OK, let's get it out of the way: with Cameron's Titanic being released with the excuse of being redone in 3D (for what, the sketching scene?) to glom a bit more money off the long-dead, the box office total has now exceeded $2 billion. I'll say that again. Titanic, the wretched movie, has sold more than $2 BILLION in tickets. Combine that with all the news coverage accompanying the 100th anniversary of the sinking, and the announcement that the last of the ship's dinner menus held by the salvage company sold at auction for $125,000, and the message seems to be that we still love us some Titanic.
Well, why not? The story-the real story, not the one that made James Cameron "King of the World"-has it all.
It starts with bigness. Human beings are fascinated with little else like we are "Big" and Titanic is all about big. From the very name to all the publicity back in the day involving now-ridiculous words like "Unsinkable," "Fastest," "Most Elegant" and so forth. The message was clear: the thing is too damned good-and big-to fail. Who doesn't dream somewhere along the line of gliding down the grand staircase, elegantly dressed, to dine with the finest society had to offer?
Then, if there's anything better than big, it's big getting knocked off its high horse. And they screwed the pooch about as big as is humanly possible. Cheap rivets, goofy design, arrogance regarding speed and ice warnings, and lack of training on the latest communications equipment? Well, you cut the corners, you find the bottom of the ocean! Dumbasses!
Victorian society holds our attention. Many of the men-and a significant percentage of them rich and/or famous choosing death instead of dropping a "Do you know who I am?" to force their way into a lifeboat? Hmmm. Somehow I just can't see Trump changing into tie and tails to enjoy one last cigar stoically. No, The Donald would be screaming at some immigrant with her children that she would never match his value to the economy, while he shoved the littlest ones into the sea. The musicians played. The crew largely maintained their positions and helped all the passengers they could.
The other side of the coin was the villain: Bruce Ismay owned the thing, and he lived to tell the tale. One of his biographies explains his fate: The Most Hated Man on Earth. Seems to rank up there with the Italian captain who tripped and fell into a lifeboat, damn the luck, when his cruise ship went belly up a few months ago. The stories that emerged from the investigations were numerous: Ismay ordered Captain Smith full speed ahead in spite of ice warnings, he ordered full steam ahead after striking the iceberg which speeded the sinking, etc.
Prefer poignancy? How about Mr. And Mrs. Strauss, part owners of Macy's, dying together, as she wouldn't leave her husband. Or, of course, the steerage passengers. I'm fortunate that my poor Irish forebears came to escape the Famine, some 60 years before. We are told that more first-class men survived than steerage children. That's the other side of that Victorian morality garbage.
Perhaps, instead of suffering again through the no-talent Vegas headliner barfing up one more rendition of the worst song ever written by someone not named "Gaga," we should honor the Titanic dead with a little meditation on hubris, frailty and how we're just never quite as smart as we think we are.
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
You Don't Sound Like You're From Around Here, Boy!
Ozzie Guillen is in trouble. Again. The first-year manager of the renamed Miami Marlins gave an interview. After all the tumult during Ozzie's tenure with the Chicago White Sox, maybe, we think, he should have learned not to give interviews. But Ozzie likes to talk, and he's a man who says what he thinks, with very little internal editing getting in the way.
Time magazine asked the Venezuelan native about Fidel Castro. Among other things, Ozzie said that Castro deserves respect "because that (expletive) has been in power so long." There are things you can't say in this world. Bobby Petrino would tell you that if you are the football coach at the University of Arkansas and you have a motorcycle wreck, you can't say you were by yourself if your 25 year old mistress was with you, or you'll be the ex-football coach at Arkansas. If Ozzie managed in Seattle, or had come from New Hampshire, he wouldn't have been asked about Cuba. But he works in Miami, and came from Venezuela, and now he is suspended for five games, while Miami's mayor seems to have nothing more significant to attend to than to call for Guillen's firing.
It doesn't seem to matter that many Venezuelans, chief among them, President Hugo Chavez, have a very different relationship with Castro and Cuba than the Little Havanans do. Chavez has gotten treatment for his recurring cancer in Castro's medical community, and sold his oil there. Venezuelans don't teach their children that all evil in the hemisphere emanates from Havana. So, like places in the world where children are taught that the US, or Israel, or both, are responsible for all the world's ills, and people are then willing to train as suicide bombers, we are left dealing with ways of looking at the world that don't make any sense to us. And in our day and time, what is different is wrong, and what's wrong needs to be wiped out.
Ozzie didn't blow anything up, except perhaps his career. But we see again that whether it's Moslem v. Christian, Jew v. Moslem, Cuban ex-pat v. Castro, or anyone who doesn't think like I do v. me, human beings don't deal very well with others' world-views when they are different.
Even when you're talking about a major league manager's perceptions of international relations!
It ultimately doesn't matter who manages the Marlins for the rest of the season. But until we can all reclaim a little empathy, just occasionally see the world through someone else's eyes, and build the bridges that necessarily follow, we will all keep looking for heads to be served up on plates. And we're running out of plates.
Time magazine asked the Venezuelan native about Fidel Castro. Among other things, Ozzie said that Castro deserves respect "because that (expletive) has been in power so long." There are things you can't say in this world. Bobby Petrino would tell you that if you are the football coach at the University of Arkansas and you have a motorcycle wreck, you can't say you were by yourself if your 25 year old mistress was with you, or you'll be the ex-football coach at Arkansas. If Ozzie managed in Seattle, or had come from New Hampshire, he wouldn't have been asked about Cuba. But he works in Miami, and came from Venezuela, and now he is suspended for five games, while Miami's mayor seems to have nothing more significant to attend to than to call for Guillen's firing.
It doesn't seem to matter that many Venezuelans, chief among them, President Hugo Chavez, have a very different relationship with Castro and Cuba than the Little Havanans do. Chavez has gotten treatment for his recurring cancer in Castro's medical community, and sold his oil there. Venezuelans don't teach their children that all evil in the hemisphere emanates from Havana. So, like places in the world where children are taught that the US, or Israel, or both, are responsible for all the world's ills, and people are then willing to train as suicide bombers, we are left dealing with ways of looking at the world that don't make any sense to us. And in our day and time, what is different is wrong, and what's wrong needs to be wiped out.
Ozzie didn't blow anything up, except perhaps his career. But we see again that whether it's Moslem v. Christian, Jew v. Moslem, Cuban ex-pat v. Castro, or anyone who doesn't think like I do v. me, human beings don't deal very well with others' world-views when they are different.
Even when you're talking about a major league manager's perceptions of international relations!
It ultimately doesn't matter who manages the Marlins for the rest of the season. But until we can all reclaim a little empathy, just occasionally see the world through someone else's eyes, and build the bridges that necessarily follow, we will all keep looking for heads to be served up on plates. And we're running out of plates.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
What Do You Say?
"You know this book, Mr. Piercey?" His thumb was across the title and the author's last name, but I could read the "Harper" and know the purple paperback cover. "Yes. It's To Kill a Mockingbird." "You know what it's about?" His questions were uncomfortable.
He's young. He's smart. He's an athlete. He's a good kid. He is in my room because he got a new phone for his fifteenth birthday, and he brought it to school to show his friend. A teacher saw it. A rule was broken.
This fell as the Trayvon Martin story broke.
"Yes, I know the story." "Why did Mr. Finch help Tom, Mr. Piercey?" I felt the weight of that question for a few moments. I want to believe that the world Tom Robinson knew is gone. I want to believe that one person helping another, regardless of race, isn't really a big deal any more. But I don't live in my student's world.
"Some people believe that you do the right thing." That's what I believe. "No matter what other people may do to you?" That's his experience. We talked for a few more minutes about the old south. He was as interested in Atticus' having to live amongst his neighbors as he was what happened to Tom Robinson. I realized later that he knew what was going to happen to Tom Robinson before he ever got to the end of the book. The news to him was that white lawyer taking the chance.
"Why'd he shoot that boy, Mr. Piercey?" There are no boys shot in Mockingbird. We had jumped forward almost 80 years. I saw that his eyes were way too wet for a fifteen year old boy at school. I started to say, "I don't know" but I couldn't. Because I do know. And because he is a very bright young man, my student did too. I decided in that instant that he wanted to know if I would tell him the truth. I did.
"There is evil in this world, and one of the places it shows itself is in the hatred that some people carry for people of other races than their own." He nodded and folded his hands over his face, looking down at his desk. I have no doubt that when he sees Trayvon's picture on the tv screen, he sees his own face.
"Why'd he shoot that boy?" he asked again, very softly. I try to imagine his confusion. I try to imagine his intellectual struggle. I try to imagine his fear.
But I'm white, and he's black, and we live in America.
So imagine is all I can do.
He's young. He's smart. He's an athlete. He's a good kid. He is in my room because he got a new phone for his fifteenth birthday, and he brought it to school to show his friend. A teacher saw it. A rule was broken.
This fell as the Trayvon Martin story broke.
"Yes, I know the story." "Why did Mr. Finch help Tom, Mr. Piercey?" I felt the weight of that question for a few moments. I want to believe that the world Tom Robinson knew is gone. I want to believe that one person helping another, regardless of race, isn't really a big deal any more. But I don't live in my student's world.
