How do people get here?

I don't have what you would call a tremendous amount of traffic. I have some regulars and a generally increasing number of one and done type people who meander in from Google. I also get some regular traffic from "Why don't we get drunk and blog?", but unless I ever hit the top 25 over there I don't think that is going to increase too terribly much. If Paul Katcher ever linked to me my traffic would really explode.

Right now the #1 traffic driver to No 1 of Consequence is searching: Just end the season

This phrase holds a special place in hearts of Jets fans around the world as it is usually uttered somewhere between weeks 2 and 3 in the NFL season and repeated like a dogmatic mantra until the merciful end of week 17. Then the mantra is something along the lines of, "how will they screw up the draft this year?"

I also receive many hits to my Debbie Cole post because everyone seems to like a feel good story of a garbage person giving back life changing money because it is the right thing to do.

I get a LOT of hits for people searching tilapia recipes.

I quote Aaron Sorkin a lot (won't be linking to all the posts, but I always give him credit, so if you are interested use the search function in the upper left.) and that always brings people in.

How important is this? Not important at all, but it was way more fun to write than a lot of things I could be writing right now.

No 1 of Consequence

More problems with TV in the UK

I know I have complained a bit about TV in the UK. I promise this will be the last time. (Probably lying right there, but we can always hope) I am watching Aaron Sorkin's brilliant movie, A Few Good Men currently which is a welcome respite from the dreck they have shown the rest of the time I have been here. However, the editing is so awful it is really shocking. In the US, movies on regular TV are edited with at least a modicum of respect for pacing. They try and insert station/commercial breaks at natural pauses in the story. Here in jolly old England, they are completely clueless. They inset breaks mid conversation. Anyone who is a devotee of Aaron Sorkin knows his dialogue has a certain pace and cadence to it and to chop it up like celery is a crime. I really want to go home.

No 1 of Consequence

Back in space, as it should be.

Anyone who knows me, knows I love NASA. They are a bureaucratic mess, I know this, but they are incredibly important to our world standing and they are part of the vision for the future that we need for this country.

I watched NASA TV today as the Discovery went through its final paces before liftoff. I don't care if you are a fan of space travel or not, but listening to the mission control people go through all the departments and get a go or no go for launch you can't help but get excited. I found myself sitting forward on my couch watching the tail assembly of the shuttle as the steam and exhaust began to increase. My heartbeat quickened as I heard "we have main engine start" and the flames blasted out of boosters and main engines of the shuttle. I cheered as "we have liftoff" came into my living room and I held my breath because it is the first 10 minutes or so when everything can go wrong. The NASA pilot Mark Kelly (from West Orange, NJ, right next to my hometown) completed the roll maneuver that is required for the shuttle to reach orbit. I was yelling "Go baby go! GET UP THERE!" to the TV. Up there they went, into the wild blue yonder, returning the US to space on Independence Day. Very fitting.

Next stop Mars! For thos of you who say we shouldn't go there, I give you the words of the great Aaron Sorkin, through Sam Seaborn.

Sam Seaborn: There are lots of hungry people in the world, Mall, and none of them are hungry because we went to the moon. None of them are colder and certainly none of them are dumber because we went to the moon.
Mallory O'Brian: And we went to the moon. Do we really have to go to Mars?
Sam Seaborn: Yes.
Mallory O'Brian: Why?
Sam Seaborn: Because it's next. Because we came out of the cave, and we looked over the hill and we saw fire; and we crossed the ocean and we pioneered the west, and we took to the sky. The history of man is on a timeline of explorations and this is What's next.

Have a great day!!

No 1 of Consequence

Dumb Democrats, failing their base (meaning me), yet again

Look at this nonsense. Joan M. Quigley and Linda Stender, two democrats, assemblywomen from NJ have called for retailers in NJ to boycott Ann Coulter's book. Defacto calling for corporate censorship of someone because they didn't like what she said. I realize that they are trying to generate publicity for themselves by piggybacking on Ann Coulter's publicity, but come on. Can they find a smarter way to do it? Can they rise above the muck and take the high road, please? Saying the book should be banned just drags the debate to Ann Coulter's level and she succeeds because of democratic failure to think strategically. Saying it should be banned gives that hate monger credence because now all that skeleton with bad extensions has to say is, "See, look at the left, they are afraid of my words, my truth (insert propaganda here)." Those two idiots from my home state probably did more for her book sales than they did to hurt them. Once again piss poor democratic strategy hamstringing the entire cause.

As the great Aaron Sorkin wrote in The American President "You want free speech? Let's see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who's standing center stage and advocating, at the top of his lungs, that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours."

I believe in free speech for everyone, not just people that agree with me.

For anyone in our government, Democrat or Republican, to stand up and say that people shouldn't be allowed to say what they want offends me at a core level. Healthy debate on issues is good. Disagree with someone's policy ideas and disgaree with their beliefs, combat them with facts. Saying they shouldn't be allowed to give their opinions is facism and calling for them to be censored by the government or by corporations is just wrong and not what this country is supposed to be about.

