I have a few recent quotes in the news about or from Veep nominee Palin. Could we have a Veep nominee to actually step down before the election? Time will tell.
I've been reading around some sites seeing the Religious Right just gleefully rejoicing in this Palin selection and saying things like, "The Democrats are running in fear now! Bwa ha ha!"
I'm sorry, but I think those who think that are just living in a dreamworld. Mostly, I think the Dems are laughing at this choice. As if McCain wasn't already losing, he's saddled himself with a probably unelectable Veep choice. She has been a huge hit with the 25-30% Religious Right and she has energized them, but I just don't think they see what a poor choice she is. It's like they listened to the speeches given at the Republican Convention and took them seriously!
As I've already said: I just don't think McCain really wants to win this election...
A quote from Palin at a commencement ceremony at her home church in Wasilla:
But our most important natural resource of course is our people, and I’m thinking what I need to do is strike a deal with you guys as you go throughout Alaska. I can do my part in doing things like working really really hard to get a natural gas pipeline, about a $30 billion project that’s going to create a lot of jobs for Alaskans, and we’ll have a lot of energy flowing through here. And pray about that also. I think God’s will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built, so pray for that...
...My son Track, he’s a soldier in the United States Army now. He’s an infantryman, and, um, so Track also sends his love to his former nanny Christy. And Track — pray for our military. He’s going to be deployed in September to Iraq. Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right also for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending out on a task that is from God. That’s what we have to make sure that we’re praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God’s plan...
source
======
On the Alaskan Independence Party (AIP):
Todd Palin was a member of the party from 1995 to 2002. Sarah attended the group's convention in 1994 and 2000 and sent a videotaped greeting for the AIP in 2008.
Here's how the group's founder, Joe Vogler, described his political beliefs:
"The fires of hell are frozen glaciers compared to my hatred for the American government," Vogler said in a 1991 interview. "And I won't be buried under their damn flag. I'll be buried in Dawson. And when Alaska is an independent nation they can bring my bones home."
The AIP participated in a conference of secessionist movements held in Vermont in 2006. "The First North American Secessionist Convention," was the official title. Attendees included the neo-confederate League of the South, messianic Christian Exodus and the libertarian New State Project.
In her 2008 address, Palin said the AIP "plays an important role in our state's politics."
[what role is that, I wonder? -dan]
The Nation
=======
Republican apologist Peggy Noonan and friends accidentally talking about the Palin nomination while the mic was on...
ON AIR:
Chuck Todd: Mike Murphy, lots of free advice, we'll see if Steve Schmidt and the boys were watching. We'll find out on your blackberry. Tonight voters will get their chance to hear from Sarah Palin and she will get the chance to show voters she's the right woman for the job Up next, one man who's already convinced and he'll us why Gov. Jon Huntsman.
[CUT AWAY - SUPPOSEDLY...]
Peggy Noonan: Yeah.
Mike Murphy: You know, because I come out of the blue swing state governor world: Engler, Whitman, Tommy Thompson, Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush. I mean, these guys -- this is how you win a Texas race, just run it up. And it's not gonna work. And --
Noonan: It's over!
Murphy: Still McCain can give a version of the Lieberman speech to do himself some good.
Todd: I also think the Palin pick is insulting to Kay Bailey Hutchinson, too.
Noonan: Saw Kay this morning.
Todd: Yeah, she's never looked comfortable about this --
Murphy: They're all bummed out.
Todd: Yeah, I mean is she really the most qualified woman they could have turned to?
Noonan: The most qualified? No! I think they went for this -- excuse me-- political bullshit about narratives --
Todd: Yeah they went to a narrative.
Murphy: I totally agree.
Noonan: Every time the Republicans do that, because that's not where they live and it's not what they're good at, they blow it.
Murphy: You know what's really the worst thing about it? The greatness of McCain is no cynicism, and this is cynical.
Todd: This is cynical, and as you called it, gimmicky.
=======
D'oh! ...was that on??
Noonan said it best: "It's over!"
This last snippet I found over to Geoffrey's fine establishment, What's Left in the Church.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Lies, Damned Lies, and Republican Speeches
Phew! That reeked!
What I suppose it may come down to is this:
If the American people can be swayed by fear, bitterness, hatred, division, demonization, half-truths and outright lies, then the Republicans have a chance at the White House.
IF, on the other hand, the People are truly tired of the sort of bile-filled ugliness demonstrated in last night's hate-fest by the Grand Old Potty, then Obama will be our next president.
I'm relatively convinced of the latter, and pray that it's not the former.
What I suppose it may come down to is this:
If the American people can be swayed by fear, bitterness, hatred, division, demonization, half-truths and outright lies, then the Republicans have a chance at the White House.
IF, on the other hand, the People are truly tired of the sort of bile-filled ugliness demonstrated in last night's hate-fest by the Grand Old Potty, then Obama will be our next president.
I'm relatively convinced of the latter, and pray that it's not the former.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Vast Leftwing Conpiracists Strike Again
This from the McCain camp:
"This vetting controversy is a faux media scandal [! dt] designed to destroy [!!? dt] the first female Republican nominee for Vice President of the United States who has never been a part of the old boys' network that has come to dominate the news establishment in this country."
