A Challenge to the Churches and Media to Stop Being "Politically Correct"

So now this President, Trump came out and said we should have a nationwide ban on German luxury automobiles.

What is this guy smoking?

Can you even imagine this?

Banning the entire nation of their BMWs, Mercedes Benz and Audi automobiles, at least?

What would his big, wealthy donors drive?

Lincoln Continentals?

Please. Who are we kidding?

But here's where the "political correctness" comes in.

Why aren't we seeing and hearing reporters, especially from local TV stations, going out to the local German luxury auto dealers and asking them what they think of this idea?

Why don't we see and get that?

I'll tell you why.

We don't see that because the local TV stations and newspapers and media outlets don't want to alienate any advertisers or readers.

Dime to a doughnut says those owners and even, likely, the managers of those luxury car dealers are high paid Republicans or at least Right Wingers. The last thing they want to do is get on the airwaves, TV, radio or get quoted in the newspaper with their picture, saying it's the outrageously stupid idea it is. God forbid they tell the truth and push away some Trump follower who was just about to plop down $58,000 or more on a brand new, shiny, 4 wheel automobile from Stuttgart.

And it's the same way with the churches.

When was the last time you heard a huge outcry from any church or from any pulpit when some government representative or government agency comes out and announces cuts in programs for the poor?

The answer, of course, is either never or long, long ago.

Once again, those ministers and priests up there giving sermons don't want to run the risk of alienating some Right Winger or Republican in the pew. God forbid they not make their weekly contribution to the plate he's about to pass around, pun heavily intended.

Political party wants to give yet more tax cuts to the already-wealthy and corporations, thus driving up the national debt, drastically, while they push for cuts to even Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid?

Sure! No problem! You won't hear a word from any "man of God."

Who's that Jesus guy?

Wha'd he say? What was he about?

So local news outlets? KMBC? KCTV5? WDAF?

What say you?

Do you have any guts?

Will you stop reporting on the latest kitty cat videos on Youtube on our evening news and instead, go out to Aristocrat Motors on I-35 or some such and ask the owner there what he thinks of this President and his brilliant idea?

Please?

We dare you.

KCMO School District and CC Plaza have the same problem: irresponsible, lazy parents.

The bad news? Sure, we all know now, and have since at least Sunday morning that there were kids roaming the Plaza again, Saturday night and that shots were fired (5 to 6, it's said). Additional bad news? Mayor James was there. But therein lies, also, the good news because now, suddenly, our mayor is invested in both recognizing and solving this problem. I--and, I think others--have been calling for the mayor and his office and City Hall and the City Council and churches and their leaders and businesses and civic leaders to get together to see what kind of solutions could be offered to solve both this problem and the problems of shootings and drive-by shootings, etc. Now, suddenly, since Mayor James was there when the shots rang out, he's saying the same thing, fortunately. According to today's Star: "Churches, schools and businesses, also, need to get involved, he said." Thanks for finally joining us, Mayor. He also pointed out in this morning's article in the Star that parents are responsible for this, too. So maybe, just maybe, if the city and School District, both, are trying to solve this same parental problem--and I think we all agree they are--maybe we can get closer to a combined solution for both. It won't be a quick fix but the curfew for teens seems like a great, fair and sensible place to begin. I think we should follow Philadelphia's example with fines of $300.00 per teen and $500.00 per parent for violating the curfew, too. That would make people pay attention rather quickly. If it's good enough for Philly, it seems good enough for us, as well. Here's wishing us all luck. Here's hoping.

God, guts and guns

In the news today , it seems "three young men walked into the New Gethsemane Church of God in Christ and opened fire, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Monday."

It used to be we were safe in America, without getting too hyperbolic about this.

Then you used to be safe--mostly--in your neighborhoods.

Then you were safe in your home.

Now you aren't even safe in your church.

Maybe these shooters learned this from the nutcase who went on shooting spree 5 years ago in suburban Milwaukee when the church member left the service, only to return with his 9mm handgun and unload 22 shots, killing the pastor, the pastor's son and five other members and then himself. "Neighbors said he was quiet and devout...", the story said.

Maybe they learned this tactic from this shooting from last year in March when "An Illinois pastor was shot and killed, and two parishioners injured after an unknown gunman opened fire during Sunday services at the First Baptist Church in Maryville, Ill."

Or maybe they learned the technique from "pro-lifer" Scott Roeder who assassinated Dr. George Tiller, gun to his temple, in Dr. Tiller's own church in downtown Wichita, Kansas last May 31 on what was otherwise, no doubt, a beautiful Sunday morning when Dr. Tiller was volunteering, as he repeatedly did, at his own church.

Could be.

And besides the insanity of shooting someone in their own church, there is the additional craziness of the 2 victims in this most recent shooting, yesterday, of not assisting the police in their search for the shooters.

So much for law and order.

Bring on the anarchy.

So let's have it, folks, bring it on. It really has become "God, guts and guns!" in America, hasn't it?

And in our own churches.

But that's what we need--more and more guns.

Can I get an "Amen!"?

The next line of thinking?

"That's why we need to make it okay to bring our guns to church ..."

"Thank you, Ms. Davis. Now, sit down and shut up."

Our institutions are failing us

Our governments are not doing their collective jobs well at all, our churches have us do silly, pointless, unproductive things to ourselves--
maybe this is an improvement, since they used to have us kill one another--while. finally, our corporations drain and killus.

All I need to say about our govenrments not working is the current national and international financial, economic and banking crises. That along
points it all out but add that they are taking money in all kinds of amounts from businesses and business people, instead os doing their job and working
for us, the people they are supposed to be representing and working for.

--Some examples of our silly church practices::

==Hassidic Jews, with their required haircuts and black, "just so" clothing;

--Sikh Indians, with their rules about men never cutting hteir hair;

--Mormans with their "magic underwear";

--Catholics with their magic "blessings" and "holy water" (you gotta be kidding me);

--Amish people not using electricity (aparently because God doesn't want us to be warm in the winter or cool in the summer, eh?);

--Swirling dervishes, who do all that spinning to "get closer to God."

Shouldn't churches just be concerned with getting us all to help and work with one another? Wouldn't that be a better use of their--and our--time?
Wouldn't that be a better function for a church? All churches?

Examples of how our corporations are killing us:

--Bhopal, India in 1984 when Union Carbide has a gas explosion;

--Our food corporations are putting chemicals in our foods, along with fats and salt and sugars of all kinds, that are having the effects of making our
lives more miserable, while we're here, and then kiling us prematurely;

--those same food corporations and chemical corporations (and no doubt others, too) poisoning our soil, air and water, all for their various uses and
profits;

--the nature of corporations and their structures, period, which constantly, annually, require ever-increasng profits, to the detriment of their own
employees, since so much of their profits frequently, obscenely-largely go to executives and executive pay, while being taken from the most of the
employees;

And one of the subtle worst--taking all our working lives from us but giving us no means to take care of ourselves once their through with us and we're
elderly, preferably with a pension or some such;

This isn't working. Our instutions are failing us. They need to make sense and work for us. They're not, as I've illustrated.

We need to change them and have them work for us.

We need to get busy and take our lives and our worlds back.

"Workers of the workd, unite."