ROGarticles

The Lord's Prayer in the Cherokee tradition

2009-06-15T03:02:00.000-07:00

Our father, heaven dweller,
My loving will be to Thy name.
Your Lordship: let it make its appearance.
Here upon earth let happen what you think
The same as in heaven is done.
Daily our food give to us this day.
Forgive us our debts, the same as we forgive our debtors.
And do not temptation being lead us into,
Deliver us from evil existing.
For thine your Lordship is,
And the power is,
And the glory is forever.
Amen

Incidentally, the Lord's Prayer in Cherokee (and English) was one of the items that appeared in the first issue—28 February 1828—of the Cherokee Phoenix (Tsalagi Tsulehisanunhi), the first newspaper written by and for Indians as well as being printed in both English and the Cherokee language (using Sequoya's syllabary).

Beautifully stated insults

2009-06-14T15:08:00.000-07:00

There was a time when words were used beautifully. These glorious insults are from an era when cleverness with words was still valued.

The exchange between Churchill and Lady Astor: She said, "If you were my husband, I'd give you poison," and he said, "If you were my wife, I'd take it."

Gladstone, a member of Parliament, to Benjamin Disraeli: "Sir, you will either die on the gallows or of some unspeakable disease." "That depends, sir," said Disraeli, "On whether I embrace your policies or your mistress."

"He had delusions of adequacy." - Walter Kerr

"He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire." - Winston Churchill

"A modest little person, with much to be modest about." - Winston Churchill

"I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure." - Clarence Darrow

"He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary." - William Faulkner (about Ernest Hemingway).

"Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words?" - Ernest Hemingway (about William Faulkner)

"Thank you for sending me a copy of your book; I'll waste no time reading it." - Moses Hadas

"He can compress the most words into the smallest idea of any man I know." - Abraham Lincoln

"I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it." - Mark Twain

"He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends." - Oscar Wilde

"I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play; bring a friend.... if you have one." - George Bernard Shaw to Winston Churchill.

"Cannot possibly attend first night, will attend second... if there is one!" - Winston Churchill, in response.

"I feel so miserable without you; it's almost like having you here." - Stephen Bishop

“He is a self-made man and worships his creator." - John Bright

"I've just learned about his illness. Let's hope it's nothing trivial." - Irvin S. Cobb

"He is not only dull himself, he is the cause of dullness in others." - Samuel Johnson

"There's nothing wrong with you that reincarnation won't cure." - Jack E. Leonard

"He has the attention span of a lightning bolt." - Robert Redford

"They never open their mouths without subtracting from the sum of human knowledge." - Thomas Brackett Reed

"In order to avoid being called a flirt, she always yielded easily." - Charles, Count Talleyrand

"He loves nature in spite of what it did to him." - Forrest Tucker

"Why do you sit there looking like an envelope without any address on it?" - Mark Twain

"His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork." - Mae West

"Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go."- Oscar Wilde

"He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts... for support, rather than illumination." - Andrew Lang (1844-1912)

"He has Van Gogh's ear for music." - Billy Wilder

"I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn't it." - Groucho Marx

History Test

2009-06-13T17:11:00.000-07:00

NO Cheating - don't look at the answers until you take the test!!!!

Everyone over 40 should have a pretty easy time at this exam. If you are under 40 you can claim a handicap.
This is a History Exam for those who don't mind seeing how much they really remember about what went on in their life.

*** Get paper & pencil & number from 1 to 20.
****Write the letter of each answer & score at the end.

1. In the 1940s/50s, where were automobile headlight dimmer switches
located?
a. On the floor shift knob.
b. On the floor board, to the left of the clutch.
c. Next to the horn.

2. The bottle top of a Royal Crown Cola bottle had holes in it. For what
was it used?
a. Capture lightning bugs.
b. To sprinkle clothes before ironing.
c. Large salt shaker.

3. Why was having milk delivered a problem in northern winters?
a. Cows got cold and wouldn't produce milk.
b. Ice on highways forced delivery by dog sled.
c. Milkmen left deliveries outside of front doors and milk would freeze,
expanding and pushing up the cardboard bottle top.

4. What was the popular chewing gum named for a game of chance?
a. Blackjack
b. Gin
c. Craps

5.. What method did women use to look as if they were wearing stockings when none were available due to rationing dur ing WW II.
a. Suntan
b. Leg painting
c. Wearing slacks

6. What postwar car turned automotive design on its ear when you couldn't tell whether it was coming or going?
a. Studebaker
b. Nash Metro
c. Tucker

7. Which was a popular candy when you were a kid?
a. Strips of dried peanut butter.
b. Chocolate licorice bars.
c. Wax coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water inside.

8. How was Butch wax used?
a. To stiffen a flat-top haircut so it stood up.
b. To make floors shiny and prevent scuffing.
c. On the wheels of roller skates to pre vent rust.

9. Before inline skates, how did you keep your roller skates attached to your shoes?
a. With clamps, tightened by a skate key.
b. Woven straps that crossed the foot.
c. Long pieces of twine.

10. As a kid, what was considered the best way to reach a decision?
a. Consider all the facts.
b. Ask Mom.
c. Eeny-meeny-miney-MO.

11. What wa s the most dreaded disease in the 1940s and 1950s?
a. Smallpox
b. AIDS
c. Polio

12. 'I'll be down to get you in a ________, Honey'
a. SUV
b. Taxi
c. Streetcar

13. W hat was the name of Caroline Kennedy's pony?
a. Old Blue
b. Paint
c. Macaroni

14. What was a Duck-and-Cover Drill?
a. Part of the game of hide and seek.
b. What you did when your Mom called you in to do chores.
c. Hiding under your desk, and covering your head with your arms in an
A-bomb drill.

15. What was the name of the Indian Princess on the Howdy Doody show?
a. Princess Summerfallwinterspring
b. Princess Sacajawea
c. Princess Moonshadow

16. What did all the really savvy students do when mimeographed tests were handed out in school?
a. Immediately sniffed the purple ink, as this was believed to get you high.
b. Made paper airplanes to see who could sail theirs out the window.
c. Wrote another pupil's name on the top, to avoid their failure.

17. Why did your Mom shop in stores that gave Green Stamps with purchases?
a. To keep you out of mischief by licking the backs, which tasted like bubble gum.
b. They could be put in special books and redeemed for various household items.
c. They were given to the kids to be used as stick-on tattoos.

18. Praise the Lord, & pass the _________?
a. Meatballs
b. Dames
c. Ammunition

19. What was the name of the singing group that made the song 'Cabdriver' a hit?
a. The Ink Spots
b. The Supremes
c. The Esquires

20. Who left his heart in San Francisco ?
a. Tony Bennett
b. Xavier Cugat
c. George Gershwin

***
ANSWERS
1. (b) On the floor, to the left of the clutch. Hand controls, popular
in Europe , took till the late '60's& nbsp;to catch on.
2. (b) To sprinkle clothes before ironing. Who had a steam iron?
3. (c) Cold weather caused the milk to freeze and expand, popping the
bottle top.
4 . (a) Blackjack Gum.
5. (b) Special makeup was applied, followed by drawing a seam down the
back of the leg with eyebrow pencil.
6. (a) 1946 Stud ebaker.
7. (c) Wax coke bottles containing super-sweet colored water.
8. (a) Wax for your flat top (butch) haircut.
9. (a) With clamps , tightened by a skate key, which you wore on a
shoestring around your neck.
10. (c) Eeny-mee ny-miney-mo.
11. (c) Polio. In beginning of August, swimming pools were closed,
movies and other public gathering places were closed to try to prevent
spread of the disease.
12. (b) Taxi , Better be ready by half-past eight!
13. (c) Macaroni.
14. (c) Hiding under your desk, and covering your head with your arms in
an A-bomb drill.
15. (a) Princess Summerfallwinterspring. She was another puppet.
16. (a) Immediately sniffed the purple ink to get a high.
17. (b) Put in a special stamp book, they could be traded for household
items at the Green Stamp store.
18. (c) Ammunition, and we'll all be free.
19. (a) The widely famous 50's group: The Inkspots.
20. (a) Tony Bennett, and he sounds just as good today.

SCORING
17- 20 correct: You are older than dirt, and obviously gifted with
mental abilities. Now if you could only find your glasses. Definitely
someone who should shar e your wisdom!
12 -16 correct: Not quite dirt yet, but you're getting there.
0 -11 correct: You are not old enough to share the wisdom of your
experiences.

I got 13 right, including 10 out the last 11.

"Holocaust survivors have moral obligation to tell who rescued them"

2009-06-10T16:42:00.000-07:00

The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation

Jun. 10, 2009
Etgar Lefkovits , THE JERUSALEM POST. Printed edition

People who were saved from death during the Holocaust have a moral obligation to identify their rescuers, despite the trauma such recollections can cause, the founder of the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation said on Tuesday.

The comments comes amid an eleventh-hour effort by the New York-based non-profit organization to identify more heroes at a time when the number of survivors continues to dwindle.

"We talk a lot about the Holocaust, but we do not talk enough about those non-Jews who saved Jews during the war," Baruch Tenembaum, founder of the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation, said in an interview with The Jerusalem Post.

The Argentinean-born Tenembaum said Holocaust survivors who were saved by others had a moral obligation to tell their stories before it was too late, despite the suffering it might cause them in reliving tortuous experiences from six and seven decades ago.

"The freedom they have now to speak or not to speak is the freedom granted to them by the person who saved them," he said. "In my opinion, they do not have such an option because it belongs to the person who saved them. They do not have the right to remain silent."

The Wallenberg Foundation, which has located scores of rescuers, recently encountered four survivors - grandmothers now living in Israel, Argentina, Hungary and France - who do not want to recount the story of their rescues because it is too painful for them.

Tenembaum concedes that he can never feel their pain, noting that they have not even told their children about their experiences, but said that these people - and many others like them - need to go public with their stories before time runs out.

"The Jewish nation has a moral obligation to be grateful to those who saved lives," he said.

About 250,000 Holocaust survivors live in Israel.

The organization, named after the Swedish diplomat who went missing in January 1945, after saving tens of thousands of Jews and other persecuted by the Nazis, develops educational programs based on the values of solidarity and civic courage, ethical cornerstones of Holocaust rescuers.

