Update from my cousin, Tom, the temporary monk

On April 1st, my cousin Tom left his wife to go be a monk (see his announcement below). It didn't take long for him to change his mind. Here's the latest in the ongoing saga of Tom's unpredictable life:

I Flunked Out of the Monastery

Dear friends,
I know that some of you were bothered about my decision to leave Shelley and become a monk. Thank you for your concern. I'm back home now. After arriving on Vashon Island and seeing the monastery, it didn't take long for me to realize that I didn't fit.

The scratchy robe, the tasteless, lumpy gruel, and the interminable silence! I just couldn't put up with it. The father-superior saw me muttering my gripes -- breaking my vow of silence in the first hour after I'd taken it -- and he said, "My son, we think it would be best if you'd leave. Go back to your wife and your life in Boise. You aren't cut out for this."

I was quite disappointed that my new vocation was over; but, on the positive side, they gave me a case of their best coffee! I feel like a chastened man, but the coffee has given me a nice buzz.

It was all kind of like an April Fools joke on me.
Tom

ORIGINAL ANNOUNCEMENT BELOW

April 1, 2009

Dear friends and family:

I wanted you to hear this directly from me before you receive some inaccurate version of it through the grapevine:

For the past year I’ve been a monk-postulant, preparing for a new vocation. Today I’m flying to Seattle and at 3:00pm this afternoon I’ll take my vows as a monk noviate at an eastern orthodox monastery on Vashon Island, Washington (see photo below).

This will involve moving out of our family home in Boise so that I can spend the rest of my life under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience to the head of our order. In addition, I have decided to submit myself to the discipline of silence for the first year in reparation for the sins of the Bush Administration.

Shelley has reluctantly agreed that my calling as a monk should take precedence over our continuing to live together. If I may quote her: "We’ve had a lot of happy years together, but I've realized that Tom was trying to run away from his true vocation. This may explain his emotional and theological instability that manifested itself now and then during our 38 years together. Frankly, sometimes he's been a bit nuts. But I love him."

I'm grateful to Shelley for her support, and to you.

Tom P. Warner, afj
April 1st, 2009
Boise, Idaho

You can write or call me at the following address and phone number (although I will only be able to listen on the phone; I won’t be able to talk back, at least till this time next year):

St. Vincent de Price Monastery
PO Box 2420
Vashon Island, Washington, WA 98070-2420
(in the Puget Sound, near Seattle)
(206) 463-5918


Established: in 1986 by Archimandrite Dimitry
Celebration/Hram:
Other: For single men, and married men
whose wives are getting tired of them

Extended Information: Vashon Island is located in the Puget Sound, a thirty-five minute ferry ride from downtown Seattle, Washington.

The Monastery is under the omophore of Bishop KYRILL of San Francisco, of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.
The monks make their living by selling excellent coffee and tea.
It is guaranteed to give you quite a buzz!

Visitors should call ahead before taking the ferry to Vashon Island. And, please, when you come, do not call the monks' robes "dresses." Or, pull on their long beards. Or, try to trick those who've taken a vow of silence into saying something, e.g., by pinching them so they say, "Ouch!"

Without him, we're sunk

Dear World, I was the brain behind the Bush Administration. Without me, civilization will devolve into an orgy of violence. Therefore, I humbly offer myself to be your Emperor.
Richard Cheney

Good books on sex by Cliff & Joyce Penner

	Getting Your Sex Life off to a Great Start - $12.95 A guide for engaged and newlywed couples, this book is written to help those entering marriage as virgins, previously married, or sexually active to enjoy a lifetime of exhilarating, fulfilling and nurturing sexual times. By preparing for your sexual relationship in marriage, you can ensure a great sex life! Order Form
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A Tribute to Dan Seals

Patrick: I love Dan Seal's music. See the videos below for a small sampling.

I heard him live at a July 4th Concert in Denver in the early to mid-90's. He was wonderful. This week I've been listening to Rage On -- one of my all-time favorite albums. I had no idea he was battling cancer. So sorry we've lost him. He was gold.

