Today we are going to learn Religion Mache. This is a college course worth 1 credit hour, unless it is accompanied by classes designed to foment hatred of the United States. Then it is worth 5 credit hours. First, you need a piece of wire. Preferably something recycled. Even better if it conjures images of misogynistic, patrician, old fashioned squares. Here is a good example:

Barak Obama's handlers are keeping his travel itinerary quiet citing security concerns. That is not acceptable to taxpayers footing the bill with hard earned treasure. To honestly believe that foreknowledge of a US Senator's travel plans would influence the decision- making of professional terrorists shows a lack of nuance. Furthermore, the Secret Service detail assigned to Senator Obama was not consulted prior to the trip, placing their families and loved ones in the unhappy position of not knowing when they will see their sons and daughters again. These agents will not speak up on their own behalf because they are too stupid to find real work in this Bush/Cheney generated economy.

Now that public pressure has forced Barak Obama to grudgingly visit our troops on the ground in Iraq, I'm prepared for a climax. The drive-by media plans to send an entourage befitting a rock star of his magnitude. Cameras, lights, sound men- the works. I wonder if the creative types at "Team Obama" can stage another recreation of the flag raising on Iwo Jima like the Enviro-wackos did. Maybe they could have a diverse sampling of soldiers raising a white flag. It might also be time for a series on skin cancer caused by the purple voting ink used in the Iraqi elections.

If the Reverend Jackson is serious about cutting out Barry O's nuts, he's going to have to find them first.

On Dignity

God has made man from nothing. We are creatures made for a specific purpose. We can perform many tasks, which tend toward that ultimate purpose.

We have hands which can grasp, point, caress,strike, etc. Legs which can walk, run, climb, etc. These are attributes.

Dignity seems to be more of an ingredient than an attribute.

Dignity seems to have been granted in equal measure to all men. Although not everyone can perceive dignity, it is always there. This means that the perception of dignity is the sole responsibility of the observer.

To say that someone conducts himself with dignity implies that the person acting, perceives the dignity that God has placed within him, and acts accordingly. Conversely, when we say that a person acts in an undignified manner, we imply that the person does not perceive his inherent dignity. This means that we perceive the outward expression of a person’s inward relationship with their Creator.

With all that said, only one man is known to have seen and appreciated the dignity of all men perfectly. Many saints have demonstrated intimate familiarity with human dignity and should serve as models for those of us “who do not see”.

This means that we “have a beam in our own eye” and are incompetent to judge the worthiness of a person’s right actions until this beam is removed.

How do we remove this beam?

Humility is the proper tool for the job. Humility is to stand on God given dignity alone. Offering no defense for the handiwork of the Creator, no embarrassment for what we cannot do, no pride for what we can. Only from this point of simplicity is our own human dignity visible to ourselves.

With a real appreciation for what God has made we have no compulsion to be seen as more or nagging sense of being seen as less. Now that we are no longer competing for position, we can clearly see the dignity of our brothers.

We can see others as God sees them.

The word "sin" is an ancient archery term that means simply to "miss the mark"

The Wooden Beam In Your Own Eye

“Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but you do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye?” Mt.7.3

We see the world through our own eyes and perceive it in our own minds. What we think about something we see can be very different than what the next person thinks about the same thing. A farmer may see a stone in his field as an impediment to his prosperity, while an artist may see fortune in the very same stone. This is the healthy outcome of recognizing our own strengths and weaknesses and coupling them with vision.

The same is true for our behavior. We tend to se something we like to do as “good”, even if evidence surfaces to suggest otherwise. Very often we and our friends and family have similar likes and dislikes, so our attachment to activities and behaviors is reinforced. This is a good thing when what we like is, in fact, good. This is a bad thing, obviously, when the thing we like is bad. This is the true origin of peer pressure.

Sometimes a loved one will tell us they are worried about our behavior, health or spending habits. Our response to genuine concern should be gracious and appreciative. A mature person will examine the merits of these observations and make adjustments where necessary. If our actions are righteous, there is no reason to be defensive.

So what would make an otherwise intelligent person resentful of the loving concern of a friend?

Denial.

When we see something we like, we want it to be a good thing. The more we like it, the more we will that it  be good. Conversely, when we don’t like something, we look for reasons for it to be bad. These reasons justifying the goodness and badness of things do not need to be rooted in reality for us to come to believe them.

These justifications are called denial by therapists, attachment to sin by the church and they were called “the wooden beam in your own eye” by Jesus.

