It's Worse Than Crack.

Unfortunately, I'm an addict. 12-step program, here I come.

21st Century Pharisees.

It's really hard to fathom this story. Is this really what Jesus would do?

The First Baptist Church dismissed Mary Lambert on Aug. 9 with a letter explaining that the church had adopted an interpretation that prohibits women from teaching men. She had taught there for 54 years.

The letter quoted the first epistle to Timothy: "I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent."

When I hear stories like this, it really makes me angry and realize the we "liberal" Christians need to work even harder to reclaim "Christianity."

Wrinkly Rock Fans.

You gotta love these rolling stone fans. Old farts rock.

Another Light Blogging Day.

Watching Bush's press conference makes me so angry, I doubt I will be able to blog much today.

Is He Another Bush?

Spare us from this man, please.

Many McCain advisers and money people say it is easy to make the switch from Mr. Bush to Mr. McCain because ...Mr. McCain and Mr. Bush agree on the things that really matter.

Sunday's YouTube--Replanting A Church In Yonkers, NY.

A newly ordained priest's videoblog on his task--replanting a church that has gone from 300 to 5 members.

I Shouldn't, But Here Goes Anyway.

If bigger is better, what about two?

The Illusionist.

I was going to do a post on "The Illusionist," a well acted movie we just returned from seeing, but before I started typing I saw Barry Taylor had a great post about his take on the movie and the place of magic in our culture. So I will just refer you to him, here is part of what he says.

It is a movie set in turn of the century Vienna and the plot revolves around romance, political intrigue, and flawed class structures..but more than that the film also explores the relationship between reason and magic. On some levels it is quite a predictable tale of unrequited love between two people caught between duty, class and the unexplainable mystery of love--the chemistry that makes all those other important things melt away--but beyond this there is the continual exploration of magic and reason.

Eisenheim is no ordinary illusionist, his brand of magic is way beyond card tricks and disappearing animals, and when he begins to conjure up spectral images of the dead, many begin to wonder if he is doing magic or whether something darker is at work. Norton is his usual understatedly brilliant, and everyone else rises to the occasion, the cinematography is exquisite, the music courtesy of Phillip Glass, sets the perfect tone, but it was the film's subtext that really captured my imagination.

Read all of Barry's analysis at Nevermind the Bricolage. Go see it if it gets released where you live.

I can't help hoping we see more of Edward Norton than we have. He is always worth watching.

Tony Snow Polishes A Turd.

From the LA Weekly.

Pardon Me.

A CNN reporter was talking about the number one story on cnn.com, "Convicted Moonshiner President, Bush, Pardoned." But, I didn't know he had yet been convicted.

Or was she talking about a "Convicted Moonshiner, President Bush Pardoned?"

Another Failed War.

Does war ever solve anything? Even the "war on drugs." Time to spend the money on addiction and the impact drugs have on crime and our society.

Anglican Irony.

The always insightfully, funny Mad Priest points out the irony of the schismatic Episcopal clergy joining up with the Nigerian Anglican Church.

...there is something quite pleasing about all those white, male, Konservative, Konfederate, Kolonial types agreeing to obey every command (and it will be every command) that a black, African pope gives them and, on top of that, to believe everything he tells them to believe. When you consider how many slaves were abducted from Nigeria you come to realise just how ironic our universe really is.

Red Alert, Ann Coulter At JFK.

I couldn't resist posting this cartoon from the LA Times.

Happy 60th Birthday Mr. President.

Happy Birthday to the first baby boomer to be elected president. Oh for the days when the most important issue was his sex life. I sure miss him. It would be great to have a president who reads, thinks, understands the world and makes us proud.

No Wonder Americans Don't Care About Civil Liberties.

Doesn't this little fact tell you all you need to know about what is important to both the media and to most Americans?

Number of reporters contributing to Friday's front page New York Times story on the JonBenet Ramsey case: 13

Number of reporters contributing to Friday's front page New York Times story on the federal court ruling that the NSA warrantless wiretapping program is unconstitutional: 2

Not to mention the dominance of the story on TV.

(Hat tip to Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo.)

Treat Addiction, Reduce Crime.

Regular readers of this blog know I blog a lot about the criminal justice system and how screwed up it is. One of my pet peeves is legislated sentences for drug offenses that mandate specific prison incarceration times for drug crimes instead of trying to treat the addiction.

Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (a part of the National Institute of Health) has an opinion column in Saturday's Washington Post titled, "Treat the Addict, Cut the Crime Rate." In it she stresses how important it is to treat the addiction problem, especially since 70% of the offenders in prisons and jails have regularly abused drugs.

When drug abusers enter the criminal justice system, it signals a pivotal crisis in their lives. It also offers a unique opportunity to institute treatment for drug abuse and addiction. Studies have consistently shown that comprehensive drug treatment works. It not only reduces drug use but also curtails criminal behavior and recidivism. Moreover, for drug-abusing offenders, treatment facilitates successful reentry into the community. This is true even for people who enter treatment under legal mandate.

Her conclusion make sense to me. If we address the root cause of the behavior of this large segment within the prison population, I am convinced we can reduce recidivism. What do you think?

The ultimate goal of treatment, of course, is to help an addict stop using drugs. As a clinician I don't remember ever meeting an addicted person who wanted to be addicted or who expected that compulsive, uncontrollable or even criminal behavior would emerge when he or she started taking drugs. Providing drug-abusing offenders with comprehensive treatment saves lives and protects communities.

Talkin' About My Generation.

I'm proud to be an old fart baby boomer. Read this BBC story on my generation. As Clinton says:

"I think we've been a force for equal opportunity, for harmony among people, for peace, for reconciliation and for the notion that we have to go forward together."

But, there is still a lot of work to do. Can future generations carry this mission forward?

What People Want From Church.

Looks More Like An Owl To Me.

I always get a kick out of what people see in grilled cheese sandwiches or other detritus.

Blogging The 1st Amendment.

Looks like this will be an interesting online exchange at Faith in Public Life, between Randall Balmer, professor of American religious history at Barnard and, most recently, author of the new book, "Thy Kingdom Come: How The Religious Right Distorts the Faith and Threatens America," and Bruce Prescott, a leading national activist on defending the separation of church and state.

Here's a taste of what Randall Balmer has to say today:

Of all the political strategies being pursued these days by leaders of the Religious Right, none is more pernicious than the attempt to eviscerate the First Amendment. By trying to impose public prayer in public schools (students can pray privately any time they wish!), by advocating public funding and school vouchers for use in religious schools and by seeking to emblazon religious sentiments on public places, they try to undermine the separation of church and state, the best friend that religion has ever had.

There is even a movement within the Religious Right, led by David Barton and others, to deny that our nation's founders intended church and state to be separate. I've come to equate these people with the Holocaust deniers and those who debunk global warming -- not in the sense of moral equivalence, but in the sense of the brazenness of their denials, all evidence to the contrary. Compounding this betrayal, many of the leaders of the Religious Right, from Pat Robertson and Richard Land to Roy Moore and Rick Scarborough, claim to be Baptists, ignoring altogether that the notion of church-state separation was a Baptist idea.

As a person of faith, I have a further objection to the entanglement of church and state. It ultimately trivializes the faith because it suggests that religion needs the support of the state for legitimacy. When you fetishize the Ten Commandments or demand a ritualized, formal prayer in school or on public occasions, you diminish the faith itself.

This exchange goes through early next week and should be worth reading.

UPDATE: Here is the first blog post from Bruce Prescott.