BSODmyself

I might be onto something here. Or at least onto something subtle the media is trying to communicate. Check out the photographs of the stages from the Democratic National Convention (left) and the Republican National Convention (right):

Is it me, or does the stage at the Democratic National Convention that Obama spoke at look like the Enterprise? And what about the stage McCain will speak at? It might be a slight stretch, but could it actually be made in the image of a Klingon Bird-of-Prey? Remember, how how Kirk was supposed to be vituous and the Klingons were all warlike?

Anyway, I’m hoping is the only post even vaguely related to Star Trek that I will ever make.

I’ve been a bit distracted for the past seven days. I woke up this past Sunday not being able to walk due to pain in my ankle. For some people this would be worrisome. Since I’ve been to numerous doctors and specialists in the past for this problem (with no definitive answer as to why there is pain or to a possible solution), I was cool with it. I planned to tape my ankle up tight and walk it off, just like a typical male would do. After five days of walking around downtown in the government district (and two evenings walking around the campus of North Carolina State University), the pain’s gotten worse, and I’ve surrendered to the idea of getting off of it completely.

But trust me, I fought the idea, even buying some crutches. That is — buying crutches, falling constantly, cursing about falling, collecting lots of cuts and bruises. I’m kind of clumsy just walking around with two good feet, so I should’ve skipped the crutches idea. It was pointed out to me that you’re not supposed to look cool on crutches. Thus, I’m sitting at home, in pain, with my leg up, depressed because I’m missing this evening’s free Raleigh Downtown Live concert with Puddle of Mudd and Eve 6. Oh well, maybe next summer…

Larry King’s reporting that Barack Obama’s picking longtime congress critter Joe Biden as his Vice-Presidential candidate. What you thought that he would pick someone fresh and new? Maybe someone Hispanic, another black, or even a particular woman?

While I like Joe Biden in that he blurts out whatever he’s thinking, I unfortunately now know what he’s usually thinking. Chief among those things is that he’s entrenched in the Council on Foreign Relations, Trilateral Commission, and Bilderbergeresque establishment that really runs the country. Obama couldn’t pick a different kind of candidate as his running mate, since Obama’s not really a different kind of candidate as evidenced by his willingness to give George Bush and his telecomm contributors a pass on domestic spying. But most importantly, if he picked someone really out there, like Dennis Kucinich, he would be showing his Illuminati masters that he wasn’t even trying to keep up the facade, leading to some form of a John McCain win. See, politics-as-street-theater is essential to controlling the populace.

We’ll probably be looking at President Biden within a year or two into the Obama administration. Having a black guy running the show might be seen as a novelty to the frat dicks that really run the show, but I’m sure that will pass. Maybe that’ll be enough time for everyone to forget the John Edwards scandal, leading to a possible 2012 Biden-Edwards ticket. If we’re still able to go through the motions of voting, it’ll be just another Democratic ticket that I won’t support.

Tonight, a McCain-Obama forum is being conducted at the Saddleback megachurch in California.  I’ve not been turned on by the prospects of watching this event since I’ve long supported a separation of politics and religion, no matter who the candidates are.  I probably won’t watch it.  Well, maybe I will.  While I could be bitter about this event, since my dog, and a number of dogs to whom I’m more sympathetic, were not allowed to participate.  But since this is a forum billed as being about faith and “the social gospel”, that’s what my commentary will center around, not on the horserace of who will win the most Evangelical voters.

Christians must seek to understand Christianity, which is based off of what Jesus discussed and advocated.  He most assuredly talked about the poor, the homeless, the meek, those living and dying by the sword, etc.  But the biggest problem I have with a concept of a “social gospel” that requires forums to ask political candidates what they will do as government officials to enact these ideas is that this isn’t what government does or is supposed to do.