"Some people believe that you do the right thing." That's what I believe. "No matter what other people may do to you?" That's his experience. We talked for a few more minutes about the old south. He was as interested in Atticus' having to live amongst his neighbors as he was what happened to Tom Robinson. I realized later that he knew what was going to happen to Tom Robinson before he ever got to the end of the book. The news to him was that white lawyer taking the chance.
"Why'd he shoot that boy, Mr. Piercey?" There are no boys shot in Mockingbird. We had jumped forward almost 80 years. I saw that his eyes were way too wet for a fifteen year old boy at school. I started to say, "I don't know" but I couldn't. Because I do know. And because he is a very bright young man, my student did too. I decided in that instant that he wanted to know if I would tell him the truth. I did.
"There is evil in this world, and one of the places it shows itself is in the hatred that some people carry for people of other races than their own." He nodded and folded his hands over his face, looking down at his desk. I have no doubt that when he sees Trayvon's picture on the tv screen, he sees his own face.
"Why'd he shoot that boy?" he asked again, very softly. I try to imagine his confusion. I try to imagine his intellectual struggle. I try to imagine his fear.
But I'm white, and he's black, and we live in America.
So imagine is all I can do.
Monday, March 26, 2012
Furman Bisher
There's something about the South and sports. The greatest radio men of the first generation, Red Barber and Mel Allen, were sons of Mississippi and Alabama, respectively. Red's family moved to the newly infamous Sanford, FL, when he was ten. Mel went to Alabama, while Barber became a Gator. Barber and Allen were competitors, working for the Dodgers and Yankees, before eventually becoming partners in the Yankees' booth. Ernie Harwell of Georgia followed along shortly, joining Barber with the Dodgers. Ernie had been the voice of the Atlanta Crackers minor league team, and when the Dodgers sought his contract, the price was catcher Cliff Dapper. Harwell was the only broadcaster ever traded for a player. Ernie's career with the Tigers, beginning in 1960, took him to the Hall of Fame, but it was his departure from the Dodgers for the Giants in 1950 that left open a seat for another redhead, a youngster named Vin Scully.
These southerners and their many brethren had a gift for storytelling, the language, vivid and beautiful, alive in their minds and voices. When things were going well in Flatbush, then the Dodgers were "tearing up the peapatch," or "sitting in the catbird seat." When a performance was too good for words, in the Bronx Allen would ask "How 'bout that?" while Barber was declarative: "Oh, Doctor!" Harwell would build on both. He would recite from the Song of Solomon to announce the arrival of Spring, proclaim "Two for the price of one" for a double play, and criticize a batter taking a called third strike: "He stood there like the house by the side of the road!"
Maybe those broadcasters were really writers at heart. But they were fortunate that they chose the microphone. The typewriter was taken. The South had its sportswriter. His name was Furman Bisher.
Bisher came from North Carolina, but he conquered the world from Atlanta. Early on, in Charlotte, Bisher got the only interview Shoeless Joe Jackson ever gave after his banishment from baseball. He trusted Bisher, as did the drivers who banded together in what would become NASCAR; he wrote their story, too. Beginning in 1950, Bisher became the biggest proponent of sports that Atlanta has ever known. How'd he do? Hank Aaron trusted him to write The Hammer's first autobiography. Bisher also wrote a book for kids, Strange but True Baseball Stories. That book was the first one I ever bought with my own money. Its influence on my love of reading and my love of baseball cannot be overstated. I trusted Furman Bisher, too.
Bisher wrote The Masters every year in the Journal, the Constitution, and then the Journal-Constitution, and in a half-dozen books. He wrote NASCAR. He wrote University of Georgia sports, providing the silky counter-point to Larry Munson's sandpaper voice. Furman Bisher wrote Southern sports. He wrote Southern Sports for 59 years in Atlanta. He couldn't quit when he retired from the AJC in 2009. He started a periodic column in the Gwinnett Daily Post.
Furman Bisher died a week ago. He was 93. He personified that special tie that we Southerners have to sports. He taught six generations of us what mattered about sports, and why. He told the truth, and he told it in our language.
Thank you, Sir!
These southerners and their many brethren had a gift for storytelling, the language, vivid and beautiful, alive in their minds and voices. When things were going well in Flatbush, then the Dodgers were "tearing up the peapatch," or "sitting in the catbird seat." When a performance was too good for words, in the Bronx Allen would ask "How 'bout that?" while Barber was declarative: "Oh, Doctor!" Harwell would build on both. He would recite from the Song of Solomon to announce the arrival of Spring, proclaim "Two for the price of one" for a double play, and criticize a batter taking a called third strike: "He stood there like the house by the side of the road!"
Maybe those broadcasters were really writers at heart. But they were fortunate that they chose the microphone. The typewriter was taken. The South had its sportswriter. His name was Furman Bisher.
Bisher came from North Carolina, but he conquered the world from Atlanta. Early on, in Charlotte, Bisher got the only interview Shoeless Joe Jackson ever gave after his banishment from baseball. He trusted Bisher, as did the drivers who banded together in what would become NASCAR; he wrote their story, too. Beginning in 1950, Bisher became the biggest proponent of sports that Atlanta has ever known. How'd he do? Hank Aaron trusted him to write The Hammer's first autobiography. Bisher also wrote a book for kids, Strange but True Baseball Stories. That book was the first one I ever bought with my own money. Its influence on my love of reading and my love of baseball cannot be overstated. I trusted Furman Bisher, too.
Bisher wrote The Masters every year in the Journal, the Constitution, and then the Journal-Constitution, and in a half-dozen books. He wrote NASCAR. He wrote University of Georgia sports, providing the silky counter-point to Larry Munson's sandpaper voice. Furman Bisher wrote Southern sports. He wrote Southern Sports for 59 years in Atlanta. He couldn't quit when he retired from the AJC in 2009. He started a periodic column in the Gwinnett Daily Post.
Furman Bisher died a week ago. He was 93. He personified that special tie that we Southerners have to sports. He taught six generations of us what mattered about sports, and why. He told the truth, and he told it in our language.
Thank you, Sir!
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Spring Break
This Spring brought a huge change for me. I spent the last umpteen years carrying the company water: You suck, God is terribly disappointed in you, and you better get your act together or else! All of which is, of course, bullshit.
This year the focus is entirely different.
It is Spring Break.
Spring Break was never a big deal to me as a student. I never went to South Padre, Ft. Lauderdale or any of the other fabulous places to pass a week drunk and assuming Rush Limbaugh is right about women. For one thing, I'm Irish. Irish and sunshine do not mix. You've never seen sunburned unless you've seen Irish sunburned! And I've long believed that if you choose to drink to excess, it's better to do it at home. Saves the other drivers and the ol' Permanent Record. Being the father of daughters makes me happy that earlier behavior toward women was no worse than it was.
Now, suddenly, Spring Break matters! As a Junior High School staff member, Spring Break matters a lot. We've had a good first half of the semester. Now it's time for the home stretch. We've got a lot to do. State achievement tests, fourth nine weeks' tests and finals all loom on the horizon, and there's work to be done to be ready for all that. So stopping for a few days is a good thing.
We're breaking the rhythm at home. We went downtown to ride the Trolley last night. Tuesday will be the Zoo, complete with Dinosaur Exhibit, and, hopefully, feeding the giraffes. There will be a trip to The Pink Palace before the week's out, and that's the Dancing Baby stuff. Grandmommie and I intend to slip out for a couple of lunches, a bookstore day, and one day to just disappear. Again, good to throw the change up occasionally. Oh, a baseball image? That reminds me: the MLB Network is carrying about a billion Spring Training games this week. We'll be checking out a few of those, too. Especially any that originate in Fort Myers.
Back to work a week from tomorrow.
Until then, Time Out!
This year the focus is entirely different.
It is Spring Break.
Spring Break was never a big deal to me as a student. I never went to South Padre, Ft. Lauderdale or any of the other fabulous places to pass a week drunk and assuming Rush Limbaugh is right about women. For one thing, I'm Irish. Irish and sunshine do not mix. You've never seen sunburned unless you've seen Irish sunburned! And I've long believed that if you choose to drink to excess, it's better to do it at home. Saves the other drivers and the ol' Permanent Record. Being the father of daughters makes me happy that earlier behavior toward women was no worse than it was.
Now, suddenly, Spring Break matters! As a Junior High School staff member, Spring Break matters a lot. We've had a good first half of the semester. Now it's time for the home stretch. We've got a lot to do. State achievement tests, fourth nine weeks' tests and finals all loom on the horizon, and there's work to be done to be ready for all that. So stopping for a few days is a good thing.
We're breaking the rhythm at home. We went downtown to ride the Trolley last night. Tuesday will be the Zoo, complete with Dinosaur Exhibit, and, hopefully, feeding the giraffes. There will be a trip to The Pink Palace before the week's out, and that's the Dancing Baby stuff. Grandmommie and I intend to slip out for a couple of lunches, a bookstore day, and one day to just disappear. Again, good to throw the change up occasionally. Oh, a baseball image? That reminds me: the MLB Network is carrying about a billion Spring Training games this week. We'll be checking out a few of those, too. Especially any that originate in Fort Myers.
Back to work a week from tomorrow.
Until then, Time Out!
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Hello? Is there anybody in there? Just knock if you can...
It has been a while.
I haven't really known how to follow the previous post. It seems to me an egregious disrespect to Troy Davis to come back with something of my normal sort-pretty much 3/4 dopey.
Well, time has passed, and life is no less absurd today.
So here goes.
What shall we play with? There are so many options...
*How 'bout that GOP? The Good...ok, nobody there; The Dumb...god help Rick Perry;
and The Evil...one word: NEWT! I would say that I've missed Mr. Regular
Guy/Washington Outsider/Family Values/Tiffany's Account/Former Speaker-Freaking
3rd in line for the Presidency/Got the Trophy Wife on the 3rd try, but I'd be
lying! Then, of course, the Cast of Thousands who haven't a prayer...well I
guess that's all they've got, if only anyone were listening!
*Tebow? Leave the boy alone. But we'll shortly be raising hell about the report
today: 43% of the morons-oh, I mean people-in this country think god is helping
Tebow win. 'Course, that might be the more reasonable explanation, 'cause it
sure ain't happening on Timmy's ability!
*The Church? What's the point? Nobody can make more fun of them than they make of
themselves on a daily basis.
*Maybe I should just mention that Dancing Baby's turned 3, and is still the
absolute joy of life as we know it.
*And only 35 days until Pitchers and Catchers Report!
We're back, baby, and I made a resolution to write on the blog every week!
Which means you'll probably hear from me in August.
We'll see...
I haven't really known how to follow the previous post. It seems to me an egregious disrespect to Troy Davis to come back with something of my normal sort-pretty much 3/4 dopey.
Well, time has passed, and life is no less absurd today.
So here goes.
What shall we play with? There are so many options...
*How 'bout that GOP? The Good...ok, nobody there; The Dumb...god help Rick Perry;
and The Evil...one word: NEWT! I would say that I've missed Mr. Regular
Guy/Washington Outsider/Family Values/Tiffany's Account/Former Speaker-Freaking
3rd in line for the Presidency/Got the Trophy Wife on the 3rd try, but I'd be
lying! Then, of course, the Cast of Thousands who haven't a prayer...well I
guess that's all they've got, if only anyone were listening!
*Tebow? Leave the boy alone. But we'll shortly be raising hell about the report
today: 43% of the morons-oh, I mean people-in this country think god is helping
Tebow win. 'Course, that might be the more reasonable explanation, 'cause it
sure ain't happening on Timmy's ability!
*The Church? What's the point? Nobody can make more fun of them than they make of
themselves on a daily basis.
*Maybe I should just mention that Dancing Baby's turned 3, and is still the
absolute joy of life as we know it.
*And only 35 days until Pitchers and Catchers Report!
We're back, baby, and I made a resolution to write on the blog every week!
Which means you'll probably hear from me in August.
We'll see...
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Going?
Troy Davis is going to die in two hours. Davis has been on death row in Georgia for 20 years, convicted of killing a cop. A white cop. Davis is black.
There are a couple of problems here, however. One, there is not now, nor has there ever been, one shred of physical evidence that ties Davis to the murder. And, two, seven of the nine "witnesses" who testified against him have recanted their stories. Want a little more? One of the two witnesses who didn't change stories is held to be the actual shooter by several who testified against Davis. Why'd they lie? It's a textbook case of police misconduct. More than one witness was threatened with lengthy jail terms of their own if they didn't "cooperate" and others were given the chance to identify Davis in ways that any viewer of Law and Order knows to be unconstitutional.
Long story short, Georgia is getting ready to kill another black man, with no more evidence behind them than was held against all those who were lynched a century ago. This, after the Governor of Texas was applauded at the Republican Presidential Debate last week for holding some sort of perverse record for most executions presided over, by all those great Christians who populate the GOP.
I'm sorry, Troy. And I don't see how my life is going to be changed for the better in any way by your death.
But that's not the popular sentiment in our country today.
A lot of people say our country is going to hell in a handbasket.
I say we're already there.
There are a couple of problems here, however. One, there is not now, nor has there ever been, one shred of physical evidence that ties Davis to the murder. And, two, seven of the nine "witnesses" who testified against him have recanted their stories. Want a little more? One of the two witnesses who didn't change stories is held to be the actual shooter by several who testified against Davis. Why'd they lie? It's a textbook case of police misconduct. More than one witness was threatened with lengthy jail terms of their own if they didn't "cooperate" and others were given the chance to identify Davis in ways that any viewer of Law and Order knows to be unconstitutional.
Long story short, Georgia is getting ready to kill another black man, with no more evidence behind them than was held against all those who were lynched a century ago. This, after the Governor of Texas was applauded at the Republican Presidential Debate last week for holding some sort of perverse record for most executions presided over, by all those great Christians who populate the GOP.
I'm sorry, Troy. And I don't see how my life is going to be changed for the better in any way by your death.
But that's not the popular sentiment in our country today.
A lot of people say our country is going to hell in a handbasket.
I say we're already there.
Thursday, September 08, 2011
Silence is Golden, or Just Hypocritical?
As we near the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, I'm already feeling inundated by the images, memories, retrospectives and so on. One thing, I've noted, is missing: Falwell's and Robertson's alleged theologizing on the causes of the attacks. You may recall, the alleged Reverends saw the whole thing in terms of God's vengeance and/or not-so-benign neglect as retaliation for, depending on which day, accepting our LGBT brothers and sisters as actual citizens, needing to be "brought back to Jesus" or some other such bullshit.
They, and others, shoveled the same manure on New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina and the Corps of Engineers wiped out that wonderful city. Too many boobies for beads, don't you know. And so God recreated Sodom and Gomorrah with water playing the part of fire.
Dad tells the story of going to visit a wonderful lady, Dr. Sarah V. Clement, late in her life. She was a retired Lambuth College professor and member of the church he was serving in Jackson. She'd been his teacher. When he arrived, she had her Bibles, including her Greek New Testament, spread out on her coffee table before her. The television was blaring one of the mid-80's plague of "tele-vangelists" and she had a terribly puzzled countenance. She asked Dad to listen for a minute, and then turned to him, serious as a heart attack, and said that she had been listening, been moved to look up his text for herself in all the translations, and untranslated as well, and had come to the conclusion that TV Preacher Boy had "No familiarity whatsoever" with the text from which he claimed to be working.
That's sort of the way I feel about the "God did that to get you" crowd.
That said, however, I'm wondering why they've been so quiet on the Texas wildfires. I know that raising the question of their silence is kind of like the old "looking a gift horse in the mouth," but I just can't help myself.
If your God is the kind of petty despot that jerks the short leash on you every time he (No, I won't go gender-neutral in this context; such an asshole god would surely be male) gets a burr under the saddle, what would he be saying in burning Texas from pillar to post? Could it have anything to do with the thunderous, revolting ovation that greeted Brian Williams' reference to Gov. Perry's record 234 executions presided over? That number includes minors, mentally disabled, and at least a handful of people now commonly perceived to have been wrongly convicted. Williams' interrupted question was, basically, "Do you sleep well at night after all those people were put to death on your watch?" Perhaps encouraged by the cheering, perhaps being totally amoral, Perry told Williams that he sleeps very well at night, thank you. Rick isn't the kind of fellow, you see, that's going to be bothered by, oh, almost 10 dozen dead people in his wake; he's got a political career to advance.
And Texas burns...why?
They, and others, shoveled the same manure on New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina and the Corps of Engineers wiped out that wonderful city. Too many boobies for beads, don't you know. And so God recreated Sodom and Gomorrah with water playing the part of fire.
Dad tells the story of going to visit a wonderful lady, Dr. Sarah V. Clement, late in her life. She was a retired Lambuth College professor and member of the church he was serving in Jackson. She'd been his teacher. When he arrived, she had her Bibles, including her Greek New Testament, spread out on her coffee table before her. The television was blaring one of the mid-80's plague of "tele-vangelists" and she had a terribly puzzled countenance. She asked Dad to listen for a minute, and then turned to him, serious as a heart attack, and said that she had been listening, been moved to look up his text for herself in all the translations, and untranslated as well, and had come to the conclusion that TV Preacher Boy had "No familiarity whatsoever" with the text from which he claimed to be working.
That's sort of the way I feel about the "God did that to get you" crowd.
That said, however, I'm wondering why they've been so quiet on the Texas wildfires. I know that raising the question of their silence is kind of like the old "looking a gift horse in the mouth," but I just can't help myself.
If your God is the kind of petty despot that jerks the short leash on you every time he (No, I won't go gender-neutral in this context; such an asshole god would surely be male) gets a burr under the saddle, what would he be saying in burning Texas from pillar to post? Could it have anything to do with the thunderous, revolting ovation that greeted Brian Williams' reference to Gov. Perry's record 234 executions presided over? That number includes minors, mentally disabled, and at least a handful of people now commonly perceived to have been wrongly convicted. Williams' interrupted question was, basically, "Do you sleep well at night after all those people were put to death on your watch?" Perhaps encouraged by the cheering, perhaps being totally amoral, Perry told Williams that he sleeps very well at night, thank you. Rick isn't the kind of fellow, you see, that's going to be bothered by, oh, almost 10 dozen dead people in his wake; he's got a political career to advance.
And Texas burns...why?
Monday, August 08, 2011
Time to Check In
It's been a long, hot, sad, delightful, terrifying summer already, and we're only about half-way through. I'm still looking for a job. The recession may have been over for more than a year, but as we've all been hearing on the news, nobody's hiring. And those who are seem to think I'm a little old and over-educated/over-experienced for what they have to offer. Oh well, something has to turn up soon, no?
