Hey, I have to do a speech about something debatable and I choose celibacy.  I’d like some arguments for and against if you could give me some.  And also some testimonies on why you believe the way you do.  I know most people here will probably go the religious route, but I also need some reasons not to.  (The one’s I’ve found have been misleading and dumb, so please help.)

Bob Whitaker is right on the money, as usual:

When I was in Africa, a white government still ruled in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe.  We said that the minute the Communist guerrillas took over the government there, the big tribe would slaughter the smaller tribe.  Liberals said no such slaughter would take place.  As soon as black rule arrived, the majority tribe slaughtered the minority tribe.

In every African country tribes hate each other or kill each other.  Liberals and respectable conservatives say that what is needed is Marxism or Social Progress or Christianity to make tribes stop killing each other.  Let me ask an unrespectable question.  Why are those tribes that hate each other jammed together in the same country?

The reason was stated by General Wesley Clark, “There is no room in today’s Europe for ethnically pure countries.”  As a liberal, Clark demands that American troops be used to force different people to live under the same government.

Russia is already destitute, but it is spending what little money it has forcing the Moslem country of Chechnya to stay within Russia.  It took Tito, an absolute tyrant, to hold the gaggle of peoples called Yugoslavia together.  Once Tito died Yugoslavia fell apart.  Now independent Croatia is at peace because it is made up of Croatians.

You just can’t argue with facts and history.  Which is why you see a lot of people ignoring facts and history.

Here’s some more:

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Operation Iraqi Freedom could not be justified because it freed the Iraqis from oppression.  Putin said that if America could invade countries to free them from oppression, she would have to invade most of the world.

That makes Putin a Nazi.

In the Old West a wagon train is crossing the plains.  As night falls the wagon train forms a circle, and a campfire is lit in the middle.  After everyone has gone to sleep two lone cavalry officers stand watch over the camp.

After several hours of quiet, they hear war drums starting from a nearby Indian village they had passed during the day.  The drums get louder and louder.

Finally one soldier turns to the other and says, "I don’t like the sound of those drums."

Suddenly, they hear a cry come from the Indian camp:  "IT’S NOT OUR REGULAR DRUMMER."

-- from the motd (message of the day) on my slackware linux system

The power just went out.  Which means I have about 20 minutes till my UPS dies and my computer shuts off.

Oh, and in case I don’t see you... good afternoon, good evening, and goodnight!

What is going on with today?

In Red Lion PA, about 2 hours from me, a junior high school kid shot his principal and then himself, killing both.  Late last night / early this morning, a guy in Virginia killed his 3 kids -- 9, 7, and 5 years old -- before killing himself.  This morning, there was a car chase in LA, ending when the driver crashed her stolen truck into a tree.  And now, there’s a car chase in Missouri where someone driving a white van is flying down freeways and side streets evading police.  Apparently this person made homicidal threats to police officers, and did injure/kill one officer.  I was watching it on FoxNews and they had a chopper video feed on it, but the van entered a parking garage.  That was just a second ago.

Wo, it’s post-o-rama tonight.  Anyway.  Colin Powell said something really cool in regards to Earth Day on Tuesday:

In today’s globalizing world it has never been more true that the well-being of the American people depends on the well being of all others on the globe.  And whether we live in countries large or small, developed or developing, all of our futures fundamentally depend upon the well being of our shared habitat: This wonderful planet that has been entrusted to our care by a generous God.

Not that I’m an environmentalist by any means, nor that I think Earth Day is cool, but it’s encouraging to see someone in a position of power credit the Creator with creation.  You know, rather than endorsing the religion of evolution / the big bang, which says there was nothing, and then it exploded, and that created the planets, and life too.  Sure, all the evidence (and our best attempts at it) show that you can’t just make non-living matter come alive.  But perhaps if we invent a "fossil record" where the ages of the fossils prove the ages of the rocks, and naturally the ages of the rocks prove the ages of the fossils... and perhaps if we convince people that these ages add up to millions of years... perhaps then people will understand that although physically impossible, things can come alive given enough time.

