Book of Daniel

Posted on December 28, 2005 by Paul — 1 Comment ↓

Specializing as far as I can in minimal activity, I was pleased to see that the American Family Association is lobbying to have the Jesus-hating*, Homo-loving** TV series “The Book of Daniel” cancelled before it has even aired. Why was I pleased? Because they had a link to a pro forma email that I could modify, as follows:

The original

Dear Chairman Wright:

I am disappointed that NBC has decided to air “The Book of Daniel.” I know that AFA will keep us posted on which companies desire to underwrite this program.

We are told in Hebrews that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Obviously you don’t believe that. It would be beneficial to all if NBC showed a little more respect for Christians who believe the Bible.

I ask you to inform all NBC affiliates, in writing, (according to your testimony before a Congressional hearing last year) they are not required to air this program if they choose not to.

The modified version

Dear Chairman Wright:

I am delighted that NBC has decided to air “The Book of Daniel.” I know that AFA will keep me posted on which companies desire to underwrite this program, so that I can be sure to make use of their services.

We are told in Hebrews that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Obviously you don’t believe that you have to do whatever a particular reading of the Bible requires, and for that you are to be commended. It would be beneficial to all if NBC continued to show such respect for the intelligence of their audience, not least their mastery of the opposable thumb that lets us all decide what programs we wish to view.

I ask you to inform all NBC affiliates, in writing, (according to your testimony before a Congressional hearing last year) that they would be foolish not to air this program unless they think the AFA should dictate programming.

Notes:
*Allegedly
**Allegedly, and not something I’d see as a bad thing anyway, except for the ugly phrasing

Small World

Posted on December 21, 2005 by Paul — 2 Comments ↓

The Christian Science Monitor has a story about new approaches to dealing with homelessness. A worthy read in its own right, but I wanted to highlight an unintended moment of humor. The story is written by Amanda Paulson, using Paul Paulos as its first human interest, a guy named Paul as it’s last character, and is based on work done in St Paul. And now commented on by me.

Bip, Bip, Bip, Bip…

Posted on December 15, 2005 by Paul

I haven’t posted for a while, as you may have noticed. I thought I’d put in a short uber-post about all the things I normally post about, just to let you know I do still care. Starting with…

Politics – Actually I don’t still care, at least not right now. Republicans are dishonest liars and traitors, Democrats can’t seem to decide on anything, and when they do they’re witless chumps, and whatever party politicians are from their main focus seems to be getting re-elected for as long as they need to build their post-service earning potential. Big insight, huh?

Rowing – It’s a bit nippy out, in case you hadn’t noticed, so no rowing except for the indoor sort. I’m gradually picking up the pace in the basement, but still have a long way to go to get close to my personal bests. On the upside I’m now the Vice-President of the Minneapolis Rowing Club and also the temporary webmaster, but it’s a design I inherited so no complaining). which means I’ve now done pretty much everything there (coach, captain, techie, builder, board member, officer) except row well. And on a related note, I stopped cycling for the year on the day the first snowflake hit.

Family – I won’t bore you, except to say that they’re great and I’ve decided I’m definitely going to keep them.

Faith – Still definitely falls in the “-less” category. I’ve been learning a lot about Christianity recently, principally evangelical forms. I was going to say that I remain unconvinced, but I’m a loooong way from being even unconvinced. It’s interesting stuff though, and really shows what you can do with some judiciously applied logic plus an omnipotent being.

Tech – Love my iMac, love my Shuffle, love my Minolta. Happy the man who has toys to fill his time. It has really highlighted to me that these three items, along with the Mazda MX5 (Miata) we had in the UK, are the physical items I have treasured most, and all are focused on getting the experience right first, then on hitting a price point. There was an ad for Cockburn’s sherry in the UK some years ago with the tagline “One instinctively knows when something is right”, which sums up that issue. Oh, and Web 2.0, cus everyone has to mention it once this year, right?

Rambling over, normal service will resume as soon as the ire patches I’m using kick in.

Odd

Posted on December 10, 2005 by Paul

Much of politics involves subtleties that I don’t always get at first, and I can only think that the issue of rendition is one of them, because I don’t get this:

Mr Bellinger said that the US did practice rendition, by which some terror suspects were sent to a third country to be questioned.

But he added that even transferring a prisoner to a country which had been criticised over its human rights record was not a violation of international law.

Perhaps not, but it does seem to be a violation of common sense. These people are suspected terrorists, presumed to have information critical to the safety of the nation. And yet we put their questioning in the hands of close allies such as Syria?

Language

Posted on November 29, 2005 by Paul — 2 Comments ↓

As part of an article on the traitor Randy Cunningham I noted the following choice of words:

No fewer than seven lawmakers, including a Democrat, have been indicted, have pleaded guilty or are under investigation for improper conduct

What’s interesting is that the writer is trying to make the point that, whoever happens to be guilty, this kind of thing turns voters off all politicians. Fair enough, but I think this version would be much more accurate:

No fewer than seven lawmakers, six of them Republicans, have been indicted, have pleaded guilty or are under investigation for improper conduct

Still, what can you expect from the Left Wing Media (TM)?