15/09: Bosque Boys Resurrection
Category: About the Blog
Posted by: A Waco Farmer
15 September 2012
Dear Friends,
After many years, the Bosque Boys is back on the air. The story of our extended hiatus is a bit underwhelming and probably not quite post worthy. Having said that, TBB is back. Most important to me, a precious archive has been restored. I am gratified to read over the body of work that this blog represents. At the risk of sounding immodest, I think we often got some things right. What to expect going forward? Most people say a viable blog must issue new material daily. A great blog more often than that. I often failed in producing a quality piece (or any piece) every day, but the amount of time I spent on the effort was tremendous. I am in a different place now in my career and my personal life. I have no intention of trying to blog daily or break into the world of political commentary. From time to time, I will offer a few succinct thoughts and observations. For any of you who might find this blog again: welcome back. It is good to be with you once again.
A Waco Farmer
Dear Friends,
After many years, the Bosque Boys is back on the air. The story of our extended hiatus is a bit underwhelming and probably not quite post worthy. Having said that, TBB is back. Most important to me, a precious archive has been restored. I am gratified to read over the body of work that this blog represents. At the risk of sounding immodest, I think we often got some things right. What to expect going forward? Most people say a viable blog must issue new material daily. A great blog more often than that. I often failed in producing a quality piece (or any piece) every day, but the amount of time I spent on the effort was tremendous. I am in a different place now in my career and my personal life. I have no intention of trying to blog daily or break into the world of political commentary. From time to time, I will offer a few succinct thoughts and observations. For any of you who might find this blog again: welcome back. It is good to be with you once again.
A Waco Farmer
06/04: Indian Funerals: Reprised
Category: From the Heart
Posted by: an okie gardener
In the last two weeks I have had 3 funerals. All of them were Indian. I take the liberty now of repeating an early post from 2006.
Last fall I helped bury a Ft. Sill Apache. He was 97 and had been born while the Apaches were held as prisoners of war. The tribe was released in 1913. It is thought that he was the last such in Oklahoma; there may be one other surviving Apache POW in New Mexico. He had been living with his daughter in Norman, OK, the last several years following the death of his wife. For years he was Headman of the Ft. Sill Band of the Apache Nation. I saw him in the hospital in Norman several times in the last week, though he was lucid only at my first visit when I took him communion. The past is not so very far away: I have had contact with a living link to the Indian Wars.
Last fall I helped bury a Ft. Sill Apache. He was 97 and had been born while the Apaches were held as prisoners of war. The tribe was released in 1913. It is thought that he was the last such in Oklahoma; there may be one other surviving Apache POW in New Mexico. He had been living with his daughter in Norman, OK, the last several years following the death of his wife. For years he was Headman of the Ft. Sill Band of the Apache Nation. I saw him in the hospital in Norman several times in the last week, though he was lucid only at my first visit when I took him communion. The past is not so very far away: I have had contact with a living link to the Indian Wars.
Category: Religion & Public Policy
Posted by: an okie gardener
Category: America and the World
Posted by: an okie gardener
Category: America and the World
Posted by: an okie gardener
09/10: Odds and Ends from YouTube
Category: General
Posted by: an okie gardener
It's getting late on a Friday night and I am poking around YouTube. Here are some odds and ends that I think are interesting.
Woody Guthrie: Jesus Christ
The Devil Went Down to Jamaica with The Muppets
Shoulda Know Better
The Ultimate Lovecraft Tribute
Death Don't Have No Mercy
Jesus Christ Superstar: The Crucifixion
Jesus Christ Superstar: Hosanna
Godspell: Prepare Ye The Way of the Lord
Bob Dylan: Slow Train Coming
Blind Faith: Presence of the Lord (for you youngsters, the guy with the guitar is Eric Clapton)
Woody Guthrie: Jesus Christ
The Devil Went Down to Jamaica with The Muppets
Shoulda Know Better
The Ultimate Lovecraft Tribute
Death Don't Have No Mercy
Jesus Christ Superstar: The Crucifixion
Jesus Christ Superstar: Hosanna
Godspell: Prepare Ye The Way of the Lord
Bob Dylan: Slow Train Coming
Blind Faith: Presence of the Lord (for you youngsters, the guy with the guitar is Eric Clapton)
09/10: Muslim World Population
Category: America and the World
Posted by: an okie gardener
Perhaps you've seen the reports in the news: the current population of 1.57 billion Muslims makes up 23% of the world's population. The data are from a Pew Study.
Details are here, including interactive maps. There is also a link to a PDF of the full report of 62 pages, which I have not yet gone over.
I wonder how many of the 1.57 billion are practicing Muslims? I wonder how many have taken, or are ready to take, the path of violent jihad? Even 1% would be a lot of folks.
