Holes In Thoughts

Thursday, April 10, 2008

God's Judgment... of idiots

The Stranger, a Seattle newspaper, has a blog (called Slog). It's very liberal, and overtly pro-gay, partly because it's moderated by the fantastic and fabulously gay Dan Savage. Those who fly that banner are often frustrated by arguments that "every child deserves a mother and father" when nearly half of the children today only get one or the other. They're also frustrated by a Catholic Church that points its finger at them as the root of all childhood evils (through declarations and oft-contradicted studies), and is regularly caught molesting its own congregation's children.

So, Slog regularly contains news of badly-behaving parents and youth pastors, under the headings "Every Child Deserves a Mother and Father" and "Youth Pastor Watch," respectively. To an extent, it's an unhealthy impulse on their part to feel better about their own parenting or moral standing by exposing the worst of their opponents (who, ultimately, have no effect on their parenting abilities or moral standings); but then, pointing out hypocrisy in any form is a worthwhile goal.

Elsewhere in the newspaper, in their Last Days news bits blotter, a few articles about people "killed by religion" were posted. They detailed the sad deaths of children of people who believe in faith healing over medicine. They got an apoplectic response from a guy named Dale Richard Huff that I just had to show bits of:

I want to make clear firstly that I do not peruse your scandal sheet. There are volunteers who read the Stranger and inform us when a campaign of anti-Christian slander has slithered from the sewer like a demon from Hell.

I think I tried telling my Dad I didn't read his Playboys in a similar manner when I was a teenager.

I thought you liberals hated interrogating "terrorists"? Oh that's right that is only for your "approved" religion of Islam and the Islam-o-fascists [sic] whom you believe to be somehow your "buddies".

Hee! Islam-o-matic! Tel-o-thon! Mess-o-potamia! Nutty guy-o-mail!

...the Secular Fascist Left, been doing for 30 years to eventually annihilate Christianity, Christians, America, Faith, [etc.] ...

Mussolini defined fascism as being a collectivistic ideology in opposition to socialism, liberalism, democracy and individualism. So ... what exactly is a "fascist lefty"?

And rest assured this lawsuit WILL GO FORWARD, and your conspiracy will answer in OPEN CHRISTIAN COURT for your lies, defamations, slanders, [etc.], flat out meaness [sic] and rotteness [sic], and any other damn thing you have up your sleeve and haven't been vile enough to do yet!

Ok, the day there is a Christian Court in the U.S. government, the United States will have died, and I will leave the country. I'm a Catholic, and I'm very happy that I don't live in a Christian Nation. There has been a long, steady trend throughout History: quality of government is inversely proportional to the influence of religion on that government.

Need I remind you, sir- glorious [volcanic] Mount Raineer [sic, should be Rainer] is a scant 60 miles away from your temple of degeneracy, and the LORD GOD will not be mocked!

Wow. He certainly does seem to think he knows everything Lord is up to, doesn't he? Among the meek, this character is not.

IN THE NAME OF JESUS, HIS FATHER, SON AND THE HOLY SPIRIT- Dale Richard Huff, SEMPER FI DO OR DIE!

Jesus had a son?

Look, God judges everyone, and it should be noted that His judgment of idiots is usually pretty harsh. These judgments, ironically, are often titled, "Darwin Awards." Sometimes, He acts through people, though His use of gravity seems to be a favorite.

Unfortunately, the judgments aren't very evenly fair. Children, in particular, have to absorb the results of their parents' idiocy. To me, the most ironic and saddening instances are ones involving
people whose stances on religion are idiotic enough to visit pain on others. I don't see the reasoning behind faith healing. By all means, pray. I prayed when my brother-in-law Jordan smashed his head a few weeks ago, but I certainly didn't want to keep him out of the hospital that saved his life.

God, cruelly, gave us a brain that can only wrestle with these contradictions of faith and the real world, but cannot solve them. But clearly we are meant to use that brain! Scientists and doctors labor to find ways to ease and lengthen the amount of time we have to wrestle the impossible mental task we're given. We'll never do it, of course, but a little more time in front of the puzzle before bed is something we're all entitled to ask for.
God may be great and powerful, but we have a measure of power, too, and since it is God-given, we should use it. Part of that power is in medicine. Unfortunately for those kids, their parents were so in awe of God's power that they ignored their own helplessness.

Labels: God, government, idiots, Jordan, religion

posted by Steve @ 12:28 PM 1 comments

Saturday, July 07, 2007

Wires & Games

This whole 'working from home' thing is proving to be terribly convenient: I don't think I've ever had the freedom to simply visit a relative without major concern for work. Something I could get used to.

Yesterday, we stripped the wires from the truck today and posted progress on the Dodge forum I visit (link).

Then, I went with Jordan and did some Star Wars role-playing. I refused pretty much flat-out to play someone else's character, and played a 'one-off' NPC. It was the first time I'd played a one-session character, and the first time I'd gamed in about two years.

The party was stuck on a planet and more or less at the mercy of a young man who owned the planet through gambling at Sabacc. My character wasn't a gambler, but a businessman who was at the table. The rich young man who owned the planet (Henry) had broken the heart of my character, Rigel, four years previous. Rigel determined to make money by slowly earning the trust of Henry and taking key parts of his business, which was primarily in mining the type of crystals used to make light sabers. The planet was uncharted and the only planet with these crystals not under the control of the Sith - making it very valuable, and also making it important that it be kept off of the Sith's maps.

Before the game, Rigel uncharacteristically poisoned Henry, and sought to make the game last as long as possible, knowing the young gambler wouldn't quit unless he had lost or won. Of course, Henry wasn't nearly as skilled as a gambler poisoned; the party and Rigel fleeced him fairly thoroughly before the party realized why the famed gambler was doing so poorly. Unfortunately for Rigel, one of the party members sensed that Henry had been poisoned, and successfully used the Force to prevent his death.

Having already won 25% of his profit, and realizing that Henry wasn't going to die, Rigel framed
the party for Henry's poisoning, but bought their safety in exchange for their (impressive) winnings. In exchange for Rigel's support in mining the crystals, ships to get off of the planet, and Henry's 'mercy,' the party was required to give 50% of their profits and charged with keeping the planet anonymous. They would also have Rigel's small spy network to help them.

Win-win. I had a lot of fun coming up with all of that in-game. Plus, the GM now has several extra tools with which to move the players: my spies, their debts to me, their obligation to keep the planet secret, and the fact that their vehicles are now 'on loan' instead of their own (barring sale and meaning they have to pay for them if they are destroyed).

Labels: games, in-laws, Jordan, role-playing, truck

posted by Steve @ 10:10 AM 0 comments

About Me

Name: Steve
Home: Tucson, Arizona, United States
About Me: I like to think about things, and I occasionally like to write what I think.
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