Dead Eye Dick and the Sun of God

Dedicated to one that I love[1]

Did you know they now make green softballs, kind of like the fluorescent tennis balls that have been out for decades? I found one in Woodland Park’s now fast-growing grass[2] while I was chatting with a friend—I on my daily walk, she reading beneath the tall oak’s verdant canopy.

Like most all macho men with a ball in hand during a bright spring day and in the presence of a fetching young lass[3] I just had to flaunt an athletic feat, so I feigned a high school nickname which never existed—“they used to call me ‘Dead-eye Dick’”—as an excuse to throw it at a tree way, way in the distance[4] and thus make her heart flutter with admiration.

My aim was true so as I continued my walk I followed my schoolboy bravado by tossing the ball up and catching it, to show my fine female friend just how athletic I truly am.[5] Up it would soar, then predictably down. On the next toss this yellowish green earthly ball peaked next to the blazingly white heavenly one, before bowing once more to the laws of gravity into my outstretched hands.

This law of physics had me musing about Sir Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein and that it is through their supreme powers of observation that we know what we do about the truths of the world wherein we live. HAH! This juxtaposed coincidence of Heaven[6] and science struck me like a 100 mph fastball, and with it a realization that it must contain some higher truth.

The laws of nature are the laws of God, and as Einstein said, we can only know God through what we can observe in the world around us: “My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind.” Contrary to popular thought, Einstein was a big believer in God, not a narrow religious “God” but a Universal “all that there is” God.

Newton had a similar outlook: “This most beautiful system [The Universe] could only proceed from the dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being…In the absence of any other proof, the thumb alone would convince me of God's existence.”

So it is that the Earth’s two greatest scientists believed in a superior spirit, an Almighty, a Universal force, a God—just not THE God, that is, they did not believe in the God of Christians or Jews, or Muslims or Hindus. Nor even the non-existent God of the atheists. Rather, their acknowledgement is to a Power, largely unknowable except as to the “slight details.”

Of course, to think of the Theory of Relativity as a mere “detail” is mind-boggling, yet it does put in perspective just how much we DON’T know, yet is real, just not yet “discovered.”[7] Likewise, the opposite: how much we THINK is real, yet may be only illusion, namely what ingrained “truths”—in religion generally and Christianity specifically—are instead more a product of the tradition of man, than Universal Truth?

Yes, as I escape the binding straightjacket-hold of conventional Christianity, I find that it is the over-riding truth of Einstein’s God that has so far ripped me from the death-hold clutch of the traditions of man. Yet still I follow the teachings of Jesus, as those teachings embody and strengthen Universal Law.[8]

After all, what is making disciples of other nations if not living by example Jesus’ life teachings? It certainly can not be the mere cannibalistic drinking of his blood and eating of his body without the works that are consistent with his teachings: the stronger taking care of the weaker, the looking beyond pure self-interest to being other-oriented, the making, standing and if need be non-resistant dying for peace, the loving of all, including supposed enemies.[9]

One need not be a Christian, an acknowledger of Jesus--or any “religious” figure--to so order their life, and would nonetheless be following a path that maximizes the good, the truth, that is Universal Law.

But what of the Resurrection of the sacrificial Lamb of God who died for the sins of the world, so that all that believe in Jesus—and ONLY Jesus--have everlasting life?

Used to be, when I was immersed in the confines of traditional Church dogma that my whole belief system hinged on Jesus’ resurrection. If there was any chance that he did not rise from his death, then it ALL was for naught—there was no heaven, his life teachings void.

This was a true house-of-cards that caused me much, much angst in my youth, for though I did not at that time realize it I know that God was revealing to me a much larger truth. This youth-born seed has been growing into a study—which may become a book—that will free the hope of eternity from such tight constraints.

I see it as an application of Einstein’s search for truth in our sun-drenched physical world, to that beyond time and space.

And so it is seems that all the truth that could set us free is embodied as much in the Sun of God as the Son of God.


[1] Love. Both the highest human attainment, and at times just a four-letter word. There are many kinds of love. First, there is emotional love, which we easily experience, but often confuse with mere self-oriented pleasure. Within the emotional love category there is both CONDITIONAL love and UNCONDITIONAL love. Unconditional love is rare, and usually only by a parent for a child, and a pet for its owner. Even in marriage, one’s emotional love will be conditioned on loyalty and some measure of reciprocity from the other. Thus most emotional love is CONDITIONAL.

Second, there is AGAPE love, which is the love Jesus taught, where we love all--stranger, neighbor even enemy, and is nothing more than good intentions and actions given freely and indiscriminately to all. Agape love will often lack any warm fuzzy emotional component at all, such as when we do good to those that harm us. We need not like them to love them.

My love for the one to whom this is dedicated is both conditionally emotional and agape. Even though she does not reciprocate the affinity I have for her, still do I feel. And that is okay—sometimes the best love is one that is not ruined by its return!

Of course, my feelings are conditioned on her being the person I have known her to be—kind, considerate and non-malicious. Yet if that turned out to be the case, I would show (I hope!) the agape love that just lets it be.


[2] Early spring grass grows so fast and full it is reminiscent of the bushy, bushy big hair of high school girls.
[3]She was coincidentally near the gardenias and geraniums which are just now spewing forth their alluring fragrances.
[4] Typical exaggerated fish story. In fact the tree was just about 15’ away.
[5] I could hear Casey Stengel saying “you still got it, kid”, which is funny because I never had it to begin with!
[6] “Heaven” is both a subjective religious concept as well as an objective scientific reference to the universe beyond our atmosphere, such as “the heavens.”

[7] For instance, new species of animals and plants were recently discovered in the Foja mountain range of Papua New Guinea. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4688000.stm. And in the arctic, fossils of a fish with leg-like fins, offering evidence of the evolvement of finned fish to land lubbing tetrapods. http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19025464.600-first-fossil-of-fish-that-crawled-onto-land-discovered.html. The truth of these discoveries long, long pre-dated our recent realization of them.

However, we can use this same observation in matters of faith: just because there is no scientific proof of spiritual “heaven,” for instance, does not negate its possibility, much less its reality for those who believe. In fact, the essence OF faith is the belief in that which is not seen.

[8] The Golden Rule, for example, was postulated first by Confucius 500 years before Jesus. Yet it’s a cinch some obscure Chinaman/woman said it, indeed it is a Universal Truth that only awaited a human discoverer.
[9] See footnote 1 regarding the difference between emotional love and agape love.

MORE EINSTEIN QUOTES:

These thoughts did not come in any verbal formulation. I rarely think in words at all. A thought comes, and I may try to express it in words afterward.Quoted in H Eves Mathematical Circles Adieu (Boston 1977).

A human being is a part of the whole, called by us "Universe," a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security.Quoted in H Eves Mathematical Circles Adieu (Boston 1977).

The world needs heroes and it's better they be harmless men like me than villains like Hitler. Quoted in H Eves Return to Mathematical Circles (Boston 1988).

If my theory of relativity is proven successful, Germany will claim me as a German and France will declare that I am a citizen of the world. Should my theory prove untrue, France will say that I am a German and Germany will declare that I am a Jew.Address at the Sorbonne, Paris.

MORE NEWTON QUOTES:

Numero pondere et mensura Deus omnia condidit God created everything by number, weight and measure.

Truth is ever to be found in the simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things.

Two Maps—a World of Difference

The man now in Kansas, where I knew, came from Guanajuato, where I didn’t, so I went to the atlas. At once I was struck by the stark differences between the political and natural maps. The political world is a multi-hued patchwork of man-made borders. Pretty greens and pinks and blues and yellows denote continents, countries, confederations, counties and states.

