Posts from — June 2008

Barack Obama’s recent efforts to reach out to the Evangelicals and Catholics in the name of spiritual and political unity, have taken some leaders by surprise. Daniel Burke for Religion News Service writes:

It’s a move that’s caught some conservative evangelicals off guard. They say they are surprised and dismayed to see a liberal-minded politician attempting to conscript their troops. At the same time, they say that Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has done little to court their affections.

“Affections”? No. Obama isn’t courting their affections, but their trust; their trust in spiritual unity, not theological or doctrinal uniformity. “Dismayed”? Doubtful; as they should all appreciate a fellow Christian who is actually attempting to treat them— and all men— as spiritual and social brothers.

“I’ve never seen anything quite like it before,” said evangelical author Stephen Mansfield, who wrote “The Faith of George W. Bush” and has a forthcoming book about Obama.

“To be running against a dyed-in-the-wool Republican, and to be reaching into the Christian community as wisely and knowledgeably as (Obama) is — understanding their terms and their values — is just remarkable.”

Sounds like he’s really impressed by Obama, doesn’t it? But why shouldn’t Obama reach “knowledgeably and wisely” into the “Christian community,” it is his own; surely the whisper smear campaign of Obama as a “secret Muslim” isn’t responsible for Mansfield’s surprise?

Is this anything but a paid political hypocrite suggesting Obama is a liar?

Why shouldn’t Obama understand “their terms and their values”? They are his terms, and his values. It’s this sort of subtly hypocritical, back-handed “support” we’ve come to expect at every turn of the screw these days. The inference of being a secret Muslim assumes that all Muslims are secret terrorists, and, given the opportunity, they will destroy America from the inside. Do you feel better about yourself when you blame the “other” for your own short-comings as a “Christian Nation”? John McCain not only believes America is a Christian nation, but that his Christian faith makes him better qualified than any other candidate, who may or may not be a Muslim. Watch:

But anyone who has read Obama’s “Call to Renewal” address, delivered two years ago this week, should begin to understand that Barack Obama’s grasp of how religion and religious values must be integrated into American politics is nothing short of genius.

Barack Obama:

If we truly hope to speak to people where they’re at— to communicate our hopes and values in a way that’s relevant to their own— then as progressives, we cannot abandon the field of religious discourse.

Because when we ignore the debate about what it means to be a good Christian or Muslim or Jew; when we discuss religion only in the negative sense of where or how it should not be practiced, rather than in the positive sense of what it tells us about our obligations towards one another; when we shy away from religious venues and religious broadcasts because we assume that we will be unwelcome— others will fill the vacuum, those with the most insular views of faith, or those who cynically use religion to justify partisan ends.

There is no shortage of those sorts of people, James Dobson being the most recent example.

Barack Obama:

Secularists are wrong when they ask believers to leave their religion at the door before entering into the public square. Frederick Douglas, Abraham Lincoln, Williams Jennings Bryant, Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King— indeed, the majority of great reformers in American history— were not only motivated by faith, but repeatedly used religious language to argue for their cause. So to say that men and women should not inject their “personal morality” into public policy debates is a practical absurdity. Our law is by definition a codification of morality, much of it grounded in the Judeo-Christian tradition.

Moreover, if we progressives shed some of these biases, we might recognize some overlapping values that both religious and secular people share when it comes to the moral and material direction of our country. We might recognize that the call to sacrifice on behalf of the next generation, the need to think in terms of “thou” and not just “I,” resonates in religious congregations all across the country. And we might realize that we have the ability to reach out to the evangelical community and engage millions of religious Americans in the larger project of American renewal.

Contemporary progressive religious Americans are among the most fortunate people to live on the planet since the times of the apostles as they walked the earth with the Son of God in the flesh. For today the planet has begun to awaken from the deep slumber of materialism, stirred by an epochal religious awakening in the form of the Urantia Papers. And now, a genuine political genius has appeared to lead our nation into the twenty-first century, with an inspiring appeal to genuine hope and authentic personal empowerment. The only real question is, how many of us will awaken in time to avail ourselves of it.

Spontaneous Republican Combustion

Five weeks ago I wrote what’s beginning to look like the first installment in a continuing series on the Rethuglican Party’s self-immolation. It began thusly:

Citing the public’s “. . .deep seeded antipathy toward the president, the war, gas prices, the economy, foreclosures and, in some areas, the underlying cultural differences that continue to brand our party,” former Republican Party leader Rep. Tom Davis this week observed that “the Republican brand is in the trash can. . . if we were dog food, they would take us off the shelf.”

