After 4 months with the air conditioning on, being able to turn it off, open the windows, and let the cool breeze waft into the room where I’m working.
I had no idea a cool breeze even existed any more.
Month: September 2011
Christians Disrespect Soldiers’ Funerals
The worst thing that ever happened to Christianity are the actual Christians.
A battle is currently going on where people who claim to be Christians try to force Christian prayers on the bereaved families of soldiers. These pseudo-Christians believe they have the right to do so even in those cases where the deceased in question were not Christian and their families expressed no desire for being bugged by Christians during the funeral of their loved one:
In Texas, three Christian military organizations — Veterans of Foreign Wars District 4, the American Legion Post 586, and the National Memorial Ladies — have filed suit against the VA because the Veterans’ Administration doesn’t include Christian prayers in vets’ funerals unless the deceased and/or the family request it. They are claiming that Christianity and Christians are being discriminated against when Christianity isn’t inserted into every funeral, whether the family wants it or not.
For some unfathomable reason, these folks identify as Christians even though it is crystal clear they have never even been in the vicinity of the Bible. As we all know, Jesus was opposed to public prayer and ridiculed those who believed that repeating a prayer ad nauseam would have some beneficial effect. As for forcing others into being exposed to your praying against their will – poor Jesus would have had a heart attack if anybody suggested that his ideas could be used to perpetrate this kind of atrocity upon people in pain.
These so-called religious folks don’t give a rat’s little tushie for religion or for the fallen soldiers as you can see from the comments made by one of these quasi-Christians:
[Nobleton] Jones said he has presented shell casings from the gun salute to veterans’ grieving family members at funerals in Houston National Cemetery for the past three years.
But after a burial ceremony May 16, Jones said a government official told him he could no longer recite the words he always says when he hands over the shells: “We ask that God grant you and your family grace, mercy and peace.”
The 66-year-old Houstonian said he felt belittled. “That makes me feel smaller, even after I spent my time in the military, fighting so that people should be able to say that,” he said.
This guy comes to a burial where family members of a dead person are saying good bye to somebody they love. And all he can think of is his freaky self-esteem issues? Who cares whether you feel smaller or bigger or fatter or thinner or hairier or balder at somebody’s funeral? Funerals do not take place so that some Stewart Little gets a chance to engage in self-aggrandizement. They exist so that families and friends can mourn their loss in peace. Without some creepazoid self-righteously sticking their unwanted religious beliefs under their noses.
Of all the people to exploit ideologically, people at a funeral seem like a really bad target. What next, walking around the mourners and sticking your business card under their noses? Seriously, how low can people sink?
On Questions from the Political Compass
Of course, as many people pointed out, the Political Compass test is more serious than the political quiz I posted yesterday. Still, look at the statements from the first set:
I’d always support my country, whether it was right or wrong.
No one chooses his or her country of birth, so it’s foolish to be proud of it.
Our race has many superior qualities, compared with other races.
These questions are very outdated, in my view. Wouldn’t everybody answer them pretty much the same nowadays? At least, among people who are literate enough to want to take the political compass test?
There is, however, a statement there that I didn’t even understand. It’s this one:
There is now a worrying fusion of information and entertainment.
What is this supposed to mean? What are the responses to this supposed to be indicative of? Has anybody figured it out?
Dear Student!
If the only questions you ask during the first day of class are “What is the attendance policy?” and “Will we be penalized if we have many absences?”, then it’s kind of difficult not to laugh when you send me emails as to the horrible, totally unexpected chain of events that is preventing you from coming to class for the third week in a row.
Labor Day Quiz
Have a great Labor Day, everybody! To celebrate this important day, I created a little quiz to test our knowledge of important statements from famous people. Of course, anybody can easily find answers through a search engine, but what would be the fun of that? I will add the answers as people supply them.
Who said the following?
1. “Government is instituted for the common good; for the protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness of the people; and not for profit, honor, or private interest of any one man, family, or class of men.” John Adams.
2. “Labor is prior to and independent of capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.” Abraham Lincoln.
3. “The welfare of each of us is dependent fundamentally upon the welfare of all of us.” Teddy Roosevelt.
4. “Recession is when a neighbor loses his job. Depression is when you lose yours.” Harry S. Truman.
5. “All the property that is necessary to a Man, for the conservation of the individual and the propagation of the species, is his natural right, which none can justly deprive him of: but all property superfluous to such purposes is the property of the public, who, by their laws, have created it, and who may therefore by other laws dispose of it, whenever the welfare of the public shall demand such disposition.” My sentimental favorite Benjamin Franklin.
6. “Democracy is the road to socialism.” Karl Marx.
7. “Civilization is the progress toward a society of privacy. The savage’s whole existence is public, ruled by the laws of his tribe. Civilization is the process of setting man free from men.” Ayn Rand.
Can you guess which of these quotes is my favorite one?
What’s your favorite month? Why?
WordPress offered me a prompt for this blogging topic. When I started thinking about the answer, I realized that there are reasons to like all the months in the year.
January – is the month when I’m getting used to all my great New Year’s gifts.
February – usually brings snow even in this snow-deprived area. And whenever there is snow, I’m happy by default.
March – with any luck, it’ still pretty cold, which is good. Spring break is in March and I always get to travel. Next March, I will probably even get as far as Europe.
April – the month when I have my birthday.
May – the academic year ends and 4-month-long spring holidays begin.
June – a month of summer freedom from all obligations except those I impose on myself.
July – another month of summer freedom.
August – a new academic year begins, which is always a very happy time.
September – we finally start getting cooler nights and, if we are very lucky, even the first yellow leaves might start appearing.
October – the real Fall comes by and I can wear my favorite clothes ever because all the best clothes are of the autumn kind.
November – there is a lot of rain, and what can be better than rain?
December – snow is even better than rain! Besides, this is the month when I scour the world for the best New Year’s gifts and recipes.
What’s your favorite month?
How to Make Your Blog Instantly Popular
I stumbled upon a great recipe for blog promotion that attracts a regular stream of readers to a blog.
It’s actually very easy. Just publish a post titled “Ron Paul Is Not a Libertarian” and observe people arrive at your blog through a Google search that is identical to this post’s title.
In general, just mentioning Ron Paul’s name helps the stats in ways that mentioning, say, Rick Perry doesn’t. I have no idea why that is but Ron Paul brings readers to a blog like no other candidate. Palin used to be a great hit magnet but those times are long gone.
Blogging is always so full of surprises.
Creeped Out
You know how you encounter something online by pure chance and then think, “God, please make it so that I never have to cross paths with this person. Or anybody like this person. And if I have to avoid leaving my house to achieve that, just tell me and that’s what I’ll gladly do”?
Here is an excerpt from a statement that made me feel this way today:
We have a dog, he’s 3, we adopted him from the shelter at 3 months old. He is a german shepard mix. . . not sure what though. . . My question is, would he fair better seeing me birth? Would he understand what is going on? And appreciate the new baby more, by being there for it?. . .
So what do you think? Do you think our dog would bond better with DD by being around, seeing me progress, and seeing the baby in the first hours after?
I just find this very disturbing.
Where Do You Stand Politically?
April at ethecofem linked to this fun quiz that determines your political stance. The questions are worded in a way that is often quite weird, but if you manage to get past that, the quiz is fun. You can find it here. (Access the quiz by pressing on the second line from the top).
And here is my diagnosis, in case people are wondering:
You want government out of people’s personal lives, but you appear to desire some continued government control over people’s economic activities. There is no political party that represents your views. The Green Party does run many candidates with similar views, but the overall Green Party platform is much more socialistic than you are. You would need a mix of Democratic, Green, and Libertarian politicians in office to get the balance of freedom and social justice you desire. The ratio between these depends on how high up your dot is on the chart.
Approximately 12% of the takers of this quiz scored in this area, 18% for all liberals outside the centrist circle.
I can’t say I’m surprised by any of this, so it means the quiz must be working at least somewhat.
Enjoy and don’t forget to share your results!
Why Women Work?
All of the whining about how the economy was so amazing in some undefined past always relies on profound sexism.
Look at the following fragment from a table that condemns the present and praises the past:
Starting from the late seventies, more women joined the workforce. According to the Marxist economist who posted this sexist table, this is some sort of a huge disaster for our society. This table informs us that women started working in greater numbers “to sustain household spending.” Men, as we all know, work because they want to achieve professional realization, become successful, enjoy themselves, and have a life outside of the kitchen. Women, however, are expected to be happy mopping the floor and cleaning the toilet. Only a huge societal disaster can force those poor creatures out of the domestic bliss and into the cold, harsh reality of having a life of their own.
Notice also how the table refers to “women with children.” Have you ever seen any table like this mention “men with children” as a separate category? Does the fact that a woman have a child make her some kind of a social cripple who can only have a career out of dire necessity? Why aren’t we all equally horrified that many “men with children” work? How is the fact that a woman with a 17-year-old son has a job more remarkable than a man with a 17-year-old daughter having a job?
This is what it always comes to whenever you talk to any of the doom-and-gloom pseudo-progressives. The main reason they hate today’s state of affairs is that they aren’t as likely to find themselves a housewife who’ll be happy to clean after them and shut up.
Seriously, if you want to discuss the economy and not be ridiculed, try not to bemoan the fact of women’s liberation too loudly. It’s only a problem in the economic sense because you can’t buy woman as easily as you could in the 50ies. For women themselves, having a greater access to the workplace is the best thing that could have happened to us.
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