(no subject)

I'd like to shake my head in wonder and muse that I don't get it; that what I've heard is incomprehensible. Unfortunately, it's all too familiar, and all too understandable.

What I just read is that, as a consequence of a sermon during which the preacher reminded the congregation that Jesus preached peace, not war, a church in California is at risk of losing its tax-exempt status.

There are two things that bother me about this. First, this church just happens to be one of the largest liberal churches in California. And second, the statute under which the IRS is pursuing this church specifies that the church must be attempting to intervening in political affairs and elections. Oddly enough, the sermon, while speaking of peace, apparently didn't specifically endorse either candidate, although it did talk about the war in which the country was then (illegally, unjustly, and as a consequence of deception -- my words, not theirs) engaged.

On the other hand, there are a significant number of churches around the country who specifically exhorted their congregations to vote for particular candidates in the November 2004 elections. Of those, how many -- particularly, how many who supported the incumbents -- are in similar danger of losing their privileged status? (Answer: Possibly one or two, as nearly as I can tell. None of them the megachurches who act as Republican processing facilities.)

Does something stink about this? Well, no worse than your average sewage storage facility. Which, considering the moral and ethical deficits of this Administration and those it has supporting it, means it smells less than politics as usual.

I'm going to shower, now. I need it, after that.

(no subject)

Earlier today, I left an IRC conversation, having apparently (I see by reading the record) sparked conversation on the topic of band members being known by the band name rather than their own. For example, Debbie Harry/Blondie, Roger Waters (and David Gilmour)/Pink Floyd, and the one that I mentioned, Hootie and the Blowfish (real name, Darius Rucker). There was some discussion about the folks involved being irked at the confusion.

On reflection, it seems to me that those folks mostly have little reason to be irked when they've made their name within the confines of the band. ESPECIALLY if they're the frontperson for the band, and triply so if the band name is something like "Hootie and the Blowfish" that implies the name of the frontperson is "Hootie." Even Ms. Harry has little cause for complaint; she was again the frontperson, in the spotlight -- and very definitely, at the time of the band's rise and prominence, very blonde. Nonfans would naturally fall easily into the belief that she was the person the band was named for.

It's different for fans. But, especially in the case that actually set off the discussion -- where I'd been pointed to and passed on a link to Mr. Rucker singing in a hysterical Burger King ad (embedded QuickTime video)from the Peel -- where it's aimed at a far wider base than the fans of the group -- I don't think it's necessarily fair not to expect references to "Hootie."

(no subject)

Just heard the Flaming Lips covering "Bohemian Rhapsody" at this year's Vegoose Festival in Las Vegas. (Man, that sounds like it was a kickin' time!)

Thanks to Largehearted Boy for pointers to the download. I heartily recommend his blog (again) both for the daily music (including links to sets from the Vegoose Festival, the Austin City Limits Festival, Live8, Bonnaroo, and SXSW) and for the roundup of music related news. And he has an LJ feed at http://www.livejournal.com/users/largeheartedboy/

LOVE live music!

Next Up, Making Pi=3

The Kansas Board of Education has once again plunged its students into the Dark Ages.

the board rewrote the definition of science, so that it is no longer limited to the search for natural explanations of phenomena.

So, then, does that mean we can once again "scientifically" assert that thunder is Thor keggling? Or that Peco Bill is riding the tornados that run across your state?

Feh. I feel sorry for the students, especially those who now will not have a decent chance to break free of the narrowminded Dominionist parents and preachers who would prevent them from understanding the world as it is, not as those soi-disant authorities wish it to be.

I weep.