The extra time has afforded a great amount of time with my granddaughter and the Boston Red Sox. Kaly is a phenomenon. She's too young to have a developed sense of humor, and yet she is one of the funniest people I know. She has discovered Blues Clues on tv. Steve is the guy on the show who sees after Blue and moves the show along. "Steve" has become, in our house, what "Bruce" was to Monty Python. I'm Steve, Grandmommie is Steve, MommaMomma is Steve and Kaly is Steve. There was no discussion, no instruction, no explanation. It is simply the kind of absurd humor that we all love. Whether it's genetic or learned, Kaly's got it, and I'm thrilled. She's too young to be polite, and yet she is one of the most gracious and appreciative people I've ever met. Kaly doesn't miss an opportunity to thank basically anyone for basically anything. She knows how to ask for things and almost always does in a way that makes everyone eager to accommodate her. And she is too young to be this smart. The child has never forgotten anything that she has seen or heard. She can discuss the details of our trip to Gulf Shores from May; she can discuss the details of the play she saw at the Orpheum last November; she can discuss the details of our May, 2010, trip to the beach. It has been my absolute good fortune to have this summer with her.
The Red Sox have had a tremendous season, after a lousy start. April saw a 2-10 start, but ever since, they've been on fire. Trailing only the Phillies for best record in baseball, the Sox have crushed the MFYs all season. After last weekend's two out of three at Fenway, the Sox are 10-2 on the season with the Yankees. CC Sabathia may be the leading contender for AL MVP (or maybe not, Josh Beckett?), but he's 0-4 with a 7-plus ERA against the Sox. Title Number 3? A distinct possibility!
On other fronts, the Tea Baggers are totally out of control, but Obama has let them get that way. We are travelling a dangerous road letting these nuts hold the keys to the asylum. Even if she can't pronounce it, you have to marvel at Michele Bachmann's chutzpah in blaming Obama for the S&P downgrade of US credit. I blame him, too, but I wasn't one of the people twisting his arm on the debtceiling deal that led to the downgrade.
I haven't set foot in a church since Fathers' Day, and I have found this summer as peaceful, happy and content a time as I have had in my life in many years. I appreciate this great good fortune, and feel totally confirmed in my decision to get out of that mess. It was lethal, and I'm not ready to go. I am sorry that the function of the church moved my one friend in the conference to the other end of things, geographically, but maybe they'll be back down this was eventually. He has family concerns that makes it a good time to be closer to home, and that's a good thing.
Time to wrap up and, hopefully, watch Tim Wakefield wrap up career win #200. Go get 'em, Wake!
The extra time has afforded a great amount of time with my granddaughter and the Boston Red Sox. Kaly is a phenomenon. She's too young to have a developed sense of humor, and yet she is one of the funniest people I know. She has discovered Blues Clues on tv. Steve is the guy on the show who sees after Blue and moves the show along. "Steve" has become, in our house, what "Bruce" was to Monty Python. I'm Steve, Grandmommie is Steve, MommaMomma is Steve and Kaly is Steve. There was no discussion, no instruction, no explanation. It is simply the kind of absurd humor that we all love. Whether it's genetic or learned, Kaly's got it, and I'm thrilled. She's too young to be polite, and yet she is one of the most gracious and appreciative people I've ever met. Kaly doesn't miss an opportunity to thank basically anyone for basically anything. She knows how to ask for things and almost always does in a way that makes everyone eager to accommodate her. And she is too young to be this smart. The child has never forgotten anything that she has seen or heard. She can discuss the details of our trip to Gulf Shores from May; she can discuss the details of the play she saw at the Orpheum last November; she can discuss the details of our May, 2010, trip to the beach. It has been my absolute good fortune to have this summer with her.
The Red Sox have had a tremendous season, after a lousy start. April saw a 2-10 start, but ever since, they've been on fire. Trailing only the Phillies for best record in baseball, the Sox have crushed the MFYs all season. After last weekend's two out of three at Fenway, the Sox are 10-2 on the season with the Yankees. CC Sabathia may be the leading contender for AL MVP (or maybe not, Josh Beckett?), but he's 0-4 with a 7-plus ERA against the Sox. Title Number 3? A distinct possibility!
On other fronts, the Tea Baggers are totally out of control, but Obama has let them get that way. We are travelling a dangerous road letting these nuts hold the keys to the asylum. Even if she can't pronounce it, you have to marvel at Michele Bachmann's chutzpah in blaming Obama for the S&P downgrade of US credit. I blame him, too, but I wasn't one of the people twisting his arm on the debtceiling deal that led to the downgrade.
I haven't set foot in a church since Fathers' Day, and I have found this summer as peaceful, happy and content a time as I have had in my life in many years. I appreciate this great good fortune, and feel totally confirmed in my decision to get out of that mess. It was lethal, and I'm not ready to go. I am sorry that the function of the church moved my one friend in the conference to the other end of things, geographically, but maybe they'll be back down this was eventually. He has family concerns that makes it a good time to be closer to home, and that's a good thing.
Time to wrap up and, hopefully, watch Tim Wakefield wrap up career win #200. Go get 'em, Wake!
Monday, July 04, 2011
Free at Last, Free at Last...
It's been a long time coming.
To concerned friends, I am not ill and my health is excellent. A thorough physical in April returned the verdict: healthy as a horse! To rubber-necking non-friends, sorry. This wasn't a negotiated exit of the "or else" variety. I chose to make this change in my life, for my sanity and out of respect for many of my predecessors.
As I turned fifty early this year, enough became enough. On one hand, I got tired of being lied to repeatedly by people I have been required to trust with my family's life. I was told in 1999, 2010 and 2011 that my assignments were being made solely due to "circumstances." On each occasion I was told that the "circumstances" must certainly improve in a year or so, only to get kicked in the teeth again and again. In 2002, I was told that I was being "taught a lesson" because I was newly married and thought it a good idea to live with my wife, who was (and is) caring for her elderly parents in her home. In 2005 I was made specific promises about an assignment with some alleged potential. Those promises were made by the then-District Superintendent, repeated in a meeting with all of the church leadership (who had no intention of growing their church, regardless of the words they spoke), and then broken every day, week, month and year that I was there, with no repercussions whatsoever for those doing the lying. I met every benchmark; they met none, for five years, including their refusal to pay the Discipline's required housing allowance for two and one-half years! As I told the DS every month for 2 1/2years, they were stealing from me, to a total of $18,900! Only when I told him, in January 2008, that I was done and he needed to find someone else to enjoy these folks did he come out and meet with them to straighten out the mess. And that "straightening out" included no discussion of the theft, no discussion of making things right, not even an apology for their continual violation of the Discipline. At the end of the five-year appointment, I was punished for their deception. When told that the only assignment available to me this year would require one more salary cut, this one to the dollar of the minimum salary allowed, and I would have to abandon my family to go and model the family of God in a distant county, well, again, enough was enough. I have responsibility for seven other people. I could not afford to play their sadistic game any longer.
As all this drama was playing out, I also came to a good decision about the way I contribute to my community. I believe in public service. I think that every person has obligations to others. The social contract, whether it is the one that is represented in the terms "Memphians" or "Tennesseeans" or "Americans" or even the one called "Christians" is supposed to be significant, it's supposed to mean something. I have spent my life believing in that concept, and working out of it.
The problem isn't the belief in community. The problem isn't the concept of service. The problem has been the venue.
I have sought to live out this notion through the church. The church has been deeply ingrained in my life and my family's life for generations. And in previous generations and previous decades, the church has been a fit vehicle for contributing to the lives of others.
No longer.
The church, specifically the Memphis Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church, is dead. It is bankrupt, fiscally and morally. It is bereft of leadership. It manifests nothing of Jesus Christ in its organization, behavior or blind acceptance of immoral and incompetent leadership. It is quite simply a corpse that has yet to lie down. And I have wasted enough of my life trying to pump a little air into this corpse.
I have watched as the church has changed from an institution that sought out opportunities and avenues to reach out and into the poorest neighborhoods of Memphis, into one that abandons neighborhoods, and tells the remaining churches that if they don't perform financially, producing for the Annual Conference, that they will be closed too. And how many of those closures do you think have been in the wealthier neighborhoods of Memphis and Shelby County? That's correct: 0. It's hard to explain the strategy when the two worst offenders in failing to pay apportionments have been two of the jewel churches of the Annual Conference.
In the larger society, when a stronger entity forces a weaker entity to pay to be allowed to function, it's called a protection racket. People are arrested and incarcerated. When the church does it, it's called "financial responsibility." Sometime in the last 26 years, the church became about what the bishop could squeeze out of the neighborhoods, rather than the historic Christian approach of what the church could contribute to neighborhoods. I associate with this philosophy no longer. (And I would encourage the larger society to review in detail the practice of allowing churches to operate tax free when the church exists today almost exclusively for the benefit of the members of the church rather than for the benefit of the community. Perhaps a requirement is in order, to document how the church uses its resources to make a difference in Memphis, if Memphis is to forego the property taxes that other social clubs-also existing for their own benefit and entertainment-must pay.)
