The Latest Straight Outta' Denver

Just Another Psalm by Darth B'strad
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Are Republicans and Democrats above the law? by Distinguished Bean
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A Psalm to a Great God by Darth B'strad
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16 on the block? The new REAL by Bieren Skidels
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A Liberal’s Lament-of Obama! by Darth B'strad
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The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne by Darth B'strad
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Sarah Palin Gets the Veep spot! by Darth B'strad
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The Empire Strikes Back! by Darth B'strad
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An American Tale? by Bieren Skidels
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Ivy League, The Upper Class and Entitlement by Bieren Skidels
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Just Another Psalm

Posted on September 7th, 2008 by Darth B'strad.
Categories: Uncategorized.

My soul is confused, Lord
My path is unclear
I shout to you Lord, but I hear no response.
I ask for guidance but your way is not reviled.
What am I to do my Lord?
I feel like a lost sheep on a frozen path.
Thorns and bristles keep pricking to me
and I can’t shake them off.

“From the end of the earth,
I cry out to you for help
when my heart is overwhelmed.”
But I can’t hear your call!
Show me your path, Lord!
Give me some new light!
“I wait quietly before God,
for my victory comes from him.”
I sit here in silence before you,
trying to see if I am,
even here.

What is your will, Lord?
“Let all that I am wait quietly before God,
for my hope is in him.”
Show me again, Lord, Your unfailing love!
God says to me:
“Be still, and know that I am God!
I will be honored by every nation.
I will be honored throughout the world.”

Lord, give me the will to wait on you.
You say to me:
“This is the only work God wants from you:
Believe in the one he has sent.”
Why does that have to be so hard?
To what end does this life hold for me.
But I can not understand your ways, Lord.
“‘The Lord knows those who are his’,
and ‘all who belong to the Lord must turn away from evil.’”
I feel that I can’t even see my evil.
Show it to me so that I may repent!

Shall this life be of solitude
or will it be one full with relationships,
only you will tell me.
When the right time comes, Lord,
pull me on your way!
And most importantly, you have said:
“For I know that thought that I think toward you,
thoughts of peace, and not of evil,
to give you an expected end.”
Give me your way and your end!
Help me to wait on you!
Show your unfailing love
and light my path
to you.

Amen.

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Are Republicans and Democrats above the law?

Posted on September 6th, 2008 by Distinguished Bean.
Categories: Uncategorized, Political, Immigration, Death Penalty, Ethics, Party System, War, Law, Constitutional Law, Republicans, Democrats, Iran, Israel, LOTR.

I don’t like to make a lot of political posts, but this caught my eye and sort of baffled me…

(I really want to hear B-Strad’s opinion/justification of this)

This came straight from Shane Cory, Libertarian Candidate Bob Barr’s Deputy Campaign Manager

Today, I’m sitting here in Atlanta nervously awaiting word from a trial that is taking place today to kick Bob Barr off of the ballot in the state of Pennsylvania.

Although we did everything correct to get on the ballot in Pennsylvania and compete in the election against John McCain and Barack Obama, an operative for John McCain, Victor Stabile, decided that he didn’t “like to see anything taint that process.”

. . .

While losing sleep over of the case filed against us in Pennsylvania, I’ve been on pins-and-needles waiting all week to hear the outcome of our case in West Virginia.

We are asking the West Virginia Secretary of State to count and accept the 23,000 signatures that we turned in several days past the early deadline of August 1st - nearly a month before the Republicans and Democrats would even officially nominate their candidates.

I can’t fully express to you the frustration that I feel right now.

Let me explain.

Last night, I received a response from the Texas Secretary of State’s office to my request for the certification papers submitted by the Texas Republicans and Democrats that would place Barack Obama, John McCain and their running mates on the ballot.

Their certification papers were due to the state on August 26th at 5 pm.

The law is explicit on the matter. The names of the candidates for president and vice president are due by the deadline.

After reviewing the documents, it is clear that both the Republican and Democrat presidential tickets missed the deadlines and, according to Texas state law, should not be on the ballot in Texas.

If you want to see for yourself and download the documents, click here.

Regardless of McCain and Obama’s failure to meet the statutory deadline, the Texas Secretary of State seems poised to certify the ballot with their names on it. They’ve even updated their official candidate listing to include McCain/Palin and Obama/Biden after we first made this public (and John McCain announced Palin as his running mate).

While Republicans and Democrats look to easily slide by in Texas regardless of the law, in both West Virginia and Maine, we are facing an opposite set of circumstances.

I’ve told you about West Virginia but we are also going through this similar battle in the state of Maine.

In Maine, a contractor for the Libertarian Party was in the process of turning in signatures and we’ve been told that the Secretary of State actually sent a letter to town clerks instructing them not to accept the petitions during what historically has been a grace period beyond the early deadline.

It’s no surprise to us that this is happening but it’s still not easy to accept.

It’s been clear that if you are running for office as a Republican or a Democrat, you are somehow above the law.

If you are a Libertarian or independent, you not only have to abide by the letter of the law but you have to be prepared when the law is twisted and turned to be used against you.

When I brought this up last week, I said that we would be taking a stand in Texas.

We’re doing that and now I ask you to stand with us.

Last night, our campaign manager, Russell Verney, submitted a very clear letter to the Texas Secretary of State.

In the letter, Russ stated:

“The Democratic Party, and Mr. Obama and the Republican Party and Mr. McCain blatantly ignored the Texas statutory deadline.

“Therefore, the Libertarian candidate for president, Bob Barr, as represented by his principal campaign committee, Bob Barr 2008, demands that your office keep the names of Barack Obama, Joe Biden, John McCain and Sarah Palin off the Texas general election ballot.

“Failure of the Secretary of State to comply with Texas law will result in serious legal consequences.”

In the event that the Secretary of State’s office in Texas does not comply with its own law, we are prepared to file suit, however this battle will just be the beginning.

On top of the additional and large legal expenses that we are likely to incur, we are going to have to divert campaign resources to deal with the media that is just starting to carry this story . . . but not in a positive manner.

Here’s the New York Times this morning painting Bob Barr as a troublemaker, interfering with the election and even the economy:

What would happen if Mr. Barr prevailed? It is very hard to see how Senator McCain could get 270 electoral votes without getting the 34 from Texas. Could we end up with a messier election than we had in 2000?

Would the Supreme Court again get to pick the man who will pick the court’s members? Would all this thoroughly alarm foreign investors, whose sales could damage stock and bond prices while the fight was on?

No, it won’t happen. At least we can hope it won’t.

It is a matter of principle that we make this stand. It will not be easy and it may not be pleasant but it must be done.

We’ve become a complete two-party system. Now to the point of being un-constitutional and un-lawful… scary.

Are Republicans and Democrats above the law?

1 comment.

A Psalm to a Great God

Posted on September 6th, 2008 by Darth B'strad.
Categories: Poetry, Creative Writing, Christianity.

How great and mighty your works are Lord!
You brought me a broken soul
that lead me to the depths of despair.
You tore open my scars and shined your light on them,
and out leaped my demon! So that I could see.
Give me a new way Lord,
don’t turn your back on me!

My demon weaves his lies into arrows.
He equips his bow of hate so that he can shoot lies at me.
“but I am trusting you to save me.”
Be my shield from his attacks!
He even strings my greatest friends and family against me!
How vile his lies are, they are of hate and death.
My Demon drags with him a chain of lust and greed
and he strangles me with them, making me his slave.
Save me, Lord, from his chain!
“For I recognize my rebellion;
it haunts me day and night.”
But “the Lord keeps me alive!”
He watches me day and night.

The Lord says to me “look I am bringing to you your key.”
Oh, could it really be my key to my bondage!
Could she free me from this chain of lust and greed
and help me carry your cross, Lord.
“Or will this dream of mine, fade out of sight.
Just like the moon, growing dim, on the rim– of the hill.
In the chill–still, of the night.”