Right.

Oh and speaking of car commercials, the new Hummer "Metal" spot is really rad.  First of all, they have a bright yellow H2 which is of course a beautiful machine.  They show it driving around a city, with flashy lights and all, and have some catchy techno-ish music moving things along.  And they have a really pretty girl driving the thing, but here’s the cool part: she’s apparently not half-naked, and they pretty much just show her face.  It’s not everyday that you see a cool commercial with a pretty girl where they’re not using her body to sell the product.  The tagline is the best: "Slip into something a little more... Metal."  Heh.  And at the end, they zoom way out into space for a neat effect.

Saw Thursday at the Crowbar tonight.  Man I love that band.  But I need to rant first.

I hate the Crowbar.  It is so crusty and gross.  Not only is it gross because it’s a bar, and because it’s smoky, but because it’s tiny.  The standing room to watch concerts is maybe 25’ x 25’ with one corner shaved off because that’s where the stage is.  On the two edges opposite the stage, there’s an upper level where the bar is.

So you have, I dunno, maybe 150 people packed into that 25x25 area.  150 sweaty people all pressed right up against you.  That in itself isn’t as bad as it may seem.  But at a ~hardcore show, it’s pretty bad.  Let me explain the crowd dynamics of a hardcore show for anyone who’s never been to one.  CHAOS.  That’s all.  Pure chaos.  In a 25x25 square.  Pretty much the entire thing becomes a mosh pit.  Everyone is slamming against you on all sides, pushing and pulling you so you need to struggle just to stay on your feet.  Obviously I’m not anywhere near cool enough to appreciate how truly enjoyable that is, because I was preoccupied with trying to watch the band and sing/scream along.  I knew I should have gone up to the bar and sat or stood up there.

I’m more of the bouncing/rocking in place kind of concertgoer.  Music like Thursday moves me very much... when they played Cross Out The Eyes it was just... I thought I would spontaneously combust.  There is just so much emotion in that song.  And I can appreciate the fact that people get into it, because I do too.  But for me anyway, it’s just not fun when you can’t sing along because you’re trying to catch your breath because you’re getting slammed all over the place.

So that’s ridiculous factor #1.  Number two is the smoking.  I’m not even going to get into it.  Smoking is simultaneously the most idiotic and inconsiderate thing anyone could do, and the whole place was just full of idiotic, inconsiderate people who think that it’s a good idea.

In spite of all that, I’m glad I went.  Because I just love Thursday that much.  I don’t love the fact that Jonah’s Onelinedrawing played about 20 songs before Thursday, and then Thursday played all of 9 songs... that was total crap.  I don’t like Onelinedrawing; it’s sort of the same idea as Dashboard Confessional, except not good.  But whatever, you go to a show and you have to sit through bands you don’t like, but the thing is he felt the need to stop and say a bunch of perverted nonsense in between his 20 songs.  So that was annoying.

One really cool thing about Thursday’s fans is not only do they know all the words, but they sing them all -- loudly -- so loudly at times that they drown out the vocalist.  That’s really incredible to experience.  And at a show, you can really scream the screamed parts.  I only recently started to do this when I sing along to music; screaming is fundamentally different from singing, it’s not just "singing loudly," and it’s actually quite scary in solitude.  But at a show, it just fits because all the energy is there.

I never noticed before how much the vocalist (Geoff) looks like my cousin Micah.  In person tonight, it was quite striking; the resemblance isn’t nearly as strong in photos of him.  And on the new songs that they played tonight, I thought he sounded a bunch like Nathan Gray of BoySetsFire.  Weird.

So the show let out around 12:30 and me, Jeremy, Kris, and Andy went to Jimmy John’s for subs.  Mmmm good subs at Jimmy John’s.  All in all it was a rather rocking night.