So says senior adviser Steve Schmidt in a memo sent to reporters today, according to CNN.
Paranoia, so soon?
Does the McCain camp REALLY think that there is a vast "good old boys" news establishment that has "designed" a "Faux media scandal" with the express intent of "destroying" Palin because she is a woman??
That's a pretty serious charge. Where's the evidence? Who confessed? How far up does this conspiracy go? Are all the media involved in this conspiracy?
...
Do they ever think how foolish and plain ol' nutty they look when they start accusing the media of conspiracies with the intent of destroying people?
Seriously folk, the media is a vast conglomerate made up of all sorts of folk from all sorts of backgrounds and political persuasions. Sure, some media may be made up of folk with a more progressive background, but it is not a monolith. There are no secret meetings where plans to destroy people are written up and enacted.
when you start making these sorts of claims, you just come across as paranoid and goofy. And for this to come from a major presidential campaign is troubling and they ought to be called on it.
"This vetting controversy is a faux media scandal [! dt] designed to destroy [!!? dt] the first female Republican nominee for Vice President of the United States who has never been a part of the old boys' network that has come to dominate the news establishment in this country."
So says senior adviser Steve Schmidt in a memo sent to reporters today, according to CNN.
Paranoia, so soon?
Does the McCain camp REALLY think that there is a vast "good old boys" news establishment that has "designed" a "Faux media scandal" with the express intent of "destroying" Palin because she is a woman??
That's a pretty serious charge. Where's the evidence? Who confessed? How far up does this conspiracy go? Are all the media involved in this conspiracy?
...
Do they ever think how foolish and plain ol' nutty they look when they start accusing the media of conspiracies with the intent of destroying people?
Seriously folk, the media is a vast conglomerate made up of all sorts of folk from all sorts of backgrounds and political persuasions. Sure, some media may be made up of folk with a more progressive background, but it is not a monolith. There are no secret meetings where plans to destroy people are written up and enacted.
when you start making these sorts of claims, you just come across as paranoid and goofy. And for this to come from a major presidential campaign is troubling and they ought to be called on it.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Is the Republican Party Done?
This week's Rolling Stone has a picture of Bush slaying the GOP Elephant, and they make the case that he has undone the Republican party.
Jack Cafferty, in a CNN op-ed piece agrees. He says...
NEW YORK (CNN) -- This week the Republicans gather for their convention. For four days, they will labor under the illusion their party is still relevant. It's not.
It is entirely fitting that the headliner for this masquerade is a feeble looking 72-year-old white guy who doesn't know how many homes he owns.
It's more than symbolic that when a million Americans are losing their homes to foreclosure, the Republican candidate for president has lost track of his holdings.
McCain surrounds himself with people like former Republican Sen. Phil Gramm who called America a "nation of whiners" and said we are only suffering a "mental recession."
That's the same problem the Republican Party has. It has lost track of what it used to stand for: small government, a disciplined fiscal policy, integrity.
In a way, the perfect storm of a rapidly changing population -- old white people aren't going to be in the majority very much longer (and isn't that who most of the Republicans are?) -- has combined with the total abdication of principles, Republican or otherwise, of arguably the worst president in the nation's history to mark the beginning of the end of the Republican Party as we know it...
======
In support of this view, the Census Bureau has noted that by 2050, "minorities" will be the majority in the US and white folk will be a minority.
What do you think? Are demographic changes and current Republican leadership going to cause the Republican Party to dry up and blow away in the next few decades? Will this election be their final hurrah? And if so, what would replace it?
Jack Cafferty, in a CNN op-ed piece agrees. He says...
NEW YORK (CNN) -- This week the Republicans gather for their convention. For four days, they will labor under the illusion their party is still relevant. It's not.
It is entirely fitting that the headliner for this masquerade is a feeble looking 72-year-old white guy who doesn't know how many homes he owns.
It's more than symbolic that when a million Americans are losing their homes to foreclosure, the Republican candidate for president has lost track of his holdings.
McCain surrounds himself with people like former Republican Sen. Phil Gramm who called America a "nation of whiners" and said we are only suffering a "mental recession."
That's the same problem the Republican Party has. It has lost track of what it used to stand for: small government, a disciplined fiscal policy, integrity.
In a way, the perfect storm of a rapidly changing population -- old white people aren't going to be in the majority very much longer (and isn't that who most of the Republicans are?) -- has combined with the total abdication of principles, Republican or otherwise, of arguably the worst president in the nation's history to mark the beginning of the end of the Republican Party as we know it...
======
In support of this view, the Census Bureau has noted that by 2050, "minorities" will be the majority in the US and white folk will be a minority.
What do you think? Are demographic changes and current Republican leadership going to cause the Republican Party to dry up and blow away in the next few decades? Will this election be their final hurrah? And if so, what would replace it?
Thursday, August 28, 2008
A New Beginning
Wow.
Whatever you think of his policies, that was a fine, fine speech.
