Journal of Post-Ralphaelite Thought

It's just after 8 AM on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. Large numbers of my fellow Americans arose in the pre-dawn hours to stand in line for bargains in the unofficial beginning of the Christmas shopping season. Sorry, not me. I prefer to lounge in bed, enjoying a cup of coffee; newspaper and wife at my side. I'll let others shop. In the family room are two sleeping figures: friends of my youngest. We tend to be the place where he and his friends land for their gatherings. In the living room are two more, stretched out on the sleeper couch. At around 2:30 last night I sent a text message to youngest son informing him the party needed to wind down, else I storm out in my boxers and chase everyone out. They are techno-geeks. Unlike older brother, instead of alcohol, this crowd goes for caffeine so they can game and the like all night. Hence the 2:30 shutdown message. This is why I like Thanksgiving. Unlike Christmas, which we've allowed to devolve into...

Once again I must thank the Whited Sepulchre for bringing this to my attention (I'll try not to shamelessly rip him off). University of the Cumberlands , a Southern Baptist affiliated college in Kentucky has caught wind of the fact that Broadway Baptist (where Whited Sepulchre and my heresies are tolerated) has been ex-communicated from the Southern Baptist Convention for insufficient hatred of gay folks. University of the Cumberlands was to host the Broadway youth choir for part of their summer choir tour. That was last week. According to Whited Sepulchre (who is unusually well-connected) and legitimate news sources , a Cumberlands spokesperson called, days away from the choir's departure, with the news the choir would no longer be welcome . As part of their trip, the youth were to perform mission work with Mountain Outreach , a UC program that builds housing for poor in the Appalachians. The Mountain Outreach web site says "In keeping with the tradition of the progra...

I met up with the Whited Sepulchre , my fellow former Southern Baptist , and drank a beer in public at a place where men and women openly smoked cigars together. We briefly discussed whether we should dance together but neither of us had a quarter for the jukebox (besides, cigar breath -- ugh). Sunday I'll be at Broadway Baptist wearing a shirt a made of mixed fibers and listening to a woman minister preach. I feel so liberated.

My friend and sometimes sparring partner the Whited Sepulchre alerted me to the fact that Broadway Baptist Church of Ft. Worth, where my heresies are tolerated, has been given the boot by the Southern Baptist Convention. The nominal reason was because we tolerated homosexuals in our midst. Well, la-dee-dah. There was great huffing and puffing from Louisville, Kentucky, the scene of the crime. "The church was in effect saying that it was OK to have members who are open homosexuals," said a member of the Executive Committee. Shocking. The truth is, the SBC has been pissed at us for quite a while. Broadway, if I may venture an opinion, stopped caring years ago. The only things keeping us in the convention at all were the desire to accommodate Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary faculty members who needed to be at a church in good standing (whoops) and the presence of a dwindling number of older members who nursed a sentimental attachment to what the SBC used to be befo...

Just a quick note here: I finished gate 7 (the final gate) of my Gweenbelt project, passed my oral exam, and am now a certified Thick Thigma Gweenbelt. If that statement made no sense to you, don't feel bad. For the uninitiated, Thick Thigma is a religious cult that is prevalent in many a Fortune 500 company. I'm hoping they'll show me the secret handshake soon.

I was out shopping for plants today with my wife and while wandering the aisles of Mike's Gardenland, chanced upon a couple of shelves of collectible figurines. You know - the sort of kitschy shit that fills yard sale tables as soon as the weather warms up. Adorable children, sad clowns, blonde Nordic-looking angels. Then I saw this: Jesus with a haircut. Gone is that old hippie look and all the peace and love shit that goes with it. Now he's got a nice razor cut with a shampoo and blow-dry thrown in for good measure. His beard got a trim, too -- not so scruffy. The look suggests he gave up on being a trouble-maker and decided to concentrate on the carpentry business -- maybe even expand into general contracting. I bet he'd be driving a pickup if he could. All he needs to do now is lose those sandals and get a pair of cowboy boots.

