Happy Birthday, Dad!

I don’t think he’ll mind my announcing the milestone he achieves today on his 85th birthday. That’s a lot of proverbial water under the bridge and congratulations are in order. I was never shortchanged on my Christmas birthday because Dad was always willing to share his with me. Literally thousands of lives have been touched by his remarkable ministry, and he continues to touch lives today (when I called him this morning he was just about to depart on his Meals on Wheels deliveries). As Christmas 2008 approaches I give thanks for both my parents and all they have given me over the years.

This is my last day at work before my Christmas break (yes, I respect that there are other holidays this time of year, but for me, it’s Christmas). I am so grateful that it will be possible for Mary and me to share the festivities with our daughters and the ever-growing circle of family and friends they bring in. I pray that your holidays may be as blessed.

To entice a quick visit to Incite between now and January 5, 2009, I offer the work of my two favorite essayists for your perusal and enjoyment:

Listen to the Kids by Nancy Gibbs

The Teddy Awards by Joe Klein

Christmas Is Coming!

Christmas is finally almost here! At least the holiday is almost here. For those who are more comfortable with a static, linear worldview, holidays come and then they go. It’s less comfortable to abstract to a dynamic comprehension that considers something like Christmas to pervade in an ongoing fashion. Thus we lightly quip that every day should be Christmas, or Easter, or Thanksgiving, or Sunday, etc, but the words are empty because we keep marking the occasions by dates on the calendar. I’m looking forward to a time of reflection and relaxation as I gather with my family, and I’m hoping that there may be an opportunity to ponder the profound meaning of God dwelling with us. Then Christmas can—rather than marking the end for another calendar year—become the beginning of a relationship which has no end.

Friday Update

Rachel and Steve thoughtfully included the s30incite site meter when setting Incite up for me, and according to today’s report it looks like the five-thousandth visit to my blog might coincide with the New Year. As of yesterday there have been 4,858 total visits which are averaging nine per day. That I’m no mathematician is readily apparent, but my real intention was to just say thank you to everyone who entertains my need to process words.

Has Anyone Seen the Clark County District Attorney?

An hour ago we received this e-mail from the Clark County Manager:

Dear Employees,

Due to today's winter storm, department heads may use their discretion to send home all non-essential employees. We encourage employees to exercise caution while driving due to slick roadways with possible snow accumulation. See attached news release for more details. In addition, we understand the Clark County School District will make a decision early Thursday morning (around 4:30 A.M.) about whether schools will be closed tomorrow.

Virginia Valentine

As I said, that was an hour ago. Our department head is the distinguished Clark County District Attorney, David Roger. No word yet. I'm guessing Mr. Roger may have already gone home, along with his assistant district attornies, directors, assistant directors, et al. So there you have it, us n...oppressed are watching Henderson city employees sent home at 3 PM, McCarran International Airport closing, cancellations all over the city, and waiting for word of liberation from the Master(s) that will never come.

It’s the Children, Stupid!

Incite went dark yesterday as I celebrated Christmas with my coworkers for the entire lunch hour. I can get away with the reference to Christmas because, to the best of my knowledge, we don’t have any infidels on our team. The food and cameraderie were akin to what is probably experienced in prisons and other institutions that let the n…the oppressed observe the holiday. Ah, Christmas!

This brings me to the truly miraculous nature of this holy day. Whenever a tradition is observed for centuries it runs the risk of losing its meaning, or of it at least becoming corrupted and diluted. Literally a child of Christmas, I would encourage us all to look at the central figure of this profound myth: a child. And not a child of means or prominence but a possibly bastard child born in the lowliest of conditions in the outback nowhere. Christians have prettied the story up over two millennia, but the raw original tale is truly incredible to the rational mind.

So Christmas really is for children! It’s about children. It elevates children as represented by the Christ child to the status of God dwelling with us. Imagine how our world would change for the better if every birth was celebrated as sacred. (I’m going to have to find the poem that Dad always used in his candlelight services which even Google isn’t turning up.) The glory of Christmas revealed in a child is that it holds true for all children, and when we come to see the Christ in every child we will begin to understand what the reign of God is really all about.

Scrooge 1, Nice 0

As anyone who knows us might expect, my comments last Thursday generated a heated discussion between Mary and me. It also prompted Josh to offer some sage counsel. Mary doesn’t like my use of the ‘n’ word, and quite frankly, neither do I. Mary literally hates the ethnic slur, and so do I. Mary’s best point in the debate was that I don’t deserve to try to identify with African Americans who have been subjected to slavery, discrimination, and the like. This is also true. I know nothing of the black experience. As I explained to her, however, my limited vocabulary doesn’t provide any other word that is as “inciteful”.

So it is in this context that I now open it up to those who read my blog to help me discover the appropriate word that powerfully calls attention to the wholly unacceptable regard of those who consider themselves superior for those whom they consider inferior. This phenomenon is what essentially accounts for all the world’s ills: men consider themselves superior to women, adults consider themselves superior to children, educated consider themselves superior to uneducated, whites consider themselves superior to blacks, and so on. Jesus, as the Christ, revealed that all are equal in the eyes of God and that judgment therefore—that process of assessing what is superior and what is inferior—is the sole jurisdiction of the Creator. As children of God (which includes everyone) there is nothing that justifies an attitude of condescending superiority toward that which is perceived as inferior.

I’m all ready to get on with the happy preparations for the upcoming holidays and set this issue on the back burner until after the New Year. That’s when I’ll revisit it and see if together we can successfully find the word that appropriately speaks of all who are discriminated against as less than equal.

A Break from Christmas

It’s Thursday, my Friday, and I’m just not in the mood to process much more. Our annual training in IRS certification, security, and confidentiality was today, and at it’s conclusion I innocently asked why—when we’re subject to individual and governmental fines up to $250,000 plus imprisonment for infractions—isn’t there a paper shredder at every work station? The female canine that glories in being our assistant director informed me that because the County pays $200 per shredder it was not economically feasible in these constrained times. Review-Journal: are you paying attention? Clark County is paying $200 per shredder that can be purchased at Target for one-tenth the cost? Please! I am so tired of arrogant, condescending elitism from the likes that idolize Sarah Palin and her wardrobe. There’s no time like Christmas for us niggers (please see 10/23/08) to stand up and take Master down.

Happy Birthday, Janie!

In 2005, nineteen-year-old Jane married twenty-year-old John, and barely ten months later begat little Janie. Janie was barely two when her mother and father divorced, and part of her third birthday celebration was to accompany her mom to our office to apply for child support. Unless John miraculously adopts a new sense of responsibility for Janie, she won’t be getting any financial support from him anytime soon. I can’t help but wonder what Christmas is going to be like for all the Janies and Johnnies in this “Christian” nation of ours that so piously condemns choice and same sex marriages. At least when John marries George there won’t be any little “begats” running around unless their adoptive family has survived a rigorous screening process. And I am compelled to ask where all the pro-lifers are. That little life they insist was full-blown at conception is now just a pawn in legal wrangling that proves nothing more than that John and Jane think of no one but themselves. Congratulations, Janie, you were saved for your destiny by irrational zealots! As I wrote yesterday, Christmas is about the love of and for family. For as long as Americans tolerate and condone countless scenarios like the one I’ve just described, we can forget about ever genuinely grasping the reason for the season.

Cleaning Up the Mess

The nativity of the New Testament is just plain messy. For example, if the emphasis is upon virgin birth, why not just leave Joseph out of the picture altogether? This may explain why only Matthew and Luke ventured into this murky area (with quite different narratives) while Mark and John were willing to forego it. Although more rhetorical than practical, I always respected the United Methodist doctrine which states that faith cannot be defined as making the unbelievable believable. Fully in keeping with a centuries-old Judeo-Christian tradition, the story of Jesus’ birth was never written as historical fact, but rather as metaphor. The wish to restore the reason to the season must begin here. To genetically test for paternity, etc, completely misses the point. The Advent of Christ instead profoundly focuses upon a man, a woman, and a child. God’s only begotten son—a classically ambiguous example of what organized religion has done with and to the story—is revealed to humankind in a most fundamental way, and in today’s world we would do well to focus our attention on the love of family instead of magic. Christmas is the celebration of the gift of love to our world by the most natural and ordinary means imaginable: the family. Are you hoping to experience the miracle of Christmas? Do you really want to experience peace on Earth through goodwill toward all humankind? Do you really want to see a better world for yourself and your children? It’s no harder or easier than looking to the source of your being for the answer. Phillips Brooks, to my way of thinking, had a better grasp of the true meaning of Christmas than anyone I know accompanied by the ability to put it in unforgettable words:

How silently, how silently, the wondrous Gift is giv’n;
So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of His Heav’n.
No ear may hear His coming, but in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive Him still, the dear Christ enters in.

O LITTLE TOWN OF BETHLEHEM

It’s Beginning to Not Look Like Christmas

I’ve given a lot of thought to Tamara’s comments on September 22, to wit: “I did not respond earlier, because I know of your illness and thought perhaps you were not feeling well - I did not want to aggravate the situation.” My illness, of course, is chronic myelogenous leukemia and it is true that there are some days when I don’t feel as well as others. But it seems an odd way to explain my comments critical of Sarah Palin.

