The Temper of a Leader

I was thinking about the tempers of the folks running in the Primary today and, low and behold, my mom brought up the same thing this evening. She said, "Did you notice McCain, Clinton and Romney all have bad tempers?" I acknowledged I'd noticed that too and was also concerned. Apparently McCain and Hillary Clinton are famous for their violent tempers. I'm not sure about Bill's temper but I know he's been pretty riled up lately on the campaign trail. According to Hillary Speak, "Bill just gets really enthusiastic about supporting me." I think she needs to check out the definition of "enthusiastic". I've begun to notice Mitt also seems to flair up quite easily too when cornered. Edwards isn't bad tempered, he's just found that passion is his presidential selling point. The only candidate who seems to be able to remain honest, rational and calm when sorely provoked is Obama. I've been noticing his ability to absorb, proactively address and productively diffuse or change tense situations all through the debates. That's been one of the reasons I like him so much.

That brings me to my litmus test for a president. I really like the movie "Fail Safe". I especially like Henry Fonda's protrayal of a president who has to make an excruciating decision and who does so with grace, calm and an open minded intelligence. Given an impossible situation in which a jet carrying a nuclear bomb is accidentally sent out to target Moscow, Fonda's president must convince the Russians it was an accident. When the plane cannot be stopped because of strict protocols and it drops a bomb that incinerates Moscow, the U.S. President decides to bomb New York as a show of goodwill and reciprocation. He calmly sends out his best friend and crack pilot to bomb a city both their wives and children are visiting. Fonda's president makes that decision because it is in the best interest of humanity. He doesn't want WWIII. What is so impressive is the calm, thoughtful way this president works through the problems, gains the respect and trust of the Russian leaders, is able to see the big picture, cares about the future and has the strength to make a terrible decision.

My question is what candidate running this year could be a president with similar ethics, character, moral strength, intelligence and compassion as the one described above.

The Better Angels of Our Nature

I remember another leader who inspired the nation, especially our youth, to fulfill a promise of change. Those inspired young people marched, sat in at lunch counters, protested the war in Vietnam and served honorably in that war even when they opposed it.

That leader challenged them to ask what they could do for their country and, together, they changed the world.

So in the words of that leader, John Kennedy: "The world is changing. The old ways will not do... It is time for a new generation of leadership."

I have found that next generation of American leadership in Barack Obama.

Take a moment to join his campaign:

http://www.democraticmajority.com/obama

I respect the strength, the work and dedication of two other Democrats still in the race, Hillary Clinton and John Edwards. They are my friends; they have been my colleagues in the Senate. Whoever is our nominee will have my enthusiastic support.

But I believe there is one candidate whose extraordinary gifts of leadership and character match the extraordinary demands of this moment in history.

Barack will be a president who refuses to be trapped in the patterns of the past. He sees the world clearly without being cynical. He fights for the causes he believes in -- but refuses to demonize those who hold a different view. He's tough-minded, but he also has an uncommon capacity to appeal to "the better angels of our nature."

In Barack Obama, I see not just the audacity, but the possibility of hope for the America that is yet to be.

I love this country. I believe in the bright light of hope and possibility. I always have, even in the darkest hours. I know what America can achieve. I've seen it. I've lived it -- and with Barack Obama, we can do it again.

Sincerely,

Senator Edward M. Kennedy

Political Manipulation

I am so sick of the twisted political process in this country and how easily voters fall prey to manipulation.

In the last election the Bush Dynasty and their corporate cronies manipulated Christians to elect Bush Jr.. Before the election, I remember walking into a Christian bookstore and seeing a big poster of Bush beside a table of books describing his Christian beliefs. I had one of those Jesus in the Temple moments where I felt like throwing the table of books out on the street. I controlled myself, but I was so disgusted and sick to my stomach I didn't darken the door of a Christian bookstore again for five years. I couldn't believe how easily Christians in this country were manipulated and swayed by their fears and biases.

Well, its happening again, folks. Even though top minds in Washington believe Obama would be the best candidate to be President and admit he is a different kind of leader who could bring the country together, Obama is struggling against the incidious and relentless defamation currently being dished out by Clinton strategists. Their psychological assessment team has worked hard to find a way to get into Obama's head and manipulate him into a corner in which he will be forced into identified himself as "The Black Candidate". Obama's team has worked hard to avoid labeling because it would draw away black voters who fear a black man is not electable and white voters who either also subconsciously believe a black candidate cannot beat a white candidate or who have subconscious racial biases. Bill Clinton, master of the art of lying and psychological manipulation, has used code words, veiled statements that incite cultural bias and has had shills planted in his audiences so he can bring up hot topics without looking like he is attacking Obama. Check out http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/shill. When confronted by reporters, other concerned politicians and the Obama campaign about their underhanded manipulation of potential voters, the Clintons claim they are being attacked by Obama or that Bill is just over enthusisatic about promoting his little woman. I'm just waiting for Hillary to tear up again invoking images of the little ol' Southern Belle defended by her hubby against a black antagonist. I'm afraid the Clintons, born and bred in the south, know how to twist the southern mind like a pretzel.

