Faith or Deeds?

Two posts over at The Otter Limits and faith and works (found here and here) got me thinking about my own take of faith versus deeds. As a young child, I never understood the concept of the loving and caring God that I learned about in church, sending people to hell for simply holding another faith or no faith at all, when said people live lives of high moral character, standards, and behaviors. It never made sense to me and seemed amazing illogical. From there the seeds of my current view on salvation were sown.

To me, deeds are far more important to salvation than faith. I think that it is what we do in this life that will determine where we end up in the afterlife, much more than the name that we give to God. This point of view is very karmic and eastern in nature but then again karma is something that I believe in. I cannot fathom God damning a good person to hell simply because he/she was a Buddhist, agnostic, pagan, or atheist (just to name a few). To me it defies logic and reason. How could God be that selfish and insecure? It seems more like a scare tactic than a spiritual one.

Since I am one that believes that God has been interpreted by humanity in countless ways, I truly see this invention of faith or damnation as a human one and not a holy one. What matters more than anything else is how we treat one another and how we raise our children. That is the best way to show God our love and appreciation by taking care of each other and the world around us, not by spending all of our time and energy on whether or not one name for God is better than another.

Cover Wars – “I’m Free”

I haven’t done one of these in quite a while.

For today’s Cover Wars we have the song “I’m Free” originally performed by The rolling Stones and covered by The Soup Dragons.

Video of the Day, Part 2: OK Edition

"Pop Heiress Dies" by Chainsaw Kittens

Two Wrongs

I know that I said that I’d stay out of politics for a bit, but this story is just really disturbing. Andrew Sullivan has put together a post on this story that is worth reading as well.

I know that the abortion debate is a one that is very emotional and heated but I think that we can all agree that two wrongs don’t make a right.

Video of the Day

"Not Sleeping Around" by School of Fish

Top 5 Films Not Enough People Have Seen

Have you ever seen a movie and wondered why it wasn’t more well known because it was that darned good? The Shawshank Redemption would have been one of those films had Ted Turner not taking such a liking to it and started showing it repeatedly on TNT. Here is my list of the films that I think more people need to see because they are that darned good (or flat out bizarre as in the case of the Honorable Mention).

1. Floundering (IMDB, Amazon)
2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Official, IMDB, Amazon, Wikipedia)
3. Where the Day Takes You (IMDB, Amazon, Wikipedia)
4. Tapeheads (IMDB, Amazon, Wikipedia)
5. Wet Hot American Summer (Official, IMDB, Amazon, Wikipedia)

Honorable Mention –
Eraserhead (IMDB, Amazon, Wikipedia)

Currently Reading

Title: MEG: Hell’s Aquarium (Official, Variance, Amazon, Wikipedia)
Author: Steve Alten (Official, Wikipedia)
Publisher: Variance Publishing (Official)

Steve Alten’s first book, MEG: A Novel of Deep Terror, was the first non-Star Wars book that I completely devoured. The characters were flawed and real, the story was gripping, and the action was heart stopping. In other words the book was a great read. Since having found MEG, Alten has become one of, my favorite authors and I have read all but one of his books (and the one that I haven’t read I do own). In fact Alten is one of, if not the only, author whose work I will purchase in hardback (admittedly this copy of Hell’s Aquarium is from the library but I plan on buying this one soon).

Hell’s Aquarium takes place four years after the events of Primal Waters and follows the continued exploits of Dr. Jonas Taylor, his son David, and the 70 foot 100,000 pound megalodon Angel. In this chapter a royal prince in Dubai is building a gigantic aquarium and wants to purchase two of Angel’s offspring and higher David Taylor as their handler. This last bit of information I got from the jacket sleeve on the book because I just started reading it last night and am only in the prologue, but so far so good.

Alten’s writing style reminds me of that of Michael Crichton and Dan Brown. So much actual scientific research goes into the story that it is often hard to tell where the science stops and the fiction starts. Like I have said many times, I cannot recommend Alten’s work highly enough. Not only are his books fun and thrilling, but he is also an extremely nice and humble guy who takes time to reply to all correspondence sent by his fans.

Jesus in a Jar?

You decide.

Money Quote –

'"I opened the Marmite jar and the lid caught my eye," said Claire Allen, 36. "Immediately I thought, 'That's Jesus.'"

Top 5 Not So Obvious Best Albums of the 1990’s

This is a list of great albums that I think are often overlooked or just plain forgotten. Sadly these were albums released by bands that didn’t end up influencing a slew of other bands (unlike nearly every album by The Velvet Underground and The Replacements which did influence hundreds of bands despite having no real commercial success). Also, with the possible exception of the Ned’s Atomic Dustbin album, I don’t think that any of these records made any end-of-the-year best of lists. Nevertheless, these are some great and underappreciated albums.

1. God Fodder by Ned’s Atomic Dustbin
2. Buick Men by Hagfish
3. Let Me Come Over by Buffalo Tom
4. East Side Drive by The Heartdrops
5. Mental Floss for the Globe by Urban Dance Squad

Honorable Mention –
Riot Squad by Riot Squad

Sixth-Grader Names Next Mars Rover

This is a cool story. Lenexa, KS 12-year-old Clara Ma’s won a nationwide contest to name the next Martian rover. Her idea: Curiosity.

Now That’s Gotta Hurt

Yikes!

Top 5 All-Time Careers

I got the idea for this list from the film High Fidelity.

1. Radio station owner/operator
2. College professor
3. High school teacher
4. Record store owner
5. Professional writer

Currently Listening – Love Song Edition

1. “Pictures of You” by The Cure (from Disintegration)
2. “All I Want is You” by U2 (from Rattle & Hum)
3. “Country Feedback” by R.E.M. (from Out of Time)
4. “Evangeline” by Matthew Sweet (from Girlfriend)
5. “Never Tear Us Apart” by INXS (from Kick)
6. “Anything, Anything (I’ll Give You)” by Dramarama (from The Best of Dramarama: 18 Big Ones)
7. “Lat at Night” by Buffalo Tom (from Big Red Letter Day)
8. “Right” by ALL (from Breaking Things)
9. “Goodnight Song” by Down By Law (from Punkrockacademyfightsong)
10. “In Your Eyes” by Peter Gabriel (from So)

Taking a Break from Politics

I’m going to take a break from posting about politics for a while (unless some story jumps up that I feel I need to comment on). I don’t have the energy to debate or discuss the issues of the day anymore. And honestly calling this a debate or a discussion is a joke. Generally these conversations end in someone spewing insults and talking points and do nothing more than raise my blood pressure. I’m tired of the blind partisanship. I’m tired of the never ending talking points. I’m tired of my words getting misconstrued and taken out of context. And I’m tired of the lack of intellectual honesty shown by most online (I think I can count on my one hand the number of people that I truly believe look at things from an independent point of view and assess each issue on an issue-by-issue and not a party or political philosophy basis).

Life is short and we have serious issues facing the country, but this load of shit that goes as civil discourse is a complete and total farce. Our enemies aren’t going to have to attack us from without, all they’ll need to do is watch us destroy each other from within.

Public Bathrooms

Here are some great suggestions for what to do in those oh-so-wonderful public restrooms to help keep yourself clean and healthy.

Top 40 Movie Soundtracks

Here is a list of the Top 40 Movie Soundtracks as compiled by Moviefone. Overall it is a pretty good list and many of my own favorites are represented. Speaking of which…

My Top Soundtracks (off the top of my head and in no particular order) –
1. The Blues Brothers
2. Pretty in Pink
3. Singles
4. Say Anything…
5. Hairspray [2007]
6. Backbeat
7. Grosse Point Blank
8. Pulp Fiction
9. Reality Bites
10. Pump Up the Volume
11. The Rocky Horror Picture Show
12. This is Spinal Tap

Video of the Day, Part 2

"Step Down" by Sick Of It All

Video of the Day

"Choices Made" by CIV

The Sales Mentality vs. the Tech Mentality

A local blogger recently said “Isn’t everything in life just one kind of sales or another? Either you are ‘selling’ or you are ‘being sold to’ pretty much all the time. Think about it.” So I did, but I don’t think he is right.

First off let me put some of my own biases out on the table. I am not a big fan of sales, salespersons (mostly the pushy ones because there are good ones out there), or the sales mentality. Much of this is based on my work experience (to be explained later in this post). Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way…

It seems to me that the sales mentality is one of trying to convince others at all times that whatever it is that you are selling or offering is the best thing in the world and it is what the other person truly needs to complete their life (okay I’m probably exaggerating a bit, but you get the point). Another way of putting it is that in sales it is your job to convince everyone else that you are right.

