JamesSavik

I am grilling a lot these days. Keeps the mess out of the kitchen and everything tastes better that way. Tonight was grilled chicken with corn on the cob grilled in margarine and garlic. I added tater salad and it would have been fit for dinner on the grounds at any Baptist church.

Europe had made the mistake of mixing religion and politics since the first city states. The Protestant VS Catholic scrimmages in Central Europe dominated that continents history for centuries. When they had a war, it was a real hate-fest: the First War, the Second war, the Third War, the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, the Fourth through the Eighth Wars, the Thirty Years War, the Hundred Years War and so on. Only in recent decades have we seen an easing of tensions in Northern Ireland which is a relic of those long, sorry conflicts. Some scholars say that Islam mixes some of the worst aspects of religion and politics into the cultist, xenophobic, militant mess that tolerates no rivals from Algeria to the Philippines. One of the reasons that America works is that religion and politics have been fundamentally disconnected and that the power of goverenment can not be used to oppress nonbelievers or infidels (in theory). Seperation of church and state has been one of the prime factors that has lead to the long term stability and prosperity that the United States has enjoyed. Almost everywhere else in the world different religious factions constantly struggle for economic, military and cultural dominance. Nowhere else in the world is this better illustrated by the current situation in Iraq. In the absence of a strong, central power like Saddam who killed thousands to keep order, Iraq has decendended into anarchy with fighting along religious (Sunni, Shia) and ethnic (Kurdish) lines with a dozen smaller factions that go with the flow. Starting during the Industrial revolution, the Western Democracies (or countries that were headed that way) have all followed the lead of the US and have become more and more tolerant of minority religions. Religious tolerance has become a cornerstone of democracy and a hallmark of an advanced and prosperous culture. In the 1980s when Falwell and his followers began to make noises about making America "a Christian Nation" again, educated people everywhere saw this as populust pablum and potentially a huge step backwards. The United States has never been a Christian nation. In fact, unless we bastardize the constution (which seems to be fashionable), the United States was specifically designed from the very beginning NOT to be a Christian nation.

I always did think you were a smart kid.

I confess... oh screw it. There isn't time for it all.

Hurt Beast head to think so hard... must smash things now.

Buh-bye

Welcome Nerotrob. You are in good company here. A lot, I might even venture to say most of us, know EXACTLY where you are coming from. You need not feel bad about where you came from. It's where you are going that matters. Taking 4 AP classes, it sounds like you are on track. Speaking of AP classes, science and math are a particular strength of mine. PM me if you come up with a good calculus mystery. Welcome again, James

Jerry Falwell, right-wing hatemonger and religious fanatic, was found unconscious in the office from which he oversees the Culture War at Liberty University today. He died a short time later. Falwell first came to prominence in the late 1970s when he lead a motley coalition of religious nuts, skinheads, neo-Nazis and slack-jawed yokels called the Moral Majority which handed Ronald "Bonzo" Reagen and George Herbert Skippy Walker Bush the 1980 elections and an unprecedented dynasty of political corruption, ineptitude, bungling that still afflicts us today. During the Reagen-Bush years, Falwell's influence was all over the administration. Falwell influenced foreign policy by demanding blind allegiance to Israel at all cost because of scripture. Falwell's "moral leadership" was behind the Reagen Administrations complete failure to contain the AIDS epidemic in its early stages. In fact Ronald Reagen did not publicly say the word AIDS until 1988: a full eight years and hundreds of thousands of deaths into the epidemic. Even today Falwell's organizations fight safe-sex, contraception and even vaccination of teen-aged girls against common infections that cause cancer and sterility. Now almost thirty years and 20 million deaths later, Falwell is destined for a special part of hell reserved for persons responsible for millions of deaths. He will roast side by side with some of histories biggest assholes like Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot and Mao. Good bye and good riddance too bad rubbish. Too bad this turd wasn't flushed years ago!

Johnny is one of our community's all around nice, stand-up guys. I wish him and his family well. Get well soon!

The kid was probably greatly disturbed and embarrassed by his fathers idiocy.

Poetry is art and like any art, it just isn't for everybody. There are so many styles, subjects and other substanitive differences in poetry that you can love it or hate it and most people do so all at the same time. Some people who would really squirm if they were forced to read the "old masters, listen to musical lyrics which are at their root poetry (or at least the better ones). It is sometimes just as simple as a couple of lines that you think are cool catch your ear. What makes a person like avacados and detest tomatoes? It is all a matter of taste.

Happy Birthday Graeme! I hope this is the year where Showtime picks up New Brother and makes you a zillionaire(1)! You rock! James ---- 1- note: without ruining your classic story of course!

