Global Warming? Seriously?

As London debates a global warming bill, they experience the first October snow since 1922 (read article here). At the same time, Switzerland - you know, home of the Swiss Alps - just got the most October snow since they began keeping records in 1931 (read article here).

Right now, 60% of Londoners "doubt the influence of humans on climate change." However, it seems that no one in the leadership is willing to doubt this as well, even as we have seen so much evidence that questions whether global warming is actually happening and shows that human impact on climate change is very difficult to prove. 

Check out another one of my posts on the topic and let me know what you think about all of the global warming hype. 

All Of Us Have To Come Together

My friend Sam Harrelson posted the video of Obama's speech in Canton, Ohio  from 2 days ago. No matter your affiliation, I think you should check it out here.

There was one line in particular that stood out to me above all the others:

Yes, we can argue and debate our positions passionately, but all of us must summon the strength and grace to bridge our differences and unite in common effort; black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, Democrat, Republican, young, old, rich, poor, gay, straight, disabled or not. All of us have to come together.

That is my sentiment exactly. I am tired of the division that both parties exhibit and the division that we as individuals exhibit and the superiority that we feel to those who have different views than we have or who express different religious beliefs. We do not all need to be the same, but we do need to work together. We need to grow in our understanding of each other and stop relying on stereotypes that are perpetuated by our ignorance and our lack of desire to search out the truth about other parties or other religions or other people. There are plenty of issues that we can and will differ on, but there are also plenty that we shouldn't. We need to "unite in common effort" against poverty and against genocide and against imperialism and against hunger. 

This is not a democratic issue or a republican issue. This is not a Christian issue or an Islamic issue. This is not an American issue or an European issue. This is a humanity issue. This is a issue that should resonate within each and every one of us because we are humans and there are fellow human beings that are suffering. We have fellow human beings who are not given the dignity that they deserve as a human. We have fellow human beings who are discriminated against because they have a certain skin color or because they have a certain belief system. 

Our world certainly is not perfect and we will never see it become perfect, but that is no excuse to resign ourselves to accepting the way it is. We must not sit by while injustices prosper. 

This is about you. This is about me. This is about us. All of us have to come together.

A Typical Day in a Swedish Office

Love it.

US Bombs Syria!

A few weeks ago a read an online news article that piqued my interest. I apologize that I cannot remember the exact source, but I do know that it was not an American-based website. The article basically said that another country (Belgium, if I remember correctly) had decided not to attack Syria because they had intel that the US was going to do it in a few weeks. Well, they were right, the US did just bomb Syria. You can read more about this incident on BBC, here. Specifically you should notice the last sentence:

One correspondent says the timing of the incident if curious, coming right at the end of the Bush Administration's period of office and at a moment when many of America's European allies - like Britain and France - are trying to broadent heir ties with Damascus.

Many have been saying that there was going to be a surprise just before the election and, folks, I think we have just seen it. I'll save some of my opinions for now, because I want to hear your reaction.

Soul-Baring

This morning in church my pastor made a comment that made me stop and think for a bit. He was talking about how a church should be a home for people and in the course of saying what a church should be he said, 

"The church should be a place where we can bare our souls."

As I thought about that more I began to wonder how true that was. Church has never really been a place that I felt like I could bare my soul. I then wondered if other people felt the same way, because I understand that I am a pretty private person and do not bare my soul to very many people. I am very protective of my soul.

My question to you: is church a place where you can bare your soul? If yes, why? If not, do you have a place or people with whom you can bare your soul. I'm very interested in hearing your responses.

JCRA: Day 2

Another fantastic day today. We began the day at the National Cathedral at 10:10 for the forum, where Thomas Cahill was the guest. Then we attended the service at 11:15. The service was beautiful as was the cathedral itslf. After the service, that went a bit longer than we expected, we had a private tour of the Cathedral and our guide spoke, on occassion, specifically to the work that the cathedral is doing in the interfaith community. Their work is varied and quite impressive. 

