A Prayer of Remembrance and Mourning
by Brandon L. Fredenburg
September 14, 2001
O God, Who created all persons in your image, to you we pray on this day when the United States of America pauses to remember and mourn.
Help us, O God, to remember to pray for our enemies as Jesus commanded.
Help us, O God, to remember to bless our enemies as Jesus commanded.
Help us, O God, to remember that our enemies are those for whom Jesus died.
Help us, O God, to remember to be merciful upon the just (whomever they are) and the unjust (whomever we are), just as You are.
Help us, O God, to remember that we, as your Church, are called to wage supernaturally-enabled peace, compassion, and love as our warfare.
Help us, O God, to remember that the forces of naked wickedness and evil are arrayed against all creation, not merely the nation we live in and those our nation endorses.
Help us, O God, to mourn the dead, both theirs and ours.
Help us, O God, to mourn the loss of innocence, both theirs and ours.
Help us, O God, to mourn pride, both theirs and ours.
Help us, O God, to mourn hatred, both theirs and ours.
Help us, O God, to mourn cruelty, both theirs and ours.
Help us, O God, to mourn revenge, both theirs and ours.
Help us, O God, to mourn the evils of rulers, both theirs and ours.
Help us, O God, to mourn nation-state idols, both theirs and ours.
Help us, O God, to mourn attachments to all things less than You, both theirs and ours.
Enable your Church, O God, to be a constant witness with integrity against sin, idolatry, and bloodshed, both theirs and ours.
Help us, O God, to look at all persons, both them and us, through eyes blood-red -- not with rage and anger, but sorrow and tears.
In the name of Him who said, at the most atrocious act in all of cosmic history, "Father, forgive them, they do not know what they are doing."
Amen.
********
Brandon Fredenburg is Assistant Dean and Associate Professor of Bible in the College of Biblical Studies and Behavioral Sciences at Lubbock Christian University. (He is also my friend of long standing. ML)
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
How Would You Spend $6 Trillion?
A new Senate bill would require dramatic cuts in climate-changing greenhouse pollution. President Bush is threatening to veto the Senate climate change bill, claiming that it “would impose roughly $6 trillion in new costs on the American economy.”
Never mind the fact that Bush ignores the costs of climate change, and never mind the fact that Bush offers no basis in reality for the figure. Let's consider this six trillion dollar figure.
Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz and Harvard economist Linda Bilmes put the true cost of the US invasion and occupation of Iraq at $3 trillion so far. Factoring in other costs like the interest on debt, future US borrowing for war expenses, the ongoing cost of a continued military presence in Iraq and lifetime health-care and counseling for veterans, they project that the wars are likely to cost between $5 trillion and $7 trillion.
Does anyone remember when Donald Rumsfeld assured us that Iraq's own financial resources would offset the cost of the war? Paul Wolfowitz went so far as to say that "We are dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction.” Near the end of 2002, the Bush administration estimated the total cost of the war would be about $50 billion to $60 billion.
They were wrong by a factor of 100.
This administration estimated that the war would only cost you, personally, $200.00, then ran up a bill on your account. Whether you are a retiree, a student, a working adult or a young child, you now owe $20,000.00 to pay for Bush's wars.
President Bush took office in a climate of cautious economic optimism centered on the possibility of restoring national solvency. But five years of war has taken its toll in countless ways. Looking merely at the fiscal impact, Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse compared Bill Clinton's budgets with the budgets of George W. Bush and found that the Bush deficit amounts to $7.7 trillion dollars. Notice that this figure is roughly consistent with expert estimates of the eventual total cost of the wars.
Hmm. That alleged "$6 trillion" that Bush doesn't want to spend to slow down global warming? I suppose the Republicans have wiser ways to spend it. McCain might need it to "Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran." Even Hillary Clinton might need that cash so she can "totally obliterate" Iran.
Look around, America. How would you like to spend it?
Never mind the fact that Bush ignores the costs of climate change, and never mind the fact that Bush offers no basis in reality for the figure. Let's consider this six trillion dollar figure.
Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz and Harvard economist Linda Bilmes put the true cost of the US invasion and occupation of Iraq at $3 trillion so far. Factoring in other costs like the interest on debt, future US borrowing for war expenses, the ongoing cost of a continued military presence in Iraq and lifetime health-care and counseling for veterans, they project that the wars are likely to cost between $5 trillion and $7 trillion.
Does anyone remember when Donald Rumsfeld assured us that Iraq's own financial resources would offset the cost of the war? Paul Wolfowitz went so far as to say that "We are dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction.” Near the end of 2002, the Bush administration estimated the total cost of the war would be about $50 billion to $60 billion.
They were wrong by a factor of 100.
This administration estimated that the war would only cost you, personally, $200.00, then ran up a bill on your account. Whether you are a retiree, a student, a working adult or a young child, you now owe $20,000.00 to pay for Bush's wars.
President Bush took office in a climate of cautious economic optimism centered on the possibility of restoring national solvency. But five years of war has taken its toll in countless ways. Looking merely at the fiscal impact, Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse compared Bill Clinton's budgets with the budgets of George W. Bush and found that the Bush deficit amounts to $7.7 trillion dollars. Notice that this figure is roughly consistent with expert estimates of the eventual total cost of the wars.
