Money for All: Accessible Currency Petition

Well, this one’s definitely cause to update one’s blog!

Please read and sign this petition. If you’re like me, and you think the government spends far too much money on stuff Americans neither need nor care a wit about, you can pat yourself on the back for recommending a good federal investment for once: the Money for All: Accessible Currency Petition. Ummm … No. It’s not what it sounds like (an ultra-Socialist proposal to put government money into the hands of everyone). It’s a petition to Congress to make paper money identifiable to blind citizens. Think about it: When you close your eyes and put your hand into your wallet, can you tell the difference between the fiver you just put in and the $20 you keep on hand for emergencies? No. You cannot. Not without peeking. Well, neither can us blind people … only we can’t peek. We have to either run our paper bills through a finicky little scanning device that costs hundreds and needs constant updating to correctly identify a one from a $50, or we need to take the word of someone else. Someone like … a cashier, say, or a cab driver we didn’t like in the first place, who takes that $20 for emergencies and hands us a wad of identical-feeling bills that may or may not be the correct change for our fair.

Well, it doesn’t have to be that way, does it? This is America! We have the means and the money to change the feel or size of paper bills to be more readily identifiable to the blind! 180 other, less-prosperous countries have had blind-accessible money for years! Please sign this petition and let ours know it’s about time!

Yeeeeeesh

Cool, Clear Stream of Consciousness

See right there I thought I was writing a title, forgetting I’d already written ‘Yeeeeesh’ as a title. Take this gesture as it is meant: a tongue sticking out in the face of my normal lucidity while writing stuff. And am I lucid even? Ever? I can’t remember.

The following text is the text that follows this statement:

I’m going to have to start using passworded posts, so if you should ever out of curiosity want to read one, please email me and I’ll give you the key. Chances are you’ll have to either be a really good friend or a complete stranger to get the correct key though. Or maybe just someone I trust or from whom I wouldn’t mind a little advice. Then again, I kind of think the whole idea of passworded posts is a little off-putting. So maybe I won’t even go that route. Who knows? I’m a woman: I can change my mind to match my socks, whenever I please. But it is good to know that I in fact have the option to password the whole thing, so no one sees my socks when I don’t want them to.

I don’t wear socks much lately.

Sssssssssssssh. *giggle giggle*

I want to do Caroline’s survey. You know, the one with 90 questions. Shall I? Shall I right now?

No. Give it 15 minutes or so. Then I’ll change my mind and go to bed.

Stephen broke his Windows Media Player, and he’s using my Book Port. I’m stuck loading mp3’s into the Studio Recorder beta I downloaded.

Right now, I’m listening to Thursday’s general session of ACB-ness. Frank Curt Sylke is dancing hotly on the WebBraille shut-down issue. HA! He’s got quite an interesting amalgamation of dialects under-lying his New England accent. He completely drops the middle ‘t out of the word ‘titles.’ … I wonder where he grew up? Kind of a North-Brit sound — but just on that one word. Hmmmm.

Man, what a pain not to have WMP! And his compy won’t even let me think about downloading Winamp.

Frank Curt Sylke’s computer of course … not Steve’s.

I’m not drinking tonight at all. I promise.

It was almost like Christmas in July when I checked into Audible to renew my subscription now that funds are sufficient. I had 8 credits to my name! How could I not notice I’d never turned off my subscription in the first place? 8 creds! What to read … what to read! … (when I get Booker P back, that is.

I’ve been catching lots of television! Oh yes … I have. I like 24 and West Wing just as much as anticipated. I catch Glenn Beck at 6:00 every night while I eat supper. If you don’t catch Glenn … it’s entirely OK. He’s not nearly as good at the TV thing as he is at the radio. On radio … he rules the waves in Rush’s wake.

What do you guys think about Rush’s viagra thing? I don’t know much about it at all. All I do know is that I’m not surprised. To tell the truth, nothing he could do would surprise me. He’s an Addict with a capital ADD. (Wait … Glenn’s the ADD reference, really) … but anyway. Rush, we’ve always known what you are. Just … please … keep broadcasting from prison when the day comes, all right?

