Food, Inc.

Last night the documentary Food, Inc opened in my city and I went with some friends to see it. While I was l already informed regarding some of the details covered in the movie, the control of Monsanto over soybean farmers and seed in this country is absolutely terrifying. It literally took my breath away. The way that farmers have been treated by Monsanto is horrible and enough to make you just heartsick.

This is an excellent movie that does not use scare tactics (such as lots of disturbing slaughterhouse film) but lays out the development of our current food crisis in North America with care and calm deliberation. I cannot urge anyone enough to go see this movie. It will make you take a long look at what you are buying and putting into your body and how this simple act is deeply connected to the lives of millions of workers, animals, farmers, and the environment.

Long Live Wolverine

X-men Origins: Wolverine is opening this weekend and I *cannot* wait! I am a huge X-men fan. This should be interesting.

Engine 2 Diet with Rip Esselstyn

I have been following the research of Dean Ornish, John McDougall, and Caldwell Esselstyn for a few years as various family members have struggled with chronic diseases. Having never been a huge fan of meat, moving to a plant-based diet was not hard for me and has had some amazing results in my health and overall fitness levels.

Fortunately, Dr. Esselstyn's son Rip, a fire fighter in Austin Texas, follows his father's advice and converted some of his fire fighter brothers to this wonderful diet. If you have not heard of the Engine 2 diet, you need to get a copy and read it ASAP. 

To learn more about Rips program, check out the Engine 2 Diet website. You won't regret it!

Have food, will travel

Trying to eat well while traveling is a tough one for me. This lady has it all figured out in that regard....take your own healthy food and avoid the high cost and ill effects of airport fare!

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

On this day in 1945 Dietrich Bonhoeffer was hung in Flossenburg concentration camp in Germany. Bonhoeffer was a German theologian and pastor who was martyred during WW II for his opposition to Hitler, including being a part of a plot to assassinate Hitler. Bonhoeffer's Cost of Discipleship has probably affected me more than almost any other book I have read, other than the Bible, and speaks to the Christian in modern times as a powerful and most relevant voice coming down through the ages.

I have just finished reading Bonhoeffer's Letters and Papers from Prison and am amazed at his astute political, social, and spiritual observations. But he did not stop with observation. He acted. He acted courageously during extremely difficult times. While I do not advocate assassination as a means to eliminate evil (many countries have tried such tactics and new dictators pop up before the old one's body is cold), I do understand Bonhoeffer's stance. He did not feel that he could ask the military men of other countries to kill Hitler if he himself was not prepared to do it. He saw himself as entirely at God's mercy for his decision and while the plot(s) failed, Bonhoeffer did not attempt to avoid responsibility to God or others regarding his actions.

In his Letters and Papers from Prison, Bonhoeffer argued at one point in his incarceration that so many people at that time in Germany wanted security and safety. Due to this, among other things, they were willing to give up their integrity and accountability to God for their lives; to commit evil deeds, or stand by as others committed atrocities, that are still hard to imagine. That is a sharp and true word for us today in the U.S. and modern Western civilization. One that pierces the conscience and influence of the times.

As Bonhoeffer was led to the gallows he said to one of his fellow prisoners who survived the camps, "This is the end----for me, the beginning of life".

I have only just begun to realize what kind of close walk with God, the level of obedience, those words indicate.

To the Dweeb who did business on his cell phone in the middle of Borders today.....

A happy song.....

I love Imogen Heap. Her songs are whimsical, creative, original and independent. Check her out...