Its easier to shut up and fit in than to think and stand out.

There was an interesting article in this past week's Times about a minister - an admitedly conservative one - who ticked off a considerable portion of his 5,000 member mega church because he believes that the entanglement... the melding of evangelical churches with the Republican party is bad for the church and that it borders idiolotry.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/30/us/30pastor.html?hp&ex=1154318400&en=f0cf63e262a9a896&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Among other things, he objected to things like patriotic video presentations on the Fourth of July featuring fighter jets and soldiers being superimposed over the image of the cross in a number of churches around his home town of St. Paul MN.

Fighter jets in church, huh? Things have changed since my days in the youth choir at old First-Congregational.

Anyhow, he took some heat over it, losing about 1,000 members and causing rifts with his fellow evangelical clergy.

This fellow is still a Christian Conservative by any stretch: pro-life, anti-gay, etc., but according to the Times, "... he said the church should steer clear of politics, give up moralizing on sexual issues, stop claiming the United States as a “Christian nation” and stop glorifying American military campaigns.", a pretty bold set of assertions for a conservative evangelical.

In general though, from reading the article, I think what he is really guilty of in the eyes of his critical peers and some parishioners - all those folks who really have drank the Kool-Aid - is encouraging his congregation to engage in - horror of horrors - critical reasoning. That is: He's given them encouragement to think for themselves.

It’s not supposed to be that way when you’re in the Army of God.

Personally I always find it frightening that the C-right has become so monolithic in its thinking that the veering of a single pastor from the established script of war, God and country should cause such tumult, but then again, I haven't had any Kool-Aid since I was six, so I may be missing the point.

Anyway, it is an interesting article, so have a look.

I swear I didn't make this up.....

This is a real website called Cats That Look Like Hitler.

Seriously: http://www.catsthatlooklikehitler.com/

There are lots of pictures... you can vote for your favorites... there is even an explanation of why someone saw the need for this web-site in the first place.

Just when you thought you'd seen it all....

Employess say the darndest things

In my professional life I am a department manager at a company. Is that vague enough? Good.

In general I kind of like it. I'm very good at delegating, which I define as assigning work to other people that I don’t feel like doing myself. That sounds kind of flip, but I'm told that this is what management is really all about, so I guess its ok.

As a manager, there are some things I have to do that I find silly. For example, I hate following people around to see what time they actually show up to work or what time they take their breaks. It seems very juvenile. When I first started working for the company I took the approach that we are all adults and that I was going to treat people like adults and that meant I wasn't going to chase people around if they were three minutes late. In general it worked fine, except for one employee who took advantage of it, and so - because I have to treat everyone the same - I now have to be a dick about it to everyone. So now, all my employees know the rules and they generally only break them when I'm not looking. That's fine. Ignorance is bliss.

Of course, what this leads to is employees asking if its ok to be a couple of minutes late or if they can leave a few minutes early for this personal thing or the other, and in general I try to be accommodating. If people are late the excuses are usually things like, "I missed my bus" or "My Department of Corrections ankle monitor went off at 4AM and I had to wait for my probation officer to show up", nothing too exotic.

Sometimes though, the requests are really strange. This afternoon one of my guys walks into my office and starts with, "So, I'm really not making this up." which tells me right away that he already knew he was asking for something goofy. He goes on, "So, you remember that we had our cat put to sleep, right?" Yes, I did. "Well, I've been trying to get together with the dude at the cat crematorium to get what's left of the cat back, and every time I get there they either just closed or something. So I haven't gotten the cat back and my wife is getting really pissed at me."

Cat crematorium?! Riiigght.

"So, they're supposed to close at five but I've gone over there for like three nights in a row and they've been closed every time. Can I leave like a half an hour early so I can make sure I get there before they close? My kids are asking about Spike because they want to have the memorial service."

Ok.

The absurdity aside, I'm tight enough with this guy to know he's not making this up. I've heard all about this cat. So I let him go. I mean, who am I to stand between a man and the crispy remains of his dead cat? Besides, with this guy I'm envisioning the scene from the Big Lobowski: his kids are going to attempt to sprinkle the cat, only to have the ashes get blown back in their faces. It'll be hilarious.

See, I went to college for four years to learn the skills necessary to deal with this exact situation. Its not the cats, its some of the animals I have to deal with.

One liners... well maybe two liners.

There have been some other interesting stories floating around that I haven't written much about, so I thought I'd just pass along a few briefs.

Israel - The Israelis and the Arabs still don't like each other. *

New York City - Three cops shot each other trying to kill a lose pit bull. (Guess which paper this was in?)

Paris - Someone other than Lance Armstrong wins the Tour De France, but it is another American so the French will still sniff at us with a whiff of distain.

