porn and conservatives

no surprise to me - when my political & religious views were so bound up tight i had a much bigger struggle with porn. through my recovery i have learned that having opinions that are so stringent made me so legalistic - the steam has to go somewhere - and with their horrible view on women this isn't a shocker.

New Scientist - Porn in the USA - Conservatives are the biggest consumers

via queer messages

commander in chief

news on the huffpo today that gwb could be drinking again. i am not a fan of the man, but my heart goes out to him during this time. i know he's made his bed, hell, he's made all our beds, but recovery is hard enough when you work your program on a good day - let alone when the whole world hates you (for real)...

also news that his mom is in the hospital...

life just doesn't get easier sometimes. i said a prayer for him today. if this isn't bottom and he's not working his program, i don't know how bad it would have to get for him to get sober again.

i really feel for laura - i read she's writing a memoir - i wonder how honest she'll let herself be?

there were so many times in his eight years that i heard the clouded alcoholic thinking in his words or saw in his choices. so many times i thought "he's not working a program" or "there is no evidence of serenity in his life or words"... scary to think that even a white-knuckle drunk president had so much power.

the clarity and decisiveness that BO speaks with tells me that he is the most diferentiated person we have seen in a very long time. so healthy. i pray he stays that way.

one of my greatest fears about john mccain was that he showed great evidince of addiction in his lifestyle and choices. i knew that our world could not afford another unrecovered addict in the white house.

god bless america.

what a guy!

are you registered to vote?

$3.00 a day

amazing article in the washington post about a congressman who rose to the challenge to live on the $3.00 a day food stamp recipients are forced to subsist on:

Washington Post - Pangs of Hunger - and a Bit of Guilt

my hero on my favorite show

my hero on my favorite show - 'the hour' is one of the most thought provoking, interesting hours on television - be sad you don't have access to the cbc - but enjoy george stroumboulopoulos (say that 10x fast!) on you tube if you get a chance. he asks intriguing questions and takes interviews in really intense directions. people feel safe with him and they open up - this interview is over 9 minutes - but worth watching the whole piece.

i kept checking back to see if they had loaded this clip yet, but just saw it on the church of the exiles blog - thanks jordon!

weekly links-a-lot

i decided that since i spend a lot of my time reading on line that i would begin to highlight the great stuff i've found this week:

• dave paisley gives a new parallel illustration to the challenge of patriarchy in the church - women and the church
  

• ben witherington takes on fox news and challenges evangelicals to begin to think for themselves politically - the virginal conception and political deception
  

• obama sets the record straight (ht to jordon cooper)
  

• gimme some of your habitude. rach at magpie girl is calling us to a peaceful life with daily random acts of kindness for february. oh, and i think there are a few copies left of her lovely zine if you hurry.
  

• the cbe scroll is highlighting some links and discussion of the mess the swbts is making with a decision to fire a language teacher because of her gender. good thoughts to challenge those on the fence: The CBE Scroll - Consistent Application
  

• and lastly, this is where i'd really like to be at the end of march - the evolving church 2007 conference - shane claiborn, jim wallace and ron sider... saving my pennies for that plane ticket...

can anyone say intervention?

will's connections from last night's speech ring my bell this morning:

willzhead: Reaction to Bush Speech

can anyone say intervention?

will's connections from last night's speech ring my bell this morning:

willzhead: Reaction to Bush Speech

james dobson has lost his moral authority

i don't have a lot of time or energy for indignation right now, but i am just sick and tired of james dobson and his tribe at focus on the family loosing the forest for the trees.

the news of dobson dropping haggard like a hot potato just sickens me. (here and here) of all of the families in america who need to be focused on right now i would say that the haggards qualify pretty high up on that list.

i actually think that the haggards will be better off without dobson and his shame based ministry providing counseling. i don't know if he could really provide this family with the help they need anyway. but this 'i don't have time' garbage is just sickening. his "kingdom" is the closest to the former "haggard kingdom" - so it's not like travel would be a problem... and the fact that he was involved previously with haggard and didn't love him enough to give him a safe enough place to confess shows what dobson's counseling looks like anyway. it is my opinion that he (and others on this "team") must share in some of the blame for this escalating to this point without any of them seeing the warning signs. at least their discernment must be called into question.

