Black Sheep Christian

Creation Care

2007-10-17T16:57:00.001-04:00

I had the opportunity a couple of weeks ago to give the message at my church. The topic was "Creation Care". I was asked to write a short follow-up for the church newsletter. I thought I'd include it here:

The words "environmentalism" or "environmentalist" are hard words for some Christians to latch onto because of the baggage that is often attached to them. Many environmental groups are found in the "secular" circles of society where some Christians are loath to go. > > Both groups, the Christians and secular environmentalists, have had a strained view of each others' roles on this earth. Some Christians claim the environmentalists are only concerned about the earth, not people or that claiming to be an environmentalist is getting too close to "New Age" practices, which makes them uncomfortable. Others have the view that we (Christians) have dominion over the earth and therefore have the right to do with it as we please, and besides, Christ is coming soon and it doesn't matter how we care for the earth * Christ will make all things right very soon.> > Some "secular" environmentalists take the view that the world is in such a mess because so many Christians believe the earth is simply a resource, to be used as we please, without regard to the balance in nature or future generations. > > Care for the planet God has provided us is too critical an issue for us to continue talking past one another (Christians / Environmentalists) and playing the blame game. God has a mandate for us: Care for His Creation! > > As some of you may remember, I spoke of visualizing God as a Librarian and us as library patrons. We've been issued a "book" to use, enjoy, care for, and maintain for future patron's use. Genesis 1:31 states that God's creation was created to be good. We are a part of that creation, not apart from it. Our role is one of stewardship, not ownership of this planet. It's time for a strong commitment by Christians to taking an active role in redefining the term "environmentalist" to lead the way in Christian Environmentalism.> > Michael Frost in his book, Exiles, states: "Only a clear and biblical doctrine of Christian stewardship will give rise to a Christian environmentalism. Such a doctrine will rightly call on all Christians to recognize and honor God's ownership of all that is and to care for creation in such a way as to honor that ownership. As Christians, we believe that the world and all that is in it is deliberate, loving creation of God. God values it for its own sake as well as for its instrumental value to humans and to other creatures. And because God values nature, we, who want to honor and serve God rightly, will also value it."> > Caring for creation is part of our call to worship and serve God. As we move forward focusing on restoration, we will see that everything is connected. Creation care, justice, how we view and use money, relationships and caring for our temple * our bodies are all part of God's original plan for us to recognize, honor, and worship Him. We may find ourselves moving into unfamiliar and uncomfortable areas, challenged to change our views, habits, and lifestyles * Jesus never promised a simple life for those who take up the cross. As Frost states, "The example of Jesus, when authentically understood and appropriated, makes us ill at ease with comfort and security. It propels us into the lives of others. It sends us out to serve someone or something other than ourselves. In short, it lands us with the mission of practicing generosity, hospitality, justice and peace."

I'm without words . . .

2007-10-12T06:11:00.000-04:00

CNN.com - CNN Political Ticker Coulter: We want ‘Jews to be perfected’ «

When Deutsch responded, "It would be better if we were all Christian?" Coulter said "Yeah."

Deutsch, himself Jewish, continued to press Coulter on her remarks, asking, "We should just throw Judaism away and we should all be Christians then?"

"Yeah," Coulter responded, adding "Well, it's a lot easier. It's kind of a fast track."

"You can't possibly believe that," Deutsch responded. “You can’t possibly. You’re too educated.”

"Do you know what Christianity is?" Coulter replied. "See, we believe your religion, but you have to obey. We have the fast track program."

This story is unbelievable. This is why I have a problem identifying myself as a "Christian" in America. The type of christian the Ann Coulter's of the world would have us believe is that Christ wants us to have an easy fast track to heaven. I wonder, where's the call for us to be war loving, greedy, environmentally destructive, bigoted, mean spirited, Republican (and for that matter, Democratic)American in her "testament"? I'm sorry, but if Ann Coulter is the spokesperson for Christianity, count me out. I'll follow Jesus instead.

