Black Lung Bob

"Black Lung", Rancid, Life Won't Wait
"Blackhawk Down", Rancid, Rancid [2000]
"Blame Canada", Trey Parker and Matt Stone, South Park: Bigger, Longer, & Uncut
"Blast'em", Rancid, Bored Generation
"Blew", Nirvana, From The Muddy Banks Of The Wishkah [Live]
"Blister In The Sun", Violent Femmes, Add It Up (1981-1993)
"Blitzkrieg Bop", The Ramones, Mania
"Bloodclot", Rancid, Life Won't Wait
"Blowin' In The Wind", Me First And The Gimme Gimmes, Blow In The Wind
"Blue Angel", Squirrel Nut Zippers, Hot
"Bob", NOFX, White Trash, Two Heebs, And A Bean

Revisionist History Part Deux

I am really sick and tired of people saying the US was founded on the Christian faith. It is a lie. The US Constitution was an Age of Enlightenment document. It was based on secular ideas and English common law. Everyone accepts that a lot of colonists came to America to avoid religious persecution. Well what was the majority religion in Europe? Christianity. So why would people escaping Christianity found a country on it?

Now the real proof is in the Treaty of Tripoli. You can read the entire Treaty here, it is not long. The main point of interest is the first part of Article 11.

"As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion;"

Now that was written because the people of Tripoli were Muslims or Mussulmen, as they were called then. So announcing that the US was secular meant no enmity would be held against the Muslims from the US for their religion.

This article was read in its entirety to Congress. It was only the third unanimous vote recorded in US history. It was also published in the Philadelphia newspaper and two New York City papers. There was no public outcry. Founding father and then President John Adams signed the document.

The United States of America is and has always been a secular country founded on secular ideas and English common law.

Chicago

Well I am a retard and forgot to bring my camera. So no pictures from this visit. The best I can do is post pictures from my last visit to Chicago. I will do that when I get home. Sorry for my retardary. My girlfriend was pissed at me too.

Early Music

Okay music is early this week, as I am going to Chicago tomorrow morning and won't be online until Monday night at the earliest. I promise to take pics and maybe a video.

Also I picked up the new Green Day Album so I have to revisit the A's for one song.

"American Eulogy", Green Day, 21st Century Breakdown
"Before The Lobotomy", Green Day, 21st Century Breakdown
"Begin To Start", MXPX, Let It Happen
"Beheaded", The Offspring, Go Ahead Punk, Make My Day
"The Best Thing", Relient K, Five Score and Seven Years Ago
"Biased Bigotry", MXPX, Let It Happen
"Big City", Operation Ivy, Operation Ivy: Energy
"Biggest Joke", Goober Patrol, Cinema Beer Nuts
"Biting The Bullet (Is Bad For Business)", MXPX, Secret Weapon
"Black Derby Jacket", Rancid, Rancid [2000]

Wayman Tisdale

I just learned that Wayman Tisdale passed away this morning in Tulsa, Oklahoma. You can read a great article about him here by Carey Murdock, a sports writer in Oklahoma City.

He was awesome basketball player and musician. For Oklahoma, he was one of our best ambassadors. Wayman was recently placed on the Tourism Board of Oklahoma by Governor Brad Henry, who attended Oklahoma University at the same time as Tisdale. Tisdale's infectious smile is what I remember most about him.

Besides Wayman being an Oklahoman like myself, I am writing this because he was truly a good person. He was also diagnosed with cancer in the same spot and at the same time as my Dad. They went to the same doctor in Oklahoma City. The doctor originally diagnosed both of them with the same type of cancer, it is now known that my dad's is actually a different type of cancer. Because of this my Dad and I have felt a lot of kinship with Wayman Tisdale. He will be sorely missed. Wayman was only 44 years old, my thoughts are with his wife and 4 kids that are left behind.

