Talk about tedious. Let's see if I can simplify this for you. Our interactions with you could be one of two things. Either I:
1) am a buffoon who, whenever stung by some biting "satire", must scurry around in my childish antics to try and cobble a weak defense against the masterful wit and scholarly acumen of the great Greg. Pledged to be the defender of all things C&C yet somehow I just can't manage to put a defense together as the world laughs at me.
or
2) I think you are a loon. a guy who thinks your carefully thought out research is laughable when you compare it to the likes of a serious scholar like Freddy Finkelstein. A guy who thinks your massive ego and profound love of self causes you to sit in your little world and take yourself way too seriously. A guy who gives you no respect or credibility. To take advantage of the season I'd say you were a Mr. Potter from "Its a Wonderful Life"
It could be number one but it is more likely number two. See you attribute such lofty goals to me yet basically all I do on a given day is decide, "Hey, let's stir up the old loon and see what we can get him to say." Oh indeed my motives are childish and harkin back to the day of picking on the weird kid in school. I'll admit that playing with you is a lot like giving a dog a beer just to see what happens.
So you can decide which one you think is my actual attitude yet I know you won't publish the actual truth so I will sit on the edge of my seat waiting for the next bit of wisdom you do publish. I learn so much about myself.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
An Explanation
There are times when I play blogging games where I just let the game play out without explanation of my intentions or motivations. I could let the entry below this one just stand with no explanation, but I decided that I would expound on it. It is hard to believe that Greg would make a wrong assumption as to my intentions, I know, let’s just take a minute to absorb the impact of that statement. There, now we can move on.
Greg divined that my intention was to defend Church and Change or more specifically two pastors (“Ski” and Glende) who have public photos out there posing with various stars. I got that from this statement, “They have jumped in to defend Glende and Ski by putting my face on Ski's pose with the Playboy model/alleged singer,…” and this one, “Someone has to defend the Chicaneries. Why not us?” which was a label underneath the now infamous trademark photoshop of Beavis and Butthead with Joe’s and my initials (Yes, I actually enjoy the sarcastic image…yet unfortunately I have forgotten, yet again, which one I am. )
I just want to state my actual intention for Greg. It is not to defend anything. I didn’t have one thought about Church and Change and actually don’t see how anything about C&C is relevant unless I’m missing a “seven steps to Kevin Bacon” moment here. I don’t know Glende or Ski and I won’t defend someone I don’t know. Of course I won’t condemn someone I don’t know either. My simple intention was to point out the hypocrisy and double standard of the concept of photoshopping people’s photo’s. One of Greg’s avid supporters so wonderfully provided the exact response I expected and it was just too wonderful complete with and 8th commandment callout. Greg provides all the rationale and justification on his very own blog for creating as many photoshopped images of him as I feel I want to create.
For the record, my Facebook photos are open to everyone too and I have hundreds of photo’s out there in over 20 albums. Few are actually of me since I tend to be on the other side of the camera but perhaps this week at Christmas I will try to get more of me out there for photoshopping opportunities. However, don’t be shy Greg. If you ask to be my friend in Facebook I will gladly accept. It will be just that much easier for you to get through all those photos. Actually I have a ton of pictures of my cats that I need to get up there. I bet you could use those.
The second point of Greg’s analysis I wanted to respond to was the statement, “I can see why these two get upset over my posts..” I don’t think I get upset by your posts. I’d say amused captures my true emotion. You know the saying, "Tis better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt." I’d have to say that is my approach to the Ichablog. The more Greg says…well the harder it is to take it seriously. So after some time reading it, I don’t get too excited about what is said anymore. Those who are maligned there daily should not be too upset about what is said either. More important is to note the hypocrisy and inaccuracy that forms the substance of the daily accusations, and slander. Reasonable men, I believe, see right through this and move on. A court of law wouldn't touch such hearsay and conjecture so why would we give it anymore credence than that. Basically it renders the his credibility as shot...even if there is a point or two here and there are accurate and even poignant. That’s the point where it all just becomes humorous. I think you could characterize Greg's hypocrisy as, “The injury we do and the one we suffer are not weighed in the same scales."
Lastly, Greg is right about one thing. I can have a church website, complete with podcasting, multimedia streaming, complete database interactivity, and a full array of content up in only a few hours. Give me a call if you are interested. I host WELS related websites for free. Think about it.
Greg divined that my intention was to defend Church and Change or more specifically two pastors (“Ski” and Glende) who have public photos out there posing with various stars. I got that from this statement, “They have jumped in to defend Glende and Ski by putting my face on Ski's pose with the Playboy model/alleged singer,…” and this one, “Someone has to defend the Chicaneries. Why not us?” which was a label underneath the now infamous trademark photoshop of Beavis and Butthead with Joe’s and my initials (Yes, I actually enjoy the sarcastic image…yet unfortunately I have forgotten, yet again, which one I am. )
I just want to state my actual intention for Greg. It is not to defend anything. I didn’t have one thought about Church and Change and actually don’t see how anything about C&C is relevant unless I’m missing a “seven steps to Kevin Bacon” moment here. I don’t know Glende or Ski and I won’t defend someone I don’t know. Of course I won’t condemn someone I don’t know either. My simple intention was to point out the hypocrisy and double standard of the concept of photoshopping people’s photo’s. One of Greg’s avid supporters so wonderfully provided the exact response I expected and it was just too wonderful complete with and 8th commandment callout. Greg provides all the rationale and justification on his very own blog for creating as many photoshopped images of him as I feel I want to create.
For the record, my Facebook photos are open to everyone too and I have hundreds of photo’s out there in over 20 albums. Few are actually of me since I tend to be on the other side of the camera but perhaps this week at Christmas I will try to get more of me out there for photoshopping opportunities. However, don’t be shy Greg. If you ask to be my friend in Facebook I will gladly accept. It will be just that much easier for you to get through all those photos. Actually I have a ton of pictures of my cats that I need to get up there. I bet you could use those.
The second point of Greg’s analysis I wanted to respond to was the statement, “I can see why these two get upset over my posts..” I don’t think I get upset by your posts. I’d say amused captures my true emotion. You know the saying, "Tis better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt." I’d have to say that is my approach to the Ichablog. The more Greg says…well the harder it is to take it seriously. So after some time reading it, I don’t get too excited about what is said anymore. Those who are maligned there daily should not be too upset about what is said either. More important is to note the hypocrisy and inaccuracy that forms the substance of the daily accusations, and slander. Reasonable men, I believe, see right through this and move on. A court of law wouldn't touch such hearsay and conjecture so why would we give it anymore credence than that. Basically it renders the his credibility as shot...even if there is a point or two here and there are accurate and even poignant. That’s the point where it all just becomes humorous. I think you could characterize Greg's hypocrisy as, “The injury we do and the one we suffer are not weighed in the same scales."
Lastly, Greg is right about one thing. I can have a church website, complete with podcasting, multimedia streaming, complete database interactivity, and a full array of content up in only a few hours. Give me a call if you are interested. I host WELS related websites for free. Think about it.
Gratuitous photo of my cat in a box. I believe he is saying, "I am an ebil Confessional Crusader Kitteh. I sit in a very small box and slander you!!"
Monday, December 21, 2009
You Sly Dog
I found this old photo of my good friend G-dawg hangin tight with Mariqueen. Smokin!! I'd be smiling too.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Liberty
It is the 236th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party today. Interestingly enough my day started out with a good conversation on liberty (which started specifically over the liberty of Harley owners to annoy people with their mufflers...it expanded from there). My daughter and I were texting long things to each other while each driving to school/driving to work etc. Not recommended quality time, but it was a good conversation on liberty, morality, and tyranny.
This morning I watched the following video of Lt Col. Allen West. a congressional candidate in Florida, and again had to say, "Yeah! What he said!" In his speech you may note the lack of any teleprompter. Can I get an Amen? A great, great summary of my beliefs on liberty. Keep an eye on candidates like this. They will be popping up a lot I think in the next 3 years. I wish I was in Florida just so I could vote for him. There are videos of followup interviews with him where he expounds on current trends and I like him even more.