The admonition of our Savior to “remove the wooden beam in your own eye first: then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye”, serves to teach us to use discretion when confronting a friend with a problem, but more than that, He tells us that we will be better able to help after we have removed denial from ourselves.

Another observation about these “splinters”

A penny seen from twenty or so feet away looks very small, but up close it can completely cover your eye. This analogy is to indicate that a behavior or habit is only the tip of the iceberg. It may be almost imperceptible to others, but the attachment to it can taint our perception of everything in our lives. It will prejudice our thinking, decision making, child rearing and money spending. It will choose our mate, our friends and our jobs. It will stand as an obstacle to communion with God.

There is no greater obstacle to spiritual growth.

One of my favorite scenes in any movie occurs in one of the National Lampoon movies. Clark Griswald is being sexually assaulted by his brother-in-law Eddie"s dog. Eddie assures Clark that the best thing to do is to "just let him finish."

Code Pink  so far has been a very entertaining diversion on the cable networks. Much like the dancing hot dogs in the movie trailers at the drive-in, they neither add or subtract anything of value from the feature attraction. They do, however, remind you that you're at the theater.

Dad was a union steward for years, so I learned a little about both of his jobs as I was growing up. One memorable discussion we had occurred after a call from an employee that thought he had a grievance.

Barbara Walters revealed an affair with a married United States Senator in the 1970s in her memoirs. On an interview tour to publicize the book she has stated many times that if the public became aware of the affair with Senator Edward Brooke, who is black,  their respective careers would have been ruined.

My New Mission Explained  

I've Learned From The Left

 

I'm completely out of the closet as a democrat crossover voter. I am officially a "Dissident Democrat" until I change my mind. These are exchanges with my new friends.

I know you are just "hazing" the new guy, pretty funny. Hey, I want to suggest something really important. I hope some high up people read this blog, because I don't know where else to suggest it.

Anyway, here goes.

You know how we are always giving away condoms and pushing to allow more abortions?

Well, it's working and I'm afraid pretty soon there won't be enough of us democrats left to win any elections.

WoW! Wait a minute. Is that why we support open borders? WoW! We are smart. Man, I never saw it coming. WoW!

Posted By: KenUSA | May 07 2008 at 03:06 PM

 

I've got another idea, too. But somebody has to have already thought of it. I've been thinking about the "gas tax holiday". I think it's too little, too slow. And, we have to trust these big oil guys with their big tax lawyers to pay all of their windfall profits taxes. Too iffy, I don't trust them. My idea will speed it up.

I say we raise the tax the consumer pays at the pump by about a buck, maybe two. A lot of people won't be able to buy it. See, that's good because of that whole "supply and demand" thing. Less demand means more gas. More gas means lower prices. AND we eliminate the middle man (who would probably cheat like crazy on his taxes anyway).

Correction--the E.T. Party, because I don't know what world you're living in, but it's not this one.

Posted By: dsgonzale6 | May 07 2008 at 03:47 PM

 

 
     

Come on dsgon.

I know I'm new to the party and I don't expect to be a "policy wonk" right out of the gate, but you're being mean. I want to help get Bush out of the White House.

I'm so happy to be in a party that cares. And you guys are smart, man are you smart.

Like the crazy mortgage crisis. Brilliant.

I mean, don't get me wrong, I like forests. Especially big ones. Someday I might like to go to one. So I'm glad we don't allow lumber operations in there any more. I don't see why anyone would want to grow 2x4s in a forest anyway. There's so many trees, there's barely any room for a lumber operation. I think they should grow their 2x4s in the desert or somewhere where there's nothing already growing.

Anyway, since the lumber companies won't be reasonable and move, 2x4s (they make houses out of them) are pretty pricey. So housing prices are sky high.

My point is that the lumber companies were probably going to try to blame us for not letting them grow 2x4s in a forest. So we blamed the banks for making it hard to afford a 3000.00 a month payment. (banks have a lot of money).

I know I have a lot to learn, but I have a lot to give, too.

dsgonzale6 wrote: "As a moderate Democrat, I'd rather slit my wrists than vote for McCain."

Yes, of course, all the "moderate" people I know go around talking about slitting their wrists.

 

As a "Dissident Democrat", I think the voters in Florida and Michigan should be un-dis-reinfranchised. I wonder if I can catch a bus ride with a group of "get out the vote" activists and vote there too. You know, like they did in Iowa. It's a lot easier to be a democrat, there's far fewer rules and the few there are, are really flexible. Like a living document or something.

