http://www.pleonast.com/user/jabberwock recent pleonast.com entries by user jabberwock en-us http://www.pleonast.com/user/jabberwock?l=5&entryID=614478 Apparently, there is consternation in some circles that when Rick Warren offers the prayer at Obama's inaguration, he's going to do so in the name of Jesus. Praying in the name of Jesus! Imagine that! What's this country coming to?! Next thing you know, they'll be quoting the Bible or something equally hideous. Speaking of hideous, I'm actually kind of glad that last Monday night was the last time I'll see this year's MU secondary make a mediocre QB look like Dan Marino. My favorite part is when they start pointing at each other as the receiver scampers into the end zone. Way to take responsibility, guys. Nonetheless, despite having no business doing so, the Tigers beat the mighty Wildcats of Northwestern to finish 10-4 on the season. The only three Tigers to show up for the game were Jeremy Maclin, Sean Weatherspoon, and Jake Harry, but they turned out to be enough. Eventually. To be honest, the year turned out about the way I predicted. They lost one game I thought they... 2008-12-31 http://www.pleonast.com/user/jabberwock?l=5&entryID=613317 In the Wal-Mart parking lot today, I said to Lauren, "You know, I'm wandering around outside wearing jeans and a T-shirt, and I'm actually kinda warm." I know it's hard, but try not to hate me. . . 2008-12-27 http://www.pleonast.com/user/jabberwock?l=5&entryID=612618 Headline I saw today: ER Doctors Believe Police Officers Use Excessive Force in Arrests What should have been the next headline: Undertakers Believe ER Doctors Use Excessive Force in Operations 2008-12-24 http://www.pleonast.com/user/jabberwock?l=5&entryID=607632 I knew (or at least was pretty sure) Blagojevich was corrupt. I figured that anybody that evil had to be at least a little bit stupid. But the feds have been circling ever closer to him for years. His chief fundraisers and other Chicago Combine "luminaries" have been getting busted like Nazis at Neuremberg. And yet, the man has the brazen audacity to conspire to sell a SENATE SEAT. That's not something that happens in the US. It's something that happens in Third World countries. Welcome to the Third World country in which I happen to live. . . 2008-12-09 http://www.pleonast.com/user/jabberwock?l=5&entryID=605806 I try to avoid the culture wars. I really do. I think they're a distraction from our real business of saving lost people. However, I couldn't but be bemused by an article in today's Trib about homosexuals adopting children, with special reference to the new Arkansas law banning said practice. Quoth the article, "[The law's] real objective. . . is to bar same-sex couples. . . from raising children--even if it means youngsters who desperately need families will wait longer." So, apparently the problem is that the US is full of parentless children who will remain parentless unless the homosexuals ride to the rescue. So that's why everybody I know who tries to adopt has a real cheap and easy time adopting, right? Um, no. Ironically enough, the lesbians who were the human-interest lead had to go to Vietnam to adopt a two-year-old with a cleft palate. Let's be real here. There will be MORE than enough people looking to adopt, whether or not homosexuals are allowed to. ... 2008-12-03 http://www.pleonast.com/user/jabberwock?l=5&entryID=605098 When I'm playing a particular computer game and reading the online chatter about it, one of the usual topics of interest is how quickly the game can be beaten. People want to take as little real time or as little game time as possible to win. I'm not a hardcore blitzer, but I have to admit: it's kind of cool to conquer half of Europe in five turns. That Beat The Game mindset can be a a big problem in real life, though, particularly if you happen to be a preacher. When I first set out on my own, there were days when I was extremely disappointed because of how slowly things were moving. I felt like I was doing everything I could think of to advance the cause of the kingdom, yet the kingdom was not advancing. Because I'm soooo much smarter now, all of two years later, I can see several big problems with my perspective then: - Just because you do the right thing doesn't mean that others will do the right thing. Real human beings are not the same as armies on the computer screen.... 2008-12-02 http://www.pleonast.com/user/jabberwock?l=5&entryID=596445 I'm certainly no scientific expert, so I don't know how valid this is, but I was thinking interesting thoughts this morning. Everybody, whether creationist or evolutionist, believes that every living human is a descendant of one, or at most a very few, ancestors. Those ancestors then interbred with siblings, first cousins, etc., to eventually produce the human race we have today. Now. . . how did that work, exactly? All DNA contains flaws, and the more closely related two parents are, the more likely it is that their offspring will possess serious defects. If you start off with just two sources of genetic material, sooner or later, that gene pool will get so shallow that all the creatures it produces will have three heads and flippers. That's why incest is such A Bad Thing. So, if we all started from one mated pair, how come we don't all have three heads and flippers? The creationist answer is easy. God created Adam and Eve to be genetically flawless. Their offspring could in... 2008-11-06 http://www.pleonast.com/user/jabberwock?l=5&entryID=593630 Readers of both, feel free to disregard one. Endure Until the End With battered helm and sharpened sword, So often tried before; The soldiers of the wounded Lord March forth to holy war. His will has shaped a grand design To order and defend; He shouts along the battle line, "Endure until the end!" We war against a horde of foes Conceited in their might; We find no shelter from their blows, No victory in sight. But shield to shield, the ranks fight on Till darkness shall descend; Our triumph rises with the dawn; Endure until the end. We must not fail for want of breath Nor waver in the strife; The clash of arms is to the death, The prize, eternal life. Our King prepares the joys of peace For which His hosts contend; Till then, our struggle cannot cease; Endure until the end. Channeling my inner Bernard Cornwell, apparently. Thoughts? 2008-10-31 http://www.pleonast.com/user/jabberwock?l=5&entryID=591486 Thursday's appearance by former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan had some interesting tidbits in it. I think my favorite was when Greenspan said, "Those of us who have looked to the self-interest of lending institutions to protect shareholder's equity--myself especially--are in a state of shocked disbelief." For those of you who aren't econ dorks (assuming you've read this far), here's the point. Between 5-10 years ago, Greenspan, among others, had the opportunity to push for increased regulatory oversight of, among other things, the crazy financial schemes that led to the crazy mortgages that led to the late great housing bubble, where all our troubles began. Greenspan chose not to regulate. He figured that the best defense against financial cataclysm was that all those Wall Street folks would be wise enough not to do anything that would cost them their shirts five years down the road. That doesn't sound like the human race I know. People are just not good at overriding s... 2008-10-25 http://www.pleonast.com/user/jabberwock?l=5&entryID=589900 Here it is, folks, the Holy Grail of bad hymnody: "If Men Go to Hell, Who Cares?" Bryan Alexander found this somewhere. It's so ghastly it's giggle-inducing. Beyond the hymn itself, notice the process that this idea went through to become published: - The Rev. O. M. Stallings actually preached a sermon entitled "If Men Go to Hell, Who Cares?" - E. M. Bartlett (best known as the author of "Victory in Jesus") actually decided that it would make a good hymn. - Somebody in the Stamps-Baxter regime thought it would be a good idea to a) arrange and b) publish this hymn. Boggle, mind. Boggle. From Matt Stuff 2008-10-21