from "Plugging the Gulf Oil Leak with the Works of Ayn Rand"

The following illustrations and captions come from the Facebook group, "Plugging the Gulf Oil Leak with the Works of Ayn Rand."



"Let us keep plugging away at sociopathic systems... "






"This picture explains everything you need to know about Ayn Rand and her vision of utopia. A big terrifying underwater nightmare where you die at the end of a giant misanthropic drill under the watchful eye of Galt."

Just Wondering: Too Much Government? Can Christians be Libertarians?

Just Wondering....

• Libertarians often can be heard exclaiming, "our government is too big." The motto of the Libertarian Party is "smaller government, lower taxes, more freedom." But just how small should government be? We never seem to get an answer to that.
• Hmmm. Why is it that that motto reminds me of adolescence?
• Take the World's Smallest Political Quiz" to see if you're a Libertarian. (Surprise, surprise: I'm not. )
• Like Warnock below, I've always been struck by the inconsistency of individuals simultaneously crying "Our government is too big!" and "Keep government out of my Medicare!"
• How can thinking Christians be Libertarians? Not only do Libertarians have an unrealistic idea about what individuals can accomplish on their own, they tend to totally ignore the reality of sin. This is understandable, given that many of them share Ayn Rand's metaphysical presuppositions; but I have never understood how Christians--who believe Christ became incarnate, suffered and died to redeem us from sin--could be Libertarians.
• Moreover, the whole notion of "church" and "body of Christ" mitigates against the individualism and autonomy that Libertarians crave. 1 Cor. 6:19-20 tells us that We are not our own. We have been bought for a price.
• How do Christian Libertarians account for Isaiah 9:6-7 or Romans 13:3-5 or Romans 12:4-6 ?
  
  via Brad: Chuck Warnock's excellent blog entry, "For Those Who Think We Have Too Much Government."
  
  We've heard the mantra over and over --"our government is too big!" Never mind that those who are the quickest to shout it out at a rally are also the quickest to claim their Social Security and Medicare benefits. As one healthcare protestor said during a healthcare town hall meeting, "Keep government out of my Medicare!" Of course, someone pointed out later that Medicare is a government program. But despite the pesky facts that continue to get in the way of the "government is too big" protests, the idea persists that less government would be a good thing.
  
  To all of those who think we have too much government:
  
  Tomorrow when you pull out of your driveway onto a paved road that leads to a multi-lane interstate highway system, thank the government.
  
  When you stop at a stoplight, placed in the intersection to regulate the flow of traffic and prevent chaos, thank either your local, county, or state government who probably got the funds to install that traffic light from the federal government.
  
  When you drop your kids off at a school that they attend for free, staffed by highly-qualified, college graduates most of whom have master's degrees or higher, take note that education is primarily a government-funded and administered perk of living in the United States of America.
  
  As you pull into the daycare center that will keep your youngest until they are ready for free public pre-kindergarten, you might remember the line item deduction on your IRS form 1040 that gives you credit for childcare so that you can work to support your family. That's your government at work, subsidizing your income with a tax credit to enable you to be a productive American.
  
  Arriving at your company's headquarters where you work, you might not know that the industry you work for gets special treatment in government tax credits so that your company can invest in the equipment necessary to expand manufacturing, increase production, and hire more workers.
  
  As you settle into your desk for the workday, government is there, insuring that the workplace, from the factory floor to the cafeteria, is a safe place for all to work.
  
  Down the hall in Human Resources, government has assured that your company cannot discriminate in its hiring practices, and that all Americans have an opportunity to apply for and be hired for the jobs of their dreams. Fifty years ago, discrimination was the rule of the day and minority workers had little hope of getting a good job, or of advancing with the company that did hire them. One hundred years ago, my ancestors from Ireland were also denied jobs because of their ethnicity. Today's minorities, while still not operating on a level playing field, at least have a better chance than they did in the past. All because government has guaranteed that institutionalized discrimination in the workplace will not be tolerated.
  
  When you go out for lunch, government inspectors have assured that the meal you eat, the restaurant in which you eat it, and the workers who prepare it meet minimum standards for health and safe food handling.
  
  After work, you might stop to visit your mother in the assisted-living center where she has moved since your father died. Government is there with assurances that the elderly are not abused, that proper medical care is provided, and that the enormous costs of living with assistance and medical attention are born by Medicare and Medicaid.
  
