Opinion/Editorial Week in Review: Indians, Christians, Bankers, and Darwin – The American Dream

You know what’s really cool about Associated Content? You get to read about things that there’s probably no way in Hades you would ever get to read about otherwise. You certainly wouldn’t get to read about it in your local paper. Name another web site where you can find the factual information contained in the article titled The Pechanga American Indian Tribe and the U.S. Supreme Court as well as the editorial information added by Margaret Munro Lyons. Lyons raises the age-old question of whether any dispute in America is really ideological or does it always just come down to the Benjamins. (Marx, of course, would say there’s no difference there at all.) Lyons relates a fascinating court case that will probably never get covered by Nancy Grace or Dan Abrams because it doesn’t involve the disappearance of a less-than-brilliant young blonde woman. Nobody really cares too much about Native American rights, certainly not the supposedly left-wing American media that is supposed to just lap this kind of stuff up as an example of how bad America is. Margaret’s article is a perfect example of the kind of hard to get information that is available here.

Equally so, Associated Content is also revolving billboard on which people can advertise competing opinions on topics at the forefront of the great American debate. David Merriman’s Intelligent Design: Another Look presents a rational response to the argument in favor of Intelligent Design as a scientific answer to Darwinian evolution. By now the Scopes Trial should be such an embarrassment to the United States that we would never allow anything like it to happen again. Merriman’s article peels away the veneer to establish that no matter what its proponents may successfully sneak into the curriculum of schools across this country Intelligent Design is just another name for a supernatural theory of creation.

Obviously there is no shortage of sites on the internet where people can write deeply and movingly about their religious beliefs. But I honestly believe that Associated Content is one of the few places where religious-based articles are published covering every religion, every belief and every criticism of every belief. I’ll bet you thought that I, as a left-winger, was going to choose an article of criticism, didn’t you. Well, you’re wrong. As a Christian myself, I am tempted to vomit on a daily basis whenever I hear such things as George W. Bush’s supposed devoutedness or some fundamentalist preacher going on about how God is for discrimination against whomever the boogeyman of the month may be (yesterday Communists, today Gays, tomorrow possibly men who wear socks with sandals). That is why I recommend Brandon English’s Modern Day Christianity. English questions whether the most Coulterishly self-righteous of Christians have ever even read the words of Christ. From the actions of many Christians, it sure seems as though they haven’t.

Anyone who has ever had to wait at a business establishment while a clerk gives preference to a phone customer, or who has tried to make a compliant to a business that treats you with contempt will appreciate G. Keith Evans’ A Comparison of Financial Institutions. It is no coincidence that Evans’ relates a bad experience taking place inside a bank. Is there any institution in America more worthy of disgust? Name another institution that charges you money for the privilege of using your money? Name another institution that charges you for mistakes they made? I’m desperately searching for a way to survive in America without having to use a bank. Any suggestions? In the meantime, read Keith’s article and if you haven’t experienced a similar situationmagine a Right Wing Conspiracy…? Heretics, US, please leave your name and banking financial establishment in his message box. Oh, and you’ve got to love his picture icon.

Associated Content is also a great place to publicize yourself. Take a quick look at Jeff Musall’s Imagine a Right Wing Conspiracy and then do your level best to read his novel. I have read it and it’s a stunner. The frightening thing is that I’m not sure his novel is really a novel. I think it’s more a case of prophecy.

OPINION OF THE WEEK

Lloyd Frye’s The American Dream The American Nightmare is probably the shortest opinion of the week I’ll ever choose, but what it lacks in quantity it makes up for in outrage. As Lloyd points out, America’s best days are probably behind us. We keep hearing from our politicians how we have prepare today’s students to be competitive in the marketplace. But the fact is that you don’t need to be Einstein to work in the jobs that are going to be left in the United States by the time the corporate power structure that runs this country has outsourced all the high paying jobs to lower paying countries. We can create an entire generation of geniuses, but they’ll either be working and living in another country, or they’ll all be vying for jobs selling things in stores, on the internet, or on infomercials. You want to know why reality shows have a never-ending list of candidates who are willing to humiliate themselves in front of millions? It’s because they’ve seen the future: A country where the only way to make a decent wage is by eating bugs or busting your head open when a fancy dance move goes awry. It’s probably nothing short of poetic justice that the most famous reality show personality was outsourced from his own country. Lloyd writes from personal experience and his points are unpleasant and melodramatic. But that doesn’t make them any less true.