all-encompassingly

greg graffin's ph.d

there have been rumors for about the last 10 years that he was working on something like this. greg graffin, the frontman for one of my top-five favorite bands of all-time (bad religion) was recently awarded a ph.d from cornell. you can get a pretty good idea of his work here. there is a version of the actual questionnaire he sent out to scientists here. i also recommend the video interview with graffin. i will withhold judgment on the study, since i haven't read it.

ward churchill continues to wow crowds with his use of free speech

the wise and irreproachable sage, ward churchill, recently dispensed his unique and valuable Speech to bill maher and his audience on HBO. watch the video here or here. i am inclined to think churchill really believes the things he said in the interview--BUT!--i have recently learned an important lesson: the channel on which a person's comments are made may affect the meaning of those comments.

for example, nancy soderberg was on COMEDY CENTRAL when she expressed her hope that the newly emerging democracies in the middle east will collapse, so it was a JOKE! get it? speech on comedy channel = jokes, ok? likewise, since bill maher and ward churchill were on HBO (a movie channel) when maher told us that it was wrong for us to bomb nazi germany at the end of world war II, and churchill promised us that many of the world trade center victims were evil, they must have just been acting--merely reciting their lines.

i mean, come on! its just entertainment! if we are to see who these people really are, we'll need to see them on an actual news channel! perhaps this video of ward churchill would be useful. [video & transcript]

see also our previous coverage of ward churchill, as well as some informative blogs: pirateballerina and wardchurchill.blogspot. and finally, i don't agree with the characterization of the family member that jeff jarvis makes in his post, but his comments are worth the read.

hilarious end to ward churchill's university of hawaii visit

i just got done listening to "professor" ward churchill's Q&A with reporters in hawaii. the first four-fifths of the discussion are relatively normal, if you disregard the screeching introduction offered by the host, which sounded more like a rousing international A.N.S.W.E.R. protest than a civilized, academic Q&A.

but as the Q&A went on, the fawning churchillites dropped back into the pack and some tough questions actually got asked. showing his maturity, churchill became enraged at a question about his disputed ethnicity and abruptly ended the meeting by leaving the room.

When asked by Hawaii Reporter in a Feb. 21, 2005, press conference if he is American Indian, Churchill became enraged by the question, said it was irrelevant and would not answer. When pressed by Hawaii Reporter and other media present on the American Indian issue, Churchill called the question "racist," and asked if President George W. Bush should have to confirm he is white. When KITV Reporter Denby Fawcett said to Churchill, "We'll take that as a 'no,'" Churchill lunged at Fawcett shouting "What did you say?" Fawcett said since he would not answer "yes" and confirm his heritage, he must not be American Indian. In a fury, Churchill stormed away from reporters, ending the press conference.

earlier on, he had trouble answering a question comparing the september 11, 2001 attack to the assault on pearl harbor in 1941. his answer implied that, while the empire of japan might not have been justified in attacking hawaii (it was mainly inhabited by polynesians), if the attack had targeted an area full of white businessmen it would have been more justifiable.

some good information on churchill comes via ann coulter here and here. written coverage of churchill's visit to hawaii is provided by the hawaii reporter. the audio is here. my favorite ward churchill quotation?

"The only thing I can do is to pursue a different slogan: U.S. out of America, U.S. off the planet, U.S. out of our lives, U.S. into the dustbin of history." --Ward Churchill

let's get this man some tenure!

UPDATE: don't forget ward churchill's copyright infringement problems.

audio: napoleon dynamite soundboard featuring napoleon and pedro quotes

hear your favorite napoleon dynamite quotes in soundbyte audio form at albinoblacksheep.com. there's a napoleon dynamite soundboard and a pedro sanchez soundboard.

tip of the hat to mason.

social security calculator

calculate how much money you'll get back when you retire. you'll need a box of tissues, sucker.

for what i really think about social security, read this.

hat tip to the heritage foundation and to gopbloggers

november vote mandates conservative agenda

how's this for evidence of a conservative mandate: about 115 million people voted for right-leaning presidential candidates in the last election. according to politicalcompass.org (as well as many insightful political commentators) john kerry was running as a republican. fortunately for america, slightly over 50% of the people could tell he was lying.

as for kerry's 2008 aspirations, dusty at pathetic rim suggests how he might make himself more attractive to more voters.

jaxon logan: 1986-2005

the most courageous play you will ever see in a hockey game is a defender diving in front of an opposing player's slapshot to prevent that puck from getting near his team's goal mouth. in the professional leagues, the hard, dense projectile has been clocked at speeds over 100 miles an hour.

acknowledging this, however, does not make what happened friday night at provo's peaks ice arena--a 2002 winter olympics venue and home of BYU's icecats--any easier to accept.

at the end of the second period with the icecats comfortably in the lead, BYU freshman, jaxon logan of palmer, alaska, went down to block a shot. the shot hit him in the chest and, it is now known, immmediately stopped his heart. he was able to get up and skate over to the players' bench, only to collapse when he got there. the puck he deflected led directly to a BYU goal.

the following has been posted at the BYU hockey website, icecathockey.org:

Jaxon Logan 5/14/86-1/21/05
Jaxon Logan, our teammate, friend, and brother passed away Friday night. While blocking a slap shot, Jaxon was struck in the chest by the puck which led to cardiac arrest and ultimately his death. Jaxon was a great man, talented athlete, and fierce competitor. A memorial service will be held at the LDS church on 85 south 900 East Provo, Monday @ 6 pm. All are invited. [BYU hockey website]

go here for instructions on making a charitable donation, or to leave or read notes of condolence.

