Rhetoric Aside: Reality Shock Sets In

Barack Obama/White Sox Baseball Card 2006

It has been, to say the least, a remarkable week, and the conclusion to a most remarkable, most engaging political campaign, perhaps the longest one in American history.  Many things can be said about this campaign, and I won’t use time or space here for “sour grapes” statements.  Several things have happened  that demand our attention, I’d like you to note the following remarks:

• Looking back at previous elections I can recall a time not too long ago when one of the major concerns for both parties was the malaise and lack of voter turnout.  Pundits pinned their prediction to the possibilities of low turnout favoring one candidate and high turnout favoring the other.   In this election, though, more voters turned out from every conceivable sector of our population than ever before, far exceeding  the expectations of even the most optimistic pundits.  America spoke and she spoke loudly.

• I can recall a time not too long ago, when the general talk among ordinary people was of the ilk that it “didn’t really matter who we vote for because the candidates are really both the same.“  I never really believed that then, but I must say, I haven’t even heard a hint of that kind of talk this time.  Everyone knew what the issues were, everyone was engaged, everyone voted.  And for whatever reason they voted, whether it was an honest appreciation of Mr. Obama’s stated policies and plans for the country; or a personality contest in which Mr. Obama simply looked so much better than his opponent or even a race-based decision, the lowest common denominator; America spoke and Barack Obama was elected president of the United States on Tuesday, November 4th, 2008.

• Despite the nightmare scenarios of “hanging chad” situations in Ohio and Virginia, and apart from the retaining, by both parties, of literally tens of thousands of lawyers, put in place and made ready for litigation in the case of a close count, or even worse, a tie, one thing stands congratulatory above all else.  As the world watched and marveled, the American system again participated in, and presided over an orderly and smooth transition of authority and power.  And that, my friends, is a truly unusual thing.  Think of the nations where such a transition cannot possibly occur, and you will catalog the hot-spots and oppressive regimes all around the world.  Think of the few nations in which such a transition is a possibility and you will list a small group of nations who stand stable alongside us, even if in disagreement over politics and policies.

The popular vote gave Mr. Obama a solid majority, but nowhere near a landslide. His electoral majority was decisive. Most significantly, the Democrats now control both houses of Congress and in the Senate are close to – but not quite at – a filibuster-proof majority. They decisively control two branches of government. Indeed, it is likely that they will be able to appoint one or even two justices to the Supreme Court in the next four years, controlling that as well. We must not let the importance of this one fact escape us:  Mr. Obama will have more political power, more control over the strategic and tactical direction of the federal government on his first day in office than most presidents ever achieve.

The crucial question will be whether it makes a difference.  I have long thought that the presidency, although more powerful than just about any position on Earth, is still subject to the whims and wiles of many other factors worldwide.  This is particularly true in the case of foreign policy.  Mr. Obama is about to learn that ideology and personalities are of secondary importance to the external forces that limit, shape and constrain the American president’s options.

The change between the government of the United States elected in 2004 and the government that will take power in January, 2009 is as dramatic a shift in personalities and ideologies as has ever occurred in the American system. The issue will be how much wiggle-room Mr. Obama will actually have, particularly in foreign policy.

Consider: President-elect Obama has pledged to withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq, although his time frame is unclear. If he does withdraw them, he will have to deal with Iranians sooner rather than later, as they will want to move into any power vacuum left in Iraq. If the Iraqi government is unable to govern, or parts of it are under Iranian influence, obviously Iranian influence in Iraq will surge. This of course will deeply concern Saudi Arabia, which has been frightened of Iranian power since the Iranian revolution.  Like it or not, Saudi Arabia still controls OPEC and, going in, much of the oil needed to run this country.

Mr. Obama will face the choice of either leaving the Saudis to their own devices or containing the Iranians. The strategy he has said he would follow would be to negotiate with the Iranians. He would have to reach an understanding with them that would create a neutral Iraqi government and allow the United States to withdraw, yet have a credible guarantee from Iran to respect Iraqi neutrality and keep it as a buffer zone. What can the United States offer Iran that matches the importance of Iraq to them?

That will be the point at which President Obama will first show whether he can carve a new path or whether he will be trapped in the same reality the Bush administration has faced, lo these past five years.

Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics

This one’s for my students in Creative and Critical Thinking classes.  While the plot behind the stone is easily spotted and rather quickly too, the humor is worth it.

1. More than 98 percent of convicted felons are bread users.
2. Fully HALF of all children who grow up in bread-consuming households score below average on standardized tests.
3. In the 18th century, when virtually all bread was baked in the home, the average life expectancy was less than 50 years; infant mortality rates were unacceptably high; many women died in childbirth; and diseases such as typhoid, yellow fever, and influenza ravaged whole nations
4. More than 90 percent of violent crimes are committed within 24 hours of eating bread.
5. Bread is made from a substance called “dough.” It has been proven that as little as one pound of dough can be used to suffocate a mouse. The average North American eats more bread than that in one month!
6. Primitive tribal societies that have no bread exhibit a low incidence of cancer, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s disease, and osteoporosis.
7. Bread has been proven to be addictive. Subjects deprived of bread and given only water to eat begged for bread after as little as two days.
8. Bread is often a “gateway” food item, leading the user to “harder” items such as butter, jelly, peanut butter, and even cold cuts.
9. Bread has been proven to absorb water. Since the human body is more than 90 percent water, it follows that eating bread could lead to your body being taken over by this absorptive food product, turning you into a soggy, gooey bread-pudding person.
10. Newborn babies can choke on bread.
11. Bread is baked at temperatures as high as 240 degrees Celsius! That kind of heat can kill an adult in less than one minute.
12. Most bread eaters are utterly unable to distinguish between significant scientific fact and meaningless statistical babbling.

In light of these frightening statistics, we propose the following bread restrictions:

1. No sale of bread to minors
2. A nationwide “Just Say No To Toast” campaign, complete celebrity TV spots and bumper stickers.
3. A 300 percent federal tax on all bread to pay for all the societal ills we might associate with bread.
4. No animal or human images, nor any primary colors (which may appeal to children) may be used to promote bread usage.
5. The establishment of “Bread-free” zones around schools.

Ya Think?

‘Til Then (redux)

June 6th, 1944, 64 years ago today is remembered as the day the Allied troop forces invaded Normandy, France and put the Hitler regime effectively out of business. Oh, it took a good many months after that date for the effects of the invasion to have their full force. But the day came, always remembered as VE Day, May 8th, 1945, when Europe experienced freedom from the Nazi tyrants. That 11 month period was the bitterest and most hard-fought period of the entire war, I’m told, exacting a dreadful price in lives of American and British and other Allied soldiers. The Nazi horror, and its sycophants, the Japanese Italian powers, who followed Hitler, albeit with agendas of their own, did not give up easily. The difference between then and now, a negligible period of time in historical terms, is striking. It was only 64 years ago today that we heard our President Roosevelt in a radio address asking all Americans to pray together for the success of our troops as they move to guard our country, our religion and our way of life. Today we can scarcely say we have “a way of life,” we would be excoriated for saying we “have a religion” and, without those strong cultural identifiers, I wonder, do we have a country?

Well, yes, is the answer. We do have a country, and the evidence of its existence and its vitality is to be found not in Congress, where self-destructive forces insist on revisiting the “Bush lied and people died” rhetoric that has been answered decisively time and again. Nor is that evidence to be found in a permissively degenerating social scene, in which boundaries for morality and even common sense must be knocked down and over-trodden at every opportunity. The evidence of the existence and vitality of the American country is to be found in streets, and the factories and the business places all across this great land, where literally hundreds of millions of ordinary Americans are succeeding in living the American life, a bit chagrined by the immorality and a bit put off by the political theater, but able and willing to continue to succeed and prosper in their faith and in their fortune. They work, they hope and they believe. They live and they love and they think and write. They talk to each other and they know the truth. They, and the 200,000 or so men and women who represent them as Soldiers, and Sailors and Airmen and Marines are shouting into the abyss of history with one loud voice, “America, America, God shed His grace on thee, and crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea!”

Last year on Veteran’s Day we linked to a multi-media presentation that spoke volumes of our appreciation and love for those who serve us in uniform. I reiterate that link here: Til Then. And for those uncertain as to whether the current handwringing going on in Washington over the onset of the Iraq War is good or bad, I offer the poem of Tarzana Joe, entitled “Selling It“.

