Jonathan Stuckey, Bass

These things probably aren’t that interesting to anyone else, but I’ll post them here anyway. Hey, It’s my website.

• I was angry when Anita Baker and Holly Robinson got married, probably because it meant I no longer had any chance with either of them. Never mind the fact that I had no chance with either of them anyway.
• All of the shirts hanging in my closet must face my right.
• I can’t use keys with my right hand. Nothing is physically wrong with my right hand; keys just feel wrong in it.
• It’s become impossible for me to abide the misuse of the word “its” in print. For your edification: It’s “it’s” only when it’s a contraction of “it is” or “it has.” It’s “its” when its use is possessive.
• I generally don’t like [rap|country|death metal], but I hate it when people dismiss [rap|country|death metal] as a musical art form.
• I also generally don’t like abstract art in any medium, but I hate it when people dismiss it as an art form.

More will be added as time goes on.

I’ve seen these personal adornments (bracelets, t-shirts, etc.) asking “What Would Jesus Do?” I think the more important, more relevant question is “What Would YOU Do?” Jesus lived — if he lived at all — approximately 2000 years ago. Societal rules were different back then. For instance, Jewish law (which Jesus presumably grew up following) says that eating shellfish is an abomination. So is preparing meat and dairy products in the same area.

I would like to know what contemporary Christians (not Jesus, who lived — if he lived at all — approximately 2000 years ago) do in situations where they they encounter such blatant disregard for the scriptures. Why aren’t Fred Phelps and his ilk protesting Red Lobster? Why is the biblical prohibition against homosexuality so much more important than the prohibition against shellfish? Aren’t they in the same book? What would Jesus do? What Would YOU Do? Especially now in the Christmas season‽

By the way, Happy Holidays!

December 20, 1996

Carl Sagan died.

December 18, 1865

The Thirteenth Amendment to the US constitution prohibits slavery and involuntary servitude.

Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Note—I hope to make this a recurring feature.

A great post over at Rationally Speaking:

Unquestioning ideological commitment is the real enemy, be that in favor of a religion or political position, in reverence of a prophet or a political leader. Ironically, I think our tragic tendency to fall for facile ideological brainwashing may be the result of the fact that, despite our literature, science, and technology, we are still little more than a species of social chimpanzees – and we instinctively align ourselves with the alpha male, regardless of how much stupidity and suffering may result from it.

The full post is here.

I almost forgot to mention this. Today, December 10, is Human Rights Day.

A Catholic diocese is evicting a Unitarian Universalist congregation because they made the grave error of inviting a gay rights speaker to give a talk. I just have to wonder what they are afraid of.

Keith Olbermann is consistently good. Here, he takes Newt Gingrich to task over his comments about the First Amendment.