Listening to the Evening News With the Book of Revelation in Hand

John Crossan said these words in an interview on Here on Earth: Radio Without Borders as he was discussing his newest book, God and Empire: Jesus Against Rome, Then and Now.

He also said that Jesus would never preach 'peace through violence' and thus what this Christian foreign policy being promoted by our government is doing would never have been condoned by Jesus. The Romans did. They won the battle and then talked peace.

"Perhaps the wrong Jesus was revealed," Crossan said. "He preached peace and entered Jerusalem on a donkey. What did that say to the Romans who were in control of the city?"

To hear the 55 minute interview, click this site.

The vengeful God of the old testament would have better fit the U.S. foreign policy. The God who smote his enemies sounds like the mascot for the Bush-Cheney preemption policy. Revelations is again filled with this justice-serving power through killing all of the infidel, non-believers.

Between the first books and this last book of the Bible is the story of Jesus the pacifist- turn the other cheek. Blessed are the peacemakers. My peace I leave with you. Love one another.

As I hear the GOP candidates dripping with war-talk I wonder if they, too, had wished for another Jesus to model: a strong one, a smiting one. That way, when they claim to be oh-so 'christian' they too could also argue preemptive invasions of other nations, bringing democracy at the end of a gun.

American Heads Firmly Planted in the Sand?

Apparently most folks don't want to know. They'd rather be in a state of denial than face up to the facts. The BBC has a story entitled, Understanding the climate ostrich , which says:

"Community members described fears about the severity of the situation, of not knowing what to do, fears that their way of life was in question, and concern that the government would not adequately handle the problem."

The article goes on to say, "Emotions of fear and helplessness can be managed through the use of selective attention; controlling one's exposure to information, not thinking too far into the future and focusing on something that could be done."

Mind if I change the topic to politics? To the Bush Wars? Would these 'emotions of fear and helplessness' mentioned in connection to the climate problem be the same emotions that are present in the majority of Americans as they view these wars?

Does 'helplessness' answer the question often asked, "Where are all of the citizens out in the streets protesting this stupid war?"

'Controlling one's exposure to information' might explain why my wife was asked a few days ago, "How did you know that this war was not right from the beginning?"

Are the American masses in denial and practicing avoidance as they stuff themselves with food, watch idiotic sit-coms, and go to the mall? Do we settle for 'not thinking too far into the future'? If so, we are doomed as a nation, pure and simple.

Is 'Christian' Pet Burial Kosher?

For a few hundred dollars, your pet can be buried in this 'christian' casket. Funeral services for your dog or cat are available in Carmel Indiana for the grieving 'family.'

Pet funeral homes have to be as absurd as any society-gone-wrong can be, but that's where our nation has gone.

"Honoring deceased pets and people is similar in many ways. The 1,200-square-foot memorial center, located outside of Indianapolis, offers a full line of caskets, urns and memorial items.
The lowest priced package starts at $230 (for a dog up to 25 pounds) and includes pick-up, cremation and urn, as well as a keepsake paw print and tuft of fur.
About 15 funerals have been held at the center."

Let's open our history books, boys and girls, to where we left off. Recall that we were discussing the opulent lives of the Romans...

The Clone, The Clown, The Rich and The Rain

Four news items struck me this morning.

Monkey cloning hit the news today. That story begins: "For years, scientists have been trying to develop a technique to clone primates. Now researchers in the US say they have successfully cloned embryos from rhesus monkeys. The scientists extracted stem cells from the cloned embryos, and developed them into heart and nerve cells. They say they hope the work will help pave the way for therapeutic human cloning, and dismiss concerns about the ethics of the work."

The ethics, always the ethics before hope for humanity. The Bible-thumpers have successfully stopped valuable research into finding ways of enriching the lives of people suffering each day from disorders and diseases which could be helped through stem-cell research. Apparently their view of 'ethics' is to see as much human suffering as possible. God would surely enjoy that.

