. . . used to run a "Christian" cult in Los Angeles in the 1970s. It was a very odd phenomenon: a church whose doctrines aped those of classic mainstream Christian denominations—albeit with a sharp fundamentalist edge—yet operated for all intents and purposes like a cult. His "church" first called itself Maranatha Chapel, and then changed its name to Open Door Community Church, on the theory that this would give him and his "church elders" a quasi-mainstream aura. Later, I heard that he'd gone in the other direction, labelling his followers The Fundamentalist Army.

When I was in Hymers' cult it preyed on teenagers, and the lonely. His followers went door to door, flushing out those who might have any sort of emptiness in their lives, and offering human companionship at what probably looked like a real church. He rented houses and apartments under the church's name and let teenagers and twenty-somethings live in them dorm-style for very little in rent—paid weekly. It made it easy for these young people to leave their familes and practice the "total immersion" 24/7 approach to Church life that made it less likely that anyone—especially impressionable youths—would pull away. This brand of "Christianity" separated the individual from his or her work, family, studies, or other commitments. When I lived this life I was in a prayer meeting or Bible study every single night of the week. As the weekend began we had a large, rowdy prayer meeting on Friday night, followed by door-to-door prosylytizing on Saturday, and a marathon of services on Sunday: one on the Westside in the morning, one in Hollywood around noon, and one in Echo Park in the evening.

How did I pull away? you ask. I got mononucleosis. Without the indoctrination, I could see very clearly why this organization was an unsuitable place for me to spend my time and money at the age of 14.

Bob Hymers' preaching is a sort of Protestant pastiche; he loves to use stories about Martin Luther (though he never quotes the man's anti-Semitic rants, of course), the Wesleys, and John Calvin.

His style is simple, and that is deliberate: when his book UFOs and Bible Prophecy was published, he bragged to his congregation that it was written in the style of The National Enquirer. (I believe that was the first book, though he tossed off two or three of these glorified tracts in the two years I was in his "church.")

No matter the vocabulary he uses, that Bob Hymers egomania always shines through, as it does in this passage from the sermon linked above:

I realize that the Communist governments in China, Vietnam, and other places, filter out the message I preach on this website each Sunday in six languages. They say preaching like mine is dangerous to the Communist cause. And they are exactly right. Nothing is more dangerous to the security of an atheist state than the simple preaching of the gospel of Christ.

Note that the governments of China and Vietnam are not just blocking out Christianity: they are specifically blocking out Robert Leslie Hymers, because he is personally such a threat. I'm actually wondering how much Ronald Reagan or Pope John Paul II had to do with the dissolution of Communism in Eastern Europe: those advances were more likely achieved by a lunatic preaching fire-and-brimstone sermons in Southern California. A man with a little run-down crackpot web site. A man who operated a cult in what he cast as an effort to "take the L.A. Basin for Christ."

And his fun techniques for exploiting others have continued to the present day: there's the fact that when I was at UCLA, his group (by then called The Fundamentalist Army) would actually recruit during finals week, exploiting the emotional vulnerability of students during this stressful time.

There was his mid-80s appearance on The Wally George Show, including that moment when the two of them began laughing as old frauds do when the jig is finally up: whatever they were "debating" was cast aside, and it became clear that both of their lives were pure theatre.

And what watcher of dumbed-down quasi-religion can forget this incident many years later, in 2003?—

In Los Angeles, R.L. Hymers Jr., the pastor of the Fundamentalist Baptist Tabernacle called on his 400 member congregation in a prayer for the death of Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennen, Jr. because he supports a woman's right to have an abortion. He also ordered up an airplane to circle overhead trailing the message "Pray for Death: Baby-Killer Brennen."
"I think it may be that we're on the avant garde: we're doing something that others will do later," said pastor Hymers.

Bob Hymers' status as a former cult leader really doesn't show very much in his writing, or even his demeanor among some mainstream ministers: you must examine his actual methodology to understand his "contribution" to Christian culture. A cult is defined—to my way of thinking—not simply by its beliefs, but by actions such as going door-to-door in an effort to lure the lonely and disturbed into your flock; declaring that once someone has joined your particular church, they cannot be "saved" anywhere else; proclaiming that you alone can spot that special something that distinguishes the "saved'; by excommunicating people from your "church"(cult) and declaring that if they ever want to be "saved," they must go back through your own church—and no other.

