Issue 53

News: The ten Commandments.
A Few articles back, I wrote an article about Biblical Law criticizing most of it, except for the naturally utilitarian laws which do make sense. I even started to criticize the Ten Commandments. In this article, provoked further by me listening to a routine of George Carlin (whom I have been a lifelong fan) dissecting the ten commandments. He slimmed them down to two with an additional one:
1) Thou shalt always be honest and faithful to the provider of thy nookie.
2) Thou shalt try real hard not to kill anyone, unless of course they pray to a different invisible man than you.
2.5) Thou shalt keep thy religion to thyself.
This prompted me to write my own independent dissection of them as I learned them.
1) You shall have no other gods.
Most people forget to add the last two words: "Before Me." These two words are crucial because they allow one to praise Buddha or some other God as long as the other God is relegated to #2. Naturally, Luther Closed this loophole.
2) You Shall not Misuse the name of the Lord Your God.
This is very misleading, as I have mentioned before. Case in Point: Many people know the person I am linking to here, especially Brits. And they should: He's the Prince of Wales. Naturally, that's just his title. His real name is Charles Philip Arthur George Windsor. In the same way, God's name is not God, but is approximated by Hebrew symbols which approximate YHVH, YHWH, JHVH, JHWH. Naturally, this cannot be pronounced without vowels, which the symbols lack due to written Hebrew's lack of vowels, and nobody has truly heard the name with vowels since 70 AD, when the Jewish temple in Jerusalem was destroyed. In other words: "God" is a title, not a name. His real name cannot even be pronounced anymore.
3) Remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it Holy.
Whatever floats your boat, Moses.
4) Honor your father and your mother.
This is the first commandment I agree with, even if a lot of parents may not necessarily deserve it. (Dave "Child Called It" Pelzer's Mom, anyone?) (OKC: .5)
5) You Shall not Murder.
Once again, another Good Commandment, provided that it is recognized that "murder" strictly applies to living breathing human beings, not fetuses and vegetables like Terri Schiavo, or even animals like PeTA says, and not to real living human beings, like unjustly convicted murderers and infidels. (OKC:1.5)
6) You shall not commit Adultery.
Commonly interpreted as justification for living Victorian Puritanical lives and pushing said lives on others, but I say, as long as the two (or more) parties consent to the acts, do it, within reason, as Bertrand Russell said in his book Marriage and Morals. Just don't get any Stds, and By the way, in the immortal words of the Flying Spaghetti Monster: "Purity Is For Drinking Water Not People."
7) You Shall Not Steal.
Another commandment which I approve of. (OKC:2.5)
8) You Shall Not Give False Testimony Against Your Neighbor.
If it is interpreted as meaning "If you are knowingly libelous against somebody else, I do Not approve", I also approve. However, since Luther's interpretation was that "We shouldn't speak ill of others, even if the statement is in fact true", (Where is John Peter Zenger when we need him?) I must not approve.
9) You Shall Not Covet Your Neighbor's House.
If it actually occurs, it is redundant because it falls under the category of the Seventh Commandment. If thought about but not carried out, it is mindless to consider it wrong.
10) You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant, or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
It is redundant completely because it completely should be covered by number 9. I should note the fact that YHVH/YHWH/JHVH/JHWH seems to think that a person's wife is part of his property, as he lists them as property.
Finally, as an an addenum, God states "I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments" (Exodus 20:5-6). Luther says this justifies the keeping of these commandments. I say this shows an undesirable side of God which Christianity alone rarely brings out.
USABLE COMMANDMENTS: 2.5 (5, 7, and possibly 4.)

Band Name of the Day: Whale Cancer. Watch the video.

Film Idea of the Day: Guitar Musical. It is a combination Rock opera/Broadway Musical (songs recycled from previous sources a la Moulin Rouge and Singin in the Rain) with all the major characters playing guitar, except for three minor characters who play keyboard, bass, and drums, respectively. The play is about the guitarists from two rival bands who meet up and decide to create a rock duel. Other characters include a guitar shopkeep, the emcee who is dismayed by the fact that nobody recognizes the fact that he played on one Zappa album in the 1970s, and a guitar-playing groupie who plays "Classical Gas" in one scene.

