It has been nearly a month since my wife moved to Elkhart to continue her seminary degree. It is the first time in my life when I have come close to living by myself. So far I have been surviving. A week ago I drove to Elkhart after school and spent the weekend. We had a nice time, though it didn't help her keep up with her reading. When I went to watch the Iowa football game in the small student lounge I discovered the Canadian students must have chosen the channels. There were numerous stations showing hockey or soccer (which I didn't mind) but the ESPN stations were not among those available. I did figure out how to watch the game on the computer.
Sometimes I wonder about my students. In World History we have been looking at the middle east and spent some time comparing Judaism, Islam and Christianity. This can have some pitfalls because some kids have been taught that Islam is satanic, that it worships a moon god, or that the Qur'an says Muslims should kill Christians. This is in addition to the negative view of most Muslims in our media.
In the midst of this a kid asked about circumcision. Since they are sophomores the boys usually giggle and visibly cringe if this topic is mentioned but one young man winced and then asked, "how do they reproduce?" The kids all got quiet. I suppose they were wondering if I was going to explain circumcision to him or if I would avoid the subject like their parents and Sunday School teachers had apparently done. I explained that when boys are born their penis (giggles) has something called a foreskin, and that circumcision is the word used to describe the process of removing the foreskin. He winced again and asked, "so they don't cut it all off?" I said "no, the Dr. just cuts the foreskin (giggles) from the penis. (more giggles) The next question was a bit shocking as he asked me if he was circumcised. One of the male students quickly said, "I'm sure you're circumcised." I told him I didn't know if he was circumcised or not but that maybe his friend who seemed to know, or his parents could inform him of his status some place other than my classroom. His last question was, "so if I'm circumcised I can still reproduce?" He probably can, but given his intellect, maybe he shouldn't.
In U.S. history I usually have a fair number of students who believe the United States was created by divine intervention and that all of the founding fathers were doing their Christian duty when they instigated the American revolution. This year I typed some excerpts from the Declaration of Independence and Common Sense. On the rest of the page I typed an excerpt from Romans 13 and just referred to it as Document A. I had a few questions for them including one which asked if "Document A" was consistent with the Declaration of Independence. I was disappointed that not one student recognized "Document A" as being from the New Testament. Most assumed it was written by a Loyalist and as such most suggested it should be ignored. Now I know you can argue about the relevance of scripture, but the lack of knowledge about what scripture says is one reason why I think some conservative Christians have bought into the whole myth of God and country. They seem much more content to wield their Bibles has a weapon to hit people over the head, rather than to spend much time actually reading what the scriptures say and mean, (not that I am any kind of expert either) I don't imagine "liberal minded people" know the Bible any better, but at least they aren't trying to use the scriptures as a weapon to threaten and intimidate.
Now that the taxpayers "own" 80 per cent of AIG, does that mean I can get government sponsored health care?
It is hard to not become cynical watching congressional republicans talk about "congressional oversight of the executive..." in the last week with talk of the 700 billion dollar bailout. Where were they during the first six years of the Bush presidency when they seemingly rubber stamped everything Bush wanted?
It is interesting to hear a number of the political pundits talk about the government becoming more socialistic as they talk about the bailout. I don't think I have heard any of them talk about the government becoming more fascist as a result. I think Bush/Cheney would be happy to be dictators.
Apparently I have enough foreign policy experience to become the vice-president. I have visited seven countries (including Canada and Mexico), three or four more than Palin has visited. I have to admit that I can't see any foreign countries from my window, but since I live in a small town, I assume I have some of those all important "small town values," whatever those are.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Saturday, September 13, 2008
change
Last Sunday I agreed to teach the class I have been going to because nobody else was willing to and a person who thought he might be willing to teach the class for the year wanted to visit to see what the group was like.
