Japanese Politicians Take Over Friday Linkage

Ichiro Ozawa, possible Prime Minister of Japan, thinks Americans are “simple-minded”. His words reminded me of a description of Americans given by a fictitious Japanese Prime Minister,

They have the most violent culture in the world, yet they worship justice. They venerate making money, but their roots are found in ideals.

While we’re talking about Japanese politicos (real or imagined), Kazutaka Sangen, mayor of Taiji, has spoken out against certain people whose sole desire is to see Japanese whale hunts (like Taiji’s dolphin hunts) end.  His words seem to eliminate any room for discussion,

We will pass down the history of our ancestors to the next generation, preserve it. We have a strong sense of pride about this. So we are not going to change our plans for the town based on the criticism of foreigners.

Game. Set. Match. Way to stick up for multiculturalism Mayor Kazutaka.  Though “foreigners” doesn’t quite do justice to the word which you probably said:  gaijin.

On to the linkage…

About as a heart-warming story as you’re going to read…I understood why Bengals wideout Chad Johnson legally changed his name to Chad Ochocinco (Chad Eight Five), 85 is his number after all. You’d think with how tech-savvy Chad is, he could have plugged in “eighty-five” into Google Translate and found out that the correct Spanish translation is ochenta y cinco, not ochocinco. Oh well, at least he has his own cereal, mistranslated name and all… Mohler demolishes so-called theistic evolution…Jennifer Aniston’s latest offering flops at the box office, big surprise since she seems to want to resurrect the chest-clutching Rachel Green character in every one of her movies… Jim Furyk gets DQ’d from a PGA tournament because his cell phone alarm doesn’t go off, oops…Ever watch that Tea Party Scene in Disney’s Alice in Wonderland? The masterminds who orchestrated it were the March Hare and the Mad Hatter (below). Perhaps that’s what we can call these 2 billionaires who are the masterminds behind the populist Tea Party movement…

[Photo credit:  Disney]

What To Do “When Creationism Threatens”

Well if you were to ask Antoine Dodson, he’d probably tell you to “hide yo kids, hide yo wives”, but of course the NCSE (National Center for Science Education) simply wants a bit of your personal info.

Here’s a tidbit from one of their mailers:

Incidents of antievolutionary activity often require swift coordinated local action, and the fastest and most efficient way for NCSE to get in touch with its members when creationism threatens is by e-mail.

I wonder if the NCSE has considered implementing their own version of the Department of Homeland Security’s Advisory System (right).

Judging by the paranoia-laced paragraph in their mailer (“antievolutionary activity” etc.), it might not be a bad idea. What does “swift coordinated local action” entail anyway? S.W.A.T. teams armed with copies of PBS’ “Evolution” series?  A burnt offering consisting of creationist material?  A Blackhawk helicopter dispersing hundreds of anti-creationist leaflets over areas afflicted with Biblical literacy?

Then again, after the construction of AiG’s “unsettling” Creation Museum, I’m sure the terror level would perpetually reside in wavelengths greater than approx. 585 nm.

Advisory system or not, every responsible citizen should make sure to report any suspicious “antievolutionary activity” to their nearest public school. That way, they can put you in contact with the NCSE and you can file your report. Constant vigilance!

Pretty soon we’re going to have to redo the old joke: Pentecostals believe there is a demon under every rock, Baptists believe there is a Pentecostal under every rock and the NCSE believes there is a creationist under every rock.

The Ubiquitous Chicharito Tops Friday Linkage

Mexico’s rising star and child of promise, Javier “Chicharito” (Little Pea) Hernandez is everywhere. Scoring goals against the World Champs in Azteca, off his face against Chelsea in the FA Community Shield Cup; gracing the front page of the Daily Mail’s football section under “Premier League Podcast” (below, second from left), and last but certainly not least residing in the lung of a senior citizen.

The kid hasn’t played one game in the EPL and he’s put up next to League stars Fàbregas, Lampard and Gerrard. Hope the pressure doesn’t crush our beloved little pea…

and here is the smorgasbord that is, Friday Linkage:

The ‘Stros kind of get some overseas love, and yes she broke up with him but not over him letting her get hit by the foul ball...  The Faith of Katy Perry and the eventual fate of Katy Perry’s music…Yep, I’m one of these 40%ers… Here’s a column titled, “America’s Biggest Jobs Program — the U.S. Military”, written by, wait for it, a Berkeley prof. Maybe not quite the inspiration for Gibby’s “eliminating the Pentagon” blast but… Apparently Jennifer Aniston drew the ire of former Inside Edition luminary Bill O’Reilly by believing it to be a good idea to drive a car with your feet. And oh by the way, Aniston paid it forward… Puritan anchor babies, need I say more? Finally, we are less than a month away from seeing these boys (below) in action. #81 there to the right is all-around great guy Sam Acho, here’s a great story about him…

[Photo credit: Peter Read Miller/Sports Illustrated]

Green Power Ranger Fights For Jesus Not Al Gore

The phenomenon that was the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers came on the scene too late in my life for me to bite into and enjoy its cheesy and goofy goodness. Never understood the concept of the show, though I may or may not have had a thing for the Pink Power Ranger, too bad she only had eyes for the Green Power Ranger.

