Last night, I went to a play of Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol that was performed by a local theatre company. I was really moved by the production. Though I'd heard the story many times before, this time I was struck by Scrooge's lovelessness. His alienation from humanity began when we loved money more than his fiancee. Perhaps what emphasized this more than in previous years was the following quote that was printed on the program guide. The actor who has played Scrooge for over 20 years announced his engagement in the program guide, using this quote:

There is no safe investment. To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket — safe, dark, motionless, airless — it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell.I believe that the most lawless and inordinate loves are less contrary to God’s will than a self-invited and self-protective lovelessness…We shall draw nearer to God, not by trying to avoid the sufferings inherent in all loves, but by accepting them and offering them to Him; throwing away all defensive armour. If our hearts need to be broken, and if He chooses this as a way in which they should break, so be it.What I know about love and believe about love and giving ones heart began in this. - C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

If you are like me, you often make music compliations for various events: vacations, friends, and the occasional holiday mix. For Thanksgiving, I've usually just played "Alice's Restaurant" by Arlo Gutherie and called it a holiday. This year, NPR has put together a fine Thanksgiving's Day mix.

Songs For Stuffing: A Thanksgiving Mix.

I'm looking forward to listening to it myself.

Have a happy Thanksgiving!

From the wonders of Facebook, an article in the current issue of the Utne Reader has given me new hope of finding more common ground between the liberal and conservative camps. I have long been frustrated by conversations that I have with my dad. Even though we come from similar background and principals, we find ourselves far afield in the political spectrum.

The article states there are multiple moral impulses, some of which are more likely to be found in conservative beliefs, other are more common in liberal beliefs. Essentially, all of these are necessary to a fully functioning society, but each group of people value one set over another and is the source for the disagreements that play out in politics.

It's a short read and well worth it. I find it helpful to remind me that those I oppose are not necessarily ignorant or unfeeling, but that they are acting morally. An interesting subtext in the article is how some of the differences are based in class distinctions, which seems to be a blind spot in liberal academic theories. There also seems to be an assumption that liberals are inclined to be atheists, but that's a topic for a later post.

So, take a read.
http://www.utne.com/Politics/Liberals-Arent-Un-American-Conservatives-Arent-Ignorant.aspx

It's all over the internet today that Disney has bought Marvel Entertainment, which includes Marvel Comics. The fanboys are in a tizzy.

Just to get them out of my system, here are some of Disney\Marvel synergies I hope develop out of this deal:

1. Punisher \ Mickey Mouse crossover. I know that Punisher already had to deal with Archie and the Riverdale gang, but this just has to happen.

2. The Incredibles Vs. the Fantastic Four. I mean, c'mon, most of the Incredibles' powers are a rip off of the Fantastic Four anyway. Invisibility, the ability to stretch, a big strong guy, and a kid that catches on fire. Hell, if it wasn't for the super fast kid, they'd be carbon copies.

3. The Nutty Professor in Marvel continuity. Oh, for one superhero who's powers are based on flubber. Wait, the character is owned by Universal? Really? Damn. Fine, the dad from Honey I Shrunk the Kids, then.

4. Goofy Vs. Dr. Doom. Actually, there's no crossover potential here, just want to see Goofy get whacked.

5. Chip N Dale and Squirrel Girl porn. Disney isn't as pure at heart as you might think.

6. Namor vs. the Little Mermaid. There can be only one Atlantis....

7. The Runaways on the Disney channel. Oh, for a mind controlled velociraptor to be let loose on the set of Miley Cyrus' new tv show....

8. The Bambi movie in Marvel Zombies. Maybe now people would want his mom to be shot.

9. Animal vs. the Hulk. That's right, Disney owns the Muppets. Oh, the beautiful, beautiful carnage.

10. Winnie the Pooh and Tony Stark going on a bender. Honey and booze. They could both get drunk on mead. They also both seem to be fond of pots, be they honey pots or Pepper Potts.

My friend Sarah forwarded this response to my last blog post. Really, Monty Python does say it best.

This was posted on fark.com by someone calling themselves Ozone, and I intend to use it the next time some tries to scare me with government interventionist propaganda.

"This morning I was awoken by my alarm clock powered by electricity generated by the public power monopoly regulated by the U.S. Department of Energy.

I then took a shower in the clean water provided by a municipal water utility.

After that, I turned on the TV to one of the FCC-regulated channels to see what the National Weather Service of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration determined the weather was going to be like, using satellites designed, built, and launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

I watched this while eating my breakfast of U.S. Department of Agriculture-inspected food and taking the drugs which have been determined as safe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

At the appropriate time, as regulated by the U.S. Congress and kept accurate by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the U.S. Naval Observatory, I get into my National Highway Traffic Safety Administration-approved automobile and set out to work on the roads build by the local, state, and federal Departments of Transportation, possibly stopping to purchase additional fuel of a quality level determined by the Environmental Protection Agency, using legal tender issued by the Federal Reserve Bank.

On the way out the door I deposit any mail I have to be sent out via the U.S. Postal Service and drop the kids off at the public school.

After spending another day not being maimed or killed at work thanks to the workplace regulations imposed by the Department of Labor and the Occupational Safety and Health administration, enjoying another two meals which again do not kill me because of the USDA, I drive my NHTSA car back home on the DOT roads, to my house which has not burned down in my absence because of the state and local building codes and Fire Marshal's inspection, and which has not been plundered of all its valuables thanks to the local police department.

And then I log on to the internet -- which was developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration -- and post on Freerepublic.com and Fox News forums about how SOCIALISM in medicine is BAD because the government can't do anything right."

original source here.

Thank you ozone.