You do it by maintaining a level of control over your followers' lives that would make Joseph Stalin take notes. (Yes: when I was in this group I was told how to dress.)

What I concluded from my experience with Hymers' cult is that when you evaluate someone's approach to faith, you mustn't simply listen to their words. You look at their deeds as well. Even a few years after I left the R.L. Hymers cult of the 1970s, I had a strange, narrow view of religion—one that would have appalled Jesus Christ. It did, in fact, appall Him when he saw a different version of it among the Jews of his day. Those that see religion as an external measure of a man. Those that proclaim their faith to the rooftops and yet are unable to show compassion toward a fellow human being.

This experience has left me with a deep distrust of those who speak fondly about "the Lord," or those who quote scripture excessively. I love my family members who share this brand of belief. I adore some other bloggers whose beliefs are passionate, and every bit as Biblical as any faux-fundamentalist's. Yet most of these people are clearly aware that the strongest witness anyone can make is through his or her actions—a fact that appears never to have crossed Dr. Hymers' mind. (If it did, he took two aspirin and went to bed early that night.)

Action lies in individual moments of faith and mercy and decency. In doing the work. And, very often, in having the courage to be happy.

What does this mean to me? Well. We are not all called to suffer. Some of us are called to show the power of God—and the power of love— by being a living witness to the world. Those who are called to suffer do it with grace.

And part of my witness, to the degree that I'm entitled to call myself Christian despite my doubts, my scientific upbringing, and my extreme vulgarity, is my ability to triumph over where I've come from.

If I can do this in a way that furthers my personal and spiritual growth, if I can continue to learn kindness and love for my fellow humans—and still slay the dragons in my own psyche where they crop up, I will have done my duty. Done it, I hope, with joy.

And the God I worship is the same God my Jewish friends worship (or at least, in most cases, have a nodding acquaintance with). My relationship with Him depends upon the fact that He likes to use broken vessels. And since parts of me lie around in tiny shards, I feel I qualify, all my doubts and neuroses notwithstanding.

God has shown an extraordinary loyalty to me, and as I get older I'll return the favor in a more and more consistent fashion. And I will pass it along to my children.

More on Robert Hymers' church, along with other "fringe" churches that appear to operate in a similarly cult-like fashion. And here is what a few of his followers have said, upon leaving. (And, yes: I knew some of these people personally from my stint in the "church" at ages 12 to 14. That was, um, months ago.)

Apparently, some of those who engage in theological squabbles with this person refer to him as "Hot Dog Hymers."

My fondest memory of a sermon by R.L. Hymers? That moment when he confused the words "fetid" and "fecal." Loudly. From the pulpit. I should have bought him a dictionary after that. Instead, I got mono and left.

For copy editors only: go here and play "count the typos"! How high can you count, by the way?

Have a snarky little New Year. And, uh—keep the faith.

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. . . that this is just a phase he's going through?

"Though I won't stop you, I don't want you to
Break away."

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But I did like this post. Be sure to read the comments, because it turns out Rob and a few of his commenters were guilty of stereotyping. I hope they sent themselves to bed without supper.

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1 I know I know, it's not fashionable to say you like Rob. I can't stand him myself. But I read him regularly.

Posted by: Desert Cat at December 31, 2005 08:40 AM (xdX36)

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Both of my economy blogad strips ("Silver," and "Copper") are empty, which means that you can probably cut a good deal on those spaces (obviously boutique blogs will often bargain more successfully than for-profit organizations selling goods and services). But the adstrips are pretty economical at the existing rates.

Obviously, I'm not going to be able to attend CPAC if you don't buy nice ads (and/or Paypal me some travel grants). So if you want to boost your traffic, or get a little more exposure for a neglected revenue stream, this is the place to start—and you'll definitely be watering the flower bed of citizen journalism.

The Silver strip is on my left sidebar; the Copper strip is on my right. Get into the groove, boy; you've got to prove your love to me.

/demonic possession by 80s pop idols

Management apologizes; it's not certain how Madonna got in here. Security will be tightened in the wake of this unfortunate incident.

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. . . over at Michael Yon's site, including an article about the Georgia National Guard, and Yon's piece on propaganda/information that really addressed that meme head-on—this is a must-read, of course.

