So, what's on your minds today? - 02 July 2007

I’ll stick this up high where people can see it - I’m thinking I want to go to the Video Games Live concert in Dertroit in four days. Assuming they’re not sold out, is anyone else going that I can meet up with and converse and possibly play silly things with, if they brought the entire entourage? It’d be a nice way of enjoying an evening.

That also said, my yearly annoyance at my date of birth is fast arriving. Simply because it’s rather difficult to find anybody in the area to celebrate on the day. Maybe I should push the celebration to the weekend, then, and see if I can’t get a couple more people. If I can get any. So, the other part of this is, if you’re in my area from about Wednesday on, and you want to help celebrate my birthday, then drop me a line.

Today was spent playing some part of Nethack. After several quick deaths, I managed to get a game going that I was able to explore all the of the Gnomish Mines with (helps not having the residents attack you as well as the monsters) and reach the Sokoban level (where I realized rather quickly that I suck at Sokoban.) It was an okay game, all told, as the Mine town altar wasn’t aligned with me, I got poymorphed into a leprechaun and live to tell the tale, and it probably only really came about because I found an most excellent +3 suit of Dwarven mail that stuck my armor class in the negative. When all was said and done, an electric vortex zapped me into nothingness. Score was a little over twenty thousand, so for a beginner, it was a reasonable game. However, how easily a game can go pear-shaped is a serious aggravation, not to mention that finding food when your pet is alive can be difficult (and none of the Mine Town stores sold food, so I couldn’t stock up). I think my biggest problem with the game is that identification of objects is a crapshoot. You either take a chance that something’s going to hurt you and try it, or you have a lot of cool stuff that needs a scroll of identification. Which, if nobody’s selling scrolls, means you have to hold your nose and try some scrolls to see if you can find the right one. Anyway. all of that was an explanation of how much Nethack can be intentionally evil to you, yet still addictive, even to a casual player such as myself. So it’s probably wise to keep me well away from it until I learn patience or find a system that works. Not that any system actually works-works.

Enough of Nethack-speak (I’ll probably change over to some other game, once I get re-set on actually wanting to play some different games. I should really be spending time on Final Fantasy XII, honestly.), it’s time for links.

Be careful of drunk driving violations in Virginia - they're going to get very expensive. To the tune of $3,000 U.S. or more, when the fine, the court costs, and the additional civil penalties are all assessed.

"Veggie Booty"-branded snacks are being recalled in total. The packaging looks familiar. But there’s apparently a big salmonella thing going on with those snacks, such that the whole lot is being recalled. Pitch ‘em and get a refund.

There is, apparently, a boycott protest of Nestle products based on their marketing technique of baby foods. We provide so that you’re informed if someone else looks at you oddly or summons 1d6 mobsters (armed with pitchforks or torches) upon noticing you have selected a product that is under the Nestle umbrella.

Truthful T-shirts to display one's geekiness in puntastic ways. Including the Mad Scientists’ Local 42, among others.

The beverage cup of the future! Or one that certainly looks like it. Don’t know if it can actually hold enough beverage to be a useful cup of the future, though.

Turning toward more serious things, iRobot and Taser have teamed up to provide the Pentagon with automated non-lethal weaponry. The serious fear that develops from that is that it’s not too hard to develop a robot that does fire lethal force from there on out, and then at some point to equip that robot with programming and intelligence that permits it to use that lethal force without the specific input of a human being. The would be a useful genocidal weapon, if you drop enough robots in. With accusations flying that Iran is supporting the Iraq insurgency, and, actually the continued presence of terror attacks, more sophistication in the robotics might save a couple plots by correctly identifying and then disabling someone who was about to detonate, it could just as easily kill an innocent who looked suspicious. As more suspects are determined in the latest attempts in the UK, it’s showing that it’s very hard to determine what makes a terrorist. Of course, that doesn’t stop the United States from warning there's going to be a "terror spectacular" this summer, even with no solid evidence of a plot.