When it’s someone like Rush, I’m not surprised. When it’s someone like a pastor, I’m still not surprised. One thing Rush and even the most devout of the clergy have in common is their humanity. They are men. Their natural instinct is to seek pleasure and sex and widen their respective circles of influence, right? Anything beyond the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not natural … as in supernatural … as in of the grace of God. Are we any different? No. If you are a Christian, you know it’s a struggle to always put off the old man in favor of the new. Paul wouldn’t have to remind us to do it if it weren’t a struggle at times.

I’m not excusing sexual infidelity for the Church, OK? I think it’s devastating! A pastor caught in adultery should be dismissed at once. He has just ruined his ministry. The Bible is clear on that. But I also know we can go to extremes sometimes to dole out the punishment that is God’s and not ours to give. Rachael and I were discussing this last night. And I’ve just been thinking about what cows Christians can be sometimes. We really need to be on our knees more. And not in public, blithely declaring the depthless depravity of those fallen brothers and sisters we must ‘brush away with the other filth on our feet’ but in private, when there’s only God to weep with us. And I have wept over this very thing. I’ve seen how the righteous can come to ruins. Moreover, I’ve seen how their families suffer and break.

There is so much to say on this subject. We need to start saying it instead of brushing it under our white-washed rugs while the world watches with gleeful … ummmm

gleeful …

Wow. there’s a word for obvious perverted enjoyment, but I don’t have it now. Something else then …

Finally, I’m starting to get tired. What to do — what to do …

YOUR NAME

(1) The singular boring question: What is your name?

Sarah

(2) If you had been born a member of the opposite sex, what would your name have been?

Jonathan. In fact, Steve was supposed to be a Jonathan, so I would have certainly gotten it.

(3) Would you name a child of yours after you?

No

(4) If you had to switch first names with a friend of yours, who would you switch with?

I always thought Meredith was a pretty name.

(5) What’s the way people most often mispronounce any part of your name?

They say Hessen for my last name. Really. This has to stop. It’s pretty much constant. In fact, all my return emails my first few weeks of work were routed to Sarah.Hessen@basesupply.com. Meanwhile, I was only receiving the ones from people who knew how to spell my last name. So if you wrote a new message and manually entered my address, it probably got to me. But if you replied to something I wrote … no … I never got it! This kerfuffle only came to people’s notice when I was found not to have been doing any of the work assigned to me via email. It wasn’t getting done because people sent it all to sarah.hessen!!!!

(6) If you were to become famous, would you drop your last name (like Madonna, Cher, Roseanne)?

No

(7) How easy is it to make you laugh?

Very.

(8) What person you know makes you laugh the most?

My sister Kristin, hands-down!

(9) Do you laugh at jokes you know you shouldn’t?

Yes

(10) Do you tell jokes you know you shouldn’t?

At times. I’m not exactly known for it though.

(11) What words instantly make you laugh or at least smile?

Biscuit. Gobbet. Glom. Pustule. Sprout. … many many others.

(12) What do you think is the funniest thing you’ve ever said or written?

That’s tough. People think I’m being funny when I’m dead serious.

(13) Do you ever dance to music when nobody’s watching?

Yes.

(14) What is/are the worst song(s) you have ever heard?

Unfortunately, it’s a Gospel song. It should be erased at once from all hymnals … and indeed, from Church history as a whole. It’s called “Let Him Have His Way With Thee.” SLKGSLGSIWIOVOSOO> THAT is beyond disturbing!

(15) What song(s) do you wish you could understand a little better?

The beautiful arias in other languages.

(16) What song(s) are constantly in your head?

Gloria. Ezekiel Saw the Wheel. Star dust (Benny Goodman’s first one). Popular (from Wicked the musical. Fit (The Streets). Eleanor Rigby (the Beatles).

(17) What song(s) do you think describe your personality best?

Lately it’s ‘On My Own’ from Les Mis. But only five minutes ago it was Smile (And no, not Sarah Smile).