Also, Yon is continuing to sell prints of his signature photograph, the one that portrays the rescue of a tiny Iraqi girl. I'm buying that and his book in March, as soon as my costs for the CPAC trip have been covered (my priorities now are to get out to Washington D.C. in February, and to expand my editing business so I can continue to cover events such as CPAC).

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Which reminds me:

Oh, come on. Tell me you've never wondered. I stole that from Ilyka, BTW, who stole it from Zendo Deb.

And Ilyka has some further thoughts on the issue of "Intelligent Design" as Science. She doesn't appear to quite be sold on it.

(No. I have not entered the ID fray, and will not. I'm not convinced we need to tell schoolchildren how human life began at all. As long as they are quite clear that human beings did not share the earth with dinosaurs. And that evolution does occur. Teach evolution early on, and then throw a copy of Darwin's Black Box at 'em later on to see if they can write a decent paper on it.)

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1 As some have pointed out, the debate about ID in schools exposes a serious weakness in the idea of public schooling. If everyone has to be taught the same thing, then everyone who cares will be fighting to make sure that their beliefs are getting taught. I haven't heard about private schools having this issue to deal with.

Posted by: John at December 30, 2005 11:08 PM (3sCAd)

2 Exactly!

Posted by: Attila Girl at December 31, 2005 12:17 AM (zZMVu)

3 School choice with vouchers. Bingo! Problem solved. Then let "evolution" sort out who gets the better education. If I had kids, they'd be homeschooled. No question about where to send them and what nonsense is being shoved down their throats. They would learn both, because as Vox says, "I don't know, and neither do you."

Posted by: Desert Cat at December 31, 2005 08:48 AM (xdX36)

4 That's it in a nutshell. Me, I lean toward creation through evolution.

Posted by: Attila Girl at December 31, 2005 09:15 AM (zZMVu)

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—excuse me, I mean "the Jews"—get to do all the cool projects?

Oh, wait. I get it: that's part of the conspiracy. Excellent.

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1 Well, it is a Local Call for us.

Posted by: Lysander at December 30, 2005 09:24 AM (ShW/G)

2 Good line. I'm going to find a way to steal it.

Posted by: Attila Girl at December 30, 2005 01:22 PM (zZMVu)

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. . . is here!

Go say hi. The boy is a serious cutie, and as a newborn! Extraordinary.

My favorite comment from that thread: "will he be blogging here, or does he have his own website?" First things first.

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Prof. Purkinje's wife, Dr. Ethnomusicology, wonders where my readers come from. I had always imagined they came out of their mommies' uteri [rimshot, please].

Seriously, I now realize that I generally track referrals more than actual readers. And perhaps I need demographic data, like the print media use. (Though I suspect we'll have more fun with it than they do.)

If you're a regular here, please leave a comment and answer these questions for me and the rest of the class:

1) Where do you live (city, state, or province, region + country, or what drugs you're presently on)?

2) How often do you stop by Little Miss Attila?

3) From whom—or what—did you first hear about Little Miss Attila?

4) Explain either what you do for a living, or a juicy tidbit of gossip about you.

5) What do you most like to read here? (A: Analysis; B: News/current events; C: Joy prattling on about her personal life; or D: Joy waxing philosophical about the world around her.)

6) What sorts of products do you (or might you) buy over the web? [That is, we know you are a consumer of blogs. But what other sorts of advertisers should Little Miss Attila be selling to?]

Thank you for participating. In exchange, I promise to be extra-interesting for a full week.

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1 1. South Carolina 2. 2-3 times per week 3. anther blog - can't remember which 4. programmer 5.all of it 6.books

Posted by: Tom at December 30, 2005 07:04 AM (ffH9h)

2 1. Alexandria 2. Daily to twice a week 3. Good question. Most likely another blog, but which one? 4. Arguer. 5. E. All of the above. 6. Yea, books are good.

Posted by: Lysander at December 30, 2005 09:32 AM (ShW/G)

3 1) New York 2) You're on my daily perusal list, sometimes in the AM waiting for the coffee to kick in, sometimes on the post-work wind down. 3) That insta-guy. Glenn something. 4) I work for the Feds, making radioactive drugs in an underground drug lab (i.e., it's in the basement...) 5) All of the above. The mix is nice. 6) Books, movies and kitchen appliances are largely from Amazon. But honestly, I'm picky about my kitchen stuff, and am likely to point out (IMHO) better alternatives to most items suggested. Think cantankerous nuclear physicist who watches Alton Brown. Then be afraid, be very afraid. (You don't want to know what's in my hot sauce. Pay no attention to that Geiger counter behind the curtain...)

