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While back in Utah over the holidays I heard a remark about the Mormon church that I used to hear a lot when I was younger: “The Church is true (or good, perfect—there are several variations), but the people in it aren’t.” I remember a friend of mine reciting that same phrase and I answered by saying that I felt the exact opposite—“the Church isn’t good, but some of the people in it are”. He took offense. In other words, he found it okay for non-Mormons to dislike individual Mormons or even the entire Mormon community, but intolerable to critique the church itself—the institution. At the time, my friend’s reaction surprised me, but it shouldn't have.

Eating a meal
With friends and family
Far away

Bringing the harvest home

Water and salt
The substance of life
Our destination

Bringing the harvest home

Sorrows and hardship
Forgotten
Pretension, dissention
Put away

Bringing the harvest home

Prepare for separation
In cantination
And celebration

Bringing the harvest home

A discussion about belief by PaulEdward Snyder as posted in PBA (Progressive Blog Alliance) prompted this review. Whenever doubt assails me, I turn to The Tragic Sense of Life and my faith is quickly restored. Faith and reason. The man of flesh and bone. Immortality. These are the themes Unamuno discusses with the ardent --fanatical I'd say--hunger for God. Thinkers such as Aristotle, Kant, Hegel, Spinoza, he discards, preferring the passionate and suffering ones instead:

Among the men of flesh and bone there have been typical examples of those who possess this tragic sense of life. I recall now Marcus Aurelius, St. Augustine, Pascal, Rousseau . . . Kierkegaard─men burdened with wisdom rather than with knowledge.

There are some fine translations of this book, but I prefer J. E. Crawford Flitch’s who has taken the trouble to add his own Endnotes. Believers as well as unbelievers could well profit from Unamuno’s book.

This article is about the link between Mind and Social / Environmental-Issues. The fast-paced, consumerist lifestyle of Industrial Society is causing exponential rise in psychological problems besides destroying the environment. All issues are interlinked. Our Minds cannot be peaceful when attention-spans are down to nanoseconds, microseconds and milliseconds. Our Minds cannot be peaceful if we destroy Nature.

Industrial Society Destroys Mind and Environment

Subject : In a fast society slow emotions become extinct.
Subject : A thinking mind cannot feel.
Subject : Scientific/ Industrial/ Financial thinking destroys the planet.
Subject : Environment can never be saved as long as cities exist.

Emotion is what we experience during gaps in our thinking.

I know I am but what are you.

It’s a playground classic. Accuse your adversary of the very thing you are guilty of.

Fascism is fascism is fascism no matter where it comes from or how it is wrapped. The unbounded greed of corporate America, invading the world one economy at a time. The Christian fundamentalist breaking down the separation of church and state. The Islamic jihadist blowing themselves and others up for Allah. They all want the same thing.

Power.

The power to control the lives and resources of others for their own benefit.

In America we have called it:

Indian Reservations. Slavery. Immanent Domain. Spreading democracy. National Security. The War on Terror. Foreign policy.

ACT NOW and sign the petition
WWW.FIRSTFREEDOMFIRST.ORG

The founders of our nation believed that all Americans should have
the right to worship according to their own beliefs, or not to
worship at all. So strong was their commitment to religious freedom
that they enshrined it in the first sentence of the Bill of Rights.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion
or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."

This constitutional guarantee is often known as the "first freedom."

Religion is a deeply personal matter. Americans must be free to
practice their religion without coercion. Government exists to
provide for the general well-being of all people, and its workings
must be independent of specific religious doctrines. Simply put,

The saga of the four Christian peace activists taken hostage by the Iraqi Resistance several months ago, one of whom was killed by the captors, and three of whom were recently “freed” by “coalition” forces under highly suspicious and mysterious circumstances, is a study in the interconnections and the complicity between imperialist propaganda and media distortions.

The media expect the former captives to be grateful to the “coalition” forces. What, exactly, are they to be grateful for? Are they supposed to be grateful to the ultimate causes and creators of their suffering, not to speak of the suffering of millions of Iraqis?

The media have offered a false paradox: Opponents of war have been freed by soldiers. But there is no paradox here. As long as there are wars, there will be active opponents of war, who themselves are more likely than the average non-participant to become a victim of war. Hence providing an opportunity for the warmongers to “rescue” them and try to justify the unjustifiable. Had there been no war on Iraq, would any of this have happened?

Did Israel plan and carry out the bombing of the Askari (Al-Askariya) Mosque in the city of Samarra, possibly through local agents in Iraq? The bombing was reminiscent of the destruction wrought in 1984 on Sikhism's holiest shrine, the Golden Temple, in the city of Amritsar by orders from Indira Gandhi (who paid for it with her life less than five months later).

