Still Worried

The growth of private security contractors being utilized by our armed forces in Iraq, Afghanistan and by FEMA in New Orleans still concerns me. I have checked out a few of their websites and am not encouraged by what I see. These groups may not always be taking necessary precautions before using force, as mercenary groups tend to do.

But the media may be checking things out a bit more. That is a relief, but this still worries me. If we are serious about this war in Iraq achieving its stated purposes, then all our forces must be held to the highest accountability possible. Handing a contract to "defend" certain areas to a private organization does nothing to ensure that the individuals involved will be held to the same standard as the common enlisted soldier.

Check out this group, and if you missed it, here is another one.

Apparently, I am not the only one concerned. Here is an article about an Army colonel whose task was to oversee an independent contractor in the training of Iraqi security forces. The colonel was previously a professor of ethics at West Point. You can do the math, or read the article. That contractor's site is here.

Better Dead than Red?

I know what people are saying about me. Just because I currently reside in the hotbed of "pinko liberalism" does not mean that I am converting to communism.

But if converting to communism means doing what Hugo Chavez, the quasi-communist leader of Venezuela, just did, then I might look into it. Chavez, the same man that Pat Robertson wants assasinated, is distributing eight million gallons of heating oil at half the market price. Not too surprising for a communist, but here is the catch. Chavez is distributing this super-cheap heating oil to select communities in the United States.

And GWB cannot do anything about it (short of taking Robertson's advice), for the oil will be distributed through CITGO. That is the company owned and operated by the national oil company of Venezuela.

Think of this as a gift-wrapped warm and cozy Thanksgiving morning for thousands who could not otherwise afford it courtesy of your friendly neighborhood communist. Hopefully GWB is taking notes.

Towards My Next Sermon

Forgive the uber-cliche postmodern insertion of "towards" in the title here. I mean it in a practical and not an epistemological sense. Rather, I just have not written the sermon yet, although I know very well what I am preaching about.

Text: Mark 11:27-33

Any good sermon about Jesus cannot help but be political. Preaching about Jesus leads one into speaking about the realties that Jesus confronted head-on. Avoidance of "political" implications is to harness the Gospel and perhaps even deny the humanity of Christ. We are political animals. Yet the word "political" today can scarcely be uttered without risking the audience parsing every word that follows into one of two categories. Is this preacher a Democrat or a Republican?

My response is to ask you in turn "Was Jesus not the Christ? Doesn't Jesus fully reveal the God of creation so that there can be no doubt Who created this world?" Before you answer, I would recommend a careful study of this text from Mark. Jesus' opponents have become quite nervous. They want answers. They want to know whose side Jesus is on. They have seen great miracles and heard marvelous teachings come from this man, but they do not trust him. His teachings and actions threaten to tear the entire system apart. So they ask him whose side he is on. Is Jesus from God or somewhere else?

The response comes in the form of a question. Before Jesus would tell them what side he was on, Jesus demanded to know something about their allegiance. Were they willing to acknowledge that God was at work in a new way, perhaps even standing before them as Christ? They talked it over. Much was at risk for the leaders of the people. They knew that either answer condemned the very systems that claimed their allegiance. Revolution or conversion confronted them, for the people were listening. So they gave a most skillful political answer: "We do now know." Jesus walks away.

The moral of the story is simple. Before we can know which side Jesus is on, we must confess which side we are on. The first question cannot be: "Is Jesus a Democrat?" or "Is Jesus a Republican?" We must first decide if we are followers of Christ. Then our political allegiance is crystal clear. We can accept neither a war that denies an obligation to protect life nor a peace that ignores the suffering of an oppressed people. We can accept neither the violence of 9/11 nor the destruction of Baghdad.

Additions? Suggestions? Critiques? Be gentle: unfinished work

Re-Beating a Dying Horse

Torture.

Not a pretty word at all. In fact, it may be one of the ugliest in our language. Generally speaking, torture is not something we would wish on our worst enemies.

But that is pre-9/11 talk!

Now that torture is approaching standard operating procedure for intelligence gathering in the war on terror, it is becoming more clear that many (most? a few? I dunno) Americans do not have clear moral objections to torture any longer. At least we could say that Americans are willing to let their leaders define illegal torture out of existence.

This reminds me of an argument I posted on this blog in the wake of the 2004 election. I observed that Oklahoma overwhlemingly voted for Bush and a "defense of marraige act" while also voting to allow casino gambling on land belonging to Native American tribes in addition to finally creating the lottery. Both of these measures were violently opposed by Oklahoma's churches, yet both passed with nearly the same majority that Bush managed to gain. (see SQ 712 & 708 respectively) I merely wished to point out that religion was likely not the deciding factor in the hearts and minds of voters, for surely religion did not motivate the same electorate to approve prohibitions on same-sex marriage and allow gambling across the state.

The present administration's tacit (and not-so-tacit) approval to questionable treatment of prisoners makes my argument even more clear. If Bush had truly been elected by a tide of religious renewal and evangelical Christian zeal, why are those same people so silent before the horrendous pictures emerging from Abu Ghraib and other prisons? Where are those who claimed to stand up for truth and justice when they voted for Bush now that such atrocities are being performed under his command? Don't feel bad if you were such a Christian. What happened in 2004 cannot be blamed on the church alone. But we are guilty of silence if we do nothing. Here is something we can do.

More Marital Bliss

My wife and I took a trip down to Times Square Theater to catch Switchfoot on their new tour. We snatched up their new disc (preliminary ruling: highly decent). Augustana opened up, and we enjoyed them a great deal. Then Eisley followed, and they stank the place up a bit. There, that is as close as I am coming to a "concert review". I am no trendy music hipster, as I have mentioned before. If I were, I would be on xanga flaunting how trendy my tastes in music are every time I post. As is, I am merely flaunting the fact that I am a short train ride from NYC. I could see any band you hipsters pretend to know so much about. And I could do it live. Eat your heart out. Location is wasted on the hopelessly disinterested ignorants. If that seemed bitter, remember that I was in NYC for a concert last night. Therefore, I only got about 3 hours of sleep before my 8:00am.

The real story is that the tickets were a b-day present for my wife. She has been a devoted fan of Switchfoot since the days of Legend of Chin. I was always somewhat put off by the lead singer's "surfer guy" voice. Somewhere between then and now, they learned to play their instruments and write decent music. Now, they even have something of a coherent message. When they started belting out, "Happy is a yuppie word", I fell in love with these silly surfer guys.

Michelle and I had fun, but not nearly as much as the couple who sat next to us. Times Square was once legendary for its "red light district" aura. Now it is quite the tourist stop. These two must have not received the memo. After several cold brews, the sloppy makeout session was only punctuated by some equally intense groping. As I nervously looked around for the poor youth minister who was surely getting fired for this, I remembered that I was in NYC. Business as usual, and not a twentysomething with a goatee and a Christian t-shirt in sight.

My wife, undaunted by the PDL (public display of lust), nevertheless enjoyed the concert. She found it amusing if offensive, but neither of us could claim to be surprised. I am sure she will blog about soon. Read about it here. Which reminds me, if you read her blog please leave a comment. She is convinced no one ever reads it because there are never new comments. I would leave a few myself, but I don't want anyone to think that Michelle and I only communicate online these days.