I must applaud Sen. McCain for his actions in response to some recent
events at GOP rallies. In his response what his campaign calls
"inappropriate rhetoric" he has shown that, though he may lack
political backbone, he has integrity and probably significantly more
intelligence than many of his constituents. In an election where
experience, personal history, and religion are important, the McCain
campaign has attempted to keep it on the issues. Although this is
something of a double standard since, amongst other ploys of the
McCain Campaign, Gov. Palin has been repetitively(and I do mean
repetitively) espousing Sen. Obama's inability to lead because of ties
to certain dubious figures.
As voter sentiment turns towards the Sen. Obama Campaign the extreme
Conservative Movement is becoming desperate. And in moments of
desperation, one's true colors tend to show. A man was recently caught
on camera holding a monkey doll that had a Sen. Obama sticker on its
face, a woman recently alluded to Sen. Obama as being "of Arab
descent", and I think we are all aware of the prominent belief amongst
the lesser-minded of us that Sen. Obama is an undercover Muslim. I
think that the McCain campaign has, up until very recently, not had to
deal with these issues directly with the exception of a few events in
the primaries. But at least they dealt with them. We cannot accuse the
GOP of being dominated by bigots and racists any longer, but I think
we can still accuse them of being populated by (at least) a few.
Tim Spires
Sophomore
Major: Finance, French, MIS
Monday, October 13, 2008
Monday, September 29, 2008
Editorial Submission at the CW
There is a distinct problem present in the United States. Exacerbated here at the University of Alabama, sentimental voter preference has become an epidemic. The Clinton supporters who have bought into McCain’s brilliant political move to bring a woman aboard, the Obama supporters who revel into his ample rhetoric, and the McCain supporters who adore him because of his military background, they are the voters who elected Dubya and they are the voters who are sending this nation down a very dark road.
Do any of them understand the consequences of voting based on aesthetic qualities and not on a candidate’s factual policy making history or ideology? I don’t think so. The past eight years and the lack of any substantive domination by the Democratic Ticket in this election are evidence of that.
Here’s a newsflash for you all: Sarah Palin isn’t a feminist, Barack Obama isn’t a revolutionary, and John McCain isn’t a brick-topped military man.
I’m a lifelong Democrat. I was raised in a lunatic evangelistic family, and surrounded by bigots and racists as a child. And I fled to the opposite pole of the ideological and political spectrum. But Barack Obama won’t have my vote, nor will John McCain. How can I, in good conscious vote for either of them. With Obama I see some wonderful ideas but no substantive plans, and an over-socialized agenda which I cannot endorse. With McCain I see the same ignorant, nationalistic, and “maverick” tendencies that Dubya had. More importantly I have seen him polarize his policy positions to fall in line with the GOP and select a VP that appeals to a voter base and not to running a nation and though, for personally beneficial purposes, I love his tax policies, I will not endorse him. And in Palin I see an exacerbation of some of my own idiotic family-members: Out-of-touch, ignorant, and small-minded. Before you say I’m just a nay-sayer, I love Joe Biden.
How many of you will be voting for Obama because he’s black? Too many I think. And before you go search the internet for a policy that you support, think about the consequences of what you don’t know. And how many support McCain because Palin is a woman? Were you Clinton supporters? Don’t fool yourself with some idiocy about Palin being a feminist, she’s not.
My girlfriend’s mother is voting for McCain because Palin is a hockey-mom and she loves hockey. This is completely beyond comprehension to me. Don’t you people understand what the consequences of uninformed voting are? Nazis! Millions dead, massive wars, financial crises, Fascism! Go inform yourself and don’t speak of politics until you know something more than a candidate’s party, gender, or race.
And if you really want to break that glass ceiling or bridge that racial divide then sit down, look at their policies, and choose who you like best; and if you can’t decide, then I think you are in the right to make the decision to break either barrier.
Tim Spires
Sophomore majoring in Management Information Systems, Finance, and French
Saturday, September 13, 2008
We Interupt This Broadcast for a Service Announcement
I normally don't use this as a typical blog but more of a record of my activism. But, with the looming election, I simply cannot resist the temptation to berate the lunatics who have recently taken the political stage.
Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin recently suggested that a gas pipeline was "God's will" and the Iraq War a "task that is from God." A striking response to these blasphemous comments can be found at newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith by Martin Mart, professor emeritus, the University of Chicago.
My thoughts are simple. To say that an act of war is the will of God is blasphemous. No longer do we live in the time of the Old Testament. And it is time for those who call themselves Christians to fulfill the responsibilities of Christ and not the ignorant and hegemonic ways of the Old Testament. I believe that the Christian extremist in America, the Far Right (including the Supreme Bitch Sarah Palin), will as Samson pull the temple walls down over our heads. There are too many of them, with their guns and hate speech. Too many damned fools who don't think enough about their actions and words.
Though I held some sentiment for John McCain earlier in the election, I have lost it. He has proven that not only will he alter his policies for the approval of others, but that he will turn the White House over to a group of people more ludicrous than we can imagine even eight-years after the start of one of our most lunatic administrations. A quote from the above article and "Mr. Dooley:" "A fanatic...knows he's doing exactly what the Lord would do if the Lord were also in possession of the facts."
Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin recently suggested that a gas pipeline was "God's will" and the Iraq War a "task that is from God." A striking response to these blasphemous comments can be found at newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith by Martin Mart, professor emeritus, the University of Chicago.
My thoughts are simple. To say that an act of war is the will of God is blasphemous. No longer do we live in the time of the Old Testament. And it is time for those who call themselves Christians to fulfill the responsibilities of Christ and not the ignorant and hegemonic ways of the Old Testament. I believe that the Christian extremist in America, the Far Right (including the Supreme Bitch Sarah Palin), will as Samson pull the temple walls down over our heads. There are too many of them, with their guns and hate speech. Too many damned fools who don't think enough about their actions and words.
Though I held some sentiment for John McCain earlier in the election, I have lost it. He has proven that not only will he alter his policies for the approval of others, but that he will turn the White House over to a group of people more ludicrous than we can imagine even eight-years after the start of one of our most lunatic administrations. A quote from the above article and "Mr. Dooley:" "A fanatic...knows he's doing exactly what the Lord would do if the Lord were also in possession of the facts."
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
My Letter to the Editor of The Huntsville Times Endorsing Parker Griffith
I am writing to reinforce popular support for the Democratic candidate for the 5th Congressional Seat, Parker Griffith. Parker Griffith is not a candidate who represents the partisan politics of many members of both the Democratic and Republican Parties. He wants to lower the cost of health care, and his first-hand experience as a oncologist gives him the knowledge to attain both low-cost and efficient health care for all of us. Parker Griffith will carry on the legacy of our esteemed Senator, Bud Cramer.
Parker Griffith believes the nation needs drastic changes in education. I dropped out of high school to skip my senior year and attend the University of Alabama through a obscure early admission option, because the Huntsville City School System was wasting precious years of my life. Idiotic bureaucracy and failure to meet their own goals, much less ideal ones, characterizes the Huntsville City School System. And Parker Griffith understands that: "We cannot continue to be competitive in a global economy if we continue to have a second rate education system."
This is a time for change! And Parker Griffith, though not a radical, represents a path toward viable changes and ideal solutions for our nation's, and our state's, problems. Parker Griffith, has gained the support of myself and many of my like-minded peers. I hope that many more will join his cause; and, though he may not be perfect, he is the best choice in the upcoming election compared to the same old brand of ignorance and oppression of the 21st Century Republican Party. Parker is an advocate of further reliance on imported fossil fuels. And he believes that the education of our children should be left to often incompetent state and local governments.
Parker Griffith is the best, and only, choice for the upcoming election.
Parker Griffith believes the nation needs drastic changes in education. I dropped out of high school to skip my senior year and attend the University of Alabama through a obscure early admission option, because the Huntsville City School System was wasting precious years of my life. Idiotic bureaucracy and failure to meet their own goals, much less ideal ones, characterizes the Huntsville City School System. And Parker Griffith understands that: "We cannot continue to be competitive in a global economy if we continue to have a second rate education system."