The tech mentality is one of fixing and resolving issues and not one of laying blame or trying to push things onto people (again this is a generalization because there are some very bad, pushy techs who just want to find the point of blame and make sure that the customer knows that said point of blame is the customer, but I wouldn’t be surprised if some of those folks were actually sales people in tech jobs). In other words it is a tech’s job to fix problems.

I have the tech mentality. I try to focus on fixing things, finding common ground, and resolutions that are mutually acceptable and beneficial to all involved. Granted I’m not always successful (especially at work where I am limited in what I can do to help people) but that is how I view the world. I’m not out there to convince others that I am right and they are wrong. I’d much rather work together with folks to find ideas that provide “wins” for everyone involved. In many ways this is how I view politics and religion. To me it is more productive to work together to fix things through common ground and mutual benefits than it is to try and convince others that I am right (for one thing I fully admit that I don’t have all of the answers so I’m more than willing to listen to others ideas).

I’ve come to this mentality in a few ways. First, by nature I want to help people and resolve issues. That is just part of my core being. Second, my work experience in both retail and in various technical support positions over the past 15 years has reinforced this mentality. I’ve been on the receiving end of way too many calls that were caused by someone is sales convincing some customer of something that just wasn’t true. The result of which is generally me getting yelled at for something that I didn’t do and my best attempt to pick up the pieces and make the mess of a situation as small of a mess as possible. This doesn’t always work out well unfortunately. I’ve also been expected to sell products to customers as part of my job as a technical support representative. This is always explained off by the management team as just making “offers” to the customer, but I see it as something that is just ethically wrong. When a customer calls a company for help with a product that isn’t working properly, that is not an opportunity for the company to make a sale. I’ve also watch cancellation departments get treated as sales departments and thus have engaged in some scandalous activities. It’s these experiences that have soured my taste for sales, but I know that they are limited and do not represent all folks in sales. Plus I give all people that I interact with the benefit of the doubt before letting my biases cloud my opinion of that individual (or at least I try really hard to).

Now I’m not going to do anything as overly simplistic as to say that conservatives are sales force and liberals are the techs because that’s just not the truth. There are liberals with the sales mentality and there are conservatives with the tech mentality. There are also very good people who hold both mentalities, so in the cases of the good folks I’m not saying that one is better than the other.

Back to the original comment that started this all… I don’t see life as all a bunch of activities that can be boiled down to “selling” or “being sold to.” One could make an argument for this being the case, but I just don’t see it based on my experiences. When I’m trying to fix a problem, I’m not trying to sell someone on something, I’m trying to help them. Sure there are times in the fixing process when you have to convince someone of something, and from a certain point of view that could be viewed as sales, but I think that is an over simplified explanation and rationalization made by those who hold the sales mentality. But this again is a case of perspectives, so from the sales perspective I can see how they would view almost everything as a sale but to many that mentality is far too combative to be fulfilling or healthy (but even that statement is an over simplified explanation and rationalization on my part). More than anything else, I think this shows some of the very different ways in which people view the world. And understanding that can help bring a better understanding to all aspects of life. (Yeah that last part was cheesy but oh well).

Currently Listening

1. “Atheist Peace” by Bad Religion (from The Empire Strikes First)
2. “Where Do Ya Draw the Line?” by Dead Kennedy (from Bedtime for Democracy)
3. “12XU” by Wire (from Pink Flag)
4. “What Will the Revolution Change?” by Youth Brigade (from Sink with Kalifornija)
5. “Your Racist Friend” by They Might Be Giants (from Flood)
6. “God Damn Job” by The Replacements (from Stink)
7. “White Riot” by The Clash (from The Clash)
8. “Baby I’m a King” by The Devil Dogs (from 30 Sizzling Slabs!)
9. “Psycho Killer” by Talking Heads (from Popular Favorites 1976-1992: Sand in the Vaseline Disc 1)
10. “Out of Step (With the World)” by Minor Threat (from Complete Discography)

Texting Could be Bad for Your Kids Health

According to this story, a recent New York Times story revealed that “doctors and psychologists have begun raising red flags about the effects of incessant texting.”

Money Quote –

"If you're being deluged by constant communication, the pressure to answer immediately is quite high," psychologist Sherry Turkle told the newspaper. "If you’re in the middle of a thought, forget it."

Texting may also interfere with normal adolescent development, making it tougher for teens to separate from their parents. "Now you have adolescents who are texting their mothers 15 times a day, asking things like, 'Should I get the red shoes or the blue shoes?'" Turkle said.

The article does state that since teens texting is a relatively new phenomenon and thus “there's no scientifically sound data on the health impact” but these recent findings don’t really surprise me. It has been known for a long time that spending too much time playing video games or in front of the TV is bad for kids, so the possibility that constant text messaging could be detrimental as well is fairly logical. But then again I think we could all use some “unplugged time” now and again.

Currently Listening

1. “Forgotten” by Gorilla Biscuits (from Start Today)
2. “Suggestion” by Fugazi (from 13 Songs)
3. “Trying My Best to Love You” by Jenny Lewis (from Acid Tongue)
4. “This Ain’t No Picnic” by The Minutemen (from Double Nickels on the Dime)
5. “Caution” by Operation Ivy (from Energy)
6. “Turn You Inside-Out” by R.E.M. (from Green)
7. “Public Image” by Public Image Limited (from Public Image)
8. “Suspect Device” by Stiff Little Fingers (from Inflammable Material)
9. “Red Tape” by The Circle Jerks (from Group Sex / Wild in the Streets)
10. “Death or Glory” by The Clash (from London Calling)

Fulfilling Biblical Prophecy?

According to Clive Hamilton in a piece entitled Bush, God, Iraq and Gog, President Bush believed that he was fulfilling biblical prophecy when he started the war in Iraq.

From the story –

In 2003 while lobbying leaders to put together the Coalition of the Willing, President Bush spoke to France’s President Jacques Chirac. Bush wove a story about how the Biblical creatures Gog and Magog were at work in the Middle East and how they must be defeated.

In Genesis and Ezekiel Gog and Magog are forces of the Apocalypse who are prophesied to come out of the north and destroy Israel unless stopped. The Book of Revelation took up the Old Testament prophesy:

“And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle … and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.”

Bush believed the time had now come for that battle, telling Chirac:

“This confrontation is willed by God, who wants to use this conflict to erase his people’s enemies before a New Age begins”.

The story of the conversation emerged only because the Elysée Palace, baffled by Bush’s words, sought advice from Thomas Römer, a professor of theology at the University of Lausanne. Four years later, Römer gave an account in the September 2007 issue of the university’s review, Allez savoir. The article apparently went unnoticed, although it was referred to in a French newspaper.

The story has now been confirmed by Chirac himself in a new book, published in France in March, by journalist Jean Claude Maurice. Chirac is said to have been stupefied and disturbed by Bush’s invocation of Biblical prophesy to justify the war in Iraq and “wondered how someone could be so superficial and fanatical in their beliefs”.

In the same year he spoke to Chirac, Bush had reportedly said to the Palestinian foreign minister that he was on “a mission from God” in launching the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan and was receiving commands from the Lord.

There can be little doubt now that President Bush’s reason for launching the war in Iraq was, for him, fundamentally religious. He was driven by his belief that the attack on Saddam’s Iraq was the fulfilment of a Biblical prophesy in which he had been chosen to serve as the instrument of the Lord.

Call me a crazy heathen, but if this is true, and I suspect that it is because it fits our former Commander in Chief’s M.O., then this is scary stuff. If President Bush believed that he was doing the Lord’s will, then how was his behavior or reasoning any different from the Islamists who too believe that they are performing the will of God?

Now unlike many, I actually like President Bush. I disagreed with him on many occasions and think that many of his policies were detrimental to our nation but I always believed that he was doing what he thought was right. But if this is where his head really was (and is) then I can’t help but be scared and in a way feel lucky that he didn’t do anything like a drop a nuke on the Middle East.

The problem with having someone with this type of mentality in power is multifaceted. First it gives real ammunition to those in the Muslim world that think the United States is in a war with Islam. Second it opens up our leader to be influenced by those who want to foster conflict with other nations (to keep the people at home focused on an enemy and thus in line) and will use any means, including said leader’s religious faith, to accomplish that goal. I truly think that is what could have happened behind the doors in the Bush White House and if that is the case, then it should terrify us all.

Thanks to Mainstream Baptist for the find.

