GRINER & STARR - THE ODD COUPLE



Baylor president Judge Ken Starr, center, jokingly joins the postgame news conference table with Brittney Griner (42) and Odyssey Sims (0) after an NCAA college basketball game against Kansas, Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2013, in Waco Texas. Baylor won 86-45.

Starr and Griner are probably the two most recognized names associated with Baylor University.  Griner, the 6'8" dunking star of the Lady Bears, and Starr, Baylor President, former Special Prosecuter and law professor and dean at Pepperdine University.  You don't have to look too hard to find negatives for either Griner or Starr, but I have to give them both some positive support.  Much has been said about Griner's sexuality, even to the point of claiming that she is actually a man.  Recently Griner came out in a very low key manner as a lesbian, which could have caused quite a kerfuffle at the Baptist University.  However, in classic Starr mode, he has supported Griner in a variety of ways, including making confetti angels on the court with Griner after Baylor had clinched  yet another Big 12 Championship. 

I learned to know Ken during the time that we were both at Pepperdine, and while I certainly do not agree with him on every issue, I learned that he is sincere, honest, and caring person who certainly is not hostile toward those who disagree with him, even those who vilify him.  He is obviously brilliant and will no doubt tread carefully regarding the issues of gays and lesbians at Baylor.  But, he is also wise and will likely find some common ground and forge some positive outcomes as the discussions proceed.

NBA PLAYOFFS



No, I really do not think that the NBA Finals will come down to Denver vs New York, but it would be an interesting circumstance - and of course the Nuggets would emerge victorious.  The Nuggets ended the season with 57 wins, and an NBA-best 38-3 at home with a current home winning streak of 23 - makes the home court advantage look pretty good for a couple of rounds. 

Now for some prognostications, including both the Head and the Heart picks:

Milwaukee vs Miami - have to go with Miami for both

Boston vs New York - Heart goes with Boston but Head goes with New York

Atlanta vs Indiana - both for Indiana
Brooklyn vs Chicago - always partial to the Bulls, but would like to see Nets oust the Knicks

Oklahoma City vs Houston - Heart would like to see an upset by Houston, but Head says OKC

San Antonio vs LA Lakers - have a bit of sympathy for the Lakers, but both for San Antonio

LA Clippers vs Memphis - toss up for both - probably go with the Clippers

Denver vs Golden State - naturally my Nuggets for both

LIGNE MAGINOT

Fort Schoenenbourg



Many of us learned about the Maginot Line somewhere between kindergarten and 12th grade, and perhaps studied it again during college.  However, I really do not think that one can fully appreciated the enormity of the line without a visit to France.  You can learn more about the Line at this link, and although there are many pictures there, I am posting some that I took on a recent field trip to Fortress Schoenenbourg.  It is interesting to note that the fortresses themselves were indeed impenetrable to the invading Nazis, but the French did not expect the Germans to simply bypass the heart of the line along the border, but rather flanked the line by passing through the low countries.  Clicking on a picture should provide a nice enlargement. 



The main part of Fort Schoenenbourg is nearly 100 feet below ground.  There are two major wings, one for living and maintenance and the second for weapons, and they are nearly a mile apart.  The train would bring in supplies at ground level, and then a very large elevator would transport the train down to the main level.  The main level had everything needed for self-sufficiency as seen below - generators, water processing, air filters [fear of poison gas used in WWI], kitchen, living quarters, clinic, and of course a wine cellar!  The living was similar to being on a submarine - small with no access to light and fresh air.



There were only a couple of places where soldiers had painted on the walls - too busy working.

IT'S A CONSPIRACY!!

