On the other hand, if God actually was able to get those writers to accurately write down God’s revelations, and subsequently has inspired at least one tranlator to make God’s words unambivalent to at least one preacher, then the bible must, ipso facto, say exactly what God said He said.

Solstice comes from a Latin word that means “sun standing still.”

Presuming that God decided that He needed to revise his original words, and revealed that need to a modern day writer, would He cause the original to be obliterated? To avoid confusion? Does the bible of the reformers need to be yet reformed again?

Appreciate the comment. Would love to know what’s “behind” the “yow.” Sorry we could not connect in Maine. We tried.

Howardd

Various government officials have caused the following laws to be passed.

Pittsburgh: It is still illegal to bring a donkey or a mule onto a trolley car. No one is allowed to sleep on a refrigerator.

I believe Pittsburgh still operates a trolley line but I could be wrong about that.

A state law of Pennsylvania prohibits singing in the bathtub.

This law clearly does not support personal hygiene.

Mount Pocono: Any group of 5 or more Native Americans are to be considered a raiding party and may be killed on the spot.

There was serious consideration at one point of creating a law stating that PI was equal to 3. Several law makers had been convinced it was the right thing to do. Fortunately, the were talked out of their votes and the bill was defeated.

I am…

“Everybody keeps telling me how surprised they are with what I’ve done. But I’m telling you honestly that it doesn’t surprise me. I knew I could do it.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Wisdom is knowing what to do next, skill is knowing how to do it, and virtue is doing it.” – David Starr Jordan

“Failure / The man who can tell others what to do and how to do it, but never does it himself.” – Elbert Hubbard

“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.” – Dr. Seuss

I know two now young adults, each involved in activist work, who took classes with Howard Zinn at Boston University. If you ask either one what influences or persons most shaped and inspired them, Zinn is the immediate and animated first answer. And, appropro your comments, it was not the books he recommended, but the way he himself had internalized the perspectives and values of which he spoke, the authenticating nature of his very being. Though, attending one of his classes not being an option, it was his writing — and “something about” his writing — that had profoundly shaped and inspired me. Occasionally I re-read a book I had not picked up for twenty years, usually amply underlined, and realize how, unawares, that author and those ideas had penetated my core being. Finally, since my own activism is largely oriented to the work we do with and among the peasant population of Cuernavaca, Mexico, I am constantly re-focused by the “concerns of those in the sixth house.” Thank you for your continuing reflections. Wish I knew more about you. Howard

I am so often aware of the power and wiliness of my defenses and denials. What I manage not to see, I do not have to ponder, and thus will not be called to responsibility-taking. As long as we bicker over where to assign primary blame — particularly BP and/or the government — we are distracted from the reality of our own collusion with the “big picture.” Two “big picture” themes come to mind at the moment (among, no doubt, many, MANY more): (a) Our staggering collective consumption of non-renewal energy resources, oil chief among them, must be addressed. My wife and I are trying (it is not easy!) to lower our carbon footprint and to speak as broadly as we can about that daunting task, and (b) Facing the degree to which “big money” buys legislators and legislation. Without significant campaign finance reform, and limitations on corporate leverage on electing then influencing legislators, how can we expect governing for the common good and collective sanity. We do have the “best government money can buy!” Thanks for writing. Hope your opinion piece is published. If or when it is, please forward a copy. Thanks. Howard

JD Salinger’s “Catcher In The Rye” would surely be one.

Ah, see, as soon as I name one, I think, “That’s not right. I can easily think of five that should take its place.” Perhaps one of the Superman comics should be included–they did much to raise my enthusiasm for reading.

Both JD Salinger and Howard Zinn died on the same day this year.

Zinn wrote in his autobiography, You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train (1994), “From the start, my teaching was infused with my own history. I would try to be fair to other points of view, but I wanted more than ‘objectivity’; I wanted students to leave my classes not just better informed, but more prepared to relinquish the safety of silence, more prepared to speak up, to act against injustice wherever they saw it. This, of course, was a recipe for trouble.”

I wonder what books influenced Zinn? One way or the other… …Durant’s The Story of Philosophy? …H.G. Wells’ The Outline of History? …Ernest Dimnet’s The Art of Thinking? …Charles and Mary Beard’s The Rise of American Civilization? …Pearl Buck’s The Good Earth? …Pearson’s and Allen’s Washington Merry-go-round? …Adams’ The Epic of America? or his March of Democracy I and II? …Clarance Darrow’s The Story of My Life? …Roosevelt’s Looking Forward? …Edna Ferber’s Come and Get it? …Woolcott’s While Rome Burns? …Zinsser’s Rats, Lice, and History? …Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind? …Edmonds’ Drums along the Mohawk? …Sinclair Lewis’ It Can’t Happen Here? …Negley Farson’s The Way of a Transgressor? …Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men? or his Grapes of Wrath? …Rawlings’ The Yearling? …Hitler’s Mein Kampf? …Vincent Sheen’s Not Peace but a Sword? …LLewellyn’s How Green Was My Valley? …Sholem Asch’s The Nazarene? …Alsop’s and Kintnor’s American White Paper? …Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls? …Churchill’s Blood, Sweat, and Tears? …or his The Gathering Storm …Miller’s You Can’t Do Business With Hitler? …Kiplinger’s Washington Is Like That? Wenle Willkie’s One World? …Walter Lippmann’s US Foreign Policy? …Lillian Smith’s Strange Fruit? …Wakeman’s The Hucksters? …Emery Reves’ The Anatomy of Peace? …Arnold Toynebee’s A Study of History? …Lecomte du Nouy’s Human Destiny? …Butterfield’s The American Past?

What would you need to know of Zinn’s influences and his opinions of them? Perhaps nothing. Perhaps his words alone should be judged without knowing who and what might have influenced him.

Salinger said two things that come to mind, “I’m quite illiterate, but I read a lot” and “How do you know you’re going to do something, untill you do it?”

Go to Afghanistan or Pakistan and visit any town or village. Walk to the town limit and then backtrack to the 6th residence you come to. Enter the house and ask the family there what they are worried about. I guarantee you that oppression by the US or by Russia or by China or by India or even by their own national government will not be on the top ten items. They will not identify freedom, liberty, or justice as a top priority. The list will go something like this: food, shelter, clothing, children, job, health, education, weather, taxes, and personal financial security in old age.

…and what are the worries of Big Pharma, Oil Companies, and very large finanacial institutions? I guarantee you the list doesn’t contain any of the items (including taxes) that are on the list of the 6th house from the town limit.