Comments for Sermons in Stones

Comment on $16,700 a year by Joel Monka

Joel Monka — Thu, 17 May 2012 13:14:23 +0000

If it takes $37.48/hour for a family to live, why are you asking for a minimum wage of $10.00/hour? It won’t change the amount of community services they need and will raise the prices of goods and services they are buying. Will it really help to go from 21% of what they need to 26% of what they need? Joel: I wasn’t in on the strategy sessions, but if I had been, I would have assumed several things: (1) The US economy does not operate on a “to each according to his/her needs” approach (though Dan Quayle, of all people, once suggested that people with children should be paid more for the same work. Must’ve been reading Capital), so the best we could hope for would be a wage that would be livable for a single person–not that $10 is enough for that either; (2) Minimum-wage increases meet with such resistance that a 25% increase, even way overdue, is about as much as one can hope for; (3) Since this is one municipality, albeit one of the largest in the country, it is prone to “race to the bottom” pressures–if it exceeds its neighbors by too much, employers will move somewhere that allows them to pay a poverty wage; (4) Even the most willing employer can’t absorb a huge change in expenses immediately, though of course if that were the only issue, one could insist on a larger increase and build in a long lead-up time; (5) I’ve been broke in my time, and believe me, $80/week more would have made a huge difference. –AZM

Comment on Today’s drawings by David Zucker

David Zucker — Tue, 15 May 2012 19:59:27 +0000

Superb. I am envious since I can’t draw at all so looking at your firmness of line, shading, proportion, I can only be envious. I flee to abstraction and color because my drawing is so inadequate.

Comment on Today’s drawings by sorrygnat

sorrygnat — Tue, 15 May 2012 04:37:37 +0000

amazing; hard to do i would think; takes patience and talent

Thank you. As with most things, one improves with practice. There is still a wide gap between what I envision and what ends up on the paper, but there’s so much pleasure in trying to close it that it doesn’t feel like it takes a lot of patience. –AZM

Comment on Allegiance? by David Zucker

David Zucker — Fri, 11 May 2012 15:16:16 +0000

The question raised by “I pledge allegiance to the flag”…etc began to vex me some time after adolescence. Before that change in my life in the direction of critical thinking, I thought the Pledge and other expressions of Allegiance to the USA and most forms of Patriotism were simply to be assumed. After all, I was a child of the ’50s, the bomb, Korea, the Rosenbergs, etc., and, let’s not forget, that constant reminder of our duties to patriotism, Sen Joseph McCarthy. On the other side, helping me in the direction of critical attitudes was my father, patriotic to be sure, anti-communist in a knee jerk way, but very critical of McCarthy and the Eisenhower administration’s anti Soviet and fiercely pro corporate policies.
Allegiance to country is fine and good, but as Amy argues, not at the cost of other allegiances: to humanity, to Others, even if they are not Americans, to fundamentals like loyalty to one’s free intellect, artistic freedom, the right, within the law (and even that can be tricky), to live one’s life according to one’s principles and beliefs, even when they are not necessarily within the control of government, society, and religious doctrines. Amen, brothers and sisters.

In my mid-adolescence I encountered a book called Civil Disobedience: For and Against (blame Seth Rosenthal) and it had a profound influence on me: different writers, from Plato on forward, wrestling with the question of what to do when conscience and law conflict. I suspect that some thinkers simply want to deny that such a conflict could be genuine, and so a simple action like Bachmann’s raises a possibility that they can’t entertain: that many of us might have claims on our loyalty besides our country. They could just as easily pick on churchgoers, but Switzerland is an easier target than God. –AZM

Comment on Allegiance? by Sonja

Sonja — Fri, 11 May 2012 02:27:57 +0000

I unfortunately have to go back only 80 years to attest how dangerous unquestioned allegiance to a country can be. No country should consider itself immune from bouts of insanity like mine had, and it will rely on citizens who practice civil disobedience to set the balance right again. The USA in the McCarthy area came dangerously close.

We also need to remember that the nation state is a relatively recent concept, and a quite artificial one as well. There are villages nearvmy hometown where people jojned allegiance several times during their lives without having to step out of their front door.

So yes, much more complex issue than it seems to be. The american historical experience is unique, and also quite short. Looking at the average lifespan of any “state” in history, I cannot but wonder how people 200 years from now will view this discussion.

And if we do have nation-states, do we also have to have nationalism? Let’s hope not. –AZM

Comment on Food for sharing by Erp

Erp — Mon, 07 May 2012 02:37:56 +0000

I wonder when individual orders rather than family style came into fashion at eateries? With dim sum the former is impossible so it requires a group.

Comment on Earth Day sermon: “Thinking Like the Earth” by Susan Plass

Susan Plass — Fri, 04 May 2012 16:47:51 +0000

Bill’s reflection on “Living in Front of an Eichler” is at http://www.uucpa.org/sermons_12/reflection120422.html Thanks, Susan! I’ve now updated the post to include this link, and to link to UUCPA for the sermon too. –AZM

Comment on My brilliant idea by Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Amy Zucker Morgenstern — Wed, 02 May 2012 16:31:43 +0000

The family energy expert says she thinks it’s supposed to be about saving energy, but that whether it really does would take some research.

Comment on Oddest search term by Amy Zucker Morgenstern

Amy Zucker Morgenstern — Wed, 02 May 2012 16:30:54 +0000

And the Mexican flag features an eagle devouring a snake, from a mistranslation of the myth of the founding of Tenochtitlan (Mexico City). But interestingly, that isn’t actually what I’d written about. Just a coincidence.

Comment on Oddest search term by Robin Edgar (@RobinEdgar)

Robin Edgar (@RobinEdgar) — Wed, 02 May 2012 15:27:53 +0000

I am not aware of any ancient art depicting a snake eating a bird, but a variety of ancient cultures had religious iconography depicting a bird eating a snake. Here is a modern photograph of the spectacular astronomical phenomenon that inspired this ancient religious iconography.