Video clip can be seen here.
Putting aside the fact that Pat Robertson (a Christian) is advocating assasination (a.k.a. murder), there are a multitude of other reasons why this is sick:
I want to share some of my objectives for the near and slightly-less-near future, mostly just to let everyone (who would that be? our non-existent readers?) know what I am thinking and thinking about these days. (And what I have been thinking about, since obviously these things made it on my list of things to accomplish for some reason.) Most of these things to accomplish are merely things I would like to read, but there are a couple of other things I would like to do, see below.
So, first the really crucial things: I am convinced that I must read The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution of Freedom of Conscience by Roger Williams (as in the co-founder of Rhode Island). It is a dialogue, so probably not easy reading for my aging brain, but it seems to be an essential reading for understanding the relationship between religion and state. Williams was, after all, apparently the first to make freedom of religion a political, rather than merely religious, dogma, and in so doing helped to establish a critical feature of modern liberal democracies.
The second thing is not a single thing, but rather a range of things to choose from. I really want to read something by George Fox or about George Fox. Fox, of course, was the founder of the Quakers, who fit in with the above item by being one of the first Protestant groups to be substantially affected by Rhode Island's freed of conscience (somewhat ironically given that Williams was apparently not fond of the Quakers, at least from a religious perspective). Like Williams, the Quakers were politically progressive - they were one of the first groups in the United States to speak out against slavery, for example. Even if we cannot agree completely with early Quaker theology (though I do find very much I am sympathetic with) they definitely set an example for the interaction of faith and society and the pursuit of justice. (It would also most definitely be worth doing some more reading about the early history of the Anabaptists, whom in some incarnations I also have great respect for.)
I had mentioned previously that I was reading The Canon of the New Testament by Bruce Metzger (which I still have not finished). There are also some other books by him that are high on my list: The Early Versions of the New Testament: Their Origin, Transmission, and Limitations; The Text of the New Testament : Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration; and The New Testament : Its Background, Growth, and Content. This is more a list to buy than read - I don't expect I would be able to read all of those in a timely manner. Also, I note that I am not obsessed with Metzger's works, but that (1) Metzger is quite respected and not generally very controversial and (2) his books seem a good starting point given what I am looking to get out of them, plus (3) it is my personal preference to read a lot by one author and then move on to someone else.
One thing I am actually working on at the moment (as opposed to in the near future) is learning koine Greek, and reviewing some German. Also set for the near future is picking up some elementary Spanish and Korean. If I can gain any proficiency in Greek and Spanish in the near future (and restore some with regard to German) then I will be happy and move on to the next language. (Of which ancient Hebrew is definitely one, and Latin is a probably one. I think Arabic would be useful as well, though Arabic is a much more intense undertaking. There are some other languages that interest me, but they are much less practical for the most part. Swahili, Japanese, and Mandarin are the most practical on that list. Some others would be Old English, some Celtic language, some one of the indigenous American languages, maybe Cherokee, and Yiddish. Oh, and I forgot - I have been tempted to study some French, just so I can go there someday. But I don't think anyone seriously believes I would do that.)
Oh, and I told Justin I would read God's Politics by Wallis.
Plus, I would like to read, believe it or not, some old pulp novels. The only comic book that I ever was really interested in was Batman, but the characters most similar in spirit to Batman actually came from pulp novels, especially of course Zorro. The Shadow actually started else where, but one form he was manifest in was pulp novels. So, I would like to go back and read this stuff. I don't know why... Probably as part of my effort to create the ultimate super hero. (I am working on two concepts right now, both of which are somewhat cliche. One is a fairly traditional super hero-type story, but, of course, better, that owes much to the Shadow, and the other is actually a fantasy story.)
Even less realistic than learning languages, I would really like to create a series of some small documentaries. Although I have some ideas what I would like to cover in such documentaries (mostly things about notable places in Indiana, and also some things about the Amish and Mennonites in the area), the point is more to create some useful educational content the will begin (hopefully) to break the hegemony that is American broadcast, cable, and satellite television. Okay, not much of a hegemony when you put it like that... But the point is I want to create some freely-available content that can be distributed on-demand over the Internet. The technology is most definitely in place, and is being improved every day; what we need is some content to put on it. And I am willing to contribute. If anyone has any grant money for creating eductional content lying around... I don't have any experience, but hey, I'm cheap, and my content is free.
Well, that's it. It's not complete, but its certainly enough to keep me busy for a while.
