A little bit of ranting never hurt nobody!

 
:::long-overdue random musings:::


Here's what my brain, ears and eyes have been taking in over the past little while:


The Michael Jackson Trial
Not guilty...um, no crap! Justice was served in this case. The accessor's mother is a complete psycho-hose-beast opportunism who saw a chance to bilk yet another rich entity out of millions and took it, putting her kids in harm's way as a means to an end for her own gain. Doubt she's gonna get many votes for "Mom of the Year".
Now, do I think MJ is or was a pedophilia? I'm not sure. I mean, let's be real...he is a bit odd...OK, I'm putting that lightly. He did have a rather bizarre magazine and book collection in his bedroom. He did let kids sleep in his bed with him. But Sneedon has a personal vendetta against him since he ducked out of the last allegations in 1993, and he's been trying to pin MJ for anything he could for the past 12 years, no matter what his sound byte said! He was very narrow-minded in picking this family and should have done MUCH more research before he even thought about bringing charges. Anyway, that's that...now we can hear more about...


The War in Iraq
Over 1700 of our troops dead since the war began...270 since the elections. How much longer...how many more lives? And for what? Cheaper oil? Um, check the gas stations. Saddam's out of power? Yeah, and the new government is soooo effective! Weapons of mass destruction? Debunked. It's time for an exit strategy, Mr. Bush. You're making me question my decision in November. You're reminding me a lot of Emperor Palpatine in...


Revenge of the Sith
Worth the wait! Ian stole the movie right out from under everyone! I am so glad George brought him back from Return of the Jedi to reprise his role...no one can do that voice like he can! Well-paced, great saber fights and space battles, humor that didn't seem forced. An all-around great prequel finale! Now, if we could only do something about the empire we're living in here with the administration's push for expansion of...


The Patriot Act
"The FBI would get expanded powers to subpoena records without the approval of a judge or grand jury in terrorism investigations under Patriot Act revisions approved Tuesday by the Senate Intelligence Committee." >>>
Um, anyone remember back in the 80's when we used to lambast the Soviet Union and all of the other Eastern Bloc countries for these type of "laws"? Anyone ever read 1984? You guys notice all the cameras at intersections now? Take a good look.
Come on! How many more civil liberties are we willing to give up for the sake of our "security and safety" when every day more and more internal investigations are coming to light that it was our own "intelligence" communities' inability to communicate with one another that caused the first plane to hit the first tower? Well, never fear...Big Brother is watching you!

"Don't fret precious I'm here, step away from the window
Go back to sleep

Lay your head down child
I won't let the boogeyman come

Count the bodies like sheep
To the rhythm of the war drums

Pay no mind to the rabble
Pay no mind to the rabble

Head down, go to sleep
To the rhythm of the war drums

Pay no mind what other voices say
They don't care about you, like I do, like I do
Safe from pain and truth and choice and other poison devils,
See, they don't give a poo about you, like I do.

Just stay with me, safe and ignorant,
Go back to sleep
Go back to sleep

Lay your head down child
I won't let the boogeyman come
Count the bodies like sheep
To the rhythm of the war drums

Pay no mind to the rabble
Pay no mind to the rabble

Head down, go to sleep to the rhythm of the war drums

I'll be the one to protect you from
Your enemies and all your demons

I'll be the one to protect you from
A will to survive and a voice of reason

I'll be the one to protect you from
Your enemies and your choices son
They're one in the same
I must isolate you
Isolate and save you from yourself

Swayin to the rhythm of the new world order and
Count the bodies like sheep to the rhythm of the war drums

The boogeymen are coming
The boogeymen are coming

Keep your head down, go to sleep, to the rhythm of a war drums

Stay with me
Safe and ignorant
Just stay with me
Hold you and protect you from the other ones
The evil ones
Don't love you son,
Go back to sleep"
"Pet" by APC

Sounds more like a Dick Cheney sound byte than a song, huh? But, I have been thoroughly enjoying...


TRANSFORMER
Check out this article in particular. It really got me thinking. I grew up in churches where we would for some unknown and random reason "stand on the third verse" of certain hymns. Why? Not really sure. But, just like good little lemmings, we'd all stand and sing the third verse the same way we sang the second and first verse...but standing up. I looked in Psalms...looked in Paul and Timothy's letters...looked in the Gospels (all 4 of them)...looked in the OT and NT using the NIV, KJV, NKJV, NASB, ABC, PDQ and ASAP versions, and saw nothing that mentioned this strange ritual as a means to an end to get closer to God. I was shocked! You mean there is no mention of this in the Bible?!?? And yet every church I attended as a kid and even as an adult has this strange ritual or a variation of it (standing during the "commitment" or "altar call" or "trash dump" time). The quote that stuck lout to me the most in KT's post was:

"I have to ask, was everyone really praising our Lord last night? Were all those people lifting songs to God at the top of their lungs out of worship? I'm sure a lot of them were. I'm also sure some of them were doing it because others were doing it. Why then do we have to ask people to worship this way? If it is genuine, it should emanate from our pores naturally. People should be shouting all of the time without an instruction to do so. Understanding we are all different and do things differently is the key to the body of Christ. If we were all the same, things wouldn't get done."

Wow...that's so true. Good word KT, and great blog! It reminds me of a lot of what my wife and I have been reading in...


PRAISE HABIT: Finding God in Sunsets and Sushi
We have been looking all over for a devo book to read since we got married that we both enjoy. So many of the "couples" or "married" ones just weren't cutting it...and we had tried quite a few. But this book is so incredibly well done. Sharp and witty writing that keeps you engrossed. Sound theology, great Psalms...just a great read! I encourage y'all to pick it up!

Anyway, that should be enough for now. I figure this one should give you Bush-lovers plenty to comment on below, so blast away.

Peace out, yo.


posted by Stacie @ 12:33 AM