Where's your messiah now? The man who brought you "The Passion of the Christ" was arrested for drunk driving Friday night. In a report verified by the Los Angeles Times Mel Gibson was pulled over for driving erradically, threatened the arresting officer, and burst into an anti-Semetic tyrade while sitting in the back of the squad car. "F...ing Jews.." he shouted. "They're the cause of all the wars in the world." Um, you're not going to open with that are you, Mel?Jewish groups are demanding an apology. Hollywood is split over how this will effect his career."It's a nuclear disaster for him," said publicist Michael Levine, who has represented Michael Jackson and Charlton Heston, among others. "I don't see how he can restore himself."
Some see it a different way. "Ever since he made a film about Jesus (himself a Jew) Gibson's biggest fans are Christians who have a history of selective approval and poor discernment," said an entertainment analyst. "I predict all will be forgotten by the paying public by Easter."
Gibson has since issued an apology.
Read the whole story here.
Here's a heartwarming story about a young boy from West Texas who wanted to kill people. Luckily there's a war making it all nice and legal-like. So he signed up and went to Iraq.Swaying off the usual Defense Department endorsed message Private Steven Green told Andrew Tilghman of the Washington Post, "I came here because I wanted to kill people."He then reflected, "Over here, killing people is like squashing an ant. I mean, you kill somebody and it's like 'All right, let's go get some pizza.'"You might know Pvt Green better as the man now on trial for premeditated rape and murder of an Iraqi girl and her family.I hesitated to link this story, concerned that it might be misconstrued. I think most of our military men and women are noble. I know many of them. But I think this article gives an honest look at the "constant violence" our soldiers are under in Iraq and what type of coping skills it all too often produces.Pvt. Green talks about watching a good friend die. He then complains, "See, this war is different from all the ones that our fathers and grandfathers fought. Those wars were for something. This war is for nothing."But he's wrong. This type of thing has happened before and the victims names are etched in black granit on a wall in Washington, and many who surived still fight the war in their minds. I think it's important that we not distance ourselves from what we've sent our men and women to do. I think it's important that we turn and face it and own up to it, which is why I've linked this story. If the truth hurts, it's nothing compared to what they feel.read the whole story here.
While describing the full-scale violence between Israel and Lebanon, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice attempted to put a positive spin on things. She said what we were witnessing were the “birth pangs of a new Middle East.” If so, eventually, one would assume, everything will “come out” alright.
This is not the first time the Bush administration has used the term “birth pangs” to explain horrible violence and chaos from Somalia to Afghanistan. They’ve taken a page out of Jesus’ playbook (Matthew 24). Many will be misled, wars and rumors of wars, nation against nation, there will be famines and earthquakes—these, according to Jesus, were just the beginning of birth pangs—the signs for the end of time.
It’s a nice way of saying, “Apocalypse is messy.” Or, if you’re in the Bush Administration, “Creation is messy.” It must be an incredibly scary thing to be in labor. It’s at least reassuring to have a doctor tell you those contractions are perfectly normal. But what about when it’s proclaimed by someone who has never done this before? Would you be reassured? The new Middle East is being birthed not by doctors, but by people who play them on TV. I hear them saying “I…I read this in a book somewhere…this is supposed to happen.” Not reassuring if you’re one of the ones caught in the violent contractions.
In Jesus' case, the process was the delivery of tribulation to believers. To the Bush administration the pangs are the harbinger of a new Middle East, flowering with Democracy. Dr. Rice utters the phrase with a gleam in her eye, like a mad scientist watching the wondrous birth of a lab-created monster. It’s not ugly. It’s life. This seems to be like a science experiment gone terribly wrong, unleashed by arm-chair politicians and would-be world shakers.
And, to spin it, the administration has arrested both messianic terminology and the birthing process. Jesus may be flattered. (I don’t know, he’s not returning my calls.) but women should be outraged. Any comparison of this inept and ill conceived mess to the awe inspiring miracle of birth should be insulting. The people of the Middle East should also be violently upset. Oh, wait, many of them are. Theirs is the land claimed for this birthing process. Congratulations, you’re going to be parents of freedom. Here’s a flyer.
The actions of the administration have unleashed terrible violence and chaos and increased tensions across the region. Every day Iran moves closer to nuclear capability, recently attending North Korea’s latest test missile launch. Iran works through Syria which is funneling arms to Hezbollah which is firing rockets into Israel which is leveling Lebanon. And Secretary Rice proclaims that this is all part of the process, a wonderful Genesis, a flood of fire and brimstone that will bring about a new geo-political map in the Middle East. The statements are at best ripe with hubris, and at worst incredibly insulting.
