McCain throws us a curveball

I have to admit that I am a little perplexed with the VP nomination of Sarah Palin. I had absolutely no interest in voting for McCain, mainly because of his age - and a little because of his gung-ho obstinance. But by having a young woman as his heir - especially considering his age - he has definitely given me something to ponder.

It will have to be something that my wife and I will discuss - she was, after all, rooting for Hillary. I don't blame my wife for wanting to see a woman president. I just wanted a pro-life woman president, that's all. Or a pro-life black president for that matter.

Let's face it, as far as our household was concerned, Obama shot himself in the foot when he chose an old white dude as his VP. Now that McCain has chosen a young woman, we are thoroughly confused. Now, more than ever, I'd like to just throw away my vote on the Libertarian Party, or even write in "Jesus", or just stay home for that matter.

I don't know if I can bring myself to vote for McCain and then pray that he falls and breaks his hip or has a stroke. That just seems wrong, though it would ultimately be for the best.

Abusive Animal Stunts for Easter??

PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) had this to say about the Easter Weekend Services at Church by the Glades:

According to its news release, Church by the Glades in Coral Springs, Florida, intends to display an Asian elephant named Judy at the church this Easter weekend.

Elephants like Judy who are forced to participate in publicity stunts are trained through domination, fear, and punishment. Sharp metal bullhooks and electric prods are the standard training tools of the industry. Captive elephants are subjected to beatings, prolonged confinement, physically difficult routines, and exhausting travel. The agony these magnificent animals must endure daily is the dirty little secret of the entertainment industry.

Judy's lonely and unnatural life is in sharp contrast to what she would experience in the wild. Elephants are highly social animals who live in matriarchal herds, protect one another, forage for fresh vegetation, play, bathe in rivers, share mothering responsibilities for the herd's babies, and travel up to 30 miles each day. Their ability to feel pain—as well as sorrow, joy, and happiness—rivals our own.

Unfortunately, PETA didn't actually do their homework. Church by the Glades actually brought Judy the elephant in courtesy of Vanishing Species, a conservationist group that has rescued more than 300 animals and utilizes those animals humanely for educational purposes furthering conservation efforts. Judy's "stunts" and "physically difficult routines" consisted of her leisurely standing in the grass in front of the church occasionally being hosed off to keep her cool. And the one aspect of Judy's life that they conveniently leave out is that if she were indeed reintroduced to her "life in the wild", she wouldn't actually last long because she has already been "semi-domesticated". It wouldn't be in the best interest of my dog, Memphis, if I just opened the door and let her go free. It's no different for Judy.

My wife used to support PETA in college, but their antics like this proved to be too much to handle. PETA takes what is essentially a good idea and just simply takes it too far. Animals should be treated humanely by people of course, but animals are not people. This is where they get it wrong. Not to mention the fact that they obviously have no common sense. Attacking the concerted efforts of a conservationist group and a spiritually evangelistic group is a serious waste of time and resources. Why don't they give more focus to our overcrowded dog and cat shelters? That's what I'd like to see. Less focus on the lone elephant that resides in South Florida and more focus on the thousands of homeless dogs and cats that reside in South Florida.

Marching to the Burger King Headquarters with the C.I.W.

Here is some poor quality video that I shot at the March to Burger King with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. It was fun. They were jamming some good music, a lot of drums, horns, steel drums. I even heard Cypress Hill pumping out the speakers. I'd guess that there were at least a thousand people. I'm not really sure.

Eric Schlosser, the author of Fast Food Nation, wrote a really good article in the New York Times yesterday about the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and their fight against Burger King. Here is an excellent quote from that article: "As for human rights abuses, Burger King has suggested that if the poor farm workers of southern Florida need more money, they should apply for jobs at its restaurants."

Why We March

Today, farmworkers from Immokalee, Florida and their religious, labor, and student allies are marching 9 miles through the streets of Miami to the world headquarters of Burger King.
There is a human rights crisis in the fields of Florida. Tomato pickers who harvest tomatoes for the fast-food industry face sweatshop conditions every day, including sub-poverty, stagnant wages (pickers earn about $10,000/year on average and a per-bucket piece rate that has not changed significantly since 1978) and the denial of basic labor rights.
We have seen five slavery operations in the fields brought to the federal courts since 1997, helping to liberate over 1,000 workers and sending 10 employers to prison.
Burger King contributes directly to farmworkers’ poverty through its high-volume purchasing practices, for decades demanding the cheapest tomatoes possible but never demanding fair treatment or just wages for the people who harvest those tomatoes.
In the past years farmworkers and consumers have united to bring Taco Bell and McDonald's to the table to help improve tomato pickers' wages and working conditions.

