Yesterday morning the condom broke for me and Frog. This is the second condom failure I’ve had with him. With my ex I went two and a half year without a single condom failure (And condoms where our only birth control for more than half that time). Apart from the condom failures I got chlamydia from Frog.

I don’t want to get together with the guy and I don’t think we can be just friends. And now sleeping with him isn’t worth the risk anymore. Where does that leave us?

Over the past few weeks, I’ve started to come to a realization (with the help of some good books and better friends, of course). God created this world. He created it and everything in it. And when He created us, He gave us free will. Why? Why would God give us the ability to do wrong? Why, if God created everything for His own glory, would He make us capable of doing things that went against His will?

In my mind, it’s simple. Because He loves us. And the only way we can even start to understand that love is by making the choice ourselves to love Him back.

Think about the story of the Prodigal Son. The father gave his son his inheritance knowing that he would go off and make bad decisions and squander it away to nothing. In theory, he was an enabler. How could a father who supposedly loves his son allow him to make such horrible decisions? Truth is, even if he hadn’t given it to him right then and there, somewhere down the line the son would’ve done it anyways. It was bound to happen sometime. The father knew that. He knew he couldn’t control his son’s actions. He could only control his own. So he did exactly what needed to be done: he let his son go off and learn a lesson that only the experience could teach him. And he waited. He waited for him to return with open arms. I’m sure it hurt the father to have to let his son go through that pain. But he knew it was necessary.

That’s what God does with us. He lets us experience the bad so we can fully understand just how good He is.

What is it about romantic relationships that make us feel so good? What is it that makes us feel so fulfilled? It’s that someone else, of their own free will, chooses you. They pick you, out of all the other guys and girls in the world, to be the one for them. They choose to give up the possibilities that anyone else might offer because they think you’re good enough. They think you fit the bill. Think about back in gym class playing games. Dodgeball, perhaps. How good does it feel to be picked first, or even before somebody you thought was a better athlete than you? It feels awesome. Because someone thinks highly enough of you that they just have to have you. It’s a strange sense of personal accomplishment and acceptance that’s beyond description.

By giving us free will, I think that’s what God is after. He wants the satisfaction that comes when we choose Him over all the other temptations in the world. When we choose Him as the leader and sole authority in our lives. Even without (technically) physical proof of his existence or having personally encountered Jesus Christ Himself, we choose to be faithful and loving to the One who created us.

I imagine that’s what it feels like to be a parent. If you leave your kids at summer camp or something, they’ll inevitably start to grow attached to a counselor or two, look up to them and follow them around. They become your child’s source of comfort and security in a strange place. Yet when everything’s said and done, even after all the fun and games and friends, that kid is still uncontrollably excited to see their parents on closing day. It must be an incredible feeling when your child screams with joy upon seeing you and come barreling into your arms. Something I hope to experience one day. And something I hope to do when I meet God. It’s incredible to me that He’ll be having the same feeling as those parents, and so much more. The same God that hung the stars and arranged the cosmos can’t wait for me to come home.

Imagine this. What if that Prodigal Son had gone off and done good things with his inheritance? What if he had gone out and multiplied his money and put towards good causes and helped thousands of people with it, and then come home? How much more proud of his son would the father have been? And what if the son had attributed all of his success to his father and the gift of that initial investment? I think the father would have been overcome with pride and joy at his son’s work.

Sometimes it feels like we’re over-matched. It feels like we can never live up to the accomplishments of our parents or siblings. Think about Barack Obama’s children. He’s the first Black President in our nation’s history and will live on forever (theoretically) in the history books. A legend. A milestone. An icon. It must be incredibly intimidating to be his children, and rightfully so. It’s virtually impossible that they’ll ever come close to achieving what he’s achieved. They’re most apt to become tabloid fodder. And yet he still loves them all the same. He’s still genuinely proud of them when they make an ‘A’ on their history test. He still beams when they give him a hand-painted picture frame make from Popsicle sticks. By comparison, those gesture should be worthless. They should mean nothing. But they don’t. Because he’s incredibly touched by their love for him. He loves it when they choose to do something with him in mind.

Let’s face it — we’re never going to live up to what God has done. We’re never going to live up to the standard Jesus set. He lived a perfect life and sacrificed it for the sake of the world. We were born into sin and can barely (if at all) bring ourselves to sacrifice time for someone we don’t like. It just isn’t going to happen. Ever. But that doesn’t mean trying makes God any less proud. That doesn’t mean our gestures of love and obedience are any less appreciated.

Make no mistake about it: God loves it when we choose Him. He revels in it. Even if you can’t feel it, He does. And when everything is said and done and we pass from this life to the next, we’ll get that massive hug. We’ll get that pat on the back. Not for the things we did for ourselves, but for the things we did for Him with the gifts He gave us.

I can’t wait to hear those words. “Well done, good and faithful servant.” And I want to live every day of my life earning them.

“Because love is the great commandment, it ought to be at the center of all and everything we do in our own family, in our Church callings, and in our livelihood. Love is the healing balm that repairs rifts in personal and family relationships. It is the bond that unites families, communities, and nations. Love is the power that initiates friendship, tolerance, civility, and respect. It is the source that overcomes divisiveness and hate. Love is the fire that warms our lives with unparalleled joy and divine hope. Love should be our walk and our talk.”

Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “The Love of God,” Ensign, Nov. 2009, 21

Thus, it should not take rocket science to figure out that most of the planet is actually under the water, and so it behooves us to explore the wondrous world that is hidden from sight by these vast amounts of water. Without a doubt, those who have experienced the joys of taking scuba diving vacations have found the unspoiled natural beauty beneath the waves to be nothing short of splendid. So everyone with a love for the underwater world should also consider taking these vacations before any other kind of holiday.

The fact of the matter is that scuba diving holidays provide ample opportunity to enjoy the fascinating and unexplored world contained in the oceans and seas. In fact, it also provides a great means by which to enjoy family activities together. In most cases children too will be fascinated by scuba diving and would jump at the idea of being taken to exciting places for vacations.

So, without hesitating any further, you must get on the phone and speak to some of the many different scuba diving organizations that offer holiday packages to places of great interest including the Red Sea, Costa Rica, the Bahamas and to the Mediterranean as well as Australia, Kenya and even Thailand. In fact, if you chose these destinations you would be like numerous other dedicated scuba divers.