jaxon may have suffered a commotio cordis is arrhythmia, or sudden death from low-impact, blunt trauma to the chest. [source--PDF]. houston astros pitcher, roger clemens, understands the nature of this tragedy, which is more common among young baseball players; he helped launch a campaign last fall to outfit schools with automated external defibrillators (AEDs) that can help increase the survival rate of such incidents by 20%. [article]

other coverage of the incident is here, here, here, and here. video here. our prayers and deepest sympathies go out to the logan family and his icecat teammates.

a petition won't stop ashlee, but it's fun

a petition won't stop ashlee if there are enough 13 year olds still watching her show and buying her CDs to make the ashlee simpson juggernaut profitable. however, signing the petition may show the snake oil salesmen (geffen records execs and simpson's father) that they need to stop forcing her upon us elsewhere--like SNL and the orange bowl.

the site, stopashlee.com has become quite popular; i added my signature to the petition a few minutes ago and mine was signature number 120,195. i wrote:

"your shameless promotion of ashlee simpson is an insult to every artist that has to earn his or her own success."

other notable comments include, "burn her", "please think of the children", and "There should be a petition to sterilize Joe Simpson."

view the signatures, or sign the petition.

if you are not up to speed on the ashlee fiasco, watch the SNL lip-sinc video and the orange bowl live vocals video.

napoleon dynamite quotes, letterman top ten video

IMDB has a list of memorable quotes from napoleon dynamite. my favorite interactions in the movie are between (1) napoleon and uncle rico (2) kip and anyone (3) uncle rico and steak. the following is an example of 1 & 3:

Napoleon Dynamite: Grandma just called and said you're supposed to go home.
Uncle Rico: She didn't tell me anything.
Napoleon Dynamite: Too bad, she said she doesn't want you here when she gets back because you've been ruining everybody's lives and eating all our steak.
Uncle Rico: I'm not goin' anywhere, Napoleon.
Napoleon Dynamite: Get off my property!
Uncle Rico: It's a free country. I can do whatever I want.
Napoleon Dynamite: Get off my property or I'll call the cops on you.
Uncle Rico: Well then do it! Go on!
Napoleon Dynamite: Maybe I will, GOSH!

we are still hosting the video clip of jon heder in character as napoleon reading the late show's "top ten signs you're not the most popular guy in your high school". download or stream the video here. and we continue to recommend--quite vigorously--that everyone purchase the DVD.

mark cuban on randy moss' "fake-moon"

like most sane, normal people, i imagined the worst when ESPN sportscenter wouldn't even show randy moss' "tasteless" touchdown celebration the morning after minnesota beat green bay last week. i can't remember exactly, but i think one anchor might have said, "randy has finally gone over the edge" or something to that effect.

"did he slaughter a calf in the endzone? perform a clintonesque act on the packers mascot? it must have been something positively scandalous!", i thought.

since it was "too obscene" for TV, i could only read about it online. WHERE I LEARNED IT WAS A "FAKE-MOON" (in other words, it was FAKE!).

later, i saw the video. it was DEFINITELY a fake moon, lasting all of, oh, half-a-second. no nudity. no dead livestock. the TV announcer for the game, fox's joe buck, called the celebration, "disgusting" and said, he was "shocked that we aired it live."

naturally, the NFL fined moss $10,000 (they must have taken note of all the sports anchors fainting).

it makes me wonder if these people have ever ridden on a school bus before.

mark cuban suggests that, in the future, when posterity looks back at the incident, the joke will be on all the breathless journalists who huffed and puffed at this nonexistant controversy.

While Randy Moss will be able to laugh about the response and soon forget about it, those in the media will find their future peers snickering at them. “Hey, you’re the guy that got all bent out of shape when Randy Moss faked mooning the crowd. It was a joke, right? You were kidding about it. Right? Please tell me you weren’t serious...You were. Really?...that’s interesting. And you are supposed to be one of the better journalists of your time? Good for you. Must have been interesting times.”
[read it all]

cell phone users: deserved of guevaraian justice?

read about it here: This Liberal: Che Guevara at BYU

video: napoleon dynamite reading letterman's top 10 list

i promised my dentist, a native of preston, idaho, that we would post this video featuring the late show's "top ten signs you're not the most popular guy in your high school". napoleon dynamite (jon heder) presents the list.

and remember, kids: hygiene, tetherball, and bowhunting skills are the key to being popular with your peers. for complete instructions, get the napoleon dynamite DVD.

video: simpson booed off stage for crime against humanity

a brief, but damning clip of the former lip-synchers atrocious performance at the orange bowl halftime show is here: [Ashlee Simpson Booed Off Stage]. many thanks to lipsinc.us for hosting the video. [listen really close between the 20 & 22 second mark on the clip. you'll hear someone shout, "YOU SUCK!"]. after the show, ashlee was consoled by the water-bearing lady.

if her career isn't over now, it will never die. she will be known as the indestructable woman; nations will fear her and jungle animals will flee from her presence. for the love of all that is holy, let her career be over. she sucks. sorry to be so harsh; if she's sad, she can go spend some of her millions of dollars she got by duping consumers.

for our coverage of ashlee's past problems and professional failures, see the following posts:

ashlee simpson: manufactured by MTV, deconstructed by SNL
simp-sinc saga continues

for better, (but cruder) descriptions of ashlee and her latest issues i recommend:

tony pierce on how the music execs are to blame
anthony russell on how virtuous girls should not follow ashlee's example

want to laugh/cry? read these insights from provo's best, brightest

Tsunamis | ProvoPulse.com

doug and i have both chimed in on the discussion, but most of the gargantuan BS is coming from joseph price (aka provojoe) and r. blades (aka mr. marbles). here are a few excerpts from the discussion:

UPDATE: as is the case in many discussions that pit liberal BYU students against conservative ones, this thread has degenerated into a battle over whose political ideology is more righteous. indeed, the post makes fascinating reading, and i cannot attempt to do it justice with a summary. provo pulse

when powell called the united states generous (in response to a UN official who called us "stingy") price called powell's statement "tacky".

price would apparently be opposed to putting any country on the terror watch list until we fully cleanse our nation of al-qaeda's presence. his rebuttal to one of my arguments was, "Al-Qaeda operates in the United States, too. Remember?".

he is also the king of cliches and overused talking points. i'll note the best ones here:

Life is not a football game

I hope Bush will think twice before "wrapping himself" in 9/11...

