Humility

Recently in an email discussion, my friend Chris brought up an excellent point about religion and faith. He stated that in order to have true faith, one must also have the humility to know, or at least accept, that one could be wrong. This is something that I couldn’t agree with more. Without the ability to intellectually accept that ones faith could be wrong, one is operating on blind faith, something that I think is very, very dangerous.

Blind faith in anything, be it a religion, a political party or philosophy, or even an individual is something that afflicts too many out there. Following anything or anyone blindly is a giving up of ones individuality and free will. Nothing in this world deserves blind faith, because nothing in this world is perfect. That doesn’t mean that you cannot unconditionally love someone, because there is a world of difference between unconditional love and blind faith.

People need to be able to separate their faith and devotion from their intellect and common sense. Sometimes they are compatible, but often they are not and people need to be able to see the difference.

Destruction of civil liberties

Sometimes the erosion of civil liberties comes from neoconservative totalitarians and sometimes it comes from mindlessly politely correct lib-labs.

In November, Keith John Sampson was found guilty of “racial harassment” for reading an anti-KKK book.

Money Quote –

“If they can stop me from reading one book, then they can stop any American from reading any book.”

The erosion of our civil liberties in any form is something that must be stopped.

Currently Listening

Here's today's mp3 shuffle.

1. “Attention Anyone” by Down By Law (from All Scratched Up)
2. “Pass You By” by The Ducky Boys (from Three Chords and the Truth)
3. “Eat Your Dog” by Bad Religion (from How Could Hell Be Any Worse?)
4. “No Such Thing” by Agent Orange (from Living In Darkness)
5. “Flowers of Guatemala” by R.E.M. (from Life’s Rich Pageant)
6. “Dawn’s Lament” by Michelle Trachtenberg (from Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Once More with Feeling)
7. “Rough Trade” by Stiff Little Fingers (from Inflammable Materials)
8. “We Hate When We’re We Respected” by Teenage Frames (from More Songs, Less Music)
9. “Light Years” by Pearl Jam (from Rearviewmirror: Greatest Hits 1991 – 2003 Disc 2
10. “Mountains of Your Head” by Buffalo Tom (from Let Me Come Over)
11. “I Can Hear the Bells” by Nikki Blonsky (from Hairspray)
12. “You Won’t Live To See Tomorrow” by The Staggers (from The Sights, The Sounds, The Fear, and The Pain)
13. “Bottled Violence” by Minor Threat (from Complete Discography)
14. “Metal Baby” by Teenage Fanclub (from Bandwagonesque)
15. “Sincerely” by Dramarama (from The Best of Dramarama: 18 Big Ones)
16. “Less Than Useful” by Ned’s Atomic Dustbin (from God Fodder)
17. “World Class Fad” by Paul Westerberg
18. “The Trees” by The Pavers (from Local 1500)
19. “Back to Back” by The Replacements (from Don’t Tell a Soul)
20. “Wind Me Up” by The Epoxies (from Stop the Future)
21. “The Struggle” by Black Train Jack (from You’re Not Alone)

Big G or little g

When people think of the word God, with the big G, they usually think of the God of Abraham (i.e. the God worshiped by the Jews, Christians, and Muslims), but that is not the only use of the big G version of the word.

Whenever one refers to the god of creation of a particular religion/faith, that god can be described with the big G. For example, the god of creation in Hinduism is Brahma and he is often reference with the big G version of God. In Hinduism, it is believed that all of the gods and all of creation come from Brahma. He is also part of what I like to refer to as the Hindu trinity, the Trimurti, which includes Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. Vishnu and Shiva are both versions (for lack of a better term) of Brahma.