In Jesus’ day, he went to individuals and groups of individuals and asked them to do things about the sick, the poor, and every social problem that existed.  He could have easily gone to the government and used his awesome powers to change government and government bureaucrats.  Even if you know absolutely nothing about the Bible, if you’ve watched “The Ten Commandments“, you know how well this worked for Moses.  Thus government and politicians being what they are, Jesus and his followers would have had to deal with the Roman government — a government that believed in torturing prisoners and publicly executing them.  Now contrast that with the American government of today.

But Jesus didn’t try to change the rulers of his time.  If better government was the answer, I’m pretty sure Christ could have hooked that up.  But that’s not what Jesus did, he took his message directly to the people who could actually do something about the issues, the people who actually experienced the suffering and the hurt, he took his message to you.  He said, in a sense, “I want you to do something about poverty, sickness, and morals.”  He didn’t ask you to lobby for laws that may only help the suffering in an indirect way (if it truly helped at all) or vote for the lesser of two evils.  Jesus asked you to be more direct in your actions in order to know compassion and closeness to others, as opposed to the distance and robotic nature at which government claims to fix problems.

While I am theologically universalist and do not believe that some people go to heaven (or a desert oasis filled with virgins) and others do not, there are those who believes this is a mechanism for justice in the universe.  For those, who do believe this, believe in the importance of a social gospel, and still crawl to kings and presidents for the resolution of all perceived societal problems, what will Judgement Day be like?  Will you be held accountable for government’s failure to live up to a Christian vision of helping your fellow man?  I kind of think using “the Devil made me do it” excuse (or in this case “the government made me do it”) to describe why the homeless haven’t been given homes won’t fly.

So what we’ll see tonight is anyone’s guess.  Maybe they’ll spin, or triangulate, or have a genuine religio-politico epiphany right on stage.  I’m sure the media will continue with its nit-wit blather about “who won the Evangelicals” as if a group of people, especially Christians, could be owned by a politician or political party.  Anyway, I’m pretty certain that we’ll see the emergence of a huge Pander Bear of enormous proportions, which in this case would seem to be an eighth circle of hell situation.  We definitely won’t see much social change in this world until we all understand that what we do in this life is up to us — for good, for evil, for indifference, for apathy — and not up to the governments and politicians.

I’ve been really, really turned off by the thought of blogging for the past few weeks. It’s not because there’s nothing interesting going on. During my recent soul searching I’ve realized that politics usually makes me very anxious. And combined with all the other anxious moments in my life, a lot of potential personal happiness has been wasted. Thus, I’ve been trying to divorce myself from the news, the political horseraces, and the hopes that politicians will someday make the right calls.

Two situations of note (and a lot of little things) have led me to where I am at this time. The first, is a recent ballot access petitioning project that I worked on that took a toll on my health and emotional stability. That will more than likely be a topic of discussion sometime in the next few days when I’ve fully gotten up the nerve to face my demons. The second situation was Barack Obama’s recent vote on domestic spying. It’s becoming obvious as to what he means by being the owner of the “change” meme. Other than changing his positions, ala triangulation, his vote to give immunity to telecommunications companies for breaking the law represents a level of change that we haven’t seen since… err, umm, George W. Bush ordered telecommunications companies to break the law. Obama’s vote prevents us from ever knowing to what extent American citizens’ rights have been violated and what specific role the President and his men had in this conspiracy. In a response to a follow-up question during Libertarian Party’s Presidential nominee Bob Barr’s testimony in front of the House Judiciary Committee, Barr voiced investigation of Bush’s wrong-doings in order to send a message to future administrations that such abuses of power wouldn’t be tolerated. But that requires the House Judiciary Committee to make the right call.

Anyway, I’m sorry that I’ve ever said anything nice about Obama. He’s no different than McCain. Well other than, of course, being a black guy. Otherwise, he’s doing the bidding of the “techno-slavery” establishment that runs this country. This action is the clearest signal possible that the day is coming very soon when the decision to put men in slavery and chains will not be based upon the color of their skin, nor the content of their chracter, but by the vast technological resources possessed by the slave master. For this, I truly hope Jesse Jackson changes his mind about cutting off Obama’s nuts.