Pulling up Talking Points Memo this AM, under its Campaign Wire column, are the following headlines:

WA GOP Candidates Won’t Identify As Republican
Conservative Activist Grover Norquist: Obama Is “Kerry With A Tan”
GOP reps. advised to avoid party brand

If they don’t have one up already, over the doorway to the Rethugs’ coat room should be a sign that says “No Smoking.”

No sense in throwing gas on the flames.

UPDATE: Arianna Huffington over at HuffPo cites long time Rethuglican insider Bob Novak for the following:

But Novak documents something even more significant: the overpowering sense of revulsion with Bush and today’s Republican Party felt by many conservatives. The money quote is delivered by a long-time GOP loyalist: “The Republican Party is a dead rotting carcass with a few decrepit old leaders stumbling around like zombies in a horror version of Weekend With Bernie [sic], handcuffed to a corpse.”

Ouch.

Dr. James Dobson exposing gay troubadour and inanimate object, Sponge Bob.

James Dobson cannot speak for me. Before God, as we all are, he may only speak for himself. If one thing could be clear about our relationship with God as a Father, it should be that he loves us as individuals, and he judges us as individuals. When Dr. James Dobson accuses Senator Obama of distorting “the traditional understanding of the Bible,” he is actually talking about his own personal “world view,” and his own “confused theology”— as a single creature before the Creator.

There may be many thousands of other individuals who identify themselves as “members of his flock,” individual Christians who are perfectly willing to compromise the sovereignty of their own personalities by accepting James Dobson’s personal religious experience as their’s, too.

Until the human race progresses to the level of a higher and more general recognition of the realities of spiritual experience, large numbers of men and women will continue to show a personal preference for those religions of authority which require only intellectual assent, in contrast to the religion of the spirit, which entails active participation of mind and soul in the faith adventure of grappling with the rigorous realities of progressive human experience.

The acceptance of the traditional religions of authority presents the easy way out for man’s urge to seek satisfaction for the longings of his spiritual nature. The settled, crystallized, and established religions of authority afford a ready refuge to which the distracted and distraught soul of man may flee when harassed by fear and tormented by uncertainty. Such a religion requires of its devotees, as the price to be paid for its satisfactions and assurances, only a passive and purely intellectual assent.

— The Urantia Book

Religionists like James Dobson rely on their personal interpretation of supposed inerrancy of scripture as the arbiter of God’s word of perfect, infallible, unchanging, truth. If he’s honest about it, he might also claim that he knows this is true in his soul. But as such, it is a personal experience that only he can verify. It is just such a personal and unique experience for which he now criticizes Barack Obama.

Regarding his own personal religious experience, Obama has written:

It came about as a choice, and not an epiphany. I didn’t fall out in church. The questions I had didn’t magically disappear. But kneeling beneath that cross on the South Side, I felt that I heard God’s spirit beckoning me. I submitted myself to His will, and dedicated myself to discovering His truth.

Every child of the Creator has such a relationship with God, whether or not they take advantage of it in this life in the flesh.

That’s why religionists who recognize that truth must be lived out, not merely traditionalized, dogmatized, and institutionalized, will always disagree with religionists like Dobson. True religion carries over from one age to another the worth-while culture and that wisdom which is born of the experience of knowing God and striving to be like him. It has never been proven that God’s desire is that those who believe in him should become dogmatized and standardized in their beliefs, or should submit their wills to the religious interpretations of even good men. Jesus repeatedly warned his apostles against the formulation of creeds and the establishment of traditions as a means of controlling believers. Christians like Dobson err when they devote their lives to doing just that.

Obama:

“. . .to say that men and women should not inject their ‘personal morality’ into public policy debates is a practical absurdity. Our law is by definition a codification of morality, much of it grounded in the Judeo-Christian tradition.

Moreover, if we progressives shed some of these biases, we might recognize some overlapping values that both religious and secular people share when it comes to the moral and material direction of our country. We might recognize that the call to sacrifice on behalf of the next generation, the need to think in terms of “thou” and not just “I,” resonates in religious congregations all across the country. And we might realize that we have the ability to reach out to the evangelical community and engage millions of religious Americans in the larger project of American renewal.”

It is a fact that religion does not grow unless it is disciplined by constructive criticism, amplified by philosophy, purified by science, and nourished by loyal fellowship. —The Urantia Book

San Francisco voters have, in an upcoming election, the opportunity to name a prominent civic structure after the current president.

George W. Bush, whom many historians consider to be the worst president in US history, is nonetheless being singled out for the honor of having his name engraved on a building overlooking the beautiful Pacific Ocean.

