Sep 30, 2008

How To Vote And Consider Issues ‘Prayerfully’ In This And Every Other Future Election




Guest Lecturer: Ron Bowers

I had the pleasure of attending a lecture this past weekend at the First Church of Christian Scientist in Berkeley California. International speaker Ron Bowers was the guest lecturer.

Mr. Bower’s primary thrust was that prayer has a function and should be included whenever you are considering how to vote and what issues you should vote for in national, state and local elections. I will try to encapsulate what he taught.

Prayer:
1. Prayer works (with it one must recognize God’s nature).
2. Prayer supposes that all things are possible with God.
3. We must appeal to the divine for the answer, and the answer may not be what you like.
4. Prayer is reforming.
5. Prayer is active, however, it does not argue for one-sidedness, which is often a part of our activism.
6. When too much of self is involved in prayer, we may not recognize the answer that comes from God.
7. When King Solomon was overwhelmed (politically) he sought God for wisdom (Sophia)
8. All that matters is not to simply listen to what the candidate says, who is affected by the political process.
9. When Israel was being occupied by the Roman foreign legion, Jesus’ answer of allegiance to those who wanted to know whether to pay tribute (participate in the political process was) Render unto Caesar (government), that which is governmental and unto God that which is God’s. An answer to those who try to decide whether to participate in this secular political process at all: God ordained human government.
10. Prayer to a higher source helps the individual to avoid the typical, whereas unconditional love is unconscious about pleasing one side or one’s self. There are always other points of view, and they should be respected for some have genuine feelings about abortion, stem cell research, universal health care, security …, pro and con.
11. Prayer helps the individual to transcend individual or affiliated ideas.
12. Prayer addresses the issues of one sidedness that are commonplace in elections that leaves the needs and feelings of the other side or person unaddressed.
13. Prayer helps one to submit to God’s reasoning, which satisfies all sides with a much deeper solution. God provides a universal love solution.
14. Prayer helps the individual to understand that ‘human law’ is right when it patterns after God’s law.
15. With prayer we move to a higher spiritual principles, which is ‘the standard’ which each of us and every side ought to be pursuing.
16. Prayer helps us to lose self in love, and to find the proper perspective.
17. Prayer helps human laws to be patterned after and for divine works.
18. Prayer helps us to understand the source of our benefits. Our needs ought to be met through prayer-based solutions.
19. Prayer teaches how to confront issues like economic security, universal healthcare, security, terrorism.
20. Prayer helps us to understand that God’s love is unconditional and unearned, and that it is also God’s divine nature that is purposed to meet all of our human needs.
21. God’s unconditional is universal in its adaptation and within its bestowal; we must pray that it has pre-eminence.

Summary:• Lose self, whatever your political persuasion.
• Seek higher principles e.g. self rights that are divinely appointed.
• Ask yourself will your current prayer allow your thoughts to go to the higher principle?
• When humans acceded to higher principles that is when the Berlin wall came down, we must move towards higher principles and when we all get there, matters change.
• Good politics is about finding resolution, one must put self aside in order to learn the higher issues, learn what the other side is saying – don’t just react to it without a full understanding.
• Abraham Lincoln 1860, was ill prepared to be president, like Senator Obama he spent time in the Illinois Legislature, and he was a one-term Congressmen. He lacked the political experience to be President. He later attributed and conceded his growth to the prayers of his fellow countrymen.
• The right decision is ultimately a win for either side.
• Mary Baker Eddy’s politics were to serve a righteous government and all of us must pursue the same, a righteous government (which does not mean that some religious form or interpretation given the Pat Robertson’s …, or National Association of Evangelicals is the proper one. Speaker Bowers and I discussed the latter at the conclusion of his talk. A righteous form of government is not dependent upon an individual’s denomination or his or her personal interpretation of what is a righteous government.
• Learn to love your fellow citizens even those that you may not agree with for God loves them
• Applying God, helps to escape certain individual areas in our own lives.
• We must exercise spiritual discernment.
• Immature thoughts cannot countenance another’s point of view or perspective.
• One cannot focus exclusively on criticism for it is deadly to your own senses, and precludes you from seeing what you need to see – the Christ nature.
• There is a macular degeneration of the senses that occurs when one relies strictly upon criticism.
• Allow yourself to be altered.
• Accept spiritual perception in the political process.
• No matter what, ask yourself what is the deeper issue?

Ron’s Conclusion: Someone’s candidate will loose and that is inevitable, however, always accept righteous judgment, even if it turns out that your position or candidate loses.

I cannot think of anything to add except to say that this was a tremendous lecture that was given by a seasoned lecture that I was blessed to enjoy along with another 2or 300 of my unknown beforehand sisters and bothers. Ron began his involvement in politics 30 years ago, he has been at the center of many campaigns.

His spiritual involvement taught him and will help us to understand what part prayer and the sacrificing of oneself, while reaching to a higher power, can do to help us to play our part in the political process.

Love Peace & Grace
Reverend C. Solomon

Sep 29, 2008

The Dialogue: The Rev Battles With ‘Unlending” on You Tube




I am concerned about those who will never thrive in this system
and not for their lack of dedication and trying. (Read my complete discussion with Unlending and westhea, on Chaos, Deadly Bush-Cheney Game, Pt1, on You Tube).


The Diaglogue:
Unlending, Many black people are as confused as members of the Ku Klux Klan are. Why? The schizophrenic klansmen invoke the Cross and a Jewish messiah, and then they turn around and tell you that they hate Jews. Many blacks have imbibed upon a white ideology as if it were the all in all, when it is not. You see the former in an ascendant state, I see it as regressing. Look not on the things of the other the Canon teaches for what is for you is for you, if you don't turn your back on it!

revcsolomon
I have been called Uncle Tom on several occasions by the American black Janjaweed for not supporting Senator Obama. My position is that we have enough whites who are willing to kill Palestinians, members of Hamas, Cubans and Fidel. Why would a Scotch-Irish African man want to preside over such a reckless policy? I asked those who accused me if they were half-a-Tom, given that Obama is half-white (and they are supporting him)? American foreign policy much like its domestic policy is duplicitous! Just people need their own!

revcsolomon
Unlending, Booker T and W.E.B, Dr. MLK and Malcolm, unlending and Solomon, each tandem, and others before have been working toward a common objective. If one can make it in an unjust system that leaves others out..., on the other hand I am concerned about those who will never thrive in this system. Many in the latter group have turned to social anomie! I asked a young man in counseling on one occasion why he stole? His answer was similar to Sutton's. He said, I want a wife, house, car..!

revcsolomon
Unlending, ff you study most religious texts, the liberty that was promised in most is not the same as the liberty that has been promised by the USA. There has been and is enough on earth to succor not only humans, but animals, insects and the rest of the flora and fauna. Because there are few controls within the American Capitalist Enterprise system, just as what is taking place now in the American Capitalist Church, many individuals have been left behind. Wrong plan!

revcsolomon
Unlending, Our discussions have been highly ethereal on one hand, and very practical on the other. I suspect that the answer is once again in the question. What, who, why is our purpose? Was earth made for man and man for planet Earth. If so, it is only logical that along with its design, there was a plan, and that plan must have been for each one us to have what was needed. Syllogism? Human governments often come up with plans that benefit an elite group. We must get back in synch!

revcsolomon
The rich young ruler who came to Jesus, and the man who built bigger barns for himself, what most Americans are doing today, missed the plan. If the young ruler had given away all that he had, keep in mind that with his steady bloated income, by week's end he would have taken in what the majority of individuals in the circum Mediterranean cultures would have needed years to acquire. Americans are endorsing the same stockpiling plan at the expense of others.

revcsolomon
Unlending, And where did this animosity suddenly derive from? I didn't realize that you were such a Condi sycophant. The fact is that most Republicans consider her to be nothing more than George Bush's secretary, not a qualified Secretary of State. Most of them believe that she was never qualified to be head of the NSA. Politics or facts? I am trying to help you to abandon a slave mentality and to allow for the richness and abundance that is inherent within black people. Deprogram!

unlending (
"you were such a Condi sycophant" im not, why cant you see the position that she holds as one that can open doors. I pray you are not prejudiced by envy or political ideology.

"George Bush's secretary, not a qualified Secretary of State" qualified or not she is still the Secretary of State. That is a fact, why invest in opinion?

revcsolomon
unlending, Open doors to do what, support a system that victimizes and has created a permanent social and economic underclass. What was Condi doing in the aftermath of the Hurricane Katrina catastrophe, buying shoes. When Condi and Obama wake up, they will not want to kill Arabs for Jesus, destroy Palestinians, continue to threaten and embargo Cuba...! Condi's choice to support evil suggests a much deeper pathology at work. Jesus set a different example for his followers called rejection!

revcsolomon. "Open doors to do what" whatever she chooses, she did the work she gets to choose.
"What was Condi doing in the aftermath of the Hurricane Katrina" i was at the beach enjoying the sun and listening to the radio. she bought shoes. i did my job, she did hers.
"Jesus set a different example for his followers called rejection?" in my teachings Jesus taught love, care, kindness and forgiveness. more acceptance than rejections.

revcsolomon
unleading, I can see that you are a fan of Condi and that is okay, she is a remarkable person, even though we diverge politically. The fact of the matter is that the Bush Administration blew it with respect to Katrina, they will admit that. The official cabinet members, including Condi, proves that they were completely out of touch. With respect to Jesus, he rejected the status quo, why do you think they killed him? His objective was to bring about positive spiritual and social change!

unlending
"I can see that you are a fan of Condi" then sir you are blind, I say she has opportunity, more than 99.99% of the world population.

Katrina was not blown it was a learning experience of the state's sovereign rights and the irresponsibility of the governer and mayor.

"he rejected the status quo, why do you think they killed him" the quo was not ready to live with love & compassion.
"objective was to bring about positive spiritual and social change" disagree, objective was relationship

unlending
"help you to abandon a slave mentality" me? I take advantage my position that I have invested my time and resources to achieve. i will never called myself a victim, even of circumstances, nor do I allow my children to be accept anything less than a winning attitude but to understand that ignorance exists and it is the ignorant that we make our living from.

revcsolomon
unlending, You cannot help me to abandon something that I don't have. I am pleased to hear that you are not a victim, however, do you support bolster a system that victimizes, exploits and incarcerates other people? Or let me put it another way, are you a part of the problem or its solution? A Senegalese native told American blacks that he could wish that he and his relatives had been enslaved. To many blacks do not understand yet that they help to perpetuate a system that exploits others!

unlending
revcsolomon "support bolster a system that victimizes, exploits and incarcerates other people" i no more support the system than i do for a world with hurricanes earthquakes, floods, fire, famine, drought. i am a practical person and must provide for my family and the perpetuation of our ideals.

saying the system exploits is like saying freeways kill. the freeway system is there to be used, abused or ignored. i care to use it to get to my destination within my lifetime.

revcsolomon
The problem with the Obama candidacy is this, it hurts black Americans who believe that the solution to their problems lies with the government, more dependency. Black Americans have been waiting for the government to act for 232 years now. Now blacks believe that if a half-black man can take over the reigns that their circumstances will change. That kind of thinking got Abraham Lincoln killed. Some believe Obama's presidency is according to divine manifest destiny! What about Colin?

revcsolomon
Unlending, with respect to your Salmon analogy, you are speaking like a true America. In other words you don't care how you are getting the Salmon, and whether or not you may be helping to delete the supply, consider the Dams that have been built, that are eliminating Salmon...! I want what is just and what the Sovereign intended for me to have. Just as in Genesis, perhaps it was intended for us to still be consuming herbs, fruits and nuts. Help solve the problem, don't participate in it!

revcsolomon
unlending, I was not aware thou you and westhea had tangled before. His heart is in the right place, however, he has placed his hopes upon 'the manifest destiny all praises be to Obama campaign'. Like too many black people whose hopes have been deferred for so long it would seem that they are too willing to place their hopes in any savior. I reminded him that neither Mandela nor Mbeiki, 2 presidents in a black majority nation, have been able to overcome the in place structural barriers!

westthea
Rev, the success we speak of is not tied up in one person or a few persons. It is as I have articulated, the many with a strategic agenda and actions. Obama is only one part of the equation.

revcsolomon
westhea, You have been quiet lately. I thought you were still on your post-Democratic Convention trip to Africa or working hard on the campaign. Whatever happens in November, I only hope that the coalition that you have spoken about will continue to push forward and join forces with the other coalition that is out there. I believe that more can be accomplished when an over realiance on a political emphasis will be put to bed. A lot can be accomplished (50M strong) minus waiting 4 more years.

westthea
Rev, we are working on the nuts and bolts. Just returned from trip to Ohio and off to Africa next month. More information about this after the trip.

revcsolomon

westhea, You have to give McCain credit for knowing how to wage war, even if like George Bush it meant using other men, women and children (the Palin family) to do so. With one strategic/tactical move, he has narrowed the gap. Just as black Americans grew up with biblical-black-church preached values, whites were raised with a combination of the bible and 'white speak'. The latter is what the other side is using to rally Dems, Pubs and independents! Sooner or later it had to happen-it works!

revcsolomon
unlending, Talk to the hundreds of thousands of individuals who have been displaced and are still grieving the losses of their love ones. Katrina represents another astronomical blunder by the Bushtanista government! Just as on 9/11, so was the case of Katrina, his administration didn't have a clue of or the concern to do what needed to be done. Rumsfeld couldn't even defend his own headquarters. Is the quo ready today for love & compassion today, if you could ask Dr. MLK?

revcsolomon
All praises be to Obama, however, even his own cabinet is conceding to compromise in order to avoid defeat. Most of them have said that with regard to all of the Obama recapitulations, a dozen I have counted, he is doing so in order to get elected. The problem with that then is he is not a change agent just as the Wright Reverend indicated - he is simply doing and saying what he has to, in order to get elected. Some believe that once he is elected, suddenly Superman will emerge? Kryptonite?

revcsolomon
Each ONE of us needs to conduct a self-inventory and determine whether we possess more than what the Sovereign intended for us to have individuaLLY. For some, all they need to do is to mount a scale, and they will recognize immediately that they have not been temperate. For others just look at the domicile, closets, storage spaces, clothing, bling-bling, bank accounts, vehicles...! When there is greed, someone else is not getting their share. Don't argue with me, argue with the Sovereign!

revcsolomon
War Taxes: If you consider history, even American history, taxes were always raised to pay for the cost of war; in fact war bonds were sold...! Something very sinister is going on with respect to the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Even McCain was concerned that the wealthy won't pay their tax costs to pay for the wars that they are responsible for by voting for Bush. The question is how come 'pubs accuse Democrats of always raising taxes, but when it comes to wars they raise taxes?

revcsolomon

cont: Even though the Republicans start the wars that are to be paid for by taxes, they ignore the costs and leave them for someone else to pay for the costs of war! When Reagan left office, the Democrats had to come in and pay for his indiscretions, i.e., covert operations, refusal to raise taxes to pay for expenditures, green mail, leveraged corporate buyouts...! The same thing is happening with Reagan's protégé. The 'pubs have raised tax costs, someone else has to address them, Democrats!

revcsolomon
Finally, then who truly raises the tax burden in this nation, it is Republicans, they simply will not pay the bills. Not only has Bush's expenditures gone through the roof, and he will walk away from the debt - when he came into office, Clinton left him with a surplus. If and when taxes have to be raised, just as it happened with Reagan left office blame it on the Republicans for they are the ones who keep driving up the tax burden on Americans in a real sense.


revcsolomon
And with respect to working now to provide for the next generation, remember the Bucket List movie? In the end what the family wanted more than anything was their family-member, and time with their family-member. The Sovereign keepeth watch above its own and will provide for the next generation. Help to eliminate the greed principle instead, and they will get their share!

revcsolomon
Unlending, The poor are not excused, many of them, greedy too. I was in the waiting room at the hospital the other day. A staff member walks in with a basket of fruit to pass out and to appease the patients. Several individuals who took a piece of fruit requested another piece. And when the staff member sat the basket down to attend to some business, several rushed the fruit basket in deference to the fact that not everyone had been served. And to boot, they left the banana peels behind!

revcsolomon
unlending, It is a war for the soul of individual men and women. The Apostle James wrote that war, the word has been modified in most modern versions, comes as a result of lusts. Most humans desire to have things that are above and beyond what they need, then the sense of entitlement takes over.

revcsolomon
The way John McCain has run his political campaign of late, tells a lot about the kind of President he would be. He is lying, manipulating, slandering..., and he is already doing the same with Prime Minister Putin of Russia. Clearly he plans to continue Bush's meddlesome foreign policy. He believes in the Monroe Doctrine for the USA, but not for any other nation. The USA has been working to isolate Russia around the Black sea and the Caspian for years; Georgia jumped the gun. No to McCain!

westthea
Right on, Rev.

revcsolomon
Unlending, you had better wake up and smell the roses. Many years ago Americans outsourced their responsibility for providing an equitable living for their families to corporations. Today, the same corporations are wealth, and the corporate barons are wealthy, and what are they doing? They are abandoning Americans and seeking to procure wealth elsewhere. You may continue to support what is going on, but someday you will be abandoned to. Hewlett-Packard is laying off 24,000 employees!

revcsolomon
Unlending, In the American system, much like a typical family household, some of its occupants are being abused and denied access to the opportunity structures and its largesse. The kids who are being abused complain. The kids who benefit from a flawed system that is bent only upon creating wealth defend it. They attack the kids who haven't made it. The fact is that a system and parents can be abusive. To fix a Representative Democracy flawed system begins with converting the represented!

revcsolomon

unlending, If you are keeping up with what is going on in the world, anti-American sentiment, the rise of global economies, the global economy itself, America's ignoring of its fiduciary responsibilities, class stratification in America, clearly we are heading back to the future. America is in trouble, no not the corporate barons or carpetbaggers, but the majority of its citizens! The people have been accomplices to the madness. How will the two front runners help to resolve the problems?

revcsolomon
And what happened to many of those blacks who migrated north? After migrating north where they found work (they wanted to work), they enjoyed prosperity for approximately half-a- century. Many of them have since been, summarily, dumped into the streets. Many are on welfare, living in cars, disillusioned...! Why? They outsourced their responsibility for the care of themselves that they learned in the agrarian south to corporations, and followed the path that you referred to, a dead end!

revcsolomon
Which one of the two front-running candidates will help America to be what it could be, is still to be determined? My problem with both candidates is that they are too seeped in American ideology. There is something higher there is also something better. Leaders ought to be teachers, however, leaders must understand themselves, before they can teach! Who will stare America in the face and say that we have lost our soul, or that too much emphasis has been placed on the acquisition of wealth?

revcsolomon
The world's great civilizations have progressed through this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependence; from dependence back again into bondage.
Alexander Tyler 1770

revcsolomon
unlending, And this is where the American promise comes into conflict with the Canon. According to the Canon, man was never intended to have the amount of freedoms that have been promised in America. In fact many writers in the Canon warn and explain to those who would partake of too much freedom to beware of that liberty of 'yours'. The whole idea behind American freedom is that one can do whatever he or she chooses, and that is what appeals to America and leads to licentiousness!

revcsolomon
America needs a new pedagogy and an updated social philosophy. I don't believe that the love of money is the root of all evil, for evil was apparently here before money was invented. However, America's value system, if it has one is tied primarily to the acquisition of wealth. There is something better than that. America has over 300,000 registered lobbyists, many of them have offices around DC, especially on K Street. If the federal government is the head of the body, America is sick!

revcsolomon
westhea, In a strange kind of way, the current economic crisis in America has helped Senator Obama's campaign. Among other things, it has knocked Sarah Palin off of the front pages, and factually since the end of the Republican Convention, Senator Obama had been running against her celebrity. And to boot, John McCain's explanations and accusations have been all over the place.

revcsolomon
Unlending, Quotation of the week by Evan on Inside Washington. "Americans have been behaving as if the laws of God and nature had been suspended".

This is what I have been teaching for years. Frankly, it is time for Americans to get in the real world! Before the stock market crash of 1929, most Americans believed that America was both impregnable and invincible. In an hour, Americans realized that was not the case, just as the ancient Romans, descendants of the Etruscans also learned!

revcsolomon
As I once predicted that if Senator Obama were to prevail and defeat Hillary Clinton in the Primaries that he would have to turn to the Clintons given his lack of knowledge and experience to seek help. And he has had to turn to the Clinton machine in order to help save his fledgling candidacy and to advise him on things that he knows nothing about. Now perhaps he will give Senator Clinton a high-profile position in his administration if he were to become president of the United States.

westthea
Rev, it is a natural thing to turn to a former president when running for president. Don't be surprised if Hillary doesn't have a high profile position in the administration. Not because Obama don't want this but perhaps because Hillary may not want it. However, Bill Clinton's organization will benefit immensely from the Obama Administration. As I have said all along, Obama is going to defeat John McCain big.

revcsolomon
Do you mean in the manner that Senator McCain is turning to George Bush? I suspect that you had better rethink your position? And it sounds to me as if someone still does not have anything kind to say about the Clintons, even if they are going to bat for Obama. Would the same have occurred if the shoe were on the other foot? Fortunately Obama is wiser than his support team. The Clintons are doing the right then to support a principle. Which do you care more about, the country or being right?

revcsolomon
You may be right, but my gut tells me that Senator Clinton is a bit more self-deprecating than you give her credit, she cares about the American people as well as the people of the world. In the end, she will do what is best for everyone including her party, just as she doing for Senator Obama!

westthea "Don't be surprised if Hillary doesn't have a high profile position in the administration" she will have no position, she is not welcomed.

"Obama is going to defeat John McCain big" big, really?? how big, maybe a wager?

revcsolomon
Clearly the Clintons are not welcome by the youthful democons who are dependent upon Clinton supporters. I wonder how would the youthful democons in an Obama administration build consensus with those on the right, when they won't even do that with those in their own party. I suspect that we are headed back to the past, if the insouciant democons were to prevail. The democons will behave as demagogues I believe, as the neocons did during the first four years of the failed Bush Administration!

revcsolomon "I suspect that we are headed back to the past" as i have been stating, the cyclical nature of mankind.

it has not changed throughout history.

revsolomonc
So why are you advocating for the perpetuation of the cycle, by suggesting that life's primary motivation is the acquisition of wealth? The majority of the people of the world are poor.

unlending
revsolomonc "So why are you advocating for the perpetuation of the cycle" abundance creates wealth. wealth creates a better life. surely you cannot be promoting poverty or coveting of the labor of others. Are you?

"by suggesting that life's primary motivation is the acquisition of wealth?" no, you and others get to choose the path of their lives. i am saying it works for me & those in my neighborhood.

unlending
revsolomonc "The majority of the people of the world are poor" according to whose standards?
i gre up with dirt floors, outhouse, no electricity & not a single day in my life did i feel poor. tell me are you poor?

revsolomonc
I prefer headed back to the future. I am not convinced that we ever left the past, therefore the past may turn out to be the future, to include greed, lust for power, pride, and selfishness and I am not my brother's keeper. What changed? Instead of rocks and the primitive stone instruments found at Olduvai, man is simply using more sophisticated weapons and tools. He still has not, in some instances, learned to tame his baser nature. The American system caters to elevating the lower self.
unlending
"I prefer headed back to the future. I am not convinced that we ever left the past" man is doomed to repeat his mistakes until he gets it right. then, and only then, will there be progress.

"to include greed, lust for power, pride, selfishness and I am not my brother's keeper. What changed?" correct, nothing has changed.

unlending

revsolomonc "The American system caters to elevating the lower self" WRONG!!, the American system allows those that want to remain on the bottom rung to exist there. if you or anyone else wants to climb that ladder that is available too. choice is yours.

revcsolomon
Well show me where in the land of the free and the home of the slave, that reaching for a higher level of conscieness has been emphasized. Even given what has been going on in America over the past 2 weeks, all of the emphasis has been placed on saving the market. Factually, Americans are seen by some as one big market. Many an America is depressed and feels that he has failed, because he failed to get rich. The objective of others, even those who attend college is often to make money.

unlending
"Well show me where in the land of the free and the home of the slave, that reaching for a higher level of conscieness has been emphasized." Booker T Washington, George Washington Carver.

"all of the emphasis has been placed on saving the market." kept trying to tell you that. despite anyone good intentions prosperity is good for all.

"even those who attend college is often to make money" which is good, responsibility comes next, wisdom comes much later, if at all.

revcsolomon
And what was that level of higher conscienceness that these icons were reaching for, it certainly was not wealth. And that is the point that I am making. W.E.B.Budbois died penniless, GWC communed each day, in the wee hours of the morning with God, and mastered his domain. When offered extravagant sums of money to exploit the soybean plant, he declined. Adam was instructed to have dominion, not to get rich or to die trying. Don't feel bad, most Christians don't understand prosperity!

unlending
revcsolomon "Don't feel bad, most Christians don't understand prosperity" or the responsibility of it.

what is your plan?

revcsolomon
It is the one that was provided to us by a much higher source. It is not based upon lust, greed, conspicuous consumption.

revcsolomon
The anticlimactic ponzi scheme (the American capitalist economic plan) that you and too many Americans subscribe to, was created in order to help a ruling elite composed exclusively of white males voters who didn't want to pay taxes to the crown, to enrich themselves. Why are you a proponent of such a plan? Answer: Because it has permitted you to pursue your wanderlusts and prevarications, and it provided you with an illusory sense of security! Some realize of late how fleeting it really is!

unlending
revcsolomon "the first four years of the failed Bush Administration!"
failed? in what way? US is not a Islamic state & I am still free to enjoy my acquired wealth. it has worked for me.

where has it failed you?

revsolomonc
For you then 'wealth or the acquisition thereof answers all things'. The nation is regressing, Bush is dishonest, we are embroiled in an unjust war and occupation of another nation, the country is petering towards an economic collapse, we have a staggering deficit which is about to expand, the nation is divided (red vs white_, the gap between the rich and the poor as well as between executives and non-executives has increased exponentially, the cost of living is out of sight, unemployment ...

unlending
revsolomonc, "For you then 'wealth or the acquisition thereof answers all things'" for me, correct. I know how to use wealth to benefit others, create charities, feed the indigent, educate the uneducated. What is your plan?

"The nation is regressing, Bush is dishonest, we are embroiled in an unjust war ..., the cost of living is out of sight, unemployment" can you name any other country not accused of the same?

revsolomonc
Isn't it interesting that during Desert Shield, that the Islamic nation of Saudi Arabia asked that the Americans leave their alcohol and other contraband behind, given that they were on holy ground. If money is the measure of all things, then America is all that. However, if there is a higher standard, and there is, American decadence tells you a lot about where America measures up on the grand scale. Imagine those sand Arabs telling the mighty Americans to leave their vices in America!

unlending
revsolomonc "that the Islamic nation of Saudi Arabia asked that the Americans leave their alcohol and other contraband behind" did the US comply?

"If money is the measure of all things, then America is all that." what a sad state of mind you must be in. money is one measure, friends is another measure, family yet another. why is your scope so limited?

revcsolomon
But they had to be asked to do so is the point. Americans tend to judge all other nations by an American standard. Ironically, I just left an African-Caribbean conference at the U of Berkeley, where the same point of contention entered into the discussion. Americans judge all other nations and people by a westernized American standard. Other nations judge the USA as well as being decadent, immoral, spoiled, duplicitic, hegemonic...!

unlending
"But they had to be asked to do so is the point." is that a bad thing or a good thing, after all it is not American holy ground nor American custom. i miss the point, of course Americans do that, the French do it too, so do the Chinese. judgment is always based on your frame of reference.

revcsolomon
Obviously you missed the point again, for I have been saying all along that money is not the measure of all things. And sadly, that appears to be at the top of the agenda as far as our political aspirants are concerned. America needs remolding and reshaping, Americans need remodeling and reshaping, particularly in terms of developing a realistic and a moral world view. Ahmadinajab of Iran was correct when he raised the issue of the decline of the American empire! Other nations will remember!

unlending
revcsolomon "Obviously you missed the point again" please enlighten me. what is your point in a sentence or 2.

"Other nations will remember!" of course, the fall of Rome, China, Mesopotamia, Turks etc.

please your point in a sentence or 2

revcsolomon
Let me answer you with the title of my book that is in incubation, regarding the United States and the American People: WE HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE A NATION OF RECENT HISTORY!
unlending
"American decadence tells you a lot about where America measures up on the grand scale." you apparently have not seen the Saudi palaces or the palaces of sadam. don’t go there, your argument fails miserably cuz American values life. Saudis would just as well decapitate you or feed a dog. both provides some form of entertainment.

your bashing is not refreshing nor uplifting. if i was to hear a speech by you i would feel depressed cheated and scorned. all very lovely traits to some.

revcsolomon
I wasn't referring to an earthy grand scale. When weighed in the balances, America has been found wanting, and that has been the subject of our discussion. Certainly America is not alone in that regard. However, comparing American with other nations does not let America off the hook! Why do you continue to make the effort to defend greed, are you afraid that by my doing so somehow speaks to an overemphasis that you have placed on wealth yourself! One nation, 45% of the world's goods?

unlending
revcsolomon "Why do you continue to make the effort to defend greed" careful cuz that borders a lie. I have never defended greed. I defend wealth, its accumulation, abundance and the benefits that abundance can provide.

if you practiced acquiring wealth, its accumulating an abundance then you would be able to provide benefits beyond your immediate reach.

sorry but America still provides the greatest opportunities for those that want to pick its fruits.

unlending
revcsolomon, "afraid that by my doing so somehow speaks to an overemphasis that you have placed on wealth yourself!"

not at all, in fact i practice what i preach and not just on wealth but the accumulating an abundance of wealth.

"One nation, 45% of the world's goods?"
correct, and i live in the realm of that nation not the other 55%.

like i say, wealth is not for all, there are enormous responsibilities attached. certainly not for the foolhardy.

revcsolomon
However, at some point a compassionate person wonders about his brothers and sisters in the world, and considers, why do have so much when they have so little. With the expansion of the global economy, although politicians aren't saying it, conditions are going to change as more demands will be placed on scarce resources. The sense of entitlement that we have experienced and passed on to our children is going to have a devastating effect. Charlie Rangel said it best at one of our CBC meetings..
unlending (1 day ago) Show Hide
"at some point a compassionate person wonders about his brothers and sisters in the world, and considers, why do have so much when they have so little." only after wisdom has set in.

"The sense of entitlement that we have experienced and passed on to our children is going to have a devastating effect" that is the effect of a slave mentality

revcsolomon
At an international conference this weekend, I reminded all who listened that America is 'the land of the free and the home of the slave'. Most Americans are only too pleased/greedy to participate in a system that was built on the back of slavery. Wachovia Bank, one of the original slave banks just went under. Americans need to be reminded that America's 232 years of existence, by comparison with other millennial nations, a flash in the pan experiment, appears to be headed in the wrong direction.

revcsolomon
And who took up residence in those palaces that you mentioned. And, how do those palaces compare with the massive Embassy that the United States has constructed in Baghdad. We spared no expense!

unlending
revcsolomon "And who took up residence in those palaces that you mentioned. And, how do those palaces compare with the massive Embassy that the United States has constructed in Baghdad. We spared no expense!" precisely man being man being man.

what is your plan?

revcsolomon
My plan is to do what I was called to do, to attempt to reeducate those that I can, many of whom have been misinformed. They are the individuals who reify a flawed system that is badly in need of an adjustment. If that were to happen it could be a system, one that truly trusts in God, and that is structured upon godly principles. God's plan encompassed providing for an caring for all of his own!

revcsolomon
unlending, You never heard of 'steady state'. Meaningful progress takes time. Solomon write that purpose, and the judgment of all things are critical. A lack of contentment causes one to surge ahead without measuring the consequences, America is good at that. And as a result we have an up and down economy, during one period it is surging, and during the next there is a severe economic downturn. The sense of immediate gratification has hurt this nation as much as it has helps. Spoiled kids!

revcsolomon
From an elitist American point of view, its constitution and economic system offers man the best opportunities in the world. I suspect that minorities, including the native Americans might bet to differ with you. There are many other systems in the world that work better, some that Americans would continue totalitarian. And how does an American define a totalitarian system? It is any system that in any way would prevent an American from greed, free-willing and licentiousness.

revcsolomon
Northing but whine..., have you and Phil Gramm been engaging in his jaundiced political discourse of late. We live in a Representative Democracy, the people are the nation, in theory. When they demand changes they are not whining, they are simply saying to their employee Representatives that they want change. I have never heard anyone refer to any of the 300,000 registered lobbyists in this nation, with offices mostly on 'K' Street, refer to their incessant demands as whining!

revcsolomon
Our highly esoteric and ethereal discoursing is a reflection of what is true about America, that east is east and west is west and never the twain shall meet! Having said that I always like to hear the other side. I am not comparing you to him, however, I listened to R. Limbaugh on a daily basis for 4years before concluding what I already knew beforehand, the man is a dangerous fool! Too many Americans have learned to manipulate a malleable system in order to get what they want.

revcsolomon
Unlending, the Fed has taken a page out of George Bushes book. It is the same book that he read from when he rushed America into war. What they are saying now is tantamount to what Bush, Powell, Condi and others reported in 2002 and 2003, that the mushroom cloud is 'a coming'. What we need to do in America is to take a deep breath, given vent to some critical thinking and prayer - and come with a manageable solution and a fix. We must ensure that our former ways not be repeated! Causation!

revcsolomon
Unlending, To the misguided person who covets wealth or what someone else has, educate him in the manner that Jesus did in the 12th chapter of Luke. Factually, both individuals need to be educated because they are guilty of doing the same thing, coveting instead of being satisfied with their portion! Yesterday a man asked me for money when I was about to enter the drugstore, instead I walked into Popeye’s and purchased him a chicken meal. One thing I do know is that he ate one meal yesterday!

revcsolomon
unlending, Consider the Bush-Cheney attitude towards much of the rest of the world. He has said over and over that they are simply jealous of what we have, a sentiment that is echoed among many Americans. Among many points that could be made, the fact is that he certain amount of arrogance and the feeling of the self-made man, when a human being acquires possessions, and that is all that they are - even wealth. You can't take it with you! Bush has tasked himself to protect American wealth!

revcsolomon
Westhea, has one objective in mind and that is to win. All of his predicting aside, no one knows who will win. What really matters is what the individual will do that wins. George Bush was elected and then re-elected, and look where that got us. Solomon wrote, better is the end of the thing than the beginning, look where Bush is today. I simply hope that whoever wins that the spirit of the Sovereign will take control. Because what happens in the US doesn't stay in the US it impacts all!

revcsolomon
unlending, What is wrong with America is that along with its political philosophy, most of its greedy citizens view their country in the manner that they do their homes. Most Americans believe that their nation and their homes are their personal and collective ATM machines. Life has no intrinsic meaning for Americans without wealth. Most Americans are pursuing wealth and any minor influence that can impact their wealth pursuing ambitions will throw an American into a funk in an American minute!

revcsolomon
Unlending, If God judged man according to human ideas, neither Moses, King David or Saul would have been called upon. Each one of them was either a murderer, or an accessory to murder. In America, the wealthy are judged by many as being good, and the poor are judged as being detestable, lazy and good for nothings. Like Hitler, many Americans would euthanize the weak, and create a perfect race of wealthy white and wanna be white individuals! I know, that was mean, but true!

revcsolomon
The American philosophy has holes. Its promise, some would say is opportunity. Its concurrent philosophy is however, if you can't make it in the American Darwinian economic scheme, then that is your problem. Will Americans help you if you can't keep up? Some will and some won't, and for many their attitude is, I AM NOT MY BROTHER's KEEPER. Someone once said that when the majority suffers, a minority is in trouble. It is the wealthy minority class that is in trouble as we speak! Robespierre

revsolomonc

Regarding man as judge, Paul wrote that man would judge the world. He was wrong about other things, so I suspect that he wrong about that. Just consider judicial systems in many of the nations around the world. Did OJ do it? Do the wealthy actually have a financial advantage and the ability to have better advocates to represent them? I am still wrestling with your question about man judging. I suspect that we can judge minor things, but on the other hand the S. Court made George Bush prez!

revcsolomon
Representative Rangel quipped that Americans, believed at the time, that the Iraqis had 'our oil' under their sand. Two kids live in the same house where one is being abused, while the other is the benefactor of his parents largesse. Oftentimes the child who has benefited lives in a state of denial, because for him things couldn't be better. In our pre-planned world, enough was put here and the means were put here, if compassion prevailed, to feed and care for humans, flora and the fauna!

revcsolomon
Who will teach Americans, clearly it won't be The American Capitalist Church, and it certainly won't be America's robber barons. I still recall when Bush 41 took Lee Iacocca and went to Japan to beg for concessions. Upon leaving Japan, the Japanese executives said that American executives were 'gangsters'. That gangster mindset is pervasive in American society. The average American will earn 2.5M in a lifetime. Some earn that amount daily and some weekly, and still they are not satisfied!

revcsolomon
The absence of wealth, and poverty are not one and the same. It is too bad that you and many individuals have been inveigled into believing that they only system that can survive or satisfy is one that is based on money or wealth. Our objectives ought to be contentment, and there are many individuals, even as you stated, who lack financial resources that have learned to be content. The latter live very satisfying lives. It is the ones who respond to anxiety influenced performance that do not!

revcsolomon
The Czars, the feudal Lords, American carpet-baggers..., were all very satisfied with the status quo, given their positions at the top of the food chain. The fact that your system works for you does not mean that it a system in keeping with divine practice. You and others are financially addicted. You must have a daily fix. When anything threatens or impairs your ability, by your own admission, to garner wealth, you experience panic attacks. Jesus had no money, bed, CDs, mutual funds...!

revcsolomon
Westhea, Mbeki had enough. Remember what I said before about South Africa, a 95% majority black nation? One person cannot change a nation where their are structural barriers in place that are resistant to change. America isn't any different. Mandela, with his celebrity status was also unable to bring real change to the African majority. When the Obama experiment concludes, I trust that you will join some of us who are pursuing a real solution. Being prez of the US is not it!

revcsolomon
Westhea, I am in the midst of a conference being held at UC Berkeley. The topic is Africa and Caribbean Performance. I have been engaging in, along with the other conferees professors from several nations in the motherland. I will share more when the conference is over. The rest of the Diaspora is hungry and looking for leadership. Can we provide it for them! I raised the issue of Black Dependency and the Historical Successes & Failures of Black Male Leadership to a mixed response. Obama?

revcsolomon
Through 43 iterations now, America has had individuals to take hold at the helm, claiming that they had the elixir that when applied would make America a better place. Arguably, the more things have changed, the more they have remained the same. The philosophy is flawed, and the economic system is vulnerable. Certain factions manipulate both simply to accomplish their puerile puerile and atavistic objectives. The Obama and Democrats have the same aim in mind in that regard!


unlending
revcsolomon "Don't feel bad, most Christians don't understand prosperity" or the responsibility of it.

what is your plan?


revcsolomon
As Jesus once said, have I been so long with you and yet you do not know me. Answer: The divine plan.

revcsolomon
Let me answer you with the title of my book that is in incubation, regarding the United States and the American People: WE HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE A NATION OF RECENT HISTORY!

revcsolomon
The anticlimactic ponzi scheme (the American capitalist economic plan) that you and too many Americans subscribe to was created in order to help a ruling elite composed exclusively of white males voters who didn't want to pay taxes to the crown, to enrich themselves. Why are you a proponent of such a plan? Answer: Because it has permitted you to pursue your wanderlusts and prevarications, and it provided you with an illusory sense of security! Some realize of late how fleeting it really is!

revcsolomon
It is the one that was provided to us by a much higher source. It is not based upon lust, greed, conspicuous consumption.



revcsolomon
My plan is to do what I was called to do, to attempt to reeducate those that I can, many of whom have been misinformed. They are the individuals who reify a flawed system that is badly in need of an adjustment. If that were to happen it could be a system, one that truly trusts in God and that is structured upon godly principles. God's plan encompassed providing for a caring for all of his own!

revcsolomon
Sometimes..., and other times they simply resist because they are too much in love with their own minds/intellect! Americans tergiversators won't be ready to learn until the stock market crashes. It is the illusion of wealth and economic security that keeps them believing and hoping in a system that was never designed for all Americans in the first place. Many come to America in order to next in the economic tree of promise, and to ride the money train. For many, it's about the Benjamins!

revcsolomon
At an international conference this weekend, I reminded all who listened that America is 'the land of the free and the home of the slave'. Most Americans are only too pleased/greedy to predicate in a system that was built on the back of slavery. Wachovia Bank, one of the original slave banks just went under. Americans need to be reminded that America's 232 years of existence, by comparison with other millennial nations, a flash in the pan experiment, appears to be headed in the wrong direction.


revcsolomon
"I am convinced that the incoming administration will better the work done during the past 14-and-half years so that poverty, underdevelopment, unemployment, illiteracy, challenges of health, crime and corruption will cease to define the lives of many of our people," Mbeki said. What are the chances that this could happen in America? Americans won't change until the money stream stops flowing, and the majority of Americans are awakened from sleep. Mbeki couldn't do it alone, Obama can't either!

My feelings about our dialogue is simply this, we both share a difference of opinion. I believe that that the Sovereign intended something else us for the people!

Love, peace & grace
Rev. C. Solomon


Final thought? Rather than compare what one jiman or nation does in comparison to another human or nation, my position is that man's plans ought to be predicated upon and compared with the intentional plan of the Sovereign!

Sep 24, 2008

Congress, The American People and the Current Wall Street Economic Crisis!




I have only one thing to say to our Congresspeople and it is short and
sweet
, Congress do your job no matter how long it takes, for that is what we elected you to do.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For almost 8 years now, America has been a nation without a President, a Supreme Court or Congress (the 1st 6 years of the Bush Presidency) that were in place to represent the will of the American people. Oftentimes, it appeared that the 3 Branches of government had been taken over by aliens from another planet, for they certainly were not interested in what was being said by 'life on Earth'.

This entire incident, and President Bushes pressure on Congress to act without forethought or critical analysis, reminds me of the tactics that the President used to get America embroiled in Iraq. It also reminds me of 'Y2K' when Americans were inveigled into believing that the sky was following and that America was on the brink of disaster.

What would the majority of the American people prefer? I suspect that just as I believe should be done, the rest would desire that the 3rd branch of government would simply do its job, something that the Executive Branch customarily fails to do! No matter how long it takes, and how much deliberation and analysis is required, take your time and do your job.

I am certain that George Bush is responding only to his base, and that he could care less, as Dick Cheney once said, about what the American people have to say! Hopefully, the newly-elected Democratic majority Congress will step up this time and do what they have been tasked to do, that is to represent the interests and the will of the American people who they were sent to represent!

This matter may not turn out to be a Y2K tempest in a teapot, but having said that the amount of time that should have invested to prevent this crisis in the first place, can and should be invested innow. Congress should invest the time that should have been invested beforehand, and investigate this entire matter (including themselves), and afterward, respond accordingly. I am willing to take the long-turn deliberative risk. We need leadership!

Peace & Grace
Rev. C. Solomon


Sep 23, 2008

What Will Happen If The Youthful Insouciant and Overly-Confident Democons Come To Power?



He called the young because they were strong, not because they knew the way!


The democons, the new demons on the left, are a group of young intellectuals and analysts who without much knowledge or experience have created a worldview that they intend to force not only upon the citizens of the United States, but upon the rest of the world.

And like most pre-pubescents and pubescents, they believe that they know better than anyone else what is right!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here we go again, for it appears that that if Senator Obama were to be elected President Obama, that the pendulum will swing in the other direction, back to the future, and a new form of fascism will pervade the American landscape and the world, but this time it will be coming from the young (not always chronological) and the inexperienced in the political left.

Should we be just as concerned about the democons, as we learned to be over the past 8 years with the Republican neocons, I think so? I am seeing an emerging and dangerous trend taking shape among the youngsters in the emerging the political Left which is a throwback to what we witnessed coming from the youngsters in the political right.

The tone of some in the newly revived political left strikes a similar chord that had been played over and over on the political right during the first four years of the Bush Administration. And even though the voices of the latter were eventually muted, given the outright mistakes that have been over the past 8years, given their arrogance, urging and insistence that only they knew what was best for this nation - the baton has been passed and we are about to experience a similar set of circumstances from the democons on the political left.

The new democons are chomping at the bit to have their chance to wag the dog, having learned nothing from the failures of the neocons in the two-term Bush Administration. If ideology is all that matters, Americans problem ms would have been solved a long time ago, and America would be on a stable footing today. There is one thing that America does not have a shortage of, and it is uncompromising ideologues.

These former, current unbending and unrepentant ideologues view things only one way, and that is through the spectrum of their limited visions and arrogant fervor, and they intend to put their stamp on the way that things will be done. George Bush a quasi-member of the 21st Century neocons on the Right lost his way by listening to them and listening to the voice of experience. Ironically, he forced in the end to do just in order to salvage his ill-conceived and fledgling war in Iraq.

Ironically, the unrepentant neocons distanced themselves from George Bush saying, being unrepentant for their contribution and their insistence on a rush to war, instead they augured only that he did not prosecute the war the right way! Those individuals were unrepentant, the Anne Coulters, Bill Kristol’s and others of their ilk; they got what they wanted and they still criticized their nemesis ‘old head’ George H. Bush.

But still, as a result of a nation being overly influenced by unknowledgeable and youthful ideologues, the nation has been at war ever since and the nation is bowing under a staggering load of, the economy is faltering and the American people are on the precipice of insolvency.

The overcoming and Faustian spirit of the Republican neocons has moved over and reconstituted itself in the democons. There is some variation on the manner in which they would operate the country; however, there effect I suspect will be the same, polarization, scarification, a scorched-earth policy, and insensitivity to what the majority of the people want. The latter will be sacrificed instead for what the democons have already been planning to implement if they could grab hold to the reigns of power.

Already the democons, just as their silent of late neocon counterparts did when they ran roughshod over the senior members in their party, the duds in the Democratic Party are doing the same thing. They are in affect telling the old heads, and their party’s machinery to get out of the way for we are coming through and we will not be denied. The attitude of the democons during the Democratic Primaries demonstrated the attitude of the neocons like none other.

The young democons were not engaged merely in a political battle in order to determine who would be best, the scarification that resulted and will be left behind came about as a result of their venal hatred of the senior members in their own party. The democons actually hate Senator Clinton, just as they seemingly harbor hate for anything or anyone that was born before 1970, with a few notable exceptions.

We will look back someday I believe, and remember this period when the democons and the neocons, who lacked a vision other than their own, ruined this nation. Neither group has a monopoly on truth. However, it would appear that both groups have a monopoly on believing that only they knew ultimately what must be done.

Can we survive another 4 to 8 years with either set of cons in office? These youngsters throughout the Primary season have failed to reach out to the stalwarts within their own party. Instead they have completely disrespected and disregarded the ones who worked to build the party. One can only wonder then how can anyone believe that these same individuals will reach out to their enemies in the other party, as a result of watching how they treated the senior members of their own party?

Am I being overly-pessimistic about the youthful aspirations, in terms of age and other experience, who want to take over the White House? I don’t think so believe that I am being over pessimitics. The fact of the matter is that I am not excited about the candidates on either side. I only wish that someone could do as a court judge would do under similar circumstances when there is poor representation present, and call the election this year's (similar to what took place in the previous two elections) a mistrial or a mis-election. Is there a judge in the house?

We should scrap this year’s entire election proceedings up and until now, and instead we should take a week or two to make an unprecedented move and decide upon who would be best to lead our nation, instead of the individuals who are in place right now! And heaven help if it either the neocons or the democons were to win! And what if I turn out to be wrong, all I can is that for the sake of us all, I HOPE SO! However, just as I was concerned about the neocons, I am concerned about the democons, the demons and the donkey-kong!

All of the cons (pun intended), remind me of the dog who chased and eventually caught up with the moving vehicle, only to stand there and bark at it when they did because there was nothing else that he could do!


Love, Peace & Grace
Rev. C. Solomon


Addenda: All of have watched painfully, the course that America has taken over the past 8 years given the inchoate leadership of unprepared George H. Bush. Can we expect anything different from the current crop?

Sep 22, 2008

The New American Century Project Is Off To A Very Poor Start


It is one thing for the Republicans to say that they don't believe in raising taxes, and another for them to admit that they don't believe in paying for the debts that they incur.

The fact of the matter is that Republicans, Republicanism and Reaganism represent irresponsibility, neither the individuals (nor the principles of their Republican Conservative philosophy) holds that the wealthy ever have to pay for incurred debt. Republicans leave the paying of debts for someone else to do and hope that that somehow the debts will magically disappear. Remember Ronald Reagan and Reaganism, trickle-down, green-mail, leveraged buyouts...? Republicans believe that you can fight a war, and that you don't have to pay for that either.

Thanks to short-sighted, incompetent venal and sadistic Republican leadership (with the help of cross-over Democrats like Zel Miller, Joe Lieberman and another 8 million individuals, the new century in America is off to a predictably poor start!

Had either Al Gore or John Kerry been President, America would not be in the mess that it is now, a similar mess occurred after Ronald Reagan left office. And after he left office, having done much the same as George Bush his protege has been doing, a Democratic president, Bill Clinton, had to come in and clean up the mess.

Immediately following the successes of the Clinton Administration, not to overlook the fact that the Democratic Party recently rejected Hillary Clinton, President Bush and his cronies took America immediately back to where it was when Reagan left office. In spite of the surpluses that Bush inherited, America is currently in debt up to its ears and Bush wants to pile on another trillion dollars in debt before he goes into exile. And while Bush did everything that he could to benefit his wealthy cohorts, apparently the supreme universal commander has a different idea in mind given the recent events that have taken place in the market place.

American politicians who double as leaders are by any means substandard. All of us, even Republicans knew that Bush was not qualified to be President of the United States, but did they care? No, all they wanted to do was to mean by means or substandard candidate that was necessary to do so. As Alan Keyes once quipped, George Bush lacked the mental capacity to be a President, and he has proven that what Alan said was true and is true today.

The American economic and political system is malleable and there to be exploited by either political party, just as the Republicans have been doing for the past 8 years. And look where that has gotten us!

It is time for another American revolution, one that I will refer to as the Revolution of Sobering Truth. It won’t be easy given the monied interests in this nation, which pretty much includes all Americans.

The fact of the matter is that 5% of the world’s population will no longer be able to enjoy a disproportionate amount of the world’s wealth. A course correction is taking place in the Universe. We have all been witnessing the emergence of rising and reconstituted economies in other nations of the world, nations that never counted before as far as nascent America was concerned.

The project for a new American century began under the leadership of George Bush also referred to as the PNAC. Bill Kristol and his associates were the inventors of the phrase, they created an organization called the Project for a New American Century. And where are they now? Bill is still smiling as if nothing has happened as a result of his recklessness and the part that he played in influencing America's current course.

You folks got what you wanted a Republican President, and Republican control of Congress. For 6 years the nation a nation in the hands of Republican leadership has faltered, and as a result many Republicans have been voted out of office, while some are serving time in prison.

And just who are Republicans blaming for the inevitable disaster that has recently reached a crescendo in America? Republicans are blaming the Democrats. In fact presidential aspirant John McCain blames his counterpart, Senator Obama Hussein, for America's current economic collapse. He also blames Russia, and ignores Georgia's incipient and provocative behavior that is by any standard the beginning of a new east versus west Cold War!

The fact of the matter is that President Bush has caused and presided over more disasters during his 8 year term, than any other American president that I can recall. And with every disaster, there has been a rush to judgment and a failure to respond in a proportionate manner. Just consider 9/11, the Iraq War, Katrina and now the economic crisis in America. Bush spent his time in office, as he once bragged, taking care of his base.

Factually, it is his base, by and large, that is responsible for many of the debacles that have taken place in America including and up to right now. When American resources could have been invested in the American people and the infrastructure of the country, Bush sought to bolster the positions of the wealthy amongst us. When there was zero money to shore up the levies that could have altered the course of the events that followed the Katrina Hurricane, Bush refused. And as a result Americans are still paying for the failed levy disaster that accompanied the Katrina Hurricane on the Gulf Coast, today.

Bush has also driven up the costs for the unjust war in Iraq that he precipitously and dishonorably engaged America in, and we will be paying for that war when he has gone into exile along with his Golden Parachute. I often wonder why we pay incompetent individuals who on a daily basis almost never perform as one would expect?

The new American century has gotten off to a horrific start, with the country at war, the nation in debt, and America having just averted a near financial collapse.

In a few months, we will finally be rid of the Bush Administration, but not the legacy of what it will leave behind. Republicans and cross-over Democratic voters will still be around and doing everything that they can to muck up the waters. Is it ever too late to say that you are wrong, or to learn the lessons of truth and to begin in a new direction? I suspect that for some Americans, to do so would be hopeless and unthinkable. Why? Some things and some people never change, despite all appearances to the contrary. They will never admit they are wrong, they simply keep going, hoping that things will somehow become better.

Peace and God Help Us!
Rev. C. Solomon

Sep 17, 2008

Obama or McCain For President IT Is Not An Either or Proposition!


It's simple stupid, don't waste your vote on either candidate!

If you feel like I do, having observed what has taken place as a result of the 8 year dysfunctional and prepubescent presidency of George H. Bush, a man who did not and does not have the requisite skills or character to lead a nation of 300 million, then you will understand why it is not a requirement for any American voter to vote for four more years of the same.

Here we are again at the similar crossroads of another American general election, and once again the 2 major political parties in America are trying to inveigle the American voters into believing that they must elect a President from among another pool of unprepared candidates who are without preparation and at the same lack the requisite knowledge or skills to be President of the United States. This year’s election campaign has already devolved into a comical, if it weren’t that so much was at stake, political charade.

After all, we are talking about a person who will be the leader of 300 million Americans, and some would add the free world. Our lives are at stake and our children’s lives are also at stake.

Despite the fact that George Bush lacked the skills to lead this nation, the Republicans, with the help of crossover Democratic voters and Independents put him into office anyway. My position is simple; we cannot risk repeating the same mistake again! As a result of ‘the big mistakes made in 2000 and 2004’ when Bush was elected and re-elected to a 2nd term in office, America is in one of the worst economic crisis of its national life. And internationally, George Bush has this nation embroiled in 2-simultaneous wars and at odds with most governments of the world, given his desultory behavior actions in the world, including America’s allies.

The mistakes of the neophyte George Bush and his administration have not only impacted the citizens of the United States, his policies, errors and doctrines have impacted much of the world in one way or another. Haven’t we learned anything while watching our nation stumbled through the past 8 years being led by incompetent leadership?

