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Wisdom Is Where You Find It
There's no such thing as a book you can't learn something from. Even so-called 'light reading' can present you with some pretty heavy things to think about.
Today's example of this principle in action is the following text, which comprises the opening page of a 1999 private-eye novel written by Les Roberts titled "The Best-Kept Secret." (You can find a copy at your local public library, a wonderful resource if ever there was one -- thank you, Mr. Franklin! -- or buy one here, among other places.)
Wisdom is where you find it. And this mini-essay by Mr. Roberts qualifies as darn good wisdom in my book.
Where do people come up with their agendas, their causes, their passionate advocacies? They don't tell you what your responsibilities are when you're born. They don't give you a job description and a list of your duties. You have to figure it out for yourself.
I'm not presumptuous enough to say exactly why I was put here on earth, because I don't know. And when I meet somebody who does, who tells me they're absolutely certain they were created to save the whales, spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ, revive the American theatre, kill everyone who isn't a white Protestant, convince gay people to change their wicked ways, rail against the evils of demon rum, or bitch at other poor bastards about the sexual habits, their choice of reading material, or their cigarette smoking, they are either purely full of baloney or possessed of the most astonishing hubris.
What's right for me isn't necessarily right for somebody else, and I take great umbrage at those who try to force the rest of us to do it their way.
I think our main job is to find out who we are and what's the right thing to do for ourselves individually, and then shut up about it and go do it.
Rick,
Thanks, I guess I'll silently figure that out and scoot out of the way.
I agree with everything you've said here, Rick, except for the part about shutting up.
I used to feel that way--the whole ZEN thing and all--but really, we simply can not be silent in our modeling. We must sing loudly, and in concert with each other.
The piece I co-wrote in the Fall, FEAR UP, is named after a torture technique that I think we are victims of collectively.
From the WaPo, June 9, 2004:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29742-2004Jun9.html
"17 techniques are approved in standard military doctrine and carry these names: direct questioning; incentive/removal of incentive; emotional love/hate; fear up/harsh; fear up/mild; reduced fear; pride and ego up and down; futility; "we know all"; establish your identity; repetition; file and dossier; good cop/bad cop; rapid fire; and silence.
...tactics required interrogators to notify commanders in advance of their use... "fear up/harsh," in which interrogators could yell at prisoners, throw things around the interrogation room and convince a detainee that he has something to fear."
I believe that insidiously we have been subject to fear up/mild and fear/up harsh in doses so that we will become anxious and docile.
It is the best explanation I have for the lack up willingness to speak up in the face of horrors done in our name.
And pictures are worth a thousand words...
When George Met Jack
White House aides deny the President knew lobbyist Abramoff, but unpublished photos shown to TIME suggest there's more to the story
As details poured out about the illegal and unseemly activities of Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff, White House officials sought to portray the scandal as a Capitol Hill affair with little relevance to them. Peppered for days with questions about Abramoff's visits to the White House, press secretary Scott McClellan said the now disgraced lobbyist had attended two huge holiday receptions and a few "staff-level meetings" that were not worth describing further. "The President does not know him, nor does the President recall ever meeting him," McClellan said.
The President's memory may soon be unhappily refreshed. TIME has seen five photographs of Abramoff and the President that suggest a level of contact between them that Bush's aides have downplayed. While TIME's source refused to provide the pictures for publication, they are likely to see the light of day eventually because celebrity tabloids are on the prowl for them.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1151747,00.html
they are likely to see the light of day eventually because celebrity tabloids are on the prowl for them.
***Love it!
I've said for five years that Bush doesn't know Jack... but apparently, he does.
Whoda thunk?
U.S. accused of spying on those who disagree with Bush policies
BY WILLIAM E. GIBSON
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
WASHINGTON - While the White House defended domestic surveillance as a safeguard against terrorism, a Florida peace activist and several Democrats in Congress accused the Bush administration on Friday of spying on Americans who disagree with President Bush's policies.
Richard Hersh, of Boca Raton, Fla., director of Truth Project Inc. of Palm Beach County, told an ad hoc panel of House Democrats that his group and others in South Florida have been infiltrated and spied upon despite having no connections to terrorists.
"Agents rummaged through the trash, snooped into e-mails, packed Web sites and listened in on phone conversations," Hersh charged. "We know that address books and activist meeting lists have disappeared."
