Sunday, January 31, 2010
Had Fun Last Night
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We went with Schilagi and the Douglet, and (lucky for us) a friend was playing really early - but let's not take away from the fact that Eddie and I got out of the house and to a beer / rock club. How early? He got a spot at 7PM! But still - we drug it out in 15 degree weather to the Lower East Side.
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This is an old picture of J. Jeffery Martin - who we saw play last night. It was all his own songs and it was a kick.
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I had seen him in a show (The Happy Embalmer) and now we are facebook friends. We got invited to his gig at the National Underground - so we went. We talked with him a little before and after he played.
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Actually, afterwards one of his college friends (this girl) was drunk and chatty. I shuffled her off onto Ed. Then Ed and I shuffled her off on Jeffery. It was fun (the night - not getting rid of the drunk chick - although that was pleasent).
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And for the girls out there, yes, he is straight!
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After we ate at Joe Doe (where we ate with Steve Demille) and it was good - but we were a little buzzed.
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Eddie is - right now - winging way to Vancouver, so Trev and I are alone for about 10 days.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
One Word Rebuttal to "Intelligent Design"
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Let's face it, testicles are evolution at its worst. God allowed evolution, fine. But he didn't design these bad boys. I say this after much thought - and after walking the pup in 0 degree wind chill (-15C for you Brits). There are much better design choices for the berries.
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1) Allow sperm to live at body temperature! Ta-Da. Design flaw solved. Put those bad boys inside where they don't play elevator tag in the cold.
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2) Make the stuff as you need it! We don't have sweat bags that go expand and contract, do we? No. When we need it, we sweat. It should have been easy to design sperm on the fly.
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And don't tell me it can't be done. If aerodynamics require, then poof, no bag of tricks. Just think, you never see a Robin or Finch flying around in the heat with his nuts flapping do you? See, it can easily be done!
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Hey-suz, I hate the cold!
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(ps - no picture accompanies this post.)
Friday, January 29, 2010
Seen Everything? How About A Kosher Jewish Vaudville Brunch?
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Oye Vey..
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Yiddish Theater Brunch: “The Big Bupkis”Performed by the New Yiddish Rep Company
Sunday, January 31, 2010
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Join the Lower East Side Jewish Conservancy (LESJC) for a unique Yiddish Theater Brunch program, "The Big Bupkis! A Complete Gentile's Guide to Yiddish Vaudeville." This irreverent performance will include comedy, magic, ukulele music, hypnotism, stories about Sophie Tucker, a Yiddish bullfight poem, and other theatrical rarities. For those who may have attended last year's Yiddish Theater Brunch and enjoyed Shane Bertram Baker's show, this will be a different and more elaborate performance.
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There will be an ample, strictly kosher, dairy brunch served which includes bagels, bialys, spreads, dried fruit, coffee and pastries.
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In the lead role will be Shane Bertram Baker, Yiddish vaudeville actor extraordinaire. A Kansas City native, he is acknowledged to be the first Gentile to perform Yiddish vaudeville. How he escaped life in a trailer park in rural Missouri to gain renown in New York's booming Yiddish vaudeville community is richly described and illustrated in this fascinating performance. Mr. Baker will be accompanied by the legendary Steve Sterner, New York's premiere silent film accompanist. Rimshots, bells, and whistles will be delivered by the remarkable klezmer drummer, Matt Temkin. Allen Lewis Rickman, who has extensive experience in Yiddish theater, co-conceived and directed "The Big Bupkis!" The show combines English and Yiddish, with English supertitles projected over the stage.
Oh My Heavens! 18 degrees is cold
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18F is cold.
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I'm going to go back to bed just as soon as I can find my nuts.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Zelda Rubinstein Passed away
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Bush and Obama Have Given Direction to Kill US Citizens Abroad
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There is a story in the Washington Post - and at the end they discuss that Bush after 9/11 gave approval to kill US Citizens if they were organizing or aiding terrorists. The latest person that we added to the kill list is the New Mexico born Iman who corresponded with the Muslim Terrorist that killed people at Fort Hood. But there is no proof he either planned or aided the action - if fact we don't even accuse him of that. Sure he is a dick and asshole, but are we the country now that kills people for thoughts and words (but allows corporations free speech)?
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Glen Greenwald discusses this here along with other citizens we have approved to be killed overseas that aren't terrorist (including drug dealers and people we think might know the Taliban).
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Is it just me or isn't this not so "American Values".... Also our intellignece hasn't shown us any proof. And the last time they showed us proof of weapons of mass destruction they were, you know, WRONG!
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Finally what the fuck are we doing killing people in Yemen for the last few years? I mean we have been there arguable for years before the airplane attempt ever happened. Aren't we suppose to declare war or something before we attack countries willy nilly.
