Drive-by Truckers explore the past, Birmingham votes on the future

This day is very important for the future of Birmingham and the future of our nation.

In Birmingham the voters have the choice of electing Patrick Cooper who has a fresh vision for the city, or William Bell, part of the establishment of the last 30 years.

The difference also is in the attitudes of the supporters of the candidates. Sure, Cooper has the support of many in the LGBT community and progressive whites, and these are some of the people he has surrounded himself with.

Bell, on the other hand, has the support of Frank Matthews, who has put out divisive and homophobic campaign materials in an attempt to promote hatred and fear and divide the people of Birmingham.

The future of the nation may depend on the results of the special election in Massachusetts, where Martha Coakley and Scott Brown are fighting for the senate seat formerly held by Teddy Kennedy. Brown's campaign is being promoted by teabaggers and it looks like he has a chance to win.

If he should win, teabaggers from the across the nation will feel emboldened and no telling what will happen. But whatever, we will have to deal with it.

That being said, I think Patrick Cooper will be the next mayor of Birmingham, and Martha Coakley will be the new senator from Massachusetts. But the elections will be close.



Check out this video featuring Drive-by Truckers.




It tells of story of the racist past in Alabama from the viewpoint of Patterson Hood, one of the band members. "The Three Great Alabama Icons" and "George Wallace" are from their album, "Southern Rock Opera." h/t to mooncat. And, h/t to Matt Osborne.







It's interesting how some people who grew up here had to leave the state to see what was really going on. Read a writeup about the album from Patterson Hood.


"We began writing the Southern Rock Opera some years ago. We wanted to examine people's misconceptions of the South, and study some modern-day southern mythology."

MLK Day, the most shocking injustice

It is difficult to stay focused on the positive when so many lies are being spread, and so much truth being bent. Maybe I can put some of that together in the next few days, I really sense a danger to our country from the new KKK, the Teabaggers.

But today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and I was fortunate enough to attend the Unity Breakfast in Birmingham. The theme of the breakfast was "Health Care: A Personal Responsibility and a Human Right."

My first observation was about the diversity there. Color, sexual orientation, religion, even political party - not!

I did not see one person that I could identify or suspect was a republican. That is not surprising, as they seek to divide, rather than unite. But I digress - that goes more with my future topic.

I could write much about the event, but I want to focus on the 2nd place Essay winner, Trenton Z. Hearns, a senior at Jess Lanier High School in Bessemer. Twenty-two essays were submitted, and the top three received recognition along with a monetary award. Congratulations to Trenton. Here is his essay.

Health Care: A Personal Responsibility and a Human Right



The year is 2009, and The House of Representatives recently passed the most inclusive health care bill in our nation’s history. Yet, it took the nation, whose Declaration of Independence suggests life as a divine right to every human, two hundred forty-five years to pass a bill that would enhance the quality of any of its citizen’s lives. An even more astounding reality, finance is a component of the reason many of these soon-to-be health care newcomers have been denied this lifeline for so long. So health care, once an intangible amenity to minorities, has become scarcely available to Americans despite ethnicity. Also, in a millennium where the economy of the world’s wealthiest nation is gasping for breath, some citizens are left without jobs. In most cases, employers supplement the individual’s health care costs. Now, what is to come of the unemployed aside from a new burden, which was once a beneficial service?



The United States of America’s Declaration of Independence clearly lists life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as man’s unalienable rights from God. One’s right to optimal physical and mental health affects the quality and longevity of this right to live, especially when accessibility is the limiting factor. While in Chicago at the 1966 National Convention of the Medical committee of Human Rights, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said that “Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.” Furthermore, any factors negatively affecting the God-given right of life can, by common knowledge of good and evil, be deemed wicked by all men. This nation under God has gone nearly three centuries depriving many citizens of health care, a necessity. This deprivation has made health care so limited that it has been considered a luxury by many of those who could not afford it and an amenity to those who could afford it.



“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death,” is what Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. told other concerned religious leaders in a meeting at Riverside Church in New York City in his speech “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence” (April 4, 1967). Fortunately, this health care plan is a newly implemented program of upward mobility. Unfortunately, this country waited forty-two years after hearing this statement to take action. Finance should not be one of the reasons forty million adult citizens did not receive health care in 2005, while the government splurged on an eighty-five billion dollar shopping spree in Iraq that same year. Since when has the preservation of life in America become a stepchild to the government? Evidently, this nation under God was indeed facing Dr. King’s predicted spiritual demise.



