Taking the Bible Literally

I picked this up from Exploring Our Matrix.  Click for a larger image.

Biblical Literalism

Friday Music Break: Erasure, “Oh Lamour”

Yankees WIN!

All is right in the baseball universe.  The Yankees completed their 27th World Championship season last night, defeating the Phillies 7-3 to win the series in six games.  Some observations:

• Matsui’s performance was the best since Jackson’s three-homer night in 1977.  If Rodriguez had stayed put that last at bat, Matsui might have gotten another hit.  He was only a triple short of hitting for the cycle, which has never been done in a World Series game.
• Matsui was also the first full-time DH and Japanese-born player to win the World Series MVP.  It felt good to see Matsui have a moment in the sun.  He’s been injured for over a year, and hasn’t played in the field since 2008.  The announcers commented that Game 6 might be his last game with the Yankees.  Given his health, it might be his last game in the Majors.
• The Phillies are a great team.  They didn’t play well in the series, and seemed to never come up with a big hit when they needed it.  Before the first game I thought they matched up very well against the Yankees, and I still think that.  The Yankees were just a bit more consistent, and with Matsui and the three-man rotation gained enough of an edge to capatilize on the Phillies’ sub-par hitting.
• I have to admit I’m glad Utley didn’t break Jackson’s record of five home runs in one series.  But no doubt it was a terrific accomplishment for him, and you could make a fair argument for Utley as MVP.  (Only one time has a player from the losing team been selected MVP— Bobby Richardson in 1960.)
• I am now convinced Mariano Rivera comes from another planet.
• I felt bad for Pedro Martinez.  He’s built a Hall of Fame career, and you have to admire his competitiveness.  Who would not want Pedro on their rotation?  Even though I was pulling for New York, it would have been good to Martinez come up with a big game on the biggest stage.
• Pettitte, Jeter, Rivera, Posada.  Those are now some of the biggest names in the Yankees’ history book.
• If you look at how the Yankees played during the second half of the season, this was their strongest club since 1998.
• The Yankees had one of their best seasons in a brand new ballpark.  So it’s a shame they priced their tickets out of the reach of ordinary people.  Even at the Major League level, and even in New York, a plumber, teacher, cab driver, anyone of ordinary means should be able to afford a good seat with enough dough to buy some dogs and beer.  But at the new Yankee Stadium, good seats cost as much as a used car.  And the cheap seats are in New Jersey.  It’s ridiculous that only the rich can afford a box seat at the sport’s most famous venue.
• But the Yankees are only the brightest example of the problem with Major League Baseball.  Through it’s TV, radio, and Internet contracts, and absurd ticket prices at many of the best ballparks, MLB seems to do its best to restrict access to its product.  Their new initiative, to bring baseball back to the inner city (RBI: reviving baseeball in inner cities), is not new.  It’s been around in various forms since the 1980s.  That’s because for nearly 25 years baseball made every effort to market itself to a more wealthy base of customers, cutting off middle and working class families and their children.  When is the last time you saw a week-day World Series game that a kid could stay up to watch all the way to the finish?
• All right, enough of the soap box.  Congrats to the Yankees, the only sports team I’ve really cared about since I was three years old.

Democrats Shut Out in Major Virginia Races

Kyle Trygstad explains things at Real Clear Politics.  McDonnell’s victory over Deeds is about as surprising as the sun rising in the east.  Deeds may as well have been running for governor in a different state.  I knew almost nothing about him or his policies.  The only Deeds TV commercial that played in my market featured Barack Obama speaking, but saying not one word about Deeds’ goals or policies.  Deeds voice was not heard at all in the commercial.  How much sense does that make?  At least McDonnell explained what he intends to do in office.

I hope McDonnell and the other Republicans do well.  I also hope my Republican friends will take heart from these victories. Realizing McDonnell and the others ran campaigns based on moderate policies, it isn’t necessary for conservatives to enter the Bermuda Triangle to win elections.  In fact, doing so ends up hurting them.  (See New York CD-23.)

