Category: General

Oh but that Bin Laden is so 2001. Sadam Hussein is this year’s color.

I don’t know what to say about this story. I know what I feel about golf, and I certainly have mixed feelings about the Russian Tea Room’s history, but is this what is to become of New York?

So it’s not good enough to be straight if you want to remain in scouting; you also have to be religious.

[Eagle Scout] Lambert, who is 19 and has been an atheist since studying evolution in the ninth grade, was told to abide by the vow of reverence by next week or get out.
As Mr. Lambert described it, he was given a week to find God.
“They say that I should think about what I really believe and get back to them,” he said. “I have thought about this for years. Can they expect me to change my beliefs in seven days?”

Two years ago the Supreme Court said it was ok for the Boy Scouts to discriminate against homosexuals. It’s unlikely anything will stop the organization from discriminating against the un-American belief that there is no god.
A national spokesman for the Boy Scouts, Gregg K. Shields, describes this latest assertion of the organization’s right to bigotry and superstition as simply a matter of doing the right thing for its members.

Mr. Shields said for the Boy Scouts to insist on anything less would be unfair to the five million members. “It would be a disservice to all the other members to allow someone to selectively obey or ignore our rules,” he said.
As for the other 11 points of the Scout Law, Mr. Shields could not say whether anyone had been ejected for being untrustworthy, disloyal, unhelpful, unfriendly, discourteous, unkind, disobedient, cheerless, unthrifty, cowardly or sloppy.

The last paragraph above is the NYTimes editorializing. It would be nice if the paper, in its usual reporting of political news, showed even half the courage it shows in this article.

Barry has just blogged a great piece on the disaster in Israel and Palestine.

One of today’s Ha’aretz essays, titled “Before Jewish fascism takes over”, discusses interesting similarities between this era and that of the fall of Jerusalem to the Romans. Yossi Sarid argues that what caused Jerusalem to collapse was zealotry, and Israel faces the same danger today

Now for a completely different read [NYTimes letter] on the item I posted recently.

CHEVY GETS THE FAITH
To the Editor:
Re “G.M. Gets Criticism for Backing Tour of Christian Music Performers” (Business Day, Oct. 24):
Chevrolet’s sponsorship of a Christian concert tour reveals how some evangelical leaders have resorted to superficial marketing techniques to promote their religious views. These leaders are becoming like business managers who design market-driven programs to reach targeted audiences.
Spirituality becomes dependent upon providing church members with entertaining worship services that offer messages on success and psychological comfort. A growing number of evangelicals are promoting the development of programs and beliefs that foster cultural conformity.
It is tragic that Christian concerts have trivialized God by resorting to cheap marketing methods. America needs religious groups that encourage people to be cultural creators who embrace a spirituality that has a moral vision for the common good.
BRENT MUIRHEAD
Alpharetta, Ga., Oct. 24, 2002

Is it using SUVs to sell god that trivializes the writer’s imaginary friend, or is it using god to sell SUVs?

Don’t let them keep getting away with it. [The Democrat-Republican party oligarchy, that is.] And we won’t even be helping Pataki when we do it!
Barry says it all on Bloggy:

I see no reason to vote for Carl McCall in this election. Pataki, whom I despise as much as the next person, appears ready to win in a landslide. He has been endorsed by all of the major newspapers in the state, and the latest polls show that McCall might even get less votes than Golisano.
So my advice: McCall’s going to lose big anyway, so vote for the Green candidate, Stanley Aronowitz. You’ll help keep the Green Party on the state ballot without them having to go through and expensive petition process.
Aronowitz is a great candidate. He was a steelworker and union organizer, and he is currently Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Urban Education at the CUNY Graduate Center.
Every endorsement of Pataki has talked about how dysfunctional Albany is, with most decisions made by just three people: Pataki, Sheldon Silver, and Joe Bruno. Why reward the two major parties by letting them continue to operate this way? 98% of state legislators are re-elected in each election.
I’m very, very serious about this. We have watched the Democrats collapse in front of the Republicans over civil rights, drug laws, health care, tax cuts for the wealthy, and war. When you have a chance to vote for a Green, particularly when doing so doesn’t help a Republican, you must do it.
Good coverage of NY Politics, including the poll numbers, can be found on PoliticsNY.com.

A poet salutes his friend.

Paul Wellstone was an unlikely politician in a place like Minnesota — land of walleyes, cornfields and phlegmatic Scandinavians. He was an urban Jew, son of immigrants, a college professor at the fanciest of Minnesota’s private colleges. And, probably worst of all for his non-talkative constituents, he was a passionate orator, a skilled rouser of rabble over issues he loved and an unapologetic populist liberal.

Senator Paul Wellstone, his wife Sheila, daughter Marcia, and five others
were killed today in a small plane crash near Eveleth, Minnesota.
The Senator was one of our most courageous and progressive legislators, and we have very very few.
His death is a tremendous tragedy for the nation and the world.

Gosh, and I thought it was just their cars and SUVs that were offensive.

Chevrolet, a division of General Motors, is title sponsor of the monthlong 16-city Come Together and Worship Tour, which begins on Nov. 1 in Atlanta. The tour will feature two acts in the fast-growing genre known as contemporary Christian music, W. Michael Smith and Third Day, along with a Texas pastor, the Rev. Max Lucado.
When Chevrolet announced its sponsorship, a news release described Mr. Lucado as a “world-renowned author.” But, as The Detroit Free Press said in an article yesterday, Mr. Lucado will be preaching on stage between the musical acts of the show. The shows will also include the distribution of evangelical literature to audience members. As a result, some find Chevrolet’s association with such a tour disturbing.

But there’s even more.

The sponsorship is to be augmented by Chevrolet with a monthlong promotional program to some consumers on the concert stops, inviting them to take test drives at local Chevrolet dealerships where they can get free CD’s featuring songs by Mr. Smith and Third Day and an audio version of a chapter from Mr. Lucado’s new book, “A Love Worth Giving.”
There are complementary promotions sponsored by a national chain known as Family Christian Stores along with general retailers like the Sam’s Club and Wal-Mart divisions of Wal-Mart Stores, Borders and Books-A-Million.

These are our children!
Activists demonstrated inside and outside of the UN General Assembly yesterday, where they shouted, “No war in Iraq!”
These good folks, knowingly or not, were following in the footsteps and the soundbites of generations of worthy progressive protestors and innovative interlopers, most notably and most recently those spawned by AIDS activism.
Until they close down the world altogether, activists will always find a way to speak.
But I suppose the NYTimes will also always find ways to distort the news and the message. What’s with their gratuitious statement, “The protestors were apparently not armed or carrying any unusual items.”?
One more humble question, this one for the City of New York: Why were six people arrested outside on the street, apparently only for speaking?