Free Thinkers Playground

2010-07-05T16:21:00.000-04:00

Our Finest Basher of Plutocratic Bigness

Melvin Urofsky, Louis D. Brandeis: A Life. Pantheon Books, 2009, 953 pp.

Last week's Senate confirmation hearing on the Elena Kagan Supreme Court nomination proved to be, as expected, a rather listless affair. President Obama had picked for the high court a nominee almost sure to raise no passionate opposition, and she didn't.

Nearly a century ago, in 1916, President Woodrow Wilson chose the opposite course. Wilson named for the high court a public figure absolutely certain to set the nation ablaze with passion. He nominated attorney Louis Brandeis, then the nation's most famed progressive critic of America's rich and powerful.

The opposition of those rich and powerful would be immediate and deep. They despised Brandeis. Senator Thomas Walsh of Montana, a Brandeis backer, would explain why. Louis Brandeis, Walsh noted, "has not stood in awe of the majesty of wealth."

We now have a magisterial new biography of Louis Brandeis, a volume of nearly 1,000 pages that never lags - in part because author Melvin Urofsky writes so well, in part because Brandeis led such a fascinating life.

Brandeis, this new biography makes clear, didn't figure to become a scourge of grand fortune. He grew up in a prosperous and cultured family in Louisville, matriculated at Harvard, and then went on to establish a thriving commercial law practice in Boston. By age 34 in 1890, Brandeis was earning over $50,000 a year, the equivalent of more than $1 million today.

The young Brandeis would be the very model of a model Victorian-age gentleman: always prim, always proper - and always honest. That honesty would eventually upend his comfortable existence.

In the late 19th century, prim and proper young Boston gentlemen joined "good government" groups. Brandeis did, too - and took the work seriously. The young lawyer would soon realize that most all "bad government" seemed to share a common source: rich and powerful special interests.

Brandeis began taking on these special interests, first locally in Boston, then statewide, and finally at the national level. By 1907, he was confronting the empire of financier J. P. Morgan, the heaviest of Wall Street heavyweights.

Opponents blasted Brandeis as a "socialist." But Brandeis never did or said anything that merited that label. Brandeis did not want, notes biographer Urofsky, "to tear down" private enterprise. He sought to save it from the "curse of bigness," from the "great aggregations" of wealth that menaced democracy.

If that wealth went unchallenged, Brandeis believed, society would likely see upheaval - and who knew what the end product of that upheaval would be?

"The rising resentment at plutocratic action will make itself severely felt," Brandeis confided in a letter to his brother. "After all, we are living in a Democracy, & some way or other, the people will get back at power unduly concentrated, and there will be plenty of injustice in the process."

The people, Brandeis would warn in a public address, are "beginning to doubt whether there is a justification for the great inequalities in the distribution of wealth, for the rapid creation of fortunes." And the people, he would add, "show evidence on all sides of a tendency to act."

Brandeis would go on to play a key role in the early Woodrow Wilson administration, and help craft the legislation that brought the first sweeping federal regulation of the corporate state. He would later look back fondly on 1913 and 1914 as "the only time in recent American history when rich men had not had an undue influence with an administration."

In 1916, Brandeis won his Supreme Court nomination fight and would serve nearly two dozen years as a justice, most of that time in a distinct philosophical minority. He would discuss, in dissents, the "gross inequality in the distribution of wealth and income which giant corporations have fostered" and predict, in the 1920s, that the nation's growing inequality would lead to no good.

In the 1930s, with the coming of Deprerssion and New Deal, the ideas that Brandeis had championed years earlier would bear new fruit, in bills like the Glass-Steagall Act, the financial reform legislation that would essentially tame Wall Street for the next 50 years.

But Brandeis, notes Urofsky, wanted checks on fortune that went beyond what the New Deal was contemplating in the 1930s. He wanted to "increase sharply the income tax at the upper ends of the spectrum," on corporations and on individuals alike, and "impose a steep federal inheritance tax to limit the amount that any one person could pass down to the next generation to $1 million."

Brandeis would retire in 1939 and pass on two years later. He would likely have taken great pride in the much more equal United States that began to emerge in the 1940s after his death. For good reason. He helped create it.

The History of Weed

2010-05-28T11:38:00.000-04:00

Outfoxed! Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism

2010-04-22T21:43:00.000-04:00

9/11 – In Plane Site

2010-03-05T18:20:00.000-05:00

Why were America and the world never shown the video and photographs of the Pentagon, BEFORE the outer wall had collapsed showing only one 16 ft. hole. Many people do not realize that the outer wall did not collapse until almost 30 minutes after the initial impact. See these astonishing photographs and video footage for the first time. Given that the outer wall of the Pentagon had not yet collapsed and the only hole is approximately 16 ft. in diameter - how does a jetliner over 44 feet tall and 125 ft. wide fit into that hole as shown in the crystal-clear and close-up photographic evidence from the Pentagon? Furthermore, can physics explain why there is no damage to the Pentagon's upper floors where the tail section would have hit? “I heard a very loud, quick whooshing sound. I was convinced it was a missile. It came in so fast – it sounded nothing like an airplane.” Lon Rains - editor for Space News (Pentagon eyewitness) In the aftermath, it was reported by media sources that a giant 100 ft. crater was plowed into the front lawn of the Pentagon as the result of a powerful airliner crash? Why does photographic evidence overwhelmingly show that this was absolutely not the case? Why no crater? Why no skid marks? Why no burn marks? Why was the entire world deliberately mislead? Examine the video and photographic evidence for yourself.

Ex-Christian Apologizes: I Believed Hurtful, Irrational, Stupid Things

2010-02-15T17:39:00.000-05:00

Most freethinkers in America usually arrive at this point in their lives only after having been involved on some level with religion. Quite often, they come from the most fundamentalist and extreme perspectives, gradually coming to experience a personal widening of their own views as they explore the world of ideas that run counter to the dogma they've been taught until they can no longer even pretend to believe their religious "truth." I'm sure that most look back at their participation with some regret, usually either quietly leaving their religion behind or trading it in for some other, more believable, faith tradition. While they may regret the things they said or did while "under the influence" of religion, few take the time to apologize to those who may have been harmed. Yet that's exactly what at least one "former Christian" has done in this public apology for her past religious beliefs.

Time for a Different War on Drugs

2010-02-04T21:34:00.002-05:00

TIME FOR A DIFFERENT WAR ON DRUGS
By CLIFFORD WALLACE THORNTON

For decades our society has been prosecuting and imprisoning increasing numbers of people for possessing or selling drugs. Today no country in the world has such a large percentage of its population behind bars as we have, and a major reason is our "War on Drugs."

Unfortunately, as the drug-related prison population has increased, there has not been a corresponding decrease in problem drug use. In Connecticut and across the country, problem drug use has risen, as has the misery that it brings to the lives of the users, their families, and the community. Our response to drug use and sale has been a failure. It is time for a new approach to break the cycle of drug abuse and its casualties.

My non-profit organization, Efficacy, is not advocating the immediate dismantling of our criminal justice system as a means of controlling the flow and use of illegal drugs and the harm they cause unless an effective replacement system is securely in its place. Nor are we advocating that the dealers and distributors be given a free hand to engage in their trade with impunity.

But we do want to spark an open discussion about the criminal justice system's inability to achieve the result we all want: the reduction of the damage done by drugs while not creating more harm than the use of drugs cause themselves.

While drug-related penalties have been drastically increasing, the number of hard-core drug users, whose use poses the greatest societal problems, has also increased, which is only one measure of the failure of criminal sanctions as an effective way to deter use of illegal drugs.

In contrast to the increased use of marijuana and hard drugs during a period when such use has been punished as a crime, we have experienced a remarkable decrease in use of tobacco by adults. Since the surgeon general began reporting on the health consequences of tobacco in 1964, per-capita consumption of tobacco in the United States has been cut roughly in half. This reduction was not achieved by locking up smokers.

