Let's Show 'Em We Can Overcome!

It's taken 10 years for something to be erected at Ground Zero in New York City.  The Freedom Tower implementation so far has pretty much a mismanaged affair.  It's been redesigned a number of times, had very little to no input from the public, and has plenty of cost overruns.  It's not slated to be finished until 2014 barring any other problems coming up.  Watch this Penn & Teller BS episode (language and some images NSFW) for some background:






I feel that the best way to show true American grit and stamina is to build the following buildings at Ground Zero:

Yes.  The same, exact buildings (with modern upgrades internally for security, strength, and economy). It would say "Yes.  You knocked down our buildings and killed and injured many of our people.  Guess what. Fuck you.  They're back.  We overcame and we're believe in our strength! Now what?!!! ".

FireStarter -Twisted FireStarter

So, this jackass in the picture - Pastor Dr. Terry Jones of the 50-member Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Fla - wants to make a statement by burning the Quran - that Christians/Americans are not going to be bullied into fear by Islam's radical wings.  He wants to do this on 9/11.  Oy vey!

The amount of coverage on this effort is staggering.  Had news outlets ignored it, it would've gone relatively unnoticed.  Yes, it might have been a bit bigger in this day and age of electronic media, but with so much attention on it that even General Petraeus has to give his thoughts on it, this idiot gets legitimacy and a platform to spread his Christo-fanatical rhetoric.  So much has been put out there into the ether that I even wrote a frakin' blog about it!

I have yet to see anyone in my circles show explicit support behind it - even those people I would consider redneck enough to be okay with it (y'all know who you are).  I have to wonder how much implicit support there is for this guy's actions.

Which leads me to point out the general hypocrisy behind supporting this from a religious perspective.  As a non-practicing Catholic, I have been put to sleep enough times during mass to know that effectively in order for us to be in Gawd's good graces, we need to learn the lessons from all of the biblical allegories and fully integrate their spirit into our daily lives.  Living is a lot easier when you truly understand these teachings.  therefore what this guy is doing (and what in turn other religious practitioners do towards other peoples) is just basically fundamentally opposite what his religion asks him to do.

Let me give an example.  The whole "an eye for an eye" mantra people use to misjustify it being okay to combat extremism with equal extermism.  The passage reads:

Book of Matthew, Chapter 5
38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ 39 But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. 41 If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

First off, the "eye for eye" passage pertains to compensation not for justification.  If you were to damage someone else's eye for any reason, you are to offer you own eye in compensation for the damage you have caused. 

Secondly, why don't people ever talk/quote the next 4 verses?!  Those are the ones that in my opinion demonstrate true faith!  Effectively, the idea is that if you are harmed by someone who does you wrong, you are to continue to show good faith and reverence to that person!  My gawd, how awesome is that.  You can come at me with sword with the intent to kill me and I should allow it! Why?  Because if I truly believe in that I am one with Gawd, the goings on in my existence are rather trivial and inconsequential. Even death ain't a thang!  If you slap me, I'll shouldn't retaliate.  I'll just turn the other cheek as a gesture to show you that no matter what you do to me, I am one with Gawd, and my grace will show that you that the actions you are committing are wrong.

With that said, shouldn't the Jones Clan be turning the other cheek against Islam and believe in Gawd's power to do right by them even at their own peril?  It doesn't look like that's not going to happen.  This effort by the Florida church is merely at best a tangent religious publicity stunt and at worst an unecessary religious and social fire starter.

Today Was A Good Day

AKV was all about Daddy today.  He would come find me saying, "Dadda?", grab me by the hand, pull to wherever he wanted me, and then play with me.  It made me feel so wanted and good about myself.  I guess I'm doing something right.  I love you Alexander.

Walk Down Constitution Lane - The First Amendment

I realized that most of us Americans throw around the numerical form of the Constitutional amendments when talking to others.  For example:

Friend: "Hey Nelson. Did you fool around with that ugly, old, fat chick after the show?"
Nelson: "I plead the fif! 1, 2, 3, 4...FIF!"

Nelson: "Man, I wonder if gun restrictions should be in place cuz mofos be shooting each other a lot lately."
Redneck: "I tell ya what, man.  If you take away my right to bear arms - my 2nd amendment! -then they'll have pry  it outta my cold, dead hand...sittin' over there. Ma gun went off accidentally and uhm...shot it clean off...kinda ironic ain't it?"

Republican: "THEY SHOULDN'T BUILD A MOSQUE NEAR GROUND ZERO! IT'S HALLOWED GROUND!"
Nelson & Obama: "They're entitled to be able to do so. The first amendment allows them to practice their beliefs. Hey, isn't that a strip club 2 blocks away from Ground Zero?"

I also realized that most of us don't know our Amendments beyond the 5th  so I'll post up the verbiage and any  related thoughts/jokes.

Amendment 1 - Freedom of Religion, Press, Expression.  

Ratified 12/15/1791. 

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The Return of Rock - Dovetail Joint & IvoryWire 08/14/2010

Dovetail Joint's Chuck Glaflter(Guitar/Vox),
Jon Kooker (Bass), Joe Dapier(Drums),
and Robert Byrne (Guitar - Not Pictured)

I got to see my two favorite local Chicago bands Ivorywire and Dovetail Joint reunite for the 2010 Doug Meis Memorial Concert at Lincoln Hall this weekend.  It's been roughly 7 years since I've seen these bands play so I was naturally excited to catch them at the newly minted Lincoln Hall (well, newly minted at least for me).

For not having played for a long time, both bands pretty much picked up where they left off before going on hiatus.  Ivorywire played songs off both of their releases The World is Flat such as "Hey You", "Geisha Girl", "Promise To Burn", "Living With The Static", "Backfire", and "Just Like I Remember It" along with rarely played "You're Never Satisfied" and "Faint Praise" from their last release Notables & Nobodies.  Dovetail Joint stook primarily to playing material off their Aware/Columbia releases 001 and The Level EP with songs like "Boy", "Home", "Motorcade", "Protocol", "Beautiful", and their most famous hit "Level on The Inside". They also busted out gems such as "Candy" and "Honestly" from their double-disc Killing of Cool independent release.It would've been nice if both bands could've delved into more illustrious b-side material but their set times were rather limited (35 minutes each I think) so we got a lot of music in a short amount of time.

The show itself was taped professionally for a hopeful DVD/Blue-Ray release in the future.  I would recommend everyone getting a copy of this show as it may be the only one we get for a while.  Below are fan-filmed clips from the show: