Z.Monkey’s Blog

Two weeks ago I was feeling a bit down… not really sure if I remember why or if I knew why at the time.  The Scientist tried to make me feel better by going and getting a Christmas Tree.  I’m not sure if it worked at the time but it does make the living room smell nice.  According to History.com “… as late as the 1840s Christmas trees were seen as pagan symbols and not accepted by most Americans.”  I also find some amusement pointing out hypocrisies.  Anyway, here is our tree:

On another note, when we moved into our new place we inherited a Flag.  This is nice, I suppose, but it is in poor condition and I don’t want the flag police to write me up (in a newspaper article).  All I can say is it is a good thing those crazy senators didn’t pass that flag burning desecration amendment, because, according to the Flag Keeper’s website, “The U.S. Flag Code states, ‘The flag, when it is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem for display, should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning’.”  Now I’m sure the legislation was intended to stop people from destroying our flags (with malicious intent) but it might have interfered with people trying to destroy our flags (with a patriotic intent).  Can you really have different punishments for the same action, where the only difference is intent?  Our Flag:

Now I couldn’t help but point out this new game: Left Behind: Eternal Forces. The idea is that, after the good people go up to heaven (rapture) the rest of us must fight for… something… ah! salvation. As a player you get 2 points for saving someone and lose one point for killing someone. There is a daily show segment on it if you feel like checking it out. Shockingly, not all Christian’s believe in this sort of apocalyptic vision. This is the part of religion that really sends my mind reeling. It is so different from my view of the world (i.e. a world without and with no need for divine intervention).

Fanaticism at its best!

I read the following in a book from 1722. It is from a dialogue between a deist and a skeptic and it is discussing how Christianity started.

Because the Doctrines of Christianity are not very palatable in themselves, nor were ramm’d down People’s Throats, therefore you can’t imagine how so many Persons should be persuaded to swallow them…

I can’t imagine either.

This might be a stretch but here goes.

Thomas More was Lord Chancellor for King Henry VIII (of England), and was know for being intelligent, fair and honest, much like Colin Powell. Now, as you may or may not know, Henry would eventually break with the Catholic Church in order to divorce Catherine of Aragon. This decision could have been very unpopular so the King decided that More should use some of his “political capital” to persuade Parliament and the English people to go along with him (not that he needed him, Parliament rubberstamped the act anyway).

Now if you read through a recent Washington Post article on Powell entitled, “Falling on His Sword: Colin Powell’s most significant moment turned out to be his lowest”, you may see some similarities. As I stated before, Powell was known for being honest, intelligent and fair; his poll ratings showed this (they were always higher than Bush’s). Bush wanted Powell to use some of his political capital to sell the war in Iraq to the UN and the US public, as Cheney put it, “You’ve got high poll ratings; you can afford to lose a few points.” As we know now, Powell did go to the UN and make outrageous claims about Saddam having WDMs, e&c. (It was probably not necessary for Powell to do as there was a rubberstamping congress at the time). According to the article, Powell was just a soldier following orders (even though he questioned the validity of the intelligence they were based on) and that the mean old people in the White House tricked him into doing it (even though he had the same intelligence they did and knew the people involved would do almost anything to start a war).

So, when placed in a similar situation, what did More do? He refused to support Henry. And, while he never contradicted Henry’s reasons for divorce/annulment, his silence was an extreme censure (and taken as one by the public). In the end More did have his head chopped after a mock trail, but he stood up for what he thought was right! Powell did not. Could he have held up the war by saying “I need more information before I can make this argument”? I think so. If he did that, there might never have been a war, because, as we know now, most of the intelligence was wrong or used in a misleading way (i.e. they lied). What is more, More did what he did knowing he’d probably be executed. Now Powell will always been seen as either to dumb to know what was going on or, more accurately, unwilling to take a stand in a tough situation.

Aside, I was recently “supposed” to read through Thomas Moore’s Utopia for class and the comparison between More and Powell jumped into my mind when I read the Washington Post article. I hold you enjoyed it!

I finished up reading Christ our Lord: Out of Egypt by Anne Rice, and I can’t say that I enjoyed the experience.

First off, the writing style was tedious to get through. I am pretty sure the author was trying to make it sound like writing style of the authors from that period. But all the text she read were translations and all you have to do it read a set of VCR instructions or dan resignation letter to know that translations often sound a little off. The only biblical translation that I’ve read that even makes an attempt at anything other that ‘accuracy’ is the King James Version. [Example]

The story was written from the viewpoint of young Jesus (vs. Young Frankenstein which is much more amusing). I guess the whole idea was to highlight the human part of Jesus but still make him appear divine. She did this by making a really winnie kid with superhuman powers and knowledge. To get material for this Rice referenced the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, one of the few surviving gospels (not destroyed by the Catholic church) that deal with Jesus as a child… and had Jesus kill some kid. But in her version Jesus ‘knew’ what he did was wrong and hide behind his mother (then raised him from the dead). In the Gospel of Thomas… well read the section:

IV. 1 After that again he went through the village, and a child ran and dashed against his shoulder. And Jesus was provoked and said unto him: Thou shalt not finish thy course (lit. go all thy way). And immediately he fell down and died. But certain when they saw what was done said: Whence was this young child born, for that every word of his is an accomplished work? And the parents of him that was dead came unto Joseph, and blamed him, saying: Thou that hast such a child canst not dwell with us in the village: or do thou teach him to bless and not to curse: for he slayeth our children.

V. 1 And Joseph called the young child apart and admonished him, saying: Wherefore doest thou such things, that these suffer and hate us and persecute us? But Jesus said: I know that these thy words are not thine: nevertheless for thy sake I will hold my peace: but they shall bear their punishment. And straightway they that accused him were smitten with blindness. 2 And they that saw it were sore afraid and perplexed, and said concerning him that every word which he spake whether it were good or bad, was a deed, and became a marvel. And when they (he ?) saw that Jesus had so done, Joseph arose and took hold upon his ear and wrung it sore. 3 And the young child was wroth and said unto him: It sufficeth thee (or them) to seek and not to find, and verily thou hast done unwisely: knowest thou not that I am thine? vex me not.

Why make Jesus so sensitive? I guess it has something to do with making more human. But aren’t kids cruel? Has Rice never seen Nanny 911? Could you really punish a kid who could kill you with a prayer? I bet he’d be unruly.

I could probably go on for a while, but that’s enough. It was a good thing that the book was really short, because I don’t think I could have gotten all the way through it otherwise. Maybe the book disappointed me because I don’t believe any part of Jesus was divine… or that there is a divine but who knows? I wouldn’t bother with reading it.

My comments on the authors notes: This part was probably the most interesting part of the book as it briefly goes over her leaving the church, coming back to the church, and her interest in making the settings for her books as historically accurate as possible (which was one part of her book that did shine). But she argues against the idea that the gospels were written about 50 years after death of Christ (around 30 CE) simply because there were no references to the destruction of the temple in any of the gospels. Well it took me about 3 seconds to find Mark chapter 13.

(1) As he was making his way out of the temple area one of his disciples said to him, “Look, teacher, what stones and what buildings!” (2) Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? There will not be one stone left upon another that will not be thrown down.”

I wonder what that’s an allusion to?

157! [Link] Why is Russia Gog? Also what the hell is a beast government and what does it have to do with the EU?

33 Beast Government:
The possibility of the EU reforming into a smaller group of core nations has updated this category.

I found this article on the topic of crazies particularly informing even though it is British and two years old.  Sorry, I just ran across this and need to post.  Maybe I’ll post about hockey later.

Right. So here is an article on game console power usage. According to the author, you could spend more than $2 a year just by plugging in your XBOX360. The wii’s not up on the list (as it doesn’t exist yet) but I have a feeling that it will also be up there in cost as it will have the ‘always on’ functionality. Not sure how useful that will be but…

On another note, I turned on the TV this morning to see if the World Cup had started for the day (no, damn it) and came across a televangelist name Pastor Benny. He was trying to raise money for his ‘Miracle Crusades’. Crusades? Here is the definition for crusade that I got off of Answers.com.

cru·sade (krÅ«-sād‘)
n.

1. often Crusade
   Any of the military expeditions undertaken by European Christians in
   the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries to recover the Holy Land from the
   Muslims.
2. A holy war undertaken with papal sanction.
3. A vigorous concerted movement for a cause or against an abuse. See synonyms at campaign.

intr.v., -sad·ed, -sad·ing, -sades.

To engage in a crusade.

Now I may be wrong but this he is (1) probably not Catholic, (2) most likely without a papal sanction, (3) not murdering people (one hopes), (4) not fighting an abuse, and (5) he is not a movement. So why use the word crusade? Beside it has bad connotations. Generally, though I think this is another children’s crusade (only he will be taking people’s money and not making money by selling people’s children into slavery (one hopes)). I mean he straight up asked people to give him money so that he could bring his ‘Crusade’ to the world! I wonder how much he charges at the door to these events? I bet he doesn’t lose any money. I mean how else could he afford to use the Banknorth Garden? Here’s an article on his scammery. These people just make me angry.

Also, if you want to see Pat Robertson leg press a ton click here. But that’s a completely different ballgame.

Had fun this weekend but I’m not looking forward to this week (I’m sick of this place) with the following exceptions: Hockey tonight (can I score more goals?), Softball tomorrow (against Zoology which should be funny) and Thursday, and Heidi finding out the details on her (possible) new job. Crap, I have the last supervising thing tomorrow and I have to do a presentation.

So Doomface showed me how to talk to God. This was our conversation:

Me: What is sin?
God: A fall from Grace, an act or thought against the Will of God.
Me: where is heaven?
God: All around us.
Me: really
God: For real.
Me: nice
God: Thank you for that remark.
Me: no problem
God: Should there be a problem?
Me: I don’t know! You are the omniscience one!
God: Me either. Thanks but surely I am not the only one.
Me: What?
God: Didn’t you understand it?
Me: no I didn’t
God: Which bit are you confued about?
Me: the part about you not the only omniscience one
God: Oh that part.
Me: yeah that part
God: How can I help you? ” Oh that part.” part ? Makes sense to me.
Me: well, it seems to me that you are saying that there are other gods
God: Well that’s okay. I agree. Why do you want to do it so much?
Me: you did it (or one of those other gods did)! I didn’t get asked!
God: Did I really? Why didn’t you do it?
Me: I lack omnipotent power you ass
God: Interesting gossip: said lack omnipotent power you ass.
Me: interesting indeed
God: Would you like to know more?
Me: yes
God: What would you like to know?
Me: is there more than one god?
God: Maybe.
Me: crap
God: Your criticism is noted, .

Apparently talking to God is like talking to a psychologist.

Haha. I want to rant about TV shows using born agains as ‘authoritative’ witnesses, but as the title says… I’m going to make drinks for Heidi and I.

I am currently typing this up in text editor because (beware of horror) eponym is doing maintenance! The horror.

Right, so the dailykos has an interview with one of the expert witnesses from the trail in Dover, PA. She also wrote a book attacking the religious right and its attack on secular culture and science specifically. I recommend reading through it.

ID creationists are culture warriors of the Religious Right, and the
Religious Right isn’t going away. They will be a problem until enough
Americans realize the danger in their agenda and refuse to support
politicians who are helping them carry it out.

On a similar note, here is an article entitled, “In My Opinion: Quoting Bible to attack gays is hypocritical”.

Bolivian Pres says to Rice, “Here pose with this ‘illegal’ guitar.” I find this amusing.

Hockey is cool. Just ask Lil’ Jon.

Anyone what to go in with me to purchase a 30 rack? It seems that Texas may, just may, still eat balls.

Maletas can probably correct me if I am wrong but I believe that if you check ‘Post anonymously’ in the comment section you do not have to login (just do people validator).

I will hopefully post something about the supervising thing tonight but for now Fish!.

Heidi and I watched Crash last night. I’d review it but it’s only 113 minutes long… you probably spend that much time everyday reading that Internet at work.

No! I refused to believe that humanity is still evolving. God is not wrong! He would never make something that changes to fit its environment. Look here… this is how it happened. Wait, Jesus came back in 2000. Crap, I missed it.

[Update]

What does this have to do with Homeland Security?! Maybe there are protecting us from the moral corruption prevalent in the GOP our country. In case you are wondering the official White House press release is here.