Posts Tagged: society

March 9, 2010

Military chaplain fights Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Violation

gays in the military

Seriously? The following story confuses and frustrates me on so many levels. Why are we still wrestling with this issue? Why is it still a question? Why are people, like Aris Fokas, who have shown that they are extremely competent and called, dismissed from their duties because of their sexual orientation? “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is wrong. Period. It should be repealed. Read more…

February 12, 2010

Your $80 NFL Team Jersey

I have had more than a few Pittsburgh Steelers jerseys in my lifetime. My son has one now. He has a Ben Roethlisberger jersey with a big number “7″ on it. You probably have a favorite NFL Team Jersey in your closet too. Question: How would you like to sew NFL Team Jerseys, all day long, in an assembly line (with a production goal set at 255 jerseys per hour), for .10 cents a piece, or .72 cents an hour? Seriously? We should all read about the way Reebok and the NFL pay their workers to sew their $80 team jerseys. You can do so here: Salvadoran Women Workers Speak Out on Sewing Peyton Manning Jerseys.

February 11, 2010

What the World Eats

Fascinating and sobering reading: “Come see What The World Eats. A few years ago photographer Peter Menzel and his wife Faith D’Aluisio started to photograph what family’s around the globe eat and wrote down what their weekly expenditure is. In 2005 they published an award winning book called Hungry Planet: What The World Eats.” Be sure to compare the weekly expenditure numbers of The Revis family of North Carolina to the Aboubakar family of Breidjing Camp in Chad. It’s amazing what the world eats!

January 21, 2010

A Simple Explanation of Socialized Healthcare

It is very hard to comprehend the issue of healthcare reform with all the misinformation that is floated around the village. Here is a very, very simple explanation concerning the need and validity of government-run universal healthcare.

The video animation is simply titled: Why We Need Government-Run Universal Socialized Health Insurance

There you have it! Can the government run our healthcare system? Well, if the fire department, police, and education systems are any indication, then yes. And for those who are viscerally reacting to the idea of socialized systems, I’ll simply say that you already benefit from socialized systems! Socialized systems are not all that bad, right?

January 14, 2010

Loud

The earthquake in Haiti is a terrible tragedy. It is a reminder of how fragile existence on this planet can be really. It is tragedy. Tragedy requires compassion, assistance, sacrifice, and much love. I think the most non-religious person on this planet understands this truth well enough. I wonder why the loudest, most visible, most powerful religious voices can not, or at least it seems as if they can not. I am, of course, talking about Pat Robertson and his latest spew of ignorance regarding the tragedy in Haiti as being a direct result of some sort of Haitian pact with the devil. Mr. Robertson, instead of using his incredible influence, long reach, and wide platform to dispense compassion and love, only offered judgment and guilt based upon his own silly superstitions. Yes, it was a sham and a shame. But, Pat Robertson’s latest stupid rant is not the point of this post. His voice and they way he uses it is … Read more…

January 13, 2010

The Venus Project

The Venus Project

There is something extraordinary happening on a 21.5 acre Research Center located in Venus, Florida. It’s called The Venus Project. Read more…

December 6, 2009

Did Perry Noble’s NewSpring Attempt to Silence Dr. James Duncan with Violence and Intimidation?

Reports from this story are making their way around the Internet this week. Honestly, I’d like very much to say that I’m not shocked, but I really am. I am totally shocked by the unchecked perpetuation of what seems to be a systemic culture of violence, intimidation, vulgarity, and hate that exists in the senior leadership and staff of Perry Noble’s NewSpring Church. This is a truly disturbing story. The excerpt below is only one small part of a very large and long series of events for which someone should be held accountable. Read more…

November 14, 2009

A Joel Pett Cartoon

Abortion

Abortion

By Joel Pett, Lexington Herald-Leader
From the Cartoonist Group.

I advocate for and believe in the sanctity of life but the above cartoon raises a great point that should not be missed in the current debate concerning health-care reform.

October 26, 2009

The End of Poverty Documentary

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

“A sort of ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ for global economics … a powerful description of how Western policies since colonialism have subjugated Third World countries.” – Charles Masters, The Hollywood Reporter

THE ECONOMIC CRISES PUSHES AN ADDITIONAL 53 MILLION PEOPLE INTO POVERTY

WILL WE EVER SEE ‘THE END OF POVERTY?’

A NEW DOCUMENTARY OPENING IN THEATERS NATIONWIDE STARTING NOVEMBER 13 PROVIDES THE ANSWER

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LOS ANGELES, CA (October 2009) – In February, the World Bank issued this stunning report: the spreading global economic crisis is set to trap up to 53 million more people in poverty in developing countries; this is on top of the 130 – 155 million driven into poverty in 2008 by soaring food and fuel prices, bringing the total of those living on less than $2 a day to over 1.5 billion. This dynamic, where the rich are bailed out – or carried by – the poor is the focal point of a new documentary film directed by Philippe Diaz, which has been impressing critics and economic justice activists worldwide and will be released in US theaters nationwide. Read more…

October 24, 2009

Nonviolent Resistance as Third Way

Nonviolent Resistance

Nonviolent Resistance

Walter Wink’s Jesus and Nonviolence: A Third Way is an excellent introduction to the social and spiritual ethic of nonviolence and nonviolent resistance.

Wink’s big picture focus in this little book is fixed upon coloring impossible the vain attempt to separate Jesus of Nazareth and his inspired expression from power politics and nonviolence. One cannot embrace Jesus’ program and simultaneously refuse the nonviolent requirements upon which it is inherently founded. Trying to do so makes about as much sense as attributing the nonviolent salvation Jesus proclaimed to a God who required violence before the salvation could be realized by those who are supposedly being saved. Read more…

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