"‘We Do Not Torture’" by Scott Horton (Harper's Magazine)

2007-10-11T20:41:00.000-04:00

"‘We Do Not Torture’" by Scott Horton (Harper's Magazine)

Harpers has a great piece on the issue of torture. This is something that I've commented on in the past and still find it amazing I don't hear the "church" in an uproar over this issue in the U.S. Those who call themselves Christians need to make their voices heard - particularly the leadership of the church. As Scott Horton states:
The use of torture is a criminal act, and its systematic sanctioning by this administration is a matter of the utmost gravity for the country. The nation’s reaction to date fails to accord the issue the seriousness that it deserves; it constitutes a trivialization. The nation’s opinion-makers, and in particular its religious leaders must be held to blame. They fail to see the importance of the issue. And they demonstrate unacceptable cowardice in the face of political power. The only correct response is to speak truth to power, in the tradition in which the Dissenters of seventeenth century England came to use that term. But it reflects not only the tradition of the Dissenters, but also of the Established Church and of the Roman Church.

Quick Update

2007-10-08T19:57:00.000-04:00

My nephew is fine. Thank you God! His symptoms were not caused by the cyst (which he has), but from a migraine headache. The cyst seems not to be a cause for worry at this time. Thanks for your prayers.

Back in the Saddle

2007-10-04T16:24:00.001-04:00

It's been a long time since I've last posted on this site. For those of you that occasionally check in, thank you for your patience.

I've gone through quite a lot of change in some areas of my life since my last post, which I will get to over the next postings * or not. One thing I've learned is: I'm a talker, not a writer. I love conversation and debate, verbally. Sitting down and typing up what's happening in my ADD brain doesn't seem to be my strength. I will make an effort to post more frequently.

On my mind today: My 3 year old nephew. He went into the hospital last night with a headache, lethargy, and nausea. A CAT scan shows some kind of a cyst on his brain. As of this writing we're waiting to hear from the pediatric neurologist and the results from mri and other tests. Please, lift this child to God in your prayers. As a dear soul in my church wrote last night:

God,
We ask you for your son, Evan. We believe that he is your little boy and you love him. So we ask according to your will for full healing. We believe that you are a God that is in the restoration business and you promised healing to your children, so we claim that and believe that you will heal Evan. We believe that you have big plans for him that do not include sickness and we ask that you would remove all barriers to those plans right now. That you would surround him with your angels and that your child would be brought back to more than 100%. We also ask for that your hand would be on Barb and the rest of his family and loved ones right now, Lord. That your peace would guard their hearts and that they would rest in the confidence that you are at work. We love you, Lord and thank you for your provision and mercy in full confidence that you will do what you have promised.

"I will bring health and healing to it; I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security." - Jeremiah 33:6
Amen.

"We often ask God to show up. We pray prayers of rescue. Perhaps God would ask us to be that rescue, to be His body, to move for things that matter. He is not invisible when we come alive." -Jamie Tworkowski

Peace.

Been a long time . . .

2007-09-17T17:50:00.001-04:00

I haven't fallen off the face of the earth.

I'm looking to re-start this puppy. Stay tuned!

Inhumane Behavior

2006-05-01T06:34:00.000-04:00

A chaplain's view of torture
by Kermit D. Johnson
The Christian Century

The historian Arnold Toynbee called war 'an act of religious worship.' Appropriately, when most people enter the cathedral of violence, their voices become hushed. This silence, this reluctance to speak, is based in part on not wishing to trivialize or jeopardize the lives of those who have been put in harm's way. We want to support the men and women in our armed forces, whether we are crusaders, just warriors or pacifists.

Furthermore, those who interrupt this service of worship become a source of public embarrassment, if not shame. The undercurrent seems to be that dissent or critique in the midst of war is inherently unpatriotic because it violates a sacred wartime precept: support our troops.

From the standpoint of Christian faith, how do we respond? I would say that if war causes us to suppress our deepest religious, ethical and moral convictions, then we have indeed caved in to a 'higher religion' called war.

Since this obeisance to war is packaged in the guise of patriotism, it is well to admit to the beauty of patriotism, the beauty of unselfishness and love of country, land, community, family, friends and, yes, our system of government. But this fabulous beauty makes us appreciate all the more what Reinhold Niebuhr called the 'ethical paradox in patriotism.' The paradox is that patriotism can transmute individual unselfishness into national egoism. When this happens, when the critical attitude of the individual is squelched, this permits the nation, as Niebuhr observed, to use 'power without moral constraint.'

I believe this has been the case, particularly since 9/11, in the treatment of prisoners under U.S. custody.

