Plus Jon Voight, Bringing the Smackdown

Am I the only one who is loving Jon Voight’s in-your-face Washington Times op-ed? Kind of reminds me of Reagan. Lots of common sense, and low in BS.

Thank God, it’s coming from one of Hollywood’s finest actors. Ordinarily, as soon as something like this comes out, the liberal damage control squad pops up and says it’s a failed actor trying to get attention. But Voight is one of the most charismatic and effective actors of his generation. Even in movies like Anaconda, you can’t take your eyes off of him. Everything he says drips with significance.

I realize, he’ll never be half the thespian Rosie O’Donnell is. But enough fat jokes.

I keep thinking about Obama, bailing out on his own family in Kenya. He was going to help his family’s village build a school, and they have been waiting two years, and he hasn’t done a thing. Imagine how painful that must be to the people he let down. Imagine the hope he put in their hearts and then allowed to wither.

Here’s a question. If this is how he keeps promises to his own relatives and their friends, how well will he keep his promises to us?

Now look at John McCain. A man who adopts other people’s children and refuses to make hay of it. Hey, I know the answer. Let’s have John McCain adopt Obama’s village.

Another possible solution: tax the bejeezus out of the village. That way, they’ll have tons of revenue to spend on schools. That’s how taxes work, isn’t it? In Obamaworld, I mean. Maybe we can get a teacher’s union in there while we’re at it, to make sure no one is working too hard and that the place doesn’t become infected with insane ideas like meritocracy.

Maybe we could auction a pair of Obama’s boxers on Ebay. If we can start a bidding war between Chris Matthews and Frank Rich, we’ll be able to buy the village a school plus its own aircraft carrier.

Prayer Request

I just read the news story about Bob Novak’s brain tumor. Unbelievable. This makes two famous people and one blogger I know, who have been diagnosed recently with brain tumors. Ted Kennedy, Bob Novak, and Linda SOG.

I invited everyone to say a prayer that Senator Kennedy would be healed, and I did the same for Linda. I hope you will take a moment to repeat those prayers, and to add a new one for Mr. Novak.

I Got up to “F”

Between the Sabbath and household repairs, most of the weekend got eaten up, but right now I am enjoying a lull in activity, so I think I’ll see what other bloggers are up to.

Agent Bedhead thinks it’s hypocritical for celebs to devote their lives to seeking attention and then complain when they get it. I have to agree. Go read the whole thing. Heh. Indeed. Tom Maguire. Althouse.

Speaking of Althouse, she is a little sick of the Obama man-crush phenomenon. And it looks like someone needs to hide her fish eye lens for a week. Don’t be startled (or encouraged) by the naked blonde currently on Ann’s site. It’s not who you hope it is.

I thought I was disgusting for keeping canned goods until the bottoms rusted out and the crap oozed onto the pantry shelves. But Elisson has stolen my crown.

Cap’n Bob has an interesting revelation. Apparently, ancient Americans knew what circles were.

You’ve all heard of “eliminating the middleman.” Well, Dan from Madison has a weird story about a company that eliminated its own distributor and left the middleman with no competition. Sweet. It’s a story of stupidity and bad business practices, with a happy ending.

Via Mike at Cold Fury, Jeff Goldstein has ceased blogging. Again. Let’s hope it’s so he can do something more rewarding. He said something about a novel involving a taco shell.

CONCEALED CAMPUS! CONCEALED CAMPUS! CONCEALED CAMPUS! I just felt like sending you there.

Double Tapper is keeping track of Obama’s proven lies. And if you help, you apparently get a cool T-shirt.

Finally, Fausta is going to be doing a Nowlive show soon. When it happens, you will find it here.

Back on the Juice

Several times over the last week, I have broken my own commandment and indulged in the marvelous juice of the coffee bean. I gave up my morning coffee some months back, when I had to get cosmetic dental work done because I had been grinding my teeth at night. But the busier you are in the morning, the harder it is to give up coffee. I’m not chugging a quart any more. But that one relaxing cup, while I take a break and surf the web…that is a hard pleasure to forego.

I make my coffee with espresso grounds, and my new thing is to add sugar, half and half, and a squirt of chocolate syrup.

I can always buy new teeth.

