Pain worse than death
OK, I still don’t get it:
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday ordered his staff to begin revising the California’s lethal injection procedure to allay concerns raised by a federal judge that condemned inmates are being subjected to unnecessary pain. (Full story.)
I posted on this months ago: We’re only going to kill him if it doesn’t hurt.
It’s not the pain … it’s the killing that matters!
Sure, pain is not nice. Pain is not good. Pain is, well, painful. But it’s a very small thing, really, compared to being dead, toast, BBQ’d, poisoned, beheaded.
Pain is temporary. Death is forever.
I think those who are in favor of the death penalty think it’s easier to convince others of the rightness of that position if they can say it’s a painless process. To me, that’s nonsense.
(And I happen to agree with the death penalty in some cases.)
If you can do it painlessly, great. Fine. But don’t defend the morality of capital punishment by saying it’s painless! Conversely, don’t say that capital punishment is wrong because it causes pain.
That’s just missing the point.
Tags: death, penalty, pain, execution, Schwarzenegger, capital punishment
Pope, Islam, violence
Recent history:
- Pope says Islam is violent
- Islamics react with violence
- Pope apologizes
It was not smart of the Pope to quote that 14th century sentence about Islam and violence. But it’s hard to argue that Islam is a religion of non-violence if, every time Islamics are offended, they react with violence.
Here’s a very good summing-up of the issue.
What gets me is how Islamic extremists think that murdering an old woman by shooting her in the back - a nun who has spent decades healing those in need - advances their cause in any way. And I wonder how they can live with themselves. Pathetic. Despicable. Evil.
Some other thoughts about this issue:
- The Pope was Right
- The Pope Must Die
- Instapundit
- Double standards
- Stop Calling Us Violent or We’ll Kill You
- This is What a Religion of Peace Looks Like
Either we get real about this and stop being afraid to speak the truth, or we will already have lost.
Tags: islam, muslim, violence, pope, freedom, john koetsier
Sick and tired of hate-filled Christian-bashers
I’m sick and tired of hate-filled under-informed people spreading hatred towards Christians and Christianity.
Waging a living
I just saw POV on PBS: Waging a Living, and I am ashamed that I am ever in any way discontent with my life or my job or my salary.
Waging a Living follows the lives of 4 individuals who are “working poor.” (More details about them.)
One’s a security guard in downtown San Francisco, making $9-10/hour. A raise of 25 cents an hour is a big deal to him. One is a nurse in New Jersey who supports 5 people on $11/hour. Another is a waitress whose husband left and didn’t pay any alimony or child support. Another is a woman who was abused through childhood and has slowly, painfully been getting her education and increasing her standard of living: 3 steps forward and 2 steps back.
These people are inspiring. But their stories break my heart.
I’m a social, political, fiscal, and moral conservative, but:
- it is not right that some make hundreds of millions and some make pennies
- it is not right that a waitress could be paid less than $3/hour in New Jersey
- it is not right that the gap between executive management and rank-and-file is wider now than ever (200-400x more, I think)
- it is not right that many of us make so much money we don’t even think about spending it, or even know how much exactly we have, while others have basic living expenses that outpace their wages
- it is not right that people die because they cannot afford medical insurance
- it is not right that single mothers working for very limited wages have to spend half a week’s pay for over-the-counter medicines
- it is not right that we have so little respect for people that we think we can pay them a wage that reduces them to living in inhumane circumstances
We can call a spade an implement for digging, or we can just simple say that this is evil. And - yes, I’m a Christian too - God will judge us for this sin.
That said, if I was counselling young people in school today, I would say the world is not fair, and you should never expect it to be. Get your education. Get your education. Get your education! It will improve your life.
And I would say to spouses: divorce will not only kill your relationship. It will not only scar your children for life. It will reduce you to poverty. All of the people profiled in this POV were divorced, and it adds greatly to the strain of trying to make a living.
May God make us thankful for what we have, and generous to those who have not been so blessed.
. . .
. . .
And, PS: I’m glad to live in Canada, where anyone, anytime, anywhere, is guaranteed to get the medical care that he or she needs, to the best of our ability to provide it, regardless of the size of his or her bank account. Choosing not to help someone who is sick because they can’t afford medical care is revolting.
Tags: POV, PBS, waging a living, working poor, poverty, america, minimum wage, ceo compensation, social justice, health insurance, john koetsier
Is Chavez insane?