Washington, D.C. - The American Bar Association acuses the President Bush of overreaching in his use of 'Signing Statements' to exempt the executive branch from legislative provisions that might limit the power of the President. The President responds, "Who? Me? She-it!"

Pittsburgh - Only 23 days until the Steelers report for training camp. Hopefully by then Big Ben's jaw will have fused back into one piece.

Mexico City - Some idiot paid $225,000 for a bottle of Tequila. For that kind of money I expect to be drunk for months.

As always...more later.

(*I know this has been a big story the past few weeks, but what can you say about this conflict that hasn't been said in every other Israeli conflict over the past sixty years?)

Hussein: Down the tubes

It was kind of ironic to read that Saddam Hussein's U.S. captors have inserted a feeding tube into his stomach to prevent him from starving as a result of a seventeen day hunger strike.

I mean, it'd be a real shame if the guy died before someone had a chance to execute him, right?

Donkey won't do it this year.

There I’ve said it. I’ve made my political prediction for the November 2006 Congressional elections. Four months out I’m feeling uneasy about Democratic chances of capturing either houses of Congress. I just don’t get the impression that the Democrats have it together enough to defeat the most cohesive and integrated political machine of the last forty years. The GOP is showing some fraying and even some splitting, but they still have party unity in a way that the Democrats can’t touch. In the end I think the Republicans will be able to muster enough support to keep power.

There have been a lot of comparisons between this election and the mid-term elections of 1994 when the Republicans tapped public dissatisfaction and took both houses in a sweep. To my mind things are far more screwed up now than they ever were that year: The war in Iraq is very unpopular; there is a general understanding that this ivory tower President is deeply flawed (at least among people who aren’t wearing biblical blinders), certain sectors of the economy are slowing; we’re facing significant competitive pressures from abroad with no cohesive policy for addressing them, and the GOP leadership continues to embarrass itself by trotting out half dead nags like gay marriage and flag burning when the voters seem all too aware that there are truly pressing issues that Congress should be addressing. In short, they are not doing a good job. This year should be a perfect storm for the Democrats

However, in order to win this year the Democrats would need to pick up six seats in the Senate and at least 30 in the House. That would need to be six and thirty wins and NO losses. That is a tall order. Numerically it certainly seems to be attainable in the Senate, but there are retiring Democratic Senators in southern states and those seats will be tough for the party to hang on to.

There are a few bright spots, but I don’t think they are either large enough or mature enough to tip the balance.

Santorum is going to lose here in Pennsylvania. I believe he’s just worn out his welcome and all of the Feel-Good Ricky TV ads aren’t going to change the fact that he’s spent the last twelve years pandering to a national Christian base rather than to a statewide Pennsylvanian one. He is running ads touting his record right now, but when the Democrats join the fray they are going to run clips of him uttering some of his more outré comments and they’ll hang him with his own words. Unfortunately, one man does not the Senate make. I will savor his defeat though.

Also, despite the best efforts of the President to draw Hispanic voters into the GOP, reactionary conservatives in Congress calling for mass deportations have – in as little as six months – driven that constituency to the Democratic Party for the next forty years: something that will prove to be politically disastrous for the Republicans as the face of the country continues to change. In the process of executing this astounding blunder, the GOP has managed to motivate a potentially vast, and until recently, politically disorganized voting bloc against themselves. It remains to be seen whether this year’s massive organized rallies will translate to real voting power in this election, but as Hispanic voters continue to gain strength the long-term impact for the GOP will be negative.

Even so, I don’t think the Democrats are there yet. I don’t think their rebuilt political apparatus has the depth and maturity needed to attain and keep power in this election and I don’t think they’ve found a unifying message to run on yet. “We’re not Republicans” is not going to be enough. They have to come out and say what they stand for the way Newt Gingrich did with the Contract for America. Until then they are only running as an undefined alternative and that won’t get the job done.

It’s unfortunate that we are going to suffer an additional two years of GOP rule. They will have every opportunity to make things worse for all of us. But the final outcome – and I am predicting for 2008 here – will be massive and final on a scale similar to Roosevelt’s victory in 1932. The GOP is simply going to flame out under the weight of its own incompetence, corruption and failures of leadership. When it does come the political shift will be a spectacular.

It just won’t be this year.

I go away for a week and world peace breaks out!

Well, one could only hope, but I suppose it’s too much to ask for.

I did spend a really nice week in Washington D.C.. Got to see some friends that I don't see often enough, do some sight-seeing and eat lots of Asian food. Now the latter might not seem like a big deal, but there aren't any good Asian restaurants near my house and my wife won't touch the stuff with a ten foot pole anyway. She has other redeeming qualities, so I'm willing to overlook this significant flaw, but we don't get to pop out for Thai on Friday evening like most normal folk. Got to see Peace Corp Marie and D&M (or M&D depending on who's wearing the pants this week) and of course, Bruno the dog, who was feeling a little out of sorts, having lost his manhood in that most unfortunate veterinary incident on Wednesday. I also took hike down around the Mall to see some of the sites. It was a good time.

Oh yeah, the conference was good too.

Meanwhile, back in suburbia.... the lawn turned brown from consecutive 90-degree days and a lack of rain; absolutely nothing else happened.

I was glad to get home though. I missed the wife and the dogs. It was great to get away for a few days, but it’s always good to get back too.

Now let's see what else there is that needs to be commented on........

Jesus Winks in Hoboken

There is a statue of Jesus outside a housing project in Hoboken. After rescuing the statue out of a garbage dumpster last summer Julio Dones, who is partially blind, claims that it opened one eye.... not both....just one eye, in effect winking at him.

The faithful flocked to see it; the lumpen mass of the populace seeking grace through a two foot tall plaster icon. It was the real thing; a genuine sign from God right there in Hoboken for the whole world to see. People fell to their knees and wept. There was rapture.

Maybe he was winking at them to let them in on a joke or something.

The Catholic Church issued a denial. A small shrine sprouted anyway.

A few years ago a similar situation arose when an elderly lady in Brooklyn claimed to see the face of Jesus in the smudge on the wall behind the Frigidaire. The local TV news covered the story.

These things happen now and again.

This is pretty Goddamn funny!!!

This really is a hoot! Just click on the picture.

Care for a little news with your smut?

I grew up in the New York City area, in a household that believed that the New York Times was the only newspaper with any value above lining the cat box. So it comes as a great shock to my mother that I have actually - GASP! - started reading the New York Daily News and, I'm almost embarrassed to say, I actually like it. http://www.nydailynews.com/

For those of you from other less civilized parts of the world, like Pittsburgh, The Times would be very Shadyside, Sewickly and Mt. Lebanon. The Daily News would be very Bloomfield, Southside and McKees Rocks.

Still, you have to love a paper that can - with an absolute lack of embarrassment - ignore the entire world in favor of the most absurd local news. Several weeks ago, when Zarqawi was killed in Iraq, his death ran third banana behind a Brazilian Hooker and the ongoing Mafia Cops story (a great story that the Times covered also, to be fair). Today, when the Times has the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, the Microsoft fines in Europe and possible sanctions for North Korea, the Daily News is running not one.... not two....not three....but four - count 'em - FOUR front page stories about this idiot doctor who blew up his $9,000,000 62nd street townhouse to prevent his estranged wife from getting it in the divorce settlement. Four Articles!!!

Oh, and did you know that Donna Hanover, Rudy Giuliani’s ex-wife is going to be a media sex coach for AOL? Me neither, but as of this typing it is THE biggest headline on the page. It Reads:

Donna, whats your advice?

My Hubby's a homewrecker!

This is the newspaper that made Joey Buttafuco (sp? Who the hell knows?) a national celebrity. What started as a minor assault became a huge sensation when the DN endlessly ran every salacious detail about the 16-year old *ahem* entrepreneur, Amy Fisher, who shot Joey's wife's face off. It ran for months in the DN and NEVER even got a mention in the Times.

Other great headlines today include:

NYC Reggae concert cancelled after gay protests

Appeals court has bad news for Dapper Don's older brother

Inspiration behind Seinfeld's 'Soup Nazi' franchises in Britain

Australian charged in parking rage case

Free gas sets off crashes in Milwaukee

Man fined in Buffalo for bigamy

And, less we think this paper doesn’t get out and about, a story from right here in Pittsburgh:

P.A. man, 80, admits dealing crack for sex

There’s an article about Jews for Jesus, but not a single solitary iota of real news anywhere on the front page of this paper. This is the ultimate print version of ‘Bread and Circuses’. If you’re looking for a little entertainment instead of real news this is a great resourse AND it is free online.

http://www.nydailynews.com/

Enjoy!

Things Are Looking Up!

Today's Headlines on Iraq:

Another Violent Day Kills 50 In Iraq
-NY Times

Baghdad Fragmented by Cycle of Revenge
-Christian Science Monitor

Attacks, Bombings Leave 60 Dead in Iraq
-Houston Chronicle

Sectarian Violence Kills at Least 60 In Iraq
-Atlanta Journal Constitution

Yep, looks like we've definately got the situation under control.

The Words Just Won't Flow Man.......

I've got writers block. I've had it for a couple of weeks now, since that exchange with the Young Republican who suggested that I'd be happy if the USA was taking it on the chin.

The thing of it is, I've just gotten a little bored with all of the things I usually take an interest it, politics being the number one blow out. Anymore I read the newspapers and I think, "War, death, political corruption. More of the usual. Ho Hum."

