I ask Johnny Robertson - the "Church of Christ" guy - a simple question and he tells me to go see Benny Hinn

This requires a bit of set-up for readers who aren't in this part of North Carolina/south-central Virginia ...

Two or three times a week on Reidsville's WGSR Star 39 television station, a group of local ministers calling themselves the "Church of Christ" do a series of live broadcasts. The shows have various names, but they're all pretty much the same: a show starts, the minister runs some old video of a Baptist or Pentecostal or preacher of some other other denomination that they don't agree with (sometimes it's video of a debate of that night's "Church of Christ" guy hashing it out with another pastor). While the video is running that night's preacher silently stands on the set giving the camera a stern gaze, then he stops the video and begin blasting whoever it is that's on the "hate list" for the evening.

So these "Church of Christ" guys believe that everyone is a hellbound sinner who is not a member of their brand of church. To them, there is no salvation outside of their "Church of Christ".

I guess that's their right to believe that (and to spend thousands of dollars a month to air their views) if they wish. Just like it's my right to believe what I do about salvation, and how it comes by the grace of God after we realize our need for forgiveness. In my Christian philosophy, that's all that we need to do to secure our destiny for eternity. Because anything else is of human effort and always doomed to fail.

If we have faith in Christ, that alone is enough. It's more than enough.

What really bothers me though is when these "Church of Christ" people display so much vitriol and outright hatred toward anyone who they perceive as "following false doctrines". If I were not a believer in Christ, and I were to come across their programming, there's no way that I could be convinced that Christ is real. It would probably just affirm for me that Christ is only something else that's meant to control us. I know better though: that a life in Christ is a free one, liberated from legalism.

But to hear it from these "Church of Christ" guys, a Christian life is about nothing other than legalism. Some of the things I've heard them say in their shows would make the Pharisees of Jesus's time seem even libertarian in comparison.

These local "Church of Christ" people don't even believe that a person can go to Heaven unless they were baptized. I suppose that according to them I'll go to Heaven anyway, because I was baptized (by immersion, in case anyone's wondering) not long after I came to Christ while in college. But it was never something that I did because I thought I had to do it to secure a place in Heaven. It had no supernatural power at all: I just did it because I wanted to publicly identify with my Lord and Savior. That's all it can do. But as it is, the adamant stance about baptism by these "Church of Christ" guys comes perilously close to outright Gnosticism.

Anyway, I've been watching them for awhile, and particularly a dude named Johnny Robertson who seems to be the ringleader. Or at least the most seeker of controversy (he was mentioned on this blog almost two years ago when the Westboro Baptist Church "God Hates Fags" gang came to town). He does a live program every Sunday night called What Does The Bible Say? (click here for show's website). He's also currently running a very ridiculous commercial for his show on WGSR, that you'll see at the beginning of this video.

I don't know if these guys are at all what could be called the "Church of Christ" as most people understand that denomination (knowing full well that Robertson and his brethren will bristle at being called a "denomination"). I've worshipped lots of times in a Church of Christ congregation, and I've never seen the bitterness and rancor that the local "Church of Christ" as represented by its ministers on WGSR every week display toward what seems like everyone imaginable. There were some members of one Church of Christ, in another part of North Carolina, that helped me through a very difficult time some years ago and I'll always be thankful for God putting them there at that moment.

I guess that it's what people like the Reidsville/Martinsville "Church of Christ" are doing every week in lashing out at those they don't like, that's one of the reasons why I'm so honked-off about this, because I do believe that Johnny Robertson and his crew are giving the sincere Church of Christ members a very bad name.

Well, for the past few weeks I had been feeling compelled to call up Robertson during his show, and ask him a question. One simple question, that I would have really enjoyed having an answer for. And it so happened that Easter night is what moved me to pick up the phone and take action.

I wanted to ask him: "How is what you guys are doing giving glory to Christ?"

So how did he respond? Here's the video ...

As you can see, Robertson could not answer such a simple question. He instead tries to gauge that I'm not a real Christian because I'm not a tough-enough opponent of "false doctrines" and then he tells me to "go listen to Benny Hinn".

Ummmm... saywhu...?

I've thought for awhile now that where Robertson and his bunch go wrong is that they refuse to see following Jesus Christ as anything but an act of corporate worship. As much as they fixate on the Baptists, the Pentecostals, attacking pastors of various denominations etc., I don't know if worshiping Christ as an act of the individual fits into their theology at all. He attacked me without knowing anything about me, assuming that I was "denominational". I've never professed to being any denomination. Oh sure, I've worshiped in various churches during my life, but not once have I called myself a "Baptist" or "Methodist".

Can't I just be a follower of Christ? Can't anybody? Not according to these "Church of Christ" people in Reidsville and Martinsville.

It's the classic case of becoming so obsessed with the enemy, that a person becomes the enemy. Robertson and his "Church of Christ" gang have so defined themselves by how they are not a "denomination", that they have not only become a denomination but they have become everything that is possibly wrong with a denomination. More than one person has even told me that they aren't anything but a bona-fide cult. I'm hard-pressed to disagree, unfortunately...

So Mr. Robertson, if you ever read this, I was wondering if you could please tell me: How is what you guys are doing serving and giving devotion to Christ, and showing His love toward others?

That's what this hinges on the most: where is the love in what you are doing?

Because if this is just a thing about works, without the real love toward others, then what you are doing is already a dead thing that God cannot possibly bless.

(For more perspective on the "Church of Christ" as represented on WGSR, check this blog out.)

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Has Dan Cooper's parachute been found?

It was Thanksgiving eve
Back in 1971
He had on a pair of sunglasses
There wasn't any sun
He used the name Dan Cooper
When he paid for the flight
That was going to Seattle
On that cold and nasty night

-- "The Ballad of D.B. Cooper"
by Chuck Brodsky

More than 36 years after Dan Cooper bailed out of the back of a 727 into stormy night and American folklore, a parachute has been found in Washington state that the FBI is speculating could have been used by the legendary skyjacker.

It was on the night before Thanksgiving in 1971 that a man calling himself "Dan Cooper" (more often erroneously called "D.B. Cooper") boarded a Northwest Orient flight in Portland, Oregon bound for Seattle. Shortly after takeoff Cooper told a stewardess that he had a bomb, and gave instructions to have $200,000 in unmarked bills and four parachutes ready upon landing: two loaded in the front of the plane and two in the rear. The demands were met, Cooper allowed the passengers to leave and then the 727 took off again, this time headed south. About a half-hour into the flight, Cooper went to the back of the plane and was never seen again. He took the money and one of the parachutes and jumped out of the plane via the aft stairs.

Ever since that night, there have been all kinds of theories and rumors about what happened to Dan Cooper. In 1978 a 727 placard describing how to lower the rear stairs was found in the Washington woods by a hunter, and a few years about $6,000 from Cooper's haul (the serial numbers matched those of bills that were given to Cooper) was discovered on the banks of the Columbia River near Vancouver.

Some believe that given the fierce wind, heavy rain and freezing temperature along with how Cooper was described as wearing normal clothes that would not have provided much protection from the elements, the general consensus of law agencies is that Cooper did not survive his jump and that his skeleton is still laying around somewhere deep in the forests of the Northwest. And then there are others who believe that he not only did survive his caper/stunt, but that he took the money and went on a lavish spree. The story I've heard over the years is that Cooper had someone (usually a girlfriend) waiting for him, and they wound up blowing the wad at the casinos in Las Vegas.

Personally, I think Cooper made it all the way down alive. And if this parachute was his, then the following detail from the story certainly indicates that he survived the fall...

Children playing outside their home near Amboy found the chute's fabric sticking up from the ground in an area where their father had been grading a road, agent Larry Carr said. They pulled it out as far as they could, then cut the parachute's ropes with scissors.

Sounds like someone didn't want that parachute to be found. And whoever it was, they were alive long enough to bury it.

