Dominionism...and Heath Ledger

Coincidence is not the word. Ironic is not the word. Strange could be the word.

Anyway, sort of funny definately describes The Western Tribune endorsing Mike Huckabee in the Republican primary and on the same page printing my anti-endorsement of Huckabee. The Tribune also endorsed my candidate, Hillary Clinton, for the Democratic nod.

My concern is Huckabee's dominionist leanings, more of which I will address later in this post. And Heath Ledger too.

First, here is the column, for those who have not read it. The parts in blue were edited (for space I am sure) from my orginal copy:

This week we celebrate the life and accomplishments of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., but this follows two weeks in which his legacy and accomplishments have been overshadowed by media reaction to comments made by presidential hopefuls in the Democratic race.

I say media reaction because it is utterly ridiculous to believe that Bill or Hillary Clinton would discredit Dr. King, or that Barack Obama would lack any understanding of the important roles that both Dr. King and President Johnson had in advancing the cause of civil rights.

Why the media made such an issue of this and ignored what Republican candidate Mike Huckabee said about our constitution is beyond me. Speaking to an audience in Michigan, Huckabee said the following.
"I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution. But I believe it's a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living God. And that's what we need to do -- to amend the Constitution so it's in God's standards rather than try to change God's standards so it lines up with some contemporary view of how we treat each other and how we treat the family."

Thomas Jefferson must have been spinning in his grave after that remark.

A public information project at Cornell University called Theocracy Watch documents the rise of the Religious Right beginning right after Barry Goldwater’s defeat in 1964. That may sound like old history to some but the Republican Party has not always been controlled by Christian fundamentalists.

It is not evangelical Christians that we should worry about if we love our country. It is Dominionists such as Pat Robertson, Roy Moore, Phyllis Schlafly and Mike Huckabee, who seek control of this country in ways that the founding fathers never dreamed of.

Dominion theology holds the belief that society should be governed by the word of God as set forth in the Bible to the exclusion of secular law.

Were he alive today, Dr. King would find many ways in which we have yet to achieve the dream. I am sure he would find that replacing our Constitution with “God’s standards” would result in more of a barrier to reaching his goal than achieving it.

God may be all powerful but he certainly does not depend on the human lust for power under the guise of Christianity to demonstrate it. What these Dominionists actually demonstrate is both a lack of understanding of the supremacy of God, and a total misinterpretation of the principles upon which our country was founded. And what we do not need is a Dominionist as president.

Dominionism. It should scare the hell out of you. Theocracy Watch, which I mention in the column, is a wealth of information. There are buttons to the left of the page that direct you various topics, but I am going to put links here to some highlights.

Here is Taking over the Republican Party and here is Bush.

There are several pictures like this one that show Bush in messianic situations.

Does that not make you cringe?

There is a page on homophobia, as well as one on the war against women.

There is a lot more, and this is not some fly by night anti-christian group...it's from Cornell University.

I will get slammed for this, but dominionism as described is more of a threat to our society than any radical Islamic fundamentalism. I mean, this is from within. They are over there. Who's gonna get you first?

And to show how wacky and depraved some of these people are:

You have Fox's John Gibson mocking Heath Ledger after he was found dead.

You have "Christians" planning to protest his funeral, not because he is gay (he is not) but because he played a gay cowboy in a movie.

You have "Christians" saying God struck him dead for the same reason.

You have "Christians" saying he killed himself because of his shame after playing a gay peson.

You have someone on TV (I couldn't get to the TV in time to see who said it, but I heard it) saying he killed himself because he watched the Democratic Presidential debate Monday night.

And this is a religion (and a party) that wants people to embrace their principles? If this kind of rhetoric does not drive people from the Christian church, I don't know what will.

OK, I know I am painting the Christian church with a broad brush, but isn't that what people do with Islam? To the world, this is what the Christian church in America looks like, intolerant and foolish. And notice, I did not say the Christian Faith, because that is a far cry from the Christian church of today.

You know, I think the more proper way to acknowledge Heath Ledger is to appreciate the body of work that he produced. Brokeback Mountain will be playing this weekend on the big screen in this house. And we might watch A Knight's Tale, too.

Here is a tribute you can watch right now.

In the meantime, watch your back. The Dominionists are out to get you.

