…with politics right now. All kind of things are happening — the Able Danger scandal, Supreme Court nomination hearings, Hurricane Rita, the nomination of an unqualified person to head U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and so on — but I just don’t care. It’s pointless to rant and rave about something I have no control over. Politicians have and will always do what they want to do, and I’m tired of complaining about it.
Posting will be light today unless I get a sudden flash of inspiration, and tomorrow I’m attending an all-day workshop to learn how to conduct research like a journalist. Another light posting day.
Consider this an open thread and comment about whatever’s on your mind. Have you blogged about something interesting? Is there underreported news or an event you want people to know about? Are you a new blogger eager to announce your arrival in the blogosphere? This is the post to do it.
Inspire me.
Addendum: Here’s an idea: moral poverty in New Orleans.
Other ideas:
- A review of The Uncivil War: How a New Elite is Destroying Our Democracy, at Counseling Kevin.
- Are you a Harry Potter-reading Christian? Here’s one who explains why.
- Review of an anti-America movie called Flight Plan, by Debbie Schlussel. (spoiler warning) Guess who’s the terrorist? (Hint: No, it’s not the Arab Muslim.)
Update (3:47 p.m.): Bloggers testified on the Hill today about the Federal Election Commission’s attempts to curb political speech on the Internet.
— Bloggers United Against the FEC — Online Coalition
— FEC vs. Bloggers Hoopla Overhyped?
Update II: For the latest news on Hurricane Rita, check the Houston Chronicle’s blog, the Weather Channel’s site, Yahoo! full coverage, and Michelle Malkin’s links. And as always, pray for the people.
{ 5 trackbacks }
{ 72 comments }
I suppose we should pray for Texas and the Gulf Coast, that folks will have time to get out safely.
I’d like to thank you for directing me to a site, Matthew12-36. it has been a joy to read, and a revelation. Keep up with the good work and don’t get downspirited. It is not good. Just keep smiling and remember that God loves us all.
Not sure how interesting this is in light of current events political or otherwise, but I can’t resist this opportunity to share my story of how I came to become a Christian. Like I said, it may not be all that interesting to some and it’s definitely not newsworthy in this day and age. But I’m proof that young black men in America with little or no aspiration to become productive members of our society can in fact change.
Enjoy…
http://eddiebutler.blogspot.com/2005/09/october-2-1993.html
LaShawn,
I have been observer of the blog lately because I am feeling exactly as you are. But, here is my quick shot in the dark…
I am no longer disappointed in our government I am disappointed in the American people for accepting mediocrity. As I think back to the 2004 Presidential eletion there is one thing that stands out to me as the perfect example. Mind you I am not making the following statement as a partisan, but from a philosophical perspective. That is that John Kerry was ridiculed during the debates for being a debate champion in college.
Can you think of how ridiculous that is? In an election for “Leader of the Free World”, and THE most political position on earth I am supposed to think that it is a weakness that one of the candidates is a college debate champion.
Mind you, I was not a John Kerry supporter, neither was I a Bush supporter, I voted for who I though was the “lesser of two evils”. But, if I really had a choice, I would have taken the route of Richard Pryor in “Brewster’s Millions” and voted “none of the above”.
To end this rant, I just want to say, as an American, I don’t want the President of the United States to be a “regular guy” or “one of us”. I want the President of the United States to be exceptional, tops at whatever they have done for thier whole life. I want someone who excelled in school, excelled in business, excelled in thier personal/family life, and currently excels in the political office they hold.
Aren’t we told that in America, if you work hard, you can achieve anything you want? Well, the current stewards of at least two of the three branches of government (executive and legislative) are proving that if you want to succeed in politics “average as grits” is the way to go.
M. Woodward
I did a very brief history of the loserness (not a word, I know) of New Orleans http://blog.metrolingua.com/2005/08/history-of-losers.html
Also, today I mentioned that Ambra Nykol is going to write a book http://blog.metrolingua.com/2005/09/ambras-book.html
I’m blogging about the new HoNDA legislation introduced in Congress that will affect all who call themselves homeschoolers. This legislation will allow the federal government a foot in the door for future regulations. You can read all about it at
http://spunkyhomeschool.blogspot.com/2005/09/honda-is-not-good-news-for.html
Blessings
Spunky
http://www.spunkyhomeschool.blogspot.com
I sure wish CSPAN would carry the newly announced meeting between Mother Sheehan and Hillary Princess In A Pink Suit Rodham (clinton) so we could watch “the spark that ignited the world” duel with “the great iceberg.”
