I’m not really liberal (This one)

I’m not really liberal. Growing up, I was all for the American dream and what it represented. I believed in right and wrong, and a sense of fairness. I could see balance and thought voting for the best candidate for the job was best, regardless of Party politics. I considered myself a centrist with an open mind. The ultimate devils advocate; I was able to see both sides of any issue. I thought it was a gift.

Change is a constant of the universe, and a part of our lives. America is always changing; it’s a fact that people of all demographics must reconcile. In the time when I was coming of age, Conservatives wanted small government, and I was all for that. Liberals wanted civil liberties, I certainly wanted that too. Then something strange began to happen, like a cancer had been spread across our nation. Conservatives who didn’t want these liberties were fundamentalists with no concept of equality, and those who had no use for them already had them due to the wealth they incurred on the backs of the poor and disenfranchised. It became clear to me over time that our government was expecting a lot in the form of taxes, but not returning much to its citizens. Oh, we spent plenty on the Cold War, as if the Soviets were ever really going to attack us after the Cuban Missile Crisis. We couldn’t possibly take care of the poor or infirm. Democrats were weak on defense, you know. That war machine had to be fed, and congressmen had to line their pockets with their own self interests instead of those of their constituents. Serving your country used to be an honor, as it was about sacrifice for the nation, not the country serving you.

There were a few defining junctures in my life where I had epiphanies about these issues. I realized that this whole tax and spend liberal nonsense was not only untrue, but it was a setup. Republicans destroy the system, lets use an example, like healthcare, education (no child left behind?), poverty, or welfare, and you can quickly see that Democrats, or Liberals as they are so often called, are called into service to clean up the mess. Unfortunately, this also often requires money as well as manpower and good ideas. When the next election cycle comes around, you can be sure of three things that Republicans will bring up: how flag burning and gay marriage should be outlawed via a Constitutional Amendment, and how Liberals tax and spend. Count on it like Mondays.

Currently, they are twisting this tactic for another reason: the War in Iraq. The President and his blind mice have issued statements with just enough truth to them that the average uneducated citizen will fall for the Party Line. That if we “cut and run,” they will “attack us again at home.” And they are right on this point.

With such a damaging foreign policy in place, eventually, we will be struck again. Ten months from now, or one-hundred years from now, we will be struck again.

I can no longer see both sides of the political argument. Conservatives have mixed the playing field intentionally by tossing in religion as it’s base. When you take logic out of the equation, how am I to make a sound decision? If you’re not with us, you’re a terrorist. If you’re not a Christian, you’re a heathen. If you’re not a Republican, you’re not for the Republic. It’s actually a great strategy, as it has thrown the Democratic Party into dysfunction. Why? Because it works. Because there are that many simple minded folks in this country who do not think logically, and how else do cowards like Hillary Clinton and the most of the Republican base vote? On fear. You can’t argue your way out of fear.

There is so much blood and guilt on the Republican Party’s hands, that I am sick inside. And to be sure, the folks who support the Party, actually think its just that, a party. That our troops should die some more, just so the ones who have died ought not to have died in vain. And then, the ones who die avenging them?

At some point I decided that I was Progressive, because that’s what this country was founded upon; Progressive ideals.

How we react to each situation is important, which brings me to “patriotic folks” stating “our troops are fighting for our freedom,” or “dying for us.”

No, they aren’t. In fact, more civil liberties have been lost since the Bush administration took control of the United States and proved that Republicans were weaker on defense by ignoring the signs that we were going to be attacked prior to 9/11/01. Our liberties are disappearing on our own soil while our troops are dying trying to bring democracy to a people who don’t want it. What Conservatives strangely forget is American history. British citizens in America, inspired by French Philosophers (inspired by ancient Greeks Philosophers) became traitors against the state. George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison were all terrorists. The Boston Tea Party: An act of terrorism. The American Revolution? Most certainly an act of war. American Minutemen? Insurgents. If you’re uncomfortable with that thought you’re probably a Conservative living a lie. Real Conservatives would have been Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Geronimo, Red Cloud, Chief Joseph, and Tecumseh. I would have joined that Party in a second. Think on that for a while.

Public Intellectual Moyers continuation

Reading and giving further thought to Bill Moyers  Discovering What Democracy Means, it gave me pause. Being an artist and always in favor and support of the arts, knowing what they do for our society and for the spirit of mankind, it has always surprised and concerned me that conservatives have wanted to cut funding for the arts.

I would like to think they were open minded enough to understand that what we leave behind is a reflection of who we are. How we relate to our past is a reflection of who we are. How we stand on our ancestors shoulders is a gift to our progeny. To be able to see works in a library, on public TV, or in a museum is a wonderful experience. A gift that few enough take hold of and utilize. 

