Whoa!

I was just reading some of my old posts from back when I was going to do reviews (movies, tv, books, whatever). I notice that I said I liked anything with vampires. Apparently, I did not anticipate sparkly vampires. They are an abomination. Whiny emo sparkle boys... bleh. Those aren't sparkles, he's starting to catch fire. I hope.

Finished The Family

I finished reading Jeff Sharlet's The Family the other night. It was kind of dry, and fairly depressing. Not that I didn't like it. I did like it. I'm glad I read it. Now I get why the conservatives back the wars they do, but didn't want to get into WWII - no chance for proselytizing. They're right ready to leap into Vietnam or Iraq, because they have a chance to get converts. But who were they going to convert in Europe? Iraq has the extra added bonus of having oil, so the rich guys with oil stock love that.

Now I get how the Prayer Breakfast people managed to get their god stuck on the money, and in the Pledge. No previous president would go there, but Eisenhower caved.

So yeah, it cleared up a lot of things for me. I think people should read this book. Even Christians who agree with everything Sharlet says these people have done should read it. If they think the Family is doing the right thing, it might make them feel good.

Glenn Beckisms: Christians take note

I know an awful lot of fundamentalist Christians get angry every time someone mentions separation of church and state. But you know what? They really shouldn't.

Glenn Beck's Latest Heresy

This is what happens to religion when it gets political. Beck is spouting the old GOP line about how we should all just pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, and forget about helping the poor. Let's pretend for a moment that Jesus was real. What the heck would he say about that? And what would he say about the fact that a huge number of "Christians" are buying into it? Because Beck is directly contradicting him.

Ask the Dalai Lama what he would think about not helping the poor (he's actually a real guy, so he could answer).

So what I'd like to know is this. Glenn Beck says that he does not want "the government to redistribute money from wealthy whites to victimized minorities."
Jesus says: "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." Matthew 19:21 (Also, "When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."" Luke 18:22.) Matthew, Mark and Luke all have verses about "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." (That was Mark 10:25.) Beck is contradicting Jesus. So who are these people following? Beck or Jesus? I'll give you three guesses, and the hint that it's not Jesus.

When religion gets political, the religion suffers just as much as the state from the combination. Beck and his super-conservative GOP buddies are rewriting the religion, and since they're saying what the sheep want to hear, those sheep are letting them.

Mel Gibson sucks

Yep. I said it. Mel Gibson sucks. What an ass. This guy is a typical I-Hate-Everyone-Who-Isn't-A-White-Christian-Man pig. Although I suppose in his case one needs to specify Catholic, rather than generic Christian. I'm mostly referring to his recent hate-rant at his baby's mother. But every time he gets in the news it's because he was an asshole to somebody. Granted, daddy was a holocaust denier, so he got a bad start, but he's a big boy now, and he's got no excuse. Except for his religion. Who would Jesus hate?

Updated my books list

So I updated my books list. I noticed that I hadn't updated it in... I don't know, years? LOL. I don't know if this is everything I've read since Different Seasons. I just went down my bookshelf of things I've bought and read in the last year or so. Obviously I haven't been doing a lot of fiction lately.

I'll give a brief overview of everything I added, though. The version of Origin I read was an illustrated anniversary edition to celebrate Darwin's 200th birthday and the 150th anniversary of its original publication. It's based on the original edition. I found it fascinating, though a little dry at times. There were also excepts from his Beagle voyage interspersed through it. I won't go into a long description, but I did enjoy it. And it is clearer than ever to me that many anti-Darwin people have no idea what his book actually said.

Loved Hawking's books. He must be a fantastic teacher. Everything he said made perfect sense, and even though I've never taken a physics class there was very little I didn't follow. Recommended for anyone who is interested in such things, and doesn't get lost watching Star Trek.

As for the Horsemen, Dawkins is brilliant. I've already admitted a nerd crush on Harris. I find Hitchens amusing, and I like most of what he says. I think he's lost it a little on the pro-war thing, but I guess nobody's perfect. At least he moved here and is trying to help, rather than complaining about the US from afar, like a lot of people who could be helping do. Dennett is too dry for me. I can only take so much abstract philosophy. But he's from the Hub, so he gets points for that.

Beak of the Finch is another book I wish the anti-evolution crowd would read. I mean, they're not going to read Dawkins, but they could read that guy. I also wish they would knock it off with the pretending that "macro" and "micro" evolution are totally different things. That's like saying micro erosion is different than macro erosion. Yeah, it takes longer. *dope slap upside the head*

Sagan was really interesting, and I started re-reading it a couple weeks ago. But then The Family came in the mail, so I've been reading that. So far it's made me want to smack every conservative from the last hundred or so years. And every time he starts talking about the current "Family" members and how they live their lives, I swear it's like I'm watching a cartoon about the 50s. Real people act like that? You have got to be kidding. One guy actually said "golly." Which, you know, that may just be their problem. These people mentally live in Pleasantville. They got to take over the country in the 50s. But it's always been the same thing. In the early 20th century, when unions were fighting for working conditions that didn't involve dropping dead, these guys were who they were fighting. Greedy people who climb to the top by crushing others into the dirt. They may not have lived like Scrooge, but they had his generous spirit of "die and decrease the surplus population." Anyway, I'm not done with that one yet.

