the progressive's cross: time to start walkin...

mr. obama hasn't stopped the war in iraq, has not a single line of a plan to stop the war in iraq, and, in fact, his policy on iraq has become indistinguishable from cheney's which was all about oil, baby, oil ...

mr. obama  has approved 12 more coal projects to remove mountain tops and dump them in rivers...how could this possibly be? it is anathema to everything we stand for as environmentalists, if not as real christian stewards of ''the earth and everything in it...''

and mr. obama did not put the single-payer option on the table in constructing a health care plan--it was never there...how could it not be even there? it was the total focus of his 'plan'...

he has done nothing for darfur, not even words that would clarify a single policy on that genocide, certainly nothing was done in the ''first 60 days" as promised, and it is looking doubtful that there will be any work in this area...which is appalling to me.

appalling.

in the great cause to work with the 'other side' it appears he has lost the very principles he said he stood for--we are not naive, we knew damn well he wasn't a progressive, but we didn't expect him to come out with his soul so nakedly sold to big business as usual...

it is almost too much to bear...this was the vote to change at least a few important fundamentals...but not even one has changed...not even one...

is this where we yield the u.s. of a. to the corporatists, sell everything we've got, join the peace corps and get on with the business of learning the beautiful mystery of suffering? are we there yet?

when does it finally reach the point where it matters, by God, and you get up and go do what you know is right and not just sit here and hope for the best? are you there yet?

i think i'm gettin' there sooner than i thought, by God...and i'm just about there.

baaah

when the house republicans let the CHIPS fall where they may 127,000 kids were the victims and heirs of this state's naked disregard for insuring their healthcare...

and, too, the great light in the governor's office had already been blown out with his promise of veto--
but then the gov sits in the dark most days so who would have noticed?

and 'turns out it was only the house democrats that saved this fragile democracy for another election cycle, by chubbing as long as it took to kill the voter ID bill, which would have disenfranchised hundreds of thousands of elderly and poor citizens of this state...nothing amazes me more than the casual disdain shown by senate and house republicans for "the least of these," with a few exceptions [senator carona, thank you!], and the obsequious genuflection in the direction of anything well-monied...

the insurance industry comes to mind...with remarkable care, republicans of both houses carved out exceptions for this group such that the insurance agency has not been held accountable for lo these 14 years...my, my, how time flies...and now the guv is going to call a special session so that they can have 2 more? how does that occur without some gawdamighty 'tender' handling of that industry for election purposes...truly a miracle of modern political science...like turning water into rare, million dollar vintage wine...

it is so discouraging, and yet such a relief, that they have sine died. hip hip, bah.

Governor Goodhair Riles Agin

Well, you know, Rick Perry is such a great leader and all wanting Texas to secede. Actually, he was trying to say ''succeed" but it just didn't work out, so he's going with what his mouth said when his brain was engaged.

HOWEVER, apparently he doesn't even know that as the governor of my own great State of Texas he's ALREADY head of a foreign country.

Sorta dumb twice. Actually it's more than that but since he can't count we'll just keep it simple.

of ducklings and swans and mice and men

Although I teared up like everyone else, I still felt a tinge of misery after watching the whole thing, just as the producers had envisioned it--from duckling to swan, and back again. It was quite an adventure in stages of reality.

I hoped she had been prepared for that special kind of public vulnerability because, before all of the adulation, the open disdain by audience and judges alike was awful. If you didn't squirm a little, you should check your moral pulse...

Without even knowing her story--bullied as a child for a "learning disability," living alone with her cat, never 'been kissed--it looked like she was sent out there onstage without the benefit of either coaching or hair comb...perhaps ''as is'' makes for better copy...good for a few extra groans and titters at her expense.

Perhaps she didn't care. No doubt she's had years of practice ignoring the unkindnesses of strangers, but I can't imagine that she wouldn't suffer at some point watching a re-run ....the close-ups of audience and critics rolling their eyes at the walking disaster aspiring to be a star.

And then she delivered the whole package with the voice of an angel. It was perfect irony that she sang ''I dreamed a dream..."

