Tuesday, April 29, 2014
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Anyone who thinks sitting in church can make you a Christian must
also think that sitting in a garage can make you a car.”
Garrison Keillor
Garrison Keillor
Sunday, April 27, 2014
SUNDAY MORNING SCRIPTURE
“Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.”
Edward Abbey, The Journey Home: Some Words in Defense of the American West
Edward Abbey, The Journey Home: Some Words in Defense of the American West
SUNDAY MORNING PRAYER: CANDIDATES FOR NEWNESS
We live the long stretch between
Easter and Pentecost, scarcely noticing.
We hear mention of the odd claim of ascension.
We easily recite the creed,
"He ascended into heaven."
We bow before such quaint language and move on,
immune to ascent,
indifferent to enthronement,
unresponsive to new governance.
It is reported that behind the ascending son was
the majestic Father riding the clouds,
But we do not look up much;
we stay close to the ground, to business and
to busyness,
to management and control.
Our world of well-being has very low
ceiling, but we do not mind the closeness
or notice the restrictiveness.
It will take at least a Pentecost wind to
break open our vision enough to imagine new government.
We will regularly say the creed
and from time to time---in crises that
drive us to hope and to wish---
wait for a new descent of the spirit among us.
Until then, we stay jaded,
but for all that,
no less candidates for newness.
Walter Brueggemann, Prayers for a Privileged People
Easter and Pentecost, scarcely noticing.
We hear mention of the odd claim of ascension.
We easily recite the creed,
"He ascended into heaven."
We bow before such quaint language and move on,
immune to ascent,
indifferent to enthronement,
unresponsive to new governance.
It is reported that behind the ascending son was
the majestic Father riding the clouds,
But we do not look up much;
we stay close to the ground, to business and
to busyness,
to management and control.
Our world of well-being has very low
ceiling, but we do not mind the closeness
or notice the restrictiveness.
It will take at least a Pentecost wind to
break open our vision enough to imagine new government.
We will regularly say the creed
and from time to time---in crises that
drive us to hope and to wish---
wait for a new descent of the spirit among us.
Until then, we stay jaded,
but for all that,
no less candidates for newness.
Walter Brueggemann, Prayers for a Privileged People
Friday, April 25, 2014
HOT SPRINGS VILLAGE
LIVING WITH ALL THESE RICH, RIGHT-WING REPUBLICANS, I FIGURE I SHOULD GET COMBAT PAY OR CANONIZED.
I WOULD HAVE TO SAY, ALL THINGS BEING EQUAL, WHICH THEY SELDOM ARE, THAT THE WORLD IS PRETTY SCREWED UP
- We still celebrate Columbus Day long after we realize he didn't discover America. It had already been found.
- A gun is now as easy to obtain as a drivers license. You don't even have to take an eye test, although an IQ test wouldn't hurt.
- When you demand that the poor be helped, you're called a socialist. When you give that money to the rich, you're called a Republican.
- As the world becomes smaller, so does our brain. This seemingly explains the phrase, "cool."
- While I'm not technically opposed to same-sex marriages, I don wonder what the benefits are?
- We call bombs "smart" and it is possible to be killed by "friendly" fire.
- We keep electing people who haven't got a clue what's going on.
- The rich just keep getting richer, and we, we just keep getting it. You can't be much dumber than that.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.
Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guildmaster and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed, stood in constant opposition to one another, carried on an uninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight, that each time ended, either in the revolutionary reconstitution of society at large, or in the common ruin of the contending classes.”
Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto
Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guildmaster and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed, stood in constant opposition to one another, carried on an uninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight, that each time ended, either in the revolutionary reconstitution of society at large, or in the common ruin of the contending classes.”
Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto
Thursday, April 24, 2014
Affirmative Action Ruling Will Further Racial Inequality | Common Dreams
Affirmative Action Ruling Will Further Racial Inequality | Common Dreams
Nine whites. No, I didn't make a mistake. And 5 Catholics. All right-wing, Republican, Christians. Guess what? We're screwed.