Here is an article from this week's Palm Beach Post explaining how Burger King has, this month, undermined the deal that was struck with Taco Bell and McDonalds, destroying any progress that had been made for the migrant workers.

March on Burger King - Coalition of Immokalee Workers

On Friday, November 30 the Coalition of Immokalee Workers is sponsoring a 9 mile march, a rally, a conference, and a concert to fight against Burger King for humane treatment of Florida agricultural workers. Immokalee is a migrant town about 80 miles west of Ft. Lauderdale.

Central Florida is full of these migrant towns that look much worse than many inner cities. As a part of my vocation, I visit each of these towns once each month. Last year, I rescued a starving, almost dead puppy from Immokalee and brought it back to Animal Aid to be nursed back to health.

The CIW has been successful in recent years at getting Taco Bell and McDonalds to concede to their requests for humane treatment of agricultural workers. Now they are taking the fight to Burger King at the Burger King Headquarters in Miami.

Visit the CIW site for more information on the March on BK, as well as more information regarding the plight of Florida's migrant workers. At the last CIW concert/rally in May, Rage Against the Machine showed up and jammed.

Irresistible Revolution - Shane Claiborne

When I read Radical Reformission: How to reach out without selling out by Mark Driscoll last year, it really jacked me up. Since I had become a Christian, I had been taught that I needed to squeeze into a certain mold in order to be found acceptable. Driscoll taught me that I could keep my unique personality intact while following Jesus. He also convicted me of loving Jesus but not loving people, especially people who do not know Jesus. That book messed me up so bad that I had to re-read it at least 3 times in order to fully understand how my life would change as a result of "reaching out without selling out."

Shane Claiborne's Irresistible Revolution: living as an ordinary radical holds the potential to do almost as much damage to my life for the cause of Jesus. For more information about Shane, go to the Simple Way, the semi-homeless community in which he lives. I am going to simply say, "Read this book." And I am going to list some notable excerpts here:

"Some of us haven't even asked the right questions, or found a church that would let us."

"I had become a believer, but I had no idea what it meant to be a follower. People had taught me what Christians believe, but no one had told me how Christians live."

"We decided to stop complaining about the church we saw, and we set our hearts on becoming the church we dreamed of."

Quoting Soren Kierkegaard, 'The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly. 'My God', you will say, 'if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world'?'"

Quoting the late Rich Mullins, "You guys are into that born again thing, which is great. We do need to be born again, since Jesus said that to a guy named Nicodemus. But if you tell me I have to be born again to enter the kingdom of God, I can tell you that you have to sell everything you have and give it to the poor, because Jesus said that to one guy too. But I guess that's why God invented highlighters, so we can highlight the parts we like and ignore the rest."

"That doesn't mean rich people are excluded or not welcome. It means that it is nearly impossible for them to catch the vision of interdependent community, dependent on God and one another. Rich folks, while they may be starving for God and community, still believe the illusion that they are self-sufficient autonomous individuals, and that belief is incompatible with the gospel."

"I'm not sure we need more churches. What we really need is 'a church'. I have tried to remove the plural form 'churches' from my vocabulary, training myself to think of the church as Christ did, and as the early Christians did."

On his experience in Iraq, "I was shocked to find so many Christians in Iraq. I was floored by my ignorance and by the ancient roots of my faith. This was the land of my ancestors. Christianity was not invented in America....how about that?"

"Sometimes people ask me if I am scared, living in the inner city. I usually reply, 'I'm more scared of the suburbs.' While the ghettos may have their share of violence and crime, the suburbs are the home of the more subtle demonic forces - numbness, complacency, comfort - and it is these that can eat away at our souls."

"The higher a person's frequency of church attendance, the more likely they are to be sexist, racist, anti-gay, pro-military, and committed to their local church."

"The pervasive myth is that as a church grows larger, it can do more good. As congregations grow in terms of staff and property, their giving to causes outside of operating expenses decreases dramatically, especially money given directly to the poor. Rich people are significantly less generous than poor people proportionately, and large congregations give proportionately far less to people in poverty than do small ones. In fact, they rarely even have poor people among them."

Claiborne concludes the book with a four-page list of organizations (also available on the Simple Way website) that are looking to revolutionize the church through social action.