Here's an interesting article regarding the US, and its recent Human Rights record. It's not looking pretty good according to the UN.
"The UN panel said that both poor people and black people were "disadvantaged" in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
It said the US should increase its efforts "to ensure the rights of poor people and in particular African-Americans are fully taken into consideration in the reconstruction plans with regard to access to housing, education and health care".
There should also be a moratorium on the death penalty, which appears to be imposed disproportionately on minority groups and poor people, the report concluded."
Well last night was officially my last night of Parks and Rec. I will truly miss it, especially my kids at Dewitt, who were such great sports, even when I tried to teach them Ballet (note for those not up with the latest trends: Ballet is not cool anymore. But it will win you a free Rocco's Pizza!).
So goodbye Dewitt, you will hold a special place in my heart.
Well I'm off to go clean out the Locker Room and turn in my keys.
So I've been reading a lot of Kierkegaard lately, especially from his book Works of Love, and the collection Provocations. I must admit, I love Kierkegaard because he doesn't hold things back, much like James' does in his book. Some thoughts that have gotten me to think:
"I wonder if a person handing another person an extremely sharp, polished, two edged instrument would hand it over with the air, gestures, and expression of one delivering a bouquet of flowers? Would not this be madness? What does one do, then? Convinced of the excellence of the dangerous instrument, one recommends it unreservedly, to be sure, but in such a way that in a certain sense one warns against it. So it is with Christianity."
"Practicing Christian faith is not very useful and it is highly impractical. Indeed, is there anything more impractical than offering one's life for the truth? Is there anything more foolish than not looking to one's own advantage? Is there anything more ridiculous than making one's life difficult and strenuous and being rewarded with insults? Is there anything more impractical than being labeled - not with titles and honors - but with abuse and ridicule? For a sailor to die at sea where he reached his life in the hope of profit, for the soldier to fall in battle where he risked his life in the hope of becoming a general - that is more like it, that is practical - but to die for the truth!"
"Christianity had been made so much into a consolation that people have forgotten that it is first and foremost demand."
"Christ comes to the world as the example, constantly enjoining:Imitate me. We humans prefer to adore him instead."
"Some suggestions by way of a few questions: Can one be a Christian at all without being a disciple? Can Christianity which came into the world to strengthen and inspire us morally, be changed in such a way that it demoralizes us with the help of easy 'grace'? -Can one be a Christian in that manner? Is it all right to take from the world the promises for this life, which it has because it has no eternal salvation to point to, and to take from Christianity the promises of eternity, which it has because it demands renunciation of this life, and mix these together so it gets to be really bonbon (twice as sweet) - is it all right to call this Christianity and be a Christian in this way? And if by virtue of 'grace' it can be done, must not one thing at least be demanded, that we realize clearly what we have done and how hypnotically we are drawing upon 'grace'?"
Well as most of us learned this week, the President lost his veto-ginity this week on the debate over Stem Cell Research. He did it because "It crosses a moral boundary that our decent society needs to respect, so I vetoed it." So Mr. President what is this moral boundary that you are talking about? "This bill would support the taking of innocent human life of the hope of finding medical benefits for others"
Hmm...
Now I don't know how you feel about Stem Cell Research, and I haven't done enough research on the subject to fully give my own opinion on it, but I do see a major problem in the President's argument. In Logic this would be called an Ambiguity Fallacy. See our President talks about how wrong it is to take innocent life when it is still in cell form, yet has no problem with it when it is in full human form.
I was talking about this to Brendan today at Wendy's when he reminded me of Derek Webb's song "My enemies are men like me" where he says:
"peace by way of war is like purity by way of fornication it’s like telling someone murder is wrong and then showing them by way of execution"
So this summer I have been working with little kids at Dewitt Park, and now I only have a week left. I must say, at times things were rough, things were good, things were wet, and things were broken, but most of all, things were fun.
So as most you know by now, things got a lot hotter in the Middle East. With such a crisis on our hands it seems the American President would take things seriously and try to deal with such an issue immediately. But, as his Cowboy Diplomacy crumbles, he also loses his balls to stand up for what is right (if he ever had any in the first place), and as of now the US has not sent a convoy yet to Israel to try and bring the sides together.
I personally do not see Israel's logic. As Ryan Sharp said in his blog, about Israel entering Lebanon to fight Terrorists:
"Terrorists? I don't mean to oversimplify or underestimate your pain here, but do you not know your history Israel? Terrorists? That's just a word that people can self-righteously use to distance themselves from that kind of violence, while not paying close attention to their own.
And then to hear the President of the United States talk about the awfulness of the killing of innocent people. I am with you, Mr. Bush. But what about the tens of thousands (if not more) of innocent Iraqi civilians?"
Where's the American Outrage towards Israel. I'm not condoning what Hezbollah did, but here's a country which often calls out for diplomacy, yet when the terrorists want to deal in a diplomatic fashion, they decide to bomb. Then they wonder why the rest of the world sees them as Terrorist; but hey, they learned from the best Terrorists in the Market.
Also when it comes to the fight with Hamas. Is it too much for Hamas to ask that Israel release all its prisoners that are Women and Children under the age of 18 held in Israeli Prisons, for the exchange of their soldier. Come on, these are Women and Children we are talking about, in my opinion Israel sounds a lot like a Terrorist nation to me.
It's too bad that America is too blinded in its own Terrorism to see this.
Its been about a month since I've posted anything, not because I was on vacation, but more because I didn't have anything to say. So my filler is that, work is great, taught the kids ballet (more on this later), and been doing a lot of reading lately (more on this later too).
Until then...enjoy this video courtesy of The Chasers. Is this what Kierkegaard meant by "Christiandom"?
