At Home On Piety Hill

I’d like to introduce a new feature to our tens of thousands of readers. Krazy Kitsch serves to provide you with a virtual tour of our Home on Piety Hill, which Denise is transforming into a varitable museum of off beat, kitcshy kollectibles and questionable art, furniture, kitchen utensils and, well, just about everything else. Now, mind you, some items will not actually be kitschy at all, but we’ll use that as a sort of catch-all label for just about anything we think is cool. Here’s a good definition of kitsch from Wikipedia:

A term of German or Yiddish origin that has been used to categorize art that is considered an inferior, tasteless copy of an existing style. The term is also used more loosely in referring to any art that is pretentious to the point of being in bad taste, and also commercially produced items that are considered trite or crass.

Because the word was brought into use as a response to a large amount of art in the 19th century where the aesthetic of art work was associated with a sense of exaggerated sentimentality or melodrama, kitsch is most closely associated with art that is sentimental; however, it can be used to refer to any type of art that is deficient for similar reasons—whether it tries to appear sentimental, glamorous, theatrical, or creative, kitsch is said to be a gesture imitative of the superficial appearances of art. It is often said that kitsch relies on merely repeating convention and formula, lacking the sense of creativity and originality displayed in genuine art.

Take it away, Denise…

This collection now on our bedroom wall was started with finding one of the ballerina prints at a garage sale. I found the two wall pocket ones on Ebay which were being sold by a lady who lived real close to my daughter so I was able to drive over and pick them up instead of paying shipping! The largest one is a paint-by-number that is so sweet.

I suppose the United States will have to work hard to catch up to these nations, mostly socialist atheist materialist, leading the way in fouling our nest (some of the same nations that scold us for not signing on to the Kyoto Accords).

Here they are:
1. Chernobyl, Ukraine
2. Dzerzhinsk, Russia
3. Haina, Dominican Republic
4. Kabwe, Zambia
5. La Oroya, Peru
6. Linfen, China
7. Mailuu-Suu, Kyrgyzstan
8. Norilsk, Russia
9. Ranipet, India
10. Rudnaya Pristan, Russia

Jen Phillips at The Smithsonian slaps America-bashing, awareness raising, eco-prudes with a bit of common sense:

It’s great that there are no North American cities on the list, but it also poses a question: even if the United States does get its emissions under control, will it even matter in the light of pollution from rapidly industrializing nations like China?

But, she shows her true colors as the KoolAid drinking anti-free market, human rights blind, lemming she is:

The answer is yes, because China plans to abide by the Kyoto protocols, as their vice-chairman of development told the World Economic Forum this weekend. An Indian representative also vowed to cut emissions, although he said his country is turning more and more to nuclear power to do so.

As Wayne Campbell would say, “Shyeah, right! When monkeys fly…” Well, nevermind. You and I both know that’s never gonna happen. It also begs the question: ” Why is nuclear power the key to halting global warming in China, but not in Europe or the US?” I dare say the answer is more philosophical and ethical than environmental.

Meanwhile, over at Scrappleface Scott Ott is reporting record sales of Global Warming Shovels and other must-have items for the seasonal thaw.

What kind of hate am I listening to? Another news and opinion source I go to regularly is National Public Radio. How much hate do they generate? That depends upon the host or the feature, I suppose. I’ll comment on various NPR programs in later posts. One thing I do know: actions speak louder than words and hateful acts are much more unpleasant and intolerable than hate speech. I learned this first hand when our local NPR affiliate, Capitol Public Radio, broadcast two interviews by Steve Inskeep during the presidential campaign of 2004 and I expressed my negative opinion to “the staff and the management.” The result? A member services rep sent me a threatening email message from his personal Yahoo! Mail account. He told me, through a personalized and bizarre literary device, that I should be very concerned for my family’s safety, because he knew my phone number and address.

He wrote it under a pseydonym and thought it was coming to me anonymously. Fortunately, I was able to follow the path and found that he had sent it to me through his personal account, from a Cap Radio computer, while he was on the clock, over the California State University Sacramento network. He and his managers stonewalled me for a few days until I contacted the CSUS system administrator, who referred me to the legal staff in the President’s office. The staff member apologized immediately.

I don’t think that NPR, for the most part, is bigoted or hateful but evidently some of their local affiliates could benefit from some sensitivity training… perhaps a lesson or two in common courtesy and appreciation for or tolerance of diverse ideas and lifestyles.

Child molestation cases involving Catholic priests have been all over the news since the 1990’s, pointing to serious sexual abuse among clergy of all faiths and denominations. What makes this such a powerful story is the fact that priests had built a solid reputation as trustworthy advocates for children over the years, yet that has all been undone now. When someone my age thinks of children and priests, we are immediately reminded of Father Flanagan and Boy’s Town. But, a relative few betrayed that trust and robbed so many children of their sexual innocense, plunging the Roman Catholic church into one of the most costly and devastating crises in its entire history.

What is more frightening is that these sexual abuse cases are relatively small in number and scope, when compared to the hundreds of thousands of children in the United States, who have been or are being sexually abused by professional educators over a similar time period. A study conducted for the Department of Education, Educator Sexual Misconduct, found that about 10% of all school children will be the target of some sort of physical sexual misconduct by a teacher during their K-12 grade education. Carol Shakeshaft, who authored the study, points out that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops found that about 10, 667 children had been victimized by priests between 1950 and 2002. Based upon numerous studies which she has worked with, Shakeshaft extrapolated the number of school children suffering abuse by professional educators to about ten times that of the clergy!

One study of 225 cases of admitted sexual abuse in New York found that none of the cases had been reported to police and only 1 person lost their teaching license. Often the offenders in these cases are let off with a slap on the wrist. I wonder why that is. Perhaps it has something to do with the behemoth NEA, the teacher’s union that is so solicitous in having parents turn over their children to the “professionals,” when it comes to instilling morals and teaching about sexuality!

I noticed this trend about a year ago and have found a few local news stories, but rarely a national expose´or serious article on this disturbing, almost universal assault on our kids. There are stories of female teachers initiating sexual relations with young men, young women, kids with special needs and one teacher who molested 9 year olds, then slashed her wrists in front of the class. It’s about time for the progressive media get this story out across the country and, perhaps, save a few children some life-long trauma.

Man, this is scary! The Feds infiltrated a terrorist group in Dutch Flat, which was hatching a bomb plot against a government facility near Folsom. I’ll tell you, these religious fanatics will stop at nothing to advance their Pagan philosophy. Good job, G-men!

There are still members of this sect at large, so keep your eyes open for Subaru Outbacks (their version of the Humvee) sporting racks carrying kayaks or mountain bikes, frequently seen near Pilates studios, juice bars or organic co-ops.

Jesus Letters In 12 Sports

Boy, did I ever find the site for Sadielouwho and her courageous contingent of friends who like to frolic in the waves. Get on your boardshorts or your one-piece and bathing cap… head down to the shore for some fun in the surf.

Check It Out

The girls and I were returning from our drive in the country, flying down NC Hwy 421, loaded down with apples and keeping our eyes peeled for barbecue joints (down by the lake? T Bone Burnett, anyone?) A sign caught my eye: “Books 75% Off.” It was hoisted prominently over the 421 Flea Market.
This flea market (or “swap meet” in southern California vernacular) was deceptively ginormous. There were tables and pickup trucks laid out over a large field, selling used treasures from clothes to martial arts weapons and country home décor to GUNS! What appeared to be storage or industrial buildings at the rear of the property housed the actual flea market! There were hundreds of stalls displaying the tackiest junk I’ve ever seen. I didn’t know such junk existed.
Emma was understandably mortified and we could barely walk the rows, alternating between uproarious laughter and stunned disbelief. It was beyond any caricature of the south I have ever seen or heard. I think we were literally in shock for the first ten minutes before I regained my composure and began snapping these photos.
My favorite vendors were Appalachia’s answer to Restoration Hardware, Garris Gifts (did someone drop the H?) and the hillbilly chiropractor… very professional, indeed. The Hispanic community represented here was the largest I’ve seen since my youth in East Los Angeles… who would have known that I would have to go across the country to the hollows of North Carolina to find myself at home.
I’ll let the photos speak for themselves and will be happy to field any questions or comments concerning the objects d’arts on display.

The Times October 07, 2005
No dancing and no gays if Hamas gets its way
By Stephen Farrell

A VISION of an Islamic society that bans mixed dancing and sternly disapproves of homosexuality has been given by Mahmoud Zahar, the most senior leader of Hamas in Gaza. After controversies when a Hamas-led council halted a dance festival and Islamist gunmen stopped a rap band performing in Gaza, Dr Zahar defended the enforcement of a strict interpretation of Islam.

