My March 8, 2010 post told of how white Zimbabwean farmers were trying to claim land in South Africa. Here is a BBC story that follows up on that.
(As an aside, I read Martin Meredith's biography of Mugabe over the weekend. It is an excellent book!)
*****************************************
Zimbabwe Farmers Win SA Property
South African authorities have handed the ownership documents of a Cape Town house belonging to Zimbabwe's government to some Zimbabwean farmers.
The white farmers want compensation for the seizure of their land.
The government has two months to come up with money for legal fees incurred by the farmers in their compensation claim case or the house will be sold.
Last week, a South African court agreed with a regional court ruling that the violent land grabs were unlawful.
The ruling paved the way for farmers who lost property to file for compensation in South African courts.
Almost all white-owned land in Zimbabwe has been seized in the past 10 years.
Jets vulnerable
A sheriff of the court served notices on the residents of one of four Zimbabwean government-owned properties in Cape Town said to be worth millions of dollars.
"The people occupying the house told us that they are leasing it from the Zimbabwe government," the farmers' lawyer Willie Spies told the BBC.
"This makes this a commercial property which is therefore not protected by diplomatic immunity," he said.
He said the handing over of the ownership documents was a more of a symbolic gesture as the money from any auction would be used for legal fees.
But he said it showed it was possible to enforce legal principles against the Zimbabwean government in South Africa.
The BBC's Mohammed Allie in Cape Town says other non-diplomatic assets such as Air Zimbabwe jets are also vulnerable to be seized for compensation for lost farms.
In 2008, the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) court ruled that the group of more than 70 Zimbabwean farmers should be allowed to return to their farms unhindered.
Earlier this year, a Zimbabwe court rejected the farmers' attempt to enforce the Sadc tribunal's decision.
"Four hundred and 28 South African farmers, who owned farms in Zimbabwe were also victims of the land reform, they too are exploring means of compensation," Mr Spies said.
Despite the formation of a unity government in Zimbabwe a year ago, white farmers are still facing harassment.
Land reform is one of President Robert Mugabe's central policies but his critics say it has helped destroy the country's economy.
Under colonial rule, white farmers seized much of Zimbabwe's best land, forcing black farmers to less fertile areas.
Reversing this was one of the reasons for Zimbabweans taking up arms in the 1970s to end white minority rule.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/8594479.stm
Published: 2010/03/30 17:42:33 GMT
© BBC MMX
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Gloom, Despair, and Agony!
Just how bad is Wayne Rooney's injury? And the Chelsea match on Saturday. ARGH!!!!!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/m/man_utd/8595930.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/m/man_utd/8595930.stm
Coming to Grips with Post-Baby Boom American Christianity
Stephen Prothero's book American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Icon (New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2003) is must reading, in my opinion. If you're interested in that topic, take a look at my article American Christianity and Its Jesuses.
However, you might also be interested in a recent Prothero piece, which appeared in the March 29, 2010, USA Today. You can find it online here. But I've reprinted it in full below. It is a summary and interpretation of the the very significant Pew Study, Religion among the Millennials. I strongly suggest you read that piece, which you may find at http://pewforum.org/Age/Religion-Among-the-Millennials.aspx
*********************************************
Millennials Do Faith and Politics Their Way
By Stephen Prothero
According to the Pew Research Center, which recently released a massive new report on the Millennial generation, I am a pretty Millennial guy. On Pew's online "How Millennial Are You?" quiz, I scored 87 out of 100. I do not sport a tattoo, but I have a Facebook page, I text and the only phone I own is cellular. So though I was born in the 1960s, I am something of an honorary member of the Millennial generation, a demographic bubble that should have as much to say about the shape of American life in the next quarter-century as Baby Boomers did in the last.
Born after 1980, Millennials constitute the first generation to come of age in the new millennium. According to Pew, this cohort of teens and twenty-somethings is "confident, self-expressive, liberal, upbeat and open to change." But what of religion? What can this Millennial generation tell us about where American religion is going?
The core finding of Pew's "Religion Among the Millennials" report is that young Americans are "less religiously affiliated" than their elders. In fact, one in four of Americans ages 18 to 29 do not affiliate with any particular religious group. This is not entirely unexpected, since it is a sociological truism that young people cultivate some distance from the religious institutions of their parents, only to return to those institutions as they marry, raise children and slouch toward retirement. According to Pew, however, "Millennials are significantly more unaffiliated than members of Generation X were at a comparable point in their life cycle ... and twice as unaffiliated as Baby Boomers were as young adults."
This is an important finding because it provides strong evidence for the loosening of religion's grip on American life. Or does it?
No run toward atheism
One of the biggest errors made by observers of the rise of religious "nones" is mistaking the religiously unaffiliated for secularists.
As another Pew report rightly observes, however, "not belonging does not necessarily mean not believing." More than a third of the unaffiliated Millennials believe in God with absolute certainty, and nearly 20% report that they pray daily.
When it comes to religious beliefs, the Millennial generation as a whole looks a lot like the overall population. These young Americans are just as likely as older Americans to believe in life after death, heaven and miracles.
In short, there is cold comfort in this survey for those who want to see the popularity of atheism in bookstores spark a run on the churches. Only 3% of Millennials call themselves atheists. Apparently, those who don't want to affiliate with religion don't want to affiliate with atheism either.
When I asked my 16-year-old daughter about all this, she told me that her friends don't want to be "branded." Nobody her age wants to be seen as forcing religious or political views on friends, and declaring yourself a "Christian," "atheist," "Democrat," or "Republican" seems, well, pushy.
Religiously, the independent streak of this unbranded generation fuels the popularity of non-denominational alternatives to the once-venerable Methodist, Baptist and Catholic brands. If 7Up was The Uncola (remember that, Boomers?), these new churches are The Undenominations.
