This post is from the JMBzine Blog Vault, which means it is a very old blog post that I wrote at a very different time of my life. My views on religion, politics, and many other subjects have drastically changed over the years, so please bear this in mind when reading this post. – I generally do not edit my past writings, except to fix obvious spelling and grammar issues, or to fix broken links (most often replacing with links to archive.org). I do add some more recent editorial updates (with dates), which are shown in blue and italicized.
Thursday, November 01, 2001
10:49 pm
JMBzine is proud to endorse the fine products of Real Ale Brewing Company of Blanco, TX.
2023 Update: The link above is to their website of the time, but they are still making fine beers (unfortunately not selling in Oklahoma though) can be found at RealAleBrewing.com. By the way, I’m not sure when it was but sometime during the fall of 2001 I drove out to Blanco, showed up randomly at the brewery and they gave me an impromptu tour (and even let me help a little on the bottling line). I think was at their second brewery location, but I’ve heard they have a much bigger facility now.
5:18 pm
From The NY Times:
- U.S. Says 3 detainees may be tied to hihackings – OK, so why are there 1000 being detained, and why won’t the Department of Justice tell us who those 1000 are? — I’ll tell you why. . . fascist Attorney General John Ashcroft doesn’t believe in civil liberties, at least not for immigrants and guests of our country.
- Bush sets Nov. 30 deadline for economic stimulus plan – Hey, I have an idea. If Bush wants to really stimulate the economy, he ought to legalize and tax marijuana growth, sales, and possession. I know it would do wonders for Oklahoma’s economy. 2023 Update: We have had medical marijuana for several years now in Oklahoma and it has been a huge success.
- Digital Model Trains Help Engineers – a fascinating story about the use of modern digital controls by model railroad hobbyists.
5:03 pm
Jenny Tommey has an interesting tour diary. [Link found at www.blogger.com]
4:55 pm
Found the following transcript of Falwell & Robertson’s inane remarks at www.jasonwhitlow.com. While I am a Christian, I have had my concerns about Robertson ever since he sold The Family Channel to Fox. (I mean come on, FOX running the family channel? Sheesh, Temptation Island doesn’t seem like family fare to me.) To me, he and his followers are misusing the teachings of Christ to justify their capitalistic exploitation of the poor and the oppressed around the world.
Partial transcript from The 700 Club
Thursday, 13 September 2001
Jerry Falwell: And I agree totally with you that the Lord has protected us so wonderfully these 225 years. And since 1812, this is the first time that we’ve been attacked on our soil and by far the worst results. And I fear, as Donald Rumsfeld, the Secretary of Defense, said yesterday, that this is only the beginning. And with biological warfare available to these monsters – the Husseins, the Bin Ladens, the Arafats – what we saw on Tuesday, as terrible as it is, could be miniscule if, in fact – if, in fact – God continues to lift the curtain and allow the enemies of America to give us probably what we deserve.Pat Robertson: Jerry, that’s my feeling. I think we’ve just seen the antechamber to terror. We haven’t even begun to see what they can do to the major population.Jerry Falwell: The ACLU’s got to take a lot of blame for this.Pat Robertson: Well, yes.
Jerry Falwell: And, I know that I’ll hear from them for this. But, throwing God out successfully with the help of the federal court system, throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools. The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way – all of them who have tried to secularize America – I point the finger in their face and say “you helped this happen.”
Pat Robertson: Well, I totally concur, and the problem is we have adopted that agenda at the highest levels of our government. And so we’re responsible as a free society for what the top people do. And, the top people, of course, is the court system.
Jerry Falwell: Pat, did you notice yesterday the ACLU, and all the Christ-haters, People For the American Way, NOW, etc. were totally disregarded by the Democrats and the Republicans in both houses of Congress as they went out on the steps and called out on to God in prayer and sang “God Bless America” and said “let the ACLU be hanged”? In other words, when the nation is on its knees, the only normal and natural and spiritual thing to do is what we ought to be doing all the time – calling upon God.
Pat Robertson: Amen.
2023 Update: The world is a better place since these two men left the land of living (Falwell in 2007, Robertson a little over a month ago).