Sep 30, 2010

What If They Are Sincerely Wrong (The Religious)

Description of phenomenology - American Heritage® Dictionary
NOUN: 1. A philosophy or method of inquiry based on the premise that reality consists of objects and events as they are perceived or understood in human consciousness and not of anything independent of human consciousnessPhenomenological Approach v. A Well Intended-But Likely. phenomenological (-n-lj-kl) , phenomenologically, phenomenologist

Most religious individuals who have known me for some time now believe that I have flipped and long-since gone over to the dark side when I write on topics like the one that I am writing on now.

In defense of me, I believe that my critics are mostly ignorant followers of teachings that they haven’t invested one moment in time to investigate,
and simply consider what is at stake given the positions of prominence that they occupy as speakers for God.

I was in the Park weeks ago ministering to outdoor citizens, when I ran into two homeless religious zealots. Without rehearsing the entire discussion, I answered in response to one of my critics queries that the Bible also says, in the book of Jeremiah, “they said that I said and I never spoke to them”. These were apparently the words of the prophet Jeremiah who was speaking for God.

The more acerbic of the 2 dismissed me as “A Muslim’ and said that what I quoted was not written in the Bible.

I have to agree with the comments made by Bill Maher in an interview last night, when he commented that, religious people no less about religion than any other people on the face of the earth.

The point that he made agreed with my assessment of most religious people that I know for most of them know very little about the history of religion, they are masters only of their own religious dogma and religious traditions. They haven’t spent moment in time engaging in comparative religious studies. Depending on what culture or nation that they are from, or the family that they are raised in, typically religious people know only about the religion of their native lands.

Why is this matter so important to discuss. Well, in this context it is because in America and many other parts of the world, the individuals and institution influence critical decisions have been shaped by religious dogma of the kind that derives from their own culture or tradition.

Ironically and what most religious groups have in common is that they all wrap themselves around the teachings that have mostly been passed on to them from their culture, and each one draws the conclusion that what my religious teachers have taught is the absolute unquestionable truth.
And how they believe, think, vote and behave is based on what they perceive is absolute truth.
If you were to say to any of these individual groups that holy individuals of other traditions have arrived at the same place that they have as a result of immersing themselves in their own version of an absolute Holy Writ.

What is the problem with this phenomenon? The problem is that it helps but at the same time hinders individuals, groups, cities, states, nations and races from seeking after what may be real that transcends the teachings any group has been immersed in.

One of the hot topics in America, as we speak, is the accusation by several men that the venerable Bishop Eddie Long has been guilty of sexual exploitation. of the same, when these all adult males were youngsters, shads of Ted Haggart, the last cleric to fall from grace in ecumenical circles.

Haggard, apparently admitted finally that he had been involved with a professed homosexual, even though for obvious reasons it contradicted what he and the worldwide religious group that he was at one time the head of taught.

Pastor Haggart could not reconcile this dichotomy that existed within him something that he taught against. . In fact, he taught that homosexuality was a sin and then he went out and practiced the very thing that he taught was wrong.

Some years ago at Stanford U, a now defrocked Catholic Priest who had been accused of Pedophilia appeared on Campus. I was present in the audience, having not heard this rumor yet, but because Father Stallings of the Omani Temple in Washington DC, took his majority black congregation out of the Catholic Church.

Now when n a couple of bold youngsters, obviously androgynous themselves, asked a question. I, along with the rest of the audience was not only amazed by the response that came from the priest but we were equally shocked by the inane manner in which he responded, he said:
I will do whatever I have to in order to get my nut!
The question posed to the priest was, "is it true what is being said in the media about you, that is that you sleep with boys in your church"? And the Bishop standing at the podium-pulpit adored in a black suit and clergy collar responded:

The audience gasped, while at the same time the 3 or 4 youthful questioners proceeded to high five each other. The Bishop then, who was having similar problems, of the kind that Bishop Long is experiencing decided to take a religious or epistemological approach and said: People ought to leave the interpreting of scriptures to those individuals whose job it is to interpret these texts. Moreover he added, homosexuality is not a sin, and what God was angry with at Sodom was not the fact that many of the men in the city were homosexual. But in fact God’s wrath was stirred up due to the sin of inhospitality.

In other words, it wasn't homosexuality that God was angry about, it was the fact that the men of Sodom attempted to force themselves, sexually, upon their apparently heteroxeual angelic visitors.

I put on my white jacket and prepared to walk out with others who were departing. I will never forget that night, which caused me to dig a little deeper in not only trying to understand homosexuality, but the methods that we use to decide what is “right” and what is “wrong”., the latter being derived from the opinion of the writer or speaker that is based on the information that he has been exposed to and accepted as truth.

For too many, what they conclude is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. And because what they conclude to be true is true as far as they are concerned, then God would agree with the one who has drawn his conclusions based upon his reading of a unique text, cultural conditioning or as a result of a compilation of human social constructs.

It is okay, I guess to draw conclusions based on the conclusions made by disparate writers who passed away long before those of us who are walking around right now were even thought of. For certainly what some individuals 2000 years ago or more had to say, even when speaking for God, must have been right. There is no chance that they were influenced by their culture, conjecture embellishmnt were sincerely wrong or limited in terms of their understanding.

