Build him an army worthy of Mordor... or at least LEGO

This just might be the most darned kewl-est thing I've seen in WAY long time. Saber-Scorpion you rock!! Seems that this young man has quite the talent for LEGO and he put it to use in a way that almost makes me drool to look at. I mean, check this out...Sauron, the Lord of the Rings himself... with every cruel detail replicated as a LEGO minifigure! And there's PLENTY more where that came from (I only had the heart to post Saber-Scorpion's Sauron: wait'll you see his Gollum :-) on his Lord of the Rings LEGO Customs page. He's also got some Star Wars and Halo stuff done in LEGO too! Nice job Saber-Scorpion... now get to work on a mumakil complete with wartower and swarthy-looking Haradrim on its back!

(Though must admit I'm getting chills wondering if he replicates the assault on Minas Tirith: catapulting dozens of little yellow smiling minifig heads over the walls would be... yech! :-)

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Don't worry, it's only money. Yours, mostly.

Well, let's see what we've gotten so far and what we'll be getting soon...

- The cost of the American Revolutionary War was $130 million spread over 7 years.

- The cost of the War of 1812 was $107 million spread over 2.5 years.

- The cost of the Mexican War was $74 million spread over 2 years.

- The cost of production of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy was $270 million spread over 4 years.

- The cost of building Hoover Dam, with an estimated life span of a thousand years give or take, was $170 million spread over 5 years.

- The cost of digging the Panama Canal was $639 million spread over 34 years.

- The cost of constructing the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel – 17.5 miles long – was $200 million spread over 2.5 years.

- The cost of the Manhattan Project's results – considered by some to be the greatest technological leap within the shortest span of time in history – was $2 billion spread over 3 years.

- The cost of one F-117 stealth fighter, with an estimated lifespan of 20 years, is $45 million.

- The cost of one SR-71 Blackbird, last built three decades ago and first flown in 1964, was $35 million (and it's STILL flying).

- The cost of the Louisiana Purchase, which in 1803 doubled the then-current size of the United States, was $15 million spread over approximately 900,000 square miles.

- The combined cost of the Statue of Liberty and its base – with costs shared by the United States and France – from the time construction began until it was dedicated in 1886, was $530,000 spread over 12 years.

- The cost of the Apollo 11 mission that put the first man on the moon – culminating just more than eight years' effort beginning after President Kennedy challenged America to pull it off in less than a decade – was $355 million spread across 8 days of mission time.

- The cost of appropriations for the Interstate Highway System, per the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1954, was $175 million spread across 46,000 miles.

- The cost of the space probe Pioneer 10, launched in 1972 with a theoretical lifespan of 2 years, was $100 million, currently spread across 33 years and more than 7.6 billion miles (now on trajectory through the Kuiper belt toward the Sun's heliopause en route to the star Aldebaran in constellation Taurus. ETA: 2 million years).

- The cost of building and outfitting the HMS Titanic was $7.5 million spread over 3 years (including 4 days of actual sailing time).

- The cost of James Cameron making a movie about the HMS Titanic was $200 million spread over 3 years (including 4 days using the actual, original script).

- The cost of Alaska, as negotiated between President Andrew Johnson and the Russian government, was $7.5 million spread over nearly 590,000 square miles.

- The cost of the Georgia Dome, boasting almost 400,000 square feet beneath the world's largest cable-supported fabric roof, cost $214 million spread over 2 years.

- The cost of the "Spruce Goose", the largest airplane ever built, from time that Howard Hughes was awarded the contract until completion was $23 million spread across 6 years (culminating in a single flight of a few hundred feet).

- The cost of the Sears Tower, formerly the world's tallest building for 22 years, from point construction started in 1970 was $150 million spread over 3 years.

- The cost of building the Golden Gate Bridge, from time construction began until opening in 1937, was $27 million spread across 4 years.

- The cost of building the World Trade Center, from time construction began in 1966 until final work ended, was $350 million spread across 11 years.

- The cost of George Washington putting his hand on a Bible and repeating an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States was $0 spread across two inaugurations.

- The cost of George W. Bush putting his hand on a Bible and repeating an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States is currently projected to be more than $140 million spread across 1 day.

I dunno about that last one... inflation, maybe?

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"Did he REALLY mean that when he said it?!"

A couple of people have asked, in e-mail and otherwise, if I was serious when I suggested doing something in another post a few days ago.

Was I serious?

Yup.

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If you thought Microsoft was bad when it came to violating EULA...

...then check THIS out. At least Bill Gates doesn't have a strikeforce that'll bomb your house if you put cracked Windows XP on Kazaa.

Army to Hackers: We Know Where You Live

By TechWeb News

The executive producer of "America's Army," the free online game funded by the U.S. Army, is hopping mad at hackers who have taken advantage of the game's security holes, saying, "the Army is angry, and we're coming for you."

In a posting to the game's official forum, Phil DeLuca, said that hackers infiltrating the game were not only "breaking the EULA you're misusing Army property " and, worse, you're misusing US Army computer programs and equipment."

DeLuca's post, which has since been removed from the site, went on to say that "we know who you are, and can track down where you play from." He also went so far as to cite 20th century tensions between Japan and the United States to lambaste who he called "the bad guys."

"In the early 1940's, Japan learned an important lesson " "let the sleeping giant lie." We may not react swiftly, but when we do it's with unstoppable force. The Army has partners that deal with cyber crime as a matter of course. These include not just various Army IT departments, but also the Department of Justice, the Secret Service, and the Federal Bureau of Investigations."

America's Army has more than 4.5 million registered users, but the taxpayer-funded first-person shooter game has come under fire from some disturbed by its links to Army recruiting.

I'm curious to know what exactly people are doing with America's Army: modding it like Doom 3?

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Finally watched Return of the King: Extended Edition

It's been sitting in our living room for about a month, still shrink-wrapped. We fired up the DVD player last night and watched the first disc (of the actual movie: the film is two discs and the others are supplemental material) then the second this afternoon.

VAST improvement over the theatrical version but that's mostly because a lot of things that we barely saw in the original one are delved into more here (Faramir and Eowyn hitting it off in the Houses of Healing, the Mouth of Sauron riding out to "welcome" Gandalf and crew to Mordor, etc.) If Peter Jackson could be said to have made a mistake at all with this movie trilogy, it's that he didn't include Christopher Lee's scene as Saruman in the original, making it appear here for the first time. It's not that long a scene, but greatly adds to the story while wrapping up a few dangling threads (we now see how something so valuable as Saruman's palantir got thrown into the muddy water after the Ents trashed Isengard). It's also tons more bloody/gruesome than the first run.

We liked it :-)

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First it was Hitler. Now Bush is copying Pontius Pilate...

...and he's doing a damn poor job of it too.

"We had an accountability moment, and that's called the 2004 elections," Bush said in an interview with The Washington Post. "The American people listened to different assessments made about what was taking place in Iraq, and they looked at the two candidates, and chose me."

Read the full story here.

There is one difference between Bush and Pilate, though: Pilate was openly conflicted about the meaning of truth. Bush doesn't have that problem... becaue he doesn't care about the truth.

Y'know, if a revolt ever happens - and completely against the grain of the Christ-like spirit that I struggle to keep in my heart - I must admit coming to relish all the more the opportunity to take headshots at Bushbots... if for no other reason that because if Romania in 1989 was any indication it'll cleanse out of the system enough of the idiots who give such fools too much responsibility for anyone's good.

By the way, you can't escape accountability via any earthly vote, Mister Bush.

Gotta wonder if in his diseased mind, getting re(?)-elected(?) absolves him from being accountable for ANYTHING, be it past or future. Someone of this bad a psychosis might believe that getting another term as President was God's cosmic nod of approval on him, that he must be anointed now and is doing the work of God. And that he thus can do no wrong.

I've heard a number of Bush supporters say they're going to relish seeing how anti-Bush people are going to be "suffering" through the next four years of his being President. I won't be suffering: for one thing, it's not worth worrying about, because I don't make this a personal thing. It's only a "thing" for me because as a historian I know what comes of this mindset if it's not countered... and I feel a moral obligation to counter it as best I can: I'll be too busy doing that to worry about what the Bushbots think of me.

And I'm seriously wondering if it will be just four years: given enough of an "emergency", Bush could remain President indefinitely... and he'd have enough worshippers on his side to feel justified in staying.

Those who believe they're unaccountable to man have the tendency to do things above and beyond the morality of man. Don't break out the ammo just yet folks, but do be wary that ya might need to use it in the near future: it's better to have something and not need it, than to be without it when in grave peril.

Oh yeah, "aim small, miss small".

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America should apologize to Japan: now WE have a God Emperor that can't be looked upon!

