“Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.” – Chief Seattle, 1855
By Thurman, on September 5th, 20102010-09-06T02:32:57ZF jS, Y%
Here’s a report from KFSN about a terrorist attack that happened in the town of Madera, California last week. I haven’t been watching the news too closely this weekend, but I suspect this is the first you’re hearing about it too. Last Thursday, someone threw a Molotov cocktail through the window of a local medical clinic.
“Upon arrival responding officers discovered that Planned Parenthood had been attacked by an unknown person with an incendiary device.” said Madera Police Chief Michael Kime.
Madera Police do not have anyone in custody but a spokesperson with Planned Parenthood says she has a good idea of who it might be.
“I believe it’s extremists who are, want to make a statement.” said public affairs director Pasty Montgomery.
The extremists in question were most likely fundamentalist Christianists, delivering a violent message of hate and intolerance to those who work in and who avail themselves of the legal services of the medical clinic, in operation for more than twenty years without prior incident. Continue reading All Terrorists Are Not Muslims
By Thurman, on August 22nd, 20102010-08-22T23:07:57ZF jS, Y%
I discovered this gem of a video earlier this afternoon while watching LinkTV. I’m glad to see that there are still people out there in the world – in the US no less – who are willing to stand up against the racial profiling, religious intolerance, and general culture of ignorance that seems to be so pervasive in my country today.
There is everything wrong with supporting and participating in terrorism, but there is nothing wrong with being a Muslim, an Arab, or any of the other labels we use to continually divide ourselves and maintain the ‘us and them’ mentality that causes so much strife and hurt in the world. If only we could learn to live with only one label: Human.
By Thurman, on August 7th, 20102010-08-07T14:45:22ZF jS, Y%
I originally posted this little piece of religious propaganda without comment, but the more I look at it the more I feel the need to pontificate.
I’ve made no secret of the fact that as far as mainstream monotheism and most other recognizable religious movements in the world are concerned I’m an atheist. I’ve also been pretty blatant in this space with my disgust for most facets of capitalism as practiced in it’s American form today. As far as I’m concerned, the profit motive is at the root of just about every ill in the world today, and those that don’t fit that model stem from religious zealotry.
I’ve been in a pretty foul mood lately. Work is turning into a living nightmare as I’m discovering that the noble entrepreneur I thought was my employer is just another hypocritical greedy bastard hiding behind the legal shield of his corporate status and his professed religious beliefs.
While my co-workers go without basic medical care and show up to work in worn out shoes and clothes full of holes, Mr. Big Bucks goes on back to back vacations in the Caribbean and buys himself and his wife ginormous high dollar SUV’s.
The guy claims to be a follower of Jesus Christ, yet when he goes on his regular biblical tirades in our company meetings, all I ever hear him spew is blood and guts stories from the Old Testament – never a peep of anything his lord and savior said. I grew up in a few different Christian churches, so I’m familiar with the message of love and compassion Jesus preached. My employer’s words and actions remind me of the male chauvinist attitudes and ignorant bigotry that was more common in my great-grandparent’s time than most people can stomach today. Continue reading No Wonder I’m So Grouchy
By Thurman, on November 4th, 20092009-11-05T01:42:00ZF jS, Y%
A few weeks ago I published an essay titled, The Offense of Marriage: An Uncivil Union. In that essay I outlined what I feel is the most straight forward way to end the debate surrounding same-sex marriage. The issue, at least to me, is a moot point: government has no business calling any union between any two people a marriage.
I believe that ALL marriages are, in name, unconstitutional, but that does not and was never meant to imply that I condone the discrimination gay couples in this nation must put up with every day of their lives. Life is too short and precious to tolerate such bullshit. Continue reading Haters Need Not Apply
By Thurman, on October 30th, 20092009-10-31T04:23:00ZF jS, Y%
What would Jesus do if he were the President of the United States?
Would he feed the hungry? Would he clothe the naked? House the poor? Would he heal the sick? Would he invest in the stock market? Would he pick and choose who we should help and who should be refused aid?