Film Review of the day: Welcome to the Dollhouse. This movie about a preteen girl who is victimized by her classmates, Teachers, and Family, is for the most part,very similar to my life at that stage, except that my parents were good to me, and that I am an only child, so the subplots involving the siblings would be moot and the bullying was limited completely to the (Christian Private, not Public) school. The Similarities to my life aside, It had a quirky script and an excellent soundtrack.

Quote of the Day: "I will make him pay out the @$. No Ifs ands or Buts. I'm going to be really Anal about this. ... Sphincter."
______Peter Griffin, Stewie Loves Lois.

Link of the Day: Theocracy watch: People just as concerned about the rising theocratic right-wing control of America as I am.

Issue 52

News: The Death Penalty
Recently, ex-governor George Ryan was on trial and just last week was sentenced to several years in prison for commuting the death sentences of many admitted killers merely to make him look better to the Democrats. With this piece of news in mind, as well as my recent purchase of 12 Angry Men at my local Costco, I feel I should share my thoughts on the death penalty. I must say that I am not completely against the death penalty, and that it should be reserved for only very few of the people who are currently on Death Row. In my opinion, it should be reserved for those who actualy admitted to their murder, and for whom there is no evidence whatsoever for the killers' innocence. I am fairly certain that many of the murders currently on Death Rows across the nation may, in fact, be innocent, because it has happened before, and I am certain that this will happen again. Some people have, in fact been imprisoned on death row, with no evidence against them, and I will give two examples of people who have been proven to have been wrongly imprisoned for around twelve years: First is Randall Dale Adams, whose case was the basis for Errol Morris' film The Thin Blue Line. In 1975, he was a silent drifter who met up with a young teenaged boy with a huge criminal record. They smoked pot and at this time, A police officer was killed by one of the two. Naturally, the boy went into town later and bragged about the incident to his friends. Unfortunately, the person they arrested was Adams. The prosecution sealed his fate with a speech which said that since the victim was a police officer and "The thin blue line separating society from Anarchy", that his death must be avenged by the death of this guy they decided was the killer. Fortunately, Morris' film revived interest in the case, and Adams was retried and declared innocent. The second person is one I cannot remember the name of off the top of my head, but I remember his story on Penn And Teller wherein he mentioned he was also accused of murder, but had an incredibly ironclad alibi: He was in prison for a robbery the night of the shooting. Fortunately, the legal system rectified this mistake and he is now free and speaking out against the death penalty. Back on the subject of Gov. Ryan's conviction, one of my mothers' friends had a relative who was a witness to a murder which was committed by one of the people Ryan commuted to life. While we're on the subject for suitable punishments, if the murderer's just plain insane, send him to a mental institution for life, or at least until his mind is sound enough for real jail, and at thar point, he should be subject to the same as his punishments would have been if he was indeed sane. Also, Seniors (65+) should be exempt from the death penalty altogether, and for a very good reason: The Reaper will most likely come naturally before the State even has a chance to bring it, in a country where it is not uncommon for people on Death Row to wait for more than 20 years for the State to kill them. Otherwise, life in jail with little or no possibility of parole, except for pardons is fine by me.

Band Name of the Day: The Tourettes-Vangelists. This name is based on a nickname the Book "A Sinner's Guide to the Evangelical Right" has assigned to Jerry Falwell.

Film Idea of the Day: The Christ-Killers or Anti-Semites and the Evangelicals who love them, a darkly satirical story of a journalist who covers the story of Anti-Semitism in Military academies, which is being defended by not one, but two, powerful ultra-conservative religious figures just down the street. Based on the true story of inappropriate prosceletyzing of Jewish Cadets in the United States Air Force Academy, supported by Rev. Ted Haggard of the New Life Church (who speaks with the President once a week) and James Dobson (founder of Focus on the Family) which has unfolded just last year in the city of Colorado Springs.