Moving from mechanicals and maniacs to men who have no hesitation in helping out their boys when in trouble, Mr. Bush commuted I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's 2.5-year prison sentence, effectively rendering his trial a sham. Mr. Libby will have to pay the fine enforced upon him, but will serve no jail time. It’s nice to be in good with the one authority in the country that can make sure you don’t see jail. If the sentence was going to be reduced like this, then what was the purpose of the trial again?

Read the following letter and watch the cross-shaped vein in my head pop out and throb menacingly. According to jokermage, the letter writer has written before, on the same subject, and I probably linked to it the first time around. That said, Judy Paris writes a letter to the editor saying same-gender civil unions are "not a civil rights issue", claiming that there’s no scientific consensus on whether there’s a biological marker or unit that determines sexual orientation. So, because you’re not “born gay”, it’s not a civil rights issue. I also would like to know which studies she’s referencing by saying “Most psychologists agree that ideally children need both a mom and dad for their ultimate benefit.”, because if she means in relation to sexual orientation, the APA itself says that being raised by homosexual parents does not mean maladjustment for children. Lastly, she demonstrates ignorance of reading the law by saying that someone “has to become a homosexual” to get a civil union. While homosexuals may be the primary beneficiaries of the law, the law itself makes no mention of a homosexual requirement (it’s a short read, trust me). Oy. I’m glad to have people that will tell me when I’m making things up out of whole cloth or need to go find some sources before I start tarring people. I hope that the slew of letters in response to this gives Judy the impetus to do some research, or at least pick up some facts.

There is some good news today, in all this - for young women in Egypt - the practice of female circumcision was officially banned. It will take time, however, to change the mindset of the people. More encouragingly, some religious leaders are also speaking out against the practice. Even more encouragingly, a Saudi Arabian woman has spent four years in court trying to get justice and appropriate discipline exercised against the religious police that took her and two friends on a wild drive out into remote areas and then left them there. All apparently because the defendant’s daughter’s veil didn’t cover her eyes. This is one of a few cases against the hypersensitive Saudi vice squad. It’s long odds, most likely, but if cases like these can keep getting heard, and possibly even a judgment or two against the religious police, maybe Saudi Arabia can be a catalyst for a more liberal form of Islam, rather than the Wahabist fundamentalism that they’re often associated with. Wouldn’t that be fun to see?

Of course, at the same time, there are several on the fringe of the Christian religion that would like nothing more than to see their own interpretations of the Bible become the law of the land. Sufficiently many, in fact, that they held a four-day conference on what to do to bring about this reconstruction of America. So, the problem’s certainly not going to go away. They’re in your millitary, transforming a war of aggression into a divine crusade to spread the Chrisitan word and JHVH’s bidding. And they have posters trying to get you to think that every patriot in this country has always been just as fervent about their Christianity .

All is not lost, however. Suzanne Fields, on Townhall, would like to remind us of something - to behave like Rome is to invoke Rome's fate, and that if making comparisons between current America and Ancient Rome is scarily accurate, then there should be something done to distance and make the current empire endure in a more virtuous manner.

And just before you thought you could get away with ending on a high note (we recommend the frequency that shatters glass), a different Townhall contributor, the editor-at-large of the National Review On-line, Mr. Jonah Goldberg, that the country has a free speech disorder, because we protect pornographers, strippers, and artists who have sacreligious and homoerotic art, (Whoops, there goes the Greeks...) and then want students to be able to express themselves with things like “Bong Hits 4 Jesus”. And we had the audacity to say that, up until the recent Court decision, that politically-minded organizations couldn’t try to sway people’s votes on the day of their balloting, or for some time beforehand. (I don’t know, maybe people need time to make up their minds and digest the stuff that’s been thrown at them for so long?) But now, thanks to the recent 5-4 decisions, which he thinks shouldn’t have been that close, the country is once again being runs by the grownups, who can and should be able to tell the students when to sit down and shut up, and to tell you to vote for their policy or platform on your way to the election booth.

Tch. Hopefully they at least keep the rule about canvassing near a polling place intact.

