5 posts from July 2009

Demon-Releasing Nurse Tina Loher

Far be it from me to suggest that religious people will kill us all in their never-ending battle against demonic forces, but I think religious people might just kill us all in their never-ending battle against demonic forces.

For instance, the woman pictured to the left, Tina Loher, wrote this in her diary about her ex-husband, “Terry is filled with three demonic spirits. One is assigned to me, one to each of my children. The purpose is to destroy us. The only way Terry will stop trying to destroy us is if the spirits exit his body today. I will have to create three portals of exit, that way they can leave."

She then went to his chiropractic clinic while their two young daughters waited outside and shot him in the groin ... twice. She was unable to create the third portal.

As gruesome as that was, it’s not half as gruesome as the terrible story of Otty Sanchez who recently decapitated, gutted, defaced, and ate her baby after thinking she heard the Devil tell her to.

Just about our first thought here is that Loher and Sanchez are suffering from mental illness and I don’t believe that religion causes mental illness per se, but I can’t help but to wonder if telling people that there are demons so that they come to believe in them doesn’t increase the probability that someone will act on that belief. If no one believed in demons, would there be fewer of these murderous actions?

Surely, we must know that getting people to believe that demons have possessed and spoken to people like Legion in Mark 5, Luke 8, and Matthew 8 will cause people to think that demons can possess and talk to people. The strange thing is that if you believe that demons possess and speak to people, you may still be considered quite sane. If you believe it is actually happening and act on those beliefs, you will be judged insane.

I knew a woman who was the librarian at the high school where I worked who insisted that when she and her husband worked with the insane in a mental hospital, they discovered that some of the patients there were actually demonically possessed. I can’t help but to think that she and her husband only exacerbated their patients’ mental illness by validating their beliefs that they were possessed by demons.

Don’t the people who make the claim that demons exist and interact with the world bear some blame for the actions of those people who act on those beliefs?

The scowls mean were proactive

Look kids, new comics! Specifically new Justice Society related comics. And look at this horrifying nifty announcement:

The Justice Society has always been about legacy. Young and old. Legends and rookies. Together to protect Earth from any kind of villain.

 

But what happens when the generations disagree?

 

After writers Bill Willingham and Matthew Sturges conclude their first arc on JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA, the team splits – creatively and literally, with Willingham holding the fort and Sturges moving over to a new ongoing series, JSA ALL STARS, with artist Freddie E. Williams III.

 

And what’s the high concept? Taking a cue from Magog, a new JSA team forms, choosing a more proactive approach to handling the villains populating the planet, in defiance of some of the JSA’s most stalwart members.

To quote Rocky the Flying Squirrel, “That trick never works.”

Every few years someone comes out with a new version of a superhero group that the author insists will be “more proactive.” And the book either gets cancelled or ends up looking like virtually every other comic out there. Why? Because being proactive is dull.

Let me explain. In a regular comic book story, the Dr. Sivana builds a giant robot that attacks Fawcett City. The populace is terrified. Then the Justice Society swoops in! The Flash snatches people away before they can be crushed by the robot. Mr. Terrific uses his mighty brain to figure out how to disable the robot. Following Mr. Terrific’s instructions, Dr. Mid-Nite blinds the robot giving time Lightning to create an electrical pulse that knocks out the robot’s processors. Meanwhile, Judomaster battles Sivana’s henchmen.

In a story with a proactive Justice Society, the Flash reads millions of invoices at super speed and notices a lot of high tech stuff going to a certain warehouse. Mr. Terrific uses his mighty brain to analyze the invoices and figures out that Dr. Sivana is trying to build a giant robot. Under cover of darkness, Dr. Mid-Nite captures Sivana while he sleeps. Meanwhile, Lightning and Judomaster promote literacy projects so fewer people end up desperate and living a life as criminal henchmen.

While being proactive makes more sense in a real world way, it makes for lousy storytelling. Of course, in proactive superhero groups, that’s not what happens. What actually happens is one of the following:

1. There are one or two proactive type stories and then the series becomes a regular reactive comic group who battle bad guys after the bad guy has done something scary and interesting instead of before.
2. The team remains essentially proactive, but they fight with each other a lot to create the drama that could have been created by fighting a giant robot, and we learn to hate the whining, difficult heroes whose childish antics make us think they should change their name from “The Justice League of America” to “The Cast of Real World: Fawcett City.”
3. Scowling, a horrific death, and shoulder pads.

