The grace of God... and Wayne Rooney...

I am not a fan of premiership football on the whole. As you all know I am a fan of proper football in the Championship and I am probably Hemel’s only Preston North End fan, something of which I am proud. But when our fortunes are dwindling, I was staggered at the antics of one particular premiership footballer in recent days. A certain Wayne Rooney. The news that he was leaving Man United was like a bolt out of the blue. The wage to stay though was breath-taking... When the average UK house price is £230,562, someone seems to be looking out for him.

In biblical times, affluence was a sign of the favour and blessing of God. Abraham is blessed by God in the book of Genesis - evidence of that is all the ‘stuff’ he came to have - cattle, sheep, male and female servants and so on. Similarly in the New Testament in the teaching of Jesus, in the parable of the Rich Fool, his crops have produced so much grain he contemplates building bigger barns to store it all. Now I don’t know if God takes account of recessions or not, but it seems that blessing, affluence and success are to be spoken of in the same sentence - as one follows on from the other. In other words, if you are rich you must have found favour with God.

A prostitute went to see a minister in wretched straits - homeless, sick and unable to buy food for her 2 year old daughter. Through sobs and tears she told of how she had been forced to prostitute her own child to feed her drug habit. He could barely take hearing any more of the story she was telling and besides he was legally bound to inform the authorities if he became aware of any cases of child abuse.

Unsure of what to say to her, to offer her any advice, and so he asked her if she had ever been to church to seek any support. The look she gave the minister would live with him for the rest of his ministry, ‘Church?’, she said incredulously, ‘Church? Why would I ever go there? I was already feeling terrible about myself. They would only make me feel worse!’

Blessed are you who are poor, you who are hungry, you who weep,blessed are you when people hate you says Jesus. On this All Saints Sunday, the blessing of God, those on whom His favour rests, are not on those affluent few whose lives are measured in tabloid headline inches, but on those who weep, whose lives are poor,empty and broken. The rich, the full, the laughing, those of whom much good is spoken of have already been rewarded of their own doing now and are not seeing or living by the standards of eternity.

To live by the standards of eternity is to live by God’s standards. Living by these standards takes us along the road to what we might call saintliness. Jesus says saintly living is not about a rarified holy way of living, but is simply put - God’s design for life - a better way to live. Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

When we consider the lives of those the church traditionally calls saints, what strikes me first is how very ordinary most of them were but how thet tried to live out these words ....from that clutch of Galilean fishermen to a consumptive French nun,from a wounded soldier who spent most of his time dreaming of damsels in distress to a forthright Albanian with a genius for spotting Christ in the slums of Calcutta. None of them looked in the least remarkable – they didn't start out as super-holy beings, nor, I suspect, did any of them spend their days with heads surrounded by a heavenly glow. They didn't even aspire to outstanding holiness but they lived Christlike lives and accepted the gift of grace that God offers to all of us, and in so doing, they found themselves transformed.

The Saints we celebrate today are ordinary people trying to live Christlike lives transformed by the grace of God celebrated in the windows, paintings, statues, icons hymns... and pews around us. Yes you too... We are called to be saints, it is in our spiritual DNA, to strive to faithfully follow Jesus Christ in our day and to proclaim the Gospel in words and works of love.

Part of our saintly calling though is therefore to side with those whom God sides and favour those whom He does.

As we answer His call on our lives to Sainthood, we must also recognise that whilst He is transforming our lives as we worship Him, His favour, His blessing, rests on those in pour community where we might least expect to find it - in the home of the grieving widower, at breakfast with the family struggling on benefits, in the cold flat of the assylum seeker, in the frightened dreams of the child in care, yes even on that prostitute mother... Love them says Jesus. Support them. Do good to them because few are, and why, because as you see your life transformed by grace and new life, so the grace and new life spills out and blesses them through you... God’s blessing is on them because of you.

On this All Saints Sunday, we thank God for His transforming grace at work in people past as well as in us today as we seek to follow Him. We pray that we would not squander that grace He so freely gives us, so that it turns into sour judgement of others in our hands and fills our mouths and lives with bitterness.

Rather let us pray that as God’s grace transforms us, it would charge us with a contagious holiness to be God’s blessing on those in our community, especially on those who need it the most. Amen.

~~~~~

With love and thanks to @goodinparts for part of this...

It's not gonna happen with smaller government and tax cuts, stupid...

 The Republican Party is the party of small government, lower taxes, less spending.....


Well how has that worked for YOU?


In a recent cover story in Time magazine and in a special on CNN this weekend. Fareed Zakaria traces the growing loss of faith in the American dream and the ways that technology and globalization have put millions of middle-class jobs at risk.




This article from CNN.com, author and host of CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS spoke to CNN on Thursday, here is some of the interview...



CNN: What can we do about the threat to American jobs?
Fareed Zakaria: The first thing we have to do is to stop doing what we've been doing for almost 20 years, which is pretending we don't have a problem. We've been kicking the can down the road, we've blamed other people, blamed other countries for these issues. And most important, we've deluded ourselves that there is no crisis because we've kept the economy going by overconsuming.
From the 1950s, America had a very stable pattern of consumption. Consumer expenditures made up between 60 and 65 percent of GDP [Gross Domestic Product] -- in the 1950s, the 1960s, the 1970s, that was the pattern. Then in the early 1980s, that starts going up, and it goes up to 70 percent of GDP by 2001 and it stayed there ever since.
Now this wouldn't be a problem if we actually had that money, but we have been consuming using borrowed money for the last 20 years. So the average American household now has 13 credit cards, 40 percent of which have an outstanding balance. Debt has gone from $700 billion in 1974 to $14 trillion now. This is completely unsustainable. A fundamental way to think about it is that we have to shift this economy from an over-reliance on consumption and move it more toward investment.

 Zakaria says,  "One of the things I'm struck by in talking to corporate CEOs -- these are all real free-market types -- but they all agree that the key to getting growth and middle-class jobs back is that we make massive investments, investments in technology, investments in research and development, investments in infrastructure. That is in a sense, investing in the middle class, because that is investing in the industries of the future, the industries that will create middle-class jobs.
We used to spend 3 percent of GDP on research and development. We don't do that now even though Obama has raised it a lot. I would argue that we actually need to do a lot more than we did in the 1950s, because in the 1950s there were millions of jobs for semiskilled labor, manufacturing jobs, making steel, making cars. All those jobs are under enormous competitive pressure from both technology and globalization.
And so we need jobs in the new industries, industries of the future, knowledge based industries, scientific industries. To get those jobs and to make sure that American companies dominate them will take huge investments.

CNN: Should they be government investments?

Zakaria: That's what's produced the semiconductor industry, it was government investment. That's what created the internet. Al Gore may not have created the internet, but DARPA certainly did. That's the Defense Department venture capital group. And GPS, the technology that's now fueling the next internet revolution, the mobile revolution, that was also a U.S. Defense Department project. Those are now producing hundreds of billions of dollars for the private sector, all started by government funding.

Zakaria: The middle class is being hollowed out
There's another urgency. We're falling behind. Just today in the news, on the front page of The New York Times, China has developed the fastest computer in the world. Why was that? Was it because of unfair trade practices or an undervalued currency? No. It was because the government of China has made massive investments in technology ... in many of these areas we've lost a lot of ground.

