November 2013 - OE - lists.wedgeblade.net

This Is The Most Inspiring Yet Depressing Yet Hilarious Yet Horrifying Yet Heartwarming Grad Speech - Tim Minchin
by frank bremner 04 Nov '13

04 Nov '13

Date: Fri, 4 Oct 2013 20:29:00 +0930 Subject: Fwd: Fw: This Is The Most Inspiring Yet Depressing Yet Hilarious Yet Horrifying Yet Heartwarming Grad Speech - Tim Minchin From: atren01(a)gmail.com To: Make sure you watch the whole episode - especially the last 5-6 minutes after it seems to finish. https://www.upworthy.com/this-is-the-most-inspiring-yet-depressing-yet-hila…

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ICA Zimbabwe HIV/AIDS
by Richard Alton 03 Nov '13

03 Nov '13

Dear Colleagues, great way to support ICA’s global work. Every dollar you give will be matched. You give on December 3 by credit card. See below for details Zimbabwe HIV/AIDS: Advanced Special number 3021529: ICA Zimbabwe’s HIV/AIDS project has been chosen as an Advanced Special of the United Methodist Church’s Board of Global Ministries. The Zimbabwe project is a comprehensive community based approach to addressing HIV/AIDS. It starts with a massive push on door-to-door testing followed by working with HIV+ people using a program developed by Stanford University Medical School, Living Well with AIDS, a 7 week program to teach self management skills. Finally, this flows into savings/social support groups called Self-Help Groups. The Zimbabwe project will work with 50 villages involving 500,000 people over the next 3 years. Zimbabwe needs your support: Zimbabwe is experiencing one of the harshest AIDS epidemics in the world. In the last decade the population has decreased by four million, infant mortality has doubled and the average life expectancy for women, who are particularly affected by Zimbabwe's AIDS epidemic, is 34-the lowest anywhere in the world. Zimbabwe has a higher number of orphans, in proportion to its population, than any other country in the world. “The United Methodist Board of Global Ministries is participating in UMC #GivingTuesday on December 3, 2013. Gifts made online through The Advance on UMC #GivingTuesday will be matched dollar for dollar, meaning that 200 percent of every donation through your Advance number on December 3 will directly go to impact your ministry. This is a great opportunity for you to reach out through your networks and let them know about this one-day event and how it can support this important work.” Dick Alton, (Richard.alton(a)gmail.com; 773.344.7172) Richard H.T. Alton 166 N. Humphrey Ave, Apt, 1N Oak Park, IL 60302 T:1.773.344.7172 richard.alton(a)gmail.com Don't let the fear of striking out hold you back Babe Ruth

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Global Buzz
by ICA International 03 Nov '13

03 Nov '13

Enjoy catching up with what is happening in ICAs across the globe.....If you wish to SEND a report...send to your ICA contact person OR...go to the members section on the ICA International website Please click the link below for the October issue of the Global Buzz Global Buzz Report: 2013 11 01 or copy and paste this URL into your browser's address bar http://ica-international.org/buzz/7dayreport-13/2013-11-01.php ICAI Communications

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Fwd: Nov. 7 from Jaime
by wangzhimu2031＠aol.com 03 Nov '13

