3:15 pm. When Do I Get to Go Home?

So I'm at work, and I'm thinking "damn, Ive been working for like four straight hours". To make it worse this guy e-mails me every half hour with more leads about Colorado State Government waste. He is writing a paper so that every one knows just how much money the state flushes down the toliet. Interesting stuff, I just spent all morning and most of the early after noon looking at pictures of furniture made by prison inmates. Any way I need a break. I miss the days when I just had to read books for this guy.

Oh, I think I have driven all my readers away with my recent posts that have been a little long. Sorry about that, but I really though the story from the NY times was so stupid it had to be shared with all.

The Fool In His Heart Says ...

This might be a little long, but it is so stupid I think every one should read it. Its from the New York Times today 6/19/05

Summer Camp That's a Piece of Heaven for the Children, but Please, No Worshiping

HAMILTON, Ohio, June 25 - Fresh from a week at Camp Quest in southern Ohio, Alex Houseman can boast that his badminton game is a little better, his archery skills are a little sharper and he can now crank out tie-dye T-shirts on demand.
All that, and 12-year-old Alex got a rare chance to be around other children just like him - children whose parents do not go to church or any other place of worship, and who do not necessarily believe in God.
At the public school he attends in Boone County, Ky., he said, he has learned to keep quiet about the fact that his family left the fundamentalist Christian church it used to belong to, that his father now considers himself an atheist, and that his mother, if she believes in God at all, does not do so in a conventional way.
At Camp Quest, on the other hand, he was not worried that his fellow campers would judge him. "It's good to know there are other people out there who don't believe in God," he said.
Providing a haven for the children of nonbelievers is what Camp Quest is all about. As the camp's official T-shirt announces, it's a place that's "beyond belief." More precisely, it claims to be the first summer sleep-away camp in the country for atheist, agnostic and secular humanist children.
Nearly two million American adults openly identify themselves as atheist or agnostic, according to a 2001 survey by the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. As a group, they face more than their share of bigotry, said Edwin F. Kagin, Camp Quest's longtime director, and their children are often made to feel like outcasts.
Many of the two dozen campers who attended this year's session last week recounted experiences of being called names and otherwise harassed. For instance, Travis Leepers, 17, from Louisiana, reported that just about everyone he knows has expressed concern to him about his soul and has tried to convert him.
Sophia Riehemann, 14, from Bellevue, Ky., recalled how one of her schoolmates called her a devil-worshiper. "People get really confused sometimes," Sophia said. "They think that if we don't believe in God we believe in the devil."
At Camp Quest, children age 8 to 17 take part in all the usual summer camp activities. But in addition to horseback riding, organized water balloon fights and outdoor survival lessons, the camp's volunteer staff aims to promote a healthy respect for science and rational inquiry, while assuring campers that there is nothing wrong with not believing in the Bible and not putting stock in a supreme creator.
"We're serving as a night light in a dark and scary room," said Mr. Kagin, who started the nonprofit camp in 1996, along with other members of the Free Inquiry Group in the Cincinnati and northern Kentucky area, a secular humanist organization. The cost for the weeklong session is $650.
With his booming voice and his penchant for khaki-colored canvas hats and garb, Mr. Kagin, 64, looks like a summer camp director. Besides being director of the Kentucky chapter of American Atheists, he is also a certified Eagle Scout.
And in other ways - the unappetizing food, for example, or the 7:30 a.m. bullhorn calls badgering campers to wake up - Quest is much like any other summer camp. (It rents the cabins and other facilities from a Y.M.C.A.-owned camp.)
There are also obvious differences.
At the wooden barn that served as the main mess hall, the camp's program director, Fred Edwords, set up posters of famous atheists and free thinkers in world history like Bertrand Russell, Albert Einstein and Margaret Sanger, and after meals he presented talks on the contributions they had made.
At the opening campfire ceremony, Mr. Kagin issued a set of challenges for campers to respond to in skits on the final night of camp. One such challenge: Help residents of the faraway planet Questerion understand how life on earth came into being. Another challenge: Prove that the two invisible unicorns in residence do not exist.
As in years past, camp leaders also worked on presentations in science and other natural (as opposed to supernatural) phenomena. This year's subjects were raptors and meteorology, including a demonstration of a portable weather station. Also, Gene Kritsky, a biology professor at the nearby College of Mount St. Joseph, talked to campers about creationism, arguing that the theories used to try to disprove evolution fail to hold up.
Not all the programming is a hit. "Some of the presentations are really boring," said Caitlin Fox, 13, from Mansfield, N.J., who thought the session on swords and other medieval weaponry dragged on too long.
For his part, Tomás Aguilar, 16, a Chicago native, thought the presentations on famous free thinkers like Ted Turner, the founder of CNN, could have used more balance. "Fred paints them in only a positive light," he said of the program director.
Tomás said he liked the way Mr. Kagin and other camp leaders tried to inspire critical thinking. But for him, the best thing about Camp Quest was seeing friends from previous years and getting to go swimming every day and run around. "I'm here just to have fun," he said.
Staff members conceded that sometimes the programming had been too didactic. In recent years, they said, they have adjusted the balance to include more activities that are purely fun. Also, as a new generation of camp leaders has taken over, different sorts of lectures have been added, including talks this year and last on various religions, to broaden campers' perspectives and keep the programming fresh.
With Mr. Kagin and his wife, Helen, retiring this year as the camp's leaders, other changes may also be in store. Still, the camp's new director, August Brunsman, 28, promised that the primary mission - giving the children of nonbelievers a sense of community - would remain the same.
Parents like Lev Pinskiy, a computer programmer from Brooklyn, are not looking for any major overhaul. In fact, Mr. Pinskiy, a Russian immigrant, values the camp so much that he let his son, Eugene, 11, skip the last week of school to attend this year's session.
"There's no other place like it in the United States, for sure," said Mr. Pinskiy, adding that he had searched the American Camp Association catalog in vain to find a nonreligious summer program that still offered all the activities of a traditional summer camp.
"This is a complete experience," added Mr. Pinskiy, who finally found Camp Quest by doing a Google search.
Sarah Silverman, 17, from Camp Hill, Pa., agreed. She liked Camp Quest so much that she has attended for three summers and is planning to return next year as a volunteer counselor.
Sarah has also been doing her part to recruit new campers.
"I tell my Christian friends they'd love it here," she said.