 

Joseph Heller - Catch 22

 

 

Just visited the website of Public Policy Polling and found the following regarding voters opinions about various conspiracy-related issues.  IMHO it is yet another vivid demonstration of the shallowness of the US electorate.  I have highlighted a couple of specific questions - for example, 13% of voters believe that Obama is the anti-Christ and another 13% aren't sure!  And there are some interesting partisan differences that were extracted from the data below, e.g. 44% of voters believe the Bush administration intentionally misled the public about weapons of mass destruction to promote the Iraq War, while 45% disagree; 72% of Democrats believed the statement while 73% of Republicans did not; 22% of Democrats, 33% of Republicans and 28% of independents believe Saddam Hussein was involved in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

There is also an intense partisan divide on whether or not global warming is a hoax: 58% of Republicans agree that it is a conspiracy, while 77% of Democrats disagree; 20% of Republicans believe that President Obama is the Anti-Christ, compared to 13% of independents and 6% of Democrats who agree.

 

 



Q1 Do you believe global warming is a hoax, or
not?
Do ................................................................... 37%
Do not ............................................................. 51%
Not sure .......................................................... 12%

Q2 Do you believe Osama bin Laden is still alive,
or not?
Do ................................................................... 6%
Do not ............................................................. 83%
Not sure .......................................................... 11%

Q3 Do you believe a UFO crashed at Roswell,
New Mexico, in 1947, and the US government
covered it up, or not?
Do ................................................................... 21%
Do not ............................................................. 47%
Not sure .......................................................... 32%

Q4 Do you believe that a secretive power elite with
a globalist agenda is conspiring to eventually
rule the world through an authoritarian world
government, or New World Order, or not?
Do ................................................................... 28%
Do not ............................................................. 46%
Not sure .......................................................... 25%

Q5 Do you believe Saddam Hussein was involved
in the September 11th, 2001, attacks on
America, or not?
Do ................................................................... 28%
Do not ............................................................. 51%
Not sure .......................................................... 22%

Q6 Do you believe there is a link between
childhood vaccines and autism, or not?
Do ................................................................... 20%
Do not ............................................................. 46%
Not sure .......................................................... 34%

Q7 Do you believe the moon landing was faked, or
not?
Do ................................................................... 7%
Do not ............................................................. 84%
Not sure .......................................................... 9%

Q8 Do you believe President Barack Obama is the
anti-Christ, or not?
Do ................................................................... 13%
Do not ............................................................. 73%
Not sure .......................................................... 13%

Q9 Do you believe the Bush administration
intentionally misled the public about the
possibility of weapons of mass destruction in
Iraq to promote the Iraq War, or not?
Do ................................................................... 44%
Do not ............................................................. 45%
Not sure .......................................................... 12%

Q10 Do you believe aliens exist, or not?
Do ................................................................... 29%
Do not ............................................................. 47%
Not sure .......................................................... 24%

Q11 Do you believe the CIA was instrumental in
distributing crack cocaine into America’s inner
cities in the 1980s, or not?
Do ................................................................... 14%
Do not ............................................................. 55%
Not sure .......................................................... 30%

Q12 Do you believe the government adds fluoride to
our water supply, not for dental health reasons,
but for other, more sinister reasons, or not?
Do ................................................................... 9%
Do not ............................................................. 74%
Not sure .......................................................... 17%

Q13 Do you believe that shape-shifting reptilian
people control our world by taking on human
form and gaining political power to manipulate
our societies, or not?
Do ................................................................... 4%
Do not ............................................................. 88%
Not sure .......................................................... 7%

Q14 Do you believe that Lee Harvey Oswald acted
alone in killing President Kennedy, or was
there some larger conspiracy at work?
Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone ..................... 25%
There was some larger conspiracy at work..... 51%
Not sure .......................................................... 24%

Q15 Do you believe in Bigfoot or Sasquatch, or not?
Do ................................................................... 14%
Do not ............................................................. 72%
Not sure .......................................................... 14%

Q16 Do you believe media or the government adds
secret mind-controlling technology to television
broadcast signals, or not?
Do ................................................................... 15%
Do not ............................................................. 70%
Not sure .......................................................... 15%

Q17 Do you believe that the exhaust seen in the sky
behind airplanes is actually chemicals sprayed
by the government for sinister reasons, or not?
Do ................................................................... 5%
Do not ............................................................. 87%
Not sure .......................................................... 8%