03 Nov '13

An autobiographicalfaith-journey The romantic in us inclines to picture Federico Agnir, a pastorand educator, stage artist and cancer survivor, sharpening his quill as he penshis bio epic. Though we do not hesitateto line him up with Lolo Pepe pouring out his poetic mind on his Mi Ultima Adios, suspicion nags us that hiswriting environment was a bit less confining and more mundane. Still, we image him as solemnly reaching forhis trusted old Mont Blanc, or his wife's Cloisonné pen on the dresser, as he burieshis head under a Florida study lamp. Our imagination often gets ahead of us, and in this case,after finding out that Ed mastered the keyboard of the Underwood at an earlyage in his narrative, we settled down to the picture of a hacker on a desktop orlaptop recalling his memoirs as he fingers the keys. So we leaned back to let his story unravel ratherthan impose our imaginings ahead of his chronicle. Winston Churchill once commented that all of history isautobiographical, and he had a point. Conceptualanalysis after wading through statistical probabilities is still dependent onwhether readers find accounts to be genuine. Authenticity of factoids precedes the efficacy of image. Artifice gets on the way of clarity. Ed Agnir's account of his life is nothing but a bundle ofrecognizable reality to this reader. Wecoasted leisurely down memory lane. We waded through an easy read across geographical territoryfamiliar to us, of political and cultural empathies we shared, and on intellectualterrain peopled by personages who sat at one time or another in our respective meditativecouncils. Our common geography are places in Northern LuzonPhilippines through Laoag and its provincial High School, to the nation'scapital Manila/QC and UP, to Silliman University by the sea in Dumaguete, aProtestant institution that academically compares with the rigors of RC Jesuittraining, to the UP university chapel in Diliman, and to the wild frontiers ofDavao City in Mindanao of the 60s. I recognized from the Ines-Agnir household's drive forexcellence, a post-WWII Filipino value that saw a way out of feudal elitism ineducation, to a venue of meritorious achievement. As a fellow political activist, we too werenot happy with the direction taken by one named Ferdinand Marcos. Ed's recognition of premonitions and intuitive knowledge,e.g., the fate of his Uncle, the death of his father, a shaking drawer with aletter needing to be sent, are right down the alley of acceptable culturalmetaphors of our generation and those who preceded us. Both Ed and I are ordained clerics, he of the Congregationalbranch of the United Church of Christ, and I in the Protestant branch of theUnited Methodist Church. We both had onefoot in our respective religious communities, and the other, on the secularworld we inhabited; he as a consummate learner-educator-artist in thePhilippines and the United States, and I as a geographically delimited communitydevelopment worker among the marginalized. We conversed with the likes of the volatile Voltaire, the irreverentBrit Bertrand Russell, and the process thinker Alfred North Whitehead. As students dabbling in the arcane study of theology, wekept company with the demythologizing program of Rudolf Bultmann that promoteda non-idolatrous relationship with sacred writ (a widespread disease), theacceptance as grace of the transcendent-immanent Ground of Being as sine qua non to existence in PaulTillich, of transparent but contextual responsibility in obedience and freedomin martyred Dietrich Bonheoffer, and the ethical realism of the Niebuhrbrothers. Ed practiced pastoral counseling, exercising the patientdiscipline and art of reconciliation. Though differing in methodologies, we both shifted paradigms in ourrespective audiences. His sensitivity sans moralism is revealed in his treatmentof a botched exposure to same sex expression of affection, his handling of abully, and the divisive GLBT crowd needing to be mainstreamed in his religious congregationin the US northeast. Ed wrote his witness not as a treatise to the wonder andmajesty of his God, or the sanctity of his calling; rather, he relates ajourney simply taken replete in precious texture and human quality, and fun inthe telling. The faith in a calling thatbegan as a maternal vow during a difficult birth delivery actively became theauthors very own. His message to me is simple: life as it is given is trustworthy,unconditionally. Live it. Transformation occurs even at the personallevel. Be the change you can be. Freedom is a birthright; it is yours. Exercise it to the hilt. Church-ing is joining others to demonstratewith one's life the truth of the message. The tone at the end of the narrative is invitatory, an altarcall after an impassioned sermon on a warm summer vesper service. It is as if he is saying, "this is mystory, what's yours? So I've told you, now, go do likewise!" I enjoin readers to read the book. I hope those who read it respond by writingtheir own as well. The book is titled When God Calls, a Faith-JourneyAutobiography, by Rev. Dr. Federico I. Agnir. It is available from Amazon.com, or directly, email Ed at agnir(a)juno.comfor details on how to get a copy. Jaime Vergara pinoypanda2031(a)aol.com yesterday, appreciate; tomorrow, anticipate; today. participate. In all, celebrate!