Here's the rest of the article, it's a great read and shows us why we do need our government, NOT less government at this time. Zakaria talks about the US paying for the investments in technology, he talks about Germany, (something the rightwing lies constantly about), And he talks about the importance of education (something the rightwing wants to dumbdown)
.
CNN: You don't think there could be consensus on this in Washington right now?
Zakaria: The problem in Washington is that the minute one side suggests something, the other side demagogues it. So the incentive to come to the center is vanishing. The minute you try to come to the center, if you're a Republican, Rush Limbaugh will denounce you, Glenn Beck will denounce you. There will be a primary opponent in your district who will be able to raise money.
CNN: Will Tuesday's election change that?
Zakaria: No. I fear it will actually exacerbate it. A lot of Republicans will get elected, will tell you they are mad as hell about the deficit, and the solution is to cut taxes. This is insanity, cutting taxes will create an even larger deficit. This is math, this is not politics. ...
In the face of the problems we have, to have one more experiment in the idea that if we cut taxes, this will somehow goose the economy, we've been there done that. [President George W.] Bush had this massive tax cut and it produced almost no growth. What it did produce was an $800 million hole in the budget.

Zakaria: The countries that have been able to maintain a manufacturing base, such as Germany, are really worth studying.

The Germans have high taxes, they have lots of regulations, they have strong unions and yet they've seen their imports increase year after year. They've weathered the economic crisis very well, they've had 15 months of falling unemployment numbers, and why is that? Because they have really focused on scientific education, technical education, apprenticeship programs, retraining. They focus on high-end manufacturing, they train and retrain their workers. We don't have any such systems in America. We need there to be more of a coordinated effort by government, business and educational institutions -- a triangle of training.

We've been too cavalier about letting skills of higher manufacturing erode among American workers. That work has not gone to India or China, that work has gone to Germany and Canada and Japan, other high wage, high income countries.

These opinions by Zakaria are worth reading. The country is about to put Republicans back into power in our House of Representatives , because they are impatient? What a crock of shit! They need to educate themselves instead of listening to Fox noise. They are about to reverse the hard work of the past 2 years. The top CEO's spoke to Zakaria about the problems facing our out of work Americans, yet they pour millions into putting the GOP back into power! When will common sense and the idea of caring about the people of the United States of America come first? Where are the smart people who can implement these simple ideas to bring our country back to prosperity? Why are smart people like Fareed Zakaria talking and writing about how to fix our problems but we are not listening?
  

JON STEWARTS RALLY CLOSING SPEECH

“I can’t control what people think this was.  I can only tell you my intentions.   This was not a rally to ridicule people of faith or people of activism or to look down our noses at the heartland or passionate argument or to suggest that times are not difficult and that we have nothing to fear.  They are and we do.  But we live now in hard times, not end times.  And we can have animus and not be enemies.
But unfortunately one of our main tools in delineating the two broke.  The country’s 24 hour political pundit perpetual panic conflictinator did not cause our problems but its existence makes solving them that much harder.  The press can hold its magnifying up to our problems bringing them into focus, illuminating issues heretofore unseen or they can use that magnifying glass to light ants on fire and then perhaps host a week of shows on the sudden, unexpected dangerous flaming ant epidemic.
If we amplify everything we hear nothing.  There are terrorists and racists and Stalinists and theocrats but those are titles that must be earned.  You must have the resume.  Not being able to distinguish between real racists and Tea Partiers or real bigots and Juan Williams and Rick Sanchez is an insult, not only to those people but to the racists themselves who have put in the exhausting effort it takes to hate--just as the inability to distinguish terrorists from Muslims makes us less safe not more.  The press is our immune system.  If we overreact to everything we actually get sicker--and perhaps eczema.
And yet, with that being said, I feel good—strangely, calmly good.  Because the image of Americans that is reflected back to us by our political and media process is false.  It is us through a fun house mirror, and not the good kind that makes you look slim in the waist and maybe taller, but the kind where you have a giant forehead and an ass shaped like a month old pumpkin and one eyeball.
So, why would we work together?  Why would you reach across the aisle to a pumpkin assed forehead eyeball monster?  If the picture of us were true, of course, our inability to solve problems would actually be quite sane and reasonable.  Why would you work with Marxists actively subverting our Constitution or racists and homophobes who see no one’s humanity but their own?  We hear every damn day about how fragile our country is—on the brink of catastrophe—torn by polarizing hate and how it’s a shame that we can’t work together to get things done, but the truth is we do.  We work together to get things done every damn day!
The only place we don’t is here or on cable TV.  But Americans don’t live here or on cable TV.  Where we live our values and principles form the foundations that sustains us while we get things done, not the barriers that prevent us from getting things done.  Most Americans don’t live their lives solely as Democrats, Republicans, liberals or conservatives.  Americans live their lives more as people that are just a little bit late for something they have to do—often something that they do not want to do—but they do it--impossible things every day that are only made possible by the little reasonable compromises that we all make.
Look on the screen. This is where we are. This is who we are.  (points to the Jumbotron screen which show traffic merging into a tunnel).  These cars—that’s a schoolteacher who probably thinks his taxes are too high.  He’s going to work.  There’s another car-a woman with two small kids who can’t really think about anything else right now.  There’s another car, swinging, I don’t even know if you can see it—the lady’s in the NRA and she loves Oprah.  There’s another car—an investment banker, gay, also likes Oprah.  Another car’s a Latino carpenter.  Another car a fundamentalist vacuum salesman.  Atheist obstetrician.  Mormon Jay-Z fan.  But this is us.  Every one of the cars that you see is filled with individuals of strong belief and principles they hold dear—often principles and beliefs in direct opposition to their fellow travelers.
And yet these millions of cars must somehow find a way to squeeze one by one into a mile long 30 foot wide tunnel carved underneath a mighty river.  Carved, by the way, by people who I’m sure had their differences.  And they do it.  Concession by conscession.  You go.  Then I’ll go.  You go. Then I’ll go.  You go then I’ll go. Oh my God, is that an NRA sticker on your car?  Is that an Obama sticker on your car? Well, that’s okay—you go and then I’ll go.
And sure, at some point there will be a selfish jerk who zips up the shoulder and cuts in at the last minute, but that individual is rare and he is scorned and not hired as an analyst.
Because we know instinctively as a people that if we are to get through the darkness and back into the light we have to work together. And the truth is, there will always be darkness.  And sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel isn’t the promised land. Sometimes it’s just New Jersey.  But we do it anyway, together.
If you want to know why I’m here and want I want from you, I can only assure you this: you have already given it to me.  Your presence was what I wanted.
Sanity will always be and has always been in the eye of the beholder.  To see you here today and the kind of people that you are has restored mine.  Thank you."

Trying to restore sanity......

No, I'm not gonna say which rally was bigger, Jon Stewarts or Glenn Becks. I'm not gonna compare the trash left behind like every rightwing blogger will.........That's not what's important to "our" side. What's important is the message. In Jons closing speech he said  "We live in hard times, not end times."
Stewart sharply criticizes the media, saying, "If we amplify everything, we hear nothing." Adds that it's insulting to not distinguish between real racists and Tea Partiers, and real bigots and Juan Williams/Rick Sanchez.
