Having only a high school degree means a future of $15 bucks an hour or below. But only a quarter of students who enter community colleges actually graduate (the rates are only slightly better at 4 year schools). Meanwhile, many of them that do graduate have skills that aren’t suited to the jobs they’ll actually need. We’re graduating too many sports marketing experts, and not enough web programmers, and so on. SOURCE:  Foroohar: To Compete, America Needs 6-Year High Schools | TIME.com. Let’s face it having a high school diploma just doesn’t mean much anymore. I don’t know if that … Continue reading 6-Year High Schools….

We must recognize that Jesus’ life and teachings have no resemblance to the lifestyles we have set for ourselves. So we can go on using his name and ignoring his message . . . or we could start calling ourselves something different . . . or we could practice squeezing ourselves through the eye of a needle . . . or we could do the really hard thing – earn the label we have been wearing and heed his call. SOURCE:  Kathy Vestal: I Tithe…but should it go to my local church? | Red Letter Christians. Continue reading Heeding His Call….

Jesus Avoided Theological Certainty Within the New Testament, the people Jesus seemingly condemns the strongest — and most frequently — are the ones who have the greatest amount of theological certainty — the Pharisees. The spiritual leaders, the most prestigious religious institutions of the their day, the ones who were the most confident, the most sure and vocal about theology, were flat our wrong — and Jesus called them out on it. This should be a warning to us all. Much of Jesus\’ teaching was confusing, complex, and often created more questions than answers, and that\’s OK. Even His own … Continue reading Theological Certainty…..

I seem to be busy with other things right now so will see you later. I am currently off doing research for my new blog In Search Of America. Some call it vacation, I call it research :) Continue reading Busy Right Now….

I just needed permission to say ENOUGH! – ENOUGH to the frenzied rush to buy stuff for people who already have everything.”Enough to the myth that happiness must be purchased. Enough to an economy that is awarding CEOs salaries 500 times that of their workers and still manages to seduce people in poverty and wealth alike to give more money to these predatorial corporations. Enough to the American dream that now consumes over 40 percent of the world’s stuff with less than 6 percent of the world’s resources. Enough to a dream that would need four more planets if the … Continue reading Buy Nothing Day – Enough is Enough…

One of my neighbors is just an old-school type of guy. He continues to burn off the leaves around his house instead of composting them or using some other more environmentally friendly method of disposing them.  In many ways he continues to hang on to the ways of the past. He is radically conservative anti-Obama in a very Red State so he fits quite nicely in his environs; much more so than I do.  We seldom agree on things of a political nature. But…. despite our political, and often environmental, differences we continue to be good neighbors and pretty good … Continue reading Old School….

On the Senate floor Tuesday, Elizabeth Warren argued for the need to strengthen Social Security benefits, now that cuts to the program seem more likely. “With tens of millions of people more financially stressed as they approach retirement, with more and more people left out of the private retirement security system, and with the economic security of our families unraveling, Social Security is rapidly becoming the only lifeline that millions of seniors have to keep their heads above water,” Warren said. “And yet, instead of taking on the retirement crisis, instead of strengthening Social Security, some in Washington are actually fighting … Continue reading Run Elizabeth, Run….

This came in a calendar from my new friends over at Union for Concerned Scientists. I just gave them a donation.. Continue reading It’s Called Science……

Be forewarned that in this post I am attempting in some meager way to come to the defense of the Republican party that I seem to rail against so frequently. It is a mistake to link the current right-wing ideologues to the conservative movement or even the Republican party in general. They are not the same. The core of the Tea Party is libertarian in nature and focused on shutting down all forms of government and to destroy the American safety net that has been in place for the last century or so.  The conservative movement, of which in some … Continue reading Right Wing Ideologues And The Republican Party….

I often wonder just what has caused the gridlock that has dominated our national politics of the last few years.  Is the cause all those wing nuts that are now holding down seats in our congress? I want to believe that if we could just get rid of those guys everything might return to normal, whatever that is. But are those yahoos the cause or just a symptom of our problems? It is widely acknowledged that over 80% of both the Republican and Democratic members of congress are in safe districts. That is to say they they will get re-elected … Continue reading The Symptom Or The Cause????

In a country discouraged by last month’s health care rollout and corresponding widespread problems, Erin Kotecki Vest and her family are rejoicing. Obamacare will save them almost $19,000 each year. “When the president says no family should lose their home because someone got sick, no family should go bankrupt because somebody got sick, that is us. That is absolutely us.”  SOURCE: Obamacare to save family $18,900 | MSNBC. Continue reading Obamacare, What Is Seldom Heard….

