Tuesday, February 28, 2006

 

Guns don't kill people (you know the rest)

A friend writes:

Hey lefty-left. Dare you to post this on you blog, with no comment at-all.

Nope. Comments:

No one should misunderestimate my dislike for the right wing in general, and this administration in particular, my liberal economics and my Jesusian take on tolerance, for me bein' a pansy when it comes to defense of my person, my family and my property. I'm American that way.

Sheesh.

--ER

Quick Refresher Course

Words to live by

a. An armed man is a citizen. An unarmed man is a subject.

b. A gun in the hand is better than a cop on the phone.

c. Smith & Wesson: The original point and click interface.

d. Gun control is not about guns; it's about control.

e. If guns are outlawed, can we use swords?

f. If guns cause crime, then pencils cause misspelled words.

g. Free men do not ask permission to bear arms.

h. If you don't know your rights, you don't have any.

i. Those who trade liberty for security have neither.

j. The United States Constitution (c) 1791. All Rights Reserved.

k. What part of "shall not be infringed" do you not understand.

l. The Second Amendment is in place in case they ignore the others.

m. 64,999,987 firearm owners killed no one yesterday.

n. Guns only have two enemies: Rust and Politicians.

o. Know guns, Know peace and safety. No guns, no peace nor safety.

p. You don't shoot to kill; You shoot to stay alive.

q. 911 - government sponsored Dial a Prayer.

r. Assault is a behavior, not a device.

s. Criminals love gun control - it makes their jobs safer.

t. If Guns cause Crime, then Matches cause Arson.

u. Only a government that is afraid of it's citizens try to control them.

v. You only have the rights you are willing to fight for.

w. Enforce the "gun control laws" in place, don't make more.

x. When you remove the people's right to bear arms, you create slaves.

y. The American Revolution would never have happened with Gun Control.

z. " ... a government by the people, for the people ... "

 

Kitty-dog and kitty-cat



I'm pretty sure that Fenway, the step-granddog, would bite my ankles if he understood me when I call him "kitty-dog." But I swear, he acts like a cat!







Be that as it may, Ice-T LOATHES all forms of canine, of course, kitty-dogs or not.

--ER

Monday, February 27, 2006

 

'Unfit to govern'

An unpaid political announcement.

--ER


Dear Friend,

Three times this week the Republican culture of corruption will come to a head before a federal judge.

Tuesday: David Safavian, George Bush's top procurement officer (responsible for billions of dollars in federal spending), will be in court for pretrial motions in his case involving lying to investigators about his dealings with Jack Abramoff.

Wednesday: Michael Scanlon, Abramoff's associate, who pled guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States, will be in court for a status conference on his sentencing.

Friday: Former Republican Representative Randy "Duke" Cunningham who pled guilty on November 28th will be sentenced.

Time and time again Republicans have repeatedly demonstrated to us they are unfit to govern. As the days and weeks go by, the public is becoming more aware of that fact. We can take back the Senate this November and the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee is helping to make that possible. They are making sure all Democratic Senate candidates can compete with their Republican opponents who, through the efforts of Rick Santorum and Tom Delay, have become a wholly owned subsidiary of special interest lobbyists.

Early in February, the DSCC set a goal of raising $150,000 online this month. They are only $21,000 short of this critical goal. Put them over the top by making a contribution today.

There are only eight months left until the Republican culture of corruption comes crashing down. When we take back the Senate, Democrats will have the oversight necessary to disinfect Washington, DC. The only way this will happen is if we elect more Democrats.

And to do that we need your help -- one-party Republican rule in Washington simply is not getting the job done.

Please make a contribution today and help the DSCC reach its February goal.

Harry Reid

P.S. I know you have friends and family as angry with Republicans one party rule as I am. Please forward this message to them and ask them to make an immediate investment in our campaign to elect a Democratic Senate.

 

Oda ta Ice-T (n shit)



Bloggy amigo Melancholic ran this blog through Gizoogle, the jive generator! Hoo hoo!

--ER

Felis Cattus,

is yo taxonizzles nomenclatizzle an endothermic quadruped carnivizzles by nature?

Yo visual, olfactory n auditory senses contribute ta yo hunt'n skills, n natural defenses.

I find me intrigued by yo subvocal oscillations, a singular develizzle of cat communicizzles

that obviates yo basic hedonizzles predilizzle fo` a rhythmic straight trippin' of yo fiznur, ta demonstrate affection n shit.

A tail is quite essential fo` yo acrobatic talents; you would not be so agile if you lacked its counterbalance.

And W-H-to-tha-izzen not being utilized ta aide in locomizzle it often serves ta illustrate tha state of yo emotion.

O Ice-T,
tha complex levels of behaviour you display connote a fairly well-developed cognitive array dogg.

And though you is not sentient, Ice-T, n do not comprehend, I nonethizzles brotha you a true n valued nigga .

