Meet me on Facebook

Because I've been using Facebook so much lately, a lot of my newer stuff is there. I also don't feel so much of a need to write like I used to. So, I'm probably not going to keep this blog going much longer.

But, you can find me on Facebook. Do a search for uman (at) sunflower {dot} com and add me.

Cheers.

Addicts?

A realization I made a shared with a friend today:

This NPR Planet Money Podcast is great:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2009/02/get_tougher_please.html#more

 Their interviewees also argue for nationalization and explain why the government doesn’t want to.  It’s all variations of fear and denial. 

It’s starting to seem like the country is an addict and acting like addicts—unable to face reality, unable to tell the truth, unable to do what needs to be done, unable to comprehend what life would be like if they stopped living like addicts.

 

Put an end to stupid House Resolutions

One of the things I have been following lately is the Congressional legislative agenda. And I am absolutely amazed at how much time the House spends doing stupid things. In the midst of the worst recession in our history, here is the bulk of today's legislative agenda:

H.Res. 128­­ - Honoring Miami University for its 200 years of commitment to extraordinary higher education (Rep. Boehner – Education and Labor)

H.Res. 134 - Recognizing the 50th Anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s visit to India, and the positive influence that the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi had on Dr. King’s work during the Civil Rights Movement (Rep. Lewis (GA) – Judiciary)

H.Con.Res. 35 - Honoring and praising the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) on the occasion of its 100th anniversary (Rep. Al Green (TX) – Judiciary)

H.Res. 71 - Acknowledging the lifelong service of Griffin Boyette Bell to the State of Georgia and the United States as a legal icon (Rep. Kingston – Judiciary)

H.Res. 129 - Recognizing the historical significance of the Merced Assembly Center to the Nation and the importance of establishing an appropriate memorial at that site to serve as a place for remembering the hardships endured by Japanese Americans, so that the United States remains vigilant in protecting our Nation's core values of equality, due process of law, justice, and fundamental fairness (Rep. Cardoza – Judiciary)

H.Res. 114 - Supporting the goals and ideals of "National Girls and Women in Sports Day" (Rep. Sires – Education and Labor)

H.Res. 60 - Recognizing and commending University of Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford for winning the 2008 Heisman Trophy and for his academic and athletic accomplishments (Rep. Fallin – Education and Labor)

H.Res. 71 - Acknowledging the lifelong service of Griffin Boyette Bell to the State of Georgia and the United States as a legal icon (Rep. Kingston – Judiciary)
H.Res. 117 - Supporting the goals and ideals of National Engineers Week (Rep. Lipinski – Science and Technology)

H.Res. __ - Honoring John Dingell for holding the record as the longest serving Member of the House of Representatives (Rep. Kildee - House Administration)

Can anything good come out of Nazareth?

From Barbara Crafton

Can anything good come out of Nazareth?
John 1:46

Of course it can. Something good can come out of anywhere. Whatever else national origin or race or sexual orientation or religion or gender may confer on us, they seem not to carry automatic goodness or automatic evil. Those permate whole human family, and every segment has its share of both. I can't tell whether you are a good person or not just by looking at your passport. I will need to know more.

I wonder if bigotry is not the greatest of human evils, and the one at the root of all the others. The world would be such a different place if we didn't have it -- imagine what America would be like without racism, what marriage and families would be like if women had always been accorded equality with men, if the world had no memory of anything else. What if religion had never made exclusive claims on its believers, had never insisted that everyone outside the organization was doomed to an eternity in hell? Certainly, we would have had fewer wars.

Bigotry is the devil's perversion of love. He takes the natural love we feel for our own kind and refracts it into hatred and fear of the other. He makes us think we are being loyal to our own when we reject everyone else. Ugly and sad, this business, and it permeates everything we do.

But it can be cut off at the knees simply by a decision not to act in accordance with its dictates, and that decision can be made at any time by anybody. We do it ourselves, each of us. And sometimes we do it together, a wonder to behold. For, whatever has happened in the past, it is never too late to do a good thing.
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