It's the Stuff

I've been out of pocket this week, so I want to take this chance to pass along an excellent video called The Story of Stuff. In their words:

The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.

There is some hyperbole in the video, but I encourage you to consider the entire message. It's a little long but it's worth viewing even if just for the down-to-earth explanation of Externalized Costs and revealing look at "the Golden Arrow of Consumption."

www.storyofstuff.com

The Trenches Dug Within Our Hearts

"War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today."

-John F. Kennedy, 35th US president (1917-1963)

Jesus, I'm Waiting Here Boss

You know the exact minute Dennis Skillicorn will die. At 12:01 a.m. his time, just a few hours from now, the State of Missouri will kill Dennis Skillicorn. When I go to sleep, he'll be alive. When I wake up, he'll be dead.

Skillicorn and his friends took part in a crime spree that involved the killing of 3 people. One of their victims, Richard Drummond, was the father of 3 girls. I have no comprehension of their pain.

We can all agree that Skillicorn was involved in an act of evil that drenched innocent people in agony. We can all agree that there are consequences to Skillicorn for his actions. But I cannot agree with killing him.

I believe the death penalty is wrong, for several reasons, but when applied to a real person like tonight the arguments are empty words. People, a man will be KILLED tonight in our names. A real live person.

Where are those who in other contexts want to "err on the side of life"?! I know no rational person who thinks it is morally WRONG to keep Skillicorn alive. So if there is even the CHANCE that killing him is wrong, shouldn't we err on the side of life?!

My beliefs tell me this man, even with the evil he committed, Dennis Skillicorn is Yahweh's child and we have no right to kill him. No right.

I ask you to take 1 minute of silence and meditate on this issue. 60 seconds of your day to contemplate both the pain of the Drummond family and the fruitless continuation of that violence by killing yet another person. Let it end...

Numb

A new survey by Pew Research Center indicates that the more often you attend church in America, the more likely you are to approve of torturing a suspected terrorist to try to gain important information. I'm not surprised, are you? Also not surprising, if it's a white evangelical church you attend, you are even MORE likely than other church-goers to approve the use of torture.

The results of this survey were released a couple weeks ago. I have not written about it because some things are just too easy. How much effort does it take to rail against the rank hypocrisy of many church-goers and the evangelical movement? How much thought does it take to create a bumper sticker asking "Who Would Jesus Torture?"

Here is something that does require thought: Why? What is the connection between church attendance or religious affiliation and the approval of torturing another person?

Here is my humble attempt at understanding, but I am interested in other opinions:

I think this is a symptom of the heart-felt view of God as Judge that is embedded in the dogma of Protestant and Catholic religions. This heart-felt view of God as Judge leads to more frequent, and eventually habitual, judgment of others. When you are being judged constantly, it is natural to become more judgmental.

The inevitable destination of these dogmas is that some life is more valuable than other life (for example, an unborn life is more valuable than a convicted murderer's life). So if you believe that God is judging you as worthy of the everlasting torture of hell (and you're not a terrorist) then suspected terrorists are certainly way worse and temporary torture at our hands is acceptable. The suspect's life is expendable if torturing him will save innocent life.

When I look at what I believe about the life and words of Jesus, there seems to be no justification for torture. So I have to believe that it is the poison of religion that has created the connection between church attendance or religious affiliation and the approval of torturing another person.

I Can't Close My Eyes and Make it Go Away

A year later, Iowa raid still marks a flashpoint
By MIKE McGRAW
The Kansas City Star
POSTVILLE, Iowa | If there is an epicenter in the shifting, emotionally charged debate over U.S. immigration policy, it is here, amid some of the richest soil on Earth.

That alluvial black dirt nurtures corn, beef cattle, chickens and turkeys, which require massive slaughterhouses. And that in turn nurtures a lively trade in the illegal immigrants willing to work in them.

All that ended in Postville a year ago today, when two government helicopters and some 900 immigration agents descended on this town of 2,200 and rounded up nearly 400 illegal immigrants working at a nearby meatpacking plant.

Believed to be the second-largest workplace immigration raid in U.S. history, it cost taxpayers $5.2 million, according to one estimate; it terrified workers and their families; and it left economic devastation in its wake.

"I am not angry at the people who do not want us here," said a weeping Nohemi Hurtado, who is from Mexico and earned $7.50 an hour cleaning the hair from beef carcasses at nearby Agriprocessors. "It is their country, but I just ask God that I can stay." [story continued]

On this anniversary of that dreadful event, I have difficulty wrapping my mind around its many implications.

To the extent anyone was taking advantage of these people, I am glad that ended. In no position to bargain, I expect the temptation to take advantage of them was intense. But then, that extends to the American consumer... okay, that extends to ME. Nohemi accepted $7.50 an hour to clean hair from beef carcasses. If I insist on cheap beef without care for how it was grown, processed and shipped, then I am part of the apparatus that exploited these workers.

I am confused and a little disturbed by the amount of resources put into this raid. Much like I am confused and disturbed at the anger often poured out on illegal immigrants from people who are only on this side of the border thanks to the DNA lottery and mere fate.

I am distressed at Nohemi's "it is their country..." If unquenchable love is the value, borders seem to be arbitrary divisions created by unquenchable pride or selfishness. Things that were stolen from others we now refuse to share.

The law is the law, and millions of hard-working people are here illegally. But perhaps the law is the problem this time and needs changing, to end the emotional, financial and sometimes physical devastation of my brothers and sisters who simply seek a fraction of the opportunity I have.

Sailing

This is Bike, Walk and Wheel Week! This is my 3rd year participating, and last year was part farce and part adventure. You haven't heard from me yet this week because, sadly, it has all gone swimmingly. On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I rode my bike to and from work without incident. I enjoyed warm sun and cool breezes. Today I rode the bus (it's Ride the Bus Free Day as part of BWWW). Today I knew where to go and when to be there. Sigh. Where's the adventure in that?

I have a chance at some adventure tomorrow. Aaron is in kindergarten and wants to participate in BWWW. Modeling works, eh? Fortunately, his class will have a "walk to school" event in the morning. If I can get him to a downtown park before 8 am, Aaron will get to walk the rest of the way to school. What is pretty funny is I will be taking him to the school kids' breakfast I inadvertently horned in on last year! This year I will return as an invited guest.

My sailing through the week is evidence that with a little perseverance, anyone can become a regular user of alternative transportation.