Someone over at USA Today communities wasted no time in researching American Idol hit, General Larry Platt, after he performed his infectious Pants on the Ground at the close of Wednesday’s show. You can read the article at USA Today. In case you missed it, here is the 62 year old Platt singing and break dancing to his own composition: And here’s the Larry Platt Facebook Fan Page. 789 fans in less than 12 hours.
Dear Pat Robertson, SHUT YOUR FREAKING MOUTH!!
Along with the devastating news of the earthquake in Haiti today, comes the devastating news that 700 Club founder, Pat Robertson, has opened his mouth. In a time that tens of thousands are already known to be missing or dead, a number which potentially might reach 100,000 or more, Drudge reports fears in France everyone inside the U. N. headquarters is dead, Compassion International cannot get in contact with its Haitian office, Robertson, speaking on his CBN network today explored the possibility that the earthquake was another in a long line of curses on Haiti (and Haitians, one would presume) as a result of a pact made with the devil way back on August 14, 1791. The legend is that Haitian leaders offered to serve Satan in return for overthrowing the French and gaining their freedom. Thanks to Robertson, we now know that the devil said, “OK, it’s a deal.” Apparently, Robertson not only speaks for God, but, now, for Satan, too. (The veracity of the claim is by demolished in a single article by Dr. Jean R. Gelin. Unfortunately, this is not the first time that Robertson has presumed to explain disasters either man-made (9/11) or natural (Hurricane Katrina) or made other-dare I say-idiotic statements about world affairs. When disagreeing with the U. S. Department of State in 2003: Maybe we need a very small nuke thrown off on Foggy Bottom to shake things up. Regarding Hugo Chavez in August 2005: You know, I don’t know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we’re trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it. It’s a whole lot cheaper than starting a war. And I don’t think any oil shipments will stop. But this man is a terrific danger and the United … This is in our sphere of influence, so we can’t let this happen. We have the Monroe Doctrine, we have other doctrines that we have announced. And without question, this is a dangerous enemy to our south, controlling a huge pool of oil, that could hurt us very badly. We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability. We don’t need another $200 billion war to get rid of one, you know, strong-arm dictator. It’s a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with. To the citizens of Dover, PA, 2005, after replacing a school board that refused to allow Intelligent Design to be taught in schools: I’d like to say to the good citizens of Dover: if there is a disaster in your area, don’t turn to God, you just rejected Him from your city. And don’t wonder why He hasn’t helped you when problems begin, if they begin. I’m not saying they will, but if they do, just remember, you just voted God out of your city. And if that’s the case, don’t ask for His help because he might not be there. Suggests that a stroke suffered by then-Prime Minister of Israel, Arial Sharon, was due to “dividing the land”: I would say woe unto any prime minister of Israel who takes a similar course to appease the EU [European Union], the United Nations, or United States of America…Sharon [is] personally a very likeable person, [but] God has enmity against those who, quote, ‘divide my land.’ And in January 2007, part of his annual new year spate of prophecies, predicted a terrorist attack on the US causing death and destruction equivalent to that of a nuclear war, though stopped short of saying it would be a nuclear attack. Whew; good to know that. It matters little since neither one happened in 2007…2008…2009… Now, I realize that we live in the United States and the first amendment is still in full vigor, hence the writing of this very column. I also realize that Christians, more often not, believe in the urgency of protecting their own since others rarely do. For the last decade, Robertson has mostly been ignored with hopes, so far unfulfilled, that he would fade into the sunset. Or fall off the set. But, really, enough is absolutely enough. I don’t know whether Pat Robertson has dementia (or has had it for 20 years); frankly, I feel a little guilty for insulting people with dementia with the very supposition. This believer is willing to go on record saying that Robertson does not speak for me and he does not speak for God and it’s about time that high profile religious leaders openly distance themselves from Robertson lest they continue to be tainted by his silly pronouncements. I have no question that Robertson is sincere and sincerely believes that he is speaking for God. I also have no question that he does not. Whether he ever has done so is simply not within my ability to say, but as to whether he does now it is clear that he does not. Instead of trying to keep viewers by giving his particular spin on whatever he thinks God to be doing and why, perhaps he’d best keep in mind the prophet’s warning, “Woe to those who say, ‘Thus says the Lord,’ when the Lord has not spoken” while God’s people would do well to hear the admonition given in Jeremiah 23:21 centuries ago, “I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.”
