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The Culture of Double Standards

I know that we live in a lost world. I know that we are surrounded by people who do not have the same values, morals, or faith. And you know what? I’m OK with that. Given my rhetoric, you might not think so, but I do embrace the American experiment. We all have freedom of speech, so people can say the dumbest things they want to say. We all have freedom of religion, so people can worship whatever gods they can invent. And we have the freedom of the press, so sick pinko liberal stinkies can broadcast their hateful, racist diarrhea of the mouth all over our media outlets.

But here’s where I get irritated.  It just burns my hide at how openly and blatantly double standards are played out and accepted. Today’s headlines bring us three glaring examples.

Double Standard #1 – Thou shalt not segregate, denigrate, calumniate, or depreciate any person or group based on their ethnicity… unless they’re white.

The principal of Dicken Elementary School; in Ann Arbor, MI; is unapologetic after conducting a field trip for black kids only. His argument remains that he was trying to “close the achievement gap between white and black students.” I’ll admit, that’s a noble pursuit. But you don’t accomplish that by sending all the black kids to a motivational speech and telling all the with kids, “Sorry, you’re white. Go to class.” What’s worse, Principal Mike Madison seems to be completely blind to his own racism.

“The intent of our field trip was not to segregate or exclude students as has been reported, but rather to address the societal issues, roadblocks and challenges that our African American children will face as they pursue a successful academic education here in our community.”

In other words, “This isn’t racism. I’m helping black kids!” Ummm… No, that’s racism.

rac·ism –noun: A belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement.

And this is certainly not just about putting black kids first. Noo. That would be too obvious. We have to be “colorblind” in our efforts to subjugate white kids. As our second story illustrates.

At Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill, CA, as suburb of San Fransisco, five white kids were sent home when they refused to turn their t-shirts inside-out as ordered by their asst. principal. Why? Because their shirts featured American flags. Assistant Principal Miguel Rodriguez, a Hispanic man, felt the shirts where “incendiary” and the kids were trouble makers because they were touting their American pride on Cinco de Mayo. According to Annicia Nunez, a Hispanic student at the school, the boys owe her an apology because, “…it is a Mexican Heritage Day. We don’t deserve to be get disrespected like that. We wouldn’t do that on Fourth of July.” Uhh, Miss Nunez, you’re statement would make perfect sense if this had happened in Baja, but it didn’t. You are an American citizen (I hope) and an idiot.

To its credit, the school district has issued a statement that it did not agree with the school’s actions. And what makes this particularly juicy is that at least one of the students, even though he has pale skin and a European last name, is half Mexican.

Double Standard #2 – Thou shalt not disparage, insult, or even joke about any religion, faith, or moral stance… as long as it’s either Islam or Atheism.

Last month, Comedy Central was in the news for censoring it’s most depraved and insulting show for the only the second time in it’s thirteen year history. In both of those cases, South Park episodes were changed specifically to prevent the show from offending Islam. This is in spite of the fact that South Park has recurring Jesus and Satan characters that are genuinely appalling to Christians. In the very episode in question, Mohammad was removed, but “Jesus Christ was depicted watching pornography and Buddha was portrayed snorting cocaine.”

To add insult to … insult, Comedy Central is developing a new animated show, “JC,” which is “a cartoon show about Christ trying to get out from the shadow of his ‘powerful but apathetic father’ so He can lead a typical ol’ New York life.” Yeah. I’m sure that won’t offend anyone. At least not anyone that matters. Right?

The Murder Industry Rolls On

“Freedom of choice” does not mean freedom to ignore the law; the state law, federal law, or the universal law of morality and common sense. (See how I did that all “PC” and didn’t mention God and the Bible? It wasn’t easy.) If you’re “pro-choice” (another piece of PC monkey hurlage), you need to know that the people inside this industry are not the saints you may believe they are. You need to know that abortion is an industry and it destroys lives (both born and unborn) en mas every day. And it’s not some righteous campaign to empower women. Do you think they’re empowering this “14-year-old” rape victim? No. They’re making money as fast as they can with no regard for human life, or even human dignity.

