On your own schedule ... Now!

Oh, the irony (heard recently on a hotel TV) ...

Enjoy the latest hit movies; on your schedule.
Press SELECT Now!

Pat Robertson Officially a Kook

Pat Robertson is now officially a kook. I didn't come to this conclusion -- or choose the word "kook, for that matter -- hastily. I'm the kind of person who likes to give people the benefit of the doubt (to a fault, some would say). No, there have been a great many events that brought me, finally, to this conclusion. As for the term "kook", I was trying to find the nicest way to describe the man. The next closest term in the feature space was "nut job".

I've always found the man somewhat objectionable, having never been able to get past his politics of exclusion. Then one night I was watching television at the home of a relative and saw him take aim at Hugo Chavez. On his program, The 700 Club, Robertson suggested that American operatives take Chavez out. A partial transcript is available at VHeadline.com. Robertson stated that "if he thinks we’re trying to assassinate him, I think we really ought to go ahead and do it." And moments later: "We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability." He later tried to clarify his position on his own web site, where he makes a very qualified (non)apology. He did eventually apologized (see BBC, CNN, and other coverage).

After last Tuesday's elections, when the citizens of Dover, Pennsylvania voted out eight of the nine members of their school board -- only eight were up for re-election -- who had been trying to introduce a statement on Intelligent Design into science classrooms, Robertson suggested rather vaguely that those same citizens should interpret anything bad that happens in the future as God's wrath for their electoral sins. He said, in fact, "If there is a disaster in your area, don't turn to God. You just rejected him from your city." He went on to say, "And don't wonder why He hasn't helped you when problems begin, if they begin. I'm not saying they will, but if they do, just remember, you just voted God out of your city. And if that's the case, don't ask for His help because he might not be there". (Sources: CNN and everybody else) If I may summarize: There may or may not be a disaster, but if there is, god may or may not help you.

Nutty, babe. Nutty.

Pat Robertson's Wikipedia entry currently (13 November 2005) holds references to both of these topics and lots more.

Trave(b)log: Vienna 18/Sep/2005

Dozed around in the morning and then finished reading Carl Hiaasen's Basket Case. Had breakfast at the campsite cafeteria. Afterward, I practiced my German a little. Had a coffee with J & J.

While we were in the campsite cooking/common room, two Hungarian couples came in together for a snack. One of the men was working on a toaster right next to me. He had it plugged in (220 Volts in Europe) and was probing it with a screwdriver. Suddenly there was a bright blue flash and a loud pop and then the lights and power were off. He got up and tried to turn the power back on. I got up and unplugged his toaster. We tried to find the electrical panel for the affected outlets (and the overhead lights), but couldn't. Since the cooktops were still working, we were going to just forget about it. Then I noticed that the refrigerator/freezer was plugged into the affected outlets. We thought the Hungarians were going to split because they were asking us not to tell on them. Fortunately, they went and found the camp maintenance man, who came and reset the breaker. Then the Hungarian folks came back and thanked us for helping them. They were a funny and friendly lot.

Pictured (l-r): Jules, Susanne, Jutta, Jeremy

In the late afternoon, Jeremy and I went to Köö, an Internet Café, had coffee, chatted, and surfed. Afterward, we went to meet Jules for dinner. My foot started hurting during the walk to Stephansplatz, where we were meeting. Jules was with Jutta and Susanne , two lovely young ladies that J&J met the night before. The ladies had already eaten, so they had drinks while we ate. (I had Champignosschnitzel mit reis. Very tasty!)

Finally back to camp for the night. There was an amazing moon wrapped in clouds when we got there. I tried to get a good picture of it, but I'm not sure I succeeded. I think Jeremy did, so I'll try to get one from him.

Trave(b)log: Vienna 17/Sep/2005

Arrived Saturday at Vienna airport Saturday morning. We were about about 30 minutes late due to a flight delay. By the time I got to Camping Wien West, reception was closed, so I had to wait until 3pm for them to return. If I had known where to go, I would have pitched my tent while I waited.

After I setup camp, I met Julian ("Jules") Jacklin and Jeremy Roussel, who had already setup nearby. Jules and Jeremy are friends from Australia (Jeremy hails from New Zealand) who are traveling the world for a year. I met them just after they had returned from downtown buying some gear for Jeremy. (I broke a piece of that gear while helping them move it the next day). They suggested that we go to the Wien Mitte for the pub in the evening.

Pictured (l-r): Tim's, Jules', and Jeremy's tents

Walked down Hüttelbergstrasse to the shopping area to get some groceries, but got there about 15 minutes too late. It seems everything closes at 5pm on Saturdays (which I should have remembered from Darmstadt). So I continued walking down toward and beyond the U-bahn station. Probably about 3 or 4 miles of walking by the time I got back, so not too bad.

After I got back I was pretty tired. I had been awake (with just a few bits of napping on the planes) for about 30 hours and I hadn't slept very much the night before. I decided to have some dinner at the campsite cafeteria and forgo the visit to the downtown with J & J. After dinner I stayed in my warm tent for some much needed sleep. I woke up a few times during the night, but got a good eight hours of sleeping in.