So what does this have to do with change? It has been frustrating to watch McCain and other Republicans talk about change and the change they want to bring to Washington. It seems they want the country to forget Republicans have controlled the Presidency for the last eight years and both houses of Congress six of the last eight years. During that time we were lied to and led into a war, we have had record deficits, the financial world seems to be falling apart and those are just three things I can think of off the top of my head late at night. As far as I'm concerned this President has screwed things up about as bad as any President ever has, but because his cronies controlled Congress until the last two years there were no investigations and very little oversight from the legislative branch. It appears Republican senators were too busy sitting in bathroom stalls (Craig) or lining their pockets (Stevens) to keep tabs on the executive branch.
The Sunday school lesson was about John the Baptist who also called for change. But in looking at those verses it seems clear he was calling for people to make changes in the way they lived their own lives. "If you have two coats share with someone who doesn't have one. Share your food with people who don't have any (a good reason why I should take some peaches from my trees to church tomorrow). John the Baptist goes on to tell the tax collectors to collect only what is required. If the people changed their behavior it would have a significant impact on society, particularly if it was folks like the tax collectors behaving. John the Baptist didn't just tell people he was going to bring change to Jerusalem, he told them they needed to change.
In the afternoon I sort of forced myself to read an article about McCain-Palin and their plans to bring change to Washington. Now I suppose someone could argue that McCain is really serious about all his talk of change. But it seems to me that McCain is really asking very little of the American people other than to forget the last eight years and vote for him, because he is going to change Washington. For all his talk of personal responsibility it doesn't seem as if we need to change anything about the way we do things at an individual level.
Instead he mocks some rather simple suggestions such as checking your tire pressure to make sure your tires are properly inflated. It is a relatively painless thing to do which can improve your gas mileage and extend the life of your tires, somethings I think a good conservative would encourage. But in these days I guess not.
In listening to Obama he also talks alot about bringing change to Washington, but I've also heard him tell parents to turn the tv off and read to kids, to get involved in your local community, or tell us that the transition to renewable sources of energy may be difficult. Still I suppose it is hard for any politician running for office to tell the people he wants to vote for him that they need to make significant changes to their lifestyles. This is where it becomes clear that politicians aren't prophets and probably shouldn't be preachers- Huckabee in particular. Unfortunately there don't seem to be a lot of prophets around these days, just lots of loud, obnoxious, television commentators and all their strategist guests.
So what does this have to do with change? It has been frustrating to watch McCain and other Republicans talk about change and the change they want to bring to Washington. It seems they want the country to forget Republicans have controlled the Presidency for the last eight years and both houses of Congress six of the last eight years. During that time we were lied to and led into a war, we have had record deficits, the financial world seems to be falling apart and those are just three things I can think of off the top of my head late at night. As far as I'm concerned this President has screwed things up about as bad as any President ever has, but because his cronies controlled Congress until the last two years there were no investigations and very little oversight from the legislative branch. It appears Republican senators were too busy sitting in bathroom stalls (Craig) or lining their pockets (Stevens) to keep tabs on the executive branch.
The Sunday school lesson was about John the Baptist who also called for change. But in looking at those verses it seems clear he was calling for people to make changes in the way they lived their own lives. "If you have two coats share with someone who doesn't have one. Share your food with people who don't have any (a good reason why I should take some peaches from my trees to church tomorrow). John the Baptist goes on to tell the tax collectors to collect only what is required. If the people changed their behavior it would have a significant impact on society, particularly if it was folks like the tax collectors behaving. John the Baptist didn't just tell people he was going to bring change to Jerusalem, he told them they needed to change.
In the afternoon I sort of forced myself to read an article about McCain-Palin and their plans to bring change to Washington. Now I suppose someone could argue that McCain is really serious about all his talk of change. But it seems to me that McCain is really asking very little of the American people other than to forget the last eight years and vote for him, because he is going to change Washington. For all his talk of personal responsibility it doesn't seem as if we need to change anything about the way we do things at an individual level.
Instead he mocks some rather simple suggestions such as checking your tire pressure to make sure your tires are properly inflated. It is a relatively painless thing to do which can improve your gas mileage and extend the life of your tires, somethings I think a good conservative would encourage. But in these days I guess not.
