Church is Obselete

The Church is a dying animal.  Not that it has lost its soul or has succumbed to the ways of the world, it has just gone the way of the 8-track tape.  Or more appropriately, it is going the way of the print newspaper.  The Church is clunky..Nearly everything that you can get at church, you can get in another way more cheaply, of higher quality, and without all the bugs that actually go with going to church.

Church really is fundamentally a form of media.  Like the telephone, or radio. Or a print magazine. In the medium of church, you can join a social network with people of your own theological stripe.  You can receive teaching that challenges you. You can hear (allegedly) good music. You can receive counseling and comfort in times of distress. It used to be that the Church was the indispensible provider for this kind of content - but that is no longer the case. Social networking has taken off in so many ways. And music? Is there a church ANYWHERE in America where people are happy with the music? 

Mark Allender
email: zzz@uu.cx
web: http://uu.cx/
skype: mark.allender

What's really wrong with the electoral college.

There is a perennial conversation about whether the Electoral College should be abolished or not.  Yes, it's an outmoded relic of the early plan of our government. Yes, it's practically an oversight when the Electoral College meets and (for a fee of $15) actually elects our President. We can go around and around about popular election versus federal state-by-state election.  People who actually run for President probably like the current system - they have a vested interest in being able to surgically target their campaigns.

But there are a lot of outmoded conventions in our society. Take the celebacy of priests for example. Or the legality of cigarettes. Or the British monarchy. The Electoral Colege is not going anywhere.  We take too much pride in our tradition of counting states on election night.  It's just FUN.  Our failure is not our continuance with an outmoded system. If punk rock has taught us anything, it's "Take your flaws and celebrate them." We're not going to outlaw tobacco, so hell -- open a cigar specialty store. 

We need huge ceremony for the Electoral College.  We need outlandish contests for the actual electors.  And uniforms.  And a show that rivals the SuperBowl Half Time show.  Phil Collins needs to sing for our Electoral College.

That's what's wrong with our system.

Mark Allender
email: zzz@uu.cx
web: http://uu.cx/
skype: mark.allender

First post

Here is my first post. Just trying to get the goddamn thing going. Thanks!