And the phenomenological approach recognizes the reasons for this way of thinking and the subsequent drawing of conclusions about so many critical issues. In the fundamentalist tradition that I was raised up in, there used to be saying around the church community that went like this: “God said it, I believe it and that settles it”. I used to willingly repeat the same mantra.

But today I ask, how do you know that God said it, and have you considered what another writer, Jeremiah, once wrote when referring to religious people of his time, some who held priestly offices: they said I said (God in this context), and I never spoke to them?

Humans have made a lot of obvious progress since human kind originated, wss created, evolved or other, seeing how according to the late Bishop Usher, we exploded on the Earth 6 or 7 thousand years ago. By the way, all serious scholarship seems to prove that the good-intentioned Catholic Bishop was off my millions of years.

But in the same manner that the late Galileo learned, even if you the truth, you better say it where a religious zealot is standing within earshot. Or better yet instead of referring to Galileo, who was placed under confinement given his conclusions about the Universe, opinions that differed from men who were ordained and that spoke for God, how about Jesus.

Jesus tried to explain to individuals of his own tradition, beginning at the age of 12, that some of what taught was askew. And where did it get Jesus? His speaking out resulted in hen receiving what many individuals who are speaking truth to power are experiencing religious isolation and the sure promise that the prevaricators of truth will die, be reawakened and burned in an eternal hell fire.

There are a lot of issues that need to be addressed and others that we thought that we had the answer for (typically religious answers), be reexamined. And we should take more of a phenomenological approach to arrive at what is rather than solely a religious one.

The phenomenon of homosexuality needs to be reexamined, regardless of what Paul in a Christian context and others have to say from other religious traditions about it. Remember, these individuals who speak for God today, are guilty of the same trap that prophets in Jeremiah’s time were doing. They spoke, but apparently God never spoke to them. The latter is truer today, when many religious individuals are not relying on God to speak to them in the first place, they are simply repeating what someone who lived thousands of years ago had to say.

All around me, I have never before seen so many androgynous males. On the other hand, I have never seen so many gay women. I was married to a woman who told me how she once lusted after and for that matter was in love with a woman.

Crisis? Explosion or reality? Endocrinologists, wonder just how much hormones have to do with what we call homosexual behavior.

And there are as many other explanations for the phenomenon, for example some who say that nature is the cause and others say that it nurture. During a discussion that I found myself embroiled in, I am reminded the religious zealots who were there to torment homosexual I guess, that there are intersex people. I reminded them of imperfect babies that have been and are being born every day, infants for whom the parents decided on their sexual assign I reminded them of hermaphrodites in the animal world.

I am one of a few members who are courageous enough to take on this subject and the religious establishment, having no fear about what anyone has to say about my sexuality.
The latter usually being a cop out for individuals who rely on the tactics of fear, but are incapable of sitting down to have an adult discussion. about a topic that is affecting our human race.

In some nations, individuals are still being castrated and murdered, for having a condition that they have no control over. What part does fear play in these phenomena, I expect the answer is, to a substantial degree.

I suspect that now that the cultural norms are being eased upon, at least in this cultural, that many more individuals are admitting that in fact that they have always a feminine and masculine tinge, one of which they suppressed in order to be consistent with cultural norms. However, as those norms continue to be released, Americans any more, are coming out in the church and without.

Is Bishop Long guilty of sexual impropriety? For the sake of those young men, I hope that they are lying. But we may find out that Bishop Long has also been lying, perhaps he has been lying to himself about a dichotomy that might exist within himself.

Well, if being homosexual, gay or whatever the correct phrase is today, shouldn’t we work on a solution? But how can we do that, if religion won’t even permit the majority of its followers to consider any approach to the phenomena except a religious one. And the long, no pun intended, and the short of the matter is for religion that you are a sinner and going to hell.

Hmm, are there any adults in the house? For our children and people that we know, adults, struggle with internal feelings that they have to suppress, because even If they were to come and say can I talk to you about what is going on inside of me, they would be immediately ostracized or quarantined.

And what if I am wrong? Well, it won’t be the first time. But oftentimes being wrong can help you get to what is right, try it sometimes, that is if you ever been wrong before! What if I’m right. perhaps a U of Michigan student who killed himself today, because a group of students scrumptiously filmed his homosexual experience with another student could have been saved.

Perhaps a gentleman who was brought to our center for counseling several decades ago could have been saved from taking a butcher knife and cutting off his testicle because he was so conflicted about his sexual orientation. Folks, religion is not solving the problem. Too many of the same ministers who preach against homosexuality for example are leading double lives themselves. We need to take a phenomenological approach to this and other matters, instead of relying solely on religious prose and writers who we cannot examine, all of whom presume to speak for God, Yahweh, Allah …

Religion, which one, has the answer to everything. Wouldn’t it be better to err, if at all, on the side of grace in order to help solve a problem, address a conundrum or to ease someone else’s pain. Or shall we rely solely on religious prohibitions with a minister who would encourage one to ‘get his nut’!