"When the Emperor passed by we had to bow our heads very low. We were made to believe that the Emperor was too awe inspiring for ordinary humans to look upon directly."

Hirohito was the last to sit on the Chrysanthemum throne and be considered a god upon Earth. It used to be taught to every small child during the long centuries of Imperial Japan that they must not dare look at the Emperor... else they would be struck blind. Many among the Japanese were still gripped by that sense of fear and awe, even long years after Hirohito relinquished any claims of divinity following Japan's surrender to the United States after World War II.

(The Emperor is still a big kahuna over there though. You know he's the ONLY person in Japan who by law cannot eat fugu? I think that's pretty neat... well unless Akihoto really WANTs to eat a fish loaded with lethal neurotoxin. But anyhoo...)

It took sixty years but I think we've finally done the Japanese one better here. Ya see, we aimed guns at them and told them to look. Now we aim guns at ourselves and are told not to look! Here's the lowdown from Scripps-Howard via The News-Herald newspaper...

01/11/2005

You're invited?
By: Joan Lowy

Be ready for metal detectors, personal body searches and the highest security in inauguration history
WASHINGTON - The nation's 55th presidential inauguration, the first to be held since 9/11, will take place this month under perhaps the heaviest security of any in U.S. history.

Dozens of federal and local law enforcement agencies and military commands are planning what they describe as the heaviest possible security. Virtually everyone who gets within eyesight of the president either during the Jan. 20 inauguration ceremony at the U.S. Capitol or the inaugural parade down Pennsylvania Avenue later in the day will first go through a metal detector or receive a body pat-down.
Thousands of police officers and military personnel are being brought to Washington from around the country for the four-day event. Sharpshooters will be deployed on roofs, while bomb-sniffing dogs will work the streets. Electronic sensors will be used to detect chemical or biological weapons.
Anti-abortion protesters have been warned to leave their crosses at home. Parade performers will have security escorts to the bathroom, and they've been ordered not to look directly at President Bush or make any sudden movements while passing the reviewing stand...

(snip)

Thousands of performers - marching bands, color guards, pompon dancers, hand bell-ringers, drill teams on horseback and Civil War re-enactors - will be bused early in the morning to the Pentagon parking lot across the Potomac in Virginia. While performers disembark and go through metal detectors, bomb-sniffing dogs will search the buses.
Then everybody will get back on the buses for a trip to the National Mall, where they will spend most of the day in heavily guarded warming tents. Participants have been warned that they will not be allowed to leave the tents except to go to portable toilets accompanied by a security escort.
Other instructions given performers include a warning not to look directly at Bush while passing the presidential reviewing stand, not to look to either side and not to make any sudden movements.
"They want you to just look straight ahead," said Danielle Adam, co-director of the Mid American Pompon All Star Team from Michigan, which also performed in the 2001 inaugural parade.
"Last time we went security was really tight," Adam said. "This time we got almost like a book of things we needed to fill out beforehand."

I can see it now: some private-security muscle escorting a group of adults to a potty break while his hand's resting on his holster. Let's make them walkin in line hold each other's hand while we're at it. But what do you expect from a President who "sees America as we think about a 10-year-old child"?

What the hell kind of employee of the American people - that we pay the salary for, by the way - is it that tells us, any of us, not to look at him?

Come to think of it, what kind of employee spends $50 million to celebrate getting a job that pays only a couple million or so over a span of four years?

They don't have to worry about whether I'm looking or not, 'cuz I won't be tuning in for this thing anyway: got better things to do than watch an orgy fit for Bacchus.

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There's nothing wrong with KILLING people who want to do this to your children...

Now, the tendency among a lot of folks - namely, some Christians - is that they'll hear about this and automatically assume it's the biblical "mark of the Beast". That's a pretty new idea, actually. Until ten years or so ago no student of the Bible (serious or... nevermind) had a clear picture of WHAT exactly this might be but with the advent of implantable chips, it's by far the most accepted theory of what the "mark" will be. Doesn't mean it will be the mark, but it sorta makes sense if it is. So this article at Wired News is no doubt gonna raise some eyebrows...

Brave New Era for Privacy Fight

By Kim Zetter

02:00 AM Jan. 13, 2005 PT

As the nation prepares for President Bush's inauguration next week, privacy activists on both sides of the political spectrum are bracing for a White House push to augment controversial domestic surveillance powers gained under the Patriot Act and other legislation passed since 9/11.