I cry to you Lord! Give me your will!
“For you have been my refuge”
Make you face shine upon her! And let her strengthen me!
or remove her spell from me and give me a new path.
For “you keep track of all my sorrows.
You have collected all my tears in your bottle.
You have recorded each one in your book.”

“Give your burdens to the Lord,
and he will take care of you.
He will not permit the godly to slip and fall.”
For He is the source of all that is wise and just.
His power is unimaginable and unmeasurable.
“Look up into the heavens.
Who created all the stars?
He brings them out like an army, one after another,
calling each by it’s name.
Because of his great power and incomparable strength,
not a single one is missing.”
Lord, Break my will and replace it with your own!
For nothing in the world holds any value without you.

“If I could write a song, a million miles long
Oh, that’s where I belong.” Right here with you.
You are all that matters, nothing can possibly matter without you!
And you, my God, is in control!
“For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.
Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares we are righteous.”
Who else could possibly be worthy to put my trust in?
All of us humans fail your standard and continue in sin.
But “I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from Gods love.
Neither death nor life, nether angles nor demons,
neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow-
not even the powers of hell can separate us from Gods love.”

I have tasted and seen the powers of hell
but that power is nothing compared to your power.
And you wisdom is higher that all who has ever lived;
all the wisdom of man combined
is a drop in the bucket compared to your wisdom
And God says:
“For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so my ways are higher than your ways
and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.”

“If I could start again
A thousand miles away
I would keep myself
I would find—a way”
Be my way Lord!
Give me your will
And if I am unwilling,
I give you permission to make me willing,
for you are a gentleman,
give me your will for now and evermore.

Amen.

3 comments.

16 on the block? The new REAL

Posted on September 3rd, 2008 by Bieren Skidels.
Categories: Uncategorized.

concerning 16 @ war by Karina: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTjHZueHiMg

another hot video, another “talented”-or-was-talented-is-hot-will-be-what new star - actually I don’t know, of course I’m old.

Evaluating each new age or epoch as it emerges, ’bout every 3 years nowadays. So now we have someone “@ war” and it ain’t an email address. The symbol itself matters little - the song, another rich-glitz-hit diva balladizing the struggle of a modern newYork/LA/Chicago Afro-Americano “on the block” (as in “jenny on the block?”) living the modern urban-dystopia…

Aspects of interest:

- every new generation has a new “novel” way of processing their music, this song uses the retro vocal throws (wanna0be ashanti or something) latinized brass background, R&B drums, the classic modern Rap intermittent boom-bass… Adding the raw “urban” sounds and sights of trains and inner-city life to the beginning - along with a semi-organic (seemingly-tallented) piano solo (supposedly performed by Karina) - and maybe it is performed by her… but who’s to say? And most importantly - why does it matter if anything: any particular sound, image, or thought involved in this “social-ciritique” video actually came from any particular person? It is what it is what it is… and that’s how “this kinda” media is nowadays…

Most amazing to me is how close dystopia/utopia & concious/unconcious has become in the younger generation (<18). The struggle with the ego is reduced to a self-admittedly artificial following… The id drives the bulk of media content - and amazingly - the same media fills in the modern teenage super-ego! This video supposedly presents the modern teenage “purposes and major challenges.” In fact, it demonstrates the ACTUAL goals and models of teenage behavior as the “regrettable” realities of the “16 year old”’s social interaction… However, how is it interpretted? as bad/good? - In fact, NO

The key point here is that it is indeed the dystopia, the untruth of the video that is in fact embraced as the REAL (or actually ground reality) of the teenage viewer… the Utopia, itself, is presented as the fantasy… which is in fact - the “reality” (small reality)

The Fantasy: That one can identify the rediculous artificial desire / media control / poverty around one’s self and then engage it critically and balladize the experience.

The REAL/or actual “reality” (since they become very much the same in this case): One* has very little motivation (or does not desire) to admit that ones own artificial desire is directed by this paradoxical media. In fact, the modern teenager* percieves the poverty or lack-of-freedom as the illusion to be overcome so that one can realize their ACTUAL unlimited freedom and ability (which is indeed paramount in this pradoxical media), However - the modern teenager* will continue to ape the self-awareness of this rediculous world (The Fantasy), while in fact, engaging in the supposed illusion (The Reality) whole-heartedly, as is also portrayed in the same media…

*I should say “American Teenager”

1 comment.

A Liberal’s Lament-of Obama!

Posted on September 2nd, 2008 by Darth B'strad.
Categories: Uncategorized.

What! A liberal lamenting Obama! Just say it ain’t so! I am vary sorry for you libs out there but it’s true. Sean Wilentz put up this post at Newsweek on the 23rd last month saying “To win, Obama must convince the country that he is a man of substance, not just style. History suggests this won’t be easy.” And this guy is a professor from Princeton University and he’s slamming on Obama! That’s not good when the people who are suppose to be in you back pocket automatically start getting down on you. Here’s what he put up in Newsweek:

Obama’s most ardent admirers, who include much of the political press and practically all of the liberal intelligentsia, will almost certainly report and analyze the event as a mammoth historical occasion, and quite possibly praise the speech as one of the greatest political orations ever. But will Obama, amid the pulsating theatrics, also attempt the less glamorous and more difficult task of explaining specifically where he wants to move the country, and how he proposes to move it, above and beyond reciting his policy positions? History, as well as recent public-opinion polls, suggests that he badly needs to do so. As a lifelong Democrat who supported Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton during the primaries, I would like to see him succeed in fulfilling his promise.

I don’t think he did a good job of that.

Since the end of World War II, every Democrat who has sought the presidency has attempted to update the legacy of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal. From Harry Truman to Bill Clinton, those elected president have refreshed the liberal tradition by promising to put their own stamp upon it, and then doing so. After 40 years of mostly Republican control of the White House, it should be clear that mistakes and overreaching have hampered liberalism’s evolution. But by renewing the idea that government has an important role to play in expanding the opportunities and well-being of ordinary Americans, the basic Democratic tradition has survived through thick and thin.

Senator Obama’s efforts to reinterpret the Democratic legacy have thus far amounted chiefly to promising a dramatic break with the status quo. His rhetoric of “hope” and “change” has thrilled millions of Democrats and helped secure the party’s nomination. Yet millions of other Democrats still find his appeals wispy and unconvincing, and the persistent coolness within the ranks worries some party veterans. Democratic governors have already urged him to be more explicit about how he intends to adjust the party’s principles to meet today’s challenges.

But he knows that if he does that people won’t vote for him. Sean Wilentz then goes through prevous Democrat victories and the “blunders” of the Bush administration and then he says this:

Against this backdrop, how has the presumptive Democratic nominee, Barack Obama, proposed to revivify Democratic liberalism? There is a quotation that ought to give Democrats, and not just Democrats, pause: “This year will not be a year of politics as usual. It can be a year of inspiration and hope, and it will be a year of concern, of quiet and sober reassessment of our nation’s character and purpose. It has already been a year when voters have confounded the experts. And I guarantee you that it will be the year when we give the government of this country back to the people of this country. There is a new mood in America. We have been shaken by a tragic war abroad and by scandals and broken promises at home. Our people are searching for new voices and new ideas and new leaders.”

Delivered in Obama’s exhortatory cadences, the words are uplifting. The trouble is, though they seem to fit, the passage is from Carter’s acceptance speech at the Democratic convention in 1976.

You don’t want to be compared to Carter! and this is a liberal doing it!

The convergence is revealing. As Republican strategists have begun to notice with delight, Obama’s liberal alternative to the post-Bush GOP to date has much in common with Carter’s post-Watergate liberalism. Rejecting “politics as usual,” attacking “Washington” as the problem, promising to heal the breaches and hurts caused by partisan political polarization, pledging to break the grip that lobbyists and special interests hold over the national government, wearing his Christian faith on his sleeve as a key to his mind, heart and soul—in all of these ways, Obama resembles Jimmy Carter more than he does any other Democratic president in living memory.

