Paul Wilczynski's Observations: December 2004

Friday, December 31, 2004

UUSC-UUA Tsunami Relief Fund

You can donate to the Unitarian Universalist Service commitee's Tsunami Relief Fund here.

Wednesday, December 29, 2004

Beatles mashup

I admit to never having heard of a mashup before, but my first expose was a truly amazing experience. You'll find it here on BoingBoing. It's a mix made up of approximately 40 Beatles songs, with sometimes five different songs playing at the same time.

Americans support strong and wrong

NewDonkey.com (associated with the Democratic Leadership Council) furthers the discussion on why the Democrats lost the election.

The conclusion: "The main lesson we learned on national security in 2004 can be summed up by the warning Bill Clinton provided Democrats nearly two years ago: given a choice, Americans will support candidates who are strong and wrong over those who are (or who appear to be) weak and right. In George W. Bush, we had the perfect example of strong-and-wrong, so it's clear the continuing weakness of the Democratic Party on national security had a lot to do with his re-election. "

Bush's response to tsunami

From The Washington Post (registration required): "Earlier yesterday, White House spokesman Trent Duffy said the president was confident he could monitor events effectively without returning to Washington or making public statements in Crawford, where he spent part of the day clearing brush and bicycling. Explaining the about-face, a White House official said: "The president wanted to be fully briefed on our efforts. He didn't want to make a symbolic statement about 'We feel your pain.' "

"Some foreign policy specialists said Bush's actions and words both communicated a lack of urgency about an event that will loom as large in the collective memories of several countries as the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks do in the United States. "When that many human beings die -- at the hands of terrorists or nature -- you've got to show that this matters to you, that you care," said Leslie H. Gelb, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations."

It sometimes just amazes me how much more importantly we treat one American life than one life of an individual from a country such as one involved in this catastrophe.

Tuesday, December 28, 2004

Tsunamis and inaugurations

Atrios points out that the Bush administration yesterday pledged ~~$15~~ $35 million to Asian nations hit by a tsunami, and that the estimated budget for President Bush's second inauguration is $30-40 million, excluding security costs.

The Boston Globe said on Dec 29 that the $35 million was a line of credit.

If that's true, it's shameful. We need to loan them money?

Helping victims of the earthquake and tsunamis

BeliefNet has an online list of a number of relief charities that are helping victims of the earthquake and tsunamis in South Asia.

Monday, December 27, 2004

Kwanzaa attacked on Fox

Media Matters for America observes that ...

"On Hannity & Colmes, Reverend Jesse Lee Peterson and nationally syndicated radio host Mike Gallagher smeared the African American holiday Kwanzaa and attacked its founder. On the December 22 edition of the FOX News program, Peterson declared: "Kwanzaa is a racist, pagan, Marxist holiday" and then claimed that the "so-called seven principles of Kwanzaa are socialist, Marxist, separatist ideas." Peterson attacked Kwanzaa founder Maulana (Ron) Karenga, calling him a "racist" who "want[s] to get rid of God" and saying he committed a felony in the early 1970s and led a movement "fighting against blacks and whites uniting together." Peterson told co-host Alan Colmes that the United States has no need for Kwanzaa because "we are a Christian nation, Alan, and we already believe in Christ." He declared that if "a white man started a white holiday, seven-day white holiday, black folks would be burning down America." Gallagher, who was filling in for co-host Sean Hannity, asserted that Kwanzaa is a "fake holiday" that was meant to "tweak white America back in 1966" and now serves to "secularize the Christmas season." On December 21, the right-wing website WorldNetDaily.com also detailed Peterson's assault on Kwanzaa in an article titled "Black minister: Say 'no' to Kwanzaa."

Sometimes all we see is caricatures

Richard Cohen in the Washington Post (free registration required) notes that sometimes we don't always see the entire person.

Cohen says: "Public figures, especially government officials, somehow get turned into caricatures -- not real people but virtual cardboard cutouts, complete with labels: liberal, conservative, red, blue, pro-life, pro-choice, as if life itself were one of those TV shows where you have to be one thing or another, never a bit of both."

Good point worth thinking about.

Thursday, December 23, 2004

Blankets are burgler tools?

Media Matters for America quotes frequent FOX News contributor Mike Gallagher:

"Referencing a December 21 Associated Press report that "Border Patrol is equipping agents in Southern Arizona with blankets and 'heat packs' to treat illegal immigrants who falter in the cold during border crossings," Gallagher said: "Isn't that kind of like offering a burglar the right tools to break into somebody's house?"

Ummmm ... no?

Don't tell the religious right about this ...

or we'll be next ...

Mexican city bans indoor nudity.

Top Ten most outrageous statements for 2004

Media Matters for America selects its Top Ten most outrageous statements for 2004.

First on the list: "Rush Limbaugh on the Abu Ghraib photos: "I'm talking about people having a good time, these people, you ever heard of emotional release? You ever heard of need to blow some steam off?"

She wants her faith back

Jennifer Barnett Reed, a self-proclaimed card-carrying liberal, says in the Arkansas Times "I want my faith back". She says she's "starting to take the right wing’s hijacking of my religion very, very personally.".

One of the many things she asks is: "Why are all the fights over posting religious language in government buildings — and, most recently, having it embroidered down the front of your judge’s robes — about the Ten Commandments? How come no one’s ever gone to court over posting the Beatitudes? If the U.S. should be a “Christian” nation as reflected in our government’s official actions, why don’t we start with legislating “Love your neighbor as yourself”?