The Truth Project gained national attention when NBC News reported last month that it was described as a "credible threat" in a database of suspicious activity compiled by the Pentagon's Talon program. The listing cited the group's gathering a year ago at a Quaker meeting house in Lake Worth, Fla., to talk about ways to counter military recruitment at high schools.
Talon is separate from the controversial domestic-surveillance program conducted by the National Security Agency. Bush has acknowledged signing orders that allow the NSA to eavesdrop without the usual court warrants, prompting an outcry from many in Congress.
Bush plans to tour the NSA on Wednesday as part of a campaign to defend his handling of the program.
"This is a critical tool that helps us save lives and prevent attacks," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said on Friday. "It is limited and targeted to al-Qaida communications, with the focus being on detection and prevention."
The Defense Department's Talon program collects data from a wide variety of sources, including military personnel and private citizens, Pentagon spokesman Greg Hicks said.
"They are unfiltered dots of information about perceived threats," Hicks said. "An analyst will look at that information. And what we are trying to do is connect the dots before the next major attack."
To Hersh and some members of Congress, the warrant-less surveillance and Talon are all a part of domestic-spying operations that threaten civil liberties of average Americans and put dissenters under a cloud of suspicion.
"Neither you nor anybody in that (Quaker) church had anything to do with terrorism," said Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Fla. "The fact is, the Truth Project may have a philosophy that is adverse to the political philosophy and goals of the president of the United States. And as a result of that different philosophy, the president and the secretary of defense ordered that your group be spied upon.
"There should not be a single American who today remains confident that it couldn't happen to them."
http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/politics/13675006.htm
Army officer guilty in Iraqi general's death
Convicted of negligent homicide at detention camp
FORT CARSON, Colorado (AP) -- An Army officer was found guilty of negligent homicide late Saturday in the death of an Iraqi general at a detention camp, but was spared a conviction of murder that could have sent him to prison for life.
A panel of six Army officers also convicted Chief Warrant Officer Lewis Welshofer Jr., 43, of negligent dereliction of duty. He was acquitted of assault after six hours of deliberations.
Welshofer was accused of putting a sleeping bag over the head of Iraqi Maj. Gen. Abed Hamed Mowhoush, sitting on his chest and using his hand to cover the general's mouth while asking him questions in 2003.
Welshofer, who stood silently and showed no reaction when the verdict was announced, faces a dishonorable discharge and up to three years in prison for negligent homicide and three months for negligent dereliction of duty. Sentencing was scheduled for Monday.
If convicted of the original murder charge, he could have been sentenced to life in prison.
The defense had argued a heart condition caused Mowhoush's death, and that Welshofer's commanders had approved the interrogation technique.
"What he was doing he was doing in the open, and he was doing it because he believed the information in fact would save lives," attorney Frank Spinner said.
more... http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/01/22/suffocation.case.ap/index.html
karen:
I suspect that some of us may have missed the closing point of that mini-essay at the top of this thread. The way I read it, the point is to go out and walk the walk instead of just sitting around talking the talk.
Nobody says we can't make noise while we're doing it, but the criticial thing is to DO IT. Words weithout action are useless. Can't just sit and talk, people, gotta go out and walk too.
Which is, of course, the DCP way of achieving things as well. *grin*
putting our motions where our mouths is,
Otter
Burns changed vote on bill about the Marianas islands
By JENNIFER McKEE Missoulian State Bureau
HELENA - U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., met with a Marianas official who had close ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff in the weeks before Burns received an Abramoff-related $5,000 contribution from the Marianas and reversed his earlier position on a bill about the islands.
The politician, Gov. Benigno Fitial, has said he will cooperate with the Justice Department's ongoing investigation into potential bribery of public officials involving Abramoff, a man Fitial once described as a “close friend,” according to Pacific Magazine, a Hawaii publication that covers the Pacific region.
The Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands is a U.S. territory near Guam. Citizens there are U.S. citizens, although the island is exempt from many U.S. standards, including minimum wage.
http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2006/01/21/news/mtregional/news06.txt
‘The ghost at the banquet’
CIA role a mystery at court-martial of Army officer in Iraqi general's death
FORT CARSON, Colo. - (AP) The initials were spoken aloud only once all week, and then apparently by mistake.
After this past week’s testimony, any role the CIA had — or didn’t have — in the interrogation of an Iraqi general who died in U.S. custody remains a tantalizing and mysterious backdrop to the court-martial of Army Chief Warrant Officer Lewis Welshofer Jr.
The CIA is “the ghost at the banquet,” said Eugene R. Fidell, an expert in military law who has been following the court-martial but doesn’t know if the CIA was involved in the case.
