Powerful story of a man who begins to believe in the death penalty after his brother is brutally murdered. Then, through a strange turn of events he draws near enough to the murderer to actually consider the act of killing him. But, removed from the anonymous abstraction of capital punishment, the thought of revenge feels strangely different. When we kill through state action we all feel innocent, but what if we had to take personal responsibility for the act? Would we still believe in capital punishment if we had to choose an actual weapon and perform the act?
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/05/opinion/sunday/wanting-to-kill.html?_r=1&hp
It’s called “disaster capitalism,” that merger of U.S. military and economic interests in another country while taking advantage of another problem. When people say that the war on drugs has been a bumbling disaster, they may be missing the point. Wars like Vietnam or the “War on Drugs” are not failures to those making the money.
“The Truthout on the Mexican Border series has noted that more than 50,000 persons have been killed since the outgoing Mexican President, Felipe Calderón, launched the escalation of law enforcement and military attacks on drug cartels in 2006, at the behest of the United States. But most of those murdered and injured are widely considered civilian collateral damage, as are the minimum of 10,000 missing persons and the more than 180,000 (primarily indigenous) Mexicans displaced by the conflict.
As a result of this record of destruction left in the wake of the US-declared war on drugs, Paley speculated that there may be other unstated goals at work, particularly US military hegemony through surrogate armies (and paramilitary forces) in Latin America that help facilitate economic “free trade” expansion for transnational corporations.” -Mark Karlin, Truthout
http://truth-out.org/news/item/10676-how-the-war-on-drugs-in-latin-america-benefits-transnational-corporations-and-undermines-democracy
Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting is a great site to gain clarity on bias in media. The site clearly leans left, but give the background to stories that are being slanted for political reasons. In this case the mainstream media is passing on the story of an Obama gaffe where he said to small businesses, “you didn’t build that.” The only problem is that’s not exactly what he said.
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=4593
This is an interesting story about a man who posed as a guru only to find crowds of people willing to follow whatever he taught. In some ways, the more obscurely he spoke, the more profound he was thought to be. It started as a documentary, but it became much more than that for the teacher and the students. For those of us in religious leadership, it is a cautionary tale.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sara-davidson/phony-guru-exposed_b_1731359.html
The people of a village once looked out to see one of their most pious neighbors tied to a tree. Rushing out to release him, they were stunned to discover that he had tied the knots himself. “Jesus tied his ass to a tree,” the man said sternly, “and I’m going to follow Jesus!”
“But the word “ass” originally meant “donkey,”” someone replied. ”Jesus wouldn’t want you to suffer like this.” The man shook his head, “God’s word is unchanging. If you want to pick and choose what you’re going to obey that’s fine, but I take it all literally.”
Eventually, there was just a skeleton tied to the tree, but the people were so impressed by the faith of the man they built a gate around the tree with a sign that read, “An Altar to Literalism.”
Noam Chomsky is a traitor. And by “traitor,” of course, I mean he loves humankind more than his own nation. Chomsky for decades has had the arrogance to try to hold the US to the same standards as the other, inferior, peoples of the world. He has actually questioned our motives as global Godfather. In this disgusting piece, Chomsky commits three sins that no real American journalist would. First, he gives voice to our victims. Second he looks for a standard that would be fair for everyone. Third, like a ferral cat, he digs up the corpses of our victims and leaves them at our doorstep. There was a reason Superman chose to make his secret identity a reporter among American journalists. He knew they wouldn’t ask the kinds of questions Noam Chomsky does.
http://www.nationofchange.org/hiroshima-s-shadow-1344000168
Well, I’m back from writing leave. This Sunday I’ll begin the sermon series on “Strange Places in the Bible.” In the series we’ll look at some places in the Bible most liberal preachers just ignore because they’re so terrible. This week we’ll look at Genesis 3:1-7 where the “fall” is traditionally blamed on Eve. That’s the easy part. Then we’ll turn to 1 Timothy 2:8-15 where the author tells women to shut up in church and not try to be leaders because the fall was Eve’s fault. In the series we’ll think about the question, “What do we do with those parts of the Bible that no intelligent person can believe and no decent person can obey?” Thanks for all the suggestions. If I live, I’ll give a report.
The following clip is a nice resource on single payer health care. It’s a bit long so you may want to watch in section, but it is important to keep our eyes on the prize. Whatever short term compromises seem necessary, single payer is the way out of our health care woes. This clip is a nice summary of some of the arguments in favor of single payer, and against profit driven motives for health care. The “Real News” set is cheesy, but the thoughts are good.
http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/10641-what-a-single-payer-health-insurance-plan-looks-like
