A Toast To Scrooge!

Here’s to Scrooge!

Huh, whassat, you say? Honor a hard-hearted, grouchy old miser? Toast he who thought so little of good works, aid to the poor and such that he saw the death of starving souls as a Malthusian economic benefit that would “decrease the surplus population?” Humbug on that!

Were this Scrooge’s whole story our revulsion at the mere mention of his name would be duly warranted. But it’s not. Indeed the reason that “A Christmas Carol” is one of literature’s most popular tales is the joyous redemption and salvation of Ebenezer Scrooge.

His turnabout was so complete that Scrooge “became as good a friend, as good a teacher, and as good a man, as any person could hope to know,” a man who honored Christmas in his heart all the year.

So why is it that we continue to greet his name with a sneering contempt, forever condemning Dickens’s creation as a cold, callous curmudgeon despite his incredible conversion?

Is it that we tend to see mainly the negative in life and not really trust in the possibility of miracles? Does it betray a latent tendency we have to pre-judge, label and pigeonhole the “other” in a way that smothers the potential for good?

On one end of that spectrum are those everyday acquaintances with whom we may give short shrift, letting the negative we see cloud what good that is there. At the extreme are death row prisoners condemned to a fate worse than their execution: man’s judgment of their utter unredeemability.

Similarly, in today’s red/blue divide faith and hope seem at times to be flying the white flag of surrender. Each side so certain of the righteousness of their cause and the stupidity of the other’s. Even “Merry Christmas” has, for some, become a rallying call of in-your-face defiance instead of the heartfelt expression of warmth and goodwill that Jesus would want.

Fact is, like Scrooge, we may all be wrong in our assumptions. Scrooge was so sure of the rightness of his harsh ways that his discovery of how wrong he had been, and the harm caused thereby, devastated him. The thought that this was irreversible was unbearable.

So imagine his joy upon discovering that he had a second chance to correct his past and make a better future. All that mattered to Scrooge, given this new lease on life, was to do good and to love his fellow man. Hard economic theory melted in the warm glow of Scrooge’s newfound charity.

Others’ deficiencies mattered not to Scrooge, only what HE could do to keep Christmas in his heart every day of every year. No wonder he was “as light as a feather, as happy as an angel and as merry as a schoolboy.”

At heart what we celebrate in Christmas is the essence of Dickens’s masterpiece: the Good News of salvation and redemption for all humanity! Comes the Prince of Peace with tidings of gladness, of joy, and of the hope that humankind will climb the higher path, collectively and individually.

God’s greatest gift, whether seen or not, is ever present. Perhaps it will take a Scrooge-like Spiritual visit to open our eyes. Or maybe like a wondrous tot on Christmas morn we can grasp with joy what is already there! Merry Christmas to all, and a Happy New Year!

Moo on! Richard F. Dawahare December 24, 2004

From Gospel to Gleason

A full day. How lucky am I? Starts with a crisply cold morn with wisps of snow, blessed holiday snow, on the way to early service, just in time for the Decalogue.

Interesting--upon reading the 2nd Commandment… “Thou (i.e. YOU, suckah!, okay me too) shalt not make unto thee any graven image of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth” and I thought, WOW is the very cross that we revere AN IDOL? Seems to fit the definition, but who am I to say, a cynic and a sinner and one who actually liked Kentucky’s smiley-faced license plate (before it won the award for the country’s best).

Rev. Sally’s customarily great sermon rightfully praised Joseph’s faithfulness in God’s word that his fiancé’s pregnancy was of the Spirit, and not by what Joseph supposed was Mary’s philandering. Rev Sally had us put ourselves in Joseph’s shoes and realize that indeed, to have the faith of Joseph in a circumstance where he discovers his betrothed to be pregnant (without of course having “relations” with her), then to marry Mary, and name and raise Jesus as God’s angel, Gabriel, directed was an incredible act of faith that resulted in the world’s salvation [in my belief for Christians and non-Christians alike, as I do not believe Jesus would have chosen ANY religion, but that is another subject…].

She then noted the blessed nature of the “Virgin mother” Mary, considered the most high, especially in the Catholic faith. Then a thought hit me like a bombshell: Jesus’ own attitude and treatment of his mother—at least what the Gospels show—was NOT very respectful…at least not near the adoration of her Catholic followers.

