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It seems Pope Francis needs to brush up on his Tertullian!

It has been reported (in The ChristLast Media, I must note) that the current Pope does not like the phrase "lead us not into temptation...

"Let no freedom be allowed to novelty, because it is not fitting that any addition should be made to antiquity. Let not the clear faith and belief of our forefathers be fouled by any muddy admixture." -- Pope Sixtus III

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Dumbass Canadian Perverts of the Day.

From The Lookout via Yahoo!News:

Parents Keep Child's Sex A Secret

When many couples have a baby, they send out an email to family and friends that fills them in on the key details: name, gender, birth weight, that sort of thing. (You know the drill: "Both Mom and little Ethan are doing great!")

But the email sent recently by Kathy Witterick and David Stocker of Toronto, Canada to announce the birth of their baby, Storm, was missing one important piece of information. "We've decided not to share Storm's sex for now--a tribute to freedom and choice in place of limitation, a stand up to what the world could become in Storm's lifetime (a more progressive place? ...)," it said.

That's right. They're not saying whether Storm is a boy or a girl.

There's nothing ambiguous about the baby's genitals. But as Stocker puts it: "If you really want to get to know someone, you don't ask what's between their legs." So only the parents, their two other children (both boys), a close friend, and the two midwives who helped deliver the now 4-month-old baby know its gender. Even the grandparents have been left in the dark.

Stocker and Witterick say the decision gives Storm the freedom to choose who he or she wants to be. "What we noticed is that parents make so many choices for their children. It's obnoxious," adds Stocker, a teacher at an alternative school.

They say that kids receive messages from society that encourage them to fit into existing boxes, including with regard to gender. "We thought that if we delayed sharing that information, in this case hopefully, we might knock off a couple million of those messages by the time that Storm decides Storm would like to share," says Witterick.

"In fact, in not telling the gender of my precious baby, I am saying to the world, 'Please can you just let Storm discover for him/herself what s (he) wants to be?!." she wrote in an email.

How did Stocker and Witterick decide to keep Storm's gender under wraps? During Witterick's pregnancy, her son Jazz was having "intense" experiences with his own gender. "I was feeling like I needed some good parenting skills to support him through that," Witterick said.

Stocker came across a book from 1978, titled X: A Fabulous Child's Story by Lois Gould. X is raised as neither a boy or girl, and grows up to be a happy and well-adjusted child.

"It became so compelling it was almost like, How could we not?" Witterick said.

The couple's other two children, Jazz and Kio, haven't escaped their parents' unconventional approach to parenting. Though they're only 5 and 2, they're allowed to pick out their own clothes in the boys and girls sections of stores and decide whether to cut their hair or let it grow.

Both boys are "unschooled," a version of homeschooling, which promotes putting a child's curiosity at the center of his or her education. As Witterick puts it, it's "not something that happens by rote from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays in a building with a group of same-age people, planned, implemented and assessed by someone else."

Because Jazz and Kio wear pink and have long hair, they're frequently assumed to be girls, according to Stocker. He said he and Witterick don't correct people--they leave it to the kids to do it if they want to.

But Stocker and Witterick's choices haven't always made life easy for their kids. Though Jazz likes dressing as a girl, he doesn't seem to want to be mistaken for one. He recently asked his mother to let the leaders of a nature center know that he's a boy. And he chose not to attend a conventional school because of the questions about his gender. Asked whether that upsets him, Jazz nodded.

As for his mother, she's not giving up the crusade against the tyranny of assigned gender roles. "Everyone keeps asking us, 'When will this end?'" she said. "And we always turn the question back. Yeah, when will this end? When will we live in a world where people can make choices to be whoever they are?"

World War II continues apace.

From Time via Yahoo! News:

How Nazi scientists tried to create an army of talking dogs

It's further proof that Hitler was barking mad.

In his new book Amazing Dogs: A Cabinet of Canine Curiosities, Cardiff University historian Jan Bondeson mines obscure German periodicals to reveal the Nazis' failed attempt to breed an army of educated dogs that could read, write and talk. "In the 1920s, Germany had numerous 'new animal psychologists' who believed dogs were nearly as intelligent as humans, and capable of abstract thinking and communication," he writes. "When the Nazi party took over, one might have thought they would be building concentration camps to lock these fanatics up, but instead they were actually very interested in their ideas."

