I heard it on the Today Show this morning. Found it on their website for you all to check out. Just one cup 'o Joe Stevee. lol! Nothing pisses me off more that stupid crap like this, so I get a bit passionate :) lol!

Christian groups go after ‘SpongeBob’ Issue gay warning alert over a children’s video Updated: 7:52 p.m. ET Jan. 20, 2005LOS ANGELES - Christian Conservative groups have issued a gay alert warning over a children's video starring SpongeBob SquarePants, Barney and a host of other cartoon favorites.

The wacky square yellow SpongeBob is one of the stars of a music video due to be sent to 61,000 U.S. schools in March. The makers -- the nonprofit We Are Family Foundation -- say the video is designed to encourage tolerance and diversity.

But at least two Christian activist groups say the innocent cartoon characters are being exploited to promote the acceptance of homosexuality.

"A short step beneath the surface reveals that one of the differences being celebrated is homosexuality," wrote Ed Vitagliano in an article for the American Family Association.

The video is a remake of the 1979 hit song "We Are Family" using the voices and images of SpongeBob, Barney, Winnie the Pooh, Bob the Builder, the Rugrats and 100 TV cartoon stars. It was made by a foundation set up by songwriter Nile Rodgers after the Sept. 11, 2001, hijacked plane attacks to promote the nation's healing process.

Christian groups however have taken exception to the tolerance pledge on the foundation's Web site which asks people to respect the sexual identity of others along with their abilities, beliefs, culture and race.

"Their inclusion of the reference to 'sexual identity' within their 'tolerance pledge' is not only unnecessary but it crosses a moral line," Dr James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, said in a statement on Thursday.

Rodgers was astounded at the attack. "That is so myopic and harsh. You have really got to look hard to find anything in this that is offensive to anyone. The last thing I am going to do is taint these characters," he told Reuters.

Dobson was quoted by the New York Times on Thursday as having singled out the wildly popular SpongeBob during remarks about the video at a Washington D.C. dinner this week.

SpongeBob, who lives in a pineapple under the sea, was "outed" by the U.S. media in 2002 after reports that the TV show and its merchandise was popular with gays. His creator, Stephen Hillenburg, said at the time that although SpongeBob was an oddball, he thought of all the characters as asexual.

It is not the first time that children's TV favorites have come under the critical spotlight of the U.S. Christian right. Tinky Winky, the purse-toting purple Teletubbie, was in 1999 declared a homosexual role model by Rev. Jerry Falwell.

Sponge Bob is DEFINITELY straight. He's just childish. Maybe that's why I relate.

I have 2 kids, so that's my "excuse" for seeing every episode at least 3 times, and the Motion Picture.

By the way, I am a "Conservative Christian" too. Actually most of the Union Electricians here in Eureka are republican, while our business manager in Santa Rosa is a die-hard Democrat.

I don't think he realizes most of us (if not all) are republicans, because every time we have a meeting here, he always bad-mouths Republicans, and the President. And Our new Governor. Wait, that was the old business manager, he got voted out. The new one is almost as bad, though. :)

I think there would be no labels but for Liberals. Hey is that a rhym? "Liberal Labels" Hahaha! They would call me a "right-winged conservative" without even getting to know me. I am mostly a republican because I am pro-life and think everyone should be equal and no one should get special treatment. AND I am a Native American!

My Grand Father was born on the reservation in 1909 @ Hopand, CA USA. He had a little Irish in him too. Also, most California Indians have Spanish ancestory, too. My dad was Irish, German, Scotch and God know what else. I think I'm related to everyone!

Anywhow, I just spent several hours last night looking for a schematic for my old Rockman, up till 12:00 AM PST (8:00 AM GMT). Lots of other schematics for other pedals, just no Rockman. Yet.

Well, Blue (my Kramer) is waiting in the corner to be played.

Keep getting better Joe!!!

Ed, KD6AAJ

FCC Officials Say (Kid) Powell to Resign

WASHINGTON - Federal Communications Commission (news - web sites) Chairman Michael Powell plans to resign Friday, FCC (news - web sites) officials confirmed, ending what's often been a controversial tenure as he tried to push the telecom and media industries into an increasingly deregulated world that some lawmakers, companies and consumer groups didn't like.

The news, first reported on The Wall Street Journal's editorial page Friday, was something of a surprise coming just one day after President Bush (news - web sites)'s inauguration and with some very hefty issues yet to be dealt with by the FCC. Those issues include how to treat burgeoning Internet phone services as well as how to overhaul the Universal Service Fund, a federal subsidy program under financial pressure. The Wall Street Journal is published by Dow Jones & Co. (DJ), publisher of the newswire used for this report.

Rumors have circulated for months that Powell, who has been on the FCC since President Clinton (news - web sites) appointed him as a commissioner seven years ago, would step down. Recent conventional wisdom had him leaving in the spring after at least some of these issues were dealt with.

I know some people don't "tolerate" my views. I think the Jehovah Witnesses decided not to come to my door anymore. I kepp calling them occult!

Once, as a teen, my friend an I cranked up AC/DC when they walked up the sidewalk. Funny.

I don't really pay attention to the words of most songs, people just want to rock. I mainly listen to the music.

For the last 10 years I have spent more time listening to KLOVE KLOVE.COM than the local FM stations. I bounce back and forth now depending on the song playing at the moment.

This Has to Be Homer Simpson... (or someone from T2J)

PRAGUE (Reuters) - A Czech man is being taken to court after he hid in a restaurant washroom until the employees had left and then hooked up beer kegs directly to his mouth.

Cleaning staff found him drunk and lying on the floor of the bar at the restaurant in the city of Brno, about 200km (120 miles) east of Prague, the CTK news agency reported on Thursday.

"He had broken the door of the cooling mechanism ... and detached the hoses leading from the keg, squashed them in his mouth and literally filled himself up with beer," CTK quoted a police official as saying.

Hey Joe, hope your recovery is going well. sorry to here about it pneumonia as you said its not fun. i just finished my end of semster exams here in the University of Liverpool so now i can get back to some serious jammin'

Say cool and hope to see you and the lads v. soon

cuthbert1776

"Any "Hunt For Red October" tales or other tense stories to tell from the Cold War, or was it pretty much eat, sleep, work, drill, crap, change order, repeat?"

Besides a few funny shore leave stories and one paint locker jammed in the galley garbage chute while underway, I must admit my Navy time was pretty uneventful. I did a lot of reading and listened to a lot of Joe.

michelle

"It's amazing how religion is used to spread hate and fear"

I agree. These people are not the majority. Just like any group, i.e. Muslims. As a whole they are a loving beautiful religious sect, but of course you will always have a radical seed in the group. This is in every country and in every religion. Don't let it get to you, consider the source. These people give Christian people a bad name, I assure you the majority of Christians democrats or republicans do not think that Spongbob is putting from the ruff.

Civgeek

"I saw that story the other day also. I think NAMM wrote it. (just kidding NAMM) It's stupid"

Ouch. I agree it is stupid, but like I told Michelle, these homophobic people do not represent the major sentiment about Spongeeeee Bob. There will always be an Individual or a group that does or says something outlandish to receive attention to their worthless cause. It's a lesson in futility to get our panties in a twist over a couple of morons who think they have their finger on the spiritual pulse of the nation.

As for my personal beliefs on the matter, what ever or who ever Sponge Bob wants to cop a nut with in bikini bottom, he should do so behind closed doors, are children (young and old) are watching..... ;-}

Oh, I almost forgot, tolerance is a 2 way street. I now lots of people who preach tolerance, but always assume theirs is the right oppinion, so I must be wrong. I am an oppinionated person, so is everyone! Am I not tolerant if I disagree with some one elses opinion? Definitely not. I have a right to disagree. That's what America was founded on. Some people who wanted to freely practice their own beliefs without being told or forced what to believe by others.

I will not tolerate people attacking my belief in Christ, so the whiny people who can't stand it when I talk about religion, or my "family" views are also being intolerant. Right? It takes to to tango, so, as my Grand Ma used to say "there can't be a fight if the other person isn't fighting back" You can't argue if the other person can't even hear you. I always tell my kids to ignore bullies when they can.

Bullies usally give up when they can't get a reaction out of you. Worked for me 90% of the time when I was a kid. I only had to strike back once when I was 14 (he was a small punk who would ambush me, or sneek up on me and punch me in the face. I did not enjoy setting him straight, neither did he. He left me alone after that. I finally I picked him up and threw him over a fence.

"I've had all I can stands, and I can stands no more"! Pop-eye, also not homosexual.

kd6aaj

"By the way, I am a "Conservative Christian" too"

You are a brave soul to announce that here at t2j. Welcome to the board and be prepared to take some abuse. It isn't too bad, usually some youngster with no experience in having to take care of him / her self and thinking they know it all. I have conversed with some very intelligent thinkers here, Zenfish... Civgeek.... Mikesb.... and of course our supreme court nominee Cuthbert1776. (sorry if I missed anybody)

"They would call me a "right-winged conservative" without even getting to know me."

Me too, there have been more assumptions here about my character then where Rumsfeld thought the Weapons of Mass Destruction were in Iraq....;-)

cuthbert1776

"Don't assume I'd accept.... ;-)"

Not only do I think you would accept it, I think you would have a good chance at teaching the other members the true meaning of the Constitution. Give me a break; you'd jump at the chance to go mono e mono with some of them behind closed door deliberations. I don't know much about you cuth, but I do know you like a good conversation about the constitution.

cuthbert1776

You do not need a JD to be a Supreme Court Justice. There are no qualifications to be a Justice.

You simply need to be nominated by the President and approved by the Senate - and you are in.

Civgeek

"IN THIS COUNTRY YOU DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT NOT TO BE OFFENDED!!
As part of living in the Melting Pot, you will come in contact with things you don't agree with."

Absolutely, so why get upset with it? I wonder if Sponge Bob uses mesh undies and handcuffs? Yuk Yuk........

Cuthbert1776

Notice the report came from the New York Times.

"Sponge Bob needed no introduction. In addition to his popularity among children, who watch his cartoon show, he has become a well-known camp figure among adult gay men, perhaps because he holds hands with his animated sidekick Patrick and likes to watch the imaginary television show "The Adventures of Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy.""

I just got this visual of Sponge Bob, Patrick and Richard Simmons and various bare chested young men on a retreat. Lounging around a campfire enjoying a nice Weenie Roast, singing "Jimmy pack corn and I DON'T CARE........Jimmy pack corn and I DON'T CARE........Jimmy pack corn and I DON'T CARE........Jimmy pack corn and I DON'T CARE........" ROTFLMFAO

cuthbert1776

Maybe if you start some arm exercises and get your arms very strong and get the right suit to wear, you may make it to Mars.

Just when I thought that this whole Sponge Bob thing couldn't possibly get any funnier, I just spit my lunch up looking at the credits "Starring" at the top of this link.

Do ya think Roger is getting some e-mails over this from his friends?

Excuse me I need to go clean the Clam Chowder off of my shirt and keyboard. Holly shit I haven't laughed this hard in a loooooooooooong time!

Hey Guys,

I was thinking of Bying a JS2000 but there is no whammy bar(or at least I dont see one on the Ibanez site) So I was looking at the 1200 and 1000 but I cant choose.

Your thoughts

You rock Joe!

Slansh - I spoke to Tura.. she sorted me out... so your CD is in the post as of this evening...

and that's a green light.. lol...

next stop will be Gibson, Honner and Washburn I guess..

ok... set fire to my car.. that'll be a good start.. lmao

---> Family groups suck dick

Spongebob is the coolest thing ever. I seen his movie and it way more funnier than Passion of the Christ, in fact that wasn't even funny at all. Heaps of gay men like ice cream too, why don't they ban that too? Fucking idiots. I hate family groups. <---

I can only agree with him... he is totally right

Namm, that is just too funny for words!!! Now i gotta check up on a site outlining the origin of surnames!!!

TASTEY,

Just in case somebody missed this who's interested.

New Chromeboy Then scroll to the bottom of the pagedown past Vai's chromed Jem to Joe's beauty...thar she blows!

Here's the news (right off Ibanezrules.com) about the new Chromed - JS2PRM - New for this year is the ultra limited 2PRM [I could not find out exactly what PRM stands for, but like the new JEM7B, probably something to do with Rock Mirror]. This is esentually the guitar Joe has been playing on tour for 2 years now, leaving his original JS2's at home in an effort to keep them in his possession. The basswood body is covered in aluminum which should prove to be a much more durable finish than all previous "chromeboy" attempts. This is not a catalog model so I'm going to assume it has Joe's current flavor of pickups, the FRED bridge and the PAF JOE neck, but Dimarzio has chromed the tops as they did the JEM10 and JS90's, although this is supposed to be a new process that is much more durable than the process used on those pickups. Only play time will tell. Added to this model [and I was told requested by Joe] is the phase switch to change the humbuckers to out of phase giving an even added tonal option to the already versatile JS. Abalone dots inlayed into slightly larger mirror dots and a headstock overlay like the one used on the Crystal Planet's but in chrome. Rumored to possibly come with a chromed case although that's many months from confirmation. Limited to 60 pieces worldwide with 38 coming to the US. $5329.99 List price, includes case.

Nice touch on the phase switch Joe, and thanks for making these available to us...wonder what retail will be....$3570.00?

www.stevetrott.com

Zenfish,

What have you found to replace the Telecaster.

==============================================

mikesb,