The World is Complicated

So tonight I was privileged to attend a special event tonight, honoring a local man who has dedicated his life to living his Sikh faith in all aspects of his life.  KP Singh is a local celebrity, artist, architect and civic voice.  The core of who he is and what he was being honored for was his dedication true multi-faith action and respect.  KP Singh received the interfaith ambassador award from the Center for Interfaith Cooperation and it was well deserved.  For almost 50 years he has been working to bring people of many faith communities together to make Indianapolis a more welcoming inclusive community.  Almost 300 people shared prayers, speeches, a meal and Bollywood dancing to honor not only this one man but the ideals that bring people of all faiths together.  

Then I came home and read this:

 Craziness continues. Really sad.

A Muslim woman wearing hijab last Sunday is pursued by a honking truck after dropping her children off at Sunday School. At the traffic light the truck pulls up to her and keeps honking trying to get her attention. When she looks over he exposes her genitals to her. She looks away but he pursues her honking until he realizes she is trying to jot down his license plate.

Muslim woman wearing hijab stops at a traffic light. A police officer pulls up next to her. Indicates that she should roll down her window. She does assuming she was doing something wrong. He spits at her and yells obscenities and then drives away.

Two different women but both incidents in Plainfield, Indiana. Both women afraid to report to law enforcement for fear of being under scrutiny.

This is disgusting and such the opposite of what we were all celebrating tonight.  This is the attitude and dare I say evil we are fighting against when we come together to share our faiths with others.  We live in culture today that appears to be rewarding brash and crass language that will demonize an entire faith for the actions of a few who distort the faith for their own desires.  The fact that a police officer felt it was fine to accost a citizen using the power of his badge.  I hope they find the officer and I hope they fire him for this action against all being a police officer stands for.  

So to inoculate the world against the ignorant bigotry that is vomited at political rallies and draws this sickening behavior out of people I would like to challenge anyone reading this to do a few things.  Some of which we were charged by KP Singh to do at the dinner.

1.  Spend time with someone of a different faith.  Not to talk about your faith and theirs but to just be together.  Everyone knows someone  who worships differently.  Go and just hang out and you will be surprised what you will learn.

2.  Learn about others.  Too often what we know about people of other faiths are cartoonish or stereotypical.  Actually learn.  Talk to people, read, or simply go experience any of the many multi-faith programs that occur virtually everywhere.  You might have to search for them but google is your friend. 

3. Challenge the loud, bigoted voices that find a forum all the time.  Challenge those who propagate misinformation about people's difference, based on faith, race, culture or national origin, or simply how someone lives their life by choice or by birth.  Diversity should not be easily shouted down in the public square.  We own that space.  Let it not be polluted by hate as we wouldn't allow a local river to be a dumping ground.  

We all have a stake in this.  Let's step up and make our country a place where we never have to read about a police officer spitting at someone because of who they are.  It is not a place we can be proud of.  

We Have Seen this Movie Before

On May 13, 1939, the German transatlantic liner St. Louis sailed from Hamburg, Germany, for Havana, Cuba. On the voyage were 937 passengers. Almost all were Jews fleeing from the Third Reich. The story of the St. Louis has been told and retold, but it appears that the world needs to see this movie again.  The people aboard the ship were seeking a new life in the Americas and they saw Cuba as a place they could find safety until the United States or other countries would take them in.  But there were problems.  Cuba, like most of the world, was recovering from the Great Depression.  The politics of Cuba at the time, with corrupt government officials and right wing leadership called for the stopping of Jewish refugees from Europe.  It led to the passengers being blocked from entry into Cuba before they even set sail, though those passengers didn't know the political infighting on the ground.  Most of the passengers were denied departure in Cuba and sought refuge in the U.S. which was also denied.  Blatant anti-immigration and anti-semitic voices won out.  Then President Roosevelt did not have the will to fight a Congress that had recently failed to open the U.S. to Jewish children fleeing the Nazis.  The story ends with both hope and tragedy.  While the U.S. and Cuba denied those people a chance at life, Britain, France, and the Netherlands opened their doors.  However, because so many were in the path of Nazi expansion moving through WW II 254 people lost their lives in death camps because of the failure of the land of the free because of hatred and fear.  