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(from the Washington Post)
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After the Sept. 11 attacks, Bush gave the CIA, and later the military, authority to kill U.S. citizens abroad if strong evidence existed that an American was involved in organizing or carrying out terrorist actions against the United States or U.S. interests, military and intelligence officials said. The evidence has to meet a certain, defined threshold. The person, for instance, has to pose "a continuing and imminent threat to U.S. persons and interests," said one former intelligence official.
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The Obama administration has adopted the same stance. If a U.S. citizen joins al-Qaeda, "it doesn't really change anything from the standpoint of whether we can target them," a senior administration official said. "They are then part of the enemy."
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Both the CIA and the JSOC maintain lists of individuals, called "High Value Targets" and "High Value Individuals," whom they seek to kill or capture. The JSOC list includes three Americans, including Aulaqi, whose name was added late last year. As of several months ago, the CIA list included three U.S. citizens, and an intelligence official said that Aulaqi's name has now been added.
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Intelligence officials say the New Mexico-born imam also has been linked to the Army psychiatrist who is accused of killing 12 soldiers and a civilian at Fort Hood, Tex., although his communications with Maj. Nidal M. Hasan were largely academic in nature. Authorities say that Aulaqi is the most important native, English-speaking al-Qaeda figure and that he was in contact with the Nigerian accused of attempting to bomb a U.S. airliner on Christmas Day.
Finally Used My Grandfather's Line
the conundrum of the internet for me (because I'm cheap)
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For example, support a local shop that might be a mildly more expensive - or buy direct and save money - at the cost of the local shop.
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This example is Empire Coffee and Tea. As you can see from the picture to the left, they have been in their location since 1918. Their location is right around the corner from my house. They are on 9th Ave,and have lasted through the depression, the bad neighborhood, the Port Authority Bus Terminal moving in, bums and Starbucks!
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Yesterday, I thought I discovered this quaint new shop (the web site left me humbled - I discovered a store that was 90 years old :-), I went in to get loose leaf green tea.
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I drink a lot of loose leaf tea. It's healthier than coffee and loose leaf green has almost as much caffeine. In the morning I have green tea - and I brew black loose leaf for ice tea that I drink during the day.
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So (get to the point!), the loose leaf was $6.95 a 1/4 pound ($13.95 for a pound so next time I can save money). And it is quite good.
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Tuesday, January 26, 2010
So... Interesting Thing About My Ears
Monday, January 25, 2010
I Love Maps
I love interesting maps. This map is based on the following (select it to enlarge)...
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What states might look like if, as with Congressional districts, their borders were periodically redrawn to reflect population changes...This map is by Neil Freeman from FakeIsTheNewReal.org. It's based on a division of the country into 50 state units with more-or-less equal population -- 5 to 6 million apiece -- and preserving existing boundaries where possible. (As with the new state of "Missouri.") I love many of the other state names -- Lincoln, Joaquin, Tombigbee. My childhood home would have been along the border of Coronado and Mojave. In a reapportioned Senate each of these units would have two votes.
Chicken Neck and Triple Chin
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Cahoots! That's MY Word!
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Cahoots is my word. I have used it on nincompoopery and I always get the question from my honey, "Cahoots? Are you sure that is a word?"
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And I explain it is. And we go on.
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Now it shows up on MSNBC. And my honey has shared the word with NBC, which has shared it with MSNBC.
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And now, it leads.
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Friday, January 22, 2010
New Salon Feature: This Week in Crazy
Bradley Smith: DickWad or Just Stupid?
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With regards to the recent Supreme Court Ruling (discussed below), he wrote this in today's US Today....
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...."Thursday's Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission will lead to more corporate and union independent political spending. That was, after all, the idea, and those of us who have long argued for less regulation of campaign finance believe that that is a good thing. There are many times when citizens both deserve and ought to hear the voices of unions and corporations, directly and unfiltered.
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That said, the various "doomsday" scenarios being floated by critics of the decision, claiming that corporations will dominate American politics with billions of dollars in expenditures, are pure science fiction..."
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Perhaps someone should explain to Mr. Smith some other "science fiction" of the past.... Submarines, planes, telephones that talk without phone lines, space travel, robotic manufacturing, test tube babies, cloning, television, windows that go opaque or clear depending on the time of day. Perhaps Mr. Harvard Law needs to investigate before spouting his asinine comments.