In other ways, Obama’s liberal vision appears clouded, uncertain and even contradictory. During his four years in Washington, he has compiled one of the most predictably liberal voting records in the Senate—yet he presents himself as an advocate of bipartisanship and ideological flexibility. He has offered himself as the tribune of sweeping change—yet he also proclaims national unity, as if transformation can come without struggle. He has emerged as the champion of a new, post-racial politics, even though he has only grudgingly separated himself from his pastor of 20 years, who every week preached a gospel of “black liberation theology” that has everything to do with racial politics.

Again, a liberal saying this!

The most obvious change to liberal politics Obama has to offer is the color of his skin. Some of his supporters have, whether wittingly or not, been candid enough to say, as Sen. John Kerry did last March, that Obama’s blackness is the rationale for making him president. But it is difficult to square such claims with Obama’s appeal to a liberalism that transcends race. And when Obama himself subtly and not so subtly draws attention to his color, and charges that the John McCain Republicans will try to scare voters by saying he “doesn’t look like all those presidents on the dollar bills,” he turns voting for him into an intrinsically virtuous act, proof that one has resisted base appeals to racism (which, in fact, the McCain campaign has not made).

You have to give props to the other side when they say something right.

Much of Obama’s appeal to the left stems from what might be called the romance of the community organizer. Although his organizing career on Chicago’s South Side was brief and, by his own admission, unremarkable, it distinguishes him as another first of his kind in presidential politics, a candidate who looks at politics from the bottom up. For the left, community organizing trumps party politics and experience in government. Some even imagine that Obama is a secret radical, and they see his emergence as an unparalleled opportunity for advancing their frustrated agendas about issues ranging from the redistribution of wealth to curtailing U.S. power abroad.

I think P. Muse is going to have a much better “community organizer” carer than Obama, and I still won’t vote for him for president, even though I love him (in a friendship sort of sense, that is). By the why, what exactly does “community organizer” mean anyway?

Obama still has a long way to go to describe the kind of liberalism he stands for, how it meets the enormous challenges of the present—and how it will meet as-yet-unanticipated challenges after the election. Nowhere is this more crucial than in the harsh and volatile realm of foreign policy. Last winter, when his candidacy gained traction, Obama’s foreign-policy credentials consisted almost entirely of a speech he gave before a left-wing rally in Chicago in 2002, denouncing the impending invasion of Iraq as “a dumb war.” That speech, made by a state senator representing a liberal district that included the University of Chicago, and that went unreported in the Chicago Tribune’s lengthy article on the rally, was enough to convince many of his supporters that he is blessed with superior acumen and good instincts about foreign affairs. Later comments, such as his promise, later softened, to meet directly and “without preconditions” with the leaders of Iran and other supporters of terrorism, pleased left-wing Democrats and young antiwar voters as a sign of boldness—even as they left experienced diplomats in wonder at such half-baked formulations.

Then, suddenly this summer, Russia attacked Georgia—and Obama’s immediate reaction was to call for reasonableness and good intentions and urge both sides to show restraint and enter into direct talks. Unfortunately his appeal sounded almost like a caricature of liberal wishful thinking. It was left to his opponent, John McCain—whose own past judgments on foreign policy demand scrutiny—to declare right away the sort of thing that might have come naturally to previous generations of liberal Democrats (let alone to a conservative Republican): that “Russia should immediately and unconditionally cease its military operations and withdraw all forces from sovereign Georgian territory.” Beyond the matter of experience, beyond how thoroughly the two candidates had thought through the situation, the difference highlighted how Obama still lacks a comprehensive vision of international politics.

That’s because he’s a lightweight.

That Obama’s record and statements have created any other impression cannot be ascribed only to his campaign’s political skills and the news media’s favor. Liberal intellectuals have largely abdicated their responsibility to provide unblinking and rigorous analysis instead of paeans to Obama’s image. Hardly any prominent liberal thinkers stepped forward to question Obama’s rationalizations about his relationship with his pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. Instead, they hailed his ever-changing self-justifications and sometimes tawdry logic—equating his own white grandmother’s discomfort in the presence of a menacing stranger with Wright’s hateful sermons—as worthy of the monumental addresses of Lincoln. Liberal intellectuals actually could have aided their candidate, while also doing their professional duty, by pressing him on his patently evasive accounts about various matters, such as his connections with the convicted wheeler-dealer Tony Rezko, or his more-than-informal ties to the unrepentant terrorist William Ayers, including their years of association overseeing an expensive, high-profile, but fruitless public-school reform effort in Chicago. Instead, the intellectuals have failed Obama as well as their readers by branding such questioning as irrelevant, malicious or heretical.

Ouch!

Can Obama, who lost the large industrial states in the primaries, deal with a troubled economy and become the standard bearer for the working and middle classes—the historic core of the Democratic Party that the last two Democratic candidates lost? Can the inexperienced candidate persuasively outline a new foreign policy that addresses the quagmires left by the Bush administration and faces the challenges of terrorism and a resurgent Russia? Can the less-than-one-term senator become the master of the Congress and enact goals such as universal health care that have eluded Democratic presidents since Truman? On these fundamental questions may hang the fate of Obama’s candidacy. In the absence of a compelling record, set speeches, even with the most stirring words, will not resolve these matters. And until he resolves them, Obama will remain the most unformed candidate in the modern history of presidential politics.

Man that’s really harsh! This is a liberal professor saying this! Not to mention that we are seeing a real resurgence of the conservitive movement by the nomination of Sarah Palin. I mean top conservatives of our day are saying that she is the rebirth of Reagan here. I been hearing women just calling her Sarah! I think Obama’s in for a big surprise come November and I even think that McCain may even step aside after one term and just let Sarah take over. Wait… now I just did it!

0 comments.

The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne

Posted on August 30th, 2008 by Darth B'strad.
Categories: Uncategorized.

Just by the title of the book I knew that this would not be like anything that I usually read. I’m not too much of a fan of revolutions because most of them have been horrible bloody events that made societies worse than better. However this book is not about thous kinds of revolutions but rather one that “dances” (pg. 313) as Shane Claiborne puts it and I am all for dancing. Irresistible Revolution is a book about Shane Claiborne stories and how he has developed his current theology of using “Little movements of communities of ordinary radicals are committed to doing small things with great love.” (pg. 25) I’ll have to admit that it was quite a frustrating book for me to get through due to his often simplistic theology at times and differing political views but despite all that, I do have to say that he is a great man of God striving his hardest to do His God’s will in his life. His ideals on communal interdependence and stringing the church together is something that I did initially have strong reservations against but as I have read the book I think that is something that we need in the years to come. But I am also looking forward to dashing in some good ol’ fashioned conservatism into the mix too! The idea is not so much a revolution in that we remake this society into a new society but rather to return to older ideals that governed the early church. As he says on page 20:

What I often get branded is “radical.” I’ve never really minded that, for as my urban-farming friends reminded me, the word radical itself means “root.” It’s from the Latin word radix, which, just like a rad-ish, has to do with getting to the root of things.

Well that’s what conservatism is all about! (returning to the root that is but he takes it in a different direction from actual conservatism) He uses stories in order to explain the way that Jesus wanted us to live our lives. The thesis being that we should try to make our lives simpler so that we can release and give more resources to the poor. He does have an great passion for the poor that taken him across the world, from Calcutta-helping the the poor and the lepers with Mother Teresa, to Iraq, helping out in the hospitals with the Iraqis and also in downtown Philadelphia helping set up the simple way-an outreach to the homeless in Philly. His story here is inspiring many others to do much of the same around the country and one of whom just so happens to be our fellow bolger P. muse.