Dan Seals, right, and Marie Osmond, shown on Oct. 14 1986, accept the vocal duo of the year award during the Country Music Association awards show in Nashville, Tenn. (Associated Press)

Pop singer turned country star Dan Seals has died of complications of cancer. He was 61. Seals died Wednesday at his daughter's home in Nashville, after a battle with lymphoma. ...Dan Seals sang under the name England Dan in the 1970s in a duo with John Ford Coley. They had several hits, including I'd Really Like to See You Tonight, Nights are Forever and Love is the Answer...

Seals then began a solo career, climbing the country charts with hits such as God Must Be a Cowboy, My Baby's Got Good Timing, Bop, and You Still Move Me. His duet with Marie Osmond, Meet Me in Montana, was a chart-topper in 1985 and earned the pair a Country Music Association Award for best vocal duo.

Dan Seals - I'd Really Love To See You Tonight

Dan Seals & Marie Osmond - Meet Me In Montana

Dan Seals - Everything That Glitters (live 1991)

Patrick: In this video you can see left-handed Dan playing a right-handed guitar. He had to do all the chords upside down. Even in this live rendition of the song he hits all the falsetto parts perfectly. What a voice!

Dan Seals and Cheryl Wheeler - Addicted (live)

Dan Seals and Paul Davis - Bop (live 1991)

Angelina Jolie wasn't right for the part

Changeling
Patrick: My wife's been wanting to see this movie for weeks. We rented the DVD and -- although it's a true, compelling story -- Angelina Jolie is too perfect looking and doesn't have enough of a range of facial expressions to do justice to the part of the mother of a missing boy. I felt strangely annoyed by her picturesque face, puffy lips, and perfect teeth. She was a distraction. Her kind of beauty may work on a model, but not for a movie part like this one.

They should have cast Amy Ryan (below) in that role, instead of in the small part she played. (Good news: she may be coming back to The Office!)

I did like John Malkovich as the Presbyterian pastor who campaigned against police corruption and helped get the mother out of a mental hospital. It was refreshing to see a minister portrayed as a hero.

Exclusive: Amy Ryan returning to The Office!

Jan 15, 2009, 07:48 PM | by Michael Ausiello

Categories: The Office

Greg Daniels, the big boss behind The Office, just confirmed for me exclusively the best news ever: Amy Ryan will be reprising her spectacularly popular role as Holly Flax, soul mate to Steve Carrel's Michael.

"She will come back," says Daniels. "We haven't written it yet, but we're discussing her coming back for the season finale. We're hoping she'll be available."

Daniels went on to say that he's "very open" to working out a more permanent Office arrangement with Ryan. "Because [Michael and Holly] have such a deep connection, I don't think she can blow in and out every so often," he explains. "It would be too hard for him as a human being. So, we're hoping to find some very significant things for them. And if we can get her to sign on for a really long period, we'll do it."

>> THE TRUTHDIG PODCAST:

"Documenting 8 Years of Torture" -- Mark Danner made headlines last week with his essay in The New York Review of Books on the CIA’s use of torture and a secret report from the International Committee of the Red Cross detailing such practices. Find out why he says, “Torture is for people with weak nerves.”

The Right To Bear Arms?

Congratulations to the newlyweds

bauergriffin.com

Who says you can't teach an old dog some new, not so stupid tricks?

David Letterman swapped vows with longtime love Regina Lasko Thursday afternoon in a no-frills courthouse ceremony. The newlyweds are parents of a 5-year-old son, Harry.

... "On Thursday, at 3 p.m., March 19, 2009, at the Teton County Courthouse in Choteau, Montana, I was married to Regina Lasko," Letterman will say, according to CBS.

"Regina and I began dating in February of 1986, and I said, ‘Well, things are going pretty good, let's just see what happens in about 10 years.' ...

My financial worries are over

I have just been notified that I'm a multimillionaire!

An Atm card containing ($6.8MILLION USD)
have been awarded to you
send your full informations for claims
procedure to:
[email address]
Sir. David Mark,
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Nice Ad

Forget the recession; embrace life (and Coke):

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Skeptical about the possibility of miracles?

Patrick: Some people have an anti-supernaturalistic bias, i.e., they have decided that miracles never happen, because of a preconceived bias. Here's a good article that discusses two philosophers' views and why they were inadequate.

MIRACLES
by Dr. Phil Fernandes

A chapter from his doctoral dissertation© 1997,

Institute of Biblical Defense, All Rights Reserved

Christianity is a religion based in history. The claims, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth occurred in history. For this reason, historical apologetics (to be discussed in Part Six) is of great importance. If one can prove that Jesus really did rise from the dead in history, then one will have gone a long way towards establishing Christianity as the true religion.

However, before an apologist can engage in presenting historical evidences for the resurrection of Christ, he must first answer the philosophical objections against the possibility of miracles. If miracles are by definition impossible, then it makes no sense to look into history to see if Jesus really rose from the dead.
The strongest philosophical argumentation against miracles came from the pens of Benedict Spinoza (1632-1677) and David Hume (1711-1776).... To read the whole article, click on this link: www.biblicaldefense.org/Writings/miracles.htm

Protesters visit AIG officials' lavish Conn. homes (AP)

By JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN, Associated Press Writer John Christoffersen, Associated Press Writer – 39 mins ago

AP – The home of AIG executive Douglas Polling

FAIRFIELD, Conn. – A busload of activists representing working- and middle-class families paid visits Saturday to the lavish homes of American International Group executives to protest the tens of millions of dollars in bonuses awarded by the struggling insurance company after it received a massive federal bailout.

About 40 protesters — outnumbered by reporters and photographers from as far away as Germany — sought to urge AIG executives who received a portion of the $165 million in bonuses to do more to help families.

"We think $165 million could be used in a more appropriate way to keep people in their homes, create more jobs and health care," said Emeline Bravo-Blackport, a gardener....

(Click on the green underlined link above to read the whole article.)

Smooching Scandal in the White House!

Associated Press
Skewed News Syndicate: The nation was stunned by this photo, released earlier today showing Kathleen Sebelius and the President in a passionate lip lock. Unnamed sources, close to the First Lady say that Michelle Obama is having her own hair dyed gray to see if she can re-woo her man back.
T.P.Warneski reporting

Bible Prophecy Experts are all surprised!

Skewed News Syndicate -- TP Warneski reporting:
Talk show host Rush Limbaugh admitted today on his radio show, "Yes, I am the Antichrist." The news took Bible Prophecy experts entirely by surprise.
Jack Van Impe responded, "This really messes with my prophecy time chart. I'm supposed to be outta' here before the big A guy arrives on the scene!"
Hal Lindsey reported, "I knew there was something strange about Limbaugh. But, just because he's the Man of Sin doesn't mean that his political views have all been wrong."
Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins are said to be writing another in their series of speculative prophecy novels which will work Limbaugh into their prophetic scenario without disturbing the overall plot line too much.

Today is the sixth anniversary of the Iraq war. Six years of violence, hundreds of thousands of deaths, countless billions of wasted funds, and endless sacrifice on the part of our military families. We commemorate this day with prayer and heavy hearts, but also with thankfulness that the end of this war appears to be in sight.

Afghanistan is a different story. The war there has dragged on for more than seven years and, by all accounts, is getting worse. We believe only a surge in funding for diplomacy and development -- not more military escalation -- will bring long-term peace to the troubled region.

Call on President Obama to continue supporting more economic development, not more military escalation, in Afghanistan.

I will personally take this petition to the White House, expressing our opposition to further military escalation, and our support for diplomacy and non-military assistance. Simply sending additional troops will not provide security and stability for the Afghan people....

Jim Wallis, Sojourners

SojoMail@sojo.net

Can you guess who this is?

Associated Press / Yahoo News

Decades in prison seem to have left him defeated and weary. What a sad example of humanity gone bad.

LOS ANGELES – California corrections officials have released a new photograph of convicted mass murderer Charles Manson, who is now bald with a thick gray beard.

