FaithZone

A Once Unthinkable Reality

2009-01-19T16:36:00.008-05:00

Faith and Society

Throughout the Martin Luther King celebration I attended today, I couldn't help but to reflect tearfully about the progress that African Americans have made since Dr. King's martyrdom in 1968. Much progress so far, but a dream yet to be fully realized for so many.

This entire weekend was a weeping season for me, as I know it has been for many others. While the strains of war and the current economic crisis are cause for our present concerns, my tears were tears of joy at the thought of the historical significance of the imminent inauguration of Barack Hussein Obama, America's first African American president.

As we anticipate tomorrow, we recognize that it will be the beginning of a new pledge for unity and service to make America true to the essence of its divine inception. It will be a new and hopeful chapter in American history, and a moment that undeniably fulfills a once unthinkable reality . . . Read Full Story

Faith Vindicated: The Sparing of Flight 1549

2009-01-16T11:06:00.025-05:00

Faith and Society

Yesterday, on the 80th anniversary of the birthday of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, tears came to my eyes as I witnessed the news about the heart-wrenching emergency landing of US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River near midtown Manhattan.

US Airways pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger demonstrated a level of faith in his skill, aircraft, and crew that resulted in one of the most sensational miracles of the 21st century. Clearly, his leadership and years of devotion to his purpose of safely flying passengers enabled him to save 155 precious lives.

Though we recognize him now, Mr. Sullenberger has always been a true hero. Read Full Story

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To book the author for seminars, lectures, or talks, email us at faithwalker0gmail.com.

Acting Boldly, Acting Now

2009-01-08T15:21:00.024-05:00

Faith and the Economy

President-elect Obama’s sobering but bold economic speech this morning clearly appreciates the fears of a great many of us regarding our collective financial destinies in these troubling economic times.

Not since the Great Depression has America faced such an ominous economic future.

As he unveiled his new American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan, Obama put out a clarion call to Americans and the world for renewed faith and personal responsibility in defeating the causes of the current domestic and worldwide economic crisis.

Even the staunchest conservative politicians and economists concede that he must use the power of the national government's resources to at least offer a temporary safety net for the American people. Even if we have to suffer a goodly amount of hyperinflation during the next few years.

President-elect Obama's bold and timely appeal is reminiscent of the calls to action of two great American presidents who have preceded him . . . Read full Article here

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To book the author for seminars, lectures, or talks, email us at faithwalker0gmail.com.

The Israel-Gaza Conflict: Divining the Ghost of Ralph Bunche

2009-01-03T22:36:00.055-05:00

Faith and International Affairs

In a "world-gone-wild", I believe that any country so threatened should take the strongest measures possible to defend its homeland and sovereignty, as well as its various domestic and international economic and political interests.

But the recent Israeli military incursion into Gaza has disturbed me so greatly in the first days of the new year because it seems to violate so many of the precepts of human decency. Israel's timing of its military action during a political power vacuum in US politics (between Bush's exit from office and Obama's imminent inauguration) adds another dynamic to America's already tense domestic drama. In the long run, I believe that Israel has made an unfortunate tactical error, exposing itself to the international community as a fascist regime against Palestine. Observe the anti-Israel protests throughout the world.

After a healthy dose of late night cable news, followed by a restless night of tossing and turning, I contemplated the causes and effects of this conflict and woke up to an overwhelming sense of Ralph Bunche's presence upon me. His soft but powerful voice seemed to reveal a deep sense of disappointment in Israel's behavior towards the Palestinian people.

Despite the media overkill, Americans remain particularly uninformed about world history, and even more so about the events leading up to the current Middle East crisis. This lack of knowledge and understanding is the cause of so many irrational views about Middle Eastern affairs. Such aberrant views constantly creep into public opinion and the foreign policy mechanisms and explanations concerning Israel and its security interests. Israel's tendency towards paranoia always seems to overshadow the interests of others, which is both an arrogant and dangerous posture. But it may be understandable given its espoused superiority complex and subsequent difficulty in being a good neighbor.

Roll Over Ralph Bunche

Enter Ralph Bunche, arguably America's foremost African American diplomat and one of the world's leading international mediators in the 20th century. Here's a biographical snippet of how Bunche left his mark of distinction on the ever-present conflict between Israel and Palestine.

In 1946, the first UN Secretary-General Trygve Lie sequestered Bunche from the US State Department, and from June 1947 to August 1949, Bunche worked on the confrontation between Arabs and Jews in Palestine. Bunche served first as assistant to the UN Special Committee on Palestine, and then as principal secretary of the UN Palestine Commission, which was charged with carrying out the partition approved on November 29, 1947 by the UN General Assembly. UN Resolution 181 (United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine) was supposed to end the British Mandate of Palestine by August 1, 1948, and facilitate the creation of two states, one Jewish and one Arab.

In early 1948 when this plan was scuttled and fighting between Arabs and Israelis became especially severe, the UN appointed Count Folke Bernadotte as mediator. Ralph Bunche was named Bernadotte's chief aide. Regrettably, while Count Bernadotte was in Jerusalem in the fall of 1948, he was assassinated by members of the underground Zionist terrorist group dubbed the Stern Gang or Lehi (Hebrew acronym for Lohamei Herut Israel, "Fighters for the Freedom of Israel"). Subsequently, Bunche was named acting UN mediator on Palestine.

After nearly a year of seemingly ceaseless negotiations, Bunche succeed in persuading Israel and the Arab States to ratify the 1949 Armistice Agreements. Because of his heroic efforts, Bunche was welcomed home to a New York ticker-tape parade up Broadway. The next year in 1950, Bunche was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the first-ever such honor conferred upon an African American. He was awarded the Medal of Freedom by President John F. Kennedy.

Despite his exemplary role in these efforts, Bunche, even to this day, is barely mentioned in history books, media commentary, or discussions about Israeli-Palestinian affairs!

Needless to say, Bunche's dream of a peaceful Middle East has not yet been realized. Instead, Israel has planned for some time and launched a complex Public Relations-Military campaign against the Arab World that vilifies Palestine while characterizing itself as a victim compelled to fight "terrorism". Israel seems to have forgotten it's own sullied revolutionary history of terrorist activity in the name of statehood, and consistently chooses guns over diplomacy.

What really happened

The convoluted history of Israel has confused many with respect to the question of Israel-Palestinian relations. Because of my own faith tradition, I became quite knowledgeable about both the ancient and modern histories of Israel, as well as many of the geo-political dynamics of Israel's nationalism. I acquired this knowledge from several sources.

As a child, I was raised as a devout Christian with a substantial religious education in Judaism. For more than a few decades since then, I have regularly read, studied, and recited the 24 Books of the Tanakh (Old Testament scriptures that include the Torah, Nevi'im, and Ketuvim) in the Christian Bible. As a seminarian, I excelled in the study of Judaic and Christian history. As an independent researcher of the Jewish tradition, I have studied the works of Raphael Patai, noted Hungarian-Jewish Rabbi, ethnographer, and anthropologist who earned the first doctorate awarded by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1936. I am an admirer of certain aspects of the Ashkenazim tradition that I believe can help achieve economic justice for African Americans. As a university student studying political science and international relations, I was an ardent dilettante of Ralph Bunche, then Deputy Secretary-General (second highest ranking UN official), and world-renowned expert in Israeli-Palestinian affairs.

Therefore, I understand that the 2008 "60th Anniversary of Israel" is a misnomer. Most observers are not aware that the new state of Israel came into existence only after the Land of Israel and its Jewish inhabitants had been disaffected during over two thousand years of invasions and conquests! Some theologians even argue that Yahweh or Jehovah ("God" in Abrahmic religions) destroyed the Land of Israel ages ago, never to exist again, because of Jewish disobedience and violation of the covenants between God and the Children of Israel.

But the Holocaust horrors of Nazi Germany left millions of European Jewish refugees seeking a place to resettle. The US Jewish Lobby recognized that Great Britain was not a proponent of Jewish resettlement in Palestine after World War II. So it sought a powerful partner who would support its Zionist campaign to target Palestine under the guise of reclaiming it as the Jewish homeland. The US enjoyed new superpower status after crushing Germany and the Axis Powers. Using its substantial influence as the preeminent player in the newly formed United Nations, the US won UN approval to designate Arab Palestine as the "modern" State of Israel. The Jewish re-gentrification of Palestine was then enabled by US and UN military power that displaced the Palestinian people who have since struggled to reclaim their centuries-old homeland.

The Zionist movement then incorporated "anti-Semitism" in their ideological sheath as a two-edged sword to attack and defend against any lesser Gentile mortals who dared question Israel's motives and actions in Palestine.

Nature of the Conflict

Hamas, the ruling party in Gaza and the West Bank, continues to express its frustration about prior agreements with Israel in which they [Hamas] believe that Israel persists in arrogantly and unilaterally exercising oppressive control of Palestinian land and sovereignty, and the quality of life of its citizens.

Historically, Israel occupied the Gaza Strip in June 1967 during the Six-Day War and governed it until 2005. In between this period, Hamas launched its First Intifada in 1987 and the Second Intifada in 2000 to assuage what it perceived as fascist Israeli policies towards Arabs generally and Palestinians particularly.

Here it's important to note that under its Closure Policy, Israel still controls Gaza's airspace, territorial waters and offshore maritime access, the population registry, entry of foreigners, imports and exports, the tax system, and intimidates the Palestinian people on the Israeli side of the Gaza-Israel border. This situation enables Israel to control the inflow and outflow of Gaza's essential resources, including food. Whenever there has been a food shortage in Gaza, they've had to rely on food supplied by the World Food Programme. Although Hamas has been dubbed by America, Israel, and others as a terrorist group, we have to acknowledge that Israeli embargoes and border incursions have contributed greatly to the significant disaffection of the Palestinian people. Israel seems to be employing lex talionis ("eye for an eye" principle of equitable retaliation for an offended party as expressed in Exodus) to justify it's Gaza incursion.

On December 27-28, 2008, Israel commenced air strikes allegedly against Hamas infrastructure and security forces in Gaza. Despite this allegation, Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) under Operation Cast Lead, have killed over 500 and wounded over 2,000 Palestinians, many of them innocent women and children. They call it collateral damage for which Hamas is to blame.

On Saturday, January 3, 2009 (Palestinians call it the "Black Saturday Massacre"), Israeli tanks and infantry invaded Gaza with air support from gunships. Israel vowed to eliminate Hamas control of the region. Specifically, Ehud Barak, current Israeli Minister of Defense, deputy Prime Minister, and leader of Israel's Labor Party stated that the operation will be "a war to the bitter end". The Israelis have cast their invasion as a war on terror.

Hamas claims that its rocket and mortar attacks were in response to Israel's Siege of Gaza and unilateral actions with respect to Palestinian sovereignty.

History Forgotten or History Remembered?

On page 284 of his book Reason in Common Sense, George Santayana wrote that "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it".

It's ironic that Israeli Jews now abuse Palestinians, relegating Gaza as a peculiar form of concentration camp . . . almost analogous to the "Native American reservations" in America. One wonders: "Have the Jews forgotten the "Endlösung der Judenfrage" (Nazi Germany's Final Solution of the Jewish Question). As the Israeli Defense Forces spray "Willy Pete" on the Gaza Palestinians (chemical phosphorous bombs that can burn to the bone), have they forgotten what happened to their forebears in the Nazi "gas chambers"? Aren't the Israelis exacting the same Holocaust-type measures on the Palestinians that their forebears suffered at the hand of Hitler? What does one call this "abused-to-abuser" behavior of the Israeli Jews? Again, one wonders if the Jews have perverted Zabludow.

Maybe we can all rest in peace

As I've stated before, I am neither an advocate nor opponent of war. However, as long as human beings exist, war will continue. Our most primitive animistic instincts cannot preclude it. An end to all human conflict would require a perfect "state of faith" among all peoples of the world that is not likely to soon arise. Most critically, the duality of good and evil in the face of diverse cultures could hardly lead to a lasting peace.

Now I'm not condoning terrorism -- I abhor it in any form. . . but Israel needs to be careful that those who've been afraid to speak out against "any" Israeli action will be labeled as anti-Semitic. This form of political extortion is no longer unacceptable in the modern world.

A right to exist does not confer a right to abuse, oppress, or exact genocide. It's time for Israel to stop its charade of victimhood, and acknowledge that other peoples, particularly those whom they've displaced, deserve respect and consideration. It's time for Israel to respect the right of Palestine to exist, as much as it insists that the Palestinian peoples respect Israel's right to exist.

Maybe then, Ralph Bunche can rest in peace.

America's Kings of Poverty use new Weapons of Mass Recession

2008-11-10T15:30:00.078-05:00

It's no wonder that so many of us are pretty upset about the way in which the cabal of Bush Paulson & Bernacke is printing and doling out fiat money like it's going out of style. Those who control the money presses, ultimately control everything.

Like many other Americans, I wouldn't care about their shenanigans except that it's obvious they've constructed a hedge scheme using American taxpayers to shoulder the risk and costs of over $2 trillion they've tranched to whomever they like. After draining the Treasury with two costly wars, inaction on our energy dependence, an unattended trade deficit, and the inevitable Fed-inspired inflationary spiral that weakened the dollar and made the Wall Street pundits cry Uncle, I'm more than a little ticked.

They've even used the financial crisis to further expand their regulatory powers, enabling them to snub their noses at any calls for accountability, and to keep secret the recipients of trillions in loans and guarantees.

Now I suppose that Main Street should have confidence in Bush Paulson & Bernacke, and be happy about the possibility of another stimulus package that by the way, will rebate no more than about 10% to 15% of the taxpayer ante for the so-called "financial rescue". Not likely to ease very much pain for average Americans. They're reeling from the madcap economic policies of the New Kings of Poverty. With our own leaders lobing Weapons of Mass RecessionTM on us, who needs enemies?

The recent revelations about skyrocketing corporate bankruptcies, massive unemployment, and credit starved business and individuals reminds me of growing up in poverty in a public housing complex. There was one way in, and one way out. And somehow, I sensed a mighty power in the high halls of "somewhere-there-above" dictating our thoughts, behavior, and collective destiny. I was grateful to be alive, but I didn't realize at the time that I had been programmed to accept and look forward to nothing more than a desperate life of poverty.

Fortunately, I've learned how to add, subtract, multiply and divide.

If you do your own calculations, you'll figure that Bush Paulson & Bernacke has dispensed Monopoly Money to the corporate, financial and political ruling class equivalent to nearly 65% of the FY 2009 US federal budget! Also, you'll probably conclude that after America's middle and working classes finish paying their insurance tax premiums to Bush Paulson & Bernacke, their families will barely have enough money left to pay the rent or mortgage, gas the car, cover their living expenses, and put food on the table. That is, if they can keep their jobs, businesses, and investments. This is no joke, and no laughing matter.