I've been a Dan Cooper buff ever since I was nine years old. This is one story that I'm certainly going to be keeping my eye on.

(And along with the radioactive cat story, this is the second post in a row pertaining to the Seattle area. Pretty weird, huh?)

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Homeland Security nabs radioactive cat on I-5 in Seattle

This story gives whole new meaning to the term "hot pussy".

(And with that, Chris goes into hiding for using the worst pun ever ...)

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Rock Band coming to the Wii, BUT ...

... it won't have downloaded content or online play.

Harmonix announced today that the wildly popular music game will be released for the Nintendo Wii on June 22. It will have five "bonus" songs. This supposedly is in lieu of the online play feature and ability to download new songs that the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions already have.

A lot of people will be glad to know that Rock Band is getting ported to the Wii. But how long is that going to last when these details about the release become widely known? To exclude the downloadable content feature and online play is an insanely bad move by Harmonix. From a business standpoint, it makes no sense at all! Nintendo Wii is the best-selling video game system on the market today, consistently outpacing both the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3. Now bear in mind that for those two systems already, Harmonix has sold over 6 million copies of new tracks that have been made available since the game's launch in November.

Obviously, the downloadable content is one of Rock Band's most popular points. Harmonix is courting disaster by consciously stripping it from the Wii edition. They aren't just going to be losing millions of dollars in potential profit from lack of downloaded tracks, but a lot of Wii owners - and I'm one of them - are going to see this move as petty at best, and outright insulting at worst.

Besides, there is no reason at all why the Wii could not support either the downloaded content or online play for Rock Band. It can save tracks to an SD card, and I'm sure that some kind of encryption/encoding scheme is possible that would prevent tracks from being illegally copied. Technically, the online capabilities of Rock Band could certainly be shared with the Wii version. So why aren't they?

The suits at Harmonix had best reconsider, and announce that the downloaded content and online play are going to be in the Wii version too. Or else they're going to wind up with tons of unwanted Rock Band for Wii boxes that'll take up a hella lot more space in a landfill than those E.T. cartridges ever did.

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FREE POPCORN SUTTON! Moonshine legend in the pokey after raid by evil revenuers

You see, this is part of the reason why I absolutely hate what America has turned into. It used to be that government in America was "of the people, by the people and for the people". Today government in America is "do what we tell you to do or we will kill you!"

And now, said government is more interested in destroying the life of a bona-fide original American character than it is in stopping an invasion by millions of illegals who are entering this country (not to mention that our politicians are way too fixated on one baseball player to care about how their little war with no purpose has just notched its four-thousandth American fatality) ...

"Weird" Ed sent me a clipping of this story from the Asheville Citizen-Times about how Popcorn Sutton - Maggie Valley, North Carolina's resident moonshiner/bootlegger/subject of numerous documentaries/author of Me and My Likker/business owner/curio collector/stuff that I've been sworn to silence on/living legend - is now in jail in Tennessee after a bust by federal and state agents. The G-men shut down Sutton's operation that included three 1,000-gallon stills, almost 900 gallons of finished "firewater", hundreds of gallons of corn mash, and apparently guns of some kind. That alone might send Sutton to prison for 10 years because he's already considered a convicted felon, having serving time for liquor violations going back to the 1970s. Each separate moonshine charge could also get him an additional five years.

Right now Popcorn Sutton is being held in jail without bond in Greeneville, Tennessee.

The first thing I'm compelled to say about this is that Popcorn should never have "expanded his business" into east Tennessee. If he had stayed in Maggie Valley, there's little doubt that he'd still be brewing his 'shine today. He's too much of a local institution there. Everyone in Haywood County knows Popcorn, either personally or by reputation. They respect his art, which he learned from his father and grandfather. Moonshining in those mountains goes back a way long time. And folks out there, they don't cotton much to outsiders coming in and causing trouble that's not wanted... even if someone comes in wearing a federal badge. Besides, a lot of people have noted that Popcorn goes out of his way to produce the safest moonshine possible.

But the moment Sutton set up shop across state lines, he was a marked man and he should have known it.

Why? Because making your own "likker", although not an immoral act, is illegal. But it's only illegal because the government feels obligated to tax everything it possibly can. And what happened here is that Popcorn Sutton put himself square in the sights of greedy government officials who couldn't stand it that they haven't been able to shake him down for the money they feel is "owed" them somehow.

This quote from the story says it all...

But, the ATF agents who helped arrest Sutton said moonshine operations like his should not be treated too lightly.

"Moonshine is romanticized in folklore and the movies. The truth though is that moonshine is a dangerous health issue and breeds other crime," ATF Special Agent James Cavanaugh said in a statement.

"The illegal moonshine business is fraud on taxpayers in Tennessee and across the country," he said.

These bastitches in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have killed more innocent people than Popcorn Sutton could ever accomplish if he was using the dirtiest condensing coil imaginable. Not to mention that the federal government and too much of modern law enforcement is corrupt to the core and "breeds crime" already: who the hell are these people to tell us that a guy like Popcorn Sutton is a threat to public safety?

It's just government wanting to interfere with our own lives again, folks. It can't do anything else but throw its weight around and compel us at gunpoint to obey it.

Well, here's what I got to say about that...

ATF Special Agent James Cavanaugh, if you ever read this: I pray that you'll someday get ordered to go on a raid deep inside "Little Canada". And I hope you'll be wise enough to leave instructions to your next-of-kin when you do.

(Anyone who knows something about that part of the state will no doubt recognize the severity of what I just suggested.)

In the meantime: Free Popcorn Sutton! And if you want to know more about Popcorn and his trade, here's his "how-to" video on YouTube:

"Makin' Likker with Popcorn Sutton, Part 1"

"Makin' Likker with Popcorn Sutton, Part 2"

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Homeland Security wants to put a taser bracelet on you

So far as I can tell this is not a joke! Here is the website for Lamperd, and it includes this video.

So the government now wants to put an "EMD Bracelet" on all airline passengers, and this bracelet would allow the Homeland Security bastitches to shock someone like a taser.

Here's the video...

They really are getting bold about bringing us a police state, aren't they? How long would it be before "The Powers That Be" started insisting that everyone wear one of these things, "for the public good"?

I think that anyone who seriously believes in mandating this thing, should have an EMD Bracelet wrapped firmly around their circular reproductive units and rendered the maximum level of electric shock continuously for not less than 24 hours.

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Epitaph for Arthur C. Clarke

Arthur C. Clarke was laid to rest yesterday in Sri Lanka. According to the story, his tombstone will soon be engraved with the following words...

Here lies Arthur C Clarke.

He never grew up and did not stop growing.

That's about the most succinct description of a life well-lived - and a life worth living - that I've ever read.

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Cheney sez: I don't care what Americans think

No doubt that a lot of the so-called "neoconservatives" will thump their chests and howl and gloat about how "their guy" Dick Cheney is thumbing his nose at those who have been opposed to his little war in Iraq.

And then there are those of us who watch this video, and we are saddened at the downward spiral that America has taken, when people like the Vice-President of the United States (and the President, remember he called himself "the Decider") can openly boast about how they enjoy the feeling of not being held accountable by anyone.

Here it is folks: your Vice-President doesn't give a damn what you think about how he and Bush are wasting American lives and resources...

The lesser angels of my nature would like to suggest that someday, Dick Cheney might be found face-down in a gutter bleeding to death and crying for help. One guy could walk past him. And that dude will look at Cheney, someone in need of dire medical assistance, then he'll shrug his shoulders and say "so?" and he'll keep on going his way, leaving Cheney to die begging for sympathy.

It would make for a great episode of The Twilight Zone. Except for a morality tale to be effective, its audience must possess a soul. Something that I don't know if Cheney and Bush and their kind ever had to begin with.

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Rock Band massive update includes in-game music store

Give it up for Harmonix: they are definitely one software company that listens to its fan base. Yesterday they pushed a patch for their hit game Rock Band that addresses several issues that players have been having. And with the update comes one very cool innovation: Rock Band Store, an in-game way to purchase new songs without having to leave the game for Xbox Live Marketplace or the PlayStation Store.

I just installed the update and messed around with the game (the Xbox 360 version) and I am extremely pleased with what Harmonix has done with this update. The Rock Band Store even lets you preview songs that you might consider purchasing before doing so.

In addition to the Rock Band Store, the new patch fixes the random song lists bugs, tweaks the cap on fans in Band World Tour mode, improves some issues with the microphone (which was a big deal with the PlayStation 3 version), and the downloaded content is said to be much faster in loading 'cuz after this update it's now being cached.

The update is free. Just turn on your system with the Rock Band disc, and if you're on Xbox Live or PlayStation Store it should automatically ask if you want to install it.

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First images of Snake-Eyes from the live-action G.I. JOE movie

I am not hopeful about this movie at all. So much of it screams wrong, like having the G.I. Joe team, an American counter-terrorist group, based in Belgium. And a far-too-young Cobra Commander.

But there have been a few things about G.I. Joe that have piqued my curiosity. Christopher Eccleston as Destro, f'rinstance. And Ray Park as Snake-Eyes. And the fact that Larry Hama, who pretty much defined the entire look and tone of the Eighties-era G.I. Joe mythology, is aboard the production team.

And then yesterday Ain't It Cool News, courtesy of Larry Hama himself, delivers the first officially released photos of Snake-Eyes from the film...

Here's the other pic, after I played around with it in Photoshop to bring out more detail...

That's Snake-Eyes alright. No question about it. The only thing I don't like is that he's got the Arishakage clan's hexagram emblazoned on his costume's shoulder, when I much prefer it tattooed on his arm and out of sight. But the fact that the hexagram is being used at all makes up a bit for that quibble.

I must admit, I really like how they've got Snake-Eyes looking here.

(By the way, I still have in my possession my almost-pristine copy of G.I. Joe issue #21: the legendary "Silent Interlude" story. Along with #25 and #26 of the same run. So if these pics can impress me, that's sayin' something :-)

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The Freighters are coming... and Michael's one of them! Last LOST until late April airs tonight

Last week on Lost, Sayid and Desmond were still on the freighter and the captain made it clear that their mission was to capture Benjamin Linus. Then while being taken to new quarters they were introduced to the ship's janitor: "Kevin Johnson".

It was Michael (Harold Perrineau).

When we last saw Michael, it was the finale of Season 2 and he was in a small boat along with his son Walt headed on a compass bearing of 325 away from the Island, after making a traitorous deal with the Others. Linus told Michael that they would soon find rescue.

Now one month later in story time (though what we know of time on the Island now, that doesn't really mean anything), Michael is back.

Speculation has been rampant for months about "Meet Kevin Johnson", tonight's episode and the last completed before the writer's strike. The cast list alone already guarantees this one to be a must-watch for the Lost mythos: Cynthia Watros as Libby, M.C. Gainey as Tom/Mr. Friendly, Mira Furlan as Danielle, not to mention that Alex, Karl, most of the original helicopter people (including Naomi), Minkowski, and a ton more that have been revealed from the credits. But the real draw is that "Meet Kevin Johnson" is said to be a Michael-centric flashback revealing what happened to he and Walt from the time they left the Island until he was shown mopping floors last week.

One thing's for sure: Michael is probably quietly praying that he's never, ever going to be left alone with Sayid.

Enjoy it while it lasts, fellow Losties: tonight's is the last episode until the five new post-strike produced ones begin airing on April 24th.

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2008 High Holy Days begin today

Oh yeah, this is the weekend of Easter too, right? And tomorrow is Good Friday. So it really is the High Holy Days, isn't it?

Okay "High Holy Days" is my own personal nickname for the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. It kicks into high gear today and here are the brackets for it courtesy of CBS Sports.

It ain't looking good for the Knight household though: this year the NCAA honchos have put the three teams we have the most affection for in the same region! Duke (my longtime favorite Atlantic Coast Conference team along with N.C. State), Georgia (Lisa's alma mater) and Baylor (where Lisa's brother is attending) are all playing in the West. In fact, if they both come out of their first games intact it's going to be Baylor and Georgia playing each other! And then of course whoever wins that will be sent home by the Blue Devils, but anyway...

Unfortunately, Elon is not in this year's tournament. Again. Someday before I die, Lord willing I will see the Phoenix make it to the Big Dance. And then like Gonzaga was a few years ago (yeah they're in it this year again too) all the sports commentators will be going "Elon?! Where the heck is Elon?!" and I'll be able to smile and laugh about our little school getting a few seconds of footage in the "One Shining Moment" video that CBS Sports always runs after the championship game :-)

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"My God, it's full of stars!"

Arthur C. Clarke, the last of the original masters of science-fiction, has passed away at the age of 90 in Sri Lanka.

Even if he had never written books like 2001: A Space Odyssey and Rendezvous with Rama (along with everything else in his prolific career) he would have gone down in history as the man who came up with the concept of the communications satellite. That billions around the world enjoy such conveniences as global television broadcasts, Internet service in remote locations and satellite radio in their cars is plenty enough testimony to Clarke's vision and brilliance.

Clarke was also one of the first enthusiastic adopters of e-mail. He used it almost every day to communicate with director Peter Hyams during the production of 2010: The Year We Make Contact. As far back as 1983, Clarke believed that this was revolutionary technology that would change the world. He was right.

It is his science-fiction work that he will be most remembered for, though. And that Clarke - along with his fellow masters Isaac Asimov and Robert A. Heinlein - would spark the imaginations of so many people with his writings... that is going to be the eternal legacy of this man, standing as tall and resolute as the monolith.

But tonight I am more than a little saddened, because one of the best dreamers of our era has left us.

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President Bush, bereft of any concept of sacrifice, says Iraq War "worth it"

This war is five years old this week. That's a longer conflict in one small country than the United States was involved across the globe in World War II. Very nearly four thousand U.S. personnel have died... but that's only officially counting those who die within Iraq, not those who are wounded and airlifted to Germany or wherever and die elsewhere. That says nothing of the long-term emotional trauma that many of these men and women will be suffering for years to come.

And so far as the innocent population of Iraq goes, there's no telling what they've had to endure. It's already a far worse country for Christians to live in than it was under Saddam Hussein. Under him there was no persecution of Christians: now most of them have had to flee the country.

Al-Quaeda was not welcome in Iraq during the Saddam years. Today, because of this war, Al-Quaeda has no more fertile recruiting ground. Like they say on the basketball court: "Smooth move, Ex-Lax."

All of this because of a war based on a lie. It was a lie then and it's still a lie today. It's a lie whenever a country goes to war for reasons that are not morally clear. This is and always has been a politically-driven conflict. That the current administration has to resort to buzzwords and catchphrases like "the Surge" in order to build support for this war is ample demonstration that these people are more disciples of Madison Avenue than they are of Thomas Aquinas.

That there are people so deluded as to still support this administration without question might even be the bigger tragedy, because without these "useful idiots" the government would never get away with such wrongdoing... no matter who is in charge of it. But I digress...

George W. Bush not only says that the Iraq War was "worth it", but that the "high cost in lives and treasure" has turned Iraq into a "success"!

Bush has no understanding of sacrifice. He's never had to experience it. From what I've heard of the man, he's shyed away from it all his life. Things like heartbreak and grief are alien concepts to the man. Bush's disconnect from norman human emotion is probably greater than his dis-attachment from the rest of the world that you and I have to live in (the man didn't even know about the soaring price of gasoline the other week... but then since when was the last time Bush ever pumped his own gas?).

That's the only way that Bush can still want his mad little war. Had Bush and most everyone else had something personally invested in this war that they root for - like a loved one on the ground having to fight it - then his and their support would no doubt be far different. But it's easy to cheer on a fight from behind the safety of a keyboard.