Congratulations, Senator Obama, on this historic nomination.
And, thank you, Senator McCain, for the classy commercial.
Whatever you think of his policies, that was a fine, fine speech.
Congratulations, Senator Obama, on this historic nomination.
And, thank you, Senator McCain, for the classy commercial.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Food Security and a Reasoned Worldview
I am currently reading, The Essential Agrarian Reader, edited by Norman Wirzba and including essays from all the usual cast: Wendell Berry, Gene Logsdon, David Orr, Wes Jackson and Barbara Kingsolver, as well as many from folk with whom I’m not familiar – Susan Witt, Vandana Shiva, Brian Donohue and others.
I’ve seen Wirzba’s (who contributes some essays, in addition to editing) name around a few places and he looks like someone I’ll be reading more of. He’s another Kentuckian doing our state proud, it looks like.
Here are some excerpts from Wirzba’s introduction, and it’s right on:
It would seem, especially given the abundance and relative cheapness of food, that we do not have a food problem. The appearance, however, is deceiving… [We] are beginning to see that the complete costs associated with current food abundance are extremely high and that current pricing hides these costs from consumers.
Food, for the most part, is now an industrial product. As such its character and quality, as well as the conditions under which it is produced, are determined by the demands of industrial and market efficiency. While this might make good economic sense, the effect of treating food as an industrial rather than as a natural and cultural product has been the abuse of land, animals and human communities…
Rural communities have suffered greatly as a result of this transformed food system. With the demise of local seed companies, local purchasers, and processors and distributors, money that would have circulated several times within a community (and thus benefited many businesses and families) go elsewhere. With this cash exodus, small towns and cities that were once the heart of American cultural life find it impossible to maintain basic services in education, health care, construction and general social welfare. There is no place to go but the big city.
Rural communities also bear the brunt of noxious corporate farming practices. While taxpayers absorb the costs of tax incentives and price subsidies to induce big producers to set up shop in their states or counties, local communities must deal with disgusting odors, contaminated ground and surface water, accumulated toxic waste, and stressed infrastructure mechanisms like roadways and waterways. The costs are rarely picked up by the producers responsible for them.
As consumers we should be asking whether or not the free exchange of products, the stewardship of public goods like soil and water, or more fundamental yet, informed public discussion about food issues can result from a context where integrated corporate monopolies set pricing and production. Consumers are mostly ignorant about how food is produced and provided, so they are in no position to understand, let alone confront, agricultural abuses like the depletion or contamination of public water supplies or the heavy use of antibiotics and hormones in meat and dairy operations. Doctors are increasingly aware that public health costs will increase dramatically as we confront super pests and viruses that evolve in confined farm factories. The costs of cleaning up water contaminated by agricultural runoff will also need to be picked up by consumers…
Given this partial list of problems, we now need to ask if a food system can be secure if it depends on making its farmers, communities, consumers, and land base insecure. Our highly centralized food system, besides being undemocratic, hugely wasteful, and destructive, is also vulnerable to external threats of terrorism, volatile global markets, and pests...
How would an agrarian worldview address this situation of insecurity?
======
Great stuff. Ideas and topics that we desperately need to be considering, talking about, debating, addressing. Now.
I found the book at our local library. Check it out. And keep an eye on Norman Wirzba (his other books include, The Paradise of God: Renewing Religion in an Ecological Age, and The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays of Wendell Berry).
I’ve seen Wirzba’s (who contributes some essays, in addition to editing) name around a few places and he looks like someone I’ll be reading more of. He’s another Kentuckian doing our state proud, it looks like.
Here are some excerpts from Wirzba’s introduction, and it’s right on:
It would seem, especially given the abundance and relative cheapness of food, that we do not have a food problem. The appearance, however, is deceiving… [We] are beginning to see that the complete costs associated with current food abundance are extremely high and that current pricing hides these costs from consumers.
Food, for the most part, is now an industrial product. As such its character and quality, as well as the conditions under which it is produced, are determined by the demands of industrial and market efficiency. While this might make good economic sense, the effect of treating food as an industrial rather than as a natural and cultural product has been the abuse of land, animals and human communities…
Rural communities have suffered greatly as a result of this transformed food system. With the demise of local seed companies, local purchasers, and processors and distributors, money that would have circulated several times within a community (and thus benefited many businesses and families) go elsewhere. With this cash exodus, small towns and cities that were once the heart of American cultural life find it impossible to maintain basic services in education, health care, construction and general social welfare. There is no place to go but the big city.
Rural communities also bear the brunt of noxious corporate farming practices. While taxpayers absorb the costs of tax incentives and price subsidies to induce big producers to set up shop in their states or counties, local communities must deal with disgusting odors, contaminated ground and surface water, accumulated toxic waste, and stressed infrastructure mechanisms like roadways and waterways. The costs are rarely picked up by the producers responsible for them.