(18)If you were to serenade the object of your affections, which song(s)would you use?

I Will (Beatles)

(19)If the object of your affections were to serenade you, what song(s)would you hope he or she used?

I’d be floored by just about anything. Not Easy Being Green (Kermit’s smash hit)? A gregorian chant? Well, I’d melt through that floor if he played an instrument simultaneously. Some lush jazz standard with lots of improv on the piano. A Spanish love song on guitar. But that’s daydreamin’. In real life, I nearly flatlined from sheer blis when a MaryMartha choir boy got on one knee in front of me and sang You are my Sunshine ala Boys 2 Men. He was practicing for one of his day school performances, but I so wanted to reel him in by that sharp little neck tie and do a little practicing of my own.

(20) When eating, are you more concerned with taste or healthiness?

Depends on the time of day and how fat I’m feeling

(21) What’s your favorite kind of cheese?

Smoked Cheddar.

(22) What do you think your answer to the previous question reveals about your personality?

No. No … that would be the crackers question you completely overlooked.

(23) If you knew exactly what went into Chinese food, hamburger meat, etc., would you still eat it?

Ignorance is blis.

(24) Do you ever feel guilty eating meat?

Yes.

COMPUTERS

(25) Mac or PC?

PC. At least until Mac gets its accessibility act together.

(26) How much do you actually care about the inner workings of your computer, as long as it works?

I care enough not to touch them.

(27) Do you ever begin preferring IMs to other forms of conversation?

No. I’m a relatively slow typist.

(28) Do you find you’re different talking through IMs than face-to-face or on the telephone?

Yes. For one thing, many people like to save their IMs for future perusal, or just to have a record. I’m more guarded on IMs.

(29) Have you ever ended bid on something on eBay and regretted it later?

No.

THE BATTLE OF THE SEXES

(30) Have you ever wished you could experience being the other gender?

Oh yeah. About once every month!

(31) What do you love most about the other gender?

That they like us.

(32) What do you dislike most about the other gender?

They’re becoming less and less assertive every day. They don’t charge anywhere on a white horse anymore. The women are mowing them down and leaving lots of carnage

(33) What do you understand least about the other gender?

I get them pretty well. I had two older brothers, and I get that ‘guy humor’ thing. They’re pretty straight forward, even when they think they’re hiding something. It’s us women who are hard to get.

NUMBERS

(34) Do you laugh when you hear or read the number 69?

No. I’d have to be a) a guy, and b) about 12 to laugh at the 69 thing..

(35) Were you lying about your answer to the previous question?

No

(36) Do you actually know your Social Security Number?

Yes, and I think it’s important that everyone know their SS number

(37) Do you actually know your IP address?

No, but I know where I can find it if I need it

(38) Do you know what an IP address is?

Yes

(39) Ever thought there were too many numbers floating around in our lives?

LOL … I work in e-commerce … Invoices, order numbers, account numbers, item numbers, ATRs, dimensions, and phone numbers phone numbers phone numbers to dial about them!

(40) Does your head begin to hurt when you think of infinity, imaginary numbers, irrational numbers, etc.?

No. It makes me smile and think of how awesome God is to keep it all so beautifully in balance as he has. And then to share some of his reasoning with us … I love that about Him.

LOVE, SEX AND ALL THAT

(41) Did you get a little frightened or uncomfortable seeing this as a section title?

No

(42) If someone you had no interest in dating expressed interest in dating you, how would you feel?

Umm … Probably just like I do when someone I have no interest in dating shows interest in me. That’s just a guess.

(43) Do you prefer getting to know someone first before dating them or going in “blind”?

I’d like to know them first, but I wouldn’t be opposed to blinding it with someone on the recommendation of someone who knows us well.

(44) Could you carry on a relationship with someone with the same first name as a family member?

I’d probably draw the line at Anna.

(45) Have you ever wished it was more “socially acceptable” for a girl to ask a guy out?

Sure.

(46) What’s your opinion on sex without emotional commitment?

