Carat on a Stick

Eighty three years ago today Rudolph Valentino died. He had brought a single red rose to Ditra Flame when she was deathly sick in the hospital as a child with the request that she return the favor on the anniversary of his death.

Did he give her a carrot on a stick? Maybe so. But surely she experienced some joy as the mysterious lady in black who made annual visits to his crypt.

I guess we can all hope to endear ourselves to at least one person who will remember us after we are gone, either on our birthday, our wedding day, the day we died or some other meaningful date on the calender.

Rest in peace, Rudolph Guglielmi Valentino!

On George Tiller

"He has killed more babies than he has saved," Mr Gietzen said of Mr Roeder. "I don't care how much fan mail he is getting."

(David Barston in "An Abortion Battle to the Death" in today's New York Times.)

Unfortunately The Sanctity of Life is trumped by the sanctity of the family unit and the sanctity of marriage. Acts of passion between married partners should be their business and acts of teenagers need to be looked at as sometimes tragic and reversible by the act of abortion.

I think it is one thing Bill Clinton had right. Abortion should be legal but rare. And adoption should be encouraged.

The Artist as a Young Man

The artist, like the God of the creation, remains within or behind or beyond or above his handiwork, invisible, refined out of existence, indifferent, paring his fingernails.

(James Joyce--A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man)

Every Fury On Earth

Every fury on earth has been absorbed in time, as art, or as religion, or as authority in one form of another. The deadliest blow the enemy of the soul can strike is to do fury honor. Swift, Blake, Beethoven, Christ, Joyce, Kafka, name me one who has not been thus castrated. Official acceptance is the one unmistakable symptom that salvation is beaten again.

(Let Us Now Praise Famous Men--James Agee)

MORE DICED CARROTS PLEASE!

Well today someone might win $339 for celebrating Square Root Day. For myself I cut the fat half of a parsnip into square root "coins," munched them raw and sauteed the remainder in vegetable oil.

I suppose if I pigged out on diced carrots at a restaurant I may be eligible for the $339 prize.

Maybe on 04/04/16.

Gnostic Notes: Neither Accept Nor Reject

Gnostic Notes: Neither Accept Nor Reject

This seems important to neither accept or reject. It puts you in the camp where others cannot judge you as much as you yourself have suspended judgement.

(Click on title to access link.)

Schadenfreude Happens

SHAHD-n-froi-duh happens, sometimes during war, which is what we think of on Election Day and also on Veterans Day, Eleventh Hour of the Eleventh Day of the Eleventh Month of the Year.

According to Volume 1.1 of Unabridged Dictionary dot Com, shadenfreude means pleasure felt at someone else's misfortune. I know I have been guilty of that. We are cautioned against it in scripture lest the Almighty behold such evil and turn the tide to favor our enemy. Such is politics, sports, business, and war.

Testeroni Expresso

He had his Kate and Edith toooo

Den drank isopropyl alcohol from his wooden schooo.

Say No to Cobb County

A military plane landed in Atlanta today with relief supplies for those folks in Georgia who were recently invaded by the Russian military. Condi Rice urged Dubya to exclude relief to those living in Cobb County, partly in retaliation for the anti-gay agenda prior to the 1996 Olympics within that county. No gold medals for Georgia in 2008 seemed to be the sentiment inside Atlanta's clock.

"Times have changed," Condi said. "Russia cannot invade Atlanta like it was Chekoslovakia in 1968. The good old USA will protect those Georgians who put family values first."

In other matters, Ann Coulter, appearing on *Ellen* reaffirmed her committment to Hillary over McCain. He is still in Chekoslovakia, she alleged. He doesn't spell it with a z either.

Michelle Goldberg's Taken During Surprise Rapture

So the rest of us can ignore [Left Behind], or chuckle at its over-the-top Christian kitsch.
We should keep in mind though, that for some of the most powerful people in the world, this stuff isn't melodrama. Its prophecy. Michelle Goldberg

Which brings us to the fact that some Christians ran up their credit card bills in 1988 figuring they would be raptured up by the Lord before they would have to pick up the tab.

I learned my prophecy from David Brandt Berg, founder of the Children of God. He was not expecting the Lord's return until the early 1990s. We ended up getting Bill Clinton instead.

Toast Salad

UU WORLD FALL 2007 PAGE 56: Unitarian Universalism has neglected theology.

PAGE 57: Rev. Dr Paul Rasor, a UU liberal theologian put it at the 2007 General Assembly[:] "While we may be post-Christian, it matters that it's Christian that we're post." Ongoing dialogue with liberal Christians will help us in our own more diverse conversation by keeping our roots alive. (Christopher L. Walton)

Which brings to mind what Dallas Willard wrote about the Christian Left. They are inclusive of everyone except the exclusivistic Christian Right.

The UU faith is also pre-Christian. And some of those conservative Christians are pretty decent folk.

Waiting for Godot

Waiting for Godot, who is running an hour late. At least that is what Debbie said.

God a distant stately lover

In Emily Dickinson's poem "God is a distant stately lover," we have John Alden courting Priscilla for Miles Standish. She ends her poem that Miles and John are synonym, much as Jesus the Son courts for God the Father. He that hath seen me hath seen the Father, Jesus declared.

Nancy Dillin Magruder

He picked up the phone instead of the pen, but Nancy definitely was ready with her nine bucks an hour rigamarole. Which means there's hope for Nigeria's Achebe wannanobees as well as in Frisco. The Corinthian ecrivant waxeth triumphant or triumphalist as one's perspective dictates.

Holy Cross by seven, the Baltimore Orioles by three in the bottom of the eighth.

Ditto to the Rovian Ranger in South Dakota.

Pittsburgh's Nagorski Too

Not sure what all the hooplah is about UU folk needing a language of reverence. The summer issue of the UU WORLD sure did not help. Keep the language of the traditionalists and sing the Doxology when the hometeam needs to score a touchdown. Then at the end of the piece we learn that we don't need any angels or magical beings. No Virginia, there is no Santa Claus, but you can reverently open your Christmas presents can't you?

La Neige est belle in Canada

First day of fifth grade. Beginning French. But it was not Canada, but aujord-hui, or something like that. The devil that you know is into orgiami. Apparently orgiami was a two and a half year old English language toddler when I crafted my sing-song Tsunami Orgiami, a year ago before the IRS gig was up. Sooooo. Is orgiami a Hungarian word? Jackie Gleason wants to know.