Irena Steinfeld, the head of the Righteous Department at Jerusalem's Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial, concurred Tuesday that survivors had a duty to speak out, but cautioned against self-righteousness.

"Certainly it is the moral obligation of survivors to tell the story of their rescuers, but I am very cautious because it is very easy to open old wounds and hard to close them again," she said.

"We can only try to ask them in every way possible."

More than 22,000 people have been recognized by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations.

We are coming down to the wire on the issue of Health care reform.

2009-06-10T16:11:00.000-07:00

The first part is an excerpt from a letter from an old friend of mine whose been working in the health care field over 50 years.

When the Congress gets these bills in motion in the next few weeks, the health care committees in this nation, who have fought so long and so hard, will be analyzing them and needing us folks to get to our representatives to express our opinions...and we will need to do it RAPIDLY.

Therefore, I have promised my colleagues that I would make a serious attempt to put a "Rapid Response team" together.
I would ask you to contact your representatives as quickly as possible (either phone OR e-mail...or Twitter or Facebook...or any new-fangled way you know about)

Then to call 10 friends, and get them to do the same (if you only have 5 friends..that will do!)

If you click on the following sites, you will get all the contact info you need for your Senators/& Congressional representatives
http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW_by_State.shtml United States House of Reps Member Listing (by State)
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm U.S. Senate: Senators Home

I am enclosing the Principles (see below)that I am supporting, along with Our President....so you know exactly where I stand

If you do not believe that our health care system is broken, please come and visit me...I will take you to the FREE Clinic, where 2 nights a week, the WORKING POOR go for their health care, supplied by VOLUNTEERS and DONATIONS.

This is AMERICA folks...All of our people have a RIGHT to decent health care!
I send you all love and Thanks for your listening!
Praying you will all respond!

Live simply. Love generously
Care deeply. Speak kindly.
Leave the rest to God.

President Obama has 3 core principles that will guide health care reform.
They are:
1. To reduce rising healthcare costs for families, business, and government.
• American families and small businesses are being crushed by sky-rocketing health
care costs and they are losing the choices they value most. Every day in America
families are forced to choose a different doctor because their employer can no
longer afford the old plan. No longer should people have to decide to skip a
doctor’s visit or medication that they know they need because they can’t afford
the payment.
2. To allow all patients choice in their own coverage and their own doctor.
• President Obama is committed to health care reform that guarantees Americans
their health care choice. He has consistently said that if a family likes what they
have, they will be able to keep it under health care reform. The president will
support health care reform that builds on the existing employer-based system but
also supports providing Americans with the option for public health insurance
operating alongside private plans. This would provide a better range of choices,
make the health care market more competitive, and keep insurance companies
honest.
3. To ensure that quality, affordable healthcare is available to all Americans.
• Any successful reform will emphasize quality care over quantity. President Obama
has called for reform that would; provide technology to doctors for medical
research boost prevention and wellness so that Americans are healthier and
everyone saves money, rapidly expand computerized medical records with strong
privacy protections, that would reduce needless and costly paperwork, and
provide doctors with the best, most up-to-date information to reduce medical
errors, saving lives and money.

What did the Romans ever Do For US?

2009-05-19T12:52:00.000-07:00

My favorite Monty Python, from Life with Brian:

Reg: They've bled us white, the bastards. They've taken everything we had, and not just from us, from our fathers, and from our fathers' fathers.
Loretta: And from our fathers' fathers' fathers.
Reg: Yeah.
Loretta: And from our fathers' fathers' fathers' fathers.
Reg: Yeah. All right, Stan. Don't labour the point. And what have they ever given us in return?!
Xerxes: The aqueduct?
Reg: What?
Xerxes: The aqueduct.
Reg: Oh. Yeah, yeah. They did give us that. Uh, that's true. Yeah.
Commando 3: And the sanitation.
Loretta: Oh, yeah, the sanitation, Reg. Remember what the city used to be like?
Reg: Yeah. All right. I'll grant you the aqueduct and the sanitation are two things that the Romans have done.
Matthias: And the roads.
Reg: Well, yeah. Obviously the roads. I mean, the roads go without saying, don't they? But apart from the sanitation, the aqueduct, and the roads--
Commando: Irrigation.
Xerxes: Medicine.
Commandos: Huh? Heh? Huh...
Commando 2: Education.
Commandos: Ohh...
Reg: Yeah, yeah. All right. Fair enough.
Commando 1: And the wine.
Commandos: Oh, yes. Yeah...
Francis: Yeah. Yeah, that's something we'd really miss, Reg, if the Romans left. Huh.
Commando: Public baths.
Loretta: And it's safe to walk in the streets at night now, Reg.
Francis: Yeah, they certainly know how to keep order. Let's face it. They're the only ones who could in a place like this.
Commandos: Hehh, heh. Heh heh heh heh heh heh heh.
Reg: But apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh-water system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?
Xerxes: Brought peace?
Reg: Oh, peace? Shut up!

THE TWELVE STEPS OF REPUBLICANS ANONYMOUS Hotlist

2009-04-28T17:34:00.000-07:00

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

Republicans Anonymous is a fellowship of Republican and Ex-Republican men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem of political irrelevancy and ideological bankruptcy. The only requirement for membership is that you have contributed to the destruction of the US economy, our infrastructure, our judical system, and to the US reputation around the world. There are no dues or fees for RA membership; we are supported by contributions from our numerous Fortune 500 donors. RA is not allied with any sect, denomination, politics, organization or institution (wink wink); does not wish to engage in any controversy (wink wink wink), neither endorses nor opposes any causes (HA! ooops...). Our primary purpose is to get back to our rightful position as upholders of family values and plunderers of the Treasury and the US Constitution as soon as humanly possible.

The following are our 12 steps of recovery:

THE TWELVE STEPS OF REPUBLICANS ANONYMOUS

1. We admitted we were powerless over the decisions we had made the past eight yearsbut that our pollster has now told us it is probably impossible to get re-elected as a Republican - like, maybe for the next several decades at least.
2. Came to believe that no Power could ever restore the Glenn Beck to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of Michael Steele, but, god, this is depressing...
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of everyone else except ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of everyone else’s wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove the 2006 and 2008 election results from our consciousness.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove Rush Limbaugh from the airwaves.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and asked them to apologize to us, or else we would waterboard them.
9. Made direct amends to our biggest Wall Street donors whenever possible, and reminded them we are up for reelection in 2010.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly blamed it on the Jews and George Soros.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with Ronald Reagan, as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and his 1986 poll numbers.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message through fair and balanced news outlets such as Fox News and other media outlets owned by Rupert Murdoch.

Why We Must Talk About Race Now -- More Than Ever Before

2009-01-30T16:29:00.000-08:00

By Carmen Van Kerckhove

Just one day after Barack Obama's historic victory, a giddy New York Times declared that his success at the polls was "sweeping away the last racial barrier in American politics with ease."

With ease? This statement contradicts the tightrope Obama had to walk throughout the election. If he didn't overtly address race, people of color would have distrusted him and felt he didn't have their best interests at heart. But had he aligned himself too closely with the race issue, he ran the risk of emphasizing his "otherness" and alienating white voters. There was nothing easy about the delicate balancing act Obama had to perform to win the election.

In the wake of President Obama's inauguration, more people are starting to question why we still need to talk about race and diversity. After all, our president is black. Isn't that sufficient proof that racism in America has met its match?

If you find yourself facing this question at work, here are a few talking points you can use to demonstrate that race is not yet an issue we can afford to ignore.

1, There will always be "stand-outs" like Obama who carve a niche for themselves despite institutionalized discrimination.

For example, a black woman named Madame CJ Walker, the daughter of two former slaves, became the first self-made woman millionaire in the United States (black or white) by creating a line of cosmetics and hair care products for black women. She accomplished this feat at a time when blacks were subjected to extreme poverty, segregation, violence, and oppression. Her success during the Jim Crow era did not indicate that discrimination against blacks was nonexistent during this time. Instead, she became successful despite the odds.

Obama, too, is an exception to well-entrenched racism, rather than a symbol of the end of it. Thousands of voters told pollsters outright that they would never vote for a black man. (How many other voters felt the same way but would not go on the record and verbalize it?) Obama won the presidency in spite of racism, not because of its absence.

2. Racial disparities still exist in nearly every aspect of American life.

David Thomas, Harvard Business School professor and author of Breaking Through:The Making of Minority Executives in Corporate America, recently told Human Resources Executive magazine that "although the glass ceiling is "no longer impenetrable, talent being equal, the probability of making it to the C-suite is still less if you are a person of color than if you are a white male."

Indeed, the Working Group on Extreme Inequality has confirmed that the racial economic divide between whites and blacks is a quantifiable reality:

* In 2006, black individuals made 54% less annually than their white counterparts.
* In the same year, black families made 58% less than whites.
* In 2004, the median household wealth for whites was $118,300 as compared to just $11,800 for black families.
* In 2006, 75.8% of whites owned a home; only 47.9% of blacks did,
* And when it comes to unemployment, in 2007 4.1% of whites were without work as compared to 8.3% of blacks.
* In 2006, 91% of white students graduated from high school, while just 81% of blacks did. And in college, the disparity is even greater: in 2004, 31% of whites graduated, against just 10% of blacks.

3. The civil right movement began just 50 years ago.

There are hundreds of years of oppression to undo, thousands of laws and unspoken hiring biases to uncover and bring into the light. Fifty years is just the beginning of a protracted struggle to level the playing field.

While no one can deny that progress is being made (pat yourselves on the back for that!), until people of all backgrounds are allowed the opportunity to make a decent living, to buy a home, to send children to college, to receive adequate health care, and to live as equals among all others, we must continue to challenge the powers-that-be which still block equal opportunity.

While it's wonderful to breathe a sigh of relief as a new administration takes office - one that "gets it" - this is no time to let up.

© 2004-2009 New Demographic.

Carmen Van Kerckhove, president of the diversity education firm New Demographic, specializes in working with corporations to facilitate relaxed, authentic, and productive conversations about race. She has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, and has visited as a guest lecturer at Harvard, Princeton, and Columbia, among many other colleges and universities across the country. If you want to learn how to boost your career by mastering the changing dynamics of race in today's workplace, get your FREE TIPS now at www.NewDemographic.com.