Film Review of the day: America America. An Armenian boy named Stavros, living in the years leading up to the Genocide, chronicles his planning of his future journey to America, thus earning his nickname America America. It has what must be the best cinematography I've seen in a while in a black and White film, and an interesting plot which is pretty good, despite its length of 3 hours.

Quote of the Day: "After Church tonight, you will go home and you will eat chicken, not human, because of the spread of Christianity... Go to a country where there hasn't been the spread of Christianity and they're having human for dinner."
______Mark Driscoll. (Cuckoo, cuckoo)

Link of the Day: My Name is Derekaxe and I'm an Alcoholic. NOT!!!!, but enjoy these old AA comic strips just as campy and unbelievable as Chick tracts.

Issue 51

News: The Well Tempered Rocker.
I recently recorded an entire album's worth of material and I have arranged it to be categorized like Bach's Well Tempered Clavier.
Tracks In Order (Songs subject to change, Original Artists in parentheses).
1. C Major- Like a Rolling Stone (Bob Dylan)
2. C Minor- Sweet Dreams (Eurhythmics)
3. C# major- When I'm 64 (Beatles)
4. C# minor- California Dreamin (Mamas and Papas)
5. D Major- Mellow Yellow (Donovan)
6. D Minor- Sultans of Swing (Dire Straits)
7. Eb Major- Kiss Me (Sixpence none the Richer)
8. Eb Minor- I'm Only Sleeping (Beatles)
9. E Major- I'm on Fire (Bruce Springsteen)
10. E Minor- Heart of Gold (Neil Young)
11. F Major- Space Oddity (David Bowie)
12. F Minor- Dream On (Aerosmith)
13. F# Major- Yellow Submarine (Beatles)
14. F# Minor- Billie Jean (Michael Jackson)
15. G Major-All You need is Love (Beatles)
16. G Minor- Kiss from a Rose (Seal)
17. Ab Major-American Idiot (Green Day)
18. Ab Minor- Hit the Road Jack (Ray Charles)
19. A Major- Stand by Me (Ben E. King)
20. A Minor- House of the Rising Sun (Traditional)
21. Bb Major- Strawberry Fields Forever (Beatles)
22. Bb Minor-Total eclipse of the Heart (Hurra Torpedo)
23. B Major- California Girls (Beach Boys)
24. B Minor- Hotel California (Eagles)
All Songs are performed by me and my guitar with nobody else. As mentioned before, tracks schedueled to change

Band Name of the Day: Uncle Elizabeth. The name comes from a stray cat one character picks up in the movie I Remember Mama.

Film Idea of the Day: A group of fundementalist youth create their own Rock n Roll/D n D club. Swing Kids Meets Footloose.

Film Review of the Day: Proof. In this movie, Jake Gyllenhaal (am I spelling that correctly?) discovers a proof in the notebook of a famous scientist which may prove something mathemeticians have been trying to prove for millennia.

Quote of the Day: On Saturday night, I would see men lusting after half-naked girls dancing at the carnival, and on Sunday morning when I was playing organ for tent-show evangelists at the other end of the carnival lot, I would see these same men sitting in the pews with their wives and children, asking God to forgive them and purge them of carnal desires. And the next Saturday they'd be back at the carnival or some other place of indulgence. I knew then that the Christian church thrives on hypocrisy, and that man's carnal nature will out no matter how much it is purged or scoured by any white-light religion.
______Anton LaVey

Link of the Day: An insane gangsta preacher prosceletyzes and swears constantly on an old Public Access TV series. You Have Been Warned.

Tract Reviews: Here Kitty Kitty- A young girl is going to have her cat sacrificed to the devil and her teacher hears about this, saves the cat's life and the girl's soul. Notably, there seems to be a new third artist whose style doesn't seem to have anything in common with Chick's sketching or Fred B. Carter's oil paintings.
Soul Sisters- The Black Tract version of Best Friend.

Interesting Note: Thomas Pynchon's sixth novel Against the Day is schedueled to be released on Tuesday, November 21.