UU Holiday Message

Here's a Holiday Message from Unitarian Universalist President William G. Sinkford.

Getting the values question right

Jim Wallis, a moderate evangelical preacher, says in USA Today that neither Republicans nor Democrats get the values question right.

He notes "The Democrats seem uncomfortable with the language of faith and values, preferring in recent decades the secular approach of restricting such matters to the private sphere. But where would we be if Martin Luther King Jr. had kept his faith to himself? The separation of church and state does not require the segregation of moral language and values from public life. The Republicans are comfortable with the language of religion and values. But the GOP wants to narrow the focus to hot-button social issues it then uses as wedges in political campaigns, while ignoring or obstructing the application of such values where they would threaten its agenda."

Thanks to GetReligion for finding this.

Wednesday, December 22, 2004

Obscenity at the Olympics

As one of the 203 million viewers of the Athens Olympics, I'm apparently one of the 202,999,991 who missed the blatant obscenity and gratuitous display of pornography.

Thankfully, the Washington Post (free registration required) provides all the details.

Administration can't honor promises for food

The New York Times (free registration required) reports ...

"In one of the first signs of the effects of the ever tightening federal budget, in the past two months the Bush administration has reduced its contributions to global food aid programs aimed at helping millions of people climb out of poverty.

"With the budget deficit growing and President Bush promising to reduce spending, the administration has told representatives of several charities that it was unable to honor some earlier promises and would have money to pay for food only in emergency crises like that in Darfur, in western Sudan. The cutbacks, estimated by some charities at up to $100 million, come at a time when the number of hungry in the world is rising for the first time in years and all food programs are being stretched."

I'm sure we have much better uses for the money.

Daily Kos blames Kerry for election loss

kos is really upset that George W. won, but he places the blame squarely on Kerry.

Among his comments ...

'"I voted for the $87 billion, then I voted against it." That wasn't nuance. That was idiocy. And with a primary campaign that consisted entirely of "I'm the most electable", Kerry entered the general without a core philosophy or articulated vision for the job.

'I could deal with losing to a popular incumbent. But it's tough to deal with the most unpopular incumbent to win reelection.'

David Adesnik over at Oxblog thinks that the leader of the free world shouldn't say things like this:

Our government makes no sense unless it is founded in a deeply felt religious faith.

Or that:

Recognition of the Supreme Being is the first, the most basic expression of Americanism. Without God, there could be no American form of government, nor an American way of life.

Or that

We can stand up and hold up our heads and say: America is the greatest force that God has ever allowed to exist on his footstool. As such, it is up to us to lead this world to a peaceful and secure existence.

Or finally, that:

Faith is evidently too simple a thing for some to recognize its paramount worth...But your husbands and brothers and fathers can testify that in the terrifying nakedness of the battlefield, the faith and the spirit of men are the keys to survival and victory.

I agree: Dwight Eisenhower definitely shouldn't have said those things.

(Who did you think said them?)

Tuesday, December 21, 2004

Don White and Amy Carol Webb

If you're in the Boston area and like folk music, please check out Don White and Amy Carol Webb performing at the Stone Temple Coffeehouse in Quincy on Saturday, January 22, 2005.

2004: The Year of 'The Passion'

Frank Rich at the New York Times (free registration required) comments on The Passion and Christianity in the U.S. in general.

He concludes his column by saying 'When even phenomena as innocuous as Oscar nominations or the lighting of a Christmas tree can be inflated into divisive religious warfare, it's only a matter of time before someone uncovers an anti-Christian plot in "White Christmas."'

Bush: the least popular president?

Salon says "Unless there's a dramatic turnaround in public sentiment between now and Jan. 20, Bush will be sworn in to office with the lowest job-approval rating -- barely 50 percent -- of any president in the last 80 years, or since modern-day presidential polling began."

Revoke the separation of church and state - in Florida

Sen. Daniel Webster, a former Florida House speaker and now the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is frustrated by court rulings that have found a school voucher program unconstitutional.

His proposed solution? Repeal the 136-year-old wording that separates church and state in Florida.

That's taking the bull by the horns! That darn separation of church and state keeps getting in the way - right, Dan?

An insensitivity to Jews and Judaism

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach says that " increasingly, since President Bush's election, religious Christians are showing an insensitivity to Jews and Judaism that is causing further distance between the two communities."

How so? He says, "Certainly, it does not help that evangelical Christians, who so love and support the State of Israel, also believe that Jews who lead exemplary lives but don't believe in Jesus are going to hell. It also doesn't help that all-too-many evangelicals are extremely vocal about this offensive belief, which utterly dismisses the Jewish faith as spiritually useless."

Merry Christmas vs Happy Holidays

There's an awful lot of discussion in the blogsphere about Christians being threatened when they hear "Happy Holidays" rather than "Merry Christmas".

Personally, while I understand the reasoning, this distinction isn't high on my list of Important Topics. However, Tom Schade of Prophet Motive has a good discussion about it.

Tired of blessings?

The feminarian asks: 'Are you about sick of the word "blessings" right now? I mean, come on, how many stinking more letters am I going to have to read in which the author regales me with all the blessings in her life, the blessing of family coming for Christmas and the blessing of the new car ...'

Restrict the rights of Muslim Americans?

According to a poll, nearly half of all Americans believe that the U.S. government should restrict the civil liberties of Muslim Americans.

27 percent of respondents supported requiring all Muslim Americans to register where they lived with the federal government.

