Just My ‘Magination, Runnin’

Tags

conservatives, happiness, liberals, life in the meadow, psychology, social concerns

Those of us who live in the country, are very conscious of our fashion. You may have guessed this already from plenty of pictures which show us in fine farmer garb–the one piece denim bib is a great example. Functional and oh so elegant. Just a bow tie clip-on for the t-shirt and you are ready for any dinner party.

The other day, I was fashionably clad in my rubber muddies, walkin’ through the watery muck of the lane, when my brother-in-law caught up to me on his backhoe. He had been hauling some hay to the cattle who did  not have have benefit of the corn silage, since the fields were still not done due to crap weather.

As he shut off the motor and opened the cab, I saw that he too was clad in rubber muddies and but for the size, no doubt, they were identical to mine.

I mused on this fine sense of  the fashionista shared by us both, when I realized upon heading back down the hill into the timber that the trees were indeed nearly bare of leaves. “Damn, it seems he was right again!” This to mean, the Contrarian, who but a few short weeks ago had predicted in Nostradamus fashion, “I think we are going to lose our leaves this year.”

Not to be all depressed and such, since last early spring, he confidently predicted that we would have leaves this year, and of course, that too transpired.  The Contrarian is proving himself to be quite good at this prognostication business. One is tempted to say the same of many things in the bible, until one learns that often, the book in question with its “prediction” was written well after the event in question happened. At least the Contrarian announces his predictions well in advance.

Anyway, such thoughts give rise to still more ideas and sneaky partially worked out theories. I’m always happy when I see that I’m not alone in devising such philosophical questions of the month. This morning, Charlie Gibson, late of GMA and now nearly late of the Nightly News, was interviewing John Irving, the writer. Gibson in one of his better moments, asked, “Do you think one can find real happiness in one’s own imagination?”

What prompted this jaw dropping, stop in the street kind of question, is anyone’s guess. Yet it seemed to me, worthy of some thought. I think that you can, and in fact some people do. Then again, some can’t and some don’t.

Do you construct day-dreaming scenarios of lives unlived? I mean do you have a dream house/job/spouse/hobby/you name it, that you construct delicately and with precision, making it all just perfect? Is it your place to escape the cares and turmoils of the day? Is it a place where Johnny Depp falls in love with you, forgetting that you are nearly though not quite old enough to be his mother? Does Halle Berry hang on your every word while sipping Dom Perignon?

I can see how such worlds could be happy. Truly I can. I rather suspect that liberals engage in such mind play more so than Republicans. Just a guess. No polling or scientific evidence. But there is evidence that liberals are more unhappy than Republicans. We tend to take on the woes of the world and grouse about them. We have guilt as to what we have, given that so many have almost nothing. We can’t compartmentalize as well it seems as Republicans apparently can.

We probably drink more and drug more and sex more, though that last may truly be wrong. Republicans with their public stance on morality and their dirty little minds creating all kinds of kinky plays which they all too often cannot help but attempt to act out, may in fact engage in more sexual naughtiness than liberals. I dunno.

But escapism is escapism as they say, and so I suspect more liberals have a fantasy get away that allows them to unwind from the mean little world that we inhabit every day. And perhaps there, we do find the happiness we are so prone to deny ourselves in reality.

Someone the other day suggested that liberals “talk a good game” but that somehow we don’t live it. Actually, I think its the conservatives who act rather differently than they talk. The evidence seems on our side. I have a ton of liberal friends (Facebook proved that) and a huge number of them are very actively engaged in regular service to their communities through food pantries, homeless shelters, health care clinics, and such. They aren’t paid, they just do it, because they have to do something to help. Our unhappiness at the state of affairs in the world forces us to engage and make a difference, no matter how small that might be.

I’m not suggesting that conservatives don’t do charity work, but I suspect they see it somewhat differently than liberals do. I could be wrong on that. I’m wrong on a lot of things. But I feel comfortable in saying it. I hear way too much about how we “have to have  the poor” as a means by which the rest of us can perfect our salvation, to think any differently. And then there is the failure of most conservatives to agree to anything that smacks of redistributing wealth in this country to make life reasonable for ALL. They start raising words like, lazy, and pulling oneself up by one’s boot straps. (I checked, and my muddies don’t have any boot straps by the way.)