We would have been far better off leaving Iraq alone, even if that meant letting Saddam stay in power. In the long-term scheme of things, his presence as a strongman over that country was a stabilizing influence, and should have remained so until the Iraqi people were ready to remove him on their own terms. That's the key thing here: it should have been Iraqis who took Saddam down, and not anyone from outside. Bush lacked wisdom to understand this in addition to any empathy toward others beyond his own ego.

From the very top on down, America is in the hands of cowards. How dare they presume to speak to us about understanding sacrifice?

Because until Jenna and Barbara Bush wear some cammies and pick up a gun and go on a patrol in Basra so that their father will know what it's like to go through the Hell that he's imposed on too many other Americans, this will be something that Bush will never know or fear. And I'm damned tired of too many people still making excuses for this pathetic man.

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What did Obama's pastor say exactly?

Seriously, I don't really know what's going on. I've had better things to occupy myself with during the past few days.

But I'm seeing "Obama" and "pastor" come up quite a lot in news headlines lately. So what's the big deal?

And why should I care?

Why should any of us care, for that matter?

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Rumored: Beatles version of Guitar Hero

A few weeks ago it was announced that there would be an Aerosmith version of Guitar Hero in a few months. Now comes word that the Beatles may be getting their own edition of the popular music video game.

I don't think this is a good idea. Aerosmith I can understand, but the Beatles had a whole 'nother vibe going than their guitar style (even though they were great guitarists). But now that the Beatles catalog will soon be available via iTunes, who knows: maybe we'll soon see some Beatles hits as downloadable content for Rock Band too, which would make a lot more sense than Guitar Hero.

(Credit goes to Electric Pig for their awesome pic of Paul McCartney with a Guitar Hero controller :-)

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Supreme Court to hear Second Amendment case today

Today the Supreme Court of the United States is going to hear arguments in a case regarding the interpretation of the Second Amendment. Namely, whether possession of a gun is the right of an individual or whether it's a "collective" one.

I would like to report that I am cautiously optimistic about how they will decide on this, but I can't even muster up that much.

This is the same Supreme Court that a few years ago that effectively destroyed the security of owning personal property by way of the Kelo decision. They ruled in favor of "the community" then and against the rights of the individual. Why should we believe that they will do any differently this time, on this issue?

Actually, I must confess that part of me is secretly hoping that the Supremes will attack individual rights on this one. Maybe then some of the Christians in this country - who I am still angry toward regarding their sheepish complacency - will wake up and realize what's going on with this country. Maybe they would... but again, knowing what I do about them I can't be very hopeful on that one.

But I'm not terribly worked-up about this, however it turns out. Because I know enough about why the Founding Fathers included the Second Amendment to understand that they no doubt fully anticipated something like this happening eventually. The Second Amendment is written confirmation that the individual has the right to protect himself or herself... but that's not the main reason why the Founders made such prominent note of it. They were people who were plenty wise about human nature and its capacity for corruption and destruction in the pursuit of power.

So it is that the primary purpose of the Second Amendment is a temporal guarantee that government in America is derived by the consent of We The People, and that the People have the right and responsibility of overthrowing that government if and when government becomes abusive without restraint.

In other words, the Second Amendment is there not because we can shoot the bad politicians dead in the streets, but so the bad politicians will know that we can shoot them, if they get out of line.

Thus, the Second Amendment is the final "checks and balance" of government in the United States. It is a bulwark against human nature... because without that, this country will become something that few of us want to see.

No wonder why many who enjoy exercising the power of the state are hoping the Supreme Court will quash individual rights again in this case.

No, I am not a violent man. I just understand enough of humanity's capacity for violence to know not to trust it.

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No love lost between Duke and UNC on Facebook

CBS Sports has an Official NCAA Basketball Tournament Brackets application on Facebook and among other things it lets you rank who your favorite teams are... along with who you loathe the most.

I thought the current standings were pretty funny:

Right now the Tarheels of UNC-Chapel Hill are the top favorite team, followed by the Duke Blue Devils. But in the Despised category, Duke is by far the most hated followed by Carolina, and UNC has almost as many votes as it does in the Favorite chart. Hmmmm...

This might be the most scientific indicator yet of how intense the feud is between Duke and Carolina. Even though it's a routine part of life here in North Carolina, I must admit it's still quite neat to see it reflected in this way.

Oh yeah: GO DUKE!! :-)

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Will tomorrow be The St. Patrick's Day Massacre? Economy teetering on brink of disaster

Bear Sterns got bought out by J.P. Morgan Chase in an 11th-hour deal tonight, just in time to beat the opening of the Asian markets. The deal involves J.P. Morgan Chase buying the Bear Stearns stock for two bucks a share. Lots of people have lost lots of money. This came after the U.S. government agreed to bail out Bear Stearns this past Friday: essentially printing up money that isn't there to provide some short-relief.

Which means that in the long run, lots more people are going to lose lots more money because of inevitable inflation.

And depending on who you listen to, there are anywhere between three and seven or eight other major financial institutions that are also flirting perilously close to going under. Can the government and the Federal Reserve rescue them, too?

Two people that I've known for a long time have also told me that there is trouble brewing with derivatives. I'll take their word for it, even though I still have no idea what the hell "derivatives" are. Ever since I first heard about them a dozen or so years ago, I've thought they sounded too much like a Ponzi scheme. Why can't financial transactions be made using real money for real products, instead of imaginary money for imaginary products? Anyhoo, my friends tell me that if derivatives go bad, it's gonna hurt plenty.

Meanwhile, the Asian markets which are already open for Monday business are dropping like a rock: Nikkei is down over 4%. And it already ain't looking good for the Dow tomorrow either.

St. Patrick's Day tomorrow and the rest of the week might be a time to keep an eye on the economy. I'd suggest paying close attention to any news coming out of the bigger banks, especially. If even one of them winds up going down like Bear Stearns, this country will likely be in a heap o' trouble.

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Teenage girl is hero, still gets Saturday detention

15-year old Amanda Rouse wasn't feeling very well, so she stayed on her school bus for a ride back home from Marina High School. While the bus was on the road the driver fell out of her seat and hit her head. The bus went out of control and hit two cars, and had Amanda not jumped out of her seat to apply the brakes, this might have turned out a lot worse.

Because of her quick thinking, Amanda Rouse saved the lives of 40-some people on the school bus and perhaps those of others also. The girl is a heroine.

And now school administrators are punishing Amanda with Saturday detention for her "truancy".

Too many school officials in this country - not all of them, but darn enough of them - are heartless, unthinking robots. Those of Marina High School exemplify this. Not to mention this story demonstrates why "zero tolerance" policies are ridiculous without fail.

But never mind them. Amanda Rouse, however it happened, you were in the right place at the right time... and you did the right thing in the circumstance. My hat's off to ya!

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Kettle calling pot black: U.S. condemns Iranian elections

I wish a lot more people could understand and appreciate the irony of this. I don't have any love for the Iranian government, but for officials of our own to be this blatantly hypocritical doesn't reflect well on us, either. From Reuters...

U.S. says Iran election results are 'cooked'
Fri Mar 14, 2008 7:52pm EDT

By Sue Pleming

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States, at loggerheads with Tehran over its nuclear program, cast strong doubt on the fairness of Iran's parliamentary elections on Friday and said any outcome of the poll would be "cooked."

"In essence the results are cooked. They are cooked in the sense that the Iranian people were not able to vote for a full range of people," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said of the poll.

Iranians voted on Friday in an election likely to keep parliament in the control of conservatives after unelected state bodies barred many reformist foes of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from the race.

"They are given the choice of choosing between one supporter of the regime or another supporter of the regime," McCormack told reporters. "They were not given the opportunity ... to vote for somebody who might have had different ideas."

(snip)

Mr. McCormack, let's get serious: your own country the United States doesn't even allow its citizens to vote for "a full range of people". Between the Democrats and Republicans conspiring with each other by limiting ballot access, and a complacent corporate media helping them along, the people of our own country more often than not have little choice but to vote for "one supporter of the regime or another supporter of the regime".

