Unfortunate 4th Anniversary of the Iraq War

Finally! For the past year I have desperately been searching for a group of people here in Dallas that I could protest this lame ass excuse of war with. I finally found one, and want to invite everyone to the upcoming Unfortunate 4th Anniversary of the Iraq War protest in March.



For more info, please see www.dallasrally.com. And help spread the word !

Global Warming a Myth ?

Jerry Falwell has done it again. Sometimes I wonder who is worse, this guy or Pat Robertson. On Sunday, Falwell delivered a sermon in which he called global warming a myth. According to him, it's a dangerous area that Christians should stay away from. The only thing we should be concerned with, he said, was saving souls. In other words, save people from hell, but to hell with the planet itself. It reminds me of the homeschool scene in the movie Jesus Camp, in which a parent instructs her child that global warming is just something those evil liberals made up.

Though you can find a link to this story on any number of news websites, I liked this one from a blog, which actually quotes Falwell in detail.

http://blogcritics.org/archives/2007/02/24/183040.php

Art pics

Thanks so much to my friend Justin (http://tribalicious.squarespace.com/from-the-heart-and-mind/), the producer of last Saturday's art love and magic show. He was so nice to let me steal, I mean use these photos of his! There are more pics in his flickr if you visit his blog.

Slavery and Sexuality

So very often we think that the issues facing our generation are unique to us. I came across this article from the New York Times, which compares how the church split over slavery and might do the same thing with it comes to the homosexual issue.

" A Divide, and Maybe a Divorce
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN

SLAVERY divided not only the United States, but also its churches. The Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptists and others all split North from South, and some did not reunite for more than 100 years. Others, like the Southern Baptist Convention, never did.

Now some of these same churches are facing a rift over homosexuality that is proving more intractable than any social issue since slavery. It is not an explosion, but a slow burn that has been smoldering in some denominations for about 30 years — longer than the battle over women’s ordination.

Women won those battles in mainline Protestant churches, and though the churches bled some members, they stayed largely intact. But it is far from clear whether the strife over homosexuality will end the same way. That is why all eyes are now on the Episcopal Church. With 2.3 million members, it is only the 15th-largest in the United States, but it is a venerable, wealthy institution that has produced one out of four United States presidents, the Washington National Cathedral — and a civil war over homosexuality that has brought it closer to schism than any other church. Last week, Episcopalians were handed an ultimatum by the top leaders in the Anglican Communion: stop authorizing blessings of gay couples and ordaining gay bishops — or face banishment from the Communion. They were given until Sept. 30 to decide.

The Presbyterians, Lutherans and Methodists have also had battles over homosexuality, but the conflict in the Episcopalian Church is magnified because it is playing out on an international stage. The Episcopal Church is a member of the Anglican Communion, a global affiliation of 38 member churches that grew out of the Church of England. The Communion claims a membership of 77 million — making it the world’s third-largest church body after the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches.

Until the outcry four years ago, when an openly gay priest, V. Gene Robinson, was consecrated the bishop of New Hampshire, many Episcopalians said they had never even heard of the Anglican Communion. Now they are paying attention."

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/25/weekinreview/25goodstein.html

Art love magic

So I log into myspace on Thursday, like I am addicted to doing nearly everyday. And I get an email from a friend of mine who I haven't really talked to in a while. Seems he is promoting a new art show called Reach on Saturday. It's being held by a new group called art love magic in the South Side of Lamar. Wow! I am so glad that I got the invite (thanks Justin!) and decided to attend. Art, photography, live painting and even spoken word/poetry were part of the event. The next one happens at the same location on April 28th. Check out the following links and help spread the word !

http://artlovemagic.com

http://tribalicious.squarespace.com/from-the-heart-and-mind

The Gay Samaritan

I have been online a lot more than usual over this past week, and that's saying a lot! We are basically getting paid to sit around at work due to the lay off, and most of my time has been spent job hunting. Today is the last weekend that I have to work here, and I decided to spend some quality time online just for me! I immediately came across 2 articles on yahoo news about the gay rights movement:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070224/ap_on_re_us/gay_rights_1

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070224/us_nm/usa_gays_suit_dc_1

It reminded me of a story I read a couple of years ago. I am referring to a modern retelling of one of the most classic parables Jesus ever offered: the good Samaritan.

