In the early 1970s I was standing in an elevator in an older hotel in Boston when the opportunity to make one of my corny remarks presented itself. The elevator was crowded and I just couldn't resist saying to the wise old operator, "This elevator has its ups and downs." There was a mild tittering among the elevator occupants, a much more subdued response than I'd hoped for when the lady looked at me and responded, "Yes, and plenty of jerks in between." Needless to say, she got the laughs I was looking for and quite rightly so. But my continuing failure to properly tell a joke is not why I am telling this story. Standing back and looking at the large picture, it is obvious that life is, indeed, a series of ups and down, backs and forths, sides to sides and 'tos and fros'. I am searching in my mind for the correct mathematical expression of this phenomenon; for every reaction there is an opposite and equal reaction, something like that. There are untold numbers of examples that can be given to characterize this continuous process at the personal, local, national or international levels.
We are currently in the midst of two major pendulum shifts which reflect this principle. The first is the economic situation. The economists refer to such an event as a "correction." Parenthetically, I can't understand why calling it a correction doesn't make me feel any better when I look at the numbers in my account. The second event is the quantum shift in the national political landscape that is likely to result from the November 4 election. From all indications, we will have a Democratic president and Congress with a real possibility of a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. Regardless of political persuasion I expect that every one cannot help but experience a deep sense of relief that the Bush imbroglio is nearly a thing of the past. Things are broken in the fabric of our financial and governmental institutions. Changes do need to be made. The biggest danger and the biggest challenge in both arenas is not to over-correct. If four years from now finds us in the throes of Democratic greed and mistakes resulting from the tendency to take unchecked power and turn planned good deeds into excesses like pigs eating at a trough, then all will have been for naught. I, for one, will be content if the lesson of 2008 restores the country to civility, moderation in all things and charitable thoughts to all, including those son of a bitches who still think Bush is the nearest thing to Jesus. Oops, there I go again, being a jerk.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
We Are Not Stupid, John
"Battling George W. Bush for the GOP presidential nomination in 2000, John McCain lashed out at the Texas governor, denouncing his proposed tax cuts as a giveaway to the rich." Huh? Did I read that right? Did the writer of this statement in the Washington Post make a mistake? No, that statement is exactly right. The same John McCain who made a serious run at the presidency in 2000 by advocating the position that he now bases his entire campaign against claims to be a man of principle Let me ask; what principle is involved in such a quantum shift? If you ask me, the principle involved is mudslinging mixed with quite a bit of deceit. What McCain currently claims is that what he strongly advocated eight years ago is now welfare, taking from the rich and giving to the poor, socialism, any other name he can think up to try to discredit Obama in the short time left before election day. Such a turnabout could only be predicated upon one belief; that the people of the United States are stupid. I wonder if McCain has given any thought as to why he is behind in the polls?
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Big Brother Is Watching You
It is crunch time for America. In my last blog I wrote of the need for real change. There are those among my friends with whom I regularly deluge my meanderings who say I am merely parroting lines that are advanced by liberals. One of my golfing friends in Florida has asked that he be removed from my blog list because i was sounding like Keith Olbermann. This week I sent along a funny joke to my golfing buddies and one close friend replied "It's about time you lightened up." Whew, I need to take a deep breath. Maybe I do need to lighten up a bit more. But wait, there is still some unfinished business. There is still some underpinning of the constitutionally-created fabric of life of America that needs to be brought to the public's attention. What is being done in the final days of the Nameless One's administration is the moral and legal equivalent of deliberately seeding the air we all breathe with cancer cells. Under the guise of fighting terrorism, new guidelines for the F.B.I. just recently issued by the administration permit agents to use a range of intrusive techniques to gather information on Americans — even when there is no clear basis for suspecting wrongdoing. Under the rules, agents may engage in lengthy physical surveillance, covertly infiltrate lawful groups, or conduct interviews in which agents lie about their identities while questioning a subject’s neighbors, friends or work colleagues based merely on a generalized “threat.” The rules also allow the use of these techniques on people identified in part by their race or religion without requiring even minimal evidence of criminal activity. In short, Big Brother will be watching you . . . and you . . . and you . . . and me.
