Review: "The Alphabet of Manliness" by Maddox

My review of "The Alphabet of Manliness" by Maddox can be read here :)

Pure testosterone...now in book format. "The Alphabet of Manliness"

August 24, 2006
By Mark Kogan

You won’t find Big Bird, Elmo or the rest of the Sesame Street gang teaching these A, B, C’s in the morning. With “A” standing for “Ass Kicking”, “B” for “Boners” and “C” for “Copping a Feel” you get the sense that this isn’t your daddies’ alphabet, though maybe it should have been. “The Alphabet of Manliness”, the debut book by internet legend Maddox, hit store shelves May 30, 2006 courtesy of Citadel Press. Since its release it has spent 12 consecutive weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and with the hysterical and surprisingly accurate descriptions and satire of what it truly is to be an alpha male, one can hardly be surprised at its success. Maddox took some time out of his busy book tour and world domination schedule to sit down and give the Daily an exclusive interview concerning his website, his new book, and his ever-increasing popularity.

George Ouzounian, a Utah programmer better known by his online pen name Maddox, is the author of the immensely popular “Best Page in the Universe” (http://maddox.xmission.com) which has become one of the most heavily visited websites on the internet, clocking over 166 million hits to date and having over four million visitors a month. When asked what made him create the website, Maddox responded simply, “Mostly spite. I used to hang out in a chat room for programmers when I was 16. My friends online noticed that I would complain a lot, and they thought it was funny, so I started writing articles to post on my web space that wasn’t being put to use. I originally wrote articles to spite my close friends and family, and by word-of-mouth alone, the site has ballooned.” He likes to point out that he has done no advertising or changed the design of his site to make it more popular, that its popularity is due completely to word-of-mouth, “Some of my critics point out that the site looks like it was designed in 1997,” said Maddox, “Guilty as charged.”

With the immense popularity and the status of being a living internet legend, a book seemed inevitable and Maddox appears to have been planning one for a while. “The primary reason I wrote this book wasn’t for money. That’s not to say that money wasn’t part of the reason, because if it wasn’t, I’d simply donate all the money to charity; but we don’t live in this fantasy Nickelodeon land of make-believe where bills pay themselves, so money is always a factor,” said Maddox, “The main reason I wrote this book was for credibility. The book is a New York Times bestseller. I’m no longer just some dude with a website. People can’t ignore me anymore when I want to move my other projects.”

As for what these projects may be, little was shared, though he did describe his wish to pursue a more diminutive representation of himself, “I’ve wanted to do action figures for a long time now. I want to do a pirate character with lasers and a sword with grenades. He’d come with his own grandpa in a rocking chair who would be abused and yelled at,” said Maddox, “My action figure would rock the universe.” Obviously. He also has a comic book titled “The Best Comic in the Universe” which is to be available in the near future.

The book itself wasn’t easy for Maddox to finally bring to light however, “Writing this book was by far the hardest thing I’ve ever done. It took me six months to write from start to finish, and when I say six months, I mean literally working every day,” said Maddox, “Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Eve, Halloween, etc. There’s so much work that went into creating this book that will never be seen by anyone.”

Along with all the writing its respectable 204 page length, included are 145 illustrations. To find illustrators, Maddox held an open competition through his website from which he picked eight final contestants whom he hired to work on the book. The coordination required to get an illustrative cohesion throughout the “Alphabet” was a task in and of itself. “In order to get a cohesive sense of style throughout this book, I had to write a chat program where the illustrators could upload their work for each other to see,” said Maddox, “Each illustration took about three pages worth of email to coordinate.” The work paid off however, as the illustrations are stylish, crisp and varied, providing a fantastic set of props for Maddox to work with.

But how about the book itself? If you’re new to Maddox’s biting satire and merciless ranting, prepare for a strong case of culture shock. As Maddox clearly states in the forward to his book, “This book is all about men and what men like. It’s the definitive reference book about manliness. If it needs to be shaved, beaten, or sexed, there’s a good chance it’ll be in this book.”

He also provides a disclaimer and a warning to the opposite sex, “If you’re standing around in a bookstore with your thumb up your ass, wondering why someone would have a picture of a man punching a gorilla on the cover of a book, this book isn’t for you. On the other hand, maybe you’re a woman and you’re reading this wondering “Is this book just for men?” I would say that it is only for men in the same way that lesbian porn sites on the Internet are only for women.”

And it only gets more offensive from there.

There is no line of sensitivity or political correctness that Maddox is aware of and that is what makes his work not only conduce hysterical fits of laughter but also ring of the kind of truth that you could never admit to the public for fear of a lawsuit.

From the “M is for Metal”, which describes the “metal effect”(an opposite to the theory of the Mozart effect, which states that playing Mozart to your unborn child will make them smarter, the “metal effect” promotes playing metal through headphones to your testicles to ensure that your kids will be “the meanest sons o’ bitches on the block”) to the “Q is for Quickie” flowchart which guarantees you action (though not who you get it from), little to nothing of what it is to be manly is left out of this book.

Proper role-models like Pirates (P), Lumberjacks (L), and Chuck Norris (N) are addressed, analyzed and worshiped, and simple not-spoken-until-now rules such as urinal etiquette (U) are addressed (“It’s a well-known fact that using a urinal next to another man when you don’t absolutely need to means you want to have sex with him.”).

Yes, it’s rude, it’s crude and it’s terribly, terribly offensive, but that’s what the Maddox experience consists of. Maddox could honestly care less about his critics and even prints his hate mail on the back cover of his book instead of praise, including a hateful piece allegedly from his own mother.

Judging by sales, his admirers definitely outweigh his haters.

Maddox also had some words to pass on to his fans at Stanford, “My fan base, like me, is incredibly smart,” said Maddox, “but as for Stanford, the school is ranked #79 on my list of colleges signed up for my mailing list. Although you beat out Harvard and Yale, there were 78 others with more determination than you. I think there’s only one word to describe Stanford students: underachievers.”

All in all, “The Alphabet of Manliness” truly is the best A-to-Z guide for being a manly man to date and merits a read from anyone owning an extra appendage south of the border along with anyone else who wants to laugh until their sides hurt. If you’re easily offended, steer clear, but if you are looking for a good laugh and an honest and amusing satire of the alpha male in his natural form, look no further than Maddox’s new male bible.

Review: "The Alphabet of Manliness" by Maddox

My review of "The Alphabet of Manliness" by Maddox can be read here :)

Pure testosterone...now in book format. "The Alphabet of Manliness"

August 24, 2006
By Mark Kogan

You won’t find Big Bird, Elmo or the rest of the Sesame Street gang teaching these A, B, C’s in the morning. With “A” standing for “Ass Kicking”, “B” for “Boners” and “C” for “Copping a Feel” you get the sense that this isn’t your daddies’ alphabet, though maybe it should have been. “The Alphabet of Manliness”, the debut book by internet legend Maddox, hit store shelves May 30, 2006 courtesy of Citadel Press. Since its release it has spent 12 consecutive weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and with the hysterical and surprisingly accurate descriptions and satire of what it truly is to be an alpha male, one can hardly be surprised at its success. Maddox took some time out of his busy book tour and world domination schedule to sit down and give the Daily an exclusive interview concerning his website, his new book, and his ever-increasing popularity.