(Friznom a "Star T-R-to-tha-izzek: Next Gen," wherein Dizzy nigga a poetry read'n and, as his NINTH poem [when tha crew were all struggl'n ta kizzle awake], Dizzy noted that Keats n drug deala were in tha habit of writ'n "odes" ta thugz important ta tizzle. In that spirit, Data wrote n read aloud an ode ta his ciznat, "Spot." Dizzy rocks yeah yeah baby. Ice-T rules.)

 

Ode to Ice-T

Felis Cattus,

is your taxonomic nomenclature, an endothermic quadruped carnivorous by nature?

Your visual, olfactory and auditory senses contribute to your hunting skills, and natural defenses.

I find myself intrigued by your subvocal oscillations, a singular development of cat communications

that obviates your basic hedonistic predilection for a rhythmic stroking of your fur, to demonstrate affection.

A tail is quite essential for your acrobatic talents; you would not be so agile if you lacked its counterbalance.

And when not being utilized to aide in locomotion, it often serves to illustrate the state of your emotion.

O Ice-T,
the complex levels of behaviour you display connote a fairly well-developed cognitive array.

And though you are not sentient, Ice-T, and do not comprehend, I nonetheless consider you a true and valued friend
.

(From a "Star Trek: Next Gen," wherein Data delivers a poetry reading and, as his NINTH poem [when the crew were all struggling to keep awake], Data noted that Keats and others were in the habit of writing "odes" to people important to them. In that spirit, Data wrote and read aloud an ode to his cat, "Spot." Data rocks. Ice-T rules.)

--ER

Sunday, February 26, 2006

 

President Dennis Hastert

IMPEACH BUSH NOW.

IMPEACH CHENEY NOW

The lying liars.


By PAMELA HESS
UPI Pentagon Correspondent

WASHINGTON, Feb. 24 (UPI) -- A United Arab Emirates government-owned company is poised to take over port terminal operations in 21 American ports, far more than the six widely reported.


Read all about it.


White House 'Discovers’ 250 Emails Related to Plame
Leak

By Jason Leopold
t r u t h o u t | Report
Friday 24 February 2006

The White House turned over last week 250 pages of
emails from Vice President Dick Cheney’s office.
Senior aides had sent the emails in the spring of 2003
related to the leak of covert CIA operative Valerie
Plame Wilson, Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald
revealed during a federal court hearing Friday.

The emails are said to be explosive, and may prove
that Cheney played an active role in the effort to
discredit Plame Wilson’s husband, former Ambassador
Joseph Wilson, a vocal critic of the Bush
administration’s prewar Iraq intelligence, sources
close to the investigation said.

Sources close to the probe said the White House
“discovered” the emails two weeks ago and turned them
over to Fitzgerald last week. The sources added that
the emails could prove that Cheney lied to FBI
investigators when he was interviewed about the leak
in early 2004. Cheney said that he was unaware of any
effort to discredit Wilson or unmask his wife’s
undercover status to reporters.


Read more about it from The AP

In the immortal words of Howard Dean, "Aiiiirrrrrgggggghhhhh!!!!!"

ImpeachBushTV

Impeach Bush here, too.

Impeach Bush Coalition blog

Impeach Cheney and Bush book list

President Dennis Hastert

(Hat tip to Drlobojo)

--ER

 

'The Dynamic Unity of Reality'

One quote from Einstein mentioned in the sermon at church this morning, and my effort to find it online, led me to a site dedicated to Truth and Reality -- as apposed to "truth, justice and the American way."

Very interesting stuff.


Here's the quote that got me looking:

"The most beautiful and most profound experience is the sensation of the mystical. It is the sower of all true science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead. To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their primitive forms - this knowledge, this feeling is at the center of true religiousness."
-- Albert Einstein. "The Merging of Spirit and Science"


And here's another one to spark thinking:

"A human being is part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. We experience ourselves, our thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest. A kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from the prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. The true value of a human being is determined by the measure and the sense in which they have obtained liberation from the self. We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if humanity is to survive.
-- Albert Einstein, 1954

I took the liberty of boldfacing the parts that speak to me as a Christian.

--ER

 

Way to go, Teditor!

Slide on over to Teditor's joint and read about An Engaging Topic!

--ER

Saturday, February 25, 2006

 

NordicTrack update!

Oh yeah. That's me on the treadmill. One hot stud. :-)

Actually, three weeks after pledging to get back with it, I have!

One week of five minutes a day, one week of 10 minutes a day, and this week I'm shifting from 10 minutes a day to 20 minutes three times a week, and eventually 30 minutes three times a week. And, I've got a 10-pound weight I've been doin' some curls with.

All of which would make a serious athlete roll his eyes. But hey. I'm not a serious athlete. I'm a desk jockey who eats like a farm hand, who had gotten so out of shape it hurt to just be awake.

Things are gettin' better.

--ER

Friday, February 24, 2006

 

Pearl's -- OKC's best Cajun joint

Goin' to lunch with a flack today. Bidness lunch. We'll go to the place I always go for a workin' lunch, Pearl's -- EXCELLENT Cajun fare.

I'll have a bowl of red beans and rice with andoulle sausage, or a bowl of gumbo with a side of hushpuppies, or a fried oyster po' boy. Those are my three lunch dishes at Pearl's.

Tell me about yer favorite joint!

--ER

Thursday, February 23, 2006

 

Partin' with intolerance

I've always loved me some Dolly Parton. Still have this album. I was in sixth grade when it came out in 1977.

Big hair. Big personality. Big you-know-whats. How could a redneck boy resist?

Dolly Parton has always been a little ways "out there."

So've I. Which is why I completely understand why she said what she said in the following -- and why I admire her now even more.

--ER

By Peter Cooper, USA TODAY

NASHVILLE — Dolly Parton has no trouble relating to outsiders. "I've always been a weird, out-there freak myself," she says.

Growing up in the mountains of East Tennessee, she was used to not being accepted. "My grandfather was a Pentecostal preacher. It was a sin to even pluck your eyebrows, and they thought it was a sin for me to be there looking like Jezebel."


Read all about it.

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

 

I cannot say The Lord's Prayer ...

Some of y'all clicked on "religious" the other day when I asked you to do that Johari square thing. I quibbled with that a bit, but mainly because of my own concept of what "religious" means.

But, OK. I do go to church, I don't hide the fact that I'm a Christian in the RW, although I certainly don't wear it on my sleeve -- and I do post spiritual things here quite a bit, because this is a place for thinking and sharing, as well as ranting and raving.

But, I am 100-percent jerk a whole lot of the time. "It is no longer me, but the jerk that is in me," the Apostle Paul might say. Whatever, Pablo. It comes across as meanness to those around me. Or impatience. Or -- well, pick your sin.

My sin.

'Cause I am eat up with sin. More than a "sinner saved by grace," though. That sounds defeatist, down in the mouth, apologetic: "Oh, don't mind me, I'm just a sinner saved by grace."

On the other extreme are the types who proclaim for all the world to hear: "I'm a Child of the King!" Most of 'em are just like the jocks and country club kids we knew in school, too. The mayor's kid in a small town. A PK. The principal's daughter. Just about as annoying.

Ol' ER is a gen-yoo-wine Child of God, warts, farts sins and all. Some kind of mystery involved in that. Big time. Figurin' it out, a little bit at a time, is the lifetime sojourn of a Christian.

Jesus loves me. I love Him back. I try to love God, and I try to love my neighbor as I love myself -- not to "gain" God's blessings, which can never be gained, but because of God's blessings, which can never be denied, once acknowledged.

Ah. This didn't start out to be anything other than the following:

Between the time I started putting the prayer below in this post, and now, I answered the buzzer on the clothes dryer and went in there and managed to cuss up a real blue streak and throw clothes and the basket around because today has been a real downer, I have a funeral to go to Saturday now, and I've just been fighting every bit of the world I could get within shouting distance of myself today.

I've been louder than I should around people who didn't deserve it. Heck, the other day, I dropped a full F-bomb on someone at work, in front of several other someones at work -- because of a resentment I'd let fester over the weekend.

What an ass I can be.

NONE of which lessens the fact that I am a Christian -- day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute sometimes. None of which will keep me from posting this, which is directed at myself and every other member of the universal church.

The ol' debble wants me to be too ashamed. Wants me to hide my faith, and God's love for me, under a bushel. But the ol' debble is a pud and can kiss my redneck ass -- since I've been showing it the past several days anyway.

--ER

I cannot say Our if my faith has no room for other people and their needs.

I cannot say Father if I do not demonstrate this relationship in my daily living.

I cannot say Who Art in Heaven if all of my interests and pursuits are in earthly, material things.

I cannot say Hallowed Be Thy Name if I, who am called by God, am not holy.

I cannot say Thy Kingdom Come if I am unable to Let Go and Let God.

I cannot say Thy Will Be Done on Earth as it is in Heaven, if I am unwilling to carry out God's will.

I cannot say Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread if I ignore the needs of others.

I cannot say Forgive Us Our Debts As We Forgive Our Debtors if I harbor a grudge against anyone.

I cannot say Lead Us Not Into Temptation if I choose to remain in a situation in which I am likely to be tempted.

I cannot say Deliver Us From Evil if I am unprepared to stand for good.

I cannot say Thine is the Kingdom if I fear what others say and do.

I cannot say Thine is the Power if I do not show the power of God by loving others.

I cannot say Thine is the Glory if I am seeking my own glory.

I cannot say Forever if I am anxious about my own daily affairs.

I cannot say Amen unless I can honestly say: "Cost what it may, this is my prayer."


-- Author Unknown

 

Meet Ignor and Arrog!

The Ance twins!

As a conservative RW friend of mine wondered via e-mail:

"Who's driving this thing? An Arab country is going to run 6 major ports in this country and nobody thinks the American people might have a problem with this? Come-on folks, wake-up!