Of course, you will even be able to find some other and more exciting places if you do some amount of research. In any case, you can rest assured that wherever you plan to take your scuba diving holiday there is sure to be luxury accommodations offered when booking your hotel and dining choices. You can choose to buy a complete package or select each travel and hotel stay individually.

Nearly every one of us will have taken at least a single vacation in our lives and so, when planning one, then you should consider a scuba diving holiday if only for the change and excitement that it provides.

A few weeks back, Seth shared this interesting anecdote on his blog:

“At the farmer’s market the other day, three perfect strangers
asked me what sort of apple to buy…
People are now afraid of apples: afraid of buying the wrong kind;
of making a purchasing mistake or some sort of pie mistake.”

From a certain perspective, I understand what he’s saying: it’s widely accepted that too much choice can actually lead to ‘decision-making paralysis’.

However, there’s an alternative interpretation of Seth’s apple episode that’s equally intriguing:

Maybe the questions weren’t asked in fear.

Perhaps those three strangers struck up conversation because they were excited about this abundance of choice.

In recent years, the apples available in Western supermarkets have become commoditised: the same few varieties, in the same standard sizes, with the same bland taste.

But people who visit farmers markets tend to care deeply about their food: they’re passionate about taste, colour, texture, perfume, and about the gastronomic experience in general.

So, when they’re presented with an exciting array of new apple varieties, it seems natural that they’d want to share their excitement.

Here are some alternative reasons why people might have asked Seth a question:

Questions quickly establish rapport by engaging people in active conversation. They give the respondent a chance to share their own excitement without feeling challenged or inferior, fostering a freer exchange of information and opinions.

Each farmers’ market offers different foods and different varieties, but a good proportion of visitors tend to be regulars. Faced with a wide variety of unknown apples at a new farmers’ market, I’d seek the opinion of those around me too, because foodies love to share their passion and recommend favourites to others. Indeed, this sharing and conversation is a central part of the market experience.

The broader appeal

There’s a more general truth here that offers marketers a fascinating opportunity.

When people are passionate about something, their passion often spills over: they like to share their excitement with other people, and their own enthusiasm often extends into adjacent areas of interest.

For example, a love of wine can easily extend into passion for Scotch and Cognac.

And while it’s unlikely that we’ll ever succeed in arousing everyone’s passion for our category, those who do get passionately involved are worth a lot more.

This is because people love to indulge their passions: wine enthusiasts tend to spend a lot more on wine than ‘average’ drinkers, and they often buy a range of expensive accessories too.

Putting it in context

The trick is to understand where your brand sits in people’s world, and how it relates to their passions.

Part of this involves understanding that people can get passionate about things that we’d never expect, and as a result, even seemingly mundane brands can become highly relevant to their lives.

For example, I know many people who are passionate about their homes, and who spend hours researching new ways to make their home cleaner and fresher.

Although these people are unlikely to get excited about bleach as a category, a household cleaning brand that extends its relevance beyond simple product attributes to offer advice and solutions for the houseproud is much more likely to engage them.

As we’ve seen before, the task isn’t necessarily to become their favourite brand ever; rather, it’s about demonstrating how good your brand is in relation to everything else it competes with.

This is more about two-way engagement rather than advertising: finding more immesrsive ways to share things with them, and more importantly, helping them to share things with us and their peers.

UPDATE: Just noticed this wonderful post by Spike over at Brains on Fire – some very wise words that add an important focus to the words above:

“…many [people] are still treating people’s passion as something a company can find and then own. Find? Yes. Own? Never. Passion is not a sales transaction.

Passion is sacred. Passion is a part of a person’s life. Their soul. To find it, you have to clear away everything else. You won’t find it in a focus group that is created to talk about you and your product. You won’t find it when you do all the talking. And you won’t find it wd a tree until it falls for it.

Passion is not a commodity. It is a gift. Treat it like one.”

Go read the rest here.

People who are interested in being in Intentional Communities generally are in various stages of trying to discern how seriously they are called. Their call can range from mild interest to serious interest to  deep committment. I believe that many people are being called into community and that this call is greater than any one person or any one community. It is a call that is being born from our unique moment in history, as a global people, in reaction to specific things going on in the world, as well as a seed of a vision of how life could be better lived, with more meaning, in a context with more satisitifaction and spiritual depth. But each person must discern their own call, each must act on what is coming from his or her own heart. Here are some basic questions to get us started:

What does community mean to you?

What do you feel you can/will bring to the community?

What do you feel the community can/will bring to you?

What do you want to see happen through this endeavor?

What are your present and or future concerns about this endeavor?

What can/ how can you commit, at this point, to this community?

(This is in reference to my opening post,  http://altoutermost.wordpress.com/2009/12/08/community-ritual/)

Body Choice High Fiber Weight Loss Solution with 100% African Hoodia Green Tea Extract Enriched with pomegranate – 32 oz Review

Check Price Now!

i bought this same product at costco instead through amazon. anyway, the product does actually contain AUTHENTIC hoodia because i have checked the certification on their website. it does actually curve your apetite-i have noticed that i actually ate less and did not snack as often. moreover, it does not give you caffeine jitters like other diet products. i think i lost around 8 lbs in one week (my diet plan was atkins, body choice hoodia, multivitamin, calcium pyruvate, and light exercise). my mom has also used the product, and she has lost around 2 lbs without altering her lifestyle. yes, you can laze around and still lose weight with this product ONLY TO A CERTAIN EXTENT. like most supplements, they WILL NOT WORK AND YOU WILL NOT LOSE WEIGHT UNLESS you follow a diet and exercise plan.

Body Choice High Fiber Weight Loss Solution with 100% African Hoodia Green Tea Extract Enriched with pomegranate – 32 oz Feature

• High Antioxidants
• Boost Metabolism
• Curbs Craving
• High Fiber
• 100% Certified African Hoodia Formula

Body Choice High Fiber Weight Loss Solution with 100% African Hoodia Green Tea Extract Enriched with pomegranate – 32 oz Overview

+++THIS IS HEAVY ITEM. WEIGHT AT LEAST 2LBS. WE REDUCE WEIGHT FOR BETTER PRICE ON SHIPPING FOR YOU+++Product InfoBody Choice Cortisol Weight Loss with Hoodia ExtractProduct Expires in November 2008Curbs cravingsBoosts metabolismManages cortisol levels Cortisol Weight Loss Formula: Given today’s fast paced lifestyles, not everyone has the time for a healthy diet and regular exercise. That’s where Body Choice comes in. Body Choice has specifically designed its Body Choice Lifestyle Program for today’s active consumer. This program contains simple steps to a sensible diet and exercise program, plus helpful hints to manage stress.For maximum results, complement the program with Body Choice’s Cortisol Weight Loss Solutions Formula. Contains a proprietary blend of all natural herbs, antioxidants, green tea and other natural ingredients specially formulated to increase metabolism and promote a lean body.Enriched with Hoodia Extract, a natural African appetite suppressant. This product, along with the Lifestyle Program, will:Help manage cortisol and stress Levels Boost your metabolism Curb your cravings . These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.Directions: Shake well, Serve chilled. Take one fluid ounce (two tablespoons) daily. For maximum benefit, take two tablespoons before breakfast and lunch. Refrigerate after opening. Keep out of reach of children.

