Politics & State

God-s Politics - Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn-t Get It

5 stars (True Christianity returns to the mainstream. Thank you, Jim Wallis!) - Kudos to Jim Wallis (best known until now as publisher/main writer of of the Christian magazine "Sojourners")for crafting such a well-considered read at a time when the American Church really needs it! Any Christian who is alarmed by the deciededly un-Christlike tactics & teachings of the Relgious Right (epitomized by shamefully out-of-touch leaders such as James Dobson, Jerry Falwell, & Pat Robertson) should buy this book and read it as soon as possible. Wallis lays out a viable plan to "take back our faith" from the hands of the Republican Party, and return Christianity to it's first century roots - a faith of compassion, peacemaking, and service to our fellow man. In one of the book's more facinating chapters, Wallis discusses the theological presuppositions of George W. Bush, and how they have lead him to confuse American imperialism with the Kingdom of God. But it should be noted that Wallis is equally critical of the secular left, and makes some good arguments that true Christianity can never be represented fully or faithfully by ANY political party. As a Sojourners bumper sticker campaign put it, simply by honestly, "God is not a Republican...Or a Democrat". All in all, an EXCELLENT read for anyone who has ever thought that something just doesn't smell right with modern mainstream Evangelicalism. 4 stars (A Very Timely Book) - As a Christian, I have become increasingly troubled by the direction of conservative Christianity in America. Christian leaders seem blindly willing to sell their integrity and their witness to a political party that largely ignores 95% of the Biblical message, all it seems for the sake of political power. I have also been less than enamored by the political left which seems to ignore the importance of faith in people's lives. When I saw a television interview with Jim Wallis, I was so taken with his thoughtful and refreshing approach to faith a...
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Over a Barrel - Breaking the Middle East Oil Cartel

1 stars (Don't get me started...) - As the author of two books on Peak Oil, I admit to having a bias. Even so, I'd be happy to discuss Learsy's book in an even-handed way, questioning his arguments by stating counter-arguments, and supporting those with data. However, it is impossible to do this because Learsy makes no real effort to mount a scientific case in favor of his cornucopian assertions about plentiful oil for decades to come. Instead, what he offers in his chapter "debunking" peak oilers is logical fallacy upon logical fallacy, with nary a fact to break the monotony. His favorite form of fallacy is the straw man: he attacks geologists like Hubbert, Campbell, and Laherrere for predicting that global oil production will follow a smooth bell curve--when NONE of them does so. He also says that most of the Peak Oil authors work for the oil companies or for oil-producing countries. How about some examples? I know just about every significant Peak Oil author (except Hubbert, who is deceased) and I can only think of one out of maybe a dozen who fits Learsy's description--which, if it were accurate, might lead the reader to think that Peak Oil authors have ulterior motives. These are just two examples out of many. It is really frustrating to see what should be a scientific discussion brought down to the equivalent of name-calling--evidently because the author has no actual evidence with which to argue his case. Now to the author's primary assertion: that OPEC is gouging the world by imposing high oil prices. In fact, for most of its history OPEC has bent over backwards to supply oil at prices agreeable to Washington. The Saudis even let go of billions in potential earnings in the 1980s in order to flood the world with cheap crude so as to help bankrupt the USSR (it worked)--all to cozy up to George H. W. Bush and friends. Yes, OPEC countries could be spending more on production capacity, but the real reason for high oil prices today is that 33 out of 48 producin...
Nelson Current :: Political Science & General :: Religion :: Politics & State :: Politics&International Relations :: Political aspects :: Political Science :: Petroleum industry an :: Over a Barrel - Breaking the Middle East Oil Cartel

The Aclu Vs America- Exposing the Agenda to Redefine Moral Values

1 stars (Right Wing Trash Propaganda ) - Blaming the ACLU for all the ills of American society, this book is just another in a long series of shallow attacks in the right-wing's war against anything that threatens to undermine its greed and power in America today. For instance, this book blames the ACLU for why pornography thrives in our culture, yet it was the Supreme Court and staunch conservatives that voted for First Amendment Rights related to pornography's distribution on the Internet. It was primarily the right-wing idealogues on the Supreme Court bench, who gave full power to pornographic material's dissemination on the Internet. Always hurling blame at liberals, one would think that there are no right-wing idealogues who watch porn in America. Of course not, all of these conservative men obviously would never stoop to such immoral behavior! My point is that these authors are so full of it. They are just part of the huge political war machine attempting to maintain its political ground by lying to people about what its about and what it stands for. Unjustified war from greed, while deliberately neglecting relief for disaster victims -- that is what these liars are about! Greed, power and conquests of the weak and vulnerable. These right-wing idealogue men do not have the upper hand on morality. They are the lowest scum sucking trash on planet earth who would let people die in a hurricane and lie about their neglect in the rescue efforts they were forwarned would be needed. They lie and hide behind an illusory political game that enables them to rape and rob the American people in the process. These men are sick! You don't hear them criticizing why we went to war for no justified reason, do you? They are using the old deflection from scrutiny by attacking institutions that expose their hyporisy. These people are desperate and they are losers groping for anything they can to maintain this false illusion that they represent America's values. If ...
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