Mr. McCormack, shut up sir. You and many others have a lot of nerve in condemning another country's political process, when the one that you help support in your own country is just as damnably corrupt.

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Teaching filmmaking for Cultural Arts Day at Monroeton Elementary School

Today has been one of the best, most fun-filled days that I've had in quite a long time. And most of that is because of how I got to talk about being a filmmaker and show some "tricks of the trade" for the students of Monroeton Elementary School in Reidsville, as part of the Cultural Arts Day that it held today.

Cultural Arts Day had folks coming in to demonstrate arts like painting, sculpting, mosaics, music and storytelling. And in Mrs. Marsha Lipford's room, we set up a "mini movie studio" - complete with camera, greenscreen and even some props and costumes - for the kids to check out...

There were five groups of students who came in during the day. Here I am telling some fourth-graders about how I got into filmmaking and how they can get into this too. I especially told them that if they want to make movies, they should read as much as they can and also come to enjoy writing...

For each group, we did a "walkthrough" of how a movie goes from idea to written script, and then finding actors and a set to shoot the action on, and then editing it all together and distributing it.

For the event I also put together a "demo reel" showcasing some of KWerky Productions' projects during the past few years, including several scenes from Forcery...

One of the clips from Forcery that the kids got a kick out of was my "death scene" where Frannie shoots Sheriff Boozer from behind with the shotgun. I'm glad now that in the end I used the less-graphic second version of that effect 'cuz three years later, the first one still does bother me to think about... but the kids all thought that my "death" was pretty funny! The students loved the lightsaber effects, and they also got to watch clips from The Baritones (they enjoyed seeing Monroeton Elementary itself make a cameo appearance), some of Schrodinger's Bedroom and of course I couldn't resist showing them my first school board campaign commercial. A lot of the kids cheered when they saw the Death Star blowing up the schoolhouse :-)

But the real highlight of each session came toward the end, when we got to use the greenscreen, the high-def camcorder and my video rendering system along with the Ultra CS3 chromakey software to let the students experience video special effects firsthand. Mrs. Ledford picked some students who then got in front of the greenscreen, and then I would put them in some crazy locations. Here's one guy that we sent to the beach (by the way, for legal reasons I have to "black out" the students' faces)...

And here's one dude that we dressed up in my brown Jedi cloak and handed him my Master Replicas-made lightsaber prop, who was then digitally transported to the Jedi Temple from the Star Wars movies...

I also grabbed a weather satellite image of the United States from early yesterday morning and put that in the background, to give the students a chance to play "television weatherman" :-)

The kids were all really terrific and they were asking some very good questions in addition to totally "getting into it" :-)

I want to thank everyone at Monroeton Elementary School, especially Mrs. Lipford for letting me set up in her room, for allowing me to take part in today's activities. I can't say enough how wonderful it was to be a part of this.

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Tonight's LOST: "Ji Yeon"

Lost has come completely unhinged. I mean that in a good way.

Two weeks ago we got "The Constant", which many regard as the finest episode of the entire series to date. One guy I know swears he watched that one at least 20 times already. Some people said that last week's "The Other Woman" wasn't quite up to snuff with how incredible the rest of Season 4 has been, but coming right on the heels of "The Constant" that was a forgivably tall bar to try to surmount.

And tonight we get "Ji Yeon", which was a Sun and Jin episode. Which I've always enjoyed immensely. Except right now, right after this episode, I'm still trying to figure out what the heck it was that we just saw.

Good Lord... this is going to be a crazier mind-mush to figure out than "Through the Looking Glass" was.

(A few minutes later...)

Okay, I think that I figured it out. And if it doesn't make this one of the most heartbreaking episodes of any TV show in recent memory, I don't know what would.

This was not the usual "flashback" or "flash-forward" episode: tonight we got both. With Sun we saw a flash-forward to after she was rescued, and with Jin it was a flashback (the line about only being married for two months is the big clue).

So that last scene with Sun and Hurley...

Now that I've realized it, that hurts. And Lisa thinks it's very sad too :-(

About "Kevin Johnson": we knew months ago this was coming.. It had been rumored that he would be coming back in this episode. But still: that was one of the best returns of a major character to a series after a long absence that I've ever seen.

So, where has "Kevin Johnson" been all this time? What happens to Jin? Where exactly does one come across 324 dead bodies? And what I'd like to really know is: how does anyone steal a Boeing 777 without it being realized that it's missing?

This was a good episode. And it's getting better the more that I think about it. And from the looks of the preview, next week's episode is going to be a doozy...

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The state of things ...

Or to quote Scatman Crothers's character in The Shining: "Just between you and me, we got a very serious problem with the people taking care of the place. They turned out to be completely unreliable assholes."

To wit:

- Oil today hit $111 per barrel.

- $200 per barrel is possible, says Goldman Sachs.

- The value of the dollar is plummeting.

- We are now in a recession, according to most economists.

- Some are now saying that there is a "perfect storm" brewing for another full-blown depression.

- Next week will be the five-year anniversary of the beginning of the Iraq War, with no end in sight. We have now been engaged in military operations in one small Mid-East country for far longer, with no clearly defined end-goal or even rationale for our presence there, than the United States fought in World War II in both the European and Pacific theatres.

- George W. Bush desperately wants to be remembered as the President who legalized torture and government spying on Americans. If you are so foolish as to support Bush on this, remember that eleven months from now Hillary might have this power too.

- Considering that it cost one guy $80,000 and a job as governor, that must have been the greatest sex ever.

- If members of law enforcement are trying to shut down a website called RateMyCop.com because it exposes abuses they commit, does that mean that America now has "secret police"?

And finally: A woman in Kansas sat on her toilet for two years. Her flesh became meshed to the ceramic. Her boyfriend is now being charged with... something or 'nother. The sheriff in the case is named Bryan Whipple.

Only in America...

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Confirmed: HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS will be a two-part movie

Confirming what was speculated two months ago, it's now being officially announced that the big-screen adaptation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be a two-"volume" production, much like how Kill Bill was. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 will premiere in November of 2010, followed up six months later in May of 2011 with Part 2. David Yates, who directed the adaptation of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and is now at work on Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, will return to helm the final chapter of the Harry Potter movie saga.

Personally, I think this is an excellent way to handle this book. With the myriad of storylines and dangling plot threads left over from the previous chapters, making Deathly Hallows a two-part movie leaves plenty of running room to take care of previous business while further exploring Potter's wondrous world. And it makes sense in terms of drama, too. Ever since this was first speculated, I've thought that Part 1 should end with Harry, Ron and Herminone's capture by the Death Eaters. Part 2 would then pick up with their imprisonment at Malfoy Manor... which would give all the Potter fans a balls-to-the-walls action and magic movie for the next two-plus hours.

(Hey, so long as they have Molly Weasley screaming out "NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!", I'll be happy no matter what :-)

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Fifteen years ago today came The Storm of the Century

Snowfall in Asheville, North Carolina from The Storm of the Century,
March 12-14 1993

The meteorologists saw it coming five days ahead. A high-pressure Arctic system was heading south across the Midwest states, brought down low by a jet stream from Canada. It was set to converge with intense low pressure over the Gulf of Mexico, and was then projected to head north and east... bringing massive amounts of moisture and cold temperature with it.

But for most of us here in north-central North Carolina at the time, this meant nothing. It had been at least three years since we had seen any decent snowfall. There were many young children who couldn't even remember what snow looked like: they had no concept of the stuff. After three years without snow, it was beginning to seem like a mythic substance that one only found in exotic locales.

Nobody that I knew felt imminently threatened, either. Why should we have been? On March 10th of that year, spring was tantalizing us with temperatures in the fifties and promising to get even warmer. Maybe if I had been paying attention to the weather forecasts more, I would have heard something different. I was so wrapped-up in my first year of college and part-time job (saving up to go visit a friend in Europe that summer) and everything else, that I hadn't had time to watch Randy Jackson's forecast from WFMY News 2 out of Greensboro.

