I applaud Pete for taking the issue of life seriously, but I think he needs to understand that an opinion piece in the Onion is not meant to be taken seriously. Find serious opinion pieces to pick apart.

The Onion is entertainment only. If you read the site more often, you’d find that this humor site is meant to be equal opportunity offensive, even if it does lean to the left. If you link to the Onion for credible news, then I wonder if you would have something to say about this recent opinion piece in the Onion: “There’s no way I’m saving that guy” by Jesus Christ.

Tags: [The Onion, humor, opinion, pro-life, abortion]

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Former Majority Leader Tom DeLay, while saying goodbye to the House yesterday, indicated that partisanship is good for the country. He stated,

“For all its faults, it is partisanship - based on core principles - that clarifies our debates, that prevents one party from straying too far from the mainstream and that constantly refreshes our politics with new ideas and new leaders.”

According to Dictionary.com, there are two basic definitions for the word:

1. Partisan - “A fervent, sometimes militant supporter or proponent of a party, cause, faction, person, or idea;” and “A member of an organized body of fighters who attack or harass an enemy, especially within occupied territory”
2. Partisanship - “an inclination to favor one group or view or opinion over alternatives;” and “Devoted to or biased in support of a party, group, or cause.”

Obviously members of a political party have biased opinions, generally in favor of the party platform. However, in today’s culture, “partisanship” has become synonymous with some of the aggressive tactics described in the former definition. “Civil discourse” and “partisanship” have become antonyms, and I believe most of America is sick of the tactics associated with this type of aggressive politics.

Tags: [Tom Delay, partisan, partisanship, federal government, Congress, politics, rwrw]

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Original Post 02.01.06 @ 12:02 pm

I wish I had the time and money to spare. Bono is speaking this Friday at the Nation’s Capital Distinguished Speakers Series, which is being held in Washington DC. As I’ve stated on this site before, I am a big fan of Bono because he exemplifies WWJD. As you may or may not be aware, he’s an activist affiliated with the One Campaign, to fight the emergency of global AIDS and extreme poverty. He is someone I look up to and wish I could hear his words of challenge and inspiration.

UPDATE

The day before this event, Bono spoke at the National Prayer Breakfast. A transcript of his remarks can be found here. However, what he said needs to be watched - it’s powerful. Mark my words, Bono will eventually win the Nobel Peace Prize, and rightfully so.

[ Runtime: 21:40 | Please make sure you have the latest version of Macromedia Flash installed on your computer to watch this video. To download it, please visit: http://www.macromedia.com ]

Tags: [U2, Bono, National Prayer Breakfast, One, One.org, activism, WWJD, AIDS, poverty]

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I am sympathetic towards Muslims who feel that any visual representation of Mohammad is considered an abomination. I also understand how offensive it can be when mainstream media marginalizes or even mocks the significance of a religious figure - the recent image of Kanye West as Jesus on the cover of Rolling Stone comes to mind (as a sidebar, as La Shawn Barber points out, could Kanye have gotten away with posing as Mohammad on the cover?).

A thoughtful Muslim, Imran Anwar, provides us with his take on the cartoon situation:

“Would all these “fair and balanced” media and papers publish cartoons (in the name of free speech) showing Prophet Jesus Christ as a big Homosexual telling his apostles and followers to become Christian priests and rape little boys in Church? After all, this is a constant “current events” topic, especially in America and who knows in how many other countries, where the church is consantly hiding and protecting abusive priests who molest children.”

Imran brings up an interesting point. What we’re talking about is disparaging a religious figure, and certainly Jesus has gotten his share. Movies like “The Life of Brian” and “The Last Temptation of Christ” are only the tip of the iceberg, but had a cartoon shown Jesus raping a child, I’m sure the Catholic Church, and all Christians, would be rightfully up in arms.

The difference, however, is that some Muslims make matters worse by proving that there’s an element of truth to the images aligning mainstream Muslims with violent and uncivilized behavior. Don’t you find it ironic that a cartoon aligning violence with Muslims then spurs on violence? Now Denmark has issued a warning to its citizens against traveling to 14 Muslim nations for fear of violence.

It seems that the truth hurts, even if the truth is utterly offensive. Although adolescent in nature, at least Iran has responded in a nonviolent manner.

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I cannot believe how Ray Nagin can be mayor of New Orleans. His rhetoric is divisive, he blames the federal government for all of his city’s ills, and he makes irresponsible charges of racism coupled with his own racist comments. Take what he recently said:

“Surely God is mad at America. He sent us hurricane after hurricane after hurricane, and it’s destroyed and put stress on this country,” Nagin, who is black, said as he and other city leaders marked Martin Luther King Day.

“Surely he doesn’t approve of us being in Iraq under false pretenses. But surely he is upset at black America also. We’re not taking care of ourselves.”

The A.P. also indicated that “Nagin also promised that New Orleans will be a “chocolate” city again. Many of the city’s black neighborhoods were heavily damaged by Katrina.”

Nagin continues:

“It’s time for us to come together. It’s time for us to rebuild New Orleans — the one that should be a chocolate New Orleans,” the mayor said. “This city will be a majority African American city. It’s the way God wants it to be. You can’t have New Orleans no other way. It wouldn’t be New Orleans.”

There’s been a lot of focus on his “chocolate” comment, but I won’t focus too much on that, except to say that no white mayor could get away with calling his/her city a “white chocolate” city if it were predominantly composed of Caucasians. Instead, I’d like to focus on his God-talk.