One of the few times the Gospels show Jesus’ interaction with his mother is in John 2:4 at the wedding in Cana where Mary, “the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. Jesus saith unto her, WOMAN, WHAT HAVE I TO DO WITH THEE?” Wow, THIS is “honoring thy mother” (the 5th Commandment)? I dunno about that, but hey, he’s Jesus, so give him the Michael Jordan no foul call.

I mean, he thinks so little of his birth mother that he says in Luke 8:21 “My mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God and do it” in response to his being told that his mother and brothers were there to see him.

I am not judging, but simply observing what appears to be Jesusian behavior diametrically opposed to what we would assume and suppose to be the ideal, that is, what follows to the T the TC (Ten Commandments). Like when he healed on the Sabbath, and says—and I paraphrase in the lingo of an independent Southerner… "By Gawd the Sabbath was made for MAN, not the other way around!”

You know, there’s something about “Mary” because not only was that the name of his mother, but also his consort of sorts, Mary Magdalene. No proof that Jesus did more than absolve her and restore her to God’s embrace, but who knows. There’s so much missing, like all those years between his youth and his last days—weeks--months from which we learn all we know about Issa (the Hindi name for Jesus, apparently he spent some of those missing years traveling India, perhaps picking up and/or sharing his own, spirituality…definitely another subject).

This thread (which I had no intention of starting at this post’s inception) of biblical reality in conflict with traditional perception, I will sew up with a referral to Acts 4:32-37, a section you won’t often see cited, as it is a God-given prescription for the ideal way a community should live so as to maximize the COMMON WEALTH. These passages are really a description of what centuries later would be called theoretical COMMUNISM/SOCIALISM (NOT Soviet or any Communism as practiced today with tyrranical, terroristic force!), where the disciples had the townspeople sell what they had, bring all together for the common good so that people took what they needed and all lived happily and well thereafter. Incredible, but true, read it!…

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**OOH, OOH (Car 54 Where Are You OOH, OOH)-- watching It’s a Wonderful Life as I write this, it’s just at the point where George Bailey defends his dad and lays into Potter who criticized giving easy, generous terms to low income working class citizens which he claimed created a “discontented lazy rabble instead of a thrifty working class all because a few starry eyed dreamers like Peter Bailey stirs them up and fills their head with impossible ideas!”

George Bailey stood up and CORRECTLY said his dad selflessly forsook higher profits, lived frugally so as to help others live better and observes “Don’t it make them better citizens, don’t it make them better customers?” Yes, yes, a thousand times yes it does.

So what is today’s selfless (low, little, private profit that enables low income people to have more) version of Bailey’s Building and Loan? To be continued….**

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The rest of the day included a heartfelt talk with a friend at the bookstore, another one or two in other stores, including our own, more Christmas decorating at home, more space heaters bought (hopefully ones that will actually WORK so that I can pay the electric company instead of the gas co.), then to my one of my best friend’s party at his festively decorated new home, and now for the past few hours typing and watching Smokey and the Bandit and Holy Christmas was JACKIE GLEASON HILARIOUS!!

It doesn’t get funnier! What a day.

Moo on! Rfd, December 19 & 20, 2004

Where's the "est"?

My last post extolling Kentucky's beauty on a recent drive seemed a bit braggadocious, as if I had some kind of pride of authorship in making my native state something special. I am particularly sensitive to this feeling as I just returned from the Netherlands where I kept commenting on it being the "est"--the prettiEST, the artiEST, the quaintEST.

Will is a friend I met through Rotary on a previous trip to Amsterdam. On my recent trip Will showed me that famed Dutch hospitality as he had me over to his home in the very center of old Amsterdam, then on Sunday he took me to a number of small villages--places all the tour books say "you simply MUST go (dahhh-ling). " Vollendam and Marken are two of the most picturesque. They are seaside villages with the typical Dutch wooden homes, windmills, cows and geese that just oozes with quiet, quaint serenity.

Like my drive through Central Kentucky, what accentuated this tour was the unbelievably dramatic skies. Even Will gazed and repeated in his Dutch-accented English "This is Fan-TAWS-tik". One could now see what inspired Vermeer and Jan Steen to paint those Dutch countryside landscapes featuring the very same multi hued clouds stretching across the bright blue sky that we were then experiencing.

One could be forgiven for believing--and saying--that this spot at this time was the most beautiful place on earth, the bEST.