Body Choice High Fiber Weight Loss Solution with 100% African Hoodia Green Tea Extract Enriched with pomegranate – 32 oz Specifications

*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Dec 09, 2009 12:40:04
Works as an appetite suppressant – Things That Work – California, USA
I find this is a very helpful product to reduce food cravings. I don’t really follow the directions to take it before meals. I tend to take it between meals because I find that it helps suppress my appetite so that I can go longer without eating, or I can just eat less. I go through phases where I think about food virtually all of the time. Now when that happens, I drink one ounce of Body Choice and I find I can go several hours without thinking about food. It isn’t cheap, but it’s well worth it for that alone. It has helped me stick to a diet and it has helped me maintain my target weight when not dieting. I don’t think this product alone will cause much weight loss, but it’s appetite suppressant properties make it far easier to make healthier eating decisions.
Don’t waste your money….this stuff is garbage. – D. Fattibene – Portland, OR
Don’t waste your money….this stuff is garbage. I only write this because I hate to see people waste their money on bad products……so this is just an honest opinion

I’m fairly fit person and I exercise about 5 days a week….but I wanted to shed a few pounds so I used this to help curtail my appetite.

It did not work at all. I track my points through weight watchers….and even tracked my appetite cravings during the day. I tried this product for the full month and it did not work at all…..and I mean I did not notice a single bit of appetite reduction.

Bottom line – don’t waste your money. I guess it all goes back to basics……diet and exercise. I was disappointed……oh well.

Free Verse Poem    These are a couple poems that I wrote while we were doing the poetry section in class.   Cinquain, Limerick and Diamante Poems       Concrete Poem         Found Poem          Just Because poem

Years ago I heard a story about how early settlers in Arkansas trapped wild hogs. It’s a timely metaphor for what the Obama administration and both Democrat houses of congress have in mind for citizens of the United States if they are successful in legislating their liberal agenda.

My only regret about being gay is that I repressed it for so long. I surrendered my youth to the people I feared when I could have been out there loving someone. Don’t make that mistake yourself. Life’s too damn short. –Armistead Maupin

What are you doing to get out of your own way today?  I am just saying, Armistead is right.  It is very, very short.  Unless you are this war and then well, Happy Birthday- you are 9 years old.

You might equate the excitement at an auction to a revival, thinking in terms of a meeting for the purpose of reawakening religious faith, often characterized by impassioned preaching and public testimony. However, from the standpoint of bidders, there is no revival of previous bids.

This subject occurs when there is an item up for bid, and there is a retraction by the high bidder. For example, Tom bids $50 and then Larry bids $55 and the auctioneer is asking Tom to bid $60. Then, Larry retracts his $55 bid, and the question becomes, is Tom “back in” at $50 now? The answer is no, because there is no revival of previous bids.

Contractually, when Tom bid $50 there was a contract between the seller (auctioneer) and Tom for $50, contingent upon the auctioneer not receiving a higher bid, and contingent upon Tom not retracting his bid. As soon as Larry bid $55 and it was accepted by the auctioneer, that contract with Tom became void. Upon the voiding of Larry’s contract for $55, there was no contract with Tom, nor Larry, so there were no bid calling contracts at this point at all.

What is an auctioneer to do? Most common practice would dictate that the auctioneer would ask Tom, “Would you like back in at $50?” and if Tom said, “Yes, that’s fine,” then the bidding could restart there at $50 and continue thereon. However, if Tom said, “No thanks,” then there is no way for the auctioneer to force Tom back in at $50 — because there is no revival.

This legal concept comes from the UCC 2-328 (3).

Another technique used by some auctioneers involves selling “choice” and allowing the back-up bidder next choice. We’ll discuss the merits of choice in a later blog, but for purposes here, we think that this opens the auctioneer up to potential liability since he is giving preference to one bidder (the back-up bidder) when all other bidders have equal stance in regard to rights to purchase. The thinking seems to be that since this bidder was just bidding prior, they have certain rights other bidders don’t have. Yet, because there is no revival, this back-up bidder stands just as any other bidder upon “Sold!”

Yes, many auctions have impassioned preaching and public testimony, but so far as prior bid revivals, don’t look for one at an auction.

Remember when Rep. Joe Wilson called out “You Lie” during an Obama speech to Congress and the Liberal Media and the Democrats nearly went into full apoplectic meltdown over the incivility of it all.

Well, now the Goose has been burnt to a crisp.

What’s good for the goose is still not good for the gander, if your a Liberal Democrat.

Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) on Monday (heard this one in the “Mainstream Media” much?):

“Instead of joining us on the right side of history, all Republicans can come up with is this: Slow down. Stop everything. Let’s start over,” Reid said.

“If you think you have heard these same excuses before, you are right. When this country belatedly recognized the wrongs of slavery, there were those who dug in their heels and said: Slow down. It is too early. Let’s wait. Things aren’t bad enough.”

So now if you oppose them, your in favor of slavery!!

But don’t worry, you won’t get weeks of analysis on how uncivil this was. You’ll be lucky to ever even heard of it.

That’s “journalism” in 2009.

Of Course, Sen. Reid probably doesn’t need to be reminded the actual facts. It’s just that to a liberal in the heat of the moment and with no other recourse, an attack ad hominem is all they know how to use. Like an instinctual response of  a defensive scorpion. Sting! Sting! Sting!

“To suggest that passing this horrible bill is anything akin to ridding our country of slavery is terribly offensive and calls into question Mr. Reid’s suitability to lead,” Steele said. “Having made this disgraceful statement on the floor of the United States Senate, Mr. Reid should immediately apologize.”

Not only did Reid not apologize, but his spokesman called the criticism from Republicans “feigned outrage.” Reid’s speech offered a comparative sweep of past legislative milestones – slavery’s end, women’s suffrage, Civil Rights. (Las Vegas Sun)

Reid continued, “When women spoke up for the right to speak up, they wanted to vote, some insisted they simply, slow down, there will be a better day to do that, today isn’t quite right.

“When this body was on the verge of guaranteeing equal civil rights to everyone regardless of the color of their skin, some senators resorted to the same filibuster threats that we hear today.” (Town Hall)

Not only am I not sorry for my inappropriate and defamatory comment, let’s unload the full barrell of shotgun shells and go for the AK-47 and ready the Nukes!

IBD: Politicians who believe in the never-ending expansion of government are fully willing to pull out the stops when something as big as government-run health care is within grasp.

Maybe he does need to be reminded. Maybe his “liberal education” never taught him the real facts.

Does Harry Reid really forget that the Republican Party’s First real candidate for president after it surpassed and supplanted the Whigs, was Abraham Lincoln???

Founded in Ripon, Wisconsin, in 1854 by anti-slavery expansion activists and modernizers, the Republican Party quickly surpassed the Whig Party as the principal opposition to the Democratic Party. It first came to power in 1860 with the election of Abraham Lincoln, a former Whig, to the presidency and presided over the American Civil War and Reconstruction.

When the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which would end segregation nationwide, came to Congress for a vote, a number of Senators did, in fact, threaten to filibuster the bill as Harry Reid stated. What Harry Reid did not mention is that 80% of those Senators that threatened to filibuster the Civil Rights Act were Democrats. In fact, 31% of Democrats in Congress voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964. That means about 1/3 of the Democrat Party refused to end segregation nationwide.

People like Sen Robert Byrd, who is still there!

How did the Republican Members of Congress vote concerning the Civil Rights Act of 1964? A total of 82% of the Republicans in Congress voted to end segregation nationwide. In other words, segregation ended when a larger percentage of Republicans voted in favor of civil rights.

But as I have shown repeatedly, facts that liberals don’t like or don’t push their agenda don’t matter to them.

And where is the major media: Trying to hide yet another mess under the table.

Former Clinton Mouthpiece on ABC’s Good Morning America:

ABC’s George Stephanopoulos appeared on Tuesday’s Good Morning America to spin and minimize Senator Harry Reid’s contention that opponents of health care reform are similar to supporters of slavery. After ABC played a truncated version of Reid’s quote, Stephanopoulos, hopefully observed, “My guess is this is going to blow over.”

Sure, when you censor and downplay the whole clip. How many times and in how many ways did Liberals play “You lie” and wrack themselves with glee and feigned disgust 24/7??

He did concede to co-host Robin Roberts: “Republicans were just furious about that, Robin.” But, ABC didn’t show any clips of “furious” Republicans complaining about the harsh attack. Prior to the clip being played, Stephanopoulos, who is rumored to be the next host of Good Morning America, adopted a charitable description of Reid’s comparison to slavery: “Boy, the whole Senate floor exploded over [the remarks] yesterday, when Senator Reid went to the floor and tried to rally his Democrats by evoking these great legislative fights of the past.”

It’s over-blown. No big deal. Nothing to see here.

See the same pattern as ever other time a Liberal gets caught with his hand in the cookie jar?

Now imagine a Republican, or Conservative, or even George W Bush saying this?

Impeachment would be called for. Or at least several months of 24/7 “analysis”.

But a Liberal says it, eh, so what no big deal.

It never is if it’s them.

It goes like this:

STEPHANOPOULOS: Republicans were just furious about that, Robin. My guess is this is going to blow over. The real action now going on behind the scenes in these negotiations over this public health insurance option.

Robin ROBERTS: Oh, yeah. That is another- Yeah, we haven’t even talked about that, which is so key, as we’ve been saying for many months now. And who are the key players in this, George?

Just move on, gloss it over, barely recognize it, diminish it, and move onto The Agenda.

That’s “Journalism” for you in 2009.

Hate Air America (yes, apparently they still exist): Should Harry Reid apologize? And should Democrats resort to the sort of bomb throwing name calling that Republicans have been doing for years?

I would laugh but I am too cynical for that.

How low can they go? The desperate Democratic peddlers of a government health care takeover have proclaimed an insurance “holocaust in America” (Fla. Democratic Rep. Alan Grayson), lambasted conservative health care town hall protesters as “political terrorists” (Indiana Democratic Rep. Baron Hill), sent SEIU thugs to demonstrate outside Democratic Sen. Joe Lieberman’s private residence, and derided senior citizens questioning President Obama’s fuzzy math savings claims (California Democratic Rep. Pete Stark: “I wouldn’t dignify you by peeing on your leg. It wouldn’t be worth wasting the urine.”) Now, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is leading them deeper into demagogic mire.

Following in the mucky footsteps of former President Jimmy Carter (who blamed GOP Rep. Joe Wilson’s objections to Obama’s policy deceptions on a “racism inclination”) and Jesse Jackson (“You can’t vote against health care and call yourself a black man”), Reid likened Republicans who object to socialized medicine to slave masters, enemies of women’s suffrage.(Town hall)

As low as they have to get what they want. It doesn’t matter to them. And it sure as hell doesn’t matter to ABC,NBC,CBS,CNN, et al.

Town Hall: There is now a $200,000 “bounty” on the head of U.S Chamber of Commerce CEO Tom Donohue. Left-wing activist website “Velvet Revolution” published a want ad this week with Donohue’s picture on it, soliciting information leading to “the arrest and conviction” of the business leader for “opposing progressive initiatives.”

IBD:“We now seek hard evidence that will stand up in the court of law; i.e., documents, affidavits and testimony implicating Donohue in crimes; including fraud, tax violations, campaign finance violations, money laundering, insider trading, election tampering, pension fund and stockholder manipulations. We want to hear from insiders and whistle-blowers posessing (sic) information not already in the public domain.”

Is it just us, or is this the most despicable act the hipster left has come up with since MoveOn.org tried to smear General David Petraeus as General Betray-Us in a New York Times ad last year?

But these are the compassionate, rational, loving, salt-of-the earth, bi-partisan,tolerant, saintly (compared-to evil-capitalist Republicans) Defender of Mom and Apple Pie, who care about the poor, and the downtrodden.

