10 Years Later...

Yesterday was the 10 year anniversary of the Iraq invasion.  How things have changed in 10 years…

I thought it appropriate to ask a handful of questions, to gauge what we've learned, experienced, and how we might move forward.

1. Despite the best of intelligence (remember that the entire globe's intelligence community agreed that Iraq had WMD's); is there ever enough intelligence to warrant a unilateral invasion?

2. What have we learned about soldiers on the ground versus drones in the sky?

3. Do we value life more or less?

4. Do we truly believe and promote in the sanctity of life?

5. Are we more equipped to face future challenges without war?

6. Is American Democracy right for every nation, people group, etc?

7. Is the region more stable?

8. Have we created more allies or enemies?

9. How have we treated our veterans upon their return home?

10. How has the treatment of war changed us? (do we think lightly of it, or do we hate it?)

Peace,
Ross

In God We [DO NOT] Trust

 Over the past two weeks, it seems the debate over America as a Christian Nation has erupted.  Conversations I've heard, have supposed that voting for Romney will somehow immediately return us to our "Christian-foundation."  The arguments continue to suppose that only an uber-right-wing version of congress will ensure God's destiny for America, and that some sort of revival will spread from sea to shining sea.

Come on.  Really?

I think (as a nation - or perhaps, as Christians), we've too easily repeated the mantra's of the pundits that argue such "facts."  Instead, we might be better served to return to 9th grade civics class and re-read the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the founding father's other letters; to understand the myth of America being a Christian nation from its inception.  (I'm assuming none of that will happen, of course)

America (whether it was, or ever has been, a "Christian Nation") is further than 1 election cycle away from turning this ship around.  Just for brevity, I'll make my argument based on the statement we find on all of our currency (ironic): IN GOD WE TRUST.

The New York Times ran this article yesterday, which is sobering for a nation who believes for even one second that it's a Christian nation, much less, one that actually trusts God.

"U.S. arms sales make up most of the Global Market...Weapons sales by the United States tripled in 2011 to a record high..Overseas weapons sales by the United States totaled $66.3 billion last year, or more than three-quarters of the global arms market, valued at $85.3 billion in 2011."

[The report was prepared by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, a division of the Library of Congress. The annual study, written by Richard F. Grimmett and Paul K. Kerr and delivered to Congress on Friday, is considered the most detailed collection of unclassified arms sales data available to the public.]

The first rebuttal to this should be that just because the US is in the war business, it doesn't represent Christians.  However, polling shows that over 80% of Christians support war and the overall military complex - 2/1 over non-Christians and Democrats.

I'm all for being more Christ-like as a nation, but the unguarded betrothal to nationalism is unhealthy, and antithetical to the way(s) of Jesus.  It's lazy and brings us to a state where we should reprint our money to read: IN BOMBS, DRONES, SUB-MACHINE GUNS, AND FIGHTER JETS WE TRUST.

Peace (and I do mean it),
Ross

Blood Phones

CNN is reporting on the ills of consumerism...

"They've been called "blood phones."  It's a reference to the fact that some metals used to make smartphones and other electronic gadgets are sourced from war-torn areas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  Experts say these "conflict minerals" help fuel one of the world's deadliest conflicts. An estimated 5.4 million people have died there from war-related causes, including disease and malnutrition, since 1998, according to the International Rescue Committee."

READ MORE HERE...

This story, and others like it, have enormous implications for humanity.   

We have placed consumerism, technology, luxury, and our "need" for the newest-now, above life.  

Maybe you're like me, and you didn't know this horrible trade existed until the exposing film, Blood Diamond was made.  The movie brought the atrocity to light in such a way, that conflict-free diamonds are now the norm (further proof that art changes humanity).   But now, every time you turn on your smartphone, snap a picture, or play Mario Kart (if that's even still a game), you're most likely contributing to mass-murder.

Here's a list of companies that are working to remedy this attack on humanity:

Intel

HP

Dell

Microsoft

Apple 

Here's a list of companies that still care more about their bottom line and their stock holders:

Nintendo

Canon

Nikon

Sharp

HTC 

Shop wisely folks.  

Tell this story.  

Tell your story.  

Make them one, because they are.

Peace,

Ross 

Fast & Furious, Afghanistan, and Creativity

Creativity births more creativity.  It offers hope, regeneration, and future.  But what happens when we lose our ability to be creative?

Allow me to connect some dots…

The administration's failure in their recent Fast and Furious program exemplifies a hopeless and shallow creativity.  The DEA allowed guns to be smuggled into Mexican cartels, with the hopes that we could follow the trail to the drug lords.  Guns bring death - an easy (and very final) end to the problems surrounding drugs and violence.  But like all creativity, it breeds future.  And a future of death is no future at all.

But instead of new ideas, of long-term, difficult, ideas, the DEA opted for the immediate gratification of bullets to brains.

The same Taliban fighters we're fighting in Afghanistan today, we equipped and trained in the 80's.  The short-sighted and shallow creativity bred a future of violence.

Guns have been done before. 
Tanks have been done before. 
Arms trading is old hat.

Imagine a world where our creativity is truly creative.  In this world we might combat regions of war with plowshares rather than weapons of war.  But we must be willing to dream of futures that we've yet to experience.  We must risk it all on creativity.  We must risk it all on hope. 

Peace,
Ross