Subscribe

Enter your email address below to subscribe to Kenders Musings!


powered by Bloglet

WARNING WILL ROBINSON

Feel free to post comments, rants, or even personal attacks. It simply shows your wish for taunting if you do the latter.

You can say anything you want here. But if you get stupid I reserve the right to point it out, call you lots of inventive names and laugh like hell.

Blogs I Like

In no particular order):
Note: "right" either means this blogger is correct or that they lean right. I know what I mean by it. How do you take it?

Iraqi Blogs

The Other Side Of The Street

New York Liberals that aren't all that bad
(for NY Libs)
The name say it all
(Pissed Liberals)
Luna Kitten
See? I told you I had a liberal friend!!!

Send me some greenbacks

The 101st Fighting Keyboarders

The Wide Awakes

Give me some love

You can email me here

Atom.xml

I am THE
Snarky Kender
of the
TTLB Ecosystem

New Tagline:
"Got Kender?"




Technorati

Technorati search

    Followers

    To the very few people that wander by this humble blog may your holiday be bright and warm. Keep those in your thoughts that are far from home and family, although most likely not far from loved ones, and pray they come home safe.



    As my friend Redneck Guru posted:



    "There is no greater love than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:12-13)





    Keep safe and be of good cheer and stolid faith that all will be right in the end.



    Merry Christmas

    Blessed Yule

    Happy Chanukah

    Bright Kwanzaa

    and Bless You All.



    (did I get everyone?)

    29 comments:

    Anonymous said...

    kender, some guy took offense to your comment and my post, he sent me a trackback, that i fully responded to on my last entry.

    http://carbcarnivore.typepad.com/

    M+ said...

    And all-of-the-above to you also. Peace!

    Anonymous said...

    kender, first and foremost, excellent post on that retards site, i havent been back until a few moments ago, and i only popped over there to rub their nose in this article i read, i just found it amusing it was a "famed" atheist who drew this conclusion:,

    Famed Atheist Concedes: Evidence Points to God
    Monday, December 13, 2004 12:00:00 AM GMT

    New York, Dec. 10 (CWNews.com) - Antony Flew, the British scholar who for years has been the world's most noteworthy philosophical proponent of atheism, has conceded that scientific evidence points to the existence of God.

    Flew-- a prolific writer and energetic lecturer who has advanced atheist arguments throughout his long academic career-- made his dramatic concession in a video presentation on scientific evidence for the existence of God. In the video-- based on a conference held in New York in May of this year-- Flew said that the latest biological research "has shown, by the almost unbelievable complexity of the arrangements which are needed to produce (life), that intelligence must have been involved."

    Early this year, writing in Philosophy Now magazine, Flew had indicated that his commitment to atheism was wavering. He wrote: "It has become inordinately difficult even to begin to think about constructing a naturalistic theory of the evolution of that first reproducing organism."

    Flew credited a Texas Catholic, Roy Varghese, with helping to persuade him that biological research points to the workings of an intelligent creator. Varghese, the author of The Wonder of the World , organized the May conference at which Flew first questioned his own atheistic position, and produced the video in which the 81-year-old scholar abandoned that stance.

    Flew-- whose 1984 essay, "The Presumption of Atheism," fixed his place as the leading proponent of that view-- emphasizes that he has not accepted Christianity. He said: "I'm thinking of a God very different from the God of the Christian, and far and away from the God of Islam." He likened his current position to the deism of Thomas Jefferson, explaining that he is now sympathetic to the researchers who theorize about an "intelligent design" in the working of creation.

    Antony Flew conceded that many of his philosophical followers will be shocked by his announcement. But he told Associated Press: "My whole life has been guided by the principle of Plato's Socrates: Follow the evidence, wherever it leads."

    Redneck Guru said...

    Kwanzaa? If I make up a holiday can I get some misguided and delusional people to advocate its observance due to some misguided sense of political correctness?

    The racism behind this "holiday" would be an outrage if it weren't so sad.

    Didn't mean to change the subject :-).

    Merry Christmas.

    kender said...

