I found that to be really strange as well.

haha. donut-eating mouth-smackers... seriously, I guess these projects make sense in our contemporary capitalist environment. I mean this model is just good business sense. using ratios of overhead expediture to projected input value confuses the means and the ends.

-Praise the Lord! Now pass the collection plate-

or is it

-Pass the collection plate! Now praise the lord-

"Participatory democracy postulates low energy technology. Only participatory democracy creates the conditions for rational technology." Ivan Illich
http://radicalblogs.org/lpps

I vote based on a number of factors.  Most important for me is that the post is relevant and positive.  Posts that are uninteresting, negative, or inflamatory will get a low score from me.  Also, I take into consideration how well the post is written.  Style counts I think, though I probably should get low points there.  Finally, I grade posts based on how much I like the person posting.  Points will be given here for personal hygene, colourful attire, and length of mustache are really big for me (if you have a mustache, you are automatically tops in my book).

I think the voting can be based on whatever a person feels is relevant.  It is an opinion, and can be a completely personal choice.  The idea is that the number of people voting will balance out any irregularities.  

That's just me though.   

i agree with aaron, the evangelical/pentacostal movement also focuses on the individuals relationship with god and tends to obscure social, political and economic relations between us all. this is especially troubling in latin america where liberation theology has historically been so important to communities in struggle and who experience things like violence, poverty and suffering, to use the bible to raise consciousness about your communities oppression, to find passages which give you courage and strength to resist it and to organize through the already existing social and institutional networks of the catholic church, and to create a preferential option for the poor has been incredibly influential. liberation theology recognizes that you don't have to wait until you are in heaven for life to get better, that you can change the material conditions that press upon you here on earth. but for a long time now the pentacostal church has been heavily promoted in latin america (with that strong individualism message) and people i spoke to in el salvador talked about the CIA in part being responsible for that and expressed concern about organizing base communities and being seen as organizing politically, as there has been a recent resurgence of intimidation and repression in that country (the have an anti-terrorism law, helped along by their strong ties and co-operation with the US and the first people charged under it were from a Salvadoran organization i know well , as they were protesting against privitization of water).

i just know that as a person who grew up in the mennonite church which has classically been a peace church and had a concern with social justice, efforts by more liberal members of the church to recognize social, political and economic issues and to get the congregation involved were aggressively silenced as the church has become more conservative over the last decade and concerned more with things like evangelism and church planting. i couldn't imagine what it would be like in a mega church. i'm sure that there is some talk about charity, but that's just a convenient thing built into capitalism to assuage our guilt.

anyways i hope i haven't offended anyone who might be evangelical here, i hope i'm not being terribly ignorant, i'm just speaking from my own experiences and giving my own critique. but in terms of social change i think this movement is a huge hinderance to it.

“Coffee is a great power in my life...it chases away sleep...”
Honore De Blazac

Just north of Cincinnati or Dayton I think...

There's a huge church being built in Hyde Park right now. No statue of Jesus lunging out of a lake though. Not yet anyway.

Do you remember in Jaws when the shark jumped out of the water and dragged the helicopter out of the sky? that's what this always reminds me of... 

-30-
Mike.
"Debout les damnés de l'Université."
-=There is no Cabal, Long live the Cabal=-
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