Rocks are Heavy

Moved 3,477 pounds of gravel yesterday. I know this because I had to get weight tickets at the quarry up Montana Creek Road where I obtained the crushed rock. I used Dougie's pickup and made two trips. Unloaded the rock into a wheelbarrow and deposited it in the folks' back and side yards. Eighty two year old mom spread the gravel with a rake. We make a pretty good team...perhaps we'll go into the landscaping biz.

This morning the lower back and hamstrings are a mite sore and tight. Think a good workout and steam are in order... And I've got a hankering to play a round of golf...although there is no wind this morning and the bugs could be fierce on the wetlands. Perhaps we'll get a breeze in the PM.

I've started the procurement process for hotels, cars, etc. for next month. Portland hotels are pretty cheap. Boston not so much. Gonna check-out the B&B situation in Boston.

In other news, Dougie sent me a fascinating story last week describing a conversation between former President George W. Bush and French President Jacques Chirac where Dubya invoked biblical prophesy as justification for the Iraqi invasion - that "Gog and Magog were at work in the Middle East and that Biblical Prophecies were being accomplished." This apparently prompted the Elysee Palace to consult with a European theologian to try to figure out just what in the world our lunatic president was talking about. President Chirac and his immediate advisers - like most Western Europeans but unlike typical bible belt American Republicans- were clearly unlettered in bronze age literature.

It is not clear from the article just what the learned theologian told the French President's advisers. This morning, just for laughs, I googled "Gog and Magog" and needless to say there are many, many, many entries that attempt to explain all of this; but I must confess that I have found the various discussions confusing, at best, and often quite disturbing.

A typical example is a site called "Prophecy Update - News and Information for the End Times". We start off with a quote from the Old Testament which apparently is the primary source of all the hub-bub.

" The word of the LORD came to me: "Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal; prophesy against him and say: 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. I will turn you around, put hooks in your jaws and bring you out with your whole army--your horses, your horsemen fully armed, and a great horde with large and small shields, all of them brandishing their swords. Ezekiel 38:1-4

Huh? Not a single reference to Iraq that I can see. In fact this particular site is rather old and the tortured analysis appears to suggest that what the prophecy is REALLY all about is the threat of Russian hordes...this apparently was a very popular theory among evangelicals during the Cold War. But times change...

Indeed wikipedia discusses a bewildering array of suggested identifications for Gog and Magog including, but not limited to, the Goths, the Khazars, and as giants. All postulated by eminent Doctors of Theology, I'm sure.

In all of this I found nothing that struck me as a sound basis for American foreign policy in the 21st century; although I did note that one of the sons of Japheth was Gomer - something that for some reason I find amusing.

Here's Dougie's original link: http://sedulia.blogs.com/sedulias_translations/2009/05/bush-chirac-gog-and-magog.html