Evangelism Roosts in its Own Petard

An evangelical manifesto criticizes politics in faith

(AP) -- Conservative Christian leaders who believe the word "evangelical" has lost its religious meaning plan to release a starkly self-critical document saying the movement has become too political and has diminished the Gospel through its approach to the culture wars.

The statement, called "An Evangelical Manifesto," condemns Christians on the right and left for using faith to express political views without regard to the truth of the Bible, according to a draft of the document obtained Friday by The Associated Press.

"That way faith loses its independence, Christians become 'useful idiots' for one political party or another, and the Christian faith becomes an ideology," according to the draft.
The declaration, scheduled to be released Wednesday in Washington, encourages Christians to be politically engaged and uphold teachings such as traditional marriage. But the drafters say evangelicals have often expressed "truth without love," helping create a backlash against religion during a "generation of culture warring.

"All too often we have attacked the evils and injustices of others," the statement says, "while we have condoned our own sins." It argues, "we must reform our own behavior."

Ya think, evangelicals?

First off, I haven't met any "evangelicals" from the left side of the political spectrum who have done anything other than question the vast right wing "noise" conspiracy on this issue. I know of no one on the progressive side of the aisle who has demanded of anyone else to adhere to his or her religious beliefs beyond what s/he feels in their own heart.

But beyond that, religion shouldn't play a role in politics. Period. The wall separating Church and State has been plastered with right wing bullshit graffiti over the last couple of decades, but that wall needs to be replastered and repainted; it needs to be refreshed and resecured to be stronger than ever. Thank God that even some churches are seeing the negative, residual effects from blurring church and state. When will the Catholic Church get on board?

CHICKEN POT PIE

I thought I'd share this delicious Chicken Pot Pie recipe. Its old-fashioned taste is outstanding, and it doesn't use cream soup for flavor.

CHICKEN POT PIE

Celery Seed Pastry

2/3 cup plus 2 Tablespoons shortening
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons celery seed
1 teaspoon salt
4 - 5 Tablespoons cold water

Cut shorening into flour, celery seeds, and salt until particles are the size of small peas. Sprinkle in cold water, 1 Tablespoon at a time, tossing with a fork until all flour is moistened and pastry almost cleans side of bowl (1 to 2 more teaspoons of water can be added, if necessary). Gather pastry into ball.

Filling

1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup chopped celery
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1-3/4 cups chicken or turkey broth
2/3 cup milk
2 cups cut-up cooked chicken or turkey
1 10 ounce package frozen peas and carrots (or mixed vegetables of your choosing)

Heat butter over low heat until melted. Blend in flour, onion, celery, salt, and pepper. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is smooth and bubbly; remove from heat. Stir in broth and milk. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir for 1 minute. Stir in chicken and frozen vegetables; reserve.

Prepare celery seed pastry (above). Roll 1/2 of pasty to fit large, deep dish pie plate, and ease pasty into plate. Pour chicken filling into pastry lined pan. Roll out remaining dough and place over filling. Roll edges under; flute. Cut slits in center to allow steam to escape. Cook uncovered in 425 degree oven until crust is brown, about 30 - 35 minutes. (Serves 6)

Gas Prices

What really pisses me off about gas prices increasing exponentially under the Bush Regime is that all the extra money we are paying at the pump goes directly into Big Oil's pockets. The oil companies have enjoyed record profits during Bush's tenure and taxes on gasoline have not increased at all.

I wouldn't even mind paying more for gas if somehow the country/states were benefiting from the increase. It's a given that even if the price of oil goes down, gas prices won't.

One more example of how Bush/Cheney have fucked the middle class.

Thank You

Vicky has cordially invited me to contribute to her much neglected blog, I am more than happy to accepted this delightful invitation.

I have no idea if I have anything relevant to say, but we shall see.

There They Go Again

This woman heads to DC to testify about the negative impact climate change will have on the health of Americans, and the White House opts to "severely edit" her report.

White House "Eviscerated" Climate Change Testimony

Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the Atlanta-based CDC, the government's premier disease-monitoring agency, told a Senate hearing that climate change "is anticipated to have a broad range of impacts on the health of Americans."

But her prepared testimony was devoted almost entirely to the CDC's preparation, with few details on what effects climate change could have on the spread of disease. Only during questioning did she describe some specific diseases that likely would be affected, again without elaboration.

...

Dr. Michael McCally, executive director of Physicians for Social Responsibility, also sat on a panel testifying before the committee and afterwards complained about the editing.

“It appears the White House has denied a congressional committee access to scientific information about health and global warming, McCally said in a statement Wednesday. "This misuse of science and abuse of the legislative process is deplorable.”

Most notably, he noted, was removal of the statement that “CDC considers climate change a serious public health concern.”

I'd really like to know what the Bush administration is afraid of. Why are they denying this reality that inevitably affect all of us?

FAA Shuts Down GRR TRACON

The federal government continues to fuck up everything it touches. From a press release I received today:

PRESS RELEASE October 23, 2007

Contact: Donna Cole, NATCA Local GRR President

FAA Shuts Down GRR TRACON

GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Two years after receiving air traffic controller's industrial hygenist report from Wondermaker's Environmental, of Kalamazoo, Michigan, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) finally admitted existence of the toxic mold during demolition work in the Grand Rapids radar room, called a TRACON. Initiated two years ago after poor press stemming from the voluminous report submitted to the FAA by the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), the demolition was to repair numerous roof and building water leaks and damaged interior ceilings, walls and floors in the safety-critical control tower. For nearly a decade, air traffic controllers have suffered numerous health problems due to working in the contaminated Tower and TRACON.

Last month NATCA received summaries of three-years worth of asbestos air monitor readings from 1997 Asbestos Abatement Reports on the Tower. These reports indicate the FAA tested over thirty sites (six pages of documentation) in the Tower for asbestos. Not all sites could possibly be tested, but abatement or encapsulation was completed on known asbestos during the 1996/1997 Tower refurbish. At that time, the air traffic controllers were moved to a temporary tower to avoid asbestos contamination and disruption of air traffic services to pilots. At this contentious time in air traffic labor/management history, no temporary tower was utilized. The FAA will not acknowledge the extensiveness of asbestos issues, current toxic mold problems and continues to refuse the air traffic controllers request perform air monitoring testing to find the level of contamination of asbestos and toxic mold in the areas under demolition and repair.

The old tests indicate that as far as the former 1990's servicing company knew, after refurbish all areas tested in the Tower were below 0.01 allowable asbestos levels, with the caveat to maintain allowable levels pending no further disturbances of the tested areas. There were several areas that were labeled as "unknown" hazards, i.e. they were not tested and the substance in the materials could be asbestos containing materials.

The FAA's own OSHA "specialist" identified one area as asbestos containing - window sill caulk. That area actually tested negative by local firm Fishbeck, Thompson, and Carr last month. NATCA was not allowed to participate in testing, contrary to law. Two other recently FAA tested sites, one on the roof top and one on the fifth floor, tested positive for asbestos. The FAA OSHA "specialist" is the same person who claimed mold in HVAC ventilator was dust.

The FAA has decided they will not do any air monitoring for asbestos. The manager at Grand Rapids, Jim Munslow, will not let the Union perform air monitoring at the Union's expense, violating two FAA Orders, two FAA agreements, and an imposed work rule, as well as OSHA regulations.

For government liability alone, performing air monitoring will prevent future liability issues. The air monitoring itself is inexpensive, in contrast to the huge liability from killing or injuring employees. It would make financial sense to conduct testing at this time. As contractors tear down the Tower and TRACON walls, ceilings and HVAC duct, which has been previously tested as positive for several types of hazardous mold and allegedly abated for asbestos, air monitoring would ensure the safety of the air traffic controllers. Mold remediation is expected to be performed in light of last nights declaration, but the FAA has not moved forward with mold remediation as of last night.

Employees working in this Tower have been denied the allowance of a safe place to work due to the FAA's refusal to follow their own regulations, laws and processes. Federal OSHA, responsible for federal employees health and safety, cannot step into the process until an air traffic controller becomes sick or dies, per their assessment of the situation yesterday. The possibilities of contamination from multiple sources is everywhere, and there is no accountability for what will happen to the lives of each employee or the aircraft they move safely through their airspace each day.

The FAA was unable to include an address to repeated interior flooding from HVAC base units on site, creating a replay of the interior damage. They agree the base units need to be moved from an exterior wall (where the pipes freeze and burst) to an interior wall, but the claim there is not enough funding in this project to fix interior flooding too. In spite of a known problem, the likelihood of the TRACON being flooded again is very high, which means all the work that is being done now will have to be redone. It has been two years to get the current issues moved from identification stage to repair.

The FAA intends to meet Wednesday with its own specialist and advise employees and contractors why it refused to perform asbestos air monitoring and mold remediation procedures in light of all the documentation indicating the building structure failures, including dozens of previous asbestos sites and toxic mold sites.

"Freedom's Watch's" Boggus Invitation to Support the Troops

On my way home from work on Wednesday, I was scanning the AM radio channels, as I usually do, and found myself listening to Sean Hannity -- I do it so you don’t have to -- on WOOD 1300 in Grand Rapids. The always-revolting Hannity moved to commercial break, during which a "Freedom’s Watch” ad was aired. It was the one that features Iraq war veteran Andrew Robinson, who was on his second tour of duty when he was wounded by an IED in June of 2006. Andrew lost the use of his legs. In the ad, Andrew tells us why he believes “victory (in Iraq) is America's only choice.” The ad ends with a plea for the audience to call their representatives in congress and tell them to support freedom, and it directs them to dial 1 (877) 222-8001 to be put through to the office of their representative.

Being the good liberal that I am, I dialed the number, thinking that this would be an excellent time to call Vern Ehlers (for the umpteenth time) to tell him to support the troops by bringing an end to this feckless, immoral, pre-emptive, illegal war for oil without end, AMEN!, since the ad was providing me with assistance in contacting my congressman. The ad did not say, “Do not call if you don’t support the war.”

So, I dial 1 (877) 222-8001 to add my discordant voice to the chorus, and I’m placed on hold for a couple of minutes. A very patriotic message, read by a very patriotic jingoist, looped a couple of times. Although there was more “support the war” stuff in the message, the gist of it goes something like this, “Thank you for calling Freedom’s Watch…..An operator will be with you shortly to help you call congress so that you can tell them to support freedom.”

I’m thinking, “Hmmm, this is really great, I’m going to leave Ehlers a message telling him to support freedom by bringing the troops home and ending the war!” Although the ad and the message are pro-war, neither the ad nor the message said anything about not accepting a dissenting opinion.

A woman with a wimpy, squeaky voice comes on the line and offers a spiel in the form of a question. I’m paraphrasing here, but the question was more or less like this: “Do you support the fight for the ideals and values that keep America strong and prosperous through continued efforts to protect America against the global threat of terror?”

I said, “Ummm, no.”

She quickly squeaked out, “Have a nice day, and go to – “

I butted in, “Hey, wait! I thought you were going to put me through to my congressman?”

She said, “No. Go to FreedomsWatch.org. Bye.” And she hung up on me.

So, just for grins, I assumed my wide “pain in the ass” stance, and continued to call them a number of times. Each time, when I revealed my position, they cut me off. “Hey, what’d I do wrong?” I thought. I did what they told me to do: I attempted to call my congressman to tell him to support the troops.

From Freedom’s Watch’s web site:

Freedom’s Watch is organized as a nonprofit corporation and operated in a manner consistent with section 501 (c) (4) of the federal income tax laws. Freedom’s Watch is dedicated to educating individuals about and advancing public policies that protect America’s interests at home and abroad, foster economic prosperity, and strengthen families. Through outreach and education, communications to key members of Congress, and bold public awareness initiatives, Freedom’s Watch is fighting for the ideals and policies that keep America strong and prosperous. We welcome all those who share our values to join our efforts.

What’s interesting to me is that I do share their values. Every last one of them. However, our opinions differ about the way in which we attain those goals. Since I was cut-off several times by a “Freedom’s Watch” operator, I can only conclude that their ads offer false statements when they invite me to call their number to contact my congress person to “support freedom” and then disconnect me when the reality-based version of “freedom” doesn’t match up to the “freedom” they project in their marketing spin. Hanging up on me isn’t freedom, because freedom allows for dissent.

I realize that Freedom’s Watch has a specific goal, and that is to increase support for the war. They have a $ 15 million war chest to spend on radio and television ads, and the ads will continue through the month of September. Hell, the president of Freedom’s Watch, Bradley Blakeman, says, “The mission of Freedom’s Watch is to ensure a strong national defense and a powerful effort to confront and defeat global terror, especially in Iraq. Those who want to quit while victory is possible have dominated the public debate about terror and Iraq since the 2004 election. Freedom’s Watch is going to change that.”

What part of “this war is wrong, it’s immoral, it’s illegal, and we shouldn’t be fighting it” do these doofuses not understand? What can we do to counter this reckless marketing campaign? Frankly, I don’t think it’s very effective because Bush lost the country on the war quite some time ago and the ads are a bit too simplistic and “in your face” (the country has moved on from the upside down rhetoric of the Bush administration), but if enough people are convinced to call their congressperson, our representatives may think that there is more support for this war than is actually out there

What can those of us who do not support this immoral, illegal war do to encourage the majority of Americans who, like us, do not support this war to contact their congressional representatives to demand an end to this war, NOW?

Share your ideas.