I admit that I find the gospel of partnering with God for the healing of the world much, much harder than the gospel of God loves you and wants to give you a ticket to heaven. It’s harder emotionally, physically, financially, socially and culturally. It’s tiring. Without the Holy Spirit, without worship, without community I’d give up and go back to that old gospel. It was easier in those days, for sure. It was easier when it was about me and my blessing, my healing, my salvation and inviting other people to enjoy my amazing new life. It was much … Continue reading The ‘Other Gospel’ was easier

Since the First Century, if not before, the choice of people of faith has been between empire approved institutions or the individual or tiny group quest for peace, justice and personal, if not cultural, transformation. Could any of us even begin to imagine how different European (and world) history would have been if, instead of massive armed hordes of Crusaders, Christianity had been represented on the world’s stage by a dozen or so St. Francises? SOURCE:  Morf Morford | Christianity, Empire, and a USS Mother Teresa? | Red Letter Christians. Continue reading Christianity, Empire, and a USS Mother Teresa?

The snapshot above was from a Time Magazine article about the 25 best inventions for 2013. Many of the inventions they noted were pretty frivolous in nature but not this one.  Of course we all should have expected that our current drone program is only the beginning. There are trillions of dollars more to be made by our military industrial complex before drones have run their course. This is just a logical next step.  Before long we will be able to kill thousands of our enemies, along with those deemed “collateral damage”, and still make it home for supper!! And … Continue reading A World Gone Mad???

Continue reading Playing Chess With A Pigeon….

War Crimes and Misdemeanors HEY PRESIDENT OBAMA: The Nobel Peace Prize committee is calling. They want their medal back. The coveted award, which many felt was premature, at best, when bestowed during the president’s first year in office, was seriously tarnished in the eyes of many by his escalation of the war in Afghanistan and other military endeavors. But Obama’s role in waging drone warfare—particularly in Pakistan and Yemen—has made a mockery of the prize that Alfred Nobel said should go to the person “who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations.” Obama’s drone … Continue reading No Flesh In The Game……

“No man can be condemned for owning a dog. In fact you admire him, ’cause as long he’s got a dog he’s got a friend, and the poorer he gets the better friend he has.” – Will Rogers, 8 May 1927 Wouldn’t it be nice if, in some ways, we were more like our canine friends. They don’t judge us on how much money we make or how many friends we have on FaceBook. They simply love us for who we are. It doesn’t matter that we might be physically or mentally impaired in one way or another, or even … Continue reading Man’s Best Friend…

Legislators in Mexico City, the largest city in North America, are preparing to push through certain measures that would decriminalize and regulate the consumption of marijuana in the Mexican capital, a move that may speed pot legalization elsewhere in the continent SOURCE:  North America’s Largest City Moves to Legalize Pot | TIME.com. I want to warn you up front that this post has no deep knowledge behind it.  I have not studied all the statistics and history of legalizing marijuana, nor do I have any personal experiences with it. I am only speaking from my knowledge of history and what … Continue reading Legalizing Pot….

REENSBORO, N.C. Police say one person has been shot at North Carolina A&T State University, prompting a brief campus lockdown. Greensboro Police Department said in a statement Saturday night that “one or more” suspects were firing guns near McCain Hall on campus when one of the rounds struck 21-year-old Divine Eatman. SOURCE: 1 shot at North Carolina A&T State University – CBS News. Lockdown is a term commonly used in our prison system to mean that all prisoners are to be in their locked cells. It usually occurs when some form of violence occurs within the prison facility. Sadly it is … Continue reading Lockdown……

They say it’s the little things that matter. All the little moments that make up our day to day lives. We never seem to appreciate them, nor do we seem to acknowledge the long and impossible road behind us. We rarely stare in the rear view mirror to see what we’ve accomplished so far. We rarely enjoy the ride. We want to get to the destination as fast as possible. We don’t want any dead ends, we don’t want hours and hours of endless nothing. But the thing is, life’s just a matter of perspective. We become who we think … Continue reading Day to day lives….

Continue reading That’s What It Should Be All About….