    Not at all.....that is a good point. I suggest we make up a holiday. It should be when the weather is warm.....involve something to drink....scantily clad women...a sport....and take up an entire weekend, if not half a week. We could have parades like the old soviet military parades, with alot of our military hardware being sent down the street...shooting events.....have a national day of fishing.....whatever we want. We should work out the details. I may post something along these lines, but with points to piss off teh left. BTW, I met a man in florida once that called martin luther king day "james earl ray day".

    KraftyOne said...

    See what happens when you just try to post a nice note with holiday best wishes for those who read your blog? You get someone who posts about some Athiest decided that there is some kind of god(s) (intelligent Creator) and someone else making fun of Kwanzaa and those who choose to celebrate it. (Although it is sort of a funny holiday since it was created in 1966 to foster cultural identity, its not exactly hurting anyone)

    Anyway Kender, I appreciate the spirit of what you were saying... Happy Holidays to you as well.

    KraftyOne said...

    Kender - you mean like Superbowl weekend? Sports, scantily clad women (cheerleaders), etc. It almost meets all your criteria. We just need to hold it in June. I'm all for making up holidays by the way. Any reason to do some drinking and take some time away from work sounds good to me.

    wandering coyote said...

    Didn't take long to out you. "James Earl Ray day"? Oh dude. I can't wait to meet you. Where do you train horses? Los Al?

    kender said...

    You haven't "outed" me. There is no outing to do. I met that guy in Fl when I was there in '89 for the breeders cup, and only remember it because he almost got his ass whipped in the grandstand for being drunk and stupid. And no, I stay away from Los Al if I can help it. Haven't been there in a few years, and don't miss it one bit. And what do you know of Los Al?

    Don't tell me I am sharing SoCal with a goof like you? Although it would fit that you would be here, by the coast, in a "blue city". Liberal wank.

    Redneck Guru said...

    Hello Krafty! Never did hear back from you on why communism isn't evil, but glad to see you jumping in here!

    The holiday is called Christmas. and it celebrates the birth of Christ. It isn't a "cultural identity workshop". The holidays observed by the US government aren't pagan, or atheist or agnostic. It is Christmas. I'm tired of it being hijacked.

    Also, there is something to be said for the black community being covertly pressured to celebrate Kwanzaa instead of Christmas as a way of breaking down their religious based morality. Makes them easier pickings for the US socialist party that has tried to keep them down for so long.

    Redneck Guru said...

    Kender,

    Please be nice to nascarblue. I have read his ramblings on several of his blogs (even the ones he tried to hide), and I have come to the conclusion that he isn't a very big thinker.

    kender said...

    I would like to have been nice to nascarblue....and you are correct, he isn't a thinker, he is brainwashed....but being nice to him, while still a possibility, is most likely not a viable scenario.

    He posts links that absolutely fail to back up anything he is saying.

    He deserves what is coming to him.

    KraftyOne said...

    So...are people who celebrate Chanukah "hijacking" Christmas? From best historical records that we have, Christ was born in April. Christmas was put on December 25th in order to subjugate a pagan Sun god holiday. So, in essence, Christmas is Christianity's "hijacking" of a pagan holiday. Anyway, I do respect your wish to celebrate the birth of Christ without others necessarily interfering or trying to confuse the issue, I just don't see Kwanzaa as all that serious of a threat to anything. Nothing says you can't celebrate Christmas and Kwanzaa and, so few people really do celebrate Kwanzaa (that I have met anyway), that I just don't see it being all that big of a deal except as a quirk of a few people who just want something to celebrate when everyone else seems so festive. Besides that, why would anyone want to "break down" someone's "religious based morality"? That’s sort of a silly concept don't you think?

    About Communism, I thought I had replied, but maybe not (I've had some computer crashes that robbed a few nice posts from me). Anyway, what I thought I had said was that it was true that historically we have only ever had evil forms of communism. All of the historical examples have taken the form of communistic dictatorships. None of them were truly communistic states. I'm not really a big supporter of communism because I don't think that we (as corrupt, greedy humans) could really handle such an idea of utopian sharing and equality. Like all of the animal kingdom, we're not really built that way. We're built to be competitive and grasping and such and no matter how high minded some individuals might be, communism could never work if even a single person does not completely adhere to it. This is why I say that communism is not inherently evil in theory.