Yes, I know, the appearances are different. Amritsar's Golden Temple was destroyed by regular (foreign/Indian occupation) armed forces, whereas the Askari Mosque has been destroyed by "terrorists." Yet, who are these "terrorists"?

I think a strong circumstantial case can be constructed for Israeli involvement in the bombing of the Askari Mosque.

I would rule out Al Qaeda involvement. Contrary to the White House generated propaganda that has been pounded into people's brains for the last five years, Al Qaeda's targets are not selected at random. Rather, they have included two types of targets, and only two types: (1) American interests, and (2) what I would call "American mercenaries." By "American mercenaries" I mean anyone who works for US interests, whether directly or indirectly. This includes, for instance, all collaborators in Iraq, such as Iraqi police forces and their recruits, Iraqi armed forces and their recruits, and so on, not to speak of members of the Iraqi "government."  (Cont'd)  http://alse.blogspot.com

So, the Disillusioned kid points up another of Dubya's (oxy)moronicisms:

"I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we're really talking about peace."

This whilst addressing the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, check it. Orwellian certainly, but i'm no longer surprised by the neo-cons contempt for the possibility of accountability.

What never ceases to amaze me though is how he gets away with spouting such utterly transparent rhetoric. This time he even refered to how it's done: education. As if his meaning of indoctrination wasn't plain enough, he then told us clearly how it will be reinforced: "faith groups" "educating" poor Americans about home ownership.

What do we call a system of beliefs which has millions of adherents, it's own meta-language, proscribed behaviour, ritual, seeks to spread it's influence at the expense of other belief structures, often causing war, and maintains it's tenets in the face of evidence to the contrary?

Religion, right?

1. I am the The Holy Market, who bringeth thee out of bondage. No form of interaction shalt thou haveth outside me. Nor Virtuous shalt thou considereth anything not for Sale, neither anything which Falsely preventeth Holy Sale.
2. Thou shalt associateth not the name of The Holy Market with disaster: for The Holy Market shalt holdeth him guilty who denigrateth Its Holy Name.
3. Observeth the Sabbath day, to keepeth it Holy, as The Holy Market commandeth thee. Six days shalt most of thee Labour, and do all Work thine; but the seventh day a Sabbath is to The Holy Market whenst must thou spendeth thy Surplus in Worship of The Holy Market.
4. Honoreth thy Father and thy Mother, as The Holy Market commandeth thee; that thy Business may be Profitable and thy Righteousness prolonged in Children thine.
5. Thou shalt not Murder thy Customers.
6. Neither shalt thou Adultery committeth; an Abomination it is the Holy Commerce of Marriage to undermineth.
7. Stealing shalt thou not be caught at.
8. Nor discovered in False Witness without Holy Profit shalt thou be.
9. Neither shalt thou ceaseth thy Neighbour's Estate to coveteth.
10. In all things shalt thou planeth, plotteth, schemeth and, failing these Holy Trinity Three, worketh the Goods of the World to Own, in accordance with The Holy Market.

The disgraceful but predictable Amerisraeli campaign of defamation and lies against President Ahmadinejad of Iran continues unabated. Words and phrases are plucked out of the context of long speeches, without any attention to the overall gist and purpose of each speech, merely to be used as ammunition for propaganda against someone whose only crime is that he does not, nor does he plan to, bow down to the will of the Western politico-financial complex, either in action or in spirit, but rather plans solely to follow the dictates of his conscience regarding the good of his nation as well as that of the region at large.  Mohammad Khatami, the former President of Iran, again and again urged a “dialogue of civilizations.”  Khatami’s own mentality, however, was captive to the Western monologue.  Ahmadinejad’s monumental task is to turn the monologue into a true dialogue.  As the West is completely unaware of the existence of a point of view other than its own, Ahmadinejad faces the task of using harsh language to try to break through the legacy of decades of brainwashing.

Crossposted from The Republic of T.

Take a good look at these five guys. They are the face of compassionate conservatism, or at least one of its faces. They are the five Ocean County freeholders who denied lesbian cop Laurel Hester's request that her pension go to her partner Stacie Andree. Hester is dying of lung cancer, and her pension would allow Andree to keep the home they have shared. One of these guys, John Kelly, said earlier that granting Hester's request, and thus allowing Andree to keep their home, would “violate the sanctity of marriage.” The five have refused to make further comments, but issued a statement claiming “cost considerations” in the denial of Hester's request.

You can send them a message about their stance on “morality” and “values” in Hester and Andree's case, by contacting the Clerk of the Board at (732) 288 7777 or, from outside the USA +1 732 288 7777, or via email at CountyConnection@co.ocean.nj.us

Grindstaff Chronicles
Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered Am I
Fully satiated after a day of intemperate wining and dining, with a few days off to recover and walk it off, life on the farms and ranches out here is returning to normal. We discovered that we really are quite lucky to live way out here: nobody was tempted to find the nearest big town to do what most of the country seems to enjoy: going shopping like lunatics the day after Thanksgiving. No ma'am, it just isn't interesting when you consider it's a four and a half hour round trip excursion. Now, for food and our wine, well, then it's worth it, but to get squished to death like a worm, no sir. Thanks, we'll pass.

What we don't pass on though is Schuyler's always delicious cocktails. Today he served Black Russians, made with "handmade" Tito's Vodka and Kahlúa. For those who don't like alcohol, he made Fruit and Ginger Ale, an English mulled drink which he serves chilled. We used his cocktail to welcome back Marie Christine and her husband Jean-Paul, who had been back in France for a couple of years and returned the day after Thanksgiving. They returned to their beautiful horse farm, which had been leased to a couple for these past two years.

My Inaugural Address at the Great White Throne Judgment of the Dead, after I have raptured out billions!Your jaw will drop!At: http://www.angelfire.com/crazy/spaceman/

Crossposted from The Republic of T.

Oh don't act so surprised. I've mentioned before how I feel about Columbus Day (not to mention Thanksgiving). I guess some folks might find something in it to celebrate, but I'm long, long past being able to do that.

I remember learning about Columbus and his "discovery" of America in school. (To quote Chris Rock "How the fuck do you discover something that's already got people on it? That's like me 'discovering' your car stereo.") It wasn't until years later that I got some idea of what his "discovery" meant for the folks who already happened to be sitting on that patch of ground. I kinda figured it didn't go down to well for them, since there aren't many of their descendants left around.

Braziers on the Porch

The sun had set, and Max had helped get the small braziers going on the porch so we could gather there in comfort before going inside to finish our cocktails. Tonight Bob stirred up a good drink, a Fjord, made with good Scandinavian aquavit and cognac. Bob used freshly squeezed orange juice and good grenadine. Naturally, he also had a pitcher of Shirley Temples on the bar table. Soon, from all the farms in our small community, all of our neighbors were on the porch, enjoying the evening and the warmth of the braziers. We'll probably be able to continue to sit out there for a few more weeks, then it will become colder and we'll have to gather in the great room.

Crossposted from The Republic of T.

It's been a while since I posted anything about Zach's story, mainly because since his return home I felt it necessary to back off and give him whatever space he needed to work out what he's experienced. Since then, a discussion about whether Zach was controlling his blog or not broke out on a previous post. Zach's blog is now temporarily disabled. But's that's not what this post is about. It's about the other side of the story, which involves LIA/R being investigated by the Tennessee Department of Health. This evening I got an email from EJ, which linked to his post concerning the outcome of that investigation. The news for LIA/R is not good.

The strongest argument against the existence of God is the wanting so much that God exist. It contaminates the good sense God gave me. I am unable to objectively evaluate and realistically extrapolate my observations, and I am continually tempted to stop searching for answers, because my emotional response to questions about how things work is that I am challenging God; I am questioning His judgment by subjecting His creation to my criticism. There is also the naming problem. It was once believed that knowing the real name of something gave one power over what was named, even God. He could be conjured by calling His name. This is more obviously true of what one understands; the better one understands God’s creation, the better understanding one has of how something works, the more able one is to control it. In a sense, God is being challenged. It is, therefore, more pious to accept without question what is. The believer must limit his view of God’s creation to an appreciation of that creation rather than attempt to understand how it works. To see God’s creation through God’s eyes, one must become an atheist.

Crossposted from The Republic of T.

Easy, you might say. They don't. But you might be underestimating. I came across this yesterday, and spent much of the evening digesting it. I thought it was maybe sarcasm or paraody, until the author finally got down to business (ironically, right after the 2004 elections) explaining just how fundamentalists -- christian fundamentalists, specifically -- think.

The truth is, having been raised baptist and in the south, there isn't anything here I haven't encountered before or that I didn't already know on some level. But this writer has clearly thought about it, and I could not have put it all together as well as he's done. Probably because I rejected it so young that I never fully absorbed it. (Which, by the way, is fine with me.)

Cross-posted from the Black Sun Journal

The nomination of John Roberts as replacement justice for Sandra Day O'Connor, who recently retired from the Supreme Court, promises to rekindle the 30 year old abortion debate.  I've often thought about this question, that can inflame passions like no other.

The two sides cannot even agree on a definition of terms.  The left views the question as simply one of women's rights, privacy rights, and individual choice.  The right tries to end the debate with simplistic slogans such as "it's not a choice, it's a child."  Most thoughtful Americans have their own viewpoint, but would never seek to impose it on another, considering it the most private and personal of decisions.

I think both sides are focusing on the wrong questions: