Paul Wilczynski's Observations

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

The Empire Strikes Barack

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Barack Obama on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

Broadcast April 21, 2008

Monday, April 21, 2008

Rockridge Institute comes to an end

The Rockridge Institute, a small California organization with which George Lakoff (author of a number of books on framing language from a progressive perspective) is associated, is closing up as of April 30, 2008.

It's really too bad. They took on a massive task and did what they could given their limited resources.

The Rockridge Institute was formed to address a set of challenges: The right-wing think tanks, after spending 35 years and 4 billion dollars, had come to dominate public debate. They had done this by framing Big Ideas their way: the nature of government, the market, taxation, security, morality, responsibility, accountability, character, nature, even life. This allowed them to then frame lower-level issues, special cases like terrorism, Iraq, education, health care, retirement, stem-cell research, the death penalty, affirmative action, and on and on. Our challenge was to figure out exactly how they had achieved such dominance over the minds of Americans and what progressives could do--not just how to respond case by special case, but how to do the Big Job: to reframe the Big Ideas governing our politics.

I look forward to seeing what Lakoff and the others do in the future.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Different ways of looking at marriages/relationships

Some people believe that a marriage/relationship between two heterosexual people is good, and that a relationship between two gay individuals is bad.

Other people (many Unitarian Universalists among them) believe that a marriage/relationship which is kind, loving, and caring is good, and that a relationship where one partner physically or psychologically injures the other is bad.

Perhaps that's one example of the idea that Unitarian Universalists value deeds more than creeds or rules.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Unitarian Universalism - Open Source Faith

Video formerly known as You're a Uni-What?

A video about Unitarian Universalism ...

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

6 year old singer

If you think the people on American Idol have talent, see what Simon thinks of this 6 year old:

Amazing SIX-Year-Old Singer - The best bloopers are a click away

Moving to Charleston, SC

About 3 years ago, my wife and I visited South Carolina and spent a couple of days in Charleston. We found it to be an incredibly charming city, with housing prices (in some of the 'burbs) significantly lower that in the Boston area. Because of things going on with my employer's IT organization, I wasn't feeling very confidant of my long term future, and we mused that it would be a good place to move if my job got eliminated. (During one trip down there, I was speaking with someone in a store. I told her that we had 8 feet of snow that season. She told me they had 6 minutes of snow. Gotta love an area that measures snow in minutes per year.)

Well, it's happened ... everyone in the IT department at my site has a termination date. Mine is the end of May. So we've decided to make the move. We're really going to miss the close friends that we've made in the Boston area, and my wife is going to miss the front and back gardens that she's spent so much time cultivating over the years we've lived in our house. We'll be attending the Unitarian Church of Charleston which has nearly 300 member families. Our house will hopefully be on the market shortly before the end of May, and we'll see how long it takes to sell.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Wikinews: Church of Scientology's 'Operating Thetan' documents leaked online

Wikinews says ...

Wikinews has obtained 'Operating Thetan' (OT) documents of the Church of Scientology which were leaked via Wikileaks. Although some portions of the manual have been leaked previously, this is believed to be the first time the full unedited version has been leaked.

It includes a description of 8 Operating Thetan levels, including

The final level, 'OT8', you are to "have full certainty and, therefore, perception on all" of your issues. According to Hubbard, the 'OT8' manuals are supposed to stay aboard the Free Winds Scientology ship which has heavy security because nothing is supposed to leave the ship. Despite that, Hubbard himself claims to have smuggled out his own 'OT8' instructions for the "elite" Scientologists.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

How was Stonehenge built?

Watch the film to see one person's idea:

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

License Your Virgin of Guadalupe Images now!

In the "Is nothing sacred" category, this press release:

Gallagher Group International, LLC, in partnership with its affiliated company member HMA Ventures, a full service marketing and communications firm specializing in multicultural communications, was selected as licensing agent for images of the Virgin of Guadalupe, Mexico's patron saint, to be sold in the United States.
Portions of the proceeds will benefit programs run by the Basilica of Guadalupe including Clinica Movil, where alongside the Mexican Red Cross, The Basilica of Guadalupe's Nursing School provides emergency and pre-hospitalization services; and Voluntariado de Guadalupe, a program through which the Basilica provides clothing, food, and general outreach to the poor in Mexico City. ...