See the LiveAction.org article here.

Headed to Nawlins!

Next week is Spring Break and you know what that means! What? No. Vacation? Who takes a vacation on Spring Break?! We’re going on a mission trip!

We had plans to return to Galveston to rebuild in the wake of Hurricane Ike. But the ministry with which we were going to work had some funding issues so we had to make a quick change of plans. Our missions coordinator got in touch with the churches we worked with in New Orleans a couple of years ago. They’ve still got plenty of work to do rebuilding the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina. (Can you believe that?! Five and half years after the storm!)

Plans are still very fluid (even more than usual), but it looks like we are going to be insulating and sheet-rocking a house that has stood stripped to the studs for four years.

As a perk, we will be able, on Sunday afternoon, to visit many of the homes and people we helped on the 2007 and 2008 trips.

Last night, while looking for some unrelated files on my backup hard drive, I stumbled across the raw video from our 2007 trip. It was more emotional that I expected. It stirred up those feelings of sadness for the loss and joy for the help and hope we were able to bring. It’s going to be a great trip.

As usual, please pray.

Do Me A Favor

If you’ve eaten three meals a day for the last month (not counting you yahoos you think you can starve yourself skinny or get ahead by saving 10 minutes in the morning)…

If you’ve slept in a more or less climate controlled room, in a bed that you have more or less to yourself, for the last month…

If you (or your family provider) makes more than $2 a day…

Please do me a favor and watch *all* of this 40 minute video.

Merry CHRISTmas

The whole God-In-Christmas debate was conspicuously absent in 2009. I saw “Merry Christmas” prominently displayed on sales material from stores that, in the past, notoriously avoided the phrase. Every place I spent my money (and I spent a lot of money) my “Merry Christmas” greeting was responded to in turn. Maybe we reached a tipping point with all the hubbub in 2008. Maybe the “politically correct” minority in this country have finally returned to the back of the bus. I’d sure like to think so. Now, if we can just get our government to reach the same epiphany.

Merry Christmas to you, and a happy and prosperous 2010. (That’s “Twenty-Ten!”)

Would I, Could I, Should I?

Tindog posted a thought-provoking article about the motivation of the “Pilgrims” on his blog. And, yes, it provoked my thoughts. “Hey, you thoughts! You’re momma dresses you funny!” No… No, not like that. Sorry.

He asked (edited for brevity):

Would I have the courage and faith to put my family onto a ship … leave everything I have, everything I know to start over completely from scratch … and do it all, not for the chance to strike it rich, but because it was what God was instructing me to do. Honestly, … I don’t know if I could let go of my house, my car, my stuff, my safe and comfortable life and trade it for an uncertain and potentially disastrous future. And not just me, but choose that path for my wife and daughters, too.

I certainly understand his sentiment, but might I posit the following:

To really compare your faith and grit to that of the Puritan Pilgrims, you have to submerge yourself into their time and predicament. Tindog correctly recalls that the reason they left the comforts of home was that they “believed that the Church of England had become so tainted by politics and man-made doctrine that it was beyond reform.” In fact, the Church of England, and it’s chief (the King) didn’t take kindly to criticism and severely persecuted the Puritans. (ref: Wikipedia)

So the real question becomes: Would you be able to risk your comfort, health and safety (and that of your family) if the State (and by that I mean governing body with the power to take all of those things away from you anyway) insisted that your religion was not only false, but an affront to said State, and that same State had every intention of doing all in it’s power to stamp out your religion even if it meant jailing or killing you or your family?

I think the answer just got a lot more elementary.

And all this brings me to one (of the many) major news item I missed during my absence last week, the Manhattan Declaration (click the image for the official website).

The Manhattan Declaration

Please, no matter what your religious belief or affiliation, read the declaration. It will only take a few minutes. If, after you’ve read it, you find that you agree, sign it, then live it.