As consumers we should be asking whether or not the free exchange of products, the stewardship of public goods like soil and water, or more fundamental yet, informed public discussion about food issues can result from a context where integrated corporate monopolies set pricing and production. Consumers are mostly ignorant about how food is produced and provided, so they are in no position to understand, let alone confront, agricultural abuses like the depletion or contamination of public water supplies or the heavy use of antibiotics and hormones in meat and dairy operations. Doctors are increasingly aware that public health costs will increase dramatically as we confront super pests and viruses that evolve in confined farm factories. The costs of cleaning up water contaminated by agricultural runoff will also need to be picked up by consumers…
Given this partial list of problems, we now need to ask if a food system can be secure if it depends on making its farmers, communities, consumers, and land base insecure. Our highly centralized food system, besides being undemocratic, hugely wasteful, and destructive, is also vulnerable to external threats of terrorism, volatile global markets, and pests...
How would an agrarian worldview address this situation of insecurity?
======
Great stuff. Ideas and topics that we desperately need to be considering, talking about, debating, addressing. Now.
I found the book at our local library. Check it out. And keep an eye on Norman Wirzba (his other books include, The Paradise of God: Renewing Religion in an Ecological Age, and The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays of Wendell Berry).
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
"Peace begins with a smile..."
It's Mother Teresa's birthday next week (August 27, 1910). In honor of that, I offer some of her words of wisdom...
"If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other."
"It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish."
"Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless."
"Let us always meet each other with smile, for the smile is the beginning of love."
"We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature - trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence... We need silence to be able to touch souls."
"There is only one God and He is God to all; therefore it is important that everyone is seen as equal before God. I’ve always said we should help a Hindu become a better Hindu, a Muslim become a better Muslim, a Catholic become a better Catholic. We believe our work should be our example to people. We have among us 475 souls - 30 families are Catholics and the rest are all Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs—all different religions. But they all come to our prayers."
"When a poor person dies of hunger, it has not happened because God did not take care of him or her. It has happened because neither you nor I wanted to give that person what he or she needed."
"People are unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered. Love them anyway. If you do good, people may accuse you of selfish motives. Do good anyway.
If you are successful, you may win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway. The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
Honesty and transparency make you vulnerable. Be honest and transparent anyway. What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway. People who really want help may attack you if you help them. Help them anyway. Give the world the best you have and you may get hurt. Give the world your best anyway."
"If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other."
"It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish."
"Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless."
"Let us always meet each other with smile, for the smile is the beginning of love."
"We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature - trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence... We need silence to be able to touch souls."
"There is only one God and He is God to all; therefore it is important that everyone is seen as equal before God. I’ve always said we should help a Hindu become a better Hindu, a Muslim become a better Muslim, a Catholic become a better Catholic. We believe our work should be our example to people. We have among us 475 souls - 30 families are Catholics and the rest are all Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs—all different religions. But they all come to our prayers."
"When a poor person dies of hunger, it has not happened because God did not take care of him or her. It has happened because neither you nor I wanted to give that person what he or she needed."
"People are unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered. Love them anyway. If you do good, people may accuse you of selfish motives. Do good anyway.
If you are successful, you may win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway. The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
Honesty and transparency make you vulnerable. Be honest and transparent anyway. What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway. People who really want help may attack you if you help them. Help them anyway. Give the world the best you have and you may get hurt. Give the world your best anyway."
Friday, August 15, 2008
Best Music Ever?
Recently, McCain and Obama offered their top ten songs. Interesting lists (McCain lists ABBA. TWICE!) but pretty shy on Ol' Timey music. My favorite joke so far has been the wag who wondered that McCain didn't have more music from his youth (you know, like Gregorian Chants)...
Hey, I happen to like Gregorian chants, myself.
The lists:
Obama:
1. Ready or Not, Fugees
2. What's Going On, Marvin Gaye
3. I'm On Fire Bruce, Spingsteen
4. Gimme Shelter, Rolling Stones
5. Sinnerman, Nina Simone
6. Touch the Sky, Kanye West
7. You'd Be So Easy to Love, Frank Sinatra
8. Think, Aretha Franklin
9. City of Blinding Lights, U2
10. Yes We Can, will.i.am
McCain:
1. Dancing Queen, ABBA
2. Blue Bayou, Roy Orbison
3. Take a Chance On Me, ABBA
4. If We Make It Through December, Merle Haggard
5. As Time Goes, Dooley Wilson
6. Good Vibrations, The Beach Boys
7. What A Wonderful World, Louis Armstrong
8. I've Got You Under My Skin, Frank Sinatra
9. Sweet Caroline, Neil Diamond
10. Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, The Platters
You know, "Take a Chance on Me," might make a good campaign theme song for McCain...
Anyway, that led to Geoffrey offering his own list of top ten albums and he invited others to opine similarly. And so, here are my Top Ten Albums of all times (or at least how I'm thinking today). In no particular order...
1. Birds Fly South, Zoe Speaks
(Zoe Speaks WAS a duo from here in Kentucky. The duo - Mitch Barrett and Carla Gover - have since gone their separate ways and each are making wonderful music alone and in various other configurations. Still, their Zoe Speaks albums were all fantastic and worthy of checking out.)
