Holdin on the rail

Spent the weekend in Chicago and had a great time visiting a friend with two kids under the age of 2. It would have been great if I'd had more time, but isn't that always the case? Anyway, the train ride there was delayed by an hour... the ride back was only a half hour late... seems that Amtrack has a high speed rail between Niles, MI and Kalamazoo, MI that allows the train to go up to 95 mph. The conductor was very excited to share this... however, this was where the delay came in, since there is only one track for a portion and the train leaving K-zoo was already on it... so we sat for a half hour. Oh, the irony. But, once they get this high speed upgrade on all trains, and all tracks, it will shave 2.5 hours off the rail time from Detroit to Chicago--I wonder what that will shave off the delay time? Still, I prefer the train... even if the woman across the aisle from me was busy spreading the word of Jesus to some unsuspecting passenger. For 2 hours I over heard the joys of miracles, the rapture and other scripture references and all clearly heard over my iPod.

Religious Illiteracy

A day behind as I am on The Daily Show, I was catching the rerun from last evenings show and saw Jon Stewart's interview with Boston University's Stephen Prothero, who penned the book, Religious Illiteracy. I was amazed and appalled by the stats shared in the interview (i.e. that in an interview, intelligence agents were not able to appropriately identify Al Queda's Islamic affiliation... folks, that shouldn't be a guess (and an incorrect one at that) if you have declared war.

From the book description:

The United States is one of the most religious places on earth, but it is also a nation of shocking religious illiteracy.

Only 10 percent of American teenagers can name all five major world religions and 15 percent cannot name any.

Nearly two-thirds of Americans believe that the Bible holds the answers to all or most of life's basic questions, yet only half of American adults can name even one of the four gospels and most Americans cannot name the first book of the Bible.

Despite this lack of basic knowledge, politicians and pundits continue to root public policy arguments in religious rhetoric whose meanings are missed—or is interpreted—by the vast majority of Americans.

Sickening, but I recall from a college course called "Death and Dying" which was a survey course on how various religions viewed death, dying and various associated metrics. Everyone was all good and fine with the concept of religion as "myth" for the term of the class until, that is, we got to Christianity. Those who hadn't spoken a word all term suddenly had a lot to say... accusing the professor, me and anyone who argued that facets of Christianity were mythic stories based in faith (just like every other religion). That was true of all other "fake" religions, I suppose, but as we all know, Christianity is the real religion and our blaspheming the back-to-back creation stories as a leap of faith and mythologic in scope was not to be tolerated.

I might be an agnostic, heathen unworthy of the Rapture, but I can name the five major world religions, and a few more... I'm also fairly confident that I can come up with a few of the main gospels off the top of my head... and the first book of the bible... yeah, I can name that, too... along with the first few words, too. And folks, it doesn't start off with "Once upon a time..."

But part of Prothero's main argument is that if we are going to politicize religion, and it is unavoidable, perhaps the fine citizens of the United States, and especially those in government positions, should know at least the basics. And the basics, in my opinion, is not even sufficient, but it is a start.

Is it still rock and roll, and do we still like it?

Well, folks, it is official... hell has come down on us--none of us are safe, prepare for the Rapture to begin... the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted Grandmaster Flash. Has it only been 25 years since his Message ruined Regan's life? Making people aware that there were problems in the ghetto? It's no wonder Regan had to bring AIDS into the inner cities--who ever would have thought that it would travel from the ghettos and gay populations to affect white suburbia? Certainly not a guy from Hollywood... that just seemed like a stretch... a perfect plan backfired. So, I'm sure if Regan remembered, he rolled over in his grave.

My point was not to return to the "glory days" of Reganomics in all its sick and deranged forms and I'm pretty certain I will get emails about how Regan didn't bring AIDS on his own country, but just save it, you can't prove he didn't. MY POINT was that we have reached a new milestone in making me feel old--hip/hop has entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Aside from making me feel old, it also makes me sad. It deserves a place on the wall out of respect, and I'm all for not needing another Hall of anything, but the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is a joke... yep, time for my yearly tirade... but I'll skip to Grandmaster's fellow inductees... because, it's a sadder state that culminates to my point that Grandmaster Flash deserves better.

After a lengthy article denoting the various Van Halen "issues" that are completely expected, old news and without any redeeming journalistic merit, the AP notes:

No such drama was anticipated for R.E.M., only a happy reunion...

Ya don't say... aren't these the Shiny Happy People? (Shiny Happy People who LOST THEIR RELIGION??)

Mr. Grandmaster Flash, sir, a word or two of advice... pull a Prince. Get in there, show up Tom Petty and walk off stage knowing that you are in fact the Grandmaster and fuck the rest of the disfunction. Ok, so maybe Tom Petty won't be there, but pick someone equally of high rank within the "community" kick their ass and call it a night... the rest of them are has-beens. You are not. You still have relevance and respect.