As well as those in poverty, the rest of the country recently found itself in a deficit that persists today. In 2008, the United States suffered its worst economic decline since the Great Depression of the 1930’s. As the economy declined in the United States, the number of unemployed citizens soared. In that same year, one hundred fifty-eight million non-elderly Americans were covered by employer-sponsored insurance and two million, six hundred thousand Americans were unemployed. The newly unemployed citizens, who relied on their employers to supplement health care costs, were now either totally uninsured because of unemployment and prior inability to afford health care, or struggling to keep the services they had become accustomed to. Thus making health care, a right, their personal responsibility. Who values working Americans more, employers who provide health benefits or a government that has not matched those benefits?



Thankfully, those Americans along with many more will not be missing these essential services any longer. The new health care legislation will cover ninety-six percent of Americans. Injustice-free, this grants health care to Americans despite health condition or income. Finally, this nation under god has extended an offer to its citizens that will prolong the quality of their life, liberty and pursuits of happiness.


I have written about health care being a right in several Western Tribune columns, here a re a couple of recent ones.

Here, from Sept. 30, 2009, and here, Sept. 23, 2009. Also, here is last year's MLK post about King's support of health care.

We can only hope that similar sentiments are being expressed across the country today, but nowhere is the urgency greater than in Massachusetts, where Republican candidate Scott Brown has announced his intention to deny health care to the uninsured in Alabama and across the country, and to allow health care costs to continue to skyrocket, (those were not his words, but that is what he will do) should he win. Let's hope the fair minded people of that state come out in support of Martha Coakley and elect her to the U. S. Senate.

And while we are talking progress, let's hope Birmingham voters can look beyond the outright lies by the Bell campaign about Patrick Cooper and elect Cooper as the new mayor of Birmingham

James Evans on Pat Robertson

But first:

Last night the Ting Tings were the musical guest on SNL. I "tink" this live performance is better than their video. I hope they don't take this video down before you get to see it, I got it from Hulu. The Ting Tings are Jules De Martino and Katie White.



Friday The Decatur Daily ran this column by James Evans, my favorite Baptist preacher. This one is classic, and I think he wrote it before Pat Robertson made his hateful statement about Haiti.

Pat Robertson dressed as wolf in sheep's clothing?

At the end of every year, Pat Robertson, television evangelist and founder of the 700 Club, holds a prayer retreat. During these annual prayer meetings, Robertson meets with God, and God tells Pat what is going to happen in the coming year. Of course, someone does not have a very good batting average on these predictions.

For instance, in 2007 Pat told us that God told him that terrorists would launch a nuclear attack against the United States. Because that clearly did not happen, either Pat misheard God, God was wrong, or the terrorists did not get the message. For Pat’s part, he said the only thing he could figure was that people prayed “and God in his mercy spared us.”

This year more gloom and doom looms on the horizon. According to Pat, God is not happy with America. Because we have a propensity to allow abortions, gay marriage and secularism, Pat says, “There’s a cloud of God’s wrath over America.”

Whatever is really going on with Pat’s audiences with the divine — if we want to take the idea of God’s wrath seriously, and we also want to take the Bible seriously — there are plenty of transgressions other than abortions, gay marriage and secularism for Americans to be concerned about.

For instance, let’s think about God’s concern for the weak and the powerless in our world. This is the theological heart of conservative opposition to abortion. But why does their concern always stop with the unborn. How about the already born?

Where is the passionate concern for children who live in poverty and die of starvation in huge numbers every day? And how about the innocent children of Iraq and Afghanistan killed and maimed by weapons of war? If God’s wrath hangs like a cloud over those who inflict pain or allow suffering of the weak and powerless, then there is much for us as a nation to be concerned about.
And why do conservatives twist themselves into knots over gay marriage when traditional marriage is in serious decline? Many heterosexual couples are bypassing marriage altogether.

And don’t blame this on gay people — many of them want to get married! Why aren’t conservative Christians trying to find out why young people have turned their backs on marriage?

And don’t get me started on secularism. When you can’t tell the difference between a rock concert and a worship service, the secular has won — and on sacred turf. Designing worship space that is void of sacred art, music, liturgy or even meaningful biblical content, all for the sake of marketing, is an out-and-out surrender to the forces secularism.

But back to Pat Robertson. Most likely Pat is not listening to God but rather listening to the GOP. He has made himself a mouthpiece for a partisan political group in this country whose only real interest is winning elections. As such, he is willing to distort biblical truth so it supports his political ideology.

And don’t you know God is irked when the profound truths of faith are distorted and diminished for something as paltry as political gain. Talk about provoking the wrath of God.

Jesus knew something about this. He knew about people who wrapped themselves in the mantle of piety but with a far more pedestrian agenda. He knew about those who used the authentic faith of others for personal or political gain.

Wolves, Jesus called them, dressed like sheep.