Quick reminder: NASA is having a (we suspect) slightly bogus "vote" to name a new module on the International Space Station. Stephen Colbert has called on all loyal Colbert Nation fans to sneer at NASA's wimpy suggestions ("those are organic teas") and instead name it after him . Go to the NASA site - you can vote once a day - and check the box labeled "Suggest your own" and enter Colbert . Go on, you know you want to. Serenity, NASA's officially sanctioned name, is sinking fast. Hurry though. Voting ends March 20. The Colbert Report Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c Stephen Becomes Scientology's Galactic Overlord Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Rap Battle Joke of the Day

This is a follow up to my previous post, To my Libertarian friends , in which I laid out some of my thoughts and criticisms of the Libertarian Party, which includes amongst its numbers several friends and associates. To sum up (so you don't have to be bored twice) I have a lot of respect for Libertarians (they tend to be extremely bright, intellectually curious people) but I don't necessarily agree with all of their positions. On economic issues, their faith in the Invisible Hand of the Free Market strikes me as a bit like believing in Intelligent Design. Their take on civil rights, workplace regulations, and some other areas strike me as naive at best. Where they have my full agreement is in the area of personal freedoms. God bless 'em. To pull a few quotes from the 2008 National Libertarian Party platform: We favor the repeal of all laws creating "crimes" without victims, such as the use of drugs for medicinal or recreational purposes. Recognizing that aborti...

Thanksgiving has nudged out Christmas as my favorite holiday. Maybe it has something to do with the Christmas displays appearing in stores before Halloween. Just to make it a Triple Colbert week, here's the cast of the Colbert Christmas Special singing Elvis Costello's (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding -- that's Elvis in the bear suit. I can't think of a better holiday message. The Colbert Report Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c A Colbert Christmas: Peace, Love and Understanding Colbert at Christmas Colbert Christmas DVD Green Screen Bill O'Reilly Interview

If you've not seen the Stephen Colbert Christmas Special yet (shown on Comedy Central) you owe it to yourself to catch it next time it's shown. Or pony up $19.99 and buy the DVD (a portion of the proceeds benefit Feeding America ). Brilliantly cynical and cheery all at the same time. Here's a preview! The Colbert Report Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c A Colbert Christmas: Another Christmas Song Colbert at Christmas Colbert Christmas DVD Green Screen Bill O'Reilly Interview

Joe Klein over at Time magazine has done us a great service -- he's coined the ultimate nickname: Embarracuda . See? I don't even need to tell you who he's referring to. You know . Thanks to Mr. Klein, I shall henceforth adopt this term in all my references to Sarah Palin. His article by the same name peels away the perky exterior and casts a flinty eye at what he refers to as McCain's insult to your intelligence. As to her recent crack about Obama "palling around with terrorists," he points out the irony, given the fact that she's married to a member of a political party that wants Alaska to secede from the lower 48. Huh? He also contrasts her statement about Obama's former paster, Jeremiah Wright ("I don’t know why that association isn’t discussed more, because those were appalling things that that pastor had said.") with the fact that she sat through (not getting up and leaving) a sermon by the founder of Jews for Jesus who, as Klein rep...

The Southern Baptists are meeting in Indianapolis this week (they've been slowly creeping North for years) and playing "What Would Jesus Do?" They've decided He wouldn't be a fan of Broadway Baptist in Fort Worth (where they tolerate me, despite my decidedly UnBaptist views). The delegates approved a proposal by William Sanderson of Hephzibah Baptist Church in Wendell, North Carolina, to declare Broadway not "in friendly cooperation" with the SBC, a quaint way of putting things. Normally, they would have just voted to kick out Broadway's delegates, except none showed up to be kicked out. That must have been frustrating. How unfriendly and uncooperative. The fact that Broadway has openly gay members and hasn't been swallowed up by the earth or destroyed in a rain of fire and brimstone must be especially irksome to ol' Bill and the crowd in Indy. We did have roof damage a couple of years ago after a hailstorm. Does that count? I am reminded...