“Green energy” and Amazon rain forests

People need to to read things like this before they ignorantly ramble about how great biofuels are.
At the bottom of page one it talks about the possibility of the Amazon rain forest turning into something like a savannah or even a desert. It wouldn’t be the first time human deforestation has caused a vital and [...]

Musings on meat and the recent recall

Well, unless you live under a rock you’ve probably heard by now that 143 million pounds of beef coming from a particular meat factory in California have been recalled due to concerns over health and safety related to the improper health-related treatment of certain “downer” cows. A few thoughts:
1) I saw on the news today [...]

Loyalty, love, and stability

I’ve been reading quite a bit lately about monastic traditions, including some reading related to a recent and ongoing movement that has been dubbed “new monasticism” (see also here and the Schools for Conversion web site). Missio Dei, founded by Mark Van Steenwyk of Jesus Manifesto is an example of a self-consciously new monastic community.
I [...]

Lent this year

It has now been six days since my Lent/Ash Wednesday reflection post, in which I promised I would post what I am doing for this Lenten season in a day or two. It should surprise no one at this point to hear that, on the Myers-Briggs personality type indicator, I am a P (this is [...]

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 [...]

Thoughts on Lent and Ash Wednesday

Today is Ash Wednesday, also known as “Fat Tuesday hangover day”, also known as the beginning of the season of Lent. The Gospel reading for today, from the Daily Office Lectionary in the Book of Common Prayer:
To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: [...]

Guest article: America the Fascist

My friend Steven Kippel wrote this post, and I requested permission to reproduce it here. Just so no one who has a loved one involved with the military will hear this the wrong way, my brother is in the last stages of mission training before going to Iraq - so this is quite a personal [...]

Green consumerism? A short video

Thanksgiving

It’s hard to believe, given the association of Thanksgiving with feasting and making merry with family and friends, but Thanksgiving actually grew out of a European tradition of taking days to fast and pray and humble one’s self before God that was carried on by English immigrants to the new colonies (particularly by the Puritans, [...]

“our hands are too full”

I got this from Reflections of a Jazz Theologian:
Saint Augustine once said…
God is always trying to give good things to us, but our hands are too full to receive.
Gerald May adds…
If our hands are full, they are full of the things to which we are addicted.  And not only our hands, but also our hearts, [...]

Make Something Day

I’m sure by now a lot of people have at least heard of Adbusters‘ “Buy Nothing Day“, a kind of subversive response to the mayhem that is “Black Friday“, the “official” beginning of the holiday shopping season. The Ecclesia Collective takes that initiative one step further with “Make Something Day“. I really like this idea, [...]

Orwell Rolls in His Grave

A documentary exploration into how the Media is anti-democratic.

excellent article

Thanks to one of my Livejournal friends for showing me this.
Welcome to Middle-Class Lockdown 
Excerpt:
But I never in my life imagined it would be so hard to escape the various American forms of institutionalized extortion and blackmail. Becoming debt free was the least of it. And having everyone you know and love believe your have slipped [...]

a brief on the nature and limits of counterculture

If you’ve read much on here, particularly in my pages (especially About, Anarchy, and Prophetic), you know I’m all about Christianity as counterculture. There are, I think, a number of good reasons for this, not the least of which are rooted in the early church practices and the teachings of Jesus and the apostles, but [...]

well, this is one way to fight economic injustice

‘Robin Hood’ Gang Robs Gourmet Stores in Bid to Feed Hamburg’s Poor
I’m conflicted over the usefulness of this tactic, particularly for Christians, but at the same time I’m intrigued.  I definitely sympathize with their ideals, though.  I suppose I’ll cheer them on from the sidelines.
I’m constantly conflicted over my desire to see the church truly [...]

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 [...]

A little more on Terrell Owens, peace protesting, and the media

You know why Terrell Owens gets more press coverage than nearly 100 people being arrested for protesting on the Capitol lawn? Well, I’m not saying it isn’t possible that there’s a government interest in keeping that sort of news hush-hush, particularly since they were totally nonviolent, but really, as V says in V for Vendetta… [...]

speaking of protesting…

Here’s one for you from The Smirking Chimp:
Future Shock: Evidence of Plans to Torture US Demonstrators
I do not see any way our government can even pretend to uphold the supposed traditional American values of little things like liberty and justice for all, that whole pursuit of happiness bit. The only reason it’s even possible [...]

Peak oil, alternative energy sources, infrastructure, and the future of America

First, I’m going to assume that people will at least recognize that using sources of energy that create less pollution is generally a good thing, and even if you’re reading this and don’t believe in global warming (you poor, poor corporate dupe) it can’t possibly hurt to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. So it would [...]

The Hot Topic Phenomenon

Or, see the bit on my About page, “The revolution will not be televised, instead it will be analyzed and sold back to the ones who start it. And the rest of the world can watch via podcast.”
The tendency of the pop-culture market is to take that which is on the fringes and make it [...]