You can't understand the world from an easy chair.

blades is no dud either. he enters the discussion late, but piles on the BS real quick to catch up! for example, he suggests that osama bin laden doesn't hate americans and calls such an idea a false "paradigm" we all have.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

the thread is kind of getting that "democratic underground" feel to it.

then, blades, in sputtering disbelief, demands, "On what evidence do you base your statement that entire populations are taught that we are the Great Satan?".

maybe it's the fact that muslim schools, muslim religious leaders, and muslim political leaders all teach the young and impressionable that we are. see the results here and here.

update: it's getting worse. blades excused the fact that while arab leaders were sending condolences to the united states, palestinians were dancing in the streets on september 12 "because they thought the war against us was over" and they had won (not because they saw news reports that thousands had been killed).

he then goes on to claim that LDS church president gordon hinckley was actually advocating peace when he cited the war prophet moroni in justification for taking up arms against aggressors. laughably, blades called it a "semantic matter".

blades justified muslim aggression against us (like the september 11 attacks) because of US investment in saudi oil. seriously. he claimed this link supported his point.

the inconsistency of both price and blades' positions is appalling. for example, someone noted that blades had made both of these statements:

"I'll give you pictures of us celebrating the death of 90,000 Japanese civilians."

"I'm not saying that we were celebrating the death of Japanese civilians"

perhaps it was a semantic matter.

the blog administrator points out price's history of rabidly demanding the separation of church and state, and notes the inconsistency of his current position with that stance. in the thread, price argues for a theocratic government that will never fight a war, only turn the other cheek repeatedly, and have "unconditional" love (an unscriptural term) for our enemies. as i said, this is one of their many inconsistencies.

one of my favorite inconsistencies, which both seem to espouse, is, "muslims don't hate us!" alongside "muslims hate us because of x !"

i'll keep updating the discussion from here, but you can read the entire thread at provo pulse.

travis' favorites, year two

with the end of another year and every TV entity doing some year in review, i've decided to offer my year in review. these are my favorite posts of the year, listed chronologically from oldest to newest. i asked doug--whose posts, you'll notice, are not found in this list--to send me a list of his favorites from this year, but doug is so progressive and lives SO for the moment that he wasn't having any of it. you can read all of his posts here. the following are all mine:

*on gay marriage ::: part VIII of VIII (the last in the series, sparking a heated discussion. 24 comments)

*protesters with issues (the hypocrisy of liberals is especially obvious at big public protests)

*pissing in our holy water (this "art" reminds me of human waste. spirited discussion with 22 comments)

*newdow still retarded (semi-satirical, semi-serious piece ridiculing atheist, michael newdow, for arguing the unconstitutionality of the pledge of allegiance because it contains the phrase "under god")

*liberal academia (proof that the ivory tower leans left)

*variations on a theme(fill in the blanks) "____ don't ____ ____, people ____ ____."

*palestinian children (a shadowy arab poster propagandist attempts to indoctrinate unwitting undergrads in the humanities building on a saturday. this is my story of defiance)

*marty stephens. ready. now. (i may be personally responsible for bringing down marty stephens' campaign for utah governor)

*iraqi prisoner abuse (my first post pointing out hypocrisy of those who flood us with endless abu ghraib news)

*anti-american inflammation (definitive treatment of the abu ghraib and nicholas berg incidents)

*who's skewing the church/state distinction? (on john kerry's communion-worthiness issues during the 2004 presidential campaign)

*i think the grief is getting to mr. berg (proof that severe grief may lead to insanity)

*the fallout from my article ::: part i (i fisk a letter to the editor that was published in response to my abu ghraib article. the letter was from a BYU professor)

*the fallout from my article ::: part ii (i fisk another letter to the editor. i show no mercy)

*blind, sniping hatred of reagan (i respond to comments on the VH1 blog where ronald reagan was being slandered. again, no mercy is shown.)

*black harvard grads upset: affirmative action helping too many people (problems with affirmative action at harvard)

*utah, boy scouts trade invoices (satire, on utah's lawsuit against the boy scouts)

*john kerry: flopper and deceiver (i call the kerry/edwards ticket "a walking saturday night live skit" and predict their defeat in november)

*my retirement goes up in smoke, SSA shrugs it off (problems with social security. an argument for privatization)

*how far have we come? (a look at technological advancements and how they're improving lives)

*what people are saying about all-encompassingly (some good, some bad. some VERY bad)

*evil bush steals kerry 'bounce' (john kerry's post-convention disappointment)

*quinn and maher on NPR (terri gross of NPR interviews colin quinn and bill maher)

*ode to summer (the big engagement announcement)

*hand dryer instructions (pictures of a very odd food-dispensing machine in a BYU bathroom)

*mothereffer, i will kill you (my most racist-sounding post ever--but i was speaking about illegal immigration, not about the specific ethnic group involved.)

