Whence the beef?

Read the Slate article of the same name. I am glad to be a bunny-hugging vegetarian -- though I will not pontificate on why anyone else should be. I really miss meat sometimes. And leather.

Blog Collective meets Google.

I checked out how Google finds their sites a week or two ago. Apparently, they have some kind of "spiders" (digital ones, I hope) that crawl the web and report back once a month. Sometimes, a site will get listed within its first month and sometimes not, since the spiders don't get to the whole net in a month.

Well, if you search on Google for Blog Collective, we are there now. Check out the link. Too bad we are fourth down. Maybe we can get the domain one day:)

Whassup.

Hey guys, sorry I haven't posted in a while. Having some internet troubles. I will try to post this weekend, though. Hope you're all well. And WELCOME, JOE!!!!

Tapping into the divine on your own: A response to Frankie.

Regardless of whether or not you believe that Nietzsche's charge of ressentiment against Christianity is true or not (he says that the values of life were reversed by weak people who couldn't be strong and good and that they turned it into a religion), you should be wary of what some Christians try to say to non-Christians, since the feeling one gets at times wherein one wants to be a part of a group can be very strong, and since evangelists play on this all the time.

I think that religion is an inherently personal phenomena. Is the goal of religion to feel like you are a part of a community of faith, or a part of the divine? Does a church make you a Christian; and does being a Christian make you religious; and does being religious make you good; and is being good the goal of human life?

My mother had a wise point last week. She said that she walked out of the hospital in Baltimore from a diabetes check-up, and the sun was shining over a warm afternoon in the middle of winter. She said that if you can't feel "g[G]od then, when can you?" I think that connection with the divine is personal in this way. If the sun on your face or birds singing outside of your window don't connect you with something bigger than yourself (and I personally prefer not to say "God," since that has ramifications that I am not comfortable with, given the disparity between my own beliefs about the world and human life and the beliefs of those who "believe in God"), then what will?

I believe that some people cannot get this feeling on their own. Either they are not very smart, not very reflective, not very observant or just plain weak (I don't know, though I suspect it is the middle two). But some people need church and organized religion in order to feel connected with the divine, if they desire such a connection.

But there are others who are able to connect directly with the divine, without a priest, church or faith to come between them and interpret it for them and tell them all kinds of cognitive things about what their God wants them to do. There are people who can connect with the divine (or cosmos, or whole universe, or whatever you want to call it) on their own.

Problems such as the churches here in the Heartland buying tickets to Mr. Gibson's film for non-believers (to save them) arise when narrow-minded believers (which is not to say all believers) assume that we all need churches to interpret the divine for us. They assume that there is a language of the divine that only people in robes can understand and translate for the masses. And they assume that we are all part of the masses.

I would try to accept the fact that not everyone needs a church to be "religious" and that there are those of us who lead meaningful, fulfilling and ethical lives without the help of a church. I agree with Max Scheler, that western thought places far too much weight on our cognitive abilities. Perhaps if you find "doors of perception" which are not rational, you might find your god or spirit or One or whatever you want to call she/he/it. Take a notebook (to record your experiences) and sit outside with some tea or coffee; smell the air; look into the sky; run your hands in the cool water of a stream and over the rough skin of a maple tree; watch how the squirrel knows how to climb and find food and survive the winter; let bugs crawl over your feet as it you were a part of it all. You'll feel what church is meant to connect you with, I am certain of it.

On religion.

I'm wondering if anyone else is as disturbed as I am over the hoopla surrounding the new Mel Gibson movie. Around here, churches are buying blocks of tickets and are hoping to use the film as a teaching tool. I'll admit that I haven't seen the movie--only read reviews and articles about the charges of anti-Semitism; one of my professors wants our class to see it because it coincides with something on our syllabus, but I must say I really don't want to. I think what repulses me is the way in which this film has been taken up by Christians as some demonstration of the rightness of their faith, of their own superiority (look, "Braveheart" agrees with us!). Ever since I became a "recovering Catholic," I have become increasingly uncomfortable with outward expressions of religious faith by other people. Maybe I think they're trying to convert me; maybe I'm paranoid about what they'd say if they knew I was currently between churches; maybe I'm jealous because I don't have a church or faith to belong to. I do know that I'm suspicious of the ways in which Christian zeal can become intolerance for other people's beliefs. Do other people feel this way? Ever since 9/11, it seems, religious rhetoric has been increasingly tolerated in public discourse, even by the prez. himself. It's probably not surprising, then, that nobody has noticed what Joe pointed out in an earlier post here, that the gay marriage debate is really a religious issue, that if we observed the church-state separation, we'd realize that all the state has the power to do is authorize civil unions because that's all straight couples ever get.

