Gadfly's Muse

Why We Insist on Stuff

Since you seem to base your ideas of the rightness/wrongness of homosexual marriage purely on your religion (i.e. not on any real world consequences), don't you think perhaps you should not impose your worldview on those who aren't members of your religion? You and your church are under no obligation to consider gays who are married in the eyes of the state as actually married in the eyes of God. And, please note, the advocates of gay marriage aren't actually imposing their worldview on anybody: the existence of gay couples does not affect you or any other Christian who believes that they aren't really married in the eyes of God...
Comment Stream:  An Open Letter to Gay Marriage

Submitted by JY on July 28, 2005

Talking about Pain and Victimization in the Current Homosexual Marriage Debate

"On the issue of gay marriage, your justification is basically 'because I think so'. You've been challenged to actually compare the harm your stance does to real, living, breathing people versus the harm the other stance might do, and have declined to do so, retreating to 'because I think its wrong'. You can think whatever you like, but laws should be based on the human consequences, the pain, suffering and loss of basic human liberty a law, or lack thereof might lead to. By declining to explain the benefit to real humans that might be attributable to your position, you seem to be admitting that it has no benefit but, nevertheless, you're willing to cling to it because of a vague disinclination to 'institutionalize' something that is counter to your personal prejudice."
Red Herring Submitted by JY on July 27, 2005
Comment Thread on  An Open Letter to Gay Marriage _ UTI

Wait A Minute... What Am I Missing Here?

Eckstein accepted the compliment with a smile and sipped his coffee (from the church's own Starbucks). Eckstein has spent a professional lifetime in evangelical churches, although he had rarely seen one as grand as the Family Christian Center, with its 5,000-seat auditorium and a pulpit that boasts a theatrical replica of biblical Jerusalem complete with Golgotha's hill and, in the words of Pastor Munsey, ''a very lifelike cave depicting the tomb where Jesus was lain.''

.....

''I support Israel in every way possible,'' Munsey said. ''For example, I make it a point to buy my clothes from Jews.'' Since he was wearing jeans and a battered sports jacket, it was hard to assess the monetary value of this contribution. Munsey was dressed informally because he planned to ride his customized Harley motorcycle onto the pulpit. The bike is named the Passion, and it has a crown of thorns painted across it.

The Rabbi Who Loved Evangelicals (and Vice Versa)

By ZEV CHAFETS

Published: July 24, 2005

New York Times

 

You ought to read this

I am a fan of good writing and my buddy Jolly Blogger   has posted an excellent, "humorous" article on how to cope with things when the wife and family are away.  My only critique of the article is that he is way too easy on the cat.  We all know that the cat has to remain alive and physically un-maimed until they return, but that doesn't mean you can't fool around with the creature's dim little psyche a bit.  Remember the Siamese twins from Disney's "Lady and the Tramp" and reverse the situation.

The Latest Harry Potter

Well, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is out, purchased, read and appreciated.  I got it the first day it was on the market, paid more than I had to if I had waited, but don't mind in the least.  I like those books.  To me, J. K. Rowling is one of the best modern authors to hit the scene.  She writes a compelling story using concise language that appeals throughout a range of age, interest and educational levels and the content is no more offensive to Christian sensibilities than any other mythology.

I've Been over there

I have been involved in a rather heated discussion that I was invited to start over on

Unscrewing the Inscrutable/Gadfly's Blog

for the last couple of days.  If you're interested you can find my most current posts there.

Victimless Crimes

Jeremy Pierce | July 19, 2005 10:13 AM & Andrea | July 19, 2005 07:20 AM both make excellent points in their comments on my previous blog  Too Much and Not Enough.  Since my primary intention in that article was comment on the governing universal of law rather than the particular instance of application, I thought maybe a separate comment on the whole notion of "victim-less crime" might be worthwhile.

