Category: things that make me sigh

Ground Zero Joke

I thought it was a joke, however poor in taste, but turns out, it’s real. A group of Muslims are proposing to build a mosque near Ground Zero in New York. Read about it, yourself. And here.

There are many ways to build bridges between hurt parties, but stepping directly on their toes while pushing something into their faces is not one of them. There is just no way that 911 – a tragedy for our whole nation- is going to be remembered without the the news fact item that Islam was the the motivating force behind it. Those persons behind the attack were trained, supported, financed, and egged on by certain segments of their religion, and allowing Americans to keep a respectful distance around an area that was the site of a massacre of lives in a most horrific and publicly viewed way is the best way to bring peace.

In the name of their religion, Muslims made it a cemetery, now let the ash of the bones of the deceased rest in honor. Not as a place of “much needed party space” (-Daisy Khan).

O American Church, Where Art Thou?

Recently, Francis Chan (whose book “Crazy Love” we have been following recently), announced he was resigning as senior pastor of his church. As I viewed the video, there was something that stood out to me, and I probably wouldn’t have noticed it except for the carefulness in which it was expressed.

“There is no immorality, no discipline… no issues with the elders”. It had to come up. When a leader steps away from a ministry we have been trained by experience in past events to look for some sort of moral miss step. We almost brace ourselves as Christians, “another one bites the dust”.

What an indictment of our American Church life.

Once upon a time, understanding that a person was further following his calling was the usual response, as Chan is today. What happened to this? Why have we become so inured to the idea of corruption and moral failure that we jump to that conclusion, first… and must be reassured should it not follow the (now) modern norm of a “fallen leader”?

Why have we become accustomed to that?

Sarah Palin Shows the Hiccups in Social Media

When blogging came into its own, I found it quite exciting to have a platform to share conversations on religion and politics with the world. In my real world life I found too few interested or comfortable with that sort of conversation, the topics being either too controversial or wrangling for most peoples taste. (At least among those here in a Midwestern, and certainly Church circles). Social media developed a place where those who liked to talk and debate for sake of thinking things out were welcomed,… and yet, as the saying goes, “Something’s rotten in Denmark”.

As Twitter came along, I adopted that, as well. The internet has become an intellectual stew for creating new recipes of thinking, and connections across the world have become congealed. News flies fast, and rumors with their lightweight coverings, faster. It changes how politics on the grand stage is done, now, too.

But here is where the hiccups show up in the way the system of communication is utilized; and I think it is because in politics the personal mores have most easily broken down. The goal is everything, the means nothing in that world, for many.

The latest manifestation of this, and what inspired this little diatribe is the rumor of a Palin divorce which spread through Twitter finding source in an obscure Alaskan bloggers pen. This, according to Mashable. Which also, by the way, shows the clumsy way that social media is used to create and diffuse rumors and news. I suppose the idea is to fight fire with fire, but it also exposes how the manner of democratizing the ability to publicize also has degenerated its accountability to a moral standard of delivering things with truthfulness and responsibility to facts. I never thought I’d say that. Perhaps it is the lightning quick run of Twitter which has broken through the accountability barriers of blogging.

I think we are going to have to reassess some of our views of how social media is used and what it is good for, because right now the rot is threatening to undermine what has been a grand experiment in expanding our freedom of expression.

Another lesson in contrasting true freedom with license, and how human nature will revisit these definitions time and time again.

Unfair and Self Destructive

I didn’t vote for Obama- I’m going to be upfront on that, but this trend:“The populist anger at the executives who ran their firms into the ground is increasingly blowing back on Obama” is not just politics. It is about preservation of the USA. All of us. Our economic health is not partisan and it isn’t even a divide between immigrant and citizen. We ought to hold the fire under those who are the problem. We ought to all be part of the solution. Pressure AIG, surely bring pressure to bear on the executives who ought to go be pariahs until they are ashamed enough to do what is right: return their obscene bonuses. Or something.

But don’t turn this into a political circus… and don’t get on the wrong side of it.

You know there was an old story in one of the Laura Ingalls Wilder books, it took place during a time of deep winter and blinding blizzards, when two young men risked their lives to get grain for their starving community. They understood the risk to be for their neighbors and family’s survival. The grocer who sponsored their undertaking decided that he was going to grasp this as his own personal windfall and hiked the price unconscionably high to the starving townsfolk. Just because he could. They risked their lives, he reaped the profits…for himself.

The irate reaction included the promised threat that for those who survived, there would be no patronizing this unethical man’s business. He was forced to back down -at least in the story. There is a certain strength in the voice and the power of the people so long as they keep their focus right. And it is this focus on the greedy individuals who have slaughtered our economy and its pensions and benefits for themselves… and continue to eat well off the carcass. Not President Obama.

Conservatives, don’t play the fool, stop making partisan hay while the barns burn down.