Politically, this same self-reliance drives young people into Unparties — outside-the-box movements such as the "Tea Party" (on the right) and the aborning "Coffee Party" (on the center-left). Whereas 25% of Millennials are religiously unaffiliated, 40% of registered Millennial voters refuse to call themselves either Democrats or Republicans.
Much of this revulsion to joining is perennially American, going beyond both Groucho Marx's refusal to join any group that would have him as a member and Thoreau's boast of marching to a "different drummer." But the late, great spate of partisan bickering among America's two major political parties has doubtless contributed to this recent scourge. If you are a teenager and you see so-called grown-ups conducting themselves the way Democratic and Republican politicians have in recent years, why would you want to have anything to do with the whole mess?
Others have read Pew's work on the Millennials as good news for both theological and political liberalism. Politically, two out of every three Millennials say they want "bigger government" with "more services." Theologically, Millennials are more likely than their parents and grandparents to say that there is more than one true way to interpret the teachings of their faith. On culture war questions, Millennials aren't quite pacifists, but they are far less interested in picking "family values" fights than their parents and grandparents have been. While only 47% of older Americans believe that homosexuality should be accepted by society, 63% of Millennials believe it should. No wonder the Millennials went 2-1 for Barack Obama in the 2008 election.
The new mix
This liberal turn will not necessarily convert young people into Democrats, however, because "Democrat," too, is a brand most Millennials are unwilling to call their own. Even so, the new data do lay bare the so-called new conservatism of Sarah Palin and the Tea Party not as the next new thing but as the last paroxysm of a spent revolution.
Both the Tea Party activists and their beloved Palin are as white as Alaskan snow, but the American population is increasingly brown; 19% of Millennials are Hispanic and 14% are black. No religious or political movement propelled by white rage (or for that matter by the fury of retirees) will have legs in the America this new generation is making.
One of the big stories of the past few decades in American religion has been the decline of the mainline denominations at the expense of evangelical megachurches. One of the big stories of the next few decades in American politics could be the decline of the major political parties at the expense of grassroots (and "cyberroots") initiatives. As Boomers yield power to Millennials, the political movements that succeed will look less like the Southern Baptist Convention and more like your local non-denominational church. They will be browner, more comfortable with rapid change, higher tech, more upbeat and unworried by tattoos.
Although the independence of the Millennials is often misread as apathy, my college students are deeply engaged both spiritually and politically. They care about things of the spirit, and they are eager both to vote and to volunteer. They are suspicious, however, of large, cookie-cutter organizations that want to corral and "brand" them. Do they trust people over 30? Absolutely. They just don't want to join their clubs, their political parties or their churches. They don't want a place at the table. They want a chat room of their own.
Stephen Prothero is a religion professor at Boston University and the author of the forthcoming book God is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World — and Why Their Differences Matter.
USA Today
March 29, 2010
However, you might also be interested in a recent Prothero piece, which appeared in the March 29, 2010, USA Today. You can find it online here. But I've reprinted it in full below. It is a summary and interpretation of the the very significant Pew Study, Religion among the Millennials. I strongly suggest you read that piece, which you may find at http://pewforum.org/Age/Religion-Among-the-Millennials.aspx
*********************************************
Millennials Do Faith and Politics Their Way
By Stephen Prothero
According to the Pew Research Center, which recently released a massive new report on the Millennial generation, I am a pretty Millennial guy. On Pew's online "How Millennial Are You?" quiz, I scored 87 out of 100. I do not sport a tattoo, but I have a Facebook page, I text and the only phone I own is cellular. So though I was born in the 1960s, I am something of an honorary member of the Millennial generation, a demographic bubble that should have as much to say about the shape of American life in the next quarter-century as Baby Boomers did in the last.
Born after 1980, Millennials constitute the first generation to come of age in the new millennium. According to Pew, this cohort of teens and twenty-somethings is "confident, self-expressive, liberal, upbeat and open to change." But what of religion? What can this Millennial generation tell us about where American religion is going?
The core finding of Pew's "Religion Among the Millennials" report is that young Americans are "less religiously affiliated" than their elders. In fact, one in four of Americans ages 18 to 29 do not affiliate with any particular religious group. This is not entirely unexpected, since it is a sociological truism that young people cultivate some distance from the religious institutions of their parents, only to return to those institutions as they marry, raise children and slouch toward retirement. According to Pew, however, "Millennials are significantly more unaffiliated than members of Generation X were at a comparable point in their life cycle ... and twice as unaffiliated as Baby Boomers were as young adults."
This is an important finding because it provides strong evidence for the loosening of religion's grip on American life. Or does it?
No run toward atheism
One of the biggest errors made by observers of the rise of religious "nones" is mistaking the religiously unaffiliated for secularists.
As another Pew report rightly observes, however, "not belonging does not necessarily mean not believing." More than a third of the unaffiliated Millennials believe in God with absolute certainty, and nearly 20% report that they pray daily.
When it comes to religious beliefs, the Millennial generation as a whole looks a lot like the overall population. These young Americans are just as likely as older Americans to believe in life after death, heaven and miracles.
In short, there is cold comfort in this survey for those who want to see the popularity of atheism in bookstores spark a run on the churches. Only 3% of Millennials call themselves atheists. Apparently, those who don't want to affiliate with religion don't want to affiliate with atheism either.
When I asked my 16-year-old daughter about all this, she told me that her friends don't want to be "branded." Nobody her age wants to be seen as forcing religious or political views on friends, and declaring yourself a "Christian," "atheist," "Democrat," or "Republican" seems, well, pushy.
Religiously, the independent streak of this unbranded generation fuels the popularity of non-denominational alternatives to the once-venerable Methodist, Baptist and Catholic brands. If 7Up was The Uncola (remember that, Boomers?), these new churches are The Undenominations.
Politically, this same self-reliance drives young people into Unparties — outside-the-box movements such as the "Tea Party" (on the right) and the aborning "Coffee Party" (on the center-left). Whereas 25% of Millennials are religiously unaffiliated, 40% of registered Millennial voters refuse to call themselves either Democrats or Republicans.
