people are strange

I've read some strange results in my statcounter, but this is pretty up there. First off, why would someone look up "Halliburton" and "best day" at the same time? And secondly, why is my blog (only) the ninth result to come up?

CNN.com: Huh?

you must read this. now.

I laughed as hard as I could, given that I am still at work. It is hard to pick a favorite part, but it just might be this:

As per your request, I sent yesterday a directory of our church membership to your campaign headquarters here in California. All addresses and telephone numbers are up-to-date, which I trust will be quite useful for your field team as they seek to make personal connections with our flock.

Our pastoral staff even put stars next to the names of those members who have given more than $1,000 to our church during the past year. We do not have an especially wealthy congregation, but as I reminded them last week in my sermon, if a poor widow can give a mite, so might we open our hearts and checkbooks to the burning Bush of Texas, whom God has led to Washington for our sakes.
....................................................................

You will be pleased to hear that our planting of seeds already is yielding fruit. By its own inspiration, the Visitation Committee announced its plans to suspend visits to the sick and elderly for the months of October and November (except in those cases of impending death). Instead, these faithful souls will use their hours of ministry going door to door in the neighborbood surrounding the church, handing out your Voter Guides and, if God opens hearts, asking for our neighbors to volunteer for Bush/Cheney '04.

I cannot recall a time when our flock was so focused on a single mission. In no small part we have you to thank. The campaign potlucks you demanded did not even seem like a duty; after the meal, we sang songs of praise for the divine blessing given our nation under Republican leadership. Thanks be to God, I now know how the people of Judea must have felt when He bestowed on King David His eternal wisdom to guide His people in a "united states" of Israel.

This is great satire, people. Go enjoy it.

Letter to the Bush/Cheney Re-election Campaign Headquarters

Arab-American comedians and their vote

Worth watching - a video about 10 minutes long on the Arab-American vote for 2004. Interspersed with the political thought are some pretty humorous moments from some Arab-American comedians. Thanks to Sojourners for linking to it.

washingtonpost.com: Comedy With an Agenda

Barbara Ehrenreich rox.

From her NY Times opinion piece today:

So here in one word is my new counterterrorism strategy for Kerry: feminism. Or, if that's too incendiary, try the phrase "human rights for women." I don't mean just a few opportunistic references to women, like those that accompanied the war on the Taliban and were quietly dropped by the Bush administration when that war was abandoned and Afghan women were locked back into their burkas. I'm talking about a sustained and serious effort.

So John and John: Announce plans to pour dollars into girls' education in places like Pakistan, where the high-end estimate for female literacy is 26 percent, and scholarships for women seeking higher education in nations that typically discourage it. (Secular education for the boys wouldn't hurt either.) Expand the grounds for asylum to all women fleeing gender totalitarianism, wherever it springs up. Reverse the Bush policies on global family planning, which condemn 78,000 women yearly to death in makeshift abortions. Lead the global battle against the traffic in women.

She goes on to say that we must first work on women's rights within the USA, mentioning the fact that CEDAW is still stalled in our Senate. I don't think it can be said that women have equal rights in the USA until we get on the boat with that one.

The New York Times > Opinion > Guest Columnist: The New Macho: Feminism

False Terror in the Skies

The guy next to me on the plane from Dallas to Albuquerque mentioned this article as a reason he was scared to fly (I have a feeling there are many more, and this guy travels weekly for work!). I'm glad to see it is all a ruse.

Urban Legends Reference Pages: Politics (Terror in the Skies)

I need a vacation from my vacation

I'm back and wishing I had taken an extra day off.  I had a really good time in New Mexico, but was out and about every day.  We went to Taos, Santa Fe, Albuquerque old town, Jemez Springs (where we spent the night at a music camp), and Las Vegas (New Mexico).  I spent all week with my pregnant best friend and her husband.  It was terrific, but I really need to recover.

I might have time later to post about the Convention, as I have made time to watch it both nights so far.

I have to admit, I didn't miss blogging as much as I thought I might.  I did make time to do an audio post on my other blog, but that was it.

And Brey - I'm sorry I wasn't able to meet up with you!

so tired, tired of waiting

I'm very sleepy today, which just reinforces my gladness that my vacation starts tomorrow.
 
I got an email this morning from someone I don't know asking me to participate in publicity for a book by an author I've never heard of, who keeps a blog I'd never read before.  How did they find me? If I actually had some previous knowledge of this person, I might be tempted, but as I've never heard of her and am not familiar with her story, I don't think I can sincerely plug her work.  And is this blog that widely read for my plugging her to make any difference? I doubt it.
 
I am humbled by the offer, but I'm going to pass. 
 
See you late next week!

Bobby Fischer found?

After two decades of living in secrecy, semi-isolation and increasingly distressed obscurity, Bobby Fischer, the former world chess champion, was arrested Friday by Japanese immigration authorities in Tokyo and accused of trying to leave the country without a valid passport.