Q18 Do you believe that the pharmaceutical
industry is in league with the medical industry
to “invent” new diseases in order to make
money, or not?
Do ................................................................... 15%
Do not ............................................................. 69%
Not sure .......................................................... 16%

Q19 Do you believe Paul McCartney actually died in
a car crash in 1966 and was secretly replaced
by a lookalike so The Beatles could continue,
or not?
Do ................................................................... 5%
Do not ............................................................. 80%
Not sure .......................................................... 14%

Q20 Do you believe the United States government
knowingly allowed the attacks on September
11th, 2001, to happen, or not?
Do ................................................................... 11%
Do not ............................................................. 78%
Not sure .......................................................... 11%

Q21 In the last presidential election, did you vote for
Barack Obama or Mitt Romney?
Barack Obama................................................ 50%
Mitt Romney.................................................... 44%
Someone else/Don't remember ...................... 6%

Q22 Would you describe yourself as very liberal,
somewhat liberal, moderate, somewhat
conservative, or very conservative?
Very liberal ...................................................... 11%
Somewhat liberal ............................................ 16%
Moderate......................................................... 31%
Somewhat conservative.................................. 23%
Very conservative ........................................... 19%

Q23 If you are a woman, press 1. If a man, press 2.
Woman ........................................................... 50%
Man................................................................. 50%

Q24 If you are a Democrat, press 1. If a Republican,
press 2. If you are an independent or identify
with another party, press 3.
Democrat ........................................................ 38%
Republican...................................................... 34%
Independent/Other.......................................... 28%
Q25 If you are Hispanic, press 1. If white, press 2.
If African-American, press 3. If other, press 4.
Hispanic.......................................................... 11%
White .............................................................. 72%
African-American ............................................ 12%
Other............................................................... 5%

Q26 If you are 18 to 29 years old, press 1. If 30 to
45, press 2. If 46 to 65, press 3. If you are
older than 65, press 4.
18 to 29........................................................... 15%
30 to 45........................................................... 20%
46 to 65........................................................... 45%
Older than 65.................................................. 20%

 

 

Addendum  -  Thanks To John R




DICK CHENEY ADMITS MISTAKES

Cheney Has Been Transformed:

 

From The Snarling NeoCon

 

 

To The Introspective Penitent

 

 

 

In today's press release, Cheney renounced virtually all of his previous stated positions, including a bleary-eyed [note the redness] apology for quotes such as the following:

 

On war: “ It’s more important to be successful than loved.”

On torture: “‘We’re not going to force you to tell, because it might create a bad image for us,’ is not even a close call for me.”

On his own mistakes: “Ahhh, I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about my faults.”

On engineering Henry Kissinger’s ouster from the Ford White House: “You needed to mix things up a bit there — so he went down.”
 

On WMD: “We didn’t find stockpiles, but we know [Saddam Hussein] had intent.”

 

In fact, Cheney went so far as to say that virtually all of the verbatim quotes in the Wikiquotes entry codifying his responses to a variety of situations should now be considered as at least partial truths if not outright lies.  Likewise the long list of claims that were simply wrong were retracted.  It is not clear exactly what triggered Cheney's change-of-heart repentance, but it appears to be related to the fact that he indeed has a new heart.  The heart donor was apparently a liberal Democrat from California, although the actual identity of the donor has not been released nor has the cause of death been determined.  However, there is much speculation that Cheney's transplant is related to the recent disappearance of Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-California).

 



 

 

 

 

LESSER KNOWN EASTER FACTS

 

 

I am going to assume that most everyone knows the fundamental story of Easter and the resurrection of Jesus, as painted above by Pietro Perugino.  So, today we will take a look at a few things that perhaps you do not know.  This post was inspired by a blogpost entitled 25 Random Things About the Resurrection, so thanks go to blogger Mike Mennonno. 