La Shawn: that opinion piece you linked to is great! Totally harsh, but if you live in a city, you understand right away because you see it all the time. Everyone should read it.
La Shawn,
I feel the same way as you. All that is going on is definitely giving me pause to examine myself and to focus in the right direction. When things start to not make sense and seem pointless, reading the scriptures helps refocus all that is going on and always gives an answer as to why and how. You’ll be in my prayers.
Embracing diapraxis, behavioral objectives are all part of every medical schools accreditation. A Marxist outcome indeed. Those are some of our topics we have and will continue to blog about.
Pete & Maribel Hernandez
Curmudgeon’s question of the day, given all the garbage in the news, and the general decay of society: Would a huge asteroid hit necessarily be a bad thing?
La Shawn:
Jesse Lee Peterson’s comments linked above, and Linda Chavez’s column from JWR summed it up -
Moral poverty, not economic poverty, created the mess in New Orleans.
Mexicans and other “poor” people found a way out of New Orleans – many walked.
And the moral poverty of police officers simply going AWOL- NEVER happened in Houston during one hurricaine, many floods, many hurricaine warnings.
And the moral poverty of pride – not admitting that they needed help – not happening in Houston. Governer Perry has already asked for help.
IT’S ALL ABOUT MORALITY.
La Shawn:
Jesse Lee Peterson’s comments linked above, and Linda Chavez’s column from JWR summed it up -
Moral poverty, not economic poverty, created the mess in New Orleans.
Mexicans and other “poor” people found a way out of New Orleans – many walked.
And the MANY “poor Black people” who left town before being invited by the Mayor – they deserve more credit, yet the press golats over “victims”.
And the moral poverty of police officers simply going AWOL- NEVER happened in Houston during one hurricaine, many floods, many hurricaine warnings.
And the moral poverty of pride – not admitting that they needed help – not happening in Houston. Governer Perry has already asked for help.
IT’S ALL ABOUT MORALITY.
I’ll be blogging from time to time about Rita’s movements through my area when I can. Could be boring.
WE decided to offer up a post titled – Return to Responsibility – today. This is just the latest in a long line of attempts on our part to educated, and encourage people to live better lives. We throw a few jabs in along the way, but we hope that in the end, reasonible people will see the common sense that we are promoting and live it out.
http://www.team-swap.com/wordpress/2005/09/22/return-to-responsibility/
Check out the “hypocrisy” going on in Maryland (from Michelle Malkin)
http://michellemalkin.com/archives/003593.htm
Nice blog La Shawn! The world is the same over, evidently. I’ve been complaining about corrupt government and unions, even though I realize as well there’s not much I can do about it either. Instead, I’m just kinda hoping and praying God will utilize me as a force for truth and justice as he wills it.
Instead of politics, why don’t you write about yourself for a while? Talk about your beliefs, your religious convictions, how you think God fits in with what’s happening in the world right now. I’d be keenly interested in what you had to say.
LaShawn:
With only the vague comment “Here’s an idea”, you have linked to a column which includes the following statements:
“When 75 percent of New Orleans residents had left the city, it was primarily immoral, welfare-pampered blacks that stayed behind and waited for the government to bail them out.”
“Had New Orleans’ black community taken action, most would have been out of harm’s way. But most were too lazy, immoral and trifling to do anything productive for themselves.”
I’m curious whether you agree with these “ideas”. Also, I’m wondering whether, after attending your workshop, you would be interested in using your new skills to research whether any empirical basis exists to support Rev. Peterson’s claims that those who did not evacuate were primarily lazy, immoral, welfare-pampered blacks.
Thanks, Josh. I’ve cobbled together what I believe here and there, but I really should do a few posts about specifics. If it helps to know, I consider myself a Reformed Christian. This testimony article may be helpful:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/tcw/2003/003/19.26.html
You can also browse the Faith category:
http://lashawnbarber.com/archives/category/faith/
Patm – To a certain extent, I do believe the claims, and I’m sure Peterson has research to back it up. If you don’t want to trust your own eyes and/or the statistics, that’s your prerogative, of course. A large portion of evacuees, at least the ones stranded on the infamous overpass, wandered over from the nearby “projects.” Government-subsidized housing. I like the biblical adage that if you don’t work, you won’t eat. I consider able-bodied, particularly younger adults, lazy if they’re on welfare, and I don’t care what excuses they or their white liberal handlers come up with to try to prove otherwise. I grew up seeing it in South Carolina, and it’s sadly obvious in a city like Washington, DC., and painfully obvious after the hurricane in NO. And exceptions are just that: exceptions, and they don’t disprove or negate the rule.