George Ouzounian, a Utah programmer better known by his online pen name Maddox, is the author of the immensely popular “Best Page in the Universe” (http://maddox.xmission.com) which has become one of the most heavily visited websites on the internet, clocking over 166 million hits to date and having over four million visitors a month. When asked what made him create the website, Maddox responded simply, “Mostly spite. I used to hang out in a chat room for programmers when I was 16. My friends online noticed that I would complain a lot, and they thought it was funny, so I started writing articles to post on my web space that wasn’t being put to use. I originally wrote articles to spite my close friends and family, and by word-of-mouth alone, the site has ballooned.” He likes to point out that he has done no advertising or changed the design of his site to make it more popular, that its popularity is due completely to word-of-mouth, “Some of my critics point out that the site looks like it was designed in 1997,” said Maddox, “Guilty as charged.”

With the immense popularity and the status of being a living internet legend, a book seemed inevitable and Maddox appears to have been planning one for a while. “The primary reason I wrote this book wasn’t for money. That’s not to say that money wasn’t part of the reason, because if it wasn’t, I’d simply donate all the money to charity; but we don’t live in this fantasy Nickelodeon land of make-believe where bills pay themselves, so money is always a factor,” said Maddox, “The main reason I wrote this book was for credibility. The book is a New York Times bestseller. I’m no longer just some dude with a website. People can’t ignore me anymore when I want to move my other projects.”

As for what these projects may be, little was shared, though he did describe his wish to pursue a more diminutive representation of himself, “I’ve wanted to do action figures for a long time now. I want to do a pirate character with lasers and a sword with grenades. He’d come with his own grandpa in a rocking chair who would be abused and yelled at,” said Maddox, “My action figure would rock the universe.” Obviously. He also has a comic book titled “The Best Comic in the Universe” which is to be available in the near future.

The book itself wasn’t easy for Maddox to finally bring to light however, “Writing this book was by far the hardest thing I’ve ever done. It took me six months to write from start to finish, and when I say six months, I mean literally working every day,” said Maddox, “Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Eve, Halloween, etc. There’s so much work that went into creating this book that will never be seen by anyone.”

Along with all the writing its respectable 204 page length, included are 145 illustrations. To find illustrators, Maddox held an open competition through his website from which he picked eight final contestants whom he hired to work on the book. The coordination required to get an illustrative cohesion throughout the “Alphabet” was a task in and of itself. “In order to get a cohesive sense of style throughout this book, I had to write a chat program where the illustrators could upload their work for each other to see,” said Maddox, “Each illustration took about three pages worth of email to coordinate.” The work paid off however, as the illustrations are stylish, crisp and varied, providing a fantastic set of props for Maddox to work with.

But how about the book itself? If you’re new to Maddox’s biting satire and merciless ranting, prepare for a strong case of culture shock. As Maddox clearly states in the forward to his book, “This book is all about men and what men like. It’s the definitive reference book about manliness. If it needs to be shaved, beaten, or sexed, there’s a good chance it’ll be in this book.”

He also provides a disclaimer and a warning to the opposite sex, “If you’re standing around in a bookstore with your thumb up your ass, wondering why someone would have a picture of a man punching a gorilla on the cover of a book, this book isn’t for you. On the other hand, maybe you’re a woman and you’re reading this wondering “Is this book just for men?” I would say that it is only for men in the same way that lesbian porn sites on the Internet are only for women.”

And it only gets more offensive from there.

There is no line of sensitivity or political correctness that Maddox is aware of and that is what makes his work not only conduce hysterical fits of laughter but also ring of the kind of truth that you could never admit to the public for fear of a lawsuit.

From the “M is for Metal”, which describes the “metal effect”(an opposite to the theory of the Mozart effect, which states that playing Mozart to your unborn child will make them smarter, the “metal effect” promotes playing metal through headphones to your testicles to ensure that your kids will be “the meanest sons o’ bitches on the block”) to the “Q is for Quickie” flowchart which guarantees you action (though not who you get it from), little to nothing of what it is to be manly is left out of this book.

Proper role-models like Pirates (P), Lumberjacks (L), and Chuck Norris (N) are addressed, analyzed and worshiped, and simple not-spoken-until-now rules such as urinal etiquette (U) are addressed (“It’s a well-known fact that using a urinal next to another man when you don’t absolutely need to means you want to have sex with him.”).

Yes, it’s rude, it’s crude and it’s terribly, terribly offensive, but that’s what the Maddox experience consists of. Maddox could honestly care less about his critics and even prints his hate mail on the back cover of his book instead of praise, including a hateful piece allegedly from his own mother.

Judging by sales, his admirers definitely outweigh his haters.

Maddox also had some words to pass on to his fans at Stanford, “My fan base, like me, is incredibly smart,” said Maddox, “but as for Stanford, the school is ranked #79 on my list of colleges signed up for my mailing list. Although you beat out Harvard and Yale, there were 78 others with more determination than you. I think there’s only one word to describe Stanford students: underachievers.”

All in all, “The Alphabet of Manliness” truly is the best A-to-Z guide for being a manly man to date and merits a read from anyone owning an extra appendage south of the border along with anyone else who wants to laugh until their sides hurt. If you’re easily offended, steer clear, but if you are looking for a good laugh and an honest and amusing satire of the alpha male in his natural form, look no further than Maddox’s new male bible.

Review: "The Alphabet of Manliness" by Maddox

My review of "The Alphabet of Manliness" by Maddox can be read here :)

Pure testosterone...now in book format. "The Alphabet of Manliness"

August 24, 2006
By Mark Kogan

You won’t find Big Bird, Elmo or the rest of the Sesame Street gang teaching these A, B, C’s in the morning. With “A” standing for “Ass Kicking”, “B” for “Boners” and “C” for “Copping a Feel” you get the sense that this isn’t your daddies’ alphabet, though maybe it should have been. “The Alphabet of Manliness”, the debut book by internet legend Maddox, hit store shelves May 30, 2006 courtesy of Citadel Press. Since its release it has spent 12 consecutive weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and with the hysterical and surprisingly accurate descriptions and satire of what it truly is to be an alpha male, one can hardly be surprised at its success. Maddox took some time out of his busy book tour and world domination schedule to sit down and give the Daily an exclusive interview concerning his website, his new book, and his ever-increasing popularity.

George Ouzounian, a Utah programmer better known by his online pen name Maddox, is the author of the immensely popular “Best Page in the Universe” (http://maddox.xmission.com) which has become one of the most heavily visited websites on the internet, clocking over 166 million hits to date and having over four million visitors a month. When asked what made him create the website, Maddox responded simply, “Mostly spite. I used to hang out in a chat room for programmers when I was 16. My friends online noticed that I would complain a lot, and they thought it was funny, so I started writing articles to post on my web space that wasn’t being put to use. I originally wrote articles to spite my close friends and family, and by word-of-mouth alone, the site has ballooned.” He likes to point out that he has done no advertising or changed the design of his site to make it more popular, that its popularity is due completely to word-of-mouth, “Some of my critics point out that the site looks like it was designed in 1997,” said Maddox, “Guilty as charged.”

With the immense popularity and the status of being a living internet legend, a book seemed inevitable and Maddox appears to have been planning one for a while. “The primary reason I wrote this book wasn’t for money. That’s not to say that money wasn’t part of the reason, because if it wasn’t, I’d simply donate all the money to charity; but we don’t live in this fantasy Nickelodeon land of make-believe where bills pay themselves, so money is always a factor,” said Maddox, “The main reason I wrote this book was for credibility. The book is a New York Times bestseller. I’m no longer just some dude with a website. People can’t ignore me anymore when I want to move my other projects.”