Recent studies have documented that DARE and similar efforts supported by the federal government to prevent young people from using illegal drugs have been ineffective and, in some cases, counterproductive. We have left our youths confused or, even worse, skeptical of all such messages.

Some parents fear that reducing criminal sanctions might "send the wrong message" and lead children to think that using mind- or mood-altering drugs is acceptable. In doing so, we must provide a safety net of effective prevention programs for those who have not used such drugs. For those who have, we must offer adequate, accessible, and effective treatment. As we move to lessen and eliminate criminal sanctions, we must support a comprehensive education effort by parents, teachers, peers, physicians, and others respected by children.

The "right message" youths need to hear from messengers they respect is that using mind-altering drugs -- whether alcohol, marijuana, or other illegal drugs -- is risky behavior that can damage health and, in some cases, destroy your life. The right message is that the risk of addiction is significantly decreased for those who delay their first use of drugs. The right message is that if, despite warnings, a young person uses drugs, he should know the signs of addiction and should seek treatment without fear of punishment.

It is important to encourage young people to discuss the role of peer pressure. And it is important to discuss openly ways to reduce risks of harm if, despite the warnings, a young person decides to put drugs in his body.

Physicians and others in drug-addiction treatment know that drug addiction is curable. Drug treatment is "as successful as treatment of other chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and asthma," according to the National Institute of Drug Abuse. And the costs of effective treatment are much lower than the costs of incarceration. One can get over an addiction but it is much harder to get over a drug conviction.

Recognizing the need to shift from a criminal-law model to a public-health model in our approach to drugs, the city of Hartford and other organizations are mobilizing to examine the effectiveness of present drug policies. Lawyers, judges, doctors, scholars, drug-treatment professionals, and others are participating in this process.

We certainly do not claim to have a complete vision of a more workable alternative drug policy, but we are confident that we must move boldly toward the provision of effective treatment, now offered to only a small fraction of those who need it, and away from an excessive use of the criminal sanctions that have caused more harm than good.

Of course, criminal law will always have a role to play to assure public safety. Violent or other non-drug related behavior or driving under the influence of any mind-altering drug should continue to be prohibited and punished. And the unregulated distribution of drugs and, of course, giving or selling mind-altering drugs to minors, should continue to be prohibited and criminally punished.

Let's assemble the best and most experienced minds in Hartford to study alternative approaches to the problem of drug abuse. For instance, we can learn from the experience of European countries that are boldly moving to end their own failed criminal-law models. Our local and state governments desperately need the tens of millions of dollars now wasted on imprisoning drug-law violators to build treatment facilities and invest in prevention so we can build a safer, healthier, and more compassionate society.

We need to replace this underground economy with reparations-type programs to rebuild inner cities. After all, this is a problem created and sustained by the very laws themselves.

Axe Wielding "Religion of Peace" Follower in the News

2010-01-03T01:53:00.000-05:00

Danish cartoonist hid in 'panic room' during attack

I realize that the title for this post may seem a bit provokative or even sarcastic, but perhaps ironic makes more sense in light of the recent attempts by some of the less fanatical Muslims in our midst to portray Islam as a "religion of peace." I confess that I'm guilty of sensationalism at times to bolster readership, but I'm only a humble "infidel." To those who may be offended, please don't come after me with an axe for anything said on this blog. Come to think of it, why would a religious fanatic read a blog called "Free Thinkers' Playground" anyway?

(CNN) -- Danish political cartoonist Kurt Westergaard hid in a "panic room" inside his home as a man wielding an ax and knife cracked the glass in the home's front door, Danish police said Saturday.

Police said a home alarm alerted them to the scene in Aarhus at 10 p.m. Friday, and they were attacked by the suspect when they responded. Police shot the suspect.
Westergaard took his 5-year-old granddaughter into the "panic room" when he realized what was happening, Chief Superintendent Ole Madsen said.

Westergaard, who has been threatened for drawing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, is ordinarily accompanied by bodyguards when he leaves his home, but nobody was on guard at the house Friday, the Security and Intelligence Service told CNN.

Police said Westergaard was "being taken care of" after the break-in, but wouldn't reveal his new location. The suspect, meanwhile, appeared in court Saturday, charged with attempted assassination, the Danish Intelligence and Security Service said.

The suspect was shot in the right leg and left hand and hospitalized after the incident, police said. Video showed him appearing in court Saturday strapped onto a stretcher.
Authorities did not identify the suspect because the judge decided it would be illegal to disclose his name, said Madsen, with the East Jutland Police. Authorities said he was a 28-year-old Somali who has legal residency in Denmark and lives in Sjaelland, near Copenhagen.

The suspect was charged with the attempted assassination of Westergaard and a police officer on duty, the intelligence service said. The judge ordered the suspect held for four weeks while the investigation proceeds. Madsen said the man is the only suspect in the case, and he would not say whether police were investigating anyone else.

Police had no indication that an attack was being planned on Westergaard, Madsen said, though the intelligence service said the suspect had been under surveillance because of his terrorist links. Danish intelligence officials said the suspect is connected to al-Shabaab, al Qaeda's ally in east Africa.

Al-Shabaab, the militant organization with alleged ties to the suspect, is waging a bloody battle against Somalia's transitional government and is currently on a U.S. government list of terrorist organizations.

At a news conference in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, al-Shabaab spokesman Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage said, "We are very happy with the Somali national who attacked the house of the Danish cartoonist who previously insulted our prophet Mohammed. This is an honor for the Somali people. We are telling that we are glad that anyone who insults Islam should be attacked wherever they are."

The incident "once again confirms the terrorist threat that is directed against Denmark and against cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, in particular," said Jakob Scharf, spokesman for the Danish Security and Intelligence Service.

Westergaard's caricature of Muhammad -- showing the prophet wearing a bomb as a turban with a lit fuse -- sparked an uproar among Muslims in early 2006 after newspapers reprinted the images months later as a matter of free speech. The cartoon was first published by the Danish newspaper Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten in September 2005.

At the time, Westergaard said he wanted his cartoon to say that some people exploited the prophet to legitimize terrorism. However, many in the Muslim world interpreted the drawing as depicting their prophet as a terrorist.

Over the years, Danish authorities have arrested other suspects who allegedly plotted against Westergaard's life. After three such arrests in February 2008, Westergaard issued a statement, saying, "Of course I fear for my life after the Danish Security and Intelligence Service informed me of the concrete plans of certain people to kill me. However, I have turned fear into anger and indignation. It has made me angry that a perfectly normal everyday activity which I used to do by the thousand was abused to set off such madness."
Scharf said authorities have taken measures to ensure Westergaard's safety, and that the protection has "proven effective."
CNN's Per Nyberg contributed to this report.

Please feel free to leave your comments. Anonymity is perfectly okay, given the volitility of the subject matter.

Pat Condell on Appeasing Islam

2010-01-02T07:46:00.000-05:00

One European who has very strong opinions on such matters as censorship and blasphemy laws is British comedian Pat Condell and he is not shy about shooting straight from the lip!

Ring out the old, Ring in the new, Ring out the false, Ring in the True!!

2010-01-01T16:43:00.000-05:00

"Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true."
-- Alfred Lord Tennyson

These lines from Tennyson have apparently been lost on the government of Ireland. Today rings in the imposition of a new "blasphemy" law, making it a criminal offense to utter or publish "matter that is grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters held sacred by any religion, thereby intentionally causing outrage among a substantial number of adherents of that religion..." This is obviously an attempt to stave off the sort of riotous behavior that took place in Denmark over the publishing of a cartoon depicting the prophet Mohammed that was considered "blasphemous" by Muslims and sparked another spate of "bad craziness" in the UK a while back. This law is yet another instance of selling out the principle of free speech in an attempt to gain some security from those who oppose freedom to do anything but submit to rule by a mob of zealots who want nothing less than a return to the llth century. This is hardly the way to "ring in the new," much less a way to "ring out the false, ring in the true."

