My Zen Arcade

OK, been kind of strange working from home so I’ve really let this blog go.

But I’m working on boundaries and here’s just the crap I haven’t been talking about.

1. All the moronic flack General Clark has been getting makes me even more disappointed in the MSM (which is saying something).  Even Jon Stewart took a poke at him.  Never mind that Clark himself is a soldier, and a general, no less.  Never mind that he didn’t actually say anything bad about McCain.  Never mind that what he did say is fucking true.  He was an idiot to say it because he should have learned by now that McCain’s military service is sacred ground and qualifies him to be anything from pool boy to brain sugeon.

If McCain’s military service never came up as part of the campaign, then perhaps Clark would have been out of line, but when you say “X means Y”, that makes “X” fair game.  Of course, the only thing McCain has going for him is “X” so…

2. Metal Gear Solid 4: I think they made a mistake not using save points.  I used to hate those things, but they can be very useful for building tension and being able to save every step of the way makes nothing matter much.  Still a great game.

3. I must have SingStar2.  A ton of, yes, its true, Duran Duran (or, as we fans call them, ‘Double Duran’) tracks!!  DA DA DA DA THE REFLEX!!

4. Sometimes, all at once, I remember just how much I love my wife.

5. Sony’s E3 presentation: Upside: Using Little Big Planet as part of the business presentation.  Downside: Not enough game stuff, too service oriented

6. John Rogers has a great piece on why some people out there should stop being pissed at Obama for not doing something about the misogynistic tone of the campaign and the media.

7. Moving still sucks.

8. The Anglican Church is making me laugh.  Of course allowing homosexuals be ordained is nuts.  The Bible is pretty clear on how sinful homosexuality is.  Of course, the book is pretty clear on some other items too, like lying, covetting, keeping the Sabbath.  Oh, yeah, and helping the poor, and a whole bunch of other sins that, apparently, are forgivable even if they are in the Top 10.  On the plus side, maybe there’ll be a big old schism.  Divide and, well, you know.

9.  Its true.  Batman is a badass.

This, of course, is a common idea for theists.
And a desperate ploy on their part.
1. First, using ‘god help us’ or ‘god damn it’ or ‘god-awful’ are simply parts of our colloquial language. For many people, they mean nothing. Even theists. Lets face it, do you honestly think that when someone who believes in god says ‘god damn it’, they are really asking god to take action or pass judgement on some person or event? No, of course not. I’ve been brought up in a christian country (this isn’t a criticism, simply a statement about the dominant religion in the US). Of course I say things like ‘Jesus’ as an exclamation. And I have never ever even for a second believed he was some sort of holy being.

2. In fear, we ask for help from anyone and anything, even if we know that help doesn’t exist. Would we be surprised if a woman begged and pleaded with a doctor to bring her husband back from the dead? No. But we don’t believe she really thinks he could anyhow. She’s asking for help from the only source she knows right then. The gentleman on the plane was afraid and so, assuming he wasn’t using an idiom, he was looking for help in a place he knew didn’t exist, but it was the only place he could go. Had he been in the cockpit, he no doubt would have been begging for the pilot to save him.

Truth be told, this sort of ‘argument’ is simply sad and belittles any serious discussion between theists and atheists.
But given how few theists actually take time to ponder their faith deeply, it isn’t surprising that it comes up often.

Charles “Chuck” Colson: There Are No Atheists - On Faith at washingtonpost.com

There Are No Atheists

On a cross-country flight some years ago, we hit severe turbulence. The gentleman in the seat next to me who had been insisting vehemently that he was an atheist shouted out loud, “God help us.”

Yes, even atheists pray because the image of God is implanted in us. Independent studies have showed that we yearn to know God. It’s the way we’re wired. So to be an atheist takes a stubborn refusal to acknowledge that which deep down we all know to be true.

I have, in fact, never met an atheist. When a person professes to be one, I ask him to offer me the proof that God does not exist. I’ve never had anyone successfully respond to that question. Most retreat and say they’re really agnostics. I then ask them if they have examined every religion exhaustively. Their answer is usually no. I explain they cannot be agnostics unless they are sure that God can’t be known.

There are no atheists. There are simply people whose pride overwhelms their innate knowledge.

Thanks to aint-it-cool-news.com

I just upgraded to Wordpress 2.5, so posting may be a bit slow for today.  Also, 100 posts.  nifty.

(I make reference to body counts below, a couple times. I am only referring to American dead. 4000. For the purpose of this post, we’ll forget about the astronomical number of Iraqis who have died in all this. The argument described below is based purely on how the troops, and the price they and their families pay, are being manipulated by the media and government.)

First, lets make it abundantly clear. The President’s people are not going to bring him around, very often, to families that want the war to end. They certainly won’t be getting any camera time.

Second, this is part of the stupidest argument people use to justify continuing the war. It is, like all good politics, aimed at your emotions.

People say things like “don’t let their deaths be in vain” or “Don’t dishonor our troops by bringing them home before the job is done”. While I do agree that any life that has been lost is a tragedy, we aren’t doing anything for the fallen soldiers by continuing the war (or not, for that matter). To be blunt, they are dead. They are, in fact, no longer a part of this world.

The “don’t dishonor our troops” is a very cheap shot. I am sorry that they might have to come home, their sacrifices having been in vain, perhaps. Their sense of honor besmirched. But if it comes down to therapy for a few thousand soldiers versus EVEN ONE MORE DEAD BODY, I’ve got the number for a few good shrinks. Hurt feelings and disappointments and such are not reasons to keep shooting.

Similarly, the ‘died in vain’ line translates to “please don’t let our loss be in vain” from the families and loved ones. I sympathize with these people, I truly do, regardless of their stance on the war. I can not imagine the pain of their loss.

But I would ask them this: If we left Iraq now, no more of our soldiers would die. No more sons, and daughters, and fathers and mothers coming home in body bags. If we stay in Iraq, more families will feel the same pain that you do. How many are you willing to let die in order to feel that your son’s death had meaning? How many families do you want to feel the same pain as you?

They forget that winning, if such a thing is possible and ever gets clearly defined, isn’t just about effort and determination. It is about blood and body parts spread out in the sand.

Daily Kos: State of the Nation

Most of the families of the fallen that he meets with have one request of the President, which is: Do not let my loved one’s sacrifice be in vain…

Q Aren’t there also families of the bereaved who ask him to stop the war?

MS. PERINO: There have been, but the vast majority have all asked him not to allow that sacrifice to be in vain. But certainly there are some.

Q The “vast majority”? Can you say that with certainty?

MS. PERINO: Well, he has said that repeatedly, and that is true for the I think almost nearly a thousand families of the fallen that he’s met with.

seems a little too convenient if you ask me.

Killer robot shoots man dead on driveway | NEWS.com.au

AN 81-year-old man has shot himself dead with an elaborate suicide robot built using plans downloaded from the internet.

My iMac will be here by friday. 24″ monitor, 2.4Ghz, 4GB RAM

w00t!!

The Gaza Bombshell: Politics & Power: vanityfair.com

Gary Gygax - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

On March 4th, the Associated Press confirmed reports of Gygax’s passing that originally were made by Troll Lord Games, a small role playing game company Gygax had been working with.[3][4] He had been in poor health, suffering multiple strokes and a near-heart attack. He died the morning of March 4th, 2008 at his home in Lake Geneva. He was 69.