This is a time for change! And Parker Griffith, though not a radical, represents a path toward viable changes and ideal solutions for our nation's, and our state's, problems. Parker Griffith, has gained the support of myself and many of my like-minded peers. I hope that many more will join his cause; and, though he may not be perfect, he is the best choice in the upcoming election compared to the same old brand of ignorance and oppression of the 21st Century Republican Party. Parker is an advocate of further reliance on imported fossil fuels. And he believes that the education of our children should be left to often incompetent state and local governments.
Parker Griffith is the best, and only, choice for the upcoming election.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
The Modern American State
I dug up this paper I wrote a few years ago. It's only a initial write but I re-read it and thought it had some merit. My writing style has changed some and I think probably matured so it probably has some points which may be skewed; feel free to point them out.
The Modern American State
This nation America has reached a destitute state. Over the years we have lost the values the nation’s creators held. And today we have reached an absolute bottom of liberal society. If we are to stave of the fall of this nation into the abyss of fascism we must change our ways and means. The path we seek now leads nowhere but destruction of our rights and the domination of our minds. Without a radical mental revolution in this nation we will perish as a bastion of freedom and true democracy.
The Constitution should be seen as a building block with which to construct a deeper sense of liberty and freedom. In modern society it has become for some nothing but a tool for the enforcement of National Security and personal agendas. A tool which can be disregarded at will. And for others it has become an absolute truth, absolutely unalterable. I assert that neither of these is right.
The constitution was created by a group of men who were deeply in love with the principles of liberty. And with passion they wrote our Constitution. It established unprecedented freedoms for the citizenry of this nation and a building block with which to extend those freedoms. However, the representation and the citizenry of this potentially great nation have not realized the potential of the Constitution except in minority. With the extreme right trying to mitigate the Constitution to a rag and the extreme left trying to enshrine it we can make no progress as a nation. The Constitution should be versatile and agile, ready to change in a changing world but not to give up any of the protections for its citizenry.
Throughout the history of the United States there has always been someone who served as a bastion for the rights and liberties guaranteed by the creators and their Constitution. Those select few who understood when no one else would, that to alter the rights and freedoms guaranteed this Nation is to cede victory to our enemies and surrender everything dear to this nation. Such men as John Marshall, Earl Warren, Ron Paul, and William Fallon have defended their own beliefs and those of the creators. However, the unfortunate aspect of being a minority in the right is that no matter how right you are you will rarely win.
Popular opinion has become a tool of the Government. How can we claim that the people are properly represented when the people are so poorly educated? The people have become tools to the government because of fascist education systems, popularized hate mongering, and the spread of ignorance and simplification through the use of the television and other means. The government controls everything because they control nothing.
There has not been establishment of proper public education in this nation. Socialized education is a failure not because of socialism but because of the American mindset. We cannot succeed in any form of socialism because everything about capitalism thrives on greed. The school systems are concerned with nothing but funding. Standardized tests and student ratios determine that funding and therefore they concern themselves with those. The reason democratic principles and liberal values are not understood by vast numbers of people is because the education system does not teach anything beyond the realm of historical fact.
The ignorance established by these failed education systems has infested this nation. Ignorance of the liberties which were so valued by the creators has become prominent throughout the new conservative movement in the nation. That conservative movement has utilized the constitution to justify their destruction of liberty in this nation. The evangelicals want to indoctrinate their so-called Christian values into every aspect of national society. The Neo-Cons want to dismantle the American State so as to build a nation of war and hate. In the words of that great American Dwight Eisenhower:”Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.” And yet time and time again, the conservatives have won the vote when the people become weary of those whining Democrats and otherwise liberal minded representatives who have a proven record of fighting for the people, no matter how small.
I call them so-called Christian values because I do not believe there are more than a handful of true Christian values held by the conservative Christian movement. A group of war and hate mongers who have banded together under a cross do not necessarily constitute a Christian Church. With few true Christian values being spoken from the churches, the congregations have come to accept the hate mongering and fear spreading that spews from the pulpits of the religious right. And from those pulpits disseminates a message of persecutionary defense in a nation of liberal leftists who control the government in the majority and serve only to undermine conservative Christian values. The religious right does not understand that the liberal leftists they so despise protect their freedoms on a daily basis by keeping them out of the government. With a secular government we have no state established religion and no discriminatory policies, this is imperative to a true democracy. We do not live in a Christian nation, though we may live in a nation of Christians.