This is frightening to me. I respectfully submit that those of you who think I've gone liberal whacko should be frightened too. This new policy creates a chilling scenario for the government to spy on law-abiding Americans based on their ethnic background or political activity. I hear all this stuff from conservatives about getting government out of our lives, but how could anyone dream up a fact situation which could be more intrusive than what has been adopted? Nameless' administration and the FBI have refused a request from Congress to delay the implementation of these guidelines to subject the purpose and intent of these rules to public scrutiny. This great country of ours has undergone a quantum shift under Nameless' direction. This venture into the shameless spying on one another under the rubric of terrorism under his guidance justifies my continued designation of him as "He Who Would Be King." For those of you who agree that the general population should be spied on by the FBI because of the color of their skin, their political or religious beliefs, please pass this blog on to your nearest FBI agent. Maybe I can work myself up the Public Enemy Number One!
This is frightening to me. I respectfully submit that those of you who think I've gone liberal whacko should be frightened too. This new policy creates a chilling scenario for the government to spy on law-abiding Americans based on their ethnic background or political activity. I hear all this stuff from conservatives about getting government out of our lives, but how could anyone dream up a fact situation which could be more intrusive than what has been adopted? Nameless' administration and the FBI have refused a request from Congress to delay the implementation of these guidelines to subject the purpose and intent of these rules to public scrutiny. This great country of ours has undergone a quantum shift under Nameless' direction. This venture into the shameless spying on one another under the rubric of terrorism under his guidance justifies my continued designation of him as "He Who Would Be King." For those of you who agree that the general population should be spied on by the FBI because of the color of their skin, their political or religious beliefs, please pass this blog on to your nearest FBI agent. Maybe I can work myself up the Public Enemy Number One!
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Real Change
Dick Cheney made the following statement after the Supreme Court awarded Nameless the Presidency in 2000. "We won. It's our due." Of course, he was describing the resultant grab for unprecedented power which included ignoring the precepts of the constitution that both he and Nameless were sworn to uphold. What then began at that moment in time was a massive mental reorganization of our federal government that became dedicated to staying out of the way of big business. Regulate? No, big business will do what is right for the people of the United States because it will be in business' best interests to do so. Example A of how this system worked in Nameless' mind was his compliment to the head of FEMA following the Katrina debacle. "Good job, Brownie." It must be admitted, if your viewpoint is that government shouldn't be doing anything about catastrophes like Katrina, you can certainly understand why Nameless said what he said. This view point undoubtedly explains why Nameless can still find 20% of Americans who view him favorably. I could go on and on with examples, but I need to get to the point.
Both candidates for the presidency seem to recognize and advocate change. The basic bottom line is that the massive experiment of Nameless and his cronies simply hasn't worked and has harmed America in so many ways that it is virtually impossible to list them. The basic function of government in an organized society is to temper the animalistic impulses of members of that society for the good of all. This would include tempering the greed impulses of soulless major corporations which are treated like citizens, but exist solely for the purpose of generating profit. With a short time before election day, I am convinced that Obama perceives that need for change. I am not so certain about McCain and his talk about change. His basic approach to everything is the same as Nameless; to cut taxes and eliminate pork, and seems a poor fit at this point in time to undo the real damage that Nameless has done to our people. Both men are men of honor and insist personally that they want the electorate to decide on the basis of the differences in their policies, which are ample. If that is so, is it not a reflection of character that McCain permits the nasty attempts to degrade Obama's character in a manner and form equivalent to what Nameless did to him in South Carolina in 2000? Do what want someone who does that as our beacon of change as we try to undo the damage of Nameless? I don't think so and the real danger of the next couple of weeks is that voters may be fooled again by the spirit of demagoguery that has permeated the soul of this country since 2000. We need real change.
Both candidates for the presidency seem to recognize and advocate change. The basic bottom line is that the massive experiment of Nameless and his cronies simply hasn't worked and has harmed America in so many ways that it is virtually impossible to list them. The basic function of government in an organized society is to temper the animalistic impulses of members of that society for the good of all. This would include tempering the greed impulses of soulless major corporations which are treated like citizens, but exist solely for the purpose of generating profit. With a short time before election day, I am convinced that Obama perceives that need for change. I am not so certain about McCain and his talk about change. His basic approach to everything is the same as Nameless; to cut taxes and eliminate pork, and seems a poor fit at this point in time to undo the real damage that Nameless has done to our people. Both men are men of honor and insist personally that they want the electorate to decide on the basis of the differences in their policies, which are ample. If that is so, is it not a reflection of character that McCain permits the nasty attempts to degrade Obama's character in a manner and form equivalent to what Nameless did to him in South Carolina in 2000? Do what want someone who does that as our beacon of change as we try to undo the damage of Nameless? I don't think so and the real danger of the next couple of weeks is that voters may be fooled again by the spirit of demagoguery that has permeated the soul of this country since 2000. We need real change.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
More on China
This is a brief decription of the first couple of days in China written by my daughter Becky who is with Mary Ellen visiting Jeff, my grandson.
