Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Brian Williams warns us that the video may be uncomfortable to watch.
Posted 5 days 28 min ago by gecannonphd

Williams was referring to the crazed man who came to the Florida Board of Education,and began shooting,in revenge for the firing of his wife.
Kudos to the Board lady who came back into the room,and tried to disarm the man with her purse;and to the safety officer who finally brought the man down.
Gun violence is endemic in the US.
A similar event takes place almost every week somewhere.
The gun advocates,and the NRA, really have won the good fight.
We are a heavily armed citizenry,with perhaps over 300 million guns owned by Americans.
I've often thought that perhaps there should be a Barney Fife law,,the Don Knotts deputy sheriff,who could carry a gun but had to keep the bullet in his pocket.

This is the time of joy and happiness and we should keep that in mind this season:

"Remember the reason we celebrate at all, to cherish our families and communities, to pray for peace, to bring warmth and grace to this cold world, and to honor the God that made this world. As hectic and crazy, emotional and confusing, as celebratory or downright pain-filled as the month of December can be, let us remember why we dash through the snow, dash off to the mall, or spend any time spreading some sort of cheer. It is because we believe that there is peace to be found in this world, that in all the chaos that is our lives, there is a moment that shines in the darkness. There are the arms of friends and the embrace of community and the love of God whose very son was born on Christmas Day to keep us going. When we focus on that we are instantly “green.” We spend less time in stress and the mall and more time on the couch with that cup of coffee and warm conversation. Keep focused."

http://go.sojo.net/site/R?i=jxoMTw7lcXxZ.....
Do we need a paradigm shift,or is the real dominant paradigm the way to go?
Posted 5 days 21 hours ago by gecannonphd

Last night I attended a book review at a regional library.
The book reviewed was American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us by Robert D. Putnam.
( http://www.amazon.com/American-Grace-Rel...).

The session was led by a Catholic priest,Richard Shaw.
It was informative and interesting.

I asked two questions.
The first described our POTUS's meeting yesterday with 20 CEO's of our nation's largest private corporations.
I asked if he would favor the POTUS holding a similiar meeting with members of the US Bishop's Council,Rabbi Michael Lerner of Tikkun,and Jim Wallis,of the Sojourners.

We are a great nation,with a laudible history,but we are in trouble.
40 million in poverty.
40 million on food stamps.
millions unemployed.
30-40 million chronically without health insurance.

The Church's social gospel has long been a message of hope;a message that does not accept the prevailing international corporate dominance.

Meeting with Lerner,Wallis,and the Catholic Bishops would be a counterweight to the corporate CEO session.

The POTUS needs to walk the talk on liberal/populist rhetoric.

Rev. Shaw skipped over this question.

My second question dealth with the decline of religious belief and practice during the 196oies.
I asked about the murder of JFK..and how this began the 1960ies alienation...the rejection of establishment religion and a belief in authority.
I asked why the Church,and American Bishops, have never strongly called for an answer to the question of why JFK,the first and only Catholic POTUS,was murdered?
The good Rev. Shaw said he was really concerned about Obama's safety.

At the end, I gave Rev. Shaw the book description of Jesuit James Douglass' JFK and the Unspeakable:Why He died and why it matters.
This book is a spirtual journey. It deals with Dallas and Dealy Plaze,but then elevates to the cosmic. It describes in detail how JFK,following the Cuban missile crisis, was working closely with Pope John and the Kremlin to end the military Cold War. This was done with small steps,day by day.
(http://www.amazon.com/JFK-Unspeakable-Wh...).

If the liberal Lerner,Wallis,and the Bishops were to meet with the POTUS, they could describe to him the real dominant paradigm that exists in the country,not necessarily with corporate CEOs

"These include: a belief in the virtues of community; a desire to be part of something greater than oneself; a reciprocal relationship with nature and life's essential resources; an aversion to open hostilities and devastating warfare; an interest in the wellbeing of others as a precondition of personal prosperity; an adherence to culturally-transcendent principles such as the Golden Rule; and a willingness to work hard in return for an equitable existence..."

http://blog.buzzflash.com/node/12097
DADT will be repealed in a few hours. Now let's move on to more significant matters.
Posted 3 days 23 hours ago by gecannonphd

As of this moment, the Senate has voted to clear the deck for a vote this afternoon to repeal DADT.
This would be good for everyone.
This is what the majority of Americans want,the top military supports repeal, and the politicos are following the democratic wishes of the people,and the most conservative bureaucracy in our country,the military.