As for what these projects may be, little was shared, though he did describe his wish to pursue a more diminutive representation of himself, “I’ve wanted to do action figures for a long time now. I want to do a pirate character with lasers and a sword with grenades. He’d come with his own grandpa in a rocking chair who would be abused and yelled at,” said Maddox, “My action figure would rock the universe.” Obviously. He also has a comic book titled “The Best Comic in the Universe” which is to be available in the near future.

The book itself wasn’t easy for Maddox to finally bring to light however, “Writing this book was by far the hardest thing I’ve ever done. It took me six months to write from start to finish, and when I say six months, I mean literally working every day,” said Maddox, “Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Eve, Halloween, etc. There’s so much work that went into creating this book that will never be seen by anyone.”

Along with all the writing its respectable 204 page length, included are 145 illustrations. To find illustrators, Maddox held an open competition through his website from which he picked eight final contestants whom he hired to work on the book. The coordination required to get an illustrative cohesion throughout the “Alphabet” was a task in and of itself. “In order to get a cohesive sense of style throughout this book, I had to write a chat program where the illustrators could upload their work for each other to see,” said Maddox, “Each illustration took about three pages worth of email to coordinate.” The work paid off however, as the illustrations are stylish, crisp and varied, providing a fantastic set of props for Maddox to work with.

But how about the book itself? If you’re new to Maddox’s biting satire and merciless ranting, prepare for a strong case of culture shock. As Maddox clearly states in the forward to his book, “This book is all about men and what men like. It’s the definitive reference book about manliness. If it needs to be shaved, beaten, or sexed, there’s a good chance it’ll be in this book.”

He also provides a disclaimer and a warning to the opposite sex, “If you’re standing around in a bookstore with your thumb up your ass, wondering why someone would have a picture of a man punching a gorilla on the cover of a book, this book isn’t for you. On the other hand, maybe you’re a woman and you’re reading this wondering “Is this book just for men?” I would say that it is only for men in the same way that lesbian porn sites on the Internet are only for women.”

And it only gets more offensive from there.

There is no line of sensitivity or political correctness that Maddox is aware of and that is what makes his work not only conduce hysterical fits of laughter but also ring of the kind of truth that you could never admit to the public for fear of a lawsuit.

From the “M is for Metal”, which describes the “metal effect”(an opposite to the theory of the Mozart effect, which states that playing Mozart to your unborn child will make them smarter, the “metal effect” promotes playing metal through headphones to your testicles to ensure that your kids will be “the meanest sons o’ bitches on the block”) to the “Q is for Quickie” flowchart which guarantees you action (though not who you get it from), little to nothing of what it is to be manly is left out of this book.

Proper role-models like Pirates (P), Lumberjacks (L), and Chuck Norris (N) are addressed, analyzed and worshiped, and simple not-spoken-until-now rules such as urinal etiquette (U) are addressed (“It’s a well-known fact that using a urinal next to another man when you don’t absolutely need to means you want to have sex with him.”).

Yes, it’s rude, it’s crude and it’s terribly, terribly offensive, but that’s what the Maddox experience consists of. Maddox could honestly care less about his critics and even prints his hate mail on the back cover of his book instead of praise, including a hateful piece allegedly from his own mother.

Judging by sales, his admirers definitely outweigh his haters.

Maddox also had some words to pass on to his fans at Stanford, “My fan base, like me, is incredibly smart,” said Maddox, “but as for Stanford, the school is ranked #79 on my list of colleges signed up for my mailing list. Although you beat out Harvard and Yale, there were 78 others with more determination than you. I think there’s only one word to describe Stanford students: underachievers.”

All in all, “The Alphabet of Manliness” truly is the best A-to-Z guide for being a manly man to date and merits a read from anyone owning an extra appendage south of the border along with anyone else who wants to laugh until their sides hurt. If you’re easily offended, steer clear, but if you are looking for a good laugh and an honest and amusing satire of the alpha male in his natural form, look no further than Maddox’s new male bible.

Who has killed more people, God or Satan?

Brilliant - courtesy of this blog.

09 August 2006

Who has killed more, Satan or God?

In a previous post, I counted the number of people that were killed by the God in the Bible. I came up with 2,128,334, which, of course, greatly underestimates God's total death toll, since it only includes those killings for which specific numbers are given. No attempt was made to include the victims of Noah's flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, or the many plagues, famines, fiery serpents, etc., with which the good book is filled. Still, 2 million is a respectable number even for world class killers.

But how does this compare with Satan? How many did he kill in the Bible?

Well I can only find ten, and even these he shares with God, since God allowed him to do it as a part of a bet. I'm talking about the seven sons and three daughters of Job.

There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job ... And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters.
...
And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? Then Satan answered the LORD ... put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.
...
And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house...And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. -- Job 1:1-19

So it seems that both Satan and God share the blame (or the credit) for these killings. If so, then the tally would be:

	killings
God	2,128,344
Satan	10

No contest.

17 Year Old Boy Escapes Duct Tape Bindings, Stabs Intruder to Death; Saves Family

This kid is an absolute hero.

I hope he gets counseling for this trauma and realizes that it was not his fault and that what he did was the absolute right thing.

Any bleeding heart idiots who want to extol this robber as innocent, stay away - this guy got what he had coming to him.

Sheriff says teen saved family by killing intruder Parents in danger: The boy breaks free of duct tape, plunges knife five times into the man's back By Lisa Rosetta And Jason Bergreen The Salt Lake Tribune

CEDAR CITY - Police in southern Utah are calling a 17-year-old boy a hero after he fatally stabbed an armed intruder who broke into his family's home early Wednesday. Iron County Sheriff Mark Gower described the boy as a level-headed kid "who, in my opinion, saved his family's lives." It all began when a 19-year-old Las Vegas man, who was recently fired from a construction company owned by the family, broke into their home at 2650 N. 2200 West, near Cedar City, and held the boy and his parents at gunpoint, Gower said. The masked intruder, whose name was not released, removed an air conditioning unit from the boy's bedroom window around 4 a.m. and climbed into the home with a semi-automatic pistol, Gower said. He woke the boy and bound him with duct tape. The man then entered the master bedroom and bound the boy's parents with duct tape. At one point, the boy's stepfather began wresting with the intruder. While the stepfather fought with the intruder, the boy was able to free himself. He then pulled a 6-inch hunting knife from beneath his bed, walked into his parents' bedroom and stabbed the intruder five times in the back, Gower said. The intruder continued wrestling with the boy's stepfather until he realized he had lost his gun, Gower said. He then told the family he was leaving and tried to exit through a locked front door. When he couldn't get out, a family member unlocked the deadbolt and let him out. The intruder then collapsed about 100 to 150 feet from the side of the home. The family called police. The boy's mother stood outside wrapped in a blanket next to her husband as paramedics worked on the unconscious man, neighbor Linda Chapman said. She said the couple were visibly upset. "This is spooky because this a very quiet neighborhood," Chapman said. The intruder was transported to Valley View Medical Center in Cedar City, where he was pronounced dead. Gower said the Iron County Attorney's Office wasn't planning on prosecuting the 17-year-old boy. "We feel pretty confident it was justified," Gower said. A 10-year-old girl was also in the home at the time of the break-in, but the intruder did not enter her room and she did not see the attack. "We don't know if [the intruder] was there to even the score or rob them," Gower said. The shaken family left while investigators processed evidence in their home and towed the intruder's car, which was parked about a block from the house. "They're shook up, very shook up, understandably," Gower said. "They've had a lot of emotion with them today."