Nine whites. No, I didn't make a mistake. And 5 Catholics. All right-wing, Republican, Christians. Guess what? We're screwed.
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
SOME HOT SPRINGS VILLAGE OBSERVATIONS-SUGGESTIONS
- Bridge is a game for rich white people who don't have enough to do.
- We should try to sell some of our non-producing lots to minority people, as a gesture of goodwill.
- Living with right-wing, Republican, Christians, is no picnic. I should get combat pay.
- Most of our decisions makers are conservatives, living in the past. They do not have much of a vision for what is to come. Most think WWII is coming back. Without FDR.
- If you make any suggestion out of the realm of the status quo, it is not considered worthy of consideration. Conventional Wisdom is clearly rule #1 here in the Village.
- We have a lot of churches. Most are Baptist. We have more churches than sense. They do have good bake sales.
- If you like rules, this is the place for you. We have a rule for just about everything. I was going to e-mail this list to the President of the POA, but I think there is a rule against that. They suggest you keep things like this secret.
Monday, April 21, 2014
Sunday, April 20, 2014
BENEDICTION
As you leave this place
may the Living Lord go with you;
May he go behind you, to encourage you,
beside you, to befriend you,
above you, to watch over you,
beneath you, to lift you from your sorrows,
within you, to give you the gifts of faith, hope, and love,
and always before you, to show you the way.
may the Living Lord go with you;
May he go behind you, to encourage you,
beside you, to befriend you,
above you, to watch over you,
beneath you, to lift you from your sorrows,
within you, to give you the gifts of faith, hope, and love,
and always before you, to show you the way.
EASTER MORNING SERMON: EASTER IN THE VERY BELLY OF NOTHINGNESS
Death will be all right for us when it comes.
But dying is another matter---
so slow,
so painful,
so humiliating.
Death will be a quick turn,
the winking of an eye
but dying turns and twists and waits and teases.
We have not died,
but we know about dying:
We watch the inching pain of cancer,
the oozing ache of alienation,
the tears of stored-up hurt.
We can smell the dying
of bombs and shells
of direct hit and collateral damage
of napalm spread thin and even of cities turned craters
of Agent Orange that waits years to show,
and lives turned to empty stare.
We watch close or distant;
we brace and stiffen
and grow cynical or uncaring.
And death wins---
we, robbed of vitality, brought low by failed hope,
lost innocence,
emptied childhood,
and stillness.
We keep, but barely;
we gather at the grave,
watching the sting and
the victory of dread.
But you stir late Saturday;
we gather early Sunday with balm and embalming,
close to the body,
waiting for the smell but not;
dreading the withered site....but not;
cringing before love lost....but not here.
Not here....but risen,
gone,
awakened,
alive!
The new creation stirs beyond the weeping women;
O death....no sting!
O grave....no victory!
O silence....new song;
O dread...new dance!
O tribulation...now overcome!
O Friday God---Easter the failed city,
Sunday the killing fields.
And we, we shall dance and sing,
thank and praise,
into the night that holds no more darkness.
But dying is another matter---
so slow,
so painful,
so humiliating.
Death will be a quick turn,
the winking of an eye
but dying turns and twists and waits and teases.
We have not died,
but we know about dying:
We watch the inching pain of cancer,
the oozing ache of alienation,
the tears of stored-up hurt.
We can smell the dying
of bombs and shells
of direct hit and collateral damage
of napalm spread thin and even of cities turned craters
of Agent Orange that waits years to show,
and lives turned to empty stare.
We watch close or distant;
we brace and stiffen
and grow cynical or uncaring.
And death wins---
we, robbed of vitality, brought low by failed hope,
lost innocence,
emptied childhood,
and stillness.
We keep, but barely;
we gather at the grave,
watching the sting and
the victory of dread.