So let's get beyond this, and focus on more important issues.

The Hearst's cartoonist and writer David Horsey has a strong column describing why DADT and gay marriage are the right things to do,and will not cause a crisis in our country,our values,or our culture.
http://www.timesunion.com/opinion/articl...

and Sen. McCain will vote against repeal.
Here's a good take on his position.
http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/polit...

And Gary Trudeau's Doonesbury has a good few strips on McCain and DADT,starting with Dec. 12th.

http://www.gocomics.com/doonesbury/2010/...
Oprah's giveaway of her favorites.
Posted 1 day 48 min ago by gecannonphd

“Actually this is just a place for my stuff, ya know? That's all, a little place for my stuff. That's all I want, that's all you need in life, is a little place for your stuff, ya know? I can see it on your table, everybody's got a little place for their stuff. This is my stuff, that's your stuff, that'll be his stuff over there. That's all you need in life, a little place for your stuff. That's all your house is: a place to keep your stuff. If you didn't have so much stuff, you wouldn't need a house. You could just walk around all the time.

A house is just a pile of stuff with a cover on it. You can see that when you're taking off in an airplane. You look down, you see everybody's got a little pile of stuff. All the little piles of stuff. And when you leave your house, you gotta lock it up. Wouldn't want somebody to come by and take some of your stuff. They always take the good stuff. They never bother with that crap you're saving. All they want is the shiny stuff. That's what your house is, a place to keep your stuff while you go out and get...more stuff!..”
George Carlin, On Stuff
http://www.writers-free-reference.com/fu...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvgN5gCuL...
**********

Family members DVRed Oprah’s “my favorite things” show yesterday. I gazed at it last night.
This is the show in which Oprah swims,showers, and shimmers with unlimited stuff. The audience is screened,and made up of good people doing positive,unlifting things
Oprah gave away stuff,ranging from Hope in a Jar (which promises to bath your skin in the youth fountain) to the 2012 new,revamped VW.
The audience yelled,cried and danced in the aisle.
Oprah’s persona on this show was excited euphoria,casting this spell over the audience.
Kudos to Oprah for gifting this stuff for the attendees. Kudos to the corporate givers for this holiday positive PR.
However,I do believe it’s a crass blasphemy on what should be a spiritual celebration.
For the Christians in Oprah’s audience, they should be reminded that Jesus was a populist; a preacher admonishing the people to give all their stuff away to the poor.
As the humorist Fred Allen said: “I don’t want to own anything that won’t fit into a coffin.”
Right now, I’m heading to Macys,looking for Hope in the Jar. It will take a miracle in a big jar to help my skin.
And here is a counter to Oprah’s unadulterated commercialism:

"Remember the reason we celebrate at all, to cherish our families and communities, to pray for peace, to bring warmth and grace to this cold world, and to honor the God that made this world. As hectic and crazy, emotional and confusing, as celebratory or downright pain-filled as the month of December can be, let us remember why we dash through the snow, dash off to the mall, or spend any time spreading some sort of cheer. It is because we believe that there is peace to be found in this world, that in all the chaos that is our lives, there is a moment that shines in the darkness. There are the arms of friends and the embrace of community and the love of God whose very son was born on Christmas Day to keep us going. When we focus on that we are instantly “green.” We spend less time in stress and the mall and more time on the couch with that cup of coffee and warm conversation. Keep focused."
"When Fat Cats TALK-Team O listens-at last" writes Charles Gasparino
Posted 14 min 16 sec ago by gecannonphd

I'm a strong believer in "deep politics",the existence of hidden,and often dark, forces that really make policy outside the view of the public.

And Business Fox writer Charles Gasparino describes a recent example of the deep politics model.

In today's NY Post, he describes a secret meeting in NYC held at hedge funder John Levin's house.
Attending from the White House were Valerie Jarret and Austan Goolsbee,two close Obama advisors.
Jarret and Goolsbee wanted to assure the monied class that Obama is a friend,not an enemy.
And Jarret tells them that Obama's public opposition to extending the Bush tax cuts to the rich was only rhetorical redmeat to satisfy the Dem. liberal base. It was not what he really believed.

Say what?

Obama is a Bill Clinton triangulator,not a "give them hell" Harry Truman.

All of this is a bit disconcerning to the Dem. liberal/progressive base.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/ope...