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Professor Anne Pogson
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Ethics Daily Blog Our Practical Ethics Blog Daily / Practical Ethics Forum is available for all! We offer public access and a safe, congenial, meeting place for ethics discussion. We welcome courteous interchange about morality, ethnic, women's issues, environmental, political, social justice, religious, corporate, academic, scientific, personal rights and freedoms as well as philosophical Ethics in the News. Practical Ethics Daily Blog is made possible by the non-profit Center for Ethical Studies at www. saintjamescollege.org. Practical Ethics in the News features blog entries from faculty and academic professionals, students, and the general public interested in ethical issues. You may read -- and are encouraged to comment on -- any and all ethical issues that impact your life, your institutions, your nation, and the global community at large. Send your comments to: blog@saintjamescollege.org |
| _____________________________________________________________________ Only 6% of Americans think Congress is doing a good job! September 17, 2011 - Samuel K. Pickney, Arlington,VA _____________________________________________________________________________ That statistic pretty much speaks for itself. I am what you would call apolitical, I don't particularly care for the politicians of either party. Both my wife and I feel that we should have term limits to get rid of the people in Congress who so thoroughly abuse their power (forget about responsibility -- they have!). People say that some men and women get elected out of a sincere desire to serve our nation. Unfortunately, most Americans believe that somewhere during Senators' and Representatives' first term, most of them become bottom feeders, as this new poll clearly shows. ______________________________________________________________
years. Now, though, a fed-up group of professors are offering a reward to catch presidential candidate Michele Bachmann in what they call a dangerous lie to the American people September 15, 2011 - Ann Pogson professor, www.saintjamescollege.org It is long overdue, this challenging a politician to prove suspect statements to be true or false. In 2007, Texas governor Rick Perry signed an executive order that would have mandated that all sixth grade girls receive vaccinations against the Human Papillomavirus (HPV), which is a sexually transmitted disease that has been demonstrated to lead to cervical cancer. The story might have remained in the past except for Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann. The Republican presidential candidate has been publicly criticising Perry for taking his 2007 action, claiming that it is shockingly "wrong to force innocent young 12-year old girls to receive vaccinations that 'would teach sexual promiscuity.' Following a recent debate among the GOP candidates, Bachmann said: ""there's a woman who came up crying to me tonight after the debate...she said her daughter was given that vaccine. She told me her daughter suffered mental retardation as a result of that vaccine." Bachmann then repeated the tale many times to news organizations.... Now, however, U of M bioethics professor Steven Miles and his former supervisor, U-PA bioethics director Art Caplan, have offered a total of $11,000 if someone comes forward with medical records proving Rep. Bachmann's story to be true. Professor Miles says that these kinds of unsubstantiated statements can do enormous harm to society, particularly when they originate with public officials who should be trustworthy sources. If Bachmann's story pans out, wonderful. However, if it turns out that a high-profile member of Congress absolutely acted with reckless disregard for the truth, perhaps, just perhaps, this could serve as a wake-up call for others with public podiums One can hope. ______________________________________________________________ Businesses that fail to provide information needed by would-be customers not only hurt themselves, but also the person who is trying to purchase their goods and services September 12, 2011 - B.J. Wolffer, MBA professor, www.saintjamescollege.org ___________________________________________________ Saturday morning, a friend and I wanted to shop at a regionally popular lighting fixture store named "Macrombie's - We Light Up Your Life!" She and her husband are remodeling and they gave themselves a $700 budget to buy high-quality track lighting for their living room and a top-of-the-line ceiling fan for their brand new kitchen. We drove to their location and were pleased to see the OPEN sign flashing in the front window. We felt even better when the HOURS sign on the door stated that the business was open until 4:00pm on Saturdays. Since it was only one o'clock, we were surprised to discover that the door was locked!
employees moving about inside. "No problem," we thought. "Certainly, they are unaware the someone, probably a departing customer, inadvertently locked their entrance door." All we had to do was knock, right? And, knock we did. Only, the people inside steadfastly refused to look in our direction. We jumped up and down, waving our arms, laughing. My the sidewalk! I am certain that one of the employees noticed this novel performance out of the corner of his eye -- was that just a glint of a smile on his face as he quickly turned away? of the door. No answer. Well, that's not exactly true. There was an answer, although it was a robo voice mail system. After listening carefully to all the options, we shook our heads in dismay: notably missing from the menu was any indication as to how to get an actual homo sapiens to respond to an incoming call from a potential customer. One can frequently access a human either by dialing "O" (uninvited) or by doing nothing and merely remaining on the line. Hopefully, we tried both of these "tricks" only to be forwarded back to the automated voice, which said, "If you would like to have our menu items repeated, push '1' ...." We gave up and left, driving to a nearby community where we located a more user-friendly store. My friend ended up placing an order for over a thousand dollars worth of lights, spontaneously adding an attractive outdoor lighting fixture for her home's entryway. As she made the unanticipated purchase of the exterior lamp not on her original list, her eyes gleamed as she proclaimed triumphantly, "There! That should teach Macrombies not to be open when they say they are!" She added that she will never again be a visitor to the lighting shop. The experience has inspired me to create a new course for the college...one that will help businesses to understand that a single negative experience such as ours may result in the loss not only of an immediate sale but, more than likely, the loss on any possibility of future sales by that customer and his or her friends. But, there is another side to this: It possible to postulate an ethical position from this incident that the disappointment that the event caused my friend and me resulted in a totally unnecessary infliction of pain. Hurting someone is always an ethical issue! Add to this that my friend and I had to drive all the way to another town and back in order to complete our purchase, unnecessarily using approximately $14.00 in gas and using up four extra hours of our weekend, "ethics" certainly does come into play. I called Macrombies this morning to let them know what happened, thinking that a respected local heritage business would be interested in some helpful feedback from a person would found it impossible to become a customer there; even having tried turning cartwheels to no avail! Instead, the person who answered the phone replied in a pleasant, even chirpy voice, "oh, we always close early on Saturday if we are short a person on the floor. Thannnnnk you for calling Macrombies!" Following which, the line went dead. No apology was offered, no offer to assist me at this point. (It would have been at least some consolation if she has said something along the lines of, "Is there anything that we can do to make things right at this point in time?" I am going to write this course and propose it to the college's Curriculum Committee. However, I am so excited about how inept "customer service" causes ethical disruptions in people's lives that I decided to offer this particular story on our Saint James College Seminary Daily Practical Ethics Blog. If you are in business, don't make it so damned hard for people to buy your goods or services! ______________________________________________________________ NO MORE SPEECHES, PLEASE! If we Republicans don't respond to the president's speech, Obama should declare a coast-to-coast emergency and call out the National Guard to begin rebuilding our highways, bridges, and flooded downtowns if Congress continues to do nothing about our crumbling infrastructure September 8, 2011 - Francis Perlmutter, Austin, TX ___________________________________________________ Briefly, it was interesting to sit back and watch as the world community shook its head at how insanely the American Congress was behaving as it bickered while our economy tanked. It is no longer interesting, nor funny. With President Obama making another huge speech on the topic, many of us Republicans made fun of his use of the teleprompter and seemingly inexhaustible willingness to talk, talk, talk, without getting anything done. But, you know what? Even as a life-long Republican, I must say that our lawmakers are as crazy as Nero was as he played his violin, doing nothing at all, as Rome burned to the ground. Our congressional representatives and senators are looney as hell, arguing about ending the much-needed Medicare and Social Security programs while doing NOTHING at all about getting the U.S. labor force back to work. I am ashamed of the lunatics who have hijacked by Grand Old Party but I an NOT ashamed of being an American. I would even support President Obama if he were to say "Enough!" and to call out the National Guard. Somebody has to do