The Challenge of the Beatitudes

The problem with the beatitudes is that we are so familiar with them that we take them for granted. A blessing is the visible, perceptible effective proximity of God. A blessing demands to be passed on to other people. To be blessed is to be oneself a blessing.

This leaves us with a tremendous challenge. We are called to give life and hope to those who are both our friends and our enemies. We are also called to live in a way that we do not see ourselves as separate from the whole. We are one with the universe and we need to bless it and treasure it. Christianity is not passive but active, energetic, alive, and going beyond despair.

The beatitudes signify not just a religious attitude but also a social attitude toward realities that should not exist among human beings. The challenge all of us face is to live the gospel in the present moment. The beatitudes are a challenge for all of us. We cannot turn our backs on the offer from God. We need to embrace the challenge and bring new hope to a tired world. Are we up to the challenge?

February 1, 2011

Our fascist-Nazi federal government talks of spreading democracy but in reality the psychos who run our country prefers dealing with dictators because a democratic government in any part of the world will say to the United States of Mortal Sin, “Practice, what you preach!” The United States of Mortal Sin prefers commencing wars instead of preventing wars. Our politicians look upon the U.S. Constitution as toilet paper to be used to wipe their behinds.

On December 12, 2000 the U.S. Supreme Court appointed and anointed George W. Bush as America’s Warmonger. Catholic radio praised the decision because December 12 is the Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe and God was sending Americans a message that Bush was the chosen person to lead the world. Today, February 1, 2011, with these horrendous and massive storms prowling our country is God’s punishment for the United States of Mortal Sin for her killing and slaughtering of His children.

January 29, 2011 is the date for the joke of the week. Obama made a comment on the unrest in Egypt. His number one concern was about the loss of human life. This is a comment from a person who has unleashed hundreds of drones upon Pakistan and Central Asia killing many, many human lives. I had to laugh so hard that my side began to ache.

January 30, 2011

Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven. Is my life on this earth focused on the life to come?

The conservative crazies insult us because we believe in God of the New Testament. This God is a loving, merciful, and forgiving God. The conservative crazies believe in a God of the Old Testament, a God of punishment and vengeance. The conservative crazies insult us and persecute us. I say to you, “Do not be discouraged because God is near us and He will give us everlasting rest in peace. Blessed are the people who make God the center in their lives.

MANDATE to do crap you don't want to do:

Be drafted/impressed into the armed forces.

Pay taxes.

I've already stated this and it will happen. The GOP and Corporate interests are courting the extreme Right-Wing Supreme court Judges - Alitto, Thomas and Scalia: Roberts probably so. This whole farce by the GOP to Repeal this bill and all these State Lawsuits is to get the Supreme Court to Rule against the HealthCare Bill as Un-Constitutional. Scalia already has shown his hand by attending a "Closed-Door" session with Tea-Party radical GOP representatives. Why Closed-Door? Why Secret? Why only GOP representatives (Only 3 Dem)? These "Bought" judges have attended many other closed-door "Right-Wing" meetings and "Fund-Drives" - Why?

The Supreme Court is "Tainted". And their power to affect American Lives is way much stronger than either The President and both Houses 0f Congress. And it is dangerous for American Democracy.

This is being played out across America. The American people must protest against this Radical take over of our courts. Why do you need judges and courts if the judge or court has a certain political/social ideological agenda before one is even tried? Justice must be "Blind" and indifferent to the merits of the case. What is increasingly happening in America is an erosion of this fair and un-biased judicial system.

And now we are seeing "Judges" making decisions based on their particular "Religious", Economic" and/or "Political" beliefs and agendas. This is no longer a Democracy but leadership by Judicial activists. That is why the Corporate/Bank and Super-Rich are courting and buying Supreme Court judges - they know that the real Power resides with these Judges - no matter what Congress passes or what the President signs, the Courts can always rule as Un-Constitutional. (Next up are ALL the pet agendas coming from the Right - Abortion, Prayer, Education, Environment, Corporate Regulations, etc. Guess how these radical Supreme judges will vote? WE all now know about Citizens United.) If you own the judges you own the issue.

This has to be stopped. And the 3 worst offenders on the Supreme Court must be reigned in and even investigated by "Impartial Judges". Something rotten is happening in the State of the USA!

"The Founding Fathers Did Not Support An Individual Health Care Mandate ... they supported socialized medicine. In July of 1798, Congress passed - and President John Adams signed - "An Act for the Relief of Sick and Disabled Seamen." The law authorized the creation of a government operated marine hospital service and mandated that privately employed sailors be required to purchase health care insurance"

http://scienceblogs.com/mikethemadbiologist/2011/01/the_founding_fathers...

There is also the Militia Act of 1792, which reqires men to buy supplies for use in the militia, such as powder, wadding, ball, etc.

I support repeal of the AHA, just as soon as HR 676 - Medicare for ALL is passed.

I guess Mubarak didn't get the memo on how to setup Free Speech zones.

Its got to be hell to be a dictator with a mutinous army. I'd like to see this crisis settled with minimum violence, but I wonder if that's actually even a realistic hope.

N

I do agree with Ron ITunes is very user friendly with a little research you can get their music, movies & videos without much hassle.logo design , I am inspired by your work and obviously this blog is perfect.custom logo design ,I like your illustration work, your creativity and designs are really amazing.

Obama's SOTOS was complete bull......

Wow! After reading this I now know we have the WRONG MAN as President!

When are you running? And if you do I hope you win! And then I will enjoy myself as you, in turn, are "Swallowed Whole" by Washington as you so eloquently phrase it.

And of course judging from your pic you will not have all that excess baggage of being "Black" and "Illegitimate" as Obama has. That should make it a lot easier for you!

You know, it's easy to criticize someone about his/her technique of shoveling dung - it's another to get down and actually do the shoveling yourself. One way or another is still stinks and still has to be shoveled.

Senator Joseph R. McCarthy, who also, as a Representative, served on the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), started the Communist scare in the United States. From about 1947 to 1954, the "Red-Scare" was on. Ordinary people were being hauled into congress to testify about their involvement in The Communist party. Testimony was taken in "Secret" from "anonymous" informants (friendly witnesses), who accused their neighbors and Friends, upon which the accused were dragged into public hearings to testify about their "Thought Crimes". People actually went to jail and were "criminalized", lost their jobs and some deported for these "Thought crimes" that only existed in the mind of Senator McCarthy and his "roving Tribunals" who sought "Red Commies" everywhere. In fact it was an Inquisition. Very much like the hysterical "Heritic", "Witch", "Jewish", diabolical Inquisitions of old. (In fact, not only "Commies" were the target, but any other un-desirables who were a "Subversive Threat" to the United States were also among the accused). So one day you may have been an American Citizen in good standing, and the next hauled before congress to testify about what you knew, if anything, about commie sympathizers, and if you give up names, you just might not be prosecuted!) So the "Secretly" accused was prosecuted for a "Though Crime" he/she may of never of had in the first place. The great COMMUNIST” red-scare Inquisition was on!

And now Issa! This man must be stopped - Now! Before he starts his own "Fear-Mongering" Inquisition! This man is on a mission to destroy Democracy. And this is the way all Inquisitions start: slowly, like asking for a “List” of everyone who requested FOIA. What are he and his committee going to do with this list? All Inquisitions start with Lists – of names. Knowing some history of the Medieval Inquisition, German Gestapo, and Russian KGB, these nefarious "Pogroms" all started with the collection of Names of the people they wanted to destroy.

Tomorrow I am calling my Senators and Representatives. WE ALL do it now or we and all of our children will dearly suffer for it in the future.

Wonderful and I enjoyed.
Thank you
can I have more! Somewhere in this text Paul asks himself why me?

I wish it was law that elected officials could not accept $ from anyone or business. Funding for reelection? But everyone would get the same amount.