 

Note the flag - I had seen this in numerous paintings and gathered that for centuries this has been fairly common, but I did not know the meaning.  Apparently Jesus is bearing the standard of resurrection and victory over death, a red cross on a white background.  Purportedly the Emperor Constantine saw this in a vision, and thus it became a part of his "Christianity."  The flag is often in the left hand such that the right hand is free to give the sign of the cross.

 

What about the date for Easter, which is not a standardized date?  From timeanddate.com 

 

"In 325CE the Council of Nicaea established that Easter would be held on the first Sunday after the first full moon occurring on or after the vernal equinox. From that point forward, the Easter date depended on the ecclesiastical approximation of March 21 for the vernal equinox.  Easter is delayed by 1 week if the full moon is on Sunday, which decreases the chances of it falling on the same day as the Jewish Passover. The council’s ruling is contrary to the Quartodecimans, a group of Christians who celebrated Easter on the day of the full moon, 14 days into the month."

What about the thieves?



Many of us know a bit about the unsavory thieves who were crucified along with Jesus, but did you know that one of them is referred to as Saint Dismas?  He is generally called the Penitent Thief or the Good Thief, but in the Gospel of Nicodemus, he is named Dysmas!  Similarly, the Impenitent Thief is named Gestas, and note that Gestas is on the left side of Jesus with a devil emerging from his mouth.  The Good Thief is on the right side and Jesus is often shown with his head toward the Penitent Thief to symbolize his acceptance of the thief's rebuke of the Impenitent Thief.

And why is Easter called Easter?  Turns out that the origin is pretty pagan.  "Easter", and the German, "Ostern", derive from the name Eostre, the Germanic Goddess of the Dawn and thus of Spring.  Renewal and fertility explain the eggs and bunnies, but I am not sure about the chocolate.  A good postulation is that Easter comes at the end of Lent, and obviously folks give up chocolate for lent.....and the most popular Easter candy after chocolate?  Peeps of course!!  Some trace the tradition of giving eggs at Easter time back to Persians, Egyptians, Gauls, Greeks and Romans, to whom the egg was a symbol of life.

There are some who prefer to call Easter Sunday Resurrection Sunday or Pascha.  However, a lot of other countries/languages have their own names for Easter - French - Paques, Spanish - Pascua, Italian - Pasqua, Albanian - Pashke, German - Ostern, Greek - Pascha, Norway - Paaske, Holland - Pasen and Swedish - Pask.  Looks like English and German are the outliers!

Interesting tidbit from Mike M - Muslims do not believe that Jesus was crucified and resurrected.  According to the Koran: "They did not kill him, nor did they crucify him, but they thought they did" (Koran 4:156). Some say the person crucified was Titian, whom Judas had sent to kill Jesus. Some say it was Judas, himself. Many early Gnostic sects, the Basilideans among them, believed Simon of Cyrene, who was forced by the Romans to carry the cross of Jesus as Jesus was taken to his crucifixion, was then crucified instead of Jesus.

 

 

It seems that quite a few Christians do not know the meaning and significance of INRI.  John 19:19-20 states:  "And Pilate wrote a title also, and put it on the cross. And there was written, JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.  This title therefore read many of the Jews, for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city; and it was written in Hebrew, [and] in Latin, [and] in Greek."  And thus the Latin is INRI, Iēsus Nazarēnus, Rēx Iūdaeōrum, and the Greek is ΙΝΒΙ, representing Ἰησοῦς ὁ Ναζωραῖος ὁ Bασιλεὺς τῶν Ἰουδαίων.  The Hebrew acronym is YHMH for ישוע הנצרי מלך היהודים.  I think.  Sometimes there is a Roman soldier in the scene holding a banner with SPQR, Senatus Populus Que Romanus" or The Roman Senate and People that was presiding over the crucifixions. 

 

And lastly, the Germans take Easter quite seriously.  Karfreitag, or Good Friday is a holiday and similar to every Sunday, nearly all shops, banks, businesses and post offices are closed.  Interestingly Ostermontag, the Monday after Easter, is also a holiday in all German states and again, most everything is closed.