There is also the controversy of whether Muslims worship the God of Abraham. Much of this controversy comes from the Muslim use of the Arabic word Allah, which means The God. The word Allah was used prior to the life of Muhammad and thus some latch on to its previous use as proof that Muslims worship a different God than Jews and Christians. This is a false assumption. While there is truth to the historical use of the word Allah, the assumption that Muhammad was referring to those previous uses of the word and not the God of Abraham is a bit of a reach in my humble opinion. It is also a tool used to promote bigotry, divisiveness, and hatred. There are plenty of things to criticize Islam and Muslims about, so going and making up some cockamamie theory that they do not worship the same God as the Jews and Christians is just silly and a waste of time.

At the end of the day, what does it really matter what name we give to God. Do you really think that it matters? We would all be wise to try and live by the great teachings of all of the world’s religions and stop this insanity of hating each other over the name of God (not to mention all of the conflicts within Christianity over Jesus, the Holy Spirit, etc).

On a side note, did you know that there is a god.com website? The crazy things that you can find with a Google search.

Sprint getting a name change?

It looks like my former employer is going through yet another merger, and the spawn of this pairing will be taking the name Clearwire. Considering that Sprint has such bad brand name recognition (i.e. people think Sprint sucks even though their network is quite good), I’m not surprised by the name change. I just hope the OKC call center is safe. I have a lot of good friends that work up there and I’d hate to see any of them be out of a job.

Currently Listening – Screenplay Edition

Today’s batch of tunes is a bit different. I’m working on a screenplay and thusly I’m thinking of the music that would fit with the potential film. The screenplay is about a girl who moves to a new town, starts at a new high school, and gets drawn into the clique drama. Mostly it’s a story about the freaks of this school and their daily lives. At least that’s what I hope it will be about once I am done. I’m never written a screenplay before.

Here are the songs that I picked out today as potential soundtrack selections.

“What Now?” by Dag Nasty
“I’m Not A Loser” by Descendents
“Freak Scene” by Dinosaur Jr.
“Dancing With Myself” by Generation X
“Kid Candy” by Seaweed
“Alternative Ulster” by Stiff Little Fingers
“The Long Goodbye” by The GC5 (I thought this one would be great for the end credits)
“Teen Age Riot” by Sonic Youth
“Fatty” by Street Dogs
“I Wasn’t Born To Follow” by Social Distortion
“Cool Kids” by Screeching Weasel
“Add It Up” by Violent Femmes
“My Sister” by The Juliana Hatfield Three
“Baby, Just Be Yourself” by The Pipettes
“I Don’t Wanna Grow Up” by The Pavers
“Vacation” by The Go-Go’s
“Criminal Youth” by The Briefs
“Normal Jerks” by The Briefs
“Down With The Kids” by Teenage Frames
“A Praise Chorus” by Jimmy Eat World
“Portions for Foxes” by Rilo Kiley
“C’mon” by Go Betty Go
“We’ve Had Enough” by Alkaline Trio
“Splendid Isolation” by Dead To Me
“Young ‘Til I Die” by 7 Seconds

Inventive or desperate?

In an attempt to entice and attract new customers, Chrysler is promising gas at $2.99 a gallon for three years.

“He(Chrysler LLC Chairman and Executive Bob Nardelli) also announced a three-year, $2.99-a-gallon gasoline price guarantee for people who buy or lease new vehicles between Wednesday and May 31. The offer is based on 12,000 miles of
driving per year at the vehicle's rated fuel economy.

Buyers will get a card for buying gas that is linked to the customer's own charge account, Chrysler said Monday evening. The customer will be billed $2.99 a gallon, and Chrysler will pay the rest.”

This is an interesting strategy on Chrysler’s part but I wonder if it will work. I also wonder if this is a ploy to make up for the lack of quality of Chrysler’s products versus their foreign counterparts. By no means am I slighting the hard work of that American auto worker. The problem is that the American auto makers have not done as good of a job designing cars as the Honda’s and Toyota’s of the world.

Only time will tell if this new tactic will work and if it does, I’m sure that we will see other auto makers following suit with similar enticement packages/offers. I wish them good luck on this…I think that they’ll need it.

