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the southern baptist church (sbc, k?) is telling its faithful this is a tenet of the mormon faith. not a correct explanation, but as far as i'm concerned they're melding into evil twins, and moroni can go pound sand.
huckabee is soaring in the polls, sucking rudi's wind and nipping at romney's heels. we have a sbc minister, with a nutter of a son, (have you seen the family christmas card? gah! they all look like they are on a day-pass from the home. grown-ups in matching sweaters? are you kidding me? it's like a demented obese version of the williams family) a grand-standing fascist with estranged kids, multiple ex-wives, affairs, and felonious friends on his payroll, not to mention that pesky pro-choice/pro-gay agenda, and a telegenic, flip-flopping, political worm of a mormon. a mormon.
right here, right now:
"congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
the first 16 words of the american bill of rights, 1791. yeah, the witch-hunting/hanging puritans got lots of press, but most founding fathers were of the rational secular deist or atheist bent. they saw the rolling heads that resulted when the country's ruler ran the church, and the empty state coffers when the papists ran amok. let's not displace authority to another plane where no body is accountable. separation of church and state. quake and shake all you want. craft perfect chairs, be celibate, don't lift a musket or eat mutton. hell, writhe and speak in tongues. god is not in charge. a wealthy white man is. k, all good?
fast forward to now. the *leader of the free world* (has any presidential reference become more shameful?) truly believes he works under the hand "of a just and faithful god." yup. he thinks god speaks directly to him. under a different lineage and in a long ago era, he might have felt a very itchy noose around his breaking neck. instead, he rails against those who follow another god just as strongly, yet in opposition. he cannot see it's a geographical divide, not a philosophical one. jihad? crusade? call it what you will, but everybody just wants to kill everybody else in the name of their god and his rightness. welcome back to the middle ages.
the dog-and-pony show that is the current presidential race was WAAAAY too much too soon, but months ago i remember the childish glee of, "raise your hands if you DON'T believe in evolution." palms shot up in the air. (they must have run out of time for, "if you're happy and you know it, clap your hands!") like, 80 years later, we're now in a time warp and fighting the scopes monkey trial!!!! all these home-schoolers turning back the clock and throwing out the books. gah.
my mother is extremely conservative and voraciously catholic, yet has no trouble rationalizing that god controls evolution. she doesn't need proof, she has faith. follow?
romney, last week, in his supposed sermon on the mount: "freedom requires religion just as religion requires freedom." the first part of that makes my eyes bleed.
is there another *1st world* country where religion has become a merit badge for running for office? worse still, membership to a crank religion that disputes science? any flat-earthers or moonies running for parliament someplace?? uh, NO.
long before the roman empire collapsed, pundits decried its demise. lead in the air and water, distracted despots, unchecked greed and overextension of the empire's resources loomed deadly. and so they were.
we're in the midst of a nor'easter here today. i had to work very early. less-than-excellent adventure trying to dodge plows in a white-out and make my way from the train to the restaurant -- normally a 15-minute walk. all the suv-driving idiots made sure to slush, slush, slush me. i was soaked and frozen by the time i got there. only to get the phone call to turn right around, we were closed for the day, lol.
on my way home, still beset by daggers of sleet and stabbing wind, i watched a guy on crutches whose right leg had been amputated from the knee down. he was really struggling because the path was so slippery and uncertain. he wasn't wearing gloves. he paused and was rubbing his red frozen hands. i offered him my big wooly pair. he declined, insisting he had some and we went back and forth. "you're beautiful, bella, thank you," and he continued the other way.
i tried, you know?
our crispy feet haven't wandered much into sports, but i've got family ties, personal acquaintance, owner's fervid interest, and pop-culture-junkie bright eyes, so more than time, huh?
mitchell report today, and already conspiracy talk of why so few dirty sox. mo vaughan was too long ago. clemens looks to be clean while in boston. eric gagne? never mind an asterisk, we all wish we could just wite-out him off last year's roster completely. like official state photos from the stalin era. comrade was there, but, uh-oh ... snip -- poof -- next stop siberian gulag ! i heard murmurs about my man varitek and rushed home to look. phew. no whiff on those big thighs. oh, yes they grew to mighty oaks from all the squats. ;)
mitchell, although willing to name names, was careful to remind that many of these findings were old, and not a current reflection on certain players or the game. how much brow-beating went on before this thing came out? same guys who had the brick-bats before the 9/11 report got released? the players' rep said, "gee, maybe we should have done something sooner." uh, hello? alice in wonderland is on the phone. there can be no sooner if there is no now.
just like madonna can say she's never gone under the knife, mlb can cry wolf all night long about the dope. look at pix from the early 80s when these guys actually became athletes (as opposed to guys like mantle and martin who drank and sometimes played ball) and 2000+ pix. they went from strong to monstrous.
all my life i've known athletes. my grandfather was a scout (yeah, yeah, an excuse to get away from the 5 kids and wife and hang and booze and have affairs with glamorous babes -- not a bad one, eh?) and that meant i got toted to his bar or they were drinking whisky and beer at the house. those guys washed up early and often, and most wound up strapped, unlike my stock-broker grandpa. later, venues of employ and influence brought me into contact with all sorts.
sports have never been clean. yeah, i cry when i watch "the natural", and my grandfather knew both billy jurges and eddie waitkus. (family legend claims he was there right after waitkus got shot.) black sox, hank greenberg, jackie robinson, pete rose, the sox being the LAST team to diversify, bouton's tell-all "ball four". all ugly. all of it. baseball has always been a business. why are people shocked by this?