Much of this revulsion to joining is perennially American, going beyond both Groucho Marx's refusal to join any group that would have him as a member and Thoreau's boast of marching to a "different drummer." But the late, great spate of partisan bickering among America's two major political parties has doubtless contributed to this recent scourge. If you are a teenager and you see so-called grown-ups conducting themselves the way Democratic and Republican politicians have in recent years, why would you want to have anything to do with the whole mess?
Others have read Pew's work on the Millennials as good news for both theological and political liberalism. Politically, two out of every three Millennials say they want "bigger government" with "more services." Theologically, Millennials are more likely than their parents and grandparents to say that there is more than one true way to interpret the teachings of their faith. On culture war questions, Millennials aren't quite pacifists, but they are far less interested in picking "family values" fights than their parents and grandparents have been. While only 47% of older Americans believe that homosexuality should be accepted by society, 63% of Millennials believe it should. No wonder the Millennials went 2-1 for Barack Obama in the 2008 election.
The new mix
This liberal turn will not necessarily convert young people into Democrats, however, because "Democrat," too, is a brand most Millennials are unwilling to call their own. Even so, the new data do lay bare the so-called new conservatism of Sarah Palin and the Tea Party not as the next new thing but as the last paroxysm of a spent revolution.
Both the Tea Party activists and their beloved Palin are as white as Alaskan snow, but the American population is increasingly brown; 19% of Millennials are Hispanic and 14% are black. No religious or political movement propelled by white rage (or for that matter by the fury of retirees) will have legs in the America this new generation is making.
One of the big stories of the past few decades in American religion has been the decline of the mainline denominations at the expense of evangelical megachurches. One of the big stories of the next few decades in American politics could be the decline of the major political parties at the expense of grassroots (and "cyberroots") initiatives. As Boomers yield power to Millennials, the political movements that succeed will look less like the Southern Baptist Convention and more like your local non-denominational church. They will be browner, more comfortable with rapid change, higher tech, more upbeat and unworried by tattoos.
Although the independence of the Millennials is often misread as apathy, my college students are deeply engaged both spiritually and politically. They care about things of the spirit, and they are eager both to vote and to volunteer. They are suspicious, however, of large, cookie-cutter organizations that want to corral and "brand" them. Do they trust people over 30? Absolutely. They just don't want to join their clubs, their political parties or their churches. They don't want a place at the table. They want a chat room of their own.
Stephen Prothero is a religion professor at Boston University and the author of the forthcoming book God is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World — and Why Their Differences Matter.
USA Today
March 29, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Maintaining Our Collective Memory
During the nineteenth century, Allen County, Indiana, was one of the doorways through which German immigrants and settlers passed on their way into the "west." In fact, at one point the portage between the the Great Lakes watershed and the Gulf watershed on the southwest side of town was called "The Glorious Gate."
Not surprisingly, then, Fort Wayne/Allen County has a rich history and heritage. Sometimes that gets covered up. Twenty years ago there was great excitement when a lost, wooden lock was uncovered as I-469 was being built. The "Gronauer Lock" even got its own historical marker!
Just this week a lost piece of Allen County history was preserved for the future. Kevin Leininger's article in the News-Sentinel captures nicely the importance of such mundane things as cemetery's to our collective memories.
http://www.news-sentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/SE/20100324/NEWS/3240345
Churches should help maintain old cemetery
By Kevin Leininger
of The News-Sentinel
Anybody who's seen the film “Poltergeist” knows bad things can happen to people who build stuff on top of cemeteries.
So it may be a blessing – literally – that local businessman Don Stinson was the high bidder in Tuesday's auction of a 5-acre plot at Hartzell and Paulding roads that, despite its nondescript appearance, is believed to be the resting place of 42 southeast Allen County pioneers.
“I'm going to try to restore it. I've done it before (in Anderson), and it's fun and self-satisfying,” said Stinson, who paid $10,000 for the old Evangelical Lutheran Church Cemetery, which he hopes to donate to the Adams Township Trustee for ongoing maintenance when his project is complete.
The outcome particularly pleased State Rep. Phyllis Pond, who lives nearby. Before the auction she told anyone who would listen that, despite zoning that would allow the property to be used for a variety of industrial uses, state law protects the sanctity of historic cemeteries by obligating trustees to care for them after they are abandoned by their original owners.
And that's clearly what happened in this case, although some of the details are sketchy at best.
Records indicate the cemetery dates to at least 1860, when the cemetery was operated by the German Evangelical Lutheran Church, Ohio Synod.
Nobody's quite sure when the cemetery became inactive, but Pond said that, for some reason, county employees leveled most of the tombstones and grounds years ago – meaning few people without good memories or musty old documents even knew it had been a cemetery at all.
Until Pond and others living nearby noticed Wiegmann's auction sign and started spreading the word about the possible loss of local heritage.
“I've been living here (across the street) for 23 years, and it wasn't active then. We would have people stop by, looking for their (dead) relatives,” said Janet McEvoy, who rescued what is believed to be one of the cemetery's few surviving headstones: the marker for Ezra Burgess, who died Oct. 18, 1856, when he was less than 2 years old. Other markers, if they still exist, are buried along with the bodies – at least until Stinson can resurrect them.
“This land is nothing but a buy,” auctioneer Ron Wiegmann told the small crowd that gathered for the 6:30 p.m. sale. Rich Vinson, also of Wiegmann, said comparable land often sells for up to $6,000 per acre. He said the company had heard of the property's past as a cemetery, “but nobody can prove it.”
Even so, many of the people huddled on a muddy field in southeastern Allen County on Tuesday were sure of its history – and happy it will apparently be preserved.
“Cheers to Phyllis (Pond),” said Lynn Bradtmueller, who also lives nearby.