I am a preacher, and I know firsthand that religion, religious teachers ... have often made mistakes in terms of interpreting scriptures and speaking for God. Given that I encourage everyone not just to accept what your holy person says, or what religion provides, do what the Apostle Paul once wrot in his Epistle to the Thessalonikans, he said: Test or prove everything. Folks we need to do this because there is too much at stake and obviously the human race needs better answers than the ones that been provided so far, even the well-intended ones that have been provided by religion and the religious.

And for those individuals who have one question remaining, Reverend Solomon do you believe in homosexuality, and are you saying that the Bible and other holy books are wrong? I answer simply that homosexuality 'is what it is', it exists and that cannot be denied. Are the writers of the Bible who expressed prohibitions against its existenc misguided? Answer, I believe that they were!

Peace & Grace

Sep 29, 2010

Republicans First That Is What They Are!

The Republican Pledge of Allegiance and Salute: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the Republican Party, and to the Republic (the Republican Party), for which it stands, with liberty, justice and tax breaks for a privilege few.

Yes, that is what they are, Republicans first, and their allegiance has been sworn to right-winged Republican Party ideology. The President, the Constitution non-conservative right-winged Republicans and any other American institution all come in at a distant.

Republicans and their tactics, to a substantial degree, reminds me of American covert operatives and other spies that have been deployed around the world. These individuals are secretly, in most instances, dispatched to other parts of the world to work to bolster American interests.

Typically they practice espionage, gather sensitive information, seek to divide, foment unrest,
destabilize governments, murder individuals and leaders that are not considered friendly to the political and economic will of the United States of America.

Many of these operative live openly among the incumbent people and are believed to be friendly to said people and nations, but make no mistake about it their sole reason for being there is not to befriend the people but to pursue American interests first. They are, make no mistake, spies, enemy combatants and destabilizers.

Although typically associated with the military, the CIA, the DIA …, going all of the way back to World War II, a similar kind of operative thrives right under our noses in the United States of America. Let me be clear, some of these operatives are here in the United States at the pleasure of another foreign government.

These foreign operatives, like individuals from Israel, China, Russia … gather information, seek to win converts … seeking to exploit or to destroy the American juggernaut. Of all of the covert operatives that are currently operating the world, I do not believe that any of them are more dangerous than American Republican covert operatives who engage in their craft right here in the USA.

Their Republican Party purpose is to operate sometimes in the shadows in order to recruit followers, subvert the will of the American people and to unwittingly destabilize America.

Republican Party operatives in the United States are at will. Some are members of Republican Think Tanks. Some are radio personalities like Rush Limbaugh. These individuals work overtime in order to confuse, propagandize, threaten, confuse, propagandize, manipulate the American public, slander non-Republicans, and middle of the road Republicans who do not endorse Right-Wing Republican ideology.

Their pledge to the secretive inner-sanctum of the Party, overrides any real promise of allegiance to America first, or to any promise of liberty and justice for all Americans. Many of them make no bones about their belief that America is white man’s country, and as far as they are concerned, everyone else ought to simply “go back to where they came from”. And they are not referring to a mother’s womb. As far as they are concerned, this land is their land, as long as you believe what they believe that is.

Other the past 3 years, they have launched their typical maneuvers in order to foment unrest, to destabilize, to undermine and to propagandize the will of the American people, a will that is embodied in the policies promoted by the current President of the United States of America, President Barack Obama. The American people having tired of the failed leadership and policies of the Republican Right and the George Bush Administration overwhelmingly and summarily voiced their collective voices by voting Barack and Democatics in and Republicans and Republican ideologues out.

And despite an overwhelming mandate for change, and the elevation of democratic principles which take into consideration the needs of all Americans, the Republican covert operatives, who rarely sleep at night, have been doing everything that they could come up with to derail the process of progress in the New Century.

To me these seditionist traitors need to be identified for who and what they are, Republicans first. The American people need to wake up to their tactics and to confront their venal attempts to derail America, by voting into office individuals who like them think, Republicans first and trickle-down for everyone else.

Ironically, and as far as their numbers are concerned they are a political minority in America. Which reminds me of an old age that, an empty wagon makes the most noise? What other group in America has been guilty over the past nearly 2 years of making noise than Republicans on the Right.

Ironically, their voices for changed were muted during the destruction by their own Party during the George Bush Jr. years. The noise-makers have been adept in their venal use of misdirection, misuse of information, installing fear, instigation, misuse of information, insubordination, obstruction in America.

Their contempt of Congress and the President that was elected by the people is without historical peer. These individuals seek only to have their will enforced and to smear, destabilize, delegitimize anyone who will not join their cause, especially the current occupant of the Oval Office.

Admittedly, there have been mistakes made of late by the current Administration; the biggest one of them is when he kept his campaign promise to try to work with Republicans. Republicans have demonstrated from day one, which they do not understand that it is their job, particularly those who have been elected to Congress to work with the incumbent President and not to obstruct.

And obstruct is all that they have been doing, and they have been doing so without any concern for what they are doing to our nation, the people and America’s standing in the world.
They behave like spoiled brats with blinders on. They see what they want to and pretend that what they are unwilling to acknowledge is there.


So much of what the current Administration is trying to repair, similar to what Bill Clinton had to do after following 2 Republican Administration, is to repair damage that has been left behind, without apology, by another Republican Administration gone wild with out of control spending, tax-breaks for the rich and the fomenting of unjust wars, which they refused to pay for, around the world.

Frankly, Republicans brag that there have been more Republican administrations over the past years than Democratic ones. My answer to that is, exactly, and look where it has brought us to now, the brink of disaster, dating all the back to the late Ronald Reagan and his venal, Republicans for Republicans policy.

What has been the objective of Republican Administrations over the past years, it was and is simply this: to dismantle equality in America, to put Republicans in place in the Supreme Court, Congress, at the White House and at the State Houses(s). And once they have complete control, similar to what they have for the first six years of the Bush Administration, America will be destroyed, and Republicans-only will prosper.

Sadly, instead of admitting their failures and asking for forgiveness, instead they have turned around and blamed everyone and every other institution for America’s ongoing Republican-induced crises, and they practice the proverbial definition of insanity and they want the rest of us to practice it to, that is repeat the same (failed behavior) and expect a different outcome. They are without shame or honor! However, the politics that have been practiced by Republican Administrations have by and large benefitted Republicans.

Americans, it will take a long time to repair what the Republicans have done! Be patient and stick with your choice for President, Barack Obama and a Republican Majority Senate and House.

Republicans do not have answer for the problems that they create, particularly because they are the problem when you get right down to it. Certainly, are responsible for the problems that America is experiencing now, the deficit, trade-imbalance, a recession, unemployment … And what do they do, they blame others who cannot fix a problem in less than 2 years that they took 30 years to create.

Republicans are heartless and without same. Again folks, Republicans are not the answer, and just as they proved a few days given their new Newt Gingrich styled-proposed contract with America, they do not have a solution. Instead, if they regain control I predict that they will expand the problem, or take credit for the progress that has been made so far under the current Administration.

Give Mr. Obama the chance and the time that you gave President Clinton when he had to come in following administrations head by Ronald Reagan and George Bush Sr. and clean up previous Republican for Republicans political mess. Americans have a short memory! Give him the time that you gave George H. Bush Jr. when he was unbelieving elected even for a second-term when he practiced Republican (Cheney, Fife, Wolfowitz, Perle, Rice, Rumsfeld, Limbaugh, Shannity, Kristol, Coulter …) mis-direction styled politics.

And finally show your loyalty to the Commonwealth of America and all Americans who are looking for the opportunity to help themselves, their loved ones and the nation to be the best that it and they can be for Republicans all too often are all for Republicans first if not Republicans exclusively – don’t let them fool you again!

The individuals who some Americans who are now considering placing back into office, Republicans, are Americans by name only when in fact what they really are are Republicans. Sadly, though and I am concerned, the collective memories of America is short and look where that got us after Clinton saved us from the Republican abyss left behind by Republicans, and here we are at the same place again.

Wake up American voters. Can we afford to go through an another Repbublican disaster again?

Peace & Grace

Sep 27, 2010

Stand by Your Man: Democrats in Congress Are Wimps

Subject: Leadership That Wilts At The Sign of Trouble

Well here they go again; I am referring to several Democratic Representatives in the House and Senate in our nation's Capitol. Closet Republicans, Millerites (not the well known religious group, though many of them claim to be religious). Liebermans and fair weather men is the proper appellation for each one of them. Why? Because they switch sides given any sign of trouble.

At least David of the Bible had a giant to face up to, no one would have blamed him had he run away. But our Democratic Congressmen aren't being confronted by a giant. On the other hand, they are being undone by a shell of a party one that has been responsible for the near destruction of this nation, given the prolonged and cumulative failed policies of said Republican Party over the past 30 years along with its jaundiced and unscrupulous party members.

First of all, who doesn’t know what has been going on in Washington given the President’s faltering popularity of late (consequences of a struggling economy ... which is the direct result of failed Republican Party leadership), which has been accompanied by the consciousless chicanery of the Republican so-called Right? Do these people sleep at night?
Or, on the other hand do they spend their nights thinking of new methods to further destabilize this nation and to hide their transgressions?
Haven't the Republican Radio Talkshow jocks done enough? The latter are clearly without conscience, integrity or principles. And they have proven, more and more, over the past decade, that they care nothing about right or the nation. Their mantra is to cover up the problems that have resulted from their failed policies, blame them on the Democrats and therewith to defeat the Republicans who typically represent the will of the American people.

No, they neither care about the will of the majority of the American people nor for the American people; they care only about Republican Jingoist fascism. But Democrats, don't we expect something more from them? Why are Democrats wimps, can someone tell me? Why do they run at the sign of trouble?

And what are some of the members of the Democratic Party contemplating doing this time? Too many Democrats, along with many democratic voters are contemplating distancing themselves from the man whom they loved less than 2 years ago, the same man who is responsible for the short-term success that each of them was a recipient. Gideon's 32,000, in this scenario President Obama, are deserting by the millions.
Perhaps like Gideon's bloated Army, many of them never believed or were afraid (of Republicans from the onset).
Now when you consider just whom these would be warrior Democratic Representatives and some voters are afraid of, a broken and fragmented Republican Party; Rush Limbaugh, Anne Coulter and other Nazis, it makes you wonder, did Gideon (Obama in this context) know the composition of his army in the first place.