Too Much and Not Enough

(Prostitution)  brings together two of the most unstoppable forces in American life: lust and avarice. But that combination is potent just about everywhere. There is a prostitution problem in Iran, for heaven's sake. If mullahs ruling an Islamic theocracy can't stamp out these transactions, the Chicago police aren't about to.
The futile war on prostitution, By Steve Chapman;

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.chapman18jul18 ; Originally published July 18, 2005

We Americans, and we Christians in particular among Americans, are double minded at best when it comes to things we categorize as "victim-less crimes" and  Chapman's article and his conclusions in it, probably reflect the  prevailing attitude of our society and the general direction that  we are headed on these kinds of things.  Briefly, he makes the argument : (1) lots of people like to have sex, (2) many people are willing to pay for it, (3) some people are willing to sell it, (4) the police have better things to do than arrest people who act on (2) & (3) above, (5) allowing the laws of common sense to apply to the regulation of a commercial enterprise will diminish the unhealthy effects of prostitution now evident  among us (disease, violence, etc.), and (6) let's just legalize it, tax it and go with the flow. 

Hitchin' through the Galaxy

SATIRE: n. An obsolete kind of literary composition in which the vices and follies of the author's enemies were expounded with imperfect tenderness. In this country satire never had more than a sickly and uncertain existence, for the soul of it is wit, wherein we are dolefully deficient, .....

Ambrose Bierce, Devil's Dictionary, ad loc

I do not know if I ever shall actually finish reading the entire collection of Douglas Adam's The HitchHiker's Guide...  I mean, after all, the first two or three books were pretty good and I always appreciate a fine turn of phrase delivered with an exquisite slice of wit.  But, let's face it, he makes his point early and then keeps on making it.  By the time you get to "So Long and Thanks For All The Fish", there really isn't anything new happening and you really don't care whether Arthur Dent finds true happiness, a sense of purpose or the approximate form of contentment, ever.

No Slack

At certain periods it becomes the dearest ambition of a man to keep a faithful record of his performances in a book; and he dashes at this work with an enthusiasm that imposes on him the notion that keeping a journal is the veriest pastime in the world, and the pleasantest. But if he only   lives twenty-one days, he will find out that only those rare natures that are made up of pluck, endurance, devotion to duty for duty's sake, and invincible determination, may hope to venture upon so tremendous an enterprise as the keeping of a journal and not sustain a shameful defeat.
        - Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad
       
        If you wish to inflict a heartless and malignant punishment upon a young person, pledge him to keep a journal a year.
        - ditto

Samuel Clemens was a pretty smart guy and it might be pretty foolish to go against him and decide to commit to  something that is, in essence, keeping a journal.  My past history in this regard has been less than spectacular.  I remember a time when I was a young Navy pilot.  I thought it would be really neat at some future point, in my old age, to be able to pick up a book and read of my own experiences in the air, on liberty, doing stuff on the ship, etc. etc.  And today I can truthfully say, I was right.  It would be really neat if I could do that.  But I can't because I didn't .  Not with any regularity nor with any sufficient literary skill to make what I did write all that interesting.

Many things worked to kill the idea of journaling then.  A finely developed sense of self-preservation kept me from actually writing down many things that I did on liberty.  Flying, even when it involves high powered jet airplanes operating off aircraft carriers, can be summed up as "hours of boredom interspersed with moments of sheer terror", and so many of the journal entries I actually did record consisted of "cheated death again today, vicinity of Crete, weather good, OK landing back aboard."  No Pulitzer prospects there and not a great deal of nostalgic value either.

So, I suppose the same kind of forces continue to mitigate any great hope that this effort will prosper more than previous ones.  Still, as is the case with many things, there is always the ever recurring "triumph of hope over experience" which seems to define most of life's endeavors anyway.

What do I hope to achieve in this blog? 

First, to find out whether anyone will actually read it.  I am not real certain why anyone would,  nor am I sure what motivates people to do it.  I would hope to generate a certain level of dialog on varying subjects and therefore let the blog evolve to fill what ever niche the Lord has for it in my life. My basic personality is that of observer and commentator and that may set the tone.  As a generalist I am fairly widely read but with varying degrees of depth.  This is my preferred stance in life and is what I believe ought to be the goal of education.  We have too many specialists as it is.  (Read Richard Weaver's Ideas Have Consequences and you pretty much know everything I would say on the subject)

Secondly, I am doing this because my good friend "The Jolly Blogger" (see on this domain) said he thought I would enjoy it .  So if it falls flat on its face, it's his fault.

So, let's see what tomorrow may bring.
If you have any encouragement, let me hear it.  If you have any thoughts on subjects worth talking about.  Same thing.  Socrates understood himself to be a gadfly on the rump of society, perhaps it is time for us gadflies to band together and coordinate our irritation.  Who knows, hope might triumph over more than just experience.