It will take individuals with incredible knowledge and expertise to lift America out of its current crises and to lead it into a bright new future, just as it took the reconvening and selection of knowledgeable individuals to bail George H. Bush out of the mess that he made in Iraq. To be honest, it was their recommendations and the election of the new majority Democratic Congress that were responsible for the turnaround in Iraq, even though George Bush took the credit.

George Bush did not know what he was doing then or now, and none of the new cast of candidates knows what they are doing either. I am afraid that none of the candidates who are running for office now, from the 2-major Parities, possess the requisite skills to save America or to lead America out of America’s current crisis or in the future. With Senator McCain and the McCain mutiny team, we get more of the same. Senator Obama, if who have simply invested another 4 years or more preparing and learning what it takes to be President. He has proven that by jumping into fray so quickly, that he doesn’t respect the office.

And with respect to what Senator McCain will do if elected President, simply witness the current tactics that his campaign is employing of late against Senator Obama, a sonorous propaganda campaign that includes lies, mischaracterization of the facts and mistruths. Clearly he will continue the propagandist politics of George H. Bush in the international arena as well. The manner in which he has run his campaign speaks to how he would govern.

In fact he has already begun a smear campaign and a propaganda war against Russia and Vladimir Putin, in deference to how the United States (considers its stepped-up activities in the region) coupled with Georgia, both nations having set out to isolate and to provoke the Russians. We can already internationally, where he plans to lead the nations and the military. The military won’t remain in Iraq for an extended period, it appears that they will be sent to the Baltics, either that or to the Caspian sea region. Clearly the United States is trying to surround and choke Russia at its knees!

McCain just like George Bush believes in a Monroe Doctrine for the USA, however, where other nations are concerned he does not believe in a non-interference pact for nations in other regions in the world. His behavior reminds me of George Bushes efforts leading up to the attack of Iraq. George Bush blamed the CIA for the misinformation that he claims to have used in order to make his decision to invade and occupy Iraq; however, even if he could make that claim stick he is the Commander-In-Chief of the military.

Others had the ability to see what was afoot, how come he did not? The answer is simple, one he is not being truthful. And two, he was simply unqualified and unskilled for the job in the first place. And what propaganda will Senator McCain use to begin another east west confrontation with Russia, former head nation in the Soviet Union? Senator McCain plans to continue venal American double-standards and propaganda wars and confrontation. I don’t know about you, but my stomach cannot stomach it and people’s lives are at stake!

Senator Obama on the other hand is a promising politician but he is still a complete neophyte. Where is the proof in his resume that will demonstrate in any nation that he can lead a nation of 300 people and preside over the government of the USA; that is what the president of the USA is supposed to be capable of doing? Despite the that fact he reveres himself, he has already reversed himself on a dozen or more of his original stated positions; the fact of the matter is that he skipped the learning curve to prepare for the job, and it has never been more evident.

Clearly, Senator Obama lacks the skills to formulate a coherent policy! And with respect to learning and preparing for the job, the majority of time that he should have been spending learning to do his current job, he has spent on the road trying to acquire another job, President of the USA.

I would recommend the following to all Americans, don’t vote for either one of them, there is too much at stake. Even a default vote that some plan to use and that I had considered doing initially, in order to prevent the other from winning is not the right way to go.

Again, don’t vote for either one of them if with good conscience you believe that they are not qualified, experienced, skilled or if you believe that they lack character or probity; instead write in the name of the candidate that you believe would best serve this nation and help us to overcome the crises and the dysfunction that has been left behind by an incapable President that none of us has any confidence in, and for good reason.

If this were a legal procedure (this year’s election debacle), the judge would have declared 'a mistrial' and he or she would have cleared the court and said, start all over again. The American people need to declare a mistrial in the general election cycle this year, and instead we need to start all over again with this in mind, we will not place any more semi-skilled individuals or those who lack the experience to adequately perform the associated tasks of being the President of over 300 million.

Surely there must be someone who has the qualifications to do the job out of a nation of 300 million. If not, perhaps we ought to draft someone from overseas to help us out.

How many homeless, citizens without healthcare, and individuals overseas have lost their lives as a result of 8-years of unqualified American leadership? How many individuals in the shrinking American middle-class have suffered for the same reason? We cannot repeat the same mistake. And if you feel that by not voting for one of two candidates from the 2-major parties, look at it this way, at least you won’t be voting for a candidate that will likely give you more of the same that unqualified George H. Bush has given this nation.

Love, peace & grace,
Rev. C. Solomon


Addenda: Pray and then vote your conscience, but not according to Party mandate or by default!

Sep 16, 2008

War Taxes: Who Will Raise The Revenue To Pay For The Bush-Cheney Wars?





Have you noticed that Republicans typically will not raise taxes, but they will raise the costs and incur the debts that someone else will ultimately have to pay for, just as Bill Clinton had to do following Ronald Reagan's voodoo economics Presidency?

What does former president George Bush Sr, have to say about his son's voodoo economic practices?

The cost of war won’t simply go away when Bush and Cheney go away. Republicans are not willing to be responsible for the tax burdens that they incur. George Bush’s war, 1 Trillion dollars so far and its not over yet, is not being paid for with a War Tax or with War Bonds. And to boot, he will, along with Cheney simply walk away leaving someone else to raise the revenue to pay for the debts that they, unwisely, incurred.

And ironically both he and his Party will cry foul and invoke revenue raising by the Democrats (to pay pff Republican debts), as a justification for re-electing Republicans to office. And having said that, the recipients of Republican debts will have to raise revenues to pay for whimsical and out-of-control Republican spending.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could all just go out and spend as the Republicans have done by simply charging everything to our credit cards and leaving someone else to pay or to absorb the bills? Fortunately, most of us are more responsible, and our creditors and debtors I'm sure appreciate it.

I am sick of hearing Republicans accusing the Democrats of raising taxes, when they are the ones who create the deficits that necessitate taxes being raised, to pay for their incurred expenditures, in the first place. This trend began with Ronald Reagan. John McCain previously criticized Bush’s policy of excusing the one’s who garner the most wealth in this nation from sharing proportionately in the cost of war that they supported.

And who will pay for the deferred debt that is currently being held in part by other nations of the world? Republicans might say that they do not raise taxes, but perhaps it would be better if they would admit that they are the ones who raise the costs that they walk from and leave unpaid. Democrats, who did not agree with the Bush war, your administrations will be responsible for paying the costs. Why? Republicans want to keep their money in their pockets, while someone else pays for their out-of-control spending and refusal to pay for what they cannot afford.

Perhaps it should be codified into law that in the event of any future wars, the President will not be permitted to engage the nation in war without an across the board War Tax being implemented.

Below is a portion of a conversation that I had with ‘unlending’ on Weathea’s YouTube site.


revcsolomon
War Taxes: If you consider history, even American history, taxes were always raised to pay for the cost of war; in fact war bonds were sold...! Something very sinister is going on with respect to the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Even McCain was concerned that the wealthy won't pay their tax costs to pay for the wars that they are responsible for by voting for Bush. The question is how come 'pubs accuse Democrats of always raising taxes, but when it comes to wars they raise taxes?

revcsolomon
cont: Even though the Republicans start the wars that are to be paid for by taxes, they ignore the costs and leave them for someone else to pay for the costs of war! When Reagan left office, the Democrats had to come in and pay for his indiscretions, i.e., covert operations, refusal to raise taxes to pay for expenditures, green mail, leveraged corporate buyouts...! The same thing is happening with Reagan's protégé. The 'pubs have raised tax costs; someone else has to address them, Democrats!

revcsolomon
Finally, then who truly raises the tax burden in this nation, it is Republicans, they simply will not pay the bills. Not only has Bush's expenditures gone through the roof, and he will walk away from the debt - when he came into office, Clinton left him with a surplus. If and when taxes have to be raised, just as it happened with Reagan left office blame it on the Republicans for they are the ones who keep driving up the tax burden on Americans in a real sense.


And finally read the Rev’s explanation to unlending, about American duplicity when it comes to its purported adherence to the word of the book.

revcsolomon
unlending, That is what I said. If Americans had lived up to the principles in the book and created a truly just system...! All we keep saying is that the American way of doing things and its system is better than anyone else's. The question we should ask is it the optimum system and everything that the Sovereign intended for man. American greed has long since warped American sensibilities. What brought Chis [Christopher Columbus] here in the first place? It was greed, trade routes ..., nothing has changed!

revcsolomon
unlending, One of the reasons that you had to labor so hard along with members of the working poor, some who have 2 and 3 jobs is because the system is bad. In fact this is not what the sovereign intended at all. Too many Americans accept the status quo in America, believing that someday they are going to have their share of an American pie. Minus greed, it wouldn't be that way. There was a time when one wage-earner supported the family, paid the medical bills, bought the car, purchased food!

The Republican example is a poor example even to our children. Why? It teaches that you can get what you want without paying for it, and all that you have to do is to defer the cost and someone else will pay your debts for you. And that is not all, for afterward you can then blame the ones who pay for your youthful indiscretions for taking money away from you by force in order to pay for the debts you incurred but ignored.

Democrats may raise taxes, but it is the Republicans who typically raise the costs! If there is a moral here that most Americans need to understand and can learn from it is this: With Republicans you get what they refuse to pay for!

