Joe Scarborough says F*** YOU live on the air!

Way to go Joe the pundit!

Man arrested for stealing communion wafers

A 33 year old man was arrested in Jensen Beach, Florida at the St. Martin de Porres Catholic Church for attempting to steal the body of Christ (in the form of wafers). Enraged parishioners prevented the man from leaving the church and called the police after they watched him try to gank a handful of those delicious communion wafers.

John Samuel Ricci is still in jail on $2,000 bond. This guy was obviously starving or why would he want to steal these dried-up cardboard cakes? And what happened to the lesson in proverb 16:19 "Better it is to be of a lowly spirit with the poor, than to divide the spoil with the proud." if you can call communion wafers spoils. Mr. Ricci was charged with two counts of simple battery, theft and disruption of a religious assembly. If I walked into a catholic church and wanted to place all the parishioners under citizen's arrest for cannibalism would I be charged with disruption of a religious assembly? Trespassing maybe.

A New Birth of Freedom: The Inaugural Theme

Bill Moyers asked during a joint interview with professors Eric Foner and Patricia Williams what they thought about the purported theme of Barack Obama's upcoming inaugural address "A New Birth of Freedom." Here are the responses beginning with Eric Foner the DeWitt Clinton Professor of History at Columbia University.

"I think President Bush, in an odd sort of way, has devalued the concept of freedom by the cynical and militaristic way he has employed it. Freedom meant invading another place and giving them freedom, whether they wanted our freedom or not. But I think Obama has a great opportunity to rekindle all other ideas of freedom which have existed in our history. Freedom as economic security, freedom as a sort of sense of dignity and empowerment for people who maybe have lacked that in the past, freedom as a collective sense of the society becoming freer, not just individuals"

Patricia Williams the James L. Dohr Professor of Law at Columbia Law School followed up with these thoughts

"I think freedom has been really collapsed or restrained to a kind of arch libertarianism, which is deeply economic. So freedom is really a free market. I mean, it's sort of been conflated with the free market, which is not to say that it doesn't have something to do with the free market.

But the other larger constitutional definition of freedom is dependent upon things like due process. It is dependent upon the amendments to the Constitution. And those have been given very short shrift in recent years. And so the re-acquaintance with our Bill of Rights as a foundation of freedom without a price tag of freedom as a notion of the beloved community is something that I think hopefully we'll see more of."

In and interview I saw a few years ago a reporter asked 10 Americans in a grocery store what they thought America was fighting for in Iraq. Out of those questioned 8 of the 10 responded with one word - freedom. Of all the underlying themes in American history this one goes back to the meetings at Independence hall and was paramount in the frontal lobes of Franklin, Jefferson, Sherman, Livingston, and Adams. And yet, like the word "God" the word "freedom" can be hijacked and used as a brand, as it was so effectively to rouse emotion and allegiance to nefarious or misguided causes, and to manifest the designs of architects of war, as evidenced in the grocery store responses above. In my mind there is no greater threat to "freedom" as defined by our framers as "the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint" than the the culture of fear promulgated by the Patriot Act. As Patricia Williams points out the constitutional definition of freedom is dependent on the maintenance of due process and habeas corpus. Though neither candidate spoke of freedom very much during the campaign process Barack did mention over and over his desire to "turn the page" and begin "writing a new chapter in American history" I hope that people will latch on to the narrative of freedom and that American consciousness will be raised to realize the broader more encompassing definition of this evolving meme.

Listen to Obama's first radio address as President-elect.

The reason Obama won.

Peruvian shamans for Obama!

Hail the glorious victory of president elect Barak Obama!

The future is bright indeed! It will be interesting to watch 2008 come to a close as a blood-red sun sets on a dark era in American history with a new, refreshing sun approaching on the horizon. I would like to remind all those who have become so involved in American politics this election that the political process is a continuum and sees no beginning nor end. Your political voice is not defined by your vote alone. I eagerly await the announcement of more detailed policies on many of the important issues facing this country under Barak Obama's administration and I will continue to vocalize my opinions and engage in thoughtful discussion in diverse forums.

In the meantime, as a lame-duck congress considers more economic stimulus plans, "toobtof" implications and application of the 700 billion dollar rescue plan that will impact Obama's administration in many ways... I would like to bring forth the Mollusk!

Vampyroteuthis Infernalis is an amazing and fascinating deep-sea dweller! Check out this YouTube clip if you're into bizarre creatures. "There are just three things that stir the mollusk from the sand... the waking of all creatures that live on the land!" :-)

Dow Drops as Scared White People Sell Off

The Dow Jones Industrial average dropped 486 points today. Predictable to say the least as scared wealthy white people privately made their fears known to the world behind computer screens clicking sell sell sell. "Hoard your riches the black man wants to raise the capital gains tax!!! the sky is falling!!!" they say to themselves in a chorus of silent fear. I bet this will continue through the middle of winter and the world will suffer for their greed. But at some point a few of these old time crusties are going to realize they can double down and start pumping their assets back into the renewable infrastructure boom and the market will emerge with new muscle. The sad part is that old time blue chips like Ford and GM are probably not going to exist as we know them in 12 months if this trend continues. At the grocery store last week there was a notice in the cookie aisle that mothers/archway had completely shut down and would not be making their frosted animal cookies, rocky-road, peanut butter, or any of their staples anymore. After 92 years they are closing up shop. This won't be the last of the traditions we loose in the coming months but we shouldn't get too upset. Change requires a walk through the valley of despair. Now is the time to try on some metaphorical hiking boots.

A World Leader

"As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, 'We are not enemies, but friends...though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection.' And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn - I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your President too."
-Barack Obama



John McCain is a great man plagued by George W. Bush.



While we are on the Topic of Abraham Lincoln I thought I would share these thoughts from one of the most prolific Lincoln historians of our time Doris Kearns Goodwin.

E Pluribus Unum

Redemption from perdition.
I said to my friends tonight I felt like a swell of art a swell of expression would ensue if what is happening now happened.
The Leviathan that is the United States is forever changed!

If you read this I give you an internet hug.

Obama's Grandmother Passed Away.

May her spirit shine through her grandson tomorrow!

In this context I am using the word spirit in a literal rather than a supernatural sense. The word spirit is derived from the Latin word for breath. Whenever I think of the word spirit I think of my own grandmother and all the positive impressions she made on me with her words and actions.
Margaret Atwood explains how the word "spirit" is at the core of Christianity in the following interview with Bill Moyers. She makes a great point here at about 1 minute 28 seconds in about how the oral tradition moves from individual to individual.

Nature endorses Barack Obama

The editorial board of the highly respected scienctific journal Nature have made public their endorsement of the junior senator from Illinois. It appears this is the first time Nature has officially endorsed any political candidate.

The crux of this anomaly came in this resounding bit of text.

"The core values of science are those of open debate within a free society that have come down to us from the Enlightenment in many forms, not the least of which is the constitution of the United States."

In light of Governor Sarah Palin's recent vocalizations regarding constitutional interpretation I can understand why these editor's have chosen to endorse her opponent.

Palin on amendment 1

"If [the media] convince enough voters that that is negative campaigning, for me to call Barack Obama out on his associations," Palin told AM talk radio host Chris Plante, "then I don't know what the future of our country would be in terms of First Amendment rights and our ability to ask questions without fear of attacks by the mainstream media."

By this interpretation of the constitution all political candidates should be immune to media criticism? How do we keep discussions about Sarah Palin objective when objectivity itself is what is at stake?

I felt embarrassed for the Governor when I heard this today.