Why Caroline Kennedy is Qualified...

Compared to Sarah Palin.

1 a tie): she is a Kennedy and a Democrat (not a low-born Republican).

2): She went to Harvard undergrad and Columbia Law (she is obviously much smarter).

3): She is an author, which means so much when considering a C.V. (Palin does not even know how to read if media reports are true).

4): She is on the board of many non-profit organization which means she really cares for people (Palin only cares about corporate profit).

5): She has always lived in a big city which means she does not carry those small town prejudices (small town values means you are racist and you shoot helpless animals) .

6): She believes abortion is just fine (no daughter of hers would be allowed to stay pregnant).

7): She believes in Public Education (even though her kids attend private school and heaven forbid she be on the PTA let alone act as the PTA president).

8): She does not toil in commerce, dirtying her hands in filthy profits (Palin worked in a for-profit business which means she is for injustice).

9:) Look how important she is! The country cannot be without a Kennedy in the Senate when Ted dies (Sarah who?).

10:) She lived in London for nine months while studying art which equals foreign policy experience (Palin only deals with Canada being a border state).

The Ugly Side of Evnironmentalism

Thomas Malthus ventured a guess that the planet would run out of food some 200 years ago as the population increased. He was proved wrong, discredited, and dismissed by most common sense thinkers. However, he did create a cult of idea that persists to this day. I am not sure why, but most holders of Malthusian ideology are enviros. Oh who am I kidding? I do know why they hold this ideology, because they see all humans as a cancer upon the pristine earth (except for the enviros of course!). The BBC aired a show where two professors discussed the problems of overpopulation and the best solutions.

Their solution is problematic in two ways: first it is misanthropic and second it is racist. To wish mass death on people is grotesque and dare I say anti-intellectual. Genocidal dreams belie a deeply entrenched racism. The bird flu is predicted to devastate Asia and the sub-continent. For the benefit of doubt, perhaps these egg-heads see WWI and WWII as the culling of the European heard. I seriously doubt it, but with crazy thinking like this, one never knows the depth of the psychosis.

A Suggestion to Christian Parents

'Tis the season to read stories about school systems sending home notices saying, "Achtung Verboten Jesus." While it is deflating to see Christians singled out and told to leave their faith at the door, there is the long standing tradition of smuggling in theology through other means. But, parents need to get creative and acutally pay attention to Christian history. What I am suggesting is the use of Apocolyptic language. There are two reasons for this. First: There is a rich tradition within the Church and second: It makes for better poetry and prose if done well. So, it's a win win. You get to stick it to the man, and your kid learns the importance of well crafted creative written media.

An Curious Trend

Having spent years at a certain Canadian Seminary and having been exposed to neo-postmillenialism, the more I read certain theologians, the more I see a movement towards what I am calling Christian Nihilism. This movement ties its cart to social and community issues that read more like political advertisements than theological issues. The danger is the untying of faith from the parousia, Christ's triumphant return. Indeed, reading one theologian, it seems he makes the connection that the Church on Earth is the Second Coming of Jesus. He doesn't outright do so, but in his section on eschatology, he so deflates parousia that one is left wondering if there is anything more than the hear and now. This is what I mean by Nihilism.

While I don't dismiss the concerns of social and community issues, I do reject the USA=Rome analogy that is pervasive in this form of theologizing. I also chafe at boiling Jesus down to only "empire opposer" and his cross to a nonviolent opposition of imperial oppression. All of this narrowing-of-definition tends to make Jesus in our image and arrogantly poo-poos the 2000 year history of theology. Selective application of history and scripture was one of the (many) things with which my seminary cohorts harangued the so-called 'religious right'.

But, I digress. Focusing too much attention on the importance of their ministries of 'opposition', the stink of hubris starts to raise in the nostrils. To those whose britches seem to be rather snug: return to a wholistic ministry and understand that you are but one of millions of communities of faith around the world and throughout history that has been given the undeserved honor of preparing the way for the Lord's return. Remember God's word to the Jews in exile, live peaceably among your captors, build houses and plant gardens. Your ministry is not the second coming. Don't throw a tantrum when you don't get your own way. Be thankful you don't live in one of the many oppressive regimes where hundreds of millions of people were murdered over the last century (ironically, many of which you fail to criticize with the vigor you aim at the USA). Jesus will return in power to put an end to the ongoing rebellion, which includes America as well (if it still exists when He returns).

A Case for the HRC

So, Sarah Palin's church was torched last weekend. Is an interested party going to sue Heather Mallick for "creating an environment conducive to violence" through her vile and libelous article defaming and dehumanizing Sarah Palin and her religious beliefs? It seems to have all the ingredients for an HRC case. Indeed, an ACTUAL crime was committed. Does this not lend more credence to charges being brought?

For my American readers, the HRC is the Human Rights Commission in Canada. It has the authority to prosecute thought crimes based on slippery definitions of 'conducive environments' and 'perceived threats' towards and individual or group.

When is the Fence Going Up?

In the State of California, 380,000 people pay 40% of the income tax bill. That's 1% of the population! Better hope they don't get frustrated and leave (hence the fence going up a-la Berlin). Victor Hanson has pointed out the looming problems facing Cali.

What Goes Around...

I guess the trend is fitting for today's culture in the West. As we enter into another Christmas season, Christ is being ghettoized (not actually for He is the King) by the declared seculars. Mark Steyn has pointed to a couple of politically correct offering for Christmas. The irony is that the "12 Days" song was written to specifically combat the suppression of Catholic teaching.

So paganism in the form of secularism has come around for the winter solstice. As the Christians took the pagan-beginning-of-winter festival and Christianized it, now the reverse is happening. I don't mind such humbuggery from the seculars. They just show themselves to be bitter curmudgeons, much like Scrooge.

Great Rivalry

Now, I am a Navy fan myself, but this really does deserve my congratulations. The game is this weekend.

Food

I would argue that food is not an entitlement, i.e. people should not expect to be fed. I am sure that the few readers of this blog would now question my Christian motivations. Let me explain. Food does not happen on a magical tree, it is the product of someones time and effort. If it is an entitlement, then the producer is morally obligated to produce and give it away. Put differently, the producer has no recourse if people take the crop because the takers are entitled to the food. Sounds like slavery to me. Sounds like oppression wrapped in good intentions.

I think the Christian way of charity solves the question of indigence better than the government way of entitlement. It is good that people eat and are satisfied, but you cannot subject people to oppression to meet this good end. Serving the community means being productive (that covers many things). If Christians are producing abundantly and abundantly giving to charity, it serve the community very well.