Ben's World

Yes, it's time for Ben's World to end.

*waits for weeping to subside*

Oops. I meant it's time for Ben's World to end it's stay on Blogspot. From now on, the new home of Ben's World is at http://bensworld.patriotforum.org/ Traves of Right Wingin-it helped me get set up with a new Movable Type blog, so I'm working on making the new Ben's World blow this one right out of the water. Head over there and join me in my new home.

Emperor Darth Misha I has something to say about the filth Air America is spewing and clogging the airwaves with. You'll have to read the whole thing over there, but here's a little bit to whet your appetite...

"To shut off a broadcast that listeners rely on without warning and in the middle of discussions is the height of irresponsibility..."

1) They were two fucking relay stations, numbnuts. Somehow we doubt that pulling the plugs on them affected the continued stream of blather from New York in any shape, form or fashion.

2) We suppose that it would be "the height of irresponsibility" too if somebody were to throw you out of a movie theater in the middle of a movie you hadn't paid to watch as well?

3) Speaking of "height of irresponsibility", you might want to clarify that one a bit. What earth-shattering and devastating effects are those two shutdowns going to have, exactly?

Now, go read. Get to it.

It looks like it's about time to drop another bomb in the waffle arsenal. Just remember, John Kerry shall be reffered to as Waffles. After all, it would be a tragedy to see the White House become the Waffle House. Now, normally, waffles are a good thing. Especially chocolate chip waffles. Or blueberry waffles. Or other kinds of tasty waffles. But not Kerry's waffles. They tend to leave a bad taste in the mouth. So just remember, say no to waffles!!!

John of Castle ARRGGHHH!!! has a counter to the prevalent wussified Metrosexual. Without rambling on any more, I present...the RETROSEXUAL:

Please allow me to vent. I have had it. I've taken all I can stand and I can't stand no more. Every time my TV is on, all that can be seen is effeminate men prancing about, redecorating houses and talking about foreign concepts like "style" and "feng shui." Heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, transsexual, metrosexual, non-sexual; blue, green, and purple-sexual - bogus definitions have taken over the urban and suburban world!
Real men of the world, stand up, scratch your butt, belch, and yell "ENOUGH!" I hereby announce the start of a new offensive in the culture Wars, the Retrosexual movement. "

The Code :

A Retrosexual man, no matter what the women insists, PAYS FOR THE DATE (I have failed this one on occasion).

A Retrosexual man opens doors for a lady. Even for the ones that fit that term only because they are female.

A Retrosexual DEALS with IT, be it a flat tire, break-in into your home, or a natural disaster, you DEAL WITH IT.

A Retrosexual not only eats red meat, he often kills it himself.

A Retrosexual doesn't worry about living to be 90. It's not how long you live, but how well. If you're 90 years old and still smoking cigars and drinking, I salute you. If you are still having sex, you are a God.

A Retrosexual does not use more hair or skin products than a woman. Women have several supermarket aisles of stuff. Retrosexuals need an endcap (possibly 2 endcaps if you include shaving goods.)

A Retrosexual does not dress in clothes from Hot Topic when he's 30 years old.

A Retrosexual should know how to properly kill stuff (or people) if need be. This falls under the "Dealing with IT" portion of The Code.

A Retrosexual watches no TV show with "Queer" in the title.

A Retrosexual does not let neighbors screw up rooms in his house on national TV. (But he will watch others do it!)

A Retrosexual should not give up excessive amounts of manliness for women. Some is inevitable, but major reinvention of yourself will only lead to you becoming a froo-froo little puss, and in the long run, she ain't worth it.

A Retrosexual is allowed to seek professional help for major mental stress such as drug/alcohol addiction, death of your entire family in a freak treechipper accident, favorite sports team being moved to a different city, favorite bird dog expiring, etc. You are NOT allowed to see a shrink because Daddy didn't pay you enough attention. Daddy was busy DEALING WITH IT. When you screwed up, he DEALT with you.

A Retrosexual will have at least one outfit in his wardrobe designed to conceal himself from prey.

A Retrosexual knows how to tie a Windsor knot when wearing a tie -- and ONLY a Windsor knot.

Of course, there's more, but you'll have to visit John to read the rest of it.

Found this one while browsing my blogroll. Enjoy.

Lutheran and Reformed are like Obi-Wan and Darth Vader--they're both really cool and have the Force, but the Reformed have to be all sinister and scary about it. Then people wanted to know what the rest of the sects would be:

The Baptists are Han Solo. They're pretty cool I guess, but no Force powers and lose my interest fast.

Liberals (PCUSA, United Methodists, ELCA) are Jar Jar Binks. They somehow escaped from a cartoon and are in our universe. Go away.

