I took the day off today. Partly to rest, but mostly to spend some time cleaning my apartment. I've been rather neglectful for some time. And one of the things I really wanted to take care of was all my loose change. I've been accumulating bags and bowls and jars of change. Today was the day to deal with them.
A supermarket three blocks away has a Coinstar machine. A simple plan.
My first try failed. I piled all the coins into a large canvas bag, but couldn't carry it. Too heavy. So I made two trips.
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Clearly, I had too many coins scattered about. And I have enough left over for a third bag. Notice that I paid $90 in fees to get those coins sorted. It was worth it.
Did anyone else see the bizarre hate-mongering event that some of the Republican presidential candidates attended? Candidates on stage included Mike Huckabee, Tom Tancredo, Alan Keyes (who in their right mind gets on stage with Alan Keyes?), Duncan Hunter, John Cox and Ron Paul. To his credit, Paul did taunt the audience with some facts, "[Islamic extremists] come here and kill us because we occupy their lands," but the others were firmly in some bizarre reality.
Tom Tancredo warned that the country is "just one kooky judge away from having homosexual marriage forced on the rest of us." Huckabee claimed, "It's a theological war. It's not politically correct to say that. It's just the truth."
This kind of bald-faced pandering should immediately disqualify any candidate. But in the frightening corners of the United States where religious extremism is the norm, such statements bring hearty applause.
Make no mistake: these people are the American Taliban. They react so strongly to the handful of radical Islamists who wish us harm because they see themselves in these people, like looking in the mirror. Should there be any doubt that this hateful, radical Christians want to destroy the United States as much as any radical Islamist, take a look this "Values Voter" debate's opening ceremony. The "Values Voters" re-wrote Irving Berlin's "God Bless America" to become a condemnation of the United States, making perfectly clear what their values are: hate.
Why should God bless America? She’s forgotten he exists And has turned her back On everything that made her what she is Why should God stand beside her Through the night with the light from his hand? God have mercy on America Forgive her sin and heal our land The courts ruled prayer out of our schools In June of '62 Told the children "you are your own God now So you can make the rules" O say can you see what that choice Has cost us to this day America, one nation under God, has gone astray Why should God bless America? Shes’s forgotten he exists And has turned her back on everything That made her what she is Why should God stand beside her Through the night with the light from his hand? God have mercy on America Forgive her sins and heal our land In ‘73 the Courts said we Could take the unborn lives The choice is yours don’t worry now It’s not a wrong, it’s your right But just because they made it law Does not change God’s command The most that we can hope for is God’s mercy on our land Why should God bless America? She’s forgotten he exists And has turned her back on everything That made her what she is Why should God stand beside her Through the night with the light from his hand? God have mercy on America Forgive her sins and heal our land Of my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land God have mercy on America forgive her sins and heal our land