"The press is our immune system. If we overreact to everything, we actually get sicker."

What is obvious to me is the Stewart rally was not about dividing Americans, but about "Restoring Sanity" to America.. The people were there to have fun, not to hear talk about our president and leaders in Washington, whether or not they are destroying America, and how we can get the evil-doers out of the White House and Congress.

 Becks rally was divisive, pitting the Christian right against the liberal left. Beck and Palin were speaking to teabaggers, it was not a bi-partisan rally. It was a rally for Christians and how to take back their country from the liberals, how they need to turn to God to solve the country's problems. It was partisan hate, not the love fest they want you to believe.


A woman called in the C-Span program after the rally and said she was a Christian but that does not mean she has to be a Republican. She urged all her Christian family and friends to give President Obama a chance. She said he is not the evil person out to destroy America like the righties claim he is. Her statements gave me hope that the country is paying attention, that we are mostly sane, intelligent people and we will vote for the party who has OUR best interests at heart. There IS a difference between the parties....


From the Christian Science Monitor:
Jon Stewart's "Rally to Restore Sanity" in Washington has sparked more than 1,160 mini-rallies in 84 countries, morphing into something of a global political happening.
The last time a political rally in America gained such international traction was during the 2003 protests against the Iraq war, says Timothy Patrick McCarthy, director of the Human Rights and Social Movements Program at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
"I have been surprised by the proliferation of rallies worldwide," says Dr. McCarthy. "But I’m not sure what it means. I don’t know if this is just an outlet for people who share frustrations to come together for some cathartic exercise of political relief. But one of the things I think is interesting is there is a lot of anger and disaffection across the political spectrum."
Both American expatriates and foreign fans of "The Daily Show" and its creator, Mr. Stewart, are organizing meet-ups Saturday – everywhere from London to Tel Aviv to Seoul – to concur with the rally on the Washington Mall.
While many criticize Stewart's gathering as lacking a clear focus, some Americans living abroad say it has inspired them to take part in next week's election. Mr. Stewart organized his rally in reaction to Glenn Beck's Aug. 28 gathering at the Lincoln Memorial.


It was a great day in Washington, the rally was a success, and hopefully it moved people to VOTE on Tuesday. Someone has to restore sanity in this country, so why not Stewart and Colbert? I love them...

Voter Fraud accusations... AGAIN!!!!

When the going gets tough the right resort to LIES..... This is from a conservative blog, of course...


The reports are rolling in from all over the country.  A Craven County, NC resident attempts to vote a straight Republican ticket but his choices come up straight Democrat four times, despite receiving assistance from poll workers.  In NC's Lenoir County, registered Democrat Ervin Norville also tries to vote straight Republican but finds that his ballot has the names of several Democrat candidates selected.  Boulder City, NV resident Joyce Ferrara says that when she and several others went to vote for Sharon Angle, they found that Senator Harry Reid's name was already checked off.  In Dallas County, TX' congressional district 30, Democrat Eddie Bernice Johnson's name was the only one on the ballot in a few locations (no, she isn't running unopposed).  And some states have been late in mailing out military absentee ballots, whose recipients, interestingly, are known for their Republican leanings. 

These happenings are generally referred to as "mistakes" and "glitches," but if that's all they are, then we're witnessing a truly historic anomaly.  Because either the mainstream media is now suppressing stories of mistakes and glitches benefitting Republicans, or the laws of probability have suddenly been rescinded and tossed coins are coming up donkey tails every time.  Welcome to American elections, Venezuelan style.


OMFG!!! This is typical rightwing insanity! Typical close- to- election- day theatrics. They destroyed ACORN, they stole the Gore v Bush election,  and now they want Americans to believe their losses this election will be the result of FRAUD! LMFAO!! 


Remember this from the Bush /Gore election.......
an anonymous leaflet explaining to voters that because of heavy voter registration, the rules had been changed: Republicans would vote on Tuesday, Democrats and independents on Wednesday.


this is from an '07 Salon article.....
Republicans do cherish their little practical jokes -- the leaflets in African-American neighborhoods warning that voters must pay outstanding traffic tickets before voting; the calls in Virginia in 2006 from the mythical "Virginia Election Commission" warning voters they would be arrested if they showed up at the polls. The best way to steal an election is the old-fashioned way: control who shows up. It's widely known that Republicans do better when the turnout is lighter, whiter, older and richer; minorities, young people and the poor are easy game for hoaxes and intimidation.
The latest and most elaborate of these jokes is the urban legend that American elections are rife with voter fraud, particularly in the kinds of poor and minority neighborhoods inhabited by Democrats. In 2002, Attorney General John Ashcroft announced that fraudulent voting would be a major target of the Department of Justice. As the New York Times reported last month, the main result of this massive effort was such coups as the deportation of a legal immigrant who mistakenly filled out a voter-registration card while waiting in line at the department of motor vehicles.



Sickening isn't it? Get real wingnuts, we know your games....


The wingnuts are INSANE and it's getting worse, scary worse. People wise up, look around you. The latest arrest, a nasty, man-handled, knock-down drag out arrest by thug cops, of a democrat minding his own business in a public coffee house waiting for Eric Cantor to show up for a small town question /answer gathering, is proof of something very evil creeping into our society by the wingnutfucks. It is something I plan on calling attention to and begging, daring, any rightwinger to come here and defend their thug party! This man was accused of causing a disturbance, he was in a public coffee house, he was told to leave because he was a democrat and the righties FEAR democrats asking questions of their candidates!! THAT'S IT, That's why the man was knocked to the ground and jumped on by 3 or more thug cops!! Sorry guys this is not my America!


Sarah Palin thinks she can win the GOP nomination in 2012 based on her "common sense  sensibilities"


Where's God when you need Him??

Meet the new Congress, is this the change teabaggers wanted??

This is from Public Campaign Action Fund......

After you read this PLEASE go to Jolly Rogers and read about a murderer the teabaggers want representing North Carolina, you will be shocked I promise!!

 Washington, DC – The possible Republican takeover of the U.S. House of Representatives would usher in a new class of chairmen who have raised millions in campaign donations from the industries they would be charged to regulate, according to a new analysis by Public Campaign Action Fund. The organization’s analysis was based on the total amount raised for both candidate committees and leadership political action committees found at the Center for Responsive Politics website.

The group pointed to the ranking Republican member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Rep. Joe Barton of Texas, as a prime example. Rep. Barton, who controversially apologized to BP at a hearing last summer, has raised $3.7 million from the energy sector, including $1.9 million from electric utility interests and $1.3 million from oil interests.

“Placing the committees in the hands of these chairmen would be the same as giving the power to Wall Street, Big Oil, insurance giants and their lobbyists to write laws,” said David Donnelly, director of Public Campaign Action Fund’s Campaign Money Watch project. “Conflicts of interest are everywhere. It’s time to get Congress out of the fundraising business and place elections back in the hands of everyday voters with the Fair Elections Now Act.”

In addition to Rep. Barton, Public Campaign Action Fund’s research also pointed to seven other potential chairmen with significant amounts raised from the industries they would oversee:

• Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-AL) is in line to be the next chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. If Republicans go through with plans to roll back the Wall Street reform legislation passed this year, it would emerge from this committee. Rep. Bachus has raised $6.1 million from the finance, insurance, and real estate sector, with more than $1.1 coming in this election cycle alone. Over his career, Bachus has pulled in $1.2 million from commercial banking donors, and another $1.1 million from those representing the securities and investment industry.

