The church should stop playing chaplain to the Empire.

Derrick Crowe continues to hammer the point home. The war in Afghanistan has increasingly relied more and more on long distance weapons, ie; drones, missles and assorted airstrikes. These tactics will not win the population over for the all too important reason that in kills them. And it kills them at a higher rate than the intended targets.


BBC reports that U.S. forces piloting helicopters killed three children last night in the Arghandab district of Afghanistan. Absolutely heartbreaking.

At this point, if you can read a chart, you should be able to determine that even if troops on the ground are added, they still fail to decrease civilian casualities. These are not just casualities of war in general but specific deaths due to our methods and tactics.

Elull on Prayer

From Inhabitatio Dei

“The person who claims to be full of hope but fails to lead a life of prayer is a liar. Prayer is the sole ‘reason’ for hope, at the same time that it is its means and expression. Prayer is the referral to God’s decision, on which we are counting. Without that referral there can be no hope, because we would have nothing to hope for. Prayer is the assurance of the possibility of God’s intervention, without which there is no hope. Prayers is the means given by God for the dialogue with him, that is to day, it is the very junction of the future with eternity, where we have seen that our hope is located. In its dialogue it embraces the past presented for pardon, the future defined by cooperation between the praying person and God, and eternity, which prayer lays hold of through the sighs uttered by the Holy Spirit.

“Without such prayer we can piece together a few false hopes to give the appearance of hope, but all that, even when arranged theologically, can only be illusory. That is why it is quite right to recall that hope is based on God’s promise constantly fulfilled and renewed. But how can we forget that, throughout the Bible, this promise is linked with the ceaseless outcry of prayer? It is man’s prayer which demands the fulfillment, and it is again his prayer which demands its renewal and its ongoing. Without prayer, the promise and its fulfillment are forces just as indifferent and blind as Moira (fate) and Ananke (necessity).”

~ Jacques Elull, Hope in a Time of Abandonment, 272-3.

They frankly own the place

This should enrage you.

The events preceding Goldman Sachs' new "blowout profits"

ABC News, September 26, 2008: As a group, Goldman Sachs bankers have been the country's top political campaign contributors this year and have given $29.5 million in contributions since 1989, according to the Center.

"They are almost in a class by themselves," said Sheila Krumholz, the executive director for the Center for Responsive Politics

...

USA Today, January 27, 2009: WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner picked a former Goldman Sachs lobbyist as a top aide Tuesday, the same day he announced rules aimed at reducing the role of lobbyists in agency decisions.

Mark Patterson will serve as Geithner's chief of staff at Treasury, which oversees the government's $700 billion financial bailout program.

...

Reuters, March 16, 2009: The approval of Gary Gensler, a former Goldman Sachs executive, clears the way for a Senate vote putting him in charge of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. He was approved by a roll-call vote.

...

On and on the corruption and good ole boy network goes. Read the entire article HERE (and linked atop) by Glenn Greenwald. But I'll quote Glenn one last time...

...blurted out in April by the number two Democrat in the U.S. Senate, Dick Durbin:

And the banks -- hard to believe in a time when we're facing a banking crisis that many of the banks created -- are still the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill. And they frankly own the place.

That was nice and blunt. That same week, it was announced that the newly-hired top lobbyist for Goldman Sachs, Michael Paese, was -- immediately prior to his hiring -- the top staffer to Rep. Barney Frank on the House Financial Services Committee chaired by Frank.

Tehran

"This, in short, could be the largest mass gathering since 15 June, complete with the presence of Rafsanjani, Mousavi, and Khatami. Start counting down the days". July 17th.

Andrew Sullivan:
Reaching a climax in Iran?

WSJ
Inside the Iranian Crackdown

Huffington Post
Religious Divisions in Iran's Leadership -- More than Meets the Eye

I wish I could say I entirely left the circuit...

Watched "Choke" and "Waltz with Bashir" last night.

Powerful movies in their own right. Sex and the search for intimacy and meaning followed by murder and war. The tragedy of love and misunderstanding. But with revisiting the memories within a community, even a flawed one, redemption and healing await in each.

"Choke", which is based on the book by Chuck Palahniuk (author of fight club) introduces us to the tragedy of lonliness and emptiness thru the escapades of a sex addict. Who within minutes of the films opening declares his orgasm as sweet...nothing. Sex has become meaningless and devoid of love. An act to fulfill the bodies now dependance on the endorphins released.

The journey from nothing to something is funny and painful to watch. Especially the main characters scheme to choke on food in restaurants so the good samaritans who rescue him will pay his bills. Watching him find the only true intimacy he can in the hug of strangers is moving.
Underneath the sex scenes and flashbacks lies a powerful story. I found many Christ-like themes exploding into view as the tale is weaved. Rent it.



"Waltz with Bashir" is rather oddly described as an animated documentary. A foreign film with subtitles that explores the horrors of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in the early 80's thru a small units perspective. Stunning visually. It doesn't play or look like a documentary at all.

Here to, flashbacks of men haunted by their actions and inaction in that war come to play upon the present. The minds powerful ability to not casually store certain pain in its memory while simultaneously finding ways to have us deal with it. Here as well do friendships, forged in youth and tribulation, provide the needed community of similiar broken people that allow us to deal with, face and lament our crimes.
Click HERE for a trailer.

Where you been?

Still reading daily the site, Return good for Evil by dcrowe and learning greatly.

I suggest another. Pilgrimage Journal by Paul Munnon.

Some essential reading can be attained for free at Jesus Manifesto. Scroll all the way down and on the left side bar are some 'radical readings' that you can download for free. Ellul, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy are there.

And the always resourceful Center for Christian Nonviolence. The audio file, Behold the Lamb by (Rev.) Emmanuel Charles McCarthy might just wreck your life!

That of course being a good thing.

And that is my update. Peace.

Going home

Been awhile in posting no doubt. But I'm in listening mode of late. Still reading and pondering and watching. Just speaking less.

If you haven't seen it already, the 'Return Good for Evil' blog is a well written slam dunk and should be daily reading. Sift the archives and you'll see for yourself.

As for me, the internet connection at home is temporarily off, meaning, I'm online at facebook and here, surfing as it were when I'm at friends houses and remember to do so.

Once back online more permanently, the posting will resume.

I'm also ending the year with a visit to my family in Connecticut. Looks like some old friends are getting together around the same time and this means it will be a hoot. Big T is back from across the pond and so hopefully some new adventures await us both. We shall see.

Blessings all.