When you consider for whom to vote, let your conscience be your guide. That's the best advice I can offer.
Well bred people are, I am told, very reluctant to discuss either religion or politics on social occasions; to discuss them in concert is generally considered to be in extremely poor taste. This reluctance often results in rather dull discussions.…
Article comments
26 - Andy Marsh
That's an old one. chevy used to make a truck that actually had WT on the back quarter! I never knew what it was supposed to mean for chevy. I knew what my friends and I always said it stood for!
27 - Silas Kain
All throughout the ages religion has been used as a catalyst to promote political agendas. It's no different now. The success of the ultra right over the last 30 years isn't due to a renewed spirituality, rather it's been a successful brainwashing campaign. The more crap we accumulate, the more we want. We're conditioned by a barrage of advertising, shoddy journalism and a substandard education system. There's an emptiness inside, a lack of ultimate satisfaction. The ultra right will have you believe that only God can save you. In the meantime the ultra left dismisses God with a reciprocal zeal.
Religion does have a place in the national discussion in that religious freedom must be a cornerstone of our society's foundation. Palin can believe that the Iraq War is God's will but that's her opinion. Politically, the Iraq War is America's will by virtue of the Commander-in-Chief we elect (or assume to elect).
28 - Arch Conservative
So am I to infer that being "well bred" means one is of good character?
To me it seems like knowing which fork to use for which dinner course or which wine goes with which type of meal seems awfullly superficial.
29 - Dr Dreadful
There's an emptiness inside, a lack of ultimate satisfaction.
Hopefully you're not trying to argue that this is anything new. The world of our 'rude forefathers' may have been simpler, but they had for the most part a fucking miserable life. Complete happiness is an elusive and probably impossible goal.
There are very few truly spiritual people in the world. Most of us probably know one or two of them - and the local pastor with his tailored suits, his Lexus and his grand church expansion plans isn't one of them!
There's no way to escape materialism completely. (Even Gandhi had his support network!) The happiest people, in my view, have managed to strike a balance that works for them. It might include much spirituality, or none.
The idea that greater spirituality is the only way to cure the country's ills is as ridiculous as saying that there's only one way to get from San Francisco to New York.
30 - Ruvy
Silas,
I just want to make sure to remind you that your conception of religion, like that of the author and most of the commenters here, is Christianity.
For that, we need a story.
Therese was watching the horror movie late on Saturday night. The commercial came on with a fat slob in a construction helmet selling his department store to union members only. Therese's eyes began to glaze over as she waited for the endless commercial to finally be over and for the movie to resume.
Suddenly, she noticed a shadow outside her window, which happened to be a French window, that opened up like a door does. The shadow darkened the window and the lock on it fell off. The shadowed figure pushed the window open and began to advance into the room. Therese felt cold sweat popping out of her head. Fear nearly made her wet her panties.
She saw the dark figure push the hood off his head, and she saw a cape and a man facing her with long sharpened canines advancing on her bed.
She screamed.
The man with the sharp canines only smiled - a mirthless grimace that exposed his pale white skin and even more of his canine teeth and made him seem like the monstrous vampire he indeed was.
Panicking, Therese backed up on her bed, desperate for help. She suddenly remembered the cross over her bed, and reached up, grabbing it off the nail that held it.
The nail clattered to the floor.
She stretched out the cross in front of her face, sure of the salvation it would give her against the blood-sucking monster she now confronted.
"Begone!" she shouted at the top of her lungs. "Begone!" she screamed.
The vampire stopped his advance for a moment and a really big smile broke out on his face. This time the mirth in it reached his eyes, which sparkled in the shadows. He said something in a language she could not understand.
But in her mind she could hear the words the man spoke as he reached an aged hand into his black coat where his collar parted at a white neck. She watched in horror as the gold necklace came out and she slowly made out the shape.
"Lady, the cross ain't going to help you", she heard in her head as she looked at the six pointed Star of David facing her.
Shloimey the Vampire advanced on his newest victim...
31 - Daniel Miller
Ruvy,
It is far quicker and easier to make the sign of the cross than the Star of David when facing a vampire. The next time I meet one, however, I shall try. I may try both simultaneously, one with the left hand and one with the right. Any pointers on which hand I should use in making the Star of David?
Dan(Miller)
32 - Andy Marsh
Doc - there is only one way to get to SF though...you just have to keep going left....left....left....left...
33 - Andy Marsh
Of ocurse, if you don't go far enough left, you might only make it to Bezerkly!
34 - Dr Dreadful
If you live in Northern California and follow that advice, though, you'll end up in Reno. Which probably works for a lot of people.
35 - Andy Marsh
You know, you could have at least deleted the one where I spelled course the right way!
36 - Ruvy
Dan,
What a Christian does in making the sign of the cross is to call upon and invoke the Power of G-d for protection. We don't make signs to do this at all. We recite the "Sh'ma", the basic creed of the faith, which translated, means "Hear, O Israel the L-rd, Our G-d, the L-rd is One!"
A Jewish vampire will just laugh you in the face if you try to make the sign of the Star of David to protect yourself, and he'll say goyisher kup - "the head of a heathen" or "not too bright". And then he'll take his pound of flesh anyway....
37 - Daniel Miller
Ruvy,
Dear me. I am so depressed. Marvin the paranoid android in Hitchhiker's Guide would seem positively joyful in comparison. So what is a poor Agnostic/Atheist to do?