Correct me if I’m wrong, but a big part of being a Christian involves the acceptance and earnest practice of the principles taught by the movement’s founder, Jesus of Nazareth; those ideals being love, charity, healing, and forgiveness. The whole divinity, Son of God, salvation aspect of Christianity, while accepted by most Christians, is irrelevant to this essay. This is about what Jesus taught regarding how we should live together compared with what most of his modern disciples preach.
Among the thousands of people railing against every progressive idea coming out of the White House and Congress are a large percentage of self-described Christians. I meet people every day who label themselves Christians and who are worried sick that the Obama administration is conspiring to turn the United States into a socialist nation. If these issues weren’t of such great importance to our collective future it would almost be comical. Continue reading Jesus Was A Socialist
By Thurman, on October 9th, 20092009-10-09T18:28:00ZF jS, Y%
I love my country, but I love my children and my planet more. Maybe that’s why it sometimes brings me to tears when I realize that everything good I was ever taught about this nation was either an exaggerated myth or a blatant lie. Most people I meet just accept the way things are and exist in the fog of mindless consumption or cheap entertainment, but I refuse.
I’ve found far too many examples of people who refused to silently tolerate the wrongs they saw around them and against the odds made a difference in the world. The Quakers of the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries stood firm against racial slavery until their cause triumphed. Slavery still exists in the world, but not as an accepted economic institution.
Mohandas Gandhi took a stand against injustice and was beaten repeatedly, went to prison numerous times, and nearly starved himself to death to make his point, but the movement he started eventually led to a peaceful overthrow of British rule in India and proved that one person, dedicated and diligent in their cause, can change their world.
Gandhi’s struggle eventually cost him his life, but not before he inspired thousands of others, among them a young American preacher struggling to overturn the wrongs being done to his people, the descendants of African slaves in America. Martin Luther King, Jr. was only one man, but his inspired leadership challenged and rallied others to take up his cause, ultimately resulting in the walls of racial discrimination in this country becoming cracked and broken. Today those walls are still coming down thanks to the ongoing efforts that Dr. King’s work began.
Like Gandhi, Dr. King gave his life to the struggle which he led, but not in vain. Less than fifty years since the civil rights movement he helped establish began, America elected a young man of African ancestry to the presidency of this nation. When Martin King was assassinated in 1967, he had just begun to refocus his goals to encompass social justice for all working people, regardless of race or ethnicity. Continue reading If Not Us, Who?
By Thurman, on September 25th, 20092009-09-25T20:50:00ZF jS, Y%
For as long as anyone living today can remember, the United States of America has prided itself on being the melting pot of the world. We live in a gloriously diverse society filled with people from all parts of the globe and representing an enormous variety of religious and ethnic backgrounds.
No Wonder I’m So Grouchy
I originally posted this little piece of religious propaganda without comment, but the more I look at it the more I feel the need to pontificate.
I’ve made no secret of the fact that as far as mainstream monotheism and most other recognizable religious movements in the world are concerned I’m an atheist. I’ve also been pretty blatant in this space with my disgust for most facets of capitalism as practiced in it’s American form today. As far as I’m concerned, the profit motive is at the root of just about every ill in the world today, and those that don’t fit that model stem from religious zealotry.
I’ve been in a pretty foul mood lately. Work is turning into a living nightmare as I’m discovering that the noble entrepreneur I thought was my employer is just another hypocritical greedy bastard hiding behind the legal shield of his corporate status and his professed religious beliefs.
While my co-workers go without basic medical care and show up to work in worn out shoes and clothes full of holes, Mr. Big Bucks goes on back to back vacations in the Caribbean and buys himself and his wife ginormous high dollar SUV’s.
The guy claims to be a follower of Jesus Christ, yet when he goes on his regular biblical tirades in our company meetings, all I ever hear him spew is blood and guts stories from the Old Testament – never a peep of anything his lord and savior said. I grew up in a few different Christian churches, so I’m familiar with the message of love and compassion Jesus preached. My employer’s words and actions remind me of the male chauvinist attitudes and ignorant bigotry that was more common in my great-grandparent’s time than most people can stomach today. Continue reading No Wonder I’m So Grouchy