This matter should not be lost on the American people, particularly the ones who voted them into office. Why? For at the slightest sign of trouble or the instilling of a tinge of doubt, in this context, the 2008 Democratic strategy to return America to viability (a consequence of the failed policies of the Republican Party and its favorite son, George Bush), they want to distance themselves from the President.

These Judases are symptomatic of what is wrong with the Democratic Party. Even though Democratic voters significantly outnumber Republicans, once again they cannot seem to cash in on their significant majority's power. Give the Democrats nuclear weapons, the Republicans sticks and stones, and the Republicans would defeat the Democrats in any theater of war.

Instead, they run, hide and distance themselves from their leader, at the sign of angst from the Republican Party. Everyone knows that Boehner and the Republicans are a bunch of self-serving bums. They are the Party of Tax Breaks for the rich and no unemployment insurance for the regular guy.

Will the wimps stand up and fight in the Democratic Majority? Will they get sullied up a bit and then return fire, no? Instead, they prefer to run and hide. Jesus had his Judas, the Continental Army had its Benedict Arnold, and the Democratic Party has its history of traitors of the Zel Miller ilk.

That boy jumped ship 8 years ago, and ran over to the Party of Failure at the sign of trouble. The problem with America is that we all too often lack true, bonafide statespeople who will get in, fight and stick with a good plan.

I blame the American voters, particularly for putting weak-kneaded Democrats in offices, individuals who will run to save themselves instead of staying to
Fight for a principle. Those Democrats who will stand up and fight until the end are always in the shadows, sadly.

If I were a Republican, I would be so amused over the fact that my party screwed up so badly during the past decade, and still the Democratic Goliath Party (giants) flinch and when our small David Party casts a few stones, and can so easily unseat a giant, one that does not realize its own Party Power.

Get a backbone, those Democratic Representatives who lack one and stay in the fight for as far as the American people are concerned, you are on the side of right, but you always permit your message to be muted by a mighty, but still in the minority Republican juggernaut – well as far as some Democrats and some Democratic Representatives are concerned.

Whereas Republican leaders in Congress are unabashed scoundrels, clearly too many on the Democratic side of the aisle like Gideon's army are either fearful, or they never believed in the first place. Who can ever trust them? Help us Representative Dennis Kucinich of Ohio - we need more Representatives in Congress, on both sides of the aisle who are men of resolve and character like you.

Otherwise, all of us will be 'drinking tea' over the next 6 years or more! I also predict that if the Republicans can regain control of the House and the Senate, that they will call for a 'no confidence vote for the President of the United States', and with the help of Democrats they will get it.

Finally, how many Republicans does it take to defeat the Democratic House? Answer: Both of them apparently, for when all else fails, do what Republicans always do, LIE!

Peace & Grace

Sep 24, 2010

Obama Didn’t Do It: What’s wrong with America!

Subject: The Real Problem with America is The Republican Party and The Unsavvy American Voter

Well now that he has been baptized in the crucible of American politics, and he knows what it is really like, I predict that Mr. Obama will become true presidential material.

Look folks, I have never hidden the fact that I did not feel that this man was ready to be President of the United States. Recently a dimwitted African associate of mine described my problem, as it related to the Obama presidency, as gradualism.

He said, "you are one of the ones who believe this man is not ready to be President because he is a black man", in other words he said, "you agree with those Americans who say that it is too early - America is not ready for a black President". I explained to my black African nationalist nemesis that he was not listening.

You see, I never told any of my detractors that Obama should not be President because it was not time for a black to be President.

I told him that I did exactly what Obama said that any black voter should do with respect to his candidacy, I “vetted him”. After doing so, I concluded that he was not ready to be President because he lacked experience in national politics. And he proved me correct during the first year and a half of his Presidency.
Mr. Obama simply was not prepared for what the Republican Obstructionists were going to put on him.
Now give him credit, for he actually did what one would believe that any American statesperson or Republican institution ought to have been doing in office, working together for the good of the nation. For Obama made it clear up, front, that he was going to do all that he could do to represent all of the American people. To wit he planned to be the President of all Americans, whether they were white, black, mulatto, Republican, separatist, Rush Limbaugh …

And he calamitously made an ardent effort to do so only to be rebuffed by the Republican Party Minority in Congress. Even before becoming President he reached out to Republicans and invited several of them to become a part of the Presidential Cabinet, an offer that was summarily rejected. There weren't any David Gergens in this Republican group.

Being the naive guy that he was, he kept trying. He begged for cooperation, he endured insults and stalemates hoping that Republicans would put the needs of the nation above party politics - they did not, they have not! Politically, he was hoping that the American people would see that he actually reached out to the other side in an attempt to heal the nation and to show how the two could work together, a strategy that should have earned him some points with the citizens, but it has not.

And it has cost him dearly - the expected derailment of his Presidency. The Republican Party strategy to rebuff the President and to refuse to cooperate to any substantial degree so far, has worked. Instead of the American people recognizing the often used Republican ruse, they have played right into the hands of the Republican minority just as the President did initially.

Give the Republicans a hand for this kind of political chicanery. On the other hand the American public should be excoriated for being so sophomoric. Americans, this was the Republican Party strategy from the beginning, they hoped to make this man appear to be inept as a result of being able to get certain bills passed, and or to cause the ones that were passed to be watered down.

They knew that you would blame him for the failures, instead of the ones who were causing him to stumble.

Here is what all Americans who voted for the President need to do at this juncture in the political game, for the elections are coming soon: Do NOT BE STUPID ENOUGH TO PARTICIPATE IN THE DERAILMENT OF of what you started 2.5 years ago when the majority of America’s voters, Republicans, Independents and Democrats came together and worked for change.

That some of you are considering a change in mid-stream is incomprehensible just get the train and the engineer back on track.
In other words, become as relentless as Republicans have been, particularly the ones on the Republican Wrong side!
Yes I know that the neophyte President let you down, but that is in part your fault for voting him into office too early in his young career in national politics to make any difference.

But don’t be stupid twice, know who the real enemy is - this man may turn out to be another President from Illinois, who will one day have a monument on the Capital Mall (black or white one I don't know)? If he gets this nation going again and we experience the kind of turnaround that we did with President Clinton, who had to clean another Bush's mess, he could be enshrined.

The true enemy has not changed in 2 years, it is still doing all that it can to return to and enforce the failed politics of the Bush Administration (in particular advantages for the wealthy, warmongering and deferential politics.

They are still playing the same old game to include of late, using religion to explain who is and who is not a true American just as they have been doing with President Obama. The same individuals never question President Bush’s religious faith, instead they used it just as they did to their advantage. Most Americans have seen enough I hope to understand that claiming to be affiliated with some particular religious group in America is just a game.

According to Rabbi Lerner, the true religion of America is Capital. And to that I must add, no one is more adept at playing capital politics, pun intended, than the Republicans, particularly the ones on the Republican Right. They know what they're doing when they insist that they alone continue to receive Tax Breaks.

Tax breaks for the rich is the ongoing mantra of the Republican Wrong. I hope that the American people are not stupid enough to keep falling for the same tricks over and over again. If so, just consider the past 8 years, along with 6 years of Republican domination in the Congress, a 2-term Republican President and control for the past years of the United States Supreme Court, America was practically brought to its financial knees.

What saved America was a last ditch effort by the incumbent Republican President Barack Obama, the leader who is doing all that he can to reverse the retrenchment that was caused by 8 years of failed leadership, along with a Republican Congress for the majority of that time,George Bush Jr. The change occurred with the support of a Democratic majority in Congress - they helped to right this nation.

Have TARP and other stimulus dollars returned the nation to complete viability? The answer of course is no. On the other hand, the actions taken by President Obama along with the cooperation of the Democratically controlled Congress, despite the opposition from the Republican Wrong have stabilized the slide just as Democrats promised that it would.

And still too many Americans, particularly ones on the Right, blame the current incumbent President for completing saving the nation from the dire straits that the country found itself in following George Bush Jr. and the Republicans.

Having said that, now there is hope for a full recovery as long as anyone or any Party besides Republicans are in control of the Presidency and the House. And as a result of the innocuous and desultory behavior of the Republican Party over the past 2 years (if not all the way back to Ronald Reagan) where would the recovery be if Republicans were still in power and just where would American be today-answer that question for yourself?

Use your heads Americans and stick with Mr. Obama at least for another couple of years. And go, instead, after the Republicans each time that they try to stifle the President and the American recovery, and at all costs stay with Obama for he has begun to mature in office, now when will you do likewise!

Peace & Grace

Sep 23, 2010

A Democratic Party President and a Republican Party (House) Wife: The Montagues v. The Capulets

As opposed to waiting until death does them part, they might as well get a divorce, particularly if neither of the two understands the art of compromise or are willing to compromise

Subject: When Husband and Wife Reach Nadir

A dysfunctional marriage is one where the husband and wife are more enemy combatants with entrenched opinions than they are individuals who are united in love. When one or both are unwilling to comprise, there will be long-term negative consequences for both combatants and the other members of the family.

Oh come on now, most of us have either experienced this behavior firsthand, or witnessed this phenomenon taking with a relative, friend or neighbor. The two married combatants are tied together by marriage, however, they are enemies and not friends.

If you have not experienced this phenomenon within your own marriage or the household that you were raised or are being raised in, you should thank God.
What phenomenon am I referring to? It is the phenomenon of two married individuals who are stuck together legally by marriage(historically a wife and man, or man and wife if you prefer who live together), however, anyone who know the couple wonder "how can these two stay together seeing how they don’t agree on anything". If one were to turn to the Right, the other would prefer the Left.

If one were to say, "... that was a good thing, the other would vehemently disagree". If one were happy about an event, the other would be sad. No matter what topic comes up, or decision to be made one of the two would be diametrically opposed to the other.

And yet they stay together if for no other reason than to fight, disagree, and keep up appearances or to make the other miserable. And sadly, either side tries to win others in the household, often their siblings, to be on 'their side'. And this is exactly what appears to be taking place in our nation’s capitol, and the American citizen is being asked to choose sides.

We currently have an incumbent president, Mr. Barack Obama (the hubby) who happens to hail from the American Democratic Party. His wife on the other hand (The Republican House) happens to hail from the American Republican Party, the current minority party that was rejected by the majority of the American voters in the last general election.