"A traveler was going from Jerusalem to Jericho when some muggers attacked him. They not only took his money, they took his dignity too: they beat him up and stole his clothes, then ran away, leaving him half-dead in the gutter.

Soon a bishop came by. He was on his way home after going to Jerusalem to pick up a car given to him by a Cadillac dealer there, who was one of the biggest financial supporters of the diocese. The car rode beautifully, and the bishop particularly appreciated the cream-colored glove-leather upholstery. A little luxurious, perhaps, but after all (the bishop was thinking as he took the curve just beyond Bethany), good quality wears better than shoddy goods. In the long run, what looks like luxury is prudence.

Just beyond the curve, where the road descends to the Jordan Valley, he noticed something piled beside the road. “Litterbugs” was his first thought, but when he got closer, he could see it was a body. He slowed to see more, wondering if he should stop, and noticed that whoever it was had been beaten and was bleeding. He didn’t really want blood all over the interior of his new car, but somehow that seemed like a petty reason not to stop. Then he realized that the person was naked. That settled it; it would never do for a bishop to be seen with a naked person in his car. Think of the scandal! Preserving the good name of the church was more important than any passing act of charity, especially in times when the institution was under attack from wild, semi-educated preachers from the backwoods– and trying to keep the goodwill of the colonial administration, too. Anyway, this was a job for the social service professionals. Their agencies got a lot of funding from the diocese. It wasn’t as if the bishop weren’t helping indirectly. He drove on.

Fortunately, this being a main route for travelers, it wasn’t more than a quarter hour before another car came along. It was driven by a prominent layman, active in the local church and in an organization devoted to restoring religious values to a community that needed them desparately during a period of moral decay and spiritual uncertainty. Noticing what looked like a body beside the road, he too slowed down to find out more. The body, which was bloody and naked, wasn’t moving– for by now the mugged traveler had fainted.

The layman, like the bishop, wondered if he should stop and do something. After all, he was someone concerned about his community, not just a person caught up in his own well-being. This might prove an opening to evangelize this poor soul, who, judging from his naked condition, undoubtedly knew not the Lord. But when the person still didn’t move, the layman began to have second thoughts. What if the man was already dead? The police would involve him in all kinds of legal red tape. He didn’t have time for that; he had more important work. And what if the man lived but sued the layman afterward, claiming he was liable for something or other that happened on the way to the hospital? you couldn’t be too careful. Besides, why wasn’t the man wearing anything? Robbers don’t steal people’s clothes. This guy must have done something to provoke the beating. Probably made some kind of disgusting proposition to the wrong person, a healthy if hotheaded young football player perhaps, who did what any man would do in response to a filthy suggestion. Overreacted, of course, but boys will be boys. This guy must have deserved what he got. A God-fearing layman like himself couldn’t be going around with low-life scum; it would drag the reputation of his lay ministry through the mud.

The promoter of religious values drove on, too. This time it was only a few minutes before the next person happened by.

A certain gay man was returning home after having been summoned to his head office in Jerusalem. He had been fired because of a rumor that he was gay. As he drove, he wondered if he should have denied the rumor. No, he decided, it wouldn’t have done any good. The truth would have come out anyway, when he went into court to testify against the gay-basher who had beaten his lover to death last month. Unconsciously he rubbed the dent in his own skull left by a similar incident he had suffered three years previously.

Suddenly he noticed what looked like a body beside the road. Stopping the car, he jumped out and rushed to look. A naked man, covered with blood and bruises. They looked a lot like the ones he had seen on Adam’s body when he had found him in the alley outside their building. Obviously, this man too had been mugged, and judging from the fact that the muggers took all his clothes, the gay man figured it couldn’t have been a simple robbery. He felt for a pulse: the man was still alive. Adam had not been; there had been nothing left to do for him. He was being given a chance to make up now for his helplessness then.

