www.WarrenMurphy.com

[Warren]

on those rare occasional evenings when the n.b.a. hasn't eaten up every television channel with its never-ending year-long basketball playoffs -- (dick sapir once said that the n.b.a. playoffs will end when the next ice age starts) -- i sometimes plunk myself in front of the tube to wait for unconsciousness to set in.
in the past, those opportunities have occasionally coincided with cbs's mystery show, "numbers," which as a math buff i usually found entertaining and interesting.
until last week.
in last week's episode, the fbi was hunting for a possible serial killer. one of the woman victims had a bible in her apartment which raised all kinds of flags for our intrepid investigators. and sure enough, they found out that she had a boyfriend who also had a bible in his apartment and in his office.
and a cross on the wall! can you believe it?
so immediately, because he was obviously a christian, he became a prime suspect. and in five minutes, they found that he had a room in his apartment filled with whips and chains and leather suits.
and then in two sentences, they got rid of him as a suspect and went off to catch the real killer.
so all these scumsuckers did was to take a gratuitous swipe at christians and christianity, equating a bible and a cross with sexual perversion -- none of which had anything to do with the story they were televising. it was just another cheap shot from the high priests of secularism toward all of us whom they regard as the great unwashed.
this, mind you, from one of the networks who have resolutely refused to show any cartoon of the prophet muhammid because it would be "inthenthitive."
or so they say. but we all know the real reason for jesus-bashing, don't we? you bash the islamo-fascists and they're liable to come around and cut your head off. you bash a christian and they write a letter to the newspaper.
or bitch on their blog.
scratch "numbers" from my viewing list. it just doesn't add up anymore.
ditto the only other show i watched with some regularity -- "boston legal." this started out as a wonderful character-driven story of two lawyers, one the ineffably unscrupulous james spader, and the other, an alzheimer's nut wackily portrayed by captain james tiberius kirk.
but, as successful shows generally do when their writers are allowed off the reservation, they stopped dancing with the girl what brung them, and now each week, you can count on "boston legal" to be some kind of leftwing anti-bush, anti-conservative screed that it truly makes one sick to watch...frequently made especially heinous when they drag in someone like the rev. al sharpton to be a hero in one of the episodes.
still and all, don't worry: they'll be gone soon too.
* * *
along that line, one is referred to an internet piece making the rounds. it is from ben stein, writer, actor, economist, and it was a piece he spoke on a cbs show last christmas season.
in part, he said:
"I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas trees.
It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, "Merry Christmas" to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.
I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution, and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.
Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship Nick and Jessica and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him?
I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too.
But there are a lot of us who are wondering where Nick and Jessica came from and where the America we knew went to."
* * *
Amen, Brother Ben.
Here's an afterthought on a different subject. If Arnold Schwarzenegger had emigrated to Mexico instead of the United States, he would never have been allowed to be governor of one of Mexico's provinces. He would not have even been allowed to be a policeman, a fireman, or a government clerk. Such positions are reserved only for the Mexican native-born.
If it weren't so sad, I would find it amusing that we Americans are constantly lectured on how to act by a lot of bad actors.
--warren