Posted by: Dr_Mike at December 30, 2005 05:12 PM (R6w08)

4 1) Midlothian, Texas, just south of Big-D 2) How often do you stop by Little Miss Attila? Three or four times per week, work and life permitting 3) From whom—or what—did you first hear about Little Miss Attila? I really don't remember. I owe them one, though. 4) Explain either what you do for a living, or a juicy tidbit of gossip about you. Ummm -- either I'm a lawyer, or I proposed to my wife on the floord of the Oklahoma House of Representatives, or I made love under the stars in the center of Lewis Field (football stadium) at Oklahoma State University as a graduate student. Or all of the above. You decide. 5) E -- all of the above. The mix works. 6) I don't buy things over the web. I know -- I am SOOOO last century. My wife and daughter remind me of that on a regular basis.

Posted by: MrSpkr at December 30, 2005 09:12 PM (GUeke)

5 1) Tucson. What? Do you mean prescription or otherwise? 2) Usually daily. 3) Got me. It was way back in your blogspot days. I recall helping you with some of the settings. 4) Glad that's either/or! Civil Engineer. 5) A, C, D mostly but not consistently. You're not a faceless news aggregator. You have personality and presence here, so that's what I tend to gravitate toward the most. Honestly I don't usually follow your links off to other bloggers unless what you've said about what they wrote first is particularly compelling. 6) All sorts of stuff. Really. Unless I know right where to find it locally, I'll look to the web before I'll look to the yellow pages. But I rarely follow an ad link from a webpage. When I buy online, it is either from a company I've previously purchased from or it is someplace I've ferreted out via Google. Not what your advertisers want to hear, unfortunately. But on the other hand they must know that showing up high in a Google search is priceless--sort of like a prominent placement in the yellow pages.

Posted by: Desert Cat at December 31, 2005 09:04 AM (xdX36)

6 That's okay. Everyone says they don't pay attention to Blogads, but I think as the ads get better they will. Or if someone promotes just the right . . . book, say. Or gadget (I have a lot of male readers). No one person's assertion in this regard is anything I'll get concerned about: I get hundreds of hits a day, and I'm just trying to figure out who everyone is, for personal and professional reasons. I really really really appreciate eveyone's help with this.

Posted by: Attila Girl at December 31, 2005 09:23 AM (zZMVu)

7 1. Raleigh, NC. Tavist D, usually 2. Usually at least a couple times a week 3. Kinda just ran across ya, don't remember how. 4. I am a retail store manager for Cingular. I like to set of metal detectors with the steel bar in my leg. 5. D,A, C, B 6. About the only time I buy anything on the 'net is when I cannot find it in a local store, or for a gift that I am shipping, such as Christmas presents, which get sent to the 'rentals house in NJ, flowers for Mom's day. Otherwise, I do research, then go buy it if I can.

Posted by: William Teach at December 31, 2005 03:22 PM (AkiXU)

8 1. Atchison, KS - Permanent; Currently Camp Victory, Iraq. 2. Every other day (when I have time). 3. Clicked on Michelle Malkin's blogroll, liked what I found here. 4. US Army (National Guard on active duty). I have worked domestic and abroad for about 3 years now and stopped my "day job". 5. E. All of the above. It is nice to catch some "normal life" per se while working on, in, and around the bad guys. Keeps my head in a better place. 6. Not a lot of e-commerce; you might see if the Army Reserve or CA National Guard might be interested in adverts. There are several opportunities for both men and women that pay off rather nicely. Have a good new year! SGT Dave Bailey

Posted by: SGT Dave at December 31, 2005 08:28 PM (blfs0)

9 Wow. Cool crew. I'm impressed. Hm. I might have to block all this data out when I'm done, less I get stage fright or something, and be unable to continue . . .

Posted by: Attila Girl at December 31, 2005 09:17 PM (zZMVu)

10 1. Walnut, CA. Los Angeles area. Claritin and Advil 2 2-3x/week 3. Michelle Malkin 4. Healthcare field. Ex-gang member, LA. 5. Although I like them all, I favor D. 6. I bought my car tires on line(reviews were posted by customers). Knick-knacks may be nice; t-shirts, goggles, globes, telescopes and the like.