(PHOTOS: The first major art exhibition about Hitler opens in Germany.)

According to the book, scientists envisioned a day when dogs would serve alongside German troops, and perhaps free up SS officers by guarding concentration camps. So to unlock all that canine potential, Hitler set up a Tier-Sprechschule (Animal Talking School) near Hanover and recruited "educated dogs" from throughout the country. Teachers claimed a number of incredible findings. An Airedale terrier named Rolf became a mythic figure of the project after teachers said he could spell by tapping his paw on a board (the number of taps represented the various letters of the alphabet). With that skill in hand, he mused on religion, learned foreign languages and even asked a noblewoman, "Can you wag your tail?" Perhaps most outlandish is the claim by his German masters that he asked to serve in the German army because he disliked the French. Another mutt barked "Mein Fuhrer" when asked to describe Hitler. And Don, a German pointer, is said to have imitated a human voice to bark, "Hungry! Give me cakes!" in German.

Germany's love of dogs may have blinded the Nazis to the outlandish goals of their project. "Part of the Nazi philosophy was that there was a strong bond between humans and nature. They believed a good Nazi should be an animal friend," Bondeson says. "Indeed, when they started interning Jews, the newspapers were flooded with outraged letters from Germans wondering what had happened to the pets they left behind."

Hitler, a well-known dog-lover, had two German Shepherds named Blondi and Bella. He killed Blondi shortly before killing himself in 1945. (via The Sun)

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Dumbass Lie of the Day

Last night on Jeopardy there was a category entitled "Celebrities Favorite Books", and I was doubly surprised to see ol' King Goober II's ugly mug pop up on my screen. [He's a celebrity like Stalin's one and it is painfully obvious to anyone who has paid any attention to his miserable life that he has never read anything more serious than the back of a box of Fruit Loops. And even that gave him trouble.]

The cretinous former clown prince of Ur-Kansas had the temerity to claim Marcus Aurelius' Meditations as his favorite non-fiction book. It was another fine example of the Goebbels Doctrine: If you're going to lie, you might as well make it a doozy.

From requiredreadings.ca:

Meditations of Marcus Aurelius

Meditations
Marcus Aurelius
170-180

Marcus Aurelius was emperor of Rome from the years 161 to 180, and considered as well one of the most significant philosophers of stoicism, a Hellenistic philosophy concerned with the relationship between determinism and free will, and which emphasized the features of a virtuous life in accord with nature. His Meditations is one of the greats of classical thought, distinguished from other such texts for its personal nature. While so much of classical thought is contained in philosophical tracts, plays and epic poetry, Marcus Aurelius produced the Meditations as an exercise in self-reflection, to provide for himself a guidebook to his thought and his rule.

Comprising 12 books, the Meditations have been described as “plain”, “uninspiring” and “contradictory” even while recognized as hugely important historically and philosophically. But given that these are writings intended only for himself, personal reflections as much philosophy, that is perhaps not surprising. The books span a wide range of topics, from the nature of human existence to tips for daily living, but do not constitute a coherent or even especially original philosophy as such. They do provide, however, a profound insight into classical Roman thought, and that time’s ideal of the philosopher-king.


Monday, May 23, 2011

Is that where his brother lives in a dirt hut?


From Roto-Reuters:

Obama visits family roots in Irish village

Randy Poffo, Requiescat In Pace.

It looks like another steroid related tragedy.

Macho Man Randy Savage dies in accident - Sarasota Herald-Tribune




CLEARWATER - Randy "Macho Man" Savage, a pro wrestler who grew up near Sarasota and wed on Lido Beach last year, died in a car accident in Pinellas County Friday.

Savage, 58, was a seven-time world heavyweight champion and rose to pop culture fame for his flashy wardrobe, bronzed physique and his catchphrase, "Ooh yeah!"

Savage was driving on State Road 694 in Seminole when he lost control of the Jeep Wrangler about 9:30 a.m. Friday, the Florida Highway Patrol said.

The Jeep veered over the raised concrete median divider, crossed over the eastbound lanes and collided head-on with a tree.

Savage — whose legal name is Randy Mario Poffo — died of his injuries at the Largo Medical Center.