If the measure passes, locals and tourists alike will be able to look up in wonder at the George. W. Bush Sewage Treatment Plant.

After two failed presidential terms, which built on a number of failed business ventures, will George W. Bush, at long last, be flushed with success?

John McCain reveals how many fingers he uses to access the Internets.

When seventy-one year old John McCain acknowledged earlier this month that he was “computer illiterate,” it confirmed to many in the blogosphere (wherever that is) that the Republican presidential nominee was essentially clueless about politics in what some are calling the “digital age.” McCain’s commitment to this straight-talk strategery has also led him to previously admit economics and the economy is one other thing that he doesn’t understand very well, either.

However, at the Personal Democracy Forum in New York on Monday, conference organizer Andrew Rasiej pointed out that McCain was approaching 152,000 hits on something called “Facebook,” a kind of “social networking technology” the Senator is getting hip to. Senator Obama was said to have passed the one million mark last week on the Facebook thingy, but Republicans feel that does not necessarily indicate that their grassroots supporters are any less active than their Democratic opponents.

The Pew Internet and American Life Project released statistics earlier this month which show Democrats are using the social networking thing to actually contribute money to the Obama Campaign, something else McCain is said to be “aware of.” A spokesman for the McCain camp clarified that McCain’s recent comment — “F you! I know more about this than anyone else in the room,” was directed at immigration reform and not computer literacy.

Rep. Steny Hoyer demonstrates his insight into 4th Amendment

Put aside for the moment that Nancy Pelosi, Jane Harman, Jay Rockefeller, et al, were “read into” Bush’s illegal wiretapping tapping program and are thus complicit in breaking the FISA law. And therefore have every reason to grant immunity to the telecoms and the Bushies, regardless of what damage it does to the 4th Amendment.

But do they have to insult our intelligence by portraying the pending FISA Amendment as a “significant victory” for the Democratic Party, as House Democratic Leader “Steny” Hoyer spun it to Politico yesterday. Or that the Dems got “significant concessions” from the Bush Administration, as Pelosi proclaimed.

“”If that’s what they want to tell themselves, fine. It sure looks like they got rolled.”

That, not from a leftie blogger, but from National Review’s Ramesh Ponnuru.

Senators Chris Dodd and Russ Feingold promise a fight on the Senate floor to sever the immunity clause from the rest of the amendment. Call your Senator, or make a contribution to Act Blue’s Defeat FISA Fundraising Campaign.

Most of you old-timie dicks have probably stumbled across Wickipedia by now. Perhaps a smaller number of you also know about Chickipedia. But very few have found their way to Dickipedia; “the wiki of dicks.”
It must be fairly new, because there are quite a few really big dicks who aren’t mentioned— yet.

Of course, having a dick technically qualifies any man as a dick, but it does not determine what kind of a dick we actually turn out to be, or how big of a dick we already really are; our personal decisions and actions determine that. It’s a shame ordinary dicks like us probably wont make it into Dickipedia, but we can all learn something about the dicks that are already there, a couple of whom are attempting to run the country now, and the dicks who would like to.

I had a little time to dick around, so I clicked on John McCain, to see what kind of a dick he is. There was the usual stuff about his “flip-flop” on the torture legislation, which is a seriously dick thing to do. How can any man who has survived years of torture vote in favor of inflicting that kind of immorality on more human beings? But, as a dick, I was frankly disappointed to find no mention of one of McCain’s biggest ever personal dick moves: calling his wife a “trollop” and a “cunt” in the same sentence, in front of MSM reporters. No doubt some other dick will add it.

Here’s a section of McCain’s entry:

“In December 1966, McCain was assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal, which, in 1967 was assigned to join Operation Rolling Thunder, the bombing campaign against North Vietnam. On October 26, 1967, McCain began his political career by being shot down. He was then held prisoner by the North Vietnamese for seven years. During this time, McCain was also tortured. Such barbaric treatment gave McCain a unique insight into the evil of torture. And though McCain’s war injuries left him with limited mobility in his arms, he was still able to pat himself on his back throughout his Senate career for his opposition to the practice. When the Iraq War began, and reports began to appear that the United States has used torture, including waterboarding, on detainees, McCain spoke out.

But in February of 2007, even though he had become the presumptive GOP nominee for president, McCain had still not secured the enthusiastic support of right-wing goons and thugs whose sexual inadequacy has manifested in an extreme love of torture. This group is also sometimes referred to as “The Republican Party.”

