"We are running out of chances..."

Here I am at the age of 22 in 1972. The location is Auke Bay, outside of Juneau, Alaska. I was not drafted and had I been I don't know what I would have done, probably gone to Canada. While still in high school I began reading about Viet Nam and by the time I was 18 I could hold my own in a debate about the uselessness of that war. I still believed that Lee Harvey Oswald killed John F. Kennedy.
Looking back, I remember, around the age of 12 and 13, seeing the news footage of Martin Luther King, the marches, the dogs snapping at little black children, the fire hoses ...
I was confused about how to express myself politically, except to vote. I was put off by the cussing and hatred of much of the antiwar movement. I still thought a lot about Christ and believed that, if I were a true Christian, I would have to go to jail rather than Viet Nam, because, then, as now, I believe the red letters of the New Testament are literally true. Jesus said turn the other cheek; I believed he was a complete pacifist and, if one followed Him truly, one would never fight, period.
The "Praise Jesus" thing, so common today, was alien to me. Back in the 50s and 60s, at Trinity Baptist Church in Amarillo, Texas we didn't jump, shout, or even raise our hands over our heads, but we sure did sing! People like Pat Robertson and all the others who make such a show out of faith strike me as phony.
Maybe this is a silly little blog, but I'm introducing myself to the few people who read it.
I believed that James Earl Ray killed Martin and Sirhan Sirhan killed Bobby. But I was quite troubled by all the killing. I was troubled by the 1968 Chicago Convention. I graduated high school in '68 and went out into a troubled country, playing my guitar for hours each day, finding day labor in every town I passed through.
I don't trust people who jump too quickly to conspiracy theories, who don't read and think a lot about issues before coming to a conclusion. I don't like Alex Jones any more than I do Rush Limbaugh.
But one thing that came to my mind on 9/11 was all the news stories I had seen in the 60s about Palestinian hijackers taking planes to Cuba. And, I think, there is NO EXCUSE for what happened on 9/11. None. Common sense would have dictated the locking of airplane cabin doors decades before - I don't want to hear any of the excuses.
Now, I believe our government was actively involved in the murder of the Kennedy brothers and Martin. There was a coup in November, 1963. We, as a nation have gone too long with our heads in the sand, allowing psychopaths to bluff us into believing that we needed to build and build our military no matter what the costs to Americans and American soldiers. Even at the end of WWII, when no one could have defeated us, we ignored the warnings of President Eisenhower about the Military/Industrial Complex. The press and the people do not even mention cutting back on needless wars and needless spending as one answer to the debt crisis!
That's why I admire Ron Paul so much, for calmly and rationally discussing that, if we left other countries alone, maybe they'd leave us alone. Well, Congressman Paul can't win in November. The next president will be either a Republican or Obama and there is only one sane choice between those two - Obama. If we elect him and give him a democratic majority in both houses there is hope that we can wake up from this deadly dream of constant war.
So don't give up. Register and vote. Don't bother trying to change the brainwashed minds of half of America. Just outvote them!
Here is a song I wrote back in my hippie days. I think now it expresses a kind of Jeffersonian dream. It's called Concrete and Stone.
http://burldunn.com

"We create our own enemies"

Yesterday, I wrote and sang about an innocent man who wanted revenge when he was released. I imagine that some innocent men will die in Guantanamo because the US is too afraid to release them - why should they not become what they are punished for? The punishment has already occurred...
Why should they care? The best years of their lives were stolen. This little song may be the only time you hear the f... word used in a jaunty way. The true message is the last verse.
Fear the Man
burldunn.com

"Innocent people in prison is the worst immorality"

Reading about someone released from prison after DNA evidence proved their innocence makes me wonder how a person can live with such injustice, but when you hear about Texas Governors Bush and Perry REFUSING to grant new trials to death row inmates when new evidence comes up makes me wonder. I smell sulphur in the air.
Confession
burldunn.com

"the Rich demand, the Poor supply"

When I hear Tea Partyers and others DEMAND that Obama and Congress approve a country-long pipeline to carry Canadian Tar Sands to the Gulf, I think of Gov. Rick Perry's dream of a mile-wide federal swath as long as the country. Once the path has been established for Keystone what is to stop the widening of that path to include rail lines, highways, electric lines and other pipelines?  Once the power of eminent domain has been used against citizens for the profit of foreign corporations (they are ALL foreign now - no allegiance to the U. S.) why not make it a mile wide? I think about the day in school when I first learned about eminent  domain. I was shocked. It was against every American principle I had been taught: private property rights, capitalism, human rights! You know these pipelines and pipe dreams are the real Socialist danger to America because government dollars and tax breaks will be used to benefit companies. We The People be damned! Supply and Demand has been turned upside down and we are NOT a true capitalist country because the rich demand, the government enables, and the poor supply. That's national socialism - ring a bell?
This song was written in response to the Supreme Court Decision Kelo v. New London.
Demand and Supply
burldunn.com