Like George Carvil said last night on Fox, the Clinton machine is a formidable foe for any candidate to fight. He shrugged and said that's part of the game of winning the Presidency. BUT I don't think campaigning for President should be a game, even a dead serious game, that one wins at all costs. Hillary says she is using every tool at her disposal to crush Obama's chances because she wants to change the country. Yeah right! She knows ALOT of people believe Obama is a brilliant, moral and honest man who would be one of the first Presidents in office FOR MANY YEARS who truly cared about the American people and trys to work towards real change. Obama is not controlled by special interest groups because he takes no corporate monies. Hillary just wants to be the first woman president and her ambition has blinded her to morals and ethics. She is bought and paid for. The New York Times, Rubert Murdoch's new rag, just endorsed Hillary. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupert_Murdoch

If Mitt Romney, instead of McCain, and Hillary are nominated this has just become another fixed election. Romney is unelectable in a fight agains the Clintons and the Republicans know this. Corporate America wants the Clintons in the White House.

I have hope that people are so tired of being pawns in an economic chess game that they will open their eyes, rise above their biases and vote for Obama...a man who has the ethics, the moral strength and the intelligence to truly make a difference for the people of this country.

Listening

A man prayed, and at first he thought that prayer was talking.
But he became more and more quiet until in the end he realized
that prayer is listening.

- Søren Kierkegaard
Christian Discourses

Breaking Our Silences

[A]s I have moved to break the betrayal of my own silences and to speak from the burnings of my own heart ... many persons have questioned me about the wisdom of my path. At the heart of their concerns this query has often loomed large and loud: Why are you speaking about war, Dr. King? Why are you joining the voices of dissent? Peace and civil rights don't mix, they say. Aren't you hurting the cause of your people, they ask? And when I hear them, though I often understand the source of their concern, I am nevertheless greatly saddened, for such questions mean that the inquirers have not really known me, my commitment or my calling. Indeed, their questions suggest that they do not know the world in which they live.

- Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., in his speech, "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence." (Source: American Rhetoric)

A Political Hydra

From my very humble and media informed perspective (though I do check out a few political blogs and have been known to use my brain occasionally) it seems "The Economy" is a paper-thin, immoral construct based on handshakes, consumer manipulation and creative bookkeeping. Is it all just smoke and mirrors? I mean, when you talk to the "real folks" who don't have big joker grins dribbling psychobabble, and cleverly written designer speeches in their hands, the "real folks" are hurting. The "real folks" are starting to struggle and come face to face with the fact that we Americans have been blindly living high on the preverbal hog (or white elephant) without seeing whose backs that animal was standing on. Yeah, yeah...the spin masters are right...the poor in the U.S. live better than the poor in third world nations (which isn't saying much...I guess toxic mobile homes are better than dirt floors...maybe?), but the lower middle class "folks" are quickly joining the ranks of "the poor".

I do wonder why we are all taking the economic decline and increasing evidence of rampant political corruption so calmly. As I am wont to say, "If we were Frenchmen we would be rioting in the streets over health care alone".

Well...we're not rioting. Instead many "folks" are looking for cheaper vacation packages and flexing their mental muscles debating political gamesmanship. I admit the Presidential nomination process this year is fascinating. It's like watching a really complex game show. I wonder how many media saturated "folks" understand the Primaries are being packaged as brand new reality T.V. . Like the popular show "Survivor", caucus goers can whimsically vote candidates “off the island” ‘ cause they aren't personable enough, don't look or think like them or don't have their own best interests in mind (not real good reasons to choose the leader of the most powerful country on earth...hmm). The one glimmer of hope is some “folks” out there are asking hard questions.

I don't know, maybe a decisive percentage of "folks" will have to fall back on voting with their reptilian brain because they're just so spun around. It's kind of like spinning a turtle. The poor little guy kind of loses his sense of direction.

http://www.crystalinks.com/reptilianbrain.html.

I mean, even after ten years of schooling to become an underpaid public school teacher, I'm getting lost in the maze of rhetoric, conflicting polls, semantics, new found voices and apologies for underhanded slander and subliminal sleaziness. No wonder even the news entertainers occasionally slip up and confess the current representative process is being manipulated. Perhaps ethics are not dead...just silenced.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representative_democracy

So raise your voices, if you're tired of inter-party smears and underhanded tricks by the Billary machine. That mendacious duo is fighting to “Win! Win! Win!” like a mythical Hydra in "softer" clothing, using whatever it takes including payoffs, racial innuendos, bogus law suits and spurious misinformation. Considering Hillary’s marriage of convenience to the pharmaceutical companies (one among Billary's many power seeking indiscretions) the United Corporations of America seem to think she/he's their gal (as evidenced by both the “conservative” Fox and “liberal” CNN pro Hillary spin). I hope the “folks" hoping to be rescued by the saving grace of Hillary’s health care plan for "You, the (little) People", understand they may be on the verge of making a Faustian bargain.