Therefore, when an Intelligence Authorization Bill came to the Senate floor that would require the intelligence community to abide by the same standards contained in the Army Field Manual, which bans waterboarding, McCain was faced with a choice: make a principled stand consistent with his avowed opposition to torture, or cowardly choose to abandon his principles and suck-up to the right-wing goons and thugs who sexual inadequacy has manifested in an extreme love of torture. McCain chose the latter.

As many whose views of foreign policy are not influenced by sexual inadequacy have noted, aside from the moral reason to not engage in torture, another is the reasonable conclusion that making practices like waterboarding legal also makes it much more likely that other countries will engage in the same practices on American prisoners of war. McCain’s son Jimmy is, in fact, in the Marine Corps. On February 14th, 2007, Jimmy returned from Iraq, meaning that McCain’s son is now safe from the increased danger of being tortured that McCain’s cowardice has placed other U.S. troops under.”

URANTIA, (C.U. News) - Top Secret documents leaked from the McCain Campaign today include blueprints from the DoubleTalk Express.

It’s hybrid engine apparently combines elements of a garbage powered flux capacitor with a navigational unit from an infinite improbability drive.

To review:

The Flux Capacitor, by Roger Zemeckis, “Back To The Future“

The flux capacitor…was described by Doc as “what makes time travel possible”… The term flux capacitor has become commonly used slang or buzz word for a device whose operation might be too complicated to briefly explain, especially if it fails to operate properly.- Wikipedia

-

Engine Room of The Heart of Gold, by Roger Smith, “Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy”

As The Improbability Drive reaches infinite improbability, it passes through every conceivable point in every conceivable universe almost simultaneously. In other words, you’re never sure where you’ll end up or even what species you’ll be when you get there. It’s therefore important to dress accordingly. -Douglas Adams, “Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy”

The dynamic possibilities of such an engine is believed by psycho-historical-engineers to account for the extraordinary flip flops evidenced by the McCain Campaign this early in the election cycle.

“Apparently, McCain’s Flux Capacitor Infinite Improbability Drive creates a rift in the time-space continuum that confers upon its users an extraordinary ability to make shit up”, said Dr. Strangelike of the Randy Institute.

“As the DoubleTalk Express continues its travels through the time-space continuum, we should expect to see the kind of incoherent comments we heard today from Michelle Bachmann, who commented how species friendly drilling in ANWR would be.”

Dr. Strangelike was referring to these comments yesterday from Rep. Bachmann (R-Minn):

“Some suggestions are that perhaps we would see an enhancement of wildlife expansion because of the warmth of the pipeline…The pipeline has now become a meeting ground and coffee klatch for the caribou.”

Think Progress has more:

Bachmann is not alone among conservatives in pushing this narrative of drilling being good for caribou. Rush Limbaugh said on his radio show last week that “the caribou have multiplied ’cause they like the warmth that surrounds the pipeline.” On Tuesday night, National Review’s Jonah Goldberg made a similar argument on Fox News:

“People don’t realize that at Prudhoe Bay, where they have been drilling for 30 years, the central Arctic caribou herd has increased fivefold since they started drilling up there. Some people say it’s because they get to hide from the bugs. It’s a little easier for them. But people say it’s because of the lack of hunting. But it is not dangerous to the caribou up there.”

Dr. Strangelike mentioned other recent field effects of the McCain Flux Capacitor Infinite Improbability Drive, such as McCain’s $300 million magic battery, his campaign manager Charlie Black’s statement that another 9/11 style attack on the US Mainland would be “a big advantage” for McCain, and McCain’s flip flop on off-shore oil drilling.

So it’s all aboard the DoubleTalk Express, which don’t need no stinking $6.00 a gallon diesel gas to go where no man has gone before!

Representative government presupposes an intelligent, efficient, and universal electorate. The character of such a government will ever be determined by the character and caliber of those who compose it. -The Urantia Book

Boy, are we in trouble.

Five plus years into the Iraq War, only one in seven Americans can find Iraq on a map. Only two out of five know and can name the three branches of the US government. Only one in five know that the US has 100 Senators.

So writes George Mason University historian and author of Just How Stupid Are We? Facing the Truth About the American Voter, Rick Shenkman:

Why were Americans so susceptible to myth? Foreign policy specialists don’t usually spend a lot of time reflecting on this question. They should. It’s the key to what often goes wrong when foreign policy issues become the subject of public debate.

The answer is, I’m afraid, simple. Myths count more than facts in these debates because Americans don’t know many facts and don’t care to take the time to learn them. Unlike subjects with which they have first-hand experience–think gas prices–matters related to foreign countries are both exotic and incomprehensible to most Americans. This leaves them sitting ducks for wily pols who want to take advantage of their ignorance by playing on fear and patriotism.