Monday, December 20, 2004

Where Southern Baptists categorize Unitarian Universalists

Just in case you were wondering, a discussion of Unitarian Universalism is in the Cults and Sects section of a Southern Baptist web site.

It's here you can learn how a Southern Baptist can convert a UU.

Efforts by females to reform Islam

GetReligion comments on efforts of female Muslims to reform Islam.

Have you been turned away?

The United Church of Christ has a web page for postings from people who have been turned away from churches for various reasons, often for being gay.

Makes very sobering reading. Many of the postings refer to the relief they felt in finding UCC churches (not surprising considering it's a UCC site), but several mentioned the same feeling upon finding a Unitarian Universalist church.

Wednesday, December 15, 2004

National Missile Defense system not defending too good

According to the Associated Press, "An interceptor missile failed to launch early Wednesday in what was to have been the first full flight test of the U.S. national missile defense system in nearly two years.

"The Missile Defense Agency has attempted to conduct the test several times this month, but scrubbed each one for a variety of reasons, including various weather problems and a malfunction on a recovery vessel not directly related to the equipment being tested."

I'm sure it'll work if we throw just a little more money at it.

Liberal groups as a secretive conspiracy

According to Media Matters for America, "On the December 10 broadcast of the nationally syndicated Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly, O'Reilly cast MoveOn and other liberal groups as a secretive conspiracy:

"O'REILLY: But if you have, now, the Democratic Party being threatened by shadowy, stealth money men, running this outfit MoveOn, that's big trouble. That's big, big trouble for the country. Something's gonna have to be done about it. I think Bush is gonna do something.

"Because they got around the McCain-Feingold [Campaign Finance Reform Act] where, at least you know who was buyin' the [political] ads. And now, all the money's goin' into these websites where you don't know anything about it. They're private concerns. And, trust me when I tell you, 'cause I have experienced this firsthand. Every day of my life.

"These are vicious, vicious people. They will print anything. They will try to take you apart any way they can. They don't care about the truth. They care about destroying people with whom they disagree. And, there's no check or balance on 'em.

Jeepers, Bill ... you're starting to scare me!

Uncertainty, Fear and Fundamentalism

Social Gospel Today discusses the trend toward believing that the Bible is "the actual word of God and is to be taken literally, word for word." 34% of Americans currently believe that. The trend went down from 1980 to 2001, and has gone up subtantially since then.

The article says "In times of fear and crisis, people yearn for certainty, assurance and purpose. Fundamentalism provides those psychological benefits. The Bible provides all historical, scientific, moral and theological answers. Fundamentalism tells us that God is in complete control; that the wicked will be punished in the end; that righteousness will eventually prevail."

"Liberal Christianity is finding it tough to compete because it doesn't provide the same psychological assurances."

Zell Miller Joining Fox News

Associated Press says that "Retiring U.S. Sen. Zell Miller, the conservative Georgia Democrat who backed President Bush's re-election, is joining Fox News Channel as a contributor."

Glad I was sitting down when I heard that.

Tuesday, December 14, 2004

God's clock

James Carroll in The Boston Globe says about a clock he rewinds: "I must occasionally remind myself that in fact, nothing important depends on this clock's ticking. When, through my neglect, the weights descend to the cabinet floor, the chains become twisted and askew, the pendulum drifts to a halt, and the chimes fall silent. A precious harmony is broken, but the earth stops neither its rotation nor its course around the sun. Time does not stop. Birds chirp in the morning and darkness later descends no matter what happens in the living room."

And later in the column ... "Religion is to God what the clock is to time. Religion participates in the mystery of what it represents but does not embody that mystery."

We must be careful not to equate the words of religion - whether spoken by those of liberal or conservative faiths - with the mystery of religion itself.

Undoing the New Deal

Adam Cohen in the New York Times (free registration required) says ...

"The New Deal made an unexpected appearance at the Supreme Court recently - in the form of a 1942 case about wheat. Some prominent states' rights conservatives were asking the court to overturn Wickard v. Filburn, a landmark ruling that laid out an expansive view of Congress's power to legislate in the public interest.

"Supporters of states' rights have always blamed Wickard, and a few other cases of the same era, for paving the way for strong federal action on workplace safety, civil rights and the environment. Although they are unlikely to reverse Wickard soon, states' rights conservatives are making progress in their drive to restore the narrow view of federal power that predated the New Deal - and render Congress too weak to protect Americans on many fronts.

The 6.2 Percent Solution: A Plan for Reforming Social Security

Here's a proposal from the Libertarian Cato Institute for creating a system of individual accounts.

Monday, December 13, 2004

Stop the flood of illegal immigrants into Canada

The flood of American liberals sneaking across the border into Canada has intensified in the past week, sparking calls for increased patrols to stop the illegal immigration.

The re-election of President Bush is prompting the exodus among left leaning citizens who fear they'll soon be required to hunt, pray and agree with Bill O' Reilly.

Canadian border farmers say its not uncommon to see dozens of sociology professors, animal rights activists and Unitarians crossing their fields at night.

"I went out to milk the cows the other day, and there was a Hollywood producer huddled in the barn," said Manitoba farmer Red Greenfield, whose acreage borders North Dakota. The producer was cold, exhausted and hungry. He asked me if I could spare a latte and some free-range chicken. When I said I didn't have any, he left. Didn't even get a chance to show him my screenplay, eh?"