something and in spite of the fruitcakes in both parties, that "somebody" has to be the government. Since the legislative branch has increasingly proven itself to be totally useless, that "somebody" has to be the executing branch -- The White House. Enough speech, Mr. Obama. There are real people out here unable to afford homes, cars, or medical care. EDITOR'S COMMENT: While we understand this respondent's frustration,there is no constitutional possibility that the National Guard could be utilized to correct a political dilemma. We invite you to record your concerns and ideas for solutions but we do ask that you please refrain from inflammatory or totally unreasonable rhetoric. Thank you! ______________________________________________________________ A Labor Day without jobs. I wanted to see what you would say about that, then I noticed your FREE college courses for the unemployed! September 5, 2011 - Nel M., Los Angeles, CA ___________________________________________________ We love your Practical Ethics Blog and, as an assistant professor at a different university, I often read what
students before starting our class. I got the idea from one of your classes, which I took as an online seminar. Called The Bullpen, I throw out a topic at the beginning of class and then open up a free-wheeling exchange among my students "just to see how much they are learning" about ethics and morality. We just started a new fall semester class last week so we are only beginning to explore the topic. Still, I find that it opens each class in a relaxed but engaging manner. The reason I am writing is that I teach is giving away college-level certificate seminars for free to 25,000 unemployed people. My school's budget is so strapped that we can't give away a free Coke! I am amazed! What you are doing isn't simply more academic-economics-political rhetoric: WHAT YOU ARE DOING IS PRACTICAL ETHICS IN ACTION! The Women's College and its sister school must be truly exciting places at which to work! _____________________________________________________________ NGO special on bedbugs last evening has me thinking about alligators September 4, 2011 - Martha Landermeier, Naples, FL ___________________________________________________ Last night my husband Bill and I settled in front of the tv to watch a special on the National Geographic channel about bedbugs. It sure doesn't seem like the most thrilling program ever produced but the other thousand channels were not that interesting, either. We have heard a great deal about bedbugs invading hotels and apartments, especially in the New York City region. The fact is that we learned a lot about them last night and how dangerous they are and how much research is being done to try containing them. During the break, there was a commercial for the NGO program coming up next: one about killer crocodiles. This one really got my husband and me talking over breakfast. Just four days ago, 90 year old Margaret Webb was walking along a canal in nearby Copeland, Florida. We wish that your school would try doing something about this outrage because we know that your Department of environmental Sciences is doing a study in the Everglades, right there at Copeland. (http://www.thewomenscollege.org/EnvironmentalScience.html) Our problem is that they are spending huge amounts of money trying to eradicate bed bugs, and hooray for them! It is a worthy pursuit! But, killer alligators roam our area with impunity. They are protected. If you tried to kill one, you would be handcuffed and led off to jail! The one that attacked Ms. Webb is supposed to be only 8-feet long. This is a baby compared to the monsters we have to look at everyday. Many are double that size! We are frankly disgusted that the same government that is wisely trying to stamp out bed bugs forces us to live with pre-historic monsters crawling through our yards, crossing our roads, and lying just beneath the surface of our lakes, ponds, even roadside ditches, waiting to pounce and kill. Why doesn't some politician run on a platform seeking to allow private individuals to shoot these mindless killers when one is spotted? And, the same is true with the 20-foot pythons that now infest our sideroads, parks, backyards, trees and, yes, being aquatic, also our ponds, lakes, beach areas, and drainage ditches. We live with panthers, black bear, black widow spiders, Dengue Fever-carrying aedes mosquitos, West Nile Disease, hurricanes.... It is ridiculous that a 90-year old woman can't go down to a canal to look at the water without fear of being murdered by a beast that the government we pay for is insisting on protecting. I am not an activist. I have never written anything like this before in my life! But, someone has to begin speaking out about this. We pay taxes on our land and the deed says we are supposed to have free use to enjoy it. Yet, even though we pay to use our own land, the government tells us that we must permit eight to twenty foot-long killers to roam on our very own land and community. And, OUR FOLKS ARE ARRESTED FOR "POACHING" IF WE TRY TO TAKE PRACTICAL STEPS TO PROTECT OURSELVES, OUR ELDERS, OUR LIVE STOCK, OUR PETS, AND OUR CHILDREN!!! Thank you. I wish I could say that