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“You can’t censor language. It’s our greatest, greatest achievement.” – John Lydon

I know I have been lagging…not for lack of things to say but I guess more-so lack of motivation. I’ve been working on somethings for school/work but no excuses. I straight up lag right now. Last night we didn’t watch the American Music Awards because something WAY more important was on…Dexter. It was the best one yet for real so if you aren’t watching “Dex,” (as I like to call it) you are a crack head. I mean you must be weighing out the options, crack or Dexter?? You’re making the wrong choice. Capeesh? Any who, I saw some highlights of the AMA’s from last night and all I can say is, really?? I don’t know this Adam Lambert (no relation to Stephanie) guy is but I did see the video where he FULLY macked down his keyboard player and simulated a little “bump and grind” session and that NBC censored it. That is total bullshit. How many damn times to I have to see two girls kiss on TV? Chicks rub themselves all over, lick their fingers in a “I want to do this to your member” type of way, and even make out with one another. Now it’s two guys and what? I can’t see that? There is some imaginary line that NBC refuses to cross and that we as AMERICANS have to be unwillingly censored? Come on, there is a bitch wearing a bikini in every advertisement from burgers to cars, I mean every reality show consists of ho’s in a hot tub so why not let the guys have their fun?  It would seem to be NBC thinks lesbians are ok in a “pushing the envelope” kind of way buy not gays dudes are no bueno? What is wrong with people?? I’m actually out of words. I don’t get it. You know, let’s just get into the shit that NBC did in fact show at the AMA’s…look’s like I am happy I didn’t watch it.

PS- “Dick Clark Productions” keeps pulling this video (sounds like somebody is a little “ass sore” over the video) so if it has been removed I suggest you try to find it. I never saw a J-Lo budget bootie bounce quite like that…. or wear a bedazzled “granny panty” inspired pair of shorts. 

Texts of the messages have not been released, so it is difficult to know who said what to whom. It is not known whether Fort Hood or any other target was specifically discussed. But the tone of the relationship can be judged by a message Awlaki posted on his Web site after the Fort Hood attack. It said, “Fighting against the U.S. Army is an Islamic duty today.”

The cleric told an interviewer, according to The Washington Post, that he never directed or pressured Hasan to harm Americans. But he said that he was the major’s confidant by e-mail.

And he said the Fort Hood attack was allowed by Islamic law because it was a form of jihad, permissible because the United States had brought the battle to Muslim countries.

Is the radical imam culpable for retroactively justifying the attack? Or does the Internet merit some of the responsibility for helping the violence prone to fester there in communion with the machine?

Back space…delete…start over…Are we back to this again? Groan. I really did have an entire post written but it felt like something I had already written so I deleted it. 285 words gone.  I should have saved them and used them in my NaNo story.

Speaking of words, the University of North Dakota is freaking out over inappropriate language used when cheering at hockey games. For crying out loud, now they are going to censor speech. You could get thrown out of the game if you offend someone. Pretty soon no one will be able to say boo because it might freak someone else out. They already search your bags when you come into the arena. Wouldn’t want anyone to sneak a pop into the arena or a snack from home. They want you to spill out the contents of your wallet for a $3.50 can of Coke. Well, I don’t like Coke. I’m a Diet Pepsi gurl. Offensive! Or let’s add an extra $1.50 for fucking sprinkles on your ice cream. Now that’s obscene! OMG I wrote, f*cking without the asterick is that offensive?

However, I did notice at the Gopher Sioux hockey game a couple weeks ago someone managed to sneak in several ded gophers which ended up on the ice after a Sioux goal. Argh, look out PETA is coming.

We already have a logo that a few people find offensive. Man I might need someone to come help me pick something out to wear. I wouldn’t want to offend anyone. Hey, you, I hate your flipflops! Maybe you should get thrown out of the game. Isn’t that sweater you’re wearing from last season. OH! MY! GAWD! How could you? 

Did I offend anyone…I do hope so!