As far as immorality is concerned, sex outside marriage, fornication, is immoral. Over 70 percent of black babies are born outside of wedlock, so I’d say a serious moral problem exists. Children born out of wedlock (read: without fathers) are much more likely to be poor and underperformers in school, and education is very important in a country like the U.S. They are more likely to commit crimes and end up in trouble as juveniles, which is not an ideal way to start out in life. Females born into such family situations are much more likely to become unwed mothers themselves, and their children, sired by fatherless males, are abandoned just as they were. And the cycle repeats itself generation after generation. Nothing, absolutely nothing, will change unless the immorality is dealt with first.
I feel pretty lethargic today where politics are concerned, too, LaShawn. So I commented about the woman who sued Extreme Makeover.
By far the best thing I read today, though, was The Anchoress’ post on prayer. Awesome.
http://theanchoressonline.com/2005/09/22/praying-with-the-cloud-of-witnesses/
For PATM and La Shawn:
The behavior which leads to the American “underclass” that stayed behind in New Orleans has been studied extensively and in great detail, first made famous by Daniel Patrick Moynihan, later NY Senator.
Later on, others have compiled just a lot of serious research – like Myron Magnet of the Manhattan Institute’s “The Dream and the Nightmare?. More recently, Kay Hymowitz discusses the Moynihan report in City Journal.
Recently, Wall Street Journal had another serious study of “poor unmarried mothers” – many of these women never married because their boyfriends were promiscuous. And this was not a rare problem in the “ghetto”.
So there is just a lot of “research” out there theat demonstrates the behavioral origins of the “underclass”.
This is NOT the result of “White Racism” – Scotland has the highest violent crime rate in the civilized world, and the criminals are largely White.
In summary, there is a LOT OF SERIOUS RESEARCH documenting the behavioral nature of the “underclass” – but, for those denying its behavioral nature, there is only name calling and denial – not serious research.
Rev Peterson tends to use hyperbole to get his point across. No doubt he doesn’t mean every single person in the New Orleans projects is immoral, but there certainly is enough immorality to go around.
Yea, for me when I have no desire to blog the solution is easy. I just post photos.
Hey! Maybe you should get out your camera!
LaShawn:
Thanks for responding.
As sure as you claim to be that Peterson has the “research to back it up”, I’m just as sure that he doesn’t. I don’t trust my “own eyes and/or the statistics,” because: 1) neither I, nor you, nor Rev. Peterson could possibly have observed enough with our own eyes to conclude that those who stayed behind were primarily lazy, immoral, welfare-pampered blacks; and 2) because I have seen no statistics which would support the claim that those who stayed behind were primarily lazy, immoral, welfare-pampered blacks.
I truly don’t mean to simply be argumentative, but my own eyes have observed enough coverage of this tragedy to make me question the notion that the bulk of those who didn’t get out of N.O., deserved their wretched fate because they dug their own graves by being lazy, immoral, trifling and welfare-pampered. Such an attitude strikes me as not well-grounded in fact, in addition to being astoundingly un-Christian.
I truly don’t intend this post as an attack on you, but Rev. Peterson’s column struck me as a truly sickening. I’m at a loss to understand why you are so willing to join in his blanket condemnation of the victims of this heart-breaking disaster.
Well, Peterson didn’t say people deserved to drown, hunger and thirst because they were on welfare; he’s making the point that racism is not to blame for other people’s poverty or immorality. There is truth in what Peterson writes, and like Frank Z. said, he tends to use hyperbole to make his point, but that’s no reason for detractors to pretend he doesn’t have a point. We live in a world where criticizing laziness and calling a thing by its name is worse than being the thing. That’s backward. People who call themselves Christians but don’t work and expect others to feed them are decidedly “un-Christian” and light years worse than those criticizing.
Here’s an idea: you can always e-mail Peterson and ask where he got those stats.
Frank:
The fact that there may be a lot of research about the behavioral origins of the underclass hardly supports Rev. Peterson’s assertion that those left behind in New Orleans were primarily lazy, immoral, welfare-pampered, trifling blacks. Indeed, I find it doubtful that the late Sen. Moynihan would support Rev. Peterson’s vicious slur against so many whose lives were destroyed by Katrina.