writing this makes my husband and me feel better. Actually, though, it just has me even more worked up. The very idea that our own government can leave us vulnerable to this sort of horror makes my blood boil! EDITOR'S NOTE: 54 year old Janie Melsek was killed on Sanibel by a 12-foot, 3-inch gator. She was landscaping at a small pond when attacked. She died in the hospital of an infection apparently inflicted by the gator. Lauri Olin, 56, also of Sanibel, was working on another small pond when attacked by a 6-foot, 7- inch alligator. Robert Steele, 82, was killed while walking his dog along a foot path in the J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge. The gator lept from the water, dragging Mr. Steele under. And, a 74-year old woman was pulled under by a 9-foot, 7-inch alligator on Sanibel,although she was rushed to the Health Park hospital in Ft. Myers where surgeons were able to save her life. All of these reports just mentioned are from one small Florida island! Our research shows that, with the year just over half-completed, there have been alligator attacks on people in Florida this year. There have been 22-fatalities stemming from alligator attacks in the state since 1973. Murray said he doesn’t recall any other Sanibel gator attacks on humans recently. The latest bite brings to eight the number of people bitten by gators this year in Florida. Since 1948, 491 people have been bitten. There have been 22 fatalities attributed to alligator bites and attacks since 1973, records show. Interestingly, state officials say that they "believe" that there are now more than a million alligators roaming wild and unrestricted in Florida. Our Department of Environmental Sciences believes that the actual number may be two to even three times as high, based on local surveys extrapolated over the entire state. _____________________________________________________________ Obama does it again. This time, he's backing down on pollution control, hamstringing his own EPA. I love the guy and really want to support him, but I am afraid that he's becoming a Republican September 3, 2011 - Fred Schulte, North Dakota ___________________________________________________
every day. You generate such interesting conversations, both in our home, and at our respective offices. I must say, though, that the comments recently posted by Edie Franzese in Arizona caused us to grimace. We were ardent supporters of President Obama and his call for much-needed change in America. Lately, I've noticed that we appear a bit downcast, sagging affect, when we discuss the president and his doings. We were thinking, Ms. Franzese, "give it a rest!" when we read her comments about Obama conceding to Republicans on the date of his request for a joint meeting of Congress to discuss the economy. Then, this afternoon, we read that he has sided with the GOP on curtailing the authority of the Environmental Protection agency. OMG! Today, though, MORE "back down" news from The White House. The president has ordered the EPA to walk away from its much-touted clean-air regulation! The agency's plan was to reduce the amount of smog and other airborne pollutants that currently pose a clearly-demonstrated threat to our health. But, the pro-business Republican who control the House of Representatives have been loudly protesting that the EPA regulations would "hurt business" and further stall America's lagging economy. It would be hard to swallow if Obama did this once a year or so. But, it's become a repeated way of doing business with the administration. Here, our "change your can believe in" president has knuckled under to the right wingers TWICE in ONE week! The one hope appears to be that the American Lung Association says that the president has caved into corporate polluters and the group says that they may now name President Obama in the same suit they had originally brought against George W. Bush. So, we now have a pro-health agency that sued an actual Republican president, and one who increasingly ACTS Republican. Tonight, my wife and I are sad for our republic. ___________________________________________________ Obama: Here is a non-slam slam and discussion of sane thinking September 1, 2011 - Edie Franzese - Arizona ___________________________________________________ Let me start by stating that I am a democrat and that I have been an erstwhile supporter of President Obama. But, I can no longer hold my silence at the obvious extreme passivity in a man whom so many of us thought to be strong, decisive, and determined. Not only did he start caving into Republican onslaught that made it clear on Day One that there would be no bi-partisanship, the president has continued to melt in the face of Republican opposition and one-sided political demands. The latest, of course, is the Obama back-down on the request for a joint meeting of both houses of congress to review jobs development. The Republicans insisted that The White House was only scheduling it for the same night as a GOP debate at the Ronald Reagan Library in California (sponsored by NBC and Politico). The Republicans say this was an obvious ploy to diminish the debate's potential tv audience. Instead, Republican House Majority