WAWIBF?

Drinking and God
This weekend was Brit's three day getaway to the drunk class (yes, this was for his bicycle DUI). As I'd borrowed his car for the weekend I thought it only appropriate that when I picked up I brought him something. So I decided on a bottle of beer (naturally) and a copy of this book, Al-Anons Twelve Steps & Twelve Traditions — which I found quite by accident whilst browsing through a used book store in Yellow Springs. I was very pleased with myself.

It was only when we read the twelve steps last night that I realised that Alcoholics Anonymous (and their strange offshoot Al-Anon) were a bunch of crazy religious folks. Yeah, I know sometimes I'm pretty unobservant. I thought they were just trying to help people who had drinking problems. Now I'd heard of the 12 Steps, but I had no idea what they were. That is until yesterday. (AA Lousiana has them up on this site.)

They start of pedestrian enough by getting you to admit you are powerless over alcohol, but from step 2, Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity., I started getting scared. Step 3 had me terrified with, Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him., I'm really not sure what the as we understood him part is about. After that it peters off into religiosity before steps 8 and 9: Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all. and Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.. Which sounds like one part rational and one part Isaac Asimov.

Ho hum, you learn a new thing every day I suppose.

Walking down the train tracks
Which is always fun. At least it's always fun if you've been properly indulging in activities that would make the AA people frown.

Jewish Propaganda
I had the misfortune to see On Wings of Eagles last night. It is one of those horribly pervasive (although thankfully not persuasive) infomercials that American TV (and increasingly British TV I imagine) is rife with. This one was paid for by an organisation called "International Fellowship of Christians and Jews" and was encouraging the audience to donate $350 to return a Jew to Israel (their words not mine). You can even donate on-line. The show itself was a mixture of old decrepit people looking miserable in the former Soviet Union, essentially racist comments about the Arabs (in particular how they are breeding too much), happy faces of contented Jewish folks in Israel and, of course, a liberal splash of biblical quotes interpreted as proof that God wanted Israel for the Jewish people and them alone. Suffice to say at one point in the show it featured Pat Robertson, a man for whom my contempt knows no bounds, waffling on about something or other. I don't know what he actually said as I was screaming abuse at the TV by that point. To cut a long story short the TV show part baffled and part terrified me, reminding me that that whole freedom of speech thing is, as always, a two-edged sword.

Ashley Cole
So there you are, one of those multi-millionaire footballers that the papers are so obsessed about and the News of the World suggests that maybe you like other boys, do you a) Sue them or b) Have a laugh at the story and light another Cuban cigar using a fifty pound note, just cause you can. Obviously if you're Ashley Cole the answer is a) and you're a twat. In fact you're so much of a twat that you get upset and think that Google, the company who said no to the American government when it wanted records, need to tell you why they link the word gay to Ashley Cole. Like I said Ashley Cole you're a twat and what's more with all this fuss I reckon you're probably gay as well. Which would all be kind of amusing if it weren't for the fact that Britain's only openly gay footballer (I think), Justin Fashanu, ended up committing suicide. Poor bastard. You're still a twat though Ashley.

Me not posting
Well, at least up until now it was.