The politics of hope

Something inspiring for right now:

Hope is not for wimps; it is for the strong-hearted who can recognize how bad things are and yet not be deterred, not be paralyzed.

-- Frances Moore Lappé

Another good one from Leno

I wouldn't be surprised if this were not a joke:

President Bush said today that both Cheney and Rumsfeld will remain with him for the rest of his second term. You know what that means -- whatever they got on the President, it must be good.

- Jay Leno

Those fraudulent "robo-calls"

I wrote to you yesterday about how Republicans are making annoying robo-calls pretending to be Democrats and calling people all night long with the objective of pissing off voters so they don't vote for the Democrats. Well, it gets worse. Look at what John Aravosis of AMERICAblog says:

Now [in Nebraska] the Republicans are actually using Democrat Scott Kleeb's voice and calling people several times an hour in order to harass them, and tick them off against Kleeb. This has been happening across the country simultaneously. It's been happening in states where the Republican party hired a specific company that makes these kind of calls. This is a coordinated nationwide effort by the Republican party to suppress voting through fraud.

They are also calling Democrats and telling them that their polling place has changed. They have sent out flyers to poor neighborhoods saying "Skip This Election" and voters have called election boards asking if the election has been cancelled. They have worked to purge voter lists of likely Democratic voters. There is no low to which these slimy people will not sink, I'm afraid.

It could happen to you

Don't think the Military Commissions Act applies only to non-citizens. "Any person" means any person. Read this:

Any person subject to this chapter who, in breach of an allegiance or duty to the United States, knowingly and intentionally aids an enemy of the United States ... shall be punished as a military commission … may direct.

-- from the Military Commissions Act of 2006

Who has allegiance or duty to the United States but American citizens? And what does "aid" mean? Is criticizing the president aiding an enemy? Members of the administration have publicly said so.

Creating reality

I want to share with you what I believe we face if the Republicans win this election. This is an excerpt from an article entitled "America's Slide to Totalitarianism":

If some last-minute polling trends showing a powerful Republican comeback carry through the Nov. 7 elections, the end of America as we have known it for more than two centuries will be at hand.

In a political version of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” the country might look the same – people driving their SUVs to the mall or eating at fast-food restaurants – but it will have internally changed. Election 2006 will have been the ratification of George W. Bush’s grim vision of endless war abroad and the end of a constitutional Republic at home.

Though not understanding the full import of their actions, the American voters will have endorsed the elimination of the “unalienable” rights handed down to them by the Founders, instead allowing “plenary” – or unlimited – power to be invested in the President. The Constitution and the Bill of Rights will have been turned into irrelevant pieces of paper.

Bush will have the authority to send American young men and women to war wherever he chooses; he will have the power to spy on anyone he wants; he could imprison citizens and non-citizens alike under the Military Commissions Act while denying the detainees the right to file motions with civilian courts; he could order harsh interrogations which could then be used to convict defendants (assuming they are ever brought before one of his hand-picked tribunals for trial, conviction and execution); he could ignore or reinterpret any laws that he doesn’t like; he would have rubber-stamps in Congress and very soon in the U.S. Supreme Court; he and his potential successors would be, in effect, dictators.
...
Indeed, one reason this new America has the look of incipient totalitarianism is that the Right has created such a powerful media apparatus that it can virtually create its own reality. Most often, the cowed mainstream media tags along, as happened with the media frenzy over Kerry’s misinterpreted joke.

Assuming the Republican comeback trends continue through Election Day – and the GOP holds both houses of Congress – it will be hard to imagine how this right-wing juggernaut will ever be stopped.

Robert Parry, the author of this article, is a mainstream journalist with an impressive history. Would you ever in the recent past have imagined a mainstream journalist talking about American totalitarianism and dictatorship? Dear God, what have we come to?

I'm experiencing a deep sense of dread this election day. I hope I'm wrong. I sincerely hope I'm wrong.

The most important vote

Gore Vidal

This is the most important vote that you’ll probably ever cast. Because should this gang of thugs continue in the two houses of Congress, there isn’t any chance of getting the Constitution back....

-- Gore Vidal

(Hat tip to Frank Ford.)

The dirtiest of dirty tricks

Maybe by now you've heard what the Republicans are up to. It's beyond despicable. Take a look:

In various key states and districts, Republicans have initiated this dirty "robocalling" trick. Here, based on preliminary reporting coming in -- and Josh Marshall's website (www.talkingpointsmemo.com) is right on it -- is how it works:

On an automatic-redial system, registered Democrats are called again and again and again and again, at any time during the day or night, to hear what appears to be a message from the Democratic Party in support of the local Democratic Senate or House candidate. The object is to harass and annoy the hell out of these voters, to the point that they'll take out their anger on the Democratic candidate by not voting for him or her, or maybe deciding not to vote in the election at all.