*mixing music and politics (alice cooper, whom i remember best for his monologue on the history of milwaukee in "wayne's world", lays the proverbial smack down up in the hizzay)

*atheist, marxist cash fans cry foul (marilyn manson is to johnny cash as democrats are to republicans)

*the best news article EVER (enough said)

*all-encompassingly picks new apostle (golf clap welcome) (i don't know what this post proves...perhaps it reassures me that my soul is not completely lost.)

*cheney/edwards: work horse vs. show horse -- on the 2004 vice presidential debate.

*kerry candidacy suffers crushing blow (i ridicule mr. heinze's blatant name-dropping effort in one of the 2004 presidential debates)

*carter and matthews brainstorm on historic parallels (one of the most outrageously idiotic and unrestrained free-for-alls in modern television history--explained)

*"oh yeah! because democrats care about rights!" (a dispute with yet another liberal BYU english professor)

*al-qaeda, al-jazeera to merge (satire, noting the complicit role of the arab news network, al-jazeera, in furthering the goals of the terrorist murder network, al-qaeda)

*NPR: "we are pretty much a bunch of right-wing kooks" (i respond to a liberal news organization's preposterous claim that american news is biased toward the right)

* brawls abound, but not a hockey game in sight (i defend ron artest's actions in the detroit players-fans brawl, and remind people that hockey isn't so bad)

posner on 1L misconceptions, other law school stuff

i will have to excuse myself from the blog for the next six-eight weeks, as i throw together a personal statement and study for the february 12 LSAT administration. the pressure is on, since i've only been working on things for a couple of weeks. i may blog infrequently, but i'd like to manipulate expectations by posting this notice. as they say in business (1): "under promise and over deliver." and as they say in taking the LSAT and applying to law schools (2): "start studying two hours a day in january and take the test in june, work on your personal statement for six months and send it in with your completed applications by december 1. otherwise, you're royally screwed and good luck if you get accepted to florida coastal."

well, one outta two ain't bad!

on topic, the following comment from a distinguished judge and legal scholar is timely:

"...the principal misconceptions of first-year law students. There are two, and they are closely related. The first is the idea that the law exists somewhere, in a book presumably (or, to be modern, in an electronic database), and that what you learn in law school is how to find the book, and that what law professors do, to justify making you sit in class for three years, is hide the book from you. The second misconception is that legal reasoning is something special, subtle, esoteric, which will enable you once you have learned it to answer a question in a way that would make no sense to a lay person. In other words--and this is what joins the misconceptions--law is a mystery."

"But what law really is is a tool that law school shows you how to use. It is a rhetoric, a vocabulary, a tradition, a set of rules and conventions, which you can use to achieve practical results, which are the only results worth having. So if you're a judge--which sounds like something special, something far removed from the real world of nonlawyers, but is not, or should not be--you are given problems that you try to solve in a way that will be realistic, having regard for the issues at stake, the relevant moral values of your society, the interest in providing guidance for the future, the goals behind applicable rules or standards, the value of a certain kind of neutrality or impersonality, and perhaps other considerations both particular to the case at hand and systemic." [link]

judge posner serves on the US court of appeals for the 7th circuit and teaches at the university of chicago law school. the above remark was made in response to comments to this post. his words echo things i've read as i've researched schools. washington and lee's admissions page calls the first year "mental boot camp", apparently because of the very misconceptions posner highlights:

It's not that everyone is trying to make life difficult for first-year law students, by imposing on them some sort of rite of passage. It's just that the law is different. There is nothing black-and-white about it. Often "facts" aren't even facts in a legal sense. That takes some getting used to. Success depends less on how much you absorb than on how well you learn to use it. Learning becomes a much more active endeavor, compared with even the most demanding of undergraduate educations. [source]

about tsunamis

Contrary to public perception, a tsunami is not typically a single monstrous wave. Usually, a series of giant waves roll ashore during the course of two or three hours.

"A lot of the casualties are not from drowning - they're from blunt trauma from people being smashed up by debris," Dudley said. [source]
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If you imagine a tsunami to be merely a scaled-up version of the waves that extreme surfers ride at spots like Hawaii's Banzai Pipeline or the infamous Maverick's in California, think again. A tsunami can cross the ocean faster than a jet aircraft, and hit land with a force that makes an atomic bomb look like a firecracker. [source]

a tsunami in southeast asia last weekend may have killed more than 20,000 people. it was the result of a 9.0 earthquake that struck off the coast of indonesia. [news]

UPDATE--december 30: the death toll has reached 120,000 and is expected to climb still more. donations can be made securely online at http://www.lds.org/humanitarian. 100% of all donations will go directly to those in need.

christmas anti-cheer

recently, while watching television, i overheard the most retarded quotation of the modern era. i blogged it here, and mason of provo pulse kindly quoted me on his blog.

the reaction on this blog centered on whether jesus could really be said to be the "reason" for christmas celebrations, because of the pagan origins of ancient december 25th celebrations.

the discussion on provo pulse, on the other hand, focused on my sloppy journalism, my failure to capitalize the name of diety, and my "abrupt" use of epithets. [link] i have added my response in the comments on that site, and below:

first catch up on the discussion here: http://provopulse.com/home/?q=node/view/571#comment
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i am the author of the piece in question, and i think i should say something in my own defense. i watched the entire exchange on hannity and colmes the other night, and the discussion centered on the issue of whether or not public buildings (especially schools) should allow the singing of christmas carols, the use of the phrase "merry christmas", and the mention of jesus to be sanctioned within their walls.

i posted my thoughts at all-encompassingly before the transcript became available, and when i did get access to the transcript, i read it and put it online immediately. i saw what everyone else here saw--the guest qualified his statements in such a way so that they didn't sound quite as retarded as i claim. but i maintain that his argument is wholly moronic. the fact that his comment is consistent with an utterly absurd argument may trick the likes of the provo princess and laurence burton into accepting it as reasonable [but what would i know: "he didn't capitalize the savior's name or duly acknowledge his official priesthood office (gasp)! he is, therefore, discredited and we must shun him in favor of those who properly punctuate their arguments!"]

