wpeltz's Quotes

"Consumerism and Militarism are the overwhelming fundamentalist churches that we face today. We pray when we buy. We sing perversely to some god when we shoot."

And, elsewhere, in a sermon, it follows that "Shopping is bombing."

“Dear Ambassador, we are concerned that you are perhaps over-focused on human rights to the detriment of commercial interests.”

Excerpt from a 2003 memo from the UK Foreign Office to their Ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray, who had compiled an overwhelming dossier of evidence on torture in Uzbekistan, including photos of a boy being boiled alive.

“Now so many of us have lost our jobs, our savings—we are starting new businesses out of our garages. Out of our personal computers. We discover that our hobbies can make money. We teach in the home. Trading, bartering, thrifting… we are doing what we can. We are making things. The old shuttered storefronts can be re-opened. We won't have a credit card Christmas this year, but we will give more.

We find the extraordinary in the ordinary. Stop and trade names with a neighbor, touching hands, not hurrying away from the eyes... .

This is the basic healing that we need now across our country. Do you hear my preaching? It's clear now - We were forced into isolation. We were taken from each other - that's what we allowed them to do to us. We are getting to know each other again. This is the stuff of our new economy. It will grow and we won't let it go this time.

“This is the basic healing that we need now across our country ... We are getting to know each other again. This is the stuff of our new economy. It will grow and we won’t let it go this time.”

"(T)he Civil Rights movement has a powerful hold on me. It's a point in time where I think heaven and earth meet. Because it's a moment in which a collective faith transforms everything."

Jesus didn't send his disciples out as "Christian soldiers marching as to war." He sent them out as peacemakers, who would form circles of friendship and thereby enable people to connect with one another. That is still the primary Christian mission: better living through better circles of sharing.

"For Atwater, politics wasn't personal; it was just about winning by disemboweling your opponent and then desecrating his grave."

-- From a review (http://www.buzzflash.com/store/reviews/1316) of the documentary "Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story".

Atwater was the originator of the 'Swift Boating" style of Republican politics, Dukakis being the first victim. See the trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eY3XnLv4YpA.

"When Jesus, according to Biblical reports, converted approximately 150 gallons of water into an equivalent quantity of wine, his conversion rate was about a cup of ethanol per gallon of water invested (given the typical alcohol content of wine). Compare that to current processes that use irrigated corn as their carbon source and get less than a teaspoon of ethanol for each gallon of water consumed."

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Since we're "earning points" for quotes, I think I should do more than just quote. A bit of reflection is in order.

This bit of technological evaluation of the wine-making process at the Cana wedding is perhaps just a gimmick that the writer uses to get our attention. Kind of cute. At least it caught my eye.

But there's also material here for theological/ecological reflection on stewardship and the good use of creation. In addition to the water to ethanol ratio, there are issues concerning the large amount of oil used in ethanol production (destroying the energy rationale for corn ethanol) and the need to use cropland for food instead of for ethanol fuel consumption (as food shortages begin to spread).

"All governments lie, but disaster lies in wait for countries whose officials smoke the same hashish they give out."

"To write the truth as I see it; to defend the weak against the strong; to fight for justice; and to seek, as best I can, to bring healing perspectives to bear on the terrible hates and fears of mankind, in the hope of someday bringing about one world, in which men will enjoy the differences of the human garden instead of killing each other over them."