  Street lights come on at dusk as you make your way back home. They're part of a crime reduction program that includes better public lighting, more police on the streets, and gang prevention programs in schools and community centers, all funded by the government to keep us safe and secure in our homes and neighborhoods.
  
  As you turn on the evening news, you catch video of U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, winning the peace there, taking the fight to the extremist elements that would destroy our freedoms. The United States has the only global ocean-going navy in the world; better trained and equipped soldiers than any country in the world, and more advanced defense technology than the world has ever seen. All of that is provided, funded, and deployed by the government of the United States to insure that you have the right to protest that our government is too big.
  
  The evening news itself, available 24-hours a day from over a dozen or more independent news operations is also a testimony to the power and influence of government. Freedom of the press is a constitutional guarantee that tyrants have sought to quash in every dictatorial power grab attempted. It is the government through the U.S. Justice Department, that enforces the law of the land insuring that the news you get will be unhindered by government interference. And, in the United States, if you dont like the spin one network puts on the news, you can find another to match your own political preferences. Try that in Venezuela or Cuba or China, if you think we have too much government in the United States.
  
  Tomorrow on payday when you deposit your check, the bank into which you place your money is guaranteed to be solvent by the government of the United States. When it appeared that some of our largest financial institutions were near collapse, the federal government was the only entity in the world with the resources and jurisdiction to step in and save them, and the depositors who had trusted them.
  
  This summer when you travel to a state or national park on vacation, see the bald eagles brought back from extinction, or look into the depths of the Grand Canyon, you have government to thank for saving those areas from commercial exploitation, and preserving species of wildlife threatened by manmade calamity.
  
  The list could go on to include the safety of the toys your child plays with; the purity of the pharmaceuticals we depend upon for curing our diseases and sustaining our lives; and, the quality of the air we breathe and the water we drink --all exist because government inspects and monitors each of these areas and more.
  
  The next time you're tempted to say, "our government is too big" think about what your life would be like without the power of government at the local, county, state, and federal levels.
  
  Does government fail too often? Absolutely, because just like your company, or your church, or your school government is not some machine; government is people. Does government waste our tax dollars too frequently? Of course, it does, but far more good is done than harm in the administration of government programs. Can government operate more effectively, responsively, and efficiently? Improvement can always take place, but the idea of government itself is not the problem.
  
  About 225 years ago, "we the people" cast off one form of government called monarchy for another form called democracy. Government is the organized expression of the will of the people of the United States. If all the government services that I have mentioned in this brief article were to disappear tomorrow, those who are demanding smaller government today would demand that these essential services be restored immediately. For those who think we have too much government, let me suggest a trip to an ungovernable place like Somalia. Not much government there, and the sea pirates are "free" to do as they please, but that's not the kind of state most of us want to live in. You might disagree, but I'm happy with the size of our government.
  
  Sunday I'll go to church and exercise one of the freedoms guaranteed by my government: I'll pray for our leaders, our soldiers, and those working to make this world a better place. If all of those criticizing our government would do the same, the size of government might become just about right for all of us.
  
  

Can you do this with your tap water?

Listening to Fresh Air this afternoon, I heard Terry Gross interview Josh Fox, whose new documentary, "Gasland" will be broadcast on HBO June 21 at 9 pm. This documentary gives new meaning to Romans 8:22.

We Americans must not be deluded that natural gas is a solution to our current oil woes. While for many, the destruction in the Gulf remains distant geographically and economically, the prospect of a potentially permanently contaminated water supply is immmediate and devastating.

It's ironic that the lectionary this week includes 1 Kings 21, and that my husband will be preaching on that text.

CAN YOU DO THIS WITH YOUR TAP WATER? from JOSHFOX on Vimeo.



Above is the trailer for "Gasland."



And this is the PBS "NOW" interview with Josh Fox (23:45)

O GOD the Father, of heaven : have mercy upon us miserable sinners.
O God the Father, of heaven : have mercy upon us miserable sinners.
O God the Son, Redeemer of the world : have mercy upon us miserable sinners.
O God the Son, Redeemer of the world : have mercy upon us miserable sinners.
O God the Holy Ghost, proceeding from the Father and the Son: have mercy upon us miserable sinners.
O God the Holy Ghost, proceeding from the Father and the Son : have mercy upon us miserable sinners.
O holy, blessed, and glorious Trinity, three Persons and one God : have mercy upon us miserable sinners.
O holy, blessed, and glorious Trinity, three Persons and one God : have mercy upon us miserable sinners....