The clown is Indiana Rep. Mike Pence of the rural eastern-most section of the state. I heard him live on C-Span yesterday, using White House rhetoric, chastising the Democrats for 'tying the hands of the military' as he attempted to persuade the members to vote no on the newest attempt to limit the Bush War. Also dripping from his Bush-toady mouth were idiotic phrases like 'winning the war' and 'victory for democracy in Iraq.' The poor man. Hopefully the once dark-red state of Indiana which turned a much lighter shade in 2006, will send this clown back to the circus.

Warren Buffet is a pain in the ass of other uber-wealthy Americans. He bothers their conscience, assuming there is one. The 2nd richest man in America told the senate conference that Congress should keep the estate tax rather than repeal it and help a few rich Americans like him. "I think we need to ... take a little more out of the hides of guys like me."

Whoa! Imagine that: a wealthy American thinking of other, less fortunate citizens of his country. Both he and Bill Gates put those other American billionaires to shame in their words and actions. Gosh, what ever happened to good old American narcissism?

The Rain fell on Atlanta last night, answering the 'prayers' of those who stood on the statehouse steps earlier in the week. The city received 13/100 of an inch. "Our prayers were answered," said one woman enjoying the sprinkling. Odd, though, that this prayed-for rain brought much destruction with it in the form of tornadoes just north of Georgia. Video shown on CBS this morning showed the Atlanta sprinkles as well as entire neighborhoods in ruin in Tennessee from the same storm. You would think that God would be a bit more accurate in answering prayers!

Hidden Costs of Bush Wars

$1.6 trillion is the current estimate of the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan. This is double what Bush and the Republicans
have said. The report was released Tuesday from the Joint
House and Senate Economic Committee.

Bush-Cheney and Republicans try to give only the actual cost
of making war. This report, however, goes beyond the up-front
outlays and gives the costs that are hidden. These costs include
interest payments on the money borrowed to pay for the wars,
lost investment, the expenses of long term health care for injured
veterans, and the cost of oil market disruptions. The amount for
Iraq alone is $1.3 trillion.

The White House says the report is political. Republicans in Congress
call this a "thinly veiled exercise in political hyperbole masquerading
as academic research." LOL.....What the hell is this? Oh, spin?

The report was prepared by the non-partisan CBO and by the Committee's
own, long standing professional economists.

At the start of the war, oil was $37 a barrel. Today oil is over $90 a barrel.
Who benefits? Moreover, the interest alone will total over $550 billion by
2017. The national debt today stands at $9 trillion. The Comptroller General,
a Republican, says the hidden costs of the total national debt is $50 trillion,
not $9 trillion. Will any one face facts?

The Only Thing We Have to Fear is Another GOP President

update at bottom

It will be a relief when a neocon doesn't have the ear of the president. They are a small but deadly lot. Most names are familiar to those who pay attention: Paul Wolfowitz, Doug Feith, Richard Perle, William Kristol, John Bolton and Lynne and Dick Cheney.

Working behind the scenes, however, is the godfather of neoconservatism, Norman Podhoretz. Podhoertz, a Zionist, has been accused of anti-Muslim rhetoric. He is the founder of the Project for the New American Century, PNAC, a far-right think tank. PNAC is a coalition of mainly Jewish, neo-conservatives and more traditional right-wing hawks like Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld [link] Another 'star' of PNAC is Daniel Pipes, "a staunch Likud supporter who has long argued that Washington has been too complacent about the threat of Islamist radicalism both overseas and at home."

Podhoretz seized the opportunity on the election of George Bush to fulfill his world-order plan: preemption. We Americans are now reeling with blood and debt for that foolish plan.

In the late summer of 2000, the naive Texas governor was 'educated' about foreign policy by a team of neocons including Podhoretz and Cheney. As Mr. Bush was essentially an empty slate, he absorbed the neocon philosophy like a sponge. And, right after 9-11, the words of Podhoretz were reiterated in the White House by Rumsfeld. It did not take Bush too long to order the invasion of Iraq.

"The Case for Bombing Iran I hope and pray that President Bush will do it" was and op ed by Norman Podhoretz published May 30, 2007 in the Wall street Journal.