Fact is, though, that across the globe there were countless others right at that exact time who were similarly experiencing there own Nirvana. For each of us, THAT what we were then experiencing was, for us, the "EST." Objectively were we to share each others' milieu we may agree that ALL such places were EST.

And while Kentucky and its people are wonderful, the quest for EST is a non-starter. It is an irrelevant and limiting journey.

Truth be known Jack Daniels is still the most popular single brand of whiskey. And in Haarlem, a village just outside of Amsterdam, I met a Thai gentleman working in his aunt's restaurant who lived for 5 years in both Knoxville and Lexington. He said by far Tennessee was much friendlier and more accepting to him.

So is Kentucky EST? Yes, it's est and so is the place that touches your breast.

Moo on! RFD 12/10/04

A Postcard Perfect Day in the Bluegrass

It all started with Bobby. He is our sales rep for various men's accessories products like Tommy Hilfiger belts and wallets and Geoffrey Beene jewelry. Bobby came up from Florida--where he recently lost his home and every material thing he and his family owned in Hurricane Ivan to visit our stores and insure his product was properly displayed.

So he asks me to do him a favor and drive him around our stores in central Kentucky. This was a pleasure for me as I love visiting our stores, greeting our associates and driving the rural Kentucky landscape.

We started from our Gardenside store, where we keep our central offices. Next was Fayette Mall. But it was the remaining portion of our journey that was simply SPECTACULAR!

Leaving that store we headed out of town through Nicholasville to our store in Danville, home of Centre College, who beat Harvard 6-0 in a 1921 game that the Associated Press later billed as the upset of the century. It was the first time Harvard lost an intersectional game in 4 decades.

We then circled back east to our store in Richmond, KY. This drive, though field after rolling field, over, by and through streaming brooks and windy two lane roads, was “over the river and through the woods” awesome! Cows so peaceful, either laying in the field, or munching on their feast of greens. Circling hawks, flying geese, ravens and roosters, pristine ponds--'twas as if Audubon himself had ordered this farmland fantasy.

And most dramatic was the sky: it was alive with action. Crystal blue with crisp, gale force winds blowing massive billowing clouds--some white, some various shades of gray--a real Dutch Masters portrait. From Richmond to Winchester we even caught a choo-choo train as it snaked by the tumbling stream.

Bobby said it best: “This is the most beautiful state and this is the most spectacular postcard perfect scenery I have ever seen.” Bobby, a 30 year road warrior veteran, echoed the sentiments of every salesperson I’ve worked with who has traversed our Commonwealth. From Chicago to New York, California to Florida, all who’ve visited Kentucky calls it the most scenic of states.

I woulda paid for this drive, but like most of life’s best things, it was free!

Moo on! Rfd 12/7/04

A Thanksgiving Thought (While Morose I'm Not)

I give thanks today for family and friends
Who when I’m so out keep bringing me in;

For so many gadgets and gismos galore
That make life so easy I always want more;
For the insight to note this and pray for reprieve
That in my excess I may more deeply believe;

For the joy, the pleasure and yes--I guess--(sigh)
Even the pain--
For without it my faith is only in vain;

For the yin and the yang,
The pro and the con
Liberals, conservatives
And all (well okay, most) thoughts beyond;

For a good night’s sleep that refreshes the mind,
And a clearer connection to the glorious divine;

The issue’s decided, it’s all good in the end,
And remembering this helps me better begin;

So to you my dear friends I wish you the best
With peace and joy may your hearts rest.


RFD Nov. 25, 2004 Moo on!

A Pre-election poem

~A Pre-election poem ~

I’m thankful for so much this election eve:
A trip the day after, can’t wait to leave,

A campaign season with spirited talk
Much more civil than any thought,
(Well Exclude Kentucky, we weren’t so lucky,
Bunning went hunting with guns full of lies,
And it has now fired back right into his eyes!);


GLORY BE! no Madrids or terror alerts,
Even Osama could cause us no hurt.

We parried and sparred and stood our ground,
All wanting to make ours the best country around;
Yes, different paths and philosophies we take,
But never the friendships did our differences shake.

Tomorrow will bring both angst and hope,
But no matter who wins I know I’ll cope,
For in the end it’s already decided,
Don’t really matter who is presiding!