"Our children WILL pay for the Sins of Our Fathers"

Whether it be the degraded environment, the loss (theft) of Social Security and Medicare, the job losses to China and elsewhere, it is our children who will pay far more than we. This song is a bit more upbeat than that sentence....
Sin's Of Our Fathers

"What I want between me and my doctor"

Republicans ask, "Do you want anything to get in between you and your doctor?" Yes, I do. A lot of Registered Nurses. And when someone is dying AND enrolled in a hospice program ease their pain, damn it!
This song was written in 5 minutes of white-hot heat after my mom had hip surgery and less than 24 hours later they put on hydrocodone instead of morphine. She was in Pain!
Mama Needs Morphine
burldunn.com

"about Social Security"

I have been neglecting my blog which is certainly no way to build an audience. Without giving reasons and excuses, I'll just dive in. The series of blogs about using the Bible, the Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence as the only necessary sources to make an argument if American Politics will have to wait.
Today, just a quick response to an Associated Press article by Stephen Ohlemacher about Social Security. Most Americans, I think, do not even know that their Social Security money has been, over the years "borrowed" by Congress. It is irresponsible journalism that perpetuates the myth that Social Security is "in trouble" for ANY other reason than that Congress took the money.

It is true that Congress 'borrowed" the money from the Social Security Trust fund, with a huge upward spike starting in the Reagan years. It is true that if all that money were paid back there would be no problems to fix, BUT what bothers me is that this AP article and 99% of all reporting on Social Security DO NOT inform the public that Congress created the problem. They are part of the game plan that leads toward unreasonable "fixes" and young peoples' disillusionment with the whole concept. Honest journalism should ALWAYS mention the fact of the IOUs. And how can they pay it back? By taxing the rich and cutting back on funding the billionaires through the Military Industrial Complex.

"you need to write to the FCC"

My mother just passed away at the age of 89. She worked for "the telephone company" back when it was all AT&T and she belonged to the Communication Workers of America. Here is a link to a video from the CWA about the proposed Verizon/Big Cable Bill:  http://cwa-union.org/page/s/FCC-cable-deal-ad
I filed my comments with the FCC and you can, too. I'll put that link after my comments:

I worked both at a newspaper and in radio in the pre-Reagan years. I was studying hard for a first class broadcasting license when Reagan's policies made it obsolete. I have seen the horrible changes in radio and television news since Reagan did away with the fairness doctrine. I know that Congress sold big broadcasters bandwidths at bargain basement prices. The entire concept in the beginning of broadcasting was that "the airwaves belong to the People" and I argue that the electromagnetic spectrum belongs to the People as well! So, whether it's over-the-air or online or on wires the science that carries the signals belongs to WE the PEOPLE! Stop meddling with our property! Bring back the fairness doctrine so that children can grow up reading and hearing what real news reporting was and should be again! Stop giving welfare to the billionaires! It's ours and you are giving it away. That is NOT capitalism it is CORPORATISM. We need more independent newspapers and television and radio stations and the entire world needs a hands-off internet so we can speak the truth to power. The cozy relationship between the FCC and the billionaires must end! Give the little guy a chance to start a small business and create jobs and stop this ongoing giantism of broadcasting! The merger of XM and Sirius was an outrageous giveaway and both are now the worse for it in the sense of quality. You, the FCC were created for the People, NOT the corporations. Stop selling out our birthright! We want to be free again. Free from your government "control" that is really just a funnel - a giant funnel down which goes OUR money where it rolls and flows into the pockets of Rupert Murdoch and other foreign interests. You are just doing this consolidation stuff so government can get political contributions from the big actors. Stop it! Power, broadcast power, cable power, the airwaves and the electrons belong to us. Stop this governmental welfare system. Our entire democracy rides on your votes!

Ok, bet you can say it better. Here's the link: http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/upload/confirm?token=8d7lcg1rkjwzzo75bs1eyakb

Speak up, speak out, while we still can!

Burl 

"the Southern Baptist Convention is America's Taliban"

Anyone out there who might be looking for a new blog from me - I apoligize - I WILL jump back on it soon. In the mean time I'll share a quote with you that I will incorporate into a future blog.

Here is a quote from an article by Peter H. Stone on Huffington Post: I'll bold face the words that, I say, prove that the Southern Baptists are trying to lead us into a theocracy and that most Christians don't even TRY to follow the teachings of Jesus.

Richard Land, the president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, an arm of the 16 million-member Southern Baptist Convention, told The Huffington Post that he believes evangelical concerns about Obama administration policies will allow conservative religious voters to "overlook any lingering reservations about [Mitt] Romney's Mormonism." The Commission itself is spending a few hundred thousand dollars to promote a nonpartisan voter registration and education drive that will compare the platforms of the two parties on numerous key issues.

Land also predicted that Romney’s recent trip to Israel would give him a boost with evangelicals and agreed with the presumptive GOP presidential nominee's controversial comments that “cultural” factors were important in explaining the economic success of Israel compared with the Palestinians. The statement, he said, showed that Romney "was sympathetic to the social conservative world view.”