“A man holds a woman by the hand and dances with her in front of everyone. Does that serve the national interest?” Dr Zahar said on the Arabic website Elaph. “If so, why have the phenomena of corruption and prostitution become pervasive in recent years?”

Well, I hope all you progressives are happy about recent events in Gaza! You were ecstatic at the images of synagogues reduced to rubble and anti-Jewish demonstrations. The American flag burnings and the christophobic slogans thrilled your souls, as you witnessed the triumph of social justice for an oppressed people. But, then it happened. As in other socio-politico revolutions, when the victory is sealed the true face of the movement emerges and, in the case of Hamas, it is particularly ugly.

NO MORE DANCING. I hope you are satisfied, because now the genie of chorophobia is out of the bottle, these traditional mainstream Muslims will not rest until every disco is boarded up and every contra dance in every Grange Hall across America is silenced. When this Palestinian brand of Islam comes to America, no dancer (amateur or pro) will be safe except in their closet. Speech codes will be strictly enforced banning any talk of dance from the foxtrot to the robot. Swing dancers will be forced into the back alley.

Of all the phobias out there, chorophobia is perhaps the cruelest because it denies a human’s inborn, primal yearning to gambol with ones partner or in the language of the common man — to strut one’s stuff, y’all.

October 6, 2005
Theologians debate message of Katrina
By RICHARD N. OSTLING
Associated Press Writer

New York’s Union Theological Seminary began the academic year with an explosive speech by Bill Moyers, late of PBS and CBS television, who was introduced as ‘the most respected journalist in America.’

“Most respected journalist?” Says who? Dan Rather? Union Seminary sure has slipped since the golden days of Bonhoeffer, Barth and Tillich! And, what are they doing mixing religion with politics? Perhaps Mahatma Moyers will enlighten us.

‘The country is not yet a theocracy but the Republican Party is,’ Moyers charged.

“Etymology: Greek theokratia, from the- + -kratia -cracy
1 : government of a state by immediate divine guidance or by officials who are regarded as divinely guided. ”

Wait just a minute… he must have the Republicans confused with that other party… the party that ran a failed seminary student for President… the party of the Reverend Al Sharpton and the Reverend Jesse Jackson. And, let’s not forget the Bible totin’ Senator and President Clinton. The former First Lady used to communicate with the departed spirit of Eleanor Roosevelt… would that qualify as divine guidance?

‘Democracy is in peril.’ He compared conservative Christian activists with Muslim terrorists who can cite ‘many verses in the Quran’ as grounds ‘for waging war for God’s sake.’ America’s ‘homegrown ayatollahs,’ he stated, are deceitful bullies whose ‘viral intolerance’ undergirds ‘an unprecedented sectarian crusade for state power’ and ‘political holy war financed by wealthy economic interests.’

Please allow me to translate Mr. Moyer’s bigoted, progressive patois: Tolerance is the only remaining virtue with one exception: there will be no tolerance for the Christian who doesn’t know his place… the closet. Those Christians who take their faith out into the neighborhood, the school, the court, the public forum, medicine, the arts and to skid row are intolerable.

Moyers cited the incredible devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina and linked this with the Genesis flood. He noted that millions of conservatives believe the biblical teaching that God brought the deluge to punish human sin and also accept ‘God-ordered genocide’ elsewhere in the Old Testament. His point: It’s dangerous to ‘read the Bible as literally true,’ and liberals must resist those holding that belief.

It sounds as if Mr. Moyers is the danger to democracy and the sad thing is that, he’s so deluded by years of fawning and veneration by his colleagues, he doesn’t even know how pathetic he sounds. He debased PBS and CBS; now he’s defiled Union Seminary!

GULF COAST GRIMLY COUNTS ITS LOSSES / Officials fear thousands killed by Katrina / MISSISSIPPI: In shattered town, man and dog survive ride of a lifetime: “GULF COAST GRIMLY COUNTS ITS LOSSES Officials fear thousands killed by Katrina MISSISSIPPI: In shattered town, man and dog survive ride of a lifetime Peter Fimrite, Chronicle Staff Writer Monday, September 5, 2005

Waveland, Miss. — Brian Mollere looked Hurricane Katrina right in the eye, thumbed his nose and lived to tell the tale. The 50-year-old marine construction worker was one of several residents of the Mississippi beachfront town of Waveland to ignore evacuation warnings and survive. He did it by swimming off the roof of his home as it collapsed in the storm surge. He then rode a torrent of water over the tops of trees 1,000 feet inland before he managed to grab onto a house. And all the while he was holding onto his beloved pet Chihuahua, Rocky… Mollere, who ignored pleas from his family and local police, said he decided to ride out the storm with Rocky inside the two-story storefront/home across the street from city hall that he shared with his mother.

