progressive involvement

Liberal naivete

Said Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy during argument last week:  “We would be exercising the judicial power if one Act was — one provision was stricken and the others remained to impose a risk on insurance companies that Congress had never intended."

When the (so-called) "moderate" Justice is more worried about "risk on insurance companies" than on people with pre-existing conditions, you know the game is over.

It has been all along anyway.  Can one even imagine Antonin Scalia, whatever his true views, upholding the main achievement of the hated Obama administration?  Can one imagine Justice Roberts doing anything except supporting the corporate elite that run insurance companies?

The vote against health care reform will be 5-4.  The only question is whether or not they'll go whole hog and declare Medicaid unconstitutional as well.  

Shortly after the 2000 election, I remember reading how Al Gore actually thought he might win Bush v. Gore.  He knew the law, and he thought he had a good case on the merits.  The justices just might go his way.  Al Gore, bless your heart, but that was almost heartbreakingly naive.

That same naivete has been on display for several months now.  Liberals, especially, seemed to assume that reason and rational discourse would prevail and the act would be upheld.  They seemed surprised when, during argument, the Court seemed to be looking for angles on which to hang their "strike it down" hat.  It was pretty obvious what they wanted to do;  they were just looking for a plausible way to do it.

 

Keynes keeps being proven right

The stimulus worked, and it would have worked faster if it had been bigger.  

Nothing we don't already know

There are about 30,000,000 former Roman Catholics in the United States--10% of the total population.  They left because of gay-bashing, the church's policy on divorce and remarriage, arrogant priests, and "extreme conservative haranguing" in otherwise boring sermons.

Cathedral for the 1%

The Masters' Golf Tournament is coming up, which means we'll be subjected to commentators burbling over the place, calling it "the cathedral of golf" and other such over-the-top bloviations.  It's a nice golf course people, not a cathedral.

What it really is:  The last redoubt of the 1%.  They'll soon have their knickers in a knot over an existential question:  Should we admit a woman even though she's the CEO of IBM?  The CEO of IBM is typically offered a membership, but, heretofore, IBM CEO's have always been men.

If they don't issue the invitation, they're obviously doing it for purposes of gender discrimination.  Any guy gets that job, they're in.  The smart way to handle it would be to issue the invitation, but without fanfare--in effect saying, "What's the big deal?"

But, this being the 1%, they're likely to insist on doing it their way.  Since Augusta is a private club for the elite, they can pursue antebellum policies pretty much for as long as they want.

Scalia's alleged "humor"

"You really want us to go through these 2,700 pages" to figure out what provisions must be struck down and what can be saved, Scalia asked the Obama administration's lawyer.

"And do you really expect the court to do that? Or do you expect us to give this function to our law clerks?" he asked.

You're a Supreme Court Justice of the United States.  It's your job.  You have several weeks to do it.  What's the problem?

On the other hand, if your mind is already made up, as yours almost certainly is, there's no point.  Which is what you're really saying.

Moving from evangelical to mainline protestant

The Internet Monk has done so.  He's pursuing ordination in the ELCA.

Though I recognize my debt to evangelicalism and am grateful for what God has taught me on the journey, coming back to a mainline church for me means coming home. I’ve found my oasis. I don’t hesitate to call myself a mainline Christian.

The rest of his interesting story here.

Could we start over?

Not all the way over, just the past 50 years or so.  In 1962, the view from the Christian pew was on the up side.  Vatican II was just beginning.  Change was in the air.  Protestant theology encouraged dialog with the secular world.  Catholic theology encouraged the church to open its doors.

Then, President Kennedy was assassinated and the United States entered a period of dislocation and discombobulation.  The country descended into the morass of Vietnam and the civil strife it generated.  The "establishment" had gotten the country into Vietnam, and, as a result, all features of the "establishment" were called into question, including (so-called) "traditional values."

Supporters of traditional values were on the defensive.  When Jimmy Carter's White House convened a conference in families in the late 1970's, many attendees who were supportive of traditional values were shocked that the conference was not intended to shore up the nuclear, male-headed family.

If they couldn't count on the government, conservatives flocked to religion, fueling the rise of evangelicalism.  This had less to do with Christian theology or teaching per se than it had to do with trying to organize and rally shocked traditionalists to resist cultural change.