And don’t the Mainstream Media tell you any different!

IBD: No wonder White House Press Secretary Gibbs delivered his infantile diatribe this week claiming that the president’s 47% approval according to the Gallup tracking poll — a new low — is meaningless.

CSM: In a blame-the-messenger moment, the press secretary, citing swings in Mr. Obama’s approval ratings in Gallup daily tracking data, said: “I am sure a 6-year-old with a crayon could do something not unlike that.”

Gibbs continued: “I don’t put a lot of stake in, never have, in the EKG that is the daily Gallup trend. I don’t pay a lot of attention to the meaninglessness of it.

It’s no big deal that Obama has the lowest approval rating at this point in his presidency since Harry S. Truman. He’s a Liberal. It doesn’t matter.

We’ll beat George W Bush into a bloody pulp over his approval ratings, but Obama’s, peshaw, nothing to see here. it’s meaningless.

Notice how liberals love that word when deflecting criticism and scandals from them?

And finally: a Bit of ironic humor from The Christian Science Monitor:

Tomatoes Going Rogue

All the drama occurred yesterday at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. Palin was at another stop on her “Going Rogue” book tour.

At some point during the four hour engagement, a man perched on a second floor balcony hurled two tomatoes at Palin. The rapidly-moving vegetables fruits didn’t come close. One onlooker said they missed by at least 10 feet.

That didn’t mean the aggressor was unsuccessful however. He managed to hit two people. Who happened to be cops.

Needless to say, an arrest quickly followed. Jeremy Paul Olson, was charged with assault and disorderly conduct.

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes (2009) or is that the The Gang/Guy That Couldn’t Shoot Straight??

Breaking News:

Some good news possibly though: Sen Ben Nelson (D-NE)  has promised to vote against the overall legislation unless his amendment is included. This was a total ban on federal funding for abortion.

The Democrats voted it down.

If he carries out his threat, Democrats would fall at least one vote short of passage unless they can find a Republican to fill his shoes.

So I guess they will be kissing up to Maine Senators Olympia Snow and Susan Collins now more than ever!!

Which means compromises that many Democrats will hate. But will they swallow it to just get something, ANYTHING, passed so they and the media can stand triumphant as the saviors of the American people?

Stay Tuned.

The sideshow has only just begun.

You pay attention, you listen, you try to remember how things should be…the bedclothes loose and not tucked in, the bed slightly away from the wall, the top blanket folded over just so and a flap left loose on the far side of the bed because she likes to pull that around her;  the underblanket not too near the floor but still not tucked in; the coverlet – which is far too big for the bed but she won’t hear it – arranged with the bulk of it pushed behind the bed and a flap at the front that just touches the carpet;  and finally the spare crochet blanket on top but not doubled over because she finds that too heavy. OK. Done.

And this morning – ‘I had an awful sleep last night, the bed was terrible.You didn’t make it properly.”

Apply a bit of Zen. Breathe. It’s only a bed, after all. And another day…

Reprinted from Spinoza’s Lens (2007/8) http://www.clipclip.org/clips/detail/159809/spinozas-lens-good-without-god-r-joseph-hoffmann

Being good is not the same as being ethical ,or virtuous, or doing good, or even leading a good life.

Let me begin with two stories. The first comes from Voltaire, who is reported to have said to his mistress, Marguerite, “Whatever you do, don’t tell the servants there is no God or they’ll steal the silver.”

Another, told by the writer Diderot in the 18th century, is about the journey of Catholic missionaries to Tahiti–a dialogue between a chief named Orou and a priest, who tries to explain the concept of sin.

Orou says that many of the things Europeans find sinful are sources of pride in his island.

He doesn’t understand the idea of adultery, since in his culture generosity and sharing are virtues. Marriage to a single man or woman is unnatural and selfish. And surely there can be nothing wrong with being naked and enjoying sexual pleasure for its own sake—otherwise, why do our bodies exist. The horrified priest delivers a long sermon on Christian beliefs, and ends by saying,

“And now that I have explained the laws of our religion, you must do everything to please God and to avoid the pains of hell.”

Orou says, “You mean, when I was ignorant of these commandments, I was innocent, but now that I know them, I am a guilty sinner who might go to hell.”

“Exactly,” the priest says.

“Then why did you tell me?” says Orou.

These stories indicate a couple of things about the relationship between religion and morality—or more precisely, the belief that God is the source of morality. The first story suggests that belief in God is “dissuasive.” By that I mean, religion is seen as a way of preventing certain kinds of actions that we would do if we believed there was no God. The kind of God religious people normally think of in this case is the Old Testament God, or the God who gives rules and expects them to be obeyed.

Not all religious people believe these rules were given by God to Moses or Muhammad directly, but most would agree that it’s a good idea, in general, not to steal, commit adultery, hate your neighbor (or envy his possessions obsessively), or kill other people.

For at least a thousand years busy theologians have tried to put these essentially negative rules into more positive form: for example, by saying that people should act out of love for each other, or love of God, and not out of fear. Most Christians would say this is the essential difference between the laws of the Old Testament and the teaching of Jesus in the New. But they are only partly right. Both books of the Bible and all of the Qur’an emphasize fear of God, judgment, and the rewards and punishments of the hereafter as goads to repentance, leading a better life, giving up your rotten ways. Even the books of the Bible that are tainted with Greek thought—like the Book of Proverbs–emphasize that “the Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” So it’s mischievous to say that fear and trembling aren’t used for moral leverage throughout the Bible.

The God of the book religions, regardless of theological attempts to transform him into a God who loves the social agendas of the twenty-first century, is not a god who would understand the phrase “unconditional love.”

Modern Christians, Jews, and the Muslims who focus on God’s compassion and mercy, are required to ignore a whole cartload of passages where God reminds people, like any ancient father (and not a few modern mothers), that his patience is wearing thin. Jeremiah 5:22 (NIV) “’Should you not fear me?” declares the Lord. ‘Should you not tremble in my presence?’” The answer is a deafening: “Yes.” Remember the flood? Remember the first born sons of the Egyptians? Remember the plagues and famines? Remember Sodom and Gomorrah? You love this God because you ignore his commandments at your peril. He has chosen you; you have not chosen him, and he can withdraw his favor whenever he wants. (As Jackie Mason used to say, “You look at Israel and you have to wonder if maybe the Samoans aren’t the chosen people”).

The theme of the oldest books of the Bible is very plain: God “loves” (more precisely, he watches out for) the ones who keep his commandments and punishes those who don’t. –A simple message that theology has had two thousand years to massage. In fact, the New Testament belongs to the history of that massaging process. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were the first spin doctors–re-writing the script, transforming Yahweh into a compassionate conservative.

But let’s be clear that the hero of the story is a typical Near Eastern tyrant: powerful, vengeful, jealous by his own admission, proprietary (“His is the world and all that dwells within”), and though slow to anger, fearsome when his wrath is provoked, watchful to point of being sleep-deprived (Ps 121.4). This God is not a model for progressive parenting; he’s not interested in the self-esteem of his people, has not read Dr Wayne Dyer, and will not break down weeping on Oprah! for being compulsive. The message of God the Father is, “Do this or else.”

A larger question posed by Voltaire’s little story is whether the motivation of fear is ever ethical. If you do something because there is a threat of pain and suffering if you don’t, or if you hold off doing something you would really like to do—for the same reason—are you being moral?

What Voltaire is really saying—as Nietzsche, Marx and Freud would later say—is that religion is useful for keeping certain kinds of people in line. Eighteenth- and Nineteenth- century European society could be neatly divided into those who knew better and those who served the ones who did. Marx went so far as to suggest that the social deference the moneyed classes paid to religion was simply intended to convince the lower classes that religion is true—in fact, that’s exactly what Voltaire is saying: Religion is a mechanism used by the knowledgeable to keep the unknowledgeable in their place. It has social advantages—Marx’s Jewish father conveniently “converted” from Judaism to the Prussian State Church in order to go on working as a lawyer. And we all know the younger Marx’s most famous verdict on the topic: “Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people. The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness.” Religion functions through its dominant image of God and his punishments to make people “good” in the same sense servants, dogs and disobedient wives were made to be good in the ancient world. A later era would use the word control mechanism to describe this kind of incentive.

What’s missing from this critique, of course, is the question of whether a “religious act” can ever be a “moral act.” Clearly, belief in God (or a specific kind of God) provides behavioral incentives. As a system of control based on fear, religion keeps people from “being bad,” or at least doing things considered bad by the controller. But it does this inefficiently. Clearly it offers people an explanation for why they behave in certain ways, ranging from the “Bible tells me so” to “Papa dixit”—the pope says so. As a means of consolation, it teaches people to deal with the fear and insecurity created by oppression. But it does this at the expense of self-fulfillment, wholeness. It is the security of an abusive relationship, where comfort consists in being able to predict and manipulate eruptions of violence. In fact, to look back to the sacrificial origins of religion, this was precisely its social role. Even the story of the crucifixion, which many people believe is all about love and forgiveness, is the story of a God so angry at the sinful imperfections of humanity that he transfers his violence to his only son, who becomes the redemptive victim—the buy-back price—for sins he didn’t commit.

crucifixion

Let’s call this religious approach to behavior “Being Good.” Being good is not the same as being ethical or virtuous, or doing good, or even leading a good life. It’s a mother wagging an imperative finger at a three year old and saying “You’d better be good.” It always involves threat and reward. Two generations ago, the image would have included threats of belts or woodsheds spankings, going to bed without dinner. I guess, unfortunately, in some places it still does. But you don’t get ethics out of this. You get obedience and submission.

What about Diderot’s story, the one about the missionary and the tribal chief? If the story from Voltaire suggests that religion is dissuasive and coercive, Diderot’s suggests another reason why religion doesn’t sit well with ethics: Religion is prescriptive, and like politics, it’s local. In 2000 years of massaging the message, it has changed because human beings, the true makers of religion, have changed their minds. Most of the biblical rules about property, goods and chattels, adultery and incest were typical throughout the Middle East; in fact, as Freud recognized, the taboos against murder and incest are the earliest form of laws in some tribal societies. But the books we call the basis of the “Judaeo-Christian-ethic” weren’t written by tribes—tribes don’t write. And the body of laws we call the Ten Commandments contain lots of rules that have been quietly put in trunks and sent to the attic.

For example, we all applaud the wisdom of the commandment that says, “Honor your father and your mother.” It has a nice ring, especially during school vacations. But Deuteronomy 21.20 says that disobedient sons should be stoned in front of the elders at the gates of the city. And Exodus 21.17 says that anyone who insults his mother and father shall be put to death.

As for adultery, which belongs to ancient property law in the Jewish system, the punishment is stoning—normally only for the woman (Deut. 22.21). In Deut. 22.28, the penalty for raping an unbetrothed virgin is a fine of 50 shekels–plus taking her on as a wife. There are laws protecting the rights of the firstborn sons of unloved wives when a man has several wives (Deut. 21.15) and even laws about how long a Jewish warrior must wait (one month) before he can have intercourse with a woman he has captured in battle (21.10). According to Leviticus 19.23, raping another man’s female slave is punishable by making an offering to the priest, who is required to forgive him. There are laws covering how long you can keep a Hebrew male–slave—6 years—but if you sell your daughter as a slave to another man she cannot be freed, unless, after the master has had sex with her, he finds her “unpleasing”—in which case she can be put up for sale (ransom) (Exodus 21. 7ff.). On it goes—throughout the books of the Torah—the Law.

Sarah, Abraham, and his concubine Hagar

The sheer ferocity of the God who gives, or rather shouts these commandments to his chosen people is distant from our time. The voice is unfamiliar: Failure to do what he says results in terror: In fact, that’s the very word he uses: “I will bring upon you sudden terror, wasting disease, recurring fever, plagues that will blind you….those that hate you will hound you until there is no place to run; I will multiply your calamities seven times more than your sins deserve. … I will send wild beasts among you and they will tear your children from you. … If you defy me , I will scourge you seven times over. …I will send pestilence …cut short your daily bread, until ten women can bake your bread in a single oven. … I will punish you seven times over. … Instead of meat, you shall eat your sons and your daughters.” Don’t take my word for it: read Leviticus 26. It has literary flair.

Cronus Devouring His Children (Goya)

The God of the Old Testament is a three dimensional figure—far bigger than Zeus and twice as officious. (Perhaps Zeus was able to give freer rein to his sexual appetites, whereas Yahweh limits himself to one Galilean virgin?) And look though you may, you will not find these laws “repealed” in later books, at least not in the way modern laws can be amended and repealed. But it’s absolutely certain that anyone who tried to obey these laws in twentieth century Europe or America would be slapped into jail, and the defense “The Bible told me so” would not be an adequate explanation for what we routinely call “inhumane acts.” –Try posting these commandments above the blackboard in your neighborhood school or the court house wall above the judge’s bench.