Since that time many countries have sought to treat refugees better.  Our country has grown stronger because we have had policies that brought in refugees who live and thrive among us.  However recently a new tragedy has been on-going and thus call for us to live up to the values we profess as a culture and a nation.  Syria, as well as other parts of the Middle East, are in turmoil due in part to Western Intervention in the area.  Syria is suffering a war that includes the murderous ISIS that use Islam as a weapon to justify horrors unable to fully comprehend without seeing them, and the standing government of Bashar al-Assad who in response to calls for reforms brutally attacked his own people.  It is estimated that 11% of the population of Syria at the start of the crisis in 2011 has been killed or seriously wounded.  That is 2.5 million people.  Another 7 million are internally displaced, forced to leave their homes but have no way out of the country.  About 4 million have fled, mostly to neighboring countries where they are living in camps and trying to reach western countries and find a new life.  Their lives are in the balance and they will do anything to flee the horrors of home.  The numbers are staggering and what is scary is that we aren't truly sure how accurate they are as they change every day.  Now that Russia has entered the war and bombing without the concern for civilian populations that the Untied States has had they are creating more refugees as those internally displaced are not finding safety at all.  Hope has come in the form of a cease fire that is being negotiated and looks promising but in the end there is still an extraordinary crisis that needs to be addressed.  

But here in the U.S., far from the fighting and the dying, the voices are less than clear.  The Obama administration has pledged to take in some 10,000 refugees over the course of a few years, but because this is an election cycle and because some people thrive in fear there are many who have argued that one refugee is one too many.  Republican governors (including my own here in Indiana) have made the ludicrous statements about banning Syrian refugees at the state line.  Presidential candidates have called for the banning of all Muslims from entering the United States and carpet bombing Syria.  News outlets highlight violence in France and San Bernardino as the result of refugees when, in fact, most if not all involved  were not refugees at all.  While there is an argument of concern that radical thinkers and terrorists could come into the country through the refugee process it is highly unlikely and a seriously dumb way to do it.  What we do know is that people who are in fear and see the West as being unconcerned are ripe for terrorist organizations to exploit.  A drowning man will grab the point of sword and in Syria thousands upon thousands of people are drowning and ISIS will offer that sword.  

What can we do?  Well let us remember the St Louis for starters.  If that happened today, knowing what you know about the Shoah (Holocaust) would you have done anything to help those people seeking asylum in Cuba and the United States?  If so then join me.  Contact your elected officials and tell them we as a nation have a moral responsibly to save those that need our help.  Find out who in your community is helping to resettle refugees, start with churches and Catholic Charities and organizations like Exodus in Indiana or look for other organizations here.  Read reports from reporters on the ground.  Challenge those spreading fear and lies.  Hold your elected officials accountable and find a way to send money to feed and clothe our fellow human beings caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place and the results are that picture we all saw of a young boy face down on a beach.  We can't let that become the new normal. 

I Feel the Bern, but I am Cool with Clinton

I have been a fan of Senator Bernie Sanders since the 1990s when he serve in the House of Representatives. He has always been what he appears to be today.  Running as a democratic socialist is something that is a powerful statement in today's world, dominated by big money donors to government officials and of course the growing neo-con creep that has got us into unnecessary wars.  Bernie has always been a hero to me, but sometimes we don't need a hero if that hero will have his Kryptonite stop him dead in his tracks.

Bernie's ideas are what they always have been.  A straight up European socialist concept that I find I have agreed with much of my voting life.  He brings the idealism in his 70s that I had in college.  But that is part of why I am not so taken with him.  You see idealism in the Executive branch will not work if you don't have fellow thinkers in House or Senate.  And he doesn't.  Bernie will bring to the table wonderful concepts that will go no where.  As the nominee of the party he will alienate many of the Democrats who live in the seam between the two parties who might jump to vote for a solid Republican who may be for lower taxes and less governmental control over certain aspects of the economy.  And that would be a disaster for not only our party, but for the country moving forward.

I know people will cite polls showing Bernie having a better chance of beating any of the GOP candidates than Hillary will, but those polls are meaningless.  That is because there hasn't been a real effort to attack and illuminate Senator Sander's record to a majority of the country.  You see the early primaries are what they are, and the campaigns tend to try to focus on what the people of Iowa and New Hampshire want to hear.  Also both Senator Sanders and Secretary Clinton have been fairly amicable until recently.  Now as we see the attacks on each other, we will see their numbers shift between the two of them, but with the Republican candidates.  Answering a poll question in February is very different than standing in the voting booth in November.

That is not to say there are not issues with Sec. Clinton.  She carries so much baggage from her life in the public eye that she needs a valet.  But in the end, both parties see her some to work with.  I know that sounds dumb but we must remember most political discourse is theater.  It is like pro-wrestling in the early up to about the year 2000, everyone wants to believe that the interviews are really what they think until you see the people who just called each other names are drinking in a bar.  There are members of congress who truly have animosity toward Sec. Clinton (and Senators Cruz and Sanders no doubt), but for the most part most members of Congress in both houses are patriots who put country over party and will work together.  But Senator Sanders, I believe, is too radical for many in the GOP and not a few in Democratic party to travel down the same road.