Currently Listening

1. “Take Me To Your Leader” by Mojo Nixon (from Gadzooks: The Homemade Bootleg)
2. “Time for Truth” by The Jam (from In the City)
3. “Larry” by Buffalo Tom (from Let Me Come Over)
4. “The Roar of the Masses Could Be Farts” by Minutemen (from Double Nickels on the Dime)
5. “Hard Headed Woman” by Elvis Presley from Elvis: 30 # 1 Hits
6. “Sam I” by Down By Law (from punkrockacademyfightsong)
7. “In No Time Nor Place” by Those Unknown (from Those Unknown)
8. “Just Like Them” by ALL (from Allroy Saves)
9. “Roger” by Dag Nasty (from Wig Out At Denko’s)
10. “Movin’ On” by The Inciters (from Movin’ On)
11. “Sproston Green” by The Charlatans UK (from Some Friendly)
12. “Dreams Recurring” by Husker Du (from Zen Arcade)
13. “Depression” by Black Flag (from Damaged)
14. “To You” by Wakeland (from To See The Sun)
15. “Matt” by Dag Nasty (from Field Day)
16. “Sympathy for the Devil” by The Rolling Stones (from Forty Licks Disc 1)
17. “Midnight Snack” by The Donnas (from Turn 21)
18. “Get Up” by R.E.M. (from Green)
19. “Heavy Metal Weekend” by The Independents (from Back from the Grave)
20. “99 Red Balloons” by 7 Seconds (from Scream Real Loud…Live!)
21. “Up the Neck” by The Pretenders (from The Pretenders)
22. “Dance of the Seven Veils” by Liz Phair from (Exile in Guyville)
23. “I Will Dare” by The Replacements (from Don’t Know Who I Think I Was?: The Best of The Replacements)
24. “New Day Rising” by Swingin’ Utters (from Five Lessons Learned)
25. “Books About UFOs” by Husker Du (from New Day Rising)

New OK links section

As you can see, I have lots of links on my blog. Well I’ve added a new section for miscellaneous OK stuff. So far it has links to all of the major political parties websites, the OK Policy Institute, and some charities that I think are worth while. I will probably add more stuff later on, as I tend to do with the plethora of links to the right of the page.

OKC is recession proof?

According to Forbes it is. This is the plus of living in a city that is a large metro, but at the same time has a very low cost of living. Unlike in other metros, one can get by in OKC on a $10 an hour job. Sure it might not be easy, but it is possible. Granted, with the possibility of $5 a gallon gas on the horizon, OKC might not be that recession proof.

One of the biggest problems facing our fair city is the fact that it has been completely designed for the automobile. Public transportation in this town is basically a joke. The availability of sidewalks is sketchy. So if you don’t have a car (or truck for all of you truck drivers out there), then you are pretty much up poo river. This was one of the big reasons why I chose to leave my previous job for my current one. If I needed to, I could walk or ride a bike to work. It wouldn’t be the safest bike ride/walk (see the previously mentioned sketchy sidewalk availability) but it is doable. I was lucky though. There was an employer close to my house, that paid reasonably enough, and would be flexible enough to work around school. Not everyone will be so lucky.

I agree with Forbes that OKC is in a good position, but I wouldn’t go so far as to call our metro proof. If the gas prices go too much higher, the snowball will start picking up speed, and we’ll be hurting like everyone else. Let’s just hope that doesn’t happen (or better yet, our policy makers and businesses will get their collective heads out of their hinders and figure out a way to get us off of oil for good).

Diablo Cody is my new Saturday night thing

I finished watching the commentary track on the Juno DVD the other day and all I can say is Diablo Cody RULES!!! Just had to share, that’s all.

What American’s don’t know about Islam

My friend Daniel over at the Concerned Citizens forum found this article that is so spot on it is not even funny.