Bye-Bye BMI

About time health clinics and the government pulled their collective heads out of their asses. BMI is stupid that doesn't count for any variables such as muscle density or lean body mass ratio. Thank God somebody finally woke up.

Maybe I won't be "dangerously obese" anymore - my BMI may say one thing, but my 7 minute mile says another.

By Linda Carroll

MSNBC contributor

Updated: 3:42 p.m. MT Aug 23, 2006

Just last week a study came out showing that being overweight wasn’t likely to kill you. Then yesterday, two more studies were published saying that by packing on only a few extra pounds, you could significantly increase your risk of premature death.

At first glance, these three studies might lead to considerable confusion — and a devil-may-care attitude towards weight gain.

But experts emphasize there’s no real doubt that obesity raises the risk of death as well as serious conditions like heart disease, stroke and diabetes.

---

The real question, says Dr. Donald Cutlip, an associate professor of medicine at the Harvard Medical School, is whether body mass index is a good measure to determine whether someone is overweight.

The conflicting studies, each based on BMI scores, point out flaws with the common measure, basically a comparison of height to weight.

New research shows that there’s a better, more informative way to figure out if you are overweight — the waist-to-hip ratio — and all it requires is a measuring tape.

Too buff, too old
The first salvo in the latest obesity debate popped up last week in the British journal The Lancet. The study found that among patients with heart disease, death was actually less likely if a person was overweight. And obesity appeared to be downright protective.

The authors of the study pinned the unexpected results on BMI.

“Rather than proving that obesity is harmless, our data suggest that alternative methods might be needed to better characterize individuals who truly have excess body fat,” said the study’s lead researcher Francisco Lopez-Jiminez of the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine.

Cutlip agrees that BMI can be way off, especially when it comes to assessing a particular individual. The commonly used measure can give a skewed result not only for fit body builders who come out with a high number because of the extra weight associated with muscle, but also for the elderly, who tend to have scores that underestimate obesity because they have so much less muscle.

When it comes to large population studies, the measurement usually works well because BMI does give the right answer when averaged across many people. There were other flaws with the Lancet study, Cutlip says.

Still, most of us aren’t taking our measurements as part of a big study. We’re simply trying to figure out if we’re at a healthy weight or not. And in that case, BMI may not be the best way to find that out.

Hipper measurement
The best way to predict heart attack risk and other obesity-related diseases is a measurement that divides the circumference of your waist by your hips.

If you’re a woman, the waist-to-hip ratio should come out as no more than 0.8. Men have a little more wiggle room: a healthy waist-to-hip ratio for them is 0.95.

This means, if your belly has bulged out enough to catch up to the size of your hips, you should start worrying about your heart, experts say.

That’s because abdominal fat is more likely than fat stored in other spots to lead to changes in hormone levels and to cause inflammation, which in turn leads to clogged arteries, says Dr. Gordon A. Ewy, a professor and chief of cardiology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, and director of the school’s Sarver Heart Center. So, “fat on a woman’s hips doesn’t seem to increase risk, whereas a beer belly does,” Ewy says.

Fat stored in the belly "is the most dangerous type of fat in our bodies," explains Dr. William Castelli, director of the Framingham Cardiovascular Institute.

The waist-to-hip measurement is likely to catch people at risk for fat-related diseases who might otherwise think they were at a healthy weight, based on their BMI scores.

It’s quite possible to have an acceptable BMI and still have some belly paunch, says Dr. Louis Aronne, clinical professor of medicine at the Weill-Cornell Medical College and director of the Comprehensive Weight Control Program at New York Presbyterian Hospital.

Certain groups of people — those from Japan and south Asia, for example — tend not to become obese but can have an increased risk of heart disease from storing small amounts of fat around their waists, Aronne says. “You can be thin and still have too much fat,” he adds.

Linda Carroll is a health and science writer living in New Jersey. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Newsday, Health magazine, Smart Money and Neurology Now.

© 2006 MSNBC Interactive

Young techie is in a political race against the RIAA's favorite senator. Guess who has more money?

Good for him - America needs guys with some cajones in their slacks rather than stuffed wallets.

I hope he wins.

I <3 MySpace

Hahahahahahahaha

Satan not as evil as once thought...

Heh, can you imagine all the poor metal bands that will have to rethink their image because of this wonderful news?



Once again - another big DUH for anyone who has actually read/studied the Bible and another huge SHOCK to Christians everywhere!



*****

He's not the enemy of God, his name really isn't Lucifer and he isn't even evil. And as far as leading Adam and Eve astray, that was a bad rap stemming from a case of mistaken identity.

"There's little or no evidence in the Bible for most of the characteristics and deeds commonly attributed to Satan," insists a UCLA professor with four decades in what he describes as "the devil business."

In "Satan: A Biography" (Cambridge Press), Henry Ansgar Kelly puts forth the most comprehensive case ever made for sympathy for the devil, arguing that the Bible actually provides a kinder, gentler version of the infamous antagonist than typically thought.

"A strict reading of the Bible shows Satan to be less like Darth Vader and more and more like an overzealous prosecutor," said Kelly, a UCLA professor emeritus of English and the former director of the university's Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies. "He's not so much the proud and angry figure who turns away from God as [he is] a Joseph McCarthy or J. Edgar Hoover. Satan's basic intention is to uncover wrongdoing and treachery, however overzealous and unscrupulous the means. But he's still part of God's administration."

The view runs in opposition to the beliefs held by many Christians and others about key religious concepts like original sin and the nature of good and evil.

"If Satan isn't really in opposition to God and he isn't really evil, then that means the fight between good and evil isn't an authentic part of Christianity," Kelly said. "What I'm saying will be scandalous to some people."

But what would you expect of someone's whose 72nd birthday fell this year on June 6 (06-06-06) and who felt disappointed when nothing momentous occurred that day? Actually, Kelly is no stranger to bubble-bursting. After digging deep into the history of Valentine's Day, he pronounced 20 years ago that he had not only uncovered the holiday's origins but that it should be celebrated in May, not February.

Still, if Kelly could be considered scandalous, it's not because he doesn't know any better. Kelly started his academic career at a Jesuit seminary and was ordained in four of the seven holy orders on the way to the priesthood, including the order of exorcist.

"It was at that time that I started my campaign to rehabilitate the devil — to deliver him from evil, as it were," Kelly said.

"Satan: A Biography" is the culmination of more than 40 years of research into the devil and religious and cultural traditions that have grown up around him. The book is Kelly's third on the topic.

When it comes to the Old Testament, Kelly insists that Satan's profile is considerably lower than commonly thought and significantly less menacing. By Kelly's count, Satan only appears three times in the 45 books that make up the pre-Christian scriptures, the best known being in the Book of Job. On each occasion, Satan is still firmly part of what Kelly calls "God's administration," and his activities are done at the behest of "the Big Guy." But his actions aren't evil so much as consistent with the translation of "devil" and "satan," which literally mean "adversary" in Greek and Hebrew, respectively.

"His job is to test people's virtue and to report their failures," Kelly said.

Perhaps most surprising is not the figure Satan cuts, but his notable absences in the Old Testament. In the Bible's first reference to Lucifer, for instance, Satan doesn't appear — even by implication, Kelly points out. "'Lucifer' is Latin for light-bearer," he said, and was the name given to the morning star, or the planet Venus. Originally written in ancient Hebrew, the passage, on face value, refers to the tyrannical Babylonian king who boasts of his conquests but who is "about to be cast to the ground." Kelly insists there's nothing more to the reference than an apt use of metaphor, but the third-century Christian philosopher Origen of Alexandria argued in his best known work, "On First Things," that the reference applied to Satan.