Michael Nugent of the group, Atheist Ireland, has initiated a campaign to repeal this law and has published a list of 25 Blasphemous Quotes which have previously been published by or uttered by or attributed to such people as Jesus Christ, Muhammad, Mark Twain, Randy Newman, Monty Python, Rev Ian Paisley, Conor Cruise O’Brien, Frank Zappa, Salman Rushdie, George Carlin, Richard Dawkins, Pope Benedict XVI, Christopher Hitchens, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor and Dermot Ahern among others.
(read the list)

Gore Vidal's United States of Fury

2009-12-30T01:59:00.000-05:00

In Russian, the phrase "gore vidal" means "he has seen grief". This is certainly an apt description of the great writer and philosopher who has for so long drunk deeply of all that life life has to offer and now, in his 84th year, occupies a most cynical place among America's literati. It's almost as if his idealism was dashed against the rocks in its infancy and only now, in its semi-aborted yet still-living form, is given full vent as he ever so understatedly pours out his personal grief in one of the most revealing interviews I've ever read.

At last, through this interview, I grasp an inkling of why so few of us become great artists whether its expression be literary, graphic or musical. With apologies to Irving Stone, one must ask "is the ecstasy worth the agony?" That said, I can now understand why we, as a people, so readily become "bovine souls" or even "sheeple" who would rather embrace the wolf than the shepherd. Alas, that is what happens when hope dies.

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Fighting for the Family of Man

2009-12-29T00:38:00.003-05:00

By Peter Chamberlin

December 28, 2009

The American people are slowly waking-up to what we are. We are a Nation that has surrendered our right to determine our own destiny for the promise of a job, a nice home, or healthcare that we can afford. We think that we are still the same people who volunteered to fight a war against an obvious evil because it was the right thing to do, but that is no longer who we are.

The long series of wars that we have made possible, because we continued to think that it was right, have changed us. Our support for endless war has opened the door for a few individuals to reap astronomical profits from our Army’s actions. Our government is the hands of men who profit enormously by manufacturing and exporting war, not the tools of war, but actual war itself. Serving a government that creates wars, then uses our children for cannon fodder in them is a travesty beyond measure.

Patriotism and dedicated service to a mission to start wars all over the world does no service to the Nation; it undermines the American homeland. Bravery and heroism in service to a cause, whose ultimate objective is the destruction of the American Republic, is more than foolishness, it is dishonor to those who have served in the past and a dark stain on the ideals they fought for.

The men who pull the strings and make the life and death decisions in America have a hunger that extends far beyond our shores. It was not enough that they owned everything in this country, they had to bleed the country dry in a methodical plan to use their American assets as seed money to take over the world. They would buy controlling interest in every corporation and every country in the world. Whatever they couldn’t buy they planned to take by force.

It was not enough that we were slowly destroying the world in order to maintain our extravagant lifestyles; they had to go and accelerate the process. What have we empowered our leaders to do in the name of “preserving our way of life”?

To save the American way, we have spread the cancer of war onto every shore, driving it deeply into every heart. We have forced the entire world to engage in our war upon individual freedom, for limiting freedom of action in the rest of the nations is the only way to avoid limits on our own behavior. American foreign policy is a pathological assault upon the rest of the human race. Anyone with an unsuppressed conscience, a true love of his or her country, or an ounce of human decency has to be disturbed to the point of exploding over what is being done by American hands.

Most of our leaders freely admit that we are in this global war to preserve our “way of life,” having dropped the ruse about this being a war of “self-defense,” long ago. Even though it is approaching absurdity to continue claiming victim status in this war of aggression, the appeal that we are fighting to preserve the “American dream” still fires-up the ignorant masses, who all long to become millionaires themselves. For sheep such as this, there is no cure; no appeal to reason (no matter how eloquent or profound) can dissuade them from supporting this fight for world conquest. Such people have long ago laid their consciences to rest, for them there is no hope.

The power of the conscience is our greatest weapon in this ideological war. The key that can save America (and the world) from itself is the collective guilt that we all share, which alone has the power to motivate us to take the necessary actions to put an end to the assault. American leaders view the world as a prize to be won, or better, to be taken by force. To this end, they have hatched a monstrous plan, so pervasively evil that it is beyond comprehension to the average sheep’s puny little mind.

Everything in the plan centers around the willingness of a certain type of individual to murder his own countrymen for money and power. Without the active aid of this key personality type; the plan will not work.

Wherever the Empire oozes forth, spreading its putrid decadence, there are always countless men without consciences, waiting to become part of the great desolation. When confronted by this evil, so many men think that they will somehow fare better by serving this beast than by opposing it. The monsters know this, and know how to recognize which men and women can be swayed with bribery or threats and which ones will not submit to the yoke for any reason. Their work is organized like a symphony, hitting the high notes here, slamming the low notes over there. The point is, they know how to play us like we were merely instruments. Our task in the resistance must be to recognize this and learn to recognize the sheep’s mind within ourselves. Once we learn to recognize it within, we can apply that knowledge to the people we meet, or hope to influence, learning to recognize which one is open to reason and which one is a closed mind. Their intent to control the world is based on their ability to control and manipulate minds. We must develop similar capabilities, if we are to be effective. Changing human nature is the name of the game. We must teach the sheep to think like wolves.

Resistance is the only answer.

"Information Clearing House"

THE REINCARNATION OF THE DARK AGES

2009-12-27T14:20:00.000-05:00

None Dare Call It RELIGIOUS FEUDALISM

By Loren Adams, 27 December 2009

The king taxed the peasants to poverty while the royals were exempt from paying any. Reason? Unjust tax codes were a design of the rich, by the rich, and for the rich. That was the “targeted tax-cut” which invariably became law. “He who hath the gold maketh the rules.”

The Dark Ages was the birthplace of “Trickle-Down Economics.” The caste system was embraced, the church was simply a ruling arm of the monarch, and slavery was legitimatized by the religious righteous.

Republicans constantly decry labor’s “class warfare,” but this is the real war being waged across America. The cultural war is basically a derivative of class warfare – where the ruling class has employed white evangelicals to do their bidding: divide and conquer.

During the Dark Ages, wealth was exclusively inherited, not earned. The legal system was purchased like a commodity resulting in juryless trials, military tribunals, pronouncements by a king acknowledged as sovereign and commissioned by God to rule as if the voice of Providence Himself, executive orders usurping representation, taxation without representation, etc. Anyone disputing the monarch’s sovereignty was designated a traitor and summarily executed, tortured or banished to dungeon. These were the markings of the Dark Ages. Are they not similar to contemporary Republicanism so glaringly demonstrated during the Bush years?

America’s founders rejected the monarchial system where its legitimacy hinged on approval by the religious supremes. The “separation of church and state” concept of the new republic was established for that reason. Now we are sliding back into the realm where the head of state rides to power on a religious beast, where any successful candidate must be approved by the predominant religious system to win. Even our beloved Barack Obama during the 2008 campaign felt he must do pilgrimage to Saddleback Church and later pay homage to Pastor Rick Warren at Inaugural.

The Dark Ages were not only dark from plagues, they were darkened from ignorance, superstition and greed. The religious right denied the world was round; anyone disputing this “God-derived” doctrine was executed or imprisoned. Science was equated with Satanism. Thus, discovery, invention, innovation, and commercialism could not flourish, and the West plunged into poverty. Does America not see the similarity? A religious system that wages war on science, denies climate change, rejects evolution, and edits Texas texts for school children to include praise for Limbaugh, Beck and Palin is a system geared toward destroying not only scientific and environmental thought, but the foundation of economy.