We will miss you, Heath.

Improving Education in Alabama (and Some Rambling)

There is something good in The Western Star this week, but you have to look past the unreadable dark front page and other faults*.

The good is the Guest Editorial by Priscilla Dunn, our representative to the Alabama House of Representatives. In this week's issue, she writes in support of the plan to expand the Alabama pre-kindergarten program.

I am assuming her facts are true (she is not employed by the newspaper). Dunn writes that "children that attend a quality pre-k are less likely to repeat a grade, less likely to require special education classes, and more likely to graduate from high school." Sounds like a wish list for Bessemer education, doesn't it.

Pre-k in Alabama is entirely voluntary, and some parents say that a public program for four year olds infringes on the family. Apparently they don't understand the definition of the word "voluntary."

Now governor Riley is promoting a plan to expand the program (story)from the current level of around 2300 to around 21,000 kids. He says the legislature has to find a way to fund it and the money would come from the Education Trust Fund. Paul Hubbert, executive secretary of the AEA (and sort of the real governor of the state, but that's another story), says the governor needs to find another source of funding.

Huh? This is education. It makes education in Alabama more effective. Test scores will go up. Why should it not be funded out of the Education Trust Fund?

****************************
*faults such as hypocrisy.

For instance criticizing "stupid, idiotic,...anti-gun crazies..." on the editorial page while running a front page story headlined "Described as 'good person,' local man killed in Bessemer." The story relates how bullets were fired from a passing car leaving Timothy Horton dead. Something doesn't add up there. On the editorial page he is promoting the very gun ownership that allowed Horton to be killed.

Oh, here is the rest of Dale Jones' description, "...these stupid, idiotic, tree hugging, pro-government, global warming, anti-war, anti-life, anti-gun crazies are openly trying to run this country into the ground." I think he would include me in that group, except I I am not sure what "anti-life" means. And the country has already been run into the ground by the republican administration!

So Jones must be anti-environment and conservation (like Rush Limbaugh), anti-government (Dale this will get you in trouble with Dick Cheney!), pro-war , pro-life (except when it comes to government sanctioned killing... both in "wars" and in regards to the death penalty), pro-gun (like the killers of Timothy Horton).

I know that Jones and a couple dozen other people still support the war and the president, but I am so glad that there are only 410 more days until inauguration day.

Nothing, I mean, nothing could be worse than having this administration remain in power more than one day longer than necessary. Every day I become more disgusted at the president, and I am even trying to avoid listening to him. But his lies about Iran are so blatant that he is having difficulty trying to hop, skip and jump his way through it.

That's enough rambling for today. I have a take home final I need to work on. More about Bush later.

Bessemer's Western Tribune; The Queen and Bush

The readers of this blog who live in Bessemer or are interested in Bessemer should call The Western Tribune at 205-425-7171 and enter your subcription today. Rumor has it that some of you who were hoping for a new paper have still not subscribed. The first edition will be published next week, so don't miss out, if for no other reason, you don't want to miss my column!



Will the Tribune be covering this? The president is welcoming the Queen for a visit and for a formal state dinner tonight. My only question: hasn't Karl Rove been to dinner there before?





I just can't imagine the brush clearing president knowing how to behave in the presence of the queen (Elizabeth, the one from England). And Nancy Pelosi will be there too. Wouldn't you love to be a fly on the wall...



This climbing rose is Red Cascade and it is growing up a dead cedar tree.

Baskets like this hang in front of the house.

Reaganfest 2007 continued

Tommy Thompson, the former Wisconsin governor who is running for president says he "misinterpreted the question" when he said an employer should be able to fire an employee if they learn he or she is gay. His spokeperson says Thompon does not believe any kind of discrimination in the workplace is justified, and that his record (I guess as governor) reflects that belief.

I wonder how Bush is going to respond when the Employment Non Discrimination Act is presented to him, hopefully in the not too distant future. The administration has already indicated that Bush will veto the Hate Crimes bill passed by the house last week. That's interesting, and I will bring this up again if he vetos the bill, but I see where Bush has signed the Dog and Chicken Hate crimes act (actually a worthy piece of legislation, the Animal fighting Prohibition Act that makes dog fighting and cock fighting a federal crime and strengthens law enforcement's ability to put a stop to this form of animal abuse....http://www.hsus.org/legislation_laws/federal_legislation/cruelty_issues/animal_fighting_law_signed.html).

