“Taser this: F**k Bush, ohhh and F**k CSU and the media too.”

(Before reading this I guess I should put a disclaimer on it saying that intentionally swore a lot so that I could use the star mark * on my computer to parody the editorial piece in question.) 

So I’ve been following the saga of David McSwane the editor of the Colorado State student newspaper.  Now I graduated from Guilford a from a pretty liberal school but before that I went to the University of South Carolina and while not a conservative school it was far more calm then Guilford so I feel like I have a pretty good handle on the “student” newspaper seen.  Anyway, I am amazed that we have gotten to the point that a STUDENT newspaper that criticized the President  of the United States for the way he has royally screwed up American foreign policy all the while making fun of how a student from another campus across the country was actually f**cking tazered at a speech by a Democratic Senator. 

If a student newspaper (which by the way should be the bastion of idealist outrage) can get national attention for dropping an F bomb on the President which in turn got mainstream attention.  Back in the day the school and faculty would have rolled their eyes and that would have been that, but giving the current political climate, anyone who dare be bold enough to tell the President of the United States to F**K OFF is showing disrespect which must be dealt with on a national scale.   McSwane (who I’m sure is an operative for the Al Qaeda front group Move On) faced the Board of Student Communications at Colorado State University for his allowing of the F**k Bush headline and CNN is covering it!!!!  For the love of God is it possible that we simply have to make up outrage when there is no real reason to be outraged (except now when it’s apparent that I’m getting outraged). 

I think my favorite part of the CNN article today is the part where the College Republicans think he should resign and have 500 hundred signatures to back them up.  The party of less government intervention thinks that you should not be able to make an off colored comment about the President of the United States.  Somewhere Thomas Jefferson is spinning in his F**KING grave (for those of you that are history revisionist Jefferson ripped George Washington’s administration very publically in the newspapers of the time). I have an idea for the Republican Politicos of the future, how about spending more time getting your party to stop spending money like drunken sailors while visiting hookers and bathrooms stalls and less time defending a man who has all put S**T on everything the Republican Party is about (small government ext…).

In an effort to be fair I feel like I should take a shot at the Democratic party to (in an effort to be fair and balanced). Senator John Kerry stood up against the government when he came back from Vietnam but when it was obvious that the police where being over bearing you stood by and watched. I know I know you said leave him alone, you’ll answer his question, but what have you done since then? Maybe the kid was a trouble maker maybe not but I find that all college students are pain in the A$$ attention seekers and that’s good they are suppose to be. Show some real leadership and make sure the kid is OK!!!!!!

Last but certainly not least, in fact most importantly  The Collegian has received calls from 18 advertisers to pull out funds. According to the director of student media, Jeff Browne, The Collegian stands to lose $50,000.  50 grand, for saying F**K Bush.  That’s amazing and I’m sure it is a major chunk of their budget and this is where the problem lies.  If a college paper can lose funding because it’s writers and editors act like …well….college students then hell can major media outlets even come close to being ….well… being fair and balanced?  If the fourth estate (ask a friend who took an American government class) has to hold it’s tongue because it’s advertisers are scared to be associated with it at the college level then I have news for those of us that no longer in college, we are F**KED.  It will be increasingly harder to actual hear the truth because it will offend someone and what will the result be?  Our way of life will be controlled by the few that can afford to be heard.  I guess free speech isn’t so free.

An ongoing breakdown.

Lately I feel like a square peg trying to fit in a round hole.  I go through this periodically but lately it seems to happen more than it used to.  I wonder if it’s because of where I am or maybe the only reason I’m in the round hole is because of where I have chosen to put myself.  Wendy some discussion with you would be great, but anyone could be of some help.

Chris

Lets bring back local currency.

I found this article from the E.F. Schumacher society about a local currency that was issued in lower Massachusetts in 2006.  I was not aware that local currency was still legal but I agree with the thought that it protects the local economy.  Well read it and give me your thoughts.

 BerkShares (www.berkshares.org) are a local currency for the Southern Berkshire region of Massachusetts. They were issued on September 29, 2006 by BerkShares, Inc. in cooperation with the E. F. Schumacher Society and the Southern Berkshire Chamber of Commerce. BerkShares are exchanged for federal dollars at participating regional banks and circulate at a wide variety of local businesses. View international, national, and regional press coverage by clicking here.

Widely used in the United States in the early 1900s, local currencies are a legal, but underutilized tool for citizens to support local economies. Local currencies function on a regional scale the same way that national currencies have functioned on a national scale—building the regional economy by creating a protective “membrane” that is defined by the currency itself.  Local businesses that accept the currency are distinguished from chain stores that do not, building greater affinity between citizens of the region and their local merchants. Individuals choosing to use the currency make a conscious commitment to buy locally first, taking personal responsibility for the health and wellbeing of their community, laying the foundation of a truly vibrant, thriving local economy.

A great quote from the book small is beautiful!!

E. F. Schumacher

August 16th, 1911-Sept 4th, 1977  

“Perhaps we cannot raise the winds. But each of us can put up the sail, so that when the wind comes we can catch it.”

- E. F. Schumacher, Small Is Beautiful

Another quote from a Pope that needs to be read about the economy….

I keep finding Christian leaders who seem to stand oppossed to the way we have constructed the economy.

“Free competition has destroyed itself; economic dictatorship has supplanted the free market; unbridled ambition for power has likewise succeeded greed for gain; all economic life has become tragically hard, inexorable, and cruel.”

                                                                                     Pius XI

An Important Step.

I’m a religious studies nut so I realize that most people won’t see the signifigance of this article but I really think it’s a postive step for both religious freedom in China and more importantly human rights there.  For those of you that don’t know their is a state run Church in China that is an official Church and then their is an underground Church which is loyal to the Vatican.  The consecration of a Bishop that is ok’d by both Rome and Beijing could go along way to the Church slowely being reconciled.  I think this is signifigant in the larger religious picture because this official verses underground faith is not altogether that different than the situation the Tibetian Buddhist faith is in.   Maybe (and it’s huge maybe) we can knock a chunk out of the wall of personel oppression over there.

Anyway without further ado here is the article on the Bishops consecration…….(more)

Something I found online.

I’ve always fancied myself a Socialist but I have begun really really reading the Catholic Churches ideas on social justice and I found this quote on the web.  I’m not sure how we could gaurentee land to everyone though.

 “If working people can be encouraged to look forward to obtaining a share in the land, the consequence will be that the gulf between vast wealth and sheer poverty will be bridged over, and the respective classes will be brought nearer to one another.”

 Pope Leo XIII

Doing the Right Thing.

I have a friend who asked a tough question last night.  He’s a guy that turned a corner several years ago and started following the straight path, and yet he feels as though since cleaning up his life he has met financial hardship after hardship.  He asked me what the incentive is for continuing to live a good clean life, of doing the right thing.  Two things about this question trouble me.  The first is that it is frustrating to see someone try to make good for their family and continually get screwed.  Their is something about this that seems wrong, almost like God likes a cosmic joke at the expense of good people, while lousy amoral sons of guns make a comfortable living off the backs of everyone. 

The second problem I have with it relates to the first one in that, why do we need an incentive to do the right thing?  Is that really what drives man to care for another man?  Are we really such a shallow species that to do what is right and just requires a prize for doing it?  What brought us here, and what can we do to fix it?  I would hope that somewhere in our hearts we instinctively know what is right that somehow when we look at the poor and needy that we KNOW we should be helpful because these people are human like us.  I hope that somehow my friend realizes that he should do the right thing without cutting corners because he’s an example to his kids and ultimately if he does the right thing then maybe his kids will learn the right thing also.