Currently Reading

Title: Star Wars Legacy of the Force: Fury (Official, Amazon, Wikipedia)
Author: Aaron Allston (Official, Wikipedia)
Publisher: Del Rey (Official)

It’s been about two years since I last read a Star Wars novel. For some reason I just lost interest and stopped (in the middle of the Legacy series no less). At the time I was reading a lot of other more traditional fantasy and my head was just not in the mood for a space fantasy (IMO Star Wars is a fantasy story more than science fiction). But the other day I started wondering what happened in the rest of the Legacy series so I went out and picked up Fury.

The story of Fury starts shortly after Luke Skywalker had saved his son Ben from being tortured by his nephew, Chief of State, and Dark Lord of the Sith Jacen Solo. The Legacy series follows Jacen’s fall into the dark side of the Force and into the footsteps of his grandfather Darth Vader. Jacen wants to bring order to the galaxy and at first his trip to the dark side was well intentioned, but since then he has turned completely evil and betrayed everyone he once loved, including his lover and the mother of his child.

So far the book is not only a fast and fun read, but it is a stark commentary on how nations react to threats. In the case of Jacen, he has elected to become a monster in order to defeat (what he sees as) a monster. The commentary on modern politics isn’t subtle but it’s not overbearing either, so it works.

Currently Listening

1. “All I Want” by Toad the Wet Sprocket (from Fear)
2. “’59” by Brian Setzer (from Ignition!)
3. “Incomplete” by Jawbreaker (from Unfun)
4. “Falling for You” by Weezer (from Pinkerton)
5. “How We Fade” by The Thermals (from Now We Can See)
6. “C is for Cookie” by The Independents (from Back from the Grave)
7. “Drive Away” by The All-American Rejects (from The All-American Rejects)
8. “Chesterfield King” by Face To Face (from Standards & Practices)
9. “God’s Love” by Bad Religion (from The Empire Strikes First)
10. “Twenty Flight Rock” by Tiger Army (from The Early Years)

Happy Memorial Day!

Go thank a Veteran for their service, they deserve it!

It’s Not an I’m Right and You’re Wrong Debate

One thing that has really struck me recently in all of the recent discussions on religion is that my point of view on the topic seems to be drastically different than most. Like I’ve stated in the past, I do not see religion through the eyes of mine-is-right-and-yours-is-wrong. In fact I see that point of view as extremely harmful. Sadly it is also extremely common throughout the world.

I don’t see religion in these terms because I do not believe that any one religion is better than any other. They all have their pluses and their minuses (some more so than others). It is my opinion that all religions hold the potential path to salvation and enlightenment. They do so by offering a guide for moral and ethical behavior and by acting as a conduit to reach the divine. But it is through our actions and not the name that we assign to God that will determine our fate after death.

I understand that this is not a concept that is easy for many to understand (not that I’m smarter than anyone else mind you, because lord knows that I’m not). Many hold stead fast to specific traditions, and while there isn’t anything wrong with that, it’s this iron grip that clouds their view of the wonder of other religions. Each person must find their own path, but whatever path that is chosen is not better, truer, or more valid than any other.

We really must shed this us vs. them mentality because it does no one any good. And when religion employs said mentality it stops working for the spirit and salvation of its followers and starts working for the power of its organization. That is a perversion of the divine.

Note – Has anyone noticed that the religions that are most guilty of the us vs. them, I’m-right-and-you’re-wrong mentality are the monotheistic ones. Just look at Islam as an example. There are Muslims who commit horrible atrocities in the name of God because they believe that their religion must rule the world. How insane is that? Islam isn’t the only monotheistic religion guilty of said mentality, but they are by far the most extreme about it.

Legalize It Already!

And I’m not talking about drugs (even though that needs to be legalized too).

People need to realize that gay marriage is going to happen in this country and just let it happen. Why? Because the 14th Amendment of the Constitution demands equal protection under the law and eventually the Supreme Court will make anti-gay marriage laws null and void (based on said amendment).

I’ve often said that this issue would go away if the government would simply get out of the marriage business and simply offer civil unions to two consenting adults and leave the world of marriage to the church. Unfortunately no one’s been listening to me and this debate has raged on with neither side giving a quarter or showing any respect for the other.

Since that is the case, the only expectable solution, per the Constitution, is to legalize gay marriage. Yes this will have the anti-gay crowd up in a tizzy but it is the equitable thing to do under the law, especially when other, mutually beneficial yet somehow still unacceptable, solutions were baulked at time and again.

The sooner we end this fight, the sooner we can get on to more pressing matters. This has wasted enough time already. Legalize it and move on.

Blog Post of the Day

Blog: Mainstream Baptist
Post: Put Down the Patriot Bible

Money Quote –

I am repeatedly struck by the similarity between the religious sentiment of American Christian Nationalists and the Nazi Deutsche Christians. The mindset is the same. Only the nationalities have changed.

To tell the truth, the relentless rising crescendo of religious nationalism in this country scares me more than the threat of Islamic extremism. The only time I was ever face-to-face with a Muslim extremist, he wasn't armed. I'm face-to-face with armed-to-the-teeth Christian Nationalists, Dominionists, and Christian Identity adherents on a daily basis.

This is a very thought provoking post with links to other thought provoking posts. I picked those paragraphs as the Money Quote because they stood out to me as very powerful and telling statements. Normally I am turned off by Nazi references, but this one is different. The comparison here is in the language used to use religion as a tool for nationalism and has nothing to do with fascism or racism. And that comparison is spot on.

The post also closed with the following –

The way gun sales have increased since Obama's election, I'm beginning to think it would be better to see a shortage of stones.

While I do not agree with Dr. Prescott’s level of concern, I do think that these are issues that should concern us all.

WOW Story of the Day

Headline: Woman Saves Husband from Shark

Currently Listening

1. “Twisting” by They Might Be Giants (from Dial-A-Song: 20 Years of They Might Be Giants Disc 1)
2. “Don’t Let’s Start” by They Might Be Giants (from Dial-A-Song: 20 Years of They Might Be Giants Disc 1)
3. “The Good Life” by Weezer (from Pinkerton)
4. “Don’t Let Go” by Weezer (from Weezer [Green Album])
5. “Steve’s Boy” by The Lemonheads (from The Lemonheads)
6. “Bit Part” by The Lemonheads (from It’s a Shame About Ray)
7. “Junkie Man” by Rancid (from …And Out Come the Wolves)
8. “Memphis” by Rancid (from Indestructible)
9. “Teenage Kicks” by Hagfish (from Happiness [Promo])
10. “Twisting” by Hagfish (from Hagfish)

Quote of the Day

Your humble correspondent doesn't really care much about gay marriage because I believe it is no danger to the republic and the deity can sort all this stuff out after we're dead. I take a libertarian position on issues like gay marriage because I want all Americans to be able to pursue happiness equally.

--Bill O’Reilly

The Literalists

There has been a lot of hoopla around the recently discovered fossilized skeleton of an unknown creature.

From the story –

About the size of a small cat, the animal has four legs and a long tail. It's not a direct ancestor of monkeys and humans, but it provides a good indication of what such an ancestor may have looked like, researchers said at a news conference.

When this story first came out, I sent myself the link and decided to read it later. The next day I got the OneNewsNow.com daily news brief email with the headline “'Ida' an extinct primate - and that's all.” I decided to hang on to that email too to check out later. So yesterday I decided to finally open up the ONN email and found a link to this story. After having scanned the story a bit, I noticed a link to Answers in Genesis, which I opened and briefly scanned as well. Then I came across this post at Fear an Iarthair on the subject.

This story has sparked yet another flame in the fire of the evolution vs. creationism debate. This is a debate that I find to be rather pointless really (possibly because I've been having it with people since I was in 5th grade). Science and religion are not in conflict because they are essentially trying to express the same mysteries of the world, but they are using different words to do it.

Those who take the literal view of religious texts I think miss the inherent beauty of religion. In other words, they cannot see the forest for the trees. Why spend so much time and energy trying to prove that your myth is factually accurate? What does it matter?

I know that my opinions may sound like new age mumbo jumbo to those who take their scriptures literally. And I’m sure that there are those who think that I’m am just talking about Christianity but they would be wrong. I don’t care if you are Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Taoist, Buddhist, Wiccan, or any other religion. If you confine yourself to believe that the sacred text(s) of your faith are the literal word of God and a completely factually accurate historical document, then you are missing the point. These texts are guides to help us better live our lives and not to explain exactly how the universe came into being. Besides, the other problem with literal interpretation is trying to reconcile all of the discrepancies in the texts. The Bible is famous for having complete sections that move from one version of a story to another within a few lines (a great example of this is the story of Noah and the Flood).