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Fwd: Nov. 4 from Jaime
by wangzhimu2031＠aol.com 03 Nov '13

03 Nov '13

Civics 101 There are three branches of the U.S. government representedby the White House, the Capitol Hill, and the Pentagon. That's how I would have started SVES' 6thgrade classes in Social Studies in the last decade were I brave enough todescribe reality as I saw it. Thetextbook used the idealized Lincoln characterization of a government "ofthe people, by the people, and for the people", constitutionally structuredwith three branches of the executive, the legislative and the judiciary. "Tell that to the Marines," I said to my twoHonolulu nephews who beamed because they were both trained to be gung-ho Marineswith the U.S. Navy! To maintain theirbranch of the Armed Forces with their military cohorts, we allocate more thanfifty percent of the national budget; considerably more than the cost of thesocial nets we have in place for the marginalized and the elderly. Spying Big Brother overseeing every aspect of our lives depictedin Orwell's novel 1984 has becomealtogether too real. No amount ofmimicking President Ike's warning to beware of a powerful"military-industrial complex" can get us off the deja vu that we've been through this dystopian path before. The cost of a drone built by the mighty featsof engineering of defense contractors commercialized our native propensity todistrust the stranger, to the happy smirk of our stock markets. The liberal amongst us, at least, intendsonly to manage those who hold the oil in their land, which evidently belongs toUS! General Keith Alexander recently defended NSA's massivespying efforts before members of the US Congress on the aftermath of Snowden'srevelation of the extent of our snooping since we went on war footage againstterror, and the audacity of his claim that the enterprise made the nation safefrom terrorists indicates that the reality of the Ministry of Truth, the coreof disinformation, has become operational. On the other hand, we do live in terror since we woke up to the numberof loose guns legally held in our neighborhoods, and the number of killingssince Sandy Hook reveal what we've tried to deny, or, at least, hide in theColumbine incident: we are a trigger happy nation determined at the slightestprovocation against our comfort and pleasure to resort to violence! The military and the police have legitimate places in thefunctioning of a society. A disciplined militaryin the art of war can assume the role of protecting humanity from the gruesomeeffect of exploded extinction. We mightheed Sun Tzu's admonition that the point of war preparation is to avoid war! Increasingly becoming obsolete, as thecompetition among nation-states is under judgment by the reality that we alloccupy the same planet and the economic structures that regulate our financesneed not blur the distinction between greed and profit, it has become obviousthat the job of the military is to insure the survival of our specie with somesemblance of humanity and sanity. Still, Police work cannot deteriorate into a laboratorybranch where the latest in restraining gizmos, biological, mechanical, anddigital, are tried out on members of society. Our police departments have been harshly observed to be dumping groundof former military personnel whose major skill is following orders, unable tofit on roles in the productive trades and industries of the land that requirescritical intelligence. Three years ago, I journeyed to Dandong by the Yalu River throughthe iron mill town of Benzi (think Pittsburgof the 70s) where most of the ironworks, from gates to sewage manholes, aremade, and the skies stay smoggy all day! At the train station, ready to be hauled on rolling platforms, were 50-someanti-Sherman tanks reminiscent of old war footage from Rommel's rat-of-the-desertdays in North Africa. Photos of them nowaccompany accounts of the Uyghur region protests around Taklimakan desert. The solo protester in front of a tank inTiananmen Square in 1989 is iconic in protest land. The tanks are now stationed not too far fromthe Square as the latest Uyghur terrorist act of an exploding SUV at the gateof the Forbidden City where Mao's portrait reigns tightens security measures inthe city's primal visitors' destination. In our region, sabre rattling has become the high profilefunction of Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in frequent pronouncements. While it is understandable that Japan getsoff the "apologizing" stance it was forced to assume since WWIImilitary debacle, Abe need not be a mouthpiece of US military vigilance thatstill considers South Korea a branch of the Defense Department, and Japan'sDomestic Defense Forces its organized vigilantes in Far East Asia under the USMarine boot. Geologists clearlyrecognize the Senkaku/Daoyu islands as part of the Taiwan island group ratherthan the Ryukyus, and since we recognize Taiwan to be part of China, ergo,Daoyu is a part of Taiwan rather than Japan. But then, politics trump rationality any day. For foreign policy wonks, the aforementioned makes sense butthe transfer in 1970 of the Taiwan islands from a US weather station to Japan'ssovereignty, with the ardent protest of Zhou Enlai and China, had the added butunheralded datum: there is oil in them ocean shelves. That spins another tale. Oil Exploration 101, anyone? Jaime Vergara pinoypanda2031(a)aol.com yesterday, appreciate; tomorrow, anticipate; today. participate. In all, celebrate!

