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Taming oil spill monster truly awesome, amazing story

Speaking of news stories — I suspect before all is said and done the whole nightmare of the devastation caused by that out-of-control oil spill and the details of how and when it’s gotten back under control may rank as one of the top news stories of this century.

Is that too much of an exaggeration when I say “top news stories of this century”? I think not. Consider all that’s involved with this tragedy.

1. Devastation to the Gulf Coast and perhaps even beyond if things go badly. That alone will mean perhaps decades to clean up and restore those marsh lands and various Gulf regions to decency.

2. The horrible impact on the lives and livelihood of millions who live in the region.

3. The rapid game of “catch up” being played by the scientists and engineers trying to get a handle on deep water drilling and safety.

I could go on and on, but you get the idea. This deep water oil monster continues to growl and spew like some sort of living creature hyped up on vitamins and steroids and bent on zapping all living things in that part of the ocean.

Personally, I’m confident that the beast will finally be brought back under control. But I have no optimism on dealing with the devastation it has brought. Certainly now more than ever we need to devote our economy and technology to a radical investment in alternative energy and escape the hold of the oil monster(s) out there.

Earthquakes abound; Tibow does ’6.66′ — are we near The End??

Earthquakes appear to be on the rise, or at least our awareness of them is rising. Not only did the big one hit Haiti in January, there was a true Monster Quake that rocked Chile yesterday.

My most biblically literalistic friends all insist that an increase in earthquakes is definitely one of the signs that we are living in the “End Times,” and warn that we may soon be sorry we didn’t take the Bible more literally.

Almost as though God were trying to reinforce the message: Graduated Florida Gators QB Tim Tibow, renowed as a decent quarterback and an all-around-dedicated-Christian-nice-guy registered a 6.66 score in something related to NFL quarterbacking. (Confession: Although I’m a rabid NFL fan, I don’t pretend to understand the combines and their scoring.)

Okay, abundant earthquakes (there was a mostly under-reported 4.4 quake near Oklahoma City the same day as the Big One rocked Chile), Tibow and “666″ — what’s happening to the world and what’s ahead for the Universe as we know it? Should I be looking for a better home insurance quote and life and health insurance while there’s still time??

And don’t forget, the Mayan calendar runs out in 2012, right???!!! (I loved the comment some comedian made when he heard a reference to the Mayan calendar business — “Yeah, and we all know how closely we follow the Mayan calendar.”)

All right, yes, I’m being sarcastic. I was sitting here with little to do this evening, reflecting on the many people I know personally who take such pseudo-Christianity and weird portents of the future waaaayyyy to seriously. I have the utmost respect for their right to believe such things. I just get weary of all the near-magical silliness with which they conduct their lives and which colors their perception of reality.

So I apologize if I’ve offended any of you who are reading this. It’s just my lame attempt at late-evening humor.

But I surely appreciate, too, the terrible havoc and suffering caused by the Haitian earthquake and the Chilean earthquake, and any others that strike. We all ought to give and help in anyway possible.

Shock, horror are first response to tragedies in Haiti

As are most people, I have been struck with shock and horror as a first response to the tragedies in Haiti following the recent earthquake there. There simply are no words to describe the scenes and sounds coming across television, in print, and over the Internet as communications with that island nation are slowly reestablished.

Of course, there is a desperate need to flood the nation with medical treatment, money, food, and the basics to sustain the living as well as heal the sick. My wife and I are doing what little we are able through donations to our local church and national church organizations to which we belong. (Two of which are excellent relief agencies with people already “on the ground” when the earthquake hit.)

I urge you to carefully, prayerfully do all you can to help the people of Haiti in any possible way. Be careful, of course, to watch out for the many scammers who crawl out of their holes to take advantage of such human suffering. But there are many, many good charities and agencies you can find which will happily use all the aid you can give to help to folks of Haiti. Always good if you can help.

How can the World Health Organization possibly hope to win a worldwide anti-smoking battle?

I just read this news story about a new, worldwide anti-smoking campaign ready to be launched by the World Health Organization (WHO). The campaign, which will be based on a big study funded in part by the Bloomberg Philanthropies, will attempt to cut tobacco use in the world’s poorest nations. According to the news story, something like a billion people will die worldwide in this century from tobacco related illnesses.

