Cornel West to Barack Obama: “How deep is your love?”

Excerpts:

Despite your brilliance, despite your charisma, I’m disappointed when it comes to the fundamental question of priorities, of urgency. How deep is your love for poor and working people?

You’ve changed the image of America, but don’t simply be the friendly face of the American empire. Many lives hang on your courage, and you cannot do it alone.

I believe like Martin Luther King that democracy can be reinvigorated, can be revitalized. But it takes courage–you can’t just cut deals; you have to take a stand. You have to have backbone.

In the end, it’s not about you, it’s not about me, it’s not about any isolated set of individuals. It’s about forces that will ensure that poor and working people can live lives of decency and dignity.

“Who Would Jesus Shoot?” Rendered Moot

After an outcry from Christians and people of other faiths, Trijicon has released a statement saying it will no longer imprint Bible verses on its gunsights. Thank you, Trijicon, for your quick and responsible action on this matter.

Who would Jesus shoot?

In case you haven’t already seen this, it’s been discovered that gunsights on weapons used by British and American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan are inscribed with coded biblical references, including:

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)

For it is the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:6)

It’s absolutely mind-boggling to me that carved onto weapons of war are words of truth and peace, words from a man who embodied and heralded a kingdom characterized by peace, and from a man who announced an alternative to empire and spoke of faith, hope, joy, gentleness, goodness, and peace. How in the heck do these things go together?!

On the website of Trijicon, the US-based manufacturer, it states: “We believe that America is great when its people are good. This goodness has been based on biblical standards throughout our history and we will strive to follow those morals.” Which of course is clearly congruent with SHOOTING people.

Clearly.

No wonder Christians have a bad name. You’d think we’d learned our lessons from the Crusades, the Inquisition, etc. But apparently not.

UPDATE (Jan 20, 2pm EST): Now cross-posted over at God’s Politics.

UPDATE (Jan 20, 4pm EST): If you’d like to sign a petition asking the Pentagon to stop using weapons branded with Bible verses, you can do so here.

The Wisdom of FDR

Visited the FDR Memorial over the weekend, and read again some of his timeless words of wisdom:

For those who doubt America is a Christian nation …

Oh, the US is a Christian nation alright; check THIS out:

“54 percent of U.S. adults attributed a Bible verse about caring for the poor and oppressed to celebrities, politicians, and others including Oprah, Bono, and Angelina Jolie rather than the Bible. Obama received the highest percentage of attributions.”

Links of the Day, October 20

Love xkcd.


News

• Hamid Karzai agrees to a November 7 election run-off.
• Apparently, the Department of Defense is also against Al Franken’s anti-rape amendment … what?!

Green

• Toyota unveils a larger hybrid, the "Sai."

Sports

• Mariners catcher Kenji Johjima opts out of his contract to head back to Japan. We’ll miss you, Joh!

Miscellaneous

• Andrew Sullivan assesses Barack’s seemingly-sluggish pragmatism, and concludes it’s all part of the plan.
• Tracking marriage and divorce across America.
• 3pm on Tuesday is the optimum time for an office meeting.

Links of the Day, October 19

News

• Hamid Karzai is stripped of his outright win in the Afghan elections. The US will not make any troop decisions until they’re sure they have a legitimate partner.
• Uruguay is implementing a "one laptop per student" in its state primary schools.
• Sen. Lindsey Graham and Sen. John Kerry head up bipartisan climate change legislation. Pray let’s get something done!

Human trafficking

• Buying cheap goods may support human trafficking.

Miscellaneous

• Bono’s op-ed, "Rebranding America."
• Krugman’s op-ed, "The Banks Are Not Alright."
• Switchfoot frontman Jon Foreman’s piece, “Goodness Precedes Greatness.”