If you had your druthers, and you can go back, what would you have done differently? I've heard people say that they wouldn't do anything different to which I think- your a damn liar. Of course! I would have not played in the game I blew my knee out. I would have gone the other direction and not run into the ambush... Have you learned anything? No matter how low your opinion of people, they are worse. What was the major lesson of your life? I don't know yet as it ain't over yet. Don't quit and if you can't defeat your enemies, make them suffer I suppose. Trust is earned, not bestowed is also a powerful lesson. What was the best and the worst decision you made? best- getting clean, dumping Shane worst- hooking up with Shane A great piece of ass isn't worth your soul.

Paris Hilton is a symptom of culture rot. I think South Park just about summed up my opinion of her.

In the well well known Keyhole Nebula (NGC 3372) surrounding the super-star Eta Carinae is an interesting feature that some astronomers have labeled the "Rude Gesture Nebula". Since it is several hundred light years away, it is huge- light-years across. It is a gas and dust cloud in which new stars are forming. The odd shapes were created by the hot solar winds and radiation pressures created by the massive young stars in this stellar nursery. Super-stars like Eta Carinae, or stars with a mass 100 times that of the sun, are quite rare. They account for less than 1% of all stars but 60% of all luminosity in the universe. They live very short lives in astronomical terms, 10s of millions of years, before they explode and enrich the surrounding cosmos with dust and gas for the next generation of stars. Most stars are much more mundane. They are even smaller than our own sun but what they give up in mass, they gain in longevity. Main sequence stars like our Sun and smaller are quite stable and last for billions of years. The smallest known stars are about 1/10 of our own sun's mass. This is also about the same size as some of the larger "brown dwarfs" or Jupiter like gas giants or "pre-stars". This begs an interesting question which vexes astronomers and physicist: what causes some brown dwarfs to ignite and become true stars and what causes others to just sit there?

If he is the one that I'm thinking of, then he is a sweet pup.

I wouldn't exactly call this a "first crush" but one of my favorite episodes of STNG. (yes, the Beast is a nerd) Chad Allen as Jono/Jerimiah Rosa from STNG episode Suddenly Human Here is a synopsis of of the episode. Not only is Chad Allen a cutie but he shows his really his acting chops in this episode.

Not only should this f-ing bitch lose her daughter permanently, she should do some time. Prosecutors love to grandstand sex cases. If her husband had been found guilty, which is very easy in cases like this (the standard of proof in sex cases is scary) he would have gone to jail for 15-20 years by many states sentencing guidelines. Mommy dearest tried to ruin this guy in a particularly heinous way. False allegations clog the system, damage everyone and make people think twice when they see other sex cases. She can't walk away scot free. Smart ass prosecutors who like to grandstand sex cases need to put the hammer down on the lying liars who make false allegations for their own personal gain. Many sex offenders are killed in prison. A false allegations is on par with attempted murder.

What a cutie!

This picture is ~10l years old. Booger is the big tabby in the foreground and Boo is sitting by the headboard. Booger was a very special cat- very intelligent with a distinct personality. He got his name from having seasonal allergies and wet sneezes. He was a very personable cat and would meet and greet anyone who arrived in the house.He died in 2001. This is Boo the music lover taking a nap on a sub-woofer. Can you guess what mischief might have befallen him there. This is Edward, the Black Prince. Al tough he's a sweetie, he is a vampyre cat and draws blood with those fangs. This is my pal Nipper. He is an Aussie shepherd who lives nearby. The family that owns him has little kids who are scared by his herding behavior. So- he hops the fence with his brush and comes to see me. Sponsored by:

Happy Birthday Pat!

Here you go Adrian

Given all of the cuties and hotties pictured here, I have decided to keep my Beastly image to myself. I wouldn't want it to put some innocent person's eye out. BTW- Adrian: what's with the Home Alone expression that you seem to have in all of your photos? It's cute and I must admit that I feel the same way most of the time.

What a cute bunny-wabbit! I wish I had a bunny-wabbit. If I had a bunny-wabbit I would hold him and pet him and name him George.

David Letterman's top 10 lists have... well, you know the drill. Please post only original material. ___________________________________________________________________ Top 10 Clues that Speedo is NOT for you 10. You are over 12. 9. You are not on a swim team. 8. It looks like a slingshot with two acorns in it. 7. Your legs turn blue. 6. Men faint, women barf and children laugh hysterically. 5. You lose some feeling in your extremities and fine motor control in your legs. 4. You have to use a shoe-horn to get them on. 3. You have to comb the hair on your back and wax your head. 2. Midgets find your speedo trunks and mistake them for a hammock. 1. When you lie on the beach in your speedo, people pour buckets of water on you and try to roll you out to sea.