LOL … How ridiculous of a question. What if I’m emotionally committed to having sex, how ’bout? Or ‘You make me emote: Let’s get it on!’ Now sex with rings on … That’s what I think of as commitment.

(47) Have you ever been romantically attracted to someone physically unattractive?

Yes.

(48) Do you think the opposite sex finds you good-looking?

Yes.

(49) Would you be willing to give up sex in exchange for an emotional commitment you knew would last?

You. Are Odd. What, like when I marry a gay quadriplegic or something?

(50) What do you think about homosexuality?

I don’t get it. I don’t think God made people who could only find sexual pleasure in someone of the same sex. I do have some pretty good gay friends. That aside, I think there’s probably a girl somewhere a ‘gay’ guy could fall in love with, because he’s got the wiring somewhere! I’m straight, but who knows what I’d decide about my preferences if I thought we were all a product of chance and I could love who I wanted how I wanted.

POSSESSIONS

(51) What is your favorite possession?

my Book Port

(52) What physical, tangible possession do you want most?

Some new skirts.

(53) How badly do you want it?

I’ll live either way.

(54) Have you ever seen ‘The Exorcist’?

No

THREE TRULY RANDOM QUESTIONS

(55) Would you like to be cloned?

Sure.

(56) Do you wish you could be alive when the world was ending, just to experience it?

I probably will be.

(57) Scaramouche, scaramouche, will you do the fandango?

Only on Thursdays.

THE TWO MOST IMPORTANT QUESTIONS

(58) When was the last time you let the people you love know you love them?

Today.

(59) What do you want the people who are reading this survey to know?

John, the disciple Jesus loved above all others was convinced that Jesus was God. He knew it, and he wrote a book in the Bible about it. I feel slightly sacreligious saying this, but it’s one of my favorite books in Scripture (along with Hebrews and Isaiah, and Romans, and Job, and Genesis, I mean), because John was Jesus’ top peep. Who better to know how it really went down? It starts out like this. Please read the whole thing sometime and tell me what you think.

HAVE YOU EVER

(60) Drank Alcohol:

Yip

(61) Gotten Drunk:

Nope. Never will, either. And from the amount of straight brandy I consumed without feeling the effects, I think it would take quite a lot to get me there anyway. Not that I’ll try.

(62) Had Sex:

Somehow, I get the feeling this whole survey was leading up to this question. But, no. I haven’t.

(63) Dyed Your Hair:

I sprayed it orange once for a spirit week function at college.

(64) Kissed the Same Sex:

My sisters. Little air/cheek kisses to girlfriends.

(65) Thought about Killing yourself:

No

(66)Hated Yourself:

Nope.

(68) Liked someone way older than you:

Yes. Nearly twice my age at 18. Dated him too.

(69) Liked someone way younger than you:

Not way way younger, but yes. Dated him too.

(70) Broken a Bone:

Yes. My brother would lay on his back on the livingroom floor and have me sit on his feet so he could launch me across the room. Once I landed on my right hand between the piano bench and the piano. We found out the next day that I’d broken my wrist.

(71)Had Surgery:

Yes.

(72) Talked to Strangers:

Isn’t everyone a stranger till you get to know them?

(73) Ran Away From Home:

No. Well … I kind of did when I packed up and flew the coop after college.

(74)Did the opposite your parents told you to do/not to do:

Of course.

(75)Sang in public:

yes

(76) Worn a Dress:

I’m most comfortable in a skirt.

(77) Worn a Tie:

No

(78) Worn a Suit:

A swim suit maybe …

(79) Gotten in to a physical fight:

yes, a couple of times I think

(80) Hurt someone emotionally:

MMMM-hmmm.

(81) Hurt someone physically:

Not seriously

(82) Made someone cry:

Oh come on. Of course!

(83) Said you loved someone:

Yes. Man, we’re really scraping the barrel, aren’t we?

(84)Said you hated someone:

Maybe when I was younger.