Instead of finding ways to bring people into these projects and even help foster community care and involvement, our government has done its best to kill them by under funding or not funding the very programs that are the bedrock of our civilization.  I do not believe we can expect great thinkers to rise to the challenge without support. I do not believe great leaders will appear in a vacuum. I do not believe that our nation will prosper without fostering appreciation for the arts in all forms. 

Perhaps a fitting title for our Liberal Studies Capstone would be Public Discourse and Civic Engagement Practice.

300 and the Co-Opting of Film

http://home.comcast.net/~phoenixflames/300.mp3

By looking at our past, we can see elements of ourselves that are just human nature. It is our natural inclination to look for things we identify, but we shouldn’t try to find what is not there.

The film 300 opens on Friday, March 9, 2007. It is a true, but fictionalized account of the Battle of Thermopylae some 2,500 years ago between the Spartans and the
Persian Empire. It is an underdog story; 300 men against a million. Based on visionary Frank Miller’s Graphic Novel of the same title, Director Zack Snyder recently told ABC News, “I took the battle of Thermopylae and turned it into a myth. I think my movie is the way a Greek would tell the story of Thermopylae months after it happened, not with 2,000 years of hindsight,”.

“In ‘300,’ the Spartan king Leonidas faces off against the Persian tyrant Xerxes. Some media reports speculate that one or the other is supposed to represent President Bush. Snyder, who also co-wrote the screenplay, says that he began the script long before Bush was elected, and that any connection is purely speculative.”

I’ve heard this before, this notion of mixing current politics with movies. I’m not talking about something like American Dreamz that was released in 2006, I’m talking about films like The Lord of the Rings trilogy, in which the same sort of analogy was made. That President Bush represented someone in the movie, or that the movie was pro-war, pro-American and pro-Christian. These sentiments reminded me of a “kind-of-one-in-the-same-lately, right?” presence in our country ever since those attacks.

This has always bothered me, because it was another part of that jingoistic faux nationalism that was sweeping our country shortly after the terrorist attacks. Instead of doing research or reading the books, people just spouted ignorance, or what they thought they knew about The Lord of the Rings. The books were written far before this war on terror. They are not pro-America nor are they Christian in nature. They most certainly are not pro-war, in fact, quite the opposite if you pay attention to the writing.

So here we are again a few years later, and yet another wonderful movie is about to be co-opted into the wrong ideology. Worse yet, the history it teaches us is about to be corrupted by viewers who mistake the glory and honor of fighting for a way of life to a global war on terrorism. War is always terrible, and there is little good that ever comes of it. Which is why the Bush administration has done their best to blur the lines and makes us believe we are fighting for our very lives with slogans like, “we’re fighting them over there, se we don’t have fight them here.” A war on terrorism that has precious little, if nothing, to do with our country here at home is not what people should be comparing this film against.I assert that most people don’t want to learn the lessons of the past, but rather, want the easy way out of any given situation.

Sadly, the maxim is true that anything worth having is worth sacrificing for.

Thank goodness your liberty has already been paid for.

When you watch this film, instead think on their passion for living and dying. Think on their sacrifices for their countrymen.

Thank your veteran’s for their courage and commitment, regardless of when they served.

By looking at the past we can learn lessons. King Leonidas created a plan literally overnight and thwarted the Persian King Xerxes with a mere 300 men. It is too unimaginative to equate our situation to that of Sparta, simply because we are at war with someone who is in the same geographical area as Persia. In our current war, we are outnumbered, in foreign territory with a leader who is stubborn and hell bent on vendetta; and lacks the intelligence to get us out of the situation he put us in.

Thank him and those responsible the next time you vote by voting for someone other than a Republican or Democrat who put us into this mess. If we can learn from our past by learning lessons, we’ll all be better off for it.

2007 MAC Michiana Addy Awards 2nd wrap up

Thanks to all that attended the 2007 MAC Michiana ADDY Awards!Now that the votes are cast and the winners are decided, it is time to show the pictures from the event! 

Here is the candid shots before the ceremony. Here is a link to the pictures of the cermony. Here are shots of the award winners.

Photos provided by Marty at ME Photographics. 

Here is one of the 2006-2007 MAC Michiana Board of Directors (one member absent).

  

ADDY Recap
To view the complete list of winners or view/download the ADDY presentation, visit: www.macmichiana.org.

Winners: Please email Chris Sallak (csallak@yahoo.com) by Friday, March 16 if you would like to order additional copies of your 2007 ADDY award. They are $80 each.
 
All gold winners have been automatically forward to the District 6 competition. If you haven’t done so already, please contact Chris Sallak if you would like to also forward your silver winner to the next level. 

Christians, you can’t have it both ways.