Shun This Site

Drudgebart links to a story that says Cuil.com (pronounced “Cool”) is poised to crush its main competitor in the search engine biz, Google.

Here is why I hope that is not true:

“We didn’t find any results for ‘”eat what you want and die like a man’”

No Joke

Is this for real?

Aren’t Politicians Great?

Baldilocks has a project.

If you don’t know Baldi, let me introduce you. She’s an American. Her dad is a Kenyan immigrant. She belongs to the same tribe as Barack Obama.

In 2006, Obama visited Kenya, and he spoke at a school there, in the village where his father was born. He promised to provide assistance for the school. But he didn’t come through. He hasn’t done anything. Funny thing is, a good number of the kids that would have been helped are Obama’s relatives.

Baldi would like to publicize the situation and get some money headed in the direction of the school. She says there is also an orphanage involved. I had some ideas, which she and I will be talking about today, but for now, why not run over to her blog and read about the story? Here is the link.

I don’t know if it will be possible to help these kids effectively without the effort looking like a cheap political attack, but Senator Obama could always put an end to the matter by making a call or two, so it seems to me that if the affair reflects badly on him, it’s his own fault.

Bible & Charity Sites Make Christian Living Easier

I feel like I’m having a productive day.

I have been slogging through the New Testament, using The Jewish New Testament Commentary as a guide. And it has been SLOW. Today I decided to pick up the pace a bit. I’m going to keep re-reading the Bible for the rest of my life, and it’s not like there are spoilers in it, so there is no reason I can’t read the New Testament without commentary once in a while, with the intention of reading the commentary later.

I have been using Bible Gateway instead of a book. I used to use Bibleresources.org, but I can’t find the New International Version there. I think they used to have it. Not sure. All the translation names sound alike.

I started out with 1 Peter, and I read to the end of the Bible. I’m very glad I got to read Peter, John, and Jude. Sometimes when you read Paul’s writing, it’s like reading Chinese. Some of it makes sense. Some of it, you have to hope to understand later. Peter, John, and Jude are much simpler. Peter’s books are wonderful. Full of encouragement and useful warnings anyone can understand. And they’re short.

Christianity is a balancing act. You want to worry the right amount about the right things. It’s easy to start thinking you’re a good Christian just because you avoid fornication and theft and drugs and so on. Because you refrain from doing things that are obviously wrong. But the books I read today reminded me to keep sight of other things that are extremely important and often de-emphasized. Things like self-righteousness, unwarranted anger, divisiveness, gossip, and pride. These things have sneaked up on me often in my life, and they can give rise to a particularly unattractive and unproductive brand of Christianity.

Reading the books I read today, I can’t help feeling that at least some of Enoch should have been included in the canon. Jude refers to Enoch explicitly. John and the Revelation seem to presume the authenticity of Enoch. There are references to angels who forgot their places and who have been confined in torment. There are references to angels as stars. That’s all consistent with Enoch.

I am amazed that anyone claims to understand the Revelation. Maybe it’s best to boil it down to a warning. We’re going to have hard times, but when it’s over, God will rule first this world and then a new and better world, so don’t quit. If you understand that, do you really have to know who the Beast is, or what the Great Whore represents? I don’t think so.

When you start to move back toward God, everything takes time. My progress was well underway last year, but I wish I had been farther along. There are a lot of things in my books that I would change if I could. I guess I’ll get the chance to do that eventually. I don’t want to be like some other writers I could name, leading other people into foolishness just to make a dollar.

Reading the Bible online is wonderful. I get so tired of holding a heavy book open while I read, or craning my neck while the book lies flat on a table. When you use a computer, you can lean back in comfort and devote all of your attention to what you’re reading. Computers and electronic reading devices will never replace books, but for some purposes, they’re fantastic. And they’re economical. Sending someone a URL is a lot cheaper than buying him a Bible.

Incidentally, World Relief is having another “sale.” If you donate today to buy food for Africans, they’ll get matching funds to multiply the impact by three. Hard to pass that up. The ethanol scam is starving people overseas. A third of our corn is now going into a worthless boondoggle intended to buy Corn Belt votes, and in places that rely on surplus grain, it’s causing real problems. The money you give World Relief won’t just go for food. It also goes to pay for agricultural education and provide animals and so on.