The same areas on the natural map take on more serene quality.
It is the world in its truest, God-made natural state. No borders, just stretches of green, with ridges of black and brown for mountains and orangey-red for deserts all separated by vast expanses of blue. Life flows freely throughout the Natural World, while in the political world people are kept out—and sometimes in—by artificially created manmade borders.

This observation unearthed a truth that had been stubbornly buried within my subconscious: it is the disparity between Natural law (God) and manmade law that is at the root of human strife and suffering.

The subject of my search, Pedro Flores, is a case in point. Pedro was a farmer put out of business by drought. The only available water goes to the well connected few, leaving the distraught many barren of opportunities. Some, like Pedro come with the proper documentation. Others follow the natural yearnings of a better life, even mere survival. Ironically, they may end up in land that was once part of Mexico depending how far south in the US they go.

Many of those who come are farmers who were done in by the inequities of trade laws. NAFTA and US government subsidies have allowed American farmers to sell crops much cheaper than can Mexican farmers, who have no such subsidy. Mexicans who for generations have toiled hard on their land were suddenly plowed under through the laws of commerce and contrivances of governments beholden to special interests. Perversely, some may be working on farms that sell the corn that necessitated their northward migration to begin with.

Nature’s law is “live and help live,” which is a hallmark of the American character. In fact, Americans have largely welcomed and enjoyed our Mexican brethren. Yet we are nowhere near that idealistic state of perfect harmony that would allow people to roam as freely as the birds of the air. And so it is entirely reasonable regulate immigration into our country.

But we must make and adjust those rules in a way that best allows us to live in accord with Nature’s laws. That process will demand a high-minded collaborative process that treats fairly and with compassion all concerned: the American taxpayer, the immigrants now here, and those waiting to come.

The final policy might therefore include some of the following:

1) A guest worker program as President Bush has suggested
2) A requirement for employers of undocumented workers to enlist them in this program, collect payroll taxes and otherwise pay and treat them as our law demands for citizens;
3) A track to citizenship for those working and obeying our laws,
4) English only instruction with bi-lingual education only as a means to learning English
5) Job preferences for American citizens who otherwise meet job qualifications and employer expectations.

Americans are well versed in living by Nature’s highest laws. We need only remember that as we craft our own.

Respectfully, Richard F. Dawahare 4/19/06

What if: “Forget Barabbas, give us JESUS!”

A newly discovered Christian manuscript recasts the treacherous double-crossing Judas as a loyal disciple who would surpass the others by agreeing to Jesus’ request to betray him. Shocking, maybe. But, since traditional Christian theology sees Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection as being a part of God’s plan for humanity’s redemption, then all of the events leading to God’s flesh sacrifice of his only son could be seen as having been similarly ordained by Him, including using Judas in this way.

It begs the question: what if Judas had protected Jesus instead? More significantly, what if the crowd, the chief priests and elders of that fateful day had said, “give us Jesus, our King, our Messiah!” For had the Pharisees and Sadducees accepted Jesus as Messiah, there would have been no trial before Pilate, no crucifixion and no atoning sacrifice of Christ, God’s paschal Lamb.
Think of it, the long awaited Messiah, accepted as such, instead of rejected. What would have changed in their world? How would the structure of their society changed, would it have stayed so changed, and what would our world look like today?

This scenario is fascinating because Christians have by and large been taught that the rejection of Jesus was mankind’s worst sin, and that he should have been recognized and accepted as the savior, God’s anointed son. Can you imagine the consequences that may have ensued from such obedience?

For one, it is certain that Jesus would have prevented his fellow Judeans from taking up arms against the Romans...or against any nation or peoples. Of course, this radical non-violent approach to peace and security could have fared no worse than the fate that ultimately befell them.

His principles of government administration seem easily predictable. Jesus would undoubtedly have integrated His lifelong teachings of compassion, of charity, of love and empathy. He would have policies that encouraged other-directedness--servanthood—especially from those who had more TO those with less.

Acts 4:31-37 describes the sort of economic system Jesus would most likely have instituted. There the apostles and townspeople, filled with the Holy Spirit of Christ’s resurrection, “felt that what they owned was not their own; they shared everything they had.” (Acts 4:32 NIV). “There was no poverty among them, because the people who owned lands or houses sold them and brought the money to the apostles for those in need.” (Acts 4: 34,35).

However, it is entirely possible that Jesus would have abdicated his throne for as he said, his kingdom was not of this world. What then? Would those same leaders and citizens that accepted Jesus as Messiah have stayed totally true to his principles in their administration? Are today’s?

If they did, and society continued in that vein, we would have achieved a veritable Heaven on earth. Yet it is hard to imagine humanity sticking to Jesus’ high ideals. Man’s lower nature would eventually corrupt this nirvana, be it by greed or envy, fear or ego. Indeed it is for remission of these inevitable sins that Jesus died on the cross.

It is on Jesus’ glorious resurrection that Christendom hinges its salvation and hope for life eternal. Yet it is only by rising to his ideals of behavior that we show ourselves loyal in this one.

Rfd 4/13/06

Church and State: an Unholy Alliance

Truth’s path is naturally clear. It is the obstructions of man, the obstructions of our traditions, and especially the obstructions of our own minds that cloud its trail.

The popular pursuit of entangling religion—and particularly in the U.S., Christianity—with politics, the state and its government is perhaps the most difficult obstacle impeding our collective attainment of “truth,” which in the administration of our public affairs means justice, fairness and liberty.

Christians seeking to link church and state seem oblivious to the fact that the religion’s namesake—Jesus Christ himself—was totally and thoroughly opposed to this. He was, as Garry Wills notes in this EXCELLENT piece http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/09/opinion/09wills.html?_r=1&oref=slogin, in today’s NY Times, “the original proponent of a separation of church and state.”

This truth comes straight from the unambiguous text of the New Testament Gospels by which we know whatever we can know of Jesus and his teachings. If we are to "prepare the way of the Lord (and) make straight his paths" MT 3:3 we must begin and end by correctly understanding his teachings.

Then we can more clearly follow truth and through that be set free.

[PS: Keeping religion out of the state does not in the least negate the necessity of keeping Morality and Ethics within it. Morality and ethics are distinct from religion. Those of all religions, or NO religion, can live by their precepts in a universal fashion. The conflict and turmoil in our world today shows little we actually do.]

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NY Times April 9, 2006
Op-Ed Contributor

Christ Among the Partisans

By GARRY WILLS
Chicago

THERE is no such thing as a "Christian politics." If it is a politics, it cannot be Christian. Jesus told Pilate: "My reign is not of this present order. If my reign were of this present order, my supporters would have fought against my being turned over to the Jews. But my reign is not here" (John 18:36). Jesus brought no political message or program.

This is a truth that needs emphasis at a time when some Democrats, fearing that the Republicans have advanced over them by the use of religion, want to respond with a claim that Jesus is really on their side. He is not. He avoided those who would trap him into taking sides for or against the Roman occupation of Judea. He paid his taxes to the occupying power but said only, "Let Caesar have what belongs to him, and God have what belongs to him" (Matthew 22:21). He was the original proponent of a separation of church and state.

Those who want the state to engage in public worship, or even to have prayer in schools, are defying his injunction: "When you pray, be not like the pretenders, who prefer to pray in the synagogues and in the public square, in the sight of others. In truth I tell you, that is all the profit they will have. But you, when you pray, go into your inner chamber and, locking the door, pray there in hiding to your Father, and your Father who sees you in hiding will reward you" (Matthew 6:5-6). He shocked people by his repeated violation of the external holiness code of his time, emphasizing that his religion was an internal matter of the heart.

But doesn't Jesus say to care for the poor? Repeatedly and insistently, but what he says goes far beyond politics and is of a different order. He declares that only one test will determine who will come into his reign: whether one has treated the poor, the hungry, the homeless and the imprisoned as one would Jesus himself. "Whenever you did these things to the lowliest of my brothers, you were doing it to me" (Matthew 25:40). No government can propose that as its program. Theocracy itself never went so far, nor could it.

The state cannot indulge in self-sacrifice. If it is to treat the poor well, it must do so on grounds of justice, appealing to arguments that will convince people who are not followers of Jesus or of any other religion. The norms of justice will fall short of the demands of love that Jesus imposes. A Christian may adopt just political measures from his or her own motive of love, but that is not the argument that will define justice for state purposes.

To claim that the state's burden of justice, which falls short of the supreme test Jesus imposes, is actually what he wills — that would be to substitute some lesser and false religion for what Jesus brought from the Father. Of course, Christians who do not meet the lower standard of state justice to the poor will, a fortiori, fail to pass the higher test.

The Romans did not believe Jesus when he said he had no political ambitions. That is why the soldiers mocked him as a failed king, giving him a robe and scepter and bowing in fake obedience (John 19:1-3). Those who today say that they are creating or following a "Christian politics" continue the work of those soldiers, disregarding the words of Jesus that his reign is not of this order.

Some people want to display and honor the Ten Commandments as a political commitment enjoined by the religion of Jesus. That very act is a violation of the First and Second Commandments. By erecting a false religion — imposing a reign of Jesus in this order — they are worshiping a false god. They commit idolatry. They also take the Lord's name in vain.

Some may think that removing Jesus from politics would mean removing morality from politics. They think we would all be better off if we took up the slogan "What would Jesus do?"

That is not a question his disciples ask in the Gospels. They never knew what Jesus was going to do next. He could round on Peter and call him "Satan." He could refuse to receive his mother when she asked to see him. He might tell his followers that they are unworthy of him if they do not hate their mother and their father. He might kill pigs by the hundreds. He might whip people out of church precincts.

The Jesus of the Gospels is not a great ethical teacher like Socrates, our leading humanitarian. He is an apocalyptic figure who steps outside the boundaries of normal morality to signal that the Father's judgment is breaking into history. His miracles were not acts of charity but eschatological signs — accepting the unclean, promising heavenly rewards, making last things first.

He is more a higher Nietzsche, beyond good and evil, than a higher Socrates. No politician is going to tell the lustful that they must pluck out their right eye. We cannot do what Jesus would do because we are not divine.

It was blasphemous to say, as the deputy under secretary of defense, Lt. Gen. William Boykin, repeatedly did, that God made George Bush president in 2000, when a majority of Americans did not vote for him. It would not remove the blasphemy for Democrats to imply that God wants Bush not to be president. Jesus should not be recruited as a campaign aide. To trivialize the mystery of Jesus is not to serve the Gospels.

The Gospels are scary, dark and demanding. It is not surprising that people want to tame them, dilute them, make them into generic encouragements to be loving and peaceful and fair. If that is all they are, then we may as well make Socrates our redeemer.

It is true that the tamed Gospels can be put to humanitarian purposes, and religious institutions have long done this, in defiance of what Jesus said in the Gospels.

Jesus was the victim of every institutional authority in his life and death. He said: "Do not be called Rabbi, since you have only one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no one on earth your father, since you have only one Father, the one in heaven. And do not be called leaders, since you have only one leader, the Messiah" (Matthew 23:8-10).

If Democrats want to fight Republicans for the support of an institutional Jesus, they will have to give up the person who said those words. They will have to turn away from what Flannery O'Connor described as "the bleeding stinking mad shadow of Jesus" and "a wild ragged figure" who flits "from tree to tree in the back" of the mind.

He was never that thing that all politicians wish to be esteemed — respectable. At various times in the Gospels, Jesus is called a devil, the devil's agent, irreligious, unclean, a mocker of Jewish law, a drunkard, a glutton, a promoter of immorality.

The institutional Jesus of the Republicans has no similarity to the Gospel figure. Neither will any institutional Jesus of the Democrats.

Garry Wills is professor emeritus of history at Northwestern University and the author, most recently, of "What Jesus Meant."

On the Eiffel Tower

You may already know how reviled this masterpiece was at its completion on this date in 1889, but it always make me wonder what in today's world is similarly hated (objects, concepts, ideas) that will be revered tomorrow. And the reverse--what today is accepted as good or normal that tomorrow will be discarded.

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(From The Writer's Almanac for Friday, March 31, 2006)

Today is the anniversary of the official opening of the Eiffel Tower in Paris (1889). It was built for the International Exhibition of Paris, commemorating the centenary of the French Revolution. At the time, it was the tallest structure ever built, at 1,000 feet. The architect Gustave Eiffel was a specialist in bridges and the design for the Eiffel Tower was based on his previous bridge designs. He chose to leave the tower's skeletal structure exposed because it was the easiest way to protect it from wind resistance.

When it was finished many Parisians thought it was horribly ugly. Artists and writers wrote a letter of protest, calling the tower a "truly tragic street lamp," a "mast of iron gymnasium apparatus, incomplete, confused and deformed."

The writer Guy de Maupassant described the Eiffel Tower as, "A high and skinny pyramid of iron ladders, [a] giant ungainly skeleton upon a base that looks built to carry a colossal monument of Cyclops, but which just peters out into a ridiculous thin shape like a factory chimney." He hated the tower so much that he started eating in its restaurant every day, because, he said, "It is the only place in Paris where I don't have to see it."

It was almost torn down in 1909, after the expiration of its lease, but the city saved it because its antenna was so useful for the new invention of radio. It's now the most widely recognized symbol of Paris.

How Billy Graham Stoked the Fire of My Sexual Desire

I suppose any era would be confusing for youth seeking to make sense of the world into which they are coming of age, but for me in the 60’s it was particularly difficult. I earnestly sought to reconcile God and religion [NOT the same thing in the least, which by not having this figured this out only added to my adolescent confusion] with morality, Americanism, popular culture and human relationships.

Damn near everything was BAD, so we were taught: drugs, booze, tobacco—a given. Lying, cheating, stealing, selfishness—another given. Anti-establishment, pot-headed, protestin’ hippies--to be prayed for but also to be utterly avoided! And then there was that magical little three-letter word that packs such a big bang: “sex.”

Society’s famously repressive guidance on sex was mostly just don’t do it—you’ll go blind if you do it by yourself, you’ll get VD and/or knocked up if you do it with a member of the opposite sex. And as for same-sex shenanigans…well, THAT wasn’t even on the radar—NOBODY spoke of that as if it plain did not exist, as if “it’s not even a possibility, we’re not speaking of it, you’re not gonna do that, nor is he or she and since we’re not gonna talk about it, it ain’t gonna happen, so there!”

Most of my (I’d venture OUR) indoctrination was from the world—the preacher and teacher, the screen and the song—and it all conflicted. Totally sensible proscriptions against pre-marital sex omitted any instruction on how to deal with the real physiology of a powerfully potent pubescent sex drive, guidance that came instead from Hollywood and Madison Avenue.

Then there was the family vacation, the one that takes you down I-75 through Atlanta, Macon and Valdosta. The one where you hear some guy named Johnny Cash singin’ bout a boy named Sue. But it was the fluidly melodious sandpaper sound from who I’d later know as Satchmo, the incomparable Louis Armstrong that helped liberate my budding libido. With that velvety voice Louis proclaimed, “Birds do it, bees do it even educated fleas do it, let’s fall in love!”**

The coup de grace so to speak came on a sultry summer night in ’67, the height of “the summer of love.” With the family all gathered round the tube on came Billy Graham, who cut a Moses-like figure, delivering the Word with eyes ablaze under that wavy shock of hair, arms outstretched. We all loved Billy Graham; my Uncle Willie was especially fond of quoting him.