One might cynically observe that she'll make a little money, so what is this mush about a few seconds of embarrassment here and there?...what difference does it make?

Hey, it's a show...classic schadenfreude entertainment. What's a little casual ridicule?

Call me Pollyanna, but it matters to me.

so he has launched well enough
he is not the progressive we knew him not to be
but he is powerfully intelligent of heart and mind

if there is mercy he will not get it at the hands of his detractors
and if we are not careful he will not get it from the hands of his supporters either
we must not fall short on our end when there are things we cannot agree with, but go on and save it for later
unfortunately, this will probably happen enough to make you wonder...
but there are some things that will not be forgotten and will be pursued to the end....

like cutting the tax cuts for the rich
like putting back in money for schools
like saving the middle class along with saving the banks
like restoring a moratorium on all off-shore drilling
like actually closing guantanamo and the secret places of torture and detention
like pulling out of iraq and giving back the oil resources, because our troops did not pay with american blood for the oil companies to get their fat oil field contracts

most critical now is integrity
and maintaining open governing
with a constancy of communication
telling us what is
or what was
or what's next
giving us humor along with the bitter
facts to build on along with the hopes to dream on

make us your family
talk to us
don't forget who you are, young papa
stay close

come day

it is almost a new day
but it will always be almost a new day
wherever there are dreamers
looking at the impossibleness of now
and feeling the urgency of the next moment
















so, come miracle
be!
so that we do for ourselves and others what we think is someone else's job
emboldened with the courage we want someone else to feel
and wise with the goodness we believe to be someone else's gifts

and then, miracle, bring dreams to those who don't know what 'miracle' means

jesus on a velociraptor

...rick warren is playing this inauguration thing for all it's worth...and now it all fits together, doesn't it?
each one used the other--mr. obama got the evangelical vote and ''pastor rick" got the president's face next to his on the saddleback megachurch website, promoting the "inauguration prayer" as a featured video

you know, rick warren is a nice guy, but he had no business invoking the lord's prayer in the inaugural invocation, forcing it on christians and non-christians alike...i mean, what christian ISN'T going to pray the lord's prayer after ''and now as our savior taught us..."
INCLUSIVE OR EXCLUSIVE?
no less than 30% of america was left out of that prayer because it is exclusively christian--the non-christians excluded from saying that prayer are muslim americans, jewish americans, buddhist americans, atheist americans, agnostic americans...which is interesting because christian church memberships are declining at such a rate that by about the year 2042, non-christians will outnumber the christians in the u.s.
BUT WAIT -- THERE'S MORE
pastor rick is not just a christian, he is evangelical ...and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that..except that he's snuggling up to our president and trying to reclaim his lost ecumenical credibility...ain't happenin'...you can't keep eating that cake and have it too...i venture to say most regular christians would never have invoked the lord's prayer at a presidential inauguration...but he's a born again evangelical, and almost by definition is incapable of reaching out without proselytizing...
DO THE NUMBERS
did you know that evangelicals make up only about 7% of the U.S. adult population? do you remember all of that hoohaw rick threw around re prop 8 when he said that 3% of the country shouldn't be allowed to dictate policy to the rest of the country? you mean all gay population needs is another lousy 4% for that?
DO YOU PASS THE TEST
are you an evangelical christian? can you pass rick warren's purity test for church membership?
[gays need not apply]
are you celibate? or a sanctified, married heterosexual?
anti-sex education? anti-planned parenthood? anti-choice?
anti-free-condoms-and-nothing-but-abstinence, even in africa for people who have aids?
anti-stem cell research? anti-scientific evolution? but PRO-the-world-was-made-in-6000-years?
well then, you are an evangelical!
BUT, for all of the stuff above that you DON'T get to do,
you will get at least one really exciting thing:



jesus on a velociraptor! hi ho big green! awaaaaay!
...i'm definitely outside the tent with the uberchristians on this one...
but i think their velociraptor is totally cool

Jesus riding a velociraptor.
Originally uploaded by DarksideHalo

barack's poetry as a young man...