Posted by: Dalsan at January 01, 2006 06:22 PM (zgfzb)

11 1. Chicago 2. Daily. More often if you are luring men to their demise with sex, as one reader suggested. 3. Michelle Malkin's Blogroll(most likely) 4. Energy Research and Development, consulting 5. All of them! It makes it interesting...don't change a thing. It's our confort and Joy. 6. Ads worth clicking. Nothing that adds malicious software to our computers.

Posted by: Darrell at January 01, 2006 09:25 PM (Lo6NK)

12 Yes, it's true: I'm the thinking man's succubus.

Posted by: Attila Girl at January 01, 2006 11:17 PM (zZMVu)

13 1) Where do you live (city, state, or province, region + country, or what drugs you're presently on)? Cleveland, OH. Hooked on marathoning. 2) How often do you stop by Little Miss Attila? Now and then. 3) From whom—or what—did you first hear about Little Miss Attila? Probably followed a link and added you to my bookmarks. 4) Explain either what you do for a living, or a juicy tidbit of gossip about you. I do software. I run around with lots of beautiful young women. That usually involves 26.2 miles. 5) What do you most like to read here? (A: Analysis; B: News/current events; C: Joy prattling on about her personal life; or D: Joy waxing philosophical about the world around her.) Anything well written and original. 6) What sorts of products do you (or might you) buy over the web? [That is, we know you are a consumer of blogs. But what other sorts of advertisers should Little Miss Attila be selling to?] I buy stuff that I don't have to try on or see. That mainly seems to be earrings for my darling wife. So far I'm batting 1.0, or so she says. What she wears confirms my taste.

Posted by: PAT at January 02, 2006 07:42 PM (jlyEH)

14 Pat: Try the Write Enough blog. I think it might be to your taste.

Posted by: Attila Girl at January 03, 2006 01:19 AM (zZMVu)

15 I hate it when my comments go kerflooey. Here's your link: http://www.writeenough.blogspot.com/

Posted by: Attila Girl at January 03, 2006 01:22 AM (zZMVu)

16 Dallas Tx Daily, (when I'm home, otherwise depending on the computer situation where I am) usually via RSS feeds. I don't remember where I heard of you first. But probably TBIFOC or PW. Pilot Usually I prefer to read what you write. Most of the stuff I buy online is electronic gadgets that I couldn't find at Fry's.

Posted by: tommy at January 03, 2006 02:56 PM (Qmfgc)

17 1) Florida, USA 2)Several times a week. 3)You commented somewhere and I clicked. 4)PHP, HTML, CSS, and other related stuff. 5)A, B 6)Books. Gadgets (computer oriented gadgets, mostly).

Posted by: Kathy K at January 03, 2006 04:45 PM (+A0Tu)

18 1. Fairfield CT 2. Every time the RSS reader says there's a new post 3. When you came to mu.nu 4. Graphic Designer 5. E All of the above 6. I buy everything but food online. Can't wait until I download a Pizza.

Posted by: Stephen Macklin at January 03, 2006 05:07 PM (DdRjH)

19 1) South Carolina 2) Formerly every day, lately just no time (I am getting the paperwork ready to buy a house - just enough time for that and work) 3) Either Right Wing News or the original Right We Are! 4) I'm a science teacher (alas, my life has no current good gossip about it - my sweetie is still in Cleveland OH) 5) D: Joy waxing philosophical about the world around her. 6) Books, household items, gifts. I'm a sucker for bargains. Am currently filling out the paperwork for a mort**** that I started on Lending Tree - does that count? (your software flagged the mort**** word)

Posted by: Linda F at January 03, 2006 05:13 PM (3PpT4)

20 1) Coweta County, Georgia -- if you call this living. 2) Generally every day, if I have the energy. 3) From Little Miss Attila -- that is, seeing her comments at, IIRC, Protein Wisdom. 4) I'm not wearing any pants. 5) E: All of the above. 6) To be honest, I don't know that I've ever bought anything because of an Internet ad.