The only hint that I heard about something brewing came on the night of the 10th, at the session of Boy Scout Leader Training that I was attending every Wednesday night at the Cherokee Scout Reservation. Dale Weber, the Scoutmaster of our troop, told us that the camping trip we were scheduled to take that weekend as the final part of our training might have to be postponed because of "chance of snow". And then Dale showed us a "preview" of what the meteorologists were calling for: turned out it was an old picture of the Dust Bowl from the Great Depression.

I thought Dale was just joking...

Two days later, on the afternoon of March 12th, 1993, it started.

I was finished with classes at the community college for the day and had the night off from my job at a sandwich shop in town. Dad asked if I'd like to ride with him up to Ridgeway on the other side of the state line in Virginia to get some lottery tickets. We got back around an hour later, maybe about 4:30 p.m.

As soon as we got out of the truck the snowflakes - the first real snow that this part of North Carolina had seen in many years - began to fall.

By 5:30 the snow was falling at a hard clip. The mercury was dipping sharply.

The six-o'clock news came on. We had it tuned to WFMY. The only thing the news coverage was about was the weather. And the only thing that finally stopped WFMY from talking about the weather was when the station went dark the next day for several hours.

By 7 o'clock Friday night, reports were coming in from all over about the precarious condition of the roads. My sister was already at work at Short Sugar's Drive-In, a famous barbecue joint in Reidsville. Mom, Dad and I wondered if we should go there when the place closed to pick her up. That's what we did, and we took it very slow driving back to our home ten miles away. We returned to our driveway around 9:30 that night.

I think we knew even then: we weren't going anywhere for awhile.

And the snow kept falling. And falling. And falling...

It was fifteen years ago today, on March 12th, 1993, that The Storm of the Century began.

For the next five days, much of the country was immobilized from one of the greatest meteorological catastrophes ever recorded. At its height the storm stretched from Central America all the way to large parts of southeastern Canada. The storm caused major damage in Cuba. But it was the eastern United States that was to bear the brunt of the assault. During its worst period over half the continental United States was being hit by the monstrous system, forcing every airport from Atlanta to Nova Scotia to close.

It was the worst winter storm of 20th century American history, and one of the most destructive on record ever. The blizzard killed more than 300 people and caused at least $10 billion in damages.

The Storm of the Century had it all: record-low temperatures, record-shattering snowfall, hurricane-force winds, multiple tornadoes, damaging surf in the coastal areas. You name it, it happened somewhere or another during the Blizzard of 1993.

Electrical power in many places went out because of wind and ice damage to the power lines. We were fortunate to not have to experience that: our power stayed on the whole time. Lisa has told me though that they lost power where she lived in Georgia: with no electricity to run the freezer, her family brought the frozen food outside and stored it in the snow until the juice flowed again.

Snowfall totals were anywhere from a few inches in Alabama and Georgia – places that are not used to so much snow – to as much as forty to sixty inches in the Appalachian Mountains. Mount Mitchell recorded a snowfall of 50 inches. East of the mountains, accumulation increased with the more northern latitudes.

At our home in rural Rockingham County, we measured over 20 inches of snow by Saturday evening. I saw the temperature as low as 5 degrees Fahrenheit. Our cocker spaniel puppy, Bridget, was begging to go outside. We finally opened the door for her late Saturday afternoon. Bridget went to the edge of the carport, saw the snow piled high, thought better of it and promptly came back inside.

I had the curtains of my bedroom window pulled open all day Saturday so that I could watch the snowfall. At 4 p.m., the blizzard was so fierce, and the wind driving the snow so hard, that I could not see the road outside the house at all, much less my grandmother's house beyond it.

I've already mentioned that the storm caused WFMY to stop transmitting. All of the other channels also had continuous coverage of the storm, but eventually most of the television and radio stations in the area also got knocked-out at some point because of the blizzard. The local ABC affiliate came back on the air on Saturday night, just in time for the start of the episode of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles featuring the return of Harrison Ford as Indy.

We went to sleep that night to the sound of the wind still driving the snow furiously against the side of the house.

But when we woke up the next morning, the system had moved out. In its wake, there was the purest white, most virgin and unsoiled landscape that I have ever seen in my entire life. As far as the eye could see, there was a sheet of thick snow and ice. For as long as I live, I'm going to carry the overwhelming vision of that day with me. And I wish that I had a good camera at the time to chronicle it with. My sister did, and she has some great pictures of the countryside, but she couldn't get them to me in time for this article.

Take my word for it: it was... beautiful.

The temperatures remained steadily cold during the next few days. Bridget finally got to get out of the house, and she looked like a miniature polar bear as she ran atop the snowdrifts. My sister and I were able to go sledding for the first time in five years. Bridget rode with us a few times, too.

And then, just like that... it was gone. Come Wednesday, temperatures were starting to increase. We were all able to get out again, at least around here anyway. We had our Scout Leader Training camping weekend a few days later and there was still quite a lot of snow on the ground in Caswell County, but on the drive back on Sunday morning the once-mighty Storm of the Century had been reduced to a few patches of dirty white snow in roadside ditches and in the occasional patch of woodland shade. A few days later, you would have hardly known that the worst blizzard in living recollection had ever taken place.

But it did. And fifteen years ago today, The Storm of the Century blasted into town and indelibly into our memory. I had never seen anything like it, and I don't know if any other experience will ever come close. My biggest regret looking back on those crazy four or five days in March of 1993 was that I was not as close to God then as I am now. Had I been, I would have been much more humbled by the event.

But even then, standing in the field behind our house, looking across that frozen tundra in the heart of Dixie, I couldn't help but feel utterly moved by the awe and majesty of it all. Maybe it was God preparing me for something later on. I like to think so, anyway.

And Lord willing, maybe my children will get to see something like The Storm of the Century someday. If that ever happens, Lisa and I will share with them our own stories of the 1993 blizzard, so that they too might be moved by the magnificent grandeur of the cycles of creation.

Okay so... anyone else remember The Storm of the Century in 1993? :-)

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BioShock 2 coming in 2009

I rented BioShock for the Xbox 360 from a nearby video store over the weekend to see if this game lived up to the good word that I've heard about it. There haven't been many spare moments lately 'cuz of various projects but I've got to say: no other video game that I've ever played has had me so looking forward to chances to playing it more as has BioShock. Right now I'm in the Medical Pavilion level, which I think is still very early in the game so I don't know anything about where this story is headed. But even so, I'm going to definitely be buying this game for my permanent collection and I'm going to be posting a review of it soon.

So if you too have fallen in love with the haunting beauty and mystery of the underwater city of Rapture, you'll be happy to know that Take-Two Interactive has announced BioShock 2 for the fall of 2009. BioShock's lead creator Ken Levine will be involved with the sequel but what his precise role will be hasn't been announced yet.

Okay, I'm off to play some more BioShock. Maybe this time I'll finally get past the Big Daddy...

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Fred Reed sez: American democracy is a sham

Democracy in America is not about government derived by the will of the people. Rather, democracy in America is about how deeply-entrenched political elites and the corporate press control the people. Such is the case articulated by Fred Reed in his latest essay, and it's hard to disagree with him...

To disguise all of this, elections provide the excitement and intellectual content of a football game, without the importance. They allow a sense of Participation. In bars across the land, in high-school gymns become forums, people become heated about what they imagine to be decisions of great import: This candidate or that? It keeps them from feeling left out while denying them power.

It is fraud. In a sense, the candidates do not even exist. A presidential candidate consists of two speechwriters, a makeup man, a gestures coach, ad agency, two pollsters and an interpreter of focus groups. Depending on his numbers, the handlers may suggest a more fixed stare to crank up his decisiveness quotient for male or Republican voters, or dial in a bit of compassion for a Democratic or female audience. The newspapers will report this calculated transformation. Yet it works. You can fool enough of the people enough of the time.

