women know their cities dripping with Southern charm:
Chawl'stn
S'vanah
Foat Wuth
N'awlins
Addlanna

Southern women know their elegant gentlemen:
Men in uniform.
Men in tuxedos
Rhett Butler

Southern girls know their prime real estate:
The Mall
The Country Club
The Beauty Salon

Southern girls know the 3 deadly sins:
Having bad hair and nails
Having bad manners
Cooking bad food
More Suthen-ism's:
Only a Southerner knows the difference between a hissie fit and a conniption fit , and that you don't "HAVE" them, you "PITCH" them.
_____

Only a Southerner knows how many fish, collard greens, turnip greens, peas, beans, etc., make up "a mess."
_____

Only a Southerner can show or point out to you the general direction of "yonder."
_____

Only a Southerner knows exactly how long "directly" is, . as in: "Going to town, be back directly."
_____

Even Southern babies know that "Gimme some sugar" is not a request for the white, granular sweet substance that sits in a pretty little bowl in the middle of the table.
_____

All Southerners know exactly when "by and by" is. They might not use the term, but they know the concept well.
_____

Only a Southerner knows instinctively that the best gesture of solace for a neighbor who's got trouble is a plate of hot fried chicken and a big bowl of cold potato salad. If the neighbor's trouble is a real crisis, they also know to add a large banana puddin!
_____

Only Southerners grow up knowing the difference between "right near" and "a right far piece." They also know that "just down the road" can be 1 mile or 20.
_____

Only a Southerner, both knows and understands, the difference between a redneck, a good ol' boy, and po' white trash.
_____

No true Southerner would ever assume that the car with the flashing turn signal is actually going to make a turn.
_____

A Southerner knows that "fixin" can be used as a noun, a verb, or an adverb.
_____

Only Southerners make friends while standing in lines, ... and when we're "in line," we talk to everybody!
_____

Put 100 Southerners in a room and half of them will discover they're related, even if only by marriage.
_____

In the South, y'all is singular, all y'all is plural.
_____

Southerners know grits come from corn and how to eat them.
_____

Every Southerner knows tomatoes with eggs, bacon, grits, and coffee are perfectly wonderful; that red eye gravy is also a breakfast food; and that fried green tomatoes are not a breakfast food.
_____

When you hear someone say, "Well, I caught myself lookin'," you know you are in the presence of a genuine Southerner!
_____

Only true Southerners say "sweet tea" and "sweet milk." Sweet tea indicates the need for sugar and lots of it -- we do not like our tea unsweetened. "Sweet milk" means you don't want buttermilk.
_____

And a true Southerner knows you don't scream obscenities at little old ladies who drive 30 MPH on the freeway. You just say,"Bless her heart" ... and go your own way.
_____

To those of you who are still a little embarrassed by your Southerness: Take two tent revivals and a dose of sausage gravy and call me in the morning. Bless your heart!
_____
And to those of you who are still having a hard time understanding all this Southern stuff, ... bless your hearts, I hear they are fixin' to have classes on Southernness as a second language!
_____

And for those that are not from the South but have lived here for a long time, all y'all need a sign to hang on y'alls front porch that reads "I ain't from the South, but I got here as fast as I could."

Southern girls know men may come and go, but friends are fahevah !

Now...... Shugah, send this to someone who was raised in the South or wish they had been!

If you're a Northern transplant, Bless your little heart, fake it. We know you got here as fast as you could.

Firefox Easter Eggs

Like Windows' Internet Explorer, Firefox has some interesting Easter Eggs (hidden messages) in its innards. To see them, just type in the words in your address bar and click return (or enter). Thanks TechPwn for this post.

About:Mozilla - This one is a bit odd. It displays a quote as if it was out of the some holy book. This is Mozilla getting back at Microsoft because if you put this in IE, it gives you a blue screen, making fun of a Mozilla crash. Here is what it says…

And so at last the beast fell and the unbelievers rejoiced. But all was not lost, for from the ash rose a great bird. The bird gazed down upon the unbelievers and cast fire and thunder upon them. For the beast had been reborn with its strength renewed, and the followers of Mammon cowered in horror.

from The Book of Mozilla, 7:15

About:config - This page shows you all of Firefox’s configuration. You can set settings to your own liking. There are many pages out there that talk about speeding up Firefox by editing some settings in here. Just Google “speed up firefox”.

About:cache - Ever wondered how much space the Firefox cache is taking up? This page will let you know.

about:plugins - This gives you a detailed list of plugins installed on your machine. This could come in handy if certain pages (especially media files) aren’t loading correctly.

