40 Years

In those denominations of Christianity that venerate Saints, Feast Days are not placed on the date of a Saint's birth.  Rather, we place them on the day of a Saint's death.  This is not to celebrate their martyrdom per ce, but rather to celebrate their dies natalis into Heaven.  On this day, in the Year of Our Lord 1968, exactly forty years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was born into Heaven by an assassin's bullet.  

I'm white.  I'm a northerner.  And I'm only twenty.  I can not presume to know what this date means to those who lived through it.  I can't tell you where I was or what I felt when it happened.  It is like telling you where I was when Dietrich Bonhoeffer was martyred, or that I can understand what he and his people were going through.  All I know is what's in the textbooks and what I have read.  Words lack the color that experience holds.  No matter how personal those words may be.

As I'm sure all of the politicians are noting Dr. King's "Dream" is not yet reality.  The most obvious, and recent example being the controversy over Rev. Jeremiah Wright's comments.  Even though it was really a question over patriotism it became an issue of race.  The divide between two cultures that have yet to completely understand each other.  For the most part there is equality under the law, but culture is something that cannot be legislated.  Culture is also more powerful, and more important than the laws of the land.  

There are deeper wounds than I can understand.  Which makes my attempt to heal them futile.  Things like this take time, and I'm proud to live in a country 40 years removed.  Let's hope that in another 40 years we will be make it even further to understand the cultural divide, and unite as one.

To quote the good Doctor:

And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

                Free at last! Free at last!

                Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

CNN: Pirates Seize French Cruise Ship

PARIS, France (AP) -- Pirates seized control of a French cruise ship Friday off the coast of Somalia, France's Foreign Ministry said.

A ministry official said details about the attack were scarce, and it was not clear how many crew members were on board the ship or if there were any passengers.

*Insert generic French joke*

After careful consideration I have decided that this latest pirate attack is probably a response to Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword for the DS by Tecmo.  Can't we just end this needless cycle of violence?

And on a more serious note, let's all pray for the French who were captured.  They may be French but they're still people.  And I'm sure that if my cruise ship was hijacked by pirates, I'd be 1) shocked and 2) wondering how I stumbled into the 1700's.

Pet Peeve of the Day

I was walking to class today and as I was entering the door there were two girls in front of me who felt the need to apologize because they were standing right in front of me.

But I was the one in fault for walking too fast.  If anything I should have been apologizing to them, or they should have asked to be excused.

But if those girls decided they were going to hijack my Facebook and post panda pictures all over it, you know they wouldn't apologize.  As offenses become more extreme the chances for apology decrease exponentially.  Call that Keljeck's Law.  The corollary: The most minute the offense, the greater chance there is for an apology.

Addendum: From a faithful commenter:

When in discussion of any offense, situation, or poor experience, those who are completely unrelated to said offense, situation, or poor experience will say they're sorry. 

I like it.  Let's call it... "ChocoMooseMan's Corollary"

Pregnant Man on Oprah

Really?

Really?

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A transgender man who is six months pregnant said in an interview aired by Oprah Winfrey on Thursday that he always wanted to have a child and considers it a miracle.

"It's not a male or female desire to have a child. It's a human desire," a thinly bearded Thomas Beatie said. "I have a very stable male identity," he added, saying that pregnancy neither defines him nor makes him feel feminine.

Pat Robertson Misses the Second Coming of Elvis

From Reuters:

BUCHAREST (Reuters) - It's "Love me tender" between the United States and France after President George W. Bush compared French President Nicolas Sarkozy with rock'n'roll singer Elvis Presley.

Bush told NATO leaders at a Bucharest summit on Thursday that when Sarkozy visited the United States recently, he was seen as "the latest incarnation of Elvis".

While Mike Gravel loves Elvis as much as the next guy, Mike Gravel feels that such lavish praise should not be thrown out lightly.  Mike Gravel believes that calling Sarko "the latest incarnation of Jim Morrison" or "the latest incarnation of that guy Carly Simon was singing to in You're So Vain" would be more appropriate.  If anyone is the latest incarnation of Elvis, it's Noam Chompsky.

Also, if Mike Gravel is elected president he will to sign into law a bill prohibiting the Press from using excessive puns.

The Second Coming Will Be Televised

In order to prepare for the imminent Second Coming—which Robertson believes will occur on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem according to biblical prophecy—he acquired METV (Middle East Television), a station then based in southern Lebanon that could broadcast into Israel. Straub was given marching orders to be ready to televise Christ’s return. CBN executives drew up a detailed plan to broadcast the event to every nation and in all languages. Straub wrote: “We even discussed how Jesus’ radiance might be too bright for the cameras and how we would have to make adjustments for that problem. Can you imagine telling Jesus, ‘Hey, Lord, please tone down your luminosity; we’re having a problem with contrast. You’re causing the picture to flare.’”

Jesus has already arrived, singing Helter Skelter on youtube.

I don't know what comment to make, other than the above.  So let's have a sarcastic comment competition.  Winner can feel good about themselves.

Join the Mike Gravel Revolution!

Mike Gravel is totally irrelevant.  Which is why if it's okay with everyone here, I would like Coffee Shop Conversations to officially back the candidacy of Mike Gravel.  Why?  Because we are irrelevant as well.  And when enough irrelevant people come together they can occasionally resemble relevance, no matter how comedic.

Here's an example of what I'm talking about.  Mike Gravel has teamed up with some random dork on the youtubes (I wonder how that business meeting occurred) and has been making a series of hilariously pretentious/campy "ads" (this one more pretentious than most).  Either Mike Gravel is incompetent, ignorant, or insane, make your choice.

Either way, this video was posted yesterday and now has 19,579 views.  His last one came out two months ago and has 40,000 views.

We must join the Mike Gravel Revolution!

But as a purely aesthetic point, he did a much better job "singing" in Power to the People/Give Peace a Chance.