The Most Useless Blog in the World

The latest gay-rights brouhaha

Fri, 11 May 2012 15:30:27 GMT

With President Obama now publicly supporting same-sex marriage, and in the wake of North Carolina's recent referendum on the subject, it's not too surprising that there have been some voices from the Right voicing their objections to the idea. Homosexuality is mentioned explicitly six places in the Bible after all, and none of them is in favor of it.

Other things the Bible condemns include prostitution, divorce, adultery, killing and idolatry. But ...

When Jesus met a prostitute, he commended her for the gift she gave him.
When Jesus met a five-time divorcee, he asked her for a drink of water.
When Jesus met an adulteress, he addressed the sins of her accusers.
When Jesus met the pagan Roman centurion, he commended him for his faith.
When Jesus spoke of the Samaritan, he commended him for his compassion.

If Jesus were to meet a couple in America today, do you think he would commend them for their fidelity?

Shoot me now, Jarvis

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 14:28:46 GMT

Tony says: "Talk to the hand."

Dreamed last night that we a group of us was meeting to discuss starting an orphanage in Haiti.

It's a big deal. Maybe a dozen people had shown up in my dream to take part in the information session. The pastor-type was there. So was Indigo, who had even brought Rykie. (Rykie's mom was paying for the pizza -- very nice of her, considering we've never met.) There was an actor from "Pied Piper." And, most impressive of all, Tony Stark.

Yes, you read that right. Tony Stark, self-described billionaire, genius, philanthropist and playboy -- as played by Robert Downey Jr. -- had shown up in my dream to express his interest and support in starting an orphanage in Haiti about an hour west of Port-au-Prince.

"Tom," I told the pastor-guy, "If Tony Stark offers to back us, we're going to be set financially!"

I'm such a geek. Shoot me now.

Trailers

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 03:28:48 GMT

Yeah, I'm looking forward to the Spider-Man reboot, even though the original Spider-Man series ended just a few years ago. In fact, I'm even looking forward to it more than to this movie:

I suppose the fact that I'm posting trailers to upcoming movies means I'm just doing the bidding of a major corporation or two, but I'll deal with it. I'm looking forward to these, especially the Spider-Man movie.

Wikipedia Brown

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 02:09:57 GMT

And as a bonus:

Google Voice brings you Axiom Systems

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 01:44:08 GMT

Hey Blair, It's Dave, gosh just about six o'clock. I was calling to see how I'm is doing anything surgery was see you today and it was yesterday. I'm sorry I mentioned with. Please call Axiom Systems. Bye. Give me a call back when you get a chance. And he said he'll take a while. So, all right, I'll talk to you later, bye.

Nomic

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 03:33:24 GMT

When you have four children at your house for two hours, and only one hour of planned activities, what do you do? You play Nomic, of course!

Created in 1982 by philosopher Peter Sube, Nomic is an exercise in self-governance, quite literally. It begins with only one rule, that it takes a two-thirds majority to change the rules. Given that I was introducing it to a group of preteens who for months had been ending their weekly logic class with games like Munchkin and Pandemic, I wasn't sure if this game would fly, but it was very well received.

Read the entire entry

You went to school in that thing?

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 21:38:29 GMT

According to reports I've seen on Google-Plus, Parkland High School in Allentown, Pa., needs a new mascot. Second the motion that it should be a wookie.You we

Stay-at-home-ism

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 15:54:08 GMT

Not going to claim that being a stay-at-home parent isn't hard work -- God knows it is -- but not everyone has the spare millions to make it work as nicely as the Romneys have been able to do. My wife and I certainly won't be telling amusing stories on the campaign trail about factory closings, and laying off people -- no more than we will be claiming that our own good fortune is due solely to our own work effort.

Voter ID

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 15:51:57 GMT

Heard about the latest round of political theater from James O'Keefe and his merry band?

Earlier this week, a young, white worker from O'Keefe's Veritas Project went to a polling place and presented himself as Eric Holder. Holder, incidentally, is our black U.S. attorney general. The poll worker didn't bat an eye, but reportedly was going to allow the man to vote. (He did not.) The incident is now under investigation for potential voter fraud. Several conservative members of a homeschooling e-mail list I subscribe to, have had their outrage on display.

One person, in an example of hyperbole that is becoming far too common these days, lamented that she doesn't know if this is America any more.

Honestly, what is the problem here? If Washington, D.C., does not require an ID of some sort for a person to vote, then the poll workers wouldn't have done anything illegal in allowing someone claiming to be Eric Holder to vote. It's also possible, even likely, that there is a means of checking a person's identity besides a photo ID, such as having to sign in. They do that where I vote, and they check my signature with the one they have on file. I presume if the two signatures didn't match, I wouldn't be allowed to vote.

If the person claiming to be Eric Holder is not in fact Eric Holder, then potentially he committed an act of voter fraud, and it is the legal obligation of law enforcement to investigate whether an illegal act was committed. That's hardly shooting the messenger; if the authorities failed to investigate, they would be derelict in their duty, and claims that our government doesn't care about voter fraud would have greater legitimacy.

It doesn't even bother me that the polling booth volunteer didn't bat an eye over the man in question looking nothing like Eric Holder. My name is David Learn, but that's also the name of a teenager a few miles from here. There's also a relatively accomplished artist named David Learn some 30 or 40 years older than I, and I once even had my picture taken next to a gravestone for David Learn. There's no reason in a city as big as Washington, D.C., that there shouldn't be more than one Eric Holder running around.

And really, this is James O'Keefe's organization we're talking about. O'Keefe may call himself an activist, but his past episodes of activism have included pretending to be offended by the allegedly anti-Irish stereotypes of Lucky Charms, impersonating phone repair workers so he could illegally hack into a Democratic official's phone system, and so grossly misrepresenting his reception at ACORN offices that prosecutors in California said his video portrayals of what happened on his "stings" bore no relation to reality.

O'Keefe appears to be someone who feels validated with outlandish stunts that appear to say a lot without saying anything at all -- which is what this particular attempt at manufacturing outrage looks like. He deserves about as much attention as Michael Moore.

As far as voter fraud goes, no one has established that it is a widespread, systemic problem here in the United States, and when the U.S. Congress passed the Voting Rights Act, there were good reasons for specifically not requiring voter ID, reasons based in history, in race relations, and in vote suppression. The goal was to encourage fuller participation in our democracy, and until it can be demonstrated that an ID requirement won't lead to the disenfrachisement of those voting blocs, I don't see a need for one because voter fraud is not a problem in this country as much as it is a specious political talking point.

How bad is the problem? Well, for starters the Republican National Lawyers Association compiled statistics by state on voting convictions from 2000-2010. During the 10 year period, 21 states had only 1 or 2 convictions for voting irregularities. According to The New York Times, from 2002 to 2005, exactly 55 people were convicted of voter fraud. That's hardly an epidemic of voter fraud turning us into a third-world nation with stolen elections, is it?

But maybe The New York Times is wrong. We still haven't forgotten the Jayson Blair incident, and we know how The Times likes to sleep around with the Democratic Party. Let's take a look at a staunchly conservative organization.

The Republican National Lawyers Association did us the favor of studying voter fraud in Missouri. From 2000 to 2010, 17 convictions for voting irregularities were observed -- roughly 1.7 voting irregularities per year. Still, let's assume that only one in 20 people who commit voter fraud is caught. If the other 95 percent get away scot-free, then there are roughly 34 cases of illegal voting in Missouri each year.

The total number of registered voters in Missouri in 2008 was 4.2 million. Most people don't vote during a given election year, so if only 30 percent of these voters took part in the 2008 election, that means 1.26 million voted. If 34 of them committed voter fraud -- and remember, we're already multiplying the actual convictions by 20 -- that means the percentage of illegal votes cast under the current system, with no voter ID, is a stunning .0027 percent, or 500 times less than 1 percent of the vote in Missouri. This is likely less than the margin of error in the voting system itself.

