Cursed Journey to the end !?!

How can you tell the difference between a curse and a blessing?

Really.

This life is a journey, however long or short, towards whatever comes next.

When it ends we would all like to be in the best position possible.

Whether you believe in blessings or curses or both (personally I'm in the blessings category)

how can you possibly determine which is which

while engaged in the midsts of Job's dilemma.

I was thinking about someone I care for who's enduring tough times.

Because, I'm in the situation where the common sentiment of......

" It's their fault, not mine.

Somehow, they deserve this.

God, desired this.

It doesn't concern me.

It's unjust to think it should."..........

is pervasive.

A bundle of excuses to thread the needle

through the gate to the goats pasture.

Everyone should be blessed with the blessing,

of possessing what the Lord's wills for them.

That way when it all ends they'll be in the best position possible.

So, if everyone I meet is blessed,

then,

they are all loved by God.

I came to the conclusion it's wisest to pray for everyone's best interests

regardless of what state of blessing they were in.

Because if they were loved by God,

they darn well better be loved by me.
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McPalin & The Pance on Fire Express

The election links

Olbermann on Khalidi





Dennis Prager: Equality Is NOT An American Value



Homer goes to vote.

Senate Republicans are most responsible for Congressional sluggishness.

The Irresponsible and Crooked of the GOP--updates

McCain's flip flops are abundant, obvious, and perplexing!

GOP truth was skant at 1st Presidential Debate.

Obama on the debate, McCain/Bush & the GOP caused economic crisis

Pants on Fire Express and the GOP - burning up the nation.

fact checking VP debate and McCain

Struggling to keep up with the 'Pants on Fire Express"

Obama is presidential; McCain - not

Angry Republican Hooligans

Thousands Tricked Into a State of Fear

The Never Ending McPalin, Pance-On-Fire, Fear and Hate Tour Continues

The third debate, ACORN lies & overt racism

GOP encouraged hate interferes with democracy

Rush Limbaugh & the elephant droppings wing of the GOP

al Qaeda's love affair with Bush/McPalin and other horror stories

negative view of faith among some progressives

The misbehavior of the religious right in this country and the shameful acts of religious extremeists in other parts of the world, now and throughout history, have caused many in the strictly secular community to view all religions the same way. Many of us who struggle to have the spiritual a part of who we are share many of the same concerns. Judgements about who we are should't be limited to those, who because of human frailty to the more sinister, have fallen away from the dictates of their faith community.

We don't all belong in one box and it's not progressive to put people there.

The best cure for ignorance and prejudice is a little bit of knowledge. Many of todays far right conservatives love wallowing in their ignorance and wrap themselves up in prejudice as if it were a warm fuzzy blanket. Progressives strive to do better when confronted with their own misconceptions. Although many people of all stripes love that warm fuzzy blanket making it hard to come out from under it and greet the world afresh.

After the Fall: Why America Needs a Spiritual Left
Rabbi Michael Lerner
http://www.tikkun.org/rabbi_lerner/society_politics

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a simple lesson so hard to accept

http://musingsfromtheoutskirtsofcognition.blogspot.com/2007/04/jews-killed-jesus-nooooo.html

Joan Chittister Column
http://ncrcafe.org/blog/5

Pax Christi
http://www.paxchristiusa.org/

Fellowship of Reconciliation
http://www.forusa.org/

Sojourners
http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm

Tikkun
http://www.tikkun.org/

crusades?

I just ran into a short conversation with a good Catholic man on the war. The usual right-wing stuff. Christians and Jews against the Muslems. Its all so sad really and another example why the propaganda merchants need to be held accountable for the lies and distortions they've helped the Neocon war machine diseminate.

NO TO WAR

I’m supposed to hate!?!

For the Grace to Desire Peace

Literal Interpretation of Creation

Well it came out today that the majority of Republicans believe in the literal interpretation of Creation. Hardly surprising.