I am past grieving the depths that the church has fallen into. I have no more tears to shed. I would simply leave one suggestion: change the Book of Discipline to require that any person elected to the episcopacy be immediately assigned to the Annual Conference that nominated and elected them. That stipulation would stop a practice that has plagued the Nashville Area: big conferences deal with their personnel problems by making them bishop, because all too often that is the only way they can get rid of a person who is a problem for that large conference. At least three of the bishops I served under were elected to move them along, including the soon-departing one who has presided over the closure of an incredible pile of churches, lost our 150-plus year old college, seen both of our historic helping agencies at the constant door of bankruptcy, systematically usurped the authority and responsibility of the Board of Ordained Ministry in dealing with personnel issues, and presided over the total destruction of the morale of the Annual Conference, resulting in historically low apportionment payouts throughout his tenure. He told us when he got here that he never went to Annual Conference when he was a pastor, that he doesn't particularly like preachers, that he could "tell what was wrong with a person just by looking at them," and that he had a "special relationship" with God that gives him "special insight." We should have risen up, ala Egypt or Libya, against this megalomaniacal sociopath at that moment. But since he held the power of assignment, everyone in a position to make a difference protected their career instead of doing what was right. What was sown has been reaped.
I am moving on. I am seeking my path toward making a positive contribution to my community. We have significant problems in my hometown, but they are problems that can be addressed and corrected, and I'm eager to play some small part in making a difference.
And, finally, to the church: you haven't led and you won't follow, so just get out of the way. Keep on arguing about the role, or lack thereof, for gays in the church, and all of the other nonsense contrary to the gospel, and the rest of your buildings will be locked up and torn down soon enough.
To concerned friends, I am not ill and my health is excellent. A thorough physical in April returned the verdict: healthy as a horse! To rubber-necking non-friends, sorry. This wasn't a negotiated exit of the "or else" variety. I chose to make this change in my life, for my sanity and out of respect for many of my predecessors.
As I turned fifty early this year, enough became enough. On one hand, I got tired of being lied to repeatedly by people I have been required to trust with my family's life. I was told in 1999, 2010 and 2011 that my assignments were being made solely due to "circumstances." On each occasion I was told that the "circumstances" must certainly improve in a year or so, only to get kicked in the teeth again and again. In 2002, I was told that I was being "taught a lesson" because I was newly married and thought it a good idea to live with my wife, who was (and is) caring for her elderly parents in her home. In 2005 I was made specific promises about an assignment with some alleged potential. Those promises were made by the then-District Superintendent, repeated in a meeting with all of the church leadership (who had no intention of growing their church, regardless of the words they spoke), and then broken every day, week, month and year that I was there, with no repercussions whatsoever for those doing the lying. I met every benchmark; they met none, for five years, including their refusal to pay the Discipline's required housing allowance for two and one-half years! As I told the DS every month for 2 1/2years, they were stealing from me, to a total of $18,900! Only when I told him, in January 2008, that I was done and he needed to find someone else to enjoy these folks did he come out and meet with them to straighten out the mess. And that "straightening out" included no discussion of the theft, no discussion of making things right, not even an apology for their continual violation of the Discipline. At the end of the five-year appointment, I was punished for their deception. When told that the only assignment available to me this year would require one more salary cut, this one to the dollar of the minimum salary allowed, and I would have to abandon my family to go and model the family of God in a distant county, well, again, enough was enough. I have responsibility for seven other people. I could not afford to play their sadistic game any longer.
As all this drama was playing out, I also came to a good decision about the way I contribute to my community. I believe in public service. I think that every person has obligations to others. The social contract, whether it is the one that is represented in the terms "Memphians" or "Tennesseeans" or "Americans" or even the one called "Christians" is supposed to be significant, it's supposed to mean something. I have spent my life believing in that concept, and working out of it.
The problem isn't the belief in community. The problem isn't the concept of service. The problem has been the venue.
I have sought to live out this notion through the church. The church has been deeply ingrained in my life and my family's life for generations. And in previous generations and previous decades, the church has been a fit vehicle for contributing to the lives of others.
No longer.
The church, specifically the Memphis Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church, is dead. It is bankrupt, fiscally and morally. It is bereft of leadership. It manifests nothing of Jesus Christ in its organization, behavior or blind acceptance of immoral and incompetent leadership. It is quite simply a corpse that has yet to lie down. And I have wasted enough of my life trying to pump a little air into this corpse.
I have watched as the church has changed from an institution that sought out opportunities and avenues to reach out and into the poorest neighborhoods of Memphis, into one that abandons neighborhoods, and tells the remaining churches that if they don't perform financially, producing for the Annual Conference, that they will be closed too. And how many of those closures do you think have been in the wealthier neighborhoods of Memphis and Shelby County? That's correct: 0. It's hard to explain the strategy when the two worst offenders in failing to pay apportionments have been two of the jewel churches of the Annual Conference.
In the larger society, when a stronger entity forces a weaker entity to pay to be allowed to function, it's called a protection racket. People are arrested and incarcerated. When the church does it, it's called "financial responsibility." Sometime in the last 26 years, the church became about what the bishop could squeeze out of the neighborhoods, rather than the historic Christian approach of what the church could contribute to neighborhoods. I associate with this philosophy no longer. (And I would encourage the larger society to review in detail the practice of allowing churches to operate tax free when the church exists today almost exclusively for the benefit of the members of the church rather than for the benefit of the community. Perhaps a requirement is in order, to document how the church uses its resources to make a difference in Memphis, if Memphis is to forego the property taxes that other social clubs-also existing for their own benefit and entertainment-must pay.)
I am past grieving the depths that the church has fallen into. I have no more tears to shed. I would simply leave one suggestion: change the Book of Discipline to require that any person elected to the episcopacy be immediately assigned to the Annual Conference that nominated and elected them. That stipulation would stop a practice that has plagued the Nashville Area: big conferences deal with their personnel problems by making them bishop, because all too often that is the only way they can get rid of a person who is a problem for that large conference. At least three of the bishops I served under were elected to move them along, including the soon-departing one who has presided over the closure of an incredible pile of churches, lost our 150-plus year old college, seen both of our historic helping agencies at the constant door of bankruptcy, systematically usurped the authority and responsibility of the Board of Ordained Ministry in dealing with personnel issues, and presided over the total destruction of the morale of the Annual Conference, resulting in historically low apportionment payouts throughout his tenure. He told us when he got here that he never went to Annual Conference when he was a pastor, that he doesn't particularly like preachers, that he could "tell what was wrong with a person just by looking at them," and that he had a "special relationship" with God that gives him "special insight." We should have risen up, ala Egypt or Libya, against this megalomaniacal sociopath at that moment. But since he held the power of assignment, everyone in a position to make a difference protected their career instead of doing what was right. What was sown has been reaped.
I am moving on. I am seeking my path toward making a positive contribution to my community. We have significant problems in my hometown, but they are problems that can be addressed and corrected, and I'm eager to play some small part in making a difference.
And, finally, to the church: you haven't led and you won't follow, so just get out of the way. Keep on arguing about the role, or lack thereof, for gays in the church, and all of the other nonsense contrary to the gospel, and the rest of your buildings will be locked up and torn down soon enough.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
I Blame Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert shared this photo as being in need of a caption. His: What, and leave show business?
Of course, such a fabulous photo causes the mind to race. Mine: I know it's only been a week, but is there anything you miss about your former job? Not really...
Of course, such a fabulous photo causes the mind to race. Mine: I know it's only been a week, but is there anything you miss about your former job? Not really...
Wednesday, June 08, 2011
Anthony's Weiner, Newt's Balls and Sarah's...Uh...Whatever!
Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) may sit on my side of the aisle in Congress, but he's a fool. All the psychologizing has been offered: he's self-destructive, he's self-hating, he's misogynistic, he's power-mad, he's, he's, he's. Fine. To me, he's an arrogant fool. Go home. Stop plaguing my party. Grow up! But don't expect me to wait around for you to do so. You blew it, pal!
Like Ron White testified out of his own experience, "You can't fix stupid."
As with Newt Gingrich. Newt apparently decided that the statue of limitations had passed on notifying wife #1 of his divorce filing in the midst of her cancer treatment, and wife #2 in the aftermath of an ALS diagnosis. And when asked the inevitable questions, he proclaimed his love and constancy for Mrs. Gingrich #3, apparently still healthy, as proof he's gotten his act together. Then the enormous Tiffany's debt reared its ugly head. Not exactly living up to the Family Values bullshit, Newty! Sit down and shut up, please!
This week has also marked the return of Sarah Palin, and her endlessly arrogant stupidity, to the campaign trail. After the spectacular Paul Revere f-up, available on video all over the internet, she decided on the same Big Lie strategy that Weiner, Gingrich, Arnold, et al, have pursued. She announced that she didn't mess it up! Hey, go for it, pal.
If the people of this country decide to go as stupid as many of those in leadership positions often do, then we really will have the government we deserve!
Like Ron White testified out of his own experience, "You can't fix stupid."
As with Newt Gingrich. Newt apparently decided that the statue of limitations had passed on notifying wife #1 of his divorce filing in the midst of her cancer treatment, and wife #2 in the aftermath of an ALS diagnosis. And when asked the inevitable questions, he proclaimed his love and constancy for Mrs. Gingrich #3, apparently still healthy, as proof he's gotten his act together. Then the enormous Tiffany's debt reared its ugly head. Not exactly living up to the Family Values bullshit, Newty! Sit down and shut up, please!
This week has also marked the return of Sarah Palin, and her endlessly arrogant stupidity, to the campaign trail. After the spectacular Paul Revere f-up, available on video all over the internet, she decided on the same Big Lie strategy that Weiner, Gingrich, Arnold, et al, have pursued. She announced that she didn't mess it up! Hey, go for it, pal.
If the people of this country decide to go as stupid as many of those in leadership positions often do, then we really will have the government we deserve!
Monday, May 23, 2011
All Camping, All the Time!
Wouldn't want to leave you hanging on something as significant as the End of the World. Harold Camping took to the airwaves tonight to explain himself, or God, or something. In laying out why Crapture didn't happen Saturday, Camping made like John Cleese in the classic Argument Clinic sketch: he simply said it DID happen! Only, instead of the spectacular fireworks, blood and gore show that this brand of bitter bigot aches for, God decided to simply use May 21 for a quiet, Dean Wormer-like double-secret Judgement Day. Kind of like the subdued way that the Oscars make their nominations at a breakfast in February before putting on the big, fabulous shindig with blood-red carpets and borrowed jewels in March/April. So, the prophet clued us in tonight that the Big Show is actually going to be October 21.
In a totally related note, the AP reports that "In 2009, the nonprofit Family Radio reported in IRS filings that it received $18.3 million in donations, and had assets of more than $104 million, including $34 million in stocks or other publicly traded securities.
Nice little nest egg for eternity, no? But that's ok, since all those marks who gave it won't be needing their kids' college funds, their retirement savings or home downpayments once God gets done smoting and all. Just one question: how much does an 89 year old guy need to steal to feel secure? You know, for his Golden Years. On Earth.
In a totally related note, the AP reports that "In 2009, the nonprofit Family Radio reported in IRS filings that it received $18.3 million in donations, and had assets of more than $104 million, including $34 million in stocks or other publicly traded securities.
Nice little nest egg for eternity, no? But that's ok, since all those marks who gave it won't be needing their kids' college funds, their retirement savings or home downpayments once God gets done smoting and all. Just one question: how much does an 89 year old guy need to steal to feel secure? You know, for his Golden Years. On Earth.
This Just In: God's Testing You!
Twice-revealed fraud Harold Camping has notified a desperately waiting world that he will have something to say on tonight's Family Radio International (whatever the hell that is) broadcast. Which will be remarkable, as he hasn't had anything to say yet. According to the Associated Press, Camping's underlings are attributing the non-Rapture to God playing tricks. That's understandable, as God has always been known for practical joking. Just look up the whole "Abraham and Isaac build an altar" joke in Genesis.
"Family Radio's special projects coordinator, Michael Garcia, said he believed the delay was God's way of separating true believers from those willing to doubt what he said were clear biblical warnings. 'Maybe this had to happen for there to be a separation between those who have faith and those who don't," he said. "It's highly possible that our Lord is delaying his coming.'"
Garcia, apparently the person in charge of Rapture-related activities for Family Radio, obviously sees God jerking around the merely semi-rapture prepared whackos. For those without the secret decoder ring to understand these con artists, this means that they still believe there is some money to wring out of the weak-minded, desperate and despondent in the world. Saturday's lack-of-rapture stories included a "mystified" New York retiree who had sunk his entire life savings of $141,000 into Family Radio to "publicize" the Crapture dreamed up by Camping and/or others who should be imprisoned for defrauding the defenseless stupid of the country and perhaps world.
So, to wrap-up and review:
Harold Camping: multiple defrauder
Michael Garcia, et al: accomplices
God: practical joking jerk
Followers of Camping: too gullible for words, probably deserving their losses, and, apparently, headed for round three of bogus rapture predictions after tonight's broadcast.
Good night, and good luck!
"Family Radio's special projects coordinator, Michael Garcia, said he believed the delay was God's way of separating true believers from those willing to doubt what he said were clear biblical warnings. 'Maybe this had to happen for there to be a separation between those who have faith and those who don't," he said. "It's highly possible that our Lord is delaying his coming.'"
Garcia, apparently the person in charge of Rapture-related activities for Family Radio, obviously sees God jerking around the merely semi-rapture prepared whackos. For those without the secret decoder ring to understand these con artists, this means that they still believe there is some money to wring out of the weak-minded, desperate and despondent in the world. Saturday's lack-of-rapture stories included a "mystified" New York retiree who had sunk his entire life savings of $141,000 into Family Radio to "publicize" the Crapture dreamed up by Camping and/or others who should be imprisoned for defrauding the defenseless stupid of the country and perhaps world.
So, to wrap-up and review:
Harold Camping: multiple defrauder
Michael Garcia, et al: accomplices
God: practical joking jerk
Followers of Camping: too gullible for words, probably deserving their losses, and, apparently, headed for round three of bogus rapture predictions after tonight's broadcast.
Good night, and good luck!
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Alright, Already; One on the Crapture
First off, this isn't biblical. It's the invention of those whackjobs who invented fundamentalism in the late 19th/early 20th century.
Second, let's see: it's based on a code found in Harold Camping's tea leaves or poop, I'm not sure which. I used to be pretty good at these cyphers: we'll take what we know:
H A R O L D C A M P I N G A P R O F E C Y
Ok, drop the H 'cause it starts Hitler, and Hitler's bad.
Drop the M 'cause it starts Man and God hates Man, just like the Bible says.
Drop the I 'cause there's no I in team. Or Rapture.
Drop the N 'cause it starts Nazis, and there's Hitler again.
Drop the G 'cause you're headed for the Gates of Hell!
Drop a P 'cause it starts both parts of Pontius Pilate, and you know about him.
Drop an R 'cause of Regis Philbin.
Drop the E 'cause of Elvis, of course; 'nuf said!
Drop a C 'cause the Catholics aren't invited.
And drop the Y 'cause Camping's 89, and wants all Young People off his lawn.
That leaves:
A R O L D C A P A O F
Rearrange those letters, and you get: A LOAD OF CRAP, which is precisely what this whole thing is!
ps. I know how to spell prophecy, but it served my purposes to misspell it, and under fundamentalist rules, it's always ok to do whatever serves your own purposes.
Second, let's see: it's based on a code found in Harold Camping's tea leaves or poop, I'm not sure which. I used to be pretty good at these cyphers: we'll take what we know:
H A R O L D C A M P I N G A P R O F E C Y
Ok, drop the H 'cause it starts Hitler, and Hitler's bad.
Drop the M 'cause it starts Man and God hates Man, just like the Bible says.
Drop the I 'cause there's no I in team. Or Rapture.
Drop the N 'cause it starts Nazis, and there's Hitler again.
Drop the G 'cause you're headed for the Gates of Hell!
Drop a P 'cause it starts both parts of Pontius Pilate, and you know about him.
Drop an R 'cause of Regis Philbin.
Drop the E 'cause of Elvis, of course; 'nuf said!
Drop a C 'cause the Catholics aren't invited.
And drop the Y 'cause Camping's 89, and wants all Young People off his lawn.
That leaves:
A R O L D C A P A O F
Rearrange those letters, and you get: A LOAD OF CRAP, which is precisely what this whole thing is!
ps. I know how to spell prophecy, but it served my purposes to misspell it, and under fundamentalist rules, it's always ok to do whatever serves your own purposes.
Monday, May 02, 2011
A Dose of Reality, A Pinch of Honesty
I do not believe in the death penalty. I am not troubled in the least by the splendid performance of our Navy Seals, or the decision by the Commander-in-Chief to send them into action, to excuse Osama bin Laden from the planet. I preach the Bible that says that God wants to save and not condemn. Bin Laden, directly responsible for the deaths of some 3,000 people in the 9/11 attacks and indirectly responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands via his provocation (arguable) for at least two wars, had to go. We are a nation of law that seeks justice. We had no intention of arresting bin Laden and experiencing another trial like that of Saddam Hussein. I believe that everyone deserves a second chance. I cried, applauded, cheered and sang along with those in Washington and New York last night when the President made the announcement of bin Laden's killing. We will not elect a President who cannot convincingly parrot the broad, general tenets of the Christian faith. That President will not be reelected (Jimmy Carter) if he (so far) cannot lay aside that faith in the snap of the fingers. The Vatican announced today that there should be no delight in the death of any person. Too bad they couldn't figure out over the last forever that there should be no delight in or protection for child molesters.
Life is not fair. It too often makes no sense. The rules can protect the incompetent, the criminal, the evil. And an awful lot of the time they do. But this time, things are different. The bastard is dead. I'm delighted.
Life is paradoxical. Faith is often inconvenient, and therefore set aside. I know of no one who is consistent in every instance. Walt Whitman said, "Do I contradict myself? Very well then, I contradict myself."
Such is life.
Life is not fair. It too often makes no sense. The rules can protect the incompetent, the criminal, the evil. And an awful lot of the time they do. But this time, things are different. The bastard is dead. I'm delighted.
Life is paradoxical. Faith is often inconvenient, and therefore set aside. I know of no one who is consistent in every instance. Walt Whitman said, "Do I contradict myself? Very well then, I contradict myself."
Such is life.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Bits and Pieces
Things I hadn't known until now:1. At least as of April 29, the Cardinals' signing of Lance Berkman looks brilliant. I thought he was washed up. He looked washed up last year with the MFYs. He looks like Lance Berkman-plus so far this year (.410, 8 hr, 22 rbi). One for the Cards' GM, whose name I cannot spell.
2. The Hawks are pretty good/the Magic stink. See any of that series? Surprised as I am? Or were we all just confused? One-man basketball teams don't tend to be very good, and the Magic look very much like a one-man team.
