It’s incredibly sad that Proposition 8 passed in California. It’s incredibly sad that gay marriage is even an issue in our country. It’s incredibly sad that we as a nation have come so far and yet are still so far behind.

I’m not overly religious, but you know what they say - knowledge is power. So I’ve tried to gain at least a basic theological understanding. I’ve tried to see the conservative stance on this issue, but I just must be blind on the specific subject.

Here’s the deal. If you’re going to take the bible at face value and entirely literal, does it not read “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”?

It is not love to force the Bible down someone’s throat.
It is not love to turn your back on someone because they’re pregnant out of wedlock.
It is not love to deny someone’s sexuality if they are gay.

It is hate. Hate is anger. Anger is fear. What have you got to fear?

Keep an open mind.

Fortunately, for this nation and possibly the world, we elected Barack Obama the 44TH President of the United States this past Tuesday, not only renewing what it means to be an American in our nation but the world’s view of America. Unfortunately, what may be one of Obama’s first major struggles to deal with before even taking office on January 20TH, or at the very least the most personal may end up being the rights of protesters.

The Westboro Baptist Church, a small congregation comprised mostly of family members based in Topeka, Kansas, is the same church, led by Fred Phelps, that sends protesters to the funerals of veterans of the Iraq war. Their message of hate is spread, however disgustingly, legally through the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. Despite enjoying this freedom, they run sites like www.godhatesamerica.com and condemn homosexuality, Roman Catholics, Muslims, and Jews and anyone they believe to support those groups.

Now, according to a recent press release from the church, they are planning on protesting the funeral of President-elect Obama’s grandmother. Claiming her influence on Obama led to his support of abortion and same-sex marriage.

Abortion rates, by the way, have decreased during democratic administrations according to records kept since the Roe v. Wade case.

So now we’ll have to see how the Obama family and friends deal with this tough time in their lives. Suggestions through out social web networks have urge for counter-demonstrators to be present, not unlike the Patriot Guard Riders, a motorcycle group that attends the funerals of veterans and other service workers upon invitation to physically shield funerals from the Westboro Church. After the tragedies of September 11TH, a counter-protester stood outside the church in Kansas. He held a sign simply stating “Not Today Fred”.

Eighty-six others joined him in the days to follow.

]]> http://postblink.com/2008/11/06/judge-not-that-ye-be-not-judged/feed/ http://postblink.com/2008/10/31/something-terrible-has-happened/ http://postblink.com/2008/10/31/something-terrible-has-happened/#comments Fri, 31 Oct 2008 21:10:46 +0000 Lucas http://postblink.com/?p=307 It’s horrible. I can’t understand it. It doesn’t make sense.

I was blind-sided. It came out of no where.

I didn’t know a person could stoop so low.

Yesterday, because my ideas fall in line with Barack Obama…

A conservative said I was a socialist.

A conservative threw arguments at me that I had only heard thrown specifically at Obama. Certainly not an every day citizen.

It was as if by expressing liberal views I was automatically a member of the Obama campaign…

And you know what?

That’s fine with me.

Obama ‘08. Get out and vote.

Not that Democrats are awesome at dutifully “following God” (not that they necessarily should), but I tend to hold the “moral majority”, the “Religious Right” to a higher standard being that they claim to represent God. However, as an independent voter, I’m free to believe God wasn’t just pulling my chain when he said things like “the only religion I’m [God] interested in is to look after orphans and widows” (James 1:27) or “What you do to the least of these you do unto me”.

Quite honestly, were it not for the abortion issue (I’m personally against it but I respect people of differing opinions–especially since I don’t have a uterus) I would honestly find it very difficult to justify voting Republican at all.

In my examination of politics and the Christian faith, I feel comfortable concluding that the summation of excuses conservatives use against things like well-fare (sp?), war, gay rights, drug policies, immigration, etc seem to be rooted in hate and the justifications they provide are often “practical”. By this I mean that it is impractical to give money to 90% of homeless people when only 10% really put it to good use (I’m just using arbitrary numbers). Or that it’s more practical to “use force to make people behave peacefully” (note the irony) than it is to genuinely reach out and have patience (heaven forbid we turn the other cheek or anything crazy like that) with our enemies.

I find this to conflict with the Christian faith which states that God was born in a barn, spent a good chunk of his life being homeless, talking/living/eating with the crazies and the rejects of society, and hanging on a Roman cross like a criminal out of crazy, compassionate love for mankind. I would think it would be within the power of an Almighty God to come to earth as a powerful king with powerful armies and force the world to believe in Him, but that wasn’t what he did. In fact, Jesus rejected this method explicitly during the temptation in the desert.

Basically, all of this is to say that I feel the “godless liberals” do what Jesus would do a lot better than the Religious Right. But I think we all know bad things happen when Christianity becomes “popular” [cough]Crusades, inquisitions, witch hunts, war, etc[cough].

Just some thoughts.

On one hand the air is getting cold, the day is getting dark, and everything seems to slow down a bit, unless you’re studying for midterms I suppose. On the other hand the leaves change from dull and boring shades of green to bright flecks of orange and gold and red. The autumn air smells amazing.

This doesn’t seem unlike the people stuck in fall. Some thrive in the fall, staying bright, optimistic, and happy. Others? Well, they’re mood just becomes darker. There’s absolute beauty in regards to both. Here’s my list of what you should be reading, watching, and listening to this October in 2008.

Reading

The presidential political season is almost over. Of course, this means that it’s also in full swing and tougher than ever. You should stay informed by reading as much writtene media as possible. If you don’t have major papers available for you, then get online and find their websites. Remember to keep informed, and regardless of who you decide to vote for, be sure that you don’t take too much to heart on one candidate or the other. The political attacks are huge, but that doesn’t mean that they are factual. Be aware of what’s going on.

Watching

Personally, I’ve been watching the new season of Chuck. In addition to that, my television is almost always on MSNBC right now, even if I’m not neccesarily paying attention to it. Honestly? I’m just waiting for AMC to get their act in gear and start showing the horror flicks through to Halloween. I’m a bit of a movie buff in general, but holiday movies are where it’s at, whether it’s Christmas or Halloween. Get a group of friends together and rent a bunch of the classics - Nightmare On Elm Street, Friday the 13TH, and, of course, Halloween. Then you can pull out your Saw collection or whatever else you have, personally I’m not a big fan of gorefests myself. There’s far better classics out there to be watched.

Listening

Right now I’m listening to Bon Iver’s 2007 release For Emma, Forever Ago. I’ve also got The Shins in rotation again. What I listen to will change daily through out this month, but wherever you are, whatever you’re doing - at least turn on the radio.

I seem to have picked an apt title for my Daily Beast column, or blog, or whatever it’s called: “What Fresh Hell.” My last posting (if that’s what it’s called) in which I endorsed Obama, has brought about a very heaping helping of fresh hell. In fact, I think it could accurately be called a tsunami.

The mail (as we used to call it in pre-cyber times) at the Beast has been running I’d say at about 7-to-1 in favor. This would seem to indicate that you (the Beast reader) are largely pro-Obama.

As for the mail flooding into National Review Online—that’s been running about, oh, 700-to-1 against. In fact, the only thing the Right can’t quite decide is whether I should be boiled in oil or just put up against the wall and shot. Lethal injection would be too painless.

I had gone out of my way in my Beast endorsement to say that I was not doing it in the pages of National Review, where I write the back-page column, because of the experience of my colleague, the lovely Kathleen Parker. Kathleen had written in NRO that she felt Sarah Palin was an embarrassment. (Hardly an alarmist view.) This brought 12,000 livid emails, among them a real charmer suggesting that Kathleen’s mother ought to have aborted her and tossed the fetus into a dumpster. I didn’t want to put NR in an awkward position.