This would not be the first time local government has helped preserve a once-abandoned pioneer cemetery. In 2006, the Allen County Commissioners spent $20,000 on a culvert that bridged a ditch near an old cemetery south of Monroeville, providing the access that volunteers needed to restore the 160-year-old plot.
But with a weak economy stretching townships' ability to help people in need, “It's an interesting dilemma, a Catch-22,” said Adams Township Trustee Brian Yoh. “We've already had to reduce money for people needing help. But nobody's approached us yet (about maintaining the cemetery).”
Pond said it's appropriate for government to maintain the cemetery, if necessary. But she's right to suggest an even better alternative:
There are plenty of Lutheran churches in the area with ties to the original German congregation. Presumably, there are also a lot of people living in the area with ancestors buried in what are now unmarked, uncared-for and almost-forgotten graves.
If members of my immediate or church family were buried there, I'd be willing to help maintain the place once Stinson is done with it. I hope that's exactly what will happen.
If government is forced to choose between the living and the long-dead, it's really not much of a contest.
This column is the commentary of the writer and does not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of The News-Sentinel.
E-mail Kevin Leininger at kleininger @news-sentinel.com, or call him at 461-8355.
Not surprisingly, then, Fort Wayne/Allen County has a rich history and heritage. Sometimes that gets covered up. Twenty years ago there was great excitement when a lost, wooden lock was uncovered as I-469 was being built. The "Gronauer Lock" even got its own historical marker!
Just this week a lost piece of Allen County history was preserved for the future. Kevin Leininger's article in the News-Sentinel captures nicely the importance of such mundane things as cemetery's to our collective memories.
http://www.news-sentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/SE/20100324/NEWS/3240345
Churches should help maintain old cemetery
By Kevin Leininger
of The News-Sentinel
Anybody who's seen the film “Poltergeist” knows bad things can happen to people who build stuff on top of cemeteries.
So it may be a blessing – literally – that local businessman Don Stinson was the high bidder in Tuesday's auction of a 5-acre plot at Hartzell and Paulding roads that, despite its nondescript appearance, is believed to be the resting place of 42 southeast Allen County pioneers.
“I'm going to try to restore it. I've done it before (in Anderson), and it's fun and self-satisfying,” said Stinson, who paid $10,000 for the old Evangelical Lutheran Church Cemetery, which he hopes to donate to the Adams Township Trustee for ongoing maintenance when his project is complete.
The outcome particularly pleased State Rep. Phyllis Pond, who lives nearby. Before the auction she told anyone who would listen that, despite zoning that would allow the property to be used for a variety of industrial uses, state law protects the sanctity of historic cemeteries by obligating trustees to care for them after they are abandoned by their original owners.
And that's clearly what happened in this case, although some of the details are sketchy at best.
Records indicate the cemetery dates to at least 1860, when the cemetery was operated by the German Evangelical Lutheran Church, Ohio Synod.
Nobody's quite sure when the cemetery became inactive, but Pond said that, for some reason, county employees leveled most of the tombstones and grounds years ago – meaning few people without good memories or musty old documents even knew it had been a cemetery at all.
Until Pond and others living nearby noticed Wiegmann's auction sign and started spreading the word about the possible loss of local heritage.
“I've been living here (across the street) for 23 years, and it wasn't active then. We would have people stop by, looking for their (dead) relatives,” said Janet McEvoy, who rescued what is believed to be one of the cemetery's few surviving headstones: the marker for Ezra Burgess, who died Oct. 18, 1856, when he was less than 2 years old. Other markers, if they still exist, are buried along with the bodies – at least until Stinson can resurrect them.
“This land is nothing but a buy,” auctioneer Ron Wiegmann told the small crowd that gathered for the 6:30 p.m. sale. Rich Vinson, also of Wiegmann, said comparable land often sells for up to $6,000 per acre. He said the company had heard of the property's past as a cemetery, “but nobody can prove it.”
Even so, many of the people huddled on a muddy field in southeastern Allen County on Tuesday were sure of its history – and happy it will apparently be preserved.
“Cheers to Phyllis (Pond),” said Lynn Bradtmueller, who also lives nearby.
This would not be the first time local government has helped preserve a once-abandoned pioneer cemetery. In 2006, the Allen County Commissioners spent $20,000 on a culvert that bridged a ditch near an old cemetery south of Monroeville, providing the access that volunteers needed to restore the 160-year-old plot.
But with a weak economy stretching townships' ability to help people in need, “It's an interesting dilemma, a Catch-22,” said Adams Township Trustee Brian Yoh. “We've already had to reduce money for people needing help. But nobody's approached us yet (about maintaining the cemetery).”
Pond said it's appropriate for government to maintain the cemetery, if necessary. But she's right to suggest an even better alternative:
There are plenty of Lutheran churches in the area with ties to the original German congregation. Presumably, there are also a lot of people living in the area with ancestors buried in what are now unmarked, uncared-for and almost-forgotten graves.
If members of my immediate or church family were buried there, I'd be willing to help maintain the place once Stinson is done with it. I hope that's exactly what will happen.
If government is forced to choose between the living and the long-dead, it's really not much of a contest.
This column is the commentary of the writer and does not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of The News-Sentinel.
E-mail Kevin Leininger at kleininger @news-sentinel.com, or call him at 461-8355.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Incarnatus Est on Republicans on Healthcare
Here is a reproduction and link to Pastor Greg Alms's blog, where he reproduces an important perspective on what the recent vote on healthcare might mean for Republicans.
http://incarnatusest.blogspot.com/2010/03/healthcare-republican-waterloo.html
I don't do a lot of politics here but here is an intereting take on the healthcare bill just passed. Written by David Frum, a conservative, he focuses on what he sees as Republican failures in the process:
Some bits:
This time, when we went for all the marbles, we ended with none.
Could a deal have been reached? Who knows? But we do know that the gap between this plan and traditional Republican ideas is not very big. The Obama plan has a broad family resemblance to Mitt Romney’s Massachusetts plan. It builds on ideas developed at the Heritage Foundation in the early 1990s that formed the basis for Republican counter-proposals to Clintoncare in 1993-1994.