In the words of the great conservative Joseph Goebbels: "...Effective propaganda must limit its points to a few and these points must be repeated until even the last member of the audience understands what is meant by them." Such is the religious right, and the non-religious right, and even some of my beloved lefties. They repeat themselves over and over again and in their self-righteous crusade they become, in their own minds, more and more right with every repetition. This is particularly shocking when the message they preach is not love but hate.
Such beloved evangelist as John Hagee, Jerry Falwell, and Pat Robertson exemplify these statements in almost every statement they make. They do not preach the love of thy neighbor or the turn of thy cheek; however, they preach the utter destruction of all enemies of their God and the desecration of liberty in pursuit of “national security”, forced Christian will, and the integration of Old Testament principles.
They enforce the interests of Israel onto our nation as if it was one. And with no anti-Semitic values I assert that we should give what is the Jew’s to the Jews and give what is God’s to God. The Jews can defend themselves and it is not our place to do that for them. With impartial mediation we should defend the interests of world-liberty and human rights but that has never been the case and it will not be as long as a United States’ President keeps his personal council in the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives with such figures as that renowned Homophobe and Fagot Ted Haggard.
This America is not the America of our ancestors, grandfathers, or even fathers. This America is the America of ignorance, hatred, and spite. The people will be made responsible for their actions in one way or the other. The American State will come to be ruled by a fascist administration under the pretense of democracy, or it will perish through internal disintegration, or it will cede to the constant waves of external attack either literal or figurative. This can be averted; and this can be stopped; and this can be reversed; but not if the people of the United States of America do not change their ways.
Without a revolution of thought in America there will be no progress. We will continue down the road towards self-destruction, and we will continue on the path to failure. And in the words of a truly great conservative Dwight Eisenhower: “It is nowhere written that the American empire goes on forever.”
The Modern American State
This nation America has reached a destitute state. Over the years we have lost the values the nation’s creators held. And today we have reached an absolute bottom of liberal society. If we are to stave of the fall of this nation into the abyss of fascism we must change our ways and means. The path we seek now leads nowhere but destruction of our rights and the domination of our minds. Without a radical mental revolution in this nation we will perish as a bastion of freedom and true democracy.
The Constitution should be seen as a building block with which to construct a deeper sense of liberty and freedom. In modern society it has become for some nothing but a tool for the enforcement of National Security and personal agendas. A tool which can be disregarded at will. And for others it has become an absolute truth, absolutely unalterable. I assert that neither of these is right.
The constitution was created by a group of men who were deeply in love with the principles of liberty. And with passion they wrote our Constitution. It established unprecedented freedoms for the citizenry of this nation and a building block with which to extend those freedoms. However, the representation and the citizenry of this potentially great nation have not realized the potential of the Constitution except in minority. With the extreme right trying to mitigate the Constitution to a rag and the extreme left trying to enshrine it we can make no progress as a nation. The Constitution should be versatile and agile, ready to change in a changing world but not to give up any of the protections for its citizenry.
Throughout the history of the United States there has always been someone who served as a bastion for the rights and liberties guaranteed by the creators and their Constitution. Those select few who understood when no one else would, that to alter the rights and freedoms guaranteed this Nation is to cede victory to our enemies and surrender everything dear to this nation. Such men as John Marshall, Earl Warren, Ron Paul, and William Fallon have defended their own beliefs and those of the creators. However, the unfortunate aspect of being a minority in the right is that no matter how right you are you will rarely win.
Popular opinion has become a tool of the Government. How can we claim that the people are properly represented when the people are so poorly educated? The people have become tools to the government because of fascist education systems, popularized hate mongering, and the spread of ignorance and simplification through the use of the television and other means. The government controls everything because they control nothing.
There has not been establishment of proper public education in this nation. Socialized education is a failure not because of socialism but because of the American mindset. We cannot succeed in any form of socialism because everything about capitalism thrives on greed. The school systems are concerned with nothing but funding. Standardized tests and student ratios determine that funding and therefore they concern themselves with those. The reason democratic principles and liberal values are not understood by vast numbers of people is because the education system does not teach anything beyond the realm of historical fact.
