Sunday Morning Recap

Home sick watching "Monk" DVDs-bummer!

Neo-Nazi group protests immigration with Phoenix march

PHOENIX -- On Saturday afternoon, Neo-Nazi members made a stand in Arizona.

Members of the National Socialist Movement marched to the Arizona State Capitol to protest.

"It's an American first rally," said NSM member Steven Boswell. "It's a demand for our politicians to put Americans first."

The march began at 2 p.m. as the group marched down Washington Street toward the capitol buildings.

The march focused mainly on illegal immigration.

"We've got completely wide open borders and politicians who will bend over backwards for Mexicans or anyone else who is not American," Boswell said.

"Neither political party is doing anything about illegal immigration," said NSM Commander Jeff Schoep.

About a hundred people marched down the street, many wearing swastikas and chanting racial slurs.

They were met with heated protesters across the street.

"It makes me sick," said Kevin Heade who went downtown to protest the rally. "What they are doing is anti-American."

Police created a barrier between the two groups as they shouted back and forth for about an hour Saturday afternoon. Sharp shooters were also positioned on roof tops prepared for violence.

Civil rights leaders say the group is using immigration as a front.

"(They are) injecting their vile agenda into what is a legitimate mainstream issue," said Bill Straus with the Arizona chapter of the Anti-Defamation League.

Straus says it's common for hate groups to take political issues and twist them to gain support.

"They are about their philosophy: That Caucasians are superior to other people and this country would be better without people of any color -- period," Straus said.

The NSM calls itself America's "largest white civil rights organization."

It is also holding similar protests this weekend across the country.

"We are not a hate group," Boswell said.

"We've had hundreds of rallies across the country and we've never had one person arrested," Boswell said.

No one was arrested and there were no physical fights or injuries reported.

abc15.com

Who let these people west of the Pecos? Unfortunately, because of all the problems around illegal immigration in Arizona, they will gain support on that issue alone. Hopefully people will check them out thoroughly and see what they really stand for. Since Arizona is one of my "homes", I find this very disturbing.

This is the what they say about themselves on their website:

The National Socialist Movement (aka NSM88) is the largest National Socialist Party operating in the United States of America today. We are the political party for every patriotic American.
We co-operate and work with many like minded white nationalist groups and many others which are either National Socialist or at least, racially aware of our European heritage.

The NSM, America's National Socialist Party, is the largest and most active National Socialist party in America.

The NSM's core beliefs include: defending the rights of white people everywhere, preservation of our European culture and heritage, strengthening family values, economic self-sufficiency, and reform of illegal immigration policies, immediate withdrawal of our national military from an illegal Middle Eastern occupation and promotion of white separation.

"Promotion of white separation"

Count me out.

New Veggie Tales DVD

From the new DVD:


I love Veggie Tales, gotta problem with that?

For Me

In the midst of a child in rehab and a mother and mother-in-law in hospice, I just needed a reminder. I'm still working on the surrender part.

My Amazon Addiction

Receiving mail is difficult here. We have a pouch mail address in the States for standard mail. Our friend, who lives in our house, forwards, what he thinks is important, mail to that address. The company also allows books and CDs to sent pouch mail. This is bad news for me. Reading and music are two of my favorite things. My taste in both is rather eclectic, or just downright strange.

When you log in to Amazon, they present you with "Today's Recommendations for You". I guess these are generated based on your purchase history. I found today's recommendations amusing.

The Quotable Atheist
Coleman Colossal 20-Degree Sleeping Bag
Manic: A Memoir
The Rough Guide to Mandarin Chinese
Jesus Wants to Save Christians
Learning Chinese Characters
Christianity and the Postmodern Turn

I have no idea how the sleeping bag ended up in there, especially a "colossal" one! From the rest of it I surmise that I am a bi-polar, Chinese learning, atheistic, postmodern Christian? That's frightening.

( 'Mao/Marilyn' (2005) by Yu Youhan)

Never lie to your mother

Brian invited his mother over for dinner. During the course of the
meal, Brian's mother couldn't help but notice how
beautiful Brian's 'roommate', Jennifer was.
Brian's Mom had long been suspicious of a relationship
between Brian and Jennifer, and this had only made her more
curious.

Over the course of the evening, while watching the two interact,
she started to wonder if there was more between Brian and
Jennifer than met the eye.

Reading his mom's thoughts, Brian volunteered, 'I know what
you must be thinking, but I assure you Jennifer and I are
just roommates.'

About a week later, Jennifer came to Brian saying, 'Ever since
your mother came to dinner, I've been unable to find the
beautiful silver gravy ladle. You don't suppose she took
it, do you?'

Brian said, 'Well, I doubt it, but I'll send her an email
just to be sure.

So he sat down and wrote:


Dear Mom ,

I'm not saying that you 'did' take the gravy ladle from
the house,
I'm not saying that you 'did not' take the gravy
ladle.
But the fact remains that one has been missing ever since you
were here for dinner.

Love , Brian



Several days later, Brian received an email back from his mother
that read:


Dear Son,

I'm not saying that you 'do' sleep with Jennifer ,
I'm not saying that you 'do not' sleep with Jennifer .
But the fact remains that if Jennifer is sleeping in her own
bed, she would have found the gravy ladle by now.

Love,
Mom

GAPJC rules on Larges and Capetz

"The General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission (GAPJC) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) — the highest court in the church — has issued two technical rulings that leave unresolved the extent to which conscientious objection to the church’s sexual conduct standards may disqualify candidates for ordination.

The Nov. 2 rulings involve Lisa Larges, a lesbian candidate for the ministry in San Francisco Presbytery, and the Rev. Paul Capetz, a gay theology professor in the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area who set aside his ordination in 2000 and then sought reinstatement in 2007." pcusa.org

The whole issue revolves around "scrupling", or conscientious objection. G-6.0108a of the Book of Order allows "candidates for ordination and installation as church officers to declare a “scruple” or conscientious objection to any provision of the church’s Constitution." In both cases, the GAPJC ruled that the presbyteries did not err in their rulings on the cases.

Now the ball is back in the presbyteries' court. It is up to each presbytery, based on G-6.0108a, “to determine whether the Candidate has expressed an interpretation of Scripture that represents a serious departure from essentials of Reformed faith and polity, and if it determines that she has, it must then decide whether the departure infringes on the rights and views of others or obstructs the constitutional governance of the church.”

As far as I can tell, this really doesn't change anything, it's just a ruling on a technicality. Here is the report on the PC(USA) website.

In an article for Examiner.com, Doug Hagler says "In what can only be interpreted as a victory for those seeking open LGBT ordination in the Presbyterian Church (USA), the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission (read: Presbyterian Supreme Court) has ruled in the cases of Lisa Larges and Paul Capetz." The rest of his article is here.

The cross is from Rev. John Stuart aka, Stushie.