Punditry Goes Too Far...

This just boils my blood...

I just read from the Livejournal Group Christian Left that renowned windbag and recovering drug addict Rush Limbaugh, on his April 27, 2005 radio show, spouted:

"I would submit to you that people on the left are religious, too. Their God is just different. The left has a different God. There's a religious left in this country.

"And, the religious left in this country hates and despises the God of Christianity and Catholicism and whatever else. They despise it because they fear it, because it's a threat, because that God has moral absolutes. That God has right and wrong, that God doesn't deal in nuance, that God doesn't deal in gray area, that God says, 'This is right and that is wrong.'"


This is going too far. You know this hate-speech drivel is aired, at taxpayer expense, over Armed Forces Radio to our troops in Iraq? How many self-righteous Ditto-Heads are hearing this bigoted, hateful statement, and nodding their heads in affirmation?!

Faithful Progressive is calling for a boycott of all stations that broadcast this show until Mr. Limbaugh issues a formal apology or is removed from the air. I for one am joining in, and I call on all who are insulted and offended by his statements to do the same.

Slouching Tiger

Here's how I found Ditzy at lunchtime today...


"Hey, go get me some catnip!"

He really needs to work on his posture.

Crunch All You Want... We'll Make More!

Earth Day was last Thursday. Not that you'd really notice considering Mother Nature decided to take a turn for the worse... Saturday night we had 5" of snow fall all over the fresh spring blossoms. The sight of brilliant pinks, reds, purples, yellows, and greens contrasted with the stark white of the snow was definitely a beautiful, rare event.

This evening I made my way down to the new "Town Center at Levis Commons" down in Perrysburg.



As you can see, the idea is to make the shopping plaza feel like a small town's main street. You can park your car right on main street and visit all your favorite shops.

All the shops are crafted with facades to look just like the buildings you would find in a small town. Talbot's here even has a church steeple. (I wonder if their pews are comfortable) What is so disturbing about this place is its location. Levis commons is built out in the middle of a bunch of farm fields, only two miles from downtown Perrysburg, a place with all the charm of this artificial city center. It is only four miles from downtown Maumee, another small town with a lot of charm. Both of these small towns on the outskirts of Toledo could have used an influx of commercial development into their downtowns. But instead of reviving the real thing, these developers and entrepreneurs chose to build anew.

I sometimes wonder what is it with our culture and mindset that we so readily discard anything old in favor of all that is new. Why must we tear down a building after 20-40 years instead of renovation? Why do we build more places to shop when other shopping center sit vacant? Why do we build new schools instead of saving the ones we already have? Is it really easier to throw something away a buy anew than to fix it up?

I started thinking of my printer. It's an Epson, and a few years old. Right now the replacement ink costs more than to buy a new, better printer with the ink included! And if this one had something go wrong, buying a new one would cost less than having it repaired.

We live in a disposable society. We buy plastic forks, use them once, then throw them away. When dessert comes, we grab another plastic fork and then throw that one away too. We waste, we consume, but we don't conserve.

As I filled up my tank at the gas station, conveniently located across the street, I spent almost $30 for gas. The prices keep rising because our supply of oil is dwindling. ...the day will come when our supply of, land, fresh water, and food will also dwindle. Will we change our habits then?

Our sermon last Sunday was one of the most powerful and moving I have ever heard, (a friend of mine has a summary of it in her post "Electricity"). Our rector included some of the lines from "If the world were a village of 100 people." Some of the lines that struck me were...

"Of the wealth in this village, 6 people own 59% (all of them from the United States)"

Meanwhile...
20 are undernourished
1 is dying of starvation
20 have no clean, safe water to drink.

Is it not enough that we have so much while others have so little that we have to waste what we do have? Right now I am just overwhelmed by the amount of waste I see everywhere, trying to come to grips with the abhorable notion that I'm a participant too. And I really don't like that...

All Roads One Road Headed the Same Way

As my Roman Catholic friends and I have been in contact sharing our disappointment in the election of a conservative Pope, we all brought up, over and over, our wishes for the reconciliation of the splintered Christian Faith. For this to happen, though, I believe we will need to develop mutual recognition and tolerance of alternative theological views. No one single institution can claim a monopoly on what constitues sin, on what actions or beliefs make you a good Christian, or on deciding who deserves God's grace. All versions of Christianity must be seen as different paths leading to the same destination.

In my book "You Are Here", by Katherine Harmon, I found a map created by the late Rev. Howard Finster, titled "All Roads One Road Headed the Same Way". Here is an image of it hosted by the University of Virginia.



...my favorite part is "Why Weary (sic) Which Road You Are On As Long As You Are Traveling Towards God." The map really touched me. It is crude yet direct, painted on wood, but the message transcends the media or technique: like a masterpiece drawn on the back of a napkin. I only wish I had a larger copy so I could read all of the text...

Aging, maturity, and Ponce de Leon

Last Saturday's Cub Scout weekend went beautifully... not a cloud in the sky, 70 degrees. The kids and their fathers were wonderful - no incidents or anything - only one kid skinned his knee. It was nice to see the fathers and their kids spending quality time together. Some had children that couldn't ride a bike, so they took one of the bikes off to the side of the course and did that right-of-passage of teaching their kid to ride a bike - holding on to the back of the seat, running with their son, then letting go and seeing how far he could get. I couldn't help but remember when I was their age and my father taught me to ride in the back alley behind our home.

