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November 06

November 30, 2006

Pastor Parsley On Pastor Ted: Still Trying To Not Be Gay

We received this communique from the Rossinator up at New Life. Keep reading for update on Ted.

From: Pastor Ross Parsley
Date: Nov 30, 2006 6:45 PM
Subject: Update from Pastor Ross
To: [rem]

Dear New Life family and friends,

God’s grace has been so evident in the last four weeks. You all have responded to this unprecedented season in our church family with strength and humility. Many of you gathered for early-morning prayer meetings this week at the World Prayer Center–these have been refreshing times of worship, intercession, repentance and encouragement. We would love to have you join us anytime Monday through Friday, 6 to 7 AM, from now until the end of the year. No need to commit to coming everyday–let’s just join together over the next several weeks and seek God with all our hearts. I believe we will see God do something remarkable in us and through us as we consecrate ourselves to his purposes for New Life Church.

This week I had the opportunity to visit with Ted and Gayle for a while. It was a good time of sharing and healing. They’ve been spending their days talking and praying together, seeing a counselor, and working toward the restoration process. Over the next several weeks and months, they will receive in-depth ministry that will tend to their emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being. Ted remains humbly submitted to the authority of the overseers, and he and Gayle are trusting God for healing and direction. Be assured that the trustees and overseers are making wise decisions to ensure they are taken care of in every way. Ted and Gayle asked me to tell you how much they love and appreciate you and your prayers during this difficult time for them. Please continue to pray for their family.

I am so excited for the Christmas season. As we celebrate the hope that Jesus Christ brought to the world, I am refreshed with hope for our family of believers. Wonderland, our annual Christmas performance, starts next week. Let’s believe God for a wonderful outpouring of his nearness and love during this Christmas season!

Filled with hope,

Ross Parsley

Posted by: darksandal in Haggard: Gay | Permalink 3 Comments

November 30, 2006

This Should Be A Great Lecture at CC Tonight

Genius, Visionary, Icon: The Culture of Celebrity in the Contemporary Art World

Public lecture by Erika Doss, Ph.D.

Thursday, November 30, 7:30pm
WES Room, Worner Center
Free and open to the public

Art historian Erika Doss explores the question of why some artists become famous while others labor in obscurity. A witty, incisive, and engaging speaker, Doss will trace the construction of art world fame, beginning with Jackson Pollock’s feature spread in Life Magazine in 1949, continuing through Andy Warhol’s Factory era, and concluding with the breathless fascination with art world luminaries Damien Hirst and Matthew Barney. Doss will examine how media saturation and market hype create and reinforce the cult of the celebrity artist.

Erika Doss is currently professor of art history at the University of Colorado, Boulder and author of numerous publications including Elvis Culture: Fans, Faith, and Image (1999), Looking at Life Magazine (editor, 2001) and Twentieth-Century American Art (2002). She is currently writing the book Memorial Mania: Self, Nation, and the Culture of Commemoration in Contemporary America. In addition to teaching courses in American, modern, and contemporary art history, Doss directed the Program in American Studies at the University of Colorado from 1991-2002. She is the editor of the “CultureAmerica” series at the University Press of Kansas, and is on the editorial board of American Art (Smithsonian American Art Museum). In July 2007, she will join the Department of American Studies at the University of Notre Dame.

Genius, Visionary, Icon: The Culture of Celebrity in the Contemporary Art World is part of What’s the Big IDEA? a series of lectures, performances, exhibitions that explore the intersections between art, reality, and the media.

Posted by: darksandal in Art | Permalink 12 Comments

November 30, 2006

NPR to run half-hour special on PTSD reported at Ft. Carson

From Eric Whitney at KRCC:

NPR NEWS INVESTIGATES MILITARY TREATMENT OF SOLDIERS SUFFERING FROM PTSD AND OTHER MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH WAR ON ALL THINGS CONSIDERED MONDAY DECEMBER 4

SIX MONTH INVESTIGATION BY DANIEL ZWERDLING SHOWS PUNISHMENT AND LACK OF SUPPORT FOR SOLDIERS DIAGNOSED WITH PTSD AND OTHER EMOTIONAL PROBLEMS

Washington, D.C.; November 30 – Award-winning NPR News journalist Daniel Zwerdling reports on the military’s treatment of soldiers returning from Iraq who suffer from emotional problems, including Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), in a special half hour investigative report on All Things Considered Monday December 4. Soldiers who have come back from war to Fort Carson, Colorado, told Zwerdling that their officers and lower level supervisors have harassed and punished them and in some cases discharged them for seeking help for what they believe to be emotional problems triggered by their service in Iraq. Zwerdling also interviewed some of the soldiers’ supervisors, most of them sergeants at the base, who admit to the treatment, telling Zwerdling that it’s true, that they are giving these soldiers a hard time, and explain the reasons why.