We must react when our nation breaks the moral constraints and historic values contained in treaties, laws and our Constitution, as well as violating the consciences of individuals who engage in so-called 'authorized' inhuman treatment"

Read more

Christ Among the Partisans

2006-04-11T06:34:00.000-04:00

Christ Among the Partisans
By GARRY WILLS

Chicago

THERE is no such thing as a "Christian politics." If it is a politics, it cannot be Christian. Jesus told Pilate: "My reign is not of this present order. If my reign were of this present order, my supporters would have fought against my being turned over to the Jews. But my reign is not here" (John 18:36). Jesus brought no political message or program.

This is a truth that needs emphasis at a time when some Democrats, fearing that the Republicans have advanced over them by the use of religion, want to respond with a claim that Jesus is really on their side. He is not. He avoided those who would trap him into taking sides for or against the Roman occupation of Judea. He paid his taxes to the occupying power but said only, "Let Caesar have what belongs to him, and God have what belongs to him" (Matthew 22:21). He was the original proponent of a separation of church and state.

Those who want the state to engage in public worship, or even to have prayer in schools, are defying his injunction: "When you pray, be not like the pretenders, who prefer to pray in the synagogues and in the public square, in the sight of others. In truth I tell you, that is all the profit they will have. But you, when you pray, go into your inner chamber and, locking the door, pray there in hiding to your Father, and your Father who sees you in hiding will reward you" (Matthew 6:5-6). He shocked people by his repeated violation of the external holiness code of his time, emphasizing that his religion was an internal matter of the heart.

But doesn't Jesus say to care for the poor? Repeatedly and insistently, but what he says goes far beyond politics and is of a different order. He declares that only one test will determine who will come into his reign: whether one has treated the poor, the hungry, the homeless and the imprisoned as one would Jesus himself. "Whenever you did these things to the lowliest of my brothers, you were doing it to me" (Matthew 25:40). No government can propose that as its program. Theocracy itself never went so far, nor could it.

The state cannot indulge in self-sacrifice. If it is to treat the poor well, it must do so on grounds of justice, appealing to arguments that will convince people who are not followers of Jesus or of any other religion. The norms of justice will fall short of the demands of love that Jesus imposes. A Christian may adopt just political measures from his or her own motive of love, but that is not the argument that will define justice for state purposes.

To claim that the state's burden of justice, which falls short of the supreme test Jesus imposes, is actually what he wills — that would be to substitute some lesser and false religion for what Jesus brought from the Father. Of course, Christians who do not meet the lower standard of state justice to the poor will, a fortiori, fail to pass the higher test.

The Romans did not believe Jesus when he said he had no political ambitions. That is why the soldiers mocked him as a failed king, giving him a robe and scepter and bowing in fake obedience (John 19:1-3). Those who today say that they are creating or following a "Christian politics" continue the work of those soldiers, disregarding the words of Jesus that his reign is not of this order.

Some people want to display and honor the Ten Commandments as a political commitment enjoined by the religion of Jesus. That very act is a violation of the First and Second Commandments. By erecting a false religion — imposing a reign of Jesus in this order — they are worshiping a false god. They commit idolatry. They also take the Lord's name in vain.

Some may think that removing Jesus from politics would mean removing morality from politics. They think we would all be better off if we took up the slogan "What would Jesus do?"

That is not a question his disciples ask in the Gospels. They never knew what Jesus was going to do next. He could round on Peter and call him "Satan." He could refuse to receive his mother when she asked to see him. He might tell his followers that they are unworthy of him if they do not hate their mother and their father. He might kill pigs by the hundreds. He might whip people out of church precincts.

The Jesus of the Gospels is not a great ethical teacher like Socrates, our leading humanitarian. He is an apocalyptic figure who steps outside the boundaries of normal morality to signal that the Father's judgment is breaking into history. His miracles were not acts of charity but eschatological signs — accepting the unclean, promising heavenly rewards, making last things first.

He is more a higher Nietzsche, beyond good and evil, than a higher Socrates. No politician is going to tell the lustful that they must pluck out their right eye. We cannot do what Jesus would do because we are not divine.

