blueminneapolis.com

• The Method of Centering Prayer
  (tags: christian meditation contemplative centering prayer)
• World-Wide Labyrinth Locator - Welcome
  Find a labyrinth in your own community, or near you. A very well put-together resource.
  (tags: labyrinth locator reference meditation contemplative)

• Encountering the Integratron in the Mojave Desert - Los Angeles Times
  (tags: travel socal oddball destination regional)

• DC Vote
  The campaign to grant suffrage and representation in Congress to the citizens of our nation’s capital. They already serve in the military, pay taxes, and perform jury duty. Shouldn’t they have the right to vote for the lesser of two evils as well?
  (tags: election reform government representation democracy political campaign initiative politics activism)
• How we read online. - By Michael Agger - Slate Magazine
  (tags: reading internet usability design blog writing web snarky rickroll)
• Frugal in the Fruitlands » Lise’s 101 goals in 1001 days
  Neat idea. I may copy this someday soon.
  (tags: blogfodder goals motivation todo)
• Triplux :: 101 Things in 1001 Days
  The original. Really must do this.
  (tags: motivation goals todo inspiration blogfodder)
• Moby Dick
  A classic that I’m ashamed to admit, I have yet to read. Also must do, and soon.
  (tags: toread books ebooks classics melville literature)

• GLOBAL WARMING MUG | Global Warming Mug Environmental Gift - Green Educational Tool | UncommonGoods
  (tags: humor global warming mug)

After some extensive down-time, blueminneapolis.com is back up and running, so to speak.  All the entries (thankfully!) have been preserved, but I was unable to salvage the template and plugins.  This seems to be less of a loss now that I’ve finally at least gotten the entries back.  Amazing what the threat of losing several years of posts does to the perspective, huh?

From here on out, I’ll be focusing more on writing than on all the bells and whistles, but there will be some changes made here and there that are more of a cosmetic nature.  This blog is, after all, two-fold in purpose.  Its served as a sandbox for me to learn in, as well as being my public journal.  I can measure solid lessons learned and experience gained in both pursuits.  Needless to say, I’ve come to view some of my earlier writing as mistaken, or misdirected, and less than perfect at any rate.  Those errors will remain.

In real life, mistakes cannot be undone with a keystroke.  Nor should they be.  We learn from them, we move on, and we become better for it.  So I’m back.  Let the mistakes ensue!

On May 9th, 2007, the President of the United States issued National Security Presidential Directive 51 (NSPD 51). This directive defines national emergencies and sets up an office, called National Continuity Coordinator and under the charge of the Chief Executive (currently Mr. Bush). The duty of which is to coordinate the continuity of all branches of the federal government in the event of a national emergency.

In reading the text of this Directive, I am struck by the incredibly broad definition of a Catastrophic Emergency:

any incident, regardless of location, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the U.S. population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government functions

Such a broad definition, while providing the Executive with the maximum possible utility of this policy, does not (in my opinion) serve in the best interests of the American people. Why? Because it is the President who determines what events match this description:

The President will determine and issue the COGCON [Continuity of Government Readiness Conditions] Level.

Further reading of NSPD 51 combined with a dose of common sense yields more insight. “Surely,” you must be asking, “it didn’t take us six decades into the Nuclear Age to realize that we need to form a plan for the continuity of our federal government in the event of an emergency??” My reply: Of course not, and the name’s not Shirley. Call me Blue, or Scooter, if you must.

In fact, NSPD 51 itself refers to prior plans of a similar nature. It must, because in order for it to be legitimate it needs to repeal them. From Section 22:

(22) Revocation. Presidential Decision Directive 67 of October 21, 1998 (”Enduring Constitutional Government and Continuity of Government Operations”), including all Annexes thereto, is hereby revoked.

Why, I wonder, would the current administration feel the need to repeal and rewrite the previous policy? It is interesting to note that this is the first time that a President’s Executive Order regarding continuity of government plans has ever been published. In the past, not even sections of the directives were left unclassified. It is doubtful in my mind that this is an attempt at good-faith governance. What I believe to be more likely is that the administration has published this in the hopes that it remains unnoticed and unchallenged, thus granting NSPD 51 some sense of validity.

“And why not?” you may be asking. Why not, indeed… Except for one tiny, minor, nearly insignificant detail. The whole pile of heady wording is completely and utterly unconstitutional, because it does an end-run around the Constitution. Remember that this Order mandates an office of coordination under the aegis of the Presidency. In effect, this order is the President saying that he gets to determine how all three branches of the Federal Government continue. Note that this is without their consent or participation. Nowhere in this order is there establishment for legislative or judicial participation in this process.

In addition, Congress has already (legally, I might add) established the National Emergencies Act, which grants them oversight over Presidential emergency powers during such emergencies. NSPD 51 does not reference or give any mention of this Act.

Now, I may be worrying overmuch about what might seem innocuous to some of you. I will grant that I don’t much trust politicians, as I believe that history has well demonstrated that power corrupts. This Executive Order, however, seems to me to set precedent for a system similar to what the Romans had in times of war and emergency. As I recall, it was this very ability that allowed the Roman Empire to be born from its predecessor, the Roman Republic.

Power corrupts. We’ve seen what the taste of it can do to American politicians. Placing overmuch power in the hands of any President, let alone our current leader, is too big of a risk, in my opinion.

Liberty is what this nation purports to cherish, but with domestic wire-tapping, the Patriot Act, and now NSPD 51, I fear that this is how liberty dies.

When I came out to my parents over five years ago, one of the first things my mother said was, “I thought we raised you better than that.” Before you judge them too harshly though, know that I love my parents, and they love me. I honestly believe that their intolerance of my homosexuality is motivated by their love for me.

I know how ridiculous that sounds, believe me. What you need to know is that my parents are deeply involved in their faith community. The leaders of their faith community teach that homosexuality is a choice and a sin. The only examples of homosexuality that my parents have seen or allowed themselves to see have been negative. When they see gay men they see drug addicted, sex-crazed, perverted, diseased men who were probably “turned gay” (their words, not mine) by a child molester or a cold-hearted mother.

I know that my mother still bears guilt for what she sees as a failure to raise a fine, upstanding, STRAIGHT son. She is (I am certain of it) slowly but surely seeing that I still hold true to the core lessons of the faith that she and my father instilled in me. Contrary to what influential-but-misdirected leaders of their faith community may have told them, my parents are gradually accepting the idea that they can be proud of their son, even if they disagree with his concepts of sexual orientation.

Most families in America have likely been more accepting of their homosexual children than my parents and brother have been. I know that some families have been less accepting. I feel that encouraging social acceptance is as much my job as anyone else’s.

My faith sets my mission and goals in life. By showing compassion to everyone, irregardless of race, color, creed, orientation or any other human-made distinction, I hope to be an example to my family and friends. You see, nearly two thousand years ago, in Galilee and Jerusalem, there was a Man who didn’t walk around pointing fingers at who and what needed fixing. He saw suffering and poverty and so he worked on healing and feeding. So that’s what I’m going to do too.

No, its not because you just sneezed. (Though if you did, then bless you again.) I’d rather share with you a singularly progressive, fourfold, Franciscan blessing that my Pastor sent with us two Sundays ago, at the end of church.

It reads:

May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace.

May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain into joy.

May God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done.

And the Blessing of God, who Creates, Redeems and Sanctifies, be upon you and all you love and pray for this day, and forever more. Amen

I have never, ever in a formal church service heard a blessing (or even a sermon) so progressive, so forward-thinking, so full of hope and so boldly declaring a mission.

I have never, ever been to a church that lives out the mission of healing and serving the world in the way that Hollywood UMC does. That is not to say that the churches I have been to before have been lax in their efforts, but rather it is a strong endorsement of the vitality with which this community of faith reaches out a healing hand to the poor, the hungry, the battered, and those suffering the ravages of HIV and AIDS.

Last Sunday, today, and (I hope and pray) every day forward, I am proud to say that I am a member of Hollywood UMC, and that it is my privilege to serve this faith community and this world alongside such fine women and men and youth.