GORSKY: What I'm saying is, if you have government-funded events, and they're turned into religious events to promote the idea that Jesus is the reason for the season, that that is wrong.

first of all, how often do government-funded events turn into religious revivals? the final sentence of my post is in response to this claim by gorsky. i never left my elementary school auditorium after singing in the christmas concert feeling "saved" or converted. neither can i envision an instance in which such an event morphs into a religious service. his main point is without merit.

secondly, when timothy gorsky goes on to say, "for (any non-christian religious group), jesus is not the reason for the season" he implies that these groups celebrate christmas alongside christians, but just leave the messy 'christ' part out of their observances. this is pretty ridiculous. jews, hindus, muslims, and buddhists generally do not celebrate christmas. for example, check out this website [http://www.islamonline.net/fatwa/english/FatwaDisplay.asp?hFatwaID=8895], where there is discussion about whether american muslims should celebrate christmas. ironically, the one reason given to celebrate it is that muslims DO believe that jesus was a prophet. whoops! looks like christ could be "the reason for the season" for one muslim out there. but the response from someone else is that, though christmas has become a national holiday, it is still a christian holiday. strike two! and whether or not people of other religious groups see christ as the center of the festivities participated in, with religious connotations, by 80-90% of americans is completely irrelevant. he is.

kc ushijima (who is neither royalty or a good researcher, both of which he claims: "i scoured the transcript--which i found camouflaged in a text link at the bottom of his entry--and located key discrepancies!"), writes:

I'm not a scholar on the Jewish Religion, but to my knowledge, Chanukkah is not about the birth (or even death) of Jesus.

nope. but like the crucifixion, it is meant to counteract his influence. let me quote from judaism 101:

Most American Jews feel a sort of ambivalence about Chanukkah. On the one hand, most of them know that Chanukkah is not a big deal, and they don't want to make a big deal about it. On the other hand, Christmas is everywhere, unavoidable and overwhelming, and Jews want something of their own to counterbalance it. This is the primary motivation behind elaborate Chanukkah decorations and enormous Chanukkah menorahs in public areas: Chanukkah is not very important, but asserting our Jewish identity and distinctiveness and existence in the face of overwhelming pressure to conform to a non-Jewish norm is important. [source]

looks like christmas is the reason for the season--even for jews! and if jesus is the reason for christmas, well...just put together this simple hypothetical syllogism: if jesus then christmas, if christmas then chanukka. therefore if jesus then chanukka. in addition to this perfectly logical argument, chanukka celebrates something to do with the temple, which (LDS know) had EVERYTHING to do with the messiah.

but going back to your statements...

I think that Jewish people may still celebrate Chanukah around the "holiday" season, even if it weren't for the Christian celebration (and market commercialization) of Jesus' birth.

if either yom kippur or rosh hashana (the two biggest jewish holidays) fell on december 25, your argument might be somewhat convincing. too bad they don't. as jewfaq.org admits, chanukka is hyped because of christmas, and christmas is because of jesus.

and i'm still searching online chat rooms for the huge (but SECRET!) hindu holiday that falls in december and that is the cause for so much december revelry among members of that religious sect.

getting back to the real question: what kind of learning have we engendered in our public schools? isn't it odd that our schools (purpose: to educate america's youth) are being asked to disguise or ignore the real story of christmas in the name of the oft-misapplied 'separation of church and state'? it's insane, if you ask me. and i still argue that gorsky's words were retarded--no matter how consistent they have been shown to be with his ludicrous position.

most retarded quotation of the modern era

some guy from some atheist organization went on national tv last night and defended the expelling of christmas carols from public schools with this statement:

"jesus is not the reason for christmas."

hey idiot! if christ isn't the reason for christmas, then what's the problem with singing about him in the darn songs? he must not be the reason for the songs, either (the songs all just happen to mention him).

hey, i think we've found our solution! normal americans go on singing the songs. you go on telling yourself that god doesn't exist and that christ is a figment of people's imaginations. sweet!

on the other hand, christmas (besides the curiously religious-sounding root of the word--i'll look into it!) is a federal holiday. religion--civil religion, not some state church--is an integral part of our national culture. it does contribute to public morality (without which the people could not be governed). crapola, it's important!

so give us all a break, moronic atheists, from your assumptions that EVERY.SINGLE.MENTION.OF.GOD. is somehow an unpardonable proselytistic act by an oppressive state religion.
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UPDATE I: here's the transcript. the guy's name is timothy gorsky, from the church of free thought.

UPDATE II: for further discussion, check out the comments below the post here.

kobe bryant: "nobody treats my wife that way--except me!"

kobe has publicly denounced karl malone for apparently "coming on" to the young NBA superstar's wife a few weeks ago. he was upset that someone would treat his wife so disrespectfully.

this is curious, considering kobe currently charged with raping a young hotel worker in colorado. even if the facts point to his innocence with regard to rape, he is undeniably and admittedly guilty of cheating on his wife and (i'm just guessing here) hurting her feelings.

why the double standard, then? why couldn't kobe quietly deal with this in private?

because kobe is a huge narcissist, who can't stand to have any other talented players on the same team with him. he chased out shaquille o'neill, one of the NBA's all-time greatest centers last year, adding some tasty parting shots about shaquille's own problems with marital infidelity. he also managed to chase away one of the NBA's all-time winningest coaches, phil jackson, after the pampered star's drama-queen antics contributed to the coach's first-ever NBA finals loss in 10 trips.

