Let us...
change the system that pits us against each other for meager resources, to one that demands equity among all God's children
change the criminal injustice system to one of truly EQUAL JUSTICE FOR ALL
turn from personal greed and gain to a value of community based on ALL having well-being
share of our abundance with others who have need
make sure EVERY child has the same chance at a good education
make sure that EVERY citizen has healthcare coverage for their well-being
make sure that EVERY person in this nation has food, clothing and livable shelter
make sure that EVERY worker is paid a LIVING wage
CHANGE a system that believes it is perfectly fine and normal for 1% of the population to control 85% of the resources in this nation, while the rest struggle for what is left
Then, and ONLY THEN, will we be a CIVILIZATION
Pastor Jamie
Saturday, November 23, 2013
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
being fully human
It is simple... people I love and people I do not know, whom I KNOW God loves, are being treated unfairly, being exploited, being kept down, being held out... actively, systematically, systemically, intentionally so that some others may feel "superior" and get more at their expense, for themselves... it makes me ANGRY, and I will write, I will speak, I will fight, I will continue to do what I do to make it so that ALL people have the healthcare they need, equal education under the law in whatever school or district they are a part of, a living wage for their work, jobs for those who can work, affordable housing, transportation and RESPECT, REGARDLESS of their age, gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or economic background... I believe anyone who is either unconcerned about others or worse, sees exploiting them as an opportunity to promote more for themselves, is in some kind of stage of arrested human development... I stand on the Gospel of Jesus - what JESUS taught about how we are to live with each other... unapologetically, un-waveringly, without hesitation or reservation... clear?
Pastor Jamie
Friday, November 15, 2013
loyalty in sports
I perceive there to be GREAT LOYALTY in sports...
Loyalty to the city in which a team plays, as long as it provides a new stadium, championships and
other entertainment value, with good parking and upscale accommodations around them...
Loyalty to the fans in the cities in which teams play, as long as they will pay always more in ticket
prices...
Loyalty to the neighborhood venders around the stadium, as long as they are "upscale enough"...
Loyalty to the team one plays with, as long as one gets enough spotlight, kudos, trophies and pay...
Loyalty to the players, as long as there is not a better "deal" out there...
Loyalty to the team one roots for, as long as they are winning...
Loyalty to the game one loves to play, as long as it pays exorbitantly...
Loyalty to the game one loves to watch, as long as it entertains, even if it means maiming the
players...
Loyalty as long as one's greed, desire for prestige and lust for power...
There is a GREAT DEAL OF LOYALTY in sports... to all the wrong things.
Football, Baseball, Basketball, Hockey and now Soccer are big business in entertainment. Any "higher virtues" in these professional sports have gone the way of the affordable bleacher seats.
Loyalty to the city in which a team plays, as long as it provides a new stadium, championships and
other entertainment value, with good parking and upscale accommodations around them...
Loyalty to the fans in the cities in which teams play, as long as they will pay always more in ticket
prices...
Loyalty to the neighborhood venders around the stadium, as long as they are "upscale enough"...
Loyalty to the team one plays with, as long as one gets enough spotlight, kudos, trophies and pay...
Loyalty to the players, as long as there is not a better "deal" out there...
Loyalty to the team one roots for, as long as they are winning...
Loyalty to the game one loves to play, as long as it pays exorbitantly...
Loyalty to the game one loves to watch, as long as it entertains, even if it means maiming the
players...
Loyalty as long as one's greed, desire for prestige and lust for power...
There is a GREAT DEAL OF LOYALTY in sports... to all the wrong things.
Football, Baseball, Basketball, Hockey and now Soccer are big business in entertainment. Any "higher virtues" in these professional sports have gone the way of the affordable bleacher seats.
Saturday, November 2, 2013
Class Warfare
Now, 47 million people have been cut off from $5 billion in food aid in The United States. This, right after putting billions into having a stealth warship, after $24 billion wasted in a manufactured government shut down designed to keep millions of other Americans from having affordable healthcare coverage. This, after laying off America during the recession, after sending jobs overseas because corporations could make more money off the backs of other folk through sub-standard wages, after de-regulating greed for over 32 years (yes, Reaganomics), trying to LEGISLATE peoples' bedrooms and bodies, after refusing to collect billions of $ in taxes from the wealthy individuals and corporations in our country.
This war has been waged for years... until now, it has been a massacre, rather than a war, because NO ONE fought back... the CHURCH remained silent, complicit in the economic rape of the nation because they gained in much the same way (at worst) and/or were afraid they might lose their precious 501c3 status if they spoke out (at best).
