Morally Empty Absolution

Morally Empty Absolution



President Bush: Don't blame me......and whatever you do, don't ABSOLVE me or my fellow Americans on your own cheap and easy behalf.

"Cheap grace" is worthless. Worthless, worthless, worthless. See Josh Marshall's comments about Bush's latest affront to our sense of intelligence and decency.

“Cheap grace" is absolution without personal confession.
Josh pretty much hit the nail on its head.
In President Bush’s mind, Election 2004–the “great American Communion”, has washed clean what we see as his foreign policy sin.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was executed by the Nazis, by the way.

See Melanie Mattson's comments.

See Echidne's comments.

Poor Babylon: Works of Ages Destroyed in Two Years' Time

Poor Babylon: Works of Ages Destroyed in Two Years' Time

It is with sorrow, this morning, that I quote the words of my fellow blogger Sapere Aude, a wise world historian and mystic wanderer:

"A profound thought is realized here, that a site that has survived human machinations for thousands of years can be destroyed in two years, a testament to this world's meme of "destroy or be destroyed", a parasidic attitude that has infected our civilization.

Perhaps what is left can be preserved for future generations to visit and study. It's a maudlin thought that future historians must relegate themselves to reading about the ancient city, rather than touch the edifices and stones that were touched by an ancient civilization of ages past."

MLK and the new Dream

"Let us turn our thoughts today
To Martin Luther King
And recognize that there are ties between us
All men and women
Living on the Earth
Ties of hope and love
Sister and brotherhood
That we are bound together
In our desire to see the world become
A place in which our children
Can grow free and strong
We are bound together
By the task that stands before us
And the road that lies ahead.."

- James Taylor -

MLK and the new Dream

Martin Luther King said:

"You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive."

Reverend Martin was speaking about the tribulations of the people of his time. We often think about people of color when we think of the dear Reverend. Yet, he was not a prophet for people of color alone. He was a fierce defender of righteousness and justice. I look, today, for anyone on the horizon who could match Martin's heart and wisdom. People like him are rare. I see a new group of human beings, regardless of color, who are today's "creative sufferers"; unearned sufferers.

Martin suggested that those who suffered should know that somehow their situation can and will be changed. He said:

"Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream."

Let us turn our thoughts today to Martin Luther King. We are bound together, every color, every man and woman living today...suffering today.

The task still stands before us, in our time.

Remember the American dream.

Work to see it fulfilled.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day in the hills and halls of America that the sons and daughters of Blue States and the sons and daughters of Red States will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.



I have a dream that one day even the state of Georgia, a state sweltering with the heat of political treason borne by the likes of Zell Miller, sweltering with the heat of hatred and fear of progress, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that our little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by their political ideology, but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down at FOX News and Rush Limbaugh's studio, with their vicious propaganda, with their lips dripping with the words of lies and deliberate misinformation; one day, in spite of them, right there in New York, Virginia, North Carolina, Arizona, and Alabama, Progressive Americans will be able to join hands with American Conservatives as sisters and brothers and get down to the real and meaningful business of healing a nation and a world in need of justice, mercy, and compassion.

I have a dream today.

On First Impressions: Gladwell's New Book "Blink

On First Impressions: Gladwell's New Book "Blink"

Robert Stribley has an interesting blogpost on Malcolm Gladwell's new book.