But you stir late Saturday;
we gather early Sunday with balm and embalming,
close to the body,
waiting for the smell but not;
dreading the withered site....but not;
cringing before love lost....but not here.
Not here....but risen,
gone,
awakened,
alive!
The new creation stirs beyond the weeping women;
O death....no sting!
O grave....no victory!
O silence....new song;
O dread...new dance!
O tribulation...now overcome!
O Friday God---Easter the failed city,
Sunday the killing fields.
And we, we shall dance and sing,
thank and praise,
into the night that holds no more darkness.
EASTER PRAYER: EASTER US
You God who terrified the waters,
who crashed your
thunder,
who shook the
earth, and
scared the wits
out of chaos.
You God who with strong arm saved
your people
by miracle and
wonder and majestic act.
You are the same God to whom we
turn,
we turn in our
days of trouble,
and in our weary
nights;
we look for
steadfast love and are dismayed,
we wait for your
promises, but wait in fatigue,
we ponder your
forgetfulness and lack of compassion,
and we grow
silent.
Our lives, addressed to you,
have this
bitter-sweet taste of
loud-clashing
miracles and weak-kneed doubt.
So we come in our
bewilderment and wonderment,
deeply trusting,
almost afraid to trust much,
passionately
insisting, too timid to insist much,
fervently hoping,
exhausted for hoping too much.
Look upon us in our deep need,
mark the wounds of
our brothers and sisters just here,
notice the turmoil
in our lives, and the lives of our families,
credit the
incongruity of the rich and the poor in our very city,
and the staggering
injustices abroad in our land,
tend to the rage
out of control, rage justified by displacement,
rage gone crazy by
absence, silence, and deprivation,
measure the
suffering,
count the
sufferers,
number the wounds.
You tamer of chaos and mender of
all tears in the canvas of creation,
we ponder your
suffering,
your crown of
thorns,
your garment taken
in lottery,
your mocked life,
and now we throw
upon your suffering humiliation,
the suffering of
the world.
You defeater of death, whose power
could not hold you,
come in your
Easter,
come in your
sweeping victory,
come in your
glorious new life.
Easter us,
salve wounds,
break injustice,
bring peace,
guarantee
neighbor,
Easter us in joy and strength.
Be our God, be your true self, lord
of life,
massively turn our
life toward your life
and away from our
anti-neighbor, anti-self deathliness.
Hear our thankful, grateful,
unashamed Hallelujah!
Amen.
Saturday, April 19, 2014
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Now I will tell you the answer to my question. It is this. The
Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in
the good of others; we are interested solely in power, pure power. What
pure power means you will understand presently. We are different from
the oligarchies of the past in that we know what we are doing. All the
others, even those who resembled ourselves, were cowards and hypocrites.
The German Nazis and the Russian Communists came very close to us in
their methods, but they never had the courage to recognize their own
motives. They pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had
seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, and that just around
the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would be free and
equal. We are not like that. We know what no one ever seizes power with
the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end.
One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a
revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the
dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of
torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now you begin to
understand me.”
George Orwell, 1984
George Orwell, 1984
Friday, April 18, 2014
ON A BUSINESS TRIP TO TENNESSEE-1998
It was hot, like 105 degrees hot. I pulled into a Dairy Queen in
Dickson, Tennessee, to get some relief. I was headed for Murfreesboro.
The girl that waited on me had "HATE" tattooed across her fingers. She
must have been around 25 years old or so. I figured she had a pretty
rough life. She was really thin, appeared to have been born with a cleft
palate, and had several other non-professional tattoos on her arm. When
she handed me my order, I asked if her fingers were getting any better.
Maybe someone had asked her that before, I don't know. Anyway, she
seemed to understand. She said yes, thanks. I'm sure the "HATE" went on
those fingers hard and it will come off slow. A young woman in Dickson,
Tennessee. I don't know her name or her exact circumstance, but I sure
hope she has good luck in the years ahead.