"Pop" (by Barack Obama)

[written at age 19]

Pop

Sitting in his seat, a seat broad and broken
In, sprinkled with ashes,
Pop switches channels, takes another
Shot of Seagrams, neat, and asks
What to do with me, a green young man
Who fails to consider the
Flim and flam of the world, since
Things have been easy for me;
I stare hard at his face, a stare
That deflects off his brow;
I'm sure he's unaware of his
Dark, watery eyes, that
Glance in different directions,
And his slow, unwelcome twitches,
Fail to pass.
I listen, nod,
Listen, open, till I cling to his pale,
Beige T-shirt, yelling,
Yelling in his ears, that hang
With heavy lobes, but he's still telling
His joke, so I ask why
He's so unhappy, to which he replies . . .
But I don't care anymore, cause
He took too damn long, and from
Under my seat, I pull out the
Mirror I've been saving; I'm laughing,
Laughing loud, the blood rushing from his face
To mine, as he grows small,
A spot in my brain, something
That may be squeezed out, like a
Watermelon seed between
Two fingers.
Pop takes another shot, neat,
Points out the same amber
Stain on his shorts that I've got on mine and
Makes me smell his smell, coming
From me; he switches channels, recites an old poem
He wrote before his mother died,
Stands, shouts, and asks
For a hug, as I shink, my
Arms barely reaching around
His thick, oily neck, and his broad back; 'cause
I see my face, framed within
Pop's black-framed glasses
And know he's laughing too.

...whatever else we learn about our new president,
it is beautiful to note here the poetic soul of his youth

but breathing

forty people, a few of them straight, all of us christian, filled this living room with an intensity of well-articulated disappointment, observations and mystifications where lately had been sleighbells ring, the holly and the ivy, silent night and a 10' tree

some spoke with historical perspective, some religious, some political--all were relieved to be together to talk and listen with others of like mind and soul on what obama meant by choosing ''pastor'' warren...but mostly, it was just good to be in the same room...comforting even, with the common issues of frustration spilled out all over the floor...it took the better part of the evening to mop that up with the episcopal lexicon of uncommon understanding, if not actual forgiveness...

my take-away was that i don't need to focus on mr obama any more on this issue...i believe in hope, and i believe that, given enough time, he will get there as a leader....

instead, my task is to educate mr warren, perhaps first by loving him--always the hardest part of any communication, even with those who are like me...and sometimes especially with those who are like me

so i'm going to write an old fashioned letter to the pastor of saddleback church -- the presupposed altar ego of brokeback mountain -- to start a conversation...and to do so in such a way that i cannot be mistaken for anyone other than a member of the body of Christ, perhaps asking him to celebrate L0VE-is-the-purpose-driven-Eucharist at my table, where we are all God-made humans in the presence of the Holy Spirit...

because when i look for it, and i see the Love in you, rick warren,
then i feel it, and i know that i have that Love in me too

and the rest is up to you,
with Her help

sucking hope

you can put your shoes in the oven but that don't make 'em biscuits

did you just HOPE that putting that bigot in a sacred spot on your inauguration card
would somehow eventually, magically make it all come out okay?
you didn't know it was a dumb thing to do?
that it would hurt some really faithful people in your camp?

well, buddy, you have just toasted your wingtips to a fare-thee-well

how in hell can you call us out on election night
regaling us with the magnificent promise that
''as a people, we will get there''
and then you knife us by inviting

mr dr rick gay-parents-are-pedophiles warren
as the spiritual leader to bless you
on the most historic inauguration this country has seen
since that of the first white president, george washington?
a man ordained to speak the language of love
but who speaks the language of ''soft'' [sounds-like-christian] hate
comparing gay marriage to pedophilia, incest, and polygamy?

it completely sucks the air out of the air...
sucks the hope out of hope

why not just ask the devil instead?
he's the same thing only better, without the fat...
because not only can you depend on the devil to promulgate hate
and impersonate God at the same time
but he will look really fabulously svelte and haute doing it!

choosing rick warren to pray over your inauguration displays a cynical political finesse
too similar to the kind of blatant cynical arrogance of mr george ''so what?" bush

which is 180 from the president i keep trying to believe* in

*see earlier post below