Reflections on a True Democracy

2009-01-21T00:50:00.000-08:00

from United We Stand: Reflections on a True Democracy, copyright 2000,
by Sue Kidd Shipe, Ph.D.

In a true democracy all people listen.
all people care.
all people's needs are important.
all people feel cared for.
all people experience respect.
all people serve.
all people are equal.
all people are free.

In a true democracy there are no demagogues.
there is no violence.
all people are entitled to equal representation.
all systems serve people.
all people are responsible for their actions.
all systems are adequate to meet people's needs.
there are no judgments based upon characteristics.
all people are free.

In a true democracy all people are open to learning.
religion is spiritual, not political.
minds are not controlled by fear and guilt.
all minds are open to explore.
paradigms can be challenged.
children learn by example.
adults model the behavior they want from their children.
all children and adults are free.

In a true democracy all elected officials serve from a position of caring.
all elected officials lead by following.
all people may trust their leadership.
all people are in control of their lives.
all people are free of self-limiting beliefs.
all people contribute that which they are uniquely designed to contribute.
all people give their lives in service to the principles of democracy.
all people are truly free.

In a true democracy all wisdom is preserved.
all people are known by their true motives.
motives are that which allow relationship.
motives are for the highest good.
there is trust.
there is no fear.
all people can trust their leaders.
all people are truly free.

In a true democracy all people know their purpose and calling.
all people contribute their calling.
all needs are met through people.
all who take also give.
giving and taking are an unbroken circle.
all people believe.
all people are empowered.
all people are truly free.

In a true democracy all people are free to heal.
healing is a birthright.
people know how to access healing power.
power is free.
power is in the people.
power is used only for the highest good.
power flows from the top.
all people are truly free.

In a true democracy all people return to their Source.
the Source is free.
the Source is available to all.
one is not assessed for access to the Source.
all races, genders, ethnicities, and spiritual expressions are equal.
all people value their heritage and that of all others.
differences are regarded as enriching.
all people are truly free.

In a true democracy our acceptance creates unity.
our unity is our strength.
our unity is our power.
all people are empowered.
all people are empowered to serve.
all people also receive.
all people care and are cared for.
all people are truly free.

Sue Kidd Shipe, Ph.D.
Executive Director

The entire book, United We Stand: Reflections on a True Democracy, by Sue Kidd Shipe, Ph.D., can be purchased on www.amazon.com, or through the website: www.humanempowerment.org.

The International Institute For Human Empowerment, Inc., a 501C3 charity registered in New York State, is not a member of any religion in order that it may serve all.

My Personal 'Faith Priorities' for this Election

2008-11-03T11:38:00.000-08:00

By Jim Wallis of Sojourner Magazine

In 2004, several conservative Catholic bishops and a few megachurch pastors like Rick Warren issued their list of "non-negotiables," which were intended to be a voter guide for their followers. All of them were relatively the same list of issues: abortion, gay marriage, stem cell research, etc. None of them even included the word "poverty," only one example of the missing issues which are found quite clearly in the Bible. All of them were also relatively the same as official Republican Party Web sites of "non-negotiables." The political connections and commitments of the religious non-negotiable writers were quite clear.
I want to suggest a different approach this year and share my personal list of "faith priorities" that will guide me in making the imperfect choices that always confront us in any election year — and suggest that each of you come up with your own list of "faith" or "moral" priorities for this election year and take them into the voting booth with you.
After the last election, I wrote a book titled God’s Politics. I was criticized by some for presuming to speak for God, but that wasn’t the point. I was trying to explore what issues might be closest to the heart of God and how they may be quite different from what many strident religious voices were then saying. I was also saying that "God’s Politics" will often turn our partisan politics upside down, transcend our ideological categories of Left and Right, and challenge the core values and priorities of our political culture. I was also trying to say that there is certainly no easy jump from God’s politics to either the Republicans or Democrats. God is neither. In any election we face imperfect choices, but our choices should reflect the things we believe God cares about if we are people of faith, and our own moral sensibilities if we are not people of faith. Therefore, people of faith, and all of us, should be "values voters" but vote all our values, not just a few that can be easily manipulated for the benefit of one party or another.
In 2008, the kingdom of God is not on the ballot in any of the 50 states as far as I can see. So we can’t vote for that this year. But there are important choices in this year’s election — very important choices — which will dramatically impact what many in the religious community and outside of it call "the common good," and the outcome could be very important, perhaps even more so than in many recent electoral contests.
I am in no position to tell anyone what is "non-negotiable," and neither is any bishop or megachurch pastor, but let me tell you the "faith priorities" and values I will be voting on this year:
1. With more than 2,000 verses in the Bible about how we treat the poor and oppressed, I will examine the record, plans, policies, and promises made by the candidates on what they will do to overcome the scandal of extreme global poverty and the shame of such unnecessary domestic poverty in the richest nation in the world. Such a central theme of the Bible simply cannot be ignored at election time, as too many Christians have done for years. And any solution to the economic crisis that simply bails out the rich, and even the middle class, but ignores those at the bottom should simply be unacceptable to people of faith.
2. From the biblical prophets to Jesus, there is, at least, a biblical presumption against war and the hope of beating our swords into instruments of peace. So I will choose the candidates who will be least likely to lead us into more disastrous wars and find better ways to resolve the inevitable conflicts in the world and make us all safer. I will choose the candidates who seem to best understand that our security depends upon other people’s security (everyone having "their own vine and fig tree, so no one can make them afraid," as the prophets say) more than upon how high we can build walls or a stockpile of weapons. Christians should never expect a pacifist president, but we can insist on one who views military force only as a very last resort, when all other diplomatic and economic measures have failed, and never as a preferred or habitual response to conflict.
3. "Choosing life" is a constant biblical theme, so I will choose candidates who have the most consistent ethic of life, addressing all the threats to human life and dignity that we face — not just one. Thirty-thousand children dying globally each day of preventable hunger and disease is a life issue. The genocide in Darfur is a life issue. Health care is a life issue. War is a life issue. The death penalty is a life issue. And on abortion, I will choose candidates who have the best chance to pursue the practical and proven policies which could dramatically reduce the number of abortions in America and therefore save precious unborn lives, rather than those who simply repeat the polarized legal debates and "pro-choice" and "pro-life" mantras from either side.
4. God’s fragile creation is clearly under assault, and I will choose the candidates who will likely be most faithful in our care of the environment. In particular, I will choose the candidates who will most clearly take on the growing threat of climate change, and who have the strongest commitment to the conversion of our economy and way of life to a cleaner, safer, and more renewable energy future. And that choice could accomplish other key moral priorities like the redemption of a dangerous foreign policy built on Middle East oil dependence, and the great prospects of job creation and economic renewal from a new "green" economy built on more spiritual values of conservation, stewardship, sustainability, respect, responsibility, co-dependence, modesty, and even humility.
5. Every human being is made in the image of God, so I will choose the candidates who are most likely to protect human rights and human dignity. Sexual and economic slavery is on the rise around the world, and an end to human trafficking must become a top priority. As many religious leaders have now said, torture is completely morally unacceptable, under any circumstances, and I will choose the candidates who are most committed to reversing American policy on the treatment of prisoners. And I will choose the candidates who understand that the immigration system is totally broken and needs comprehensive reform, but must be changed in ways that are compassionate, fair, just, and consistent with the biblical command to "welcome the stranger."
6. Healthy families are the foundation of our community life, and nothing is more important than how we are raising up the next generation. As the father of two young boys, I am deeply concerned about the values our leaders model in the midst of the cultural degeneracy assaulting our children. Which candidates will best exemplify and articulate strong family values, using the White House and other offices as bully pulpits to speak of sexual restraint and integrity, marital fidelity, strong parenting, and putting family values over economic values? And I will choose the candidates who promise to really deal with the enormous economic and cultural pressures that have made parenting such a "countercultural activity" in America today, rather than those who merely scapegoat gay people for the serious problems of heterosexual family breakdown.
That is my list of personal "faith priorities" for the election year of 2008, but they are not "non-negotiables" for anyone else. It’s time for each of us to make up our own list in these next 12 days. Make your list and send this on to your friends and family members, inviting them to do the same thing.

Alternative bailout plan

2008-10-01T14:28:00.000-07:00

(from an e-mail)
Dear Wall Street,
I'm speaking on behalf of a group called The Taxpayers of the United States. Now that we've rejected the first bailout plan, I'm sure that in the spirit of tough, free market capitalism and spirited negotiations, you'll consider our second offer. Here are some terms that we trust you'll find reasonable:

(1) We are willing to loan you money at a very low, introductory rate of 8.9%. If you are even one nanosecond late on your payment, your rate will go from 8.9% to 32.9% -- instantly. You will have no right to appeal this. The interest rate increase will be retroactive. And none of this 'but I mailed it out Friday' stuff. We must get it, and the check must clear, for your payment to count. Reminder: transactions that occur after 2pm are not credited until the next business day, so be sure to make your payments before then.
(2) If you are late on any of your other payments to your other creditors, your rate will also be spiked to 32.9%. I know it has nothing to do with us, but if you are late paying someone else, then obviously you are a bigger credit risk to us.
(3) We will send you onerous terms and conditions in 6 point font. Of course, those terms can change on a whim, at any time, so we'll be sending you hourly updates to the contract, which we expect you to read and keep up with. Sorry -- we will be the only ones that can amend the contract; you cannot.
(4) You will have a predetermined credit line, and if you go over it by even $1, your interest rate will spike to 54.9%. Sorry, it's in the contract on page 109,209,392.
(5) The bankruptcy laws have now changed. If you get into a bind, I'm afraid you won't find much sympathy. No more silly excuses will be accepted. We are going to have the titles to all of your buildings and physical assets put in our name, so when the inevitable time comes and you trip up, we'll simply take everything from you. There will be no court hearing.
(6) We'll be conducting a background check, driving records check, drug test, and disease risk check of all of the top executives of your firm. After all, you're a riskier loan if you have any of those afflictions, aren't you? Well, if we find anything wrong, your interest rate will skyrocket, and without notice.
(7) If your business is located in a bad neighborhood, a poor city, a hurricane zone or terrorist targeted city, as defined by us, we can raise your interest rates at any time, to any rate we choose.