Thursday, April 17, 2014
The Grand American Tradition of Violent White Supremacy | Common Dreams
The Grand American Tradition of Violent White Supremacy | Common Dreams
Hand these idiots guns, and they'll shot someone. You could be next.
Hand these idiots guns, and they'll shot someone. You could be next.
LAWYERS
Lawyer jokes. I came across a couple of beauties:
What do you call a lawyer with an IQ below 50? Your honor.
What do you call a lawyer who's gone bad? Senator.
Reminds me of Peever Law #49: In the scheme of things, attorneys rank just below slugs.
What do you call a lawyer with an IQ below 50? Your honor.
What do you call a lawyer who's gone bad? Senator.
Reminds me of Peever Law #49: In the scheme of things, attorneys rank just below slugs.
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
INCOME TAX DAY
On this day of internal revenue
some of us are paid up,
some of us owe,
some of us await a refund,
some of us have no income to tax.
But all of us are taxed,
by war,
by violence,
by anxiety,
by deathliness.
And Caesar never gives any deep tax relief.
We render to Caesar....
to some it feels like a grab,
to some it is clearly a war tax,
to some---some few---
it is a way to contribute to the common good.
In any case we are haunted
by what we render to Caesar,
by what we might render to you,
by the way we invest our wealth and our lives,
when what you ask is an "easy yoke":
to do justice
to love mercy
to walk humbly with you.
Give us courage for y9our easy burden, so to live untaxed lives.
Walter Brueggemann
some of us are paid up,
some of us owe,
some of us await a refund,
some of us have no income to tax.
But all of us are taxed,
by war,
by violence,
by anxiety,
by deathliness.
And Caesar never gives any deep tax relief.
We render to Caesar....
to some it feels like a grab,
to some it is clearly a war tax,
to some---some few---
it is a way to contribute to the common good.
In any case we are haunted
by what we render to Caesar,
by what we might render to you,
by the way we invest our wealth and our lives,
when what you ask is an "easy yoke":
to do justice
to love mercy
to walk humbly with you.
Give us courage for y9our easy burden, so to live untaxed lives.
Walter Brueggemann
Right-wing Republican humor
I hear right-wing Republican Christians are taking up a collection to buy God a gun. They just can't figure out what kind she'd like.
Monday, April 14, 2014
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“They say that 'Guns don't kill people, people kill people.' Well I
think the gun helps. If you just stood there and yelled BANG, I don't
think you'd kill too many people.”
Eddie Izzard
Eddie Izzard
Sunday, April 13, 2014
BENEDICTION
The news is that God's wind is blowing.
It may be a breeze that
cools and comforts.
It may be a gust that
summons you to notice.
It my be a storm that blows you where you have
never been before.
Whatever the wind is in you life,
pay attention to it...
and the blessings of God,
Father, Son, and Spirit,
will abide with you always.
It may be a breeze that
cools and comforts.
It may be a gust that
summons you to notice.
It my be a storm that blows you where you have
never been before.
Whatever the wind is in you life,
pay attention to it...
and the blessings of God,
Father, Son, and Spirit,
will abide with you always.
SUNDAY MORINING SERMON-HEY THERE, ALL YOU SINNERS
I had some Baptists stop my the house the other day trying to get me to attend their church and be saved. I'm not much into church, and definitely not much into being saved. I guess I don't quite see the point of either. I for sure don't like churches that emphasis sinning and sinners. I don't need to put $20 in the offering every Sunday just to have someone tell me I goofed up. I already know that. The question is, if I screwed up, what am I going to do about it? Hardly seems adequate that I repent. If I drink too much, am I going to quit? If I cuss and carry on in front of my kids, when am I going to stop? If I'm screwing the neighbors wife, when am I going to zip it up? If I'm violent by nature, when am I going to settle down? I told them a born again experience is worthless without ongoing lifestyle changes and pledging to live your life with Christ as the model, not the preacher or the deacons, or some yahoo television evangelist. I told them I don't see many born-again's doing that. They all want me to be impressed with their newfound way, but don't seem to be working at it. When they left they seemed a bit dejected. I hope I didn't ruin their delusions.
