Meaning and Authenticity

This from Newsweek: The United States, like many countries, has a bad habit of committing wartime excesses and an even worse record of accounting for them afterward. But a remarkable string of recent events suggests that may finally be changing—and that top Bush administration officials could soon face legal jeopardy for prisoner abuse committed under their watch in the war on terror. In early December, in a highly unusual move, a federal court in New York agreed to rehear a lawsuit against former Attorney General John Ashcroft brought by a Canadian citizen, Maher Arar. (Arar was a victim of the administration's extraordinary rendition program: he was seized by U.S. officials in 2002 while in transit through Kennedy Airport and deported to Syria, where he was tortured.) Then, on Dec. 15, the Supreme Court revived a lawsuit against Donald Rumsfeld by four Guantánamo detainees alleging abuse there—a reminder that the court, unlike the White House, will extend Constitutional protectio...

I've not been comfortable with my posts recently--the ones about politics, the election, and the actions of our local Episcopal Diocese, I mean. I wrote and posted them out of true passion for justice--I feel so deeply about the importance of mutuality, the dignity of each human life, people on the margins of society, etc. Of course I still feel that way. My posts are authentically me. But as I posted each of them, I did have a whisp of discomfort, a whisp that I conveniently and easily repressed. That discomfort grew until Thursday when I had lunch with The Author. We were talking about the election, and because I feel so safe with her, I actually said, "I don't understand it. I don't understand how spiritually mature people can be so conservative in their politics." The Author is a very kind person. Each time I said something like that she remarked how she tries to see both sides of every position. I finally said, "I guess I'm being kind of arrogant abo...

Amnesty International is challenging President-elect Obama (oh, it feels good to type that!) to CLOSE GUANTANAMO! And I agree. This is from the AI website: Talk of change is good. Concrete action is better. Amnesty International is calling on President-elect Barack Obama to take concrete steps in his first 100 days in office to put human rights at the center of the new government. The new president will have the opportunity to rectify some of the unlawful policies and practices carried out in the name of national security. We are calling on the new administ ration to: * announce a plan and date to close Guantanamo * issue an executive order to ban torture * ensure that an independent commission to investigate abuses committed by the U.S. government in its "war on terror" is set up. Taking these steps would send a clear message to the rest of the world that, once again, the U.S. will be a leader for human rights.

I grew up during Watergate and Nixon and Vietnam -- I became politcally aware during those years. Spent hours in front of the television watching the Watergate hearings, even ordering a copy of the proceedings. I was outraged at our President's behavior. I didn't know anyone personally who went to Vietnam. But I have a memory of my senior year in high school, listening to a broadcast of the final pullout of American troops, and feeling such relief. I was outraged about our behavior in the world. All that to say that I have never felt particularly patriotic. In fact, I've been wary of patriotism because it can slide into nationalism which I think is evil. I've prided myself on being a critical thinker when it comes to my country. But last night, as D and I were driving to visit some friends (see post above), I found myself asking my husband what he thought it meant to be an Amerian. He said that being American is choosing to live in compact with others who believe in the...

Barack Obama, the next President of the United States of America! Wow. I say again, WOW .

Gracious God, Thank you for this day, this important day. Thank you for your love and grace and freedom. I am grateful, O God, that I live in a place on Earth where I may freely vote and express my opinion in that way. I am grateful for journalists and bloggers and writers and great thinkers who may freely express their opinions. Freedom like this is precious, and I do not want to ever take it for granted. Whatever the outcome, give us--give me --the spiritual maturity to remember that all our hope ultimately lies in you. When the outcome becomes clear later on today (or tomorrow), help me, O God, to thank you and to acknowledge that you are present, in the here and now, and that all shall be well, all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well. I pray that our nation-state may know its place in this world ~ that we are one among many, and that whatever leadership role we may have carries within it an attitude of servanthood, for otherwise it is a kind of tyranny and not tru...

We saw Oliver Stone's film "W" this weekend, his portrayal of George W. Bush. At the end of the last scene my husband spontaneously uttered "Wow," and I covered my face with my hands and couldn't speak. Lovely Passionate Feminist didn't say anything, but she and I talked about it on the way home, and she agreed. It's a horror film, really. The horror of seeing a soul (rich and therefore privileged though he is) unable to find himself . Searching, searching, searching his whole life for what would please his father. Mistakenly believing that to please his father would give his life meaning and purpose. He'd be a real man, and not "a disappointment," if he could win his father's approval. The horror of a lost soul. The horror of what we do to our children. The horror of seeing religion used as an opiate. George W. traded one addiction, alcohol, for another--this time a much more dangerous one. Religion without the courage of self kn...