For the last quarter century or so, you've imposed these terms, or some variation of them, upon us when loaning us money or insuring us, arguing every single time that it's 'necessary' and that these sorts of changes 'will result in more profitable companies that will pass the savings along to consumers.' Well, now that we're in the role of lender, and you're in the role of borrower, we're sure that you'll find these same terms fair.

Wall Street, prove the cynics wrong and accept our new plan. Prove to everyone that you're not the hypocrites that everyone thinks you are.

Regards,
Wallace Mangold, Attorney-at-Law, representing the Taxpayers of the U.S.A."

This is Your Nation on White Privilege / By Tim Wise / 9/13/08

2008-09-19T18:41:00.000-07:00

For those who still can’t grasp the concept of white privilege, or who are constantly looking for some easy-to-understand examples of it, perhaps this list will help.

* White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because “every family has challenges,” even as black and Latino families with similar “challenges” are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.
* White privilege is when you can call yourself a “f*****’ redneck,” like Bristol Palin’s boyfriend does, and talk about how if anyone messes with you, you'll “kick their f*****' ass,” and talk about how you like to “shoot s**t” for fun, and still be viewed as a responsible, all-American boy (and a great son-in-law to be) rather than a thug.
* White privilege is when you can attend four different colleges in six years like Sarah Palin did (one of which you basically failed out of, then returned to after making up some coursework at a community college), and no one questions your intelligence or commitment to achievement, whereas a person of color who did this would be viewed as unfit for college, and probably someone who only got in in the first place because of affirmative action.
* White privilege is when you can claim that being mayor of a town smaller than most medium-sized colleges, and then Governor of a state with about the same number of people as the lower fifth of the island of Manhattan, makes you ready to potentially be president, and people don’t all piss on themselves with laughter, while being a black U.S. Senator, two-term state Senator, and constitutional law scholar, means you’re “untested.”
* White privilege is being able to say that you support the words “under God” in the pledge of allegiance because “if it was good enough for the founding fathers, it’s good enough for me,” and not be immediately disqualified from holding office--since, after all, the pledge was written in the late 1800s and the “under God” part wasn’t added until the 1950s--while believing that reading accused criminals and terrorists their rights (because, ya know, the Constitution, which you used to teach at a prestigious law school requires it), is a dangerous and silly idea only supported by mushy liberals.
* White privilege is being able to be a gun enthusiast and not make people immediately scared of you. White privilege is being able to have a husband who was a member of an extremist political party that wants your state to secede from the Union, and whose motto was “Alaska first,” and no one questions your patriotism or that of your family, while if you're black and your spouse merely fails to come to a 9/11 memorial so she can be home with her kids on the first day of school, people immediately think she’s being disrespectful.
* White privilege is being able to make fun of community organizers and the work they do--like, among other things, fight for the right of women to vote, or for civil rights, or the 8-hour workday, or an end to child labor--and people think you’re being pithy and tough, but if you merely question the experience of a small town mayor and 18-month governor with no foreign policy expertise beyond a class she took in college--you’re somehow being mean, or even sexist.
* White privilege is being able to convince white women who don’t even agree with you on any substantive issue to vote for you and your running mate anyway, because all of a sudden your presence on the ticket has inspired confidence in these same white women, and made them give your party a “second look.”
* White privilege is being able to fire people who didn’t support your political campaigns and not be accused of abusing your power or being a typical politician who engages in favoritism, while being black and merely knowing some folks from the old-line political machines in Chicago means you must be corrupt.
* White privilege is being able to attend churches over the years whose pastors say that people who voted for John Kerry or merely criticize George W. Bush are going to hell, and that the U.S. is an explicitly Christian nation and the job of Christians is to bring Christian theological principles into government, and who bring in speakers who say the conflict in the Middle East is God’s punishment on Jews for rejecting Jesus, and everyone can still think you’re just a good church-going Christian, but if you’re black and friends with a black pastor who has noted (as have Colin Powell and the U.S. Department of Defense) that terrorist attacks are often the result of U.S. foreign policy and who talks about the history of racism and its effect on black people, you’re an extremist who probably hates America.
* White privilege is not knowing what the Bush Doctrine is when asked by a reporter, and then people get angry at the reporter for asking you such a “trick question,” while being black and merely refusing to give one-word answers to the queries of Bill O’Reilly means you’re dodging the question, or trying to seem overly intellectual and nuanced.
* White privilege is being able to claim your experience as a POW has anything at all to do with your fitness for president, while being black and experiencing racism is, as Sarah Palin has referred to it a “light” burden.
* And finally, white privilege is the only thing that could possibly allow someone to become president when he has voted with George W. Bush 90 percent of the time, even as unemployment is skyrocketing, people are losing their homes, inflation is rising, and the U.S. is increasingly isolated from world opinion, just because white voters aren’t sure about that whole “change” thing. Ya know, it’s just too vague and ill-defined, unlike, say, four more years of the same, which is very concrete and certain.

White privilege is, in short, the problem.

Tim Wise is the author of White Like Me (Soft Skull, 2005, revised 2008), and of
Speaking Treason Fluently, publishing this month, also by Soft Skull.
For review copies or interview requests, please reply to publicity@softskull.com
www.softskull.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/archive/Soft_Skull_Media/newest/

UN Exam

2008-07-22T19:08:00.000-07:00

2009 UNITED NATIONS NATIONAL COMPETITIVE RECRUITMENT EXAMINATION
For U.S. citizens seeking junior professional posts.

EXAMINATION CRITERIA (all must be met)
1. Be no more than 32 years old as of December 31, 2009 (UN requirement).
2. Have at least an undergraduate degree (advanced degree is an advantage but is not required) in one of the following occupational fields or related areas:
· Administration
· Economics
· Finance
· Information Technology
· Public Information
· Social Affairs
· Statistics
3. Be fluent in English and/or French, the two working languages of the
Secretariat. Knowledge of additional official languages of the UN (Arabic, Chinese, Russian, Spanish) is a definite advantage.

NOTE: The exam may be limited to the 40 most qualified Americans per occupational group.

APPLICATION DEADLINE: October 31, 2008

Detailed information and application forms may be obtained at target=_new>www.un.org/Depts/OHRM/examin/ncrepage.htm
Examination will be held on February 24, 2009, in New York City and San Francisco.
Travel expenses to and from exam site will NOT be paid by the UN or U.S. Government.

Racist crap from the Hamptons

2008-01-24T06:33:00.000-08:00

From here, "The Independent has the highest distribution/circulation sites of any local newspaper on the East End, reaching both forks, from Wading River to Orient and from Manorville to Montauk. Every Wednesday, The Independent, chock full of local and regional news, sports, a huge classified section, is the first and only local newspaper you'll need to pick up."

LOW TIDINGS
Why I Should Be Our Next President

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By Yo Mama Bin Barack

My name is YoMama Bin Barack, and I want to be your next president so together we can begin in earnest the work of making sure that the world we leave our children is just a little bit better than the one we inhabit today.

My opponents say I live in a dream world. That may well be true, for I believe in the dream of Doctor Martin Luther King, the dream that all men are created equal.

His words resonate in my very being: "Some day, you too can be a black man who makes a difference in this country, and you too can be called 'Doctor' even though you are not a doctor of any kind." I believe that, and someday I hope people will call me Doctor YoMama. In fact, I hope someday people will call me President Doctor YoMama (but please don't call me Luther, I hate that name).

I was telling this very thing to my wife AliBama the other night while we were in bed, umm, praying. I said, "AliBama, I want to be your next president so together we can begin in earnest the work of making sure that the world we leave our children is just a little bit better than the one we inhabit today."

And she said, "YoMama, then why don't you cut out the president shit and get a real job and make some freakin' money?" But I explained I have plenty of money, because bleeding heart liberal Democrats from all across this vast country of ours have felt it in their hearts to send a contribution to my campaign so I can begin in earnest the work of making sure that the world we leave our children is just a little bit better than the one we inhabit today and also because I need to buy my little daughter Bama Slamma a PlayStation so she will get off my back.

Why do I think I am the best candidate for the job? Look at my resume – it speaks for itself.

Educational background: Doctorate

Military background: I was the first black troop leader of the Boy Scouts Troop 43 in my home state of Illinois. Well, that's not quite true, because they didn't let black kids in the Boy Scouts, so I lied and said I was Hawaiian, which I kind of am, sort of. You see, part of my strategy of becoming our first black president is to deny I am black unless I am campaigning in Harlem. The truth is, I don't know many black people, but my advisors have drafted a strategy to reel in the black vote:

1) Call everyone "Brother." Blacks, I am told, do this, even if their real brothers are mostly in jail.

2) Talk Jive. Brothers want to hear jive. During my speech I told the crowd "We be, you know, sick of whitey supressin' and congestin' so, you know, we won't denigrate or sophisticate but emulate and populate, you know, the system is, like, broken, y'all!"

I have no idea what that means. The black folk loved it, though, so they all vowed to vote for me. The New York Times covered it, but they are so afraid of saying something racist they twisted my words around and reported:

"Yesterday in Harlem YoMama articulated his vision of a new America, an America with less congestion, a country free of drug use, a world without segregation or racism where citizens emulate the lives of great Americans like YoMama, John F. Kennedy and Doctor Martin Luther King."

So you see, there is my strategy. I get the black vote, I get the white vote, and then I go after the female vote by attacking that bitch Hillary for being the Nasty Witch from Hell.

Anyhow, girls think I'm cute. I'm kind of like Will Smith, except he's got those Dumbo ears and mine are normal. So, for the next six months, I am going to fly all over the country, and every place I speak I am going to tell the people:

"As Americans, we can take enormous pride in the fact that courage has been inspired by our own struggle for freedom, by the tradition of democratic law secured by our forefathers and enshrined in our Constitution. It is a tradition that says all men are created equal under the law and that no one is above it."