The Buffys were ok. Glad to have new Buffys that I didn't have to hunt down at a comic book store (too much effort). But they're whacked out and all over the place. Stuff that wouldn't fly on television is a double edged sword.

The Girls Who Went Away was about teenage biological mothers before Roe v. Wade. It made me cry. And being that I am an adopted person born before Roe v. Wade, it obviously made me wonder. Because from what I was told my bio mother was like 15. So yeah.

As for The Gathering Storm, all I can say is that I love Brandon Sanderson a lot. I never thought I was going to get to read the end of Wheel of Time. And I'm so grateful to RJ and his family for telling him how it ends. He's doing a great job, and I'm really looking forward to the last two books. I mean, holy crap, he's tying up loose ends! Things are moving along! Not that I want it to end, but I do want to know *how* it ends.

Is that everything? ... *looks back at list* Oh, wait. Tolkien. I don't really need to review him. I just realized earlier this year that I hadn't read The Hobbit or LotR for years. So I read those. I do need to get around to the Silmarillion again. I meant to read it when I read the others, but I've read that more recently, so I skipped it. But it really brings the whole of Middle Earth together and sheds light on its past. Anyway, Tolkien was a literary genius, and obviously I adore his work, or I would have stopped reading it when I was 12. So, there you go.

Oh, and...

Yeah, I changed the blog template. I liked the dark thing, but they got new templates on Blogger so I'm trying one out. I kind of like this better, so far. It's less plain, but in keeping with the not-hurting-my-eyes. And since I've been having a lot of eyestrain lately, that is a very good thing.

My Blue Heaven

You know, I was thinking today about how godlings invented heaven as this "perfect" happy Disney in the sky thing where they live forever just the way they want everything to be. They're afraid to die, so they tell themselves they get to live forever in utopia after they do. And I was thinking, I don't want to die, either. But you know, I have yet to hear a version of the afterlife that really lives up to my expectations. So I'm going to invent my own. Yep. Here we go.

We're going to have climate like California. In fact, maybe we'll just copy/paste California right onto the template. They've got every climate. I'm trying to decide whether I want to live at the beach or in wine country. But then given that I am in charge of my Heaven, I think I'll build a house in both places. I'm editing out the earthquakes, though. They would only lead to needing cleanup crews. We're already dead, so no one would die in them. If you want to live up in the mountains, be my guest, but don't expect me to come up and check on you. I've had enough snow in this lifetime. Don't need to be having it in MY afterlife.

Let's see. What else? Oh, I'm throwing in some TARDIS physics (just like Noah did) so everybody fits in California. I mean, you can't very well make it bigger, because that would defeat the purpose of having all the climates close together. Might as well just have earth back at that rate.

Republicans aren't invited. Sorry, but until you repent of your evil ways, there is just no room for you in my heaven. You will have to go to the other place. But rejoice! Unlike some overlords of the afterlife I could mention, I'm not interested in seeing anyone tortured. I just want to keep them away from the general population. Hmm... perhaps internment camps, like where they sent Japanese people in WWII. Conservatives invented that shyte, so they must like it, right? And let's face it. If we brought all the Beck/Rush type wackos with us, they would make the afterlife suck. The only people who can come are the ones who weren't supposed to be going to the 1950s version of heaven anyway. So the cool kids.

Everything you could ever want or need magically appears on request. If you would prefer to make your own things, you may instead opt for materials and ingredients to appear. If, for example, you want to chop your own wood to heat your mountain house, you would request the supplies, and head out to the conveniently located woods. But please be aware that when you chop down a tree, it will be a copy that falls to the ground for your use. The original tree remains standing in case you need it again later.

Transportation. You may drive any vehicle you like. They run on magic non-polluting fuel. And best of all, the TARDIS physics prevent traffic jams.

Afterlife entertainment is handled by appointed department heads and their staff. The music department is headed by Messrs. Lennon, Harrison and Mozart. Prof. Tolkien is, of course, head of the literary department, and as I am unfamiliar with his political leanings there will have to be an exception made for his admittance if they were too right-ish. He's an English teacher. We can just send him off on a digression if need be. And speaking of making exceptions, I think I shall at least give a permanent resident card to Dr. King, allowing him to come and go as he pleases. Because his awesome factor outweighs the Reverend thing.

Einstein will of course be in charge of the sciences department, and have an exceptionally large staff. This is because all the scientists are going to my afterlife. The do-not-question-the-church variety of afterlife certainly won't have them. In a cooperative endeavor with the entertainment department, the satellite TV is already hooked up.

Ok, so I'm getting bogged down in details, so I'll have to parcel the rest of the planning out as we go. I've got a lot of historical leaders on my admittance list. Maybe I'll talk to Jefferson about this. He's a good writer, too. And as a bonus, any of the US founding fathers who show up will probably know how to set up a decent pub.

end long ramble... LOL.