American ignorance of Islam is a huge problem the leads to not only bigotry and discrimination, but also to even more potential bloody conflicts. Stories like this should be a huge wake up call to this nation. Learn more about your worldly neighbors or suffer the consequences.

Currently Reading – American Creation

Book: American Creation: Triumphs and Tragedies at the Founding of the Republic
Author: Joseph J. Ellis
Publisher: Random House

American Creation is a very honest and balanced look at the development years of the American republic. I’m learning a lot while reading this book, like the Indian policy that President Washington tried to push through. This is definitely a great read for history buffs or those wanting a better understanding of how the United States was formed.

Currently Listening

Here's today's shuffle.

1. “It Can’t Hurt” by The Mighty Mighty Bosstones from More Noise and Other Disturbances
2. “I Want You To Want Me” by Cheap Trick from Cheap Trick
3. “Cheer” by Descendents from Enjoy!
4. “Mea Culpa” by The Eyeliners from No Apologizes
5. “354” by The Devil Dogs from 30 Sizzling Slabs!
6. “(Take Me to the) Riverbank” by Swingin’ Utters from The Streets of San Francisco
7. “Gimme Stitches” by Foo Fighters from There is Nothing Left To Lose
8. “The Concept” by Teenage Fanclub from Bandwagonesque
9. “New Girl, Old Story” by TonyALL from New Girl, Old Story
10. “Generations” by Inspiral Carpets from Revenge of the Goldfish
11. “Nightclub Jitters” by The Replacements from Pleased to Meet Me
12. “You’re Not Very Well” by The Charlatans UK from Some Friendly
13. “Black” by Pearl Jam from Ten
14. “He’s Back” by The Mighty Mighty Bosstones from More Noise and Other Disturbances
15. “Scary Eyes” by The Pavers from Local 1500
16. “Camera” by R.E.M. from Reckoning
17. “The Only Place That You Get” by Superchunk from On the Mouth
18. “I’m Affected” by The Ramones from Hey! Ho! Lets Go: The Anthology Disc 1
19. “Young ‘Til I Die” by 7 Seconds from The Crew
20. “Stupid Lullabies” by Swingin’ Utters from The Sounds Wrong EP
21. “Black Diamond” by The Replacements from Let It Be
22. “Gimme Some Truth” by Generation X from Perfect Hits 1975 - 1981
23. “Bastards of Young” by The GC5 from Kisses from Hanoi/Horseshoes & Handgrenades
24. “Running Wild” by The Soup Dragons from Hotwired
25. “Pink Houses” by Avail from Dixie

What is the world coming to?

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the smell phone.

Question of the Day – Who should live and who should die

Today’s question was inspired by this story’s headline.

In the event of a pandemic or nuclear war, who should get to live and who should die? Also, who should decide?

My Two Cents –
Well I know that Neal Boortz would say that the rich should get to live (I’ve actually heard him making this argument before). The fact that this question even gets asked makes me a sad and to be completely honest, I have no idea how to answer it.

Who reads your blog?

For those other bloggers out there, have you ever wondered who exactly reads your blog? This is something that I have pondered on a couple of occasions. Based on those who regularly leave comments, many of my readers are of the conservative persuasion. I’ve always found that interesting considering that I am a liberal. Granted, I do not think that I am an atypical liberal and maybe that is why I’m lucky enough to have conservative readers. The fact that anyone reads this mess of a blog on a regular basis is something that I find very flattering and humbling. I’m just some fool in OK who babbles on about music, religion, and politics. I’m not a “pundit.” I’ve never worked for a campaign. Heck I’m not even finished with college, so the fact that anyone would take me seriously is mind boggling. For that handful of you out there who do read this site on a regular basis, I sincerely thank you. Your comments and emails are always welcomed, enjoyed, and appreciated.