• The House Appropriations Committee ranking Republican member, Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA), is already a lightening rod for fundraising scandal, and has been named one of the most corrupt members by the nonpartisan Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. The Committee is notorious for special interest earmarks lined up for business clients by well-connected lobbyists. Rep. Lewis has raised nearly $888,627 from lobbyists for his campaign and leadership committee over his career – more than almost any other Republican.

• Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI) is the chairman-in-waiting for the House Ways and Means Committee. The committee has the potential repeal of all or part of the health care law on its agenda, and as such, Rep. Camp has hauled more than $3 million in health care and insurance money. The New York Times profiled Rep. Camp’s lobbyist fundraising in a news piece this morning.

• Under a Republican takeover, the House Natural Resources Committee would be chaired by Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA). Rep. Hastings received $409,948 in career contributions from the energy and natural resources sector.

• Rep. Frank Lucas (R-OK) is in line to takeover the reins at the House Agriculture Committee. Rep. Lucas received more than $1 million in career contributions from the agribusiness interests, including nearly a third of that -- $331,750 -- in the 2010 cycle alone.

• The House Armed Services Committee would be headed by defense industry favorite Rep. Buck McKeon (R-CA). Over his career, Rep. McKeon has received $842,250 in contributions from the defense sector.

• The House Transportation Committee ranking Republican member is John Mica (R-FL), a recipient of $1.2 million from the transportation sector.

“Taken together, these potential chairman represent the corporate special interests’ wildest dreams,” said Donnelly. “If Republicans take control, Americans will have to fight to hold these members accountable for any favoritism they will show their corporate donors. This is not a new problem, but it looks like it’s about to get worse, much worse.”

##

Public Campaign Action Fund works to hold politicians who are against comprehensive campaign finance reform accountable for where they get their political donations. Learn more at www.campaignmoney.org. 

The TeaParty wants CHANGE yet they support the Republican takeover of Congress?? If they think this is CHANGE they are in for a rude awakening in 2011. This is where we will see just who the teabaggers really are and who exactly it is they support and why!

Joe Scarborough asked a very pertinent question...how is it a party with 24% approval rating can win over 50 seats in this years midterm election ? 

What the hell is going on?? I want my country BACK!!

BELIEVE IT?? This is MAINSTREAM versus EXTREME!! 

Portico Quartet - Line

Perfect, post-Alpha session 1, euphoric, chill out...

Chris Christie killed the tunnel project!

Why did Chris Christie want to be governor of New Jersey?? The wingnuts around the country love him but WHY? This one man, this buffoon, is gonna  kill a project that has been in the works for 20 years. This tunnel project, linking NYC and NJ under the Hudson River, would have provided 6,000 immediate construction jobs and as many as 40,000 jobs after completion! This is not small potato's people!  Christie cares about NJ?? I don't get that feeling at all do you? Think about it, the largest public transit project in the nation, rejected by this asshole governor of NJ!

The long-planned project, Access to the Region's Core, was projected to cost 8.7 billion with the federal government and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey each paying $3 billion, and New Jersey paying $2.7 billion plus any overruns.
Recent federal estimates place the total cost between $9.8 billion and $12.7 billion.  On Oct. 7, Christie said he would kill the project but then agreed to mull over the matter for two weeks after U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood flew to Trenton for a meeting.

Federal officials then laid out a number of possibilities, such as low-cost, long-term federal financing, and alternate plans that eliminated portions of the project, such as a connection that would have created a nonstop journey for riders from Bergen County. But New Jersey officials believed the more parts peeled away from the project, the less likely it would be able to achieve its goals.
So while this gov. was campaigning across the country for people like Meg Whitman(loser), things here in NJ heated up as the unemployed waited with baited breath to hear this govs decision. Sounds like he cares not a bit about his residents and their lack of employment woes....


Sen. Frank Lautenberg, a New Jersey Democrat and major tunnel supporter, said one option from the federal government would have taken New Jersey off the hook.
"The federal government presented Gov. Christie with a number of financing options that would limit and even eliminate New Jersey's responsibility to pay for cost overruns on the ARC tunnel," Mr. Lautenberg said in a statement. "The federal government demonstrated its strong commitment to building this tunnel, but it was clear from the beginning that Gov. Christie planned to kill this project no matter what." There were options to go ahead with this project that would help thousands get back to work and Buffoon man STILL said NO??

A spokesman for Mr. Christie could not be reached for a response to Mr. Lautenberg's statement.

The project became a symbol of the ideological wedge that divides the country as it tries to recover from a deep recession. Republicans have argued for spending cuts and debt reduction, while Democrats have pushed for infrastructure projects as investments in the future and to put people back to work.

Which sounds better for New Jersey today in this economic environment?? You can cut spending and reduce debt but what good is that if people aren't working and contributing to the state through their income taxes, sales taxes, etc. What happens to us then? More tax cuts for the rich because the thugs believe in trickle down economics? Another jump in our property taxes because the towns are broke and we the middle man must support our school systems because the Governor cut 800 million from the education budget? Seniors  on fixed incomes don't get their rebates this year yet still must pay their portion of school tax through their exorbitant property taxes? But because Chris Christie stopped the biggest project in the country that would have put thousands to work, we are right back to square one. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer and soon move from NJ because there is a job killing governor at the buffet table who doesn't care about us!

George Soros gives $1 million to pot legalization measure

I don't care one way or the other about legalizing pot in America, but to post this George Soros piece just makes me giddy because the wingnuts HATE him!!

SAN FRANCISCO — Billionaire financier George Soros has thrown his weight behind California's marijuana legalization measure with a $1 million donation a week before the vote. The contribution reported Tuesday by The Sacramento Bee is the single biggest donation from an individual other than Proposition 19's main sponsor, Oakland medical marijuana entrepreneur Richard Lee.

Soros, a high-profile liberal and philanthropist, has long backed drug law reform. He was one of the top financial backers of California's first-in-the-nation measure that legalized medical marijuana in the state in 1996.
But Soros held off on openly endorsing the current measure until writing an op-ed published Tuesday in The Wall Street Journal. In the piece, Soros said legalizing and taxing marijuana would save taxpayers the costs of incarceration and law enforcement while raising revenue for the state.

You can read the rest here while you smile....

Have you seen the latest Jerry Brown ad? Meg Whitman is endorsing Jerry Brown and his policies which brought her to California 30 years ago! LOLOL!

"You know 30 years ago, anything was possible in this state," Whitman is shown saying at the beginning of the new commercial. Text then appears asking, "Who was governor 30 years ago?" Jerry Brown's name soon appears beneath the question.
The ad flashes back to clips from Brown's tenure as governor, while a narrator says that the Democrat "cut waste, got rid of the mansion and the limo." The spot continues to rattle off more of Brown's accomplishments before cutting back to more from Whitman. "I mean it's why I came to California," she says.

It's a great one, watch.....



Go Jerry Brown and Barbara Boxer! Just goes to prove money can not buy an election! YAY true blue California, this is for all my Cali friends!!

