We have always suspected that the conservative government of Ontario was only interested in military privilege and money in the pockets of big corporations, so we never believed that the Ford government was ever interested in preserving Ontario’s Green Belt as a national Heritage. Now Ontario’s auditor general is revealing that the Ford government favoured developers in its plan to supposedly ease the housing crunch. Will any one be sanctioned for violating a sacred trust like the conservation of Ontario’s moraine? Toronto’s mayor may have seen this coming as he resigned earlier in 2023. Ford will smear the campaign to preserve green space, but his sneering at Ontarians for not buying his housing “plan at any cost” will soon end. Conservatives care about the bottom line at the bank and in the market. Their attitude borders on institutional corruption. The sacred land is a mere commodity. We do not expect Ford to even acknowledge what the auditor says. When there is no more green space he will not be around and the wealth conservatives are trying to build will be useless bits of paper or data. The greenbelt is real heritage deserving protection from the Tory bulldozers.
Author: eejoseph
No cogent defence
Practically everyone except the hardcore pipe dreamer knows that criminality defines nearly every Republican, evangelical, and conservative venture. Neither surprise, perplexity, nor puzzle results from reading the evidence amassing from investigations of the perfect political right. Flirting with racism, redrawing political boundaries to strip voting rights from Black voters, and claiming that the Republican or any party does not lose elections, have no defence in a court of law, unless it is a court in the wild west, Russia, China, or the Jim Crow south.
Jouvert Antigua
August 7 marks the jubilation of freed people. The story says that the original Freedom Day 1, August 01, 1834, found the freed population in church. People have carved out a few hours around the dawn of the first Monday in August as a time of mas in the streets (perhaps to be another sacred mass) with the people completely free to express themselves. It is a dawn festival, marking the opening of the day, the age of freedom from colonial bondage.
Joo-vay (jour ouvert) puts on display mobile musicians, dancing, colourful costumes and songs giving life to the cultures the slaves had been denied for centuries, and a lot of skimpily dressed men and women. If there is one festival that dispersed Africans should not give up it is Jouvert.
Opening act: the tree planted
The song that hits our ears when we open the Hebrew songbook is not a childish pipedream. It has become so for the stuck-in-kindergarten class. Like when Yeshua begins to talk about his death – serpent lifted up in the desert – the crowd thins out, so the opening song, Psalm 1, strikes at the pride of the simple and the rebellious; the spiritually juvenile. The description of the happy man’s delight vs the result of ungodly counsel does not seem to be as interesting as the tree planted. If I knew how a tree planted in the perfect place could not be fruitful and under what circumstances its leaves can wither I would tell.
Tree, vineyard, garden 🏡
If God so arranged the ancient peoples’ many latent problems so as not to impede the fulfillment of his promises to Abraham, I cannot think of a path for the maxing out of promises for all humanity that does not end in success. God finishes what he starts, and because some people did not reach the promised land, there is no reason to believe that God is any less in control of the agenda. Can the happy man be like a tree planted by the roadside, on a stony ground, or among the thorns?
When the seed connects you are set
Every believer or concert knows beyond a shadow of a doubt when regeneration has happened. It is never “Oh, now I understand”. It is obvious that all the doctrines we pump into people do not constitute the life-giving turning point over which God is sovereign. The church has always had God’s authoritative Spirit to certify the message of salvation. There is not another Spirit for teaching the converts. There are battalions of believers who are doubting God’s planting.
Take that, Huck!
Sarah Huckabee Sanders gets slapped on the blinking eye by the federal court. Book burning is uncivilized, and the governor of Arkansas does not know it. She is trying so hard to be a fundamental, deranged evangelical, she forgot that laws exist to enable learning and experience, not the pogroms of the Republican party. Banning books is a very desperate attempt to create the kind of moral society everyone has failed to achieve, including ancient Israel and all those Islamic republics. God showed us who Huckabee is when he caused her eye to blink when she lied daily as 45:’s press secretary.
The religious journey of the MAGA alpha male and his mentor
Measured in millimeters: 0.0000001
This evaluation is based on the answer to a question posed by a Trump town hall attendee.
A power clause opens this song
“My soul waits in silence for God only;” (Psalms 62:1a, NASB)
Here is an example of how the order of words can be misleading. In Hebrew, this clause reads: ak el-elohim dumiyyah naphshi.
Only towards God the silence of my soul
The New American Standard Bible reads: My soul waits in silence for God only; (Psalms 62:1a, NASB) The writer’s interests are in order. This exclusivity is diagnostic, because it identifies the songwriter as reserving dumiyyah for Elohim. Only towards God [is] my soul’s silence My silence is reserved for GOD! Only God silences me! This is not waiting, because waiting can be accompanied by various activities, some of which conflict with divine presence and the vision of divine majesty.
This ain’t waiting, this is the way things are
David also tells himself, “You ARE in silence for God only”. My soul’s silence is reserved for God and this is a silence unlike all others. There is no “waiting” verb in the sentences, verses 1 and 5. The message is focused on a kind of one-eyed attention without anxiety and expectations.
“My soul, you are in silence for God only…” (Psalms 62:5a, my translation)
Start pouring; see what comes
“Trust in Him at all times, O people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. Selah.” (Psalms 62:8, NASB)
The unusual watery heart; to be poured.
I have to imagine that pouring out a heart is akin to
- Pouring a drink
- Falling rain
- Sweet talking a loved one
- Wooing a person with impressive words
As long as God is the target of our pouring the heart’s contents will not be surprising, though they can be astonishing. Unlike a lot of other interactions or encounters with God, this heart pouring happens to his face, lᵊpanayô. David is expecting the people enjoying his song to have an experience that affirms Yahweh as an incessant refuge. Let there always be an open and pouring heart relationship! Each of us has a friend with whom we know we can pour out our hearts and rest assured that safety is in the mix. Start pouring; see what comes.