While a recent national study from the Government Accountability Office found that most of the soldiers who show potential signs of PTSD were not referred to mental health specialists, the Pentagon claims that providing support to soldiers with emotional issues is a top priority and that resources are being made available to those in need. Interviewed for the report, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs William Winkenwerder tells Zwerdling, “The goal, first and foremost, is to identify who’s having a problem. Secondly is to provide immediate support. And then finally, our goal is to restore good mental health.”

During his six month investigation, Zwerdling closely examined individual experiences of the soldiers he spoke to at Fort Carson. They claim that even when they seek help, the fort’s mental health unit is too overwhelmed to provide the help they need and that when their supervisors learn of their emotional crises, they’re punished. Soldier William Morris explains, “You really don’t want to be that guy going up to mental health when you’re trying to be a career soldier. You don’t want to be that guy, ‘cause as soon as you are, you’re done.”

Former soldier Alex Orum added: “I will continue to encourage any soldier who isn’t sleeping, who is having nightmares, who is having PTSD not to go seek help. Because as soon as they go and seek help, their life is going to get ten times worse.”

Zwerdling also spoke with sergeants at Fort Carson, who supervised the soldiers and corroborate much of the soldiers’ stories. Some say that most of those claiming PTSD are faking as a means of avoiding going back to war. “I think guys are just getting scared. They’re like ‘Yeah, I don’t want to go back and get into all that, you know. So yeah, I got PTSD,’ so whatever. But I mean, it’s a war. You know, it’s a war. It’s not a happy day in Lala Land. People are faced with fears, so they tuck their tail and run,” says Sergeant Gabriel Temples.

Others justify the way they treat soldiers who have emotional problems like PTSD by pointing to their slack and irresponsible behavior and unkempt appearance. Mental health specialists say that soldiers with serious emotional problems triggered by war commonly abuse drugs and alcohol and act irresponsibly. But Sergeant Nathan Towsley, who recently retired from the Army said that such solders simply don’t belong in the Army: “I think some people are just weak. You know, you just have to buck up and be a man and face it.”

Daniel Zwerdling’s half-hour investigation will air on the Monday, December 4 edition of All Things Considered. A preview will air earlier in the day on Morning Edition. To locate local stations/times for both NPR News programs, visit www.NPR.org. The investigation will also be available for audio streaming online at approximately 7:30PM (ET) at www.NPR.org. Additional Web features, including photographs of the soldiers and extra audio segments from their interviews will be included at www.NPR.org

Posted by: darksandal in Vast Phil Collins Conspiracy | Permalink Comments

November 30, 2006

Some Unsolicited Advice for the Gazette

Dear The Gazette,

I and many of my colleagues laud your efforts to be a true 21st Century newspaper and make your web presence as important as your print product. Despite the fact that your site is hideously ugly, the fact that you have comments enabled on all of your stories is a great way to engage readers who don’t want to wade through the process of submitting a letter to the editor for publication in your opinion section, and it makes your site intersting to revisit throughout the day. The Haggard scandal was a great example. The fact that you’ve bothered to join the blogging world (even before the New York Times I might add!) is a testament to the fact that you recognize the medium’s value and importance even though your staff writers, generally speaking, suck at blogging (though Paul Asay does a pretty good job and Mark Arnest seems to be getting the hang of it). Most recently you’ve attempted to do what the High Plains Messenger was (and still is) trying to do, and you launched a local YourHub where community members can write their own stories. So far the results have been truly underwhelming, but you’re trying. You’ve even added a link on your front page to the always fascinating Police Blotter (which the Toilet Paper used to run) and recently joined forces with Monster.com for your job listings. Your 24 Hour Shopping Mall was a stupid idea, but oh well. You’ve even got video and interactive slide shows now. The important thing is that you’ve tried and continue to try to make your paper more relevant to a community that is served by one daily and one weekly, which hasn’t even made the slightest effort to improve their presence on the web in the past 10 years aside from their craigslist.com copycat free online classifieds, which will never pay out. The fact that so many of your efforts have had less than mediocre results shouldn’t overly concern you because it’s a whole new game with a big learning curve. Since you actually seem to be paying attention, here’s some really cheap, unsolicited advice for which I would appreciate being paid $100 (please make check out to Newspeak and send it to 17B E. Bijou, 80903. Thanks in advance!):

1). Consolidate all your blogs into one big blog. No one has time to click on all the blogs, and the people who would theoretically be reading only the blog that interests them simply aren’t doing it. I’ve seen your site meter numbers, and you have next to no comments on any of your blogs. Most of your bloggers have too many daily duties to blog regularly, but if you put them all together, you’d have at least a couple new posts per day. Also, the Gazette is a general interest newspaper, and if you put all the posts in one place with convenient category tags, people can look through all of it or sort by category. If it’s all in one place and it’s easy to get to without a ton of navigation and new windows, you might actually start to develop some regular traffic and get a lot more engagement in the comments section. Also, enable “recent comments” in the sidebar of your blog so people can see which stories are generating the most interest. Once you get some traffic, you can serve some ads and make a little value-added incentive for your online advertisers. For an example of how this works really well, go The Stranger’s Blog.

