Hands down, probably the best comic movie to date. Ledger was fantastic, Gyllenhaal was brilliant and outshone Tom Cruise’s girl. And the ending just really summed up what Batman is all about. The dude is dead up the dark knight. Spoilers most likely for the comments section.

Apple is now the third largest computer seller in the United States, bumping Acer to Fourth.

::raises glass to My Peoples::

I figured I should write something about the recent discovery of the Gabriel Tablet as they’re calling it. New York Times asserts that this tablet might actually prove that Christianity isn’t unique with its resurrections claims. What I found interesting about that bit is that most informed Christians don’t make a point of arguing about the uniqueness of the death and resurrection but rather the historicity of the death and resurrection. Let me flesh that out a bit.

The article states that this tablet has information of the possibility of a death and resurrection of a Jewish Messiah before the disciples’ claim that’s what actually happened to Jesus. The question being raised is this: Is the Jesus resurrection then unoriginal and thus fake? I’d argue of course not.

1. Paul would argue throughout his epistles and most pointedly in the synagogues that Jesus the Messiah was revealed, suffered, died and rose again according to Scripture. Paul argues this by looking back at the Old Testament Hebrew writings before Christ came. If he could argue those points based on those texts, why would it surprise anyone that there’s a tablet that has some Jewish interpreters drawing similar conclusions before Messiah came? In other words, if Paul saw it in Isaiah 53 one would expect others to pick up on it too.
2. One of the scholar’s in the article suggests that the resurrection event that occurs in 3 days in the account puts Christianity in an extremely bad light. I wonder why he would assume that since the 3 day motif is one that is drawn from the Jonah story where he spends 3 days and nights in the belly of a water creature. And even if there weren’t other sources to draw a 3 day/3 night parallel from I’ve already argued in a different post that there may be myths out there that hint at the truth but what happened with Christ was the realization of myths. In other words, it wasn’t merely a story: it happened.
3. Lastly, most Christian’s shouldn’t be concerned by these sorts of discoveries–if anything we should be excited. They speak of things that others have realized in regards to the coming Messiah and when Messiah actually came, He carried out what was promised to happen and was still rejected and crucified. So when there’s folk bringing a charge that the story of a suffering Messiah is labeled a fabrication post-Jesus (and thus maintaining the teachings of Jesus as Good but the Theologizing of the disciples as Bad) we can point to earlier interpretive evidence that shows that the Disciples weren’t alone in seeing this.

Neither clouds nor the weather report are an indication of rain. The only sure sign of rain is plans to mow the lawn.

I have one that applies to the winter as well, but I’ll post it then.

::raises glass to General Hammond::

On Theologica, my recent haunt of many a high-octane discussion, there’s a thread regarding Christian voting and the abortion issue. The question is if the issue is so central that it will decide your vote. Well me, most definitely. I will always vote against anyone who not only supports abortion but also plans to expand on it. Does that make me religious right? I don’t think and here’s why.

In regards to the economy I’m really behind how the democrats managed to clean house on the budge. In regards to the war in Iraq, I’m against it and think that it’s an awful thing especially now that there really was no weapons publicly announced as being found. I do think that we can’t just pull out of there without causing a lot of problems down the road for the Iraqi’s and for the rest of the world so we should be in there for the long haul (but I’m gritting my teeth typing that).

In regards to gay marriage I don’t think that there should be a constitutional amendment rejecting it specifically because I don’t think the constitution should be legislating what’s a state level decision. By pushing a federal ruling that defines marriage as male and female it’s just as bad as a federal level decision that allows the killing of children.

Not only do I think an amendment is wrong but I think that constitutionally speaking it’s wrong to deny gay couples tax breaks that married couples get when the tax breaks being received is from living together in the same home: not by the definition of their relationship. That being the case, I don’t have a problem with siblings who don’t marry, living together and supporting each other and getting the same tax breaks married couples get. It’s a tough world and it really winds up not being fair when you can’t afford buying a house on your own anymore.

In regards to poverty I think the government on the state and federal level should be more active in fighting it. In regards to tax rates I think the rich either need to be taxed higher not to punish them but to invest in the community of the United States. In regards to business practices I think corporations have gone too far and they need tighter regulation. In regards to energy I think we need to invest in cleaner, renewable energy instead of being addicted to fossil fuels.

I pretty much sound like a democrat save this: I refuse to support a candidate who says that killing of a person is allowable when the parent has sole control of the person. I think that abortion is the worst atrocity being committed in our world today not merely because it’s the ending of life but because life is being redefined to not be human and thus dispensable.