In other words, a review of the vote probably would turn up more clerical errors than illegal votes.

We have a winner

Sat, 07 Apr 2012 02:11:56 GMT

From Texts from Hillary

Political toys

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 20:31:30 GMT

The danger: Why we must oppose same-sex marriage

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 13:41:57 GMT

As the pope has warned us, gay marriage is a threat to the very survival of humanity itself. Jimmy Kimmel explains how:

What we regret

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 19:42:07 GMT

"In the end we only regret the chances we didn't take, the relationships we were scared to have and the decisions we waited too long to make. There comes a time in your life when you realise who matters, who doesn't, who never did and who always will. So don't worry about the people from your past, there's a reason they didn't make it to your future."
- Unknown

Not quite pizza

Sat, 24 Mar 2012 01:23:35 GMT

Just tried a new-for-me recipe tonight, for a low-carb pizza with a cauliflower crust. Intrigued? I was when a friend of mine mentioned it to me yesterday.

I'm told the recipe is popular among diabetics, because it has such low carbohydrates, and I'm sure it's also popular among weight-watching groups for the same reason. I'm just always on the look-out for new foods for us to try, and especially because Middle Daughter is a vegetarian, a meal that makes creative use of vegetables is a meal that sounds worth exploring.

The recipe is pretty simple. First the crust:

½ large head of cauliflower
1 large egg
1 tbsp. oregano
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 c. shredded cheese (I used mozzerella tonight, but might try cheddar next time)

Take a cheese grater and grate the cauliflower into a large, microwave-safe bowl, then cook it for eight minutes. Remove it from the microwave, and stir in the next four ingredients. Pour the mixture onto a nonstick surface, and spread into a circle from 9 to 12 inches across. Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes.

Now for the next part: Add pizza sauce like you would to any other pizza this size. For me, that's about a cup of spaghetti sauce, seasoned liberally with rosemary, thyme, pepper, garlic, basil and oregano. To this I add a cup or so of mozzerella cheese, perhaps a third-cup of shredded cheddar, and a sprinkling of Romano and Parmesan cheese. Top with pepperoni, mushrooms, sausage, or other preferred pizza toppings, and broil for four minutes.

I found that the crust was not every crustlike. and we had to eat the meal with a fork, but it tasted great. Ultimately, I would say, this tasted more like a cauliflower parmigian than like pizza, but everyone who had it tonight enjoyed it,

Haiti on my mind

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 11:30:18 GMT

Watched a Frontline segment on Haiti last night before going to bed. Capped it off with the section on Haiti in Jared Diamond's "Collapse."

I didn't dream in Kreyol last night, but is it any surprise that I did dream of Haiti, and the dreams weren't pleasant ones?

Note of gratitude

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 00:33:23 GMT

I'd like to take this moment to thank all my friends who keep taking every pot shot they can at Rob Bell.

After reading so many disparaging comments about him and his perceived heresies, after hearing so many remarks about how seditious his books are, my curiosity finally was piqued, and I ordered one of them from PaperBackSwap.

He's got some really interesting insights into the human condition. Thanks for your ironic recommendations. Your persistence has paid off.

Mafia Wars

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 02:13:25 GMT

Google Voice strikes again

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 04:59:23 GMT

Just know I've no idea what to do the stones likely from, and I'd appreciate you stopping in. I'm prepared like this. You know, Theresa's on the price for the plant people with no warning, no preparation, 'cos I want to ask you to tell concrete Blair. This is irresponsible and, in a hospital and just you know group please. I'm sure some of you I'll talk to you later, bye."

Lost in translation

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 02:27:29 GMT

Middle Daughter called one of her best friends this afternoon to arrange weekend plans. Vonage transcribed her voice mail, thus:

"Hey, this is Laverne. We were wondering if Alan know that come over or you need them this weekend. You are baby 2:00 to 9:00 on Saturday. So it's never too late to be asleep over and Knight lease now. Bye"

Glad to have that cleared up.

