Library – stack B
"With your drums and guns and drums and guns, hurroo, hurroo...."
Well, I was going to write an essay on the horrors of war. But why bother to re-invent
the wheel. Anyway, I'd be a bloomin' idiot to
try and out-write Brother Mark, whose The War Prayer
should be required reading. Period. (Had he been a rail fanatic rather than
a devotee of the paddle-wheeler, might he have been nick-named,
"Choo-choo Twain"? Just wondering.) Hey, just read the story, okay.
At the heart of Pacifist Nation is the
Millennium Jubilee Project. If the notion of a just
and peaceful world appeals to you, I
invite you to particiapte in the Project, if only in a small and simple way.
Then go on to the item below.
As they say in late night teevee, "And that's not all!" The next phase
of Pacifist Nation is my
Oratorio for a New Millennium, which I hope to produce as a digital film. Please preview it.
It combines original music, lyrics and text with my
surealistic short story, Puebla. It's guaranteed
to bend your mind. However, I caution you: if you're not accustomed to science
fiction, it might throw you a bit. I hope you find it worthy of a second reading. There's a
great deal going on there.
The Millennium Jubilee Project sugjested itself to me when I first learned of
the biblical, historical jubilee. The idea, however, was not
lost on others as well. In all ways I bow to the Jubilee
2000 campaign, a powerful,
well-organized effort to aleviate hunger and poverty by canceling
debts of poor nations whose people suffer because of them. Please give this
site your attention and particiapte however you can. A Pacifist Nation cannot
tolerate economic injustice in the face of such wealth as this nation
enjoys.
It's
a Columnist Conspiracy! Yes, I intend to
brave the perils of journaldom and suggest a Pacifist Nation column for my
local rag, the Contra Costa Times. You've already seen my
suggested first column; here's my letter to their editorial page
editor.
Wish me luck!
It's the Y2K & Aren't you just
a bit tired of that nonsense by now? Not I! Herein you will find
a Modest Proposal on how to rectify
what Dennis the Diminutive bolixed up–for The One
and True Christian Calendar. Math Phreaks, get out your
calculators (or slide rules if you're my age) and proof my theorem if you
dare!
The Star Spangled Banner, our National Anthem, –
putting it in perspective –
this pacifist's viewpoint. My political orientation had never been questioned
by a complete stranger until I so thoroughly confused a fellow while explaining
the origin of the poem by Francis Scott Key. He must have looked at the long hair, beard
and earring, maybe wondered about the tux (my costume for the gig), then heard me
waxing sentimental about Old Glory, and so querried in a puzzled tone, "So you must
be a conservative, or what?" I immediately proffered my liberal credentials, but that
question mark never vacated the rear of his eyeball. Hey, folks, I'm a mixed bag. So
let me give you a bit of history...."
That the first and perhaps greatest Communist Manifesto predated Marx & co.
by nearly 2000 years is not an original thought. The the intellectual failure of those who insist that communism is a political
system, as is democracy, is beyond redemption. The Bible certainly got it right, a fact that übercapitalist Christians insist
on ignoring. Those who believe in the Word of God yet want to have their cake and eat it too,
read it and weep!
As a birthright
Unitarian and a Universalist by conscience, I consider myself a Christian as well
as a Jew. The exemplary life of Jesus reaches beyond doctrine and creed.
Fellow Unitarian, Thomas Jefferson created a
marvelous document which outrages biblical purists, but
goes to the heart of Christian teachings. Are you brave enough to check out
the Grandaddy of all cut-&-pastes (literally!), the Jefferson Bible?
I have, and God hasn't struck me blind. Yet.
"On-ward, Chris-tian So - - ol-dier-rs ...." Pacifist Nation is nothing if not irreverent. It is, after all,
authored by a Unitarian Universalist secular humanist who is both a Jew, a Christian and an
atheist, so anything is fair game. Even the Holy Bible.
So pardon me if I chuckle over-long over this little gem of
an insightful piece. And a tip-o'-the-hat to the inspiration of
Dr. Laura, and for causing one to contemplatively re-examine the
broader/deeper implications of the oft' used phrase, "Don't take any wooden nickels.".
Think about it.
With the passage of Proposition 22
and in the wake of Super Tuesday, 2K I am both saddened and angered. There are
two bases for the definition of marriage: secular (biological) or sacred (biblical.)
As it becomes increasingly clear that one's sexual orientation is the former,
the only justification for the stricture of the Knight Initiative is one which
leads to the civil codification of biblical canon (Supreme Court, here we come!)
Do we want to go there, or does separation of church and state
still mean something? Please click on the pink triangle
to read Pacifist Nation's Defense of Marriage.
Go to the next stack
by clicking on the Book & Globe below: