I loathe the body electric

It's after midnight at a trendy local club -- the kind of place I visit maybe once a year. I realize how woefully out of touch I am with the club scene when I can't help noticing all the bursting bustlines on young women who probably don't have the DNA for it. Of course, when you're trying to diet yourself into supermodel shape, the boobs are often the first to go. Next stop before the tanning salon and the hoochie mama clothes: the plastic surgeon.

Has the sexual revolution caused us to hate our bodies? I mean really. Is all the dieting and surgery and fake this and that really evidence that we just LUV ourselves and can't get enough of our own pulchritude? Or is it self-loathing disguised as self-improvement?

Maybe anorexia and chronic obesity are two sides of the same coin. Maybe the plastic surgery craze has the bizarre compulsion of cutting as its shadowy sister.

Few generations before us have been so obsessed with the flesh. We worship sexuality and ask it to give us more satisfaction, pleasure and importance than it is capable of.

Then when it fails to live up to our godlike expectations, we knife it into submission ... or into oblivion. We starve it into perfection or gorge it beyond recognition.

Sex as a commodity demands a level of consumer satisfaction that sex as a unifying force does not. One depends on perfection and novelty -- the other allows for flaws, imperfections and weakness.

Think about it.

Enough already!

This is starting to make me cranky:

High School Teacher Accused of Sex with Student

And don't give me that BS that this is every schoolboy's dream. These women need a power trip and they're getting it by seducing teenagers. Gag.

Yahoo! News - White House Wishes Pope Speedy Recovery

And so does the GGB.

Yahoo! News - White House Wishes Pope Speedy Recovery

A GGB public service announcement

Disturbing. Profoundly disturbing. Please read, even if you don't have teenagers of your own:

Michelle Malkin: The new youth craze - self-mutilation

::Eyes rolling::

It's one of those days my home state embarrasses me:

Yahoo! News - Court Rejects Appeal on Sex Toy Sales Ban

Dang, I'm happy

Rachel Lucas has had a blogosphere reincarnation as the Blue Eyed Infidel.

Who wants hot pork sandwiches?

First, he's a spendthrift, driving the nation into record debt. Now, he's out to "do a world of hurt":

Yahoo! News - Bush Plan to Kill Funding Faces Long Odds

Excuse me ... federal money to teach people about the underground railroad? We have to have federal money to accomplish that? Sheesh.

Bonus points if you recognized that Tanita Tikaram song.

Join the revolution!

The MSM may sneer, but for bloggers in less free parts of the world, the penalty for speaking your mind is much harsher.

Show your support for jailed Iranian bloggers here.

Hat tip: Michelle Malkin

'Operation Spike'

WorldNetDaily lists their annual 10 most underreported stories. (Note that you read about #7 right here on GGB!)

Hat tip: Michelle Malkin

WorldNetDaily: The year's 10 most underreported stories

Charles Rangel: poster boy for cognitive dissonance

I'll let you read it for yourself:

NewsMax.com: Inside Cover Story

Hat tip: Little Green Footballs

#1 Saudi export: hatred

In case you haven't heard, an extensive study has blown the lid off Saudi exportation of hate ideology to US mosques:

Persecution.org - International Christian Concern

New Jersey murders case update

Update on the Armanious family killings in New Jersey. (Hat tip: VodkaPundit.)

Jihad Watch: New Jersey murders case update

A GGB must read

Courtesy of Babalu Blog ... and some sobering comments about our neighbors to the south:

Babalu Blog: The Cuban Solzhenitsyn

Gangsters in pajamas

Unhinged moonbat alert!

Michelle Malkin reports that the response to Eason Jordan's resignation is, predictably, hostile toward the blogosphere. Witness William Boykin, who posted at the PressThink blog:

New York Post Online Edition: postopinion: "'Jordan has just been tire-necklaced by a bloodthirsty group of utopian, bible-thumping knuckledraggers that believe themselves to be bloggers but are really just a street gang.' "

Pajama-clad street gang, William, you forgot the pajama part!!!

A terrorist by any other name

I am so sick of seeing headlines such as this one reported by Yahoo! today:

"Insurgents Attack Bakery, Mosque in Iraq"

I'm sorry, there is only one proper designation for people who deliberately target civilians in revolt against the authorities and that is terrorist.