    Redneck Guru said...

    Krafty:

    YAWN!

    You are way out in left field again (am I being redundant?). Again, please try to read for comprehension as reading for speed is obviously not your strong suit.

    I was referring to the Government holiday (not Kwanzaa, Chanukah, not anything pagan). Reread my post please.

    Since this is the time of the year we observe CHRISTmas (the federal government), this is what I chose to use as a point of reference. And it figures you'd be up on all of the pagan details, being in college and all.

    Why would anyone want to "break down" someone's "religious based morality"? Are you serious? Look at the agenda of gay activists, abortion activists, media advertisement, etc. It is all about turning the US into a completely secular country guided by the morality of relativism. Religion is ridiculed in the liberal blogs and chat rooms (and some mainstream press) and those that have a a strong Judeo Christian belief system are disparaged as ignorant and unenlightened.

    I think I did remember you replying to the communism argument so I apologize for bringing it up again. Your argument once again has no merit. You can't take a system of government that was created by humans and say it is perfect except that humans cannot execute it. Do you not see the failure in your logic?

    Anyway. Hope you had a Merry CHRISTmas!

    Peace through Victory.

    KraftyOne said...

    I originally considered commenting on your US government holiday stuff, but decided against it because I didn't know what you were trying to say. You said: "The holidays observed by the US government aren't pagan, or atheist or agnostic. It is Christmas." Since you first used the plural "holidays" and then spoke of the singular "Christmas" I didn't know if you were talking about all holidays that the US government sponsors or just Christmas.
    Anyway, I found this page that I thought was interesting about Christmas as a federal holiday:
    http://usa.usembassy.de/holidays-xmas.htm
    It doesn't really make much of a point, but is interesting. Fortunately, however, Kwanzaa is December 26th-January 1 and so you can go to bed comfortably tonight knowing that Kwanzaa does not interfere with your blessed Christmas. However, since it is now the 29th - Bright Kwanzaa to you! (I think that is how you are supposed to say it - I have no idea).

    I am up on some pagen details because I read a lot and find lots of different topics interesting. I never said that if am in college, which means that you assumed I am. There's an old saying about people who ASSUME things...and...well, I'm sure it doesn't need to be repeated here. For the record, while I did go to college, I am not in college.

    I find a lot of Christians who seem to feel beaten down on (despite their vast majority). I also find this to be a very tiresome "poor me" attitude and it seems to stem from some strange desire to be suppressed so that you can rage against that suppression. I have no issues with your beliefs, nor do I make any judgement of you as a person based on those beliefs. All I ask is that you respect mine.

    There are many things which are theoretically great if not currently feasible. It does not stop them from being theoretically great.

    A merry Xmas to you as well, and a Happy New Year

    Redneck Guru said...

    I have anything but a "poor me" attitude! I am just not going to take the derogatoy remarks and criticism without asking for a reason. No where in my posts have I come off as a victim. Your ability to comprehend the written word is laughable.

    The Faceless Preacher said...

    Isn't Christmas just a made up holiday?

    KraftyOne said...

    Faceless, I'll reply before any of the more zealous readers of this site get the chance. No, Christmas is not a made up holiday. The date that it is celebrated on could be considered 'made up'. However, what Christmas celebrates is not made up. It celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. Whether or not you believe that Jesus is/was the Messiah, he is still one of the most (if not THE most) influential figures in history. Christmas celebrates his birth and so therefore is not 'made up'.

    KraftyOne said...

    I do believe that I got up underneath Redneck's skin with that last comment. What is truly laughable, Redneck, is that you do not comprehend your own writing. Let me show you where you displayed a "poor me" attitude. I quote:

    "Religion is ridiculed in the liberal blogs and chat rooms (and some mainstream press) and those that have a strong Judeo Christian belief system are disparaged as ignorant and unenlightened."

    Aww, poor Judeo Christians get a little bit of flak in the liberal blogs and chat rooms. Poor Judeo Christians get a little disparagement from people who disagree with their beliefs and think them quaint.