When we can allow that we can allow anything. Eugenics becomes a no-issue: we can do whatever we want when we make it.

Here’s where I sound religious right: from a Biblical perspective I see each human being as a living creature made in the form, image, likeness of God. A person who grows into a murderer they’re in the form, image of likeness of God but they have marred themselves beyond recognition: they’ve become a cruel parody of God. A child killed in the womb is still a being in the form, likeness and image of God but has been extinguished before ever having a chance to express him or herself.

If a woman has had an abortion, I will of course quickly extend arms of comfort and mercy: I don’t think that the decision to do this sort of thing is easily made nor does it come without consequences. But that being said I don’t think that it should be a decision that has to be made when society provides the proper support structure to welcome new members.

You ever been to work or maybe a message board when someone has an argument and proves their point in such a way that you’re left scratching your head? Or maybe you have siblings that have triumphantly left the room and you don’t know why: it feels like they won but you’re not sure? Or maybe, you’re the culprit of using tactics that make you feel icky when arguing but for all intents and purposes it looks like you always win. We all do it and often you see it on The Internets more than anywhere else. Here then is my list of argument mishaps that don’t prove your point–even if your point is technically right on.

• Well, You’re A Liar and a Jerk.
  Even if you’re right it doesn’t mean what the person is saying is wrong. Instead you’re take everything they’re saying and lumping it under their character to disprove it. That doesn’t dismantle any argument: it ignores it.
• Sounds like you’ve got that junk from the Clintons
  Hey the Clintons might have said it but their character has nothing to do with the correctness of the statement.
• Well, you can’t trust what George Bush says: he has a history of working for Big Oil Companies.
  Heck, maybe Bush was even a criminal and a murderer. It doesn’t matter that the person has done a lot of wrong in the past: his or her statement stands apart from that.
• McFarlane, Lucas, Perez Hilton and Stan the Man Lee would say you’re wrong.
  Ooooh: they’re big and famous and agree with you but that doesn’t mean your position is right. Worst, these people may not even be experts in the topic you’re talking about! Honestly if there’s equally famous people (and even equally expert people) that disagree with your position then what you’re doing is pretty much name-dropping uselessness.
• The majority of Movie Lovers would disagree.
  Okay, that’s pretty interesting information but it still doesn’t prove the argument wrong. Just because the majority of any group holds a certain position it doesn’t make it right or wrong: it just makes it popular.
• Either we go to war with Iran or we face a WW3.
  It may very well be going to war with Iran has nothing to do with World War 3 but everything to do with what keeps you up at night.
• Well, when you’re a democrat/republican, you’re happy and that means you really enjoy the US of A.
  Just because it makes you happy doesn’t mean its right.
• If you convict this man the justice system will come crashing down.
  Not only is this a false dilemma but scaring me into your position? Is that really the way you want to win your argument?
• If drugs weren’t against the law then our society wouldn’t be prohibited to use them!
  This is just one horrendous circle-nothing good can come of this sort of arguing.
• 75% of the online polls show that Americans are unhappy with Bush’s foreign policy.
  We see this one in the news all the time.
• You can’t prove that there is a God, therefore there isn’t.
  See, this sort of thing makes no sense. Well, you can’t prove there is no God, therefore there is.
• I’ve grown up in a Christian family, my parents are Christian and I have always been a Christian so its true
  Not necessarily. My parents told me that you get head colds by not wearing socks.
• I am neither a Republican nor a Democrat but right in the middle-which I know to be the correct place to be.
  Wrong. Just because you’ve found some ground between the two camps doesn’t make your position any more right or wrong than the others. It just means you found a place to stand.

(And here are the technical terms and here is the original Bible Archive Post.)

On the porch of a semi-attached home sits Angela Gomery who is too young to be a mother but waiting for the babysitter nevertheless. Angela tries to look patient, mimicking the resolve of her own mother but the way she leans forward too far or how her hand keeps the pulse of her cell phone’s time says otherwise.

Angie (no Angela) adjusts her recently bought shirt and hopes that the neckline dries though it won’t. Her hair is still wet, combed, yet not styled: it’s not that she forgot how to do it; it’s just that she was taken out of the game before it became a skilled habit.

She closes her eyes and her thoughts drift to the new man in her life: Billy. Billy was all fire and passion and strong hands that open the doors and beams a smile underneath his cap that just shines like the day beneath clouds during Town-Fest.

Because the clouds always came first during that time of year, still too early in the year to feel the supreme heat of summer but way too late in the year to leave the Spring nights behind. And with those clouds, kids all over town would wake up and fear that they wouldn’t be getting any whoopee pie or funnel cake or even get to milk a cow which they all liked to do in concept but were actually afraid once they were on line.