Chess's Lost Soul, Bobby Fischer, Is Held in Tokyo

scary stuff

The Institute on Religion and Democracy

Why am I just finding out about this organization? I have been told that members were quite present at General Assembly, and that a preacher in Austin is a member of their think tank. They have written a piece entitled "Saving the Soul of the Presbyterian Church".

From their mission statement:

In our own society, cultural trends are sapping the virtues and institutions of “civil society” necessary for democratic life. These worrisome trends include an extreme emphasis on the autonomous individual, the elevation of rights over responsibilities, a hostility toward definitive moral standards, an excessive dependence upon the state to solve all problems, and the cultivation of divisive identity politics. Perhaps the most serious threat to American democracy comes from the fragmentation of the family, the building block of society.

Nor is democracy in a good state abroad. A large part of humankind still lives under regimes that violate basic human dignity. Hundreds of millions of religious believers suffer persecution or restrictions in the exercise of their faith. Dictators espousing communism, radical Islam, militant nationalism, and other doctrines deny the very notion of universal human rights. By binding their peoples in political shackles, they also make it more difficult for them to rise up from poverty.

Never has there been a greater need for strong churches, as a crucial component of civil society. America and the world require a fresh impetus of Christian evangelization, transforming both individuals and cultures. Yet tragically, important segments of the American church are spiraling into deep decline as they retreat from this task. Particularly in the historic “mainline” Protestant denominations, but also in other churches, many leaders and institutions have lost their focus on the Gospel, the basis of their existence. They have turned toward political agendas mandated neither by Scripture nor by Christian tradition. They have thrown themselves into multiple, often leftist crusades – radical forms of feminism, environmentalism, pacifism, multi-culturalism, revolutionary socialism, sexual liberation and so forth.

Not all of these causes are entirely unjust. But they have gone awry and inflicted serious damage upon the church and society. In pursuit of radical political agendas, church leaders have alienated members, undermined church structures of openness and accountability, and rendered their own ministries ineffective. They have exacerbated the social trends that they ought to have been resisting.

bolded emphasis mine, as always.  This really creeps me out.  I know the Religious Right is everpresent, but I just don't associate them with the Presbyterian church.  Boy, the times they are a-changing.

the end of suburbia?

Last night I went to a showing of THE END OF SUBURBIA, an independent documentary about how within the next 10 years, our oil resources will peak, and then we'll just be sh*t up a creek. It discussed how the suburban dream will become moot, because no one will be able to afford to live in suburbs anymore, as gas/energy prices will be too high.

The film made some really good points, and the room we watched it in at the History Center was packed with people, but towards the end it got a little too far-fetched for me. I do think this is a relevant issue, but there were people in the film saying that our world will basically go to pot in the next ten years, making all these predictions about how messed up the world will become. 

It almost had me, and then it sorta lost me; it just got a little too fantastic. You can go to the above link to find a public showing of it (and I do recommend viewing it somehow), or you can go here to read more about it.

Oh boy! Toll roads!

Thanks to CAMPO, toll roads have been locally approved for the Austin area in the near future. TxDOT and the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority still have to vote on them, but I'm sure Ric Williamson and the rest of the Transportation Commission will vote for the toll roads. Mr. Williamson loves the idea of toll roads.

Part of me thinks they are a good idea, but part of me doesn't. Why don't we just heighten the gas tax, or tax SUVs more already? Eventually, we will have to, because I seriously doubt these proposed toll roads will make the money to repair themselves in the future. It's just like a momentary fix or something.

Why are taxes bad, and tolls so good? I just don't get it. Either way, the little people have to pay.

Area leaders vote yes on toll roads

surprise!

The president of our board just sent me an email saying she has to resign, which means I am now the president by default. A 26-year-old middle-class gal as president of the board of a medium-size local non-profit? I am currently in shock.

At least our next meeting isn't til August, so I have some time to plan strategy.

As if I didn't have enough going on this month!

Krisana Kraisintu

I heard this woman's amazing story on Morning Edition this morning.

NPR : A Thai Woman's Fight for AIDS Drugs for All

Because of her work, Thailand has almost universal access when it comes to AIDS drugs. She is now working on setting up facilities in Africa.

state of posting

Dear regular reader (or person who just happened upon my blog now) -

I probably will not have time to post much for the rest of July. We're short-staffed the rest of this week, and then I head to Albuquerque the 21st through 27th. I hope to have some intermittent posts, and also to have time to visit my regular blog reads, but as for regular steady posting - I probably won't get back to that until August.

I hope you keep visiting, anyway!

love, me.

so funny, and so true

Scott Bateman has got a great cartoon up today. Take a second to check it out; you won't be disappointed.

scottbateman: which is worse?

The "running mate dude" is the kicker. Hee hee.