We then met with Kendall Soulen to discuss his book. This meeting was great. Soulen was very gracious to take time out of his Sunday afternoon to lecture to us briefly and then field questions that we had about his book. His answers were not always the ones I would have given, but he answered very well on the spot and offered some great imagery that may prove to be very helpful to Jewish-Christian dialogue.

Some pictures from today at the National Cathedral:

JCRA: Day 1

Today has been a fantastic day. We drove from Boiling Springs, NC to Alexandria, VA and arrived at our hotel around 3:30pm. We then pretty much immediately got on the Metro, which is across the parking lot from our hotel, and headed into D.C. Before dinner we went to the National Air and Space Museum, where we saw the Wright Brothers' plane and a lot of cool stuff from the Apollo trips, and the Museum of Natural History, where we saw a lot, but the best was the exhibit on Richard Evans Schultes called The Lost Amazon.

We ate dinner at Thai Chili and it was actually pretty good. 

After dinner we talked around and saw the White House, the Vietnam Memorial, the WWII Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument. Seeing them all lit up at night was fanatastic. Sadly, my camera would not allow for most of the pictures to turn out.

I've posted a few pictures below of today's events. 

On the agenda for tomorrow: Attend National Cathedral; meet with Dr. Kendall Soulen

D.C., Charleston, Savannah in 6 days

Tomorrow morning I am leaving to embark on a journey with 9 fellow journey women and men. We are traveling to Washington, D.C.; Charleston, SC; and Savannah, GA. 

The purpose of our trip: Jewish-Christian Relations in America.

Our plans are: 

• Visit the Washington National Cathedral in D.C. 
  
• Meet with Dr. Kendall Soulen, author of The God of Israel and Christian Theology
  
• Visit The Holocaust Museum and with Dr. Victoria Barnett, Director of Church Relations for the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the Museum for a private lecture entitled, "American Churches' Response to the Holocaust"
  
• Meet with Rabbi Anthony Holz of Kahal Kadohs Beth Elohim, the fourth oldest Jewish congregation in the USA (est. 1749)
• Visit the Coming Street Cemetary in Charleston, SC, with a guided tour by Dr. Harlan Greene, Director of Archival and Reference Services at the College of Charleston
• Meet with Dr. Dale Rosengarten, Curator of the Jewish Heritage Collection in the Addlestone Library at the College of Charleston
• Meet with Rabbi Arnold Mark Belzer of Mickve Israel, the third oldest Jewish congregation in America
• Meet with Dr. John Finley, pastor of First Baptist Church Savannah, a church that has a rich history of relations with the Jewish community in Savannah
• Attend Sukkot service at Beth HaTephila in Asheville, NC

I hope to post updates and happenings throughout the week.

What Would You do with $700B? OR There's No Such Thing as Free Lunch

This is a pretty tough question. I mean I could spend maybe a billion dollars buying houses and cars and other stuff. With that I'd be pretty well set. After that I could easily give away billions and billions of dollrs to help people in need and people who are hungry and people who need wells dug so their communities can have safe drinking water and people who simply need $10 mosquito nets so they can sleep at night and not worry about getting Malaria. I could sponsor 182,291,666 kids through Compassion International for the next ten years. I can think of a lot of ways to spend a lot of money, but $700 billion? I just don't know that I could actually think of ways to spend that money wisely without buying golden toilet seats and making square circles. 