"The administration has made it clear that they do intend to continue their move to dramatically reduce privacy and constitutional protection for our citizens," said former Republican congressman Bob Barr, who now works as a speaker and consultant to organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union.

But surveillance legislation isn't the only concern on the minds of privacy advocates. They're also looking at technologies and services coming out of the commercial sector that could seriously affect civil liberties.

(snip)

Radio-frequency ID tags will become a bigger issue in 2005 as their use expands into new areas. Currently, stores and companies embed RFID tags in the packaging of drugs and commercial products to help track product supplies and update orders. But privacy advocates say the tags will soon be embedded in clothing and other products, raising concerns that the tracking might not stop when consumers leave a store with the product.

"The problem is not only about tracking the whereabouts of people but about linking associations," Rotenberg said. "Students with RFID student cards can be grouped and monitored in terms of who they're with."

Chips embedded beneath the skin will also become a larger issue.

Last October, the FDA approved an implantable computer chip that would contain medical information to assist with health care. The military has discussed implanting the chips in soldiers to speed up medical care, and Rotenberg said it's likely the chips will soon be used in prisoners, parolees and eventually children. The concern is with forced chipping, which would take away choice from individuals receiving the chips...

I don't care if it is the "mark of the Beast" or if it isn't: nobody is going to implant a chip into my body. For no other reason than because my identity is my own and is soveriegn only to God. And nobody is going to implant a chip into the bodies of my wife and children either. Or anyone else that I love.

And I swear to Almighty God that I will kill anyone who attempts to do so.

And so should you.

You are not a number.

You are not a piece of meat.

You are not a slave.

Your children are non-negotiable.

Your mind is your own.

You owe allegiance to no man, or party, or government, unless they've proven worthy of it in your own estimation.

You do not have to let "them" win.

You do not have to do something simply because "the government" or "the party" tells you to do that thing.

You win the only victory that really matters in this world when you say "no I won't" just one more time than they say "yes you will".

You are not alive today just to eat and sleep and screw and spend and be amused by far too little and then to die.

You do not deserve to be exploited by evil men.

You must be sober in mind and gentle in spirit.

You must give "them" every possible chance to retreat from their madness...

...And if they do not, you must stop them. And it does not matter who "they" are, at all.

There's only so much freedom in this country as there is a willingness of the people to put officials and agents of their government in a state of constant fear. That's the bulwark - that the Founding Fathers designed - against government growing too powerful. Or having jurisdiction over things that are now now, or ever will be, given to it.

"Against the law"? Yeah, what I just wrote could be easily construed as that. And I won't dodge around it: if anyone desires something like "chipping" my family or subjecting my children to state-imposed mental health screenings (read into that what you may), they should be made to understand that they can be killed for pursuing such insanity.

But from where I'm seeing things, breaking the law by warning those who feel empowered to do such a thing that they will die - and potentially doing the deed if they persist - is a very measly thing to worry about when you're dealing with the sanctity of your own and unique soul.

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Disney REMAKING Tron?! Zap down Eisner's butt onto the Gaming Grid NOW!!

From a ransom note that will soon be delivered to Walt Disney execs:

dEar DiSNeY dOPEs,
wE ARe hoLdInG tIMoN aNd PUMbaA hoSTAge. dO NOt rEMAKe troN Or yoU WiLL nevER SEe tHEm aLIVE AGaIn iN fACt wE mAy BARbEcuE puMBAa FOr DiNNer hAHAhaHahAHAHahAHaHAhA.

If this is true... grrrrrrr...

So help me, I'll hire a squad of kamikaze Muppets to walk into Magic Kingdom with suitcase nukes if they screw this up.

Tron is one of those movies that, yeah it didn't make all that much money at the box office and it's not quite a cultural classic but you don't want anyone to mess with it either, because to enough of us it is a classic. Why that is, I can't explain but I think part of it has to do with the children of the first Star Wars generation, in the years after Episode IV: A New Hope and kids used to stare up into the night sky at the stars and wonder if fierce battles really were going on up there. Tron was like that but in a way more intimate: instead of far-out space it make you look at your desktop PC and wonder what really went on inside it: for all we knew, there WAS a teeny-tiny world behind the monitor where good and evil programs hashed it out. It was a neat thing to imagine, anyway. Personally though, Tron was the very first time I saw a movie on a VCR, over at my best friend Chad's house, and that's the kind of "techy first" that stays with a guy for life.