The ignorance established by these failed education systems has infested this nation. Ignorance of the liberties which were so valued by the creators has become prominent throughout the new conservative movement in the nation. That conservative movement has utilized the constitution to justify their destruction of liberty in this nation. The evangelicals want to indoctrinate their so-called Christian values into every aspect of national society. The Neo-Cons want to dismantle the American State so as to build a nation of war and hate. In the words of that great American Dwight Eisenhower:”Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.” And yet time and time again, the conservatives have won the vote when the people become weary of those whining Democrats and otherwise liberal minded representatives who have a proven record of fighting for the people, no matter how small.
I call them so-called Christian values because I do not believe there are more than a handful of true Christian values held by the conservative Christian movement. A group of war and hate mongers who have banded together under a cross do not necessarily constitute a Christian Church. With few true Christian values being spoken from the churches, the congregations have come to accept the hate mongering and fear spreading that spews from the pulpits of the religious right. And from those pulpits disseminates a message of persecutionary defense in a nation of liberal leftists who control the government in the majority and serve only to undermine conservative Christian values. The religious right does not understand that the liberal leftists they so despise protect their freedoms on a daily basis by keeping them out of the government. With a secular government we have no state established religion and no discriminatory policies, this is imperative to a true democracy. We do not live in a Christian nation, though we may live in a nation of Christians.
In the words of the great conservative Joseph Goebbels: "...Effective propaganda must limit its points to a few and these points must be repeated until even the last member of the audience understands what is meant by them." Such is the religious right, and the non-religious right, and even some of my beloved lefties. They repeat themselves over and over again and in their self-righteous crusade they become, in their own minds, more and more right with every repetition. This is particularly shocking when the message they preach is not love but hate.
Such beloved evangelist as John Hagee, Jerry Falwell, and Pat Robertson exemplify these statements in almost every statement they make. They do not preach the love of thy neighbor or the turn of thy cheek; however, they preach the utter destruction of all enemies of their God and the desecration of liberty in pursuit of “national security”, forced Christian will, and the integration of Old Testament principles.
They enforce the interests of Israel onto our nation as if it was one. And with no anti-Semitic values I assert that we should give what is the Jew’s to the Jews and give what is God’s to God. The Jews can defend themselves and it is not our place to do that for them. With impartial mediation we should defend the interests of world-liberty and human rights but that has never been the case and it will not be as long as a United States’ President keeps his personal council in the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives with such figures as that renowned Homophobe and Fagot Ted Haggard.
This America is not the America of our ancestors, grandfathers, or even fathers. This America is the America of ignorance, hatred, and spite. The people will be made responsible for their actions in one way or the other. The American State will come to be ruled by a fascist administration under the pretense of democracy, or it will perish through internal disintegration, or it will cede to the constant waves of external attack either literal or figurative. This can be averted; and this can be stopped; and this can be reversed; but not if the people of the United States of America do not change their ways.
Without a revolution of thought in America there will be no progress. We will continue down the road towards self-destruction, and we will continue on the path to failure. And in the words of a truly great conservative Dwight Eisenhower: “It is nowhere written that the American empire goes on forever.”
Sunday, August 17, 2008
The Christian Right
Today I find myself exiled by choice from that group of people who deem themselves Christians. I came to a realization of that when I read an article today on theamericanview.com titled Rush Limbaugh A Modern “Mr. Worldly Wiseman” And Bush/GOP Cheerleader On Murderous Iraq War by John Lofton. I saw at the top of the page God * Family * Republic and Psalm 127:1 "Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain." I immediatly suspected the article of a Far Right bias or at least a out-of-touch Christian view. However, upon reading I found that, though the author might have some of those Christian views, the article was sound and reasonable. But I have found that it is a closer walk with The Lord Our God to be segregated from the modern Christian Church.
I recoiled in surprise. A Christian group that speaks reason! Quite unheard of. I must have thought myself the only reasonable Christian on the planet I suppose. But in actuality I believed that the overwhelming majority of Christians were just weak and did not have the stamina to maintain intellectual views of such things as national policy and ethics. An example for support of this belief I find from my Grandmother who said many a time when I was haranguing her with my voracious appetite for devouring the actions of the U.S. Government domestically and abroad: " We have a limited quota of worry!"