It's time to wake-up America!

Who are to be the electors of the federal representatives? Not the rich, more than the poor... not the haughty heirs of distinguished names, more than the humble sons of obscure and propitious fortune. ~ James Madison, Federalist 57 (1788)

We don't buy votes. What we do is we buy a candidate's stance on an issue. ~ Allen Pross, executive director, California Medical Association's PAC (1989)

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References from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics

According to Norberto Bobbio, ... the Left believes in attempting to eradicate social inequality, while the Right regards most social inequality as the result of ineradicable natural inequalities, and sees attempts to enforce social equality as utopian or authoritarian.

Some ideologies, notably Christian Democracy, claim to combine left and right wing politics; according to Geoffrey K. Roberts and Patricia Hogwood, "In terms of ideology, Christian Democracy has incorporated many of the views held by liberals, conservatives and socialists within a wider framework of moral and Christian principles."

A Classic Victim?

OK. I stand accused of being (I think this is the way he put it) "a classic victim". A "classic" victim? Hmm? I know I still succumb to the occasional victimized whining, "Why me?" "I'm late because the traffic was bad!", "I've got so much to do", and the classic "If you loved me...". Yes, even today, feeling overwhelmed by work, my voice just naturally assumed that annoying, tremulous cadence that is so compelling if used sparingly with males who seem to need to be needed...I haven't yet figured why that works, but it works. I also freely admit to being an Enabler in regards to going against my gut in dicey relationships and naively wandering into dysfunctional playgrounds on a regular basis, despite grandma's warnings. This gal’s done "the dance", treaded lightly instead of walking out the door, worn the rear part of the "push me pull you" not because I wanted to but because...gosh darn it, I can't even remember why. At the time, I thought it had something to do with love. Was it really about fear?

I admit I've needed to turn on my spiritual fog lights lately. My head gets in the way of my heart. This week, diving in too deep, pushed to the limit, I ended up caught in a current heading fast out to sea. Just about the time fear prompted me to start shouting for help, I realized I'd gone spiritually blind. Drowning, I opened my eyes, looked for the light and started swimming. Boy does that first breath burn when you break the surface. That's when you're glad you know you can reach out to God and hold on tight.

There's something about acknowledging God and surrendering to Love that starts putting human relationships and cultural pressures in perspective. Sure, that can sound like escapism or victimization to those who haven't surrendered (one can even say offered your life as a sacrifice) to Love, but it's not. The mystery of God's grace is that I had to willing choose to surrender to Jesus as my Master and die to the self to be open to/one with God/Love. The process of dieing to the self, and what happens after that surrender, has to be experienced to be fully understood. To me, God's Love seems very close to the Love an emotionally healthy mother feels for her child or the deep and permanent bond a truly loving couple experience. It is a marriage and bonding of the soul.

The closest I can come to explaining why being a willing sacrifice to a loving God is healing me is once we taste true, whole, unconditional love we desire nothing less than true, whole, unconditional love. The fragrant presence of Love overrides all other impulses. It's a talisman that clears the foggy brain and informs the heart. Sure, I'm flawed and dented by my past. But now Love's grace reflects off the ridges and valleys etched into my being by life’s flights and floods and flowers and quakes and fills that inner topography with so much light all imperfection becomes beautiful and whole. I choose to let Light fill my inner landscape. I choose to open my mind and heart to the amazing grace that is eternally present and free to all.

Why and How?

O.K. I guess cynicism is fertile ground.

Chaos can be a good thing. I've been trying to find a way to express the sudden sythesis of divergent thoughts that converged yesterday in one mad rush. The closest I can come to describing it is...it is the nature of the artist's mind to find order in chaos. This is the service artists offer their fellow human beings. That idea hit me like a train.

I watched the movie "August Rush" two days agos and was dumbstruck by the depth of the film. The scene that hit me was when this young, rural foster kid suddenly finds himself in the middle of New York. A extremely sensitive child who claims to the hear "The Music", he is initially overwhelmed by the chaotic sounds of urban life. He turns 'round in the street, struggling for equlibrium and then he begins to hear layers of rhythms in footsteps and jackhammmers. A polyphony of voices, sounds and rhythms begin to coalesce until he ends up standing on a fountain conducting an environmental symphony...a musical synthysis of his sensory experiences. An artist by nature, the boy's mind automatically begins to create form out of chaos. That's when it hit me. We are creatures of the present. The sights, sounds, smells, thoughts, actions of others in this time are all part of who we are and we cannot escape what has shaped us. We can learn from the past but we cannot go back. And if, as artists, we hide in the delusion that we can recreate "times that have passed" we do damage to our spiritual formation and cannot be used as a creative agent in the present/future. We are creatures of this time and place. Artists all, we must strive to bring form to present chaos.

