Something in Common…

I was reading a website about the beliefs of Baptists this morning. It turns out that I do have one thing in common with them–the belief in adult baptism. Baptism (actually ‘baptism by water’, or ‘psychic initiation’ in Gnosticism) is not meant to be the sprinkling of magic water on babies so that they go to Heaven. It is a rite of passage for someone who has made a serious commitment to live a spiritual life.
Of course, the rest of what is on the above site confirms that Baptists are not Christians, but heretics (specifically, no mention of the Nicene Creed, or other conventions established to identify Christianity).

SF Gate

The city council of Berkeley recently passed a resolution naming the United States Marine Corps “unwanted invaders” (which, I believe, constitutes an act of secession), and granting a weekly parking spot and exemption from noise permits for anti-military protesters. Yesterday, three persons (alleged in the article to be “Code Pink,” but not wearing normal Code Pink attire) handcuffed themselves to the front door of the Marine Corps recruiting station in Berkeley and prevented people from entering. It was seven and one-half hours before the police arrested the protesters.
I was reading the comments on an article at sfgate.com regarding the incident, and I have some rebuttals to the liberal talking points there. I’m not interested in registering with the website to post my comments there, but perhaps they will be generally enlightening:

1. “You right-wing Fascist”- While Fascism is defined as “ultra-right wing” in most dictionaries, it should be noted that this refers to the European right wing (as in Italy and Germany)–thoroughly socialist. The right wing in the United States, however, refers to free-market economy and minimized government influence on the private citizen.

2. “This is a free-speech issue”- The First Amendment to Constitution of the United States of America does not “give you the right” to say or do anything you want; it prohibits Congress from passing laws abridging free speech. Assaulting people attempting to enter a building is a crime, period. Protest all you want; don’t interfere with someone else’s freedom.
http://www.krusch.com/real/under.html

3. “There is no more Communist or Socialist party in the U. S.”-
sp-usa.org/
www.cpusa.org/

4. “We are at war because the ‘military-industrial complex’ has learned that war is profitable” “The war in Iraq has bankrupted the coffers of the United States”- Usually uttered by the same person. ‘Nuff said.

5. “All of my conspiracy theories aren’t reported in the media because of their right-wing bias”-
http://www.newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/Media-Bias-Is-Real-Finds-UCLA-6664.aspx?RelNum=6664

6. “Jim DeMint is trying to defund public programs in Berkely in retaliation”- actually, Senator DeMint is asking that congressional earmarksfor Berkely be removed from the omnibus spending bill, and the money given to the U. S. Marine Corps. Actual public programs would not be affected.
http://demint.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=JimsJournal.Detail&Blog_ID=f3dbe45e-2252-4940-8614-2d80cca0834d
Of course, I personally support withdrawal of all federal and state funding from Berkely until they recognize federal authority.

7. “The opposite of funding war is funding education. There is reason that so many universities lean to the left”-
Yes, there is: http://www.indoctrinate-u.com/intro/

8. “The rich don’t pay taxes; they have to poor to do that for them”-
Actually, the top 1% of incomes provide more tax revenue than the bottom 90%:
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2007/10/top-1-pay-more-.html

9. “America was founded by secular-progressives”- The founding fathers were definitely not secular; many of them (notably George Washington and Benjamin Franklin) were Freemasons, which requires a religious affiliation. Several were even ordained ministers. As for “progressive,” the definition of that word has changed. They certainly wanted to change from the status quo of their day, but they were very modern in outlook, and were quite vocal in their dissent from many of the post-modern positions which comprise today’s “progressive” movement.

I have answered the allegations of “illegal war” and “unwinnable, Viet Nam-esque quagmires” in other fora; I would be happy to do so again in reponse to a comment here, but this is enough for the present post.

"A Tragedy"

I just saw a new ad taken out by the American Medical Association citing the number of medically uninsured people in the United States as “a tragedy.” How about the fact that we need medical insurance at all–I think that is the real tragedy. Let’s reform the system to protect physicians against frivolous lawsuits, re-think Medicare, make pricing information available to patients, perhaps even remove the penalty for practicing medicing without a license (but not for claiming fraudulent credentials!)?
Healthcare used to be affordable by regular people. Why can’t it be again?

Some Recommendations

While visiting I was visiting my friends in Kansas City recently, they were good enough to make a few recommendations on entertainment for me. I have sampled them all; allow me to review in descending order of my own preference:

The Bard’s Tale:
I found a copy of the PS2 version at an Amazon.com subsidiary. This game was fantastic! Easily the most enjoyable console game I’ve ever played. Carey Ellwes voicing the Bard sold me on it (I like The Princess Bride; bite me), and I’m glad it did! Even the musical numbers (which I thought sounded like a terrible idea) are magnificent.

The Kingdom:
I’m probably the last person on Earth to have watched this movie (I still haven’t seen Pearl Harbor, Saving Private Ryan, or Titanic). I figured it was just going to be another Hollywood America-bash-fest. It turned out to be very well done… except the last two minutes. I’m sorry, but one cannot draw moral equivalence between terrorists and the people who work to stop them, even if they do get emotionally involved in a particular case.

Talladega Nights:
I was going to skip this one entirely–I am NOT a Will Ferrel fan. It was moderately amusing (the “French” guy was abominable); at least no one pointed their fingers and flew away as in Blades of Glory.

