Photeugenic

Some people photograph well. I am not one of them. I had every intention of blowing off the new church photo directory, but the secretary called in her SWAT team and I was taken by the arm (resistance is futile, remember) and dragged over to the sign-up sheet. So I thought I'd be a good sport and go along. Mis. Take. Did my best imitation of a pleasant, friendly smile for the camera, and the result looked like Don Knotts playing an axe murderer. How any human face can succeed in resembling both a hamster and a bullfrog at the same time is beyond me. I was particularly taken aback by the maniacal eyes. Horrifying. I was, once again, forcibly reminded of the reason for my aversion to being photographed. Years ago I would have flung myself onto my bed and sobbed for hours, but having discovered that said hours of sobbing do nothing to enhance an appearance that already qualifies as objectionable, I gave that up. I did feel vaguely nauseous for a while, though. I'm grateful that none of my kids got visited by the Ugly Fairy in their cradles.

And so the challenge is once again before me, of rebuilding my shattered self-image and, to make it resilient, basing it not on what I or others see with eyes, but what God sees. And what might that be? "Beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair." Not only that, but "Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised."

Works for me.

Green eggs on face

Just in case you're still wondering about so-called "climate change," there's an informative recap of the whole sordid business here:

http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/02/ipcc_international_pack_of_cli.html

What's shocking to me is seeing people like Dr Suzuki, who was once a scientist and should therefore have retained some small regard for facts, still desperately clinging to the AGW story in the face of all the revelations of rank stupidity and downright fraud. He must have been making very good money off it all along. Makes me wonder who's been signing his paycheques. Could it be some of the same people who bankrolled Obama's affirmative-action career through Harvard and the US Senate to the White House? There's an eerie similarity in the passion both have for pulling a lot of wool over many eyes, not to mention their willingness to let truth fall away in the service of ideology.

A rose: such a clatter

Heard The Last Rose Of Summer on Radio Swiss Classic the other day (this being the radio station I happily discovered when the CBC acquired a permanent case of dysentery a little over a year ago). I remember being at the piano while an aging mezzo demolished that one. Renee Fleming, with orchestra, was much more palatable. However, I object strenuously to the lyrics, the gist of which is, that the poet sees a rose blooming alone on the bush after all the others are dead, and to save it from being lonely, he rips it apart and throws it down. This horrifies me. Suppose that rose wanted to bloom by itself, without any competition? Suppose it had been saving itself all summer long, waiting for just the right moment to be the final crowning glory of the blooming season - and along comes this gumbooted halfwit who trashes it, then goes and makes flimsy excuses on paper. A horrific and senseless act, justified in the mind of the perpetrator.

Come to think of it, that sounds like most of humanity.

Speculation and implications

After much careful research, including but not limited to the invention and manipulation of data, I have succeeded in reconstructing a typical day in the life of an acolyte in the Temple of Climate Change. He begins early, rising with the sun, although not paying any particular attention to it, because, after all, the sun never changes, and he knows for a fact that nothing about the sun could possibly affect climatic conditions on Earth. He gathers with other devotees before the graven image of Mike Mann nailed to a hockey stick, and they spend an hour or so chanting, "The science is settled. The science is settled." After a meal of grass and rainwater (because he believes in "eating locally" and nothing else grows here at this time of year), he sits down at his computer and plays with temperature graphs, flattening bumps and raising dips with the fervour and conviction of an Old Testament prophet ("Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill made low"). Having coaxed all his raw data to resemble the Divine Hockey Stick, he then forwards it to a select group of cronies for that process of dedicated and thorough rubber-stamping known as "peer review," then it's off to the useful idiots of the mainstream media, who will unquestioningly publish it with headlines including such hot-button words as "crisis," "urgent," and "emergency." Should anyone have the temerity to challenge him on the validity of his work, or to suggest - horrors! - that it may be somewhat lacking in such minutiae as truth, fact, or reality, he simply calls them nasty names and reverts to chanting his mantra: "The science is settled," along with its variants: "The evidence is overwhelming" and "Thousands of scientists agree..." - knowing that scientific fact is, of course, established by consensus.