Ann Coulter is just an opportunist looking to profit off something republicans care about. She doesn't care about what they care about. She cares about money and fame and will do anything to get either. She is a media whore. Republicans should be ashamed to have her in their corner. Her sort of infantile, "look at me," tantrum style anti-journalism is an embarassment to humanity and drains credibility from their cause. The best way to combat her is to ignore her. You ignore her and all the tantrums become background noise as she fades into the background as a has been know nothing who used to be famous.

Can someone in the democratic party read Macchiavelli or The Art of War before it is too late and Jeb Bush gets elected President of the United States?

No 1 of Consequence

Intelligent Design vs. Evolution

Intelligent Design vs. Evolution

aka

(Creationism) vs. Evolution

aka

The Constitution vs. The Christian Right

Or as Bill O’Reilly would have you believe;

The Secular Progressive Elitist Press vs. All good Reasonable Christian Peoples

Can I get an Oy Vey!

Today a judge in Pennsylvania ruled that teaching creationism would violate the Constitutional separation of church and State. Well duh! Of course it violates the separation of church and State. I am a person of faith. I believe in a higher power, G-d, something greater than ourselves. I also believe in an evolving global/universal ecology based on Einstein and Darwin’s theories. I believe scientific theories should be taught in schools. I believe that religious theories should be taught in the home or in church/synagogue/mosque etc. Or, if you want your children to be taught both sides in school, send them to private religious schools. I have no problem with both sides of coin being taught in religious schools, but religion has no place in democratic/representative government or public education.

They say, “No1!!! You can’t do that!! That’s not possible!!! How can you do that it goes against both theories?!? You heretic!!”

I say, “Bite me… Or, you can listen to what I have to say and either agree or disagree with me.”

Let’s briefly (extremely briefly) define both theories for the purposes of the hypothesis I lay before you.

Creationism, Judeo-Christian origin, as told in the Old Testament, Genesis, G-d created the heaven and the Earth and on the seventh day he rested.

Big Bang/Evolution, infinitely dense singularity in space explodes into an expanding universe. As our sun and earth cool organisms evolve out of some primordial ooze, leading to multi-celled organisms, leading to, leading to, leading to…

Clear? No? Well, me either, but let me try and reconcile the two for you without going into Talmudic commentary or the Vatican Archives.

You have to lose all presumption of the divine. What does this mean? It means you have to reject the possibility that you can understand G-d’s time table versus human perception. If you have a literal interpretation of the bible I just lost you. However, if you don’t, if you think that human understanding is greater now than it has ever been you have to accept the fact that biblical texts may not mean exactly what they did to those who lived when they were written. If the bible was revealed to Moses on Sinai is it reasonable to postulate that G-d, while giving an explanation of things, spoke generically and relatively simply to Moses? I think it is. Is reasonable to presume that we have a true understanding of time as G-d understands? I don’t think so. Therefore, the seven day creation period described in Genesis could very well have taken millions of years as humans understand them. That fits Big Bang/Evolution into Creationism.

Let me see if I can get the scientists to a place where they have to admit that some things are beyond scientific understanding. The Big Bang postulates that an infinitely dense singularity of space and matter exploded at a finite point in time to create our expanding universe as we know it today. My question to you is this; Where did that infinitely dense singularity come from? The answer, obviously, is you don’t know. I don’t know, no one knows where it came from. Therefore, you cannot reject the existence of G-d or a higher intelligence that created that singularity. That my friends, fits Creationism into Big Bang/Evolution.

For those who take the bible word for word literally. I give you the words of the great Aaron Sorkin, from an episode of the West Wing:

President Bartlet (sarcastically): I like how you call homosexuality an abombination.
Jenna Jacobs: I don't say homosexuality is an abomination, Mr. President, the Bible does.
President Bartlet: Yes, it does. Leviticus.
Jenna Jacobs: 18:22.
President Bartlet: Chapter and verse. I wanted to ask you a couple of questions while I have you here. I'm interested in selling my youngest daughter into slavery as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. She's a Georgetown sophmore, speaks fluent Italian, always cleared the table when it was her turn. What would a good price for her be? While thinking about that, can I ask another? My Chief of Staff Leo McGarry insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly says he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself or is it okay to call the police? Here's one that's really important because we've got a lot of sports fans in this town: touching the skin of a dead pig makes one unclean. Leviticus 11:7. If they promise to wear gloves, can the Washington Redskins still play football? Can Notre Dame? Can West Point? Does the whole town really have to be together to stone my brother John for planting different crops side by side? Can I burn my mother in a small family gathering for wearing garments made from two different threads? "Think about that, will you? Oh, and one last thing. You may have mistaken this for your meeting of the ignorant tight-asses club, but in this building when the President stands no one sits."

___________________________________________________

Can’t we agree at this point that literal interpretations of the bible lead to unreasonable behavior by today’s standards and it is only through reason and acceptance of more than one idea that we will have a comprehensive understanding of one another and further advance as a global society?

No matter what you believe though, The Constitution is clear that church and state shall be separate entities and no religious ideology shall be imposed by government institution. Debates like that belong in homes, in the news, in places of worship and here, in the blogosphere, where all minds can be free to express their ideas and be heard.

No1ofConsequence