When people sense this and decline to vote, we cluck like disturbed hens and speak of apathy. Nope. Just common sense.

Much more at the above link.

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Oil now a record $107 a barrel

Actually, as of the most recent report it's $107.44 to be accurate. And there's little doubt it will be up quite a bit again by the end of the week.

Average gas price right now around here in north-central North Carolina is $3.19 per gallon.

Why is the cost of gas and everything else skyrocketing? It's not that there's a dwindling supply as many people will argue. No, right now it's more because of the depleting value of the U.S. dollar. With diminished buying power comes high prices across the board.

And lowering the interest rates combined with pumping more Federal Reserve notes into the system is not going to do a damned thing to help matters. In fact, they will make things considerably worse by further driving down the dollar's value.

Nor will this "stimulus package" pushed on us by George W. Bush and Congress do anything. "Stimulate the economy by encouraging spending"? Feh! If President Bush actually bought his own food and pumped his own gasoline (something I doubt he has done in at least fifteen years) he would realize that for most Americans the money from the "stimulus" is going to be gone within a day, used on bare necessities like gas to get to one's job, and food for the children.

No folks, the "stimulus" by Bush and Congress is just another socialist program disguised as a cheap ploy to distract our attention while the economy falls into ruin. If these supposedly "brilliant" leaders wanted to really remedy the economy, they would (a) seriously cut taxes, (b) SERIOUSLY cut spending, which will never happen and (c) get the United States the hell out of places that it has no business being in the first place, like Iraq, which has become a drain down which $12 BILLION a month of our money is being flushed... to say nothing of the cost in human life. And again, for no reason other than the arrogance and grandeur of a few who should have never been trusted with power and responsibility to begin with.

The things that these people wanted to do and are doing was going to come at too high a price to begin with. Now we are all having to pay for it.

Maybe it's for the best. Perhaps it takes being knocked down a peg or two to come to our senses. And given the course that America is now hellbent on pursuing, maybe letting our economy fall into utter collapse will be a good thing in the long run. Lord willing, a stronger, hardier and wiser people might rise from the rubble, having learned the lessons of the folly of this current generation. If America is to yet have a bright and shining future, her posterity will be beyond false dichotomies and petty pageantry.

I still think that it's possible with this country. But if we want that for our children, we are going to have to suffer for it after having suffered fools more than we should have.

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Final poster for INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL

Drew Struzan delivers as classic a poster as I've ever seen for the last (?) chapter of the Indiana Jones film saga...

Is it just me, or does Karen Allen look even more beautiful in this poster than she did in Raiders of the Lost Ark all the way back in 1981? Her face is positively radiant!

What I would give to have this poster on my own wall. Hope they make them available for sale soon!

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Jenna and Lou are GETTING MARRIED!!!

And now for the best news that this blog has reported in quite a long time...

Word has reached me at this late hour that our dear friend and fellow blogger Jenna Olwin was asked by her boyfriend Lou if she would be his beautiful blushing bride.

And... Jenna said "yes"!

No word yet on when exactly the wedding will take place but Jenna says it will likely be before this coming fall.

Congratulations on your engagement, Jenna and Lou! May God bless you and keep you in His care in these no doubt very crazy months leading to your wedding, and all the days that will follow :-)

UPDATE 12:33 a.m. EST 03/10/2008: Jenna has posted on her blog an account of how Lou popped the question on her, told in her own unique and special way.

Congrats again you guys. Lisa and I are so happy for you! :-)

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Obama, Clinton, and McCain: Just Say NO!

Me calling into Star Talk on WGSR Star 39 a few nights ago...

I've voted in every election for as long as I've ever been able to be a registered voter. And more than that, I've gone the extra mile and run for public office. Nobody can ever accuse me of being an apathetic citizen.

But I mean it: as things stand now, I won't be casting a vote for either the Democrat or Republican nominee for President this year. Because none of these people have demonstrated that they sincerely want to serve the American people.

Voting for the lesser of two evils is still voting for evil. There is no excuse for it.

Not once did I vote for Bill Clinton, and not once did I ever vote for George W. Bush. The two worst Presidents in American history can never claim that I cast a ballot for them. I'm proud of that (though I will admit that had I been wiser I would have refrained from voting for President at all in 2004). Why should I cast a vote for President this time, knowing full well that Obama, Clinton or McCain would ruin America even more, no matter which one of them is elected?

I've got a Ron Paul bumper sticker on my car. It's going to stay on there 'til well after this coming November. If I get the chance, I'll write in Ron Paul's name on the ballot come Election Day. But I sure as hell won't vote for any of these three losers.

Time to just say no.

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California court rules most homeschooling is unlawful ... and what to do about it

In light of my current activities, which no doubt will soon become widespread public knowledge, I understand what it's going to look like to come out with an opinion on this. So for sake of clarification: the views and commentary that I express on this blog are my own, and not necessarily those of anyone else.

(What I mean by that will be made clear in the very near future.)

A California appeals court has ruled that most homeschooling is illegal. Only parents with the proper teaching credentials are now legally allowed to homeschool their children.

In other words, the vast majority of homeschooling families in California, per the 2nd District Court of Appeals, are now criminals if they continue with teaching their own children.

And according to Justice H. Walter Croskey in his decision, "Parents do not have a constitutional right to home school their children."

That this could be said at all by a judge in the United States raises a huge red flag and screams out bigtime how much trouble we are in.

Again, this is just me talking, folks. Not anyone else and not for anyone else.

Every so often, there is a time when we the people have to tell those in government that "to this point and no further."

This is one of those times.

I cannot imagine something worth defying Those In Power more than when it comes to our own children and the love we have for them.

Lisa and I, Lord willing we have children someday, we have every intent to homeschool them. That is certainly our right, and it's going to remain our right, no matter what some black-robed Nazgul in a courtroom somewhere decrees.

The American people have been living in fear of judges and politicians for far too long. We have forgotten what it means to take hold of our own destiny.

Some of my fellow Christians are going to come back and tell me that we should "obey those who are in authority", "those who have the rule over you", as they say it's in the Bible.

If you've been a longtime reader of this blog, you know me. You know that I have to get very darned upset to use language like this. Well, I'm upset, and I don't particularly care for lack of civility right now. Harsh language isn't a sin against God. Sin against polite society, maybe, but God isn't going to condemn me for what I'm about to say. He might even approve heartily of it.

That we must not stand up to the government, on grounds that they are "in authority" over us, is (EDIT 11:53 p.m. EST: Harsh expletive removed upon cooler head prevailing).

And you wanna know why? Because God did not set government over us in America. God established that we the people are the government in America, and we are the ones who have been given the authority. It doesn't belong to someone who's been elected or appointed at all.

And God is going to judge us someday for what we have done with that which He has trusted us with. Indeed, that we are letting this happen among ourselves indicates to me that He's judging us even now.

We are surely falling. But we don't have to fall. It's our choice, if we want it.

So here's what I'm going to suggest to the homeschool families of California, and I am absolutely serious about this...

Keep homeschooling your children. If you love them enough, you will persist in your practice. You are the ones who love your children. The State of California doesn't give a damn about them, and you'd better accept that fact.

If state officials tell you to stop homeschooling, ignore them.

If they send you a threatening letter, tear it up.

If they send some busybody "social worker" to your front door, slam it in his or her face.

If they send a law enforcement officer to your house to take your children away, shoot him. Or her.

I'm serious. If they come for your kids, take them down. However you can. They don't deserve to live, if they consent to following some judge's orders to take your children without question.

Any agent of the government that comes for your children solely on the grounds that the state has decreed that you cannot teach your children as you see fit, in my mind has given up any claim to possessing an individual soul. Your children though have a future that's worth fighting for. It's worth dying for. It's absolutely worth making some heartless automaton of the state die, if they try to come in between your child and that chance.

I am completely beyond patience with some people. The ones who are making life a living Hell for the rest of us. They have only gotten away with it because we've bought into the lie that we can't do anything to stop them.

On anything else, I might feel lenient. But not here. The line is drawn here.

Fight.

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God as defined by quantum physics

Here is my current proposal for a quantum mechanics definition of God:

In reference to a system encompassing the totality of the physical universe, God is that outside observer which has the unique properties of comprehending the position and momentum of every particle and all energy within the system without violating the observer effect and simultaneously across all points throughout the spacetime of that system.

I think that such a definition easily allows for the occurrence of un-scientific phenomenon as "miracles", since if God is comprehending all quantum behavior throughout every point and moment of the universe's existence, that this means He can pretty much do whatever He wants to with the universe. He can manipulate the quantum state of anything, including altering mass and energy so that water turns into wine. What's more, such a definition might not violate the laws of physics at all. It seems to fit comfortably among them, even.

I might and probably will revise this later on, but right now that's the current model that I'm going by.

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Are you ready to behold the WATCHMEN?

I was just about to turn in for the night after a long day when I went to the Ain't It Cool News website for ummm... cool news, and they've got these first officially released images of the Watchmen cast in costume.

Words fail. And for once, it's in a good way.

I am fast losing any doubts - and there were many - about the big-screen adaptation of Watchmen. They have nailed the look of the graphic novel so well, that I don't know if it could possibly be improved upon. Here's our first look at the Comedian...

There's plenty more at this link, including pics of Rorschach, Silk Spectre, Ozymandias, and Nite Owl (standing in front of "Archie" the Owlship!).

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Something I have learned today

I do not need to ask God to give me some overwhelming mission in order to have a purpose in life.

I only need to wait on Him, and trust that He will deliver in His own time, and know that He will give me exactly what He requires of me.

I do not have to try to fight and win the entire war. I only have to fight the battles closest to me, as best I can with what strength is given me.

This is all that He asks from each of us. If we follow through on that, to the utmost of our ability, then that is enough.

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Gary Gygax and Christianity: Dungeons & Dragons creator was a believer

Yesterday I posted about the death of Gary Gygax, who co-created Dungeons & Dragons and is regarded as the founder of the role-playing game genre. Lots of people who are around my age will probably remember that Dungeons & Dragons aroused considerable controversy in the early Eighties because a lot of Christians claimed that the game promoted witchcraft, demonic worship, suicide, and pretty much every other undesirable practice that you can think of. Many of these people wanted the game to be banned completely.

It wasn't enough to stop publication of Dungeons & Dragons but the game has never completely shaken-off the stigma that it is somehow a breeding ground for followers of Satan.

This afternoon I received an e-mail from a reader of this blog, and I learned something quite fascinating: that Gary Gygax, the mind behind Dungeons & Dragons, was a born-again Christian. That link takes you to a discussion that Gygax took part in with the Christian Gamer's Guild in 2007.

And then there is this e-mail that Gygax sent to a fan a month and a half before his passing...

Thank You, Michael,

All I am is another fellow human that has at last, after many wrong paths and failed attenpts, found Jesus Christ.

Via con dios,
Gary

"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." Matthew 5:16

I thought this was worth making a whole separate post about, because Gygax and his work did suffer a lot of unfair criticism over the years. It's said that the Christian army is the only one that shoots its own wounded. Well, looks like that happened here too.

And so far as some of the more tragic situations involving Dungeons & Dragons that have happened since the game's inception go: yes, this game unfortunately became an idol to some and in their minds more than it was supposed to be. But that same dark potential can be found in practically everything else in life too, whether it be sex or sports or television or whatever. Anything taken to excess becomes a thing that diminishes us and hurts our relationship with God, before it invariably destroys us. In that regard, Gary Gygax certainly did not add anything new to the equation.

And after the past month's sabbatical, some of which I used to study and contemplate what it is to seek after Christ, I now have to wonder if much of the so-called "Christian counter-culture" that I see around us is doing far more damage to the cause of Christ than rolling some dice in a basement ever accomplished. And I'm absolutely serious about that.

But really, this is all still seeing through the glass darkly. The thing that matters most is that yesterday morning, Gary Gygax did "miss his saving throw" as some have joked... but he still won the game before going Home.

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Gary Gygax has passed away

It's weird: I was just thinking of Gary Gygax last week, after reading a review of the new 4th edition of Dungeons & Dragons. It was back in the early Seventies that Gygax, along with Dave Arneson, created the first Dungeons & Dragons game. Gygax has since been widely hailed as "the father of the role-playing game".

Now comes the sad news that Gary Gygax has passed away at the age of 69.

I think it's safe to say that Gygax's influence on popular culture for the better part of the past four decades has been profound, if subtle. Gygax's rules for Dungeons & Dragons became the basis for not only pretty much every role-playing game that followed, but also made an enormous impact on video games and even some real-world simulations and tools for education. Gygax's work had a tremendous effect on many movies and television series... to say nothing of the mammoth library of novels that the Dungeons & Dragons franchise and other role-playing games has spawned over the years.

And let's face it: for those who ever played the original "pen and paper" Dungeons & Dragons, it was - and I've heard still is - a heckuva lot of fun! The first "D&D" game that I ever encountered used one of Gygax's modules (those were pre-packaged "adventures" that you'd buy in a bookstore or wherever). Gygax was not only a brilliant innovator, but he also knew how to be downright lethal: I saw a LOT of characters perish from his traps and monsters. Something about a game like that as opposed to a computer-driven role-playing game: you really did have to use your imagination, and you could do pretty much anything no matter how wild and crazy. We've yet to see a video game that gives you that kind of freedom.

Anyways, part of this blog's purpose is to chronicle and celebrate people who have lived interesting lives, and Gary Gygax certainly had that. Farewell, great Dungeon Master.

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CASTING CALL: Be in a TV commercial ... and get PAID for it!

So how does the prospect of being in a television commercial that will be broadcast all across the state of North Carolina sound to you? How would you like to earn money from the gig? Well, have we got something for you!

As of tonight I'm putting the word out via this blog and a few other places that we are making a wide-spread casting call. There is a very cool project that the KWerky Productions/Knight Vision Media staff is working on right now.

And for it we need actors and actresses of all ages and all physical types. We especially need young children, from ages 5 to 12-ish, who have a bit of patience and aren't easily intimidated especially by loud noises. Good screamers are particularly needed. The child actors will be compensated also for their time.

Interested? Then you need to send me an e-mail at kwerkyproductions@gmail.com and make sure the subject line says "commercial talent" or "actor for commercial" or something like that. If you have a headshot and/or a resume, please send those too.

We are under a bit of a deadline so the sooner you can contact us about this, the better. There is a possibility that this could turn into an extended bit of work, too.

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Back

Things are about to get very interesting. I'd better return.

And it was a good break.

Probably won't be posting at the usual frequency for awhile, 'cuz over the past few weeks I've wound up with a lot of stuff on my plate that I'll be needing to tend to in the near future. But yeah, I'm ready to get back into it.

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Goodbye

For now.

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Game Boy: Toughest product ever?

Slashdot has a neat discussion going on, which was inspired by this article at CNET about the most durable gadgets made. And right now wide consensus is that the original Nintendo Game Boy might be the toughest product to ever hit the market. There's one neat story about a Game Boy that was dropped into a lake and was on the bottom for a week before a guy in SCUBA gear recovered it: after drying out for a few days, it worked fine. I personally know of one guy who thought he'd lost his Game Boy after it went flying out of a car window in a minor fender-bender. He found it a few hours later at the bottom of a paved spillway: not a scratch on it! And then there's this Game Boy (pictured at right) which saw hostile conditions in the first Gulf War. It's now on display at at a Nintendo store in New York City and as you can see, it's still playing Tetris.

Not bad at all for a product that's almost twenty years old! Now if only iPods and every other popular gadget on the market nowadays had such durability...

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