Just so ya know, this is what you get when I’m sun deprived. It’s SAD isn’t it?

Life in the Big Tent

Tags

bible, conservatives, ECLA, exegesis, gay rights, progressives, scripture, The Episcopal Church, The Lutheran Church, theology

As some of you no doubt know, the ECLA has just voted to allow committed practicing homosexuals into ministry. They join a growing list of mainline Protestant churches who have done the same, including my own, the Episcopal Church. I believe the Quakers beat us all by decades, much to their credit.

The ECLA is now, or will soon begin to learn of the cost it incurs by this move. An interesting article in the Chicago Tribune acknowledges that the decision is being met with quite different responses, church by church within the Lutheran community.

We in TEC have been through this recently ourselves, as I alluded to. In reality, we didn’t craft a new provision, but simply returned to the original rule that places no impediment on anyone seeking ministry discernment. Each parish and diocese has handled the “discussion” as it sees fit.

One of the points made in the Tribune piece, is that perhaps God will more judge us not on the correctness of our decisions in this matter, but rather how we deal with the opposition without our congregations. And I think that may be key here. Church, representing Christian principles and what we hope are moral precepts, can and should stand as a banner as to how to remain in unity even when we are theologically divided.

So far we haven’t done a particularly good job of that. Many people within TEC have left, forming splinter churches who then try to align with Anglican churches in  Africa, which have been missionaried in a more conservative mode from the beginning.

We, at my church, have been discussing the issue through a forum on the convention over several weeks. Same-sex issues were reviewed along with the church’s legislative work on health care, war, evangelizing, women’s issues, and a  whole host of concerns. We too expressed our desire to approach those who think differently with care and gentleness.

We like to think of ourselves as a big tent, and indeed so do most mainline Protestant groups. We like to think we can accommodate different voices within our congregations while still adhering to the basic principles of Christian teaching. So far, we don’t seem to be doing so well.

Some see this as a general realignment of “progressive” forces and “conservative” forces, and that perhaps the future holds in store a loose agreement across denominational lines. I think that a distinct possibility.

 We, in talking, referred to some of the things that we have heard about our church since the Convention. I of course could go on at length at all the really nasty remarks sent my way by ultra conservative Catholics who are ex-Episcopalians. I’ve been called evil, and blasphemous, a heretic, and well, you get the picture. One person said our church was referred to as the “gay church.” She shot back, “And you think yours is straight?”

The level of rancor is admittedly high, and that is most sad. What is more sad, to me at least, is that all is said in the name of “Jesus.” The conservatives argue that we, by our stance, prove we have no love or allegiance to Jesus or the Gospel. We of course believe with all our hearts that we do.

This points up an equally sad thing. While reading and studying the bible is a fine thing, and to be encouraged, it is sufficiently broad and obtuse overall, that virtually any position can be vindicated by some verse or another. Worse, it of course has been. The bible has been used to justify slavery, polygamy, suffering at the hands of oppressive regimes, subjugation of women, war, the death penalty,and the list goes on and on.

All this and more can be justified or not in the hands of skillful manipulators or just by the innocent but untrained reader. There was and is something to be said for the reluctance, historically, of the Roman Catholic Church in giving the average person access to so powerful and dangerous a book.

But, as I said, I’m not here to claim that the bible shouldn’t be read. But I am here to proclaim that serious attention must be paid to experts in the field, those who are linguistic experts, who have studied the anthropological, archaeological, and historical records in defining and determining what the texts actually mean, who did or didn’t write them, and so forth.

The ECLA claims they spent eight years of study in making the recommendation that same-sex restrictions be lifted. No doubt a good part of that was a thorough study of scripture. There are dozens of excellently done books on the subject, done by scholars who spend a lifetime acquiring the skills to do proper, unbiased exegetical work.

 Those of us who have read this material, in quantity, find that the majority are in agreement that there is no barrier biblically to same-sex inclusion in our various religious practices, any more than there is a biblical barrier to womens’ inclusion.

