University of California Prof and author calls Sikh temple bombing 'Christian Terrorism'...and I agree

A funny thing happens when people get old, many lose their sense of fairness.  Something you hear from children almost every day is: "That's not fair", and oftentimes they're one hundred per cent right.

Of course they're just kids, and as we grow older many of us come to accept that the world isn't fair, because...well, that's just the way the world is.

Some people are born into wealth, power and influence and can achieve almost anything, even if they're drunken drug users who have bankrupted previous business ventures.  And others of course are born into abject poverty, with only a slim chance of success hinging on iron clad will, self confidence and perhaps a measure of divine providence.

But as I digress, as I so often do.

The words terrorist and terrorism get bandied about a great deal these days in our mainstream media.  And in almost all cases the stories being reported are about adherents of the Muslim faith.

Ask someone what images come to mind with the word terrorist and you're likely to get a description of a male Muslim, probably bearded and wearing a turban.

That's the way the our world is.

Many Muslims will assert that terrorism is against the tenets of Islam.  That those advocating violence or jihad have perverted the teachings of their prophet Mohammed.  Okay, but that doesn't matter, our mainstream press will still brand any atrocity committed by a nominal follower of that faith as 'Islamic Terrorism'.

So what about Wade Michael Page?  You know, the guy who just gunned down six innocent members of a Sikh Temple.

This man has been revealed as a Neo-Nazi white supremacist who was on his own 'jihad', if I may borrow the Islamic term for holy crusade.  A holy war against those outsiders who were polluting his white Christian Ah-Muhr-Ica (that's the way you pronounce it in red neck).

Shouldn't this news story be treated as Christian terrorism?  If Mr Page had been an Arab from the middle east, and had the victims been attendees at a Christian church, do you think the media would have refrained from calling him this an act of Islamic Terrorism?

Yeah right!!!  Let's be fair, what's good for the goose after all.

And I'm not alone in thinking this, Mark Juergensmeyer thinks so too.  He's a Professor of Sociology and Director of Global and International Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara and the winner of the Grawemeyer Award for his book "Terror in the Mind of God".

You can read his piece here:  Christian Terrorism Comes to Milwaukee

Christian churches speaking out on Northern Gateway- Why are evangelicals silent?

Some of Canada's Christian churches are giving voice to concerns over the Northern Gateway pipeline, in particular to the potential hazards it poses with respect to aboriginal peoples and wildlife. 

Kairos Canada has put out a primer for its member churches called: Ethical Reflections on the Northern Gateway Pipeline 

Kairos is a interdenominational organization with a mission statement that calls on Canadian churches to work for justice and peace. 

Member churches include: The Anglican Church of Canada, the Christian Reformed Church in North America, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Mennonite Central Committee of Canada, the Presbyterian Church in Canada and the United Church of Canada. 

United, Anglican, Lutherans, Catholics, Presbyterians....Where are the fundamentalist and/or born again evangelicals? You know, like Baptists, and Pentecostals, the churches that proclaim to be gospel and faith based. I don't know why they're not speaking out, (if they are please comment and link it up) but I have some thoughts as to a possible reason. 

I've written before about the marriage of the neo-conservative ultra pro-business lobby with evangelical Christianity, and I think that's why I haven't been reading about prominent fundamentalist Christians voicing concerns over this pipeline.

One such post was: Is Evangelical Chrisitanity the Trojan horse of neo-conservatism. And another was the review of a book by Yale graduate Jonathan Dudley:  "Broken Words" Understanding the grip Neo-Cons have on evangelicals. 

I'm not expecting evangelical Christians to lend their voice to those taking issue with the Northern Gateway pipeline, because that would mean breaking ranks with their neo-conservative and very pro-business masters. 

Perhaps there's nothing to be concerned about anyway.I mean its not like pipeline leaks and breakages occur very often. Okay, a couple happened back in June of this year in Alberta, and you can read about Enbridge's leaking pipelines in the Financial Post -HERE-.

But that's still only six in about a two year time span, which means only one every four months. In other words, NO LEAKS three months out of every four for the past two years. Hey, with a batting average like that you get a ticket to Cooperstown!!! 

After all, the Bible tells us to conquer or subdue the Earth. While we're at it why not cover it with black ooze? If you'd like to read the Kairos report: CLICK HERE. 

I'm betting many evangelicals don't consider Kairos member churches really Christian anyway. If you're a real Christian you sit down and obey authority and power, just like Jesus did.

Retiring baby boomers...Society's malignant tumour?

Canada's baby boom is said to have commenced way back in 1946.  I myself was born 20 years after the start of the boom, and having just celebrated my 46th birthday that means the front end of the baby boom is now hitting retirement.

What does this mean for our society as a whole?  I'm afraid the picture isn't a pretty one.

Boomers are, in the opinion of this lowly blogger, the most spoiled generation ever.  Because of their huge demographic footprint every government program and marketing strategy begins and ends with the question:  

"How will boomers react"?  

That's the way its been for the past 50 or so years, and I don't see it changing.

Just look back at the last few decades and its not hard to picture boomers as a swarm of voracious locusts, gobbling up everything in their path, and in their wake leaving a wasteland.  

In the late sixties and early seventies boomers started driving, and soon there was an energy crisis.  Then later in the seventies when they left the nest, vacancy rates for rental accommodation reached all time lows.  In cities like Toronto finding an apartment sometimes meant paying an illegal broker.  

When the eighties rolled around and boomers started earning more money they began buying houses and taking out mortgages in droves.  And because of the increased demand for money interest rates went sky high, in the neighborhood of 20%.  Of course once those houses started to get paid off boomers started looking for a return on their deposits.  But supply and demand is a bitch, with banks loaded with capital and with demand for borrowing on the decline, interest rates tanked.  Gone were the 10% returns the banks paid their parents.

Then came the stock market boom of the nineties as the "me me me" generation sought a higher return on their investments.  And everyone knows how that worked out...with the crash in 2000/2001.  Boomers move in, they gobble everything up, and they leave destruction in their wake, that's the way its been and that's the way its going to continue to be unless history stops repeating.

So what do we have to look forward to over the next ten, twenty, perhaps forty years?

Population experts are telling us that within twenty years nearly one in four Canadians will be over the age of 65, retired in other words.  I doubt many of us following behind will be retired by that age however.  I'm guessing we're going to be working til 75 or 80 to pay for the care and maintenance of this generation that never worried about downloading costs onto future generations.

Some boomers will likely be clogging the workforce too, given that studies suggest roughly half of all boomers don't have savings plans in place.  No wonder its so hard for many young Canadians to find remunerative employment, 50 and 60 somethings won't leave the table and give up their seat.  

Of course if home owning boomers need cash, I guess they could sell their houses to finance their golden years.  Won't that be a pretty sight?  If the numbers I'm reading are accurate roughly half of the people hitting retirement could be selling their houses over the same time frame.  

No defined pension, inadequate savings to finance retirement, but a paid off house that you can't eat.  YUMMY.  The RE market in Canada is already at about the same place the US market was at back in 2007/2008 when we started slutting out sub-prime government insured 40 year mortgages with zero money down.

Boomers looking to exit the housing market in significant numbers could easily to turn Canada into a colder version of Arizona.

But if you're a boomer, don't worry about it.  Just push the cost onto the backs of your kids and grandchildren.  

And I didn't even mention the taxation that's going to be required to keep government funded health care afloat.  

Some great old shows on Youtube

I have a confession to make, I....uhm, I err...I don't have television. 

Man, that felt good! 

Now that I'm opening up here I guess I should clarify, I actually do own a TV, that is to say the box..its an old gray coloured thing, but I don't have cable, satellite or anything that will deliver programming to the screen. It has a built in DVD player, so occasionally I will watch a movie, but other than that it currently serves as a plant stand and to occupy space on a piece of furniture that serves as a TV stand.

Since moving to Québec City in October of 2011 I have been without television programming, and I rarely avail myself of the medium except on rare occasions when I go to a bar or tavern to catch a sporting event. But lately I've found a nice substitute, and am rediscovering some great old TV shows from 'back in the day', on YouTube. Cable companies like Rogers, Cogeco, Shaw and Videotron probably won't be too happy if others join me in disconnecting the idiot box, but all of them do provide connectivity to the Internet. 

One show that is a real gem is 'The White Shadow'. Its a show about a journeyman NBA player who suffers a knee injury, and rather than winding down his career coming off the bench, he takes an offer to coach at a ghetto high school in inner city LA. Even better is the fact that you can watch complete episodes without having them in installments, some programs on YouTube are downloaded in three or four parts, sometimes even more. The show only lasted three years, but then the players couldn't stay in high school forever. As good as Ken Howard (the coach) was as an actor, the players were equally talented and compelling. I don't think viewers were interested in investing in new characters who would be gone after just one season or two. 

Below is a link to the pilot episode of the White Shadow, embedding it wasn't allowed. Try not to laugh too hard at the fashion of the day. It was 1978 after all, only a year after Disco fever had taken hold with the release of John Travollta's Saturday Night Fever. 

I'm also embedding the pilot episode of Lou Grant, another great old show about a Los Angeles daily newspaper. And I'll include one other, one of my favourite old comedies from back when music was still on vinyl: WKRP in Cincinnati. 

Happy viewing. I hope you like. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1nPSBVUq5Q