3. Preparing for retirement is fun. Almost every day, there is something that I realize I won't have to do in 52 days. Something that I don't like doing, and will be glad to be relieved of.
Things I suspected but wasn't sure of:
1. The Grizzlies are very, very good. I was fortunate enough to be in FedEx Forum for games three and four and am thrilled to see that, while the Spurs aren't the Spurs of five years ago, they are still the slapping, scratching, flopping, whining, cheap shot artists that they have been since the honorable David Robinson retired. And we're up 3-2. And that's after losing a game where the Griz were the better team for 47 minutes and 57.2 seconds. Prediction: the series ends tomorrow night, and it won't be close.
2. The NFL Draft, the "royal" wedding, all "reality" programming and TNA Wrestling are vital to occupy mouthbreathers everywhere.
3. Donald Trump's megalomania truly knows no bounds. Can't chase the birther crap any longer? Well let's just jump straight into the George Wallace campaign of 1968! How did that black fella get into a good school anyway? And how on earth did he write a book? Hey, Don, Lester Maddox, Bull Connor, James Earl Ray, Richard Russell, Strom Thurmond and Wallace are all smiling up at you today!
4. It truly is time to amend the Book of Discipline to require that every newly-elected bishop will be appointed to serve his or her home Annual Conference immediately upon election. That's the only way we'll ever stop this practice of the large Conferences passing on preachers they want to get rid of into the episcopacy. And brother, would that one change have benefitted our Annual Conference!
Things that Boneheads still won't acknowledge:
1. Have you seen the storms this week? Climate Change? Hello? They used to be 500 and 1,000 year floods, now they're just the worst since last week. And 300+ people killed in one round of tornadoes? Really? Mother Nature's back, and she's pissed off!
2. Government budgets are moral documents. Or immoral documents. And all our fine "family values" folk who suddenly got religion on deficits after spending the nation into bankruptcy on GWB's Wars of Proving My Manhood couldn't give a rat's ass less about all of those that Jay-sus described as "the least of these." And they prove it every time Speaker Boner opens his orange mouth.
Awesome things on the horizon:
1. The Levitt Shell's season-opening benefit is May 14. Jimbo Mathus' latest crew, Alvin Youngblood Hart and Todd Snider will perform on what promises to be an utterly fabulous Saturday night!
2. The Shell's Spring Series starts the week following. This is one of the best things about living in Memphis! Whatever kind of music moves you will be offered at some point during the run, and if there is no music that moves you, lie down and gather some dirt over you, as you're already dead!
3. It's only 51 days now!
2. The Hawks are pretty good/the Magic stink. See any of that series? Surprised as I am? Or were we all just confused? One-man basketball teams don't tend to be very good, and the Magic look very much like a one-man team.
3. Preparing for retirement is fun. Almost every day, there is something that I realize I won't have to do in 52 days. Something that I don't like doing, and will be glad to be relieved of.
Things I suspected but wasn't sure of:
1. The Grizzlies are very, very good. I was fortunate enough to be in FedEx Forum for games three and four and am thrilled to see that, while the Spurs aren't the Spurs of five years ago, they are still the slapping, scratching, flopping, whining, cheap shot artists that they have been since the honorable David Robinson retired. And we're up 3-2. And that's after losing a game where the Griz were the better team for 47 minutes and 57.2 seconds. Prediction: the series ends tomorrow night, and it won't be close.
2. The NFL Draft, the "royal" wedding, all "reality" programming and TNA Wrestling are vital to occupy mouthbreathers everywhere.
3. Donald Trump's megalomania truly knows no bounds. Can't chase the birther crap any longer? Well let's just jump straight into the George Wallace campaign of 1968! How did that black fella get into a good school anyway? And how on earth did he write a book? Hey, Don, Lester Maddox, Bull Connor, James Earl Ray, Richard Russell, Strom Thurmond and Wallace are all smiling up at you today!
4. It truly is time to amend the Book of Discipline to require that every newly-elected bishop will be appointed to serve his or her home Annual Conference immediately upon election. That's the only way we'll ever stop this practice of the large Conferences passing on preachers they want to get rid of into the episcopacy. And brother, would that one change have benefitted our Annual Conference!
Things that Boneheads still won't acknowledge:
1. Have you seen the storms this week? Climate Change? Hello? They used to be 500 and 1,000 year floods, now they're just the worst since last week. And 300+ people killed in one round of tornadoes? Really? Mother Nature's back, and she's pissed off!
2. Government budgets are moral documents. Or immoral documents. And all our fine "family values" folk who suddenly got religion on deficits after spending the nation into bankruptcy on GWB's Wars of Proving My Manhood couldn't give a rat's ass less about all of those that Jay-sus described as "the least of these." And they prove it every time Speaker Boner opens his orange mouth.
Awesome things on the horizon:
1. The Levitt Shell's season-opening benefit is May 14. Jimbo Mathus' latest crew, Alvin Youngblood Hart and Todd Snider will perform on what promises to be an utterly fabulous Saturday night!
2. The Shell's Spring Series starts the week following. This is one of the best things about living in Memphis! Whatever kind of music moves you will be offered at some point during the run, and if there is no music that moves you, lie down and gather some dirt over you, as you're already dead!
3. It's only 51 days now!
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Ellis Island
Ellis Island has always been, for me, one of the truly iconic American sites. I had wanted to see it myself for decades. Friday I had the opportunity, by the good and generous graces of my friend, Mike Gilliam. Most of us have seen the black and white pictures of ships, decks crowded with people coming from other places, faces full of hope and expectation as they sail past the idealism of the Statue of Liberty to the reality of Ellis Island. These are the people who chose to come, overwhelmingly from Europe, white, young and wanting something different than what they had known wherever home was. This path is the one of interest to me personally, because I am here and who I am due to people who followed this path. I honor and respect the journey, suffering and struggles of those who did not choose to come, those who came through the west coast, those who were not welcomed like the northern and western Europeans. But my family came from Ireland and Scotland, and if not through Ellis Island (we were here before the years Ellis was in operation), then similarly at some other point of arrival.
What was it like on those ships? What did it take to make the decision to leave home, or send the child or children away from home? Did they find community through shared dreams en route, or did they realize at times that they could be in competition for quota slots with their countrymen and women? What was America to them, that they would take the chance on a new life in another part of the world? As I sat in the room where they were taken for sorting and evaluation I couldn't help thinking about those questions. In its peak years, Ellis Island really did look like Francis Ford Coppola's recreation of it in The Godfather Part II, as he showed the young Vito Andolini arriving and being renamed Corleone by a tired, irritable clerk who mistook his hometown for his last name. Given the tens of millions of people who passed through Ellis Island in those years, it's a miracle any of the information was recorded properly.
There is a door at one end of the hall, with a stairway that is divided into three sections. If you were directed to the first section, you were approved and admitted into America. The second section meant that you were found to be ill, and were being taken into isolation for whatever time your malady required. If you were sent down the third part, you were being rejected and sent home to wherever you had come from. I can't imagine the joy of the first group, the terror of the second and the absolute heartbreak of the third.
There was, in many cases, a harshness to Ellis Island. Mistakes were made, from the names that were botched, to the policies that required pregnant women traveling alone to be rejected, lest their babies be born here as American citizens (sound familiar?), to laws that limited the influx of people into the country to the quota of the total population of this or that census that came from a given country. At times, as few as 150,000 were allowed in in a year's time. The immigration debate has been long and often even uglier than it is today. I walked alongside descendents of Chinese immigrants as I took in the exhibits at Ellis Island, including those that detailed the Chinese Exclusion Acts of the 19th Century. I wondered how they felt about the promise of America while reading those exhibits.
We have failed on many occasions and in multitudes of ways to live up to our documents and ideals. But Ellis Island bears witness to the importance of the idea of America to the whole world, and the desperate desire on the parts of people who came from anywhere and everywhere to be part of that idea, to possess it and live out its blessings.
It was a powerful experience that I was privileged to have on Friday, and it is one that I would encourage everyone to undertake at some point in their lives, as well.
What was it like on those ships? What did it take to make the decision to leave home, or send the child or children away from home? Did they find community through shared dreams en route, or did they realize at times that they could be in competition for quota slots with their countrymen and women? What was America to them, that they would take the chance on a new life in another part of the world? As I sat in the room where they were taken for sorting and evaluation I couldn't help thinking about those questions. In its peak years, Ellis Island really did look like Francis Ford Coppola's recreation of it in The Godfather Part II, as he showed the young Vito Andolini arriving and being renamed Corleone by a tired, irritable clerk who mistook his hometown for his last name. Given the tens of millions of people who passed through Ellis Island in those years, it's a miracle any of the information was recorded properly.
There is a door at one end of the hall, with a stairway that is divided into three sections. If you were directed to the first section, you were approved and admitted into America. The second section meant that you were found to be ill, and were being taken into isolation for whatever time your malady required. If you were sent down the third part, you were being rejected and sent home to wherever you had come from. I can't imagine the joy of the first group, the terror of the second and the absolute heartbreak of the third.
There was, in many cases, a harshness to Ellis Island. Mistakes were made, from the names that were botched, to the policies that required pregnant women traveling alone to be rejected, lest their babies be born here as American citizens (sound familiar?), to laws that limited the influx of people into the country to the quota of the total population of this or that census that came from a given country. At times, as few as 150,000 were allowed in in a year's time. The immigration debate has been long and often even uglier than it is today. I walked alongside descendents of Chinese immigrants as I took in the exhibits at Ellis Island, including those that detailed the Chinese Exclusion Acts of the 19th Century. I wondered how they felt about the promise of America while reading those exhibits.