Barack Obama badly wanted Republican votes for his plan. Could we have leveraged his desire to align the plan more closely with conservative views? To finance it without redistributive taxes on productive enterprise – without weighing so heavily on small business – without expanding Medicaid? Too late now. They are all the law.
...
I’ve been on a soapbox for months now about the harm that our overheated talk is doing to us. Yes it mobilizes supporters – but by mobilizing them with hysterical accusations and pseudo-information, overheated talk has made it impossible for representatives to represent and elected leaders to lead. The real leaders are on TV and radio, and they have very different imperatives from people in government. Talk radio thrives on confrontation and recrimination. When Rush Limbaugh said that he wanted President Obama to fail, he was intelligently explaining his own interests. What he omitted to say – but what is equally true – is that he also wants Republicans to fail. If Republicans succeed – if they govern successfully in office and negotiate attractive compromises out of office – Rush’s listeners get less angry. And if they are less angry, they listen to the radio less, and hear fewer ads for Sleepnumber beds.
So today’s defeat for free-market economics and Republican values is a huge win for the conservative entertainment industry. Their listeners and viewers will now be even more enraged, even more frustrated, even more disappointed in everybody except the responsibility-free talkers on television and radio. For them, it’s mission accomplished. For the cause they purport to represent, it’s Waterloo all right: ours.
http://incarnatusest.blogspot.com/2010/03/healthcare-republican-waterloo.html
I don't do a lot of politics here but here is an intereting take on the healthcare bill just passed. Written by David Frum, a conservative, he focuses on what he sees as Republican failures in the process:
Some bits:
This time, when we went for all the marbles, we ended with none.
Could a deal have been reached? Who knows? But we do know that the gap between this plan and traditional Republican ideas is not very big. The Obama plan has a broad family resemblance to Mitt Romney’s Massachusetts plan. It builds on ideas developed at the Heritage Foundation in the early 1990s that formed the basis for Republican counter-proposals to Clintoncare in 1993-1994.
Barack Obama badly wanted Republican votes for his plan. Could we have leveraged his desire to align the plan more closely with conservative views? To finance it without redistributive taxes on productive enterprise – without weighing so heavily on small business – without expanding Medicaid? Too late now. They are all the law.
...
I’ve been on a soapbox for months now about the harm that our overheated talk is doing to us. Yes it mobilizes supporters – but by mobilizing them with hysterical accusations and pseudo-information, overheated talk has made it impossible for representatives to represent and elected leaders to lead. The real leaders are on TV and radio, and they have very different imperatives from people in government. Talk radio thrives on confrontation and recrimination. When Rush Limbaugh said that he wanted President Obama to fail, he was intelligently explaining his own interests. What he omitted to say – but what is equally true – is that he also wants Republicans to fail. If Republicans succeed – if they govern successfully in office and negotiate attractive compromises out of office – Rush’s listeners get less angry. And if they are less angry, they listen to the radio less, and hear fewer ads for Sleepnumber beds.
So today’s defeat for free-market economics and Republican values is a huge win for the conservative entertainment industry. Their listeners and viewers will now be even more enraged, even more frustrated, even more disappointed in everybody except the responsibility-free talkers on television and radio. For them, it’s mission accomplished. For the cause they purport to represent, it’s Waterloo all right: ours.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
The More Things Change: Capturing Wyneken's Vision for Today
http://www.lifeoftheworld.com/lotw/article.php?m_vol=14&m_num=1&a_num=1
The More Things Change: Capturing Wyneken's Vision for Today
By Dr. Lawrence R. Rast, Jr
An economy in collapse due to market speculation; bank failure; record unemployment; the housing market in a downward spiral-these all too human realities can make ministry challenging, to say the least! But I'm not talking about 2010. The Panic of 1837 challenged the youthful United States in ways it had never before experienced. The transition to a market capitalist system was largely complete, and speculators were taking advantage of the circumstances by making money via unbridled speculation. However, on May 10, 1837, the system collapsed when banks in New York City stopped payment in gold and silver. The result was a five-year depression. This was the context into which Friedrich Wyneken stepped.
This calendar year we recall the 200th anniversary of one of our seminary's founders, Friedrich Conrad Dietrich Wyneken (1810-1876). Born on May 13, 1810, Wyneken came to the United States at the age of 28, just at the time the U.S. was experiencing the first of its difficult periods of economic challenge. The human cost was immense and, as immigrants arrived to find there were no jobs, they were driven to the western frontier-places like Fort Wayne, Indiana. That was where, in the late summer of 1838, Wyneken began to gather these hardscrabble settlers together into Lutheran congregations.
Wyneken traveled widely throughout Indiana, Ohio and Michigan, where he found similar unfortunate circumstances. German immigrants were going without any meaningful spiritual care. If preachers were even present, many times they were from traditions that claimed that Lutheran doctrine was false and that baptism did not give the forgiveness of sins. Worst of all was when these positions were taken by those who claimed the name Lutheran! It didn't take Wyneken long to realize that the situation was dire indeed. The spiritual lives of thousands of Lutherans were in danger.
How could one man do much in the face of such challenges? In 1843 he published The Distress of the German Lutherans in North America-a call to Germany to "come over and help us." This short piece helped introduce Germans to the plight of the immigrants in the United States.