My prediction, for fun, is that Kerry will win--
Lots of new voters with much interest in
The political process that they now see
Has put an end—for now—of their apathy.

We’ll not wait long for the heir apparent
(Be able to bed before eleven)
And whoever’s behind will with class concede
And help our nation, united, succeed.

Richard F. Dawahare 11/2/04

What came first--God or the Universe?

"There is a sphere where there is neither earth nor water nor heat nor air, for it is beyond the field of matter; nor is it the sphere of infinite space, or consciousness, for it is beyond the field of mind. There is not the condition of nothingness, neither is there the state of this world or another world, nor sun nor moon. This is the uncreated condition I call neither arising nor passing away, neither dying nor being born. It is without form and without change. It is the eternal, which never originates and never passes away. To find it is the end of sorrow."

-Udana Sutta

I recall from a very young age wondering exactly where I came from. My world in Whitesburg, Ky was full of mountains, loving folks and family, loud trucks and gentle little lambs. It was a world of wonder as the world is for all youth--humans and animals alike. Images of rambunctious cubs and pups come to mind.

But then I would think, hmmmm, before I was born--for ME at least--there was nothing, nothingness. Then April 8, 1955--BOOM! I suppose I was slapped as many babies are to get them breathing, to get them REALLY ACQUAINTED with the nature of the world they'll have to navigate. There's just gotta be some meaning to a newly born child's first ever sensory experience being VIOLENCE.

Sure, the slap is done as a loving act to save the child by getting him/her to survive. But I am beginning to really believe that this seeming innocuous act might have a truly lasting influence that in part leads to our violent world--a world that sees war as necessary to create peace, a world that glorifies violence, whether on the field of battle or the fields of football.

Psychologists could tell us more than my own musings, but according to their well established principles the fact that much of humankind enters the world with the FIRST experience being a slap, one intentionally hard enough to cause a shout of pain, must result in a psychological IMPRINTING in the subconscious of those most impressionable minds. Has to.

There must be a better way to introduce humanity in the world. I know if our mindset was one of peace, we would find such a way. Or is the world just destined to be a place as full of violence, fear and hate as it is of beauty, peace and love?

It really gets to a "what came first, God or the Universe?" If the Universe came first--Big Bang or otherwise--then the subsequent evolution of humans with their capacity for both emotions AND critical thought, then God was simply created by humanity in order to rationalize their world. Later such religion would be termed "an opiate for the masses." In this case, the words of those fatalistic realists who say "there will always be war, rich, poor and injustice evermore" are a reminder of the futility of even attempting to seek higher ground. So go ahead and slap the little tot.

However, if God came first--as I believe--then the result in our little sphere called Earth is that He allows nature to take its course. It's not so much that He prevents bad from happening, although He is there to comfort the faithful when afflicted. But He has repeatedly shown and taught us the way to do on Earth as it is in Heaven--a land with peace, love and justice. For Christians, that message was perfected in Jesus. But there have been many sages and signs--from Confucius, Moses, Muhammad, the Dalai Llama, Gandhi and many more.

The more we listen and follow those sages, and I will now refer to Jesus as His is the plan with which I am most familiar, the closer we will come to this perpetual land of milk and honey. This is an evolution of thought and faith in which humanity has no doubt made progress on a path still long and crooked.

How far till perfect peace on Earth? Who knows as we can only look backwards from this point in history. But envision looking back from the year 4004 . Folks then will be so much closer to the ideal that they will look back to 2004 and say something like "they actually slapped new-born babies?" They will undoubtedly marvel at much of what we now take for granted as being acceptable, just as we now detest slavery and wonder how on earth that was ever appropriate.

Perhaps one such phenomena will be how this society would allow a few millions of people to keep trillions in savings while many billions have nothing. Maybe it will be how insular "nations" so focus on their own immediate wants and needs that they fail to see the ill-effects on their long term interests by enriching themselves while neglecting--and often degrading--others. [Okay these may reflect my own personal observations and biases in which I MAY be wrong. In any event I am certainly part and parcel of that system.]

By then we will all be gone in our current fleshly form. Will it be a return to the same nothingness as the one I mused about as a little boy? Or will it be "the eternal, which never originates and never passes away"?


Richard F. Dawahare
18 September, 2004

Churchill--reformed Conservative

So you could imagine what Britain would do for the man, Sir Winston, who was the hero and savior of the British Empire. Right…they voted him out of office! How, HOW, on God’s green earth could the British citizens reject Churchill in the election of 1945 after all he did?!

