OBAMA BUSH

Our 43rd and 44th Presidents are alike in one very startling way.

People believe there are marked differences between George W. Bush and Barack Hussein Obama. One's black, the other white. One's liberal, the other conservative. One's loved, the other vilified.

But historians will see it differently, at least when it comes to foreign policy and national security. They will see the glaring similarities between the two men. After promising to abolish all of the "power grabs" of his predecessor, Obama has abolished few of them and in fact as extended many, like the FISA law and created new ones like banning assembly at government buildings. On the foreign policy front, some have noted that there are 100 ways Obama is like Bush.

Whether Obama broke promises or not is at times debatable. What is without question is the fact that Presidential policy and the U.S. Global Initiative changed on September 11, 2001 and so our world agenda had to change.

Obama supporters say that this is because Bush created a new brand of foreign policy that effectively bound the new President (and future Presidents) to his political will.

Obama detractors say the President is at best weak and at worst, the leader of Bush's third and fourth term.

Presidents leave deep footprints in history and new Presidents don't so much chart new passages as they modify old ones.

Still, no progressive is happy with the situation and the conservatives pretend to be mad but notice that they are not angry about any of the wars, military actions or other aggressive moves by President Obama.

The President's second term goals have been stated. They include gun control, gay rights, immigration and the continuation of the aforementioned global policy.

So, if you're waiting on a big change, then you'd better start thinking about 2016. And how creepy will that picture look when Hilary Clinton's face is morphed in.

© 2013

OBAMA UNCHAINED?

A Second Term President Reveals Who A Man Really Is. 

So, now what?

Barrack Obama has been sworn in for a second term and after the parties and the parades and Beyonce what's gonna happen?

There was always the hope that the reserved man of the first term would give way to a more rambunctious President, one who would embrace progressivism and run with it. But judging from his speech, that's probably not going to happen. But I am making a direct appeal to the President.

Go Django.

Well, not in the literal sense. He should not try to erase his enemies, although would any of us miss the legitimate rape guy?

No, he should do it in the metaphorical sense, stop trying to please people who will never like or respect you.  Dr. King didn't want to be loved; he wanted people to embrace the policy of love but he was resolute in his beliefs and if you didn't like him, that was cool, just get out of the way.

I never expect any President to do anything by himself.  The Presidency is really very symbolic and so the President should stand for something, not just the circular politics of our time. He should stop declaring wars on concepts and inanimate objects and speak candidly about how people are losing ground.

But even if the President cannot be more Django-like, we can do something. We can unchain our minds against the things that have kept us enslaved to hopelessness, self-hate and discord. And for that we need no permission, no leadership, just will.

So, let's all say goodbye to Miss Candie and get it done.

©2013

FOR SALE: THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS

We all know that the seven deadly sins are PRIDE, ENVY, GLUTTONY, LUST, ANGER, GREED and SLOTH. But did you know that we market each sin in societal policy?  

As I stated in my brilliant blog The Human Debt Ceiling, the unholy trinity of Materialism, Ignorance and Faithlessness is killing our nation.  Here is more specific proof of that theory.

PRIDE is excessive belief in one's own abilities, that interferes with the individual's recognition of the grace of God. It has been called the sin from which all others arise. While America has slipped to middling in every indicator as a world power, we are #1 when it comes to confidence. We go about stating that "America is still the best and talking abour "Exceptionalism."  And we say it, tweet it, text it and watch it on machines made in China. 

America markets Pride by being in denial about our slipping fortunes.  The day we stepped away from civility, humanity and caring for our fellow man was the day we ceased to be the best.  If pride does indeed cometh before the fall, then it won't be-eth very fucking long.

GREED is the desire for material wealth or gain, ignoring the realm of the spiritual.  Wall Street and Washington are 24 hour Greed Machines. These two entites conspired to execute the biggest crime in the history of our nation.  

And we have all been suckered by "prosperity ministry."  For the last time people, God is not an ATM machine.

America markets greed to us by saying that greed is good and rewarding greedy people and never calling bullshit on the unholy connection between the church and covetedness.

ENVY is the desire for others' traits, status, abilities, or situation.  This one is right in front of your face each day.  The reality show.  We envy celebrities because they seem to have a great life.  But we forgot celebrity was once attained with talent.  But since we lowered the bar, accepted greed and gave in to false pride, now everyone thinks they can and should be a star.

America markets Envy by promoting greed and pride which allows anyone to covet the status and life of another.  We used to accept our lot in life by the grace of God.  Now, we think if "I can just show my ass in the right place I can be famous and get paid." 

GLUTTONY is an inordinate desire to consume more than that which one requires.  Most people think of food when they see this one.  But most gluttony is in the form of consuming and indulging in everything to excess. 

America markets Gluttony in all things American.  Nothing can be too big, too flashy or too much.  We have to have the biggest car, house and fake breasts.  And it's okay because, you guessed it, we're the best and we deserve anything we can get by any means because God wants us to have it here on earth.

But if you insist on the old world definition, America is the second fattest nation in the world behind Kuwait.

SLOTH is the avoidance of physical or spiritual work.  Lazy comes right after fat in this country. Americans used to have a work ethic that found us connecting our occupation in spirit and thankfulness. Now, we all just want to get paid without working or having talent. (seen Envy above)  And as for spiritual work, well, that's too hard.  It easier to believe that God wants to give you stuff.

America markets Sloth by talking about exceptionalism but promoting dependency and then blasting you when you become dependent.  It also tells you that solthfullness is a right and evil men are trying to take it from you.

LUST is an inordinate craving for the pleasures of the body.  From bimbo news anchors to lingerie for kids, America had pushed its head into its genitals and will not come out.  But the best evidence of this is the Celebrity Ho.  How did Kim Kardashinan and Paris Hilton both screw all over the internet and then get to come into you child's bedroom at night?  Our young girls are sexualized at an early age and so inevitably pedophilia is now on the rise.

America markets lust by selling all other sins with it.

ANGER spurns love.  We hate each other.  For over thousand of years we've been trying to figure out how to love  each other and all we do is cling to the silly belief that one person is somehow better than another due to some superficial trait.  And because we hate each other, it has been easy for people to divide us and thereby sell us the other six Deadly Sins.

American markets anger buy turning its citizens toward prejudice and bigotry and away from God and while we fight, they steal the world from us.

Copyright 2011

OCCUPY HEAVEN

Millions Gather At Churches And Religious Landmarks to Protest The Rebuke Of A Reward In The Afterlife.

Along with the protest against greed has come a bigger movement. Occupy Heaven is upset that the new Christianity, Prosperity Ministry, has silently killed the idea that Heaven is your reward. For the last fifty years, the Christian church has become more interested in wealth than souls and as a result, it has been corrupted to its core.

One Occupy member said: "The only difference between Wall Street and the church is, your teenaged son might be safe on Wall Street."

So, In a startling move, God has closed Heaven.

The Almighty is upset that Christians now believe that their reward for good behavior is found on Earth and in things made by men and not in ideals proposed by The Word.

Occupy Heaven is trying to get God to change his mind and re-open Heaven by turning on a fallen church.

"This has got to stop!" says Bill Brown, 35, of Atlanta. "Each week, I go to church looking for salvation and wisdom and all I get is cynical sermons about "money blessings. Last week my minister's sermon was entitled The ATM of Faith. I wanted to strangle him with his shiny suit."

The movement is global, with protesters jamming the doors of cathedrals all over the world. More than 3 million people filled Vatican City last week for a vigil.

The Pope issued a statement saying that the Catholic Church has never abandoned the idea of Heaven. The Pontiff then agreed that as long as we foolishly place faith in men, money and material, we violate the First Commandment and Heaven should remained closed. He did not, however agree to Occupy's request to get rid of "that smoking purse and the shiny dresses."

St. Peter, guardian of the Gates To Heaven, had this to say: "It's a shame. After thousands of years, people all of a sudden back off faith for money, fame and status? It's ridiculous. By the way, I'm out of work now, what's up with that Jobs Bill?"

But some people believe Heaven is outdated. "Man, it's like that 17 virgins thing," said Reverend Curtis Currency of the Unity Church in Alabama. "Be good and go to some place with clouds and Angels? That's crazy talk. God wants you to be happy now and have the things that make you feel good now."  When asked what he thought happened when we died, Rev. Currency said: "I don't know but I'm sure there's some kind of nice car involved."

Millions in the Occupy movement called upon God to respond and he did through tweets he sends to an obscure writer:

"Heaven is the wellspring of eternity, the only thing worthy of your faith and soul. It is no joke-- and neither am I." - retweeted from God.

For now, Heaven remains closed and no one will pass into its eternal bliss as long as we continue to believe as we do.

Reverend Baker Donovan of Maine put it best: "We are free to worship as we like in America, but God's Nation is not a democracy and there is no amending His Constitution. Only in service of His Word can we truly Occupy Heaven.

copyright 2011

EVERYTHANG IS RACIST (Updated)

America Has Always Had Problems, But One Notion Seems To Always Be The Icing On The Cake.

The title of this piece comes from my old barber in Detroit. During a conversation about politics, he uttered the now famous line.

"Shut the hell up man, everythang is racist!"

He didn't mean it literally, of course.  What he was saying was that race is so intertwined, connected and fused to the bones of American life, that it seems to touch and concern every problem we have.

As I look back at our history and assess our current dilemmas, it is clear he has a point.

Slavery of course was the beginning of it all.  But before the evil practice, men and women of color held positions of power and authority and were integrated into society without much incident.  As we all know, the first President of the pre-United States was black. Also, little known is that President Warren G. Harding was the great grandson of a black woman. If Obama is Black then so is my man Warren G.

In the beginning, the connection of race was clear. Laws like the Fugitive Slave Act, the Kansas/Nebraska Act, Missouri Compromise, Dred Scott Case were all linked to race.  But some were more subtle, like the Electoral College. 

In his excellent book, A Renegade History Of The United States, historian Thaddeus Russell lays out documented proof that race and race relations have been and still are one of the predominant forces of American politics, economy and social structure.  

In successive and repetitive waves, Russell shows how one ethnic minority after another communed with blacks, "borrowed" their culture, then ascended into "respectability" where they assumed the intense bigotry of the dominant culture.

Over the years, our inability to address the sin of racism, even after a bloody civil war, has put us into a dangerous stage of denial wherein white America sought to have the benefits of murder and oppression without the guilt and the moral debt and Black America, even while attaining some socio-economic mobility, has never been able to push beyond the gravitational pull of self-hatred, self-destruction and disunity.

And so now we all hide behind euphemism, innuendo, suggestion and rhetoric when we talk about the ugly, sustained notion of racial inferiority.  Predatory lending, professional sports slavery, AltRight, Occupy Wall Street, The Help, Police shootings and The Hunger Games all have race somewhere in their core.  

And most recently, the election of a clearly non-white President unleashed a racial tidal wave like this country has not seen since the 1960's. The ugly depictions and statements about the President  made even some of his detractors cringe. And now after his departure, America has elected, under the guise of an outsider, yet another oblivious old white man who seeks to make America Great again by returning to the horrific practices that subjugated millions of people.

I ask you, if a simple barber saw to the core of our society's ills, why can't our leaders? Indeed, why can't any of us?

And as bias becomes more the norm each day, I wonder if my humble barber may have been even smarter than he knew, for if I accept his premise metaphorically, I am left with a startling and logical conclusion:

If everythang is racist...

Then nothing is.

copyright 2012

TRAYVON MARTIN AND THE LIGHT

There is something in the Trayvon Martin case bigger than the death of an innocent boy, bigger than even the conspiracy that let his killer go free for 47 days.

