How Sad

Again, a picture is worth a thousand words. Here's one of the next generation of _____________. Fill in the blank with your choice of "terrorist" or "freedom fighter".

It's possible that this photo was staged for political purposes. Nevertheless its existence is testimony to the sins of the father being passed on to the next generation. This young person is apparently a Jew, but it might have been a photo of a young Palestinian throwing stones.

How very sad.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper.

This Is What We Bought And It's Not Refundable

Here's E.J. Dionne's take on the Obama we elected. It might not be the one we thought. I for one am withholding judgment, a little concerned that he is compared to George H.W. Bush, but relieved that he's so utterly different from George W. Bush.



How bittersweet this all must be for dad.



Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Kathleen Parker's Wit and Wisdom

Here's today's must read. That is if, like me, you ever identified with the Republican Party at one time in your life. I have several friends who admit to that.

She talks about the problem of "arm band" religion in the GOP.

She is wise and also witty in her prose. I'm beginning to think of her as being in the same company as Molly Ivins(Lord, I miss her) and Gail Collins. Fine company indeed.

Here's the email I just sent to her.

Dear Ms Parker,

I commend you on your attempts to wake up the GOP. Like W said when talking about small business, "I used to be one". (If he knew what he was doing it would be hilarious.)

But the GOP left me. The word 'conservative' used to have a positive connotation; responsibility, integrity, fiscally sound. Today it has a negative connotation; militant, fundamentalist, hateful, backward looking. It's divisive, stirring the pot to make trouble, all in the name of God. Karen Armstrong wrote about this aspect of religion in "Battle For God". Adjectives which come to mind are those used to describe Jihadist Islam and Ultra Orthodox Judaism.

I'm an Independent because I like to think I vote for people, not a party. I just can't find many people of the GOP party I admire these days. Chuck Hagel and Olympia Snowe are two exceptions which prove the rule.

Until the GOP sheds the image of a party of people who wear religion on their sleeves, but can't find room for it in their hearts, it will become even more marginalized in our society. And that's a shame.

I have come to think of you as being in the company of Molly Ivins(Lord, I miss her) and Gail Collins. And that's fine company indeed. Wise and witty as in, "Let's do pray that God shows Alaska's governor the door".

I'm like, James Dobson, eat your heart out.

I know you're looking over your shoulder a lot these days, but please know that you have fans who are grateful that you are speaking truth to misguided power. I will post a link to today's column on my blog, http://leesvoicecryinginthewilderness.blogspot.com. Keep up the good work. I'm lovin' it.

P.S.
I'm the bass section in our small choir, and we're on pitch and in tune most of the time. We speak and sing religionese in church but simply try to act kindly and decently in public. The only arm bands worn around here are black ones when the Sox lose in the playoffs.

Sincerely,
Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper
Cape Cod

God Is_______________. Fill In The Blank, Or Not.

Here's a short piece on God which I hope my Tuesday lunch group will use as a starting point for more discussion about religion.

The author of this piece seems to be saying that the symbol humans created called God can be thought of as a personal creator or as Nature itself as creator, and goes a bit further to suggest that if it's Nature, all of creation occurred on its own.

Some, like Dawkins, Dennett, Harris, say science will eventually account for all that is now a mystery. Some, like monotheistic apologists, say that faith is the only path to understanding.

Some say that there is no answer, and there never will be the answer. Perhaps it's like the scientists' wish for a theory of everything. It is at least as elusive as that.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

The Big Oil/Auto Industry; Out of Gas

Here's a NYTimes editorial on saving the planet.

Big Oil has been run out of the White House. The American auto industry, which Big Oil protected so it could keep on making the SUV's which are the conspicuous consumers of oil, has failed, in spite of that conspiratorial alliance.

The goose, which is that BigOil/AutoIndustry alliance, is cooked. Its days of producing black golden eggs have ended. It has run out of gas.