"It's in the same series of screw-ups as the handling of the Harriet Myers nomination and the Cheney hunting accident. I think they need some new blood in the information section of the administration."


Don't blame the flacks this time! It's those Bush twins. No, not his daughters!

It's Ignor Ance and Arrog Ance! They've been in charge his whole presidency. They're loose now, out in the open!

I hear they're being asked to coordinate midterm congressional elections!

By Ted Bridis
ASSOCIATED PRESS

9:15 a.m. February 22, 2006

WASHINGTON – President Bush was unaware of the pending sale of shipping operations at six major U.S. seaports to a state-owned business in the United Arab Emirates until the deal already had been approved by his administration, the White House said Wednesday.

Defending the deal anew, the administration also said that it should have briefed Congress sooner about the transaction, which has triggered a major political backlash among both Republicans and Democrats.


Read all about it, from the San Diego Union-Tribune.

--ER

 

Fun with Bushspeak!

Have fun, y'all!

Bush speech generator.

--ER

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

 

'Why are we in Iraq?'

Q. Why are we in Iraq?
A. For freedom! Recent intelligence informs us it is on the march.
Q. Hooray! Where's it marching to?


Read more from Fafnir at Fafblog.

(Thanks again to Miss Cellania.)

--ER

 

Houston's top cop: unAmerican

Cops scare me to death. As the front line of the executive branch, they should be made to take classes in constitutional rights. Sadly, most are not. Apparently not even the top dog of one of the biggest PD's in the country.

--ER


By ALEXIS GRANT
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

Facing a shortage of police officers, Police Chief Harold Hurtt called Wednesday for a new type of patrol: surveillance cameras on downtown streets, apartment complexes and shopping malls — and in extreme situations, private homes.

"If you're not doing anything wrong, why should you worry about it?" Hurtt told reporters.


Read all about it.

Picked up from Craig Crawford.

 

'Overall embrace of secrecy'

If you're not outraged by this, you've done gone and become part of the problem.

--ER


(Thanks to Drlobojo)

New York Times
February 21, 2006
U.S. Reclassifies Many Documents in Secret Review
By SCOTT SHANE
WASHINGTON, Feb. 20 — In a seven-year-old secret
program at the National Archives, intelligence
agencies have been removing from public access
thousands of historical documents that were available
for years, including some already published by the
State Department and others photocopied years ago by
private historians.

READ THE REST IN THE FIRST COMMENT

Monday, February 20, 2006

 

'Turd' is in the Bible!

Turd!

It's in the Bible!

What a great site! Online Etymology Dictionary.

O.E. tord, from P.Gmc. *turdam (cf. M.Du. torde "piece of excrement," O.N. tord-yfill, Du. tort-wevel "dung beetle"), from PIE *drtom, pp. of base *d(e)r- "flay, tear," thus "that which is separated (or torn off) from the body" (cf. shit from root meaning "to split"). As a type of something worthless and vile, it is attested from c.1250; meaning "despicable person" is recorded from c.1450.
"A tord ne yeue ic for eu alle" ["The Owl and the Nightingale," c.1250]

"Alle thingis ... I deme as toordis, that I wynne Crist." [Wyclif, Phil. iii.8, 1382; KJV has "I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord"]


--ER

 

14 characteristics of fascism

Fascism?

--ER

(Thanks to Miss Cellania!)

Sunday, February 19, 2006

 

'Just calm down a little'

One of my favorite movies is "Primary Colors." One of my favorite scenes in the movie is when former Gov. Fred Picker, played by Larry Hagman, is more or less drafted into the Democratic Primary when a friend withdraws after a heart attack.

That scene is what I had in mind when I put up Friday's post about wishing things were toned down some. I think of it often, actually. Here is what Picker-Hagman said when he stepped in front of the big flag and before a crowd of screaming partisans:

Thank you.
Well , this is kind of overwhelming.
I didn't expect this.
And to all the folks giving blood in the back. ...
I want to thank them. I really do.
Would all of you do me a favor?
Don't shout quite so loud. Thanks.
I really mean it.
I wish everyone would just calm down a little.
When I say "everyone" , I mean ...
the press and the TV crews
and all my colleagues. ...
and all the people who advise my colleagues.
I think we need to calm down some.
You know ...
this is a terrific country.
But sometimes we go a little crazy.
Maybe that's part of ...
our greatness, part of our freedom.
But if we don't watch out and calm down,
it all may spin out of control.
The world is getting more and more complicated
Politicians have to explain things to you in simpler terms ...
so that they can get their little oversimplified explanations ...
on the evening news.
and eventually, instead of even trying to explain. ...
they give up and start slinging mud at each other.
And it's all to keep you excited, keep you watching. ...
like you watch a ... a car wreck or a ...
wrestling match.
That's just what it's like -- professional westling.
It's staged and it's fake
and it doesn't mean anything.
That goes for the debates. We don't hate our opponents.
Half the time we don't even know them.
But it seems it's the only way we know how
to keep you all riled up.
So what I want to do is quiet things down. ...
and start having a conversation. ...
about what sort of country we want this to be in the next century.