Quiet as it's kept, it wasn't America's subprime mortgage debacle that caused the current worldwide economic Tsunami. Rather, it was an "overly-exuberant" Wall Street that securitized, priced, and traded every asset, liability, event, or other interest as a marketable property right to feed their insatiable greed. When domestic and foreign investors followed the Euro-American model and realized that the securities being traded weren't worth a plumb nickel, they stopped buying, and lenders followed suit by freezing credit to protect their own reserves.

Wall Street (like other global exchanges) changed from a free-rolling casino to an unregulated confederation of glazed-eyed bookies looking for their next cash infusion or credit fix.

Using their evil genius, the Wall Street Katze njammer whiz kids put their heads together and decided to make the American people pay for their iniquity. Initially, their strategy succeeded because they called on loyal friends in High Places who changed the rules and proceeded to bail them out.

But the Fed's free-wheeling fiat credit money machine broke down, and the Katzies' multi-katzillion dollar credit lines froze up. Wall Street and Main Street had to learn how to live without credit, and consumers had to suffer the ultimate indignity of ginning up extra tax money to cover what some call the worst financial crisis in US economic history since the Great Depression.

Whether or not this scenario seems appropriate, it will be interesting to see if the Obama Administration can thwart the impending re-genetrification of the US economy and the potential dispossession of the American people. The world watches.

Obama may have to contend with absolute power in a few private hands hell-bent on trumping the limited political power in the hands of millions of citizens. Oh my!

(singing softly. . ."Just when you think you're ahead of the game, someone changes the rules!")

A Renewed America With a Renewed Faith

2008-11-04T16:40:00.009-05:00

African Americans and others find themselves on the precipice of being unlikely witnesses to an unlikely historical event: the election of America's first African American President.

Now when the Obama Camp dared to reframe America's electoral map, it did so on the premise that America is not white or black, red or blue, Democrat or Republican; rather, it is a diverse nation we call the United States of America. Obama's 50-state strategy was an effort to keep true to his word.

But nearly 143 years after the end of the Civil War, you'd think most of us would finally understand that in fact we are "one nation, under God . . . indivisible, with liberty and justice for all" (written by Francis Bellamy, a Christian Socialist!). The themes, tenor, and tone of the General Campaign have suggested otherwise.

Today's election would be no big deal if Americans of African descent weren't turning out in droves (in the wake of an embarrassingly flawed national electoral infrastructure). Their civic engagement portends to be the deciding factor in a race that shouldn't be as close as it seems. And their zeal yearns for a certain vindication.

Latinos are excused from any recognition here because they seem not to have understood that the Civil Rights Movement was as much for them as for anyone. Their tacit ingratitude and historical preference for the Republican brand reveals a putrid collusion and enmity against black leadership and progress. Free riders with an attitude. Tragic.

My focus then stems from the continuing discomfort that white Americans feel when they consider candidates running for the country's highest office. Since the passage of the Voting Rights Act, it's interesting to note that when African Americans have voted for white candidates, whites don't have a problem. But on the eve of a likely Obama win, many whites have a problem with blacks voting for a black candidate. Simply because he's African American. A disgusting, and hypocritical double standard.

We have to remember that when contemporary whites elect to perpetuate stereotypes and forego apologies and promised reparations on the basis that they had nothing to do with what their forebears did to blacks, blacks are supposed to accept this and not have a problem with it.

It seems not to make any difference to many of them that African Americans were:

1. captured, traded (bought/sold), and shipped to America to suffer the most dreadful of human oppressions: Slavery . . . even the native American Nations enslaved these people!;

2. raped, lynched and worked as free labor without apology or reparations;

3. denied educational, employment, housing and business opportunity;

4. vanquished when they tried to be self-sufficient in their own communities;

5. taken and separated from their families, leaving a fragmented genealogy and historical trail of tears for their descendants;

6. hosed, beaten, tortured, jailed, and murdered in their quest for equal rights, human rights, civil rights, and liberty;

7. stereotyped and humiliated in film, TV and theatre . . .playing vaudevillian characters for the laughing pleasure of white viewers;

8. miscengenated (primarily through rape and sexual trade and bondage) into a mutant race of people with no homogeneous identity, no nation, no rights and privileges, and no self-dignity;

9. conscripted involuntarily as soldiers to fight, bleed, and die for a country that neither respected them nor conferred to them their deserved rights and opportunity;

10. discriminated against in housing and relegated to living conditions of the worst order akin to the ghettos, barrios, and Bantu stands of less-developed countries;

11. denied medical treatment and left to die (not because of their inability to pay for it, but rather because they were African American);

12. victimized, corralled, and imprisoned under various penal policies targeting the societal removal of African American men particularly;

13. caricatured in a way that pits African Americans one against the other based on differences in complexion, hair texture, facial features and other physical attributes, dialect, and social status;

14. subjected to extraordinarily stressful circumstances that have led to a disproportionate percentage of disease, illness, and premature death;

15. denied their rightful payment for their suffering after the so-called "end of Slavery" with the reversal of Sherman's Special Field Order No. 15 (revoked by President Andrew Johnson); and

16. humiliated with having to rely on the passage of Congressional legislation (based on a Constitutional Amendment) to ensure their rights as human beings and American citizens.

Even though these facts are an education to some and reminder to others, they wouldn't make a difference to too many others.

So here we are again; at a moment in America's history when we have the opportunity to live out the true meaning of this country's creed.

If African Americans could survive what they endured by faith, maybe all of us can have a better future with an African American president who knows the faith struggle all too well.

What audacity!

Til Debt Do Us Part - Part 1 Credit and Debt Addiction

2008-10-18T16:16:00.098-04:00

The wealth-destroying power of "debt-gone-wild" is coming home to roost.

Today's widespread economic crisis has starkly revealed that Americans are not only addicted to oil, but more precariously to "credit" and the pernicious bondage it creates called "debt".

Unwittingly, US consumers have opted for a voluntary debt servitude in their quest for the growing myth of the American Dream. While this choice may be a matter of personal responsibility, it is not wholly of their own free will. For some of us, our sinful relationship with debt is like being a co-dependent partner in an unequally yoked marriage of convenience. Things may be good for a while, but eventually the partner providing the lion's share of the bennies is going to be talking divorce.

Consider some serious numbers about consumer debt as reported by the Federal Reserve Board:

Americans carry $2.56 trillion in consumer debt, up 22 percent since 2000 alone
The average household’s credit card debt is $8,565, up almost 15 percent from 2000
College debt has more than doubled since 1995. The average student emerges from college carrying $20,000 in educational debt
Household debt, including mortgages and credit cards, represents 19 percent of household assets, compared with 13 percent in 1980
As debt has been mounting, incomes have been declining
The percentage of disposable income that consumers must set aside to service their debt has risen to 14.5 percent from 11 percent just 15 years ago

When you add the volatile costs of a plethora of government taxes and entitlements, fuel, food, education, and health care to the capital losses and credit freeze created by the Wall Street high rollers, it ain't a pretty picture for American citizens. A recent CNN poll cites that about 78% of Americans believe we're already in a recession!

I wonder why?

Considering that Americans have been "dumbed-down" over the past decades, it's no wonder that there are so many disconnects between our perceptions and reality about life in America these days. For too many, the American Dream has become the American Delusion.

