wizbang....your lock is worthless

Over at Wizbang, Nearly every lock you have now is worthless

...well at least most.

A Wii little adventure with Zelda

If you have played zelda...enjoy. If not....you can still injoy this :-)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tQ7Wof6QvM

Tolerating criticism is part of freedom

My friend Doug wrote a letter to the editor and I think it is worth a read.

Tolerating criticism is part of freedom


I hope you'll allow one more letter regarding the pope's now infamous - and infamously hyped - speech, one sentence of which was used as yet another pretext for some Muslims' outrage. This sort of response is becoming commonplace.

Sameea Safi wrote a letter to the editor in which she expressed disappointment and offense at the pontiff's remarks. I'll leave aside the relative innocuousness of the speech, which mainly dealt with broad themes such as faith, reason, the nature of God, and the ridiculousness of forced "conversion" to any faith or no faith at all. Safi further stated that there is no theology in Islam that endorses forced conversions.

In short, the "true Muslims" to which Safi refers obviously haven't been able to convince the radical Islamist imperialists that conversion by the sword is un-Islamic.

Anyway, my issue is rather with Safi's offense at the pope's remarks. I fully understand her offense at these remarks. As a Christian I'm offended by many things: movies such as "Dogma;" the ACLU's unending campaign to stamp out all expressions of faith in the public square; snide remarks by entertainers and the media elite regarding evangelical Christians and so forth.

The simple fact that my wife and I have to work so hard to prevent our kids from becoming coarsened by a secularist/materialist society, and that so much of what passes for pop culture these days seems diametrically opposed to most of what we believe, is offensive.

Having said all that, here's the difference between my belief system and the beliefs of many (notice I did not say all) Muslims, both in Western countries and Islamic societies.

I'm willing to engage those with whom I disagree in debate and to attempt to change their points of view. Barring that, I'm free to seek entertainment elsewhere or to ignore offensive remarks, and therefore allow the power of the free market to influence the debate.

What I'm not willing to do is to engage in violence, threats of violence, and other coercive behaviors, all in an attempt to place my beliefs beyond the reach of discourse due to fears of retribution.

In free societies, one has every right to be offended. However, it doesn't place your beliefs beyond the reach of satire, criticism or parody. If Islam is to be above criticism or insult, then I would suggest all who feel this way need to move to a country that doesn't allow criticism of Islam.

Most Americans don't go out of their way to be offensive, but neither do we believe any person, group or belief system to be off-limits to offense. I will not (and I suspect a large majority of freedom-loving people feel the same way) allow anyone to alter my right to speak critically about any topic.

Happy Birthday Marine Corps

Joe over at evangelical outpost post the 24 rules for gunfighting. I particularly like:

21. Be polite. Be professional. But, have a plan to kill everyone you meet.

and he ends it up with the Navy version:
Navy Rules for Gun fighting:

1. Go to Sea

2. Send the Marines

3. Drink Coffee

Since I was Air Force, all I can say is:
1. Fuel planes
2. Send officers with bombs (preferably really big and/or laser guided)
3. Play Spades and drink coffee.

I knew it, but I still listened

Okay, it is official I got 44.4% correct. which means.......
I may have pitch perception deficit.
As anyone in my family can tell you.....welll DDUUUHHHH!!!!
I have always said if you call me tone deaf, it would be a high compliment.

Find out if you are tone deaf....or not.

I got this from lifehacker.....
blogger and musician Jake Mandell posts a simple flash test for tone deafness. The test, which was made while he was working at a music and neuroimaging laboratory, plays two musical phrases back to back, and you have to decide whether they're the same or different.

Obsession can be a bad thing

My brother sent me a link to this and I watched the first link at the bottom of this post and part of the second. I suggest you see it.
See the trailer here.

From Donald Sensing: On terrorism, novelist Roger L. Simon quoted Leon Trotsky: “You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you.” So to all the sleepwalkers out there, or those who simply swim in the Egyptian river about the nature of Islamism and its jihadis, undertand this: You may not be interested in al Qaeda, but al Qaeda is interested in you.