The religious system was USED to gain power for monarchs similar to the way current political operatives USE the religious to further their own aims. In the Middle Ages, the doctrine of the “divine right of kings” precluded civil liberties; the king/queen equaled “divinity.” Potentates (royals) were considered surrogates of God. Power was passed down from father to son — Dynasties divinely ordained by entitlement. So, when we hear of world leaders or presidents bequeathed the title “Man of God,” watch out. It may not be long before civil liberties and human rights become casualties in the name of national unity and security — and with popular support — the masses duped by superstition. Remember the Bush theocratic dynasty.

History has witnessed its booms and busts (some massage as “cyclical market adjustments”). History repeats itself. We were at the core of an unparalleled economic boom at the close of the Clinton years — measured by purchases, low unemployment and budget surpluses. There were more jobs than people to fill them; illegals streamed across the border. Now we’re in a deep recession as a consequence of buying into Republican Dark-Age mentality.

What caused history’s busts? When capital is concentrated among the wealthiest, history warns of ominous collapse. The bubble bursts. It happened in 1837, 1857, 1884, 1893, 1907 and 1929. In all depressions there was glaring disparity of income: The poor — poorer, the rich — richer.

Prosperity is the result of healthy circulation of currency where the vast majority have robust purchasing power. When wealth fails to circulate but is dammed up by a concentration at the top, the economy falls and results in depression or severe recession. When the rich accumulate an overwhelming portion of the wealth, their house of cards comes tumbling down because there remains few to buy the goods sold by the wealthy to sustain the lifestyle.

Sure, other factors – such as over-speculation, Wall Street insider trading, anti-labor trade agreements, deregulation, and tax policies determined by greedy special interests – drive the economy into the ditch. But are not these all related? The world is loaded down with the cancers of Bernie Madoffs and Kenny Lays before downturn metastasizes itself into poverty, crime and collapse.

Consider this ominous fact: The average American’s income has remained flat since 1977 — 33 years ago, while the income of the richest 1% has more than tripled — 228% (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities). CEOs (corporate executive officers) incomes rose 400% in the 1990s to $10.6 million annual income per capita, while take-home pay for the average American, the 80%, rose zero percent.

Real life experience bears it out. Most Americans don’t enjoy the purchasing power they once did when a one-income family could raise children, purchase a home, car and college education for their kids. Now both parents work (if lucky enough to have a job) and still can’t keep up, resulting in less quality education, poor family relations, rising crime, and an eroding moral foundation.

Some in this country never learn from history. The greedy are blinded to the fact that refusing to care for others less fortunate ultimately leads to their own demise. The underlying truth may be that these tightfisted characters are not so much concerned about accumulating wealth as widening the gap. Yes, they delight in seeing the difference. Class consciousness means more to them than money in the bank. Thus, the motive defines the power struggle.

Thom Hartmann’s depiction of America’s economic and educational decline is accurate.

The political will of the radical right is more stubborn than ever. Not only do they want to defeat Health-Care Reform, they want to rid the country of any safety-net, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and any other “socialist” program. It’s all “socialism” or “communism” to them. . . “un-American.”

They hide their greed behind such noble causes as “individualism,” “patriotism,” “character & family values” and “national security,” but all the while their ultimate aim is the same. Proudly they wave the flag and claim to be the lead standard bearers for patriotism; all the while we recall they’re missing in action when it really counts; wealthy family ties shield them from risk. Only the rich initiate wars, mostly the poor fight them. The double standard of justice comes from obscene wealth. Principles can be compromised at a price. And so can religion, their primary weapon of choice.

In similar manner, they buy off religious organizations and congressmen, hire the best lobbyists, and manipulate enough voters through the religious system to change laws for their benefit. Their aim? To further concentrate the wealth and leave the rest of the country destitute if need be. Their “compassionate conservatism” is hypocrisy cloaked in a sound-bite.

In future years it will be written that the real enemy of our times was not communism or socialism (as many Tea-Baggers scream), but rather the re-emergence of a form of feudalism in alliance with theocracy or what The Family (“C-Street”) calls “Dominionism.” The Handmaid’s Tale was not too far off.

In place of mote-defended castles surrounded by thatched-roof shanties will be “gated communities” [sporting high-tech surveillance to keep the homeless and servant-class out] surrounded by metal trailer shanties housing 21st Century serfs. Recall “Hoovervilles”? The new shanty-towns should be aptly named “Bushvilles.” We’ve come a long way in 1,200 years or so. The TPJ Magazine

Faith Leaders Defend Families Facing Foreclosure

2009-12-17T17:48:00.000-05:00

The Parable of the Unmerciful Banker ~ Jim Wallis

This week, I joined a press conference with People Improving Communities through Organizing and the Center for Responsible Lending on the steps of the United States Treasury. The first three speakers were not the usual Washington talking heads. Instead, they were American homeowners who were losing their homes to foreclosure—a terrible thing that now happens to another American family every 13 seconds (6,600 per day). And a rapidly increasing number of them are now due not to subprime mortgages, but to the loss of employment. That’s what had happened to those who told their stories on Monday in Washington D.C. across from the White House and just down the street from the huge Bank of America and PNC Bank buildings.

Mercy Martinez began to cry as she spoke. She had saved for years and put $100,000 down to buy her first condo. Choking back tears, she recalled her meeting with the Countrywide Financial mortgage broker. “I had enough money for a traditional, 30-year fixed rate loan; but the loan servicer unethically tricked me into an adjustable rate loan that could put me in foreclosure at any moment.” Now she waits for the “time bomb” of her loan to explode, and when it does she will join the millions of Americans facing foreclosure. Mercy is not alone: in 2006, 61 percent of subprime borrowers were forced into mortgages more expensive and riskier than what they qualified for.

Meanwhile, inside the White House, the heads of the nation’s biggest banks and financial institutions were meeting with the president. They were told that since the American people had bailed them out, they now needed to do something for the American people by beginning to lend again and to agree to loan modification plans enabling homeowners not to lose everything. But so far, those admonitions are falling on deaf ears.

Indeed, I learned this week that the bonuses and extra compensation paid to the executives at the big banks are on track to exceed the 2007 level of $162 billion (even after some banks, like Goldman Sachs, have switched compensation packages away from cash and into stock bonuses). At the same time, the Center for Responsible Lending estimates that the bonus pool of just one of these big banks would have been enough money to prevent or significantly delay foreclosure for all 2.3 million people who lost their homes last year. And what about loan modifications to help homeowners stay in their homes? To date, Bank of America has agreed to fewer than 100 permanent home loan modifications. Amazing.

At the press conference, I pointed out the fundamental moral contradiction of this situation: Those whose behavior is most responsible for causing this economic crisis are being saved from failure and suffering by the American taxpayers, while those least responsible for causing this recession are now losing both jobs and homes — with no bailouts for them on the horizon. My friend Rev. Derrick Harkins made a point about “grace.” He suggested that in order to try to save the economy from a feared massive meltdown, some real grace was extended to the big banks; but they now seem unwilling to extend grace to anyone else. Does this sound like a gospel parable to you?

What it sounds like to me is a very bad morality play. We need a new national conversation about all this, a return to some basic values, and a moral recovery to accompany an economic recovery. We cannot go back to normal this time; we need a new normal. It’s time to change the script of this play. That is the only way all this suffering and pain can be redeemed.

Jim Wallis of Sojourners

(read more)

Deja Vu... Afghanistan/Vietnam

2009-12-08T21:29:00.009-05:00

When Our Leaders Fail to Lead,
We have to make them.

By David Korten

What David Korten learned from his experiences during the Vietnam War.