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Over the past week I have had a lot of conflict over this step which the school has taken over images of pornography on my study space. Talking directly to other tutors at the University connected with the Fine Arts Dept, they have shown shock at this step. Students working close to the work did not care and have had their debate over the imagery and work. No one to this day has aired any concern over these images and I have been in the studios almost daily for the past week. I am very happy that students have connected to the work in the way they have and brought about their own debate on the work.

Tutors, students and other members of the University staff  have to realize at some point that we are living with the first generation of unrestricted hardcore pornography and violence viewers online. This generation is open to wide range of taboo imagery and film. I would absolutely suggest they  have become desensitized. The school or any art school would have to step back, allow debate and allow the freedom of expression to shock and offend. By removing all this subject matter without debate, forward thinking or logic is a cause for major concern.

A question I have forwarded to the school was “Should art schools have a warning sign just like many galleries have put into practice to alert young people under the age of eighteen to the mature imagery and content on show?” Then people have a choice to make.

Covering up these images of hardcore pornography was a choice I made. These images are only a first step in a multi layered project. But I was not under any circumstance going to take the imagery down of the wall. The imagery being covered works for all working in the studio space. I am not offending delicate minds, nor I am removing the chance for students to investigate the work itself as it progresses.

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Senior Ad Picture with most of everyone

So I don’t particularly like the writings and worldviews of Ralph Waldo Emerson or Henry David Thoreau because of their existentialist point of view, but I must admit they have some pretty darn good quotes when you look at them.

Anyway. Back to advocating “be yourself” I do post a lot of these quotes, but I feel like it is a constant struggle throughout your life, not just being a teenager, but in adulthood you’re faced with choices that make you challenge your character or morals. More so, being an adult your choices can have greater impacts on yourself and others than while you’re a teenager.

Another point I’d like to touch on is being yourself in relationships. I’ve seen people change their personalities, their habits, and their opinions when getting involved in relationships. I’ve had best friends disappear because of their partner. I’ve always been wary of relationships for that reason, because it is easy to get caught up in another person, it’s easy to drop everything and just be with them, and it’s easy to want to make them happy. I’ve never been one to lose who I am because I’m in a relationship but there’s always a first for everything. Dating someone older or younger is hard too – particularly older. I know who I am, but I have a little self-confidence issue. I am a mature person, but I’m also 19. I like to goof around, I don’t take some things as seriously as I should, and I’m a little selfish. I am who I am, and I like who I am. I don’t want to have to watch myself every minute, censor my thoughts or what I want to say. I want to be able to do or say something without thinking about getting a wrong reaction or thinking that they might think less of me because of it.

Senior Prom 2009 in front of the limo before dinner. Not everyone is here again. lol It's hard to get a picture of ALL of us

Overall I’ve found that the easiest way to be yourself is to find friends who like you for who you are. They know you and they accept everything – conflicting viewpoints, immaturity, fights, all of it. Find friends who will call you out on your bullshit, ones that will get into trouble with you instead of scolding you for doing it, find friends who will look out for you. I’ve said it before but my friends are the best.

Question: What is your favorite memory with your friends?

This is how media works, can you trust news aired on Pakistani media? Well, think about it…

See how an officer interrupts the journalist to cut certain portion of the interview but Alhamdulillah, truth surfaces itself sooner or later.

This is a strong message to delusional Pakistanis that they should think twice when this secular controlled media paints Mujahideen as Terrorists and Apostates and Munafiqun as Momineen, the stories of foreign agencies’ support to Mujahideen are as fake as Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) in Iraq.

May Allah help Mujahideens fighting Kuffar and their friends and may Allah face munafiqun towards a humiliating defeat.

This is how media works, can you trust news aired on Pakistani media? Well, think about it…

See how an officer interrupts the journalist to cut certain portion of the interview but Alhamdulillah, truth surfaces itself sooner or later.

This is a strong message to delusional Pakistanis that they should think twice when this secular controlled media paints Mujahideen as Terrorists and Apostates and Munafiqun as Momineen, the stories of foreign agencies’ support to Mujahideen are as fake as Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) in Iraq.

May Allah help Mujahideens fighting Kuffar and their friends and may Allah face munafiqun towards a humiliating defeat.