As frightening as this is, even more frightening is this: Podhoretz is a foreign policy adviser to GOP front-runner Rudy Giuliani. Imagine that.

Paul Krugman in an op ed in the NYT says this: "And Mr. Podhoretz's rants are, if anything, saner than some of what we've been hearing from some of Mr. Giuliani's rivals. Thus, in a recent campaign ad Mitt Romney asserted that America is in a struggle with people who aim "to unite the world under a single jihadist Caliphate. To do that they must collapse freedom-loving nations. Like us."

Further Krugman said, "Mike Huckabee says that if Hillary Clinton is elected, "I'm not sure we'll have the courage and the will and the resolve to fight the greatest threat this country's ever faced in Islamofascism."
It seems to me that our democracy cannot afford to elect another Republican who will have the ear of fascist military reactionaries like Podhoertz. We can kiss our way of life good bye if we do.

Wake up, citizens: our enemies are inside our borders.

update:

I just read Ray McGovern's newest piece, Attacking Iran for Israel, which adds a great deal more fuel for this disturbing topic.

Bishops' Statement on Iraq Puts Catholic Voters to the Test

With a stern-looking Jesus looking down on them, five leading bishops of the Catholic Church issued a statement yesterday against continuing the Iraq War. Note that Jesus is flashing the 'peace sign.'

BALTIMORE - Increasingly frustrated by the war in Iraq and worried about bellicose talk toward Iran, the outgoing president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops described the situation in Iraq yesterday as "unacceptable and unsustainable" and called for the Bush administration to work with Iran and Syria to stabilize the region.

Bishop William S. Skylstad of Spokane, in one of his last acts as president of the bishops conference, issued a public letter saying the bishops are "alarmed by the political and partisan stalemate in Washington" and declaring "our country needs a new direction."

The bishops conference and the Vatican raised concerns about the Iraq war before it began and have issued repeated statements calling for a "responsible transition" to Iraqi self-governance and the withdrawal of US troops "at the earliest opportunity consistent with that goal."

I like the descriptive words used by the bishops: unacceptable and unsustainable. Of course, many of them prior to the preemptive invasion by the Bush/Cheney junta called it illegal and immoral.

Many Catholics did not listen to those words, apparently, when they entered the voting booth here in Ohio in November 2004. That bloc of voters helped re-elect George Bush and sustain the war for another three years. Listening to the bishops now is of little value; the damage has been done and we will remain in Iraq as long as Bush remains president.

Catholic voters can, however, 'serve' a penance for their careless sin of '04 by carefully reviewing the geo-political stance of the candidates for the '08 election. The War-hawks of the GOP, seemingly all but Ron Paul, not only want to sustain the Bush War but are itching to drop the bomb on Iran when they get into office.

For the Catholic voter, the question of sanctity of life becomes a stark reality that they must face. The pro-life movement, with its narrow focus on abortion, has already endorsed Fred Thompson for president. Will the Catholic voter choose him and his pro-war stance?

Quite the dilemma for the Catholic voter.

Crack Convicts Return to the Streets

In the next few months up to 20,000 Americans, convicted of crack cocaine possession, will be realeased back to their homes. This is a result of the Supreme Court's decision, effective on the first of this month, that the manditory sentencing rules imposed on judges back in the 1980's were too harsh and, in fact, racist. Possession of crack mandated 5 years in prison. Ten years if 5 grams.

As crack is the ‘black man’s drug’ and the powdered form is the ‘white man’s drug,’ our racist culture encouraged their legislators to impose mandatory jail time for crack, effectively removing thousands of black folks from the streets of America. Eighty-five percent of crack users are black.

In June of this year, the pernicious and punitive Bush Administration asked its now-defunct attorney general, Alberto Gonzales, to persuade the high court to halt this sentence reduction order. Gonzales and Bush are fellow Texans, a state known for killing more inmates than any other. Mr. Bush, himself, as governor, allowed 116 to be executed in his 4 years in office; he granted one stay of execution. He was known ‘the chief executive officer of the Texas death industry.’