So this is a book of stories. The things that transform us, especially us “postmoderns,” are people and experiences. Political ideologies and religious doctrines just aren’t very compelling, even if they’re true. And stories disarm us. They make us laugh and cry. It’s hard to disagree with a story, much less split a church or kill people over one. And certainly no one hurts others with the passion of those who do it in the name of God, and it’s usually over ideologies and doctrines, not stories- stories about ordinary first-century Mediterranean life, stories of widows and orphans, debts and wages, workers and landlords, courts and banquets. [pg. 28]

It’s kind of funny that he said that because that is exactly the same thing that I have been starting to get a passion for in telling stories of mine that help relate the truth of God’s word. However I do feel it necessary to urge some caution here for while his book has plunty of drive and zeal for God (that I absolutely love), it lacks a certain amount of clarity that could possibly lead some of our fellow Christians astray. For Just as Paul said of the Jews in Romans 10:2 “I know what enthusiasm they have for God, but it is misdirected zeal” I also want to help in every way to ensure that we keep on moving forward on the path that God has laid for us and not on some idealistic purist of utopia. Shane likes to quote Isaiah 2:4 a lot where it says “They will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.” And that is very beautiful and true but he skipped where is says “The Lord will mediate between nations and will settle international disputes.” In other words, it will require God to be here among us in order for us to have real and true world peace. And we will have to continue to go through wars for as Jesus said in Mark 13:7 “And you will hear of wars and threats of wars, but don’t panic. Yes, these things must take place, but the end won’t follow immediately.” I also know that our time of war is not over yet because Jesus said later in that chapter “In fact, unless the Lord shortens that time of calamity, not a single person will survive. but for the sake of his chosen ones he has shorted those days.” (20) We have not come anywhere near that sort of loss of life around the world and I think that this time has not yet come to pass (and I will be very happy to be wrong here). But remember also that Jesus told us not to panic! God is in control! Remember that Paul told us in Romans 7:31-32 “[…] If God is for us, who can ever be against us? since the did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?” I am convinced that there are some dark days ahead of us and a time of calamity that nothing is going to prevent because God himself has said so. So that you do not get mislead I am saying that this irresistible revolution is not going to change that. However I do think that knitting the church back together in a community style and getting fellow Christians from all backgrounds to stand together will be the very thing that we need in that time of calamity. So the community that P. muse and all of his friends from Eastern University is something that I want to see succeed.

The thing that concerns me most in this book is on Page 160:

Almost every time we talk with affluent folks about God’s will to end poverty, someone says, “But didn’t Jesus say, ‘the poor will always be with you’?” Many of the people who whip out this verse have grown quite insulted and distant form the poor and feel defensive. I usually ask, “Where are the poor? Are the poor among us?” The answer is usually a clear negatory. As we study the Scriptures, we see how many texts we have misread, contextualized, and exegeted to hear what we want to. Like this one about the poor being among us, which Jesus says in the home of a leaper and after a poor marginalized woman anoints his feet with perfume. The poor were all around him. Far from saying in defeat that we should not worry about the poor, since they will always be among us, Jesus is pointing the Church to her true identity-she is to live close to those who suffer. The poor will always be among us, because the empire will always produce poor people, and they will find a home in the church, a citizenship in the kingdom of God, where the “hungry are filled with the good things and the rich sent away empty.”

When you read scripture you need context! If that was not true then this man is a fool for all he does because even the Bible says “Their is no God.” But if you put it in context you get this:

Psalm 53:1 (New Living Translation)
Only fools say in their hearts,
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt, and their actions are evil;
not one of them does good!

So lets go back to the context of that passage in John 12:

1 Six days before the Passover celebration began, Jesus arrived in Bethany, the home of Lazarus—the man he had raised from the dead. 2 A dinner was prepared in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, and Lazarus was among those who ate[a] with him. 3 Then Mary took a twelve-ounce jar[b] of expensive perfume made from essence of nard, and she anointed Jesus’ feet with it, wiping his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance.

4 But Judas Iscariot, the disciple who would soon betray him, said, 5 “That perfume was worth a year’s wages.[c] It should have been sold and the money given to the poor.” 6 Not that he cared for the poor—he was a thief, and since he was in charge of the disciples’ money, he often stole some for himself.

7 Jesus replied, “Leave her alone. She did this in preparation for my burial. 8 You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”

9 When all the people[d] heard of Jesus’ arrival, they flocked to see him and also to see Lazarus, the man Jesus had raised from the dead. 10 Then the leading priests decided to kill Lazarus, too, 11 for it was because of him that many of the people had deserted them[e] and believed in Jesus.

Jesus was not among the poor when he said that he was in Lazarus’ house who had to be fairly wealthy in order to afford a perfume that was worth a years wages. This is not mean to say that we are to forget about the poor for Jesus said in Matthew 25:40 “I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!” But it doses mean that at times we should forget about the poor for a time to do something greater. That’s something that Shane doesn’t understand because he did say on Page 135:

For everything in this world tries to pull us away from community, pushes us to choose ourselves over others, to choose independence over interdependence, to choose great things over small things, to choose going to fast alone over far together.

But as we see from this passage every once in a while one of us may need to sacrifice of our selfs for the good of the rest and do something great. However this is only on God’s detection in times of necessity but we must not lose sight of the fact that we need each other. We must be careful on how we approach other Christians on God’s service for we do not know what God is doing in a fellow Christian’s life and sometimes the Christan him or her-self doesn’t know ether. If I had read this book just two to three years ago I would have thought to myself “screw you buddy! I’m going to join the Marines because I think God is working there!” instead of that happening, my father said he didn’t think that going into the Marines was a good idea and instead encouraged me in other areas. I held off on that thought and kept working and going to school. Then last year I met a girl that God had commanded me to love. God used her to destroy my will so that he could refill me with his will. Now that that has happened I have learned far more about myself and I now know that I most likely would not have been able to handle war psychologically because of my demon (I explain that further in my A true B’strad posts). We have to take a stance of encouragement towards our fellow Christians. As Paul says in Romans 14:4 “Who are you to condemn someone else’s servants? They are responsible to the Lord, so let him judge whether they are right or wrong. And with the Lord’s help, they will do what is right and will receive his approval.” Not that I am saying that Shane has done this but with this book he is fooling with that line.

I heard one gospel preacher say it like this, as he really wound up and broke a sweat: “We’ve got to unite ourselves as one body. Because Jesus is coming back, and he’s coming back for a bride, not a harem.” [pg. 145]

That’s what everything that P. muse is planning to make here in Denver. The plan is to have a group of them from eastern to move into a home owned by a dear family of our church and use it to help outreach to the surrounding area. They want to do it in the way that Shane described it by saying on page 163:

Simplicity is meaningful only inasmuch as it is grounded in love, authentic relationships, and interdependence. Redistribution then springs naturally out of family that is larger than biology or nationalism

And that is absolutely critical for this to work. The thing I see that will tear this thing apart most is if certain people are getting down on others for not doing enough. That what will kill this whole plan! That’s why Paul said to Titus “If people are causing divisions among you, give a first and second warning. After that, have nothing more to do with them.” (3:10) However in this sort of set up you can’t just have nothing to do with them! They’re living in the same house! You guys might need to consider a plan to throw people out of the house (God forbid). There are Skeptics in our church about this whole idea and I want to try to settle thous concerns:

To the Skeptics
Remember that James tells us “What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone?” (2:14) They are moving here with God’s love to show mercy to thous that are lost. I think that God’s will is in this but we need you too! We need direction and guidance on this path so that we don’t get lead astray. Shane also said that you are important to this cause by saying on Page 354 “If you have the gift of frustration and the deep sense that the world is a mess, thank God for that; not everyone has that gift of vision. It also means that you have a responsibility to lead us in new ways recognizing that something is wrong is the first step toward changing the world.” Express your concerns to them and ask them many questions so that they will think and pray on this. They are going out there to help fulfill the word in Isaiah where is says “For they will see what they had not been told; they will understand what they had not heard about.” (52:15) I challenge you to talk to them when they are here so that they will keep the faith strong for it says “As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.” (Proverbs 27:17) Help keep them on the right path!