Monday:
Met Jeff for breakfast at His buffet in his hotel/dorm. Buffet was all you can eat rice in every size and shape, rice ball with pok, rice with bean paste, rice water soup, small square rice patties flavored with soy sauce – yum! Also had boiled eggs and dough balls with shrimp or paste – literally raw dough balls.
Jeff's room is nice, decent size and he claims he has maid service. No telling when she was last there. We met 2 of his classmates: Jamie and Drew. Jamie plays BB for Kenyon and is from 5th Ave, NYC. Drew's family owns a vineyard in Northern CA.
Jeremy, Jeff's advisor, advised us on sightseeing and tips such as Do Not eat any vendor food even though it will look good and tasty and Do Not Tip the taxi driver. If you need to make a call just ask anyone on the street to use their cellphone and hand them 5RNB ($.70).
Campus is open and airy with lots of green. Classrooms are small cubicle like with old fashioned wooden chairs. Jamie, Drew, and Jeff were all quite concerned about Not being late for class. Tardiness is not acceptable.
Another warning from Jeremy was about crossing the street. The right of way rule is this: the bigger the vehicle the more rights it has. Pedestrians have none. Pecking order: bus, taxi, private car, motorcycle, bike, then perhaps person. Red lights are optional and horns are constant and mandatory.
After surviving our first crossing Grammy and I stopped at the concierge to get our bearings and book some tours. One hour and 5 concierges' later we were set for the next 2 ½ days. (No one here speaks Engish except for the desk girl who speaks a little.)
Our first solo adventure was Old Town. Chances are what you picture China to be: this is it! Markets, vendors, Chinese buildings, koi pond, and tea house. The streets kinda reminded me of Sienna but more touristy stuff for sale and not as clean. One street we wandered down smelled retched and served to curb our appetite for the rest of the day.
So many people here. All Chinese and Chinese tourists except for Mom and me and 2 tour groups hailing from Europe and USA.
Very few speak English here as we found out when trying to find a restaurant recommended by Jeremy. Asked 5 different people including a police officer and finally found the street and number and restaurant was gone. We got hagendaas instead.
Looking for the restaurant we really saw Old Town. Laundry hanging out most windows on poles, narrow alleys where residents were emptying chamber pots, toddler peeing off the curb into the street. Street sweepers were all women, in blue uniform, sweeping with wisk like brooms. Bikers galore; all guts, no helmets.
Anytime you go somewhere it's easiest to take a taxi. Taxi usually costs between 20 RNB and 40 RNB ($3-$6) The taxi ride to and from downtown or city center is on major freeway. Directly in front of our hotel and Jeff's hotel is a freeway complex 5 tiers tall. On either side of the freeway there are 30 – 40 storied apartment buildings as far as the eye can see.
As a respite after a big day of sightseeing I decided to find out about a massage offered at the hotel. Stopped in and the gal did not speak English but she gave me a card and said to call later. My call later was answered by another who could not speak English so I just said thank you and hung up. 15 minutes later the doorbell rang and there was a cute gal in a mini skirt and heels saying "here for massage". What the heck… After fifteen minutes of acupressure the doorbell rings again. Another gal in mini skirt and heels "here for massage" They traded places and mom and I just laughed and laughed!!
The evening we saw the Shanghai Acrobat Show at the Shanghai City Center very fance section downtown. Amazing physical feats combined with Chinese Artisty. Beyond belief. From there we walked to Nanjing – which is the time's square of Shanghai – then on to the river- the Bund- to look at the George Jetson-like financial district. 18 years ago that area was farmland now it boasts Chinese' most expensive property - $20,000 USD per square meters. The global financial building is the tallest place in the world that people can go (101 stories).
Tuesday:
Went on ½ day city tour with an adorable guide. I regret not having a recorder as she was Caitlin to a tee. An adorable giggle after every sentence and so full of contagious joy. We saw the French Concessions – Paris architecture, Old City – 3rd world architecture, Yu an Garden – Zen-like architecture, Bund area – Jetson Style architecture.
Stopped at the Jade Buddha Temple and a tea house.
Had fun learning how silk worms feast on mulberry leaves, spin their silk cocoon into a plum pit size cocoon and then boiled to kill the larvae and brushed to tease the silk out. One cocoon has 1 kilometer of silk threads!
Have to check out the pictures to be sent later.
All for now as Jeff is off to bed.
Love you all. Miss you all and wish you were here with me.
Monday:
Met Jeff for breakfast at His buffet in his hotel/dorm. Buffet was all you can eat rice in every size and shape, rice ball with pok, rice with bean paste, rice water soup, small square rice patties flavored with soy sauce – yum! Also had boiled eggs and dough balls with shrimp or paste – literally raw dough balls.
Jeff's room is nice, decent size and he claims he has maid service. No telling when she was last there. We met 2 of his classmates: Jamie and Drew. Jamie plays BB for Kenyon and is from 5th Ave, NYC. Drew's family owns a vineyard in Northern CA.
Jeremy, Jeff's advisor, advised us on sightseeing and tips such as Do Not eat any vendor food even though it will look good and tasty and Do Not Tip the taxi driver. If you need to make a call just ask anyone on the street to use their cellphone and hand them 5RNB ($.70).
Campus is open and airy with lots of green. Classrooms are small cubicle like with old fashioned wooden chairs. Jamie, Drew, and Jeff were all quite concerned about Not being late for class. Tardiness is not acceptable.
Another warning from Jeremy was about crossing the street. The right of way rule is this: the bigger the vehicle the more rights it has. Pedestrians have none. Pecking order: bus, taxi, private car, motorcycle, bike, then perhaps person. Red lights are optional and horns are constant and mandatory.
After surviving our first crossing Grammy and I stopped at the concierge to get our bearings and book some tours. One hour and 5 concierges' later we were set for the next 2 ½ days. (No one here speaks Engish except for the desk girl who speaks a little.)
Our first solo adventure was Old Town. Chances are what you picture China to be: this is it! Markets, vendors, Chinese buildings, koi pond, and tea house. The streets kinda reminded me of Sienna but more touristy stuff for sale and not as clean. One street we wandered down smelled retched and served to curb our appetite for the rest of the day.
So many people here. All Chinese and Chinese tourists except for Mom and me and 2 tour groups hailing from Europe and USA.
Very few speak English here as we found out when trying to find a restaurant recommended by Jeremy. Asked 5 different people including a police officer and finally found the street and number and restaurant was gone. We got hagendaas instead.
Looking for the restaurant we really saw Old Town. Laundry hanging out most windows on poles, narrow alleys where residents were emptying chamber pots, toddler peeing off the curb into the street. Street sweepers were all women, in blue uniform, sweeping with wisk like brooms. Bikers galore; all guts, no helmets.
Anytime you go somewhere it's easiest to take a taxi. Taxi usually costs between 20 RNB and 40 RNB ($3-$6) The taxi ride to and from downtown or city center is on major freeway. Directly in front of our hotel and Jeff's hotel is a freeway complex 5 tiers tall. On either side of the freeway there are 30 – 40 storied apartment buildings as far as the eye can see.
As a respite after a big day of sightseeing I decided to find out about a massage offered at the hotel. Stopped in and the gal did not speak English but she gave me a card and said to call later. My call later was answered by another who could not speak English so I just said thank you and hung up. 15 minutes later the doorbell rang and there was a cute gal in a mini skirt and heels saying "here for massage". What the heck… After fifteen minutes of acupressure the doorbell rings again. Another gal in mini skirt and heels "here for massage" They traded places and mom and I just laughed and laughed!!
The evening we saw the Shanghai Acrobat Show at the Shanghai City Center very fance section downtown. Amazing physical feats combined with Chinese Artisty. Beyond belief. From there we walked to Nanjing – which is the time's square of Shanghai – then on to the river- the Bund- to look at the George Jetson-like financial district. 18 years ago that area was farmland now it boasts Chinese' most expensive property - $20,000 USD per square meters. The global financial building is the tallest place in the world that people can go (101 stories).