The democratic (blue) stripes on this Laissez-Faire Greed economic system Zebra remained largely silent, because they felt the political wind and knew they would lose votes if they stood up for the most vulnerable.
The republicans (red) stripes on the Zebra perpetrated, pushed, promoted and executed the war on the poor because it meant they could get more profit for those who were the elites among them - the wealthy and powerful who first took over corporations and industries and then bought the government...
AND HERE IS THE KICKER...
Like the English Kings and Lords before them, who got the Irish to throw away their young lives in fighting the Scotts when they rebelled, and used the Scotts and others to throw away their lives to fight the Irish when they rebelled, etc., etc.... for generations...
so, these who have waged this CLASS WAR have pitted the Middle Class, especially lower, middle-class against the poor, scapegoating the poor who receive a pittance from government for all their own economic woes, when it was the wealthy and powerful who designed the system that holds them down for their own gain...
Like the Nazi's, who scapegoated the Jews, Gypsies, Homosexuals and others for the economic woes of struggling Germans...
the wealthy and powerful have very adeptly used false anecdotes, stereotypes and outright bigotry to manipulate the working poor and lower, middle-class to hate those who receive public assistance, so that they would not see the true threat to their well-being...
AND PEOPLE WERE GULLIBLE ENOUGH TO BUY IT...
so, they resent anyone who "should be lower" than them economically (yes, because of race), who gets a job or starts to succeed, claiming that they TOOK MY JOB/OUR JOBS, as if they were entitled to them... being of the same RACE as the wealthy and powerful, but NEVER in the same club....
and they resent anyone who "buys steaks" or "sells their food stamps for cash", because they scrape and scrimp and save to just make it, not recognizing that the foolish expressions of immediate gratification (which most of us do through credit - spending more than we have on things) those on fixed-income make, they pay for later in the month with panic and fear in the lack...
so, the soul of America has been eroded by GREED, a false sense of ENTITLEMENT and VIOLENCE in our hearts, words and sometimes actions against those who we have been duped into scapegoating, so that we will not attack those in "the big house"...
It is an AGE OLD process, and very effective, because it is easier to hate and scapegoat someone "below" you on the economic ladder, while aspiring to be the wealthy and powerful, rather than see that the system that divides is WRONG, EVIL, IMMORAL, and resist, actively change the system... for some, because they aspire to be in that very exclusive club, for others, because they do not want to risk the few crumbs (TV's, Cars, Houses, Vacations) in perks that they get for the sake of others who are consistently, systematically, intentionally, brutally, immorally held down for the profit of a few others... so we blame the VICTIMS, and even claim to BE the victims ourselves....
What would it look like if ...
ALL SCHOOLS WERE PUBLIC AND FUNDED EQUALLY, SO ALL CHILDREN GOT THE SAME CHANCE TO SUCCEED IN AMERICA?
EVERY JOB WAS FULL TIME, WITH A LIVING WAGE ($15 per hour minimum right now) AND BENEFITS, AND THE SECURITY OF NOT BEING FIRED FOR NO REASON, SO THAT EVERYONE COULD WORK AND MAKE A LIVING AT IT IN AMERICA?
EVERYONE PAID THEIR FAIR SHARE OF TAXES... ON ALL ASSETS WITH NO EXEMPTIONS, LOOPHOLES OR HIDDEN ASSETS, WITHOUT EXEPTION, IN AMERICA?
Yes, some would have to sacrifice a little of the exorbitant profits they now get, and perhaps the 24 bedroom mansion for an 8 bedroom shack... not get a larger and more extravagant yacht every 5 years, but rather every 10 years... not buy the most expensive and exotic fourth vehicle, but have one less or four that are a little less luxurious... maybe have a few less "servants" to do the housework or lawn care and maybe have to spend some time with their children and not pay a "nanny" to completely raise them... I know, I know, it sounds like a HORRIBLE existence... hardly worth living... but I am confident that with a little resolve, these folks could somehow find a way to be happy...
and it would mean that others who have been held down and out for generations would have some kind of life-security in MAKING IT, and even tip the scale on THRIVING over just SURVIVING... would that be so terrible for our nation? under God? Indivisible? With liberty and justice for ALL?
Stop looking horizontally or "beneath" you for the problem. It is those ABOVE you who have victimized us ALL as a nation, and they have done it very well for 32 years... THEY are the ones who have waged this massacre... let's now turn it, not into a war, but into a non-violent movement for change...
THE TIME IS NOW.
Pastor Jamie
This war has been waged for years... until now, it has been a massacre, rather than a war, because NO ONE fought back... the CHURCH remained silent, complicit in the economic rape of the nation because they gained in much the same way (at worst) and/or were afraid they might lose their precious 501c3 status if they spoke out (at best).