All terorrists are insurgents, but not all insurgents are terrorists. The Associated Press, et al, either hasn't picked up their dictionaries lately or they're deliberately using word games to obfuscate the situation in Iraq. (I strongly suspect the latter.)

Let's review:

terrorism: the unlawful use or threat of violence esp. against the state or the public (italics mine) as a politically motivated means of attack or coercion (Merriam-Webster)

OR ... the calculated use of violence (or threat of violence) against civilians (italics mine) in order to attain goals that are political or religious or ideological in nature; this is done through intimindation or coercion or instilling fear (WordNet)

insurgency: The quality or circumstance of being rebellious. An instance of rebellion; an insurgence. (American Heritage)

"Terrorist" is an appropriate and accurate word to describe people who blow up bakeries and saw the heads off civilians. They are not merely "rebels" or "guerrillas," their active targeting of non-combatants places them in the unique category of "terrorists."

My guess is the AP knows this and understands the emotional and ideological recoil at the idea of terrorism. Therefore, the murderous goons in Iraq are merely "insurgents."

That's why God made ibuprofen

From Australia's Courier-Mail: Union calls grow for menstrual leave

Ugh ... do I even have to say why this is nuts?

Joel Osteen: part 3

Ed Note: I decided to dispense with the francais and just go with good ol' numerals. :)

Before I do another expose on the Smiling Preacher from Houston, let me say that I mean none of this in ugliness or hatred toward Osteen, his family or his ministry. I cannot peer into Osteen's heart, but I do believe that what he preaches is dangerous to anyone who reads, whether they are believers or not.

T.J. at Soli Deo Gloria makes a particularly salient point about Osteen's views on God's justice. (Hat tip: Boar's Head Tavern) (And no, that's not the only blog I read these days. :)

TheoreticalPolitics's Xanga Site - 2/4/2005 6:59:58 PM:

"[Interviewer] Your book mentions a man who financially wronged you and your wife Victoria. You say later he lost everything -- he lost his money, his family -- while God 'prospered [you] through several real estate deals.'

[Osteen] Exactly. That's very clear in my mind. We could have sued him, we could have gotten very ugly. But we said we're going to let God fight this battle. He was another Christian man; he just wasn't living by Christian principles. I believe we kept a good attitude in the tough times when we weren't getting our way.

I believe those are times of testing and I can tell you, God did prosper us more than we could ask or think. On some of these real estate deals, it's just again, God's favor and God's blessing. I believe you're sowing seeds for that when you're doing the right thing when the wrong thing's happening.

I don?t think it's just snap your fingers. We've got to have an attitude of faith when things aren't going our way.

I'm HORRIFIED by his attitude towards this attitude. Osteen never once mentions that (a) he's forgiven the man and/or (b) that he prayed that the man would be blessed by God. What he's basically saying is that he chose not to sue the man in question because he knew that God would do far worse to the man and his family than Osteen could do. He does not seem sorrowful in the least of what happened to this man. All people are sinners, and we should not gloat about others? misfortunes.

Osteen's attitude is completely in contradiction to Christ's commands in Luke 6:27-36. For the purposes of this post, however, I will quote specifically from verses 27, 28, and 35.

27But I say to you who hear, love your enemies"

If I may add, I also can't help wondering if Osteen and his wife attempted reconciliation with this fellow Christian. Sad, sad, sad.

A GGB reading assignment

Comments to come ...

FOXNews.com - Views - Tongue Tied - Artists Under Attack, Muslims Against Advertising

Joel Osteen: part deux

Larry King "interviews" Joel Osteen. Warning: Do not partake of beverages while reading this.

Hat tip: Boar's Head Tavern

Joel Osteen: do not read on a full stomach

My mates over at Boar’s Head Tavern are having a field day outing Joel Osteen. (No, he's not gay ... he's, well, read on ...)

In case you haven’t heard of the guy, he’s the pastor of Houston’s Lakewood Church, the largest in the US with a membership larger than many small towns. (25K at last count.) He’s also making the folks at Amazon rich with his book, Your Best Life Now, which includes endorsements from everyone from Pat Robertson to Cashflow … excuse me … Creflo Dollar.