    Okay, so you want a reason? Here it is. The reason that many (note: not ALL) Christians get disparaged as "ignorant and unenlightened" is that many of them ARE ignorant. They hold beliefs that they themselves do not understand. They believe themselves to be morally and otherwise superior to those who hold disparate beliefs without even knowing WHY they believe what they believe. They attempt to push their beliefs on those who disagree with them. I cannot tell you how many Christians (and otherwise religious people - not just picking on Christians here) have gotten frustrated and angry in a conversation with me because they couldn't even defend their own beliefs.

    To be fair to both sides, Atheists are often as ignorant as religious people. They assume that simply because you cannot prove the existence of God that one cannot exist. It is often these people whom you see disparaging Christians as "ignorant and unenlightened". Nonetheless, Christians are still the vast majority in the Western world.

    What it seems that the majority of people fail to understand is that it all comes down to Faith. Faith is belief in something that is unprovable. I do not have Faith - it’s not in me. My personality/core demands explanations for things, demands that there be explanations, logic and reason for everything. Other people do not have this requirement in them and that is okay. They have Faith that the Bible is the written word of God through man. They have faith that there is an afterlife. They have faith that there is a God in heaven who loves and cares for them. If this faith gives someone comfort and assurance and helps them to lead a productive life, then that is wonderful for them.

    Back to the topic of Christmas. The more I thought about it last night, the more I realized that Christmas becoming a federal holiday was probably the worst thing that could have happened to it as a religious holiday. Once Christmas became one of the first federal holidays in 1870 it began to force everyone to recognize it. It didn't force everyone to celebrate it, but it did force everyone to recognize it and thus led to its eventual decline into the state of commercialism that it has today. I would think that Christians all over the country would be clamoring to get it removed as a federal holiday so that they could start to reclaim its religious roots.

    kender said...

    K1...Christianity is indeed being attacked, and not only in chatrooms and blogs, where it is a minor topic most of the time, but in the mainstream press, in schools, and in the courts.

    The ACLU is constantly fighting against the christian faith, trying hard to stomp out any mention of it anywhere. yet they defend the muslims, and the pagans, and the atheists. I don't care what someone believes, but when it is considerd, as it is now, bad manners to say "Merry Christmas", yet "Happy Channukah" is perfectly acceptable and Ramadans precepts get taught in the schools under the heading of "tolerance education" then things have gone too far.

    Christianity is under attack, and if that battle is successful then the ACLU and the extreme leftists will chase the other religions to ground also.

    On a side not I did call the LA chapter of the ACLU and wish them a Merry Christmas. You know, those people never call me back. No christmas spirit. How rude!!

    Redneck Guru said...

    "Religion is ridiculed in the liberal blogs and chat rooms (and some mainstream press) and those that have a strong Judeo Christian belief system are disparaged as ignorant and unenlightened."

    That was a statement I made, K1. YOU are the one that tried to place some type of meaning behind it where I portray myself as "poor me". I did not. Taking just that sentence as a statement, prove to ANYONE an underlying allusion to victimhood. It isn't there.

    Again, it points to a terrible flaw in your reading comprehension. I honestly hope you can correct it before you get out of college.

    Regarding faith, I say you ARE a person of faith. You have faith each day that your car will start, the brakes will work. You have faith in the electric company to provide you energy to heat your home. You have faith in your parents to pay for your college and support you while you get an education (even as lacking as the one you are recieving).

    The list goes on. We have faith every day. Faith is at the core of humanity, from faith in ourselves, to faith in our infrastructure and the people that run it, to faith in our country. Faith in our God is only a logical extension of that aspect of human behavior.

    I have met people with no faith. They are negative people, always looking for a failure that they can point out in someone else or in something someone else believes. Their weakness lies in their inability to choose a path, and their constant crying and bitching that since all paths are wrong, none are worth following.

    KraftyOne said...

    Okay, seriously, until you learn to read, you don't get to make any more comments about MY reading comprehension. Allow me to quote myself:

    "I never said that if am in college, which means that you assumed I am. There's an old saying about people who ASSUME things...and...well, I'm sure it doesn't need to be repeated here. For the record, while I did go to college, I am not in college."