I never thought I’d say it but I find Jesus’ version the more prosaic of the two. He may have spoke in parables and imagery about the end times, but he was not nearly as obtuse and ethereal as the current leadership scuttling in and out of the White House.
It’s been a wild ride for the administration. It started with a bold idea: what if a Democracy were planted in the center of the Arab world. What would happen? You can see the concept unfolding like the Genesis planet in “Star Trek III”—A projectile of democracy is lobbed into Baghdad, an explosion begins fiery political terra-forming emitting out in a widening circle, spreading all across the decrepit region, where eventually hope and freedom bloom like so many spring saplings.
A sci-fi reference in a political essay might seem misaligned, but I think that’s about where we’ve gotten to. We fund a foreign policy that appears to be one part messianic and one part Hollywood blue screen screen, and if you can tell the difference anymore you’re more adept than I am.
Of course, to explain it that way would sound crazy. So, we’ll just talk about Saddam’s WMDs and rape chambers. But what we’re really there to do is transform the whole damn thing in one bold move. It’s the love child any case study political scientist, arrogant industrialist, aggravated old man, or hell-bent Christian would love to have.digg story
Under the guise of a political visit Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has successfully fled his country and reached the shores of America. Yesterday he went through the political motions by attending a press conference with President Bush. Today he addresses congress. The Iraqi leader has made the typical, perfunctory requests for more troops and more equipment to defend his country stepped in civil war.
Violence, especially in the capital of Baghdad, has been increasing in Iraq ever since the U.S. invasion in 2003. It has risen since the President’s “Mission Accomplished” declaration, it has risen since the Vice President’s “last throws” statement, it has risen since the elections, and recently it has infringed upon even the “Green Zone.”
Some say Maliki is here to shore up support the US effort to bring peace to his country. Others say he is here for more mundane reasons. While violence has gripped Iraq for the last three years, unemployment and corruption are also on the rise. There is also the inability to train adequate Iraqi security forces.
“Listen, we don’t want to embarrass the guy or have the American people lose faith,” said one anonymous official. “Truth is, he’s going to just hang here for a while, do some conferences, dedicate some statutes. Things are a mess over there right now. Mr. Maliki is happy to be here.”
After addressing congress Maliki will break for lunch with President Bush and military families. His next move is anyone’s guess.
“He is here to shore up support for his country,” one of Maliki’s handlers said. “And while he is here he plans on studying your wonderful system of democracy, perhaps even visiting one of your renowned institutions of higher learning, eating at your elegant restaurants, and visiting your beautiful beaches. He is eager to learn all about America.”digg story
Here's an article from AlterNet on how expensive it is to be poor. I have been poor and many of the examples here are familiar and accurate. This article covers how the poor get squeezed through low balance fees on bank accounts to higher interest rates on loans.
Some problems I ran into:
-I was unable to open a checking account so I was forced to use Western Union to cash my paychecks, for a fee.
-High deposit on a phone
-High interest rate on a used car
-Steep fees on credit cards
-When I had no health insurance I couldn't afford to get a bad tooth operated on at the dentist! Bad times.
Yeah, a lot of my own financial problems were self induced. When I was a wide-eyed college freshman I received credit card applications in the mail. Life was good! I thought the world was going to be my oyster. What I hadn't learned was that it had been arranged to take as much money from me as it could.
Nothing says “you’ve arrived” like charging your next meal on a piece of plastic, right? Soon I was charging all kinds of things. When my old K-car needed new breaks, thank God for my credit card! My ardor died down quickly once I started receiving the bills. I realized that “minimum payments” just meant “running balance” in legalspeak, which, in dollars and cents, meant high interest rates.
Once my rate shot up, and late fees started adding up, the fun was over. And, making about $140 a week in college to live on meant it was going to be hard to pay that debt off any time soon.
So, my debt graduated with me while I added my college loans. Later, when I moved for a job, I tried to close my checking account but I didn't leave enough in the account. The bank didn’t have my forwarding address so I didn’t even know. I found out when I went to open a checking account in my new city. It turns out I was essentially blacklisted and couldn't open a new account anywhere. I had to cash my checks at the neighborhood Western Union and pay my bills with money orders...all for fees.
Finally, my K-car broke down and I had to get a new car and faced a steep interest rate. The monthly payments, along with my credit card payments, monthly rent, etc, basically strapped me.
I joined the Air Force for the free health care, tax-free purchases, and at least four years of fixed income. I learned some new marketable skills (like programming) and eventually turned my financial life around (the rest is still working itself out). But, damn, I had to go through boot camp to do it! It don't come easy.