One way of charting the so-called progress of western civilization is to trace how human values eventually triumph over the ferocity of religious law. The kind of morality that Diderot’s priest represents, like the morality of the Bible, and even the reductionist versions of biblical and Quranic teaching that modern religious denominations espouse, is not ethics. It is not ethics because ethics can’t be grounded in what I’m going to call “prescriptive dissuasion.”

If you say to me, “Well: no one believes these things any more,” then I say “Good for us for not believing. Then time to stop letting the Bible be the source of moral authority when the conduct of its hero is not up to our standards of civil behavior.”

If you say, “There is great wisdom and poetry in scripture,” then I say “Please then, let’s treat it like other great books that express ideas, customs, and values that have no authority over how we lead our lives.” I have no quarrel with those who want to appreciate the Bible as a product of its own time and culture—with all the conditions that attach to appreciation of that kind. My quarrel is with people who want to make it a document for our time and culture.

And I suppose my quarrel extends to people who consider themselves experts, when what they are really expert in is reading around, into, or past the text. Liberal theologians are immensely gifted at reinventing the God of the Bible in the light of modern social concerns. But the project is a literary–not an ethical one. At another extreme, which is really a false opposite, are the fundamentalists who claim to defend the literal truth of the Bible while ignoring two-thirds of the text and focusing on the convenient “literal” truth of bits and pieces.

Can the Bible make you good? If you accept the framework, beginning with Adam and Eve, and the creation of a race doomed to be perpetually three years-old and scolded into obedience, I suppose it can. Would you want to be good without the Bible: No, because even without the dominance of a sacred text, “goodness” stems from authority rather than conscience and reflection: good dog, good wife, good Nazi, good Jew.

Reduced to basic form, the temptation in the Garden of Eden is a story about a cookie jar and a sly, accusing mother. But it takes more than avoiding mousetraps for a choice to be moral or an action to be ethical. A moral act is one in which you can entertain doubt freely, where a person confronts human choices and human consequences, personal and social.

To be fair: the Bible and its cousins are important records of those human choices and their social consequences, coming from an age which is no longer relevant to us. To make it a book for our time is an abuse of the book and a misunderstanding of its importance. More depressingly for some, perhaps, there will probably be no book to replace it. Not even one by a secular humanist. But there will be wisdom, and reason and choice-making, and that will make us humanly better, perhaps even virtuous. Pray that nothing–no power or text on heaven or earth–will arise to make us “good.”

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Barbara Joye – The Shift Guru

For the vast majority of us, the holidays bring to mind events and traditions from our history. Some of the events are delightful to remember and some can be downright difficult. Some of the traditions are worth retaining and some we retain simply because it is easier then to explain why we don’t retain them. All in all, the holiday time is a time of more reflection and regurgitation than most. 

And why not…where else in our culture do we hold a great deal of tradition? Where else do we reflect upon our upbringing and the family dinners and the holiday trimmings that we each grew up with. Sure there are other family traditions – perhaps a 4th of July picnic or a New Years Day football tradition or perhaps even a Memorial Day gardening event that we remember from our childhood. And, still, for the vast majority of us, this is the one time of year when we can know that the individual sitting next to us on the train or driving in the car next to us has some of their own traditions to remember – some in awe and some in dismay. 

These traditions and memories and how we relate to them tell us a great deal about who we are now – as adults – and how we hold our beliefs around the holidays. What memories do you cherish? What memories do you avoid? And what beliefs about family and tradition and the holiday season affects you in December and the eleven other months? 

visit us at www.theshiftguru.com for more information on beliefs. 

For an even more insightful and in-depth look at your life and your beliefs, go to www.the-light-won.com.

Life definately throws us curve balls!  When we receive those curve balls, we have two simple choices… take the pitch and hope it’s a ball, or swing for the stands.    In Napoleon Hill’s book “Think and Grow Rich”, he talks about the many reasons for failure and why we sometimes choose not to persist on our path to success.  One such reason is “The habit of neglecting to move on ideas, or to grasp opportunity when it presents itself”.  Let’s see what the next scroll has to say…

Choose love,  not fear.

Choose love,  not anger.

Choose love, not worry.

Make a practice of choosing love in tough situations and your heart will gradually change.

What if you could just decide to be certain about your power to accomplish the dream, big, hairy, audacious goal, or cause in your heart? You might feel more empowered here and now to attend to that goal, cause, or dream with inspired actions. You might experience the relief that comes along with trusting in the Universe. You might be freed up to focus on the all-important ‘what’ instead of being bogged down in the ‘how.’

On the flip side, what if you could just decide to be uncertain about your power to accomplish your deeply held vision? You might feel dispirited and confused about what to do in the here and now. You might experience a sense of resignation to a repeat of yesterday. You might be so convinced of this that you walk past open doorways into the land of your highest hopes, eyes trained on the arrival of another tomorrow just like yesterday.

Apply the simplistic, but useful logic of WIFM (What’s In It For Me?) and I bet you’ll agree that the choice to be certain…certain of your potential for greatness and your birthright to live that greatness…has more in store for you than the tired, worn-out choice to be uncertain of it.

I’m also willing to bet that you and most humans on the planet today have practiced choosing uncertainty with regard to our personal power more often than not. That means I’ve got a job to do! And that is to provide you practices and encouragement to turn the tide toward certainty.

