Eternal Dragonslayer's Weblog

Emperor 0bama

eternaldragonslayer — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 21:12:56 +0000

In the Star Wars universe, Chancellor Palpatine was dearly loved by the masses, that is, until he used the Clone Army to create a new Empire. He assumed the title Emperor and crushed the masses with his iron, unyielding rule. Sound familiar? How much does it really cost to build a Death Star? 0bama is well on his way.

Obama the new President

eternaldragonslayer — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 01:04:21 +0000

Just my opinion…

Presidential Election Revisions/Rules/Regulations

eternaldragonslayer — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 22:16:44 +0000

As I watch the race for the Presidency, I am nearly fed up with the entire process. So, I’m led to dream and wonder what a Presidential election would be like in an ideal world…

First off, the candidate race has become like Christmas to the retailers. What I mean is that the appearance of Christmas-related products appears earlier and earlier every year. It’s now partway into October and the gifts are appearing. The same way with the candidates. McCain and Obama have been in our living rooms for over a year already and have spent millions on advertising to stay there. This excludes any average person from running for the Presidency. You have to be brilliantly wealthy to run. That said, let’s limit the window in which they can advertise to the six months (or less) prior to the election.

Next, let’s place a cap on candidate spending. That would level the playing field. It would also eliminate the perception that you can simply buy your way into office. Hopefully, no one can buy their way in. If you spent all your money on commercials, don’t complain that you have no promotional flyers. This would also gauge the candidate’s ability to balance a budget.

Third, eliminate the electoral college. Ridiculous.

Fourth, I suggest one and only one exception to the constitutional stipulation that the President be born as an American. That exception would be California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Being a Republican in the most liberal state on the planet says a lot about his abilities.

Finally, let’s expand the party polarity a bit. Having only two options, Republican and Democrat, is severely limiting. Sure, we have Coke and Pepsi, but how many hundred other drinks do we have to choose from? If we were presented with, say, 4 candidates to choose from, it may not feel quite so much like having to choose the least of two evils. As it is now, I think we should have a box on the voting sheet that allows us to choose between McCain, Obama, or NONE. If none wins, then neither of those candidates are allowed to run in the following weeks as other candidates step up. Eventually someone will win.

Maybe, one day, it will be us.

Religulous

eternaldragonslayer — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 00:01:45 +0000

I saw Bill Maher’s Religulous film today. Going into it, I knew I was going to get propaganda, not a documentary. I was right. Don’t get me wrong, I liked the film. It had some really funny moments. Even as much as I love Jesus, I can still laugh at some of the stupid things humans do in His name.

The movie allowed Bill to challenge people and ask his questions. What it didn’t do was allow them to respond very often. Also, he only interviewed the craziest out there rather than those theologians or apologists who would actually be able to reason circles around his disbelief. Where was Billy Graham? Did he try to interview Josh McDowell, or Charles Stanley? Of course not. That would get into the issues (heaven forbid!) and derail Bill’s message of “you’re all stupid for believing in God, any God.” What is the point of asking questions if you’re not going to listen the responses?

Regardless of his message, the theatre was packed. This topic of God is perhaps the most important question each of us will ever struggle with. Because of our interest in God, Bill just raked in $7.50 (matinee) from each of us. And he accuses priests of bilking congregations? ha ha.

Florida Outpouring in Lakeland

eternaldragonslayer — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 03:23:17 +0000

For those of you who may not know, there is a revival going on in Lakeland, Florida in which people are coming from all over the world to participate at. Why? Because just as Jesus did in his day, the people coming are seeing (and receiving) miraculous healings. A lot of it initiated around Todd Bentley, a tattooed and pierced fireball of a dude who got a new start on life after discovering Jesus is real and alive. In the years that followed he learned and studied Christianity and basically followed Jesus’s plan for his life. Now God is using him and his team to touch people and affect lasting change.

Is this a move of God? Absolutely. Christian leaders (mostly from the charismatic movement) from around the world have declared after studying the revival and participating that this is genuinely God moving and doing these healings supernaturally. Some caution that this is only the beginning of a larger, more widespread move of God within the United States.

