Furniture and Football and Foolishness.

The Saturday edition of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune newspaper is hardly worth buying (by a person of my age and circumstances).

For it is always dominated by (a)  reports of local High School (American) Football games, and by (b)  all too many advertisements for  furniture. (I'll warrant that this is also the case for many other local 'papers).

I can "live with this"  so to speak, but it raises a couple of questions.

First:  Do American people develop a lust for new furniture each weekend?

Second:  Why is furniture (and beds/ mattresses)   always on SALE?  (i.e., why do these items never have a fixed and advertised price?)  

The answer lies deep in the nature of capitalism (hee hee), and in the mythical "free market",  and in P.T. Barnum's observation about "suckers".

Capitalism attracts so many suckers: especially the Republicans for whom the so-called free market  is more potent than the free grace of God in Jesus Christ.

I should of course also criticize Democrats. But it is the Republicans who are at present "hoisting the free market and less government" flag as if it were the teaching  of Jesus.

===================================================

Of course my American capitalist/republican/tea party friends are free to write me off as a romantic socialist , rather than as a Christian who tries to be faithful to the teachings of the bible.

But I will always take the teachings of  the bible (with regard to justice) over and against the suckers of the current  *Republican ideology/idiocy.


*Name it and shame it!
Location: Sarasota, FL, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Shoe insults

Last year I consulted with a local podiatrist: Dr. Robert F Herbold Jr. D.P.M. 4717 Swift Rd., Sarasota , FL – 34231  because I was being bothered with a couple of bunions  (yes I am at that age). I was very impressed with this Doctor.  He agreed that I had bunions, but he ventured that it was much too soon for surgery. (Now there’s a first). Instead he recommended some “arch supports” to relieve the tension for my feet, a tension which was exacerbating the bunions. What’s more -  he told me that he sells these arch supports at the miserly sum of $2.50 each (about 1/5 of the price in the local pharmacies). He is an honest man, and I recommend him to anyone with foot problems. So, a couple of weeks ago, having purchased some new walking shoes, I knew that I needed to buy a couple of new arch supports I took myself to his office. Once there, my mind went blank. I wanted to ask his front desk Clerk if I could buy some “shoe inserts” , as I could not rem...
Read more

It began in Bristol U.K. "A man dies" and "Jesus Christ Superstar"

Image
I well remember the swirling controversy in Bristol, U.K. when a (Presbyterian) Minister the Revd, Earnest Marviin created a ":Rock Opera", called "A Man Dies"  in and for his congregation in the Lockleaze area of Bristol, U.K. Earnest Mrvin I was a sixteen years old member of the Plymouth Brethren Church back in those days, so I most likely disapproved of "A Man Dies" .  We, (the Plymouth Brethren),  disapproved of everything! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I had forgotten all about "A Man Dies" until earlier today when saw these pictures on the "Bristol, Then and Now"  Facebook page.   St. James Presbyterian Church, Lockleaze, Bristol  The Bristol Then and Now page includes the following commentary: Lockleaze, Bristol  -  'Jesus Christ Superstar' began at St.James (Presbyterian) Chur...
Read more

The background, the couple, my friends, the wedding ceremony, the Shaykh, the Priest,

Image
The background   I have known the Keller/Bonsey family since 2000 when I became the Rector at St. James's, Cambridge, MA. They (Elisabeth Keller and the Revd. Steven Bonsey with their four children Noah, Sam, Josiah and Annie) had come back to Cambridge from Hawaii where Steve had been the Rector of an Episcopal parish. Steve had just been appointed as a Chaplain at Tufts University (no Sunday morning duties) so the entire family was able to enrich our common life at St. James's - which they did with great love and joy. I count them as friends and have stayed in touch with them since my retirement.  Noah, the oldest son is eloquent in Arabic (he spent a year in Damascus when Syria was a safe place).  He has developed a super career as an analyst of social media in the near East.    Noah worked in Tampa for a while a few years ago, so he and I were a...
Read more