Today or ASAP, try this simple practice. I offer it as a surefire way to get down and dirty with your own personal certainty in 10 minutes. An mp4 audio file will be available soon, (as soon as I can learn how to upload it ) if you would like to try this as a guided visualization. For full practice details…

1. Sit or lay down so that you are comfortable.
2. Close your eyes and let your breath deepen and even out naturally.
3. Breathing out, allow uncertainty, fear, and doubt to leave with the breath and become absorbed by the powerful, composting earth.
4. Breathing in, allow certainty, trust, and clarity to awaken within you. Wherever the in-breath travels, certainty stirs and comes to life.
5. Repeat, allow yourself to sink into this rhythm, breathing out uncertainty, breathing in certainty and trust.
6. Once you feel your body resonating with that certainty, call to mind someone or something you Know has full faith and confidence in you. It could be an elder, a child, a friend, a sibling, a parent, a mentor, a pet, a divine being, a natural or supernatural being, etc. Let each of these someone’s or something’s gather around you in your mind’s eye.
7. With one or more beings in your presence, breathe deeply of their confidence, trust, clarity, courage, and certainty. Each being has come to your mind’s eye with a sincere wish that you Know your personal power. Each being with you now wants for you to experience and express your greatness. Each being with you now Knows you to be a one-of-a-kind person with precious gifts to offer the world. There is no hurry to be great, for greatness lies within you, here, now. Know this and choose to experience certainty in yourself and your gifts. Rest there.
8. Offer gratitude to yourself in this moment. For all you are, have been, and will be…be thankful.
9. Offer gratitude to each being with you now. For each one…be thankful.
10. As you are ready, return to your body. Notice your breath. Feel your weight against what you are sitting or laying upon. Wiggle your toes and fingers and gradually open your eyes.

Often, inspired actions come out of this visualization. Are any inspirations bubbling up for you? Write them down if you like and pick one to do today or this week with the momentum you’ve created.

Sometimes you hear this argument: Generosity, altruism, and self-giving are really just different forms of selfishness. Even if we are being truly generous, and making a real sacrifice in order to help someone else, the underlying motive will be one of the self-interest. Not because we are sly or manipulative, but simply because we are programmed to do what is ultimately in our best interests. This might include a degree of altruism, of caring for our family or friends, of going out of our way to help others. But deep down we are always thinking about what we will gain — even if that gain is the satisfaction of knowing that we are a noble person, or the pleasure of seeing other people given help.

There is some truth in this. It’s good to acknowledge that even when we do something for others, even when we are acting in a completely selfless manner, there is still an element of ‘myself’ involved. I am still choosing, freely, to do this deed. I am deciding, in some sense, that it is important to me, that I value what I’m doing. I can’t say ‘I don’t care about this’. The very fact that I want to give myself generously shows that I have an interest in giving myself — it matters to me. To this extent, there is no such thing as pure altruism. Put it another way: If I love someone, even by giving up everything for them, it is still because I love them. And if I choose to care for someone I do not love, it is still because I want to care for them.

But it’s not quite true to say that all self-giving is simply another form of selfishness — because it blurs some of the distinctions that we rightly make in ordinary life; distinctions that are crucial in moral thinking and in the choices we make about how to live. We come face to face with moments when we are called to be more generous than we have been, to put others first, to make a sacrifice that costs us some time or energy or personal satisfaction. Now and then we face a fork in the road, and we have to choose between selfishness or self-giving. We know they are not the same.

Yes, the self-giving needs to be a personal choice, it needs to be something I make a commitment to. In this sense it is still part of my own search for meaning and fulfilment. But it is nevertheless a kind of meaning and fulfilment radically different from the selfishness that seeks happiness locked up in one’s own introverted satisfactions. There is a selfishness which limits me and traps me; and there is another kind of self-concern that allows me to go beyond myself, that opens me up to others, and takes me beyond myself.

I mention all this because yesterday evening I was in Kilburn with the Missionaries of Charity, the Sisters of Mother Theresa. During Mass in their convent chapel, three of the sisters renewed their religious vows. As well as taking the three vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, the Missionaries of Charity take an additional fourth vow. It goes something like this (I’m writing from memory): ‘I promise to give myself in wholehearted and free service to the poorest of the poor’.

What promise to make! A promise to make of one’s life a pure gift, to give oneself completely to those in most need, to those who will probably be unable to pay anything back. A promise to live for others in love. Of course, this has a religious meaning — it’s to do with knowing the love of Christ, and wanting to share that love with others. But even on a purely human or ‘philosophical’ level, it is a wonderful example of how self-giving is possible for the human person. Not a generosity that denies our own needs, but one which allows us to find a deeper kind of fulfilment in giving our lives joyfully for others. It’s a model not just for religious sisters, but for all of us.

Poll: 67% cutting back on holiday spending. More than two-thirds of people surveyed in a CNN poll reporting belt-tightening!

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Americans say the sagging economy is making the holiday season more stressful than previous years, according to a CNN poll out Monday, with up to two-thirds of them reporting some belt-tightening. Four in 10 people questioned in the CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey said the recession is adding stress to their holiday season. The poll found 67% of the 1,096 adults questioned said they are cutting the amount they plan to spend on Christmas or Hanukkah gifts, and 65% said they are cutting back on leisure travel, dining out or going to the movies.
“That means that cutting back on holiday is the number one way that Americans are reacting to the recession,” CNN Polling Director Keating Holland said. “More Americans are cutting their gift-giving budget than are cutting back in any other category of spending, from leisure activities, like going to movies or restaurants, to clothing to major purchases such as furniture or other appliances.”

Manage your spending

In the poll, 31% of respondents said they had cut back on necessities such as food or medicine, and 38% said they had cut heating or electric bills. Half said they have postponed a major purchase like furniture or appliances — always a bad sign for the economy.

Simple Living wants you to have a good life, and when you want that too, you will make choices that will be beneficial to you, your family and society.  This holiday, choose to show your love and appreciation for those in your world with words and expressions – which are free and yet priceless!

Happy Holidays!

An article in the Sydney Morning Herald today states that a healthy diet will cost a “typical” welfare-dependent family of four approximately 40% of their average income.

This, presumably, is a bad thing, because 40% is a significant proportion. A large chunk of the rest would probably be covering your accommodation. You’re not left with a whole lot more.

There’s not really a lot of analysis about what this means for how less-well-off families might make decisions about purchasing food. Nothing about how the cost of a healthy diet might be reduced.

There is, however, this statement at the end of the article:

The convener of the food and nutrition special interest group of the Public Health Association, Andrea Begley, said she supported a food tax and subsidies for lower-income families, particularly given rising obesity rates among lower socio-economic groups.

Because the solution to high cost of healthy food is to make the other food options even more expensive, in a paternalistic example of social manipulation?

I’m all for assisting people to eat a healthier diet if that’s what they want to do, especially if what’s stopping them is the high cost. So subsidies might be good. However, I’m not in favour of this kind of paternalistic “let’s force them to spend nearly half their income on the food we think they should be eating” attitude. That implies a certain level of judgmentalism, and I’m seriously not in favour of that!

(Oh, and gotta love how they throw in the OBESITY EPIDEMIC BOOGA BOOGA BOOGA at the end.)