kobe, we know you live in LA, but life doesn't need to imitate the soap operas! get over yourself! and jerry (buss, lakers' owner): are you starting to see that you made the wrong choice for your 'franchise' player? this might have been prevented by simply perusing your players' grade school report cards, looking for the phrase "does not work/play well with others".

christmas gifts we recommend (books, movies, & music)

with two weeks left until christmas, you have probably already finished your holiday shopping. unless you are like my dad, who is notorious for his yearly christmas eve shopping dash (in that case, this list could be very helpful). i've read a lot of books and seen a lot of movies lately that i feel have been worth my time. here are some recommendations and reviews of my favorites, in no particular order. follow the links to read more reviews at amazon:

recommended books

the last two years of salvador allende by nathaniel davis:

"written by the US ambassador to chile during the allende years, this is perhaps the only book that deeply explores--and meticulously documents--the utter failure of the democratically-elected communist president's leadership and form of government. most books dealing with chilean history between 1970 and 1990 blame only agosto pinochet for the extreme levels of domestic turmoil. davis points out the leftist leader's culpability for sparking (and ignoring) the chilean decline. the author's seemingly endless provision of facts and figures became a bit tedious during my reading of the book, but the volume is worth it's price for davis' electrifying retelling of the coup-de-etat, alone. also recommended: the capitalist revolution in latin america by paul roberts and karen araujo. not recommended: a nation of enemies by pamela constable and arturo valenzuela. 'i wouldn't soil my cat's litter box with the worthless, empty pages of a nation of enemies.'" --travis, senior reviewer from the unheardofly popular blog, 'all-encompassingly' and former resident of chile.

at any cost by bill sammon:

"sammon thoroughly and methodically refutes the concept that al gore won florida in 2000. sammon shows how completely ridiculous the claim is that george w. bush 'stole' the election, and sets the record straight: it was the democratic candidate who tried to steal the presidency. this is one of the most satisfying books i've read in a long time, especially considering the fact that some, including keith olberman of MSNBC, have still not conceded the 2004 election." --travis, senior reviewer from the unheardofly popular blog, 'all-encompassingly' and political junkie.

music and the mind by anthony storr and the aesthetics of music by roger scruton:

"these two books almost convinced me to pursue a graduate degree in aesthetics. but what do you care?" --travis, senior reviewer from the unheardofly popular blog, 'all-encompassingly' and amateur musician.

how to know if someone is worth pursuing in two dates or less by neil clark warren:

"i read the book and i'm happily married. the proof is in the pudding. but seriously, this has got to be the most straight-forward, useful relationship book in existence. dating can really suck. to minimize suckage, read this book and take notes. dr. warren's new book falling in love for all the right reasons looks to be a rehashing of this book, plus some information about marriage--probably another extremely useful book. i would recommend anything by this author." --travis, senior reviewer from the unheardofly popular blog, 'all-encompassingly' and married man.

be thou an example by gordon hinckley

"the most inspiring book i have ever read." --travis, senior reviewer from the unheardofly popular blog, 'all-encompassingly' and god-fearing man.

shut up and sing by laura ingraham

"a well-researched and timely book in which liberal, blue state elite-think is the butt of the joke. very enjoyable read." --travis, senior reviewer from the unheardofly popular blog, 'all-encompassingly' and 2004 values voter.

tricky business and big trouble by dave barry:

"dave barry's first two forays into fiction writing (as opposed to 'whatever you call it' that he was doing before). these books are hilarious, though somewhat crude. they (blatantly and unapologetically) follow similar plot patterns, which might turn you off if you are some kind of literature snob who uses terms like "denouement" on a regular basis. but if you like hilarious characters, complex, knee-slapping plot twists, and access to a new side of dave's humor, these books are must-reads." --travis, senior reviewer from the unheardofly popular blog, 'all-encompassingly' and uncouth literati outsider.

the screwtape letters by clive staples lewis

"an interesting perspective on temptation. funny, enlightening, and inspiring. my only complaint is that it is so short." --travis, senior reviewer from the unheardofly popular blog, 'all-encompassingly' and frequent target of tempters.

joseph smith the prophet by truman madsen

"full of amazing stories from the life of the prophet joseph smith. a must-read for any latter day saint, it should be part of the missionary packet." --travis, senior reviewer from the unheardofly popular blog, 'all-encompassingly' and latter day saint.

truman by david mccullough

my favorite history writer, david mccullough, goes on for more than 1100 pages about president truman. about the length of president clinton's memoirs, only this book is actually worth your time. --travis, senior reviewer from the unheardofly popular blog, 'all-encompassingly' and history buff.

the proper care and feeding of husbands by dr. laura schlessinger

i don't know how much work of her own dr. laura put into writing this one. if we were to add up all of the emails, letters, and other comments from listeners that she uses in the text, her commentary might be shown to constitute a minority of the book. however, the true stories from actual couples are compelling and shocking. and the advice dr. laura gives is uniquely family-friendly, and to some extent (despite the title) the instruction she gives can be used by both husbands and wives. --travis, senior reviewer from the unheardofly popular blog, 'all-encompassingly' and simple-minded biped

give me a break by john stossel and a national party no more by zell miller

i am neither a libertarian nor a democrat, but these were two of the best books i read this year. in fact, i'll just say it: give me a break was THE best book i read this year. stossel, my favorite news personality of all time, advocates a strict libertarian approach to government and markets while using the book to look back on some of his most memorable moments as a journalist. just like his pieces on 20/20, this book alerts the audience to government policy, spending, and political-correctness outrages that need to be addressed.