It was blasphemous to say, as the deputy under secretary of defense, Lt. Gen. William Boykin, repeatedly did, that God made George Bush president in 2000, when a majority of Americans did not vote for him. It would not remove the blasphemy for Democrats to imply that God wants Bush not to be president. Jesus should not be recruited as a campaign aide. To trivialize the mystery of Jesus is not to serve the Gospels.

The Gospels are scary, dark and demanding. It is not surprising that people want to tame them, dilute them, make them into generic encouragements to be loving and peaceful and fair. If that is all they are, then we may as well make Socrates our redeemer.

It is true that the tamed Gospels can be put to humanitarian purposes, and religious institutions have long done this, in defiance of what Jesus said in the Gospels.

Jesus was the victim of every institutional authority in his life and death. He said: "Do not be called Rabbi, since you have only one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no one on earth your father, since you have only one Father, the one in heaven. And do not be called leaders, since you have only one leader, the Messiah" (Matthew 23:8-10).

If Democrats want to fight Republicans for the support of an institutional Jesus, they will have to give up the person who said those words. They will have to turn away from what Flannery O'Connor described as "the bleeding stinking mad shadow of Jesus" and "a wild ragged figure" who flits "from tree to tree in the back" of the mind.

He was never that thing that all politicians wish to be esteemed — respectable. At various times in the Gospels, Jesus is called a devil, the devil's agent, irreligious, unclean, a mocker of Jewish law, a drunkard, a glutton, a promoter of immorality.

The institutional Jesus of the Republicans has no similarity to the Gospel figure. Neither will any institutional Jesus of the Democrats.

Garry Wills is professor emeritus of history at Northwestern University and the author, most recently, of "What Jesus Meant."

h/t Jordan Cooper

Source

Red-Letter Christian

2006-04-09T22:29:00.000-04:00

I'd like to throw my hat into the Red-Letter Christian ring. h/t Jesus Politics

What's a 'Red-Letter Christian'? by Tony Campolo--religion right left politics Bush Jesus Christ church Bible: "What's a 'Red-Letter Christian'?
Jesus is neither a Republican nor a Democrat. That's why we created a new name for our Christian political movement.

Recently, I met with a group of religious leaders who have become increasingly disturbed by the alliance between evangelical Christians and the Republican Party. Karl Rove, President Bush’s political strategist, has brilliantly and successfully served as the matchmaker to arrange this union, which was consummated in the last presidential election when 83 percent of evangelicals voted Republican.

The meeting was joined by the Rev. Jim Wallis of Sojourners magazine; Father Richard Rohr, a well-known Catholic writer and speaker; Brian McLaren, a leader of the emergent church movement; the Rev. Dr. Cheryl J. Sanders, a prominent African-American pastor; the Rev. Noel Castellanos, a strong voice in the Hispanic community; and several other outstanding Christian communicators.

The purpose of this gathering was not to create a religious left movement to challenge the religious right, but to jump-start a religious movement that will transcend partisan politics. Believing that Jesus is neither a Republican nor a Democrat, we want to unite Christians who are concerned about what is happening in America. We are evangelicals who are troubled by what is happening to poor people in America; who are disturbed over environmental policies that are contributing to global warming; who are dismayed over the increasing arrogance of power shown in our country’s militarism; who are outraged because government funding is being reduced for schools where students, often from impoverished and dysfunctional homes, are testing poorly; who are upset with the fact that of the 22 industrialized nations America is next to last in the proportion of its national budget (less than two-tenths of 1 percent) that is designated to help the poor of third-world countries; and who are broken-hearted over discrimination against women, people of color, and those who suffer because of their sexual orientation.

Because being evangelical is usually synonymous with being Republican in the popular mind, and calling ourselves “progressive” might be taken as a value judgment by those who do share our views, we decided not to call ourselves “progressive evangelicals.” We came up with a new name: Red-Letter Christians.

Who first suggested the label? A secular Jewish Country-and-Western disc jockey in Nashville, Tennessee. During a radio interview he was conducting with Jim Wallis, he happened to say, “So, you’re one of those Red-Letter Christians--you know--who’s really into those verses in the New Testament that are in red letters!”

Jim answered, “That’s right!” And with that answer, he spoke for all of us. By calling ourselves Red-Letter Christians, we are alluding to the fact that in several versions of the New Testament, the words of Jesus are printed in red. In adopting this name, we are saying that we are committed to living out the things that He said. Of course, the message in those red-lettered verses is radical, to say the least. If you don’t believe me, read Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7).