It's obvious that credit in its many variants is the villain in today's economic Faustian Drama. The hero used to be personal savings, those monies left over (surplus) after all expenses have been paid. Personal savings represents the "capital" money (liquidity) that drives the system of capitalism on which our economy stands and depends. Maybe we need to look for a new hero.

Here's some startling facts.

According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the nation’s savings rate, which exceeded 8 percent of disposable income in 1968, has dipped to as low as -1.1 percent during the 40 years since. As consumers have hunkered down spending in response to the current economic crisis, the nation's saving rate has skyrocketed to a whopping 5%! But hold on ... this translates to a mere nickel saved for every dollar earned. Sadly, savings rates in many other countries easily exceed 25%.

So what's our problem?

We can't understand the current economic turmoil unless we first understand the basic components of our economic system. Let me give it to you straight up: no savings, no capital, no liquidity, no economy, no country.

Industrial Revolution

The early years of the 20th century shepherded in an explosion of new and useful industrial and consumer products that enterprising business persons could manufacture inexpensively, and sell profitably at affordable prices to many buyers. This was the era of mass production that created millions of jobs and raised the standard of living for average Americans. This period in our history has been called the "Industrial Revolution".

Some of America's leading businessmen seized on the opportunity to capture and funnel growing reserves of consumer money to their enterprises and personal coffers. So they developed a partnership with European financiers to corner the expanding wealth of America. These men were experts in banking, industry, and seizing control of the national economies of countries like Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, and Austria. Together, they decided to create and implement a 4-pronged plan that would enable them to gain control of America's economy.

Control of US Industry
Control of the US Banking System
Control of the US Financial System
Control of the US Consumer

Control of US Industry

Many of the greatest industrial powers of the US were financed by the European financiers in such industries as steel, railroads, chemicals, agriculture, infrastructure, mining, and consumer product manufacturing. To control public knowledge, influence consumer behavior, and form public opinion, the industrialists either purchased or created the major media companies that provide today's advertising, news, and entertainment. As more and more American industrialists were brought into the elite orbit of industrial enterprise, they cooperated to form business conglomerates and a money trust that eventually controlled much of US industry. They became very good at either defeating or co-opting US Anti-trust laws so they could achieve their goals.

They also knew that small businesses represented a significant portion of the suppliers of goods and services to Americans. These businesses had to depend on using their personal savings to invest in their own entrepreneurial pursuits. This strategy made them very vulnerable to larger companies taking their profits and having to rely on the industrialists' lenders for credit. When credit tightens, small businesses can't easily get the short-term working capital they need to operate and sell their goods and services. That's why so many of them fail within the first 3-5 years. The industrial powers knew this, and could syphon off the market share and profits of small businesses that failed on a regular basis.

Control of the US Banking System

To leverage their power, America industrialists colluded with these foreign financiers to establish the Federal Reserve system (Fed), which is really a privately-owned banking cartel that pretends to be the US government's central bank. The industrialists also decided to purchase, create, and control commercial and retail banks that would also be members of the Federal Reserve System as well as Wall Street.

This syndicate cajoled the US government to hand over to them the exclusive power to issue paper currency, control US monetary and fiscal policies, and control the money flows between banks and other financial institutions. In the meantime, if the US government needed money it could buy and "borrow" it from the Fed at interest. These Fed loans would be backed by US taxpayer dollars. The US government's addiction to debt (in lieu of frequently raising unpopular taxes) put it at the mercy of the institution it sponsored and legitimized. The Fed essentially became Adam Smith's all powerful and untouchable "invisible hand". Since our economy has tanked, the Fed has presented itself as the "savior" in the crisis. Most Americans are only beginning to learn that the Fed's secret activities are not subject to public accountability or audit by anyone or any organization (including the US government itself). Regrettably, our government fell for their okee-doke.

Control of the US Financial System

With the Fed-led banking club, bankers were then in a position to institute 2 nefarious money-leveraging methods their foreign financiers taught them called "fractional reserve banking" and "fractional reserve lending" (discussed under Control of the Consumer). With their invention of fractional reserve banking, the European financiers taught the Fed operatives how to lend "credit" money (at interest, or profit) by leveraging the actual money they held in deposits by up to 10 times!

Consumers could now "borrow" this credit money in order to buy the goods and services they needed and wanted on the promise to pay back the principal plus interest at some later time. Corporations, banks and financial lending institutions, and the shareholders of the Fed took obscene profits.

In the meantime, to finance their manufacturing operations with the increasing savings Americans held, the industrialists set up another exclusive membership-based club of market exchanges (e.g., NYSE, AMEX, NASDAQ) that allowed member companies to trade (buy/sell) small ownership interests in their companies (stocks) and other financial instruments. Investors could use their surplus money (savings) to buy stocks in member companies in exchange for the hopes of making their own profit.

The member companies would use investor monies (capital) to operate their companies at little risk. If member companies didn't perform well, investors could lose their money and it was their tough luck taking a chance on holding a companies' stocks. The industrialists further realized that the banks they owned could lend money to other members against the promises of the revenues those members would earn from sales (earned income). The surplus "risk" associated with free investor monies could be packaged as financial products that could be another source of profit. This exchange trading system is collectively what we call "Wall Street".

Control of the US Consumer

As mentioned before, the industrialists realized that to sell more and more of their products, they needed to enable American consumers to buy them now and pay for them later. So the banks and other non-bank lending institutions (e.g., Countrywide Mortgage for home mortgages) went full-fledged with "fractional reserve lending" which allowed them to use deposits, earnings, and other assets as collateral and reserves against the risks they assumed for granting "credit" to consumers. They did everything possible to gain control of consumer purchasing power.

To determine if a consumer was worthy of credit (risk assessment), the industrialists formed a partnership with credit rating agencies who would evaluate a consumer's credit and payment history and assign what is now called a FICO score. Lenders and business members could use the FICO score (risk factor) to decide if and to what extent they would grant credit to a consumer. Qualified consumers could now "borrow" this credit money in order to buy the goods and services they needed and wanted on the promise to pay back the principal plus interest at a later time.

Over a period of decades, the system of fractional reserve lending worked so well that American consumers have now become excessively dependent on credit. Today, our economy depends on nearly 70% of consumer buying, much of it using credit. We are a debt-slave nation.

Truthfully, American consumers don't have the cash for the goods and services they need and want. And they've become accustomed to substituting MONEY with CREDIT. Unfortunately, when the credit system tightens up as it has so dramatically, it becomes very difficult or impossible to obtain credit, and money evaporates quickly to cover living costs or is hoarded for a "rainy day". When the rainy day funds run out, fear sets in and more and more folk face the prospect of a declining standard of living.

Not a pretty picture . . . but don't take my word for it. Do your own research.

The Present Economic Crisis

America's addiction to credit has been a major contributor to the present Economic crisis, and has caused the US government, the Federal Reserve, and corporate America to scramble to save the system. To a lesser extent, they are concerned with protecting democracy, capitalism, and social order.

The fact is that any government faces the daunting challenge of maintaining social order. They have to be vigilant in keeping the natives under control while they continue to take taxes, fees, and fines from an ever-increasingly cash poor citizenry.

As for corporate America, they are struggling to maintain profit-taking from credit-junkie citizens living paycheck to paycheck. And their lifeblood is personal savings that are invested in America's Casino Royale called Wall Street. Corporations are pressing even more so for higher productivity, executing cost-cutting layoffs, redeploying advertising dollars, and dealing nervously themselves with credit-stingy lenders who make credit and money available to investors and consumers, a portion of which can return to them as profits.