What matters most about religion is taking to heart those three primary moral values that nearly all religions (a. don’t murder, b. don’t mess people over, and c. live your life in service of others) and living the best life that you possibly can by being the best person that you can be and taking care of those around you. That is the message of Jesus. That is the message of the Buddha. That is the message of the Tao. And that is the message that we all should follow. But sadly we often get lost in the details and thus lose sight of the bigger picture.

I Might Be Emo

As I’m reading the book Everybody Hurts: An Essential Guide to Emo Culture, I’m beginning to realize that I may very well be emo. Much of what this book describes and focuses on are the outcasts in high school. When I was in high school in Florida we were called the “progressive kids” and here in Oklahoma we were called punks. Nowadays the term of choice seems to be emo.

I’ve always thought of emo in its traditional definition – “emotional hardcore.” The emo scene started in Washington, D.C. with a group of hardcore kids (or probably more accurately young adults) who decided that they did not like the way that hardcore music was going and they wanted to start writing music that was more melodic. From this meeting emerged bands like Dag Nasty, Rites of Spring, and Embrace. Dag Nasty was never considered an emo band, they were one of the first melodic hardcore bands, but Rites of Spring and Embrace are universally recognized as the first two emo bands. Their music and that of the band that formed in their ashes (Fugazi) have also been described as post-hardcore. The bands that followed in this post-hardcore vein are the ones that I have always thought of as emo (bands like Sunny Day Real Estate, Seaweed, Hot Water Music, Jawbox, and some poppy-er bands like Alkaline Trio and The Promise Ring).

Since then the term emo has grown to encompass a lot more than its post-hardcore roots. Many emo bands have looked to pop punk bands like Jawbreaker and power pop bands like Weezer for inspiration (but I absolutely REFUSE to call either an emo band). Out of that bands like The Ataris and Jimmy Eat World have helped to forge the modern emo scene and sound.

Many of the second wave emo staple bands I am completely unfamiliar with but I’ve decided to give them a shot. I checked out from the library some CD’s by Thursday, Thrice, and Panic! at the Disco and so far I have to say that I am unimpressed. Thursday and Thrice are screamo bands (a mix of emo and metal) and I just cannot get into them at all. Metal-like music with snotty, wimpy vocals are just not for me. In the case of Panic! I just can’t get past their pretentiousness (plus the CD really does blow).

Aside from music, the book also covers the movies and television shows that are considered highly important to the emo scene. In the case of TV there are only a couple of shows that the authors listed that I like (most notably My So-Called Life). Movies on the other hand are a different story. Almost every other film that was listed is one of my favorites. From Say Anything to Wet Hot American Summer to Pretty in Pink to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind…they were all there. This is the point in which I hung my head and sighed.

Sure emo is basically a joke now, but apparently I have a lot more in common with it then I realized. Or more accurately, emo is just another name that disaffected youth have latched onto to help find some identity in this crazy world. And I am definitely one of those disaffected youths, trapped in the body of a 34-year-old.

Way to go Mr. President

According to this story, the President was scheduled to meet with a group of kindergartners yesterday but the kids were denied entrance to the White House because they were late and the O-man had to prepare for a luncheon with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Now to be fair, it does seem that there was some miscommunication on the arrival times and the day of any President is organized down to the second so I can see the potential for missing the window of opportunity. That having been said, the President should have at least come out to see the kids, even if the tour itself had to be rescheduled.

Money Quote --

"Here we have President Obama and his administration saying, 'Here we are for the common, middle class people,' and here he is not letting 150 5- and 6-year-olds into the White House because he’s throwing a lunch for a bunch of grown millionaires," Stine said.

Now if I were the President, I would make sure to pay a visit to these kids' school before the school year was over and apologize in person. Maybe I'm wrong on this, but for some reason I doubt that something like this would have happened when Clinton, Carter, or either Bush was in office.

A Centrist Era?

According to this story, a recent PEW survey shows that the country is in the midst of a centrist era.

From the story –

WASHINGTON – Barack Obama's presidency has ushered in an era of centrism, with the country experiencing such a boost in independent voters that they now make up the largest proportion of the electorate in 70 years.

This fickle group doesn't have uniform opinions, so its dominance carries potential risks for emboldened Democrats and opportunities for out-of-power Republicans.

A new, expansive Pew Research Center survey that contained those details also found that the nation's values haven't fundamentally changed. The country hasn't become more ideologically liberal or conservative despite sweeping Democratic victories at all levels of government last fall and shrinking GOP ranks.

Broadly, the findings indicate that it's politically dangerous for the new president and his fellow Democrats who control Congress to move too far to the left on domestic and foreign issues, lest they turn off middle-of-the-road voters whose support was critical in 2008 and will be important in upcoming elections.

The results also suggest that the public recently has rejected the GOP for poor performance, not because it disagrees with the party's positions on key issues. That means beleaguered Republicans looking to rebound must convince voters they are still good stewards of those values while improving the GOP's image and morale.

So if I’m reading this right, the public has basically become fed up with the two political parties but went with the Democrats because they essentially wanted to give them a chance since the broad opinion is that the GOP did a really bad job while in power. It also seems to suggest that the Democrats could easily overstep things if they move too far to the left (despite the fact that people really like President Obama).

So we have more people who are independents now than we have for quite a while (myself included) and it is those people that both the Democrats and the GOP need to woe in order to win elections.

This PEW survey seems to mirror the results of a recent Washington Post / ABS News Poll that I wrote about last month. I think that a move to the center is a very good thing for the nation and would also love to see a move away from both the Democratic and Republican Parties, but I’m not going to hold my breath on that one.

Thoughts on the Divine

We has humans can never fully understand or appreciate God or the divine. Even by giving the divine a name (like God) limits our potential understanding of the great mystery.

As I have stated before, I believe in God but recently my understanding of God has grown. I see God as more than a simple male deity. God transcends gender and human comprehension. And as I have stated before, I believe that God, or the divine, has taken different forms for different peoples. Or to put it another way, different people have interpreted the divine in unique, yet amazingly similar, ways. In Hinduism the great divine sprit is Brahman. From Brahman was born the Hindu trinity of Brahma, the creator; Shiva, the destroyer; and Vishnu, the preserver. These deities are all aspects of the divine. In Buddhism the divine is found through the Buddha and Bodhisattvas. Jews, Christians, and Muslims all see the divine as the God of Abraham and through his messengers/prophets. Taoists experience the divine through the ebb and flow of the Tao.

According to Barbara Bradley Hagerty in an interview on the Diane Rehm Show, the brain activity of Buddhist Monks and Franciscan nuns when meditating is the same. This seems to me to be striking evidence that these individuals are taping into the same divine energy. If that is the case, then how does one reconcile the fact that the Buddhists and Franciscans are praying to different deities?

It is my opinion that they are not. I believe that, for the most part, all religions are pointing to the same place. They are different spokes in of a wheel that all meet in the center, and that center is what I call the divine. This is the energy, spirit, deity, or however you want to describe it, that created the universe and instilled in each one of us the general morals and ethics of humanity that are expressed in the religions of the world. From this stand point, my outlook is much closer to that of the pagans of antiquity because I have a holistic view of spirituality. What it boils dow to is there are many paths to salvation and you must find the one that is right for you.

It is entirely possible that I am wrong and I freely admit this. I'm humble enough to know that there is much in this world that I know nothing about and thus that my opinions could be incorrect. But this is what I feel in my heart and in my mind based on everything that I have studied and learned up to this point. Could this change in the future? Absolutely. We are ever growing as humans and thus ever learning, so there could come a time in the future where I learn something new that alters my outlook on spirituality and when that time comes I will embrace it. We're never too old to stop learning.

"Respecting" Other Religions

Today’s OneNewsNow.com Daily News Brief email had the subject line “Should Christians ‘respect’ other religions?” Immediately I became suspicious and so within the email I found the link to this column by R. Albert Mohler, Jr. The column deals with the Pope’s recent visit to the Jordan and his comments that he respects the religion of Islam.

There is a lot that is going on in this piece that I’m going to comment on, so I think I will take a paragraph or two at a time, copy them and then provide my thought.

There are so many different angles to this situation. First, we have the spectacle of a Pope being received as a head of state. This is wrong on so many counts. Second, we have the Pope speaking in diplomatic jargon, rather than in plain and direct speech. Third, we have the Pope speaking of "respect" without any clear understanding of what this really means. Does the Pope believe that Muslims can be saved through the teachings of Islam?

First: Technically the Pope is a head of state. The Vatican is considered an independent nation.
Second: As a head of state, and one that is walking on eggshells thanks to previous comments, I’m not surprised to see him use diplomatic speak.
Third: That is a good question that will get addressed in more detail below.