Tonight Reverend Graham was lamenting contemporary society [query: was “contemporary society” always lamentable no matter what the era?]. He attacked the “if it feels good, do it” mantra as freedom run amok. And then he said it.

Picture Billy Graham with his Carolina voice-from-up-high cadence saying, “…and they’re making songs about girls and boys spending the night together!” WHOO BOY, they’re doing what I thought. Being 12, I didn’t quite get the allure of sleeping with girls—they were, after all, the bearer of the dreaded coodies—so Billy Graham’s protestation really piqued my curiosity.

I stayed ever vigilant to discover that song about which Billy objected. And—EUREKA--about the time I heard the Rolling Stones sing “Let’s Spend the Night Together” I was beginning to “get” the allure of doing so! And to think I first heard the concept from the world’s highest pulpit preacher (excluding God’s vicar on earth, the Pope, who was just a pope to us Episcopalians anyway).

Wow, Billy Graham was right—that’s some FUN stuff and, oh by the way, like booze, drugs, tobacco…it’s SIN! Oh well, at least I had Disney World.

**LET'S DO IT, LET'S FALL IN LOVE
(Cole Porter)

Recorded by: Louis Armstrong; Bunny Berigan; Tommy Bruce & the Bruisers; Ian Carmichael; Noel Coward; Bing Crosby; Dorsey Brothers; Ella Fitzgerald; Marvin Gaye; Georgia Gibbs; Benny Goodman; Stephane Grappelli; Roy Hamilton; Billie Holiday; Leslie "Hutch" Hutchinson; Marion Hutton; Jack Hylton; Dick Hyman; Eartha Kitt; Peggy Lee; Mary Martin; George Melly; Moonlight Serenaders; Alanis Morissette; 101 Strings Orch.; Della Reese; Nelson Riddle; Dinah Shore; Frank Sinatra; Connie Stevens; Toni Ternnille; Rudy Vallée;Dinah Washington; Paul Whiteman; Jane Wyman ..... and others.

Birds do it, bees do it
Even educated fleas do it
Let's do it, let's fall in love

In Spain the best upper sets do it
Lithuanians and Letts do itLet's do it,
let's fall in love

The Dutch in old Amsterdam do it
Not to mention the FinnsFolks in Siam do it
Think of Siamese twins

Some Argentines, without means do it
People say in Boston even beans do it
Let's do it, let's fall in love

Romantic sponges they say do it
Oysters down in Oyster Bay do it
Let's do it, let's fall in love Cold Cape Cod clams, 'gainst their wish, do itEven lazy jellyfish do itLet's do it, let's fall in love

Electric eels, I might add, do it
Though it shocks 'em I know
Why ask if shad do it
Waiter, bring me shadroe

In shallow shoals, English soles do it
Goldfish in the privacy of bowls do it
Let's do it, let's fall in love

Israel’s Wall of…Humanity maybe?

I wrote a couple of weeks ago about Israel’s wall from the perspective of Palestinians very badly affected by it and termed it Israel’s wall of apartheid. Well, an excellent article in today’s NY Times by a Muslim Yale student gives the other side of that story http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/18/opinion/18manji.html.

As Irshad Manji says, “Since the barrier went up, suicide attacks have plunged, which means innocent Arab lives have been spared along with Jewish ones. Does a concrete effort to save civilian lives justify the hardship posed by this structure? The humanitarian in me bristles, but ultimately answers yes.”

Ms. Manji notes that the Israeli government allows civil lawsuits by aggrieved Palestinians and that Ariel Sharon himself agreed to reroute sections of it when the Israel High Court ruled in favor of the complainants.

Now this objectivity from an educated member of the aggrieved class certainly leads upwards to a higher truth. While I was already aware of the other side of the coin, perhaps I underestimated the havoc of suicide bombers and its utter uncontrollability by about any means short of that horrid wall.

Therein lies the rub, for I still believe that the wall will fall well short of providing long term security without the powers in control addressing the underlying root cause of bombers’ desire to sacrifice themselves. That desire stems from the unjust dis-enfranchisement of native Palestinians from land they lived on for thousands of years.

As I have long said, this is a situation wherein it appears that all sides have just cause: the Jewish people needing a post-holocaust homeland, AND the Palestinians…[just what is the HIGHEST TRUTH here—were they evicted back in 1948 in an unjust war, did they merely flee from fear of being killed by the armed Zionists, or did they voluntarily leave at the behest of other Arab countries who allegedly promised to return them in a later attack (this is a common Israeli argument)—I just don’t know]…who were displaced in the making of that homeland.

One thing I truly believe is that the Jewish people around the world along with those living in Israel want nothing more than peace. Above all, they want a secure and safe country, and even within Israel there is much distress about the methods used to attain that security. Most are eager to see a stable Palestinian state; many others, out of sincere empathy and desire for the highest justice, decry their government’s aggression towards Palestinians. This reflects the moral objectivity, compassion and empathy that infuses a people who themselves have suffered so much.

I shall keep trying to search for the highest truth. In the meantime I will pray for all.


RFD 3/19/06

How Cal Crucified a Disciple of Christ

It is amazing that during this high holy season of Jesus’ resurrection that Cal Thomas writes as though he wouldn’t recognize Jesus if he were directly in front of Him, much less if he met a modern-day disciple who emulated Jesus’ life, and, in furtherance of Jesus’ message of peace and non-violence, his death as well.

Yet Jesus himself said that those of the world would be blinded to His reality. Seems that Mr. Thomas, a self-described devout Christian who subverts Jesus’ teachings, is among that worldly population Jesus was speaking about.

Thomas, in a March 14 article, http://www.townhall.com/opinion/column/calthomas/2006/03/14/189678.html criticizes Tom Fox, the peace activist executed by his Iraqi captors. Thomas said his murder was tragic “because the likelihood that the presence of Fox and his colleagues would change the attitude or behavior of their captors was zero to none.”

Hmm. And when Jesus told Peter to sheath his sword and otherwise did not lift one finger to prevent his captors from killing him, did Jesus believe that his executioners would adopt Jesus’ message of peace, love and mercy? Of course not, and neither was that the expectation of Mr. Fox.

Thomas is so bent on protecting his radically conservative ideology that he would totally and thoroughly miss this modern-day Christ-like sacrifice and instead demean and sacrifice the fallen lamb on the altar of partisan politics because the spokeswoman for Mr. Fox’s group, Christian Peacemakers Teams, had the audacity to speak the truth: “We believe that the root cause of the abduction of our colleagues is the U.S. and British-led invasion and occupation of Iraq.”

Instead, Thomas insists that Jesus’ teachings of non-violence are wrong. “Peace happens when evil is vanquished,” according to Thomas. And for Thomas that can only occur by the sword, and in the case of the US invasion of Iraq, a sword brandished on the basis of lies, and swung so as to kill hundreds of thousands of innocents.

In short everything Thomas stands for in this regards is the exact opposite of Jesus’ main teachings, indeed the very purpose of His life. Donning the cloak of Jesus, God’s Lamb, to cover the wolf beneath is, what…a lie, a sin… evil maybe?

So how would he like to be vanquished?


RFD 3.16.06

Send NASA To Nairobi

NASA’s abuzz with the possible discovery of water, and thus maybe, maybe—LIFE--on Enceladus, a tiny moon of Saturn. Predictably, their cry for more funding—“BILLIONS AND BILLIONS” as Carl Sagan was wont to say (but only in relation to the number of stars, not the money to visit them)—is now evermore urgent.


"It's startling," said Carolyn C. Porco of the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo., leader of the imaging team for the Cassini spacecraft that spotted eruptions of ice crystals from the moon’s surface. . "I wouldn't be surprised to see the planetary community clamoring for a future exploratory expedition to land on the south polar terrain of Enceladus…We have found an environment that is potentially suitable for living organisms.”