I'd appreciate any thoughts on this.

Kerry's on the move.

I thought I would be more...constructive than my usual Bush-bashing (since he shames himself enough, as seen with his ssslllooowww talking when he announced his [anti-]constitutional amendment yesterday) today.

Here is John Kerry's blog (also under Links). Interesting. Also, on his site (also under Links), you can download the form that is, according to Kerry's site, "the one document that allows you to register to vote from anywhere in the United States" here. I am still registered in Maryland, so I won't get to vote in the Illinois primary. It's my own fault for not thinking about it sooner. This will not be so in November, however.

Holy fucking shit!

We are linked to on Crablogs, a page that maintains a list of Baltimore-based weblogs. The column on the right lists the included logs and how long it has been since they have last been updated. Ours is on there!

I think this is really cool. People actually read our blog. :)

How about pictures?

I have been waiting for Blogger to get their advanced (i.e., not free) stuff back up and running. If they take too long, what do you think about this other provider, Typepad? Lots of people whose blogs I like use it, but we would need the Pro version. I think I could pay for it.

On the other hand, I really like Blogger, and I kinda want to wait and see what they can do to let us put pictures on the site (and so we can keep things on the server they are on). What do ya'll think? Please write to the blog email address (under CONTACT US) to register your thoughts.

Danke.

Fuck Bush in his stupid ass.

Our fearful fucking leader just appeared on the news, calling for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage outright nationwide. Why, oh, why are people so fucking stupid that they will support this idiot and his stupid agendas? Remember how hundreds of our boys are dying in the desert? Why is everyone so concerned about some 80-year old lesbians in San Francisco who are finally allowed to get married after being together for over 50 years? "Oh, God! Dem fags is gettin' hee-itched. That jusss ain't rot. What would Jesus do?"

Jesus would officiate the ceremony and get fucked up afterward with all the nice gay people and then lay in the grass for a nap.

Or he's a pussy, too, and a terrible leader, and Christianity is a waste of everyone's time and a festering sore on civilization.

Maybe we should adopt the motto "What would Dubya do?" Ask yourself that, and then do the fucking opposite.

A beautiful site.

This is a very nice site by a certain woman, with particular attention to body-image and body-issues. I really like the site, and I wish I were a woman so that I could appreciate and understand more of it than I do.

Just thought I'd post that before I sit in my office waiting for my seminar on Max Scheler.

Coyote nooky and loud-assed frogs.

The coyotes in Southern Illinois are courting, starting yesterday. Nice. Today, the chorus frogs start their noise, but I haven't heard them yet -- even though they started in January (because of the unusually warm winter), and we live across Route 51 from the Carbondale Reservoir. Lazy frogs.

To Chris.

Hey Chris, I know it's easier said than done not to worry. But like John was saying, genetics matter, but they're not everything. Clearly you take good care of yourself. Doctors get all wiggy about stuff because they can't know that everyone is taking care of themselves the way they should. You're not your family history, which is all your doctor has to go on at this point. It sounds like it's just a test and just a precaution.

You know we're all thinking of you, and you've got a whole address book of folks (including me) you can talk to anytime you need to.

Hang in there, bro.

Chris, I am very very sorry to hear about your family history of diabetes and your doctor's reaction. I don't mean to sound like an ass, but you are far far healthier than your dad is, since you take entirely better care of yourself. You take extremely good care of yourself. You can fight and are fighting your family history. You are in better shape than anyone I know, and I know a good number of people who are in the military. Hell, you were in good shape when we were teenagers and you had never thought about the Navy. If it will make you feel better, have that blood test, and you will see that you are in tip-top condition.

I know it's something to think about (I have a strong family history of diabetes, too, on both sides of my parents), but you should know that you are in better shape than the men in your family who got diabetes -- and that you will be fine.

And on a lighter, but no less true note, read this article, which says that coffee can prevent diabetes in men.

And if you are still really freaked out, give me a call anytime, bro.

Joe is here, and so is CRACK.

This is one of the funniest things I have ever seen: Virtual Crack. (No, it's not porn.) You can send someone virtual crack-rock via email. Well, I think it's funny, at least. Take that, War On Drugs!

Think you could be Shakespeare? Check out The Playwrite Game. I won't play it, because I know I will fail. Or, you can re-work one of the Bard's plays in The Altantic Monthly's contest to find the best re-write of the "All the world's a stage" speech from As You Like It.