And let's face it, Tron was DECADES ahead of its time in a jillion ways: computer-generated effects, virtual reality (NOT the first in fiction though: that honor probably goes to "The Deadly Assassin" story on BBC's "Doctor Who")... and it was hella fun eye candy to look at. Yeah maybe not a classic, but in every way it's still perfect to a lot of people. And recently it was thought that Steven Lisberger was going to make a sequel that tied-in both the original movie and the Tron 2.0 game (more on that later).

That is not going to happen, if Disney has its way (can't Michael Eisner just go away now or at least NOT mess anything else up before he does leave in another year or so? Nope, instead of letting Lisberger make a REAL sequel, Disney is going to FUBAR-it all to shreds. From ComingSoon.net:

Tron Remake in the Works at Disney
Source: Variety
January 13, 2005

Disney has hired screenwriters Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal to write a remake of Tron, the 1982 Steven Lisberger film about a computer programmer who gets sucked into the parallel world of a computer program, reports Variety.

Klugman and Sternthal, who just wrote the historical epic Warrior for Gavin O'Connor to direct and Icon to produce, feel that the world has caught up with Lisberger's original concept, making it ripe for redo.

"We are contemporizing it, taking these ideas that were ahead of the curve and applying them to the present, and we feel the film now has a chance to resonate with a young audience," said Klugman.

Sternthal said the new conceit is that the computer programmer gets trapped in a cyberworld, so that the film can utilize the Internet...

Awright stop right there: folks, it's now patently obvious that the executives at Walt Disney Inc. do not even watch their own movies!! Because the Internet was in the original Tron: it wasn't called the Internet by name but... GEEZ how ELSE do they think that Master Control Program had managed to infiltrate EVERY major computer system on the planet?! Through a 300-baud modem and a CompuServe account?!

And if they really want to get particular about it, they don't have to re-invent the wheel at all because the world of Tron has already been brought into the 21st century from the dark ages of 1982: the Tron 2.0 computer game from Monolith. It's a FAITHFUL follow-up in every possible way: it "upgrades" the computer realm from 1982's technology to reflect the existence of things like PDAs and network firewalls without losing consistency with the designs of the movie, it's a thoughtful continuation of the original story, now 20-some years after the MCP was destroyed, and it's a heckuva lotta fun to play. Oh yeah, and Bruce Boxleitner returns as the voice of Alan (the creator of the Tron program) from the film. As far as I'm concerned (and many others if sales and good word from fans are any indication), Tron 2.0 is the sequel to the original... which does not merit a "remake" the least bit.

Sigh...

This just reeks.

I mean, this blows. It REALLY blows.

I can't begin to say how bad a thing this is for Disney to be even THINKING about.

Well, actually yeah I can say how bad a thing it is.

This pegs the needle on "Chris Knight's Bad-O-Meter".

There's only one thing that can be said about Mad Michael Eisner raping another great movie like this.

Children and those with weak hearts, leave the keyboard now. I'm gonna say it.

I'm going to say something that I keep in reserve, and bring out ONLY to describe the absolute worst of bad things.

I mean it. This is happening, now. No backsies.

Okay, everyone gone that doesn't need to bleed from the eyes?

Okay, here it comes...

Walt Disney Pictures' remaking of Tron SUCKS DONKEYS BALLS TO NO END!!!

There, I feel better now.

Okay, need to go: Timon is downstairs in his cage screaming for a cigarette. Don't ask where we've got Pumbaa.

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We're Lost

The lovely Spousal Overunit and I finished watching a full episode of Lost for the very first time. It seems... intriguing.

I've absolutely NO idea what's supposed to be going on here though.

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President Bush admits guidance from Lucifer in Washington Times interview

Okay, I'll admit that was bad. But it's not all that inaccurate either.

In an interview with the Washington Times earlier this week, Bush said that he didn't "see how you can be president without a relationship with the Lord."

Okay, which lord are we talking about here?

There is Our Lord and Savior. The Prince of Peace. He who sits at the right hand of God in Heaven. The Lamb slain for the sins of man so that we might live. The only begotten Son of God. The One Who was pierced, and yet shall every knee bow toward Him and confess that He is Lord.

At some point in the future. In the due time. But not just yet...