After a long day of such arduous toil, he can relax, watch the weather forecast ("record cold") and possibly toy with his latest grant proposal, although this is a mere formality, since the Temple clearly has the UN in its back pocket, along with such credulous nincompoops as the President of the United States, as well as the tinpot dictators of sub-Saharan Africa, who don't give a flying poop about the climate, or their people; they just want our money and this seems like a remarkably easy way to get it. (Is anyone gullible enough to believe that Mugabe, for instance, is going to spend money on infrastructure? Give me a break...)

What makes me laugh, albeit sadly, is that, having thrown out God and replaced Him with science, we then foolishly expect our new idols to exhibit the same integrity and righteousness as the God of the Bible. Why should scientists be any less fallible than politicians, CEOs, cult leaders, or used-car salesmen? We routinely expect lying and cheating from these others; why are we so shocked when scientists do it, too? What happens when the academic community, the repository of vast amounts of specialized knowledge which the rest of us lack, turns to forwarding a totalitarian ideology?

Afterthoughts

Now that the provincial election is over, and the Legislature once again reinvented in much the same configuration as before, and both interest and tempers have retreated from their peak of lukewarm, I feel safe injecting insight.

With regard to the Green party, it seems quite clear that their status as a "viable third option" is a figment of the media's imagination. The Green party is nothing more than a single-issue fringe group, with more candidates, but not more credibility, than the Sex party or the Marijuana party or others of that ilk. Toward the end of the campaign I was driving to work one morning and a downtown intersection was peppered with Green supporters, most with anachronistic amounts of facial hair, dancing around and carrying placards. "Gracious me," thought I, "the responsible and productive members of society are at, or on their way to, work at this hour, and here are these people with leisure to stand around and wave signs. Are they all independently wealthy?" We wonders, yes we wonders.

As for the NDP, they valiantly kept the wind blowing, but, having offered nothing, achieved nothing. Just as well. They're dandy in opposition but clueless in government.

And so we're in for another four years of business and bellyaching as usual...

Bara-a-ack

It should come as no surprise that the new administration in the US continues to pay lip-service to Christianity while opposing, in its policies, many of the most basic principles thereof. That kind of thing goes back at least as far as Constantine. What saddens me is that people are so easily taken in by it - "people" meaning genuine, sincere, well-meaning Christians who fail to do their homework with regard to Obama's positions and policies, and instead, allow themselves to be carried along and lulled by his impressive speeches. Because the man can speak. No doubt about it. He is a master of crowd manipulation. But then, so was Hitler. There's not much point in talking about human rights as long as we continue to rip apart, suck out, and incinerate the most helpless humans of all. There go your much-touted future generations, sir.

Those with eyes to see should consider carefully whether we are watching this scenario unfold: "...he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest....given power to take peace from the earth, and to make men slay each other...'A quart of wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts of barley for a day's wages,and do not damage the oil and the wine!'...given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth." I don't think it's likely that Barack Obama is THE antichrist. But don't forget that the spirit of antichrist is already active in the world. And our job is what it has always been: pray for those in authority. Hold out the Word of life. Do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God.

On the off chance that I'm being a little harsh (today is, after all, his second day on the job), I will say this in favour of Barack Obama: he has the best name EVER to burp to.

Truth will out

For someone who is overwhelmingly a non-watcher of TV, it's surprising how ads (that run during the news) will catch my attention sometimes. Before advertisers start rubbing their hands in glee, however, I hasten to point out that their efforts pique my interest for reasons far removed from what the creators intend. Case in point: the Lotto Super 7 ads lately - one with a woman on a massage table, and another with a man and a bunch of vehicles. Have you noticed that there is no one around these people other than paid flunkies? Not a soul. They have all the toys, but no real relationships. And this is supposed to make me want to buy lottery tickets? Yech.

Nice to see some truth in advertising for a change.