2. A liturgy, a legacy and a ragamuffin band, Rich Mullins
(Giving a nod to my Contemporary Christian Music days - still, I think Mullins' album holds up in any context. Unfortunately, Mr. Mullins left this world much too soon. His was one of the greatest concerts I've ever attended.)
3. Tanglewood Tree, Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer
(Great album. Period. Poetry in motion.
Dave Carter has, sadly, passed away all too young and too soon. The good news is that Tracy Grammer is still plugging away.)
4. Wrecking Ball, Emmy Lou Harris
(Emmy Lou. Nuff said)
5. World in Motion, Jackson Browne
(A bit dated, but great political soul-searching and rabble rousing)
6. Tracy Chapman, Tracy Chapman
(I don't think her subsequent albums were as great as her first one here, but this one is simply great.)
7. Legend, Bob Marley
(A best-of album, and a great collection)
8. O Brother Where Art Thou, soundtrack
(If soundtracks can be included - and in my list, they can be - this would be one to consider. Not a bad song on here. Plus it resurrected a genre and became a phenomenon, which is not true for most music I like. Also inspired, the related "Down from the Mountain Tour" album and in a similar vein... no wait...)
9. Cold Mountain, soundtrack
(I was going to throw this in with the previous item, but decided it needed its own entry - a great soundtrack)
10. Old Crow Medicine Show, OCMS
(These guys are just fantastic, bringing an energy and joy to bluegrass music that makes it feel contemporary - and they have a new album coming out soon!)
Do you have a top albums list? Or just a list of favorite songs?
Hey, I happen to like Gregorian chants, myself.
The lists:
Obama:
1. Ready or Not, Fugees
2. What's Going On, Marvin Gaye
3. I'm On Fire Bruce, Spingsteen
4. Gimme Shelter, Rolling Stones
5. Sinnerman, Nina Simone
6. Touch the Sky, Kanye West
7. You'd Be So Easy to Love, Frank Sinatra
8. Think, Aretha Franklin
9. City of Blinding Lights, U2
10. Yes We Can, will.i.am
McCain:
1. Dancing Queen, ABBA
2. Blue Bayou, Roy Orbison
3. Take a Chance On Me, ABBA
4. If We Make It Through December, Merle Haggard
5. As Time Goes, Dooley Wilson
6. Good Vibrations, The Beach Boys
7. What A Wonderful World, Louis Armstrong
8. I've Got You Under My Skin, Frank Sinatra
9. Sweet Caroline, Neil Diamond
10. Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, The Platters
You know, "Take a Chance on Me," might make a good campaign theme song for McCain...
Anyway, that led to Geoffrey offering his own list of top ten albums and he invited others to opine similarly. And so, here are my Top Ten Albums of all times (or at least how I'm thinking today). In no particular order...
1. Birds Fly South, Zoe Speaks
(Zoe Speaks WAS a duo from here in Kentucky. The duo - Mitch Barrett and Carla Gover - have since gone their separate ways and each are making wonderful music alone and in various other configurations. Still, their Zoe Speaks albums were all fantastic and worthy of checking out.)
2. A liturgy, a legacy and a ragamuffin band, Rich Mullins
(Giving a nod to my Contemporary Christian Music days - still, I think Mullins' album holds up in any context. Unfortunately, Mr. Mullins left this world much too soon. His was one of the greatest concerts I've ever attended.)
3. Tanglewood Tree, Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer
(Great album. Period. Poetry in motion.
Dave Carter has, sadly, passed away all too young and too soon. The good news is that Tracy Grammer is still plugging away.)
4. Wrecking Ball, Emmy Lou Harris
(Emmy Lou. Nuff said)
5. World in Motion, Jackson Browne
(A bit dated, but great political soul-searching and rabble rousing)
6. Tracy Chapman, Tracy Chapman
(I don't think her subsequent albums were as great as her first one here, but this one is simply great.)
7. Legend, Bob Marley
(A best-of album, and a great collection)
8. O Brother Where Art Thou, soundtrack
(If soundtracks can be included - and in my list, they can be - this would be one to consider. Not a bad song on here. Plus it resurrected a genre and became a phenomenon, which is not true for most music I like. Also inspired, the related "Down from the Mountain Tour" album and in a similar vein... no wait...)
9. Cold Mountain, soundtrack
(I was going to throw this in with the previous item, but decided it needed its own entry - a great soundtrack)
10. Old Crow Medicine Show, OCMS
(These guys are just fantastic, bringing an energy and joy to bluegrass music that makes it feel contemporary - and they have a new album coming out soon!)
Do you have a top albums list? Or just a list of favorite songs?
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Blessed are the Peacemakers?
Well, that might be a stretch. But let me offer some cautious praise for President Bush (whodathunk you'd ever read that here?)...
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush said Wednesday he is dispatching U.S. military personnel to Georgia in a "vigorous and ongoing" mission to provide humanitarian aid to victims of the fighting between Russian and Georgian troops.
Shortly after Bush spoke, the White House announced that a U.S. Air Force C-17 cargo jet carrying medical supplies arrived in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi.