On Tuesday night [December 2, 2009], President Obama announced his decision to increase U.S. troop strength in Afghanistan. It was a tragic error. He specifically said that to compare Afghanistan with Vietnam is a misreading of history. In a way, I would have to agree. We ultimately left Vietnam in humiliation. Afghanistan is not comparable, because our prospects […]

(read more)

October 2009 Anti-war Demonstration in Boston

Something's Happening... but we don't know what it is

2009-12-02T14:10:00.002-05:00

Is Obama determined to follow the path of Lyndon Johnson? It seems that he has allowed the forces of the military industrial complex and the fear of being considered “weak” to control his decision making. This is disheartening to say the least. I want to believe that things will work out, but that's getting more and more difficult for me as I see us going further down the road to ruin.

The following is an article I read an article this morning about President Obama’s speech to the nation last night:

IMPERIAL BLUES By Robert Borosage

..."[O]ur troop commitment in Afghanistan cannot be open-ended -- because the nation that I am most interested in building is our own." —President Obama

But Afghanistan comes first?
President Obama made the best possible case for dispatching more troops to Afghanistan last night. But his speech left me with a haunting foreboding. Surely this is the way that great imperial powers decline. Their soldiers police the ends of the earth. There is always another enemy, always a threat—sometimes imagined, often real—that must be faced. And meanwhile, the productive economy declines, the rich live increasingly off investments abroad, the poor depend on public sustenance, the middle declines. No battle is so costly that it cannot be afforded; no battle so unimportant that the nation must not be mobilized. The soldiers become professionals, "volunteers" in our terms. The institutions of the Republic—the Congress, the Senate—are scorned, often deservedly so. The executive decides the questions of war and peace. The secret state expands. The country finds itself constantly at war. New presidents inherit the wars of their predecessors. They are faced not with deciding to go to war, but whether to accept defeat in one already in progress.

And slowly, the great power declines from the inside out. The wars are costly, running up national debts. Vital investments are put off. Schools decline. Sewers leak. For a long time, circuses distract from the spreading ruin. Other societies become productive centers, capturing the new industries. Some begin providing better education and support for their citizens. Their taxes, not drained by the cost of wars past and present, can be devoted to what we used to call "domestic improvements."

The escalation in Afghanistan, so inevitable, so logical, so thoughtfully considered, surely is but a chapter in this saga. The president committed the country to spend about $250 billion in Afghanistan over the next 18 months. For a wealthy country, this isn't a lot. We can afford it. We will chase the devil in South Waziristan. Our soldiers will repel the Taliban, providing a "breathing space" for a corrupt government whose writ barely reaches the outskirts of the capital city.

On Thursday, the President will convene a jobs summit. Already, his aides have sent out the word that deficits will limit what can be done. Or as the head of the president's Council of Economic Advisers, Christine Roemer, "Given the budget deficits this administration inherited, it is critical to leverage scarce public funds."

The collapse of revenues at the state and local level will force states to make cuts and layoffs that are projected to cost another 900,000 jobs over the next year. But more aid to the states and localities, unpopular in the polls, is apparently not on the president's agenda. Anyone traveling in America runs into the growing costs of our aging and outmoded infrastructure, from collapsing bridges to exploding sewer pipes, to slow trains on bad tracks, to schools in such disrepair that they pose dangers to the students. But a bold program of investment in our infrastructure is considered a bridge too far.

Far worse in many ways than the money squandered on wars abroad is the attention consumed, the values distorted. This president understands that Americans are focused on the economic troubles here at home. In his speech last night, he argued "as we end the war in Iraq and transition to Afghan responsibility, we must rebuild our strength here at home. Our prosperity provides a foundation for our power. It pays for our military. It underwrites our diplomacy. It taps the potential of our people and allows investment in new industry. And it will allow us to compete in this century as successfully as we did in the last."

Note the order of priority. Our "strength here at home" is needed because it (1) is the foundation of our power; (2) pays for our military; (3) underwrites our diplomacy. It also taps the potential of our people and allows us to compete globally. Stunningly absent in that martial list is any sense of creating a society that has eradicated hunger and poverty, that has secured the American dream for its citizens.

This attention disorder undermines our security as well. Next week the president will travel to Copenhagen, where he will boldly call for setting standards on carbon emissions, in essence promising to deliver a Congress that is not nearly ready to make that commitment. This president, more than any other, has the vision and the capacity to rally this country to meet the real security challenge posed by catastrophic climate change and to grasp the vital economic opportunity of leading the impending green industrial revolution. The speech to the cadets of West Point might have dramatically made that national security case, begun a campaign to run up to the Copenhagen global summit and culminated in a Nobel Peace Prize address that framed the new challenge. Instead, the president had little choice but to focus his attention and his speech on Afghanistan, with critics already accusing him of dithering, daring to question the generals' "requirements."

This is a very rich country, despite the years of conservative misrule. But even wealthy countries must choose. We can afford to police the word—to sustain 800 bases across the globe, to station troops in Korea, in Japan, in Bosnia, in Europe, fight wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, sustain fleets to police the seas.
In his speech, the president called us to that mission:

"The struggle against violent extremism will not be finished quickly, and it extends well beyond Afghanistan and Pakistan... unlike the great power conflicts and clear lines of division that defined the 20th century, our effort will involve disorderly regions and diffuse enemies.... We will have to be nimble and precise in our use of military power. Where al-Qaida and its allies attempt to establish a foothold—whether in Somalia or Yemen or elsewhere they must be confronted by growing pressure and strong partnerships."

South Waziristan, Yemen, Somalia, Kosovo, the Taiwan straits, the North Korean border, the seven seas—we can do this. But the result is that we are continually at war. And the wars cost—in money, in lives, in attention. Inevitably, domestic priorities, as well as emerging security threats that have no military answers, get ignored. A rich country, Adam Smith wrote, has a lot of ruin in it. We seem intent on testing the limits of that proposition.

Amen to that! Now... what can we do? Those of us who voted for Obama expected better from him and he needs to hear from us. You can call the White House at (202) 456-1111 or e-mail the president with your thoughts on what he is doing.

You Are Funding the 21st Century Crusade

2009-11-30T17:49:00.000-05:00

The Jew from Kuwait

2009-11-26T20:18:00.006-05:00

Every once in a while there is a glimmer of hope that somehow there can possibly be peace in the Middle East. One of those came when I read the story of The Jew from Kuwait, the story of a modern secular Muslim who discovered his long-hidden Jewish roots. It's about time that the children of Abraham really examined their shared obligation to peace and stop demonizing one another.

Isn't it possible that both sides have been failing to see the true nature of the conflict? There are young, Arab Jews who have a very different perspective on exactly what it means to be a Zionist and, just maybe, if they can make their voices heard by enough people, things can turn around.
Let's hope so.

Check out this video and then read more.

AMA Ends 72-Year Policy, Says Marijuana has Medical Benefits

2009-11-23T21:40:00.000-05:00

HOUSTON --- The American Medical Association (AMA) voted today to reverse its long-held position that marijuana be retained as a Schedule I substance with no medical value. The AMA adopted a report drafted by the AMA Council on Science and Public Health (CSAPH) entitled, "Use of Cannabis for Medicinal Purposes," which affirmed the therapeutic benefits of marijuana and called for further research. The CSAPH report concluded that, "short term controlled trials indicate that smoked cannabis reduces neuropathic pain, improves appetite and caloric intake especially in patients with reduced muscle mass, and may relieve spasticity and pain in patients with multiple sclerosis." Furthermore, the report urges that "the Schedule I status of marijuana be reviewed with the goal of facilitating clinical research and development of cannabinoid-based medicines, and alternate delivery methods."

The change of position by the largest physician-based group in the country was precipitated in part by a resolution adopted in June of 2008 by the Medical Student Section (MSS) of the AMA in support of the reclassification of marijuana's status as a Schedule I substance. In the past year, the AMA has considered three resolutions dealing with medical marijuana, which also helped to influence the report and its recommendations. The AMA vote on the report took place in Houston, Texas during the organization's annual Interim Meeting of the House of Delegates. The last AMA position, adopted 8 years ago, called for maintaining marijuana as a Schedule I substance, with no medical value.

