Category > Your Humble Heretic
January 15th marked the 81st birthday of the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This event, along with another seemingly unrelated event — the broadcast of a number of Westerns on the American Movie Channel — gave me an opportunity to reflect on what theologian Walter Wink calls The Myth of Redemptive Violence. I'm not a big fan of Westerns, mainly because they tend to glorify violence. But there is one Western that ranks among my all-time favorite movies: …
| I thought at first that I was the only one who could smell it. But the stench of hypocrisy and bad theology of conservative, fundamentalist Christianity is something almost everyone these days can smell, as illustrated last week by the almost universal outrage against Pat Robertson's comments about Haiti. So I'm not going to use up my column space or hold my nose over that particular emanation from Robertson's foul mouth. But that odor is just one of many that …
For those of you who read my column last week ("The way things are goin'..."), you will remember that I discussed some local conservative religious organizations that deemed it necessary to discuss me and this column in their meetings. I ended that column by saying I'd rather be burned at the stake than have my column discussed by a bunch of mindless, bible-thumping, Christian bureaucrats in one of their impotent meetings. Well, I am here to report that I have …
In March of 2008, I wrote an article called "C-U Ministers and Their Mansions" where I used the Champaign County Assessment Office's online database of property records to look up the values of homes owned by pastors in Champaign-Urbana. Shortly after my article appeared, the Champaign County Assessment Office removed the ability to search for records by name from their website and they posted this note: "For privacy reasons the search by name feature has been removed from the property …
The great thing about shopping for almost anything in America is the nearly infinite number of options and choices the consumer has. For example, if you're shopping for a car, you might start with its make (e.g. Chevy, Ford, or perhaps a foreign brand), then you might consider its model (Cavalier, Impala, etc.), then there is the type of engine (Hemi, V6, etc.), and the transmission (manual or automatic). Finally, of course, you choose a color and a wide variety …
A few months ago billboards throughout Champaign-Urbana displayed a giant Krispy Kreme Donut with the text, "Look who's rolling into town." Excellent, I thought, they're going to build a Krispy Kreme here and we'll be able to get hot, fresh Krispy Kreme Donuts. But it was all a sham. They didn't build us a Krispy Kreme. It was just a misleading promotion announcing that Krispy Kremes — not the hot, fresh ones, but half-stale, room-temperature ones — would be sold …
A few billboards around Champaign-Urbana have been telling us for the past couple months that "An Educated Person Knows the Bible." It is a message sponsored by the Bible Literacy Project and is apparently not so much an informational observation as a nationwide promotion of a textbook published in 2005 called The Bible and Its Influences. I don't know all of the politics and agendas behind this campaign; perhaps fertile fodder for another article sometime. But the message at its …
From the informal statistics based simply on my own biased experience, I'd have to estimate that 50% of leaders are terrible. And of that 50%, I'd say that half of those are terrible because they are incompetent and/or ignorant and the other half simply because they are corrupt. Fortunately, in the realm of politics we have at least four peaceful ways of replacing inept political leaders, or at least ensuring, that their negative influence is limited. The first way is …
I have had an affinity for Aikido since the late 1990s when I studied it briefly at a dojo in Champaign. And although my lack of practice and discipline in recent years has made me rusty at the physical moves, the philosophy behind Aikido has stayed with me. Unlike some of the more popular and “hard” martial arts, such as Karate and Tae Kwon Do, Aikido is a “soft” art that involves no punching or kicking. Instead, Aikido utilizes a …
It’s that time of year again for holiday tackiness. It comes in a variety of forms, including (but not limited to) gaudy sweaters and neckties, rotating Christmas trees, dogs barking jingle bells and garish yard decorations as seen on Candlestick Lane in Urbana. But Christmas is only one of the Christian holy days that has devolved into eye-popping commercialism. Easter also has its share of tackiness with its peeps, colored eggs and giant stuffed bunnies. However, Easter, still in the …
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A book just published gives a very useful different perspective on the “growth for growth’s sake” model and its ecological unsustainability. It is “Prosperity Without Growth: Economics for a Finite Planet” by Tim Jackson. The first chapter of the book can be downloaded via http://earthscan.co.uk/pwg . This…
I agree with most of the comments on the Orange “Krush.“ They are mostly immature, ignorant, college students who can’t wait for the next frat party so they can get wasted on Keystone light
“Since there is no congestion on 74, one wonders what he is talking about.“ - Duh. Perhaps the congestion is wishful thinking? And IL DOT is planning to spend $71 million taxpayer dollars widening I-74 between Champaign and Mahomet. I contacted IL DOT on the I-74 stuff. …
Great articles, btw.
Since 1994, the American Farmland Trust has had case studies which have shown that there is no net gain to developing farmland. On average the ratio of dollars generated by development to the cost of services provided by communities was $1 : $1.04. For farm land, the…
Stuart, Really a fantastic series of articles on this proposed road. The Chinatown analogy is very cool. I wouldn’t say that the local press has been lapdogs on this issue. One of the local TV news channels actually did a piece where they interviewed Mr. Ziegler, the…
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=4961547 I stand by it all, except in that I should’ve used better language to describe the types of fools these folks are. Calling someone a douchebag, is kinda like, being a douchebag. Strike that one from the record. Everything else, well, yeah…
Due to some unforeseen circumstances, part two will actually run Wednesday at 10 a.m. Thanks for your patience; it’ll be worth the wait!
Great article. It seems to me that pretty much every local office and institution concerned is working together to get this road built. The cities of Champaign and Urbana just rubber-stamped the plan, as far as I can tell. They may have gone through the motions of…
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Dangit! Now I have to go home and try that cake. MMMmmMMMMmmmm looks goood. Cakey cakey cakey…
Very nice preview…I’m stoked to be seeing The Young Republic
I understood this totally differently than the other people that posted…this is what I got from it: - the more background you have going in, the more of the allusions you will understand when watching - afterwards, you can do a little research to fill in the…
Sorry about the lack of address and hours. All I can say is duuuh
Amen. When I told people I’ve lost 18 pounds since early October the number one response I get from women is concern. 18 pounds in four months is not unhealthy, quite the opposite for me. But don’t give up on sugar, or become a vegan, or do…
The whole self-acceptance idea is tricky in itself too. Are we supposed to self-accept by sitting around like bumps on logs, doing nothing but just appreciating and accepting ourselves? Life doesn’t happen like that. I like your point about pushing ourselves to do something greater. Self-challenge and self-reflection…
lindsey - i certainly understand where you are coming from on that one. and i just wanted to state for the record that in no way did i mean to imply that i am not a feminist (or a liberal) just that i find that whole…
Jason — I know you are busy with your own thang too, but, whenever you are ready: http://www.smilepolitely.com/contribute/ Word.
re: body image—i find it very hard to hear my own true voice in the midst of all the other ones - either the voices from the “beauty industry” demanding total perfection or the ones from the feminist community (which i am a part of, proudly) demanding…
Fair enough. This is my second attempt at writing for Smile Politely, and I agree that my playful review did not go over well, or at all like I intended it to. Thank you, Jason, for your advice. I’ll definitely take it to heart.
Tracy, I think there are two halves to this. Even if you are not familiar with the “history of the American film,“ you are always a few Google strokes away from digging up the basics on iconic films and actors that would have registered a big “A-HA!“…
J, I promise I meant no disrespect. The last thing on my mind was disrespecting anyone. I was at a disadvantage because I was reviewing a play whose subject matter I know very little about. And I was trying to be funny. I enjoyed the…
I’ve never read a more pointless article, one so brazenly disprectful to its subject matter and to the reader. Please do not write any longer.
May I borrow your Grey Poupon? I suppose I could write my news column one day, and my opinion column the next—as with Tatelines or Tupperlines. But I don’t write a news column, so it seems like a lot of extra work.
“...who aren’t so savvy with the google…“ You know, the way I’m not so savvy with the typing. That page I linked is one of the best things I’ve seen on the internet, though.
Yeah, I did a little googling and found it. I’d forgotten that there was finally something going into the Boston’s space. But when I was reading the article I was thinking that that kind of info would have been nice for the people who savvy with the google: http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/facebook_wants_to_be_your_one_true_login.php#comments
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Mike — Here you are: http://champaign-taste.blogspot.com/2010/03/kaiyo-japanese-restaurant.html
I am embarrassed to say that I gorged on sushi at Kaiyó over the weekend. (Who wants to eat one more grain of vinegar-scented rice? Not I!) In any event, if you’re looking for quantity over quality, Kaiyó is the place to go. ...if you’re looking for…
I believe there were bands all 26.2 miles of the marathon. But yeah, I’ll read more closely next time ;)
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The University does not subsidize the Airbus. For decades bus transportation to the airport was provided expressly for Institute of Aviation students. This service was paid for by the Institute of Aviation, not campus as a whole. Some of you may even remember the old orange or…