Emotions is an excuse for a man to tackle a young woman at a debate??? TEATHUGGERY!!

The video is above, thanks to Leslie for allowing me to steal it from her. By now all of blogland has seen the hideous video of teabagger thugs tackling a 23 yr old woman to the ground while a big thug with size 13 shoes thought he should stomp on her head while she was down because they feared her, they thought she was a threat to Rand Paul! His name is Tim Proffitt, he is a campaign coordinator. What a stinkin' thug!

The Lexington Police have issued a criminal summons for the head-stomper.

The Lexington Division of Police has identified a suspect in connection to the October 25, 2010 assault of a woman at 600 Cooper Drive.
On the 25th, at approximately 7:00p.m., officers were alerted to an active assault at 600 Cooper Drive (Kentucky Educational Television Studios).
Officers responded to the scene of the assault and made contact with the victim. She identified herself as a member of MoveOn.org and stated she was assaulted while attempting to take a picture with candidate Rand Paul. Division of Police patrol officers took an assault report and forwarded the case to the Division of Police Bureau of Investigation.
Today, October 26, 2010, detectives identified the suspect, involved in the assault, as Tim Profitt. Mr. Profitt is currently being served with a criminal summons ordering him to appear before a Fayette County District Court Judge.

Profitt apologized -- sort of -- while claiming that his stomping on a woman's face only looked bad because of the camera angles.


Lauren Valle was diagnosed with mild sprains and a concussion, and said to reporters that her attackers threatened to "take someone out" before they wrestled her to the ground. She is scheduled to appear on MSNBC's "Countdown" tonight.

Wingnuts like Glenn Beck, Limbaugh, and Palin (All spokesmen for the GOP/Teabaggers) claim violence WILL come and it will come from the left! I can't wait to take a peek at the wingnut blogs to read their twisting of this story. Would they dare blame the young MoveOn member because she wanted a picture of Rand Paul??  There can be NO excuse for a young woman to be assaulted just because of her political views. Shameful, but not at all surprising, teabag thuggery....

Mitch McConnell wants you to know his goals to bring down our president and he's not a bit afraid to tell ya...

Mitch McConnell is not afraid or embarrassed to admit it,  most of the GOP admit it too. Hell even the leader of the Republican party Rush Limbaugh said in Obama's first few months in office that he hopes he fails. Mitch UGH McConnell promises more obstructionism if he becomes majority leader. He really believes their strategy has played well for the party of HELL NO. This bozo feels his “single most important” job is to defeat President Obama in 2012. He will do everything in his power to make sure Barack Obama is a one term president. Have you ever heard ANY democrats talk this way when we had republican presidents? Remember how the democrats worked with Bush, voting with republicans on wars, tax cuts, prescription drug bill? Let's be real here, the GOP HATES President Obama and it's NOT about his policies. That is a lie. Count the stalled bills in the Senate, count the bills that were filibustered. Alot of these bills were Republican sponsored legislation, but when the brown skinned Obama came into office suddenly the thugs changed their minds on these bills and said fuck this president and everything he tries to do.


 In an interview with the National Journal’s Major Garrett,

MCCONNELL: We need to be honest with the public. This election is about them, not us. And we need to treat this election as the first step in retaking the government. We need to say to everyone on Election Day, “Those of you who helped make this a good day, you need to go out and help us finish the job.”
NATIONAL JOURNAL: What’s the job?
MCCONNELL: The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.

McConnell added, “Our single biggest political goal is to give our nominee for president the maximum opportunity to be successful. … We need to work smarter than we did [in 1995], and not become the foil off which [President Obama] pivots.” In 1995, then-Speaker Newt Gingrich led a shutdown of the government, which many Republicans now acknowledge was a “serious mistake, tactically and substantively.”
This morning, MSNBC host Joe Scarborough was floored by McConnell’s open admission that his single most important goal is to defeat Obama. “Mitch McConnell said that?!? … He admitted that on the record?!? That is embarrassing,” he said. “Can I just say for the record – that is pathetic.

Thank you Joe Scarborough, McConnell is a pathetic American. He should be an embarrassment to the republican party, but he is not. The GOP embraces this kind of idiocy. McConnell needs to be honest, he does not believe the election is about the people, it is about the thugs and their power grab. They are like salivating wolves, or should I say slobbering bulldogs.....

Who Mr. McConnell do you propose will run against Barack Hussein Obama in the 2012 election? Sarah Palin?  Work smarter than you did in 1995? I don't think that is possible. The country thinks you are a clown Mr. McConnell, a pathetic one at that....

NanNoWriMo and the Hero's Journey

Here is a quick little blog about for NaNoWriMo. Holy Crap, I can't believe I need to start next week. Again, this comes from Game Development Essentials: An Introduction.

There is an outline that I think helps augment the Hollywood three-act. It is technically known as the "monomyth" but more commonly referred to as "the Heroes Journey." Ever seen Star Wars? Read the Hobbit? Yeah, it's it. Think of those two books and then think of the following. what follows is a very short summary.

1. Exposition the story begins in ordinary, mundane settings. Bilbo Baggins is minding his own businesses at home. Luke Skywalker whines like a bitch about power converters.
2. The Call The hero gets a "call to adventure." The alternate world, or more magical world, is introduced to the character. The alternate world collides, or interrupts, the mundane world.
3. Refusal The hero first refuses the call. The hero does not want to leave the relative comfort of home. The hero also doubts himself.
4. Information The hero questions his refusal. Another character, such as a wise old man, gives the hero advice relevant to call to adventure.
5. Departure The hero makes a commitment to the call to adventure.
6. Testing The hero faces a series of challenges. This makes up the bulk of the story. Bilbo meets Gollum. Bilbo outwits Gollum
7. Rewards Bilbo gets the ring!
8. Ordeal The hero faces a huge challenge. This is usually when the villain shows his full hand. The deepest fears and the heroes vulnerability are shown here.
9. Resurrection The major enemy, usually a the arch villain, resurfaces briefly. I believe nearly every horror movie uses this. There can also be a trick ending. The battle of five armies at the end of the Hobbit is a "resurrection" in the Hobbit.
10. Return. The end of the story and the denouement. The hero returns to the safety of home. Though obviously, there is always room for a squeal.

Can you think of any movies, stories, videogames etc that follow this pattern?

The Word as a Wordle

Here is the Wordle and text of the Gospel reading for All Saints Sunday (Luke 6:20-31)

Then he looked up at his disciples and said: ‘Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. ‘Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. ‘Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. ²¹

22 ‘Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you^*Rejoice on that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets. ‘But woe to you who are rich,
for you have received your consolation. ‘Woe to you who are full now,
for you will be hungry. ‘Woe to you who are laughing now,
for you will mourn and weep. on account of the Son of Man. ²³²⁴²⁵

26 ‘Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.

27 ‘But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

So some initial thoughts thus far...

In this teaching, Jesus is looking at the bigger picture for humanity and her society, with the eyes of eternity. For there seem to be eternal consequences for life and actions in the now.

What does it mean to be blessed? It's something to do with God's provision and providence but it is also to do with invoking God, but here Jesus says that God's blessing on those whose lives did not traditionally show it - not on the rich but the porr, not on those who were happy but the sad, not on those with lavish food but on the hungry etc...