He came to some of the last summer sectionals. I didn’t know his name, but, wow, did he impress the instructor.

He played drums, that much was obvious. He had control in his hands and knew his rhythms better than us. He was going to be in pit with us. Maybe battery rejected him or something, but I don’t know why. But he was with us.

He was silent all during band camp, too. I would talk to him and once I asked him if he wanted to have lunch with us. He always ate alone, reading his recommended reading book. I felt bad for him and that’s why I asked him if he wanted to eat with us. He was unsure and took a long time packing up his lunch, and when he was with us, he stayed silent the entire time. Just eating something out of his lunch pail in complete silence. He didn’t pick up his book, but he looked so uncomfortable I almost wished he had.

In a few weeks, though, he suddenly opened up to us. He got bubbly and wore a smile on his face when he got really into a topic. Instead of having the same, bored look plastered on his face, he wore a light, enthusiastic smile.

I call him Meowth on here because, when Yuki and I were Team Rocket, we made him be Meowth.

On Friday, when I was changing out of my uniform and Yuki had left just me, Meowth, and the Pecker to talk. It takes me less time to change than it does the guys, but I’m talking with them, and I stand by them even though the Pecker keeps glancing down to my chest. I’m mostly just talking with Meowth, anyway.

I discover that his favorite words are butt-rapist and yeast infection. His usage of them bothers me, but I let it go and the words filter out in my brain. When the Pecker starts to talk to me about his family, Meowth interrupts and says that Yuki is probably waiting for me. And I leave, silently thanking Meowth, who chooses to wait with the Pecker so I don’t have to.

And he helps me to bring up my chimes during practice. They are heavy, probably two hundred pounds, but when I am about to take them down, he says to me that he can take them instead. He says this with such a straight face that I don’t know what to make of it.

It’s too early to tell, anyway.

I don’t know if there is supposed to be a “c” anywhere in that title… but…

…this is bullshit.

I tried it on. I did. but…

the blog (ing) thing…

I just…

it’s just…

….like meth.

But nowhere near as effective or awesomely fuckin’ ahhhhhh….

I think I gave it a chance. A sustained go-around. I don’t know. All of the sudden… it has re-become was it was. Not devolve… it’s not devolution, more… a realization of a freeze… or non-movement.

Or, better, lateral bend and jumps and squats…

I’ve been in the same mundane, retarded place for-ev-er!

Just the blinking lights in front of my face have changed in pattern, swirled a bit differently. so much so that it seems like growth.

Fuck.

Nietzsche would roll over in his grave.

So… game over.

Not that anyone reads this…. cares… or what-the-fuck-ever.

I censor when I need not censor because it’s in ‘public view’. What the fuck is that? That’s the anti- heal.

Information is key. Giving up information makes one weaker and weaker. Or so I abide.

So, I’m just going to get over that whole thing. Because no longer will I write anything that isn’t as accurate as it can be… as me as I’m able to distill.

Writing was my only pure form of expression… language… at certain points in life. And now I rape it with metaphysics… too many layers… too much. Rape it hard… so hard and so frequently that I feel that it’s okay and, more than okay… normal.

There’s something wrong with that.

I am doomed to continue this pattern of lateral mundanity.

Lets make the same mistakes over and over kiko!!!

Fuck that!

Later proverbial skater as the folks at 23rd street hang their hats.

Brian Auten of Apologetics 315 has written a nice review of Dawkins’ new book. He is very polite in this review, but also very effective.  He also posted the audio for the recent debate between John Lennox and Richard Dawkins.

Brian starts his review by explaining Dawkins’ plan for the book:

Dawkins seems to place all doubters into the young-earth category, while the illustrations he employs put them on par with “well-financed and politically muscular groups of Holocaust-deniers.”

That’s right. He is not refuting the work of intelligent design theorists – he is refuting young earth creationists. He spends an entire chapter on the age of the earth. The names of intelligent design scholars hardly even appear in the index of his book! This book is not a refutation of the likes of William A. Demsbki, PhD, PhD or Jonathan Wells, PhD, PhD. (That is not a typo, they each have two PhDs, and from top-tier schools)

And then it goes from bad to worse.  He uses intelligent selection by human dog-breeders as proof of the efficacy of random mutation and natural selection. Intelligent design that produces micro-evolution is used as evidence for unguided macro-evolution.

[...]“The difference between any two breeds of dog gives us a rough idea of the quantity of evolutionary change that can be achieved in less than a millennium. The next question we should ask is, how many millennia do we have available to us in accounting for the whole history of life? If we imagine the sheer quantity of differences that separate a pye-dog from a peke, which took only a few centuries of evolution, how much longer is the time that separates us from the beginning of evolution or, say, from the beginning of mammals? … Can you imagine two million centuries, laid end to end?”

Actually, this “can you imagine” argument is a lot better than his fraudulent drawings of embryos argument. Neither of them works, but at least he isn’t using fraudulent evidence with this “can you imagine” argument.

Oh, but here’s the “you’re stupid and evil” argument, which taken together with the “can you imagine” argument and the fraudulent embryos, forms the beginning of a very persuasive case for macro-evolution.

“If the history-deniers who doubt the fact of evolution are ignorant of biology, those who think the world began less than ten thousand years ago are worse than ignorant, they are deluded to the point of perversity.”

Did you know that human pregnancy is actually evidence for macro-evolution? Yes – babies evolve in a Darwinian fashion from a fertilized egg until their birth! That’s macro-evolution!

Chapter eight is entitled You Did It Yourself in Nine Months. Here Dawkins cites an interaction between J.B.S. Haldane, a leading architect of neo-Darwinism, and an evolution skeptic. The skeptic poses a complex question of how, even given billions of years, a single cell could develop into a complicated human body that thinks and feels. Haldane’s one-liner response was, “But madam, you did it yourself. And it only took you nine months.”

Brilliant! Sheer brilliance! Let’s call this one the “pregnancy is macro-evolution in action” argument. Put that with the rest.

Dawkins says that scientists don’t even need to observe any fossils in order to know that evolution happened, even on distant planets.

“I love speculating on how weirdly different we should expect life to be elsewhere in the universe, but one or two things I suspect are universal, wherever life might be found. All life will turn out to have evolved by a process related to Darwinian natural selection of genes.”

He knows that aliens evolved because what else could have happened? Evidence is irrelevant when you have blind faith. Let’s call this the “fossil record? we don’t need no stinking fossil record!” argument. And of course you know that Dawkins thinks that these aliens who evolved unobserved may have seeded the Earth with life – that’s his solution to the origin of life problem.

OK, one more quote from Brian’s review before I really have to stop. It’s Christopher Hitchens’ “I wouldn’t have done it that way” argument!

“…the overwhelming impression you get from surveying any part of the innards of a large animal is that it is a mess! Not only would a designer never have made a mistake like that nervous detour; a decent designer would never have perpetuated anything of the shambles that is the criss-crossing maze of arteries, veins, intestines, wads of fat and muscle, mesenteries and more.”

Oh, just one more! This is the “origin of life? what’s that? (nervous titter)” argument.

“We don’t actually need a plausible theory of the origin of life…”

OK, I really have to stop. You will all go to Brian’s site and read his review. It is awesome. It is absolutely safe to say that if you meet somebody who claims to believe that Dawkins is NOT a lazy-brained ignoramus, that person is ignorant, stupid or insane (or wicked, but I’d rather not consider that).

Note to Darwinist commenters. If you want to defend Dawkins here, then pick one of his arguments that I cited here, and go for it. For everything else, comment on Brian’s site.

Fox News reports that libraries are banning books about ex-gays. (H/T Andrew, 4Simpsons)

Excerpt:

Visit most public school libraries and you’ll find an array of books that address the subject of homosexuality. Many include sexually explicit content, and some even include graphic images.

But if you’re looking for a book that refers to the possibility that homosexuality can be “reversed,” a Chicago-based group says your best bet is the banned books list.

Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays (PFOX) says there’s an entire community of people across the world who say that their sexual orientation changed from gay to straight. But they’re not getting their message out, the group says, because libraries across the country refuse to carry literature that describes these experiences or any studies that support them.

So a book like “My Genes Made Me Do It!: A Scientific Look at Sexual Orientation” — which argues that sexuality is shaped by a variety of factors, not just biological — can’t get a spot on the school library shelf.

Neither can “You Don’t Have to Be Gay,” which describes author Jeff Konrad’s struggle to overcome his unwanted same-sex attractions.

The American Library Association refused to do anything about the book banning. This is actually predictable behavior for them – they are a left-wing advocacy group. Diversity of thought is not a real strong area for those on the secular left. They just don’t want to hear anyone who disagrees with them. And that’s exactly what you see on the university campus, with all the speech codes.

To learn more about reparative therapy for homosexuality, check out the web site of the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality.

Great article at the UK, complete with this video. (H/T Weasel Zippers via ECM)

And here’s an excerpt from the story:

After witnessing a gay pride march, committed Christian Pauline Howe wrote to the council to complain that the event had been allowed to go ahead.

But instead of a simple acknowledgement, she received a letter warning her she might be guilty of a hate crime and that the matter had been passed to police.

[...]But Mrs Howe told the Sunday Telegraph her comments were an expression of her beliefs, not homophobia. She received a response from the council’s deputy chief executive, Bridget Buttinger, who said it was the local authority’s ‘duty… to eliminate discrimination of all kinds’.

She went on: ‘The content of your letter has been assessed as potentially being hate related because of the views you expressed towards people of a certain sexual orientation.

‘Your details and details of the contents of your letter have been recorded as such and passed to the police.’

This is actually pretty standard stuff – it happens all the time in Canada, and even in the United States. There is a conflict between the right to free speech and the right not to be offended by other people who disagree with your views.

Why Worry About Fox News? Get bin Laden. Why is President Obama wasting time on Fox News? Are there no other pressing matters making headlines?
What about Afghanistan? Obama is struggling over Afghanistan: No one can decide exactly just what our mission is or should be.
Here’s what we should do:
The President should call into the Oval Office the joint chiefs, the head of National Intelligence and the director of Central Intelligence, the secretary of defense and Gens. Petraeus and McChrystal.
He should tell them that we are going to devote every resource to killing Osama bin Laden. Period.

The research publication is here, from the Heritage Foundation. (H/T ECM)

Abstract:

Supporters of Proposition 8 in California have been subjected to harassment, intimidation, vandalism, racial scapegoating, blacklisting, loss of employment, economic hardships, angry protests, violence, at least one death threat, and gross expressions of anti-religious bigotry. Arguments for same-sex marriage are based fundamentally on the idea that limiting marriage to the union of husband and wife is a form of bigotry, irrational prejudice, and even hatred against homosexual persons. As this ideology seeps into the culture more generally, individuals and institutions that support marriage as the union of husband and wife risk paying a price for that belief in many legal, social, economic, and cultural contexts.

The executive summary is here.

The PDF version is here.

You may also want to refresh yourself on how this works out in practice by watching a debate on marriage between Dennis Prager and Perez Hilton.

My previous post on this topic is here.

The election and transition kind of slid by, a few off key notes (a phony-official-playacting looking “Office of the President Elect” podium, grand productions, etc).  But I figured this was a newbie Senator running up to the Presidency and missing the mark on a few details.  The Administration seemed so well adjusted, the words about engaging in a heated dialog so noble, this whole thing slid right by me.

Then a slow but steady drumbeat of weirdness began.  Gagging Humana, attacking the health insurance industry for their report, directly attacking Fox, going after the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.  Wow.  It doesn’t matter whether you’re a liberal or a conservative or an independent, this pattern is chilling.  The First Amendment forbids laws restricting the freedom of speech.  Acts equivalent to law are forbidden by the same Amendment.

Do any liberals who may cheer this attack on free speech, do they really want the next conservative Republican Administration to inherit these powers?  Do they want to legalize what Richard Nixon was forced out of office for?  Do any liberals, who think this pattern of behavior by the White House is OK, really want to contemplate a Nation without a Constitution and run by Conservatives?  Because that’s what this is, it’s an attack on the Constitution plain and simple.