Face it — the point of Rev. Peterson’s column was to do whatever he could to divert attention from the Bush Administration’s response to Katrina. I don’t disagree with criticisms of Mayor Nagin, Gov. Blanco, etc., (although their failings hardly excuse the failings of federal officials). What sickens me, however, is that an alleged man of God would try to divert any blame from Bush by blaming the “rampant immorality of blacks” for the misery visited upon the victims of Katrina. Do you, and LaShawn, really agree with this?
Why do you keep asking whether I agree? Why is it so important to you? – Admin
PATM
Are you equally sickened by Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and Farrakhan for their unfounded rants (let’s see.. oh my favorite…white people blew up the levees to kill all the blacks and save whites)?
Just curious.
Like La Shawn said, I don’t think Peterson is attacking their laziness as justification for suffering however what the hurricane did bring to light is the still thriving welfare mentality (gubment is daddy) and immorality that has been plaguing the black community for a few decades. Everyone wants to pretend it’s not there and not a cause of poverty but Katrina put it right in our face, in front of our eyes (which even Stevie Wonder should have been able to see).
On a bright note La Shawn,
There does appear to be a small revival (awakening) among some of those affected by Katrina (which is God’s Grace in action). For Christians, in regards to Katrina or any other catastrophe that strikes millions we should be reminded of Luke 13:1-5:
Luke 13:1-5
1There were present at that season some that told him of the Galilaeans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.
2And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things?
3I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
4Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem?
5I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
We never know when a catastrophe will happen and it really does not matter the cause…what is important is what is the status of our relationship with the Lord and how do we reach those that have been given another chance by God’s Grace.
Just some thoughts.
Excellent thoughts, Renee.
– Admin
Finally I have a recent one to post that isn’t overloaded with potty mouth, well, except for one of the links within a link, but I warn about that one.
In case anyone checks it out, the foul-mouthed post is the Food Stamp Rant which I linked to in Remembering Home Ec.
http://thedragonlady.blogspot.com/2005/09/opportunity-and-poverty.html
There’s a different, interesting perspective on why many who could have left possibly did not, at http://www.ValentinoChronicle.com
The site is primarily concerned with Ohio 2nd Amendment issues, but the piece on “(something) Accountability” (sorry, can’t recall full title) is about media hype and crying wolf. Makes sense.
A couple of things you might want to sink your teeth into, LaShawn: Instapundit has links to the “Pork Buster” stuff, and there’s room to hope that enough blogger & constituent pressure on our elected reps can “Rather-ize” Congressional spending excesses(wouldn’t it be a shame to see the RINOs weep?).
My own current favorite is the Fair Tax Plan, but the powers-that-be want it buried: I’ve got some details, “16th Amendment R.I.P.” at:
http://home.earthlink.net/~mjwhitney1/index.html
and a link to Georgia Rep. Linder’s bill as well as a link to alternate tax reform, the flat tax.
Merry Whitney
The foremost authority on poverty and moral reform is author, Joel Schwartz. LaShawn, you should have this book on your wish list:
“Fighting Poverty with Virtue: Moral Reform and America’s Urban Poor, 1825-2000″—by Joel Schwartz
In the book, Schwartz talks about specific values: diligence, sobriety, and thrift…that should be taught—through mentoring and coaching.
In other words, you don’t throw money at a situation. Mentors, not money. Friends, not funds. Virtues-Values, not vice!
Some other authors/experts on poverty solutions:
Author Myron Magnet, “The Dream and the Nightmare: The Sixties’ Legacy to the Underclass”.
Author Marvin Olasky, “The Tragedy of American Compassion”.
Author Myron Magnet, in particular is the one who coined the phrases, the “undeserving” vs. the “deserving” poor.
In other words, why reward an unwed single mother who keeps birthing out-of-wedlock children?, that will also end up on the dole.
Instead, reward abstinence, thrift, marriage…and so forth.
We are absolutely supposed to judge the poor. We judge the rich.
I think that truth of God is one but it got corrupted as generations passed. I have a post at my website on why I think so. Do any of you agree?
Hi LaShawn,
I understand the feeling of being “in the doldrums” as well
.
I really appreciate how supportive you always are of new bloggers! I’ve found many interesting links to other sites thanks to your page.
