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There is a new meteor in the Texas sky. Ted Cruz, originally thought not to have a chance, has won the Republican nomination for the Senate. He started as an unknown, but picked up the support of Rand Paul and the Tea Party. A brilliant conservative, he has written 70 briefs to the Supreme Court. His known causes are, states rights, posting the Ten Commandments on public property, and having the pledge be said at public schools. Anyone from Texas can do the math.
We have seen a dizzying flurry of attacks on civil liberties in the last decade. It was a matter of time until the Voting Rights Act came under fire. The Voting Rights Act gave citizens protection from states that wanted to redistrict or impose voter id programs that would disenfranchise minority voters. Three states with long histories of discrimination, Alabama, Florida and Texas, are now challenging those protections.
“A record five federal lawsuits filed this year challenge the constitutionality of a key provision in the Voting Rights Act. The 1965 statute prevents many state and local governments from enacting new voter ID requirements, redistricting plans and similar proposals on grounds that the changes would disenfranchise minorities.”
If your religion only has room for people like you, and my religion has room for people like me and for people like you, I would say my religion is twice as good.
Think about it: If you attack every idea that sounds unfamiliar, you have already learned every important lesson you are going to learn in your lifetime. From now on ideas will bounce off you like a bullet proof vest. A closed mind is like a salted field.
The Center for American Progress has reported that the extention of Bush tax cuts for those about over $250,000 will, in effect, raise taxes on 25 million Americans. Unfortunately, part of the burden of protecting the rich from paying their fair share will fall on military families.
“A corporal (E4) in the Marines with four years of service, who is married and has two children would see a tax increase of $448 under H.R. 8
A military police staff sergeant (E5) in the Air Force with eight years’ service, with a spouse and three young children at home, would see a tax increase of $1,118 under H.R. 8
A private in the U.S. Army (E1) in his first year of service, who is married with an infant child, would see a $273 tax increase under the Republican plan.” -Center for American Progress
Included below are two links. First there is a link to the article sited above. After that is a link to the Center for American Progress, which is worth a virtual field trip of its own.
http://www.americanprogress.org/
An old monk was riding a donkey down the mountain, when he saw a young man pulling a horse up the same road. “Young man, what are you doing?” The young man did not look up but continued to pull as he said, “This is a horse name “Religion.” My father gave it to me when I was a child. He told me to never leave it behind.”
Seeing that the poor horse was dead, the monk dismounted and said, “Young man, I knew your father. You have misunderstood what he told you. The name of the horse you are to ride is “life.” It will lift you up, it will carry you. When you find yourself protecting what you call “religion,” it is already dead. “
The young man finally stopped his dragging and panted, “But if the horse isn’t named “Religion,” what did my father mean?” “Your father knew this horse would die someday,” replied the monk. “He wanted you to find another horse named “Life” that fills you with excitement. “Religion” is not the name of horse, it is the name of the saddle that allows you to stay on your steed.”
I posted earlier that a new NASA telescope would begin today to look for blackholes. I had the wrong link to the story. Hopefully this one works:
http://www.npr.org/2012/07/31/157595833/telescope-targets-black-holes-binges-and-burps?sc=17&f=1001
Next time someone tries to paint a picture of welfare queens, remind them the the largest recipiate of welfare in the US today is not the poor, but the rich. Corporations have learned how to make public the risks, and make private the profits.
Last November, UC Davis police officer John Pike was recorded spraying pepper spray on peaceful protestors. In case that doesn’t sound so bad, consider the following quote from a Scientific American article:
“Using a scale of intensity developed 100 years ago by Wilbur Scoville, Blum notes that commercial-grade pepper spray is 1,000 times “hotter” than a jalapeño pepper. Most sprays are between 2 million and 5.3 million Scoville units—and the higher-end figure is the type police use.”
So imagine someone rubbing a jalapeno pepper in your eye. Now try to image something 1000 times worse. That’s what this “officer of the peace” did to peaceful protestors. The officer has finally left UC Davis, but it is unknown whether he was fired or resigned. Oh, and while he was being investigated, he was paid a six figure salary.
To read an article and see the video, click here:
http://www.alternet.org/hot-news-views/infamous-uc-davis-pepper-spray-cop-finally-loses-his-badge
Hitler only tortured people until they died, some people believe in a God infinitely more cruel. Some preachers speak of a God who tortures souls in eternity for mistakes made in this short, painful and confusing lifetime. And those unfortunate damned souls would be tortured for weaknesses and temptations also made by that same God.
There is no blasphemy, however vile, that insults God as much as the traditional doctrine of hell. I am not saying that hell is unreal. It is an important symbol of our alienation from life and from love. So hell is very real, but it is something we create, not God. And we certainly don’t have to die to get there.
In the creed, when Jesus descends to hell, it is not to mock the people, but to rescue them. The symbol of hell does not mean that God tortures the disobedient. It is a story of a rescue mission. The message is that, however real our fear and pain, they will not have the last word.