"Obsession" is one of the most powerful, expertly crafted and undeniably important films I've seen this year. This courageous, utterly gripping expose' deserves the attention of every American -- and merits serious consideration for the Academy Award for Best Feature Length Documentary."

-- Michael Medved
Nationally Syndicated Radio Host
Film Critic, "Eye on Entertainment

Obsession Part 1
Obsession Part 2
Obsession Part 3
Obsession Part 4
Obsession Part 5
Obsession Part 6
Obsession Part 7
Obsession Part 8

Women need to get "real".

I have a game that sometimes bugs my very beautiful wife. I love to point out the "corrections" to pictures in her magazines ad nauseum.
A couple of years ago a magazine clipped facial features from several people and edited them into a single face with additional enhancements. They left only one clue about this "persons" identity. They had a small inconspicuous computer chip coming out of a cloud in the background.

It's like comparing me against superman. I know he does not exist, but how many women know that these women in magazines do not exist? Check out this video from the dove foundation.



Hat tip to AmericanPapist
Here is the website for Dove's "campaign for real beauty."

Time lapse controll of the middle east

Joe Carter at Evangelical Outpost has a flash animation map of who controlled the middle east since 3000 B.C. until present day. It uses the politically correct B.C.E. and C.E. I can overlook that since Joe did not create it.

Check it out.

Breast cancer donations helping abortion?

I posted something about this last year and figured I needed to bring it up again.

There are more and more Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation supporting adds this year....BUT Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation is among those that fund Planned Parenthood.

When Eve Silver joined an advisory board for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, she thought she was working with an organization that supported life. Komen supports breast cancer research and sponsors annual Race for the Cure events around the country.

But what Silver didn't know until just recently is that Komen also financially supports Planned Parenthood. In fact, in 2003 the foundation gave $450,000 to the group.
...
What Silver also found out is that Komen's founder, Nancy Brinker, is on the advisory board of Planned Parenthood in Dallas, and, after the $450,000 donation, Planned Parenthood built a new $5 million clinic in Dallas, something Silver called "a very clear conflict of interest."
...
Alternative organizations that support life

Want to give your money to organizations that are clear of Planned Parenthood and other bad ties? Try these:

The Breast Cancer Prevention Institute was founded by Joel Brind and Dr. Angela Lanfranchi to look at the connection between abortion and contraceptives and breast cancer. On the web at: www.bcpinstitute.org.
Instead of the American Red Cross, your local Catholic Charities also provides emergency relief services.
In the Diocese of La Crosse, Wis., many parishes have begun walks that benefit Catholic Relief Services directly rather than going through CROP Walk.
Easter Seals, according to Jim Sedlak at Stop Planned Parenthood, is a "completely clean" organization.
...
And the Michael Fund (www.michaelfund.org)gives money for birth-defect research and is pro-life, Sedlak said.

I can't find the orignal article, but it was linked from here.

Ben "Fake" Cardin the Voters?

Ben Cardin needed his staff to be voters that are enthusiastic about him.

n contrast with other commercials, it is considered unethical to fail to identify paid spokesmen or to have them pose as random members of the public in political advertisements.
...
In Cardin’s ad, a number of Marylanders endorse Cardin. Ashley Peddicord, apparently a college student, says “Thanks to Ben, I can afford college.” In reality, Peddicord works for the campaign. Her campaign email is: Ashley@bencardin.com.
Kelton Anderson, posing as an ordinary working man, is in fact a high-ranking official with United Auto Workers union, which has endorsed Cardin.
...

Read the whole thing.

Catholic or Protestant heaven? Simpson style

I found this over here.

Homer goes to one Heavan, Marge to another. Well...kinda....

If you do not see the box below, you can see it here.... Catholic or Protestant heaven.

Quick change artist

Would this help your wife/girlfriend get ready in the morning? Of course I have a hard enough time getting one outfit on in the morning :-)
This is pretty amazing stuff.
If you can not see it, go here.

Everything is Albright with North Korea

Curtjester has a link to this David Zucker Albright Ad that is quite funny. As he said after he had seen it once...

When I went to view it again later it had been flagged by users as having offensive content. You just got to love the tolerance of some liberals that they consider anything that pokes fun or depart from their party line as being offensive.

