Fire Drew Carey!

I have watched about 10 minutes of the "new" The Price Is Right hosted by Drew Carey. HE'S AWFUL! He's completely bored and uninterested in really interacting with the contestants. Case in point: in a Showcase Showdown, one contestant comes within $500. Pretty good, though I've seen someone come within $100 (they changed it a few years ago). The other contestant? RIGHT ON THE MONEY!!!! How the hell did he do that. Carey's response?

Tony Campolo

Someone posted this quote today on a message board that I read. I find it succinctly sums up the "morals" that are espoused on TV.

"I have three things I'd like to say today. First, while you were sleeping last night, 30,000 kids died of starvation or diseases related to malnutrition. Second, most of you don't give a shit. What's worse is that you're more upset with the fact that I said shit than the fact that 30,000 kids died last night."

http://www.progressive.org/?q=mag_camp0805

Anthony "Tony" Campolo (born 1935) is a well-known American pastor, author, sociologist, and public speaker known for challenging Evangelical Christians by illustrating how their faith can offer solutions in a world of complexity. With his liberal political and social attitudes, he has been a major proponent for progressive thought and reform in the evangelical community. He has become a leader of the movement called "Red-Letter Christian", putting the emphasis on the reported words of Jesus, found in many Bible publications in a red font.

ESPN Streak for the Cash

ESPN has a contest going on how long a streak you can get guessing the outcome of games, points players score, etc. They're starting to go a bit overboard with it, though. Perhaps it's because some participants have come close to a streak of 25, which will win them $10,000.

A selection of tonight's choices (as of 9:30 p.m.):

• Which team will make the FIRST 3-pointer of the FIRST QUARTER - Boston or Atlanta (NBA)
• Which team will make the FIRST FREE THROW of the game - San Antonio or New Orleans (NBA)
• Which TEAM will grab the LAST REBOUND of the game - San Antonio or New Orleans (NBA)
• 
  

Proposal could lead to 199-foot cross off US 80

Because, you know, the bigger your cross the more Jesus loves you...

http://www.thenewsstar.com/article/20081216/UPDATES01/81216015/0/UPDATES01

BOSSIER CITY — A proposal that could allow a north Louisiana church to build a nearly 200-foot-tall cross has been advanced by the Bossier City Metropolitan Planning Commission.

Central Assembly of God wants to put up the 199-foot cross off U.S. Highway 80 just outside of Bossier City. But the church is zoned for structures no more than 45 feet tall.

The planning commission on Monday voted 6-0 for a draft of a proposal that would allow the building of structures higher than the maximum height if an exception is granted by the local Board of Admustment. The proposal goes next to the Bossier Parish Police Jury.

Sam Marsiglia, planning commission director, said the police jury will likely consider the change in February.

On the bandwagon

No, not on the baby bandwagon! It seems half the people I went to high school with are, and good for them! I'd prefer to wait a few more years. But as stereotypical as it is, I already have names in mind:

For a girl - Audrey Catherine "Cate" Mayer
Audrey was my great-grandmother, and quite a hoot from what I understand! In my mind I've always perceived her as a strong woman, especially someone who fought breast cancer and could joke, "Let me go put my boobs on," before going to town.
Catherine is a good traditional name, with "C" being the English spelling. It is also a Catholic name, and since our children will probably be raised that denomination, it seems appropriate. Catherine is also the name of many, many strong women in history.

For a boy - Carsten Joseph Mayer
I've always said that my children need to have names that can be found on a bicycle license plate, but you can have them custom made now.
Carsten is the German variant of Christian. I'll probably have to fight Michael on this one, but Carson would also be okay.
Joseph is Michael's middle name. And his brother's. And his dad's. And his grandfather's. And his great-grandfather's first name. See where I'm going? If we had 10 children and they were all boys, they'd all have the middle name Joseph.

Cate Mayer and Carsten Mayer.

So...

...I'm watching Totally '80s on VH1 Classic. There are some BAD videos.

Journey "I'll Be Alright Without You" - typical behind-the-scenes footage segueing into concert footage

The Romantics "Talking in Your Sleep" (1983) - BAD BAD BAD, and really big big hair!

Sting "Gabriel's Message" (1987) - it's like an '80s version of "Desert Rose"

Gary Numan "Cars" (1979/1980) - classic '80s with the neon tubes and the multitude of bad camera effects, yay synthesizer and tambourine and clapping!

Bruce Springsteen "Dancing in the Dark" (1984) - Courteney Cox! Love this video! Step right, clap, step left, clap! And I love the Wesley Snipes look-a-like getting his clap on!

Hall & Oates "I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)" (1981) - nothing needs to be said, it's a Hall & Oates video

Loverboy "Hot Girls in Love" (1983) - hot chick driving hot rod/band playing on stacked barrels; wow, there's a scene where the band is playing in a field of gas pumps, and the drummer is using the pump handles to drum

Sting "If You Love Somebody Set Them Free" (1985) - very strange, was some of it shot on a green screen?

Jody Watley "Real Love" (1989) - Love Jody! Scrolling lyrics throughout, lots of B&W shots

Paula Abdul "Forever Your Girl" (1988) - another behind the scenes B&W '80s video, little girls reenacting Robert Palmer's "Addicted to Love" video and Paula dancing, lots of kids dancing, too (I had this tape)

Madonna "Into the Groove" (1985) - I LOVE THIS VIDEO!

John Lennon "I'm Losing You" - looks like a recent video of an old song with footage of Lennon and B&W cartoons

Ain't it funny...

...how the FinallyFast.com commercials say "FOR PC COMPUTERS ONLY" but half the computers in the commercial are Macs?

Once you schism you can't stop...

Okay, I know that the Anglican church exists because they schismed from the Catholic church...

Here is a list of formerly Anglican denominations who schismed at one point.

• American Episcopal Church - 1968-1991 (merged into Anglican Church in America)
• Anglican Catholic Church - 1977, 5,000 in US
• Anglican Catholic Church of Canada - 1977
• Anglican Church in America - 1991, about 5,200 in US (merger between American Episcopal Church and some Anglican Catholic Church parishes)
• Anglican Diocese of Arizona
• Anglican Episcopal Church
• Anglican Mission in America (AMiA) - 2000
• Anglican Orthodox Church - 1963
• Anglican Province of America - 1974
• Anglican Province of Christ the King - 1977 (about 8,000 in US)
• Christian Episcopal Church - 2002 (resulted from a split in the Episcopal Missionary Church Diocese of the West)
• Church of England (Continuing) - 1994
• Diocese of the Great Lakes - 1998 (formed from clergy of the Independent Anglican Diocese of Ontario and the Missionary District of the USA with the Independent Anglican Church [Canada Synod])
• Diocese of the Holy Cross (separated from the Anglican Province of Christ the King)
• Episcopal Missionary Church - 1992
• Episcopal Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of America - 1999
• Evangelical Connexion of the Free Church of England - 2003 (separated from the Free Church of England)
• Free Church of England - 1844
• Holy Catholic Church-Western Rite- 1997, in Latin America, Europe, and South Africa (separated from the Anglican Church in America and the Traditional Anglican Communion)
• King's Family of Churches - 2003 (40,000 in Spain)
• Orthodox Anglican Church - 1964-1999, 1999 (separated from the high-church Episcopal Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of America, who was originally the low-church Orthodox Anglican Church)
• Orthodox Anglican Communion - 1967
• Reformed Episcopal Church - 1873
• Traditional Anglican Communion - 1991 (trying to rejoin the Roman Catholic Church without giving up Anglican core values)
• Traditional Church of England
• Traditional Protestant Episcopal Church - 1986 (formed by clergy who left the Anglican Catholic Church and other Continuing Anglican denominations)
• United Episcopal Church of North America - 1981 (separated from Anglican Catholic Church but is now in communion)

One of the most amazing speeches. Ever.

The Mythbusters are Polishing Poop!

Hehehe!

SNL parodies Beyonce's "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)" video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2I121W5AlA

America

America may have some of the greatest ideals in the world, but I don't believe it is the greatest country (that designation doesn't exist in reality). This country has done terrible things in the name of "protecting our interests."

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/11/20/sbm.iraq.galbraith/index.html

Years before the first Gulf War, Saddam Hussein was slaughtering Iraq's Kurds with bombs, bullets and gas.

The Reagan White House saw it as a ruthless attempt to put down a rebellion by a minority ethnic group fighting for independence and allied with Iraq's enemy, Iran.

But Peter Galbraith thought it was something worse.

"A light went off in my head, and I said, 'Saddam Hussein is committing genocide,'" said Galbraith, who was on the staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at the time.

An unabashed idealist, Galbraith was known for tackling unconventional issues.

"If you're going to be idealistic in life, you're going to be disappointed," he said. "But that's not a reason to abandon idealism."

Galbraith was one of the first Westerners to witness the effects of the slaughter. During a fact-finding trip for the Senate in 1987, he saw something troubling.