Think of this, when the Affordable Care Act was being negotiated, one aspect that I thought was an important and needed part was a public option.  Government administered insurance for the poor. Since a government program would have fewer costs it would be cheaper than mandated private insurance, it could also negotiate better pricing and reach more people.  It still wouldn't be Medicaid for all, but it would give some people a viable and controllable option for insurance.  It was Democrats who killed that.  Imagine what those same Democrats will do with Free Tuition and 12 Weeks of paid family leave.  These are great ideas but are not realistic.  My vote is going to go to the person that best matches my values AND can enact legislation to make them happen.  I don't think we can have 4 more years of a Congress whose main theme is to stop the President.

I am sorry I feel this way.  I truly like Senator Sanders and he has always really been a hero of mine. He has created a movement that has young people thinking about our country differently and perhaps this election will be a turning point for the nation to focus on changing the fundamental structure of how we do business moving forward.  Perhaps in my lifetime we will have universal health care, free college, real family leave, and be less militaristic. But we are not at a place for that radical a change.  I don't see it happening when old guard is still in power.

I hope that the energy he has created will galvanize those young people to vote more in local, district and state elections.  I hope they will show up for rallies when a Democrat who shares Bernie's vision wants to be their mayor, their district attorney or Congressman.  I hope that they will push to create a more vigorous debate about Citizen United and LGBT rights.  I hope that there will be a ground swell of support for a party of the people and not the corporations.  But until then voting for Bernie Sanders for President will not change the world and I fear will elect a Republican to the White House.  That I could not stand.  

So The Letter Came.

As I was preparing to travel to my conference over the weekend, the letter came.  The New York Parole Board is once again going to assess if Linda's murderer is capable of being released back into society.  I am always troubled when the letter comes as many of you already know.  Not just because it brings back all the memories but it calls into question how the criminal justice system operates. While some might disagree, I am an articulate and educated man who has been somewhat successful. I can easily take time to write a letter or even come to parole board to give a victim impact statement. If the victim of a crime didn't have someone to speak for them does that make the inmate more likely to be seen as fine for society.  Two years ago I wrote this letter:

Dear Parole Board,

I am writing this letter as a victim impact statement to be considered at the upcoming parole hearing of Jamie Morton, Inmate number 88C0405. On August 31, 1987 Mr. Morton stole the future I was building with my fiancé, Linda Akers, when he chose to murder her in a senseless and brutal act.   

Mr. Morton violently beat and stabbed Linda for no reason except to vent his anger at a world he felt was unfair.  But more then stealing Linda and my future, he took a light out of the world.  Linda’s work with young children, especially during her time at the Bishop Foery Foundation, was focused on reaching vulnerable and at-risk children.   She wanted to make a difference in the world, especially those who were often unseen or ignored by society as a whole.  She never got the chance to make her mark.  I never saw Mr. Morton show remorse for his crime, in fact at times I felt he was proud of it.

My first reaction is that Mr. Morton should never leave prison; his crime is not one that should allow him to ever enjoy the pleasures of the world that he has made darker by his actions.  But I am torn with what to write. I believe in justice over vengeance; I believe in rehabilitation over the idea of locking people away forever, even for murder.  If Mr. Morton has served his time honorably and without incidents of violence or dangerous behavior, and if he will add to the world’s good as opposed to evil, should he not be released?  But how can we know how he will react if released?

Because of Mr. Morton’s crime, I would not consider him eligible for parole unless there is substantial evidence that he has indeed changed for the better while incarcerated.  I believe the burden of proof rests on him, and that burden is significant. 

When weighing your decision, I hope you see that Mr. Morton took the life of a woman who was dedicating her life to young children in the hope of making the world a better place.   I also hope that you honor the values of the legal system that seeks to not simply be a punishment, but also seeks rehabilitation and reform.  I have moved from Syracuse, I have built my life and while I still have a big hole created in the past, I think I have found peace in the last 2 decades.  But I am haunted by the idea that another person will be put through the same pain I have been through because of Mr. Morton’s actions.  So I hope when you decide on Mr. Morton’s future you do so with Linda’s life lost in mind and the chance that others might be at risk.  I do not envy your position in making this difficult decision. 

Thank you for taking my words into consideration while you deliberate. 

Sincerely,

                 George Kelley 

As you can see I included my discomfort with the value of these statements.  So I was surprised by the most recent letter.  In it the statement should reflect the ruling of a NYS Supreme Court Justice Sandra Sciortino in which the parole decision must focus "almost exclusively on the inmate's crime". I am not sure if this is a way of leveling the field and taking the victim completely out of the equation.  Parole should be "future-focused" as the ruling goes.  This has been my thought for a while but then I wonder if sentencing might be refocused as well.  How do we come up with the numbers that we use when we decide how long someone should be in prison?  Seriously, is there a formula? Three decades is a long time in prison and Morton is approaching this milestone.  But during those same years the world has been without a great woman who dedicated her life to children. So the later doesn't matter as much.  Perhaps that is a good thing.  So I will write again and ask them to consider the danger Morton will pose but also any hate he would bring to the world.  There is a no way to know the future.  This is my particular situation but I wonder how many may find freedom with this new ruling.  I hope that justice prevails and that the parole board makes good decisions.  It is suppose to be blind, I just hope it isn't simpleminded as well. 

Seriously, What is Wrong With You People

So the storm came.  Elected officials from all over the eastern half of the country have been preparing for what has become a crippling and deadly storm.   Mayor Bill DeBlasio, in a statement to the people of New York, asked people to stay indoors during the storm.  He wanted to avoid people being hurt or trapped because of the wind and snow.  The storm, a blizzard, with wind gusts up to 50 mph.  To put that into perspective this is a tropical storm force wind speed.  Also the snow coming down at a rate of 2 inches per hour is not easy to deal with even for someone like me who lived in Northern New York for the first 20 years of my life.  But the mayor's statement to protect people had to be answered by  John Podhoretz, a member of the right wing noise machine.  He argues that this is another example of the nanny-state and that the mayor or elected officials have no business telling people what to do.  He argues in the city so few people drive that being out wouldn't be a problem for rescue workers and first responders to get around.  He actually complained that this is government overreach.  He wrote:  

To DeBlasio and other pols who tell people to stay indoors during a snow storm: You work for US. Therefore, shut the hell up.

Think about that for a minute.  He complaining that the mayor of the biggest city in the country telling people to stay home and be safe is a problem.  I could inform Mr. Podhoertz of the dangerous of being outdoors during a blizzard.  Not just driving and getting stuck.  Wind blowing things around at 30mph can do damage, trees in the park can fall, lose branches and fall and kill people.  That has happened.  But John is worried that if you listen to the government the terrorists win or something.  And this is the state of American political discourse now.  We have a leading Presidential candidate who retweets white supremacists on his twitter feed and calls people who don't endorse him losers.  We have so-called journalists who continue to run cover for a Michigan Governor who's actions poisoned and likely killed citizens of Flint.  

I understand that back and forth of politics and I partake in it regularly.  Sometimes it can be fun, you know when two people see the same facts differently can have a valid discussion. But when your politics encourages you to challenge a public declaration for safety and help make people act stupidly because you told them it will fine perhaps  you should take a break. Maybe leave the business and maybe get some help.  Because as I watched the news from New York today, I saw people jogging in center park and I hope I don't hear that one was hit by a falling branch, or that someone in Brooklyn was electrocuted by downed powerline.  I wonder if John Podhoertz would see that as a victory for liberty. 

Where Did the Republican Party Go?

Let's face it, the right wing thinkers have taken over the Republican party with real disastrous consequences for the party and in some cases for the people of states they control.  In some of these cases there are much bigger issues that stretch beyond their limit spheres but the is a cancer sweeping the nation and I don't know if there is party leadership to bring it back to a normalcy that is what our country stands for and always has.  Many times they argue they want to take the country back, to what?  Here are some interesting, scary and dangerous examples.  

Gov Rick Snyder of Michigan starting in 2012 began to exert executive power and take over municipalities that were suffering in the down Michigan economy.  He appointed emergency managers and one city was Flint.  In Flint one of the cost savings measures was to take water from the Flint river rather as they had been from the Detroit water system that brings in water from Lake Huron.  The chemical make up of river versus lake water is different and river water has to be treated in a different way to go through the old pipes that deliver water in Flint.  The emergency manager, over the protests of local elected officials, changed to river water and did not pay for the new necessary treatment.  Now in Flint there is a water crisis usually reserved for the developing world but what is amazing is that for a long time the people of Flint were drinking polluted water from their taps which included lead.  Lead is a neurotoxin that will have a lifelong impact on child development and the local water has poisoned these kids.  A pediatrician and hydrologist both warned of this, local elected officials pleaded with the state to do something the Governor was silent.  When challenged he said the water was fine, but he knew it was toxic and recent released emails prove it.  It wasn't until Rachel Maddow brought the story to national attention did the Michigan government work to rectify the situation and still moving slowly. These are all facts.  They still haven't called for Federal help but FEMA has sent a couple of people to monitor the situation even though until the Republican governor calls for help they can do very little.  Meanwhile, children have been poisoned and there still is no water.  This is the result of serious government arrogance on the part of a tea party governor who appeared to wanted to punish the citizens of Flint for questioning his non-democratic practice of overriding local elections.  How is this possible?

Then we have the Republican governor of Maine.  Recently complaining that New York black drug dealers come to Maine and sell their drugs and impregnate white girls saying they have names like D-money and Shifty.  Clear implications of his statement is that black people coming to Maine are going to sell drugs and rape white women.  Amazing.  This is a leader in the Republican party.  

Let's go south, Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice has decided the the United States Supreme Court is not a higher authority than himself and has tried to outlaw marriage for people of the same sex. He ordered probate judges in the state not to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, a move that defies the ruling of the United States Supreme Court decision that legalized same-sex unions. This is the product of people like Senator Ted Cruz and former Gov Mike Huckabee's ridiculous notion that the states can ignore the Supreme Court.  It is remarkable that the leadership of the party on the Federal level have not said a thing about it.  Nothing.  But what do we expect when people running for President in that party have no understanding of civics.

Then we have Texas Governor Greg Abbott.  You might remember him, he sent the Texas national guard out this past summer to keep an eye on the US Military doing training in Texas and other states because conspiracy theorists said it was an attempt to take over Texas.  (let's not forget Texas is part of the US so......)  A military exercise that has happened many times caused Abbott to wring his hands and cry about tyranny.  So this week another great leader of the party proposes a Constitutional Convention to wrestle power from the Federal government.  His proposed amendments basically destroy the power of the federal government to act as a nation when it comes to policies that effect citizens.  One of the issues is the Supreme Court rulings that Abbott doesn't like.  What is funny is that he argues we have to preserve the Constitution but in effect his idea destroys it.  Some, again, running for President under the rules of that Constitution agree with him.  Amazing.  One thing that could be a result of Abbott's proposal if it were to play out is that states could have slavery, limit the right to vote to only certain people (men, land owners, Christians?) It is remarkable that no one in the leadership of the party calls these guys out.  But there it is.  

And these are all elected officials but it is not the only.  President Obama this week unveiled a series of executive actions to limit access to guns by criminals and people with mental illness.  Before anyone knew what he was going to say dozens of members of Congress tweeted that it was unconstitutional and that it was taking people guns away.  Neither were true but of course fact don't matter in this new post-fact world.  But even after the President outlined clear and legal enforcement of existing laws, members of Congress continued to suggest that the President was over stepping his authority and that he should focus on existing laws.  Again, nothing from the party to suggest they were lying.  

Now when we move beyond elected officials we can talk about Fox News, the voice of the right and largest mouthpiece for the nonsense driving this discussion.  When the President spoke about his plans on guns Andrea Tantaros accused him of faking his tears having a cut onion at the podium.  Seriously because talking about dead 5 year olds isn't enough for the people of Fox News to bring them to tears.  This heartless and I would argue evil nonsense that permeates our public discussion is not debate.  It leads to all kinds of crazy.  

Enter Trump.  I won't go on about him but everyone should take a moment and think what a Trump candidacy would look like in say 1980, or even 1992?  Would the GOP have allowed this man even on the stage?  Would the people fight to get to see him?  Would anger and hate drive their decision making?  I think not.  The GOP has abdicated their politics to the hateful nature of right wing radio and a Fox News that hates the President, minorities, Muslims, and women more than anyone loves the country.  We live in a world where a major party is lead by people who poison children, make racist statements in official meeting and want to save the Constitution by gutting it.  And the silence is deafening.  I challenge those who call themselves Conservative to do something about it.  I know this will lead to a second President Clinton and I will be happy to see her inaugurated, but in the end I think it is important that the party of Lincoln sound intelligent and working for all Americans (even if they are wrong) including D-money, Shifty and those of us who cry when we hear children have had their heads blown off by gunfire. 

Make a Happy New Year

All day I see people wishing others a good new year when a friend posted on her facebook page that she is has "2016 by the balls".  I think while maybe cruder than many of my friends might say, it is a great attitude.  She clearly wants to take the year on head on become the author of her own fate.  It really is what we can do.  There are plenty of ways that we don't have control of our universe but we always have control over how we react to the random and sometimes not-so-random events that befall us.  However we can set up situations that help make our lives not so random.  I hope that you will take the new year in hand, regardless of how you think about the metaphor, and create your new wonders.  Here are some ways you can change your world for the better. Pick one, a few, all, but help you find a better world.

1.  Tell someone you love that you do if you haven't in a while.
2.  Call an old friend just to tell them about your day.
3.  Have lunch with someone you don't know well who may be a different faith or culture, have not agenda just eat together and let it be organic.
4.  Find out what an old roommate is doing these days if you haven't stayed in touch.  (Facebook will find them I promise).
5.  Eat something you have never tried before, hell, make it.
6.  Stare into the eyes of your partner for at least 2 minutes, say nothing.
7.  Turn off your phone for an entire day if you don't do it already.
8.  Spend time with a toddler, pretend with them.
9.  Or just pretend play on your own...regardless of age.
10.  Go find a place you have never been and go.


Happy New Year and have a good one.  

Climate Change is Real,And Other Things That We Should Worry About

So a few nights ago I sat up listening a thunderstorm that blew through Indiana a few days before the new year.  It has ignited more conversation about climate change as the weather around the country has been remarkably unusual.  But these flashes of weather are not enough to be considered conclusive evidence, no more than when a dimwitted Senator brought a snowball to floor in the Capital was a sign climate change isn't occurring because it was cold last winter.  But here is the thing, 2015 will likely be a new record for global temperature.  We see massive changing patterns in glaciers, ice fields and over all weather.  At the Paris Climate Conference heads of over 150 countries agreed the climate in changing and that human action is involved.  And yet there is a small group of individuals, mostly in the the United States, who are actively calling this a global decades long hoax.  Some of them are running for President of the United States.

How is this possible?  Seriously, there is a certain level of arrogance to be an elected official to suggest that the massive majority of scientists working in the area of climate studies are just making this up.  People should value skepticism but in this case there is a growing class of people who seem to be angered by information, reality and facts.  We can see it reflected in the way followers of a candidate for President, Donald Trump, justify his factually inaccurate statements as just another strategy.  They seem to feel that being wrong about important issues is unimportant because he makes them feel good.  And that is part of what I think is cultivated by the anti-climate change crowd.  Working to combat climate change will not be easy or cheap.  It is easier to pretend that it is not real and not worry about.

While a majority of the world and virtually all the scientists doing work in the area agree that human activity is causing real problems in world's climate the loud voice of a tiny minority has whipped up a group that is ignorant of reality. Truth becomes fluid in this world.  The leading Republican candidate for President has had his campaign considered the lie of the year, his entire campaign.  He spoke of thousands of Muslims cheering in New Jersey that he personally saw, when in fact the rumor that this was happening was debunked in real time.  Others have said they have seen videos of live births during abortion procedures only to have the baby's organs harvested.  That didn't occur.  More and more people fall prey to ridiculous ideas because at the highest levels of discourse truth is considered a liability.  So we believe that Mark Zuckerberg is giving money away to people who share post on Facebook, or commenting on a picture will motivate some corporation to donate to the health care of a child or veteran. We have become an uncritical people and there are those who will take advantage of it.  Now forwarding a post on social media is not a big deal, but when people who want to lead our country and by extension the free world just make things up, we should be ready to hold them accountable.

The climate is changing, we have evidence that human action is contributing, the results could be very devastating and we should be concerned.  Facts are important in the world, especially want you want to lead it.  
  

Happy Holidays

There is a meme going around the interwebs that says

If you're Christian, wish me "Merry Christmas!"

If you're Jewish, wish me "Happy Hanukkah!"

If you're Pagan, wish me "Happy Solstice!"

 If you're African-American, wish me "Joyous Kwanzaa!"

I won’t be offended, just happy you took the time to share your joy.  

But here is the problem with this notion.  Wishing someone Merry Christmas who is not celebrating that holiday is like wishing someone Happy Birthday on your birthday.  Think about it.  Why would someone wish me a Joyous Kwanzaa?  Why?  I may recognize it is happening but it doesn't belong to me. Frankly what I think is that we should get to know our neighbor, know who they are and wish them a meaningful holiday for them.  If you are confused by the holiday they celebrate, ask.  It isn't really hard.  Too often we don't take the time to understand the people around us.  That is wrong.  

Now what is missing from this meme is the fact that in many cases you won't know the person well and there is no place to really ask.  If you are a clerk or a customer at a store, when you are in a cab, or simply walking down a busy street.  So the one thing that is a catch all that would plow the way to what might become a conversation is to simply say HAPPY HOLIDAYS.  Many people are celebrating something in our culture from late November to early January.  In more American/Secular holidays take place like Thanksgiving and New Year's Day.  We also slow down as December goes on and people take vacations and celebrate the breaths they can take for a minute before the gearing up again in the New Year.  Saying Happy Holidays opens a door.  It is really that phrase that has caused the most disruption and offense.  Boycotts of stores that use the phrase have been common in recent years, worse for Season's Greetings another wonderful catch all.  Fox News and their army of outrage have said the is a War on Christmas, often citing more inclusive celebrations and expressions this time of year.  All with the intent of trying to homogenize the culture that is deliciously diverse and wonderful vibrant.  

So at this time of year, wish someone a joyful and meaningful holiday they celebrate.  Accept the greetings of others, especially if they try to be inclusive, Attend Hanukah, Christmas, Solstice parties if you wish, or nothing at all.  But remember, the world is full of wonderful people who offer wonderful things and sometimes those things are outside of our normal everyday experience.  Those are the coolest.  

For those who celebrate, may your holiday bring you meaning, joy and perhaps some wonderful treats.  For those who don't have any celebration, may the fact the most do give you a few days of deeper breaths and calm in life.  And to all, each year we strive to do better than the last, take time to get to know someone very different from you.  You may learn something, especially about yourself.  