this news comes on top of this article i read on the god's politics blog (here) regarding the voting guide FOTF provided to pennsylvania voters. it rated don sherwood a "pro-family" politician - this was the man who admitted to having a mistress, but denied the charges that he strangled and abused her... pro family? is this really how we are making our choices for our children?

all i can say is focus on your own damn families. leave ours alone please.

a bully culture

david byrne of talking heads fame has a fascinating blog. he posted his election day thoughts here and said something that resonated deeply with me:

I sense that the balance of power in the house and senate and the rollback of the neocon agenda is only part of the job ahead, as the country has been inundated with bully culture, the culture of greed, for at least a dozen years. For many young professionals, that’s all they know in their working lives — the attitude of winner takes all, bigger smashes smaller and do it if you can get away with it. It might take a while to allow another more humane culture of getting along and nurturing each other and benefiting from each other’s skills and knowledge to rise from the ashes. At present ashes are pretty much all there is. Social animals know better than this — they seem to instinctively know that there are limits to what the bosses and the alpha males can get away with, and that cooperation within the group is how the group survives. Checks and balances — something that’s been missing for a while.

I sense this culture every day, on the streets and in the media. Every time a cop car from my local precinct runs a red light or speeds down a one way street the wrong way (just because they can, no other reason) and every time an SUV with darkened windows muscles other cars, bikers, old ladies and kids out of way — sometimes narrowly missing pedestrians as they run a red light — well, it’s all been sanctioned by Bush and Cheney and the senators and congressmen who allied themselves with these bastards. They reflect and encourage one another. Push in line, build your building right in front of someone else’s, destroy a neighborhood, be a winner, a survivor. To me, those reality shows “teach” bully culture — that’s the lesson that is imparted — and that includes ones like Laguna Beach, which seems to promote backstabbing, lying, duplicitous behavior and entitlement — all in a world where no one works.

what are we teaching our children?

*tears*

via the huffpo

vote, please go vote!

as an american in canada i have lost my right to vote today - i used to live in the 'bellwether' state of pennsylvania, so my vote today would have been important.

please, please, please go vote today.

don't forget to register to vote

as a displaced american i am unable to affect change with my vote this year - so hopefully i can encourage some of you in the 50 to do so.

if you live in arizona, florida, pennsylvania or ohio PLEASE register right now before you miss the deadline on october 8th!!

Bloggermann: Feeling morally, intellectually confused? - Bloggermann - MSNBC.com

important read

Bloggermann: Feeling morally, intellectually confused? - Bloggermann - MSNBC.com

thanks jim!

please join the ceasefire campaign

feeling as helpless as i have been about all that is happening in the middle east? go here:

Ceasefire Campaign

The world cannot allow the bloodshed in the Middle East to continue. Thousands of innocent civilians have been killed and wounded, almost 1 million made homeless, and a catastrophic larger conflict is possible. We call on US President Bush, UK Prime Minister Blair and the UN Security Council to support UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's call for an immediate ceasefire and an international force to stabilize the situation.

TELL OUR LEADERS TO ACT NOW!

thanks mike for the head's up on this!

It's inconsistency, Stupid!

oh my goodness - sister joan has one of her best articles to date. now this is a consistent ethic of life!

And the problem is ... | National Catholic Reporter Conversation Cafe: "It's inconsistency, Stupid"

Disowning Conservative Politics, Evangelical Pastor Rattles Flock - New York Times

great article on courage:

Disowning Conservative Politics, Evangelical Pastor Rattles Flock - New York Times

thanks jim!

jim hancock: 6 for 06? how about you broke it; you bought it

jim's got a the right words, at the right time - let's get them out there so the people who need to read them do so!

jim hancock: 6 for 06? how about you broke it; you bought it

Run Bill Moyers For President, Seriously

OH YAH! this is brilliant!

Run Bill Moyers For President, Seriously

via