Prayerforce Blog - Christianity and Modern Life

The Power of Witness

2007-06-19T14:31:00.000-04:00

In this video, Peter Gabriel talks about how people can be tortured, raped, and hacked to death, yet have their stories denied, buried and forgotten -

unless they are captured on video.

His program, Witness works to put cameras - and now mobile phones - into the hands of human rights workers around the world so that people can see the truth of what's happening to real people - real men, women and children - across the Globe.

Yet, these terrible injustices are not just occurring in Third World countries.

Life-wrecking abuse and injustice is alive and well in the U.S., in our fields and slaughterhouses.

For instance, in Florida, migrant workers are locked up, cheated out of pay, robbed of their names, stacked 10 to a room. It's modern day slavery in which immigrants have become a 20th century slave class, used and thrown away and scapegoated by business and politicians alike while being labeled as "aliens," "illegals" and "criminals."

Will we continue to turn away from their suffering? Will we be like the apostle who denied Christ? Remember what Christ said: that how we treat the least of our brothers is how we treat Him.

See this video in which Gabriel hopes that, through awareness, we can respond with compassion and reach for the Light.

As Horace Mann wrote:

Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.

What can you do?

1) Contribute what you can to Witness.

2) Don't be afraid to speak up against those who advocate for oppression and apathy.

3) Affirm this world is being transformed through awareness and empathy, compassion and activism, and through bringing the Light of God's Love here, on earth, to right the wrongs.

The problems of the world have a human face. Make it your business to look into it.

Destitute, afflicted, tormented. Hebrews 11:37

To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is a sin. James 4:17

I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened: But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality. 2 Corinthians 8:13, 14

Targeting Immigration: Immoral Politics

2007-06-17T16:20:00.000-04:00

The article, Impounded Fathers gives us stories of human suffering, stories like that of the immigrant father from Honduras who was imprisoned, then deported from the U.S. after a routine traffic stop in Miami.

Forced to leave his wife behind - who was also detained by immigration officials - he also was forced to leave his 5- and 7-year-old sons behind, who were placed in foster care.

Not understanding what had happened, the boys, when they were taken to visit their mother in jail, asked why their father had abandoned them. Realizing that the only way to reunite his family was to allow his children to be expatriated to Honduras, the father resigned himself to this, only to get caught up in a custody fight with American immigration officials who have threatened to keep the boys permanently in foster care on the premise that their parents abandoned them.

And thus are hard working people - who have slaved in this country as farmhands in our fields and butchers in our slaughterhouses, low paid assemblers in our factories and lower paid janitors - dehumanized and abused.

Ah, but this kind of heartless goose-stepping is only getting rid of about 18,000 people a year. We have 12 million immigrants to dispose of. If we aren't going to grant them amnesty and citizenship, then what do those who hate these people (and they are people with hearts and souls and hopes and dreams) propose to do about it once we lock them in?

As Lawrence Downes writes in 'Silent Amnesty': Where The Hard Right Goes Soft On Immigration :

Once we lock down the southern border, we lock ourselves in with 12 million illegal immigrants. Let’s assume we don’t want to deport them all, with a forced-resettlement program big enough to empty the state of Ohio. If we don’t want another Trail of Tears and don’t want anybody legalized, we will have to get rid of these people some other way.

This is where the rigor of the right turns to mush. Mr. Romney talks as tough as anyone about securing the borders and despising amnesty. He is proud of the way he tried to heap layers of misery on illegal immigrants when he was governor of Massachusetts. He calls the legalization provisions of the Senate bill utterly unacceptable. But he has laid out no alternative.

Why not? Why have Mr. Romney and all the hard, hardhearted radical "right" politicans - who are so, terribly, awfully wrong - not proposed some final way to "get rid" of our "illegals?"

1) Because their policies, taken to their extreme, are inhuman. There is no solution, not unless we wish to be the next Nazi Germany, building concentration camps and ovens for an American-style "Final Solution."

2) Despite whether the vehement hate expressed by politicians against immigrants is real or affected, it's a paper tiger: a political wedge used to manipulate votes. Although these politicians may pander to Neo-Nazis who might jump on a "Final Solution" bandwagon, their real goal is the maintainance of a confused immigration policy that creates a scapegoat, that forces immigrants to skulk around underground in order that they (the hard right politicians) have someone to kick around before elections.

3) Our economy, since our inception, has been built on the backs of slaves. While slavery is no longer legal, our immigration laws have been designed - purposefully - to bring us the next best thing: a powerless, voteless, cowed class of low paid workers unable to unionize, for fear of deportation. The system we have didn't happen by accident. It's desired by those who make higher profits because of it.

4) If we undertook mass deportations, our entire country would become a nation of spies dedicated to emptying itself of the very people who keep it going. At the very least, with our fields and slaughterhouses empty of workers, the nation would starve.

To treat people like objects, to hate and despise people while exploiting them should not be an American value.

I pray God no one thinks it is a Christian value.

Evil: The Absence of Truth

2007-06-13T09:12:00.000-04:00

Charlie Rose interview: Al Gore on the need for truth

M. Scott Peck, the author of The Road Less Traveled wrote: "Evil is the absence of truth."

If so, the United States of America is in the grip of evil, because truth has been replaced by lies, conjecture, gross commercialism, a rejection of science and the reduction of political questions to a matter of "spin."

No one can seriously deny that "spin" is the substance of our discourse today.

Even the idea that the earth is only 6,000 years old has gotten enough media attention and "spin" so that those few who insist on trying to lower every other Christian to their level of ignorance, are gaining ground in what should be a joke, not a debate.

As Michael Patrick Leahy, editor of the Christian on-line publication Christian Faith and Reason writes:

"The premise [of the earth being 6000 years old] worked well for The Flintstones cartoon show, but has zero credibility within the scientific community in general and the Christian scientific community in particular. Most Christians, and almost all Christians who work as scientists are 'Theistic Evolutionists.'"

Yet, we can call upon no one to remedy this but ourselves. Blaming others - fearing others - is a waste of time and feeds the beast.

American monk Thomas Merton wrote: “There is no use in our being upset by weakness and sin in anyone, we are all in the same boat…” and we are “…responsible to everyone for everything.” He urged, instead, that we “…come to terms with what is inmost in our own selves,” be someone “…who identifies himself with the sinful and suffering world in order to call down God’s blessing upon it,” and “…take upon oneself all the guilt.”

[Quotes: "Striving Toward Being, The Letters of Thomas Merton and Czeslaw Milosz," November 9, 1960, p. 98, p. 39; "Contemplative Prayer," p. 30, para. 3, s. 2; p. 31, para. 1, s. 1.; "Striving Toward Being, The Letters of Thomas Merton and Czeslaw Milosz," September 12, 1959, p. 55.]

Merton is correct. So how do we take responsibility? Start by watching this must-see interview of Al Gore by Charlie Rose in which they talk about how fragile our democracy has become, and what our response must be.

Our democracy is in peril because the public forum has been filled with banality and exploitative messages designed to sell products, confuse us, and grab our attention from what matters.

There is no longer any effort to lay out the pros and cons to an argument during "news" segments. Everything reported is "spin" - sound bites and "campaigns" to sell ideas. Facts and evidence no longer matter, as they once did in our republic. The most effective and well financed campaign succeeds in selling a course of action, no matter how flawed.

For instance, before the War in Iraq began, Senator Robert Byrd speaking to a near empty Senate, raised intelligent - and accurate - objections to the invasion. But no one was there, no one was interested in the facts - not the Senate, not the media, not the American people.

I remember that time and how, to simply mention the facts or raise questions about the wisdom of going to war, was met with angry faces and charges of being "a traitor" or "pro-terrorist."

I wrote an op-ed piece at that time arguing against the war and read it to my critique group. Not one person even heard the quality of the writing itself. They didn't give an actual critique. Instead, the men - who had gotten red in the face and were furious - condemned my ideas. Their "critique" consisted of generalizations they had been fed by the administration and parroted by the media, after which they claimed I "didn't understand."

The last four years and the debacle that has unfolded has shown that they were the ones who did not have a firm grasp on the facts.

How did that happen?

Through the use of Republican think tanks, strategists, marketers and lots of money, a skillfully crafted campaign of emotion manipulation was produced to embed the message within us that war was what we wanted - and what we needed.

As Bill Moyers said, in his speech to the National Conference For Media Reform:

"'In Orwell’s 1984, the character Syme, one of the writers of that totalitarian society’s dictionary, explains to the protagonist Winston, 'Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? Has it ever occurred to you, Winston, that by the year 2050, at the very latest, not a single human being will be alive who could understand such a conversation as we are having now? The whole climate of thought will be different. In fact there will be no thought, as we understand it now. Orthodoxy means not thinking — not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness.'

An unconscious people, an indoctrinated people, a people fed only on partisan information and opinion that confirm their own bias, a people made morbidly obese in mind and spirit by the junk food of propaganda, is less inclined to put up a fight, to ask questions and be skeptical. That kind of orthodoxy can kill a democracy — or worse." ~ Bill Moyers

Over 3000 American families have lost their loved ones - with tens of thousands grieving over the injuries sustained by those who have come back maimed - because that kind of media control works - and worked in 2002 - 2003 when those messages, promoting war, were broadcast thousands of times by FOX, and by every other network who had gotten the message from this administration that to try to present the facts would insure those networks lost money and lost their seat at the news table. By design, no alternative voice was heard.

Gore quotes Andrew Card who, in a moment of unusual candor before the 2002 elections, answered a question about the timing of the media campaign to build support to invade Iraq as follows: "well, when you have a new product to launch, it's customary to start your campaign after Labor Day."

So the war in Iraq was a product launched. Imagine. A product that has killed so many and destroyed a country. And many are still buying it.

As Jonathan Mermin says, “In other words if the government isn’t talking about it, we [the news media] don’t report it.”

We tolerate this. Not only that, but we parrot how all the lives will have been wasted if we withdraw. Is this not a tragedy? That we will sacrifice even more lives to live in denial that the ones lost already were lost in service of a partisan strategy to control opinion and national direction?

As Americans, we have a problem. Other than PBS - which has been de-funded and its overseeing corporation packed with right-wing ideologues (Republican strategist Grover Norquist vowed the GOP would "stick a knife in" and kill once and for all) - there is no television media that we can believe. Yet people watch TV an average of 7 hours a day. As a result, we are, literally, having democracy programmed out of us.

And that is the intent of the radical right-wing that created this game.

As Moyers said in regard to the tremendous success of his PBS program NOW: "The more compelling our journalism, the angrier the radical right of the Republican Party became. That’s because the one thing they loathe more than liberals is the truth. And the quickest way to be damned by them as liberal is to tell the truth."

Christian moralist Thomas Merton saw this trend back in the 1960's and detested it, urging people to reject "the gray slop of images" with which we are being programmed.

We know a politician can say anything and - even if he is lying - he won't be debunked. Rather, the opposite is true. A campaign can be started by monied interests to convince voters, through swift boating that an honest politician - or a veteran - is a liar or a traitor, which is what happened to John Kerry and, before the 2006 elections, Patrick Murphy.

Not only does the media not tell us - loudly - who the monied interests are behind these baseless attacks, it feeds on them. Neither does it dissect what politicians say and point out untruths. In fact major media doesn't usually even cover what's important. Instead - when it mentions politicians instead of Paris Hilton's antics - it focuses on how politicians "look" and "deliver" and "sound convincing."

Since most U.S. media is controlled by five mega corporations - that want to continue to control and manufacture public opinion - millions have been spent on campaigns 1) to kill Internet radio (which will be fined out of existence beginning July 1st), 2) to get the U.S. Post Office to raise rates on small publications (which will force many to cease publication) and 3) to abolish Net Neutrality.

Do your nation a favor and watch this video. We are ALL responsible for the decisions made in this country and we cannot blame President Bush or the GOP for it all. We've allowed our consent to be bought, to be manufactured. We share in the blame for the disaster in Iraq and for the disaster - that, to our eternal shame - continues in New Orleans.

As Christians we have a moral responsibility to save the habitability of the earth, which is at risk and which our current administration - bought, paid for and controlled by the oil industry - denies. Yet the handful of "scientists" whom they use to dispute those thousands across the globe who clamor for policy changes to combat Global Warming, worked previously for big tobacco by denying cigarettes were addictive and caused cancer.

As Americans, we have a moral responsibility to save democracy in this country, which is under attack by the radical right wing of the Republican party.

Ask God to make you an active vehicle of truth, social justice, healing and peace. Make it your business to dig out facts and not be fooled by spin.

To do anything else is to practice a dead religion and serve the evil of untruth.

Faith, if it hath not works, is dead. James 2:17

Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. John 8:32

Send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me. Psalms 43:3

It is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. I John 5:6

Lessons Of The 67 Million Dollar Lawsuit

2007-05-11T09:56:00.000-04:00

A good friend of mine is outraged over the 67 million dollar lawsuit against the owners of Custom Cleaners in Washington D.C.

Although my friend is a very good person (who has volunteered hours helping others) and comes across as a very gentle soul, he told me he'd like to throw the plaintiff "over a cliff," especially since Roy Pearson is a judge, himself, and is using his legal expertise to create a living hell for the Korean couple who, allegedly, lost a pair of his dress pants.

And isn't that the natural reaction against outrageous injustice and abuse of power?

Yet, that is not what God is calling us to do.

The thing we must face is that Mr. Pearson doesn't have any characteristic that couldn't be triggered under the "right" - or wrong - circumstances in each of us.

Each of us is supremely capable of tunnel thinking, of becoming outraged over some real or imagined injustice and overreacting. For instance, although Mr. Pearson has not, personally, harmed my friend, my friend would like to "throw him over a cliff."

Yet, to overreact against Pearson like that is to emulate him. In overreacting against him, we feed the very problems within our psyches that he represents.

Pearson is simply "the canary in the coal mine" of our collective subconscious. He's blasting our ears with a shrill warning about our own, individual need for change. The question is: Will we hear the call to change ourselves, or will we cop out by hating him?

Of course it's easy to get angry, defensive, afraid that someone will do that type of thing to us. It's a natural gut reaction to want to "solve" the problem by just blowing him away. But we're in funny times. Get rid of Pearson - without facing our own "inner Pearsons" - and another will take his place, formenting an even bigger miscarriage of justice.

The point is, we are each members in giant systems of injustice. Can we say we are not when billions of people are living under $2 a day, 840 million live with chronic hunger and forty million people will die of starvation this year?

From World Food Program:

In southern Sudan, the hungry eat seeds which, normally toxic, become edible only after a ten day soak, while tree bark has been favoured in North Korea.

Some mothers, who don't have any food, boil stones in the hope that their children will fall to sleep while waiting for their "supper" to cook.

We each must recognize that our contribution to injustice - which can be be made through inaction - is just a matter of degree. Yet, until more people start to understand this and react differently, things are going to continue to break down into the kind of insanity we are seeing because it's not coming from one or two individuals, but from each of us.

Of course there's a part in each of us that wants to throw Roy Pearson over a cliff! We clawed up out of the mud through evolution. Our biology is violent. Our fight or flight response is engaged with the speed of a hair trigger and easily overpowers the more rational part of the brain. This is why road rage is such a problem.

Therefore, no blame is attached to having such feelings, as long as we don't act upon them.

Yet it is our responsibility to recognize that such feelings - even if we do not act upon them - are not helpful, and that we must be willing to take this opportunity to influence the whole by urging our personalities to move closer to our Higher Selves.

The goal before us - in this violent and difficult time of clashing ideologies - is to be able to see that the most extreme characteristics of humanity are expressing and calling each of us to make choices about who we intend to be.

Why? Because the goal of the each human being - whether he or she knows it or not - is to merge one's personality with one's Higher Self - the God self, known as "The Christ Within" or, as my friend says "the saintly self."

It takes a lot of patient work and there is backsliding, but there is no other path that will take us to a compassionate, fairer and safer world.

So, while we may fall on our faces with hate, it is our responsibility to drag ourselves back up into love. We must will ourselves to evolve our consciousness, and work to find ways to be fearless without hate.

Until we do that, we can expect the situation to continue to degrade. Why? Because the "high" and "low" - spiritual and material - "saint" and "sinner" aspects within us all are in conflict within each of us.

Evolution of the body was only God's first step in creating us. Now we are working on evolution of our minds.

Where Christians have failed God is through denying His process. We will get nowhere denying the facts of evolution. Neither are we helping when we avoid personal responsibility for the condition of the world by blaming "the devil."

It has been a Christian tradition to isolate oneself from the real world - hence monasteries and cloisters. In the U.S. we "regular" Christians flock to "safe" suburbs - so we don't come in contact with the "bad" stuff. We also, often, live in denial of our own "evil" professing to love and forgive everyone when we have done everything in our power to avoid being tested.

Unless one is the actual Christ, one is unlikely to have learned to love unconditionally. That's why environment is so important. We tend to conform according to our environment. Yet even in the safest environments American Christians are still self-destructing. That's why, in an October 1, 2003 poll conducted by Focus On The Family, 47% percent of families said pornography was a problem in their home and Safe Families reports that over half of evangelical pastors admited to viewing pornography.

We must stop denying that we are part of the problems we see "out there."

We must accept that we need to deal with this stuff internally instead of pointing our fingers at others. Insisting that social problems lie outside of us is supremely unhelpful and robs us of the opportunity to heal ourselves and our collective.

As Christian mystic Thomas Merton wrote, "We must come to terms with what is inmost in our own selves..." or, in other words recognize that everything "out there" is "in here" and "...take upon oneself all the guilt."

When we do that, we are living the life of The Christ. As we move into a higher perspective, we will truly begin to see what Jesus taught us - that there is no one to blame and that our main work - if we would make the world better - is almost all internal.

Perhaps that realization has finally dawned in Ireland where two sworn enemies Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness have joined to form Ireland's new government.

Make no mistake, these two men did not do this alone. There's been a change in consciousness among the people of Ireland that is allowing this to happen. And this is a great sign because if this kind of positive change can happen there, it can happen anywhere.

In regard to how to help resolve the 67 million dollar lawsuit, pray for and bless not only Mr. and Mrs. Chung, but also Mr. Pearson. Affirm the suit dissolves into the nothingness from which it came. Sit with your eyes closed, love your Source and Creator God for several minutes and then turn that great love toward the people involved. Visualize the love of God as White Light and see it dissolving the problem. I guarantee you will have a positive effect not only on this suit but on the climate of distrust that pervades the nation.

Yet, even more than sending healing to this one particular bit of chaos, if you can, through prayer and meditation, get to a place where you can "hold harmless" those who frighten you - if you can see a man like Roy Pearson as a test for yourself rather than an enemy - perhaps even see what he is doing as a cosmic joke rather than allowing it to engage your fear and loathing - you can help evolve humanity.

And wouldn't that be a nice thing to do?

I reckon that the suffering of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Romans 8:18

Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it. I Corinthians 4:12

The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. James 5:16

"Christian" - A Commitment, Not Just A Label

2007-04-20T11:29:00.000-04:00

Beware of those calling themselves "Christians" yet who do not model their lives in anyway upon Christ's.

For example, former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who has been indicted on corruption charges, appeared on Charlie Rose last night, April 19th, in an interview.

Mr. DeLay, who epitomizes what the Republican party stands for these days, calls himself a Christian. He made the following statements:

In regard to the tragedy at Virginia Tech:

"We need to remove the ban on guns on the Virginia campus and allow people to defend themselves and allow people to get conceal carry licenses."

In other words, he said that if more people brought guns on campus, students would be safer.

I only wish that Charlie Rose had asked him this question:

Mr. DeLay, if concealed guns make people safer - why did you did not work to reform your own place of work, the Capitol, and end the ban on guns there while Republicans were in power and could have passed such a bill?

Surely, if he is not a merely a hypocrite but actually believes in the pro-gun philosophy he endorses, he would have felt safer knowing that everyone in the Capitol - from the janitor to the Whip - was armed?

Yet, you and I know he would never dream of introducing such a bill. He wouldn't dream of allowing people who came and went - including other representatives - to carry guns into the Capitol building.

Why?

We all know the obvious answer. It wouldn't be safe for him. The presence of guns make people less, not more safe. So just as it wouldn't be prudent to allow them in the Capitol, it is insanity to allow everyone who wants to carry a gun to do so on our college campuses.

The fact is, every developed nation on earth spawns the kind of disturbed individual as Cho Seung-hui.

Yet the United States is the only nation in the world that insists on arming them.

Why? The weapons manufacturers and the NRA are allowed to, literally, call the shots over three hundred million people

Therefore, it is no surprise that we lead the world in these kinds of grotesque tragedies that other nations manage to avoid through proper gun controls.

In regard to education, Mr. DeLay said this:

"I think we ought to abolish the office of education. It's [education of our citizens] not a federal responsibility and it shouldn't be."

In other words, people - no matter their economic condition - should not be educated unless they can pay all costs of it themselves.

Furthermore, Mr. DeLay evidently believes there should be no standards for education. He would make education - and literacy - of our citizens optional.

Imagine - as the entire third world struggles to achieve literacy and some degree of education among its citizens - Mr. DeLay would turn back the clock and throw us into the Middle Ages.

Bottom line, if you're poor, you do not deserve to learn how to read. One can interpret Mr. DeLay's position in no other way.

Of course this would serve him and his kind very well.

Those who cannot read or write, and those who have not been taught critical thinking, would be unlikely to every find out the degree of corruption that is rampant in Republican-brand politics so that Mr. DeLay and his party could continue to get elected based upon lies and distortions, and continue their economic rape of the nation.

A case in point, President Bush changed 90% of environmental laws to our detriment. For instance, the Appalachian Mountains - and the communities below and around them - are now being systematically destroyed through mountain top removal mining.

Lastly, Mr. DeLay painted himself as a victim in regard to his criminal indictments. He warned the American people against those who would "win at all costs and destroy people in order to win power and hang onto that power."

Ironically, Mr. DeLay described himself and the actions of the GOP perfectly.

John Dean, former White House counsel to President Richard Nixon has explained in Conservatives Without Conscience how the Republicans, under Tom DeLay, completely subverted the democratic process from 2000 to 2006 by excluding democrats from the legislative process, crafting legislation in private sessions and forcing votes in violation of house rules.

Democrats, thinking that the American public would not care about how the rules were being broken - and that Republicans would distort the issue as they did everything else - thought it would be futile to try and explain procedure to a public that makes decisions based on ten-second sound bites.

Sadly, they were probably right.

Given the incredibly dirty tricks - and outright lies - that Mr. DeLay and his party used in 2000 and 2004 to get Mr. Bush elected - not to mention what appears to be illegalities in the way he got Texas reapportioned - he was surely warning us about himself and his party when he said that the American people had to be "warned" about those interested in:

"Winning at all costs and destroying people in order to win power and hang on to that power."

I must wonder: is he a very crafty politician projecting his own sins upon the other party or he is simply, in the final analysis, without insight?

Either way, what a grotesque individual!

If only all national politicians were forced to answer questions and go through a round of televised debates before their elections. I would hope that someone like DeLay would not be elected - or re-elected - if his hazy thought processes were clearly held up to the light of day.

Maybe the entire process of campaigning as we know it should be abolished and replaced by widely broadcast forums and objective debates, both on a state and federal level. Otherwise, how can we know the true character of those for whom we are voting?

Surely, although Mr. DeLay calls himself a Christian, anyone who is aware of his career of questionable activities can tell that he does not follow Christ's basic principles.

And anyone who watched him and listened to his words last night could see that he has trouble defending his own positions - and could not defend them in the light of Christ's example.

Would Jesus say: "forget the poor - don't educate them?"

Would Jesus say: "carry a gun and be ready to shoot anyone who threatens you?"

Would Jesus lie and connive for power and later project his own misdeeds upon others?

You know the answer.

Mr. DeLay is a self-styled "Christian" in name only. It has been convenient for him to label himself as a Christian and use a Christian front as a cover for his questionable activities. It has been useful for him to beat the drum against abortion and divert attention away from all his corrupt practices.

For instance, in 2003 Majority Leader DeLay set up a charity for abused and neglected children, with part of the funds going to the 2004 GOP convention.

The New York Times described it as "aides to Mr. DeLay... acknowledged that part of the money would go to pay for late-night convention parties, a luxury suite during President Bush's speech at Madison Square Garden and yacht cruises. ... 'They are using the idea of helping children as a blatant cover for financing activities in connection with a convention with huge unlimited, undisclosed, unregulated contributions,' said Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21, a Washington group that helped push through the recent overhaul of the campaign finance laws."

Beloved, being against abortion does not make you a Christian. Being a Christian is more complicated than that. It requires an intention to do good, to be honest, to be kind, to be generous and practice forgiveness.

If we based all our decisions for voting upon this criteria - asking how Christ-like a candidate is rather than how well he attacks and smears someone who is pro-choice - we would have a far better government - and a far stronger nation - than we have today.

But if we keep on voting for people just because they say they are Christians, the coals that are falling on our heads will continue unabated. Being a Christian is more than a label. It is a lifetime commitment to do good.

Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth. Matthew 22:16

I have given you an example , that ye should do as I have done to you. John 13:15

The Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to that that are bound. Isaiah 61:1

On Kindness and Saving The Earth

2007-04-19T19:21:00.000-04:00

Everyone is talking about what happened at Virginia Tech. All I will say is that it is a mistake to characterize Cho as "a madman" or "crazy" as some have done. To do so keeps us from asking the right questions.

I may comment about what happened in the future but not now. People are in a state of shock and grief. It is not the time for analysis nor a time to demonize Cho, but a time to pray for those who have lost their loved ones. Ultimately, this event calls us to be real in our lives, and to be as kind to each other - including strangers - as humanly possible.

What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy god? Micah 6:8

NEEDED: CHRISTIANS WHO WANT TO SAVE THE EARTH

I have written before on the need for Christians to spearhead a movement of environmental activism. Sadly, that need is more urgent than previously thought.

It appears that, in regard to global warming, the release of methane into our atmosphere is the big "sleeper" threat that has not been publicized.

Scientists have documented that methane has been "pushing up" under the ocean, as the ocean has warmed, creating pockets - underground volcanoes if you will - and they bode ill for our future.

The reason for the concern is because, as the seas warm and the gas expands, those underground extrusions must eventually burst releasing methane into the atmosphere.

What does this portend?

"A warning of" what this could mean "occurred in 1986 when lake Nyos in Cameroon 'burped' an amount of gases killing 1800 people, following a much smaller scale disaster on neighbouring lake Monoun two years earlier, which killed 37 people.

While carbon dioxide has been fingered as the main culprit, there seems to have been a "fiery" component to the eruption indicating possible presence of combustible methane: "Skin discoloration found on some victims were tentatively interpreted as burns, but this diagnosis is still controversial. Witnesses on topographic highs report a loud noise originating from the lake and, in the case of lake Nyos, flashes of light visible over the lake".

Worse, Greenland's glacier is melting faster than it was thought "like a bathtub with holes drilled into its bottom." This means global warming could be happening far faster than people realize. If so, the release of methane may be inevitable because much methane is stored in permafrost and, as more permafrost melts, more methane will be released.

As John Acheson writes:

"How likely is it that humans will cause methane burps by burning fossil fuels? No one knows. But it is somewhere between possible and likely at this point, and it becomes more likely with each passing year that we fail to act.

So forget rising sea levels, melting ice caps, more intense storms, more floods, destruction of habitats and the extinction of polar bears. Forget warnings that global warming might turn some of the world's major agricultural areas into deserts and increase the range of tropical diseases, even though this is the stuff we're pretty sure will happen."

Once triggered, this cycle could result in runaway global warming the likes of which even the most pessimistic doomsayers aren't talking about.

The granddaddy of these catastrophes occurred 251 million years ago, at the end of the Permian period, when a series of methane burps came close to wiping out all life on Earth.

More than 94 percent of the marine species present in the fossil record disappeared suddenly as oxygen levels plummeted and life teetered on the verge of extinction. Over the ensuing 500,000 years, a few species struggled to gain a foothold in the hostile environment. It took 20 million to 30 million years for even rudimentary coral reefs to re-establish themselves and for forests to regrow. In some areas, it took more than 100 million years for ecosystems to reach their former healthy diversity.

As news media continue to focus all attention on the death of the 31 Virginia Tech students - even as hundreds continue to die daily in Iraq - a disaster of vast proportions is preparing to unfold. I still think we might avert it. But we have very little time.

This past winter I stopped eating meat. Besides the suffering that goes on in slaughterhouses - which far surpasses the brutality of the Canadian seal hunt - the environmental impact of raising animals for food was the "straw that broke the camel's back" in making meat utterly unappetizing to me. By going vegetarian 36 fewer animals - give or take - will die a year, but more than that, there is the decrease in the greenhouse gases that are generated by raising animals for food.

I really don't think Global Warming is going to shorten my life, although I may be wrong about that. But the idea of virtually all life on earth being wiped out - along with the best of what humans can be - is monstrous.

We give expression to God here on earth. To destroy ourselves - out of neglect, ignorance or apathy - is a slap in the face of our Creator.

Instead, we must all do everything we can to save the planet, save the animals and save each other, for in doing so, we glorify God.

You have a wonderful brain and a wonderful mind. Your heart is big and bold. Pray to God today and ask for guidance on how you can best serve the causes of preserving the earth and spreading kindness.

For inspiration, see how one man is encouraging people to generate their own electricity for household uses while, simultaneously, improving their health.

If only Cho had stopped focusing on his resentments. If only he had opened to God, opened to love and been able to forgive any slights he received. Imagine if he had turned his great power to be destructive into a great intention to do good.

Let his failure be a lesson to us all to dig deeper, try harder and turn to God to help us become more loving and more helpful, no matter how lonely or abandoned we have felt, or what has happened to us in the past.

If we open to the truth, we will find out that we are not alone.

In him we live, and move, and have our being. Acts 17:38

Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace. Job 22:21

Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. John 16:32

Be still, and know that I am God. Psalms 46:10

Imus Must Go

2007-04-12T13:11:00.000-04:00

Michael Meyers, executive director of the New York Civil Rights Coalition and a former assistant national director of the NAACP, writes in The Washington Post article Let the Idiocy Be Heard that Imus's radio program should be kept on the air.

I could not agree less.

After decades of studying history, politics and psychology, I am convinced that the minds of people are as malleable as water. They will fill with whatever is poured into them over time.

As a result, people become what they hear and see. Their minds can rise to greatness, or descend to the depths, depending upon that to which they are exposed.

And you know all the rubbish we are exposed to today, from all corners.

This is why we must continually call upon God to purify our thoughts, to fill us with love and guide us in right action. It is so easy to take offense, to disdain, to demean, to diminish and to laugh at others.

A glance at the events of the twentieth century alone shows us that there is, apparently, no limit to the ability of people to scorn, abuse, torture and kill their brothers and sisters without conscience.

It is psychological fact that most people need very little encouragement to behave inhumanly. Approval or encouragement to do so is often enough.

For instance, put an individual into a group of people banding together in hate - and as in Rwanda, spurred on by radio hosts - and that person easily becomes a different human, a human that knows no moral bounds.

All it can take is to believe that those we hate are different - and less - than we are. Yet, if you look around the world today, you see that belief is rampant.

Yet, as Yale University psychologist Stanley Milgram demonstrated in his experiments - and documented - it doesn't even take that. People easily subvert their own morals to the authority of someone else:

"Ordinary people, simply doing their jobs, and without any particular hostility on their part, can become agents in a terrible destructive process. Moreover, even when the destructive effects of their work become patently clear, and they are asked to carry out actions incompatible with fundamental standards of morality, relatively few people have the resources needed to resist authority."

So how does this relate to Imus and the fact that MS NBC has decided to drop him?