More than aches and pains (which may just accompany growing older) a terminal diagnosis such as mine lends a degree of certitude to an already inevitable truth: I am going to die. It is in the context of this reality that I admit to a certain directness which not everyone (or anyone?) appreciates. Michael & The Mechanics’ haunting The Living Years powerfully raises the notion that if there’s something on our mind we had better say it now because there is no guarantee that we will be around to say or hear it later.

It may be time to duck and cover because I’m experiencing that sense of directness about Christmas this year. After decades of crass commercialization the Zeitgeist may finally be for genuinely reforming the observance. When Mercedes-Benz advertises their product as a well-deserved “holiday” gift, I call that stupid and make no apology for calling it that. There is a miraculous truth to be found in Christmas, that being the existential truth of relationship with our Creator. And so, once again, I find the attempt to attach any other meaning to the phenomenon to be disingenuous and stupid. That’s not because I’m not feeling well. It’s because it’s just plain stupid.

Too Good To Be True

I generally abide by the axiom that if it’s too good to be true then it probably is. Barack Obama is proving to be the exception. Elected to essentially save our country from the gross ineptitude and chicanery of the current and past administrations, Obama shows no sign of not being up to the task. Just as his election itself was historic, his transition team and emerging Cabinet are also on an epic track. I have every confidence that in four years from now even his most strident opponents will have to admit that Obama is akin to an American messiah.

That this analogy may offend some is certainly nothing new. Rigid parochial thinking allows for one and only one messiah who meets the institutionalized prerequisites. It’s no different than it was two-thousand years ago when Jesus’ “messiahship” was questioned by the establishment. The itinerant preacher from Nazareth certainly didn’t meet orthodox expectations, but the miracle of the Christ is that it transcends human reasoning. Likewise, while I know that many “experts” will dismiss the notion that a messiah could or would follow Obama’s path to the White House, I am prepared to confess that the Higher Power which relates to humankind through the Christ works in mysterious and wondrous ways. I won’t be surprised if, two-thousand years from now, there won’t be a mythological telling of a star that shone brightly in the East to announce the birth of a Savior.

A Word of Hope

The election of Barack Obama has inspired hope that things can change for the better. It inspires in me a hope that people are hungering for such change in more than just politics. As I near my fifty-ninth year on the planet, I have observed a steady erosion of the spirit of Christmas by capitalism, consumerism and greed. There has always been the hope that the true meaning of Christmas might be recaptured, and there may be no better time than when the people have chosen their President because of the promise for change. Maybe, just maybe, this Christmas can be more about giving than receiving, more about wanting genuine love than materialistic goods. The team of eleven that I work with has opted to donate to charity this year in lieu of the traditional gift exchange, a choice in keeping with the spirit of Redefine Christmas. My hope is more real than it has been in years that, just as we decided it was time for real change in Washington, D.C., we are ready to grow in a faith based not on belief but experience. Scripture, tradition and reason are not the end, but the means to a fuller, richer experience of the relationship with our Creator to which we are invited by Immanuel: God with us.

Reflection on Regression

I first noticed it while serving on the Program-Curriculum Committee of the Board of Education of The United Methodist Church. In an attempt to meet competitor David C. Cook head-on, contemporary issues illustrated with photographs of sixties settings began giving way to “Bible-based” curriculum with cartoonish representations of ancient peoples. Since that time the insidious march of fundamentalism in this country has all but taken over the popular perception of what Christianity is all about. Never content with the propagation of a literalistic hermeneutic, the fundamentalists—who, in a stroke of public relations genius, later called themselves evangelicals—shamelessly promoted that they alone knew the mind of God and what this Trinitarian deity thought and felt about everything from abortion to homosexuality. Rather than take a progressive stand against such nonsense, mainline Protestantism decided that “if you can’t lick them, join them,” and a convoluted neo-orthodoxy became the religion of the land. In an ironic twist, the “what would Jesus do” question revealed the hypocrisy and sacrilege of a consumer theology and its eisegesis. This little tirade came on as I contemplated what Christmas, sacred and secular, has become in our society. Being born of God’s love is an answer increasingly elusive to those who don’t even know enough to ask the question.

I’m Dreaming of a …

I cannot imagine a more perfect Thanksgiving. All the kids were home, Rebecca celebrated her birthday, and the family generally basked in the love. I am truly sorry for those whose experience was not the same. If I knew how to change that for them, I would. Alas, I do not, but I’m not going to let that detract from the joyful fulfillment that was ours this past weekend. I can only attest to the beauty and meaning of the family gathered and united by love.

By some calendars this is the first day of Advent, a process of preparing for Christmas observed by some Christians. Even though I no longer feel comfortable calling myself a Christian, such traditions are indelibly imprinted upon my worldview—my understanding of who and what I am—and play an integral role in my thoughts and actions. If the joy and peace I experienced during Thanksgiving can be attributed in the abstract to love, then I am excited about participating in a process that prepares for such love to be born unto all humankind. This is a far cry from consumerism’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday but is certainly more in keeping with the true reason for the season.

Reasons for Thanksgiving

Perhaps you too heard Ofeibea Quist-Arcton’s report yesterday on NPR about the expanding food crisis in Zimbabwe that ended with this profoundly disturbing image:

Farmers, villagers and townsfolk alike say that some Zimbabweans are reduced to plucking undigested corn kernels from cow dung, which they wash, pound and then cook. That could be tonight's supper.

As I assume the patriarchal role at tomorrow’s Thanksgiving feast I will be sorely remiss if I fail to bring this horrifying truth to the attention of those gathered, even at the risk of spoiling a few appetites. We Americans have earned an “ugly” reputation in much of the world through our indifference and self-centeredness, and it is probably deserved if we fail to think beyond our own four walls.

Yes, we have so much to be grateful for. But such gratitude is empty if it does not consider “the least of these.” No, we’re not going to be able to box up tomorrow’s dinner and send it to Zimbabwe, but we can reverently consume the abundance that is ours to fuel a spirit of genuine compassion that will not rest easy until the feast is shared with all.

Reasons for Thanksgiving

Count Your Blessings
I find it to be true that the methodical, conscientious inventory of all the good things in my life leaves very little room for the bad. As President-elect Obama challenges us to sacrifice luxury for moderation, he will do well to have us do so in the context of counting our blessings. For those of us who have roofs over our heads, food in our bellies, clothing enough to protect us from the elements, our concentration on those gifts will provide the context in which we see the need to ensure that everyone can be grateful for the same things. Again, relativity is key. Should I let myself obsess on those who have more than I, my unhappiness will likely increase because there are always going to be those who have more than I do (Warren Buffet and Bill Gates being the exception). But when I concentrate on all that I do have, including so many intangibles like the love of family, etc, my mind turns not to what more I need but to the abundance that allows me to share. I want to believe that one of the profound changes in the air these days is the dismissal of greed as the sinfully immoral thing it is. That can start with this first Thanksgiving of a new era in which we gather with loved ones around the table and give thanks for what we have, and to find authentic expression for that gratitude in the selfless act of sharing.

Reasons for Thanksgiving

My parents were children during the Great Depression, young adults during World War II, and reared a family during the Cold War. I benefitted from all this simply by being their child. Gratitude—thankfulness—is simply more sincere among those who had little, just as it is elusive for those of us who have always had. Yes, I’m well aware that everything is relative, and that all the things I had growing up in the fifties and sixties pale by comparison to what kids today have. But what those kids today don’t have is the example of adults who have had to make any significant sacrifice. It is with no pride that I am able to say that I’ve never had to go without, a very different legacy for my children than that bestowed upon me by my parents. Our parents’ generation grows smaller by the day, just one of many reasons to participate in StoryCorps’ National Day of Listening this coming Friday. Given our current economic situation, this makes ever so much more sense than consumerism’s Black Friday which does nothing more than reinforce the fallacy that meaningful happiness is derived from stuff. Thanks, Mom and Dad!

Thursday Is My Friday

I prefer the term ‘progressive’ to ‘liberal’ because it better conveys the spirit of intent. It seems to me possible that both liberals and conservatives can be progressive in persuasion. It also clarifies the opposite as regressive. As I engage in the production mode to which I referred in Tuesday’s post, I efficiently multi-task by reading at the same time, and that’s how I came across this little factoid which serves to illustrate the point I am trying to make. In 1979, President Jimmy Carter had the White House fitted with solar panels. That’s progressive. In 1986, President Ronald Reagan had the solar panels removed. That’s regressive. It has been that intentional regression during and since the Reagan era that has brought us to the edge of the cliff today. Those who were seduced by Reagan’s proclamation of "It's morning in America" apparently weren’t in agreement with Jim Morrison’s observation, “No eternal reward will forgive us now for wasting the dawn.” The election of Barack Obama is definite progress, and it is up to those of us who consider ourselves progressives to keep the momentum going. Bail out the American automobile manufacturers to reward their non-regulatory regression? I think not!

Wednesday Follows Tuesday

Oh where, oh where, has my little Babe gone?
Oh where, oh where, can he be?

Well, Rachel apparently found him; all grown up! Being an unabashed porcine aficionado, I was concerned that my Incite logo had disappeared. The lost, however, has been gloriously found.

Rachel is also responsible for the Protect Marriage, Protect Children, Prohibit Divorce video imbedded in Monday’s post. With no small degree of irony, on the day I first saw it on Commercial Zen I had just put the finishing touches on a case for which a woman was seeking financial support for seven children by four different men. Damn those homos! They’re really screwing up the sanctity of the sacred bond between a man and a woman.

