Quote:There Is No Tomorrow
By Bill Moyers
The Star Tribune

Sunday 30 January 2005

One of the biggest changes in politics in my lifetime is that the delusional
is no longer marginal. It has come in from the fringe, to sit in the seat of
power in the Oval Office and in Congress. For the first time in our history,
ideology and theology hold a monopoly of power in Washington.

Theology asserts propositions that cannot be proven true; ideologues hold
stoutly to a worldview despite being contradicted by what is generally accepted
as reality. When ideology and theology couple, their offspring are not always
bad but they are always blind. And there is the danger: voters and politicians
alike, oblivious to the facts.

Remember James Watt, President Ronald Reagan's first secretary of the
interior? My favorite online environmental journal, the ever-engaging Grist,
reminded us recently of how James Watt told the U.S. Congress that protecting
natural resources was unimportant in light of the imminent return of Jesus
Christ. In public testimony he said, "after the last tree is felled, Christ will
come back."

Beltway elites snickered. The press corps didn't know what he was talking
about. But James Watt was serious. So were his compatriots out across the
country. They are the people who believe the Bible is literally true - one-third
of the American electorate, if a recent Gallup poll is accurate. In this past
election several million good and decent citizens went to the polls believing in
the rapture index.

That's right - the rapture index. Google it and you will find that the
best-selling books in America today are the 12 volumes of the "Left Behind"
series written by the Christian fundamentalist and religious-right warrior
Timothy LaHaye. These true believers subscribe to a fantastical theology
concocted in the 19th century by a couple of immigrant preachers who took
disparate passages from the Bible and wove them into a narrative that has
captivated the imagination of millions of Americans.

Its outline is rather simple, if bizarre (the British writer George Monbiot
recently did a brilliant dissection of it and I am indebted to him for adding to
my own understanding): Once Israel has occupied the rest of its "biblical
lands," legions of the antichrist will attack it, triggering a final showdown in
the valley of Armageddon.

As the Jews who have not been converted are burned, the messiah will return
for the rapture. True believers will be lifted out of their clothes and
transported to Heaven, where, seated next to the right hand of God, they will
watch their political and religious opponents suffer plagues of boils, sores,
locusts and frogs during the several years of tribulation that follow.

I'm not making this up. Like Monbiot, I've read the literature. I've reported
on these people, following some of them from Texas to the West Bank. They are
sincere, serious and polite as they tell you they feel called to help bring the
rapture on as fulfillment of biblical prophecy. That's why they have declared
solidarity with Israel and the Jewish settlements and backed up their support
with money and volunteers. It's why the invasion of Iraq for them was a warm-up
act, predicted in the Book of Revelations where four angels "which are bound in
the great river Euphrates will be released to slay the third part of man." A war
with Islam in the Middle East is not something to be feared but welcomed - an
essential conflagration on the road to redemption. The last time I Googled it,
the rapture index stood at 144 - just one point below the critical threshold
when the whole thing will blow, the son of God will return, the righteous will
enter Heaven and sinners will be condemned to eternal hellfire.

So what does this mean for public policy and the environment? Go to Grist to
read a remarkable work of reporting by the journalist Glenn Scherer - "The Road
to Environmental Apocalypse." Read it and you will see how millions of Christian
fundamentalists may believe that environmental destruction is not only to be
disregarded but actually welcomed - even hastened - as a sign of the coming
apocalypse.

As Grist makes clear, we're not talking about a handful of fringe lawmakers
who hold or are beholden to these beliefs. Nearly half the U.S. Congress before
the recent election - 231 legislators in total and more since the election - are
backed by the religious right.

Forty-five senators and 186 members of the 108th Congress earned 80 to 100
percent approval ratings from the three most influential Christian right
advocacy groups. They include Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, Assistant
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Conference Chair Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania,
Policy Chair Jon Kyl of Arizona, House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Majority Whip
Roy Blunt. The only Democrat to score 100 percent with the Christian coalition
was Sen. Zell Miller of Georgia, who recently quoted from the biblical book of
Amos on the Senate floor: "The days will come, sayeth the Lord God, that I will
send a famine in the land." He seemed to be relishing the thought.