"It's been 72 years since the AMA has officially recognized that marijuana has both already-demonstrated and future-promising medical utility," said Sunil Aggarwal, Ph.D., the medical student who spearheaded both the passage of the June 2008 resolution by the MSS and one of the CSAPH report's designated expert reviewers. "The AMA has written an extensive, well-documented, evidence-based report that they are seeking to publish in a peer-reviewed journal that will help to educate the medical community about the scientific basis of botanical cannabis-based medicines." Aggarwal is also on the Medical & Scientific Advisory Board of Americans for Safe Access (ASA), the largest medical marijuana advocacy organization in the U.S.

The AMA's about face on medical marijuana follows an announcement by the Obama Administration in October discouraging U.S. Attorneys from taking enforcement actions in medical marijuana states. In February 2008, a resolution was adopted by the American College of Physicians (ACP), the country's second largest physician group and the largest organization of doctors of internal medicine. The ACP resolution called for an "evidence-based review of marijuana's status as a Schedule I controlled substance to determine whether it should be reclassified to a different schedule. "The two largest physician groups in the U.S. have established medical marijuana as a health care issue that must be addressed," said ASA Government Affairs Director Caren Woodson. "Both organizations have underscored the need for change by placing patients above politics."

Though the CSAPH report has not been officially released to the public, AMA documentation indicates that it: "(1) provides a brief historical perspective on the use of cannabis as medicine; (2) examines the current federal and state-based legal envelope relevant to the medical use of cannabis; (3) provides a brief overview of our current understanding of the pharmacology and physiology of the endocannabinoid system; (4) reviews clinical trials on the relative safety and efficacy of smoked cannabis and botanical-based products; and (5) places this information in perspective with respect to the current drug regulatory framework."

Further information:
Executive Summary of AMA Report

American College of Physicians resolution

See a state-by-state list of the effects of marijuana legislation.

THC Ministry

America: Freedom to Fascism

2009-11-12T17:39:00.006-05:00

Did You Know?
1. No section of the Internal Revenue Code establishes a liabilty for the income tax.

Section 5005 establishes a tax liability for the distillation and importation of distilled spirits; Section 5703 establishes a tax liability on the manufacture and importation of tobacco products and cigarette papers; Section 4374 creates a liability for the tax on policies issued by foreign insurers; Section 4401(c) establishes a liability for the tax on accepting wagers; Section 5043 establishes a liability for the tax on wines.

2. The general term "income" is not defined in the Internal Revenue Code.
U.S. v. Ballard 535 F2d 400

The Internal Revenue Code defines 'Gross Income' (Section 61), 'Ordinary Income' (Section 65), Adjusted Gross Income (Section 62), Taxable Income (Section 63), 'Earned Income' (Sec. 32). It does not define 'income'.

3. "Our system of taxation is based upon voluntary assessment and payment, not upon distraint."
Flora v. United States, 362 U.S. 145, pg 176

4. "The IRS' primary task is to collect taxes under a voluntary compliance system." (emphasis added)
Jerome Kurtz, Internal Revenue Annual Report, 1980

5. "Our tax system is based on individual self-assessment and voluntary compliance." (emphasis added)
Mortimer Caplin, Internal Revenue Audit Manual, 1975

6. "Each year American taxpayers voluntarily file their tax returns and make a special efort to pay the taxes they owe." - Johnnie M. Walters, Internal revenue 1040 Booklet, 1971

7. "Your income tax is 100 percent voluntary tax, and your liquor tax is 100 percent enforced tax. Now the situation is as different as day and night." (See footnote 1)

8. "An individual taxpayer may refuse to exhibit his/her books and records for examination on the ground that compelling him to do so might violate his/her right against self-incrimination under the Fifth Amendment and constitute an illegal search and seizure under the Fourth Amendment." (italics added) - Handbook for Special Agents

9. "...warrantless entrys into the private premises of a person by the Internal revenue Service for the purpose of seizing property to satisfy a tax liability is a violation of that person's reasonable expectation of privacy under the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution. Before levies or seizures of property located on private premises are made, permission of the occupant of the premises on which the seizure is to take place must be obtained. If the occupant refuses to permit the entry the matter should be referred to District Counsel so that a court order authorizing the entry may be obtained."

G.M. Leasing Corp. v. United States, 429 U.S. 338

FOOTNOTES:

1) This statement was made by then head of the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax Division of the IRS. It was made under oath in testimony given to the House of Representatives' Subcommittee of the Committee on Ways and Means, Eighty-Third Congress, First Session, Part A, 1953

Americans are starting to wake up to the startling idea that they have since 1913 been the victims of a massive fraud perpetrated by the federal government and private financial interests. Filmmaker Aaron Russo directed a thorough investigation into the creation of the Federal Reserve and the controversial legislation (or lack thereof) that requires American citizens to pay income taxes. In his film, "America: Freedom to Fascism," Russo interviewed key members of Congress, a former IRS Commissioner, tax attorneys, agents from the IRS and FBI, and various authors demystifying federal income tax and the creation of money.

Exposing the truth about the federal income tax is the goal of such organizations as Tax Honesty. They are engaging in acts of civil disobedience among other tactics to alert Americans to the fact that there is indeed no law requiring Americans to pay taxes on their income. In fact, there is not even a definition of the word “income” anywhere in the tax code! For those of us who have been living in fear of the IRS, there is logical and reasonable evidence that you don't owe any tax at all to the federal government and that the brunt of taxation was reserved for corporations, not individual wage earners.

It’s about time for a little honesty about the federal income tax as we try to regain our liberty as citizens. However, we may also be aware that it will not be easy, nor will it be painless. America is now under the control of “fascists” declared Russo in this interview shortly before his controversial death after making his film. He correctly argued that the popular understanding of fascism is incorrect and that the definition given by Mussolini, termed “corporatism,” is more apt as the partnership between government and corporations against the people.

Listen as Aaron Russo discusses his film and what he discovered:

Watch the film "America: Freedom to Fascism" and recommend it to your friends.

Don't stand on the sidelines; come help to restore the republic!

Anthem

2009-11-09T20:44:00.000-05:00

On a day like this when all the world seems steeped in darkness, I need a song... not just any song, but one that has the power of truth behind it. Listen to this song and feel the truth of our situation in the world today. Grieve for the way things are, but rejoice for the possibility of a new awakening and a new birth of the sacred among us, the living.
In the final analysis, it's up to us. Before we can transform the world, we must transform ourselves... to do that, we must acknowledge the truth about ourselves and the world. We will never be perfect, but we can be human. That's what it's all about anyway.

ANTHEM
by Leonard Cohen

The birds they sang
at the break of day
Start again
I heard them say
Don't dwell on what
has passed away
or what is yet to be.

Ah the wars they will
be fought again
The holy dove
She will be caught again
bought and sold
and bought again
the dove is never free.

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.

We asked for signs
the signs were sent:
the birth betrayed
the marriage spent
Yeah the widowhood
of every government --
signs for all to see.

I can't run no more
with that lawless crowd
while the killers in high places
say their prayers out loud.
But they've summoned, they've summoned up
a thundercloud
and they're going to hear from me.

Ring the bells that still can ring ...

You can add up the parts
but you won't have the sum
You can strike up the march,
there is no drum
Every heart, every heart
to love will come
but like a refugee.

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.
That's how the light gets in.
That's how the light gets in.