over here, we've got michael vicks shuffled off to the big house. he bank-rolled a dog-fighting ring and personally killed some. why doesn't the nfl just come right out and ban him? most corners agree this is beyond the scope of jock deviancy. i'm not prepared right now to go into the racial divide on it, cuz it exists, in my kitchens and with people like jaime foxx. most rational folk admit this is a horror. he pled out. he's not denying. he had promise. he had a bunch of good games and one great game. his hubris got the best of him. he will be in jail more than 2 seasons and be nearly 30 when released. "the longest yard"? um, not. he's so extra dirty, yet the nfl knows he will remain semi-marketable when he gets out, so they have yet to cut him loose.
what was accomplished by the list of names? about 100 guys get tarred. testimony and accusations came from a very small group of suppliers and skin-poppers. as hateful as they may be, why do guys like clemens and even bonds have to bear the brunt? does anybody really think it wasn't/isn't a majority of players indulging? just look at them, for god's sake.
where is the disincentive to dope? not in gajillion dollar paychecks. not with an admin that looked the other way for years while ad revenue skyrocketed. not even with the real and short-term likelihood of an early and ugly death. all these footballers in their 50s coming forward with brains of multiply-concussed mush might have some advice to offer. did lyle alzado or that homocidal-suicidal wwf guy get buried with a phone in their grave? they might warrant a call.
mlb cannot be trusted to police itself. it hasn't, it won't. milk and honey from the golden goose, and a river runs through it, lol. penalty backlash is pointless. selig and his minions turned a blind eye, so it seems beyond irrational to demonize the few that got bagged. let the dust settle fast. talk about "from this day forward." if they choose to, guys can get clean over the summer.
the tests have to be truly random. what's right? one strike? two, and you're out? i'm thinking it's like enron and adelphia and what should have happened there. take their assets. everything. (give vicks' money to a pit bull rescue society -- they sure need it.) forbid these guys from playing, coaching, consulting or commenting. SHUN THEM. like the amish and the puritans. spurn and turn them out. if some college kid sees a young starter or 2 or 10 going down over a piss test, career ruined, he will think twice. hey, it worked out for roger williams, right?
OR...
allow the doping. let these guys blow up into zeppelins of power. we see the bulging pockets that result. maybe we should stop playing pretend? just don't skimp on the retirement medical bennies.
how soon before the new version of "american gladiator" actually puts a guy in the ring with some lions and bears? cross it with ultimate cage fighting and i think we have the new sport for the next decade.
no rant on marxism and i'm prepared to avoid aphorisms for the rest of the post.
recently, i read an essay by a writer who has adopted a chinese baby. have lap-top will travel. she realized she could truly live anywhere, so pulled up stakes from manhattan and moved to beijing.
besides the obvious mishaps and mayhaps of settling into a culture where she didn't speak the language, she was struck by the comparative austerity of her neighbors' lives. although in a firmly prosperous area, her american perceptions of consumption were severely challenged. there is a man who sells string. unlike here where we buy a spool that likely gathers dust in the garage or junk bin, her neighbors buy only the length they need. she could not find paper towels and was perplexed until realizing the facile waste of them. her refrigerator was smaller than her tv. well, the tv she brought from nyc.
besides all the blather about reducing our environmental footprint (gah, i don't own a car, gimme a break already, OK??) i have been increasingly conscious of what i *buy*. penury may be my not-so-new mother, but i'm always trying to weigh want vs. need vs. waste. shoes and bags long ago fell off the list, but even when it comes to "essentials" i've never been good at paring down.
today i went foodshopping. those of 
you who know me realize this does not mean the shaw's. ;) it was haymarket day and i also planned on visiting my north end butcher, so i get the added feel-good bonus of keeping it local, ya know? it was sunny and mild and crowded and there was lots of jostling and jamming and god only knows how many languages. old harry the cheese guy, fish waving, banana hawking and lots of cigarette smoking over the lemons and melons, lol. as long as i've lived here, i've always liked it there. flirty dirty old men call you "bella" and give you free figs and mean ladies make you buy 2 bunches of asparagus when you only want one. uh, ok, so, skip the broccoli then, lol.
it used to be all italians -- hell, that same guy has been giving me bonus stuff for nearly 20 years, lol. (yeah, extra garlic for me, but where did his hair go!) now there also lots of asians and a bunch of new meat guys. they sell pork, so they are not halal, but the shops are spotless, the meat is pristine and includes cuts i just cannot find elsewhere, the prices are rock-bottom and they are friendly! like, not just, "hey white lady, you have money..." but "halloooo, how you are? do you see something i get?" lol. it was great. today nearly swore me off my name-sake shop except for wasabi peas and tea, i do declare. i may not be ready to wrassle a goat neck, but the g.c. will be getting some new delectables.
it was one of those days when i wove myself back into the fabric of my city and my life. too often i let that fray when the bastards get me down. i saw proprietors, locals and gangsters i've known forever and everybody had a kind word. i helped tourists with their maps. stepped on and elbowed, i remained calm and even laughed with a guy who spoke no english over the absurdity of some broad in a burka with her double-wide stroller shoving between the stalls!
even with avocados and the exotic red watercress, i spent less than the federal poverty weekly guidelines for food. there's even some extra in case the g.c. decides to materialize. it would have cost me 3 or 4 times more at the big box, and they don't have the red cress!!
ya know... sometimes all you need is a day off.