Arminians are C-3P0. I don't think it needs too much explanation.

Charismatics are R2D2. They live in their own universe, no one understands anything they say, and they hang out with the Arminians a lot.

Anglicans are Lando Calrissian. You're not sure whose side they're playing for, but when they get their act together, they usually come out with the good guys.

The Catholics are the Storm Troopers because there are basically eight quadrillion of them, so you really can't ignore them. The Pope is the Emperor.

The Orthodox are the Ewoks. They're really weird and do weird things, no one really knows much about them, but you gotta love 'em because those hats are just so cute. And the Storm Troopers tried to kill them once.

Oh yeah...and the megachurches are the Trade Federation from Episode I. They're huge, there are a lot of them, but man, they're just not that cool and you wonder why they even got written into the plot at all because the Storm Troopers are way cooler.

Televangelism is Jabba the Hutt.

I totally forgot the Independent Fundamental Born-Again Separated KJV-Only Baptists. They can be that sleazy little flying alien running the used podracer parts shop in Episode I. I can't stand that guy. Or better yet, Anakin Skywalker from the same movie. Eh, just make any of the annoying characters (other than Jar Jar) the Fundies.

This one comes courtesy of St. Stephen's Musings.

By now, I'm sure that everyone's had a chance to mull over the President's remarks last night. Now ask yourself one thing: is this the man to spearhead the war on terror?

If so, consider volunteering or donating to the President's re-election campaign. While you're at it, take a look at some of the other Wictory Wednesday blogs out there. Just click on the button in the sidebar. Get to it.

After all the entries were submitted, all the liberal bullshit had been spewed, and all the laughter was over, there could be only one. Yes, I am the winner of the very first "Dude, Where's My Brain?" contest sponsored by Traves of Right Wingin-it. You can read the official declaration here, but why would I lie to my own adoring courtiers here, in my own palace? Hell, I wouldn't even lie to the official Court Troll about it. Anyway, I'd like for my loyal followers (the ones with blogs, anyway) to scour the internet for the most ridiculous statements made by the Loony Left and submit them for the next round of the contest. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, after all, and I do happen to like flattery. Get to it.

In the Federalist newsletter for today, I came across this interesting quote:

How can there possibly be liberty and justice for all, when, in the name of justice, people claim rights to income, food, housing, education, health care, transportation, ad infinitum? We can't. Positive rights to receive such things, absent an obligation to earn them, must violate others' liberty, by taking some of their income without their consent. They are really just wishes, convertible into benefits for some only by employing the government to violate others' rights not to have what is theirs taken.
Pepperdine Professor Gary Galles

This is quite similar to what I've said before. Our belief in a set of inalienable rights is grounded in Lockean philosophy, which has as its cornerstone the sanctity of private property. Locke believed that any rational person will concede the point that a person has a property in themselves, and thus have rights to those things necessary to support their continued existence (air, water, etc.). Derived from that, they have a right to the product of their labors, be it property or wages. A system of government which exists to confiscate property in order to redistribute it to some is in systematic violation of the Lockean system of rights upon which our country is predicated. This is not to say that the citizen has no obligations to the state; citizens are responsible for contributing to the maintenance of a military, police, etc., and must pay taxes in order to do so. However, when government takes as its purpose not the general welfare (meaning those things which benefit all) but takes on initiatives which only benefit a few, at the expense of others, there is a problem. Some will say, "But what about the poor?" However, it is not the government's place to take responsibility for the poor. That is properly the role of the Church, a role it has largely abdicated in the wake of government assumption of that responsibility. It is the specific charge of the Church to feed the hungry, clothe the poor, and tend to the sick, not the state's. It is time for us to collectively resume that mantle of responsibility.

"Christ is Risen from the dead! Christ is Risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!"

St. John Chrysostom's Paschal Homily:

If any man be devout and love God, let him enjoy this fair and radiant triumphal feast. If any man be a wise servant, let him rejoicing enter into the joy of his Lord. If any have labored long in fasting, let him now receive his recompense. If any have wrought from the first hour, let him today receive his just reward. If any have come at the third hour, let him with thankfulness keep the feast. If any have arrived at the sixth hour, let him have no misgivings; because he shall in nowise be deprived therefor. If any have delayed until the ninth hour, let him draw near, fearing nothing. If any have tarried even until the eleventh hour, let him, also, be not alarmed at his tardiness; for the Lord, who is jealous of his honor, will accept the last even as the first; he gives rest unto him who comes at the eleventh hour, even as unto him who has wrought from the first hour.