I maintain that, to allow a person such as Imus to encourage people to disdain others - not for the quality of their thought or the morality of their actions, but for the color of their skin - is the most basic type of injustice, and something we can no longer afford because it feeds the injustice and inequity perpetrated against people of color in this nation and abroad.

Thomas Aquinas addressed the idea of injustice and clearly came out against ignoring it when he wrote, “Unreasoned patience sows the seeds of vice, nourishes negligence and encourages not only evil people, but good people to do evil.”

In other words, he who does not feel anger in the face of injustice and does not act to try and remedy that injustice is, himself, feeding injustice.

If we would, as a nation, be on the side of justice we must begin to stand up against planting the seeds of injustice. Those seeds have born too much fruit, including the torture that has gone on in Guantanamo.

Allowing Imus to infect us with racial hatred makes us complicit in the perpetration of injustice we see being inflicted upon dark-skinned men and women at home and across the globe.

Those who do not insist he be taken off the air, and who think that giving racists a voice somehow weakens their cause, are deluding themselves.

Worse, as good men and women of conscience, they put themselves in the position of abetting the injustice which they despise.

Imus, one of the indicators - and insidious fertilizers - for thoughts that have, collectively, worked to keep racism alive, must go.

He has been a test of our tolerance for racism, smallness, meanness. We have tolerated him up until now, but even MS NBC now sees that it is now time to take a stand and say to him and to those who would continue to poison the world with racism:

"No more. We will no longer support this."

I applaud that move.

The best we can do for Imus is pray that he awakens from the profit-seeking delusions that made him cater to the worst in human beings.

The least we can do is thank God that MS NBC has finally seen the light.

There is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all. Colossians 3:11

Freed Brits Are Home

2007-04-06T14:22:00.000-04:00

Iran has released Britain's sailors.

Thank you for your prayers. With every prayer you sent a stream of God's Light to them.

In gratitude, please say a prayer of blessing and thanks for Iran, her people and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. No, Iran is not perfect, which is all the more reason to ask for blessings on her behalf.

Sadly, Tony Blair is giving Iran no credit nor apology. He is neither expressing gratitude to Iran or to those who prayed for the sailors' release.

Instead, Tony Blair is crowing that Great Britain gave nothing - no concession, no money and not even an apology - in exchange for their return. Worse, he is launching a new, antagonistic posture by alluding that Iran is supporting terrorism in Iraq.

Beloveds, this is no way to thank Iran - or God - for such a gift and blessing.

Mr. Blair has shown his true, ungrateful nature, that same unhelpful nature that helped President Bush create the War in Iraq.

Simply put, he would have loved to invade Iran, but it was untenable. A hypocrite, he, obviously, was speaking false words of concession to Iran while his ego was smarting over being unable to do anything about his sailors.

Now he appears to want revenge, even if it's a petty, name-calling kind. Because the sailors spoke so well of their captors, I suspect that Blair's desire for revenge is boiling over within him.

Can it be any clearer that this war was started by men full of arrogance and blind self-importance? Men who think that "might makes right" and are too blind to see the obscenity of misusing the might at their fingertips? Men whose wealth and power tend to dissolve their inhibitions, deactivate their empathy and make them act recklessly.

Blair seems incapable of accepting an olive branch when it is handed to him. How tragic that he is not embracing this as an opportunity to stop his sabre rattling against Iran.

The lesson for the people of Great Britain - and the lesson for Americans, 80% of whom say we are Christians - is this:

Will you follow the non-violent teachings of Jesus Christ? Will you practice gratitude and humility? Will you reach out a hand in peace? Will you take the opportunity God has arranged for you? Or will you slap God's hand away because he is working through a man whom your leaders have told you is your enemy?

When military might is your idol and you embrace it as a replacement for faith in the power of God's Love to work miracles, things can only go from bad to worse, as they have in Iraq.

Please, pray for Iran, her people and president.

Please pray for those British soldiers, that they are not accused of being traitors for responding as human beings, not puppets.

Please pray for the people of Great Britain, that they bring in more enlightened leadership.

And please pray for Tony Blair. Ask that his foolish, hardened heart is awakened to the tragedy into which he has led his people - and would lead them further - through unnecessary hostility and war.

We must realize, Beloveds, that what is being played out on the world stage is a reflection of the little dramas that go on, daily, in our own lives.

We each have these same choices to make every day, in terms of whether to nurture petty hurts or forgive a stranger, neighbor or a relative.

Are we, too, incapable of recognizing a gesture of reconciliation? Do we refuse to to be grateful, and choose spite, instead? Where is it that we are choosing to shut our hearts down, rather than opening them?

This entire drama gives us the opportunity to ask the same questions of ourselves, that we would pose to Tony Blair.

Beloveds, when the people of Britain decide the world is too small to nurture resentments and start wars of aggression, they will have a new leader who leads them in peaceful ways.

Likewise, when we in the U.S. decide our hearts are more important than our egos, and that our souls are more important than being able to crow about some imagined moral superiority, we will be incapable of electing a radical hawk like George Bush.

Yet, to see the change you want, you must begin with yourself. So pray for Bush and Blair and, even as you work to reverse the policies they have put into motion, forgive them. Realize that they are giving you an opportunity to live consciously, and to choose between faith and fear.

Perhaps, more importantly, will you forgive that guy who cut you off on the highway and made you feel afraid or stupid? Or do you refuse?

Your answer will determine the state of the world.

Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven. Matthew 18:21,22

Oh, Now Blair Is Disgusted

2007-03-30T15:09:00.000-04:00

Tony Blair says it is "disgusting" that Iran is broadcasting videos of the sailors it is holding captive.

"I really don't know why the Iranian regime does this [show captives on TV]," because it just arouses disgust, he told reporters Friday.

So he is saying that the broadcasting of videos showing healthy, unfettered captives is loathsome, sickening, nauseous?

Oh, please.

Iran's taking of the sailors may be described as stupid, as provocative, as wrong, as frightening, as bullying, as counterproductive, as desperate, as playing on fear, as counter to God's desires.

But showing that those sailors are alive and well and that they are not - as were the prisoners in Abu Ghraib - chained, stripped, tortured, raped and otherwise abused, is hardly "disgusting."

No, "disgusting" is what was done in Abu Ghraib, what is being done in other Iraqi prisons and, despite the widespread outrage about alleged similar abuses in Guantanamo, what is being sanctioned by keeping that prison camp open and operating.

What is, perhaps, even more "disgusting" is the fact that approximately one-third of our female troops have been the victims of rape, or attempted rape, by their male "comrades" in arms. From a New York Times article on wide-spread Post Traumatic Syndrome exhibited by female soldiers:

"Much of what we know about trauma comes primarily from research on two distinct populations -- civilian women who have been raped and male combat veterans. But taking into account the large number of women serving in dangerous conditions in Iraq and reports suggesting that women in the military bear a higher risk than civilian women of having been sexually assaulted either before or during their service, it's conceivable that this war may well generate an unfortunate new group to study -- women who have experienced sexual assault and combat, many of them before they turn 25.

A 2003 report financed by the Department of Defense revealed that nearly one-third of a nationwide sample of female veterans seeking health care through the V.A. said they experienced rape or attempted rape during their service. Of that group, 37 percent said they were raped multiple times, and 14 percent reported they were gang-raped. Perhaps even more tellingly, a small study financed by the V.A. following the gulf war suggests that rates of both sexual harassment and assault rise during wartime. The researchers who carried out this study also looked at the prevalence of PTSD symptoms -- including flashbacks, nightmares, emotional numbing and round-the-clock anxiety -- and found that women who endured sexual assault were more likely to develop PTSD than those who were exposed to combat."

Rape is a fact of life in Iraq. In fact, several women soldiers have died of dehydration rather than risk rape by venturing out from their barracks at night for water when they were thirsty.

Given all we know about the lies and motivation to start the war, and the atrocities that have occurred because of the war, perhaps what is truly "disgusting" are the attitudes of Bush and Blair who began this odious war.

Yet, if it is also "disgusting" [i.e. sickening] for Iran to rub Blair and Bush's noses in their own sorry muck, then I stand corrected, because that is exactly what Iran is doing.

Iran is saying: "Look, we can take prisoners and treat them like human beings. We, whom you have labeled as 'evil' are behaving far better than you, who label yourselves as 'good.'"

Regardless of the fact that Iran is scaring the hell out of the families of the sailors whom it has taken, regardless that we are all frightened over possible outcomes both on behalf of those sailors and for what it means in the larger scheme, regardless that Iran has retaliated in a flagrant move to chastise Britain not just for the inhuman treatment of terrorism suspects but for the arrogance and stupidity of sending sailors into Iranian waters, anyone who is not completely blinded by his or her own ideology must concede that Iran is making a valid point or two here.

Despite how badly the war goes, Blair and Bush continue in their blind arrogance, one sending troops into Iranian waters, the other insisting that his "surge" will produce a miracle and transform the debacle that is Iraq into a peaceful nation.

God help all the troops - and the civilians - who suffer at the hands of these fools.

Politicians in glass houses really shouldn't throw stones. The fact that Bush has papered over his glass house so no one can see what's going on inside, is irrelevant. The fact that Blair tries to equate the broadcasting of Iran's videos with what we saw come out of Abu Ghraib, is pathetic.

It would be better for Tony Blair to admit publicly that Iran has made her point. Meanwhile, Great Britain has given Iran hostages to use as pawns in her desperate goal to get the West out of the Middle East.

God help the hostages, even if they are being well-treated.

Please pray for them. Affirm that they are released, safe and sound, and returned to their families.

Please pray that, somehow, we are guided to make amends for starting the War in Iraq.

And pray that we gain enough wisdom and love so that we never ever enter into another war with such arrogant blindness. Certainly war - and fighting - must be our last resort, if we resort to it at all.

The battle is not yours, but God's. 2 Chronicles 20:15

Loans That Change Lives

2007-03-25T15:39:00.000-04:00

As multi-national corporations praise the benefits of globalization, the international Trade Unions Congress reports that the manner [specifically the laws under which the world-wide exchange of goods is being carried out] is short-changing the poor, driving them deeper into wretched poverty.

A few companies, like Starbucks, follow their own path and do not go along with the philosophy of making the powerless poorer just because they can.

However, the majority seem interested only in enriching their own pockets and the pockets of their shareholders to the maximum degree possible, despite the very real human cost as that extra margin of profit is extracted. Working with those corporations, is the World Bank, which has never made micro loans to the desperately poor. Yet as micro-lenders have proved, very poor people can use even very small loans to create small businesses and rise out of extreme poverty.

Thankfully, individuals and small, organized groups of people have come forth to help the poor help themselves.

One of these is Kiva.org. Praised by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times Magazine, CNN Money, The Village Voice, the BBC and Business Week , Kiva acts as an intermediary between you and the very poor person you would like to help.

Through Kiva you can loan a person in a Third World country enough money to start a business and change his or her life. As the loan is repaid, you get your money back.

Imagine - you can change a life with as little as $25. Kiva works with local micro-lenders who screen applicants and approve business plans. All you have to do is choose a person whose business plan you want to support, then charge the amount you want to lend on your credit card and let your money get to work. As the loan is repaid, you get your money back.

This is a great way for us in the First World to share our immense blessings with those in the Third World whose raw materials and cheap labor have, for decades, enhanced First World lives.

Go to Kiva.org, make a loan of $25 today. Then give yourself a pat on the back for giving love in yet another way, just as you were sent here to do.

As my Father sent me, even so send I you. John 20:21

Let's Grow Environmental Evangelism

2007-03-10T15:20:00.000-05:00

There are over a billion Christians in the world. The United States, which effects the world so profoundly, is home to over 200,000,000 Christians.

So I was excited when 86 evangelical Christian leaders decided, about a year ago, to back a major initiative to fight global warming, saying "millions of people could die in this century because of climate change, most of them our poorest global neighbors."

Among signers of the statement, were the presidents of 39 evangelical colleges and leaders of aid groups and churches, like the Salvation Army. Also signing on were several pastors of megachurches, including Rick Warren, author of the best seller The Purpose-Driven Life.

So I really expected the Christian wing of the Republican party to listen to their contituency and get on board this environmental ark, so to speak.

I thought that, at last, instead of starting more culture wars or wasting energy in partisan politics, that the most influential Christians in U.S. politics would urge us to make peace and unite in regard to the most pressing issues facing humanity: environmental degradation and Global Warming.

As a result, I envisioned Christians in the United States uniting their hearts and minds to compel political leaders to not only stop corporations from polluting, but reverse the damage that has been done over the last 200 years.

I thought we might even hold out an olive branch to those not of our faith and join with them in assuming responsible stewardship of the earth.

I considered what an excellent opportunity this would be to heal the relationship between Christians and science, since science must play a part in finding our solutions.

I imagined that this life-or-death issue - that will affect us all, no matter who we are, where we live, what we believe or how much money we have - would unite us all, help us make the necessary changes in our own lives and help us transcend the issues that have exhausted our nation and ourselves.

I pictured us all working together for this great good, and how that would energize and empower our entire nation and give our lives meaning.

After all, can you imagine what will happen when Americans stop focusing on disagreements and start working together for this common good?

I thought that, surely, this is a "pro-life" issue that all Christians can get behind. In fact, we could spark a world-wide Christian environmental movement.

Can you see it?

Can you picture one billion Christians approaching the challenge of stopping Global Warming with the fervor of a revival, with faith infused by the Christ within? Our actions might even help heal the anti-Americanism we are seeing.

What miracles we could bring about under the grace of God!

Alas, if the radical right-wing political contingent that claims to represent American Christianity has its way, none of these empowering visions will manifest. These particular evangelicals, apparently, prefer for us to continue full steam ahead in befouling and destroying our only nest.

Rather than uniting Christians to save the world (and their grandchildren) they still want to fight with other Christians and non-Christians about abortion and homosexuality. In fact, they want to get the attention of Christians off Global Warming and back on their made-for-TV culture wars.

Those radical Republican "Christians" who had the chance to get something right after having squandered so much time, money and faith in dividing the nation, have decided to work against saving mankind.

They have now sent out a message to their faithful telling them to shut up about climate change.

You know, if I used the language of evangelicals, I would say that these men are doing the work of the devil.

But it is not the devil that is tempting them.

At best, they are misguided in that they cannot see the forest for the trees. They would concentrate on "family values" even though there may be no families left in a hundred years to practice those values.

At worse, they are acting on their own selfish desires to keep those who follow them under their thumbs. It is, after all, in their interest to keep the nation - and Christians - divided because they can play one against the other that way, to accomplish their own agendas of gaining and keeping personal power. None of them, after all, will be around in one hundred years to see the consequences.

If these men are motivated by selfish reasons then, surely, they are Christians in name only. Regardless, they give Christianity and Christians a bad name.

While it's tempting to feel anger or despair, I ask you to pray for the misguided souls who are trying to downplay Global Warming. Pray for James Dobson, Gary Bauer and Paul Weyrich who told the policy director of the National Association of Evangelicals, the Rev. Richard Cizik, to shut up about Global Warming.

Affirm that God awakens them to the consequences of their actions. For with every day we delay in cutting CO2 emmisions and conserving energy, we seal the fate of not millions, but billions of poor people who are living on the edge as we speak.

We also seal the fate of not just polar bears and penguins who seems so far away, but of the honey bees that pollinate our crops and make food production possible.

"Every third bite we consume in our diet is dependent on a honeybee to pollinate that food," said Zac Browning, vice president of the American Beekeeping Federation. Yet honey bees are disappearing in such record numbers - perhaps in the billions. Our food supply is endangered.

Called Colony Collapse Disorder, at least part of the problem seems to be related to changes in climate. There was an unusally warm autumn and an early winter in beekeeping states in 2006.

As Rev. Joel Hunter, pastor of a megachurch in Longwood, Fla., said: "As Christians, our faith in Jesus Christ compels us to love our neighbors and to be stewards of God's creation. The good news is that with God's help, we can stop Global Warming, for our kids, our world and for the Lord."

Thank God for this growing awareness and bless all those Christians, such as Reverend Hunter, who signed the initiative.

Pray for those opposing environmental action and affirm that God either gets them on board, for the highest good of all inhabitants of the earth, or that those men, to include James Dobson, Gary Bauer and Paul Weyrichlose, lose their influence and are replaced by more responsible stewards of the faithful.

Prayer To Grow Environmental Evangelism

Dear God,

In Jesus' name we affirm that all Christians awaken to the danger of climate change.

In Jesus name we affirm that it is easier and easier for us to conserve energy as individuals and as a society.

We thank You, dear Jesus, that it is a joy to become aware and purchase products only made by environmentally responsible companies.

We thank You, Jesus, that powerful Christian evangelists promote environmental activism among their faithful.

We thank You that, together, we are invincible in reversing the damage caused by pollution and Global Warming.

We thank You, Jesus, that all those who would continue to despoil the earth or advocate the despoiling of the earth for selfish political purposes disappear into the nothingness of political obscurity from which they came.

We thank You, Jesus, that all those who would continue to selfishly despoil the earth for profit lose their market share.

Thank You, Jesus, for empowering us so we now reclaim, restore and protect our beautiful earth.

She is Your beautiful gift to us and we protect and preserve her now in gratitude.

And so it is.
Amen.

According to their pasture, so were they filled. Hosea 13:6

It's A New Year - And A New Chance

2007-01-03T07:36:00.000-05:00

It's a new year and, if you haven't started, it's time right now to prune your inner and outer life.

Do you have a drawer that you can't stand, stuffed with junk?

Clean it out. Be ruthless.

You will have trouble doing it, of course, because that drawer is an outer representation of some inner chaos within you. And, of course, we all resist changing even when we know it will help us in the long run.

Do you have a behavior that doesn't serve you?

When you decide you are not going to put up with the chaos of that awful drawer anymore, be sure to do it with intention. Imagine that you are getting rid of all the junk in your psyche that keeps that unwanted behavior alive.

"As above, so below" - everything is connected. What we see in our lives is a direct result of what's in us.

If you don't like some of what you're seeing - either in your individual life or in the world - then it's time for change.

But you knew that.

It's time for a new beginning and new hope; time to rekindle the belief that we can fulfill the longings we feel for "something better" - be it more time, more beauty or more connection in our lives.

Come on this journey with me, for I'm traveling right along side you, out of sight but not out of mind.

Hold on and let's go as, once again, we take on the challenge of perfecting our minds and souls so we can love life, ourselves and others more fully.

Peace,
Clyo

I Start A New Year And A New Life

Dear God,

I come to You as I come to no one else,
for You know me as no one else does.

Thank You, God, that as I pray you fill me with your transforming energy.

It is a new year and You beckon me to forgive myself,
for I am innocent in Your eyes.

It is the least I can do for You, Lord;
the least I can do for all you have given me
and continue even in this moment to give me.

I forgive myself for the year that has passed,
for hopes unfulfilled,
for dreams abandoned,
for love unreturned
and for another year of aging.

I forgive myself for all the self-criticism I delivered to myself
- which surely you felt -
and for the pain I have endured at my own hand.

I forgive myself for wanting to give up,
and for indulging in negativity.

Lord, I did the best I could,
so I forgive it all and let the old year
- and the old life - go.

Today is a new day in a new year.
The past is gone; there is only now.

I ask for Your help.

Remind me, Lord, to live in the Now
and listen to Your loving voice.

Let me hear You.

Let me know, in my heart of hearts,
That I am good enough today
In this moment
Now.

I commit to transformation.
I commit to bringing peace to my soul.
I commit to calling my power back.
I pledge to use my power for the healing of myself
And the healing of the world.

I start over and create a joyous new me.

Thank You, Eternal Father
Thank You, Eternal Mother

I love You.

Amen.

adapted from Prayerforce: 365 Days To A New Life

The Lord's mercies...are new every morning... Lamentations 3:22-23

I will put a new spirit within you. Ezekiel 11:19

Call On Your Guardian Angel

2006-12-18T13:25:00.000-05:00

Fitting in your Christmas shopping around work and family demands can become stressful. Yet, the season is supposed to be a time to reconnect with Spirit and feel peace.

To help you stay focused on your real mission at Christmas - the spreading of love - use this prayer to help you get through the next few days with grace and ease. Remember, your Guardian Angel is always with you, waiting to be acknowledged and called upon for help.

I Am In The Arms Of My Angel

Dear God,

As I drive during these holidays, I affirm I am safe,
for I am in the arms of my Guardian Angel.

In the arms of my Angel
I am guided to be observant,
I never drive when too tired,
And I slow down rather than speed up.

Lord, I know that my purpose in driving
Is the transporting of Your Love,
Not the frantic searching for last-minute gifts.

So, as I shop, fill me with patience and understanding.
If someone is pushing to get by, inspire me to let him go.

Help me remember that this is the time to exchange love

- not horn honks
- not insults
- not insurance policy numbers.

And, in traveling distances to be with family,
I affirm that my Angel keeps me and my family alert.

We allow enough time to get to our destination,
We are sensible and make safe decisions if the weather turns bad,
And we rejoice that we can all be together next year.

During this magical time, I am in the arms of my Guardian Angel.

Thank you, God, for this help and love.

Amen.

adapted from Prayerforce: 365 Days To A New Life

He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. Psalms 91:11

My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths. Daniel 6:22

Reconnection With The Divine

2006-12-02T19:55:00.000-05:00

For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, December ushers in winter. Hushed snowfalls and long nights set the stage for powerful reconnection with the Divine during our celebrations of Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa.

We in the Northern Hemisphere are most fortunate. Just after we experience the longest night of the year on the Winter Solstice (December 21st when there are 24 hours of darkness north of the Arctic Circle and, conversely, 24 hours of daylight south of the Antarctic Circle) we are reminded through celebration that the source of our being - the Light Of God - never diminishes.

Just as Christ never moves away from us, neither does our magnificent star. As we tilt away, Sol shines as brightly as ever, giving the Southern Hemisphere her summer. There's a cosmic lesson here: the Light never moves away from us, no matter how it seems. So let us affirm that our faith stays as strong as the Light.

My Faith Is Strong

Dear God,

My faith is strong and You work miracles through it
For I am One with You and You fill me with Your healing force.

Together We promote harmony
Together We promote healing of every kind.

In Jesus' name, the One who inspires us to be both human and holy,
We affirm that everyone on this planet works together
United in peace and joy.

Jesus said: ask and ye shall receive
Jesus said: knock and the door shall open

He did not say: figure out what is best to ask and ask only that.
Neither did He say: Your father in Heaven will say "No."
Nor did He say: some doors will be closed to you.

Jesus said, as recorded in Luke 17:6:

If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed,
Ye might say unto this sycamine tree,
Be thou plucked up by the root and be thou planted in the sea;
And it should obey you.

By the power of these words, I am aligned with You,
O Mover Of Heaven And Earth.

My faith is strong and You work Your miracles through it...
...and through me.

And so it is.

Praise Hosanna in the Highest.

Amen.

Adapted from Prayerforce: 365 Days To A New life

I finished my peace mural - it's six feet tall and 15 feet long - and I will be taking it to a peace conference in Winnipeg sponsored by the Thomas Merton Society. When I obtain a good photo of it, I'll post it here.

Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. Psalms 37:5

I Create A New Life

2006-09-21T15:42:00.000-04:00

I'm working on a large peace project - an art mural - which is exciting. It's something I've wanted to do for years. In a way, I've created a new life for myself in dedicating my life to this work.

If you would like to dedicate yourself to an abandoned dream about which you once felt passionate, consider creating an "inner movie" in your mind in which you begin, proceed through and accomplish your project or goal. To help create your new life, here's a prayer:

I Create A New Life

Dear God,

I create a new life.

To my old life, I say: I release you.

I release fear of smiling at others.
I release fear of rejoicing when I am happy.
I release fear of being myself
And moving to the song within me.

I create a new life.

To my old life I say: I release you.

I release the things that hurt me.
I release resentments against those who could not love me.
I release expectations that are not for me to fulfill.
I release trying to be like anyone else
and look, instead, to being the best "me" I can be.

I create a new life.
I embrace the Holy Spirit of God
And I am led to what comes next.

To my old life I say: I release you.

I embrace a vision for myself as healed, whole and happy.
I embrace a vision of myself as loving, joyful and creative.
I embrace a vision of myself as loved and fulfilled.
I create a new life in which I am wholly adequate.

I create a new life.

And so it is.
Amen.

From Prayerforce: 365 Days To A New Life

In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Proverbs 3:6

How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace! Romans 10:15

This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God. Philippians 3:13,14

On Blessing Your Work

2006-08-20T23:47:00.000-04:00

Do you love your work? Do you get along well with everyone? If another person is in a bad mood, do you just let it go, or do you let it ruin your day?

Do you complain about what is going wrong? Or do you make the best of it, look for the "silver lining" and praise what is going right?

Do you find fault with your co-workers? Or do you look for the good in them?

Since we spend so much time at work, it's vital that we approach our work with the right attitude so we create positive experiences.

Why? Because good experiences at work will positively impact our personal lives and everyone with whom we interact. Likewise, unhappy or frustrating experiences are likely to spill over onto those we love and poison our family and friends.

If you have great experiences at work then, chances are, you are already doing what the following prayer says to do.

If you dread going to work, then pray this prayer every day in order to begin to change your internal voices so that you create better experiences.

You will be glad you did.

I Create Positive Experiences At Work

Dear God,

By Your Grace, at work:

- I open to wisdom
- I open to discernment
- I open to revelation.

In the course of my work, I interact with people.
They may be sad, angry, or under pressure.
The fact that another person is unhappy
does not mean I need "catch" that unhappiness.

When a person speaks to me
I note if I feel offense.

Then I remind myself that each person has a magnificent Self
- even if that Self is not being shown to me.

I open to wisdom and I know what to embrace
and what to release.

I choose not to take offense, but to bless the person before me and send him or her love.

Likewise, I bless anything that is going wrong and insist on seeing it with humor,

For I know all things pass, especially if I keep my attitude positive.

Let me realize this: I create more.

Whatever I focus on and embrace, I create more of.

So, by Your Grace, I focus on the positive and release the negative:

I focus on the person who is kind,
I give thanks for the person who is helpful,
And I am both kind and helpful to myself and others.

Thank You, Lord, that I am open to hearing Your loving voice.

As a result, I focus on the positive
I release the negative
And I create positive experiences at work.

And so it is.

Amen.

Adapted from Prayerforce: 365 Days To A New Life

And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? Acts 9:6

I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called. Ephesians 4:1

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings! Isaiah 52:7

You Are A Creator

2006-08-03T00:03:00.000-04:00

One of the secrets in life is that God does not create your life for you.

You create your life for you.

Sure, God gives you the energy, makes things happen, coordinates events and creates miracles, but only in response to what you have asked.

The irony is that while you may be asking for positive things consciously, you may be asking for negative things subconsciously.

The way to make your consciousness and subconscious congruent - so you are clear to God and asking for what you want, not what you don't want - is through prayer and positive affirmation.

Prayerforce can help you by filling your mind with positive feelings and thoughts as you read each prayer. On top of this the affirmations in each prayer begin to create a new, receptive place in your mind for more positive ideas and beliefs to take hold.

Once strong ideas of worthiness and joy take hold, it's just a matter of time until your dreams must manifest. That's cosmic law - God's law.

You are a creator and you create your life.

Make it joyful and make it count!

I Am A Creator

Dear God,

I am a creator.

I alter everything through my existence.
I bring things to pass through my actions.
I give birth to new life.

My touch on the world has consequences.
Inform me of them, Lord.

Let my touch alleviate suffering, Lord,
And never cause it.

Guide me, Wisdom of the Universe,
To create in merciful and kind ways
According to my deepest need
And best passions.

By Your Grace I create in joy
Not pain.

I create solutions
Not problems.

I create love
Not fear.

And I create a new me
Who is a believer in miracles.

by Your Grace, I am a powerful creator
Of a new and better world.

And so it is.
Amen.

Adapted from Prayerforce: 365 Days To A New Life

The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. 1 Corinthians 12:7

The Secret

2006-08-01T01:22:00.000-04:00

Tonight I watched a remarkable film - twice.

The DVD is called The Secret and explains the power of mind vividly.

We create everything we see. More than this - and this is a lesson I had not really learned - is that our emotions are a barometer that shows us the quality of our thoughts and what they are creating for us.

When we feel bliss, we are on the right track, thinking thoughts that are creating the world we want.

When we feel angry, sad, frustrated or vengeful, we are on the wrong track. We are thinking thoughts that will, eventually, manifest a world of hurt for us.

This is the basis of Carl Jung's quote: What you resist persists.

It is the basis of Biblical scripture that says: Resist not evil.

In other words, do not focus on the evil you see - fighting against it. Instead focus on visualizing the world you want.

Certainly the world would be better off if we all created fun and love for each other, visualized peace and concentrated on creating good feelings.

To quote Esther Hicks, in regard to how we create reality, feeling is everything.

To that end, here's a prayer to create fun - and good feelings - in your life.

I Have Fun

Dear God,

By Your Grace, I'm having fun
As I enjoy, indulge, toy
Laugh, jump for joy or run
- I have fun.

I experience exuberance and zest
Delight and rest
And I've only just begun
- to have fun.

I doodle and play
Moodle and delay
Find a hammock and lay
Under the sun
- having fun.

I do all the things I've wanted to do
Like fly a bright kite, make chocolate stew
Learn to sail iceboats or play a kazoo
Whatever turns my old crankeroo
- I have fun.

Whether singing or playing or dancing or swaying
Writing or planting or designing a shoe
Whatever I'm doing, I have fun with You.

Yes, I'm smiling now, Lord
Because I'm having fun with You.
Yes, I'm here to have fun, Lord, with You.
And I do.

Thank You, Joyful Creator.

Amen.

From Prayerforce: 365 Days To A New Life

Whosoever keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing. Ecclesiastes 8:5

The joy of the Lord is your strength. Nehemiah 8:10

Ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace. Isaiah 55:12

The One Percent Solution

2006-07-26T14:01:00.000-04:00

We are Light.

Yet this is not just a spiritual idea.

Einstein taught us that matter is just a form of super concentrated energy, super concentrated light, if you will.

Why is this important?

Because energy vibrates.

And why is that important?

Because during a three year interval, a group of meditators raised the vibration of humanity to the point that conflict began falling away.

It's true.

From 1988 to 1990, at a location just outside New Delhi, India, a single philanthropist supported a group of 8,000 experts so they could spend their time, together, practicing advanced Transcendental Meditation techniques.

During those three years a war between Iraq and Iran that had lasted seven years and claimed millions of lives came to an end, the Soviet Union’s brutal invasion of Afghanistan was called to a halt, the Berlin Wall fell, the Soviet Union dissolved, and forty years of Cold War ended.

Coincidence?

No.

People have a vibration. In fact, as health and safety experts know, different parts of our body vibrate at different frequencies.

In fact, science has shown that our bodies are complex bioenergy fields that exist, grow, work and change in a complex of intersecting and interacting electromagnetic fields.

This means we are vibrating beings in a vibrating universe: beings composed of vibrating light particles that interact with all other things in our world which are, likewise, composed of packets of vibrating light.

Just as a vibrating string can set other strings near it vibrating at a similar frequency - known as resonance - so do the vibrations which we create through our thoughts (which impact and alter the vibration of our bodies) impact and influence the minds and bodies of others.

Given that our vibrations of love and compassion will raise others up and our vibrations of anger, fear and hate will drag them down, we have a decision to make.

In what direction do we want to influence the world? Toward war or peace? Because we are, at this moment, influencing it one way or other other.

Yet - and this is the miracle - higher (positive) vibrations are stronger than lower (negative) vibrations!

To transform our current chaotic world into a peaceful one, we need just 1 out of every 100 people to meditate daily. We need only one out of a hundred people to empty his or her mind of anger and fear and raise his or her thoughts to the vibration of love.

