New Abortion Bill To Require Fetal Consent | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

New Abortion Bill To Require Fetal Consent

Falwell was GOP's prophet of intolerance | ajc.com#

Falwell was GOP's prophet of intolerance ajc.com#

Cynthia Tucker tells it like it is. She is not deterred by the death of Jerry Falwell that she refuses to the tell the truth about her perspective on his legacy. Read her latest editorial in the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

The Atlantic Times :: Archive

The Atlantic Times :: Archive I am pleased to see that rail transportation is returning to some of America's cities. If the average person could give up the idea that the automobile is the only way to go. Naturally this is true in many if not most places but it doesn't need to be that way. Check out this article from The Atlantic Times ... a German newspaper printed in English. I am glad that something is happening in Memphis: Here is an excerpt from the whole article:

Prosaic types in the local transit authority did away with this charming institution of a bygone era, causing lament among true lovers of civilized urban travel. But perhaps this, too, will come back one day, just like the tram with is clang, clang, clang and its ding, ding, ding in Memphis – like those transplanted Melbourne and Oporto trolleys that have contributed so much to the recreation of some splendor downtown and on the banks of the Mississippi.One recent weekend, my wife and I spent the better part of two days traveling the ancient cars – along Main Street and the River Front and to the Medical Center up Madison Avenue. Nowhere else have we ever enjoyed such a splendid and harmonious mix of people all jesting with each other – blacks and whites, locals and strangers, workers, nurses, hotel pages and tourists, old people on an outing and, yes, young lovers too.As they embraced, the compressors kicked into action at every stop, building up pressure for the brakes. Once again we thought of Judy Garland: “Chug, chug, chug went the motor / Thump, thump, thump went the brake / thump, thump, thump went my heartstrings? When she smiled I could feel the car shake.”

What A Great Day

Yesterday [19 May 2007] Diane and I attended the wedding of Grey Falanga and Sarah Elizabeth Rhett in Enterprise, Mississippi. It was a beautiful wedding set in a very old Episcopal chapel called "St. John in the Woods." Indeed it truly was in the woods! We also learned that there are four different towns named "Enterprise" located in four different counties. Carolyn Falanga was my secretary for about six years. I knew Grey when he was a little boy and now he is a towering 6'6". Wow! I felt like I was standing in a hole. His bride, Sarah Elizabeth, is beautiful. It is great to share in the lives of people who have come to mean so much to you over the years. Diane and I were so pleased to be invited to share in this special time. Where have all of the years gone. Everything seems like it was only yesterday but you look around and all of the kids are big, grown and getting married ... well at least some of them.

Bob and Carolyn Falanga and us.

Daniel Vestal: Seek first a Christian witness

The Shreveport Times This is an excellent article to get a good perspective on the death of Jerry Falwell. It is well worth reading if one is interested in a different perspective and Danny Vestal's article says it much better that I can. Here is a snippet for the brief article:

"In contrast to seeking a "moral majority" which seems to have the connotation of partisan power, it seems that as followers of Christ we should seek to be bold witnesses, humble servants, compassionate ministers in our society. We should not seek to control or impose but to be faithful to our Lord who promises "to make all things new." Of course this will mean engagement in the political process and public advocacy as well as prayer and worship, but not in a way that so clearly identifies the eternal Gospel of Jesus Christ with partisan politics."

No email answers

I said one day in the presence of my two daughters and maybe my son and my dear wife that I never got any email. One or both of my daughters alleged that I did not answer any of my emails and therefore got no email. Or that I didn't email anybody so how could I expect to get an answer. Harrumph! I have written many emails and have not received any answers! In the last month or so I have written 10-15 emails and have gotten no answer! Now that doesn't bother me ... And I take care of their mail and their cats! I am faced with deciding where I should store Annette's Skate Boarding Magazines which seem to arrive weekly ... what does Annette need with skateboard mags. Her mother suggested that they might be for Wes? But I have not gotten an answer.

Television Evangelist Falwell Dies at 73

Television Evangelist Falwell Dies at 73 I did not like his politics ... but he did accomplish many good things in his life time. My prayers go out to his family, the students and his church.

AlterNet: Blogs: Video: Limbaugh plays "Barack The Magic Negro" on his show

AlterNet: Blogs: Video: Limbaugh plays "Barack The Magic Negro" on his show

Poor old dirty mouthed Imus gets canned for making a throw-away comment about lady basketball players. Why not can loose lips Limbaugh for his playing of this video. What a service to America that would be ... can his fat rear-end!

A Lament by Clyde Fant

Author's Note: I am originally from Louisiana, a former pastor of two Southern Baptist churches in the state. My father was the mayor of Shreveport for twenty years. In the last days, grief and outrage have held a contest inside me. So I wrote this Lamentation--because I have to.
"Lamentation"
By Clyde Fant

How like a widow sits the city once so beautiful!
She weeps bitterly in the night, with tears on her cheeks,
Because there is none to comfort her.
She stretched forth her hands, but none came to her;
They heard how she was groaning, but none came unto her.
In her streets the flood bereaves;
In the sodden houses there is death.
The leaders and elders of the city have fled, but the poor are trapped within her levees.

Her friends have dealt treacherously with her;
Those who promised to help are worse than her enemies.
When she cried aloud, none came;
Smooth words made promises,
But they were empty rhetoric, wells without water, phantom bread.
Shame! Shame upon us all.

Who would have believed it!
She who sang even when she mourned,
The people who danced even in their want:
Now they are dying.
Their colorful robes are stained with mud;
They are gray, all gray, pallor of the dead.

Weep, weep for the great city!
Orators of platitudes, politicians of promises, it is you who betrayed her!
You took her safety from her; you neglected her when she reached out to you.
You channeled her rivers and harnessed her waters–but for yourselves! For the profits of your friends!
You caused her marshes to dry and her wilderness to recede,
You brought the might of the waves and the winds to her very doors.
The poor, those who dwelt in the lowest places, in miserable shanties of wood, termite-ridden and forlorn,
Where none but the hopeless would dwell:
You have murdered them, and their corpses drift in the brackish floods,
But their cries have gone up to God!

Woe to you, Republicans!
For you pumped wealth from their lands and sent their sons to die in your wars,
But they are as nothing to you.
"Who is my neighbor?" You do not know yet the answer to this ancient question.
Are your only neighbors your friends in the country clubs or the board rooms?
Your grandfathers set the slaves free, and you return them to a worse bondage of perpetual poverty!
Then you redistrict them to take away the few voices they have,
But God will cause the ruined city to cry on their behalf!
Shame! Shame for your hypocritical use of God's name to lure the unwary.

Woe to you also, Democrats!
You were the fathers of slavery, first sons of the South!
You damned the poor to generations of ignorance and want.
You fathers segregated them, and you promised to bring them into your family.
But where were you when they needed you?
For you lack the courage of your convictions! You curry the favor of those who despise your people!
You have become impotent by your timidity.
You endorse the wars,
You approve miserable crumbs for education and employment,
You court the indifferent, smug suburbs–may you live among them eternally, bored forever by their white sameness!
Shame! Shame for the graft in your statehouses;
Your selfishness has turned your people from you in disgust.

Woe to you Christians who pride yourselves in the name Conservative,
Who call all generous spirits and inclusive hearts liberals,
Who see wars as strength and peace as weakness!
The Prince of Peace rebuke you!

Woe to you also, Liberal Christians!
You scorn the common and cause the simple to feel inferior in your midst.
Your hearts are ever open, but your pocketbooks are always closed!
He who lived among the poor rebuke you!

Woe to you, television preachers and megachurch pastors! False prophets!
You deceive the people with your bleats of piety while you endorse wars and favor your rich benefactors.
Your prophecies of end times have come true–in your own generation!
Look upon the city! Look upon hell on earth!
See what your leaders have wrought, the shame of the earth!
All mock us and call us fools,
We who send armies across oceans but cannot cross the Mississippi to help our own!
Shame, shame upon you!

I hate, I despise your solemn assemblies,
The self-hypnotic repetitions of your praise-songs are a scandal in my ears.
Come before me no more lifting up unholy hands,
Do not use my name to grow your personal kingdoms
Or to bless your political ambitions.
What do you think I desire? Barrels of oil from Iraq?
Herds of sacred cows from Texas?
Go now and learn what this means:
I desire mercy and not sacrifice,
Lovingkindness, and not benign neglect.

Weep, weep for my city,
For my people,
For my children.
For they are dead.