The photo of the 74-year-old Manson was taken Wednesday as part of a routine update of files on inmates at Corcoran State Prison, where he is serving a life sentence for conspiring to murder seven people, said Seth Unger, spokesman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

The cult leader was first sentenced to death for the 1969 murders of movie star Sharon Tate, coffee heiress Abigail Folger and three others stabbed and shot to death at Tate's home in Los Angeles. The next night, two others were stabbed to death at their homes.

Here's how he used to look:

And later he looked like this:

Charles Manson - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Charles Milles Manson (born November 12, 1934) is an American criminal who led what became known as the Manson Family, a quasi-commune that arose in ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Manson - 250k

Chris Hedges on the Ten Commandments
"The False Idol of Unfettered Capitalism" -- The Ten Commandments were for the ancients, and are for us, the core rules that, when honored, hold us together, and when dishonored lead to alienation, discord and violence. The worship of the free market has turned out to be an idol, and like all idols it has now demanded its human sacrifice.

More about the AIG bonus scandal

Patrick: The AIG bonus scandal is just the latest in the business culture of ridiculously high compensation for executives. People are fed up with this fiction that anyone's work is worth that much more than another person's work. I hope the government will be tough on these AIG guys and that the news will get around that this sort of system (where the super rich build their empires of wealth at the expense of average working people who are only paid an adequate, or even a less-than-adequate wage) is simply immoral.

Call me a Christian Socialist if you must. I'm not sure I really qualify for that label; I'm just a person who sees that "the emperor has no clothes" when it comes to the ludicrous philosophy that some guys at the top of the food chain are worth millions, while the people at the bottom are working for soooooo much less.

I don't believe that unrestrained "free market capitalism" will self-correct when it comes to this kind of oppressive wage difference. There's way too much greed and dishonesty and special favors from super rich to super rich. The government ought to tell corporations that they need reasonable "caps" on compensation for executives. We also need good workers' unions and better minimum wage laws -- and some kind of universal health care, which doesn't bankrupt small businesses.

Many other countries have universal health care; and I don't believe the scare tactics of the big drug companies and the mega-profit health conglomorates that tell us how bad the medical care is in those countries. (Go rent Michael Moore's movie "SICKO" and tell me that he doesn't make some very good points.)

I believe in the dignity of each human person and I refuse to bow to the Golden Cow of the so-called "Free Market" (built as it is on a very unlevel playing field).

Here's a warning from an early Christian leader:

James 5: Warning to Rich Oppressors (from "The Message" paraphrase Bible) --

^1-3 And a final word to you arrogant rich: Take some lessons in lament. You'll need buckets for the tears when the crash comes upon you. Your money is corrupt and your fine clothes stink. Your greedy luxuries are a cancer in your gut, destroying your life from within. You thought you were piling up wealth. What you've piled up is judgment. ^4-6All the workers you've exploited and cheated cry out for judgment. The groans of the workers you used and abused are a roar in the ears of the Master Avenger. You've looted the earth and lived it up. But all you'll have to show for it is a fatter than usual corpse.

CNN Caller Says AIG Execs Should Be Shot

Patrick: When you read this article, remember that I didn't suggest death for the AIG overpaid execs; only waterboarding until they agree to give back their bonuses. I'm merciful.

Wyden-Snowe Proposal Could Have Saved Govt. $3 Billion Or More

Flashback: It Was Bush, GOP That Opposed Executive Compensation Caps

March 17, 2009 Of Patriots and Assassins By Patrick J. Buchanan

During Nixon's historic trip to China in 1972, his interpreter and I, free for a few hours, conscripted a driver to take us on a tour of Beijing. Somewhere in my files are photos from that day we toured the grim city of Chairman Mao in the time of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution.

The interpreter: Charles Freeman -- the same Charles Freeman Adm. Dennis Blair chose to chair the National Intelligence Council that prepares National Intelligence Estimates on critical national security issues such as Iran's nuclear program.