"Origen says, 'Lucifer is said to have fallen from Heaven,'" Kelly explained. "'This can't refer to a human being, so it must refer to Satan.' Subsequent church fathers found this reasoning persuasive, and so did everyone who followed them."

Ironically, the only mentions of Lucifer in the New Testament — and there are three of them — refer to Jesus, Kelly said. "Jesus is called 'Lucifer' or 'the morning star' because he represents a new beginning."

Another prominent omission in the Old Testament, Kelly said, can be found in Genesis. "Nobody in the Old Testament — or, for that matter, in the New Testament either — ever identifies the serpent of Eden with Satan," Kelly said. "The serpent is just the smartest animal, and he's motivated by envy after being jilted by Adam for Eve."

Kelly traces the correlation of Satan and the serpent to not long after the New Testament was completed. In his "Dialogue With Trypho," the second-century Christian martyr Justin of Samaria first argued that Satan appeared as a serpent to tempt Adam and Eve to disobey God, according to Kelly.

"This is what I call 'The New Biography,'" Kelly said. "It starts with Justin Martyr, who implicates Satan in the fall of Adam and Eve. By causing Adam and Eve to fall, Satan caused his own fall.

"The second step in this new and phony biography comes with Origen, who said, 'No, Satan's first sin was not deceiving Adam and Eve or refusing to go along with God's plan of creating Adam in his own image,'" Kelly said. "'It was to sin out of pride like the morning star, like Lucifer in the passage from Isaiah.' Turning Satan into God's enemy is a two-step process."

Meanwhile, in passages in Luke, Matthew, Corinthians and elsewhere in the New Testament, Satan continues to act as a tester, enforcer and prosecutor but not as God's enemy, Kelly points out.

"Everyone else has said that by the time Satan gets to the New Testament, he is evil, he's an enemy of God, but that's not so," Kelly said. "The whole biblical picture of Satan is that of a bad cop to Yaweh's good cop in the Old Testament, and to Jesus' good cop in the New Testament. Throughout, Satan is someone who works for God."

A scene in the New Testament's Book of Revelation is often cited today as evidence that Satan was the deceiver of Adam and Eve, but the interpretation stems from a fundamental misunderstanding, Kelly argues.

"'That ancient serpent' refers to the giant sea serpent Leviathan, not the garden snake of Eden," he said. "In Revelation, Leviathan has morphed into a dragon, or large serpent, with the seven heads and 10 horns, which is still further removed from the seductive serpent who deceived Eve."

In addition to linking Satan with the Garden of Eden, the passage from Revelation also has been used to prove that Satan fell early on in the Bible, but Kelly insists that is not accurate.

"Satan's ouster from heaven in Revelation is explained as taking place in the future," Kelly said. "In Revelation 12:10, a voice says that 'the accuser of our brothers is cast out, overcome by the testimony of martyrs.' Since there were no martyrs until Christ died, that has to be in the future."

Similarly, a passage in the Gospel of Luke, when Jesus reports having seen "Satan fall like lightning," has been misinterpreted, according to Kelly. "Jesus saw the fall in the past because he had the vision the day before he describes it to the apostles," Kelly said. "But Jesus is referring to a future fall [of Satan] from his position as God's attorney general."

This is not to say, however, that Kelly contends that Satan is likeable.

"Jesus doesn't like him, and Paul doesn't like him," Kelly explained. "He represents the old guard in the heavenly bureaucracy, and everyone longs for him to be disbarred as the chief accuser of humankind."

50% of Christians deny their faith after college. Anyone else not surprised?

"I was Catholic until I reached the age of reason." - George Carlin



Christian's worried about 'leftist indoctrination' of our youth.

Good discussion/flame war of this over at Fark and ACF

With memories of high school graduation still fresh on their minds, millions of parents will send their children off to college in the coming weeks. For parents, the time is a bitter-sweet milestone. For students, it marks the beginning of a quest for freedom.

But what students and parents don’t realize is that today’s campuses are functioning as an indoctrination into the realm of liberalism. As early as the 1790s, Yale college students were openly disavowing Christ. Despite periods of revival, the denial of Christian beliefs and the acceptance of secularism have persisted and gained strength through the years.

In April 2000, Tufts University in Massachusetts decertified a Christian student group “for its refusal to allow a lesbian to run for president,” as columnist Matt Kaufman reported on Boundless.org. The decision was later repealed.

Yet, six years later, students at the University of Michigan may sign up for “Lesbian Worlds: Subject, Object and Representation,” “Introduction to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender and Queer Studies” and other homosexual-based offerings for the 2006 fall semester.

It is obvious that the Left has a prominent place on public, private, secular and Christian campuses and is so convincing that some Christians are denying their faith while other students are forming a personal set of beliefs for the first time.

In his book University of Destruction, David Wheaton cites research by Dr. Gary Railsback and the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA. Wheaton wrote, “Depending on the type of college attended, as many as 51% of students who claimed to be ‘born-again Christians’ as freshmen said they were no longer born-again Christians four years later.” (See chart on facing page.)

“The trial everyone has heard about – but most people underrate – is the sheer spiritual disorientation of the modern campus,” wrote J. Budziszewski in a Focus on the Family magazine article.

“Methods of indoctrination are likely to include not only required courses, but also freshman orientation, speech codes, mandatory diversity training, dormitory policies, guidelines for registered student organizations and mental health counseling,” Budziszewski added.

“[T]he modern university, having lost its moral convictions, has attached itself to relativistic doctrines such as tolerance and diversity, which mean, in practice, tolerance of anything but Biblical faith and traditional morality.”

Signaling left
Budziszewski’s claims ring true for Noah Riner, who was the 2005-2006 student body president at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire – a college founded in 1769 to provide Native Americans with a Christian-based education.

Riner delivered the university’s convocation speech last fall. In it, he named Jesus as the solution to flawed humanity and as the ultimate example of character based on His sacrificial love. Riner intended to challenge students to think about what kind of people they would become.

“So in talking about that I couldn’t help but talk about Christ. … [and] living for Him and knowing what our purpose as humans is,” he explained. “[After all], what is the purpose of education, if not to use it for Him?”

But many – both friends and foes – in the Dartmouth community felt differently and spoke out in e-mails as well as articles, op-ed columns and a retaliating cartoon in the student newspaper, The Dartmouth. The controversy even resulted in the resignation of one of the student assembly’s vice presidents, Kaelin Goulet, who claimed she could no longer work with Riner because she considered “his choice of topic for the Convocation speech reprehensible and an abuse of power,” according to The Christian Post.

The Post also reported that the editorial board of The Dartmouth wrote, “The problem with Riner’s speech was his insinuation that turning to Jesus is the only way to find character.”

“I definitely knew that a lot of people would disagree with me in terms of calling Jesus the best example of character and also claiming Him as Savior,” Riner admitted. “I didn’t anticipate the reaction being … as passionately opposed to me as it was, though.

“[I]t was hard [for people] to believe that somebody, some educated, intelligent person believed in God, believed in Jesus Christ and was willing to talk about it,” he explained. “I think it represents [that] a lot of people haven’t heard the Gospel – even in our country.”

Although some of his relationships were strained, Riner took time to respond in person to the people who were upset by his comments. Doing so allowed him to meet new people and gave him the opportunity to talk to some who were contemplating Christianity.