The 2 minute wait

I was nuking some breakfast this morning and I started thinking about microwave cooking instructions and how nearly all of them end with “leave product in microwave for two minutes.” Now I know there must be some logical or at least scientific explanation for this, but I have no idea what it could be. So if any of you out there know anything about food or chemistry or are just amateur Alton Brown’s and might know the answer, please share with the rest of the class, because I’m stumped.

Poor George

Well it’s official…President George W Bush is the most unpopular President in modern US history.

Money Quote:

"No president has ever had a higher disapproval rating in any CNN or Gallup Poll; in fact, this is the first time that any president's disapproval rating has cracked the 70 percent mark," said Keating Holland, CNN's polling director.

"Bush's approval rating, which stands at 28 percent in our new poll, remains better than the all-time lows set by Harry Truman and Richard Nixon [22 percent and 24 percent, respectively], but even those two presidents never got a disapproval rating in the 70s," Holland said. "The previous all-time record in CNN or Gallup polling was set by Truman, 67 percent disapproval in January 1952."

Unlike many out there, I don’t think W is a bad guy and I feel sorry for him in so many ways. I do think he has surrounded himself with some very bad people (Cheney), has followed some very bad advice, and believes in some flawed economic and political theories, but he doesn’t seem like a bad person…just flawed like the rest of us. And while I may not always agree with his policy ideas, I want him to succeed. Heck I want all of our Presidents to succeed. Just because we disagree, doesn’t mean we should wish failure upon one another.

It is obviously too early to know how history will judge this Presidency. For me I will always think of it as a guy who tried to do his best with what he had, despite being surrounded by authoritarians, big business yes-men, and owing great alligence to the oil industry. He gave it his all and for that I do appreciate the effort.

The blind leading…

My nit-picking post was prompted by a tirade that Glenn Beck was going on yesterday dealing with a host of different comments made by Barack Obama in regards to Rev. Wright. In the segment, Glenn played or read different quotes from Obama, most likely out of context, and then dissected each and every one trying to determine in which Obama was lying. Now I don’t blame Beck for assuming that our elected officials are lying to us (most of them probably are) but this was over the top. Should we question Obama about his relationship with Rev. Wright? Absolutely. Should we question McCain and his record with earmarks or relationships with lobbyists? Again, absolutely. But there is a point when taking every single word these individuals say, and digging into them so deeply to look for any flaw that you (i.e. the pundit, politician, blogger, etc) believe is there, when the search become more about justifying your predisposed opinions and less about finding the truth.

The problem that is facing us is not new. Partisan politics is older than this republic and I’m sure it will continue long after the United States is some footnote entry in a future history book, but that doesn’t make it right or healthy for this nation. I am not against differences, or partisan debate. Those are good and necessary things. What I am vehemently against is blind partisanship. Unfortunately this is the type of partisan politics that is all too ever present in our country at this time. It is lead by legions of talk show hosts, pundits, politicians, special interest groups, web sites, and bloggers who all believe that their side/philosophy is always right and that their party of choice only fails when said party has abandoned their core principles. None here seem to see the gigantic flaw in this logic or the folly in their blind devotion.

Because of my frustration with this partisan blindness, I am finding it harder and harder to listen to shows like Glenn Beck’s. I generally like Beck because he is funny, but lately he has taken on such a blind tone that it is becoming un-listenable. It is this same tone that makes it nearly impossible to listen to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Michael Savage for more than a couple of minutes at a time. Subsequently what I love about Phil Hendrie, Bill O’Reilly, and Neal Boortz is the fact that these guys are not blind. While each has their opinions and stances, they at least have some semblance of objectivity when researching and issue/story.