Our recognition that those who continue to tout the “literalist” interpretation of  “it says what it means and it means what it says,” do so for reasons other than strict reason and rationality, will enable us to reach out to such people with loving gentleness and wisdom. We must help them to dismantle the emotional wall they have erected to protect themselves against a Gospel that is more inclusive and loving than they are prepared for. We must seek to uncover the needs and satisfy them in ways that no longer do violence to the teaching of Christ. Barring that, we must honor their right to think differently, bless them, and continue on our way, hopefully in unity.

If we cannot, then indeed, I would argue no one else can.

Cuz You’re Just Dying to Know My Opinion

Tags

Arlen Spector, conservatives, GOP, judicial activism, Protestant, religion, religious right, Rush Limbaugh, SCOTUS, Seuter, torture

Justice Souter is retiring. You probably already know that. It is said that he grew to hate his job, but more so he hated Washington. He is a 19th century man trapped in the 21st century.

It is reputed that in his cabin in New Hampshire, there are stacks upon stacks of books, but nary a TV. He writes his opinions longhand with a pen.

So Obama will be looking for a replacement. Let’s hope he can ferret out closet conservatives. Souter was a closet liberal if you were to ask George  H. W. Bush, the President who appointed him. I guess he often said it was one of his worst decisions as President.

When I was at MSU, I took a course on the federal judiciary. I had a professor there who had worked out a computer program wherein he could plug in the important aspects of a case going up, and predict how the SCOTUS would vote, and who would vote which way. He could do it with an accuracy of about 97%.

It all came down to understanding the belief system of a justice on certain key issues. For instance on search and seizure. A justice might be more than willing to allow police all kinds of latitude in intruding on an individual as long as they saw the scope pretty limited to criminal types. Once the latitude might slip over to “honest” citizens, it became too intrusive for his taste. You could thus analyze a case based on the concept of “could this happen to me” and figure out how this justice would likely vote.

By the way, there is really no such thing as “judicial activism” versus “strict construction. ” Well, there is, but most of the people who yammer about it haven’t a clue about what it means. THEY mean that when a judge does  something they don’t like, he’s an impermissible activist, and when he does which they do  like, he’s a strict constructionist.

Plenty of people in and out of Iowa are trying to suggest that the recent case of Varnum v. O’Brien was a case of judicial activism. It was the very antithesis of that. It was nothing but plain old judicial review, which was established by Marbury v. Madison back in the Jefferson Administration.

The Contrarian is right. We need to put term limits on our SCOTUS. It was fine when people served 10-15 years and then died or retired. Now it’s 30-40 years and a couple of bad choices can literally reshape the world to their image. It’s not right.

Oh, here’s my pic in the dark: A Hispanic woman.

***

The Contrarian came a running around the corner of the door and said, “Did you hear? Arlen Spector has left the GOP and is joining the Democrats!”

I hadn’t, but I refreshed my reader and on that page of about 20, 18 were “News flash! Spector defects to Dems!” I figured I didn’t need to make any announcement myself.

I don’t have much to add to what you already know. He’s a moderate, won’t vote with his new party on everything by a long shot, but I can understand his disgust at what has happened to the Republicans. They have gone off the trolley line and are barreling down the hill.

Rush suggested that it was “good riddance and you can take McCain with you!” Nice of Rush. But gosh, I don’t know as we want him. He’s still doing his best to be relevant but all he sounds like is a whiner.

Did ya hear that the Rethugs are gathering again in a small summit with the hope that they can re-market themselves? I’m not sure they invited Boehner, and I know they didn’t invite Steele. The party of NO hopes to find a theme. They explain the idiocy of Michelle Bachmann by suggesting that they are a “big tent.” More like a pup tent if you ask me. Nothing left but right wing crazies.

***

This next one saddens me beyond measure but unfortunately doesn’t surprise me.

I’ve been frequenting a forum fairly regularly lately. Most of you know which one. I’ve been shocked to see forum threads “Is waterboarding really torture?” As if there was something to actually argue about here.