And he shows mercy upon the last, and cares for the first; and to the one he gives, and upon the other he bestows gifts. And he both accepts the deeds, and welcomes the intention, and honors the acts and praises the offering. Wherefore, enter you all into the joy of your Lord; and receive your reward, both the first, and likewise the second. You rich and poor together, hold high festival. You sober and you heedless, honor the day. Rejoice today, both you who have fasted and you who have disregarded the fast. The table is full-laden; feast ye all sumptuously. The calf is fatted; let no one go hungry away.

Enjoy ye all the feast of faith: Receive ye all the riches of loving-kindness. let no one bewail his poverty, for the universal kingdom has been revealed. Let no one weep for his iniquities, for pardon has shown forth from the grave. Let no one fear death, for the Savior's death has set us free. He that was held prisoner of it has annihilated it. By descending into Hell, He made Hell captive. He embittered it when it tasted of His flesh. And Isaiah, foretelling this, did cry: Hell, said he, was embittered, when it encountered Thee in the lower regions. It was embittered, for it was abolished. It was embittered, for it was mocked. It was embittered, for it was slain. It was embittered, for it was overthrown. It was embittered, for it was fettered in chains. It took a body, and met God face to face. It took earth, and encountered Heaven. It took that which was seen, and fell upon the unseen.

O Death, where is your sting? O Hell, where is your victory? Christ is risen, and you are overthrown. Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen. Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice. Christ is risen, and life reigns. Christ is risen, and not one dead remains in the grave. For Christ, being risen from the dead, is become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. To Him be glory and dominion unto ages of ages. Amen.

May everyone have a blessed Pascha as they celebrate the Resurrection of our Jesus Christ, our Lord, Savior,and God.

It looks like Mexico's upset about the upcoming movie about the Alamo. I didn't realize that the all-important Mexico City demographic was figuring so prominently into things.

Well, the Waffles campaign is well under way. As of this post, John "Waffles" Kerry is second on the list of results at Yahoo! On AltaVista, he's #6, #46 on Dogpile, and #6 on Lycos. Keep up the good work everyone, and thanks to Esoteric Diatribe for starting this up.

:: how jedi are you? ::

For once I'm not Celes. Of course, that's because I deliberately put Edgar answers :)

Victor Davis Hanson, an author who I've recently discovered (somewhat late as it were) has a new column up at NRO.

Looking for exact professed cooperation between an Islamic fascist and the rogue regime that finds such anti-Western violence useful is like proving that Mussolini, Tojo, and Hitler all coordinated their attacks and worked in some conspiratorial fashion — when in fact Japan had no knowledge of the invasion of Russia, and Hitler had no warning of Pearl Harbor or Mussolini's invasion of Greece.

In fact, it didn't matter that they were united only by a loose and shared hatred of Western liberalism and emboldened by a decade of democratic appeasement. And our fathers, perhaps better men than we, didn't care too much for beating their breasts about the exact nature of collective Axis strategy or blaming each other for past lapses, but instead went to pretty terrible places like Bastogne, Anzio, and Okinawa to put an end to their enemies all.

Now, in the middle of this terrible conflict, unlike the postbellum inquiry after Pearl Harbor, we are holding acrimonious hearings about culpability for September 11. And here the story gets even more depressing than just political opportunism and election-year timing. After eight years of appeasement that saw repeated attacks on Americans, Pakistani acquisition of nuclear weapons under Dr. Khan, and Osama's 1998 declaration of war against every American, we are suddenly grilling, of all people, Condoleezza Rice — one of the few key advisers most to be credited for insisting on using our military, rather than the local DA, to defeat these fanatics.

Get over there and read the whole thing. Then, go grab one of his books and start reading. I'd like to suggest Carnage and Culture, the one I'm currently reading.