Speaking of which, the man who played the GPR, Jason David Frank, is an MMA fighter. I’m sure that to Mr. Frank, MMA fighters must seem like chopped liver compared to the giant invertebrates he had to tussle with when with the MMPRs.

Frank is also a Christian and has meshed the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints with his chosen profession. The Houston Chronicle did a piece on him:

Jesus as the ultimate ultimate fighter

I get what he’s trying to do and to some degree it is commendable but resorting to slogans such as “Putting the Jew in jiu jitsu” is unfortunate.

With a nod to another mid 90s staple, Animaniacs, is the message of this karate studio a good idea or bad idea?

Speaking of 90s staples we all know that though the GPR might not fight for Al Gore, these guys would chomp at the bit:

Though I’m sure they’re also wondering why Mr. Gore has been strangely silent about the mess in the Gulf.

Christianity… A Hard Sell

I just recently finished up listening to Kevin DeYoung’s sermon series on the book of Leviticus. KDY is the senior pastor at University Reformed Church in East Lansing, Michigan, and therefore an unashamed Spartan fan.

He preached through Leviticus from February to July of last year, but because the church makes all his sermons available online (for free!), one can listen to them at one’s leisure. Go here for the whole Leviticus series.

Leviticus? What’s in there but the moldy trappings of a now defunct bloody sacrificial system? Not to mention, a bunch of regulations that frankly seem irrelevant to us who don’t live in an agrarian society and outdated sexual mores that are beneath our “enlightened” 21st Century selves?

While I can devote an entire series of posts of all the things KDY uncovered in the 18-part series, I will try to sift through the largesse.

In Sermon 4 (“Sin Offerings”), he expands on sin, no, not the TV station formerly known as the Spanish International Network (currently known as Univision).

Rather to the our constantly missing the mark of God’s law. Something which all human beings (save for One) are born into, act out and puts us at enmity with God.

Sin, as KDY points out, is an “objective category”. That is, it’s not relative to our whims and fancy, as he put it, “God’s values ARE whether we value them or not”. Because we are born at enmity with God we don’t like to hear about sin, especially our sin though we all feel more comfortable pointing out the sins (real or perceived) of others.

KDY rightfully asserts that he abhor hearing about sin and because of that he says,

Christianity will always be a hard sell. Real Christianity. Because it confronts head-on our love of autonomy. ‘I want to be the reference point… I want my feelings, my desires to be affirmed… It want to be the center of the universe… I want you to exist to make me happy… God exists to make me happy… I am the moral reference point, everything else is decided right or wrong based on what it does to me and how I like it… If there is a God surely He exists to meet my needs and affirm my beliefs.’

Sin is not simply being untrue to yourself no matter how many times the Disney movies tell you that it is

Indeed…

The Arm of God Haunts México

[Para Español no oprima el #1, nada mas haga click donde se termina el Ingles]

I was not able to watch yesterday’s México-England match in its entirety yesterday given the fact that this small thing called work kind of prevented it.

Thanks to Telemundo’s live streaming of the events, I did manage to catch a good chunk of the 1st half and about a quarter of the 2nd half. Kudos to Telemundo legend Andrés Cantor for dropping an f-bomb on live television. His partner, Sammy Sadovnik asked him what Mexican coach, Javier Aguirre, shouted at English captain Steven Gerrard.

Cantor obliged him by repeating Aguirre’s “Hey Steven, F*ck you!” Cantor thought the mikes were turned off, fail. Oh well, I guess the FCC doesn’t care since it is a Spanish station.

To the match…

It was good to watch El Tri go up against seemingly top-flight competition without throwing up all over themselves. That is, if we’re not going to consider the inability to defend set pieces and to put the ball in net (looking at you Carlos Vela) as examples of throwing up all over themselves.

México’s performance was tantalizing and typical of what happens when they go up against world powers (Though England hasn’t won a World Cup since 1966, they are still considered one of the world’s best, if not by merit then by tradition.)

El Tri created a myriad of scoring opportunities and yet failed to capitalize. If you want to beat good teams you have execute in front of the net. England? They had 2 corner kicks in the first half and scored in both. Granted, in the second corner English forward Peter Crouch was offsides and brushed the ball into the goal with his arm, but still.