All of this against the backdrop of the Fed's socialist action to pump $750 billion in credit money to "rescue" Wall Street. The Fed's action was by no means altruistic. It's looking out for its members (investment banks like Bear Sterns, Lehman, and Merrill; commercial/retail banks like JP Morgan, Bank of America, WaMu, and Wacovia; and corporations like GM, Ford, Countrywide, and AIG) so they can continue to gamble (oops, I mean "trade") exotic (now toxic) debt-leveraged financial products (e.g., mortgage-backed securities, credit default swaps, commercial paper, and interest rate swaps) on the stock exchanges in the hopes of hitting big jackpots.

While the Fed was fiddling around, however, many banking and industrial powers of the American economy found themselves under the bus. Some were thrown there; others couldn't get out of the way fast enough. Those who survived crawled to the Fed trough to feed on the rescue money we have to pay for.

Now US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson alleges that after the Feds doled out the bounty to these corporate scalawags, he couldn't dictate to them what to do with the money! It's understandable that he backed away from the "recapitalization" moniker because the skinny on the Street is that some are hoarding the cash, while others are paying their gambling markers. Paulson's actions are making it ever-so-difficult to make clear distinctions between capitalism, nationalization, and socialism.

What happened to the credit thaw?

Oh yeah . . . American taxpayers are stuck with the multibillion dollar tab as a "hedge" (insurance) against any losses the Fed might suffer if the shylocks on Wall Street can't repay their loans (remember, the Fed has private shareholders they have to keep happy). And let us not speak about those poor souls who are seeing their 401k and Mutual Fund accounts tank.

We can expect the big boys on Wall Street to hoard the money transfers from the Fed, and take care of their gambling debts on the taxpayer's account.

But Nancy Pelosi & Company (God bless her soul) is simultaneously fighting tooth-and-nail to help American citizens by lobbying for the 2008 Economic Stimulus Package II ($150 billion credit money borrowed by the US Government from the Fed at interest) that pumps ever-inflationary fake money into circulation to appease us struggling Americans. I guess what's good for the goose, is good for the gander.

Ironically, Fed Chair Ben Bernacke's blessing of this approach suggests that the money trust wants to make sure that there's money out there that can circulate back to them. His tacit endorsement of Obama probably means that the powers-that-be are again playing both sides, especially when you consider Clintonite Lynn Forester Rothchilds defecting to McCain's camp.

For the moment, this post is just a basic expose' about "consumer" credit and debt. Future posts in the series "Til Debt Do Us Part" will exam the arguments for why you should consider suffering the withdrawal of breaking your vows with credit/debt addiction in exchange for some semblance of dignity and personal freedom.

Faith is the key.

Stay tuned for Part 2: Credit and the FICO Score

End of the Clintonite Empire

2008-08-26T15:57:00.024-04:00

For many years, I had been a bamboozled supporter of the Clintons, owing to their superb Machiavellian gifts. They constructed an empire of sycophants, adherents, apologists, and loyalists from rural, urban, suburban, and exurban America to their Palace on the Potomac in Washington, DC. The crown jewel of their far-reaching empire was an economic windfall that shepherded in one of the most prosperous periods in recent history.

But somehow, my instincts stopped me from fully embracing them, and during the course of the 2008 Presidential Campaign, I saw my reluctance vindicated by their behavior as modern political versions of "Bonnie and Clyde".

Like that infamous team of lore, Billary (as Bill and Hillary are infamously known) has pathetically shown itself lacking grace in defeat, and quite unprofessionalism in its runner-up status to a more civil pair in Barack and Michelle Obama. At the root of the Clinton's acrimony is that same Bonnie and Clyde zero sum game "do or die" mentality that allows no room for compromise. Only we can win; therefore, everyone else must lose.

It seems obvious that the Clintons are gasping for life in these precarious moments of the Democratic National Convention. The political pundits and media, many missing this point, seem perplexed about the strategy and agenda of the convention. What they fail to realize is that the Clinton's preoccupation is with their negotiated deal to save face without acknowledging defeat. All a part of the Clintonite modus operandi.

After losing the delegate race, the Clinton's behavior in defeat has been despicable. The Clintons have been demonstrably sore losers, refusing for days to acknowledge Hillary's defeat and Obama's victory. It is obvious that the Clintons have become rouge players, refusing to acknowledge Obama as the erstwhile leader of the Democrat party and failing to quickly get behind him and his program. And most scurrilous of all, the Clintons were unabashed in publicly extorting Obama to cough up millions to vanquish the Clinton campaign debt in exchange for Hillary's "pledge" to release her delegates to Obama. Promise, promises, promises.

The Clinton's Faustian Drama has assured the end of the Clintonite Empire, and has revealed their contempt for an orderly succession and transfer of power. It has weakened the Democratic Party and Obama's chances, and most importantly has made America's progress more difficult. It turns out that the Clintonite Empire has become as equally harmful as the failed policies of the incumbent Republican administration. The Clintons have colluded with the sentiments of John McCain in their last acts, granting the Republicans free rein to attack presumed - Democratic nominee Barack Obama at will. The Clinton-Obama power gap may have also given rise to the numerous threats on Obama's life during the campaign and convention. After all, Hillary told us that: "Anything can happen between now [end of the primaries] and then [Denver Convention]".

Now that Michelle Obama has finally convinced America that she is patriotic and compassionate for the umpteenth time, it's Hillary's turn to convince America that she fully believes in the Obama candidacy and that she will do whatever he asks her to help him become the next President of the United States of America. That's a lot asking a white woman like Hillary to help a black man like Barack.

And so Hillary's most important speech comes this evening in Denver, when she has the opportunity to authentically throw her full support and that of her delegates behind Barack Obama. What she will say and do will be the subject of scrutiny not heretofore given to the loser of a nomination. Ironically, her lack of class and professionalism makes her the center of attention at a time when the spotlight should be on the Obamas. Hopefully she won't use the dais as an opportunity to launch a political coup to save her empire.

A Time for Wisdom

2008-08-19T18:30:00.022-04:00

The greatest challenge to humankind is to overcome that which it does not know and understand. That is, to subdue ignorance.

In the midst of so much turmoil in this world, we often forget the true meaning of our individual lives, which is to make the best use of our talents, gifts and assets to contribute something worthwhile to human advancement. We should be constructive and not destructive, wise and not foolish.

Regrettably, we are so indoctrinated in our own ethnocentric ideals that we often miss our opportunities to fulfill this broad purpose. We are distracted with the excesses of life, failing often to benefit from the greatest joys it has to offer.

That's why it is fitting in the current global malaise to remember the catalyst that has been the constant for human progress throughout the ages --- and that is faith. The substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things not seen. Faith exercised on all levels of life has enabled us to gain and use wisdom to solve the many problems affecting humanity.

In 1942, Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971) eloquently expressed one of the most profound revelations about the workings of faith and wisdom in his Serenity Prayer, often mistakenly attributed to others:

God, give us grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.

Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as Jesus did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,
Trusting that You will make all things right,
If I surrender to Your will,
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with You forever in the next.

Amen.

Niebuhr's incantation has soothed the suffering hearts and minds of millions, and many believe that it triumphs over the many accomplishments of his long theological career.

It reveals at once the frailty and magnificence of the human condition, while urging sensible and courageous action according to the superior will of our creator.