Educated at Yale and Harvard Law, Freeman has served his country in Delhi, Taipei, Bangkok and Beijing. He was Ronald Reagan's deputy assistant secretary of state for Africa and Bill Clinton's assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs. George Bush I named him ambassador to Saudi Arabia. Freeman was our man in Riyadh when Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf and 500,000 U.S. troops arrived to evict the army of Saddam Hussein from Kuwait.

In 1997, Freeman succeeded George McGovern as president of the Middle East Policy Council -- and he began to speak out.

He opposed the bombing of Serbia and said aloud what few privately deny: Reflexive support for Israel's repression of the Palestinian people is high among the reasons America is no longer seen as a beacon of liberation in the Arab and Muslim world.

Freeman echoed the Obama of yesterday, who bravely blurted, "Nobody is suffering more than the Palestinian people."

Click here to continue reading Pat Buchanan's column

Patrick: I happened to turn on the TV and see Peter Popoff, a self-proclaimed faith healer who was exposed by the Amazing Randy as a fraud. Here's an article with the real scoop on Pete:

Peter Popoff - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Peter Popoff (born July 2, 1946) is a German-born U.S. televangelist and claims to be a faith healer. He performs crusade services on national television ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Popoff - 68k - Cached - Similar pages -

Saint Patrick

Saint Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland. St Patrick's Day is March 17.

St Patrick's value doesn't really come from the historical details but from the inspiration of a man who returned to the country where he had been a child slave, in order to bring the message of Christ.

Ian Hislop looks into the confused history of Saint Patrick. (29:50 mins)

How did a fifth-century preacher become the toast of Dublin, Manhattan and even Lagos? (The Real Patron Saints, BBC Radio 4, 2003)

Facts in brief

• St Patrick really existed
• Taken to Ireland as a slave at age 16
• Escaped after 6 years
• Became a Christian priest, and later a Bishop
• Returned to Ireland as a missionary
• Played a major part in converting the Irish to Christianity
• Some of his writings survive, the Confessio and the Letter to Coroticus

Doubtful extra facts in brief

• Born in 387 AD in Scotland, in Kilpatrick
• alternative sources suggest he was born at Banwen in Wales
• His original name was Maewyn Succat; he became Patrick when he became a bishop
• Studied in France at the monastery of St Martin's in Tours
• Went to Ireland in 432 AD
• Died either in 461 AD, or 493 AD (unlikely)
• Taught by Saint Germaine

Saint Patrick - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

On 17th March St.Patrick's day is celebrated to remember him and what he did. This is celebrated across the world. ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick - 89k

Born	c. AD 387 Banna Venta Berniae, Britain
Died	17 March, 461
Venerated in	Anglicanism Eastern Orthodoxy Lutheranism Roman Catholicism
Feast	17 March (Saint Patrick's Day)
Patronage	Ireland, Nigeria, Montserrat, New York, Boston, engineers, against snakes, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne [1]

Free Dance Lesson for You!

Finnish Disco Dancing

Little Anthony & The Imperials - Hit Medley

Mental Health Break

Ruby-throated Hummingbird Eating From My Hand (Part One) from Russ Thompson on Vimeo.

The success of drug decriminalization in Portugal
By Glenn Greenwald

Patrick: I'm not pro-drugs. Marijuana use -- for a year when I was a teenager -- did me absolutely no good. But, the "War on Drugs" has not worked, in my opinion, unless the goal was to create an underground drug mafia working in several countries. Remember the lessons the U.S. learned during Prohibition (of Alcohol)? Maybe we need to learn some new lessons.

Business: Feds Fear Ruth Madoff Will Flee Country With $93 Million

HEARTBREAKING FOOTAGE: Dateline Follows Police Evicting Families From Their Homes

Patrick: When we see people going through this kind of heartbreak, it makes the AIG scandal (giving out big bonuses to their bigwigs) that much more unconscionable. I do think they deserve to be waterboarded until they promise to return the cash. I'm not kidding.