(Thanks to some crazy people at Drew's Script-O-Rama who typed in the whole script of "Primary Colors."

--ER

Friday, February 17, 2006

 

Black-and-white world


I wish I were in a land of black-and-white -- not where issues and ideas were "black and white," which they never are, but a place where everything was just toned down.

Color is highly overrated.

--ER

Thursday, February 16, 2006

 

What kind of jerk am I?

Thanks to all who "played" yesterday. Today is the opposite kind of assessment.

"The Nohari Window is a challenging inversion of the Johari Window, using antonyms of the original words. By describing your failings from a fixed list of adjectives, then asking your friends and colleagues to describe you from the same list, a grid of perceived and unrecognised weaknesses can be explored."

Pick ER's negative traits.

--ER

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

 

Window to my, like, soul, or something

How do you see me? Help me see myself.

(Thanks to Bitch, Ph.D., who wryly noted, "Funny, 'narcissistic' wasn't an option.' ")

--ER

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

 

Deep Thoughts, by Erudite Redneck

Not really. Just random brainfartage.


Student staff at the ou student newspaper gave readers more than they bargained for today: A free condom. Good for them. Provocative. (Yes, I herewith violate my own insistence that the ER Roadhouse remain an ou-free zone.)

The Cheney shooting: The plot thickens. I don't know about you, but I take what comes out of the White House as the pure bullsnot it is. The man didn't get peppered. He got shot. And it's not the victim's fault.

American Bar Association to Bush: Please obey the Constitution. Presumably, ABA members can read law.

A few folks have accused me lately of veering further left. So, as I do periodically, I rechecked. Nope. I have, however, drifted a click or two more toward libertarianism:

My political compass (counted from an X-Y axis):

Economic Left/Right: -5.50
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -3.85


Check yourself at Political Compass.

--ER

Monday, February 13, 2006

 

Holy hallway haint




Dr. ER drew this image of the holy hallway haint she saw in our house the other day. She said she didn't think she could draw a close likeness of her. She said she was surprised that she was able to.

I was spooked to hear of it at first. But Dr. ER said the haint had a sweet air about her and made her feel protected, when she was particularly down. And I am all for that.

--ER

 

Oklahoma State (of Crises)

Sad, sad days in Oklahoma State Cowboys Land!

The basektball team sucks. Coach Eddie Sutton was in a car wreck last Friday. Today OSU put him on medical leave, and news came that he was cited for driving under the influence. Hydrocodone was seen in the seat of his SUV.

(Dr. ER, hearing the topic of this post, declared, "We don't need to have any rash worldwide bashing of hydrocodone, though! Damn it!" She is very, very carefully taking limited amounts of it, and other prescription drugs, for pain, for her broken hip).

Sutton is taking hydrocodone for back pain. Old ghosts are sure to surface, though. He had a drinking problem back in the day, which he said was "dealt with" when he arrived in OSU in 1990. No hints of trouble, that I know of, in 16 years.

Also, OSU wrestlers fell Sunday to the Golden Gophers of Minnesota before a home state crowd in Oklahoma City. Heavyweight Steve Mocco got whipped for the third time straight by the same, um, Gopher. He better watch it, or they'll start callin' him Mock-o. Hey, he bought into and helped fuel his own hype.

And Dr. ER just yelped and said, "They're pissin' me off!" and changed the TV in the front room from the OSU-Kansas basketball to the Olympics.

Sigh. Money's nice and all, Mr. Boone Pickens -- he's donated something like $250 million to OSU the past couple of years -- but it can't buy good karma.

And OSU Cowboys need some good karma, man.

--ER

 

Frito Bandito en la casa!





It took, what, a month and a few false starts on e-Bay, but bloggy buddy and RW friend Drlobojo secured Dr. ER and I our very own Frito Bandito pencil eraser (circa 1969-72)!

--ER

Sunday, February 12, 2006

 

'Wonder-working power'

Confessions:

All is forgiven re: Mark M., both real and imagined. I'm human. And I was especially human yesterday. Peace, peace.

Church is 30 minutes there, plus 30 minutes back, I have stuff to do today that is not more important but is more immediate. I did listen to last week's sermon on-line.

Here it is. It's about 25 minutes. If you listen, listen to the Lord's Prayer (sounds like it ends before it does). (Click on Jan. 29).

Radical stuff.

--ER

Saturday, February 11, 2006

 

Still life: Table by ER's recliner

Martini. Slim Jim meat snacks (box in back). Three snow globes. Pint jar of gumballs from Cracker Barrel. Kitty treats. Chile-chocolate-covered pecans in bag on top of holiday-themed plastic bowl of assorted unshelled nuts. Small sock puppet. Oklahoma lottery tickets. Pen. Lamp bottom.