Playing 'Hamlet'
“We’re playing ‘Hamlet’ without Hamlet here,” said Fidell, an attorney in private practice who teaches military law at American University in Washington. He also represented news organizations in their attempts to open pretrial hearings in Welshofer’s prosecution.
-snip-
The defense had argued a heart condition caused Mowhoush’s death, and that Welshofer’s commanders had approved the interrogation technique.
In 2004, the CIA said one of its officers may have been involved in Mowhoush’s death, but the agency refused to elaborate. Last August, The Washington Post reported that documents it examined said Mowhoush was severely beaten by a CIA-sponsored Iraqi paramilitary group two days before he died.
Testimony at Welshofer’s court-martial this past week confirmed that Mowhoush was indeed beaten by Iraqis two days before he died. But the witness, Chief Warrant Officer Todd Sonnek, did not identify the Iraqis.
Then defense lawyer Frank Spinner at one point questioned a witness whose identity is so secret that he was shielded from reporters and others by a green tarp suspended from the ceiling. The witness had said he was alarmed when Welshofer told him he thought the Army’s interrogation guidelines were being broken every day.
“And you didn’t report it to the CIA?” Spinner asked. The attorney then stopped himself and quickly apologized to the judge.
more... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10971389/
Today's NYT has two LTES about the swift-boat attacks on John Murtha. Both are worth reading, IMHO and particularly the second one.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/22/opinion/l22purple.html
More problems for Congressman Ney and the nonending trail of corruption in the Republican ranks.
As Sonny and Cher use to sing..."The Beat Goes On..."
GOP boss urges Ney to resign if indicted
No charges filed against lawmaker yet in lobby case
By Malia Rulon
Enquirer Washington Bureau
ON THE WEB
Ohio Republican Party, www.ohiogop.org
Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, http://ney.house.gov
Joe Sulzer for Congress, www.joesulzer.com
ADVERTISEMENT
WASHINGTON - Ohio Republican Chairman Bob Bennett said Thursday that he'd ask Rep. Bob Ney to resign from Congress if he were indicted on felony charges.
Bennett stressed that Ney, R-Heath, has not been charged with any crime and that the party backs him for re-election.
However, if the Justice Department investigation of former Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff leads to a Ney indictment, that would change.
"If he's indicted for a felony, we would ask him to step aside until the matter is cleared up," Bennett said in a phone interview with The Enquirer.
http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060120/NEWS01/601200414/1056/CINCI
And the beat goes on...
Washingtonian adds: "Sources say the photographs are being kept safe. Abramoff would tell prosecutors, if asked, that not only did he know the President, but the President knew the names of Abramoff’s children and asked about them during their meetings. At one such photo session, Bush discussed the fact that both he and Abramoff were fathers of twins."
-- Josh Marshall
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/007495.php
I got from the essay that we are not on wacko things like pre-ordained missions from invisible entities (though some people, even high in government, may think that they are).
I quite liked it.
There are a couple of groups on preordained missions in town this weekend - today we have White Power advocates, tomorrow people who want to overthrow Roe v Wade.
This is awful and takes a serious subject and belittles the importance. I'm sickened by this type of politicizing!
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/1/22/2812/17283
Republican PAC sends out fake Sex Offender Notice to Washington State voters
This is my first diary here at Daily Kos. What motivated me to finally post was a fake sex offender notice I received in the mail today. On the front it said Sex Offender Notification is bold capital letters. However the back of the postcard didn't contain any information on a sex offender that may be living in my community. It contained a message from a Republican PAC called The Speaker's Roundtable. The message was that my Democratic State Senator refused to impose life sentences for violent sex predators, and accused him of protecting sex offenders over children. Below is a link to the only website I found that has a copy of the postcard up
Geargia10 at kos links the terror to Roves 06 plan to get NeoCONS elected.
Here's a snippet but read the rest here:
WINNING THE WAR--BY SPARKING AN INCREASE IN TERRORISM
The MIPT Terrorism Knowledge base, which receives funding and strategic guidance from the Department of Homeland Security, tracks all publicly reported international and domestic terrorism incidents around the world. (Hat tip to ericbrewer for bringing the site to our attention here). Bush and his cabal insist that the way the administration has prosecuted the War on Terrorism has made the world is a safer place. The whole point of "winning" the war is to decrease the number of terrorism worldwide. Yet look at this chart tracking the number of terrorism incidents, domestic and international, since 2003 (the year we invaded Iraq):
The number of terrorist attacks has steadily increased under Bush's leadership. As ericbrewer points out, based on the terrorist database, "the sum of "international" and "domestic" terrorist attacks in 2005 was 3991, up 51% from the previous year's figure of 2639. The number of deaths that resulted from those attacks was 6872, which is 36% higher than the 5066 that occurred in 2004."