(85) Talked to a stuffed animal:

I don’t remember

(86) Talked to yourself:

Yes. Some of the most stimulating conversations I’ve ever had were among me, myself, and I.

(87) Danced in public:

Of course.

(88)Done pole dancing:

Haven’t you learned anything about me? Good glory

(89)Done Drugs:

No.

(90)Had any piercings in ears or weird places:

ears

(91)Interesting Facts About You:

I think if you’re a regular reader of my entries you probably all ready know quite a bit.

“Science” Takes on Creationism

Perhaps you saw the headline popping up on various world news outlets this weekend about Leeds University’s plans to include mandatory anti-Creationism seminars for students reading biological sciences. Well, there’s of course a lot of noise about it from people. Very unhappy people. Only the fuss isn’t erupting from the Christian quarters as one might think: No, the people up in arms this time are those all-too-prevalent denizens of Academe who consider the idea of an intelligent designer to be so contrary to scientific principles that they won’t even stand for it to be discussed or even soundly trounced in a one-sided debate for the entertainment of impressionable young minds. To them, the mere suggestion that perhaps science is interpretting evidence the wrong way on a few issues is such a threat, that they can’t even afford to give it the time it would take them to laugh it down in a formal educational setting. Someone potty might misunderstand and actually pick up a book on it, perhaps?

So instead of a more accurate headline like: “U.K. University Reveals Blatant Intolerance for Discussion of Long-Held Religious Views,” or “NEWS FLASH GOD! 150 Years of Digging in the Dirt Says You Never Existed,” we are fed things like, “Scientists Worldwide Unify Against Creationism,” and “Survival of the Fittest Origin Theory Plays out at Uni.”

Aaaah, but it’s not just in the halls of higher learning that Creationism is being attacked with no option for Christian defense: it’s daily in our schools, and it appears to be on the way toward legislation worldwide. Read for yourself these opening lines from an article in the June 22nd edition of the U.K.’s Independent Online:

“The world’s scientific community united yesterday to launch one of the strongest attacks yet on creationism, warning that the origins of life were being
“concealed, denied or confused”.

The national science academies of 67 countries warned parents and teachers to ensure that they did not undermine the teaching of evolution or allow children
to be taught that the world was created in six days.”

Read that again, will you? Is that supposed to be a threat? Of course it is! They’re telling parents of all faiths what they can and cannot teach their children regarding the origin of the universe (an event which none of us were around to observe in the first place!!). Wow. And this is all of SCIENCE coming against us full-tilt?! Do you feel threatened yet?

“The aim of all investigations of the external world should be to discover the rational order and harmony which has been imposed upon it by God and which
He revealed to us in the language of mathematics.” – Morris Kline, Mathematics: The Loss of Certainty (New York: Oxford University Press, 1980), p. 31.

“This most beautiful system of sun, planets, and comets could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being. This Being
governs all things, not as the soul of the world, but as Lord over all, and on account of His dominion He is wont to be called Lord God, Universal Ruler.” – Sir Isaac Newton (physicist and mathematician): Mathematica Principia, 1686.

“the phenomena of nature, whether mechanical, chemical, or vital, consist almost entirely in a continual conversion . . . into one another. Thus it is that
order is maintained in the universe- nothing is deranged, nothing ever lost, but the entire machinery, complicated as it is, works smoothly and harmoniously
. . . the whole being governed by the sovereign will of God.” – James Joule (physicist)

“Certainty! Joy! Peace!
I forget the world and everything but God! . . .
I submit myself absolutely to Jesus Christ my Redeemer” – Blaise Pascal (mathematician)

“The more I study nature, the more I stand amazed at the work of the Creator.” – Louis Pasteur (microbiologist)

“I believe, with the Westminster Divines and their predecessors ad Infinitum, that ‘Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him for ever’” – James Clerk Maxwell (physicist)

“When with bold telescopes I survey the old and newly discovered stars and planets Y when with excellent microscopes I discern Y the inimitable subtlety
of nature’s curious workmanship; and when, in a word, by the help of anatomical knives, and the light of chemical furnaces, I study the book of nature
Y I find myself oftentimes reduced to exclaim with the Psalmist, How manifold are Thy works, O Lord! in wisdom hast Thou made them all!” – Robert Boyle (Chemist, physicist, etc.)