It is more than mere coincidence that I read this account just after hearing a fellow Rotarian speak of the utter horrors he saw on his mission to help orphaned children in Nairobi, Kenya. The pictures confirmed his woeful words describing the unfathomable poverty, the filth, the stench, the degradation of the living dead. Hordes of Kenyans just existing, barely, on and in the dirt—no dwellings, no goods, no medicines, little food and even less hope.

Gary McCormick’s big heart grew even larger when his eyes met those of the sickly child he was cradling, one of millions left orphaned either by Aids, war or starvation. “Touched my soul,” said Gary, who longs to go back. So much need, so much poverty and yet, those kids seemed content—“they did not know they had nothing, they had nothing to compare themselves to.”

I questioned the relevance of my do-good liberalism here at home in matters that seem so trivial when compared to those in much more dire need of humane intervention. The safe cocoon of America, with all the sedations of its Hollywood/Madison Avenue diversions, may shield our consciousness from the real horrors existing beyond our shores, but it does not negate them.

And the Universal laws of morality, of the yin and yang, of Karma, OF GOD, are as certain of occurrence as they are indeterminate in timing: what goes around comes around. It simply is in our own altruistic self-interest, self-PRESERVATION, to help those parts of the world in such dis-repair.

Of course, we certainly are doing much good through our foreign aid, through our volunteerism and through our involvement with international organizations. And the benefits from NASA have certainly been worth much of its cost, so I am not speaking of eliminating this incredibly successful program.

But why all the fuss and expense of searching for new life beyond our planet? All the life we need to know about, and care about, is right here on Mother Earth. Why not just assume there is life beyond and save the trillions of dollars needed to preserve and enhance life right here on earth.

Instead, send NASA to Nairobi.

RFD 3.14.06

Casi-NO for Kentucky’s future--

I did not want to write this, I really didn’t. I had already upset some with previous writings opposing casino gambling in Kentucky. But the stakes are too high and the pro-gambling forces too potent to remain silent in the midst of the onslaught.

-----------------------------------

Kentucky, from the Iroquoian “Ken-tah-ten”, means The Land of Tomorrow. Yet a vote by our legislators to propose a Constitutional amendment allowing full-scale casino gambling will rob us of this promise and instead return us to the ruin of yesterday.

The slots/casino lobby, KEEP, is now coating their argument within the trendy patriotic cloak of democracy—“let the people vote”—knowing full well that with their bottomless pit of cash they will corrupt the democratic process. That gambling cash is already at work, plying compliant politicians’ coffers and running a non-stop campaign to sell an agenda that, were it so worthy, would need no such maneuverings.

It now appears our legislature is close to a compromise to bring casino gambling full bore to our Commonwealth. If they do allow a Constitutional amendment to come before the public the casino lobby will stand virtually unopposed on the airwaves in the press to sway middle ground voters. They have the wherewithal and will spend and do whatever it takes to insure its passage with a slick one-sided campaign that will exaggerate the good while totally ignoring the harm.

Those who care about our future and the protection of our well being have scant funds to share the ugly facts that would effectively counter their propaganda. Those facts show that casinos/electronic gambling (slots): a) drain money from other traditional, longstanding businesses and services in the community, thus depressing overall economy; b) cause untold individual misery and financial ruin by addicting 5% of the population and enabling many more “problem” gamblers which, c) create huge social costs that gambling revenues never can cover; and d) cause more suicide, bankruptcy, absenteeism.

The truth is that this has nothing to do with “democracy” but everything to do with public policy. The question is NOT whether we let voters decide whether to allow an activity like slots—the “crack cocaine” of gambling--but whether as a matter of POLICY we curtail any chance of its occurrence for the betterment of our community.

Indeed that is why we must amend our Constitution at all. There was a similar national gambling scourge in the late 1800’s. It got so bad that states, including Kentucky, outlawed gaming and, in order to prevent future generations from falling into it again, amended their Constitutions to prevent it from rearing its ugly head again.

And so Kentucky’s politicians are on the verge of enabling something that is unprecedented on a national scale: full-fledged anything goes gambling right smack dab in the middle of EVERY major metropolitan area in the state.

Think about it. If the argument were simply to stem the flow of dollars leaving the state (which is a false issue to begin with) then the appropriate response would be to push for a riverboat right across the river from Indiana’s on the Kentucky side. But such is the strength of mammon that they have far exceeded this by proposing ELEVEN casinos to blanket the state.

Money promised for education and health care is done in the same mold as that used to sell the lottery, and as such, is the conscience-soother that helps persuade us to agree to something we would never accept otherwise.

The real problem is that casino gambling should be federally regulated, as one state’s activity has such profound effects on the others. But until that day when the citizenry demands the end of money’s corruptive influence on politics Washington will not touch it. And so we embark down this losing race to the bottom.

But there is yet time. By remembering history and rejecting the gambling lobby’s false arguments our legislators can stand tall for a Kentucky that is worthy of its citizen’s character.

And they will insure a Kentucky that can truly be the land of tomorrow.


Respectfully, Richard F. Dawahare

Yogi Bear, Beer and God

I really enjoy Friday’s bar on Friday nights. The gang’s all there full of camaraderie, ready to laugh at the draught of a beer, even at one of my corny retorts. Conversations are free-ranging and often spurred by the NTN trivia we all play.

When Yogi Bear came up as one of the answers it was yet another reminder of why I believe that the 60’s were the peak of civilization. [I’ve written before that music, that technology (relatively—certainly there has been much advance since then, but does anything rival landing a man on the moon!), that social and philosophical advancement peaked in the 60’s, and that we’ve regressed ever since].

Take Yogi for instance, denizen of Jellystone Park. He touted himself as “smarter than the average bear!” No strutting, no exaggeration, no arm-pumping braggadociousness. He didn’t claim to be the meanest, bestest bear of all, simply smarter than average. And he probably was considering his wheedling a contract out of Hanna-Barbera the way he did.

Yogi of course was patterned after the loveable Yogi “nobody goes to that restaurant anymore, it’s too crowded” Berra an American original if there ever was one. But he wasn’t the only good guy from 60’s cartoons. The decade that crushed our generation’s hope and optimism with the real-life assassination of JFK anesthetized us with the fictional fantasy of such great animation as Beany and Cecil and Rocky and Bullwinkle—still the best kid-to-adult show of any kind.

There were more humble heroics from the likes of Underdog, Atom Ant and Johnny “hey hajji” Quest. There were the not so humble, but oh so clever Bugs Bunny, Road Runner and Pink Panther. And Al—VINN!, Cool McCool, Quick Draw McDraw, Top Cat, George of the Jungle and my favorite, Go Go Gophers:

“Here comes the colonel with his sargeant,
Both are a-roarin' and a-chargin'.
Go go gophers, watch them go go go. Go go gophers, watch them
GO GO GO!”

Yeah, we were nothing but goofy smiles as I took a big gulp from the FREEZING and bubbly effervescence of the new Mich Ultra AMBER, lovingly poured by Friday’s great barkeeps. Reminded me of my first trip to Amsterdam back in ’79 when my buds and I did the Heineken tour. Afterwards they poured us their fine brew and proudly asked our opinion. I looked at the Dutch brew master and said, “well sir, it’s okay but it just doesn’t have that Budweiser bite.”

It was then that Delores (not her real name) told me that her husband, my good friend Roger (not his real name) might finally have a terrific job opportunity. They weren’t talking about it until it was more solid, but she was praying fervently about it. Delores told me why she had such faith in God.

Years ago her son left home and fell out of contact for nearly a year. Her mother, his grandmother, had had enough and in a screaming plea to God as she was driving implored Him to make her grandson call OR ELSE…she would not believe anymore. It was kinda like Lt. Dan in Forrest Gump, yelling at God from the top of the shrimpin’ boat’s mast through that wicked storm.