In an effort to stop the illegal aliens, Greenfield erected higher fences but the liberals scaled them. So he tried installing speakers that blare Rush Limbaugh across the fields.

Not real effective," he said. The liberals still got through, and Rush annoyed the cows so much they wouldn't give milk."

Officials are particularly concerned about smugglers who meet liberals near the Canadian border, pack them into Volvo station wagons, drive them across the border and leave them to fend for themselves.

A lot of these people are not prepared for rugged conditions," an Ontario border patrolman said. I found one carload without a drop of drinking water. They did have a nice little Napa Valley cabernet, though."

When liberals are caught, they're sent back across the border, often wailing loudly that they fear retribution from conservatives. Rumors have been circulating about the Bush administration establishing re-education camps in which liberals will be forced to drink domestic beer and watch NASCAR.

In the days since the election, liberals have turned to sometimes ingenious ways of crossing the border.

Some have taken to posing as senior citizens on bus trips to buy cheap Canadian prescription drugs. After catching a half-dozen young vegans disguised in powdered wigs, Canadian immigration authorities began stopping buses and quizzing the supposed senior-citizen passengers.

If they can't identify the accordion player on The Lawrence Welk Show, we get suspicious about their age," an official said. [Paul says: gulp. I know his name!]

Canadian citizens have complained that the illegal immigrants are creating an organic-broccoli shortage and renting all the good Susan Sarandon movies.

I feel sorry for American liberals, but the Canadian economy just cant support them," an Ottawa resident said. How many art-history majors does one country need?"

In an effort to ease tensions between the United States and Canada, Vice President Dick Cheney met with the Canadian ambassador and pledged that the administration would take steps to reassure liberals, a source close to Cheney said.

We're going to have some Peter, Paul & Mary concerts. And we might put some endangered species on postage stamps. The president is determined to reach out." -- Unknown Author

Christian Conservatives Turn to Statehouses

The New York Times (free registration required) notes that "conservative Christian advocates across the country are pushing ahead state and local initiatives on thorny issues, including same-sex marriage, public education and abortion."

"I think people are becoming emboldened," said Michael D. Bowman, director of state legislative relations at Concerned Women for America, a conservative Christian advocacy group based in Washington. "On legislative efforts, they're getting more gutsy, and on certain issues, they may introduce legislation that they normally may not have done."

Get rid of those darn Christophobe judges

Thanks for The Revealer for finding Bruce Walker who knows how to terminate judges who "believe that God should be driven out of any school or civic activity": Just amend the Constitution as follows:

"SECTION ONE: The government of the United States holds this truth to be self-evident: that all people are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; that, to secure these rights, governments are instituted, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

"SECTION TWO: Religion, morality and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, shall forever be encouraged. The foundational principles of the American government are based upon the faiths of Christianity and of Judaism.

"SECTION THREE: When any judge of the United States or justice of the Supreme Court of the United States construes the Constitution contrary to the foregoing sections of this amendment, then when two thirds of the members of the House of Representatives concur, that officer shall be removed from office.

In case you were worried, Walker assures us this isn't draconian or unconstitutional. Whew. Thanks for clearing that up.

Comments on the success of The Passion of Christ

MSNBC's 'Scarborough Country' quotes William Donahue, president of the Catholic League on the success of The Passion of Christ ...

"I spoke to Mel a couple of weeks ago about this. And I don‘t think it really matters a whole lot to him. It certainly doesn‘t matter to me. We‘ve already won.

"Who really cares what Hollywood thinks? All these hacks come out there. Hollywood is controlled by secular Jews who hate Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular. It‘s not a secret, OK? And I‘m not afraid to say it. That‘s why they hate this movie. It‘s about Jesus Christ, and it‘s about truth. It‘s about the messiah.

"Hollywood likes anal sex. They like to see the public square without nativity scenes. I like families. I like children. They like abortions. I believe in traditional values and restraint. They believe in libertinism. We have nothing in common. But you know what? The culture war has been ongoing for a long time. Their side has lost.

"You have got secular Jews. You have got embittered ex-Catholics, including a lot of ex-Catholic priests who hate the Catholic Church, wacko Protestants in the same group, and these people are in the margins. Frankly, Michael Moore represents a cult movie. Mel Gibson represents the mainstream of America.

Paul says: I've been thinking recently that those of us of the liberal persuasion need to spend a little more time trying to listen to and understand those with whom we don't agree. This monologue suggest that it's a two-way street.

Can we always tolerate tolerance?

Social Gospel Today says that 'The Left's rhetoric of "tolerance" alienates Christians of all stripes and must be abandoned in favor of a more precise articulation of progressive values.'

Some examples ... 'Must we "tolerate" those who believe that taking illegal drugs leads them to a higher state of being and abuse them? Must we "tolerate" those who believe that polygamy is permissible and practice it? Must we "tolerate" those who ethically disagree with the income tax and thereby refuse to pay it? Must we "tolerate" those who cite examples in the Bible for the proposition that having sex with children is permissible and then do it? Must we "tolerate" those who believe in human sacrifice and practice it? Must we "tolerate" those who support Islamic terrorism and fund it?'

Solutions: 'When the Left says tolerance it often means "equal justice." ... When the Left says tolerance it often means "liberty." ... When the Left says tolerance it often means "religious freedom."

In conclusion: '"Tolerance" is an ineffective and misleading short-hand for more concrete and less alienating values. The Left must abandon the overinclusive rhetoric of tolerance and defend equality, liberty, and religious freedom.'