Since you’ve kindly extended the invitation, I’d like to introduce myself. I’m a homeschooling mom (who also has a home business as a proofreader) who also has a serious news and blog reading habit
. I started blogging myself this summer — I post links and some commentary on eclectic topics including politics, homeschooling, education, and movies, with a little cooking thrown in here and there 
. I’d like to invite you and any of your readers to drop by, read, and/or say hello.
Thank you for the encouragement and the inspiration! With sincere thanks and best wishes — Laura
Joy,
The Truth of God I would have to agree, is the main reason. Romans chapter 1 comes to mind. Turning towards a lie (in varying forms). It reminds me of this years State of the Black Union (whatever). Jesse Jackson made a comment that he had ‘faith” (loosely) but it took the laws of man to change civiol rights…. Ummm, we see how backwards and wrong he is on that. I am checking out your post now.
Dawkins puts it in an easily understood nutshell:
“Natural selection is quintessentially non-random, yet it is lamentably often miscalled random. This one mistake underlies much of the sceptical backlash against evolution. Chance cannot explain life. Design is as bad an explanation as chance because it raises bigger questions than it answers. Evolution by natural selection is the only workable theory ever proposed that is capable of explaining life, and it does so brilliantly.”
http://pharyngula.org/index/science/comments/dawkins_explains_evolution/
Patm & others:
For the sake of clarity there are two Frank’s that have responded today to La Shawn – myself – plain Frank and Frank Zavisca. Patm addressed Frank: before with her response, yet I believe Patm meant to address Frank Zavisca as I said nothing in regards to the state or moral conditions of anyone. Just posting to clarify before everyone sends me comments about a post I did not make.
Thanks
“plain frank”
Interesting posts on homeschooling: link
La Shawn, I have just posted about the Katrina disaster and what it says about the welfare state as a whole. While the disaster did show us many awful things, most of all it showed the nasty underbelly of the welfare state and its decidedly cruel destruction of the basic values of individualism, self-reliance and survival in the communities where welfare has become a way of life and handouts have become the expectation…
http://44southstreet.blogspot.com/2005/09/hard-truth-about-katrina-and-welfare.html
I found the below interesting:
Book Aims to Teach Bible in School, Avoid Legal Woes
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,170166,00.html
I blogged about how the increased role of government is separating us from God if anyone is interested. I just got back into blogging
conservblack,
On my way
I am interested
I try to stay out of shooting Bible verses like avenging arrows, but I never set aside Paul’s entreaty to Timothy: “Preach the word, be urgent in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, and exhort, be unfailing in patience and in teaching” (2 Tim 4:2).
I looked at that glob of humanity left in New Orleans waiting for the bus to come pick them up and I was mostly stuck on “rebuke” and “exhort.”
What part of living below sea level in the face of a major, well publicized hurricane did these “victims” of natural selection not understand?
Some folks get so dependent on others that they will starve lying under the tree which is ripe with fruit, because no one has come by to pick it and put in their hands.
I refuse to believe that any resident of New Orleans without means or transportation who asked for help would have been refused the charity of Christian strangers. I do believe that many sat still, numbed by the endless narcotic of welfare, expecting “the government” to lift them to comfort as if by the wings of angels.
We are all guilty of giving so many the “gift” of total welfare expectations. Those people have actually lost the ability to act sensibly in the face of danger. The new slogan should be: “Common sense” is a terrible thing to waste.
Hi LaShawn, I’m relatively new to the blogosphere and couldn’t pass up your invitation to comment. I recently posted a satire entitled “Ted Kennedy’s America” on my site in response to his recent bloviations regarding Judge Roberts. I like your blog.
Sunday, while out walking my dog, I listened to a PBS show, done from the Astrodome. Three things really stood out. There was a woman from Colorado offering the following: a number of free homes for 6mos-1yr, free cars and insurance, groceries for a year, free schooling for all children, and two jobs per household. After two weeks, almost no families took her up on the offer from the private citizens of Colorado, and she left, with most of the donations unaccepted. Though the houses were beautiful, most of the evacuees said that they did not want to go anywhere cold and that the government would find them a place to stay. Then, the TV announcer went on a bus with a group to a lovely apartment complex in Houston. When the group was asked for a criminal background check, they became outraged. As the show progressed, it became apparent that all of them had criminal backgrounds and could not accept the offer of free apartments in the lovely complex. Many were screaming racism, even while admitting felonies. Today, my boss moved to a new apartment and had to fill out an extensive criminal background check. She was amazed that anyone would be surprised by this, as that is what people do normally. Lastly, the bus took them to another apartment complex that was run by Mexicans, which was lovely. A party had been laid out, with balloons and lots of food. All but one of the evacuees (who was in labor and desperate, she said) refused the offer, and on the way back, the bus erupted in Mexican slurs. The whole show was mind-boggling. On the one hand, everyone was calling it racism when an apartment complex tried to avoid being overrun with felons, and on the other hand, an entire busload of people were hurling slurs at Mexicans…..who treated them like royalty. This is sad.