  

Interfaith, Multifaith, Shared Faith.

Last week many people around the country gathered in interfaith commemorations of the tragic events in Paris earlier this month and at annual celebrations of gratitude around the American holiday of Thanksgiving.  I have a long history of participation and attendance at such events.  I can tell you that one of the most special interfaith service I attended was in of all places the grounds of Georgia College in Milledgeville, GA.  The piece of land owned by the state of Georgia and grounds of a former penitentiary and now a university brought together a variety of religions for a service that honored all and shunned none.  Great attempts were made to be inclusive enough for a Southern Baptist and Jew to stand next to each other and get a feeling of connection.  But that is not the norm. Often through ignorance or cultural myopia there are times that those who are charged to speak for the entire congregation of mixed faiths might pray in the name of, or invoke their vision of godness to the exclusion of others.  Other times there are those who chose to focus on Scriptural passages that exclude or denigrate the other.

Multifaith expressions in services are difficult.  In part because prayer is highly personal even when one is a prayer leader.  Our faith traditions are remarkably segregated when we gather for prayer. Even within a single faith the diversity of expression of prayer can be enormous.  A Hasidic synagogue looks nothing like a typical Reform synagogue but may have expressions different from even other hasidic synagogues.  Think of all the denominations of Christianity.  In that same Milledgeville it took me weeks to figure out the two Baptist churches may not always play with each other on issues of theology.  How then can we expect people to work together on creating something that feeds those who believe in one God, many Gods, No God or are unsure of what God is?  Actually it is quite simple.

The term interfaith is not how we should focus our energies, but on Multifaith.  The true goal of interfaith work is not to blend us all into one lump of an indistinguishable bland worldview, but to celebrate the many paths people take in there pursuit and/or relationship with God or Godness.  So why not celebrate it.  A model would be to allow for many person expressions of prayer in the service.  Have an invocation, benediction and if there is a sermon or message be strictly for all faiths.  Wipe it clean of any sectarian references.  Try to be universal and if a speaker can't or won't then find someone who can.  It is not hard to not make those things about yourself or your faith.  Don't leave someone out.  But then allow room for people to express themselves in their own faith tradition.  Allow for prayers in Jesus' name as long a there are prayers from many places of faith. However make those explicit that these are not prayers that we are looking for the whole group to say "amen".  Diversity is not about simply including minority faiths in a majority service nor is about taking deeply held beliefs off the table but embracing that which we all find comes from our heart.  That which we all find most precious.

I am never comfortable when at a meeting someone prays to Jesus for me or worse expects me to pray to Jesus with them.  But I can understand that they feel the need to pray to Jesus, and it is simple to leave me out of it.  However if the intention is to be inclusive then it would be rude and counter-productive to do that as much as it would be for me to pray the Alenu as a vision of the future.  (A prayer that calls on all the world to believe as we do).

Multifaith is difficult but not impossible if only we can have open dialogue about what it truly means and how we can express it in our actions and services.  People coming together around the idea of being thankful for the gifts we have, giving to those whose cups are less full, or remembering those lost in a tragedy and holding out hands to comfort those grieving are wonderful.  Maybe when we are away from the last time we did it we can think about it seriously and try to do better the next time.  If need help, 20 years ago there were some clergy and lay people in a small college town in Georgia who got it right.  Let's look for that.

Joseph's Granaries, Trump's Wall and Carly's Hallucinations.

Every time I have started a blog post about the Republican Presidential race and its candidates someone  has given me a reason to stop and rethink, and not in a good way.  I feel like so many times this particular group of supposed leaders has been not only disappointing and down right frightening and the media has been worse.  From the fawning over Donald Trump to the ridiculousness of debate moderators the media has failed miserably to inform the public over just what these candidates are actually saying and doing.  I could single out several people and may in a future post but let's just say that there are questions that are not being asked and it is disturbing to think that debates have now become profit centers for networks.  This has led to them being more a show and less a chance to see the candidates as potential leaders of our country and by extension the Western world.

However the leading candidates have not done anything to help their cause, because it looks like to get a bump in the polls one has to disassociate yourself from reality.  Lies have become the norm when the GOP gathers to pick the person that they think will be Secretary Clinton in a general election.  They appear to believe that the electorate is just plain stupid.  The list of things is remarkable from Trump saying that he didn't say something quoted on his own website, Senator Rubio talking how the stories of his finances are made up when court papers are public record, and Carly Fiorina describing a video she watched that doesn't exist.  And the list goes on.  Senator Ted Cruz in the last debate even lied about what happened in that very debate as he attacked the moderators for trying to pit the candidates against each other.  And so it goes.

So in a week where the new front runner is finally being fully scrutinized for ridiculous claims I have some advise for the media and for the average member of the Republican party.  Hold your candidates accountable and do it from a position of knowledge.  So let's take a look at how one can do that.