Friday, December 10, 2004

Unitarian Universalist Moral Values

(Boston, MA -- November 9, 2004) In conjunction with a press conference sponsored today by the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, UUA president William Sinkford issued this statement about Unitarian Universalist moral values. The press conference was held at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, and featured representatives from several denominations addressing the topic, “Defining ‘Moral Values’ For the Next Four Years.” The full text of Rev. Sinkford’s statement is below.

Statement from the Rev. William G. Sinkford

Moral values are not just particular opinions on “hot button” topics in a divisive election year. Moral values grow out of our calling as religious people to work to create the Beloved Community. Moral values instruct us to “love our neighbors as ourselves” and always to ask the question, “Who is my neighbor?” They are fundamentally inclusive rather than exclusive, and they call on generosity of spirit rather than mean spiritedness.

In this post election season, let me express some of the moral values held dear by the Unitarian Universalist community, which I lead, and by many other progressive people of faith:

We believe that feeding the hungry and clothing the naked are moral duties, and we will continue to work on behalf of economic justice.
We believe that ensuring equal civil rights for gay and lesbian families is our moral duty, and we will continue to work for Marriage Equality nationwide.
We believe that serving as stewards of the earth is a moral duty, and we will continue to do everything in our power to protect the environment.
We believe that safeguarding a woman’s right to choose is a moral duty, and we will vigorously oppose any efforts to eliminate or significantly compromise reproductive freedom.
We believe that providing affordable health care for all Americans is a moral duty, and we will continue to advocate for medical rights for the young, the old, the frail, and all of those in need.

ToxMap: It's enough to make you sick

The National Library of Medicine introduces ToxMap, a Geographic Information System (GIS) that uses maps of the United States to help users visually explore data from the EPA's Toxics Release Inventory (TRI).

Federal law requires facilities in certain industries, which manufacture, process, or use significant amounts of toxic chemicals, to report annually on their releases of these chemicals.

TOXMAP maps show where these chemicals are released into the air, water, and ground, and identify the releasing facilities, single year releases, and chemical release trends over time.

MoveOn: what were you thinking?

The Moderate Voice comments on an email supposed mailed out by MoveOn.org.

It starts: 'WASHINGTON - Liberal powerhouse MoveOn has a message for the "professional election losers" who run the Democratic Party: "We bought it, we own it, we're going to take it back.'

Come on now. Do we really need to be insulting? What does MoveOn hope to gain by rhetoric like this?

Howard Dean on the Future of the Democratic Party

Here's a transcript of remarks Governor Howard Dean made at George Washington University. A few of my favorite lines include:

"I have seen all the doomsday predictions that the Democratic Party could shrink to become a regional Party. A Party of the Northeast and the Pacific Northwest.

"We cannot be a Party that seeks the presidency by running an 18-state campaign. We cannot be a party that cedes a single state, a single District, a single precinct, nor should we cede a single voter."

Why Academia Shuns Republicans

Jonathan Chait in the LA Times has several possible answers.

For example, he says "The main causes of the partisan disparity on campus have little to do with anything so nefarious as discrimination. First, Republicans don't particularly want to be professors. To go into academia — a highly competitive field that does not offer great riches — you have to believe that living the life of the mind is more valuable than making a Wall Street salary. On most issues that offer a choice between having more money in your pocket and having something else — a cleaner environment, universal health insurance, etc. — conservatives tend to prefer the money and liberals tend to prefer the something else. It's not so surprising that the same thinking would extend to career choices."

It's so hard to keep those combinations of race and politics straight

Media Matters says ...

In her December 9 nationally syndicated column, titled "The new and improved racism," and as a guest on the December 8 edition of FOX News' The O'Reilly Factor, right-wing pundit Ann Coulter continued to accuse liberal and Democratic journalists and politicians of racism for criticizing black conservatives. Coulter also attacked "black liberals," specifically New York Times op-ed columnist Bob Herbert and Times media critic Caryn James, for "launching racist attacks on black conservatives." James, however, is white.

Citing criticisms of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas by the late Washington Post columnist Mary McGrory and former National Prison Project executive director Alvin J. Bronstein, Coulter wrote the following in her December 9 column:

The late Mary McGrory, a white liberal, called [Justice Antonin] Scalia "a brilliant and compelling extremist" -- as opposed to McGrory herself, a garden-variety extremist of average intelligence. But Thomas she dismissed as "Scalia's puppet," quoting another white liberal, Alvin J. Bronstein of the American Civil Liberties Union, to make the point. This is the kind of rhetoric liberals are reduced to when they just can't bring themselves to use the N-word.

Muslim Scholars Increasingly Debate Unholy War

Neil MacFarquhar in the New York Times reports:

"The long-simmering internal debate over political violence in Islamic cultures is swelling, with seminars ... and a raft of newspaper columns breaking previous taboos by suggesting that the problem lies in the way Islam is being interpreted ....

