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thinking ahead about energy

Posted on March 31, 2007 | Filed Under the natural world

The U.S. economy depends heavily on oil, particularly in the transportation sector. World oil production has been running at near capacity to meet demand, pushing prices upward. Concerns about meeting increasing demand with finite resources have renewed interest in an old question: How long can the oil supply expand before reaching a maximum level of production, a peak from which it can only decline?

On Thursday, the U. S. Governmental Accountability Office released a report urging attention to the looming problems posed by a finite oil supply, the unpredictability of sustained production at current levels, and the potential for severe consequences, …

containment and the war on terrorism

Posted on March 30, 2007 | Filed Under terrorism, war

In the run-up to the Iraq invasion, the Bush administration rejected containment as an obsolete Cold War hangover. Advocates of containment were accused of appeasement. But now we know that the containment regime worked: Saddam Hussein’s Iraq was in no position to threaten anyone, let alone the United States.

That’s the first paragraph of an article published in the Yale Alumni Magazine. The article, A Better Strategy Against Terror is adapted from Ian Shapiro’s new book, Containment: Rebuilding a Strategy against Global Terror (Princeton University Press). The article — and I would expect, the book! — are well worth reading.

torture hurts all of us

Posted on March 29, 2007 | Filed Under torture

I started realizing that most of the prisoners were innocent. We were torturing people for no reason. I started getting really angry and really remorseful and by the time I got back I completely broke down.

I’m from New York City. I’m college-educated. But you put me in Iraq and told me to torture, and I did it and I regretted it later.

I didn’t know I would discover and indulge in my own evil. And now that it has surfaced, I fear that it will be my constant companion for the rest of my life.

(Tony Lagouranis, discussing his service in Iraq …

a conversation that needs to happen, but won’t

Posted on March 28, 2007 | Filed Under war

From today’s New York Times: Bush Vows Not to Negotiate on Iraq Timetable

A defiant President Bush vowed today not to negotiate with Congress about setting a date for withdrawing American troops from Iraq, and he said the American people would blame lawmakers if there is any delay in approving money for the war effort.

“Now, some of them believe that by delaying funding for our troops, they can force me to accept restrictions on our commanders that I believe would make withdrawal and defeat more likely,” Mr. Bush said. “That’s not going to happen. If Congress fails to pass a …

beauty out of place

Posted on March 22, 2007 | Filed Under beauty, personal life

The red rose is out of place, floating on the surface of the bay, but even there holds our attention with its beauty … just as the one the rose remembers is out of place, not being here, but even so still holds our attention.

ten steps

Posted on March 21, 2007 | Filed Under justice, torture, ucc

Worth checking out: Ten Steps to Restore the United States’ Moral Authority: A Common Sense Agenda for the 110th Congress

This document posted on the Human Rights Watch website provides a good summary of the ways the conduct of the war on terrorism has undermined the consistent application by the United States of basic principles of human rights and suggests a specific agenda for restoring our moral compass. Signatories include Amnesty International, Physicians for Human Rights, the Justice and Witness Ministries of the United Church of Christ, and close to twenty other religious and human rights organizations.

an easter prayer

Posted on March 20, 2007 | Filed Under peace

Wow! That was my reaction on reading this Easter letter written by the chair of our congregation’s board of deacons. I knew immediately I had to share it with all of you. Hear his prayer … and, if you will, make it your own!

“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of laborers, the genius of scientists, the …

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