Be Not Idle

On February 5th, Michigan’s own Sen. Debbie Stabenow declared her support for a new “fairness doctrine” on the Bill Press Show: The Official Morning Show of the Obama Generation. (No, I’m not making up the subtitle. See Mr. Press’s website.)

It’s been nearly 22 years since the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) allowed the Fairness Doctrine to die a natural death. But some politicians are talking about reviving it like Frankenstein’s monster. Unfortunately, the average American thinks the Fairness Doctrine is a noble creature, brought into the world with noble intentions – not suspecting it will turn into a twisted thing. Continue Reading »

Laura at Catholic Teacher Musings is  weeping over the loss of a “follower”. She wrote a heartfelt (and funny) letter to the faithless lover reader. To paraphrase a popular book, and possibly movie, she’s afraid that the unnamed cad is not that into her. (Which strikes me as a terrible double entendre, especially for a married lady like Laura, so that perhaps the writer of said book and/or screenplay should wash his/her/its hands with soap.)

Me, I don’t know who reads this blog any more than I know why spammers find me so captivating. But I would hazard that if Laura felt REALLY bad about losing followers, she could do what I do… play hard to get.

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The Port Huron Times Herald invited children to write letters to the president-elect. Some of them were cute, like Lily who opined on what dog he should get and subtly fished for an invitation to the White House.

Several were serious. A young Mr. Foss specifically asked, “Please keep your promises. Please protect all Americans, including unborn babies.”

But my personal favorite was from a fellow who bravely put his full name and hometown (but I’ll just call him Ian). Ian’s letter was short and sweet:

Some people don’t like you, and I’m one of them. But I’m happy for you, and I pray for you. I hope you will make America a better place.

At Creative Minority Report, Fr. Barron gives us advice for improving spiritual health.  Plenty of ideas there, especially about comforting the poor of spirit.  Check it out.

Note to siblings and cousins: When he says “Go to Mass”, it’s eerily like Dad ordering us kids “Go to bed”.   It made me sit up, that’s for sure!

Presidential hopeful Sen. Obama took a shot at Republicans by mentioning the huge numbers of lay-offs in Michigan. (The Labor Department just announced that 39,000 auto-related jobs were lost in August.)   According to the Detroit News:

“These numbers are unacceptable and are just one more reminder of what is at stake in this election,” Obama said in a statement issued just before McCain and Palin arrived in the state. He reiterated his support of $50 billion in loan guarantees for domestic automakers to help them “retool their factories to make the next generation in fuel efficient vehicles.”

“Re-tooling” isn’t the same thing as “re-engineering.” Nor is publically acknowledging that automotive workers continue to bear the brunt of industry changes the same thing as acknowledging that political policies, including those of Gov. Granholm (D), have contributed a great deal to our one-state recession. 

I don’t recall ANY politician addressing the question of changing our nation’s infrastructure to support the transportation of the future – although they legislate lower carbon emissions even if they occasionally back down when reality strikes. The truth is that there’s a disconnect between political catch phrases and reality.

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‘Distribution’ means selling all the toxic, contaminated junk as quickly as possible. – The Story of Stuff

Known on-line as a Feminist Greenie, I received a link to a short film called The Story of Stuff.  I won’t be adding its website to the Blogroll**, but it is worth checking out as a new-tech version of an old-school film style: youth-friendly propaganda. I wouldn’t rank it with Reefer Madness, but it stands alongside Last Prom Night(an ’80s short against drunk-driving) and the shock-u-mentary about bad bus behavior leading to a watery end that made my fourth grade class cry.

The Story of Stuff has several elements that make it child-friendly, including cartoon-style graphics and a narrator with the enthusiastic delivery of an elementary teacher. The narrator, Annie Leonard, also wrote the film.

It scores points for classic use of stereotypes. Last Prom Night had stereotypical partying teenagers, including a jock and a popular girl who need alcohol to celebrate. The bus propaganda piece had a sexual stereotype: the female driver is so scared by mice loose on her bus that she doesn’t notice the semitruck coming head-on.  The Story of Stuff has a cartoon character called Business who is bigger than the cartoon of Government. When Government leaned over and gave Business’s shoes a good shine, I laughed! 