PBS Isn't So Liberal

I just saw a great PBS documentary. It was about dwarfs, and yes I did just start watching it because I thought it would be funney. It was normal short people stuff; that is unitl they started talking about having children. One female dwarf said she was worried about bringing some one into the world who would possibly hate his or her life because of the dwarfism. But than there was a 20 something dwarf (and the son of a dwarf father and mother) who said that he has never thought his life is not worth living; in fact he said his life was quite fulfilling. Than another dwarf mentions the possiblity of preventing dwarfism through genetic screning (that is aborting a fetus who is also a dwarf). All of the dwarfs said that such a approach is frightning and they sounded worried about such new "bio"technologies. One woman said she would refuse to have a genetic screning; in fact they would have to tie her down to take such genetic tests of her child. Every one of the dwarfs condemed, in implication, such terminations of lives of dwarfs. I would like the meet the nazi who could listen to these testaments of human dignity and still argue for "better" children through genetic tests and aborting of "unfit" feti. (What is the the plural of fetus?)

I Need!

I am going to get rid of my cell phone and buy this.

All Cliches & No Roman Cannon Makes Dan a Dull Boy

I am watching EWTN's news summary of the bishop's conference in Chicago. The bishops are talking about the liturgy, and Cardinal Egan is making wonderful points about these constant liturgical revolutions. This has gotten me thinking about the mass I went to on father's day. I thought it would never end. After communion the priest got up and talked for five minutes. Then a young man from Totus Tuus talked for about ten minutes. Then the priest got up again and talked for another five minuets, and then ... well at that point I was so irate and I had to catch my bus, so I had to go (but I heard the priest calling up all the children to come up to bless the fathers). I mean, how hard is it to end a mass? And then there is the music, (now I am not a typical TACer, I hated the music at TAC. I do not consider the "music" sung at TAC the apex of litutgical music). The chior sung Amazing Grace; I love the song, but it is a prodi song. I mean are they going to sing Swing Low, Sweet Chariot during communion? And then, what about the Roman Cannon? I don't know how long its been since I heard a priest say the Roman Cannon. Even Bishop Chaput, such a great bishop in everything else, dosn't even say the Roman Cannon. If the priests would just put their foots down and tell the choirs to shut up, then they could fit it in. But no! The second eucharistic prayer is the only one you'll ever hear. This prayer should only be used when the nazis are breaking down the door looking for the priest (and even then I think it is a venial sin to say it in place of the Roman Cannon). Could some one please tell me if the first word of it are,

Father You are holy indeed, the fountain ...
or, Father You are holy, indeed the fountain ...
or, Father You are holy, indeed, the fountain ... (This third one makes no theological sense, and thus is the one most often said by the pries.t)

Ever time I hear the second eucharistic prayer that is all I can think about, and it causes a real existentail crisis for me. So if you could tell me what the prayer is actually saying, I won't have to go and jump into the Siene.

