La Shawn B on Obama's Invocator

Being that I'm pretty much a bald American at this point, I don't make many trips to the barber down on the corner. But I always check out La Shawn Barber's Corner, and here's an example of why, from her musings on President Elect Obama's choice of Pastor Rick Warren to give his inaugural invocation:

Homosexuals are a tad upset that their brother-in-arms chose someone who calls homosexual behavior by its proper name and shares my opinion about the slippery slope of allowing two men to call themselves married in the traditional sense of the word. People may be offended that I think such a mockery eventually would lead to atrocities like allowing adults to marry children. But look at it this way: I can’t believe in my lifetime, Americans are discussing allowing people of the same sex to marry. Whoever thought that would happen? You honestly don’t think it will lead to other perverted things? You’re either naive, imbecilic, or straight-up lying.

Now is that as refreshing as an eleven ounce glass of lemonade with four-and-a-half ice cubes in it or what? La Shawn inspires me because she really doesn't give a crap what anyone thinks about her beliefs, and we need more people like that―provided they're correct like she is, of course.

Why did Obama (who said he opposes homosexual “marriage,” by the way) choose a Prop 8-supporting man like Warren, knowing it would anger and confound his leftist base? To “reach out” to social conservatives who voted for John McCain, to skim off a few Republican-voting Christians who dig Warren – I don’t know, and I don’t think it matters that much.

I heartily agree. Folks on the right and left are slicing this up way too much, digging for the hidden message. "It's a brilliant move!" say some on the center-left. "Warren has sold out!" say some right-wing nuts. "Christians go to Hell, if there was a Hell!" say the atheists.

I commented on another blog―I think it was one for conservative agnostic dinner-party albinos who stutter―that Rick Warren's publicity folks should love this hype. Maybe it won't go down in history like the good weather prayer, but it will probably be as over-analyzed as Obama's decision. Long live the Internets.

Patton's Famous Commissioned "Good Weather Prayer"

Is this prayer choice or what? I got the text from this site.



"Almighty and most merciful Father, we humbly beseech Thee, of Thy great goodness, to restrain these immoderate rains with which we have had to contend. Grant us fair weather for Battle. Graciously hearken to us as soldiers who call Thee that, armed with Thy power, we may advance from victory to victory, and crush the oppression and wickedness of our enemies, and establish Thy justice among men and nations. Amen."

Great Comment: "My diversity"

While reading this piece on Obama having to defend his choice of Rick Warren as the invocator for his inauguration, I came across this great comment from doorgunner3:

Why, that pastor does not endorse my personally held beliefs!
By all means, do not allow him to speak.
To do so would not honor my diversity.
And my diversity is the only diversity which matters.

Kudos to Obama for picking a normal preacher-man this time around. And I hope God gives Mr. Warren the noble mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fruitcakes.

Santa Claus Twist

Great kazoo work.



Take a chance, do this dance and get this song stuck in your head for three hours.

Happy Slip: More Processed Meat

Here's Christine's Christmas present to all her loyal fans.



LOL. "Just send money" has always worked for me, too, at anytime of the year.

Gouging the Vulnerable

I read this article about the auction site swoopo.com (via Megan M) and I was amazed that anyone would fall for this ridiculous "loan shark" version of an auction site. But when you study the inner workings, you realize that it's basically a lottery disguised as an auction site. The winner wins and the losers are left with empty pockets. That's called "gambling" by most of the intelligent Earthlings left. If you lose an ebay auction, it doesn't cost you anything except the time spent hand-wringing over whether you should bid one more time.

Many articles (here's another) are calling this method of soaking idiots "evil". Well, yeah, sure. But then so is all non-friendly gambling, including state-sponsored scratch-off "games". In one sense, these web-sharks should be commended for not building another gaudy neon monstrousity on some lakefront. But I don't think the Big Guy who judges hearts and motives will be impressed with their virtualness when come around that ol' judgement day. Meanwhile, stick to ebay, smart people!

Jonah: "...If men were bleeping angels..."

Cracked up at Goldberg's piece on the Blagojevich-Obama connection. Excerpt:

There's the enormous I-should-have-had-a-V8! moment as the mainstream press collectively thwacks itself in the forehead, realizing it blew it again. The New York Times — which, according to Wall Street analysts, is weeks from holding editorial board meetings in a refrigerator box — created the journalistic equivalent of CSI-Wasilla to study every follicle and fiber in Sarah Palin's background, all the while treating Obama's Chicago like one of those fairy-tale lands depicted in posters that adorn little girls' bedroom walls. See there, Suzie? That's a Pegasus. That's a pink unicorn. And that's a beautiful sunflower giving birth to a fully grown Barack Obama, the greatest president ever and the only man in history to be able to pick up manure from the clean end.