He rushed back to his car, returned with the first-aid kit, and did what was needed to transport the man safely. Then he drove him to the nearest emergency room. Because the man had no clothes and there was no way the admissions clerk could tell whether he had insurance, the gay man wrote a blank check to the hospital and promised to come back the next day to clear up whatever else might need to be taken care of.

Later, the newspapers got hold of the story and came to interview him. The bishop read the story and called a press conference, at which he announced that the diocese was giving its Good Samaritan Award to the man who had helped the mugging victim he himself had driven past.

At the award banquet, held at the episcopal palace, the bishop stood with his arm around the Good Samaritan and gave a little homily about showing mercy to our neighbor in distress. This act, he conclude, showed a true Christian spirit. He turned to the man and shook his hand, adding, “God will bless you abundantly for this.”

“Oh, I didn’t do it for religious reasons. It just seemed like the human thing to do. I haven’t been to church since my priest refused me absolution when I confessed I was in love with the redheaded guy who was captain of the wrestling team.” The gay man smiled at the cameras.

The bishop was trying to figure out how to deal with the question he knew was coming next."

Save Deep Ellum

Not like adding this profile to your friends list will actually save Deep Ellum, but they will keep you informed on what you can do. We at least have to put up a fight, right?

myspace.com/savethescenenow

Troops Against War

GIs Petition Congress To End Iraq War
More Than 1,000 Military Personnel Sign Petition Urging Withdrawal

"They say they are not disloyal. They say they are not shirking their duty and that they do not oppose war. But more than 1,000 active-duty and reserve members of the U.S. military are against the war in Iraq and have said so in an unusually public way — by petitioning Congress last month.

Several of them appear to explain their actions to correspondent Lara Logan this Sunday, Feb. 25, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

"I'm not anti-war. I'm not a pacifist. I'm not opposed to protecting our country and defending our principles," says Navy Petty Officer Jonathan Hutto, an Iraq war veteran who, along with another veteran, initiated the petition."

Find more here, and preview the video:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/02/22/60minutes/main2505412.shtml

If you live in Dallas, do something about it! Protest!

www.dallasrally.com

Damn it

This pissed me off !

YouTube deal with CBS unravels

"The two companies had been closing in on a multiyear deal, The Wall Street Journal said in its Wednesday edition, citing people familiar with the matter. The companies also discussed ways to peddle CBS Radio advertising spots to Google advertisers, the newspaper said.

But the media company and the Internet search company could not agree on issues such as how long the deal would run, the paper said, citing a person knowledgeable about the talks.

Although the talks could be revived at some later date, the paper said, for now Google and CBS intend to work together only on more modest initiatives."

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6160895.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=zdnn

Goodbye Gyspy !

That's right, the rumors are true. The best club (?) in Dallas is closing, perhaps as soon as this week.

"Despite rumors to the contrary, the Gypsy Tea Room will be closing on Mar. 31, as previously announced.

As reported by numerous sources including CBS 11 (with a "blasting" from The Observer's Robert Wilonsky), the club has filed for bankruptcy, with a closing date set for the end of March. But rumors started circulating that the club would close even sooner. One even surfaced as a comment from a member of the Pegasus community, who'd heard from a supplier that the club was closed already."

http://www.pegasusnews.com/news/2007/feb/02/gtr-closing-end-march-despite-scuttlebutt-contrary/

I was there on Monday night to see the Roots, and they said from the stage that this was the last week. Word has it that all shows currently booked will be moving to the Granada. Well now you know.

The Roots !

"Hip-hop has been more about the bling-bling than the boom-bap lately and has even been declared dead by some. But Philadelphia's legendary Roots crew and Chi-Town's Lupe Fiasco did their part to rejuvenate the genre with inspiring and entertaining performances before a sold-out crowd in Dallas' Gypsy Tea Room on Monday night.

Few rap acts are as efficient and innovative live as the self-contained The Roots, and the band took it up yet another notch by including Philadelphia's Collective Brass Heaven, a quartet of tuba, sousaphone, saxaphone and trumpet players that walked through the packed crowd and added depth and dimension to newer tracks such as "Game Theory," "Long Time" and the crowd favorite, The Tipping Point's "Star."