The light is on again.  That mental radiance that illuminates the un-forgiven sin of our nation, the nuclear bomb of perceived racial inferiority, the subjugation of hearts and minds to the casual affliction of bias that permeates our culture.  For this, we all suffer without regard to race or color, culture or creed. 

I do not call for action, or prayers, nor do I ask for donations or pledges that are forgotten as soon as Facebook is clicked off.  I don't need to.  We all have skin in this game and no one can walk away from this after it becomes last week's "news-tainment" or a hyperlink at the bottom of an internet page.

I just ask for a moment to consider your place in the vastness of humaniy and know that we all make a difference-- if only we dare.  

Human beings have the greatest conviction of any species on the planet.  And Americans live in the nation with the most freedom and yet we abdicate that gift for the complacency of sheepish behavior.  Well, all I can say is, men eat sheep and make clothes of their skin.  We must stand against the cultural lies that give fuel to the Norman Wolfingers, Chris Lees and Judge Robert Zimmermans who in turn enable and protect the George Zimmermans to commit murder motivated by those same cultural lies.

I will not let the dead become a footnote to my humanity or the “snooze button” on the clock of my righteous indignation.

Trayvon is dead.

Zimmerman is arrested.

And I dare to challenge all the reasons why it happened.

I dare.

Copyright 2012

TRAYVON. O.J AND THE THE BLACK INCEPTION

In The Aftermath Of The Controversial Case, We Find That The Dangerous Notion Which Killed A Boy And Holds Us All Captive Still Lives. 

 I tried. I really did. I wanted to let George Zimmerman's arrest be the end of it for me, but in the wake of the case, a very disturbing thing has happened. Pundits have been discussing the case and many journalists, including Piers Morgan and the great Bob Schieffer have shown a remarkable ignorance when it comes to understanding why people are so upset about the death of this boy. 

And then Acura, making a car commercial with Jerry Seinfeld, calls for a black man but "not too dark." Then I realized that I couldn't do it-- Because of the idea. A notion has been planted in the brain of America, just like they did in the film Inception. It's an old idea, one that has been nurtured and supported by everything from ancient writings to Twitter. This idea that black people are inferior is at the heart of every other bigoted notion about us. 

 This lie was created to justify sin and fortified over the years. It is ingrained within the basic imagery of color, that anything dark is bad and everything light is good, which is sadly one of the basic building blocks of our mind's perception. In children's stories, no black knight ever wins and no white knight ever loses. 

The Trayvon Martin and O.J. Simpson cases show what a deep divide still remains in our culture and how under all of our civilized behavior, the inception lives and flourishes as we push ever forward to our future.

O.J. Simpson was a black man who was famous and was exalted by all races. Then he was charged with killing two white people. And the notion was that this violent tendency was always in him, dormant and born of natural causes.

George Zimmerman is a man with violence, recklessness and insecurity in his past. But when he killed a black man, the perception by many is he did this not because of his natural tendencies but because of his perception of the victim's natural tendencies. And his perception comes from the inception of the idea that black men are inherently inferior, violent and dangerous. In both cases, you have black men, one accused of murder, the other dead by murder but both held in contempt based on preconceived notions that have been supported by all of society (and yes, that includes us black folk). And just as dangerous as "the black man is always guilty" inception is the one that says all black men are somewhow or in some way, wrongly accused. 

In the end, we are left to our morality for these judgments and I must say we are sorely lacking in this area. To me at least, the field is in clear vision: Zimmerman is as guilty as O.J. and Trayvon was as innocent as Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman. 

So to all the people out there who don't understand why people are upset, think just a moment before you embarrass yourself like Piers Morgan and Bob Schieffer did. Think about the fact that no man has a right to feel so threatened by the mere presence of another that murder is justified. And understand also that the racism and mistreatment of our people is never an excuse for criminal behavior. 

I don't know if we can ever undo this inception, even as you read this, people are fortifying it in the media and pop culture and feeding it to their children. But we are the governor's of our hearts and minds and in this, we can do anything. In closing, let me plant the only idea that really matters: 

We are all just human. 

Copyright 2012