“Jesus died for somebody’s sins, but not mine.”
-Patti Smith
Well, the world didn’t end after all. We woke up the morning after the 21st to find that the dust had settled and it was just another day. Life does go on, and aside from the exciting, exasperating highs and lows of political conflicts, social struggles and apocalyptic tall tales, life is mostly pretty boring.… [Read more]
(Thus begins a new series of random thoughts we shall call “Grouchifications.” They are like pontifications, although we are not a pontiff. We are a grouch. Therefore, the name.)
1. Teacher with unruly student? Problem. Teacher having gun taken away by unruly student? Additional problem.
2. Woman overpowererd by rapist/abusive husband or boyfriend? Problem. Woman having gun wrestled away by stronger rapist/abusive husband or boyfriend?… [Read more]
I feel tired. But not for the usual reasons, like trying to balance motherhood, significant other, full-time job, and all the activities and responsibilities that come with the “Superwoman Myth.” I’m tired because there’s only so much outrage I can muster on a constant basis.
It seems like I once had an inexhaustible supply. But after being whipsawed back and forth with rage-inducing episodes like this and this – and ongoing affronts like this – my storehouse of outrage is depleting.… [Read more]
Florida’s a strange, strange place. It’s like America’s lost appendage, nearly severed but still hanging on by just a shred of skin, our southern-most point lost at sea, its tenuous connection to the mainland leaving it off in its own little world. Staring out of the train window for several hours at a time, the site of lush, brilliant-green tropical swamps punctuated by busted-looking trailer parks with the occasional Confederate flag flying high was a bit of a trip for this big-city liberal.… [Read more]
I loved this picture! It gave me hope that not all of the Republican Party has departed on a one way trip to Teabaggistan! It was posted on a friend’s Facebook page. (One of my real friends whom I have known for years, not the Facebook non-equivalent.) Why did I have to go and read a comment someone wrote about it?… [Read more]
Gripping the New York Times this morning and recovering from sweaty nightmares I can’t remember, I read that Mitt Romney made the commencement speech at Liberty University and I subsequently felt what it is to be an exile. Pandering to evangelical voters concerned about his adherence to “traditional values” (and what an empty pile of kitsch those words signify!), Romney essentially assured them that his Mormonism wouldn’t prevent him from carrying out God’s work, and evangelicals apparently bought it.… [Read more]
In some states, Evangelical Christians comprise more than 50% of the Republican electorate. In addition, the Republican electorate is, in 2012, almost exclusively right-wing in ideology. It is therefore accurate to say that generally, right-wing Christians make up the majority of Republican voters. The question is, “Is the term or the notion of a right-wing Christian an oxymoron, either literally or essentially?” Put in another way, is saying the term right-wing Christian tantamount to saying something like “gay Nascar?” Alright, alright, give me a break!… [Read more]
As Sarah Palin might say, “You betcha!” Maybe that was too easy… Perhaps a better query is, “Should governance be moralistic?” At least it’s a bit more challenging. Assuming that governance in the U.S. is all about “we the people”, and the “collective good” is the ideal, then the answer should also be a resounding “Yes!” Of course, if we were talking about some right-wing dictatorship (that we, the U.S., were so fond of aligning ourselves with a few decades ago and are now in the business of removing at gun point — oops!… [Read more]
The saying in my small town is that there is a church on every corner. And really, it’s not far from the truth. We are a small community and have about 20 churches in our small city and township limits — most of them being Christian Reformed Churches.
Not surprisingly, we also have a lot of Republicans.… [Read more]
Mitt Romney has forged a path to victory. He beat his opponents in the GOP Florida primaries by a solid margin even though many in his party still neither like nor trust him. He immediately laid out his priorities when he said, “While we celebrate this victory, we must not forget what this election is really about: defeating Barack Obama.”
Huh?!?… [Read more]
A DINO is not a dinosaur. A DINO is a Democrat In Name Only – those who align themselves with the political left in name but, at key voting times, leave some of us wishing that they, too, were extinct. That stated, the announcement by Senator Ben Nelson, ‘Democrat’ from Nebraska, that he will not seek re-election next term may turn into an example of liberals and progressives seeing that we should be careful of what we wish for.… [Read more]
In advance of the punditry sure to bubble up and over in the next several months, I’ve gone ahead and drawn my line in the sand. What follows below are issues that will likely play a significant role in the 2012 election. I loathe them, and I thought you ought to know about it.
You’re “disappointed” with politics.… [Read more]