Karl Rove said "Republicans have a post-9/11 worldview and many Democrats have a pre-9/11 worldview." I guess the GOP "post-9/11 worldview" is one where, to quote kos, "If violence is down, it's a good thing. If violence is up, it's a good thing. If violence is WAY up, it's a great thing."
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/1/21/165738/106
Thanks Sparrow - disseminated widely to actual Washington state voters & volunteers. Dirty politics again.
& the Rove quotation - lock that man up now!!!
Posted by: DiAnne at January 22, 2006 12:17 PM
Dianne that kind of scare tactics is actually more harmful to children than if they stated their political intent all along.
The thing is, that it's like crying wolf!
Now, here in MI they have a list online that you can use to find out if there is a pediphile or sex offender in your area. It's nonpolitical and it's strictly for safety.
While I'll agree that people have strong political views on how to deal with any criminal, I beleive that this is more than a difference of opinion!
And in my opinion, one must ALWAYS treat anything that involves children and their safety without any politicizing. When one gives a safety warning it should be because they have specific facts, such as a pediphile who is being released from prison moving into your neighborhood.
Sparrow
What I think is that that PAC is using this as an emotional wedge issue, like homosexuality or abortion. For some reason, alot of their constituents have absolute lightning rods about any topic having to do with sex. It's strange.
Any of those topics provides an instant diversion.
It's a big problem because the real issues like hunger, and the environment, somehow don't have the sensationalism and emotional load - which is always surprising given that they will probably have a bigger impact on people's lives.
I heard one state Senator (Dem) on the radio and he said that when they pull the offenders out of certain communities, it may make things worse. Sometimes after getting out of prison, they live with their families, who are the only people they know. If uprooted, they may become homeless and then they may not even be tracked. It's a lot more complex than people think. There is one town near here that wants to be completely sex-offender free. Well good luck - they may clear out the convicted ones but it'll take them a long time to catch Uncle Ronnie or figure out about the local priest or math teacher, whatever.
It is another part of human life that isn't pretty and that people want to cover up instead of face and figure out how to deal with. & then there are the ruthless politicians who don't even care about the issue but exploit it, to get into office.
This is the anti-hate site but I'm not posting the hate site, though Elizabeth & I are going to go spy and find out what is going on. We do not want hate groups in town.
http://www.onepeoplesproject.com/site/index.php
Just like Bush NEVER knew or met with Kenny boy Lay! Time to ante up the ad attack for the 06' election don't you think ?? Today is the one day/mo THIS WEEK with Stephanopolis and JK appears and the show isn't presenting here.
Typical Wolf report this am with Holbrook:
"Sorry ,that's all we have time for today."
If any of you had the opportunity to view THIS WEEK,please report. Thanks!!
Posted by: DiAnne at January 22, 2006 12:36 PM
Dianne,
I don't know where it is, but someone had posted on D.U. a while ago about a website that tracked Republican (public officials and famous Republican speakers) who had been charged with sexual crimes.
Maybe someone else remembers and has the link.
Ok, I'm behind a topic or 2 and maybe I'm missing something, but I am wondering how the free documentary site from the previous thread is legal. They state on their FAQ that they have no relationship to the producers or filmmakers.
Sparrow
Well here are a bunch.
http://atlanta.craigslist.org/pol/124765402.html
I have always thought it's all that repression.
& it's always seemed curious to me just HOW MUCH TIME people like Rick Santorum spend just thinking about just what other people, especially kinky people, do in their bedrooms! WHY are they so interested? It seems to go beyond just making laws to an actual prurient concern.
Posted by: Ellen Beth at January 22, 2006 12:55 PM
I don't know.
But Ellen since you're here, I want to tell you how much I've enjoyed reading your blog.
I love your style of writing.
Ellen Beth
I would think the free documentary service acts like a lending library. If it is free and nothing is sold or shown for profit, shouldn't be a problem. I don't know about the ones for download, but the place where they send them out to you is legal. They don't try to make money and do receive some financing from a private anonymous donor. They aren't showing the movies, they are lending them.