I am indeed blessed by two wonderful daughters that are each in their own way making the world a better place. They’ve consumed quite a bit over the years, but what they produce far outweighs what they’ve taken in (I encourage you to read Rachel’s comments on yesterday’s post). Such people are the true hope for the future!

Tuesday Follows Monday

I am, first and foremost, a consumer. I produce little more than my daily bowel movement. I am employed primarily to gain the wherewithal to consume more. I am a consumer.

I have learned consumerism from practical experience, just by being born an American. Granted, formal education attempts to put a lofty spin on the subject but it still boils down to survival of the fittest, those who consume most efficiently. The weak and unfit are consumed.

It has been the consideration of a Hippocratic, sustainable lifestyle that has led me to this less than flattering view of myself. The proverbial paradigm shift from consumer to producer is virtually unfathomable, and yet this is what will be required if I sincerely desire to become part of the solution rather than be the problem.

I value the opinion of my loyal readers, and my hope is to stimulate some sort of discussion about where we go from here. Christmas 2008 is already being forecast as a disappointment because the recession/depression is going to curtail retail sales. I know that the politically correct response is that this is not what Christmas is really all about, but there is no denying that the health of our economy is dependent upon consumption: make it and we will buy it.

An unprecedented number of Americans feel that our country is headed in the wrong direction; that we are sorely in need of change, etc. Barack Obama symbolizes that hunger, but to what degree are we really willing to fundamentally change our worldview? It has been said that it is more blessed to give than to receive, but such words are just nonsense to a consumer.

Monday Follows Sunday

I am remiss whenever I forget to be consciously grateful for the myriad of blessings that are mine. I am equally remiss if my acknowledgment does not include an awareness of the many that are not as blessed and a confession that some of the good fortune I experience comes at a cost to others. The Zeitgeist is ripe for pondering the multitude of ways that selfish greed has consumed the American worldview and to repent. We don’t need all the stuff that consumerism says we can’t do without. We should stop playing the game of planned obsolescence whereby the perfectly good is discarded in able to obtain the “new and improved.” We need to somehow replace pseudo-thanks for cheaper gasoline with genuine appreciation for what $25 per gallon could mean to the planet and its future generations of inhabitants. The authenticity of my gratitude will be determined by the changes it inspires me to make in order that all my brothers and sisters may be equally blessed.

Protect Marriage, Protect Children, Prohibit Divorce

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

God Bless America?

Right now, I tend to agree with Jeremiah Wright. We must not let this happen again!
Threats Against Obama on the Rise by EILEEN SULLIVAN, AP

Death Sentence

Last June (06/10/08 Safe in Las Vegas) I supposed this city’s invincibility given the power of greed and lust. There is one small exception that I failed to note which now should be addressed. Las Vegas’ Achilles’ heel is morality. Given the election of Barack Obama, it is an appropriate time to reconsider the topic which from time to time genuinely enlightens human consciousness. The Religious Right’s understanding of morality was surely just as much a loser on November 4 as were the Republicans who have, at least ideologically, embraced it. But just as the American people have awakened to the folly of top-down government, so should this be the optimal time to renew our understanding of bottom-up morality. The two really go hand in hand. Just as the notion that a black man cannot be president has been shattered, so should be organized religion’s propagation of a monopoly on morality. Genuine morality is quintessentially abstract when understood as the harmonious relationship between Creator and Creation, a vagueness exploited by those who seek to assume power by defining it. Now is the time to realize that morality trumps ethicality and legality and does so by its very nature. As we stand together on the threshold of a new beginning, let us be wise enough to ponder anew just what our relationship with the Higher Power actually is. Should such a realization dawn upon the American horizon, Las Vegas is doomed.

Just What We Need: A New Holiday

Veterans’ Day is the least deserved holiday I take. For many years I was employed in occupations that didn’t observe the holiday, at least in terms of having the day off. But it has been as regular as clockwork since being employed by the county, and each year it leaves me feeling a little squeamish.

It really seems that Veterans’ Day ought to be just that, a day for veterans. Show your honorable discharge to the boss and enjoy a day off with pay. Veterans are those who have served their country through military service and the honor should be reserved for them.

My six years in paramilitaristic service to the community through law enforcement did nothing if not reinforce my recognition of the struggles and sacrifices made by veterans who had served, a discipline from which I benefitted just by being exposed to it.

The change in worldview, however, upon which threshold we now stand, needs to recognize those who have served their country by means other than the military. My dear friend, Paul, served as a conscientious objector in the oncology unit of Children’s Hospital in Denver, and his contributions to the larger good deserve recognition, too.

I pray that our species is evolving toward the Star Trek paradigm as opposed to the Star Wars. Surely the next great human discovery beyond fire will be love. It will truly signal God’s reign on Earth when Peacemakers’ Day warrants observance as an official holiday.

Be Prepared

In the ugly aftermath of World War II the German citizenry was forced to acknowledge the atrocities of the Third Reich. While not on the scale of Nazi Germany, the criminal acts of the Bush Administration coming to light are going to be a bitter pill for many Americans to swallow. Just as the Germans were not innocently ignorant of what was going on right under their noses, neither will we Americans be able to claim impunity for the despicable erosion of civil and human rights methodically perpetrated by the neoconservatives who have all but brought the Constitution to its knees. We’ve known. We just haven’t wanted to admit. With not just a new administration, but with the clamor of the public who voted it in, there is the promise of transparency (apparently a more palatable euphemism for the truth) which is going to expose just how depraved we let ourselves become in the years since Nixon. The first step toward recovery is admitting that we have sinned. I sense that no one is eager to prosecute the wrongdoers, and that may be just as well. The American equivalent to a Nuremburg-like trial of Bush, Cheney, Rove, Rumsfeld…the list is so long that we could easily spend the next eight years attempting to adjudicate the last…will likely not serve well the imminent need for progressive reform for the future. But we need to look at ourselves in the national mirror, accept what we have either through submission or omission allowed to happen in the name of democracy, and swear to never, ever let it happen again.

Yes, We Can!

Today, I have a new understanding of ‘ecstatic’! The surreal nightmare of the last eight years is over, and although there’s a lot of spin right now about color, our country proved yesterday that we really are more concerned with the content of character. To those who “lost” yesterday I extend my condolences because I have been feeling the way you must now feel since 2000. Until now I’ve been reluctant to express it this way, but we are witnesses to an unfolding of messianic proportions. Repentance, forgiveness and redemption are all critical elements of the historic change We the People and Barack Obama initiated yesterday. It goes without saying that Obama’s election to the White House is not the end but the beginning, the Alpha and Omega of prophecy. I feel sorry for my Bible-bound brothers and sisters who cannot appreciate what is going on right now because they are enslaved to preconceived notions of how the end of time yielding to the new age of God’s reign should look and behave. I thank God for those who enlightened me to a progressive theology that affirms the marvelously mysterious ways by which Creation unfolds. We have crossed a threshold as the world watched on, and We the People have proclaimed that our nation really is about justice, compassion, and goodness. Knowing that President-elect Obama is without a pastor and that I am without a parish (except in the Wesleyan sense), I humbly offer myself as one who recognizes the Christ at work in our very midst to shepherd in whatever way I may. “Stronger than the dark, the light; stronger than the wrong, the right.” Even though the “official” observance is three weeks away, it is not too early to lift our prayers of thanksgiving for the way that God truly blesses us. Amen!

Election Reflection

It was one of those rare evenings when Dad stayed home after supper. Mom had put together a batch of the genuine Chex mix (complete with real butter and Worcestershire sauce; not the mass produced stuff that you find in stores today). Fitzmorris Elementary had let us students cast our votes during the day, a faux-election which went well for Richard M. Nixon (predominantly Republican Jefferson County was openly suspicious of John F. Kennedy’s Catholicism). So there we were, the Methodist preacher and his family sitting down to a black-and-white (literally, and perhaps figuratively) report of the polls as they started coming in. There was school the next day, and when it became obvious that the counting was going to continue throughout the night I was sent to bed without knowing until the next morning that JFK was the new president. It’s hard to believe that was all nearly a half-century ago, and to believe that in a scant eight years more Nixon would introduce criminality to the White House. I suspect that the call for Obama will be made relatively early this evening, thanks to the technological progress since 1960. Then, we hung on every new vote that was added to the board. Now, we are inundated by more information than we know what to do with. In many ways, the election of a Roman Catholic was a new beginning for America, a chance to rethink our prejudices. That’s the similarity I see with today’s election. We have before us the opportunity to become the nation we claim we want to be. It will be interesting to watch what we do with our second chance.

Election Eve, 2008

I’m quite certain that those who read this blog will be voting tomorrow—if they haven’t already. Mary and I got our early voting taken care of last Friday, a moment that actually left a lump in the throat of this old girly-man. Literally millions of people around the world do not have the opportunity that we Americans have. Yes, I am convinced that the past eight years are the darkest in American history (save the Civil War which only lasted four), and that is due in large part to the stupidity of voters who elected (sort of) and reelected immoral, unethical, and illegal politicians to the White House on down. Republicans are waving their flag of fear just as high as they can this election eve, warning of the perils of a veto-proof Democrat Congress and President. They should know, because that’s exactly the position Republicans had from 2000 to 2006 which they abused to nearly send the whole country down the crapper. I’m all for a multi-party system, but for the present we need an enlightened Democratic majority to try to repair all of the damage done by evil incarnate during the past eight years. These are the thoughts that influenced my choices in the booth. Your thoughts may well (and probably do) differ from mine. But vote, gosh darn it! It’s the best medicine known to this ailing country we love.