Well, Delores told me, the minute her mother got home the phone rang and lo and behold it was her grandson!! Ever since her mother told her, “you simply MUST have faith because God is real” and Delores certainly has kept that faith, no matter what difficulties she has faced, and they’ve been many.

There were many more chuckles and warm fuzzies before the night was done. And outside of Yogi’s intelligence, there was nothing average about it!

Rfd 3/4/06

Israel's Apartheid Wall

Security is a legitimate concern for Israel. And being so removed it is hard to put oneself in the shoes of either an Israeli or a Palestinian. Regardless, the Wall of Apartheid that Israel is building around and through the West Bank is a rank injustice, imprisoning hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, stealing land, water, homes, farms, heritage and livelihood, and ALL financed by the American taxpayer.

Now walls can be a great blessing or heartbreaking tragedy. Nehemiah led the ancient Israelites to rebuild Jerusalem's walls, which represented power, protection and beauty. Contrarily, the Berlin Wall, built out of fear and hate, was a monstrous obscenity. Israel's apartheid wall is both blessing (for illegal Israeli settlers) and beast (for everybody else). In its desperate attempt to secure their citizens, Israel's wall will only further fuel the flames of discord.

Please see this link for information about this wall--at 408 miles more than 5 times the length of the Berlin Wall, and up to 24' high.
http://www.thewallofhate.org/film/thewall.wmv

And like the Berlin wall, I can't help but think that no matter how mighty it is, the pure force of righteousness will cause its demise.

If Watergate Happened Today

The difference between the Watergate break-in happening then or under the Bush Presidency now is the wide gulf between IMPEACHABLE CRIME and HEROIC surveillance acts on behalf of NATIONAL SECURITY.

This is spot-on accurate and true. A similar "break-in" today into the Democratic national HQ would be legal according to Bush's self-proclaimed "inherent" powers. The President would be protected, aided and abetted by a compliant House, Senate and Supreme Court.

His "heels-dug-in" religious/patriotic/moneyed base is the key enabler of this wrong-is- right, black-is-white world which is nothing more than a bridge backwards to the eras of dictatorships and which are, paradoxically, the antithesis of democracy.

We can only hope that we awaken BEFORE this phenomenon has us fully crossed over, much like Alec Guinness did before destroying the Bridge over the River Kwai and the Japanese horde's advance.

British Conservative's view on US Political Corruption

Greetings from Europe!

Arrived Paris Thursday and now in Amsterdam, on a fashion hunt you know. On the train I read London's CONSERVATIVE Financial Times (FT) and the more liberal Guardian. Seems our long-entrenched Congressional Corruption has finally made the British presse, with BOTH papers equally alarmed.

From the FT: Jurek Martin's LETTER TO AMERICA, "Money makes a mockery of democracy:"

Just before Christmas the House of Rep voted on a masssive budget reconciliation bill. Upwards of 800 pages of legislation wre dumped on members' desks at four in the morning, with the vote scheduled one hour later. Most had no idea what was in the bill. The only people who did were the LOBBYISTS WHO WROTE IT AND THE LEADERSHIP THAT DID THEIR BIDDING!!!! (emphasis mine, as I've been a broken record on this for years!).

"The bill GUTTED MANY SOCIAL PROGRAMMES FOR THE UNDERPRIVILEGED ANS SHOWERED FAVOURS ON THOSE WITH CLOUT. This is no surprise as the majority leader, Tom DeLay years ago came up twoth the "K Street project," designed to people the lobbyists' avenue with more of his like-minded Republican friends...

"It was the perfect illustration of the pernicious marriage of money and politics...
"In simultaneous and perfect juxtaposition to this OUTRAGEOUS PERVERSION OF DEMOCRACY stood the obituaries of William Proxmire, who spent virtually no money gettin re-elected....he was never for sale.

"...Jack Abramoff...is the super-lobbyist who robbed the poor (Indian tribes) to peddle influence to the rich... (and) will lay bare how politicians can be bought--and which were.

"Abramoff is VERY MUCH A REPUBLICAN PROBLEM. running restaurants where politicians fed at his trough...paying off conservative pundits for publishing kind words about his clients.

"His connections, apart from DeLay...include congressmen, a senator, the upper reaches of the interior department...and such party stategists as Ralph Reed and Grover Norquist (who may regret once saying THE REPUBLICAN PARTY NEEDED "A HUNDRED JACK ABRAMOFFS!!!" (emphasis mine, I've been saying this for years!)...

"It seems to me that only if Americans--and that means Republicans as well as Democrats and Independents--recover their SENSE OF OUTRAGE about the abuse of money and power will there be even a chance of change. Oh, and a few more Don Quixote politicians such as Bill Proxmire." (end)

Sure, Democrats have and are subject to moneyed influence as well, but the lion's share, AS THIS CONSERVATIVE British paper notes, is done on the Republican side of the ledger, and has been for a long, long time.

I appreciate Mr. Martin's warning, as it corroborates my own: this continued corruptive buying of our government will DESTROY our democracy, our national well-being and our ultimately our nation.

We CAN stop it, we CAN do better. But we must drop our emotional attachments to labels, party affiliations and the past and instead look at reality and commit to making a better whole.

In the end we are neither Republican or Democrat. As Bill Murray in Stripes said, "We're not Watusi, we're American with a captial "A!"

And with that I'm off to quaff!

Tot seens! Rd

British Conservative's view on US Political Corruption

Greetings from Europe!

Arrived Paris Thursday and now in Amsterdam, on a fashion hunt you know. On the train I read London's CONSERVATIVE Financial Times (FT) and the more liberal Guardian. Seems our long-entrenched Congressional Corruption has finally made the British presse, with BOTH papers equally alarmed.

From the FT: Jurek Martin's LETTER TO AMERICA, "Money makes a mockery of democracy:"

Just before Christmas the House of Rep voted on a masssive budget reconciliation bill. Upwards of 800 pages of legislation wre dumped on members' desks at four in the morning, with the vote scheduled one hour later. Most had no idea what was in the bill. The only people who did were the LOBBYISTS WHO WROTE IT AND THE LEADERSHIP THAT DID THEIR BIDDING!!!! (emphasis mine, as I've been a broken record on this for years!).

"The bill GUTTED MANY SOCIAL PROGRAMMES FOR THE UNDERPRIVILEGED ANS SHOWERED FAVOURS ON THOSE WITH CLOUT. This is no surprise as the majority leader, Tom DeLay years ago came up twoth the "K Street project," designed to people the lobbyists' avenue with more of his like-minded Republican friends...

"It was the perfect illustration of the pernicious marriage of money and politics...
"In simultaneous and perfect juxtaposition to this OUTRAGEOUS PERVERSION OF DEMOCRACY stood the obituaries of William Proxmire, who spent virtually no money gettin re-elected....he was never for sale.

"...Jack Abramoff...is the super-lobbyist who robbed the poor (Indian tribes) to peddle influence to the rich... (and) will lay bare how politicians can be bought--and which were.

"Abramoff is VERY MUCH A REPUBLICAN PROBLEM. running restaurants where politicians fed at his trough...paying off conservative pundits for publishing kind words about his clients.

"His connections, apart from DeLay...include congressmen, a senator, the upper reaches of the interior department...and such party stategists as Ralph Reed and Grover Norquist (who may regret once saying THE REPUBLICAN PARTY NEEDED "A HUNDRED JACK ABRAMOFFS!!!" (emphasis mine, I've been saying this for years!)...