Apparently, Congress couldn't figure out how to do it either. That's why what was once a $700B plan morphed into a $810B plan before it went through the Senate and back to the House. What's with the extra $110B you ask? Good question. Well its what some have called "sweeteners." They are called sweeteners, because they do just that, they sweeten the bill up. So, the bill now includes $100 million for NASCAR. Seriously? I mean, I like NASCAR, but what is money for NASCAR doing in an economic bailout/recovery plan? Want to know what else was in the additions? $2 million for wooden arrows for children. Again, are you serious? A few other additions, or earmarks as they're known in Washington:

• $10 million in benefits for employers to offer employees who commute to work via bicycle
• Allowance for production companies to deduct the cost of producing their films from their taxes. This measure will cost taxpayers $478 million over the next 10 years.
• Tax break on rum from Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. This tax break for them will cost the taxpayers $192 million.
• Extension of a measure that helps wool fabric makers and clothing manufacturers. This will cost taxpayers $148 million.

Call me crazy, but I fail to see just how these additions have anything to do with the current economic crisis. What got us into the situation that we're in now is the push by the federal government in the 1990's to make homeownership a real possibility for everyone. That meant loaning more money to people than they could afford. While I would love for everyone to be a homeowner, the fact of the matter is that not every can own a home. Some people simply can't afford it and some people can afford to own small homes, but not large homes. That's okay. I feel comfortable saying this because at this point in time I don't own a home. We were approved by a bank for a home loan that was more than we could afford, but we didn't take it. Hear that? Just because you're approved for a certain amount of money doesn't mean you have to take it all, especially if you know you can't afford the monthly payments, or what the monthly payments will be once the balloon inflates.

Implications for the Presidential Race

Remember those two guys who are running for president? Barack Obama and John McCain. Well, both of them have been saying that they are going to lower taxes. Obama has been saying that his plan would lower taxes for 95% of Americans (in actuality his plan will only lower taxes for about 80% of American households) and McCain says that he's going to lower taxes too. John McCain has been vehement about saying that he doesn't vote for earmarks and accusing Barack Obama of voting for millions of dollars in earmarks. Well, I think the playing field is pretty level now. Both Obama and McCain voted for this economic bailout plan, earmarks and all. Do either of them truly have what's best for the American people in their sights? I really wonder. 

Other Reservations

I know I seem to be being pretty hard on this economic bailout plan. Maybe you're wondering, "Thomas, would you be happier if the bill took out all the nonsense and simply helped the people in trouble?" Truthfully, no. I certainly think it's fine to help people in trouble, but have we forgotten that we live in a capitalist country? Well, we used to anyway. We are moving closer and closer to socialism. Before you hear me knocking socialism, I am not. I am actually a big fan of socialism, just not in this country. We are not and can never truly be a socialist country. If you want socialism, move to Sweden. It truly is wonderful there; I know. 

However, what the American people have to remember while basking in the glory of socialism is that socialism costs money. It is plain and simple. We cannot have universal healthcare without increasing taxes. We cannot make everyone a homeone without increasing taxes. We cannot make everyone even remotely close to equal without increasing taxes. So, before you start thinking how necessary this bailout plan was and how great universal healthcare would be (no matter who's proposing it), take a step back and think about it. My dad always says, "Son, nothing in life is free." You know the truth of this as well as I do. Just because money didn't come out of my pocket doesn't mean money didn't come out of anyone's pocket or that it won't come out of my pocket later. 

One last reservation I have. The bailout plan essentially gives Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson all the money to do with as he sees fit. The language throughout the bill says that the money should be used "at the Secretary's discretion" multiple times. Are we really okay with giving one person that much money, that much control over what happens with $810B in taxpayer dollars? I'm not. 

This issue isn't a Republican or Democrat issue; this is an American issue. At the heart of this is the question of what our American ideals are. Are we capitalist or are we socialist? Are we okay with Congress continuing to build Bridges to Nowhere or do we want them to finally singularly address the issue on the table without adding in money for everyone else and their grandmother except the average American citizen?

Remember, there's no such thing as free lunch.

The Tribe

This video was shared in my class on Jewish-Christian Relations in America. Thanks to Trevar for providing the link. It's a fantastic short video (17 min) on Jews, their history worldwide and in America and it also raises a great question at the end concerning how we view those around us.

Enjoy.