I’ve attended twice and may go again. I went looking for something new; some new way of doing “church”, some new structure, something revolutionary to replace the tired Sunday rut that every Church I’ve been in seems to be mired within. I’m sick of the same sermons, the same music, the same format, blah, blah, blah, blah, boring. (And I’ve been to a lot of denominations and a lot of different styles of Churches.)

What I got was the same old thing with a healthy dose of hype to carry it along. The first night I went, Todd wasn’t there, taking a night off. (After all it was about day 81 of having two services every single day with about 5,000 people per service. Amazing in it’s own right.) Instead, some other guy who I’d never heard of began talking. This is after about two hours of worship, which was decent since there was only one guy playing piano and he allowed the Holy Spirit to dictate the flow of the music. Anyhow, the speaker starts to teach but quickly reverts into “God’s healing someone” mode. He began by calling out specific people by name and their ailments– great! That’s the personal God I know! But after three or so names, he started just making blanket statements like “everyone with an eye problem, God is healing you…”, etc. Okay, fine. There are a lot of people at the meeting, so I guess I’ll cut him some slack. (Like I’m the Pharisee in the crowd. ha ha) Then he prayed over people with stomach and intestinal problems, specifically IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome). I felt the Holy Spirit rush through me in an instant. IBS is something I suffered from since 2000 and it had been getting steadily worse in the last three years. After the wave rushed over me I knew my IBS was gone. And it is. A month and a half later I’ve had no more IBS. Gone (snap of fingers) like that.

So I can tell you first hand that God is moving in the revival.

But if you attend, and I encourage you to visit, you’re going to see some hype. God TV is broadcasting live via internet and cable the daily meetings, so you’ll hear from the stage them referring to “those watching via God TV…” about every 6 minutes — you can set your watch by it. Which seems stupid, since there’s a big God TV logo in the corner of the screen. “I forgot what I was watching…Oh! God TV? Really? That’s what channel I have on? Oh, yeah… there’s the logo right in front of my face.”

Another downside (and this is a huge issue for me) is that sometimes the worship team can sing the same song lyrics for over an hour. I’ve watched online and had to walk away and come back later only to find them still on the same song. Now some may say that the Spirit is leading. That’s what I would hope, but last I checked my Bible, our God is a creative God. The same five words repeated for hours doesn’t sound creative at all. The worst part is when they wind down and you think to yourself “Thank God that song is over, let’s move on now…” only to have the worship leader jump right back into the same song. It’s like they think, “Well that really went well. Let’s keep it going for even longer.” If that were what God wanted for us, we’d all still be eating manna and not bothering with any of the other billions of flavors of food.

So, it’s got some downsides, just like anything (everything) created by flawed humans.

I’ve taken friends to this who may never have experienced anything like this revival and I caution them in this fashion: Look past the people, look past the hype, look past all the cameras and lights, and find God behind the miracles. He’s there and He’s not hiding.

Data Mining

eternaldragonslayer — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 15:53:23 +0000