The energy those people generate will provide us with the solution to our current climate of terror, fear, war and chaos. That "One Percent Solution" will raise the energy of the world and begin a shift toward peace, harmony and happiness in which the conflicts we see today are dissolved and everyone starts on an upward shift.

The truth is, we don't need a benefactor to hire 8000 people to meditate. What we need is a commitment on the part of people of conscience to learn to meditate and commit to meditate - and pray - on a daily basis as a means of transforming our world.

Peace starts in the mind, with the emptying out of anxiety, fear and hate and raising one's mental, emotional and physical vibrations so they create inner and outer peace.

Please commit today to becoming part of the One Percent Solution. Then begin to empty out and be at peace with this prayer:

I Empty Out And Am At Peace

Dear God,

A mind can be too full;
Too busy to enjoy loved ones.

Lord, I am willing to be empty
And without expectation.

By Your Grace,
I empty out.

I empty myself of presumptions, desires, jealousies.
I empty myself of fears and requirements.
I empty of the need to control anything
Or anyone.

I step back and pretend I'm an observer of a play.
Empty of criticism towards those around me,
I watch and observe without judgment.

I let others be who they are
And what happens is your sweetest secret:

I find a place of peace without push or pull
And rest secure in the love between our hearts.

Willing to let go,
I empty out
And wait for You to fill me.

I am at peace.

And so it is.
Amen.

Thou shalt meditate therein day and night. Joshua 1:8

Whatever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report: if there be any virtue, and there be any praise, think on these things. Philippians 4:8

A Prayer For The Unexpected

2006-07-24T11:51:00.000-04:00

Do you fear the unexpected?

Are you always waiting for "the other shoe to drop?"

You can't be blamed. After all, so much of what is unexpected turns out to be negative.

For instance, look at the bombing of Lebanon. Three weeks ago that was entirely unexpected. Likewise the difficulty and blocks in evacuating people quickly was unexpected. For evacuees, boarding ships without food or water or bathrooms was an unexpected and distressing shock.

Yet, to the millions of refugees for whom these kinds of conditions have been normal - people fleeing violence and starvation in Africa, for instance - and especially for children born in refugee camps (and some who live in garbage dumps) - these kind of living conditions are what they expect.

Since we in the West do not expect to be threatened with bombs (or do we, now post 9/11?), hunger, thirst, inconvenience or callousness on the part of government officials about our welfare, it would be fascinating to talk with people recently evacuated to find out what their fears were about traveling, unexpected events and Israel.

Have they felt a great deal of empathy for those displaced around the world? Were they feeling guilty about our comfortable way of life?

Perhaps and, if so, it would make sense that feelings of guilt - or a desire to understand, viscerally, what being a refugee means - put them in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Yet, the news seems to show that many of them are blaming others for their plight.

Of course that makes complete sense, as that is how we are used to perceiving the world. They didn't bomb anyone, they weren't involved in this conflict directly.

But, what they - and you and I - do not understand is that we all are part of it. Our beliefs, our fears, our angers, our complicit approval - or apathy - contributes to all injustice and conflict.

I applaud them all for being there and experiencing, first hand, what it's like to be in a war zone, and what it's like to glimpse what it is like to be a refugee, forced from your home with nothing but the clothes on your back.

They will bring their stories back.

God willing, we will all become more compassionate as a result.

It would be fascinating to talk to them and find out what caused each person's decision to go to Lebanon. What conspired within each person to send him or her this last month - as opposed to last year - to visit or vacation?

Whatever the answers - and they are specific to individuals - what has happened to them will forever color their beliefs about travel, about Israel, about what "the unexpected" means.

As Catherine Shainberg writes in Kabbalah and the Power of Dreaming "...in perceiving your world, you create it," because "You make the world fit into the parameters of your...attractors."

In other words, whatever you expect the world to deliver to you - however you expect others to act - that's what you'll get.

Likewise, just as the outer world reflects the state of your inner world, your inner world is a reverse of the outer world.

So, what about us in our safe little ruts here in the West where we feel, even if we don't think it: Please God just keep everything the same, keep me safe?

Considering the change - and the unexpected - that is everywhere, wouldn't it be a good idea for us to affirm that any unexpected change winds up being a positive event for us rather than a negative event?

Yet if we fear the unexpected, it's likely that anything unexpected will be negative.

Therefore, to have more positive experiences we must either change the world or change ourselves.

Which do you think you can do easier?

People keep trying to change the world.

But, unless you have an army and billions of dollars, you cannot impose your will on the world. And even with an army and money your hold will be temporary, especially if you are acting out of selfishness, fear or ignorance.

We can't change the world - not permanently - without changing ourselves.

Only through changing ourselves can we attract what we want - as opposed to what we don't want.

Bear in mind, also, that God blesses only equal contracts. If you try to change yourself so you can use, abuse and exploit others for your own financial benefit, it won't last. Just as Ken Lay lost Enron, so must all injustices be eventually undone.

So if you fear the unexpected, consider a different approach.

Try welcoming the unexpected.

Here's a prayer to get you started:

I Am Open To The Unexpected

Dear God,

I open to the unexpected.
I appreciate the joyously unrehearsed.

In the presence of my family
and in the solitary time I take for rejuvenation,
I see the world with new eyes as I am:

Enraptured by the fragile wings of a butterfly
Engrossed in a book that speaks to my heart;

Lost in tracing silver veins in a maple leaf
Shined upon by the smile of a stranger;

Delighted by the phrasing of a child
Hugged by a friend;

Inspired to jot down an idea
Amazed by a personal discovery;

Freed to create, write, paint, sculpt
Given a message I needed, through a stranger;

Filled with the immense gratitude that creates miracles
Guided to make someone's day more beautiful;

Deeply pleased by the sweetness of my spouse
Invigorated by exercise or activity;

Or awakened to pray for the world.

I am open to the unexpected.

And so it is.

Amen.

from Prayerforce: 365 Days To A New Life

Thou hast shewed thy people hard things: thou hast made us to drink the wine of astonishment. Psalms 60:3

Joyful Dining

2006-07-20T17:37:00.000-04:00

Are your meals rushed? Do you find your teens run out to buy a hamburger just as you are ready to put dinner on the table? Do you need a chance to sit down and talk with your family?

Give yourself a meal you'll really love by inviting them to help you prepare their favorite food. Leave lots of time, with no deadlines. Then slow down, connect and set things right as you cook together.

If we are feeling disconnected from Source, preparing and eating meals together can give us the opportunity to reconnect. Rituals of gratitude are also valuable in re-establishing heart connections. Even if you do not all bow your heads in prayer, you can begin a practice in which each person relates something that went right in the day, something for which he or she is grateful.

Likewise, we don't hear enough loving messages. So consider establishing a practice during breakfast in which each person says something kind and positive - something he or she appreciates about the person he is addressing - and do this for every family member. It will start everyone's day off on a positive note.

It's normal to crave a more connected dining experience. Yet, do you fear such ideas might be met with scorn, or wonder if anyone will go along with them?

Turn it over to God. Then visualize your family connecting in loving ways as you all break bread together. Pray earnestly that things will be made right and your heart connections restored. Then be open and allow yourself to speak as a loving channel.

To help you become that conduit of love, here's a prayer:

My Home Is A Place Of Joyful Dining

Dear God,

My home is a place of joyful dining
In which those I care about return for meals.

If we have had problems relating, Lord,
You mend those problems in the kitchen.

If we have felt too rushed to cook and savor the tastes of this world,
You slow us down and You inspire us to:

Fix meals together
Laugh together
Love together
And set the table together.

by Your Grace, we enjoy the fruits of our togetherness
Delighting in our discoveries and imagination.

In our home, we savor the sights and smells and tastes of life.
Our dinner table is a place of communication, laughter and healing.
Over meals, we get to know and appreciate each other
And we give thanks for all You provide.

My home is a place of joyful dining
In which our bodies, minds and souls are nourished.

And so it is.

Amen.

from Prayerforce: 365 Days To A New Life.

Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Matthew 4:4

I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. Isaiah 1:2

Having food and raiment let us be therewith content. 1 Timothy 6:8

Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee. Psalms 55:22

How sweet are thy words unto my taste! Yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Psalms 119:103

Gratitude Makes Life Beautiful

2006-07-15T04:08:00.000-04:00

My husband packed a picnic lunch and took me to a park for our anniversary. We ate on a picnic bench that was beneath a beautiful tree overlooking a river. Just as we began to eat, rain began to fall. He was concerned that our dinner was about to be spoiled, but I told him: I like the rain.
Still, I expected to get wet. Yet, remarkably, the tree kept us dry as we sat and watched the rain on the river. It was one of the most special meals of my life. I felt so close to nature and the setting was so beautiful. I wound up stepping out from under the tree to take pictures of the rain, which was warm. And surprise: I didn't melt. Instead, the raindrops on my skin made me feel lighthearted.

There is a saying: a person inside the forest can't see it because of all the trees.

It's true, when we are in the midst of something, it's hard to have perspective, to see what we're in.

Likewise, as we are living our lives - and they can be hectic and demanding at times - we can forget all that is working in them and see only the things that do not fit our expectations, seeing them as negatives and problems.

If we want sun, we curse the rain. If we want rain, we curse the sun. How much better it would be for our mental health if we blessed it all.

Most of us in North America have never experienced what it's like to live on two dollars a day or in a dirt-floored shack without electricity or running water. As a result we tend to take everything we have - our hot and cold running water, dishwashers, clothes washers, dryers, coffee makers, lights, televisions, stereos, lovely hot showers, paper towels, sweet smelling soap that we don't have to make ourselves, easy to clean linoleum floors, permanent press clothing and a whole lot more - for granted.

What we do notice are the glitches that don't please us, a raise in gas prices, the inconvenience of not finding a parking place as close to our destination as we'd like, and so on. And we complain, and sometimes bitterly.

It seems we have it so good that our perspective has been skewed so that little things seem like big problems.

Yet whatever we focus on will increase. That is spiritual law.

So let us not be like The Fisherman's Wife - always wanting more and complaining - and concentrate, instead, on gratitude for everything. We will benefit in two ways: by creating what we want, as opposed to what we don't want, along with releasing tension from our minds and bodies. That sounds worthwhile, doesn't it?

I Practice Gratitude Daily

Dear God,

By Your Grace, I practice gratitude daily.
You fill my heart with awareness of how blessed I am
As I see the silver lining in every "cloud" and give thanks.

I give thanks for a lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning and gutters that need fixing, because it means I have a home.

I give thanks for that parking spot at the far end of the parking lot,
because it means I have a car AND I am able to walk.

I give thanks that I have groceries to unload
because it means I can buy what I need.

I give thanks for my pile of laundry
because it means I have clothes to wear.

I give thanks for clothes that are snug
because it means I have enough to eat.

And I give thanks for all the services I use
and declare that paying for them is a joy.

Thank You:

For my heating bill, because it means I have been warm,
For my electric bill, because it means I have light at night,
For the income taxes I pay, because it means I am employed.

I rejoice in the alarm clock that goes off in the morning
Because it means I'm alive.

I bless the lady behind me in church who sings off key
Because it means I can hear.

I bless the complaining I hear about government
Because it means we have freedom of speech.

And I thank You, Almighty God, for my shadow
Because it means there is an abundance of Your Light.

By Your Grace, I practice gratitude daily.

Amen.

Adapted from Prayerforce: 365 Days To A New life

Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gifts. 2 Corinthians 9:15

Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! Psalms 107:8

Give thanks always for all things unto God... Ephesians 5:20

Praise Those You Love

2006-07-12T04:44:00.000-04:00

I love my family. And, every time I hear of a tragedy where someone has lost his wife or her husband, child, parent, or sibling, I stop and think what life would be like without those I love.

The thought is sobering and always fills me with renewed gratitude. I find it's a good idea then, when I'm feeling most appreciative, to deliver a little TLC and praise the members of my family.

It's so easy to be critical, to say something like: "Don't do that," or "Why didn't you do what I said?" rather than "I think you are wonderful" to our children and spouses.

Isn't it the truth that we are apt to find fault instead of saying something like, "I think you are a wonderful person," and listing all the qualities about the person that we like?

Yet we know how we feel when someone we love gives us a simple word of loving reassurance. Praise lifts our hearts and counteracts both the blatant and subtle messages of inadequacy we get from the media that we "should" be smarter, richer, thinner or own something we don't have.

So if you want to bring a little joy to a loved one's heart, take time today to deliver a few genuine compliments. Imagine what your beloved means to you and reconnect with a feeling of gratitude for having this person in your life. Then speak from the heart. You'll find that the giver and the receiver are really the same.

Remember, God made your beloveds, and in praising them, you praise His Work and Him.

I Reassure My Beloveds Through Praise

Dear God,

Ignoring the efforts of my family
Or criticizing them because they do not do things my way
Does not create intimacy or love.

So I now notice how my Beloveds relate to the world
And I praise them for it.

I praise them for the good they do.
I praise them for their kindness.
I praise them for their uniqueness,
And I praise them for the choices they make.

I praise them for small things and large.
I praise them for courageously trying again after failure.
I praise them for success,
And I praise them whenever they try something new.

I never take my loved one's efforts for granted,
But enjoy seeing their endeavors.

I delight in them as You delight in me
And I let them know, above all things, that they matter.

Lord, by Your Grace, You remind me
- and in each chance I get -
I reassure my Beloveds through praise.

And so it is.
Amen.

from Prayerforce: 365 Days To A New Life

Praise is comely. Psalms 33:1

So will I sing praise unto thy name for ever. Psalms 61:8

Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! Psalms 133:1

If any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith. 1 Timothy 5:8

Relax Into Joy

2006-07-11T11:59:00.000-04:00

Summertime and let the picnics begin!

How we look forward to summer, to school and work vacations, to throwing on a pair of shorts and going out to dig in the garden or go for a bike ride.

These are the easy days and we always look forward to co-existing with Mother Nature without having to bundle up against her.

Likewise, I'm going to throw off my mantle of seriousness - or try to - and offer a few thoughts that can help us all enjoy the summer.

For instance, are the kids a little loud; does it seem like, sometimes, their laughter is too much? Wouldn't it be great to just be able to join in and be silly with them, instead of resisting? Try this prayer when you're feeling "on the edge" and see if it helps get you back into fun.

Giggles Echo Through My Home

Dear God,

Giggles echo throughout my home
And laughter is my visitor.

Hilarity doubles us up
And smiles pop up throughout our day.

In this precious home it is safe to laugh
And speculate about silly things;
For we value fun here
And nothing is so serious that a joke cannot be made.

For grins improve our health
And humor heals us.

By Your Grace,
You who are closest to us in laughter and tears,
You awaken love filled glee within me
And my family.

We relax into joy
And enjoy good humor
Today
And throughout all our days.

I open to the sound of laughter
As giggles echo throughout my home.

Amen.

adapted from Prayerforce: 365 Days To A New Life

Therefore will I play before the Lord. 2 Samuel 6:21

Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing. Psalms 126:2

A merry heart doeth good like a medicine. Proverbs 17:22

July 4th: A Call To Values

2006-07-03T15:43:00.000-04:00

July 4th is the anniversary of the birth of our nation, a nation founded on principles of justice, equality and freedom.

Yet, as we prepare to celebrate - if we are honest - we must admit that our nation has strayed from these principles. If you want to know how far, consider that 77% of the people in Great Britain - one of our staunchest allies - have a very bad opinion of us and "...disagree with the statement that the US is 'a beacon of hope for the world'".

"A massive 83 percent of those questioned said that the United States doesn't care what the rest of the world thinks. More than two-thirds who offered an opinion said America is essentially an imperial power seeking world domination. And 81 per cent of those who took a view said President George W Bush hypocritically championed democracy as a cover for the pursuit of American self-interests."

Although it is, generally, unreported by corporate media, more and more people we respect are speaking up about what has happened - and is happening - to our national character and values. Yet we don't hear about it.

For instance, NBA player Etan Thomas of the Washington Wizards delivered an impassioned speech to 30,000 people on this issue during an anti-war protest in Washington D.C., yet it was never reported in any of our major media outlets or papers, including the Washington Post.

I happen to believe the American people are good people. But we can't make good decisions when the hard information is kept from us. We can't make good decisions when a perpetual war is started to distract us from pressing domestic problems.

As a person of faith, I strongly believe that our nation should value work and that working at a job should keep a person out of poverty, not trap one inside it. The Bible calls us to show justice to the worker by paying him or her a fair wage for a day’s work and by providing safe working conditions.

Yet our current federal minimum wage is $5.15 an hour. This is a disgrace, a wage that forces families to choose between buying groceries and paying rent.

A person who works a 40-hour week earns $10,712 for a 52-week year. That's six thousand dollars below the poverty line.

You know, yourself, the cost of rent, gas, food, clothing. Could you live on just over ten thousand dollars a year? If you have a child, could you care for and raise that child on that amount?

You know the answer.

Therefore, I urge you to support Senator Ted Kennedy’s amendment to the Department of Defense authorization bill to increase the federal minimum wage to $7.25 an hour.

As the number of Americans living in poverty continues to increase at an alarming rate, now is the time to take action to prevent this desperate spiral of unreasonable choices and despair. Increasing the federal minimum wage is an important step toward slowing the poverty growth rate in America.

Bear in mind that, even as Congress sells out the American people to corporate interests and has received record low approval ratings for doing so, House lawmakers gave themselves a $3,300 pay raise on Tuesday, June 13, 2006, that will increase their salaries to $168,500. They have full medical and dental plus countless perks that a simple working man or woman earning minimum wage never has.

These gross inequities are not right. Christians are the ones - if we take our God at His word - who must step up to the plate and make a difference.

Write to your Senators and Congressional Representatives today.

For more on the minimum wage issue, visit Living Wage Campaign.

For more on economic justice issues, such as the inequities in the 2007 Federal budget, the need for labor unions, and the move by 18 billionaires to repeal the estate tax, visit United Church of Christ's Take Action Page.

Here's an excerpt from the transcript of Etan's speech regarding the politicians and pundits who dominate the news and are shaping our values and policies today:

I'd like to take some of these cats on a field trip. I want to get big yellow buses with no air conditioner and no seatbelts and round up Bill O'Reilly, Pat Buchanan, Trent Lott, Sean Hannity, Dick Cheney, Jeb Bush, Bush Jr. and Bush Sr., John Ashcroft, Giuliani, Ed Gillespie, Katherine Harris, that little bow-tied Tucker Carlson and any other right-wing conservative Republicans I can think of, and take them all on a trip to the ‘hood. Not to do no 30-minute documentary. I mean, I want to drop them off and leave them there, let them become one with the other side of the tracks, get them four mouths to feed and no welfare, have scare tactics run through them like a laxative, criticizing them for needing assistance.

I’d show them working families that make too much to receive welfare but not enough to make ends meet. I’d employ them with jobs with little security, let them know how it feels to be an employee at will, able to be fired at the drop of a hat. I’d take away their opportunities, then try their children as adults, sending their 13-year-old babies to life in prison. I’d sell them dreams of hopelessness while spoon-feeding their young with a daily dose of inferior education. I’d tell them no child shall be left behind, then take more money out of their schools, tell them to show and prove themselves on standardized exams testing their knowledge on things that they haven’t been taught, and then I’d call them inferior.

I’d soak into their interior notions of endless possibilities. I’d paint pictures of assisted productivity if they only agreed to be all they can be, dress them up with fatigues and boots with promises of pots of gold at the end of rainbows, free education to waste terrain on those who finish their bid. Then I’d close the lid on that barrel of fool’s gold by starting a war, sending their children into the midst of a hostile situation, and while they're worried about their babies being murdered and slain in foreign lands, I’d grace them with the pain of being sick and unable to get medicine.

Give them health benefits that barely cover the common cold. John Q. would become their reality as HMOs introduce them to the world of inferior care, filling their lungs with inadequate air, penny pinching at the expense of patients, doctors practicing medicine in an intricate web of rationing and regulations. Patients wander the maze of managed bureaucracy, costs rise and quality quickly deteriorates, but they say that managed care is cheaper. They’ll say that free choice in medicine will defeat the overall productivity, and as co-payments are steadily rising, I'll make their grandparents have to choose between buying their medicine and paying their rent.

Then I'd feed them hypocritical lines of being pro-life as the only Christian way to be. Then very contradictingly, I’d fight for the spread of the death penalty, as if thou shall not kill applies to babies but not to criminals.

Then I’d introduce them to those sworn to protect and serve, creating a curb in their trust in the law. I’d show them the nightsticks and plungers, the pepper spray and stun guns, the mace and magnums that they’d soon become acquainted with, the shakedowns and illegal search and seizures, the planted evidence, being stopped for no reason. Harassment ain’t even the half of it. Forty-one shots to two raised hands, cell phones and wallets that are confused with illegal contrabands. I’d introduce them to pigs who love making their guns click like wine glasses. Everlasting targets surrounded by bullets, making them a walking bull's eye, a living piñata, held at the mercy of police brutality, and then we’ll see if they finally weren’t aware of the truth, if their eyes weren’t finally open like a box of Pandora.

I’d show them how the other side of the tracks carries the weight of the world on our shoulders and how society seems to be holding us down with the force of a boulder. The bird of democracy flew the coop back in Florida. See, for some, and justice comes in packs like wolves in sheep's clothing. T.K.O.d by the right hooks of life, many are left staggering under the weight of the day, leaning against the ropes of hope. When your dreams have fallen on barren ground, it becomes difficult to keep pushing yourself forward like a train, administering pain like a doctor with a needle, their sequels continue more lethal than injections.

They keep telling us all is equal. I’d tell them that instead of giving tax breaks to the rich, financing corporate mergers and leading us into unnecessary wars and under-table dealings with Enron and Halliburton, maybe they can work on making society more peaceful. Instead, they take more and more money out of inner city schools, give up on the idea of rehabilitation and build more prisons for poor people. With unemployment continuing to rise like a deficit, it's no wonder why so many think that crime pays.

Maybe this trip will make them see the error of their ways. Or maybe next time, we'll just all get out and vote. And as far as their stay in the White House, tell them that numbered are their days.

We must stand up and spread the word that our enemies are poverty, ignorance, overpopulation, greed and war. Our allies are justice, equal opportunity, awareness, compassion, generosity and gratitude.

As my Father sent me, even so send I you. John 20:21

I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. John: 10:11

Ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. 2 Corinthians 3:3

Approve ourselves as the ministers of God...by pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned. 2 Corinthians 6:4,6

Net Neutrality Update

2006-06-30T13:48:00.000-04:00

Senator John Kerry has come out strongly in favor of Net Neutrality:

Editor’s Note: The following is a guest blog for SavetheInternet.com by Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.):

On Wednesday in the Senate Commerce Committee I warned that those of us who believe in net neutrality will block legislation that doesn’t get the job done.
It looks like that’s the fight we’re going to have.

The Commerce Committee voted on net neutrality and it failed on an 11-11 tie. This vote was a gift to cable and telephone companies, and a slap in the face of every Internet user and consumer.

It will not stand.

I voted against this lousy bill for two reasons: because net neutrality and internet build-out are crucial to building a more modern and fair Information Society, and both were pushed aside by the Republicans.

Everyone says they don’t want the new world we’re living in to be marked by the digital divide — the term is so clichéd it’s turned to mush — but yesterday was a test of who is willing to ask corporate America to do anything to fix it, and the Commerce Committee failed miserably. Why are United States Senators afraid to say that companies should be expected to foster growth by building out their broadband networks to increase access?

Free and open access to the internet is something all Americans should enjoy, regardless of what financial means they’re born into or where they live. It is profoundly disappointing that the Senate is going let a handful of companies hold internet access hostage by legalizing the cherry-picking of cable service providers and new entrants. That is a dynamic that would leave some communities with inferior service, higher cable rates, and even the loss of service. Not to mention inadequate internet service — in the age of the information.

This bill was passed in committee over our objections. Now we need to fight to either fix it or kill it in the full Senate. Senator Wyden has already drawn a line in the sand — putting a “hold” on the bill, which prevents it from going forward for now. But there will be a day of reckoning on this legislation soon, make no mistake about it, and we need you to get engaged — pressure your Senators, follow the issue, demand net neutrality and build-out.

Arise therefore, and be doing, and the Lord be with thee. 1 Chronicals 22:16

Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only. James 1:22

Save The Internet NOW

2006-06-29T15:08:00.000-04:00

"The Internet can't be free." - A.T. & T. CEO Ed Whitacre

I am proud to join Bloggers For Net Neutrality.

Unfettered access to information is key to self-determination. You cannot make good decisions if the facts are kept from you or if you have trouble accessing them.

And make no mistake, the THREAT TO YOUR FREEDOM is real.

Therefore, it is vital that freedom and truth triumph now in regard to Internet freedom. Big corporations are deliberately funding campaigns to lull you into complacency so they may take over the Internet and insure only the content they want is accessible while gaining unnecessary profits at your expense.

Congress is a revolving door for corporate lobbyists. Those Senators who mean well and have good values, like Bill Nelson of Florida, are still uninformed about the bigger picture. They want to do what their constituents want them to do and, unfortunately, THEY HAVEN'T HEARD FROM YOU.

Please take a moment to see if your Senator is on the Senate Commerce Committee. If he is, CALL AND WRITE him NOW and demand that he support U.S. Senator Ron Wyden's “hold” on major telecommunications legislation recently approved by the Senate Commerce Committee until clear language is included in the legislation that prevents discrimination in Internet access.

Small Christian websites like this one will disappear - you won't be able to pull them up. Likewise if you have a site, a blog or a small e-commerce business, you will not be able to compete with the big corporations. Your sites will not be coming up.

Here's a list of the Senators who hold the fate of the Internet - and your ability to make good decisions - in their hands:

Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska)
Phone: 202-224-3004

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.)
Phone: 202 -224-2235

Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.)
Phone: 202-224-2353

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.)
Phone: 202-224-5274

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.)
Phone: 202 224 3224

Sen. David Vitter (R-La.)
Phone: 202 224-4623

Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.)
Phone: 202-224-6253

Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.)
Phone: 202-224-2644

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.)
Phone: 202-224-6551

Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.)
Phone: 202-224-6244

Sen. John E. Sununu (R-N.H.)
Phone: 202-224-2841

Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.)
Phone: 202-224-3753

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.)
Phone: 202 224-6121

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas)
Phone: 202-224-5922

Sen. George Allen (R-Va.)
Phone: 202-224-4024

Sen. John D. Rockefeller (D-W.Va.)
Phone: 202-224-6472

Your phone calls actually make a difference. Please call now and urge your senators to support the bipartisan Snowe-Dorgan Internet Freedom amendment in the Commerce Committee. The free and open Internet as we know it is on the line.

Make the call today.

Go now ye that are men, and serve the Lord. Exodus 10:11

The Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. 1 Samuel 2:3

Arise therefore, and be doing, and the Lord be with thee. 1 Chronicals 22:16

Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only. James 1:22

Sadism Does Not Equal Security

2006-06-27T17:34:00.000-04:00

I am proud to join Bloggers Against Torture for Torture Awareness Month.

It is 2006 and the United States of America, once a liberator of the tortured, has turned to torture as easily as a person changes his clothes.

As Jumah al-Dossari who was kidnapped on the Pakistani border, sold to American troops for $5000 and deported to Guantánamo, Cuba where he has been imprisoned and tortured writes:

"What I will write here is not a flight of fancy or a moment of madness...I have suffered ..."

An excerpt:

The soldiers then started beating us and walking on us and we were lying face down. The beating and kicking was so severe that the sackcloth bag fell one of the brother’s eyes. He saw the soldiers pointing their weapons at us so he shouted, "they’re going to kill us, brothers"; one of the soldiers hit him on the head with the butt of his weapon and he lost consciousness…

After several hours of this beating and the severe cold, they made us stand in one line. They started to wrap a very strong wire around our right arms; each of us was tied at a distance of about two metres from the person in front of him.

After they pulled this wire, they started making us run towards the unknown. When we approached the tents...they started to insult us savagely.

The prisoners started shouting and crying because of their severe pain – there were many young people with us – and the soldiers increased their insults and beatings and those of us who fell started to drag themselves on the grounds on the asphalt of the airfield and the others continued to jog.

As I have already mentioned, I still had the Pakistani shackle which made it hard for me to walk, so I was one of those who fell and was dragging himself along on the asphalt. I tried to stand and walk but I could not.

After that, we entered the tents and they started beating us extremely violently; I fainted several times because of the severity of the beating. Once I fell when I fainted and found my head under the boot of a soldier who started beating me severely.

I fainted again and woke only to find the soldier urinating on my head and back; he was roaring with laughter.

I was still lying on my stomach; he raised my head by the hair and started kicking me in my face with his boot and put it inside my mouth until my face and my lips were cut, my face was swollen and my blood was flowing copiously. Then he started hitting me on my eye; I almost went blind, were it not for the grace and mercy of Allah.

All this would sound very familiar to Victor Frankl, the author of Man's Search For Meaning. He knew well what those men are going through today, having spent three years in concentration camps, including Auschwitz.

Subjected to similar treatment by the Nazis, Frankl told about what happens to a person who has everything ripped from him, is taken from his family and placed, both unjustly and indefinitely, in prison without any hope of reprieve. He wrote and spoke of the tortures endured and the psychological effects of being treated like something unhuman and disposable.

He also addressed what must cross every compassionate person's mind: Who tortures? What kind of person tortures another?

Here is an except on that topic:

"...we shall consider a question which the psychologist is asked frequently, especially when he has personal knowledge of these matters:

What can you tell us about the psychological make-up of the camp guards? How is it possible that men of flesh and blood could treat others as so many prisoners say they have been treated? Having once heard these accounts and having come to believe that these things did happen, one is bound to ask how, psychologically, they could happen.

First, among the guards there were some sadists, sadists in the purest clinical sense.

Second, these sadists were always selected when a really severe detachment of guards was needed.

There was great joy at our work site when we had permission to warm ourselves for a few minutes (after two hours of work in the bitter frost) in front of a little stove which was fed with twigs and scraps of wood. But there was always some foremen wo found a great pleasure in taking this comfort from us.

How clearly their faces reflected this pleasure when they not only forbade us to stand there but turned over the stove and dumped its lovely fire into the snow. When the SS took a dislike to a person, there was always some special man in their ranks known to have a passion for, and to be highly specialized in, sadistic torture, to whom the unfortunate prisoner was sent."

Torture exists because 1) those who order it lack sufficient empathy and 2) there are people who enjoy doing it.

Normally we consider sadists to be a detriment to society. Normally we become aware of them when they get in the headlines through plying their delight in sadism as serial killers, child molesters, animal torturers.

But the U.S. military now employs them. And we give them jobs overseas.

Only now we don't call it sadism. We call it "necessary for national security."

But what is it really? It is a giving in to the sadism within our species and within our national character.

John Donne said it better than anyone else ever has:

No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.

If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

For whom does the bell toll when someone is tortured or driven out of his mind by unjust imprisonment and abuse?

It tolls for you and it tolls for me.

Say no to sadism, say no to torture.

No exceptions.

No excuses.

Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuseth to be healed? Jeremiah 15:18

Today if ye hear his voice, Harden not your heart. Psalms 95:7,8

Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for dakness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Isaiah 5:20

They all with one consent began to make excuse. Luke 14:18

The fruit of the Spirit is...gentleness. Galatians 5:22

Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another. Ephesians 4:32

Millionaire Sickness

2006-06-19T16:58:00.000-04:00

Paul Krugman's column today is Class War Politics.

An excerpt:

"Before the 1940's, the Republican Party relied financially on the support of a wealthy elite, and most Republican politicians firmly defended that elite's privileges. But the rich became a lot poorer during and after World War II, while the middle class prospered. And many Republicans accommodated themselves to the new situation, accepting the legitimacy and desirability of institutions that helped limit economic inequality, such as a strongly progressive tax system. (The top rate during the Eisenhower years was 91 percent.)

When the elite once again pulled away from the middle class, however, Republicans turned their back on the legacy of Dwight Eisenhower and returned to a focus on the interests of the wealthy. Tax cuts at the top — including repeal of the estate tax — became the party's highest priority.

But if the real source of today's bitter partisanship is a Republican move to the right on economic issues, why have the last three elections been dominated by talk of terrorism, with a bit of religion on the side? Because a party whose economic policies favor a narrow elite needs to focus the public's attention elsewhere. And there's no better way to do that than accusing the other party of being unpatriotic and godless.

Thus in 2004, President Bush basically ran as America's defender against gay married terrorists. He waited until after the election to reveal that what he really wanted to do was privatize Social Security."

The point of Krugman's article is to say that those who are looking for a centrist position will not find it, because we no longer have a center in the United States. Our middle-class is shrinking and our society is being split into two distinct and sharp camps: those who own the country and those who do not.

Realistically, based upon the following statistics, that split is about 20-80. In other words, 20% of Americans are wealthy and flourishing. The remainder of Americans are experiencing - or facing - ever diminishing wealth and prospects.

Over the past two decades the mean income of the top 5 percent of households grew more than four times as fast as the mean income of the bottom 80 percent.

The increase in "mean income" of the top 5 percent ($115,416 which brought the total mean income to around $260,000) was more than three times as great as the mean 2001 income level of the bottom 80 percent of households.

But a yearly mean income (for one year's worth of earnings) doesn't tell the real story. That comes with looking at mean wealth.

In 2001 the mean wealth for the top 1% of our population was $13,009.577.00

The mean wealth for the next 9% of our population was $1,643,745.

The mean wealth for the next 40% of our population was $272,378.00

The bottom 50% of our U.S. population had a mean wealth of $22,079.

(from tcf.org)

Most people in the bottom half of the U.S. income bracket, even if they are considered "middle-class" and are making 80,000 or $100,000 a year, have little or no savings.

With kids, mortgages, cars, and all the costs of modern life, if disaster strikes and they get sick, they can lose everything . Their "mean wealth" can be the value of their furniture, a couple thousand dollars and whatever they can get for their car(s).

Of course, with the new bankruptcy laws that only protect corporations - and the rich who own shares in them - they won't ever get out from under.

The poor and middle class have invested their lives and sweat into this country. Without them the rich would have had nothing, and certainly no country or populace to exploit.

We used to talk about honorable things, like sharing the wealth and waging a war on poverty; about paying as we went and investing in the future. Now we're waging war on the poor - and the future - while self-styled pundits who have never gone without a meal in their lives post smug little remarks about how the rich deserve all they can get.

This is because we have a sickness in this country. It's a sickness that says being middle-class isn't good enough. It's a sickness that's spread by marketing e-mails, seminars on becoming a millionaire and commercials to buy lotto tickets.

It's the millionaire sickness. It's a philosophy that says you are not good enough - you are aiming far too low - if you are not aiming to become a millionaire.

I believe that the reason so many people are politically uninvolved - or voted against their own economic well-being as well as against those oppressed by real poverty - is because of millionaire sickness. They think - any day now - they are going to buy that winning lottery ticket.

They think there will be no need to work then, no need to think about any responsibility, but only a running away from the growing class of Americans that is in debt up to its eyebrows with no way out.

Sorry, folks, that isn't what we're here for.

Whether we are millionaires or paupers, we are responsible to each other and for each other.

We are here to work together and make things better for everyone, not just ourselves.

If you use your money to do that, while living well, then fantastic. God certainly has no need for you to want. But if you use wealth simply to live a spoiled and pampered life - or dream of doing so - that is not the point of wealth.

We are given wealth so we may share with those who, for whatever reasons, are unable to accrue or acquire wealth. We are given wealth to alleviate the suffering of poverty.

Yet we see widespread callousness toward the poor and unprecedented spending on luxury.

A wealthy man has just paid $135,000,000.00 to acquire a single painting by Gustav Klimt.

Fine for him, fine for the seller who is now richer than before.

But is being able to acquire such possessions really more important than making sure everyone in this country gets fed, has a place to live, is paid a fair wage for a fair day's work and can go to the doctor when he or she - or their child - is ill?

Why are we so obsessed with possessions as opposed to alleviating suffering?

Yet, according to according to a 2003 Taco Bell survey, when given a choice, more than 180 million people (65 percent) would take a $30 million lottery jackpot over saving the entire U.S. economy.

Imagine. That's breathtaking.

What's sad is what it says about us.

We all sink or swim together, as a nation and a people, and right now this country is sinking in debt. If the rich don't go back to paying their fair share and corporations don't go back to creating jobs here, instead of exporting them, the future of our people will be grim.

Likewise, if we don't move toward sustainable lifestyles, the twenty-first century may be the last for our species. (Read the on-line article The Oil We Eat.)

Even if it does not affect us as individuals, is that what we really want for others?

I hope not.

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Hosea 4:6

Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? Isaiah 55:2

When he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. Luke 15:14

Let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. Ephesians 4:28

Man's Search For Meaning

2006-06-13T00:29:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I finished reading Victor Frankl's Man's Search For Meaning.

Frankl spent three years in concentration camps, including Auschwitz.

He writes, movingly, about his experiences and how those in the camps, including himself, learned to find meaning in their suffering or, if they did not, they gave up and died. Dying in the camps was easy as a result of physical breakdown due to illness, starvation, overwork and the brutality heaped upon them. And if one stepped out of line, there was always the bullet to the head.

In regard to cultivating a feeling that life is worth living, this is a quote of Frankl's that I find most profound:

"We had to learn ourselves and, furthermore, we had to teach the despairing men, that it did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us."

"We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life - daily and hourly."

"Our answer must consist, not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct."

"Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual."

In today's society, in which we are urged by our culture to be concerned only with our own survival and our own selfish desires, there is a distinct lack of meaning.

Few even think to ask what life is asking of them in the moment and whether they are responding with integrity.

Take away the television, games, movies and all the distractions and what would people have to fill their lives? I imagine many of us would fall into panic attacks, having nothing to give us the illusion that our lives are full.

We fill them with opinions, arguing, buying, selling, driving, drinking, drugs, sex, being clever and being entertained.

How many of us fill our moments with deliberately choosing love over fear and doing the right thing over doing the expedient thing? How many of us will stoop to pick up a piece of garbage that we have not thrown upon the ground, much less refrain from dropping our own garbage upon the world?

Americans, as a whole, want nothing to do with unpleasantness. We have been gladly sold the bill of goods that there should be no unpleasantness, no suffering, no hard choices in our lives.

Certainly we should not wallow in what is negative. It is Universal Law that whatever you place your attention on - positive or negative - that will expand in your life.

Yet we cannot be blind to the suffering of others. We cannot throw off the suffering - the empathy - we feel for the suffering of others, or cultivate numbness. When we lose empathy - which the Bible refers to as charity - we lose our humanity. For empathy is the only thing that separates us from the reptiles.

Frankl writes about suffering. He was a firm believer that suffering is inevitable for humans, but that we can - and should strive - to give it meaning.

For instance, if your spouse dies and you are heartbroken and feel life is meaningless, Frankl would ask you: What if you had died first and your spouse was left behind?

If your answer is that it would have been just as agonizing - or worse - for your spouse to have lost you, then your suffering has meaning. For you have spared your spouse that suffering by taking it on yourself, instead. This is what makes suffering heroic.

Yet, suffering that is avoidable is not dignified nor heroic, but masochistic, for it is not necessary to suffer to find meaning. Only suffering that is unavoidable and endured with dignity, especially if to migigate the suffering of another, is heroic.

Ultimately the individual is the one who determines, in his heart, whether his suffering was avoidable or necessary and meaningful.

Frankl recommends that each person imagine him or herself to be eighty years old and on his deathbed.

From that perspective, look at your life and see if it has had meaning.

Frankl's imperative is: Live as if you were living for the second time and had acted as wrongly the first time as you are about to act now."

Then do what you know is right. Act from the heart, act from empathy, act out of courage and fearlessness.

His last advice is:

"...For the world is in a bad state, but everything will become still worse unless each of us does his best.

So, let us be alert - alert in a twofold sense:

Since Auschwitz we know what man is capable of.

And since Hiroshima we know what is at stake."

Truly a book worth reading!

I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men. Acts 24:16

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. Corinthians 13:1

Modern Evil: Terminator Seeds & The White List

2006-06-10T13:57:00.000-04:00

There are two evils that farmers and people who pay attention have been fighting:

Sterile Seed and The White List.

Terminator seed, pushed by these corporations - Abbott Laboratories, AgrEvo, BASF, Bayer, Cheminova, Cyanimid, Degesch America Inc., Dow Agrosciences, Dupont, Engage Agro, Gustafson, Hedley Technologies, IPCO, Monsanto, Norac Concepts, Novartis, Nufarm, Peacock Industries, Rhone Poulenc, Rohm & Haas, Untited Agri Products, Van Waters & Rogers and Zeneca Agro - is sterile. The goal in producing crops that produce only sterile seed is so that farmers around the world to have to buy seeds every year.

The traditional practice (tried and tested for thousands of years) of saving seeds for the next harvest has come under threat due to a US patent on technology to prevent "unauthorized seed-saving" by farmers.

This perverse technology's function is to take what was give to us freely by God - seed - and make it the sole possession of those corporations who own it.

The twin goals are power over the world's people and increased profit, based upon greed for both.

The result must be increased poverty, misery and starvation in a world in which 3 Billion people already are wretchedly poor and nearly a billion are starving to death.

By making all food - and the right to grow food - the property of one corporation or another, corporations can tell all of us: pay or die.

Such a move in no way honors life. It is counter to Christian principles of sharing.

In fact, such a move is evil in its purest form, for good always enhances life, creates joy and alleviates suffering. Good does not shut off the world's food supply.

I've been reading Victor Frankls' Man's Search For Meaning in which he wrote of his experience in a Nazi concentration camp and how starvation affects the whole person and makes life unbearable.

Most people in the United States have no idea about what starvation does to a person.

On the contrary, we are overfed and most of us are constantly concerned about losing weight even as billions around the world starve.

Yet, with global climate changes on the horizon, all we need is a few crop failures to make us lose those extra pounds pretty fast. This administration - generally asleep on every issue while it works to misinform Americans - is pro-corporation in every way and now has even allowed our national grain stores to diminish.

Shall we, on top of this, allow development of this obscene technology which could result in widespread famine and the death of billions?

Canada - infiltrated by American corporations who are striving for deep integration with the U.S. which strives to privatize Canadian health care and get rid of the social services that make Canada such a great place to live - has, thanks to its farmers, failed to end Canada's ban on terminator seeds.

But the threat isn't over. Corporations intend to own everything and control everyone. They are doing a very good job of it and have a good friend in George Bush.

As the Bush administration flogs Canada for brilliantly stopping a terrorist attack, ignorant, opportunistic politicians such as John Hostettler misinform the public about Canada's being a "haven" for terrorists.

Make no mistake, this laughable charge - countered by Michael Chertoff - has really one political goal in mind: to slip the noose tighter around Canada, force her to abandon her independent foreign policy and force an end to her socially progressive domestic policies which make Canadians better paid and healthier than Americans - in order to engineer privatization of her medical system, water and anything everything American corporations can get their hands on.

Canada is a good friend to the U.S. Yet Americans are abysmally ignorant about her and her people. Rick Mercer has lampooned this ignorance - which is appalling - in his "Talking To Americans" comedy specials.

But Americans are not just ignorant about Canada. We are ignorant of what is happening in our own country and how the noose is being tightened around our own throats.

Another example of modern evil is The White List, a proposed law to ban the import, movement and cultivation of over 99 percent of the world’s plant species.

As J.L. Hudson of The Fruit Gardener writes:

"Backed by corporate herbicide manufacturers and the Exotic Pest Plant Councils, the new law will ban any plant not on the government-approved "White List."

All species will be considered guilty until proven innocent. Expensive safety testing will be required by law for all new plants before they are approved for possession and propagation. Thus, only major corporations will be able to afford to introduce new plants into cultivation.

We already have adequate weed prevention laws--it makes no sense to ban virtually the entire plant kingdom "just in case." This is equivalent to the government announcing that only 'pre-approved' books, magazine articles, etc., would be allowed, and all new writings would have to pass through government censors before publication. The world’s biological diversity has been likened to a great library and now government book-burners will be in charge."

While current law 'blacklists known harmful plants'; everything else is permitted.

Under the White List - recommended by a government organization formed to promote it, the National Invasive Species Council (NISC)- 'everything is prohibited except what is on the list.'

This law will extend government and corporate control over the possession, importation and movement of anything that is alive - plants, animals, fungi, microorganisms, everything.

Once in place, only the limited "white list" of government-approved species will be permitted - all other species will be considered contraband, with penalties for possession and mandated extermination.

To add a species to the White List, expensive "safety testing" and "risk assessment" will be required for approval. Randy Westbrooks, of the USDA, stated that the testing should be similar to the 30 to 40 million-dollar safety testing required to market a new toxic chemical.

To offset the cost of testing, it has been proposed that a new form of life patent be granted, giving sole rights to the entire species and its genome to the corporation paying for the testing (it being unlikely that individuals will be able to afford such testing), and granting complete immunity to the patent holder of the species becomes a pest.

This will place over 99% of the natural world off-limits - it is the greatest "theft of the commons" from humanity, and the greatest extension of government and corporate control over the natural world in history."

Write to your Senators and Representatives, for what God gave you and your brothers and sisters across the globe is about to be taken away by corporations.

For more information on this pernicious law, visit No White List.

Thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? Acts 13:10

In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish; but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief. Isaiah 17:11

Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? Wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously? Jeremiah 12:1

Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil. Isaiah 5:20

Take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day. Ephesians 6:13

The Lord God made every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew. Genesis 2:4,5

Joy and gladness is taken from the plentiful field. Jeremiah 48:33

Benedict: Shameful And Out of Touch

2006-06-03T18:56:00.000-04:00

The more Pope Benedict opens his mouth, the more he demonstrates just how out of touch the Vatican is with twenty-first century spiritual realities.

He knows a lot about Church politics, that I grant.

He knows about all the ponderous writings by Church clerics that reinforce his rusted, unhelpful world view.

But does he know about the discoveries physicists have made that prove we are in an energy Universe?

Can he explain how there is really is no reason for science and religion to quarrel because science is giving us a framework in which we can understand how God exists and manifests our thoughts?

Is he telling us that we really are all part of one being - God - and what we do to others - including persecute gays - we do to ourselves? [All these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. I Corinthians 12:11]

No.

Instead, he reinforces fifteenth century ignorance in a twenty-first century world.

As a result of his ignorance and pre-science views, he's continuing to create the same old problems rather than helping us solve them.

For instance, he just chastised Canadians for not having more children. He said it is because they are "too secular."

Excuse me?

Canadians have fewer children because they have an aversion to poverty.

Canadians know that too many children plus not enough money to raise them equals misery and degradation and illness.

Now most of us probably think that living in poverty is a problem and should be avoided.

But to the Pope (and a few new non-Catholic extremists) not having as many children as you possibly can is the problem. In fact, it's a sin.

Think about that: being irresponsible isn't a sin, being responsible is the sin.

The logic is so twisted it is stunning.

The only conclusion any sane person can reach is that those in Rome must love poverty.

Of course they only love it when others are living in it, for they only encourage others to live in poverty. Certainly the high priests in Rome live like kings in that palace they call the Vatican.

I'm sorry, but like "religious" people who call for enemies of their religion to be killed, the Pope and his red-caped cabal are the ultimate hypocrites. They encourage indiscrimate breeding while they, themselves, never get married and never have children.

It makes sense, though. Think how children would cramp their lifestyle.

I suspect it is in order to AVOID pregnancies and AVOID having children that we've seen that priests' sexual practices tend to be homosexual in nature.

I admit I am taking an angry and unforgiving tone, for I think it is the height of irresponsibility for the Pope to condemn contraception and safe sexual practices that, if used, could protect people from poverty and deadly sexually transmitted diseases.

I am angry because this is a hypocritical double standard.

Church pedophiles always pick on boys, not girls. Girls as young as ten have, after all, have gotten pregnant.

By involving themselves only with men or boys they do not need to worry about getting anyone pregnant.

Yet Benedict insists on creating poverty for others through condemning contraception.

Benedict, the nearly one billion people who are starving to death on planet earth must make you very happy. The billions living below the poverty line must make your papal heart beat with joy. Imagine knowing that you are continuing the fine tradition of luring so many people to poverty through Christ.

Let's get one thing straight: God is real. But God is love, not punishment. And God is truth, not hypocrisy. God is "do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

If you sincerely want others to plunge you into poverty, well, then I guess it's okay to do the same back. But the Pope hasn't worked all his life to live in the luxury of the Vatican to be a materially impoverished man.

God clearly tells us he can only do for us what He can do through us.

That means we are expected to use our God-given brains and use the gift he gave us through science - contraception - to eliminate poverty.

Yet Pope Benedict admonishes us for not having more children even as the world's population keeps doubling. This increase cannot continue indefinitely.

If you put two fruit flies in a bottle and close it, they will multiply happily until the day the entire population drowns in its own waste.

Likewise, at some point having a child will become a crime against all humanity because the earth is just a bigger bottle. But religious leaders, such as the Pope, seem blind to the obvious even as overpopulation, and the pollution caused by it, results in cancer, global warming and defilement of the earth.

Pope Benedict is doing the world a tremendous disservice with his double standards. He should be urging us all to concentrate on loving the people who are here, not making more.

Frankly, if Jesus Christ came to earth today, he would shake his head at these bogus teachings that urge collective irresponsibility.

Maybe that collective irresponsibility is the reason he hasn't been back.

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Matthew 23:27

My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves. Matthew 23:27

They be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch. Matthew 15:14

"Immigration" Reform

2006-05-29T01:31:00.000-04:00

Conservatives are calling for "Immigration Reform."

Beware when the leaders in this administration use that word "reform."

Just like "Social Security Reform" their ideas about "Immigration Reform" need closer scrutiny because the real problem with the current situation runs broader and deeper than just the limited issues upon which they are harping.

From George Lakoff and Sam Ferguson of The Rockridge Institute:

'Consider if we framed the issue not as "Immigration Reform" but as "Foreign Policy Reform," which focuses on two sub-issues:

How has US foreign policy placed, or kept, in power oppressive governments which people are forced to flee?'

What role have international trade agreements had in creating or exacerbating people's urge to flee their homelands?

If capital is going to freely cross borders, should people and labor be able to do so as well, going where globalization takes the jobs?

Such a framing of the problem would lead to a solution involving the Secretary of State, conversations with Mexico and other Central American countries, and a close examination of the promises of NAFTA, CAFTA, the WTO, the IMF and the World Bank to raise standards of living around the globe.

It would inject into the globalization debate a concern for the migration and displacement of people, not simply globalization's promise for profits. Yet this is not addressed when the issue is defined as the “immigration problem.”

In fact, President Bush's “comprehensive solution” does not address any of these concerns. Yet, the "immigration" problem, in this light, is actually a globalization problem.

Perhaps the problem might be better understood as a humanitarian crisis.

After all, can the mass migration and displacement of people from their homelands at a rate of 800,000 people a year be understood as anything else?

Unknown numbers of people have died trekking through the extreme conditions of the Arizona and New Mexico desert.

Towns are being depopulated and ways of life lost in rural Mexico. Fathers feel forced to leave their families in their best attempt to provide for their kids.

Everyday, boatloads of people arrive on our shores after miserable journeys at sea in deplorable conditions.

As a humanitarian crisis, the solution could involve The UN or the Organization of American States. But these bodies do not have roles in the immigration frame, so they have no place in an “immigration debate.”

So the deliberate framing this as just an “immigration problem” prevents us from penetrating deeper into the issue.

The current situation can also be seen as a civil rights problem. The millions of people living here who crossed illegally are for most intents and purposes Americans.

They work here. They pay taxes here. Their kids are in school here. They plan to raise their families here. (Arguments that most don't pay taxes are bogus.)

For the most part, they are assimilated into the American system, but are forced to live underground and in the shadows because of their legal status. They are denied ordinary civil rights.

Therefore, the “immigration problem” framing overlooks their basic human dignity.

Perhaps most pointedly, the “immigration problem” frame blocks an understanding of this issue as a cheap labor issue.

The undocumented immigrants allow employers to pay low wages, which in turn provide the cheap consumer goods we find at WalMart and McDonalds.

They are part of a move towards the cheap lifestyle, where employers and consumers find any way they can to save a dollar, regardless of the human cost.

Most of us partake in this cheap lifestyle, and as a consequence, we are all complicit in the current problematic situation. (And maybe that guilt is what is making so many Americans so angry. But rather than do something about humanizing corporations, we are punishing the underpaid victims who provide us with cheap goods and labor.)

Business, Consumers and Government have turned a blind eye to the problem for so long because our entire economy is structured around subsistence wages.

Americans won't do the work immigrants do not because they don't want to, but because they won't do it for such low pay.

Since Bush was elected, corporate profits have doubled but there has been no increase in wages. This is really a wage problem. The workers who are being more productive are not getting paid for their increased productivity."

(end of excerpt)

Instead of trying to counter all the demeaning arguments that are being hurled against migrants and undocumented workers, it's important for people of compassion to stop discussing this issue within the narrow and inherently biased framework that has been created by the non-compassionate.

In other words, if we as Christians are serious about bringing God and compassion and love into this world, we must begin re-framing this issue in more humane terms.

For instance, to use the language frame that defines anyone as "an alien" is dehumanizing. We should not use that term for Mexicans or migrants or anyone born on this planet.

We are all humans, not aliens.

Continuing to use this insulting term - even in our arguments against the dehumanization of migrant workers - only plays to those who lack compassion by validating their charged term.

Christ told us to love every man as a brother, not to label, shame, exploit or abuse him. Especially when the policies of our nation help to create the poverty in other nations that sends so many to our shores.

Christians need to stand up for an immigration policy that is rooted in justice, fairness and compassion. We cannot continue to tolerate an immigration policy that rewards us for exploiting the poor and vulnerable while shaming and criminalizing those very people on whom we depend to pick our food, clean our homes, build new construction, fight fires and do so much of our manual labor.

I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord. Zechariah 3:12

Now, therefore, ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of god. Ephesians 2:19

Be not forgetful to entertain strangers; for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Hebrews 13:2

Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you. Ephesians 4:31

We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Romans 15:1

An inconvenient Truth

2006-05-26T09:23:00.000-04:00

Global Warming is a fact and it's going to take action - as well as prayer - to turn things around and protect us from chaotic climate change.

Yet, until just two days ago, the Bush administration was still creating spin about it. Part of that spin is the hysterical charge that changing our energy priorities will kill our economy. Now, under pressure, he has made an abrupt change, saying:

"Let's quit the debate about whether greenhouse gases are caused by mankind or by natural causes; let's just focus on technologies that deal with the issue."

Too bad he didn't say that six years ago. But, being forced by the facts to change, he suddenly has.

It is to be expected that, every time we need to change, there will be those who resist and yell that the sky is falling. Usually those people have financial interests in stopping the change. But, God gave us brains for a reason. We cannot be praying for a miracle if we are unwilling to help ourselves. And we cannot help ourselves if we are unwilling to look at the facts.

Yet facts often are unpleasant. They mean we have to change. It takes strength of character to face facts, use our brains, make decisions and follow up.

For instance, as Christians we say we want people with "Christian values" in office. Yet, what does that mean?

Does it mean voting for someone who mouths platitudes about being in favor of a "culture of life" even if he has a history of pushing environmental policies that are killing the earth?

Does it mean we will automatically vote for someone who speaks about having a personal relationship with God even after he has lied to involve us in his own, personal war?

Does it mean voting against a person of conscience who bases his arguments on facts and putting a hack in office because the hack says he believes in God?

And does it mean voting for a political party that supported that hack, that groomed him, helped create his policies and provides the money to craft his media spin?

If so, we are abrogating our responsibilities as Christians by allowing ourselves to be duped and manipulated.

And we are revealing our characters for what they are: weak and an affront to Jesus Christ, who never took the easy way out.

Being a Christian is not a one issue stand. It must be a stand for doing right across the board. It is about standing up for justice, about taking the time to understand the truth, about getting involved and about loving your enemies, not launching a "pre-emptive" attack against them.

Our media - run by corporations - painted Al Gore as a boring, unfriendly man. Since he bored us, we switched the station. We didn't listen to his facts. We dismissed him, even though he attends church.

As a result a man was elected who does not operate on facts, but who operates much as Ken Lay - former CEO of Enron and George Bush's close friend - operates.

You may know that Mr. Lay has been found guilty of not just mismanaging Enron, but of outrageous criminal activity in which he defrauded investors and employees. He nearly bankrupted California.

He hurt a lot of people.

He did this because he did not operate on facts. He operated on wishful thinking and greed.

Mr. Bush seems to operate on the same principles. He certainly is bankrupting us with his agendas. And not only financially, but morally.

Yet many Christians voted for him. We are who put him in office. We did so because he claimed to be "a man of God" against abortion.

Yet, it's one thing to ban abortion. It's another thing to vote for the programs and support that encourage poor mothers to have their children and raise them successfully instead of sinking deeper into poverty.

The difference between the woman who has an abortion and the one who doesn't is usually an issue of affordability.

But George Bush is not in favor of uplifting the poor. He is merely interested in punishing them for existing. He is, therefore, not in favor of a culture of life, but a culture of punishment for being poor and having the audacity to have sex.

Yet we elected him. The Christian base elected him. We elected a man who punishes the poor instead of leading them - and us - to new purpose and compassion.

In essence - if you look at his record - supporting torture, cutting veterans' benefits even as the injured come flooding home, lying to begin a war, supporting corporate profits over the American people - we have elected a man who is aborting the entire United States and all it stood for: truth, justice, fairness, opportunity.

What does that say about us and our religion?

What does that say about our overall character, as Christians?

Today Paul Krugman writes about our national character. It's a timely issue since we have elections looming both this year and in 2008.

And how are we going to vote?

Are we going to ignore the issues, then vote on the strength of some soundbite crafted by media experts?

Are we going to run from facts and science and elect someone who doesn't bring those things up - or lies about them - but harps on one or two issues like abortion and gay unions?

If we do, things are not going to get better. We - and this country to which we owe allegiance and responsibility - will reap what we sow.

Here's an excerpt from Paul Krugman's article A Test Of Our Character:

'"An Inconvenient Truth" isn't just about global warming, of course. It's also about Mr. Gore. And it is, implicitly, a cautionary tale about what's been wrong with our politics.

Why, after all, was Mr. Gore's popular-vote margin in the 2000 election narrow enough that he could be denied the White House? Any account that neglects the determination of some journalists to make him a figure of ridicule misses a key part of the story. Why were those journalists so determined to jeer Mr. Gore? Because of the very qualities that allowed him to realize the importance of global warming, many years before any other major political figure: his earnestness, and his genuine interest in facts, numbers and serious analysis.

And so the 2000 campaign ended up being about the candidates' clothing, their mannerisms, anything but the issues, on which Mr. Gore had a clear advantage (and about which his opponent was clearly both ill informed and dishonest).

I won't join the sudden surge of speculation about whether "An Inconvenient Truth" will make Mr. Gore a presidential contender. But the film does make a powerful case that Mr. Gore is the sort of person who ought to be running the country.

Since 2000, we've seen what happens when people who aren't interested in the facts, who believe what they want to believe, sit in the White House. Osama bin Laden is still at large, Iraq is a mess, New Orleans is a wreck. And, of course, we've done nothing about global warming.

But can the sort of person who would act on global warming get elected? Are we - by which I mean both the public and the press - ready for political leaders who don't pander, who are willing to talk about complicated issues and call for responsible policies? That's a test of national character. I wonder whether we'll pass.'

Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. Zechariah 4:6

If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch. Matthew 15:14

Death Threats: Always Anti-Christ

2006-05-21T12:48:00.000-04:00

From an article in the New York Times:

'THE DIXIE CHICKS call it "the Incident": the anti-Bush remark that Natalie Maines, their lead singer, made onstage in London in 2003. "Just so you know, we're ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas," said Ms. Maines, a Texan herself.

It led to a partisan firestorm, a radio boycott, death threats and, now, to an album that's anything but repentant: "Taking the Long Way" (Open Wide/Monument/ Columbia).

Her remark was reported in Britain and quickly picked up. Right-wing blogs and talk shows vilified the Dixie Chicks as unpatriotic and worse, and the Incident reached the nightly news. On March 12 a Web site statement from Ms. Maines said: "I feel the president is ignoring the opinion of many in the U.S. and alienating the rest of the world. My comments were made in frustration, and one of the privileges of being an American is you are free to voice your own point of view."

The article makes it clear that the Dixie Chicks got the shock of their life when they found out that there are a large number of Americans who are not for freedom of speech and wish to kill people who do not parrot their own views:

"We have video footage of this lady at one of the shows protesting, holding her 2-year-old son," Ms. Maines said. The woman commanded her son to shout along with an angry chant. "And I was just like, that's it right there. That's the moment that it's taught. She just taught her 2-year-old how to hate. And that broke my heart."

The band received death threats, including at least one, in Dallas, that the F.B.I. considered credible. A newspaper printed Ms. Maines's home address in Austin, Tex., and she ended up moving first outside the city and then to Los Angeles.'

It is the height of irony that these Americans would support a war that, supposedly, was being fought to bring American freedoms to another country while simultaneously denying those same freedoms (i.e. freedom of speech) to their own fellow citizens.

The Times article then talks about how now, over three years later, the same media pundits who once slandered this musical group for their clear-sighted honesty, are now are praising them:

"At the Time 100 party a few days before this interview, the Dixie Chicks performed "Not Ready to Make Nice." Afterward Ms. Maines recounted, the Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly — who has regularly denounced her, and whom she pointedly calls "despicable" — rushed over to greet them. "It's like, 'Just want to say that was great!' " Ms. Maines said. " 'I really like that new song.' "

"And I go, 'But two million tops, right?' And he goes, 'What?' And I said, 'I saw your show when you said we wouldn't sell more than two million, tops.' And he was like, 'Oh, ah, well, two million's pretty good these days, right?' And I was just like, 'Right, yeah. You were saying it in a positive way.' "

Ms. Robison interrupted, laughing. "That's what you call a no-spin zone."

"So then he was just backtracking," Ms. Maines continued. "He says: 'We really respect what you did. And we really respect that you stand up for yourself and blah blah blah.'

My point of bringing this to your attention:

Some of the people - maybe all of the people - who made those death threats, who taught their children hate and who tried to destroy the Dixie Chicks consider themselves Christians.

They tried to destroy the Chicks because they, themselves, chose to stand on the side of war and killing and against rational discussion, conflict resolution and saving lives.

The fact that a hometown newspaper would print a person's home address in order to encourage such criminal behaviors as harassment, vandalism and possible injury or death is unconscionable.

Yet, as Ms. Maine says, her home of Lubbock, Texas (which she had to leave because of death threats) has "more churches than trees."

But those churches did not help the people to do right. They encouraged them, instead, to do wrong. This is the worst kind of hypocrisy.

Our primary commandment from God is "Do not kill."

What kind of mind is it that twists that gospel so it can justify death threats against those who are against killing?

And what kind of heart can translate "Thou shalt not kill" into support for a hasty, ill-conceived and pre-emptive war?

It is a fearful heart - and a fearful mind - separated from God.

Let's get one thing straight:

Such people are not Christians, even if they disguise themselves in the robes of clergy.

They are the anti-Christ.

Ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists. 1 John 2:18

The battle is not yours, but God's. 2 Chronicles 20:15

Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. Isaiah 2:4

Whence come wars and fightings among you? James 4:1

Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Matthew 7:3

If God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. 1 John 4:11

Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer. 1 John 3:15

Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder. Matthew 19:18

Is God Or Television Guiding Our Minds?

2006-05-19T16:10:00.000-04:00

We were given brains to think for ourselves. Yet there is so much information to sort through. We wind up dependent upon experts to analyze information and give us what we hope are truthful summaries.

Most of us have grown up trusting the government to provide us with accurate information since it has the resources and manpower to do research and analysis. Historically, we have reason to expect governmental agencies to be more reliable than not in giving us truthful information.

Consider how we have depended upon the Library of Congress, PBS, the EPA, ethics panels, investigators, judges and a huge net of government agencies and employees to serve our best interests and give us accurate and unbiased information. We depend upon them to work for the public good and, for the most part, they do not fail us.

And while Administrations certainly have made gross errors in judgment, we tend to think of unlawful power grabs as being the province of individuals such as Richard Nixon and Senator Joe McCarthy.

It is difficult, therefore, for most people to accept that we are in the grips of not just one person, but an entire government that is waging an unprecedented assault not only on truth and transparency, science and fact, but on America and her people.

This war was started 40 years ago as Republicans formed think tanks and sunk billions into figuring out how to control language, frame every issue their way, win elections based upon emotional spin and gain absolute power.

Our schools have been chronically underfunded. Our poor have not been educated so they can raise themselves up.

While Republicans with money think nothing of spending $40,000 to $80,000 per year on private schools for their children so they can compete, they object to public schools spending $10,000 per student while derisively leaping on public schools and underpaid teachers as being responsible for not being able to lift disadvantaged children up.

They care nothing about raising up poor or even middle-class children so they feel empowered and are able to contribute.

In short, we have not been challenged to think positively or to think in terms of uplifting ourselves or our nation. Government could do this, but this would make us less willing to turn to war. It goes without saying we are not taught conflict resolution.

Instead, we are encouraged to be separate and divisive by everything from our technology to the layout of our suburbs.

Science - the base of all our technological and medical revolutions - is discredited and a fight between religion and science has been nurtured to such a point that some people actually argue that dinosaurs are only 6,000-years-old and were transported on the ark. People are encouraged to believe evolution - the root of our medical and scientific advances - is disputable. And fully one fifth of our population - one in five Americans - thinks that the sun revolves around the earth, an idea that was disproved five centuries ago.

In short, nothing in our culture or constant programming - with the exception of PBS - teaches us to think - critically - for ourselves or do real research or rely on facts.

Witness all the absurd urban legends that are continually circulated on the Internet by gullible friends unable, unwilling or uncaring enough to check out if they are true.

Meanwhile PBS keeps being rescued from the budget axe by the slimmest of threads.

Obviously we are better consumers and a more pliant populace when we do not think for ourselves. Corporations subsequently spend billions on advertising campaigns to convince us we are thinking for ourselves even as they program our minds to their ends.

It's ironic that advertising is increasingly geared to make us feel special - to make us feel as though we are unique and making uniquely personal choices - even as it simultaneously herds us toward a powerlessness, herd mentality.

I write all these many words to you so you will consider this:

While it's tempting to blame the American people and tempting to blame people "who don't think for themselves" remember that we do not usually do what we are not taught to do.

And we in the U.S. are not taught to question the government or question anything.

We - this country's ordinary working citizens - are taught to want the latest technological advance, to shop and eat too much.

It is very difficult to see from inside this box.

Who sees himself clearly - or his country - from inside?

So when people are fed lies repeatedly, they tend to make their decisions on those lies and defend them.

Yet so much of what we take in, we do so while under a kind of hypnosis, while watching television.

Watching television puts us in a brain wave state in which we are very receptive to whatever we are watching.

From an article by Wes More:

"Herbert Krugman's research proved that watching television numbs the left brain and leaves the right brain to perform all cognitive duties.

This has some harrowing implications for the effects of television on brain development and health. For one, the left hemisphere is the critical region for organizing, analyzing, and judging incoming data. The right brain treats incoming data uncritically, and it does not decode or divide information into its component parts.

While watching television, the brain appears to slow to a halt, registering low alpha wave readings on the EEG. This is caused by the radiant light produced by cathode ray technology within the television set. Even if you're reading text on a television screen the brain registers low levels of activity. Once again, regardless of the content being presented, television essentially turns off your nervous system."

For the rest of Mr. More's article and to understand how addicted we are and how this addiction has resulted in programmers and advertisers programming and controlling you, see this article from www.familyresource.com.

For more on how the brain acts under hypnosis, read this article from the New York Times This Is Your Brain Under Hypnosis by Sandra Blakeslee.

We all have a need to feel we are in control and know what's really going on. None of us want to think we were duped, so some of us will fight to the death to defend the lies that we have been fed (but do not know are lies) and want to believe are the truth.

If possible, have compassion for those who disagree, who resist the truth, who don't "think for themselves."

Please affirm, in your mind, that each American - including yourself - abandons the need to be right and, instead, thirsts for the truth and finds it.

We must believe in the inherent goodness and intelligence in ourselves and each other. We must believe that the truth must out and that we, as a people, are getting ready to turn this nation around. We must believe there is more good in us than darkness and that the good will triumph.

These intentions are what will, ultimately, empower and save us as individuals, a nation and a world. They will allow us to align with God and do what is loving, compassionate, right and smart - as opposed to what we are programmed to do.

He hath sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound. Isaiah 61:1

Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. John 8:32

Gnosis

2006-05-11T15:30:00.000-04:00

Recently I saw the following question posed: What is a Gnostic?

This is my understanding:

A Gnostic is a person who believes that matter is evil and that salvation comes through gnosis.

Gnosis is transformation through spiritual practice that infuses one with uplifting, divine energy.

That spiritual practice gives strategies for "salvation" based on the premises that we can transcend our "evil" (suffering, pain, confusion and harm we do to others) through aligning with God (which will change our ways of perceiving, believing and acting.)

As we realize - through physics - that we live in an energy universe and that everything (no matter how solid it appears) is illusion composed of vibrating packets of energy, gnosis is understood as a way of raising our energy (spiritual, mental, emotional and physical) so it vibrates, literally, at a higher (faster) level closer to the vibration of God's love.

As we reach that level, we are happier, healthier and more loving.

We are freed from the "eat or be eaten" philosophy embedded in the body (through its evolution from single cells to what we are today) that inclines us to act in the unloving and destructive ways we do.

If anyone who has studied the topic can add to my understanding of the definition of gnosis, I would appreciate it.

Your sorrow shall be turned into joy. John 16:20

Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Romans 12:2

We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. 1 John 3:14

Da Vinci Cartoon

2006-05-11T14:51:00.000-04:00

I cannot resist linking to this droll cartoon about the Da Vinci Code.

Having done that, however, I'm still going to go see the film. I feel myself wedded to God and the Spirit of Christ within me. I don't need to protect my beliefs or fight over doctrine. I hope you feel the same.

Personally, I think those who are angry and fighting to suppress The Da Vinci Code either have subconscious doubts about their own beliefs (and are afraid of being wrong) or they have fears of losing their followers, losing their power over their followers and losing their followers' tithes.

Notice that no one is angrily trying to stamp out traditional views of Jesus. There is no anger behind The Da Vinci Code. But it does illuminate how badly women have been maligned by the Church since the third century.

Fighting over religious doctrine - as opposed to debating or discussing ideas and the research one has uncovered which seems to support them - is counter to the beliefs we say we have: Jesus' teachings of love, turning the other cheek, blessing "the enemy."

Indeed the fact that the worst atrocities have been perpetrated by religious sects fighting over whose doctrine is correct does not deter us from putting up our fists (or suing others) over what they think.

Please let's grow up as Christians, stop acting like bullying children and move on...

Teach me good judgment. Psalms 119:66

Agree with thine adversary quickly, while thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge. Matthew 5:25

With what judgments ye judge, ye shall be judged. Matthew 7:1

The Partisan Jesus

2006-05-10T10:25:00.000-04:00

Today Gary Wills reminds us, in his essay published in the New York Times, that Jesus was a complicated and mercurial figure.

I prefer the uncomplicated image - that so many of us nurture - of Jesus as a kind, tolerant teacher of love.

In fact, I base my ideas about the need for a compassionate and inclusive political agenda on his teachings about lovingkindness.

As our culture has become more greedy and rapacious under Republican leadership, I have longed for Democrats to embrace liberal Christians and call us to new and better purpose. Not a self-martyring purpose, but a loving, sharing purpose.

I would dearly like it if Democrats of faith stopped being afraid of speaking about God, got real and got genuine about any faith they had.

But - let's face it - spirituality in democratic politics is like homosexuality in the army. If they don't ask, you don't tell. In fact, if they do ask, you just sidestep the question and move on because Democrats are committed to maintaining a secular society (as opposed, for instance, to what Iran has.)

It doesn't matter what experiences we've had that have convinced us that we are better persons when we are aligned with God's love.

Neither does it matter that calling upon the power of God and enlisting the power of the greater Universe seems, to many of us, to only make sense. Why go it alone when you can receive unlimited help and wise guidance?

There are also many of us who believe that, unless we each - on our own and not as any kind of imposed mandate - begin to seek meaning for our lives through learning love for everything and everyone (in short, through embracing spiritual values) that humanity will eventually destroy itself (and perhaps the world), becoming not a triumph of God's love but a failed experiment.

In my world view, we are here to evolve and to become more and more like God - more and more loving and joyful - in human (manifested) form.

From my point of view, it's too bad Democrats didn't embrace this view of God ten years ago because the only recent images we have of God in American politics are negative.

Still, Wills is a clear thinker and gives a powerful argument against Democrats embracing a partisan Jesus and flaunting Him in public.

Definitely food for thought.

A wise man is strong; yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength. Proverbs 24:5

Gird up the loins of your mind. 1 Peter 1:13

May 8 - The Anniversary of V.E. Day

2006-05-08T02:46:00.000-04:00

We spend so much time defending our views and making other people wrong instead of honoring them.Yet, when we build up an idea of another person as having wrong ideas, it's easy to start thinking of them as inferior. Pretty soon we can be thinking of them as people we can live without, and then as people we shouldn't have to put up with, and then as people who shouldn't even exist.

This is how the justification for genocide builds.

The list of genocides is long, reaching into the 21st century with Dafur. The only way we can end them is to develop empathy and tolerance for others. It is not too extreme to say that this world would be a safer and better home for us if we each took it upon ourselves to ask God to teach us to honor each person as a sacred creation. And we have a very good reason to do this: each of us contains God. To kill another is to kill a piece of God.

Today is the anniversary of V.E. Day. I can think of no better way to honor my mother - who was born on this day - than to offer a prayer in remembrance of the millions of mothers (and their children and husbands and parents) put to death by the Nazis. May their souls be at peace. May we never forget what resentments, blaming and hating lead to and may we continually strive to love and forgive.

I Honor Those Lost In The Holocaust

Dear God,

May 8, 1945 marked V.E. Day - "Victory In Europe" Day - when:

--Europe was freed from the clutches of Nazism
--World War II in Europe ceased
--The Holocaust came to an end.

V.E. Day was not just an end. It was a beginning of revelations about:

--loved ones heartlessly torn from each other
--concentration camps
--piles of spectacles
--mounds of shoes
--bodies beyond counting
--and starving survivors, nearly insane from what they had endured.

Stripped of everything and everyone held dear
Returned to a lonely world
Holocaust survivors told stories of breathtaking brutality
That made the world weep.

O God, their only sin was belief in You.
They prospered through faith and were hated for it.

The hateful, the jealous and the spiritually disconnected
Wishing to usurp Your power
And refusing to hear Your voice
Vowed to kill those who do.
But death was denied victory
And Your Spirit lives on.

O Lord, in honor of those we lost,
Make me a vehicle of compassion so You rule the earth.

Fill me with profound understanding of what creates such hate
And fill me, instead, with even greater love.

Amen.

Judge not, and ye shall not be judged. Luke 6:37

Wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things. Romans 2:1

He that hateth his brother is in darkness. 1 John 2:11

He hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth. Acts 17:26

Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Romans 13:9

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear. 1 John 4:18

Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. Matthew 5:9

Cinco de Mayo

2006-05-05T17:10:00.000-04:00

As corporations move out of the U.S. (in order to make obscene profits paying Chinese laborers 40 cents an hour) and the deficit balloons, Americans are becoming increasingly angry.

That anger, instead of being focused on a party that is dismantling our nation, bankrupting us and killing our soldiers in a careless war, is being focused - as is what usually happens - against the weakest and most vulnerable of our nation. Today that population of people is Mexican-American immigrants.

I am fifty-five years old and I grew up with idea that Mexicans were, inherently, dirty. Whether due to their skin color or the fact that they become muddy from toiling in our fields, that "dirtiness" always implied more than color. "Dirty Mexican" was always said so that I knew they were, inherently, criminal and morally inferior.

However we got that image embedded within us (and I think it was largely through television sterotypes) it is obvious this idea of "inherent" criminality is what many people still harbor as they toss about the term "illegal alien."

It is ironic that at a time when Americans themselves have overtly shown the world their own shadow and their ability to act in criminal and morally reprehensible ways - by rushing into the war in Iraq, arguing in favor of torture, ignoring or even cheering on the killing of Muslims and the suffering in Iraq - there is a call to label those who come here for a better life as criminals and felons.

We always project our sins on others. It is the way of spirit, the way of the world. As Rumi says, ""This world is a mountain. What we do is a shout. The echo comes back to us."

So - we are not willing to turn our judgment against ourselves and apologize for invading Iraq. We are not willing to apologize for being 5% of the world's population yet using 90% of the world's resources. We are not willing to tackle corporate welfare or misdeeds or the fact that we allow exploitation of every kind in third world countries under the holy name of "profit."

No - we can't even see we have done wrong in these instances - preferring to read about Paris Hilton instead of U.S. policy. Yet we know something is wrong - many things are wrong. So what do we do? We will take the easy route: persecute and shame the immigrants who toil in this country doing jobs American-born citizens will not take on.

Instead of persecution, instead of blaming all our ills on people who have come here to contribute and make a solid life, the true Christian would consider making amends for what is going on.

To that end, I give you a prayer to make amends to all Mexican-Americans for all past - and present - hate-mongering and abuse.

God gave the earth, the land, the sky to all of us. We are the ones who build the fences and shut others out.

May 5 - I Make Amends To Mexican-Americans

Dear God,

Today is Cinco de Mayo, a holiday for Mexican-Americans,
A celebration of triumph in the face of overwhelming odds.

It is a touchstone for a people who have, for centuries, been held down through thoughts of prejudice about them, their talents and intentions.

These thoughts still exist today, Lord, and I know what they are,
For, to have heard the slanders, is to have them within me.

By Your Grace, I demand a miracle:

These prejudices have no effect.

In that place of Spirit, in which there is no space and no time,
I stand and apologize.

I apologize for the prejudices that have been harbored.
I apologize for centuries of abuse.
And I take responsibility for the results:
Poor education, poverty and lack of hope.

All problems arise from lack of love, Lord,
And I have not loved as well as I can.

To everyone who has been oppressed I say:

I am sorry, deeply and profoundly sorry for my contribution.

I now make amends.

You guide me in making amends over the course of my life
As You cleanse the world of all effects of prejudice
And guide me in truth, compassion and justice.

And so it is.

Amen.

Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee. Luke 19:22

He that ruleth over men must be just. 2 Samuel 23:3

Your Voice Is Needed

2006-03-27T14:37:00.000-05:00

In my last blog I told you about Global Importune and how you can help alleviate injustice through Global Importune's letter writing campaigns by spending just 5 minutes a month.

Here's two more examples of what Mark does. These are letters from this month. They may help you realize how important your signature can be. Just put yourself in the shoes of these women.

Muhammad Nakhira Al-Dhahiri
Ministry of Justice
PO Box 753
Abu Dhabi
United Arab Emirates

Dear Minister:

I am writing to express my concern over the fact that a female domestic worker has reportedly been sentenced to 150 lashes by a Shari'a court in the Emirate of Emirate of Ras al-Khaimah for becoming pregnant outside marriage.

According to a local newspaper of October 5, 2005, the woman was ordered to take a pregnancy test after her sponsor (which means either her employer or her employment agency) reported to the police that she was pregnant. Afer the test confirmed that she was pregnant, the public prosecutor referred the case to the Shari'a court.

I welcome the UAE's October 2004 accession to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. Please remember that the Convention obliges you to uphold the right not to be subject to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

I urge the UAE judicial authorities to implement a moratorium on the use of flogging, which is a cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment, with a view to its eventual abolition.

I thank you for your attention to this matter and anxiously await your reply.

Sincerely,

The second letter:

Joseph Kabila, President de la Republique
c/o Mrs. Louise Nzanga Ramazani
Minister-Counselor & Charge d'Affaires
Embassy of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
18 Range Road
Ottawa, Ontario K1N 8J3

Your Excellency:

I wish to bring to your attention a very troubling matter. Kavira Muraulu, a farmer in her fifies, was raped on the night of May 16, 2003 by a soldier from the military camp in Mangangu, near the town of Beni in North-Kivu Province. When she complained of the attack to the soldier's military commander, he ordered the soldier to pay Ms. Muraulu three U.S. dollars in compensation, but took no action when the order was ignored. Kavira Muraulu then took her complaint to the local district governor, who issued reassurances, but made no arrangements to ensure her safety.

A while later the rapist and other soliders seized her in her fields, tied her up and beat her, knocking out a tooth. They only stopped when another woman threatened them with a gun. Kavira Muraulu was later taken back to the governor's office where he tried, but failed, to persuade her to retract her accusation. The soldiers then attacked her again, this time bayoneting her in the stomach. Fortunately, she survived these assaults, but authorities have failed to bring her attackers to justice.

I fear for the safety of women in your country. I urge you to bring justice to Kavira Muraulu and other rape victims by holding suspected perpetrators accountable to an appropriate, legally constituted judicial authority. I ask that you establish a systematic and comprehensive program of health and psychological care for survivors of sexual violence.

I thank you for your immediate attention to this extremely serious matter and anxiously await your reply.

Sincerely,

Why are only 400 letters so effective? Because one letter actually printed out and mailed equals 100 e-mails or telephone calls.

So feel free to cut and paste either of these letters and mail them yourself or to Mark Konrad at Global Importune who will mail them with the others he has received.

To get on Mark's list and have him send you letters for signing (along with a postage paid return envelope) e-mail him at globalimportune@sympatico.ca with "I want to join your mailing list" in the subject line.

Otherwise you can write to Mark or send your copies of these letters to him at:

Main Clubhouse
P.O.Box 610226
Port Huron, Michigan 48061

What doth the Lord require of you, but to do justly, and to love mercy. Micah 6:8

Let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice; let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them Psalms 5:11

Global Importune's Call For Justice

2006-03-27T13:49:00.000-05:00

As Mark Konrad, the founder of Global Importune states, "If you're silent about injustice, you're giving consent to it."

If you want to do something tangible about injustice, but don't know where to start, Global Importune is a painless way to get involved that requires, at most, about five minutes of your time each month.

Each month Mark selects a political prisoner from a list assembled by Amnesty International. Then he writes a letter on behalf of that prisoner. Mark then mails copies to more than 400 Global Importune members scattered throughout the U.S. and Canada. Each member is asked to sign and date his or her letter and return it in the postage paid envelope. When he receives them back, Mark forwards the letters en mass to the government leader or ambassador of the offending nation.

When writers and peace workers, members of opposition parties, bloggers and whistleblowers are thrown in jail, governments count on no one caring. But when a national leader receives a bag full of mail from strangers who say: we know you have this person and we are watching what you are doing with him, it not only gives that leader pause but often leads to release.

No leader - no matter how dreadful - wants to be embarrassed or wants attention called to his wrongdoings.

As a result of Mark's work - and those who sign these important letters - more than 200 political prisoners have been released around the world.

Mark also sends out letters in support of legislation that remedies injustice. Here's an example from this month that I signed and returned to him:

His Excellency Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu
State Governor
The Round House secretariat
Alausa, Ikeja
Lagos, Nigeria

Dear Governor,

I welcome the current discussion of a "Domestic Violence and Other Related Matters Bill" by the Lagos House of Assembly.

In Nigeria, women suffer from violence in the family: they get 'punished' for supposed transgressions and are beaten, raped or murdered.

If the Bill is passed, it will help to protect those women who face violence in the family.

The government of Lagos State, along with the federal government of Nigeria, has an obligation under international human rights law to prevent violence against women and to assist women in escaping violence. Perpetrators must be prosecuted, and victims of violence given full support.

As the Governor of Lagos State, you have the power to make a difference for these women.

I urgently ask you to voice your support for the "Domestic Violence and Other Related Matters Bill" and undertake a thorough public education campaign on this issue. I urge you to publicly condemn violence against women: say it is never normal, legal or acceptable and that it is a human rights abuse.

I thank you for your attention to this important matter and anxiously await your reply.

Sincerely,

As Martin Luther King stated: "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

I urge you to contact Mark today and get on his mailing list. Your signature can mean freedom from rape as punishment for third world women. Your signature can mean release for a person languishing in jail for no good reason except that he or she is for peace, told the truth or was working for justice.

Mark can be contacted at: globalimportune@sympatico.ca and his website is www.globalimportune.org.

He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound. Isaiah 61:1

Faith: Words To Action

2006-03-24T13:19:00.000-05:00

I believe in all that has never yet been spoken.
I want to free what waits within me
so that what no one has dared to wish for

may for once spring clear
without my contriving.

If this is arrogant, God, forgive me,
but this is what I need to say.
May what I do flow from me like a river,
no forcing and no holding back,
the way it is with children.

Then in these swelling and ebbing currents,
these deepening tides moving out, returning,
I will sing you as no one ever has,

streaming through widening channels
into the open sea.

In three brief, "intense periods of happiness" between 1899 and 1903 Rainer Maria Rilke wrote The Book of Hours.

The poem above Ich glaube an Alles noch nie Gesagte (I believe in all not yet said) belongs to that collection. Translated by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy the volume is subtitled Love Poems To God.

Rilke wrote as a result of "inner dictations" or words that came to him and "struck him with their force and persistence."

Certainly the above poem resonates with anyone who has a desire to do what has never been dared before in an effort to create peace.

The Christian Peacemakers Teams are, most certainly, divinely guided. Imagine what we could do if everyone who calls him or herself a Christian stood up - like them - against war. Imagine if each one of us was willing - like the Peacemakers - to put his or her body in the line of danger not to hold a gun and kill others, but in order to block bullets from hitting the bodies of others.

This is what Jesus would do today. He would lead us all to form a human wall between those with guns and those without and would say: "Okay. We're unarmed. We are your brothers and sisters. We stand for love and peace. Will you shoot us?"

Maybe those with the guns would. But while an army can kill one person or 10, 100, even a 1000 people, it cannot destroy us all when we stand together. If we Christians - millions of us - showed up together and put our lives on the line for peace and to protect others, things would change.

We would surely then be singing a praise of love to Christ in a way that no one ever has. And, through us, God would accomplish miracles.

All that is within me, bless his holy name. Psalms 103:1

I will very gladly spend and be spent for you. 2 Corinthians 12:15

They slay the widow and the stranger, and the murder the fatherless. Psalms 94:6

Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. Mark 8:34

I beseach you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Romans 12:1

The work of righteous shall be peace. Isaiah 32:17

Love: Our Salvation

2006-03-14T09:57:00.000-05:00

PBS recently broadcast a program, created by Wayne Dyer, on how to love unconditionally.

One of Dr. Dyer's guests was Immaculee Ilibagiza. Immaculee is a Tutsi who survived the 90 days it took her country's Hutu's to kill nearly a million people: 90% of Rwanda's Tutsis.

Immaculee survived the Rwandan genocide in a 3 foot by 4 foot secret room in which she remained for 91 days with several other women. Hidden by a clergyman whose family didn't know they were there, the women had a toilet but could not bathe and had very little food.

Searches of the house were conducted frequently so absolute silence had to be maintained. People who knew her - including her math teacher who was a Hutu - searched for her in order to kill her. She said she heard him through the thin wall saying: "I know Immaculee's here and I will find her and kill her."

But Immaculee survived. She subsequently wrote her moving account Left To Tell: Discovering God Amidst The Rwandan Holocaust.

What she learned is that only forgiveness and love can save us.

Yes, we must call evil for what it is. We cannot bury our heads in the sand. That is what allowed the genocide to claim so many lives: people looked the other way.

We can't look the other way. When we do, we are complicit in wrongdoing. Yet, neither can we fight injustice or wrongdoing with hate. Instead we must learn from Immaculee and do as she did.

Immaculee survived because she was able to go deep within, touch God and find the ability to send forgiveness and love to her would-be murderers. And she survived because another man - a Hutu - listened to that same Voice within himself, risked his life and hid her.

Immaculee weighed 69 pounds when she emerged on the 91st day.

Now she is an inspiration for all. With tremendous grace she gives us God's message:

Killing others destroys our souls. Love is our only real option and our only possibility for salvation.

We must all seek to follow Immaculee's example and allow God's love to transform our lives and our world.

God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. John 4:24

God is love. 1 John 4:8

Nevertheless I am continually with thee. Psalms 73:23

God hath not give us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7

He will swallow up death in victory. Isaiah 25:8

Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times; but, Until seventy times seven. Matthew 18:12,22

9/11 Revisited

2006-03-06T17:58:00.000-05:00

Christian theologian David Griffin is professor emeritus at the Claremont School of Theology, where he taught for over 30 years (retiring in 2004). He has authored or edited over two dozen books, including God and Religion in the Postmodern World and Religion and Scientific Naturalism.

He gave a speech at the University of Wisconsin on the moral obligations of Christians in regard to 9/11.

He says that, while it is terrible to think that the U.S. government might have been complicit in the attacks of 9/11, it is "too horrible" to think that the U.S. government actually planned and carried out these attacks.

"Unfortunately," he says, "the evidence that this happened is convincing."

Professor Griffin subsequently lays out a persuasive case that the "omissions and distortions" in the 9/11 report amount to a cover-up by government officials and that the available evidence suggests that the Bush administration was complicit in the 9/11 attacks.

His lecture was broadcast On C-Span 2 on Thursday, April 28, 2005, yet this is the first I've heard of it or his books on this topic.

But no wonder. Who could believe it could be true? It is monstrous to think so.

Yet Christians do not run from controversy. Nor do we stick our heads in the ground when it comes to difficult subjects. We know our first allegiance is to God and truth. Therefore, watch this video of Dr. Griffin's lecture and consider the evidence for yourself.

If you are tempted to dismiss Dr. Griffin as some sort of madman without listening to his lecture, be aware that a growing number of respectable professionals, including physicist Steven Jones of Brigham Young University and Morgan Reynolds, Ph.D. professor emeritus at Texas A&M University and former director of the Criminal Justice Center at the National Center for Policy Analysis headquartered in Dallas, TX who served as chief economist for the US Department of Labor during 2001 and 2002 (in George W. Bush's first term) also find compelling evidence that the 3 buildings destroyed during 9/11 were destroyed as a result of planned demolition.

I came to Dr. Griffin's lecture, after seeing other research and videos. For a brief summary, Twin Towers Story will give you an broad picture of the evidence.

However it is the compelling and convincing fact-based video 911 Revisited that brought me to the sober realization that what really happened on 9/11 could not possible be as we were told.

After now listening to Dr. Griffin's lecture, I am deeply saddened. I thought the idea that 9/11 was orchestrated by our government was an insane, paranoid fantasy. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to hold this view any longer. I cannot dismiss this information, given the magnitude of the evidence and the explanations by engineers.

It is important to realize that the majority of those working in our government are good, dedicated and moral people. However, there certainly seems to be an agenda in the highest ranks of our government that is counter to everything Christ stands for.

I ask you to pray for our nation and ask God to lead us out of the darkness and betrayal into which we have been thrust. The eyes of all wait upon thee. Psalms 145:15

They have not lied unto men, but unto God. Acts 5:4

Am I therefore your enemy because I tell you the truth? Galatians 4:16

Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. 1 Timothy 1:17

He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death. Psalm 107:14

He will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; He will lead them in paths that they have not known. Isaiah 42:16

The Lord will lighten my darkness. Psalm 18:28

You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. John 8:32

The 72 Names of God

2006-02-28T02:14:00.000-05:00

If you want to be inspired in a new way, read The 72 Names of God.

Like so many Christians, I have been completely unfamiliar with the Jewish faith and the study of Kabbalah. Then I found myself intrigued after reading The Spiritual Universe: One Physicist's Vision of Spirit, Soul, Matter and Self by Fred Alan Wolf.

Regarding Wolf's book: it was not easy going. Reading examples that demonstrate principles of quantum physics - and having trouble understanding them - made me feel senile.

While I know that age plays a big role in how open one's mind (and neural connectors) are to new thoughts and concepts, I was nevertheless shocked at the resistance my mind was giving me to understanding what I was reading.

[Note to self: read more books containing unfamiliar concepts and stretch your mind a bit more.]

Fortunately, most of The Spiritual Universe really was understandable. More importantly to me, it was exciting, for Wolf is a reputable physicist who has presented a quantum model that explains how the soul works and how spirit is the flip side of matter.

In addition, he gives a detailed history of how science has viewed God - being first reliant upon the idea of God and then moving into a purely materialistic perspective.

The animosity that has - mistakenly - arisen between religion and science has occurred at least partially because science cannot verify consciousness.

We know we're conscious, but, according to science - since consciousness can neither be located in space or time nor verified in experiments - for all intents and purposes, consciousness does not exist!

Clearly science can't provide all the answers through its current methodology. Yet neither can religion. We know the earth is billions of years old, not thousands.

In addition, science has provided us with miracles in medicine that we rely upon while, at the same time, disdaining science because it uses a methodology of reproducible results as its basis for research as opposed to "going on faith."

This is nonsense. Science cannot go on faith just as religion cannot be required to provide hard and reproducible proof to justify faith.

The truth is that science and religion must learn to compliment each other and work together, not invalidate each other. However, I digress.

What was most extraordinary for me is that Wolf has come to the conclusion - and he explains how this is a function of quantum physics - that there is only one mind and all our minds are part of it.

This is a relief, for it explains so much. It explains why Master Minding works, why prayer works and why the 100th monkey phenomena exists. It explains, perfectly, why Jesus taught: As you do unto others, so will it be done unto you.

Likewise, it gives credence to the idea - espoused by meditators and mystics of all religions - that as we calm our own minds - when we bring peace to our own inner selves and resolve our own inner conflicts - we actually create peace and resolve conflicts in society as a by-product.

While there is more I could write about Wolf's wonderful book, let me move on to The 72 Names of God.

Better yet, let me just give you the website: www.72.com.

Check it out and try a few meditations. I found them very inspiring.

Jewish traditions are rich and have much to offer everyone in the world, including Christians. Therefore, it is tragic that there are people who, after the Holocaust, continue to practice racism against Jews. It is vital that each of us take a stand against this racism and against every kind of intolerance.

To help combat anti-semitism, which is due to superstitious ignorance - if not just a mindless need to victimize somebody - check out The 72 Names of God for yourself. I'll be surprised if you are not inspired.

The Jews had light, and gladness, and joy, and honor. Esther 8:16

All scripture is given by inspiration of God. 2 Timothy 3:16

All these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. 1 Corinthians 12:11

An Open Letter To The U.S. Congress

2006-02-22T12:54:00.000-05:00

Dear Senators and Congressional Representatives:

Please oppose the Dubai Port Deal.