Thursday’s Lunch

It’s not really writer’s block but a sporadic lucidity that occasionally informs me that I actually have nothing to say. I support Barack Obama. That’s not going to change the mind of someone who doesn’t. My faith is in God. That’s not going to change the mind of someone whose isn’t. I’m certain that being fully human involves a moral imperative. That’s not going to change the mind of someone who isn’t. I’m not really convinced that the goal in life is to change someone else’s mind, but that’s not going to change the mind of someone who is. I wonder why I’m here. That doesn’t mean that anyone else does, or if they do that they’ll arrive at the same answers as I. I ponder, and I am grateful for the opportunity to process the words that come from wondering.

Have I Died…

…and gone to heaven? My favorite pundit on my favorite candidate:

Why Barack Obama Is Winning by Joe Klein

Excerpts from Klein’s Interview with Obama

Where Did Baby Come From?

Many of the mothers I anonymously deal with each day are the ages of Rachel and Rebecca. “One night stand” is part of the lexicon for those who have no idea who fathered their child(ren). Others already have several children by as many fathers who in turn have several more children by different mothers. America’s bastard baby industry is not experiencing a decline; indeed, it is thriving. Endeavors such as the one I’m employed in are humane to the degree that the attempt is made to ensure that these little “surprises” don’t go hungry or unclothed, but that assumes an ethical and moral mindset on the part of parents that obviously have neither. We don’t track how the money we disburse is used, and that is just as well. My heart goes out to these young women who are similar in age to my daughters but little else. I can take no credit for the women Rachel and Rebecca have become, but I thank God that something impressed them with a sense of responsibility to something greater than themselves. There’s a horrendous tragedy in the making in this country, and neither Democrats nor Republicans are equipped to deal with it. I credit much of Rachel and Rebecca’s “wisdom and stature” to the communities of which they were a part growing up, and it is the development and promotion of such communitarianism across our country that well may be our only hope for the future.

An Apology

Once again I have embarrassed Mary in public. I am truly sorry. Had she known thirty-eight years ago that I was going to become nothing more than an angry old man she might well have thought better of committing the rest of her life to our marriage. My only defense is that at the time I didn’t know that I was going to become an angry old man.

The civil unrest of the late sixties and early seventies may have served to forecast my latter day temperament. I was anti-war, anti-Nixon, and actually went so far as to participate in some of the ubiquitous protests of the time. There was no embarrassment, however, because I found myself caught up in a widespread movement to peaceably work against injustices that obviously needed to be brought down.

Today, however, I discover that I am just a cartoon railing at the establishment. The fact that the Transportation Security Administration has now robbed me of two pocketknives in as many months is upsetting to no one but me. I have questions. Why was the TSA working security for a presidential campaign rally in the first place? Why was TSA enforcing security measures intended for airports at a high school football field? Why was no one other than me upset?

I guess that my appropriate response should have been to amiably fork over my pocketknife of two weeks that I had just purchased to replace the pocketknife of thirty-one years. I guess I should have said to the TSA personnel, “Sure, you take it. You’re just doing your job.” In the forty-eight hours that have passed I have only become more disgusted with myself. It isn’t within me to be so acquiescent. And, I’m even more disgusted with myself because I succumbed to the tension of the moment and didn’t simply stand outside security in protest. I’d seen Barack before and such a silent vigil would have been far more meaningful than the futile argument I engaged in with a TSA official who was “obeying Secret Service orders” (seriously, that’s what he told me). Besides, my humiliated best friend was already on the other side and I was feeling badly about the anguish and embarrassment I was causing her.

At the ripe old age of fifty-eight I seem to be coming up with some pretty convincing arguments that its time for me to just curl up and die. I’ve fathered two beautiful and brilliant daughters, I’ve offered the best of what I am to my wife, and it’s becoming increasingly apparent that my worth to society is on the decline. Perhaps after I cast my vote for Obama it will be time to go. It may be time to amend the codicil to my will instructing that the only words I wish for on my tombstone are “talk is cheap…for that, I’m truly sorry.”

TSA NABS HANNA SECOND TIME

(10/25/08) Las Vegas, NV--
Duly diligent Transportation Safety Administration personnel today confiscated a pocketknife from Mark Hanna, 58, of Las Vegas, as he attempted to enter the Barack Obama presidential campaign rally at Bonanza High School. Only weeks ago (see 09/03/08), TSA took Hanna’s pocketknife of thirty-one years at Las Vegas’ McCarran International Airport in an action he decried as robbery. The “weapon” taken off Hanna today had been purchased two weeks ago in Flagstaff, Arizona, while Hanna was there visiting his daughter, triggering immediate questions of how Hanna had successfully smuggled the Swiss Army blade past authorities at the Hoover Dam checkpoint. Department of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff has warned of the danger posed by repeat offenders, making Hanna’s second apprehension in as many months cause for possible alarm at an increase in terrorist activity. Election officials staved off questions of whether or not today’s incident might be indicative of tactics that could be used to deny eligible citizens their Constitutional right to vote. Magnotometers at polling places might be considered a violation of civil rights and so the method is first being tested at less contentious public assemblies (see Articles 20 and 23) to observe public reaction. The TSA official that talked Hanna down before successfully disarming him said that this was the first actual attempt to bring a pocketknife into the secured premises out of approximately 7,500 who had already been screened. Hundreds of would-be assassins could be seen turning back after watching Hanna get caught. Said Hanna, “Be afraid! Be very afraid!”

Palin's future, according to Garrison Keillor

GARRISON KEILLOR

SYNDICATED COLUMNIST



We are a stalwart and stouthearted people, and never more so than in hard times. People weep in the dark and arise in the morning and go to work. The waves crash on your nest egg and a chunk is swept away and you put your salami sandwich in the brown bag and get on the bus. In Philly, a woman earns $10.30/hour to care for a man brought down by cystic fibrosis. She bathes and dresses him in the morning, brings him meals, puts him to bed at night. It's hard work lifting him and she has suffered a painful hernia that, because she can't afford health insurance, she can't get fixed, but she still goes to work because he'd be helpless without her. There are a lot of people like her. I know because I'm related to some of them.



Low dishonesty and craven cynicism sometimes win the day but not inevitably. The attempt to link Barack Obama to an old radical in his neighborhood has desperation and deceit written all over it. Meanwhile, stunning acts of heroism stand out, such as the fidelity of military lawyers assigned to defend detainees at Guantanamo Bay-- uniformed officers faithful to their lawyerly duty to offer a vigorous defense even though it means exposing the injustice of military justice that is rigged for conviction and the mendacity of a commander in chief who commits war crimes. If your law school is looking for a name for its new library, instead of selling the honor to a fat cat alumnus, you should consider the names of Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift, Lt. Col. Mark Bridges, Col. Steven David, Lt. Col. Sharon Shaffer, Lt. Cmdr. Philip Sundel and Maj. Michael Mori.



It was dishonest, cynical men who put forward a clueless young woman for national office, hoping to juice up the ticket, hoping she could skate through two months of chaperoned campaigning, but the truth emerges: The lady is talking freely about matters she has never thought about. The American people have an ear for B.S. They can tell when someone's mouth is moving and the clutch is not engaged. When she said, "One thing that Americans do at this time, also, though, is let's commit ourselves just every day, American people, Joe Six-Pack, hockey moms across the nation, I think we need to band together and say never again. Never will we be exploited and taken advantage of again by those who are managing our money and loaning us these dollars," people smelled gas.



Some Republicans adore her because they are pranksters at heart and love the consternation of grown-ups. The ne'er-do-well son of the old Republican family as president, the idea that you increase government revenue by cutting taxes, the idea that you cut social services and thereby drive the needy into the middle class, the idea that you overthrow a dictator with a show of force and achieve democracy at no cost to yourself -- one stink bomb after another, and now Governor Palin.



She is a chatty sportscaster who lacks the guile to conceal her vacuity, and she was Mr. McCain's first major decision as nominee. This troubles independent voters, and now she is a major drag on his candidacy. She will get a nice book deal from Regnery and a new career making personal appearances for forty grand a pop, and she'll become a trivia question, "What politician claimed foreign-policy expertise based on being able to see Russia from her house?" And the rest of us will have to pull ourselves out of the swamp of Republican economics.



Your broker kept saying, "Stay with the portfolio, don't jump ship," and you felt a strong urge to dump the stocks and get into the money market where at least you're not going to lose your shirt, but you didn't do it and didn't do it, and now you're holding a big bag of brown bananas. Me, too. But at least I know enough not to believe desperate people who are talking trash. Anybody who got whacked last week and still thinks McCain-Palin is going to lead us out of the swamp and not into a war with Iran is beyond persuasion in the English language. They'll need to lose their homes and be out on the street in a cold hard rain before they connect the dots.

Reflection on Superiority

A dismissive and condescending memo sent out by a senior administrator yesterday caused me to remember Jerry Farber’s essay, The Student as Nigger. Dr. Mary Smith “required” our freshman English class at Nebraska Wesleyan to read it, and it’s sad to realize that things haven’t really changed in the forty years since Farber indicted the institution of education. There are those who crave positions of power and authority because they feed on the subservience of those “beneath” them. This is nothing new. It appears to have been going on since the dawn of humankind. The competition paradigm requires a winner and a loser (as does primitive evolution) that rewards the victor with the privilege of belittling and demeaning the defeated. From my study of it, I am convinced that the Christ’s revolutionary gospel is that of a non-hierarchical paradigm of cooperation. Certainly those who revel in being “king of the mountain” have little incentive to level the playing field and have every reason to keep us niggers in our place. I continue to pray that those of us who are subjected to bigotry and authoritarianism can remember Jesus’ admonition to turn the other cheek, to walk the extra mile, and to love one another—even our enemies (i.e. masters). It may well be the day of reckoning for those who covet injustice and abuse power, because it looks to me like there’s a nigger headed for the White House, and that’s good news for all of us!

Subject: Protect Your Right to Vote Now

We are on the eve of one of the most historic elections of our time. And the last thing America needs right now is another election that leaves us uncertain of its legitimacy.

Unfortunately, there are enough shenanigans going on to raise serious concerns.

The biggest of them all: Attorney General Mukasey and the Department of Justice (DOJ) are walking away from their sacred responsibility to guarantee smooth and fair elections.

While the government is engaged in a highly-publicized attempt to raise the specter of voter fraud against groups who have been working hard to register poor and minority voters, DOJ is doing little, if anything, to deal with the real problem --hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, of registered voters who may turn up on Election Day just to be turned away.

I just asked the DOJ to take decisive action before Election Day to protect the right to vote for everyone. You can do the same here:

http://action.aclu.org/protectthevote

Election officials should concentrate their limited resources on expanding access to the ballot box and protecting voters. Demand that the Department of Justice act to protect voting rights.

After that, take the time to read:

The Leader We Deserve By MICHAEL KINSLEY


And while I’m playing editor, let me encourage you to read Steve’s comment yesterday and go to the link he provides. The hour is at hand.

Let’s Begin Now!

I’m unintentionally observing Thanksgiving early this year. As each day brings us closer to November 4, I am profoundly grateful that the democracy which undergirds this great Republic of ours appears to be working. I haven’t been able to completely shed my lingering fear of some autocratic takeover of our government, but knowing that I and millions of others are still free to cast our ballot for Barack Obama encourages me. We will only know for sure on November 5, but the present indications of a swelling grassroots movement in our country inspires a kind of genuine hope that has been noticeably absent for almost a quarter century now. It is encouraging to witness the failure of the neo-cons dirty little tricks this time around even as I watch McCain embrace the tactics that were used against him in 2000. There is no question that those of us who seek fundamental change in the direction this country is headed cannot let up until the last polling place in America closes its doors. Evil has deeply rooted itself in the American political psyche and is not going to give up without a fight, but we do have before us the opportunity to prove that stronger than wrong is the right!

Monday’s Lunch

Here I am again, well-fed, secure and safe in the cubicle my employment affords me, taking the latter half of my lunch hour to try to think of something meaningful to say. God is good. Amen.

I’ve pretty well narrowed it down to one question for my Creator. Why me? How do I explain my good fortune when so many of my species suffer hunger, violence, and injustice?

I am blessed by the love of my wife, my daughters, my family and my friends. How do I explain my good fortune when so many of my species know little more than anger and hatred?

I suspect God will remain silent, not because the answer to my question is not known, but because there is no replacement for genuine gratitude. I may never know why I am so blessed, but my thanksgiving to God shall be made manifest through my attention to those not as fortunate as I.

Déjà vu

For What It's Worth - Buffalo Springfield 1966

There's something happening here
What it is ain't exactly clear
There's a man with a gun over there
Telling me I got to beware

I think it's time we stop, children, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

There's battle lines being drawn
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong
Young people speaking their minds
Getting so much resistance from behind

I think it's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

What a field-day for the heat
A thousand people in the street
Singing songs and carrying signs
Mostly say, hooray for our side

It's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you're always afraid
You step out of line, the man come and take you away

We better stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, now, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, children, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

The Color of Their Skin?

I thank Mary for sharing this thought-provoking comparison with me so that I can now share it with you:

Obama/Biden vs McCain/Palin: What if things were switched around? Think about it. Would the country's collective point of view be different? Could racism be the culprit?

Ponder the following:

What if the Obamas had paraded five children across the stage, including
a three month old infant and an unwed, pregnant teenage daughter?

What if John McCain was a former president of the Harvard Law Review?

What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class?

What if McCain had only married once, and Obama was a divorcee?

What if Obama was the candidate who left his first wife after a severe
disfiguring car accident, when she no longer measured up to his standards?

What if Obama had met his second wife in a bar and had a long affair while
he was still married?

What if Michelle Obama was the wife who not only became addicted to pain
killers but also acquired them illegally through her charitable organization?

What if Cindy McCain graduated from Harvard?

What if Obama had been a member of the Keating Five?
(The Keating Five were five United States Senators accused of corruption
in 1989, igniting a major political scandal as part of the larger Savings
and Loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s.)

What if McCain was a charismatic, eloquent speaker?

What if Obama couldn't read from a teleprompter?

What if Obama was the one who had military experience that included
discipline problems and a record of crashing seven planes?

What if Obama was the one who was known to display publicly, on many
occasions, a serious anger management problem?

What if Michelle Obama's family had made their money from beer distribution?

What if the Obamas had adopted a white child?

You could easily add to this list. If these questions reflected reality,
do you really believe the election numbers would be as close as they are?

This is what racism does. It covers up, rationalizes and minimizes
positive qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative qualities in
another when there is a color difference.

Educational Background:

Barack Obama:
Columbia University - B.A. Political Science with a Specialization in
International Relations.
Harvard - Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum Laude

Joseph Biden:
University of Delaware - B.A. in History and B.A. in Political Science.
Syracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.)

vs.

John McCain:
United States Naval Academy - Class rank: 894 of 899

Sarah Palin:
Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester
North Idaho College - 2 semesters - general study
University of Idaho - 2 semesters - journalism
Matanuska-Susitna College - 1 semester
University of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in Journalism

Education isn't everything, but this is about the two highest offices in
the land as well as our standing in the world. You make the call.

And while I’m letting others do my work for me today, you can not do better than to spend a little time with good ol’ Joe:
The Obama Surge: Will It Last? By Joe Klein

“Only the Good Die Young”

If ever a president deserved to be assassinated, it is George W. Bush. The criminal corruption of the United States Constitution during his administration has done inestimable harm to our civil rights and to our standing in the world. Like O.J. Simpson, Bush and his cronies may eventually face justice, but it will be tragically after the fact and of little consolation to a nation they have nearly brought to ruin.

History, however, proves that those who ought to have been murdered to get them out of office have not been the target of such violence. Three of the four presidents who have been assassinated (Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield, and William McKinley) were Republicans, with John F. Kennedy being the only Democrat. Bush et al are protected by the fact that their adversaries are enlightened people who shun violence and seek reasonable and rational solutions to problems.

This unfortunate truth is what places Barack Obama in increasing peril. The idiots that have supported Bush in the past and McCain now are the very ones whose Neanderthal mentality views violence as the answer. McCain brags that for generations his family has viewed patriotism as “fighting” for their country. An intelligent, compassionate and diplomatic worldview is an affront to such primitive ideology, and the representative of such an enlightened view seems ultimately to become the target of violent attempts to destroy it (see Jesus).

I continue to pray that We the People still have control of our democracy and our country. The next three weeks will tell. There is going to be sore little satisfaction in saying ‘I told you so’ if the neo-cons more fully reveal their evil selves by openly grabbing the reins of power they have so immorally wielded the past eight years.

Until We Admit

We enjoyed a wonderful weekend with Rebecca and Kevin in Flagstaff. One of my parental behaviors has been trying to imagine what the world must look like through my children’s eyes. Rebecca gave me a brief glimpse when she declared the economy off limits for discussion while we were there. The more I thought about it, the more I could understand her feelings. We the People have been betrayed by our government with its bailout of contemptibly corrupt businesses. As if $700 billion wasn’t bad enough, the truth about the addition $1.5 billion worth of “sweeteners” to sway previously nay votes borders on the despicable. Now that we’ve let selfish greed define the American character there’s not a whole lot to stand up and wave the flag for anymore. From Main Street to Wall Street to Capitol Hill we are awash in debt with no one but ourselves to blame. I want to believe that November 4 is going to change everything, but that doesn’t really account for what we’ve done to ourselves and what we’re willing to do to put things right.

Yom Kippur Reflection

Why is it so difficult for me to be at one with You? [Being a panentheist permits me to use the personal pronoun.] I am literally nothing without You, and yet my oft times erroneous reasoning allows me to believe that I am. Through the gift of volition You have made it possible for me to think of You as optional, as real or not real. You make it rain upon the just and the unjust just to prove the point. I am deeply grateful that You have not imposed an awareness of your presence upon me because that permits me the freedom to draw near, but it also permits me the freedom to turn away, much to my personal peril. Like a moth to flame I am so easily attracted to material things and mortal thought. These are so tangible, so readily available as to make You seem little more than fantasy. And yet, in my most lucid moments I remember that I am nothing without You. How do I even begin to express my profound gratitude for your lovingly patient forgiveness? Each time I choose to seek You, You are there, no matter how many times before I have put You out of mind. To your glory and honor may I this day resolve to ever strive to improve the relationship to which You are always present that I may know the peace which passes all understanding of being at one with You.