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Ellen's surgery
by RICHARD HOWIE 02 Nov '13

02 Nov '13

On Oct 30 Ellen had surgery on her back L 2 thru 5 were repaired. She was having much discomfort and weekness in her legs , After having a MRI surgery was indicated. After 2 days in the hospital she is back home recovering. she is doing well.. Dick is chief bottle washer etc. Family is also here for a few days. Prayers are welcomed for a quick recovery. Dick

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Fwd: November Events: PAUL CLEMENTS FOR CONGRESS
by Al Lingo 01 Nov '13

01 Nov '13

Dear Friends, Our colleague, Michael Shaw, has alerted us to another of the order's 2nd generation significant contributions to our society beyond their early family experiences in the Order Ecumenical. In the 2014 US congressional election Dr. Paul Clements, political science professor at Western Michigan University, is a democratic party candidate forming a campaign to unseat a longtime republican incumbent in the US House of Representatives from Michigan. His is a courageous campaign worthy of my financial support, and I trust of yours also. You may follow his intentions at: http://clementsforcongress.com/. Paul has sent his November 2013 calendar of events in Michigan's 6th District from the above site which I have included below. Some of us may remember summer farm work in Berrien County and St. Joseph's Michigan. Paul welcomes participation in his investment in changing the balance of power in the US Congress. Al Lingo clingojr(a)aol.com -----Original Message----- From: Michael Shaw <d.michael.shaw(a)comcast.net> To: Dialogue ICA <dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> Sent: Mon, Oct 28, 2013 12:46 am Subject: [Dialogue] Paul Clements The following is an excerpt from an email from mutual friends with Molly Clements. It seemed like news worth sharing. ------------------------------ This evening we called Molly Clements in Kalamazoo to confirm arrangements for seeing her and other members of the Clements family. In our telephone conversation this evening with Molly, she told us that son, Paul, is running for Congress, and is running against the long-term (26 years!) Tea Party conservative congressman, Fred Upton. I'm very pleased to forward his campaign web address: http://clementsforcongress.com/ We say: Go Paul!!! Al Lingo clingojr(a)aol.com -----Original Message----- From: Paul Clements <Clements4Congress(a)gmail.com> To: clingojr <clingojr(a)aol.com> Sent: Mon, Oct 28, 2013 10:34 pm Subject: November Events Dear Friends, On Saturday November 9th I will tour the Sixth District to meet people and to formally launch the next phase of the campaign which includes getting my name on the ballot for next year. I hope you will make it to one of the stops. Confirmation of the places and times will be on the website ClementsforCongress.com and also on Facebook. Tentative details are as follows: Niles, 9:30 a.m., Cassopolis (CCDP Headquarters) 10:30 a.m., Three Rivers 11:15 a.m., Kalamazoo 12 noon, Allegan 1:30 p.m., Saugatuck 2:30 p.m., South Haven 3:30 p.m., Benton Harbor 4:30 p.m., Union Pier 5:30 p.m. I hope you will be able to come out on Saturday and show your support. Also in November I look forward to attending the Berrien County Democratic Party’s special event, A Conversation with David Axelrod, at the Heritage Center, St. Joseph, on November 16 at 7 p.m. I hope you can join me. I look forward to many more occasions to meet people throughout the district in the coming months. As always, thanks for the incredible support. Sincerely, Paul Clements (Campaign contributions can be made at: ClementsforCongress.com, or written to: “Committee to Elect Paul Clements” and sent to 2517 Broadway Ave., Kalamazoo, MI 49008.) Paid for by Committee to Elect Paul Clements Clements for Congress 2517 Broadway Avenue Kalamazoo, MI 49008 To unsubscribe from this mailing list, click here Powered by NGP VAN, Inc.