When the votes are tallied in Virginia’s race for governor on Tuesday, over 300,000 citizens will be missing from the voting rolls – including 20% of the state’s black population. The reason is not low turnout or voter ID, but a growing and often invisible barrier to voting that is upending elections around the country. Over 5 million Americans are barred from voting because they have criminal records, according to a report this year from the Sentencing Project. The crackdown on ballot access is so intense, a majority of states actually bar former convicts from voting even after they are … Continue reading Ex-felons face barriers to voting rights

Evangelism is a term very similar to “Jihad” in terms of public relations. It is a term cherished by those of us “inside” Christianity, but despised by those on the outside. Christians may think “spreading the Gospel,” but to others it means “socially awkward situations where you pressure me to accept YOUR beliefs.” Some on the progressive side of Christianity have suggested we should just stop proselytizing [converting] all together, conservatives often respond “What’s the purpose of our faith if aren’t trying to spread it?” I suggest the problem is the term “evangelise” itself. SOURCE: Adoption and Hospitality Should Replace \”Evangelism\” … Continue reading Is Evangelism A Dirty Word???

One of the things they tell you that you must learn when you become a soldier is to follow orders without any questions or doubts.  It is not up to you to determine if what they order you to do is moral, right, wrong, or any other type of reasoning. That lesson is drummed into you during basic training and throughout your time in the military. Your superiors are the ones who decide what you do. You have little or no input into that process. I guess I was a typical five-year old in that I constantly asked the question … Continue reading I Would Make A Terrible Soldier….

Safety Android is the Wild West of phone operating systems. Stock devices largely come unprotected from attack. Sure, Google checks apps and viruses for malware on the Google Play store, but threats can come from anywhere – even via unsecured Wi-Fi locations. The phones are so vulnerable, in fact, that 32.8 million Android devices were infected with malware last year alone. SOURCE:  4 Reasons Why You Should Pick Apple iOS over Android | TIME.com. This article contains four reasons why Apple is better than Android. Yes, I know there are strict loyalties among both of these brands but when it comes to … Continue reading Why You Should Pick Apple iOS over Android

I admit up front that for my generation It seems I am just weird. I am the first of the baby boomers and I am now officially a senior citizen. Being a senior citizen I am told by the media that: I must fear change when in fact I embrace it. I must fear the changing demographics when in fact I celebrate it. I must fear immigrants when in fact I am more than happy to see them come. I must fear the loss of morality when in fact I see much of that as someone else’ version of morality. … Continue reading I Am Weird…..

I’m not sure where I first heard the phrase in the title but it rings true to me in both our international and our political processes. When someone makes a very crude attempt to make a shoe bomb we immediately make it front page news and then spend billions of dollars to guard against it. It seems that by talking about terrorism so much we are actually causing much of it to happen. When we give all the nuts out there their “15 minutes of fame” we are actually encouraging more to come forward.  When we give so much attention … Continue reading Publicity Is The Oxygen Of Terrorism….

There is a lot of uproar lately about digital privacy. I am kind of on the fence about it. One the one hand I want our government to be able to track down those who would do harm to innocent people but on the other hand I don’t want the government to come after me because of some of the words on this blog or any other part of my life. I value my privacy and for the most part just want to be left alone. Continue reading About Digital Privacy….

The automation of human labor is as old as the Industrial Revolution. From the steam engine and the cotton gin to the desktop computer and the robotic welder, machines have enabled leaps of efficiency that create far more jobs than they destroy. And yet many economists and technologists believe that things are different this time, that society is entering a new and troubling phase as computing power and other advances make possible the creation of ever-more-powerful robots. What if the economic growth of the future produces more jobs for more robots, leaving humans behind? What if we’re heading toward a … Continue reading Will Robots Take Our Jobs?

Continue reading Corporate Welfare….

“Don’t romanticize charity, we can’t make up for these cuts,” Margarette Purvis, president and CEO of Food Bank For New York City, told MSNBC.com in September. “No one is more afraid of these cuts than charity, because we cannot cover it.” Negotiations began this week between the House and Senate on the 2013 Farm Bill as the two sides try to reconcile their differences, including on food benefits for the country’s poor. The Senate version of the bill would cut about $4 billion more from food stamps over the next decade. But the House bill would cut $39 billion, causing … Continue reading Disregard for Humanity…..

Now which is the narrowest, religious intolerance or political intolerance?   – Will Rogers, 20 April 1927 That is a tough one Will. Even tougher is which does the most damage? Many have blamed, and rightly so in some regards, religious intolerance for most of humanities wars.  But political intolerance has caused so much damage to society as to rival that. Which is the narrowest? I don’t know…. Continue reading Intolerance….