Tuesday:
Went on ½ day city tour with an adorable guide. I regret not having a recorder as she was Caitlin to a tee. An adorable giggle after every sentence and so full of contagious joy. We saw the French Concessions – Paris architecture, Old City – 3rd world architecture, Yu an Garden – Zen-like architecture, Bund area – Jetson Style architecture.
Stopped at the Jade Buddha Temple and a tea house.
Had fun learning how silk worms feast on mulberry leaves, spin their silk cocoon into a plum pit size cocoon and then boiled to kill the larvae and brushed to tease the silk out. One cocoon has 1 kilometer of silk threads!
Have to check out the pictures to be sent later.
All for now as Jeff is off to bed.
Love you all. Miss you all and wish you were here with me.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Boring Bobby, Boring Barry
Perhaps the most comforting criticism I hear about Obama is that he is boring, wonky, too professorial, too engaged in nuances. I like that. It tells me that throughout the hysteria of the final days and weeks of this presidential campaign, he has stayed the course because he has stayed boring. Boring means steady, a particularly positive attribute when the health and integrity of the nation is at stake. Last week, a high school classmate of mine and her husband drove to Michigan from Colorado Springs, Colorado to attend our 50 year high school reunion. We played golf at my club, Gowanie Golf Club, a tight little tract, not too long, but treacherously narrow. The husband is called Boring Bobby D by his friends because he has this tendency to hit his drives right down the exact center of the fairways. Boring Bobby amply demonstrated the nickname last week and is probably driving home right now telling Carol that he didn't think my course was too hard. Hole after hole he drove the ball to the center, or near center, of the fairway. On two separate occasions, I stepped off the distance of his ball from the left edge and the right edge of the fairway. The distances were exactly the same. His ball was in the exact center of the fairway. Boring! After I completed the measurements on his ball, I would drive over to the rough to see if I could find my ball in the deep rough under a pile of leaves or hidden by a tree.
Other than boring, the biggest complaints I hear from my anti-Obama friends are that he is too liberal, that he will be a tax and spend guy, that the country is going to turn socialist, etc, etc, etc. I predict that we are all going to be in for a pleasant surprise. For the ultra-liberals, it won't necessarily be to their liking. Obama has emonstrated all the early signs of being a centrist based upon a clear and apparent sense about doing what is right for our country without a hidden agenda (e.g. lining the pockets of the fat cat oil executives like He who Is Now Nameless did). Consider, for example, getting the troops out of Iraq. Obama refuses to box himself into a position that will adhere to a rigid inflexible timeline for troop withdrawal, nor will he, as Nameless has done, turn over the reins of Commander-In-Chief to General Petraeus. In other words, Obama prefers his announced timeline, but is not wedded to it. The same centrist signals are being sent by him regarding hunting down bin Laden in the mountains of Pakistan. He is to the right of McCain on this issue and his stated position is the one that makes most sense. Mark my words. His inauguration speech will be a variation of JFK's famous declaration of "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." We all need to take some personal responsibility for the mess this country is in. We all participated in creating the problem and we all must engage at the most basic of levels in working out of the dilemma. It may be something simple like paying an extra amount of taxes to reduce the horrible burden that cannot be shifted simply to the next generation of Americans, i.e. our children and grandchildren. We have been drunk in excesses. In such a time, the boring, but steady hand of Obama, is comforting and reassuring. It is time to take the cure by allowing Boring Barry to take us there.
Other than boring, the biggest complaints I hear from my anti-Obama friends are that he is too liberal, that he will be a tax and spend guy, that the country is going to turn socialist, etc, etc, etc. I predict that we are all going to be in for a pleasant surprise. For the ultra-liberals, it won't necessarily be to their liking. Obama has emonstrated all the early signs of being a centrist based upon a clear and apparent sense about doing what is right for our country without a hidden agenda (e.g. lining the pockets of the fat cat oil executives like He who Is Now Nameless did). Consider, for example, getting the troops out of Iraq. Obama refuses to box himself into a position that will adhere to a rigid inflexible timeline for troop withdrawal, nor will he, as Nameless has done, turn over the reins of Commander-In-Chief to General Petraeus. In other words, Obama prefers his announced timeline, but is not wedded to it. The same centrist signals are being sent by him regarding hunting down bin Laden in the mountains of Pakistan. He is to the right of McCain on this issue and his stated position is the one that makes most sense. Mark my words. His inauguration speech will be a variation of JFK's famous declaration of "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." We all need to take some personal responsibility for the mess this country is in. We all participated in creating the problem and we all must engage at the most basic of levels in working out of the dilemma. It may be something simple like paying an extra amount of taxes to reduce the horrible burden that cannot be shifted simply to the next generation of Americans, i.e. our children and grandchildren. We have been drunk in excesses. In such a time, the boring, but steady hand of Obama, is comforting and reassuring. It is time to take the cure by allowing Boring Barry to take us there.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Is This What It Is all About?
I have written from time to time about all of the racist e-mails I have received during this presidential campaign. The winner so far in terms of sheer disgust is that cropped photo of Barack Obama polishing the shoes of Sarah Palin. One of my very best friends (I generally don't rate my friends on scales of 1 to 10, but I love this guy for who he is) has moved away from the southeast Michigan area to sunnier climes. He is now deciding how to vote based upon his primal feelings about the way that blacks in Detroit have mismanaged local politics. Kwame Kilpatrick has stepped down from the office of mayor after more than six months of highly publicized stores of his having an affair with a top aide and lying about it under oath, costing the city of Detroit more than 9 million dollars in a civil lawsuit. In a phone call this week, my friend pointed out that Coleman Young's son is running for mayor in a special election. Coleman Young, for the unknowing, ran Detroit as a personal fiefdom for 20 years and most people (including me) believe the Young was the one person most responsible for the free fall of the city into a third world-type aberration. Please keep in mind as I proceed with the rest of this writing that the only thing that Kilpatrick, Young and Obama have in common is the color of their skin. I refer to this bias as the primal racist theory and after a couple of cups of caffeine jolting through my brain, wonder if it is just possible that some unknown evolutionary process is at work causing white people who, if they had been born less than 200 years ago, could have been slave owners, to just naturally consider themselves superior to all things black William F. Buckley, the guru of modern conservative Republican thinking, asserted that whites, being superior, were well within their rights to discriminate against blacks. “The White community is so entitled,” he wrote, “because, for the time being, it is the advanced race.” He, of course, later disavowed this type of thinking, only because it served his own personal interests to do so.
For my Detroit-area friends I have tried to understand the preference for McCain/Palin in the context of this background which, admittedly, is not a pretty one. I also admit to bringing one of my own biases into the presidential consideration which is that our society seems to bring lowest common denominator-types into the presidential mix. Consider Bush and. Kerry just four years ago as the most representative example. The net result of all of this on my thinking is that I really and truly have found it difficult to understand how kind and decent people throughout America could ever consider Palin a worthwhile candidate. The hatred and sheer ineptitude she brings to the table are amazing and frightening to me as, most simply put, they represent exactly the same form and logic that Hitler used in the 1930s, and that Joe McCathy used in the early 1950s to demonize people.
Another piece of this puzzle in trying to understand this phenomenon and the apparent love affair that a segment of our electorate have for Palin clicked into place today. What follows is an excerpt from another e-mail:
---makes a person think. I truly believe we are living in the end times and pray all those I love and care for will come to accept Christ as their Savior.
This will make you re-think: A Trivia question in Sunday School:
How long is the beast allowed to have authority in Revelations?
Revelations Chapter 13 tells us it is 42 months, and you know what that is.
Almost a four-year term of a Presidency.
All I can say is 'Lord, Have mercy on us!'
According to The Book of Revelations the anti-Christ is: The anti-Christ will
be a man, in his 40's, of MUSLIM descent, who will deceive the nations with
persuasive language, and have a MASSIVE Christ-like appeal....the prophecy says
that people will flock to him and he will promise false hope and world peace,
and when he is in power, will destroy everything..
Do we recognize this description??
I STRONGLY URGE each one of you to send this as many times as
you can! Each opportunity that you have to send it to a friend or media outlet..do it!
I refuse to take a chance on this unknown candidate who came out of nowhere.
From: Dr. John Tisdale
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Friends,
As I was listening to a news program last night, I watched in horror as Barack Obama made the statement with pride. . ..'we are no longer a Christian nation; we are now a nation of Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, . . .' As with so many other statements I've heard him (and his wife) make, I never thought I'd see the day that I'd hear something like that from a presidential candidate in this nation.
