No Grasp of Your Reality

Take the “How Do You Use Magic?” test! Written by Brimo

You would think after the embarrassment caused by the “faulty intellegence” we had on Iraq and their weapons capabilities, that the Bush Administration would be a bit more careful to coroborate intellegence before they start spouting accusations.

You would think… but you’d be wrong.

On noticeable difference between Tokyo and Philadelphia is cleanliness.

It was almost freaky to wash my hands after our first day of touring. After countless subway stops, sitting on park benches, holding hand railings, etc., the water rinsing my hands ran clear against the white porcelain sink.
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TokyoNov2004/898_9861On our second day here, Tom took me to see the Meiji Shrine. If you look through the photos from Tom�€™s first trip here, there are a number of pictures of the Shrine. (Though, there may be a few more coming.) Just a few steps from the subway stop is the entrance to the shrine. The path to the shrine is wide (about the equivalent of a 3 or 4 lane street) and is made of gravel. The custodians there have special brooms and are in a constant sweeping battle against the falling autumn leaves. The shrine is surrounded by dense woods and gardens. They shelter the area from the noise of the city and, from within, you lose yourself in a world of nature. It is so easy to forget that you�€™re still in the middle of a city.
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An editorial in the Washington Post has endorsed Firefox as their browser of choice. Looking at my logs, I can see that many of you are using IE… perhaps the article will convince you to change. If you want to give it a go (what do you have to lose?), then click on the Firefox icon to the right, and take it for a test drive… your computer will be glad you did.

TokyoNov2004/IMG_9834Ahhh.. Japan.

I�€™m having such a pleasant visit. I had hoped to write more in my blog, but have not had much time to just sit and write.

This morning, we were able to call home and talk to the children. They are having a wonderful time at their grandma�€™s house �€“ Tabitha screamed into the phone, �€œYEAH! I�€™m having FUN!!!�€� We miss them terribly, but we do not have to worry since they are in such capable hands. Thomas said his Uncle Mark is taking care of him (Thomas has been known to say that Mark is his “best friend”). Aiden was just happy to be allowed to hold a real phone

Up until yesterday, Tom has been working for a few hours each night �€“ so we have been able to spend most of our time with each other. For me, it has been a nice break from everyday responsibilities and a refreshing time with my husband. Normally, we only see each other on weekends (which are usually filled with church activities, football games, spending time with relatives, and handling responsibilities leftover from the week) and in the evening after a long day�€™s work.

To be able to be together while we�€™re both wide-awake and feeling relaxed, while removed from our normal schedule, has been a great opportunity to appreciate each others�€™ thoughts, feelings and interests.

We love being together.
There are no uncomfortable silences.
Sometimes, we even steal kisses.

Well, President Bush has won reelection, and I cannot say that I’m disappointed. The idea of John Kerry as President kinda scared me, especially since I couldn’t really predict what he would do. While I usually don’t care for many of President Bush’s decisions, at least he is a predictable neoconservative.

Many of the Bush defenders I know deny that the President is a neoconservative, and so I’m glad to point out to those naysayers this article, entitled “Bush is a Neoconservative” on WorldNetDaily (hardly a liberal site) concluding that Bush is, in fact, a neoconservative, that is, a statist at home and an imperialist abroad.

The article does a good job pointing out the rather disgusting traits of the neocons… but just read it yourself.

You may have noticed that we’ve changed the name of our weblog. The title deserves an explanation.

In his classic (and sadly underrated) movie, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Terry Gilliam truly created a masterpiece. In the course of the film, the leader of the city (played masterfully by Jonathan Pryce) accuses the Baron of having lost his grasp of reality. The Baron turns the accusation back at his accuser, saying, “Your reality, sir, is lies and balderdash and I’m delighted to say that I have no grasp of it whatsoever.”

Too often in life, we Christians are accused of foolishness because of our staunch and absolute belief in an archaic book written two-thousand years ago. Yet, the Apostle Paul seems to echo the words of the Baron, when he wrote, “Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?”