In short, the Manhattan Declaration is a historical, unprecedented statement of unity among the various Christian faiths in the U.S. It establishes that, regardless of our differences, Christians must stand up against government and cultural pressure and stand for 1) the sanctity of all human life, 2) the sanctity of marriage, and 3) the right of religious expression. It also recognizes that, at times, non-violent civil disobedience may be required in order to maintain our religious beliefs. I don’t mean to sound like a doom-and-gloom conspiracy theorist, but there may yet come a day where we Christians must make that Puritanical decision to turn our back on comfort, health and safety in obedience to God. God help us if it comes to that. (But don’t worry. He will.)

Out of Contact

Why does all the great blog-worthy new happen when I’m out of town. I’m typing this from my phone so I must be brief.

Please take some time to google The Manhattan Declaration.

Also the global qarming hoax exposed by leaked emails. If this gets the press it deserves, the GW scam is dead at last.

What a Pain

Life is pain. Anyone who says otherwise is selling something.
– Dread Pirate Roberts

I have so many good things to tell you guys about, but there’s just no time. Life is treating us very well lately. True, Tammy’s had surgery and is coping with life in a cast. True, I’m outside my comfort zone sleep-wise, having to get up before 5:30 AM to drive Tammy to work. True, it’s been raining here for the last three days, making the job of keeping Tammy’s cast dry a real challenge. But even with all that God is so good to us!!

We have a beautiful new home to keep us warm and cozy. We have an amazing church family that has stuffed our shiny new refrigerator to capacity with yummy dinners. We have an awesome, reliable truck that can haul us all over town in all kinds of weather with no worries. And we finally have a FREAKING AWESOME 4-channel DVR that is nearly overflowing with all the shows we’ll get to catch up on after this ordeal is over. Seriously, I am giddy about finally having a DVR. Thank you, AT&T U-verse!

Live is tough. Don’t let anyone tell you different. But when you’ve got faith in the Most High, there’s nothing you can’t handle.

Praying Peace

Ok, all you prayer warriors out there. I’ve got some requests for you.

Tammy’s getting her ankle rebuilt (again) in about a week. She’ll be in a hard cast for 6 weeks beginning Labor Day weekend. Pray for peace.

Tammy’s dad is facing heart surgery somewhere in that same time frame. We’re hoping he gets to come down and see the house before then. Pray for peace.

My aunt is recovering (slowly) from open heart surgery. (You can follow the progress here.) Pray for peace.

My mom and my sister have some issues that could use prayer. (In Baptist land, we call these “unspoken” requests.) Pray for peace.

There are countless people in my church family who are struggling with unemployment. Pray for peace.

We’ve had some soldiers close to us come home healthy from the Middle East. We are grateful, but we know there are a lot of folks still in harms way over there. Pray for peace.

Philippians 4:6-7
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Oh… NOW I get it.

Cash for Clunkers

At first, I thought the Cash for Clunkers plan was just some retarded, tree-hugger scheme get evil, Gaia-hating, SUV drivers (like me) to get rid of their planet killing vehicles by using their evil, consumption-loving, capitalism against them. While there may be some modicum of truth to that, I had an epiphone today: There is a much better and more logical theory.

Cash for clunkers requires that “clunkers” traded it be destroyed. Here’s a video of a perfectly good and healthy Corvette being put to sleep. (If you view this at Youtube [by clicking on the video or the link below it], you’ll notice a long list of “related videos” showing other expensive, healthy cars put to pasture.)


(Facebook friends watch the video here.)

It was after watching this, that it occurred to me: Cash for Clunkers was just a proof of concept, a test, and it passed with flying colors. Now that Americans have proven that they are willing turn over perfectly good vehicles to be destroyed for a few thousand bucks, The Bronco Bomber has all the leverage he needs to move on to the real implimentation: Cash for Codgers!

That’s right! I expect to see the plan go public in early in 2010. I’m sure the numbers are still being worked out, but I figured $1 million would be a real bargain for taking your otherwise happy and healthy grand-dad out of the medicare pool.

Cash for Codgers

God, please let the this remain a bad joke and not reality.

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