But I also must ask questions of thous how wish to be apart of this community

To the community
Prove me right! Remember that Jesus said first “And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.” and then he said “Love your neighbor as yourself. No other commandment is greater than these.” (Mark 12:30-31) Our goal here is not to help the poor or to free the oppressed but to learn to love God! And because we love God that means that we will serve him by helping the poor and freeing the oppressed! James tells us that he will “show you my faith by my good deeds.” (2:18) Notice though that the faith comes first and it should always come first! You are showing your faith by the good acts that you do here. Remember that 1 Corinthians tells us “If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing. Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.” (13:3-5) Without love and faith we are worthless! This work is to be done for God and no one else. Also you are going to need to keep this house pure, otherwise your just going to have another frat house. To ensure that there is no naivety, you guys will have tensions and not only the simple messy versus cleanly tensions but also sexual ones as well. As Paul said in his second letter to Timothy “If you keep yourself pure, you will be a special utensil for honorable use. Your life will be clean, and you will be ready for the Master to use you for every good work.” (2:21) Your house must be pure or your efforts are for nothing! This is not to condemn any of you for we are all sinners but this house need purity in order this to matter to everyone that enters it.

Now that I have tired my best to gain some clarity here I have some questions for thous who are working to set of this community. These questions do not need to be answered immediately (we’re still a year out on this plan) but they will have to be answered before you can start your work. Pray on these questions and talk amongst each other and even on this blog to try to find God answer.

Why are you doing this?

How will you keep this house pure?

How will this house be managed?

Is there going to be a leader or will it all be by democratic vote?

What is your goal of this community?

Who handles what?

Who do you take in?

How will the bills be paid?

What is God’s will here? (and that is by far the most important question here)

My God bless all that are involved here and may God show us your will in the days and years to come.

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Sarah Palin Gets the Veep spot!

Posted on August 30th, 2008 by Darth B'strad.
Categories: Uncategorized.

An absolutely brilliant political maneuver by John McCain and it’s sure to stir things up! Thursday while Obama was preparing for his speech there were plenty of rumors going around about who McCain’s running mate will be. He had the media all rilled up with Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and Tim Planity all rumored to be headed to Ohio to accept his nomination and then this morning he pulls out Sarah Palin of Alaska to be his running mate! Now I now that I have had plunty of prevous posts saying that she needs more experience and should stay in Alaska another four years to get it, but now that he has picked her I really am happy and I must say that I am starting to get impressed by John McCain. I starting to really look forward to seeing her take on Joe Biden! I mean come on now! This lady will tear Biden a new one! This is really starting to expose a big flaw in the Obama camp in the fact that he went with the normal Democrat running mate when he should have gone with Hillery (of course then again he would have to have plunty of secret service around him at all times a even need to hire a taste tester too if he did that.) Slow Joe Biden is not going to get Obama anywhere and now it just looks like all of the thunder that he amassed yesterday was just stolen by Sarah Pailn. Hugh Hewitt has six reasons why this pick was a good one up at Townhall.com.

First, over the past month we have gone from hoping Senator McCain would win to thinking he might actually be able to win. With the selection of Governor Palin most of us are convinced he will win. Which means the country will be well led on the war for at least another four crucial years. The reason behind this new confidence leads us to the second factor.

Although I am going to be more humble and not say that McCain/Palin is a sure win but new confidence is exactly right!

Sarah Palin is a real deal conservative, down the line, on all of the issues. This has the immediate effect of energizing the base to battle to keep the White House and to close the gap in or take back the House of Representatives. It is especially important that she is ardently pro-life, and the story of her family is certain to resonate with those values voters who prize faith and family as the center of life.

Amen!

Third, the Palin pick guarantees that the party will remain a conservative party long-term. If Senator McCain had picked a pro-choice Republican or had asked his friend and great American Joe Lieberman to run with him, the party would truly have been split. That didn’t happen, and Matt Cunningham summarizes the response among conservatives party activists:

McCain took a major step forward in exciting the GOP’s conservative base at Rick Warren’s forum. For example, I spoke with a prominent local conservative activist who was so enthused by McCain’s performance who bought a plane ticket for Minneapolis the next.

The Palin choice boosts and accelerates that process. Like me, Palin is 44 years old. She came of age politically during the Age of Ronald Reagan. To a conservative movement that has grown tired and enervated, she has demonstrated you can run, win and successfully govern on conservative principles in the face of the government-accommodating Republicanism that has infected so much of the party.

Most defiantly was necessary for McCain to ensure to his base and the fact that he will have a conservitive voice in his administration will ease the concerns of, well really all the conservatives in the party.

Fourth, the GOP already owned the energy issue and and the energy issue dominates and will continue to dominate the next 60 days. Even if Sarah Palin doesn’t persuade John McCain to come out for exploring ANWR now, a vigorous exploration/conservation strategy has an ideal spokesperson in Palin.

It will be interesting to see how that plays out.

Fifth, she is not a Beltway Republican. The modern GOP is the party of Reagan and Bush –both westerners, and very outside-the-Beltway. Neither ever succumbed to the Beltway’s many poisons.

John McCain is clearly outside of his party’s recent tradition, much more of the Eisenhower, above-partisanship nationalist than the movement conservative, comfortable as a Beltway big, on easy terms with the permanent political elite of the country from both parties and the Beltway-Manhattan media elite.

McCain, of course, understands the war and is the steel for the next crucial few years of resolve that victory in the war requires. A Vice President Palin will be a voice for the conservative movement in the Administration and for the party outside of the Beltway. The long run of Congressional power drained a lot of the energy from the GOP when it came to the battle of ideas, and Palin is a representative of the non-Beltway GOP that wants very much to get back into that fray. Winning the war remains the first priority, and Supreme Court justices after that, but on a host of key issues Governor Palin represents the reagan wing of the party, and that’s a great thing.

That’s looking to cleaning up Washington!

Sixth and finally, she is young enough to be a bridge to the next generation, and with five kids, she has been living in the world of young moms and technology-dependent teens. This advantage will be hard to quantify, but when she is out on the trail talking about her kids and her family’s path, it will be a huge counterpoint to the Obama’s narrative, one that underscores that millions of American families are conservative, traditional, proud of their country and full of optimism about the future if the government’s burdens do not grow to large and the country’s enemies are kept in retreat.

There is a lot of enthusiasm out there, and given these reasons, it will endure until November.

Absolutely right! That certainly helps out a lot. Even James Dodson is getting on this band wagon:

Prager: Plenty, plenty of people care and that’s why I am having you on. I care, many people care and you have a lot of followers. You have earned the right to that respect. So are you prepared to say, “Folks, look, given this pick and all I have learned about what would happen with a Democratic victory we have no choice, but to enthusiastically work for the McCain-Palin ticket?”

Dobson: You know, I have only endorsed one presidential candidate in my life and that was George Bush in the second term after I had watched him for four years. I did not do that in his first term. So I’m very reluctant to do that. You marry a politician you can be a widow pretty quickly.

Prager: That’s right.

Dobson: But I can tell you that if I had to go into the studio, I mean the voting booth today, I would pull that lever.

Prager: Well this is a very big deal.

Dobson: And that’s a long way’s from where I told you a year ago.

Prager: No kidding. No kidding. I am honored that you used this show to make that statement.

Dobson: You know, Dennis, the things that concern me about John McCain are still there. I made those comments not just based on emotions, but based on his record and some of the things that took place—embryonic stem cell research, and other things, the campaign finance, and other things. Those are still there. So, there’s still concerns. But I tell you, when I look at the choices that are ahead and what the implications are for this country, and now especially with this selection, with just an outstanding V.P. candidate as a running mate, I tell you what I am relieved and very excited.

Prager: Well, if you’re very excited given your previous reservations then I have to believe, and certainly based on the handful of calls I’ve been able to take the first hour before my “Happiness Hour,” I took the calls and people were so excited, palpably excited. Jim Dobson, and I got to tell you… if your base is energized then that is the biggest nightmare that the left has.

Dobson: I was just with about 300, maybe 400 people in a large auditorium, and they put Sarah Palin’s speech on the screen and we sat there and watched. I’m telling you it was electric. These were conservatives, you know. They were mostly Christian, but not all of them were. I mean to tell you, it set that crowd on fire. If that’s any indication, I think we are going to see some things.