In listening to Obama he also talks alot about bringing change to Washington, but I've also heard him tell parents to turn the tv off and read to kids, to get involved in your local community, or tell us that the transition to renewable sources of energy may be difficult. Still I suppose it is hard for any politician running for office to tell the people he wants to vote for him that they need to make significant changes to their lifestyles. This is where it becomes clear that politicians aren't prophets and probably shouldn't be preachers- Huckabee in particular. Unfortunately there don't seem to be a lot of prophets around these days, just lots of loud, obnoxious, television commentators and all their strategist guests.
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
Political conventions
Between school starting, moving my wife to Elkhart to start seminary, life has been busy. I've been trying to watch the political conventions but this week listening to the Republicans has been a struggle. Tonight, Romney, Huckabee, and Giuliani and now Phalin have all talked about going to Washington to change the "entrenched elite" the "beltway establishment" and to change the government. It seems they have forgotten that a certain President Bush has been in office for eight years, and that Republicans have controlled Congress for six out of the last eight years.
It was particularly interesting to see Mitt Romney criticize the "eastern elite" and the eastern establishment. I can't imagine too many people who are more eastern elite or establishment than Mitt Romney.
I found Huckabee to be interesting because for the most part his speech was a reworking of the stump speech he used when he campaigned for the Iowa caucus. The Lava soap line got laughs back in December - even from the folks who still use it to bathe. His folksy manner was one reason he won in Iowa.
As for the others talking tonight, Giuliani and Phalin are doing their best to criticize Obama but I am hearing little in the way of what they want to do with this government they criticize but which they want to control. Actually they want to maintain control of the government they seem to detest so much.
Some other comments or questions:
Can the Republicans chant anything besides, "USA, USA,....?"
The crowds at the Republican convention seem to be amazingly white.
I think the Republicans are better at being mean than most Democrats. Karl Rove, Cheney, and earlier Atwater come to mind. I am sure Carville and other Democrats can be jerks but they do not seem to be quite in the same league of meanness.
I always wonder what it is that conservatives want to conserve. Let's drill for oil everywhere, build nuclear powerplants, lay pipelines, the environment be damned. Then there is the constitution and the way our civil liberties and privacy have been infringed during the Bush presidency.
Can the Republicans chant anything other than "USA, USA....?"
Do the Republicans consider George W Bush to be a Republican president or do they just skip back to Reagan?
And finally I want to thank John Stewart for helping cure the nausea which had been settling into my stomach after I sat through the convention speeches this evening.
It was particularly interesting to see Mitt Romney criticize the "eastern elite" and the eastern establishment. I can't imagine too many people who are more eastern elite or establishment than Mitt Romney.
I found Huckabee to be interesting because for the most part his speech was a reworking of the stump speech he used when he campaigned for the Iowa caucus. The Lava soap line got laughs back in December - even from the folks who still use it to bathe. His folksy manner was one reason he won in Iowa.
As for the others talking tonight, Giuliani and Phalin are doing their best to criticize Obama but I am hearing little in the way of what they want to do with this government they criticize but which they want to control. Actually they want to maintain control of the government they seem to detest so much.
Some other comments or questions:
Can the Republicans chant anything besides, "USA, USA,....?"
The crowds at the Republican convention seem to be amazingly white.
I think the Republicans are better at being mean than most Democrats. Karl Rove, Cheney, and earlier Atwater come to mind. I am sure Carville and other Democrats can be jerks but they do not seem to be quite in the same league of meanness.
I always wonder what it is that conservatives want to conserve. Let's drill for oil everywhere, build nuclear powerplants, lay pipelines, the environment be damned. Then there is the constitution and the way our civil liberties and privacy have been infringed during the Bush presidency.
Can the Republicans chant anything other than "USA, USA....?"
Do the Republicans consider George W Bush to be a Republican president or do they just skip back to Reagan?
And finally I want to thank John Stewart for helping cure the nausea which had been settling into my stomach after I sat through the convention speeches this evening.
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