Another C-17 is to arrive in Tbilisi on Thursday carrying more supplies, including 104,000 doses of antibiotics requested by the Georgian Ministry of Health, a State Department spokesman said. The value of both shipments is $1.28 million, he said.
Bush said more U.S. military aid missions were planned by the Navy and Air Force.
He warned Russia not to interfere with any relief efforts.
"We expect Russia to honor its commitment to let in all forms of humanitarian assistance. We expect Russia to ensure that all lines of communication and transport, including seaports, airports, roads, and airspace, remain open for the delivery of humanitarian assistance and for civilian transit," Bush said at the White House.
I remain prayerful that this would just be a humanitarian mission and not a way of striving to provoke Russia into a larger conflict. I also offer thanks for France's negotiation of the ceasefire yesterday. May cooler heads prevail.
With prayers for peace and justice...
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush said Wednesday he is dispatching U.S. military personnel to Georgia in a "vigorous and ongoing" mission to provide humanitarian aid to victims of the fighting between Russian and Georgian troops.
Shortly after Bush spoke, the White House announced that a U.S. Air Force C-17 cargo jet carrying medical supplies arrived in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi.
Another C-17 is to arrive in Tbilisi on Thursday carrying more supplies, including 104,000 doses of antibiotics requested by the Georgian Ministry of Health, a State Department spokesman said. The value of both shipments is $1.28 million, he said.
Bush said more U.S. military aid missions were planned by the Navy and Air Force.
He warned Russia not to interfere with any relief efforts.
"We expect Russia to honor its commitment to let in all forms of humanitarian assistance. We expect Russia to ensure that all lines of communication and transport, including seaports, airports, roads, and airspace, remain open for the delivery of humanitarian assistance and for civilian transit," Bush said at the White House.
I remain prayerful that this would just be a humanitarian mission and not a way of striving to provoke Russia into a larger conflict. I also offer thanks for France's negotiation of the ceasefire yesterday. May cooler heads prevail.
With prayers for peace and justice...
Saturday, August 9, 2008
The Bible and Economics...
A continuing effort on my part to list what the Bible has to say about economic issues - on wealth and poverty. When I'm done, I'd like to have one source of a fairly large compendium of what the Bible has to say on matters of wealth and poverty.
There is a sidebar below on the left (Titled, "The Bible and Economics") where you can see the other entries.
I have not seen an official count, but clearly, the Bible talks about money, wealth and poverty more than practically any other topic. Today, we're looking at the last chapter of 1 Timothy...
All who are under the yoke as slaves are to regard their own masters as worthy of all honor so that the name of God and our doctrine will not be spoken against.
Those who have believers as their masters must not be disrespectful to them because they are brethren, but must serve them all the more, because those who partake of the benefit are believers and beloved. Teach and preach these principles
If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing; but he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions, and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain.
But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment. For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either.
If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content. But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction.
For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness…
Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.
Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.
There is a sidebar below on the left (Titled, "The Bible and Economics") where you can see the other entries.
I have not seen an official count, but clearly, the Bible talks about money, wealth and poverty more than practically any other topic. Today, we're looking at the last chapter of 1 Timothy...
All who are under the yoke as slaves are to regard their own masters as worthy of all honor so that the name of God and our doctrine will not be spoken against.
Those who have believers as their masters must not be disrespectful to them because they are brethren, but must serve them all the more, because those who partake of the benefit are believers and beloved. Teach and preach these principles
If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing; but he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions, and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain.
But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment. For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either.
If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content. But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction.
For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness…
Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.
Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Embracing Mindful Living
Cindy G preached a great sermon last Sunday while Pastor Cindy was on vacation. The week before, Michelle L gave another fantastic sermon on “Listening, as Prayer.” Both sermons are excerpted on Jeff Street’s blog and I offer a bit of Cindy G’s sermon here. She was preaching on the Acts story of the miraculous release of Peter from prison.
A few weekends ago on the evening of a full moon, we were up at Patoka Lake and went night-sky stargazing. The bright lunar landscape commanded most of our attention, but as we turned to go back inside, we noticed a small point of light that hung beyond the tall firs, and decided to explore further with a small telescope.
What to our naked eyes first appeared to be an ordinary star was the massive planet Jupiter, with a band of swirling gases around her and four moons in orbit. Sometimes, when I’m watching clouds during the middle of the day, I think in awe about the whole other worlds and galaxies that are happening beyond my vision, spinning without us noticing…
I wonder if much of the time I’m missing out on so much of God’s activity in the world and in my life because I am just not attuned to seeing it…
We live in a culture that trains us well for mindless living. For example, we don’t have to think about where our food or clothes or other products come from. If I want, I can open the fridge, take out a can of soda, and drink it without ever thinking about the laborers in Ghana who mined the aluminum ore for the can, or the sea merchants who shipped the ore to the US factories, or the farmers in Central America who grew the corn to make the syrup to sweeten my soda, or the Appalachian Mountains that were demolished to extract the coal that gives me the electricity to run my refrigerator that keeps my soda cold. In fact, the culture that we live in counts on the fact that we won’t be mindful of our consumption and of all the people that are affected by our mindless consumption.
