Category Archives: Politics

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Upon Democracy and Kingship – An Election Day Reflection

After all the debate over American exceptionalism, after all the worry over the country lagging in various international rankings, in the basement of Christ’s Southern Mission Baptist Church, St. Louis, Missouri a pretty exceptional process was occurring this morning. In a fairly blighted portion of the city, in a building in which people can gather freely to vote or worship, a long orderly line of voters were exercising their right to be heard. As I stood in line, above the checkerboard linoleum floor, above the tables with the slight cardboard voting screens all akimbo, in the light streaming through plain protestant stained glass, a large banner left over from some long-forgotten pageant proclaimed “Worship the King!” I smiled and thought—after it all, after a revolution and 200 plus years of crawling toward a more perfect union—I am a Royalist at heart :)

Note:To those of you here for the photos–I wish I had my camera with me, it was an amazing shot (it may be time to get a smart phone)– please bear with a little religious and even littler amount of political sentiment. It will soon be over.

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arabian sea – Haiku / Poetry on the Death and Burial of Osama Bin Laden

in murky depths a
body lies a mouldering;
arabian sea

arabian sea,
all the perfumes of the land
cannot clean stained hands

arabian sea,
it cannot yet be that sea,
of forgetfulness
__________________________
Also, though I am not a Catholic and so do not know exactly what to make of this author’s mention of the beatification of John Paul II on the same day that Osama Bin Laden died, I do appreciate his articulation of the Christian teaching on justice and forgiveness, especially as he personally witnessed the horrors of 911 and ministered to its victims.

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a man in darkness – a poem for Mohamed Bouazizi, Tunisia, Egypt and Tahrir square

a man in darkness
burns out his life, touching fire
to a firmament

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Helping Your Neighbor, Loving Your Enemies – Pakistan Flood Relief

When the Haiti earthquake occurred, the response in our country was immediate and overwhelming, and with good reason, as so many people lost their lives. The needs continue to be great and help should continue to flow.

The response to the Pakistani flooding, though, in both dollars and attention, seems to be muted in comparison. Perhaps this is so because not as many folk immediately lost their lives, though 1600 have done so already. Perhaps it is because the flooding, which covers an area the size of England and has displaced 20 million people, is on the other side of the world. Perhaps it is because some may view the people in Pakistan, particularly this region of Pakistan, as their enemies.

By way of laying my cards on the table, I am both half-Pakistani and a Christian, one who seeks (falteringly at best) to both care for the poor and dispossessed and to love my enemies. So, I have good reasons to help Pakistanis, people with whom I share blood kinship and whom God commands me to love.

Furthermore, I am an American, a member of a country that is hated by many in Pakistan, and this grieves me a great deal. Without sorting out blame from a very complex history, wouldn’t it be wonderful to see more U.S. military war planes delivering food and supplies with a message “From the people of the United States” emblazoned on the sides of boxes and bags, delivered by the hands of men and women from our country. See Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s plea here.

If you are motivated to help, please text one of the numbers either above or below, or check out the guide I have created for my work which provides more information and opportunities to give.

To explain a little more about the phrase “loving your enemies,” clearly many people in Pakistan and America do not regard each other as such, but many in both countries do. Pakistani rocker, Salman Ahmad, who tries to fight extremism through music, describes the problem in a BBC article this way:

Speaking from New York, he told BBC World Service that he realised that people in the West were hesitant about helping, asking why they should care for a country associated with extremism.

“[But] there are 100 million-plus young people under the age of 25 who can go two possible ways into the future,” he said.

“They can follow their dreams or they can give in to the extremists and the Taliban who want them to go blow themselves up.

“If they feel that the world cares for them, you may change the destiny of Pakistan. Not only is it humane but it is urgent self-interest – this is a moment to win hearts and minds.”

Finally, if you are moved to help with the flooding in Pakistan, please consider either linking to this post or writing a similar post of your own. Please feel free to use any of the images from this post, which have been synthesized from images gleaned from news sites.

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Helping the Displaced in Pakistan

swati girl
-Image from the BBC

The picture above is from this story which describes some stories of people who have been displaced by the fighting between the Pakistani Army and Taleban insurgents in the Swat Valley of Pakistan. If you read some of these stories, particularly one about the teacher, you get a sense of how oppressive life under the Taleban is.

I know that war is not the best solution, however, in my opinion this battle is one that Pakistan needs to step up to right now. It is such a tricky situation, though, as many in Pakistan at large may not support the government, particularly if vast numbers of civilians are killed or if the U.S. is seen to be supporting or urging this operation too much.

To give you some perspective, here is how one of the teachers at the boarding school for missionary children which I attended described Swat (I presume this was some time in the 60′s): “Swat was the most advanced area of Pakistan when Isabel and I first arrived. Schools for girls and even boys and girls speaking English. Good roads and hospitals too. It was in the time of the Wali who was the ruler. Such a shame.”

Moreover it is such a beautiful area, bringing in a fair amount of tourism money as well.