Painful Deceptions

2009-11-06T09:46:00.000-05:00

At the risk of being called a "conspiracy theorist," I submit that there are still far too many unanswered questions in regards to the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The explanations given by the 9/11 Commission fail to address a number of anomolies in the scientific data about the collapse of the towers as well as significant inconsistencies in statements made by government officials charged with either the investigation of or the prevention of this attack. We owe it to ourselves as American citizens to arouse ourselves from the torpor we have fallen into and once again be vigilant in our quest to know the truth about what has been and is now happening in our country. We must get to the bottom of this crime and see to it that its perpetrators are prosecuted in a court of law as should have been done long ago. We must not allow ourselves to be lulled to sleep or distracted by those who would lead us into a false sense of security or by those who play upon our fears in order to execute their own nefarious and cynical agendas. Come on people, wake up to the painful deception that has been foisted upon us!

Our Island Planet and the Interdependent Web of Life

2009-11-01T21:07:00.000-05:00

I was born and raised in McDowell County, West Virginia… heart of the Pocahontas Coal fields and the scene of some of the most terrible ravages against both humanity and nature that anyone has ever experienced. From the poverty and ignorance of a society held in thrall by greed and exploitation at the hands of those whose quest for ever increasing riches through the despoiling of the land and its people, I stand before you today, disheartened at what I saw in West Virginia, yet oddly enough, encouraged.

Though the land of my birth has been strip-mined, its streams polluted and its people left destitute, there are signs of a new awakening to what has been done and a very real desire to atone for the past. The people of Appalachia are starting to wake up to the damage that has been done and are trying to reverse it. For that, I am encouraged and hopeful.

As a young man, I moved to Hawaii, a fabled land of beautiful sunsets and rainbows, of tropical beaches and scenic vistas famous around the world. In the thirty years that I lived in Hawaii, it became obvious that there was another Hawaii, hidden from the view of most Americans and others who came to enjoy themselves amid the sandy beaches and balmy air. The native people of Hawaii have been victimized and their culture prostituted for the sake of greed. There is poverty and homelessness, ignorance and oppression, pollution of the waters and over-fishing of the sea.
Hawaii has suffered greatly and I have witnessed it first-hand as I did in West Virginia. Yet, here too are signs for hope.

The native people of Hawaii, the Kanaka Maoli, have begun the struggle for self-determination and control of their lands… the struggle to once again have their cultural values be the determining factor in how their most precious asset, the land itself is treated, not as a commodity to be bought, sold and abused, but as the very source and sustainer of life itself. The Hawaiian people are very aware of the fact that they occupy only a tiny speck of land in the middle of a vast sea… their island home is all they have and they know that if they are to survive, they must care for it.

They learned this lesson long ago, when, after crossing the Pacific in their open canoes, they discovered this fertile garden with all they needed to sustain them… it was truly a garden. This lesson however was lost on those who later on stumbled across this garden and saw it not as a living system, not as a precious giver and sustainer of life, but only another resource to be plundered. That has been for too long our way.

This must change for we realize that we too live on an island. Our planet earth is literally an island oasis in a vast and limitless cosmos. It is the ONLY place we know of that harbors life as we know it. It has been our cradle and may soon be our grave unless we alter our perspectives on it and realize the truth in the words of Chief Seattle: “Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.” Still, in order to see this picture, it is necessary to step back and look at it from a distance. In fact, it’s the only way that we can see it as it really is. We forget how small our island planet is and how vast the distances among the stars, before we might find any place remotely possible for us to inhabit.

As a teenager, I remember watching in fascination as Neil Armstrong walked on the moon in 1969. The images were broadcast on television to millions of people around the world. I still remember the pictures of the earth as seen from the moon, a beautiful blue and white ball suspended in space. For once, we were able to step back from our far too close up view of the world and were able to see it for what it really is, an island planet “hanging on nothing” as it moves through space.

Despite our seeming disconnect to all things natural and this bigger view, we are not separate from, but are an integral part of the web of all life on this planet. When you look at the earth from a distance, there are no national border lines, there are no racial, religious, political or social divisions… only a ball of rock, ice and water with its myriad life forms all interdependently connected, none able to survive without the others.

When we see this view of our island planet, we merely see “home.” Those astronauts who have gone into space and seen, not merely photographs of our island planet, have come back transformed, with a new perspective that has changed their lives. Their descriptions of the earth as seen from space reflect an understanding of the interdependent web of existence and the fragile nature of life in a way that few others can share.

"Our planet is our spaceship," said NASA astronaut Sandra Magnus, after returning from spending about 4 ½ months on the space station. Speaking at an Earth Day celebration, she had this to say: “…it’s very easy to take it for granted when we’re living on it, when it seems so big and so massive. But it's not. It's very small and very fragile."

She had returned with a new perspective on her home planet. “When you look out the window (of the space station), you notice how incredibly thin our atmosphere is, how such a fragile shell of air surrounds our planet and makes it habitable. You can read that in a book, but until you see it, it doesn’t strike home.” Magnus went on to say that when a person gazes at the Earth, there is a sense that humanity and all life as we know it are completely dependent on a single planet and its thin atmosphere. "It makes you think about our planet as a whole system," Magnus said. "We're all there together living together as human beings and other organisms and we have to take care of each other."

We, as a society, have indeed forgotten this view of the earth. I can think of few better reasons to support the space program… to make sure that we, especially now, are reminded of the vastness of the cosmos and the fragility of that little blue dot seen from the Voyager mission as it turned its camera earthward from a distance of 4 billion miles. When you get home, do a quick Google search for the pictures I’m talking about and you’ll see what the astronauts were talking about and the way it changed their perspectives. It is, in fact, only a tiny island moving through an immense universe… our birthplace… our home… a home that we share with every other living thing, in fact the ONLY living things that we know to exist in all the vastness of space. It’s just us… our tiny planet… and life is fragile.

What we do to the earth and to other species, we ultimately do to ourselves. That is why it is so imperative that we not merely respect the independent web of existence, but make this respect something real in terms of action, not only on the personal and local level, but in policies and laws on a global scale.

We must not be forced to explore the universe in search of a new home because we have made the Earth inhospitable, even uninhabitable. For if we do not solve the environmental and related social problems that beset us on Earth - pollution, toxic contamination, resource depletion, prejudice, poverty, hunger - those problems will surely accompany us to other worlds.

The people of our planet, especially we Americans, instead focus on trivialities while this big picture eludes us. We focus on a small view of life on this planet… largely seeing and caring about only those things that affect us as individuals. Despite pictures of polar bears adrift on ever shrinking ice flows in the Arctic, despite the evidence of storms of ever increasing intensity, despite the evidence of our eyes and our ears, we’re all too easily lulled back to sleep by the seduction of our consumer oriented lifestyles. Many of us even argue that we’re not being affected, that the problems environmentalists warn us about aren’t even “real.” Meanwhile the environmental and climatic crises are fast approaching catastrophic proportions.

Indeed, recent scientific data shows that we may well have already reached the “tipping point” when it comes to carbon dioxide in our atmosphere, the driving force behind climate change. The “safe” level for human beings is known to be 350 parts per million, but we have now reached a level of 387 parts per million. I’m no scientist, but I do know that we need to notice this and, if possible, do something now.

We have serious problems and we need serious people to solve them. But the magnitude of the crises facing us, and the literally global consequences of the decisions we make in response to those crises, are rapidly moving toward a critical mass. We must find the political and social will to do the very hard things that need to be done very quickly if there is, literally, to be a tomorrow for our species.

We cannot afford to waste any more time seeking purely “market driven” solutions. It’s clear that we can no longer drag our feet when it comes to making the serious changes we need to make and to wait until a more financially feasible way is found. To quote Willy Nelson’s character in the film Stage Coach, “I never saw a dead man who cared about money.” That statement may well be about us as a human species.

In our desire for more and more consumption, more and more economic growth, more and more things, we have despoiled what we have been given stewardship over. We have defiled the land with pollution and strip mining, we have defiled the oceans with our wastes and over-fishing; we have defiled the air we breathe. The earth is no longer a garden. It has become a grave.