“In the absence of any other proof, the thumb alone would convince me of God’s existence.” – Sir Isaac Newton: (Quoted in Des MacHale, Wisdom [London, 2002].)

“Jesus Christ is end of all, and the centre to which all tends. Whoever knows Him knows the reason of everything.” – Blaise Pascal

“I give you thanks, Creator and God, that you have given me this joy in thy creation, and I rejoice in the works of your hands. See I have now completed
the work to which I was called. In it I have used all the talents you have lent to my spirit.” – Johannes Kepler (astronomer)

Busy Intersection Receives Bad-for-You Rating

The WAFTPSOBP (Wisconsin Activists for the Physical Safety of Blind Pedestrians) earlier today declared the intersection of Greenfield and Highway 100 to rate a “really really bad for you” on an as-yet undefined and highly subjective sliding scale. In today’s random test conducted at 4:09 CST by WAFTPSOBP, the West Allis conflux of Greenfield and 100 (affectionately dubbed ‘Hell’s Driving School’ by the group) scored a big fat ‘0 in 15 out of all 7 determining criteria.

“We crossed it today for the very first time,” said Sarah Hees*n, the little-publicized group’s President and Interim Sergeant at Arms. “We took the bus home from work, and we had to cross Greenfield in order to catch the 28. Well, I felt safer asking the nice bus driver to help me across, meaning the intersection fails accessibility testing hands-down.”

The intersection’s failing comes as no surprise to other disability groups around the state.

“I’m glad it failed,” said Sarah Hees*n, 25 of West Allis, member at large of the city’s first and only League of People Who Hate Hwy 100 and Greenfield. “This announcement gives our club a reason to exist.”

“Oh, it’s a crazy place,” said Sarah Hees*n, 3rd Executive Vice Regent of the Wisconsin chapter of the National Advisory on Issues Related to the Emotional and Mental Wellness of Poor Sheltered Blind Girls With No Social Life Despite Living in Large Metropolitan Areas. “There’s … like … cars everywhere, and they’re moving and stuff. There’s islands and right-turn lanes by the dozen at that one intersection. It’s pretty much like it’s a potentially fatally busy place or something. So, you have to pay attention to what the traffic’s doing probably. And maybe try to take cues from your dog guide. Add that plus the fact that you’re blind, so you don’t know if there’s even a mall at the other side to make it worth the hassle. That’s a lot on your psyche right there. A whole lot to deal with.”

Hees*n, (single white female, 25, 5 foot 9, glorious long auburn hair and barely-blind-looking clear blue eyes), admits she’ll be crossing Greenfield 5 days a week now that she has a job. “It really is a job for the professionals, and now that I’m a professional with a life and such … well, I have no choice. But, I only want them to know that I do it for them — only out of wanting to make the world a better place. Because I willingly suffer on the median at 100 and tell the world about it, they, the poor, mobility-challenged blind people of Milwaukee and of the world, can maybe one day learn how to cross the more rewarding streets by the malls on their own.”

’splain this

We decided to swing in at McDonald’s before church yesterday morning. What did we get with our McMuffs and coffee? Workout DVDs. 4 of them each. Free. Somebody wanna explain what Micky D’s is thinkin’ by handing out workout DVDs with the food? A sudden spasm of grease guilt? A cholesterol-fueled bout of fit-friendly marketing? And this, just on the heels of the release of their dilicious Asian salad. McDonalds! Your healthy living evangelists!

Don’t get me wrong. I’m kind of digging it.

A Wedding and a Rant

Crazy Shanti doesn’t have a blog anymore, so I guess it falls to me to report that her younger sister was married last Saturday. It was a beautiful beautiful service, in the true down-home Baaaaaabdist way. Christ was the focus, the reception was held in the church basement, and Becky was a knock-out (all the girls in that family are). Angela was a little elfin princess with her white-blond curls and her satiny flower girl get-up. The ring bearer managed to drop the rings a few times delaying the exchange of rings and thus making the ceremony perfect. Oh yeah … and my parents sang two duets, and I almost cried.