One has to look at the anomalous situation of the “compassionate born again” President, George W. Bush, being the instigator of such a practice. And not just one, there were others. It is the “sanctity of life” dude who thinks it’s okay to do this kind of thing.

Well, statistics reinforce the image. A Pew poll finds that it is frequent (once a week) church goers that are more in favor of torture than those that don’t go much.

A full 54% of regular church goers said torture was often or sometimes okay. Only 42% of less regular goers agreed with this. This is truly scary stuff.

Now those that attend faithfully like to think of themselves as more religiously minded, and better Christians. They constantly rail at those who are less frequent as  being not serious about their faith, living too secularly, and giving but a passing glance to God.

Again, the statistics bear this out, with Evangelicals more likely to support torture, by a margin of 6 out of 10. Those who have no affiliation and probably seldom attend church only supported torture at a rate of 4 in 10.

Mainline Protestants, Episcopalians, Lutherans and Presbyterians were least likely to approve of “enhanced” techniques, with only 3 in 10 approving.

So it turns out that the more ‘traditional” you are in your faith, the more faithful, the more you are churched along the most conservative lines, the more you approve of torture.

It tends to go pretty much in hand with what I see. These types are quick to point out what is wrong with everyone else, to the degree that they seldom if ever it seems bother to read the bible and discover just what Jesus taught. At least that is how it appears. Shameful isn’t it?

So what do you think?

Hope you like the new header! It’s another of Clark Little’s. And a new wisdom quote for the month. Happy May 1.

It’s TinFoil Time Again!

Tags

Barack Obama, bible, church, conservatives, CPAC, economy, faith, filthy rich, gay rights, God, GOP, greed, homophobia, Jesus, Joe the Plumber, John Bolton, Michael Steele, religion, right wing, Wall Street

Okay, so, it’s Friday, and the end of another week. I’m in the process of making Arroz con Pollo for dinner. It’s a bit detailed and fussy, but we are looking forward to it. I’ll tell you how it turned out and give you a recipe if it’s really good.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, here’s the fabulous finds I made today. Hope you find something of interest:

Drop by The Wild Reed, and read his take on homophobia in the hip-hop industry.  While I’m a bit too old for the scene myself, Michael shows how bashing gays seems to be quite prevalent in the genre, and guess what? lots of them folks is secretly gay. But of course you knew that.

It’s a fascinating look at the world of machismo turned upside down. I think you will like it. And we all need to keep informed don’t we?

~~~

Tim at Straight-Friendly has a lovely reflection on getting closer to God. That is the point of Lent in some sense isn’t it? His analogy that he learned form his mother ( a most wise woman for sure) makes the point directly and clearly. Tim’s work is always worth reading, but some are little  masterpieces. Don’t miss this one!

~~~

Ya gotta laugh. They don’t get it. They just don’t get it. Like I said yesterday, the filthy rich DON’T GET IT. Watergate Summer reports that Bank of America head honcho, Ken Lewis, arrived in Washington to answer for the bonuses paid with our money, in you guessed it—HIS PERSONAL JET. Yep, uhuh. I say make ’em walk the plank, get in the stocks, and hoist their hinny to the seat in the dunk tank.

~~~

The gift that keeps on giving, is, well giving again. Appearing at the CPAC meeting, Joe Wurzelbacher, AKA “The Plumber” is telling us that he would slap and probably shoot a few congress folks if he were there. And glory be, reporters have no business in war zones, uh reporting. What Joe was doing in Israel a few weeks ago, well, I guess we can probably all agree, that was NOT reporting.

I can only bet that McCain and Palin are so very proud of their offspring. He’s turning out to be a wonderful spokesperson for the Rethugs. Yes, keep it coming Joe. We have those mid-terms to look forward to in 2012.