So in his mind (and the minds of legislators who voted for this bill and against the Hate Crime Bill) the chickens and dogs are more worthy than the homosexuals.

That's Bush for ya.

Bush's Success and a Request from Bessemer's Mayor

President Bush, Vice President Cheney and John McCain must really feel good now. McCain had bragged about how safe it was to walk in a Baghdad marketplace, yet yesterday a bomb in just such a place killed 127 people. In all, at least 183 people died in Iraq yesterday. Last week the Iraqi parliament building was attacked and at least 8 people died. The parliament building is in that same secure zone. Bush, Cheney and McCain keep talking about the “successes” we see because of the surge in targets, I mean troops, that we sent over there. But the only success I see is the success of the insurgents in killing their own people and the surge I am most aware of is the surge in U. S. military deaths, with at least 80 deaths per month reported over the first three months of this year.

Here is what Bush says about it, “Violence in Baghdad, sectarian violence in Baghdad, that violence that was beginning to spiral out of control is beginning to subside. And as the violence decreases, people have more confidence...” Those were his words just 9 days ago.

Think of this. At Virginia Tech 32 people were murdered in one day. Think of how our nation is grieving and responding to this tragedy. When most of us were in school, 30 people was about the size of one classroom full of students. That’s about how many were killed at VT. Think of Iraq. Think of that kind of devastation every day. Think of having the equivalent of 6 classrooms full of people killed in one day. That’s what happened yesterday. Think of the worry you would have living in such a society. We worry now about our children or our friends or ourselves in college classrooms now and if we are safe, but what if we had to worry about the classroom, the marketplace, the bus. Every day. Most Iraqis know someone who has been killed or injured, and even more fear that it will happen to them.

We are not just taking part in destroying the infrastructure of a country, or destroying the confidence of its populace, rather we are taking part in the destruction of a society.

This is not success.



On to a Joel Montgomery update. Seems councilman Montgomery gets a little foul mouthed when he is drinking. “I haven’t been this drunk since before I ******g went to Iraq,” he said to the arresting officer. That was before he asked “Do you know who I am?” indicating that he believes he deserves special consideration. And most disgusting, off the police report: the defendant offered to give the officer something “good to look at” if the officer would remove the cuffs. The police report was leaked to the Birmingham News and you can view it at http://blog.al.com/archiblog/2007/04/read_the_arrest_report.html.

And from the Mayor of Bessemer: “We have some very dedicated citizens, who are willing to work hard to get Bessemer where it needs to be and I want to give them an opportunity to do just that.” He want’s us join the various boards, committees or authorities in the city, including the Beautification Board, the Airport Authority, Emergency Medical Advisory Board, Health Care Authority, Public Library Board, Birmingham-Jefferson Transit Authority, Downtown Redevelopment Authority, Commercial Development Authority, Historical Preservation Commission, Park and Recreation Board, Tree Commission and more. To get more information, call City Hall at 205-424-4060 and ask for Mayor Ed May’s office.

Violence in America

The killings at Virginia Tech yesterday bring up the subject of violence in our country once again. Here’s my take: more guns, more violence.

A guest on the Glenn Beck show on Headline News last night (the only news I could pick up in my car other than Fox) said part of the problem was that the American public is not armed. Not one of those people in that class room was armed, and had they been, they could have stopped the killer was the message.

Yeah right, let’s arm all the college kids along with the rest of the general public. That would solve the problem. In my class last night my study group was scheduled to give a presentation part of which involved violence and injury on college campuses, and the question was raised “Do you feel safe on campus here.” Not many hands went up. Do you think more people would have responded positively if they knew their classmates were packing heat?

The guest on Glenn Beck must feel good about New Orleans. This from the Associated Press recently:

People across New Orleans are arming themselves — not only against the possibility of another storm bringing anarchy, but against the violence that has engulfed the metropolitan area in the 19 months since Katrina, making New Orleans the nation's murder capital.
The number of permits issued to carry concealed weapons is running twice as high as it was before Katrina — this, in a city with only about half its pre-storm population of around 450,000. Attendance at firearms classes and hours logged at shooting ranges also are up, according to the gun industry.