Now's the time to see that opportunity really is the other face of crisis.


Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Grateful Thanks To Gail Collins

Gail Collins has a unique ability to convey important messages and comment on important things with good, clean humor.

I'm thankful for favors of all sizes.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Of Laws, Not Men; Give Thanks For That

Roger Cohen, author of this column, is a naturalized American. He sought citizenship because he values what this country has stood for, except for the past eight years, and he gives thanks that it seems poised to return to those values.

He writes today about that.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Coercive Diplomacy: New DC Speak or Pundit Talk?

Will somebody please define "coercive diplomacy" for me?

That's a phrase used by Jay Solomon of the WSJ in this clip. He compares Obama's coercive diplomacy to HRC's "hard line" style. Any storm in a port.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Take That Larry Summers

Here's a piece about Obama's choice to head the Council of Economic Advisers, Christina Romer. She's sure to run into Larry Summers in her work.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Islamic Chop Block

Here's an announcement about two new penalties straight out of the NFL, the National Fatwa League, which Islamic officials are now enforcing. They essentially legalize the chop block, hit 'em high and hit 'em low. They were proposed and introduced by the NFC, the National Fatwa Council.

Two fatwas are involved, major penalties each. The hit 'em high part is declaring Yoga blasphemous. Seems it uses Hindu prayers to create a relationship with God. That will not be tolerated, thus declaring Yoga dangerous to the faith. So the heart and the mind, both above the waist, must be taken out.

The hit 'em low part is the prohibition of women wearing pants. Now that reinforces the ban on Yoga as almost nothing else could do. Brilliant!

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Jacoby on Organized Religion.

Here's an op-ed column by Jeff Jacoby in today's Boston Globe. He writes from a far right wing world view, this time defending organized religion, as if he of the far right fringe is especially qualified to instruct us on its value.

He sets off Wolpe's new book which takes a positive view of organized religion against Bill Maher's movie which takes a negative view. I've not read the book, nor seen the movie.

My problem with Jacoby is his typical reliance on smearing a person whose view he disdains.

Most of the comments are interesting, some provocative. As an agnostic I especially enjoyed those who took Jacoby to task for not distinguishing between an atheist and an agnostic.

I also added my two cents.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

The Audacity of Hope

It's pretty easy to dismiss Obama's book title as pie in the sky, as it's easy to dismiss anything positive with negativity. We humans in this stage of our evolution seem to enjoy weighting anything negative more that anything positive. It seems we're still more obsessed with the Old Testament than the New Testament, even after 2000 years!

Here's a link to a report from Minstrel Boy which encourages me. Minstrel Boy is a blog written by Brian Hart who lost a son in Iraq, and who follows foreign policy reports assiduously, for perhaps obvious reasons. I consider Brian one of my virtual best friends. He and his wife Alma are good people.

I recommend Bookmarking Minstrel Boy to your Favorites List.

In the interest of full disclosure if you use the link to Minstrel Boy you will find a comment from me which follows his post. I hope you will read it too and tell me what you think, any way you prefer; email, in person one on one, on the phone and/or at lunch on Tuesdays. But tell me.



Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

National Defense University. Hello? What's This?

Just watched a segment of the Lehrer Report about the re-emergence of high seas piracy.
One of the two on the panel assembled to provide insight was acknowledged to be associated the National Defense University.

Hello? That got my attention so I Googled the name.

Check this out.

Be alert and stay aware.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper.

Calli's Gone

The cat love of my life, Calli (for Calico), was awarded eternal rest this afternoon. She earned it.

She was just thirteen, but her body chemistry was failing. She was down to skin and bones and yesterday she stopped eating. Kidney failure. The vet told us weeks ago she'd let us know when she didn't want to be here any longer.

I know millions deal with this all the time, and none of us gets out of this life alive as my old pastor friend Vernon Broyles once told me. But when it happens to you it seems like you're the only one in the world who's ever had to go through it.

Here's the way I described it after another loss a few years ago.

The opening strain proclaims the theme
Of startling emptiness
From overpowering sense of loss
Which can't resist its press.

It settles in, a haunting friend
As variations start;
So every part of life once shared
Is cruelly pulled apart.

Then enter strains which salve the wound,
As Time repairs and starts
Creative thought of future plans
To entertain the heart.

The final movement, classically,
Sings of triumph in its claim
That love will once again feel light;
A healing last refrain.

The Poet and the Pendulum, Lee Neubert Lindeman, Brunswick, ME, 2001, p 17


Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

How Everybody Wins

I'm hoping this article is about Bill getting out of the way, removing himself from blame when she turns down the job.

With him agreeing to all kinds of conditions on how he makes money, should she take the job, she can actually decide on her own. Everybody wins. Obama gets credit for the offer, Bill for being high minded and Hillary for wanting to stay in the Senate. With Daschle as HHS Secretary, as just announced, Hillary would help him with effort needed to pass a health care package.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Another Reluctant Agreement

I don't often agree with Michael Gerson, especially politically, but on this one, a mostly economic issue, I guess I do.

GM going bankrupt is not the same as Circuit City going bankrupt, even though both might have brought it on themselves.

Then again, agreeing on bankruptcy puts me in agreement with Mitt Romney, or Richard Shelby. Ugh!! But in this case even Romney he makes sense. Shelby is just throwing up free market ideological flack.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse keeper

One For The Cost Of Two

Here's two opinions from the Washington Post about Hillary as SecState. I think I agree with them, reluctantly.



Editorial:



David Broder Op-Ed:


Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

My Favorite New Yorker Cartoon

Here's my favorite of the week.

I never know what's going to get me going. I just think this one's a hoot.


Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

The Strange Bedfellows of Politics

They let Lieberman off the hook almost totally. And that's a cryin' shame.



In addition to his going off the reservation early in the campaign to support McCain, it's been reported that he did next to nothing to hold the GOPhers accountable on issues over which the committee he's being allowed to continue chairing is responsible.



He has to feel pretty smug right now. Wonder if he's tempted to push the betrayal envelope even further by going after Dems rather than GOPhers for stuff his committee oversees. Maybe even Evan Bayh would get his sorry back up if that happened.

Does healing and the wish to have a bullet proof Senate have to include letting a scoundrel off Scott free?

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

And Another Thing!

Here's yet another thing Bush is trying to do to impose his will on a country which rejected it on November 11.


Consider a verse from the New Bush Bible: "Go and screw the people".

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

"You Can Take An Arab Out of the Middle East, but

you can't take the Middle East out of an Arab."

This would seem to be a basic lesson Bush should have learned a long time ago. Cultural Anthropology 101 would have sufficed.

This piece is the latest evidence of the old aphorism about a man and his culture.

As has been true all along, when we leave in 2011(I'll believe it when I see it) Iraqi culture will reassert itself, unencumbered by the western culture which has been imposed on it by force.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

"Go And Subdue the Earth" Genesis 1:26.

Here's an article about what Bush is doing to thwart the next administration's attempts to undo the environmental threats Bush has loosed upon the earth.

And here's a commentary on the word "subdue" found by Googling the phrase, 'Go and Subdue the Earth'. I thought I had something here until I read the comments and considered the source. My translator gadget couldn't find any Hebrew translations of the English word "subdue".

And here's another site on Genesis 1:26. The author of this one has to go to "a parallel account" of creation found in Genesis II to explain away the word "subdue" in the first creation story found in Genesis I.

Clearly Bush is content with the literal meaning of the word in English. Remember he doesn't do nuance".

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Slobodan Cheney

Oh, wouldn't I like to see Cheney on trial at the Hague?

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

The Audacity of Hubris

Here's our top military guy on the new SOFA agreement with Iraq.

Such arrogance and hubris is astounding.


Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Military-Conservative Complex

Kevin Drum of Mother Jones writes about the Military-Conservative(read neocon) Complex.

This is really important stuff. It's how the neocons keep getting their way in defense spending, regardless of who's in the White House.

So here's another thing to think about if you still admire SecDef Gates and hope he stays on.

Kristol's White Elephant

Here's Bill Kristol's latest screed. He has to redefine hypocrisy.

My comment on this column which appears in today's NYTimes is number 409 should you care to know what I really think.

Leanderthal. Lighthouse Keeper

The 80-20 Ratio

Here's a link to Derrick V. Jackson's op-ed in today's Boston Globe. He points out that real agendas will trump transcendent wishing idealist essays at the White House.


Twenty percent of the people might be focused on glowing and triumphal claims that we have transcended old racial barriers. That leaves eighty percent of the people focused on how they can each claim twenty percent of the bailout pie.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Forget Hell!!

Here's a piece by a guy who still thinks Lieberman should be forgiven and kept in the caucus and even continued as chair of his crucial committee. The commenters for the most part get it right.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Guantanamo Must Be Closed

Here's a column in Newsweek which I hope doesn't get traction.



The commenters by and large get it right, except for FloridaDave.



I posted a comment if you care to know what I believe.



Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Should Gates Stay On as SecDef?

Those who have a high opinion of Sec. of Defense Gates should reconsider. Here's a column which exposes stuff about him and his friends I had not known.

Those of us who hope Obama will not fall into the neocon trap of baiting the Russians should hope he does not ask Gates to stay on, or at least not for long. Perhaps there's some value in keeping him on as a symbol of the team of rivals thing, and to pick his brain about the Pentagon. But his world view is more neocon than diplomat, more Secretary of the Army, than Secretary of Defense which is the euphemism adopted for that agency of war after WW II.

It's becoming clearer that Georgia provoked the conflict with Russia, not the other way around. The neocons who love the $millions they make in the arms business stir up this kind of thing. Randy Schuenemann, the former advisor to McCain, was a lobbyist for Georgia. He's now been discredited, not for that, but for hyping Palin.

Obama needs his own guy as SecDef of all the cabinet positions if he's to live up to his well earned reputation around the world as a diplomat first, and a warrior second, and if absolutely necessary.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

The Theocon State, A Symbol

Here's and image which should elicit comment.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

"Cafeteria Catholic"

Here's a link to videos of Maria Shriver on religion and morality, including her pro choice vs pro abortion point of view.

It's a refreshing contribution from an impressive human being.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Just Two Words, But They Say Volumes

I'm providing a link to Charles Blow's column in today's Times for its content, and especially for a phrase in it that grabbed me.

The GOPhers "weaponized morality". That phrase should travel.

Thank Heaven For Gail Collins

Here's my favorite columnist Gail Collins of the NYTimes on Hillary as SecState.



As I've said, if we had to lose Molly Ivins we're blessed that Gail Collins is still with us.



Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Obama, Catholics and Abortion

Here's a piece about a Catholic priest on his parishioners' need of penance for cooperating materially with intrinsic evil.

I have to say I find that this priest is disingenuous in his claim to support separation of church and state, while at the same time accusing his parishioners of sinning by voting for Obama.

Being against abortion is a legitimate stance, and it doesn't need a man in a long white robe and a silly hat telling folks that he knows God says so.

I wonder how long such parochial thinking will continue to instill fear. A very long time I expect, as long as there are people who agree to believe that 'God's gonna get 'em'.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Proof of Torture

Here's the most disturbing evidence one could imagine, which makes it clear that the Bush administration is riddled with war criminals who have committed crimes against humanity.

Some of it will be reminders of stuff we've seen and been told, but over many years, and time has reduced their impact on us. When it's condensed in a couple of hours it all comes rushing back and sets the blood to boil, with a wish that Cheney, Bush, Yoo, Rumsfeld, Addington, Gonzales, etc.. pay for their crimes.