However, now all the dear people, most of whom already had a hard time scraping together a living, are leading very difficult lives. If you are interested in helping them, Mercy Corps is a relief agency I trust. Here is their current plan:

Hours from now, our team will begin distributing 1,155 emergency-supply kits at a vocational training school in Mardan, one of the primary gathering points for displaced families. The kits contain blankets, feminine hygiene supplies, soap, towels, mosquito repellent and mosquito nets.

An estimated 75 percent of the displaced population are taking refuge in existing villages rather than tent camps. Our ongoing efforts will focus on immediate needs of families in communities overwhelmed by this influx, including ensuring they have access to cooking facilities, clean water and sanitary housing.

Click here or on the image below if you would like to donate to Mercy Corps’ Emergency relief fund which send funds to help in this situation. I think Mercy Corps has pretty good financials too.

mercy corps

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Pixels to Start Your Mind, Break Your Heart, Move Your Feet: A Worldmapper Discussion

dollar-a-day

In my work as a librarian I came across this amazing site, which is thought provoking and alternately heartbreaking or amusing, though much too much more the former.

The way it works is a bit like a semi inflated balloon in ones hands. If you compress one part of the balloon another part of the balloon must get larger. If you squeeze several parts, other parts get larger or smaller respective to the amount of the pressure exerted on them. And, many of us know from experience, if one puts too much pressure on any one area, the whole thing simply explodes (but that is a metaphor that deserves consideration in greater depth later).

However, in the brightly colored maps on the site, country sizes balloon or deflate depending upon whatever statistic is being measured, whether that be the amount of a resources consumed by countries respectively or “the proportion of all people living on US$10 purchasing power parity or less a day worldwide,” as the map at the top of this post shows. Worldmapper has a detailed page for each concept being considered and also printable pdf page, which sometimes provides even more information. If you take even a little time to look at the map above, you can begin to see why I included “break your heart” in the title of this post.

But there are many maps which are even more stark in the information they convey.

Here is one one on deaths from drought…

drought

…and deaths from malaria…

malaria

Are you beginning to get the picture.

Well, I thought it might be an interesting and mutually edifying exercise if we together mined these maps (there are 366 of them) and used them to spark discussion. Very usefully, each map is numbered and has a link which can be incorporated in a comment when one is making a point.

Here is an example (which admittedly is supplemented by the image below which cannot be done in the comments field of this blog):

“Map 58 shows which country seems to be the largest importer of toys…and map 57 shows where they are all coming from!”

toys

Of course, you would not have to make a comparison. You could comment on a single map that got you thinking or weeping or walking, and why it did so.

Worldmapper (which has gotten a lot of press) very conveniently gives you several options in which the maps are categorized.

  • Thumbnails
  • Subject categories
  • A to Z Index (not recommended as it is very slow)
  • And here is information about the site and its methodology

    • And if discussions arise around a country or topic, I will add them to the tag cloud of this post and hopefully attract more participants.

    Finally, this site assumes basic geographical knowledge to appreciate it fully, but I think it would be a great teaching tool for subjects of all sorts, geographic and scientific and social, just to name a few, as were the Earth Lights sites here and here, which tell us a great deal about geography, privilege, and freedom. Not convinced? Just take a gander at North and South Korea.

    Well, I cannot exactly say “happy traveling,” but I do hope it may be profitable, thoughtful traveling.

    P.S. This site and mapping technology was created at the University of Sheffield in England, so it should be reliable.

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    The Dassler Effect, A Retrospective

    staircase

    Well, this new version of The Dassler Effect has had a more promising start than I could have imagined. And yet its previous incarnation was no slouch either (it still shows up first on Google). Because it was around for longer, it has far more more photos on it than the current blog and there is a far sight more writing of various types on it as well. Here are links to its categores. A word of warning: the photo and art pages do take a rather long time to load:

    dasandxti1

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    Francis Schaeffer Lecture Series, Fall 2008, On Politics

    Looks like this will be an interesting and timely series. It is free, but registration is required.

    With 18 months of unprecedented media coverage, a barrage of TV advertisements, and a couple of surprise decisions…the upcoming Presidential election has been the most talked about Presidential process in American History. Yet, as questions emerge about the policies of the candidates, the conversation dwindles concerning Christians’ role in politics. Annually, the Francis A. Schaeffer Institute brings together noted Christian thinkers and speakers to discuss critical issues facing the Church and society.

    The theme for the fall 2008 Francis A. Schaeffer Lectures Series, to be held October 3-4, is Taking Citizenship Seriously. The keynote speaker for the event will be Dr. Jim Skillen, president of The Center for Public Justice in Annapolis, Maryland. Other noteworthy speakers include John Hancock, president of John Hancock & Associates in Chesterfield, Missouri, Rep. Cynthia Davis, Missouri State Representative, 19th District, and Dr. Anthony Bradley, assistant professor of apologetics and systematic theology at Covenant Seminary. Please join our discussion concerning this timely event