{"id":5343,"date":"2011-12-20T22:18:25","date_gmt":"2011-12-21T03:18:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/?p=5343"},"modified":"2011-12-20T22:18:25","modified_gmt":"2011-12-21T03:18:25","slug":"links-for-a-fuzzy-tuesday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2011\/12\/20\/links-for-a-fuzzy-tuesday\/","title":{"rendered":"Links for a fuzzy Tuesday"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

There may be a pattern here, but if there is, I don\u2019t see it.<\/p>\n

My first-hand experience with mega-churches is pretty slim, so I\u2019ve never seen a Singing Tree Christmas Spectacular<\/a>. Wow.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m watching this video \u2014<\/p>\n<\/iframe>\n<p>\u2014 and as the singer in the angel costume is being lifted up above the choir on a wire rigging, all I can think is how awesome it would have been if she\u2019d suddenly intoned, \u201cGreetings, Prophet! The great work begins!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The world only spins forward.<\/p>\n<p>* * * * * * * * *<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/2011\/12\/19\/christianity-global-population-shifts-pew-study_n_1157896.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Christianity Sees Major Shifts in 100 Years, Percentage of Population Remains Constant<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>In the last 100 years, the number of Christians around the world has more than tripled from historical estimates of approximately 600 million in 1910 to more than 2 billion today. But the world\u2019s overall population has also risen rapidly, from an estimated 1.8 billion in 1910 to 6.9 billion in 2010. As a result, Christians make up about the same portion of the world\u2019s population in 2010 (32 percent) as they did a century ago (35 percent).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Depending on your theological outlook, the headline there could be \u201cBillions More Going to Hell Than Were Damned a Century Ago.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>* * * * * * * * *<\/p>\n<p>Phil Plait: \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.discovermagazine.com\/badastronomy\/2011\/12\/14\/top-24-deep-space-pictures-of-2011\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Top 24 Deep Space Images of 2011<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He keeps posting stuff like this so I\u2019ll keep linking to it.<\/p>\n<p>Blame Brian McLaren for drawing my attention to this: \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/commadotcomma.net\/blog\/2007\/11\/30\/the-worst-of-o-holy-night\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">The Worst Version of O Holy Night Ever Recorded<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>* * * * * * * * *<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.people-press.org\/2011\/12\/15\/section-2-occupy-wall-street-and-inequality\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Too much power in the hands of a few rich people and large corporations<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Pew Research Center finds 77 percent of Americans agreeing with the description above.<\/p>\n<p>Shave off 1 percent for the 1 percent, and perhaps another 5 percent for the toadies, enablers and Renfields hoping for crumbs from their table. Those folks all fight hard for the proposition that there is <em>not enough<\/em> power in the hands of a few rich people and large corporations.<\/p>\n<p>That still leaves 17 percent of Americans who <em>don\u2019t<\/em> think there is \u201cToo much power in the hands of a few rich people and large corporations.\u201d I suppose that\u2019s the segment of the population that thinks \u201ca few rich people and large corporations\u201d have <em>just the right amount<\/em> of power.<\/p>\n<p>Other findings: 61 percent of Americans think the country\u2019s economic system \u201cUnfairly favors the wealthy.\u201d That includes 39 percent of Republicans. And 51 percent of Americans think \u201cWall Street hurts the economy more than it helps.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>* * * * * * * * *<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/lifestyle\/style\/bruce-springsteen-on-someplace-like-america\/2011\/12\/19\/gIQAx1Px4O_story.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Bruce Springsteen on \u2018Someplace Like America\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>When you read about workers today, they are discussed mainly in terms of statistics (the unemployed), trade (the need to eliminate and offshore their jobs in the name of increased profit) and unions (usually depicted as a purely negative drag on the economy). In reality, the lives of American workers, as well as those of the unemployed and the homeless, make up a critically important cornerstone of our country\u2019s story, past and pres\u00adent, and in that story, there is great honor.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>* * * * * * * * *<\/p>\n<p>Imaginary problems:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2011\/12\/13\/us\/gop-bill-would-block-food-stamps-and-jobless-pay-for-millionaires.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Millionaires on Food Stamps and Jobless Pay? GOP Is on It<\/a>\u201c<\/li>\n<li>\u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.realclearpolitics.com\/articles\/2011\/12\/13\/gingrichs_war_on_shariah__112383.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Gingrich\u2019s War on Shariah<\/a>\u201c<\/li>\n<li>\u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.kansas.com\/weblog\/2011\/12\/no-point-to-houses-defense-of-farm-dust\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">No point to House\u2019s defense of farm dust<\/a>\u201c<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Real problems:<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/2011\/12\/14\/us-europe-austerity-idUSTRE7BD0OY20111214\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Europe\u2019s austerity zeal risks killing the patient<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Europe\u2019s \u201cno pain no gain\u201d attitude to solving its sovereign crisis risks exacerbating the bloc\u2019s problems, choking off the very growth needed to raise the money to pay down the debt.<\/p>\n<p>From Athens to Dublin, and almost everywhere in between, administrations are imposing wave after wave of spending cuts and tax increases to persuade investors they are serious about improving their public finances and persuade them to start buying euro zone sovereign debt again.<\/p>\n<p>The austerity zeal risks tipping the continent back into recession and a downward spiral of austerity as pitiful growth prospects undermine budgetary targets and ramp up debt burdens, meaning further austerity is required.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe expansionary fiscal contraction story says that you cut, you show you are serious about cutting and then the confidence fairy will come along and she will start pulling in private investment,\u201d said Stephen Kinsella, professor of economics at the University of Limerick.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe expansionary fiscal contraction story is a lie. You don\u2019t cut your way to growth.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There may be a pattern here, but if there is, I don\u2019t see it. My first-hand experience with mega-churches is pretty slim, so I\u2019ve never seen a Singing Tree Christmas Spectacular. Wow. I\u2019m watching this video \u2014 \u2014 and as the singer in the angel costume is being lifted up above the choir on a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":141,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n<title>Links for a fuzzy Tuesday<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There may be a pattern here, but if there is, I don't see it. 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A former managing editor of Prism magazine, Fred worked in the parachurch nonprofit world for a decade and then for a decade in the newspaper biz. He began blogging in 2002. In 2003 he began writing a review of the best-selling Left Behind series. Eight years later he still hasn\u2019t finished reviewing the second book of that series and the experience has left him a broken shell of a man. Fred knows the difference between the possessive \u201cits\u201d and the contraction \u201cit\u2019s,\u201d and he is acutely bothered when others mistakenly confuse the two, yet he himself just kind of instinctively types the apostrophe whether or not it belongs there. Some feel this is his greatest hypocrisy, but those who know him better know better. He\u2019s guilty of much greater hypocrisies. Jesus loves Fred far more than Fred loves Jesus, but he at least has the decency to recognize the unfairness of that lopsided relationship and he has long wished that he were better at maybe kind of sort of doing something more to correct that some day. A Baptist, an amateur, a Gen-Xer, a Gemini and a Mets fan, Fred lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania with his wife and two teenage daughters. You can reach him via email at slacktivist at hotmail dot com.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/author\/fredclark1\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Links for a fuzzy Tuesday","description":"There may be a pattern here, but if there is, I don't see it. 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A former managing editor of Prism magazine, Fred worked in the parachurch nonprofit world for a decade and then for a decade in the newspaper biz. He began blogging in 2002. In 2003 he began writing a review of the best-selling Left Behind series. Eight years later he still hasn\u2019t finished reviewing the second book of that series and the experience has left him a broken shell of a man. Fred knows the difference between the possessive \u201cits\u201d and the contraction \u201cit\u2019s,\u201d and he is acutely bothered when others mistakenly confuse the two, yet he himself just kind of instinctively types the apostrophe whether or not it belongs there. Some feel this is his greatest hypocrisy, but those who know him better know better. He\u2019s guilty of much greater hypocrisies. Jesus loves Fred far more than Fred loves Jesus, but he at least has the decency to recognize the unfairness of that lopsided relationship and he has long wished that he were better at maybe kind of sort of doing something more to correct that some day. A Baptist, an amateur, a Gen-Xer, a Gemini and a Mets fan, Fred lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania with his wife and two teenage daughters. You can reach him via email at slacktivist at hotmail dot com.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/author\/fredclark1\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/141"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5343\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}