Category: News & Pop Culture

A Fat Rant

A Fat Rant.

A family friend seems to be making it pretty big on YouTube. Joy Nash was interviewed on Entertainment Tonight for her YouTube video, Fat Rant. Over 775,000 views. Not bad.
From my mom:

Have you seen the video on the web called Fat Rant? It has created quite a stir. The creator and star in it happens to be Joy Nash. Do you remember her. Perhaps you were too young when they moved to California. Anyway, her dad was best man in our wedding. We were watching Entertainment Tonight last night, and they showed part of the video and interviewed her. Almost at the end it hit me….Joy Nash…..could it be? I hadn’t seen her in years (she was just a little girl when they moved), but she was the right age for the Joy I knew and looked like pictures I’d seen. Fred called John, her dad, and sure enough, it was her.

Checked out her website, and this is actually how I remember her (I think we might have even had this pic on our fridge at one point):

Dr K freed from jail

Jack Kevorkian aka Dr Death, claims that he participated in at least 130 assisted suicides. He’s been in prison for the last eight years and was released today, still believing people have the right to die.
I read elsewhere that he’ll still fight for the right to die, but legally. We’ll wait and see.

Tequilla prices on the rise too


As reported yesterday, German beer prices are on the rise as more German farmers are growing biofuel crops rather than barley and hops.
Last night my dad told me that Paul Harvey reported that Mexican farmers are burning their blue agave, which is used for tequila, in order to keep up with US demand for corn/ethanol.
(interesting sidenote on the generation gap – I go to the web and blogs for my news, my dad gets most of his from Paul Harvey)
From Treehugger/Reuters:

The switch to corn will contribute to an expected scarcity of agave in coming years, with officials predicting that farmers will plant between 25 percent and 35 percent less agave this year to turn the land over to corn. “Those growers are going after what pays best now,” said Ismael Vicente Ramirez, head of agriculture at Mexico’s Tequila Regulatory Council….
Many growers have started to abandon the crop in favor of corn, whose price has rocketed in line with massive growth in U.S. demand for ethanol after President Bush outlined targets last year to use the corn-based fuel as a gasoline alternative.

All this talk of ethanol reminds me of a great episode from the West Wing – “King Corn.” Mmm the West Wing. Can television get any better?
With all the rush to make alternative fuels – why don’t we just burn beer and tequila in our cars ;-)?
I had a friend use everclear in his motorcycle once. He was short on gas money. He said it ran amazing for two full days. Even shot fire out the tailpipe when he accelerated fast.
The downside was it ran so clean and hot that it froze his entire engine up by the end of the second day.

Check MSNBC for more coverage

Chuck Swindoll dropped from Radio Network


Pastor Chuck Swindoll and his radio program, Insight for Living has been dropped from the VCY Radio Network (never heard of them) for crude language.

According to the press release from VCY Radio Network, Swindoll has used a number of bad words since 2000 (yes, apparently they’ve been keeping a tally for 7 years now): buns, heck, crap and balls. They also said he mentioned and encouraged the viewing of — get ready for it….. “The Lion King.” (gasps, screams, a woman just passed out in the back!)

From the VCY press release:

The decision to bring termination to the IFL program arrived on March 5, 2007. VCY and listeners were highly offended by Chuck Swindoll’s use of crude and uncalled for language. His message was entitled, “Male Leadership 101″ which was a presentation given to men at his church. Although a disclaimer was given at the beginning of the program, Swindoll had a sustained laugh as he stated had he known this would be on radio at the time of speaking he probably would have changed things around because he tends to be “a little loose and a little free.” But he says he found “people appreciate that”. The specific area of offense came when Chuck stated:

“The sons of Issachar understood their times, they were men who had discernment and the sons of Issachar were men who had direction. They could make decisions. They saw through all the fluff of that culture. They stood strong when others were fading in the shadows. Patton would say they had guts. You’d say at work, they had balls. Or maybe that’s a Greek rendering of another verse.” (Laughter)…

Knowing this was Part 1 of a message, VCY pre-listened to the March 6, 2007 broadcast. In this message Chuck Swindoll addressed accountability, sensitivity, purity and integrity. These virtues were compromised when he spoke the following:

“The battle still goes on. It will never end. In fact I had my physical the other day and Cooper who has a finger that long (pause and lots of laughter), that long (continued laughter). And while he was up in there said, ‘Now that’s your prostate.’ I said (Swindoll yells) — ‘I know that’. Was this anatomy class? (Laughter). He’s a very sick man. (Laughter). Got through prostate, checked out great. I bragged about that to Cynthia about three hours. ‘I’ve got a great prostate.’ She said, ‘get a life, honey.'” (Laughter)

VCY finds it unacceptable to broadcast Chuck Swindoll’s re-counting of the length of the finger of his doctor and describing it in his body while checking his prostate. This is both crude and offensive.

It is VCY’s position that this language is gutter talk, is crude, and vulgar. VCY stated to IFL that such language is uncalled for, is unbecoming a pastor, and is inappropriate for our listeners.

Read the full press release.