Or course, it is possible that Matthew Sturges won’t fall into any of those traps and will finally pull of the proactive superhero group that no one else has really done. But what’s that I see on Magog? Would that be a shoulder pad?

I saw this story from my local news today:

Go ahead -- make his day

Woman found stabbed behind Midtown restaurant

 

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A woman found stabbed early Wednesday morning behind a Midtown sushi restaurant could face charges after police say may have tried to rob the restaurant.

 

The woman was found in the parking lot behind Ken's Sushi House on Division Street around 4 a.m. and was taken by ambulance to Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Police took a man into custody but later said he may have just been trying to protect the restaurant where he worked.

 

"An altercation took place and according to this individual that works here, the person that's at Vanderbilt hospital right now attempted to steal from the business and when he tried to stop her, that's when the stabbing took place," said Metro police Detective Curtis Caps.

 

Police said the employee invited several people into the restaurant after hours, including the woman, for a late night drinking party and that's when the attempted theft allegedly occurred.

 

The woman was undergoing surgery Wednesday morning and police were waiting to question her before filing charges.

 

They did not know Wednesday morning if charges would be filed against the man or the woman, who is also an employee at Ken's Sushi House.

 

Neither the victim's name nor the employee's name was released.

That story reminded me of this story:

Robber stabbed to death with sushi knife by seven angry waiters for stealing their tips

 

Seven waiters at a Japanese restaurant in Paris were under arrest today after an armed robber was stabbed to death with a sushi knife after trying to steal their tips.

 

The 22-year-old was brandishing a pistol when he raided Planet Sushi, in the upmarket 5th arrondissement, last night.

 

An accomplice, also 22, was with him, holding an electric stun gun.

 

The pair first demanded that that management in the restaurant handed over all the day’s takings.

 

When they refused the criminals began helping themselves to a tray full of tips.

 

This infuriated the waiters, who began fighting with the robbers, stabbing one
 with a razor sharp kitchen knife used to ‘sculpt’ fish segments into sushi.

 

‘An extremely vicious fight broke out, with one robber mortally wounded,’ said
a Paris police spokesman.

 

‘The robbers had arrived soon after 11pm when the tip tray was pretty full. The [sic] thought they could get away with the cash, but the restaurant staff were having none of it.

 

‘That’s when a knife was used on one of the robbers.

 

‘We arrived at the scene with ambulance staff but they could do nothing to save the injured man. He was rushed to hospital but died a few hours later.

 

‘Seven staff at the restaurant have been arrested along with the second alleged robber. A full enquiry is under way.’

 

Police refused to name any of the suspects involved.

Bento Box or Coffin

Sushi knives are notoriously sharp and as noted here, “Traditionally, a shushi knife would be made of an incredibly high-quality carbon steel, the same type used in the forging of katana, traditional Japanese swords.” And sushi chefs are skilled at using these little katana. All of which should be enough to inform thieves that trying to steal from these guys would be a bad idea.

Interesting that in neither case did the suspects get named, but I suspect that by the time these sushi guys were done with them, we could name the thieves sashimi and they could be buried in bent­o boxes.

Liliaeth says:

Marvel Divas
I just read the first issue of this and I have to say, the damn thing had maybe one or two pages worth reading.

Do they really think this is what women want to read? Seriously?

Where's the asskicking? Where's the bad guys? Where's the bits about life as a woman that isn't about dating men or wanting to date men or you know ... men...

I have to say that the only bit in this whole thing that was worth anything was the last page and even then...

Dating men is fun-ish

Let me help answer her questions!

Q: Where's the asskicking?

A: Every other comic put out by Marvel and DC including those with female leads.

Q: Where's the bad guys?

A: Every other comic put out by Marvel and DC including those with female leads.

Q: Where's the bits about life as a woman that isn't about dating men or wanting to date men or you know ... men...

A: Every other comic put out by Marvel and DC including those with female leads.

Thank you, Liliaeth, for taking the brave stance of suggesting that this comic should be like every other fucking mainstream comic out there! That’ll bring the women back to reading comics. Yes, it will!

In related questioning, where are the comics about life as a man that are about dating men or wanting to date men or you know ... men?

Poor befuddled Victoria Jackson is at it again. Below is something excerpted from a column she wrote here.

Down is Up, Unfair is Fair and Ignorance is Bliss

by Victoria Jackson

I woke up in the middle of the night and realized the trick.

 

Up is down

You see, evil doesn’t just show up.  It disguises itself as something nice; so you’ll let it in.  It tricks you.