New Supreme Court Decision for my UK Friends
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Wow! Some Interesting Testimony
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In some of the most dramatic evidence presented to date, Professor Segura commented upon a number of documents that provided a shocking glimpse of just how deeply the Catholic and Mormon churches were involved in supporting Prop 8 and intertwined with the official pro-Prop 8 campaign. "One document sent by executive director of the Conference of Catholic Bishops to bishops in California thanked the Catholic Conference for its "unusual" efforts in supporting Prop 8 and applauded the Mormon church for its "financial, organizational, and managerial contributions" to the campaign." Other documents detailed the Mormon Church's extensive collaboration with the campaign, including mobilizing more than 20,000 volunteers and coordinating messaging and fundraising. Professor Segura testified that this level of coordination among powerful religious groups to target a particular group was unprecedented.
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The legal arguments against Prop 8 basically turn on if the proposition was motivated by animosity against a minority - which would involve the abrogation of the 14th amendment of the US Constitution. So the groups who wrote the Proposition are now arguing it was not motivated by any bad feelings towards gays. In fact, their defense has been that gays are already well placed as a non-minority and therefore discrimination cannot be the reason that they pushed Proposition 8. Unfortunately (for them- although good for Ed and I) there is a ton of their own evidence, dispositions and video records that it was motivated against sinners and faggots.
Some Thoughts on Albuquerque
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First, my cousins have grown into very nice people. Below is a picture of Elise and her boyfriend, Bob, on my right, and Alana and her boyfriend, Max, on my left. They were a lot of fun and made me feel really really welcome.
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I think a lot has to do with the fact that Elise has visited a couple of times - and we are all facebook friends.
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Now, I don't wish to be mean (which always means that I am about to say something mean), but...
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Albuquerque is not the prettiest city in the middle of winter.
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I think it gets too cold for palm trees and some cactus - so there are a few trees that can live in the weather. Unfortunately they all shed their leaves in the winter - so the prevailing color is kind of, well... dirt brown...
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Eddie's Birthday Present
Republican Scott Brown wins in Mass
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Wow.. Why Haven't We Heard about UCLA Basketball in a while
One Man Shows are Really Hard!
I think that too many performers think 1 man shows are easy. They are not nearly as easy to pull off as they expect. I mean Sheri Rene Scott here was amazing.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Review of Safe Home Home
My Review of Safe Home is up. This was the show where I saw the original Harper from Angels in America.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
New York is NYC because we have more important things to do....(updated)
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Dog Heaven and Hamster Heaven
Most of us really understand about Heaven when a dog or a hamster dies. We are told they go to "doggie heaven" or "hamster heaven". (Cats don't go to heaven... they know why.)
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Joke on how they see us
How do you tell the difference between....
a UK Police Officer, an Australian Police Officer and an American Police Officer?
Answer:
Pose the following question:
You're walking down a deserted street with your wife and two small children. Suddenly, a dangerous looking man with a huge knife comes around the corner, locks eyes with you, screams obscenities, and raises the knife and charges..
You are carrying a Glock .40, and you are an expert shot. You have mere seconds before he reaches you and your family.
What do you do?
UK Police Officer's Answer:
1. Well, that's not enough information to answer the question!
2. Does the man look poor or oppressed?
3. Have I ever done anything to him that would inspire him to attack?
4. Could we run away?
5. Could I possibly swing the gun like a club and knock the knife out of his hand?
6. What does the law say about this situation?
7. Does the Glock have appropriate safety built into it?
8. Is there a Health and Safety issue here?
9. Why am I carrying a loaded gun anyway and what kind of message does this send to society and to my children?
10. Is it possible he'd be happy with just killing me?
11.Does he definitely want to kill me, or would he be content just to wound me?
12. If I were to grab his knees and hold on, could my family get away while he was stabbing me?
13. Should I call 9-9-9?
14. Why is this street so deserted?
15. We need to raise taxes, have a paint-and-weed day and make this a happier, healthier street that would discourage such behaviour?
16. If I raise my gun and he turns and runs away; do I get blamed when he falls over running away, knocks his head and kills himself?
17. If I shoot him, and lose the court case, does he have the opportunity to sue me, cost me my job, my credibility and I will lose my family home?
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Australian Officer's Answer:
1) BANG!
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American Officer's Answer:
1) BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
Click....(sounds of reloading)
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!!!!!!!!!!!
Click.
Daughter: “Nice grouping, Dad! Were those Winchester Silver Tips?''
I always think it is funny when Simon & Garfunkel ...
"China is a Bubble Waiting to Happen" Meme
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Argh.. Simplistic Journalism at it's "Best"
I want to say I am shocked.. SHOCKED.. but I'm not.
Harold Ford Junior has decided to run against Kristin Gillibrand, the current New York Senator.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Tonight's Explorer Club Talk
NBC Picks up "The Event" Pilot: written by a friend!
So, our friend Nick wrote and co-executive produced a pilot called "The Event". The bomb that is the Jay Leno show cancellation has one silver lining - and that is that NBC had to pick up a lot of new pilots. And Nick's was one of them!!!