I'm absolutely sympathetic to those who are buried in debt, or have no options to increase their income. Someone who makes minimum wage earns about $11,000 a year. How is anyone expected to be able to live in and navigate through a society aligned against them on that?
The system has its ways of nickle and diming those who can't afford otherwise. Some people grow up with enough money to make plenty of mistakes and still recover--I believe our President is living testament. That's the real luxury when you're rich: the ability to recover from mistakes, financial or even physical. We all saw how debilitating poverty can be during Hurricane Katrina. Being poor always costs you, but sometimes it can kill you.The simple fact is that those who are poor have less options, less freedom than others. Their fate is very hard to escape from. They can't afford the best lawyers. They can't lobby their representative. They can't bribe their city official. It sucks. The poor have less access to health care, education, a proper diet, and they can't even get out of the way of a hurricane. If aliens ever come to take over this planet before they round us up to work in their sugar caves they'll assume that we are already at war with the poor.
I still believe in free choice. I made bad financial decisions when I was younger and I paid for it with plenty of heartache. I just wish the plight of the poor wasn't so easily dismissed. I wish it wasn't so hard to get back to even once you fall behind. How come our Christian society has made it so easy for companies to take your money, and so hard to get them to stop? Have you ever tried to cancel AOL? When you're poor you have to sit on the phone endlessly. When you're rich you can just file litigation.
read original articledigg story
Senator Arlen Specter, a powerful Republican committee chairman who has led the fight against President Bush’s signing statements, said Monday he would have a bill ready by the end of the week allowing Congress to sue him in federal court.
This announcement came the same day the American Bar Association issued a statement saying the president was overstepping his authority by issuing statements which keep his execution of federal legislation conditionally based. Bush has issued at least 750 signing statements which give him the right to disregard laws on national security and constitutional grounds.
read moredigg story
A panel of legal scholars and lawyers assembled by the American Bar Association is sharply criticizing the use of "signing statements" by President Bush that assert his right to ignore or not enforce laws passed by Congress. In a report to be issued today, the ABA task force said that Bush has lodged more challenges to provisions of laws than all previous presidents combined. Luckily for Republicans the panel has about as much bite as a modern-day congressional oversight panel. The issue probed revolves around signing statements, an executive privlidge. President Bush often signs bills passed by congress and then issues a statement reserving the right not to enforce or execute them on the grounds that they infringe on presidential authority. Last year congress passed legislation banning cruel or degrading treatment of prisoners which Bush signed with an official statement saying he may not enforce the ban if necessary to prevent a terrorist attack.read more digg story
Here's a story about a Catholic school suing Wikipedia. Skutt Catholic School discovered an entry on Wikipedia about itself describing its high tuition, poor education, and high emphasis on sports. "No wonder almost all the kids there are complete idiots" the post said. An entry on the school first appeared in February with critical reviews of the school and principal Patrick Slattery.
Wikipedia, an on-line encyclopedia, is known for its extremely open policy on posts. To edit an entry on wikipedia a viewer simply has to click "edit this page." It has grown to become one of the most popular web pages on the internet.
The school, located in Omaha, Nebraska has since filed a lawsuit naming John and Jane Doe through the Douglas County District Court. Until the perpetrators are found the school has removed all the colored chalk from the classrooms.
Thanks to the San Francisco Chronicle for this story about a homeless man who found $21,000 in bonds, turned them in, and received $100 reward. The man, Charles Moore, found the bonds in a dumpster and then turned them in to a 24 hour homeless shelter. The bonds belonged to Ernist Lehto who gave Moore $100 reward calling him a "good Samaritan."
$100 is .005% of $21,000, about forty times less than you would tip your waitress in a restaurant. What does Moore plan to do with his bag of shiny nickels? Buy a nice shoe shine kit? Gee, thanks, mister.
If you attend the University of Wisconsin you may be learning about sociology, statistics, or how Dick Cheney organized and commanded the 9/11 attacks. This is a theory recently suggested by part-time instructor Kevin Barrett who will teach an introductory class on Islam this fall.
See the clip on Hannity and Colmes.
Republican Rep. Steve Nass was quick to ask for Bartlett's removal, citing deviance, lack of patriotism, and called Barrett's views "academically dishonest."
The state Assembly last week refused to take up a proposed resolution supported by Nass calling on university to fire Barrett, who will get $8,247 as a part-time instructor this fall.
Read the whole story here.
Where's your messiah now? The man who brought you "The Passion of the Christ" was arrested for drunk driving Friday night. In a report verified by the Los Angeles Times Mel Gibson was pulled over for driving erradically, threatened the arresting officer, and burst into an anti-Semetic tyrade while sitting in the back of the squad car. 
