Lives in the Balance

They sell us the President the same way
They sell us our clothes and our cars
They sell us every thing from youth to religion
The same time they sell us our wars
I want to know who the men in the shadows are
I want to hear somebody asking them why
They can be counted on to tell us who our enemies are
But they’re never the ones to fight or to die
And there are lives in the balance
There are people under fire
There are children at the cannons
And there is blood on the wire

Jackson Browne, 1986. From the song Lives in Balance

Quotable

“His lack of education is more than compensated for by his keenly developed moral bankruptcy.”
–Woody Allen

“Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip.”
–Will Rogers

“When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President. Now I’m beginning to believe it.”
–Clarence Darrow

“Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.”
–Mark Twain

“All generalizations are dangerous, even this one.”
–Alexander Dumas

“A person should want to live, if only out of curiosity.”
–Yiddish Proverb

Independence Day 2004

It’s July 4, 2004 on the grounds of the State Capitol in Charleston, West Virginia.  President Bush is giving a speech on something or other.  In attendance are Nicole and Jeffrey Rank, registered Republicans from Corpus Christi, Texas.  Like others that day, they had obtained tickets prior to the event and were admitted to the capitol grounds without issue.

During the speech, the Ranks removed their outer shirts, revealing t-shirts sporting a red circle with a diagonal line through it.  Inside the circle was “Bush”, effectively symbolizing “No Bush”.  On the back of their shirts were the phrases “Regime Change Begins at Home” and “Love America, Hate Bush”.  According to the ACLU article,

“…the couple stood peacefully on the public grounds with the rest of the audience, two men believed to be working for the Secret Service or White House approached the Ranks and demanded that they remove or cover their t-shirts. When the couple refused, the officials instructed city police to arrest Jeff and Nicole, causing them to be removed from the Capitol grounds in handcuffs, jailed for one to two hours and charged with trespassing. Nicole Rank was also temporarily suspended from her work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). “

Apparently they were escorted in handcuffs from the grounds while America The Beautiful was playing in the background.

Attorneys for the ACLU in both Charleston, WV and Pittsburgh, PA took the case and filed a lawsuit against the US Secret Service as well as against a White House department.

Fast forward to August 16, 2007.  Both parties settled the lawsuit against the US government for $80,000.  The government, of course, admitted no wrong-doing and the taxpayers got stuck with yet another bill.

Take this as a warning.  Our First Amendment rights of  free speech and assembly are gradually being eroded, often in the name of “national security.”

Support Our Troops

Found in a yard in suburban, and oh so Republican Anderson Township, Ohio.

Support Our Troops

Bring Them Home!

Anderson Township has been my home for over twenty years now, and is a great place to live. Yes, the township is decidedly Republican and the main drag much too crowded with SUVs and MiniVans.

Seeing yard signs like this one a reminder that there are more like-minded people out there.

Quotable

“The more you read and observe about this Politics thing, you got to admit that each party is worse than the other. The one that’s out always looks the best.”
– Will Rogers

“The human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter.”
– Mark Twain

“Inanimate objects are classified scientifically into three major categories - those that don’t work, those that break down and those that get lost.”
– Russell Baker

“How can you govern a country which has 246 varieties of cheese?”
– Charles De Gaulle

“Thanks to TV and for the convenience of TV, you can only be one of two kinds of human beings, either a liberal or a conservative.”
– Kurt Vonnegut

“A writer is a person for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.”
– Thomas Mann    (eh, Paula?)

“It is easier to fight for one’s principles than to live up to them.”
– Alfred Adler, Austrian psychiatrist and psychologist (studied him in grad school)

Wisdom of the Spam Folder

My spam folder is getting quite full, so I thought I better clean it out. But before I send all these thoughtful messages to that great Bit Bin in the Sky, I ‘d like to share a few of the more interesting ones. When I was a child, I learned how good it was to share things. Anyhow, here goes.

Joe Rodriquez writes, in his email entitled “Re: pics”: “Hello! I am tired this evening. I am nice girl that would like to chat with you. Email me at xxx@xxx.com only, because I am writing not from my personal email. Would you mind if I share some of my pictures with you?” Good old Joe is a tired nice girl, who writes not from his/her/its personal email. Thanks, you sound like an interesting guy and/or girl to chat with.

Kim Wyatt in her post entitled “Dream is real” wants to sell me cheap prescription drugs like Viagra. How’d she/he know? Wow! So does Hilary Fields in her post called “help you”. Same drugs. Same price. Same image.