It's in three parts.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

New Yorker Cartoons of the Week

What are friends for? Here's a thought.

And this one tickled my funny bone. Preparing to toast to one's health?


Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

The Power of Magical Thinking

Here's Andrew Sullivan and one of his Daily Dish readers on the dangers of Biblical Fundamentalism as manifested in folks like Sarah Palin and as exploited by Dick Cheney.

It's an important commentary.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Words of Wisdom

Here's a brief but insightful message reported by Andrew Sullivan on The Daily Dish.

Would that all politicians took it to heart.


Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

A Message for Any November 11th.

This is the most essential and necessary message for any Veterans Day.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Quote of the Day By A Man For The Ages

Ted Turner, when asked about all the offshore, deep water sailing races he lost, including getting stuck on a sandbar once, before finally winning the America's Cup: "I wasn't losing, I was learning how to win."

That retort came during a recent interview by a reporter on CNN which he invented and started in 1980.

As a fellow member of the Lake Lanier Sailing Club north of Atlanta for many years I witnessed Ted, when asked to crew for a losing skipper, sit in the boat, not touch a thing, only advise the skipper, who inevitably that day won his first race.

Ted can be at the helm of a racing yacht and recite Shakespeare for hours without repeating himself. One of his best friends, and the pastor of our North Avenue Presbyterian Church in Atlanta, told me one day that Ted knew more about the Bible than he did. He just didn't believe it. But I watched him from the choir loft one Sunday attend the service with his first wife, Janie, in which his son Teddy was confirmed.

Only one guy was made from that mold, "The Mouth of the South".

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

The Mormons and the Summums

Here's another little story which can become big news.

Aphorism redux. The problems of religion are the religious.

The Bloods and the Crypts

Here's a story about rival worshipping gangs.

The problems of religion are the religious.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

A Truly Must See Video

Here's Barack roasting Rahm Emanuel in 2005. It's hilarious.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

They Haven't Gone Away

Here's a good example to remind us that the right wing apologists haven't gone away. I even saw an advertisement for a group advocating Obama's impeachment, even before the election.

And here's another one. This one sounds Libertarian.

Stay alert.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Naughty or Nice

Here's an interesting piece on how belief or unbelief in God is thought to affect one's happiness.

My Tuesday lunch group is discussing an essay by E.O. Wilson on Morality and Biology.

I'm reading Richard Dawkins' latest book The God Delusion.

If any of this interests you please comment.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Turning America's Global Image On It's Head

Here, Desmond Tutu appraises the impact on the world of Obama's election, as found in his Op-Ed piece in today's Washington Post.

One line I especially like. "And the president-elect has one additional key quality: He is not George W. Bush."

Enjoy.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

A Picture is Worth---------------------.

Here's a picture worth a thousand words for sure.

Startling isn't it?

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

The Big Picture

Here is an insightful view of democracy from 40K feet. It's easier to see the forest as a pattern of trees from that perspective.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Cartoon; Restoring the Constitution

I like this cartoon a lot. It could serve as an iconic symbol of Obama's most important challenge.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Garrison Keillor's Advice to Barack and Michelle.

Here's Garrison Keillor's latest, including the best thing I've heard about Michelle Obama.

"People ask me how I am, and I say, I'm only as good as my most sad child."

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Well Said

There has been a lot of good writing about turning points lately, but this one is my favorite.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Gay Paris

Here's a wonderful piece by a writer for the French Newspaper Le Monde.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Get A Life!!

Passing along the Onion's video about Obama supporters' newly emptied lives, as offered by The Old New Englander.

Watch, wonder and weep.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

It's Personal

Here's Gene Robinson's column in today's Washington Post on the Obama election.

He says that for African Americans it's personal.

Here's the email I sent to him in response to his column.

Dear Mr. Robinson,

I do understand why you wrote that for African Americans this is personal.