American culture creates masters at thoughtless living.
Mindlessness is the stance of the Empire. Don’t pay attention to what’s going on. Don’t stop and think, don’t question authority, don’t wonder why the social order is the way it is.
Don’t contemplate how things could be different!
Fill all the silences, stay busy, work longer hours, BUY MORE STUFF!
We become so accustomed to life as we know it that we have a hard time envisioning a world apart from the Empire.
When even Peter, one of the most zealous of the disciples, requires an angel to poke him awake and when even THEN he still doesn’t get what miraculous movement God is doing right in plain view, how much more do WE have to work to stay awake and live in a posture of openness?
It was difficult for Peter to be attentive to what God was doing because he was chained down by the Roman Empire. Peter had seen miracles, performed miracles himself, and again and again been witness to God’s power of deliverance. Yet the Powers that held him captive had the power to shadow his hope and belief in God’s miraculous work in the world…
If mindlessness is the way of the Empire, Mindfulness is the way of Shalom, of the Realm of God. The powers of the world would rather we stay asleep. How can we be awake to God’s presence?
…If we take the time to pay better attention, and if we block out some of the noise of the Empire, I think we are more likely to be surprised by God every day. Perhaps we’d be stunned in disbelief at the many moments we are invited to co-create with God. Perhaps we’d reel in incredulity at the many ways we are invited to embrace freedom from this world, from earthly restraints, from the evil powers of the Empire that seeks to imprison us. And we would instead become attuned to the Spirit, we’d expect miracles, we’d believe in the possibility of God’s deliverance.
Perhaps if we lived in mindfulness, we’d fin d more occasions for holy amazement, shock at God’s movement…
[Kathleen Norris quotes a modern Benedictine who says] “the classic sign of our acceptance of God’s mystery is welcoming and making room for” the stranger, the other, the surprising, the unlooked for, and the unwanted. It means learning to read the world better, that we may better know our place in it.
May we all be granted these gifts:
The hospitality of the desert Benedictines,
The mindfulness of the Buddhist monk,
The attentive eye of a nature writer,
And the imperfect belief of the disciples of the emerging church.
Amen.
A few weekends ago on the evening of a full moon, we were up at Patoka Lake and went night-sky stargazing. The bright lunar landscape commanded most of our attention, but as we turned to go back inside, we noticed a small point of light that hung beyond the tall firs, and decided to explore further with a small telescope.
What to our naked eyes first appeared to be an ordinary star was the massive planet Jupiter, with a band of swirling gases around her and four moons in orbit. Sometimes, when I’m watching clouds during the middle of the day, I think in awe about the whole other worlds and galaxies that are happening beyond my vision, spinning without us noticing…
I wonder if much of the time I’m missing out on so much of God’s activity in the world and in my life because I am just not attuned to seeing it…
We live in a culture that trains us well for mindless living. For example, we don’t have to think about where our food or clothes or other products come from. If I want, I can open the fridge, take out a can of soda, and drink it without ever thinking about the laborers in Ghana who mined the aluminum ore for the can, or the sea merchants who shipped the ore to the US factories, or the farmers in Central America who grew the corn to make the syrup to sweeten my soda, or the Appalachian Mountains that were demolished to extract the coal that gives me the electricity to run my refrigerator that keeps my soda cold. In fact, the culture that we live in counts on the fact that we won’t be mindful of our consumption and of all the people that are affected by our mindless consumption.
American culture creates masters at thoughtless living.
Mindlessness is the stance of the Empire. Don’t pay attention to what’s going on. Don’t stop and think, don’t question authority, don’t wonder why the social order is the way it is.
Don’t contemplate how things could be different!
Fill all the silences, stay busy, work longer hours, BUY MORE STUFF!
We become so accustomed to life as we know it that we have a hard time envisioning a world apart from the Empire.
When even Peter, one of the most zealous of the disciples, requires an angel to poke him awake and when even THEN he still doesn’t get what miraculous movement God is doing right in plain view, how much more do WE have to work to stay awake and live in a posture of openness?
It was difficult for Peter to be attentive to what God was doing because he was chained down by the Roman Empire. Peter had seen miracles, performed miracles himself, and again and again been witness to God’s power of deliverance. Yet the Powers that held him captive had the power to shadow his hope and belief in God’s miraculous work in the world…
If mindlessness is the way of the Empire, Mindfulness is the way of Shalom, of the Realm of God. The powers of the world would rather we stay asleep. How can we be awake to God’s presence?
…If we take the time to pay better attention, and if we block out some of the noise of the Empire, I think we are more likely to be surprised by God every day. Perhaps we’d be stunned in disbelief at the many moments we are invited to co-create with God. Perhaps we’d reel in incredulity at the many ways we are invited to embrace freedom from this world, from earthly restraints, from the evil powers of the Empire that seeks to imprison us. And we would instead become attuned to the Spirit, we’d expect miracles, we’d believe in the possibility of God’s deliverance.
Perhaps if we lived in mindfulness, we’d fin d more occasions for holy amazement, shock at God’s movement…
[Kathleen Norris quotes a modern Benedictine who says] “the classic sign of our acceptance of God’s mystery is welcoming and making room for” the stranger, the other, the surprising, the unlooked for, and the unwanted. It means learning to read the world better, that we may better know our place in it.
May we all be granted these gifts:
The hospitality of the desert Benedictines,
The mindfulness of the Buddhist monk,
The attentive eye of a nature writer,
And the imperfect belief of the disciples of the emerging church.
Amen.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
In The News...
(DWT) Louisville, KY
Blackberry picking season has come and gone. She was beautiful while she visited with us and remains forever glorious in our memories.
News where Obama is correct:
(AP) Lansing, MI
"Breaking our oil addiction is one of the greatest challenges our generation will ever face. It will take nothing less than a complete transformation of our economy," he said. "This transformation will be costly, and given the fiscal disaster we will inherit from the last administration, it will likely require us to defer some other priorities."
News where Obama is (at least partially) wrong:
(AP) Lansing, MI
...Obama also reiterated his statement Friday that he could support limited new offshore drilling if it were needed to enact a compromise energy policy to foster fuel-efficient autos and alternative energy sources...
"Like all compromises, this one has its drawbacks. It includes a limited amount of new offshore drilling, and while I still don't believe that's a particularly meaningful short-term or long-term solution, I am willing to consider it if it's necessary to actually pass a comprehensive plan," Obama said. "I am not interested in making the perfect the enemy of the good particularly since there is so much good in this compromise that would actually reduce our dependence on foreign oil."
It is sad that the so-called "liberal" media is not reporting more strongly the fallacy in the McCain plan to "solve" our energy problems by doing more of the same - drilling for oil offshore. As has been noted by the Dept of Energy, drilling for oil will at best produce some oil in a decade or so, resulting in a savings of a few pennies a gallon. It is NO solution. We must reduce our consumption.
And that need not be a doom and gloom message, by the way. I like the way Obama is framing it: This is OUR race to the moon. Our Victory Garden. Our chance to come together as a nation for a positive change.
It is a shame that Obama feels a need to kowtow and compromise with the Republicans and Oiligarchy on this point, but at least he is saying some of the right things.
(MSNBC)
President Bush committed an impeachable offense by ordering the CIA to to manufacture a false pretense for the Iraq war in the form of a backdated, handwritten document linking Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda, an explosive new book claims.
Impeach him already. What does it take to get people outraged? What does it take to get our Democrat majority to act?
(And I understand the arguments against impeachment at this point. Regardless, this man and his team need to be held accountable)
UPDATE:
More news from Obama in response to the lame McCain tire pressure "joke..."
Blackberry picking season has come and gone. She was beautiful while she visited with us and remains forever glorious in our memories.
News where Obama is correct:
(AP) Lansing, MI
"Breaking our oil addiction is one of the greatest challenges our generation will ever face. It will take nothing less than a complete transformation of our economy," he said. "This transformation will be costly, and given the fiscal disaster we will inherit from the last administration, it will likely require us to defer some other priorities."
News where Obama is (at least partially) wrong:
(AP) Lansing, MI
...Obama also reiterated his statement Friday that he could support limited new offshore drilling if it were needed to enact a compromise energy policy to foster fuel-efficient autos and alternative energy sources...
"Like all compromises, this one has its drawbacks. It includes a limited amount of new offshore drilling, and while I still don't believe that's a particularly meaningful short-term or long-term solution, I am willing to consider it if it's necessary to actually pass a comprehensive plan," Obama said. "I am not interested in making the perfect the enemy of the good particularly since there is so much good in this compromise that would actually reduce our dependence on foreign oil."
It is sad that the so-called "liberal" media is not reporting more strongly the fallacy in the McCain plan to "solve" our energy problems by doing more of the same - drilling for oil offshore. As has been noted by the Dept of Energy, drilling for oil will at best produce some oil in a decade or so, resulting in a savings of a few pennies a gallon. It is NO solution. We must reduce our consumption.
And that need not be a doom and gloom message, by the way. I like the way Obama is framing it: This is OUR race to the moon. Our Victory Garden. Our chance to come together as a nation for a positive change.
It is a shame that Obama feels a need to kowtow and compromise with the Republicans and Oiligarchy on this point, but at least he is saying some of the right things.
(MSNBC)
President Bush committed an impeachable offense by ordering the CIA to to manufacture a false pretense for the Iraq war in the form of a backdated, handwritten document linking Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda, an explosive new book claims.
Impeach him already. What does it take to get people outraged? What does it take to get our Democrat majority to act?
(And I understand the arguments against impeachment at this point. Regardless, this man and his team need to be held accountable)
UPDATE:
More news from Obama in response to the lame McCain tire pressure "joke..."
“It's like these guys take pride in being ignorant,” Obama told a packed gym. “They think it’s funny that they're making fun of something that is actually true. They need to do their homework.”
“Instead of running ads about Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, they should go talk to some energy experts and actually make a difference,” Obama added.
======
A perfect response to a ridiculous set of ads.
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