Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category

I don’t want to believe that Barack Obama means to intentionally disrespect the Constitution of the United States, destroy out international alliances and jeopardize the security of Israel and so I won’t believe those things. 

Instead, I choose to believe (Free Will) that he is an individual lacking in a core understanding of who he is and what he believes in.  This was my conclusion after reading A Bound Man by Shelby Steel in 2008 and why I did not vote for him that year.  It was later reinforced when I read The Roots of Obama’s Rage by Danesh D’Souza, a well-documented and intelligently thoughtful analysis of Obama’s heritage, life and character.

This core lack in Obama makes him not so much vulnerable to outside pressures, as some have asserted, but subject to the hunger and need of his own ego.  When the vessel has a hole in it, no amount of water can fill it up.  Lacking core values, Obama gives no weight to the values of others. Consequently, he feels free to override, or altogether bypass, 1) the American public in forcing the passage of Universal Healthcare when 62% of those polled did not want the bill passed; 2) Congress by circumventing the War Powers Act in Libya and ignoring the values set forth by the Founders in the U.S. Constitution and, 3) the Israeli government and its valuing of the safety and lives of its citizens.

It’s unlikely that we’ve had many Presidents who did not suffer from some degree of need to fulfill their egos.  And it’s probably safe to say that more than a fair share of them had huge egos.  But to make a distinction worth noting, it’s not Obama’s ego that makes his Presidency so dangerous… it’s the fact that no amount of railroading, conquest and imposition of his will upon those who oppose him can satisfy that ego.

I once her a psychiatrist explain “A neurotic is the easiest type of patient to treat.  He or she just has an excess of something.  It’s a matter of reducing or minimizing those excesses.  But someone lacking input at critical stages of development is the hardest to treat because you’re trying to put values in where none have ever existed.  There’s no foundation or reference point.”

This description, I believe, describes Barack Obama

It is for those of us who see the present dangers posed by a leadership so lacking to speak our minds and shine a bright light upon the problem.  While he is but one man in the history of a great nation, he has both the bully pulpit and the power at the moment.  If the Great Man theory of history holds true, that great men appear at critical points in history and take the people where his vision leads him, then we have much to concern ourselves with where the vision is highly personal and is born of need.

We must be careful that some version of the rationale people often use when explaining why they don’t fly in airplanes does not wind up applying to our nation’s destiny:  What if it’s not my time but it’s the pilot’s time?

 

In a rapidly changing world in which the flow of information by major media outlets is controlled by corporate ownership and investors with an agenda we, the public, are easily manipulated by selective and biased reporting.  Therefore, it is critical that you think for yourself and dig deeper than surface reporting in an effort to be truly informed.

In fact, inner guidance, more than any other source, will be the most reliable place to verify reality.

Example:  The Egyptian Revolution.

President Obama, as well as mainstream and social media, were enamored with the recent revolutionary uprising in Egypt.  Each was certain the uprising was democracy in action and a harbinger of better things to come regarding Middle East relations with the U.S. and Israel.

Now that the dust has settled, so to speak, the reality appears to be something altogether different.  What is emerging from the chaotic aftermath of the riots in Egypt is a very vocal and vehement expression of defiance against the United States and a blatant intention to destroy the State of Israel.

I find two conclusions instructive from events as they have unfolded:

1.  This Administration and the media fueled the flames of uprising with a false premise and now that the winds of change are directing the fire on a deadly path, both are disturbingly and shamefully silent.

2.  Mubarak may have been a dictator but he was also an impediment to Muslim extremism taking hold within Egypt.  (Not to excuse his dictatorial hold on the country, but rather to highlight the possibility that unless you have set in place enlightened leadership or a viable alternative plan for governance, it may be best to bypass revolution as a vehicle for change).

As to my point about inner guidance, I think that as the days of rage unfolded on camera, common sense (or just plain checking in with your “gut”) probably told anyone who was conscious and not living in a fairy-tale-wishful-fantasy world that events in Egypt were at best precarious and at worst foreboding.

Unfortunately, time has proven the latter to be the case.

The most valuable lesson to take away from this experience is that reality is best obtained from within rather than imposed by external sources…  too often motivated by an agenda that is little concerned with our well being.

Let us not behave like sheep but rather individuals who possess the wisdom to tune in within and surf our own channels.

 

 

 

This is not a post about Osama bin Laden.  It’s a post about you and me.  He’s gone and that’s that regarding him.  However we remain… so how we act, and react, from here on out determines our future.  What also remains are the issues that created a world in which someone like him could develop and be successful, using the term “successful” in its most narrow sense.