We Need A New American “Holiday”

Contrite is another word that I don’t hear much. Synonymous with penitent, it defines a feeling of sorrow or regret for one’s sins. I don’t hear anyone admitting that they’ve done anything wrong. I find that most disturbing in the context of the present financial crisis. Ironically claiming credit for more years of experience, John McCain just doesn’t seem to get that this means he’s been part of the problem for the past quarter century, not part of the solution. It’s been said that the two most difficult words in the English language are, “I’m sorry.” (The three most difficult being, “I don’t know.”) Yom Kippur begins at sundown this evening, and I think that, as Americans, we are missing a significant opportunity by not declaring tomorrow a national day of atonement. When AIG executives go on a half-million-dollar junket following their bailout by U.S. taxpayers it speaks volumes about the kind of selfish greed that has put all of us in this predicament. Yes, not only would I like to see those executives have to repay the money and be terminated, true revival of the American spirit is not likely to occur until they would confess their sins and apologize to us who have been wronged. Are you listening, W?

What In God’s Name Is Wrong With Us?

Media from around the world covered Cirque de OJ:
Simpson in isolation, focuses on future

Why isn’t the world-wide media covering this instead?
Prosecution details injuries girl suffered

Who’s Fault?

I don’t see the word penitence being used much these days. Perhaps that is because no one regrets wrongdoing. I suspect that it may be more accurate to say that we all regret the wrongdoing of someone else thereby avoiding self-incrimination. As I watched Bill Moyers' August 15 interview with Andrew Bacevich I was struck by Bacevich’s repeated admonition for us to look in the mirror. Congress found it necessary to take time out from the bailout to observe Rosh Hashanah, but I can’t help but wonder if that’s going to include Yom Kippur which begins at sundown next Wednesday. We’re all pretty good at pointing the finger of blame, but we’re all pretty bad about accepting culpability. Through the representatives we elected to govern us we have saddled out children, grandchildren, and probably our great grandchildren with an incomprehensible debt just so that we that we can selfishly enjoy the now. We the People are responsible for our current predicament, and for as long as we deny that truth will we suffer the consequences.

Meditation

To those I love there are some things I must say. Your close attention is requested, not as a requirement but in the prayerful hope that my thoughts may be worthy.

I am unquestionably American. That is all I have ever known. In the context of Hebrew Scripture I am a God-fearing American in that my faith is in that which I reverently perceive as transcendent in every way, realized and not yet comprehended, to me. I find myself experiencing the era of American history in which we must—and I think may be about to—discover the power of God’s love to guide creative progress as the viable alternative to the historic paradigm of destroy and conquer.

There is no thought more unchristian than “country first.” This is an oath of allegiance to empire that utterly contradicts the ancient and universal maxim to love God first and foremost. The attempt to justify a definition of patriotism which is distorted by the assertion that God blesses imperialistic dominion is sacrilege of the highest order. Such allegiance is an archetypical expression of an egocentrism which can never harmonize with a reverential devotion to It, the Great Other, the Higher Power, God. Each one decides if such corruption is tangible evidence of the antichrist made manifest to human experience.

Putting God first naturally evokes an abject confession of having fallen short, of having missed the mark, of having failed to understand, appreciate, and experience the holistic and symbiotic unity of Creator and Creation. I come to God as an American who is undeniably God’s before I am America’s. I am therefore fundamentally at odds with every admonition to put anything before God, country included. The claim of discipleship is, therefore, authenticated through practical agreement with the Greatest Commandment as revealed in, by, and through the Christ.

Prayer of Confession

Gracious God,
When compounded on a daily basis my transgressions are innumerable. How many waking moments are diminished by not fully being that which You created? I am blessed that You know me and cursed by my inability to let such knowledge become my wisdom. Depraved and despicable are words not too strong to describe me who woefully ignores the plight of the least. I find my faith too often preoccupied with the mortal at the expense of my atonement with the immortal. You never leave me, but I am far too often ignorant of your abiding presence. You have given me life and yet I continually rationalize that devotion to You is somehow not necessary. Forgive me, I pray. Amen.

What An Idiot I Am!

Let me see if I understand any of this. If I went out today and drove off the dealer’s lot with a 2009 Hummer H2 priced at $60,900 for which I paid nothing down but agreed to repay the loan over 60 months during which time the APR increased by 10% annually, and then I discover that the cost of gasoline (what do you know? no one seems to be able to provide the mpg :-) added to the ever-increasing loan payments makes it unaffordable, I lose the Hummer while the dealer goes to Uncle Sam and asks to be reimbursed the whole amount because otherwise it’s going to go out of business—because it's done the same stupid thing with a million other stupid people like me—have I got this about right? Oh, I’m sure I don’t, because I’m just a godless, bleeding heart, tree-hugging, nigger-and-queer-loving, Prius-driving, abortion-promoting liberal. Those of you who believe in one had better start praying to God that we re-elect all the folks who got us into this mess in the first place, because it’s clear they understand much better than I.

The Bush Who Cried Wolf!

Once upon a time there was a little man named George who very much believed he was the center of the universe. Although George had some friends who shared his belief, there were just as many or more who didn’t. George very much wanted to be in control—of everything—and he set about to devise a plan (ala McCain, a strategy) that would fulfill his wish.

So it was that one day George cried out, “The godless liberals are ruining this country that God intended for us Christians. The godless liberals want abortion, gay marriage, and euthanasia more than they want manifest destiny. We need to be afraid of these godless liberals who want nothing more than to destroy our right-wing ideology, and we must defeat their attempt to unconstitutionally grab the reins of our government.” And some of the people believed George and had the Supreme Court appoint him President.

After the horror of September 11, George again saw an opportunity to cry out, “The godless Iraqis are taking over the world, the United States included. They’re going to destroy us unless we ‘bomb them back into the Stone-Age’ first. And some of the people believed George and attacked Iraq; never-minding that George had invented the whole story just to scare the pants off them.

And now, George is crying, “The economy is collapsing, the economy is collapsing! The taxpayers (this is George’s euphemism for United States citizens) must give me a trillion dollars more to bail out my buds (remember Kenny Boy?) in the financial sector from the consequences of their greed.” But lo and behold, the House of Representatives (the Constitution’s euphemism for those elected to represent We the People) stood up to George and said, “No!”

This certainly threw George for a loop, and he can think of nothing more to do than continue to cry that the economy is collapsing. Maybe it is. Maybe it isn’t. But we’ll never know the truth by continuing to listen to the Bush who cried wolf!

Let the Journey Begin

There are so many things to which we have not been paying attention in recent years that it is impossible to articulate them all. In the most basic sense, however, I trace much of our current woe back to 1966 when the question, “Is God Dead?” raised eyebrows but generated little serious discussion. Even though Friedrich Nietzsche had addressed the issue in 1882, it appears to have required something like the assassination of John F. Kennedy to popularize it. Although American Christian Fundamentalism has its roots in the 1925 Scopes Trial, the viral evangelical form emerged as a reaction to Thomas Altizer and William Hamilton’s threatening proposition that God, for all intents and purposes, is dead to the human experience. The validity of their thesis has been supremely and ironically borne out in the presidency of George W. Bush, the governor responsible for more executions than any other in U.S. history, the president whose legacy will be criminal dishonesty and deceit, the born-again Christian who receives his walking orders from God. Instead of an enlightened dialogue entertaining the pros and cons of such a theological hypothesis, a remarkably large number of Americans retreated to conservative literalism which proclaims the viability of God in spite of the systematic dismantling of virtually every aspect of faith in order to fill the void with ideology rather than theology. I consider these things as Rosh Hashanah is observed by my Jewish brothers and sisters, knowing that we are now on the journey to the high holy day of Yom Kippur. Rather than knee-jerk reactions to the “terror-du-jour” that this administration is infamous for, I would encourage all Americans, regardless of how they brand themselves, to make a sacred pilgrimage to the day of atonement when healing will come from the confession, “I have taken your name in vain.”

True or False?

Some facts in this election are irrefutable. John McCain went to Washington, D.C. in 1982 and has been there ever since. Barack Obama went to Washington, D. C. in 2005. Which of the two candidates, then, is an established member of the D.C. culture?; the D.C. culture that under the “leadership” of George W. Bush and his predecessors has brought the United States of American to the brink of ruin? The most patriotic thing I can do right now is to actively participate in the removal of as much of the status quo as I can and to replace it with true and genuine change. We cannot afford even one more year of the ruinous shenanigans perpetrated on us in the name of politics as usual. Obama may not be able to use the analogy anymore, but putting lipstick on McCain does not alter the fact that he has been part of the problem for more than a quarter of a century now. It’s time for change…true change.

One Picture...

Here are some things I've watched and read today after writing:

08.09.26
“Country First” is not consistent with—cannot be found in—the gospel of Jesus the Christ.