"It seems to me that only if Americans--and that means Republicans as well as Democrats and Independents--recover their SENSE OF OUTRAGE about the abuse of money and power will there be even a chance of change. Oh, and a few more Don Quixote politicians such as Bill Proxmire." (end)

Sure, Democrats have and are subject to moneyed influence as well, but the lion's share, AS THIS CONSERVATIVE British paper notes, is done on the Republican side of the ledger, and has been for a long, long time.

I appreciate Mr. Martin's warning, as it corroborates my own: this continued corruptive buying of our government will DESTROY our democracy, our national well-being and our ultimately our nation.

We CAN stop it, we CAN do better. But we must drop our emotional attachments to labels, party affiliations and the past and instead look at reality and commit to making a better whole.

In the end we are neither Republican or Democrat. As Bill Murray in Stripes said, "We're not Watusi, we're American with a captial "A!"

And with that I'm off to quaff!

Tot seens! Rd

Casino Gambling a Loser for Kentucky: LEGISLATURE SHOULD AVOID TEMPTATION OF EASY MONEY

From the Lexington Herald-Leader Monday, Dec. 26, 2005 http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/editorial/13478743.htm

A wondrous, wintry day in Woodland Park was a welcome break from not only the typical holiday buzz, but also from controversies so out of character for this season of peace and goodwill.

I mused on the ancient oaks and elms, their bare brown branches stretching across the cold, gray-streaked skies. These trees have presided over a past that created our present. And so, I wondered, what kind of Kentucky our majestic friends will find on a future Christmas morning.

For we are most certainly at the proverbial crossroads and the decisions we make now will create a Kentucky worthy of its citizens and character or rob us of the greatness within our grasp.

The most critical obstacle to our ascension is the rush to adopt casino gambling as the answer to our problems, when it will in fact worsen them. Will Kentuckians have the wisdom and strength of character to look beyond the siren call of false profits? Will we identify the wolf in Santa's suit promising money for education and health care if we will only strike this Faustian bargain?

Those most loudly touting casinos ask why we should allow tax dollars to leave the state. Yet that is the wrong question at the wrong time in Kentucky's history. The proper question is not how many tax dollars Indiana gets from Kentucky gamblers, just as it is not how many vacation dollars Florida gets from Kentucky tourists. Rather it is how we best and most fairly raise sufficient revenues for our needs and then live within whatever budget they provide.

Electronic slots are unlike any other form of gambling. As John Warren Kindt of the University of Illinois says, it is the crack cocaine of gambling. It is lickety-split action with manipulated payoffs that hook gamblers, 5 percent of whom become addicts. Many more become problem gamblers.

All academic research, unbiased and untainted by pro-gambling propaganda, conclusively shows that slots are an economic loser. That is, the state will lose more money than it takes in from taxes. Indiana, for example, has approved ever more gambling and still is $1 billion in debt.

Even worse, this economic loss does not take into account the ruined lives, the inconsistent lessons to our youth and the sacrificing of our pioneer tradition of leadership at the altar of false hope and short-term thinking that casinos represent.

The nation underwent a similar gambling scourge in the late 1800s. It got so bad that Kentucky and other states banned gambling and even changed their constitutions to prevent future generations from falling into the downward spiral of economic and societal ruin.

An alternative vision would build on the inherent goodness of Kentuckians, instead of preying on them. We could be the state that welcomes business and industry, as an electronic-gambling-free zone, unlike our neighbors. This is a niche where we win big.

Our very name, the Commonwealth of Kentucky, suggests the winning path. We must think positively and encourage the helping hand of friendship in every field, whether it is volunteer programs for reading instruction, worker training or financial advice. We should teach good citizenship to our young, strengthen opportunities for families and lend a hand to those left behind.

The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come tells us Kentucky still has time. All we need do is walk the sure-footed path consistent with our highest values. Then Woodland's stately trees will witness a Kentucky that is indeed all happy, merry and bright.

Jesus and Politics

It’s always tricky relating Jesus to contemporary politics, but it is especially so during this time of peace and goodwill. Yet if we are to glean the true essence of Jesus and all of what he so passionately wanted to teach us we must not cower of doing so when an occasion presents itself.

The recent U.S. Congressional budget vote is just such an opportunity. The House has once again voted to cut taxes for the wealthiest taxpayers, while slashing roughly 45 BILLION dollars in social welfare programs, including food stamps, Medicaid, student loans and child-support enforcement.

Jesus’ exhortations to do precisely the opposite are so numerous they need no citation, yet I dare say ALL those who vote against the poorest of us while rewarding the richest are among the most vocal and visible Jesus cheerleaders.

“WAIT!” they typically say, “our actions are not anti-Jesus because they promote personal responsibility and individual freedom from oppressive government.” They will add that their personal charity is sufficient to fulfill Jesus’ commands. Many would further intimate that government welfare is socialism and makes us like “godless” communist states.

First, if anyone doubts Jesus’ desire that we apply his principles even in—ESPECIALLY within—our political process they should refer to ACTS 4: 31-35*. Here you will find no better definition of collective action, of, um…er…wow the truth is sometimes so hard to say…of “socialism.”

In no way am I saying we must conform our free market capitalistic system to this arrangement. And perhaps it is because I derive my goodies from it that I feign ignorance about Jesus’ will in this regard.

But it is beyond any reasonable argument that even should Jesus not require us scrap our system he would certainly want us to do as much as possible to achieve the social EFFECTS of a the collective arrangement described in Acts. That is, Jesus would want us to use our political governing systemto do all we can to ameliorate human suffering and “promote the GENERAL WELFARE” as our own Constitution mandates.

Now of course our very system accomplishes much of this. Free markets encourage the entrepreneurial spirit that fuels industry that in turns provides job and creates progress. And it is to the gods of this private initiative that today’s conservatives so bow, in undying loyalty to “trickle down” theory. Yet we know from our history, from our current situation, that trickle down does not work: there still remains much human want and need right here in our own country.

Admittedly politics is about finding the right balance between fostering free market capitalism and checking its abuses and it is often an area very shaded in gray. However, this last Congressional budget vote is way beyond that area.

Reducing aid to our most vulnerable citizens while adding still more to the richest is bad enough. That they did so during this celebratory season of Jesus’ birth is truly a pity.

And Jesus wept.


*ACTS 4:31-36
31After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
32All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. 33With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. 34There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.

Jesus Beyond Mere Christianity

So begins a serendipitous series on Jesus, during the celebratory season of his birth.

While not “born again” by what I perceive many would consider that term to mean, Jesus has forever been at the center of my consciousness. From the Jesus of my little childhood church nestled in those mystical mountains of Eastern Kentucky, to the Jesus of the Bedside Storybooks, the ones with the colored illustrations showing Jesus with the flowing brown locks and blazingly blue eyes. He was “the little lord Jesus, who laid down his sweet head”…the Jesus who “loved the little children, red and yellow, black and white, (because) all are precious in His sight.” Yes, that Jesus was all good and all loving.

When the death of my little 3-year-old brother, Willie, crushed my poor parents, it was Jesus who was our rock and sanctuary. I recall one Sunday, me and mom going to a different mountain church one Sunday—just me and her—and I looked up at her beautiful, but now so forlorn face and saw a tear streak down from her left eye.

At that precise moment I knew what faith was. All the years, all the books and sermons and televangelists and little courses in this or that were all summed up in that one tear on mom’s otherwise serene face. It was a tear of unfathomable grief, but of immeasurable faith as well. We needed no words on our way back home as that tear spoke volumes about mom’s total trust in and total reliance on God.

The next fall, when I was 6, we moved to Lexington and my idyllic Mayberry mountain childhood was over. Church shopping, we started at the Greek Orthodox, as all my grandparents were Orthodox in the “old country” (Syria and Lebanon). But the services were in Greek and lasted about three hours! I remember following dad as he got up and walked around, in out and around the church, until the closing prayer.