Part II

There is truly only one individual that was running for office, who was and is qualified to step in right now to manage what George Bush will be leaving behind just as her husband did following Ronald Reagan, and that is Senator Hillary Clinton. Joe Lieberman was right about Senator Hillary Clinton. Senator Obama simply did the Republicans a favor by knocking off Senator Clinton, and he is not prepared for the office that he is seeking.

George Bush may pat himself on the back believing that he did the nation a favor by not raising war taxes across the board to pay for his incipient war, however, in a real sense he did raise taxes by simply taking away from the poor to lend to the rich.

Have you noticed the number of suffering Americans, and how much the rate of suffering has increased since Bush initiated his unjust war in Iraq? Americans are suffering just as if he had come out in the open and implemented a war tax. The fact of the matter is that he didn't do the American people a favor by pretending that the cost of war would be free, or that it would simply pay for itself!

And at the time when America is in total disarray, economically and politically and not to forget what is going on overseas, who will take over at the helm and be expected to right the ship? It will either be grandpa (John McCain) or the children (Obama or Palin)! Either way you go, America is going to be in trouble for a long time.

Grandpa has already shown that he will follow the Bush doctrine in order to get elected and domestically and abroad. And the children, neither of them have the experience or knowledge of how to deal with the current crises that George Bush and Cheney will be leaving behind. Instead of Sarah Palin, I predict that soon Americans will be referring to her as Sarah Pain! And I am one of few men who believed that it was time for a female to take over at the helm!

You can blame the entire mess that America is in right now, not on a Democratic Congress, but on flawed Republicanism. Nixon was nearly impeached for Watergate, Reagan should have been impeached for Contragate, Bush has lied and led America into an just war, and neither of the latter would pay the bills that they incurred, and presently Republicans want 4-more years to do even more damage!

Again, with the Republicans you get what they won't pay for!

Peace & Grace,
Rev. C. Solomon

Sep 14, 2008

The McCain Mutiny and The Empire Strikes Back




You have got to give John McCain credit for one thing; this man knows how to wage war. The only problem with that is that this man will instigate wars too!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Clearly Senator Obama was taking it to the Senator, and then Senator McCain went to the 'war room'.

And when he emerged, he returned with a strategy to introduce men, women and children into the run for the president fray (represented by the Palin family).

Americans can take comfort in knowing that whether a future war is just or unjust, Senator McCain will use any means necessary to win it, including the use of men, women and children!

Senator Obama and the hope of black Americans to take control of the United States government have been dealt a serious, deafening and likely a fatal blow! The empire, led by Senator John McCain is striking back and has dealt them possibly an unrecoverable blow, which might be good in the final analysis for blacks.

Black Americans must get over their problem with dependency, and understand that they must solve their own problems, as opposed to depending upon the government or a black Messiah to do so.

Why? The last 2 individuals that tried ended up dead, Abraham Lincoln and Dr. Martin Luther King! In an ironic and venal sense, Senator McCain is the right man and the one who is best suited to preside over America's venal and pre-emptive destructive foreign policy which some Americans refer to as security!

Peace & Grace
Rev. C. Solomon

Addenda:
The longer blacks wait for the government to solve their problems, the longer their problems will persist. Blacks are intellectually and physically capable of solving their own problems!

Sep 13, 2008

The Opprobrium Of An Obama Candidacy:




Here lies the problem with the Obama campaign and candidacy, and it explains why so many black Americans are, en masse, supporting Senator Obama Hussein. Black Americans did not learn from what Ronald Reagan said years ago when he uttered these words, government is not the solution to the problem, government is the problem. And who knew this better than the man himself?

And Ronald Reagan knew of what he spoke, for even though he meant what he said to be understood in a different context, he proved that even the government that he eventually led was ‘a problem’. And the residual effects of the kind of government that he led, which have been resurrected in George H.W. Bush presidency, has had similar consequences, and proves that government is not the solution again but the problem.

Black Americans have always looked for a black Messiah or Moses-type deliverer figure to come and to miraculously part the black sea, and to consequentially free them from their American Pharoahs. Obama represents the latest would be black Messiah to come along. And black Americans expect that if he gains hold to the reigns of power that all of the persistent problems that have plagued black Americans for centuries will disappear. Blacks have used Obama and Obama has used the black community!

I often ask black Americans to consider the Republic of South Africa, a majority black nation that has had 2-black leaders including the beloved Nelson Mandela since its supposed turnaround. Even with Mandela who has been succeeded by President Mbeki after two terms, not much has changed for the majority of black South Africans.

And even with an Obama Presidency, I predict that not much will change for black Americans. Sure, there will be a few blacks assigned to high visibility posts around the nation, however, not much will change for the average black at the level where he feels the pain the most, because all of the structural problems that preceded an Obama presidency will still be in place.. And coupled with that the President of the United States is not some divine potentate who can utter an edict and degree change!

What is wrong with Obama becoming president? It is simply this; it would cause too many blacks to sit back their laurels and to wait and hope that someone else, in this case the inchoate Senator, will resolve their problems. Black Americans, the reason that our problems are not resolved is simply because we have not resolved them. One of black America’s most egregious errors has been to take its eyes off of the things that God has had for us, and to covet and focus upon what some other nation and creed of people acquired mostly by force, murder, enslavement, land-confiscation, occupation and subterfuge.

Many blacks are willing to overlook the latter, as long as they can get their share of the corrupt pie. Blacks will gladly accept reparations as forgiveness for the American black holocaust and centuries of discrimination, having forgotten that those proceeds will have derived as a result of theft, confiscation, abasement, exploitation and questionable economic practices and policies. In other words black Americans will be the first to speak up and tell whites that it was wrong, the manner in which you acquired your ill-gotten gain.

However and on the other hand if you will share some of it with me and allow me to be a CEO on one of your boards, then I will join you in overlooking the past and in some instances the presence.

How did America acquire its wealth? In short America confiscated and occupied land in what is now known as America, it murdered, diseased and removed the indigenous people from their homelands, it paid for Cargo and even sent ships to bring back more human cargo to work the confiscated land. American didn’t stop there; instead America has to this day continued to exploit other nations of the world given its venal trade policies. All of us can recall being told in elementary school about how much America possessed in comparison to every other nation of the world, phones, cars, appliances and general wealth.

And although America’s so-called prosperity was explained as a virtue by most of our teachers and government, having been fully approved by God. That God approved wholesale, America’s ill-gotten gain, murder, enslavement, and the theft that accompanied it notwithstanding, contradicts everything that the same whites taught us about God.

My favorite is how God shed his grace upon America so that it could engage in its misdeeds. That kinds of reminds me of Paul‘s rhetorical question in his epistle to the Romans, shall we continue in sin that grace may abound. America, a nation that continues to bomb other nations, occupy other nations and to exploit other people of the world certain ably believes so.

Say it again Ronald Reagan if you could, Government is not the solution to the problem and an Obama led government is not the solution either, and that should be more evident to blacks given how he continues to repudiate his former positions and to lambaste black Americans. The fact of the matter is that government is not only the cause of the problem that it created, supported and sustained, it is the problem, however, we must come up with the solution. Most blacks don't the problem fixed, they simply want their share and to be beneficiaries. If whites were to let blacks freely share in the booty, they would never hear another complaint from the average black America, no matter what they did to his or her mama, grandmama, aunt, uncle or to them!

And in deference to the young Senator who has spent the majority of his term in office as a Senator campaigning for another job without mastering his present job, black Americans will be calling him an Uncle Tom just as soon as they realize that he is incapable if not unwilling to even try to solve problems that each black American must solve for himself. The question remains, who or what agency is going to fix the problem if the problem is ever to be fixed?

A friend once told me a decade ago you are letting the white man off of the hook. The fact of the matter is that if what we believe about the bible is true, no one will escape from ‘the hook’, particularly the one that blacks want to hold white people on, for his or her misdeeds. And on the other hand what God has for each individual and no one can take it away. Now on the other hand you can give it away, particularly if you turn your back upon and covet and focus the things of another regardless of how they obtained it! Much of what the white man has acquired is not and was not his in the first or in the latter place.

And as I close, once again we must consider the historical successes and failures of black male leadership just as I have said before in consideration of its contribution to our problem. We have many a black man who insists that he is the head, and many from the past have held the same conviction. Whenever you speak to an individual in this group, or if you could revive some of our ancestors and ask them, but what about your failures since you claimed and insisted that you were the leader, they would answer this way, it was someone else’s fault, those things that did not work not mine?

The idea is not to dwell on either failure or success, but rather it is more beneficial to analyze our failures and successes in order to determine how best to select our current or future path!

Black people, government is not the solution, and even if Senator Obama was to prevail and become President of the United States of America (in the land of the free and the home of the slave), he could only provide a government-type band aid solution and that in itself is not the solution that we need. We have had them before!

Peace & Grace
Rev. C. Solomon


Addenda: Some will say to me again, or think this; man the Rev really hates America. My response to them is this. this nation has the highest incarceration and capital punishment rate in the free world. Not only does America incarcerate, it eviscerates, gasses, electrocutes, nukes, invades, occupies and nukes... those humans and nations that have aggrieved it. Should blacks be asked then to behave any differently from those who have murdered, raped, molested and stolen from their relatives? That is propaganda and a double-standard!

In this context, I will speak to the wrongs of America and even to the wrongs that have been committed by my own people!