Jesus is encouraging his hearers to a godly way of living that recognises that fact.

There are questions related to this passage about what success is? Are we successful if we are happy, if you have lavish food etc. It is a gospel for the Wayne Rooney generation.

How do we live as citizens of the kingdom of God? We are part of the kingdom, we should live and behave as it's members.

The CofE is making itself look stupid...

This excellent post comes from the "Employment Rights" blog which you can read here. The topic he writes about will cause some people pain, but I believe the time has come for the church to grasp the nettle and get consecrating...

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Women bishops must be on a par with male bishops.

The draft legislation in the Church of England General Synod which is going to dioceses will allow women to be consecrated as bishops, if passed by diocesan synods, then agreed by general synod.

It is an issue which has been on the cards for 50 years, but seriously anticipated since 1992 when the first women in the Church of England were ordained priest, some 40 years after other provinces of the Anglican Communion, and many years after the Methodist Church.

Ordaining women as priests or presbyters – elders – presupposes that as priests they can undertake any role in the church even overseer or bishop – episcopos.

Our society is increasingly frustrated by attempts to relegate women to a second class citizenship, to pay them less than men, to give them part time temporary jobs and to give men full-time permanent jobs.

The credit crunch is likely to hit women harder than men…

Yet I can envisage women caring for their families with what little they have while their male partners go down the pub and spend their money on beer and themselves.

But that’s by the by, stereotypes don’t help much do they?

This week I want to talk about the Church of England and women bishops.

You may have heard of the Ordinariate, a Roman Catholic welcome pack for Anglo-Catholics, as long as the bishops aren’t married, and the priests promise celibacy, married or not. Let me quote one of my mentors, a certain Church Mouse: (Reproduced with thanks, though not permission)

‘First up we have the Anglo-Catholics. They seem to be splitting down the middle, with Chairman of Forward in Faith, Bishop John Broadhurst, stating that he is off to join the Ordinariate. However, he has utterly confused everyone by stating that he intends to remain Chairman of FiF and that FiF is not a Church of England grouping. This will be a surprise to the members of FiF, who are exclusively from the CofE. It was also a surprise to the Catholic Group in General Synod who have “distanced themselves” from his position and are encouraging people to stay in the CofE and fight on against women bishops.’

Then there is the Society of St Wilfred and St Hilda.’

These bishops and clergy plan on sticking around for the time being, as Bishop Tony put it to me when I asked him.

‘To what end we do not know. In fact the only thing we do know about this society is that this group is exclusively for Anglo-Catholics. I am nt welcome to join. Perhaps FiF wasn’t doing it for them any more, so they wanted to re-brand.

Next up we have the Conservative Evangelicals. Not happy with existing groups such as Anglican Mainstream, Reform and the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans UK, they have voted to set up a society themselves. Actually, it was just a majority of the 170 members who turned up to their annual conference who voted for this move. Again, I am not welcome to join. There seems to be a view emerging that societies can be a model under which bishops can be appointed for factions so that the faction can segregate itself from other factions within the church which it doesn’t like.’

I considered founding the Society of Willibrord for Anglicans who plan on staying put, and being involved in mission and evangelism, but it already exists. Willibrord was noted most for going to Germany, hence the humour about staying put, maybe sending others to mission fields! I would be welcome in my own religious society, but I think I would have been short of bishops, except that there are plenty of Old Catholic Bishops whose orders are recognized.

So The Church Mouse on his blog announced today that he is establishing the Society of St. Magnus for Orthordox Church Mice. Again I am not welcome to join: as he wrote: ‘If you’re not a Mouse, please don’t talk to me any more.’ The equality of women is an issue which even the most theologically illiterate can grasp, that’s why women bishops will come, and however much the church embarasses itself parliament won’t allow anything less than full parity for women bishops…but how soon? And how silly will we look with our theological posturing in the mean time?

Believe it, Democrats ARE fired up for November 2nd!

 
The pundits, the pollsters, they love reminding Americans the Democrats are just not enthusiastic this election cycle. .. they say there is a huge enthusiasm gap. Well I don't believe it! As I write this post President Obama is in Nevada at a rally for Harry Reid speaking to a fired up crowd.  Earlier today the president was in Los Angeles with Barbara Boxer and Jerry Brown, the crowd at USC was estimated at 37,000! Both Boxer and Brown have taken leads in the polls.

Thursday the rally was in Seattle for Patty Murray. The University of Washington's football stadium held 10,000 plus an additional 3,000 who couldn't be admitted were outside the stadium where Obama spoke to them first.

Tuesday the crowd at a rally in Wisconsin at the University of Wisconsin campus was estimated at 17,000 with another 9,000 lined up for more than a mile to get in but were diverted to overflow areas. Does this sound like the democratic party is not fired up to vote Nov. 2nd?

Sunday President Obama and First Lady Michelle were in Ohio.....

Jeremy Bird, Organizing for America, wrote this for Huffington Post.....News coverage of the "Moving America Forward" rally at The Ohio State University this past Sunday has focused on the massive, energized crowd of 35,000 that gathered to hear from President Obama and the First Lady.  Walking the line, listening to young people talk about politics, and watching them fill the Main Oval in the center of OSU's campus, I can tell you it was a truly moving sight.



The latest Newsweek poll shows Democrats remain in a close race with the Republicans. Also news today, the presidents approval rating has risen sharply, 54% up from 48% in late September. His disapproval number dropped to 40. You might say so what, dems are still gonna lose seats in November, Yes I know but the tidal wave has turned into a ripple! 48% of registered voters would be more likely to vote for Democrats compared to 42% lean Republican according to the last NEWSWEEK Poll.

President Obama still has IT, he can fire up the base and has proven it this week. The right has Palin to fire up its base, but can she be president??  Other than Palin who fires up the Republicans? Who will they put up against Obama in 2012? I don't believe they made any strides in the past 2 years, in fact I think the GOP has lost all momentum....

On NaNoWriMo and Hollywood Three Acts

Okay, so I am thinking about NaNoWriMo still, which is great because it forces me to organize my creativity. First, I would like to say that the book 'The Artist's Way' has been very helpful. It has given me a lot of inspiration and forced me to just bleed thoughts onto paper. This is an incredibly helpful exercise because the inspiration will come to you. You might consider checking that ought, even if you do not do NaNoWriMo this year.

What now, I am thinking about writing my story based on two probable outline scenarios that I read about in a book on game design. You probably know that many people avoid NaNoWriMo because they are afraid to suck, but also because outlining is a challenge. There are two that I have learned about recently.

The first, is the Hollywood Three Act. I quote here directly from Game Development Essentials:

1. Beginning (Act I): The most interesting stories begin by placing the audience into the action or drama of the story. The backstory and any background events leading up to this moment can be introduced later. The goal is to capture the audience's attention. Act I focuses on the character's problem. The story should introduce this problem immediately.
Middle (Act II): The middle of the story focuesses on the obstacles that stand in the way of the character's ability to solve the problem introduced in Act I. There are usually a series of obstacles in Act II that the character must overcome. this act comprises the bulk of the dramatic tension in the story.