In other words, yet another version of voter suppression in tight races, reminiscent of what Republican operatives (with ties to the White House) were convincted of in New Hampshire last year. In that case, involving the 2002 Senate election, the Republicans automatic-redialed the Democratic Party headquarters' phone lines in the final days before the election so that the Dems' get-out-the-vote campaign was totally jammed and rendered useless. The GOP candidate won the election. (Check out the story at here. )

The point here is that these 2006 "robocalling" attacks aimed at Democrats are happening at the last minute, and many Democrats may believe them to be real and get thoroughly pissed off at the Democratic candidates and decide to not vote for them or to stay home and not vote at all.

How is it possible that this is not against the law? Perhaps it is and the Republicans don't care. All they care about is winning the election. Then they can worry about their legal troubles later.

The above excerpt is from an article by Bernard Weiner entitled "URGENT! URGENT! Karl Rove's Last-Minute 'Robocalling' Tactic to Steal the Election".

Responding with love, not hate

Etty Hillesum

I went through a period in my life in which I collected concentration camp stories. I was trying to tap into what makes a person courageous in the extremes of life. Lately, I've come to think that it's time to review those stories now that Bush is able to hold us without trial. Here's something from Etty Hillesum whom I've admired for a long time and who died at Auschwitz:

By suffering I learn. I learn to accept that we have to share our love with the whole of creation, with the entire kosmos. But this love also gives us access to the kosmos ourselves. But the admission ticket is costly and hard to get. Only with blood and tears can one save enough to afford one.

It takes great courage to move from suffering to love rather than to hatred. We have much to learn from Hillesum.

Here's something else she said:

Even if there is only one decent German, they would deserve to be protected from the barbarian rabble and for that one German's sake one should not pour out one's hatred for the entire people.

You might like to investigate her diary: An Interrupted Life

The Saddam verdict and sentence

Well, there's no way you can convince me that the timing was coincidental. The Bush administration manipulated that nicely so as to come right before the elections.

I want to share with you a few comments I found on AMERICAblog that I think are worth thinking about. Here's one by Anonymous:

They can hang Saddam for all I care but they should have had a REAL war crimes trial at the Hague, where people could have heard what Saddam had to say about the U.S. involvement in putting him in power.

They want him dead because he knows too much.

And one in reply:

Anonymous, most of the world knows that this was a kangaroo court and show trial. No matter how much they try to cover up America's involvement with Hussein, documentary evidence exists. Stronger than that, photographic evidence exists.

And still another:

Ok. He was found guilty of murder with weapons we sold him or gave him, he was the rightful ruler of a country we invaded. Anyone find this a bit odd? If they kill him it will bring Iraq into a new era of violence like we haven't seen before. We destroyed a country and killed thousands of people. For what?

And finally one with which I particularly agree:

Still against the death penalty, even for war criminals....

If killing people is wrong, then we shouldn't kill people, even killers.

I really agree that the trial should have been held at the Hague. But we manipulated that one too.

Haggard update

Well, he's been ousted. CNN has just now published an article entitled "Church forces out Haggard for 'sexually immoral conduct'". Here's part of what it says:

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (CNN) -- The Rev. Ted Haggard agreed Saturday to resign as leader of the New Life Church after its independent investigative board said he was guilty of "sexually immoral conduct."
...
"We, the Overseer Board of New Life Church, have concluded our deliberations concerning the moral failings of Pastor Ted Haggard," a statement from the church said.

"Our investigation and Pastor Haggard's public statements have proven without a doubt that he has committed sexually immoral conduct."

Haggard, 50, and his wife were informed of the decision, the statement said, and "they have agreed as well that he should be dismissed."

The church's statement said the investigation would continue to determine the extent of Haggard's misconduct.

President Bush, of course, has already been distancing himself from Haggard. Surprise, surprise.

But check out this paragraph from an article in Harper's Magazine:

Pastor Ted, who talks to President George W. Bush or his advisers every Monday, is a handsome forty-eight-year-old Indianan, most comfortable in denim. He likes to say that his only disagreement with the President is automotive; Bush drives a Ford pickup, whereas Pastor Ted loves his Chevy. In addition to New Life, Pastor Ted presides over the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), whose 45,000 churches and 30 million believers make up the nation's most powerful religious lobbying group, and also over a smaller network of his own creation, the Association of Life-Giving Churches, 300 or so congregations modeled on New Life's “free market” approach to the divine.

Pastor Ted will serve as NAE president for as long as the movement is pleased with him...

I guess the movement isn't pleased with him now.

Joy in the Episcopal Church

Bishop Jefferts Schori

I have spent the last two hours watching the live webcast of the Investiture of the 26th Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church: The Most Reverend Katharine Jefferts Schori. Needless to say, this ocassion has brought me much joy.

I want to give you an excerpt of the sermon she delivered during that service:

That vision of homegoing and homecoming that underlies our deepest spiritual yearnings is also the job assignment each one of us gets in baptism - go home, and while you're at it, help to build a home for everyone else on earth. For none of us can truly find our rest in God until all of our brothers and sisters have also been welcomed home like the prodigal.