Digital cameras and chants of "forever, forever, Roots Crew forever" punctuated the atmosphere as the band dusted off old favorites and wove classic verses alongside their own. Eric B and Rakim's "I Ain't No Joke" melted into the late James Brown's "Get on the Good Foot," then veered back into Roots' territory with "Mellow My Man" and "Love of My Life."

The ecstatic crowd parroted Black Thought verse for verse as he, ?uestlove, Hub, Jeff Bradshaw and Malik charged through "Apache (Jump On It)," "Award Tour," "Get By" and even West Coast and Dirty South favorites such as "Deep Cover," "It's Goin' Down" and "Snap Yo' Fingers."

After a false exit and a couple of extended solos by Brass Heaven and bass player Hub, guitarist Mr. Bradshaw captured the country's cynicism about the war with his piercing rendition of "Master of War," earning cheers or approval as he achingly declared that "all the money you make could never buy back your soul."

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/ent/stories/DN-roots_0221gl.State.Edition1.394a166.html

Masters of War

Just discovered this song by Bob Dylan. How timely and fitting, though it was written 40 years ago:

Come you masters of war
You that build all the guns
You that build the death planes
You that build the big bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
I can see through your masks

You that never done nothin'
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it's your little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly

Like Judas of old
You lie and deceive
A world war can be won
You want me to believe
But I see through your eyes
And I see through your brain
Like I see through the water
That runs down my drain

You fasten the triggers
For the others to fire
Then you set back and watch
When the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion
As young people's blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud

You've thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world
For threatening my baby
Unborn and unnamed
You ain't worth the blood
That runs in your veins

How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say that I'm young
You might say I'm unlearned
But there's one thing I know
Though I'm younger than you
Even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do

Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul

And I hope that you die
And your death'll come soon
I will follow your casket
In the pale afternoon
And I'll watch while you're lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I'll stand o'er your grave
'Til I'm sure that you're dead

Laid Off: Happy Valentine's !

What a great day before Valentine's gift: getting laid off. At least we made the paper!

"ADDISON – About 550 Home Depot employees will lose their jobs when a call center closes on March 12, the company said this week.

The center, which opened in May 2006, had assisted customers who purchased floors through the Home Depot, said Ron DeFeo, a company spokesman. Local store associates would respond to flooring questions once the call center closes.

“As we continue improve the customer experience in our stores, we felt it was a priority to restore that customer-associate relationship,” he said.

The Home Depot has about a dozen call centers, including one in Dallas and New Braunfels. Those centers will remain open, Mr. DeFeo said.

Associates will be compensated for 60 days following their departure, the company said in a statement. The company said it was also helping employees with job placement.

The company announced its decision during a staff meeting on Tuesday."

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/021507dnmethomedepot.826d6887.html

I wonder if it has anything to do with the CEO who left a couple months ago with a 200 million dollar bonus ?

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/03/ap/business/mainD8ME3O781.shtml

Sam's Town ?

The Killers claim that Sam's Town is the best record in the past 20 years. Not sure about that yet, will have to see how it stands up to the test of time. But I finally purchased it on Itunes recently. I have not been able to stop listening to it nor have I gotten tired of it yet. That's saying quite a bit for me! I have listened to it about a dozen times so far.

27 Heaven

Hey everyone in Dallas: there is a really cool broadway musical/play
called 27 Heaven (www.27heaven.com) coming to the Granada Sunday Feb. 11th. I bought 4 tickets, and 2 friends can't go. I would much rather
sell these and attend with someone I know (you!) vs. just putting them
on Ebay or losing the money. They are $35 each, and I would probably
even let them go for less if you really want to go. Let me know,
thanks !

"27 Heaven is a rock musical/satirical play about the conversations in
heaven between four of the world's greatest rock stars who all died at
the age of 27 – Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and Kurt
Cobain. One night only, starring the original New York Cast. 2 hour
show with intermission."