"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them." ~ Thomas Jefferson
I posted this same video on my Facebook. An aquaintance of mine from high school who is a dyed-in-the-wool liberal responded with this comment:
"Is it because of the delusion that under Obama you are living under tyranny. Laughable. How much a country decides to help its citizens is a matter for debate but to claim that under a (very moderate, yes very moderate) liberal we are now under the same conditions as when we fought the British is ridiculous. The more tyrannical was the path of set forth by the neo-cons to take over the middle east by hook and crook."
My response was as follows:
Tim Niedfeldt
Alas I believe that progressivism is tyranny period, whether it was fostered by liberals or Republicans (note I don't necessarily deem Republicans as conservatives..it's a case by case basis).
Historically, however, the tyranny of the revolution was at worst about a wash to today's climate (taxation, judicial abuse, and economic issues with debt and currency devaluation) and in some instances the threats to Liberty were less than they are now (progressivism was not a threat at that time). It's just at the time, the afronts to liberty tasted so much more evil and actionable than they do now to a modern humanistic country hellbent on having the government step in, save everybody, mitigate all risk to life, and we all go on enjoying our equality of outcomes.
You can keep your equality of outcomes. I'd rather have my equality of opportunity. I can take care of myself. If we were truly free most could take care of themselves too. If we were Christian as well, we would also help those who can't help themselves. However that is nearly impossible when you substitute government for God and pray for the gravy train. If we were in a position in society where those who want the mediocre existance of socialism could go choose that and those who want a more classic version of liberty could just enjoy that I'm sure we could all be happy. I just haven't found that place yet.
Thoughts? Comments?
This morning I watched the following video of Lt Col. Allen West. a congressional candidate in Florida, and again had to say, "Yeah! What he said!" In his speech you may note the lack of any teleprompter. Can I get an Amen? A great, great summary of my beliefs on liberty. Keep an eye on candidates like this. They will be popping up a lot I think in the next 3 years. I wish I was in Florida just so I could vote for him. There are videos of followup interviews with him where he expounds on current trends and I like him even more.
"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them." ~ Thomas Jefferson
I posted this same video on my Facebook. An aquaintance of mine from high school who is a dyed-in-the-wool liberal responded with this comment:
"Is it because of the delusion that under Obama you are living under tyranny. Laughable. How much a country decides to help its citizens is a matter for debate but to claim that under a (very moderate, yes very moderate) liberal we are now under the same conditions as when we fought the British is ridiculous. The more tyrannical was the path of set forth by the neo-cons to take over the middle east by hook and crook."
My response was as follows:
Tim Niedfeldt
Alas I believe that progressivism is tyranny period, whether it was fostered by liberals or Republicans (note I don't necessarily deem Republicans as conservatives..it's a case by case basis).
Historically, however, the tyranny of the revolution was at worst about a wash to today's climate (taxation, judicial abuse, and economic issues with debt and currency devaluation) and in some instances the threats to Liberty were less than they are now (progressivism was not a threat at that time). It's just at the time, the afronts to liberty tasted so much more evil and actionable than they do now to a modern humanistic country hellbent on having the government step in, save everybody, mitigate all risk to life, and we all go on enjoying our equality of outcomes.
You can keep your equality of outcomes. I'd rather have my equality of opportunity. I can take care of myself. If we were truly free most could take care of themselves too. If we were Christian as well, we would also help those who can't help themselves. However that is nearly impossible when you substitute government for God and pray for the gravy train. If we were in a position in society where those who want the mediocre existance of socialism could go choose that and those who want a more classic version of liberty could just enjoy that I'm sure we could all be happy. I just haven't found that place yet.
Thoughts? Comments?
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Which one is Putin?
I read a story today on a speech given in Russia and saw this picture. It reminded me of another picture I've seen. Since my good friend here at work is Russian, I put the two pictures together to see if he could tell which one was which. So you decide. Which one is Vladimir Putin and which is the adorable kitten?
On the other hand...If you are looking for tough...this is tough.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Victory Update
This last Sunday was a real treat. In that service, we had an adult baptism as well as her newborn infant child. In the same service we also had Holy Communion. What a great service to have the Gospel proclaimed in Word and Sacraments. Truly it was a service of Thanksgiving. We now head into the C series of the 3 year lectionary for Christmas with our sermon series on preparing our hearts for Christmas.