In her message, entitled “You will be able to penetrate deeper”, Marta Henderson is selling some type of “enlargement” drug. “Be satisfied for life! People judge your dick size by your shoes size. No more embarrassment! With Xtra Size+ you dont have to wear bigger shoes to make women think you have a huge dick.” So, is Marta selling big shoes or drugs?

Elliot, apparently a philosopher and all around brilliant guy, poses the following question in his message, “Get this loan.” And I quote. “Is shareown thin the automotive marionette pose or confidante shareown?” Deep thinker, this Elliot. I want to sit at his feet with all the minions that I might bask in the aura of his knowledge and wisdom.

And finally, Rodrigo Morales posts me a long and detailed message with the subject “Stop waiting”. Let me show you the first paragraph of this tome.

No. With all the changes squeal improve and boil additions over the last thirty years, the hotel has oven become a maze. The Ben said, And possess then theres wine all the religious right-wingers ticket and Bush family loyalists society hes planted t shame How odd. fantastic As the two women carried the groceries juicy into the excited cabin, Nancy asked, Hows life living on

If you have any clue what Rodrigo is talking about, would you kindly post a comment, dear Reader. Or maybe we’ll get lucky and Rodrigo Morales Himself will drop by to elucidate on his words.

I am truly amazed at what I’ve discovered right there in my own personal Inbox. And now you too, can share in my enlightenment.

More Hell

One of the articles that gets the most view on this blog is called Hell is Real, which doesn’t reflect my religious values as much as it does show some rather interesting roadway viewing near my hometown of Cincinnati.

I suspect that what folks are searching for are pictures of Touchdown Jesus, pictured below:

You can find that statue, also known as Butter Jesus, just north of Cincinnati, near Exit 29 on the east side of the freeway.

But Touchdown Jesus can also be found in a more appropriate location than near the side of the freeway. How about the a mural on the library outside the football stadium at Notre Dame?

I would be remiss if I didn’t include a YouTube video by comedian Heywood Banks about that same Big Butter Jesus.

To provide better customer service, this blog will be monitored for quality assurance.

Oopss! Wrong medium.
What I meant to say was: “to provide better customer service on this topic, here are a couple other links.”

• Mega-Messiahs
  
• Article in WikiPedia

Julie Amero

Awhile back, I posted an article about Julie Amero, a Norwich, CT substitute school teacher who was convicted of “endangering students by exposing them to pornographic material displayed on a classroom computer.” Feel free to read the article for more details.

According to Elizabeth Wood’s excellent blog Sex in the Public Square, Ms. Amero will get a new trial because an examination of a computer hard drive apparently contradicted evidence in court.

This is very good news, as the teacher faced up to 40 years in prison for something she did not do. Click here for an additional post.

Those Darn Sayings

Here are a few “random” quotations and thoughts, gleaned from email messages, web pages, the back of my mind, and a variety of other sources.

I’m currently out of my mind or have stepped away from reality! Please leave a message…

The Moral Majority is neither

Fast food is neither

I thought I was indecisive; now I’m not so sure.

When life hands you gators, make Gatorade.

Black holes are where God divided by zero.

I didn’t believe in reincarnation in my last life, either!

Never believe generalizations.

The generation of random numbers is too important to leave to chance.

Jesus saves. He uses double coupons.

Jesus saves! Gretzsky shoots. He scores!

Jesus loves you. But I’m his favorite.

Does anal retentive have a hyphen?

So many cats, so few recipes.

Suburbia: Where they tear out the trees and name streets after them.

There’s no place like 127.0.0.1 (raise your hand if you get this one)

I can find a few more if you like. To quote Karen Carpenter (no, I’ll not link her), “we’ve only just begun…”

Oh.  And if you’d like to add your own, well, that’s why they have a comment button.  Use it!

Falwell Died

Jerry Falwell died on Tuesday. I’m not going to waste my time or yours linking to the typical news story about this man who preached hatred, bigotry, and intolerance. His particular brand of religion is so diametrically opposed to the teachings of Jesus that I have trouble believing he could call himself Christian.

How do people of his ilk gain so much notoriety and media attention while those who teach peace and cooperation get shunned?

Several other bloggers whom I regularly read have similar thoughts about Falwell. Jeff Ventura of Graceful Flavor, an excellent blog blending technology and spirituality, notes several of his bigoted and divisive comments. And Libertine states that “he used religion to divide, rather than to unite. His brand of Christianity served more to hurt, than to heal.”

Some may consider me disrespectful of the dead (and I don’t mean the Grateful Dead), but his forever silence will be welcomed. I’m sure that his death is a huge loss to his family, but his preaching of intolerance, prejudice, racism, homophobia and the rest of the crap that spewed from his mouth will be far from a loss to the rest of the world.