“I don’t think I necessarily changed a lot of people’s minds, … but it was good in that people felt like they had been heard,” Riner explained. “They understood me a little more, and I understood where they were coming from.” And perhaps a seed was planted in the process.

The need for evangelism in addition to the school’s superior academic reputation is the reason this Kentucky-raised, Baptist-bred home schooler attended Dartmouth – a campus where religion is not taken seriously and where humanism is perceived as the predominant worldview.

“[I] just believed that I could make a difference there,” Riner said. “I think that … our calling that Jesus has mandated is to go into all the world and preach the Gospel. So I think it’s pretty sad when Christians abandon entire areas of our culture, and … I think it’s pretty dangerous to let bad ideas go unchallenged.”

But what does it take for a college student to get to this point where he can stand firm in his beliefs despite the pressures of liberal opposition?

Turning right
For Noah, as for anyone, it’s all about salvation and spiritual preparation.

“Being a ‘good kid’ wasn’t going to be nearly enough to survive college. …” Wheaton wrote of his first few weeks at Stanford University. “My (paltry) desire to adhere to the Christian values with which I had been raised was overwhelmed by the temptations and pleasures of college life.”

These temptations can turn to assaults when exacerbated by sin. Kaufman said students should expect to be assaulted intellectually, emotionally and socially.

To combat the intellectual assault, Kaufman believes Christian students “shouldn’t have an inferiority complex about Christianity.” Rather they should deepen their thinking and consider what it means to be a Christian by immersing themselves in great Christian literature.

“[K]nowing that the Christian worldview is viable and that it makes sense to look at the world from a Biblical standpoint [is so important],” Riner added.

When it comes to emotional and social preparation, Kaufman said it is important for students to plug into a church and to get into relationships with other Christians, both peers and mentors.

“But there’s also the spiritual preparedness that just comes from knowing God and walking with God and knowing His will,” Riner said.

Therefore, Christians need preparation of both the heart and head, according to author Nancy Pearcey.

“If all we give them [young people] is a ‘heart’ religion, it will not be strong enough to counter the lure of attractive but dangerous ideas,” Pearcey wrote in her book Total Truth.

“Young believers also need a ‘brain’ religion – training in worldview and apologetics – to equip them to analyze and critique the competing worldviews they will encounter when they leave home,” she added.

“Parents should try to make sure that their children are grounded in apologetics before sending them off,” said Dr. Richard Howe, a writer in Christian apologetics and a former college professor.

“Training young people to develop a Christian mind is no longer an option; it is part of their necessary survival equipment,” Pearcey wrote.

“This does not mean that the students would have to have all the answers before they go,” Howe added. “But it does mean that, if the need arises for an answer, they will know where to go and with whom to consult when the intellectual battle starts to rage. And it most certainly will rage.”

Today's "Obvious" News Story...

'Gangsterism' harming black people! Say it ain't so! I think the rappers that make millions of enforcing such a negative stereotype would beg to differ Mr. Sharpton.


Sharpton: 'Gangsterism' Harming Blacks

Many potential young black leaders fall under the spell of the "gangster mentality" and are preventing themselves from making a positive impact in politics, the Rev. Al Sharpton said Thursday.

The key to leadership is having the individual initiative to change the status quo, said Sharpton, who spoke during the annual conference of the National Association of Black Journalists.

Sharpton, who is considering another run for president, faulted Hollywood and the record industry for making "gangsterism" seem cool and acceptable.

"We have got to get out of this gangster mentality, acting as if gangsterism and blackness are synonymous," he said. "I think that challenge has to be given to Hollywood and the record industry. I think we've allowed a whole generation of young people to feel that if they're focused, they're not black enough. If they speak well and act well, they're acting white, and there's nothing more racist than that."

Sharpton's National Action Network is just one group willing to help get young blacks into politics, he said.

"Nobody broke in my house in Brooklyn and dragged me out the projects and made me a leader, I wanted to do that. Clearly, we would work with young people who want to do the work," he said.

Lottie Shackelford, vice chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, said during the same panel discussion that the time is ripe for getting more young blacks involved.

"So many young folks are waiting to be asked, or they say they want others to move so they can gain a slot, and I say, there's room for everybody. Let's work together," she said.

Sharpton, who ran for president in 2004, competing in several Democratic primaries, said he might run again in 2008. He will watch this November's elections before making up his mind.

Sharpton noted that Congress has several up-and-coming black political stars, such as Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois - the nation's only black senator - and Rep. Harold Ford Jr. of Tennessee, who is running for Senate.

He says he plans to monitor several races this fall that involve black Republicans.

Sharpton said, however, that the media should be careful before reporting that blacks are moving toward Republican leadership positions, as this year's black GOP candidates "may be yesterday's news come November."



Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed

And Justice For All?

Holy crap - I don't even know what to say here, this is just sick.

Judge: Boys can serve sentence after football season

Associated Press

KENTON, Ohio - A judge decided two teenagers can complete their high school football seasons before they serve 60 day jail sentences for a car crash caused by a decoy deer placed in a country road. Two teens were injured.

Judge Gary McKinley, a retired Union County juvenile judge hearing the case in Hardin County Common Pleas Court, said he knows his decision will be criticized.

"I shouldn't be doing this, but I'm going to. I see positive things about participating in football," he told Dailyn Campbell, a junior quarterback.

The judge's office said he had no further comment Wednesday because of pending cases.

Campbell, 16, and Jesse Howard, 17, were each sentenced Tuesday to juvenile detention, to start after the football season this fall at Kenton High School.

Teens stole the decoy from a man's home and created a base to help it stand upright because it had only two legs, Hardin County Prosecutor Brad Bailey told the judge. They drove up and down the road watching as drivers swerved to avoid the decoy. Bailey said Howard didn't stop the prank.

Robert Roby Jr. of Kenton swerved to avoid the decoy deer on Nov. 18, and crashed his car into a pole and fence. His neck, collar bone, arm and leg were broken, and he has undergone 10 surgeries. His passenger, Dustin Zachariah, has brain damage, Bailey said.

"None of these guys will ever know what our sons have gone through," Roby's mother, Mary, wrote in a statement to the court. "If they get nothing for what they've done, they'll do something worse later. They need more than a slap on the wrist."

McKinley also placed the two teens on house arrest. They must pay fines and restitution, perform community service and write a 500-word essay titled "Why I should think before I act."

The judge suspended two one-year juvenile prison sentences for each boy.

In July, Campbell and Howard each pleaded no contest to two counts of vehicular vandalism and juvenile charges of delinquency by possession of criminal tools and misdemeanor theft.

Trials are scheduled in the fall for three other defendants.

Family and friends of the injured teens did not attend Howard's sentencing, leaving the courtroom after Campbell was sentenced.

"They said they would not attend this hearing as their own way of showing protest to the previous ruling," Bailey told the judge.

Zachariah now has the cognitive ability of a sixth grader, said his mother, Kathy Piper. When he applied for a job two weeks ago, he couldn't do the simple math on the application test, she said.

The teens' medical bills have reached $700,000 and are expected to top $1 million, Bailey said.

Both Campbell and Howard apologized during their sentencing hearings.

"I think every day that I hurt someone, and that hurts me inside," Howard said.

Is it just me - or has the judicial system in this country lost it's goddamn mind? Those kids should be put away for quiete some time and be forced to pay a percetange of their income for the rest of their lives to those poor innocent kids whose lives they utterly ruined. The judge needs to be disabarred for life. Period. No questions asked. That's just disgusting.