Because the lord of this world and present age is still on his throne. The one possessing all the glory and splendor of this carnal realm to do with as he pleases. The king of the air and darkness. The prince of high places. That one who would set his throne above the stars of God. The roaring lion that would consume all. The Morningstar. That great dragon who Christ acknowledged had been granted all authority over the nations and kingdoms of this world, toward whom all knees have at some time or another. Before some would now confess that he is their master no more.

One Lord offers forgiveness for all. The other lord brings accusation without ceasing.

There is the Lord that is ever confessed with joy and contentment with the countenance and tongue. There is also the lord that is rarely confessed outside the depths of a man's heart.

One is of the light. The other is even called "Light-bringer" but has been sentenced to darkness.

One Lord is the God of Heaven. The other lord is the god of fortresses.

One Lord brings with Him eternal life. The other lord can wrought only neverending damnation.

One Lord says that in His Father's house are many mansions, and He has prepared a place for us. The other lord would have us believe this realm is our true home, and offers us every imagined conceit of the flesh.

One Lord asks only for our repentance and faith in Him, in the assurance that we would join Him in ruling over all the heavens someday.

The other lord asks for nothing less than our soul, and can offer nothing but the fleeting powers and pleasures of this weary world... and he promises it Now. Now. Now.

Take a guess which one it is that most of history's leaders have taken as their own lord. Tell me, please, why I shouldn't be suspicious of anyone who merely talks of his "lord" without producing evidence that he is, indeed, an honorable and loyal servant.

You see, I just don't know who it is exactly that George W. Bush is referring to here. And though it is true that only God knows the true condition of the heart of a man, the fellowship in Christ is instructed - many times in scripture - to be wary of those who claim to be of Christ yet produce none of the fruits of the spirit. If the spirits are to be tested to determine if they are surely of God, how much moreso should we test those men who use their profession of Christ as enticement for us to trust them with things of this world?

Shoot man, that could be anyone that Bush is talking about as his lord.

As for which lord it is that Bush has taken as his sovereign... well, there are suspicions, but I won't delve into those: the proofs of which have already been well-documented, and weighted against those of the Other are certainly not found wanting. I do desire that my wondering of this issue can be easily forgiven because, like the early Christians of Berea I weigh all things against scripture... and especially those things that beg my confidence because they merely profess Christ.

That said, there were some other things that Bush says in this interview, that sounded eerily similar to another leader, who was likewise greatly praised by Christian leaders and hailed by at least one as "a true brother in the Lord"...

"I think people attack me because they are fearful that I will then say that you're not equally as patriotic if you're not a religious person. I've never said that. I've never acted like that. I think that's just the way it is." (Huh?)
"...A general moral instruction without a religious foundation is built on air; consequently, all character training and religion must be derived from faith. From our point of view as representatives of the state, we need believing people."

"I fully understand that the job of the president is and must always be protecting the great right of people to worship or not worship as they see fit. That's what distinguishes us from the Taliban. The greatest freedom we have or one of the greatest freedoms is the right to worship the way you see fit."
"The... state has not closed a church, nor has it prevented the holding of a religious service, nor has it ever exercised any influence upon the form of a religious service. It has not exercised any pressure upon the doctrine nor on the profession of faith of any of the confessions."

"America is a remarkable place when it comes to religion and faith. We had people come to our rallies who were there specifically to say, 'I'm here to pray for you, let you know I'm praying for you.' And I was very grateful about that."
"Even today I am not ashamed to say that, overpowered by stormy enthusiasm, I fell down on my knees and thanked Heaven from an overflowing heart for granting me the good fortune of being permitted to live at this time."

"I don't see how you can be president at least from my perspective, how you can be president, without a relationship with the Lord."
"My feelings as a Christian points me to my Lord and Savior as a fighter... As a Christian I have no duty to allow myself to be cheated, but I have the duty to be a fighter for truth and justice... And if there is anything which could demonstrate that we are acting rightly it is the distress that daily grows. For as a Christian I have also a duty to my own people."

"Whether they voted for you or not, there's a lot of values in this country, for which I'm real proud."
"In the state anyone is free to seek his blessedness after his own fashion."

"What we are going to do in the second term is to make sure that the grant money is available for faith communities to bid on, to make sure these faith-based offices are staffed and open. But the key thing is, is that we do have the capacity to allow faith programs to access enormous sums of social service money, which I think is important."
"It will be the Government's care to maintain honest cooperation between Church and State; the struggle against materialistic views and for a real national community is just as much in the interest of the German nation as in that of the welfare of our Christian faith."

The italicized text were quotes from George W. Bush in the Washington Times story.

The bold text were quotes from Adolf Hitler from numerous sources.

Parse this as you will.

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So we got an Xbox for Christmas and I'm FINALLY "getting it" about why Halo is so frickin' awesome!!

But...

Okay, I'm not that far into the game as most people have been, who've probably won the thing and gone onto Halo 2 (which I can't wait to play but I'm a conservative videogamer: gotta finish one game before moving on to any sequels) so maybe this will make sense eventually. Right now it makes positively none to me.

I spent 2 hours last night stuck on that level where the mission is to lead your team aboard the Covenant ship via the "gravity lift" thingy. So far I'm still stuck. Gonna try it again late tonight but that ain't what's buggin' me.

WHY in the WORLD am I trying to take out an ALIEN ship that is named the "TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION"?!?!?

"Truth and Reconciliation"?! There'd better be some method to the Bungie guys' madness here, 'cuz that's about the most UN-THREATENING name for an evil alien enemy's warship as I've ever seen anywhere in fiction... and that's what's positively scaring me, for some weird reason. Say, wasn't "Truth and Reconciliation" the name of that committee that Bishop Desmond Tutu headed up in South Africa after apartheid ended there? PLEASE don't tell me that Bishop Tutu is onboard that ship trying to destroy humanity.

He ain't, right?

BTW, Halo is sooooo beautiful that sometimes Lisa has to come in and watch me play, just to take in all the amazing scenery and incredible sounds. This might be the most intoxicating game I've ever played.

That gives me an idea: maybe write a post about the best videogames I've ever played and why they're so good. Yeah, I'll work on that :-)

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I've discovered the real meaning of life. Should it get posted here?

Somewhere between Charlotte and the state line the little car - its shiny exterior hardly speaking of the things that its owner had put it through in four-some years since purchase - tore along I-85, heading west into the night. It was unseasonably warm, and humid... not like what the storybook Christmas night is supposed to be at all. "We'll make up for that," the driver chuckled to himself. "Christmas of '85 was practically 80... then that winter storm a few weeks later brought the daytime high down to 10! Ahh well... more time to play inside I suppose."

The driver sipped from a bottle of Mountain Dew and listened as "Weird Al" Yankovic belted out a vintage holiday song over the car's stereo: "The Night Santa Went Crazy". "I should have found Weird Al's 'Christmas At Ground Zero'," thought the driver: "Lisa would have laughed her head off at THAT one!" To his right the passenger seat was reclined as far back as several large gift-wrapped boxes and other luggage would allow: lovely Lisa (who he always joked was his "Spousal Overunit") lay there asleep. She had been exhausted already after the day's activities, their third Christmas as husband and wife. And not for the first time did Chris wonder how it was that he, of all the guys in the world and after so many times in his life that "the one" had been found but only to be disappointed when she didn't meet what he really wanted in a wife... how it was he - and not some other guy - wound up with this so most beautiful of young lasses: her loveliness surpassed only by the purity of her heart.

It is said that there are fourteen words that can make a person love you for the rest of your life. But Lisa needed only one: "hello". "Yeah yeah I heard that said on a TV show years ago," Chris thought. "But she still had me after just 'hello'!"

Was she worth all the nonsense that he and "Weird" Ed had gone through during this past week to find an Xbox for a Christmas gift? Damned straight she was! Hell, he wound up with what might very well have been the last Xbox on sale in the state of North Carolina... can't get much more divine providence than that when you're set against all the hordes of last-minute shoppers like so many Visigoths coming over the hills to pillage Rome.

He gave her a loving glance. But not for too long. Lisa continued to slumber peacefully as her husband prayed that he could keep the car pegged at 110 MPH for a little while longer along this stretch of I-85... and prayed that Lisa would not soon wake up and make him lose his shot at breaking the record between home and her parents' house. And he let his mind wander, as it was apt to do, onto other things: some simple, some profound.

So it was that at some point before they had crossed into South Carolina that a thought crossed the mind of Christopher Knight... and without warning that most holy grail of philosophers and theologians resolved into crystal clarity in Reason's illumining glow.

For whatever reason, however exactly it happened (just a few moments before he had been thinking about that giant Star Wars LEGO set that Lisa had given him), Christopher had discovered, or understood... or perhaps was given, the meaning of life.

