Happy November!

I don't know exactly why it's a happy November, but I can't think of any reason to not have a happy November, so...happy November! This would disapoint my apolitical father, but go-out-and-vote-on-tuesday-for-christ's-sake! Especially if you're planning on voting Democratic, if you're planning on voting Republican...I think the polls open on Wednesday. If you're a Canadian citizen, sorry it's against the law for you to vote in America.

I think this is a bum rap for those of you outside the U.S. I mean come on, everything we do has a global impact. I think the entire world should be given like at least a 1/2 vote toward the Presidency...it's only fair. How often do we dictate who dictates other countries? They should be able to dictate who gets to dictate their dictators, don't you think?

I'm watching 24 season 4, and I love how it paints the Presidents as these uber-honest good people. Even when they get their hands dirty in something like the last one, he's still a good and noble person at heart. They love America and they try to promote this idea that the ends justify the means no matter what. Yay for people like Jack Bauer who can kill innocent people in a second in order to further his cause...the USA! God bless the USA!

A Poem

In one of my Heberew classes we're looking at how Jerusalem has been viewed in Jewish Literature through out time. For the modern perspective we've been reading some beautiful poems from Yehuda Amichai. One of my favorites is entitled "Jerusalem"

Upon a roof in the Old City,
Laundry is illuminated in the afternoon light:
The white sheet of a woman who is an enemy,
The towel of a man who is an enemy
To wipe the sweat of his brow.

And in the sky of the Old City
A kite.
At the end of the string--
A child,
Whom I can't see
Because of the wall.

We have raised up many flags,
They have raised up many flags.
To make us think that they're happy.
To make them think that we're happy.

Bush's Brilliant Rhetoric

"It's unacceptable to think there's any kind of comparison between the behavior of the United States of America and the action of Islamic extremists who kill innocent women and children to achieve an objective,"

Because we kill innocent women and children in the name of God and our self interest and they kill innocent women and children in the name of Allah and their self interest. See the difference: God vs. Allah totally different dieties...

Completely Pro-Life

Yes, I'm pro-life. I don't like to say I'm anti-abortion, because, for me, that only touches on one point of being pro-life. For me this is what being pro-life means:

• Against abortion, except when the life of the mother is in danger.
• Against the death penalty, period.
• Against genocide and any activity that suports, encourages or ignores it.
• For the civil rights of all people regardless of race, creed, color, sex or sexual orientation.
• For caring for the poor and needy, orphaned and widowed.
• For the humane treatment of animals.
• For responsible protection of the environment.

This is why I generally vote Democratic. As stated before, I have a real problem with people who want to equate Christianity with the Republican party. They only hit on one of my issues, and honestly, while I hate abortion, it is really only a blip on the screen as far as the Bible is concerned. I don't know of one passage in the Bible that is directly against abortion, but I know I can show you so many passages against the oppression of the poor it will make you dizzy. I can even show more verses for the ethical treatment of your animals than I can about abortion. So yes, I'm against abortion but I'm more for life and living than anything else.

"Hey You Poor Hungry People of the World--Pluto is Important!!!!!"

NASA's top climate scientist says the Bush administration is trying to censure him after he gave a lecture which included a call to use available technology to reduce greenhouse gases and stop global warming before it's too late.

I'm sure he's right, but that's not the point. The point is--what the heck did NASA ever do for the environment? They send up enormous shuttles using fuel tanks bigger than my neighborhood, they toss space trash while they're up there and they spend massive amounts of money on absolutely nothing!!!

Take Pluto for example. Someone got this bright idea--"Pluto is important. Let's explore Pluto. Let's spend 700 MILLION dollars exploring Pluto!" And other people who like to spend other people's money said "That is a great idea. We especially like the 700 million dollar part!"

Yet we have this global warming problem--not a problem, but according to NASA, a crisis! And, according to NASA, the Bush administration should do something about it! I know! How about canceling the Pluto project and spending 700 million dollars buying people hybrid cars? Or we could spend 700 million dollars making other "available energy saving technologies" actually available to the average person. Or maybe we could just spend 700 million dollars making the world we have a better place to live in. We could feed the hungry, educate the poor, create jobs and homes for the homeless... I could find 700 million better ways to spend 700 million dollars. Heck, even buying the world a coke is a better idea than exploring Pluto!

To get a different perspective on this I talked to my seven year old. She has spent hours reading about space, space missions, space stations. She wants to go to space camp when she's old enough. She's gone on fake missions on the NASA website, she knows what to do if she needs to bail out of a spacecraft during takeoff or re-entry, she knows how to find water in the desert in case that's where she lands, she knows all the stuff the astronauts have in those orange suits AND YET this is how the conversation went.

Me-- "Moira, they're spending 700 million dollars to send this probe thing way out into space to study Pluto. Isn't that cool?"

Moira--"Why? It's just Pluto. They haven't even decided if it's a planet yet."

Out of the mouths of babes . . .

Gandhi

The other day I saw the movie Gandhi again. I haven't seen it in years. But my wife and I have been reading a book by Philip Yancey called Soul Survivor and he devotes a chapter to Gandhi so Jaime wanted to see the movie. My lovely wife likes to get her history from movies even though she openly admits that the facts are usually butchered and pop culture-fied. For example, want to learn about Eva Peron? Why read a book when you can watch Evita and then memorize all the songs and play them again, and again and again . . . I hate Evita.

Anyway, in the case of Gandhi, the movie version of real life is a good thing. I saw it in high school and it literally changed my life. Gandhi's story convinced me that non-violence was the way to go. Quite a transformation considering my habit of trying to beat the crap out of people. (Notice the key word try--my victims usually got the upperhand.)

I was always an angry kid losing my temper and getting into fights. (My family has not so fond memories of me slamming my big brother through a glass storm door. I was little so it took three shoves--but I got the job done, goshdarnit!) As I got older I knew the violence was only adding to my anger, but I couldn't see an alternative. Gandhi showed me another option.

You would think growing up in a Christian environment--okay, Christian-ish (I did attend Bob Jones elementary after all) that the nonviolence thing would have been obvious. Jesus, martyrdom, forgiveness, etc. But it really wasn't. Oddly enough it took a movie about a Hindu who did pay attention to Jesus and what he taught to make this sink in. Violence only creates more violence until someone is strong enough to turn the other cheek, until someone is willing to lose the fight in order to win it--even if it means dying. I think the New Testament makes that fairly clear.

So it's pretty embarrassing when people like Mr. High-Profile-Pseudo-Christian-Man Pat Robertson starts recommending solving problems by wacking people. Somewhere along the line a portion of Christianity got off track and I'm hoping now that burning people has gone out of style these folks will catch on to what the Jesus they never knew was talking about.

Sorry . . . I'll get off my high horse now. Things always get ugly when you bring Pat into it. Shoot-- things got ugly again. *deep breath* Okay, Ben, publish post, walk away, just walk away . . .