"When we crossed from the Arab part of Iraq into the Kurdish part of Iraq, the villages and towns that showed on our maps just weren't there," he said. Bulldozing Kurdish villages was just the first phase of Hussein's war against the Kurds. In 1988, it escalated with chemical weapons.

"Thousands, maybe tens of thousands of people were killed in those attacks, and then Iraqi troops moved into those villages and gunned down the survivors."

Galbraith wanted to invoke the U.N.'s Genocide Convention, which requires countries to prevent and punish such crimes.

"We could not stand aside and allow Saddam Hussein to commit genocide against the Kurds of Iraq."

With the support of his boss, Democratic Sen. Claiborne Pell of Rhode Island, Galbraith drafted a bill -- the Prevention of Genocide Act -- that would cut off U.S. foreign aid to Iraq and impose a trade embargo.

"That would have been an appropriate response to a dictator who is gassing his own people," Galbraith said. "I thought with a name like that it would garner a lot of support."

But the compelling name was not enough. So Galbraith went back to the region to gather more evidence.

Tens of thousands of Kurds had fled to Turkey. Survivors described blinding, burning clouds of poison gas that dropped people in their tracks.

"These people don't make up these stories. These are real stories. And if you talk to them, if you simply talk to them ... you know that they're telling the truth," Galbraith said.

His report was still not enough to persuade the White House to punish Saddam.

The Reagan administration had invested several years cultivating Iraq as an ally against Iran, their mutual enemy, and as a market for U.S. products, including more than $1 billion a year in farm exports.

The Prevention of Genocide Act would end the diplomatic courtship and hurt U.S businesses. Read once-secret documents from the Reagan administration

"I had a fellow who worked for one of the Louisiana senators call me up really in tears," Galbraith said. "And when I talked about genocide against the Kurds, he talked about the genocide that I was committing against the rice farmers of Louisiana."

Although then-Secretary of State George Schultz warned Iraq that use of outlawed chemical weapons jeopardized the two countries' budding relationship, Schultz's spokesman said imposing economic sanctions would be premature.

To Galbraith, "that was a morally repugnant statement."

The Reagan administration also claimed Galbraith's bill used "inaccurate terms like genocide." But for Galbraith, this was no time for semantics.

"Should we have waited until he used chemical weapons again? Should we have waited until instead of 5 percent of the Kurdish population was murdered -- 10? 15?"

In the end, the House of Representatives killed Galbraith's sanctions bill with backing from the Reagan administration. Politics had trumped principle.

Galbraith calls the U.S. policy "appeasement."

"We were not able to modify Iraq's behavior," Galbraith said. "And guess what?"

Two years later, in August 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait, its oil-rich neighbor to the south.

This time, the U.S. compared Saddam to Hitler. And with Kuwait's oil at stake, the U.S finally screamed bloody murder.

Wow.

This just blows my mind. I was a big Comets fan during high school. Cynthia Cooper remains my favorite WNBA player ever. Wow. Four straight championships. Gone.
Houston Comets to Suspend
Operations for 2009 WNBA Season

HOUSTON AND NEW YORK, Dec. 2, 2008 – The Houston Comets will suspend operations for the 2009 season it was announced today by WNBA President Donna Orender. A WNBA Dispersal Draft involving Comets players will take place on Monday, Dec. 8.

“Multiple investors have come forward and expressed significant interest in purchasing the Comets and having them continue to play in Houston in 2009,” said Orender. “However, we made the judgment that we would not be able to complete a transaction with the right ownership group in time for the 2009 season. The WNBA is extremely grateful to the Comets organization, to the city of Houston and to the team’s loyal fans for helping build both the WNBA and the game of women’s basketball.”

Having concluded its 12th season in 2008 with increases in attendance, ratings, Web traffic, sponsorships and merchandise sales, the WNBA will play the 2009 season with 13 teams. The 2009 season also marks the first year of the WNBA’s new, eight-year television agreement with ESPN under which the league will receive a rights fee, a first for a women’s professional team sports league in the U.S.

Comets season ticket holders will be notified in the near future of a procedure for refunds.

Current Comets players, with the exception of unrestricted free agents Latasha Byears, Mwadi Mabika, Hamchetou Maiga-Ba, Michelle Snow and Tina Thompson, are eligible to be selected in the Dispersal Draft. The order of selection, based on the inverse order of 2008 regular season finish will be as follows:

1) Atlanta
2) Washington
3) Chicago
4) Minnesota
5) Phoenix
6) Indiana
7) Sacramento
8) New York
9) Los Angeles
10) Connecticut
11) Detroit
12) Seattle
13) San Antonio

I am now officially a Greg Oden fan!