Bad Beer Goggles

"Bad Gadjit", The Gadjits, Give 'Em The Boot II
"Bad Habit", The Offspring, Bored Generation
"Bad Luck", Social Distortion, Greatest Hits
"Bad Moon Rising", Creedence Clearwater Revival, Chronicle, Vol. 1
"Bad Religion", Bad Religion, 80-85
"Bad Town", Marshall Arts, Take Warning: The Songs of Operation Ivy
"Bad Town", Operation Ivy, Operation Ivy: Energy
"Badfish", Sublime, 40 Oz. To Freedom
"Ball and Chain", Social Distortion, Greatest Hits
"The Band Geek Mafia", Voodoo Glow Skulls, The Band Geek Mafia
"Barroom Heroes", Dropkick Murphys, Give 'Em The Boot
"Basket Case", Green Day, Dookie
"Bass So Low", MXPX, Secret Weapon
"Be My Escape", Relient K, MMHMM
"Beastie Boys", The Beastie Boys, Some Old Bullshit
"Beat On the Brat", The Ramones, Mania
"Beautiful Girl", The Gadjits, Give 'Em The Boot
"Been A Son", Nirvana, Incesticide
"Beer", Reel Big Fish, Turn The Radio Off
"Beer Goggles", Smash Mouth, Fush Yu Mang

Praying

We's got science now, it can haz numb3rs!



I of course saw this at Pharyngula.

Oh and apparently PZ got it from this site.

Nothing

I have nothing to say again. I will do 20 songs this week, since I missed last weeks music. I am going to Chicago over Memorial Day weekend, so I will take pictures and post them when I get back. Sadly the Cubbies do not have a home game while I am there.

Star Trek

Going to watch the new movie right after work today. Will update/edit with what I thought of it.

Okay it was friggin awesome. Go see it, the best movie I have seen in awhile. They have done some cool things to make you change the way you look at the original Star Trek series. Also Simon Pegg steals every scene he is in, does a wonderful job as Scotty.

Revisionist History

I posted this here, but I thought it deserved a blog post too.

I wrote my congressman over the "American Religious History Week" law that has been put forth. I wrote him awhile back. Well I just got a response today. Here is the response I got, mind you I did not vote for this wingnut:

"Dear Justin:

Thank you for contacting me to express your view on the creation of "American Religious History Week." I always value hearing from my fellow Oklahomans and I appreciate the opportunity to respond on this important issue.

Our founders built firmly the foundation of this great nation upon the Judeo-Christian values many Americans continue to cherish today. The deep feeling of appreciation for our heritage, which is shared by all Americans, continues to be a source of unity and strength for this nation. The creation of "American Religious History Week" would provide the opportunity for all Americans to engage in reflection upon the significant role religious values have served in shaping this nation's remarkable success and prosperity. Rest assured that I will keep your views in mind should H. Res. 888 come before the floor of the House of Representatives for a vote.

Again, thank you for contacting me with your thoughts on this important issue. If I can ever be of assistance on this or any other matter, please don't hesitate to contact my office.

Respectfully Yours,

Dan Boren
Member of Congress"

Basically I will consider what you say, but you are wrong and we are a Judeo-Christian country.

This is my response:

Sir, you are wrong. Our country was founded on secular ideas and the common laws of England. You can easily look this up. The Treaty of Tripoli, which was read in its entirety and voted unanimously by Congress and signed by then President John Adams and was also in every major newspaper of the time, states in Article 11, "As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity, of Mussulmen; and, as the said States never entered into any war, or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties, that no pretext arising from religious opinions, shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries."

Clearly the country was not founded upon Judeo-Christian concepts. I can also go into the writings of Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine if you insist upon this revisionist history of the founding of our nation. Church and State Separation are there to protect religion, breaching the "wall", as Jefferson called it, is dangerous and it also can lead to a tyranny of the majority, which was a concern of the founding fathers. Consider this, the fastest growing religion in America is Mormonism and the fastest growing religion in the world is Islam (it is close between Islam and Christianity depending which survey you read). By breaching the wall, you give them the opportunity to make their own rules if they ever reach a majority in the U.S. The idea is to protect all people from tyranny no matter what its incarnation is.

I am tired of all this revisionist crap, trying to make deists look like fundavangelicals. It is retarded.

It is not even like this hard to find out even. A simple search will tell you everything you want to know about the founding fathers. This is what appalls me the most. The fact that it is easy to look up and the fact no one fucking looks it up. They just take their preacher or politicians word for it. For fucks sake people read the goddamn Constitution it is clear. People are being used because of a lack of knowledge and it is like they don't even care.

I lump this historical revision in the same category as young earth creationism. People preying on the lack of knowledge of other people.

What Christianity Can Do For You!