Actually, he probably does -- at least within the context of a salvific inclusivism. The Roman Catholic Church officially teaches that Muslims are "included in the plan of salvation" by virtue of their claim to "hold the faith of Abraham."

In the words of Lumen Gentium, one of the major documents adopted at Vatican II: "But the plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator. In the first place amongst these there are the Mohamedans, who, professing to hold the faith of Abraham, along with us adore the one and merciful God, who on the last day will judge mankind."

The same language is basic to the current official catechism of the church as well. Within the context of the document, this language clearly implies that Muslims are within the scope of God's salvation. While the Roman Catholic Church teaches that Islam is both erroneous and incomplete, it also holds that sincere Muslims can be included in Christ's salvation through their faithfulness to monotheism and Islam.

Thus, when the Catholic Pope speaks of "respecting" Islam, he can do so in a way that evangelical Christians cannot. Within the context of official Catholic teaching, the Pope can create a fusion of diplomacy and doctrine.

This is something that I did not know, but I am encouraged by the somewhat holistic outlook adopted by the Church in this case.

While evangelical Christians face a different context to this question, the urgency is the same. We are not playing a diplomatic role as head of state, but we are called to be ambassadors for Christ and His Gospel.

It really bugs me when people claim to be speaking for Christ.

In this light, any belief system that pulls persons away from the Gospel of Christ, denies and subverts Christian truth, and blinds sinners from seeing Christ as the only hope of salvation is, by biblical definition, a way that leads to destruction. Islam, like every other rival to the Christian gospel, takes persons captive and is devoid of genuine hope for salvation.

Thus, evangelical Christians may respect the sincerity with which Muslims hold their beliefs, but we cannot respect the beliefs themselves. We can respect Muslim people for their contributions to human welfare, scholarship, and culture. We can respect the brilliance of Muslim scholarship in the medieval era and the wonders of Islamic art and architecture. But we cannot respect a belief system that denies the truth of the gospel, insists that Jesus was not God's Son, and takes millions of souls captive.

I find this to be very disturbing. While I’m glad that R. Mohler can see and respect many aspects of Muslim culture, history, and society, but to completely discount their religion just smacks of arrogance to me. Based on what he has written, this man completely lacks humility.

The papal visit to Jordan points directly to the problem of the papacy itself and to the confusion of Roman Catholic theology on this very point. To understand Islam is to know that we cannot identify Muslims as those who "along with us adore the one and merciful God." To deny the Trinity is to worship another God.

If not believing in the Trinity is to “worship another God” then what about the Jews? All Christians (or at least all that I have ever come into contact with or read) believe that they worship the same God that the Jews worship, but they (the Jews) do not believe in the Trinity. So by Mohler’s definition, Jews also worship a different God. But wait…Jesus was a Jew, so how does Mohler rationalize his contradictory and self-serving definition?

Respect is a problematic category. In the end, Christians must show respect for Muslims by sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the spirit of love and truth. We are called to love and respect Muslims, not Islam.

So the only way to respect them is to preach to them? How arrogant is that? I’m sorry if I’m offending anyone but this is folly. No one religion is truer than any other. They all have their pluses and their minuses but none of them own the truth. I understand that the point of religion is the faith part, but faith that lacks the intellectual humility to know that admit that one could be wrong is hollow in my eyes and misses the great power of the divine mystery.

Can a Reformer be a Member?

I have a good friend who is a Catholic and we have had many discussions about religion over the years. Often the topic of specific dogmas or rules would come up and at times he would say something like “if you don’t like it, don’t be a Catholic.” So this got me thinking…can one be a member of an organization if he/she wants to changes things in said organization?

Another example would be with political parties. If you are someone who believes in much of the core philosophies of a particular political party but disagree with the way the party is doing business or the direction that it is going in, do you stick around and try to reform things or do you bail because maybe you weren’t really a member to begin with?

Overall I believe that a reformer can be a member. Just because you have a difference in opinion with the group, that in and of itself is no reason to not be considered a member. Someone like Joe Lieberman would fall into this category. But when your worldview becomes drastically different, that is the point when the reformer needs to jump ship. That at least is how I personally felt when I made my decision to abandon the Democratic Party. While I am a self-described liberal, I do not feel like I am part of the “left,” but should I be? Should I be someone who tries to be a voice of reform within the “left” or should I just tell them all to take a hike and do my own thing. At this point I just don’t know.

The Ten Commandments and the State

On Monday, Governor Brad Henry signed House Bill 1330, which authorizes the placement of a monument to the Ten Commandments on state Capital grounds.
From the story –

The bill was filed by Rep. Mike Ritze, R-Broken Arrow.

Ritze, a freshman legislator, said the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld a similar monument's existence on the Texas Capitol grounds.

Ritze, who was not at the Capitol today, has said his family would pay for the design and construction of the 6-foot monolith as well as maintenance costs. He estimated the statue’s cost about $10,000.

I’m going to admit that I am torn on this. On the one hand I do see the importance that the Ten Commandments have played in the development of the law but on the other hand I don’t see that this is really something that is needed in government nor is it something that the government should be involved in (no matter how many people wish otherwise, our government is a secular organization and that is a good thing). The fact that it is being built with non-tax payer money makes the pill easier for me to swallow.

My general opinion on things like this is an all-or-nothing type of position. I’ll use religious organizations in public schools as an example. I have no problem with a school allowing an organization like the Fellowship of Christian Athletes to organize and use school facilities, as long as the same school would not stop someone from organizing similar organizations around other religions (say if a particular school had a large Jewish population and those students wanted to organize a Fellowship of Jewish Athletes). As long as the schools allowed both then I’m fine with it, but as soon as they say that one can operate and the other cannot, then that is when all of them must be shut down.

So in this case here, if another group wanted to have a monument built to honor the laws of some other religion and how said laws have influenced America, then the state cannot say no because if they do then they are violating the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

But while we’re on the subject of the law in history, there are two other sources that have served a major influences on the law in American that are as important, if not more important than the Ten Commandments. The first is the Code of Hammurabi. The second is English Common Law. So would it also not be appropriate to have monuments dedicated to these as well? I believe that it would be more than appropriate but I doubt that it would ever get through the legislature.

Thanks to Steve at The Otter Limits and Mike at The McCarville Report Online for the find.

Who I’ve Interviewed

Here is a list of all of the bands/people that I have interviewed over the years (not including the ones that I have done for this blog). I started interviewing bands over 10 years ago when I first got involved in what I call DIY Journalism. At the time I was producing a zine called Caught Off Guard (speaking of which, if anyone out there happens to have any copies of this zine laying around, please let me know) and helping run a small DIY club called The Hole. In fact many of the bands listed below were interviewed for COG (at either The Hole or Music Dimensions), but sadly most of the interviews never saw the light of day. A few years after COG fell apart, I tried my hand at an online zine and The Masses at Midnight was born, but it quickly died once I realized how much I suck at building websites. A few of these interviews appeared in TMAM. While still producing TMAM, I was asked to contribute to OklahomaPunkScene.com and did so proudly until it closed shop.

Of all of the interviews that I’ve done over the years, there are two that I’m most proud of. The first was the interview with Ian MacKaye of Fugazi (which you can read here). MacKaye is someone who I admire and look up to and having the chance to sit down and talk with him one-on-one was amazing, but what really made it great was just how cool and humble he was. After that interview, my impression of the man jumped tenfold. The second was the interview I did with Joe Queer of The Queers. The Queers were getting ready to play at The Hole and before the show I sat with Joe in his van for a good 30+ minutes doing the interview. He was extremely nice and fun to talk to. Sadly, I never got around to transcribing the tape of the interview and at this point I have no clue where that tape went.

Without any further ado, here are the bands/people that I have interviewed (in no particular order) --
At the Drive-In
Joe Queer of The Queers
Ian MacKaye of Fugazi
Mark Linskey of the Hudson Falcons
The Staggers (twice: once for TMAM and once for OKPS)
Nick 13 of Tiger Army
The Cuffs
Mr. Crispy
The Roustabouts
The Hotrod Hillbillies
The Forgotten (twice: once for COG and once for OKPS/TMAM)
Avail
The Bouncing Souls
Street Dogs
Sturgeon General
Pezz
The Tight Bros. from Way Back When
The Weaklings
One Man Army
Jon Cougar Concentration Camp
Pinhead Circus
5 Cent Deposit
12 Step Rebels
Earth A.D.
Concombre Zombie
Phantom Rockers
Mockingbird Lane
The Independents
The Magnificent 7
Electric Frankenstein
Dan Schafer of The Methadones
The owner of the south side Kaleidoscope Video (I’ve forgotten the poor guys name. Sorry man)
Travis Searle of Guestroom Records

Thanks to Steve at The Otter Limit for the idea.

