AN OREGON ORIGINAL

I was looking up somebody else when I stumbled onto this. 

In 1970 Fuller Theological Seminary invited a Freshman Republican senator to speak at graduation. Mark Hatfield from Oregon came into the senate swimming against the stream. He never quite stopped. Hatfield identified as an evangelical Baptist. I haven't been able to find out what "flavor" of Baptist. 

"As we consider the impact of Christ's gospel in these times, we must honestly confront the critical realities that characterize the life of the society and the world...

First and most obvious to us here in the United States is the war in Indochina....

I ask you to balance carefully and in good conscience evaluate the pros and cons to this endeavor and then to have the courage to follow where your convictions lead you. can we rationalize the human suffering, the wasted resources, and the deterioration of moral sensitivities  associated with this war supporting what seems to be an authoritarian puppet regime in Southeast Asia? Is the good to be achieved in this endeavor greater than the evil we are being forced to endure to achieve it?"

In the era of Billy Graham crusades (man never met a war he didn't find a way to support) many evangelicals questioned his faith because he refused to support the war in Viet Nam. He had a long history of opposition to war and advocacy for the homeless and mentally ill. And I'll admit he managed to see that Oregon received our share of the federal pie. 

He finally retired in the mid nineties as politics entered the single issue era and the idea of public service started the downhill slide. We have plenty of career politicians but you find yourself wondering who they're serving. Us or themselves. 

CREATION'S JEWEL BOX

 For some peculiar reason fundies like to show up on science/tech oriented thread and start evangelizing. Some of the commenters ignore them. Some laugh at them. Some are a little rude. Global warming, Jesus loves you. Take a science program like Cosmos. If Tyson isn't actually proselytizing he's anti religion. It gets really old after awhile. Especially when they hint they have kids that' they're bringing up in the Old Time Religion it gets old really, really fast. 

Let’s face it coming up, so to speak, to a group of half way well educated science geeks and starting out with “the Bible says so,’ spiel probably isn’t going to go over very well anyway. Proving you have absolutely, and I do mean absolutely, no understanding of the science you’re attacking is not going to win you any friends or influence anyone else either. Fish don’t turn into humans. Monkeys don’t turn into humans. Gorillas don’t turn into humans. Humans become humans, in one form or another, for a several million years. 

And then when we follow the link to your page just might find you accusing those who don’t agree with of laughing at you. No, most of us aren’t laughing at you. We may just feel a little sorry for you the same way we’d consider someone who is tone deaf or color blind. There’s a whole wonderful universe out there and it seems that you can’t see or hear it. 

There just isn’t room in your vision of the universe for this. Sapphires, rubies, topaz, amber and diamonds tossed on a blanket of black velvet. Ten thousand galaxies in a tiny slice of sky; thousands, millions, tens of millions of light years back in time. Awesome, a little scary, but awesome. And thank you Hubble telescope for your years of service.   This is a composite shot from a very tiny piece of the sky. Each of those disks is a galaxy. the colors enhanced to highlight the dominant colors of each galaxy. The little dots are stars, most of them. Thousands, to millions, to hundreds of light years away from our little outpost in the stars.

THE CULT OF IGNORANCE

Still far too true.

 

WHILE TRUTH IS PUTTING ON ITS BOOTS

Georgia representative and human lightning rod, Marjorie Taylor Greene,  gave a tepid apology  for the statements she made before being elected last fall. I honestly don't know if the voteres in her district would have eleceted her if they had known her "views" before they went to the polls. These views were open to discovery with a little research. You now the kind of research at least some of us make before we fill in those little ovals on the Oregon mail in ballot. 

Doesn't really matter. She promptly retracted her apology. On pretty much party lines the house voted to strip the representative from Georgia of her committee assignments. Those assignments most reps point to when they are running for reelection to prove they were awake at least most of the time. She thinks it's a joke. 

And just in case we need reminders of what this individual claims to believe. There's this editorial cartoon. Sorry, I can't quite make out the name of the cartoonist. This was published before she lost her committee assignments. What were they thinking. Assigning her to the education committee? 

Of course she's claiming her free speech rights are being trampled. You are entitled to say anything you want. Up is down, right is left, black is white, whatever. The rest of us have the right to point out that you just might be a blithering idiot. The reps who heard "hang Mike Pence, hang Mike Pence" can't be blamed if they look at her and wonder how safe they are with her in the room. 

The FBI released photos of the wreakage at the pentagon. Wreakage identified as parts of the plane identified as striking the building. She stalked David Hogg, a survivor of a school shooting. You can say what you want. Private platforms, and FB, YouTube, Twitter etc., can set standards for statements or videos on those platforms. Violate those standards and they have the right to block you, freeze your accounts, toss your ass to the curb. Many of your fellow citizens believe that it's long past time for certain individuals to be tossed to the curb. 

Churchill. among others, stated that a "lie makes it around the world while the truth is putting on its boots." Or words to that effect.