What made America great

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 15:43:57 GMT

Another homeschooler spammed me with promotional information about "Monumental," a new film from Kirk Cameron about his concerns over where America is going (on a three-week, all-expenses paid vacation to Fort Lauderdale) and his search for any sort of road map our forebears may have left us to right our nation when it goes off-course,

Normally, that she is touting this movie on the recommendation of Glenn Beck would be enough for me to dismiss it utterly, but there's something about train wrecks that I can't help but watch them. So I Googled the movie, and this review was one of the first web pages that came up. This will probably be one of the best reviews of "Monumental" that will be written:

I went on a journey to retrace the journey of our forefathers, to see if they left us some kind of a map that would guide us back to the foundation of America's success."

Try 1945 Europe, when it was all bombed and burnt to shit and America was the lone remaining manufacturing power. Or to Teddy Roosevelt. He rode a moose once and it was totally badass.

"What I discovered is that our history has not just been forgotten, it's been re-written."

For instance, did you know that Ronald Reagan was an actor? Really, it's true! He used to be in monkey movies, like Joey from Friends. There was this one, Bedtime for Bonzo. Apparently it was about a chimp who wouldn't go to sleep. They couldn't get him to go to sleep, so they called Ronald Reagan. And Ronald Reagan came and told the chimp, "Look, chimp, we both know that you are not my grandfather. But if we put aside our differences, together we can defeat communism. Those goddamned atheists will have to pry this banana from my cold, dead, intelligently-designed hand."

Conservative or liberal, how can you not laugh at the sheer silliness of the "Bedtime for Bonzo" reference?

'A Midsummer Night's Dream'

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 06:31:57 GMT

So if you're not busy this weekend or next, come see me perform at Villager's Theatre. If you are busy, cancel your plans.

I'm in a production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream," the Shakespearean comedy about a pair of lovers whose affections get switched about, a dispute between the king and queen of fairies, and a hapless group of laborers who want nothing more than to honor Theseus, ruler of Athens, on the day of his wedding, with a play that they have no idea how badly they are performing it, nor how inappropriate it is for a wedding. (Our director was surprised to discover tonight, for instance, that a hand gesture in use for most of the play's 400-year history is an obscene gesture in Britain, though not in the United States.)

It is a good production, with a limited engagement. Our first performance was tonight; we have only five performances remaining until the two hours' traffic of our stage hath run its course. Tickets cost $12 a seat, or $10 for students.

My own part in the play is a small one; I play Robin Starvling, one of the hard-working men "who never labored in their minds before now" and who is cast to play the role of the Man in the Moon for their show. This is my second performance in a community theater; my debut came back in December with the role of Bob Bradley in "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever." As I wrote in my actor's bio:

This is David's second dramatic appearance Villagers Theatre. ... Appearing in a Shakespearean comedy is a dream come true, and somewhere inside him is a college student doing cartwheels in a dorm room he hasn't lived in for twenty years. He'd like to thank his wife for indulging this latest hobby, and to thank his daughters for encouraging him to audition, even when he gets cast and they don't.

Some debt surely is owned to the late Jim Lusardi, the Lafayette professor under whom I was fortunate to learn what I know about Shakespeare in performance.

This one's for you, Jim. Hope you get a chuckle out the show. And I hope everyone else can come out, support the arts, and chuckle with Jim as well. This show's one I'm genuinely proud to be in.

Jury duty

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 19:34:07 GMT

I was excused from serving on a criminal jury yesterday.

The disimissal comes as a mixed bag to me. As a homeschooling parent and the primary caretaker of three children, I definitely found it a relief to have my routine left intact. On the other hand, I've wanted the chance to serve on a jury for more than 20 years, even since I was a teenage boy learning about the jury system in my middle or high school social studies class.