I applaud their plans and wish them the best, but I doubt the best efforts WHO may mount will succeed: Nicotine is too addictive and the tobacco companies (as well as many of the world’s governments) have too much of a financial stake in promoting that addiction.

Besides that, people are simply stupid when it comes to smoking and smoking related issues.

Right here in America, many campaigns to stop public smoking have faltered on that absolutely lame, idiotic idea of “smokers’ rights.” I would personally like to be able to erase that term from the language and ban all smoking in public, certainly in anything resembling a workspace or a restaurant.

Smokers rights? What right does anyone have to inflict tobacco products, byproducts, and smoke on me or anyone else? What right does anyone have to suck the stuff in themselves?

Admittedly, a major step would be finding a way to outlaw tobacco and everything related to it. But, of course, that’ll never happen. So there is the “right” to purchase tobacco as a legal substance.

But I don’t see any laws or anything in the Constitution which gives anyone the “right” to share (?) their nicotine in any form in a way that I have to take part in it.

When you live in a world where otherwise intelligent people insist they can’t or shouldn’t ban public poison (i.e., tobacco smoke) because it might offend someone or cut down on their customers — well, good luck, WHO, you’ve got quite a battle ahead of you.

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Battlegrounds in fights over censorship changing

I remember back in the “good old days” (say, anytime before about 1970?) when censorship and censorship issues making the news generally focused on matters of sex and/or graphic violence. But in recent years, with the advent of the Internet and corresponding availability of “information” — ranging from real information to widespread access to p*rn sites — the battlegrounds upon which censorship issues are fought have been changing.

Today’s censorship battles focus far more on issues of political and personal liberties, matters of individual and national freedom of access, than on sex or graphic violence. Which as I see it, is a good thing.

It’s far more important that people in nations such as Iran and China have open access to news than whether a celebrity exposes her breast at the Super Bowl. And it seems as though censorship battles today are focusing on important stuff rather than celebrity nudity and trivia. (The cheapening of “news” or “journalism” into nothing but celebrity trivia feeding frenzies is a matter for another day.)

I did a search on Google News just now on the word “censorship,” and that’s what started me thinking about the matter. Of the top ten results I got, eight dealt specifically with information access being withheld from people in Iraq, Afghanistan, Myanmar, and China. One dealt with political matters here in the U.S. Only one was related to some sexual issue.

When our world is more concerned about dictators shutting there people up than it is on skimpy french maid costumes or nudity in movies, maybe it shows the world is growing up. The only worthwhile “battleground” on which to fight censorship battles has to do with these broad issues of freedom and knowledge, of personal liberty. In this case, I say good for us!

British display sense of great class, banning Savage and hate-filled Kansas ‘preacher’

The British have shown some real class, in my opinion, by putting radio talk show madman Michael Savage and the hate-filled, hateful, crazy Kansas preacher and his daughter (I’m not gonna bother looking up or publishing their names here) on a “banned” list.

It’s a great day for America, everybody, when we can rely on the British to do such a common sense thing. Now if we could just convince various radio and other media networks to dump Savage (VOLUNTARILY, of course, not calling for censorship here) and learn to ignore the preacher idiot, we’d all be better off.

How do you feel about these clowns?

Everyone should hope, pray for President Obama’s success — then work to help it happen

I just finished watching the Inauguration of President Barak Obama and I was struck again by the HUGE turnout. I’ve jokingly posted here references to Obama as “Messiah” or Obama as “Antichrist.” In reality he is President Obama — a common mortal, just like every other American president has been.

I felt Obama made it very clear in his inaugural address that we, frankly, are all in this mess together, and that we can work ourselves out of this mess if we truly work TOGETHER. He called upon each of us to get back to the role of doing all we can as individuals, and not just assuming our elected leaders will have the ways and means to “solve” all the crises we face.

Good speech. Good start. Now we’d better all get busy if we are going to deal with all the problems we face as a nation and as individuals. Are you up for the game? We’ll see, won’t we?

Only bad Bible exegesis says U.S. must ALWAYS back Israeli actions

Really bad Bible exegesis says the U.S. must ALWAYS back Israeli actions, no matter what Israel decides to do, no matter how the react to opposition, no matter how they treat the Palestinians or any of their Arab neighbors.