Now to the misery in the dense forests of the wide west through which, and on the wide prairies over which the German immigrants have poured like a mighty stream. Singly or in small groups our brethren settle in the forest with wife and child, often having no neighbors, and even if they do have some in the vicinity, they are separated from each other by the dense forest, so that they know nothing about each other. Now come, enter the [log cabins] of your brothers. See, brethren, how they, men, women and children, have to work hard to cut down the giant trees, to clear out the underbrush, to plow and to plant, for their meager finances are disappearing or are already gone. ... Clothing and shoes are also wearing out and winter is at hand! No wonder, then, that everyone is working to secure what is indispensable for the body. There is no difference between Sunday and weekday, particularly since here no bells call the people to church services and the festively dressed neighbor does not stop by to pick up his friend. It is no wonder at all if tired limbs are stretched out on the bed without a prayer being said, and that their misery drives them out again and back to work without a prayer. ... No preacher comes to shake them out of their worldly striving and thinking, and the voice of the sweet Gospel has not been heard for a long time.
Through his pleas for help funds were raised and men were moved to offer themselves for the ministry. Wyneken first tutored students for ministry in his parsonage and later worked with Wilhelm Löehe and Wilhelm Sihler to establish Concordia Theological Seminary in October 1846 to provide missionary pastors to teach the faithful, reach the lost and care for all.
This all sounds somewhat familiar, doesn't it? Economic hardship, record unemployment, distressed immigrant communities, lack of pastors -we hear of all of these things almost daily. At the same time, while today's themes echo the past, there is also the reality of radical differences between yesterday and today. Transportation, technology and culture-all have changed dramatically. It took Wyneken a month to get from Pittsburgh to Fort Wayne in 1838; today one can make the same drive in much less than half a day. Letters took weeks to make their way to their intended recipient and return; today e-mail is instantaneous. Wyneken's diaries have been translated but only partially published; today blogs and Twitter tell us more than we want to know about what people are doing!
Similar themes, different circumstances. The need for the preaching of God's Word-and for the preparation of faithful preachers of the Gospel-remains as pressing today as it was in Wyneken's time.
Thousands of families, your fellow believers, perhaps even your brothers and sisters in the flesh, are hungry for the Gospel's powerful food. They implore you, crying out in distress: "Oh, help us! Give us preachers who will strengthen us with the Bread of Life, who will build us up with the Word of the Lord, who will instruct our children in Jesus' holy teachings! Oh help us, or we are lost!"
In the demanding context of 2010, Concordia Theological Seminary remains faithful to Wyneken's founding vision, even while recognizing the rapidity of change that theological education is presently experiencing. In these circumstances, Wyneken's vision continues to inspire our seminary as it carries out its mission.
I beg you, God willing, take up the work and quickly walk together! Stop conferring about it! Hurry! Hurry! All that matters is that there are eternal souls to redeem!
Dr. Lawrence R. Rast, Jr., serves as Academic Dean and Professor of Historical Theology at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana.
The More Things Change: Capturing Wyneken's Vision for Today
By Dr. Lawrence R. Rast, Jr
An economy in collapse due to market speculation; bank failure; record unemployment; the housing market in a downward spiral-these all too human realities can make ministry challenging, to say the least! But I'm not talking about 2010. The Panic of 1837 challenged the youthful United States in ways it had never before experienced. The transition to a market capitalist system was largely complete, and speculators were taking advantage of the circumstances by making money via unbridled speculation. However, on May 10, 1837, the system collapsed when banks in New York City stopped payment in gold and silver. The result was a five-year depression. This was the context into which Friedrich Wyneken stepped.
This calendar year we recall the 200th anniversary of one of our seminary's founders, Friedrich Conrad Dietrich Wyneken (1810-1876). Born on May 13, 1810, Wyneken came to the United States at the age of 28, just at the time the U.S. was experiencing the first of its difficult periods of economic challenge. The human cost was immense and, as immigrants arrived to find there were no jobs, they were driven to the western frontier-places like Fort Wayne, Indiana. That was where, in the late summer of 1838, Wyneken began to gather these hardscrabble settlers together into Lutheran congregations.
Wyneken traveled widely throughout Indiana, Ohio and Michigan, where he found similar unfortunate circumstances. German immigrants were going without any meaningful spiritual care. If preachers were even present, many times they were from traditions that claimed that Lutheran doctrine was false and that baptism did not give the forgiveness of sins. Worst of all was when these positions were taken by those who claimed the name Lutheran! It didn't take Wyneken long to realize that the situation was dire indeed. The spiritual lives of thousands of Lutherans were in danger.
How could one man do much in the face of such challenges? In 1843 he published The Distress of the German Lutherans in North America-a call to Germany to "come over and help us." This short piece helped introduce Germans to the plight of the immigrants in the United States.
Now to the misery in the dense forests of the wide west through which, and on the wide prairies over which the German immigrants have poured like a mighty stream. Singly or in small groups our brethren settle in the forest with wife and child, often having no neighbors, and even if they do have some in the vicinity, they are separated from each other by the dense forest, so that they know nothing about each other. Now come, enter the [log cabins] of your brothers. See, brethren, how they, men, women and children, have to work hard to cut down the giant trees, to clear out the underbrush, to plow and to plant, for their meager finances are disappearing or are already gone. ... Clothing and shoes are also wearing out and winter is at hand! No wonder, then, that everyone is working to secure what is indispensable for the body. There is no difference between Sunday and weekday, particularly since here no bells call the people to church services and the festively dressed neighbor does not stop by to pick up his friend. It is no wonder at all if tired limbs are stretched out on the bed without a prayer being said, and that their misery drives them out again and back to work without a prayer. ... No preacher comes to shake them out of their worldly striving and thinking, and the voice of the sweet Gospel has not been heard for a long time.
Through his pleas for help funds were raised and men were moved to offer themselves for the ministry. Wyneken first tutored students for ministry in his parsonage and later worked with Wilhelm Löehe and Wilhelm Sihler to establish Concordia Theological Seminary in October 1846 to provide missionary pastors to teach the faithful, reach the lost and care for all.
