The incredible entitlement of some people

never ceases to amaze me:

Christie Blatchford: Family of teen fatally struck by SUV sued by motorist for her ‘pain and suffering’

Yep. That is all.

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The world

is a much darker and sadder place today.

Pete Seeger, folk singer and activist, dead at 94

I had a dream of meeting him one day, which I never realized. He was always an amazing man to me, and I hope to meet him in Heaven one day.

So very sad, but he lived his life in hope of a better world and worked all his days toward that goal. Goodnight, Mr. Seeger, and go swiftly to God...

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History

A Legacy of Activism

A short, but interesting, slideshow about Black religious activism in the U.S. and their effects on U.S. history, a lot of which is so recent that a lot of us can remember it...

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These cult leaders!

Disabled woman wins $500,000 payout from Rocco Leo's Agape Ministries doomsday cult

They may really start out believing their own claims, but at some point of ripping off their followers I really think they come to believe that they're just ripping off their followers. It doesn't make sense otherwise...

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Yes!

Water is human right, not a for-profit commodity, says Vatican council

And don't let Coke or anyone else tell you anything different! Just because they can bottle and sell it doesn't mean that it should then become their property to sell. Governments, though under the thumbs of corporations, none-the-less need to agree with this and act like it, not like the bought and paid for stooges of the corporations...

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At least someone is thinking of them

Nuns Denounce Human Trafficking Ahead Of Super Bowl XLVI

All everyone else will be thinking about is money, sports and entertainment. Oh, and themselves. But that goes without question.

Some time ago someone was asking me who I thought would be in, and win, the Super Bowl. I thought, Ultimately? I guess God wins. Because these things are just small, small things in the grand scheme, and we are just tiny creatures full of our own self-importance and wanting everything for ourselves...

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We average Christians have it easy

And I really mean that!

"The average Christian doesn't have to pick up his phone when it rings and think about somebody killing him or his children. The average Christian didn't have any of that" - Rev. C.T. Vivian, vice president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, on why Rev. Martin Luther King’s favorite hymns and spirituals helped carry him through troubled times.

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Class Warfare

Fuck Your Prayer, Show Me Solidarity

She's angry. Angry for good, legitimate reasons. She is consumed by the injustice that swallows her and her anger is directed toward the 'justice' proposed by certain liberal Evangelicals. But she has very, very good points. I have felt anger toward some of these people for years. The situation really is class warfare. It is all around us. Our society is built upon the model (and I was just being criticized for not acknowledging that belief just the other night!).

I live in the same world, and hold very similar, though not quite as extreme, debt. I am ill, but to this point not quite ill enough to lose my livelihood. I am older, and therefore not as bitter about lost opportunity, lost hopes and a lost future. I am not as angry. I fully expect to lose everything before the end of my life, and I expect to live in poverty. I don't know the form it will take, but when illness strikes (as the author has so capably noted) the ability to fight back is taken away. Our society needs to put this wrong right. And it won't, because our society is controlled by the elite, by those with wealth. My country is on the path away from possible just resolution of ills to a model based on the U.S. model, which panders to the wealthy and elite as if they have done something special and important. Apparently,we are supposed to love the wealthy simply because they do what we haven't been able to do - make money. And we're expected to die and get out of the way so they can make more...

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I really don't understand

how people can get sucked into cults like this. (But then I'm a really suspicious type...)

Cult Leader Alamo Still Ministering from Prison

Christian groups have never considered the Alamo group a Christian group, and the very fact that they say he's 'writing scripture' in prison says that he's considered way more than just a leader of the group. Despite his numerous criminal convictions over the years...

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A story

about a very overlooked group.

A Book Every Priest Needs to Read: Catholic Priests Falsely Accused

I'm making no judgments about any particular individual or situation in this instance. All I know is that there have been a pretty high number of false accusations of abuse by priests that have been proven false, yet we don't hear much if anything about them. They should have their audience as well...

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Young fools...

I have no sympathy for people who commit sexual abuse, with minors or people of the age of consent, but kids doing things like this need to give their heads a shake, for the very reasons the police state:

Teens in superhero garb confront online predators

I love art, I love illustration, I love comics, particularly now that they are collected into 'trade publications', which are most often referred to as 'graphic novels'. Having said that, I still appreciate the boundary between fiction and reality and I know that none of these characters are real, and I can't emulate them in any way in real life. More and more we're seeing people (mainly younger people) wearing fictional super hero costumes and taking the law into their own hands. Perhaps it's out of a sense of frustration with the law, a sense of powerlessness and helplessness, whatever. The fact is, they aren't these super heroes, they can't be these super heroes, and someone is going to get seriously hurt or killed trying to act like one of these super heroes. They need to get a better grip on reality, in my opinion...

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It appears

that besides prison bars, Mr. Alamo is going to have to worry about the loss of his assets. Not that he can use them.

TG: Judge denies bid to reduce award in Alamo lawsuit. Alamo must pay $66 million to men who allege physical abuse

He may not have that much money, and I don't think he'll make that much in prison wages over the term of his 175-year sentence, but his cult had some pretty fair assets, I believe...

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It sounds as though

the system worked the way it was designed to (for once)...

Law Society licenses lawyer despite kidnapping conviction


No, the cult involved wasn't Scientology.

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Happy Birthday!

To

Woody Guthrie

Born on this date in 1912.

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As wonderful as this is

now the people responsible for the crimes must be brought to justice and pay a steep price for their crimes.

More than 500 Free from Slavery in IJM’s Largest Operation Ever

But will justice ever be done?

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And so,

justice in America continues to belong to those who can pay for it...

Justice In America: A Tale Of Two Crimes

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It's true, really.


Justice in Economics is Not Socialism: The Catholic Worker and Workers

We seem to have gotten, in our culture, to a point where anytime the words 'justice' and 'fairness' are used in the context of economics, that the general response is 'Socialism' or even stronger 'Communism'. Our culture of conservative politics, greed and self-interest seems to have brought us there.

(Yes, yes, I know, it's a generalization in ways. All definite comments are. Even this one...)

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Good choice

I'm pretty sure I would have put him in jail without bail myself. I wonder if a good lawyer will get him off?

N.Y. man shows up to DWI hearing late, drunk, carrying open beer

Sillier things have been known to happen in the law...

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Calling governments to account...

Religion and Worker Justice

It's never been simple. Even the discussion of worker's rights brings into it the national budgets of nations, and so on. Mind you, when corporations are making billions of dollars in record profits one wonders why there's even a national budget problem. But I digress.

It never has been an easy issue. Are we, as Christians, called to change the government to act in a fair and just manner? Did Jesus ask us to do that? Is that part of the requirement to 'feed the hungry, clothe the naked...etc.'? Did He also not say that we are to 'render unto Caesar what is Caesar's'?

I'm not saying we are or we aren't. I'm just pointing out that it's not always so black and white. (I tend to lean to the 'working to make government fair and just' side of the issue myself) but I learned long ago to always question those who say they know what Jesus meant by something, or they know what Jesus would think about a specific situation. It is wisdom to often pray "Lord, protect us from those to whom you speak directly."

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God bless this Bishop

Finding faith with the Wisconsin's pro-worker protesters

"It is telling that the Catholic archbishop of Wisconsin has spoken out in support of trade union rights – and quoted the pope"

It's a very sad thing that so few people know the wealth of papal documents released over the decades supporting labour, as well as many other Church documents. As a church we struggle to find a way to educate our people in the pews. There's so much of importance to pass on! (I'm writing a report on education in my parish for the parish Annual General Meeting, so this is sort of on my mind right now...)

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