Contact James L. Evans, pastor of Auburn First Baptist Church, at faithmatters@mindspring.com.

Bits and Pieces for $1000, Alex

Karma

Yesterday, NBC 13 could not receive the satellite feed for The 700 Club and had to air an older program. A blessing for Birmingham. No Pat Robertson. Well, no current Pat Robertson, anyway.

Unity

On Monday Bobby and I will be attending the 24th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Unity Breakfast, where the overall theme is "Health Care: A Personal Responsibility and A Human Right." That is right up my alley. Dr. Ed LaMonte will be the keynote speaker.

Thanks to a generous donation we will be sitting at the Equality Alabama table.

Haiti

Yesterday I thought I might be going to Haiti to help in the relief effort, but the opportunity didn't come through. But I am prepared to go. I have all the necessary vaccinations and passport and Caribbean disaster experience (here, here, here and here and ICS and NIMS training.

So if you know of an organization that needs me let me know. I've contacted several to let them know I am available.

Birmingham mayor's race.

Will Birmingham elect a mayor who is having his wages garnished (William Bell) or one who says he will forgo his mayor's salary (or donate it or whatever) in order to save the city money (Patrick Cooper)?

Here are several videos where Cooper outlines his vision and plan for the city.

Dreams

You've heard this song as background music during a commercial for a new lawyer TV show The Deep End. Brandi Carlile and Dreams. Watch the official video, where she is singing from an Avatar-like tree (well the best we can do on planet earth) and in front of Mardi Gras like props and with great outfits and instruments for the band. Thanks Brandi for allowing us to embed this.



or a live version from Studio Q.




Carlile is a lesbian, by the way.

Haiti suffers, Limbaugh heartless and Pat Robertson unspeakably stupid

Nature has just plunked a great big exclamation mark on my Western Tribune column, which I posted yesterday, and appears here if you direct linked this, or just below this post if you are on the blog. The column focused on the movie Avatar and nature, and included this:

Nature is a powerful force, and we witness this every year with hurricanes and tsunamis and mudslides and such. Nature affects us in other ways as well, from the microbes that help us digest our food to the diseases that we seek to conquer.

and this:

But as in the movie, nature “does not take sides.”

The earthquake in Haiti really has a lot of people down. Already the poorest nation in the area, and constantly suffering from hurricanes and mudslides and floods and such, yet there is so little that we can do (other than give money) but sit and watch. (Texting "Haiti" to 90999 to donate $10 to the Red Cross, added to your phone bill, is one way).

But we certainly don't need an oaf like Rush Limbaugh telling his uneducated listeners that President Obama would "use Haiti to burnish their, shall we say, credibility within the black community in the both light-skinned and dark-skinned black community in this country."


Every ounce of feeling I have goes out to the people of Haiti. Our country has close ties to Haiti, more on that in a minute, and it is only right for our president to make a statement offering our assistance.

I can not improve on Keith Olbermann's criticism of Limbaugh (and Pat Robertson, who said the earthquake was a result of a "pact with the devil" that the nation made in the 19th century to gain freedom from France).

"Mr. Robertson, Mr. Limbaugh. Your lives are not worth those of the lowest, meanest, poorest of those victims still lying under that rubble in Haiti tonight. You serve no good, you serve no god. You inspire only stupidity and hatred, and I would wish you to hell, but knowing how empty your souls must be for you to be able to say such things, in a time of such pain, I suspect the vacant purposelessness of the lives you both live now are hell enough already."


About our historical relationship with Haiti, Rachel Maddow describes it best.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Ambassador Raymond Joseph says any deal that Haiti made with the devil certainly benefited the United States as well.



We can only offer our prayers and thoughts and support and money right now, but at least regarding this situation, please Rush Limbaugh, and Pat Robertson, just STFU!

Western Tribune column January 13, 2010: Avatar

This is my Western Tribune column for January 13, 2010. I have seen Avatar twice, and probably will see it one more time. There are so many lessons to be learned from this film, it's hard to explain in 400 words. Here goes:

Picture credit: James Cameron's Avatar Wiki page

I will assume that most readers have seen the movie Avatar, but just in case someone reading this has missed the record breaking sensory feast, there will be no spoiler here. The details that I reveal have already been mentioned in news stories.

On Pandora, the planet like moon where the story takes place, a world is seen where the creatures and plant life – nature – are in tune and exist in a sort of harmony that still allows an acceptance of death and sorrow.

But in the year 2154 our planet has become “brown” and humans have found a new source for resources that are much needed on earth.

With that set up in mind, some conservative and religious leaders are claiming that there is a hidden message promoting a liberal tree-hugging, anti-Christian agenda.

Hardly. I mean, the message is not hidden; it’s the theme of the movie, with a love story entwined.

