Thursday, September 30, 2004


Bethlehem, before it was ground under the Zionist heel... www.jewsagainstzionism.com Posted by Hello

Tuesday, September 28, 2004

Just Us...

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” I usually refer to this quotation by
Martin Luther King, Jr. whenever people ask me about how the “issue with the Arabs” first arose,
or “why they hate us.”
I feel it terribly necessary to respond to another reader’s editorial that was recently printed in the local paper. In it, she wrongly suggests that the crises in the Middle East began in 1979 (this was in an attempt to absolve President Bush from blame for the current debacle there). Unfortunately, it did not start with the Iranian students’ attack on the American Embassy, because that was a reactionary measure to decades of US support of a corrupt and oppressive Shah (please read “All the Shah’s Men” by Stephen Kinzer for a complete and stunning retelling). Let me sketch out a little scenario for you: 1) US supports an oppressive leader in order to combat a “greater evil.” 2) The US supported leader uses US weapons and money to oppress the people of that country. 3) The oppressed people of that country retaliate in the only way they can (technically the taking of the Bastille—the start of the French Revolution—was a “terrorist act”). 4) The uniformed and largely ignorant populace of America responds with righteous outrage. 5) The US responds by either withdrawing support or diving into war in order to “smoke out” this new threat. 6) A new and worse threat steps in and says “SEE, I told you Americans are the devil!” (i.e., Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Osama Bin Laden, etc, take your pick) The truly brilliant thing is that because the populace at large in our country seems continually ready to take the egocentric worldview, this strategy is used over and over and over, yielding the same results.
The author of said article had a laundry list of terrorist attacks that killed possibly 1500 Americans. You can also go with the more recent State Departments figures that there are about 700 in 2003 that were killed due to terrorist attacks (about 200 attacks). In previous years it was much less (roughly 100-275). Compare this however with the more than 2000 civilians killed in Palestine alone in the past three years. Look also at the 4,300 civilian deaths in Iraq during the war last year. Consider too that with the exception of 9-11 and the previous attack on the Trade Center, nearly all of terrorist related deaths are of our service people.
The truth is that the Arab world sees that the United States time and time again supports their enemies in the face of humanitarian pleas and cries for mercy (please see the recent International Court of Justice decision concerning “The Wall” that has been erected in Israel. The US judge –Thomas Buergenthal—was the ONLY ONE out of 15 to rule in favor of Israel) I could site hundreds of such examples in which the US, of late, has painted itself as the moral judge in the world and then, in turn, acted out the exact immoral thing. How can we not expect retribution?
The author is correct in one, and only one, statement. This war didn’t just start. It was begun decades ago by ‘cowboy politicians’ who thought they could tame the dessert savages and get their hands on pieces of prime oil real estate. In whatever light we would like to cast the history of the Middle East, America and Western Europe are solely responsible for it. Every day that dawns the powers of the West resist the confession that is on our souls for what our fathers, and fathers’ fathers did to every person in those countries.
Can we seriously expect them to see us as liberators when in the first months of the “War of Liberation” we kill more than 2000 of their civilians? Could we, after the terrible attack in September of 2001 have accepted a “peace keeping force?” Of course not. Our fathers and sisters and bothers and mothers had died, and our anger was tangible and terrible—as is the anger of the people of Iraq.
The problem truly is that our readers may be as horrified as “every other American” when
lives are lost, but the painful truth is that we are not nearly horrified enough. Our actions prove to the world that American lives are worth inherently more than the lives of other nations.
The argument she uses is one that is born out of an ignorance of the issues. It pains me because as long as the issue of the Middle East has been raging (since 1948 or the Crusades, depending on how you like your history), mass America is just now touching the edges of the subject. Also, as far back as this historic reason goes, it does directly affect the upcoming election. The name America is stained with the smarmy smile of greed. Lady Liberty is tarnished, and her proud torch is all but extinguished in the face of a war that has gone grossly sour. We have hit the heart of the Arab world by demolishing their mother Bagdad, and our attitude is indignation for not being hailed in the streets with flowers meant for her funeral. We are shamed, because in our righteous anger, we lashed out in blind fury and have yet to make amends.
Until we do, we will never be at peace. Even if peace comes in name alone our souls will stir in the night with the shattered tears of a thousand Arab mothers crying out for their lost sons and daughters. And joined with them will be the wail of every American father and mother who questions the death of their son or daughter who went to fight for freedom and guarded oil wells instead.
America is a country of ideals. The American Spirit is one that strives and acts in hope and honor. The country is not divided. We all wish for hope. We all desire peace and a safe return for our troops. We are united in common wish: that help is on the way and that things will get better. Ignorance is America’s enemy. Laziness and blind faith block the true roadway to peace and prosperity. I will reiterate what has been said already: in November it is our responsibility to make informed, rational, educated decisions about who will lead this nation into peace in the next four years or who will drive us into a state of continued war and fear with no visible end in sight.