As a white man, one who might be called a European American, it's also personal in that such as I watched millions of Americans Tuesday right the terrible wrong of our white American ancestors.

It's been said that a person should be judged within his own time. The Founders wrote that all men are created equal. Their blind spot was that, to them, Negroes weren't men in the sense of being human as white men are. Women of any color didn't fare much better in that possessive, patriarchal culture.

From our 2008 perspective it's difficult to understand how they could have thought such things. And because we find it so difficult we corrected them on Tuesday. "Father forgive them because they [knew] not what they [did]." But we do know what we did.

Watching a tide come in takes patience. The ripples rise and fall back, making way for the next rising ripples. Of such is the frustration of time. But imperceptibly, incessantly, seemingly unopposed, that body of billions of parts overwhelms. And all in its way are lifted up.

Thank you for your moving words. You speak for a multitude.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper
leesvoicecryinginthewilderness.blogspot.com

A Cartoon Delight

Here's Tom Toles wonderful cartoon on the election in today's Washington Post. Note especially the small words in the lower right corner.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Where Have All The Yard Signs Gone?

For the past several weeks we've had two Obama/Biden yard signs up near the street in front of our house. This morning, election day, they are gone, taken during the night.

We live on a quiet cul-de-sac street in the small Cape Cod town of Eastham.

We know of friends whose Obama signs have been run over in their yards, and many others whose signs have been stolen.

Who would have thought?

Obama has taken us a long way, but there's still a long way to go. It's like Bush's war on terrorism. By definition it has no end.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Inheritance

Here's David Brooks' column on election day about pivot points in our society.

I hope my kids and their families read it.

I was born well before the boomers were born and my kids were born well after the boomer's were.born. Nevertheless my generation and that of my kids has been affected in important ways by the boomer generation.

Brooks does a good job of telling us how and at what cost.

Scorched Earth Policy

Here's today's NYTimes editorial on what Bush is doing as fast as he can before he leaves office. It's a kind of scorched earth policy, bequeathing to his successor a kind of denuded constitutional landscape.

If McCain wins today he will be the recipient of Bush's generosity in taking care of these things so McCain won't have to.

If Obama wins today he'll have to spend his first term trying to restore that constitutional landscape to a semblance of its original beauty.

It's a fitting hast hurrah for Bush/Cheney whose attitude has always been 'I've got mine, get your own'.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

A Brief History of American Politics

Here's a 'Five Minute Iliad' of American politics, its back and forth cultural swings, swapping of labels and parsing of hatreds.

It's a too simple Cliffs Notes for the elite political scholar I'm sure, but for me, and perhaps many, who were Republicans, but who realized the party left us, it works. I can now cite chapter and verse to my hold-out Republican friends and family, about how and when the party left me when they accuse me of being an apostate.

For some fun unelitist reading check out 'The Five Minute Iliad and Other Instant Classics' by Greg Nagan, 2000, Fireside Books, New York, NY

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

James Carroll,The Embodiment of Elite

The title of this post should be sufficient to encourage reading it.

Here again is a link to James Carroll, whose column in today's Boston Globe might be at least one of his best.

The Voice posted a comment on it, number five on the list of comments. That comment is, in part, a response to a theme found in the first four comments.


Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

The First Brigade

Here's a piece which asks an important question or two about the reported deployment of US soldiers on American soil.

Do you wonder as I do why this has been hushed in the main stream media? Do you wonder as I do why the reported mission, crowd control, was changed after it was made public?
Do you wonder as I do why it's deployment was deemed necessary by the president who is their commander in chief, when each state has its own National Guard, under the command of the state's governor?

If any reader has more information about this topic please let me know.

I for one will breathe easier if Obama wins and there's no mention of this deployment between Nov 3 and Inauguration Day. You might call me an alarmist, but remember the high handed things Cheney/Bush have pulled since 2000.


Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper