Sick, sick, sick

*** READER ADVISORY -- GRAPHIC IMAGE ***

I've just about had it up to here with the sicko dealth cult of Islamofascism and their sycophants in the media. Exhibit A:

Indonesia boosts security after girls beheaded

To sum it up for you: A group of sicko bastards ambushed five innocent schoolgirls on Saturday. Three were beheaded. But the way Al Reuters puts it, you'd think this was just another skirmish in some sort of civil war between Muslims and Christians:

Muslim-Christian clashes in the Poso area killed 2,000 people from 1998 through 2001, when a peace deal was agreed.

Can we get just one thing straight?? Indonesian Christians have not been going around cutting off Muslims' heads, okay?? The violence has been against Christians, not between Muslims and Christians. In fact, Indonesia -- the world's most populous Islamic nation -- is one of the riskiest places in the world to be a professing Christian believer.

In fact, check out just how risky it is. My apologies for disturbing anyone's comfort zone, but I think you need to see this:










Someone didn't get the "Religion of Peace" memo. This has GOT to stop.

You're a little late

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Haven't you guys heard of blogs??

"Supreme" Halloween costume idea

I am sooooo tempted to buy a royal blue suit, sensible shoes, a short frosted-blonde wig and mega black eyeliner and go as Harriet Miers for Halloween this year.

Would I frighten small children? Inquiring minds wanna know.

The Man in Black returns

The GGB is beside herself with excitement at the upcoming 20th Century Fox biopic Walk the Line. I've been a Johnny Cash fan for 30 years. (And I'm 35, so you do the math.) What in the world a five-year-old found appealing about "Folsom Prison Blues" or "Sunday Morning Coming Down" is beyond me, but there I was with my little red Radio Shack 8-track player and a couple of JC cassettes to keep me happy. I mean, come on, the guy did a stint on The Muppets. Anyone who appears on The Muppet Show has got to be OK.

I saw Johnny around 1995 at City Stages in Birmingham when he had his comeback. Man, what a show. I'm so glad I was able to see my idol, especially now that Johnny is no longer with us.

If you haven't watched the trailer, check it out here. I've read excellent pre-release reviews about the movie and about Joaquin Phoenix' and Reese Witherspoon's performances. I think they both look a little "pretty" to be playing June 'n' Johnny. (In fact, Joaquin is downright luscious, whereas Johnny looked much more road-worn, even in his 20s, but we'll see how it goes. He's just about got the voice down pat. His rendition of "Ring of Fire" is pretty darn good.)

The GGB will follow up with a review next month when the flick is released.


In the meanwhile, check out the official Johnny Cash Web site here.






Johnny Cash
1932 - 2003

And hopefully one day, they'll cost 50 cents

Jollyblogger discovers a vending machine for iPods at Hartsfield International Airport in Atlanta.

Wilma heads for Florida

Buck Rogers fans rejoice.















Heh, heh.
Earlier post: Buckblogging

You guys are no fun

The venerable Somali movie industry took a hit this week:

Somali Islamic militias raid movie studio (CNN)

"The courts consider watching movies, listening to music, dancing and many other forms of entertainment un-Islamic."

Some have noted that fundamentalists of all stripes tend to have a problem with fun. ;) But before we lump the Somali movie critics in with the Amish, let's not forget one important distinction: Christian fundamentalists generally burn their own books, movies and CDs. Islamic fundamentalists burn other people's property and other people while they're at it. (Cue tape of the bombing in Bali.)

Some would argue it's only a matter of degree, but it'd be interesting to ask Hollywood: Who would you rather have criticizing your films, Jerry Falwell or the Somali militia?

Blog break

Sorry for the dearth of posts, friends. 2005 is speeding toward its close and taking the GGB right along with it. Will post as able.

OK ... this is just freaky

Kate vs. Tori Smackdown

Who you gonna trust?

The Jollyblogger has a very lucid post about why George Bush's "trust me" mantra doesn't quite cut it, and evangelics who repeat the mantra are being a little disingenous.

The Borg-ization of America

Lately, I've been seeing people walk around with these wireless headsets like this:










"Hi ... I'm Bob, and I look like a complete dork."



I'm not talking about wearing them at their desks or while driving a car, I'm talking about in and out of elevators, walking down the street, taking a smoke break -- when they're not actually on the phone.

The GGB is a passionate technophile, but I draw the line at having gizmos attached to my head unless absolutely necessary. I had enough of gizmos attached to my head during second grade when I had to wear an orthodontic headgear to correct a vicious overbite. (The photo below is not me but it gives you an idea of what it's like walking around with enough metal on your head and face to contact Mars.)















I'm afraid that if this trend is allowed to continue, we'll all look like this in seven or eight years:











Only Patrick Stewart could make Borg-ization sexy.


So, please, folks, for the love of aesthetics and your own social life, get the gizmos out of your ears and look like a real member of the human race. Walking around with those headsets just looks stupid, m'kay?

Bono: Ambassador of grace

I haven't always agreed with his politics ... or the fact that his band played for barely two hours at Legion Field in Birmingham in 1992 ... but I've always loved U2 and the musical glories of their frontman, Bono. (Not to mention the fact that he's really, really sexy. ;^)

I'll never forget the summer I spent listening to The Joshua Tree over and over and over again, never losing the feeling that I was tripping through heaven with each replay on my Walkman. Even now, "Red Hill Mining Town" has a way of lifting me into the third heaven like few other pieces of music can -- be they sacred or secular.