And of course you know out in the blogosphere there are great responses to the announcement from VCY. From Verum Serum:

It is such a relief to know that Ingrid and the rest of the gang over at Slice (along with the others in the watchdoggie litter) are there defending the faith from the dark machinations of the Evil One who has perverted one of the longest running Christian teaching programs in America. To be sure that we get the salient points and to be sure that we are all on the right judgmental spiritual page, here’s what we have learned:

1) Commonly used social colloquialisms and slang are to be avoided at all costs, and to fail to do so draws into question the amount of Godliness within one’s soul.
2) Discussing the physical realities of life (such as medical examinations) is off limits, especially if it is done in a light and humorous manner.
3) Never, never, EVER expose yourself or your children to any sort of stories or fairytale involving magic, magical lands, magical/talking animals, etc. Magic is always evil, no matter what, so anything that tries to portray it in any other light is anathema and must be shunned and/or stoned and/or burned at the stake of heresy.
4) Words like “heck,” “darn,” “shoot,” “crap,” “dang it,” “darn it,” “dang nabbit,” and the like are all suger-coated cuss words to be avoided at all costs.
5) A literal belief in six 24 hour days of creation is ESSENTIAL for a proper understanding of the Christian faith and thus for salvation. Any other belief/interpretation is heresy and should be treated as such.
6) The consumption of any food or drink that the world seems to approve of is to be avoided. In the case of alcohol, anyone who drinks it has allied themselves with the world and the prince of this world (the Devil). The consumption of alcohol is grounds for immediate condemnation to the bowels of hell. In fact, doing anything for fun and/or pleasure that is also done by the world must be avoided. Besides drinking alcohol, the list would include: eating chocolate (or any sort of food with a pleasant flavor), listening to music (even hymns), dressing in anything but sack cloth (longs skirts for women and suites and ties for men stimulate feelings of pleasure at one’s appearance, which is sinful, besides the fact that such articles of clothing have been conceived by and created by nonbelievers in the world), reading (even the Bible, since reading anything but Leviticus can lend itself to an enjoyable passing of time while one reads about the movement of God in the history of the world), watching movies (even G rated movies, since again they have been developed by nonbelievers and are thus tainted by the impurity of their thoughts and actions), etc.
7) Any reference to any male or female anatomy located below the shoulders and above the knees is to be avoided, lest it stimulate carnal and/or otherwise inappropriate thoughts. Besides the obvious ones, the following words should also be avoided: chest, bosom, breast, crotch, groin, thigh, derriere, bottom, rump, butt, buns, bum, and arse.

Be sure and read the full version.

About VCY Network:

The VCY America radio network is a satellite distributed full-service program schedule consisting of Bible teaching programs, live call-in programs on issues of concern to the Christian community, news and commentary, programs reaching children with the Gospel, and conservative, uplifting Christian music. Programs are selected for their ministry value and their biblical content, rather than financial considerations. There are currently twelve VCY-owned stations across the midwest on this network, plus others that take our programming for a number of hours each day, some of them full-time.

Falwell vs. Warren

The NY Times has an interesting piece today comparing the late Rev. Jerry Falwell with Rev. Rick Warren.

The evangelical Christian movement, which has been pivotal in reshaping the country’s political landscape since the 1980s, has shifted in potentially momentous ways in recent years, broadening its agenda and exposing new fissures.
The death of the Rev. Jerry Falwell last week highlighted the fact that many of the movement’s fiery old guard who helped lead conservative Christians into the embrace of the Republican Party are aging and slowly receding from the scene. In their stead, a new generation of leaders who have mostly avoided the openly partisan and confrontational approach of their forebears have become increasingly influential….
Gabe Lyons, 32, is emblematic of the transformation among many younger evangelicals. He grew up in Lynchburg, Va., attending Mr. Falwell’s church. But he has shied away from politics. Instead, he heads the Fermi Project, a loose “collective” dedicated to teaching evangelicals to shape culture through other means, including media and the arts.
“I believe politics just isn’t as important to younger evangelicals as it has been for the older generations because we recognize from experience that politics does not shape the morality of a culture,” he said. “It simply reflects what the larger culture wants.”

And here’s an interesting article I found by Rick Warren on his personal website…

The Church – the greatest force on Earth
The Church is everywhere in the world.
There are villages that have little else,
but they do have a church.
Rick Warren
The Church is the most magnificent concept ever created. It has survived persistent abuse, horrifying persecution, and widespread neglect. Yet despite its faults (due to our sinfulness), it is still God’s chosen instrument of blessing and has been for 2,000 years.
The Church will last for eternity, and because it is God’s instrument for ministry here on Earth, it is truly the greatest force on the face of the Earth. That’s why I believe tackling the world’s biggest problems – the giants of spiritual lostness, egocentric leadership, poverty, disease, and ignorance – can only be done through the Church.
The Church has eight distinct advantages over the efforts of business and government:

  • 1. The Church provides for the largest participation.
  • 2. The Church provides for the widest distribution.
  • 3. The Church provides the longest continuation.
  • 4. The Church provides the fastest expansion.
  • 5. The Church provides the highest motivation.
  • 6. The Church provides the strongest authorization
  • 7. The Church provides the simplest administration.
  • 8. The Church provides for God’s conclusion.


Read more
This article gets me fired up for ministry. It makes me want to get involved full-time. Yet shouldn’t I be doing that regardless? Whether I’m working at a church, para-church organization or the city dump?

Branch Davidians believe TTC new government conspiracy

The famed Branch Davidians, known for their 1993 standoff with the Feds outside Waco, are taking up a new battle against the Texas Department of Transportation.
The Davidians see the Trans Texas Highway as a governmental conspiracy, with the planned super-highway running right over the middle of their Mount Caramel.
The property is right in the middle of the TTC 10-mile study area.

“It’ll go right through our buildings, where we live, right through this place I am standing – going to be a swath right through on this corner that runs right through our wellness center, our museum and even our cemetery,” Charlie Pace, the groups new leader said. “It is going to miss that neighbor’s house over here and that neighbor’s house over there. I think that is pretty strategic.”
“This is where the Lord puts the end to it,” he said. “God is going to judge this nation once and for all. And this is where the judgment begins, right here. We were judged here; the government is going to be judged here. That’s what God is saying.”

Listen to the story from NPR’s All Things Considered.