Nature is a powerful force, and we witness this every year with hurricanes and tsunamis and mudslides and such. Nature affects us in other ways as well, from the microbes that help us digest our food to the diseases that we seek to conquer.

On Pandora, rather than battling nature, the Na’Vi (the indigenous blue-skinned stars of the film) enjoy a spiritual connection to the other species with a simple understanding of the circle of energy and life.

We have tried to separate ourselves from the rest of nature, in part due to religious beliefs that promote us to a status above the animals over which we have dominion and just below the God we worship, but also because of what we have accomplished with the larger brains and opposable thumbs we developed.

In doing so, we link God and nature together in much the same way the Na’Vi link their natural life with their spiritual force, Eywa. We, or most of us, just don’t admit it.

Oddly enough, we have chosen to abuse our planet and ignore the signs of peril and the results are becoming evident, through climate change, and epidemics and such.

Nature versus God, or nature equals god, are arguments as old as humanity itself.

But as in the movie, nature “does not take sides.” Yet we will continue our attempts to shift the balance of life in our favor.

We may have to wait on the promised Avatar sequels to learn how that works out.

When I get married, I'm gonna wear shoes

These sentences got me thinking.

***Note: I just wanted to clarify that I don’t hate homosexuals. I actually know a couple gay and lesbian people and they’re great folks. This, however, does not mean that I agree with their lifestyle choices.

This is part of a post from The Barefoot Bride, a blog about weddings, where the writer is being critical of this article from the Winter issue of Martha Stewart Weddings magazine. In the article, Jeremy and Andrew's wedding is featured, quite nicely I might add.

Joe.My.God created a post about it and then Homer did as well, so I might as well add my 2 cents worth.

So, back to the quote.

I just wanted to clarify that I don’t hate homosexuals. I actually know a couple gay and lesbian people and they’re great folks. This, however, does not mean that I agree with their lifestyle choices.

I am so tired of people claiming to like gays as they think its OK to treat us as second class citizens.

I agree with Homer's response:

My response: "Back in the 1960s a lot of Ku Klux Klan folks knew great Negroes too, as long as they kept in their place and didn't clamor for the same rights that the Bible granted White folks."

She also said this:

I may not always agree with the lifestyles and life choices made by all the people featured in every publication I read, but I do not appreciate picking up my favorite magazine to see photographs of homosexual couples being affectionate.

I grew up in the 60's, and while I may not specifically remember this, I bet there was a time when The Birmingham News did not feature photos of black weddings. And I bet when the first photos appeared, that similar comments were made and letters written to the paper by white Alabamians who were offended by seeing black people being "affectionate."

Homer said that he was taught that whenever he learned of someone's plans to marry that he should offer "congratulations" regardless of his personal feelings.

"The more I think about your blog post, the more I keep coming back to the very basic thing I was taught about weddings. When someone tells you that will be or have been recently married, the only proper response is "Congratulations." Anything else, no matter what you think of the situation, is just bad manners."

As for people that may know my partner and me but share the view that the barefoot bride holds, that we are "great folks" yet think it's OK that we be treated as second class citizens, I don't need you. I have enough friends that support equality that I don't need to waste time associating with those who look at me as less than equal.

And I will continue to confront you and your pre-historic views. If I choose to show affection to my partner in your presence and you are offended, that is your problem, not mine.

And if you (or others like you) are showing affection in public, or discussing your dinner plans with your spouse in front of me and my kids, then I have the right to discuss our plans in front of you and your kids. Like the other day when we were getting haircuts. My partner finished first, while I was still waiting among kids and adults. He told the person at the counter that he wanted to pay for mine as well, and she said to just wait until after my cut.

When I finished, he was in conversation with some people sitting around him, so I pulled out my card to pay. "You wanted to pay both of yall's, right," the cashier asked, motioning toward my partner. "Right," I replied, "but that means he has to pay for dinner," which started a whole conversation about how we do this each time and where to go eat and such.

Everyone who works there knows we are a couple, so the conversation was just chatter to them. The adults sitting there had to realize that we are a gay couple, and maybe the kids figured it out, or asked questions later.

My point is, people need to see gay and lesbian couples in public, not ashamed of who they are, acting naturally.

If we feel the urge to kiss in IHOP or snuggle for warmth while standing in line in sub-freezing temperatures, and you are offended, then that is your problem, not mine. If your kids don't understand then you are at fault for not explaining to them about the diverse world they live in, and you can let it be a teaching moment.

OK, I'll climb down off the soapbox and work on our own wedding plans. And when it happens, I will be sure and let the barefoot bride know. Oh, and we will both be wearing shoes when we marry.