Paul Ryan’s Elitist Budget

Woe to You, Legislators!

by Jim Wallis 04-14-2011

It is reported that Congressman Paul Ryan makes every member of his staff read philosopher Ayn Rand, the shameless promoter of the gospel of aggressive self-interest. This makes sense to me as I read Congressman Ryan's new budget proposal. I wish he had his staff reading the Bible instead.

While widely lauded by conservatives, Congressman Ryan's budget …To read the balance of this article by Jim Wallis and So Jo magazine go to:http//:blog.sojo.net/2011/04/14/woe-to-you-legislators/

Jim Wallis has, in the past, written about budgets being moral documents; the theme is continued here.

Atheists, I believe in God because I do - Leonard Pitts Jr. - MiamiHerald.com

This article is by Leonard Pitts Jr. a syndicated columnist who writes for the Miami Herald. To read the complete article go to the website listed below.

That which is without quality cannot be measured, the invisible cannot be examined, theincorporeal cannot be weighed, the limitless cannot be compared, the incomprehensible doesnot admit of more or less.’’ Gregory of Nyssa (fourth century Christian philosopher)

“I am that I am" Exodus 3:14

Occasionally, I manage to tick off an atheist.

It is not something I set out to do. Usually it results from some passing comment reflecting my belief that God is. As in a recent column on Lara Logan, the CBS reporter sexually assaulted in Egypt. I wrote that she is “deserving of our compassion, our empathy and our prayers.” This drove a reader named Patricia to her keyboard.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/03/01/2092334/i-believe-because-i-do.html#ixzz1GEzfcLtW

Triangles and Sin in a Local Church Setting

Portions of this post comes from the blog, Living the Gospel by Bill Carroll an "Episcopal priest and member of the third order of the Society of Saint Francis". His web site is at http//:evangeliumobservare.blogspot.com/

Triangles and Sin

Blessed is the servant who would love and respect his brother as much when he is far from him as he would when he is with him; and who would not say anything behind his back which in charity he could not say to his face.

--Francis of Assisi, Admonition 25

It is a commonplace in writings about leadership influenced by family systems ... that one should attempt to reposition oneself when one finds oneself in a triangle between two or more other persons. Often we say to one person what we should be saying to another. ... Reestablishing direct communication promotes self-differentiation throughout the system. It also puts the anxiety back where it belongs and removes the leader from the position of bearing responsibilities that are not his or hers. [H]anding people back the anxiety that belongs to them. This is the first step in getting others to take responsibility for managing themselves.

Francis reminds us of a particularly pernicious form of triangle: the one that develops when we malign our brother or sister behind his or her back. All triangulation may be a consequence of the fall. And in fact, through the presence of the serpent, triangles develop in the course of the fall itself. Look at some of the triangles in the Genesis story (Adam-Eve-serpent; Adam-God-Eve; Serpent-Eve-God; Cain-Abel-God; God-Cain-Abel) etc. Francis identifies this tendency with both vice and sin, through the use of the word "charity." The problem with what we say behind other's backs is that we cannot say it "in charity" to their face.

Francis stands here on firm New Testament ground. Jesus himself urged direct confrontation when differences arose within his Church. See Matthew 18:15ff. He also modeled it in his conversations with others. Think about his confrontation with Simon the Pharisee or the woman at the well. Jesus urges his followers to direct, simple, and honest speech. ...
It is no accident that Thomas Aquinas cites many of these works of the flesh when he deals with acts contrary to charity, the precise virtue that Francis calls to mind. The works of the flesh may be human and to some extent they may be unavoidable in a post fall world, but that doesn't make them right or normative.

In Christ, we are called to a better way. The Apostle describes this way in moving words appointed recently in our lectionary, which may have gotten lost in some of our congregations among the many fine sermons about the Bread of Life. In the fourth chapter of Ephesians, we find the following exhortation:

I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Ultimately, in this very brief passage from Francis, I think he is laying the groundwork for the same sort of life, one characterized by brotherhood and sisterhood in the Church, and ultimately in a far wider Kingdom.

