Support our troops?

This morning, my grandfather sent me an email “action alert” from the American Family Association urging protest of the recent Berkeley, California City Council resolution that declared the downtown Marine recruiting office “unwanted” and urged the recruiters to leave town. This article does not respond to that issue, but rather to the subject line of [...]

Subverting the rhetoric of American empire

Brandon Rhodes has written an EXCELLENT article at Jesus Manifesto called “Severing the Rhetorical Roots of the Empire“. In it he lists some quotes, inviting followers of Jesus to creatively rewrite them to displace idolatry and blasphemy with subversive truth, just as Paul and other early Christian authors rhetorically usurped Caesar’s place of privilege and [...]

Christians: haters of humanity

Michael Cline has written an excellent article over at Jesus Manifesto. An excerpt:
The charge of hatred is enmeshed with the idea of religious piety in ancient Rome. To be a good citizen in the Roman Empire meant to participate in the civic life of the state. The gladiator games, the burning of incense to gods, [...]

World War II and American Empire

“The formulation of a statement of war aims for propaganda purposes is very different from formulation of one defining the true national interest… If war aims are stated, which seem to be concerned solely with Anglo-American imperialism, they will offer little to people in the rest of the world, and will be vulnerable to Nazi [...]

The obligatory 9/11 post

I wasn’t going to do this, I was just going to let the post about Stirling Bridge stand as my statement about 9/11, but I just wrote this for my Livejournal and thought it was worth sharing here.
“Further, the process of transformation, even if it brings revolutionary change, is likely to be a long one, [...]

the flag of truth

I’m back from Michigan! Don’t forget to register for the Jesus Radicals conference. It’s free!
This is an amazing picture. I got it from Gavin at Make/Shift.

Sergeant Timothy John Westphal, 31, of Denver, 18th Infantry Brigade, 1st Infantry Division. In Tikrit on year-long tour beginning February 2004.
“If Soldiers Came From Another Country And Did This To [...]

the Katrina of 2007?

That’s how Democratic Senator Charles Schumer of New York refers to the current scandal regarding the treatment of wounded Iraq vets at Walter Reed hospital.
While comparisons may be apt on the count of massive government negligence and indifference regarding both the poorer denizens of the Gulf Coast and the wounded soldiers returning home from Iraq, [...]

a brief musing about FOX media

It’s funny… I remember when I was younger that FOX was trumpeted, at least in the circles to which I had access, as being this great socially subversive “liberal stronghold” that presented programs that undermined traditional morality. The Simpsons is the example that most readily comes to mind, but there was also Married… With Children [...]

on force (very brief)

I just noticed that I talk a lot about force, to the extent where I might even give sometimes the impression that I think we’re under some kind of military dictatorship.  This is obviously not the case.  Force is far from the only weapon used to ensure compliance, and far from the most common.  Empire [...]

The US Constitution: intended to provide liberty and justice for all?

Read this article and tell me what you think.
A Constitution for the Few: Looking Back to the Beginning — by Michael Parenti
The argument is that the actual way that the Constitution came into being served more to preserve and protect the status of the American upper class than the ideals we commonly assume today. Parenti [...]