~~~

Speaking of CPAC, I swear you cannot make this stuff up. We have all been watching the strange duck Michael Steele has been turning into with all his hip hop references and the party being “off the hook.” Well, it’s spreading. CPAC moderator Michelle Bachmann got to introduce the new GOP head, and the Minnesota Rep, did so in fine style: “You be da man! You be da man!” I means really, this is getting embarrassing. Do the wingnuts now in control of the Rethugs actually think they will get black and young votes this way? I mean seriously? I mean, oh, hell, it’s too funny. I hope they keep this up. This is like watching episodes of  “world’s worst wrecks.” Popcorn anyone?

~~~

All roads seem to lead to the CPAC meeting today folks. I can’t help it, they are just generating the fun these days. John Bolton, in the top ten running for world’s biggest idiot, gave his speech to the wonk heads of the GOP. In it, he talked about a nuclear explosion via terrorism coming to of all places Chicago. He got wild applause.

These are some sick puppies. All one can do is shake one’s head and remember that this is the price of freedom. We gotta let sludge like this have microphones.

~~~

Tip of the day: The louder the GOP squeals, the better job Obama is doing. The decibel level has reached the painful point, and I can only conclude that things are going well.

Long term prediction: If there is recovery in the economy that is in any way tangible by the end of the year, Obama can do about anything he wants. Voters will put pressure on Congress to vote through his legislative agenda.

~~~

The weekend friends will be thin. I’m off to a six hour Lenten retreat at Church tomorrow, and of course the usual stuff on Sunday with an extra meeting on the church library added. I’ll post a little something if I have time. Enjoy, and welcome that Spring!

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Barack Obama, bias, Bill O'Reilly, conservatives, Media, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity

It’s pretty easy to know how things are going in the new Obama Administration these days. One only has to watch Foxy Noise and other such wingnuttery media and see how much they are squealing.

They seem to be squealing like the proverbial stuck pig these days, so things must be looking exceedingly good.

Last night we were watching our usual evening dose of the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. He was kind enough to show us footage of some of our favorite douche bags.

First on the list was that scion of all things knee-jerk logical, Rush Limbaugh. Old Rush is mighty pissed that a good many Republicans are talking about how they consider President Obama their president too, and wish him  well.

Now Rush doesn’t care for that type of traitorous talk! According to him, Mr. Obama is hell bent to turn this fine country into a socialist haven. Any respectable American must, therefore pray and hope that he fails. Yes folks, you heard that right.

Let’s examine the logic. If my Obama succeeds, might that suggest that his policies are actually good? Isn’t that the definition of success–that which works? Soooo, Limbaugh tells us that he is against any policy, even if it is a good one, if it means sacrificing his ideology of ????? I guess that would the that the country be devoted to keeping the rich rich, and the poor poor, and never the twain should meet.

Not to be outdone in wingnuttery, our very own Sean Hannity weighs in with his delightfully warped sense of history. We needed support the President at all he claims, since we already know that socialism is a failure. And of course, Obama is turning this country into a socialist regime just as fast as his pen can sign executive orders.

No quarter is being given at all. Of course Sean said he would be fair, and give the man a chance. That lasted all of 24 hours. He’s moving toward policies that Hannity doesn’t like, ipso facto, they are socialist, therefore they are doomed. Again the logic is just so there.

And what nut fest would be complete without the indomitable Billo the Clown? Billo some years ago, after the re-election of one Dubya Bush, said we were all required to give the guy the benefit of the doubt. This meant that we mustn’t criticize him until his policies had had a fair opportunity to be put in place.

It seems the Foxy Dunce has come up with a new theory now. It seems we are to be raising Cain against Mr. Obama. Why? Oh, just cuz he is shutting down Gitmo, and thus imperiling all of the US of A. The theory goes thusly.

Those prisoners have to go somewhere. Not all will be turned over to their respective countries. Those that are not, and are not so obviously innocent as to be released, must be lodged in various penal institutions within the US.

That’s it. I guess we are to conclude that the US is incapable of housing really dangerous people, which should come as a huge shock to America, who leads the world in incarcerating folks. There are of course a few escapees every year, but for the most part their are lodged in minimal security situations. I guess Billo things that the military is incapable of keeping them locked in military prisons.