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Precious The Movie
Precious is definitely one of the movies that suffers from hype. The acting (by Mo'nique and the lead) are outrageously good. But the movie is .. well you know the story. And the movie kind of is the story - so you just watch it play out.
Saturday, January 09, 2010
UW hands No. 4 Purdue 1st loss, ends losing streak to Boilermakers
Wooooo Hooooooo!!
UW hands No. 4 Purdue 1st loss, ends losing streak to Boilermakers
Madison -- Purdue’s quest to establish the best start in the history of the men’s basketball program was quashed.
The Boilermakers’ four-game winning streak over Wisconsin, which included two games at the Kohl Center?
That was snapped, with both pleasure and power.
Three days after suffering their first Big Ten Conference loss of the season, the 17th-ranked Badgers responded by getting contributions from up and down their lineup en route to a 73-66 victory over the fourth-ranked Boilermakers Saturday afternoon at the Kohl Center.
“We had a tremendous team coming into our home court,” said senior Jason Bohannon, one of a trio of guards who dominated the Boilermakers. “We came off a tough loss at East Lansing. “It was a big statement for us to come out strong and play well in that first half and finish strong.”
Friday, January 08, 2010
My oh my... I have no comment (almost) (LINKS Fixed)
HUGE PROPS to NYC Unemployment Officer Scott W.
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As we had my first meeting I explain how I got my PMP certificate to qualify for jobs like the one I have been doing. He immediately jumped up, checked some details and found that since I did the program before December 31st 2009, I qualified through a unique program for reimbursement of the training (turns out it was specialized and necessary for an in demand occupation).
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Today he touched base with me via phone to set up a time next week to come in and sign the appropriate paper work to get my money back. Since it was significant ($1800), I am thrilled.
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Anyway, he is just a regular Labor employee doing a bang up job. And you don't hear that kind of good news enough. Props!
Is the Blind Side "Christian"?- CLARIFICATION
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In fact, if you can't read it, the sub-headline is "The Blind Side has tackled Hollywood, passing the $200 million mark this week. Nicole LaPorte examines the underground, faith-based force that’s fueling the film’s success. "
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Maybe it is partially true. But Ed and I have seen it twice and took Bradley once - and most of the Christians I know told me I am going to hell. (Me, personally in the case of my father's funeral - even though they all said I was a great grandson to Zela and it was too bad I was going to burn in eternal hell-fire.) If you haven't been, The Blind Side is a story of love, redemption, looking past the surface, giving to others and seeing the best in people.
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To many of us in the real world, that is "christian" as in the bible, but is not "Christian" as in church goers whether Evangelical, Catholic or Baptist (Southern or nominal) Leadership. The leaders of these groups often espouse the antithesis of charity.
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And this leads me to wonder if many Christians know that they are perceived as main creators of true and angry hate right now? To say to a group of friends in New York or Los Angeles that I have good Christian friends (which I do) is to be meet with - at BEST - a skeptical eye-brow raise. And I wonder it my Christian friends have any idea how it is that many people see them AND how much of this is the doing of their own religious leaders.
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We see them (these leaders) on television screaming at women who are often having to make the hardest and worst decision of their lives.
We see them shooting doctors and crowing about it on TV.
We see them condemn health care as "socialist" - because only those that can afford medicine should get it.
We see their pastors flying to Uganda to help pass laws that will give the death sentence to gays and prison sentences to family members that don't turn them in.
We see them closing churches in Maine and Soup Kitchens in Washington DC to raise money to fight against marriage rights for committed couples who want to mark a covenant to their spouse in front of God.
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Christians watch the Blind Side and see Sandra Bullock as a Christian woman who helps a stranger. And their self-proclaimed spokespeople go and write on the web about how their religion is a good one that makes people want to see this.
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Non-Christians watch the Blind Side and see her three Christian lunch mates who laughingly joke that they might even consider having a fund raiser for the blacks on the other side of town. These Church goers can't help but assume that this big black man is going to rape her daughter. We watch the Blind Side and wish more people were less Christian and more people were like Leigh Anne Tuohy.
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A lot of Christians think many secular liberals hate them. We don't hate the people. We hate the lies, half-truths, cherry picked biblical stories that excuse their "condemn thy neighbor attitude" and the true hate they throw at us daily. And if that sounds disingenuous- then try the mirror version, "Hate the Sin, love the Sinner".
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I guess my point here is that if Christian Leaders really were like Leigh Anne Tuohy, we would all be cool with them. But you have to act like that at least some of the time.
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And if we all - whether Christian or not - if we do act that way; if we do show charity towards others, kindness towards the less fortunate and at least a tolerance of each other - I think the world would be a better place. End of sermon.