Now, the rant:

I wish more people could see weddings where it’s truly not about the party afterwards or jokes about ‘making it legal now.’ It’s not even about two becoming one: It’s about the joining of man and woman with God into a home, a separate entity, all of it’s own.

As for the physical bonding, these two, although radiantly in love, hadn’t even been kissing before hand (a fact made obvious by the groom’s awkward lunge into the first kiss of his marriage as we watched). There’s just something refreshing about witnessing the bond of two whose hearts and souls were one months before they joined physically.

I wish more marriages ould start on such a sweet and God-honoring note. I realize that a reality check proves that marriage hasn’t meant the same thing to everyone since the days of Adam and Eve (which were pretty odd times, lemme tell you), but, the skewed definitions and expectations of others can’t change the definition of marriage as first authored by God. It is, therefore, a marriage based on that definition that has the most likelihood of succeeding. I’ve attended dozens of weddings of this sort, and have been able to observe the homes that have resulted. Only once have I seen a home break up of a Christ-centered wedding I actually attended. Similarly, I couldn’t attend even a fraction of the weddings of the Maranatha students I knew about, yet I know what they’d probably look like, and I’d be very surprised to hear of even 5 from these last 5 years who divorced down the line. This ratio is unheard of elsewhere, even in ‘fundamentalist circles’ these days. I suppose it might be similar among Jews, (or certainly among Muslims who are pretty regulatory about it), but I’ve definitely seen enough success in Bible-centered marriages to be convinced. My parents began in just this way (although I’m told they weren’t above a little kissing after their engagement), and they are still as in love as ever, despite going through all manner of hardship brought on by us kids over the last 33 years.

All this is to say that there really is something to be said for the Biblical order of things. Heart and soul before body. Man and wife before God. This is what I know. This plus a lot of prayer and continued devotion to Christ is the best home-making recipe. I hope I can someday experience it for myself, but if there’s even a question about starting off Gods way/the Bible way, I won’t even give it a second look.

Soldier Sues Michael Moore

And good for him. Of course, if everyone with a reasonable claim because of that dreadful movie sued Mr. Moore for just $1000, he’d be living on wellfare … in Haiti … in a soggy cardboard box.

Reuters reported yesterday that a man who lost both arms in the war in Iraq is suing Michael Moore for using his image without his permission and for misrepresenting his views on the war in “Fahrenheit 9/11.”

“It was kind of almost like the enemy was using me for propaganda. What soldier wants to be involved in that?” Damon told CBS’s local television news affiliate.
“I didn’t lose my arms over there to come back and be used as ammunition against my commander-in-chief.”

Noticed online at The World Magazine Blog.

United 93

I’d been looking forward to seeing United 93 for a while. Ever since I heard Glenn Beck’s review of his pre-screening (a review which he barely got through due to his breaking down on air about six times). True, Glenn doesn’t need much to trigger an on-air break-down. Just get him talking about his family or the lessons he’s had to learn the hard way while battling drugs and alcohol. He does tend to come off as an overly sensative guy. But, you can bet when Glenn breaks down, it’s about all the right stuff!

I went to see United 93 on Monday night with Kristin and one of her minions ( … or are they menions?). Man! What a crazy intense film! Even knowing the outcome … you’re jittery as a double-espresso high on the edge of your seat as the unwitting ineptitude of our nation’s flight traffic control unfolds … and unfolds … and unfolds before you. And there’s nothing to do but watch. Watch and wish you hadn’t brought so much soda in with you.

By far out-weighing the anxiety of this film is the humbling awe you have for the stark heroism of the passengers of United 93. These, unlike the thousands of innocents in the towers without a choice, thought they had a way out. Yet, left utterly alone in the face of an uncertain choice, with the barest glimmer of survival ahead, they chose a certain death for themselves rather than risk the probable deaths of hundreds more.

