Cop infiltrates gansters, gangster infiltrates cops.
All star cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Martin Sheen, Vera Farmiga, Mark Wahlberg, Anthony Anderson, Ray Winstone from one of our faves “Sexy Beast”, and Alec Baldwin.
And so Rev. Gregory A. Boyd stood up.
After refusing each time, Mr. Boyd finally became fed up, he said. Before the last presidential election, he preached six sermons called “The Cross and the Sword” in which he said the church should steer clear of politics, give up moralizing on sexual issues, stop claiming the United States as a “Christian nation” and stop glorifying American military campaigns.
“When the church wins the culture wars, it inevitably loses,” Mr. Boyd preached. “When it conquers the world, it becomes the world. When you put your trust in the sword, you lose the cross.”…
…“There is a lot of discontent brewing,” said Brian D. McLaren, the founding pastor at Cedar Ridge Community Church in Gaithersburg, Md., and a leader in the evangelical movement known as the “emerging church,” which is at the forefront of challenging the more politicized evangelical establishment.
“More and more people are saying this has gone too far — the dominance of the evangelical identity by the religious right,” Mr. McLaren said. “You cannot say the word ‘Jesus’ in 2006 without having an awful lot of baggage going along with it. You can’t say the word ‘Christian,’ and you certainly can’t say the word ‘evangelical’ without it now raising connotations and a certain cringe factor in people…
…He said he first became alarmed while visiting another megachurch’s worship service on a Fourth of July years ago. The service finished with the chorus singing “God Bless America” and a video of fighter jets flying over a hill silhouetted with crosses.
“I thought to myself, ‘What just happened? Fighter jets mixed up with the cross?’ ” he said in an interview….
…“America wasn’t founded as a theocracy,” he said. “America was founded by people trying to escape theocracies. Never in history have we had a Christian theocracy where it wasn’t bloody and barbaric. That’s why our Constitution wisely put in a separation of church and state….
…“I am sorry to tell you,” he continued, “that America is not the light of the world and the hope of the world. The light of the world and the hope of the world is Jesus Christ.”…
He lost 20% of his congregation for standing up. 80% stayed. When will the media stop representing the minority view as the mainstream? The “radical fringe” is not from the left it is the owned by the right.
Disowning Conservative Politics, Evangelical Pastor Rattles Flock
by Pete Seeger 1963, planned for the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in 1967 but CBS objected to the blacklisted Seeger making obvious references to the”big fool” in the White House, finally sung by Seeger on the Comedy Hour in 1968 as the finale in a medley of anti-war songs.
We were — knee deep in the Big Muddy,
But the big fool said to push on.The Sergeant said, “Sir, are you sure,
This is the best way back to the base?”
“Sergeant, go on! I forded this river
‘Bout a mile above this place.
It’ll be a little soggy but just keep slogging.
We’ll soon be on dry ground.”
We were — waist deep in the Big Muddy
And the big fool said to push on.The Sergeant said, “Sir, with all this equipment
No man will be able to swim.”
“Sergeant, don’t be a Nervous Nellie,”
The Captain said to him.
“All we need is a little determination;
Men, follow me, I’ll lead on.”
We were — neck deep in the Big Muddy
And the big fool said to push on…
via Billmon
Good ol’ US Diplomacy, bombing a little more peace into the world.
“The release of the diplomats’ prepared statement was delayed by almost two hours by wrangling over its contents. The key sticking point was the phrase concerning a ceasefire, according to two European diplomats who were in the room.
Most of the officials in the room were seeking, at the very least, a phrase that said the group would “work towards an immediate ceasefire,” one of the diplomats said. But Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice refused, and won, he said.
“She insisted it say ‘work immediately to bring a ceasefire,’ not ‘work to bring an immediate ceasefire,’” the diplomat said. He said that the group argued about that for more than 30 minutes before ceding the point to the United States.”
Diplomats Back Troops, but Not Cease-fire, for Mideast – New York Times
Musician Poured Heart Into His Songs
In Loving Memory of Mike O’Neill
www.myspace.com/httpwwwmyspacecommikeoneill
Mike O’Neill Memorial – Friday July, 28
Mike O’Neill Memorial – Friday July, 28th @ The New World Brewery
8th Avenue, Ybor City 8:00pm till ?