We do have a few vampire bats here, and although they generally go after cows, they occasionally bite horses. There is a red jell which, if spread around (not on) the bite is said to ward off further attacks on the wounded area. Perhaps I shall try bathing in a solution of that. Do you think it might help?
Dan(Miller)
38 - Dr Dreadful
So what is a poor Agnostic/Atheist to do?
Make the sign of the dollar.
39 - Ruvy
So what is a poor Agnostic/Atheist to do?
Make the sign of the dollar.
Nope. Vampires want blood, not money. If you don't know if you believe in G-d, then you've forfeited His protection. Of course, you can always shove Black's Law Dictionary (any edition will do so long as it is thick and heavy) with lots of garlic on it, in his face and then run like hell....
In fact, Dan, I suggest you put the garlic on your edition of Black's now, before night falls in Panamá.
40 - Lisa Solod Warren
Ruvy, all I ask is that you please, please, please don't speak for all Jews. Speak for yourself, but not for all Jews, especially in wishing that Goldwater was one. He did not practice Judaism as far as I know.
And I am both well bred and a progressive.
PS, Arch. I can't stand it. Learn how to spell. Don't you own a dictionary?
41 - Daniel Miller
Ruvy,
I guess I'm out of luck. Black's was just too much trouble (big and heavy) to bring along on the boat, and I didn't foresee much need for it. I do have some garlic, however, and will spread it liberally over my copy of Hitchhiker's Guide. As to running like Hell, I don't know how to do that. Perhaps becoming a Christian, only nominally of course, might help. I shall consider it.
Nah. It ain't worth it.
Dan(Miller)
42 - Clavos
PS, Arch. I can't stand it. Learn how to spell. Don't you own a dictionary?
Lisa, please back off. I am the (self-appointed) Grammar and Spelling Nazi around here.
Get your own shtick. :>)
43 - Cannonshop
So...based on your advice, Ruvy, I should probably just go ahead and try to send him to Hel (not "Hell") where he belongs then. (MY gods believe in a pro-active approach to problem solving, rather than waiting to be rescued...)
44 - Ruvy
Lisa,
A few questions/thoughts for you.
1. What did you really know about Barry Goldwater when he was running for president? Were you that precocious at age 8? Did you hear the man talk to the Republican Convention in 1964?
2. I heard the man talk, and while there were a great many things I did not like, I heard honesty and integrity, and a fundamental decency that "progressives" like LBJ just didn't have.
3. I wish he were a Jew. He would have made a good kohén gadól - High Priest. I never said anything about president, did I?
4. I won't claim to be well bred - what can you expect from the son of a truckdriver, Lisa - but I am no progressive either. I am a syndicalist socialist - probably to the left of you on economic issues.
5. Don't speak for all Jews? I can't do that, can I? But I can sure as hell represent that small bunch of us who do believe in G-d, and who do believe in the Torah, and the Prophecies, and that far larger percent of us who are determined to see a sovereign Jewish entity in all of the Land that G-d gave us - no matter what "progressives" want or think. After all, Lisa. I'm here. You are not. Bottom line: my ass is on the line in this country, and my sons asses are even more so. Yours is not.
45 - Ruvy
based on your advice, Ruvy, I should probably just go ahead and try to send him to Hel (not "Hell") where he belongs then.
Hel? You gotta map? You got some directions? This newfangled geography is getting old farts like me cornfused....
Hell, how am I supposed to fine Hel?
46 - Cannonshop
#45:
I was being a bit tongue-in-cheek there, Ruvy. If a symbol won't hold the vampire off, then there's only taking direct action that can possibly save you- though I suppose I could have just mentioned picking up the dagger and the pentagram instead...
(Oh, and "Hel" is the Norse Goddess of Death and the Underworld, she oversees a realm of the same name where the dishonoured go when they die, along with anyone else that doesn't qualify for Valhalla.)
47 - Ruvy
Cannonshop,
Why does it not surprise me that being told to "go to Hel" involves reporting to some nasty bitch? Wonder if she burns her brassier too? Or is it just my underwear and family jewels that burn for eternity? Them ice queens can be a nasty lot, you know....
48 - Cannonshop
The whole of the Norse Pantheon are a nasty lot. Hel is Loki's daughter, and she's about half-dead, vicious though...kinda kinky. I mean, building an assault ship out of fingernails?
49 - Clavos
Cannon,
I named all of my sailboats from the Edda.
They were all named Vindalf. The Vindalfs (Wind Elves) were the creatures who controlled the wind.
With my half Scandahoovian background, my Lit major, and the boats being sailing craft, it was a natural.
50 - Cannonshop
That's cool.
51 - Silas Kain
Interesting story, Ruvy. Of course my question now is do you believe that vampires exist?
52 - Cannonshop
Well...in the Fetish community, there are folks who call themselves Vampires and participate in blood-play, so I suppose it's not so much a matter of whether "Vampires" exist, as whether the immortal-until-disposed-of, supernaturally powerful, vampires of myth, legend, and Hollywood exist.
53 - Ruvy
Silas,
Of course my question now is do you believe that vampires exist?
Of course not. But according to Leo Frankowski's alternative history series, "Crosstime Engineer", men living in caves suffering from leprosy were what medieval folks actually considered vampires. Add a horrifying leper to the sadistic legends of Vlad of Transylvania, and you pretty much have what constitute vampires. The fetishists are just sick fools with too much time on their hands.
54 - Lee Richards
Personally, I get the chill of real fear when any politician starts talking about her/his interpretation of "God's will."
A less likely combination is hard to imagine, and it's far too close to what extremists everywhere believe and practice.