To be honest, I have no idea what that means. If you analyze it carefully, it really doesn't mean anything. But it sounds like something a president or a doctor would say. I can make that speech every day and no matter how many times I do the stupid newspapers will report it differently. They will make me sound like the smart, young, new voice of America, because most editors out there figure anything is better than having a cow like Hillary Clinton snorking around the White House making weasel deals again.

Ultimately, if she gets too close, one of my New York advisors has advised me to, "Bitch slap that ho." White women, I am told, like that. (Black women, on the other hand, do not. I tried that once on AliBama and she beat the living shit out of me.)

Of course, I also have to contend with John Edwards. My strategy is to ignore him until he actually manages to win a primary. Since he's, like, zero for 43 so far, that should be the end of him. You see, Mr. Edwards hasn't figured out that to win an election some people have to actually vote for you. (If he does make a run at me, I might consider bitch slapping him, as he is somewhat of a Pretty Boy if you get my jist.)

In closing, I humbly ask for your vote on Election Day, even if I did hang around the school yard and smoke pot when I was getting my Doctorate in Blackstuff. And, oh, by the way, I am in the process of finding out how I can also call myself "Reverend." I have a call in to Al Sharpton.

Thanks for visiting The Independent

DON'T BUY GASOLINE WITH ETHANOL IN IT.

2008-01-06T22:44:00.000-08:00

A personal note from a from a friend of mine in the Albany area:

First, let me assure you that this is NOT one of those obnoxious forwards - it is something I am writing out of my own frustration with the gasoline situation, and I'm doing it to give you information that you might find useful.

To save you time you may not want to spend reading this whole thing, here's the main point:

DON'T BUY GASOLINE WITH ETHANOL IN IT.

You'll get very poor mileage, stink up your interior and support the wrong idea about energy independence.

Now I'll give the longer version of my diatribe, based on direct experience, not on the input of other ravers (which I imagine is also readily available).

You may have noticed in recent weeks when you filled up that there are stickers on some pumps announcing that the gas is "maximum 10% ethanol." This is because a number of boneheaded politicians have allowed a very wealthy agribusiness lobby to convince them that this is the way toward energy independence (it's not - reduction in use would be a start, but no one in government seems to be advocating that idea). What amounts to a huge giveaway to corn farmers (poor they are not) is also threatening worse pollution of the Gulf of Mexico (through greater chemical runoffs) and a
grotesque misuse of farmland that should be producing food.

I've unwittingly used a few tankfuls of the evil stuff, before realizing that it was doing bad things to my car. The big head-scratcher was that I was suddenly getting the worst mileage I've ever gotten with this 14-year-old Acura Integra (it's like a gussied-up Honda Civic and averages well over 30 mpg). Was it the cold weather? tire pressure? age? oil leaks?

At first, I didn't connect the dots, but now I'm certain that the poorly burning veggie fuel is reducing my mileage by 10-15%. It has been confirmed to me by credible sources that ethanol is known to be cheaper (wholesale) and to give worse mileage. However, so far, it is not proving to be cheaper at the pump - so, with the worse mileage it is in fact a lot more expensive, not to mention more polluting (because you have to use more of it to go the same distance). And it adds to the profits of its sellers by causing unwitting customers to need to fill up more often.

It is also apparently giving off noxious fumes that make me feel lousy, but that's not been confirmed elsewhere.

Ethanol gas has become suddenly popular with area distributors because it is brought in through the Port of Albany for the whole Northeast, and therefore is especially cheap locally (wholesale) due to the short distance it must be trucked. But the distributors are not passing on these savings to the consumers, and they certainly aren't publicizing the fact that it is an inferior product. They are, however, trying to seem environmentally sensitive, which is a load.

I've seen this junk at Stewart's, Lukoil and Sunoco; also, I've heard that Cumberland Farms has it. So far, I know that Mobil still sells pure gasoline; I've also heard that Hess and Getty do, too - and the rest I don't know about one way or the other.

So, my advice to you is not to buy ethanol, and instead to find a station near you that sells the good stuff. I don't really care where the gasoline comes from - that's a rather complicated global political business that we can't do much about - but getting the best possible mileage and polluting less are definitely good things we can do by not using bad gas.

As for the politics - well, we can start by getting rid of the Republicans, but you already knew that.

Thanks for listening, and feel free to pass this on (but please don't overdo it!).

yours truly, D

United Methodist Bishops call for US/coalition withdrawal from Iraq.

2007-11-10T14:14:00.000-08:00

from the Council of Bishops

On Friday, November 9, 2007, the Bishops of The United Methodist Church called for the United States and its coalition partners to begin an immediate withdrawal of all troops from Iraq.

In addition to calling for the immediate safe and full withdrawal of troops and no additional deployment of troops to Iraq, their resolution urges the United States and its partners to:

Declare there will be no permanent military bases in Iraq.

Increase support for military veterans of the Iraq war and all wars.

Initiate and support a plan for reconstruction in Iraq, giving a high priority to humanitarian, social and educational needs of the Iraqi people.

The resolution is directed to U.S. President George W. Bush, the U.S. Congress, and leaders of the coalition.

“Every day that the war continues, more soldiers and innocent civilians are killed with no end in sight to the violence, bloodshed and carnage,” the bishops said in their resolution. They cited the deaths of more than 3,800 United States soldiers, 300 from other coalition countries, more than 28,000 wounded and the deaths of more than 76,000 Iraqi civilians.

The bishops made the call during their semi-annual meeting at a church retreat center in North Carolina’s Smoky Mountains. The bishops represent more than 11 million United Methodists in the United States, Africa, Europe, and the Philippines. About 125 active and retired bishops from around the globe attended the meeting.

In calling for the immediate withdrawal, the bishops said their position is based on the denomination’s position that “war is incompatible with the teachings and examples of Christ,” and Jesus Christ’s call for “his followers to be peacemakers.”

This is the latest in a series of steps the denomination’s leaders have taken to question the Iraq war. During their November 2005 meeting, the bishops approved a resolution urging President Bush, who is United Methodist, to create timeline for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.

The bishops called on United Methodists throughout the world to “be peacemakers by word and deed,” by conducting regular prayer vigils for congregations and communities; to care for all impacted by the war, including combatants and non-combatants by honoring the dead, healing the wounded, and calling for an end to the war.

The full text of the resolution

United Methodist Council of Bishops Resolution on the Iraq War

Whereas, the Council of Bishops of the United Methodist Church, meeting Nov. 9 at Lake Junaluska, N.C., is committed to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world; and

Whereas, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, calls his followers to be peacemakers (Matt. 5:9); and

Whereas, "We believe war is incompatible with the teachings and example of Christ" (Book of Discipline 2004, Par. 165.C); and

Whereas, the cost of the war in Iraq as of Nov. 7, 2007 has been the lives of 3,843 members of the U.S. military, 171 members of the United Kingdom military, 132 members of the other Coalition military, 28,385 U.S. military wounded, and the lives of at least 76,241 Iraqi civilians; and

Whereas the war in Iraq has displaced 2 million persons and forced another 2 million persons into refugee status;

Whereas, every day the war continues more soldiers and innocent civilians are killed with no end in sight to the violence, bloodshed and carnage;

Now, therefore, the Council of Bishops calls on the President and Congress of the United States and the leaders of all the nations in the Coalition Forces:

To begin immediately a safe and full withdrawal of all military personnel from Iraq, with no additional troops deployed;

To declare that there will be no permanent military bases in Iraq;

To increase support for veterans of the Iraq war and all wars;

To initiate and give strong support to a plan for the reconstruction of Iraq, with high priority given to the humanitarian and social needs of the Iraqi people, such as healthcare, education and housing;

Further the Council of Bishops calls United Methodist people throughout the world:

To pray for peace and to have regular prayer vigils for congregations and communities;

To care for all impacted by the war, including combatants and noncombatants by honoring the dead, healing the wounded and calling for the end of the war;

To be peacemakers by word and deed that we may be called the children of God.

Resources

United Methodist News Service story Council of Bishops calls for immediate Iraq withdrawal

General Board of Discipleship Resources

General Board of Church and Society Resources

United Methodist Social Principles on War and Peace

What the United Methodist Church says about Peace and War with Iraq

Let God Sort ’em Out

2007-11-01T11:34:00.000-07:00

Originally published in Metroland, Volume 29 - Number 26 - June 29, 2006

New video game could bring righteous bloodshed to a church near you

By Glenn Weiser

You’re a heavily armed 13-year-old boy patrolling the streets of Manhattan with a paramilitary group, ready to kill for Christ. Never mind that pesky commandment against murder—you’re exempt now. The Apocalypse has begun, and most of your fundamentalist brethren have been bodily whisked away to heaven in the Rapture to await the Second Coming, leaving behind on Earth only your militia, the Tribulation Forces, along with the civilians who haven’t accepted Jesus Christ as their personal savior, such as Jews, gays, Catholics, Muslims, Buddhists, and mainline Protestants, and your foes, the Antichrist’s Global Peacekeeping Forces (read: the United Nations). Your mission is to convert unsaved souls to born-again Christianity. If they don’t get religion, blow ’em away as you cry “Praise The Lord.” Converts become your fellow Christian soldiers fighting for an American theocracy.

This, the blog Talk to Action asserted last month, is the gist of Left Behind: Eternal Forces, a forthcoming video game slated for release this October from the Murrieta, Calif.-based Left Behind Games. Although some questions remain this week about the accuracy of the blog’s description, Eternal Forces already has drawn sharp criticism.

The slickly produced, real-time strategy game is based on the best-selling Left Behind series of books by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, a fictional account of the Final Days derived from a fundamentalist interpretation of the Book of Revelation known as Dispensationalism. Created by Troy A. Lyndon and Jeffrey S. Frichner, the game will be marketed directly to evangelical congregations and advertised in secular gaming magazines. Violent video games are nothing new, but critics have branded Eternal Forces as an attempt to justify digital carnage with a veneer of religiosity. Even born-again Christians have objected.