SUNDAY MORNING PRAYER-PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION
Truth-telling, wind-blowing, life-giving spirit---
we present ourselves now
for our instruction and guidance;
breathe your truth among us,
breathe your truth of deep Friday loss,
your truth of awesome Sunday joy.
Breathe your story of death and life
that our story may be submitted to your will for life.
We pray in the name of Jesus risen to new life---
and him crucified.
Walter Brueggemann
we present ourselves now
for our instruction and guidance;
breathe your truth among us,
breathe your truth of deep Friday loss,
your truth of awesome Sunday joy.
Breathe your story of death and life
that our story may be submitted to your will for life.
We pray in the name of Jesus risen to new life---
and him crucified.
Walter Brueggemann
Saturday, April 12, 2014
War on Terror's Trickle Down Effect: The FBI's Military Evolution Exposed | Common Dreams
War on Terror's Trickle Down Effect: The FBI's Military Evolution Exposed | Common Dreams
FBI turned army, navy, and marines. I feel so much safer.
FBI turned army, navy, and marines. I feel so much safer.
Friday, April 11, 2014
The Ryan Budget Shows What Republicans Want To Do To America | Common Dreams
The Ryan Budget Shows What Republicans Want To Do To America | Common Dreams
More magnificent work from the Dumbest Man on Earth.
More magnificent work from the Dumbest Man on Earth.
Thursday, April 10, 2014
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
ON THE EDGE
My vision of life is not haunted with pleasant platitudes or crystal clear ideologies. As a family therapist, maybe I've seen too much, read too much. Maybe I've listened to too may stories of betrayal, violence, sexual misconduct. Even murder. You're innocence leaves and your are stuck with reality. Democracy is not pure; religions will not necessarily make you a better person; convictions come and go; governments will not protect you from the Wolf; promises of a better tomorrow are not worth much today. You get lied to, deceived. People take your money and give you a bill of goods as long as your arm. They tell you that you won't amount to a hill of beans; that you are from the wrong side of the tracks. You're the wrong color, the wrong sex, your arm is withered, your eyes can't see; that your job is low prestige or not at all. You might see things that others don't; you can't get out of your chair without a walker; you hear things that others can't hear. You're dirt poor, living in a car, begging food at the local mission; ashamed to go to the emergency room again. Life is not crystal clear or clean. You get your hands dirty. No amount of sanitizer will wipe away the truth.
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
PEEVER LAW #72
EVERY GENERATION HAS ITS ISSUES. SO FAR, NO GENERATION DESERVES A WHOLE LOT OF PRAISE.
Sunday, April 6, 2014
SUNDAY MORNING PRAYER-WAYS OF WELL-BEING SUBVERTED
In your Holy Presence,
we confess that something strange and ominous
is happening among us,
so strange that we cannot understand,
so ominous that we cannot control.
We are like Dazzling David and Smooth Solomon
who presided over social transformations
that soon were out of hand.
We are like them as we watch wave after wave
of new power and new money,
while our infrastructure disintegrates,
and the poor grow more desperate
amid our surpluses.
We are like them as we participate in social differentiation
of class and mass---
we the educated, the privileged, the entitled,
and we scarcely know or notice
the lesser ones who remain unnamed
and nearly invisible.
We are like them as we sort out tasks and assignments;
we sit in our air conditioning and move paper
but sweat only a little---
except at leisure.
And they sweat and work and sometimes seethe,
fearing the paper we move that disenfranchises them.
We are like Dazzling David and Smooth Solomon
on the way in this great economy and this great church,
We are like them, grateful, but unnoticing. Sometimes we wonder
if we will learn anything soon enough.
Good, hard, demanding, generous God;
we do not ask to be dazzled,
we do not ask to be made smooth in success.