‘Game Change,’ excerpts Part 2
Part 2 of excerpts from Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime.
‘Game Change,’ excerpts Part 1
The controversy stirring new book Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime by John Heilemann (New York magazine) and Mark Halperin (Time magazine) has been all the political news rage since last week.
Does Georgia have a state house, a frat house or a whore house?
If you are a resident of the state of Georgia and you have not had the opportunity to read the article, “Coziness between lobbyists and lawmakers a longstanding practice,” I would strongly encourage you to read it today. Writers Alan Judd and Nancy Badertscher chronicle the out of control relationship that some state representatives and senators have with lobbyists in the state: If members of the Georgia General Assembly get hungry, a lobbyist will feed them. If they are thirsty, a lobbyist will buy drinks. If they’re bored, a lobbyist will score tickets to a concert, a football game, or maybe a NASCAR race. And if they need a friend — or a friend with benefits — a lobbyist might take care of that, too. The Georgia legislature is all about “sex, lies and lobbyists,” according to Secretary of State and gubernatorial candidate, Karen Handel. State representative Alisha Morgan (D-Austell) told the AJC that adultery is “accepted behavior” at the capital, saying: “It’s just common knowledge. It is hypocrisy when you talk about family values when this is what you’re doing in your own lives to your families.” Yes, Ms. Morgan, it is hypocrisy. The article notes unsubstantiated stories about lobbyists who supposedly bore children out of wedlock with legislators, about sex in Capitol offices, even about lobbyists who slept with multiple lawmakers as their bills advanced through the Legislature. Frankly, it’s getting difficult to tell whether more whores are sent to the capitol via lobbying groups or via ballot boxes. Judd and Badertscher write: Lawmakers concerned about the coziness between their colleagues and lobbyists have tried to impose restrictions in past years: in 2005 and even a year ago, when Rep. Wendell Willard (R-Sandy Springs) introduced a bill limiting gifts to $100. The bill was ‘dead on arrival,’ Willard said recently, blocked by House leaders. ‘They didn’t want anything that applied stronger ethics rules to them.’ With the recent and ongoing hoolah surrounding Harry Reid’s “negro dialect” remarks, Republicans at the national level are claiming moral high ground (or at least even treatment) in demanding Reid step down. It’s worth noting, however, that the current mess in Georgia comes as Republicans have been the majority for several years. It seems the moral high ground is getting lower all the time. If you haven’t yet subscribed to email alerts for each post, you can do so at the top of the left column. Thanks!
Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, dives in the poop–mouth first
Wheeling, dealing and usually good for a bad quote Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, already trailing in the polls in his own Nevada re-election campaign, may have reached out through a screw hole to hammer the nails into his own political coffin. Quoted in the new book Game Change, to be released Monday, January 11, Reid said, during the 2008 presidential campaign, that Obama had a good chance of being elected because he is “light skinned” and did not speak with a “Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.” Reid may expect to be called the Democrats Trent Lott or the second coming of Robert Byrd before this is all over. Republicans are already calling for Reid to step down. The Senator offered an apology to President Obama who responded with a statement: I accepted Harry’s apology without question because I’ve known him for years, I’ve seen the passionate leadership he’s shown on issues of social justice, and I know what’s in his heart. As far as I am concerned, the book is closed. Perhaps that book. Game Change appears to be a book that will remain open for a while. It follows the campaigns of Obama, Clinton, McCain and Palin. Bill Clinton is a major character while poor Joe Biden did not even make the book’s cover. You can pre-order Game Change through the link below. You pay the same as you would directly through Amazon and I get a referral fee. I will be publishing quotes from the book and opinion beginning Wednesday afternoon.
Malaysian government disallows use of ‘Allah’ by Christians
The court and government of Malaysia are at odds over the use of the word “Allah” by non-Muslims, specifically the Roman Catholic Church. Four churches have been attacked with varying degrees of success and numerous automobiles bearing Christian symbols have been vandalized. The government had recently banned the Roman Catholic newsletter, The Herald, from using referring to God as Allah, but that ruling was overturned by the country’s high court. The government appealed which has led to a temporary suspension. Muslims in Malaysia argue that the “Allah” is exclusive to Islam, and its use by Christians would confuse Muslims. But Catholic church officials say that for Christian indigenous tribes in the eastern part of Malaysia, who are the primary readers of the Herald’s Malay-language edition, “Allah” is the only word they have known for God for decades. A fire attack on the Metro Tabernacle Church damaged an office on the first floor. Separate attacks on the Assumption church and the Life Chapel caused minor damage, according to officials.
‘I, Sniper,’ book review
The latest in an ongoing series by Pulitzer Prize winning film critic and author, Stephen Hunter, sees the return of former Gunnery Sergeant sniper, Bob Lee Swagger, and, following a very slow effort in Night of Thunder, a return to form in the series for Hunter. I started reading Hunter after seeing Shooter, the film adaptation of his first Bob Lee Swagger novel, Point of Impact. While the movie took liberties with the time frame of the story (Swagger is an recent war vet in the movie, but a Vietnam vet in the books), I was drawn in to the series of books by Hunter’s prose and depth of the characters he was willing to build into the stories. In novel form, Swagger is a cranky, private, Arkansan who is regularly drawn into situations requiring him to rely on his superior knowledge of firearms and hunting. And that would be the sniper style hunting of humans, not bluejays, squirrels or warthogs. Point of Impact follows the story of his being framed for the attempted assassination of the President of the United States, his subsequent escape and tracking down of the ones who framed him. The climactic courtroom scene is excellent and worth reading the entire book. The second Swagger novel, Black Light, is told in two phases: the narrative of the death of Bob Lee’s father, Medal of Honor winner Earl Swagger, is the first while Bob Lee’s investigation into that death years later forms the second. The book is well done and, despite 10,000 swear words (or so it seemed), captures a crass, rural side of 1950’s America, with all it’s poverty, violence and racial animus. Black Light was followed by Time to Hunt, which is one of the best novels I have ever read. This final volume of the initial Swagger trilogy ties together loose ends from characters mentioned in the first two books, most centrally, Swagger’s friend and spotter in Vietnam, Donnie Fenn, KIA by a Russian sniper the day before he was supposed to leave the country. Swagger himself was almost killed, receiving a steel hip for his trouble. While I’ve been reading novels since before I can remember, the 90 or so pages in Time to Hunt that describe Bob Lee Swagger’s Navy Cross winning actions at An Loc is as good a piece of American writing as has come off the presses in the last 20 years. The 47th Samurai follows Bob to Japan to avenge the death of a friend, who’s own father was killed by Earl Swagger in his Medal of Honor winning action at Iwo Jima. This book seemed more to assuage Hunter’s interest in Japanese culture than a probable story for Swagger. Though enjoyable it was a slight step down from the first three. If I had happened on Night of Thunder first, I likely would not have read any of the others. It is more than 100 pages shorter than most of the other entries in the series, therefore missing much of the backgrounds and prose that made the previous efforts so enjoyable. Hunter admits in the afterward that he conceived the idea after going to a NASCAR race. It shows. There is very little interesting info about racing, driver Mark Martin is misidentified as “Mike” Martin, and every redneck, snake-handling, inbred, Appalachian, “Baptist” stereotype is in play with the criminal family who stand at the center of the story. I cannot imagine but that Hunter would like a mulligan on that volume. Which brings us to I, Sniper where we find Swagger asked by his longtime FBI friend, Nick Memphis, (first introduced in Point of Impact), to give insight into the assassinations of four former 1960’s radicals, each of which was felled by a long range rifle shot. Another former Marine sniper, Carl Hitchcock, has been isolated by the FBI as the highest person of interest and, when a “shrine” of sorts is found in his North Carolina home, the investigation leads to a cheap hotel room where Hitchcock is found dead in a closet, apparently by his own hand. (Carl Hitchcock’s Vietnam history as the sniper with the most kills is a recurring item in the Swagger novels and is based on real life sniper, Carlos Hathcock.) Not being satisfied with the cumbersome, time consuming methodologies of law enforcement, Swagger goes rogue, another theme of the books, to run his own investigation which ultimately leads him to the Montana ranch of one T. T. Constable (a toilet paper thin veiled caricature of Ted Turner), whose ex-wife, Joan Flanders (an even more thinly veiled caricature of Jane Fonda), where he again hunts men who believes themselves to be hunting the now 68-year-old Swagger. The writing, story depth and total length make it more like the books in the initial trilogy. Like all the Swagger novels there are lengthy, detailed descriptions of guns, cartridges, holsters, equipment, long distance shot evaluation and shooting. Likewise, there are gory, explicit descriptions of what happens when a bullet traveling at 2,600 fps hits a head, heart or torso. If you like thrillers or firearms and can swim through some of the language and descriptions of the more sordid elements of society, you might enjoy these novels. If you don’t like reading about people dying violent deaths, you might want to move on to Karen Kingsbury. You can purchase I, Sniper, The 47th Samurai, and Time to Hunt through the links below. You pay the same low Amazon.com price and I get a referral fee. Thanks!