Newsweek wrote about Left Behind: Eternal Forces in a brief March 6 article noting the game’s “top shelf design” and comparing its level of violence to that of Grand Theft Auto, but it wasn’t until May 1 that many details emerged. In a promotional interview published on the company’s Web site, Greg Bauman of Left Behind Games explained that the game is based on the first four of the 12 Left Behind novels and uses several of the books’ characters. The game comes with various options, he continued, including single- or multi-player modes for offline or online PCs respectively, levels of increasing difficulty, and the choice between fighting for Jesus or the Antichrist. As for the game’s depictions of killing, Bauman pointed out that the Bible narrates much violence, especially in the Old Testament.

On May 10, the Los Angeles Times covered Eternal Forces and gave a born-again critic his say. “We’re going to push this game at Christian kids to let them know there’s a cool shooter game out there,” the paper quoted attorney Jack Thompson, an author and opponent of violent video games. “Because of the Christian context, somehow it’s OK? It’s not OK. The context is irrelevant. It’s a mass-killing game.” And a mass-proselytizing one, too. Even though authors LaHaye and Jenkins are not directly involved with the project, they are, according to Greg Bauman, “supportive of this new means to reach people with the message in their books.” The Times also quoted Tim LaHaye, who said, “Our real goal is to have no one left behind.”

Later in May, a blogger, Jonathan Hutson, wrote about Eternal Forces on the left- leaning Talk to Action Web site, talk2action.org, stating that the game’s protagonists actively targeted groups such as Jews and gays. In describing scenes of “the bodies of New Yorkers piling up,” he also implied that civilians could become victims as well as opposing shooters. The Daily Kos (dailykos.com), recently credited by The New York Times as being the Net’s most influential progressive blog, quickly carried the story.

Hutson also discovered that Mark Carver, the executive director of megachurch pastor Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Ministries, was on the game company’s advisory board. He noted with concern that Warren, also author of the best-selling The Purpose Driven Life, is an adherent of Dominionism, an extremist belief that Old Testament law must be established worldwide in order for Christ to return. Imposing Mosaic law would, in theory, lead to mass executions by stoning of unrepentant gays, pagans, astrologers, and others, and also reinstate slavery. To achieve this, Warren, who also heads the 22,000-member Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., and a global network of 40,000 fundamentalist congregations, has said he needs a billion foot soldiers. (Fortunately, he’s nowhere close.)

But Warren has also publicly opposed shooter games, and Hutson’s article made him look hypocritical by exposing Carver’s involvement with Eternal Forces. On June 1, Mark Kelly, the press director of Purpose Driven Ministries, issued an e-mail statement denying any connection between Rick Warren and the game, adding, “I think the game’s developers will discover that Christian pastors and parents find the idea of such a game to be in extremely bad taste.” That didn’t quell the controversy, though, and on June 5, Purpose Driven Ministries again disavowed any ties between Warren and the game, and announced that Carver had resigned from the advisory board of Left Behind Games.

Troy Lyndon also has been bruised by the brouhaha. On June 15, the Left Behind Web site posted a statement by him disputing the blogs’ characterization of the game, saying, “The player does NOT target Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, gays, or any other group.” The Web site Game Spy said in its review of Eternal Forces, “Players aren’t competing to kill the enemy army—rather, they’re trying to save them, and each person killed represents a failure rather than a success.”

In a June 27 phone interview with Metroland, Jeffrey Frichner denied that neutral civilians such as gays and Jews could also be snuffed for not coming to Jesus: “The people who wrote that have never seen or played the game.” Under persistent questioning, Frichner finally claimed not to know “that level of detail.”

He added, “I don’t know why that’s such an issue. Can you enlighten me?”

John Bach obituary from the Albany (NY) Times Union, October 2007

2007-10-29T18:16:00.000-07:00

Bach, John J. ALBANY John J. Bach, age 77, entered into eternal rest on October 25, 2007 at the Community Hospice Inn at St. Peter's Hospital in Albany, surrounded by his family. Mr. Bach was born in Albany to the late Myron J. and Katherine B. (Flood) Bach. He was a graduate of St. Teresa of Avila Parish School, Christian Brothers Academy and Siena College, earning a bachelor of science in pre-medicine and a master of science in education administration. He pursued further studies at Columbia University, Harvard University, New York University and the University at Albany. He served in the U.S. Army Medical Corps from 1952 to 1954. In 1955, Mr. Bach began his career as a teacher of biology, chemistry and mathematics, first at Hackett Junior High School and subsequently at the Albany High School, then located on North Lake Ave.; he became guidance counselor at the high school in 1962. In 1966, he was appointed assistant principal of Albany High School and, in 1967, he became the youngest principal in the high school's history. He played a central role in planning the academic and physical design of the present-day Albany High School and was dedicated to the excellence of this program that combined Philip Schuyler High School and the old Albany High School. Mr. Bach served in and loved the role of principal for nearly 20 years. In 1986, Mr. Bach was appointed deputy superintendent for the Albany City School District, and, three years later, he became superintendent of schools. He continued to lead the district until his retirement in 1994. In these roles, he was the impetus behind the creation of magnet school programs in the district and oversaw the establishment of the Albany School of Humanities, the Montessori Magnet School and the Thomas O'Brien Academy of Science and Technology. He was also particularly proud of bringing Chinese language instruction to the high school and introducing preschool programs in the district. Mr. Bach's efforts to support and advance education in the city of Albany extended well beyond his work in the public schools. He served as president of the Center for Family and Youth (Project STRIVE), chairman of the board of trustees of Christian Brothers Academy, on which he served for 20 years, member of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany School Board, and as a member of the boards of trustees of the Academy of the Holy Names, St. Anne Institute, and the Capital Region Center for Arts in Education. Mr. Bach served on the board of trustees of the Albany Public Library from 1987 until his death. As president of the library from 2002 to 2007, he led the institution through its transition to independence from the city of Albany's government and budget, and then through the planning of the most comprehensive expansion and renovation of the library's branch system in its long history. Mr. Bach was a communicant at St. Catherine of Siena Church in Albany for 36 years. He was a voracious reader with an insatiable desire for knowledge. He was an avid gardener throughout his life. He had an encyclopaedic knowledge of Adirondack lakes and rivers, especially the quiet coves of Lake George that he fished in the company of family members and his dear friend, Bill Weber. He was a lifelong student of history and architecture, especially those of New York City and his beloved Albany. Mr. Bach's family was the center of his life. He is survived by his wife, Patricia Mulderry, who loved him and laughed with him for 46 years; five children who adored him, Ellen M. Bach of Albany, John J. Bach Jr. of New York City, Amy Bach DiLello of Providence, R.I., Erin Mulderry Bach of Washington, D.C., and Kathryn A. Bach of New York City; his sons-in-law, Robert V. Kelley III and Nicholas A. DiLello Jr.; five grandsons, for whom he was storyteller, boat captain and faithful fan, Hugh Robert, Brendan John, and William Patrick Bach Kelley of Albany and Ryan Nicholas and Kieran John DiLello of Providence; brother, Myron J. Bach and his wife Mary Ellyn of Albany, sister, Mary Allen and her husband Stanley of Venice, Fla.; brother-in-law, William J. D. Mulderry of Albany; and sisters-in-law Anne M. Mulderry of Kinderhook, N.Y. and Kathleen M. Smith of East Greenwich, R.I. He was the much-loved "Uncle Jack" to 19 nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his sister-in-law, Mary M. Smith, brother-in-law, Dennis C. Smith, and nephew, Stephen V. Mulderry. Relatives and friends are invited to call on Sunday from 4-8 p.m. at the Daniel Keenan Funeral Home, 490 Delaware Ave., Albany. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Monday at St. Catherine of Siena Church, Albany. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in memory of John J. Bach to the Albany Public Library Foundation, 161 Washington Ave., Albany, NY 12210 or to the American Cancer Society, 260 Osborne Road, Loudonville 12211.

Elizabeth Oliphant Naismith obit from the Albany (NY) Times Union, October 2007

2007-10-28T02:08:00.000-07:00

Naismith, Elizabeth COLONIE Elizabeth Naismith died Tuesday, October 9, 2007 at the Albany County Nursing. Home. She was born January 1, 1924 in Edinburgh, Scotland, the daughter of James and Annie Naismith; also predeceased by her brother Robert. She worked in quality assurance in the dairy business and had her own Scottish book business. She was a member and deacon at First Presbyterian Church, Albany. Survived by sister-in-law, Cecelia; niece, Jacqueline; nephews, Harry and Peter; many great-nieces, nephews, cousins. Memorial service on Saturday, October 27 at 11 a.m. at First Presbyterian Church, Albany. Memorial contributions to the church or to FOCUS Breakfast program.

George F. Hasbrouck obit from the Binghamton (NY) Press, October 2007

2007-10-28T02:05:00.000-07:00

George F. Hasbrouck, 55, passed away on October 7, 2007 at his home in Morristown, N.J. He is the son of the late George M. Hasbrouck and Cora G. Hasbrouck of Binghamton, New York. He is survived by two sisters and brothers-in-law, Barbara and Michael Murphy, and Ellen and Kenneth Weissman and a niece, Katharine Murphy, all of New York City. George was born in Elmira, N.Y. and moved to Binghamton as a child. He graduated from Binghamton Central High School and was a Cum Laude graduate of Middlebury College. He was retired from AT&T where he worked for many years. Much of his life centered around the community of St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Morristown. There he served as a Stephen Minister, providing end of life guidance and spiritual counseling. He was also a member of the vestry and sang in the parish choir. As a member of the St. Peter's Outreach Committee, he volunteered at the Morristown Soup Kitchen and other community organizations. He also loved the history and architecture of Morris County and served on the board of the Morristown Historical Preservation Committee.
A funeral will be held Friday, October 12, 2007, at 11 a.m. at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Morristown. For those who wish, contributions can be made to St. Peter's Episcopal Church or the Morristown Community Soup Kitchen, 36 South Street, Morristown, N.J. 07960

Four Metroland reviews of Dylan & Costello in Albany, printed October 11, 2007

2007-10-14T17:32:00.000-07:00

Taking It All In

By David Greenberger

Bob Dylan and His Band, Elvis Costello

Times Union Center, Oct. 6

Besides having created towering bodies of work as musical artists, Bob Dylan and Elvis Costello both understand the dynamics of show business. Though their public debuts were a decade and a half apart, they each found reason to jettison their given names in exchange for identities that would create a desired effect in the marketplace. The erstwhile misters Zimmerman and MacManus appeared on the same bill last Saturday at the Times Union Center (with Amos Lee in the unenviable position of having to play a short set of recently minted songs for an audience awaiting the confluence of memory and moment to goose them into a middle-aged high). Though they didn’t take the stage together at any point during the night, their adjacent sets allow for some thoughts on their similarities and differences.

