Waxing Poetically: Addressing Culture with a Twist of Poetry

This is a documentary on the history of psychoanalysis in mass media. Have a look.

Upload by YouTube member tushak

Click the video to watch the full guy in a playlist.

Wax in your right mind.

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What’s the real story with Afghanistan? Judge for yourself and leave a comment.

Inside Afghanistan with Ben Anderson: Part 1

Wax for the facts.

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As many of you may know, this past Wednesday FOX News anchor Shepard Smith spoke out against Torture and a growing conservative base who believes torture techniques may have been helpful despite a counter argument that torture can and has elicited false confessions (as was the case with John McCain) and mental instability in its subjects, and the glaringly apparent hypocrisy of condoning torture when many conservatives readily identify themselves as Christians. They love their enemies like most of us… when it’s convenient.

(Watch Smith’s comments in this Huffington Post feature).

Wax for what you believe in even if no one else does!

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This image by Margret Bourke-White stands as one of the pivotal pieces of art capturing a divide between race and prosperity that existed 1937 America and may still exist today in the minds of many Americans. Despite the fact that unemployment had reached staggering overall lows of 25% during the Great Depression’s worst freefall, the photo forces the viewer to wonder if there are those unmentionable Black folks who will never see the cheerfully advertised “world’s highest standard of living” by their respective standards of lifetime.

(View more of White’s work).

Wax for a decent wage.

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Bush does stand-up. Jon Stewart prepares America for Socialism. AAAAHHHHHHHHH!

For Tuesday, April 21, 2009

(2007)

For Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Wax hilariously!

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This is a joke… but how far off is it really?

Treasury Department Issues Emergency Recall Of All US Dollars

Wax Canadian?

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Given the recent resurgence of the gay marriage debate in Vermont and in New York (my home state) I would like to repost a previous argument (with minor alterations) archived from December 15, 2008. As stated in earlier posts, I am a devoted Catholic Christian. My intention with this post was and continues to be a constitutional one, not a religious one.

Recently, the gentleman at the Plato’s Cave blog gave readers a look at the Newsweek op-ed on whether the Bible truly prohibited gay marriage. The piece by Lisa Miller cites pointedly the ambiguous relationship of David and Johnathan in 1 Samuel among other themes of marriage not just being that of a man and a woman such as rampantly common polygamy and Jesus’ noted total silence on homosexuality in all of the Gospel texts.

But upon having a lively and very intellectually sound talk with my new friend, I did a bit more research and found a more concerning issue: several bishops in the Roman Catholic Church (of which I am a member) had been actively pushing for congress to pass legislation to “protect” marriage as being between a man and woman.

“What are called ‘homosexual unions,’ because they do not express full human complementarity and because they are inherently nonprocreative, cannot be given the status of marriage.” - The Administrative Committee of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops September 10, 2008

in the same conference, the bishops even cited a recent Vatican document that called legal recognition of same-sex unions “gravely unjust.”

When I first saw this choice of wording, I was perplexed. I thought it was strange that such gravity be placed on the adoption of homosexual unions. But after a vast examination, I now see that the Church simply wishes to honor the unique, complementarity relationship between male and female opposites in nature, whether it be in humans, animals, or vegetation and does not in my view, suggest homophobia in any way. Yet, I thought to myself, “That’s fine, but why is the Catholic Church imposing this view upon the secular and pluralistic state? Aren’t Church and State supposed to be separate?”

According to the United States’ First Amendment,”Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” The very first utterances of the document fully, clearly, concisely and objectively point to the separate and totally free exercise of the governed people and their chosen faith or lack thereof. In saying this, the document makes arguing a religiously-based belief as reason to deny others a right to an opposing belief or lifestyle a tricky and slippery slope by which many freedoms may be subject to change based on others’ disagreement with the free expression of those freedoms. For instance, If Catholic bishops simply choose to make their voices heard to persuade law makers to change their personal views of marriage to agree with the Church - that is the very point of even having any debate. However, if the bishops seek to force those views on non Catholics - that worries me greatly!

To be firmly clear, my lack of support of the bishops’ push for a Constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman is not to deny the bishops’ right to hold any faith beliefs they wish. Nor is it to deny of affirm validity of the Church’s beliefs. It is simply and only to say that if any religion-specific beliefs are allowed to dictate the policies of a pluralistic, democratic society, it is not only dangerous and injurious to the society as a whole, but it also poses a very troubling dilemma for religious freedom in general.

I love my personal faith very much and my belief in God is without question central to how I live my life. In the past several years, I have in fact grown to have a great and abundant love for my Catholic faith. But it is that same faith that teaches me to respect all people, to not abuse any form of life, and most of all to love those with whom I may have differences, be those, physical, cultural, philosophical or religious. My faith does not tolerate anything less than peace between all the human family. I fear that suggested laws based upon a specifically Catholic viewpoint means forcing my faith upon unwilling ears and eyes. It would be the same as if a Muslim were to force a ban on pork on nonbelievers or more extremely, to tell all citizens to be Muslims. The same can be said of any faith belief being thrust upon any unwilling people. I ask all religious people to ask themselves a few questions. Is faith by force faith at all? Do the majority of religions preach that any hope of betterment can happen by force?

Finally, it should be said that most religions (and I am fairly well versed in several) demand that believers be willing participants in the joy of choosing that belief and not robotic zombies without lively and passionate wills to serve their faith all the days of their lives. Both Christianity and Islam teach that pure-hearted people shall see God, not unwilling hypocrites. Buddhism, Hinduism and Taoism teach that a willingness is needed to practice virtuous living. Demanding unwilling people submit to a particular belief by its nature destroys believers’ ability to joyfully choose to do so on their own. It is an argument of personal freedom. It is the only [argument] to live up to the words of Thomas Jefferson in 1776 that all Americans are “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Otherwise all freedoms, I fear will be at a grave risk - including the freedoms enjoyed by the Catholic Church itself.

Wax thoughtfully, and willingly.

Note:Waxing Poetically returns to regular posts tomorrow.

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Yesterday, Ron Paul had an interesting viewpoint on the Obama stimulus…

Uploaded by YouTube member DolphinFilms

May we spend wisely and look for jobs and help our fellow man.

Wax for the future.

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A Palestinian boy throws stones at an Israeli tank on May 19, 2003 in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip.

Source: http://photosthatchangedtheworld.com/boy-throws-rock-at-tank/

Wax wiser.

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An April 3 New York Times report confirms that Mircosoft maven Bill Gates has been looking to strike deals with networks to put positively themed content into scripts and in return Gates would subsidize costs. Among the first recipients are shows like NBC’s ER and Law and Order: Special Victims Unit with their new health-friendly scripts. But thhe Bill and Melina Gates Foundation is now attempting to court media Giant Viacom which own networks such as MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and Spike TV. But As Comedy Central’s Steven Colbert sees it, this could bring a dangerously funny element to serious issue when explored by certain shows including VH1’s existing reality-based debauchery. All this is of course for a little more cash.

(Click here to read an NBC News feature on the move).

Wax for the greater good.

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