Not excepting evolution leads many to distrust a multiple number of scientific disciplines besides biology. Geologist can’t be right because of what they say about the age of the Earth. Archeologist and anthropologist can’t be trusted because they use carbon dating which geologists also use to date the Earth. Astronomers and astronomical physicists can’t be trusted because of what they say about the distance of the stars and how long it takes their light to reach us. How can doctors really know what they’re doing when they believe in evolution? Literalist interpretation of the Bible means science is not to be trusted.

Religion is a faith and has no business in scientific disciplines. I do believe that science is slowly unraveling the beauty and sheer genius of creation. It wouldn’t surprise me one bit that when all things are said and done science will have proven the existence of God. Science must be allowed to be science or it will cease to be science at all.

Literalist makes God more of a magician than the artistic master weaver He really is. God is more marvelous than we can imagine and if they’re successful in intruding into science it would keep us from realizing and appreciating it. Literalist interpretation of the Bible does a disservice to God because their faith is on sandy soil locked up into a childish over simplistic view of the workings of God in our Earthly history and lives.

Many conservative fundamentalists also tend to view the Constitution and the Koran through these same clouded eyes creating many problems for our country and the Islamic world. Fundamentalists Moslems, Hindus, and others who view their religious writings with a strict literalist interpretation are creating their own sets of problems in their parts of the world. When they clash it just creates problems everywhere.
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The Simpsons 1721 The Monkey Suit
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Christian nation? We would have to act like one.

We are not a Christian nation.

It doesn’t matter what our founding fathers believed about their own personal faith. To be a Christian nation we would have to act like one. We would have to be the servant of all and as a nation make meaningful sacrifices for the good of all people. We would have to love those who hate us and wish to do us harm , pray for them, ask that they be blessed, forgive them and do good things for them as well.

Far too many times we Christians have excused crimes against humanity done in our name. Our nation has too often placed into power or supported dictators guilty of many human rights atrocities for what is perceived as some short term foreign policy benefit. Often these arrangements are made for the profit of powerful international corporations.

A short list of sins against our neighbors would include; detention of innocents, accepting the use of torture, tolerance of the killing of innocent women and children as just a casualty of war, participating in and profiting from the arms trade, and supporting cruel and unjust economic policies in the third world.

‘God bless the whole world-no exceptions’.




This poor little boy explains all there is to explain why this war is so horrible.
Actually, like the little naked girl napalm victim running and crying down the road in Vietnam, it’s an indictment of all war.
She is also the reason why the Neocons don’t want any casualty photos from Iraq. It’s also why the ‘mainstream corporate news media’ are guilty of selling this war to the American people. None of these photos makes it into the American press because it would hurt the administrations war effort and limit the press’s access to administration briefing and social functions. When all this is finally over it’s also, why when war crime trials are begun and punishments dealt out, the leading media people should be included for their willful misleading of the American public. Propaganda in the support of war crimes isn’t news it’s a crime. Rush and Hannity and Fox and all their associated cohorts deserve the disgrace, humiliation and fate shared by other such monsters as Goebbels.


Criticizing the nation is not criticizing God, it is criticizing us. All Christians should be familiar with doing regular examinations of their consciences. We should also apply this same examination to our country on a regular basis.

It would seem to me that if you believe the United States is a Christian nation then you should be striving to conform the country to all Christian values not just the small handful that are precious to the hypocritical right.

We have a huge beam to remove from our own eye before we can go about removing the beam from the eyes of other countries. Then maybe we’ll be able to see clearly enough to help with everyone else’s eye obstructions.
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Mikey Weinstein Tackles the Evangelical Coup in America's Military
Submitted by BuzzFlash on Wed, 06/13/2007 - 5:00pm.
A BUZZFLASH INTERVIEW
Whenever a virulent form of any religion has engaged the machinery of the state -– and by that, I’m talking about the armed forces, where the sticks and stones are that break our bones -- we end up with oceans and oceans of blood. And it’s happening again now.
-- Michael "Mikey" L. Weinstein, President, Military Religious Freedom Foundation
more at...
http://buzzflash.com/articles/interviews/065