A note for the religiously timid

I have absolutely no idea how many people read this blog. But I do know that some religious readers have been bothered and even angered by the way I criticize many political and religious "leaders"--or "deciders." To those readers (and to anyone interested) I offer the following suggestions.

Go to the Hebrew Scriptures and look at the message (and the often scathing language) of the Prophets. Just a few examples follow:

* Isaiah 1:10-17 and 3:13-15 ("It is you who have devoured the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses...") and 58:5-10.

* Jeremiah 5:26-28 and 6:12-15 ("They say 'Peace, peace' when there is no peace.")

* Amos 2:6-7 ("They who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth and push the afflicted out of the way...") and also 3:15 to 4:15 and 8:4-7;

* Micah 3:1-4 ("You tear the skin off my people..."); 6:9-12 ("Your wealthy are full of violence...")

* Also look at Proverbs 31:8-9 ("Speak out for the rights of all the destitute...") and note the advocacy for the poor and oppressed throughout the Book of Psalms (e.g., in Psalm 82.) Check out Ecclesiastes 4:1-3 (about "the tears of the oppressed.") Particularly in these shrill and xenophobic days in the US, see Exodus 23:9 ("You shall not oppress a resident alien"--a message that is repeated in Leviticus 19:33-34 and Deuteronomy 10:17-19) )

* Then go to the Christian Scriptures and look at the Gospels. First read the mission of Jesus In Luke 4:16-21. Then go to Luke 6:20-21ff ("Blessed are you poor..."); 10:25-37 ("The Good Samaritan"; and 19:1-10 (Zacchaeus). In Matthew, take note of 6:24: ("You cannot serve God and wealth") and read 25:31-45 ("I was hungry and you gave me food...") And don't forget that all four Gospels tell of a compassionate and loving Jesus who also angrily turns over the tables of the money changers.

This is but a small sampling of the "liberation theology" contained in the Bible from beginning to end (written down over some 900 years.) Just don't expect to hear this message resonating from the TV preachers or more than a little from the average church pulpit.

Postscript for my fellow Catholics: Many people pray the "Magnificat" every day ("Mary's Song" in Luke 1:46-56.) I wonder how many do so without ever considering what its words mean in our own day and age. Think about it: God "has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly." If we're going to talk about the "living word of God," there is no way we can say that words like the Magnificat's are only about the Roman Empire of nineteen centuries ago. Rome was not the last Empire.

Bush cabal unmasked (yet again)

The House of Bush just keeps on imploding.

Remember Scott McClellan who used to be the White House spokesman? Well, it looks like the man has a conscience.

An excerpt from his upcoming book ("What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and What's Wrong With Washington") has just been released. In the excerpt, McClelland says that he was duped about the Valerie Plame Wilson CIA leak by the top echelon of the White House. He writes that he "unknowingly passed along false information. And five of the highest-ranking officials in the administration were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the vice president, the president's chief of staff, and the president himself.'' They made a fool of McClellan: "I stood at the White House briefing room podium in front of the glare of the klieg lights for the better part of two weeks and publicly exonerated two of the senior most aides in the White House: Karl Rove and Scooter Libby. There was one problem. It was not true."

I believe we are talking about felonies (defrauding the government) in the White House. Let's hope that Congress will have the intestinal fortitude to subpoena the text of McClellan's book right now.

Oh, by the way, let's not forget that Libby was sentenced to 30 months in prison and Bush commuted the sentence. Hmm, I wonder why.

The Mesopotamian mule won't budge

Comandante Bush continues to stand firm against all attempts to cut off funds for his immoral, illegal Iraq occupation and bring the troops home. His Mesopotamian fixation seems to be anchored in cement, despite the deaths of 3,866 US troops (as of tonight) and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi deaths.

In the meantime, the Taleban continue to regroup in Afghanistan, Bin Laden is still on the loose, nobody knows what is around the corner for a now-unstable Pakistan, and Iran could see air raids from Israel at any time.

In the meantime, 37 million Americans live below the poverty line

In the meantime, 47 million Americans have no health insurance,

But the Decider-in-Chief--or would that be Cheney?--continues to throw $333,000,000 each day into the Iraq abyss.

The whole adult population of these United States should be out on the streets in protest.

Is Congress worse than Bush?

Oh yes, we finally got rid of Attorney General Alberto "Geneva-Convention-is-Quaint" Gonzales. But now we learn that the Senate has confirmed Judge Michael Mukasey as Gonzales' successor.

What kind of credibility is owed to a judge who has presided over terrorism trials but claims in his confirmation hearing that he was not familiar with the now-famous form of torture known as water-boarding?

Bad enough that he (supposedly) would know less about water-boarding than the average couch potato news watcher. But he went on to assert he could not say that this gruesome technique is torture.

So now Mukasey is confirmed.

One more validation of the poll score that puts Congress way below Bush on the approval meter.

Bushworld continued

24% of Americans apparently still support George W. Bush. Astounding.

Just look at the latest chapter of The Mess. While Bush continues to defend his Iraq debacle (and will call it neither the occupation that it is nor the civil war that it is), various degrees of chaos rule across the region. Today General Musharraf placed Pakistan under "emergency rule"--which basically is martial law. (And let's not forget that Pakistan is a nuclear power.) Preparations are being made for the US to attack targets in Iran. US soldiers in Afghanistan are encountering new fighters from outside who are even fiercer than the Taleban. Turkey is stacking up troops on its border to possibly attack the Kurdistan region of Iraq. Syria and Jordan simply can't take any more Iraqi refugees. Every day the Palestinian situation feeds the anger of Muslims around the world.

Back at home, many career diplomats in the state department are in open revolt because Bush wants to force them to go to Baghdad. And this week Cheney gave us Bush redux, baldly stating that "We do not torture."

Meanwhile, Bush continues to play his fear cards, the latest one being World War III if we don't take his lead on Iran.

What is really frightening is 14 more months living in Bushworld.