So...I began to think of creative minds who have found form in the chaos of their time and, thereby, served to elevate those who stand witness to a place of hope and beauty. What is their nature? Like the child, August, creative minds are also overwhelmed by chaos but, for some reason they are resilient, unafraid of it or defeated by it. It is in their nature to find the courage to remain open to discordant rhythms and abrasive melodies, allowing chaotic forces to intertwine, take vibratory form and begin to resonate. And from that immersion of the Self in chaos, shapes begin to take form and coalesce and rise.

But, what rises? What do artists and creative minds offer humanity? They offer us Hope. Hope...the child of all that is best in all things struggles to life through the artist's hands, lips, feet. Like a wet baby bird breaking through it's shell, hope, once born and nurtured, is soon dried and grown and ready to fly. That is the true creative gift...giving humanity wings of hope.

So here's to four creative minds I admire in the present. I asked two questions. Why do they do what they do? How do they do what they do?

Al Gore and his crusade to bring focus to Global Warming
Why? Because he wants a better life for his children and grandchildren.
How? Tireless research and traveling, braving ridicule, walking and talking until people started to listen.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitts' and their crusade to build homes for New Orleans flood victims and bring awareness to global issues.
Why? Concern for injustices perpetrated against the poor and powerlessness. Frustration with harrassment by the press.
How? They used their wealth and influence to build homes. They led the press to places of poverty and distress.

Obama's and his bid for the Presidency.
Why? The injustice he saw in the streets, wanting a better life for his children and hope in the human spirit.
How? He courageously stepped into the public arena and shared his vision honestly with people who would listen.Obama gave a stirring speech tonight!

Ahhhh....Sob!

The weight I've been wearing on my shoulders for the last year has lifted. I just clicked the button that sent my Masters thesis on it's merry way...I hope. My squinting, bloodshot eyes are smiling. Now, I need to wait and see if my teacher accepts it. I'm just glad I finished the dang thing.

One of the really interesting things I learned while doing this project on the effects of music on emotional and behavioral problems, is the prisons in the U.S. are fast becoming mental hospitals. 90% of the kids in the juvenile justice system have some form of emotional and/or behavioral disability and probably only the most severe cases (SED) about 3 to 30% (no one knows the real number of cases) received either mental health or SPED services when they were kids. And since ADHD isn't recognized by the gov. as a legit disability them kids ain't getting much...so a lot of them end up the prisons too. Aparently, EBD and ADHD are on the rise and the rising numbers are becoming a National crisis 'cause no one wants to foot the bill. Blame it on the culture...yep! I always say we're doing some pretty scary neurological and hormonal experiments on our kids...T.V., video games, phones, computors, growth hormone, plastic food trays, water bottles, toxins everywhere...who knows what happening in those little brains. Yeah, I sound nerotic? Just go hang out in some SED classes for a while...we're getting more and more kids with serious mental problems. Remember what the world had become like in the movie Blade Runner?

The horrifying news is the schools throughout the nation intentionally doesn't identify these kids because there's no government funding for them...just another way the richest country in the world serves it's people. Well if we can't buy stuff from China, at least we'll be able to convert the prisons into factories...it's real cheap labor.

And with that last cynical comment of the year I'm off to sleep.

But wait! One more tired, cynical shot before I rest...I was watching Fox Business channel (not by choice) today and the thirtysomething goofballs on some innanely hip business show were hee hawing about how they hoped Pakistan would "get Capitalism" now that "what's her name is dead"...that was said with a big toothy smile and about as much compassion as a rock...no a rock has more compassion. Of course the "older" gent on the show looked a bit shaken and pointed out peace and freedom might be nice first. Yeah! Yeah! the news personalities chanted...gotta have that first. Right! Pretty scary stuff! At least I had fun watching the "body language lady" (a two hour special, by viewer request) defend Rosie O'Donnell's body language confirmed conviction (translation: O'Donnel's body language proves she believes what she says). The BLL smartly held her ground despite O'Reilly's huffing and puffing about Rosie being a nut case because she has extreme poltical views...right back atcha Bill. I never noticed this before but both of those mortal enemies names start with "O". Was Bill from the town o' Reilly and Rosie from the town o' Donnell? Truly...pity me...I'm sure I can conjure up every bizarre detail of that conversation.

Anyone out there want to take this one on? I was thinking about this the other day...

What would Jesus say about Capitalism?

Happy New Year!!!!