John "Waffles" Kerry has been making pronouncments about the economy for some time now, and while many of them sound quite promising on their face, they don't bear up to scrutiny. For example, let's look at his recent claims that he'll create 10 million new jobs in the first term of a Kerry Administration. Currently, we only have approximately 8 million or so unemployed in the labor pool. Given that 95% employment is considered full employment by nearly all economists, that works out to 7.6 million people employed to reach full employment, something that has never occured in the history of the country. That raises an obvious question: how does Kerry intend to create millions more jobs than there are workers, when that's never been done in history? While you're trying to come up with an answer, chew on this. Kerry also wants to repeal the Bush tax cuts. This would once again dramatically increase the taxes paid by the upper class. Although that might sound good to some, less money in the pockets of the class that invests most means businesses have less capital to work with. That means that fewer jobs will be created, businesses will find it harder to expand production, etc. This will actually result in a decrease in the number of available jobs. Yet another waffle here. Kerry can have it one way or the other, but not both (and possibly neither if he tries to go for the 10 million jobs goal). While we're at it, let's look at the recent employment numbers. 308,000 new jobs were created last month, which was approximately triple what was expected. Good news, right? Not according to Kerry. Running out of things to attack in Bush's economic policy, he lashed out against the lack of manufacturing jobs being created. This raises concerns about Kerry's grasp of economic realities. America has, for the most part, moved past a manufacturing economy, just as it moved beyond an agricultural economy before that. One of the fundamental truths regarding capitalism is that it is in a constant state of flux, and the only way to have a healthy economy in that arena is to constantly stay abreast of change. Kerry's complaints about manufacturing jobs are on a level with a 19th century politician complaining about the lack of agricultural jobs in the midst of the Industrial Revolution. Our economy isn't based on that anymore and it's foolish to attempt to live in the past. All things considered, John "Waffles" Kerry doesn't understand the basic principles of how our economy works, yet thinks he's qualified to dictate economic policy. He's yet another career politician who thinks Washington experience translates into a grasp of how things work in the real world. For all his other faults, Bush at least has had experience in the business world, which he brings to his political outlook. For our economic recovery to continue, it is important that Kerry's ideas, as well as the candidate himself, be repudiated at the polls in November.

Earlier today, I received unsolicited spam (isn't that redundant?) in my e-mail from someone claiming that US forces are slaughtering Iraqi civilians in Iraq, 10,000 of them, to be precise. In that e-mail was a link to www.iraqbodycount.net, a site which claims to keep accurate statistics of the number of civilians "murdered" by American soldiers. However, what these people don't tell you is that their statistics are deliberately skewed in order to villify American troops. First, many of the dead Iraqi civilians are actually members of the Iraqi civil police force, whom are technically classified as civilians. What you're not being told by organizations such as these is that Iraqis such as these are calculated into the figures of dead at American hands, when they were actually killed by insurgents within Iraq. Second, many of the insurgents in Iraq are unlawful combatants and are technically considered civilians, as well. However, once again, this fact is not mentioned in order to convey the impression that rather than insurgents and terrorists being killed, it is innocent women, children, and elderly citizens who are dying. This organization cannot be trusted, as they are deliberately misrepresenting the facts in order to generate anti-American and anti-Administration sentiment.

Yup, it's that time of the week again. Get involved with the President's re-election campaign by volunteering or donating, and visit the other Wictory Wednesday bloggers.

"Reflecting the views and values of everyday Arkansans."

Yup. That's the new slogan of the Republican Party of Arkansas and I just used it, as instructed by the boss himself, Lt. Governor Win Rockefeller. Okay, my work is done for the day.

Although I previously called for Kerry's excommunication, it seems that may not be necessary. From recent news, he has apparently already excommunicated himself, through allegiance to a rival to the Pope. In a statement earlier today, Kerry said,

"I'm not a church spokesman. I'm a legislator running for president. My oath is to uphold the Constitution of the United States in my public life. My oath privately between me and God was defined in the Catholic church by Pius XXIII and Pope Paul VI in the Vatican II, which allows for freedom of conscience for Catholics with respect to these choices, and that is exactly where I am. And it is separate. Our constitution separates church and state, and they should be reminded of that." (text from Pravda on the Hudson)

The only problem is that there was no Pius XXIII, at least, not according to the vast majority of Roman Catholics and the College of Cardinals. According to a small group, however, some of the most recent Popes have in reality been pretenders to the throne, so to speak. These dissenters, known as Sedevacantists (from the Latin sede vacante, meaning "the seat is vacant"), claim that there has been no true Pope since before Vatican II and that the Second Vatican Council is not valid. The current Pope of the "True Catholic Church," however, is known as Pope Pius XXIII.

This raises an interesting paradox for Kerry. He apparently acknowledges a Sedevacantist Pope, but also acknowledges the authority of Vatican II, having referred to it in his statement. Unfortunately for Kerry, the Sedevacantists reject Vatican II, rather than embracing it. Although Kerry has flip-flopped quite frequently, doing it in one sentence is remarkable even by his standards. Inconsistencies like this are yet more examples of why Kerry is not fit to be President.

***UPDATE***
Oops! Pius XIII, not Pius XXIII is the Sedevacantist Pope. Since I'd read the stuff about the Sedevacantists before, I didn't double-check things as thoroughly as I should have. A quick Google for Pius XXIII will turn up results, but the text of the articles will actually refer to Pius XIII as the Sedevacantist Pope. That was a complete error on my part and I take full responsibility for that mistake. Bryon, that one was my fault because I pointed you in that direction in the first place. Sorry.