However, may I remind you of something we rarely consider? Even if we do find ourselves extinct as a species, life on this planet will go on… without us. There will be survivors just as there were in the other mass extinctions that our planet has experienced over the millions of years of its existence. Life will go on. I don’t just mean Keith Richards or cockroaches, either. There will be other species that survive the catastrophe. Sooner or later, given the millions of years available, another species may arise, one that understands a simple maxim: “Ignorance can be cured, but stupidity is usually fatal.”

Let us not be stupid. Let us beware, lest we, through our inattention to proper stewardship for this planet, find ourselves facing a radically different world than we envisioned for our descendants. Even if we as a species survive, the prospects of the world we will be leaving those generations that come after us appear bleak indeed.

Still, there is room for hope. We are moving toward, I believe, an ever-greater maturity in relation to our world, and in relation to our religious community's responsibility in that world. We are finally beginning to grasp what we mean when we speak of “respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.”

People are starting to wake up to the realities of our situation and are taking steps to do something about it. People of faith need to be and have been part of that waking up process. The seventh of our Unitarian Universalist Principles says that we “Covenant to affirm and promote… respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.” Clearly understanding the need for putting this principle into action, in 2006, the Unitarian Universalist General Assembly adopted a Statement of Conscience on Climate Change; it reads in part:

“Earth is our home. We are part of this world and its destiny is our own. Life on this planet will be gravely affected unless we embrace new practices, ethics, and values to guide our lives on a warming planet. As Unitarian Universalist, how can our faith inform our actions to remedy and mitigate global warming/climate change? We declare by this Statement of Conscience that we will not acquiesce to the ongoing degradation and destruction of life that human actions are leaving to our children and grandchildren. We as Unitarian Universalists are called to join with others to halt practices that fuel global warming/climate change, to instigate sustainable alternatives, and to mitigate the impending effects of global warming/climate change with just and ethical responses. As a people of faith, we commit to a renewed reverence for life and respect for the interdependent web of all existence.”

These are, indeed, fine words. The entire document is long and lists some very specific actions that we as individuals, congregations and as a denomination can take. You can find the whole list on the UUA website so I won’t burden you with reading it all. But, for now let this statement of conscience be a reminder of the urgency of the situation and the attitude that we, as a people of faith must exhibit.

We are called to become instruments of change. We are being called to publicly stand up and lend our voices and our actions in support of a new approach to our island planet. We are being called to build a sustainable world. We are being called to make peace with nature, to reverse the destructive effects of what we have already done to our world and to find ways to repair the web of life in those ways that we can.

It is up to us, the present generation to respond to this crisis… not because we have done it all, but because we are the first generation to become aware of the crisis that we as a people have brought about. We stand at the crossroads. Future generations will look back at our time and see it as either what David Korten calls “the Great Turning,” when we chose to turn around as a people and actually practice respect for the interdependent web of existence, or they will see this as the moment in time when we failed in our duty to life on our world.

We are being called to lend our voices to those other voices around the world. We are lending our voices to the cry of our descendants for a livable planet and an end to the delaying tactics and gradualism in favor of concerted action aimed at reducing greenhouse gasses and restoring levels to a more sustainable level.

We must let this day not be an end, merely another sermon, but a beginning as we collectively and individually demand effective change in global policy about climate change. It is imperative that we do so, especially in light of the failure of the United States to sign the Kyoto Protocol on climate change in the last international effort. This is something we should never again tolerate. Let us not waste time being ashamed of our collective inaction on Kyoto. We now turn toward the future, hopeful that a new day is dawning for us all.

This December in Copenhagen, there will once again be international talks aimed at a treaty that will curb global warming and control carbon dioxide emissions. If this can be accomplished, it will begin a transformation from the business as usual approach, it can be a powerful moment in world history. The threat of climate change is so great, and impacts so many countries, that collective action is now required. An effective treaty in Copenhagen would show that the international community can get beyond their individual differences and take common action for the common good of all nations that share this fragile world of ours.

And if we can come together on a solution to an issue as complicated as climate change, think of what else might suddenly seem possible? We might truly begin to create the world that we dream of. We might well find ourselves once again viewing our world as a garden rather than a grave.
We may finally as a human family decide that the ignorance, poverty and oppression faced by so many of our fellow beings can no longer be tolerated. We may finally come to realize that human rights are important not only in the abstract, but in reality… that we are indeed “caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in single garment of destiny.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. was absolutely right when he suggested that “there are some things in our social system to which all of us ought to be maladjusted.” Let the naysayers call us "liberals,"“environmental nuts,” let them call us “tree huggers,” let them call us what they will. Future generations will call us people who did not sit idly by… we were activists in the best sense of the word. Remember that “an activist is not the one who announces the river is dirty. An activist is the one who helps clean it up.” We are beginning to do just that.

Let us make certain that our representatives face the upcoming talks in Copenhagen with a sense of urgency, with a will to actually do the hard work it takes to turn things around while we still can. Let us no longer allow our nation or any nation to recklessly endanger the interdependent web of life by refusing to act responsibly… to recognize that none of us are exempt to the consequences of our actions or inactions.

As Chief Seattle, so eloquently said:
“This we know. The earth does not belong to us; we belong to the earth.
This we know. All things are connected like the blood which unites one family. All things are interconnected. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons and daughters of the earth. We did not weave the web of life; we are merely a strand in it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.”

Indeed, the Earth IS our only homeland… an opal strung in space. Let us do all we can to change our destructive ways and treat it with the care it deserves… so that for generations to come it will be a home for us all. We all share this island planet and bear responsibility for not only it, but each other. Not one of us can stand aside separate… no individual, no city, no nation. “Our world truly is one world; what touches one affects us all.” The earth was given to us as a garden; it can be so again if only we have the will to make it so. We can either take the bigger view or not. The choice is ours.

Shalom, Amen, Blessed Be and Aloha

The Clash Between Faith and Reason

2009-10-29T14:48:00.001-04:00

Admittedly, I've never been a big proponent of "faith," especially blind faith. Nor do I think that any of us can use pure "reason" as a basis for living. The subject is not as simple as most would have us believe... usually one side or the other feels far too dogmatically about their own perspective to make any dialogue really possible.
Any discussion of the topic is usually a waste of time with most people because of their preconceived ideas about what it means or does not mean to "have faith." The same can be said of the use of "reason." Are the two completely at odds with one another? What is the difference between religion and spirituality? Can an atheist have a spiritual or mystical experience?
Sam Harris is one of the rare people who can discuss such matters in open forum in a well-reasoned yet accessible way that allows even "believers," if they are honest, to see that in many ways their religious beliefs are not only incompatible with rationality, but are positively detrimental. Needless to say, some of these beliefs can be wildly entertaining, but nonetheless far from reasonable as a basis for either living one's life or for the running of a society. Still, there are those who try.
In this video, Harris addresses the clash between faith and reason quite well. Though a bit long (about 60 minutes), it is best viewed in its entirety to fully understand his rationale and perhaps give you a different perspective on the differences between atheism, theism, non-theism, deism, agnosticism, and even apatheism!

Islamic Declaration of Human Rights?

2009-10-28T22:45:00.000-04:00

Let's revisit the whole concept of human rights violations... what does that look like under Sharia Law? Whose rights might continue to be violated?
Pat Condell has some choice words of warning, especially for America.

Al Franken Slap Down on Socialized Medicine Critic

2009-10-26T11:54:00.002-04:00

Al Franken, like many Americans, is sick and tired of listening to conservatives throw up strawman arguments about health care reform intended to scare Americans into accepting 47 million uninsured fellow citizens, increasing out-of-pocket costs and skyrocketing personal bankruptcies due to health care costs--all the while decrying "socialized" medicine. Below, he schools Diana Furchtgott-Roth of the Hudson Institute--which until recently employed disgraced health care "analyst" and serial liar Betsy McCaughey on how people in other "socialized" countries don't go bankrupt trying to stay alive.