I learned why at the end of my tour of the Cabinet War Rooms. Among famous original documents, letters Churchill’s speeches was a letter from his daughter, Sarah, following her father’s defeat. The letter, which I have attached in my email linking this site (along with a pic from my favorite “brown bar” in Amsterdam which had among its odd assortment of bric-a-brac pictures of Churchill AND Jesus—imagine my delight after quite a few brews and…never mind) explains why the voters chose Labour over the Churchill’s Conservative party in a landslide.

Thing is, before the war there were the few very rich and the many very poor in British society. The war-induced scarcity forced the government to institute strict rationing and welfare programs like healthcare, unemployment insurance and education. This meant that many of the poor, the ones fighting, dying and manufacturing, to keep Britain free and intact were getting more than they ever had—some meat, some new clothes, some gas, etc.

And, as Sarah noted, they didn’t want to go back: “You see the people I know who are labour, don’t vote labour for ideals or belief, but simply because life has been hard for them, often an unequal struggle and they think that only by voting labour will their daily struggle become easier…they are decent people who want an easier and gayer life but certainly wouldn’t tolerate any form of totalitarianism.”

She went on to say, “Because socialism as practiced during the war did no one any harm, and quite a lot of people good. The children of this country have never been so well fed or healthy, what milk there was, was shared equally, the rich didn’t die because their neat ration was no larger than the poor, and there is no doubt that this common sharing and feeling of sacrifice was one of he strongest bonds that unified us. So why, they say, cannot this common feeling of sacrifice be able to work as effectively in peace?"

Why indeed. The Labour Party won in a landslide, installing as the new Prime Minister Clement Atlee, whom Churchill once described as “A sheep in sheep’s clothing” and “A modest man, who has much to be modest about.” Perhaps so, for Sir Winston returned as Prime Minister in 1951 till his retirement in 1955, but the social welfare system was well in place by then.

I rather like this assessment of Churchill from HowToFoldSoup.com:
“Churchill's death in 1965, like that of Queen Victoria in 1901, marked the end of an era in British history. Born into a Victorian aristocratic family, he witnessed and participated in Britain's transformation from empire to welfare state, and its decline as a world power. His true importance, however, rests on the fact that by sheer stubborn courage he led the British people, and with them, the democratic Western world, from the brink of defeat to a final victory in the greatest conflict the world has ever seen.”

One final word, tonight, on Sir Winston. He was a warrior first class, but only out of true “back to the wall” necessity. As he said, “To jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war.” I will apply that philosophy and Churchill’s times with the situation now facing our world in another installment.

Until then, please remember that “If you are going through hell, keep going!”

Moo on, RFD 8/24/04

“We’re not Watusi. We’re American, with a capital “A”!

Don’t know why exactly but Bill Murray’s infamous line from Stripes came to mind today as I visited a local campus (Go BLUE!) music store and found an obscure used cd called Great Speeches of the 20th Century.” On it was Lou Gehrig telling his fans that he was “the luckiest man in the world.” Kentucky’s favorite son (after Muhammad Ali) Happy Chandler introduced the Babe, whose aged, raspy voice belied an uncommon humility during his farewell address at Yankee Stadium in 1947.

But ‘twas the century’s great political leaders what got me to writing. Chief among them was Churchill’s inspired exhortation girding his countrymen for the impending German attack on their island fortress:

“Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. Upon it depends our own British life and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire…. Hitler knows he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him all Europe may be freed and the life of the world may move forward into broad sunlit uplands. But if we fail then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for will sink into the abyss of a new dark age made more sinister and perhaps more protracted by the likes of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duty, so bear ourselves that if the British Empire and its Commonwealths last for a thousand years men will still say THIS was their finest hour!”

It is quite fashionable to quote Churchill today and in fact both liberals and conservatives are quick to do so. My personal “discovery” of the man and his importance began with my Uncle Willie, who was mayor of Hazard, KY for 20 years from the from the 50’s on. Uncle Willie was the oldest of my dad’s 11 siblings and my first entrée into the political world. I will always remember him giving me a commemorative silver dollar with John F. Kennedy’s call for us to “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”

Uncle Willie also quoted Churchill and with his Dobbs hat (hats went out of style after the hatless JFK entered office) and ever-present cigar I always tended to associate each with the other. But it wasn’t until my post law school European trek in the summer of ‘79 that I began to more fully appreciate Churchill and his importance. In London I stayed at Chelsea College, where students there filled me in.