Friday Music Break: Dionne Farris, “I Know”

It’s going to work this time . . .

 

What the Hell is Wrong With Me?

I need help with this.

The last sentence of my previous post was: “Do we need to spend this much money to remain secure?”

That’s the sentence I had in my mind as I typed.  But what came out was this:

“Do we spend this money to secure?”

need, to, this, much, and remain didn’t make it from my brain to the keyboard.  This happens to me all the time when I type or write things by hand.  Am I brain damaged?  WTF???

Does this happen to anyone else?  What’s wrong with me?

U.S. Defense Spending

At Heretical Ideas, Alex Knapp questions the gigantic sums of money the U.S. spends on defense:

The amount of money being poured into national security spending is completely irresponsible and unsustainable. We can’t afford it. As we (hopefully) wind down the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, we need to take a real hard look at our foreign policy–particularly why we feel the need to spend more on defense than the rest of the world does combined. There’s no reason why we can’t adopt a more restrained policy and still keep the United States secure. I mean, let’s put this in perspective. We could cut DOD appropriations in half, today, and we’d be spending more on defense than all of the EU nations combined.

The 2010 Defense Authorization Bill comes in at $680 billion.

Do we need to spend this much money to remain secure?

Lance Armstrong: Time for “Comprehensive” Health Care Reform

Lance Armstrong overcame testicular cancer to win the Tour de France seven consecutive times.  Writing for CNN.com, he advocates for “thoroughly comprehensive [health care] reform.”

Armstrong points out that he lacked health insurance when doctors diagnosed his disease.  Had he been an ordinary citizen, probably he would have died or ended up with crushing debt.  But one of his sponsors used their financial leverage to make their insurance carrier pick up Armstrong and pay for his treatment.  (He doesn’t identify the insurance company.)

Put plainly, the impact of diseases like cancer won’t subside with the recovery of economic markets. The threat they bring grows, minute by minute. Increasing investment now to combat that threat, even in the midst of a recession, will pay substantial dividends in the decades to come by driving down the costs of treatment and public assistance.

We must advocate for effective, high-quality and comprehensive health services. The issues are complex and deserve the most constructive debate leading to progress; not piecemeal changes, but thoroughly comprehensive reform.

To this day, my family and I remain on Oakley’s insurance plan. We are the lucky ones. We can’t allow luck to determine the fate of Americans’ health.

What do you think?

Do you think our current system is fine as it is, and should not be altered?  Do you believe we need reform but without government involvement (the “public option”)?  Do you believe we need a system that closely resembles that in a particular country? (Which one?)

Could You Be Fired For Going to Church?

Do you think it’s any of your employer’s business where you go to church, or if you go to church at all?  Should your religious beliefs affect the way you’re treated at work?  If your boss fired you because he didn’t like your religion, would you be upset?

Do these questions have different answers for different religions?

In Connecticut, a woman was fired from Bath and Body Works because she used vacation time to attend a religious festival.  Gina Uberti has sued for wrongful termination in federal court.

Uberti’s religion is Wicca.  According to Wicca.org, “Wicca is a new religion that emphasizes growth through harmony in diversity, knowledge, wisdom, and exploration.”  According to Wikipedia, Wicca is a “neopagan, nature-based religion.”  But to her boss, it’s “devil worship.”  Uberti’s regional manager said “I will be damned if I have a devil-worshiper on my team.”

What do you think about this?

I’m a One-Third Triathlete

I “competed” in my first Triathlon today, except I really didn’t.  I was part of a relay team.  One teammate completed the swim, I completed the bike part, and the other teammate the run.  My part was a 20-K ride with hills and some technical parts in the town.  The race was put on by the Longwood University Cycling Club.  They did a fantastic job.  It was a lot of fun!  They’re hoping to put on anther triathlon in the spring, or maybe a criterium race.

For me, this was the last race of the season.  My time wasn’t very good, but I battled a cold all week and technically, this is the off-season for me.  Training for the 2010 racing season starts November 1 for me.