Posted by: McGehee at January 03, 2006 06:19 PM (lAOTn)

21 1) Ft. Lauderdale, FL. Around 25 prescriptions (including ointments etc.) plus one hell of a bandaid habit. This lifestyle hasn't yet changed my location. Except in the sense that I'm still here, of course. 2) Several times a day. 3) I'm honored to say, from Little Miss Attila herself. 4) Commercial loan workout specialist & bankbuster, involuntarily retired at 32. Now a professional half-a-bubble woman. Non-bubble time I mostly do rehab, backyard bricklaying, cooking, rescuing hurricane-orphaned plants, and a little rock hunting and fossil collecting. Nothing to gossip about any more, I'm horribly well-behaved. (Although not wearing pants, me either. But maybe none of us are.) 5) All, especially C & D. 6) I've only bought a few books, and things like 1000 deep-discounted spiky ponytail seeds. Since I never respond to ads, advertisers hate my guts. Feel free to delete me quick before they read this.

Posted by: k at January 03, 2006 08:42 PM (Ffvoi)

22 No, no. I want honest answers. Anyway, no internet business is going to dig this deeply. You go on the grid as "discount garden products, cost-effective masonry supplies, epicurean with an emphasis on 'comfort foods.'" McGehee--you always make me laugh. And that ain't always easy to do.

Posted by: Attila Girl at January 03, 2006 09:14 PM (zZMVu)

23 1. Western Washington (west side of Puget Sound). Work on a ship so spend most of my time even farther west than that. No drugs, just high on life, maaaaan. 2. About once every two days. I'd visit more often, but we have a crappy 36kbps satellite link for Internet and your page takes a long time to load on it. 3. Don't recall, think it was Instadude. 4. A civilian mariner employed by the US Navy. Juicy gossip... uh... I sleep in my underwear? 5. Analysis, of course. No, personal life... no, wait, philosophy! 6. Books, mostly from Amazon, but also from ABE (if you haven't tried them, they are THE BEST at locating out of print stuff) and the US Naval Institute. Mostly I read science fiction, history, and military affairs. Sometimes bios. Ammo and shooting supplies, when home USPS won't deliver ammo, so God bless UPS and FedEx!). CDs and DVDs. Tools (power, hand, and model building). Software. Clothing (from Cabela's).

Posted by: Steve Skubinna at January 04, 2006 06:47 PM (j4Cpd)

24 Well! and I'm certainly pleased with that. I never thought I'd like any characterization of myself for ad purposes, but this one makes me want to bounce around in the yard and kitchen all happy. You know. Whip up a batch of Christmas cookies and plant a tray of seeds, and such.

Posted by: k at January 06, 2006 04:49 AM (M7kiy)

25 1. Sydney, Australia 2. Usually a couple of times a week. 3. I honestly don't remember. I think you came over to the munu side just before we opened the floodgates, but I don't remember the exact circumstances. 4. I program computers. And stuff. 5. A combination of the above, lightly spiced, and seared on both sides to keep in the juices. 6. Computer bits.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at January 08, 2006 01:51 AM (7X4Bl)

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(the deity, not the blogger) I'd single out Indonesia for the next natural disaster.

But, you know: women are vicious that way.

(h/t: Beautiful Atrocities)

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The Commissar points out that the Tribune has done a nice job of combing through all the claims made before the war and evaluated each one against what turned out to be the case, or (with respect to future predictions) what came to pass.

Definitely worth a read.

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insists Attila the Hub. "When I said I wanted to experience you as a 'painted lady,' I didn't mean get a job doing faux finishes in Manhattan Beach and come in at the end of the day smelling of turpentine, with specks of brown and gold and green on your clothes, and streaks of 'Goof Off' in your hair."

Now he tells me.

[Purists will insist that I shouldn't blog my husband's witticisms, but please recall that California is a community property state, and half of his jokes are mine by law.

My jokes? Also mine. Fair's fair.]

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LaShawn makes a very reasonable case.

Her best point? Non-Christians shouldn't complain about what she has to say on the subject, since her recommendations are directed at Christians. This may sound obvious, but there is a huge tradition of strange bullying within the Black community, based solely on blackness. I mean, when reduced to its essence, isn't that the whole idea behind some of the kookier claims of "black leaders"? It amount to "I'm black as well, so I should get to tell you what to do." The response to this should be a sort of universal shrug and "say, what?" But it's been a long time in coming, and a lot of people are only now coming to realize that just because someone shares your race gives them no right to tell you what to do.

I'm just waiting for some largely European white trash with ancestors on the Mayflower, suspected black and Jewish contributions and Osage Indian "blood" to tell me What Holidays the Thinking Mongrel Celebrates These Days. Won't I give her a piece of my mind! Hah!

(Via Malkin.)

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I've always loved the week between Christmas and New Year's. Even when I've had to work regular office hours, I've enjoyed the fact that offices are often sparsely populated around then and one can actually get things done: catch up on filing, or really focus on that whatever-it-is.

And when it's been a vacation week it's always been sweet, with most of the hustle/bustle of Christmas over with. There's always a cool gift or two to play with or read or wear or eat, and a sort of fat and happy contentment. I usually have some late cards to send out. (This year is no exception: as a matter of fact, since we didn't really send cards or a holiday letter this year I'll likely be producing little personalized notes and cards well into March. But so what? This way, I can enclose my business card for copyediting/proofreading without it being too gauche.)

I'm winding down, now. I'll be getting up at an obscenely early hour tomorrow, and doing my fun physical job most of the day. Feel free to tell me how glamorous my blue-collar charm is: I'm packing a lunch! I'm wearing my painting clothes! I have a cap I'll wear to cover my hair, since I tried a bandana and it just looked too lame. (I mean, it was very 1920s Eastern Europe, but how can I expect my friend's clients to get that joke? One should try to look semi-professional, even with colored paint flecks around the edges of one's clothing.)

My goals for the day: 1) learn to do something other than sanding and final light coats of polyurethane, 2) no drips, this time: B. should not have to touch up my mistakes, or he'll be losing money on my presence, and 3) no caffeine on the way home. Stopping at Starbucks twice is lovely, but I have no business having chai latte in the afternoon—either biochemically or financially. (That one is the morning is absolutely necessary.)

I'm a little sugared up, here: can you tell? I myst go stabilize my blood sugar and read something really, really boring. Then sleep, with a little luck.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 08:32 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Prairie Biker's wife tells us all about his faults.

I wonder what my husband would . . . no. I don't.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 02:57 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Still—there's no sweeter news than the end of a war.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 02:26 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I'll be finalizing my decision tomorrow on my husband's phone system. The candidates are V-Tech, AT&T, and Sony. We'll be getting him a main phone (the mother ship) with integrated answering machine, and an additional phone to go downstairs in his office. The main concerns are cost, reliability, and a signal that will go through a couple of walls and one floor.

I also need to get him a 4-in-1 printer within the week. The idea here is to get the best value, taking into account the fact that both HP and Epson make most of their money on consumables: cartridges are part of the calculations, here.

Obviously, I'll be interestsed in any extraordinarily good (or bad) experiences you've had with these brands, or any other insights you might want to share.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 01:15 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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. . . is that not everyone can afford a limousine.

Via Insty.)

Posted by: Attila Girl at 01:07 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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A milblogger, home with his family, was murdered there. His wife is under suspicion, and his two kids are now staying with their mother.

The authorities are looking at his blogs, the blogs of his children, his wife's blog, and the blogs of family friends.

Say a prayer for this man, and for his kids. Pray for justice. Pray that all involved will be able to think clearly.

And pray for the human race. I worry about us.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 12:50 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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She's decided against that virtual gender-reassignment surgery after all, and claims she won't be covering politics. But the good Dr. Feminist is in.

We shall see what we shall see about the "no politics" policy; has anyone ever been any more successful at "giving up blogging about politics" vs. "giving up blogging entirely"?

But, you know, I'm sure it's worth a shot:

I'm not trying to insult people who run political blogs. If that's your thing, great. I probably even read it--certainly if you're on my blogroll, I read you. It's cool if that's your thing. I respect it, honest.

But it is not my thing, and here's why: If I blog about politics, some of my readers understandably begin treating my blog as a political blog, behaving as though they were in a political climate, one in which things can be debated and discussed. Unfortunately, some of them then bring that very same "free to question, nitpick, and argue" attitude over to my personal posts, like they're on fuckin' Crossfire or something.

And guess what? My personal shit is not up for debate, you assmonkeys. Most people get this, but it's just stunning to me how many people don't.

I know the feeling. People come by here to disagree with me about Matters Political, and just to make their arguments more "persuasive," they throw some insult in that's based on data in a personal post. One assumes they've misplaced their copy of How to Win Friends and Influence People.

Anyway: welcome back, my friend. Glad you decided against the virtual dick: it would have caused weird lumps in your virtual blue jeans.

Via TFS Magnum.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 10:51 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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