Nick of Time?

flood
Originally uploaded by CelticWander.

It is hard to believe that 2 days ago we drove past this stadium, in Roanoke, VA,on a Sunny Sunday Morning.

Back in Town

This past weekend was verry fun. Mae and I traveled with Cliff and Anna and baby Sofie to the beautiful land of Lynchburg, VA, for the enhichment of dear Tripp and Trish. It was a grand time. Many hours on the roady, but, alas all was safe and wonderous. Here are some pictures, via Mark.

BANNED

Apparently the RNC sent out a mailing to voters in West Virginia telling them that we liberals are planning on banning the Bible.

This is one of the most offensive, repugnant tactics I have seen this entire election cycle.

I am speechless as this act.

So, I am going to just remind us all that GOD IS NOT A REPUBLICAN...OR A DEMOCRAT

The following is the text of a letter by Sojourners.

These leaders of the Religious Right mistakenly claim that God has taken a side in this election, and that Christians should only vote for George W. Bush.

We believe that claims of divine appointment for the President, uncritical affirmation of his policies, and assertions that all Christians must vote for his re-election constitute bad theology and dangerous religion.

We believe that sincere Christians and other people of faith can choose to vote for President Bush or Senator Kerry - for reasons deeply rooted in their faith.

We believe all candidates should be examined by measuring their policies against the complete range of Christian ethics and values.

We will measure the candidates by whether they enhance human life, human dignity, and human rights; whether they strengthen family life and protect children; whether they promote racial reconciliation and support gender equality; whether they serve peace and social justice; and whether they advance the common good rather than only individual, national, and special interests.

We are not single-issue voters.

We believe that poverty - caring for the poor and vulnerable - is a religious issue. Do the candidates' budget and tax policies reward the rich or show compassion for poor families? Do their foreign policies include fair trade and debt cancellation for the poorest countries? (Matthew 25:35-40, Isaiah 10:1-2)

We believe that the environment - caring for God's earth - is a religious issue. Do the candidates' policies protect the creation or serve corporate interests that damage it? (Genesis 2:15, Psalm 24:1)

We believe that war - and our call to be peacemakers - is a religious issue. Do the candidates' policies pursue "wars of choice" or respect international law and cooperation in responding to real global threats? (Matthew 5:9)

We believe that truth-telling is a religious issue. Do the candidates tell the truth in justifying war and in other foreign and domestic policies? (John 8:32)

We believe that human rights - respecting the image of God in every person - is a religious issue. How do the candidates propose to change the attitudes and policies that led to the abuse and torture of Iraqi prisoners? (Genesis 1:27)

We believe that our response to terrorism is a religious issue. Do the candidates adopt the dangerous language of righteous empire in the war on terrorism and confuse the roles of God, church, and nation? Do the candidates see evil only in our enemies but never in our own policies? (Matthew 6:33, Proverbs 8:12-13 )

We believe that a consistent ethic of human life is a religious issue. Do the candidates' positions on abortion, capital punishment, euthanasia, weapons of mass destruction, HIV/AIDS-and other pandemics-and genocide around the world obey the biblical injunction to choose life? (Deuteronomy 30:19)

We also admonish both parties and candidates to avoid the exploitation of religion or our congregations for partisan political purposes.

By signing this statement, we call Christians and other people of faith to a more thoughtful involvement in this election, rather than claiming God's endorsement of any candidate.

This is the meaning of responsible Christian citizenship.

Sunday

Sunday
Originally uploaded by CelticWander.

My Mom did the Hair for this Production of Sunday in the Park With George in Springfield, IL. She makes me proud. I will be going down this weekend to see the show.

What Kerry Will Do
A short list
(Forgive the formatting problems, I wrote this in Word and the transfer went a little wonky)

A response to Cliff’s recent blog:
1.Cut middle class taxes:

- $4000 College tuition tax credit

- Tax credit for small businesses

- Allow vuenrable workers to buy into the congressional health plan

- tax credit on $5000 of child care expences

2. Raise the minumim wage
3. Reverse Bush’s overtime rules
4. Extend and Improve unemployment insurance
5. Rollback Bush’s tax cuts on those making over $200,000
6. Cut corporate welfare
7. Create a medicare plane that does not have a doughnut hole
8. Lower prestcription costs by:
   
- Allowing HHS to negotiate prices

- Allow reimportation of drugs

9. Safeguard us by dealing with known WMDs in the former Soviet Union
10. Global ban on production of nuclear weapons
11. Create a true Directory of National Intelligence
12. Work at creating foreign policy that works to deter creation of radical terror groups

That is just a short list. More information can be found at johnkerry.com

While we are at it…here is a site that has Bush’s latest flip-flops.
Here are a couple of my favorites:
1. Social Security Surplus

BUSH PLEDGES NOT TO TOUCH SOCIAL SECURITY SURPLUS... "We're going to keep the promise of Social Security and keep the government from raiding the Social Security surplus." [President Bush, 3/3/01]

...BUSH SPENDS SOCIAL SECURITY SURPLUS The New York Times reported that "the president's new budget uses Social Security surpluses to pay for other programs every year through 2013, ultimately diverting more than $1.4 trillion in Social Security funds to other purposes." [The New York Times, 2/6/02]

2. North Korea

BUSH WILL NOT OFFER NUCLEAR NORTH KOREA INCENTIVES TO DISARM... "We developed a bold approach under which, if the North addressed our long-standing concerns, the United States was prepared to take important steps that would have significantly improved the lives of the North Korean people. Now that North Korea's covert nuclear weapons program has come to light, we are unable to pursue this approach." [President's Statement, 11/15/02]

