Reasons why I want former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson to run for President

via garyjohnson2012.com

*He didn’t raise taxes as Governor once. *He vetoed over 1,000 spending items. *He cut taxes 14 times. *In a state dominated 2 to 1 by Democrats, he served 2 terms. *He competed in the Bataan Memorial Death March, a 25 mile desert run in combat boots wearing a 35 pound backpack. *He participated in Hawaii’s invitation-only Ironman Triathalon Championship, several times. *He climbed to the top of Mount Everest, despite a broken leg.

*He didn’t raise taxes as Governor once.
*He vetoed over 1,000 spending items.
*He cut taxes 14 times.
*In a state dominated 2 to 1 by Democrats, he served 2 terms.
*He competed in the Bataan Memorial Death March, a 25 mile desert run in combat boots wearing a 35 pound backpack.
*He participated in Hawaii’s invitation-only Ironman Triathalon Championship, several times.
*He climbed to the top of Mount Everest, despite a broken leg.

Posted via web from Steve Dragswolf

I’ve moved everything

over here.

I don’t know if I’ve necessarily abandoned this blog (probably) but everything new is on the other one.

Christ and Who’s Culture?

I wanted to repost this article because I find it so relevant to what I want to be doing.  The original article can be found at Sojourners here but requires registration.  So I’m posting the whole thing because I want people to actually read the article.

A new wave of Native American evangelical theologians rejects the false choice between following Jesus or embracing their traditions :: by Kent Annan

SEVERAL HUNDRED PEOPLE stand on the grass waiting to enter the auditorium for the opening service of a Christian conference. People are holding bold, pre-printed signs (Teach for America, Evangelicals for Social Action, New York Theological Seminary) for the processional.

Meanwhile Richard Twiss has found a piece of scrap paper, because he doesn’t have a sign. He writes something with a ballpoint pen, then shows it to the four friends he’s standing with who are, like him, Native American evangelical theologians involved in ministry.

The others smile. The sign says: “Fighting Terrorism since 1492.”

It’s a cry for justice. It’s a serious reaction to the pain their communities continue to feel. It’s a reaction to all the other streams of “justice work” around them. It’s subversively funny. And it’s ballpoint pen on scrap paper, so it seems characteristic in another way: As they process in behind the sign over Twiss’ head, nobody in the auditorium can read what it says.

“It’s a problem of being heard,” says Randy Woodley, one of the theologians. “I feel like 500 years ago, maybe God did bring the white [people] over. But it was supposed to be something mutual, where we learned from each other. Instead the white [people] conquered, helped out by their understanding of Christianity. Five hundred years later, we ask ourselves, now are people ready to listen?”

A Few Native Creation Stories

A few Native creation stories:

The Osages of the Plains once lived in the sky way beyond the earth. They were the children of the Sun (their father) and the moon. Told by their mother to go live on the earth, they did so and found the earth covered entirely by water. Desperate, they turned to the stately Elk, who let himself fall into the water and sink. From below the water, the Elk called to the winds, which came from all directions and blew away most of the waters. First rocks were exposed, then soft earth, and the Elk, delighted with his work, rolled about, his loose hairs sticking to the soil and becoming beans and corn, grasses and trees.

The Yokuts, a California tribe that lived in the San Joaquin Valley, also tell of a world covered with water, from which a tree grew one day. In it was a nest containing Eagle and several other animal people. All they could see from this high perch was water. But Eagle began to think, “We will need some land.” He sent a little duck down into the water to bring up some soil, but the little duck couldn’t reach the bottom and perished in his quest. Another kind of duck was dispatched. It reached the mud but it too died, floating up to the surface.
Eagle noted some dirt under the ducks’s fingernails. He t0ok it and mixed it with seeds into a kind of dough, and put the concoction in the water. The dough began to spread out everywhere around the tree they sat in. When the morning star came out the next day, Wolf shouted and all the earthly dough vanished. Again, Eagle mixed up some dough and placed it in the water. The next day, as the morning star rose, he told Wolf to shout three times. Wolf’s shouting caused an earthquake but the earth remained. Then Coyote shouted as well, and the earth remained. And the animals left the tree to live on the ground.

For the Creeks who lived in the Southeast portion of what is now the United States until they were forcibly removed to the Oklahoma territory, it was Crawfish who dove to the bottom of the ubiquitous water and found mud, which he proceeded to stir up, annoying the Mud People. But Crawfish was too fast for them and he kept stirring up the mud, making more and more land. This new earth needed drying, and Buzzard soared over it, flapping his wings. Where he swept his wings downward, valleys came into being; where he raised his wings mountains occurred. It was still dark, so Star, and then Moon, tried to provide light. Finally Mother Sun began her daily rounds. From a drop of her blood that fell on this new earth the first people were born.

Compilation of these stories courtesy of “In the Hands of the Great Spirit: The 2o,ooo-Year History of American Indians” by Jake Page.

At Barnes & Noble Tonight

We wanted to buy Dostoyevsky’s “Idiot” and Poe’s essential works, and receive Machiavelli’s “Prince and Other Writings” for free, but we settled on a combo “Chronic(what!)cles of Narnia” all-in-one book along with the audio book versions.

The set was originally one hundred dollars but we bought it for twenty bucks.

Patrick Stewart reads “The Last Battle” (FYI).