The administration has given Dubai Ports World, owned by the United Arab Emirate of Dubai, a $6.8 billion deal through which they will control six of our largest and most crucial ports: New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia. Only a flimsy investigation and weak "good faith" agreements guarantee that this company will - or can - stop Osama bin Laden operatives from infiltrating its workforce.

Given that the United Arab Emirates gave the Taliban refuge and is suspected as having been a transfer point for shipments of smuggled nuclear components sent to Iran, North Korea and Libya, this is an astonishing move. As Senator Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. told "Fox News Sunday":

"It's unbelievably tone-deaf politically at this point in our history, four years after 9/11, to entertain the idea of turning port security over to a company based in the UAE, (which) vows to destroy Israel."

Senator. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., demanded that President Bush personally intervene.

"The President must act," he said at a news conference with New York Harbor as a backdrop. "Outsourcing the operations of our largest ports to a country with long involvement in terrorism is a homeland security accident waiting to happen."

I'm sure you agree that America does not need another terror attack.

Yet if President Bush continues to defend this sale it will suggest that all his talk about defending and protecting us has been mere political rhetoric.

Surely anyone can see that it is a travesty for him to claim that the job of preventing terrorism gives him authority to torture, spy on Americans and use war powers against us while, at the same time, he advocates creating a way for terrorists to gain access to six of our major cities.

I look to you as a voice of reason. Please remember the horror of 9/11 and all those who lost their loved ones. This deal is not worth the risk of going through that again.

The American people do not deserve that.

I trust that God will guide you in protecting our country and your constituency by helping you to undo this deal.

God Bless You Always,

Clyo Beck

Let the people renew their strength! Let them come near; then let them speak; Let us come near together...and everyone helped his neighbor, and said to his brother, "Be of good courage." Isaiah 41:1,6

War Powers Against Americans

2006-02-10T02:54:00.000-05:00

I have tried, in the course of this blog, to touch on politics only when it concerns our obligations, as Christians, to stand up for others or to change our point of view so we are more in line with Christ's message of love.

However, I believe it is vital that each American realize the enormity of the argument that the U.S. government, under George W. Bush, is now making against you and me and every American citizen in our great country in terms of being able to use war powers against us.

Although our country was founded on guarantees of freedom and justice, The President is now claiming - and is aggressively exercising - the right to use any and all war powers against American citizens even within the United States, and he is insisting that neither Congress nor the courts can do anything to stop him or even restrict him.

Not since Richard M. Nixon has a President so flagrantly abridged our rights, rights we were born with, or sought to permanently and irrevocably take our God-given rights from us.

My fellow Christians, people on both sides of the political spectrum agree:

George Bush and his appointee, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, are arguing for tyranny.

I cannot emphasize enough that this is not a liberal or conservative issue.

Bruce Fein, a staunchly conservative constitutional lawyer and international consultant, in an editorial in the Washington Times, has demanded that Congress insist that President Bush cease spying on us and, if he will not, that he be impeached. Mr. Fein is one of many who have, formerly, agreed with virtually everything the President has done, but must draw the line here.

You may say: "The President is only going to use this against terrorists and since I'm not a terrorist, this doesn't apply to me."

Not true. Your rights and a terrorist's rights will now be exactly the same: zero.

You will not have a guaranteed right to an attorney. You will not have a guaranteed right to a speedy trial. You will not have the guaranteed right to defend yourself before a jury of your peers.

"I've never been in trouble," you say.

Really? That's laudable. But people can be in the wrong place at the wrong time. And they can - and sometimes are - wrongfully accused. Don't think it can happen to you? Why not? It's happened to others.

Is your church active in foreign countries? Do you donate to foreign charities?

Innocent grandmothers have been accused of aiding terrorists because they gave $25 to a charity geared to help children in the Middle-East.

Okay, so you say you won't give to foreign charities anymore.

Are you going to allow this administration to frighten you, to control you, to tell you who you can help and who you can't? Will you allow a limit on your freedom - allow yourself to be terrorized by fear of wrongful implication? Is this America?

And will you turn your back - and your heart - on some of the world's neediest people because you are afraid your donation will be misconstrued?

Remember that many Africans are Muslims, so even giving to the needy in Africa could raise a "red" flag. Yet, if you stop donating to help the needy in Third World countries, you still have no guarantee you won't run into trouble.

Have you marched for peace? Have you marched for anything? Have you demonstrated before a clinic to protest abortion? Have you mailed off an angry letter to the editor? Have you been curious about the Muhammad cartoons and found yourself on a Muslim site that expressed anger over them?

Have you ever written a letter protesting something your government did? Do you think you ever might?

You could be linked, through any of these actions, to some group that the government decides to investigate as being a possible danger to order or to its interests, and, as a result, you could be implicated, jailed, held without bail, tortured for "a confession" and even killed, without repercussion.

I attended a Quaker peace meeting, to view a film on creating peace. Turns out it had been infiltrated by a spy looking for "potential terrorists."

The government, at times, has no common sense. You'd think those in charge would know they wouldn't find supporters of terrorism at a Quaker peace meeting.

But this is not about common sense. It's about absolute control.

And what the President is doing will make people afraid to speak their minds, for fear of being thought to be "trouble makers" or "against the government." Free speech will be a thing of the past. Fear of one's neighbor will become rampant, further separating us just when we need to reclaim a sense of community.

Maybe you never have and never will attend peace meetings or political rallies or gripe about the government. Well, then let's look at another scenario.

We know from the last six years - and by studying the stated policies and rhetoric of those in power - that this President is working hard to abolish all social programs, including Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. We also know jobs are being exported at an alarming rate and there is less and less protection for retirement funds.

If our National Debt grows to the point that the interest on it makes big cuts to Social Security and Medicare inevitable, how will that affect you? Will you be able to live?

You say you won't depend on Social Security because you have a retirement account? But what if your company self-destructs as many, recently, have? It's been said that Enron was just the tip of the iceberg of dishonest corporations playing with the money of investors and retirees.

So what if your retirement disappeared? What if your job disappeared? Would you have to find another? What if, two years down the road, there weren't any? What would you do? Welfare's been cut and it wouldn't support most of our lifestyles even if it hadn't been.

So what would you do if times became desperate? Would you march on Washington to demand jobs or save your retirement, to demand a way to make a living for you or for your children or for your grandchildren?

If your parent's home was being claimed by eminent domain as land needed for redevelopment, would you go visit your Senator or Representative? What if they told you to leave and you got emotional? What if you were arrested and the government decided to make an example of you so others would think twice about coming to Washington?

You could find yourself imprisoned indefinitely.

But maybe you're independently wealthy.

Well, what if President Bush decides he wants to invade Iran and you think that's a bad idea? Would you march in protest of that invasion considering how overextended our troops are in Iraq?

Protestors - including retirees - were beaten and jailed in Miami during the 2004 World Trade summit, just for showing up. A court later found that their civil rights were abridged. But don't expect that relief if the President is allowed to abolish our rights.

Remember his words: You're either with him or against him. I know he used "us," but we know now that he didn't mean all of us, but only those that support everything he and his administration are doing.

With leeway to use war powers against American citizens, if you were in the wrong place at the wrong time and jailed - as so many were - you could find yourself in jail, without access to a lawyer, indefinitely.

In that case you would have no recourse. Writing to your Congressman or woman wouldn't help you, if you could get a letter out. Neither the courts nor Congress could help you if you were being held, for convenience, if your actions were interpreted as a threat to the U.S. government or its policies.

This is not justice. It's not fairness. And it's not the America we were raised in.

I don't know about you, but my father did not get the Purple Heart fighting fascism abroad in WWII for me to lose my liberty now.

But all these scenarios will be possible unless you - and unless we the American people - insist we retain our individual rights as American citizens.

Remember: As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men. Galatians 6:10. God also helps those who help themselves. I urge you to write to your representatives, to our President and to the media about this today.

This is not an issue you can leave to others to fight for you. You must take a stand yourself. Only tens of millions of voices will stop this administration from imposing its will upon us.

Insist the President stop spying on us and stop treating us like we are the ones with whom he is at war. If he will not, then Congress must be made to impeach him. Nothing else you do could have as long-lasting repercussions for us, our children and grandchildren, for this one issue will impact all others. What you do will make or break America and all our lives with her.

Remember, if injustice happens to even one of us, it happens to all of us.

He that ruleth over men must be just. 2 Samuel 23:3

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherein Christ hath made us free. Galatians 3:1

If they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. Hebrews 11:15

Uphold me with they free spirit. Psalms 51:12

Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them. Hebrews 13:3

God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7

I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me. Philippians 4:13

The Muhammad Cartoons

2006-02-02T13:49:00.000-05:00

Muslim radicals are "up in arms" threatening to kill all Danish and French people based upon the fact that 12 cartoons were published in a Danish newspaper and then reprinted in a French paper.

Why are Jyllands Posten's Muhammad Cartoons rocking the Muslim world and evoking irrational and violent responses? Because they poke fun at the prophet Muhammad.

The need to "defend God" is a human response that comes straight out of humanity's fragile and insecure ego. It has nothing to do with God. God is omnipotent and needs no defending of His/Her name or prophets.

Ironically, I became interested in this topic because I received an e-mail asking me to sign a petition protesting a soon-to-be-aired episode of a program (which I do not watch) which will - allegedly - make fun of Jesus.

I wrote back to the e-mail sender - who is, by the way, a sincere, caring and pious woman - indicating I'm not signing the petition, writing a letter, or protesting in any way.

God created us all. God created those who created the program and gave the writers the idea.

This life we are living is all about choice.

The choice we have - in everything we think, do and say - is to choose either love or fear. If you do not yet understand that all hate is based upon fear, then the choice can be stated as being between love and hate.

The one thing we are supposed to be learning is love. We are here to learn to love our brothers and sisters, feel compassion, alleviate pain and create joy.

Hate is counter to our purpose. Hate is the anti-Christ, the anti-Muhammad, the anti-Buddha.

If one hates his neighbor, a cartoonist, but loves God, whom one has never seen, on what is one's love based?

Ignorance. For one does not know God in the slightest.

If one really knew God - and the fact that God embraces everything including what one hates - perhaps one would want to destroy Him too. God is, after all, the homosexual. God is the abortionist. God is the atheist.

It is a tragic mistake to think God only manifests in people like Mother Teresa or in the Pope.

Do you want to destroy Muslims, Christians, Jews, homosexuals, those who have abortions, those who create irreverent cartoons?

Then you want to destroy God.

Of course none of us can destroy the whole of God, yet we can destroy pieces of him.

Every person is a piece of God. To hate a piece of God is to hate God. To destroy a piece of God is to destroy God.

Ironically, those who are killing others "for the love of God" are really demonstrating their hate of God Him/Herself. They disapprove of what and who God has created.

Those who hate and seek revenge in God's name are God's real enemies, for God is love.

For in him we live, and move, and have our being. Acts 17:28

Know ye not that ye are the temple of god, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? I Corinthians 3:16

He that despiseth his neighbor sinneth. Proverbs 14:21

He that hateth his brother is in darkness. I John 2:11

If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a lair. I John 4:20

Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer. I John 3:15

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear. I John 4:18

Hate Feeds The Monster

2006-01-12T16:34:00.000-05:00

There's an article by Michael Schwartz on the way the war in Iraq is being waged and how thousands of innocent Iraqis are being killed not just by suicide bombers, but by American troops.

I remember the war in Vietnam. I remember a girlfriend of mine and her older brother who had enlisted. He came back on leave and the look in his eyes had changed. He had seen things and knew things that put him in deep conflict. He told her: "What they tell you is happening on the news here in the U.S. isn't true. That's not what's happening. That's not the way it is."

My sense is it's the same today, with the war in Iraq. Iraqis are caught in the middle, being killed by both sides; by our troops and by suicide bombers, but our media only reports what the suicide bombers do.

Many who read the article linked above left comments. A few expressed hate for "them," those in our administration who orchestrated this war. A couple expressed outraged hate against the troops, saying that "just following orders" is not an excuse.

Such anger can be valuable and can energize us to action. It is far better to tap into constructive anger than to feel overwhelmed and wallow in depression and apathy. Depression is anger turned against the self, anger you don't really feel you have a right to have.

Depression can be the result of teachings that tell us anger is always bad or we don't have a right to be angry.

Make no mistake, when we see injustice and we have searched our souls to be certain we are perceiving correctly, we have a right to feel angry about it. That's the first step toward constructive action, action that can make a positive difference in this world.

But, while I would encourage righteous anger against unjust policies that lead to positive action geared toward alleviating suffering, I must warn against hate for the people who created and implement the unjust policies.

We all make a choice, every day, to hate or forgive. It isn't just soldiers making decisions that affect other people's lives. We all make important decisions every day on what corporations to support through our purchasing power, whether to send a letter to a representative, whether to give to a charity or to a homeless person on the street, whether to give a smile or a hand or just look the other away.

When we feel confident, we give.

When we fear, we hold on, we withhold, we ignore or we hate. But it all come down to the same thing. We create a cold, unfeeling world.

There are people who blame the soldiers for the slaughter in Iraq and say they are the ones who are behaving like barbarians. Some hate the soldiers.

But put yourself in the position of the soldier facing death and it becomes easy to hate and kill everyone in your path "in case" he or she means you harm, as prevention. Iraq is, perhaps, the most dangerous place on earth right now. Each soldier is in peril in every moment.

Yet each soldier is responsible for his action. Each made the decision to answer the call, to enlist, to carry the gun and to use it. The alternatives were, for most, poverty or jail. We can second-guess them now and say they should not have enlisted, but it was not that long ago everyone was calling for blood after 9-1-1.

Plus we must remember that those in our National Guard did not enlist. They never thought they would be involved in this debacle and face a choice of going to an unjust war or going to jail. We must hope those who survive will have learned something profound about personal responsibility and morality that they will teach us in the future.

Yet whether you are angry at the Administration or at the soldiers themselves, be aware that anger can energize us in a positive way, but hate does not. Hate makes us one with all other haters.

Make no mistake that the rich and powerful who wanted this war, who are waging economic war on "average" Americans, see people as expendable to their own financial and intellectual goals. And they believe accomplishing those goals will allow them maximum control over their own lives.

They hate, the soldiers hate, suicide bombers hate.

Shall we, who see the injustice of it all and our own complicity now hate too?

For hate begets hate.

Saying "f---" the people who brought us this war is understandable. It's frightening being caught up in a war and in events that seem so much bigger than we are and seem so unjust and out of control.

Each of us must speak his or her truth, yes.

But be aware that everything - and every conflict we see today in our country and in the world at large - is a reflection of our own inner conflicts and chaos.

Call it psychobabble, but the Dalai Lama has it right when he calls for people to calm the storm inside themselves.

Calm the storm and take action, not out of hate and fear of what's wrong or unjust, but out of fearlessness and love for what's right.

It may sound like splitting hairs, but our intentions will make the difference between our success in turning our country around and our failure.

The adage that you can't fight fire with fire has an exception. The suicide bombers are following that course. Our soldiers are following that course. Are any of them winning? You tell me.

For the rest of us, we must make peace in our own selves if we are going to create the world we want to see.

In Christianity we have the example of Christ. He did not hate, he did not fight to protect himself. He fed the poor, healed the sick, put himself in danger and accepted the consequences of doing what's right.

Being a Christian is more than talk.

Being a true Christian means calming the chaos inside yourself that is reflected in the outer world.

Being a true Christian means doing good works within one's personal limits, whatever they are.

Being a Christian means difficult choices and, most likely, taking a road that others will scoff at, for it is the road of peace, service and forgiveness.

Let us all pray for the strength to walk this road.

Out of the strong came forth sweetness. Judges 14:14

Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed." 2 Chronicles 32:7

When I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:10

Overcoming Depression

2006-01-07T02:33:00.000-05:00

In responding to his New Year wishes, I visited Michael Bains' blog "Silly Humans" and read his January 6th post about depression which inspired me to write the following. So thank you, Michael, for today's post!

Depression is a serious problem that affects 18 million or nearly one in ten American adults each year.

Suicides outnumber homicides by a ratio of three to two.

The World Health Organization reports that five of the ten leading disabilities are related to mental health disorders.

Of interest, statistically, those who volunteer some of their time to improving the lives of others have a far lower incident of depression and suicide than the general public.

Connecting in joyful human contact and impacting others positively both empower us and make us feel we matter. Not coincidentally, they also seem to be key in overcoming depression.

I think it's lack of real, meaningful and joyful human contact that paves the way for depression.

We know that babies who are fed, bathed and taken care of physically, but otherwise put in a crib and ignored, will die. They need laughter, they need contact. I don't think those needs end with adulthood.

Yet our culture has promoted relationships with technology over relationships with people.

I love the Internet, I think it's fantastic that I can sit here and communicate with you, but it can't compare to a face to face conversation with shared laughter and bantering or shared effort.

On top of that we have what I believe is incredible stress just trying to deal with all the stimuli of our modern culture, all the signs we have to pay attention to and all the sounds, not to mention the media we attend to. It fills us up with chaos.

Human nervous systems are not made to digest it all, I don't think.

We need time sitting around campfires, telling stories, fixing meals, chopping wood. But that's sure not how we live in the "first world." Industrialization has really been a mixed blessing.

People living under $3 a day in third world countries seem, on the whole - unless they're being chased out of their homes with machetes - happier than we are in the West with all our material possessions.

If you're interested in what I think is a great book on this subject, read Me to We by two young guys, Craig & Marc Kielburger.

Marc started Free The Children when he was twelve as a result of reading an article about a boy sold into slavery at the age of 4 and chained to a carpet loom where he spent 12 hours a day tying tiny knots. The boy escaped at the age of 10, but was murdered at the age of 12 for speaking out against child exploitation.

Craig was so hurt and enraged over the injustice, over what happened to a boy his age, that he had to do something.

As a result, ten years later, the organization he founded has improved the lives of over a million children in 35 countries.

In any event, it is a fantastic book and certainly has me thinking about what more I can do to help alleviate suffering.

I guess the point is, Craig Kielburger is never depressed because he's too busy making a difference and making real friends en route.

And if we all connect and spend more time with people in positive and productive action, we will have less time to be depressed.

Whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? Luke 22:27

So laboring ye ought to support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." Acts 20:35

By love serve one another. Galatians 5:13

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass. I Corinthians 13:1

Master Mind Prayer Works!

2005-12-22T00:12:00.000-05:00

Wonderful news - Susan Osthoff has been released! A big thank you to my Mastermind partners and to all of you who have prayed and masterminded on behalf of the hostages.

Four to go...

Please keep praying. Also, thanks to Janet for the original and simpler master minding declarations taught by Unity Minister Jack Bolen.

As a reminder, a group must be at least two people.

Speak the first six declarations together. Then, one at a time, each person takes a turn stating his or her request.

After a request has been made, each of the remaining members affirms that the request has been heard and is being manifested. When everyone in the group has affirmed this, go on to the next person and his/her request.

This is powerful prayer that works for the highest and best good of all.

I surrender:

I admit that, of myself, I am powerless to solve my problems, powerless to improve my life. I need help.

I believe:

I come to believe that a power greater than myself - the Master Mind - can change my life.

I am ready to be changed:

I realize that erroneous self-defeating thinking is the cause of my problems, unhappiness, fears and failures. I am ready to have my beliefs and attitudes changed so my life can be transformed.

I decide to be changed:

I make a decision to surrender my will and my life to the Master Mind. I ask to be changed at depth.

I forgive:

I forgive myself for all my mistakes and shortcomings. I also forgive all other persons who may have harmed me.

I ask:

I make known my specific requests, asking my partners' support in knowing that the Master Mind is fulfilling my needs.

(request is to be stated in the form of an affirmation stated in the present tense)

Response by Master Mind group members is:

The Master Mind has heard your request and is already granting it and fulfilling your needs.

I give thanks:

I give thanks that the Master Mind is responding to my needs, and I assume the same feelings I would have if my requests were already fulfilled.

I dedicate my life:
I now have a covenant in which it is agreed that the Master Mind is supplying me with an abundance of all things necessary to live a success filled and happy life.

I dedicate myself to be of maximum service to God and those around me; to live in a manner that sets the highest example for others to follow; and to remain responsive to God's guidance.

I go forth with a spirit of enthusiasm, excitement and expectancy. I am at peace.

And so it is.

Amen.

Feeling God's Love

2005-12-19T11:49:00.000-05:00

Christmas evokes many emotions for us. It creates so many expectations and reminds us, inevitably, of our losses. As a result, Christmas can find you arguing with the ones you care about most. If this happens to you, see if you can just stop the next annoyed words from coming out of your mouth. Instead, say: I love you.

All you or I or our loved ones want is assurance we are loved. We don’t have to be perfect – whatever that is – all we have to do is BE.

So give this gift to those around you.

We are all in this world together. If you have a chance to open a door for someone, smile or show kindness, please risk it. You will make the world a better place as a result. It is the beauty within you that is needed far more than what you can buy.

If you find you feel too glum or besieged to be able to dig deep inside yourself for that love, then take time for a little self care.

Go now, right now, into a quiet room. If you’re cold, throw a blanket over yourself. Make yourself comfortable. Sit in a chair with your feet on the floor, put your hands, palms down, on your thighs and just breathe.

Think about how it might change your life if you could actually feel the love God has for you.

Then take three slow breaths and close your eyes.

Focus your attention on your heart and just send love to our Source and Creator.

You don’t have to feel it. Your intention is enough.

If other thoughts intrude, just replace any thought with: I love you, God.

Just breathe and relax. And know there is nothing more important you could possibly be doing than this.

When we are stressed, when we feel unappreciated, it is very hard to feel love for others.

When we feel love from others, our own love blossoms.

By sending love to God you will strengthen your conscious connection.

Sit like this for just five minutes, although you can sit longer if you are enjoying it (I do) and just take time to connect.

Do this every day and, over time, you will become more aware of that amazing Presence that is always with us.

Ask God for that grace which will allow you to feel the great unconditional love that is felt for you.

These are just words now, but when you feel the sweetness of that love, when you really get that God sees you as perfect, it is very freeing. And it allows you to begin to glimpse others in this same way.

Christmastime is so busy. But take time for love. Take time to feel God’s love for you and your love for yourself. You deserve it.

Please continue to affirm and visualize that James Loney, Harmeet Singh Sooden, Tom Fox, Norman Kember, Susanne Osthoff and her driver are all freed and safe.

Love,
Clyo

Pray & Mastermind For Hostages' Release

2005-12-01T14:53:00.000-05:00

There is a form of prayer called Masterminding. Jack Bolen, a Unity minister, gave us this method decades ago and one used to be able to join a Masterminding prayer group and learn the method for free.

Today, because of the power of Masterminding, the ideas have become a commodity and there are costly workshops these days with people teaching their versions of Jack's method. Most of them include a lot of verbiage about why Masterminding works but, in my experience, the workshops are designed to convince people why it works, not practice the actual method, the actual process.

You can use Masterminding for anything you desire, but today, dear friends, I am going to give this process to you with the request that you to use it on behalf of the six people most recently abducted and held hostage in Iraq.

I ask you - no, I beg you - to join with at least one other person and pray, together in this way, for the release of Christian Peace Teams members James Loney, Harmeet Singh Sooden, Tom Fox, Norman Kember and humanitarian/architect Susanne Osthoff and her driver.

There is no higher priority. If it was your child, your husband, your wife, your brother or sister or mother or deeply loved friend, you would do nothing but pray until they were released.

I ask you to pray using the Mastermind method, for these good people. I will not tell you how or why Masterminding works. We have no time for arguments or debates. We only have time for faith. So I ask you to go on faith and trust me that, from personal experience, I know it works miracles, because it is an extremely powerful way of connecting with God.

The more people, the more groups we have praying in this way for these people, the better, for we have been told "where two or more are gathered" God is there, ready to work miracles.

Speak the following 6 declarations in unison. Each person states their request, which in this case I will give you the affirmation for those we want released. Then each person affirms, in turn, to the one who has made the request, that he or she knows the request has been heard and granted.

I give you, a Masterminding prayer for the release of the hostages in Iraq:

Together: I surrender to the power of God, the Mastermind, and acknowledge that I, of myself, can do nothing.

Together: I believe in the power of God, the Mastermind, and in the exponential power of group consciousness to connect with God and create miracles.

Together: I choose to give myself over to God, the Mastermind, for the purposes of love, peace and healing.

Together: I am grateful to God, the Mastermind, and the group for responding to my request.

Together: I commit to following the guidance and wisdom of God, the Mastermind, and accept that the intelligence and wisdom of our connected consciousness is greater than my own alone.

Together: I respect and honor being part of this group and know each of us is a vital link in God's plan for healing.

Individually (take turns): I ask God, the Mastermind who resides within everyone and everything, to reach into the hearts of those who hold James Loney, Harmeet Singh Sooden, Tom Fox, Norman Kember and Susanne Osthoff, and her driver, captive. I affirm that God fills their hearts with love and compassion. I affirm that God opens their eyes to the goodness of these six people. I affirm that the goodness and shared humanity they see causes them to release these six people. I affirm that James Loney, Harmeet Singh Sooden, Tom Fox, Norman Kember, Susanne Osthoff and her driver are released, unharmed and that they, their families and friends have cause for great rejoicing. And so it is. Amen.

Individually (respond to the requester, addressing the person by name): ______, I know God, the Mastermind, has heard your request and is granting it now. James Loney, Harmeet Singh Sooden, Tom Fox, Norman Kember, Susanne Osthoff and her driver are all freed and safe. And we give great thanks for this. Praise God.

Together: I dedicate myself and my life to be of the greatest service possible to God and my fellow human beings. I dedicate myself to the principles of love and service. I live my life as an example for others to follow and go forward with a spirit of enthusiasm, excitement, joy and success. My life is fulfilled as I move forward with an inherent faith in God and belief that anything is possible and miracles do occur.

Amen.

If two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. Matthew 18:19

Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Matthew 18:20

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Matthew 7:7

Therefore, I say unto you, What things so ever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. Mark 11:24

America's Sacred Contract: No Torture

2005-11-23T17:20:00.000-05:00

Although there are tens of millions of beautiful, loving people out there working and giving and praying and meditating, we need the rest of you to come on board.

This is no time to sit on the fence. It's decision time. Time to decide if you are going to be on the side of love or fear, grabbing or sharing, killing or forgiving, insisting on humane standards or letting your government torture in your name.

It's time to realize that peace is an inside job and each one of us must tackle it.

I have been corresponding with an extremely vitriolic man who believes in the war in Iraq, claiming that "there are no Muslims for peace."

This is a ridiculous statement. The Muslims in your community and in mine are for peace. If there were no Muslims for peace in Iraq, all our troops would have been killed by now, for every Iraqi would have turned against them.

Of note, a fatwa was issued by France's largest Muslim fundamentalist organization, the Union for Islamic Organizations of France, forbidding the rioting and "any action that blindly strikes private or public property or can harm others."

But as Eric Margolis has written, the inspiration behind the rioting in France is not Osama bin Laden, but American and French "gangsta " rappers.

Muslims want peace. My correspondent refuses to acknowledge that.

Yet the basis behind my correspondent's assertion has finally become clear. He finally admitted that he doesn't care if innocent Iraqis are killed. Indeed, he wrote that is in favor of killing every Muslim because "they want to drag us back into the twelfth century."

Although this man calls himself an American, his sentiments are those of the fascist and equal to Hitler's.

Ironically, his assertion is a lie as were Hitler's about the Jews. It is we who want to change Middle-Eastern cultures and make them more western. The issue about whether or not they live in the 12th century is not worth debating here simply because I'm afraid we don't need anyone to drag us backwards.

There are many like my correspondent - and some in very powerful positions - who are in favor or our committing atrocities typical of the twelfth century.

The greatest evidence is the torture that has been going on in U.S. prisons. There have been studies that say what has happened to foreign detainees is symptomatic of deeper problems in our respect - or lack of it - toward life.

While it is an easy cop-out to blame those who are in favor of keeping abortion legal for lowering our standards, our present problems cannot be blamed on them. For example, it's common for those who are against abortion to be in favor of war and the death penalty.

Such inconsistency is insane. If you are "pro life" you must be pro all life, including adult lives and those who you think of as your enemies. Those are the rules. It's all or none, not a picking and choosing situation.

And who are violently opposed to abortion - to the point of injuring those who are in favor of it - are the anti-Christ, pure and simple. They focus on the mote in their sister's eye while ignoring the plank in their own.

But this is a big problem in our nation. We have become a nation of people who tell others: do what I say, not what I do.

We all do it, it has just become a matter of degree.

Of note, our nation was founded on principles that forbid torture and inhumane punishments - and rightly so.

For early settlers steeped in Puritanism had little compunction about leaving people in stocks, whipping them or mercilessly tarring and feathering those who broke the law. We have always had a fight between the compassionate and the fearful, but, thanks to God, compassionate men won out in writing our Constitution.

Why? We have a divine destiny. And we need higher guiding principles for this nation if we have any chance of fulfilling that destiny. To understand the nature of our contract with God, as a nation, please read Carolyn Myss' remarkable The Sacred Contract of America.

We have an agreement with God to live up to a higher standard. It's time to get back on track with no excuses.

Let all bitterness and wrath, and anger, and clamour and evil speaking, be put away from you. Ephesians 4:31

With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. Matthew 7:2

The Pagan Christ

2005-11-17T11:01:00.000-05:00

Have you read The Pagan Christ written by Tom Harpur?

It's a lovely book that discusses what is really in historical tracts and makes a case that the story of Jesus is a metaphor, not reality, and would, in fact, be more transforming if we accepted it as metaphor instead of reality.

Regardless if whether Christ was a real person, or is a metaphor trying to show us that God is within us and that God has manifested in man as opposed to as one man, I know The Christ Within exists.

Years ago I spent a great deal of time in meditation and prayer and had some remarkable dreams.

Each one gave me a link to the real world. In other words, something from the dream would show up in my real life the next day, "proving" to me that the dream had been "real" and God had communicated something profound to me.

In one of these dreams I experienced the love of "The Christ Within."

It was the most amazing feeling I've ever had and defies description.

All I can tell you is that there is, truly, no judgment, no agenda, no holding back of God's love for us. All our "faults," although surely known, cannot be perceived and become irrelevant in the Presence of that great love.

If I hadn't experienced it myself, I wouldn't have understood how it could be possible, it would only be rhetoric.

In the presence of that love, it would be impossible to do harm.

I believe we are meant to strive to love ourselves as God loves us.

It may not be possible on this earth, but the closer we get, surely the less harm we can do.

This I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in all knowledge and judgment. Philippians 1:9

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear. John 4:18

If someone says "I love God" but hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, how can he love God, whom he has not seen? John 4:20

Of note, I wrote this blog as a draft on Wednesday, November sixteenth. My husband and I went out for a walk and coffee around 5:30 p.m. En route we ran into a friend who advised us that he was going to hear Tom Harpur speak at 7:30.

Now, my copy of The Pagan Christ has about forty little tabs in it, marking pages, and is full of yellow highlights of what I consider significant passages.

A splendidly written and scholarly work that examines the historical evidence as to whether Jesus was an actual person, I believe it is essential reading for anyone who really wants his or her faith to be an active force in creating peace in the world today.

There are researchers such as Gerald Massey and Professor Alvin Boyd Kuhn, Ph.D. whose works I have intended to get my hands on and read as a result of Tom Harpur's book.

In short, I have, what I feel is an ongoing relationship with this book, if that is not too dramatic a way of putting it.

So imagine my delight and enthusiasm to find that I could hear a lecture by the author, get to meet him and have my copy signed?

I went and was reminded of how important it is to get Mr. Harpur's message out.

But isn't it amazing that I would "feel" like going out for a walk and coffee, "run into" someone who "just happened" to be going to see Tom Harpur and that it was just early enough for me to go, buy a ticket and attend?

Had we gone for coffee five minutes earlier or later, we would have never connected with my husband's acquaintance and I would have missed seeing and hearing Tom Harpur.

There are no accidents. If I had not written about Tom Harpur's book yesterday, he would not have been on my mind. If he had not been on my mind, I would not have mentioned him "out of the blue" when I met this person on our walk and he, in turn, would not have told us about the lecture.

So I am telling you why I think I was guided to go.

I need to tell you: get a copy of the book. If your faith in God is ailing, it will restore it. If you have rejected the idea of Christ because it makes no sense to you, Tom will explain it to you so it does.

His book is a gift to Christians and Christianity and, indeed, the entire world because it reframes Christ in an incredible way.

God is amazing. We are so blessed.

Blessed are ye. Matthew 5:11

You Are God's Miracle

2005-11-16T17:51:00.000-05:00

When I began this blog, I had a vision of providing uplifting words and inspiration for any reader who happened upon it.

While that was a good idea, I haven't really been able to implement it, for it seems that every day I read about some new outrage against God and humanity by some person or persons in our human family, and feel the need to make some cautionary comment about it.

This, of course, can get depressing. Who logs onto a spiritual blog to be depressed or have their ire aroused?

No one. And that's also why church attendance has always been so problematic. The minister seeks to lead his flock, but in doing so, winds up talking about what is wrong in the world instead of what's right and berates the flock for being "sinful."

Yet, when any of us berate someone or shame someone, no matter how "elevated" our purpose, we just contribute to the same old beliefs that keep us locked in suffering: that we're shameful, flawed and the only hope for it must come out of the sky.

That philosophy just lets us off the hook. For it's our thoughts, words and actions that create the reality of this world. When they are negative, they do harm. Period.

It's totally counterproductive to God's plan to deliberately produce all this negative which creates immense problems in the world, and then think we can petition God for forgiveness.

In fact, it's really hypocritical.

God needs us to change our thoughts, not apologize for them.

That's why, although we can't ignore the state of the world, neither can we afford to be "of it." That's why we are told to be in the world but not of it.

We must strike a balance between observing the truth of it and maintaining a positive outlook about how we can alter it.

As the Dalai Lama has written, "Every action [and holding a thought or image qualifies as an action] establishes an imprint on the mind that contributes to our future evolution. Therefore, the aim of all religious practice is to cultivate and strengthen positive, creative states of mind and eliminate negative, destructive states. A mind thus cultivated is both disciplined and calm; it gives peace to the person who possesses it, as well as to all with whom it comes in contact."

If this is true, and I believe it is, for I've seen concrete changes in my own life as a result of deliberately thinking positive thoughts, praying and meditating, then we all own a piece of the karma that has been playing itself out on the world stage.

Not only do we create our own lives with our thoughts, words and actions, we contribute to our collective reality with them.

The fact is that 9-11, all the suicide bombings, the war in Iraq, the earthquake in Kashmir, the tsunami affecting Sumatra and Sri Lanka and the many hurricanes that have destroyed so many lives and communities around the world including New Orleans, are our collective creations.

These events reflect the collective state of our minds and what we are doing to the earth. They affect not just those hardest hit, but each of us, for we are a global community. Yet, more than that, we each belong to a spiritual community. As John Donne wrote so many years ago: "And never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."

The need for prayer and meditation and positive affirmations to cultivate and strengthen positive, creative states of mind and eliminate negative, destructive states cannot be overstated.

For, if we don't change our thoughts, we will keep on getting what we're getting. And we all know what we've been getting.

For those with good lives who think they can ignore what is going on in the world, harbor their grudges in support of war, intolerance and torture and continue to dodge the bullet, there's bad news.

Carl Jung said it best: "A collective problem if not recognized a such, always appears as a personal problem."

There can be no bystanders in the world of mind. You either commit your mind to justice, love, tolerance and peace or prepare for what you are putting out to come home to roost.

The good news is that we each have a choice and, by the Grace of God, can change what's in our minds and make a positive difference.

The bad news is that we must each desire change and make the effort to be more and more inline with God's love.

That's not exactly in line with Bill O'Reilly's statement reported in the San Francisco Chronicle:

"And if al Qaeda comes in here and blows you [San Francisco] up, we're not going to do anything about it. We're going to say, look, every other place in America is off limits to you except San Francisco. You want to blow up the Coit Tower? Go ahead."

It's quite safe to say that Bill O'Reilly, with his hate speech, is an active force for chaos, war and suffering. He fits the description of an anti-Christ.

But then, he's not a Christian, is he?

Okay, so I've given you the depressing news you already know. Where's the balance? Where's the good news?

Here it is:

God's love is infinitely more powerful than Bill O'Reilly's hate.

In fact, we should thank Bill O'Reilly. His statements are a wake up call to us to redouble our efforts in transforming our own thoughts, minds and hearts.

Affirm O'Reilly's nonsense goes back into the nothingness from which it came.

Affirm that O'Reilly's message has the opposite effect of what he intended, that it brings people to their senses and to the side of peace.

WE can do this.

You can do this.

For you are God's miracle.

You are His hand and voice in this world that can, through the power of His spirit within you, end suffering and create peace.

God bless you in your efforts.

Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called children of God. Matthew 5:9

Motes Versus Planks

2005-11-12T09:00:00.000-05:00

I read a blog post from by a man named Ken who lives in Japan. In it, he states the following:

Japan, The Japanese were quite ruthless during WW2 and after the peace treaty was signed General Macarthur ordered to have 200 Christian Denominations come to Japan in hopes of making things more peaceful.

Well for the most part the Japanese rejected Christianity and just decided to be "Good People". They worked hard and stayed away from war etc.

So they tried to create a "Good" perfect nation, work hard and average 1.29 children per family.

Well the goodness and work has paid off materially and financially but without Jesus the core has been showing signs of rottening. And it's all been coming out in the form or corruption over the past 10~15 years and is getting worse all the time.

And as for the Christ less second generation they created with materialism and gadgets and over education the fruits are even turning more sour. Violence is on the rise and suicide numbers continue to climb. Jobless and Homeless on the rise.

The new generation doesn't want to be bothered with raising kid etc. The just want the American dream and then some.

I think Ken is either out of touch with the U.S. since he is in Japan or suffering from selective vision - that looking at the mote in your neighbor's eye while ignoring the plank in your own syndrom - because what he's saying about materialism, violence, homelessness, joblessness, etc. fits the United States today.

And the criticism of the Japanese for "wanting the American Dream" seems odd since, after all, who wants the American dream more than Americans?

While there may well be rot in Japan among non-Christians, there's certainly a lot of rot in the U.S. among Christians too.

Pat Robertson's call for Hugo Chavez to be assassinated and President Bush's insistence that the United States maintain torture as a weapon of interrogation for the CIA are indicators of how pervasive the rot is and how unloving - and removed from Jesus' original teachings - current versions of "Christianity" have become.

Truly, if you look around, everything he wrote about Japan can be said about the United States even though the U.S. considers itself a Christian nation.

A stunning example of this is that Internet Filter Review reports that 47% of Christians polled said they had a major problem with addiction to pornography in the home.

Belief in Jesus is, obviously, not the key to avoiding rot. Pat Robertson "believes" in Jesus, yet he does not follow Jesus' teachings. So the key is not "belief" in the entity Jesus, the key is aligning one's thoughts with love and following the teachings.

While Jesus preached compassion, forgiveness, and loving one's enemies and has been equated with love and with God, even he said it was his message that was important, not his person.

Calling Jesus God and worshipping him - as opposed to walking his talk - is of little use. Besides, Jesus was not the "God," he was a man and a messenger who had so aligned himself with God that he could know truth and perform miracles.

To worship Jesus instead of doing the hard work of learning how to love as he did is a cop out and defeats what he came here to do.

As he told us, As the Father hath sent me, even so send I you. John 20:21
Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that Spirit of God dwelleth in you? 1 Corinthians 3:16

To be spiritually minded is life and peace. Romans 8:6

There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. 1 Timothy 2:5

Torture Belongs in the 12th not 21st Century

2005-11-08T16:06:00.000-05:00

Who would have thought that in the 21st century torture would be something that people in this country would banter around quite easily, as though it's a game.

Yet it is not a game to cause any person physical or psychological agony. It is a sin against God, our own species and ourselves. For how we treat others will come back to us.

In fact, torture is completely unnecessary given the truth serums we have at our disposal. Heck, even laughing gas in a dentist's chair has always made me spill the beans about my life.

It is, therefore, disgraceful that President Bush, after labeling himself a Christian, has shown that he did so just to get votes.

For despite the fact that Forbes reported that U.S. authorities have confirmed that torture occurred (the acknowledgement was made in a report submitted to the UN Committee against Torture, according to a member of the ten-person panel, speaking on on condition of anonymity), despite the documentation by the well-respected Amnesty International, and despite the wide-spread photographic evidence to the contrary, on Monday President Bush issued this declaration: "We do not torture."

He said this even as he fights his own Republican led Congress to keep torture legal. The U.S. Senate passed legislation banning torture, yet both President Bush and Vice-President Cheney are seeking an exemption for the CIA which maintains a network of prisons in eastern Europe and Asia - previously unknown - where terrorist suspects are held and, obviously, tortured.

If they weren't being tortured, why would this administration be seeking an exemption? The answer is obvious. They wouldn't.

So this President and Vice-President stand for torture.

And what message does this give our nation?

The first message is that President Bush is lying to us once again - as he did in his case for the war in Iraq - to further his own political agenda. The reason for this baffles Republican Senator Chuck Hagel who has labeled the President's position "a terrible mistake," adding: "Why in the world they're doing that, I don't know."

Of note, John McCain, who knows first hand why torture must be banned, has stated that "Our image in the world is suffering very badly, and one of the reasons for it is the perception that we abuse people that we take captive."

As Senator Dick Durbin said, torturing and degrading people in custody "is not what America is about. Those aren't the values we're fighting for."

But perhaps those are precisely the values that this administration - and those who voted for it wittingly or unwittingly - are for. They represent a certain callous mindset that is gaining popularity.

Note this story that serves as a barometer for where we are heading, as a nation:

The Mayor of Las Vegas, Oscar Goodman, has suggested that those who deface his city with graffiti should have their thumbs cut off on television.

He also advocates public whippings and canings.

And he is serious.

It is outrageous that we have reached a place where such a barbaric idea can be owned - and promoted - by a public official.

So what's next? Public stoning? It would fit in the package. Yet isn't that what we say we're against?

We have been struggling to get out of the dark ages - to lift ourselves up out of the mire of that despicable delight which our species seems to get out of seeing others in agony - since our inception on this planet.

Just as we are reaching a place where technology, science and communication could help us really understand what God is trying to teach us - that we must love each other or perish - we elect a President who masquerades as a Christian, insisted on embroiling us in a horrible war that has caused more suffering than Saddam Hussein ever did, discredits science - that is on the cusp of proving God exists - and now fights his own party for the right to torture.

I must assume the Mayor of Las Vegas must be a great fan of President Bush, since they seem to be on the same wavelength.

My fellow Americans will we allow our mission to fail?

If the answer is yes, then Mother Earth can just wipe us all off and God can try again if we cannot get it together to reject fear and selfishness.

We have come such a long way. It took our species millions of years to get this far and to create a country like ours with compassionate, humane values and a sacred mission.

Are we going to throw it all away? On what? Protecing what? On "protecting" lives through preemptive wars? On selfishness that lays the groundwork for riots and a "dog-eat-dog" attitude? On fear, greed, refusal to conserve or share? On the right to torture?

Please say no to this trend. Stand up for Jesus.

Do not go along with this madness of becoming like the enemy in a vain attempt to protect yourself. Instead, transform your mind in service of God and peace today.

If you need help, I offer you Prayerforce, a book of prayer that has helped others release negativity.

As you commit to renewing your mind, renewing hope for this world and our nation's role in its salvation, take action today by telling President Bush and your Senators: My America is still under God and God does not advocate torture.

Eyes have they, but they see not. Psalms 115:5

Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Romans 12:2

Cosmetic Surgery and Diets

2005-11-06T09:00:00.000-05:00

After my last post, a blogger left an advertisement for plastic surgery.

While I'm not opposed to cosmetic surgery, I do want to say that a person must learn to love him or herself, no matter what he or she looks like.

While a surgeon may give you a beautiful face that matches your inner beauty, he or she can't make a troubled person who hates himself feel whole or happy.

Look at Michael Jackson. He's had over forty operations on his face. He was once good looking but, never satisfied, now his face is decimated.

The truth is, too many people suffer from low self esteem. They look in the mirror and find fault with everything. If you feel this way when you look in the mirror, plastic surgery is not the answer.

Some people will scoff and say: you don't know my problem.

Let me put it this way. Say you have some real deformity that you know is not attractive and you dream of having it fixed, but have no money to get it remedied.

Let's go a step further and say that, when you were small, children made fun of you. Perhaps even now, as an adult, people look at you strangely or make comments.

If this is happening to you, obviously it's painful. Saying "learn to love yourself" may seem like a cruel joke.

But it isn't.

If you don't love yourself, it's doubtful you'll ever have the money for the surgery because - in this example I've described - having the disfigurement fixed cosmetically would be a great act of love toward yourself.

Bottom line, with or without surgery, to have people love you better, you must learn to love yourself better. Why? Because we can't change others, only ourselves.

So if you really want surgery, but you can't afford it, my advice is to embark on a program of positive self-talk. Really learn to love yourself. Tell yourself you're pretty or handsome, even if you feel it's a lie. Then look, every day, for all that's good about yourself.

In short, stop every self-critical thought in its tracks.

If you do this - if you learn real self-love - then if it is in your highest and best good to have surgery, the money will come to you.

Cosmetic surgery in itself is not bad. The desire for such surgery does not mean one is shallow or only concerned with looks. However, the act of having such surgery must be undertaken as an act of love toward the self, not an act of hate for what one looks like. Anything else can lead to further dissatisfaction and more surgeries until one's face or body is beyond repair.

I also noted that the blogger was advertising a diet. This is another area in which people - and especially women - go through agony. Virtually every woman is on a diet and billions are spent in an attempt to look thin.

The best "diet" is no diet. Healthy eating and an active lifestyle - in which one walks or bikes instead of driving - is really what is needed. Learning to listen to when your stomach says you're full is crucial to keep one's weight down. For men, beer is the main culprit in weight gain as they grow older and lose muscle mass.

Although the need for excess food and alcohol is symptomatic of deeper problems -perhaps with self-worth or with feeling disconnected from others or God - anything that helps a person battle inner demons that put his or her health at risk is worth considering.

The answer to every problem is, ultimately, a spiritual solution. However, the human psyche is not often healed overnight, so one must be open to whatever other, temporary, help is available.

God created the people creating the diets and the surgery. Obviously both have a place in this world.

However, I believe there is far too much emphasis on dieting and looks than on learning to appreciate people for the quality of their characters.

If we were more focused on service, on giving and receiving the love within us through helping others in those ways in which we are each uniquely suited, we would be less interested in food.

Happy, busy people tend to be thinner. People full of appreciation for themselves, others, this world and God have little time for dissatisfaction with their weight or their noses.

God can see the quality of our souls. Once you really see your own inner beauty, what you look like, physically, will be less important. Then you will dress in celebration of your beautiful, authentic self instead of trying to appear acceptable to others.

Ultimately, it is more important to think lovely thoughts than to try and attain some standard of physical beauty, for that standard changes and is fleeting.

Think on beautiful things, think on the beauty of God and your soul, and you will appear to be more beautiful to others, no matter what you look like.

Beauty starts inside. The plastic surgeon may play a part, but most of the work is an inside job and our responsibility.

Whatsoever things are lovely, think on them. Philippians 4:8

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify God. Matthew 5:16

Real Christians Don't Lie

2005-10-29T03:35:00.000-04:00

Yesterday Lewis Libby was indicted by Grand Jury on 1 count of obstructing justice, two counts of giving false statements and 2 counts of perjury in regard to the CIA leak investigation.

Of note, in the television footage of those affected in our administration, all seemed in good humor and smiling, even Mr. Libby.

In fact, it has been astounding to me that the people responsible for over 2000 American deaths, the catastrophic wounding of 40,000 American soldiers, 40,000 (and probably many more) Iraqi civilian deaths and the unleashing of terrorism on the Iraqi citizenry always come across as happy and unaffected by the damage they set in motion.

Reporter Judith Miller, up to now, has been the only one to suffer for her acts.

Her contribution was to act as a media puppet for the White House message that we in the U.S. had no choice but to invade Iraq given the alleged, imminent threat it was said to pose.

Judith Miller wound up spending time in jail, not for her role in contributing to the tragedy of Iraq - for it isn't a crime to repeat White House lies as though they are truth - but to protect a White House source. This demonstrates God's ironic sense of humor to me.

Now one of the architects of the war, Lewis Libby, has been indicted - not for kindling support for the war - but for obstructing an investigation into who outed Valerie Plame.

This seems a clear case of As ye sow, so shall ye reap.

Yet no one seems penitent and no one is apologizing.

One of two things is going on. The first possibility is that Mr. Libby and others in this Administration all have so much faith in Mr. Libby's innocence - and faith in God - that they cannot take these charges seriously.

If so, I envy them their faith, for innocent people are often taken aback and very concerned by any kind of legal charge, much less one so serious.

The other possibility is that these men are all so powerful and well-protected that they feel immune from the law and sure these charges are just a joke to be gotten around. Remember, President Bush can always pardon anyone indicted when he is about to leave office.

Yet, it is important to understand these proceedings are not a joke, nor were they undertaken lightly. They began after a covert CIA officer was outed and that outing sent a message to all such agents that they not only face danger from foreign governments, but from their own, and at the whim of political expediency.

It is strongly suspected that the reason this particular agent was betrayed was because her husband was a whistleblower regarding one of the lies we were told in order to justify the invasion of Iraq.

However, the Grand Jury could not get to the bottom of this, to determine if this was true or not. Why? They allege, after two years, that they were unable to see the truth because Lewis Libby lied about it and worked to obstruct their view.

This Administration claims to operate out of Christian principles. Yet we have caught it in one lie after another, to serve the political ends of its elite supporters and power brokers. While we cannot presume Lewis Libby is guilty of lying, it would not, frankly, surprise us because it fits a pattern we have seen for the last five years.

Yet, the Bible is very clear about lying, especially lying which leads to the death of others.

Keep far from a false matter, do not kill the innocent and the righteous. Exodus 23:7

The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death. Proverbs 21:6

But if you have...self-seeking in your heart...Lie not against the truth. James 3:14

All liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone. Revelations 21:8

Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. Acts 5:4

Saying one is a Christian means nothing. Anyone can invoke God's name for what he or she does. Only the measure of how closely a person walks the talk of Jesus ultimately shows one's true intentions. And Jesus never lied.

God Created Science

2005-10-22T00:07:00.000-04:00

Albert Einstein and his brilliant first wife were gifted scientists.

It is the work they did - and Einstein's grasping that matter and energy are manifestations of the same thing - that has led us to a place where science and spirituality are becoming one.

Einstein gave us an idea compatible with science: that we are energy in a form known as "matter."

His theory supports the idea that the energy of God manifests - as all sages have said - in everything we see and understand as the "real world."

I bring this up because the current war against science and facts - including evolution - is a false one, brought about by those whose idea of God is far too small.

In fact, God created us through evolution. We can clearly see that His is an energy that creates through process, when we look at the birth of a child.

A child is not created, fully formed, in the womb. The child develops from a single cell, in a reenactment of our species' evolution from single-celled animals to what we are today.

This microcosm of birth mirrors the macrocosm of how God birthed our species. Thus, there is no contradiction in Christians believing in God and believing in evolution.

Likewise, God is the energy which created us and is us. There should be no contradiction for scientists to believe in God just as they believe in physics and the Quantum Field.

Listen to Albert Einstein explain the Equivalence of Energy and Matter otherwise known as E = mc²

"It followed from the special theory of relativity that mass and energy are both but different manifestations of the same thing -- a somewhat unfamiliar conception for the average mind. Furthermore, the equation E is equal to m c-squared, in which energy is put equal to mass, multiplied by the square of the velocity of light, showed that very small amounts of mass may be converted into a very large amount of energy and vice versa. The mass and energy were in fact equivalent, according to the formula mentioned above. This was demonstrated by Cockcroft and Walton in 1932, experimentally."

Wise men lay up knowledge. Proverbs 10-14

In him we live, and move, and have our being. Acts 17:28

Change Or Die

2005-10-16T16:20:00.000-04:00

Each of us, at certain points in our lives, has decisions to make in regard to the type of person we want to be and the legacy we hope to leave.

As we get older, we become more aware of our mortality and realize if we are going to become more successful people - however we define success - we need to make different choices. For, if we continue doing things exactly as we have been doing them, we will continue seeing the results we have been seeing.

For instance, if a person is having problems in his or her marriage, that person must be willing to change - perhaps to let go of resentments or change routines that block intimacy and love - in order for there to be improvement.

It is said people do not like to change, but a large part of that dislike is because, so often, we don't have the first idea how to change. In addition, we want to be true to ourselves, and so often resent being told we have to change something about ourselves.

It would be far easier for us, as human beings, to change in positive ways, in ways that would, ultimately, make our lives better, if we could grasp the fact that what we see about ourselves - the way we dress, act, and even think - are not really who we are at all.

All of this is superficial. Our personalities are masks over the divine spirit that is our core.

That core is always trying to break through to us, through the thoughts we think are ours - but have been embedded within us by our respective cultures.

That core is always trying to get us to understand that this whole world is a constantly reflecting mirror for each of us. Like attracts like and everywhere we look, we see ourselves.

Are you angry at someone in the news? Dig deep and you will find that what you are really angry about has little to do with them and everything to do with you and your own actions or inactions, your own inner fears and conflicts.

In addition - and this is crucial to understand, what we see "out there" is the result of a string of actions that we have taken either as an individual, or collectively. And, have no doubt, each of us has contributed to everything we see, whether by actively shaping what has happened or by, passively, going along with it.

Why? We live in an energy Universe. What we do comes back to us. In the past the return was, often, slow and it was difficult to really see a connection between how our thoughts, intentions and actions were coming back to impact us. But the energy of this age is different. Anyone who is honest with himself can see it and feel it.

What we do is now coming back to us at an accelerated rate. Thus, as the Bible says:

He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. 2 Corinthians 9:6.

An issue that overshadows most others, in this regard, is Global Warming.

We have heard about Global Warming for the last three decades, but preferred to avoid our responsibility to change. Now those seeds we have sown are coming back to us in a multitude of ways, including destructive hurricanes, most poignantly Rita.

Poorer nations have always felt the effects of human folly before we do - such as with the tsunami - and Africa is now in the midst of a terrible crisis. According to the article below, they understand that they must change or die. Now the question is, when will we?

We must adapt to climate change - or die

By Caroline Hooper-Box

As Earth hurtles towards potentially disastrous changes in temperature, top scientists from Africa and the rest of the world will meet South African government officials on Monday in Midrand to discuss the threat of climate change in South Africa and the sub-continent.

In South Africa, the effects of global warming are predicted to include the spread of diseases such as tick-bite fever, cholera and malaria; the extinction of plants and animals; and ruined crops.

Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka is to deliver the opening address at the National Climate Change Conference, where delegates will thrash out options for responding to the crisis.

Globally, nine of the past 10 years have been the warmest since records began in 1861. Research confirms that climate change is "a real and significant threat to biodiversity in South Africa", according to Guy Midgley of the South African National Biodiversity Institute.

South Africa's botanical treasures - the succulent Karoo and fynbos biomes, recognised as specialised ecosystems of rich plant biodiversity - are under grave threat. Once temperatures rise 2,4Â°C higher than they are now, the Karoo's 2 800 endemic plant species will become extinct. Above 3Â¼C, the Kruger National Park is projected to lose two-thirds of its animals.

Some species in the Kruger Park are already disappearing, Norman Owen-Smith, a Wits university scientist, said. "Half the species in the park may want to be somewhere else in 20 to 30 years' time."

Sable and roan antelope in particular will want to move west of the Kruger, where rainfall is higher, he said, but are unable to move beyond the park fences.

South Africa's biodiversity provides livelihoods for a significant number of rural South Africans who are victims of poverty, Midgley said.

Maize is particularly susceptible to drought
This was confirmed by a report on the impact of climate change to be presented at the conference this week by Council for Scientific and Industrial Research scientists Graham von Maltitz and Carmel Mbizvo. They predict that in most instances, climate change will add stress to already fragile livelihoods.

Because 70 percent of Africa's population relies on agriculture for its livelihood, and because the continent includes some of the world's poorest nations, it is particularly susceptible to climate change.

Southern Africa's staple food, maize, is particularly susceptible to drought.

The southwestern tip of Africa will see less rain as the planet heats up, Von Maltitz and Mbizvo say, "and it is this area where some of the most severe livelihood consequences may result".

The United Nations Environment Programme predicts that an increase in temperature is likely to reduce soil moisture and soil quality, both of which are vital for agriculture, as well as to generate a proliferation of pests.

The UN has warned that by 2050 as many as 150 million "environmental refugees" may have fled coastlines vulnerable to rising sea levels, storms or floods, or agricultural land that has become too arid to cultivate.

In South Africa, a broad reduction of rainfall in the range of 5 to 10 percent for the summer rainfall region is predicted. This is likely to be accompanied by an increased incidence of drought and floods, with prolonged dry spells being followed by intense storms.

The department of environmental affairs and tourism says the increased temperatures and changes in rainfall can be expected to affect health, including an increase in the occurrence of strokes, skin rashes, dehydration and skin cancers.

South Africa's east coast is expected to become wetter, with an accompanying increase in the incidence of diseases such as cholera, malaria and sleeping sickness.

In a warmer world, mosquitoes and ticks could also expand their range to higher altitudes.

Peter Luckey, the chief director of the department of environmental affairs, told reporters this week that climate change science predicted more frequent and intense extreme weather conditions, and said that "in most cases, they will be changes that affect our everyday lives".

Bruce Hewitson of the climate systems analysis group at the University of Cape Town said what was needed most in this period of climate change was "following up on adaptation and responding to impact".

It was too late to mitigate the effects of climate change, Hewitson said. "There is nothing we can do to prevent climate change for this generation."

This article was originally published on page 3 of The Sunday Independent on October 16, 2005

Published on the Web by IOL on 2005-10-16 09:33:00

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Â© Independent Online 2005. All rights reserved.

Birth Restraint

2005-10-13T20:05:00.000-04:00

Today I read a story about an Arkansas woman who has given birth to her 16th child with plans to have as many more as she can. Her husband has been a politician and they, apparently, do not practice birth restraint, on religious grounds.

There was a time when having a lot of children was a badge of honor for a woman, provided she had a husband who could afford to feed and clothe those children.

To carry all pregnancies to full term was a great blessing a hundred years ago when mortality rates for mothers and their children were high. Prior to modern medicine and science, a woman's body and genes had to be very tough and she had to have immense stamina and character to raise a large family.

But having a lot of children today is not the triumph against odds it was in the past.

On the contrary, with a burgeoning world population of 6.3 billion we have immense problems of pollution and global warming, threats of world pandemics and a third of the world's people living in poverty and hunger. To help further overpopulate the earth under these conditions is not a triumph, but a failure of restraint, for birth restraint is no longer a choice, but a necessity.

Why?

Imagine if every woman of childbearing age spent her life like that woman in Arkansas, having as many children as possible. We would soon be like fruitflies in a sealed bottle.

Put two fruitflies in a closed bottle with water and food and they breed until there are hundreds of fruitflies, life is no longer sustainable in the bottle and all die.

I was taught this by an astute fourth grade teacher and the lesson was very powerful. Yet we, in this country, are going backwards, arguing for more children instead of less.

Do you know that, currently, we withhold foreign aid funds from women's clinics in foreign lands that dare to offer those women sex education and contraception?

So while on one hand we bewail the millions who will starve in those countries in the next ten years, we also actively work against real solutions.

It has been said that the ideal, sustainable population for the earth is around 3 Billion. We now have 6.3 Billion, with a third of them living in wrenching poverty.

Let us return to our couple in Arkansas, for this decision to have as many children as possible is not just the woman's, but is also the choice of her husband.

Is it responsible for anyone to bring so many children into the world - whether they can "afford them" or not - when we already have 6.3 billion people on the planet?

The fact is, our planet cannot afford the ecological footprint each one will leave in combination with all others.

We are all in this together and have an obligation to work for the greater good, which includes voluntarily working to limit population levels.

If we want our species to survive and the children of the future to have any quality of life at all, we must stop giving approval for this kind of, ultimately, destructive behavior.

How this behavior must gall those who have no children and desperately yearn to have one upon which they could lavish their love.

And one must wonder how loved - and how special - a child feels when he or she is one of a dozen or more for whom mom has no time.

God helps those who help themselves and He never meant for us to populate our Mother Earth to the point of destroying her.

Neither is there any justification for ignoring the children we have for the purpose of creating more.

In Biblical terms such people are living immoderately, without any self control or temperance. For them to justify their intemperance on religious grounds is fallacy.

It is time that Christians stop apologizing for advocating birth restraint and contraception. Both are in keeping with the spiritual value of being partners with the Earth that nourishes us. We are charged with her safekeeping to assure not only her survival, but our own.

For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we are all partakers of that one bread. I Corinthians 10:17

The fruit of the Spirit is...temperance. Galatians 5:22-23

Let Me Hug All Of You

2005-10-06T13:12:00.000-04:00

Below are words of wisdom from the 20th century's most effective spokesperson for peace, Mohandas K. Gandhi. Using principles of non-violence, he led India's people to independence with a single tool: Faith In God.

Let Me Hug All of You in Love and Friendship by Mohandas K. Gandhi

Having flung aside the sword, there is nothing except the cup of love I can offer to those who oppose me. It is by offering that cup that I expect to draw them close to me.

I cannot think of permanent enmity between man and man, and believing as I do in the theory of rebirth, I live in the hope that if not in this birth, in some other birth, I shall be able to hug all humanity in friendly embrace. Love is the strongest force the world possesses and yet it is the humblest imaginable.

Love has the special quality of attracting abundance of love in return. Ahimsa means the largest love, the greatest charity. As a follower of ahimsa, I must love my enemy. I must apply the same rules to the wrongdoer who is my enemy or a stranger to me, as I would to my wrongdoing father or son.

This activity necessarily includes truth and fearlessness. As man cannot deceive loved ones, he does not fear or frighten them. Gift of life is the greatest of all gifts; a man who gives it disarms all hostility. He has paved the way for an honourable understanding.

And none who is fearful can bestow that gift. He must therefore be himself fearless. A man cannot practice ahimsa and be a coward at the same time. The practice of ahimsa calls for the greatest courage. Never has anything been done on this earth without direct action.

I reject the word 'passive resistance', because of its insufficiency and its being interpreted as a weapon of the weak. What was the larger 'symbiosis' that Buddha and Christ preached? Gentleness and love. Buddha fearlessly carried the war into the enemy's camp and brought down an arrogant priesthood.

Christ drove out the moneychangers from the temple of Jerusalem. Both were for intensely direct action. But even as Buddha and Christ chastised, they showed unmistakable love and gentleness in every act of theirs. My creed of non-violence is an extremely active force. It has no room for cowardice or even weakness.

There is hope for a violent man to be some day non-violent but there is none for a coward. I believe that non-violence is infinitely superior to violence; forgiveness is more manly than punishment. Forgiveness adorns the soldier.

But abstinence is forgiveness only when there is the power to punish; it is meaningless when it pretends to proceed from a helpless creature. But I do not believe India to be helpless. I do not believe myself to be a helpless creature. Strength does not come from physical capacity.

