Sunday Funnies

Education in Texas: A Fairy Tale

Quote from Texas Governor Rick Perry, from a recent interview in the San Angelo Standard Times.

"I am a firm believer in intelligent design as a matter of faith and intellect, and I believe it should be presented in schools alongside the theories of evolution. The State Board of Education has been charged with the task of adopting curriculum requirements for Texas public schools and recently adopted guidelines that call for the examination of all sides of a scientific theory, which will encourage critical thinking in our students, an essential learning skill."

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This is not conservatism. Neither Dwight Eisenhower, Barry Goldwater, nor even Ronald Reagan or Gerald Ford would recognize what the Grand Old Party has become. This is radical extremism cloaked in Republican clothing, practicing scientific denialism and historical revisionism on a grand scale, and this is the reason the Republican party has lost me... probably for good.

You can’t burn a Qur’an or a Bible in South Africa

On Friday, September 10, a South African high court banned a Muslim activist from organizing a “Bible burning day” at the Library Gardens in Jo-burg on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. The event was meant to be a response to the planned Qur’an burning in Florida by bigoted hatemonger and faux Christian, Terry Jones.

The interesting thing is that the suit was filed, not by any Christian organization, but by an Islamic intellectual organization known as the Scholars of Truth.

Read the whole story HERE.

All of this raises an interesting question. In the article we learn that after the verdict had been reached plaintiff representative Zehir Omar said, “I’m very pleased the judge came to this decision. Not only did he ban this protest but he also banned other people from burning the Bible… Judge Kolbe ruled that freedom of expression is not unlimited if one exercises freedom of expression that is harmful to others…. We now hope American judges will see this decision and act accordingly by banning the burning of the Qur’an in America.”

Hmmm. Interesting observation, and I’m sure there are many who would love to squash the good reverend Jones under the heel of government, just as I’m certain that a sizable segment of the population would love it if somehow or another “the authorities” would step in and save Ground Zero from the threat of an Islamic center in the neighborhood.

Mr. Omar likely has no knowledge of our form of government. I certainly have no knowledge of South African laws, but I know full well that the burning of a Qur’an or a Bible or an American flag in this country is protected free expression under the First Amendment as much as the loons protesting the Islamic center in Manhattan are protected.

The fact that the laws of South Africa allow for this kind of prohibition makes me all the more aware of my pride in the fact that the laws of this land do not.

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Monday Music

Just exactly when the Allen Price Rhythm & Blues Como was first founded is a matter of conjecture. Price himself will tell you he started his first band at age 16, in 1958, although the real R&B band probably didn’t emerge until four years later.

Price was a self-taught musician who began by playing on the old family piano at age seven. By the time he was in his early teens he could play the piano, organ, guitar and bass with equal talent. Price’s first band was influenced by the skiffle craze that was the thing in England in the 1950s, but later moved to the rock & roll after becoming infatuated with Jerry Lee Lewis.

For us Americans the only reason we might take notice of Allen Price and his band is that it was the foundation for one of the most influential British invasion bands of the 60’s. It was in 1962 when Hall of Fame rocker Eric Burdon met and joined up with Price, and the same year that the band changed their name to… The Animals.

It was in the gritty Downbeat Club in Newcastle where Eric Burdon first belted out his signature stuff. Over a brief period of time Burdon took over the band. Price moved to keyboards and Burdon became lead singer and front man. Good for us, because the Animals, with Burdon singing and Price on the keyboards, went on to produce one of the most iconic tunes of the era.

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Sunday Funnies

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