And now, after reading this article in Christianity Today, my respect for the brooding Irishman has gone up about 100 notches:

Bono: Grace Over Karma

His humility and apt articulation of grace are beautiful:

I love the idea of the Sacrificial Lamb. I love the idea that God says: Look, you cretins, there are certain results to the way we are, to selfishness, and there's a mortality as part of your very sinful nature, and, let's face it, you're not living a very good life, are you? There are consequences to actions. The point of the death of Christ is that Christ took on the sins of the world, so that what we put out did not come back to us, and that our sinful nature does not reap the obvious death. That's the point. It should keep us humbled… . It's not our own good works that get us through the gates of heaven.

Time to go play Achtung Baby.

OK bomber update

News organizations in Oklahoma are uncovering fairly clear indications that Joel Henry Hinrichs III, the 21-year-old who detonated himself outside a Sooners football game Saturday, could have been a wannabe jihadist. He had a cache of explosives in his apartment and apparent conncections to the local Muslim community ... not to mention a hideous beard.

<--- Voted Most Likely to Go Out with a Bang??

A good place to start on continuing updates would be Michelle Malkin's coverage of this goon.

As you can tell, this story is getting me cranky. Leaves me in a right awkward position, too, regarding my religion, which says: "Love your enemies."

Right now, I can honestly say I despise this guy and I despise people who want to blow up discos and pizza joints and airliners. And, by extension, I'm becoming suspicious of anyone who is Muslim.

No, I'm not even considering violent or hateful action toward anyone who is Muslim. I know a few Muslims who I like very much. One in particular comes to mind. Amiable guy. Gives me the Arab double-cheek-kiss whenever I see him.

But I also know he treats his wife like doo-doo.

It's crap like that -- from treating women like property to blowing yourself up outside a football stadium -- that makes me want to say, "Will you guys just get with the 21st century or LEAVE???" In fact, forget the 21st century thing. Just leave. Go. Get out of my country and go be uncivilized somewhere else.

I guess there is nothing redemptive about ultimatums, and I don't have any good answers to "WWJD?" But the command to "love your enemies" is something I'm having a real hard time with. I could love them better if I didn't have to deal with them. And I guess that's the point.

Bwah hah hah hah hah!!!!!

Rapture Safety cards prepare parishioners, airline-style

P.S. This is parody, folks.

It's getting kohl'd in here

For your inspection:

"Mindfreak" illusionist Criss Angel:













Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers:
















That's all I'm going to say about it.

It's got a good beat, it's in Farsi, I give it a 10!

And the hits just keep on comin':

In recent days, Iran's airwaves have been buzzing with two new tunes apparently designed to rally public support for the clerical regime's increasingly tense stand-off with the West over its nuclear ambitions.

The first song is entitled "Oriental Sun, Nuclear Science", and sung to a backdrop of military-style marching music by Ali Tafreshi. The second similarly catchy tune is "Nuclear Know-How" by Reza Shirazi.

Now, the GGB has more than a passing familiarity with Middle Eastern pop music, and I guaran-damn-tee you that anything with a military beat is not currently playing in the iPods of the young and the restless on the streets of Tehran.

Reminds me of those gosh-awful music videos of pre-liberation Iraq where mustachioed guys in leisure suits sang pop songs extoling Saddam.

Blech. Give me the liberal media over government-run media any day of the week and twice at Ramadan.

Clooney: He's starting to get it.

Well, sort of.

My favorite liberal actor, George Clooney, is starting to get it: Celebrity endorsements do not help get candidates elected, so he's vowing to keep quiet in the next round of elections. Unfortunately, Gorgeous George fails to grasp exactly why this is:

"My father ran for congress last year (04). I couldn't campaign for him and I knew I couldn't, because I'd hurt him. They tried to get me to get on the JOHN KERRY train and I said, 'We'll hurt him. They'll use us as 'liberal'.'

"Now, I would argue that (throughout) American history, it's pretty hard to find a time when liberals were on the wrong side of an issue. We thought that the conservative view was, 'Witches should be burned at the stake.' Moderate view was: 'Well, just in case,' and the liberal view was, 'There's no such thing as witches.'

"We thought women should be able to vote and blacks should be allowed to sit at the front of the bus and Vietnam was wrong. We haven't really been on a lot of wrong sides for us to be sort of used as this bad word.

I hate to break it to ya, George, but it's ugly caricatures of conservatives as witch-burners and Klansmen that turn people off.

(Not to mention the fact that your assertions are not entirely true. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 had greater Republican than Democratic support, and let's not forget that the segregationist South was largely Democratic. Visual aid: Sen. Robert Byrd.)

We really don't begrudge you speaking your mind about issues or making politically-charged (but artistically excellent) films such as Three Kings and Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. It's the broad-brush stereotyping (so prevalent in Hollywood) that makes us grab our remotes.

By the way, hope your back is doing better. Love the villa. :)

Oklahoma "suicide bombing"

The blogosophere is abuzz about Saturday evening's "apparent" suicide-by-explosives 100 yards outside the OU football stadium where 84,000 fans were gathered. The intrepid Michelle Malkin is covering the story.

The victim in question is a 21-year-old engineering major named Joel Henry Hinrichs. Not exactly the moniker of a suicide bomber, but it begs the question: Did he intend to take some Sooner fans with him but his timer wasn't working?

Nutjob or would-be suicide bomber, no one knows, but this is one story that bears following.