This image boils my butt; the pilot landed the craft. It wasn’t some miracle; human effort save all those people. It would have been a miracle if the plane had landed without any intervention on the part of the Pilot at all. Why minimize Human Achievement like this?
Frequent readers of this blog or people who just look at the preceeding post to this one might get the idea that I’m a firm anti-religious type, and you’d be wrong.
I’m still a big fan of the Catholic School Board I was educated by from 2-13 in Ontario and wouldn’t exchange it for an irreligious or secular school any day. I was taught by (for the most part) dedicated people who handed the students the tools and means to make an informed decision about Church and Religion. They taught us about comparative religion and evolution and science and reasoning and problem solving and history. It wasn’t “The Catholic” version of things, it was “the facts as they knew and understood them” which prepared my class and some of the surrounding years for a future where we could choose for ourselves. I like that and encourage it. I was handed a bible and a measuring stick and told to find out the distance the words in it would go. For a long time they went pretty far.
I still write Roman Catholic on Government forms when I’m asked to identify my Religious Affiliation; although I don’t practice anymore (I got it right and decided that I’d leave an open seat for others). I’m an Agnostic, not an Atheist. I don’t know if there is something more than me, I don’t think it is likely that the Christians, Jews or Moslems or any of the other Religious groups are correct though. I critique the “Religious” because they are the Rediculous, they just seem to want comfort from the Universe; comfort from a Parent that they can’t touch or see. I’ll admit that the thought that this life is all I have is scary, shouldn’t it compel me to make the most of this life?
I imagine that where the Religious and My Agnostic classmates diverge is motivation. I do good things to make others feel good, not for the rewards (well, not the rewards alone anyway) but I do good things in secret too, without anyone knowing. I don’t need magical rewards that only show up when I die to motivate good deeds; I try to encourage this in my daughter. However in the Religious, good deeds are motivated not by love for one another, but by fear of punishment beyond the grave. If you are living in fear of Hell, please take this simple advice:
If you die and there IS a god and a heaven and you have been good according to their rules, WIN!
If you die and there IS a god and heaven and you have been bad and end up in hell, at least you have eternal life and take comfort in the fact that eventually god saves all the souls in hell once they have been redeemed. Also, famous dead people! WIN!
If you die and that is it, what would you know about it? You’re gone. Win (for you)
Death, scary as it is, is only hard on the living, the dead don’t suffer from the heartache that the survivors feel.
My Dad (who knows everything) says that Hell is probably the Black Nothing of being without life, but if one was aware of said blackness, then isn’t that still eternal life? This is why my Dad calls me a smart ass.
All of that aside, I was well-educated and prepared for life by my teachers, almost all of them religious people, good church going folk. Only three of them ever made me feel in danger for either my physical well-being or my uh sexual well-being (One time a Religion teacher growled at me as I walked by, he was a former Monk and I swear he was coming on to me in some clumsy way that still puzzles me. I’m tubby, hit on someone who wants it Mr. Beardy Former Monk). My history teachers gave us a rich view of the world, spanning the centuries, putting into perspective the stories from the Bible as the work of Men who lived in fear of the Night. Our Science teachers (biology, Chemistry and Physics) gave us the keys to the worlds workings, showing us the diversity and simple beauty of the math behind it all. Our Social Studies and Technology teachers showed us how we interacted with the world and let us discover how our interactions affected it. Our arts teachers let us appreciate the written word and visual arts for what they were (within a strict and often compellingly bad structure, at least we had creative writing!)
All of this aside, I was given a good Education at Catholic School and wouldn’t prevent my own daughter from experiencing it or discourage other parents from signing up their kids for the same district. I can only speak for my own experience and would love to hear from my former classmates if they happen on this post.
“I think that you should hear what my opinion about the Obama election is: that he will not be the next president. I said on my home page in August that if he lost to expect to see the ‘riots’ that 2 Peter 2:13 tells us about. He didn’t lose. But the story is not finished yet. I still think they may begin the riots before Christmas 2008, as I said.”
Parowan Prophet — on Obama (2008)
‘I”ve never lived through an explosion,’ Freeborn said. ‘But I”ve stood in the fire [in a vision], I”ve smelled the smoke, I”ve felt the blast and the wind. God has realistic videos that are fantastic.’
Freeborn”s visions get grimmer.
‘One million will die between Brigham City and St. George,’ he said. ‘If you live beyond 10 miles of Hill Air Force Base don”t let the sun go down without a full tank of gas.’ He suggested going there because Cache Valley won”t suffer as much damage as the rest of northern Utah.
Parowan Prophet — Predicting Nuclear war in 2003
Again the mystical Right Wingers take flight! Rod Parsley’s Guest Gary Bauer proclaimed that if Obama was elected, which Rod (of course) bobble-headed. Don’t forget the non-so-subtle threats from the “Concerned Christians” over there at the Victoria Advocate. In Fact, let’s ask Yahoo Answers how the Mystics of the Desert feel about Obama.
It’s comforting to think that the last guy was so blessed with the power of “the sight” too.
When will it end? Well, according to the Prophet, in about 10 days. Good Luck!
I know you somehow become blindly enamored by the Harper Conservatives, with their eyes cast up and southward, but you may have a second chance to right what went wrong in the recent election.
Think back, for a bit, to when the Gomery inquiry wasn’t all over the headlines and you didn’t have just one reason to punish the dirty politicians for being dirty politicians. The Liberals stewarded an unprecedented economic period in Canadian history, with eyes towards balanced budgets and zero deficits, where you had jobs and were reasonably well cared for by a federal government less interested in running like a corporation with a church in its boardroom and more like a government with hands in its pockets.
When was the last time you looked at a staunch church-going CEO and thought of them as a warm, charitable person? That’s a Tory. One Half Cold Businessperson-out to gut the Government, one half authoritarian scold, looking to put a camera in your shower to make sure you’re not touching yourself or using unapproved oils for moisturizing, all while whistling past graveyards they fill with your kids.
This is a fairly inflammatory statement, but lets face it, reason doesn’t always work.
I’m a fucking Prison Officer! My name is printed on the list too! I’d like the party to make a legal case under the DPA 1998 and the Human Rights Act to have all the people on this list protected in some way.
An unknown party leaked the Party Membership rolls of the British National Party to the Internet. Which prompted some discussion on the matter.
Like other organizations of the same stripe (The National Socialist Party or the Christian Heritage Party) the BNP gets by on either Xenophobic persecution of the “other” in society or the call for a return to “traditional values”. This appeals to people on a number of levels; it appeals to their desire for a stable society (which is an admirable desire, as society really needs some form of status quo) and a desire for a “return to gentler values” which may be suspect as I think a long-view of history would show that the world is in fact a much gentler place than it has ever been, but with a more aggressive face (all hat no battle so to speak).
Yet, where these organization stray from their admirable goals is the use of prejudices to gain acceptance, rather than organizing around an ideal like “You remember how when you were a kid, your mom took good care of you, we’re like that” they say “remember when there were no something-ies in the neighbourhood, we liked that and want things like that again”. We have one ideal of a positive and one couched in a prejudicial negative. Rather than “for” something, the BNP is organized as “against” something and someone else. Which is where they have really lost their way.
I’m all for cultural preservation and the celebration of national history, swing that bat all you want. It’s just that in civil society, you don’t threaten to use a REAL BAT to do it.
As for this sad little Prison Officer, look where he wants to go, he wants the Government to protect him, the same Government he previously chided for giving asylum to other oppressed persons. The Irony is thick and delicious, kind of like a nice Clotted Cream.
In the Pat Robertson Prayer Challenge I asserted that Pat could not lose when he compels his flock to pray for something. All over the web; Christians took to the Deitic Airwaves to call for God to come down and press the lever on their behalf.
“There are millions of people around this world praying to their god—whether it’s Hindu, Buddha, Allah—that his opponent wins, for a variety of reasons. And Lord, I pray that you will guard your own reputation, because they’re going to think that their God is bigger than you, if that happens,” said Arnold Conrad, the former pastor of Grace Evangelical Free Church in Davenport.
(at a McCain Rally)
Pray for Obama to lose election
Christians should stand united in prayer on Nov. 3, at 7 p.m. around the world for the coming election.
Have you done your research yet? What is leading you to vote — mammon (money) or what God says is right?
We are supposed to lead the blind. We are not supposed to tell them what is right in their eyes is right, because they cannot see.
Have you voted already? Why is Barack Hussein Obama pushing that you vote early? Is he hiding something?
Is Jesus going to ask you on Judgment Day why you voted for a president who is a Democrat in 2008 if you knew that he lies.
A lot of people say the politicians lie. Sometimes we believe what they say, because we hope for the best. We are supposed to hope for the best. When you know someone is lying you are not supposed to vote for that person.
If someone says they’re a Christian it doesn’t mean they are. If you sit in a garage it doesn’t make you a car, just like if you sit in church it doesn’t mean you’re a Christian. How do you know if someone is a Christian? You know by they’re works or deeds not just their words. A Christian means to be Christlike. Jesus says “Thou shalt not kill” Obama says, that it’s OK to kill babies. Even if the baby was supposed to be aborted, but lives, the nurses are supposed to put them in a laundry cart and let them starve to death, naked.
In Judges, it says that the men wanted to know ( to have sex with) the visitor (a man) who came to town and God said, “That is a vile thing and should not be found among his children”
Obama says that to be gay is OK and for homosexuals to marry their partners is OK. Take a look at the presidential report card at http://www.savecalifornia.com/PresidentialReportCard.pdf.
