Sunday, August 24, 2008

Ignorance and Fear: Tools of the Devil

I can't believe that people are still so widely ignorant.
To wit: The Golden Compass
Phillip Pullman's book was translated into a movie and it is a very good movie if you haven't read the book.
Why do ignoramuses blinded by conservative religious dogma have to protest everything without examining anything first? Apparently they know nothing about literary analysis or symbolism.
And the funny thing is they believe what they hear without any intellectual curiosity as to whether what they have been told is true or not.
It happened with the Harry Potter books... which are brilliant in their depth. No child with any brain is going to turn to witchcraft after reading them.
More notably it happened with the movie The Last Temptation of Christ. The book quietly sold in Christian bookstores before the movie came out. Wild-eyed, religiously-poisoned lunatics protested outside of theaters, which only drew much more attention to the movie.
(I never cared to see it.)
The human world we are in can be so stupendously pathetic because it is blind to reason.
The Golden Compass is about stealing the souls of children, robbing them of their free will, thereby making them tools of the Devil who appears in the slinky form of "Mrs. Coulter."
That's funny. That's exactly what happens with people who follow leaders without question, never caring if what they seek to destroy or turn people away from might just actually be a good thing... whether it's a book, a movie or our fellow human beings.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

tropical storm

It's a whole lot of wind and rain.
I heard that a tornado flipped a car over at a gas station about 8 miles from here.
That's a real bummer for somebody!
We need the water but somebody must have prayed extra-specially hard!
Ironically, in the west today, there are red flag warnings. Great fire risk.
If only we would put our knowledge and resources to moving water to places where it's needed. If only we had enough to go around!
I prefer floods to fire. I have a life jacket. And a paddle.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Yellow Dragonflies

There was no rain today. Instead, yellow dragonflies swarmed over the streets.


By the time I left work, I only saw a few coming at my car.
When I passed the Wildlife Refuge, I saw their bodies littering the long deceleration lane.
Somewhere I know a cloud of these creatures was swarming safely away from human intrusion.
I had to reassure myself somehow.

When I was housebound those years ago, I was always thrilled when I walked the dirt road that defined the neighborhood among a swarm of dragonflies. I loved their rattling flutter and buzz and being closely surrounded by something so ethereal.

Dragonflies come in blue, green, yellow, red, black... and purple.

I can't see a swarm and not think of that time.

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

dog... with benefactor

So Joey and I just became parents to an ancient terrier mix.
The previous owner was Joey's old boss.
:OD
We have a dog. And that ex-owner is going to help pay the bills.
Only now, we have to break it to our four cats that the little fellow who's been boarding with us is not ever leaving.
I guess they'll adapt.

I love animals.
This little guy has a short nose, floppy triangular ears and a respectably long tail. And he's shaped like a football. He's probably about 11-years-old. I can't guess and won't even speculate about who his parents were. I can only allow that he may well be "misbegotten."

He's gonna be so spoiled.