Category Archives: Trinity Broadcasting Network

10/02/2012
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Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Banned Books Week 2012, Barry Commoner, Daystar Television Network, Four Laws of Ecology, In God We Trust, Jerusalem, John Bellamy Foster, Manhattan Project, Mount of Olives, Nuclear Weapons, Roland Emmerich, Second Coming, The Vulnerable Planet, To Kill a Mockingbird, Trinity Broadcasting Network, US Treasury

The Pencil Today:

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THE QUOTE

“The environmental crisis arises from a fundamental fault: our systems of production — in industry, agriculture, energy, and transportation — essential as they are, make people sick and die.” — Barry Commoner

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THE COMMONER MAN

Barry Commoner is dead.

What a perfect name for a man whose life was dedicated not to captains of industry, titans of wealth, or snake oil salesmen of politics, but to plain folks.

His Wikipedia entry describes him, in part, as a politician, even though that’s the one thing he wasn’t. Commoner ran for president in 1980 as a member of something called the Citizens Party but, fortunately, he didn’t have a chance. He didn’t even get a third of a single percentage point of the vote. Had he won, he would have been chewed up and spit out by the people and institutions that run this world.

Commoner served humanity best from outside the halls of power, shaking his fist, yelling himself hoarse.

He was a biologist and an environmentalist. He came to caring for the Earth after studying up on the Manhattan Project and the proliferation of nuclear weapons. He concluded the the Bomb was simply the most egregious example of humanity’s ignorance of its role in nature.

The “Gadget” And An Unworried Man

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Commoner became the planet’s watchdog.

Here are his Four Laws of Ecology:

  • Everything is Connected to Everything Else: Ecosystems and individuals are are complex and interconnected
  • Everything Must Go Somewhere: In nature, there is no final waste; everything is gobbled up by something else
  • Nature Knows Best: He wrote, “The absence of a particular substance from nature is often a sign that it is incompatible with the chemistry of life”
  • Nothing Comes From Nothing: Everything we use comes from something and its end products become something else; in other words, there’s always a price to pay

Contrast Commoner’s laws with these laws of capitalism, as laid out by John Bellamy Foster in his book, “The Vulnerable Planet”:

  • The only real connection between things is cash
  • The end product of any process is irrelevant as long as it doesn’t cost money
  • The market knows best
  • Nature is property, which the owner can do with as he pleases

US presidents, as well as the leaders of virtually every nation on Earth, buy into the latter laws even when they swear up and down that they honor the former. Isn’t it a shame a guy like Commoner could never become president?

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HOLY CASH

God hasn’t always been married to cash in this holy land.

According to the US Treasury, the first paper currency bearing the motto “In God We Trust,” a $1 silver certificate, came off the printing press in 1957. That’s a year after Congress declared IGWT to be the national motto.

So, this whole official god-and-country thing is a phenomenon that only came into being during my lifetime!

And, here, I thought this great nation was established by the hand of the creator himself. At least that’s the genesis story much of the Religious Right would have us believe.

Some American coins first bore the motto way back during the Civil War, but who counts coins anyway?

Here’s a list of dates when the various denominations of the nation’s paper dough were first issued with the motto on them:

  • $1 — March 11, 1964
  • $5 — September 16, 1964
  • $10 — April 24, 1964
  • $20 — October 7, 1964
  • $50 — September 28, 1966
  • $100 — September 27, 1966

You know how insecure god is: I’ll be he’s thrilled that we put his name on our most precious possessions.

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LIVE FROM JERUSALEM — IT’S JESUS!

Speaking of god, a couple of Christian TV operations are setting up cameras at Jerusalem’s Mount of Olives so they can cover Jesus’ return to Earth, which all red-blooded god-ists believe will happen sooner rather than later.

The two TV firms, Daystar Television Network and Trinity Broadcasting Network, each are angling to be the first to bring the messianic return direct to Mr. & Mrs. America’s living room when the end times begin.

I have to admit, even though I hold the whole Apocalypse myth to be…, well, a myth, it would be awfully cool to see the story played out on live TV — even though I’d be one of the poor suckers smitten down by the Four Horsemen, or whatever else the Christians have in store for non-believers.

Wait’ll I Get My Hands On Big Mike

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It would be the ultimate Roland Emmerich movie, recorded live.

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CENSORED

It’s Banned Books Week.

I can’t decide between “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” for my fave banned book.

Tough Choice

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The only events listings you need in Bloomington.

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Tuesday, October 2nd, 2012

Brought to you by The Electron Pencil: Bloomington Arts, Culture, Politics, and Hot Air. Daily.