I had a great assistant, Jake, for the day. He's a big guy - about 6'2" and 300 lbs. He was a great help, running onto the course to check on kids that fell, going over the rules of the course for the kids when I was too busy adjusting a seat for one of the kids, etc. From how responsible, mature, and big he is, I guessed he was about 20-22 years old.... turns out he's a junior in high school and still a Boy Scout (also, he thought I was 27-28). I must say I was impressed that someone so young could be such an adult.

I also ran into an old friend from college. At first I wasn't sure it was him... the bits of gray in his hair made him seem older. We were both in the same student organization, we both graduated with a degree in theater at the same time, and he is only a year or so older than me. He was there with his son. Last time I saw him, back in 95, he was married with one daughter. I got a chance to catch up with him. It turns out he was divorced with 2 children from that marriage, and was now remarried. His second wife already had 2 kids from a previous marriage, now ages 12 and 17. His son with him today was his from his second wife. So here is someone I knew, one year older than me, with 5 children.

This morning, a friend of mine who is living in Japan, Jason,-- his wife had a son.

This morning it all hit me... so many changes in other people's lives... marriage, divorce, children, etc... my friend from the scout camp said I still looked the same. I feel like I haven't aged. Like somehow I was watching everyone else grow old but I was not growing old myself. I found my own perception of my age more akin to Jake's (when I thought he was 20-22) than to the parents there for the weekend. Both him & I are at the stage of our lives where we are adults yet unburdened with responsibilities of marriage and parenthood. A time to be carefree and adventurous.

...I have grown in many ways over the past ten years. I am definitely not the same person I was back then. Yet today, reflecting on where my friends are, I feel like they've passed me, moved on with their lives... married... fathers... and that I haven't aged at all.

Cub Scouts and Bicycles

So it's finally Friday... I've promised myself out for tonight and tomorrow to help out with a cub scout event. A BMX bike course. This time I won't be an assistant... I'll be the one running the event. I'm a bit worried because I'm not good at "laying-down-the-law" so to speak. I hate to say no or to correct someone, especially children who need to hear it. I guess I just don't like to be the bad guy. Also, since I have no parenting experience, this is unknown territory for me. Luckily their fathers will be there too, so usually they will jump in and watch after their kids when needed.

Tonight I go check out the course. It has been cloudless here all week (a miracle for Toledo Ohio), and hopefully the weather will hold for tomorrow.

Regional Confirmations and Santa Claus

I finally bought a bicycle a few weeks ago and since then I've been riding it back and forth to work almost every day. It's a Trek 7100 Hybrid

Tonight I rode it over to St. Michael's-in-the-hills for a regional confirmation with our bishop. The church is right off the bike trail and only about 2 miles away.

When I got there it was like stepping into an Episcopal museum. All the things we had abandoned... the formalities of procession and the communion rail, the archaic robes and vestments, the cumbersome use of the hymnal along with the bulletin, and sometimes the book of common prayer (called the Episcopal shuffle) were there in full force. the choir was shoved into the back of the nave behind the altar, and then split by a massive wooden organ. The organist seemed as much as a relic as the rest of the church.

Then I saw our bishop. He was dressed in a flowing red robe with white puffy sleeves and a red ribbon tied around each wrist. Between the vestment and the ornate shepherd's crook it seemed he was dressed more for a re-enactment than for a living, breathing religious service. A old, thick wooden chair was set up in front of the altar for the bishop to sit in as he confirmed and received people into the Episcopal Church. as each person knelt one at a time to receive his laying on hands, he droned the same prayer over and over. All I could see was his back... a man with graying hair in a red robe on a big wooden chair with people waiting in line to see him.

...All I could think of was Santa Claus. He was here in his department store performing that oh-so-necessary ritual for the little girls and boys who beleived he would come down their chimney on Christmas Eve with toys and sugar plums. And in some ways I don't think I'm far off the mark here.

Just as visiting Santa at the mall has become a ritual across the country for families (I myself was deathly afraid of Santa, so there was never any joy in my visits to him), so has this ritual become more a formality than a festival of joy for our new members. Any chance to express the joy I felt for those who came to be received and confirmed was relegated to a happy "Amen" which concluded the same prayer our bishop parroted for each person. After being at Trinity for several years, I had forgotten how stifling other Episcopal Parishes can feel. The bishop's homily didn't help. Some analogy involving fly fishing and interruped every few seconds by an annoying crackle in the sound system. I wondered where the living, breathing version of Christianity I had come to know had gone...I wanted so badly to change the feel of the place, to get those people in the room to break out of their shell, so to speak, and truly celebrate the occasion...

...luckily there was quite an amount of people from Trinity there also. And their spirit was the same as always... loud and joyous. During the peace, it seemed to change. A spirit came over the room. It was loud, happy, chaotic, busy, and very expressive. It seemed contagious to those who were not from our parish, and soon they were caught up in it too. By the end of the service it didn't seem like the same place it had been an hour ago.

After the service was the reception. Though not many could stay for it, it felt more communal than the service ever did. By the time it was over it was well past sunset. Luckily I got a ride home from a friend, so I didn't have to ride my bike in the dark. I'm going to have to get some lights for it someday...

Something New for me...

Okay... I finally set one of these things up. Now to see where it takes me...