An Unfortunate Thing

A fellow I went to high school with, Ray Mendoza, was killed in Iraq early this year. If I’m recalling correctly, he lived downstairs from me my senior year. I wouldn’t claim to have known him all that well but he always struck me as a decent guy, very quiet and serious: a marked contrast to a very boisterous and generally cavalier group of guys.

Maj. Mendoza was married with two girls. I’ve been reading some of the things that people have said about him following his death. His family should take heart in the fact that people thought so highly of him.

Pax.

Nazi Space Cowboys!

This excerpt was in this month's Harper's Magazine:

From an email sent Oct 17 by George Deutsche of NASA's public-affairs office, to Flint Wild, a web designer for the agency. Deutsche, who was appointed after working on President Bush's reelection campaign, resigned on Feb 7th, after it was revealed that he had lied on his resume about receiving a degree from Texas A&M University.

Okay Flint, we've got a slight problem here. I like these pieces, they're interesting, but they refer to the "big bang" as if they were law. As you know, the theory that the universe was created by a "big bang" is just that - a theory. It is not a proven fact; it is opinion. Yes, the scientific community by and large may share this opinion, but that doesn't make it correct.

Two things. First of all, this is AP style as written in the latest Associates Press Stylebook. The "big bang theory" is listed beside the oscillating theory and the steady-state theory. The common denominator here is the word "theory".

Secondly, it is not NASA's place, nor should it be, to make a declaration such as this about the existence of the universe that discounts intelligent design by a creator. I know the particular context of these pieces doesn't lend itself to getting into this particular debate, and that's fine with me. But we, as NASA, must be diligent here, because this is more than a science issue, it is a religious issue. And I would hate to think that young people would only be getting one half of this debate from NASA. That would mean that we had failed to properly educate the very people who rely on us for factual information the most.

Sorry to get on a soapbox here; I don't mean to. Please edit these stories to reflect that the big bang is but one theory on how the universe began.

We'll need to make sure that NASA suppresses that "round earth" thing too. Something like that gets around and it could poison the minds of our youth for years to come.

You Didn't See This Coming

So Bush himself actually authorized the pre-war intelligence leaks to the press? Gee, who'd have guessed?

So much for all of that hand-wringing about leaks being a terrible threat to the America's national security. Apparently leaks are only a threat when someone else is doing it.

The consolation to all of this is, if the White House and the rest of the GOP continue along at this current pace of weekly scandals and revelations they are going to march themselves right into a Democratic majority in both houses in November.

Can you say 'Lame Duck' boys and girls?

Screaming for Vengeance !!!!!!

It's not every day that a new Christian gospel is found, especially one for a figure as maligned as Judas Iscariot. So it was with some interest when I read that just such a codex had been found. Apparently the Copts rather liked the guy and the manuscript, on papyrus and leather (aren't they all?), was itself of coptic origin. The manuscript describes Judas as a favored disciple who was bidden by Jesus to betrayal in order to free Christ from his earthly bond of mortality. I'm guessing that the other disciples didn't get the joke.

Although this gospel is referred to in other early Christian texts, this is the first time in modern days that anyone has seen it. Rumor has it that the early church suppressed the text as contradictory to the momentum building for the other 'official' gospels included in the bible today. By that time the malignment of Iscariot had taken root and a different perspective would have been inconvenient.

Some things never change

I'm going to resist the temptation to make a bad string of Judas Priest jokes. (scholars being hell bent for leather to read the new gospel, and all that) I just found this sort of interesting.

Death of the Daily DeLay

I'd like to think that I'm impartial enough to be circumspect about the departure of Tom DeLay from the US House of Representative. I would like to think that, but I'm not. Not at all sorry to see that pompous asshole go. Nope, not one bit.

DeLay's problem wasn't that he was conservative. I know a couple of them, and by and large they're not altogether bad folks. My distaste for DeLay comes from his scorched earth - the only good Democrat is a dead Democrat - perspective on things. He is really just a vicious bastard. We're not ALL Americans, we're conservatives and you're liberals, and you don't count. That always seemed unnecessarily mean spirited to me.

It seems telling that after all of that he's not even going home. He's moving to Northern Virginia, where no doubt he'll have a long career as an elder statesman of the right-wing, forever the victim of the leftist conspiracy to destroy him, and I'm sure, making some serious cash for his trouble. Likely it'll be a charmed life.

I'd rather see him in jail.

The Easter-Cancer Bunny

Well, Easter is fast approaching. Another holiday celebrated through dietary excess, not once, but twice in the same day as we travel across three counties to see both sets of in-laws. This is a real hardship when you're as health conscious as I am, but somehow I'll get through it.

I know I posted a version of this story in one of the first things I wrote for this site, but since the holiday is upon us, I can't resist rehashing this one just one more time. Two years ago we were at a relative's house where one of the aunts (by marriage) actually put cigarettes in her niece's Easter basket. Right next to the candy peeps were two packs of Marlboro Reds. You know, nothing celebrates the resurrection like self induced lung-cancer, especially when its facilitated by a close family member. Not only did she do it, but she offered justifications for it and could not understand why some folks found this odd. (I might be crazy, but I found this very odd.)

Unfortunately, this particular aunt has since been banished from family functions. Seems that she ticked off my mother-in-law by staking her seat at the table two hours before Thanksgiving dinner, not moving when she was told that she was in way, and then insisting on reading a long bible passage for grace before we could eat. It's a shame in a way though. We were hoping that this year she'd augment the abusable substance haul with some bath-tub gin or maybe, if we were really lucky, some crack. Boy, we'd all feel closer to Jesus then, huh?

A final Easter thought: Just remember folks, you can try this crucifixion thing at home, but your never going to get that third nail. (With all possible respect to the 'Young Ones')

Fucking Cockroaches

I have a friend from college, a terrific writer, who is blogging is way though his second bout of cancer in the last three years. Apparently cancer is like a cockroach. You think you’ve killed it and the little fucker sneaks right back in when you’re not looking.

Billy is the character in the movies who shows up looking like a ruffian and then begins to recite sonnets. You might not guess it if you didn't take a minute to find it. He's da guy from New Joisey who tawks like dis..... sometimes. Then he turns on a dime and does letters like a scholar, only without the affected self-importance. About ten years ago we were at a party where Billy was telling stories about showing off his testicle ring in a lesbian bar. After his first round with cancer he bemoaned his lessoned matrimonial prospects. What did he have to offer now that he was only a semi-colon? Billy is fighting to beat this thing. Some days it seems like he’s doing really well. Some days it is just kicking his ass. No one knows how it will work out, or even if it will work out at all. That seems really grim for a guy who is only thirty seven, but it’s the truth. Even Billy would tell you that.

Despite the name, Billy has mercifully declined to include actual pictures of his colon online, but his site is fascinating. Please take a look. http://billyscolon.blogspot.com/