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October 29, 2006
Martial Law?
Just when I thought it couldn't get worse. It did. Pray this is not true. And then send this link to as many people as you can. AND VOTE!
Posted by mattalexander at 9:11 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 27, 2006
Support our Troops?
What an empty phrase. Very interesting post. Perhpas it's more than putting yellow ribbon stickers on your car.
Posted by mattalexander at 10:24 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
The Writing on the Wall?
When will this country see it? Check out this article. We're a couple generations past due for a national health plan. Ugh. This country makes me sick.
Posted by mattalexander at 10:20 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 22, 2006
Faith and Reason at Harvard
A good friend of mine--Okay the atheist buddy I mentioned the other day!--sent me the link to this good story. A curriculum committe at Harvard has suggested all students must take a course on faith and reason. I strongly doubt (and hope) they don't mean a proselytizing course. For too long faith has been unwelcome in academia. I really think this should change. Even if it didn't alter a single person's beliefs, it'd be a welcome change in that people of walks of faith (or rejection thereof) would do a lot of learning about people different than themselves. And that's always a good thing, particularly when such vitriol exists form all sides concerning religion these days.
Posted by mattalexander at 10:40 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Seriously?
Thanks to Dale for the heads-up on this. Apparently Bush doesn't remember to 20,000 or so times he said we'll stay the course in Iraq. Remember, Rove passed out flip-flops to everybody at the RNC convention becuase of John Kerry's supposed changes in position on the war. Apparently a Republican has to change position twenty times for flip-flop distribution. I for one am hoping Jon Stewart has a lovely montage to hilariously call out this hypocritical lie.
Posted by mattalexander at 9:41 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
More Kuo
There are few posts on David Kuo's book, Tempting Faith over at God's Politics. You can find them here, here, and here. Kuo was also recently on the Colbert Report. Watch the greatness below. I know I'm liable to be burned by getting my hopes up, but I pray this revelation is a real wake-up call for Christians who hitched their wagon to the Republican Party and lost their Christian markings along the way. And that's not because I'm a huge Democrat fan; that's because the ultimate source of justice and truth is the Kingdom of God, and we're long overdue for more Christians in this country to live accordingly.
Posted by mattalexander at 9:29 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 21, 2006
On Atheism
One of my closest new friends here at Columbia is a staunc atheist, one might even say militant. I love the guy to death, and we have a good time poking fun at one another. He's been immensely annoyed by religion since he was young, so he studied religion in undergrad so that he could criticize his opponents while knowing where they come from. However, I find the Christianity he thinks he's attacking me for practicing looks something like 13th century Roman Catholicism. I've never really gotten anywhere when trying to discuss contemporary theological claims and approaches, or postmodern philosphy, for that matter.
In light of this, I found this post quite relevant to my relationship with my dear friend. In it Lee links to a couple good posts elsewhere about contemporary atheists. Find them here and here.
Let me rip off those posts in light of my experiences. It seems those who get the most airtime and references, the likes of Dawkins, Dennett, and Harris, are even worse at building straw-man arguments than my atheist friend. "God equals tooth fairy" may represent the faith of some, but I'm convinced it misrepresents the faith of most, and modern atheists who use that flaccid argument do their projects a disservice by that lazy tack. I'm curious why Nietzsche isn't more of a hero these days. Indeed, I find his work fascinating and convicting. I find his work a remarkably adept critique of modernity, and I think he shifted things by basically showing we cannot believe in anything. While I think authentic faith is the only other alternative to his nihilism, I don't think a fundamentalist's apologetics isn't the reason one ought to practice the faith. Rather, when the modern project is dismantled, all we can hope for is to "out-narrate" other metanarratives. (I think I'm really tipping my Radical Orthodoxy cards here. :D )
What surprises me about the approaches of the Dennets, Dawkins, and Harrises is their utilization of outdated philosophy. Isn't strident logical positivism a bit philosophically immature? It strikes me as ironic that I seem to be a bigger fan of Nietzsche and Foucault's work than these thinkers are. Not that my buddy's arguments don't challenge me immensely, but I just don't see myself one day soon realizing I've been believing in a heavenly Santa Claus all along.
Posted by mattalexander at 10:45 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Kevin Tillman is Pissed
This is interesting. Kevin Tillman is the brother of Pat, the former NFL player who joined the army after 9/11 and was later killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan. The Tillman's were the poster boys for what little was still right in this country, according to many conservatives and many in the MSM. When Pat Tillman died ESPN ran huge tributes to the fallen hero who put his money where his mouth was. Well, I doubt the Tillmans will be getting as much airtime now that Kevin is speaking out against the fools who led us into this war. I liked this line, "Somehow, the same incompetent, narcissistic, virtueless, vacuous, malicious criminals are still in charge of this country. Somehow, this is tolerated. Somehow, nobody is accountable for this."
Posted by mattalexander at 10:34 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 17, 2006
War Sucks
Surprised? Some are, apparently. (Okay, perhaps they are just greedy/evil and do all they can to deny war sucks so they can continue to profit from it.) Check out this analysis on the recent Lancet article arguing the war in Iraq has caused 600,000+ excess deaths. That's a lot. Even if it's off by 100,000, it's still a lot. Pray for peace, and while your at it, vote for change three weeks from today. (In that order!)
Also, for those who have problems calling the situation in Iraq "civil war", check out this interesting little post at TPM.
Posted by mattalexander at 6:21 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Okay, Time for a Positive Post
Check out this story. Kudos to Father Morris for thinking globally and acting locally. :)
Posted by mattalexander at 10:20 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
When Will They Get It?