We have failed on many occasions and in multitudes of ways to live up to our documents and ideals. But Ellis Island bears witness to the importance of the idea of America to the whole world, and the desperate desire on the parts of people who came from anywhere and everywhere to be part of that idea, to possess it and live out its blessings.
It was a powerful experience that I was privileged to have on Friday, and it is one that I would encourage everyone to undertake at some point in their lives, as well.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Barry Bonds, With a Side of Roger Clemens
Right off the bat, I will not refer to Barry Bonds by his common baseball title. Henry Aaron (not Hank Aaron, as The Hammer considers "Hank" a character he has to perform in public, but does not particularly like) was my first hero in sports, the man who carried the burden of approaching and then surpassing Babe Ruth on the Home Run list, and I will not now or ever describe any juicer as Mr. Aaron's better on baseball's greatest list. So...
The Giants' former slugger, Barry Bonds, is on trial in California due to steroids. Not because he used steroids. But because he lied about using them. He has repeatedly insisted, under various oaths and to multiple law enforcement officials in sworn statements, that he never "knowingly" used steroids. I did not use the popular "allegedly lied" because anyone who has seen pictures of Barry Bonds prior to, say, 1997, and after, say, 1998, knows that something happened. In his mid-30's Bonds' head went from being an orange to being a grapefruit. His shoulders went from those of a sprinter to those of an offensive tackle. His arms...well, you get the idea. His best single season home run total also went from 49 to 73. That's a lot. Many ballplayers saw a similar increase in those years.
Most of that many have owned up to what caused their improvement. A lot of them, granted, were outed by the Mitchell Report or the periodic spurts of names from the list of positive testers that set baseball's testing program into motion from 2002. But they've owned up to it. And not one of the people who has admitted what happened, either before Congress, the FBI, local police or other officials has ever been prosecuted for steroid use. Miguel Tejada pled guilty to perjury, with a full elocution of his usage, and had his sentence suspended. That, to my knowledge, leaves the prosecutions of Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds.
Again, neither of them is being prosecuted for using steroids. They are being prosecuted for lying about their use of steroids. It does not matter that Clemens and Bonds seemed to themselves to have been bigger than the game of baseball, no usage pun intended. It does not matter that both men seem to believe themselves bigger than Congress (in Clemens' case) or federal grand juries (in Bonds' case). And, yes, this combination of charges may indeed mean that Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens find their freedom in peril because they are stupid. Nonetheless, as Bruce Pearl can now also bear witness, when you are caught, own up to it. Otherwise, it will cost you, and cost you big.
And it is precisely the nature of that cost that is now at issue. Bonds and Clemens have already cost themselves election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. The Baseball Writers' Association of America, those who cast the ballots for the Hall, have already made themselves heard on steroid usage, and even whispered allegations of steroid usage. Look at Mark McGwire's vote totals, or Rafael Palmeiro's, or even Jeff Bagwell's this year. If you used, or are believed to have used, you aren't getting in, period. Bonds and Clemens don't have a prayer of being elected.
Any day now would be a good time for these two fellows to wake up, own up to their actions, beg the mercy of public opinion and the courts, and pray fervently that they get to live out their natural lives outside the bounds of a federal penitentiary.
Or, they can just keep going as they are, as arrogant and foolish as they have lived for pretty much their entire adult lives. And kiss their freedom goodbye for a few years, and what's left of their names goodbye forever.
The Giants' former slugger, Barry Bonds, is on trial in California due to steroids. Not because he used steroids. But because he lied about using them. He has repeatedly insisted, under various oaths and to multiple law enforcement officials in sworn statements, that he never "knowingly" used steroids. I did not use the popular "allegedly lied" because anyone who has seen pictures of Barry Bonds prior to, say, 1997, and after, say, 1998, knows that something happened. In his mid-30's Bonds' head went from being an orange to being a grapefruit. His shoulders went from those of a sprinter to those of an offensive tackle. His arms...well, you get the idea. His best single season home run total also went from 49 to 73. That's a lot. Many ballplayers saw a similar increase in those years.
Most of that many have owned up to what caused their improvement. A lot of them, granted, were outed by the Mitchell Report or the periodic spurts of names from the list of positive testers that set baseball's testing program into motion from 2002. But they've owned up to it. And not one of the people who has admitted what happened, either before Congress, the FBI, local police or other officials has ever been prosecuted for steroid use. Miguel Tejada pled guilty to perjury, with a full elocution of his usage, and had his sentence suspended. That, to my knowledge, leaves the prosecutions of Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds.
Again, neither of them is being prosecuted for using steroids. They are being prosecuted for lying about their use of steroids. It does not matter that Clemens and Bonds seemed to themselves to have been bigger than the game of baseball, no usage pun intended. It does not matter that both men seem to believe themselves bigger than Congress (in Clemens' case) or federal grand juries (in Bonds' case). And, yes, this combination of charges may indeed mean that Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens find their freedom in peril because they are stupid. Nonetheless, as Bruce Pearl can now also bear witness, when you are caught, own up to it. Otherwise, it will cost you, and cost you big.
And it is precisely the nature of that cost that is now at issue. Bonds and Clemens have already cost themselves election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. The Baseball Writers' Association of America, those who cast the ballots for the Hall, have already made themselves heard on steroid usage, and even whispered allegations of steroid usage. Look at Mark McGwire's vote totals, or Rafael Palmeiro's, or even Jeff Bagwell's this year. If you used, or are believed to have used, you aren't getting in, period. Bonds and Clemens don't have a prayer of being elected.
Any day now would be a good time for these two fellows to wake up, own up to their actions, beg the mercy of public opinion and the courts, and pray fervently that they get to live out their natural lives outside the bounds of a federal penitentiary.
Or, they can just keep going as they are, as arrogant and foolish as they have lived for pretty much their entire adult lives. And kiss their freedom goodbye for a few years, and what's left of their names goodbye forever.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Madagascar Live!
Dancing Baby's second foray into the theatre was Friday night at the opening performance of the utterly delightful stage version of Madagascar. The show basically follows the movie, with, of course, more music and silliness. These characters have been pretty significant for DB, as her first portable high chair's lion has always been Alex, and every zebra anywhere has always been Marty, and the species is, collectively, identified as Martys, at least in our house. And we usually ride Marty at the Wolfchase Mall Merry-Go-Round, too.
We had great, unobstructed seats in the Orpheum's balcony, which is vastly preferable for a petite two-year-old. Sitting in the only slightly inclined main floor's seating just doesn't get it, when taller people are all about. She fixed on the curtain immediately upon our arrival, and when the announcer declared that the Central Park Zoo would open in ten minutes, she started winding up. From curtain-up it was hysteria. She recognized the characters, made sure the requisite adults in tow did, too, and never looked away from the stage. For all 40 minutes of Act I. She danced and laughed and was just generally delighted with the whole thing. When Intermission arrived, she almost started to cry, wanting them to "Go Again!" After our best explanation, she took a bit of comfort, and waited for Act II, refusing to leave our seats for any reason whatsoever.
She clapped and cheered when the curtain went back up. And she started asking for "Moving Moving." If you've seen the credits of the movie, you understand. Her song came up at the end, and it was time to boogie. DB was begging, "Do it again!" before the show was even over. All the way out of the Orpheum and the two blocks to the car, she kept asking if we could "See it again?" If she hadn't been going to visit another grandparent for the weekend, we just might have done that.
It was a cute show, smart enough for us old people to be entertained. But the real show for me was watching my little bundle of curls transfixed for an hour and a half, transported into a world outside her everyday experience. No, it wasn't The Iceman Cometh, but DB is already learning the power and fun of the theatre, and if we can facilitate her enjoyment of it, we'll have done a good thing.
We had great, unobstructed seats in the Orpheum's balcony, which is vastly preferable for a petite two-year-old. Sitting in the only slightly inclined main floor's seating just doesn't get it, when taller people are all about. She fixed on the curtain immediately upon our arrival, and when the announcer declared that the Central Park Zoo would open in ten minutes, she started winding up. From curtain-up it was hysteria. She recognized the characters, made sure the requisite adults in tow did, too, and never looked away from the stage. For all 40 minutes of Act I. She danced and laughed and was just generally delighted with the whole thing. When Intermission arrived, she almost started to cry, wanting them to "Go Again!" After our best explanation, she took a bit of comfort, and waited for Act II, refusing to leave our seats for any reason whatsoever.
She clapped and cheered when the curtain went back up. And she started asking for "Moving Moving." If you've seen the credits of the movie, you understand. Her song came up at the end, and it was time to boogie. DB was begging, "Do it again!" before the show was even over. All the way out of the Orpheum and the two blocks to the car, she kept asking if we could "See it again?" If she hadn't been going to visit another grandparent for the weekend, we just might have done that.
It was a cute show, smart enough for us old people to be entertained. But the real show for me was watching my little bundle of curls transfixed for an hour and a half, transported into a world outside her everyday experience. No, it wasn't The Iceman Cometh, but DB is already learning the power and fun of the theatre, and if we can facilitate her enjoyment of it, we'll have done a good thing.
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