After researching how much of a digital imprint I’ve left on the internet, I’m confident of leaving a small trail. I discovered several sites offering a list of my numerous previous addresses and even a site (Intelius) that offered three of my five email addresses, one of which I created specifically for junk mail and ads. That’s the email I always give to companies or stores in order to get a membership card, etc. In this sense, I’ve made provisions for the onslaught of unwanted email advertisements. Other than a listing for my personal website, I found myself mentioned on a friend’s blog, my name in a staff listing from when I worked at a newspaper, and listed as a participant in one of my many mission trips from my old church. The only annoying ads I get anymore are on Facebook for dating services. No mention of any of my other interests in music or DVDs or anything: just solely dating, as if being single is some sort of curse. It illustrates how sexually obsessed our culture has become, but I digress.
Companies obtain demographic information from other companies that provide said material. This information is provided by the U.S. Census Bureau 1, but supplemented by a company’s own surveys, questionnaires, and lifestyle habits shared from internet engines and data mining. Google, as I will address later, is records nearly everything you do. Places like MySpace and Facebook are free venues where advertisers can cull through your personal preferences and data.
When it comes to MySpace encouraging people to disclose information, I believe this is an inaccurate phrase. I’ve found that MySpace makes available to a user the opportunity to disclose, but it is entirely voluntary and many people don’t realize the risks of doing so, especially young people. MySpace says you must be 14 to use their site, but has no way of verifying it, so young users simply input an older age. 2 They also operate under the impression that only their friends can see their information (it can be fun filling in all those blank spaces: name, age, location, contact info, etc.) when it is in fact a public site. 3 This dilemma has less to do with advertising schemes than it does with protecting children from sexual predators.
Technology has provided the means to compile a lot of information from various sources to create not only a financial profile on a person, but also a behavioral profile which some say is unethical. 4 While the idea of having a personalized ad campaign aimed at you may to some (especially companies selling products) may sound like a good idea, it boils down to the conflict that many Americans, in my opinion, have ignored: the difference between wanting something and needing something. To some it may feel like they need to have their Starbucks fix every day, but in truth, no one does. Food, water, shelter, and clothing are the essentials. Everything else, which is what people want you to spend your money on, is accessorizing.
My own experience with online advertising has been mainly with receiving email ads from companies or stores that I frequently shop. Those I don’t mind much, but I rarely look at them anyway. They get deleted. I’ve not really received any ads focused specifically on my interests, but how many ads are really out there for Lego enthusiasts? As far as information disclosure, I’ve usually been aware of when I was doing it and also aware of how respectful/trustworthy the company I’m dealing with is.
I believe people disclose information on the basis that it’s an opportunity to define oneself to the public. We enjoy being identified with our interests. I love the Pittsburgh Penguins. Have I ever played on their team? No. I’ve only been to one game in my life, yet I cheer them on and like to feel like I belong to something large and successful. We do it everyday, from telling our friends our favorite movie, to our favorite dessert, but if we place those preferences on the web, suddenly those companies that make those products are contacting us with special deals in search of the almighty dollar.
I suspected that there was a lot of information available on individuals for sale. I’m not sure I was surprised to find it true, nor if I feel threatened by it. I would tend to think that the information the government has should be available only to the various branches of the government and not to outside sources. After all, the Census reports were designed as a gauge to determine how Congressional seats are allocated, electoral votes determined and where government program funds go, not as a marketing research tool. 5 Initially I felt a sense of violation that my information is being disseminated among the various advertisers, but it has less to do with ads than it does with the idea that others know what web sites you visit. Google in particular tracks nearly everything a person does on their computer. “Heavy Google users effectively share their entire lives with company computers: credit card numbers, bank balances, love letters, travel destinations, book purchases, medical concerns, everything.” 6 Apparently Google makes available their information usage practices, “but consumer advocates say they make such documents hard to find and even harder for laymen to read.” 6
This said, data mining should be disclosed, regulated, or simply outlawed. Data mining is currently regulated, but where the information goes is not. However, some advances are being made to help those people who do not wish to be targeted. “Proposed federal policies would require sites to enable consumers to opt out of data collection and mining activities.” 7 And if successful, that will be the best option for everyone.
The use of the Patriot Act, however, in which the government monitors activities to thwart any acts of domestic terrorism, 8 is highly justified in my view. If you are a citizen of this country and abiding by this country’s laws, then you have nothing to fear from the government. If you are here illegally or participating in criminal activities, then the government should be aware of subversive activities in order to head off any tragedies. There are, unfortunately, many other nations and groups utilizing the same tools for devious means. McAfee, along with NATO, the FBI, SOCA and various experts have determined that “Governments and allied groups are using the Internet for cyber spying and cyber attacks. Targets include critical national infrastructure network systems such as electricity, air traffic control, financial markets and government computer networks. 120 countries are now using the Internet for Web espionage operations. Cyber assaults have become more sophisticated in their nature, designed to specifically slip under the radar of government cyber defenses. Attacks have progressed from initial curiosity probes to well-funded and well-organized operations for political, military, economic and technical espionage. Experts believe a sustained cyber attack on banks could severely damage public trust in online banking and put the brakes on e-commerce. Critics believe the efforts to address online banking security will not be effective enough or fast enough.” 9
It all boils down to security. Businesses are constantly obsessed with online security, and rightfully so. Recent breaches in security have led to “US$13 million in losses; 45.6 million credit cards stolen; recovery costs at $256 million dollars and mounting; and companies driven into bankruptcy or out of business,” and “Eighty percent of companies will suffer an application security incident by 2010.” 10 Cyber Security Industry Alliance reports that 24% of Americans refuse to purchase online anymore due to security concerns. 10
And let’s take an even larger step backward and examine the vehicle: the Internet. The original concept was great, an information superhighway, which has since become a near unmanageable monster. How do you get an entire planet covering the entire range of moral ethics (and complete lack thereof in some individuals) to create one unified vision for the entity? We see how ineffective the UN is; imagine trying to police the web. I, personally, am for regulating the internet, regardless of how daunting the task may be. Recently New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s months long investigation of internet service providers prompted Verizon, Time Warner, and Sprint to block child porn sites. 11 This is a step in the right direction, though some say few are affected by it. 12 Maybe if they moved on to banning all porn we’d see how pervasive it’s negative affect is on society.
In the end, most people don’t like boundaries, in my opinion. They want to be free to do what they want, when they want, however they want to do it. What they don’t want is to be held accountable for any of it. It’s easier to blame a company whose computer security systems were hacked and therefore compromising a person’s private data than for that person to take responsibility for entering their information in the first place. There has to be joint accountability.