Since my Obama endorsement, Kathleen and I have become BFFs and now trade incoming hate-mails. No one has yet suggested my dear old Mum should have aborted me, but it’s pretty darned angry out there in Right Wing Land. One editor at National Review—a friend of 30 years—emailed me that he thought my opinions “cretinous.” One thoughtful correspondent, who feels that I have “betrayed”—the b-word has been much used in all this—my father and the conservative movement generally, said he plans to devote the rest of his life to getting people to cancel their subscriptions to National Review. But there was one bright spot: To those who wrote me to demand, “Cancel my subscription,” I was able to quote the title of my father’s last book, a delicious compendium of his NR “Notes and Asides”: Cancel Your Own Goddam Subscription.

Within hours of my endorsement appearing in The Daily Beast it became clear that National Review had a serious problem on its hands. So the next morning, I thought the only decent thing to do would be to offer to resign my column there. This offer was accepted—rather briskly!—by Rich Lowry, NR’s editor, and its publisher, the superb and able and fine Jack Fowler. I retain the fondest feelings for the magazine that my father founded, but I will admit to a certain sadness that an act of publishing a reasoned argument for the opposition should result in acrimony and disavowal.

My father in his day endorsed a number of liberal Democrats for high office, including Allard K. Lowenstein and Joe Lieberman. One of his closest friends on earth was John Kenneth Galbraith. In 1969, Pup wrote a widely-remarked upon column saying that it was time America had a black president. (I hasten to aver here that I did not endorse Senator Obama because he is black. Surely voting for someone on that basis is as racist as not voting for him for the same reason.)

My point, simply, is that William F. Buckley held to rigorous standards, and if those were met by members of the other side rather than by his own camp, he said as much. My father was also unpredictable, which tends to keep things fresh and lively and on-their-feet. He came out for legalization of drugs once he decided that the war on drugs was largely counterproductive. Hardly a conservative position. Finally, and hardly least, he was fun. God, he was fun. He liked to mix it up.

So, I have been effectively fatwahed (is that how you spell it?) by the conservative movement, and the magazine that my father founded must now distance itself from me. But then, conservatives have always had a bit of trouble with the concept of diversity. The GOP likes to say it’s a big-tent. Looks more like a yurt to me.

While I regret this development, I am not in mourning, for I no longer have any clear idea what, exactly, the modern conservative movement stands for. Eight years of “conservative” government has brought us a doubled national debt, ruinous expansion of entitlement programs, bridges to nowhere, poster boy Jack Abramoff and an ill-premised, ill-waged war conducted by politicians of breathtaking arrogance. As a sideshow, it brought us a truly obscene attempt at federal intervention in the Terry Schiavo case.

So, to paraphrase a real conservative, Ronald Reagan: I haven’t left the Republican Party. It left me.

Thanks, anyway, for the memories, and here’s to happier days and with any luck, a bit less fresh hell.

- Christopher Buckley’s blog

Ah. . .  October. You’re one of my favorite months. The air gets a little cooler, the leaves turn orange, and horror marathons begin to pop up on the tube. Halloween is definitely one of my favorite holidays, probably just because it feels like the first real sign of fall. Anyways, let’s catch up on October.

The month started off with a concert featuring Angels and Airwaves. Not their best concert I’ve been to but that’s okay. Since then I’ve been mainly working on homework with the occasional video game. I managed to land one of the LittleBigPlanet beta invites for last week - that game is probably going to blow some minds. The creation tools are amazing, but even without them it’s a genuinely amazing game. Think about how much fun Super Mario Bros. was back in the day, then modernize it, make it cute and approachable for a general audience, and finally stick in both story-mode AND online multiplayer. And then imagine huge giant worlds far more complex than most professional video games today. LittleBigPlanet comes out October 21ST and should finally earn the PS3 some of the cred it deserves.