This all sounds somewhat familiar, doesn't it? Economic hardship, record unemployment, distressed immigrant communities, lack of pastors -we hear of all of these things almost daily. At the same time, while today's themes echo the past, there is also the reality of radical differences between yesterday and today. Transportation, technology and culture-all have changed dramatically. It took Wyneken a month to get from Pittsburgh to Fort Wayne in 1838; today one can make the same drive in much less than half a day. Letters took weeks to make their way to their intended recipient and return; today e-mail is instantaneous. Wyneken's diaries have been translated but only partially published; today blogs and Twitter tell us more than we want to know about what people are doing!
Similar themes, different circumstances. The need for the preaching of God's Word-and for the preparation of faithful preachers of the Gospel-remains as pressing today as it was in Wyneken's time.
Thousands of families, your fellow believers, perhaps even your brothers and sisters in the flesh, are hungry for the Gospel's powerful food. They implore you, crying out in distress: "Oh, help us! Give us preachers who will strengthen us with the Bread of Life, who will build us up with the Word of the Lord, who will instruct our children in Jesus' holy teachings! Oh help us, or we are lost!"
In the demanding context of 2010, Concordia Theological Seminary remains faithful to Wyneken's founding vision, even while recognizing the rapidity of change that theological education is presently experiencing. In these circumstances, Wyneken's vision continues to inspire our seminary as it carries out its mission.
I beg you, God willing, take up the work and quickly walk together! Stop conferring about it! Hurry! Hurry! All that matters is that there are eternal souls to redeem!
Dr. Lawrence R. Rast, Jr., serves as Academic Dean and Professor of Historical Theology at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
The Art of Herding Cats
Academic Deans like to joke about "herding cats." Well, check this out...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_MaJDK3VNE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_MaJDK3VNE
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Egress under Duress
In through the out door? No, it's not a Led Zeppelin album--it's a question of egress under duress. What's the best way to point someone out of a building in an emergency? Does the red EXIT sign work better than the green man running, or vice versa? Here's an interesting article that touches on this question.
The Big Red Word vs. the Little Green Man: The international war over exit signs
By Julia Turner
Posted Monday, March 8, 2010, at 4:01 PM ET
The Big Red Word vs. the Little Green Man: The international war over exit signs
By Julia Turner
Posted Monday, March 8, 2010, at 4:01 PM ET
Don Fardon -- "I'm Alive"
Just about every band has recorded this song--or at least they should have--from Tommy James and the Shonedells to Tom Jones. But I like this version. Coupled with period shots from the 60s, this makes for a great video.
The original is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgzRgLRuKt0
The original is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgzRgLRuKt0
Monday, March 08, 2010
Zimbabwe's White Farmers Plan to Seize Government Property
This story from the Guardian tells of the attempts of white farmers from Zimbabwe to seize lands in South Africa. For a remarkable telling of this story from the perspective of one family, see Douglas Rogers' book, The Last Resort
Here is the article.
****************************************************
White Zimbabwean farmers whose land was grabbed by Robert Mugabe plan to turn the tables by seizing Zimbabwean-owned property in South Africa.
By Peta Thornycroft in Harare and Sebastien Berger In Johannesburg
Published: 7:00AM GMT 07 Mar 2010
Lawyers for dispossessed farmers believe that on Monday they will be able to start using the law to seize houses in Cape Town which are owned by the Zimbabwean government. Their action, which follows a landmark legal ruling, promises to humiliate Mr Mugabe and embarrass South Africa's president Jacob Zuma, who was on a state visit to Britain last week.
The battle for justice fought by one of the white farmers, Mike Campbell, aged 77, was featured in the documentary film Mugabe and the White African. It was shown in British cinemas this year to great acclaim.
Mr Campbell won a victory when the court ruled that Mr Mugabe's farm takeovers were racist in nature and therefore illegal.
At the North Gauteng High Court in the South African capital Pretoria last month, the farmers successfully applied for the Namibian judgement to be enforced in South Africa.
Lawyers acting for the Mr Campbell and a group of other farmers believe after that ruling they can seize Zimbabwean government-owned property, to recover legal costs from the South African case.
Mr Campbell, who was severely beaten by land invaders in 2008, was too frail to comment yesterday. But his son-in-law Ben Freeth, 41, said: "This is not about revenge. This is about the long arm of the law.
"We hope to expand our actions further and investigate whether we can, in time, sue individuals who were responsible for what has been going on."
Late last year Mr Freeth watched helplessly as thugs burned down his farmhouse in Zimbabwe.
Their representatives have identified at least 11 properties which are owned by the government of Zimbabwe, including houses in Cape Town worth hundreds of thousands of pounds. Unlike properties in Pretoria which are connected to the embassy, the Cape Town properties are thought not to be protected by diplomatic immunity.
The lawyers say it will be a groundbreaking development, as they are not aware of any precedent for government-owned properties being seized in pursuit of a civil judgement.
The timing is awkward for Mr Zuma. This week the South African president called for Western sanctions to be lifted against Mr Mugabe and his cronies, during a state visit to Britain. The EU recently renewed sanctions for another year, although Western officials point out the sanctions hit only only specific regime members rather than the Zimbabwean people as a whole.
The former opposition Movement for Democratic Change went into a coalition with Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF party just over a year ago, but the agreement has been beset by difficulties. At one point the MDC boycotted cabinet meetings for several weeks, blaming obstructionism by Zanu-PF.
In the meantime seizures of white-owned farms have continued.
The SADC tribunal has yet to set an amount to be paid in compensation, but the lawyers say they are already able to seek the seizures to recover costs in connection with the court hearing in South Africa, estimated at about £12,000.
Willie Spies, the lead South African lawyer in the case, said it would be almost impossible for the Zimbabwean government to appeal against the seizures as it had not contested the North Gauteng court ruling.
The South African government was not a party to the proceedings, he added, and while technically it could apply for judicial review it would be in a "moral predicament" if it tried to do so, as in a separate case last year it had formally agreed to "honour and uphold" the SADC tribunal verdict.
"It's going to be a very interesting test for the independence of our sheriffs and for the South African government," he said.
The ruling has not been enforceable in Zimbabwe.