End (Act III): The story ends when the problem introduced in Act I has been solved. The character often has to systematically face and remove each obstacle in Act II in order to reach this resolution.

This is the first of two outlines that I think are useful. Tomorrow, I will be concentrating on the hero's journey.

That one will require a bit more thought.

Thanks for reading.

Why new media matter in the Church

The post below comes from Bishop Alan Wilson's (the Anglican Bishop of Buckingham) excellent blog which you can read here

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People who don’t get it about new media often assume that the revolution in communications through which we are living is driven by desire to play with kit.
Thus the anxious, especially those who do not want to appear anxious, can stay safe from any requirement that they change, by treating the use of contemporary media as a hobby.

“Phew! real change is happening, but belongs in the world of electronic hobbyists, so it can be business as usual for us.”

In fact, communications revolutions are always driven by the ways they change people. The invention of the printing press did have interesting implications for industrial design technology, but greater far was its impact on people’s attitudes to authority including the Church and the government. Once people could read and write, especially en masse, the old assumptions were subject to constant critical scrutiny. And, as the dear old CIA used to say, you can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube.

The true implication of the printing press only took hold in the twentieh century, as costs came down sufficiently to allow information that had previously been privileged to flow all over the place. Information revolutions never go backwards, mostly because people have an insatiable thirst for information, and you can’t uninvent the technologies that provide it. One World War I song title expressed the rulers’ dilemma in the face of 20th century mass media technology perfectly — “How do you get them back on the farm, now that they’ve seen Paree?” But at least, then, they could try to control the media.

20th Century press was entirely free, as long as you owned a press. Now we all own a press, and we remain voracious information producers and consumers. We want to know the gossip, we want to know what’s going on, we want to be entertained.

Let me illustrate. Back at school governors in the 90’s we had controversy about making seat belts compulsory on school trips. We wrote to a local MP who assured us he was very much in favour, but the European Union, the square banana lot, wouldn’t allow progress on the issue. One governor had a dial-up connection and downloaded minutes from Brussels, where the UK had singlehandedly opposed compulsory seat belts on school buses, as a restriction of free trade. Same politician. Touché! Our dear leader was instantly outed for a bit of hypocrisy that would have been almost undetectable before.

What is called from all leaders in our new context is not necessarily technical skill, though the old pride that “Sunshine Deserts” British managers used to take in not being able or willing to type, an assertion of their superiority, is obsolete. It’s about radical transparency and mutual accountability. We shouldn’t have too much to fear, for our Scriptures teach mutual submission, redemption, and a call to consistency of life (Holiness). These are not things for which clergy should be too busy (or not). I wonder if our feared deficits in these weightier departments cause as much gut-churning fear of, and resistance to, new media as technical competence or busyness. I hope not.

Christian group goes beyond the realm of sanity...

This country is in deep trouble. I have NEVER seen such disgusting filthy antics from a political party in desperation mode in my whole life. I thought the John Kerry swift boat ads were sickening,  but people you haven't seen anything until you see this. Rightwingers I dare you to come to my blog and say one word. In fact I don't even want to hear your thoughts or apologies. The Christian right is seeking the face of Satan and here we go... Those who want to conjure up Satan and Jesus for the holy showdown, here you go and it's coming straight to a neighborhood near you Coloradoans. I really pity you to have to live with this, which will go down in our history books as the most disgraceful  treatment of a US sitting president in our lifetime...

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Living God's Love...

Following the success of the Lent Challenge via text message, tweet and email, the Diocese of St Albans launch a new innitiative called 'Living God's Love.'

'Living God's Love.'
is an invitation to journey.

It's an opportunity
to discover new things about God,
ourselves and the world,
to look with fresh eyes and explore new ways.

It looks like a good resource and a valuable initiative, have a look and why not sign up for the Advent challange here...

The Word as a Wordle

Here it is folks - the Wordle of the Gospel reading for Bible Sunday from Luke 4:16-24...

The Rejection of Jesus at Nazareth

16 When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, ¹⁷and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: ¹⁸ ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free, ¹⁹ to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’ ²⁰And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. ²¹Then he began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’ ²²All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, ‘Is not this Joseph’s son?’ ²³He said to them, ‘Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, “Doctor, cure yourself!” And you will say, “Do here also in your home town the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.” ’ ²⁴And he said, ‘Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s home town.

Social Media for Social Chnge...

As someone who sees the possibilities and uses Twitter and Facebook (feel free to follow me in either or both spaces) to extend the walls of the church into the virtual space, I was delighted to be made aware of this day conference... and I have booked my place...

Social media is changing the way we relate to one another on a daily basis. Globally people are spending more time on Facebook than they are using Google's search engine. Five hundred million people are now communicating via Facebook, and Twitter is reshaping the way that news is spreading around the world. With this amount of change occurring, how can Christians harness the power of social media to bring social transformation?

30 November 2010, All Soul's Church, Langham Place, London
Cost: £15, including lunch and refreshments
Plus, the first 30 people who book will receive a complimentary copy of Leonard Sweet's Jesus Manifesto at the event - so book now to get one!

Radiohead - No Surprises

All I can and need to say...

Beautiful song...

Beautiful video...

Enjoy

Where's the Respect?

Here we sit, just weeks before the big elections and Democrats are gettin' no respect! Why is it so when this Congress was the most productive in nearly half a century? It's beginning to sound like a broken record but I will say it again, President Obama has done a good job and you naysayers need to stop listening to wingnuts and read for yourselves the progress made in the past 2 years.

Not since the explosive years of the civil rights movement and the hard-fought debut of government-supported health care for the elderly and poor have so many big things — love them or hate them — been done so quickly.

 I feel increasingly sad and disillusioned when my party gets no respect, because Democrats do deserve respect.  All throughout our history Democrats have consistently made great strides. In 1966 after creating Medicare and Medicaid and passing civil rights laws they got hammered in the election. They lost 48 seats in the House and 4 in the Senate but managed to hold on to the majorities in both houses. We are waiting, not so patiently, for November 2nd to come and go. Optimistic are you?

In the 1960s Democrats paid the price for events largely outside their control — an escalating war in Vietnam going badly, rowdy anti-war protests and violence in American cities, said Linda Fowler, professor of government at Dartmouth College.

"I think that's what's going on this time too," Fowler said, "despite a very significant record of accomplishment."

In terms of legislative successes, the current session of Congress is "at least on a par with the 89th Congress" of 1965-1966, said Norman Ornstein, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.

But, he added, Republicans have done all they could to discredit Congress and Democrats have failed to sell their agenda. Moreover, it will take years to fully feel the effects of the health care law and financial regulation.

"A world dominated by bickering and epithet-throwing and bomb tossing in Washington obscures accomplishments," Ornstein said.

Yes, and it will probably take years for the people to understand the effects caused by Republicans which resorted in drastic moves by President Obama. The bank bailouts have been paid back AND with intetrest. But do the people know this?? Who is touting this accomplishment for Obama? The President had no choice but to ask Congress to pass a stimulus package to avoid a depression, thanks to Republican policies....Has the country grasped the severity of the problem and given Obama credit for saving us from economic collapse? No, two years is not enough time to see real change, it will take longer. But sadly the people do not want to be patient so we're headed back in the ditch. I believe if this does happen then the GOP will be forced to actually do some work, they will have to show Americans that they can govern or they will pay dearly in 2012. I say GOOD!