Stuff in the News

Things that my husband and I are talking about:
Just a token article about a growing phenomenon, Growing gun buying, widening ammo shortage, there is huge backlog of demand for ammunition right now. This is another one of those background areas that thinking people need to pay attention to. I don’t believe this is just a ‘fringe’ or fly-by-night situation. There seems to be a growing number of people who are concerned enough about the direction of society and the government to take definitive action in arming themselves.

Several reasons I see:

  • The illustrated breakdown of civil society after Hurricane Katrina
  • The growing problem in Mexico with the importation of their gang and crime troubles into the US
  • The specter of the promises and pretty painted pictures turning sour as Democrats move their agenda forward, and resulting unrest and increased crime in the streets
  • A general loss of trust in the government
  • The rise of control and intervention beyond what the populace ever expected or can tolerate

Those are a few inter-related dynamics that are simmering.

IF our economy turns around, IF we develop a workable policy to deal with Mexican drug imports and their drug cartels, IF there is a convincing show of the government taking the interests of citizens to heart in things like privacy, property ownership (and help Americans feel fully represented by their government), I think there is hope. But that is a big order in today’s climate.

There are some very important issues arising these days besides those in that list. Not all have to do with the economy, which draws all attention at this time to itself (the Dow dropping below 7000 just today, and threatening to drop further). There are ethical issues, some of which waited in the background until just the opportunity they have today. One I am watching:Economic stimulus? Feds want your medical records

What about you? what is the topic of concern for your family and friends? what wshould we place in priority when we want our government to hear our voice?

Go, New Hampshire!!!

New Hampshire and a few other states are resolving to draw a line for states rights. Telling the Federal government:

“It states that New Hampshire people “have the sole and exclusive right of governing themselves as a free, sovereign, and independent State; and do, and forever hereafter shall, exercise and enjoy every power, jurisdiction, and right, pertaining thereto, which is not, or may not hereafter be, by them expressly delegated to the United States of America…”

That means, the resolution states, any “Act by the Congress of the United States, Executive Order of the President of the United States of American or Judicial Order by the Judicatories of the United States of America which assumes a power not delegated to the government … and which serves to diminish the liberty of the any of the several States or their citizens shall constitute a nullification of the Constitution for the United States of America by the government of the United States of America.”

It lists as actions that the federal government would be prohibited from doing:

* Establishing martial law or a state of emergency within one of the States comprising the United States of America without the consent of the legislature of that State.

* Requiring involuntary servitude, or governmental service other than a draft during a declared war, or pursuant to, or as an alternative to, incarceration after due process of law.

* Requiring involuntary servitude or governmental service of persons under the age of 18 other than pursuant to, or as an alternative to, incarceration after due process of law.

* Surrendering any power delegated or not delegated to any corporation
or foreign government.

* Any act regarding religion; further limitations on freedom of political speech; or further limitations on freedom of the press.

* Further infringements on the right to keep and bear arms including prohibitions of type or quantity of arms or ammunition.

New Hampshire Rep. Dan Itse, a sponsor of the resolution, said he wants New Hampshire to be among the states “standing up to the federal government, enforcing the Constitution.” – as explained in the article by Bob Unruh

“Missouri, Washington and Arizona also have moved in the direction of reasserting states’ rights. ”

Unfortunately for Ohio, our state is known for its lackluster support of freedom. We still don’t have any legislation limiting the inroads made by Kelo. [The Wolves, The Kelo Decision, One More]. Don’t look for it to get better without a concerted effort. WAKE UP PEOPLE!

Tax Dollars At Work

A Minnesotan suicide bomber (now there’s a phrase) originally from Somalia returned to the old country and blew up himself and 29 other people last October. His family prevailed upon your government to have his parts (or as many of them as could be sifted from the debris) returned to the United States at taxpayer expense and buried in Burnsville Cemetery. Well, hey, in the current climate, what’s the big deal about a federal bailout of jihad operational expenses? If that’s not “too big to fail,” what is?

I know I linked to this story three times. You need to read it- on one level or another.

New York Post Gives the Unvarnished Story on Mumbai

Rubicon3 posts the quote:

the all-too-obvious truth is now being confirmed:

  • The Times of India reported that some of the terrorists, claiming to be Malaysian students, rented nearby space in order to scout out Chabad.
  • The Indian doctor who conducted the post-mortems related in a shaken voice that: “Of all the bodies, the Israeli victims bore the maximum torture marks. It was clear that they were killed on the 26th [the first day of the attacks] itself. It was obvious that they were tied up and tortured before they were killed.”
  • The only captured terrorist, Ajmal Kamal, confessed under interrogation that his fellow murderers were specifically ordered to target the Jews killed at Chabad.

It’s not only close India-Israeli ties that the terrorists wanted to destroy. It’s likely that Mumbai’s age-old history of hospitality to Jews made the Nariman-Chabad House a strategic target.

There is much more to the story.