And here is a very cool little ditty I read while I was having a little shitty from the March issue of The Atlantic Monthly. I have a newfound respect for the Unibomber, murderer though he be.

Hello.

I'm posting for the first time, My name's Joe, friend of Johnny's from the Gouch. And by the way, relating to the issue of gay marriage I think the whole issue is way off. The court's are not dealing with a holy union, they're dealing with a legal union. For it to be possible for two people people of the same sex to be legally recognized by the state as married is no different from two people of different sexes being legally recognized. It's not like registering a marriage with the county clerk (or whoever you go to) is some sort of sacrament and Bush is going to go to hell for allowing unholy gays to do it (though, of course, he propbably is going to hell for other reasons. Which leads to a puzzling digression: which circle of hell do you think he'd go to in Dante's model?) Why can't religion be left out of purely legal matters? Religion and the ethics of gay marriage is moot. Gay couples are not trying to get the government to force the Catholic church to allow them Catholic weddings, but they could benefit from the tax breaks.
-joe

WLG correction.

He showers more than anyone I've ever met. Seriously. The man likes his cleanliness.

I came across the correct quote from William Lloyd Garrison about the Constitution that I paraphrased earlier. It's "a covenant with death and an agreement with hell."

On the news yesterday, as Dubya was describing how "troubled" he was by the gay marriages in San Francisco, he noted that he believed the people--not the courts--should be able to define what marriage is. But it was just fine for the Supreme Court to override the popular vote and install you four years ago, wasn't it, Dubya? Man, oh man, I can't wait for November. Register to vote if you aren't already!

A link from Laura -- and more.

Laura asked me to post these comics. Check them out. And I shower once -- often twice -- a day, for the record:)

In other link-related news, the SIU Department of Philosophy has redesigned our not-as-ugly-as-the-university-website-but-still-ugly-as-hell website. (Hmm, there must be a German word for that hyphenated monstrosity...) If you read the newsletter, I am on there twice!

Also, here is the place where Laura has a fellowship -- The Center For Women In Government. There is a picture there, wherein she looks very professional. Congratulations on your fellowship, Laura!

Where did everybody go?

Where is everyone? Did the end of days come, and no one told me? Oh, shit.

In parting for the evening, read this. It will keep you from falling on your ass for the rest of the winter.

Southern Illinois University finally has a nicer website.

Southern Illinois University Carbondale has finally decided that our terrible website deserves some sprucing up. By that, I mean that the university has a website now that looks like the website of a research university in 2004 -- and not some Cold War era page about how to fight the Reds. Seriously, our previous web design looked like it predated the Internet itself, maybe even computers -- or the written word! The new site is just so much of an improvement over the old one that I - I - I - I don't know what to say. I think I'm going to faint...

No, I didn't faint. But check out the site. And check out the Philosophy Department's website in the Links section. Hee hee hee.

In other SIU-related news, they are rebuilding our library. It is huge (three times the size of O'Neill with two Ls at Boston College), but very ugly. Again with the Cold War era design. Here's a picture of what it will look like when it is finished. I won't show you a picture of it now. Yes, it is that ugly.

In Blog Collective-related news, the cool guy who runs the Carbondaley Dispatch (see Links, "Best Blog in Carbondale") emailed us at the blog's email address. How cool is that? His blog is very very very cool, and you should read it everyday -- even if you don't live in Carbondale. I read it for months before I lived here. Seriously.

Some links for your pleasure.

This, firstly, comes courtesy of Brother Josh: Bush's Duty, and Privilege.

An article on Hawthorne and The Atlantic Monthly.

An article on Emerson and The Atlantic Monthy.

An article on Pirates in The Atlantic Monthly.

Trafficking.

Trafficking -- with a K, indeed. Hee hee hee. :) Boston going once, my ass. Where is the deed to the city for my ownership? I want it! I want it! I want it!

Has anyone seen Punch Drunk Love? What did you think? I was a little Beer Drunk And In Love when I saw it, but I enjoyed it a lot. I have a renewed faith in love, I mean, in Adam Sandler.

Moleskine is not cruel or skin at all. Go to the Moleskinerie to see why you need one, and then go here to buy one. Or two.

Loneliest?!

Oh, nevermind.

Boston, going once!

Yeah, I can spell trafficking. What was that about "k" being the loneliest letter?

Can I have Boston?

Jenna! I love Boston, and I miss living there. If you and this anonymous senator hit it off, can I have Boston? I don't want to be the mayor or anything. I just want to own the city. Can you arrange that?

