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Little scraps of the US of A
Jan. 11th, 2007 09:39 amI'm trying not to think too much about Sweden right now, the trip was too short and emotionally intense, and it does me no service in my common day duties to become a moody wreck.
So instead I went to the inauguration of the new (Democratic) governor of Colorado the other day, Bill Ritter, and saw the pompous show that was presented in front of the Capital building with its golden roof. (I work just a few steps from the capital)
It still baffles me when I see elderly men in cowboy hats and boots who loudly and in full seriousness exclaim AMEN! to some political oath or statement...I'm not saying I feel it's wrong or anything...it just feels like I'm in a movie of some sort, and soon Borat or some other comic-relief creature is going to show up in underwear and do a dance.
I have pondered the problem the US seems to have in separating church and state. When I first met the Geek and started talking politics with him, he was shocked that Sweden used to have a State-church up until the 1990's. I tried to explain by saying: "but you see...the church wasn't very spiritual..and it was just that the Swedish State owned the old cultural buildings and payed wages to the personnel who worked in them and tended to them..."
The percentage of taxes that used to go to the Swedish Lutheran church was all in all pretty modest, and you could as a Swedish citizen certainly choose to not be a member of it.
But here in America the separation of church and state is serious business..and almost like a secret ongoing sniper-guerrilla war. And I think I know in part why this problem arises time after time. I mean how can you separate something from the State, when it is already IN the language of the State? Christian religion is incorporated in all the oaths and speeches connected to political and judicial matters in the US.
On a personal level I don't mind god mentioned particularly...but I must say that it can sound ludicrous to hear big words of faith uttered in such corrupt matters as politics. "Politics" in itself is a phrase full of doubt and suspicion for me, thus mixing in serious faith-based phrases makes for some very mixed signals at best. If I was a practicing religious person I'd have problems with that. Also, how about all the atheists, agnostics, jews, muslims, buddhists and people of other non-christian faith, isn't it fairly moot for them to swear on the bible in court?
The only proper thing would be to develop a new kind of oath for people of the State to use...to swear on "democracy" or "this great nation" or "Our people" or something more general like that.
Of course, if we took religion out of the language of State, I would have missed hearing the blessing of the new Governor of Colorado from the Native American Ute-Nation. Instead I could enjoy the chanting in both Ute and English by an impressive looking feathered Ute spiritual leader while he blew smudge smoke over the head of the Governor and his smiling wife and rattled some exquisitely looking feathered equipment. The Native American Spiritual leader held his speech right after a Christian priest, and in contrast to the priest's "Bow your heads and pray" phrases he urged the people to "Raise their heads proudly to the sky" and also urged the new administration to "take care of mother earth".
It takes an imposing crown of Eagle Feathers from your great grandpa's time, and a wisely chiseled face to pull those phrases off among all the many WASP suits and skirts.
And to my amazement, some elderly white men in cowboy hats in the audience, lifted their heads to the sky and muttered "Aho".
Sometimes America is truly amazing.
But then I remembered the previous administration's pigeon-project at the Denver Capitol building. My memory was actually sparkled by this British article
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zombienought. The british pigeons discussed in this article are going to be executed by a sniper, and the comment thread in the paper is what I recommend you to skim through, it is just to die for!
Anyway, about a decade ago, here in Denver, the Legislators and the Governor at the State Capitol were insulted by pigeons shitting on their cars. This was considered such a problem that they decided to GIVE THE PIGEONS LSD!!!
The plan worked somewhat well, some of the pigeons died of overdosing, the rest became addicts and so confused that they forgot the route to the Capitol Building and settled down in neighborhood areas instead - like for instance the Civic Center Park. So, the dumb animals that are so incredibly bullied by the Squirrels and the homeless in that park, are in fact either ex-addicts or children of addicts.
I find it particularly hilarious that the former boss of this particular State division that we (the State Archive) belong to, and who's name I shan't mention, was the one making the decision of becoming a pigeon drug-dealer.
But at least most of the pigeons are still crapping happily around the Civic Center - they just stay away from the Governor's parking lot.
So instead I went to the inauguration of the new (Democratic) governor of Colorado the other day, Bill Ritter, and saw the pompous show that was presented in front of the Capital building with its golden roof. (I work just a few steps from the capital)
It still baffles me when I see elderly men in cowboy hats and boots who loudly and in full seriousness exclaim AMEN! to some political oath or statement...I'm not saying I feel it's wrong or anything...it just feels like I'm in a movie of some sort, and soon Borat or some other comic-relief creature is going to show up in underwear and do a dance.
I have pondered the problem the US seems to have in separating church and state. When I first met the Geek and started talking politics with him, he was shocked that Sweden used to have a State-church up until the 1990's. I tried to explain by saying: "but you see...the church wasn't very spiritual..and it was just that the Swedish State owned the old cultural buildings and payed wages to the personnel who worked in them and tended to them..."
The percentage of taxes that used to go to the Swedish Lutheran church was all in all pretty modest, and you could as a Swedish citizen certainly choose to not be a member of it.
But here in America the separation of church and state is serious business..and almost like a secret ongoing sniper-guerrilla war. And I think I know in part why this problem arises time after time. I mean how can you separate something from the State, when it is already IN the language of the State? Christian religion is incorporated in all the oaths and speeches connected to political and judicial matters in the US.
On a personal level I don't mind god mentioned particularly...but I must say that it can sound ludicrous to hear big words of faith uttered in such corrupt matters as politics. "Politics" in itself is a phrase full of doubt and suspicion for me, thus mixing in serious faith-based phrases makes for some very mixed signals at best. If I was a practicing religious person I'd have problems with that. Also, how about all the atheists, agnostics, jews, muslims, buddhists and people of other non-christian faith, isn't it fairly moot for them to swear on the bible in court?
The only proper thing would be to develop a new kind of oath for people of the State to use...to swear on "democracy" or "this great nation" or "Our people" or something more general like that.
Of course, if we took religion out of the language of State, I would have missed hearing the blessing of the new Governor of Colorado from the Native American Ute-Nation. Instead I could enjoy the chanting in both Ute and English by an impressive looking feathered Ute spiritual leader while he blew smudge smoke over the head of the Governor and his smiling wife and rattled some exquisitely looking feathered equipment. The Native American Spiritual leader held his speech right after a Christian priest, and in contrast to the priest's "Bow your heads and pray" phrases he urged the people to "Raise their heads proudly to the sky" and also urged the new administration to "take care of mother earth".
It takes an imposing crown of Eagle Feathers from your great grandpa's time, and a wisely chiseled face to pull those phrases off among all the many WASP suits and skirts.
And to my amazement, some elderly white men in cowboy hats in the audience, lifted their heads to the sky and muttered "Aho".
Sometimes America is truly amazing.
But then I remembered the previous administration's pigeon-project at the Denver Capitol building. My memory was actually sparkled by this British article
brought to me by
zombienought. The british pigeons discussed in this article are going to be executed by a sniper, and the comment thread in the paper is what I recommend you to skim through, it is just to die for!Anyway, about a decade ago, here in Denver, the Legislators and the Governor at the State Capitol were insulted by pigeons shitting on their cars. This was considered such a problem that they decided to GIVE THE PIGEONS LSD!!!
The plan worked somewhat well, some of the pigeons died of overdosing, the rest became addicts and so confused that they forgot the route to the Capitol Building and settled down in neighborhood areas instead - like for instance the Civic Center Park. So, the dumb animals that are so incredibly bullied by the Squirrels and the homeless in that park, are in fact either ex-addicts or children of addicts.
I find it particularly hilarious that the former boss of this particular State division that we (the State Archive) belong to, and who's name I shan't mention, was the one making the decision of becoming a pigeon drug-dealer.
But at least most of the pigeons are still crapping happily around the Civic Center - they just stay away from the Governor's parking lot.