New Teen Car Craze: Ghost Riding the Whip - EVERYBODY PANIC

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=2314590&page=1

Aug. 15, 2006 — Young people have always been drawn to risky behavior, and the latest dangerous thrill is called "ghost riding the whip."

Ghost riding involves leaving the wheel of a moving car and walking, running, or dancing beside it.

It's a craze that's catching on, especially on the Internet, with young people making and posting hundreds of ghost-riding videos online.

Teens ghost ride on suburban roads, in parking lots, and on the freeway.

Some of the stunts are highly choreographed, with kids jumping in and out of moving cars.

One tape of a ghost-riding stunt shows a teenager wrapping up his stunt just as a school bus approaches.

Another shows a ghost rider losing control completely, his truck crashing into a fire hydrant and a utility pole.

"First thing a parent should say to their kid is, 'Don't participate in that activity,'" said Mark Helms, the assistant chief of the Stockton, Calif., police department. "It's extremely dangerous."

Goal Is to Fail

Ghost riding is an updated version of car surfing, which has been going on for decades and has killed young people across the country.

A group of teens from Nashville, Tenn., who made a ghost-riding tape acknowledged that it probably wasn't that smart, but that they would do it again.

"Ghost ride was started not to see people succeed, but to see people fail," Jonathan Lovecchio said. "They want to see people run into trees, run over their foot."

Ghost riding appears to have taken off as a result of popular rapper E-40, who has a song where he repeatedly chants, "Ghost ride the whip."

"Whip" is slang for car. E-40's song is the backdrop for many of the ghost-riding videos on the Web.

"We would have never done this without the song that we were playing," Lovecchio said. "If you don't play that song, you are not a ghost rider."

In cities like Stockton, officials say ghost riding is a growing problem, especially when it is part of what's called "sideshows" — illegal group gatherings characterized by loud music and automobile acrobatics.

Sideshows have reportedly resulted in eight deaths.

"Parents need to be responsible and know what their kids are doing," Helms said. "It's very likely that your child could get hurt out there."

Stockton police say in the last four months, they've arrested 171 people and impounded 482 cars at sideshows.

Rapper E-40 and his record label, Warner Bros., had no comment when asked about the song.




And - to inform you better - here is the song "Tell Me When To Go" explained;


It's kind of like the macarena for cars...



Here is some explanation.




Ghost-ride the whip (explained in the article)

Now Scrape (not sure)

Put your stunna shades on (put on Aviator style glasses)

Now, gas, brake, dip, dip (exactly what it sounds like, hit the gas, hit the break, and your car dips)

Shake them dreads (shake your dreadlocks - E-40 has dreads and shaking them is part of 'Going Dumb' (mentioned later))

Let me see you show ya grill (show your 'grill' - one's teeth/smile, usually with alterations)

Now Thizz-Face (the Thizz-face is a term coined by Bay Area rapper Mac Dre, which he describes as "first i do like dis i put a look on my face like i smell some piss")

An example:


Doors open, man. (Make sure your doors are open...)

Now... Watch em swang (...and watch them swing as your car drives)


Go stupid, Go Dumb (Going dumb is a Bay Area term/type of dancing, defined as the Bay Area's version of "Get Crunk")

The Tolerant South

The ever-loving south...

http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/15275899.htm

Dispute unfurls beyond Meade

BY DEB GRUVER AND DION LEFLER

The Wichita Eagle

Jaime Oppenheimer/The Wichita Eagle

Robin and JR Knight play with their dog Kuma in front of their bed and breakfast, the Lakeway Hotel and Restaurant, in Meade. The rainbow flag was given to them by their 12-year-old son, who said it reminded him of Kansas and "The Wizard of Oz."

MEADE - Usually a storm precedes a rainbow. But in Meade, the rainbow is the storm. Weeks after the owners of the historic Lakeway Hotel started flying a rainbow flag in the middle of this town of about 2,000, a flap about gay rights, small-town politics and "California ways" is still the talk of the local truck stop.

Now the story has spread beyond the home of the Dalton Gang Museum, with mentions in a national gay and lesbian magazine and spots on CNN and radio talk shows.

People who had never heard of Meade now are blogging about it on the Internet.

"JR" and Robin Knight say the flag was a gift from their son. He sent it from California because, they say, it reminded him of Kansas and "The Wizard of Oz."

But after the Meade newspaper took a picture of the flag and identified it as a symbol of gay pride in a photo caption, a lot has happened.

Many people quit coming to the restaurant the Knights run inside the 10-room inn they've owned for almost two years.

Someone cut down the flag.

The Knights put another one up.

Recently, someone flung two bricks -- with expletives written on them -- through a front window, destroying two neon signs along the way.

But if the purpose is to run the Knights, who moved to Kansas from southern California, out of business and out of town, they say it's not working.

The worldwide attention is helping business, they say.

Odd spot for gay rights

Meade, about 170 miles southwest of Wichita, is far from the leading edge of the gay rights movement.

Eighty-nine percent of voters in Meade County cast ballots in favor of a 2005 state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and civil unions.

Out of 105 Kansas counties, Meade had the sixth-highest percentage voting for the amendment.

But Thomas Witt, head of the Kansas Equality Coalition, a group whose mission is to end discrimination based on sexual orientation, said he doesn't see evidence of widespread gay intolerance in the town.

"We really think it's not the whole town," he said. "Most of the people out there are live-and-let-live; that's their culture. There's a few bad apples out there who think it's OK to write hate speech attached to a brick and throw it though people's windows."

On Monday, the Knights shared with a visitor a thick notebook filled with e-mails, cards and letters from people who support their right to fly the rainbow flag, for whatever reason.

'A nice scrap of news'

The southwest Kansas chapter of the equality coalition held its regular meeting Sunday at the Lakeway Hotel. "The meeting was fine," Witt said.

Although there was talk of a demonstration, only about half a dozen young men actually showed up to protest the meeting, he said.

"They said their piece... that they didn't want us in town," Witt said. Then, they left and drove up and down the street, he said.

Anne Mitchell, the coalition's southwest Kansas representative, said her job takes her to Meade a couple of times a month, and she's found most of the townspeople to be "hardworking, caring and decent folks."

"I just feel like it (the flag flap) is the isolated actions of a few people who got fired up and are acting out," she said.

Several people have suggested holding a gay-pride parade in Meade.

Barbara Wilcox, who covered the story for PlanetOut Network, an online community for gays and lesbians, said it captured people's imaginations because it hit the Web just about the same time the Washington Supreme Court voted to uphold that state's gay marriage ban.

Wilcox said most of her readers saw Knight as someone standing up for gay and lesbian people despite pressure to back down.

"It was kind of a nice scrap of news on a bad day," she said. "Having the guy's flag out there meant a lot to gay and lesbian people all over the world. That's not a small thing."

'It's ruined the city'

But not everyone likes the flag.

"I don't go for it," lifelong Meade resident Bob Mabery, 73, said Monday, sipping coffee. "It's ruined the city of Meade."

Meade, he said, was a "respectful little town, but this has practically destroyed it."

When asked how a flag has destroyed a town, Mabery said it's just gotten everybody's ire up.

For a while he was so upset he quit going to the Chuck Wagon Restaurant for his coffee.

"No one's going to go around that place," Mabery said of the Lakeway. But he doesn't hate gay people, he quickly added.

"I guess I'm just one who thinks it belongs in the closet."

