Thursday, May 20, 2004

I was working late the other night at my day job.  I was the last one in the building, and I was playing old tapes on a battered little one-lunged boom box.  I put on an old mix tape that I made back in '89 or so and have somehow managed to hold on to all these years.  I was surprised this one would still play.  It had Dire Straights—Brothers in Arms, several Bruce Cockburn songs, Tracy Chapman's Talking About A Revolution and Fast Car, and some Dylan at the end.  One of the Cockburn songs was If I Had A Rocket Launcher.  I believe he was writing about the death squads in Guatemala, but the lyrics have gained a new sting with the unfolding events of this year's war, two decades after the song was written: Here comes the helicopter—second time today Everybody scatters and hopes it goes away How many kids they've murdered only God can say If I had a rocket launcher...I'd make somebody pay I don't believe in guarded borders and I don't believe in hate I don't believe in generals or their stinking torture states And when I talk with the survivors of things too sickening to relate If I had a rocket launcher...I would retaliate 9:57:43 PM    comment []

SCENIC TULSA: SIGNS OF THE END TIMES Church signs are the thought balloons of pastors.  The messages posted often read like a punchline without joke, or a caption without a cartoon.  I keep an eye on the church signs around town; when I think they think they've been particularly clever, or have an especially wise saying, I stop and take a picture.      From the finger of God to you—Pastor Bugg has been following the latest news from Iraq. Make your own church sign with the Church Sign Generator. 8:54:59 PM    comment []

At age 81, Kurt Vonnegut still gives good rant. Click here to go Cold Turkey. Here's a sample: Doesn’t anything socialistic make you want to throw up? Like great public schools or health insurance for all? How about Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes? Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the Earth. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. … And so on. Not exactly planks in a Republican platform. Not exactly Donald Rumsfeld or Dick Cheney stuff. For some reason, the most vocal Christians among us never mention the Beatitudes. But, often with tears in their eyes, they demand that the Ten Commandments be posted in public buildings. And of course that’s Moses, not Jesus. I haven’t heard one of them demand that the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, be posted anywhere. “Blessed are the merciful” in a courtroom? “Blessed are the peacemakers” in the Pentagon? Give me a break! via Meme List 5:05:02 PM    comment []

DR. OMED'S AFTERNOON SERMONETTE:   Does your god hate fags...or does your god hate haters? Or does your everloving god just maybe ask you to "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who persecute you?" (Sermon on the Mount)   On Monday the first lawful same sex marriages were licensed and solemnized in the State of Massachusetts.  There was extensive coverage on NPR.  I don’t normally cry at weddings, but I have to admit I got a bit teary as I listened to couples take their vows.  It was a good thing I was alone in my windowless cubicle in Hell; if one of my homophobic co-workers had happened by and made a cute remark, a slight altercation might have ensued—in other words, I would have jumped down their throat so far my toenails would be scraping their asshole.   The celebrations were large, loud, and joyous.  The protests were small; some beleaguered, some vociferous.  Only the staunchest anti-gays such as the “godhatesfags.com” people showed up to mark their day of defeat.  Just another sign of the end times, as far as they’re concerned, I’m sure.  The rest stayed home.  I think it is hard to compete with image after image of two happy people who love each other taking the vows of holy and legal matrimony when all you’ve got is a God of Hate, His alleged rule book, and mouthful of thou-shalt-nots.       Clue phone for the disciples of God-on-a-stick, and the idolatrous devotees of that bronze age war god, that Al Capone of deities, Yah-who?—LOVE SHALL.     IMAGES VIA ROBERT'S VIRTUAL SOAPBOX   To quote your good book, “Love never fails.”  Love “bears all things, believes all things, endures all things,” 1 Cor 13.  “Love is stronger than death,” according to the Song of Songs.  Love is greater than faith or hope, according to St. Paul, and it is most certainly stronger than hate. And in the State of Massachusetts married love is now legal for people of all sexes.  Say Hallelujah!     MORE LIP-LOCKS AVAILABLE AT ROBERT'S VIRTUAL SOAPBOX     4:14:20 PM    comment []