"Ass-kicking babes", violence and feminism

I'm not sure that I completely agree with this article, as I am an Alias addict, but I do agree with her analysis of Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. Lisa Jervis makes the connection between "hot chicks kicking celluloid ass" and p*rnorgra*hy, and I think it applies in the case of the second Charlie's Angels film. Not that I've seen it, mind you - the preview gave me enough to see. I also haven't seen any volume of Kill Bill yet. Here's the last paragraph:

The simplistic questions to ask are if these images make for good role models, and whether they're good or bad for feminism. But what we need aren't better role models, or images that can easily be labeled "good" or "bad." Once pornographic iconography thoroughly saturates women's film violence, we'll be stuck with that tired old depoliticized sexualization clouding our vision whenever we watch it. What we need is substance beyond the pornographic. What we need are conceptions of female violence that preserve the potential of the threat that our rage and our power represent.

AlterNet: MediaCulture: Decoding Hot Girl-on-Girl Action

short post on K/E

We are short-staffed this week, so I won't be posting much here or anywhere else. I just want to go ahead and discuss this whole Kerry-Edwards thing. I am not a little disappointed in Kerry for this. I keep hoping the Democratic party will get their act together and nominate a minority or female for at least Vice-President. Edwards is a nice guy, don't get me wrong, but he won't change anyone's mind. I'm here in the South(west) and I can tell you, if someone was going to vote for Bush, they probably still will. I kept praying for Bill Richardson to get the nod, but oh well.

More sometime soon, I promise.

update: I went ahead and signed up for a free Kerry/Edwards bumper sticker anyway.

maybe this is better than I thought (for our side, anyway)

Working on Saturday, again. I just found this: Baptists Angry at Bush Campaign Tactics

The Southern Baptist Convention, a conservative denomination closely aligned with President Bush, said it was offended by the Bush-Cheney campaign's effort to use church rosters for campaign purposes.

"I'm appalled that the Bush-Cheney campaign would intrude on a local congregation in this way," said Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.

"The bottom line is, when a church does it, it's nonpartisan and appropriate. When a campaign does it, it's partisan and inappropriate," he said. "I suspect that this will rub a lot of pastors' fur the wrong way."

The Bush campaign defended a memo in which it sought to mobilize church members by providing church directories to the campaign, arranging for pastors to hold voter-registration drives, and talking to various religious groups about the campaign.

Maybe those Southern Baptists are smarter than I give them credit for! Good for them. I know I'd get angry if I found that my church had given my address out to a campaign. That just blows my mind.

Marlon Brando is dead

Actor Marlon Brando Dies at 80

I was never a big fan of Brando, but I do like his acting in On the Waterfront. I know it's a sad loss for film history, but I find it strange that I was reading about his money problems just the other day - that he was totally bankrupt and living in squalor. I am sure the veracity of this is questionable, but his death is certain.

All these irreplaceable screen legends are dying, and we really have no comparable talent nowadays. It's quite sad.

MP3 action

I found this by looking up "Calexico Alone Again Or" on Google.

Calexico: Alone Again Or - it's a terrific cover. I've been hearing it a lot lately, and I just love it.

Voices of Civil Rights

I heard this story on NPR this morning and it reminded me that the company I work for had transcribed several interviews for this project. Interviewees we typed included: BB King, Clarence Fountain (of Blind Boys of Alabama), Little Joe Hernandez, and more. It's so cool to have been a small part of that - even if all I did was transfer the interviews from minidisc to audiotape. You can see more interviews here: Voices of Civil Rights :: The Voices.

We are currently working on an interview with Willie Nelson, but I am pretty sure that's for an unrelated project.

episcopalians vs. presbyterians

The Episcopalians get things done, while we Presbyterians are still just talking about it.

Daisy's online

Thanks to The Living Room Candidate, you can now view campaign ads online. This is exciting for me - I took politics classes in school and focused on media, especially television and its role in politics. So now people of my generation can view the ad that pretty much ruined Goldwater's chances just by existing. "Daisy" was never actually shown as an ad, if I remember correctly. The news media found out about it and showed it on the news. Go view it - it's creepy scary.

Another favorite of mine is "Bear" from the Reagan campaign. This one isn't scary - it's just freaky how much meaning people put with this random ad. Here's the transcript:

ANNOUNCER: There is a bear in the woods. For some people the bear is easy to see. Others don't see it at all. Some people say the bear is tame. Others say it's vicious and dangerous. Since no one can really be sure who's right, isn't it smart to be as strong as the bear? If there is a bear?

If this showed now, we'd say, "Huh? Explain that to us."

I'm going to put a link to this on my side menu. Finding this amazing online resource has made my day a little better.

edit: b/c I can't spell ruined.

and now for something completely different . . .

This blog placed #38 in the Best of Austin contest. I'm amazed it made it into the top 50 at all. Or perhaps there are only 50 blogs in Austin. I find that extremely hard to believe.

I can't believe I beat t h e c h u n k. Their blog is way more technical than mine. Anyway, Charlie got second place.

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