Please watch and share these trailer videos about the activities of the Koch Brothers to undermine important functions of our Americans government for their own profit.
Apr 252012
Apr 252012
It has been suggested that I sound “too preachy.” Yeah, that should have been expected. Let me introduce myself a little more to those of my neighbors who, so far, have only smiled and waved.
As you probably have noticed, there’s nothing like a conservative preacher, any teacher, or a flaming liberal, to tell you just how things ought to be.
First, I was actually the closest thing to a conservative preacher in my young manhood. I was raised in a fundamentalist, evangelical Christian faith that believed in the ordination of all lay ministers. During that time, I led adult Bible study groups every week for years. For the record, the brotherhood and I eventually saw fit to part ways.
Second, I have also regularly taught children and adults. I spent almost two decades in computer work for Amoco Oil Company, where I designed and led many technical classes. Next, I spent a decade as an herbalist – telling people how to live. I was also a substitute teacher for several years and am married to a career public school teacher.
While I was with Amoco, they gave me a series of career-development psychology tests. In one of them, my top two archetype identifications were found to be “Evangelist” and “Warrior.” That was tough news for someone with social anxieties.
The counselor had a hard time putting his finger on my potential. He mumbled his way through the obvious, but I knew he was thinking: missionary to the heathens, tilting at windmills, and questing hero. In the end, Amoco buried me deep in the corners of several computer rooms. I managed to make trouble anyway.
And finally, in case you haven’t noticed, I’ve become that odd duck in the middle of rural Iowa, a flaming liberal. Find me a tree and I’ll hug it. Fear not, my good neighbors. I am a gentle soul and, as my wife says, “the nicest man I’ve ever met.” I’ll put it out there and you can buy it or not. I quit putting my foot in actual doors a long time ago. Love, DavidS
Apr 192012
Apr 172012
I
would like to say a few nice things about the Girl Scouts.
In recent news, Bob Morris, A conservative State Representative from Indiana, made headlines by writing in a letter that the Girl Scouts were “quickly becoming a tactical arm of Planned Parenthood” and were being “subverted in the name of liberal progressive politics and the destruction of the traditional American family values.” There is more, but it starts to get truly ugly.
The fact of the matter is that the Girl Scouts are a fine, conservative, 100-year old organization with the ambition to: “help girls develop self-confidence and good decision-making skills that will help them make wise choices in all areas of their lives.” They believe that girls deserve to be educated, informed, and involved in society – that they should be “given the opportunity to develop physically, mentally, and spiritually.”
Naturally, we have to understand that, 100 years ago, these were all radical, liberal, progressive notions. In America, women weren’t allowed the right to vote until 1920. They were often expected to remain “barefoot and pregnant” or be the “perfect housekeeper” until well into the 1950s (or even later, depending on where you live.)
The first Girls Scout meeting was organized on March 12, 1912 when Juliette Gordon Low brought eighteen girls together. One hundred years later, 2012 is “The Year of the Girl.” It is estimated that 50 million women in the United States today have been Girl Scouts.
Last year, I had occasion to take a picture of our local troop. They insisted that the American flag, along with their Promise and Law be displayed with them.
The Girl Scout Law is: “I will do my best to be honest and fair, friendly and helpful, considerate and caring, courageous and strong, and responsible for what I say and do, and to respect myself and others, respect authority, use resources wisely, make the world a better place, and be a sister to every Girl Scout.”
I think that we should honor and support these traditions and values of Girl Scouts locally and nationally.
©2012, David Satterlee
Apr 112012
@ChumForThought – By David Satterlee – Throwing ideas into dangerous waters
It has been a week for contemplating Matthew 12:34, where Jesus pointed out that, “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.” We continue to be witness to speech and actions of intense hate, cruelty, and outright evil.
I like to think that I am optimistic and frequently take note of good things and of how many things are getting better. In fact, I hope to start many columns with the words, “Things are getting better.”
This week, I watched a recording of Representative John Sullivan from Oklahoma at a town hall meeting. He implicitly threatened Democratic Senators: “You know, but other than me going over there with a gun and holding it to their heads and maybe killing a couple of them, I don’t think they’re going to listen unless they get beat.” [He later apologized.]
Memories from just over a year ago came flooding back. Democratic U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head at point blank range by an anti-government activist. Eighteen other people were also shot and six of them died.
I was reminded of how that year was thick with the coded language of “second amendment remedies.” Sarah Palin’s PAC had published a political action “target map” showing Giffords’ district in the crosshairs of a gun. The Pima Arizona County Sheriff expressed concerns that the pervasive rhetoric of anger, hatred, prejudice, and bigotry had contributed to Giffords’ shooting.
A brief Internet search shows that there are at least six different versions of “Liberal Hunting Permit” circulating – usually with no bag limit.
Don’t even try to tell me that this is harmless rhetoric. This is Real. This is Immediate. This is Personal. This is Evil. I lived in south Texas when James Byrd, Jr. was lynched not so very long ago. He was tied with chains to the back of a pickup truck and dragged to death near Jasper, Texas.
Fear and hate in our hearts and hands are not yet gone from our nation. So, let us take a stand for the fruitages of the spirit. May our hearts be open to abundant love, joy, peace…
©2012, David Satterlee
Apr 102012
@ChumForThought – By David Satterlee – Throwing ideas into dangerous waters
“No man is an island.” Communities are the foundation of civilization. It is almost impossible to be entirely self-sufficient. We need each other for our variety of abilities, interests, and ideas. Our individual differences make us stronger as a group.
Farmers understand that monoculture crops require extra care because they are more vulnerable to disease and disaster. Colonies of single-cell bacteria do not need diversity in the same way because they just reproduce rapidly to consume whatever they find and then die back.
For people, it is easiest to create communities when everyone shares mostly the same values. But, the more we isolate ourselves from others who are different in some way, the more extreme, intolerant, and fragile, our group becomes.
In the natural environment, thousands of different plants and animals work together to fix nitrogen, provide shade, hold soil from erosion, cross pollinate, and such. Our human communities also prosper when they embrace diversity.
Communities do not allow unlimited personal freedoms. In fact, one of the properties of communities is that they are intrusive and coercive. People in communities voluntarily give up some individual liberties and, in the spirit of Ephesians 5:21, “submit to one another” for the common good.
For instance, if you catch my child throwing rocks and breaking windows, I should appreciate, or at lease accept it, if you bring him to me, explain the problem, and expect me to disciplined and correct him.
As communications tools and speeds rapidly increase in our modern world, we find ourselves to be involved in larger and larger communities of interests and communities of relationships. This can be fearful for those who prefer the comfortable memory of things like they used to be.
Nonetheless, we are obliged to keep on extending ourselves to understand, or at least accept, that we are all in this together and that the Golden Rule works both ways.
©2012, David Satterlee
Apr 102012
@ChumForThought – By David Satterlee – Throwing ideas into dangerous waters
“Chum” is the word for chopped fish that is thrown overboard to attract other fish – and especially sharks. Ideas are like chum for thought.
I believe that comparing ideas can be a force for good that attracts us to each other. Strangers often become friends as they talk and work together, uniting to solve mutual problems.
Many people like to avoid controversy like they would avoid swimming with sharks. You hear friends say “let’s talk about anything but politics and religion.” That’s completely understandable, and if a friend tells me that, I’ll be the first one to back off and respect their need for comfort without confrontation or fear.
However, as Proverbs 27:17 says, “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” I think it is good to compare notes and discuss ideas. We make both ourselves and our companion better for the time we spend trying to understand each other.
We become enemies by withdrawing and refusing to talk, empathize, think, or compromise. People who can’t talk together become suspicious and divided. They become fearful and hateful. They often resort to war to resolve their differences. Unthinking alienation is not the path to peace, security, and brotherhood.
The ability to communicate about issues, including our values, is what draws us together as friends, families, and communities. When we can communicate, we can work together to solve problems. We can unite for common goals and for our common good.
I believe that we become better people when we chose to compare and discuss ideas. It can useful to know what is going on and discuss events. But, it is often pointed out that gossip, by only discussing people, can be damaging. Coming together about ideas is best.
This column will focus on the practical side of practicing “peace on earth and goodwill toward men.” I hope that you will find it to be encouraging and thought provoking… chum for thought.
©2012, David Satterlee
Apr 102012
I was discussing the concept of “developmental levels of worldview” with a friend. She keep wanting to imagine that my description of a hierarchical, predictable sequence of developmental stages suggested increasing “smartness” or “betterness.” I was having trouble getting across the ideas that any worldview stage is perfectly fine so long as it serves the needs of your current circumstances and does not oppress others.
Eventually, I suggested that progressive developmental levels was like a progressive experience of elephants:
[This does not accurately represent my belief system; it’s just an imaginary hierarchy of experience.]
- What’s an elpherbunt? (simply no clue)
- I have heard of elephants.
- I have read a story about elephants. (unable to independently anticipate the experience of an elephant’s subsonic rumbles)
- I have seen an elephant at the circus.
- I have watched elephants at the zoo. (the most common limit to likely developmental stages)
- I have lived with elephants in the wild. (few people would even imagine that anything more was possible)
- I have memories of being an elephant.
- I have always been an elephant. (few elephants would even imagine that anything more was possible)
- I am the race memory of all elephants.
- I Am that I Am. (God’s description of himself in Exodus)
Each stage is adequate for the needs of certain individuals in certain circumstances.
At each stage, some greater [effort or] involvement has been achieved to have had a larger understanding.
At each stage, it is difficult to explain the experience adequately to some who has not been there.
At each stage, it is difficult to imagine the richness of knowing involved in additional stages.
I’m not suggesting that all of these stages are actually plausible for an individual. But, then again, how could you actually be certain of that unless you were I Am?