Meaning and Authenticity

This from Newsweek: The United States, like many countries, has a bad habit of committing wartime excesses and an even worse record of accounting for them afterward. But a remarkable string of recent events suggests that may finally be changing—and that top Bush administration officials could soon face legal jeopardy for prisoner abuse committed under their watch in the war on terror. In early December, in a highly unusual move, a federal court in New York agreed to rehear a lawsuit against former Attorney General John Ashcroft brought by a Canadian citizen, Maher Arar. (Arar was a victim of the administration's extraordinary rendition program: he was seized by U.S. officials in 2002 while in transit through Kennedy Airport and deported to Syria, where he was tortured.) Then, on Dec. 15, the Supreme Court revived a lawsuit against Donald Rumsfeld by four Guantánamo detainees alleging abuse there—a reminder that the court, unlike the White House, will extend Constitutional protectio...

Here's a video by Elizabeth Warren, the chair of the Congressional Oversight Committee for all that money, $700 billion, authorized by Congress to help us out of the financial crisis. I first heard her on Fresh Air and thought how amazingly understandable she was.

The Diocese of the Episcopal Church in my area had a big meeting this weekend. 80% of those attending voted to leave The Episcopal Church. They apparently believe that because TEC has a woman Presiding Bishop (Katharine Jefferts Schori) and a gay Bishop (Gene Robinson), it no longer respects or honors scripture and tradition. In their minds, apparently, the Church has moved so far to the dark side that this Diocese can no longer be associated with it. This both saddens and angers me. Is it moving to the dark side to welcome others (other-than-heterosexual-males) to the full life of the church, including its leadership? Is it moving to the dark side to think that God IS STILL SPEAKING? I say, in fact, that this Diocese is not in a very light place when it remains blind to its own homophobia and sexism. Blind to the all-embracing love of God, a God who calls each person to flourish and become the person God intends---which just might include church leadership. ( Really, the arrogance gal...

We saw Oliver Stone's film "W" this weekend, his portrayal of George W. Bush. At the end of the last scene my husband spontaneously uttered "Wow," and I covered my face with my hands and couldn't speak. Lovely Passionate Feminist didn't say anything, but she and I talked about it on the way home, and she agreed. It's a horror film, really. The horror of seeing a soul (rich and therefore privileged though he is) unable to find himself . Searching, searching, searching his whole life for what would please his father. Mistakenly believing that to please his father would give his life meaning and purpose. He'd be a real man, and not "a disappointment," if he could win his father's approval. The horror of a lost soul. The horror of what we do to our children. The horror of seeing religion used as an opiate. George W. traded one addiction, alcohol, for another--this time a much more dangerous one. Religion without the courage of self kn...

Well, I have to say that I'm disappointed in Jeremiah Wright. Except for the Moyers' interview, Obama's best interests are not being served. He should have stayed in the background.

I'm listening to Bishop Gene Robinson on Fresh Air. Terry Gross asked him about how the church is changing. He pointed out how Jesus said " there are many more things I want to teach you, but you are not able to hear them now, so I will send to you the Holy Spirit." He said that full inclusion of women and GLBT people in the church is the Holy Spirit leading us to a fuller understanding of God's love. He said that in Jesus' day people might have said, OK Jesus this is all good, but you know, we really have to the draw the line with lepers...or with prostitutes. For countless generations various groups of people have been told that they are not loved by God. Jesus countered that, always, within the culture in which he lived. We are called to do the same. I think that's so true. I feel such heartache, even pain, whenever the subject of Episcopalians in my part of the country comes up. Women cannot be ordained around here if they are Episcopalians. Wh...

I never cared for William Buckley's conservative view of things--his privilege blinded him. But there was something engaging about him. He wrote a book back in the 80's about sailing called "Atlantic High" that I remember as utterly delightful. I wish I still had a copy of that book. Arts & Letters Daily has a link to this article about Buckley's view of the Iraq War. Here's the beginning of the article: Right at the End William F. Buckley’s last gift to conservatism may have been his opposition to the Iraq War. by Jeffrey Hart Soon after Bill Buckley died, William Kristol published a column called “The Indispensable Man” in the New York Times. He celebrated Buckley as the founder of the conservative movement, and his tone was not only celebratory but affectionate. And surely Kristol was right: Buckley was indispensable. Without his leadership there would have been no conservative movement. Yet at the end of his life, Buckley believed the movement he ma...