Moral Authority and the Cost of War

2008-08-01T21:19:00.019-04:00

I am neither a proponent nor opponent of war. Rather, I believe that the penchant of humankind to fear diversity, disagree on interests, and covet the possessions of others inevitably leads to skirmishes, conflicts, and outright warfare. Furthermore, there are leaders and rulers who believe they have some sacred right to fight and conquer others (if they can) without due provocation.

Therefore, it is proper and prudent that the US, like other countries, take precautionary measures for the preservation of the state through diplomatic and military means as it counts the moral costs of war.

The famous Chinese general Sun Tzu, in his 2500 year old classic the Art of War, advises that:

1. The art of war is of vital [grave] importance to the State.

2. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected.

3.The art of war, then, is governed by five constant factors, to be taken into account in one's deliberations, when seeking to determine the conditions obtaining in the field. These are: (1) The Moral Law; (2) Heaven; (3) Earth; (4) The Commander; and (5) Method and discipline.

We’re concerned here with the foremost requirement that our leaders have the moral authority to legitimize their decisions for war. This authority induces citizens to agree with the policy and dictates of their ruler, irrespective of the dangers to their lives. But when lives are unnecessarily endangered, the people either resist, rebel, revolt, or take revolutionary actions against rulers and the state.

Americans have already revolted at the polls, and there is great hope that future rulers understand Sun Tzu’s warning that “if the campaign [War on Terror] is protracted, the resources of the State [US] will not be equal to the strain. Poverty of the State exchequer (US treasury) causes an army to be maintained by contributions (fiat debt money issued by war-profiteering private US and European banking and corporate interests that control the Federal Reserve) from a distance. To maintain an army at a distance (Iraq, Afghanistan, and possibly Iran) causes the people to be impoverished."

We can see war-induced poverty surfacing in insidious and interrelated ways: a record unemployment rate of 5.7% (more like 10%); record 463,000 jobs lost since January 2008; 5000 US soldiers killed and over 40,000 wounded; record high food and fuel prices; record inflation and consumer debt (“keep those machines (money and credit card presses) on . . .keep those machines on"!); a free-falling US dollar (.54 of Euro); $9.5 trillion national debt with WOT projected to cost $2.4 trillion; 10,000 depositors losing $500 million from deposits not covered by FDIC; and the Federal Reserve's $100 billion Wall Street bailout.

You do the math. The lower the moral authority, the higher the cost of war.

Obama's Not-So-Secret Faith

2008-07-28T11:00:00.022-04:00

It should be clearer to those who have questioned Barack Obama's devotion to the Judeo-Christian faith, that he is not reticent about petitioning God.

That the Israeli newspaper Maariv published his "Note to God", procured through the blasphemous act of thievery by a seminary student, nonetheless portends to aggravate the wedge between Obama's opponents and proponents about his faith.

But first, a little history about the Wall.

According to Mosaic,

"The First Temple of Jerusalem was conceived by King David and constructed by King Solomon around 950 BCE as a center of a Jewish religious life on a national scale, replacing local cult centers. Solomon hoped that the Temple would unite the people of Israel conducted by the priestly professionals. The Temple of Solomon was destroyed by Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar around 587/6 BCE.

The Second Temple was the Temple rebuilt by Jews returning from the Babylon Exile in 517 BCE. It was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE. The site of the ancient Jewish Temple is now occupied, in part, by the golden-domed 'Dome of the Rock' Mosque."

After the Roman destruction, what remained was a remnant of the outer wall, the Western (Wailing) Wall --- Judaism's holiest site. There is a long-standing tradition of visitors to this site leaving prayer messages in its cracks.

I agree with Shmuel Rabinovitz, the rabbi in charge of the wall, that Obama had a right, like millions of others, to rely on the assumption that his note is a private communication between him and God. It was indeed an act of blasphemy to lift his note. Maariv's decision to publish the note completed the sacrilege of violating Obama's sacred privacy.

Now that Obama's five-fold prayer is in public view, it should confirm that there is no difference between his private relationship with God and his public demonstration of faith.

Given that he portends to be America's first African-American president-in-waiting, Obama's note was not only a prayer to God, but seems also to be an appeal to those worldly powers to protect him and his family. It's a good thing he's covering all of his bases --- just in case.

I wonder what John McCain prays about.

Faith Under Fire: Foiling Another Attempt at Psychological Genocide

2008-07-14T16:31:00.032-04:00

Supposedly a tasteful magazine of sophisticated humor, the New Yorker has taken the creative art form of cartooning to a new level. At first glance, the July 21 issue cover featuring the Obamas in a fist bump was so hilarious that I almost missed the point. When I came to my senses a few moments later, I nearly wept.

The New Yorker’s quite defensively stated purpose for the cover is to expose the absurdity of wrong-headed attitudes towards the Obamas. Regrettably, Barry Blitt’s artistry itself reinforces the very attitudes of those who fear, distrust, or have enmity for the Obamas (and those like him) . . . all in the name of satire. The New Yorker may think its caricature of the Obamas amusing and clever, but there's another perspective about its possible effects.

Irrespective of race, color, creed, or other demographic affiliation, most Americans aren't aware of the extent to which they are perpetual victims of subliminal programming (mostly by corporate advertising and the mainstream media). Ironically, most Americans have been habitualized to a daily regimen of work (33%), sleep (33%), and cryptic efforts to cram the most important aspects of their lives into the remaining 33% of the time we have left. If you're a minority group member, you've got to bear the additional burden of an inter-generational tradition of white stereotyping of minority groups like American Jews, Blacks, Hispanics, and Arabs. This added burden of de facto second-class citizenship breeds mutual distrust, and chronic enmity among the groups makes for a malignant co-existence wired for conflict instead of reconciliation. That enmity comes primarily from fearful minds set against any specter of minority dominance or privilege reigning supreme over White America. All to permit the convenient (and presumably acceptable) expression of true feelings held by many like the New Yorker editorial staff, under the guise of satire. Not to worry --- the changing political order bodes a literal status quo shakedown.

In my tearing, I was reminded of Viktor Frankl’s seminal work Man’s Search for Meaning in which he describes his experiences in the Nazi concentration camps of Thereseinstadt, Auschwitz, Turkheim, and Dachau. How he and so many others faced the prospect of a gruesome death by various methods. And how death in those gas ovens might have been a more tolerable alternative to the psychological horrors of having one’s identity, self-esteem, and dignity utterly destroyed. Blitt's rendering risks taking our corporeal mindset back to that hellious ordeal.

Now, let’s just think a bit about the likely effects of Blitt's little graphic gem. First. America’s allies will probably be a little more nervous about our country’s ability to control the behavior of it’s corporate members, leaving doubts about the authority and legitimacy of the Presidency. America’s enemies will probably feel vindicated in their beliefs that America is a decadent and declining power with a weakening leadership. Undecided voters leaning towards Obama may criticize the caricature; those who oppose him will probably harden their resistance to his transcendental message. Republicans, especially those who cannot accept a black man as president whom they see as unpatriotic, unable to relate, and whom they perceive as antagonistic to white interests, are likely to take joyful glee in Blitt's characterizations. Hillary Democrats probably will remain divided in their allegiances, resulting in a wash. The Obama Kids will be shielded from the “satire” episode, and will probably not suffer much harm. After all, they’re Obamas. Michelle will throw down her AK-47 and fight like a real women with fingernails at the ready for anyone foolish enough to come near her man.

