Topic: News

[Written in response to a sermon on October 2nd, 2005 by Susan B. Curtis of St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church]

Dear Sukie,

Thank you for your thoughtful sermon of October 2nd on the science and theology of the Intelligent Design ideas. Thank you also for taking the time to type it up and give us copies. (I realize this is what you usually do, but nonetheless I want to acknowledge and appreciate it.)

Your sermon gave me a great deal to think about, both during the service and afterward. The search for God's presence in the world around us is of great interest to me, both personally and in the context of my work on the Paradise Lost musical. (Incidentally, I've included some recordings of the workshop we did in New York, if you'd care to listen.) The purpose of my letter today is to suggest a different perspective on Intelligent Design that I didn't see present in your sermon.

Time for a rant.

So Hop, quite reasonably, would like to get a driver's license in the State of Maine, so she can, y'know, get a job more than five miles away. You'd think this would be straightforward. No.

I have made the original Mantra music tracks available in my Download section for your enjoyment. Click here!

The Gunner's Dream (Waters)

Floating down through the clouds
Memories come rushing up to meet me now.
In the space between the heavens
and in the corner of some foreign field
I had a dream.
I had a dream.
Good-bye Max.
Good-bye Ma.
After the service when you're walking slowly to the car
And the silver in her hair shines in the cold November air
You hear the tolling bell
And touch the silk in your lapel
And as the tear drops rise to meet the comfort of the band
You take her frail hand
And hold on to the dream.
A place to stay
"Oi! A real one ..."
Enough to eat
Somewhere old heroes shuffle safely down the street
Where you can speak out loud
About your doubts and fears
And what's more no-one ever disappears
You never hear their standard issue kicking in your door.
You can relax on both sides of the tracks
And maniacs don't blow holes in bandsmen by remote control
And everyone has recourse to the law
And no-one kills the children anymore.
And no one kills the children anymore.

Night after night
Going round and round my brain
His dream is driving me insane.
In the corner of some foreign field
The gunner sleeps tonight.
What's done is done.
We cannot just write off his final scene.
Take heed of his dream.
Take heed.

40,000. 40,000 dead. The US government has pledged $15 million. That amounts to $0.05 USD per citizen. If every citizen gave $50, we could put our own government to shame.

So:

1) Get out your wallet.

2) Go to the the Red Cross/Red Crescent's website.

3) Give $50. Go into debt if you have to.

[Edit 12.29.04]: 70,000, and the US has pledged $35 million in aid. We're now up to 11 cents per citizen. The Aussies, with 20 million citizens and $27 million pledged in aid, are up around $1.35 per citizen.

From a Reuters article:

In parts of India's Tamil Nadu state officials gave up trying to count the dead and were counting survivors instead, while burying bodies as quickly as possible in mass graves.

Yikes.

22,000 people just died across southern Asia, and several hundred thousand have nowhere to live. (For the Americans in our audience, that's in excess of 7 times the number that died on September 11th. Think the world will change?)

Please donate to the Red Cross/Red Cresecent today. If everyone in America gave $50, that would come out around $15 billion USD. So be part of it. Chop chop, off you go now. Click on the link.

Here's a happy fellow in Ukraine.