President´s Illegal Detaining

According to this NY Times Article, the Supreme Court is finally going to take up the case of a detainee being held as an enemy combatant. But this person, a Mr. Ali al-Marri, is not being held at Guantanamo Bay. Nor was he arrested offshore. Al-Marri was arrested in Illinois in December 2001 as an enemy combatant and has been held in isolation in a Navy Brig since, with no trial and no charges brought, with only one signed affidavit from a senior intelligence official. The lawyers for al-Marri are arguing an obvious and gross suspension of habeas corpus, as he was arrested on American mainland soil. This is getting ridiculous.
Why do we allow this to go on? Charges should be leveled against President Bush. We impeached Clinton for perjury regarding his personal sexual life. Why the hell aren´t we charging George W. Bush for gross constitutional violations? Both Guantanamo bay and the example listed above are examples of constitutional violations done by the executive branch of the US Government. Just because he is a lame duck president doesn´t mean he shouldn´t be charged. Presidents should live in fear of the people they govern, that if they do something so obviously unconstitutional, not to mention wrong, then they should live in fear, even in their last month of the Presidency.
Your thoughts?

Another oldie but a goodie...

Here´s an old article I wrote for the University Paper. I liked it a lot.

Plagiarism for Christ:A Study in Christian EscapismThere is a social networking site available online. I’m sure there are those out there that use this site. You can add friends, join groups, find bands, and comment on others’ pages. I’ll give you a hint: the name ends with “space.” Guessed it? Well, if you guessed “myspace.com” you’d be wrong. It’s called “hisholyspace.com” and it is a blatant rip-off of myspace. If you looked at the two sites side by side, you would notice that they are completely identical in format and appearance. The only difference is that the terms have been changed to Christian terms. Instead of adding “friends” you add people to your “congregation” and instead of “reporting” bad users you “condemn” them, as well as many other term changes.Hisholyspace.com is extremely offensive. Why does it even need to exist? But this website is merely a symptom of something greater: “The Christian Ghetto”. The Christian Ghetto is not a ghetto in the sense of a modern day inner-city ghetto; it is a separate culture that is removed from the rest of society. Christians have their own music, their own t-shirts, their own books, their own schools, and now there is even a Christian myspace! What’s next, a Christian instant messaging service called “I-Am”? Why do we feel the need to take anything that is secular and run from it, or baptize that which is secular and mass-produce our own “Christian version” of it? Just because something is secular does not mean that it is evil and something to be feared. Whatever happened to “being in the world but not of the world”? I do not believe that Christ would be found at the Christian rock concerts of today wearing an “I’m a Christian and proud of it” shirt; he would most likely be at a bar showing love and acceptance for those that we run from. He would not be found hiding in chapel waiting for people to come to him; he would be walking the streets of Portland hanging out with the homeless and drug-addicts.Something is wrong with our mindset if we feel the need to escape from our surroundings and change everything to be “Christian.” We are called to be instruments of change in this world; this cannot be done by creating our own version of it and calling it “Christian”. We need to go out into the world, including the world of myspace, and be an example of God’s holiness on that site. We need to start a secular band that lives the example of Christ. As true followers of Christ, we are not to create our own world; we are to walk the secular world and be ourselves “his holy space.”

First Post...

Here´s an old blog from my facebook page. I posted it in the aftermath of the election, when it was not at all uncommon for people, especially from the right-wing evangelical party, to say things like "our country is going to hell" or calling Obama things like "O´Bomb the crap out of us" and such. It was frustrating, to say the least, to have my faith questioned because of the fact that I supported, and still support, Obama. So out of that frustration was born this:

First, I need to talk to you on the conservative, evangelical, right wing side...really, those of you are saying that "our country is going to hell" and "i´m ashamed to be an american" or "God help us, bring our redemption from this new president"...grow up. Seriously guys, grow up. Obama is not going to overturn the partial-birth abortion ban, nor is he going to turn the US into a den of terrorists. Those of you who are misinformed, Obama IS a Christian. He just believes that abortion is one of those issues left up to the states. Those of you who are Christians, the bible says that we are to submit to authority, and that God put all authority in place. Here´s just one of many: I Timothy 2:1, "I urge that entreaties, prayers and petitions and thanksgivings be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity." Neither John McCain nor Sarah Palin were "God´s candidate." I am so tired of all of this talk about Obama bringing in the apocalypse and/or him being an undercover muslim trying to destroy Christianity. Enough, seriously. Your camp, the evangelical camp, has become the Pharisees of our day. Thats right. You are what Christ called "white-washed tombs." Bigots. Not all of you, but those who are still bashing Obama truly are racist bigots. He has a Muslim name, but is a Christian. He is black. So what? Maybe he will have a good perspective. You have finally pushed me to the edge of removing myself from the evangelical camp, possibly for good. I am ashamed to call myself a Christian, after hearing a great many evangelicals speak about our new president-elect so. I´m done. No longer am I one of you. No longer a Christian. Maybe I´ll rejoin the rank when Christians can take their collective heads out of their collective behinds and see that God has appointed a new leader. I am now simply a follower of Christ. I am disgusted with you, Christians. Evangelicals? It doesn´t help you "evangelize" when you bash our newest leader. Its thinly disguised ignorant bigotry, people.Grow up.