In a world where people and nations vie to maximize their health, wealth and general well-being… not only without regard for others but, at times, at the expense of others… there will always be fertile ground in which to cultivate  disease such as bin Laden.  But such a destructive environment is under our dominion and control.  We very much have the power, individually and collectively, to choose again and create a world where every human being’s right to life (basic sustenance) and pursuit of happiness (the possibility that one can better oneself with effort) is guaranteed.

To create such a world we will have to re-prioritize what it is we value above all else.  Such choices will necessarily begin with compassion, dignity, and cooperation.  Such a world will need to be based upon logic that transcends Aristotle’s conclusion that solutions consist of only two options:  “x” or “not x”.   Such thinking leads to dilemma.  An alternative, or tetra lemma approach, considers “x”, “not x,” “x and not x,” or “neither x nor not x.”   In other words, simply put… one or the other or both or neither all become possibilities and thereby broaden the options for resolution.

Egypt wasn’t a spiritual, religious or political revolution.   It was an economic one where 50% of the population is under the age of 24 with no economic future of any consequence.   You cannot make food scarce and eliminate hope for the future without dire consequences.  Such are the elements that foster environments wherein diseased minds rule.

We are better than that.   But what it takes to turn this all around is not only personal responsibility but, first and foremost, personal courage.

Courage to think for ourselves.

Courage to reject systems that do not work.

Courage to speak out about values and policies that devalue others.

Courage to say no to a politically-based “collective” approach wherein the few seek to dominate the many under the guise of leadership.

Courage to speak out for spiritual Oneness, our inherent connection to all living beings, and all that it implies.

Courage to be patient, thoughtful and thorough with the process so sound decisions can be made along the way.

There is no harm in a centralized government.  We have one in this country.  But as it was designed, that central government had very limited power over the individual states that, along with their inhabitants, remain free to pursue individuality and personal creativity within an economic system intended to support growth rather than inhibit it.

Today is a new day and the quality of our choices will determine tomorrow.

Sometimes I wonder about us.  Americans, that is.

What are so many people thinking in seriously considering Donald Trump as a possible Presidential candidate?  It’s Donald Trump we’re talking about here and the Presidency of the United States.

Forget the sudden reversal of political stances he’s taken on such things as gay marriage or Universal healthcare. Forget the contributions he’s made to the campaign coffers of politicians that eschew the word ethics, such as Charlie Rangel, Mark Christ and Harry Reid.  Forget the reality TV host.

This is a man who drove his business into the ground then left creditors hanging as he declared bankruptcy.  This is a man who needs to see his name in 30 feet high gold lettering on everything he touches. This is a man who has made a fortune in business relations with, among others, the purveyors of gambling. This is a man who wants to blame oil producers and OPEC for rising gasoline prices when he’s smart enough to know it’s our own government’s policies and the unrestrained actions of the Federal Reserve that are the cause.  But of course, when the Fed digitizes money to the banks, it’s people like Donald Trump who benefit from his business connections with those same banks… so placing blame where it belongs would be, for him, setting the fire way too close to home.

But I digress.  This isn’t about Donald Trump.  It’s about us.

Did we learn nothing from our naive and shallow vote of 2008?  Are we willing, yet again, to buy into the superficial claims and bumper-sticker promises of politicians (and aspiring politicians) without doing our due diligence in going deeper and demanding not only more substance but also more integrity?

If the answer is “Yes, we are prepared to be so simplistically deceived again” then God help us.  We cannot go down this road even one more time… for we are out of time.  Not to mention out of money.

It’s on each one of us now to put down our egos and our greed and be our highest Selves for the sake of the future.

Call me crazy, but I see no evidence of The Donald putting down either his ego or his greed in the near future… let alone for the sake of yours.  So let’s stop wasting time on him and go in search of real candidates with real solutions who come to the table fully grown with their egos in check and their mission the common good.

I try to stay informed.  What that means to me is that I try and listen to both sides of the argument… whatever “the argument” may be.  Lately, I’ve come to the conclusion that we have become so polarized in our efforts to resolve our financial and societal crises that we’ve all but lost the ability to transcend differences and find common ground.

Potentially polarizing points of view are not unique to 21^st century America.  The six Native American tribes that combined to form the Iroquois Confederacy, the thirteen colonies that wrote the Declaration of Independence and the twelve states that sent representatives to Philadelphia in 1787 each had disparate opinions and interests. Yet, in each of the three instances, the common good transcended both the diverse interests at stake as well as the personal egos of the individuals representing those interests.

Given the dire circumstances we now find ourselves facing, why can we not see the wisdom of those lessons? I think the answers are ego, greed and fear of the unknown.

Contrast those examples with the current state of our economy, just one of the many challenges we face.  Both sides are blaming the other and both sides are dug in deep.  Each has special interests coming to bear. The common good doesn’t appear to be anyone’s priority, although if you listen carefully they each have some valid points and helpful suggestions.  The problem is that when you “dig in deep” there’s so much mud on top it’s hard to hear above ground!

Our President should be making a positive, leadership contribution towards resolving the underlying issues and elevating the discourse. Instead, he was most recently at Facebook corporate headquarters yesterday fueling the blame game and doing it directly with one of the groups he is courting politically for 2012, the young. That delivery, instead of inspiring others to seek the common good, was soliciting votes for the second term.  And while Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, added that he “wouldn’t mind paying a little more in increased taxes on the wealthy”… a comment that got him a laugh from his constituents (also known as his “employees”)… he’s not one to look to for guidance.  He appropriated the idea for his company and had to pay 65 million dollars for the mea culpa.

The solution is to drop the posturing and realize that more resources (energy, time, and money) are wasted on maintaining incompatible positions than are needed to solve the problem.  To acknowledge that we are all in this together and that it really is sink or swim time.  To accept that reprioritizing our values will make us better human beings not poorer ones.  Finally, to be grown up enough to acknowledge that no one person… or one side… has all the answers.  Both sides have kernels of good ideas to contribute toward meeting our challenges.

I like the saying, “wisdom may come from your grandmother cooking chicken soup at the stove.” The key is being confident enough… and smart enough… to know that and listen for it.

 

 

I think it’s natural to root for the underdog.  At some time I suppose we all do. So it’s not surprising that there has accumulated an international groundswell in support of Palestinian statehood.  After all, Israel has been economically, politically, technologically, and militarily the stronger of the two opponents for…well…forever, it seems.

But action without thought is reckless.  When we begin to actually think about the underdog, it starts to look strangely more like a rabid coyote than some cuddly domestic hound.

The latest example was the distribution of candy in Gaza in “celebration” of the savage massacre of five members of the Fogel family by Palestinian terrorists.  But this is just the latest.  Relentless rocket bombardment of Southern Israel, Palestinian children strapped with bombs and sent off by their mother’s to be martyrs, the targeting of innocent Israeli civilians while they ate, commuted or just got on with their lives.  Where is recognition for the restraint exhibited by Israel time and time again where no other country would have tolerated such assaults and tragedy without retaliation?

It’s important to remember just who the aggressor is in this drama because there is a plan and a timetable underway by members of the United Nations to recognize a state of Palestine that will include Gaza and east Jerusalem.  That’s the plan.  The timetable is September 2011.  And it seems our President is on board as well.

If you think action without thought is reckless, you “ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”

The United States is currently engaged in three wars within Muslim countries.  There are countless uprisings and revolutions in the Arab world taking place.  Much of what we see is violent or portends violence.

It is foolhardy and dangerous to think that at such a time Palestinians, granted statehood under terms that rob Israel of a portion of its capital and return to the Arabs land that was fairly gained by Israel when it was attacked in 1967 by the Arab world, will result in anything other than emboldening the Palestinians to recommit to their charter. That charter, which has never been amended, calls for the destruction of the State of Israel.

It is imperative that we, as human beings, do our best to bring dignity and the necessities of life to every living being on the planet.  It is not, however, imperative that we act without thinking and thereby reward barbarity and inhumanity.

Let’s demand that the Palestinians first eschew violence as a negotiating tool before we pass out the candy.

 

Moments ago President Obama spoke to the nation, and presumably the world, on his decision to join with the international community in a coordinated response to the violence perpetrated by Libyan dictator Muammar Qadaffi upon the Libyan people.

Early in the speech, the President said that from the outset, the United States had been swift and certain in its condemnation of Qadaffi’s actions.  While this sounded good, it was a lie.  If fact, a week of atrocities occurred during which the President remained curiously silent.  His press secretary, in responding to why this was so, cited “scheduling problems.” Yet, during that same week, the President was able to suddenly find the time to schedule coaching his daughter’s basketball team because the coach “had a scheduling problem.”  The President’s daughter was not even present for the game he coached.