‘Reason, Faith and Revolution,’ book review
Sub-titled, “Reflections on the God Debate,” British literary critic Terry Eagleton’s latest work takes on the likes of Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens (the latter two he derisively and often combines into a single being, “Ditchkins”) for the lack of integrity in some criticisms of religion that are part and parcel of the New Atheism movement. At the same time, he takes on much of the vacuous nonsense which, at this moment in time, calls itself Christianity, especially in the West. Eagleton has been called “Britain’s greatest living literary critic” and, if this book be any indication, it is with good reason he is called thus. The book is based on a Yale lecture series from April 2008. It reads easily through almost all parts, though, on the whole, it is not a walk through the shallows. Eagleton, a Marxist (avowed, loud and proud), takes on the New Atheists, Christianity, capitalism and politics through the volume’s four chapters. Eagleton writes in an engaging style with characteristically British wit. Of Dawkins he writes, There is thus a curious connection between the doctrine of creation out of nothing and the professional life of Richard Dawkins. Without God, Dawkins would be out of a job. It is particularly churlish of him to call the existence of his employer into question. And of Daniel C. Dennett, author of Breaking the Spell, He thinks [Christianity] is kind of a bogus theory or pseudo-explanation of the world. In this sense, he is rather like someone who thinks that a novel is a botched piece of sociology, and who therefore can’t see the point of it all. Neither does he allow Christopher Hitchens to wriggle off the hook: Hitchens is also unable to see much point in the scriptural injunction to conceal from your left hand what your right hand is doing, which is of course a warning against trumpeting your good deeds to the world. Since a vein of consistent self-vaunting runs through the writings of the later Hitchens, the particular blind spot is scarcely surprising. Neither he nor Dawkins is afflicted with an excess of modesty. While Eagleton can hardly be accused of holding a traditional view of the Bible (he does not believe in the deity of Christ and his view of God is most probably deistic), he has a strong enough grasp on the New Testament to call into question the oft spiritual wrongheadedness of the church in the West. Consider: For Christian teaching, God’s love and forgiveness are ruthlessly unforgiving powers which break violently into our protective, self-rationalizing little sphere, smashing our sentimental illusions and turning our world brutally upside down. In Jesus, the law is revealed to be the law of love and mercy, and God not some Blakean Nobodaddy but a helpless, vulnerable animal. It is the flayed and bloody scapegoat of Calvary that is now the true signifier of the Law. Which is to say that those who are faithful to God’s law of justice and compassion will be done away with by the state. If you don’t love, you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you. Regarding religious fundamentalists: The fundamentalist is like the kind of neurotic who can’t trust that he is loved, but in infantile spirit demands some irrefragable proof of the fact. He is not really a believer at all. Fundamentalists are faithless. They are, in fact, the mirror image of skeptics. Or, how about this: All theology is liberation theology. You’d best think before you react on that last one. Eagleton questions whether Christians even realize what it is that Jesus taught, thus what they are supposed to believe. Thus: What is at stake here is not a prudently reformist project of pouring new wine into old bottles, but an avant-gardist epiphany of the absolutely new–of a regime so revolutionary as to surpass all image and utterance, a reign of justice and fellowship which for the Gospel writers is even now striking into this bankrupt, depasse, washed-up world. No middle ground is permitted here: the choice between justice and the powers of this world is stark and absolute, a matter of fundamental conflict and antithesis. What is at issue is a slashing sword, not peace, consensus, and negotiation. Jesus does not seem to be any sort of liberal, which is no doubt one grudge Ditchkins holds against him. He would not make a good committee man. Neither would he go down well on Wall Street, just as he did not go down well among the money changers of the Jerusalem temple. Eagleton’s book is a worthwhile read even you do not waltz through it like a Grisham or Patterson thriller. It is worth the effort. It will stretch your vocabulary, your thinking and pat acceptance of some things you’ve uncritically accepted. It’ll also, to borrow a scriptural allusion, demonstrate how the New Atheist’s attempt to dethrone God has been weighed in the balance and found wanting.