Well, if there was anydoubt at all, this should lay it to rest:
Visiting Venezuela President Hugo Chavez has denounced Israel’s recent attacks on Lebanon as “genocide,” likening its action to war crimes committed by Germany’s Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
“Israel often criticizes Hitler … but they have done the same thing, perhaps even worse,” Chavez told reporters Friday in a briefing during his six-day visit to China.
Let’s see … kill 6 million people on purpose, versus kill about a thousand because you’re trying to stop the people who are shooting rockets at you (while surrounded by civilians). Is there any comparison there at all, either in quantity or quality? Not to any sane, balanced, and reasonable individual.
Every time Chavez opens his mouth he shows himself to be a bigger and better buffoon than the last time. I seriously doubt the US really is trying to overthrow his quasi-dictatorship, but I almost hope they would, just to shut this utter moron up.
Tags: chavez, venezuala, idiot, hitler, john koetsier
How (not) to save the world
Does language mean something? Should you use terms that adequately describe what you’re trying to convey? Should the words you use have some level of equivalence with reality?
I think so. Apparently, Dave Pollard does not. We will not ever all agree. That’s OK. The least that can be expected, however, is that we argue fairly.
Pollard has published an article on Canada’s prime minister, Stephen Harper, so full of overblown exageration and hyperbole as to be perhaps intentionally fallacious.
The link is above; here’s my commentary on just one of his paragraphs. Note: I don’t claim to have “the right answer” for every single issue below; but I do have a problem with the way they have been presented.
Our execrable
ad hominen
minority right-wing extremist
What?!? If that word means what the dictionary says it means, Harper is not extremist. Pollard is just using language as a weapon, carelessly, blind to the consequences of the arms race of his own rhetoric. If he thinks he’s seen extremism, I suggest he goes and lives in Saudi Arabia or Lebanon for a few years. Just because a person holds different views than you do does not by itself make him extremist.
prime minister Harper, fresh from completely botching the evacuation
So he was personally there, and personally responsible? Get a life. Are you telling us that Canada needs to equip and maintain a 10,000-strong special extraction force for the immediate rescuing of citizens in war zones? What magic do you believe in? How many aircraft carriers did we suddenly acquire? Since when did being a Canadian citizen mean that you can go to any country you like, no matter how dangerous, live there, and when it hits the fan, expect the government to bail you out? What social contract did you sign?
of Canadians from Lebanon
While we should help anyone we can, and while people with a Canadian passport do deserve our support to the best of our ability, wherever they are, let’s be clear: Canadians are people who live in Canada, primarily, and pay Canadian taxes, primarily … not people who are flying a flag of convenience and using it whenever the dangerous place they actually live in and are citizens of gets too hot to handle
and then making life more dangerous for Canadians at home and Canadian ‘peace-keeping’ troops mired in the hopeless anarchy of Afghanistan (and dying in battle at a horrific rate)
I’m not very sanguine about what we’re doing in Afghanistan either, don’t get me wrong. And any death is a terrible, desperate tragedy. But at a horrific rate? Compared to what? Not any of the actual wars this country has fought.
by blathering on about how Canadians support Bush’s war on terror (we don’t), is boycotting the AIDS Conference
He decided not to attend - big difference between this and “boycotting”
which is important enough for Bill Gates, Bill Clinton and 20,000 other people to attend, but apparently not important enough for the host country’s prime minister to attend. The PM insists it’s more important that he be in Inuvik in Canada’s North to announce how some of the billions cut from Canada’s environmental programs
He didn’t sign Kyoto; that doesn’t mean money is being cut.
are to be spent on defence of our Arctic sovereignty.
Pollard: by venting like this, you might be relieving your own pent-up frustrations, but you are actually hurting your cause. Because anyone can see that you are not defending your positions rationally and fairly.
Which are important things if we want to keep our public discourse civil.
Lies, damn lies, and digital photography
OK, so it used to be lies, damn lies, and statistics.
(Reuters, AP, and NY Times photo fraud, explained, demonstrated, and eviscerated, in detail. More details: check out this video.)
Tags: reuters, fake, lie, NYtimes, AP, lebanon, israel, hezbollah, hizbullah, PR
Is this why Israel is attacking Lebanon?