I am less concerned here with the President’s motives, or lack thereof, in responding selectively to Middle East revolutionaries.  I leave that to others.

What does concern me is the current, palpable lack of leadership with which we are faced.  This President is unlike any other I can recall in my lifetime. His disengagement from the American people is disturbing but timely.

(Did she just write, “timely?”)

Yes, I did.

It’s timely because we’ve arrived at a point in the evolution of human Consciousness where we must all be leaders.  We must all take charge every minute of every day of our thoughts, words and deeds.  We must each source within and find what is true and meaningful for us as individuals… while fully knowing that we are all connected.

We have awakened to the truth of Oneness.  Whether it is the heroic and admirable people of Japan facing multiple tragedies, the tortured and oppressed peoples of Libya, or the 12-year-old daughter of a slain Israeli family who is now orphaned along with her two brothers… we are all One and responsible for One And Other… one another.

For Our Self and The Other because we are all connected.

So, I am less concerned with one man’s action and timing than I am with yours and mine.  Hope and Change are just words.  No single individual will turn the tide as quickly as each and every individual awaking to rise and meet the challenges of personal responsibility and connectedness.

The owner of an Israeli supermarket has been providing food for the three remaining children of the slain Fogel family during the shiva (seven day mourning period).  He informed the 12-year-old daughter who found her slain parents and brothers that “she better get used to” seeing him around because he is going to provide weekly food for she and her two surviving brothers until the last orphan is 18 years old.

Now that’s hope and change and that’s how we do it.

Let’s leave the posturing and politics to the United Nations and world governments.

 

It is sometimes the case that certain words or phrases quickly find their way into our lexicon due to their poignancy and precision. For example, following the O.J. Simpson trial, the phrase “rush to judgment” became the watch-phrase for drawing precipitous conclusions.   The phrase remains over-used  to this day (in my opinion) but presents no particular harm.

Such is not the case with “Day of Rage.” In the past thirty days, usage of the phrase has spread from Cairo, Egypt to Iran, Bahrain, Tunisia and most recently Madison Wisconsin.  Unlike “Rush to Judgment” these words bear significant harm.

Words matter.

In my just released inspirational book, The Lightworker’s Handbook:  A Spiritual Guide To Eliminating Fear, (also available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble) there is a supplemental “English To Spirit Dictionary” where I define words and phrases for the new paradigm.  Because language is one of the ways we share information, we need to communicate with words that honor what we believe in and support how we intend to live our lives.

If change is what the world seeks at this moment in time, is it really through rage that we choose to achieve it?  Is rage what we want to call our approach to transcending the limitations of the past?  Is rage what we really want the message to be?

Perhaps.

Throughout human history, there have always been individuals and groups skilled at manipulating others through fear and violence.  In Egypt this past week, it was two hundred “pro-democracy” demonstrators who violently and repeatedly assaulted and raped a female CBS reporter. Those individuals were easily moved to commit brutal acts of aggression because they were already engaged in a movement based upon and identified by rage.

If change is what we seek, and I believe it is, then let us move in that direction with the accumulated knowledge and wisdom of several thousand years.  Violence, which includes violent language, is a brutal means to what will be a brutal end.  Because whether you power over something, such as a nation, through physical force … or over someone, such as a spouse, with verbal abuse … all that you accomplish is the sowing of seeds of resentment and hatred that inevitably lead to violence in return.

If citizens of the world seek to designate days to express their concerns, may I suggest global “Days of Voice” as a viable alternative.  Where humanity winds up will be a direct result of not only where we choose to go but, most definitely, how we choose to get there.  Personally I want to wind up having a voice in my country’s future and in my own life as well.

Not raging about them.

The Egyptian Revolution has been spellbinding. Watching the “power of the People” is an uplifting and inspiring global experience. Now that the preliminary goal, Mubarak’s removal, has been achieved the real work and challenges begin.

History provides us instruction.

In ancient Egypt, the Hebrew slaves agonized for freedom from the tyranny of Pharaoh as have modern day Egyptians from Mubarak’s rule. Once achieved, the Hebrews made initial efforts to organize and proceed with solidarity toward a common goal of personal freedom.  However, when their interim leader, Moses, was delayed in his return from Sinai, the impatient Hebrews were quick to revert to what was comfortingly familiar… idol worship.  Only Moses’ personal commitment and charisma were able to set the Israelites back on the road to freedom. And ultimately, the desired outcome became a reality in Divine timing, not theirs.

The lesson? Patience.