Prager: We sure are. Well, you made my day. I just want you to know that.

Yep that was sure! Here is the key to her speech:

I was just your average hockey mom in Alaska. We’re busy raising our kids and serving as the team mom and coaching some basketball on the side. I got involved in the PTA and then was elected to the city council. And then elected mayor of my hometown, where my agenda was to stop wasteful spending and cut property taxes and put the people first. I was then appointed ethics commissioner and chairman of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. And when I found corruption there, I fought it hard and I held the offenders to account. Along with fellow reformers in the great state of Alaska, as governor I stood up to the old politics as usual, to the special interests, to the lobbyists, the big oil companies, and the good old boy network. When oil and gas prices went up so dramatically, and the state revenues followed with that increase, I sent a large share of that revenue directly back to the people of Alaska. And we are now embarking on a $40 billion natural gas pipeline to help lead America to energy independence.

I signed major ethics reforms and I appointed both Democrats and Independents to serve in my administration. And I’ve championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. In fact, I told Congress, thanks but no thanks on that bridge to nowhere. If our state wanted a bridge, I said, we’d build it ourselves.

Well, it’s always, though, safer in politics to avoid risk. To just kind of go along with the status quo. But I didn’t get into government to do the safe and easy things. A ship in harbor is safe, but that’s not why the ship is built. Politics isn’t just a game of competing interests and clashing parties. The people of America expect us to seek public office and to serve for the right reasons. And the right reason is to challenge the status quo and to serve the common good.

Now, no one expects us to agree on everything. Whether in Juno or in Washington. But we are expected to governor with integrity, and good will, and clear convictions, and service (ph) heart. Now, no leader in America has shown these qualities so clearly or present so clear a threat to business as usual in Washington as Senator John F. McCain.

This is a moment when principles and political independents matter a lot more than just the party lines. And this is a man who has always been there to serve his country, not just his party. And this is a moment that requires resolve, and toughness, and strength of hearts in the American president. And my running mate is a man who has shown those qualities in the darkest of places. And in the service of his country.

That’s exactly what we need! Someone to make sure that the conservitive principals have their voice in the white house and now conservative will be very comfortable voting for them. So what did Obama have to say?

What — what is that American promise? It’s a promise that says each of us has the freedom to make of our own lives what we will, but that we also have obligations to treat each other with dignity and respect.

It’s a promise that says the market should reward drive and innovation and generate growth, but that businesses should live up to their responsibilities to create American jobs, to look out for American workers, and play by the rules of the road.

Ours — ours is a promise that says government cannot solve all our problems, but what it should do is that which we cannot do for ourselves: protect us from harm and provide every child a decent education; keep our water clean and our toys safe; invest in new schools, and new roads, and science, and technology.

Our government should work for us, not against us. It should help us, not hurt us. It should ensure opportunity not just for those with the most money and influence, but for every American who’s willing to work.

That’s the promise of America, the idea that we are responsible for ourselves, but that we also rise or fall as one nation, the fundamental belief that I am my brother’s keeper, I am my sister’s keeper.

That’s the promise we need to keep. That’s the change we need right now.

(APPLAUSE)

So — so let me — let me spell out exactly what that change would mean if I am president.

(APPLAUSE)

Change means a tax code that doesn’t reward the lobbyists who wrote it, but the American workers and small businesses who deserve it.

(APPLAUSE)

You know, unlike John McCain, I will stop giving tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas, and I will start giving them to companies that create good jobs right here in America.

(APPLAUSE)

I’ll eliminate capital gains taxes for the small businesses and start-ups that will create the high-wage, high-tech jobs of tomorrow.

(APPLAUSE)

I will — listen now — I will cut taxes — cut taxes — for 95 percent of all working families, because, in an economy like this, the last thing we should do is raise taxes on the middle class.

(APPLAUSE)

And for the sake of our economy, our security, and the future of our planet, I will set a clear goal as president: In 10 years, we will finally end our dependence on oil from the Middle East.

(APPLAUSE)

We will do this. Washington — Washington has been talking about our oil addiction for the last 30 years. And, by the way, John McCain has been there for 26 of them.

(LAUGHTER)

And in that time, he has said no to higher fuel-efficiency standards for cars, no to investments in renewable energy, no to renewable fuels. And today, we import triple the amount of oil than we had on the day that Senator McCain took office.

Now is the time to end this addiction and to understand that drilling is a stop-gap measure, not a long-term solution, not even close.

(APPLAUSE)

As president, as president, I will tap our natural gas reserves, invest in clean coal technology, and find ways to safely harness nuclear power. I’ll help our auto companies re-tool, so that the fuel-efficient cars of the future are built right here in America.

(APPLAUSE)

I’ll make it easier for the American people to afford these new cars.

A lot more of big government taking care of you little people. Is that what we really want? Do you really want a government that will take care of you and make sure that you have everything that you need? Or would it be better that we just take care of our selfs and thous around us and we (not the government) will move this country forward. If you want to get taken care of then Obama/Biden is defiantly your vote and if you want to achieve something for yourself then McCain/Palin is your vote.

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The Empire Strikes Back!

Posted on August 13th, 2008 by Darth B'strad.
Categories: Uncategorized.

Just as you thought that things this year really couldn’t get all that more crazy this year you get slapped down with yet another crazy event that just makes life in this world just that much more absurd and much more dangerous. We are having the most absurd election in a long time (the DNC of this is also going to be in my hometown), we have an energy crisis (that Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats are forcing down our thoughts because of their environmental lobby), we have had possible wars breaking out in Colombia and Venezuela (Also something that Nancy Pelosi has had a hand in), we have a very real possibility that Israel will bomb Iran (that could lead to some really bad repercussions), not to mention all of the weird things that have been going on in my personal life and now in the mists of the Olympic games in China, we have Russia blowing up Georgia! No, not our state here in the US but the Country Georgia just south of Russia (you know! one of those countries that gained independence after the Soviet Union fell.) Well the Russians are back at it again! They’re trying to rebuild the Empire and that’s going to make things even more strange before this year concludes. This from the Washington Post:

Russia escalated its war in Georgia again Monday, sending troops and tanks out of friendly separatist enclaves to stage the first major invasion of undisputed Georgian territory. One armored column seized a town and major military base in the west of Georgia, while another menaced the central city of Gori.

The Georgian government abandoned Gori and ordered its troops to fall back to defend against a possible drive on Tbilisi, the capital, 40 miles away. In scenes of chaos, retreating Georgian army trucks shared the highway to the capital with cars and pickups loaded with frightened civilians. Other vehicles, victims of Russian attacks, burned by the roadside.

Georgian and Russian officials confirmed that Russian soldiers took over the western city of Senaki and its base, about 25 miles from Abkhazia, a disputed separatist zone where Russia has been massing troops in recent days. The seizure effectively opened a second front.

There was confusion Monday night over the status of Gori, with some reports saying it was already in Russian hands. The country’s main east-west highway, which passes through the city, was cut, Georgian officials said, and rumors swirled among residents of the capital that Russian soldiers would soon be on their streets.

In a television address, President Mikheil Saakashvili accused Russia of the “preplanned, coldblooded . . . murder of a small country.” His government, among the most pro-American in the region, appealed again to the outside world for help.

Well I’ll say so! This is crazy!

In Washington, President Bush toughened his rhetoric. “Russia has invaded a sovereign neighboring state and threatens a democratic government elected by its people. Such an action is unacceptable in the 21st century,” Bush said.

Well that will really scare the Russians!

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin used sharp language as well, accusing the West of supporting Georgian leaders who he contends committed genocide when their troops swept into the separatist zone of South Ossetia last week. The soldiers wiped out 10 villages, Putin said. “The very scale of this cynicism is astonishing,” he declared.

