While there’s plenty of buzz in the LGBT community about the slighting of Bishop Gene Robinson at yesterday’s inaugural festivities, let’s not forget how important this day is.

When we focus on the injustices, (which seems almost daily), we often forget all the positive steps forward the LGBT community has made as a whole, and on this of all days, we need be cognizant of that. Otherwise there really is is no hope.

It would serve our community well to remember some of Dr. King’s wise words…

Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can’t ride you unless your back is bent.

Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.

Have we not come to such an impasse in the modern world that we must love our enemies – or else? The chain reaction of evil – hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars – must be broken, or else we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.

Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable… Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.

And of course…

“And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

Every step forward, no matter how small, brings us closer to Martin Luther King’s dream. Let us not forget that.

In 2005 Reverend Rick Warren gave a speech to a stadium full of his followers where he describes his vision for the future:

“What is the the vision for the next 25 years? I’ll tell you what it is. It is the global expansion of the kingdom of God. It is the total mobilization of the church. And the third part is the dream of a radical devotion of every believer.”

Warren later goes on to compare this “radical devotion” to the that of the Hitler youth, and the followers of Lenin and Mao, and what they were almost able to accomplish. Warren then urges his followers to adopt a “what ever it takes” approach because only radicals “change the world.”

Listen to the clip below…

How does he want change the world? Create a global theocracy? Sounds suspiciously like Muslim fundamentalism (surprise). Scary stuff.

Sorry for the dearth of posts recently. Still working out a few kinks here on the site and have been in a bit of a fog since New Years; the fallout from the events of last year linger still.

Fortunately, the video below has managed to thin that fog a little, and expect I will be returning to regular postings very soon. So until then, enjoy.

In one of the largest environmental disasters in years, a retaining wall in eastern Tennessee failed yesterday releasing 500 million gallons of water mixed with fly ash (the material left over from the combustion of coal), covering up to 400 acres up to 6 feet deep, flowing into the tributaries of the Tennessee river, and ultimately the Chattanooga water supply.

Fly or coal ash contains a number of toxic substances including mercury, arsenic and lead, causing a whole host of health issues including cancer and various neurological problems.

To give a sense of scale, the Exxon Valdez poured 11 million gallons into the ocean off the coast of Alaska in 1989, and the largest spill on record, the Gulf War oil spill in 1991, poured between 250-450 million gallons into the Persian Gulf.

A video of the aftermath below.

For such an extraordinary event, there has been little or no national press coverage, and only minimal coverage in local newspapers and blogs. It appears the media would prefer to cover Obama’s vacation in Hawaii or the ongoing Illinois governor’s scandal. I guess environmental disasters just aren’t sexy enough. Or about as sexy as years of coal de-regulation that may have contributed to this event.