As to why... I like making websites, but I don't like hosting them on things such as angelfire, or using apache on my desktop. It's noisy, and if I left it on 24/7 it would eventually fuck up, and I can't afford to fix it. Plus, hosting from StartLogic comes with PHP, Perl, and mySQL already installed and configured. It'll be nice to have an actual place that I can use them.

Though I have to wonder, do other religions have old, rich, cranky guys like Falwell and Phelps? I don't know why but I just can't imagine it as part of any other religion. Oh well, I'll have to check on that later.

I just think it'd be funny to hear a Rabbi go "Queers, oy-vay! With the marriage and the rights, flaven!"

I agree...

with Christianity. I'm Christian. I agree with Christian ideas and ideals. I believe in God. I can't, however, believe what a few religious zealots can do to make an entire religion seem insane. The crusades are over. We don't fight wars over religion anymore. Now, we fight in a different way. Christianity is the foundation of my faith, and beliefs. I have to wonder, what motives do people such as Fred Phelps and Jerry Falwell have to make Christians seem like a collective group of ignorant, insane morons?

n summary, sodomites are wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly (Gen. 13:13), are violent and doom nations (Gen. 19:1-25; Jgs. 19), are abominable to God (Lev. 18:22), are worthy of death for their vile, depraved, unnatural sex practices (Lev. 20:13; Rom. 1:32), are called dogs because they are filthy, impudent and libidinous (Deut. 23:17,18; Mat. 7:6; Phil. 3:2), produce by their very presence in society a kind of mass intoxication from their wine made from grapes of gall from the vine of Sodom and the fields of Gomorrah which poisons society's mores with the poison of dragons and the cruel venom of asps (Deut. 32:32,33), declare their sin and shame on their countenance (Isa. 3:9), are shameless and unable to blush (Jer. 6:15), are workers of iniquity and hated by God (Psa. 5:5), are liars and murderers (Jn. 8:44), are filthy and lawless (2 Pet. 2:7,8), are natural brute beasts (2 Pet. 2:12), are dogs eating their own vomit and sows wallowing in their own feces (2 Pet. 2:22), will proliferate at the end of the world bringing final judgment on mankind (Lk. 17:28-30), have been finally given up by God to uncleanness dishonoring their own bodies among themselves, to vile affections, and to a reprobate mind such that they cannot think straight about anything (Rom. 1:23-28), have wholly given themselves over to fornication and gone after strange flesh (Jude 7), must be pulled as faggots from the fire (Jude 23), and have no hope of Heaven unless they repent (Rev. 22:15), which they can't do in their prideful state (Jer. 6:15). They need to hear this truth if they are to have any hope of penitence, faith in Jesus Christ and salvation (I Timothy 4:2-4).

Read that well. This is what Fred Phelps considers proof that God hates fags. That is proof of no more than his lack of a well functioning brain. I understand that this is what he believes, it's his belief, but that doesn't mean I have to agree with it. Far from it, in fact. The Bible states a few things rather well.

God created man in his own image. So, then, if I am Christian, and believe that God created me in his image, then how is any degree of sexual orientation that isn't heterosexual sinful? I'm sure there is a way to twist the Bible and show that it is indeed sinful. Secondly, God is forgiving. I'm under the impression that all sins can be forgiven. Thirdly, I see no mention as to a limitation on certain portions of mankind being left unabsolved.

I think if anything, Fred Phelps will be the one walking on fire when his day comes. To quote Wikipedia, "Phelps mourned the fall of Hussein's regime and has consistently criticized the invasion of Iraq, citing, "IRAQ=USA=SODOM" and keeping a toll on his webpage celebrating the death of every American soldier killed and pronouncing loyalty to Iraq." How can you call yourself Christian, yet celebrate the death of American soldiers. Most of these soldiers, I'm sure, are Christians. How can you celebrate the death of something you so fervently try to "protect" from corruption?

Things like this get to me. Knowing that there are people like Phelps in the world is not a comforting thought. These are the people we need to worry about. I don't care about gay marriage and gay rights nearly so much as I care about these types of people being allowed to raise what are effectively cults.

It's aggravating...

to see that religion has become more of a staple of how "cool" someone is than a belief. I especially love how the mainstay of american counter-culture is either Atheism or Satanism. Of all the Atheists or Satanists, I'm guessing the vast majority were raised by Christian parents. I'll also almost assure you that a vast majority within that group did it as nothing more than an attempt to stand out. If you're trying to stand out, why fit the mold at all? Fuck Atheism and Satanism, they aren't hardcore enough for you, you individual, you. I mean seriously, why do it half-assed? If you're trying to base who you are on your false faith and beliefs then go the distance! Become Sikhist, become Zoroastrianist, become something way the fuck out there.

It isn't like you'll be a true member of that religion in any case. You'd just be Sikhist as an overlay of supposed Atheism as an overlay of Christianity. If you really believe that there is no God, if you really believe in Satanism, then explain your religion to me. In fact, don't. Your beliefs are just as valid to you as mine are to myself. They don't need explaining.

However, I don't honestly care if you're Satanist, or if you're Atheist, or any of it. Believe what you want to believe, but believe it. Don't stand in line at Food Lion and have a conversation with a bunch of your goth kiddie friends about how Atheism is "cool". Don't say that Satanism is "awesome". Effectively, if you're one of these people, I'm sure you think to yourself "Gotta tell Jimmy I'm Satanist so that he thinks I'm kewl, but oh my goodness if mommy finds out, no T.V. for a week!"

Rant off. If you ever go into Food Lion and see a bunch of goth kids standing in line talking, don't listen. Go to another line. They will make you stereotype all goths as idiots.

As an edit, I'm not trying to discredit anyone's religion or lack thereof. Your omniscient, omnipresent, intangible God is just as valid as my omniscient, omnipresent, intangible God. You're Atheist? Fine, but be one, don't do it to fit in. You're some other religion - Satanist, that long one I don't feel like copying and pasting, I don't care. It's just as valid as my religion. The moral of this story is - choosing a religion based on how many of your friends are or aren't part of it... that's right up there with lighting yourself on fire because the neighbor did or didn't.

As a second edit, the second paragraph is aimed at people who have chosen a religion for the cool factor. I didn't mean, and don't mean to imply that everyone follows a religion solely for that reason - rational thought tells us if that were true, religion wouldn't exist.

What I effectively tried to get across with this is that while not everyone who chooses an alternative religion (by that I mean a religion aside from the one you were raised on) I'm certain that far and away you'll see plenty more people choose an alternative religion of any kind to stand out than is reasonable. I just think that it's rather ignorant and stupid.

If I've offended anyone, I didn't mean to. I'm not trying to say anyone's religion is baseless. You could create your own religion for all I care, just so long as it has personal value to you and isn't simply to say "Yeah, I'm part of my religion. I created it. Isn't that cool?".

The best comparison I can think of is, wouldn't you think it rather stupid of someone to choose a sexuality solely for the sake of being cool, or standing out? Exactly. Now apply that to religion. Isn't it stupid? Not everyone does, but when they do, I just think it's stupid.

Ask about

how to make your child a four to five year old version of Jet Li from unleashed!

As I was writing up the previous entry there was a commercial adveritising "The Little Gym" in Charlottesville. One segment of the commercial was little kids doing karate. I want to adopt an asian child and put them in that class, keep them in a dog house with a chain 'round their neck, and prod it all the time. I just think that a small version of Jet Li would be so badass.

My laptop,

it... hungers!

Charger got here. It's only five days late. Oh well, at least I can read things again. It's nice being able to read fonts more clearly at 1280x800 @ 60 Hz than I could at 1024x768 @ 70 Hz. It's actually somewhat sad and shows somewhat poorly for that model of monitor. I do rather like my laptop's screen, though. I guess I'd damn well better considering how much I look at it. I'm sure it's terribly for my eyes - but so is staring at the sun, and that's so much less fun.

I also like the touchpad so much more than a mouse. Probably because of how it's right there and it's a lot closer to the keys than a usual USB/PS2/Serial mouse would be. Makes things like photoshop so much easier.

Fuck you and the beat up Ford Bronco II you rode in on.

When it's Father's Day, you invite family to whatever you're doing. It's a family thing. Well, it wasn't this year, so I made it one. Mike's ex-girlfriend's parents showed up uninvited because they wanted to talk to Mike. I myself found this incredibly rude and uncalled for. It's father's day, and I'm not putting up with it.

I was told to not say anything to them? Why? Because they're fucking back-mountain hicks that live off of welfare and whatever junk they can sell? Because they think they've got the lay of the land no matter where they go? If you're going to be pompous enough to invite yourself to something that to me, and the rest of my family, is family only - you'd better be somebody. Who are they? They're definitive nobodies.

I walk outside and there they are - some pig-faced bitch, pig-faced bitch's daughter, and pig-faced bitch's husband. I ask them why they're here, and I think they may have taken it jokingly. "We just need to talk to Mike." Too fuckin' bad. Do it on your own time. We didn't invite you. I don't remember what happened from there. I remember them all looking like they'd just gotten a notice in the mail that their welfare check is going to stop coming 'round, or like the Dukes of Hazzard just got cancelled again. They left, and all was good.

I hope they don't cancel the Dukes of Hazzard... again... I liked that show. Maybe I don't like "good 'ol country folk", maybe I don't like hicks, but I liked that show.