Troopers say he may have suffered a "medical event" before the accident; an autopsy will be performed to confirm cause of death.

His wife, Barbara L. Poffo (Lynn Payne), was a passenger in the car and sustained minor injuries. She is being treated at the Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg.

Savage, 58, was a seven-time world heavyweight champion and rose to pop culture fame for his flashy wardrobe, bronzed physique and his catchphrase, "Ooh yeah!"

Savage was driving on State Road 694 in Seminole when he lost control of the Jeep Wrangler about 9:30 a.m. Friday, the Florida Highway Patrol said.

The Jeep veered over the raised concrete median divider, crossed over the eastbound lanes and collided head-on with a tree.

Savage — whose legal name is Randy Mario Poffo — died of his injuries at the Largo Medical Center.

Troopers say he may have suffered a "medical event" before the accident; an autopsy will be performed to confirm cause of death.

His wife, Barbara L. Poffo (Lynn Payne), was a passenger in the car and sustained minor injuries. She is being treated at the Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg.

In May 2010, Savage married Lynne Payne on Lido Beach. Tim Boyles, a wedding photographer, became friends with the couple after shooting the private affair on Lido Beach last May. Aside from the bride and groom, only Savage's mother and brother, and Payne's two adult daughters were present.

"What everyone else saw was a persona," he said. "Randy was a very good, loving man and focused on his family. He never even told me who he was at first. He didn't name-drop or try to impress me."

However, Boyles knew when he met Savage and saw the man with a "huge barrel chest and arms the size of footballs."

Savage played minor league baseball in the Cincinnati Reds farm system in Sarasota before ever entering the wrestling world.

He played one season as a 21-year-old outfielder for Class-A Tampa in 1974. He hit .232 in 461 at-bats, with 19 doubles, nine home runs and 66 RBI.

He also played minor league ball for the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago White Sox.

Savage was rumored to have spent hours trying to improve his throwing accuracy at the Sarasota High School field but he did not improve enough to go past double-A ball.

He weighed 175 pounds as a baseball player. He hit the weights at area gyms, including the Sarasota YMCA, and bulked up to 235. He left Sarasota in 1975 to pursue wrestling.

Savage's father, Angelo Poffo, was a professional wrestler as was Savage's brother, "Leaping" Lanny Poffo.

Savage found success in Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation, and later Ted Turner's now-defunct World Championship Wrestling.

Poffo was under contract with WWE from 1985 to 1993 and held both the WWE and Intercontinental Championships.

He won 20 championships during his professional wrestling career and was named the 1987 WWE "King of the Ring."

"Poffo will be greatly missed by WWE and his fans," read a World Wrestling Entertainment statement. "Our sincerest condolences go out to his family and friends. We wish a speedy recovery to his wife, Lynn."

The eccentric wrestler, always wearing sunglasses and a bandana, became a pop culture icon in the 1980s.

He wore sequined robes bejeweled with "Macho Man" on the back, rainbow-colored cowboy hats and oversized sunglasses, part of a unique look that helped build the WWF into a mainstream phenomenon.

For most of his career, his valet, Miss Elizabeth, was by his side. Elizabeth Hulette was his real-life wife. They later divorced, and Hulette died in 2003 — one of the many performers in the sport to die young.

She died of a drug overdose.

He was both at times the most popular and most hated wrestler in entertainment. His flying elbow off the top rope was mimicked by basement and backyard wrestlers everywhere.

He was most known for his legendary rivalries with Hulk Hogan, Ricky Steamboat and Ric Flair.

Savage became even more popular through his cameos in Slim Jim commercials in which he made good use of his deep, raspy voice as a corporate pitchman ordering Slim Jim fans to "Snap into it!"

Savage had not appeared for a major wrestling organization since 2004 when he performed for Total Nonstop Action. But he took on multiple minor acting roles in the last decade.

Wrestlers took to Twitter to let fans know Savage won't be forgotten.

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson hailed Savage as one of his childhood inspirations and heroes, while Mick "Cactus Jack" Foley called Savage "one of my favorite performers."

Hogan said he and Savage had just started talking again after 10 years.

"He had so much life in his eyes and in his spirit," Hogan wrote. "I just pray that he's happy and in a better place."

Amen to that, brother.

