While driving to the Botanical Gardens with my grandchildren a car plastered with Tea Party and Romney bumper stickers swerved in front of me from the right lane and slammed on his breaks so he could make a left turn at the light. Luckily I was driving slowly enough I could break without startling my granddaughters. However, I muttered under my breath, “What an ass.”

Apparently I spoke louder than intended because right away my granddaughter Bridie asked, “Grandpa, is “ass” a bad word?”

Me: It all depends on how you use it in a sentence.

Bridie: What does, “How you use it in a sentence mean?”

Me: Well, ass is another word for donkey, so if you see a donkey and you say, “Look, there’s an ass,” then ass is not a bad word because it’s just another word that means the same thing as donkey.

Bridie: Was there a donkey in that car?

Me: No, but there was a Republican in the car.

Bridie: Is it bad to call a Republican an ass.

Me: No, that’s another case where it means the same thing.

Bridie: Oh.

I love helping my grandchildren learn grammar.

Alice Walker Quote

‎"The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any." - Alice Walker

FYI: African-American novelist, poet and activist Alice Walker says she became a radical due to the influence of Howard Zinn who was one of her professors at Spelman College during the 1960's. I knew Zinn at that time because he was the father of a friend of mine and occasionally  lectured at the socialist commune I was living at in 1962-63.

Changing Goals

When I wrote for and helped edit a left-wing newspaper back in the late sixties and early seventies I saw myself as America’s next E.B. Debs or, at the very least, the next Herbert Aptheker. Years later, when I was in graduate school in Flordia State's counselor education program, I was sure I was going to be the next Carl Rogers. A decade later, when I was in seminary, I saw myself as the next Billy Graham, but with strong Walter Rauschenbusch leanings. Now that I’m in the autumn (if not winter) of my years I find that what matters most is that I be remembered fondly by my grandchildren.

Billie Holiday: Strange Fruit - In Memory of Troy Davis

Billie Holiday: Strange Fruit - YouTube:

'via Blog this'

Pro-Life? Really??

Only in America can you get away with being pro-war and pro-death penalty and yet call yourself pro-life. Rest in peace Troy Davis.

The Bible and Slavery

All of my life, but especially down here in the southern United States, I’ve heard that the Bible never condemns the institution of slavery. I guess because I’ve heard it so often, I never questioned the statement’s veracity. I read the Bible through every year and have never noticed anything that would specifically challenge that teaching.

Until today. Look at 1 Timothy, verses 8 through 10 in your Bible. Of the translations I have, all but two of them render the Greek noun, ἀνδραποδιστής (andrapodistais) in verse 10 as “kidnappers” (NKJV, NASB, RSV, NAB, CEV), or “menstealers” (KJV).  

Only the New International Version and the English Standard Version correctly translate ἀνδραποδιστής as “slave traders” (NIV) or “enslavers” (ESV). The ESV’s note on “enslavers” reads, “That is, those who take someone captive in order to sell him into slavery.”

According to The New Testament Greek-English Dictionary, edited by Thoralf Gilbrant, the word ἀνδραποδιστής “…is used of those who trafficked in human beings whether by enslaving free men or stealing the slaves of others for resale.” It has no other meaning.

In 1 Timothy 1:8-10 the Apostle Paul is lumping slave traders in with “the ungodly and sinners…the unholy and profane,…those who strike their fathers and mothers,…murders, the sexually immoral,…liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine.…” (ESV).

It seems to me that if Paul is condemning those who enslave, then the whole institution of slavery is tainted as well. Those are my thoughts on ἀνδραποδιστής. What are yours?

War = Profit

"If we could just take the profit out of war, there wouldn't be any." -- Woody Guthrie

"I'm A Friend of the Fetus"

I'M A FRIEND OF THE FETUS
(Carole Rose Livingston)

I am no friend to the fathers and mothers,
And I am no friend to the sisters and brothers,
And I am no friend to the poor and oppressed,
And I am no friend to the weak and distressed.

But, I'm a friend of the fetus!
A friend of incomparable worth!
I'm a friend of the fetus!
Right up to the moment of birth!

When it's a baby I will not go near it.
I will not feed it, no I will not rear it.
And when it is crying, I won't even hear it,
For I have no room in my heart for a human.

But, I'm a friend of the fetus!
A friend of incomparable worth!
I'm a friend of the fetus!
Right up to the moment of birth!

I will not weep for it, I won't lose sleep for it.
I won't not care for it, I won't be there for it.
I'll back away from it, I won't go gray from it.
I will not pray for it, and I won't pay for it.

But, I'm a friend of the fetus!
A friend of incomparable worth!
I'm a friend of the fetus!
Right up to the moment of birth!


I believe a fetus is a human and I'm totally opposed to abortion. Nevertheless, this song speaks to me because I think it is true of many if not most of the Christian Right, Pro-Family, Anti-Abortion activists. They are friends of the child in the womb, but could care less what happens to the child after birth.


The Tea Party/Rethuglican legislators who oppose increased funding for mental health programs that serve returning veterans (who are committing suicide at an alarming rate), or who vote to reduce funding for food and formula for newborns and toddlers when the USA has a higher infant mortality rate than many third world countries, are just as guilty of murder as the mother who aborts her fetus because it is not convenient for her to have a child at this time. 

You Betcha

As I was pulling into a parking space at the drugstore, I noticed a man standing outside the door using his atomizer. Immediately after taking a few puffs and putting it away, he pulled out a pack of cigarettes and proceeded to light up. I guess he needed to clear his lungs to get the full nicotine effect.

I couldn't help thinking to myself, "What kind of idiot whose asthma or COPD is bad enough he needs an atomizer, continues to smoke?!

But when he got into his pickup truck and pulled away, I saw the "Palin in 2012, You Betcha" bumper sticker on the back of his vehicle and somehow it all made sense. 

Sharing the Sacrifice

Public school teachers in the United States spent more than $1.33 billion out of pocket on school supplies and instructional materials in the 2009-2010 school year, according to new research released by the National School Supply and Equipment Association. When my wife was teaching in the inner city, in addition to out of pocket expenses for school supplies, every year we bought at least one winter coat for a kid that did not have one. Most of the other teachers in her school did the same. 


Teabaggers and Rethuglicans keep talking about "sharing the sacrifice." Teachers have been doing that for decades already. Instead of cutting teachers' salaries and benefits, maybe it's time to cut the salaries and benefits of our elected officials. It's way past time for them to share the sacrifice.