just some hype

Wow, it's been over a year since I made a public post here. If there's anyone still out there listening, most of my blathering these days is done on facebook or my blog, occasionally twitter and still more rarely on I Fry Mine In Butter where I'm the resident tech and an occasional food writer.

First, from beatonna (tip of the hat to bittirsweet for posting it first):



and then this, via twittypic.com which is better crack than icanhascheezburger:

This is a sermonette I delivered as part of my UU congregation's service today on Ethical Eating. Comments welcome :)

Twenty eight years ago, when I decided to stop eating meat, it wasn't because of the poor animals being killed. I didn't think most of those animals would even be alive if they weren't raised for agriculture.

It wasn't for health reasons; my father's first heart attack when he was just a year younger than I am now probably had more to do with his being a pack-a-day Camel smoker than his love of red meat.

The argument that it was more efficient to feed grain to people than to feed grain to livestock and then feed the livestock to people appealed to my logical and liberal natures, but that's not really why I stopped eating meat either.

Frankly, I stopped eating meat because my roommate liked meat more than I did.

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OK, so we don't know any details of Obama's meeting with Bush, and it's Veteran's Day, but I can't believe Google couldn't come up with a better top U.S. story than this:

Even though I'm an Obama supporter *and* non-meat-eater, I think it's funny as hell:

This question should be a no-brainer IMO. Why am I even considering it? Because of this article in USA Today:

It's not just Palin's credentials on social issues that's excited conservatives. They argue she'll attract votes from independent voters and even moderate Democrats enthusiastic about the possibility of electing the nation's first female vice president.

If the GOP were serious about making history they'd have at least *tried* to nominate a woman as their presidential candidate. But with the Republican party dominated by white men, that's not likely to happen anytime soon.

You may not like the Democrats but you have to admit they were setting themselves up to offer the country an historic choice whether Clinton or Obama won the nomination. McCain's choice of Palin is just cynical pandering which I hope will not be rewarded.

This is one of my favorite times of year, when the morning walk is cool but not too cold, and I get sunrises like this one:



Nothing much else to say. Life is good. Or at least, it beats all known alternatives.

I found this on http://www.geekychic.com and had to share it with anyone who does oldschool Unix.

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According to the latest from the AP, Knoxville gunman Jim Adkisson hated liberals, and blamed them for his being unemployed. He also apparently didn't expect to leave the church alive; he thought he'd keep killing people until police arrived. He must have believed the media image of liberals as weak and dithering.

I imagine Jim Adkisson was surprised when a huge guy blocked his fire, protecting many more from injury.

Jim Adkisson was probably surprised that among the people who wrestled him to the ground was a martial arts expert.

I suppose Jim Adkisson was surprised, though he shouldn't have been, that he wasn't pummeled into the sanctuary floor or torn limbless by an angry, vengeful congregation.

I'm sure Jim Adkisson is surprised to be in jail, awaiting trial.

In the words of the Holly Near song that is a staple of the UU hymnal, "we are a gentle, angry people." I'm so proud of the Knoxville UUs for demonstrating that to the world.

From the New York Times report:

Witnesses said the gunman, carrying a guitar case, had first tried to enter the area where the children were preparing for the play, saying he was there to play music. But he was told to use the public entrance instead.

His victims could have been the children, who would probably not have been able to wrestle him to the ground as he paused to reload.