To think our forefathers fought and died for the right for our nation to be a Christian nation--and to have this man say with pride that we are no longer that. How far this nation has come from what our founding fathers intended it to be.
I hope that each of you will do what I'm doing now--send your concerns, written simply and sincerely, to the Christians on your email list. With God's help, and He is still in control of this nation and all else, we can show this man and the world in November that we are, indeed, still a Christian nation!
Please pray for our nation!
So I ask the question: Is this what it is all about? Have I been missing the point all along? Are the objections to this man named Barack Hussein Obama based on another claimed association that I have simply ignored because I perceived that it just bordered on sheer lunacy? Or is it part of standard fundamental religious thinking in America that the end is nearing and that, if Obama is elected, he will take us there? From where I sit it looks like the Republican party has already done a pretty damn good job of getting us there all by itself, without the help of a young black kid raised in the heartland of America who has clearly distinguished himself in terms of intellect and conduct to be utterly fit to be our next president. I, too, pray for my nation, but I don't have to take a bite out of my soul, or anybody else's either. to do so. I'll answer my own question. That is not what it is all about.
For my Detroit-area friends I have tried to understand the preference for McCain/Palin in the context of this background which, admittedly, is not a pretty one. I also admit to bringing one of my own biases into the presidential consideration which is that our society seems to bring lowest common denominator-types into the presidential mix. Consider Bush and. Kerry just four years ago as the most representative example. The net result of all of this on my thinking is that I really and truly have found it difficult to understand how kind and decent people throughout America could ever consider Palin a worthwhile candidate. The hatred and sheer ineptitude she brings to the table are amazing and frightening to me as, most simply put, they represent exactly the same form and logic that Hitler used in the 1930s, and that Joe McCathy used in the early 1950s to demonize people.
Another piece of this puzzle in trying to understand this phenomenon and the apparent love affair that a segment of our electorate have for Palin clicked into place today. What follows is an excerpt from another e-mail:
---makes a person think. I truly believe we are living in the end times and pray all those I love and care for will come to accept Christ as their Savior.
This will make you re-think: A Trivia question in Sunday School:
How long is the beast allowed to have authority in Revelations?
Revelations Chapter 13 tells us it is 42 months, and you know what that is.
Almost a four-year term of a Presidency.
All I can say is 'Lord, Have mercy on us!'
According to The Book of Revelations the anti-Christ is: The anti-Christ will
be a man, in his 40's, of MUSLIM descent, who will deceive the nations with
persuasive language, and have a MASSIVE Christ-like appeal....the prophecy says
that people will flock to him and he will promise false hope and world peace,
and when he is in power, will destroy everything..
Do we recognize this description??
I STRONGLY URGE each one of you to send this as many times as
you can! Each opportunity that you have to send it to a friend or media outlet..do it!
I refuse to take a chance on this unknown candidate who came out of nowhere.
From: Dr. John Tisdale
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Friends,
As I was listening to a news program last night, I watched in horror as Barack Obama made the statement with pride. . ..'we are no longer a Christian nation; we are now a nation of Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, . . .' As with so many other statements I've heard him (and his wife) make, I never thought I'd see the day that I'd hear something like that from a presidential candidate in this nation.
To think our forefathers fought and died for the right for our nation to be a Christian nation--and to have this man say with pride that we are no longer that. How far this nation has come from what our founding fathers intended it to be.
I hope that each of you will do what I'm doing now--send your concerns, written simply and sincerely, to the Christians on your email list. With God's help, and He is still in control of this nation and all else, we can show this man and the world in November that we are, indeed, still a Christian nation!
Please pray for our nation!
So I ask the question: Is this what it is all about? Have I been missing the point all along? Are the objections to this man named Barack Hussein Obama based on another claimed association that I have simply ignored because I perceived that it just bordered on sheer lunacy? Or is it part of standard fundamental religious thinking in America that the end is nearing and that, if Obama is elected, he will take us there? From where I sit it looks like the Republican party has already done a pretty damn good job of getting us there all by itself, without the help of a young black kid raised in the heartland of America who has clearly distinguished himself in terms of intellect and conduct to be utterly fit to be our next president. I, too, pray for my nation, but I don't have to take a bite out of my soul, or anybody else's either. to do so. I'll answer my own question. That is not what it is all about.
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