Obama's SOTOS was complete bull. Yes, he actually articulated a Democratic vision which seems to be a first in a while. However, that vision, in accord with his political-economic behavior is decidedly corporatist. He said he was going to create jobs yet he said not one word about small business, where most new jobs are created. Yes, he did sign an SBA bill last year that provided $30B over several years for small business but it is dwarfed in comparison to TARP, zero percent trillions at the Fed window for the guys that Emmanueled us, and his corporate subsidies provided to the insurance companies et. al. .... It's no secret that health care premiums are skyrocketing! What happens when you add fifty million new subsidized customers to a market that is allowed to collude and set prices? Yeah, some people are being helped with the denial of care issues and that is a good thing, but we are all paying the hidden tax through the likes of Blue Sheild's 59% increase this year alone. I haven't heard one Democratic official admit this (and I am a very active Democrat.)

If you cut the entire domestic discretionary budget you only get 12% savings. It is nothing compared to the big four: Social Security, military spending, Medicare, and the fact that corporations for the most part, don't pay taxes while we support their exportation of our jobs! Social Security is supposed to be a stand alone trust fund. That leaves military spending ($1.2 trillion if you count all military spending hidden throughout the federal budget like mercenaries in the State Department budget, the black budget, myriad intel agencies, Homeland Security, nukes at DOE ad nauseum...), Medicare and seeing to it that corporations actually start paying taxes. Obama offered a "whopping" $15B in "defense cuts." That's less than a day and a half out of military spending for an entire year. Bet that Medicare will be savaged and soon!

Today the Courts said that the Health Care Bill is unconstitutional. Medicare has never been unconstitutional. Yet, when we called for "Medicare for everyone who wants it..." It would easy to expand what we already have with very low overhead..." We were headed off at the pass, not by the Republicans but by Obama, personally. That my friend is an established historical fact. And, now we know why because Obama and his corporate cronies are going to cut the hell out of Medicare and that just wouldn't do ... Way too obvious....

Yes, the economy is growing but for whom? Main Street is still in the toilet and the banksters are sitting on two trillion dollars of our money that they won't lend to small business and Obama didn't say a damn thing about that either! WTF? Yeah, maybe "on average" we are doing great (and even that is debatable), but when you consider the huge and growing income disparity gap, the vast majority of Americans are hurting badly and will be doing so for "a generation" or more according to the "Finacial Crisis Inquiry Report."

I suggest you actually read the Report. Why have many of the perps circulated through this Administration? Why did Obama can"effin' moron" Emmanuel (gee, no "GE," I guess I'm some sort of "purist" and a member of the "professional left,"according to "Goober" Gibbs and Obama) only to replace him with Daley (JP Morgan.) Why did Obama's FCC approve the largest yet media consolidation when he pledged he would not do that and then turn around and appoint a direct beneficiary, the Chairman of GE, to his "jobs creation"panel, which has shipped over fifty-percent of its own jobs overseas?" And, Obama did this the Friday before SOTUS! What a hypocrite! The Emperor has no clothes and you know it!

While he waxed eloquent about a corporate driven green revolution somewhere off in the horizon, his Administration approved the sale and distribution of genetically modified Monsanto alfalfa that will impact practically the entire grocery food chain, without adequate study and with a whole lot of scientic and public opposition. And, he did this within days of the SOTUS!

BTW, if you do read the Financial Inquiry Report you will quickly realize that Obama's so called Financial Reform bill would not have stopped this crisis. Sorry to pop your bubble, but his so called "Financial Reform" is so much crap. The Inquiry Commission says in no uncertain terms that the conditions that created this mess still exist under this Administration. Like the "public option," the beef, Glas-Stegal provisions were removed by him, not the Republicans.

He said that he values "transparency" yet he held over thirty private, unannounced meetings with insurance company and HMO execs and he had to be sued under the Freedom of Information Act before he would release the documents and admit it. Dick Cheney's Energy Task Force anyone? He didn't have to be so duplicitous with "Financial Reform" because after all, he had Timmy, and Larry, and Rahm, et. al., right there in the White House with him.

And, he compromised with no one. He capitulated! He personally knifed the "public option" before he ever confronted the Republicans for a vote. Compromise requires BOTH parties to work together. How many Republicans voted for the final Health Care bill? How many are trying to tear it down right now? What "'effin'" compromise is he talking about? There was no compromise. NONE. ZIP. NADA. ZERO!