about miller's offering, a national party no more: i have never felt such a desire to moderate my conservative views as i have since reading this book. he spares nothing in attacking the democratic party, and doesn't go much easier on the republicans. if anything, i've come to find great respect for senator miller through reading this book. i recommend it to everyone with an interest in politics. his chapter two (pages 9-20) provides a most-timely discussion of the blue-red hate-fest going on in america right now. highly recommended to such people as my sister and other church-going democrats. for recent stuff on the hate-fest, try scrappleface or philosophical blitzkrieg." --travis, senior reviewer from the unheardofly popular blog, 'all-encompassingly', bush supporter, and former resident of a former slave state. [are those last items a matter of coincidence? wackos think not.]

childbed fever by k. codell carter and barbara carter:

"this book should be made into a movie, or at least a history channel documentary of some sort. it is filled with outrageous tales exposing the guessing-game that was 19th century medicine. it's rare and out of print and it took me about a year to get my copy. if you're interested in the book, contact me or email the professor and encourage him to reprint it independently." --travis, senior reviewer from the unheardofly popular blog, 'all-encompassingly' and former student of the author.

recommended movies

the terminal and ladykillers

"i continue to be impressed with tom hanks' movies, and his versatility as an actor. first forrest gump, castaway and saving private ryan, and now ladykillers and the terminal. you may not recognize hanks from one movie to the next, but these movies are all worth your time, and perhaps money. in ladykillers, hanks plays a likeable southern gentleman and bank robber, but the surprise protagonist turns out to be the devout christian lady from whom hanks' character rents his room. the terminal is a heartwarming film and, like ladykillers, hanks has mastered a strange accent for his role in it. i have seen over 100 movies this year, and the terminal was my favorite." --travis, senior reviewer from the unheardofly popular blog, 'all-encompassingly' and a guy who is not afraid to walk out of a movie if it sucks.

it's a wonderful life and a christmas carol:

these two DVDs will be part of our family's christmas tradition every year. starting now. --travis, senior reviewer from the unheardofly popular blog, 'all-encompassingly' and holiday tradition advocate.

winged migration

"visually stunning and fascinating, even for someone like me who knows nothing about birds. contains footage compiled over a three-year period, from practically every corner of the earth. this is an epic documentary. --travis, senior reviewer from the unheardofly popular blog, 'all-encompassingly' and bird-liker.

endurance and touching the void

"two of the most incredible survival-story documentaries out there. both are true stories. in touching the void, the retelling is done by the survivors of the peruvian mountain climb, accompanied by recreated video footage. in endurance, historians, journals, and logs tell the tale of shackleton's 1914 antartic expedition, in the which recreated footage is mixed with surviving video and photography. endurance is probably a PG-ish film, while touching the void, for the EXCESSIVE use of the F-word, is R." --travis, senior reviewer from the unheardofly popular blog, 'all-encompassingly' and survivor of the 1999 lonquen missionary hiking disaster, lonquen, chile.

band of brothers (HBO's WWII movie series)

"ahh, to remember the days when 'liberation' wasn't a bad word!" --travis, senior reviewer from the unheardofly popular blog, 'all-encompassingly' and war-movie fanatic.

napoleon dynamite

"completely unique, a future cult classic, and infinitely better than 'revenge of the nerds'--in addition to being family friendly." --travis, senior reviewer from the unheardofly popular blog, 'all-encompassingly' and former nerd.

recommended music

the newest sunfall CD will be available here soon, but for now just go stream some awesome songs for free.

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those are my recommendations. i like them; you might not. either way, good for you. if you want more music recommendations, my favorite artists haven't changed since this post, and i really don't feel close enough to the music scene to recommend any new artists. if you have recommendations for me (music or otherwise) i welcome them. please email me or leave them in the comments below this post.

***one final thing: if you are a close friend or family member who wants 1/20th of your amazon purchase price (whenever you shop there) to go to all-encompassingly, the gesture is much appreciated and welcomed. you may drag the link from the box below (the text in the box's black background has the code "allencompassi-20" embedded in it) into your internet browser and make it your amazon bookmark, or you can come here to search amazon's inventory any time you need to do online shopping. thanks again, and merry christmas.

Search: All ProductsApparel & AccessoriesBabyBeautyBooksDVDElectronicsHome & GardenGourmet FoodHealth & Personal CareJewelry & WatchesKitchen & HousewaresMagazine SubscriptionsMusical InstrumentsMusicComputersCamera & PhotoSoftwareSports & OutdoorsTools & HardwareToys & GamesVHSComputer & Video GamesCell Phones & Service Keywords:

taxes and fairness

when you put it this way, it seems the only way to be fair is to tax workers less:

"What if, instead of paying taxes in money, the government forced you to work on a chain gang in order to pay taxes? If you have to work until 5PM every day, but everyone else gets to go home at noon, would that be fair?"

"Although an income tax seems like a confiscation of your money, it is really a confiscation of your time. After all, you earn your income by sacrificing your time. If you work 40 hours each week, and you pay 50% of your income in taxes, that means you work 20 hours a week for yourself and 20 hours for the government. Sure, you don't notice, but that's only because you spend your 20 government hours sitting at the same desk, drinking the same coffee, and talking to the same co-workers that you do during the 20 hours each week you spend working for yourself."

"Imagine it wasn't like that. Imagine, instead, that you worked your 20 government hours each week busting rocks on that chain gang. Some of the other folks on the chain gang only have to bust rocks for 10 hours a week, because their tax rate is 25%. You spend twice as much time on the chain gang."

"That's how the graduated income tax discriminates. (Proponents like calling it a "progressive" tax, because that sounds like progress, and how could progress be bad?) By setting different rates for different people, the government forces some citizens to sacrifice more of their lives on the IRS chain gang. If taxation is partial slavery, why should some slaves be more partial than others?"