So, Mayor Nagin feels that God wants New Orleans to be a majority African American city? As La Shawn Barber quips,

“I challenge all bloggers (and journalists) who criticized Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell for “divine retribution” statements to jump on New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin for making similar statements.”

Let’s take Nagin’s statement above and come up with an identical scenario…

Ray Nagin - “It’s time for us to come together. It’s time for us to rebuild New Orleans — the one that should be a chocolate New Orleans,” the mayor said. “This city will be a majority African American city. It’s the way God wants it to be. You can’t have New Orleans no other way. It wouldn’t be New Orleans.”

Fake White Mayor - “It’s time for us to come together. It’s time for us to rebuild Wichita — the one that should be a white chocolate Wichita,” the mayor said. “This city will be a majority Caucasian city. It’s the way God wants it to be. You can’t have Wichita no other way. It wouldn’t be Wichita.”

Liberals would be outraged if the latter comment were, indeed, uttered and not made up to prove a point. So, is there such thing as reverse racism or do minority races get a free pass? I believe there is such a thing as reverse racism and Nagin’s words and actions since his notoriety in the Katrina aftermath have proven him unfit to be mayor.

Tags: [Ray Nagin, racism, reverse racism, Katrina, New Orleans, La Shawn Barber, LaShawn Barber]

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Introducing some Friday funnies…could this be the future?

From The Onion,

Congress Abandons WikiConstitution

WASHINGTON, DC—Congress scrapped the open-source, open-edit, online version of the Constitution Monday, only two months after it went live. “The idea seemed to dovetail perfectly with our tradition of democratic participation,” Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said. “But when so-called ‘contributors’ began loading it down with profanity, pornography, ASCII art, and mandatory-assault-rifle-ownership amendments, we thought it might be best to cancel the project.” Congress intends to restore the Constitution to its pre-Wiki format as soon as an unadulterated copy of the document can be found.

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The name for Senator Harry Reid’s site is telling enough. Shouldn’t politics be about working together for answers rather than “giving them hell”? That’s one of the many reasons why the Democratic party has faltered - the party stands less for America and more for itself.

Tags: [Harry Reid, politics, Democratic Party, Democrats]

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I’m surprised to admit this, but I agree with Barry Bonds’ recent comments.

Let me clarify myself first. A majority of Bonds’ statements to the press appeared to simply deflect the steroid issue. I think the issue itself is worth addressing, but not by the federal government (except for investigating Palmeiro’s potential lies while under oath). According to the ESPN article,

“Several congressional committees have held hearings on drug testing in pro sports, and legislation has been proposed to standardize leagues’ drug policies.”

What gives the federal government the right to legislate the way professional sports governs itself? If anything illegal has occured, then leave it to the courts. However, leave policy surrounding professional sports to these respective leagues.

Tags: [Barry Bonds, Rafael Palmeiro, steroids, baseball, MLB, federal government, Congress, legislation]

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I recently commented on Kanye West’s antics, and W.C. Varones pointed out another gem when West took part in the Live 8 festivities in Philadelphia. Here’s what he said to MTV:

“[t]he concept of AIDS alone—what my parents always told me, who are activists—is that it was a man-made disease in the first place that was placed in Africa just like how crack was placed in the black community to break up the Black Panther Party.”

I do not deny that racism exists in America. However, I have a hard time accepting some of the recent claims. What concerns me most is that it seems that these claims only fuel the fire of racism - they are destructive (not constructive) criticisms. I do know of friends who believe that the reaction to Katrina was racist, but I just cannot get to the heart of this belief.

In contrast to Kanye West, U2 is such a class act. Despite criticism from more ignorants like Mos Def, U2 performed a phenomenal rendition of “One” with none other than Mary J. Blige for the Hurricane Relief Benefit: Shelter From The Storm. So, instead of introducing divisive dialogue, U2 preaches a message of coming together, a message that became that much stronger when Blige joined in. Here’s some of the lyrics from the song:

One love
One blood
One life
You got to do what you should
One life
With each other
Sisters
Brothers
One life
But we’re not the same
We get to
Carry each other
Carry each other

One…life

One

Here’s the kicker. Despite Kanye West’s criticism of white leadership and Mos Def’s criticism of Bono for “turning his back” on the Hurricane Katrina tragedy, Kanye West will be opening for U2 on the December leg of their North American tour!

Tags: [Kanye West, U2, Mos Def, Mary J Blige, Katrina, Hurricane Katrina, racism]

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I’m not very familiar with Kanye West, except that I know he has won a few grammy awards and he has created a foundation to battle school dropout rates.

Any respect I had for the man has since fizzled after hearing his remarks on last Saturday night’s “A Concert for Hurricane Relief” seen on NBC. West’s remarks appeared to be racist, in my opinion. Here’s a few ignorant notables spoken by West:

“George Bush doesn’t care about black people.”

America is set up “to help the poor, the black people, the less well-off as slow as possible.”

“I hate the way they portray us [African Americans] in the media. If you see a black family, it says they’re looting. See a white family, it says they’re looking for food.”

“They’ve given them permission to go down and shoot us [African-Americans].”

For me, the highlight of the concert was hearing Tim McGraw sing “More Power to Ya,” a Christian song written and performed by Petra on their 1982 album with the same name. Petra was the first Christian rock band I listened to. I appreciate the band because they were trailblazers in the genre of Christian rock and heavily influenced many of the bands I listened to in the future (and still do).

This is where the rubber meets the road. As Christians, we are commanded to help the poor and needy, the fatherless and the widow. Please send contributions to the Red Cross.

Tags: [Red Cross, Tim McGraw, Petra, Christian rock, Christian music, Kanye West]

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