We ask rather for courage to be faithful,
to submit our privilege and entitlement to you,
before it is too late.
It is your holiness that subverts our best convictions,
and so we submit to your haunting as best we can,
haunted as was Jesus by purposes beyond his own.
Prayers for a Privileged People, Walter Brueggemann
we confess that something strange and ominous
is happening among us,
so strange that we cannot understand,
so ominous that we cannot control.
We are like Dazzling David and Smooth Solomon
who presided over social transformations
that soon were out of hand.
We are like them as we watch wave after wave
of new power and new money,
while our infrastructure disintegrates,
and the poor grow more desperate
amid our surpluses.
We are like them as we participate in social differentiation
of class and mass---
we the educated, the privileged, the entitled,
and we scarcely know or notice
the lesser ones who remain unnamed
and nearly invisible.
We are like them as we sort out tasks and assignments;
we sit in our air conditioning and move paper
but sweat only a little---
except at leisure.
And they sweat and work and sometimes seethe,
fearing the paper we move that disenfranchises them.
We are like Dazzling David and Smooth Solomon
on the way in this great economy and this great church,
We are like them, grateful, but unnoticing. Sometimes we wonder
if we will learn anything soon enough.
Good, hard, demanding, generous God;
we do not ask to be dazzled,
we do not ask to be made smooth in success.
We ask rather for courage to be faithful,
to submit our privilege and entitlement to you,
before it is too late.
It is your holiness that subverts our best convictions,
and so we submit to your haunting as best we can,
haunted as was Jesus by purposes beyond his own.
Prayers for a Privileged People, Walter Brueggemann
Wait, What? On Hobby Lobby's Lived Out, Deeply Held Religious Convictions, Unless They Can Make Some Money, In Which Case Oops Never Mind | Common Dreams
Wait, What? On Hobby Lobby's Lived Out, Deeply Held Religious Convictions, Unless They Can Make Some Money, In Which Case Oops Never Mind | Common Dreams
BOYCOTT HOBBY LOBBY. (Ends up I'm boycotting about every business in America).
BOYCOTT HOBBY LOBBY. (Ends up I'm boycotting about every business in America).
Thursday, April 3, 2014
In 'Blow to Democracy,' SCOTUS Strikes Down Campaign Contribution Limits | Common Dreams
In 'Blow to Democracy,' SCOTUS Strikes Down Campaign Contribution Limits | Common Dreams
RIGHT-WING SUPREME COURT DEALS DEMOCRACY A FATAL BLOW. THE REVOLUTION IS AT HAND.
RIGHT-WING SUPREME COURT DEALS DEMOCRACY A FATAL BLOW. THE REVOLUTION IS AT HAND.
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“The major problem—one of the major problems, for there
are several—one of the many major problems with governing people is that
of whom you get to do it; or rather of who manages to get people to let
them do it to them.
To summarize: it is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it.
To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.”
Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
To summarize: it is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it.
To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.”
Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
The “Billionaire’s Primary”: Meet America’s New Political Bosses | Common Dreams
The “Billionaire’s Primary”: Meet America’s New Political Bosses | Common Dream
OUR ELECTION PROCESS HAS BEEN BOUGHT. BYE, BYE, MISS AMERICAN PIE.
OUR ELECTION PROCESS HAS BEEN BOUGHT. BYE, BYE, MISS AMERICAN PIE.
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Clapper Confesses: NSA Searching Americans' Calls and Emails | Common Dreams
Clapper Confesses: NSA Searching Americans' Calls and Emails | Common Dreams
We owe Edward Snowden an apology. He did us all a favor. Our invasion of privacy by the government is unrelenting and unforgivable. No freedom of speech. No privacy. no democracy.
We owe Edward Snowden an apology. He did us all a favor. Our invasion of privacy by the government is unrelenting and unforgivable. No freedom of speech. No privacy. no democracy.
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