Ms. Leonard scores points for historical quotes, including a dig at President Bush’s post-9/11 plea for Americans to go shopping. However, the film loses a few for quoting a nutter business guru who thought “consumerism” was a synonym for “America’s greatness”. (I should mention that the website quotes Ché Guevarra, my least favorite revolutionary. Using a Guevarra quote would have dropped the film into the negative category, as he was not an environmentalist. He advocated world-wide nuclear war in order to create a new world from the ashes.)

There’s a lot I agree with in the piece: buying local preserves resources, ”perceived obsolescence” is for suckers, and planned obsolescence is a big scam. However, I don’t believe ”we aren’t paying for what we buy” nor “Business is Evil”.  The US consumer isn’t the primary cause for rural people going to cities to find work in South and Central America, as this rural-to-urban trend has been a hallmark of civilization even before Sargon I organized the first dynasty in Mesopotamia. 

Ninety-nine percent (of everything we buy) goes to the trash within 6 months.

Like all good propaganda films, this has startling statistics (see above). Unfortunately, the website didn’t give all the answers to my questions, unless I hunt down the bibliographic material. However, I couldn’t find the ones I wanted in my library system. (And purchasing them would be consumerism!)

I’m left wanting to know more.

For example, Ms. Leonard points out breastmilk is contaminated by dangerous chemicals. Which chemicals? Is it phthalates, which are found in plastics and medical packaging? Or mercury, which is found in low-energy bulbs and other electronics?

Recent studies show that our waterways are contaminated with estrogen and various chemicals used in medicine, including anti-depressants.  Birth control pills contain high levels of estrogen which trick the body into suspending ovulation, but the body flushes out excess estrogen. Wildlife studies have shown a strong correlation between high levels of estrogen in the water and mutations in amphibians, such as hermophedite frogs. So naturally a good choice would be for everyone to use NFP instead of the Pill, no? (No. One of the funders of the documentary is the Tides Foundation, which wants “reproductive justice” for all and supports various agencies that promote and distribute birth control pills.)

There’s also a lot of shaky causality. Ms. Leonard points out that that surveys reveal the US National Happiness peaked in the 1950s. She thinks it’s caused by our culture’s materialism. We’re caught in the unending wheel of consumerism and we can’t get off. Maybe. Or maybe it’s because the Sexual Revolution turned people into commodities themselves. Or maybe it’s because the Big Band era ended and the ’60s brought our country into an age of really bad music.  :)

The film, which runs about 20 minutes, can be viewed in segments: http://www.storyofstuff.com/index.html

Between the antics of Barack Obama’s pastor Wright and the general negativity of politics, I was determined to keep away from TV and Web news during Holy Week. However, I made sure to listen to ”Anything Is Possible”, my favorite radio show.

I’m glad I did. Jack Krasula’s guest was Pastor Harvey Carey. He grew up on the south side of Chicago and, after pursuing a business degree, became a minister in the ’80s. In 2003, he believed God was calling him to move his family to Detroit and found a church:   The Citadel of Faith Covenant Church.

The interview was fascinating, but two moments especially touched me. First, when the Rev. Carey talked about how he was willing to pick up and move - even though he knew nothing about Detroit – because he knew God had given him a mission. That’s the Christian struggle right there: We embrace our share of suffering if a cross is handed us, but we balk if God asks us to go out and meet it.

The second moment came when he recommended reading different translations of the Bible, to read it in different versions in order to see it afresh. And he specifically mentioned reading the Book of Wisdom.  A Protestant aquaintance recently mentioned that some of my quotes “aren’t from MY Bible”, so it was amazing to hear a Baptist minister encourage it. 

The Rev. Carey also discussed the reaction of other African-American pastors when they saw that his church was multicultural. He asked them where the Bible forbids the mixing of races in a church, and was met with an acknowledgement that the Gospels teach no such thing – but they opposed it anyway.

That’s what sickens me about Christians who are bigots: They ignore that Our Lord went to the Samaritans and the other outsiders. They ignore the accounts of how Christianity became opened to the Gentiles. And when ministers are bigots, they ignore Acts 10, in which Peter’s vision  reveals that God has forbidden him to call any people profane or unclean.

If you’re interested in listening to the complete interview, check out the “Anything Is Possible” website (listed under Media Matters in my blogroll). It will show up in the archives in about a week. 

You may want to check out the archives, which include interviews with people ranging from doctors to politicians (including Sen. John McCain).