America's Foreign Policy Posted by Hello

Sunday, September 26, 2004

i am rude when flying in the face of ignorance

one of my old students IMed me and i just had to post it. I've taken out our IM handles and placed paragraph spaces instead. I wasn't going to do anothe rentry tonight, but this is for anyone who might think along the same lines....

(her) hey
so

(me) hey goil!
sooo
soo what?

we're in here 'discussing' whether or not women can/should be preachers

Hell yes
what moron says otherwise?

what?

Heck yeah they can be preachers! why not?

BOB (made up name) says 1timothy 3:2
he said that since men are the head of the household that they should be heads of the vchurch
but i guess its all just how u were raised & stuff

oh it's on.

haha
this is great
i mean, why does it matter as long as his word's being spread, right?

ok FIRST off... NRSV trasnlation 1 Tim3:2 -- "Now a BISHOP must be above reproach, married only once, temperate, sensible, respectable, hospitable, an apt teacher..."

yea

so what exactly was his premise right before he got owned?

lol
he says read the king james version
(still her account) hey buddy...this is BOB
the guy that believes that

King James is NOT an acurate translation of the Greek text
so you need to get over that.

how is it not accurate?

thier interpretations of the greek were translated into english as it was used in that time period. In actually ENGLISH has changed not so much the greek... So QED: translations must be made from the origional greek into contemporary english for us to be able to understand the meaning of the text.

but your version is translated from the KJV

UNLESS you speak 17th century english fluently you have no idea what was in the KJV
no
no it wasn't
NRSV is a retrasnlation form the greek and hebrew
or if youd like i'll go get my CEV trans
which is even more up to date and retranslated.
KJV was written in 1611.

thats ok...Im not going to sit here and argue with you....your not going to change my mind and Im not going to change your mind

since then over 30 k of words have been added to the english language
that's fine cause you're wrong
you go and talk to some of the profs there at (School they Attened)

go see Little Bussy
AKA Dr. ****

I'm really not worried about it

Dr. *********
ANYONE
Sigh....You have eyes but do not see......

(her again) lol hi big brother

hey

i support u, but don't worry about him
he shouldn't have brought it up in a room full of girls

well... he's lucky i'm not there in person or he would really have gotten hi s*** ruined.

lol

he shouldn't have brought it up in a room full of people with half a brain

lol true

see the thing is unless you can speak 1611 version english

but he's a hypocrite sometimes, so whatever

you don't need to be reading that bible except for scholarly purposes...
ha

yeah,i read the one i had for bible study

well you have really good bible profs there

k

Dr ****
Dr ********
they are excellent
they know it backward and forward

k

just remind him that Mary M was a disciple

he says he wants lines & proof
I said a disciple is a follower of christ

yes
by definition

they don't get ur point

my point?
is that god made men and women to function together as a unit

yea

we are whole in one another
in faith in body and in mind

women are preachers preist, bishops
some of the most brilliant pastors i know are women...
Your Dean of the Chapel is an EXCELLNT pastor

but whatever, he's kinda hypocritical

he's kinda wrong too.
i dunno what brought this up?

i dunno
he was reading my bible

Luke 8:1-3: Afterward [Jesus] journeyed from one town and village to another, preaching and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. Accompanying him were the Twelve and some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, Joanna, the wife of Herod's steward Chuza, Susanna, and many others who provided for them out of their resources.
buh BAM

Mark 15:40: There were also some women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the Less and Joses, and Salome.

k
he's going to read them tonight

there are about twenty others i coudl give him

he want those too?

he says sure

John 20:1: Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and saw the stone already taken away from the tomb.
Mark 16:9: Now after He had risen early on the first day of the week, He first appeared to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had cast out seven demons.
John 20:18: Mary Magdalene came, announcing to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord," and that He had said these things to her.