I am proud to say that I have no grasp of the reality of the world.

Sarah and I have arrived safely in Japan, after a really long flight. Door to door, it took 23 hours to get here. For the first time, I flew in the back of the plane with the common folk, and honestly, it really wasn’t that bad. It was tough to sleep, but I blame sitting next to Sarah more than being in Coach. The flight was not full, though, and Sarah and I were able to share 3 seats between the two of us. It would have been much worse if there was another person taking up that seat.

We woke up this morning at 5am, but we’re both pretty refreshed. I’ll probably get tired late this afternoon, so we’re going to try to make the most of today. We have a day without work to spend together, so I’m going to show Sarah how the subway system works, and hit some touristy stuff together. I can’t express how excited I am to have her here to share the cool experiences around the city… we’re going to have a good time.

My parents are watching the children, and they seem to be ok by all reports… I’m sure they’re more than capable of keeping an eye on them, and they’re definately allowing Sarah and I to enjoy our time together without worrying. Much thanks to the both of them.

Oh, well… 6am, and time to introduce Sarah to the Tokyo Starbucks!

Cool! Go to World 66 to make a map of the countries you’ve visted! My map is below.

Here are the states I’ve visited…

Actually, World 66 looks like it could be a very cool site. It’s designed to be an “open content” travel guide, released under a Creative Commons license. I’m going to try to put some of my Japan trips on here.

Their server is getting hammered, so the images might not show up when you’re reading this… if they don’t, then please come back later to check them out.

BoingBoing has an interesting article, calling for the secession of the yankee states. Even Chris Matthews noted on Tuesday night how the states that voted for Bush vs. those who voted for Kerry will split along lines that are hauntingly close to the demarcation between the Union and Confederacy.

There was one comment at the end that didn’t make sense. The author, in a final “good riddance” writes, “God bless you all, and see you at the U.N.” I’m sure if he contemplated the idea for just a moment, he would realize that one of the first actions of the new Confederacy would be to leave the U.N. It wouldn’t be a moment too soon.

Blatently stolen from the National Review Online.

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A Liberal Republican Senator from Pennsylvania and a President — both running for reelection — need to cross a river. The Liberal Republican Senator asks the President to carry him across on his back.

“But you’ll sting me,” says the President.

“Of course I won’t, says the Liberal Republican Senator. If I do, we’ll both drown.”

The President thinks this is logical, and so allows the Liberal Republican Senator to climb on his back. They hop into the river and are about halfway across when the Liberal Republican Senator stings the President. As they both begin to drown, the President asks, “Why?”

The Liberal Republican Senator replies, “I can’t help it. It’s in my nature.”

I never actually calculated how effective the 9/11 attacks were financially for the Al-Qadea attackers. According to Bloomberg, the tactic of financially bankrupting the United States is viable, and has been a deliberate strategy of Al-Qadea. Bloomsberg writes in this article that the terrorist organization spent around $500,000 on the 9/11 attacks, and so far, the response has cost the U.S. over $160 billion in direct costs on the war in Iraq, plus an estimated $1 trillion in economic losses. This amounts to about $2.32 million U.S. dollars spent in reponse to every Al-Qadea dollar.

“The mujahedeen recently forced Bush to resort to emergency funds to continue the fight in Afghanistan and Iraq, which is evidence of the success of the bleed-until-bankruptcy plan — with Allah’s permission,” bin Laden said in the video that aired on the Qatar-based satellite network, according to the translation, posted today to al-Jazeera’s Web site.

So, is it a viable strategy? Well, according to Bin Laden, it’s a strategy that worked on the Soviet Union. Soon after the Soviets pulled out of Afghanistan in the late 1990s, the system collapsed around them. The United States federal government is currently $7.4 trillion in debt, and our debt is increasing at $1.69 billion per day.

So, have you ever wondered to whom we owe this money, what is the collateral, and when this debt is coming due? Perhaps Bin Laden understands economics better than we do… after all, he already bankrupted one superpower.