The democratic (blue) stripes on this Laissez-Faire Greed economic system Zebra remained largely silent, because they felt the political wind and knew they would lose votes if they stood up for the most vulnerable.
The republicans (red) stripes on the Zebra perpetrated, pushed, promoted and executed the war on the poor because it meant they could get more profit for those who were the elites among them - the wealthy and powerful who first took over corporations and industries and then bought the government...
AND HERE IS THE KICKER...
Like the English Kings and Lords before them, who got the Irish to throw away their young lives in fighting the Scotts when they rebelled, and used the Scotts and others to throw away their lives to fight the Irish when they rebelled, etc., etc.... for generations...
so, these who have waged this CLASS WAR have pitted the Middle Class, especially lower, middle-class against the poor, scapegoating the poor who receive a pittance from government for all their own economic woes, when it was the wealthy and powerful who designed the system that holds them down for their own gain...
Like the Nazi's, who scapegoated the Jews, Gypsies, Homosexuals and others for the economic woes of struggling Germans...
the wealthy and powerful have very adeptly used false anecdotes, stereotypes and outright bigotry to manipulate the working poor and lower, middle-class to hate those who receive public assistance, so that they would not see the true threat to their well-being...
AND PEOPLE WERE GULLIBLE ENOUGH TO BUY IT...
so, they resent anyone who "should be lower" than them economically (yes, because of race), who gets a job or starts to succeed, claiming that they TOOK MY JOB/OUR JOBS, as if they were entitled to them... being of the same RACE as the wealthy and powerful, but NEVER in the same club....
and they resent anyone who "buys steaks" or "sells their food stamps for cash", because they scrape and scrimp and save to just make it, not recognizing that the foolish expressions of immediate gratification (which most of us do through credit - spending more than we have on things) those on fixed-income make, they pay for later in the month with panic and fear in the lack...
so, the soul of America has been eroded by GREED, a false sense of ENTITLEMENT and VIOLENCE in our hearts, words and sometimes actions against those who we have been duped into scapegoating, so that we will not attack those in "the big house"...
It is an AGE OLD process, and very effective, because it is easier to hate and scapegoat someone "below" you on the economic ladder, while aspiring to be the wealthy and powerful, rather than see that the system that divides is WRONG, EVIL, IMMORAL, and resist, actively change the system... for some, because they aspire to be in that very exclusive club, for others, because they do not want to risk the few crumbs (TV's, Cars, Houses, Vacations) in perks that they get for the sake of others who are consistently, systematically, intentionally, brutally, immorally held down for the profit of a few others... so we blame the VICTIMS, and even claim to BE the victims ourselves....
What would it look like if ...
ALL SCHOOLS WERE PUBLIC AND FUNDED EQUALLY, SO ALL CHILDREN GOT THE SAME CHANCE TO SUCCEED IN AMERICA?
EVERY JOB WAS FULL TIME, WITH A LIVING WAGE ($15 per hour minimum right now) AND BENEFITS, AND THE SECURITY OF NOT BEING FIRED FOR NO REASON, SO THAT EVERYONE COULD WORK AND MAKE A LIVING AT IT IN AMERICA?
EVERYONE PAID THEIR FAIR SHARE OF TAXES... ON ALL ASSETS WITH NO EXEMPTIONS, LOOPHOLES OR HIDDEN ASSETS, WITHOUT EXEPTION, IN AMERICA?
Yes, some would have to sacrifice a little of the exorbitant profits they now get, and perhaps the 24 bedroom mansion for an 8 bedroom shack... not get a larger and more extravagant yacht every 5 years, but rather every 10 years... not buy the most expensive and exotic fourth vehicle, but have one less or four that are a little less luxurious... maybe have a few less "servants" to do the housework or lawn care and maybe have to spend some time with their children and not pay a "nanny" to completely raise them... I know, I know, it sounds like a HORRIBLE existence... hardly worth living... but I am confident that with a little resolve, these folks could somehow find a way to be happy...
and it would mean that others who have been held down and out for generations would have some kind of life-security in MAKING IT, and even tip the scale on THRIVING over just SURVIVING... would that be so terrible for our nation? under God? Indivisible? With liberty and justice for ALL?
Stop looking horizontally or "beneath" you for the problem. It is those ABOVE you who have victimized us ALL as a nation, and they have done it very well for 32 years... THEY are the ones who have waged this massacre... let's now turn it, not into a war, but into a non-violent movement for change...
THE TIME IS NOW.
Pastor Jamie
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