I could find out the idea easily and will do so when I get a chance.
Check this out if you know any Vets.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/1/20/211258/581
Sorry to be a skeptic here but isn't the idea that you can't really have a lending library from downloads because you can have multiples. For example, if I lend you my physical DVD copy of the Wal-Mart movie, you have my copy and can give it back to me or lend it to someone else. If you copy it on another physical DVD that has a legal problem, but that is your next action, not part of my action of lending it to you. However, if I upload my copy of the Wal-mart movie to the web in a downloadable fashion and you can get a copy and MD can get a copy and Karen can get a copy and Sparrow can get a copy all at the same time. I have given away your movie for free. Seems like a legal problem to me, but I'm not an IP lawyer, so not at all an expert in the area.
Posted by: Ellen Beth at January 22, 2006 01:45 PM
Ellen what you said makes sense. Perhaps that site has documentation from the original owners to do this...
hmmmm....
Posted by: Ellen Beth at January 22, 2006 12:55 PM
Hmmm...Backtracking...
Ignore previous post from me.
The Bible is considered and treated as the ultimate authority, the standard to judge another, to justify belief, to settle disputes, etc, etc, etc by its followers.
And therein lies the source of trouble.
Jesus never wrote anything down, never built anything with his own hands. He lived with other people, not in a house of his own. I always found this curious...if the written word was the ultimate authority, who better to write it? In fact jesus even erased writing when he scribbled in the sand. He went OUT of his way to insure nothing in writing survived him.
Some of the most confrontational meetings with jesus are with scribes, versed in laws of the old testament. Jesus displays emnity with them, scolding and rebuking them. If the written laws and words were so sacred, there would not be these displays.
There seems to be a disconnection with what people believe, and what is actually contained in the Bible.
If we take only what jesus said, did and asked his followers to do, we are left with a vastly different teaching than much of the rest of the bible offers.
When asked for the most important law....when asked for guidelines to achieve holiness, when asked what a man must do, when asked "the bottom line", Jesus refers to compassion and care of your fellow human being.
How in the last 2 thousand years these teachings became the source of theology for making war, torturing heretics, burning women at the stake, justifying wholesale slaughter, and the invasion of foreign nations, isnt hard to understand.
The book was given higher cause than the message it contains. When that occurs, everything becomes justifiable.
It is why nothing was left in writing. Humanity has a unswerving tendancy to worship and hold sacred objects as the connection to heaven, when the message is we hold each other sacred and worthy of sacrafice.
Nobody asked what people believed before feeding them bread and fish. They were hungry, they were fed. What you or i believe is not important. That you or i need shelter, food, care and looking after is all that matters. your sexual orientation, beliefs, wealth, gender, color, etc, do not matter. We are all little pieces of Heaven.
Speak up when religious zealots come calling. the failure to do so results in some of the worst crimes humanity witnesses.
Posted by: Toolmaker at January 22, 2006 02:19 PM
Thanks Toolmaker,
I'll have to use that reminder on my fundie inlaws.
(Of course, THEY can preach Bible verse at me so what do I know?!!! They read the Bible every night--without fail.)
From Missionary to Mercenary
How the Church Went from Pacifism to Militancy and Why it Should Return
by Dr. A. L. Carpenter
"From Missionary to Mercenary" asks the question of how the Church changed its position of pacifism, as practiced for the first 400 years of the Church, to becoming one of the leading proponents of war.
-snip-
"And they shall know war…no more" Isaiah 2:4
Did Jesus condemn war?
Jesus condemned war forever when He did not summon an avenging army to prevent the humiliation, torture and execution of God's only son. He could have called ten thousand angels to prevent the greatest crime of all humanity. But, He let mankind carry out their wickedness, as they continue to do unto this very day, without inference, reprisal, revenge, or vengeance. No victim was more pure, innocent and worthy of rescue than Jesus our Lord. But, no "Just War" was declared then, nor should ever be in the future.
When Jesus said,
"You have heard it said, "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth." "But I say to you, do not resist him who is evil, but whoever slaps you on the right cheek turn to him the other also." Matthew 5:38
"You have heard it said, "You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy". But I say unto you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.
For if you love those who love you , what reward have you? Do not the tax gatherers do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?" Matthew 5:43-48
When Jesus spoke these words they were to an audience that lived their lives by violence and in a world of violence. The only law they knew was that of tooth and talon. Jesus said "no more, for those who are to be children of God." Vengeance will belong to the Lord Himself and not in the hands of the children of God.