I had to see what all the excitement was about. I streamed one of Osteen’s monologues … excuse me … sermons from his church’s Web site. I could stand only about five minutes. Then I read an excerpt from chapter one of his book.

It’s worst than we thought, maties. This guy makes me sick. I mean, really, really sick.

He opens his tome with a story about a guy who realizes his "mediocre" thinking is the only thing standing between him and a swanky bungalow on a hillside in Hawaii. He then goes on to say that God wants us to chuck that mediocre thinking and start dreaming big, darnit! (Great … and while we’re at it, God, give me whiter teeth, a tighter butt and firmer boobs, too.)

Speaking of teeth, butt and boobs, we then hear the story of Miss America Tara Holland, who was able to finally win the crown after "reprogramming her mind" and ridding herself of the "hurtful memories of losing." (Oh, puhleez. I once competed in a prelim to the Miss Alabama Pageant. I didn’t even make the top 10, and would you believe I got over it pretty quickly? Amazing, huh?)

Let me say that I have nothing personal against people with big houses or the winners of beauty pageants, and I don’t think God does either. But let’s get back to Mr. Osteen …

Then he relates the story about how his wife’s "speaking words of faith and victory" eventually got the happy couple out of the slum they were living in. (" … an extremely old house that had experienced some foundation problems, preventing all of our doors on the inside from closing properly." Oh, the tragedy!)

"God has so much more in store for you, too," he says. "Start making room for it in your thinking. Conceive it on the inside. Start seeing yourself rising to a new level, doing something of significance, living in that home of your dreams.

"If you look carefully, you will see that God has been trying to encourage you. He's allowed people to cross your path who are far more successful than you are, who have much stronger marriages, who are enjoying His favor in marvelous ways."

Are you gagging now? Shall I pass out the Pepto?

Hey … I’m all for people enjoying the fruits of their success, dreaming big and having goals, even material ones. What I am friggin’ nauseated over is Mr. Osteen’s insistence that God’s favor equals "bigger, better" and "more, more, more."

If anything, I’m trying to trim down my life, buy less stuff, get rid of the clutter and crap, spend more time with my loved ones, spend more time with God, give away my money and time. And if God makes me wealthy or influential in the process, fabulous.

Or … maybe not. Have you checked out the lives of the rich ‘n’ famous lately? Not a pretty sight. (Think: Paris Hilton) I just read a column that says CEOs are suffering from debilitating depression at a significant rate. This quote says it all:

According to a report in Psychology Today magazine, corporate executives — and especially entrepreneurs — may be even more vulnerable to depression than other people. And yet their stories are shrouded in silence because the cultural mythology around success forbids such feelings of weakness. How can someone so wealthy feel so empty?

Again, this is not a rant against the rich. Lord knows we need good CEOs in this world as much as we need good garbage collectors. No, I’m not going to get all simplistic and say that money is evil and there is inherent virtue in being poor.

But people with big houses and titles have not necessarily made it in the eyes of God. When the preacher of America’s largest church starts saying they have, we have a big, big, big problem.

QotD

boortz.com: Nealz Nuze Today's Nuze: "Anyway, it was Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, sitting there looking like they should be selling jewelry or sex aids on the shopping channel. "

Straight from the horse's mouth -- a GGB must read

The voice of radical Islam, interviewed by a Christian publication. Read it and judge for yourself who we are dealing with.

'There Can Be No End to Jihad' - Christianity Today Magazine

Hat tip: Boar's Head Tavern

QotD

"Can a song be 'of God' and still be terrible? Can a movie be 'of God' and be poorly written and poorly acted? These are silly questions, since we all know that if 'of God' means intended to honor God, then all kinds of homely results are acceptable. But if by 'of God' we mean, 'this is from God and can't be criticized,' then I am going to yell 'Manipulation!'"

-- The Internet Monk

No Oscar for Jesus

So, Passion is not up for Best Picture. Yawn.

Although I think it was a better film than Mike Straka does (and I'm not cynical about Mel Gibson's motives), this column says it all:

For Caviezel's Sake, Stop!

Snort!

Heh, heh, heh ...

lgf: Holy Warriors vs. GI Joe

Update: Elmo taken.

Update II: For Pete's sake, people, Drudge and the blogosphere are WAY ahead of you.