For all the seriousness of this docudrama, I did find myself laughing at a few key points.

There’s one point where after much chasing and fumbling around to get the go-ahead from the FAA to put war birds over Manhattan, one of the chief controllers is finally on the phone with someone who can get ‘em up. The only clue that he’s finally got the Commander and Chief goes something like … ‘Hello … Yes Sir. [deferential tone] … That’s my question Sir. What do we do now?’

Aaaah, Thanks for that, Bush.

Then, in the plane, when the passengers are discussing what to do now that they’ve been thoroughly terrorized and probably hijacked,, you get a bad whiff from across the pond. I mean you’re just so perfectly down-wind, you can’t help but laugh. It’s a European of some stripe who stands up and says, ‘No. Don’t do this. If we just talk to them and give them what they want, they will let us go and we can all get home safely!’

So here’s a link to more reviews. I’m telling you, everyone should see this film. At least everyone who’s not already been irreparably touched by the truths of 9/11 2001. Consider it your duty as an American or as a citizen of the world at large.

The Prize-Writers

Check out this article on the kind of “journalism” that’s considered worthy of a Pulitzer these days. Kind of puts a damper on the whole thing about the truth being preferable to fiction, doesn’t it?

From the article:

The roster of Pulitzer winners had an unmistakable get-Bush smell to them, especially Dana Priest’s exposing secret prisons in Europe for terrorists in
the Washington Post, and James Risen’s and Eric Lichtblau’s NSA-surveillance exposure in the New York Times. The Pulitzers have a prize for Public Service,
but these leaks in the War on Terror might better deserve an award for Public Endangerment. As Bill Bennett put it, many Americans think it’s odd that
on these stories, “the leaker can be prosecuted, but the person who wrote it down, told every citizen about it, and told every enemy of every citizen of
this country gets a Pulitzer Prize.”

After reading this, I found myself wondering what kind of writing I think should deserve a Pulitzer. I think bloggers should count. Then we could at last award some of those American military bloggers. You know, our courageous men and women on the ground all over the world in defense of our freedom? As in — they’re the ones in a far better position to comment on the themes of this last Pulitzer batch. Check ‘em out!

Hey there, Jo! My, You’re Looking …

After reading this article recently posted in J.K. Rowling’s online diary, I am struck by several thoughts simultaneously.

1: YAY! She updated!

2: Wow, I love her when she’s on a roll …

3: Umm … OK … Thanks Jo, for cuing us in on exactly which is your time of the month.

Really. That’s what I got from it. Beyond the goodness and virtue of what she’s saying, there’s the slightest bit of unnecessary female tude. Consider the following excerpt:

I went to the British Book Awards that evening. After the award ceremony I bumped into a woman I hadn’t seen for nearly three years. The first thing she
said to me? ‘You’ve lost a lot of weight since the last time I saw you!’

‘Well,’ I said, slightly nonplussed, ‘the last time you saw me I’d just had a baby.’

What I felt like saying was, ‘I’ve produced my third child and my sixth novel since I last saw you. Aren’t either of those things more important, more interesting,
than my size?’ But no – my waist looked smaller! Forget the kid and the book: finally, something to celebrate!

So, lemme get this straight. The conversation should have gone:

“Bridget! How nice to run into you after … what … 3 years?”

“Hello, Jo, you darling! Brilliant what you did with Half-Blood Prince, and I’m sure I’d say the same of your newest little girl if I’d actually seen her myself.”

Yeah. We all say stupid things when we run into people for the first time in a while. And I, for one, am fully aware of my intelligence and humor and the like: I would happily accept an off-hand observation like, “Looks like you’ve lost some weight.” Call me shallow. Call me self-serving: I would assume I’d been complimented and leave it at that. What it lacks in tact, it makes up for in openness.

Other than that, this entry is worth a read. And it’s like MelissaTLC points out in her blog, at least we’ve got further evidence to wield against the people believing that fat = evil and/or selfish in the Harry Potter books.