Both men had powerful managers who succeeded in positioning them well from the outset, creating a base that allowed each of them to pursue their artistic inclinations, long after having parted ways (Dylan’s being Albert Grossman, Costello’s Jake Riviera). However, while generally faithful to their creative instincts, they each have made unsuccessful albums, failing because of their misguided attempts to either regain or enlarge their commercial standing. Dylan has had a handful of scattershot attempts (among them, Down in the Groove, Under the Red Sky, and Dylan and the Dead), while Costello needed to bottom out with Goodbye Cruel World before regaining his bearings. Other than a brief excursion over to David Geffen’s company in the ’70s, Dylan has spent the entirety of his career on Columbia Records, the same label on which Costello made his initial and largest splash (he left in 1986, after his 11th album).

Playing in an arena gave a certain regimentation to the night’s momentum. Costello’s 45-minute solo set was greeted with honest cheers that would have brought him back for an encore were it not for the lights coming up to quell the elation. His set included his earliest song (“Radio Sweetheart”) and a couple so new that they’ve not yet been released (“Down Among the Wines and Spirits” and “From Sulfur to Sugarcane,” co-written with T-Bone Burnett). This scribe’s favorite Costello number, “Blue Chair,” even made the list. Costello happily used the cavernous room’s acoustics, letting his voice linger on notes to bounce off the rafters. Though he was one man with a guitar, he presented himself not as a troubadour, but as a songwriter, inferring the songs’ larger arrangement possibilities and relishing the grooves. His outrage at the ongoing war in Iraq, as well as governmental failures at home, informed some of his choice of material as well as between-song anecdotes and observations. Songs such as “The River in Reverse” and “The Scarlet Tide” carry incredible power because he eschews sloganeering for poetic resonance or human-scaled narratives.

Dylan has done something that very few 60-plus artists achieve: He’s continued to replenish his audience with younger listeners. In his case this has been essential to the vitality of his ongoing tour, because it’s the audience members who are his own generational peers that grouse the most about the performances. Their complaints (“I didn’t recognize the song,” “His words were garbled,” etc.) simply describe their need for music to reassure, rather than challenge or surprise. Dylan has created songs so durable that they can disappear behind the engine of a great band. The songs become a means for six people to align themselves together in time and space and create an energy that would be different in any other configuration and in any other moment. Musical enrichment of that order is a rare commodity, and Dylan makes a case for it every time he takes the stage. No two nights are the same, and some are better than others, just like life itself. What we want from a Dylan concert is transcendence. It’s hard to pull that off in an arena, but he certainly hit his fall-back position: a great performance.

It’s a Wash

Bob Dylan and His Band, Elvis Costello

Times Union Center, Oct. 6

The following overheard ex change, between two college-age kids outside the bathroom at the Times Union Center, perfectly sums up my feelings on Saturday night’s Bob Dylan fiasco.

Kid No. 1: “I guess I expected his voice to not be all that great.”

Kid No. 2: “Dude, Dylan sucks.”

I’m not being irreverent just for irreverence’s sake; Dylan really does not have “it” anymore. Hasn’t in 20-some-odd years. Maybe it’s some character he’s playing (that might explain the weird pencil moustache), or maybe it’s just Dylan being Dylan—either way, it doesn’t click. I’m not looking for him to be the dust-bowl folkie of the early ’60s or even the Rolling Thunder minstrel boy of the mid-’70s, but just a glimmer of the Infidels-era fist-shaking would be nice. Instead, we’ve been fed the same semi-coherent freakshow for a quarter-century. We’re often told that we should appreciate what he is rather than what he was, that merely his appearance should warrant the utmost praise. That’s all bullshit: The only reason we’re still kissing Bob Dylan’s ass is because we’re afraid each record and/or live performance could be his last. (I’m looking at you, Rolling Stone—five-stars for Modern Times, my ass.)

Granted, after singing “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” for more than four decades, pretty much anyone would seem less than enthusiastic about rolling it out on a nightly basis. But on Saturday, that was one of the few recognizable tunes, and only for its chord progression. The lion’s share of Dylan’s set found the old man pitching a sub-Tom Waits grumble at his most tuneful numbers: “Simple Twist of Fate,” for one, was completely unrecognizable until the turnaround at the very end of the verse. And the band, as strong as each player might have been, failed to generate any real heat—imagine if Letterman’s Late Show band decided to play only late-period Grateful Dead covers. Sounds good, sure, but the Dead still suck.

The get-up-and-go-home moment came during “Masters of War.” To paraphrase my companion that evening: If a song has eight verses, I’d better be able to understand every damn word. I sure as hell shouldn’t have to wonder “Is this ‘Highway 61’?” three minutes into a song. Maybe I just don’t dig the blues, but I’d rather listen to the Wallflowers. (Incidentally, opener Amos Lee did a pretty good Jakob Dylan impression.)

To provide contrast, or just because he could, Dylan asked Elvis Costello along on his current tour. Now here’s an example of growing old gracefully: At 53, Costello still displays the fiery passion of his early years, and his solo set showed that he’s not only his generation’s most versatile songwriter, but one of its best singers, too, evidenced by both his way-underutilized falsetto on “Either Side of the Same Town” and the triumphant closing fanfare of “Veronica.” He told stories, waxed political, quoted the Who and Lennon and Def Leppard, and fucked up the chords to “Oliver’s Army,” all with trademark showmanship and vigor.

Is it too late to trade in Dylan’s entire set for another 40 minutes of Elvis?

Damn.

—John Brodeur

Hot and Bothered

Bob Dylan and His Band, Elvis Costello

Times Union Center, Oct. 6

“Don’t expect anything of Bob Dylan, he has done enough!” wrote an indignant fan in the comments section of a local newspaper’s Web site recently, defending the artist from a review that was a bit one-sided in its trashing of Dylan’s recent show at the Times Union Center. The fan’s comment was overly defensive, sure, but held a grain of truth: To seek enjoyment from Dylan’s present work, rather than from his Newport Folk Festival-flouting distant past, you have to let go of your expectations.

If you lionize the guy for his history as an artist who defies expectations and always follows his own path, than maybe you should accept certain things. Such as his right to show up onstage in a mariachi outfit, barking out lyrics in an even gruffer voice than usual, while leading a purple-suited band through nearly unrecognizable versions of classic songs like “Simple Twist of Fate” and “Highway 61 Revisited.” Personally, I’m OK with all that. From where I sat, the crowd was fairly indulgent too, for a time, cheering whenever Dylan got anywhere near a familiar musical phrase. (A friend of mine, seated in a different section of the arena, afterward relayed a story about a concertgoer who was so enthusiastic, yet so alarmingly oblivious, that she yelled out “That Dylan sure can sing!” during Elvis Costello’s opening set.)

Other facets of the show that bothered people, such as Dylan’s near-total lack of interaction with the audience, weren’t a deal-breaker for me. Positioned sideways to the stage in front of his keyboard for much of the time, he acknowledged the crowd only once, with a scant “Thank you” late in the set. Hell, he barely even looked up from his keyboard. That’s fine, I’m sure it wasn’t personal. And the song choices, heavy on more recent material, were OK too, as the mature wisdom and rollicking roadhouse vibe of his last three albums have their own charms.

But, that said, there was little actual enjoyment to be found during this show. The arena setting didn’t help. To relieve boredom, I kept trying to imagine the same show in a roadhouse somewhere, where you wander in off the highway and stumble upon Dylan and his crack band jamming out to this unheard version of “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright.” Now that would be a surreal and mind-blowing experience. Instead, we were left to sweat in an unbearably hot arena, which had no air conditioning despite the unseasonably hot and humid weather, while the crowd grew increasingly squirrelly and restless, some walking out early.

And with no concessions made by Dylan and company to make the arena conditions more tolerable—such as screen monitors for those in the back to get a closer glimpse of the action—watching Dylan and his band jam out strictly to their own tune onstage, without feeding off or acknowledging the crowd at all, started to feel strangely like an off-putting, voyeuristic exercise. Nothing is more rousing these days than an acerbic antiwar song, and when you find yourself straining to hope that “Masters of War”—perhaps the best antiwar song ever written—will be more electrifying than it is, that’s not good.

—Kirsten Ferguson

I Was There

Bob Dylan and His Band, Elvis Costello

Times Union Center, Oct. 6

Bob Dylan has built a catalogue of lyrics that stand as rock music’s greatest contribution to literature, but his uncanniest achievement has always been his relentless self-invention (the forthcoming movie I’m Not There seems to be a long overdue meditation on this aspect of Dylanology). For the last 15 years or so, Dylan has become the grizzled bluesman he’s seemingly always wanted to be, the folkie in blue jeans just another legend lost to time. Ambling on stage, Stratocaster in hand, leading his fedora-topped gang of desperados into a jaunt through “Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat,” Dylan seemed right at home, his fingers shaking out little blues licks to join the bent notes of steel guitarist Donnie Herron and lead player Denny Freeman. Dylan stayed out front for a textbook rendition of “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” and a jammy “Watching the River Flow” before retreating to his electric keyboard for the remainder of the concert.

One of conventional wisdom’s biggest falsehoods is that Dylan could never sing—I direct the jury to the New Morning and Street Legal albums in an effort to refute this claim. The only thing is, conventional wisdom is now correct: Dylan’s voice has become monotonous and nearly tuneless, and is the biggest reason why I personally can find no use for his last two, near-universally acclaimed “comeback” albums. In concert, this can be overlooked, especially during the songs that don’t suffer from his declamatory cadence. Like many of Dylan’s newer tunes, Love and Theft’s “Summer Days” uses the blues trope of repeating the first line of each verse, making a song of eight-plus verses almost insufferable, especially when it is simply Dylan bellowing braggadocious shit to a woman half his age. Yet classics like “Masters of War” and “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll” have only gained power and relevance over the long stumble of years since they were written, Dylan’s death rattle taking on the befitting tone of the accusatory prophet.