There's a wonderful Hebrew word for that vision and work - shalom. It doesn't just mean the sort of peace that comes when we're no longer at war. It's that rich and multihued vision of a world where no one goes hungry because everyone is invited to a seat at the groaning board, it's a vision of a world where no one is sick or in prison because all sorts of disease have been healed, it's a vision of a world where every human being has the capacity to use every good gift that God has given, it is a vision of a world where no one enjoys abundance at the expense of another, it's a vision of a world where all enjoy Sabbath rest in the conscious presence of God. Shalom means that all human beings live together as siblings, at peace with one another and with God, and in right relationship with all of the rest of creation. It is that vision of the lion lying down with the lamb and the small child playing over the den of the adder, where the specter of death no longer holds sway. It is that vision to which Jesus points when he says, "today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." To say "shalom" is to know our own place and to invite and affirm the place of all of the rest of creation, once more at home in God.

You and I have been invited into that ministry of global peace-making that makes a place andaffirms a welcome for all of God's creatures. But more than welcome, that ministry invites all to feast until they are filled with God's abundance. God has spoken that dream in ourhearts - through the prophets, through the patriarchs and the mystics, in human flesh in Jesus, and in each one of us at baptism. All are welcome, all are fed, all are satisfied, all are healed of the wounds and lessenings that are part of the not-yet-ness of creation.

That homecoming of shalom is both destination and journey. We cannot embark on the journey without some vision of where we are going, even though we may not reach it this side of the grave. We are really charged with seeing everyplace and all places as home, and living in away that makes that true for every other creature on the planet. None of us can be fully at home, at rest, enjoying shalom, unless all the world is as well. Shalom is the fruit of living that dream.

She speaks of a vision of radical welcome, radical inclusion. May it be so!

Shalom to you all.

~~~

UPDATE: There's a CNN article up about the event that you can find right here.

UPDATE 2: Here's another article from Episcopal News Service that describes the service more thoroughly. I was struck by a quotation that was printed in the service booklet that everyone had. It is by Hélder Pessoa Câmara, the retired Roman Catholic archbishop of Olinda and Recife in Brazil:

The bishop belongs to all. Let no one be scandalized if I frequent those who are considered unworthy or sinful. Who is not a sinner? Let no one be alarmed if I am seen with compromised and dangerous people, on the left or the right. Let no one bind me to a group. My door, my heart, must be open to everyone, absolutely everyone.

It is very heartening that Bp Katharine chose that quotation. She is sending the strong message that she will not be pigeon-holed or co-opted. Good on her.

What does God care about?

I found these two quotes in the comment section of Father Jake Stops the World. The first one is by the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church from 1964 - 1973 and one of my personal heroes:

Gracious God, when we would make much of that which cannot matter much to thee, forgive us.

-- John Elbridge Hines

The second is by the founder of the Jesus Seminar:

Love your enemies is probably the most radical thing Jesus ever said, unless of course, one considers the parable of the Samaritan. There the admonition is to let your enemies love you.

-- Robert T. Funk

These express a truly different religious outlook from that of the evangelicals and fundamentalists - a religion of inclusion and bridges rather than a religion of exclusion and separation.

Leno at his best

I'm proud of Leno here:

President Bush demanded that Kerry apologize. Can you imagine that -- Bush demanding an apology for someone stumbling over his words? ... Kerry should have tried the Bush strategy: say so many stupid things, no one cares anymore.

--Jay Leno

Kerry's joke

I found this on All Hat No Cattle:

Hi Lisa,

Is it just me, or did other people also notice that John Kerry's remark got a much faster response than Hurricane Katrina?

Anthony

Apt observation, Anthony. Yes, indeed.

Haggard

Okay, folks. It's not the sex, it's the hypocrisy. Take a look at CNN's latest:

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (CNN) -- The Rev. Ted Haggard, who resigned as one of the nation's top evangelical leaders, admitted Friday he had contacted male prostitute Mike Jones for a massage and bought drugs from him.

Haggard said he never had sex with Jones and never used the methamphetamine drug he bought.

He was one of a group of religious leaders who regularly participated in conference calls with White House aides.

Haggard told reporters earlier this week that he did not know Jones, who claims to have had a three-year sex-for-money relationship with the pastor.

Haggard, 50, resigned Thursday as leader of the National Association of Evangelicals -- a group representing more than 45,000 churches and 30 million people -- and he also stepped down temporarily from leadership at New Life Church in Colorado Springs.

All right. Here's what we know for sure: Haggard lied, he bought drugs and he solicited a gay hooker "for a massage". And that's just the part he's admitted.

Bill Maher said that the next Republican Convention ought to be held in a closet. Heh.

Friday cat blogging!

Henry

Photo by Ellie Finlay

I got rhythm,
I got music,
I got my cats --
Who could ask for anything more?

I got kitties
On my comfy couch,
I got my cats --
Who could ask for anything more?

I got my blog
On my own web page,
I got my cats --
Who could ask for anything more?

-- Lyrics found on Eschaton