Savage was a charismatic wrestler made famous for his "Macho Man" nickname and his "Oooh Yeah!" catchphrase. He was a champion in Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation, and later Ted Turner's now-defunct World Championship Wrestling.

Poffo was under contract with WWE from 1985 to 1993 and held both the WWE and Intercontinental Championships.

"Our sincerest condolences go out to his family and friends. We wish a speedy recovery to his wife Lynn," WWE said.

Savage defined the larger-than-life personalities of the 1980s World Wrestling Federation (now WWE). He wore sequined robes bejeweled with "Macho Man" on the back, rainbow-colored cowboy hats and oversized sunglasses, part of a unique look that helped build the WWF into a mainstream phenomenon.

For most of his career, his valet, Miss Elizabeth, was by his side. Elizabeth Hulette was his real-life wife. They later divorced, and Hulette died in 2003 at 42 in what was later ruled a prescription drug overdose. She was among many performers in the sport to die young.

Others include Curt "Mr. Perfect" Hennig, who died of a cocaine overdose in 2003 at 44, and Chris Benoit, who killed his wife and son and then committed suicide in their Georgia home in 2007. Benoit was 40.

The WWF made Savage their champion after a win over Ted DiBiase in the main event at WrestleMania in 1988.

Savage had not appeared for a major wrestling organization since 2004, when he performed for Total Nonstop Action.

He was at times both the most popular and most hated wrestler in entertainment. His flying elbow off the top rope was mimicked by basement and backyard wrestlers everywhere. Savage made good use of his deep, raspy voice as a corporate pitchman as well, for years ordering Slim Jim fans to "Snap into it!"

He's most known for his legendary rivalries with Hulk Hogan, Ricky Steamboat and Ric Flair. Wrestlers took to Twitter to let fans know Savage won't be forgotten.

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson hailed Savage as one of his childhood inspirations and heroes, while Mick "Cactus Jack" Foley called Savage "one of my favorite performers."

Hogan said he and Savage had just started talking again after 10 years.

"He had so much life in his eyes & in his spirit, I just pray that he's happy and in a better place and we miss him," Hogan wrote.

While so many personalities who left the WWF for WCW like Hogan, Roddy Piper and Mean Gene Okerlund were welcomed back to the company and even inducted into the Hall of Fame, Savage never returned.

Savage was a minor league catcher in the 1970s for St. Louis and Cincinnati before turning in the uniform for tights. His father, Angelo Poffo, was a longtime wrestler, and his brother, "Leaping" Lanny Poffo, was also a 1980s WWF mainstay. Condolences from fans poured in to Lanny Poffo's Facebook page on Friday.



Ray Lewis threatens to cover-up more double homicides if the players' demands are not met.

The biggest jackass [that's saying quite a lot, kiddies] and most overrated blowhard [ditto] in the NFL prepares for the chaos that will inevitably follow if he doesn't get paid. And soon.

Ray Lewis says crime will increase without NFL

Forget the rapture folks. The world just might come to an end if there is no NFL in 2011.
- Orlando Sentinel
Hmmm...I wonder what the jock sniffers in Bristol think...

Herman Cain for President!





Here is Mr. Cain's official announcement courtesy of CSPAN.


Part 1 of 3:




Part 2 of 3:





Part 3 of 3:


The restoration of the beautiful but deadly Black Widow continues apace.

Photobucket


The Mid-Atlantic Air Museum's P-61 night fighter restoration project

[shown above at the 2010 WWII Weekend] is getting closer to completion. Soon she will be the only P-61 in the world capable of flight.

Check out the Black Widow and other ancient warbirds [and a whole lot more] at MAAM's WORLD WAR II WEEKEND in Reading, PA on June 3, 4, and 5.


Here's the latest update from March 23, 2011:

Photobucket

One of the P-61's Pratt & Whitney R-2800-65 Double Wasp 18-Cylinder engines stands ready for installation.

About Me

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First of all, the word is SEX, not GENDER. If you are ever tempted to use the word GENDER, don't. The word is SEX! SEX! SEX! SEX! For example: "My sex is male." is correct. "My gender is male." means nothing. Look it up. What kind of sick neo-Puritan nonsense is this? Idiot left-fascists, get your blood-soaked paws off the English language. Hence I am choosing "male" under protest.

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