Goldy

So, I kept up the Sunday “Bible Study” posts after moving to Slog, partially out of habit, and partially just to keep my fingers in the muck that is HA, but if you couldn’t tell by my late postings these past couple weeks, I’m getting a little tired of the schtick.

The original idea was this: Goldy quotes offensive/bizarre/awful Bible verse entirely out of context—you know, just like the Bible thumpers often do—and then righties get all angry at Goldy for posting Bible verse out of context… even though I did so without comment. Predictable, yeah. But surprisingly amusing, and occasionally fascinating.

But now it just feels repetitive. (That said, I’m seriously considering recycling some of the “best of” Bible verses over at Slog, mostly out of laziness.)

Anyway, if folks really want this feature to continue, I might oblige, or perhaps the current HA crew might consider taking it over. Or if you think it’s time to nail this particular joke to the cross, I don’t think I’d disagree. Either way, let me know in the comment thread.

Matthew 5:34-37
But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne: Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.

Fucking discuss.

Exodus 31:15
Whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.

Discuss.

Prompted by the need to manually adjust HA’s GMT offset to accommodate for Daylight Savings Time (what’s up with that, WordPress?), I once again opened a support ticket with the hosting company asking them to adjust the server’s clock, which has been off by about 40 minutes for I dunno, months. And possibly prompted by other support tickets related to DST, this time they did.

Yay.

I was so busy following the disaster in Japan that I couldn’t even crack open my bible. So let’s just ask the believers to explain how a compassionate God could do something like this.

Discuss.

Discuss.

Numbers 31:7-18
They attacked Midian as the Lord had commanded Moses, and they killed all the men. All five of the Midianite kings—Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba—died in the battle. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword.

Then the Israelite army captured the Midianite women and children and seized their cattle and flocks and all their wealth as plunder. They burned all the towns and villages where the Midianites had lived. After they had gathered the plunder and captives, both people and animals, they brought them all to Moses and Eleazar the priest, and to the whole community of Israel, which was camped on the plains of Moab beside the Jordan River, across from Jericho. Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the community went to meet them outside the camp. But Moses was furious with all the generals and captains[a] who had returned from the battle.

“Why have you let all the women live?” he demanded. “These are the very ones who followed Balaam’s advice and caused the people of Israel to rebel against the Lord at Mount Peor. They are the ones who caused the plague to strike the Lord’s people. So kill all the boys and all the women who have had intercourse with a man. Only the young girls who are virgins may live; you may keep them for yourselves.

Discuss.

Lynn Allen was one of the first political bloggers I met, way back when the local liberal blogosphere was just taking shape, and while she may not have been one of the best known or most read, within our community she was certainly one of the most loved, often playing the role of den mother to our group of rowdy children.

Lynn died today at the age of 63, after a brief battle with ovarian cancer.

Politics is a mean, nasty, vicious business. But cancer is meaner.

Proverbs 31:6-7
Let beer be for those who are perishing,
wine for those who are in anguish!
Let them drink and forget their poverty
and remember their misery no more.

Discuss.

1 Peter 2:13-14
Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.

Discuss.

Matthew 5:31-32
“It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

Discuss.

First day on the job at the Stranger, and no, HA is not shutting down. In fact, we’re adding contributors. Stay tuned for more news.

President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt just announced that he would not step down, but that he would not seek “reelection”… an announcement that did not seem to mollify the crowds.

And yes, some of the best, most insightful, and perhaps most even-handed coverage of the Egypt’s “Jasmine Revolution” can be found on Al Jazeera English. Catch their live stream here.

I was sitting in the auditorium at Mercer Island High School last night at a presentation for parents of incoming ninth graders, when the school’s WiFi network popped up as a connection option on my iPhone. So I thought, what the hell, why not try it out and see if HA would load.

I already knew that the middle school’s network blocked HA, but I didn’t think much of it considering my occasional foul language, and the age of the students. But high school, well, there isn’t much four letter vocabulary I could teach kids that age. Yet sure enough, HA was blocked there too.

Ah well, no worry, I’ll be starting at The Stranger tomorrow so I guess my daughter and her friends could always read me there… but alas, The Stranger is blocked too. The Seattle Times loads fine, as does the P-I, two sites the average high schooler is unlikely to want to read, but The Stranger—a publication whose content might be remotely relevant to teenagers—no, that would be inappropriate. What are we trying to keep our kids safe from… quality writing?

And, of course, that’s the problem with censorship at any level. You could make an argument that some of the language in some of my posts is inappropriate for in-school reading, or that some parents may be offended by the blunt discourse of Savage Love, but in the process you’re tossing out a lot of insightful reporting and beautiful writing about art, music, philosophy and whatnot. Personally, I’m offended by the lies of omission that populate the Seattle Times op/ed pages, so why shouldn’t the high school ban their site too? Cater to every perceived offense, and I guess the district shouldn’t provide internet access at all.

Just seems kinda silly for an institution tasked with helping our teenagers grow into adults, to treat their students like little children.

But unfortunately for HA, I perform my fisking over at Slog.