REFERENCES
1 Media and Society, Khadra Helminski & Derrek Detjens, © 2008 Full Sail, Inc. p. 109
2 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7668788/
3 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11064451/
4 http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/52616.html
5 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Census
6 http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/120907dnbusprivacy
.1c47951.html
7 http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/52616.html?welcome=1213631027
8 http://www.fepproject.org/commentaries/patriotactupdate.html
9 http://www.csialliance.org/resource/csiadatacompilation.html
10 http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/63166.html
11 http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1278511.ece
12 http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20080613/a_porn13.art.htm

Post Modern Lie

eternaldragonslayer — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 15:33:42 +0000

I remember being in college around 1995 when a guest speaker introduced us to his new book on the death of truth. It was a warning.

Nowadays the concept of “what is true for you is not necessarily true for me” pervades nearly every aspect of life. What occurred was a departure from the established standards of truth in favor of a society without moral boundaries. The mantra of the day has become selfishness. I get what I want when I want it.

For many, Christianity was the standard that was discarded. What is perhaps not realized with Christianity is the idea that the moral codes established were not decided upon by men, but handed down from God, who later proclaimed that truth is a person, Jesus Christ.

So in order to discern what is true for a person’s life, I suggest an ongoing conversation with Truth.

Post-Apocalyptic Leanings

eternaldragonslayer — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 22:32:56 +0000

I have a great love of Post-Apocalyptic fiction. I think I’ve finally figured out why. It hearkens back to tales of the Old West where men and women were carving out a future from chaos. Nearly each person was defined by their actions and their actions were an outflow of their personal character.

In P-A fiction, there is that same chaotic element where the law is either absent or crippled and it’s up to the protagonist to either establish it or live by their own moral code. Obviously the best characters, in my mind, are those who are attempting to restore order and decency to marauders and thieves. This leads me to my affinity for these stories.

I feel like I’m living it. My Christian faith is the standards that God set up (not me). Our culture today is quickly becoming anti-Christian, or if you are a Christian, you’re the kind that takes a small sampling of what the Bible says (like a buffet) and adds it to their life instead of surrendering every aspect of your life to God and His plans/expectations/standards. Regardless, I’m surrounded by so-called Christians who party until they’re drunk and are sexually promiscuous. These are the folks that Paul tossed out of the Church for a period of time for them to develop a sense of guilt and repentance.

Anyhow, I’m wandering onto my soap box.