I watched it three times myself :-)

Gaming old school

Lifehacker has a link to virtual NES (nitendo entertainment system) website. It has a plethora of the original games for you to play. Including the first game I ever beat without a cheat, Milon's Secret Castle. That was back in the day when there was no "Save Game" option and you would have to play for an hour just to get back to where you last died. This site hints in its update today that it is looking to add a "save game" option.

Tolerant hypocrisy

Gerald links the WSJ about tolerant hypocrisy. I was talking to someone about the same thing today because I heard the same thing from a left leaning pundit and a democrat consultant. They were saying Hasert should have been keeping a closer eye on Foley because he was a homosexual. Apparently only republicans are bad homosexuals. Could you imagine if it was a dem and the republicans said that. It was overshadow what happened and the MSM would turn the scandal into what the republicans said. Don't get me wrong, Foley needs to be out of congress and I am sure more punishment is to follow.

But in today's politically correct culture, it's easy to understand how senior Republicans might well have decided they had no grounds to doubt Mr. Foley merely because he was gay and a little too friendly in emails. Some of those liberals now shouting the loudest for Mr. Hastert's head are the same voices who tell us that the larger society must be tolerant of private lifestyle choices, and certainly must never leap to conclusions about gay men and young boys. Are these Democratic critics of Mr. Hastert saying that they now have more sympathy for the Boy Scouts' decision to ban gay scoutmasters? Where's Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on that one?

Pointless Family Photo

I found this picture over at Jimmy's place with the same title.
One of the commentors had it right.
"I don't care if you say 'cheese'-- just don't blink!"

I was thinking it was the annual photosensitivity(sun allergy) convention.
My mom wishes that she was able to have the name of more of our ancestors names on old photos. I bet this family is REALLY good at that. How else would they know who the heck is in the picture?

Unbelievably "the peaceful" want to kill.

Over a Michelle Malkin's blog scroll down in this post to just below the picture that says "Behead those who insult Islam." Start reading at "Reader S. writes:"
He put it very clearly what the Pope B16 was talking about. There are many good post around the internet about this, but I would have to say the MSM has purposely screwed this up. I count both liberal and conservative's in it. World Net Daily selectively quoted a link yesterday to cause more of their base readers to want to read it. I can not find the link now but wish I could. Glenn Beck being misleading in what he said as well. I have found that the last few Pope do not speak for the news cycle. This has, of course, given them some bad press. However, down the road they are usually right and no one puts the apology on the front page. If they even do it at all.

In the speach it clearly shows the quote is from an "erudite Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus and an educated Persian on the subject of Christianity and Islam, and the truth of both". Here is the quote. "Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached". I do not disagree with this statement. Though I think you need to put it into its full context. I can quote a lot of things from the Bible that can mislead you from the real intention. I think you should read the whole speech. Pope B16 next line was " The emperor, after having expressed himself so forcefully, goes on to explain in detail the reasons why spreading the faith through violence is something unreasonable. Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul."



If you want to read what he really said, the Vatican has it for all to see. I think most will not want to read it because it may not line up with what they want it to say.

Kathy Shaidle has a post about what's up with the Vampire thing.

Park this!

I got this from NRO. It is a timewaster and you can blame Goldberg at NRO.

name it, claim it

Over at GetReligion a quick review on this weeks Time cover story. (Does God want you to be Rich?)

I am a very leary of the "Health and Wealth" Theology. As a local pastor says on his commercial. Jesus came to deliver us from sin, sickness, and disease. Where is that in historical Christianity? Are you saying I am sick because I am not a "True Believer™ "? Apparently John the Baptist did not get the memo. I do not think getting your head on a silver plate qualifies for this!

I Just Called to Say I Love You

Via the Curt Jester he links to Peggy Noonan's article on 9/11.

This is what I get from the last messages. People are often stronger than they know, bigger, more gallant than they'd guess. And this: We're all lucky to be here today and able to say what deserves saying, and if you say it a lot, it won't make it common and so unheard, but known and absorbed.

Please go read her whole article! It is well worth it and it was better than anything that I happened upon on any of the news channels on 9/11.