According to CNN,the Bush administration figured out all it needed to do, to substantially reduce the Iraq monthly death total, was stop counting all of those dead people. You know how the number of deaths dipped sharply for August . . . well, it didn't really happen. Here's how CNN reports…
Dear Mr. President:
Five years ago, you told us you would “bring to justice” the perpetrators of 9/11. Yet today, five years later, the man who is undisputed to have caused the 9/11 attack — Osama bin Laden — remains at large. Instead of making it your mission — and that of the U.S. military — to capture or kill bin Laden, you have wasted America’s resources — and your own — on a wild goose chase in Iraq. In the process, you have needlessly killed or maimed (both physically and emotionally) hundreds of thousands of innocent Muslims. We must assume that some of these people — or their spouses, parents, children, friends, etc. — will harbor extreme hatred toward America for this loss.
Indeed, we should not think otherwise given our own extreme reaction to the 9/11 attack. We must also assume that some of these angry people will, in some way, at some point in their lives, support violence against America. Whether it is by strapping a bomb to their chest and blowing up a street market, or merely providing a safe house to someone who does, we cannot tell. But we do know, for certain, that violence begets violence, especially when the violence is perceived as unjust — which is exactly how your invasion of Iraq and many other misguided policies are perceived.
The Bible tells us to love our enemies. This probably does not mean bombing their families and neighbors, perhaps because doing so merely creates …
A friend from Wyoming recently sent me this newspaper clipping from the Sept. 9-10, 2006 Jackson Hole Daily. As you can see, a devout man will prove his faith by jumping his motorcycle through a wall of fire. Here is the note my friend sent along with the clipping: dear e:…
Here’s a fun site. Did you ever play “telephone” as a child? Check out this clever website: Lost in Translation. It takes advantage of the successive use of good quality Internet language translators. It will convert an English passage into a different language and back to English, five times in succession. …
This much should be obvious to anyone attending most big American churches: on Sunday mornings, those lots are covered with expensive vehicles. If you doubt me, just go out and check them; most American churches, any Sunday. Do we need expensive vehicles to get from here to there? Absolutely not.
Is there hypocrisy in the air? Most churches are “country clubs with steeples,” according to a friend of mine who believes deeply in God but deals with his God privately, not as part of an organized religion.
Hey, why am I picking on churches? Well, maybe it’s because church-goers repeatedly claim to me that they are morally superior to me because they are church-goers. They also tell me that it’s the teachings of Jesus that make them morally superior. Now I am quite aware that a teaching often attributed to Jesus is that one needs to first sell all his possessions and give the money to the poor before following Him. This passage makes me think: “Hey, church-goers, if you are all so morally superior, show it.” That’s what I think when I see all those unnecessarily fancy vehicles on the church parking lot.
Where do all those church-goers park those vehicles? Here’s where: in their big garages attached to their expensive houses. Here’s the issue then: these holders of substantial wealth are often the same people who profess to believe literally in Biblical scripture. Yet the New Testament isn’t known for encouraging people to acquire wealth. Or is …