Victory has been doing very well since our Grand re-launch in September at the Showtime Cinema. Attendance is creeping to 140-150 each Sunday. This Thanksgiving weekend I think there was over 160. Membership is nearing 100 if it is not over that yet. I believe we have reached self-supporting 3 months ahead of schedule as well. I guess I will have to wait until the end of December to know for sure. If anything Victory is a testament on to how to start a church on a shoestring budget (we were only funded by a mother congregation for $100,000 spread over 3 years...the rest was up to us. Now we have a budget of $125,000 a year that we can cover ourselves and have $70,000 stashed away in a land fund). It is interesting to note that if the congregation keeps growing at this rate we will be running out of room on Sunday mornings by June. We’ll have to come up with some way to expand or have multiple services.
Technology-wise we have improved greatly as well. Benhur Khamrang’s adjustments to the sound of the band have been very good. There has been some experimentation on band placement and mic’s and equipment but we have successfully moved the sound booth up by the video folks. The video feed from the Theater to the Café is now successfully beaming without the 100 foot video cable. In general I think Victory is one of the most technologically advanced churches around considering its size. I recently finished upgrading the website to ASP.NET 3.5 on IIS 7.0. That was a huge jump. I also upgraded the speed of the data connection and ability to stream the podcasts.
Karen has been singing harmony in the band much more now. We could still use a bang! pow! Lead vocalist for sure. We’ve got a ton of musical talent in the band if we could just have a power vocalist to rally around. It’s pretty good though despite that. Katie has been helping with the Bible Quest program almost every Sunday. She helps prepare the lessons or projects and sets up the video equipment and mats in the children’s theater. Ike helps a bunch too in a pinch….that happens most when Kt is not there. The Bible Quest program as well is growing very fast and is requiring a lot of helpers each Sunday. When they are short helpers, Kt jumps in a lot. I’m just happy to see my kids being so involved and actually enjoying it. Cassy is our Children's ministry director and she has developed a stellar kid's ministry program. The WELS should take note of how to design a good Sunday School program from her.
Have a great Christmas!
Victory has been doing very well since our Grand re-launch in September at the Showtime Cinema. Attendance is creeping to 140-150 each Sunday. This Thanksgiving weekend I think there was over 160. Membership is nearing 100 if it is not over that yet. I believe we have reached self-supporting 3 months ahead of schedule as well. I guess I will have to wait until the end of December to know for sure. If anything Victory is a testament on to how to start a church on a shoestring budget (we were only funded by a mother congregation for $100,000 spread over 3 years...the rest was up to us. Now we have a budget of $125,000 a year that we can cover ourselves and have $70,000 stashed away in a land fund). It is interesting to note that if the congregation keeps growing at this rate we will be running out of room on Sunday mornings by June. We’ll have to come up with some way to expand or have multiple services.
Technology-wise we have improved greatly as well. Benhur Khamrang’s adjustments to the sound of the band have been very good. There has been some experimentation on band placement and mic’s and equipment but we have successfully moved the sound booth up by the video folks. The video feed from the Theater to the Café is now successfully beaming without the 100 foot video cable. In general I think Victory is one of the most technologically advanced churches around considering its size. I recently finished upgrading the website to ASP.NET 3.5 on IIS 7.0. That was a huge jump. I also upgraded the speed of the data connection and ability to stream the podcasts.
Karen has been singing harmony in the band much more now. We could still use a bang! pow! Lead vocalist for sure. We’ve got a ton of musical talent in the band if we could just have a power vocalist to rally around. It’s pretty good though despite that. Katie has been helping with the Bible Quest program almost every Sunday. She helps prepare the lessons or projects and sets up the video equipment and mats in the children’s theater. Ike helps a bunch too in a pinch….that happens most when Kt is not there. The Bible Quest program as well is growing very fast and is requiring a lot of helpers each Sunday. When they are short helpers, Kt jumps in a lot. I’m just happy to see my kids being so involved and actually enjoying it. Cassy is our Children's ministry director and she has developed a stellar kid's ministry program. The WELS should take note of how to design a good Sunday School program from her.
Have a great Christmas!