Pressin’ On

Ever the Contrarian Voice

“The truth is often easy to find; hidden behind a thin veil of popular opinion”

Most folks who get their information from the major media outlets receive a coherent, if not coordinated picture of world events. Older Democrats are voting for Hillary, younger people favor Obama’s message of hope. McCain’s age is a detrimental factor, but he’s gathering force from various quarters. The impression one gets is that the lines have been drawn, the only mystery being how many stand on each side, and who will actually put shoe leather to pavement to make their wishes known. It might be easy to ignore the voices of real heavyweights who, for all their gravitas, still get passed over in mainstream commentary. Enter Tom Sowell, great American economist, political writer, and commentator. While often described as a “black conservative”, he prefers not to be labeled, and considers himself more libertarian than conservative. Sowell, who often writes from an economically laissez-faire perspective, is currently a senior fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. Now 78 years of age, and winner of the Francis Boyer Award, presented by the American Enterprise Institute, he was also awarded the National Humanities Medal for prolific scholarship melding history, economics, and political science in 2002. Tom Sowell is no lightweight and his comments deserve to be read in the context of current political debate. Thomas Sowell’s column can be read periodically in his blog at http://www.townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell/.

As a follow up to my previous column, “The Art of the Eloquent Side Step” I’ve taken the opportunity to reprint part of Dr. Sowell’s column today, as a sampling of the insight that awaits those willing to look past

‘Til Then . . .

I know, Veterans Day has come and gone. The last hurray of summer has passed with the sore feet of parades and the softball bruises of hometown picnics. Cold rain falls outside, though, and my thoughts still turn to those who struggle to protect us. I ran across the following small show and wanted to share it with you all. Remember what an important time in history it is in which we live, turn up the volume on your speakers, click on the link and watch. And pray for our heroes . . . until then.

Being God In Burma

The appearance on American television screens of Buddhist monks marching in the streets of Yangon (formerly Rangoon), the principal city of Myanmar (formerly Burma) is notable for two things. First, it is notable that most people paid very little attention to the fact, other than a faint clucking of the tongue or nodding of the head. Secondly, it is notable that it commanded so little time in television news to begin with. The major networks afforded the event only a few short seconds in prime time news, hardly a mention, and in competition with such other critical items as the resurgence of the Anna Nicole Smith case, new information in the ongoing saga of O.J. Simpson and the looming possibility that Paris subways may be halted due to a labor strike.

Anyway, it’s just an obscure country somewhere in Asia, far removed from our sphere. So what makes it mentionable at all? Why should we care about what Asian Buddhists do? Why should Americans want to pay any attention at all to news from an obscure Asian nation?

The government of Myanmar, a military junta, which holds the enlightened view that religion is a hindrance to human progress, has embarked on a campaign of violence against Buddhist monks. This, it seems, is only part of their larger quest to wipe out all religious sentiment in their emerging version of utopia. Tens of thousands of Burmese people led by monks took to the streets of Yangon, (formerly Rangoon) in hopes of drawing attention to their human rights plight under the military junta.

Certainly there are those here in our Western world who would celebrate the junta’s ambivalence toward religion, if not their methods in trying to rid society of it. I’ve written at several previous posts about Richard Dawkins’ ideas (The God Delusion, and others), and it seems to me appropriate to return to his opinions in connection with this discussion.

“Religion teaches the dangerous nonsense that death is not the end.”

“It is fashionable to wax apocalyptic about the threat to humanity posed by the AIDS virus, “mad cow” disease, and many others, but I think a case can be made that faith is one of the world’s great evils, comparable to the smallpox virus but harder to eradicate.”

Both of these quotes belong to the inimitable Mr. Dawkins, and while it is probably worth remembering that he does not speak for all materialists or atheists, it is equally clear that his point of view is currently one of great popularity.

What Pluralism Means

It was 10:00 PM, the end of a long day, and class had mercifully been dismissed fifteen minutes early. For me, teaching on the facts and figures of world religious traditions is a means to an end; actually to several ends. It provides a small compensation, which is always appreciated. It also always challenges my faith. The drive home from those classes is often radio-silent, thoughts spinning through my head. Also, it occasionally provides an opportunity for me to engage in dialogue with one or more students on matters of faith. More than once I have stayed behind to guide one or more students through the maze of secularism to a real faith in Jesus. It isn’t even a particularly unusual thing anymore, and as long as they are asking, I have complete freedom to share as I wish. This would not be one of those times.

