Justice Revival Comes to Dallas

Q&A with Jim Wallis
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/points/stories/DN-pointperson_11edi.State.Edition1.2d45735.html

Justice Revival's Dallas Effort Could Affect Many
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/points/stories/DN-pointperson_11edi.State.Edition1.2d45735.html

Thank Holder for the reminder

http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/914575.html

Obama's War

http://ricks.foreignpolicy.com/node/14892

Gen. David Petraeus: Afghanistan is a tougher nut than Iraq

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=4587&page=3

A Lesson from Black Immigrants

http://dallassouthblog.com/2009/01/03/shawn-williams-in-dallas-morning-news-a-lesson-from-black-immigrants/

The Top 10 Stories You Missed in 2008

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/top10-2008/index.html

State of Neglect

The first article is now available in this Dallas News series about Texas state government and how its policies and services affect us. More will follow in the next 3 weeks.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spe/2009/state_of_neglect/

How to Combat Racism and Political Intolerance

This post on Facebook, by Jaletta Wells Parsley, talks about the Christian antidote for the racist behavior exhibited at Baylor.
---------------------------------------
This is probably longer than a post here should be, but I posted this note on my page a few days ago, troubled by what I had read, seen & heard before I even heard about the awful stuff that happened at BU this week. Seems appropo so I wanted to share. jaletta parsley, BA 86, Psy.D. 91

Fruit = cure for political ills

love
• which prevents me from treating anyone with contempt
--political opponents
--people whose religious faith I don’t understand or share
--the poor (who actually aren’t a giant group of people too lazy to work who want my money).
• which allows me to see all people (even political adversaries) as whole human beings whom God made and God loves.

joy
• that I live in a country where we can have a transfer of power from one political party to another without bloodshed or widespread corruption. amazing when you really think about it. ask someone from Zimbabwe.
• that barriers were broken for minorities and for women that may inspire young people to work harder and do more good because they see possibilities they never saw before.

peace
• because I know my security doesn’t ultimately come from the US government anyway.

patience
• with my friends from both sides who think they know everything and aren’t respectful to those who disagree with them.

kindness
• which allows me to acknowledge the remarkable gifts, abilities and accomplishments of all the candidates, not just the ones I support. seriously, they ALL have them! seriously.
• which motivates me to change the tv channel/radio station when I hear stuff that feeds bitterness and anger instead of reason and good will.

goodness
• which prevents me from passing on unfair attacks or distortions even if it might accomplish something politically or just feels good to say or write.
• which makes me more committed to fairness, honesty and integrity than to victory.
• which makes me want liberty and justice for all, not just myself and those who agree with me.

gentleness
• which won’t let me treat people who disagree with me like they are complete idiots.
• which compels me to admit I don’t know everything.
• which makes me apologize and admit arrogance or bitterness in myself when I need to.

faithfulness
• to genuinely pray for health, well-being, wisdom and success for all our political leaders.
• to humbly follow Christ the best I know how even when its politically inconvenient.

self-control
• which closes my mouth before I say things that are hateful, irrational and ignorant.
• which closes my mouth before I use sarcasm or wit in a hurtful way to belittle people who disagree with me.
• which sometime just closes my mouth.

Hope, Music, and Finances

These are excellent features from Bill Moyers Journal, Oct 24th.

Prepare to be inspired by this piece on the hardships in today's world and how Mark Johnson is using music to bring people together. In the beginning, Moyers visits Metro Baptist Church in Hell's Kitchen, where Ronnie Adams, formerly at First Baptist, Plano, now serves.
"Playing for Change:"
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/10242008/profile2.html Click on video.

Excellent discussion of the financial crisis with Dr. James K. Galbraith of the University of Texas, author of the new book, "The Predator State: How Conservatives Abandoned the Free Market and Why Liberals Should Too."
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/10242008/profile.html Click on video.

Obama and Snopes?

First refutation.
http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/s/snopes.htm

Here's a denial from Snopes:

Subject: Re: snopes.com: New Item Submission
From: "snopes.com"
Date: Fri, October 24, 2008 6:09 pm
To: planopaul@grayranch.us

The information you received is inaccurate. Neither of the operators of
snopes.com has any affiliation with, has ever made a donation to, or has
ever publicly expressed support for any political party or candidate. See
http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/s/snopes.htm and
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/26/AR2008092600853.html
for more information on this subject.

Similar rumors circulate every election year. See
http://www.snopes.com/info/notes/politics.asp for additional examples of this phenomenon.

Urban Legends Reference Pages
http://www.snopes.com

An admonition:
The 9th Commandment:
"Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour."
The Bible, Exodus 20:16

Beneath the Skin: Baptists and Racism

http://www.ethicsdaily.com/static.cfm?mode=beneaththeskin&CFID=2286231&CFTOKEN=41476688

Recommended Reading: Our world

Do you have the gumption to examine your own prejudices?

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/stories/092008dnspotaylor.185499c.html

In Memory of SPC David Lee Leimbach

CSM Jeff Mellinger is out there still "Walking the Line." He did the longest continuous tour in Iraq that I have ever seen: 33 plus months without a break except for normal leave. And he was seriously out in the red zone. I drove about 4,000 miles with him within Iraq checking on our servicemen and women, Walking the Line, and that was a tiny fraction of the work he did. And so he came back to the United States and is stationed in Washington D.C., but CSM Mellinger's duties have taken him back to Iraq and Afghanistan. I got an email from CSM Mellinger this morning from Afghanistan. He was remembering SPC David Lee Leimbach, the latest Great American to give his life in Afghanistan fighting dark forces that wish to do us great harm. CSM Mellinger had written a private tribute to SPC Leimbach, and I immediately asked if I may publish it so others may see. Just a few minutes ago, I spoke with CSM Mellinger on the phone. He's in Afghanistan Walking the Line right now, and says we are taking the fight to the enemy.

And so here is the private tribute written by CSM Jeff Mellinger in honor of our latest fallen warrior, SPC David Lee Leimbach, who gave his life in our defence:


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Afghanistan


This morning at 0600, we paid final respects to SPC David Lee Leimbach, a Taylor, South Carolina, National Guard soldier killed yesterday in the mountains of Afghanistan.

Just before 0500, an announcement came across the Bagram Airfield PA system for everyone to dress in their combat uniforms and assemble along the road which cuts through the middle of Bagram Air Base.

Little by little, troops from all services and many coalition countries began lining the main street of the base. They stood literally shoulder to shoulder on both sides of the road for nearly a mile.

At about 0530, a USAF C-17 landed (ironically from Charleston, SC), taxied, pulled into a space in front of the formed troops, turning its tail towards them. The ramp dropped, the engines shut down, the crew disembarked and lined up in front of the plane. All down the flight line, warriors stood at parade rest; talking and whispering stopped.

At 0600 on this bright, sunny day, the vehicle bearing the casket, having completed its drive from the mortuary to the airfield, turned onto the airfield. A single soldier walked in front of the vehicle to lead the way.

Along the road leading to the airfield, the troops that lined the road were standing at attention and saluting. On the airfield you could only hear the birds flitting around. In the distance were the sounds of aircraft flying their missions.

Now, the troops on the airfield came to attention and saluted as a bagpipe played Amazing Grace. The color guard moved into position, and those of us assembled near the plane came to attention and saluted.

Two cameramen ran ahead of the vehicle, recording the entire procession, and now the unloading and movement of the casket.

The casket, carried by soldiers of the unit, moved forward to the plane. The band played My Country, Tis of Thee. The casket was loaded on the plane, the senior personnel present (to include five general officers) walked onto the plane behind the casket, and final prayers and remarks were made, then those leaders and casket bearers disembarked.

As the assembled began to move from the site, the crew embarked, the ramp closed, the C-17 taxied and took off, and the fight continued.


I hope the family of this warrior knows that we loved him, too.
From every mountain side, let freedom ring!
Happy Memorial Day

Memorial Day in Afghanistan

Here's a message from someone in Afghanistan who works for USAID.

25 May, Memorial Day

Afghanistan

I work alongside the military near the Pakistan border while we attempt to establish a self-sustaining Afghanistan in between improvised explosive devices (IEDs), rockets and suicide bombers. Just the other day, a suicide bomber shoved a 12 year old boy in front of an Afghan National Army vehicle to force it to stop so he could detonate, murdering soldiers and civilians. A few months ago, a little boy of about 6 years was told to put on a suicide vest and walk up to the gate of a US base. They told the boy that if he pulled the cord, flowers would fall from the sky.

I attend memorials for fallen comrades and weep at the unspeakable loss. It’s not just about the risk they take and the sacrifice they make. It’s not just about the tremendous job they are doing, working with Afghans, building schools and clinics, building stability and trust. It’s about the words that exist in their lexicon that I don’t hear when I’m back in the United States. Words like HONOR, DUTY, and INTEGRITY.

It’s time for the United States to live up to its own commitments, its own traditions and regain our HONOR.

While military and civilians work together to develop a health care system to deliver basic heath services for all Afghans – Americans die because insurance companies deny services.

While we weed out corruption and remove corrupt Afghan officials from office, payoffs in the form of campaign contributions determine what laws are made in the United States, what subsidies are paid and where your tax dollars go.

While we build an education system that unites Afghans with a common body of knowledge and prepares them for a better future, the US education system is allowed to fracture and fall apart due to lack of investment.

While we build Afghanistan’s public infrastructure to enable private sector growth and development, the US infrastructure of road systems, education systems, policy and regulation are allowed to crumble due to lack of investment and greed.

While we install solar lights and other energy saving improvements to Afghan marketplaces, the US spends human lives and trillions of dollars chasing oil instead of investing in research for alternative energy sources.

While we build community transparency into all our projects to prevent corruption, the US is increasingly ruled by decisions made behind locked doors.

While we create an independent media system to facilitate the free exchange of ideas and promote democracy, media monopolies in the US determine what Americans are allowed to see and hear.

While we struggle to establish due process and rule of law, US government officials meet to discuss acceptable forms of torture and prisoners are held without trial.

While civics programs instill concepts of civil responsibility and participation in a national governing process, decisions that affect millions of lives in the US are made by the dollar.

Nation building begins at home.

Q&A with General John Abizaid

This is the General who was the chief of the US Central Command from 2003 to 2007, overseeing US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2008/05/point-of-contac.html

Discussing Race

The Dallas Morning News has a 4 day discussion of racial issues between two of their columnists, Steve Blow and James Ragland. This is day 3, with links to the others.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/localnews/columnists/sblow/stories/051308dnmetraceday3.3891e82.html

Iraq Casualty List

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/iraq_casualties-months.htm

Which Religion Will Win

Interesting story in The Atlantic about religion and the future.
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200803/secularism

I think this can be viewed without a log-in. If not, let me know.

There are other articles on religion in the March issue, but I
haven't read them yet.

Tell Congress: My America Doesn't Torture!

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/391233290

A&M Professor Speaks

This is a quoted interview with Bruce McCarl, an agricultural economist from A&M, from pages 118-120 of the February issue of Texas Monthly.

"Al Gore may be the public face of climate change, but all around the world, researchers are toiling in semi-obscurity to deepen our understanding of the challenge it poses. One of these is McCarl, a Texas A&M University professor who has spent the past twenty years studying the potential effects of global warming on farming and ranching. In 2004 McCarl's work got him appointed to the United Nations
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a sort of clearinghouse of more than 2,500 scientists, established to provide an objective source of information about this often-contentious subject. Last year, McCarl, his fellow IPCC whizzes, and Gore shared a Nobel Peace Prize "for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change."

You've said that Texas may be the state "most vulnerable" to climate change. Why?

The projections call for more droughts, more heat waves, more extreme weather­including more floods­warmer conditions, and drier conditions. And Texas is in a [projected] band that is substantially drier than the rest of the country. It would make Texas a less suitable place for crops to grow; under some of the more extreme scenarios, my prior work has indicated we'll have about 40 percent less cropped agricultural acreage. So we're vulnerable on the effects side.

And that's not all.

If the country moves to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, we're going to be the number one place to do that, because we have roughly twice the emissions level of any other state. And a lot of our industry is dependent on our large coal- and natural gas­fired power plant inventory, coupled with our large petroleum industry. Mitigation will hurt us. The first image in my slide presentation has an ambulance­mitigation­roaring at Texas from one side and a bulldozer­climate change­from the other. And my argument is, we are gonna get squeezed.

What's the good news?

I guess what I would say is, we are the home of the energy industry in the U.S., and energy emissions are the source of 85 percent of the problem. What we need to do is mobilize our intellectual capital in that industry to do this stuff, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. And it may provide as much of an opportunity as it does a cost.

There is a great deal of unanimity in the scientific community about the reality of climate change, but it sometimes seems as if we've been stuck in neutral for the past ten years in terms of the policy response.

In this state there's resistance to the idea that anything is happening or that any action is needed, starting, I think, in some fairly high circles in Austin, but not stopping there. Every time I give a presentation, I have somebody who wants to talk about volcanoes or what happened in the 1910's or whether we have a natural cycle going on. I'm not sure where some of this stuff comes from. My job is presenting an objective view of the facts without coloring it with an awful lot of opinion. I wish other people would look at the facts and inform themselves.

They don't?

I get a little nervous at people who basically take the party line talking points that come off some of the talk shows and then just say, well, that's what the truth is and never go and investigate underneath it to form their own opinions. And that's true on both the advocate and denier sides.

How does it feel to win a Nobel?

It's nice to receive recognition for something that we've been struggling with for decades. Me and my two thousand­plus associates got this, so my share is small. But being a mathematician, I can say that it is still greater than zero. "