Christians, your use of science puzzles me. You can’t have it both ways. You can’t have your cake and eat it too. You can’t be a conservative fundamentalist Christian while using technology to back up your faith. Because technology proves the opposite of your belief system, and you cannot cherry-pick scientific data no more than you can be a cafeteria Christian.

For years, I’ve watched as The History Channel and networks like it have appeased religious groups and gained revenue through advertising dollars by airing claims that they had found areas mentioned in the torah and bible. By that, I essentially mean, the Old Testament. These examples crop up every few years and Christians are excited when scientists use their technology and brains to prove their faith. But doesn’t faith, by its very definition mean that you do not have to have it proved, or at least, should not? Yet that’s what is done, in the name of science, but under the guise of religious faith. These activities are usually sponsored by religious groups in order to draw more attention to Christianity’s cause.

So when it was announced recently that James Cameron has sponsored a documentary on The History Channel about the historical find of the ossuary of Jesus, Mary Magdalene and their son, Judah, Christians for the most part, tried to distance themselves from the debate. In most cases, if you are a Christian, would be happy that the evidence would be found to support anything in the bible, or affiliated with it. Not this time. Why?

Perhaps it is because Christianity hinges upon Jesus’ resurrection. If he did not rise from the dead, then that whole messy Council of Nicaea business, at which, the winning viewpoint in whether Jesus was the living son of god was determined by a fistfight, really is a philosophical problem. This would be a problem that should be looked at with open eyes. With discourse. With scientific analysis. I mean, if science proves the man’s DNA in the ossuary was that of Jesus, and we take it on faith that it was the messiah, then what is there to lose? Because the bible states that he literally rose from the dead? It’s a messy thing, literal interpretation.

Understand that if Jesus was not the son of God, his message would still be valid. His words would still be wise. If anyone actually lived by them, that is.

Understand that when Jesus was born, Mithras was the predominant god in the Roman Empire. He followed a long line of gods son’s who were fashioned in their god’s image, such as Gilgamesh before him. The Mithras Cult saw rise to a new cult, one of a Jewish extremist group in the First Century, called Christianity. Now, I know that sounds like a radical idea that Christianity was a cult, but that is the truth. It’s the main reason why early Christians were persecuted, was because their cult was misunderstood by the majority.

If you look up the word cult in the Webster’s dictionary and this is what you will find:

Cult

·         Noun

1. Adherents of an exclusive system of religious beliefs and practices.
2. An interest followed with exaggerated zeal: “he always follows the latest fads;” “it was all the rage that season.”
3. A system of religious beliefs and rituals.

It’s kind of an ambiguous definition, and it’s meant to be that way by definition. Not all cults are bad; some are quite peaceful, like the Ghost Dance Cult of the Lakota Sioux Tribe in the 1890’s. Others are just seen that way because of tragic events like Jim Jones in Jonestown, or David Koresh in Waco, TX. Public perception has changed of the word, but the definition has not.

Further, in the United States, the statistics prove that you must announce your faith in order to run for government service; of which, requires a separation of church and state. If you think about the logic of that for a moment, it might not make sense, and that’s because it doesn’t.

See the moral dilemma? See the quandary? See the confusion why religion should be, if one must practice it, a personal thing and not of a public nature?

This problem could not be more evident with our own President Bush, a devout Christian, who actually believes that he was chosen by god, to sit in The White House. He is also of a conservative evangelical persuasion who thinks we are living in the “end times.” But he has this habit of changing scientific facts concerning global warming, to name just one item, to suit his own personal agenda. Off hand, one might wonder what this agenda would be. Why would a sitting President of the United States of America deliberately sabotage the entire global population? What would President Bush’s reason be to push us into a self-perpetuated biblical Armageddon? What would anyone stand to gain?

I’ll just tell you how it looks. It gives Christians a bad name.

Now Christians will distance themselves from this terminology and use the term cult to demonize extremists, never considering that they themselves what they are defining. No, Christianity couldn’t possibly fit that definition. It’s easy to do that, because that’s what your parents and clergy taught you, so you believe it. It’s easy to shy away from the truth, because Christians are the majority in the western world.

I’m not saying Jesus and his family’s bones are or are not in the ossuary. Who knows? However, it would be irresponsible to not pursue all paths and keep an open mind. It would be irresponsible to tell me that you will respect our Constitution, and then claim that your faith is not just a big part of you, but that you will base all of your decisions from it, even though a separation of Church and State ought to prevent you in good moral conscience from working that way. It would be a betrayal to find to wake up and find extremist has gained control of our Government and done something irreversible and irreparable to the world.

Christians should not use science to prove anything existed in the bible in order to re-affirm their faith; if when science proves them wrong or the possibility that they are wrong, they ignore it. 

Otherwise that’s bad judgment. You can’t have it both ways.