Month: May 2006

So, I haven’t had time to read a lot of stuff on the Internet; heck, I’ve barely had time to post. Even when I do see interesting stuff, I haven’t had time to comment on it. So these are a few things that struck my fancy in the last couple weeks, in no particular order:

Comic book artist Alex Toth died recently. If you’ve never heard of him, it is very likely you’ve seen his work. Read about him here and here and here and here and here (May 28) and here, but, annoyingly, not here.

Serene, who BTW put together a lovely CD compilation, wrote a review of the CD I put together, and only gave me a 9 out of 10. Just for that, I’m adding her to my blogroll.

Friend Judy’s personal fundraiser page for the National Kidney Foundation, in anticipation of a walk this coming weekend.

Greg’s reading about baseball.

America’s identity theft capital is Maricopa County, AZ, which includes Phoenix, though they’re TRYING to combat it.

Lefty wanted to know if we do math equations. Gee, I do them all the time. Halving or quadrupling a recipe is a math equation. So is figuring out the floor plan for my office space where an inch equals a foot. More than that, I do square root with pencil and paper, just to keep my mind sharp.
And I make equations out of license plates; I try to find the lowest common denominator. Since most license plates are letter heavy, I assign numerical values to some letters. First, the Roman numerals. If I need more, I might use 13 for B (mush the numbers together), 3 for E (backwards computer lettering), 100 for K (kilo), 10 for O, 5 for S, 25 for W (V times V) and 2 for Z.

Even China Daily talked about American Idol, with one picture of the two finalists, and one large picture of the runner-up by herself.

If you have set yourself on fire, do not run.

If you spot terrorism, blow your anti-terrorism whistle. If you are Vin Diesel, yell really loud.

If you spot a terrorist arrow, pin it against the wall with your shoulder.

If you are sprayed with an unknown substance, stand and think about a cool design for a new tattoo.

Use your flashlight to lift the walls right off of you!

The proper way to eliminate smallpox is to wash with soap, water and at least one(1) armless hand.

Michael Jackson is a terrorist. If you spot this smooth criminal with dead, dead eyes, run the hell away.

Hurricanes, animal corpses and your potential new tattoo have a lot in common. Think about it.

Be on the lookout for terrorists with pinkeye and leprosy. Also, they tend to rub their hands together manically.

If a door is closed, karate chop it open.

Try to absorb as much of the radiation as possible with your groin region. After 5 minutes and 12 seconds, however, you may become sterile.

After exposure to radiation it is important to consider that you may have mutated to gigantic dimensions: watch your head.

If you’ve become a radiation mutant with a deformed hand, remember to close the window. No one wants to see that s***.

If you hear the Backstreet Boys, Michael Bolton or Yanni on the radio, cower in the corner or run like hell.

If your lungs and stomach start talking, stand with your arms akimbo until they stop.

If you are trapped under falling debris, conserve oxygen by not farting.

If you lose a contact lens during a chemical attack, do not stop to look for it.

Do not drive a stations wagon if a power pole is protruding from the hood.

A one-inch thick piece of plywood should be sufficient protection against radiation.

I’ve been worried about the term “liberal”, not recently, when the term seemed to become synonomous with “Why do you hate America?” (note: I don’t), but back to when the late Phil Ochs wrote and performed a song from which I stole the title of this post, which suggests that “liberal” is not nearly progressive ENOUGH:

And while I was at it, I thought I’d see just how “tolerant” I am.

You Are 44% Open Minded

You aren’t exactly open minded, but you have been known to occasionally change your mind. You’re tolerant enough to get along with others who are very different… But you may be quietly judgmental of things or people you think are wrong. You take your own values pretty seriously, and it would take a lot to change them.

Many have commented, and I tend to agree, that he has been one of our best ex-Presidents. Recently, I read his book, Our Endangered Values: America’s Moral Crisis (Simon & Schuster, 2005).

In his chapter, “The Rise of Religious Fundamentalism,” he quotes his letter to the magazine Christianity Today: “Increasingly, true believers inclined to…decide ‘Since I am aligned with God, I am superior and my beliefs should prevail, and anyone who disagrees with me is inherently wrong.'” Then later, “Those Christians who resist the inclination toward fundamentalism and who truly follow the nature, actions, and words of Jesus Christ should encompass people who are different from us with our care, generosity, forgiveness, compassion, and unselfish love.”

The self-described evangelical Christian believes there is no conflict between science and religion. He notes that the entwining of church and state is a rejection of “Jesus’ admonition to ‘render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s…'”
He also has some good thoughts about abortion, the death penalty, women’s role in the church, foreign policy, just war, and the environment.

The former President notes that the average income per person “in the 20 richest nation was $27,591, and in the poorest nations only $211, a ratio of 131:1!” He believes the divide between rich and poor, throughout the word, and even within this country, is the single biggest issue we must face.

I recommend this book, especially the first half, to those with a Christian point-of view, and especially to those who have an antipathy towards Christianity as it is often practiced in this country.
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THREE QUESTIONS for you, if you please:

1. I’m curious who you think are the best ex-Presidents. I’m no history scholar, but JQ Adams’ return to the House of Representatives and Taft’s ascension to the Supreme Court as Chief Justice ought to rank. I’d be inclined to give kudos to Clinton and poppa Bush, but there hasn’t been enough time to judge fully. Oh, yeah, a Nobel Peace Prize ought to count for SOMETHING.
Of course, there have only been 33 ex-Presidents. W is Prez #43, so 42 -1 for Cleveland (he may have been President twice, but I’m counting him as an ex only once) -8 (the four assassinated and the four who died of natural causes- I’m putting Zachary Taylor in the latter category, FWIW.)

2. I find myself agreeing with the current “leader of the free world” – these things happen – when he apologized for his cowboy rhetoric after 9/11 – he specifically mentioned the “wanted dead or alive” stuff. It wasn’t a “mistakes were made” non-apology, but (seemingly) a true act of contrition. I’ve chosen to believe it’s a sincere apology. Do you? Do you recall any other REAL Presidential apologies? I recall Clinton said something post-Monica, but details are sketchy in my mind.