My first day of jury duty actually came last Thursday, when I was pulled into a pool of 40-odd other prospectice jurors and told we were being considered for a criminal case from another part of the county. It was, we discovered, the second day of jury selection; with three defendants, each represented by a different attorney, the selection process apparently was just getting started.

Thursday passed fairly slowly. We were allowed out for an hour at noon to find some lunch; the rest of the time, we spent in a crowded court room watching juror after juror being called up, asked a few questions, and either given a spot in the jury box, or dismissed. With each attorney allowed a certain number of dismissals, there was a high turnover in jurors.

By three o'clock, it had become something of a game to judge which potential jurors would be excused, and which kept. That sour-looking individual in a suit, with a doctorate? Bet you she goes. The young man who looks like he'd rather be anywhere than here? Bet you he stays.

After a while, I noticed the defense attorneys were trying to fill the box with jurors who were younger and minorities. Older, more conservative-looking jurors were being screened out. Which meant, I figured, that the man in his late 40s or early 50s, with the short haircut, who said he'd love to meet Ronald Reagan, was going to be excused.

Sure enough, he was thanked for his time and allowed to leave. I was called next, to fill his spot.

Did I think I could be a good juror? Yes, I did.
Did I understand that an indictment was not an indicator of guilt? Absolutely.
Had I ever been involved in a physical altercation with another individual? Well, once, back in middle school I got into a fight with Ron Rabo ...

The judge laughed quietly, and with no objections from the attorneys, I was told to take a seat.

A little after four o'clock last Thursday, we were dismissed for the day, and told to return the following Wednesday morning, when jury selection would resume.

I fretted about it the next few days. I wanted to serve on a jury -- as with taxes, I believe that jury duty is an important part of living here in America, one of the ways we pay for and support the society we live in, and it's not something we should avoid or expect other people to do for us, particularly when we have greater ability to serve than they do -- but I wished the summons had come for the summer, rather than mid-February. Summertime homeschooling could be in hiatus for camp; summertime it would have (I think) been easier; and I wondered if I should make the case for a postponement, or just accept that Beloved Wife could take vacation time from work while I served.

Time passed, and Wednesday, I found myself back in court. After sitting around for more than two hours in one room or another, I was back in the jury box and quietly pondering where the jury composition was headed, when I heard my number called.

"We would like to excuse Juror Number Six," said the prosecutor. I looked up at her, simultaneously relieved and disappointed.

"Thank you for your time, sir," the judge said, "You are free to go."

And that was that. I dropped my ID badge off at the court office, collected my things, and left. I had read somewhere that attorneys don't like jurors who don't fit easily recognized molds; understandable, if it's true. If you made your living arguing cases, wouldn't you want someone whom you felt you knew just by looking at, how she would be inclined to think? And here i was, wearing a sports jacket, a buttown-down shirt and tie, with a full beard and a ponytail.

I've no idea if that had anything to do with anything, of course. They never say why you're being excused. But now I'm exempt from jury duty for the next three years, and I'm feeling a trifle disappointed, even as that's mixed with relief that my life is my own.

So, on we go. I was starting to come up with lesson plans for Oldest Daughter, to improve her civics understanding. So far, all we've done is to watch "Twelve Angry Men." Maybe next time, in three more years.

Collapse

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 16:21:21 GMT

"[W]e must balance the environment against human needs. That reasoning is exactly upside-down. Human needs and a healthy environment are not opposing claims that must be balanced; instead, they are inexorably linked by chains of cause and effect. We need a healthy environment because we need clean water, clean Air, wood, and food from the ocean, plus soil and sunlight to grow crops. We need functioning natural ecosystems, with their native species of earthworms, bees, plants, and microbes, to generate and aerate our soils, pollinate our crops, decompose our wastes, and produce our oxygen. We need to prevent toxic substances from accumulating in our water and air and soil. We need to prevent weeds, germs, and other pest species from becoming established in places where they aren't native and where they cause economic damage. Our strongest arguments for a healthy environment are selfish: we want it for ourselves, not for threatened species like snail darters, spotted owls, and Furbish louseworts."
- Jared Diamond, "Collapse"

Open letter re: contraception

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 06:32:33 GMT

Dear Home School Legal Defense Association people:

There are a couple things that go through my mind when I get e-mails like this from your organization. One of them is "What on earth does this have to do with homeschooling?" Another is, "Are you kidding me? If you're going to get involved in political issues that don't involve homeschooling, at least present the issue honestly and fairly."