jan brauner:
Dear Lord, we need a reality check on reality! Charity debases the giver and the receiver. Finally, the receiver becomes so debased that no giver can rise to the standard of the receiver.
How I loathe this thought, but I have experienced people brought so low in their status of “victim” that nothing short of Buckingham Palace and double duty welfare is beneath their “dignity.”
Any experienced fisherman (Christ?) will tell you that it is time to “cut bait and run.”
heliotrope;
You made me smile when I was lookin’for one. Great insights!
La Shawn,
Please don’t let yourself fall into the rut of believing you “can’t do anything about it”. Just touching on those things that the MSM is glossing over, if covering at all, helps to keep them in the forefront of other people’s minds. Your blog is kind of a ‘niche’ blog, but it is read by many people.
Until very recently in this country, the elite media had free reign in controlling the direction of the national political discussion, and by controlling the direction they also controlled the outcome. I’m not sure if ‘they’ have figured it out yet, but they are no longer in control — as long as so many people like you speak their minds.
I admire the courage and dedication you demonstrate on a regular basis in your blog. Whenever I ‘drop by’ I always find something that forces me to see things in a different perspective, and always feel like I have gained something in the process.
You do ‘do something’, And I, for one, thank you for it.
— Fret
“tomorrow I’m attending an all-day workshop to learn how to conduct research like a journalist”
Conduct research like a journalist? Is it soo late to get your money back? ‘Cuz I can give you the entire class is one sentence: Pull whatever you want to say out of your a** and call it “facts.”
At least that’s what the MSM “journalists” do.
“It’s pointless to rant and rave about something I have no control over. Politicians have and will always do what they want to do…”
I’ve felt that way for quite a while now La Shawn, to the point that I have felt that it’s fast approaching the point where the citizenry may have to take back their authority by force of arms.
It’s not at that juncture just yet, but unless we start paying attention and holding our elected officials accountable, it may reach it yet.
I do believe that the Fair Taxproposal might be one small step toward taking that authority back.
The power to tax is an awsome one, and as it stands now, the tax code is constantly being manipulated towards the benefit of the polititians, lobbyists, and major political contributors. The Fair Tax would end that scam and put the power of decision back into the hands of the people, where it belongs.
We are doing a study of the Sermon on the Mount. Last night we examined the verse that says “Blessed are they that mourn…” Within the study we learned that the concensus is that the kind of mourning referred to is mourning over sin and a great chapter on that is Ezekiel 9. We ended the class with a good discussion over the moral poverty that we have seen in our nation (particularly what we saw vividly in NO) and realized that God’s people should be in deep mourning for our Country and it’s moral and spiritual decay.
La Shawn, whenever I get depressed about anything, I just read Ecclesiastes, and somehow the winds die down, the seas are calm, and the harbor is in sight. God bless.
JoAnne,
Great analysis on what that verse in the Sermon on the Mount means. And yes…
“God’s people should be in deep mourning for our Country and it’s moral and spiritual decay.” AMEN!!
It goes hand in hand with 2 Chronicles 7:14:
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
La Shawn,
Perhaps a day of prayer and fasting for our nation and for the lost could be started with the Christian blogs spreading the word.
LaShawn,
I got to know you this summer because my son went to the Young Americas Foundation week in Washington. You are making a difference. I wish I had someone like you blogging back in 1982 when I struggled out of a tangle of feminist and liberal lies. You have inspired me to tell my story like you and Michelle and others do so beautifully. Today is my first day in the blogosphere! Read my story, The Liberated Feminist at kjcomments.blogspot.com. God Bless you, and let’s not grow weary in well doing!Gal. 6:9.
La Shawn,
I really like your blog, and I don’t read it as often as I should. I will definitely read your more now that you’re on PowerLineNews.