In all time of our tribulation; in all time of our prosperity; in the hour of death, and in the day of judgment,
Good Lord, deliver us.

We sinners do beseech thee to hear us, O Lord God; and that it may please thee to rule and govern thy holy Church universal in the right way;
We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord....

That it may please thee to give and preserve to our use the kindly fruits of the earth, so that in due time we may enjoy them;
We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.

That it may please thee to give us true repentance; to forgive us all our sins, negligences, and ignorances; and to endue us with the grace of thy Holy Spirit to amend our lives according to thy holy Word;
We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.

Son of God : we beseech thee to hear us.
Son of God : we beseech thee to hear us.
O Lamb of God : that takest away the sins of the world;
Grant us thy peace.
O Lamb of God : that takest away the sins of the world;
Have mercy upon us.
O Christ, hear us.
O Christ, hear us.
Lord, have mercy upon us.
Lord, have mercy upon us.
Christ, have mercy upon us.
Christ, have mercy upon us.
Lord, have mercy upon us.
Lord, have mercy upon us.

Mommy Rhapsody for Mother's Day

Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody gets a makeover for Mother's Day.

I love the send up, but I fear it was staged for a worship service. Sigh.

The Daily Show: Socialism Studies

Aasif Mandvi exposes the communist threat as Hacienda Heights introduces a Chinese language program to middle school kids.

"Everything from China is tainted with communism...and of course, lead."

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Socialism Studies
http://www.thedailyshow.com/
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

Can Latinos count on Evangelicals?

via Brad, a great blog entry from Ortho Cuban, Why Latinos (and African-Americans) have concerns about their fellow Evangelicals Here's the article's the bottom line:

...Make sure not to count on your white conservative Evangelical (and other conservative Christian) brethren. They will not see the problem and may even argue that you are the problem for arguing that you have civil rights that ought not to be violated based on the color of your skin or your accent. In one of the responses to one of the people who commented, I quoted Martin Luther King’s letter from the jail of the City of Birmingham. Let me quote it here again.

I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season.” Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.

I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and that when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress. I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that the present tension in the South is a necessary phase of the transition from an obnoxious negative peace, in which the Negro passively accepted his unjust plight, to a substantive and positive peace, in which all men will respect the dignity and worth of human personality. Actually, we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with. Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with all its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured.


I want to see the day when white people have to prove that they are not illegal Canadians using false papers when there is a traffic stop. I want to see the day when white people driving vans are periodically stopped near Federal buildings because they might be another Timothy McVeigh. I want to see the day when white men are kept from boarding a plane because it is feared that they may have an aggression problem. I want to see the day when young white males in a car are stopped to check for illegal oxycodin prescriptions. Barring that, I will settle for a country in which no citizen of color or accent or religion or gender has to be concerned about their being a second-class citizen.

HUMOR: A Nominalist's break-up line

Nominalist: "There’s you and there’s me. There is no us."

God's Greatness Doesn't Depend Upon Keeping Secrets

While doing homework, one of my students came upon this quote: "Scripture never assumes that God owes us an explanation for what He does." (John M. Frame) He observed, "It's like a 3 year old challenging his parents about what they do with their finances. "

This is something that frequently arises in conversations with my students. Here is my response:

And yet, Scripture doesn't present God as a tyrant, refusing to hear our questions and complaints.

A lot depends on HOW we enquire of the Lord. Is our attitude one of humility, or of pride? Cf. Psalm 22:1-2; Psalm 42:9; Ex. 5:22; Ex. 32:11; Gen. 25:22; Isaiah 1:18, Matthew 27:46.

Look how often the locution, "that is why" or "this is why" appears in scripture. Our God doesn't delight in keeping secrets; He delights in revealing Himself -- His Holy Spirit of Truth--to those who are ready to accept Him. .

Luke 11:9-13

9"So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

11"Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the HOLY SPIRIT to those who ask him!"

200 Years that changed the world

via Brad:

www.bit.ly/95uVQ9

watch those bubbles--especially the big red and turquoise ones.