Our nation is becoming more violent, in part because that is what we see from our President. As much as the public has come to distrust him, still we see that our government thinks the only solution to a major problem is violence. And if violence isn’t working, amp up the violence. We may not like what we hear, but it fills our heads and if we aren’t careful, we begin to believe what our government is teaching us: violence is the answer. Four years ago, rather than put all their effort in to seeking a diplomatic solution to the crisis (well it wasn’t even a crisis before we got involved) in Iraq, our leaders ramped up the war machine. Bush is now looking for a “War Czar” without realizing (or admitting) that he already holds that position.


But why not a “Peace Czar?” Rather than promoting war, why not promote peace? Let’s get out of Iraq, and then let’s start talking about peace. Let’s frame the issues with Peace as the main heading, not conflict and see how the attitudes and actions of the American public change. It’s worth a try.

Pelosi and Reid Finally Show Their Strength

We finally have congressional leaders that have guts. Both Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid have led their legislative bodies (the House of Representatives and the Senate) to pass a funding bill that requires the troops to begin withdrawing from Iraq, and to be out by 2008 ( the dates in the two bills are different). It’s about time, since the president has no clue as to how a war should be run. We should have known that when he began pulling forces from Afghanistan prematurely so he could go after Saddam.

Nancy boldly said, “On this very important matter, I would extend a hand of friendship to the president. Just to say to him, ‘Calm down with the threats, there’s a new congress in town. We respect your constitutional role; we want you to respect ours. We want this war to end.’ The American people have lost faith in this president’s conduct of the war; let’s see how we can work together. This war is diminishing the strength of our military, not honoring the commitment to our veterans and not holding the Iraqi government accountable. When the president says he want to veto this bill he says ‘I am vetoing accountability. Accountability of my own administration and of the Iraqi government. He says I forbid…veto, forbid, I forbid, accountability’.”

Nancy, you speak the truth!

And of course George Bush has promised to veto this bill, thus vetoing funding for the troops.

And Harry Reid says, “We have fulfilled our constitutional responsibilities,” and “We’ve spoken the words the American people wanted us to speak. There must be a change of direction in the war in Iraq, the civil war in Iraq.”

The Senate and the House have held together and done what we’ve done,” he told reporters. “It’s now in his corner to do what he wants to do.”

On Wednesday, together they had sent the president a letter that read "This Congress is taking the responsible course and responding to needs that have been ignored by your administration and the prior Congress."

Maybe they aren’t wimps after all. Of course our own senators voted against the bill. Richard Shelby said, “It is the wrong message at the wrong time, surely this will embolden the enemy, it will not help our troops in any way.”

Let me ask Richard the same question I wanted to ask a radio host yesterday who was critical of the impending vote who said we would be giving the enemy the date we were leaving. Who is the enemy? When we invaded, I thought the enemy was Saddam. But he was soon captured, and has since been executed. So who is the enemy? Is it the Shiites? No. Or the Sunnis? Well? After all, they are fighting each other. You know, our “ally” King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia said this week “In beloved Iraq, blood is flowing between brothers, in the shadow of an illegitimate foreign occupation, and abhorrent sectarianism threatens a civil war."


So our strongest ally says our presence is an illegal occupation, I guess because it looks to them like we are supporting the wrong side.

To make things even more interesting, at the two day meeting in Riyadh, the Saudis admitted an Israeli reporter traveling with the United Nations. This is the first Israeli reporter allowed in the Muslim kingdom. Wow!

Come to Africam. Always live, always wild. Right now there are zebras. You have to sit through an Orbitz ad, then its a live cam sometimes of a watering hole, sometimes of the savannah. http://www.africam.com/nkhoro_cam1.php.

And if you haven't read Jason's comment on yesterday's blog, take a look.

From Selma Alabama to the White House

Sorry there have not been any exciting posts, but I have been working on the technical stuff. I finally have some pictures posted (of me, and of some daylilies) and I have indexed the blog so that it can be found on numerous search engines. Google "Bessemer" and progressive" or "Bessemer" and "opinion" and see if you get Bessemer Opinions. Let me know!