...BUSH ADMINISTRATION OFFERS NORTH KOREA INCENTIVES TO DISARM"Well, we will work to take steps to ease their political and economic isolation. So there would be -- what you would see would be some provisional or temporary proposals that would only lead to lasting benefit after North Korea dismantles its nuclear programs. So there would be some provisional or temporary efforts of that nature." [White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, 6/23/04]

3. OPEC

BUSH PROMISES TO FORCE OPEC TO LOWER PRICES... "What I think the president ought to do [when gas prices spike] is he ought to get on the phone with the OPEC cartel and say we expect you to open your spigots...And the president of the United States must jawbone OPEC members to lower the price." [President Bush, 1/26/00]

...BUSH REFUSES TO LOBBY OPEC LEADERS With gas prices soaring in the United States at the beginning of 2004, the Miami Herald reported the president refused to "personally lobby oil cartel leaders to change their minds." [Miami Herald, 4/1/04]

4. Iraq Funding

BUSH SPOKESMAN DENIES NEED FOR ADDITIONAL FUNDS FOR THE REST OF 2004... "We do not anticipate requesting supplemental funding for '04" [White House Budget Director Joshua Bolton, 2/2/04]

...BUSH REQUESTS ADDITIONAL FUNDS FOR IRAQ FOR 2004 "I am requesting that Congress establish a $25 billion contingency reserve fund for the coming fiscal year to meet all commitments to our troops." [President Bush, Statement by President, 5/5/04]

5. Condoleeza Rice Testimony

BUSH SPOKESMAN SAYS RICE WON'T TESTIFY AS 'A MATTER OF PRINCIPLE'... "Again, this is not her personal preference; this goes back to a matter of principle. There is a separation of powers issue involved here. Historically, White House staffers do not testify before legislative bodies. So it's a matter of principle, not a matter of preference." [White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, 3/9/04]

...BUSH ORDERS RICE TO TESTIFY: "Today I have informed the Commission on Terrorist Attacks Against the United States that my National Security Advisor, Dr. Condoleezza Rice, will provide public testimony." [President Bush, 3/30/04]

61. Department of Homeland Security

BUSH OPPOSES THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY..."So, creating a Cabinet office doesn't solve the problem. You still will have agencies within the federal government that have to be coordinated. So the answer is that creating a Cabinet post doesn't solve anything." [White House spokesman Ari Fleischer, 3/19/02]

...BUSH SUPPORTS THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY "So tonight, I ask the Congress to join me in creating a single, permanent department with an overriding and urgent mission: securing the homeland of America and protecting the American people." [President Bush, Address to the Nation, 6/6/02]

1001

The U.S. Body count has surpassed the 1000 mark.

The last count I saw was 350+ people murdered in Russia.

The Iraqi body count is 11,000+ .

My Peace Prayer

In the name of The Father, and The Son, and The Holy Spirit.

Father, Creator
See you children crying
How many times have there been
Mothers weeping over their lost children
How many times have there been
Fathers cursing your name
How many times have there been
Brothers and Sisters burying their kin

Father, Creator
Let your grace be felt
Let your peace be felt
Let your hand be felt

Christ the Redeemer
You came and saw our flawed world
You came and felt our flawed world
You came and were murdered by our flawed world
You came and conquered death and defeated our flawed world

Christ the Redeemer
Through your power may we conquer the grief
Through your power may we conquer the sorrow
Through your power may we conquer earthly death
And know heaven's grace

Holy Spirit the Guide
You who touched the tongues of the Apostles
You who built the Church on earth
You who touch our lives each day
You who lead us through the wilderness

Holy Spirit the Guide
Guide us now
Lead us now
Touch our tongues that we
May speak your word
Fill us with the words of peace
Fill us with the words of comfort
Fill us with compassion
Fill us with grace

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
Be with us, sinners, now and forever

Amen

Share the love

I will just say this...click here and scroll to the 3rd picture...look in the back yard.

'nuff said

Florida

Hey Gang,

Lets send good thoughts and prayers to Florida. 2.5 million people have been ordered to evacuate. Frances is looking to be the biggest storm in ages.

jt

Pot meet Kettle

From Factcheck.org:

And Richard Cheney himself, who is now Vice President but who then was Secretary of Defense, also proposed canceling the Apache helicopter program five years after Kerry did. As Cheney told the House Armed Services Committee on Aug. 13, 1989:

Cheney: The Army, as I indicated in my earlier testimony, recommended to me that we keep a robust Apache helicopter program going forward, AH-64; . . . I forced the Army to make choices. I said, "You can't have all three. We don't have the money for all three." So I recommended that we cancel the AH-64 program two years out. That would save $1.6 billion in procurement and $200 million in spares over the next five years.

Two years later Cheney's Pentagon budget also proposed elimination of further production of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle as well. It was among 81 Pentagon programs targeted for termination, including the F-14 and F-16 aircraft. "Cheney decided the military already has enough of these weapons," the Boston Globe reported at the time.

Does that make Cheney an opponent of "weapons vital to winning the war on terror?" Of course not. But by the Bush campaign's logic, Cheney himself would be vulnerable to just such a charge, and so would Bush's father, who was president at the time.

So, Cheney voted against the same things he accuses Kerry of voting agains...during the same time period.