Republicans: Party of Bankruptcy
To solve the current financial crisis in America, the taxpayers will be forced to borrow nearly a trillion dollars and give it away, with no guarantees that the funds can be recovered. This money will be spent by an unelected republican appointee. It will, practically speaking, be given away to America’s richest financial companies, to [...]
οικονομια
Some simple prescriptions for a better and more just economic system: 1) don’t give away billions of taxpayer dollars to corporations who burn money 2) use federal dollars to train working people with skills for employment through public works projects that create or enhance public spaces and infrastructure (i.e. like the CCC or the WPA) [...]
Pit-Bull in Lipstick
Last Friday (the 29th), John McCain put forward the name of self described pit bull wearing lipstick Sarah Palin as his running mate for Fall ’08. In the New York Times, Michael Cooper and Elisabeth Bumiller reported that this decision “astonished the political world.” Of course they should have written ‘took newsmen and pundits by [...]
Who is Rich? according to Obama and McCain
On Saturday, August 16th, 2008, Barack Obama and John McCain each sat down with the famous Evangelical pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church (and author of The Purpose Driven Life) for extended conversations about politics and values (see New York Times coverage here). Perhaps the most striking moments of this interesting forum came when Warren [...]
A Beachin’ Summer
End of May: Emerald Isle, NC Gull Cottage West, 7 days and nights. Awesome fun. Lots of partying, good eating, talking, running and exercising. I began to renew my Yoga practice. Beginning of June: Maui, Napili Kai Beach Resort, 14 days and nights. WOW. Dad and John Chun and I did some surfing, too, at [...]
Why Democrats Will Win in November 2008
A friend wrote me yesterday, just hours after I had put up a post in support of Jeremiah Wright, to point out that the latest news makes Wright look like a complete idiot, and suggests that Obama may be in trouble. See this report on the matter from Bloomberg.com. I agree that it is very [...]
Jeremiah Wright and the Roosting Chickens
As some of my readers may or may not know , back in my Chicago seminary days I saw Jeremiah Wright preach, and I studied his preaching as exemplary. Wright was a well-respected figure in Chicago church circles until the recent flap over his anti-American preaching got Barak Obama in trouble. I support Wright’s right [...]
A Tragic Juxtaposition
The pope visits America. Bombs continue to take lives in Iraq. Good thing that the leader of the largest Christian organization in the world can take a courageous and prophetic stand against the evils of war and imperialism while he tours New Babylon, right? WRONG. Among the BBC news headlines, conveniently available as a pulldown [...]
Romney on Religion: Untimely Notes
Probably because his advisers scared him into thinking that a great many American voters would reject a Mormon candidate for president, Republican hopeful Mitt Romney addressed the nation this past Dec. 6th, 2007, speaking from the George H. W. Bush memorial library in College Station, TX, on the “topic… [of] our religious liberty” and on [...]
Public School Bible Blues
Mark A. Chancey versus David Van Biema A Journalistic Promotion of the Bible in Schools Back in March, Time Magazine reporter David Van Biema wrote a shallow and largely positive report on the widespread adoption of Biblical studies curricula in American public schools. Biblical scholars such as myself find reason to be concerned about such [...]