In those red letters, He calls us away from the consumerist values that dominate contemporary American consciousness. He calls us to be merciful, which has strong implications for how we think about capital punishment. When Jesus tells us to love our enemies, he probably means we shouldn’t kill them. Most important, if we take Jesus seriously, we will realize that meeting the needs of the poor is a primary responsibility for His followers.

Figuring out just how to relate those radical red letters in the Bible to the complex issues in the modern world will be difficult, but that’s what we’ll try to do.

Gandhi once said that everybody in the world knows what Jesus was teaching in those verses--except Christians! We will try to prove him wrong.

Baghdad Burning

2006-03-18T09:30:00.000-05:00

Stay the course? You're doing a heckova job. . .

This is a great blog to read to gain a perspective on life in Baghbad.

Baghdad Burning: "I don’t think anyone imagined three years ago that things could be quite this bad today. The last few weeks have been ridden with tension. I’m so tired of it all- we’re all tired.

Three years and the electricity is worse than ever. The security situation has gone from bad to worse. The country feels like it’s on the brink of chaos once more- but a pre-planned, pre-fabricated chaos being led by religious militias and zealots.

School, college and work have been on again, off again affairs. It seems for every two days of work/school, there are five days of sitting at home waiting for the situation to improve. Right now college and school are on hold because the “arba3eeniya” or the “40th Day” is coming up- more black and green flags, mobs of men in black and latmiyas. We were told the children should try going back to school next Wednesday. I say “try” because prior to the much-awaited parliamentary meeting a couple of days ago, schools were out. After the Samarra mosque bombing, schools were out. The children have been at home this year more than they’ve been in school.

I’m especially worried about the Arba3eeniya this year. I’m worried we’ll see more of what happened to the Askari mosque in Samarra. Most Iraqis seem to agree that the whole thing was set up by those who had most to gain by driving Iraqis apart.

I’m sitting here trying to think what makes this year, 2006, so much worse than 2005 or 2004. It’s not the outward differences- things such as electricity, water, dilapidated buildings, broken streets and ugly concrete security walls. Those things are disturbing, but they are fixable. Iraqis have proved again and again that countries can be rebuilt. No- it’s not the obvious that fills us with foreboding.

The real fear is the mentality of so many people lately- the rift that seems to have worked it’s way through the very heart of the country, dividing people. It’s disheartening to talk to acquaintances- sophisticated, civilized people- and hear h"

5 Reasons Torture is always Wrong - Christianity Today Magazine

2006-03-04T09:53:00.000-05:00

5 Reasons Torture is always Wrong - Christianity Today Magazine: "

Home > Christianity Today Magazine > Hot Issues > Social Justice

Christianity Today, February 2006

5 Reasons Torture Is Always Wrong
And why there should be no exceptions.
by David P. Gushee | posted 01/27/2006 09:45 a.m.

• Related articles and links

'Three Marines in Mahmudiya used an electric transformer, forcing a detainee to 'dance' as the electricity coursed through him.'
International Committee of the Red Cross, February 2004
•

A former Iraqi general 'died of asphyxiation after being stuffed head-first into a sleeping bag … at an American base in Al Asad.'
The New York Times, October 23, 2005
•

'Al-Qatani was forced to perform dog tricks on a leash, was straddled by a female interrogator, forced to dance with a male interrogator, told that his mother and sister were whores, forced to wear a woman's bra and thong on his head during interrogation, and subjected to an unmuzzled dog to scare him.'
Newsweek, November 21, 2005

The word 'torture,' tellingly, comes from the Latin torquere, to twist. Stine Amris and Julio G. Arenas, who have done extensive studies on the effects of torture, define it as 'the infliction of severe pain (whether physical or psychological) by a perpetrator who acts purposefully and on behalf of the state' (italics in original).

The debate in our nation today concerns what measures can legitimately be taken to extract information from prisoners held by us in the 'war on terror' and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. As such, it is a debate about the proper use of government power in a liberal democracy. Can that power ever rightly extend to the use of any form of torture?