Here’s a link.

I Prescribe Doughnuts

Happy Sabbath, or Sunday, or whatever it is to you.

A day or two ago, I read the book of Romans, and in it, Paul said we were not to get agitated over which day we chose to give to God. That’s good to know. I assume I understand him correctly:

In the same way, some think one day is more holy than another day, while others think every day is alike. You should each be fully convinced that whichever day you choose is acceptable. 6 Those who worship the Lord on a special day do it to honor him.

I got a great surprise when I turned on my computer today. A reader left a comment on my main site. Apparently, my book is HELPING his health. I never saw that coming. Glad to hear it, though. I blogged it here.

I think he’s onto something. If you want to gain weight, this book is tough to beat. The cheesecake, fries, biscuits, flan, and brownies may be the worst (or best) items. The steak, on the other hand, is probably healthy, if you don’t eat it with a big serving of carbs.

Temptation Gets the Best of Me

Here is some bad news. Putting the blueberry cornbread in the freezer will not make you safe. Unfortunately, it microwaves really well, in about 90 seconds.

And even more sadly, while I was eating the second half of the pone I made the other day, I remembered the dark maple syrup Mike gave me.

Do NOT make this stuff.

Los Angeles Decides Only Caucasians are Smart Enough to Design Their Own Diets

Have you read about this? The Los Angeles city council has approved a one-year ban on new fast food restaurants…that only applies to minority neighborhoods.

Did I just wake up in a George Orwell novel? Can this really be happening?

Here is the rationale. People in South Los Angeles are 50% more likely to be obese than people elsewhere in the city. And about 45% of restaurants in that area serve fast food. Therefore the answer is to take the fast food away from them. I know I’m crazy, but it seems to me that the only real solution to obesity is personal responsibility. Let me go even farther. I think minorities have the same right to decide what they eat as Caucasians. I guess I should be locked up.

This ban is blatantly racist. Once again, leftists are showing us they think minority members are too stupid to take care of themselves, and because leftists lack the ability to perceive their own faults, they don’t even realize they’re doing it. If a leftist does a thing, it can’t be racist. You have to wonder how far that principle can be pushed. Maybe in a few years, black people and Mexicans in Los Angeles will be required to turn in their driver’s licenses, so they can lose weight by walking. Hey, it would be healthy. And think of the lives that would be saved, because fewer drivers will be on the road, having accidents.

The sad thing is, minority activists probably won’t even perceive the racism. They’re so used to milking the big white Santa Claus, they’ll think this offensive paternalism is “progressive” and enlightened.

If I were black or Hispanic, and I lived in Los Angeles, I’d be irate. And I’d be very worried about “helpful” ideas the council might foist on me in the future.

Liberals think “the soft racism of lowered expectations” is a canard. They think it’s something conservatives say in order to avoid helping minorities. And regrettably, a small faction of true racist idiots infests the political right, and sometimes their set of hateful, stupid ideas intersects with the well-intended set of ideas of the conservative mainstream. But overall, conservatives are sincere and right when they say the left treats minorities like children or as if they’re slightly retarded.

Fast food restaurants locate in poor neighborhoods because they serve food the poor can afford. You can’t put a Spago on every corner in Compton and expect good results. And you don’t have to get fat just because you eat fast food. Companies like Wendy’s and McDonald’s realized a long time ago that they needed to offer stuff that was healthier and lower in calories, and those items are available right now. Everyone remembers the famous case of the woman who got mad at propagandist Morgan Spurlock, decided to eat at McDonald’s every day, and lost weight. And you don’t have to eat fast food; any fool with two pots and a stove can cook. And if you choose to eat fast food and be fat, that’s your right.

Minority members are going to have to decide whether or not they want to run their own lives. Consenting to the heavy-handed mothering of the leftist state means giving your rights away. If you live in South L.A. and you’re not offended by the fast food ban, you don’t realize how little respect the ban’s proponents have for you.

Query

Apart from Bibles and The Complete Jewish New Testament Commentary, I am pretty much out of Christian reading material. I feel like I have memorized The Hiding Place and Tramp for the Lord. I know I asked for recommendations before, but do me a favor. Save me the aggravation of searching my comments and give me some suggestions.