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Paul Clements for Congress
by wangzhimu2031＠aol.com 01 Nov '13

01 Nov '13

Am sending a small amount (lots in China) for Paul's campaign. Go, Paul! Jaime Vergara in Shenyang, Liaoning (in the old Machuria) -----Original Message----- From: oe-request <oe-request(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> To: oe <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> Sent: Fri, Nov 1, 2013 1:32 am Subject: OE Digest, Vol 19, Issue 14 Send OE mailing list submissions to oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to oe-request(a)lists.wedgeblade.net You can reach the person managing the list at oe-owner(a)lists.wedgeblade.net When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of OE digest..." Today's Topics: 1. Fwd: November Events: PAUL CLEMENTS FOR CONGRESS (Al Lingo) 2. 10/31/13, Spong: Part V Matthew: Isolating This Gospel from All the Others (Ellie Stock) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Thu, 31 Oct 2013 07:15:35 -0400 (EDT) From: Al Lingo <clingojr(a)aol.com> To: oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net Cc: tnsmitty80249(a)yahoo.com, michael(a)storywarrior.net, atlingo(a)yahoo.com, jhpappano(a)gmail.com Subject: [Oe List ...] Fwd: November Events: PAUL CLEMENTS FOR CONGRESS Message-ID: <8D0A441A78C22EB-15EC-1513C(a)webmail-d270.sysops.aol.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" Dear Friends, Our colleague, Michael Shaw, has alerted us to another of the order's 2nd generation significant contributions to our society beyond their early family experiences in the Order Ecumenical. In the 2014 US congressional election Dr. Paul Clements, political science professor at Western Michigan University, is a democratic party candidate forming a campaign to unseat a longtime republican incumbent in the US House of Representatives from Michigan. His is a courageous campaign worthy of my financial support, and I trust of yours also. You may follow his intentions at: http://clementsforcongress.com/. Paul has sent his November 2013 calendar of events in Michigan's 6th District from the above site which I have included below. Some of us may remember summer farm work in Berrien County and St. Joseph's Michigan. Paul welcomes participation in his investment in changing the balance of power in the US Congress. Al Lingo clingojr(a)aol.com -----Original Message----- From: Michael Shaw <d.michael.shaw(a)comcast.net> To: Dialogue ICA <dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> Sent: Mon, Oct 28, 2013 12:46 am Subject: [Dialogue] Paul Clements The following is an excerpt from an email from mutual friends with Molly Clements. It seemed like news worth sharing. ------------------------------ This evening we called Molly Clements in Kalamazoo to confirm arrangements for seeing her and other members of the Clements family. In our telephone conversation this evening with Molly, she told us that son, Paul, is running for Congress, and is running against the long-term (26 years!) Tea Party conservative congressman, Fred Upton. I'm very pleased to forward his campaign web address: http://clementsforcongress.com/ We say: Go Paul!!! Al Lingo clingojr(a)aol.com -----Original Message----- From: Paul Clements <Clements4Congress(a)gmail.com> To: clingojr <clingojr(a)aol.com> Sent: Mon, Oct 28, 2013 10:34 pm Subject: November Events Dear Friends, On Saturday November 9th I will tour the Sixth District to meet people and to formally launch the next phase of the campaign which includes getting my name on the ballot for next year. I hope you will make it to one of the stops. Confirmation of the places and times will be on the website ClementsforCongress.com and also on Facebook. Tentative details are as follows: Niles, 9:30 a.m., Cassopolis (CCDP Headquarters) 10:30 a.m., Three Rivers 11:15 a.m., Kalamazoo 12 noon, Allegan 1:30 p.m., Saugatuck 2:30 p.m., South Haven 3:30 p.m., Benton Harbor 4:30 p.m., Union Pier 5:30 p.m. I hope you will be able to come out on Saturday and show your support. Also in November I look forward to attending the Berrien County Democratic Party?s special event, A Conversation with David Axelrod, at the Heritage Center, St. Joseph, on November 16 at 7 p.m. I hope you can join me. I look forward to many more occasions to meet people throughout the district in the coming months. As always, thanks for the incredible support. Sincerely, Paul Clements (Campaign contributions can be made at: ClementsforCongress.com, or written to: ?Committee to Elect Paul Clements? and sent to 2517 Broadway Ave., Kalamazoo, MI 49008.) Paid for by Committee to Elect Paul Clements Clements for Congress 2517 Broadway Avenue Kalamazoo, MI 49008 To unsubscribe from this mailing list, click here Powered by NGP VAN, Inc.

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