I've been very proud of my seminary in recent days. Each year it hosts a "State of the Black Church" two-day symposium, and this year one of the honorees was Jeremiah Wright, chosen months and months ago, of course. With all the hullabulloo going on, the university with which my seminary is associated decided that it just couldn't risk having Rev. Wright on campus, so the meeting space, which had been reserved since last year, was taken away from the seminary. With a mere week before the symposium, the university trustees, citing "security concerns" told the seminary to just find someplace else for its 200+ visitors. My response to the university? What a bunch of Cowards! The seminary's response was perfect. The dean, Nancy R_____, and one of our trustees wrote an opinion piece for the local newspaper stating exactly why we chose to honor Rev. Wright and exactly why we are going to find another venue and continue to honor him. My response to the seminary...

This is long, but SO worth the read. It's Barack Obama's speech at the Ebenezer church in Atlanta on MLKing, Jr. Day this past Monday: From: http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/01/the-ebenezer-se.html ___________________ The Scripture tells us that when Joshua and the Israelites arrived at the gates of Jericho, they could not enter. The walls of the city were too steep for any one person to climb; too strong to be taken down with brute force. And so they sat for days, unable to pass on through. But God had a plan for his people. He told them to stand together and march together around the city, and on the seventh day he told them that when they heard the sound of the ram’s horn, they should speak with one voice. And at the chosen hour, when the horn sounded and a chorus of voices cried out together, the mighty walls of Jericho came tumbling down. There are many lessons to take from this passage, just as there are many lessons to take from this day, just as...

It seems to me that if the Ft. Worth Diocese of the Episcopal Church wants to withdraw to the Southern Cone, it will just have to accept the fact that it can't take its property with it. Baptists, Disciples of Christ, etc. own their own buildings. Not TEC. You can't have it both ways, Bishop Iker. The Christian tradition is valuable, of course. But Bishop Iker and all ultra-conservatives make the mistake of valuing their tradition above any belief that God is still working in this world, still calling us toward transformation, still nudging us toward repentence of the obvious EVILS (and I don't use that word lightly) perpetrated by that very "tradition" ~ one of the most glaringly obvious in my view being that of denying ordination to women. That one horrible belief alone makes me want to throw up. Katie Sherrod' s recent post is exactly right. She writes: "Someone once said that if fish could think, water would be the last thing they would discover. They...

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The title of Bob Herbert's recent article says it all: Misogyny Is America's True National Pastime The New York Times. Posted January 17, 2008 "If there was ever a story that deserved more coverage by the news media, it's the dark persistence of misogyny in America. Sexism in its myriad destructive forms permeates nearly every aspect of American life. For many men, it's the true national pastime, much bigger than baseball or football. "Little attention is being paid to the toll that misogyny takes on society in general, and women and girls in particular. "Its forms are limitless." Here's the link to the whole editorial: http://www.alternet.org/reproductivejustice/74004/

From the BBC, Friday, January 18 : "The United States has been listed as a country where prisoners are at risk of torture in a training document produced by the Canadian foreign ministry. "It also classifies some US interrogation techniques as torture. "The manual - part of a training course on torture awareness for diplomats - also includes Israel, China, Iran and Afghanistan on its watch list. "

Wow. Al Gore's mom would've been proud, huh? The guy now has: The Nobel Prize for Peace, An Oscar, and The Popular Vote for President of the United States! (as heard on NPR)

When I was in college I was introduced to Amnesty International. Since then I have valued this organization and supported its work in many ways. In my early 30's I started and was a co-leader a local group in my neighborhood. I've always supported AI financially. Why? For many reasons, but perhaps most of all because torture is wrong. Sinful. Evil. It always wounds the body, of course, but it also always wounds the soul. --The soul of the one who tortures as well as the one tortured. I was on the streets of City to the East in February and again in March of 2003, demonstrating against the invasion of Iraq. It was wrong, wrong, wrong and I knew this administration was making a huge mistake. I felt anger down to my bones. But I'm a child of Watergate and Vietnam, so administrations making huge mistakes wasn't new. I've never known an American administration that made torture a matter of policy, acknowledged or not. When the photophaphs from Abu Ghraib were published,...

Thanks to Jan for the headsup International bloggers are preparing an action to support the peaceful revolution in Burma. We want to set a sign for freedom and show our sympathy for these people who are fighting their cruel regime without weapons. These Bloggers are planning to refrain from posting to their blogs on October 4 and just put up one Banner then, underlined with the words „Free Burma!“. Show your sympathy for the Free Burma! action and sign our list of participants, whether or not you're a blogger, website owner or someone who wants to point the way to democracy and freedom in Burma! Free Burma! Petition Widget Name: (required) Email: Web: Country:

Diane is posting about the bridge collapse in Minneapolis/St. Paul. It's in her community. We hold her and everyone effected by that tragedy in prayer..... Here is Psalm 46: God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the moutains tremble with its tumult. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved; God will help it when the morning dawns. The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter, God utters his voice, the earth melts. The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge. So be it...