Few people disagree that a liberal democracy has the right and responsibility to take prisoners and interrogate them during a war or police action. This is part of the government's biblical mandate in Romans 13:1-7, a mandate to deter violations of peace and justi"

Darfur: Lives Destroyed

2006-01-14T11:20:00.000-05:00

Watch. Take Action.

Darfur: Lives Destroyed

Kevin G Powell: Have the Churches Abandoned Peace on Earth?

2005-12-24T11:39:00.000-05:00

But over the years I have become less enamored with “changing social structures” than I have with changing peoples’ hearts. Like poverty, social structures are not abstract, impersonal notions, but are the product of people. So I wonder if, to change structures, we need to change people. But I also wonder if we let ourselves too easily off the hook by saying we need to confront sinful social structures than to engage living, breathing human beings.

And that’s where churches come in. That’s where churches excel. Most Christians are deeply concerned with poverty, racism, the environment, war. And we do believe that we are called to witness to a different reality than the realty presented to us.

Kevin G Powell: Have the Churches Abandoned Peace on Earth?

Culture of Life . . . right.

2005-12-12T17:50:00.000-05:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4523098.stm

Wendell Berry - I love this guy.

2005-09-29T20:10:00.000-04:00

The Christian Century: "I will begin by dealing with the embarrassing questions that the Gospels impose, I imagine, upon any serious reader. There are two of these, and the first is this: If you had been living in Jesus' time and had heard him teaching, would you have been one of his followers?

To be an honest taker of this test, I think you have to try to forget that you have read the Gospels and that Jesus has been a 'big name' for 2,000 years. You have to imagine instead that you are walking past the local courthouse and you come upon a crowd listening to a man named Joe Green or Green Joe, depending on judgments whispered among the listeners on the fringe. You too stop to listen, and you soon realize that Joe Green is saying something utterly scandalous, utterly unexpectable from the premises of modern society. He is saying: 'Don't resist evil. If somebody slaps your right cheek, let him slap your left cheek too. Love your enemies. When people curse you, you must bless them. When people hate you, you must treat them kindly. When people mistrust you, you must pray for them. This is the way you must act if you want to be children of God.' Well, you know how happily that would be received, not only in the White House and the Capitol, but among most of your neighbors. And then suppose this Joe Green looks at you over the heads of the crowd, calls you by name and says, 'I want to come to dinner at your house.'

I suppose that you, like me, hope very much that you would say, 'Come ahead.' But I suppose also that you, like me, had better not be too sure. You will remember that in Jesus' lifetime even his most intimate friends could hardly be described as overconfident."

Televangelist Calls for Assassination of Chavez - New York Times

2005-08-23T09:32:00.000-04:00

Televangelist Calls for Assassination of Chavez - New York Times: "''We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability,'' Robertson said Monday on the Christian Broadcast Network's ''The 700 Club.''
''We don't need another $200 billion war to get rid of one, you know, strong-arm dictator,'' he continued. ''It's a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with.''"

And Jesus said unto them, "Take them out".

Can anyone please tell me when this nightmare will end? This guy is one of the faces of "Christian" leadship seen around the world. Imagine the outrage the right would have if a prominate Imam from Iran said this . . .

Christian Flag? Is it constitutional to burn this?

2005-08-01T15:40:00.000-04:00

BAGnewsNotes: Your Turn: This Kingdom Is My Kingdom

This is another example of how far out of touch many American Christians are. Note the comments section . . .

CelebrateVida: Christians and Terrorism

2005-07-14T18:36:00.000-04:00

CelebrateVida: Christians and Terrorism

Great post . . . check it out.

USATODAY.com - Brace yourself: wearing support on your wrist

2005-07-08T11:10:00.000-04:00

USATODAY.com - Brace yourself: wearing support on your wrist: "Proclaiming support for a cause
David Hessekiel, CEO of Cause Marketing Forum in Rye, N.Y., a company that helps businesses and non-profits work together, isn't surprised by the bracelet rage.
'In marketing and in fundraising, whenever a new technique surfaces, it will attract copycats and it will continue to be used until it's no longer profitable,' Hessekiel says."

This is why I don't wear the things . . . it's become just another "fad" fashion statement for many folks. Kinda like the flag lapel pins and magnetic yellow ribbons (the ones with the cross cut-out kinda freaks me out). After a while, they lose there effectiveness in raising awareness on an issue and simply become a decoration or status symbol. Example: the Lincoln Navigator with 6 various "yellow ribbons" plastered all over the back - this says to me: "Look at me! Look at me!Look at how patriotic I am!"