I get “politics fatigue” about once a week. I usually use the Lord’s Day (a.k.a. Sunday) to just forget about all that stuff as much as I can and concentrate on the worship of God, fellowship with the saints, and resting my mind and body. It’s a little piece of heaven that everyone should partake of each week.
Since I got married about two years ago, I have explicitly realized (with some relief) that there are other things out there that make up this life besides politics and government. Trying to find the other elemental components of life and culture on this earth grew in my mind over time and just this year gelled into a system of thought that I hope can encompass all aspects of human culture and existence within a Biblical framework.
I have established the structure of the paradigm on a website/blog at sevenrealms.org Much of my spare time is currently spent filling in that structure with news articles, opinion pieces, web pages for various institutions, and bible passages. What work I have done so far on the site has made me excited again about redeeming the culture for Christ. But it is a huge undertaking, and I’ve realized that I can’t do it alone. Come on over and look around, check out the gist and objective of the site, and help me out (send the contents of a blogroll, your thoughts, neat stuff on the web, relevant scripture passages, etc.) if you like what you see.
Thanks for the opportunity to do a little “advertising”.
My wife and I recently moved to get to Connecticut. We have found many new challenges to overcome. One of which (and the one I find most shocking) is joining a church.
My wife and I are both lifelong United Methodists, both growing up in small town conservatives United Methodist Churches in Arkansas. We are used to strong Sunday Schools and no (or at least very little) politics from the pulpit.
Upon moving to CT we were disappointed to discover that local area UMC’s do not have Sunday School during the summer…several had no adult classes at all. Having moved from the Dallas metro area we left a church of 3,500 members to find CT UMC’s averaging less than 200 at their weekly services.
The size and low key Sunday School are tolerable. However the one area that I am struggling with is the extreme liberal ideology of the New England (or at least CT) UMC.
Recently we were subjected to a sermon from the local UMC “DS” or district superintendent. All was going well…He was discussing the story of God turning Mose’s staff into a snake, and the faith required to pick up the snake before it turned back into a staff. He proceeded to lecture on how Christians should “pick up the snake” (i.e. have faith to make scary or hard decisions).
At this point the “DS” began to discuss “positive” examples of people “picking up the snake”. He began to discuss the “brave young mother” whose son was killed in Iraq, a “questionable war”…who was bold enough to try and hold the administration accountable.
Yes…I almost fell out of the pew…the District Superintendent was comparing Cindy Sheehan to Moses picking up the snake due to his faith in God. Had this been my first Sunday at the church I would have walked out then and there. This is politics in the pulpit at its worst. As a lifelong United Methodist, I am hurt that this kind of comparison can be made from the pulpit with a straight face.
As a person very new to New England (CT specifically) is this what the United Methodist Church has come to? Is this a common attitude? I am not (yet) ready to leave the church…and I certainly don’t want to withholding my financial support to the UMC…but it is really hard to support this type of ideology.
If anyone reading this has had similar situations in New England (or elsewhere) I would be interested in hearing about them, and how you dealt with it.
Chris Warren,
I responded over at your blog.
Chris;
My daughter goes to boarding school in Kent, CT..very liberal..
Also, it was really frustrating driving and trying to get reception on my radio….
Well, if you’re getting bored, you can always try WAXING POETIC about Rita, or your breakfast cereal, or something of the sort …
But then I supposed you’d have as few readers as me [[Grin]].
Sistah,
Did y’all hear that Grand Imperial Lizard, K. K. Farraklan, said that Bush and other “Jew inspired blue-eyed DEEEEEH-vuls” blew up that levee again.
Dang, we’re good.
Say it ain’t so
Please don’t burn out on us, La Shawn! Yours is a valuable voice.
Here is an article by Robert Dunn concerning liberal universities, endowments, and the redistribution of wealth that your readers might find interesting: http://www.taemag.com/issues/articleid.18722/article_detail.asp
I have commented on Louis Farrakhan’s most recent stupifying comments, and his traitorous activities in North Africa.
I’m impressed that the workshop you are attending is addressing data analysis and statistics. As an engineer with a good math education, I have been screaming for years about graphs and charts presented in the media that are so highly skewed as to be meaningless if not just plain intentionally wrong.
My blogging often covers media errors and inadequacies relative to the use of numbers and data.
As the old saying goes” “liars figure and figures lie…”
Keep up the great blogging
I just wanted to introduce myself with this very short, but relevant post. As a Christian, I am praying every day for Americans to turn back to God.