There I am sitting at my apartment/condo whatever you want to call it and my cell phone rings. Checking the number I notice it is from a friend of mine. He is a firefighter and I know it was his 24 hours own, because my neighbor works the same job just opposite shift. I answer the phone and we talk a bit about nothing and then he asks if I can do something for him. Small talk your way into a favor, I was expecting this a bit. He wanted me to buy some Magic: The Gathering cards for him. You see he is building a new deck and needs a few cards to make it work.

Now why ask me to buy the cards, you say. Well it is simple, his wife doesn't like the game and thinks it is a bit evil. She really doesn't want him spending money on the cards. Mind you he makes plenty of money for her and the two kids and she works also. So it is not an issue of finances. She just thinks the game is not very Christian, which it isn't but it is not suppose to be either. It is fantasy.

Let's look at that word.

Fantasy - a genre that uses magic and other supernatural forms as a primary element of plot, theme, and/or setting. Fantasy is generally distinguished from science fiction and horror by the expectation that it steers clear of scientific and macabre themes, respectively, though there is a great deal of overlap between the three (collectively known as speculative fiction).

That is a description from Wiki of the genre. Now here is the definition.

Fantasy:

1 obsolete: hallucination
2: fancy; especially: the free play of creative imagination
3: a creation of the imaginative faculty whether expressed or merely conceived: as
a: a fanciful design or invention
b: a chimerical or fantastic notion
c: fantasia
d: imaginative fiction featuring especially strange settings and grotesque characters —called also fantasy fiction
4: caprice
5: the power or process of creating especially unrealistic or improbable mental images in response to psychological need; also: a mental image or a series of mental images (as a daydream) so created fantasies of adolescence
6: a coin usually not intended for circulation as currency and often issued by a dubious authority (as a government-in-exile)

Okay obviously we are talking about definition 3 here and part d of that definition. The keyword to me in the definition is imaginative. It ain't real folks. Why is there a stigma associated with imagination? Just because your silly old book has some imaginative things in it, doesn't make them real or anything that talks about something similar real.

A card game is not going to destroy the world. Video games are not inherently evil, like my ex told me after we were married (not a good sign of things to come). You know sometimes a card game is a card game.

So instead of just letting him have his hobbies and interests, my friend is now hiding his actions from his wife. Even something small like this can't be healthy for a relationship. I am not saying their marriage will fall apart, I am saying that they are not fully embracing one another as a whole. Why? Because of a silly card game and an equally silly religious idea.

Coming out

Well as most of the readers here know, I am a closet atheist to my family. So was the Everything Else Atheist. Here is a bit from her recent post.

For quite awhile my family did not know that I was an atheist. I was very careful to cover my tracks, and I hated living the lie. I took extra precautions after hearing stories of accidental family discoveries from fellow atheists. I sanitized my online profiles, I hid my browsing history, hid my writings, I bowed my head during family prayers, and it killed me inside. Every time I had to pretend to pray for a meal when visiting, or attend church, or lie about attending a Christian club, I felt trapped and tortured. So why didn't I just tell my family?

My family (mom especially) is strictly religious. My mom volunteers to help counsel troubled people in her church and is in a Christian book club. My step-father reads the bible cover-to-cover many times over. My younger brother goes on church vacations and activities. My mother already thinks I'm evil, and has called me a "devil-child" and "seed of Satan" and that I have forsaken everything my parents stand for.

I know exactly how she feels. It is a sad balancing act some of us play. I know at some point I will have to tell my family but I am prolonging that. Partially in the hopes I won't be living in the same town as them when I do tell them.

I love my family and I don't want them worrying over something that, from all I can tell, doesn't exist. I know they will worry too. I don't go to quite the depths of deception as EEA did, but I still deceive. During prayers, I don't bow my head or close my eyes. I only go to church when it is my turn to work the sound board, as I told them I would do while I live here (I made the promise when I was a believer). I don't really hide the fact on Facebook, my religion is listed as the Cult of Yivo who was blatantly the Flying Spaghetti Monster. My sister, who has recently embraced young earth creationism and fundamentalism, is one of my friends on Facebook. It honestly really wouldn't be that hard to out me. Maybe this is all just part of the old Christian Dogma I was raised in coming back to make me feel guilty, but I just feel like it will hurt them and I don't want to do that.

Edit: I just want to add that everybody should show EEA some support. She had a lot of people say something but a few more would never hurt. I am sure she would appreciate it.