Conducive Chronicle » Laura Bramble

Try to Guess Who Said These Words…

Laura Bramble — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 14:12:03 +0000

“And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said ‘We will serve you if you will get us free from the prince.’ True story. And so the devil said, ‘Ok it’s a deal.’ … But ever since they have been cursed by one thing after another…”

If you guessed this was said by someone reading a fairy tale aloud or by a schlock horror director talking about his new movie, you would be wrong.

These are just some of the words of televangelist Pat Robertson, talking on Tuesday about the people of Haiti and how they are responsible for the earthquake that leveled Port-au-Prince and killed untold numbers. This is a man who claims to be a Christian; who follows in the footsteps of a man who taught that we need to love our neighbors and not to judge. This is a man who believes so strongly in these teachings that he would convert the rest of the population on earth to Christianity. This is a man who would tell a teen to ask him or herself ,”What would Jesus do?” before taking an action or making a statement.

It is nice to know that hypocrisy is alive and well, and that the values of Christianity are so adequately represented…Somewhere Jesus is weeping.

Please see the full quote here, as well as links to Mr. Robertson’s televised comments.

Haiti & The Question of God

Haiti: Help is One Text Away: Updated

Haiti Needs Help

The Meaning of Christmas Does Not Belong to Just Christians

Laura Bramble — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 19:30:44 +0000

I ran across an article about a group called Advent Conspiracy. This group and its message of “Worship fully, Spend less, Give more, Love all” really brings focus to the teachings of Christ and how they apply to Christmas. Yet, if you look at the message, you will find that it resonates with core beliefs held by most of the major religions of the world in regard to faith, hope, charity and love. Even though Advent Conspiracy is Christ-centric in its message, there is plenty there worth taking for those who are not Christian. I urge everyone, of all faiths or none, to reconnect with the true meaning of Christmas and for the season to become a season that belongs to all faiths. It is not just a season about commercialism or the using of Christ’s name, but a time to reflect on the values and teachings that Christ held most dear and that are central to a multitude of the world’s faiths.

I’m sure that if Christ were here on Earth, he would rather us honor His birth by honoring His life’s work than by giving in to commercialism and petty divisions.
Visit http://www.adventconspiracy.org/ for more information and to participate in its projects. Advent Conspiracy’s goal to “Worship fully, Spend less, Give more, Love all” is an example that I can point to and feel proud to be a Christian, as well as a human being. Since that is not always the case, I relish it even more.

Hunger and the Holidays

Laura Bramble — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 03:55:25 +0000

While most of us were enjoying our Thanksgiving dinner, the USDA released a very disturbing report. One in six of us in the United States did not have enough food in the cupboard to eat Thanksgiving dinner. One in four American children lives in a home that experiences food shortages and regularly goes to bed hungry. It’s pretty startling that out of a country of about 290 million people, nearly 50 million struggled for food in 2008, with 17 million of those being children. This was an almost 30 percent jump from 2007 figures.

The picture most of us have in our head of what the hungry look like usually involve someone who is homeless or destitute, but that is not the case. They could very well be your neighbor. While unemployment and underemployment played a role in reducing the available income in a large number of households last year, most of those families in the report who experienced food scarcity were members of the working poor, with at least one full-time wage earner in the household. Only about half of these households were getting federal help from programs like WIC, food stamps or free school lunches.

Everyone in this country knows things are tough. Many of us have had to cut back, but how many of us have had to cut back on the most basic nutrition? Food pantries are experiencing record numbers of requests for aid and the number of soup kitchen meals served increased by 600 percent. When you see a canned food drive or a call for donations and volunteers for food pantries, do not just keep going and do nothing. If you have enough to feed yourself plus a little extra, you have enough to make a difference for one in six Americans.

Here are some things you can do to help:

When you clean out your pantry, give what you would want a member of your family to receive. You would be amazed how many people donate food that isn’t any good anymore, junk food that is not healthy or nutritious, or packages that are half used up or broken.

If you can’t give money, give your time. Some have the means to give, but don’t have the time to give the extra help that is needed right now to stack, store and distribute much needed aid.

Talk to others you know who are in a position to help, or take up a collection, even if it is only change. Dinner for a family can be had for only $5, so every little bit makes a difference.

Find the families in need in your neighborhood through local churches, social service organizations, hospitals, and shelters. You may be able to give hope and much needed nourishment to members of your own community who would be too proud to ask for your help.

No matter what your religious faith, this is the time of year for giving and to be thankful for the many good things in our lives. Share that spirit of giving and help others to have things to be thankful for as well. We are all family; the family called the human race.

CNN vs. Fox: A Media Bias Case Study

The Illusive Surplus

Supreme Court Hands Power to Corporations

Troubling Travels: Reconciling Safe Skies with Personal Privacy

Mediocrity? Food for Thought at the Thanksgiving Table

Laura Bramble — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:50:53 +0000

One of the issues that play an unspoken role is all the current discord in this country is a basic one that is a large part of our national identity-the American Dream, the desire to “be somebody”. While at the best of circumstances, this can be a wonderful thing that drives a few individuals to achieve things that benefit all mankind, this is often not the case and certainly not in mass quantities.

The simple fact is there is no room at the top for everyone. The rest of the pyramid has to be populated by people too. And 99 percent of the time the actions a person has to take to get there aren’t very nice. They look down from the top and classify anything less as mediocrity. Madison Avenue and Hollywood have done a very good job at this. But no one questions that definition of mediocrity or that the ones at the top have created that definition of mediocrity to justify the actions they took and how they lost themselves along the way to the top.

People need to stop looking outside themselves, stop trying to “be somebody” and just be themselves. In a pyramid, yes, the view from the top might be nice, but every block is needed, even the ones at the bottom that hold the load. They provide the foundation that holds the pyramid up. Even if they are in the interior and are never seen by the outside, their contributions remain and are just as valid. That makes them somebody too, even if it does not fit the definition du jour of what “somebody” looks like or does.

Everyone is “somebody” to someone else: a child, a parent, a spouse or a friend. Let go of it all and be who you are, be happy being an un- ”somebody.” You will still be in the same place as you were trying to be “somebody,” but boy, will you be a lot happier and able to help others to be a lot happier. You get to appreciate that you are a valued part of the lives of others.

If we stopped clamoring for attention, stopped aspiring to the same top rungs and believing the hype that if you are not at the top that you have no worth or merit, the infighting could stop. We need to look around to see the good that can be done by just being who we are in the place where we are and to be thankful for what we can accomplish. Think about the good that can be done, how great our country and our world would be, if instead of directing our efforts at fighting with each other, we worked together and fought the common causes that bring this world down.

I’m sure that some will read this and say that I am condoning and promoting mediocrity. My response is SO WHAT! If I can make a difference, in even a small way, and bring positive change into the world, whether my acts fall within their definition of mediocrity or not doesn’t really matter, does it?

Just some food for thought for the Thanksgiving table…

CNN vs. Fox: A Media Bias Case Study

The Illusive Surplus

Supreme Court Hands Power to Corporations

Troubling Travels: Reconciling Safe Skies with Personal Privacy

Not Black Does Not Equal White

Laura Bramble — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 17:28:17 +0000

Polarization is certainly on the upswing these days. The trend seems to be that anyone who does not agree with you automatically believes in and stands for the polar opposite. For example, if you do not agree with conservative views in their entirety, then you are automatically a radical liberal socialist by default. Or, if you are not a liberal, you are a right wing fundamentalist. There is no attempt to look any further into what your self-created “opponent” thinks or where their beliefs are similar in order to promote a common understanding. No, it is straight into attack mode, and not an attack of the ideas but a personal attack against the individual. Since the assumption of opposition was based on a false and vicious idea, most of the insults are false and vicious too.

Believe it or not, while the majority of people who do not cotton to either extreme but may lean towards one, is referred to, the “independents” are still ignored in all debate. Polls discuss “strongly opposed” and people project the results onto the mainstream as a reflection of what everyone thinks. What about those who are generally in favor or generally opposed, but with a few questions or reservations and an open mind? Do they get lost in the tide? Because they are undecided or unresolved, their opinion does not matter? What about those who think that some government intervention is necessary, but only after due consideration and intelligent, reasoned debate? What about those who want government to exist at a minimum, but recognize that it may need to step in when society can’t or won’t solve a problem? Why are they automatically deigned “socialist?” Since when does identifying with an ideal become a badge of shame with a judgment attached? Is it possible that there are both socialists and fundamentalists that are basically good people with good intentions? When has polarization ever amounted to anything positive? Does anyone ever win under “all or nothing” scenarios?

There will never be mutual understanding under this sort of mindset. When you go into attack mode, you put a person on the defensive and encourage them to not listen to you or what you have to say. Since you have taken it directly into the personal, you have made their dislike for you personal. They may even agree with some of the things you believe in, but not when those beliefs come from your mouth. It is an unproductive game to start, at the very least. You do no justice to your cause or your ideals and burn bridges before they are even built. It is far easier not to start the game than to do damage control and fix it.

How we receive and respond to other people’s views is as important as how we propose our own. There is no point advancing your views if you have created a climate where no one will want to listen by alienating everyone… unless you just like to hear yourself talk. A dissenting view is not a statement against you as a person, or a personal insult, until you take it as one.

Not black is simply that- not black. It could be any color of the rainbow, even charcoal grey. It is anything but black, and certainly not automatically white. When someone disagrees with you, by making them your opposite and your ideological enemy by default and then acting on that presumption, you get the very enemy you created. And it is for you to deal with the consequences.