The extent of Americans’ ignorance is underestimated.

Read more of Shenkman at Juan Cole’s blog.

Tending Your Garden

IT IS DIFFICULT to fully understand what actually happens when you place a new thought, a sun-thought, in the galaxy of thoughts which makes up your identity; especially powerful ones as you might have been given. You do not take, as it were, a new concept in your hands, place it in the midst of the familiar galaxy and expect a sudden radiance, an immediate change; although we should not forget that instant revelation and realization have come to some of the great ones who have walked this way. No, like all good things this work begins humbly. It is like planting a seed that grows and grows for a time in the dark. Ideas that have been given you in your communions are in movement, and as they grow larger they push out into oblivion the older ideas which were foolish and out of proportion. This is difficult to put into words, but it may help you not to be too introspective.

When you meditate or abide in your quiet times of communion, you do not charge in and do something, like “I will now be good and move mountains by my act of faith.” No, you water your garden, and trust knowing these ideas are growing into a divine garden; the Indwelling Spirit does the work, not you; you merely water it. Do you see the comfort in that? I can tell you in simple language that a very gentle, calm, unemotional selfless, and patient attitude toward your spiritual growth is essential— such as all old gardeners know. We know that patience, hoeing, watering, weeding, and a certain order, a quiet rhythm, brings a birth of heavenly beauty.

How to do this in your particular and demanding tempo, is difficult; but, in simple language, here are some suggestions.

In the morning I sit down to breakfast and eat my food; it’s a voluntary action. I don’t think about what is happening, but strength is being given to me, life is being sustained, a great miracle has actually taken place. In the same way, our words and thoughts are transmuted, for the food we give our mind also becomes flesh as well as part of our identity as an individual. Our part is our acceptance or rejection, and what we accept becomes a growth of some kind in our garden. But let’s go further and see how we can use these everyday things to help us to greater awareness of the abiding Presence in our lives, to help us to dominion over our earth-consciousness. Let’s not only recognize that we find an analogy in our earthly life, but let’s use each thing that comes as a reminder.

In this rebirth into self-conscious realization of our godhood, take the common simple actions and make them follow the same law— but on a higher plane. I eat and drink in remembrance of him eternally alive in me; it is a profound communion and a great practical help. As you eat the bread of life spiritually with the bread materially, your inspiration will strengthen you for the day. As I said, this is a simple lesson, for what is needed is for you to keep in contact with the Spirit; to make the habit of doing so. And you will change by forming the habit of tenderness toward common things, the habit of communing and bringing down into everyday actions a spiritual grace.

Everything you touch, like the warmth of an open fire, is an outward and visible witness of the spiritual law. Water is the source of life; it is a spiritual symbol. Bathe in water as you would in spirit. Let the shock of it on your skin be a reminder of your contact with the invisible faith within you. Use your imagination and be like the great artists of all time, who took the humble, simple things close to them and transfigured them— and themselves. For spiritual awakening allies you to the great poets and artists. Such is the wonder and the grandeur of the spirit, its creative and transforming beauty.

Gradually these ideas, these thoughts that have entered through your spiritual heart will grow as involuntarily as the food you eat is taken care of without effort, and the inner you will manifest so gently that as you go into the world, your feet will be led to walk beside the watered garden of your own making. Illumine the common things, and you will fill your skies with stars. Go, seeking goodness, and you will find it; seek beauty, and it will be upon your face. Thus will you walk the glorious way, using the common elements of daily life as rods and staffs. Nothing is too small for your consideration and for your use.

So. Remember: “Do this in remembrance of me.” Do all things in remembrance of him— and remember your way into illumination.

Restated from Letters of the Scattered Brotherhood 1948

• • •

The hope of a better nation— a better world—
is bound up in the progress and enlightenment of the individual.

• • •

With the Progressive blogsofear up in arms over the House’s passage of Bush’s FISA bill, and even more incensed at Obama’s essential support for same, I am reminded of how the Dem leadership caved on the Protect America Act, with rumors that from behind the scenes the Administration was warning of an imminent 9/11 scale attack. And how if that if happened, the Dems would be blamed.

Newsweek’s new poll has McCain behind by 15. Yes, polls at this stage are unreliable. But who doesn’t think that the Rethugs will do ANYTHING to keep control of the Executive Branch, and most especially the Attorney General’s office to head off any post-Bush indictments.

Not ignoring all the arguments made against this atrocious bill thus far, just surveying the political battlefield before the biggest battle begins.