That's Awesome!: October 2004

Robin Hood is Evil

Ragnar Danneskjold: "But I’ve chosen a special mission of my own. I’m after a man whom I want to destroy. He died many centuries ago, but until the last trace of him is wiped out of men’s minds, we will not have a decent world to live in."

Hank Rearden: "What man?"

Ragnar: "Robin Hood."

Ragnar: ". . . [Robin Hood] is not remembered as a champion of property, but as a champion of need, not as a defender of the robbed, but as a provider of the poor. He is held to be the first man who assumed a halo of virtue by practicing charity with wealth which he did not own, by giving away goods which he had not produced, by making others pay for the luxury of his pity. He is the man who became a symbol of the idea that need, not achievement, is the source of rights, that we don’t have to produce, only to want, that the earned does not belong to us, but the unearned does. He became a justification for every mediocrity who, unable to make his own living, had demanded the power to dispose of the property of his betters, by proclaiming his willingness to devote his life to his inferiors at the price of robbing his superiors. It is this foulest of creatures – the double-parasite who lives on the sores of the poor and the blood of the rich – whom men have come to regard as the moral idea." ". . . Do you wonder why the world is collapsing around us? That is what I am fighting, Mr. Rearden. Until men learn that of all human symbols, Robin Hood is the most immoral and the most contemptible, there will be no justice on earth and no way for mankind to survive."

The Pirate Ragnar Danneskjöld
From Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged

Vegan Feast!

OK . . . so it's a lifestyle choice. It's probably not yours, as only a small sector of society pays homage to the vegan lifestyle.

There are two strata of veganism: 1. those who live a full and complete vegan lifestyle using no animal products at all, i.e. in clothing, hair product, etc... you get the picture; 2. and those who, probably for ease of life, only avoid animal products in their food.

It may sound like an odd lifestyle choice, but it's not something we can judge, even though it's terrible and wrong . . . (I'm eating spicy Thai chicken as I write this and it's delicious!)

but try this sometime! they're really good.

FALAFELS
1 can of organic garbanzo beans
About a cup of whole wheat flour (natural and unbleached)
A bunch of Parsley
Carrots
Onion
Some green onion
Clove of garlic (I use Trader Joe's Crushed garlic (1 tsp))
Paprika
Turmeric
Salt
Black Pepper

Pop the ingrediants in a food processor (or chop really really well!) and then mix in the flour. Make small gobs of the mixture (about the size of a cookie) with a spoon.

Heat up some Peanut Oil and a smidge of Sesame Oil in a large skillet. Drop the gobs into the pan and flatten a bit with the spoon and fry them until they're a dark golden brown.

Enjoy them with cabbage and tzatziki sauce in a warm or toasted pita.

Faith in Knowledge

Recently I was flipping channels and stopped briefly on the Bible Network or something of that regard. I think his toupee caught my attention at first, but then is jargon caught hold of me. Granted, he is a TV preacher, but what this man was saying is not a rare thing to hear in various churches and from various Christians. He was pressing for all of us to put all thought and doubt behind us and simply accept faith. He was telling us that we are just humans and there is no way we can comprehend God. So put all thought and doubt behind you and simply accept faith.

This comes in direct conflict with the idea that we are created in God’s image – that we are rational independent men who think and make decisions. We have the ability to comprehend complex thought (we created cell phones for crying out loud . . oh, and split the atom). We are given knowledge and have been given the capacity to process it – from God. Just because we may not yet know the nature of God does not mean the Holy Spirit will not guide us to or endow us with such knowledge (enough to make an informed decision).

We cannot so easily give up the search for Truth in our lives, recline into disengagement and say: "We are weak and feeble creatures unable to know of higher things. I will sit back and easily and readily accept what is already known." We cannot and must not stop searching for truth and knowledge in our lives. God calls us to have blind faith, not a faith with blinders. We are not animals. We are man.

Heidelberg, GERMANY

Oh... What a wonderful city. A magical city. I miss it terribly. The song isn't entirely wrong when it says, "I lost my heart in Heidelberg," although literally... Man, I would give my left pinky toe to be sitting on the Hauptstrasse with nice cup of Kaffe with some Kuchen right now. Take a nice walk up Philosophenweg watch the Neckar flowing down below... BUT, for now this picture will have to sustain me while I'm hard at work making mammogram and Breast MRI ads... ugh.

TONIGHT!! AHHHH!! scary.

Tonight I'm going to Knott's Scary Farm. I haven't been there in years. I used to go years ago, you know, back when I was a kid. I'm a bit concerned about my level of enjoyment and the related fear factor. We will see... I've been psyching my self up about this. This is a very scary time of year. The ghouls, my new black hair, my boss Sandy... (placed in order of ferocity).

My next post will be soon. I was reading some Kierkegaard last night and it didn't sit well with me. As soon as I can, I will attempt to strain my brain into a nice little post for ya.