Hezikiah 12:12

From time to time I will post some of my favorite verses from the book of Hezikiah.

Hezikiah 12:12

Beware the woman who lives on the hill.
For she is not on the level.

The Flip Of a Coin/ A grump about almost nothing

Today at 5p.m. the Governor of Oklahoma declared an end to the contest for the design of the Oklahoma State quarter to be issued by the U.S. mint next year.
The five finalist designs may be viewed at

www.gov.ok.gov/coin.php

Now four of the five designs have as a part of the design the Pioneer Woman statue in Ponca City, Oklahoma. The fifth design has the State Bird, the scissor tail flycatcher, and the State Wildflower, the Indian blanket.

Now here is the rant. Pioneer Woman? Ponca City is in the Cherokee Outlet, it was settled by a rambuncious land run in 1893. A sweet little pioneer woman, as pictured, would have been among the first road kill in Oklahoma if she had tried to walk like that into the Territory. The statue is one of those western bullshit images so favored back in 1929 when it was created. Not to mention that the "Pioneer Woman" is hardly an "Oklahoma concept". Google "pioneer woman statue" on Images and you get 29,000 pictures of pioneer women statues across almost every state in the U.S., not to mention Australia, New Zealand, and Canada as well. So unique it is not. It is also out of time as well as out of place in Oklahoma History.
But here is the irony. To allow the image to be used, the mint has to take the Bible out of her hand. The mint regulations state that: "Inappropriate design concepts include, but are not limited to...depictions of ...religious...etc. Nope, no Bible allowed.
Of course that means that a few (million) Buckle on the Bible Belt Okies are up in arms that the Bible will not be depicted on their coin and are griping about it already.

Well here is hoping that the mint chooses the flower and the bird design. It is far more appropriate to the uniqueness of the State. I think if one of the other four designs make it into production I may acquire a steel punch with the word LAME on it and mark every Oklahoma quarter that comes my way with that sentiment.

Now that would make our State quarter unique.

Whoops, the results are in. A pioneer woman coin is one of the two top vote getter's.
It is now a 50/50 chance!
Wonder how much it will cost to get that steel punch made?
http://www.ok.gov/governor/display_article.php?article_id=822&article_type=1

Hokie Hokum ?

Now that there is a least some distance between the obscenity of Mr. Chou's fatal 100 bullet input into 32 people, it is time to examine some of the other strange goings-on associated with the massacre.
For example the media's love affair with the Hokie spirit.
I was a little taken aback that first night at a candlelight vigil when the students began the school chant hokies-hokies -hokies etc.
It seems kind of like a good sermon in church being applauded at the end.
Something not quite right here.
As the days went on the Hokie's spirit was mentioned over and over again and again and exhibited and so on and so forth by the students and the media?
And in the Hokie spirit the school's stumblingly's were excused by the Hokies themselves.
As time went on I became more and more uncomfortable with it.
Last night at the diner for the White House press, some of the news people began the chant in a memorial to the slain students, Hokie-Hokie-Hokie.
By now I am actually troubled by it.
It seems sort of the wrong kind of spirit to be invoked here.
Some say I just don't understand.
Maybe so. But it does seem slightly....blasphemous.

Alpha and probably Omega too

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