On one side of the discussion sit mostly secular intellectuals horrified by the gore joined by those ordinary Muslims dismayed by the ever more bloody image of Islam around the world. They are determined to find a way to wrestle the faith back from extremists. Basically the liberals seek to dilute what they criticize as the clerical monopoly on disseminating interpretations of the sacred texts. "

Andrew Sullivan on David Brudnoy

Andrew Sullivan comments on the death of David Brudnoy:

"David Brudnoy was and is a class act. He was a Tory libertarian, a loyal Republican, ornery in a gentlemanly way, and a brilliant, emollient radio personality. I was on his show a few times, broadcast from his cozy, Victorian-style Back Bay apartment, with friendly and unfriendly callers all treated in the same courteous but unsparing manner. His own openness about his struggle with HIV was a real boon to others, like me, who dealt with this alone to begin with. He also proved that it isn't simply possible to be a conservative and to favor gay dignity, but that it is quintessentially conservative to do so. Homosexuality is like the weather: an unalterable part of the human condition, as noble and as tawdry as every other facet of human life and experience. Conservatives should seek to understand it, and to bring it within the boundaries of civilized life. David was an emblem of that civilization: a prince of a conversationalist, a charmer and a friend. His final and heartiest laugh? That HIV didn't kill him. God bless him."

From 'liberal' pews, a rising thirst for personal moral code

The Christian Science Monitor reports that "Mainline Protestant congregations, known for emphasizing the social-justice and global-equity dimensions of the Gospel, are increasingly making space for airing parishioners' day-to-day moral dilemmas, which they used to leave largely between an individual and God.

Often, this thirst for a personal code of conduct is being satisfied among lay members themselves, who gather in small groups in homes, cafes, and church basements to talk over daily moral challenges."

'Guidance in private moral matters helps keep the spirit alive, says Jim Adams of the Center for Progressive Christianity in Cambridge, Mass. "I think people want it and need it," he says. "Progressive churches that are thriving do pay as much attention to the personal as they do to the social and the political.... That's where people get what they need to sustain their lives."'

Thursday, December 09, 2004

Feel-Good Politics

Slate says that "MoveOn[.org], despite all appearances, has never been about practical politics. Rather, it's an exercise in group therapy.".

The article goes on to describe MoveOn as 'a network of aggrieved liberals, connected by the central nervous system of the Internet, and it enables its members to convince themselves they're "doing something" when they're really not'.

I've seen more than one article crediting(?) MoveOn with the Democrat's loss in November - this sees to be another.

Pat Robertson says Kwanzaa is an absolute fraud

Media Matters for America reports ...

'Reverend Pat Robertson called Kwanzaa "an absolute fraud" during the news segment of Christian Broadcasting Network's The 700 Club December 6. After lamenting that "left wing educators, left-wing judges are stripping every vestige of our Christian heritage," Robertson, host and Christian Coalition of America founder, said: "Kwanzaa is an absolute fraud. You know, there was no festival in Africa called 'Kwanzaa.' I mean, it's made up by a bunch of hippie-types on the West Coast. I mean, it's not something that goes back to Africa. No way.'

Democrats need to fish in a bigger stream

Donna Brazile, an at-large member of the Democratic National Committee and the campaign manager for Al Gore in 2000 says in the New York Times "The next chairman of the Democratic National Committee must not only find the bait to lure in more voters, but also learn to fish in a bigger stream. Beginning Friday, as party officials consider who should run this fishing expedition, state leaders will undoubtedly tell senior national party officials that Democrats can't keep writing off the heartland and expect to become a majority party again.".

The Plot Against Sex in America

Frank Rich in the New York Times discusses the fear more and more broadcasters have to discuss - or even mention - anything controversial. Apparently this even applies to certain PBS stations. As Rich notes: "Just three weeks after the election, Channel 13 [in New York] killed a spot for the acclaimed movie "Kinsey," in which Liam Neeson stars as the pioneering Indiana University sex researcher who first let Americans know that nonmarital sex is a national pastime, that women have orgasms too and that masturbation and homosexuality do not lead to insanity. At first WNET said it had killed the spot because it was "too commercial and too provocative" - a tough case to make about a routine pseudo-ad interchangeable with all the other pseudo-ads that run on "commercial-free" PBS. That explanation quickly became inoperative anyway. The "Kinsey" distributor, Fox Searchlight, let the press see an e-mail from a National Public Broadcasting media manager stating that the real problem was "the content of this movie" and "controversial press re: groups speaking out against the movie/subject matter" that might bring "viewer complaints."

Later, he says "Yet even as the "Kinsey" spot was barred in New York, a public radio station in North Carolina, WUNC-FM, told an international women's rights organization based in Chapel Hill that it could not use the phrase "reproductive rights" in an on-air announcement."

If public radio won't stand up for the right of free speech, I have no idea who will.

Wednesday, December 08, 2004

You can actually blow anything up

Talking Points Memo notes a Donald Rumsfeld comment about the lack of armor in the field in Iraq:

"If you think about it, you can have all the armor in the world on a tank and a tank can be blown up. And you can have an up-armored Humvee and it can be blown up."

Well, that does make sense ... (scratching head) ...

Tuesday, December 07, 2004

Should UUs accomodate every idea and every person?

John Keohane writes in a Unitarian Universalist Association mailing list posting ...

"The attempt, variously to accomodate everyone, no matter what intellect, no matter what interest in learning, no matter what interest in religion, is a weak tea, that won't and does not work. It is part of why membership in the UUA is down to about the numbers (less than 157,000 adult and youth members), that one of the two organizations which merged to become the UUA, the American Unitarian Association, had as its membership at the time of merger, in 1961. Meanwhile, the United States has increased by approximately 100 million in population. The UUA is becoming a spec on the horizon."

At the risk of becoming very personal, here are some of my own reflections on what is wrong with the UUA, and what can be done to right it.

1. We need to have a focus, beyond what we are not. Years ago, as students at Meadville, we talked about the revolving door. People would leave orthodoxy for Unitarianism, then decompress, then go to nothing. That still happens. That is still PART of our role. But we need to add the priestly role.