Wisely, the US Supreme Court did not listen to Bush/Gonzales and on the first of this month, reduced the average crack sentence by 15 months. The Republican Party, of course, is appalled by this ruling, preferring ‘those people’ to stay in jail to ‘keep our streets safe.’ No doubt they will use this ruling as a campaign wedge in the presidential election next November.

The terribly skewed thinking of the Republican Party on this issue of ’safe streets’ and mandatory sentencing for crack users is this: most Republicans live in the suburbs or on farms in America, miles and miles from the ‘dangerous streets’ that they hope to protect. Were it not such an egregious political scam it might be laughable. The folks in the inner city watch each day as their young men are hauled away to jail, disappearing from the community for 5 to 10 years, for possessing a rock of crack while in the suburbs, their young men snort a line with near impunity. Whose ’safe streets?’

Yet, because of the highly-effective political spin machines employed by the Republicans [read swiftboating of John Kerry] many Americans will blindly support tougher mandatory sentencing, believing that ‘their’ streets will be safer because the drug dealers and users will be behind bars. That’s how the Republican Party here in America survives- fear and ‘justice!’

What a racist history we present to the world. We were not ashamed enough that we stole the native lands? That we enslaved Africans? Today, decades later, our white superiority still knows no shame or sorrow. When will we ever learn?

The Coup at Home: Let's Begin Ours

Frank Rich of the NYT wrote an op ed on Sunday with the title, The Coup at Home. Remarking on how the Taliban and al-Qaeda have grown ever-stronger in Pakistan because Musharraf has bungled his job, he says:

"It also casts a harsh light on the mess we have at home in America, a stain that will not be so easily eradicated. In the six years of compromising our principles since 9/11, our democracy has so steadily been defined down that it now can resemble the supposedly aspiring democracies we’ve propped up in places like Islamabad. Time has taken its toll. We’ve become inured to democracy-lite. That’s why a Mukasey can be elevated to power with bipartisan support and we barely shrug. "

Rich talks of how the Executive Branch [read Bush and Cheney] has grown to become more and more powerful, thus the title of his opinion piece.

Rather, I have been preaching for months now that the American citizens need to organize a coup against this branch of government and turn it back to people who will follow the mandates and limitations of the Constitution.

Congress and the gutless Democrats won't begin impeachment because, after all, 'they have only 14 more months in office.' Right! Fourteen months to bomb Iran and where ever else these fascist neocons desire to do.

Toss the bumbs out of office quickly- with the first American Coup!

Christian Fundamentalists Still a Key to Ohio in '08

The Akron Beacon Journal has a story about a recent survey done with the voters of Ohio and finds this alarming piece of data: "President Bush and his military policies remain unpopular among Ohio voters, but they aren't ready to abandon Republicans in next year's presidential election, a poll released Sunday found."

Then there is this finding: "Ohioans remain divided on the issues that likely will be of importance in next year's election, when the state is expected to again play a crucial role in determining the winner. The state gave Bush the electoral boost he needed to win a second term. He won the state by just 118,000 votes out of more than 5.5 million cast."

It is to be noted that Christian Fundamentalists were key to the Bush victory in Ohio in 2004. They were highly organized, got their message out, and their people got to the polls in great numbers. It is also to be noted that there were Republican shenanigans then and now aimed at people of color, traditionally Democratic voters, attempting to disenfranchise their vote.

Both of these factors, disenfranchisement and a strong, solid GOP-fundamentalist bloc of voters will be crucial to the outcome of the presidential election one year from now.

Here's the issue: Even though Ohio voters oppose the war, they trust the Republicans to better prevent terrorism than Democrats. Terrorism. Scare-tactics. The GOP are masters of this and the citizens must be on alert. Preemption, used by the neocons to invade Iraq, ought to be used to disquiet the fear mongering that surely will be a large part of the GOP message to Ohioans.

Wake up Chris Redfern: if you don't want Ohio to become a GOP trifecta, get the message out now. Preemption. Take steps to prevent disenfranchisement of inner city voters. Do your job, Mr. Redfern and, if you can't handle it, move over.