Dawn Poniente, Wisconsin Dells
It has occurred to me that this could mean our prayers for a McCain victory are going to be answered in the affirmative, and that somewhere inside me, I know better than to worry. On the other hand, it could be the result of a deep realization that I am becoming separate from the world, and that my security comes from God, not politicians.
And So on…
Now, the Pat Robertson’s of the world can say, “Well, God answered the prayers of those who Prayed FOR Obama to Win.” or “Now we sit back and wait for God’s Punishment” whatever.
Those who truly believe in Prayer will never see it’s failure as an indictment against it; only that they didn’t pray correctly or that they didn’t do it hard enough. The first Murder in the Bible was in part Inspired by this same fervor, Caine could not make an offering to God that he felt was “good enough” and so he sacrificed his brother. Rather than take the advice of their own “book” the Fundamentalist overlooks the obvious lesson and just takes the punishment.
It’s this continued avoidance of learning and understanding that makes a Fundamentalist who they are and allows Cynics like Mr. Robertson to prey on them again and again.
An Islamist rebel administration in Somalia has had a 13-year-old girl stoned to death for adultery after the child’s father reported that she was raped by three men.
Amnesty International said al-Shabab militia, which controls the southern city of Kismayo, arranged for 50 men to stone Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow in front of about 1,000 spectators. A lorry load of stones was brought to the stadium for the killing.
From “The guardian UK“
Dear Muslims,
Like the Christians, you have a great deal to answer for; not the least of which is your continual adherence to the desert god worship that justifies this kind of crap. In Short, like said Desert Gods, dry up and blow away.
Signed,
The Twenty-First Century
Seriously? This is simply unacceptable. These people need a long thrashing with the clue stick, as much as the people in “Jesus Camp” are backwards idiots, these guys are the same. Hiding behind a 2000 year old imported religious tradition to justify long-term terrorism, and terrorism this is, the 1,000 witnesses were not volunteers, they were there to “spread the word” that this “militia” are the hardest and most observant Muslims in the area. Why don’t they just start a rap label and just sing about how hard they are?
Well, what is going to be done about this folks?
Dear Editor:
I am a homecare worker, delivering home health and home support services in Kincardine and area for The Red Cross. I’m writing to inform the community of our current situation.
Ontario homecare workers work hard and deliver quality service. With low wages, no pension and no benefits, our employment conditions are well below the standards set for colleagues working in facilities and hospitals.
Providing homecare requires that I must travel between clients. Many homecare workers, like myself, spend as much time on the road getting to clients as we do actually providing care to them. Currently this time spent on the road travelling between clients is unpaid, but is demanded of us. It’s actually part of our job description to travel, but we don’t get paid for this time on the road. This means some workers are out for 8-10 hours a day but only getting paid for 4-6 hours of work.
I ask you, is that fair?
We do get some compensation for mileage, but at a meager 32 cents per kilometer. With today’s gas prices it often results in the worker cutting into their weekly pay just to fill the tank. We maintain our vehicles out of our own pockets and fill our tanks to get to those people who need our care.
I know the homecare system can be improved. Compensation for all of our work, including travel time, is very important. Fair wages, mileage compensation and work protections for homecare workers – like all other workers – is the place to start.
I love the work I do and know I’m a professional delivering the kind of care that’s essential to the health of patients I meet each week.
But at the present working conditions, a lot of the current homecare workers will not be able to continue providing care to these family members, friends and neighbours, because they can no longer afford to get there.
I ask if delivery people were only paid while they were actually handing over their items and not while on the road in between deliveries, do you think we would have many deliveries being done?
We home care workers deliver a service also and are asking that we are treated fairly and paid for the work we do.
At a time when the healthcare sector is relying heavily on our services for seniors, discharged hospital patients and others requiring care and support, homecare workers are being pushed to their limits and are being pressured by poor working conditions and low wages to leave the profession.
Change must occur!
I encourage you to contact our local MP/MPP and make them aware of this situation.
Kerry Wardrop
PSW/CSW
Kincardine
For More information please visit runningonempty.ca
Taking a Quick Swipe at an Easy Target
Published by NiteMayr on January 5, 2009I lived in the States for a while, Oregon to be precise. State control of the Education Budget would be a disaster there; as the people would underfund the school system to death, then blame the schools for failing to educate their kids. I overheard dozens of Walmart Butter Trolls talking about vetoing school budget increases (needed to offset cuts imposed by NCLB) because the schools were doing a poor job of educating their kids. Of course! The answer is obvious, force the schools to cut budgets for education, that’ll make them teach HARDER to survive!
I wonder if the education System in Oregon has been producing these dunderheads forever or only since the electorate got to vote on budgets?
People will vote down any tax “increase” simple as that.
Good Old Ron Paul was like Tax Panecea for some folks, stupid folks.