Six Flags: Take A Bite Fright!

This note came from a close friend. Stunts like this, and those utilized by shock-TV shows ala NBC's Fear Factor, are inhumane, degrating, and pathetic.

From SixFlags.com:

"Put a "bite" in Fright Fest this year! Eating a live cockroach will be your Ticket to Terror -- and the front of the line! Courageous volunteers who opt to chow down on one of these creepy critters will be granted a place at the front of the line for some of Six Flags' most popular rides. Daring guests willing to eat their way to the front of the line will have to be quick! Cockroaches can run at a speed of three miles per hour. The nutritional benefit? Cockroaches are extremely low in fat and high in protein. Complete details available inside the park. Limited quantity. Hours and restrictions apply."


Words cannot express the disgust and anger I feel about this. Cockroaches or otherwise, no living creature deserves to be used, suffer and die in a cruel and senseless promotional stunt. I will never again visit a Six Flag park, and I will spread this word among every friend and family member I have.

I hope your parks can find a more suitable and less inhumane way to dare people during the Halloweeen season.

Ryan

Phil Kline: Did You Get The Memo?

Living in a state where the Attorney General participates as guest preacher in churches, those who do not ascribe to such sectarian beliefs have cause for pause. However, if the Attorney General is able to keep his own moral beliefs aside in their pursuit to uphold the state constitution and laws of the land, there is no cause for concern. When the Attorney General, as Phil Kline has, "aggressively" utilizes the mobilization of church leaders and sectarian monies in his re-election campaign the concern is real.

Topeka — Atty. Gen. Phill Kline often talks about his Christian faith.

But a leaked memo shows how Kline has mixed religion and money as part of an aggressive strategy to raise campaign funds and win re-election.

“Get the pastor to invite 5 ‘money people,’ whom he knows can help,” Kline told his campaign staff in a detailed, four-page memo titled “church efforts.”

The anonymously leaked e-mail memo provides a rare, behind-the-scenes look at political fundraising and the methods the incumbent Republican is using as he faces Democratic challenger Paul Morrison, the Johnson County district attorney.

Kline is a frequent visitor to Kansas churches, often appearing as guest preacher. But the memo makes clear Kline is out to spread more than the Christian message when he takes the pulpit. And he wants to hit as many churches as possible:

“The Goal and Objective – numbers,” Kline wrote to campaign workers Bill Roche and Sylvia Chapman in the Aug. 8 e-mail. “Please try to get me in front of the largest crowds as we move through the remainder of the campaign schedule. Also, please maximize my presence in a community. Where possible, get additional churches involved. Am able to preach at several churches where service times are different.”
(Continue Reading LJWorld.com article)

Joe.My.God.: That Day

Joe.My.God. remembers 9/11

Manhattan, September 11th, 2001

That day, I got to my office on 42nd Street at about 8:55am. About ten minutes later, I got a call from Terrence in Orlando.

"Honey, you should look out your window because a plane just hit the World Trade Center!"

I have a fabulous view of the Chrysler Building from my office, but to see the World Trade Center, I had to go downstairs and walk over to Fifth Avenue. There was already a crowd on every corner, shielding their eyes against the morning sun. All we could see was a plume of smoke. Just as I got back into my office, the word spread that a second plane had struck.

A few minutes later, someone reported that the subways had stopped running and it only took about another 15 minutes before office decorum began to dissolve. Davita, our normally stoic sales manager, began sobbing, worrying about getting home to her daughter in Brooklyn. Some of our staffers nervously took post at our windows overlooking Grand Central Terminal, watching the sky over the Chrysler Building, one block away. We all tried calling our families but got nothing but busy signals.

Our CEO called us into the conference room at 10am and announced, "It appears that the United States is under attack. I'm suggesting that we all try to make our way to our homes at once. Please call the office tomorrow before you come in, to see what our situation is." His voice was overloud, his nerves overcoming his normally lilting Liverpool accent.

A moment later someone with a radio announced, "One of the towers just collapsed." That sent the office scrambling for the door. A few minutes later, I was on the street. I headed towards my apartment on 22nd Street in Chelsea and had just turned south onto Sixth Avenue when the second tower collapsed. I watched the top half of the building slide from view. Everybody stopped walking and stood in silent horror. From our distance, there was no noise.
(Continue Reading)

Movie Trailer: Jesus Camp

A growing trend among the far right of the Evangelical movement in the United States is empowering children, to rise in America's political and religious ranks, through intensive training camps. Jesus Camp,a documentary exploring one such retreat, offers a chilling view into this world.

Learn more about the film here.

See the trailer here:

Music Video: Calexico - Cruel

Garden Ruin is the newest album from Calexico, a group that I have come to enjoy more and more. Garden Ruin is, however, a much more mainstream faire than their previous albums. Still enjoyable? Yes. Will it have the staying power in my rotation, I'm not sure. Enjoy this music video of "Cruel" from Calexico's Garden Ruin.

Laura Cantrell

One of my favorite Trad Country/Americana artists is profiled:

Woke Up New

Check out this music video from the Mountain Goats.

Rest In Peace Crocodile Hunter

A passionate conservationalist and Animal Planet icon died this monday. Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter, suffered a fatal blow to the chest while filming a documentary on stingrays on the Great Barrier Reef.

Friend John Stainton said he had viewed footage of his friend's last moments and the images were "shocking".

"It's a very hard thing to watch because you're actually witnessing somebody die ... and it's terrible," he said.

"It shows that Steve came over the top of the ray and the tail came up, and spiked him here (in the chest), and he pulled it out and the next minute he's gone.

"That was it. The cameraman had to shut down."

Read the story here.

A YouTube memorial montage: