Friday, April 07, 2006
Think you know Muzak? Lengthy article in the New Yorker, THE SOUNDTRACK OF YOUR LIFE Muzak in the realm of retail theatre by David Owen, what Muzak is now & how it got where it is.
In looking at the Christian political right, it's very important to know that conservative religious beliefs don't necessarily - or even logically - extend themselves into reactionary politics. Two sites that provide insight into the finest of all cultural values, the Culture of Peace, as it is experienced & nurtured by Christian communities in the United States. Pax Christi USA is connected to a movement created by French Roman Catholics in 1945. Just think about their situation at that time. The movement soon included Germans. It is a more pressing spiritual test to be defeated & conquered & than to be the conquerer, because there is despair & cynicism. With trumph comes arrogance, & an arrogant people believe victory means they have passed the test. This organization does not stand on radical theology. The other site is for a small college in Harrisonburg, Virginia, a couple hours north in the Shenandoah Valley from Lynchburg & Liberty University. Eastern Mennonite University is also a Baptist school - Mennonite anabaptist. It appears to be a nice place. Weekly chapel is mandatory, students have to sign a "lifestyle pledge," but the coffeehouse stays open to 2 am on weekends. The campus has a Center for Justice & Peacebuilding. The school also hosts the Shenandoah Bach Festival. Division III athletics.
Half-following the death-penalty case against Zacarias Moussaoui. Only the possibility that his guy is a real mental case keeps me from regarding him completely as human garbage. But he is a scapegoat, a stand-in for Osama, for the suicide pilots, for the intelligence failures he represents. When Rudy Giuliani testified this week, WCBS newsradio in New York called him "America's Mayor" as if that were a matter-of-fact rather than a campaign phrase. We tend to forget that Giuliani was a divisive, combative mayor, with an inner circle of cronies, & 9/11 not only made him a national political celebrity, his handling of that horrible time - & that he directly & closely experienced it as happened - probably saved his rep in New York City. If he were now obviously out of elective politics & behaving as a wise statesman, it'd be ok to call him "America's Mayor." Since he is running for [vice] president he'll also have to explain to Focus on Family why he sought sanctuary with two trusted old friends - a gay couple - on those nights when he was spending his days in & around the smoldering ruins.
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." Thomas Jefferson
In looking at the Christian political right, it's very important to know that conservative religious beliefs don't necessarily - or even logically - extend themselves into reactionary politics. Two sites that provide insight into the finest of all cultural values, the Culture of Peace, as it is experienced & nurtured by Christian communities in the United States. Pax Christi USA is connected to a movement created by French Roman Catholics in 1945. Just think about their situation at that time. The movement soon included Germans. It is a more pressing spiritual test to be defeated & conquered & than to be the conquerer, because there is despair & cynicism. With trumph comes arrogance, & an arrogant people believe victory means they have passed the test. This organization does not stand on radical theology. The other site is for a small college in Harrisonburg, Virginia, a couple hours north in the Shenandoah Valley from Lynchburg & Liberty University. Eastern Mennonite University is also a Baptist school - Mennonite anabaptist. It appears to be a nice place. Weekly chapel is mandatory, students have to sign a "lifestyle pledge," but the coffeehouse stays open to 2 am on weekends. The campus has a Center for Justice & Peacebuilding. The school also hosts the Shenandoah Bach Festival. Division III athletics.
Half-following the death-penalty case against Zacarias Moussaoui. Only the possibility that his guy is a real mental case keeps me from regarding him completely as human garbage. But he is a scapegoat, a stand-in for Osama, for the suicide pilots, for the intelligence failures he represents. When Rudy Giuliani testified this week, WCBS newsradio in New York called him "America's Mayor" as if that were a matter-of-fact rather than a campaign phrase. We tend to forget that Giuliani was a divisive, combative mayor, with an inner circle of cronies, & 9/11 not only made him a national political celebrity, his handling of that horrible time - & that he directly & closely experienced it as happened - probably saved his rep in New York City. If he were now obviously out of elective politics & behaving as a wise statesman, it'd be ok to call him "America's Mayor." Since he is running for [vice] president he'll also have to explain to Focus on Family why he sought sanctuary with two trusted old friends - a gay couple - on those nights when he was spending his days in & around the smoldering ruins.