We eventually settled on Good Shepard Episcopal Church, and it was in and through this church that God has revealed and is revealing still the nature of His most enlightened of sons, Jesus. This ideal nature is at its core familiar to ALL humanity for it is the essence of humanity’s highest nature. Yet, the traditions of MAN have obscured it, layering manmade conventions and supposed truths on top of the Jesus’ true nature.

Too often these dogmas contradict Jesus, making him a flashpoint for division and conflict instead of unity and harmony. Subsequent writings will explore this in more detail, but just for today consider Christmas and how the whole world, Christians and non-Christians alike, celebrate the anniversary of Jesus’ birth.

My Jewish vendor-friend was on his way to buy a “secret Santa” gift for an office party. Another was going to visit his mother for “Christmas.” He explained their observance similarly to many non-Christians with whom I have spoken: they celebrate Christmas as a time of HOPE AND HAPPINESS and Jesus as that message’s prime author.

They, like me, do not consider Jesus as God, for as even Jesus himself said, there is only one God, and he is father of us all. But Jesus said that God sent Jesus as our Rabbi, our teacher, to show us a higher truth and a higher way to live that was truly revolutionary for his times.

Fact is, it gives me great hope to see my spiritual brethren, be they Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, agnostic or not who celebrate the season for they grasp the essential core of what Jesus was all about and why this is imminently worthy of our celebration and especially of our emulation.

Indeed, if Jesus would even want a celebration in his name, this recognition of hope, happiness and a desire to live life as he taught—did he sacrifice his very life to so teach—would be his ideal reason.

Merry Happy Holly Jolly to you all!

Rfd 12/8/05

Party Loyalty vs. Personal Priorities (or Why I won't be Seeing Hillary)

It is moment of truth time. A fellow Democratic activist friend invited me to attend Hillary Clinton’s fundraising event in Louisville this Friday.

Suddenly the conflicting rays of principle, party and personal priorities converge in the prism of his invitation. For while I have long been a fervent FDR Democrat, Mrs. Clinton supported the Iraqi war, which for me is the defining issue of our time.

There is NOTHING more important than correctly calling forth our military to invade another country, nothing. All our social justice and citizen’s benefit philosophies are dwarfed by the hypocrisy and immorality of erroneous decisions to war. And Mrs. Clinton was a vocal advocate of this war, voting along with many other Democrats to authorize President Bush’s fait accompli.

The whole of 2002 found me so frustrated and enraged by the Democrats buckling, not only on Bush’s anti-social domestic policies, but especially by their complicity in Bush’s frequent and flagrantly FALSE assertions about the non-existent Iraqi threat and our urgent need to go to war.

From his State of the Union “Axis of Evil” speech to his West Point address enunciating an unprecedented policy of PRE-EMPTION it was clear that Bush was intent on going to war way before the final CIA report that fall. His bellicosity was as Un-American as it was illogical, and was based on deliberate mis-representations in order to whip up public fear and fury to support this long-planned invasion.

Thus, I wrote an anti-war article based upon my own research and analysis that thoroughly debunked Bush’s rationale and correctly predicted the hornet’s nest we instead created. (http://peacecow.blogspot.com/2005_06_01_peacecow_archive.html appearing under the June 21 “Time To Impeach” entry).

I could not for the life of me understand how intelligent, highly placed Democrats like Mrs. Clinton, like John Edwards and like John Kerry could have voted the way they did. It showed either an incredible lack of depth of thinking OR depth of character in sacrificing long term truth, justice and security for short-term expedience. How could I, sitting here in the hinterlands of rural America know more than them?!

Then came the 2004 Democratic platform, which had as its top priority a vast increase of our military so that we could exert control across the globe, practically mirroring the Republicans and totally missing the fact that we were nearly outspending the rest of the world combined.

MY COUNTERPOINT: “Yeah Rich, but we’ve gotta support the party if we are to unseat the Republicans, who are killing America with their selfish cronyism and corruption!” True, but if I have no say in what my party prioritizes, and if it continues with leadership that has acted contrarily to my deepest held values, then I would have to abandon that party. I am NOT saying the Democrats are there yet.

In fact, John Edwards has apologized and admitted his error. Good. But can he be trusted again? Those in the highest levels simply cannot make those errors on such important issues and with a little research and analysis this was not even a close call. Yet Mrs. Clinton still supports this war.

MY COUNTERPOINT: “But Richard, a party will never represent 100% of its members wishes.” True, but war and obscene military spending are bellwether issues, and if that remains the official party line in 2008 I will leave it.

I have come to this realization: I am not merely a “Democrat.” I am first a Human, then an American, reporting to a Universal Moral Director.

MY COUNTERPOINT: “You know, you’ll about kill any chance you had at getting your party’s support for any elective office you may want to seek down the line.” Yet my goal should never be a seat per se, a position per se or anything but to do the will of the Director and to serve others as well as myself as best I can with the light given me.

I hope the Democratic Party will return to that snug fold. But if not there IS a political party that more closely represents the Director’s values, and Ralph Nader is that party’s leader.

Respectfully, Rfd 11/30/05

Nee Cassius Clay, Now Muhammad Ali

My first recollection of Mr. Ali was February 26, 1964 in the morning school bus on the way to my 3rd grade class at Stonewall Elementary. I still recall an older student with one of those little transistor radios, the hottest techno-gadget for that time, excitedly telling the whole bus about Clay’s stunning victory.

If not for the older boy’s excited announcement, and the fact that NEVER before or since has ANYBODY gotten so excited over any news event on my subsequent public transports, I would not have given Clay, or any boxer or boxing feat any significance whatsoever. After all, as an 8 year old, I was—THANKFULLY--never exposed to this most brutal so called “sport.”*

*[Don’t get me wrong, I have long appreciated the extreme physical nature of boxing, the strenuous work ethic boxers undergo and the strategy and unbelievable courage they have. It’s just that for me “sport” excludes any and all activity wherein the goal is to literally knock somebody else senseless.]

So was born Cassius Clay into my young consciousness. For reasons I did not then understand Clay became Muhammad Ali. The years that followed were full of ABC Wide World of Sports, and its new Ali-made celebrity, Ho-ward Co-SELL (my interpretation of which won me my own sort of celebrity in high school and college).

Month after month, year after year it was Ali “Winner” here, Ali “winner” there, indeed Ali was the greatest anywhere! His braggadocios taunting was frankly annoying to me and yes, I would be hoping for an upset no matter who he faced, but of course, Ali always won.

And then he did something during the Vietnam War that from my limited perspective seemed unpatriotic and cowardly: he refused to go to Vietnam, saying “I ain’t got nothing ‘gainst them Viet Cong.” Being a pro-establishment conservative, wary of pinko-hippie pot smoking protestors any such opposition to our war against the spread of Communism was heresy!

I could only see a killer in the ring who was scared to die outside it; my young pre-pre-sophomoric mind did not yet fathom Ali’s principled action nor the rightness of his stand. [I’m sorry Mr. Ali, and thank you for helping encourage my own miniscule-by- comparison conscience-based stands].

Three years later Ali won again—this time in the US Supreme Court, which unanimously overturned his conviction and granted him his right to refuse service on religious grounds. Then came his fights of legend: the Thrilla in Manilla, the Rumble in the Jungle where Ali, with Joe FRAZHIUH, made boxing the undisputed King of um, er…(ugh) Sports.

I began to admire Ali and had hoped he would quit while he was ahead. I shuddered at the pounding he took in his final fights and, while never liking boxing anyway, forswear ever watching it again.

Today, we celebrate Ali as a world-class leader, a man who in humility now stands more strongly than ever in his quest for peace and justice.

Indeed Mr. Simon, The fighter still remains.


[The Muhammad Ali Center opens this week in Louisville]
Rfd