Trying to follow

There was a tragedy on our block on Thursday. It’s hard to know how to respond to a situation like this. I didn’t personally know any of them, but plenty of neighbors did, and despite the encouragement of seeing people come together amidst the situation, it doesn’t make the difficulty of it any easier.

We’ve been on our block less then a year and I’m trying to do my best to be an observer and a learn. I’m trying to keep my ears and mind open to learn about the neighborhood and the community, and to learn about life.

First off, I’m sorry to anyone whose received any of the emails that there were new comments on a post from my blog and the comment was spam. Sorry about that. I’ve added a Captcha, which is one of those garbled text image things you have to type in to confirm your comment. I really don’t like them but until I can get these spam bots to go away I’ll have to have the captcha up. Please keep commenting though.

Maybe it’s because the blog has been sitting rather dormant, or maybe it’s some other reason, but I’ve been getting about 200 spam comments on my blog a day for about the past four or five days. Annoying in that the comment moderation emails are filling up my inbox. But I’ll survive.

I think I might start blogging again, if only to keep the bots away. Don’t know what you can expect. Maybe random, maybe deep thoughts, maybe just more political stuff for a while. I spent more time getting rid of the spam comments and cleaning up the blog then it would take to punch out a little brief thought now and then.

So welcome back everybody.

I’m not really doing the ‘post once a week’ thing very well, so I do apologize. However, the last post had a nice 25 comment long discussion, so I appreciate everyone’s input. For the time being, I’m still asking political questions. We are basically being bombarded with this stuff and I can’t help but think about it. So, with that comes more and more questions. (and I just watched the vice-presidential debates, so there’s even more fodder for thought) [and it doesn't help that I got a sneak viewing of Religulous the other night]

I guess what I’m really wondering right now, is what relevance all this political stuff has on me and my neighborhood. Not that it doesn’t have an impact, but I sort of wonder how different a Republican and Democratic administration is. I’ve only been really cognizient of anything political for the last maybe 6 years, so I don’t really have personal experience to make judgements on. And since most of the readers here are early 30’s or younger (speak up if your not!), I’m not sure this is the right audience to ask.

I know it’s all interlinked, our country, my neighborhood, international wars and local poverty. Lately, I’m not sure what to make of it. I’m trying to listen honestly and hear out both sides, and they both seem to think they are right and I just can’t make sense of it.

And like I’ve said before, my outlook is motivated by my understanding of trying to follow the teachings of Christ, which contrary to what any politician might say, I believe are the hope of the world. That being said, I’m willing to be pursuaded by anyone on the political or religious spectrum that can help me make sense of the political parties, or even the specific political candidates, in light of me trying to follow Christ’s teachings, and convince me who to vote for. No, my votes not for sale, I’m just trying to make sense of things…

As much as I’ve tried to avoid it, political news, gossip, issues, dilemmas, debates, scandals; politics is everywhere. I voted in my states primaries last Tuesday and recognized that although we tend to recognize that local elections and government officials have a far greater impact on our day to day life than who is president, we don’t really educate ourselves on what local candidates to vote for (what’s an Associate Justice do anyways?). That’s only been one of my latest questions that has arisen. I’ve made an effort to listen intently to people I respect on both sides of the aisle (including that third side that wants to abstain from voting), listening to people far more politically knowledgeable and wise then me have caused a lot of questions to raise in my mind. Ones I haven’t found answers for.

So, I’d like to employ your help. These are questions, not arguments for or against. Just things that have begun to arise in my questioning of politics on both sides of things. They aren’t an exhaustive list, but they are what have been on my mind. Remember, the stakes are high. I’ve got one vote.

For the Republican leaning folks…

• It seems to be the same religious right that wants to enforce their moral code of outlawing gay marriage, bringing prayer back to schools, outlawing abortion and teaching creationism are also huge fans of Sarah Palin. But, aren’t a lot of those religious right folks also against women in leadership (in the church)? Why do they believe so many of their religious moral codes extend to politics and society, and yet their views on women in leadership don’t? (I’m not saying women shouldn’t be in leadership, I’m just saying it seems like a double standard or a lack of consistent application of the principles they seem to uphold)
• Also, regarding inconsistencies, how a group can be so “pro-life” but support things like war and capital punishment? And I’d maybe through global poverty in to the mix too.

For you democrat-leaners…

• I’m all about caring for the poor and loving our neighbor and all that, I think it’s one of our primary callings as people of faith. However, I’m starting to wonder if there is a biblical justification or even legitimate Christian argument for encouraging our government to carry out those needs? I know the church isn’t doing its job, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the government should.
• The Democrats, along with the nominee, have been cast as heartless baby-killers, and though I don’t think that’s the truth, it makes it difficult to find a thoughtful explanation for some of the decisions being made in the liberal camp. For both those who believe life starts at conception and those that don’t, are there concise and thoughtful explanations for supporting the democratic platform? What about explanations as to why Obama voted against the Born Alive bill (basically I’m looking for a response to this)?

These are serious and legitimate questions, I’m not trying to trap anyone, I’m really just trying to understand. So, feel free to leave a comment below, or email me directly with your responses. Thanks.

(photo credit)

So, for a number of random reasons, I need to take more of a break from regular blogging. I’ve taken sporadic breaks in the past. And more recently I cut down the daily posting to weekday posting. Well, now I’m going to try and cut things back even more. So in a sense, this is a bit of a goodbye.

I’m currently thinking of cutting back to one post a week. This wouldn’t be a YouTubesday post, I’m stopping those, at least not weekly (unless you protest), but I’ll post good videos here on tumblr. And it wouldn’t be book reviews either, I’m considering moving those to some facebook book app or somewhere else (maybe librarything or even amazon). My goal would be to have one thoughtful, original piece of my own writing on some topic, maybe occasionally multiple topics. That’s what I’m leaning toward at the moment.

I’ll still be writing a lot, and if your interested in seeing and giving constructive feedback on top secret work-in-progress writing, then let me know and maybe I’ll let you into my secret chamber. Otherwise, just keep your rss or email subscription, but except things with a bit less frequency. That is unless I get the bug and just can’t stay away. (you might see a redesign as well)