    This quote comes from this very same comment section. Perhaps when I said "I am not in college" that was somehow confusing? I'm really not sure where you got this misconception from. I did go to college. I graduated over a year ago. I also mostly supported myself through school having recieved several excellent academic scholarships and working a few part-time jobs. My parents did support me in the way that all loving parents do (occasional food, $20 for gas occasionally, that kind of thing), but also taught me the value of paying for things myself.

    See, after failing to read that one, you then failed to read my definition of faith. I said that faith is belief in the unprovable. I can readily go prove that my car will start, that the lights will turn on, and that my heat (gas, not electric) will work. I believe all these things will happen and then I can go prove them to be true. They require no faith. Faith, by its very nature, is illogical. It does not mean that it is bad or wrong. Love is also often illogical and yet survives. Sometimes I envy people who have faith since it seems to give many of them such great comfort. Nonetheless, I don't.

    KraftyOne said...

    Kender. Thanks for popping back in here - we missed you.

    Anyway, I think what you are describing are challenges, not attacks. People have for so long felt challenged and attacked by Christians that this time is a bit of backlash and repercussions. I'm not saying that it is right that people challenge Christians for what they believe, but I do think that it is largely a response to the missionaries and such who think everyone needs to hear and believe the "Word of God".

    Do you not think that Christianity is up to the challenge? Is this what concerns you? If not, what does? Loss of power and dominance perhaps?

    Really, show me an example where Christianity is truly being threatened or even attacked.

    Redneck Guru said...

    I never even SAW where you said that until I went back. The fact that you are a college graduate is even more disheatening.

    So the difference is I didn't read your post completely where you apparently read mine, but didn't get it.

    My question was, in that sentence you quoted, where was the underlying message of victimhood? You should at least admit it wasn't there...

    I find it interesting my not reading one piece of info in your post cause you to go off on a tangent about what "assistance" you recieved in college.

    The point was that you misread my post.

    The other point was that you ARE a faithful person. Think of it this way:

    If the fact of your car starting was a matter of life and death, that is if it didn't start, you would die, where if it did you would live, where would your faith lie? The fact that you can PROVE your car will start is a false statement, you can only prove that it has started in the past, or has just started. There is NO WAY for you to prove it WILL start.

    That being said, my statement (once again) is true. You have FAITH that your car will start. I can prove that Christ exists using your same level of proof as your car starting. Once he returns, guess what? He exists. Those who believe are saved (there is a tad more to it than that, but for the sake of argument), those that don't are not. Pretty simple.

    So as a band I used to listen to quite regularly once said, "... if you choose not to decide you still have made a choice."

    I don;t care to turn this into a religious discussion. Semantically and logically you cannot prove to me that you have no faith. You have no faith in God. That is different.

    KraftyOne said...

    Maybe we should just drop this one? I kind of enjoy religious discussions, but I know that many people don't (I think they don't like being challenged, but they may just feel uncomfortable with the topic). Let me know what you think...

    The "tangent" that I went off on was directly related to something you said. You said that I have faith that my parents would support my "lacking" education. I responding to that off-base assumption on your part. I actually believed quite thoroughly that my parents would NOT support my way through college and that I would have to work hard to earn scholarships to support myself. My belief in that turned out to be proven true when they did not indeed pay for everything.

    With your car and life-and-death example, you still confuse faith with belief. In that situation, I would believe that my car would indeed start. I would base this belief on my past experiences that my car has never not started. I would not have faith that it would start. In my head, as I was turning the key, I would be frantically trying to come up with other ideas in case it did not start. This is because I would not simply have faith in it. Someone with faith would not be making other plans, because they would assume that the car was going to start.

    Your other example is indeed true. If Christ does return as some believe, but I don't, then my lack of belief will be proven false. I am okay with this. This is the same as if I did not believe that my car would start, but it actually did. Then, that belief would be proven false. We're still talking about belief here and not faith.

    Since the only real way to prove God and the afterlife's existence is to die, I sorta think it becomes a moot point at that time.

    KraftyOne said...

    Oh - and, sorry, if your intent was not to give victimhood or imply persecution, then I apologize. It did read that way to me though. It read like a complaint and that you were hoping that it would stop because you didn't like it. If you were simply making an observation like "The sky is blue." when you made that comment, then, again, I apologize.

    kender said...

    "Really, show me an example where Christianity is truly being threatened or even attacked."

    O.K. K1.

    I am fairly certain that you know the words to 'Silent Night'. probably you know the words to quite a few other christmas songs. People across the U.S. know these words, and it is a fairly standard holiday song.

    Of course I also expect you know the Pledge of Allegiance.


    It can also be expected that you have seen a few cemetaries in your time, and possibly have noted the abundance of crosses in them. You may have noticed other symbols, such as the Jewish Star of David, or possibly and occasional Crescent denoting Islam.

    No doubt you saw, when you were younger, that most communities across the nation would put up nativity scenes around the holidays. Some places even erected large menorahs.

    or perhaps you have seen crosses on hillsides, erected for our fallen soldiers.

    What do these things have in common?

    They far-left, in concert with the ACLU, (I have said this all before and I will keep harping on it until the ACLU tries to sue me into silence), have been trying their best, and succeeding, using our money no less, to ban any religious display of any kind in America. Since Christianity is the most visible and widespread religion in America, that will be the first to go. Believe me, it is under assault.

    If the left is allowed to succeed in this task, have no doubt that other religions will follow. All of the examples above have been banned or brought under attack by these very left-wing idealogues, and in every instance the ACLU is involved. Sometimes they don't get involved until someone takes it on themselves to whine, and once the aclu hears about it they dispatch a legal team to aid in the "defense of civil rights".

    Recently I read a story about San Francisco attempting to ban guns in their city. I called the ACLU office in LA, leaving them a message asking if they would defend our second amendment right to keep and bear arms.

    As of this writing, not only have they failed to call me back, (rude bastards), but they have also NOT acted on this issue. I knew they wouldn't though, as in the interest of their agenda, an unarmed populace is one that would be safe for them to attack and undermine the Constitution, thereby bring about their stated purpose...communism.....godless communism at that.

    KraftyOne said...

    Okay, but these all sound like challenges to me. I have still not heard any evidence of this: "have been trying their best, and succeeding, using our money no less, to ban any religious display of any kind in America".

    What I have heard of is instances where people feel like their own beliefs are being threatened or stepped on by other peoples. Now, I do think that people have really stepped over the line in the case of christmas carols (I have no doubt that unless you too are the son of a music teacher that I know all the words to more Christmas music than you or 95% of the people out there). Music is not only part of our history, but every song is a part of our culture. My mom tries very hard to not only teach songs like Silent Night, but also Chanukah songs and as many other culture's music as she can. Her holiday concerts are full of all kinds of music. She still gets complaints. In this respect, I completely agree with you. These people need to learn that there is a difference between being taught about and learning to appreciate other cultures and being forced to believe what those songs and cultures believe. I'm not saying there aren't wackos out there who think that everyone is persecuting them (Persecution is not just for Christians, its for Everyone!) for every little thing.

    The pledge of Allegiance should be said in schools. It should also not be required. A child may be allowed to simply stand there and not say anything. This would be both freedom of speech and freedom of belief. Again, respecting and learning about what others believe is not the same as having to believe it yourself.

    I really wanted to argue with you on this one, but found that as I was typing I was more agreeing than not. I do think that people are going overboard with what they complain about. As one of my professors in college put it: "The catch phrase of the 90s was, 'I'm Offended'". He was right, except it didn't stop in the 90s.

    What I do disagree with is that I don't think that this will in the end lead to a godless, secular society. I think this is a phase of "pushing back" that people are doing because they have felt oppressed by Christianity's dominance in this country for so long. Anyway, I think that everyone will weather this minor squall and will be the better for it. A little challenge builds character.

    job opportunitya said...

    Wondrous blog. Your site was very pleasing and I
    will go back again! I like surfing the net for blogs
    as good as yours.
    Hey why don't you peep my plastic and reconstructive surgery blog site.

    Post a Comment