Since Barry is from my neck of the woods and I am quite familiar with the poet and author of fiction, here are a few snippets of some of his speeches:

http://www.relocalize.net/node/4770

“These forms of political economy may be described as sentimental because they depend absolutely upon a political faith for which there is no justification, and because they issue a cold check on the virtue of political and/or economic rulers. They seek, that is, to preserve the gullibility of the people by appealing to a fund of political virtue that does not exist. Communism and “free-market” capitalism both are modern versions of oligarchy. In their propaganda, both justify violent means by good ends, which always are put beyond reach by the violence of the means. The trick is to define the end vaguely – “the greatest good of the greatest number” or “the benefit of the many” – and keep it at a distance.”

This is my favorite:

“In the second place, the “law of competition” does not imply that many competitors will compete indefinitely. The law of competition is a simple paradox: Competition destroys competition. The law of competition implies that many competitors, competing on the “free market” will ultimately and inevitably reduce the number of competitors to one. The law of competition, in short, is the law of war. ”

(What he misses here is that without government intervention, the cylce starts all over because the ones that come out on top, get fat and lazy and some whippersnapper comes in and takes a big chunk of the market from them in quality and price and the cycle continues. This does not happen because of government intervention. Barry believes that free market competition leads to war. He is a crank)

Another one not well thought out:

“The folly at the root of this foolish economy began with the idea that a corporation should be regarded, legally, as “a person.” But the limitless destructiveness of this economy comes about precisely because a corporation is not a person. A corporation, essentially, is a pile of money to which a number of persons have sold their moral allegiance”

(Does he even know where the concept of a “corporation” came from?

BTW: I love the idea of local economy in food. And I do buy local for many things at the Farmers markets. But I also like to eat oranges in winter.

From Wiki:
Berry has criticized Christian organizations for failing to challenge cultural complacency about environmental degradation, and has shown a willingness to criticize what he perceives as the arrogance of some Christians. Berry is a fellow of Britain’s Temenos Academy, a learned society devoted to the study of all faiths and spiritual pursuits; Berry publishes frequently in the annual Temenos Academy Review, funded by the Prince of Wales.

Barry is an aggrarian socialist.

Are you wondering if I’m Just Wondering? No, I’m just Wondering. Who’s On First?

Thanks for your response. I will look forward to your comment.

You are right. We need to comment on this ASAP and I plan to do so very shortly. I am not pleased by some of the reports yet there are resources into ministries that are found at this site that are not well documented elsewhere. I promise to expand on this and am not going to run from the topic. Blessings .

I like reading your blog. Even if I don’t agree 100%, this blog makes me think.

I notice you have a link for CRI. To the best of my knowledge, CRI’s leader does not have an MDiv or even a college degree. He has about the same education as CJ Mahaney. So … comments?

Plus, CRI has had many well-documented financial indiscretions. Will you write about CRI like you have SGM and the SBC?

These questions are not meant to be contentious. It just seems puzzling that you would link to CRI, an organization that has many of the problems that you draw attention to on this blog.

Thanks!

Thank you for your balanced and timely reply. I am confident that your husband is a prince of a man as are so many others in the medical field.

And no it’s not the scientists who are getting rich, they are simply the do-bees who pay the bills, raise families and pay their taxes.

It’s the multi-national coporations who are getting rich. They do so with impunity, and at the expense of the humanness we all hold dear.

Did you know there was a time when corporate charters could only be renewed at the pleasure of state legislatures and for the common good?

The Dodge vs Woolsey decision (Supreme Court 1855) affirmed that coporations are not individuals and therefore do not fall under the constitutional rubric of unalienable rights.

That all changed during the Civil War. Big bizz got a whiff of the loot that can be had from war profiteering (Haliburton & Blackwater are no slouches nowadays either), and after the conflict they went on to midwife our first Gilded Age.

I too have enjoyed a brief dialogue here at your blog, and I thank you for being gracious and civil!

Pax,
Muff

You’ve got the Gothard link right. We are trying to transfer over our archives and tag and categorize them so folks can see what we have written in the past. We actually have discussed the Gothard connection. We also wrote a weeks series on the Duggars.

Ham is called a “creation scientist” by so many people. He is no scientist and, as far as I am concerned, he is no theologian as well.But he sure has positioned himself as an authority and so many people, who do not understand what real scientists do, actually follow his as an “authority.”

THanks for your great comment.

Of course, there is over usage of drugs, not just in psychiatric venue,s but in infections, etc. But I have seen lives changed with judicious use of drugs.My heart goes out to Tesla and others who actually may have benefited by modern discoveries. Poor JB Philips, the Bible writer, suffered and spent time in institutions being treated for mental disability. Just like antibiotics (discovered by those educated), psychotropics have saved many a life. By saved, I mean giving them the ability to participate in day to day life.

As for corporations controlling universities, I once again have to disagree with such a far reaching statement. My husband was the Young Investigator of the Year for the American College of Cardiology (back when we were young). He also did basic bench research on receptors both at Duke and UTSW. UTSW has a number of Nobel laureates. Neither my husband nor most of them were ever beholden to a drug company. Research is research and truth is truth.Most scientists are in it for the love of discovery and would bristle at being told they were schills for drug companies since most are too cussedly independent for that.But, like anything else, there are some.

Finally, I worked for Glaxo SmithKline for a couple of years. Once again, the people who work there are truly interested in discovering drugs to treat diseases.Trust me, there are few meetings about “how to take over universities.” Drug companies need good researchers who can carefully conduct drug studies in order to be sure the drugs are safe and effective. The money they earn go to fund their labs for research that wouldn’t be done otherwise. These researchers are not getting rich-I know, I lived it personally and professionally. Of course, there are exceptions.I praise God for the drug companies filled with most people who want to make a living helping others.

I shall check out Wendell Berry’s address.Thank you for taking the time to dialogue. I have enjoyed it!!!

Just a side note; the Duggars have FOUR (!) children college age (though one is married and just had a child @ 21), another who is 17, and they avoid every question about college. They are big fans of Bill Gothard

I’ve read Noll and I am in agreement with many of his salient points.

I am also fascinated with the writings of Greg Boyd.

I’ll grant you that Tesla was like a rogue comet out past the Oort cloud. But for all his eccentricty (no pun intended), he did indeed make a large contribution to the technological society we enjoy today.

I’m not so sure though, that he would have benefited much from the psychotrophic drugs churned out by the corporate behemoths that rule our universities these days. Aldous Huxley saw it coming, but I doubt that he saw Pfizer leading the charge.

Just for grins, Google up Wendell Berry’s commencement address (2007) at Bellarmine University. He takes Corporate America to task with verve and elan. Berry has more credibility than the folks at Fox News will ever have.