The basis for Obama's assuredness is his faith. Obama believes and understands the power of the Judeo-Christian scriptures. Follow his life, and you’ll see how he subscribes to the sacred hope that “. . . we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28 NIV)". And Obama has been called to a purpose, which is to lead the process of rebuilding America. He loves God, country, family, and the faith tradition of Christianity, which is the leading explanation for his ascendancy to the head of the America's Democratic Party for such a time as this. Despite the complexities and threats in our world today, Obama stands uniquely qualified and suited with the right temperament to exercise "faith under fire" as he leads America forward.

Therefore, we can predict Obama’s response to Blitt's IED-laden art. Barack's a cool customer, and he's learning not to be offended by hubris. Yet, he is not delusional, not in denial. He understands better than most that America today is only the promise of what it really can be tomorrow. Barack knows that we have a long way to go but we can get there.

So he'll probably give the cover one last chuckle, find a quiet spot to meditate lotus-style, take a few deep tantric breaths (softly chanting: Yes we can . . . si se puede), and divine the entire situation to his advantage, as he always does. After all, he feeds on the bunglings of others.

Maybe the New Yorker could have found a better way to get a chuckle from its detractors. (this Bud’s for you)

In the Face of Truth

2008-06-21T01:13:00.017-04:00

Truth be told, our country finds itself again at a crossroads. The crossroads of fear and faith. Fear of something new and different vs. our faith in an anomalous status quo.

We know that conservatism is usually associated with the status quo --- the way things are that are supposed to be good and honorable. This brand has a peculiar habit of bringing on more trouble than it should. Maybe it's because too many so-called "conservatives" are afraid of confronting a new and inevitable future.

Progressivism is usually associated with the struggle to make things different. Oh, what a frightful idea! Many so-called "liberals", so accursed, press forward to a new and brighter future. How dare them. In the past, these folk have been accused of wanting change that would destroy the so-called conservative values of America while sacrificing their comfort for the very values we enjoy. It's understandable based on their scope.

Ironically, it is the imperative to retain the hubris surrounding so-called conservative values that causes conservatives to wallow in their parochial approaches to God, Country, State, and Family. The hubris of isolationism and protectionism (there go those "isms" again!) that applies to a long since changed social paradigm. So much for open-mindedness.

This is the time for caution, not cynicism. The wedge issues that led to this country's greatest war --- the Civil War --- are no longer appropriate or sensible. Furthermore, they are not cost effective. Nevertheless, they seem to remain incorrigibly in good operating condition. This begs the questions: "Who is our enemy"? "What are we fighting for"? "How do we fight and win?"

Our enemy is the dark force of world domination. We are somehow left fighting a social plethora of lies, half-truths, and hypocritically ignorant declarations of "freedom and justice for all". Our wrong-headed quest leaves us imprisoned by a nascent ignorance of who controls and operates the levers of life in this world. Freedom for whom? Justice for whom? Who are the "all"? Is it really ". . . in God we trust"?

We have been made to believe that we are each others' enemies, when the reality is that we cannot easily see who our real enemy is . . . we are deceived into false conflicts that strengthen the hold of the enemy on our individualism, social collectivism, and human rights in every respect. Each of us therefore fights for our own convenient cause while missing the objective and strategies of the true enemy. No doubt, we must fight. But our struggle must be effective against the right enemy, for the right reasons, and with the correct strategy. We need to appropriate new technologies that give us a psychoscopic view of the marginalized minority that sees only the perestroika of power to prompt human action towards its own ends.

Because we cannot know the truth as it truly is, we see only what we are allowed to see through a purposefully blurred lens. This, in the face of the truth about our shared misgivings, our seemingly causeless and endless pain, and our reality denied.

A Father's Day Visit from Earl Woods

2008-06-16T17:09:00.013-04:00

The US Open was supposed to end yesterday at Torrey Pines on a dusky Father's Day evening in La Jolla, California. But Rocco Mediate and Tiger Woods played to an unlikely tie and today's arguably historic playoff. That is, two playoffs - - - an extra round of 18 playoff holes, and a gut-wrenching follow-on "sudden death" playoff hole. Five rounds of golf in an extended weekend when Mediate looked certain to do the improbable. But the ghost of Earl Woods was ever-present. He was looking for a Father's Day gift from his son, and he certainly got one. Sorry Rocco.

It was as though Earl was whispering in Tiger's ear saying: "I know you miss me, I know your knee hurts you, I know you're not playing well. Replay the tapes, and you'll probably see Tiger paying close attention . . . just as he had from the first time Earl took him to a golf course until the last time he embraced his father after another stunning victory. We thought we were watching Tiger alone, but in reality, Earl was invisibly with him.

All of what I witnessed throughout Tiger's ordeal brought to mind some lessons for fathers about leaving a legacy to their children. The legacy of love, purpose, and faith. I know my eyes weren't playing tricks on me, so let me tell you what I saw.

I saw the pundits openly suggesting that Tiger was not on his "A" game and was vulnerable to certain defeat. That Tiger could be "human" like the rest of us, and face bowing to defeat gracefully. With the ebb and flow of Tiger's miscues and brilliance, they fluctuated in their criticisms and admirations. No loyalty, just reporting the facts, ey? Put aside the prophesies and the biases. I saw them get Tiger wrong again. Wonder why? They didn't see Earl.

I saw the reasons that are so perplexing to the experts who grovel to be first in predicting Tiger's presumed demise. No doubt, Tiger's glory run will end someday as it does for any mortal man. Of course, this presumes that Tiger is of this world. But we have to wonder why he does so many "other-wordly" deeds.

As I know that he is "in" this world, I also know that the day of his demise has not yet come. When I reflect on what distinguishes Woods from other golfers, athletes, and for that matter --- other actors of note in the public domain, I see at least ten virtues that Earl infused in Tiger, standing as tenets for those looking to model successful achievement.

First. Tiger was focused. When he is on the course, he is about his business. Despite his miscues, he did not see his mistakes as "failures". Rather, he saw them as opportunities to figure out what adjustments to make on the next hole.

Second. Tiger was resolute. He never gave up, even when most of us would. He did not quit when the going got tough for him. Even though he was in excruciating pain, he would not let himself give up. As long as he could stand up, he had a chance to strike the next ball in his quest to hole it. One ball at a time. One stroke at a time.

Third. Tiger was resilient. He rebounded from the adversities he faced, and there were many. He made an awful lot of mistakes in 91 holes of golf, probably more than most, but he still emerged as the champion. He started rounds with bogeys on early holes that would discourage mere mortals to resign themselves to accepting mediocre rounds. He fought to remain poised and converted his mistakes to learning opportunities and not excuses for performing poorly.

Fourth. Tiger was courageous. He appeared to some to be fool-hardy at times, and was often accused of going "where angels fear to thread". But what he was doing was exercising "courage" of a brand few of his critics could comprehend. Courage neither guarantees success nor prevents defeat. Rather we saw Tiger 's courage position him to perform --- to continue to act, even in the face of pain and fear (real or perceived).

We have to remember that Tiger's experiences, scope of play, and repertoire of capabilities and strategies have taken him to and keeps him in a mental space that few athletes (or others for that matter) know exist. Tigers fears less because he has confronted more fearful situations than others have dared to broach. He neither takes for granted nor is contemptuous of that which he knows. Instead, he gives healthy respect to obstacles and challenges, but only to the extent that his limitations have already been duly tested. Even so, Tiger is so courageous that he does not fear challenging his own limitations, which he did many times in the 2008 US Open.