Uncover Your Eyes - New York Times

2005-06-07T06:21:00.000-04:00

Uncover Your Eyes - New York Times: "Mr. Bush values a frozen embryo. But he hasn't mustered much compassion for an entire population of terrorized widows and orphans. And he is cementing in place the very hopelessness he dreads, by continuing to avert his eyes from the first genocide of the 21st century."

Vive le Canada - Religion in Politics and "The Peace of the Realm"

2005-06-05T13:27:00.000-04:00

Vive le Canada - Religion in Politics and "The Peace of the Realm": "Unfortunately, the U.S.A. influences many Canadians. Unfortunately, it influences many of the people who say the separation of church and state is a �distortion�, a perversion, an unnatural condition. The U.S.A. wants global power without global religious toleration. It wants to be the heart of a global community that possesses neither religious toleration nor the separation of church and state. At home it has never been especially tolerant. The burning of witches was a U.S. entertainment. From its beginning in 1776 until 1960, moreover, no Roman Catholic was able to become president of the United States. In Canada, twenty nine years after Confederation, a francophone Roman Catholic became prime minister.

The U.S. has developed a Christian fundamentalism that it wants to impose on other countries. Not only is its barely disguised war against Islam (mixing racism with religious bigotry) a matter of great concern. But also the U.S. tries to tell Christian countries how to act in matters of faith and dogma. Very recently, offering $40 million to Brazil to assist it in the battle against AIDS, the U.S insisted Brazil condemn the use of condoms and criminalize prostitution. "

Day 141 of Bush's Silence

2005-05-31T06:17:00.000-04:00

Day 141 of Bush's Silence - New York Times

Horror of USA's depleted Uranium

2005-05-12T06:23:00.000-04:00

Vive le Canada - Horror of USA's depleted Uranium: "'The children's skin had folded back, like parchment, revealing veins and burnt flesh that seeped blood, while the eyes, intact, stared straight ahead. I vomited.'"

We must also count the numberless thousands of miscarried babies. Nobody knows how many Iraqis have died in the womb since DU contaminated their world. But it is suggested that troops who were only exposed to DU for the brief period of the war were still excreting uranium in their semen 8 years later and some had 100 times the so-called 'safe limit' of uranium in their urine. The lack of government interest in the plight of veterans of the 1991 war is reflected in a lack of academic research on the impact of DU but informal research has found a high incidence of birth defects in their children and that the wives of men who served in Iraq have three times more miscarriages than the wives of servicemen who did not go there.

Since DU darkened the land Iraq has seen birth defects which would break a heart of stone: babies with terribly foreshortened limbs, with their intestines outside their bodies, with huge bulging tumors where their eyes should be, or with a single eye-like Cyclops, or without eyes, or without limbs, and even without heads. Significantly, some of the defects are almost unknown outside textbooks showing the babies born near A-bomb test sites in the Pacific.

Doctors report that many women no longer say 'Is it a girl or a boy?' but simply, 'Is it normal, doctor?' Moreover this terrible legacy will not end. The genes of their parents may have been damaged for ever, and the damaging DU dust is ever-present.

More evidence of our beloved leader's "Culture of Life".

Day 113 of the President's Silence

2005-05-03T06:09:00.000-04:00

The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Columnist: Day 113 of the President's Silence: "Granted, Darfur defies easy solutions. But Mr. Bush was outspoken and active this spring in another complex case, that of Terry Schiavo. If only Mr. Bush would exert himself as much to try to save the lives of the two million people driven from their homes in Darfur. "

The Conflict in Darfur Through Children's Eyes

2005-05-01T21:01:00.000-04:00

Human Rights Watch - Darfur Drawn: The Conflict in Darfur Through Children's Eyes

“We were running from the burning houses. Janjaweed and soldiers with guns and planes and bombs came, all together, quickly. They were shooting…my uncle was shot. I saw them taking women and girls away. All of us—my family—we were screaming and running from the Janjaweed to hide in the wadi [riverbed or oasis]…holding each other by the arms to keep together. Here in camp we are safe, but my father…he was lost.”