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Highlights from the Dallas Interfaith Memorial Service

7/12/2016

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In an emotional gathering July 12th, President Barack Obama and former President George W. Bush delivered challenging speeches, calling for unity and progress in light of the Dallas police shootings. Below is a collection of highlights from the speeches of Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Some of these remarks are long and sermonic, but are well worth the read. I recommend listening to at least portions of each speech to get a sense of the gravitas with which they spoke.

George Bush:
“Most of us imagine if the moment called for it, we would risk our lives to protect a spouse or a child. Those wearing the uniform, assume that risk for the safety of strangers. They and their family share the unspoken knowledge that each new day brings new dangers.” 
 
“Too often we judge other groups by their worst examples, while judging ourselves by our best intentions.” 
 
“To renew our unity we only need to remember our values. We have never been held together by blood or background. We are bound by things of the Spirit, by shared commitments to the common ideas. At our best, we practice empathy, imagining ourselves in the lives and circumstances of others. This is the bridge across our nation’s deepest divisions.” 
 
“It’s not merely a matter of tolerance, but of learning from the stories of our fellow citizens and finding our better selves in the process.”
 
“At our best, we honor the image of God we see in one another. We recognize that we are bothers and sisters sharing the same brief moment on earth and owing each other the loyalty of our shared humanity.” 
 
“We do not want the unity of grief or the unity of fear. We want the unity of hope, affection and high purpose.”

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Barack Obama:
"Scripture tells us that in our sufferings, there is glory, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. Sometimes the truths of these words are hard to see. Right now, those words test us because the people of Dallas, people across the country are suffering."
 
"Like police officers across the country, these men and their families shared a commitment to something larger than themselves. They weren’t looking for their names to be up in lights. They’d tell you the pay was decent, but wouldn’t make you rich. They could have told you about the stress and long shifts. And they’d probably agree with Chief Brown when he said that cops don’t expect to hear the words “thank you” very often, especially from those who need them the most. No. The reward comes in knowing that our entire way of life in America depends on the rule of law, that the maintenance of that law is a hard and daily labor, that in this country we don’t have soldiers in the streets or militias setting the rules.
Instead, we have public servants, police officers, like the men who were taken away from us."
 
"Despite the fact that police conduct was the subject of the protest, despite the fact that there must have been signs or slogans or chants with which they profoundly disagreed, these men and this department did their jobs like the professionals that they were."

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The Two Best Moments in the 2016 Presidential Election

3/6/2016

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This presidential election is by far the craziest that I've witnessed in my 30 years on this planet. If you've been around longer and can remember another election season that comes even close, please leave a comment, I'd really be interested (apparently some of the Founding Father's could have held their own with Trump). But despite the name-calling and theatrics happening in the Republican debates recently, there have been some bright lights. 

-JEB!, regarding dialogue and treating others with respect, even across party lines:
 JEB!: "I don't think Barack Obama has bad motives. I just think he's wrong on a lot of issues... If you start with the premise that people have good motives, you can find common ground."

JEB! also points out that the divisiveness we've been seeing in Washington isn't present at the state and local level.

America needs more leaders who can admit this. I suspect that behind the scenes even Washington politicians get along better than the media portrays. 

-Bernie Sanders on religion:
"I worry very much about a society where some people say spiritually, 'It doesn't matter to me. I got it [right]. I don't care about other people.' My spirituality is, we are all in this together. When children go hungry, when veterans sleep out on the street, it impacts me."

I'll leave it to the economists to prove whether or not Democratic Socialism has any real possibility of remedying these problems, but you don't have to agree with Bernie's politics  to agree with his sentiments (I would point you to JEB!'s quote above). This idea is at the heart of Christianity:  "Religion that God accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world" (James 1:27). And as Bernie has pointed out in other places, it's also present in Judaism: "Love your neighbor as yourself; I am the L-RD... The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as one of your citizens; you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I the L-RD am your God." (Leviticus 19:18, 34). And in Islam: "None of you [truly] believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself" (An-Nawawi’s Forty, 13, 56, Hadith); "Seek for mankind that of which you are desirous for yourself, that you may be a believer" (Sukhanan-i-Muhammad, Teheran, 1938). To see examples from other religions, click here.

These are the bright lights I've seen this election, I'm sure there are others. Let's learn from them how to respect people on the other side of the aisle, and let's work together to care for those who are most vulnerable in our country, and in our world.
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Inside The Logic of American Politics

3/4/2016

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I started this post right after the State of the Union Address back in January, but before I could finish it, my economics class amped up and I haven't had a chance to finish it until now. With all the craziness going on in the political arena right now, it somehow seems important again...

The ongoing presidential debates mark the perfect time to take a brief look at logic and statistics. On any given issue, statistics are often used to create a bulletproof case, but things aren't always what they seem. In fact, statistics are tricky little buggers. They are used to strengthen arguments and make them appear logical, but how good is a statistic if you can't fact check it? Most of us aren't equipped to go beyond the basic steps of fact checking, even if the Internet makes it possible. 

My rule of thumb: Do a quick Google search and look for multiple perspectives on the issue involved. If it's political, look for both conservative and liberal voices. If a study is mentioned, try to find the original and decipher it on your own, or look for a .edu website explaining it. 

Here's an example from President Obama's 2016 State of the Union Address:

According to this speech, the U.S. spends "more on our military than the next eight nations combined." Presented this way, the numbers seem outrageous. Why are we spending so much on national defense when no one else even comes close? (By way of comparison, in 2009, U.S. defense spending accounted for 40% of global arms spending, and in 2012, our defense budget was 6x larger than China's).
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What You Need To Know About The Syrian Refugee Crisis

9/23/2015

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In the dark about the Syrian refugee crisis? Here's a short video explaining how it started and what it means:

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Aluminum Ladders, Talk Radio, and Parenting

5/17/2015

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Several years ago I had a painting business. For a couple of summers after college, I spent my days on a shaky aluminum ladder, methodically moving a roller back and forth across freshly washed, scraped and caulked wooden siding. Painting a house is soothing, rhythmic and meditative. Over time, the repetitive motions become mindless and habitual and you start looking for something to occupy your thoughts. Most painters just smoke (I guess inhaling paint fumes isn't enough). But I was still a wet-behind-the-ears college grad and was eager to learn about the world, so I turned to radio.

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