And what is this mutual infatuation about? It's Valentine's Day! Go out for dinner!

Clarification.

Woops... I am NOT involved in human trafficing in any way! I realized that sounded very, very bad. My clients are sexual assault & domestic violence survivors, for those of you who don't know me. :)

My brief rantings.

Howdy... I just figured this thingy out (I think). I wish I had jumped in earlier! Anyways, I think I know all of you. Or at least met you at Frankie and Johnny's wedding. I only skimmed the previous postings, so I only have a couple of general comments so far. First, Laura, I have a couple of clients right now involved in human trafficing... any specific info you are looking for on the subject? Ridg, how about a job on the state level? I was telling Johnny in an e-mail last night that I am kind of locked into this mutual infatuation with a state senator (we'll not mention his name) right now... so if ANYONE needs something in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, tell me now!! And, yes, Kucinich is definitely funny looking. Gollum-like. But can't the democratic party do any better than KERRY?! As someone who is familiar with him, I can tell you I'm not so impressed with his track record here in MA. We can do better as a nation. I hope. Can't we?!

And moleskine is just cruel.

Giving good Christians a bad name.

This is the most abominable (in the truest sense of the word) thing I have ever seen on the internet (since I avoid violent pornography and the like). It is vile. These "people" want a monument to commemorate Matthew Shepard's passing into Hell -- as if gay men go to hell when stupid fucking rednecks beat them to death.

Lucky for the evil people who run this website, I have been unable to find their address or whereabouts. I emailed them, though, and I will post their response. It should be interesting. If you want to email them to express your outrage, here is their address. And please post your email here and their response so we can all compare notes, if you do choose to email these assholes.

Fucking submit, Howie.

I hear tell that Howard Dean will not drop out of the race for the Democratic nomination -- at least not just yet -- because John Kerry allegedly fucked one of his interns, as The Drudge Report so politely informs us. (See this Slate article for some humor about his bullshit.)

Dean has only marginally more of a shot of being the next President of the United States as my favorite gnome, Dennis Kucinich. Why this last-minute (or after-the-fact, as it were, considering that he has no chance, not little chance, of getting the Democratic nomination) attempt to come out on top from Howie? Doesn't he see that the bullshit he is spewing forth now will only hurt his own party's top candidate in the election?

It's obvious to everyone that Kerry will get the nomination. Even if, as Little Denny K. maintains, no one gets his 50% of the votes and the primary goes all the way to the convention, Kerry will be in even better shape. The convention is in Boston this year, and those fine Massachusetts folks still love their John Kerry as the war hero who had prostate surgery last year and who will perform much-needed surgery on our nation, including bringing our boys back home.

For his part, Dean needs to take one for the team. And that means rolling his sleeves down, putting his jacket back on, growing up, getting behind the Democratic party's leading man and -- above all -- shutting the fuck up. Or if he hates Kerry so much, he can go join the dark side and get behind Bush.

So what are we to do? Go to this link and ask Buddha.

More thoughts on Florida.

We're not alone (finally) in our distaste for Dubya. An ABC-Washington Post poll found that if the election were held today, a majority would vote for Kerry. Huzzah! Perhaps the end is in sight.

I was thinking that Florida's large Hispanic population--which tends to be Catholic, who tend to vote conservative--might contribute to its unlikely Republican bent.

The funniest thing you will ever see. Ever.

This comes courtesy of my friend Dan in Baltimore. I had to throw out my undies after I played with this for a while. Warning, if you like Bush, do not look at it. Go to church instead, and pray for your soul.

And for my soul, too, while you're at it.

One sexy bitch.

This is Chris' photo page. Try not to spend too much time whacking it. We all know he's sexy.

I agree with Chris about Florida. I hope that those(us) non-voting motherfuckers (myself included) get off their(our) complacent asses and vote this time. I sure as hell will.

Have you used your Space Pen today?

Read this. You'll be glad you did. Jim Jobin is the owner of The Writer's Edge (see the Links section).

Look at this Right-Wing bullshit.

Fuck this guy. His thinks that Dennis Kucinich shouldn't run the country because he looks like Alfred E. Newman's brother, and he actually buys that shit about John Kerry and Jane Fonda. He publishes a Washington Times article without permission. Think we can get him in trouble over that?

And does anyone know how you can kick someone in the ass over the internet?

Pragmatik spreads like the clap, part 2.

Behold my latest post on the Moleskinerie. Armond sent me four cool buttons displaying the logo to his site. They will be flaunted proudly in The Heartland, along with my Thoreau buttons for election season.

