A Farewell to Teeth - 2

The teeth had risen white once like Kilimanjaro. But they were past their time. They would pass, as a leopard does. On the white slopes. They would one by one go. Quickly.

And he would feel no pain. A dead leopard in snow. Under ether? He did not know.

He would eat M&Ms and the teeth would still gleam, white and dying.

Damned Philosophy - I

Sartre was wall-eyed: being only seemed to precede essence; his vision was skewed.
Bausch and Lomb would've set him straight.

Nietzsche was, let's face it, a syphilitic raver toward the end, and not an essentially cheery person at best.
Today, he'd be tranked into submission with Zoloft.

A Farewell to Teeth

“A Farewell to Teeth”

      They had been good, the teeth. They had, in their day, cracked the hulls of growing things. The black walnuts on the base cracked only in the hand, he found. Teeth would not do. He’d cracked the first tooth on one of those.
 
     The Jordan almond, though - that had been the one.

     At a late night showing of “From Dusk Till Dawn,” he’d had Jordan Almonds. Not the soft thing he’d expected. Not the light candy shell of M&Ms. Not the soft chocolate and/or peanuts.

     No. The tooth had cracked, the sugar coating baked hard. The pain instant. Something hot shot up into his eye. It passed. All things would pass.

     Like his teeth.

@)>==

To understand something of the popularity of people like John Hagee, you have to understand how to work a big audience for big money.

He preaches the Word, and people love him, support him and his family, and give generously.  He has a national following, and a mega-church replete with broadcast company tie-ins and promotional merchandise.
Rather a lot on his plate.

Such are the preachers of Mammon, even unto their real estate holdings and missions.

And they shall spread their gospel of prosperity and profit throughout the world, with the generous love donations and goodwill offering of those he's enlightened.

Because there is much to fear - and his preaching shall set them free.
If it doesn't kill some of them first.

Hagee cites "the Bible says" and his own views to exploit fear and condemnation of "the homosexuals."  Queers aren't his cup of tea: to him, we're an abomination - and have abominably CHOSEN our sexual partners from sheer Satanic carnality.

The word "love" never enters the equation.  Except with "love the sinner, hate the sin."

He doesn't GET the queer notion that "hating the sin" makes the sinner feeling "loved" almost impossible.  Nor does he care that queer youth bullied by their Christian peers have killed themselves; unless to regret that they've gone to Hell for suicide when they could have been saved to the glory of God by making another choice of lifestyle and turning themselves over to Jesus.
Well, they killed themselves, and they're with Jesus now.

"Don't Ask, Don't, Tell" - Don't Get Me Started

This is a commentary on the Universal Life Church's article:  "DADT Repeal, Military Chaplaincies, and Religious Conscience."
It can be read at:  http://blog.themonastery.org/2010/02/dadt-repeal-military-chaplaincies-and-religious-conscience/

It's really time for the US to join the rest of its NATO allies in letting gay and lesbian service members have the equality they've EARNED in every single war since the inception of the nation.

We're a decade behind 25 of our allies, and the same tired arguments against inclusion were used when Truman integregated the military in 1948.   A cadre of retired generals rails with outrage against the notion of "those people" having to live, sleep, eat, and shower with the regulars.  The communal shower element, especially, has been raised as a specious and speculative topic of concern.

Our allies already know what our own brass are only now pretending to discover:  GLBT personnel are already serving (with honor) - and have been for decades. Why deny participation by a group that's the first to be "stop-lossed" in time of war? Replacing a skilled translator, interpreter, or special forces unit leader with an ill-equipped replacement certainly erodes the unit cohesion and morale.

The present situation is monstrous.  We are fighting a war against extremist terror in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Pakistani and Yemeni fanatics continue to export operatives targeting the American homeland.  We need every qualified service member to continue fighting for our freedom at home. Continuing to discard some of our best military personnel under these conditions creates the kind of chaos that our enemies relish. They, too, exclude LGBT people from serving; they kill them. We're a shade more compassionate: we discharge them. Until recently, we gave them "dishonorable" discharges that created barrier to their civilian employment.

All this aside, our troops deserve the best. Disrupting their mission by removing key personnel does not help them. In fact, it's tantamount to giving aid and comfort to our enemies.

The military members we've discarded recently have spoken out. The majority would gladly re-enlist again for one reason:  to serve their country.

We would do well to consult our closest allies, especially the United Kingdom, which eliminated its own ban in 2000. We can learn from their example how to deal with the many issues that are being raised by worried conservatives and concerned citizens alike.

A decade after opening its doors to LGBT members, British servicemen and women from all three services now march at Gay Pride in uniform. The head of the British Army, General Sir Richard Dannat, addressing a Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual and Transgender conference, stated, "Respect for others is not an optional extra."

January 2010's British Armed Forces 'Soldier' magazine had as its cover a decorated veteran, still serving with honor.  

His name is James Wharton.  Lance Corporal Wharton, a member of the Household Cavalry (an old and honorable regiment responsible for guarding the present Queen), lives openly as a gay man.

When Wharton, 23, married his same-sex life partner (Thom McCaffrey, 21), members of Wharton’s regiment were in attendance to show their support. 

The 'Soldier' cover caption? 'Pride.'

Show some, America. This 'scared the queers will peek at me in the shower' pretence is unbecoming in any soldier. Scared straights, not lusting gay grunts, are the real detriment to unit cohesion and morale.

Man up!