[Vision2020] All kinds? Uh... right.

Tony tonytime at clearwire.net
Sat Apr 7 20:44:31 PDT 2007 

Oh c'mon Paul!  You know damn good and well that I have never taken the position that God hates anyone, homosexual or otherwise.  If you think the mainstream right believes such nonsense, then invite some representatives of the mainstream right to your little (love?) in, and listen to what they have to say rather than pigeonholing them as a bunch of inbred bigots. 

Really, Paul, I had you figured as more fair-minded than that.

-T
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Paul Rumelhart 
  To: vision2020 at moscow.com 
  Sent: Saturday, April 07, 2007 8:36 PM
  Subject: Re: [Vision2020] All kinds? Uh... right.


  It's interesting that I would use the phrase "self congratulatory moral posturing" to describe what fundamentalists are doing when they are explaining how God hates gays or whatever.  I guess it's all in your perspective, and whose set of morals, I guess.

  Paul

  Tony wrote: 
Tom, here's just a brief note to help your friend Joan in answering her 
question as to why she is interested in a conference about "finding the 
center."   I believe the answer is that said conference is a gathering of 
ultra-liberals and boasts NO CONSERVATIVE VOICES.  Clearly Joan is enamored 
with the program because it has absolutely nothing to do with finding the 
center so much as providing a forum for liberals to engage in their favorite 
pastime: self congratulatory moral posturing.

Ho-hum.

-T
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tom Hansen" <thansen at moscow.com>
To: "Vision 2020" <vision2020 at moscow.com>
Sent: Friday, April 06, 2007 3:31 PM
Subject: [Vision2020] It Takes All Kinds to Help Find the Center


  >From today's (April 6, 2007) Moscow-Pullman Daily News -

------------------------------------------------------------------

HER VIEW: It takes all kinds to help find the center

By Joan Opyr

Why would I be interested in a conference called Finding the Center? I am 
a
left-wing Democrat. I am a feminist. I am an activist. I have spent the
whole of my adult life campaigning for causes and concerns that are 
anathema
to many on the right-wing side of the political divide. Why would I want 
to
seek common ground with conservatives, moderates, and others with whom I
often disagree?

The short answer is that it takes all kinds to make a world. I believe in
diversity, in multiculturalism, and that includes diversity of opinion.
Being tolerant does not mean lying down and letting others walk all over
you, but it does mean making an effort to live in harmony with everyone,
even if that harmony is only agreeing to disagree. Our local community and
the larger world depend on our willingness to do this simple thing, to
extend the olive branch where we can, and to seek commonality wherever it
exists. This does not mean that we give up our values or stop fighting for
our beliefs, but that we recognize that while difference may be 
frightening,
it doesn't need to be destructive.

Finding the Center is an action-oriented human rights conference that 
seeks
to instruct, to inspire, to teach and to challenge. Four speakers will 
come
to the University of Idaho April 12-14 to present four different tracks. 
All
will focus on how we can serve as positive agents of change within our
communities.

Randie S. Gottlieb, Ed. D., is the founder of UNITYWORKS LLC and 
co-founder
of the Mona Foundation. She will deliver the keynote address and lead a
discussion track focused on education and the empowerment of women.

Balbir Mathur, the founder of "Trees for Life," which has helped more than
2.5 million people plant more than 30 million trees in developing 
countries
since its inception in 1984, will lead a discussion track on social
entrepreneurship.

The Rev. John L. Selders Jr., is the founding organizing pastor of Amistad
United Church of Christ in Hartford, Conn., the care coordinator of Zezzo
house, an 18-unit housing project, and the lead principal for the Human
Connection Project. He will lead a discussion track on common community.

Anna Boluda, a journalist, filmmaker and Fulbright scholar who has worked 
as
a television reporter, a producer and in public relations, will screen her
award-winning film "Queer Spawn." Boluda will teach a plenary session in
documentary filmmaking, and she will teach us ways in which our own 
families
and our everyday lives provide us with an opportunity to create social
change. The title of her discussion track is "Families as Agents of 
Change."

Since August, it has been my privilege and honor to serve as program
director of the YWCA of Washington State University. The YWCA is an 
activist
organization with one imperative: eliminating racism and empowering women.
The YWCA began as the Young Women's Christian Association. We are proud of
our heritage, but in the 152 years since our founding, we have expanded 
our
reach, our membership, and our vision of the world. The YWCA has always 
been
committed to peace and increased global understanding. Our first project
after our founding in 1855 was to create housing opportunities for nurses
returning from the Crimean War.

Throughout our history, the YWCA has been concerned about health care, job
training, working conditions, domestic violence, civil rights and social
justice. In the 1930s, we spoke out against lynching and racial 
segregation.
In 1942, we provided services to Japanese-American women who had been
incarcerated in World War II internment camps. The YWCA adopted an
Interracial Charter eight years before the Supreme Court issued its 
landmark
decision in Brown vs. the Board of Education.

Today, there are YWCAs in more than 100 countries, and we remain committed
to diversity, equality, and social justice. We are proud to be a sponsor 
of
Finding the Center, a conference which offers participants the chance to
meet and network with others in the community who are also committed to
peace, tolerance, and positive change.

For more information about Finding the Center, please visit:

www.uidaho.edu/ftc

------------------------------------------------------------------

Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"If not us, who?
If not now, when?"

- Unknown


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