Dr. Ben Carson has claimed that he believes that the pyramids were built under the instruction of Joseph, the son of Jacob in the Bible, while viceroy of Egypt.  For Carson they were how the Egyptians had long-term grain storage, a part of the story of the Jews that drives a great deal of the narrative in the Book of Genesis.  It sets up the climatic Exodus story to come later.  Carson, a devout Seventh-Day Adventist and Biblical literalist believes  this theory which held sway in middle ages and images are seen in art of that period and in fact adorns the dome of an old church in Venice.  While I personally believe that his Biblical interpretation and potential impact on policy makes him someone I could never support, focusing on this and not the fact when he was faced with the reality his tax plan of tithing to the government would leave a huge whole in the budget and that his math was wrong he simply said that this reality wasn't true.  He basically said he believes that math works differently then it does.  While Senator Cruz suggested that the moderators of the debate challenged the good doctor's ability to do math, they really didn't.  Next week when the GOP puts on their circus again watch that Dr. Carson will be asked more about his view of Bible and not his math.  But here is the thing.  Dr. Carson's view of the pyramids is not really a big issue, but it is sexier than pointing out he has no idea how the government works.  Policy is boring, making fun of someone's religious beliefs are what sells airtime.  But the ignorance of so many who have no idea that Joseph's granaries is a belief held by many over the centuries is stunning to me.  That is where too often the media drops the ball.  Shiny objects are fun, real research isn't.

Which brings me to the shiniest object of them all.  Donald Trump!  Trump has been the most interestingly handled candidate so far in this race.  Trump, who acts like he is running for student council promising ice cream for lunch and less homework has made outrageous statements.  His approach to the race has been one of making insane statements and attacking people personally, including media, when they question him on them.  It has led the media to treat him like he is royalty hardly questioning his meager policy statements and focusing on ways of explaining away his bigoted and misogynistic outbursts.  In fact the enable him to write grand fictional stump speeches that include one of the single most ludicrous  assertions I have yet to hear a candidate make.  That he will build a wall on our southern border and have Mexico pay for it.  When asked for specifics he shuts down and just says how great he is.  What if Fox News next week at the debate asks him straight out armed with facts, figures and you know law, about this.  Show him where his flawed idea will simply fall apart and force him to bring forth something of a plan to get to where he claims he is going?  Again bad television but great for the American people.  Sadly they will find a way to either goad him into attacking someone on the stage or ignore him because when it comes to policy Trump is great for Saturday Night Live, not the White House.  But when CNBC asked him if he was a comic book character they weren't that far off from reality, however they should have pushed more for specifics.  Instead it was just there way of driving the plot of their show.  Frankly, if you believe in Trump's rhetoric I would like to know why.  Nothing he has says makes sense from a governing point of view but is what your drunk uncle might say at 8:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving night after his 3rd Tom and Jerry.  It would be funny if so many people didn't take him seriously and if the people who should stand up for us and challenge him weren't so bad at their jobs.

Which leads me to Carly Fiorina.  Her plunge in the polls is not the result of people learning more about her, though I wish that were true, it is more because no one is talking to her.  But she did get a brief bump after one debate where she talked about a Planned Parenthood video about a living baby as the result of an abortion being kept alive as an incubator for organs.  The video simply didn't exist. It didn't.  In fact, a Super PAC linked to her actually created a video to fill that void so she didn't look like a big liar, but as of this week she was clinging to lies about Planned Parenthood.  It is sickening that a news organization simply can't ask her to prove her lies.  I mean The View, a daytime talk show did question her on it, but that will only reinforce the lie in the minds of voters.  Whoopie Goldberg will never be a Ted Kopel or Tim Russert.  But then there appears to be no one in the news that is.

We are going to elect a President that is going to face amazingly important challenges and whoever we elect will be stronger for being forced to air real concerns in front of the electorate as two, and maybe more,  party candidates square off.  Which ever candidate comes from the GOP they should be vetted in a way that we know a great deal about how they might react to the growing world-wide threats to security, a growing but fragile economy, a crisis in higher education and the very real and very serious effect of climate change.  So far the biggest stories about the candidates are either made into punchlines or not explored fully.  Dr. Ben Carson has destroyed the aphorism about brain surgeons all being smart.  Donald Trump has become a classic example of a nationalist ID in human form running for President and Carly Fiorina is, well, the GOP's attempt to pretend that they have a woman candidate as well as the Democrats.  The media should be on that more.  They aren't.  So in the next 90 days or so, until the first ballots are cast for the nomination hold those in charge of the air time to task.  Try to keep them honest. We are a great nation and should have great leaders.  The process works when we all play our role.  If the media won't play theirs then we should help them do it.  In the age of the internet it is easy.