$5.00 suggested donation for the family…
Artist and musicians include:
Flat Stanley
Diviners
The Four Shames
The 39 Steps (featuring brother Ed Lowery)
Rancid Polecats
Harry Hayward
Bill Mason
Lori Karpay
And many others….Slide show will be early, so be there first…
All Please Attend!!!
Almost makes you miss Nixon.
“Earlier this year, the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), which is charged with investigating attorney misconduct, announced that it could not pursue an investigation into the role of Justice lawyers in crafting the NSA warrantless wiretapping program because it was denied security clearance.
Previously, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales would not explain why the security clearances had been denied, saying he did not want to “get into internal discussions.” But in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee this morning, Gonzales said President Bush personally blocked Justice Department lawyers from pursuing an investigation of the warrantless eavesdropping program.”
Think Progress VIDEO: Bush Personally Blocked DOJ Investigation Of Wiretapping Program
“…a president who does not look emotionally or intellectually capable of leading in this crisis.”
WATCH both videos: Bush Unplugged at the G8 over Middle East Conflict
Explore the art of Tony Fitzpatrick.
Fine tooth comb required.
The Offical Site of Fine Artist Tony Fitzpatrick
via RaShOmoN
I say send the bill to Halliburton.
“For the portion of your trip directly handled by the U.S. Government we will ask you to sign a promissory note and we will bill you at a later date.”
Last weeks Priceless post gets better. Deep on the list of White House staffers was a few generic entries for simply “Board Members”. After a bit of digging, Paul found out what exactly this board is:
PrivacyBoard.gov : Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board
Something tells paul “that they haven’t met to discuss any new business or had any conversations with the director of lessons learned.”
No wonder.
The board was established two years ago but never met.
Asked why it was taking so long to set the board up, Representative Christopher Shays, Republican of Connecticut, said, ”It’s not a priority for the administration.”
No shit.
Civil liberties board called powerless – The Boston Globe
#1
Last week Tony Snow belittled the Clinton approach, diplomacy, as a failed and ineffective means of dealing with North Korea.
(Just for fun, let’s look at the record:
1. George H. W. Bush: one to two bombs’ worth of plutonium
2. Bill Clinton: zero plutonium
3. George W. Bush: 4-6 nuclear weapons’ worth of plutonium)
Aside from “flowers and chocolates” Snow included the offering of ligh-water nuclear reactors as one of the carrots that wasn’t eaten.
Today the White House approved list of incentives offered to Iran by the UN to abandon their Nuclear ambissions included at the top of the list…
…light-water nuclear reactors.
#2
Today Bush gave his response to the escalating Israeli conflict:
“US PRESIDENT George Bush yesterday defended Israel’s attacks on targets in Lebanon but said the Israelis should be careful not to weaken the fragile government there.”
and
“”President Bush affirmed his readiness to put pressure on Israel to limit the damage to Lebanon as a result of the current military action, and to spare civilians from harm,” The Associated Press reported.”
Aside from the idiocy of his position that basically says, poke their eyes out but be careful not to affect their vision, the hypocricy is monumental:
Fallujah and Quaim: Carpet bombing, cluster bombs and napalm against Iraqi civilians.
The Wilson’s sue. Watch.
What does five years of grade school bully boy diplomacy get us? A clusterF in Iraq, an unfinished job in Afghanistan, Iran thumbing it’s nose at us, North Korea thumbing it’s pompadour at us, Venezuela thumbing it’s oil at us, and now a war between Israel and Lebanon.
Worst President ever.
Been slackin’ on the art posting lately. These should keep your eyeballs busy.
30 brilliant shorts selected out of 616 entries from 54 countries.
The Third Festival Screening Room
Humus is a territory where images, creativity,
thoughts and expressions have no border line
or demarcation line.
Feel free to contribute with:
-Graphic design
-Motion design
-Photography
-Drawings
-Illustrations
-Poems
** humus **
via Coudal