Sitting at a table near him, Beverly Bennett said she's not upset about the flag so much as she is about JR Knight coming into town with his "California ways."

"He bellyaches about a lot of stuff" at City Council meetings, she said.

The flag issue isn't the real problem, she said. It's the Knights' attitude.

"I've known some gay people, and they don't bother me a bit as long as they don't push it on me," she said.

It would be OK with her if the Knights flew 50 rainbow flags outside the hotel, as long as they were not on the same pole as the American flag.

She'd feel that way about any type of flag, she said.

'It really is surreal'

When the Knights moved to Meade, they ran into trouble with an electric bill-related lien on their new property dating back two owners and one year.

They fought the $4,800 special assessment on their tax bill, and that made others angry.

"It's been hell since we moved here. It really is surreal," JR Knight said.

He said he resents people calling him a malcontent when all he's doing is standing up for his rights.

He attends most City Council meetings and often talks at them. He also started videotaping the meetings, and that hasn't sat well with some city leaders, he said.

City Council member Curtis Hale said he thinks the problems between Knight and the city have been blown out of proportion.

"Let's put it this way, the (flag) issue is not with the city at all," he said. "We've got nothing to do with it."

He said the council voted to remove the lien and Knight "doesn't owe our city a dime," Hale said.

Hale said Knight has made complaints about open meetings, but Hale said that's Knight's right and it doesn't bother him.

"The council has no qualms with JR I know of," he said.

Meanwhile, words of encouragement keep coming in to the Lakeway Hotel from people across the map who had never heard of Meade before but now have it on their list of places to visit.

True.dat

On an interesting thread over at ACF on assisted suicide, which is a whole seperate discussion, the fan favorite topic of freedom was brought up.

Scrolling through, I found this post - which in my opinion crystallizes what I feel is the issue with the "freedom" issue in our country.

By poster deadcactus

There is no such thing as freedom for more than an individual. It's a gimmick, a buzzword. It's used to justify sending young men to die for something that doesn't affect them and to bust some heads when something doesn't go your way. There's only a balance between some authority leaving you alone and your peers leaving you alone.

Why does appreciation matter? Because people don't know wtf they want. This countries full of angry, angst-filled people trying desperately to find something to fight for. Something to get riled up over. Then they pick something as ridiculous as freedom in the US to be thier crusade. Why? Because the government has laws over who can kill who? Because the government has laws over what substances are allowed in a community? That's just bull. That's just taking the word freedom out of context and making it about your own rights and not everyone's rights.

Yes we have some laws that need to be changed (and I agree that assisted suicide should be legal). But to sit here and rant on the internet, pretending we are oppressed (ignoring the fact that you are demonstrating your freedom to question the government publicly; which is the one freedom that really matters), is asanine. As long as the people have the power to question the government and to change the laws they disagree with; pretending we are oppressed is ridiculous. Pretendign we lack freedom is ridiculous.

And it's that very lack of appreciation for what freedom we do have that threatens our freedoms. The whole idea that we are helpess and captive to our government is the kind of asanine idea that causes people to not even bother trying to get a law changed. They sit around and complain and wait for someone else to do something so they jump in wit hsupport and pretend they played a part. You act as if you're already oppressed, so what insentive does any government have to give up the reigns? The country's already mentally defeated if we believe we're oppressed. If we already think we have so little freedom, what's it going to matter if they take a little more.

Appreciation and understanding for what freedom we have is cornerstone to maintaining freedom...

So where are all the peace-loving Muslims?

After yesterday's lucky catch I have only one question. Where is the Muslim community and why are they not standing up to denounce these barbaric extremists who want nothing more than to murder the innocent?

Why is this 'religion of peace' not making a statement that 'we will not, cannot, and do not support this kind of thought or action'? Why are they not educating their children publically about this? Why are there no new avenues of communication with the general public so as to avoid a rift within societies? Why don't Muslims stand up and be heard that "this is not our religion".


If they do not stand up, they are doomed to the same stereotyped image that their extremists brethern have earned. And if they do not speak out, they deserve it.




An interesting point of view on the topic from a forum...

Where are all the peace-loving muslims, marching to end the violence of their own people? Cowering in the basement, that's where they are. I'm certain there are millions of muslims who frown on the actions of their countrymen, and the reason they cower and hide is because they know the hate and violence the radical element is capable of. They live with it because it's better than dying. The law of religion is above the law of the land, and it is in the constitution of most every ME country that any law which challenges Sharia law is null and void. How can someone expect to express a desire for peace when they know that they will be dead before they can take another breath?

There are three types of people in a muslim country: The radical minority, the silent majority which is non-violent but generally agrees with the radicals, and the last group are those who want peace, harmony and progression of culture. The majority look the other way when the radical element strikes out. That small group of people who truly want peace will never be able to stand up and make change while radical muslims are there to stamp it down murderously. As I stated in another post:

- Iraqi shepherds are being murdered for not diapering their sheep. There is so much agression and sexual tension among the radicals that they find the sight of a sheep's behind arousing.. And Sharia law prohibits the carnal temptation. Obviously, it's the shepherds' fault for not hiding the genitals, and they are being murdered for it.

- An Iraqi high cleric issued a warning that Iraqi grocers are not to arrange the vegetables in seductive poses. The radicals see a table of veggies and become turned on, which is again in conflict of Sharia law. And this is so commonplace that an Imam placed a holy order forbidding it. The punishment if someone is turned on by your carrot and potato arrangement? Death. Death to you, your family, and all the workers at your vegetable stand.

How can someone expect sanity and rational behavior in a place where people murder because of the seductive poses of sheep and vegetables? It's impossible, and the US is going to have a tough time trying to insert Western ideals and democracy into a place that is completely unready for it.

Are we fighting the good fight by being there? Yes, but it's not enough. The people who want to make change are still domineered because we haven't killed enough radicals and those who passively support them, and because we're spread too thin. The US is trying to fight a 'nation' war against an enemy which has no borders. And when over 1 billion people see the US as the 'Great Satan' and 'Jew-loving infidels', some unconventional methods of warfare are needed. Breaking free of the paradigm of warfare which the US is currently stuck in will be a bloody, painful lesson to learn. In this politically-correct culture, we're unready to face an enemy as barbaric as the radical militant muslims. In this current mindset, it's impossible to win against an enemy which doesn't really mind dying.

Some decent discussion over on this thread at ACF.


Best quote that really paints the picture...

Sadly there is a critical element here that everyone misses. The lebanese may not have a choice regarding Hezzbollah... but they are technically a sovereign nation. As such they, the citizens of labanon, have a RESPONSIBILITY to prevent any non governmental forces from waging war from their territory. Failure to make any effort to do so is a complicit act of war.

The citizens of Lebanaon are the ones who must deny the terrorists refuge and aid. They must not let them shelter amongst their populace. They are the only ones who can actually and legitimately discriminate between the criminal terrorists and the regular civilian population. No foreign power has the capability, the will or the obligation to discriminate between a hostile nations civilian population and an illegal non uniformed combatant force. Only the locals can disarm and do away with Hezzbollah.

And as for how innocent and outside of the conflict the Lebanese people and government are... Hezzbollah was elected to several seats in the government, so they are members of the official Lebanese state. Since the outset of hostilities when Hezzbollah acted unilaterally to take their country to war not one Hezzbollah leader has been arrested detained, questioned or even criticised by lebanese government officials. An armed minority member of the government chose to wage war on a neighbor without the majority consensus, and yet the Hezzbollah members are still members of the government.