Putin also condemned the United States for airlifting Georgian troops home from Iraq on an emergency basis. Still dressed in desert fatigues, the Georgian soldiers stepped off a U.S. Air Force transport at a Georgian airport Monday.

I guess we at least did something! Doesn’t seem like much to me!

Moscow’s intentions remained a mystery. Russian soldiers, riding tanks and armored personnel carriers, were on the move even as Russian President Dmitry Medvedev seemed to suggest that the military operation was nearing its end, and a Russian general said there was no plan to take territory outside Georgia’s two pro-Russian separatist zones. Senior European officials flew into the Georgian capital to try to mediate a cease-fire plan that so far the Russians have ignored.

Repeat after me: “He’s K-G-B!” It’s all about power and dominance with them!

Over the weekend, Georgian leaders declared a unilateral cease-fire. But with Russian troops operating outside the country’s two separatist zones on soil the central government has always controlled, at least some Georgian forces were again in combat mode. Reporters witnessed Georgian troops and six helicopter gunships opening fire near the border of South Ossetia, one of the zones.

Abkhazia and South Ossetia broke away from Georgia in the early 1990s and have formed close relations with Russia. Last week, Georgian forces launched a major offensive that captured the South Ossetian capital in an effort to reestablish central government control; Russian forces drove them out two days later.

Let me see here? A little county call Georgia decides they need to get some control over their rebels and then that gives Russia permission to completely blow that country up!

The Russian news agency RIA-Novosti, quoting Russian Defense Ministry officials, confirmed the seizure of the Senaki base and said that Russia sent “peacekeepers” there on a “preventative mission.” Another Russian official, speaking in Moscow, said the seizure was designed to prevent Georgian forces from using the base to re-group and launch new attacks on South Ossetia. Russia accuses Georgia of continuing to shell South Ossetia.

Preventative mission! Why would Georgia have any reason to strike at Russia. Their not insane like the Jihadist!

The Russian news agency Interfax later reported that Russian troops had pulled out of Senaki after “eliminating” the potential to shell South Ossetia.

Senaki is several hours’ drive from South Ossetia and had been a concern for separatists in Abkhazia, not South Ossetia. Completed in 2006, the base was built to meet standards of the NATO alliance, which Georgia aspires to join.

And there’s the real reason! Russia doesn’t want the west to gain more reliable allies in their back yard. So their going to blow up a little country so that they can maintain dominance. It’s just Russians reverting back to being… Well, Russians!

The French and Finnish foreign ministers visited Tbilisi on Monday as part of a diplomatic push to end the fighting. They visited Gori as well, where they inspected a bombed apartment building. Bernard Kouchner, the French minister, said he wanted to get a “strong picture” of events on the ground. Finland’s Alexander Stubb was present in his country’s capacity as rotating head of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

The Fins remember getting invaded by Russia back in 1940 and I am sure that they are looking at this quite seriously along with the rest of the countries in the former eastern bloc.

Saakashvili joined them in Gori. Toward the end of the visit, the sound of an airplane overhead caused panic among his security detail. Shouting “air, air” in Georgian, his bodyguards pulled him to the ground and covered him with flak jackets for protection. They later bundled him into a sport-utility vehicle that sped off.

Earlier Monday, Saakashvili signed a peace proposal offered by Kouchner, which calls for a cease-fire, the withdrawal of forces to positions held before the start of the recent hostilities, an international peacekeeping presence in South Ossetia, and the respect of Georgia’s territorial integrity.

It is unclear whether the plan will be acceptable in Moscow. Russians have said that Georgia must sign an agreement not to use force against the two separatist enclaves, which under international law are part of Georgia. Other Russian officials have suggested that Georgian troops near the enclaves would have to surrender their weapons to the Russians.

Well that’s a great deal for Georgia! Well, they don’t have many options. They have to hope that Russia will keep it’s word that they have already broken before.

Russian officials continued Monday to defend their country’s actions. Grigory Karasin, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, said Monday that “we want television screens in the West to be showing not only Russian tanks and saying Russia is at war in South Ossetia and with Georgia, but also to be showing the suffering of the Ossetian people, the murdered elderly people and children, the destroyed towns of South Ossetia, and Tskhinvali. This would be an objective way of presenting the material.”

Yea, Ok! Whatever you want.

The Russian claims of atrocities have not been independently verified. Some of them appear to echo hearsay accounts provided on Russian television by South Ossetians who fled a Georgian military assault on the capital, Tskhinvali.

Some of the few reporters who have visited Tskhinvali described a devastated city with large numbers of dead. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said in a CNN interview Monday that 2,000 people had died in South Ossetia during the recent Georgian offensive.

Honestly, I really don’t know enough on this but Russia broke it’s word and they are asserting dominance over this region again and now to mention that they are the main suppliers to Iran, This situation makes me sick.

Western countries, particularly members of the European Union, are far from united about the conflict. East European and Baltic countries have been harshly critical of Russia’s action.

Major powers such as Germany, France and Britain have called for an end to the fighting, but they have avoided directly condemning Russia. Italy, whose prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, is a friend of Putin’s, is sympathetic to Russia’s position.

“We cannot create an anti-Russia coalition in Europe, and on this point we are close to Putin’s position,” said Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, speaking to the newspaper La Stampa. “This war has pushed Georgia further away . . . from Europe.”

Yea for the Italians! Man this is really starting to get bad! Now we have a Russia that is starting to turn fascist and is reasserting control over the former easter bloc countries and not to mention the oil situation we have going on makes this a big power grab for Russia. That is a massive stretch that Russia is just doing this to help the poor South Ossetians how are being brutalized by Georgia due to the fact that there is a massive oil pipe running through Georgia and oil just so happens to be at 140 bucks a barrel. This is sure to test the McCain and Obama on if they are ready to actually able to run this county. As expected McCain takes a more hawkish stance:

The candidates’ responses to the crisis were initially very different in tone. Sen. McCain forcefully blamed Russia, a country he has taken a hard stand on in the past. He has called for ejecting Russia from the Group of Eight leading nations and has mocked President George W. Bush’s statement that he saw goodness in former Russian President Vladimir Putin. Sen. McCain said that when he looked into Mr. Putin’s eyes, he “saw three letters: K-G-B.”

“Russia should immediately and unconditionally cease its military operations and withdraw all forces from sovereign Georgian territory,” Sen. McCain said Friday morning. He credited Georgia for having called for a cease-fire.

While Obama takes his usual talk it through stance:

Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama opposes excluding Russia from the Group of Eight industrial nations, as suggested by Republican rival John McCain, saying Moscow’s cooperation was needed in the fight against nuclear proliferation.

“It would be a mistake,” Obama told CNN in an interview when asked about McCain’s proposal. CNN on Saturday released excerpts from the interview that will air on Sunday.

“Look, if we’re going to do something about nuclear proliferation, just to take one issue that I think is as important as any on the list, we’ve got to have Russia involved,” the Illinois senator said.

“The amount of loose nuclear material that is floating around in the former Soviet Union, the amount of technical know-how that is in countries that used to be behind the Iron Curtain, without Russia’s cooperation, our efforts in that on that front will be greatly weakened.”

Man this is just getting insane! What’s next? China starts invading Taiwan? India starts invading Pakistan? Heck! for all we know maybe Iran already has a nuke ready and has it set up to lunch at Israel! And with that great Iranian Ballistic engineering; maybe it’ll just go haywire and just hit Egypt instead! This just seems to be the year for really crazy stuff to come out! (I wanted to curse right there but I thought I should try to stay professional.) We are most cleanly living the Chinese curse (and it’s ironic that the Olympics are in China.) “May you live in interesting times.” I hope that things will get really boring really fast but that’s not the current trend today!

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An American Tale?

Posted on August 8th, 2008 by Bieren Skidels.
Categories: Uncategorized.