I wonder where the rest of the proceeds (that don't fall into the "portions" category above) will be going.

Monday, March 03, 2008

Jesus Camp

I just saw a movie called Jesus Camp. If you haven't seen it, check it out.

It's incredibly scary.

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Six Word Memoirs or Stories

A recent edition of the New Yorker has a short article on the current trend to write six word memoirs. I've also heard it referred to as six-word stories. As an example, it's said that Hemingway wrote this: "For sale: baby shoes, never worn".

Here's one memoir of mine: "Did computers. Lost job, new life."

IRS targets UCC for Obama appearance

The United Church of Christ website reports ...

The Internal Revenue Service has notified the United Church of Christ's national offices in Cleveland, Ohio, that the IRS has opened an investigation into U.S. Sen. Barack Obama's address at the UCC's 2007 General Synod as the church engaging in "political activities."
In the IRS letter dated Feb. 20, the IRS said it was initiating a church tax inquiry "because reasonable belief exists that the United Church of Christ has engaged in political activities that could jeopardize its tax-exempt status."
The Rev. John H. Thomas, the UCC's general minister and president, called the investigation "disturbing" but said the investigation would reveal that the church did nothing improper or illegal. ...

The article goes on to say that

The invitation to Obama was extended a year before he became a Democratic presidential candidate.
Associate General Minister Edith A. Guffey, who serves as administrator of the biennial General Synod, admonished the crowd that Obama's appearance was not to be a campaign-related event and that electioneering would not be tolerated.

While I totally understand and support the IRS investigating churches that support a specific candidate and encourage their members to vote for a specific candidate, I can't see how this even comes close.

I wonder how the IRS came to start this investigation.

A tip of the hat to Rev. Adam Tierney-Eliot.

Thursday, February 07, 2008

Stephen Colbert on Unitarians

Here's what the "official" Stephen Colbert thinks about Unitarians.

A tip of the hat to Chalice Circle

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Lakoff: What Counts as an Issue?

George Lakoff, in a blog post called What Counts as an "Issue" In the Clinton-Obama Race? talks about the major issues dividing Democrats:

First, triangulation: moving to the right -- adopting right-wing positions -- to get more votes. Bill Clinton did it and Hillary believes in it. It is what she means by "bipartisanship." Obama means the opposite by "bipartisanship." To Obama, it is a recognition that central progressive moral principles are fundamental American principles. For him, bipartisanship means finding people who call themselves "conservatives" or "independents," but who share those central American values with progressives. Obama thus doesn't have to surrender or dilute his principles for the sake of "bipartisanship."
The second is incrementalism: Hillary believes in getting lots of small carefully crafted policies through, one at a time, step by small step, real but almost unnoticed. Obama believes in bold moves and the building of a movement in which the bold moves are demanded by the people and celebrated when they happen. This is the reason why Hillary talks about "I," I," "I" (the crafter of the policy) and Obama talks about "you" and "we" (the people who demand it and who jointly carry it out).
The third is interest group politics: Hillary looks at politics through interests and interest groups, seeking policies that satisfy the interests of such groups. Obama's thinking emphasizes empathy over interest groups. He also sees empathy as central to the very idea of America.

Monday, January 21, 2008

Professor Garfield

If you have kids between kindergarten and 8th grade, know someone with kids between kindergarten and 8th grade, or sometimes like to act like a kid, you should definitely check out ProfessorGarfield.org.

Its description:

The Professor Garfield Foundation learning portal is a fun interactive online environment where children can safely explore, learn and creatively express themselves. The Foundation (PGF) was formed in 2003 as a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit organization to provide children, parents, and teachers an opportunity to enhance and support classroom learning in new and innovative ways.

It's run by a non-profit partnership between Paws, Inc., the world headquarters of Garfield the Cat, and Ball State University.

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Cary Tennis: "Our New Friend is a Racist"

I'm a big fan of a giver-of-advance on Salon.com named Cary Tennis. A recent column is entitled Our new friend is a racist -- should we dump him?.

If your gut reaction to that question is anywhere close to "of course!", you might want to read the column.

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Being clean together means being mean together

According to CNN World,

Greek Orthodox and Armenian priests attacked each other with brooms and stones inside the Church of the Nativity as long-standing rivalries erupted in violence during holiday cleaning on Thursday [Dec 27, 2007]. ...

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Holiday message from Bill Sinkford

Bill Sinkford is president of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Would I vote for a Mormon for president?

Of course.

If (s)he were a liberal Democrat.

Friday, December 07, 2007

Don't try to commit suicide if you're in the service in Iraq

Because if you fail, you might be courtmartialed.

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Badass Bible verses

I've never read the Bible. I know, quite an admission. But it's true.

Boing Boing has a short piece on badass Bible verses, including this one from 2 Kings 2 (New International Version):

From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some youths came out of the town and jeered at him. "Go on up, you baldhead!" they said. "Go on up, you baldhead!" He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the LORD. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths. And he went on to Mount Carmel and from there returned to Samaria.

Wow ... no kidding. 2 bears just like that. Guess he was pretty touchy about his appearance. I may have to find a copy of this and check it out.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Peacebang on the Fourth Principle

Fellow blogger Peacebang, in a post called Fourth Principle: Free and Responsible Search For Truth and Meaning has a paragraph that paricularly struck me:

It seems to me that UUs have yet to acknowledge the fact that while we have made it our "good news" to affirm and proclaim the essential harmony between world faith traditions, we have done so with little or no input or consultation with adherents of those faith traditions. We therefore operate on the assumption that religions "belong" to everyone and anyone who wants to claim them. I wish this was so, but it is not. Religions can only be responsibly understood in their time, place and cultural context. If we want to be a world religion religion, we must take the study of them far more seriously and make education in world religions a staple of our adult religious education offerings. I know that some congregations do this, but not many. Nor has the UUA provided curriculum to help with this knowledge deficit.

Good question. For instance, how do Jews feel when UUs perform the non-Jewish equivalent of a Passover Seder (a Jewish ritual feast held on the first night of the Jewish holiday of Passover)? I'm not Jewish, but I've enjoyed the few times I've had a chance to be part of one. Do (at least some of) those who are Jewish think we're stealing one of their traditions and treating it lightly? I don't know.

Monday, November 26, 2007

The Nicest Prayer

Here's something that's floating all over the web, but which makes a lot of sense to me, no matter what level of praying you ever do ...

Heavenly Father, Help us remember that the jerk who cut us off in traffic last night is a single mother who worked nine hours that day and is rushing home to cook dinner, help with homework, do the laundry and spend a few precious moments with her children.

Help us to remember that the pierced, tattooed, disinterested young man who can't make change correctly is a worried 19-year-old college student, balancing his apprehension over final exams with his fear of not getting his student loans for next semester.

Remind us, Lord, that the scary looking bum, begging for money in the same spot every day (who really ought to get a job!) is a slave to addictions that we can only imagine in our worst nightmares .

Help us to remember that the old couple walking annoyingly slow through the store aisles and blocking our shopping progress are savoring this moment, knowing that, based on the biopsy report she got back last week, this will be the last year that they go shopping together .

Heavenly Father, remind us each day that, of all the gifts you give us, the greatest gift is love. It is not enough to share that love with those we hold dear. Open our hearts not to just those who are close to us, but to all humanity. Let us be slow to judge and quick to forgive, show patience, empathy and love.

Friday, November 23, 2007

Jim Wallis: My Response to A Muslim Call For Common Ground

Jim Wallis, author of God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It says

Christianity and Islam comprise the world's largest communities of faith - 2.1 billion Christians and 1.5 billion Muslims. If these two religious traditions cannot find ways to keep peace between themselves, the world will be in very serious trouble. As Brian McLaren posted earlier on this blog, a group of 138 Muslim scholars and clerics recently sent an open letter to Christians around the world, A Common Word Between Us and You. ...