"People who favor a graduated tax say it's fair because it makes people pay more as they earn more. True, but that would be the case under a flat tax as well. Suppose there's one tax rate, at 20%. Someone making $50,000 a year pays $10,000; another person making $250,000 pays $50,000. According to my calculations, $50,000 is more than $10,000 by about $40,000. Even under a flat tax, higher earners pay more. What progressive tax advocates really want is for the high earners to pay more than more, to penalize them for their success by making them spend disproportionately more time on the IRS chain gang. That doesn't sound fair to me." [link]

the above text was lifted from brain-terminal.com, which means we didn't write it. to read another post that we didn't write on the subject of taxes, go here.

our non-replicating liberal foes

read michelle malkin's post red states, blue states, and babies for more on how democrats have fumbled away the stranglehold they once had on american politics.

outrage of the day

courtesy of flynnfiles:

A school bus driver outside of Buffalo was fired for telling school children that not a single cure has been developed through embryonic stem-cell research in twenty-three years. She didn't molest a child. She didn't drive drunk. She didn't even slip up and wish a student Merry Christmas (verboten) instead of Happy Holidays (gelobt). She merely said something that was true. [link]

speaking of the first amendment, check out evan coyne maloney's new film, brainwashing 101, a documentary chronicling the unbelievable measures many of america's universities take to stifle free speech. you can watch a preview or download the 46-minute film here.

i exist, therefore i am (being spammed to death)

hate spam? lycos is giving it's european users the option of fighting back against spammers in an interesting way:

Internet portal Lycos has made a screensaver that endlessly requests data from sites that sell the goods and services mentioned in spam e-mail. Lycos hopes it will make the monthly bandwidth bills of spammers soar by keeping their servers running flat out. The net firm estimates that if enough people sign up and download the tool, spammers could end up paying to send out terabytes of data. [source]

despite lycos' focus on its european customers, north americans can participate, too. it is the world wide web, after all. here's how:

1. go here and select a country (the UK might be best, if you're interested in combating english-language spam).

2. download the screensaver (please. for the love of all that is holy, download the screensaver). file size is less than 2MB.

3. while you're at it, enter the URL of some spam websites. this is a feature we will be using here at all-encompassingly from this day forward. every spam (comment or email) that comes in will have its URL submitted to lycos for inclusion in the anti-spam program. it's payback time.

i hope everyone with a computer and a modem will participate. read the full article from the BBC. via kottke.org

UPDATE: the "make love not spam" server appears to be down right now. the conspiratorialist in me says that the spammers are on the counter attack. but (perhaps more likely) it is the overwhelming response from lycos users that is to blame.

UPDATE: both wrong. it was the lawyers, of course.

dave barry on thanksgiving

happy thanksgiving, america. on this solemn occasion, please consider the words of dave barry:

Thanksgiving is also a spiritual time of quiet reflection -- a time when we pause to remember, as generations have remembered before us, that an improperly cooked turkey is -- in the words of the U.S. Department of Agriculture -- ``a ticking Meat Bomb of Death.''

Yes, it is a tragic but statistical fact that every Thanksgiving, undercooked turkeys claim the lives of an estimated 53 billion Americans (source: Dan Rather). Sometimes the cause is deadly bacteria; sometimes -- in cases of extreme undercooking -- the turkey actually springs up from the carving platter and pecks the would-be carver to death.

The only way to be sure you've killed all the bacteria in your turkey is to cook it until a meat thermometer inserted into the breast melts, indicating that the turkey has attained the same internal temperature as the sun. ''Basically,'' advises the Surgeon General, ''you want to be serving your family a 16-pound charcoal briquette.''

Of course, not everybody is comfortable with the idea of eating turkeys, which are, let's face it, living organisms, like dogs, or celery. You may wonder: Is there a more humanitarian option that you can serve for Thanksgiving dinner? There certainly is: It's tofu, a semi-foodlike substance secreted by soybeans as a defense mechanism. Tofu can be used as a high-protein meat substitute, as well as a denture adhesive or tile grout. In its natural state, tofu is tasteless and odorless, but if you form it into a turkey-shaped lump, season it well, add gravy and bake it for two hours in a shallow pan at 350 degrees, you can also use it for minor driveway repairs." [link]

you mean, "what's the frequency, dan?"

in celebration of dan rather's recently announced retirement, we'd like to take a look back at one weird moment in his life.

One night in October 1986, Rather was walking down a Manhattan street when he was punched from behind and thrown to the ground. His assailant kicked and beat him while repeating, "Kenneth, what is the frequency?"
- - - - -
The attack inspired the 1994 R.E.M. hit "What's the Frequency, Kenneth." Being a good sport, Dan Rather even accompanied the band when they performed the song on a Late Show with David Letterman appearance.

In 1997, based on a tip from a psychiatrist, Rather's attacker was identified as William Tager. According to the psychiatrist, Tager, who was currently serving time for killing an NBC stagehand, blamed news media for beaming signals into his head, and thought if he could just find out the correct frequency, he could block those signals that were constantly assailing him. Hence the enigmatic inquiry. [link]

ratherbiased.com has great stuff on the life of the CBS anchor here.

u.s. marines in falluja

the NBC News "get" of the week -- a video sequence of the Marine in question shooting a wounded Fallujah fighter after shouting that the man was "faking" his incapacity -- has been airing at half-hour intervals as if it were the Lost Episodes of Abu Ghraib. [link] [via LGF]

at the same time, one must ask, where is the breathless, accusatory coverage of the french shooting spree in ivory coast?

NPR: "we are pretty much a bunch of right-wing kooks"

NPR, one of the news organizatio