Also, have a looksie (shoutout to C.H.) at the Members section. It is moved, and it grows.

Frankie.

'ello all! First-time blogger, long-time Bush foe. I voted against him in 2000 and am ready to do it again--in fact, I'm sending my Illinois voter registration today so I can vote in the Dem. primary. Just had to get off my chest how pissed I am over a Washington Post story that Dubya is planning to support a constitutional ban on gay marriage. Whether or not you agree with gay marriage (which I heartily do, marriage for everyone!), how can we countenance the idea of having a constitutional amendment for the purpose of excluding a group of people from a particular right? The framers didn't even have the audacity to mention slavery in the Constitution (although they didn't do anything to abolish it, either--that would have to wait until 1865. Which led William Lloyd Garrison to call the Constitution something on the order of "a pact with the devil and a covenant with hell." That's not the exact quote, but I think it's pretty close. Looks like we're getting ready to do it again). Everybody get out and vote!

What the fuck is wrong with some Bush critics, in my humble opinion, and how they hurt the cause of not getting this Cro-Magnon Re-"Elected."

Let me preface this by saying that I think Bush is one of the stupidest people I have ever heard speak publicly more than once. He is a step backward in the evolutionary process. I mean it. A few more of him, and we'll all be crawling back to some primordial ooze, or at least limping back to our caves.

But what about some of his critics? Look at this article on Slate. This guy actually likens Bush to Plato, and he calls Aristotle (who believed that plants really have souls) the father of modern science! Aside from that, his article is totally a piece of shit. Can I do better? Hell yes. Make a list of quotations from our fearless leader. Any reader will be struck by the affront to his or her sense of reason (see William James' "The Sentiment of Rationality") that she or he will realize what a moron and terrible leader the President is. Come on, people. This idiot makes it so easy to show what an idiot he is that any idiot should have no trouble doing it. How can one screw up showing how inconsistent and stupid the President is?!

For fuck sake, give me a job at Slate.

Members section added.

There is a list of the members (so far) of the blog under the Links section. The names are links to the members' profile pages offsite. Yes. So, what is the feeling about where the list should go? Over, or under Links (since Links might get long)? Please post your opinions here.

While I'm on the subject, what is the feeling about the design in general? Things can be changed as we go along, even the name/domain. Please share your opinions.

This post would not be complete without a link to something, so here is a nice one for your Tuesday pleasure.

Pragmatik spreads like the clap.

Behold, the contents of my Moleskine pocket, as posted on the Moleskinerie. You may have to scroll down. Mine is the longest (post, that is).

Witness the greatness.

....of the Links section on the other side of your page. Wanna see your favorite link there? Send it to me, and thy will be done. (Shouldn't that be "thy will will be done"?) Send me a link to your MSN or Yahoo profile page, links to your online photos, your department or employee or staff page, your personal blog, or a link to a map with directions to your Mom's house.

Wanna know how to make words or phrases into links in yours posts? Highlight the word[s] you want to be the link, then click the globe-looking button between the spellcheck button and the bold button. Enter the address, and you're all set. There, well done.

If we want to -- when Blogger revamps their premium services, that is -- we can pay a small small small fee and be able to have pictures on the page. And no ad at the top.

Not that the ad bothers me at all. It's usually for Blogspot (by Blogger) anyway.

Excellent new addition to the web.

I just found a nice new site called The Moleskinerie, which is a site devoted to and developed by folks who are devoted to the legendary notebook. It is clear to me that there is a connection between Moleskines and Blogs, but I have not been able to discern what it is exactly. At any rate, the founder/creator of Moleskinerie has promised to mail me some buttons that help spread the word about his site. Very nice of this person, I know. First they give me a nice site, then buttons to remind me of it. Sounds almost too good to be true, huh? Well done.

The site even has a contest running, a contest which has been extended to March 15th, rather than February 15th. Here is the page. Your heroic Pragmatik will, or course, be submitting an entry. You should, too.

And speaking of interesting websites, the most worthy candidate for the Democratic Presidential nomination -- Dennis Kucinich -- has a nifty site (see the Links section on this page). There are flyers, stickers, and pass-it-on tickets to download and print out. He was on "The Late Late Show" last week, and he is a very viable candidate for leader of the free world. Too bad he hasn't a chance in hell of winning the nomination. We could all smoke weed with free healthcare, and then we could hang out with our buddies back from the war on the way to our living-wage jobs. Considering his chances of winning (or lack thereof), I am very glad that I am in graduate school. I'll always be broke, and I will not be going off to fight Mr. Bush's war. And I can always get high, if the mood strikes.