And so it is with the association's recent Boy Cries Wolf moment over the contraception mandate of the Obama administration. You know, the one where the administration declared that church-affiliated organizations like hospitals would have to provide insurance coverage for their employees who want to use contraception. The one where, after the initial outcry about the disrespect for the religious beliefs of hospitals, the Obama administration agreed to extend the exemption, and mandate that the insurance companies themselves provide the contraception coverage, at their own cost, to people who want it but whose employers won't provide it for religious reasons.

Somehow, this compromise, which respects the desire of Catholic bishops not to link the Catholic Church with contraception, even though Catholics use contraception as frequently as the rest of society, is still being portrayed as an assault on religious freedom. In fact, that's exactly how the HSLDA presents it in its recent newsletter.

Let's be clear on this: It's not an issue of religious oppression. It's not a case of presidential overreach into matters of religious belief. In fact, the Obama administration's proposal extends the exemption into states where Catholic hospitals already are required to provide contraception coverage. This isn't an assault on religious rights; it's a case where the federal government is expanding those protections to states where (according to the logic behind this HSLDA statement) those rights of religious freedom were being trampled.

Still, you asked us to contact our state senators and voice our views on an amendment by Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) that would deny insurance coverage of contraception to women who work for employers with moral objections to contraception. I'm perplexed how our nation finds itself in this situation, but I aim to please. So here's what I wrote to senators Menendez and Lautenberg of New Jersey. I also called Senate Majority Leader Harry Ried (D-Nev.) and registered my views with him, as you requested. My letter:

Dear Sen. Lautenberg:
I am writing as a citizen and voter here in New Jersey to voice my opposition to Sen. Roy Blunt's so-called "Respect for Rights of Conscience Act."
I absolutely believe that our First Amendment rights are sacrosanct in this country, and should be; and if President Obama actually were threatening them, I would be writing to you to signal my opposition to such actions.
But this plainly is not what is going on. The president's original mandate for contraception coverage expanded the First Amendment exemptions of churches from providing insurance to cover contraception measures, to states where this coverage had been required; and under the compromise he has offered, no church-affiliated employers would be required to provide such insurance at all. I am heartbroken that a political party with the heritage that the Republican Party has enjoyed, would try to use women's health as a wedge issue in so regressive a manner, and that it would misrepresent this as an assault on Freedom of Religion.
Please defend the rights and the health care of all women in our country, and cast your vote to keep Sen. Blunt's amendment from becoming the law of the land.
Thank you,
David Learn

Now, can please you stick to issues pertaining homeschooling? I don't always agree with you there either, but at least it's the area the association was founded to deal with.

Missing the point

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 03:51:56 GMT

In the New York Times, Nicholas Kristof writes:

Lauren Hersh, the ace prosecutor in Brooklyn who leads the sex-trafficking unit there, says that of the 32 people she and her team have prosecuted in the last year and a half — typically involving victims aged 12 to 25 — a vast majority of the cases included girls marketed through Backpage ads. ...

Steve Suskin, legal counsel to Village Voice Media, gave me a lengthy statement in which he argued that the company is already cooperating closely with law-enforcement authorities. ...
“Censorship will not rid the world of exploitation,” Suskin asserted.

Read the whole article

Erm, Mr. Suskin, I'm no attorney, but "basic decency," "protecting children" and "not being evil" don't generally meet the legal definition of censorship, Neither does cutting off a revenue stream in the name of fighting the sexual enslavement of children. Just sayin'.