More Crying

This is really unbelievable. I saw this on the plane going back to Seattle. Glenn Beck started to cry about.......John Huntsman. Really? Really. 1:17-1:30

Snowshoeing to Eiseman Hut

Gaga. So Hot Right Now. Gaga.

I was telling KT about the "future of fashion", to steal a phrase from Zoolander. It's Lady Gaga. And she comes straight from the mold of Derek Z, Hansel, and Mugatu (who presides over this blog) and all those ridiculously good looking people. Except she's for real. Check out the above pic, when she met the queen. People, that's for real. Her latest music video is hilarious. I can't decide what's better: all the women in white leotards, high boots, and crowns doing their ridiculous dance- or the dude with the golden jaw. Enjoy.

Conan Recognizes Greatness

I just saw the documentary about it at the Denver Starz Film Festival. Here's the trailer:

It's Just a Joke. Until it Isn't.

It seems I receive a lot of emails forwarded from well meaning parties. Usually they are silly religious anecdotes of dubious origin meant to inspire. Tonight I received an email that clearly was meant in that same spirit. I read it once, then read it again. And once more. The more I read it, the more crazy it got. The narrative consisted of a heroic, God-fearing veteran who assaults a professor, who is an atheist (and for good measure, a member of the ACLU). Naturally, I forwarded this on to a colleague, who was entertained but more interested in why the ACLU bit was thrown in to the story. Here's the email I received, my colleague's response, and my response to her:

GOD Is Busy

If you don't know GOD, don't make stupid remarks!!!!!!

A United States Marine was attending some college
courses between assignments. He had completed missions
in Iraq and Afghanistan. One of the courses had a professor
who was an avowed atheist, and a member of the ACLU.

One day the professor shocked the class when he came in.
He looked to the ceiling and flatly stated, "GOD!! if you are real
then I want you to knock me off this platform. I'll give you exactly
15 min." The lecture room fell silent. You could hear a pin drop.
Ten minutes went by and the professor proclaimed, "Here I am
GOD, I'm still waiting."

It got down to the last couple of minutes when the Marine got
out of his chair, went up to the professor, and cold-cocked him;
knocking him off the platform. The professor was out cold.
The Marine went back to his seat and sat there, silently.

The other students were shocked and stunned, and sat there
looking on in silence. The professor eventually came to,
noticeably shaken, looked at the Marine and asked, 'What
in the world is the matter with you? 'Why did you do that?'
The Marine calmly replied, "GOD was too busy today protecting
American soldiers who are protecting your right to say stupid
stuff and act like an idiot. So He sent me."

The classroom erupted in cheers!

THIS IS GOOD, KEEP IT GOING
AMEN!!


My colleague's response:
"what does being a member of the ACLU have to do with anything?!"

My response to her:
"Nothing. Of course. It just makes the act of violence committed against him more justified in the eyes of the religious right. We wouldn't want this to be the parable of an unjustified assault. But an atheist and an ACLU member clearly deserves harm. And so, forget all that Jesus non-violence stuff. Go clobber him."

In the eyes of some in the religious right, members of the ACLU and atheists are villains who presumably deserve this kind of treatment from God's people. Obviously this is a fictional anecdote and none of the recipients of the email would actually openly advocate assaulting an atheist. But deep down, there's a kernel of sympathy for anyone who wants to slug an atheist or ACLU member, who are recurring villains in these types of emails. That's why the emails keep getting forwarded.

Isn't it un-American to assault others based on who they are and what they believe? Taken to it's logical and fanatical end, this mentality is a powerful rationalization that leads good people to do bad things. It's not hard to think of examples.

The Latest OGH Sensation

Eight Days of Hanukkah from Tablet Magazine on Vimeo.

You can't make this stuff up. From the NYT:

A Senator’s Gift to the Jews, Nonreturnable

The canon of Hanukkah songs written by Mormon senators from Utah just got a little bigger.

Senator Orrin G. Hatch, a solemn-faced Republican with a soft spot for Jews and a love of Barbra Streisand, has penned a catchy holiday tune, “Eight Days of Hanukkah.”

In short, he loves the Jews. And based on an early sampling of listeners, the feeling could be mutual.

“Watching Orrin Hatch in the studio, I said to myself that nothing this great will ever happen to me again,” said Alana Newhouse, the editor-in-chief of Tablet.

At one point, Mr. Hatch unbuttons his white dress shirt to expose the golden mezuzah necklace he wears every day. Mezuzahs also adorn the doorways of his homes in Washington and Utah. Mr. Hatch keeps a Torah in his Senate office.

“Not a real Torah, but sort of a mock Torah,” he said. “I feel sorry I’m not Jewish sometimes.”

Refi Madness

This afternoon I spontaneously refinanced my mortgage. 4.375%. Really. That's not a typo. Only $1,200 in closing costs. You can be sure I'll never make another prepayment. BofA offered it to me under this government program: http://makinghomeaffordable.gov/

For the life of me I can't understand investors and institutions that will to lend (or invest) for the long term at these low rates. The long bond (30 yrs) is yielding under 5%! That's completely insane given higher inflation and interest rates that are surely coming in future years as we fulfill Paul Krugman's dreams of fiscal recklessness.