Family Update
So the family is coasting along. Karen is done with her current classes at Iowa and is taking a 3 month break or so to focus on her final ALU (Academy of Life Underwriting) exam. After passing this 4th exam she will attain her Fellow designation or FALU. There are not a lot of underwriters who go for the FALU and the 4th exam is a very tough exam. The worst part about these exams is when she reads me the questions or asks what I think as she's studying. Do I ask her whether I should use an MQ call verses a webservice call? No!
Kt and Ike are free of school sports at the moment. Ike goes to Mixed Martial Arts still after having a bit of a break because of interference by football followed by driver's ed. With those distractions gone he is more free for the kick boxing. Yes, Ike did pass driver's ed. He's an excellent driver, except he drives like an Asian and if you try to get in the car after he's been in it you will break your knees because the seat has to be all the way up.
Kt takes the SAT and ACT the next two weekends. With those out of the way it will be time to get ready for a school choice. She's got a few options but I suspect her final decision will wait until the end of the school year when the final picture will become clear...hopefully. Overall there is no particular rush on this choice as apparently all the other frantic parents around me who freak out about early application and all that garbage. I think Kt's final choice no matter which option it is will be relatively painless and easy to arrange at any moment.
I have been working on my web hosting server. I made the big move to bring the server in-house and buy a new machine with all the latest and greatest. I have gotten the sites I host up and running and am currently working on upgrading one of those websites from ASP coding that is nearly 10 years old to the newest version of ASP.NET. This will take me a few months as it is a very large application. I have a wickedly fast data connection now and it helps to have the machine right there to do maintenance and updates. Now I would like to host more websites and actually collect money for them. All the sites on this server are basically donated to church related websites.
Zach is moving from the NAS in Pensacola, FL to a school at the Marine Corps Air Station in Cherry Point, NC. Apparently it is a quick move and he was notified today and will be there on Friday. His specialty there will be Aviation Communications/Navigation sytems. I have yet to find out how long he will be there. I suspect it will still be until April. At least his best friend will shortly be stationed at New River, NC about 45 miles away. They can still hang out I guess. He will be home for Christmas from the 18th through the 2nd of January. This will be a vacation though and not a recruiter's assistance leave like the last visit home. It will be nice to have him home for Christmas again. So far that's not too bad. 2 out of 5 Christmas' he could be away that he has been able to be home. We'll see how many we can get.
I think that covers the family tidbits for now. Have a great Christmas.
Kt and Ike are free of school sports at the moment. Ike goes to Mixed Martial Arts still after having a bit of a break because of interference by football followed by driver's ed. With those distractions gone he is more free for the kick boxing. Yes, Ike did pass driver's ed. He's an excellent driver, except he drives like an Asian and if you try to get in the car after he's been in it you will break your knees because the seat has to be all the way up.
Kt takes the SAT and ACT the next two weekends. With those out of the way it will be time to get ready for a school choice. She's got a few options but I suspect her final decision will wait until the end of the school year when the final picture will become clear...hopefully. Overall there is no particular rush on this choice as apparently all the other frantic parents around me who freak out about early application and all that garbage. I think Kt's final choice no matter which option it is will be relatively painless and easy to arrange at any moment.
I have been working on my web hosting server. I made the big move to bring the server in-house and buy a new machine with all the latest and greatest. I have gotten the sites I host up and running and am currently working on upgrading one of those websites from ASP coding that is nearly 10 years old to the newest version of ASP.NET. This will take me a few months as it is a very large application. I have a wickedly fast data connection now and it helps to have the machine right there to do maintenance and updates. Now I would like to host more websites and actually collect money for them. All the sites on this server are basically donated to church related websites.
Zach is moving from the NAS in Pensacola, FL to a school at the Marine Corps Air Station in Cherry Point, NC. Apparently it is a quick move and he was notified today and will be there on Friday. His specialty there will be Aviation Communications/Navigation sytems. I have yet to find out how long he will be there. I suspect it will still be until April. At least his best friend will shortly be stationed at New River, NC about 45 miles away. They can still hang out I guess. He will be home for Christmas from the 18th through the 2nd of January. This will be a vacation though and not a recruiter's assistance leave like the last visit home. It will be nice to have him home for Christmas again. So far that's not too bad. 2 out of 5 Christmas' he could be away that he has been able to be home. We'll see how many we can get.
I think that covers the family tidbits for now. Have a great Christmas.
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