Ironically, as one who hardly ever listens to latter-day Dylan on record, the song that I found most effective this night was “Workingman’s Blues #2,” from last year’s Modern Times. It seemed to sum up Dylan’s current philosophy the best: “You can hang back/Or fight your best on the front line/Sing a little bit of these workingman’s blues.” The so-called Never Ending Tour seems to be a way for Dylan to make sure he’ll die with his boots on.

—Mike Hotter

Costello/Dylan in Albany, NY - 10/6/07

2007-10-11T06:53:00.000-07:00

Purloined from here

Alexander writes:

I saw the Costello/Dylan concert last night. Excellent! I can see how some might be put off by Dylan (he's hard to understand, even if you know all the words to his songs), but having seen him at his touring nadir in the late 80s, I found his show to be very entertaining. The Costello set was even better! Here are the set lists for both performers:

Costello Set List
October 6, 2007

1. (The Angels Wanna Wear) My Red Shoes
2. Blue Chair
3. Either Side of the Same Town
4. The River in Reverse
5. Oliver's Army
6. Down Among the Wines and Spirits (new song, debuted 9/19/07 in Nashville concert)
7. From Sulfur to Sugarcane (new song, written with T-Bone Burnett for the film “All The King’s Men,” but not used. Debuted at 9/27/07 concert in Charlottesville, Virginia)
8. Veronica
9. Radio Sweetheart/Jackie Wilson Said (I’m in Heaven When You Smile)
10. (What's so Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding
11. The Scarlet Tide

Dylan Set List
October 6, 2007

1. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat (Bob on electric guitar, Donnie on lap steel)
2. Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
(Bob on electric guitar, Donnie on lap steel, Stu on acoustic guitar, Tony on standup bass)
3. Watching the River Flow (Bob on electric guitar, Donnie on lap steel)
4. Simple Twist of Fate
(Bob on electric keyboard and harp, Donnie on pedal steel, Stu on acoustic guitar)
5. Rollin' and Tumblin'
(Bob on electric keyboard, Donnie on electric mandolin, Stu on acoustic guitar)
6. When the Deal Goes Down (Bob on electric keyboard and harp,
Donnie on pedal steel, Stu on acoustic guitar, Tony on standup bass)
7. 'Til I Fell In Love With You
(Bob on electric keyboard and harp, Donnie on lap steel)
8. Workingman's Blues #2
(Bob on electric keyboard and harp, Donnie on pedal steel, Stu on acoustic guitar)
9. Things Have Changed (Bob on electric keyboard and harp, Donnie on violin)
10. The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll
(Bob on electric keyboard and harp, Donnie on electric mandolin, Stu on acoustic guitar)
11. Highway 61 Revisited (Bob on electric keyboard, Donnie on lap steel)
12. Ain't Talkin' (Bob on electric keyboard, Donnie on viola, Stu on acoustic guitar)
13. Summer Days (Bob on electric keyboard, Donnie on pedal steel, Tony on standup bass)
14. Masters of War
(Bob on electric keyboard, Donnie on lap steel, Stu on acoustic guitar, Tony on standup bass)
(encore)
15. Thunder on the Mountain
(Bob on electric keyboard, Donnie on lap steel, Stu on acoustic guitar)
16. All Along the Watchtower
(Bob on electric keyboard, Donnie on lap steel, Stu on acoustic guitar)

Band Members
Bob Dylan - electric guitar, keyboard, harp
Tony Garnier - bass
George Recile - drums
Stu Kimball - rhythm guitar
Denny Freeman - lead guitar
Donnie Herron - violin, viola, electric mandolin, pedal steel, lap steel

From Nepal

2007-09-20T12:44:00.000-07:00

God: Hello. Did you call me?

Me: Called you? No. Who is this?

God: This is GOD. I heard your prayers. So I thought I would chat.

Me: I do pray. Just makes me feel good. I am actually busy now. I am in the midst of something.

God: What are you busy at? Ants are busy too.

Me: Don't know. But I can't find free time. Life has become hectic. It's rush hour all the time.

God: Sure. Activity gets you busy. But productivity gets you results. Activity consumes time. Productivity frees it.

Me: I understand. But I still can't figure out. By the way, I was not expecting YOU to buzz me on instant messaging chat.

God: Well I wanted to resolve your fight for time, by giving you some clarity. In this net era, I wanted to reach you through the medium you are comfortable with.

Me: Tell me, why has life become complicated now?

God: Stop analyzing life. Just live it. Analysis is what makes it complicated.

Me: Why are we then always unhappy?

God: Your today is the tomorrow that you worried about yesterday. You are worrying because you are analyzing. Worrying has become your habit. That's why you are not happy.

Me: But how can we not worry when there is so much uncertainty?

God: Uncertainty is inevitable, but worrying is optional.

Me: But there is so much pain due to uncertainty.

God: Pain is inevitable able, but suffering is optional.

Me: If suffering is optional, why do good people always suffer?

God: Diamonds cannot be polished without friction. Gold cannot be purified without fire. Good people go through trials, but don't suffer. With that experience their life become better not bitter.

Me: You mean to say such experience is useful?

God: Yes. In everything, experience is a hard teacher. She gives the test first and the lessons afterwards.

Me: But still, why should we go through such tests? Why cant we be free from problems?

God: Problems are Purposeful Roadblocks Offering Beneficial Lessons (to) Enhance Mental Strength. Inner strength comes from struggle and endurance, not when you are free from problems.

Me: Frankly in the midst of so many problems, we don't know where we are heading.

God: If you look outside you will not know where you are heading. Look inside. Looking outside, you dream. Looking inside, you awaken. Eyes provide sight. Heart provides insight.

Me: Sometimes not succeeding fast seems to hurt more than moving in the right direction. What should I do?

God: Success is a measure as decided by others. Satisfaction is a measure as decided by you. Knowing the road ahead is more satisfying than knowing you rode ahead. You work with the compass. Let others
work with the clock.

Me: In tough times, how do you stay motivated?

God: Always look at how far you have come rather than how far you have to go. Always count your blessings, not what you are missing.

Me: What surprises you about people?

God: When they suffer they ask, "why me?" When they prosper, they never ask "Why me" Everyone wishes to have truth on their side, but few want to be on the side of the truth.

Me: Sometimes I ask, who am I, why am I here. I can't get the answer.

God: Seek not to find who you are, but to determine who you want to be. Stop looking for a purpose as to why you are here. Create it. Life is not a process of discovery but a process of creation.

Me: How can I get the best out of life?

God: Face your past without regret. Handle your present with confidence. Prepare for the future without fear.

Me: One last question. Sometimes I feel my prayers are not answered.

God: There are no unanswered prayers. At times the answer is NO.

Me: Thank you for this wonderful chat.

God: Be well. Keep the faith and drop the fear. Don't believe your doubts and doubt your beliefs. Life is a mystery to solve not a problem to resolve. Trust me. Life is wonderful if you know how to live.

NO on H.R. 811

2007-09-04T17:54:00.000-07:00

The Alliance for Democracy Alert--Tuesday, September 4, 2007
HR 811 comes to a House vote Wednesday, September 5--tell your Representative to vote NO!

This Wednesday the House of Representatives is expected to vote on H.R. 811.

The original purpose of the bill was to provide a paper trail for the 2008 election. However, the bill has been so rewritten that it is unrecognizable to the experts originally consulted.

Because it requires a computerized text conversion device in every polling place, H.R. 811 would effectively rule out handcounted paper ballots, or non-computerized voter assistive devices that are accessible, less costly, and that avoid computerized vote counting. These text conversion devices represent an under-funded mandate for states, and a windfall for the e-voting industry.

The bill also gives the Election Assistance Commission (EAC), composed of four White House appointees, responsibility for setting specifications for all voting equipment - DRE and paper ballots - in every state, as well as vote-counting and recount procedures. None of the states will be able to legislate their own security requirements if this bill passes, and progress on the state level barring the use of electronic voting machines will be undone.

Not surprisingly, H.R. 811 is opposed by the National Association of Counties, the National Conference of State Legislatures, and the National Association of Secretaries of State.

For a more detailed description of the EAC's proposed powers, see this article written by Nancy Tobi, who has been following the EAC since it was set up in 2002. For additional info and talking points, see "This Week's Actions" at Election Defense Alliance's website.

Please Call!
Take a few moments and phone or fax your Representative in Congress and tell them to vote against H.R. 811. If you don't know your Representative's number, call the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121.

Imagine that your life is a busy airport, with you as the air traffic controller

2007-08-24T08:52:00.000-07:00

Now let's look at your control screen. On the best day, it's chaotic with departures and arrivals. But there are some planes that never seem to land. They circle and circle endlessly, taking up space and multiplying stress.

These planes are your unresolved grievances. They hover, but they refuse to land. With them buzzing in your personal space, you're forced to work harder. They distract you, exhaust your resources, and cause accidents. Unable to forgive or let go, you try to keep your grievances aloft, creating stress and risking burnout.

This is a scenario that Dr. Fred Luskin, director and cofounder of the Stanford University Forgiveness Project, uses in his latest book, Forgive for Good, to describe the toll that unresolved grievances take on our lives. As the analogy shows, harboring our injuries robs us of precious time, energy, and the ability to move forward in our lives.

And here's some interesting news: Research has shown that forgiveness is good for our mental and physical health. Having the ability to forgive seems to reduce depression, defuse anger, improve spirituality, enhance emotional self-confidence, and help people live with greater peace.

Forgiving does not mean being a doormat, simply condoning or forgetting injury. Nor does forgiving mean that it's wrong for you to feel hurt and angry. As Dr. Luskin says in his book Forgive for Good, "Forgiveness is the feeling of peace that emerges as you take your hurt less personally, take responsibility for how you feel, and become a hero instead of a victim in the story you tell."

This last point is the most important: When we forgive, we stop being a victim of our past. That includes forgiving ourselves. It means giving ourselves a break when we fail to meet a goal or come up short in being perfect. We choose to move forward with purpose, instead of looking back with resentment."

Dr. Bettye (Bettye H. Albritton, Ph.D.)
Life is Fragile - Handle With Prayer!