I was just packing up the computer and getting ready to turn off the lights when the door opened and one of the students, all of whom I thought had left the building walked back in. Agitated, even sweating, he wanted to let me know how incensed he was that I would consent to teaching this kind of thing. “If we can’t preach the Gospel, the least we can do is not speak for the opposition!” he said. The confrontational exchange went on for several minutes and ended with us agreeing to disagree. Jeff is a believer, and it isn’t always comfortable having believers in secular classes, especially when they know well that I am a believer too. They tend to chaff under the legal-based pluralism that governs college campuses, administrations and curricula. Our little discussion put me in mind of my need to write down my thoughts on faith in the marketplace of ideas. I offer the following on pluralism, thoughts that are certainly not original, but which do guide my work and life. They come from my time living in a decidedly non-pluralist society overseas, and from mentors, great men and women with whom I’ve become acquainted over the past several years. Most notable among these is Dr. Dallas Willard, Professor of Psychology at USC and author of many life-changing books, such as The Divine Conspiracy.

A Thousand Cuts?

Beloved, while eagerly preparing to write to you about the salvation we share, I find it necessary to write and appeal to you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. For certain intruders have stolen in among you, people who long ago were designated for this condemnation as ungodly, who pervert the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. Jude 3-4 NRSV

Several months ago, in a class I was teaching on Exodus, I entertained the scientific and creative work of Simcha Jacobovici related to the Exodus of Israel from captivity in Egypt. “Exodus Decoded” was an interesting attempt at verifying the biblical account of Israel’s exit from Egypt, by looking where nobody else had ever looked for evidence, in another time period from that normally assigned. Jacobovici’s “time-shift” methodology was believable, in part, because we wanted a good, scientific and historical explanation for the events recorded in scripture, and also in part, because we wanted the prevailing authorities to be wrong. No evidence is found for the Exodus, he claimed, because we have been looking in the wrong time period. Look 300 years earlier, during the time of Pharoah Ahmose, rather than during the reign of Pharoah Raamses, and the evidence is bountiful. Clever scientific procedures and archaeological finds were brought to bear which seemed to prove this case. Impressive special effects and on-location filming made Exodus Decoded an alternative story to what the archaeologists have been telling us, and we loved it because it was what we wanted to hear.
Now, though, Jacobovici has teamed up with James Cameron of Titanic fame and tackled the problem of the Lost Tomb of Jesus. Now, after we had congratulated him for making his point so well in Exodus Decoded, we feel betrayed at the same methods applied to a New Testament theme. Moreover, unabashed, Cameron and Jacobovici marshall numbers of Christian scholars who assure us that finding the bones of Jesus “won’t affect their faith” at all. I watch these “experts” and wonder at how they can possibly be reading (or ignoring?) Paul’s letter to the Corinthians.

For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 NRSV

Inaugural

Well, I guess I’m fulfilling a New Year’s Resolution a bit early . . . or late, maybe. Yes, definitely late . . . I think. For several years now I’ve said I would like to start out the new year with a real live blog, just to see who is willing to read the kind of stuff I like to write about. And this is it, so here goes. It’s a God Blog, I guess. I mean, er, it’s all about ideas of God and theology and how our thoughts regulate, hinder and at odd times, enhace the way we relate to Him. It’s not really a religion blog, though. I’m pretty sure I’m not very religious. Actually I’d like to be more religious if I could just figure out how. Maybe some of my readers can teach me. I named the blog Pax-Rex because that’s a business name I’ve used for quite a few years now. When I lived in Tokyo I worked as a free lance techno consultant for several publishers and some small corporations. I didn’t want to use my personal name because it’s so hard to say in Japanese, and even though I was there on a “religious worker” visa, I didn’t really want to put that at the fore of my enterprise. So I came up with this arcane (and probably gramatically incorrect) Latin phrase, Pax-Rex, or the King’s Peace. “If Rome was able, by its brutally strong governing