Leader, John Boehner "granted" the administration the "right" to hold the joint meeting the next day. Only, guess what? That day is the opening of the National Football League season with the New Orleans Saints playing the Green Bay Packers. So, do you join me in supposing that half -- or more -- of the president's potential television office will be watching football instead of the probably boring (but still important) unveiling of the Obama plan to heal our economy? Boehner has been all smiles in his news show appearances since once again trumping the Obama team. And, yet, the president keeps allowing this sort of thing to happen, over and over and over and over and over. Recall the old saying: "Insanity is doing the same thing the same way and expecting a different outcome." ____________________________________________________ Sheep. Or lemmings. Which have we become? August 31, 2011 - Debra Lynchfield - NY ___________________________________________________ After reading Dr. Pogson's comments on the banning of 9-11 First Responders and clergy from the 10th anniversary observance at Ground Zero, I discussed the situation with my friend, Marybeth. Her first reaction was that Americans have become passive sheep, being dominated by the politicians whom we have elected. This didn't feel quite right to me. I think instead of lemmings. Norway lemmings migrate in search of food and new habitats. Hundreds of thousands may make the common journey. Although the notion of "mass suicide" is folklore, their journeys often take them to bodies of water which they can theoretically swim. But, following their crowd into the water, it may prove to be too swift or, perhaps, too wide, and many perish. There are some, however, that survive. But, they continue to follow the masses. In view of what is happening in our nation (with none much objecting) I leaning toward thinking of us Americans as lemmings rather than as sheep. Thank you for you great blog. It is such an important service in our sadly-declining world. No clergy, no prayers, no First Responders indeed. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ The 10th anniversary 9-11 memorial ceremony will BAN all First Responders and Clergy -- there will be no prayer allowed! August 28, 2011 - Professor Anne Pogson, Saint James College Seminary ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ You may well have heard of the banning of minister, priests, rabbis and, yes, imams, at the 9-11 commemoration at Ground Zero. But, as outrageous as this no-prayer rule is (in our One Nation Under God), we need to turn our attention to the far beyond mind boggling fact that No first responders will be permitted to participate!!! Even though religious communities are trying to be polite about the exile of God from the observances, the dis-inviting of the First Responders has sensible people everywhere in states of stunned disbelief. Mayor Michael Bloomberg is ultimately the person responsible for these outrageous decisions because he is the person who signed the "rules" covering the commemoration. The First Responders were men and women from the New York City police and fire departments who were first at the scene of the World Trade Center buildings on that fateful 9/11. As the Twin Towers burned and crashed to the ground, crushing and burning to death hundreds of these courageous people who were at the scene to save others. Those who didn't die at the scene have had years of COPD, cancer, heart disease, and other tragic medical conditions with which to deal. It is hard to know what to say be way of closing. We the People have lost control of our political process. No longer do many, oh so many, politicians serve us. Mexican president blames Barack Obama for slaughter of 52 innocent civilians in drug war August 26, 2011 - Professor Anne Pogson, The Women's College Seminary ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ While American television has dropped all coverage of any story other than the threat presented by Hurricane Irene, next door in Mexico four cars pulled up in front of a casino in wealthy Monterrey, ran inside, poured gasoline on the carpets and the fixture, and ignited dozens of innocent people The body count: 52 people killed by a drug war in which they were reportedly not involved. And, Mexico's president, Felipe Calderon, places a huge amount of the blame on the U.S. Calderon has issued an uncharacteristically angry charged that the United States must shoulder a great deal of the responsibility. "Why?" you may wonder at first blush." Because of the United States' "insatiable demand" for drugs, the Mexican president (perhaps reasonably) charged. READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE _____________________________________________________________________ Bill Nye The Science Guy, Hurricane Irene, and the Federal Government August 25, 2011 - Chris Nichols ______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Hurricane Irene, the heat and drought conditions, and this spring's flooding and tornadoes will be shown to stem from global warming. Nye said, "The American people are starting to understand that our government doesn't have any climate change policy at all."
_____________________________________________________________________ Governor Christie now wants Federal Aid after all August 25, 2011 - Susan Zendle _____________________________________________________________________ While I was reading Chris Nichols' observations on Hurricane Irene, I had the tv on. They were interviewing Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey. He suddenly wants federal financial assistance which is interesting since he has repeatedly been on the record that he wants his citizens to be "as far removed from the federal government as possible." I hope that you will print this as it is not a slam, just a reporting of what I just heard. He and politicians like him want to cut Medicare because they are rich enough that it won't impact them in the least but they are willing to switch positions on a dime if hurricane damage can be paid for by Washington instead of their own budgets. The whole thing makes me angry, and sad. ____________________________________________________________________ The explosion of the Russian rocket en route to resupply the space station causes a second look at President Obama's decision to curtail the Space Shuttle Program August 24, 2011 - Col. Roger Curlew ____________________________________________________________________ Only a fool would think that the U.S. doesn't need to cut expenses. We do. Crazy overspending is eroding the financial future of our nation. However, while we need to spend less, much less, indiscriminate cutting is foolhardy and is no cure for our problems. I have spent a large part of my life on overseas assignments and I can tell you that, if there is one thing that the United States is known and respected for, it is our space program. Think about it. Think for a moment about all the scientific advances, about the inventions and discoveries we've made because of our space shuttle. But, these pale in the light of the world's view of America's brilliant commitment to discovery, and the expansion of the human experience. I voted for President Obama and I think that he has more on his plate than any three or four previous presidents combined. He does need to correct the course of America's financial ship, as it were. As a military man, I have to swallow hard when saying this, but the president who won the Nobel Peace Prize needs to end the wars that are draining both our citizens' savings and spirits. We need the space shuttle much more than all the drones and rockets. Paying the Russians over 50-million dollars per passenger to take us to the space station we helped build is ill- advised. However, now the Russian resupply rocket has just exploded, destroying the rocket, of course, and also 6,000 pounds in supplies and equipment. Plus, it is raising questions about the ultimate safety of the six astronauts currently aboard the International Space Station, some of whom are reportedly scheduled to return to earth in a couple of weeks. That certainly can't happen until there is an extensive review of what went wrong with the Russian supply ship, possibly even until after a lengthy redesign of some aspects of the ship. President Obama, God love him, has made a terrible mistake in discontinuing our shuttle program. ____________________________________________________________________ Blogs and Pseudonyms - Real names only, please August 23, 2011 - Ashley Ashborne (this is a pseudonym ____________________________________________________________________ The National Geographic Society has announced that it is implementing a new policy that will bar the use of pseudonyms by its blog participants. Then, in talking with my friend Adam (real name), I learned that both Google and Facebook also strictly ban the use of "pen names" on their sites. While I must concede the legality of this practice, it is this seems like an ethical violation of people's rights to security and privacy. We are familiar with the all too frequent bullying that occurs on the internet in general and on blogs and Facebook specifically. Women have also found themselves victimized by stalkers, burglars, and rapists. Perhaps more common, many people who have used their true identities on the internet, have been "punished" by their bosses for expressing a point of view that is not shared. It is imperative that people be permitted to speak freely without concerns about reprisal. I hope that your excellent Ethics and You blog will continue to permit pseudonyms. Faculty response: Because we have and enforce a Posting Policy, we do not publish negative, derogatory, or bullying-type remarks. Our Ethics and You Blog Policy Board believes that the positive aspects of permitting the use of pseudonyms outweigh any negatives. While we prefer "real names" (particularly when writing in scientific / academic genres),we respect individuals' judgements in choosing to, or not to, use their own names. ____________________________________________________________________ When you study something, you actually do change it August 21, 2011 - Bernecia Dunbar ____________________________________________________________________ I have just finished reading your study on Studying Something Changes It. I was saddened at the reminder that merely being close enough to wild animals to study them causes changes in their belief systems, altering the way they see us humans. When I was an undergraduate student, I volunteered to study white tailed deer in Upstate New York. We were lodged at the large country home of a farmer near Norwich. Deer frequently entered the farmer's pastures and always bolted whenever we students turned up. We used long- range sound sensors to tape their grunts and squeals and we had powerful tripod-mounted binoculars and cameras. We observed as the farmer's dogs drew close, as crows pecked at the ground near the deer's feet, as storms blew up, the whole gamut. As the weeks ensued, we watched as the small white spots disappear from the fawns coats. And, slowly, unbidden, the deer began growing accustomed to our presence and, trusting that we bore them no ill will, they began grazing closer and closer to us. Eventually, we were able to discontinue using our long-range sound and viewing equipment. We even gave the deer names. At length, summer ended and we returned to campus. I'm an urban kid and that summer spent up in the country was both challenging an eye-opening blessing. I had never gotten to "know" wild animals before and these gentle animals found a place in my heart. At Christmas recess, just on a whim, I called the farmer to see how "our" deer were doing. He told me that they had become so trusting of humans that the adults had been shot during hunting season. The fawns hadn't been seen since. Now, I am in grad school studying chemistry and physics. We have learned that there is even research underway that merely studying "inanimate" molecular structures may impact the behavior of the atomic and sub-atomic particles, although this is in no way conclusive as of yet. But, consider the possibilities! ____________________________________________________________________ With nearly 7-million Sudanese needing food assistance, the U.S. is throwing away contaminated food August 21, 2011 - Rev. Stan Randall ____________________________________________________________________ As many of us weep in our hearts for the dreadful plight on the Sudanese people, back-to-back headlines stunned me into a "head-shaking moment" this morning.
While I am certainly not advocating sending dangerous foodstuffs to starving people, I nevertheless ponder why we were careless enough to spoil all that meat in the first place. And, musing, I wonder how many innocent lives we could have prolonged if, somehow, we could have sent 44-million pounds of non- contaminated chicken to those who are so desperately clinging to life in the face of this unconscionable starvation. ____________________________________________________________________ Here is such an apt church sign that I just had to send it in: August 19, 2011 - Charlyze Petersen ____________________________________________________________________ "God needs people with spiritual fruits ... Not religious nuts" |
Apparently unaware
of the danger, this
little girl is kissing
a four-foot alfligator.
(Each inch between
the beast's nostrils
and ridge containing
its eyes equals one
foot in overall length.)
THIS
ALLIGATOR
COULD
EASILY KILL
THIS CHILD!
of the danger, this
little girl is kissing
a four-foot alfligator.
(Each inch between
the beast's nostrils
and ridge containing
its eyes equals one
foot in overall length.)
THIS
ALLIGATOR
COULD
EASILY KILL
THIS CHILD!
Lemming
____________________________________________________________________
- If Bigfoot is "humanish," could it be a "child of God" with a
soul? Could it be "saved"? Could a Bigfoot go to heaven?
September 18, 2011 - Fr. Peter Dettler, Chicago, IL
__________________________________________________________________
Hello! I just read your published interview of Larry Battson by Fish and Wildlife historian, Dr.
Mark Madison. If these creatures are sharing our planet, many questions emerge to we
religious ethicists. In an obscure sidebar, you opened the discussion of God's possible
a seminary such as yours. Good luck on this one! Even as a young priest, I would stare up at the stars and
wonder if Jesus would have to go and save the inhabitants of other planets. But, honestly, I never thought
about other creatures of God on this planet. Your inquiry may lead you down some strange paths, but what
a sacred journey!
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