Folks what we are talking about here is the Hatfields and the McCoys, or better yet, How Juliet of Romeo and Juliet fame, who hailed from the (House of the Capulets), and Romeo who came from the (House) of the Montagues and all of us knows how that story ended. Mr. Obama's minority wife (House Republicans led by Representative Boehner has proven to be diametrically opposed to whatever his Democratic Presidential (House) husband has to say. Folks, this thing is playing out like a Greek tragedy that can only end in death.

Almost literally, the two live in the same house, the nation’s capital, Washington DC happens to the house. Who ever put this (arranged) marriage together, what were they thinking - for the 2 connubials have never been compatible. And what we, the American people, have been getting is what we should have expected -two entities that are diametrically opposed to each other on almost every topic, and each one is fighting for control of the House, in this instance, Washington DC and the rest of the nation.

I did not vote for Mr. Obama, who in this instance is the non-titular head of the House, however, I have to give him credit for keeping one of his campaign promises. He promised to have, hold, love … his Republican Congressional wife, and he tried to do that, but sofar to no avail. Mr. Obama has been experiencing unrequited love for the past 20 months.

Being a dutiful suitor, immediately during and after his inauguration he began to woo her. He called her, sent her flowers, romantic messages and political candy (Daschle and others). And no matter what advances he made to his political wife, she continued to reject the gifts that he sent and him.

How can two walk together, unless they agree? Well, it is implied in the Christian Canon that they cannot. And that is in effect what we see taking place within the nation. In my opinion, the Republican Party is a bespeckled distant wife, one has had zero intentions of cooperating with her wooing husband, no matter what he does, or whatever harm can come to the nation.

On the other hand I see a President-husband paramour who has tried and tried, and has finally realized that no matter what he does to love his wife, to woo her or to reach compromises, she will have it her way or whatever happens to their marriage, their household too include her children and her neighbor nations, she could care less. So what can they do, since they have to stay together until death, or the next election do them part?Frankly, I have with good reason been suspect of the Republican Party since my own personal dealings with them in Washington DC.

The late Congressman Augustus Hawkins, former Representative from Los Angeles California once counseled me when I spoke at the nation’s capitol in Washington DC, to look around, he said: Notice, are any members of the Republican House available to hear you and the thousand delegates who traveled to Washington DC to lobby Congress with regard to the urban poor?

In fact he was correct, none of them were. And 27 years later, the overwhelming majority of Republicans continue to be missing in action. Whether it was insurance reform and the public option and single payer that most Americans wanted, like a spoiled sulking wife they made it clear that they did not care what the majority of Americans wanted.

The latter is even more dramatic when you consider that all of them are provided the same by majority that they continue to deny. Tax Breaks: Even though many of them enjoyed and still enjoy the Bush Tax Cuts, they are against tax breaks being given to the majority of Americans, unless they are provided with an extension of the tax breaks that they uniquely enjoyed during the Bush years.

They insist that America cannot experience an economic recovery unless they receive tax breaks. Why? Because many of them and the individuals that they represent and the Republican Right, are the holders of the wealth of this nation. What do they care more about, their Party or America?In other words, these paramours of non-virtue because they are without virtue are trying to blackmail the American people as well as their spouse-President.

These obstructionist blackmailers are saying to the American people in effect, that even though we received tax breaks over the past decade, during the period when the rest of America failed and the middle-class experienced loss of jobs, homes, income … (while they stood by and did nothing but enlarge themselves with the aid of the tax breaks that they received), that we should believe that this time they will do anything to majority of Americans to return to viability.

My answer to then is nyat, you haven’t done anything to support your President of the United States husband, in fact you’ve been outright obstructionists, and you aren’t going to do anything in the future to cooperate/compromise with the President or to do anything about the plight of the offspring, the American people, of a bad marriage.

In the area where I live, Santa Clara County California, while the rest of the nation as well as the Middle-class in this area struggled during the Bush Administration, in particular the last four years of his administration, the wealthy gorged themselves. For example, while many Americans were being disposed from their homes, Do Nothing Republican side of Congress purchased new homes, Dick Cheney included.

In fact, at one time, houses that were selling the best in this region, where houses that sold in the 5M range. And in addition to that, while Americans were having their automobiles, in this area repossessed, the number one selling automobiles in the region were luxury cars that were being sold to the supporters of Republican classism. And what did the Republicans do? They showed no mercy and instead engaged in practices that they have historically engaged in, they exploited the situation while blaming the victims for their own plight.

Americans, who are rightfully frustrated, often make the mistake of blaming the wrong persons for the problem. For example, while the Republicans continue to blame the Presidents and Democrats for America’s current woes, they ignore Bush Policies, the 6 years that they controlled the House (including the Senate) while Bush engaged in questionable and favorable practices to an already wealthy elite, and still they blamed the Democrats.

Fortunately, Americans said ‘no masse’, and it wasn’t the Democrats fault and they elected President Obama to clean Washington up. But Americans were sadly disappointed and disillusioned when Mr. Obama began to flounder.

Wow, I thought? Republicans are so shrewd that they can obstruct, and yet cause blame to be laid at the foot of the one that they obstructed. In other words, it was as if Mr. Obama’s Republican spouse who opposed him at every turn, was able to shift the blame for every stalemate or obstruction on her husband. Come on folks, when it comes to being scoundrels, Republicans are without peer. In fact, in that regard, they are too shrewd for the average Democrats.