About:credit - This one is self explanatory. It will show you all of the people who have spent their time building this great piece of software.

about:blank - This one might not be too hidden, but if you’d like to set your browser homepage to a blank slate, this could come in handy.

Dog Fetches Shark?

I got tired of hearing this video play itself whenever I loaded my blog. So, here is the link to the video. It's pretty amazing and watching it, you might find yourself saying, "That is one dumb ass dog."

Go here to see the video.

The Daily Show

I just love The Daily Show, the spoofs and humor are fun to watch. And, in a very unusual twist, some of the guests who come onto the Daily Show are either thinking it's legit and they are using the show as a platform for their own agendas or, they have no idea what the show is really about.

To illustrate my point, a couple of days ago Richard Cohen was on the Daily Show in a fact-like parody of his treatment to cure homosexuality. The show was obviously meant to spoof it and yet Cohen didn't seem to connect with what was being shown. The show features Richard Cohen and Wayne Besen, a gay man who addresses the dangers of Ex-Gay therapy. After watching this video, I followed this link to a video where Cohen was on Jimmy Kimmel hawking his cures. In that video, he was saying the same thing and offering the same solutions as on The Daily Show. This is what I mean by the fact that the Daily Show was spoofing him and he didn't seem to have a clue about it. (I'd post the video but Youtube just pulled it from their server.) In the video, Cohen hits a pillow and cries out his anger against his mom and then cradles a man (in a very homoerotic way) as a way to get in touch with a "healthier" man on man form of male bonding that gay men seem to lack.

It seems all of this onscreen interviews began with this interview he did on CNN. CNN doesn't parody him but does offer some insight into the methods to not only his own madness, but the madness that fuels the fires of his clientèle. Fortunately CNN interviews non-wacky psychologists who warn others of the dangers of reparative therapy. Here is a link to that video.

Wayne Besen is probably Cohen's worst nightmare. Besen understands the danger that ex-gay therapy poses to many of its gay clientele who really want to be cured of their homosexuality. Besen contends that the methods of the ex-gay therapy are actually more harmful and the clientele realizes. And Cohen, according the Besen, is an fraud and unscrupulous 'life coach' whose had his credentials taken away because of his personal breach of ethics. Go here to see Besen's comments about Cohen.

All in all, those who wish to change their orientation have a right to pursue the changes they wish. However, when those changes are motivated by self-hatred or because of their desire to seek validation from those they seek it from, one needs to be careful regarding the methods and practices of those particular therapies. Some of the solutions can be more harmful than the remedies that a person considers in the first place.

While I don't believe there is anything wrong with a gay orientation whatsoever, there can be challenges and pitfalls when one chooses to live a life of wanton irresponsibility. Whether gay or straight, the lifestyle choices we make can have long lasting ramifications. Not that those ramifications are necessarily bad for you, but sometimes they can be. However it is we choose to live our lives, let us make the best choices that honor our bodies, ourselves, and those we choose to love...whoever it is we choose to love.

A special kudo to pandagon.net for this expose and the subsequent links and videos that tells the larger and complete story. You can go here to read her post.

Honoring ACT-Up

Larry Kramer, a playright and gay rights activist, was a founding member of Gay Men's Health Crisis and ACT-Up (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power). He has been and continues to be a prophetic (and, appropriately so, an angry and pissed off) voice for gay and lesbian folk everywhere.

I've had a speech from him on this blog before and once again, you will notice that he is still as abrasive and in-your-face as always. The man holds no punches. Some folks contend that you either love him or hate him. He is offensive for sure. Without him, our world would be such a very different place. And a whole lot more people would be dead.

ACT-Up is celebrating their 20th anniversary and this week he gave a speech honoring the contributions of ACT-Up. The speech is available on video and, below the video, a written out transcript. The video looks homemade and has some annoying background voices. I watched the video while I read the transcript.

After the video and when I was done reading, I found myself inspired, saddened, and mad as hell. That is how a lot of folks feel after Kramer speaks. You may or may not feel the same way; but let me encourage you to watch and read. If you're gay, it may inspire you. If you're not gay, it'll give you an insight into gay life over the past 20 years--as well as some deep insight as to what some gay and lesbian folk are fighting for.

Advice to Young Men from an Old Man

You know, being sick affords one an opportunity to surf, catch up on a few books lying around, and generally goof off. Sure, I am napping, eating light, and generally nurturing myself back to health. Still, it is fun to find some unexpected jewels while meandering around.

This post, written over on Craigslist, is a beaut. It is advice from an old man written to all young men. Reading the post, I found myself thinking about Robert Duvall's character in Secondhand Lions, where he talks with thuggish boys about being a 'real man'. You may find some offensively stated advice, but all in all, most of it is impressive and wise.