The big news from Alabama is that we had two presidential candidates, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton (and Bill) in our state yesterday for the 42 anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery March for voting rights. Both candidates pointed out that because of that march, they (along with Bill Richardson according to Hillary) are able to run for president today. Reports are that Obama drew the larger crowd.

My congressman Artur Davis was there and he believes that Alabama will be more purple, maybe even blue in 2008. Could be, if the candidates keep coming to our early primary state, and if Bush keeps pushing the McCain doctrine...oops...I mean the Bush doctrine, of sending more troops to Iraq and hoping they are not needed elsewhere (or forgetting that they ARE needed elsewhere, like in Afghanistan where the Taliban showed us they are still a force to be taken seriously as they tried to "get" Dick Cheney).

Meanwhile America's mayor Rudy Giuliani is trying to figure out how to explain to the Christian Conservatives why he lived with two gay men, and why he married his second cousin Regina Peruggi and about being pro-choice. John McCain is trying to convince us ...well, I'm not sure what he's trying to say by courting the very conservatives that caused his defeat the last time he ran. And Mitt Romney is going to have to explain about the Native Americans being one of the Lost Tribes and about Jesus coming here to North America. But he can at least claim to be the only top tier Republican candidate that has only been married once. And he's the Morman! Go figure. And they say the Democrats are mixed up.

Christian conservatives are underwhelmed by their choices, as reported by the New York Times and printed in the Birmingham News. http://www.al.com/birminghamnews/stories/index.ssf?/base/news/117239524572970.xml&coll=2

The paper says they aren't thrilled with any of the candidates, and neither am I, but for different reasons. This group includes as one of its members James Dobson of Focus on the Family. Recently he had published an opinion piece in Time Magazine in which he criticized Mary Cheney (Dick's daughter) for her pregancy because she is a lesbian. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1568485,00.html .

His misuse of research and distortion of the truth is so blatant, that a web site has been created as a reference to dispute his claims. http://www.respectmyresearch.org/index1.html . Or you can find it at www.dobsonlies.com.


There are so many qualified Democrats running: Clinton, Edwards, Obama and Richardson. Any two would make a winning ticket, and in any order. I am not even going to start comparing the Democrats until we get closer to the primaries (and debates). But this campaign season is going to be fun, isn't it.

re: Western Star Editorial about Bush Library

This is in response to an editorial regarding the proposed Bush library at Southern Methodist University. The Western Star refused to print this:

Editor:

The editorial “Bush is a Great American President” struck so many nerves with me that I hardly know where to begin. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but when written opinion so grossly misrepresents the truth, I have to speak out.

It does not matter to me whether the Bush Presidential Library is built on the Southern Methodist University campus or not. But as a member of the United Methodist Church, I will take up for those who are questioning it. High ranking Bishops and other officials from the UNC have denounced the war in Iraq since 2003, and continue to oppose the surge in troops proposed by President Bush. The Methodist Church has a long history of fighting for social justice and upholding peace. The leaders of the president’s own faith, as well as those from several other denominations, view this war as unjust and unbiblical and it is right that they question the proposed library.

The editorial also comes very close to linking the homosexual community to terrorist groups, and this is an outrageous attack on many in the Bessemer community and the nation. Just because gays are opposed to and may hate Bush’s policies, and might even think that he is unqualified to lead our country, does not mean they hate the man. Homosexuals contribute a lot to our community and to the nation in general. Whether homosexuality is sinful, as you suggest, is debatable, as new insight in to biblical language and interpretation is revealed, but regardless, the gay community is playing a large role in the revitalization of our city. In practically every city in our country where historic restoration has taken place, gay men have played a big part. For various reasons, gay men are attracted to homes in historic neighborhoods and often restore them in impressive if not fabulous ways. And where gay men come, arts and culture follow. Bessemer is no different. I am not implying that everyone who is promoting restoration is gay by any means, but the gay community is playing a role, and should be appreciated.

Finally, the assertion that every person who has served would “return to Iraq in a second” is a blatant misrepresentation of the feelings of our veterans. I personally know of, and also often read of, soldiers who have returned who are now against the war and do not want to return.

It seems that this paper owes an apology to the United Methodist Church, the local gay community, and the good veterans of the Iraq war.

Sincerely,

Joe Openshaw