Details are here, including interactive maps. There is also a link to a PDF of the full report of 62 pages, which I have not yet gone over.
I wonder how many of the 1.57 billion are practicing Muslims? I wonder how many have taken, or are ready to take, the path of violent jihad? Even 1% would be a lot of folks.
How does any group, from large to small, create the "world" in which its people live? A world that includes not only a world-view in the mind, but a loyalty of the heart? A world that regenerates itself in each generation? A "world" that shapes the individuals into a people, a community? If a group must explicitly discuss and decide these questions, it is in serious trouble.
I grew up Primitive Baptist: a people-group shaped by a capella congregational singing, long extemporaneous sermons, shared meals, and visitation of members between churches. Shaped by a world-view of an omnipotent God who saves sinners because He decides to save sinners, apart from any efforts on the part of the sinner. As I argued in my book, The Formation of the Primitive Baptist Movement, the "world" of the Primitive Baptists was much more self-evident in a traditional, agrarian, pre-capitalist market society. Today, the Primitive Baptist world has trouble regenerating itself in each generation.
The author of this essay grew up Covenanter, a small Scottish Presbyterian group also in danger of losing their "world" in this new and modern world. The essay is brilliant, and gives a reading to Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow that I would never have seen on my own.
Thanks, Tocq, for calling my attention to this gem.
One also can reflect on how this community called America is shaped by a "world," and whether we have lost or are losing that world in the 21st century.
I grew up Primitive Baptist: a people-group shaped by a capella congregational singing, long extemporaneous sermons, shared meals, and visitation of members between churches. Shaped by a world-view of an omnipotent God who saves sinners because He decides to save sinners, apart from any efforts on the part of the sinner. As I argued in my book, The Formation of the Primitive Baptist Movement, the "world" of the Primitive Baptists was much more self-evident in a traditional, agrarian, pre-capitalist market society. Today, the Primitive Baptist world has trouble regenerating itself in each generation.
The author of this essay grew up Covenanter, a small Scottish Presbyterian group also in danger of losing their "world" in this new and modern world. The essay is brilliant, and gives a reading to Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow that I would never have seen on my own.
Thanks, Tocq, for calling my attention to this gem.
One also can reflect on how this community called America is shaped by a "world," and whether we have lost or are losing that world in the 21st century.
Recently, and with little fanfare, the United States co-sponsored with Egypt a U.N. resolution against any speech that contained "racial and religious stereotyping." This is not a good thing. Islamists world-wide have pushed for restrictions on any speech or art that "offends" them, like the Muhammad cartoons. Islamists also have sought to stifle any speech that "defames" Islam; this latter category has been made to include any linking of Islam and terrorism. Even in Western countries--such as The Netherlands and Canada--individuals have been prosecuted for speech that "offends" Muslims: even when the content of the speech is objectively true.
Politically, this seems part of the Obama administration efforts to curry favor in the Islamic world, even at the cost of an essential American freedom.
Pakistan Christian Post.
AP story.
Here is the page on the official U.N. site that links to the document: "Freedom of Opinion and Expression." Notice, however, that though this document is available in several languages, English is not one of them. If anyone out there can read French, Spanish, Arabic, or Chinese, feel free to provide a translation.
Politically, this seems part of the Obama administration efforts to curry favor in the Islamic world, even at the cost of an essential American freedom.
Pakistan Christian Post.
AP story.
Here is the page on the official U.N. site that links to the document: "Freedom of Opinion and Expression." Notice, however, that though this document is available in several languages, English is not one of them. If anyone out there can read French, Spanish, Arabic, or Chinese, feel free to provide a translation.
Category: American History and Politics
Posted by: an okie gardener
The most recent Pew Forum study found that support for abortion among the American public has declined.
Polls conducted in 2009 have found fewer Americans expressing support for abortion than in previous years. In Pew Research Center polls in 2007 and 2008, supporters of legal abortion clearly outnumbered opponents; now Americans are evenly divided on the question, and there have been modest increases in the numbers who favor reducing abortions or making them harder to obtain. Less support for abortion is evident among most demographic and political groups.
. . .
No single reason for the shift in opinions is apparent, but the pattern of changes suggests that the election of a pro-choice Democrat for president may be a contributing factor.
Read the entire article, which includes graphs.
Polls conducted in 2009 have found fewer Americans expressing support for abortion than in previous years. In Pew Research Center polls in 2007 and 2008, supporters of legal abortion clearly outnumbered opponents; now Americans are evenly divided on the question, and there have been modest increases in the numbers who favor reducing abortions or making them harder to obtain. Less support for abortion is evident among most demographic and political groups.
. . .
No single reason for the shift in opinions is apparent, but the pattern of changes suggests that the election of a pro-choice Democrat for president may be a contributing factor.
Read the entire article, which includes graphs.