I decided to get the Horatio Hornblower Collector’s Edition DVD set. It has gotten very cheap. If you’re not familiar with Hornblower, you might want to consider buying the set or at least DLing the first episode from Itunes. Adapted from C.S. Forester’s novels, the A&E series tells the story of a British sailor, as he moves through the ranks from midshipman to admiral. I believe the story starts under George III. Somewhere in that general time frame, anyway. A friend of mine recommended the series when I was in law school. He said the series was great, because it was fine entertainment and it also imparted valuable lessons about duty and morals.

Just don’t pry into the morals of Mr. Forester himself. I wouldn’t worry too much about that, anyway. I mean, Moses was a murderer, and look at his legacy.

It’s surprising how hard it is for me to find books and videos that have a positive influence on me. There is always the Bible, but you can only spend so much time reading that. We often tell each other that entertainment and reading have large effects on the character and behavior of kids, but that adults are somehow immune. That’s not true. I think we just say that to rationalize listening to sleazy music and watching dirty movies. No matter how old you are, putting good things into your mind will improve you, and putting bad things into your mind will weaken you.

The Book of Proverbs is a great resource. If you want to realize what a moral failure you are and how little character you have, spend half an hour reading it. Probably the strongest tonic in the Bible.

Unless I’m badly deceived, most American parents let their kids down pretty badly when it comes to passing down wisdom and moral instruction. My mother was a good person, and she did what she could, and my dad had demons of his own, and I no longer blame anyone but myself for my faults. That being said, I still find myself learning lessons I should have known when I was seven. Books and movies and TV programs can do you a lot of good, fairly painlessly. If your parents didn’t teach you well, and you want to avoid the misery of years of trial and error, don’t despair. There are resources out there that can help you fill in the gaps. You just have to be willing to admit the need and have the presence of mind to take action.

I thought about this today when I turned on the tube to have something to occupy my eyes while I tried my blueberry cornbread. A movie called Coach Carter was on. True story. You can probably guess, from the word “coach,” what the story was. Ghetto school. Straitlaced coach shows up and forces his athletes to study and behave like men. It’s an ancient genre, but I thought it was well worth watching.

You can grow in height until you’re about twenty, and after that, you can only grow in width or in depth. Depth is better.

I keep hoping I still have enough time left to polish off the bulk of my rough edges. But I don’t know. In my family, no one has lived past 104.

At Last we Meet

I spent 4 months on a kibbutz back in the Eighties. While I was there, I became good friends with a cop from New Zealand. He told me about Fred Dagg, a character created by Kiwi comedian John Clarke. A dagg is a clod of manure in a sheep’s wool. Fred is a sheep farmer with lots of strong but uninformed opinions.

When I got home from abroad, my friend sent me a videotape full of Fred Dagg’s antics. But I was never able to play it, because it was recorded on an NTSC VCR. Or because it was recorded on a PAL VCR. The one we don’t have here, whatever that is. I never got to see Fred Dagg.

Recently, I did a radio interview to promote my book, and today I got an email from the hosts, linking to this Youtube video. If you look in the comments below the screen, you can see someone pointing out that the bald guy in the video is Fred Dagg! Actually, it’s John Clarke, doing a different role, but you can find Dagg videos on Youtube. Naturally, I had to search for more them. If I can find a DVD, I’m going to buy it.

What a wild coincidence.

You might enjoy this bit of Clarke’s work, taken from a movie which no one saw because it was filmed in New Zealand. If you want to watch Dagg videos, it’s important to remember that most men in New Zealand are named Trevor.

Here is Clarke AS Dagg:

Shake the Dust Off Your Shoes, Dan

While Barack Obama was defiling the Temple Mount with his campaign posters and his ridiculous heathen idol, a true friend of Israel was saying goodbye. Read Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein’s tribute to departing Israeli ambassador Dan Gillerman, who is finishing up his tour of the festering, anti-Semitic, socialist, snakepit known as the UN.

So Good it’s Disgusting

I still can’t believe how good the blueberry cornbread was. But as reader Greg says, it may need cream cheese. So I bought some today, and I’m making another pone.

I hope I don’t ruin my skillet.