How Much Would You Pay For Flip Flops.

We Just started selling these at the department store. A pretty good deal for flip flops.

I Love Cabs

So now that I have sold my car I take the bus to work, and to quote to sage Darkwing Duck "The worst part about public transportation is the public part". However at the store I work at we staying open until 11:00 pm on every third friday. My last bus is at 10:22 pm. So I take a cab. Man I love those Cabs. I mean I'll spen $1.25 to get on the bus, and $16.00 to get home in a cab. Is the cab over ten times better? Yes. First it takes 15 minutes to get home. The bus? 45 minutes, if it comes when right when I get of, and my conecting bus is waiting for me downtown (neither of these ever happen). I really spen an hour and a half gating home on the bus. Then there are the cabies. All are Africans, who will tell you everything about the situation in Zimbabway (spelling?) and how much they hate cops. I just wish I could pay for a cab every day. I should ask for a raise.

On another note, what is with the female bloggers? I mean there was this, and this, and then today there was this. I just find it unsettling that all these showed in the last week. I suggest that you girls who feel down and out (and any one else) read this.

I have no idea what made me think about this, but I came up with a top five list of my favorite DVD special features.

Lost In Translation: Inteview with Sophia Coppola, and Bill Murray. All around the best interview feature I have ever seen.

Punch-Drunk Love: Mattres Man Commerical. A great "commercial" with Philip Seymore Hoffman.

Sense and Sensibility: Commentary by Ang Lee and Executive Producer (male). In general they sound very uncomfortable about how much they liked making a Jane Austin movie.

Sense and Sensibility: Commentary by Emma Thompson and Producer (female). The best part is where they both start crying when Marianne thanks Brandin after she almost dies.

Young Adam (Rated R version): Under a section called "Extended Scenes" you can watch the whole scene that they had to cut to get a R rating. A great way around Blockbuster's and Wal-Mart's no NC-17 movie rule.

On another notem, my local NPR station is asking for money again. I just want to call and say "get over it I'm a republican I hate anything with the word 'public' in it" (nearly an exact quote from Bill Moyers). Anyway it still beats Air America.

If there is not a place in hell for poeple who do things like this, than there should be.

Joey McKeown v. Andrew Sullivan

I just found a link to Joey McKeown's blog. G## D### its funney. It could be the best blog you'll ever read. That is if you aren't a gay, liberl, ex-editor of the New Repuliblic.

You Really Can Find Everything On Ebay

For any one who was looking for Dr. Smiths Book you can now get it on ebay. It is $61, but than what does Catholic U. Press charge for it?

It Was Never About WMDs

You hear again and again that the Catholic Church was against the Iraqi war, and again and again many catholics argue back that some Catholics (like the Pope, and most or all the bishops) where against the war but not the Church. Granted the Pope and all the bishops do have alot of force behind them, but still when would a war be just if not this one? I am not talking about defensive wars of course. If I am not mistaken the just war doctrine does allow for the removing of tyrants. The church has always upheld the right of revolution. What else was the soliderity movement in Poland? So if the war was really about Saddam and not about WMDs than it could be justified, right? Now, any one with half a brain could see it was about "That Camel F***er in Iraq" and not about WMDs. The whole WMD thing was just there to sell the war to the American people, a very isolationst bunch when you get down to it. So what does the Church say about Totalitarian tyrants? Well lets look at the new Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, which says,

"The Church place[s] herself as a bulwark against every totalitarian temptation".

So much for the Curia now what does the late Pope have to say about Iraq,

"Iraq is currently in the throes of the difficult process of transition from a totalitarian regime to the formation of a democratic State in which the dignity of each person is respected and all citizens enjoy equal rights."

So tell me again, why where the bishops and pope againt the war?