Fifth. Tiger was confident. Confidence is knowing that one can rise to any challenge. Tiger demonstrated a strong inner certainty about his capabilities, which translated to a confidence that the uninformed label "arrogance". In the post-match interview with Bob Costas, Tiger's humble circumspection about golf, family, success, and his struggles in this US Open revealed a "knowing" that is not influenced by commentary or the need for external validation. No doubt, Mediate performed stupendously. But he was not Tiger's competition. Tiger's competiton was and is his own unfulfilled potentiality. A truly self-actualized person in his tender years. Not yet near his peak.

Sixth. Tiger exhibited an uncanny mental toughness. He is probably the mentally toughest athlete today, and maybe in the history of professional sports. A never-say-die sort of person. Resolute, determined, convinced that he could, no --- he would win. He didn't hurt Mediate, he just rose about Mediate's near-flawless performance. As wonderful as his contemporaries are, Tiger is tougher. He is better. He is greater. Earl gave him that.

Seventh. Tiger adapted to conditions and situations. He was constantly making adjustments. He respects defeat was well as victory. He knew when and how to change his strategy. To do something different and even unexpected. Come what may. He knew that he must be adaptable. And he could afford to be that way. He practices scenarios in his mind, and he was intelligent enough to get input from his long-standing and trusted caddy. He realized that the Open was simply an obstacle course designed to frustrate, even humiliate its players. But he didn't care about the facts. Truth be told, Tiger was a geometer. He was his clubs. He was his balls. He was the green, the hole. He was the ball going in each hole in less strokes than made by others. He just didn't care about how painful it might be. So what.

Eighth. Tiger demonstrated his capacity for the love of golf, his parents, family members, colleagues, and detractors. When you switch to his humanitarian pursuits, they reveal poignantly his love for his fellow man, and children in particular. A model to emulate. He owes his parents a lot.

Ninth. Slowly but surely, Tiger regained his balance after knee surgery. He appears to be quite mindful to keep his professional career, personal life, and community service in perspective. His humility is the fulcrum of his character and personality. He is appreciative of his talents, gifts, and accomplishments. In the US Open, he took nothing for granted.

Tenth. Finally, Tiger exercised unwavering faith throughout the Open. All of the attributes I've described above came into play as a result of a strong sense of faith that creates personal power to achieve one's greatest desires. It seems complicated, but it's quite simple. Faith in a higher creator, faith in knowing that he was created to be the greatest golfer ever, faith in the American dream to allow opportunity for a "cabralasian", faith in the precious institution of family, and faith in the sense of fair play for all.

Clearly, each of these attributes was learned. And anyone who knows Tiger's relationship with his father Earl can see them as clearly as I and others can.

I believe that Tiger, throughout this US Open was keenly aware of the fact that he was being guided by the mighty Hand of God, and the legacy his father gave to him.

Surely, Earl was with Tiger through these rounds. Tiger knew it. I could see it. Now we know his secret.

Scare Tactics and the Conservative Right

2008-06-13T15:52:00.015-04:00

First let me acknowledge that today, we are saddened by the sudden and tragic passing of one Tim Russett, noted NBC journalist. At the tender age of 58, Tim has now gone on to his post-temporal spiritual home. Like us all, that is where he came from, and that is where all of us will return.

I've observed so many journalists in my life who have not stayed true to their oath of objective dispensation of the so-called "news" --- that is, reporting on events as they happen in the most accurate and truthful manner possible. Tim always struck me as one who did respect his profession and seemed to honor its code of ethics. I can't really say whether or not Tim was a liberal or a conservative, and in this moment of somber reflection, it does not matter. No matter that he's the one who came up with "red" and "blue" states to define the political divide in America. Just labels we either ascribe or that are ascribed to us by others. Convenient, but often inaccurate. In Tim's case, we have to lend credence to his insight.

So as we reflect on the present Presidential Campaign of Obama v. McCain, political labeling seems more and more true but in my opinion -- absurd. This, while so many are advocating unity for all Americans. I wonder. There's a lot divisive rhetoric being spewed about that dishonors reasonable discourse. Shameful, pitiful, and dreadfully immature. And the worst offenders seem to be the most "religious" of us. So much for the divine premise upon which this nation was presumably founded. The premise of religious freedom . . . the idea that we are all free to express our religious beliefs, no matter how different from others. (I'll discuss America's early political theocracy in a future blog).

More personally, this commentary comes from a perspective of my own tradition of conservatism. A tradition not so different from most Americans, but one colored by the dynamics of my own socialization. Particularly, I'm speaking about my childhood stint as a welfare recipient and public housing resident, my good fortune to break the bonds of poverty and obtain a reasonably good mix of formal educational experiences, my own revelation that I needed to pursue a career of public service as a repayment of a debt of gratitude for those unheralded servants who help me and family survive, and the sustaining power of faith borne out of my religious indoctrination and conversion. My socialization provided unique perspectives that legitimizes my voice as an emerging thought leader in the arena of faith-based empowerment.

As a political scientist, I realize (if more sensitively) that the disaggregation of Western philosophy and its varied disciplines shows itself distinctively as the result of European values transferred to America throughout its tortured history. This makes America a confusing place for so many of its citizens. A country that stands at once as both a democratic federalist republic and a free-market capitalist economy.

These seeming contradictions portend pernicious effects in American society in particular. To wit, we deal with the prevailing "isms" --- sexism, racism, classism, regionalism, narcissism, and all of the other "isms" one can imagine and proclaim.

Now I realize that there are continuums in life as well. They are present in all disciplines, appearing as constants in the scheme of human rationalization. My early political training taught me that in American we have the "right" and we have the "left". And we have the "center". We are led to believe that conservatism means nationalism, patriotism, family values, self-responsibility (in one's personal and professional life), law and order, statehood, and racial homogeny. Supposedly, liberalism means ethnocentrism, reliance on government, and diversity. Divisions, divisions, divisions.

But conservatism has taken on a new meaning that corrupts the essential righteousness of the label. For me and too many others, it has come to mean fascism, militarism, clanism, greed, penalism, parochialism (e.g., state's rights), and a clear enmity towards racial integration and respect. "They" are often called "radical right-wing conservatives" who unwittingly have come to behave like the disaffected anti-Federalists who shepherded this country to near obliteration with a bloody Civil War. I see the same attitudes rising but without the dastardly system of slavery they justified through the scriptures to deny humanity to others for the sake of their own development and inevitable greed.

Regrettably for them, those mechanisms of oppression have slowly but surely evaporated through the blood, sweat, and tears of the so-called "radical left-wing liberals" who sacrificed their lives in the quest to make America true to its creed that "all men (and now, women and children) are created equal". But there are forces that would sacrifice their quality of life to sustain the evil they feel most comfortable with.

Strained co-existence now becomes the denominating usurper of the American dream, while irrational fear numerates the decline of too many aspects of our society. What a travesty. In these troubling times, our very survival and hope for restored prosperity demands a personal deference to our differences and stereotypes. This is not a task that others can either do for us or make us do. We must reconstitute our faith and resolve based on our greatest virtues to make it so for ourselves.

Walk by Faith

2008-06-13T12:28:00.003-04:00

It's interesting some of the controversial stuff that's been coming out regarding the Barack Obama campaign. I think we're really going to see a lot of idiots coming out of the woodwork. I did some research on the guy that tried to do the exhibit. I wonder what's going to happen with him.

Welcome to The FaithZone

2008-06-13T10:15:00.015-04:00

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