The point is that if our society went down the tubes and our population was decimated, who would attempt to bring order if there is no actual goodness left? I think P-A scenarios provide a fictional journey into what many are experiencing in the spiritual.

Indiana Jones 4

eternaldragonslayer — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 19:16:55 +0000

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

While most of my friends hated this film, I found it not as bad as they claimed. Sure, a few moments were a bit ridiculous, but they kept returning to what made Raiders so successful: Harrison crawling through some undiscovered underground, trap-filled crypt. I think most the budget was spent on cobwebs.

Harrison is in great shape for his age, and sure, there were moments they used stunt men, other moments it was a surprise to see Harrison doing the stunt himself. (Or it was some really slick CGI.) Speaking of which: that was the one thing they could have used a lot less of: computer effects. It’s verging on becoming part of the Mummy series in which one expects more CGI than plot.

And while some people have hacked on Cate Blanchett’s performance, I didn’t notice anything horribly bad. I just kept thinking: Beeeeautiful. Shia was not as bad as I expected, but I think everyone agrees that he was miscast. Especially if they plan on continuing the franchise.

In my opinion, this is the best of the sequels. B+

Nothing can really touch Raiders. A

Christian Radio – Positive Hits/Industry Falsehood

eternaldragonslayer — Wed, 28 May 2008 21:15:21 +0000

Allow me to preface this by stating I am a longtime devoted Jesus follower (19 years).

I wake up every morning to a certain “Christian” radio station. Why? Because it makes me so angry that I have to get out of bed to shut it off. After that, I forget about it and go about my day. However, I want to address certain falsehoods of this station (and others, for I have listened to a similar trend in other states).

First, they advertise their station as “Positive Hits.” “Safe for the little ears in your family.” Now, why do I take issue with this? They call it Positive Hits rather than Christian radio because it’s more palpable to nonbelievers (supposedly). Do they really think they’ll be able to fool someone? And is that the agenda? That seems a little underhanded. Why not be straightforward? These stations are so politically correct (my own personal pet peeve) that even when something tragic is being reported they’ll say, “Well, if you’re a praying person, keep the victims in mind.” That’s rather dodgy. And heaven forbid if you actually pray on air. Gasp! We’ve possibly offended someone by actually practicing the very faith we imply.

Second, let me address the actual music they play. If I were to define the term Christian musical artist, I would define it as a person or band who create music that reveal God’s influence in our personal lives and global situations. In other words, storytellers who can explain to people from all walks of life and faiths who God is. This definition does not apply to what is currently referred to as Christian artists, though the end goal is assumed to be the same. This is, I believe, a great delusion. What we have instead is an industry full of Christian worship artists. Nearly every single performer out there is creating music that is glorifying to God, ie. creating worship music. How many songs can you possibly write that are all addressed to “You,” referring to God Himself. Where is the creativity? How many times can a psalm be rewritten into a new contemporary song? This lack of creativity especially breaks down in those songs where they run out of ways to address You and simply descend into a melody of La La La’s. I just want to scream in frustration. Now don’t get me wrong. I love worship music. I love to worship. But don’t tell me it’s Christian music when it’s actually Christian worship music.

Finally, I think I need to give credit to the handful of true Christian artists that are fulfilling the definition I’ve placed out there for Christian artists and their true mission: U2, Switchfoot, and to a lesser, yet equally challenging extent, Casting Crowns. I’m sure there are more, but they’re probably fighting an uphill battle within the Christian corporate music industry. (Obviously U2 isn’t even in that industry and it’s tragic that the Christian establishments can’t acknowledge them.) –[Amendment: Someone asked me why in the world would I include Casting Crowns? They are about 50-50 when it comes to their music, some songs being blatantly worship, others being more challenging to the Church. I'm not a huge fan, but they at least are straddling the fence by keeping the established Christian community happy with the same old (ie. boring) worship fare, but delivering a direct and challenging message with the other stuff.]

The point: Let’s be honest and call something what it really is and not gloss it over in an attempt to draw people in. Folks are smart enough to figure out a hidden agenda when they hear it.