Posted By: KenUSA| May 07 2008 at 02:46 PM

Preach, you should check out Chris Matthews' comment about the Republican jerks who voted for Hillary in order to keep an unbeatable Obama out of the general election. People fought and died so that you would have the right to vote, and this is how you use it? You sir, are a buffoon and a total loser.

Posted By: YogiBarrister | May 07 2008 at 08:18 PM

If Obama is kept out of the general, it will be because of the democrat party rules committee. They will decide whether MI and Fl will count. BTW Mrs. Clinton owns the rules committee. If the ultra left of our once great democrat party, had not pushed to move states with ultra left constituencies up in the primary process, in an effort to use the process to leap frog otherwise radical candidates into the national spotlight, none of this would be happening.
When a man as liberal as Lieberman is no longer welcome in our party, we have gone too far.
As far as Mathews is concerned, it is a pleasure to meet one of his dozen or so viewers.
I am a loyal "Dissident Democrat". I will not be disenfranchised.

Posted By: preach987 | May 08 2008 at 04:13 AM

Preach, So let me get this straight, you are a Bush/McCain loyalist who claims to be a dissident Democrat. WTF does that even mean? Why are you so ashamed of yourself that you can't call yourself a Republican? OK, I just answered my own question. I repeat, you are a contemptible imbecile. By supporting Bush/McCain you have betrayed the troops, the taxpayers, law enforcement, your co-workers, your neighbors and your children. When Republicans engage in fraud, voter suppression, and dittoheaded shenanigans, you are spitting in the face of all the soldiers and patriots who gave their lives for democracy.

Posted By: YogiBarrister | May 08 2008 at 08:06 AM

Yogi,
That kind of anger is not going to build any bridges. We've lost the respect of our republican friends across the aisle, but we can win it back. You see, I am for Change. I have Hope. We can rebuild our party from the ground up.

 

I voted in Operation Chaos today. In doing so, I learned plenty about "the system". I've voted as a republican before and although I felt the satisfaction of doing my duty, I now know that something was missing. Here's how it went:

I looked in my files for my voter registration acknowledgment notice, an official looking post card with pertinent information on it. I have looked at that thing several times in the past, but now I scanned it carefully, looking for evidence that the "man" could find out that I really think like a conservative. No dice, nothing that would suggest a past of republican voting.

Next, I looked online for laws regarding primary voter eligibility. I was on a slippery slope, but it's my word against theirs.

Time to go. My polling place is only three blocks away, but we've had a cold winter and I want to do my part for global warming, so I drove. I thought the car might blow my cover, but the lot was full and there was no turning back now. Besides, my crew cut and fairly conservative attire were more likely to alert the citizen profilers at the entrance. As I walked through the gauntlet of leaflet passer outers, I began to feel that I might be disenfranchised. I swallowed hard and pressed on.

There were several election officials with books in front of them. The first person at the table, a man, looked for my name and said "He's not in here". Again I had that "disenfranchised" feeling. The lady next to him found me in her book and the feeling passed. Obviously, the man was the republican of the bunch. There was no way he was going to hug me if my name wasn't in either of the books.

Now, the moment of truth. "Republican or Democrat?" Wow, I hadn't counted on having to actually say it. Democrat, I said. I got a tag with a "D" on it and went in the booth. A very nice electronic model that would verify your vote if you wanted it to. User friendly and brand new, just the kind of thing you'd need to steal an election.

I did the deed and walked out a new man.

You see, I've been won over by the left. "Dissent is Patriotic" they say. I finally figured it out. They have helped me see that undermining the foundation of our Republic is a good thing. If it's good for the country, it's got to be good for the democrat party. I will be a good democrat, dyed in the wool. I will question every aspect of "our" platform. I will "speak truth to power" to my new democrat brethren. I pledge to assume that every decision they make, every proclamation they speak, is rooted in greed and self interest. I promise, at every opportunity, to teach their "our" (it takes a village) children how horrible their (our) values are. 

I thought I was taking marching orders from Rush Limbaugh when I went in to vote, but on the way out, I realized that I am really following the advice of the terrorist (freedom fighter) dissident (patriotic) William Ayers:

"To teach obedience and conformity, or to teach its polar opposite: initiative and imagination, curiosity and questioning, the capacity to name the world, to identify the obstacles to your full humanity, and the courage to act upon whatever the known demands. A pedagogy of questioning can begin to open those doors." Bill Ayers