Daily Kos

Reposted from SmallTownHick by Horace Boothroyd III

Apparently, you're either American, or you're nothing. That is the message of the Faith Fellowship Christian School of Watertown, NY. These "christian" souls have been pointing out to a student with dual citizenship that it's as bad to be Canadian as it is to be, well, I don't know. Black? Latino? Gay? Muslim?

From the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation website:

Reposted from StewartAcuff by JKTownsend I pray you a good day today

I pray you as I write

I pray you peace and love

I pray you faith in the power of the Holy Spirit to protect those you love

I pray you understanding of the journey

I pray you feel my heart for you and those you love

I pray the Holy Spirit who first came as a dove stay with you today lifting your heart and spirit and those of the ones you love

I pray you love like a river

I pray you the peace that passeth understanding

I pray the hard, calloused hands of the Carpenter or Laborer stay on you and the ones you love

I pray you and the ones you love can always feel His Promise to never leave us alone

I pray you and the ones you love Jehovah’s tender mercies and grace freely given

I pray you and the ones you love all the blessings of the Creator of the universe

I pray the ones you love humility and serenity and sweetness of the soul

I pray those you love Divine Understanding of how to be and how to carry themselves

I pray you and those you love to ask the Carpenter every morning how He would walk that day and be that day

I pray joy for you and those you love, joy in a meal, joy in helping others suffering more, joy in being outside, joy in a deeper understanding because of the gift of time to read more deeply

I pray the ones you love the gift of self understanding

I pray you and those you love the ability to love yourself as God loves you

I pray Almighty and All-Loving God hear and answer this sinner’s prayer that came from the deepest place in his heart and soul.

Photo: Young girl prays before eating school lunch of soup, sandwich, milk, and an apple. 1936. Uncredited photographer, public domain.

Reposted from Frederick Clarkson by Frederick Clarkson

Dr. Ergun Caner, the disgraced former Dean of Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary (affiliated with Liberty University, founded by Jerry Falwell), has sicked his lawyer on a blogger in an effort to hide a truth that has already been revealed.  

Investigative blogger Jason Smathers originally got the goods and broke the story of how Caner was a prominent member of the fake ex-Muslim terrorist industry which has so infected our public life.  (Other notable fake ex-Muslim terrorists, who have been promoted by the Christian Right and who have been presented as authentic experts before military and law enforcement audiences, include Walid Shoebat and Kamal Saleem.)

Caner's lawyer is now trying to get You Tube to scrub videos Smathers obtained from the U.S. Marines. Smathers points out that Caner has no legitimate claim of ownership of material in a video produced by the federal government.

As kossack Lute would ask - " What's shaking? What's baking? What's going on?"

Hello, Happy Wednesday and welcome to today's Street Prophets.

Many are attending Netroots Nation 2013 this week. How about you?

If not, what are you doing this week?

This summer?

Vacation plans?

Staycation? Painting the house?

This is an open thread. All topics, photos, and videos welcome.

Reposted from National Atheist Party by NationalAtheistParty Scotland is a beautiful country, rich in heritage and culture. They have contributed everything from medical advancements to technological invention to the rest of the world. There is not a day goes by that most people worldwide do not make use of at least one Scottish innovation. The people are friendly and welcoming and let’s be honest, they speak with one of the warmest accents in the whole world.

However, there is part of their tradition that is holding them back in the way of societal advancement and includes something that here in the United States we don’t have to worry about. It’s called Religious Observance (R.O.) and it’s not just limited to private or denominational schools either. What this means is that every week of every school term children can be pulled from academic instruction to receive what amounts to religious indoctrination. Children generally attend holiday observances about six times a year, but it can vary by school. Now this is not a mandatory attendance, by any means. However generally speaking only about half of all parents are informed that their children don’t have to attend. The way it’s set up is what is referred to as “Opt-out” which means that as default every child attends unless otherwise specified.

Welcome to the Tuesday Coffee Hour here on Street Prophets. This is an open thread where we can hang out and talk about what’s going on in our worlds. Today I thought we’d start with a discussion of Cao Dai, a Vietnamese religion.

Reposted from Frank Cocozzelli by Frederick Clarkson

Originally posted at Talk to Action.

In the last several posts we have examined an element of the Catholic Right  comprised of neo-Confederate apologists who openly advocate both the state nullification of federal court decisions and statutes as well as secession.  The name that most commonly comes up when conservative Catholics discuss these things is Thomas E. Woods, Jr., who may be the leading modern confederate, intending to win what Jefferson Davis lost.  But a major difference today is that certain Catholic Right players would use the neo-confederate disruption of popular government to impose theocracy-even at the expense of national unity.

Reposted from Pink Clubhouse by BlueJessamine

We are now counting down the days to the Most EPIC Meet Up of all -  Glacier National Park babyyyyy!

June 27- June 30th
Glacier National Park Kossack EPIC Meetup!

TIME: 24/7
LOCATION: Glacier National Park
 402 9th St W • Columbia Falls, Montana

ORGANIZER: Send arizonablue a kosmail to attend

RSVPs:
  1. BlueJessamine
  2. arizonablue
  3. Mr.arizonablue
  4. Truman
  5. Ojibwa - arriving for the weekend
  6. MTmofo
  7. figbash!
  8. spottedbear
  9. jakedog42
  10. Oke
  11. cooltraveler
  12. Mr.cooltraveler
  13. state of confusion
  14. Lute the Norwegian
  15. Josh Blue
  16. Thinking Fella
  17. Blu Gal in DE
  18. NormAl1792
  19. winifred3
Maybees:
  Joan McCarter
  slksfca
  Ed in Montana
  BoiseBlue
  BoiseBlue GF
  Dave in Northridge
  Timmethy

What if I told you that the descendents of dinosaurs are still among us, and that they had super vision? Well it is true according to modern science. Birds have vision based on four colors rather the three humans have.
-

-
Beyond fold, I’m serving up your favorite drinks, lots of cookies and a few comments about birds. This is an Open Thread / Coffee Hour and everyone is welcome to talk about anything they want to.

Reposted from doug snodgrass by Horace Boothroyd III

Note: Please donate to the E.A.S.E. Legal Fund. There are significant legal fees that have been spent to defend our son, and there will be additional legal fees incurred in the pursuit of justice for the him. This will help to defray these fees.

---

Two days ago, my wife and I were at a grocery store near our home, and we saw the deputy who interrogated our son. At this time, we are not sharing how we were able to know that it was him, but it was him, the guy who laughed at our son during his interrogation.

Standing a few feet from him, I got his attention, and he confirmed his name. Then I told him, calmly, what I wanted to say.

"My son is ----- Snodgrass."

He immediately knew who I was talking about, and his face fell dramatically, with a look that appeared to intersect at resignation and embarrassment. And he looked down at the floor for a moment, then lifted his eyes again to look at me.

"We are very upset about what happened to our son. I want to introduce myself to you. My name is Doug Snodgrass."

And I left.

Reposted from mommyof3 by mapamp

Father's Day is today... and for me it is one of those bittersweet kind of days.  My dad is still alive, and I've called him to say "Happy Father's Day!" I love him... but our relationship is... well, complicated.  He was a good dad for parts of my childhood, and then... he wasn't.  My younger brother knows a different man-- the man he and I both call dad was not a good parent for him.  Dad had a selfish spell... and boy, did it have consequences. A divorce from my mother, some pretty major health consequences (drug-induced heart attack), and finally hepatitis and a stroke.  It was needless to say, a really rough patch.  He straightened himself out, finally, and after the stroke I went to take care of him (oldest daughter in rural Appalachia-- what else was I supposed to do?)  I do love him, but it is hard to hear him talk through his realization of how much he missed out on with my brother...

But, man is he tough--he is still alive and kickin', as they say. With the opportunity to begin to make amends...

Father's Day means different things to different people-- based on family relationships and different traditions, and you name it.

Welcome to Brothers and Sisters, the weekly meetup for prayer* and community at Daily Kos.  We put an asterisk on pray* to acknowledge that not everyone uses conventional religious language, but may want to share joys and concerns, or simply take solace in a meditative atmosphere. Anyone who comes in the spirit of mutual respect, warmth and healing is welcome.

Reposted from Treats by Ojibwa

Well, well, as we read this morning, the Plan B emergency contraceptive is inching its tortured way towards being offered on drugstore shelves with no age restrictions.  Soon this will come to pass although I'm sure the self-appointed moral police of America are trying desperately to get some court somewhere to issue a stay while they fulminate and try to scare everybody as they plan their counterattack.

Why this furious response?  Although you'd never hear it from the fundamentalists, teen pregnancies have been declining for two decades.  You'd think that people so concerned with young people getting pregnant and with the abortion rate would cheer over a proven and safe tool to help further reduce those rates wouldn't you?

In a rational culture, of course.  In ours, not so fast.  Let's think about what's really going on here.