However, and I wonder will the majority of voters fall for that ruse. Even though you attended the swearing in (exchange of vows), and afterwards Mr. Obama let you down, you must not give in to the Dark Side of the force! If Obama doesn't stand up to his venal paramour, don't switch over to the other side for after they are still Obstructionist Republicans. Where is the late Senator Barry Goldwater when you need him?
I am not an apologist for Mr. Obama, I felt that he needed more experience from the onset; however, it appears that of late he has awakened. He has acknowledged publicly, that his Republican wife will never compromise or acceded to the will of the majority of the American people. In fact he recognizes that she has staked out a position and the rest of the nation be damned.

Let this be a lesson to the American people. The fact is that Americans criticize Congress at large for the failures that are taking place in Washington and our nation. But to do so is unfair. There have been and still are some very distinguished Representatives in Washington, mostly on the Democratic side, who would turn this nation around if ever all of the duckets were in place, and they nearly did so this time when they garnered control of the House, the Senate and the President.

Don’t blame them for the chicanery and the shrewdness of a scoundrel Republican-led Party. Americans should support those Representatives who have been in the fight for so long and continue to add to their numbers. And right-thinking Americans will do all that they can to get ideologue Republican home-wreckers out of office.

And a special message to Mr. Obama…, stop being a woos, get some backbone, stand up to your back-stabbing Republican wife and do what the majority of the people who voted you into office expected of you: Hillary Clinton, stood up to the vast Right-Winged Conspiracy, when will you! Your current Republican wife has one plan and one plan in mind only, and that is to oversee your political demise, and she has practically achieved her goal. Wake up while you still can for she plans to do what she can until you are no more, that is to oppose and obstruct until you are dead!

A democratic party President and a republican party (House)wife, never the twain shall meet, and the rest of the family will suffer the consequences.

Love, peace & grace

Sep 18, 2010

Judgment Day in America

This is what I believe is taking place with the 234 years-young American experiment. If anyone hasn’t noticed the predicament that most Americans and America itself finds it and ourselves in of late, it must be for one or two reasons.

Either he or she has his or her head buried in the proverbial sand, or they are a part of the group of elite Americans, mostly wealthy, who are doing just fine politically and financially. They seem to be in denial or could care less about where the majority of America's citizens and other citizens of the world find themselves as we speak.

The latter group believes that things have never been better. There only concern is about any foe, whether it be nation, political party, current leader of the so-called free world, politician or God who would dare to make any attempt to alter the status quo.

This group fully intends for America to continued course wherein they will continue to reap a disproportionate share of America and the world’s wealth, dictate to continue to engage in their desultory practices. This small but closed group fails to understand or care just how close America is to the abyss. As long as they continue to get there, they could care less.

I do not believe that it is God doing the judging, rather I suspect that it is because of the historical practice of injustice by some in America, to include selfishness, sexism, greed, racism, world-wide political hegemony that has led to America’s current plight. And as a result, because of a powerful, wealthy and manipulative elite in America, justice is being brought to America.

America is reaping for what it has sown or permitted a certain group of America's to get away with in the name of acquiring wealth.

Right thinking people, how long could it have lasted, exploitation of the many by the few, I ask, to include the matter of:
1. One nation holding all of the cards, financially, military, politically, socially …?
2. One nation dictating its will to all other nations of the world either military
(750 military installations around the world), economically or given its historical and shrewd manipulation of the United Nations Security Council …?
3. America’s historical manipulation and exploitation of all other markets in the world?
4. America’s shrewd use of Christianity in order to further its personal objectives around the world.

I ask then, would it be necessary for a God to dispatch an avenging angel or are their certain built-in laws of justice, retribution … that automatically come in to play when an individual, family, group, organization, state … continue to tempt fate, violate the laws of equanimity and justice, and seek to acquire as much as they can for as long as they can for themselves or those that they prefer, alone?

Those nations of the world that have been weak politically, military and monetarily in the past are catching up. They have risen to the level where they can say to America, “thank you for the good that you once did’, however, we are no longer willing to overlook the evil that you did: usurpation, incursions, occupations, domination, spying, destabilizations …

As a result of the changing dynamics in the world, to wit the emerging economies, emergent economic and military powerhouses, more and more Americans being forced to admit what is right of them, American injustice as the causal factor America's current plight. Let's face it folks, it was not another nation of the world that forced us to be in the predicament that we currently finds ourselves thriving.

Am I happy about it? Am I one of those who love to kick the USA in the pants when it is struggling? Or, am I right to be concerned about where America is headed and to remind my fellow Americans, that much of what we are experiencing that has not been foisted upon us by some outside power, we have brought upon ourselves.

In other words, there is no need to sound the apocalyptic alarm. Frankly, I suspect that however we judge our own actions and the current state that we find ourselves in as a nation, isn't it true that all that we need to do is to take charge of ourselves and the elements that be within this nation that have historically been out of control, and to bring them in line with justice, equity and higher principles of governing and self-determination. In other words, it is time to make some changes.

Peace & Grace


Next: A Bad Marriage: A Democratic President Party Husband and a Republican (Party) Wife