It isn't that there isn't anything to be outraged about. In fact there is plenty. Allow me to offer a list:

There are the soldiers accused of capital crimes in Iraq. We've known about the problems in Abu Ghraib with the abuse of prisoners for quite some time. Now we have accusations of soldiers executing large groups of civilians and the charges of rape and murder against a GI and some alleged accomplices. God only knows what circumstance might drive men to see these actions as justified. I can't imagine such a thing myself, but I would hazard a guess that it might be related to these soldiers being stuck - for a prolonged period of time - in a hostile environment that does not seem to be improving, despite the best wishes and claims of our political leadership. I'm not offering an excuse by any means, but if these guys weren't in this dead end situation they would not have been in a position to take these actions, let alone to think they were warranted. I feel bad for the soldiers. I feel bad for the victims. The whole thing stinks.

There was a very interesting article in the New York Times today about Congressman Peter Hoekstra (R-Oh) who is the Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. In a May 18th letter to the President Rep. Hoekstra outlined his concerns about Bush appointees to the CIA, lack of consultation with members of the President's own party in Congress and especially, about the questionable legality of ongoing intelligence gathering activities. And this guy is an ALLY of the President. Way to go Pete. This kind of thing should happen more often.

There was another frightening article by Seymour Hersh in the New Yorker this week. (I think if the White House was going to start secretly assassinating reporters this guy would be at the top of the list. Mr. Hersh is one huge pain in the ass for Rumsfeld and Cheney. Pentagon Brass talks openly to him about stuff the White House would rather not have talked about at all. He’s the guy that broke the story about current and retired generals lining up against Rumsfeld earlier this year.) The crux of the piece is that the military brass is trying to prevent the political leadership from going to war with Iran over their atomic program. According to the article, Pentagon planners at one point included a nuclear option, among many options, as a normal course of tactical planning, only to be taken by surprise when the political leadership - read Rumsfeld, Cheney et al - actually embraced the idea as a viable, even preferable plan. In an odd turn of events the Pentagon has forced itself to examine the global political costs of such an action, even as the White House continues to poo-poo such concerns in its messianic fervor. I might be overstepping here, but I’m reading that to mean the White House actually WANTS to drop the big one.

I’ve got to add my two cents on this one. The fact that the White House would actually consider this a viable idea shows how utterly bereft of any diplomatic skill or creativity this administration really is. They really think the U.S. is the global equivalent of John Wayne riding into town to clean up the bad guys with a big iron on its hip. How utterly simplistic and stupid can these people truly be? We might succeed in destroying a nuclear facility, but the damage to the prestige and moral authority of the nation – which is already taking some lumps due to poor leadership – would be incalculable. No one has dropped an atom bomb in sixty-one years. It’s an evil that the entire civilized world has recognized as the ultimate in destructive capability, the use of which is to be avoided at all costs. Are we really going to be the ones to set all of that aside with a pre-emptive atomic strike? What the Fuck?!

Oh yeah. The President also had the stones to compare himself favorably with Winston Churchill. Yeah Gads!

Also in this week’s issue of the New Yorker is an article by Lawrence Wright that basically lays out in great detail what the CIA knew, and chose not to turn over the FBI, about the Al Qaeda operatives within the United States prior to 9/11. The article makes a pretty good case that the FBI agents working on Al Qaeda had most of the pieces of the puzzle, and if the CIA had been forthright with them they could have easily connected the rest of the dots and possibly prevented the attack. It broke down over an inter-agency pissing contest. Very outrageous.

Let’s see, there was also an episode in Baghdad yesterday where masked Shiite gunmen set up checkpoints on the roads and started checking ID cards. Every time they got a Sunni they’d just shoot him. Good thing we’ve got 120,000 soldiers on the ground making Iraq safe for democracy. I’d say the situation is improving, wouldn’t you?

Hey, my writers block seems to be getting better.

I guess the reason I haven’t felt like writing about any of this is that I don’t see where the situation is changing, let alone getting any better. I wish the opposition, or even Republican’s like Rep. Hoekstra, had the skill or even the spine to put the brakes on all this. At least then there might be some hope that someone rational might step in and force a change in direction. I’m not sure we can continue on this path until January 2009. In 1968 a Democratic Congress said ‘no’ to Lyndon Johnson’s request for appropriations to expand U.S. involvement in Vietnam. In doing so they forced the nation from an escalation policy to an extraction policy. It still took another five years for large scale U.S. military operations to come to an end, but at least they made it clear that we did not want to be in that war indefinitely. I hope someone has the strength to take a similar stand this time. I pray we don’t do anything even dumber than we already have in the meantime.

Pax.