In other gaming news, I started playing World of Warcraft again late this summer. Huge mistake right? Oh well, it’s been a blast. My druid hit 70 a week or so ago. Mmm. Geeky. The pre-expansion patch hits late tonight.

Anyway - every day is another day closer to Halloween. Until then I’m upping my dosage of dedicated homework time, unfortunately. I’m trying not to watch politics as the MSNBC logo was beginning to burn into my TV… And it’s an old CRT peice so that can’t be good. I can’t resist embedding a political video these days, however. Be greatful though, I’m going to spare you the horribly sung tune of Hey Sarah Palin and send you off with some thoughts from John Cleese.

This first semester of the 2008 school year has me spinning a bit, in a good way. I’ve always been a member of the “you can do anything you set your mind on” pool of society. On the other hand, I was also a member of the “path of least resistance” club, which at times in the past has led me to give up on important things in life. You know, like high school?

But now, after taking the scenic route to higher education, I know only two things for sure: I want to transfer to a University after my two years at Hawkeye Community are over and I’m interested in media. That leaves me with a few variables to consider while here at Hawkeye.

The first is what do I want to achieve here? I knew that I would have to take some classes here because of my previous academic history or lack there of, but do I just want to come out of here a liberal arts transfer? I initially had planned on working towards Information Systems Management but that’s not very appealing anymore. I can try to take as many media oriented classes here at Hawkeye as possible or I could try a business major. I really enjoy my management class.

The second is what kind of media do I want to end up in? I love movies and I’m fascinated by media production. I think it’s something I could be involved in and be good at. Do I want to move out of state to attend a film school of some sort eventually? Is that feasible? Or do I want to do something more familiar. More concrete.

Do I want to write? I enjoy writing and I feel relatively skilled at it. Iowa is the perfect home for a writer. The Pulizer prize-winning Des Moines Register is the heartland’s best paper. The University of Iowa has an internationally famous Writer’s Workshop.

I’m not sure. I should probably figure it out relatively soon though. Not this week, however. Weezer concert tomorrow night!

Ah, where to start? Let’s start with the positive. Well, it’s a guilt trip - but one you should actually take to heart. Check out this clip featuring Jonah Hill, Forest Whitaker, Dustin Hoffman, Sarah Silverman taking her bra off and more.

Don’t Vote?

And of course I wouldn’t miss an opportunity to expose McCain. Sure, I think it’s important to get registered and vote regardless of your candidate preference, but it’s obvious I’m an Obama supporter so here’s a video of McCain lying like a stubborn ass.

McCain Interview with Des Moines Register

I’m not sure what’s more annoying. There appears to be a single cricket somewhere in the building that I’m in, chirping away the following fourty minutes until my next class. On the other hand, the only sound I have to drown it out is this stupid Senses Fail song that’s stuck in my head. I didn’t even like their latest album, but it’s just this stupid chorus being sung over and over in my conscious that’s driving my crazy. On that note, here’s three random thoughts.

1. I hope the debate happens tonight. As far as I’m aware, it’s still up in the air. I wish McCain would stop procrastinating and just get it over with. After some progress Wednesday and an agreement almost having been reached earlier in the day Thursday, everything ended up falling apart Thursday night when House Republicans walked out. Obama had suggested the candidates presence might cause that outcome and that’s likely what happened.
2. If tonight’s debate does not happen, I hope it won’t it end pushing back the vice-presidential debate on October 2ND. I’m really looking forward to watching Sarah Palin get her ass handed to her by Biden. What business does she have being a vice-presidential candidate? That interview with Katie Couric was pathetic and Palin was obviously very coached on her responses, except for maybe one - I doubt the McCain campaign would be dumb enough to coach her “foreign relations” experience with Russia. . .
3. I have tickets to see Weezer with Angels and Airwaves and Tokyo Police Club on October 3RD in Minnesota at the Excel Center. Probably the biggest venue show I’ll have ever been to. I’m hoping Weezer plays the old stuff too, I haven’t heard much off their new album.