There’s an important story on the Huffington Post about a Ted Koppel article in the NY Times:
Koppel goes on to note that “over the past couple of months alone, he told me, Hamas has received more than $300 million in cash, provided by Iran and funneled through Syria” and “the more than 12,000 missiles and rockets…in Hezbollah’s arsenal were largely provided by Iran.” Here’s the important passage:
. . .
Are the Israelis over-reacting in Lebanon? Perhaps they simply perceive their enemies’ intentions with greater clarity than most. It is not the Lebanese who make the Israelis nervous, nor even Hezbollah. It is the puppet-masters in Tehran capitalizing on every opportunity that democratic reform presents. In the Palestinian territories, in Lebanon, in Egypt, should President Hosni Mubarak be so incautious as to hold a free election, it is the Islamists who benefit the most.
. . .
Well. That would explain a few things for those of us who have been wondering why Israel has been “over-reacting.”
Packer: notes from a lecture
My sister Henriette went to hear theologian J.I. Packer yesterday at Regent College, here in Vancouver. Here are her notes from the evening:
Went to hear Packer presented as a free lecture by Regent College at UBC. Amazing man, gracious, full of vitality with a mind and wit as sharp as a pin. I tried to summarize some of his points, first of all to clarify them in my mind but perhaps you also might be interested in what his message entitled “Spirituality in the 21st Century” might hold for you. Dale said Packer has been called the greatest theologian of the 21st century. His message is intriguing in its simplicity and also its sense of timelessness, as he quotes Puritans and saints of the early centuries of the church. It is unique and fresh to hear it spoken into our seeker/sensitive, “me”ism, type of church structure, although he is careful to refrain from making criticisms. He directs his message to us personally as he said the best way to make change is to model it.
This is by no means a comprehensive summary as I had only jotted what I considered salient points down.  Some facts will be disjointed from the whole but bear with me.  Here goes:
Packer’s favourite theologians and authors:Â Calvin, Owen and Edwards.
Packer was defined by his biographer as a catechist. His definition, one who lives orthodoxy with vitality to lead people into a spiritual life, ie. spirituality.
He spoke of the inner life of the new Christian, given a new heart. The inside struggle is to be motivated by spiritual disciplines. The heart is the powerhouse, the driving force.
The outward story is developing Christian character, behavioural patterns developing, the fruits of the Spirit. We are trying to live lives of influence and impact.
The above provides a brief context for below:
Packer looked at the Christian community in the 21st century and saw the following weakness:
-Â Not really clear in the head (dry English wit), not having sufficient knowledge
-Â Not understanding the “Trinitarian Plan”
-Â Not humble in heart because not facing factsThough we know God hates sin:
-Â Many forget God’s character is as it was
-Â His purity
-Â His grace
-Â Not understanding our sinfulness.
-Â Not thoroughgoing in living a penitent life as we should be
-Â Repent (military term) changes whole direction
-Â Allowed to dream, then think, and drift along with the world.
-Â Not as different as we need to be.21st Century is:
-Â Post-Christian
-Â Secular - another word for worldly
-Â Syncretistic - another word for idolatry
-Â Consumed with “Selfism” - me and my happiness - got deep into us
-Â Anti Christian era
-Â Pride masquerades as intellectual perplexity.
-Â Islamic drive for world dominationPacker said:Â “What is key to faithfulness, fruitfulness, spiritual health and strength in the 21st century?”
What we need:Â Renewed focus on “holiness”
His text - 1st Peter - As He who called you is holy, ……Â Â Â In a Barna poll only 1/3 of evangelicals believe Christians are called to be holy.
Holiness means separation and contrast. A technical term in Scripture, a quality that distinguishes God. In terms of the attributes of God, it is called the attribute of all attributes. It makes God awesome and fearsome.
He also spoke of the love and loving kindness and mercy of God, the word he coined was “Holy Love”.
The holiness of God’s people - separation is the basic idea - separated to God in order to imitate Christ. We practise love to God and neighbour.
-Â Consecration
-Â Commitment
-Â Separation
-Â Focus on God
- Committed to live by the Bible.Holiness starts in the heart. - Not legalistic asceticism, built on the supposition if outer behaviour is right, inner must be right, ie Pharisees, had hard hearts, were unloving and pride drove them.
Inside story - how holiness begins in the heart:
-Â Rebirth, regeneration
-Â God renews heart, we want to do what Jesus wanted to do, love, serve, exalt Heavenly Father.Following dispositional acts practised:
-Â Purity of God
-Â Presence of God - practice it - what he called “hiking with the Trinity”, a journey that is not straight but has peaks and valleys.
-Â Recognize the “ugliness” of sin - recognize self-service is a horrible thing.
-Â Burden of sins is intolerable (taken from Book of Prayer - Anglican)
-Â Recognizes urgings of a regenerate heart.
- Heart resolves to practice friendship with God. Quoted Gregory of Nisan, 4th Century, “Falling from God’s friendship is dreadful, becoming God’s friend is perfection”.Friendship with God:
-Â Conversation with God
-Â Intimacy in prayer
-Â Informality with God, speaking naturally from our heart.Holiness grows downwards:
-Â Grows into deeper repentance and humility
- Model standard - template is Psalm 51 and the book of Job. Job stayed faithful but at the end he acknowledged there were things he should not have said to God and he repented in dust and ashes. We need to do this on a daily basis..Opposite of Repentance and Humility is Conceit and Complacency.
Holiness looks ahead:
-Â Truth of assurance of faith stemming from truth of Justification.
-Â He spoke of the “Great Exchange” being the last judgement of God pronounced now.
-Â Having assurance of faith makes you realistic about death.
-Â He felt we concentrate on the blessings of this life.
-Â We should have steady meditation and anticipation of life to come.
-Â Most Christians are not ready to go
-Â We should be “preparing for life at home, while travelling home”.
-Â Quoted Richard Baxter, a Puritan who advocated a daily mediation of 1/2 hour on the glory of heaven.Holiness absorbs hurt:
-Â Life is full of suffering
-Â Pleasure seeking world demand/expects right to pain-free life
-Â Definition of suffering:Â when you get what you don’t want
when you don’t get what you want
-Â God uses suffering to sculpt our souls.
-Â Keep sweet, steady and not to get bitter, looking to Jesus.Holiness is “Habit become Character”:
-Â If we practice the fruits of the Spirit, these are qualities that grow.
-Â Fruits of the Spirit are the moral profile of Christ, to be reproduced in his disciples.
-Â Love is a matter of habit - matter of serving others to make them great, God first and then man.
- Joy is priming the pump of the mind. The heart will rejoice when we think of things that make us rejoice.
-Â (This is the most remarkable fact to me) - Habit becomes Character becomes You!
-Â He lamented we have a great need of Christian people to honor.His closing text in his quest for re-discovery of holiness was Psalm 139, vs. 23 and 24, “Search me O God and know my heart:Â Try me and know my anxious thoughts:Â And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way”.
He then said Amen and we all echoed that. There were many young people in attendance last night and I found this very encouraging.
His ageold and timeless message resonated with all of us and I hope it will with you too. May the quest for holiness begin with me and you.
Henriette
Thanks for the summary, Henriette!
Use the gas tax - to kill gas!
In Canada about 50% of our gas price is tax, a fact that Toronto Sun columnist Linda Leatherdale is not happy about.
Well, I’m not either. I hate tax - it pulls money out of my pocket and into the bottomless depths of governmental waste. But I don’t think we should reduce the gas tax.
Right now, gas tax revenue goes straight to the Canadian government’s general revenues. That’s what I have a problem with: there’s something else we need that money for.
Instead of going into general revenue, a forward-looking government would divert all gas taxes right into alternative energy research and development.
Gas is about $1.10 a litre right now, approximately 65 cents of which is tax to the federal and provincial governments. Fueled by Canadian’s addiction to suburbs, commutes, and travel, government will collect about $1.8 billion in gas taxes for 2005-2006.
Imagine what $1.8 billion plowed into wind, solar, geothermal, tide, ethanol, hydrogen, and other alternative energy sources would accomplish. Imagine a Canada that produced all its electricity cleanly: no coal, no nuclear, no natural gas generators. Imagine a future in which per-car pollution is reduced 50%, 70%, even 90%.
This is something we need to do for our future health and welfare. It’s something we need to do for the beauty of the country in which we live. But it’s not just a do-gooder project.
Is the world going to need more of its energy from non-carbon sources in the future? Of course!
Will the huge energy industries of the future be oil and gas based? Of course not!
So diverting our gas tax revenue into alternative energy - clean energy - research and development will give Canadian companies a huge boost in the energy industries of the future.
Which is good for us, and good for our world.
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Sparkplug 9 is John Koetsier's blog on life, the universe, and everything,
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