This is the only aspect of living that sets apart a Christian from the rest of the world, other than religious belief. For 2000 years the people of God waged war against its neighbors for varying reasons, now Jesus says "No more." The children of God were once feared throughout the land for their fierceness in battle. Now, we are to be known as peacemakers. Jesus said ;
" Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the sons of God." Matthew 5:9
more... http://www.iranite.com/
Nice diary about publicly funded elections. Please read it.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/1/22/74421/4400#114
sparrow...
Reading the bible or memorizing verses doesn't mean a damned thing to me if you don't practice what is being preached... and fundies flat out don't.
Take all your memorized verses and shove em, and start taking a stand for the Prince of Peace.
Here's one for your in-laws...
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within they are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but within you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity." (Mt.23:27-28).
I don't know where it is, but someone had posted on D.U. a while ago about a website that tracked Republican (public officials and famous Republican speakers) who had been charged with sexual crimes.
Posted by: sparrow at January 22, 2006 12:45 PM
Here you go: http://www.armchairsubversive.com
and more here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_oet&address=358x814
monkey-I thought it was children of God, not sons of God? Cause if it's sons of God, I think the book made a big mistake, since it seems that it's mostly sons of God and not daughters of God that start all of the wars. Or maybe it was a special message to the boys.
Religion is so confusing.
Not that all men are warmakers, or all women pacifists or any generalization of any sex intended in my comment.
And to Ellen-Beth-you make an interesting point and I don't know the answer.
Sorry, didn't mean to get off on another religious rant, but the hypocrisy of the right wing and their so-called faith is the single most infuriating issue to me in the face of all that is happening under the this regime.
I mean, we are in Iraq to bring peace to the Iraqi's????
The sheer stupidity of the electorate is a close second.
monkey, spinnaker, sparrow,
A while back, we read the sermon of Methodist preacher Rev. Rich Lang: 'George Bush and the rise of Christian Fascism', found here:
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/article.php?sid=15261
It is a fascinating view into how the fundies and Bushco have manipulated Christianity to suit their purpose.
snip-
Fourth: Apocalyptic theology believes that Jesus dying for my sins is far more important than the teachings of Jesus. We see this in the recent movie PASSION OF THE CHRIST. What this creates is a spirituality that can overlook the teachings of Jesus. The Sermon on the Mount is re-framed as an impossible this-worldly ethic. Teachings about nonviolence, economic redistribution, compassion toward those who are thought of as sinners and resistance to injustice are all discounted. Recently, the Governor of Alabama in a fit of religious zeal wanted to take the economic teachings of Jesus seriously: he tried to reform his state to benefit the poor. The Christian Coalition led the charge against such thinking and foiled his efforts.
It is well worth the scary read!
Carol,
Thanks for all those links. They're all scary.
Far be it for me not to weigh in when something about the religious right is mentioned.
Re:
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within they are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but within you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity." (Mt.23:27-28).
Posted by: monkey at January 22, 2006 02:40 PM
Monkey, that verse seems to say it all, and they were spoken by Jesus Christ himself. I have found in my experience here for the brief amount of time I attempted to join together with people who are so steeped in their religion they fail to grow past their religious prejudices, attitutes and life styles, is that they are incapable of recognizing who someone really is who prefers to change inwardly and doesn't put much stock in the religious rituals and outward appearance of "looking spiritual".
I am a little sad, but mostly GLAD to report that I walked out of that situation over four months ago, and am very happy about it.
Adherence to "religious" practices and rituals does absolutely nothing to further spiritual growth. All it does is attempt to put a band-aid on seriously rotten and festering sores that lurk beneath the gauze.
That's why you get all these religious people parading around trying to control both their congregations and the entire world. They are deeply unhappy inside themselves because they haven't taken off the fascade of phoniness and religiosity and conformity and let themselves experience a true spiritual awakening and healing. They are the most wounded of all. And what they do to compensate for their deep sense of low self-esteem is ugly, harmful, and destructive to not only themselves, but to everyone they come in contact with.
It ain't how great you pretend to be, or how great you look, it always boils down to who you are inside. Jesus said that, too, that he didn't put stock in how men look on the outside, instead he looked at their heart.
Monkey, He's just as disappointed as you are.
I say let 'em do what they want, they are arrogant and stubborn and determined and closed minded.
Shake the dust off your feet, keep your focus, and move on. You will find as years progress that there are a few in every congregation who are sincere and know what you know. But, only a few.