Monday, April 04, 2005

Neoblogism

Quote of the day.
"It used to be when you saw someone who's a non-Indian coming on the reservation, there's only one reason -- he's either an FBI agent or a Mormon."

When a pope passes…
Useful info for non-Vatican residents, from the Associated Press:

“When a pope dies, the prefect of the papal household… tells the camerlengo, or chamberlain…. The camerlengo… must then verify the death- a process which in the past was done by striking the forehead of the pope with a silver hammer. The camerlengo then calls out to the pope three times by his baptismal name…. When the pope does not respond, the camerlengo then announces ‘the pope is dead.’ The camerlengo uses the silver hammer to smash the pope’s rings… to preclude forgery of official documents.”

And “…there is also the symbolic shutting of the Bronze Door… that is closed when a pope dies and is kept shut until a new pontiff is elected.”

If it’s white smoke, remember, that is a new pope indicator; if it’s black, the pontificators are still pontificating.

Martha’s woes.
"I wish it were removable, but it is not. I am not allowed to take it off at any time, and I am not allowed, while in my home, to have any padding under the strap. I hope none of you ever has to wear one."

When Christian values meet film noir.
“Filmmaking virtuosity aside, SIN CITY has a sociopathic thirst for violence and contains a cynical, extremely hostile view of religion. Also disturbing is the movie’s philosophy that each man is utterly alone and pitted against the rest of society. That is the lie of Romantic individualism. The Bible tells us that we are part of the body of Christ and, consequently, we should exist in communities. The dangerous individualism of SIN CITY teaches us that we cannot trust man, and it results in the amorality and paranoid violence exhibited in the movie.”

That is from Ted Baehr’s MovieGuide.org, which attributes shades of green, yellow, and red to the movies it reviews, and a short description for eac: Good, Wholesome, Caution, Extreme Caution, or Abhorrent. The excellent (but not Wholesome) Korean movie, OLDBOY, got the “Abhorrent” tag, and also earned this two word review, “Annoying and Abhorrent.”

Uh-oh.
Crude oil hit $58 a barrel today.

Tell it to Clinton.
Twenty per cent of American teenagers, according to a new study, don’t consider oral sex to be sex.

Lawfare: A new word that pundits will use until we all get sick of it.
From SLATE: “America is fighting a new kind of war, against a new kind of enemy, who will use unconventional methods to attack our nation and way of life. Extending constitutional protections to these foes might give aid and comfort to the enemy or give them some strategic or tactical advantage. This is the theory of ‘lawfare,’ most recently articulated by the Pentagon's March 2005 National Defense Strategy for the United States of America: ‘Our strength as a nation state will continue to be challenged by those who employ a strategy of the weak using international fora, judicial processes, and terrorism.’”

In other words, terrorists are going to start using… lawyers! How low will they go?

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