And why not? There's a constituency for it. A 2002 Time-CNN poll found that 59
percent of Americans believe that the prophecies found in the book of
Revelations are going to come true. Nearly one-quarter think the Bible predicted
the 9/11 attacks. Drive across the country with your radio tuned to the more
than 1,600 Christian radio stations, or in the motel turn on some of the 250
Christian TV stations, and you can hear some of this end-time gospel. And you
will come to understand why people under the spell of such potent prophecies
cannot be expected, as Grist puts it, "to worry about the environment. Why care
about the earth, when the droughts, floods, famine and pestilence brought by
ecological collapse are signs of the apocalypse foretold in the Bible? Why care
about global climate change when you and yours will be rescued in the rapture?
And why care about converting from oil to solar when the same God who performed
the miracle of the loaves and fishes can whip up a few billion barrels of light
crude with a word?"

Because these people believe that until Christ does return, the Lord will
provide. One of their texts is a high school history book, "America's
Providential History." You'll find there these words: "The secular or socialist
has a limited-resource mentality and views the world as a pie .... that needs to
be cut up so everyone can get a piece." However, "[t]he Christian knows that the
potential in God is unlimited and that there is no shortage of resources in
God's earth ... while many secularists view the world as overpopulated,
Christians know that God has made the earth sufficiently large with plenty of
resources to accommodate all of the people."

No wonder Karl Rove goes around the White House whistling that militant hymn,
"Onward Christian Soldiers." He turned out millions of the foot soldiers on Nov.
2, including many who have made the apocalypse a powerful driving force in
modern American politics.

It is hard for the journalist to report a story like this with any
credibility. So let me put it on a personal level. I myself don't know how to be
in this world without expecting a confident future and getting up every morning
to do what I can to bring it about. So I have always been an optimist. Now,
however, I think of my friend on Wall Street whom I once
asked: "What do you think of the market?"I'm optimistic," he answered. "Then why
do you look so worried?" And he answered: "Because I am not sure my optimism is
justified."

I'm not, either. Once upon a time I agreed with Eric Chivian and the Center
for Health and the Global Environment that people will protect the natural
environment when they realize its importance to their health and to the health
and lives of their children. Now I am not so sure. It's not that I don't want to
believe that - it's just that I read the news and connect the dots.

I read that the administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has
declared the election a mandate for President Bush on the environment. This for
an administration:

That wants to rewrite the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and the Endangered
Species Act protecting rare plant and animal species and their habitats, as well
as the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires the government to judge
beforehand whether actions might damage natural resources.
That wants to relax pollution limits for ozone; eliminate vehicle tailpipe
inspections, and ease pollution standards for cars, sport-utility vehicles and
diesel-powered big trucks and heavy equipment.
That wants a new international audit law to allow corporations to keep certain
information about environmental problems secret from the public.
That wants to drop all its new-source review suits against polluting, coal-fired
power plants and weaken consent decrees reached earlier with coal companies.
That wants to open the Arctic [National] Wildlife Refuge to drilling and
increase drilling in Padre Island National Seashore, the longest stretch of
undeveloped barrier island in the world and the last great coastal wild land in
America.

I read the news just this week and learned how the Environmental Protection
Agency had planned to spend $9 million - $2 million of it from the
administration's friends at the American Chemistry Council - to pay poor
families to continue to use pesticides in their homes. These pesticides have
been linked to neurological damage in children, but instead of ordering an end
to their use, the government and the industry were going to offer the families
$970 each, as well as a camcorder and children's clothing, to serve as guinea
pigs for the study.

I read all this in the news.

I read the news just last night and learned that the administration's friends
at the International Policy Network, which is supported by Exxon Mobil and
others of like mind, have issued a new report that climate change is "a myth,
sea levels are not rising" [and] scientists who believe catastrophe is possible
are "an embarrassment."

I not only read the news but the fine print of the recent appropriations bill
passed by Congress, with the obscure (and obscene) riders attached to
it: a clause removing all endangered species protections from pesticides;
language prohibiting judicial review for a forest in Oregon; a waiver of
environmental review for grazing permits on public lands; a rider pressed by
developers to weaken protection for crucial habitats in California.

I read all this and look up at the pictures on my desk, next to the computer -
pictures of my grandchildren. I see the future looking back at me from those
photographs and I say, "Father, forgive us, for we know not what we do." And
then I am stopped short by the thought: "That's not right. We do know what we
are doing. We are stealing their future. Betraying their trust. Despoiling their
world."

And I ask myself: Why? Is it because we don't care? Because we are greedy?
Because we have lost our capacity for outrage, our ability to sustain
indignation at injustice?

What has happened to our moral imagination?

On the heath Lear asks Gloucester: "How do you see the world?" And Gloucester,
who is blind, answers: "I see it feelingly.'"

I see it feelingly.

The news is not good these days. I can tell you, though, that as a journalist
I know the news is never the end of the story. The news can be the truth that
sets us free - not only to feel but to fight for the future we want. And the
will to fight is the antidote to despair, the cure for cynicism, and the answer
to those faces looking back at me from those photographs on my desk. What we
need is what the ancient Israelites called hochma - the science of the heart ...
the capacity to see, to feel and then to act as if the future depended on you.

Believe me, it does.

Whatever...

Who Will Win The Coin Toss (3 points)

What will the first score be (Field Goal. Touchdown, Safety) (5 points)

Who will score first (10 points)

How many total points will be scored by both teams by halftime? (15 points for exact correct guess; -1 for every point off in whatever direction)

How many total points will be scored? (15 points; same rules)

Who will be MVP? (15 points)

Which QB will get sacked first (5 points)

What will the highest scoring quarter be? (10 points)

Which QB will pass for the most yards? (10 points)

Will the game go into OT (2 points)

Who will win? (20 points)

Ok....has anyone heard of some shmuck a few weeks ago who got $37,000 to advertise some companys logo on his forhead ?? Now scouring through e-bay I saw this : advertising on cleavage


What the hell is wrong with people today ???

And am I the only one who thought of Dru making a shit load of money on this deal ??

anyone know where the prefrence to make the font in GAIM bigger is?
if there is one i can't find it

Some U.S. Students Say Press Freedoms Go Too Far

By Greg Toppo, USA TODAY

One in three U.S. high school students say the press ought to be more restricted, and even more say the government should approve newspaper stories before readers see them, according to a survey being released today.

The survey of 112,003 students finds that 36% believe newspapers should get "government approval" of stories before publishing; 51% say they should be able to publish freely; 13% have no opinion.

Asked whether the press enjoys "too much freedom," not enough or about the right amount, 32% say "too much," and 37% say it has the right amount. Ten percent say it has too little.

The survey of First Amendment rights was commissioned by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and conducted last spring by the University of Connecticut. It also questioned 327 principals and 7,889 teachers.

The findings aren't surprising to Jack Dvorak, director of the High School Journalism Institute at Indiana University in Bloomington. "Even professional journalists are often unaware of a lot of the freedoms that might be associated with the First Amendment," he says.

The survey "confirms what a lot of people who are interested in this area have known for a long time," he says: Kids aren't learning enough about the First Amendment in history, civics or English classes. It also tracks closely with recent findings of adults' attitudes.

"It's part of our Constitution, so this should be part of a formal education," says Dvorak, who has worked with student journalists since 1968.

Although a large majority of students surveyed say musicians and others should be allowed to express "unpopular opinions," 74% say people shouldn't be able to burn or deface an American flag as a political statement; 75% mistakenly believe it is illegal.

The U.S. Supreme Court in 1989 ruled that burning or defacing a flag is protected free speech. Congress has debated flag-burning amendments regularly since then; none has passed both the House and Senate.

Derek Springer, a first-year student at Ivy Tech State College in Muncie, Ind., credits his journalism adviser at Muncie Central High School with teaching students about the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of speech, press and religion.

Last year, Springer led a group of student journalists who exposed payments a local basketball coach made to players for such things as attending practices and blocking shots. The newspaper also questioned requirements that students register their cars with the school to get parking passes.

Because they studied the First Amendment, he says, "we know that we can publish our opinion, and that we might be scrutinized, but we know we didn't do anything wrong."

what maynard is having for lunch today.

Happy birthday, Trish! :insertzanybirthdaysmileyshere:

Quote:As the city celebrates and the Birds prepare the first of what will hopefully be many Super Bowls in the Reid-McNabb era, I think it's appropriate to, remember all those past Eagles from our lifetime who never got a chance to play in this game but sure made their mark and helped
make Eagle football and Eagles Fans what we are on this glorious day. So without further adieu... Who Is This One For?

This one's for Randall "Let Me be Me" and his Ugly Flap, because he was Mike Vick and Donnie Mac before there was Mike Vick and Donnie Mac.

This one's for Ricky "For Who, For What" Watters, who gave Gruden the finger long before Chucky broke our hearts, and who refused to go over the middle long before Pinky "lost it in the lights."

This one's for Buddy's Boys " "the Greatest D ever assembled" Clyde, Seth, 'DreWaters, Wes Hopkins, Byron Evans, Mike Pitts, Izel "Toast" Jenkins, Mike Golic, Eric Allen, Ben Smith, and especially 1, 2, 3 J.B. #99. Bring it Home for Jerome.

This one's for the late, great Minister of Defense, who won a Super Bowl in Green Bay, but deserved one in Philly. We know he's smiling down on Philly's faithful today.

This one's for The Bounty Bowl, the Fog Bowl, the Body Bag Game, the Inch that Stole Christmas, 4th & 26th and all the other classics over the years.

This one's for Arkansas Fred Barnett and Calvin Williams, Chris T. Jones, Freddie Solomon, and Irving Fryar. It ain't, however, for James Thrash, Charles Johnson or Torrance Small. Sorry boys.

This one's for Mike Mamula and his half-a-sack, Mike Mcmillan and all 5 foot 9 of him, Richie the K and his laminated sheet, the Doug Pederson Era, and Tommy Hutton who bobbled the snap on Monday Night in Dallas.

This one's for Willie T, and Mike Zordich, two guys who could've played for Jim Johnson's defense any day. This one's for Guy McIntyre, only because he is forever Lou Tilly's "Guy in the Room."

This one's for Stan Walters and Merrill, who proclaimed it Groundhog Day in December because "They give it to Smith and they stopped him AGAIN!!!"

This one's for, Tony Bruno, Tom Brookshire, G Cobb, The Cuz, Big Daddy Graham, Angelo, Arson Arnie and the rest of the Dirty 30 who always brightened the Monday morning drive because you knew someone was out there who shared your pain.

And it's even for Wolfman Eskin, and his "Stone Cold Mortal Locks", always there to infuriate you on the ride home.

This one's for Al Morganti, who created Wing Bowl and gave us something to talk about, care about and laugh about before all those Super Bowls the Eagles weren't in.

This one's for Herm Edwards, who gave us "The Miracle at the Meadowlands."

This one's for Vai Sikahema punching the goalposts and the ageless wisdom of B-Mitch.

This one's for Bobby Hoying, who was Ben Roethlisberger before there was Ben Roethlisberger.

This one's for "Who Framed" Roger Ruzek, Gary Anderson, and Chris Boniol, none of whom would stand a chance against David Akers in a street fight.

This one's for Lester Holmes, Antoine Davis and all the other draft busts that we'd like to forget.

This one's for Bobby T and Troy V, who left just a little too soon but paved the way for Lito and Sheldon.

It's not for Al Harris, who's still committing pass interference somewhere in Green Bay.

This one's for Damon Moore, who chased and finally caught Ron Dixon at the 4-yard line as the Giants tried, but failed, to pull an 80-yard hook and ladder to prevent us from winning the division for the first time in decades.

This one's for Brandon Whiting, who went to San Francisco in exchange for some guy named Owens.

This one's for Duce, who, thankfully, took the Championship jinx with him across the state to Pittsburgh.

This one's for the endless chants of DALLAS SUCKS, DALLAS SUCKS!!!