U2 Praise & Worship: 40/Streets Prayer Breakfast

More Civilian Casualties Not Reported in Iraq

The following post comes from the New York Times web site and Schott's Vocab column by Ben Schott. To see more of his columns go to:htt://schott.blogs.nytimes.com.

February 2, 2011, 10:38 am

The Car Crashes of War

Julian Assange's term for the, largely unreported, low-death-toll killings that, it is claimed, constitute the bulk of civilian casualties in conflicts such as Iraq.

Interviewing Julian Assange in The Observer, Ed Vulliamy reflected on his first meeting with the WikiLeaks head, shortly before the October 2010 release of "what was then the biggest single leak of official material in history, pertaining to the war in Iraq":

In partnership with Iraq Body Count – considered to be (and criticised by the left for being) the more exacting and forensic of groups seeking to quantify the toll of Tony Blair's and George W Bush's war – WikiLeaks revealed, via the Guardian and other outlets of its choosing, 16,000 previously unrecorded civilian deaths between January 2004 and the end of 2009, recorded in thousands of leaked US army reports.

Assange had, among many other interesting things to say, a cogent observation about warfare: "What these documents show is that the bulk of civilian deaths are the 'car crashes' of war, not the 'bus crashes' of war that are picked up by the media. It is the vast number slain in incremental events killing one, two or three people which go unreported, as opposed to the deaths of 20 or more, which are reported. The number of 'small kills' is huge – a family here, a kid there, someone in a house, someone caught in a crossfire. It is the everyday squalor of war that takes the life of most."

Guns and the church's moral duty

By Vicki Gray, January 28, 2011

[Episcopal News Service] Once I was a Foreign Service officer, a political officer trained to look at a host society and try to understand what makes it tick.

After many years spent living abroad, I've become accustomed to looking at my own country in much the same way: as an outside observer, seeking to make sense of an often-jumbled mosaic. And one thing I've always stumbled over -- that makes no sense to me -- is America's obsession with guns and our inability reasonably to regulate their possession.

How can one make sense of such inaction in a country where there are 90 guns for every 100 people -- man, woman, or child -- our nearest competitors being Yemen, a country afflicted by tribal strife and occupied in part by al Qaeda (61 guns per 100), and Switzerland, where every adult male is required by law to own a rifle as part of a well-regulated national militia (46 per 100)? Why do we tolerate more gun deaths every week on our city streets than on the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq combined? How do we explain an annual rate of gun deaths 20 times higher than in any other industrialized democracy?

To read the balance of this article go to: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80050_126774_ENG_HTM.htm

Guns and responsibility

Since the 60s I have wondered about the insane lack of gun control in this country. The killing goes on, the NRA keeps buying legislators and the killing goes on. Public figures are shot the question is asked about lax gun laws and the killing goes on. Ordinary citizens continue to be slaughtered including children many people wonder about lax gun laws, and the killing goes on. Even the Supreme Court, men and women whose very profession should make them familiar with the English language and US history, are unable to read the Constitution in context of both language and history; they arrive at decisions that increase the possibility that laws will become even more lax, and the killing goes on.

Eugene Robinson makes valid points about this issue in his editorial that follows. Consider clicking on the link about "lax gun laws" embedded in his writing. Perhaps you would like to also go to the Brady web site to hear some ideas that counter the propaganda of the NRA. The web address is: http://www.bradycampaign.org/

Guns and responsibility

By Eugene Robinson

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

We may not be sure that the bloodbath in Tucson had anything to do with politics, but we know it had everything to do with our nation's insane refusal to impose reasonable controls on guns.

Specifically, the rampage had everything to do with a 9mm semiautomatic Glock pistol - a sleek, efficient killing machine that our lax gun laws allowed an unstable young man to purchase, carry anywhere and ultimately use to shoot Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in the head. The weapon also was used to shoot 19 bystanders, killing six of them, including a federal judge and a 9-year-old girl.

Read the balance of Eugene Robinson's opinion piece by going to: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/10/AR2011011004763.html?nav=hcmoduletmv

If you clicked on the "lax gun laws" link in the article you may have been as incredulous as I was to read the line that quoted the NRA as saying, "Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims of this senseless tragedy," it said. "We join the rest of the country in praying for the quick recovery of those injured."