2). Redesign your site based on the new, simple and sparse looking tabbed designs such as the New York Times and Washington Post’s sites. They’re much easier to use. Get rid of the navy and tan. Your site isn’t a fucking Gap ad. Let the pictures give the site the color.

3). Figure out how to integrate the YourHub thing more seamlessly with your home page so people can see their stories appear on the front page of the website. It’s the only way they’ll actually believe that people other than friends and family might see their writing. Being heard is the only incentive you can truly offer, so make room on your front page, even if it’s just a small box with the most recent post.

4). Don’t ever do another thing like the 24 Hour shopping mall ever again, and don’t try to compete with Craigslist.com by offering free ads online. Amazon, eBay and craigslist have already eaten that market. Stick with making your print product relevant and keep your classifieds online FREE TO READ and you’ll still get plenty of local classified advertisers. If anything, make ColoradoSprings.com more promient on your front page and do more to market it.

5). You seem to already know this, but I’ll say it anyway: Do not ever try to be hip. You aren’t hip and you never will be. Be what you are: the daily newspaper. Nothing kills a decent daily paper’s earnest efforts more than pathetic attempts at being hip. And with your current staff and incoming publisher I can’t imagine that’ll be a problem.

Yours Truly,

Noel Black

Posted by: darksandal in Mediacrity | Permalink Comments

November 30, 2006

Slate on BSG Writer’s Room Podcasts

HERE

Posted by: darksandal in Uncategorized | Permalink 2 Comments

November 29, 2006

Cinemotica, Forthwith!

Ads please…

Film Screening
@ The Whitney Electric (825 N Tejon St, next to Wooglins)
Sunday, Dec 1 8:30pm
FREE

The Whitney Electric will be showing one of my favorite weirdo b+w sado-comedic parody noir artsploitation films from the last 20 years (ever?), which is Singapore Sling!!! I am very excited and wet and so forth and so should you be!

The Whitney has space heaters but if it is still too cold inside, we will move the showing to my house, which is really nearby and not sketchy or anything like that…

Posted by: JT in Art | Permalink 2 Comments

November 29, 2006

Blabbing Mike To Run For Mayor!

Blogger Blabbing Mike Coletta announced plans to take a shot at the mayor’s seat, currently occupied by Gayor Lion-o Rivera. His obsession with the cult of newscasters here in our local celebrity vacuum and his chronicling of it has always endeared me to him, and the fact that he’s a meta-media celebrity is, like, so postmodern metafiction! I can barely stand it. Perhaps we’ll solicit an interview. Bloggers for Positions of Municipal Power! Go Mike!

UPDATE: more on what Mike believes and why he’s running HERE.

Posted by: darksandal in Vast Phil Collins Conspiracy | Permalink 8 Comments

November 29, 2006

An essay on the use of Nazi anologies at Slate

This essay by Diane McWhoter over at Slate today is well-worth reading as a lesson in the efficacy of the hard right’s own brand of obverse political correctness.

I find it interesting (please note that I said “interesting,” not “bad” or “wrong” or “stupid”) that people like Richard Dawkins can be called anti-semites because of their blanket anti-religious views, which inevitably equates them with Nazis, and yet, as McWhoter points out, drawing obvious historical parallels of Bush administration political maneuvers to similar things done by the Nazis gets you labelled an unpatriotic terrorist faggot freedom hater. Hmmmm.

Posted by: darksandal in Mediacrity | Permalink Comments

November 28, 2006

Oh, those myopic Xians!

Interesting Times piece today about the Reverend Joel C. Hunter, who stepped down as head of the Christian Coalition due to the CC’s resistance to expanding their agenda beyond opposing same-sex marriage and abortion.

Hunter, a Florida pastor, wanted to include issues like poverty and fighting global warming. From the piece:

The author of “Right Wing, Wrong Bird: Why the Tactics of the Religious Right Won’t Fly With Most Conservative Christians,” Dr. Hunter has argued that a large number of conservative Christians feel that right-wing religious groups do not represent them, because they focus their energies too narrowly on what he calls moral issues, often to the exclusion of economic and environmental concerns.

And most interesting, a quote from current Christian Coalition chairwoman Roberta Combs:

“‘I’m sure,’” she said, ‘10 years from now, people will still be writing our obituary.’”

Read the whole thing here.

Posted by: Aaron Retka in Religion | Permalink 1 Comment

November 27, 2006

Dobson on Larry King in re: Haggard, etc.

I love Dobson’s argument that identical twins who turn out to be straight and gay respectively prove that homosexuality isn’t genetic. And why don’t identitcal twins who grow up in the same circumstances have all of the exact same interests and tastes? Why is it that some sets split into careers of science and arts respectively? All nurture, I’m sure. And according to his argument, all fatherless male children will turn out gay. Bullshit. Keep in mind while you watch this that Dobson has probably struggled his whole life with his own homosexual feelings and probably was “overly attached” to his own mother and it begins to make sense.