MoonHowler

It’s time for another free for all.  What’s on your mind?  Is it hot enough out there for you? 

Who uses peapod?  Pros and cons?

Cindy and Poor Richard, what’s happening over your way?

65 Thoughts to “Open Thread Friday, July 22”

  1. Moon-howler
    July 24, 2010 at 8:35 am

    @Twinad, bottle it….I love a kid who just says no. I discovered that the gdaughter was buying apps for her ipod touch. That is sort of addictive.

    Call and explain to them….nothing ventured nothing gained. It won’t hurt to ask and they can’t see you.

  2. Emma
    July 24, 2010 at 9:16 am

    I tend to watch more instant-view than DVD’s, so I stick to the cheap plan because I would do the same thing Twinad has done–I’ve already had the movie “Crash” for over 2 weeks.

  3. Wolverine
    July 24, 2010 at 2:59 pm

    Where does one find this rule book of political correctness for invocations given at private political functions? Do these prayers now have to conform precisely to the practices ostensibly found in someone else’s synagogue or church? Who shall grant the nihil obstat and imprimatur in these cases? Where does one submit the prayer text for pre-approval? Will there be an on-line guidance site for consultation as to approved words and phrases?

    Come on, people. Criticism of political ideologies and actions is one thing. But now we are going after invocations? The prayer was too Christian and not enough Jewish? Really? Next thing you know, somebody will issue a nihil obstat and imprimatur system for blogs as well — come to think of it, isn’t CNN calling for something like that in the wake of the Sherrod affair? That old term “moderation” could really become a serious thing.

  4. Wolverine
    July 24, 2010 at 3:05 pm

    My personal preference for such prayers is short and to the point “Dear God, if you examine the current fiscal state of our country, you will see that we have really screwed things up. HELP!!!”

  5. cargosquid
    July 24, 2010 at 3:39 pm

    @Moon-howler
    http://unitedconservatives.blogspot.com/2010/07/saturday-night-blues.html

    Sorry, forgot the link.

  6. Moon-howler
    July 24, 2010 at 3:59 pm

    Wolverine, yours doesn’t bother me as far as public prayers go. Generically guide a nation is a little different. (Sort of like the prayer issued before D-Day doesn’t bother me.)

    I don’t think that the prayer in question was before a private group since it was open to the public. And they are free to pray if they want. I would have just left if I were checking them out because I feel their prayer was offensive.

    And it wasn’t that it was too Christian and not Jewish enough. It was that it was excluding. If you don’t fit in the club, then it was very excluding. It is one thing to ask the Lord for guidance. It is another thing to ask him to help stomp out your political enemies. I definitely got the stomp feeling, even if not explicitly stated.

    I find public prayer involving politics very offensive most of the time. Its just me but I don’t think I am alone. It all goes back to that seperation of church and state thing which so many people deny exists.

    I guard it as carefully as some folks here guard the 2nd amendment.

  7. Censored bybvbl
    July 24, 2010 at 5:53 pm

    As a person who wavers between the certainty of atheism and a waffling agnosticism, I resent hearing prayers at government functions. Although the Tea Party rally isn’t a government function, its prayer strikes me as very Christian – just as most people at its rally probably are. I’m familiar with Christianity having attended Presbyterian churches in my youth and having been raised by a Lutheran mother and Episcopalian father. Some Christian sects are very much about guilt, damnation of any Biblical interpretation other than their own sect’s, and the calling on God to damn their enemies.

    If the Tea Party participants weren’t so closely tied to the right wing of the Republican Party and weren’t so blatantly anti-Obama, I might give their plea a pass, but as it is, it seems to be a prayer to deliver us from a Democratic President and Congress and little else. It doesn’t strike me as a plea for the country’s good so much as it does for a Republican win in November.

  8. Moon-howler
    July 24, 2010 at 8:24 pm

    Censored, that was my impression also and that is why I probably would have left. They can do what they want but they should also be expected to be criticized for it.

  9. Big Dog
    July 25, 2010 at 9:55 am

    M-H, Thank you for the thread on Senator Webb’s WSJ op/ed.

  10. Moon-howler
    July 25, 2010 at 10:51 am

    You are more than welcome, Big Dog. I thought it was a pretty gutsy thing for Senator Webb to do. It is something we all need to be discussing, IMHO, rather than sweeping under the rug.

    It was a great recommendation.

  11. cargosquid
    July 25, 2010 at 11:22 pm

    Censored,

    Since the Tea Party thinks that the mainstream Republicans are little different from the Dems, the prayer is what it says it is. A prayer for wisdom for our politicians and ourselves.

    1. Moon-howler
      July 25, 2010 at 11:34 pm

      @ Cargo,

      If that is what that prayer said, perhaps it would not have had the reaction on this blog that it did. To pray for wisdom is one thing. To pray for wisdom and then spell out what that wisdom might be is the part some of us find offensive. I also don’t understand why a politica group that might be made up of all religions or even no religion would even attempt prayers. Moments of silence seem to fit better when not everyone shares the same religion.

      Or…perhaps I have misunderstood. Perhaps that particular tea party is all one religion. In that case, then my concerns take on a different tone.

Comments are closed.