Her point was that she has houses to build, renters to collect from, a grown daughter to take care of, and myself, and she did not want to add to this list issues of foreign and domestic policy. I saw this attitude present in many members of my family who did not have the stamina to take up the flag and defend it from those who would trample it. Of course that is but a metaphor, they did not realize that it was being trampled and in fact they probably elected some of those who were doing the trampling. However, their lack of stamina is in relation to their ability to think intellectually. All of them are well educated to some extent. My mother graduated from Mercer University summa cum laude, and yet she reverted to a certain ignorance of world politics when she began dating her current husband. They, like many Christians, did not maintain the stamina to keep an open mind and think intellectually about issues around them.
And so over the years I began to develop a burning hatred in my heart for the far right. I myself probably hold some views that are in line with the conservative movement but I do not agree with the Christian Right's actions over the past few decades. They have a overwhelming wish to instill their religious beliefs in national policy. Their support base is made up of a group of people who cannot think for themselves in many cases or simply do not have much capacity for the action at all. The Christian Conservative Movement does not have the right to instill their religious views in the governing of this nation. They do not have the right to dictate to those who believe something other than they do as to what to believe. And yet they have made instatiable efforts to do these things.
I attended, for most of my childhood, a relatively large church in Warner Robins, GA. Central Baptist Church was the church my family attended since my grandparents moved to Warner Robins in the mid-70s. And it was at Central Baptist Church that my hatred for the conservative movement grew. They practiced a certain type of Christianity which at times I do not believe to be Christianity at all. The pastor: Owen Boseman, like the congregation and most of the nation, got caught up in the lunacy of the first Bush term. He talked about the coming war in Iraq and asked the question was Saddam Hussein the great evil which the Bible spoke of at the end times. He spoke of war but I don't think he knew what it entailed.
When you brake down the word Christianity you find that its root is Christ. Those who are Christians are followers of Christ. Can you call Pat Robertson, John Hagee, Jerry Falwell, or even Owen Boseman followers of Christ. I say you cannot. It is a path open to them, certainly. But the path of Christ is not one of ignorance, bigotry, or lack of stamina. The path of Christ certainly is not the path for warmongers. And yet how many claim to be on that path who fit into one of those categories.
The problem is simple. The Christian Right wants to pursue their conservative goals and in a self righteous way they justify their actions with the Bible. They do the work of the Devil in disguise. Indeed they quote the scripture as the best of men and yet it is their intentions that define them. Those who call for assassination like Pat Robertson, those who pray for rain at the Democratic National Convention such as Stuard Shepard of Focus on The Family, those who say that Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment of America for harboring the gays, pagans, etc.. such as John Hagee. They call themselves Christians. And yet their path is not His path.
Those who know the word of Christ best should know what is beyond the word. Beyond the word their is the attitude and mindset which is that of Christ. To take His word and apply it best you can to your actions is the path of Christ. But they do not do so. They spew forth from their pulpits ignorance and bigotry. And they package it all in a five-point sermon that Grandma Judy and the whole gang can take notes on. Because they don't have the stamina to think for themselves and they only have a "limited quota of worry." Did Jesus have a limited quota of worry? I think not.
For that is the path of destruction, murder, and sin. Their's is the path towards our demise and the downfall of America. And they will be called saviors of man whilst they lead this nation to world destruction and draconian times.
I recoiled in surprise. A Christian group that speaks reason! Quite unheard of. I must have thought myself the only reasonable Christian on the planet I suppose. But in actuality I believed that the overwhelming majority of Christians were just weak and did not have the stamina to maintain intellectual views of such things as national policy and ethics. An example for support of this belief I find from my Grandmother who said many a time when I was haranguing her with my voracious appetite for devouring the actions of the U.S. Government domestically and abroad: " We have a limited quota of worry!"
Her point was that she has houses to build, renters to collect from, a grown daughter to take care of, and myself, and she did not want to add to this list issues of foreign and domestic policy. I saw this attitude present in many members of my family who did not have the stamina to take up the flag and defend it from those who would trample it. Of course that is but a metaphor, they did not realize that it was being trampled and in fact they probably elected some of those who were doing the trampling. However, their lack of stamina is in relation to their ability to think intellectually. All of them are well educated to some extent. My mother graduated from Mercer University summa cum laude, and yet she reverted to a certain ignorance of world politics when she began dating her current husband. They, like many Christians, did not maintain the stamina to keep an open mind and think intellectually about issues around them.