Seeing the Frankenstein monster’s-like 6’8″ Crouch tower over my diminutive countrymen was hilarious but things would have been far more humorous and haunted if the Mexican contingent would have invited noted Mexican ref and Dracula doppelganger, Marco Antonio “Chiquidracula” Rodríguez (below)

Good teams (México is not there yet) find ways to maximize the opportunities granted to them, that they create opportunities should be a given.

I know it’s just a friendly, but the flashes of brilliance shown by the usual suspects up front, Gio and Carlos Vela, gave us Mexicans a glint of hope that maybe just maybe we might have the horses to get out of the frigging Round of 16 in South Africa. Then Vela blows 2 clear scoring chances.

Oh well, my beloved Tri has pined to be in that top tier of squads, and dwell in the lofty spires where Brazil, Argentina, Germany and Italy make their home. Unfortunately that is not currently the case as evidenced by the setting of this very match. This was England’s World Cup send off.

The host picks a “lesser” opponent to play in the send off match. Very much like homecoming in American football. For your homecoming, you schedule a team you know you’re going to beat. England had no doubt that it was going to beat México, hence the 3 lions scheduled my Tri.

That’s OK, until México shows that it can beat top-tier competition it will reside in the middle of the pack.

That said, I think they earned the respect of the Brits, or at least their journalists judging by some of the pieces I’ve read from their newspapers.

Here is a fine example of one from the Telegraph,

England 3 Mexico 1: match report

Up next for México? The Netherlands tomorrow at 1:30 PM.

Men Lie More Than Women but…

Being in research, I understand that things have to be looked into, checked, double-checked and researched again to get a clear picture of what’s going on in whatever niche of creation we’re looking into. ‘Course, confirming one’s hypothesis doesn’t hurt either.

A study, well a poll, was conducted and its results have recently been revealed.

The aim of the study was to find out which sex lies the most. The poll found that it is men who lie the most. Well, let’s hang a big ol’ “DUH!” on that one. I don’t now who funded the study or how many days/months/years of research went into it but I could have told you that.

In fact, if the people who commissioned the study would have bothered to watch Chris Rock’s 1999 show, “Bigger and Blacker”, he could have told you that, the pertinent excerpt,

Who are the biggest liars, men or women? Men! Women!
Men lie the most, women tell the biggest lies.

Men, we lie all the time.
We lie so much, it’s damn near a language.

lt’s like, to call a man out for lying…is like playing basketball with a retarded kid
and calling him for double dribble….

Men, we lie all the time.

You know what a man’s lie is like?
A man’s lie is like, ”l was at Tony’s house.”
”l’m at Kenny’s house.” That’s a man’s lie.

A women’s lie is like, ”lt’s your baby.”

We’ve all heard that one.

-”lt don’t even look like me.”
-”He’s got your hat.”

Here’s Chris on his way back from Kenny’s house

[Photo credit: Photo Agency]

NBC: It’s Not Easy Being Green

The wife and I are locked in a perpetual struggle over our home’s thermostat. She wants it above a balmy 78°F while I prefer it to be at 72°F.

Yet as with most things, fiscal responsibility wins the day and the thermostat does not dip below 78°F (the junior Senator from the state of Illinois would be proud).

What Mr. Obama would not be proud of is NBC’s act in Beijing:

Not Green: NBC Beijing Olympic Set Air Conditioned — Outdoors

Whatever happened to this?

Univisión Steps Its Game Up

Univisión, as most people know, is a Spanish-language television station. Contrary to popular perception:

• it is pronounced Uni-vees-ee-on not Uni-vision
• its programming does not consist solely of variety shows featuring large men surrounded by ladies in late evening wear (that would be rival station, Telemundo), nor does it consist solely of sitcoms set in classrooms with middle-age people dressed as schoolchildren and a sultry cougar as their teacher

Here are some things that can be observed about the network,

• There is fútbol on Sundays
• The novelas (soap operas) are not perpetual like their American counterparts but all of them have basically the same story line (dirt poor, preferrably indigenous-looking, girl falls in love with rich European looking dude, but social and economic forces prevent the pairing until… it is discovered that poor girl is the sole heir to a shadowy magnate’s vast fortune thereby erasing said social and economic forces but upper-class blond/blue bombshell antagoinst still remains to be vanquished… undoubtedly she suffers a horrible fate which is roughly karmaic in nature, and the heroine and her prince live happily ever after)
• There are no ads for State Farm Insurance but ads for Estate Farm are legion
• Hosts and station luminaries like to pretend that people from different Latin American countries can all be happily lumped into one big happy family

All this to point out that the wildly popular station is overtaking some of its English-speaking counterparts,
Rapid growth for Spanish-speaking television news

Felicidades Univision!

Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian try out for Dancing with the Stars

Or so it would seem…
Houston Chronicle