Great Band Alert

The Ninja Dolls (Official, MySpace) play gritty pop-punk / power pop in the vein of The Ramones, The Eyeliners, and Cheap Trick. Oh and their Swedish.

Here is the video for their song "Run and Hide"

10 Questions with Otisburg

Otisburg hails from Seattle, WA and plays a good mix pop punk, power pop, and folk punk. The band at this point is Scott and Steve (otherwise known as Otter) and they are following in the footsteps of the Violent Femmes, playing their punk rock tunes acoustic style (while still plugging in for some numbers). Sure I might not be the most objective person in the world where it comes to this band (seeing as one of its members is one of my best friends) but my bias aside, Otisburg is a band that show a lot of promise. I highly suggest checking out the song “Hey Jennifer” on their MySpace profile. It’s my favorite.

Visit Otisburg at MySpace, PureVolume, or read a history of the band here.

Oklahoma Lefty: How did the band get together? What’s the history of the band?

Scott: I wrote the whole history down once and we might blog that on the MySpace, right Steve? The basics from my standpoint are that Brant, Steve, and I started the band. Brant and I knew each other from college and we finally sifted Steve out of Craigslist after meeting a lot of, shall we say, not so good fits. These included a Finnish guy who only wanted to play Van Halen and a Korean guy who wanted to make progressive instrumental rock. We almost gave up. After we met Steve, shared the songs we had been writing, and then heard his, we knew we had a band.

Steve: Yeah, we probably should put that history up on our MySpace. He is right about the basics though. I still remember that Craigslist ad. Something about band into the Descendents (and some other bands) needs singer. I was all over that. LoL!

OL: For those who have never heard Otisburg, how would you describe your sounds?

Scott: It’s pretty simple. Throw together ‘90s alternative and pop/punk and we’re somewhere in there.

Steve: I would have to say our sound is kind of random based on the mood that we are in. Currently, we are somewhere between a folk punk sound and an indie rock sound. I try not to label us though to be honest because I am not a big fan of genre labels because often they really do nothing to really describe what a band sounds like. Plus, I don’t want to let us get pigeon-holed into one style because you never know what we are going to be up to next!

OL: A couple of years ago you were poised to release an EP. What happened to that release?

Scott: Um… well, I’ll let Steve answer that question…

Steve: The EP, “Born Yesterday” became an internet-only released and was released in late 2007. You can hear the entire EP on our MySpace (www.myspace.com/otisburg)

OL: Describe your song writing process.

Scott: My songwriting process is way different than Steve’s. He can write songs in his head just riding the bus or whatever he happens to be doing. I usually have to have an instrument under my fingers to write something. Either way it all comes out in the end. After one of us writes the basic words and progressions we just play it for the other, throw ideas back and forth, and eventually the song comes out the way we like it. Sometimes we don’t have to change much if anything, though.

Steve: Yeah, sometimes I just come up with stuff off the top of my head and other times I have to work at it. But normally, I differ from Scott in that I usually come up with lyrics first and then either try and come up with a riff that fits it or I take to Scott and he comes up with something. From my viewpoint, Scott usually comes up with the music for a song first.

OL: Where did you get the name Otisburg?

Scott: Superman

Steve: When trying to come up with a name, we tried to come up with a really obscure super-hero/comic book type reference. I was sitting down thinking of the movie Superman: The Motion Picture and came up with Otisburg off the top of my head. I went to the other guys with that idea and the name stuck.

OL: I know that this is considered the worst question to ask, but oh well. What are your influences?

Scott: Not the worst, but I won’t try to give you any worse questions to ask! My influences are pretty much Weezer, The Descendents, and The Ramones.

Steve: I would say as far as writing goes, my influences are also The Descendents and Weezer. As far as my playing goes, I really can’t say. As a punk guitarist, my biggest influence has always been Greg Ginn (Black Flag) but as a singer, I have no idea. I guess I don’t really have an “influence” in that regard. I just do what I do.

OL: Are you currently working with any record labels?

Steve: No, not presently. We kind of stick to the DIY ethic.

Scott: Right now it’s such a cool time because you don’t really need a record label to get your music out there. We plan to just distribute anything we do online, whether as a CD through CDBaby.com or our own site, or digitally through iTunes or wherever.

OL: Any plans for a full length release?

Scott: Yeah, for sure! We feel the world deserves a full length! We’re in the writing process right now. Anyone who’s heard songs like Punkrocksong.com or Doughnut Riot can expect a set of songs in a similar vein. Not necessarily joke songs, but definitely with tongue firmly in cheek. So far we’ve got songs about garbage men, high school bands, and married people, among others. Also we’re playing around with the idea to do an acoustic release, either alongside of or part of the full length. Can’t really say for sure yet.

Steve: Yeah, hopefully sometime this year.

OL: If you could play a show opening up for any band, who would it be?

Steve: The Descendents!

Scott: Definitely Weezer for me. Those guys are great!

OL: Any final thoughts?

Steve: Yeah. Milk it does a body good! J

Scott: Stick with us! Check back often on the MySpace because we’re working on demos for the new stuff and kind of planning to release them there as a way for people to give us feedback as we make the record!

Video of the Day

"Remedy" by Hot Water Music

Currently Watching

Title: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (Official, IMDB, Amazon, Wikipedia)
Title: Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest (Official, IMDB, Amazon, Wikipedia)
Title: Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World’s End (Official, IMDB, Amazon, Wikipedia)

When these movies came out I avoided like the plague. I thought, how can any movie based on an amusement park ride be any good? Even when people who I know and respect, talked about how wonderful these movies were, I just dismissed them. I knew that there was no way that these films could be worth a crap. Well…I was wrong.

For whatever reason I decided to rent these movies recently, and I have been watching them like crazy ever since. Everything about these films is great – the acting, the directing, the writing, everything. Johnny Depp proves in these films that he can be great in a non-Tim Burton production and Orlando Bloom proves that he is more than just an elf, but they are not the only ones. The entire cast is perfect for their roles.

Now normally when a film ends in basically a preview for the next sequel (ala Back to the Future 2 and The Matrix 2), I am angered and disappointed, but for some reason the ending of Pirated 2 just left me wanting more. These films were also fantastic at leaving little hints and tidbits early on that become big plot points either later on in that film or in one of the next ones.

Now that I have fallen in love with Captain Jack Sparrow, Will Turner, Elizabeth Swann, Captain Barbossa, and those two crazy pirates (especially the one with the wooden eye) it is safe to say that these DVDs will soon find permanent homes in my collection.

What was Joe Thinking?

I know that Vice President Joe Biden is famous (if not infamous) for shoving his foot into his mouth, but was it really a good idea to go public with the location used by Vice President Cheney to hide after the attacks on 9/11?

I really like the fact that Joe just says whatever it is that he feels, it gives a sense of honesty to the man, but this seems like a pretty bad idea. What if he needs to go and hide there? How can a secret hiding place be secret if the entire world knows where it is? Maybe this is harmless, but I'm still not so sure.

Currently Listening

1. “11 O’Clock Tick Tock” by U2 (from Boy [Deluxe Edition] Disc 2)
2. “Hold On” by Tim Armstrong (from A Poet’s Life)
3. “Going Insane” by Vivian Girls (from Vivian Girls)
4. “I Let It Go” by The Thermals (from Now We Can See)
5. “Rosie” by The Smugglers (from Rosie)
6. “For All the Unheard” by The Bouncing Souls (from The Gold Record)
7. “Kid Candy” by Seaweed (from Four)
8. “Don’t Wanna” by Dead To Me (from Little Brother)
9. “She Took Him to the Lake” by Alkaline Trio (from Maybe I’ll Catch Fire)
10. “Handouts” by Black Train Jack (from You’re Not Alone)

Thoughts on Modern Liberalism (a.k.a. Progressivism)

Modern liberalism has more to do with progressivism than it does with its classical roots. And while much the progressive movements may look good on paper, they often fail in execution.

Most modern liberals look to the Roosevelt’s (Franklin and Teddy) as the pinnacle of political thought and success. Again there were things about both Presidents that I liked, but anyone who thinks that the New Deal is what got us out of the Great Depression just doesn’t know their history. Yes it helped, but what really ended the Great Depression was World War II. The progressive movement in the early 20th Century did bring about some great reforms like labor laws, trust-busting, and social workers, but many of those reforms have not grown and changed with society.

Modern liberals and progressives believe in the concept of social justice, but social justice for who and at what cost? An example of this is in the case of religious freedom. Many progressives preach religious freedom, but at the same time attack Christians. Religious freedom means just that, freedom for ALL religions. Progressives seem to believe that this means all non-Christians while conservative believe that it means all Christians. Both miss the point completely.

Another area of social justice that progressives support is that of race and race relations. Unfortunately the progressives blame everything on the white man and the establishment while giving the African-American community a free ride. In this case both sides are culpable and have a hand in the cookie jar. In many cases, the battles of the 1950’s and 60’s are still being fought by black leaders today, ignoring the progress that has occurred and the plight that has taken a hold of much of their community.

More than anything, progressives and modern liberals see the government as the best tool to bring about social change. They want the government through regulations and laws to make people be more environmentally conscious, less bigoted, and more equitable. They want the government to tax corporations to death, consequences be damned. From their perspective they are providing social justice by taking money from the evil rich and giving it to the poor. This is unfortunately a very flawed concept. For one thing, not all rich people are evil. And for another, not all corporations take advantage of their employees and customers (sadly though most seem to). The other big problem here is that the government is incredibly inefficient and it cannot force people to think or act a certain way and still claim to represent freedom.

My biggest problem with the progressives is the means and not the ends. We all should want the planet to be clean, for everyone to have the same opportunities, and for everyone to have enough food to eat, shelter, and necessities. The difference is that the progressives want the government to force these things on people and I want the government to ensure that we all have the same opportunity to achieve these things on our own. The government can and should provide safety nets to help those in need and ensure that the system is equitable to all, but that’s about it. The government cannot and should not guarantee results. That is the job of the individual.

While much of progressivism is well intentioned, if taken to its extreme it would end in authoritarianism (as would conservatism taken to its extreme). Are there good progressive ideas and people? Absolutely, but they must be tempered and balanced by those who see things differently (just like the progressives must temper and balance the conservatives). Many in the progressive movement would deny these observations as false, but then again conservatives disagreed with my observations on conservatism. I’m not telling anyone what they should or should not believe. I’m just telling people what I’ve seen.

You can read more about progressivism here, here, and here.

Currently Listening

1. “Fire in the Rain” by Agent Orange (from Real Live Sound)
2. “Let’s Lynch the Landlord” by Dead Kennedys (from Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables)
3. “Brave Captain” by fIREHOSE (from Ragin’, Full-On)
4. “Guilty of Being White” by Minor Threat (from Complete Discography)
5. “Where Eagles Dare” by Misfits (from Misfits: Collection I)
6. “God Dam Job” by The Replacements (from Stink)
7. “Nite Klub” by The Specials (from The Specials)
8. “Los Angeles” by X (from Los Angeles)
9. “Take the Skinheads Bowling” by Camper Van Beethoven (from Left of the Dial: Dispatches from the ‘80s Underground Disc 4)
10. “Getaway” by Kraut (from New York Trash)

Suggested Reading

Steve at The Otter Limits has put together a wonderfully thoughtful post entitle In A Perfect World. It’s basically impossible to pick out a Money Quote from this post because the entire thing is incredibly spot on that it hurts. One great and depressing line from the post though is the last one – “We do not live in a perfect world and sadly, at our current rate...we never will.”

Discerning Behaviors

I went through a training at work this week for a new position (which didn’t end up working out but that is a topic for another day). In the class we went over what is known as the Q4 Model or the Q4 Premise. The model is a way of categorizing the behavior exhibited by customers and how to react to said behaviors to get the customers to do what you want them to do.

The premise states that there are two measuring tools, actions and reactions. The actions are placed on a vertical axis of a graph. At the top is Dominance and at the bottom is Submissiveness. The reactions are placed on the horizontal axis of the graph. At the left is Hostility and at the right is Friendliness. With this graph, four distinct behavior types emerge: Dominant/Hostile (Q1), Submissive/Hostile (Q2), Submissive/Friendly (Q3), and Dominant/Friendly (Q4). Each type has specific needs as shown through their behaviors.

The Dominant/Hostile person (Q1) needs control. These individuals are generally angry, loud, verbally abusive, demanding, and threatening (hey that reminds me of some bloggers that I know). The recommended way to work with these people is to basically to the opposite of whatever it is that they are doing. So if they are yelling, you need to be quiet. If they are being abusive, you sit back and take it (I have issues with that honestly but I understand that the point is manipulating these people and not putting them in their place for being a-holes). Most important it is recommended that you be firm and assertive while providing options. When dealing with customers, these people are many times the hardest to deal with, IMO.

The Submissive/Hostile person (Q2) is apparently one that rarely calls in to have issues addressed, but when they do they need security. These folks are generally unsure, doubtful, sullen, apathetic, and pouty. These people have resigned themselves to the fact that they have lost and you (whoever you might be) has won. To work with a Q2 individual one must provide reassurance, display competence, slow down, explain what is going on, show understanding, and speak softly.

The Submissive/Friendly person (Q3) is looking for acceptance. They are talkative, complimentary, selfless, and follow directions well. These people are the best to shoot the breeze with but often nothing gets done in the process. So to make sure to successfully navigate these individuals it is recommended that one uses closed ended questions, be nice, and try to keep the conversation focused on the problem, redirecting gently when needed.

The Dominant/Friendly person (Q4) is probably the easiest to deal with because they are looking for cooperation. These folks want everyone to win in the end. The Q4 person is confident, competent, focused, open minded, and calm. The recommended way to work with the Q4 is to be confident, competent, professional, and to remain focused on the customer.

The theory is that in each interaction, your goal is to move everyone into the Q4 category. I have to admit that I’m not sure if that is possible, but the way that they have put these behaviors together is pretty ingenious. Personally I live in the Q3/Q4 side of the graph. I am rarely hostile (unless very pissed) depending on my mood am known to have exhibited all of the behaviors listed for these to groups.

The point of the entire lesson was to use these ideas in dealing with customers, but I walked away thinking more about how I could use this with my family and with bloggers. I’m not one for manipulation, but I do like the idea of find ways to react to people that will help them work best with you. Now that I think about it, I guess that is manipulation but I see it more as a way to be able to work best with the individual than I do as a way to get them to do what I, or the company I work for, want.

Who Should be on the Next BYO Split Series CD?

BYO Records has put out a series of CDs that include two different bands from the punk scene contributing songs. The first in this series included the bands Hot Water Music and Leatherface. Others in the series have included releases with Youth Brigade & Swingin’ Utters, Alkaline Trio & One Man Army, The Bouncing Souls & Anti-Flag, and the most popular in the series (and the biggest selling release in BYO history) Rancid & NOFX. What made the Rancid/NOFX CD so special was that the bands covered each others material for the CD. So you had Rancid doing six NOFX songs and NOFX doing six Rancid songs (Anti-Flag and The Bouncing Souls each covered one of the other’s songs on their split as well). Unfortunately there hasn’t been a new BYO Split Series CD released in quite a few years (the last being the Alkaline Trio/One Man Army disc) and that is a shame because these CDs are a lot of fun and a great way for fans of one particular band to discover another band thanks to them sharing a CD.

The BYO Split Series is a project that I think BYO Records needs to continue, maybe planning the release of one each year (or more if possible). If anyone at BYO happens to read this, here are some suggestions for bands for some potential upcoming releases.

• Descendents and Dag Nasty (preferably covering each other’s material)
• ALL and Fugazi (also covering each other’s stuff)
• 7 Seconds and Dropkick Murphys
• Bad Religion and Agent Orange
• Pinhead Gunpowder and The Riverdales
• The Briefs and The Epoxies*
• The Donnas and The Eyeliners
• The Thermals and Superchunk
• Big Drill Car and ALL
• Agent Orange and Descendents
• The Pavers and The Methadones
• Foo Fighters and Weezer**
• The Slackers and The Specials
• Social Distortion and Street Dogs

* I think that The Epoxies have broken up, but the lead singer has started a new band, so if that is the case we can just go with her new band.

**This pairing would probably break the bank at BYO but I’m sure it would sell a boat load of CDs.

Currently Listening

1. “Wait for the Blackout” by Alkaline Trio (from BYO Split Series, Vol. 5)
2. “You Haven’t Seen Yourself in Years” by Swingin’ Utters (from BYO Split Series, Vol. 2)
3. “The Freaks, Nerds & Romantics” by Anti-Flag (from BYO Split Series, Vol. 4)
4. “The Radio Airwaves Gave Me a Lobotomy” by One Man Army (from BYO Split Series, Vol. 5)
5. “Let Them Know” by Youth Brigade (from BYO Split Series, Vol. 2)
6. “That’s Youth” by The Bouncing Souls (from BYO Split Series, Vol. 4)
7. “Troublemaker” by Weezer (from Weezer [The Red Album])
8. “Helpless” by Face To Face (from Standards and Practices)
9. “Beyond Electric Dreams” by Bad Religion (from The Empire Strikes First)
10. “Ex-Spectator” by Fugazi (from The Argument)

Suggested Reading

The blog Classically Liberal has an excellent post entitled Don’t believe everything you read, especially if it sounds good that I HIGHLY suggest everyone reads.

Money Quote (which happens to be the opening paragraph) –

People have a propensity to believe falsehoods provided those falsehoods correspond with other beliefs they already hold. When it comes to falsehoods that contradict what they already believe they will be quite skeptical. We all do.

Sound familiar anyone?

Thoughts on Conservatism

If one listens to talk radio, you would be led to believe that conservatism is about limited government, individual liberty, and personal freedom. Sadly this is not entirely the case. Much of conservatism deals with order and “traditional moral values.” While liberty and “traditional moral values” do not always conflict, they don’t always go hand in hand either.

A perfect example is the legalization of marijuana. Many, if not most, conservatives oppose the legalization of marijuana because they believe that it would add to the moral decline of our national (I’m paraphrasing something that Rush Limbaugh said on his show yesterday here). Yet the father of modern conservatism, William F. Buckley, supported the legalization of drugs (and not just pot). His argument was that if conservatives truly believed in freedom and limited government then they would support the legalization of drugs because that put the freedom and responsibility back in the hands of the individual and not the state. He was right.

The thing with conservatism is that at its core it believes that the government shouldn’t be able to tell people what to do with their money but it should be able to tell people what to do with their morals. This belief is extremely evident when listening to the conservative Christian and evangelical movements. The message of these movements is completely one of telling others how to live their lives and what morals they should follow. This same message is echoed by conservative talk radio hosts and bloggers.

This same message of the government controlling morals can be seen in the issue of gay marriage. To conservatives, gay marriage is an affront to traditional marriages. Color me crazy, but if Bruce and Tom want to get hitched, that has absolutely NO affect on my marriage. If two consenting adults want to enter into a contractual agreement (i.e. marriage) with one another, then I say more power to them. If conservatives truly believed in liberty and freedom for all, then they would agree.

There are parts of conservatism that are very valid and there have been great conservative leaders throughout our history but in order to understand the philosophy we much see it for what it truly is and not what conservatives would like it to be. At the end of the day, conservatism is about order (thank you Alexander Hamilton).

Now before anyone out there starts with the “what about liberals” and what not, have no fear…that is something that I will delve into, but it is a topic for another day. The are great things that we can learn from all philosophies but none of them are perfect and none of them have all of the answers.

Currently Reading

Title: Everybody Hurts: An Essential Guide to Emo Culture (Amazon, HarperCollins)
Author: Leslie Simon (Official, MySpace, HarperCollins) and Trevor Kelley (MySpace, HarperCollins)
Publisher: HarperCollins (Official, Wikipedia)

Everybody Hurts... is a snarky look into what it means to be emo. I’ve always associated the word emo with post-hardcore and emotional hardcore (ala Fugazi, Hot Water Music, Sunny Day Real Estate, Jawbox) but it seems that the word has grown to mean much more than that.

A lot of what is being labeled as emo seems to be just the general underground scene (or at least certain parts of it). When I was in high school, many of the kids in the scene in Lakeland, FL were depressed (a staple of emo culture according to the book). We were also overly dramatic and big into our fashion (making sure that we all looked different from everyone else [a.k.a. the popular kids], yet amazingly we all looked kind of the same) and that is apparently something that is also very emo. My guess is that this is a label that many kids have latched onto to help them get through the sea of crap that is high school (we were called the “progressive kids” back in Lakeland).

For those completely unfamiliar with emo or the underground music scene, this book will still be a fun read but I’d suspect that many of the jokes will be missed (kind of like when you are hanging out with a group of folks that have inside jokes that make them all laugh like hyenas and leave you sitting there wondering “what’s so funny?”).

My Last Word on Torture

I have grown extremely tired of the torture debate that has been occurring recently across various local (and formerly local) blogs. It has gotten to the point in the discussion that things are just getting continuously repeated (and repeated and repeated and repeated). I understand both sides of the argument and both have valid points and concerns but the dialogue is going nowhere.

So here are my final (for now at least) thoughts on torture:

1. Enhanced interrogation techniques like waterboarding and chaining someone up in a single position (like the fetal position), naked, and leaving them there for days to defecate and urinate themselves, in my opinion, is torture.
2. Sometimes torture works and sometimes it doesn’t.
3. Torture is wrong. Yes there are times when using it can save lives but two wrongs don’t make a right.

To me this is a moral issue. We are battling societies that think a suitable punishment for an 8-year-old child who stole a loaf of bread, is to run over said child’s arm with a car. Pardon me, but that is fucked up. So how can we as a society condemn such horrific actions when we, through our government, condone torture? Sure it may save some lives but that doesn’t make it right. We have no credibility to attack and condemn the barbaric conditions and laws of these nations, when we engage in legal barbaric conditions ourselves. We should be leading by example, not following suit.

Maybe I’m misguided on this but that is how I see it. Besides, no matter how much we debate this in public, I’m sure that the agents on the ground will do whatever they think they have to (and someone in the government will cover it up).

As to my own admission that I would jack someone up to save a member of my family… There is a difference between someone doing something that he/she knows is wrong to save someone he/she loves and the government officially giving the rubber stamp of approval on torture. Is this hypocritical on my part? Probably (or at the very least it is a bit contradiction). But I equate it to putting a family member of a rape/murder victim on the jury that will decide the suspect’s fate. That’s something that no one would approve of (or at least they shouldn’t) because one of the beauties of our system of governance is that all suspects are entitled to a fair trial (in theory at least). So, would it be fair to the suspect to have the husband or father of a rape victim on the jury? Hell no it wouldn’t. That is why I can understand that I would f-up someone’s day to save my family, but I’d never want my government to condone the use of torture.

Currently Listening

1. “Salad Days” by Minor Threat (from Complete Discography)
2. “Exercise” by Dag Nasty (from Wig Out at Denko’s)
3. “Sitting Around at Home” by Gorilla Biscuits (from Start Today)
4. “Not For Anyone” by Hot Water Music (from Caution)
5. “The Dirt Whispered” by Rise Against (from Appeal to Reason)
6. “The One You Want” by The Get Up Kids (from Guilt Show)
7. “El Scorcho” by Weezer (from Pinkerton)
8. “Rip It Up!!” by Tight Bros. from Way Back When (from Runnin’ Thru My Bones)
9. “My Life” by Saigon Kick (from Saigon Kick)
10. “Sieve-Fisted Find” by Fugazi (from Repeater + 3 Songs)

Movie Review

Title: 17 Again (Official, IMDB)

I’m not afraid or ashamed to admit that I have seen many of Zac Efron’s films, but 17 Again is definitely one of the best (I’d say it is the best but it’s no Hairspray). And while Efron does a great job in this film, what makes the movie work so well is the comedic brilliance of Thomas Lennon (IMDB, Wikipedia). Each and every scene that Lennon is in, he steals.

The film is a classic transformation/journey tale. The main character, Mike O’Donnell played be Efron (as a teen) and Matthew Perry (as an adult), is extremely disappointed with his life and because of this he is in the process of getting divorced, quits his job of 16 years, and finds himself wandering the halls of his former (and his kids’ current) high school. O’Donnell’s spirit guide, played by the always fantastic Brian Doyle-Murray, sends him on a journey back into his 17 year-old body. O’Donnel convinces his best friend (and current roommate thanks to the upcoming divorce) Ned Gold, played by Lennon, to pretend that he is his father and enrolls him back into high school. And thus hilarity ensues.

The writing in the film is top notch and the directing is spot on. The cast is rounded out by Leslie Mann (Scarlett O’Donnell, Mike’s wife), Michelle Trachtenberg (Maggie O’Donnell, Mike’s daughter), Sterling Knight (Alex O’Donnell, Mike’s son), and Melora Hardin (Principle Jane Masterson; she is also a scene stealer). Overall I think that 17 Again is a hilarious ride through the troubles of high school, the tribulations of parenthood, and a great reminder of the power of love (and I’m not talking about the Huey Lewis song either).