Long-haired preachers come out every night,
Try to tell you what's wrong and what's right;
But when asked how 'bout something to eat
They will answer with voices so sweet:
CHORUS:
You will eat, bye and bye,
In that glorious land above the sky;
Work and pray, live on hay,
You'll get pie in the sky when you die.
(Joe Hill)
—
The above has a good lesson to it, but I'm posting because over the decades the phrase "Do you want pie in the sky when you die?" has often run through my head.
When I was a small child, I sometimes visited a family that would have Reverend Ike roaring away on the radio. His cadence was so catchy.
Some of his favorite refrains were:
–Do you want pie in the sky when you die? Or do you want your pie now with ice cream on top?
–You can't lose with the stuff I use!
My mom got rather annoyed with me always running around bellowing, "you can't lose with the stuff I use."
I'm not sure, because it was all so long ago, but I suspect that Ike was one of the "prosperity doctrine" preachers, which is what the verses above warn about. I find liberation theology to be more appealing.
Regardless, to this day I can still let out a heck of a "you can't lose with the stuff I use!"
Fuenteovejuna did it 
Here's good ol' Utah Phillips talking about Joe Hill and singing the song backed by Ani DiFranco.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhhzElzTZJwLove this song.
Originally posted by slackwrdave:
:yuck:
We could should use more great people today like Joe Hill; unfortunately they disappear or die soon after making an appearance.
Originally posted by 0x29a:
Oh my, good find!Originally posted by Philopro:
The wikipedia article on Joe Hill's execution is interesting. It mentions that, among others, President Woodrow Wilson and Helen Keller were involved in trying to get clemency for him. Helen Keller is yet another interesting historical figure. What I learned about her in school is way different from the larger picture I got of her later. History has to be pretty saccharine to make it into textbooks. That's how we get things like Rosa Parks sat down on the bus because she was tired.Teachers, of course, know the situation, and it's why good ones help you learn to utilize other resources and make your own decisions.
Prosperity doctrine, it seems so flim-flam. Even a superficial look at it will show ripe potential for abuse and linkage with other destructive things.As for religion in general, I always want to know how it points to truth and justice. If I can learn some things about love along the way, all the better.—I'm actually thinking of a way to relate all this to free software, lol. It can be done, I think. One can even link free vs. proprietary software to GMO crops if desired.English is just too danged ambiguous with the word "free".