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I was just about to write something on what's happening on Wall Street, but checked my email first and found this excellent article from Sojourners. It is an excellent read---I've copied it below. I don't know about you, but I'd hear a story about all these financial failures, and I'd think, either: Oh, this is too complex to understand or Oh, everything will be alright. But then I listened to Terry Gross interview Michael Greenberger on Fresh Air yesterday, and the way he explained what was happening was so helpful. And terrifying. When I began to really understand what was happening, I thought: Oh, we need to take out all our money--take the tax hit--and hide what's left under the mattress! But then Greenberger ended the interview by saying that would be exactly the wrong thing to do. He said Congress will not let the FDIC fail. And he said there are people in government who understand all this and will do the right thing. Robert Rubin, for example, who is Oba...

Saturday morning. 7 a.m. The familiar voice of Scott Simons' Weekend Edition wakes us up. "JOE BIDEN." I'm brushing my teeth when I hear it. David is still in bed. I come out and before I can say it, he does: "Honey, it's Joe Biden." Both of us had been pulling for a surprise announcement of Hillary Clinton as his running mate, so we're both initially a bit disappointed. How EXCITING a Hillary VP nomination would have been! Wow! But Joe Biden? He's been around so long, part of the Washingon establishment. I thought Obama was trying to change Washington. Guess he thinks he needs a long-time insider to do that. Knowing she'll still be asleep in her dorm room, I text Lovely Passionate Feminist, who left me a message last night to let her know when we heard something. Two word text message: J-o-e B-i-d-e-n Two hours later she texts me back: W-h-y-? Apparently she shares our initial ho-hum response. But as the day has gone on and we've heard m...

Please read this transcript. Especially the part I put in bold. It's soooo good, so on-target, I think: BILL MOYERS : Welcome to the Journal. I once asked a reporter back from Vietnam, "Who's telling the truth over there?" "Everyone," he said. "Everyone sees what's happening through the lens of their own experience." That's how people see Jeremiah Wright. In my conversation with him on this broadcast a week ago and in his dramatic public appearances since, he revealed himself to be far more complex than the sound bites that propelled him onto the public stage. Over 2000 of you have written me about him, and your opinions vary widely. Some sting: "Jeremiah Wright is nothing more than a race-hustling, American hating radical," one viewer wrote. A "nut case," said another. Others were far more were sympathetic to him. Many of you have asked for some rational explanation for Wright's transition from reasonable conversati...

There was a knock on the door last night. D opened it, and I heard him say, "Well, you have the right buttons on!" He invited them in. Two Obama delegates to the state convention, here to visit Young Man with Integrity who is also an Obama delegate. All will be traveling to the convention later this week. Young Man with Integrity now has his own apartment, so they didn't get to talk to him, but we thoroughly enjoyed our conversation with them. Both were young and articulate and soooo excited about Obama's chances. Lovely Passionate Feminist joined the conversation and I heard her say, for the first time, that after she finishes college she plans to get heavily involved in Democratic politics. Yes!

My husband and I wake up every morning to the radio and NPR's Morning Edition. I've been getting up at 5 am for the last few days, but this morning, I slept in a bit. As I lay there, still mostly asleep, I had this thought, which I assume came from a story on the radio that some teensy bit of my brain was listening to: Hillary. You go girl. Wow. You're so strong. No matter what happens, you keep at it. You refuse to give up. You are amazing. And now the songs from Helen Reddy's song are coming to me: I am woman, hear me roar, with numbers too big to ignore, and I know too much to go back and pretend. YOU CAN BEND BUT NEVER BREAK ME, AND IT ONLY SERVES TO MAKE ME MORE DETERMINED TO ACHIEVE MY FINAL GOAL. I AM WOMAN. I AM INVINCIBLE. WOW.

Barack Obama....he speaks my language. Read this from his speech in Indiana last night. I listened to it in its entirity on NPR and I was spellbound: After fourteen long months, it's easy to forget this from time to time – to lose sight of the fierce urgency of this moment. It's easy to get caught up in the distractions and the silliness and the tit-for-tat that consumes our politics; the bickering that none of us are immune to, and that trivializes the profound issues – two wars, an economy in recession, a planet in peril. But that kind of politics is not why we're here. It's not why I'm here and it's not why you're here. ... We're not here to talk about change for change's sake, but because our families, our communities, and our country desperately need it. We're here because we can't afford to keep doing what we've been doing for another four years. We can't afford to play the same Washington games with the same Washington pla...

Both of the speakers at the Five Day Academy emphasized, in different ways, the patterns/cycles of our lives. Here's something I wrote in response during one of the silent times: Time has stopped this week... Strange intersection of exhaustion on multiple levels and the mysterious energy arising from openness to God's nudgings...Somehow together the dynamic between them has bestowed upon me a taste of the eternal... Liz and Robert and their talk of patterns, cycles ~ always intriguing for an existentialist like me... The pattern of time and eternity... The pattern of our lives taken, blessed, broken, and shared... The Psalms invite us to see our cycle of orientation, disorientation, and new orientation, where, yes, we do return to the beginning and know it for the first time... Creation itself here at this beautiful place, with winter on the march to spring and summer and back again to the cocoon of winter that will follow next year... Sunrise out of darkness... Resurrection f...