Jim Wallis Calls It What It Is . . . Sin

John McCain – Lost in Space


James Moore – A Nation of Village Idiots


Damon Condemns Palin

Perhaps If From Other Lips

08.09.25
Keith Olberman Countdown
w/Chris Hayes, The Nation
O: Whatever this is…is it not mostly show?
H: Absolutely! It’s not even mostly show…it’s entirely show! I mean, at this point McCain-the-gambler, the well-known gambler, is making an all-in bet on the stupidity of the American voter…that is the wager of the campaign at this moment…we will be able to fool people long enough that maybe, just maybe come election day we’ll be within striking distance in the polls. And so they keep trying to pull rabbits out of hats and manufacture these crises and un-tether themselves from the actual conditions of the world which are very dire and very important…they’re trying to un-tether themselves from those as much as possible to have any hope of winning but it is all show, there’s no there there.

Dear President Bush:

While I am sick to death of your “presidency” and your chronic strategy of engendering irrational fear, I really must thank you for lending credence to my contention that far too many Americans are idiotically swayed by ideology as opposed to factual truth.

Oops…you did it again last night by claiming that the sky is falling so that we’ll all fall in step to support your trillion-dollar bailout of your cronies. I would ask you just how stupid you think we are, but many are already answering the question for you. We were stupid enough to let you usurp the 2000 election. We were stupid enough to believe in weapons of mass destruction. We were stupid enough to entertain your notion of privatizing Social Security (too bad we didn’t let you go ahead with that plan just to prove how stupid it is). Stupid, stupid, stupid! It’s the only word that describes you and your supporters. And yet…the stupidity continues.

I want nothing more than to see you and your cronies taken from the White House in handcuffs, sentenced to exile in Guantanamo. As the worst President in American history you have damn near ruined the country in the last eight years, a feat that you may still manage to bring to fruition before next January because we, like stupid little lemmings, are following you (and McCain) over the cliff.

Sheer Genius!

My sincere thanks to dear friend Sally for passing along this brilliant idea! To all the naysayers who say that such a proposal is not realistic I ask, what is any more realistic about what's currently being proposed in Washington, D.C.? After all, whose money is it?

This looks like a great idea.

If only this was the plan and it worked...





I’m against the $85,000,000,000.00 bailout of AIG.

Instead, I’m in favor of giving $85,000,000,000 to America in
a We Deserve It Dividend.

To make the math simple, let’s assume there are 200,000,000
bonafide U.S. Citizens 18+.

Our population is about 301,000,000 +/- counting every man, woman
and child. So 200,000,000 might be a fair stab at adults 18 and up..

So divide 200 million adults 18+ into $85 billon that equals $425,000.00.

My plan is to give $425,000 to every person 18+ as a
We Deserve It Dividend.

Of course, it would NOT be tax free.
So let’s assume a tax rate of 30%.

Every individual 18+ has to pay $127,500.00 in taxes.
That sends $25,500,000,000 right back to Uncle Sam.

But it means that every adult 18+ has $297,500.00 in their pocket.
A husband and wife has $595,000.00.

What would you do with $297,500.00 to $595,000.00 in your family?
Pay off your mortgage – housing crisis solved.
Repay college loans – what a great boost to new grads
Put away money for college – it’ll be there
Save in a bank – create money to loan to entrepreneurs.
Buy a new car – create jobs
Invest in the market – capital drives growth
Pay for your parent’s medical insurance – health care improves
Enable Deadbeat Dads to come clean – or else

Remember this is for every adult U S Citizen 18+ including the folks
who lost their jobs at Lehmann Brothers and every other company
that is cutting back. And of course, for those serving in our Armed Forces.

If we’re going to re-distribute wealth let’s really do it...instead of trickling out
a puny $1000.00 ( “vote buy” ) economic incentive that is being proposed by one of our candidates for President.

If we’re going to do an $85 billion bailout, let’s bail out every adult U S Citizen 18+!

As for AIG – liquidate it.
Sell off its parts.
Let American General go back to being American General.
Sell off the real estate.
Let the private sector bargain hunters cut it up and clean it up.

Here’s my rationale. We deserve it and AIG doesn’t.

Sure it’s a crazy idea that can “never work.”

But can you imagine the Coast-To-Coast Block Party!

How do you spell Economic Boom?

I trust my fellow adult Americans to know how to use the $85 Billion
We Deserve It Dividend more than I do the geniuses at AIG or in Washington DC.

And remember, The Birk plan only really costs $59.5 Billion because $25.5 Billion is returned
instantly in taxes to Uncle Sam.

Ahhh...I feel 0so much better getting that off my chest.
Kindest personal regards,
Birk

T. J. Birkenmeier, A Creative Guy & Citizen of the Republic & & amp; nbsp;
PS: Feel free to pass this along to your pals as it’s either good for a laugh
or a tear or a very sobering thought on how to best use $85 Billion!!

This is exactly what the Internet was designed for. Spread the word! It's time that We the People take the government back! --M.A.H.

Joe Hits Another Home Run!

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around me
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again
Don't get fooled again
No, no!
--The Who

John McCain and the Lying Game by Joe Klein

To the enlightened mind there is but one choice: Obama 08

Let's Work Harder and Smarter!

I’m not especially proud of having reduced this election to smart versus stupid, but no rebuttal to my opinion leaves it standing. I’ll go ahead and complete the scenario of mortal sins by including myself among the smart ones. It follows, then, that stupid people are not reading my posts and that smart people are. Between now and November 4 my comments are intended only for smart people. Those who do not read and agree are stupid. (I’m beginning to understand how the world must look to W).

Stupid people, even those who are witnessing perhaps the greatest financial and economic crisis since the Great Depression, are not apparently being affected. For years I have raised the issues of selfishness, greed, and immoral consumerism, and the ultimate end result of such intent, but was only preaching to the choir. I see little hope for those who are experiencing this phenomenon first-hand and yet persist in supporting the McCain-Palin ticket.

Therefore, those of us who are smart enough to comprehend what’s going on and what caused it are going to have to be more single-minded than we ordinarily are. That the election of Barack Obama to the White House this November is the last best hope for this country we love is now painfully obvious, and from now until that victory we must forego trying to make smart the stupid among us. We can return to compassionate assimilation and education after the election is over, but right now we have to accept the reality that there are people out there so challenged in every way that they are willing to vote for a continuation of the last eight years.

It should not be that hard to encourage smart people to register and vote. We don’t need to tell them how to vote because they are smart. We simply need to make sure that smart people are registered and that they vote. We cannot have a genuine democracy by not allowing the stupid to vote; that is their right and I will defend it. There just have to be more smart people voting to offset the negative impact of stupidity in order to restore sanity and reason to our government. Vote Obama! It’s the smart thing to do.

It's Time! (redux)

Dumbfounded, I am witnessing the collapse of the country of which I am a citizen to the seductive evil of greed and stupidity. I am surrounded by flat-earthers whose ability to reason is nil, but whose ability to pillage and plunder is primal. Fellow citizens are not only listening to the Republican’s talking vagina but actually believing what she says. The quest for an honest man could have been no more futile for Diogenes than it is for today’s common American. We’re being spoon fed excrement and apparently enjoying every tasty bite.

It is time for this to stop! It is time for those of us who love God, our families, and our communities to stand up and take back our government from the greedy bastards that have taken control (I commend Obama for calling the old boy’s network just what it is: a McCain staff meeting). It’s no accident that we’re not hearing about financial peril for Halliburton, Bechtel, and the myriad of other participants in the military industrial complex. Oil companies continue to show record profits (why has no one asked how much fuel is being consumed by the U.S. occupation of Iraq?). These entities are already offshore and will continue in their evil endeavors even after the country that set them up is in ruins.

It’s time for genuine patriotism! Not just flag worship. It’s time for those of us who embrace reason and the common good to tell the idiots (take a look at the etymology) to stand down, shut up, and allow us to restore this country to the greatness it once had. It’s time!

Show Me the Love!

"Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are savage wolves. (Matthew 7:15)

Perhaps the most disillusioning disappointment of my life thus far is to realize that to profess oneself a Christian more than likely does not mean that one is a disciple of Jesus of Nazareth. Oh, institutionalized religion (i.e. the Church) does a masterful job of deceptively making it seem that the two are one and the same, but they are not.

If the constitutional separation of Church and State was not being so blatantly blurred in this country, my concern would appropriately be limited to myself. But when the Christian Right dictates a vice-presidential nominee to compensate for its misgivings about John McCain who has nothing more in common with Hillary Clinton than anatomy, then it’s time to share my concern on a more widespread basis.

As one who “lived” the Church for more than half a century, I can tell you point blank that most Christianity, particularly the popularized contemporary versions, have little or nothing to do with being a disciple of Jesus. Indeed, the Christian profession of faith is to the dogma and doctrine of the institutionalized Church, and has been since Constantine legalized the religion in 313 C.E.

I really don’t give a rat’s behind whether or not our politicians are Christians, but I am outraged at the Rovian strategy of colluding with the Christian Right in the name of Christianity. I resent that my identity has been co-opted by the wolves in sheep’s clothing who are now corrupting my America, as well.

Jesus provided the litmus test of discipleship: “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (John 13:35)

Here Comes Jesus Claus!

It’s rather pathetic to be nothing more than a Joe Klein wannabe, but I once again find his explanation helping me to better understand what’s going on in this presidential election:

Sarah Palin’s Myth of America

Nostalgia is an incredibly powerful force because it doesn’t require being grounded in reality. For example: "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.' But I tell you, don't resist him who is evil; but whoever strikes you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also. If anyone sues you to take away your coat, let him have your cloak also. Whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks you, and don't turn away him who desires to borrow from you." (Matthew 5:38-42)

Yesterday I asked what Sarah Palin means when she claims to be a Bible-believing Christian. For all who make such a claim, I have to believe that this “quote” of Jesus must be troubling. Taken literally, it is antithetical to nearly everything so-called born-again Christians stand for. But to begin to interpret the passage in the context of the times undermines the allegiance to “God’s Word” as word for word, inerrant, infallible.