Seriously, though, I thought schools were supposed to be places where students had the liberty to test ideas, thoughts, and attitudes out before they started having significant real-world consequences. Getting suspended for poking fun at religious figures and the national obsession with marijuana sends a lot of messages about conformity and that some things are taboo from scrutiny or humor. Which cannot be the case if we want to continue making progress. Although, as noted above, there are lots of people who think that the amount of progress we’ve made already is too much, and that we have to go back to “the good old days”, wherever in the mythic timeline they exist.

Oh, and there’s also a second run of the Blog Against Theocracy thing happening, that started on 1 July. I totally spaced out on it, because I was just planning on scribbling an entry when I had a light news day. That hasn’t happened yet. For that material, however, I need someone who can point me in the right direction to find the appropriate Greek characters for “theos”, the root from which theocracy derives. I’m trying to trace it as far back as it’ll go, so if someone knows that theos actually has a root somewhere else and can point me to an appropriate explanation thereof, do get in contact with me.

Now, bed. There’s much writing on the horizon, and I wouldn’t want to miss out on it.

Bob, meet Death. Or should that be Death, meet Bob?

This is part of an ongoing project involving several members of the group FLEET being tasked with the finding and neutralization of certain Metaphysical Concepts at large in the world. If it doesn’t make sense, don’t worry. If it does make sense, then enjoy it.

----------

The order from the Admiralty was, at the very least, Unique. Commander Robert “Just Bob” Kilgore had been ordered to remove the current occupant of the Office of Death from his position, utilizing whatever means were necessary, as soon as possible. Bob didn’t blink. He did, however, ask for the last known location of Death so as to begin gathering the information necessary to complete his mission.

This is where we join Bob, at the scene of a grisly automotive accident that has just claimed the lives of the occupants of both cars involved. It is not the blood, nor the angles of the vehicles, nor even the wreckage itself that interests the Commander. It is the Metaphysical Detection Squadron’s efforts to determine whether the current scene was a naturally-occurring accident or one orchestrated by Infernal forces. His own detection equipment was able to cycle through most bands of information and feed him complete tactical reports about the situation at hand. He knew the identities, ages, genetic makeups, dispositions, causes and times of death, makes, models, working parts, non-working parts, and atomic construction of the scene, to name a few things. If the matter of finding Death, or any other metaphysical construct, is simply sufficient application of Clarke’s Law, once Bob knew what to look for, he could track Death wherever he went. That’s why Bob is here - he’s looking for the scent of Death.

“Commander?” One of the speculation team has found the pattern that matches Death’s presence. Apparently, one of the passengers in the car was sufficiently close to the balance to bring a personal visit from the Reaper. Now armed with a pattern, Bob goes to meet Death on his rounds.

--

As a cybernetic organism, however, the Commander is, by the standards of several metaphysical systems, lacking in a soul, or operating on a significantly reduced one. Even with the appropriate “ghost in the shell” theories applied, Bob repeatedly did not register on the M-Division soul-reading matrix currently controlling access in the Mohaborad region. The task, then, of summoning the entity that is supposed to weigh, judge, and send souls that are unable to easily navigate to their appropriate rests to appear before Bob is not an easy task. Instead of a more conventional route of attempting to destroy himself, Bob borrowed a soul currently in stasis pending a final debriefing of Infernal activities and and analysis of the nature of the contract that he made while alive. Because the soul is well-overdue for his judgment, it will draw Death like a lodestone.

After a few minutes behind his sniper rifle, waiting for the Grim Reaper to attempt to collect on the soul, Bob’s proximity detectors register a presence matching the pattern of Death behind him.

“Come now, Bob, do you really think I’d let myself get sniped? I was the one who taught that trick to yours and a million other species. Not that it would do you any good, anyway. You can’t really kill the Reaper unless he wants you to. You are not my appointed successor, Commander Kilgore.”

Bob, being the consummate diplomat that he is, turns to Death and shrugs. “I have my orders. Do you have any last words or requests?” he says. Death nods. “Do you have a cigarette?”
--
After a short radio call and Death having a smoke, with the obvious quip about how smoking kills, Death stands up. “Well, Bob, we’re running out of time. You should probably start trying to kill me now.” Bob shrugs, unslings his rifle, takes careful aim, and fires a plasma bolt into Death’s hood. Death laughs, and returns fire with a plasma rifle of his own, conveniently transformed from the scythe in his hands a moment ago. Taking cover behind the landmarks, the two of them exchanged fire, flanked each other, circle-strafed, and had a high-skill, high-technique, high-collateral-damage (although no fatalities were recorded), Highly and Inherently Superior Duel to the Death. After an indeterminate amount of time of firing upon each other, eventually the power plants in Bob’s weapons exhausted themselves. Trying to give his weapons time to recharge, Bob shouted “You’re out of ammo, Death.”

“So are you, Bob.”

“We should settle this in a civilized way.”

“If you insist.” Death and Bob stood out from their trenches. “You’ve been a real workout, Bob, one that I haven’t had in a while. For that, you get a rare, rare sight.” Death threw back his hood. “You get to see the face of death and...”

The cliche never finished, as Death fell down to the ground with a hole in his head. Ever the pragmatist, the Commander’s sidearm had a backup battery, good for one shot. It had traditionally been used for a defeated commander to die in an honorable way, but in this particular case, Bob had used it to collect what might be the most impressive head shot in the history of the Dominion. Bob had cheated Death by having a seven shot six-shooter.

“Greetings, Commander. I am the Multi-Operational Reconnaissance and Tactical Information System. I do believe this will be interesting for both of us, as you’re the first off-worlder I’ve had to train...”

Theocracy And You, A Handy Primer

So there was a big Blog Against Theocracy swarm that happened earlier, and it was nice enough, they decided to give it another go. This time around, we’re supposed to note that “separation of church and state is patriotic”, and in the course of things, I might actually get to that point. However, I thought it would be a nice idea to explore the root of the word Theocracy and see if there weren’t some useful things that could be gleaned there, especially in relation to how major denominations see their deity. Where it’s ended up going is into a discussion of church-state separation, but I hope that there’s at least some informative material here. Failing that, hopefully the thoughts here will trigger some thinking of your own.

So, theocracy derives itself from Greek, as the word θεοκρατία (theokratia), which is the combination of θεος (theos, roughtly meaning “god”) and κρατειν (kratein, “to rule”). Which means, at the most fundamental and literal reading, θεοκρατία is “rule by a god”. While members of denominations often claim that their pantheon is active in the world and favoring those who follow that pantheon religiously, there are very few countries or civilizations whose leaders claim direct descent from a god as their reason for ruling. There are even fewer, if any at all, that claim the god/gods themselves are incarnated as the rulers of the country and rule with an active hand. So, in one sense, until $DEITY reveals themselves to the populace at large and then takes the reins of temporal power, we don’t have to worry about a strictly-defined theocracy. If it should happen, however, then we will have to rethink this point, along with much of our cosmology, upon the confirmation that there is, indeed, $DEITY.

What theocracy tends to stand in for, then, is an eccleisiocracy, where the members of a religious group or class take control of temporal power and rule from that point. I would group people who claim to have a direct conduit to $DEITY and are thus ruling through inspiration and prophecy into this group, because more often than not, they start attracting followers and wanting to put them into political positions. People expressing the want to have a “Christian nation” or who punish others for “offenses to Islam” want or have an eccleisiocracy, preferably with their particular stripe of religion holding the reins. As students of history are no doubt jumping up and down and waving their arms know, historically, when this happens, Bad Things follow. Several books unapologetically state that when David became leader of the tribes, or Mohammed gathered his Sunna, or this prince gathered his followers, there was bloodshed, mayhem, and death while the unbelievers were systematically slaughtered. Crusades, purges, cleansing, whatever you want to call it, it generally resulted in a lot of people being killed, enslaved, or severely oppressed while the current group was in power.

The logical conclusion out of this would be to prohibit persons who hold the scary religious beliefs, or perhaps any religious beliefs at all, from holding public office. That kind of policy, however, tends toward creating shortages of available and competent administrators, officials, and public servants. The Empire, upon noticing this, is generally not above letting some of the heathens into public life, under tightly-controlled situations and with the understanding that if things go pear-shaped, they’re the first going to the chopping block. (Which, as scholars of Jewish history will tell you, sucks pretty bad.) The presence of foreigners naturally angers the people that want purity in their blood, their country, and their government. And so the struggle begins anew.

So far, we’ve found one solution that pisses off just about everybody involved, but actually, when done right, manages to maintain the balance of good government without anybody having to worry about being purged, so long as one faction or another doesn’t find a method to tip the scales. That policy takes roots in Ancient Rome, if not before that - people who have beliefs are allowed into office, people can practice their beliefs so long as they don’t contravene the laws of the land, and the Government officially takes the position that finding and promoting the One True Religion is Somebody Else’s Problem. So long as religious folk obey the country’s laws, including paying taxes, then the government doesn’t really care that they’re religious folk. Additionally, the government promises that it will not advocate for one religion in any official manner, will not require elected persons to be a particular religion, and will crack heads fairly when the laws of the country are broken, rather than showing preference to members of any one religion, either through unusually hostile prosecution/rulings/penalties or unusually friendly prosecution/rulings/penalties. Such a concept probably had several names throughout history, but we now know it as the idea of separation of church and state.

You can see where this pisses off a lot of people - to them, the government is snubbing them by not recognizing them as the True and Only Religion, and promoting dangerous and immoral thoughts by permitting all the other groups to exist peacefully. to others, the government is allowing the Big Baddies to slander them and discriminate against them in ways that may not contravene laws, but are still problematic for members of a humble religion that wishes to be left alone. Still others believe that a government that takes no official religion is dedicated to the destruction of all religions, and will utilize its power, the laws, and monopoly of force to require all religions persons to shed their beliefs under penalty of law and indoctrinate their children in schools that will teach them that religion is worthless. Regardless of the reason, this creates a (usually) disparate mob of people all pushing for the government to favor them and not others. Being pushed at from all sides, the government should be able to maintain its balance by steadfastly maintaining that the matter is Not Their Problem.

Which brings us to our current situation in the present. In some countries, the religious were able to sufficiently push on government, through military or popular force, to instill them as the official heads of government and grant them the power to rule as they see fit. Many of the great caliphates in the Middle East seemed to have survived the transition into nation-states with power structures that keep Islam as the ruling guide for the country. In other countries, however, where overt force has failed, in one way or another, to produce a system that places religious leaders at the forefront, the focus has shifted to infiltrating the offending government with sufficient like-minded individuals to gain control of it in pieces, use those pieces to recruit and gain more control, until at the appropriate time, the saboteurs, spies, and political demolitions experts stage an internal coup and take over the government. They can opt to keep or demolish the front that they are still operating as an organization that gives no preferences to the religious. Once seated in power, they will work to implement their vision of what government and law should be. History students know that should that come to pass, a significant majority of people in the country are screwed, because they’re “immoral” in some way and deserve an exit from their existence, to be “corrected” of their errors, or to be subjugated to “the chosen people”.

The only way to win this scenario, as is quipped by a computer in an eminently forgettable movie from the past, is not to play. “Not playing”, however, involves actively resisting encroachments from any position. It doesn’t mean not taking suggestions, when those suggestions can also find an appropriate nonreligious reason to be debated and possibly enacted into law. Want to get rid of condoms because $DEITY said they are an abomination and a sin for people to use them? Sorry, go away. Want to get rid of them because you suspect the materials used in them might be toxic? Well, if you can provide proof of the toxicity from a nonreligious, credible entity that all condoms are inherently toxic, then you might have a case. The government will take the matter under consideration. Similarly, the government may enlist the aid of religious organizations that can provide effective ways of implementing government programs, like feeding the hungry. However, it would not be proper for the government to give the appearance of endorsing any of the religious content of the organization, and should act to ensure that materials given on the government’s program are free of religious coercion or literature. Should the religious organization wish to do more, it can do so, keeping sure to mark prominently where the government’s blessing stops.

As always, I welcome commentary. If my facts are wrong, I would like to know. If you differ with my opinion, please, let’s have a civil discussion about it. If you agree, my ego will welcome the praise, no doubt, should you say so.