MORE AIG FALLOUT: Bipartisan Outrage... Pelosi Calls Payouts "Unconscionable"... Says Congress Would Seek To "Recover Taxpayer Funds" Of Companies That Abuse The Bailout... McConnell: "It Is An Outrageous Situation"... AIG Reveals More Than 2/3 Of Bailout Billions Went To Trading Partners Such As Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank... Robert Reich: The Real Scandal Of AIG

Patrick: Where is W when we need someone to order up some torture?

Will Ferrell Playing George W. Bush

Will Ferrell Sings "West Side Story"

Lacking A Pastor Of His Own, Obama Turns To Circle Of Five

The Rev. Kirbyjon H. Caldwell also advised George W. Bush.

The moral crisis behind the economic crisis

Sunday School with Jon Stewart (by Jim Wallis)
03-13-2009

...In the culmination of a week long “cable network feud,” comedian Jon Stewart had CNBC’s Mad Money host Jim Cramer, and what followed sounded like a mix between a confession and a good old values lessons... There is no denying that there is an economic crisis, but what the economic crisis has revealed is something deeper: a moral crisis.

Stewart in his show talks about two different markets, one based in work and the value of what work can produce, and the other a wild adventure for traders financed by hard-working people’s 401Ks... (Click on the green underlined link above to see the video interview and read Jim Wallis's comments in full. And see the following article for further evidence of the moral crisis.)

AIG paying millions in bonuses depsite massive Federal bailout.

Adm. Mike Mullen on Charlie Rose

Get inside the head of Barack Obama’s chief military adviser, Adm. Mike Mullen, head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as he chats up Charlie Rose in a telling discussion centered on international relations and the trajectory of U.S. foreign policy.

Bernard Madoff faces potential 150 years in prison ... -

Bernard Madoff leaves a federal court in New York. The disgraced financier faces up to 150 years in prison. Photograph: Chris Hondros/Getty Images

Patrick: Madoff is nearly 71 years old, and won't live long enough to serve out his prison sentence. His ponzi investment scheme stole amazing amounts of money from Jewish charities, and ruined the finances of many individual investors. I'm tempted to recommend torture for as many years as he lives; but, instead, I'll leave him to Divine Justice.

I confess I'm not feeling moved to pray for any mercy for him.

Religious Suicide in an Investor's World
Rita Polevoy

Excess of Life
Kristyn Komarnicki
Editor, Christ & Culture, PRISM Magazine

... An elderly couple is mugged on the street. A single mother is evicted. A young man is paralyzed in an accident. An infant is born lifeless. People daily suffer the indignities of war, poverty, crime, and disease. Focusing on these realities, we quickly and quite naturally descend into despair. But when we do, we are guilty of selective hearing. For sin, suffering, and death are only part of the story.

The other part of the story is Christ’s love for us, a love that is boundless, inescapable, omnipotent, and transforming. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?” Paul asks in Romans 8:35. No, he affirms, “neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Now there’s a concept that should have us leaping out of bed every morning! (If you’d like to read more, click here).

Frank Schaeffer: Open Letter to the Republican Traitors...

Patrick: I was a big fan of Francis Schaeffer, Frank's dad. Francis had feet of clay but was much wiser and more gracious than a lot of religious right leaders who've been so influential since then. Frank's books give us a view of his parents and of the fundamentalist culture which reveal its quirks and weaknesses. Those quirks and weaknesses have developed into something worse for many people. When you mix that with political power (as in a George Bush) it is positively dangerous. Frank may be a little bitter, but I can hardly blame him. Bush and company drove our country into a deep ditch.

The Depression Epidemic
Why we're more down than ever—and the crucial role churches play in healing. Click to continue.

Patrick: I am not a Democrat or a Republican. I have the luxury of being able to make fun of each party's foibles and take no personal blame. So, please read the following cartoon in that spirit. I'd be glad to make fun of Democrats too.

• 

  The GOP's surefire 11-point plan for success!

  By Tom Tomorrow

Hale "Bonddad" Stewart: The Economy -- Not the President -- Is Tanking the Market

One of the more ridiculous statements going around is "this is an Obama bear market." This is, well, ill-informed at best and fraudulent at worst.

Palestinian PM resigns, paves way for unity talks (AP)
RAMALLAH, West Bank – The Western-backed Palestinian prime minister submitted his resignation Saturday, improving the odds of a possible unity government of Fatah moderates and Hamas militants, followed by new Palestinian elections...

Associated Press writers Mohammed Daraghmeh and Diaa Hadid contributed to this report.

Is Obama responsible for Wall Street's meltdown?
By Robert Reich

Patrick: Bush-supporting "conservatives" are prone to demonize Obama in every way they can. Robert Reich takes a look at recent accusations that Obama's economic policies are creating problems for the stock market.

Corporations can sin too

Patrick: An elderly friend of mine came by today to complain about how Obama is ruining our economy, and how if only the government would leave businesses alone and not tax them, everything would be alright. I reminded him that Bush and Cheney were in power for 8 years, leading up to the present economic woes. Obama's been in office for about 6 weeks. Blaming him for our problems seems a bit disingenuous to say the least. Republicans have chanted their mantra about "less regulation" for years, and that has opened the doors to all kinds of problems. Why? Because of greed. And it isn't only individual sin that is a problem; corporations can sin too. Here's an article from a former free-market thinker who realized that corporations sometimes need to be controlled by good regulations.

From "First Things":

Evangelicals and Economics: Reflections of a Conservative Protestant

By Hunter Baker

"Several months ago, I heard a story that forced me to give more careful thought to my views on the built-in morality of the market. A large airline on the brink of bankruptcy in 2002 asked employees to make substantial wage concessions. They agreed. The airline returned to profitability, and management acknowledged that it had the workers to thank, but in the subsequent years, instead of restoring the wage concessions, it awarded hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses to executives...

"The story jarred me. Somehow, I had never applied my Christian conception of a sinful world to corporate behavior..."

Hal Lindsey's advice to the U.S. and Israel

Hal Lindsey, author of speculative prophecy books, has some advice for Israel and the USA. (See my comments after this excerpt.)

Let's put Iran back to 1850s
- By Hal Lindsey
"...Iranian leaders have even spoken about the desirability of an EMP attack against the U.S. and Israel on several occasions. A single such detonation at approximately 250 miles over the center of the U.S. would knock out all of our unshielded electronic systems from coast to coast and from Canada to Mexico... Everything from aircraft, aircraft, radar, communications, water systems, elevators, hospital diagnostic and operating room equipment, law enforcement, etc. would be instantly be destroyed or rendered useless.

"But what if we turned the tables? ... why sit around and wait for our known enemies to put us technologically into the 1850s? I think we should 'do unto them before they do unto us.' In the final analysis, such an act of boldness would save millions of lives on both sides. Israel, I especially hope you are listening."

Patrick: Hey, Hal, has prophetic paranoia knocked out your spiritual microchips? "Let's kill them because they might do something to hurt us!" Wonderful Christian ethic. Haven't you heard of Just War theology? This website has a good summary of it:
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/pol116/justwar.htm

Jon Stewart takes down CNBC

Watch this greatest hits compilation of the network's rah-rah fronting for the Bush economy and "losers" like Bear Stearns, Lehman and AIG

Prince Charles Named World's Best-Dressed Man, Obama Comes In Fourth

(POLL, PHOTOS)

Patrick: Do you think I could get a suit like this at Men's Warehouse? I hear they're having a buy one, get one free sale? Anybody wanna' go in on the deal with me?

The Gospel According to the Beatles
by Bill Crowder

What's bad for the GOP is good for Rush Limbaugh

By Alex Koppelman

Patrick: It's really too bad that there's not an intelligent, articulate conservative spokesman such as a William F. Buckley. Instead we have a former Bush-Cheney cheerleader, sound-bite machine called Rush. He may provide disappointed and angry Republicans with some sort of political/psychological catharsis, but he'll drive more people away from conservativism than he ever attracts.

E.J. Dionne on Obama and Taxes
"Redistributionist, and That’s Just Fine" -- The well-off will pay more in taxes. And before the howling on the right gets too loud, consider that we have just gone through a long era involving a far less frank form of redistribution—upward.