My experience is that literalists don’t stop with the Bible, but incorporate this black-and-white, right-and-wrong, good-and-evil worldview into their daily lives. It’s no wonder, then, that fundamentalists are far more receptive to the “word” written by institutionalized religion because it is more amenable to what they want to believe is true. Jesus was crucified not because he appeased the status quo, but because he threatened their ideology to the point they had to get rid of him. Who cares what Jesus said when we can get all fired up about what he was supposed to say?

F.W.W.J.V.?

I am unaware that any presidential or vice presidential candidate this year has explicitly denied being a Christian. To the contrary, each candidate has at least inferred that such is the case. Sarah Palin describes herself as a “Bible-believing” Christian and so I feel it is fair to examine precisely what such a claim means. Does Palin’s belief in the Bible include both the Old and New Testaments? Is her belief in a literal or figurative interpretation of the Bible? Is the historical Jesus the central figure of her belief, or is it the Christ? I do not think these unfair questions for anyone claiming to be a Christian to answer. Just as to say that I am an American proves insufficiently ambiguous when explaining who and what I am, so is it equally disingenuous to simply claim to be a Christian. For the vast majority of people who make the claim to be Christian, their ability to elaborate on exactly what they mean is personal and of little consequence on the global scale. But when Palin, who will be a heartbeat away from occupying the most powerful office in the world if John McCain is elected, claims to be a Christian, the world is entitled to know just exactly what she means. Where does Jesus or the Christ stand on abortion? Where does Jesus or the Christ stand on usury? Where does Jesus or the Christ stand on war, violence, and torture? In the twenty-first century, the claim to be a Christian is code for “I believe in the institutional religion” and does not mean (sadly) to be a disciple of Jesus as the Christ. The Constitution of the United States of America is ingenious in many ways, not the least of which is the absolute separation of Church and State. When it is clear that Sarah Palin has rocketed out of nowhere to become the Christian Right’s vice-presidential candidate of choice, it is only fair to ask the evangelical question, “For whom would Jesus vote?”

Where Were You?

An e-mail this morning from an administrator asked the question, “Do you remember where you were?” As a matter of fact, I do. I was watching Today on NBC while getting ready for work when I joined millions of others in horrified disbelief of what I was seeing. I wondered if our family should be preparing to evacuate, but ended up going to work instead where I attempted to glean information from an overwhelmed Internet. Like so many others, I came to regard September 11, 2001 as the day that changed America forever.

In hindsight, however, I have come to realize that the day America truly changed forever was November 7, 2000. That was the day that the candidate favored by the neoconservative movement fronting for the international military industrial complex lost the popular vote only to be appointed President on December 12 by a complicit Supreme Court.

Still having the freedom of expression that has been shamefully eroded in the last eight years, I am convinced that had Al Gore assumed the presidency he legitimately won, there never would have been a 9/11. I am equally convinced that 9/11 was the result of a carefully planned conspiracy that directly involved the Bush Administration, the same people, by the way, that will not hesitate to take equal or more extreme measures to retain control of the White House. We lost our democracy on 11/07/2000, and that was the day America changed forever.

Smart versus Stupid

Yeah, that’s what I said. This presidential election is coming down to who’s smart and who’s stupid. I don’t expect the stupid people to read anything, but I offer Joe Klein’s opinion for the smart ones to read:
How McCain Makes Obama Conservative
While you’re reading, I’m going to add some captions to our pictures from early August before they disappear from view altogether.

Cirque de OJ

You’ll please forgive me while I vent! Just how stupid are we Americans, anyway? We’ve been stupid enough to allow George W. Bush et al to remain in the White House for the last eight years. We’re stupid enough to want to drill deeper for finite fossil fuels that pollute the environment. We’re even stupid enough to think that Sarah Palin can appeal to disenchanted supporters of Hillary Clinton. But today, as I walked past bomb-sniffing dogs while walking from the parking garage to my cubicle, I came to believe that our stupidity may well be beyond redemption. O.J. Simpson, criminal célèbre, is back in town and that means, I guess, it’s time to turn Las Vegas upside down again just for him. There must be bureaucrats and politicians who benefit from grandly exaggerating the need to provide security for this dried-up hoodlum because I can think of no other way to explain a protocol which exceeds that of presidential visits (yes, George has been to Las Vegas). Given everything that’s going on in the world, I’m just plain embarrassed and disgusted by how stupid we’ve become. Thank you.

Honesty is the Best Policy

Having more than a Democrat or Republican to choose from in the upcoming election would be a sign of healthy maturity that the United States still lacks. Over the years, Ralph Nader has earned the respect of many (if not their votes) by intentionally offering himself as a viable alternative to two party politics. Nonetheless, we are once again involved a bipartisan race and I am going to try to make the best of it by expounding my reasons for supporting Barack Obama.

First, he’s honest. I did not say perfect. Under the close scrutiny of those who employ Rovian smear tactics with impunity, any hint of dishonesty would be all over the place by now but the best they’ve been able to do is to challenge Obama’s honesty by virtue of it being contrary to their own “values”. Blatant and criminal dishonesty has been the hallmark of the Bush administration these last eight years and those who managed to put and keep him in the White House are wise not to play that card against Obama.

It is our own fault that we many times do not want to hear the truth, but thus far I have yet to observe Obama shy away from speaking it as he understands it. And he is able to do so with a sense of humility that acknowledges that he may not always have the final word. ‘Honest Abe’ also went from Illinois to D.C., which leads me to think that those Prairie State folks have a sense of who is and who is not.

Obama 08

It Keeps Coming Up

Once again I find myself pondering the meaning of this temporal existence we call life. I deeply value the assistance that has been offered by the likes of Victor Frankl but still suffer that existential angst that comes from vaguely knowing there is not an answer to the question. I realize that I am not alone. For many, relief from the anxiety is found in concrete and absolute answers. How else can popular brands of Christianity that have little or nothing to do with the life and teachings of Jesus be explained? How else can the absurdities of neo-conservatism appealing to nearly half of all Americans be explained? I am my father’s son, and while having grown up reasoning that the quest for Truth is An Endless Search has afforded me some ability to deal with the ambiguity, it is a nagging that I cannot put to rest. Perhaps my role in the cosmic scheme is really nothing more than to produce in order to consume. I flatter myself that my purpose is to serve my Creator, but what does that mean in the context of a theology that shuns anthropomorphosis? It is the end of another week of work, and I will do well to observe the Sabbath during my days off that I may grow—perhaps not by acquiring any answers—in the enlightenment that may come from feeling more comfortable with the question.

TSA THWARTS TERRORIST ATTACK ON MCCARRAN AIRPORT

(08/23/08) Las Vegas, NV—
Alert Transportation Security Administration agents disarmed Mark A. Hanna, 58, as he attempted to smuggle his 1.5” pocketknife onto Concourse C of Las Vegas’ McCarran International Airport on the morning of August 23. Accompanied by coconspirator Mary J. Hanna, also 58, Hanna first had his wrist slapped by TSA personnel as he attempted to hand off his boarding pass and driver license to his wife while his left knee replacement was thoroughly examined. Hanna’s failed attempt to sneak the weapon through security in his backpack —a gift from his wife upon his 1977 graduation from the Jefferson County Law Enforcement Training Academy—saved the lives of countless travelers who pass through the nation’s sixth busiest airport. Hanna was given the choice of leaving the secured area to mail the weapon to his home at his own expense and then be screened all over again or to “abandon” the weapon to TSA (Hanna later asked how this does not constitute aggravated robbery; further evidence of his insubordinate attitude toward the Bush administration’s tactic of generating fear whenever and wherever possible in the name of “security”). Cavalierly quipping “Tell King George to use that knife in good health,” Hanna was released on his own recognizance (TSA is still investigating why he has no criminal record) to accompany his wife to her mother and aunt’s memorial services in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Lives Remembered

On the morning of August 22, Dory McCallister (Mary’s aunt) died while in hospice care. That same evening, Jean James (Mary’s mother) died while sitting at her dining room table with family. The process set in motion by these two events has served as a profound testimonial to the true meaning of family. My mother-in-law capably survived her husband, Bill, for a quarter-century as the matriarch over two sons, a daughter, four grandchildren and two great grandchildren, all of whom were present at her memorial service. As I watched Mary and her brothers, Ted and Tom, handle all the arrangements that attend death, I was struck by the great tribute they paid their mother by lovingly respecting and cooperating with one another (lessons no doubt learned from Mom). I’ve been with enough families to know that death of a member does not always generate such commendable behavior, with bickering and squabbling instead detracting from the spirit of honor due the deceased. Mary and I have long known that one of the greatest strengths of our marriage has been the blessed compatibility of our families which both emphasize the importance of loving one another. I shall miss Mom James greatly, but I have the good fortune of experiencing her continuing influence manifest in her daughter, my wife. My belief in life with meaning and death with dignity has been strengthened these past days by those who continue to live in the spirit of those who have passed on.