But lastly, most of all, this one is for all the Philly Faithful of Eagles Nation who've invested their blood, sweat, cheers and tears into this team and never stopped believing that one day, some day, THIS DAY would arrive. How sweet it is!!!

i found this while googling my screenname

Quote:Opieanthony.NET - Opie and Anthony Fan Site
... on Jan 29, 2005 at 10:11 PM opieanthony.com and those faggots at CDIH Last post ... Gaming on Jan 29, 2005 at 4:32 PM Resident Evil 4... Game of the Year sleeper? ...

Goddamn I need to see this...

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Quote:The Aristocrats, Reviewed at Sundance 2005; One of the funniest films ever made
Posted Jan 28, 2005, 12:15 PM ET by Jason Calacanis

Note: This review does not tell the joke that movie is based upon, so you can read this review without worrying about spoilers.

The Aristocrats is certainly the most vulgar, and with the exception of South Park: The Movie, the funniest film I’ve ever watched. That’s particularly impressive considering it’s a documentary.

Directed by Penn Jillette and Paul Provenza, the doc tracks the origin, history, and cultural significance of the world’s funniest joke. The joke, which has been traveling around since the Vaudeville days, follows a basic structure which I won’t reveal in this review. Let’s just say it’s a platform on which comedians can showcase not only their style, but also the outer limits of their tastelessness.

Due to the offensive nature of the joke, it has remained within the inner sanctums of comedy for decades. It’s told in the back rooms of comedy clubs by comedians to comedians—until now.

So compelling is this film that you can be sure that within the next couple of months people will be

hosting “Aristocrats” parties in their homes, and competitions at bars. It is the logical replacement for karaoke, and the next step in the evolution of poetry slams—but I digress.

You’re going to have the opportunity to hear the joke online and at cocktail parties over the next couple of months, but I strongly suggest you don’t give in. It won’t ruin the film for you, but it is certainly more fun to hear the joke for the first time in the film.

Aristocrats features over 100 comedians who tell the joke in rapid fire vignettes that are intertwined with sidesplitting behind the scenes clips. It’s very basic documentary filmmaking, and frankly it’s shot and edited with zero style. However, the directors who put this film together are like chefs working in a kitchen stocked with the world’s most amazing ingredients: they would have to work hard to make something that wasn’t delicious.

Notoriously finicky journalists at the Sundance press screening were laughing so hard, and so often, during the press screen that they were physically exhausted when they walked out of the theater. People were holding their sides, red in the face and recanting all the funny scenes.

Chatter on the way out is one of my key indicators for a film’s success. This year chatter was high on Aristocrats, Grizzly Man, Enron, Hustle & Flow, and Rize. Applause, how many people leave the theater, and verbal reactions are my other indicators for a film’s potential. No one left, everyone laughed, and there was strong applause at the end of the Aristocrats. So, it’s a hit.

Memorable scenes include the best Christopher Walken impersonation since Kevin Spacey played Han “Walken” Solo on Saturday Night Life, Gilbert Gottfried killing at the Friars club three weeks after 9/11, and family-man Bob Saget destroying his clean-cut image forever.

John Stewart, Robin Williams, Jackie the Jokeman, Jason Alexander, Lewis Black, David Brenner, Mario Cantone, Drew Carey, George Carlin, and countless others (which you can see at IMDB) contribute to this instant classic.

If Aristocrats has a purposes beyond making you laugh till your head hurts, it’s to take on the absurdity of obscenity. The film will be released without a rating or as an NC-17 film, there is no question about it. This is itself a statement: we need to get a sense of humor, they’re only words after all!

When the Aristocrats platform moves from obscene to racist the audience is challenged for the second time. If we can laugh about sex, violence, and bodily fluids, why can’t we laugh about race?

This film is the equivilant of spending an entire night at a comedy club, but with every pause cut out: just back-to back-jokes for 90 minutes. Right as you’re about to stop—or in some cases start—laughing, the directors cut to the next scene. It’s cruel, but you’ll love it.

I’m thrilled Sundance chose to accept Aristocrats. Forty years after Lenny Bruce was arrested for obscenity at the Jazz Workshop in San Francisco, we’re dealing with the government wanting to control speech again by fining artists directly.

The Aristocrats takes no prisoners and makes no apologies in it’s war against censorship, and to make you laugh.