When Remuneration's Lost Its Fun Your F###ing Lazy

The first two days of my internship where taken up by opening mail, sorting mail, copying pamphlets, and making coffee. You know, intern stuff. It wasn't until the third day that I got a real job. So far my job has been, and I think will continue to be, reading. The guy I work for is writting a book, and my job is to read all the books about the subject of his book that he either has not read or dosn't want to read. If only I was being payed this would be the best job ever. Any way he also told me to write reviews of all the book, to be posted on Amazon.com (I know that sounds silly, but he said said it was the best way of getting practice). So here is first review,

Medieval Handbooks of Penance:
By John T. McNeill & Helena M. Gamer

The Penitential is a strange form of literature. Never intended for general readership they where instead given to clerics in order to help them give appropriate penances for all varieties of sin. They sprang up, without any historical precedent, in Ireland only a generation or two after St. Patrick and from there spread to England and the continent, and even reaching Rome by the ninth century.
Although you can read these penitentials as quant and funny reminders of the backwardness of the early middle ages, that is really to miss the point, and see the depth of understanding of the human psyche the authors of the penitentials had. What is amazing about these is they leave no type of sin out, the authors where no prudes and they knew human nature was such that it could reach any depth of perversity. Yet they also believed in the truth of their work, i.e. saving souls. Thus the worst things imaginable are still forgiven. There are constant reminders in the text telling the clerics, who are giving the penances, to be gentle with the penitent person and always remind him/her that the cleric himself is only human and thus also commits sins.
This book is also important as a reference about life and society in the early middle ages. We see that even though superstition was still common (although references start to thin out and disappear around the eight and ninth centuries) the church still commanded considerable power over the faithful. The clerics could never have expected any of these penances to be carried out if the conversions of the people was less then sincere, and since the penitentials where copied again and again they must have been working. Also interesting is the considerable learning that the authors will display. In several individual penitentials the author will define how the Greek Church and the Roman Church will differ in viewing a sin and giving penance. Considering that the author was often thousands of miles away, and that most of these where written three hundred years between any break between these churches it shows amazing insight and learning on the side of the author.
The edition itself is wonderful. The introduction is an easy to read but scholarly explanation about the development of the sacrament of penance in the church. It goes into depth about the controversy theses penitential caused in the greater church. The foot-notes are also helpful if you have any familiarity with Latin. It was originally published in 1938 so I highly doubt the scholarship is still cutting edge, but it is easy to read and helpful for a better understanding of the time and place these little penitentials where written.

Coldpay Is On MTV2

After one Trippel (see link) and three Fat Tires (if you don't know what a Fat Tire is you are not a human) my fingers are to fat and shakey to type. Thus, I will not post anything of import tonight. Note to self: must get a dialing wand.

Another Year older

So P & J is going to turn one year old in a month or so. How the time flys! It is now reaching the age where it needes to stop vomiting on itself and shiting its pants, and learn how to walk and say things like "mom". Thus in order to reach this state of maturity I have again updated my links. I have added "The Top 5" an idea that I shamelessly stole from Terry Teachout's Blog. About which they say "A list of things we've liked (subject to unexpected and wildly capricious updating)." Well that's all for now (I really just wrote this post to sneek Terry Teachout's Blog in).

I Should Go to Bed

I have nothing to blog about so I will just post something from the site I link to in the previous blog. (It was posted by "Not really Andrew Sullivan")


"Hey, everybody.
I’ve grown weary of blogging on the same subject day after day after day after day. So I’ve decided to give it a rest, restore my spirit and try my hand at at something totally different: poetry.
Here’s one I just wrote; tell me what you think:

Gay Marriage
Gay Marriage
Gay Marriage
Gay
Gay
Gay
Marriage
Marriage
Marriage
O, Gay Marriage!
Yay, Gay Marriage!
Go, Gay Marriage, Go!

… I haven’t got a title for it yet, so I’m open for suggestions. "

Bill O'Reilly on Lawsuits, Losers, and Vibrating Adult Novelties & Al Frankin Having Intercourse With Fidel Castro

If you love foul political humor, than you will love this.

Life Is So Good

Holy S***! Holy S***! Holy S***! So if you have been reading my recent posts, and I don't blame you if you haven't, you are aware that I have an internship for the summer. Now the think tank that I will be working for has a big party during the summer where all the fellows and a bunch of Republican congressmen, and a few Democratic ones, go out shooting. Afterwards they drink and smoke, hence it is called the ATF party, and have someone give a lecture. This year the lecture will be given by none other than Christopher Hitchens (link to the left & post bellow). I get to meet Christopher Hitchens! I shouldn't say this but I am more excited about this, than I was about meeting Cardinal Arinze (not that I really meet Cardinal Arinze).