So, the country gets a wave of school shootings, and the response? Why, teach kids to fight back, of course. Heaven forbid we question why as a society we insist so strongly on allowing handguns and assualt weapons. The influence of the gun lobby in this country astonishes me. And it's all based on very questionable interpretation of the second amendment. Not like that really matters anymore, given that Bush thinks of the Constitution as "just a goddamned piece of paper!" George, please... language. You're supposed to convince people you're a Christian!
Posted by mattalexander at 10:12 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
October 16, 2006
Exxon Secrets
Check out ExxonSecrets. From my buddy Thom Yorke. :) Man, I'm glad I don't drive a car anymore. The few and far in between times I have to fill up, I'll certainly avoid Exxon or Mobile. Then again, is there any place to avoid this mess?
On another note, the same post indicates RH are recording for real these days. So excited!
Posted by mattalexander at 11:36 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 13, 2006
Learning from the Amish
Wow. Really good post over at God's Politics about the Amish living out peace and forgiveness in the wake of the horrible school shooting. It'd be nice to see more coverage on this. Spread the word!
Posted by mattalexander at 12:10 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 12, 2006
Duh
Who still thinks victory in Iraq is possible? Very few, if any, I imagine. I'm sure in his heart of hearts Bush knows it's a lost cause, but I don't think "winning" is what he and his cronies were after. Not that it's been a huge success, but the neocon mantra that the U.S. ought to expand its empire through military force because it can has been acted out quite well. It's just not pretty at all. Anyway, the James Baker panel has found that the Iraq quagmire really is unwinnable. See it here. Baker is certainly no bipartisan, well-wishing public servant. Remember, he served as secretary of state under Bush I and was the Bush team's "oserver" (read Katherine Harris' handler) during the Florida mess in 2000. My, how far we've come.
Posted by mattalexander at 11:57 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
The Fundies Got Pwned
My apologies, if the word pwn confused you. Anyway, today I saw this on Daily Kos. I was going to blog on it, but I returned to studying for my pharm exam monday, and Dale beat me to it. See here. I've never been really impressed with Bush's "faith". He has absolutely no ecclesiology; remember, he found God in AA. I have a hard time reconciling the god of AA with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Bush's poor grasp on the nuts and bolts of the Gospel have long been apparent to anybody willing to critically examine his words. I sure hope the religious right's power grab via the Republicans will soon crumble. I'm a pretty strong believer that separation of church and state is a good thing for all involved, and I say that as a student of the Christian tradition, not to extol the virtues of this nation's founders. I'm curious to see where the Dobson/Falwell/Robertson crowd spends its energy about five years down the road.
Posted by mattalexander at 11:24 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Dubya vs. Hopkins
A new report suggests the war in Iraq has caused 655,000 deaths. Unsurprisingly, Bush thinks there's no way this could be true. Unfortunately for him, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the academic home of the investigators and a top PH school, and The Lancet, the top-tier journal in which the study was published, are a lot more credible than this failed oil man from Connecticut Texas. The anti-science leanings of the right really worry me. They hurt the way healt care is delivered in this world, how we "prevent" and deal with AIDS, how we deal with climate change, etc. It's quite dangerous when a world leader makes up a number, say 30,000, of how many civilians have died in his illegal war and then touts it as fact. Facts will always be on your side if you just make them up. And shame on the media for not doing its job and checking facts to critique this administrations pseudo-science.
Posted by mattalexander at 9:48 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 11, 2006
Letter to Dobson
Check out Jeff Carr's Open Letter to James Dobson on Jim Wallis' God's Politics blog. Nazarene to Nazarene crazy. Good stuff.
Posted by mattalexander at 9:24 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 9, 2006
North Korea
So, I'm sure most of you have heard, North Korea tested a nuclear weapon. This is frustrating on so many levels, and I really think it's yet another illustration of this administration's ineptitude and cowardice. North Korea has long been the most menacing member of dubya's dreaded axis of evil, yet he devoted all his attention on the weakest member of that trio, ignoring the one actively pursuing WMDs. Now, after a few weeks of intensified saber rattling at Iran, North Korea again shows why it deserves more attention. Now, ironically, Bush wants to go through the UN to deal with Kim Jong-il, the very same UN security council he spurned when they balked at his fake intelligence to justify invading Iraq. I've long thought the UN will largely be as credible as America makes it, and now that this country weakened its credibility by leaving it behind to demolish Iraq, I fear its ability to handle N. Korea has suffered.
It really boggles my mind how quickly the wheels have come off the Republican machine lately. There are a handful of stories that could/should be huge stories on their own: the revelations in Bob Woodward's book, the recent NIE, Foleygate & Hastert's power-clouded "morals", rumblings of troop position for an invasion of Iran, the resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan, perpetual violence in Iraq. Now, we have another nuclear power in the works. It truly is amazing how Bush's foreign policy is so disastrous, and it's not even like it's paired with stellar domestic policy! I don't see how he won't go down in history as one of the worst presidents ever, if not the worst. Unfortunately, that same history will also likely implicate the efforts of Christians in bringing this guy to power. (Well, that and a supreme court stacked with his daddy's appointments.)
The current situation with North Korea parallels that with al qaeda in my mind. There has been a lot of strong evidence that an imminent threat exists, yet it has largely been ignored. There isn't a perfect correlation; Bush vacationed and ignored the al qaeda intelligence, whereas he's chosen to deal with North Korea "diplomatically". Unfortunately, that diplomacy has pretty closely resembled ignoring. Both times he seems to have been focused on attacking another country presenting little threat, yet sitting on a crapload of oil. America squandered its moral authority on the geopolitical scene years ago, but, if China is the player who ends up decisively dealing with North Korea (hopefully peacefully!), then will history mark that as the official beginning of the end of the American Empire? These types of questions used to amuse me, but now, as a new father, they make me sad more than anything. Pray for peace!
Posted by mattalexander at 1:47 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
