The Great Divide: The world is becoming more polarized and corrupt – and does anybody care?

   

January 27, 2013 – WORLD – Yet here we are, forced to choose between two ideologies, two disparate worlds that rely on two disparate sets of facts. The reasoned voter, who cares about finding the best answer to our questions, is forced to determine the lesser of two jaded markets for truth. These two markets present problems for our politics. Americans think we are more divided than we actually are. Our politicians disagree far more frequently than we need to disagree. Gridlock ensues. Even more disturbing is that social science becomes politicized, and the public is fooled into thinking that truth is a two party system. –.Campus Times 

Upside Down and polarized: The world of cinema reflects this widening rift in society, by class, by race, by religion, by gender, and  socio-economic status. In the movie, Upside Down, reality exists simultaneously in two adjoining worlds. One is right side up, and the other is upside down. The only question is which is really which? Kept apart from the girl he has loved his entire life; Adam must fight to reunite with Eden. But the laws of his world as well as the laws of gravity keep him from her. Adam must risk everything to access the forbidden world of affluence that exists literally above him. As he struggles to keep the authorities from discovering him while manipulating the gravitational force that physically pulls him back to his world, Adam faces insurmountable danger in hopes of finding his long-lost love. Two worlds; worlds apart…

Dangling from a cliff: Political wrangling in Washington and 11^th hour maneuvers, in the face of a perilous approaching ‘fiscal cliff’ reflects the growing divide and inadequacy of a political system that is already grinding to a crawl under the weight of its own bureaucracy, financial mismanagement, and corruption. As the world continues to unravel, and tensions mount in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa and there’s more debt in the world of late than common sense; American are collecting guns and bullets in record numbers, preparing for an ‘unthinkable’. The ranks of the disenfranchised are growing, along with the unemployed, and nobody seems to care or be able to offer solutions to heal or address either. Meanwhile, religions institutions are seeing an ever increasing number of followers abandoning the church altogether. Scandals, corruption, and liberalism continue to be the death keel for many religious organizations, who are being shaken down by the changing times. Just consider the headlines in the news of late:

Monsignor runs meth ring: To onlookers, Monsignor Kevin Wallin’s fall from grace at his Connecticut parish was like something out of “Breaking Bad,” the television series about a high school chemistry teacher who becomes a methamphetamine lord. The suspended Roman Catholic priest was arrested on federal drug charges this month for allegedly having methamphetamine mailed to him from co-conspirators in California and making more than $300,000 in drugs sales out of his apartment in Waterbury in the second half of last year. Along the way, authorities said, he bought a small adult video and sex toy shop in the nearby town of North Haven named “Land of Oz & Dorothy’s Place,” apparently to launder all the money he was making. He has pleaded not guilty, and jury selection in his trial is scheduled to begin March 21. On social media sites, people couldn’t help but compare Wallin with Walter White, the main character on “Breaking Bad” who was making so much cash that he and his wife bought a car wash to launder their profits. He has also been dubbed in some media as “Monsignor Meth.” Wallin, 61, was the pastor of St. Augustine Parish in Bridgeport for nine years until he resigned in June 2011, citing health and personal problems. He previously served six years as pastor of St. Peter’s Church in Danbury until 2002. He was granted a sabbatical in July 2011. The Diocese of Bridgeport suspended him from public ministry last May. Diocesan officials become concerned about Wallin in the spring of 2011 after complaints about his appearance and erratic behavior, diocese spokesman Brian Wallace told the Connecticut Post. Some reports of his behavior were startling. “We became aware that he was acting out sexually — with men — in the church rectory,” Wallace told the newspaper, adding that church officials deemed the sexual behavior unbecoming of a priest and asked Wallin to resign. –CT Post

Friar kills himself over sex-abuse scandal: A Franciscan friar accused of sexually abusing students at Catholic high schools in Ohio and Pennsylvania killed himself at a western Pennsylvania monastery, police said Saturday. Brother Stephen Baker, 62, was found dead of self-inflicted wounds at the St. Bernardine Monastery in Hollidaysburg on Saturday morning, Blair Township Police Chief Roger White told the Associated Press. He declined to specify the type of wounds or say whether a note was found. Baker was named in legal settlements last week involving 11 men who alleged that he sexually abused them at a Catholic high school in northeast Ohio three decades ago. The undisclosed financial settlements announced Jan. 16 involved his contact with students at John F. Kennedy High School in Warren, Ohio from 1986-90. The Youngstown diocese previously said it was unaware of the allegations until nearly 20 years after the alleged abuse. –ABC