Sunshine:
This one I had also intended to skip, and should have. Don’t get me wrong; the special effects are fantastic. However, the story itself makes no sense at all.
-By our best available estimates, our sun has about five billion years of life left. By these estimates, the chances of the sun dying in the next fifty million years is statistically insignificant; therefore, having it burn out within fifty years breaks suspension of disbelief and requires an explanation.
-A star is not a ball of “fire” as would occur by oxygenation here on Earth. It is a mass of hydrogen undergoing nuclear fusion. When a star dies, it is because it no longer has enough hydrogen mass to sustain fusion reactions in great enough quantity. A nuclear fission device, no matter how large or powerful, cannot re-ignite a nuclear fusion process.
-If the fate of humankind depended on the mission, why only send one ship at a time? Why wait seven years to send a second (again by itself)?
-The sun is not a black hole. It does not create a gravity well so steep that our grasp of physical process breaks down, and computation cannot be performed. And if it did, how were they able to compute the proper mass for their payload in the first place?

Cloverfield

Cloverfield was a brilliantly concieved and executed project. It was certainly a more worthy heir to the Gojira mantle than the recent Matthew Broderick fiasco. I will warn that the intention of the movie is that it is entirely shot on a camcorder, and there is a LOT of running; my friends and I all left the cinema with headaches.
My original impression was that it was a self-limiting masterpiece (but potentially a “cult classic!”); my friend Kevin suggested (correctly) that it would lend itself well to a TV spin-off.

Study: False statements preceded war

…And are still being made. The “two non-profit organizations” named as participating in this study are actually composed of essentially the same people, and the “false statements” made are regarding things such as Iraq’s possession of weapons of mass destruction… which was the position of all major intelligence agencies at the time.
A quote from the article:

“It is now beyond dispute that Iraq did not possess any weapons of mass destruction or have meaningful ties to al-Qaida,” according to Charles Lewis and Mark Reading-Smith of the Fund for Independence in Journalism staff members, writing an overview of the study. “In short, the Bush administration led the nation to war on the basis of erroneous information that it methodically propagated and that culminated in military action against Iraq on March 19, 2003.”

When did it become “beyond dispute?” Iraq certainly possessed weapons of mass destruction in 1991, and Hussein could have lifted crippling sanctions against Iraq by documenting thier destruction. And what about all of the dual-use labs that we found? Isn’t it more likely that the weapons were distributed among anti-American allies during the initial phase of the war?

Big Lizards also posts that the two groups are mainly funded by George Soros–with help from the Streisand Foundation, Ford Foundation, LA Times Foundation, and others… so of course, NO BIAS would be involved.

Please.

New Phishing Scheme

I recently recieved an e-mail of the following phishing scheme (a scheme by which another person attempts to obtain personal information about you, in this case, bank account information). I have already forwarded a complaint to the FBI, and am posting this warning for everyone else. Bad enough it’s a phishing scheme; utilizing U. S. troops is simply beyond the pale.
Should you recieve such an e-mail, be certain to forward a complaint to the FBI Internet Crime division (www.fbi.gov).

—–

My Dear Friend (Treat As Urgent)

“Capt. Jeffery Simpson” to Capt.jeff

Dear Friend,

Greetings.Jeffery Simpson is my name,an American Soldier in the US
Military serving in the 3rd Infantry Division,Patrols Tal Afar, in
Iraq.I am seeking your assistance to evacuate the sum of
$2,570,000 to the States or any safe country of your choice as far
as I can be assured that it will be safe in your care until i
complete my service here.

SOURCE OF MONEY:
When on Special Patrol duties on the 30Th of December late last
year,we found $100m and 90m euros in 31 containers and this money
had been hidden behind the false wall of a house searched by my
unit based on prior information.You can go to this web link to
read about events that took place here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2988455.stm

I do not know for how long i will remain here as I have been lucky
to have survived 2 suicide bomb attacks by Pure Divine
intervention.If it might be of interest to you then endeavor to
contact me.

Email: captian.jeff@hotmail.com
Respectfully,

Capt.Jeffery Simpson.

Wing Chun

I am now an official student of the Arizona Wing Chun Association, through their impressive on-line distance learning course. In addition, I look forward to future dealings with the following Wing Chun groups:

Everything Wing Chun

Wing Chun Fight Club

Later this year I plan to affiliate with the World Hapkido Association, Pekiti Tirsia International, and Tai Chi Healthways.

Runner’s World Guide to Beginning Running

Well, this is my first book for 2008. The Runner’s World Guide to Beginning Running left me lukewarm; it would more accurately be titled The Runner’s Guide World for Beginning Runners. Although it certainly has excellent information for running programs, the underlying assumption is that running is going to be the formative thrust of the reader’s fitness program.
That is actually the lesser of the two caveats for this book, however; the author has little or no knowledge of human physiology, and no interest in broadening their horizons therein. Running hills are described as provided essentially the same benefits as weight lifting, although strength training should be limited to no more than two twenty-minute sessions per week to avoid “bulking up.” (Oh, if only it were that easy!!) The Atkins Diet only “appears to work,” somehow inexplicably, and Nobel Prize-winner Dr. Barry Sears blames insulin for obesity (rather than the interaction of insulin and glucagon, as anyone who actually read his books would know–and I think he may have mentioned eicosanoids SOMEWHERE…).
Of course, this sort of limited information is to be expected from someone who thinks that being like Al Gore (mentioned on the back cover) would inspire someone.