I happen to reflect upon “the american story” - while reading an article “Don’t Know Much About History” which discusses a pentagon report attempting to look back to four great empires for tips on how to rule the world. The goal of the report originally was to study history to better understand how a great empire such as America might maintain military advantage in the next century, and beyond…

The idea of “The American Empire” is an interesting one. I don’t know how many times I have heard rhetoric or comments along the lines of “Be thankful you were born in America” … “God has blessed America” … “The greatest country in the world” … “God will continue to bless America if [?]” … Obviously, there are many different views on this “American Empire” however, the most common view I have heard growing up is along the lines that the United States is really “something special”, a country “blessed by God” probably due to it’s “founding in Christian values”… An interesting story indeed. That after being “found” by Columbus in 1492 and then colonized over the next few centuries, spawned a new nation, the United States, more perfect than any other: in it’s general constitution, it’s founding constitution, and possibly even genetic make-up? That would then go on from independence to become *the* world power in 150 years, entering a period in which we are and have been existing for about a century. The new GREAT empire, most often compared to Rome two mellinia ago… An empire founded on pagan values and bureaucracy that fell apart not long after accepting Christianity and being invaded by my european ancestors - the supposed barbarians. Now, America at the pinnacle of world power - militarily uncontested, must try to extend it’s supposed birthright as long as possible…

But really? Was I lucky to have been born in the US? In some monetary sense, maybe - life’s pretty easy in such a respect. However, most of my friends who tout America’s greatness make less than your average Swiss or Norski, or IIT educated immigrant. The country is pretty dismal morally, and we’re lucky it was founded by a bunch of liberals (mostly agnostic) or we wouldn’t have all this freedom.

If I were asked where I would like to have been born, given a certain historical date… what might I have chosen? Say 200 b.c. Rome, Greece, Persia, China, maybe the “Holy Land” (nah, too insignificant)? How about 300 a.d. would Rome be the obvious choice? or maybe the Iberian peninsula… or why not India?… At the height of Imperialism would England have been the obvious choice with it’s Industrial Revolution in mid-swing? Given the option of not only changing location and time, but also the chance to do a little genetic rewriting would I have preferred to be a Jew? and African? or maybe an Eskimo… The point being the following: It has always been presented to me my whole life that *obviously* I was damn lucky to have been born, not just in America, but as AN American… in the greatest country, with the greatest values, the greatest land, the greatest military, and obviously the answer to the question: In the year 2008 where would you like to be born?

But considering the complexity and vague nature of the question in retrospect (like 760 b.c. for instance… where would you be born? and why?), why do we assume America is what we think it is? Maybe we’re what we are for an innumerable number of good and bad reasons and what we are is mainly significant in terms of military and economic quantity rather than in terms of ideals or a unique admirable history? Maybe hundreds of years from now, the question of where to be born in say 1983 would be answered mostly along the lines of “In China to observe the greatest economic revolution ever” or “Iran to watch the greatest Muslim intellectual modernization of all time” or “Iceland, to experience Sigur Ros in its original language…” — maybe America is some country that fought some wars, elected some leaders, had bad and good people (and did bad and good things collectively) that rose and fell and will be written about in history books, studied by anthropologists, and ultimately cataloged in a list of past nations - listed after Uganda, and just before Uruguay… maybe it wasn’t God anymore than Darfur was…

As for me, to be born in 2008 where would I be born?… maybe an unnamed never-found island in the pacific that just happens to make it through the 21st century without anything exceptional happening like hurricanes or wars or disease… with wildlife and vegetation enough for me to spend my entire life eating and studying the world around me… a place where I could wake up each morning and have no idea or understanding of how lucky I was to be born in such a place at such a time - and continue this process, until I die lying under the sun babbling to “God” in my own made up language… hmmmm… that sounds like a try

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Ivy League, The Upper Class and Entitlement

Posted on August 5th, 2008 by Bieren Skidels.
Categories: Uncategorized.

I read this article today: “All the Privelidged Must Have Prizes”

In this article John H. Summers burns. He obviously felt quite “used” or “useless” in any substantive way during his six years of teaching at Harvard. The source of his disgust or resent being the entitlement, or system, or students, or riches, or whatever… In fact, I guess I’m a little confused as to exactly *what* it was that bothered him so much — However, while confused as to the specifics, I would have to say I too have burned in the same fire. As an undergraduate at Northwestern University I naturally felt a bit of envy or jealousy toward students at Harvard or MIT, and upon meeting them was quickly critical: “They are utilitarian consumers of education”, “They feel entitled and expect at least a B for showing up” etc… However, I do not see any solution or direction provided in John H. Summers article… but I think I have one

I feel the root of the problem is in the way the elite college experience is approached, granted, expected, wasted, or consumed by the students.
The feeling comes off as follows:

1. The students tend to believe in themselves, their worth, and their entitlement (there is a very deep acceptance of this idea, a deep underlayer to the whole experience from the 1st day freshman year to graduation, every event including commencement speeches and picking classes gives the student an exhilirating feeling and a few goosebumps just thinking about how everything they do, menial or specticaluar, is for some intrinsic reason, quite important)

2. The money issue, which is really more of a surface issue — I love reading about kids who “worked” to pay their way through Harvard… I had no money for college, this was known since I was 12 or 13… I would have to pay for college. However, I saw no reason to sit at a $10/hour job during the week when I was spending $3k on a class that had only 20 one-hour classes over the course of a quarter, costing $150/hour. I never felt bad for the people “working” to pay their way… A poor kid can work hard in school to get a job, so that after college they may easily pay off the loans required beyond financial aid… and if you don’t receive a lot of financial it’s because your parents are rich… The real money issue has more to do with University bottom line accounting, gifts, and financial aid which will apply to my final solution.

3. The evaluation of most classes (even liberal arts / social studies) has shifted the focus of learning toward skill mastery and mimickry. To get a “B” you must at least turn something in, and it should at least represent something “good” the idea of which is modeled by those works presented in class. Say Eggers for creative writing or an essay on Kafka. Creativity is unusual, however usually appreciated by teachers, it is still not-the-norm…

Solution:

1. Change the acceptance process to be much more frustrating and subjective. Every year new ways of evaluating “intelligence” should be thrown at high school junior/seniors without them haveing any knowledge of what the test will be or how it will be given. Then place a large emphasis on anything that is not common on an application (for instance while doing *OK* in high school I managed to letter in normal sports: baseball, basketball, soccer 8-times as well as working at construction and janitorial jobs for 6 years, this was not common among the other undergraduates I met). So for the basic acceptance process, wierd tests and an emphasis on uncommon traits to balance out the student body.

2. A new kind of affirmative action. I used to get annoyed by affirmative action because I thought I didn’t fit into the current model. I was a white male, but I had been born into a semi-poverty area and grown up around a mexican communitity in which few kids went to any college. Seeing those ethnically diverse acceptees meant to provide the school with diversity and equality, I realized that most of them did not grow up in cheap apartments, in non east-coast cities, and hang out with freinds who smoked pot and ran away from home - even though I think most high-school students in the US have seen or done those things… The current afirmative action program seems to shift slightly which rich kids get into the school, but does not really change much…

The solution I see is to provide a way of profiling an applicants oppurtunity. While no system will be perfect we can try. Apply new understandings of sociology, economics, etc… Classify high-schools and zip-codes by an oppurtunity index, modify each zone as necessary to fit a specific ethnic community within each zip-code and then weight applicants based on implied oppurtunity. I’m not saying take race or ethnicity out of affirmative action, just apply it appropriately… Stocking your ethnic quotiant with children of millionaires isn’t accomplishing equality.

I think this one step would significantly change the attitude of the students. There should now be a lot of students from under-privledged areas and *bad* schools. Half the kids should come from households pulling in median income or lower… is this a crazy idea? It might affect the univerity bottom line, and that’s where the money thing comes in… certain kids of affirmative action are more costly than others…

3. An emphasis on independence and creativity. Almost every class should have a large focus on a big unstructured project. Classes should not present the grading schema ahead of time. Grades should seem somewhat mysterious to the students. It will create head-aches for the Andover kids, and equalize the field for brains to compete. I’ve noticed suprising results the more I have structured classes and projects in this manner.

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