The real problem in this Country is the Corporate Republican Party AND the Democratic Leadership Council. You know as well as I that they BOTH are wholly owned susidiaries of the corporations. When Obama says that he is moving towards the middle, what he means is that he is serving the corporations, and you know that too. Why do you keep trying to pretend otherwise? In order to solve a problem first you have to recognize it and then acknowledge it. After listening to you for quite a while, and hearing you talk so much "psychology" on your show, I can only conclude that you are in a state of denial. You engage in wishful thinking and flights of fancy that somehow Obama will change... This is a guy who back when supported Joe Lieberman running against his own Party! Those are the kind of dellusional side effects that accompany denial.

You are spreading that denial which is helping to confuse your listeners. After Obama oversees the gutting of Medicare (and it is going to happen, you can take that to Goldman Sachs) are you still going to tell us that our health care system is much improved since Obama took office? "Medicare for everyone?" I've heard you say that many times. What you in fact are doing, is helping to set the table so that these greed heads can carve that up too!

What we are wittnessing in Egypt is the direct result of decades of Republican and DLC corporate foreign policy. It is nothing less than the collapse of American Empire in the Middle East after shoring up corrupt dictators for coprporate profits. Stay tuned, because if we don't take our government back from the corporatistas, and that includes Obama by his own actions, what we are seeing in Egypt is going to be happening right here (see my comments on Egypt here under that topic.)

You know as well as I that the future does not lie in a hierarchicaly organized corporate world. The post - modern condition requires a much more egalitarian society. Obama is going in the exact opposite direction embracing the tired and corrupt corporate model of governance. And, I've heard you quote Mussolini: "Facism is nothing other than government by corporation. HELLO?! The Green Revolution will not be brought to you by vetically integrated mega - corporations. If you think it will can I have some of whatever it is you are smoking?

The President also demostrated that he and his staff know next to nothing about the educational crisis in this Country (Ed.D. ABD Media Studies, here.) He's still running with that "W," "No Child Left Behind" manure. Obama unabashedly used the educational frame right out of the Business Roundtable. They are the ones who manufactured "No Child Left Behind." I'm a fan of Lakoff but he missed this one and it is really obvious. Teaching to a test is exactly what is wrong with US schools. And, sending kids to to school earlier and longer is way behind what we now know about childhood and learning development. Forward looking? Are you kidding?

The countries that are kicking our ass in education (BTW IS NOT CHINA BUT EUROPE) let their kids be kids, let them play and develop their brains before they send them to school at age seven, not 4 years old in pre-school!!! The best indicator in this Country for childhood educational success is the income level of your parents. Since Obama has joined with the Republicans and the Democratic Leadership Council (brought to fore by Buba Bubble Blower, Job Exporter, and Ultimate Incarcerator) to destroying the American middle class... well so much for that! We need smaller class size, extra-curricular activities and more resources for public schools. His speech on education was all smoke and mirrors! So much for his "Sputnick Moment." It was more like another BS moment.

Obama said he was going to change the way Washington works. Really? Washington has swallowed him whole. Yeah, I know you've said some things like this but you are all over the map on Obama. What I am writing about is your glowing praise of his SOTUS. I'm sorry to say this but you are starting to sound like that little techie kiss ass over at Daily KOs and all of his yuppie apparatchiks. Obama and they all ought to get an award for stealing defeat from the jaws of victory! I'm still trying to figure out how they managed the worst off year election results in seventy years after two terms of "W." Amazing! That is quite an accomplishment.

So when Obama talks about his great accomplishments he really ought to bring this up instead and how he managed to piss off the people who brought him to the dance or how Eric Holder suppressed the youth vote the week before the elections by saying that he was going to continue his pot raids et. al. after Obama said during his campaign that he was going to stop that too (talk about a place to cut a totally failed program from one end to the other). You don't think that had an effect? When Obama held his "youth town meeting" Friday on You Tube, that's all he heard! Two groups that supported Obama in 2008 did not show up in 2010: progrssives and young people. They couldn't have deflated their 2008 base any better than if they had planned it. Over there at Daily Kos they are saying that Ed Shutlz is dumb for pointing out the Administration's political hackery. What do computer hacks know about public policy anyway? From where I sit after thirty years in the policy arena, they don't know their own butts from first base!