Two landmark acts of this session were the health care overhaul, a giant step toward universal coverage that had eluded presidents back to Franklin Roosevelt if not Teddy Roosevelt, and the Wall Street accountability act.

Obama has also signed into law at least a dozen other pieces of legislation of significance. They include:

_Making college loans more affordable.

_The Cash for Clunkers program that helped rejuvenate the auto industry.

_New consumer protections for credit card users.

_Making it easier for women to challenge pay discrimination.

_Increasing federal regulation of tobacco products.

_Cracking down on waste in Pentagon weapons acquisition.

_Making attacks based on sexual orientation a federal hate crime.

_Giving businesses tax incentives to hire unemployed workers.

_Tax credits for first-time homeowners.

So where is the love?

Do you remember the cries of socialism in the 1960's during the bitter debate over Medicare? Back then even with the fighting on both sides, the polls showed the country had faith their government was doing the right things. Today the polls tell us something very different. The country trusts neither party. This erosion of trust has enabled the Republicans to score points by arguing that Democratic big government programs are destroying our foundation.  It is shameful Americans are not paying attention, they are letting extreme rhetoric tell them what to think and believe. Too much bitterness and partisan divide keeps people from opening their minds to the truth.

.

"The amazing thing is that we have had such a productive Congress despite the obstructionism," Steny Hoyer said. "Republicans and their media have successfully sent out a message that the Congress has failed."

Democrats cling to a hope that voters in the last two weeks before the election will come to a more favorable view of how the party handled health care and the economy.

We Democrats know there is still much to be done. We are not blindly following Obama like the righties think. We do hold his feet to the fire as we do Congress too. Immigration reform, tax cuts expiring, jobs programs, DADT, universal healthcare, wars ending, these are all on the Obama agenda the next few years. If he doesn't get the support and cooperation he needs then who do we blame? We always have to blame someone don't we...

God Grant Justice...

I have been gripped by a story of humanity, faith, perseverence, and hope this week. I am of course referring to the rescue effort to free the 33 miners from underground in the San Jose copper mine in Chile.

What was it about this story that so captivated the us? Was it tenacity? Was it human perseverance? Was it engineering skill? Was it the miners’ faith and trust in God? For me, in all honesty, it was all of those and more. It seemed so unlikely that those miners were alive at all. It seemed unlikely that those miners would ever resurface. It seemed unlikely that the miners would be together emotionally in any way and yet, against all odds, their story - a rescue into the pitch black underworld snatching back the stranded one by one, has gripped us all. The rescue moved me because it is a story of the triumph of good over evil, of hope over despair, of life over death.

The other story that has moved me this week is the counterpoint to that of the Chillean miners. This week the inquest opened into the deaths of 52 people when bombs ripped through tube trains and a bus in three locations on 7th July 2005. Seeking justice for the dead and injured, the coroner’s court has heard harrowing evidence about the extent and arbitrary nature of the attacks, but also stories of incredible courage as civilians and members of the emergency services ignored warnings about returning to the bomb blasted scenes to search out the injured and the dying. As the carnage of those attacks is turned over one shard of metal at a time, we notice again and again the hand of human compassion reaching out to embrace, to hold, to heal and console.

This morning’s Gospel reading sounds like it is straightforwardly a parable about prayer. The Gospel writer Luke even tells us so - Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart, and yet as we take a closer look there is more to this story than first meets the eye.

The judge in the story, then as now, has extraordinary power. He is the last port of call to administer justice according to the laws of God. The judge in the story exercises not the law of God, but is a law unto himself as he is not willing to hear the widow’s case.

The widow, throughout the pages of scripture, is a vulnerable victim - she could not inherit her late husband’s estate. Widows were dependent on the generosity and support of others. All the widow wanted was justice, but the judge flouted the judicial protocol of the day by refusing to even hear her. Eventually he relents though because she is so persistent. The judge does the right thing for the wrong reason. Jesus’ story says that if the unjust can be persuaded to act justly, the point surely is that those who pray to a just and loving God should never give up calling for justice in their cause, because the one who is righteous, namely God, can be trusted.

God is the protector of those like the widow and the judge of those who persecute them. As I read and reread the passage three words stood out - God grant justice. Yet waiting for God to grant justice can so often be the hardest part.

To experience the justice of God, we must place ourselves within the will, within the life and in the presence of God. The widow receives justice from the judge because she makes it her business to be in the judge’s face. She is constantly in his presence. Similarly to receive the justice of God, we must be open to the presence of God. There is an inextricable connection Jesus seems to be saying between persistent prayer and the justice of God.

God is like the judge in the parable, in that his justice is unexpected and surprising. God’s justice stands contrary to what we expect, desire or deserve. God is a god who not only forgives a murderer like Moses who killed an Egyptian guard or Paul who persecuted and murdered early followers of Jesus, but uses them to reveal something of His loving purposes to the world. The rescue of the Chillean miners touched me so much because this daring mission brought these men back to the surface alive. In turn it reminded me of the God of justice who engineers a gripping rescue through Christ’s life, death and resurrection, into the pitch black underworld of our lives, snatching us, the stranded, back one by one, back into the presence of His Father whether we feel we deserve to be there or not. God doesn’t write us off as a mission not worth executing, but but instead He goes the extra mile to search us out and bring us back to himself in love.

So often our lives can be torn apart like a bomb blast. Our hearts warped and twisted - whether of our own doing or through the actions of others - and the God of Justice gently and slowly helps us sort through those experiences, offering us the nail-pierced hand of perfect compassion - reaching out to embrace, to hold, to heal and console. To plead our cause in prayer to this God is to not find us ignored by Him. Waiting for that justice to come is painful, but God assures us, it will come.

Three words stand out from the Gospel - God grant justice. To know God’s justice is to know God. His justice is not a piece of clothing that He puts on and takes off like his favourite jumper. It is who He is. But to know God, we must know His Son Jesus Christ; not know of Him, not know about Him in an intellectual way; but to know Him as the one who asks us to follow Him and to discover more about His God and Father through what we see and experience as much as through what He says about Him. All too often though I hear - I believe in God, but He hasn’t answered my prayer. But what were you praying? Are you prepared to get in His face with your request day and night? And who is this God you believe in? I believe in the law of gravity but it will not save my immortal soul and does not love me into new and eternal life.

Friends it is not possible to call ourselves Christians and not in some way be following Jesus. For we are not Christian if we are not in some way going deeper into the life of faith - discovering more about God through what we see, experience and discover with others, as much as through what Jesus teaches in the scriptures.

Friends, if this morning you long for a faith that is more than an intellectual exercise or assent; if you long to discover more about a God who longs to help make sense of the broken fragments of your life and transform for good; if in your deepest being you long to be taken from the darkness into the light and love of His presence then let me assure you that you are placing yourself within the will, within the life and in the presence of the God of justice. If this is you this morning and you want to know this more for yourself then pray with me these words:

Holy God, faithful and unchanging: enlarge our minds with the knowledge of your truth, and draw us more deeply into the mystery of your love, that we may truly worship you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, one God,now and for ever. Amen.