Coincidentally, one evening we watched a BBC theatrical presentation of Churchill during the height of the war. Wherever I went in London—Parliament, Big Ben, the Tower, Hyde Park, Piccadilly, Victoria—his visage was my constant companion, his indomitable spirit, it seemed, everywhere.

Years later I visited the Cabinet War Rooms, the underground labyrinth where Nazi bombers had forced Churchill and his team to conduct their defense of the free world for most of 1940. The rooms have been restored to exactly as they were back then, a sepia-toned bunker, complete with maps, ration stamps, full size replicas of the generals and Churchill himself, his bed, nightstand, ashtray (with cigar) and brandy snifter (“I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me”).

Suddenly sirens blare their warning of yet another Nazi bomb strike. You could sense the utter horror a Brit would feel, wondering if they’d be blown to smithereens like a neighbor or relative on a previous raid. Then, Sir Winston’s comforting words.

Churchill’s speech above was quite true: had Britain succumbed the world would look much, much different today. Literally and factually all that stood between a Hitlerian empire of the Dark Void and our Walt Disney World of Wonder and Goodness was the stout-hearted British people. As Churchill noted, “It was the nation …that had the lion’s heart. I had the luck to be called upon to give it the roar.”

Whether Sir Winston was being uncharacteristically humble or not, it is evident to me that certain individuals placed at certain points in time affect for both good and bad the future course of world events. No Hitler--no WWII. No Churchill--no Greatest Generation, no Marshall Plan, no United Nations, no GI Bill, no Israel. Game over. Period.

Such was his importance, as if his whole life had pointed to this one decisive moment and purpose: to steel his countrymen, to rally American support and prevail against the Godless scourge of Nazi fascism.

Churchill himself believed this. He was raised a devout low church (no ornamental or popish ritual) Christian by his doting nanny, Mrs. Elizabeth Anne Everest, or “Woom” as boy Winston called her. A poor student, he resolved to catch up with more learned peers as a soldier in India. He devoured books of literature and philosophy and so became acquainted with scholars who systematically destroyed everything he’d been taught about religion.

He became angry that so many “myths” had taught to him as divine truths: “…I passed through a violent and aggressive anti-religious phase…My poise was restored during the next few years by frequent contact with danger.” To wit, his miraculous escape from a Boer prison camp in South Africa, where he had to cross 300 miles in hostile territory.

At rope’s end he found a house, which turned out to be the ONLY one for 20 miles that was British! Churchill later said that he “felt like a drowning man pulled out of the water and informed he has won the Derby!”

The experience brought him back to God: “I found no comfort in any of the philosophical ideas which some men parade in their hours of ease and strength and safety… I realized with awful force that no exercise of my own feeble with and strength could save me from my enemies, and that without the assistance of that High Power which interferes in the eternal sequence of causes and effects more often that we are always prone to admit, I could never succeed. I prayed long and earnestly for help and guidance. My prayer, as it seems to me, was swiftly and wonderfully answered.”

Stephen Mansfield’s book on Churchill, “Never Give In” says that Churchill saw himself as a knight, a standard bearer for the British Empire in the conflict between Christendom and the forces of blackest paganism. Compared to other leaders of the day who floated in a sea of moral relativity, Churchill’s moral compass provided the firm foundation from which he early and accurately identified Hitler as “this wicked man” and the Nazis as “sinister forces of evil.”

How similar to today’s enabling war cry to “rid the world of evil” that both Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair used to attack Iraq, and still use as reason enough to attack wherever necessary henceforth. Whether it is an apt comparison is a topic for another day.

For now we can take comfort in Sir Winston’s assessment: “You can count on America doing the right thing—after they’ve tried everything else.”

Moo on! RFD 8/22/04

Gomer (joy) to the world!

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, don't put the kind-hearted soul, Gomer Pyle, in the same sentence with Mr. Bush. An esteemed writer described President Bush as a “thuggish Gomer Pyle.” While he accurately observes that Bush seems both oversimple and ruthless, he quite unintentionally miscast Mr. Pyle.

