Iraq War Squeezes Average Americans: Time to Bring America Home

And to top it off, most of the horrific huge war debt has been bought by China. How's that for national security?

I braved a bitter cold wind yesterday to view the just released documentary, WHY WE FIGHT. If anyone had doubts about the conjuring up of this war, he'd definitely have that cleared up & feel betrayal to boot. All the participants in the Project for a New American Century (Bill Kristol, Richard Perle, et al.) should be tried for TREASON. To think that such a cabal could have that much power & manage to subvert it into place without being elected to anything will get your blood towards boiling. Add to that the electronic voting fraud report for Florida 2004 in Friday's newspaper, and we should all be in the streets banging dishpans if that's the best we could do. Viet Nam looks honorable compared to what we did & are doing to Iraq; yet the mantra from Dubya & Co. is "Progress is being made every day" & other lies of commission.

Yes, the deficit grows exponentially, to the detriment of currency weakness now & untold future debt & continuing loss of lifestyle. I wish every citizen could see the national debt counter at Union Square NYC going up rapidly before his eyes. If there is to be a democracy, a middle class must prosper & succeed. Ours declines daily, with their being pushed downward towards & into poverty the more, concurrent with tax cuts for the richest adding to their wealth beyond measure. Why is there not objection and mobilization before it's too late?

WHY WE FIGHT will not reach many areas since it is an art film, but a grand effort should be expended to include it for all to see. Once its small circuit is over, churches should arrange to show it & include it into discussion and education efforts. Our military-industrial compact is a bloated fat-cat. People of vision & integrity should work to close military installations irrespective of neighborhood jobs arguments & limit the military impact on our budgets & deficit: all the more for illegal wars of choice & lack of transparency with total insulation & isolation.

GP: Yes, our huge debt to China will loom large for our children and generations to come.

Rev. Hander: I like your idea of showing the film in churches although I confess I haven't seen it myself. perhaps you could tell us more about it and your plan?

FP

A link: Why We Fight

Here's a link: Why We Fight

Actually, our chuches should be teaching the Gospel before it's too late. Most barely manage to speak the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Sorry Mike, it wouldn't take your link. But people are starting to get this.

Poll: Bush Ratings At All-Time Low

NEW YORK, Feb. 27, 2006
(CBS/AP)

Fast Fact

In a bright spot for the administration, most Americans appeared to have heard enough about Vice President Dick Cheney's hunting accident.

(CBS) The latest CBS News poll finds President Bush's approval rating has fallen to an all-time low of 34 percent, while pessimism about the Iraq war has risen to a new high.

Americans are also overwhelmingly opposed to the Bush-backed deal giving a Dubai-owned company operational control over six major U.S. ports. Seven in 10 Americans, including 58 percent of Republicans, say they're opposed to the agreement.

CBS News senior White House correspondent Jim Axelrod reports that now it turns out the Coast Guard had concerns about the ports deal, a disclosure that is no doubt troubling to a president who assured Americans there was no security risk from the deal.

Wenmar:

Yes, we do need to hear more of the Gospel message and less of this right-wing political nonsense we hear from so many so-called Bible-based churches. One hears so little about thepoor in spirit or peacemaking these days. I think the film would fit in that key part of the Gospel message--don't you? Certainly more true to the Gospel than casting stones at our fellow sinners.

FP

"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.

I don't understand why fundamentalists don't ever talk about helping those that injustices are heaped upon and always trying to cast stones on others. Don't they ever look at their own lives?

No, I don't really think a film like that will help. The problem is that people today put their faith in the government, not in God. George Bush is just a man. Who is in control? George Bush or God. A film bringing the
Gospel to an unknowing public, or even just letting children bring their Bible to school would help. "Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God" Mat 4:4 The reason our world is in this condition is sin. The world has been in decay since Adam took the apple.

What is wrong with fundamentalism? Dont you want your children to understand the fundamentals of reading or arithmetic? Doesn't it stand to reason that if you don't have the fundamentals down pat, you cannot advance?

As an American I believe you have the right to express your point of view; but to me if I am not trying to save someones immortal soul, I am wasting my breath. Since Christ is central in my life, I know that He has prepared a place for me in His Father's house. I feel certain that he will welcome me, but I am afraid that He will ask me why I never told my neighbor or my co-worker about Him? I sure don't want to tell Him that I was busy trying to get civil rights for some chickens or that I was busy shaking my fist and waving my middle finger at a man I will never even get the chance to meet such as the President or Ted Kennedy.

Sadly, the church (collectively speaking) has failed in it's job and most of the 80% of Americans who call themselves Christians are not living as God has commanded. There is the true calling for any filmmaker or protestor...to bring the truth to the church. After all, when someone understands and FEELS Christ's love, don't they automatically want to share it with their fellow man? When I do charitable works, like trying to help crack addicts (surely the poorest of spirit and most often made a joke of in your movies and TV programs) I try to do it as if the Lord Jesus Christ himself knocked on my door and asked me to do it for Him.

Lastly, there is an old Christian addage that goes "love the sinner, hate the sin". If I point out to you that you are in violation of the holy scriptures, why am I "casting stones"? Nearly all born-again Christians have left behind their old sinful life, and are "re-born" with a new heart that God gives you when you make the choice to live for Him, and not for your own desires and for the demands of the world. This is a source of joy to Christians and they so badly want to share it.
Again, the peace of Christ's love to all..
-Wenmar

PS... I know you will think me offensive, but truthfully I would rather offend you than God.

Alot of what you said is true but even if you are born again you are going to sin because no one is perfect except Jesus. I hope you agree with that for your own sake.

Hello, Wenmar,

One of the things about the progressive Christian movement that might surprise you is how diverse is this collective. The singleness of purpose within this movement doesn't derive from everyone in it being singleminded about a handful of issues. (If anything were that simple, there'd be no need for a movement like this one.) To the contrary, the singleness of purpose, as I see it, derives from the sincere belief that there are many ways to approach those issues, and still remain within the context of faith.

I would never take offense to someone who believes the way you do coming to this forum to inquire of people here what it is they believe. That would be in keeping with the spirit of the movement to my way of thinking. On the other hand, whenever someone comes to this forum to argue that we are not really Christians here because that person predisposes that everyone here is, for instance, in favor of unbridled abortion rights in America, or something to that effect, it baffles me. I wonder if that person believes that to become Christian is to enter into a personal relationship with Christ. And, if he or she does believe it, why is it so difficult for that person to understand that, for some of us, the acceptance of Christ's truth is not the end of our lives' quest, but the beginning. I'll give you an example:

The love of Christ commits us to care for the poor. In my parish, we have a food bank. Every Wednesday mass we collect canned goods from our parishioners, and, about once every two weeks, we box it all up and take it to another place to be distributed to people who need it. Also, at Thanksgiving and at Easter, we select anywhere from 12 to 30 families in need depending on the number we can manage, and we put together baskets for a Thanksgiving or Easter meal for each of them and deliver them to their doorsteps. It's good work, and I have no reason not to believe that for everyone involved in it, it is Christ who compels them to do the work. However, what if Christ were to compel some of those Christian workers to look deeper into ways to improve the lives of the poor, to look deeper into the nature of poverty itself, and suppose they learned how certain institutions right under our noses actually work to foster poverty? Would it be any less a Christian motive for those people to want to work toward changing those institutions? But here's where it really gets hard:

What are those Christians to do, when those institutions they've discovered to breed poverty are endemic to their on culture? Do they do what Christ compels them to do, or do they do what the culture by in large expects them to do? Can they serve two masters?

This is just one example and I know it sounds rhetorical, but, I can tell you that it is a very real situation for me. All I'm saying is that you don't have to agree with what you read here, but you can't say that what people believe here doesn't come every bit as much from a longing to serve Christ as does what you believe comes out of your own longing for Christ. All you know is what Christ has revealed to you. And all I know is what Christ has revealed to me. Why Christ might speak to us differently, neither one of us can say. It's part of the mystery of Christ.

See, Keith, I'm trying to do it your way.

"What is wrong with fundamentalism?" Is it possible that anyone could be so naieve as NOT to know? It's all surface without substance, a political mask for a spiritual marque, 'talking points' devoid of ANY meaningful action, Bibliolotry without perception, stems that wither without roots, and....oh, yes --- a sacrificing of ETHICS for lipservice to saving some poor ol' "immortal soul" with in-your-face objectionability & without the dignity of respect for the person affronted [yes, I said 'affronted' {look up the word & cringe!}]. And born-agains [What a crock of warm spit that is! to paraphrase Sam Rayburn] help themselves to & assault others with getting "re-born" an average of twenty-eight (28) times due to BACKSLIDING, which is such a laughingstock matter that it's hard for a standup comic to get mileage from it anymore; worse yet, it distances forever ANYONE with any intelligence whatsoever from his spiritual pilgrimage, choosing instead to be agnostic. It doesn't matter whether the funDAMentalism is christian fringe, Muslim fanatic, Hindi nationalist or Israeli orthodox landocrat. It's political bankruptcy in a pseudospiritual cheap suit but still political, never even vaguely spiritual. And the most vigilant & outwardly offensive will be the most confused "il bastardos" in hell because they just could not get it, that heaven begins where you are if it ever is to exist eternally. And this is just a short version.

The situation is so acute in all religious activism & orientations thereto as to make for a bleak future, dangerous too. Consider this: will there be any future---ANY future---until Jerusalem, Rome and Mecca are just architectural stops of interest on someone's tour itinerary? In the meantime, faith that issues in ethics, social & personal, can really matter!