And though he was somewhat chagrined that the meaning of life had nothing whatsoever to do with either Monty Python or the number "42", he still was delighted to know that, yes, things DO make sense not just in this world but throughout this universe.

Why, this wasn't so much just the meaning of life... but it was the meaning of existence itself!

He made a mental note of it, took another glance at his wife, scanned ahead for whatever "smokies" he might discern in the dark, and continued to listen as Weird Al sang about how Santa Claus was dead, killed by a SWAT team that put a bullet through his head...

---

Not kidding. Think I might have really hit upon it a few weeks ago. No joke.

It's pretty cool, actually. But for it to be valid, for it to work, you must accept (A) that there is such a thing as God and that (B) He exists outside of the four dimensions that we can discern, outside of the universe itself even.

I've done some looking, but nobody's ever suggested this before, so far as I can tell. If they have then I'll make apology and retract the notion that's been on my mind the past while. But to the best of my knowledge, it's a pretty original thought.

I'm just wondering if I should share it though. I mean, mankind has been searching for the meaning of life since way back in the day. So if I wrote out my idea and if it's a really valid one and people think it works... well, wouldn't that put many of the world's philosophers out of business? That's one cottage industry America does still have left: you find philosophers on liberal arts college campuses, on blogs like this one, in barbershops especially the ones where they only sweep the floor every two or three days, face-down on the couch when one is smashed with hangover from the night before... darn near everywhere. Shouldn't I be a good patriot (and good overall humanitarian) and hold my tongue so that some of my countrymen can still go on with their livelihood? Or dare I share what I've come to realize, and risk taking that gamble in the hope that it might somehow lead to, as was appropriate with that night, "peace on Earth and goodwill toward men"?

Darned serious about thinking that I might really have it here, dudes. If/when it's posted it will not be something "humorous" or done as a gag, at all (which is more than can be said for this one idea I've had about quantum physics... but not now). It'll be done as a VERY considered and sober-minded theory... which is all it can be: the REAL "meaning of life" will ever be up for discussion and debate, as it should be. What I got isn't a scientific law, but a radical theory of ultimate purpose. But it's a pretty cool one 'cuz it touches on at least a bit of everything: theology, biology, cosmology, concepts of Einstein, the physics of matter and energy, quantum mechanics... and believe it or not, the existence of Good and Evil. I think they may have a connection to the physical world, in a very deep sense that I haven't even begun to dwell upon and doubt that I even really want to. Nonetheless, the things of this temporal realm and those beyond mortal comprehension are tied together, I'm coming to realize more and more, and we do have a place and a purpose within both.

This might turn some people off from what I would have to say, but it's perfectly consistent with the teachings of the Bible. Have thought about this a lot and can't find any obvious conflicts with my faith in Christ as best I can understand it. At this point some might think that it's drifting dangerously toward Gnosticism... but that's not really right to say, 'cuz this theory runs afoul of Gnostic thought in a lot of ways.

But to those that are turned off by that much, lemme entice ya with this: I'll wager good money that if you've ever been a fan of The Matrix that you might get a thrill out of reading this, when it's finally ready.

So... share it with y'all or not? It'll be looooooong, be warned of that now. But I'll do my best to make it a neat read :-)

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The wisdom of a warped sage

"I once complained I had no scarf, until I met a man who had no neck."

Now go and meditate upon this, dear disciples.

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You know that thing in the Bible about rendering unto God and Caesar?

Well, I've been wondering: I try my best to render unto God, but how am I supposed to render unto Caesar? Not to sound insensitive but ummm... I mean... the guy's dead, y'know.

And something else: Jesus taught us to "render unto Caesar those things that are Caesar's": He did not teach us to "render unto Caesar everything that Caesar claims is his after lusting for it". Which to the best of my knowledge none of the serious Caesars (forget Nero and Caligula) back then did that anyway.

Look, if Caesar is alive I'll gladly yield over what's owed him, as Jesus told me to do. But if I can't give Caesar his due, why the Hell should I give a cheap imitator with no real established authority over us a lot more than what's owed Caesar himself?

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Amid the chaos and strife, a hero approaches with a glimmer of hope:

42

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About next week's presidential inauguration...

Why must it cost $50 million to lay one's right hand atop a Bible and repeat an oath to uphold something that is going to be broken anyway?

For that kind of money, it darned well better be a Gutenberg he's swearing it on.

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