Gomer was always a personal hero of sorts. He literally walked out of step with everybody else, but he had an innate trust in goodness. No matter how bad things got they always ended glowingly with Gomer.

Gomer was full of joy that he also wished for anybody he was around. He was the living embodiment of FDR optimism. While Gomer never wore God on his sleeve it was obvious, to me at least, that His spirit was living through Gomer.

This is not to say that the same is not also true for Mr. Bush. It is not for me to stand in such judgment. In fact, I pray for him, his family and team and that they make decisions that best benefit our world.

However Gomer's fruit was sweet, flavorful and eagerly digested. For much of the world Mr. Bush's fruit is, well…bitter is the nicest way to put it.

It’s a tad early for Christmas, but I wish us all Gomer’s sense of peace, good will and sunny optimism.

Oh and by the way, cousin Goober says “hey!”

Moo on! RFD 8/20/04

MOOOving past the hate

Time for confession. I have had, let's see...how should I term it...ill will, spite, enmity--as I search my Word thesaurus for just the right word, ummm--loathing? disgust?, OH, there it is--EXTREME DISLIKE! Nah, that's two words.

No sense in trying to sugar coat it, all these words are just a slightly more civil--and wrath-of- God avoiding--way of saying HATRED. I've had it there for Mr. Bush, for the Republicans since the time of Newt, and even for supposed Democrats who follow the path that roused my consternation.

That path: acts that I consider totally against the public interest--which they are sworn to serve--and instead for their own or their benefactors' special interests. George Bush has taken this to new lows by "marketing" said decisions with totally deceptive names like "Clean Air Act" or the "Healthy Forest initiative". Such lies epitomize the totality of the Bush Administration and, yes, make me mad as heck.

To be fair, my hatred is for their actions, not them personally. My GOP friends ask whether I would feel the same if a Democrat acted similarly. No problem--YES! Just like when they voted for every Bush tax cut, or voted to go to war. It's true that both sides engage in corrupt acts, but to my mind the Republicans have done far more over the last 10 years. Perhaps Enron is a good example: 75% of their donations went to the GOP, 25% to the Dems.

But the point of this log is not to try to justify my contempt, but to find a way through it, to help reach a more constructive plateau. To that end I have discovered three techniques:

1) I stop and think that maybe, just maybe, they think their decisions ARE in the best interest of the citizens, which undoubtedly some of them are, the ones that are BI-PARTISAN in nature, issues like Welfare reform;

2) I remember that my GOP friends and I share much love and laughs, so how can something like politics disrupt that;

3) I know that people of any party, if a complete stranger was in need they would do anything to help them in an emergency and wouldn't wonder for a second what party they were in.

Such are the bonds of commonality we share--and that we must fight to restore. In my mind that starts with hate radio and the purveyors of dis: dis-information, dis-gust, dis-temper, dis-tress: Rush, Boartz, O'Reilly. We should petition stations to take them off!

Then we need to affirmatively change the dialogue by looking for chances to bend over backwards in accommodating "the other." Now, we're doing just the opposite by not even admitting obvious merit for an opponent's position or fault with our own.

There is no doubt that we CAN get back to harmony and unity. We need but take the first bold steps to truth, to fairness and, dare I say it... to LOVE.

Hoof on!


Richard F. Dawahare

Welcome to a quest for Peace and Justice

Do you see contradictions all around you--like billionaire Donald Trump filing for bankruptcy? Or sweet saintly grandmas gambling like like there's no tomorrow, thereby giving the Good Housekeeping Seal to what was once a decidedly evil vice.

Maybe it's just the nagging concern about living a life of plenty in America, when the large swath of the earth enabling our bounty suffers greatly. If you're Christian do you see inconsistencies with political leaders who proudly don their Christian faith, yet act--and vote laws--that oppose Jesus' teachings?

If so, then walk with me, talk with me, as we explore the path to the Highest truth. The goal is to define just how to be good Citizens Of the World--the COW in PeaceCow. [Also, I love cows as they provide us so much--from food and apparel to beautiful pastoral scenes, and all they do is placidly chew and melodiously moo].

I must add that just today my friend (yes, I've really got one!) Mike Dickerson, encouraged me to start a Blog to discuss my political/philosophical views. I therefore thank him and hope I can further the cause of Peace and Justice in our world.

Looking forward to the journey, Richard F. Dawahare Lexington, Kentucky