2. The prisetly role includes real care and feeding of people. It does not require "God" language. It can be done well, and poetically, in quite humanist language, as the late Von Ogden Vogt and A. Powell Davies both Unitarian ministers of the 20th c., made clear. Vogt's "The Primacy of Worship", is a little book 1965, Starr King Press. It is only a little over 100 pages long, and needs to discovered, and republished (yes, I own a copy), along with some of Vogt's and other orders of service.

3. We need to differentiate between being open to everyone's ideas and input, and to the "post-modern" illogic that states that everyone's ideas and input are equally valuable. They're not. When we have people in the pulpit, we should go for excellence, not for just anyone, or everyone. When we have discussions of politics, or religion, we should let everyone participate, but should use our most expert discussion leaders to lead.

4. We need to say who we are, and not in terms of the "Seven Principles", which, as UUA President Bill Sinkford suggests, no one can remember. We're for individual freedom of belief, discipleship to advancing truth, the democratic process in human relations. We're for worship of the good the true, the beautiful (read Vogt's book). We're for living values in our lives (the Good Samaritan is our self-image).

5. We live in a predominately Christian culture, or one that thinks about itself as "Christian", so we best be knowledgable about the Bible, and about church history. I was dismayed to read the musings of a UU minister here in Texas a few years ago, who wrote in his newsletter that the Catholic church had been abusing women for thousands and thousands of years. I pointed out that that the Catholic church did not even claim to have existed for as much as two thousand years. He modified his remarks to say "two thousand", which was still inaccurate, and pulled from the air. He was a graduate of one of our UU institutions, the Starr King School for the Ministry, and this minister had been on the planning committee for GA! Egads. What might be relevant might be classes in real Bible study. It's hard to have a fundamentalist view of the Bible if one actually looks at the two stories of creation in Genesis, in one of which he rests before he makes man, and in the other he makes man, then rests. I can explain this quite easily by the difference between the E and J strains making up Genesis, but then, I have taken courses in Bible at the University of Chicago.

6. Get away from having as "Adult Education" courses stuff the local community college might offer as well, or better in its own "Continuing Education" courses, or which might be offerred commercially easily and well, such as the "yoga" which my wife took recently (commercially, not at a UU church). Skip the "yoga", the horoscope, the miscellaneous trivia stuff. Get into the politics with a continuing colloquy, where no topic is cut off prematurely, and no topic is put on artificial life-support, but where discussion flows, and yet no one can dominate (I've led this kind of thing, years ago, at a UU church, and can add how to do it in this forum). Discuss the Bible. Do that, not just with reading passages, including contradictory passages, but also by reference to E and J strains in Genesis, "Higher criticism, literary and historical analysis. There are lots of published materials for this. Let's get with it, to be particularly relevant to people in our culture in this country where we live (if we were in India, I would be pushing getting more into Hindu writings).Learn about Christian church history. It's exciting, though at times bloody, stuff. Learn about Unitarian heros and heroines. Our local UU minister said to me, that "the Catholics have much better heros". He had never heard of Sen. Paul H. Douglas, Emily Taft Douglas, Dr. Maurice B. Visscher. Read about all these on www.famousuus.com Learn about our history, and our people.

7. Focus worship. Don't just give off different Sundays to this or that. Don't have screaming babies in for church service (First UU in Austin does that right, with a separate, sound-proof gallery if one is bringing small infants). Do have an order of service which makes sense psychologically. Do get some singable hymns (Singing--The Living Tradition, our current, and I hope not much longer, UUA hymnal is a living disaster). Don't put up with the kind of low-quality, personalistic or academically erudite but obscure homilies that sometimes pass for sermons.

8. Evangelize. Get out the good word, about what we are about, to visitors at our churches, and to others at our churches, and in our communities. Years ago, the Unitarian Laymens League had advertisements saying "Are you a Unitarian without Knowing It". They had a focus. They were effective. Another way to be effective is to revive, and give support to the fellowship movement. Some of those fellowships later died, some never got large, but many grew into some of our larger churches (the largest church in Colorado, for one, churches around DC, for others).

This is a short list, and just a beginning. I look forward to continuing the e-dialogue with all of you.

Best regards,
John Keohane
Austin, TX

More to NFL ad than we originally thought!

Remember the recent NFL ad with Nicolette Sheridan of "Desperate Housewives" and football star Terrell Owens that got so much heat because of its implicit sexuality? Wait - there's more!

Sam Francis - a nationally syndicated columnist - says in a recent column "The point was not just to hurl a pie in the face of morals and good taste but also of white racial and cultural identity. The message of the ad was that white women are eager to have sex with black men, that they should be eager, and that black men should take them up on it.".

Just in case you missed his point, he goes on to say "Breaking down the sexual barriers between the races is a major weapon of cultural destruction because it means the dissolution of the cultural boundaries that define breeding and the family and, ultimately, the transmission and survival of the culture itself.".

What year is this again??

Sometimes even Jerry Falwell gets it right

Rev. Jerry Fallwell, who recently referred to the organization NOW as the National Order of Witches", was a guest host on the December 2 edition of CNN's Crossfire.

Early in the program, in discussing the Bush administration's announcement that the U.S. presence in Iraq will increase by 12,000 troops, Falwell said, "I think [the war] is going well," adding: "CNN doesn't always get it right, but it goes pretty well if you watch it on FOX [News Channel]."