(Photo by ER, early February, 2006)


 

Cat nappin' with Ice-T


"I can always tell when you’re about to become a heap twitching and jerking on the floor as you lose total control of your mind and body because you switch to pictures of dogs and cats while you ... try to regain control."

--Anonymass, on a previous post

Oof. I can barely reach the keyboard from the floor, as I am a twitching, jerking heap. But I like this pic of me and Ice-T cat-nappin'. Dr. ER snapped it whilst we were unawares this afternoon.

...







Bailey, the po' white trash weinie dog, insists that I put up this great profile shot of him!

--ER

Friday, February 10, 2006

 

NOT a woman's anatomy! Not THAT!

Yeah, I'm on a roll. This reads like a parody.

--ER

This Tuesday, when romance and flowers should be taking center stage, the nickname for Valentine's Day will be hijacked by liberal feminists looking to foist their strange views about womanhood on students.

"V" no longer stands for Valentine's, but for a word describing a woman's intimate anatomy ...


Read all about it.

 

Mother Mary? Hallway haint?

Me: Sittin' on the front porch last night, smokin' a cigar, readin' a book on the great cattle trails, Dr. ER sticks her head out the front door long enough to say something to the effect of:

"I forgot to tell you,I saw the Virgin Mary going down the hallway this afternoon."

An hour or so later, after I'd gotten my heart back out of my throat and my brain unfrozen, I said:

"So, did you know immediately that it was Mary? Or did it take some time to figure out?"

Dr. ER said somethin' like: "I saw it was a young girl, with a flowing blueish (garment). It took me a minute to realize what I was seeing, but I knew it was Mary."

Another hour or so later, I said:

"You can't just tell me s--- like that. You know I get spooked at night sometimes."

Dr. ER said: "There was nothing malevolent about it. It was a sweet spirit."

An hour or so later, Dr. ER reminds me that she's been on major pain pills (hip injury) and she is going soon to a sleep specialist.

"But still."

Ever had an encounter with the Lord or his kin like this? Tell me about it. What do you think? :-)

--ER

Thursday, February 09, 2006

 

Badlands, South Dakota

Where I'd rather be.

--ER


(Photo of ER by Dr. ER, July 2004, Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.)

 

Promoting biased journalism

Both of the following are outrageous, not because of the donations but because of the comments from outsiders in each. One is real.

--ER


Conservative Christian media support conservative Christian writing awards

American Family Radio, SRNNews and a loose coalition of other conservative Christian broadcasting and print media made a $100,000 donation to the Amy Foundation, sponsor of the annual Amy Writing Awards, "a call to present biblical truth reinforced with scripture in secular, non-religious publications."

According to the Amy Foundation, the money will endow a scholarship fund that will give $5,000 a year to a conservative Christian college student who plans a career in journalism and "is committed to furthering Amy's mission of fair and accurate coverage of the conservative Christian community" -- which clearly would mean writing stories with a pro-conservative Christian bias.

Don Wildmon, founder of American Family Radio, said the donors are investing in the future of pro-conservative Christian journalism.

"This donation helps ensure that we not only support an outstanding organization for conservative Christian journalists," Wildmon said, "but a deep resource for hiring future news producers and writers."

Alec Baldwin, the actor, a board member of the liberal People for the American Way, said no news organization should give money to an activist organization like the Amy Foundation.

"Make no mistake about it: This group exists for one reason and one reason only -- to advance a pro-conservative Christian agenda disguised as journalism through the news media," Baldwin said. "The only bright side for 'the Wildmon bunch' in so
blatantly catering to that agenda is that it isn't like conservative Christian 'journalism' has a lot of credibility left to lose."



Media Giant Supports Gay-Journalist Association

Cable news giant CNN made a $100,000 donation to the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA), an endowment to support the Leroy R. Aarons Scholarship Award, the NLGJA Web site reported.

According to NLGJA, the scholarship fund will give $5,000 a year to a lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) college student who plans a career in journalism and "is committed to furthering NLGJA's mission of fair and accurate coverage of the LGBT community" -- which clearly would mean writing stories with a pro-gay bias.

Jim Walton, president of CNN Worldwide, said his company is investing in its future.

"This donation helps ensure that we not only support an outstanding organization of journalists," he said, "but a deep resource for hiring future CNN anchors,
correspondents and producers."

Gary Schneeberger, director of media and constituent communications for Focus on the Family Action and a secular newspaper reporter and editor for more than a
decade, said an objective news organization has no business giving money to an activist organization like the NLGJA.

"Make no mistake about it: This group exists for one reason and one reason only -- to advance a pro-homosexual agenda disguised as journalism through the news media,"
Schneeberger said. "The only bright side for CNN in so blatantly catering to that agenda is that it isn't like the network has a lot of credibility left to lose."

###

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

 

God is great, God is good, God is GREEN

***UPDATED *** UPDATED *** UPDATED
***UPDATED *** UPDATED *** UPDATED


Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

This is a mind-blower!

