Dosey Doe on Terrorism

We don’t know the motivations of the two brothers as of yet, but we can say that we should have known that Chechen terror groups aligned themselves with radical Muslim terror groups, such as Al Qaeda, over a decade ago. Yet many neocon analysts are busy feigning shock over this recent turn of events. It happens over and over again. They were friends with Saddam Hussein (when he fought Iran) before he was their enemy.They were enemies of the Islamic Republic of Iran before they were secretly sort of friends (when they needed their help with South America) before they were enemies again. They were friends of the Mujhahideen in Afghanistan when they fought the Russians before they became the Taliban and fought with us. And they’ve been friends of the Chechens as they cause trouble for the Russians until now I guess when the worm turns again. It’s really hard to keep up with them. They leave me breathless as they dance in and out of friendships while mouthing bellicose statements against terrorists. Really? I guess others are terrorists when they’re against us, but freedom fighters when they support us. Honestly, it’s hard to keep up:

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mike-friends-blog/chechen-terrorists-and-neocons

How to Respond to the Boston Marathon Bombings

Whoever did the Boston Marathon bombings, lets make sure we don’t demonize a group of people, lump people into categories, or try to close ourselves off from the rest of the world. That would be the worst possible outcome I can imagine. Of course, we should protect ourselves and seek justice, but let’s make sure we keep our hearts and heads present and realize that we are living in a fragmented, broken, wounded world. We are all wounded. While we defend ourselves and seek to defeat terrorists, we also need to reach out to one another. It’s difficult to engage in battle and to reach out to others at the same time, but that is the task we have before us.

The Motto of Most Large Organizations

FORWARD, WITH INERTIA!

Is the U.S. Post-Christian?

Evangelical Christian demographer, George Barna investigates whether the US is a post-Christian nation. He concludes that the US is moving in that direction:

http://www.barna.org/culture-articles/613-how-post-christian-is-us-society

How We Should Respond to a Pro-Nazi Teaching Assignment

This teaching assignment that compelled students to take a pro-Nazi position against Jews was obviously a bad mistake, but it is one in which we all of us (especially those in the Jewish community) need to demonstrate compassion and forgiveness to the teacher. Justification of hatred is not something that is legitimate in a class teaching students how to think, especially in a classroom of teenagers. Yes, we can justify any horrible action or idea through reasoned argument, but humanism and our ethical principles have to intervene at some point. At the same time, the teacher was probably not intending to promote antisemitism and hatred, but rather the opposite. Further, all the time we permit actors in theater and film to portray Nazis (think Ralph Finnes as Amon Goeth in Schindler’s List or Bruno Ganz as Adolf Hitler in Downfall [Der Untergang]), and we want them to do so in a convincing fashion. In fact, we applaud them for it and give them awards. This is not an easy topic, and it’s one where all of us can go astray. Let this event not be an opportunity for recrimination and shouting, but a teaching moment.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/13/nyregion/albany-teacher-gives-pro-nazi-writing-assignment.html?_r=0

Matthew Fox’s 95 Theses for a Christianity for the Third Millennium

A powerful statement of Christian faith in a post-religious era (via Joseph Engelberg): http://www.rexaehuntprogressive.com/prayersaffirmationscollection/affirmationsmanifestos/95_theses_or_articles_of_fa.html

Food Labels

Thought for the day: On food and drink labels, whenever you see “dye,” it really means “die.”