my sister shares her story about the I-69 tree sit

This past weekend a tree sit protesting I-69 was “evicted” by DNR, the Indiana State Police, and other “law enforcement” agencies. My sister was right in the middle of (some of) the action, and she’s shared her story on her blog.
An excerpt:
I was just going to stay in the sidelines but through their disgusting behavior, [...]

Early morning, April 4, a shot rings out in the Memphis sky…

As you’re probably aware, on this day 40 years ago Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated.
Fewer people are aware of this speech he gave 41 years ago, today.
Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence
by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
April 4, 1967
I come to this magnificent house of worship tonight because my conscience leaves me no [...]

Let’s hear it for the democratic process

Depending on which study one considers credible either 70% or 90+% of people in Indiana are opposed to construction of a new-terrain extension of I-69 from Indianapolis through southwestern Indiana. The major pocket of support is among business interests in the Evansville area.
This project is highly problematic for numerous reasons, including but not limited to [...]

Speaking engagements and new zine

I have a couple of confirmed speaking engagements coming up and another possible one.
“Jesus and the Anarchists”
Saturday, March 22
7 pm
ASC Infoshop
600 SE 2nd St. (upstairs from Penny Lane Coffeehouse)
Evansville, Indiana
“Sacred Anarchy: The Image of God and Political (Dis)Order”
Cornerstone Festival
Underground/Alternative Subcultures tent
Date and time not yet finalized (festival is June 30-July 5)
And I might do a [...]

Anti-I69 consulta this weekend

An anti-I69 consulta will be held this weekend here in Evansville, Indiana to discuss resistance strategies and tactics. See the Roadblock Earth First! Stop I-69 website for more information.

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 [...]

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 [...]

“[I] had been living inside their imagination.”

Recently I read the excellent novel Imagining Argentina by Thornton Wilder. The book is set in Argentina under a military junta of the type the United States tends to support in our so-called “ally” countries. People are constantly disappearing, being abducted by agents of the regime, including the wife of Carlos. Carlos possesses a mysterious [...]

Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence

This is one of King’s most important speeches and yet one of his most little-known. Delivered on April 4, 1967, exactly one year to the day before he was assassinated, this speech provides a scathing denunciation of the practices of the American government on the world stage, particularly in Vietnam. King extends his methodology of [...]

New Roadblock EF anti-I69 site

Check it out, there’s a lot of good information there both on I-69 and on some general radical and environmental topics.

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, [...]

Hidden costs double war bill

Washington Post article
Ignoring for a moment the hypocrisy of the Democrats criticizing the cost of the wars when they overwhelmingly voted for them in the first place and continually approve funding for endless “emergency” appropriations, here’s an excerpt from the article:
The economic costs to the United States of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan so [...]

The Qaddish and the Lord’s Prayer

The Qaddish, named from the Hebrew qadosh, “holy”, is one of the central prayers in Jewish worship. It is very old, going back to pre-Christian times. The Qaddish, in one of its shorter versions (from an ancient Jewish inscription) says:
Magnified and sanctified be his great name in the world He created according to His will. [...]

I-69 planners on ‘High Alert’

story from Evansville Courier-Press
I-69 is essentially the NAFTA highway.
NAFTA superhighway built under the radar screen - from WorldNetDaily
NAFTA superhighways threaten North America - from Asphalt Strawberry
If completed, it would stretch from Canada to Mexico and would be a part of the corporate strategic machine for enabling the more efficient flow of goods, workers (legal and [...]

misc.

The Jesus Radicals conference went very well. If you weren’t able to attend, there will be CDs available of the sessions for a very reasonable price, so check back here and I’ll let you know when they’re available - or, better yet, you could join the discussion on the forums and find out first-hand!
I have [...]

a summary of Christian anarchy

I posted this on an anarchist discussion group a short while ago, and thought it was worth sharing here.
I may be a bit of an oddball, because I actually came to my anarchist views through my religious studies.
I have written somewhat more about my views on my blog, http://propheticheretic.wordpress.com (though I’ve neglected it as of [...]

May 1 - International Workers’ Day

Happy May Day, or as it is widely known, International Workers’ Day.
On this day in 1896 the great general strike for an 8-hour workday (over 350,000 strikers across the United States) that culminated in the Haymarket affair began. Today is an international day of labor recognition in many countries - with the United States a [...]

Read this if you care about what you eat

I don’t usually get into campaigns trying to leverage the government but sometimes even anarchists have to work within the system, and then brush our teeth later to get the bad taste out of our mouths.
Got this from the Urban Sisterhood:
The FDA wants to allow food from cloned animals into the food supply without labeling.
Please [...]

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 [...]