Hmm. That alleged "$6 trillion" that Bush doesn't want to spend to slow down global warming? I suppose the Republicans have wiser ways to spend it. McCain might need it to "Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran." Even Hillary Clinton might need that cash so she can "totally obliterate" Iran.
Look around, America. How would you like to spend it?
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
My thoughts as I research
(My thoughts as I research - with the flu.)
"Grrmph-mmmmmm aaaah, uh, okay, so, what was that again? Wye Allenbrook on 'topoi.' Is that a native American tribe? A food? Oh - a synonym for the word 'topics.'
"OH, it's AllAnbrook... A-L-L-A, not E... nothing... nothing... stuff by other people... let's nab that article from... somebody... that looks like it says something about Wye Allenbrook and topoi...
"OH, so it needs to be Wye ***J.*** Allanbrook because I guess Wye is such a common name, just like Allanbrook...
"What a wicked thing to do to your kid... 'what's your name?' 'Wye?' And isn't that the way you write the name of the letter Y?
"Okay, now we're getting somewhere... there it is, the book that's supposed to be the greatest contribution to musicology in the past 30 years that I've never heard of... grrrmph...
"WHAT? No full-text version I can read online???
"Eisenhower stacks, yuck -- oh, WAIT, yes, there's an Amazon button - it'll be here in a couple of days. I mean, it came out in 1983, then paperback, so it's probably dirt-cheap, and everyone seems to think it's so great, so, okay, it's -- $183.03. Used. When I feel better I'll hike over to the Eisenhower stacks...."
"Grrmph-mmmmmm aaaah, uh, okay, so, what was that again? Wye Allenbrook on 'topoi.' Is that a native American tribe? A food? Oh - a synonym for the word 'topics.'
"OH, it's AllAnbrook... A-L-L-A, not E... nothing... nothing... stuff by other people... let's nab that article from... somebody... that looks like it says something about Wye Allenbrook and topoi...
"OH, so it needs to be Wye ***J.*** Allanbrook because I guess Wye is such a common name, just like Allanbrook...
"What a wicked thing to do to your kid... 'what's your name?' 'Wye?' And isn't that the way you write the name of the letter Y?
"Okay, now we're getting somewhere... there it is, the book that's supposed to be the greatest contribution to musicology in the past 30 years that I've never heard of... grrrmph...
"WHAT? No full-text version I can read online???
"Eisenhower stacks, yuck -- oh, WAIT, yes, there's an Amazon button - it'll be here in a couple of days. I mean, it came out in 1983, then paperback, so it's probably dirt-cheap, and everyone seems to think it's so great, so, okay, it's -- $183.03. Used. When I feel better I'll hike over to the Eisenhower stacks...."
Monday, April 7, 2008
You didn't make it to MoMA on March 2?
The emf department of Towson University is hosting a free screening of Catherine Pancake's Black Diamonds at WAMMfest (Women and Minorities Media festival) at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 12. There will even be a Q&A session with director and creative dynamo Catherine Pancake.
Surface mining is poisoning water supplies, annihilating forests and leaving vast gouges in the Appalachian mountain range. Black Diamonds: Mountaintop Removal and the Fight for Coalfield Justice is a compelling portrait of an American region fighting for its life, caught between our appetite for cheap energy and enduring values of local culture and natural beauty.
Black Diamonds is the winner of the 2007 Spadaro Documentary Award and one of the selections for Documentary Fortnight 2008 at MoMA. If you didn't make it to MoMA last month, see Black Diamonds for free this weekend in Towson, Maryland.
As if free tickets to an award-winning documentary film and a conversation with the film maker were not enough, a select group of student works will be presented at 5:30, and there will be a reception from 7 p.m. until 8.
- 5:30 p.m. -- Student works
- 7:00 p.m. -- reception
- 8:00 p.m. -- Black Diamonds and discussion with Catherine Pancake
WAMMfest promises to be an interesting annual festival of new works in electronic media.
-ML
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
HurdAudio: Three Times After Now
HurdAudio: Three Times After Now
I really appreciate Mr. Hurd's engaged listening and thoughtful comments. Please visit afternow.org and check out our archive ("PAST") where you can see and hear for yourself. You'll find notes about the pieces on the March 8 concert, plus complete audio and video of the entire concert.
Best,
~ML
I really appreciate Mr. Hurd's engaged listening and thoughtful comments. Please visit afternow.org and check out our archive ("PAST") where you can see and hear for yourself. You'll find notes about the pieces on the March 8 concert, plus complete audio and video of the entire concert.
Best,
~ML
Monday, February 4, 2008
Mozart, at all costs...
...and at all price points, it seems. While the Packard Humanities Institute is distributing Mozart's entire catalog - the entire Neue Mozart-Ausgabe - for free here, they're selling bound facsimiles of the manuscripts of his operas here "at a price that is affordable to lovers of Mozart’s music everywhere." That price is $175 for each opera.
Your choice. It seems to me that "free" is a price that is affordable to lovers of Mozart's music everywhere.
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