Whoever said “Beggars can’t be choosy” hasn’t meet a ‘welfare queen’. Only bling from Neiman Marcus will do… with OPM.
La Shawn, great stuff as usual.
Ciao
La Shawn’s a chick? Indigo Insights says she is cute too. La Shawn how about a photo album we can all browse through? Blogs are about sharing … ain’t they?
Click on my name for a discussion of why yesterday’s broken levee in New Orleans is a good thing.
I have an idea, La Shawn – let’s help out the Far Left out by suggesting new and exciting conspiracy theories!
Here’s one for starters: VP Cheney (assisted by Karl Rove and Richard Nixon) was controlling Rita from the secret Halliburton headquarters in Area 51 of Gitmo by using the Patriot Act and soggy Korans in an effort to exterminate all African-Americans, women, Latinos, union members, senior citizens, gays, environmentalists and peace moms in New Orleans. Or something to that effect.
(Hey, we live in Texas and I can joke about Rita now since my family and I made it through all right. Talk about relief! Thank God!)
Hi LaShawn,
Great blog you have here. Speaking of moral poverty in New Orleans, I have been writing extensively about the corruption in New Orleans and LA. It’s just amazing that they have the nerve to blame the federal government and President Bush.
Anyway, keep up the good work.
I want to invite everyone to browse my blog Right Thinking. It’s conservative thought and commentary from the viewpoint of a conservative Christian.
Another good link is that to English diarist Melanie Phillips.com at http://www.melaniephillips.com.
Her powerful columns on conservatism, “multiculturalism”, moral decline and ineffectual “conservatives” in the British context, are an eerie parallel to much of what LaShawn is saying. Just a short excerpt from her latest is shown below (shades of LaShawn’s digust with Republican “leadership”). Substitute Tory for Republican or Democrat for Labor and you get the idea. The “British Disease” may be coming to the US soon, if not already here. Check this hard-hitting woman out
What they missed entirely was that, unlike most politicians, Mr Blair had understood the great shift that had occurred and was in the forefront of the new politics. He thus presided over a cultural revolution — tearing up the British constitution; progressively undermining and then nationalising the family; reversing a century’s efforts against vice by liberalising drug law, drinking and gambling; changing the whole identity of the country through a covert policy of mass immigration and ruthlessly promoting multiculturalism; and weakening the nation and its founding values even more fundamentally by ceding more and more power to supra-national power-brokers such as the EU or human rights lawyers.
One would have thought that such a revolutionary programme which has left millions of British citizens aghast would provide a golden opportunity for an opposition party to draw up the clearest possible battle-lines and provide voters with a very clear choice between fundamentally conflicting political principles.
But because the Tories failed to grasp what had happened, and wallowed instead in the outrage of being deprived of their supposedly natural role as the party of government, and because these issues do bitterly divide the population, they became unsayable.
The issues that mattered most were therefore the ones about which no-one spoke. There was silence or only muted protest because they were considered too difficult or too risky, or because opposition politicians were competing to be Blair wannabes.
So there has been silence over the drift towards disaster of the economy; silence over the massive pensions scandal; silence over Europe; silence over immigration; silence over the disintegrating family. Instead we are subjected to a series of stage-managed seaside farces which will tell us little except who is up and who is down.
Is it surprising therefore that voters are so deeply disillusioned with politics and have turned off in droves?
What we are suffering from is a dearth of political leadership. There is no-one with a deeply held vision and the charisma to put it across that can galvanise the country. That is because the best and brightest no longer go into politics; and that is because this is no longer where the power is. Influence now lies elsewhere — because politicians have made the big issues off limits and because power has drained away to bodies such as the EU.
Both the assault on the country’s values and the consequent decline in political leadership are rooted in a profound loss of confidence in Britain as a nation. Only if politicians have the courage and vision to acknowledge this collapse and vigorously address it will political leadership return and politics will become interesting once again — and there will be at least a chance of halting our lethal democratic malaise.
brief excerpt: September 24, 2005
http://www.melaniephillips.com/articles/
—
The rally today in DC with testimonials to fallen sons, husbands, brothers, etc. has been a great inspiration to me. Can anyone explain the difference in voice quality between today’s speakers and yesterday’s? I think hate often does something unpleasant to one’s voice and sometimes to one’s writing.
Comments on this entry are closed.