Public dialog got hijacked by culture wars, in other words.  Instead of Christianity opening its doors in dialog with the world, the church became dominated by those who saw themselves as in fundamental opposition to the culture and the world.  

This faction has never represented a majority of Christians, and doesn't still.  What they had was a powerful, technologically-sophisticated media presence coupled with an alliance of convenience with conservative political organizations.  This had its effect and Christianity became associated in the public mind with cultural conservatism.

Millions of people have left the church as a result.  Since the ascendence of the Francisco Franco wing of Christianity, the number of people who self-identify as atheist and agnostic has tripled.  Rejection of the church is rapidly on the rise.  In the United States alone, roughly 10% of the entire population are former Catholics.  Young people today associate the Christian faith with negativity and prejudice.  (As Johannes de Silentio has said, "At least when we mainline protestants were running the show, people still believed in God.)

So could we start over?  Could we go back to 1962?  Could we dust off the documents of Vatican II?  Could we start reading Tillich again, and Teilhard and Congar and Danielou and Lubac and Bultmann?  Could we just forget about the last 50 years of unpleasantness and go back to a time when the church was considered a progressive and compassionate force in the world?

Lectionary blogging: Palm Sunday, Mark 11: 1-11

When they were approaching Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples ²and said to them, ‘Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden; untie it and bring it. ³If anyone says to you, “Why are you doing this?” just say this, “The Lord needs it and will send it back here immediately.” ’ ⁴They went away and found a colt tied near a door, outside in the street. As they were untying it, ⁵some of the bystanders said to them, ‘What are you doing, untying the colt?’ ⁶They told them what Jesus had said; and they allowed them to take it. ⁷Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it; and he sat on it. ⁸Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. ⁹Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting,

‘Hosanna!
   Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! 
¹⁰   Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!’

11 Then he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple; and when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

Translation:  When they were drawing near into Jerusalem, into Bethphage and Bethany, by the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, and said to them, "Go into the village, the one before you, and immediately as you enter into it, you will find a colt tied there, upon which no human being has sat.  Release it and bring it.  And if anyone says to you, 'Why are you doing this?' say 'The Lord needs to have it' and immediately he will send it back here.'" 

And they went and found a colt tied to a door outside on the street, and they were releasing it.  Some of the ones standing there said to them, "What are you doing, releasing the colt?"  But they said to them according to what Jesus had said, and they let them go. 

And they brought the colt to Jesus and they threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it.  And many people spread their cloaks into the road, but others cut off leafy branches out of the fields.  The ones leading forth and the ones following cried out, 'Hosanna!  Blessed (is) the one coming in the name of the Lord!  Blessed (is) the coming kingdom of our father David!  Hosanna in the highest!'  And he entered into Jerusalem and into the Temple and he looked around at all.  Late already is the hour, he went out into Bethany with the twelve.

Playing with house money

They've already exceeded most peoples' expectations.  At the beginning of the year, I thought making the Sweet Sixteen would be a reasonable goal.  They made that (barely)--and (now) then some.

They say the key to the tournament is "survive and advance."  The Purdue and North Carolina State games were clunkers, and the Jayhawks were lucky to win both.  That bit of b-ball bile out of their system, they played great today--the closing run was the best three minutes they've played since the first three minutes they played against UNC back in '08.

Tyshawn was back on track and led the team with 22 points.  Withey was great inside, and the whole team played excellent second-half defense.  UNC was reduced to shooting threes, which is the one basketball talent they're not that good at.

Elijah Johnson, again, played a key role.  It was his three-pointer that ignited the final rally.  Johnson has tended to show up in a big way when the game is on the line, especially of late.

Sometimes, you just have a team's number.  For a long time, KU couldn't beat UCLA to save its life.  We could have the better team and somehow psych ourselves out.  I'm wondering if KU doesn't have North Carolina's number.  Maybe it's too early to say, but Bill Self is 2-0 against Roy Williams.

Photo:  Tyshawn hoists the Midwest Regional trophy.  KU sports.

Quote of the Day

“This guy says, ‘Rock Chalk Jayhawk.’ And you know what I said: ‘Go KU.'"

Roy Williams, coach of the North Carolina Tarheels