Patrick: I heard recently that if you took the minimum wage in the 1960s and adjusted it for inflation, it would be close to $10 an hour. Which means, of course, that the minimum wage has gone way down in terms of buying power. Which means that a lot of "successful businesses" and "business owners who've created wealth" have built their fortunes on the backs of poorly paid workers. I don't know enough about Obama's budget to know if it will help or hurt the country in the long run. But it seems to me that those who profit most from the American system ought to be giving more back in taxes.

Here are some reflections on the Obama budget from Evangelicals For Social Action:

Public Policy

Obama’s First Budget
by Ron Sider

Government budgets, as many people point out, are moral documents. So how do we evaluate President Obama’s first budget?

Obviously, one needs more than a few paragraphs to comment carefully on a $3.6 trillion budget.

One basic point, however, seems clear. Finally. Finally a budget that shows more concern for the people at the lower end of the income scale.

In the last 20 years, the richest 1 percent of Americans increased their share of national income from 10 percent to 20 percent. During the same years, the poorest 20 percent saw their income drop in real dollars. The number of people falling in poverty and lacking healthcare also grew regularly—even before the current economic crisis.

Yes, I think it is morally right to increase the taxes of families making more than $250,000 a year (actually that figure should be lower!) so that we can increase Pell grants for poor kids going to college, move toward universal health coverage, move toward a greener economy.

Yes, that involves taxing richer folk to empower poorer citizens. That’s not class warfare, that’s biblical justice.

Class Warfare?
by Bret Kincaid

President Obama’s unveiling of his first budget last week predictably unleashed applause and cheers from the left and howls and jeers from the right. This would have happened even without the stridently partisan response to the $787 billion stimulus package from weeks before. Of course, this budget should not have surprised anyone; it is consistent with his campaign pledges. Indeed, he believes his six-point election victory gave him a mandate to propose a budget intended to bend the 30-year trajectory increasing inequality between the rich and those who are not—the middle class and poor. (In 1980, the top 1 percent of income earners received 10 percent of all US income; now it is over 20 percent.)

Equality of need has been on the radar screen of the church ever since the Apostle Paul, cup-in-hand, took a collection for the suffering Jerusalem church. He told the Corinthians the purpose of his charitable enterprise was to ensure “equality” (2 Cor. 8.14). This exhortation made complete sense in light of the many hundreds of years of teaching on the meaning of biblical justice, a prophetic standard condemnatory of any substantial gap between rich and poor. There is no good reason we should relegate this standard exclusively to the church; equality of need is a condition of life that God wants all human beings to live in.

But is a $3.6 trillion budget that relies heavily on redistribution of wealth just? Should we join those who echoed candidate John McCain’s fear that Obama would “spread the wealth around”? Read more.

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Imago Fidei
Christianity Today's pictures blog, with a new photograph, painting, design, or sculpture each day that shows Christian life or expresses our faith.

Beware of pious-sounding nonsense

Patrick: Reading about the woman in this article (click on link below) reminds me a little of the biblical character Job. I pray that she'll be able to hang on to her belief in God's love, and that he will protect her from too many encounters with judgmental friends.

When Life and Work Fall Apart
She is a professional. Capable. Commanding. Her presence fills conference rooms, but her private life is otherwise.

Patrick (continued): I've been teaching Job and I'm amazed how quick his friends were to assume that his great suffering must have originated in some great sin. At the end of the book God shows up and says that he's angry with Job's friends because of their stupid, self-righteous comments. Job is finally vindicated, but he had to endure a lot of ridiculous religious idiocy from his friends before God showed up.

Reading the comments of Job's friends (all written in Hebrew poetry, like some kind of biblical opera) might leave a lot of people with the impression that they were wise and godly. The medium is the message! They spoke of faith and righteousness and God's justice, etc., etc., but when they said something true it was usually misapplied to Job's case; and often they said stuff that wasn't true. But it was said so very piously. Beware of pious-sounding nonsense.