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Military wants some signing bonuses back

In a new low for the U.S. government,

The U.S. Military is demanding that thousands of wounded service personnel give back signing bonuses because they are unable to serve out their commitments.
To get people to sign up, the military gives enlistment bonuses up to $30,000 in some cases.
Now men and women who have lost arms, legs, eyesight, hearing and can no longer serve are being ordered to pay some of that money back. ...

Friday, November 09, 2007

The Religious Right and Moral Absolutes

Grandfather Tree discusses a question I've always found fascinating:

The problem that I have struggled with for a long time is to understand why folks on the "Christian right" have so adamantly and consistently fought against abortion, gay rights, and stem cell research, but are mostly silent on capital punishment, atrocities of war, and various governmental injustices. I just didn't make sense to me. After all, if they are against abortion because it is the killing of another human being, why aren't they equally against the invasion of Iraq or capital punishment, as both involve the intentional killing of human beings?

The writer goes on to talk about the Religious Right's problems with sex outside of marriage, homosexuality, and pretty much anything have to do with "normal" sex within marriage. That's been more my question: why the concentration on things related to sex, and not things related to, say, gang violence.

He touches on much of that in his posting.

Thursday, November 08, 2007

Profit-making companies

I ran across A posting on Street Prophets, the idea of which is that the author wouldn't give space to someone who wants to talk about his/her book because it's "pimping".

Personally, I think there's way too much "if someone is making money, it must be bad" attitude going around these days. If I see a book whose topic is somehow related to this blog, and I think it's a good book, I've got no problem with the author providing me some information it and publishing it here.

The whole world isn't non-profit, folks. Let's get a little reality grip.

Monday, November 05, 2007

"I'm Praying For You"

Peacebang (and others) are writing about a recent advice column which which a non-religious writer has a problem when people tell her they're praying for her.

Personally, I think this is simply a matter of politeness. To me, it falls into the same category as receiving a gift or a compliment that perhaps I don't quite feel I deserve.

My response? "Thanks you". Try it a few times, and remember that practice makes perfect.

Friday, November 02, 2007

Westboro Baptist Church lawsuit

The recent Westboro Baptist Church lawsuit loss has me doing a Hillary.

I'm an ACLU member, so I believe in everyone's right to free speech - especially if I disagree with it.

That being said, down deep inside I can't help but be pleased that this lawsuit went against Westboro. Does that mean the ACLU is gonna demand my card back?

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Book banning still lives in Massachusetts

Harry Potter books have been banned by the pastor of a Catholic school in Wakefield, MA, saying that that the themes of witchcraft and sorcery were inappropriate for a Catholic school.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised. But why don't books of fiction about murder get banned? Murder isn't as bad as sorcery, I guess.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Another UU bites the dust

For those of you who equate Unitarian Universalism with political liberalism, I would ask that you read this blog entry entitled So Long UU.

I understand where he's coming from. I'm politically a liberal, but I find it offensive when it's assumed that everyone in my congregation is also liberal. UUism is religiously liberal - I assume we'd all agree on that. But we shouldn't carry that over into the political arena.

Friday, October 12, 2007

Voices of a Liberal Faith: Unitarian Universalists

Thoughts about liberal religion (I'm a Unitarian Universalist), liberal/progressive politics, and increasingly more other subjects.

: Name: Paul Wilczynski; Location: Quincy, Massachusetts, United States

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Previous Posts

The Empire Strikes Barack

Barack Obama on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

Rockridge Institute comes to an end

Different ways of looking at marriages/relationshi...

Unitarian Universalism - Open Source Faith

Video formerly known as You're a Uni-What?

6 year old singer

Moving to Charleston, SC

Wikinews: Church of Scientology's 'Operating Theta...

How was Stonehenge built?

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