I was going to write a post on this, but I decided I’d rather post some links and quotes and hopefully generate some discussion on the topic. Here’s the quick summary. I want to be a environmental steward of my resources and I want to be a fair consumer of the earth’s resources. There’s all kinds of talk about global warming these days and choosing more sustainable and energy efficient lifestyle choices. There’s also criticism arising about those things. I want to hit two areas briefly. Global Warming and then …

I’m planning on continuing the Hip Hop series, but I wanted to take a time to have some practical application of Lesson #1 and encourage you to hear some songs that I think highlight people’s struggles. Below there is about 30 minutes worth of music videos featuring 6 different songs that I thought would be worth including in this discussion. If your not interested in listening and watching the videos feel free to skip to the bottom and just read through some of the lyrics. However, if you’d like to …

I finally went to the bike shop today to hear the inevitable, “What have you done to your bike!” line concerning my lack of maintenance to my major mode of transportation. I lamented over the $200 tune-up and part replacement estimate, realizing I’d paid just $210 for the bike used one year ago. I thought over the maintenance I could do myself, and felt guilty about the fact that I’ve said I would do it for months now. It’s probably the same with our car if I think about it, …

The goal of Corporate Responsibility Monday’s (at least my part) is to expose you to companies that are doing a good job, that are making the world a better place, that you can shop at with a clean conscience. Since my goal is to give you alternatives for items that you are currently purchasing, I’ll be highlighting another clothing company, No Sweat Apparel. Be sure to check out Josh’s Post for a company with shadier ethics.
No Sweat Apparel runs as a 100% union made apparel company. They are an “open …

It’s Easter Sunday, Resurrection Sunday, a holy day to many, a day for chocolate and presents for many more. I’ve been thinking for a while about what I wanted to say about today. I’m well aware that not everyone who comes across my writings here believes in God, nor do many believe in the Bible or Jesus Christ in any way as authorities. I’ve appreciated those who have stuck around and interacted with me despite my off-the-wall radicalism and extremism at times, and have taught me many things I would …

A while ago I wrote a series of posts “Thoughts on War.” It mainly involved an on going conversation with Brian (glad to have you back).
Below is a brief take of mine on the famously referenced Romans 13 from, Let the discussion begin:

“Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.”
This is the first verse of the primary passage I hear cited in reference to why we should support the war. …

Global hunger is a global problem. I don’t know that there was a time in the history of the world that we were better equipped with the resources, technology, power and money to be able to solve world hunger then we have today. It’s so obvious we have the resources and ability to do this that the UN’s first Millennium Development Goal is to:

Reduce by half the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day

Reduce by half the proportion of people who suffer from hunger

We, as the …

Now that we’ve laid some groundwork for discussing Hip Hop, I’d like to jump into the first lesson we can learn: Listen to People’s Struggles. I work with a lot of urban and rural youth, many of whom are a part of the hip hop culture, some of whom are not. At times, there are youth who share some of the same comments that many adults share, “that music is so negative.” My caution to them is that, though it is okay to disagree with some of the content, it …