 

Murdering babies is called Pro-Choice.  Unfair Censorship is called The Fairness Doctrine.  Outlandish Taxes and the Death of Freedom is called Cap & Trade.  Sounds like Fish & Chips.  You gotta figure out the trick.

 

I’d been wondering why the liberals are so passionate about this Health Care thing.  It couldn’t be because they actually care about sick, poor people.  If they did, they would visit hospitals, and give ten percent of their gross salaries to Compassion International and World Vision, like us stupid church go-ers [sic] do. Biden gave $ 62 to charity last year.

 

No, there’s gotta be a catch.  I guess this question was sitting in my brain and during my sleep, my brain was working on it, because when I suddenly awoke at 3 a.m.  I had the answer.

 

Euthanasia!

 

Social Security and Medicare are broke.  Baby boomers, like me, are getting old and will soon be asking for it.  Socialized medicine makes people die. You stand in a long, long line with a breast lump, clogged artery, or sharp pencil stuck in your eye, and someone like the DMV person, who can’t speak English, has chewing gum, an attitiude [sic], really long fake nails that curl up at the end,  and is talking on a cell phone, enjoying their power trip moment, is finally face to face with you.  They mumble something incoherent about paperwork. You die. One less person in line for Social Security and Medicare!

 

Obama legally kills babies and now he can legally kill Grandmas!

 

Hitler did this.  He killed the weak, the sick, the old, and babies and races/religions he didn’t like.  Hitler also controlled the media.  (Where’s the public debate between scientists on “Climate Change/Global Warming?”)   Hitler had the VW bug invented as the state car. What will O’s nationalized car be? So… kill off the weak.  That’s the plan.  Tax the workers to death.  Erase the middle class.  Sounds like the evil governments we studied in high school long ago.  The evil governments were :  kings, oligarchies, facist [sic], socialist, and communist.  Now it’s called the Obama Administration. Sounds like candy or a rock band.

There’s more, and you may want to read the story about Ms. Jackson telling a shop owner that she wouldn’t buy anything and then ranting about taxes and abortion to that shop owner that is inexplicably attached to the ramblings above, but I think I’ve included enough here for our discussion.

All right, let’s ignore for a moment that she doesn’t seem to understand that “North” is not the same thing as “up,” so looking at the earth from that angle is just as valid as any it is from any other angle, and that she seems to think that no church goers are liberals and that she seems to think that countries with socialized medicine have a shorter life expectancies than they do in the U.S. when the U.S. is #30 behind all sorts to nations with socialized medicine and that she is equating giving people healthcare with Hitler murdering people. Sure, all of those things are fun, but I’d like to look at her description of the person working for the government’s healthcare system. I want to look at that person because and the people I work with are people who work with the government healthcare system! Hooray!

First of all, I’d like to point out that many of us are very educated. I work with lawyers, registered nurses, and a host of professionals all of whom speak English. In fact, most of us are so familiar with English that we know how to spell "goers," "attitude," and "fascist." Plus we know the proper grammatical uses for colons. All of those would appear to be missing from Ms. Jackson’s linguistic skill set.

Second, I’d like to point out to Ms. Jackson, who has apparently never met anyone who works in a position of government healthcare, that everyone I’ve met works very hard to be sure that everyone gets the medical care that they are entitled to under the law. We don’t just mumble something about paperwork and let you die. In fact, if you don’t like the decision that the first person has made in your case, you can appeal to another person. If you don’t like what person has decided, you can appeal to another. And if you don’t like what that person has decided, you can appeal to another.  The people reviewing your case will be college educated attorneys and judges, all of whom speak English, all of whom take continuing classes in law and study the rules related to healthcare. Of course, Ms. Jackson may have higher standards in mind for the people who would look at her medical issues. After all, her profile tells us she attended college for year, got a gymnastics scholarship, and worked as a cigarette girl. If you can’t trust the health advice of a flexible, semi-educated cigarette girl, who can you trust? Certainly not the professionals working in the government’s healthcare system!

Thirdly, I’d like to thank Ms. Jackson for emphasizing the contempt she has for the American public. The federal and local governments are by far the largest employers in the U.S. and she’s has insulted all of their millions of employees, me and all the people I work with, by suggesting that none us would give a crap if our grandmothers died. Bravo, Ms. Jackson, for showing us just how much conservative Christians and Republicans care about the American working public. We now have no doubts that you think of us as lazy, ignorant, and callous Nazis. I’ll keep that in mind when I vote!