He said he woke up at 6 a.m. that day to howling winds and flying debris. By 6:30 a.m., whitecaps were breaking down Coleman Avenue, the city’s main street. Shortly after 7 a.m., a downstairs wall blew out and water rushed in. Forced to the second floor, Mollere and his dog watched as the house filled with 12 feet of water. He climbed out onto the roof of the first floor after the stairway collapsed and the building started shaking.

As the building collapsed, he plunged into the water.

“I figured, well, maybe I’ll just ride it out,” he said, leaning back in a chair on the concrete slab that is the only thing left of his house and puffing on a cigarette. “I was in survival mode.” Holding Rocky with one hand, he maneuvered past debris and the tops of trees, losing a shoe and his shorts in the process. “I’d climb in, out and around trees. I was going over power lines and got tangled in some power lines once,” he said. “I was really afraid of getting electrocuted.”

The flow took him over the railroad tracks. At one point he heard someone shouting and looked up to see people waving from a rooftop. “I just kind of smiled and waved and pointed to indicate that I was going thisaway,” he said. “Finally I came to a big yellow house and grabbed onto the side and pulled myself up the back steps.” To his shock, a family opened the door, fed him and clothed him. “The first thing I said to them was, ‘Can I get some water for my dog?’ ” he said. “Then I just collapsed in their house.”

Mollere’s mother, Jane Mollere, 80, died in the hurricane. She had evacuated Waveland and went to stay with relatives in an inland town. But their house was flooded, and she couldn’t swim to safety.

As for his own salvation, he said, “I guess it wasn’t my time to go.”

Besides, he added, “my father, Charles Brewster Mollere, floated down the same street during Hurricane Camille in 1969 in a flower barrel. He swore that he saw a white horse swimming that day and followed it to safety. I guess it runs in the family.”

The Shallow End: Penn founders. September 5, 2005. ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corp): “Penn founders

By Rebecca Keating. Posted: Monday, September 5 2005 .

Rescue founders: Penn is clearly a better actor than he is a sailor. (Photo: AFP)

Sean Penn’s attempt to sail to the rescue of young victims of Hurricane Katrina has foundered.

The actor apparently forgot to plug a hole in the bottom of his boat, which began to take on water as soon as it was launched.

Things then got worse - the boat’s motor failed and those on board had to start rowing.

And then the final straw: bystanders eyeing off the massive entourage on the boat - it even included a personal photographer for Penn - taunted the actor.

‘How are you going to get any people in that thing?’

I bet the relief teams are hoping other do-good stars stick to what they know.”

An Unnatural Disaster: A Hurricane Exposes the Man-Made Disaster of the Welfare State
by Robert Tracinski
Sep 02, 2005

It has taken four long days for state and federal officials to figure out how to deal with the disaster in New Orleans. I can’t blame them, because it has also taken me four long days to figure out what is going on there. The reason is that the events there make no sense if you think that we are confronting a natural disaster.

If this is just a natural disaster, the response for public officials is obvious: you bring in food, water, and doctors; you send transportation to evacuate refugees to temporary shelters; you send engineers to stop the flooding and rebuild the city’s infrastructure. For journalists, natural disasters also have a familiar pattern: the heroism of ordinary people pulling together to survive; the hard work and dedication of doctors, nurses, and rescue workers; the steps being taken to clean up and rebuild.

Public officials did not expect that the first thing they would have to do is to send thousands of armed troops in armored vehicle, as if they are suppressing an enemy insurgency. And journalists–myself included–did not expect that the story would not be about rain, wind, and flooding, but about rape, murder, and looting.

But this is not a natural disaster. It is a man-made disaster.

The man-made disaster is not an inadequate or incompetent response by federal relief agencies, and it was not directly caused by Hurricane Katrina. This is where just about every newspaper and television channel has gotten the story wrong.

The man-made disaster we are now witnessing in New Orleans did not happen over the past four days. It happened over the past four decades. Hurricane Katrina merely exposed it to public view.

The man-made disaster is the welfare state.

This journalist goes on to put into words what many have expressed to me, in disjointed declarations and anecdotes, after days of reporting on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina’s devastation of New Orleans.

I, too, have seen this contrast personally as devastating fires and floods have ravaged our part of the state of Californina over the past twenty years. During the 49er Fire in September of 1988, friends and neighbors banded together to evacuate folks in the deadly path and housed displaced families. I can remember driving in a caravan of pickups to Rough and Ready, where we loaded a house of furniture, while flames were topping the nearest ridge. Everyone pulled together and Nevada County was strengthened. By the way, just weeks before the fire, I had given a ride to the hitchhiking transient, who started the fire by burning toilet paper at his camp on someone else’s property.

The flood of 1997 showed me a different side of the community, when someone threatened to “blow up” government property, because his food stamps were late coming up to communities in the foothills from Marysville. Later, I was explaining to someone that the food stamps were late, because county workers had been allowed to go home and evacuate their families from the rising flood waters in Linda. This “ward of the state” responded, “Don’t they know we live from check to check up here?” That was my epiphany; I realized that there was a mob of people who thought their receipt of a couple hundred bucks of county assistance takes priority over hard working people getting their loved ones, pets and family treasures out of the destructive path of the raging Yuba River.

I think this author is correct: no amount of institutional or government preparedness could have saved New Orleans from the man-made disaster, which built up over four decades of harmful, enabling government policy.

I was cheered to fing that Sadie’s irritated with this nonsense, as well… I’m glad so many folks are seeing right through this sort of childish, scripted… it’s just so tedious… it’s so 70’s.

My friends, Dan and Sadie, are committed Christians who don’t shy away from difficult tasks, including working with the youth group. They seem perfectly suited to the task, because they are in their thirties, they are hip and more importantly, they love Jesus and the Bible. Mark and Sue are their mentors or whatever term is fashionable this week for mature, middle-aged “youth workers” (there’s a whole youth industry in the church and the jargon, along with the t-shirts and graphics, change monthly to remain relevant… or, so the “experts” think).

You know, I still find it hard to believe that so many churches will treat the teens as an afterthought or have some good looking, 22-year-old guy, straight out of college or seminary or a Bible Bootcamp/Recovery Home in charge of a flock of adolescents. My friend Alex once counseled me (and, he has never been wrong… really), that the youth group is the hardest ministry in a local assembly and it will always be the main focus of controversy. Sadly, it is most often the parents that cause the heartache. The kids? They have their moments, but they usually seem to rebound and move on, while the parents stay mired in the memory of hurt feelings and controversies which have long since passed.

That brings me to this article. I found it disturbing, but I must admit it didn’t surprise me.

The Australian: Pastor, teachers beat teen for not going to church [July 08, 2005]: “Pastor, teachers beat teen for not going to church
David King
July 08, 2005

A pastor and two Bible studies teachers bashed a 19-year-old Korean woman because they thought she had been disrespectful to her parents and had stopped attending church.

Chi Yeong Yun, a junior pastor at the Open Door Presbyterian Church in Chatswood, and Bible study teachers James Kang and Tom Chae-Young Lee pleaded guilty yesterday to assaulting Angela Kim at a park at Sydney’s Bobbin Head in July last year.

Somehow, Angela’s behavior sounds fairly common for young people her age:

The NSW District Court heard the men believed the young woman had stopped going to church, had been disrespectful to her elders and had been spending too much time on her web page… “She had no idea of respect, she was just hanging around with her friends,” Lee said.

Either the folks at the Open Door Presbyterian Church are a bit more serious in their faith than I am or, perhaps, they are new to youth work and need to learn “the old paths” of prayer and personal, gentle pastoral care, which comes from years of experience with God’s flock.

I am so grateful to live in a community, where we enjoy state of the art medicine. I turned 50 this year and went in for my very first colonoscopy. I’m feeling fine, but it’s a good idea for men my age to be examined for colorectal cancer or other disease. Here we are in the year 2005 and I find it hard to believe that most people undergoing this test will still be subjected to the barbaric colonscope, a long flexible tubular instrument inserted into the rectum and poked around the colon, while the doctor watches on a remote video device.

Our doctor, on the other hand, has been trained in the latest hands-on technologies and this has been a boon for patients, who suffer less discomfort during the procedure and receive a much more thorough exam. This is how it works. The doctor and one or two assistants board a submarine- like probe (pictured below), which is miniaturized and inserted painlessly and effortlessly into the rectum. Once inside, the nuclear powered colorectal vehicle begins its ascent up into the colon for the exam.

.

I arrived at the doctor’s office a bit late and found the gastrologist and one of the nurses waiting for me in the examination room. They were already suited up and ready for the procedure.

Within minutes, the doctor and his crew were seated in the probe and awaiting the miniaturization process. This takes about ten minutes and the actual insertion just takes a little push from a technician in the room.

Once inside the colon, the doctor and nurse(s) leave the probe with their instruments to explore the organ for polyps, perforations, evidence of infection or other anomalies. Although I followed my prep routine to the letter, it seems there was still a bit of the Vietnamese bun vermicelli I had for lunch Tuesday attached to the colon wall. So, it was a bit more work than they are used to, hacking their way through some very tough rice noodles.

The procedure went well and it looked as if I have a healthy colon, but they did find a few polyps, which they had to cauterize after clipping them for biopsy:

I sure hope they’re benign.

All in all, the procedure was painless on my part. The doctor and crew were able to exit just as easily as they had entered and after a bit of cleanup, were returned to their normal size to give me the results.

You know, at my age I sometimes feel as if I’ve seen it all. Something that was once science fiction is now a commonplace medical procedure.

I promised Zombieslayer a post about my short venture into the world of record producers, fusion guitarists, “shred-heads” and, of course, those vultures who bring all fun to a halt — lawyers and record distributors. Dear ZS… I hope this meets with your approval.

One day sometime in 1990, I believe, I came home from work and Denise told me she had met some new neighbors and they were real nice. She said that “Mark” produced and recorded music – he was working on a children’s CD. I remember thinking to myself, “So, what’s new… everyone in Nevada City is recording a CD.” Well, we got together for dinner and I met Mark Varney and his charming family. He was a school psychologist and we talked about everything except music. The conversation turned to faith, so we invited them to church. One Sunday, Mark and I were chatting after our gathering and he told me that his brother was a record producer – Mike Varney. I said, “Do you mean Mike Varney of The Nuns?” His mouth dropped open and he said, “You’ve heard of The Nuns?” I said, “Sure, I’m a huge John Cipollina fan.” Well, we were instant pals and began gushing on about shared guitar heroes. he asked if I’d ever heard of Allan Holdsworth. “Sure! Gong and UK!”

As it turned out, Mark had his own record label, Legato Records. He had signed Frank Gambale and was about to produce a CD with Gambale and Holdsworth shredding over some fusion standards, with Chick Corea’s Elektric Band.

Here are some of the highlights of our association with Legato Records:

• Denise became the office and business manager, the FAX machine and phone were in our closet and much of the Legato catalogue resided in our basement!
• As the office and business manager, Denise had a wonderful phone relationship with some of the hottest young guitar talent of the late 80’s and early 90’s. As one unaffected by stardom and fame, she was the perfect “mother figure” to shepherd many a young, aspiring Berklee student through the contract process and into the grinder, er, I mean the music business.
• After proving ourselves competent and discriminating in our taste for searing guitar solos, Mark delegated to us the responsibility of picking up the five or six demo tapes we received daily at the PO Box and screening them. Mark was a busy man. I remember fondly coming home from work and playing speed metal, fusion and other forms of guitorture, full blast as Denise cooked supper.
• I drove Mark to Los Angeles to record Truth in Shredding and we stayed at my in-laws house for the weekend in the studio. I got to carry the master tapes (joy!).
• We found Frank Gambale at his home… he had just finished tiling his bathroom floor… part of a remodel he was doing himself. Frank was absolutely wonderful.
• We sat in the sound booth through the entire recording, with Frank Gambale soloing within a few feet, while the Elektric Band shared the studio. It was recorded live with very few retakes or overdubs.
• Mark and I drove the masters to Allan Holdsworth’s home, where we met his wonderful wife and children. Alan, his wife, Mark and I went out for supper at a posh Indian restaurant in Costa Mesa.
• Alan is a huge brew fan, so I joined him for a beer at his home.
• We left the masters with Alan, who recorded his solos and mixed the final CD in “The Brewery,” his private studio.

Another highlight was going down to the NAMM show in Anaheim in January to hobnob with the industry big-wigs and legendary musicians. I rubbed elbows with John Sebastian, Steve Morse, Neil Schon, Jorma Kaukonen and another hero, Harvey Mandel… In 1993, we got VIP passes to the Ibanez Axe Attack, a jam featuring Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Shawn Lane, Paul Gilbert, Reb Beach and a few others I don’t recall… Lanny Cordola, perhaps?

But, it was really fun when the guys signed to Legato or appearing on Guitar on the Edge stopped by our booth. For example, here’s Mark with Blues Saraceno. As I recall, he was there with his dad, because he was too young to get his driver’s license. Quite the prodigy! And, he was very nice… In fact, all of the guys we met were smart, focused, polite and a pleasure to work with.

Renowned finger-picker Muriel Anderson was as sweet as could be. She and Denise got along very nicely. She’s also tiny, so we took a photo of her standing next to Mark on a chair.

Mike Varney, Mark’s famous brother and creator of Shrapnel Records dropped by to hand out promotional goodies! The fellow laughing on the left is Todd Duane, my personal favorite of all the guitarists Mark worked with. I spoke to him about his style and he explained that what I described about his music was the result of his being a drummer before he played guitar. He approaches the guitar as a percussion instrument! And, a heck of a nice guy… a real gentleman.

Tom joined Mark and I for this show and we got a photo of him with the legendary, now deceased, Shawn Lane.

But, best of all was our “trophy girl,” Denise. The guys all got a kick, finally meeting the “office manager” from the closet!

Yes, there we have many fond memories of the few years we were “in the music business.” But, the best thing of all was finding lifelong friends in Mark Varney and his family.

I began my first in-depth study of The Apocalypse this week and I think I have some insights and revelations of my own, concerning the identity of the Antichrist and the Beast of Revelation 13.

First, let me say that Dan (the guy to the left of Macaulay Culkin) is not the Beast, nor is his friend, Michael Jackson, the Antichrist. Of that, I’m relatively certain. However, I’m not so sure about this character, King Juan Carlos of Spain:

You see, he’s been fingered as the Man of Lawlessness by a number of “prophecy experts,” most notably Chuck Missler and Jon Courson. As a supplement to my serious study in Revelation, I began listening to tapes by these erudite Bible teachers (so-called) in order to gain insight into the strategic trends, which are preparing the world to bow to the control of this spellbinding, power hungry, dynamic, world dictator.

I found a tape of Jon Courson’s Prophecy Update for 1993 and he made a number of predictions about the things to come. Among them:

• King Juan Carlos of Spain, King of Jerusalem, is probably the Antichrist
• The generation, which began with the settlement of Israel in the land, will see the second coming of Jesus to establish His millennial kingdom in September 1999 at the Feast of Trumpets — then the millennium begins in 2000.
• Of course, you have to back up seven years for the Great Tribulation, so that means that the Rapture will occur sometime in 1993.
• The ten nations of the European Union represent the ten horns spoken of in Daniel and Revelation, even though there were 13 members in 1993 (he was able to pare that number down with some impressive mathematics). By the way, there are 26 nations in the EU now and more on the way.
• The year 2000 is the beginning of the millennium, but we don’t have to rely only on the Bible for that fact, because all the new agers and rabbis from 300 AD onward said it would happen.
• Rabbi Schneerson (April 18, 1902 - June 12, 1994) was quoted by Courson as saying that he would live to see the establishment of Messiah’s kingdom, the millennium, with his own eyes in his lifetime.

These are but a few of the nuggets of gold Mr. Courson mined out of the Scriptures for the crowd. Is it any wonder that we Christians are looked upon as a bunch of gullible half-wits, when we tell someone that Jesus died for their sins on the cross and rose from the dead, so they can live forever? That’s the problem with “crying wolf” and serving up this kind of sensationalistic slop to God’s people year after year — It may be entertaining, but Biblically illiterate Christians aren’t the only ones listening! These kinds of fairy tales get out to the general population (many times because we have passed around a tape or CD or book promoting this nonsense) and the honest inquirer is left to separate the facts of the gospel from the chaff of speculative theories and prognostications by these hucksters.

There is a way to stop these people and their creepy, cultic fascination with events that haven’t happened yet (not to mention their amnesia, when it comes to the hundreds or thousands of failed predictions they’ve made). Just say “no” to their speculation and sensationalism!

2 Timothy 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires…

But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels. 2 Timothy 2:23

2 Timothy 1:13 Retain the standard of sound words, which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.

I ran across this dispatch from the frontlines of the War on Terror, where a senior Al-Qaida lieutenant was captured, and I was immediately taken back to my childhood. One of the coolest things to ever happen on the way home from school was hearing the battle cry, “Girl Fight!” That meant hair-pulling, kicking, clawing, screaming and spirited fisticuffs, as opposed to predictable, dull punching and maneuvering when boys fought. Apparently, a girl fight will draw an enthusiastic crowd in Pakistan, too:

Britain, UK news from The Times and The Sunday Times - Times Online:

“Officials say that one of al-Libbi’s couriers unwittingly led the CIA and Pakistani security officials to the Libyan-born mastermind in a town close to the Afghan border. He and four close aides were hiding at a shrine on a hilltop outside Mardan, near Peshawar.

Witnesses described yesterday how armed undercover agents in burkas ambushed al-Libbi on Monday as he rode pillion [side-saddle] on a motorcycle through a graveyard. Al-Libbi, who was disguised as a woman, shot at his pursuers.

Bystanders dived for cover as a dozen people — all in black burkas — returned fire. The 42-year-old militant with a $5 million (2.6 million) price on his head fled to a nearby guesthouse shouting to staff that he was “a jihadi” and pleaded for help.

He emerged after apparently making a number of calls on his mobile phone. “He came out unarmed with his hands in the air and his head slightly bowed,” Mr Khan said. He was hooded and bundled on to a special forces helicopter then flown to an army barracks in Rawalpindi for questioning.

Denise found another treasure at the local thrift store, which will come in handy if I ever end up in the hoosgow.

The updated title was actually my idea. I hope the author will sign off on the new cover design.

Somehow, Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker books seem to migrate to us. When we lived in Maine, one of my favorite events was the used book sale at the Blue Hill Public Library. I found a book by the Bakkers published in the 70’s with a cover photo of Jim and Tammy Faye sporting what were, perhaps, the largest flared matching polyester pantsuits I have seen in my life. The inside cover had a thoughtful, signed inscription to one of our Blue Hill neighbors, Noel Paul Stookey, who had appeared on their television show. I purchased the treasure and we passed it along to a couple, who collects fine and rare Christian books.

Lecturer to Discuss Christian Right

The Nevada County Democrats hosted a lecture by Dr. Philip DiMare on “…the influence of conservative Christianity on domestic and foreign policy decisions made by the current Bush administration, tracing the roots back to the 1740s.” This sounded intriguing and Mr. DiMare comes with an impressive vitae. The lecture was open to the public and a donation of $10 was gratefully requested required. I was willing to pay a buck or two, but the woman at the door was not open to consultation on the issue, nor was she inclined to be charitable towards the less fortunate. So much for truth in advertising and liberal compassion!

Not to be deterred, I camped out at the door and took note of the attendees. There were about twenty or so people and everyone I saw appeared to be older than myself (half century) and most would be considered elderly. This may explain why my party, the Democrats, are so out of touch with young voters on issues such as Social Security reform, taxes, abortion, education and, frankly, anything else that has anything to do with the future.

The doors were open, so I sat outside, listening to the speakers. About twenty minutes into the presentation, someone came out and shut the doors. The sign in the window said, ” Come in, we’re open.” However, if the coins don’t ring in the offering plate, I guess you can’t expect to hear the Democrat’s gospel.

The parking lot was an education in itself. There were bumper stickers denouncing corporate greed, affixed to expensive luxury automobiles and SUVs. My old, rusty, high mileage truck stood out as a beacon of thrift and concern for social justice, amongst a fleet of vehicles trumpeting global economic exploitation and excess.

The first time I noticed this disconnect between liberal/progressive dogma and liberal/progressive/lifestyle, was about fifteen years ago when I attended an open meeting of the Nevada County Citizens for Choice. My GEO Metro was the most socially responsible, modest car in a lot full of Cadillacs and Volvos. Then as now, I was about the youngest one in attendance and the majority were silver-haired elite eugenicists, seeking to put the brakes on the uncontrolled breeding of the teeming under classes. I remember looking in vain for one, young, committed feminist in the bunch, but she was nowhere to be found. There was, however, plenty of hostility directed at the lone pro-lifer in attendence that evening.

I sure would have liked to have heard Dr. DiMare’s lecture and spent some time getting to know my fellow Democrats, but I couldn’t come up with the price of their indulgence. Perhaps the party needs a reformation.