Will the Chief of Staff realize in time that he is attacking the foundation of our Government, that being the informed consent of the people?

Many Americans dislike the press.  I generally do, with a passion, for the simple reason that the press so often gets things wrong.  The press has no right to expect to be respected, they must earn that, and they rarely do.  And I would never question the judgment of anyone who really, really doesn’t like newspapers, tv, and radio.  But by God, people, understand this one thing without doubt: without a vigorous, questioning, adversarial, even confrontational press, THERE IS NO FREEDOM.  If you can’t find out from multiple independent sources what’s going on, you will never know if you’re free or not.  Freedom of speech and freedom of the press are the very most basic bedrock of all freedoms.  Whether you agree with the product or not, and maybe ESPECIALLY when you disagree with the product.

This Administration is acting out an astonishing, frightful, juvenile, thoughtless course of action.  This is the reaction of an exceptionally thin-skinned group, a group that talks tough (“call them out”) but can’t take a tap, much less a punch.  These people are a bunch of spoiled pansies, they can only function in an atmosphere of adulation.

There is no redemption for an American Administration that tries to use its power to manage the public debate.  That might work in an election, but once elected one become a public official.  Different rules and different expectations apply, and this Administration seems to not even be trying to make the transition.  They remain, and appear to only be able to function, in “campaign mode”.

This bodes very badly for America.  But hey, if the President isn’t “losing any sleep over it” (the most thoughtless and shallow statements ever by a President), then why should we worry?  G’nite and may God continue to bless.

Here’s the story from LifeSiteNews.

Excerpt:

16-year-old high school student Jennifer Rankin fully intended to unite her voicelessness with that of the unborn as part of the annual Pro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity when she arrived at school yesterday, reports Bill Henry of Sun Media.

She was impeded, however, by her school principal, who stated that the right to free speech does not apply on school property and who forced Rankin to remain in isolation for the entire day as long as she participated in the event.

Rankin, 16, arrived at Peninsula Shores District School in Wiarton, Ontario yesterday morning, with the red tape over her mouth and with the simple word ‘life’ written upon it.  She and her mother were stopped at the door, however, by school principal Patricia Cavan, while police cruisers stood nearby.  Cavan initially told Rankin that she could not enter school property, but then consented to allowing her in the building, separated from other students.

“I was taken directly into a small room that was opposite the vice-principal’s office and I was in there all day,” Rankin told Sun Media.  “I wasn’t allowed to speak with or see any other students and students were not allowed to come and see me and I was isolated in that room for the entire day.”

[...]The youth pastor at Rankin’s church, Ken Holley, expressed disappointment and insisted that the school’s actions violated her rights.  “It’s a day of silence and basically they lose their voice for those that never had a voice,” he said. “It’s pro-life. There’s no arguing. They can’t talk all day. They just stay silent and if anybody asks why they’re silent they hand out a little sheet that says this is why.”

[...]Cavan, who did not return a message left by LifeSiteNews.com, told Sun Media that the right to free speech does not apply on school property.  “School property is not a public place,” she said. “So while absolutely we support the right to free speech in a public space, that’s not school property.”  She said that school policy prohibits the dissemination of one-sided information on religious, political, or other issues that are controversial.

Pastor Holley pointed out that the school does an annual ‘Gay Pride’ day “where everybody wears pink shirts,” and that the school allows nude pictures on the wall to stand as ‘art’.

It’s strange because this school is located in a tiny town in a very rural area, hundreds of miles from any major city. I would think that a rural school would not be so backward as to thwart basic human rights like free speech. Oh well. It’s Ontario, Canada. Land of Chief Censor Jennifer Lynch and the Canadian Human Rights Commissions. You can read more about how Canada discriminates against Christians here. You can read more about how Canada discriminates against pro-lifers here.

UPDATE: It’s happening here! Student sues for right to wear pro-life shirt (via Ruth Institute Blog)