Challenging some of their peers, dozens of evangelical Christian leaders on Wednesday issued a “call to action” on global warming — urging governments, companies and individuals to reduce fossil fuel emissions that many scientists tie to warmer temperatures.

Read some more about it, from MSNBC.

Read all about the Evangelical Climate Initiative.

Hope springs eternal.


***UPDATE *** UPDATE *** UPDATE

From The AP, via the Houston Chronicle:

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Amid concerns that global warming is melting away the icy habitats where polar bears live, the federal government is reviewing whether they should be considered a threatened species.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said ... that protection may be warranted under the Endangered Species Act, and began a review process to consider if the bears should be listed.


Read all about the poor polar bears.

Hoo hoo. That's enough to give a righty-righty conniptions for the rest of the week.

--ER

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

 

The Devil is (not) real(?)


Discuss.

--ER

Monday, February 06, 2006

 

Those Danish cartoons

Here is a link to the cartoons that have sent many Muslims into full freak-out mode:

The cartoons, from Human Events Online.


And here is an essay on what the press in Europe has done, and the press in the United States has not done, with them.

Essay, from Left2Right.

--ER

 

(My head is) spinning

Home sick today. The news isn't helping my head and stomach, either.

Here are some alternative views (alternative to first-day news coverage, which defers to the main sources as a matter of course), on the news of the day:

The president's 2007 budget.

Hearing on NSA domestic spying.

Oh, whatEVER righty-right Christianity comes up with today: CrossLeft, new to my Blogroll.

Feel free to submit your own sources of spin, left or right (just for funsies), for the news of the day -- not sources themselves, such as the White House, and not a news outlet.

Think SPIN. Where do you go to get spun?

--ER

Sunday, February 05, 2006

 

Wind, wheat, beef, Corn

Got a wild hair yesteday morning. Saw in the paper that the annual German dinner fund-raiser for Corn Bible Academy -- the oldest parochial school in Oklahoma -- was going on.

Took me about one more cup of coffee to decide to grab my hand-dandy digital camera and head to Corn, OK, which is about 100 miles flat -- and I mean every word of that -- from where I live north of Oklahoma City.

The pic of the oldtime windmill, used to draw water for livestock, with the new windmills in back, used to generate electricity, is just east and north of Corn, which is 13 miles south of Weatherford, OK, which is about an hour's drive west of the Oklahoma City metro area on Interstate 40.




The closeup of the new windmills is in the same area, along State Highway 54 south of Weatherford and northeast of Corn.

It took forever, seems like, but the past few years, some businesses and researchers have finally done something to harness the natural resource, besides oil and gas -- pronounced "ulngas" -- that Oklahoma! is known for the world over: "wind (that) comes sweepin' down the plain."

I loves me some cows -- young'uns like this baldy stocker on wheat 3 miles due east of Corn, as well as grilled or burgered, don'tcha know.

(Five Coveted Redneck Points [tm] to the one who can tell me why the calf is called a baldy AND tell me a little of the etymology of the word.)



Shot of downtown Corn, population 581.


The biggest thing going in Corn isn't corn -- it's wheat. Corn is in the heart of western Oklahoma's wheat belt.

Those stocker cattle will probably be pulled off the wheat and sent to a feedlot, probably in the Texas Panhandle, for finishing about March 15 if the wheat grower wants to make a crop. If he figures he can make more money sellin' his wheat "wrapped in leather," he'll leave the calves on to graze out the wheat and forget about the combines.

--ER

 

Welcome back, NordicTrack


Hello, old friend. Welcome back into my life.

Yes, yes, you've had several incarnations: treadmill, living room art, extra-bedroom clothes rack, dust collector.

Now, though, I need you, man. I'm so out of shape I can't stand myself.

All I do is sit on my hind end -- at work, in my truck, behind this home computer. None of that will change. But I can start hangin' out with you again.

Not much at first: Five minutes a day. That's all. Any more and I'll burn out. So, just five minutes a day.

And with you in your new home, you're the first thing I'll see every morning. Yep, right off my side of the bed. My tennis shoes will live right there, too.

So, no excuses. None. Five minutes per day. There's a TV in the bedroom, to keep me from being bored. And you have a rack for holding books.

I think we'll get along great. Five minutes per day the first week. Heck, dude, I can do five minutes hung plumb over, if need be.

Welcome back, NordicTrack! Soon, I'll be as buff as the guy in the picture!

--ER

Saturday, February 04, 2006

 

Milkhouse

Work room on left. Milking room to right. Feed room behind bay in middle.


(Photo by ER at ER home place, eastern Oklahoma)

Friday, February 03, 2006

 

Tank(s) for the memories


By The Erudite Redneck

In ninth grade, Mr. B had us collect, mount and identify 20 leaves for a collection, for a possible 100 points, each leaf and description counting for five points.

He was a hard taskmaster, Mr. B was. If ANYTHING was incorrect or incomplete about an entry, off went the whole five points.


Which is why, when, I took a leaf from one of this pair of trees, wrote out a description and labeled it "Bodark," I got docked 5 points.

The correct spelling, and alternative names for this tree, which produces wood good for fence posts and fruit good for nothing, is?

(Photos by ER at the ER homeplace, eastern Oklahoma.)

--ER

Thursday, February 02, 2006

 

The Four Meme

Swiped from my bloggy and RW buddy Braingirl at Hoosiers Ate My Brain!)

Y'all know how to do memes. This one looked fun and harmless. :-) Answer in the comments and on yer own blogs, if you feel like it.

--ER


Four jobs you've had in your life: Watermelon hoer. Gospel radio deejay. Truck stop attendant. Texas dancehall bouncer.

Four movies you could watch over and over: Red Dawn. High Noon. Casablanca. The Cowboys.

Four television shows you love: The Dick Van Dyke Show. Friends. M*A*S*H.

Four places you have lived: Sequoyah County, OK. Stillwater, OK. Washington, DC. Wichita Falls, TX.

Four places you have been on vacation: Washington, DC., New Orleans. Dallas-Fort Worth. Colorado-Wyoming-South Dakota-Montana.

Four places you'd rather be right now: This is how pathetic I’ve become: At 9:37 p.m. on a Thursday night, considering all else, I can think of no place I’d rather be than home, and damn near in bed.

Four websites you visit every day: Google, Blogspot, Bitch, Ph.D., 4 Rows Back.

 

Dr. ER on 'Homefront,' 'Paradise Lost'

Dr. ER asked me to post this. Said she was afraid that nobody'd see it over at her own place, since it's been so long since she posted.

--ER


Yesterday, a day after President Bush's State of the Union Address, I found myself pretty much couch-bound with hip issues. On the Spike Channel on TV, each day there is a fabulous five hours of programming borne out of the imagination and prescient allegorical admonitions envisioned by Gene Roddenberry and carried on by Rick Berman and colleagues after Roddenberry's death. I am referring, of course, to Star Trek.

Two episodes of "Deep Space Nice" played yesterday that had my jaw dropping to the floor because of their analogies to our current world situation. These are episodes I'd seen before, but never in the Post 9/11 and Bush Administration contexts, the administration's context, especially, fresh in my mind.

The episodes, called "Homefront" and "Paradise Lost" are morality plays for today and were designed to play back to back as part of a continuing story.

In "Homefront" a hawkish group of Federation leaders respond to a national crisis and blame the crisis on the "enemy" -- in this case, the "Dominion" (you could substitute "Al Qaida" for "Dominion" throughout." Everyone who is anyone in Starfleet is brought back to defend the home soil. All is not what it seems, and in "Paradise Lost," the lies and deceptions of the hawkish Federation leaders is revealed and the title of the episode takes on meaning, as Captain Sisko and Odo and a few others work to restore civil liberties on earth, against the "enemy" that was greatly exaggerated in the first place.

Somehow, you must find and watch these episodes, even if you think that everything GWB is doing and has done is right -- perhaps through the lens of Star Trek: DS9, you'll see how analogous the situations are and see today's "war"situation through clearer eyes.

-- Dr. ER

 

Why are right-wingers so pissed off?

Seriously. I don't get it. Why are right-wingers so mad?

Conservatives have a reason to be upset -- because except for being the hawkiest of all hawks, President Bush is no conservative. Not really.

Liberals have reasons to be pissed. They're virtually out of power.

But why are the righty-rights so pissy?

Read a few of their blogs. All they do is bitch. Listen to a little talk radio, if you have the stomach for it. Same thing. Read righty newspaper columnists. Same deal. Even George Will, whom I read regularly and respect, showed his ass this week.

What gives?

The Republicans control of all three branches of the federal government, and they've damn near got a lock on the Supreme Court for the next generation.

I haven't checked, but I think "God's Own Party" -- hoo hoo -- still has most of the governorships.

Mainstream Christianity is in decline. Conservative Christianity is on the rise.

The righties have even made real inroads into the media, what with Faux News and blogdom.

They've got not, one, but TWO wars on -- plus they've convinced most of the country to surrender concerns over civil rights out of fear of a third "war" -- a war on terrorism that will never effing end, which means it's not a "war" in any sense that most people understand.

But, give 'em that, too: They've got THREE wars on.

And they'e still not happy.

What is it? Do they want the rest of us to just get on our knees and kiss their ass, too?

--ER

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

 

ACLU backs Baptist leader in gay sting!

It's not every day that ol' ER will post a link to 365gay.com

Nosirree, Bobetta.

But this is irresistable because so many values and rights and political positions (pardon THAT pun) are wadded up like a bunch of damp tangled sheets!

The American Civil Liberties Union says that a pastor who frequently speaks out against homosexuality and was arrested last week for propositioning a male police officer was charged in violation of the Supreme Court's ruling on gay sex.

Read all about it.

--ER

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