just give me line #s

Christ apears as the risen God head to the WOMEN FIRST
how does this tell us they are to be second class in the workings of the church?
that should be good

see the problem is that if he reads out of the KJV, he's reading the wrong stuff..
ok

i will BUY AND MAIL him a CEV

haha

if he tells me he will compare the verses whenever he reads

he'll compare

give me his address.
and in the meantime: Acts 9:36: Paul refers to a woman (Tabitha in Aramaic, Dorcas in Greek, Gazelle in English) as a Christian disciple.
BAH BAM...
it can't get plainer than that
SHE WAS A DISCIPLE
DEAL WITH IT.

he says he doesn't see ur point. he understands that women were disciples, but he says they aren't preaching

Acts 18:24-26
Buh Bam
describes the ministry of a Husband and wife
Acts 21:9
Bud DANG.. that verse talke about 4 prophetesses.
and last but not least.. this is that last one...

ok

Romans 16:1
Phoebe
A MINISTER
in your face

ok

the greek work that is key
is
diakonos
which is prob something the KJV gets wrong
or states in such a way that we intupret it differently cause we're 200 years different in our language.
there are MORE
i could go on
but i will stop

ok

********

we went on to talk from there, but come on people... this ain't the dark ages...

tenuous grasp

as of yet i have still to see if the spell check works on this thing. My hope is that my occasional funetik spelling will not completely loose readers...

2 Corinthians 9:

Basically Elle and I decided that if you own a Hummer you fail. Worship this morning was good. The synopsis based mostly on the above verse had to do with giving and tithing. Or more acurately coming into the enlightened realization of those words.

I guess the first big schoker actually was a few weeks ago when the pastor explained tithing (from the Jewish tradition of giving to the temple a tenth of their livestock, grain, earnings, etc) as giving back to God's what is God's already. But more specifically--if you loaned me thirty dollars and then the next day for your birthday i gave you a tenspot. It's not exactly a gift is it?
The same way in the old parable of the talents the last servant who gave back th eone talent after burying it wasn't only being chastise for poor investment skills--it's also the matter of ONLY returning to God what is Gods. IE: if all we ever do is tithe, we are that last servant. We should be prepared and willing not only to tithe but to also give extra for the things God places on our hearts.

Hey, bein' Christian ain't easy.

So today was a continuation on the theme (that respecting what is God's and obeying what he commands us to do with his things lead to closer relationship, which leads to blessings...) was that you reap what you sow. Of course we've heard that, but we jotted down to verse 6:
(this is Paul speaking) "The point is this:the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. (7) Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver."

Which is pretty awesome becuase not only does God work out with you personally what is going to be your tithe (or as Elle and I work it, the cream not the crumbs) and what is going to be your giving, but if we can manage in our hearts to be cheerful and at peace with it we know that we can count on God to provide for us and still even bless us with abundance.

It hit pretty close to home really as there was a point in my time durring which i felt the Lord asking me to loan like 500 bucks to someone who was at the end of thier rope. And i felt good about doing it and i did it even thought at the time i was like a fitty away from being broke myself after the loan. But i went ahead with it, know it was the right thing to do.
Shortly thereafter the guy was buying sound equipment, and those ass-in-nine little diffuser pumps for fountains that make smoke, etc. And i was like, what the hell, I gave him that money to live off of and get food, pay bills, etc... But see that's not the point. The point is God asks us to do it and we do it. And he is the one who will bless us for that. We don't need to expect our compensation to some from earthly means when our command came from heavenly ones. And the Lord was true to his promise and blessed me with a wonderful job and the ability to save a thousand fold what i origionally loaned out. so talk about failing tests! But... one step closer to the outside of the cave...

I believe in what god CAN do. Because what God HAS done is evidence of what God WILL do again. (paraphrase)

Saturday, September 25, 2004

Last thing

Thoughts are best when they are fostered by lack of sleep... so... a poem:

midnight cat on the high pitched roof
with tears for a birthday present
what makes love?
the mutual fear?
the togethernessed souls...
twinned, twined, ever falling faster after one another
the most idiotic anger that comes gushing rushing out.
Another cycle done
only once a year will i tell you the deeper feeling
of the timid passion.
You make.

Getting Blogged Down...

What the poop?
has the internet really made making my insignificant thoughts known to the general world this easy? Wow... can i have fries with this too?

Does this thing have Spell Czek?

**************>>>>>><<<<<**************
Day one of the encampment:

It's funny the things you can do whilst unemployed... Suddenly i have LOADS of time... Yet, there is internet access. The search this fine evening has led me here in which i began searching for a place to host a full website, before stumbling into the wonderment that is a BLOG... sounds so.... mirey.