Those who insist opposing Israel in any way will bring God’s curse or judgment upon our nation usually base that on a Bible passage in the Book of Genesis, where God made a covenant with Abraham. It reads like this (from the New Revised Standard Version):

“Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed’ … Then the Lord appeared to Abram, and said, ‘To your offspring I will give this land’ ” (Genesis 12:1-3, 7).”

Most fundamentalists and “hard core” biblical literalists use this passage of Scripture to teach two basic “facts” about Israel and the U.S.-Israeli relationship: 1) “cursing” or opposing Israel in any way will bring a curse upon the U.S., and, 2) God made his first promises here that the land we know as Israel will belong to the Jews as Abraham’s descendants.

As a graduate of an accredited Bible college and a one-time pastor, I speak from some understanding when I say the Bible does NOT teach that opposing Israel will bring some sort of condemnation or judgment upon the U.S., or any other nation in this Bible passage. That’s just plain wrong. And, the Bible does NOT teach in this passage that the “Holy Land” belongs to Israel as God’s chosen people.

You really don’t need to be a highly educated Bible scholar (I don’t claim to be; I have an undergrad degree in Bible and theology and most of an M.A. in history) to figure this out. You simply need to read the Bible and pay attention. I am perplexed and, yes, angered, at the so-called “Bible teachers,” evangelists, pastors, and “tele-vangelists” out there who have duped so many people, based on Genesis 13, into slavishly supporting everything modern Israel does.

I’ve already wasted too much time on this stuff, but here goes. Let’s assume there was a historical figure we know from Scripture as Abraham. Let’s assume God appeared to him and made these promises. Let’s further assume, as the rest of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers (the Pentateuch, as this section of Scripture is called), teach, that Abraham became the father of Isaac — from whom the Jews descended — and Ishmael, from whom the Arab nations descended.

Given all that, here’s the deal: This narrative of God’s promises to Abraham came BEFORE Isaac and Ishmael were conceived or born. So — to be consistent (and many biblical literalists have HUGE problems with consistency), Genesis 12 applies to ALL descendants of Abraham, Jews and Arabs. Given that truth, we are obligated, as far as the “blessing and cursing” conditions of Genesis 12 are concerned, to never oppose either Israel or the Palestinians.

In other words, the oddball teaching pushed by those who say we are facing judgment if we speak out against atrocities by Israel, must also say we face that issue if we speak out against atrocities by the Arabs or Palestinians.

End of game — it’s a draw. Israel gets no more of a “free pass” to destroy Palestinians and their villages than do the Palestinians to destroy Israelis and their villages.

Now can we set aside the silliness and work for some sort of reality in the Middle East?? Probably not.

Ah, well.

What will end war in Middle East? Will it ever end?

What or who will ever end war in the Middle East? Or will it ever end?

Wars have ground down the people and nations we call the Middle East certainly since pre-historic times. The history of the region is written in blood and destruction from ancient Egypt right up to today.

Some people treat going to war like it was taking Vegas vacations, or perhaps like a Disney theme park “adventure.” But those who have been at war, or who have family members who went to war at one time or another, take such matters seriously. War is NOT like video games or movies. Warfare means people being killed and maimed and property destroyed.

I would not presume to know the “answer” — there probably really isn’t one — to the madness in the Middle East. But I would prayerfully suggest that all sides need to sit down and look at all that has happened and try once more to seriously find a way for peace to have a chance. Such terror and such anger on all sides hasn’t done much good for anyone so far, has it?

Happy Birthday, Israel, and don’t wait for peace to happen soon

The nation of Israel marked its 60th birthday today. There was celebration throughout the land and a number of world leaders, including President Bush, gathered in Jerusalem to make speeches and exchange good wishes.

At the same time the celebration was going on, a Palestinian rocket launched in the Gaza Strip hit a marketplace in Israel, wounding more than 30 people, mostly women and children.

What a strange area of the world, the Middle East that is. What a bizarre nation, Israel that is. I don’t know, really, any of the politics involved in this volatile region. I’m sure there are suffering Palestinians as well as suffering Israelis — and how can you really work out a “homeland” there for both Israelis and Palestinians? I honestly don’t know.

With all the destruction and chaos going on worldwide this year, certainly we all ought to pray for peace in the Middle East. May God grant wisdom and understanding so that somehow all parties in the region can find fair treatment and peace!

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