Senior Zanu-PF officials have sought to dismiss the significance of the legal proceedings. They have claimed that the SADC tribunal did not have jurisdiction over Zimbabwe, even though the nation is a member of the organisation and government lawyers appeared in court to defend it.
At the time of the SADC tribunal ruling, the then minister of lands, Didymus Mutasa, said: "They are day-dreaming because we are not going to reverse the land reform exercise."
Patrick Chinamasa, Zimbabwe's justice minister, could not be reached for comment on the latest developments.
************************************
You can find the original of this article here
Here is the article.
****************************************************
White Zimbabwean farmers whose land was grabbed by Robert Mugabe plan to turn the tables by seizing Zimbabwean-owned property in South Africa.
By Peta Thornycroft in Harare and Sebastien Berger In Johannesburg
Published: 7:00AM GMT 07 Mar 2010
Lawyers for dispossessed farmers believe that on Monday they will be able to start using the law to seize houses in Cape Town which are owned by the Zimbabwean government. Their action, which follows a landmark legal ruling, promises to humiliate Mr Mugabe and embarrass South Africa's president Jacob Zuma, who was on a state visit to Britain last week.
The battle for justice fought by one of the white farmers, Mike Campbell, aged 77, was featured in the documentary film Mugabe and the White African. It was shown in British cinemas this year to great acclaim.
Mr Campbell won a victory when the court ruled that Mr Mugabe's farm takeovers were racist in nature and therefore illegal.
At the North Gauteng High Court in the South African capital Pretoria last month, the farmers successfully applied for the Namibian judgement to be enforced in South Africa.
Lawyers acting for the Mr Campbell and a group of other farmers believe after that ruling they can seize Zimbabwean government-owned property, to recover legal costs from the South African case.
Mr Campbell, who was severely beaten by land invaders in 2008, was too frail to comment yesterday. But his son-in-law Ben Freeth, 41, said: "This is not about revenge. This is about the long arm of the law.
"We hope to expand our actions further and investigate whether we can, in time, sue individuals who were responsible for what has been going on."
Late last year Mr Freeth watched helplessly as thugs burned down his farmhouse in Zimbabwe.
Their representatives have identified at least 11 properties which are owned by the government of Zimbabwe, including houses in Cape Town worth hundreds of thousands of pounds. Unlike properties in Pretoria which are connected to the embassy, the Cape Town properties are thought not to be protected by diplomatic immunity.
The lawyers say it will be a groundbreaking development, as they are not aware of any precedent for government-owned properties being seized in pursuit of a civil judgement.
The timing is awkward for Mr Zuma. This week the South African president called for Western sanctions to be lifted against Mr Mugabe and his cronies, during a state visit to Britain. The EU recently renewed sanctions for another year, although Western officials point out the sanctions hit only only specific regime members rather than the Zimbabwean people as a whole.
The former opposition Movement for Democratic Change went into a coalition with Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF party just over a year ago, but the agreement has been beset by difficulties. At one point the MDC boycotted cabinet meetings for several weeks, blaming obstructionism by Zanu-PF.
In the meantime seizures of white-owned farms have continued.
The SADC tribunal has yet to set an amount to be paid in compensation, but the lawyers say they are already able to seek the seizures to recover costs in connection with the court hearing in South Africa, estimated at about £12,000.
Willie Spies, the lead South African lawyer in the case, said it would be almost impossible for the Zimbabwean government to appeal against the seizures as it had not contested the North Gauteng court ruling.
The South African government was not a party to the proceedings, he added, and while technically it could apply for judicial review it would be in a "moral predicament" if it tried to do so, as in a separate case last year it had formally agreed to "honour and uphold" the SADC tribunal verdict.
"It's going to be a very interesting test for the independence of our sheriffs and for the South African government," he said.
The ruling has not been enforceable in Zimbabwe.
Senior Zanu-PF officials have sought to dismiss the significance of the legal proceedings. They have claimed that the SADC tribunal did not have jurisdiction over Zimbabwe, even though the nation is a member of the organisation and government lawyers appeared in court to defend it.
At the time of the SADC tribunal ruling, the then minister of lands, Didymus Mutasa, said: "They are day-dreaming because we are not going to reverse the land reform exercise."
Patrick Chinamasa, Zimbabwe's justice minister, could not be reached for comment on the latest developments.
************************************
You can find the original of this article here
Conflict in the LCMS
Television public affairs program from KMOX related to the conflict in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod resulting in the split forming Christ Seminary in Exile - Seminex in 1974.
Conflict at Concordia
Television public affairs program from KTVI related to the conflict in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod resulting in the split forming Christ Seminary in Exile - Seminex in 1974.
Sunday, March 07, 2010
ELCA Archives -- Theater
The archives of The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America offers a marvelous historical service by providing a number of films on its website. Drawn from the middle and latter twentieth century, these films touch on mission, theology, the Lutheran World Federation, and difficulties in The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod, among other themes.
The Seminex stuff is dynamite. However, I must admit that my favorite is "The Difference"--a movie that encourages young people to attend Lutheran colleges because of "the difference." It is a great time piece! Watch it and tell me, just what is the difference? (With thanks to Dr. Walter Sundberg for putting me on to the movie in the first place!)
The listing of viewable films may be found here at the ELCA archives
Enjoy!
The Seminex stuff is dynamite. However, I must admit that my favorite is "The Difference"--a movie that encourages young people to attend Lutheran colleges because of "the difference." It is a great time piece! Watch it and tell me, just what is the difference? (With thanks to Dr. Walter Sundberg for putting me on to the movie in the first place!)
The listing of viewable films may be found here at the ELCA archives
Enjoy!
Seminex -- Sent
A documentary promoting Seminex, Christ Seminary in Exile, which resulted from a split in Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, a seminary of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. The Seminex controversy was the impetus behind the formation of the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches, an ancestor body of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, ca. 1978.
Saturday, March 06, 2010
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