Its 48 hours since Mubarak’s fall and already there is renewed confrontation and remaining unrest on the streets of Cairo and elsewhere as demonstrators, so effective at bringing down the regime, are impatient with the inevitably slow process that must follow in successfully moving a People from bondage to freedom.

Technology made their success possible.  If the People do not exercise restraint and patience, that same technology may be the reason they too find themselves quickly returning to the familiar… dictatorial rule in calf’s clothing.

Technology, by its inherent speed, makes our human nature’s inclination toward instant gratification all that more immediate. We want everything NOW and if we can’t get it, we immediately go elsewhere… and not always to our advantage.

The generation that affected the Revolution in Egypt has been raised with technology.  They expect things to happen quickly.  My concern is that youth, in the absence of real leadership, will follow the modern day version of what seduced the Israelites.  And further, absent a Moses, will fall prey to those dressed as the Golden Calf.

All growth takes time. It is only human hubris that thinks it occurs in anything other than Divine Time.

Recently, I had surgery and my recovery prevented me, for about two weeks, from posting a blog.  I lost readership in that time and fielded emails complaining of the absence of new material. When we are used to getting what we want, and expect, our impatience leaves no room for the natural unfolding of events.

Let us pray that those in Egypt, who have so wisely used the tools of modernity, will translate that wisdom into knowing that the hard work begins now and impatience leads only to arriving in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Today, still unfolding as I write this entry, was the tragic shooting in Tucson, Arizona of 12 people at a peaceful political assembly.  While details yet remain sketchy and incomplete, it is confirmed that at least 5 people have died, including a 40-year veteran of public service, Federal Judge John Roll, an unnamed staffer of Representative Gabrielle Gifford (D-Arizona) and an unnamed 9-year old girl.  In addition, Congresswoman Gifford herself, shot in the head at point blank range, has survived but is fighting for her life as are several others currently in surgery.

Moments ago, President Obama spoke to the Nation.  After my expression of prayers and comfort to all involved, the President’s speech is the focus of this writing.

It is no surprise to any American that we, both nationally and personally, are transiting extraordinary times.  Divisions are deep, tension high, finances troubling and fuses short.  In such times, it is our intention that those we look to for leadership, calm, focus and vision provide us the guidance and confidence necessary to move beyond the difficulties involved.

Today in his words following the Arizona tragedy, President Obama missed the mark… if he was ever aiming for it.

The President expressed his condolences to the victims. In so doing, he erroneously referred to Congressman Gifford in the past tense, although she is alive and fighting for her life.  He had absolutely nothing to say about violence being an ineffective tool for achieving ends or even words of a calming or encouraging nature.  His failure to do so is at a time when individuals such as Frances Piven, professor and political activist with access to U.S. Presidents, openly advocate for revolution, and when bullying and violence in our schools have become an epidemic.

Why?

Why would our President pass up such an obvious opportunity to reassure the nation and set the standard, at least verbally, for where we as a nation stand on violence as solution for political and social differences?

The answer I see disturbs me.  Because he doesn’t want to.

The most frequent visitor to this White House in the first two years of this Presidency was Andy Stern, President of the Service Workers International Employees Union (SEIU).  Stern has said “If we can’t use the power of persuasion we will use the persuasion of power” as a legitimate tool of social change.  Richard Trumka, President of the AFL-CIO has done the same.  William Ayers, founder of the Weather Underground, a self-described Communist revolutionary group and long-time friend of the President’s is also an advocate of violence as a legitimate means to achieve an end.  The list goes on.

I don’t think our President wants to seize this or any event to quell the possibility of violence as a means to the “change” part of Hope and Change he promised. For if violence escalates, the People with turn to government which, through its military and regulatory powers, will be all too quick and happy to intervene.  In so doing, the door is then open to abridge our basic rights and coalesce power in the hands of a few at the expense of the many.

We are a nation in need of leadership and the man we chose to lead is at a loss to do so.  I suggest he has revealed his irrelevancy and that we now look beyond him and broaden our search in two directions.

First, that we go within ourselves, the only search worth taking, and look for ways to exemplify the stability, focus, priorities and courage needed in times of change.  Secondly, that we go in search of quality leadership and this time we not allow ourselves to be distracted and placated by smoke and mirrors, because we lack the personal responsibility and patience to do the hard, investigative work necessary to make such an important decision.

I HOPE the President’s woeful, AND almost negligent, response today to the tragedy in Arizona is the impetus for CHANGE to the Office of President of the United States in 2012.