3 reasons why
On this the last day before the ginormous Christmahanukwanzaakah concert, sponsored by Neil (of course!) I wanted to share three of the recent reasons why I have been unable to watch, read or listen to the news with any regularity while doing my unit of CPE. Listening to the stories of patients in the hospital has used up my capacity to hear about the rest of the pain and injustice and plain old craziness in the world these days. Injustices I would feel called to speak out against if I had one more speck of energy in my being.
Three stories have sneaked past my defense mechanisms this last week to raise my dander and I share them with you.
1. Just in time for Christmas, elements of the religious right have released a violent video game (”Left Behind: Eternal Forces“) in which born-again Christians aim to convert or kill anyone who doesn’t adhere to their ideology. Disturbingly, the game’s apparent attempts at religious indoctrination are aimed at children, and focus on violent, divisive, and hateful scenarios.
I have a big enough problem with video games training our children for electronic warfare in the first place. But to associate something this obscene with the name of my faith makes me want to puke. And the idea that some well-intentioned but ignorant person would buy this game for a child thinking it must be better than “Grand Theft Auto” makes me weep and knash my teeth.
Think it’s a joke? Think it must me a hoax. Sadly, no. One of the world’s biggest retailers is in the lead for marketing it. WalMart. Need another reason to boycott them?
2. Major property owners in the Twin Cities have refused to continue bargaining talks in the last 2 weeks with SEIU local who represent thousands of janitors who keep our offices (United Properties), banks (Wells Fargo) and stores (Target) clean. These “end users” of janitorial outsourcing service providers are not the reason for the cessation of talks. The outsourcing companies themselves are attempting to trim margins even more by eliminating all FT work, effectively removing thousands of people from health care benefits, and returned an unknown (at this time) number of families to public assistance because you can’t support a family of three or four people on $7 and hour if you can only work part time. All this right before the holidays, during the heating season and in a state that prides itself on it’s progressive stance.
3. In an effort to keep us safe from those who produce our breakfast meats, the INS has conducted raids on Swift meat packing plants across the country. In Minnesota alone, 230 people were rounded up while at work, their documents taken from them, and then they were taken OUT OF STATE (to Sioux Falls, SD) to be held without access to legal representation or given the ability to contact their families. Many of these people were spirited away leaving children, who were at school, to come home and wonder what the hell happened to mom or dad (or both.)
As if that weren’t bad enough, far more news time has been spent covering the tragic (yes, it is tragic) loss of three mountains climbers and the search for them. Three men who were privileged enough to have the money and free time to have mountain climbing as a hobby. Please understand I am not saying that their privileged status makes them less worthy to be cared about or found or that we should not have compassion on their families. It just a matter of balance and degrees.
I just want to point out that more people have heard and have compassion about this tragedy of three people plight and understand the human consequences of grief for their families than know about the thousands of families being torn apart by laws and policies that are attempting to “fix” a system that has allowed us to eat cheap breakfast meats for decades. And that people who know both stories seem to think that the Swift plant raids are ‘OK’ because there is an assumption that all those people were guilty of breaking a law (without benefit of a trial) and a general racist attitude. Oh, and national security demands it, of course.
As Sly Citizen says: 1939 called, and it wants it’s stuff back.
— — —
A year ago (or longer) on This Journey…
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Last Minute Stocking Stuffers 2007
Grandma’s present done 2007
Get ready 2006
mentorship committments 2005
the magic of ipod 2005
— — —
A year ago (or longer) on This Journey…
-
Last Minute Stocking Stuffers 2007
Grandma’s present done 2007
Get ready 2006
mentorship committments 2005
the magic of ipod 2005
— — —
A year ago (or longer) on This Journey…
-
Last Minute Stocking Stuffers 2007
Grandma’s present done 2007
Get ready 2006
mentorship committments 2005
the magic of ipod 2005