Apparently the same concerns for the Cuban population is non-existent.

Isn’t it fun to visit the crazy logic world of Billo, Sean, and Rush? Scrambles your brains and makes you a moron.  Or it may just save you a lot of reading about what’s going on in the Obama administration. If they say bad, well, it means, logically speaking of course, that things are good.

Stay tuned for tomorrow. Obama is giving our aid groups the ability to offer abortion and contraception  to those who are the recipients of our aid initiatives worldwide again. That will get them riled up for sure. Oh you darned liberal heathens!

Short Takes on the Day 11/17/08

Tags

astronomy, Barack Obama, conservatives, fundamentalism, GOP, religion, Sarah Palin, science, talk radio

Of course everyone on the planet is giving the new president advice. Some are now likening him to FDR, others whisper perhaps a new Lincoln. Certainly Obama has evidenced a respect and admiration for Lincoln, but fairly, so have many others. Britannica Blog offers a methodology by which the President-elect might emulate the late FDR in governing. It’s rather interesting reading. Drop by and check it out. It’s my belief that should Obama be successful in his first four years in helping the economy and helping in direct manifest ways, the middle and working class, then he can more the country left on more social issues in his second term. Not that I’m giving advice mind you, or counting my chickens, or any of that stuff. 🙂

Best line of the day, by Renee at Essential Estrogen, speaking of the Republican party of Iowa:

We have become so Heavenly minded that we are no earthly good at times.

A number of blogs are carrying this news today, and it’s interesting if not earthshatteringly new. An insider to conservative talk radio tells all. We learn about how the stations receive Republican talking points from the White House and other RNC organs and disseminate them throughout their shows. Be the first on the block to be able to read between the lines when your favorite asshat takes the microphone. What he really believes versus what he says. It’s all her in technicolor, err, technisound as it were. We picked up the link from Hullabaloo and give them the credit!

Kathryn Lopez, queen of wingnuttery itself, urges us to name Sarah woman of the year! Yep, you heard that right. Not Hillary Clinton, no, not a real politician with real credentials, real brains, and real experience. We are to annoint the precious Sarah and bow down before her as the savior of, well, that savior bit will have to wait a few years, alas, she was hung on the cross on Nov. 4. She has stubbornly refused to be buried, so her resurrection cannot occur. But it’s good to know the Messiah was among us, and a woman to boot! I’m breathless! This is classic NRO, and a not to miss laughing free for all. Plenty of whining and pouting and flag waving. No substance of course, but then it’s Palin and you wouldn’t expect any of that.

Political Animal runs a story from the Washington Post that details a church there that urges parents to throw out their kids if they refuse to be a happy camper in the congregation. Yes, throw them out. It’s frightening, sad, and a whole host of other adjectives. This is exactly why fundamentalism is so incredibly dangerous. It’s not that there are completely utterly evil idiots out there like Pastor Scott, but that they are believed and followed. We are a country chock full of people who cannot think straight, and we need be ever vigilant.

The Daily Beast has a thoughtful article on what the Republican party is up against as the moderates battle the wingnuts for control of it. Who will win? The religious fanatics or the rational fiscal conservatives? It’s still up in the air, and will be for some time. It’s a good read, and God will be pleased if you read it! How’s that for theocracy in action?

Now, this is important stuff, even though it seems self-evident. That’s the number one reason for including it. Second, an Iowa team is on the international super team, and third, this got part of a Nobel prize, so you know you’re just dumb if you can’t figure it out. I’m dumb, but that’s a whole other story. The question is: Why is the universe filled with matter? Now that might seem self-evident, but of course you would be wrong. It’s not, and it’s just more fun in the ever wacky world of physics. The Contrarian bailed on physics over the issue of time and strings and all that stuff you thought you had left in Puff the Magic Dragon song. I think we are here folks because of a quirk of asymmetry. Now doesn’t that make you feel precarious?

‘Nuf for today. I will post my entire Thanksgiving menu with some recipes in the next few days. Look for it. No really, the stuffing, (fresh from GMA last year I believe is the best I have ever eaten, and brined Turkey is a must). We had the best dinner last year I have ever had, and we ate it three days running, and once after we had frozen the rest. I mean it was that good. Christmas, we don’t worry so much about.