Pacific Views

The Errancy of the Inerrant Bible

Truly, one of the most fundamental beliefs of those who call them fundamentalists is that the Bible has a unique and supreme place in defining Christian belief. The first of all the fundamentals is this:

The inspiration of the Bible by the Holy Spirit and the inerrancy of Scripture as a result of this.

So imagine the horror of the Christian Right when they realized that the Bible was full of references of our responsibility to all of God's children. Or as Fred Clark put it:

...the law and the prophets, the sheep and the goats, the stark binary clarity of 1 John and that pervasive, terrifying, overwhelming insistence that nothing else matters to God if we fail to respond to neighbors in need with a tangible expression of love.

So what is one to do when one fervently believes that God hates the liberals, believes that God loves the free market and hates government, and horrifyingly, when one reads the Bible, it doesn't say what you expected it to say?

Evidently the Bible that they've been putting all their faith in had been corrupted by liberals and needs to be fixed so as to reflect the Conservative Religious Right's believe that only they have "the truth."

And, if you are Phyllis Schlafly's son, you launch a project to purge the Bible of all that liberal cant.

Sometimes you just can't make this stuff up!

Read All About It! Michael Vick Hero in His First Game for Eagles

... by Walter Brasch

The headlines, pictures, and most of the stories about the Philadelphia Eagles 34–14 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs focused upon backup quarterback Michael Vick.

The Eagles fans--desperate for a Super Bowl trophy and proclaiming that since Vick paid his time he should be forgiven--gave him a hearty ovation when he first appeared in the game early in the first quarter.

Vick, the All-Pro felon who was convicted in federal court of conspiracy, financing, and operating a dog fighting operation, appeared in only 11 plays, rushed for seven yards, threw two incompletes, and was largely a decoy on the other plays. But he drew the attention of sportscasters and reporters in his first NFL game since his suspension.

Based upon the number of column inches the print media threw to Vick, combined with the air time TV devoted, he was the star and the rest of the team were supporting players.

Quarterback Kevin Kolb, who ran the offense while starter Donovan McNabb sat out his second game while recovering from a broken rib, did everything Vick couldn't do. He threw for 327 yards and two touchdowns, becoming the first quarterback to throw for more than 300 yards in his first two career starts. Almost as an afterthought, the media later reported that Kolb was the NFC offensive player of the week. Not reported is that Vick, with a $1.5 million salary, is making about $400,000 more this season than Kolb.

Also overlooked by much of the media were DeSean Jackson and Brent Celek, each of whom had 100-plus yards as receivers and and LeSean McCoy who had 84 yards rushing. The media also ignored the offensive line, which gave Kolb the time to throw, and the defense, which yielded only two touchdowns.

The Eagles don’t have a game this Sunday, so the media will focus not upon Kolb, not upon the receivers or running backs, not upon the Eagles defense, and certainly not upon the offensive line. "Rehabilitation" will be the key topic this week. It'll be stories about Donovan McNabb's recovery from his rib injury--and Vick's "rehabilitation" from a life of animal cruelty, and his hoped-for march to another All-Pro appearance. It's just a good thing there aren’t any live eagles as team mascots.

[Walter Brasch was a newspaper sports writer and sports editor in California, public affairs reporter and city editor in Indiana, Iowa, and Ohio. He is also a former multimedia writer-producer and magazine writer and editor. Currently, he is professor of journalism at Bloomsburg University. Dr. Brasch's latest books are Sinking the Ship of State: The Presidency of George W. Bush and 'Unacceptable': The Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina, available at amazon.com and other bookstores. You may contact Brasch through his website, www.walterbrasch.com]

We Have to Stop

In almost all common discussion today, we are conflating health insurance with health care. This can only benefit the insurance companies if we describe what they provide as "care". It isn't. It is actually a limitation on the choices we can make. HMOs, of course, are the worst. They limit referrals, medications and procedures at a higher rate than Preferred Provider Plans.

But at the bottom, no matter what insurance companies do, they do not provide health care! My doctor, the man that actually does provide it, thinks that it is time that all citizens were eligible for Medicare or its equal. He's the man whose pockets are affected, but he cares more for the health of his people than about simple income. And moreover, the group he works with has provided service with no billing for people who are really in need.

Remember, providers are not in the habit of telling you that you are "not eligible" for care. People who give health care do not get monthly blobs of cash from your employer -- and from you.

Don't confuse health care with insurance, please. No one but the sharks benefit from that.