21 | October | 2010 | Existential Ennui

Tags

Anita Hill, atheism, DADT, Humor, Iowa, Juan Williams, life in the meadow, Mike Huckabee, moral values, Muslims, NPR, philosophy, racism, Sam Harris, science, Virginia Thomas

Our bedroom TV recently went on the blink. Picture went from normal to well, the vertical is like 1/18th of an inch high. This makes it exceedingly hard to define Captain Picard from Worf as it were.

So, we got to thinking about what replacement we might find. We quickly decided to move the living room one into the bedroom and get a new one for the living room. This is because the remote for the living room one (stay with me now) doesn’t work so well, and it’s not cable ready anyway.

Then we discussed maybe getting a small flat screen (oh modernity I hunger for your touch!) and thought if we could wait until November when we get the rent check for the acreage, we could let it be a “Christmas” present to ourselves.

Then, being quite happy with all that, I thought, why not, and decided to turn my considerable talents to fixing the bedroom TV. Now she is about twenty years old and has lived in three states and her old VCR has long since stopped functioning. This all means mostly, that “they don’t make then like that any more” and that is literally true and figuratively as well.

So, I commenced to banging on her top and sides, always my first line of “repair.” I grabbed the remote and lo and behold–a perfect picture. I was exceedingly happy, and went off to look on the computer WordPerfect program to see about making up business cards to set myself in a small “repair” business. I’m not expensive, $50 will get me in the door, and it’s only $45/hour after that.

So then, fast forward to today, and the Contrarian called to see if his $100 truck had been given a new set of shoes (technically brakes). Bill told him the awful news that alas it wasn’t the brakes but the clutch that had gone south. That’s an expense that far exceeds her worth, given that you can look at various places clear through the BODY to see through to the other side.

So there went my dreams of flat screen modernity since now we gotta find a truck to buy. It’s always something, but I wish it weren’t, just for one frakin’ few months.

That’s my tale of woe for today.

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Since we are talking about Virginia (my husband is NOT a pervert) Thomas, (we are, pay attention!), Andy Borowitz has a great piece on what you should do should Ginni call you and demand an apology. You will be glad you followed this link. Good for what ails ya.

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Chutzpah, chutzpah, chutzpah. Oh what do they call it in Evangelical fundogelical circles? Whatever they call it, Huckabee has got it. Maybe you heard that Juan Williams, token black panelist at FOXY Noise, has been fired from NPR for saying this on Billo the Clown:

I mean, look, Bill, I’m not a bigot. You know the kind of books I’ve written about the civil rights movement in this country. But when I get on the plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous.”

Yep, Juan that IS the definition of bigot! So Huckabee defends Juan and calls for a boycott of NPR! He calls upon Congress to cut their funding. Go Huck–put another nail in the Muslim vote for GOP. Guess what? You’re a bigot too!

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If you are in the mood for thinking Deeeeply, then go over and read a review of Sam Harris’s, (new Atheist) book, The Moral Landscape: How Science can Determine Moral Values. In it he argues that there is objective moral truth, separate and apart from that brought to you by religion. He sees such questions as empirical and the proper subject of scientific investigation. Wade through it if you dare.

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First there was DADT, and then there wasn’t and then there is again. I’m getting dizzy. I don’t get what is going on with the Administration on this, and I’m just plain tired of them screwing with people’s emotional lives. Get over it, get on with it, and for God’s sake let’s discuss something that really matters! (end of rant!) Lt. Dan Choi has given up on Obama.

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