It comes from an indomitable will. The spiritual weapon of self-purification, intangible as it seems, is the most potent means of revolutionizing one's environment and loosening external shackles.

It works subtly and invisibly; it is an intense process though it might often seem a weary and long-drawn one. It is the straightest way to liberation. The surest and quickest and no effort can be too great for it. What it requires is faith.

From M.K. Gandhi Organization

Source: The Times of India dated 30th September 2005

A Conspiracy With Mother Nature?

2005-10-05T20:00:00.000-04:00

There is a lot of angry buzz on the blogs about the flood in New Orleans. There are accusations, especially by blacks, that everything that happened was the result of racism.

I think any time people are angry, they have a perception that supports that anger.

Whether that perception is correct or not, I don't know.

While we know that racism is alive and well in this country, I did not think any racism was intentional, but more a result of those in charge having the same old disregard for the poor that we always see.

However, I have heard a couple of things that are disturbing. They, quite frankly, support the contention that what happened was not an accident, but deliberate.

The first jarring words came from House Speaker Dennis Hastert. After the devastation in New Orleans became apparent, Hastert issued a statement something like: "We've wanted to get rid of the slums for years. We couldn't do it, but God did."

I thought that comment was crass for a couple of reasons.

First, slums may have been destroyed, but they were still people's homes and those people went through hell losing them.

Second, I thought his gall in speaking as though all that destruction and suffering was part of "god's plan" and a good thing - since Hastert and others wanted it - was astounding.

I chalked it up to a pampered politician who lacks empathy and put his foot in his mouth.

Then I saw an interview on Charlie Rose.

Forgive me, but I've visited the PBS site to try and find the name of the man interviewed, but I am unable to identify him. I got the impression he was associated with a newspaper or other media, who had been following the story. It might have been Anderson Cooper, but please don't hold me to that. I honestly don't remember.

In any event, during the course of the interview, he referred to a "conspiracy" that he said he did not believe in, but which many people do believe in. I had no idea, at that point, what he was talking about.

He said it is fact that the city of New Orleans has no industry and is dependent upon tourism.

Because of this, politicians have tried for years to get rid of the slums and public housing, in order to make New Orleans more "tourist friendly."

When I heard this, it put Hastert's comment in context.

Now while I was ignorant of this struggle, the poor people of New Orleans - most of whom are black - have been very much aware of it because, essentially, to get rid of the slums meant getting rid of them. There wasn't any huge push to get Habitat For Humanity in there, building decent homes for them as replacements.

The result is that many apparently believe work on the levees was stopped so that when - not if, but when - a category 5 struck, they, their slums and public housing would be washed away.

Whether they are correct or not, I don't know. However, it is a fact that the slums have been, essentially, washed away.

Most of the poor who were evacuated will not return. The residences they left behind will have to be bulldozed because, according to another article I read, mold has penetrated as far as the studs in these buildings and you can't get rid of it. The mold is so noxious it has made the buildings entirely uninhabitable. The only solution, at this point, is demolition.

Yet the experts all say the flooding was fully preventable.

There were reports, warnings and predictions as to exactly what would happen when a category 5 struck. In addition, as I stated, the prediction was not if a category 5 would strike, but when. The recommendations including rebuilding the levees so they could withstand a 5 and restoring wetlands as a first defense. Of course not only were these recommendations not followed, all maintenance work was halted.

So I can understand how it can look like there was a covert conspiracy to get rid of poor, black people and rebuild New Orleans around the tourist trade.

The question is: is that just how it looks, or is that how it went down?

If in fact there was a complicit plan to just ignore New Orleans and leave her vulnerable in hopes of nature taking her course, then I think the people of New Orleans have every right to be very angry. I think black people, especially, have a right to be angry. Because if this is what happened, they were treated like refuse.

We may never know the truth, but I, for one, have an uneasy feeling that once again, just as there was with the war in Iraq, there has been an agenda at work about which most of us knew nothing.

Head Start: Creating Better Citizens

2005-10-04T03:47:00.000-04:00

Here's an informative article about Head Start and its value to the children and families it serves.

Head Start not only prepares children for academic and behavioral success but also helps parents create a contributing, functional family unit.

This is why the move by the Bush administration to cut funds for Head Start is such a bad idea. Eliminating Head Start is not just meanspirited. Funds targeted for Head Start actually help children - and their parents - become better people and citizens. The value of that is priceless.

We spend so much on programs that destroy. It is time to make our first priority programs that alleviate suffering and create a stronger nation through cultivating the strengh of our people.

He shall save the children of the needy. Psalm 72:4

Even if we do not do so out of the goodness of our hearts, we must do so because it is simply in our own best interest to create more responsible, educated and committed citizens.

Peace: Too Frightening?

2005-10-03T19:25:00.000-04:00

I receive a very conservative political e-mail because I want to read a variety of opinions. That e-mail contains links that, from time to time, I check out to see if there is anything of value being expressed. Unfortunately, the articles are seldom worth reading, much less responding to.

However, in reading one very nasty diatribe against "liberals" and Cindy Sheehan, I could not refrain from sending an on-line "letter to the editor" in response.

However, I received an e-mail saying my letter had been rejected for publication.

Why? Oh you know the excuses they give, but the truth was: it's too frightening.

God's word is always harder to follow than the litany of hate.

Here's my letter:

Bob Pappas makes his reputation by labeling rational people, whose opinions differ from his, enemies of the state.

Hitler did that to Jews, liberals and homosexuals and rode to power on it.

Likewise, Pappas would like to ride to power on the backs of all who clearly see that the war in Iraq was optional and cannot achieve its stated ends of "freeing the world of terror."

Indeed, the latter idea – that the war in Iraq can free the world of terror - is revealing itself to be ridiculous.

Mahatma Gandhi brought freedom and independence to India with his principles of peace. However, Mr. Pappas cannot advocate for that kind of effective action because it takes more bravery to stand without weapons than it does to kill.

In this way he shares the philosophy of the terrorists who strap bombs to their backs and blow up innocent people.

Until we are willing to sacrifice our bodies for peace, as we sacrifice the bodies of our soldiers for war, people like Mr. Pappas will reign supreme, glorying in their rhetoric while others die.

His invective is, frankly, sickening. And for him to compare the pre-emptive war in Iraq with World War II is political trickery.

But he is just a pawn in this machine of war he praises, a very frightened man under all that bombast, he does not offer us help, but fear and loathing. I ask everyone to pray for him, and for our nation that is being dragged down the wrong path.

The battle is not yours, but God's. 2 Chronicles 20:15

Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. Isaiah 2:4

Clyo Beck

I ask you all to pray for all people spouting hate including the web publisher who is so afraid of my opinions that he dare not publish them.

Just as we are urged to want God as much as a parched man longs for water, so must we long for God's peace with that same need.

Let us all pray to be filled with that longing, and soon.

Clyo

We Were Made For These Times

2005-09-28T03:31:00.000-04:00

In the past, religion has taught us that we are, intrinsically, evil.

That is a lie. How can anything made of the cloth of God be based in evil?

Look at the heroism and courage we see in the South. Look at the strength and love and giving among people there.

It is time to stop condemning humanity for its dark side - thus condemning us to failure - and time to begin believing in our inherent goodness.

We have the spark of God within us and as Clarissa Pinkola Estes writes, we are made for these times, to transform them with love.

If you have not read it before, may her poem below give you strength and comfort.

Clyo

We Were Made for These Times

Clarissa Pinkola Estes
Author of Women who run with Wolves

I urge you, ask you, gentle you, to please not spend
your spirit dry by bewailing these difficult times.
Especially do not lose hope. Most particularly because,
the fact is that we were made for these times.
Yes. For years, we have been learning, practicing, been in
training for and just waiting to meet on this
exact plain of engagement.

I grew up on the Great Lakes and recognize a seaworthy
vessel when I see one. Regarding awakened souls, there
have never been more able vessels in the waters than
there are right now across the world. And they are
fully provisioned and able to signal one another as
never before in the history of humankind.

Look out over the prow; there are millions of boats of
righteous souls on the waters with you. Even though
your veneers may shiver from every wave in this stormy
roil, I assure you that the long timbers composing
your prow and rudder come from a greater forest. That
long-grained lumber is known to withstand storms, to
hold together, to hold its own, and to advance,
regardless.

In any dark time, there is a tendency to veer toward
fainting over how much is wrong or unmended in the
world. Do not focus on that.

There is a tendency too to fall into being weakened by
dwelling on what is outside your reach, by what cannot
yet be. Do not focus there. That is spending the wind
without raising the sails. We are needed, that is all
we can know. And though we meet resistance, we more so
will meet great souls who will hail us, love us and
guide us, and we will know them when they appear.

Didn't you say you were a believer? Didn't you say you
pledged to listen to a voice greater? Didn't you ask
for grace? Don't you remember that to be in grace
means to submit to the voice greater?

Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at
once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the
world that is within our reach. Any small, calm thing
that one soul can do to help another soul, to assist
some portion of this poor suffering world, will help
immensely.

It is not given to us to know which acts or by whom,
will cause the critical mass to tip toward an enduring
good. What is needed for dramatic change is an
accumulation of acts, adding, adding to, adding more,
continuing.

We know that it does not take "everyone on Earth" to
bring justice and peace, but only a small, determined
group who will not give up during the first, second,
or hundredth gale.

One of the most calming and powerful actions you can
do to intervene in a stormy world is to stand up and
show your soul. Soul on deck shines like gold in dark
times. The light of the soul throws sparks, can send
up flares, builds signal fires, causes proper matters
to catch fire.

To display the lantern of soul in shadowy times like
these - to be fierce and to show mercy toward others,
both, are acts of immense bravery and greatest
necessity. Struggling souls catch light from other souls
who are fully lit and willing to show

If you would help to calm the tumult, this is one of
the strongest things you can do. There will always be
times when you feel discouraged.

I too have felt despair many times in my life, but I
do not keep a chair for it; I will not entertain it.
It is not allowed to eat from my plate.

The reason is this: In my uttermost bones I know
something, as do you. It is that there can be no
despair when you remember why you came to Earth, who
you serve, and who sent you here.

The good words we say and the good deeds we do are not
ours: They are the words and deeds of the One who
brought us here.

In that spirit, I hope you will write this on your
wall: When a great ship is in harbor and moored, it is
safe, there can be no doubt. But that is not what
great ships are built for. This comes with much love
and a prayer that you remember who you came from, and
why you came to this beautiful, needful Earth.

Calls For A New Life

2005-09-23T17:12:00.000-04:00

Sad news today, New Orleans is flooding again. And thousands have been stranded in Texas and Louisiana on gridlocked freeways trying to escape Rita.

Most tragically, a bus carrying elderly evacuees, who were trying to escape Hurricane Rita, caught fire while stuck in that gridlock near Wilmer, Texas.

Residents of a nursing home, their oxygen tanks exploded.

What a horror for them and the people in the cars around them who witnessed this terrible event as the bus burned into a blackened shell. As many as 24 people were killed.

How do we make sense of it all? For it is part of a bigger picture.

It may be that we need to change our lives and ways of living or this earth, under such pressure from our activities, will change them for us.

I have received several "wake up" calls in my life. In two very dramatic instances I escaped death - just barely.

I've lost a home and family. In retrospect I see I was living a joyless life in which I was not authentic. Pulled by what people said I "should" do, I worked and lived a "quiet life of desperation."

Although it looked successful from the outside, either my life course had to change or I had to die. That's clear to me, in retrospect, because I wasn't doing what I came here to do.

I chose change over death. I chose finding my authentic path, one small footstep at a time away from the old life. Thanks to God's grace, I had that choice.

But don't think that now I live an authentic life every second or that I am "in the flow" every moment.

Far from it. But I know when I'm straying too far away from the core of who I came here to be, and I self-correct. The line has been drawn in the sand and I know when I'm crossing over it.

Katrina, Rita and all the trials that face us now have one major purpose. They call us to examine our lives.

An unexamined life is a life just waiting for the wrecking ball.

Instead, know who you are - really - and get in touch with what you came here to do.

I'm betting it's not to waste your life on trivial entertainments, work at a job you hate or criticize others because you are unhappy or resentful of them.

I bet its to find your own "Kingdom of God" down here in which you follow your authentic path so that all the puzzle pieces start falling together and life begins feeling good and making sense.

I bet it's to find a way of living and working that brings peace, fulfillment and connection so you are always in the right place at the right time and never, ever running for your life in any sense of the word.

As Sarah Ban Breathnach asks in Simple Abundance:

Could your bliss and an authentic life be one and the same? What if whatever it is that makes you ecstatic, brings you joy, sends you soaring, satisfies your hunger, fulfills your yearning, ignites your passion, makes you reach out to others, and gives you peace - in other words, your bliss - is the Kingdom of Heaven?

Have you ever considered that The Kingdom of Heaven is not up in the sky but is something we are to create here, both individually and collectively?

Given current events, perhaps it is time for each one of us to begin today to find that authentic path for ourselves.

Too much misery and sorrow occurs when we don't. Let us pray:

Dear God,

There is one Presence and one Power in the Universe: You.

By Your Grace, life agrees with me.
I place myself under your care as You guide me on my authentic path.

You guide me in making the corrections I need
And comfort me as I make these changes.

By Your grace, I am able to digest every new thought
And assimilate every new experience so it frees me.

I am able to respond and make good decisions.

I am surrounded by Your angels and I am safe.

Nothing is more powerful than Your love
And Your desire that I know joy.

I love my life.
My life is a blessing to myself
And to the world.

Amen.

From Prayerforce: 365 Days To A New Life

Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. Psalms 30:5

Katrina: Did Fox Impact Her?

2005-09-19T16:40:00.000-04:00

Sometime, you might take a look at The Power of Your Subconscious Mind by Joseph Murphy.

It was the first stepping-stone in my quest, which began nearly twenty-five years ago, to get a handle on what is really going on in what we call "reality."

There are people who discount prayer and the idea that we can affect reality through what we think.

"Magical thinking" is the derisive term applied to the idea that we can have an effect on the world around us through what we think.

There is a fear - and it is legitimate - that if we start believing that we create everything with our minds, then we may think we don't have to pay attention to what's actually happening - like global warming - but think we can just "wish it away" while we continue to spew toxins and heat into our atmosphere.

There's a fear that people will get it in their minds that we don't have to stop spewing garbage into our atmosphere or conserving energy because we can just "fix" all these problems with our minds without taking any action.

And there's the joke about the man who prays to God to win the lotto, but never buys a ticket.

This is true magical thinking and nothing could be further from the truth.

Miracles require thought and prayer as a basis, but they also require the courage to act on the impulses we get, follow our dreams and get our hands dirty in creating a better world.

"Magical thinking" as I've described it above, however, is not quite the same thing as finding out that we live in an energy universe in which the energy of thought impacts the world around us and that there is an actual cause and effect.

The self-fulfilling prophesy, a phenomena that countless people have experienced, is anecdotal evidence of the fact that our thoughts affect our lives.

It would follow, therefore, that a collection of people all thinking the same thing could create a self-fulfilling prophesy for the collective.

Is it that big a jump to then consider that with a natural phenomena, like a hurricane, that our fears about it can influence how big it gets or where it hits based upon our most deeply held beliefs?

I wondered about that recently when a fellow blogger informed me that FOX had broadcast a movie in August in which a category 5 hurricane hit New Orleans and destroyed her.

Did that movie embed the minds of millions of people with the images similar to what we have seen this month, helping them to come true?

Absolutely.

For this is the nature of collective consciousness. What we put in - all of it - has an effect.

That is why people like Wayne Dyer and Deepak Chopra, Caroline Myss, Louise Hay and so many others are working hard to get the word out:

YOUR THOUGHTS ARE CREATING YOUR REALITY and

COLLECTIVELY, OUR THOUGHTS CREATE OUR COLLECTIVE REALITY.

Quantum mechanics explains how this is possible, but of course it is still a theory and the packets of energy about which it theorizes are infinitesimally small, being the theorized building blocks of everything in the material world.

But you know something funny? Scientists all operate out of theory. There are many things we take for granted that are just "theories" but seem to be true because we've found they work.

It's said over and over that air flight can't be proved, as a theory, but we see hundreds of planes in the sky every day.

The Mid-West saw a spate of tornados after the movie Twister came out that was unprecedented. Was that coincidence?

Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans after Fox's film was aired. Was that coincidence?

Those that insist these and countless other events are just "coincidences" do so because they are scared to death. They are scared to death of the responsibility that comes when you realize your thoughts, along with the thoughts of everyone on this planet, create everything around you.

But if we can get this lesson, understand it and begin filling our minds with thoughts that will create a reality that we actually want to see, this lesson will be the first step to creating heaven on earth.

Alleluia!

Through wisdom is a house built, and by understanding it is established. Proverbs 24:3

Bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.
2 Corinthians 10:5

Peace and Light,

Clyo

12 LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES

2005-09-16T19:27:00.000-04:00

Thank you, Caryn, for forwarding the following to me.

HURRICANE KATRINA – THE 12 LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES
by Gary Zukav

"We watched ferocious winds tear into the Gulf Coast, a jewel of a city become inundated, and, with growing horror, the inaction of our government as bodies lay in the streets, tens of thousands clustered without water or food and thousands more hovered on the edge of survival in the wealthiest country in the world, we have been given the opportunity to watch ourselves as well, to observe and learn about ourselves from our experiences.

As relief arrived in slow motion and then in an unorganized flood and we realized that the evacuees will struggle for years to rebuild their lives, we have had more opportunities to learn from our experiences or to react to them – to create as we have in the past or to create differently – and our experiences continue.

Hurricane Katrina gives us OPPORTUNITIES to discover how we are creating and how we can create differently if we choose. Every adversity offers this OPPORTUNITY – to lapse into victim or become a creator.

The potential to shift from victim to creator is very great when we hurt as much as we hurt now. Whether we have watched this massive suffering on television or from a sidewalk at the Convention Center in New Orleans, the OPPORTUNITY is the same – a treasure offered to those who are willing to work for it.

We [Gary Zukav & company] are offering a FREE series of OPPORTUNITIES to help you learn about yourself from your experiences of Hurricane Katrina: HURRICANE KATRINA – THE 12 LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES.

It is available to you now on www.zukav.com. We will post a new OPPORTUNITY every Monday and Thursday mornings Pacific Time, and you can also view previous OPPORTUNITIES (it is never too late to learn from an OPPORTUNITY).

Before you begin, please consider that Hurricane Katrina can be seen as the deliverer of a great end and a great beginning, a great loss and a great gain at the same time.

It can be the end of a complacent life and the beginning of an aware life, the end of indifference and the beginning of gratitude, the end of superficial looking and the beginning of deep feeling, deep insights, deep appreciation, and deep love.

It can be seen as the disaster of hundreds of thousands of people suddenly, abruptly, violently dislocated, many never to live again in the homes they once knew and it can be seen as the biggest infusion of caring into the awareness of the United States and much of the world since 9/11 and the Asian Tsunamis.

How you see it depends upon how you choose to see it.

If you choose unconsciously, you will see through the filters of your fears, including disinterest and apathy, rather than using your experiences to learn about yourself and applying what you learn to create authentic power.

These perceptions – both frightened and compassionate – come to each of us in our own ways and teach us what we need to know about ourselves to create lives of more joy and less pain, more meaning and less helplessness, more love and less fear."

I agree with what Gary Zukav has writen and encourage everyone to visit his website.

Now it is high time to awake out of sleep. Romans 13:11

And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have therefore, let us do good unto all men. Galatians 6:10

May you walk in peace and love,

Clyo

Katrina's Lesson: Compassion

2005-09-13T18:00:00.000-04:00

The lesson that Katrina brings us is that compassion must be our first order of business.

The blessing that Katrina has brought us is to remind us we are, firstly, a loving nation of heroes.

Those heroes are in the streets and in the shelters. They are serving and donating. They are the common everyday people of these United States of America who continue to react with courage, love and faith to the devastation and horror caused by Hurricane Katrina.

But their values and principles are not mirrored in the policies of our current Administration.

While our people, clearly, believe that we are "all in this together," we have been under the rule of a political faction whose primary philosophy is that each of us should be left on our own to sink or swim, depending on whether or not we can afford a boat.

Many Americans are calling for an independent investigation to find out what "went wrong" in the response to Katrina. No doubt mistakes in judgment were made by several and these will be identified.

However, demanding an investigation in order to apportion blame to people is not going to help us prepare against future calamity. The people in charge today will be gone tomorrow. Only love and working together in crafting compassionate policies for the national good can help us.

I hve been highly critical of our current administration precisely because it has not operated out of love for the common good. It has set us against one another falsely, often either creating or exacerbating issues that drive us apart.

Tearing our national fabric apart for the purpose of winning elections and gaining power is morally bankrupt, especially given that chaos and destruction are the true "trickle down" effects of the ultra-conservative economic philosophy and policies that have been implemented as a result.

It is that philosophy which should be targeted for extinction, not FEMA, food stamps, our schools or the budget for repairing levees.

An independent investigation may or may not expose the lie in the philosophy that we do not need government to assist us in the protection of our people or promotion of our common good.

But whatever it shows, no investigation will give us a true picture unless it is independent from both politicians and our current administration.

Any investigation must have its own investigators, budget and subpoena authority.

What happened in New Orleans should never happen again. If we are to have an independent investigation, let us assure that it will give us the answers we need.

But the independent commission will not be the answer to our problems, only a tool for self-discovery. The answer lies in transforming the American heart.

We have been so busy being entertained, making a living and acquiring material possessions that we have been blind to the extreme poverty that exists in this nation and the damage that is being done to our land, rivers, coasts, air and seas.

We are each our brother's keeper. We are also custodians of the earth. We know that when we see the need, but we often live lives in which we are too busy to see what's really going on.

Americans need to slow down. We need to stop running around like chickens with our heads cut off.

We need to really start looking at people and listening to people, not media. It would benefit us to spend more time in nature, alone, communing with her.

Our greatest need is to spend time in silence, quiet our minds and allow God to inform us of what part He wants us to play in the healing of our nation and the world. And a big part we play is in raising our children.

In the new book, Freakonomics, economist Steven D. Levitt states that he found that what you do with your child is not really as important as how you do it.

A father himself, his statistics show that it is the quality of the human interaction between you and your children that most affects whether they will be happy, successful and well-adjusted...or not.

He indicated, during an interview, that his findings led him to understand that if a parent is running around, driving him or herself crazy taking a child to all sorts of "enriching" activities, that will transfer to the child and will have a negative effect.

Sitting on the floor and talking, being happy and relaxed in the moment will do more for your child than all other activities combined. Choosing the best-loved activity instead of fragmenting time and energies on too many, is the healthier route.

The lesson is clear. Relax, do less and concentrate on bringing more of what you really enjoy into your life.

Take enough time to do the things you want to do well.

Spend quality time just being with your child. Your child loves you and does not need a lot of toys. He or she does not benefit from being shuffled from one event to another. He will become an outstanding person with solid values simply by being bathed in your love and constant, steadfast behavior.

Learn compassion for yourself and it is easier to feel it for others.

Also it is not good for a soul to be without knowledge, And he sins who hastens with his feet. Proverbs 19:2

A man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry, for this will remain with him in his labor all the days of his life. Ecclesiastes 8:15

A merry heart doeth good like a medicine; but a broken spirit drieth the bones. Proverbs 17:22

Show mercy and compassion every man to his brother. Zechariah 7:9

Our Nation: Everyday Heroes

2005-09-09T06:10:00.000-04:00

The heroes in this story about Katrina are not in the federal government. The heroes are in the streets and in the shelters. They are the common everyday people of this United States of America who continue to react with courage and dignity to the devastation and horror caused by Hurricane Katrina.

They are the people who evacuated peacefully and are coping with the loss of their lives and homes and loved ones with incredible stoicism.

They are the police and firefighters who have lost their homes, sleep in the streets, are exposed to filth and stomach turning smells, were endangered by snipers, and yet have continued to serve even without food, water, power or communication with their loved ones.

They are the Red Cross workers and the National Guard rescuers. They are the doctors and nurses and hairdressers and teachers who are all volunteering and working with our displaced brothers and sisters.

They are the working class heroes, civilians who got in boats and went from one drowned house to another looking for survivors from morning until night.

Our nation is full of heroes, full of the people who do the work in this country. They are the ones who respond when tragedy hits and go where they are needed. And they deserve to get their federal government back from the very rich and the very heartless. They deserve a federal government that cares about them as much as Mayor Ray Nagin and Police Chief Eddie Compass.

"If one person criticizes them" [local officials such as the Mayor of New Orleans] "or says one more thing" [to criticize local officials, even if it is]"...the president of the United States, he will hear from me," said Senator Mary Landrieu after spending ten days in Katrina's wake. "One more word about it after this show airs and I might likely have to punch him [the President]. Literally."

"Everybody anticipated the breach of the levee, Mr. President," Landrieu said, in contradiction of Bush's statement last week that no one "anticipated the breach of the levees." And as she addressed the U.S. Senate, she noted that even "...the clay figurine, Mr. Bill, from 'Saturday Night Live'" anticipated the breach, asking "How can it be that Mr. Bill was better informed than Mr. Bush?"

I can tell her. He set it up that way. It's part and parcel of right-wing Republican values. Those values, and the lack of empathy inherent in them, are consistent with the astonishing statement by Rep. Richard Baker (R-LA) of Baton Rouge who was overheard telling lobbyists: "We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn't do it, but God did."

After the 2004 election, Grover Norquist spoke in a room of 4000 very wealthy Bush supporters. He announced with glee that Republicans would now "stick a knife in government and kill it."

That is just what conservatives and Republican politicians have been doing, and as we have seen with Hurricane Katrina, their policies are working, with devastating results.

Those policies include, of course, eliminating public housing, FEMA, head start, public schooling, PBS, funding for police and firefighters, funding for levees, public works, parks, roads and - you name it.

If it serves the public at large, it's on the Republican chopping block with the goal of making it all privatized. Their goal is that only those who can afford to pay, directly, for services get them.

In other words, you better have a car and the money you need for gas to get out of town. If not, you are not entitled to be evacuated and, bottom line, you are not entitled to live.

Yet we see corporate hand outs given with impunity. If a policy serves corporate profit making, Republicans give it full support, especially if proposed by major corporate lobbyists who have donated to their campaigns.

Even our military is being gutted in Iraq for the benefit of private corporations who are raking in the profits from rebuilding Iraq.

And Katrina - and I've read this in a blog posted by an employee of Halliburton - Katrina represents a great opportunity for Halliburton or some other private corporation to come in and make a lot of money cleaning and rebuilding. From the Republican point of view, Katrina is good for business.

This kind of thinking is morally bankrupt. Surely the forty percent of our nation that still likes President Bush cannot agree with these values.

But as George Lakoff writes, "The moral of Katrina is mostly being missed.

It is not just a failure of execution (William Kristol), or that bad things just happen (Laura Bush).

"It was not just indifference by the President, or a lack of accountability, or a failure of federal-state communication, or corrupt appointments in FEMA (Michael Brown, appointed by President Bush as the director of FEMA had no previous experience with disaster response, but was the judges and stewards commissioner for a racehorse association), or the cutting of budgets for fixing levees, or the inexcusable absence of the National Guard off in Iraq. It was all of these and more, but they are the effects, not the cause."

"The cause was political through and through -- a matter of values and principles.

The progressive-liberal values are America's values, and we need to go back to them. The heart of progressive-liberal values is simple: empathy (caring about and for people) and responsibility (acting responsibly on that empathy). These values translate into a simple principle: Use the common wealth for the common good to better all our lives. In short, promoting the common good is the central role of government."

Yet the right-wing conservatives now in power have the opposite values and principles. Rather than shaping government to meet the function for which it is best suited which is promoting the common good, they are working actively to dismantle government and use what is left to benefit the very rich. The result, as we have seen, is chaos and tragedy. Poor people have no place in the rich, right-wing Republican's scheme of things.

Note this from the New Orleans Times Picayune:

"Some observers have said that because the majority of storm evacuees are black, the lethargic disaster response has a racist component. But Mayor Nagin cast the color issue in another light. "I think it's more a class issue than race," he said. "The Superdome had mostly poor people in distress. The rich have resources the poor don't. The Convention Center was different. There the poor were mixed with people from hotels and predators. You had blacks, Hispanics, Asians. The predators in there didn't care. When those stories come out, like children raped, with their throats cut, then somebody's got to answer."

Nagin's ire began to rise anew as he recalled a foiled strategy to send able-bodied refugees over the Crescent City Connection to the high ground of the West Bank.

"We were taking in people from St. Bernard Parish," he said. "If we had a bottle of water, we shared it. Then when we were going to let people cross the bridge, they were met with frigging dogs and guns at the Gretna parish line. They said, 'We're going to protect Jefferson Parish assets.'"

"Some people value homes, cars and jewelry more than human life. The only escape route was cut off. They turned them back at the parish line."

As the Bible says, He who mocks the poor reproaches his Maker. Proverbs 17:5

Republican policy making is morally bankrupt precisely because it continually mocks the poor. It continually puts the acquisition of astonishing wealth for an elite minority over the common good.

More from the Times Picayune:

"Nagin said that in order to cope with the always frustrating, sometimes overwhelming situation he has tried to "stay in the moment," dealing as best he can with each individual issue as it arises: a police officer's report that a large number of elderly people were stranded near Lee Circle; the sight of refugees continuing to gather on the city's raised highways. Nagin recalled with special dismay having recently been told that a New Orleans police officer committed suicide during the storm's aftermath."

"I asked my people to get in touch with the LSU department of psychiatry," he said. "The police are holding the situation together with Band-Aids. We have to let them get three to five days off."

"As the Blackhawk coursed over the city, Nagin and the other passengers pointed out familiar landmarks made unfamiliar by the storm. The city was largely ruined. It would be as difficult to restart as the thousands of automobiles submerged in the murky water below. But Nagin insisted it must be restarted, no matter what."

"I think I'm here for a reason: to rebuild," he said. "New Orleans is the soul of the country. It's the place jazz comes from. It has Mardi Gras Indians that nobody else has. It's a place where a chef can take a piece of fish and make it into a masterpiece. We don't even think about not rebuilding Miami. We don't think about rebuilding Los Angeles, and they're on a fault line. We just do it. We don't talk about it. I don't want to talk about that foolishness."

Although progress is being made, Mayor Nagin has an incredible task before him.

Not only that, because he is a Democrat, powerful Republicans within our government - and their defenders in the media - are spinning a web to blame Mayor Nagin in order to take the focus off themselves, where it belongs.

I'm sorry, but the Bush Administration has cut funds to every city in this nation causing them to trim police and fire departments and put off infrastructure repair.

It is FEMA and, more than that, the Office of the President that is responsible for the gross mismanagement.

I, for one, am immensely proud of Mayor Nagin. He has stood up for his people - and for us, for we are all Americans. He has a tough job ahead in rebuilding New Orleans. Please send him your positive thoughts and prayers. And when mail delivery is restored, send him your cards and congratulations.

I am also tremendously grateful and proud of New Orleans Police Chief Eddie Compass. A real hero, his leadership abilities are truly astonishing.

I urge every American to bless all those who are dealing with this catastrophe. Commit today, in your heart, that you will never allow federal politicians to so misuse our government and national resources again. Vow that you will never allow them to cut the heart out of America again.

Then be proud. Be proud of your fellow Americans, for they are the salt of the earth and the soul of this land.

The blessing of Katrina will be that she has reminded us of this: who we are, as a nation. We are a great, brave and compassionate people. We can and will have a federal government that reflects who we are. We will have a federal government that cares as much as Mayor Ray Nagin, Police Chief Eddie Compass and Senator Mary Landrieu.

Why? Because we deserve no less.

Meanwhile, for a list of ways you can help our fellow Americans in the Gulf Coast, click here.

God bless you and yours.