Primary commandment the Hutaree group is breaking

Where to start on this Tuesday morning? How about the insane “Christian” militia group trying to jump-start Armageddon out of a Michigan base? Granted, living in Michigan’s weather might make one cross over to the dark side, but I’ve never known snow drifts to cause folks to gird up in weapons and plot to kill a police officer. Who are these weirdos and how on earth do they get “kill a cop and start a violent standoff with the law” out of anything in the Bible? Fact is, of course, they can’t, as their website demonstrates by grasping at straws. The biblical quotes the group (named Hutaree, whatever that means) posts on the site have absolutely nothing to do with killing or bringing about the end times courtesy of a sniper scope. These guys may claim to be Christian, but as JC himself said, you’ll know Christians by their love – not their insanity.

The battle for the hearts and minds of agnostics has heated up with the atheist billboard message that was hoisted in mid-February being plastered over by a “God-country-family” billboard, courtesy of Raul Robb, a Tucson financial adviser. I didn’t like the billboard from the Center for Inquiry because I think they should come up with a better message. Their billboard read, “Are you good without God? Millions are.” Well, duh.

The billboards are popping up across the nation

There are plenty of people who argue that the only way you can be good is if you have a belief in a higher power or religion in your life, and it is certainly borne out in many ways. Who, for instance, is the first on the scene of a natural disaster? Usually not Atheists Are Us. But just as many believers do good because they feel called to it by their religious upbringing, there are also nonbelievers who do good because they believe their humanist stance requires it. Point is, we should be nice to each other, God or not, and far too often, we aren’t. Which, if you’re an atheist is no big deal, but if you’re a believer whose religion preaches loving one’s neighbor and you don’t do that – well, you give your religion a bad name.

Finally, for people who are still confused by the health care overhall, particularly in the issue of federal (aka your taxes) funding for abortion, Kathleen Parker has broken down the bits and pieces to show why the health care bill probably will fund abortion. Sadly, it doesn’t explain why legislators (and the general public) who call themselves pro-life do not object (at least not strongly enough) to further funding a war that has resulted in the deaths of thousands of innocent people, including children and pregnant women, and was never considered “just” in terms of the loophole allowed pro-lifers under just war doctrine.

An armed robber in Indianapolis shopping center ended up hugging the woman he was trying to rob and then praying with her before leaving with only $20 and the woman’s cell phone. A brief story on the event can be found here, and it is all over the news this a.m. All I wanted to add was that people frequently question the power of prayer because their understanding of God is so limited. They view God as a magician and prayer as the way you can get God to do your bidding.

But what anyone who has spent any length of time on their knees will tell you is that prayer doesn’t necessarily change events; it changes the person praying. And in that personal change, events can – as happened during the robbery – take a turn for the better. If you watch this video, it is obvious that prayer has some power. It just isn’t the power televangelists proclaim.

My paper, the Tucson Citizen, was supposed to be closed by Saturday. With multiple newspapers for sale and no buyers jumping into the fray (the Rocky Mountain News folded a few weeks ago and the Seattle P-I shed about 130 staffers Monday to go to a 20-person online only newspaper Tuesday) no one expected a buyer to step forward for a small afternoon daily.

But, SURPRISE! we were told yesterday that at least two buyers have come forward and the bidding is “very serious.” Should be good news, no?

Maybe. But not if the new buyer comes in, rapes the newsroom and leaves everyone out of work sans the severance our paper’s corporate parent offered. Or certainly not for the folks who’ve been lucky enough to score jobs that start in the next week, because the severance is only good if you stay until the sale closes, and they took those jobs thinking the paper would close Saturday.

So, stress is high in the newsroom. Staffers had fought the inevitable and then, in the last week, accepted they’d probably have to give up journalism and dig for jobs in the worst job market since the ’80s. That acceptance brought a certain measure of peace. Yes, it was going to suck and yes, few were getting job offers, but at least we’d have severance and wouldn’t be on the street right away. But now, with the news of a possible sale, uncertainty is rife and fear is rampant. And people are acting just a little crazy.

When you don’t know what the future holds, there are two options: you can trust (in God, the Great Spirit, positive energy or benevolent buyers) or you can flip out. There’s been a whole lot of the latter and not enough of the former in the past 24 hours. I can’t blame people because the whole living-in-a-car thing is all too real on Tucson streets right now. (It would make a great story, but investigations are rare at both of Tucson’s dailies because metro desks have been thinned to barely-there by corporate demands for profits. Not that I’m cynical or anything.)

The thing is, twisting in the wind or railing against the forces of corporate media gets you no where. I found myself almost quoting scripture in the newsroom today, Jesus’ statement about worrying not adding a day to your life. There comes a time when you have to accept that all you can do is keep going and recognize that if you stay positive, you’ll be led in the right direction. It won’t be easy, necessarily, and you may have to ask for help. But at least you won’t die of a heart attack because you’re panicked 24-7.

I’m a professional worrier, so I know what I’m talking about here. You have to distract yourself from worry about the future because it won’t change the future, and it just might kill you. (I’m distracting myself by worrying about the present: my 19 y/old is on a mission trip to Chiapas that doesn’t end for four days.)

We don’t even know if we’ll be alive tomorrow. So listen to some good music (thanks Stauffer for lending me your headphones to drown out the newsroom angst!), have a glass of wine, run on the treadmill, gaze at the ridiculous beauty of Tucson’s mountains, hug your kids, lift someone else’s load. Yes, losing a job will be horrible. Being tossed around by guys with deep pockets as though you’re a rag doll sucks. But your child didn’t die in a fraternity last week and your son isn’t facing the death penalty for killing his kids. If you’re not dealing with those tragedies, I say be grateful and put on your trust hat. And remember the motto of a journalist I know: It will be alright. I promise.