Now there's a man who understands the media.

When is a Christmas parade not a Christmas parade?

When it's a Parade of Lights, named thusly so as not to offend anyone.

Susan Rogers, with the Downtown Denver Partnership, said no overtly religious symbols are allowed in the parade and that means participants can't carry "Merry Christmas" signs and can't sing traditional Christmas hymns.

Strikes me as political correctness run amuck.

Monday, December 06, 2004

Biblical Absolutism

Social Gospel Today has a worthwhile discussion of a potentially confusing issue in fundimentalist Christianity: their major point is that Biblical absolutism takes you further from Jesus rather than closer.

They say "Biblical absolutism represents a fundamental confusion over the source of Christian Truth. It is helpful to contrast Christianity with Islam in this respect. Islam claims a God-given text: the Koran. The religion is centered, not on Muhammad, but on this text. The Koran is the source of truth, the manifestation of God. Christianity, by contrast, claims a God-given person. The religion is centered on Jesus, who is the manifestation of God and the source of Truth."

Even for those who subscribe to liberal religion, this is a thoughtful discussion.

IKEA's interpretation of pluralism

Scott Wells in Boy in the Bands talks about a recent trip to IKEA and how they have signs describing every possible holiday.

For Christmas, Scott says, 'the sign described it as "the birth of Jesus Christ" and it was observed with "midnight mass or church services." I was amazed at the, well, religiousness of the description.'

He goes on to say "The IKEA promotion has it right: let each holiday be, and let it be itself. Let individuals decided which one he or she would identify with. Pluralism at the cost of integrity and identity is no pluralism at all. Now, can Unitarian Universalists do the same?"

Friday, December 03, 2004

How can we describe gays and lesbians?

Looking for 2 or 3 words to describe gays and lesbians as a class?

How about self-absorbed hedonists? So speaketh Pat Robertson.

Pat's just a barrel of insight.

Thursday, December 02, 2004

Just get rid of those darn gay books

The Birmingham News reports that "An Alabama lawmaker who sought to ban gay marriages now wants to ban novels with gay characters from public libraries, including university libraries.

A bill by Rep. Gerald Allen, R-Cottondale, would prohibit the use of public funds for "the purchase of textbooks or library materials that recognize or promote homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle." Allen said he filed the bill to protect children from the "homosexual agenda."

It wasn't exactly napalm we used in Iraq

SignOnSanDiego.com reports that those firebombs we dropped near bridges over the Saddam Canal and the Tigris River weren't napalm 'cause we don't have any of that anymore.

It was just something remarkably similar to napalm.

Col. Randolph Alles, who commanded Marine Air Group 11, based at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station, is quoted as saying "Unfortunately, there were people there because you could see them in the (cockpit) video. They were Iraqi soldiers there. It's no great way to die".

How to drop your Bush-supporting friends

This anti-Bush-supporter thing is getting pretty much everyone involved in figuring out what to do. Now Slate's Dear Prudence chimes in on how to dump your pro-Bush friends.

Supreme Count order on gay marriage issue wasn't a "decision"

Slate points out that the Supreme Court order on the gay marriage case - "CERTIORARI DENIED: 04-420 Largess, Robert P., v. Supreme Judicial Court of MA." in its entirety - wasn't anything the members of the Court "decided".

The article notes that "The justices almost certainly had never discussed this case in their private conclave the previous week, and it is a good bet that none of them even read the appeal papers; one or more law clerks did and no doubt had no difficulty telling their bosses not to waste their time on this one. Some Supreme Court reporters whose names are legend in the business did not even give the appeal a close look.".

Wednesday, December 01, 2004

How opposition can enable reformism

Joshua Micah Marshall, in Talking Points Memo, discusses his observation that the Democrats have yet to really understand what it means to be or act like a true party of opposition.

He says that "the Democrats’ exclusion not just from power but from the money and lobbying game is far greater than that which the Republicans faced when they were in the minority. There are two reasons for this: one structural and one political."

United Church of Christ ad too controversial for networks

The United Church of Christ reports that The CBS and NBC television networks are refusing to run a 30-second television ad from the United Church of Christ because its all-inclusive welcome has been deemed "too controversial."

According to a written explanation from CBS, the United Church of Christ is being denied network access because its ad implies acceptance of gay and lesbian couples.

"Because this commercial touches on the exclusion of gay couples and other minority groups by other individuals and organizations," reads an explanation from CBS, "and the fact the Executive Branch has recently proposed a Constitutional Amendment to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, this spot is unacceptable for broadcast on the [CBS and UPN] networks."

You can see the ad here.

Unbelievable.

What makes the US a Christian nation

A front page article in the Asia Times discusses their puzzlement with American Christianity.

The well-written article discusses the turn to Unitarianism in New England, and ends by saying "Within the European frame of reference, there is no such thing as American Christendom - no centuries-old schools of theology, no tithes, no livings, no Church taxes, no establishment - there is only Christianity, which revives itself with terrible force in unknowing re-enactment of the past. It does not resemble what Europeans refer to by the word "religion". American Christianity is much closer to what the German pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer, writing in 1944 from his cell in Adolf Hitler's prison, called "religionless Christianity". Soren Kierkegaard, I think, would have been pleased.

Thoughts about liberal religion (I'm a Unitarian Universalist), liberal/progressive politics, and increasingly more other subjects.

: Name: Paul Wilczynski; Location: Asheville, North Carolina, United States

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