FAIR ◗ Monroe County Fairgrounds, Commercial Building West — 29th Annual American Red Cross Book Fair, +100,000 used books, CDs, DVDs, games, maps, sheet music, etc.; 9am-7pm, through October 2nd

ART ◗ Ivy Tech Waldron Center, outside WFHB Studios — Public participation in creating a ten-foot sculpture called “The Messenger,” Rain or shine; 9am-5pm

ART ◗ Ivy Tech Waldron Center, outside WFHB Studios — Public participation in creating a ten-foot sculpture called “The Messenger,” Rain or shine; 9am-5pm

STUDIO TOUR ◗ Brown County, various locations — The Backroads of Brown County Studio Tour, free, self-guided tour of 16 local artists’ & craftspersons’ studios; 10am-5pm, through October

FILM ◗ IU Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center — Documentary, “Beyond Boundaries,” about LBGTQ immigrants in the US, Part of Sexploration Week, Director Betsy Jose will take questions after the showing; 4:30pm

LECTURE ◗ IU Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center — “Hunting, Territoriality and Violence in Chimpanzees, Presented by David Watts of Yale University; 6pm

FILM ◗ IU Swain Hall East — “No Habrá Paz Para Los Malvoados,” (Spain);  6pm

READINGS, ETC. ◗ Rachael’s Cafe — POC Zine Project’s Race Riot tour, featuring readings from zines, Sponsored by Boxcar Books; 7pm

MUSIC ◗ Muddy Boots Cafe, Nashville — Indiana Boys All-Star Jam; 7-9pm

FILM ◗ IU Cinema — “Grand Illusion“; 7pm

LECTURE ◗ Monroe County Public Library — “The Carbon Cycle: Indiana and the World Breathe Together,” Presented by Faiz Rahman on his NASA-funded research at Morgan-Monroe State Forest; 7pm

MUSIC ◗ IU Musical Arts Center — Symphonic Band & Concert Band, Jeffery Gershman & Eric Smedley, Conductors; 8pm

GAMES ◗ The Root Cellar at Farm Bloomington — Team trivia; 8pm

MUSIC ◗ The Player’s Pub — Blues Jam, Hosted by O2R Blues Band; 8pm

MUSIC ◗ The Bishop — Chain and the Gang, The Tsunamis; 9pm

ONGOING:

ART ◗ IU Art Museum — Exhibits:

  • “New Acquisitions,” David Hockney; through October 21st
  • Paintings by Contemporary Native American Artists; through October 14th
  • “Paragons of Filial Piety,” by Utagawa Kuniyoshi; through December 31st
  • “Intimate Models: Photographs of Husbands, Wives, and Lovers,” by Julia Margaret, Cameron, Edward Weston, & Harry Callahan; through December 31st
  • “French Printmaking in the Seventeenth Century;” through December 31st
  • Celebration of Cuban Art & Film: Pop-art by Joe Tilson; through December 31st
  • “Workers of the World, Unite!” through December 31st

ART ◗ Ivy Tech Waldron Center — Exhibits:

  • “Ab-Fab — Extreme Quilting,” by Sandy Hill; October 5th through October 27th
  • “Street View — Bloomington Scenes,” by Tom Rhea; October 5th through October 27th
  • “From the Heartwoods,” by James Alexander Thom; October 5th through October 27th
  • “The Spaces in Between,” by Ellen Starr Lyon; October 5th through October 27th

ART ◗ IU SoFA Grunwald Gallery — Exhibit:

  • “Samenwerken,” Interdisciplinary collaborative multi-media works; through October 11th

ART ◗ IU Kinsey Institute Gallery — Exhibits opening September 28th:

  • “A Place Aside: Artists and Their Partners;” through December 20th
  • “Gender Expressions;” through December 20th

PHOTOGRAPHY ◗ IU Mathers Museum of World Cultures — Exhibit:

  • “CUBAmistad” photos

ART ◗ IU Mathers Museum of World Cultures — Exhibits:

  • “¡Cuba Si! Posters from the Revolution: 1960s and 1970s”
  • “From the Big Bang to the World Wide Web: The Origins of Everything”
  • “Thoughts, Things, and Theories… What Is Culture?”
  • “Picturing Archaeology”
  • “Personal Accents: Accessories from Around the World”
  • “Blended Harmonies: Music and Religion in Nepal”
  • “The Day in Its Color: A Hoosier Photographer’s Journey through Mid-century America”
  • “TOYing with Ideas”
  • “Living Heritage: Performing Arts of Southeast Asia”
  • “On a Wing and a Prayer”

BOOKS ◗ IU Lilly Library — Exhibit:

  • “Outsiders and Others:Arkham House, Weird Fiction, and the Legacy of HP Lovecraft;” through November 1st
  • “A World of Puzzles,” selections form the Slocum Puzzle Collection

PHOTOGRAPHY ◗ Soup’s On — Exhibit:

  • Celebration of Cuban Art & Culture: “CUBAmistad photos; through October

PHOTOGRAPHY ◗ Monroe County History Center — Exhibit:

  • “Bloomington: Then and Now,” presented by Bloomington Fading; through October 27th

ARTIFACTS ◗ Monroe County History Center — Exhibit:

  • “Doctors and Dentists: A Look into the Monroe County Medical professions“

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