A line that Kevin was standing on this very moment, waiting his turn as another kid balked while the hug cow lay on its side wondering why people just wouldn’t release the milk. But Kevin had screwed up the courage this year to go all the way with it and to make a show.

Off to the side of the line stood Kevin’s parents, camera’s at the ready as they prepared to cheer their proud 7 year old. And Kevin, happy that as the only ex-city kid in school he would be the first 7 year old of his class to milk the cow and would now receive the respect of classmates.

The sun breaks through and there’s a barely audible sigh as Kevin’s parents raise their digital camera’s, tilting them downward over their heads preparing to take the picture and Kevin’s turn comes up. He stares down at that cow that mewls and complains about the whole milking business and Kevin dives in, grabs the milk sack and squirts once into a bottle before pulling back his hand as if burnt by fire. The old farmer hands over a wipe, someone says next and like that it’s over; but not for Kevin.

Inside he’s cheering knowing that he’s the first, the very first!

Quickly Kevin runs up to his parents and wonders why they look so red in the face, but then understands as he sees that both of them had their cameras too high and too angled so all they got was Kevin’s sneakers in one and the Cow in the other. Kevin wouldn’t be able to prove to the class or to the teacher Old Mrs. McConnickle that he had ever milked a cow.

But Old Mrs. McConnickle would later receive those two pictures and think they were the best pictures she had seen in a long time. She wouldn’t pin them on the wall because that sort of thing could embarrass first graders but she would take it home to her husband Ben McConnickle who would grunt some sort of response before going upstairs to bed, as he always did at 8:00 pm.

But come morning, over coffee Ben and Mari, as he called her for short, would sit around the table and chuckle over school papers or student notes or photos like Kevin’s. Mrs. Marian McConnickle would laugh with her husband Ben of fifteen years, giggling like the day they had first met.

But on this Saturday, Mrs. McConnickle would serve Ben sun tea and sit outside on her front porch while looking at the people that passed by. Like there was lil’ Tommy who was now a man of thirty with a wife and two kids and there was Jenny who had been boy crazy throughout school but now was happily married to another woman and there was poor Angie who had gotten pregnant at thirteen, riding in that pickup with Bad News Billy.

Mrs. McConnicle would sigh then, sipping her tea as in that passing pickup Angie (no Angela) wouldn’t wave and wouldn’t see but kept her eyes on her Billy.

Some things I would love to talk about would be:

The Battlestarr mid-season finale. I mean, okay, crazy that Saul came forward and admitted he was a cylon and then outed the rest of the team. Meanwhile Adama comes out in his own, special, quiet way as Junior rocks his crying form to sleep. Honestly, I understand that you’ve been dating this guy for 30 years but I don’t think the Old Man cried that hard when Human Civilization was on the brink of extinction. “Man, we were almost wiped out: that bites.” Versus “My buddy Saul is a Robot: why God why?” Anyway, kinda crazy that they get to the Planet of the Apes Earth and it’s been through the same thing as they have.

Indiana Jones. Okay, I had a good time for nostalgia’s sake and just the rocking adventure of having an Indy movie again (especially since we’ve been waiting for, like, ever-did you hear that in a valley girl voice? I did) but honestly, some things were really really silly. Okay, swinging through the jungle ala Tarzan may be considered over the top by some. Ants that are effectively Ark of the Covenant Face Melting Spirit Beings may be considered over the top by some others. Neither was particular crossing the line for me but I must admit, near the end I was actually waiting for Spielburg’s Close Encounter of a Third Kind mothership. Beside the fact that SG-1’s Thor was in charge of the whole thing that whole Extraterrestrial Thing seemed to vibe better for me when it was Extraterrestrial Angels or something. I don’t know, maybe Aliens have really become so boring-especially when the only person that I know who has done it right in recent years is M. Night Shyamalaniyangbingbong.

The Andromeda Strain TV Movie. Did you see it? Everybody gets sick. Lots of people die.
Tornadoes. Okay is it just me who thinks this but has Al Gore come in recent possession of the Weather Dominator? I mean why else would there be so many tornadoes outside of tornado season (and Valley?!?) while his Inconvenient Truth sits there quietly pointing the finger? Honestly, folks, we need to go stop him: Go Joe.

What’s Happening? Yeah, I didn’t see it yet so shut yer pie hole. Speaking of PieHole it’s nice to know that Pushing Daisies is coming back. Ooh, also, Eureka comes back this summer: July 29th and a new season of Scare Tactics hosted by the latest of insane hosts: Tracy Jordan Morgan (July 9th).