And so over the years I began to develop a burning hatred in my heart for the far right. I myself probably hold some views that are in line with the conservative movement but I do not agree with the Christian Right's actions over the past few decades. They have a overwhelming wish to instill their religious beliefs in national policy. Their support base is made up of a group of people who cannot think for themselves in many cases or simply do not have much capacity for the action at all. The Christian Conservative Movement does not have the right to instill their religious views in the governing of this nation. They do not have the right to dictate to those who believe something other than they do as to what to believe. And yet they have made instatiable efforts to do these things.
I attended, for most of my childhood, a relatively large church in Warner Robins, GA. Central Baptist Church was the church my family attended since my grandparents moved to Warner Robins in the mid-70s. And it was at Central Baptist Church that my hatred for the conservative movement grew. They practiced a certain type of Christianity which at times I do not believe to be Christianity at all. The pastor: Owen Boseman, like the congregation and most of the nation, got caught up in the lunacy of the first Bush term. He talked about the coming war in Iraq and asked the question was Saddam Hussein the great evil which the Bible spoke of at the end times. He spoke of war but I don't think he knew what it entailed.
When you brake down the word Christianity you find that its root is Christ. Those who are Christians are followers of Christ. Can you call Pat Robertson, John Hagee, Jerry Falwell, or even Owen Boseman followers of Christ. I say you cannot. It is a path open to them, certainly. But the path of Christ is not one of ignorance, bigotry, or lack of stamina. The path of Christ certainly is not the path for warmongers. And yet how many claim to be on that path who fit into one of those categories.
The problem is simple. The Christian Right wants to pursue their conservative goals and in a self righteous way they justify their actions with the Bible. They do the work of the Devil in disguise. Indeed they quote the scripture as the best of men and yet it is their intentions that define them. Those who call for assassination like Pat Robertson, those who pray for rain at the Democratic National Convention such as Stuard Shepard of Focus on The Family, those who say that Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment of America for harboring the gays, pagans, etc.. such as John Hagee. They call themselves Christians. And yet their path is not His path.
Those who know the word of Christ best should know what is beyond the word. Beyond the word their is the attitude and mindset which is that of Christ. To take His word and apply it best you can to your actions is the path of Christ. But they do not do so. They spew forth from their pulpits ignorance and bigotry. And they package it all in a five-point sermon that Grandma Judy and the whole gang can take notes on. Because they don't have the stamina to think for themselves and they only have a "limited quota of worry." Did Jesus have a limited quota of worry? I think not.
For that is the path of destruction, murder, and sin. Their's is the path towards our demise and the downfall of America. And they will be called saviors of man whilst they lead this nation to world destruction and draconian times.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
My Email to Parker Griffith on the Climate Crisis
Senator Griffith,
I applaud your nomination for the open 5th Congressional District seat, and with the ensuing victory I am sure will come I hope you have a career in the U.S. Congress as prosperous as our beloved Representative Cramer. I am writing to present some possibly new and enlightening information to you and your staff; and, hopefully, to make an impact on your time in the Congress.
I am writing about the outlook of the Congress in regards to the climate crisis and to some extent about improving the economy. The climate crisis is a real and deadly threat to humanity, and it is one which has, for a very long time, been at the bottom of the Congresses priority list. We, the United States People, have the capability to solve the climate crisis and in doing so bolster the economy with massive new job markets and industries. One such plan to do so is the Apollo Alliance’s which would lead to over 3 million new green-collar jobs, stimulate $1.4 trillion in new GDP, add billions in personal income and retail sales, and produce $284 billion in net energy savings – all while generating sufficient returns to the U.S. treasury to pay for itself over ten years.
Electricity generated in
This is the type of change that the
You will have my vote whether or not you choose to fight for the future of humanity and the well-being of my children. Again, I wish you a swift victory in the coming election and a productive career in the Congress.
With Respect,
Tim S. Spires
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