This frustration has also made me a bit snappy with my friends (sorry guys). I run an email discussion group whose make up includes liberals, conservatives, libertarians, and some who are a bit of everything. One member of the group, we’ll call him Mark, is a very intelligent and thoughtful guy who is a staunch conservative. Unlike those blind partisans, he will look at every situation and judge it on its merits. While he and I often reach different conclusions, we respect each other and know that we have reached said conclusions through objective thought/analysis and not through blindly following the party line. Unfortunately email is not always the best communication tool and at times Mark’s responses read like textbook conservative talking points. Doubly unfortunately I have a tendency to react poorly and fire off snarky responses (I guess it is a case of “seeing red”…I don’t know, but it is not nice and something that I need to work on). There are others in the group who also react to these responses in a similar way, but then as the discussion continues, Mark presents his reasoning in a more thorough manner that better displays his thoughts and how he reached his conclusions. In the end this is a communication breakdown issue, but it looks like a partisan issue.

I’m sure that most average folks are more like Mark and I than Limbaugh and Michael Moore, but sadly it is the former who have the microphones. Don’t get me wrong…I don’t want to shut anyone up. The louder the fools yell, the more foolish they look. But there comes a point where some sanity, balance, moderation, and common sense needs to step up and take the reins from the blind and steer us in a better direction.

Top 50 TV comedy’s ever?

I’m not so sure about this list.

The following are my thoughts as I was going through the list.
Night Court at 48? Come on. That show was awesome! And the Family Guy at 47? I HATE that show. It is nothing but bad dick and fart jokes. The Jefferson’s deserved to be higher than 46. Wow…Family Ties got 34. Married with Children deserves to be MUCH higher than 30. The Brady Bunch at 23…okay I can live with that. DYMONITE at 20 (boy do I hope people know what I’m talking about here). 30 Rock is at 20. That seems a little high for such a new show, but then again Tina Fey rules! South Park at 16? Oh I don’t know. YES, The Larry Sanders Show is at 12! Wow…The Honeymooners didn’t even make the top 10 (# 11). Friends at 10? That is a crime! Rosanne at 8 and The Cosby Show at 7 sound about right. M.A.S.H. at 6? I thought that would have been higher. Cheers at 5 and The Mary Tyler Moore Show at 4 are no real surprises. Here are the Top 3: 3) All in the Family, 2) Seinfeld, 1) The Simpsons. While I would put Seinfeld at # 1, I really can’t argue with the top 3.

Currently Listening

Another day, another mp3 shuffle.

1. “Lovely Day” by The Pixies from Trompe Le Monde
2. “One Love/People Get Ready” by Bob Marley & the Wailers from Legend
3. “Follow You Down” by Gin Blossoms from Outside Looking In: The Best of the Gin Blossoms
4. “I’m Not There” by Buffalo Tom from Let Me Come Over
5. “Big Scoop” by The Eyeliners from Confidential
6. “Lovers of Today” by The Pretenders from The Pretenders
7. “Bootlegger’s Son” by One Man Army from Last Word Spoken
8. “Paper Tiger” by ALL from Allroy Sez…
9. “St. Jimmy” by Green Day from American Idiot
10. “Boys on the Docks” by Dropkick Murphys from Mob Mentality
11. “Silver Lining” by Rilo Kiley from Under the Blacklight
12. “East Bound and Down” by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes from Love Their Country
13. “Daughter” by Pearl Jam from Rearviewmirror: Greatest Hits 1991 – 2003 Disc 2
14. “I Can See Clearly Now” by Johnny Nash from the Grosse Pointe Blank soundtrack
15. “Pep Talk” by Descendents from Hallraker: Live!
16. “Chaos in Mayberry” by Riot Squad from Riot Squad
17. “Christy Road” by Green Day from Kerplunk
18. “Everything” by The Soup Dragons from Hotwired
19. “The Battle March Medley” by The Pogues from If I Should Fall from Grace with God
20. “The Fighting 69th” by Dropkick Murphys from The Gang’s All Here
21. “Gift” by Sugar from File Under Easy Listening
22. “Lost and Found” by Tripping Daisy from Bill
23. “The Middle” by Jimmy Eat World from Bleed American
24. “Nobody’s” by ALL from Percolater
25. “The End of Everything” by The Charlatans UK from Between 10th and 11th