Vox populi | capital punishment

Live or die?

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hen I was in bible college 20 years ago one of the hot buttons for Christians was whether or not we should support capital punishment. Sanctity of life, eye for an eye, rights of the government to take a life and all. This morning I listened to an interview with a man who was first on the scene of a grisly murder and beheading that took place this summer on a Greyhound bus just outside the city where I live, Winnipeg, Canada. In the interview, the man said he felt the offender should be executed by the government and the hundreds of thousands of dollars we’d spend on imprisoning him could be spent on helping in our society.

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Vox populi | isn’t she lovely?

Window dressing or substance?

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ichelle Obama, wife of American presidential candidate Barack Obama, took the stage of the Democratic National Convention and delivered a powerful speech about community, empowerment and leadership.  She approaches the topics honestly as the introduction to her outlined her accomplishments as a lawyer, community activist and one who has parlayed her law degree into helping the disenfranchised and poor.  Michelle Obama is a leader in her own right, a woman who juggled career and family marvelously, and lives by her values and convictions.

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Vox populi | rights before the cross

It’s not all about me?

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can get pretty frustrated at times with the state of this ole Army of ours. (yeah, God’s Army, I know, stop interrupting). Then I realize I’m frustrated with people because everyone is running around demanding their rights - officers, soldiers, cadets, people who like to hang out in our pews. I want, I need, I demand, you said, you did, you you you, me me me, I I I.

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Vox populi | enough is enough

Take a holiday from discontent

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remember driving through St. Petersburg, Florida the first time a lottery reached into the range of mega-millions ($168 million).  Deana and I talked about what we’d do with that kind of money, but first we’d have to find someone to collect it for us to avoid our soldiership being revoked (probably after we tithed).

A word comes to mind when I think about lotteries, a word which underpins the motivation of gamblers and the success of lotteries and casinos in our country.  It is also the word lurking behind consumerism, and the bedrock of materialism. The word is a malady in North America, but virtually non-existent in the developing world, possibly due to inexperience or lack of opportunity. It’s antonym is an answer to much of what ails us, a breath of fresh air into a beleaguered church, and the hope found in Jesus Christ.

The word?  Discontent.

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Vox populi | ECD

Alice: “words mean what I want them to mean”

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uphemism: A word or phrase employed to sterilize an emotive word or phrase thus making it fit for general consumption.

Luke barks his head off every time I open my composter or mow the lawn or walk near the fence.  Basically, he barks every time he hears a sound in our backyard.  Luke is a German Shepherd cross, as playful as he is loud, but his bark is driving his owner, my neighbour, crazy.  It is hysterical listening to my neighbour yelling at Luke to stop.  I’m not sure who is the one being trained.  The best is the threats, more idle than if they were delivered to children because Luke doesn’t speak English.  “I’m going to put a zapper on you if you keep barking like this!”.  By zapper he means the “Barkmaster Pro-elite”, a dog collar that emits a shock which increases in intensity every time Luke barks.  The collar is an Electronic Control Device.

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Vox populi | choose life

who lives? who dies?

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watched a heart-wrenching documentary about conjoined twins joined at the head.  The technology to separate the twins is available, and the mother had a decision to make; leave them joined and they will live or separate them and run the risk of one of them dying.  In fact, in the case of the girls, one would surely die.  Sometimes I think our leadership in the Army has those same decisions to make.

I believe in kids camps, and I think they are a great way to give kids a respite from difficult family situations, to give kids an opportunity to foster friendships with other campers, and to give young people opportunities to develop leadership skills.  In our territory, decisions for Christ are greatest in our camp programs.

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Vox populi | youthful vision

How do we connect a disconnected generation?

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y son just graduated high school and is preparing for university in the fall, and along with this transition goes time to reflect on his life and initiation into adulthood.  We had parties, gave gifts and participated in ceremonies to move him into this new journey.  We, in effect, initiated him into this next phase of life. It was a rite of passage.  Richard Rohr, in his book Adam’s Return - The Five Promises of Male Initiation, identifies that the western world does a poor job at initiating its males into manhood.  He contends that males require initiation unlike women who are self-initiators.  A young girl can mark her transition into womanhood by the onset of her menstrual period even if no other initiation rite takes place, but for males there is no comparable rite.

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Vox populi | green not groan

taken the green plunge

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hey came and took away my garbage this morning.  I watched contemplatively sipping my coffee as the city’s sanitation department representative dumped my one reusable plastic garbage pail into the back of his truck.  He unceremoniously threw it back on my lawn, with little or no regard to the fact I only had one pail generated by six people for a whole week set against the eight bags my neighbour is chucking out.  The recycling rep won’t be as impressed.  I have three full bins for her.

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Vox populi | addiction

… I’m down to three a day

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y name is Rick, and I’m an addict.  Actually, I’m a caffeine addict, and I personally believe that caffeine addiction is one of the non-canonical gifts of the Holy Spirit; a gift destined to ensure the efficient running of this temple of the Holy Spirit.  You see, my temple runs on caffeine.  For Pete’s sake, Paul champions the cause of carnivores in his Corinthian missive on meat (I’ve never understood vegetarianism.  Why do these people hate plants so much).  I’m off on a rabbit trail.  My point… if Paul was permissive with meat then he certainly must have understood the need for a great cup ‘o joe after a feast of meat.

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Vox populi | rights

 … you can’t kill a dead man

In 1976, Ernesto Miranda was killed in a barroom brawl.  Having served 10 years in prison for the rape of an 18-year-old girl, he left this world, and justice was perceived to have been done.  On his person were business card-sized statements bearing what made him famous.  In Arizona, USA, in 1966 Miranda confessed to the crime of rape, but his confession was thrown out by the judge because it was determined his confession had been coerced without the defendant’s knowledge of his right to remain silent, and so the infamous Miranda rights became the rule of law (in the US) for the questioning of suspects, and probably something we could all recite from memory, “You have the right to remain silent.  Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to have an attorney present during questioning. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you.”

In 2001 a cadet entered my apartment seeking my thoughts in regards to a letter written to the Training Principal.  The letter was in response to a decision regarding a field placement which would take him a 20 km distance from the College for Officer Training.  His letter began:

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