Archibald McDog, Happy at Last

Finally, The Arch finally got the bandage off his foot. True to form, even that was done the hard way. His foot was infected and puffy so it took a few days of amoxicillin after the bandage was off for that to return to normal. But, the gaping wound in the back of his thigh was sealed and dry enough that I could get him out of his hideous prtective cover-ups. 

Which made him very happy. I mean, take a look. Would you want to be wandering around wearing this? Right. 


Fashion faux paw

The Muslims are Coming!

Tonight at 5:15, and continuing for the next 5 weeks, at the SLO downtown library public meeting room, a series of lectures on Islam will be given (free) to the public.  Local imams, Cal Poly religion experts, etc. will be enlightening any members of the public who show up.  And given the recent hysteria and silliness concerning "Muslims" that's insanely awash in Right Wing Country, I hope people who should attend will do so.  Might learn something.

But, I know that they won't.  Don't think the lady who recently wrote an outraged letter to the editor will be there.  She was furious that a tax-payer supported space (library meeting room, available for all kinds of non-profit, educational purposes) would be used to teach religion, and wondered if Catholics or Mormons would show up next to "teach" people "religion" on public property. 

Reading her letter I had three thoughts:  1) What a great idea.  As a nation that prides itself (on paper at least) on our "freedom of religion," we're woefully ignorant about our neighbor's beliefs and religious histories. (Aw, heck, we're woefully ignorant (and deliberately misinformed) about a whole lot of things.) And 2), the letter-writer has confused teaching about a particular religion with actually teaching religion with an eye towards conversion or indoctrination. And 3), because this woman clearly didn't know the difference, she really, really should show up.

But I know she won't.

Sigh.

Paddle Them Boats
It's the second Saturday of the month so Matt Hudgens of Central Coast Standup Paddling (http://www.centralcoastsup.com/) (395-0410) will be down at Coleman Beach in Morro Bay (under the triple power plant towers) from 9-noon and if I understand rightly, there'll be a paddle board manufacturer/rep there as well, with all different kinds of board for people to try.  So, if you've always wanted to go fall off a paddle board, now's the time.  It's free and Matt's a great instructor. And the weather promises to be summer-warm. 

Bonfire of the Stupidities

The pastor of a very, very small fundamentalist evangelical Christian church in Florida is going to hold a Koran burning Saturday.  He's also hinting that he might not, but he's praying on it and Oh, isn't it such fun to keep the media on the hook as long as possible, oooooh, yes-no, well, maybe, we'll see, call me back in an hour and can you get me on ABC World News Tonight?  Pastor Terry Jones claims his actions will send a message to Muslim Americans that America won't stand for Sharia Law being imposed here, even though Sharia Law is NOT being imposed here and there is no danger that it will ever be imposed here.  But no need to muddle the good pastor with facts. 

And Pastor Jones also claims he wants to "send a very clear warning that they [muslims throughout the world] are not to retaliate in any form," thereby displaying the kind of magical thinking that demand A on my part will stop Reaction B out there in the world, a delusion that likely caused him to become a pastor of a very, very small fundamentalist evangelical Christian church in the first place. 

General Petraeus has weighed in, stating that the good pastor's pathetic auto-de-fe burn-in will endanger American troops.  But, reveling in his 15 minutes of fame, and operating on the Wife-Batterers' Moral Code -- if I hit you and you hit me back, it's all YOUR fault --it's clear the good pastor doesn't care about consequences, especiallyif they happen to somebody else.  And while Secretary of State HIllary Clinton has spoken out against this profoundly ignorant event, so far, no word from anybody important on the Republican right.  And, oddly, zero tweets from Mamma Grizzly Sarah, who likes to inform the world that she's a mother of a soldier.  Whose buddies will be put in danger by this action.

Meanwhile, City officials in Gainesville have declared that the Dove World Outreach Center is "an embarassment to our community" and has refused to issue Pastor Jones a burn permit.  Unknown is whether city officials will have a fire truck standing by to do what fire trucks do when matches are lit without the proper permits. If they are quick first responders, we may end up with a Rain Day rather than a Burn Day, followed by a You're Under Arrest Day.

And it remains to be seen if a whole lot of un-stupid people of all faiths will also show up at the book burning/media circus to protest this event. Let's see if we can end up with some world-class photographs of a very wet fool in front of a soggy pile of books surrounded by thousands of people of all faiths standing arm in arm holding crosses, Bibles, Korans, Books of Mormon, volumes of Torah, and all carrying signs bearing photos of  Pastor Jones wearing a Hitler moustache and a dunce cap.

On the other hand, I think maybe the pastor's thinking is way too small.  What we really need is a national auto-de-fe, a HUGE central bonfire, maybe located in Kansas, upon which we will throw ALL our holy books that use God to justify what are really just our own pathetic human fears and hatreds. Burn 'em all!  And then each and every one of us will forswear to never believe any fundamentalist religion that creates The Dreaded Damned/Infidel/"Other" and then uses God as an excuse to indulge in our own dangerous monkey-brained ugliness.

Maybe then we can create the kind of societies we actually want to live in.

Say Amen.  Amen. 
Now, gimme that match.