On the domestic front, Land predicted that many evangelicals and social conservatives would "want to bury Obamacare in a lead coffin with a stake through its heart and cover its grave with garlic," calling the law, "a codification and personification of pro-abortion policies."

To defeat Obama in the state, Let Freedom Ring also is counting on a big hand from Sam Rohrer, an 18-year veteran of the state legislature and a former head of the Pennsylvania chapter of Americans for Prosperity. Rohrer told Huffington Post that since joining the group last month he’s been “building the network and encouraging pastors to be more bold."

"As a nation we’re in trouble and until we reach out to God rather than government we’ll be in trouble," he said.

There, now it is a blog. A message from the American Taliban. We will lose separation of church and state if we don't speak out OURSELVES and elect the right people. Obama must win! He's our only chance of gaining time to organize and take back America from gun nuts and God nuts.

"about Corporatism = Fascism"

I remember as a young teenager wondering how it could be that the Germans allowed Hitler to come to power and then turned their backs and closed their eyes to Nazi atrocities. Then I read a book in which the author ask many Germans that question. The number one answer? "I was afraid I'd lose my job."
The dictionaries I have consulted give rather vague definitions of "fascism," so I stick to Mussolini's one word definition: Corporatism. That's where the US is. We are a corporatist state run by secret-keepers: the CIA, the NSA, and others.
Why it is not clear to most (or at least half) of Americans that their government has been taken from them is because religion has been corrupted by politics. American writer Sinclair Lewis is attributed with a quote along these lines: If fascism comes to America it will come with the US flag in one hand and a cross in the other. We're there, and I fear that a civil war is brewing and only one side is armed to the teeth - the fascists, who , of course, think they are the true patriots.. But it's the governmental power that will win. American "gun nuts" can't defeat the US military, but who will the military support? Will we have the right people in the right places (the Presidency, the Pentagon, the CIA, the NSA, etc.) to steer the fight towards justice and freedom? May God grant this or else the whole world, not just America, will suffer more and more.

"about jobs, sunlight, and reelecting Obama"

I grew up in an America that had a place, a job for everyone, regardless of intelligence. I traveled from town to town and often began my first day in a new city by showing up at Manpower, or something like it, where you lined up and got sent for a day or a week to some warehouse or plant that needed a little extra help. The first time I showed up at Manpower and was told one must have an address, a phone, and a car in order just to apply was a shock to me. The first time I went to downtown Seattle for a cheap hotel and found the city "gentrified" beyond my pocketbook was a surprise.

So, as Congress took our tax dollars and used some to finance the stimulus packages, we only hear of "abuses" of the Obama administration. But the job flight from America began as far back as the eighties and much of it was financed by us, the job losers. We pay our share of taxes, the super-rich people and corporations don't. Period.

We've been lied to and our money has been stolen. So, some nuts join militias, some join nutty churches, many of the young just don't want to hear about politics - all these people are in denial. Denial of the fact that our government, as George Carlin so famously said, "... is a club, and you ain't in it." Federal education plans create jobs for top level advisors, administrators, and "administrative fees" that states and schools skim off before a single dime gets to the teacher or student. We admire ALL veterans (many from afar), yet do not protest the misuse of their lives and limbs in needless wars.

I believe the only answer to all these problems is sunlight. I want to know where every f...... dollar goes. If, all of a sudden, every government expenditure was exposed, it would overwhelm us, but in small groups and individually, we could figure it out. My old school district voted on "voucher number 111, for general student services" - things with no real meaning, and this is just a local school district. Secrecy is our enemy. Audit the Fed! Expose exactly how much money is spent on the CIA + the NSA + "Homeland Security" + all the secret-holding bodies in our government and military! Expose it and make them explain how all those trillions of dollars did not stop 9/11!

Make every millionaire professional team owner PAY for their own damn stadiums! Stop the use of eminent domain for private gain! No more "pay to play" politics! No more private jails! No more locking up of non-violent offenders who committed no crime against people or property! Let's wake up! So we thought Obama would do all this for us in one term and now we're disappointed. Waaaah. Let's grow up and take back America! For starters one must decide which party has done the most harm and which party has the ONLY members in Congress with any sense of fairness and justice at all! Sure, now, it's the Republicans who dreamed up this mess and it's yellow-dog Democrats who went along, but there's only one way out. We must reelect Obama. We must deny the Republicans. Then, we can work on the future - a future that includes well-paid professional teachers in public schools, degrees that mean something beside massive debt incurred, jobs in America - such an overflow of jobs that a person can walk into a city and at least be cleaning floors or unloading trucks the next day!

Unfortunately, POLITICS is the only way we have to cause change. And politics is not fun, it's not partying, damn it, it's a party. And Democrats from Obama down are the only hope for now. We've still got a lot of work to do after Obama. I'd like to look back some day and say, "He was a great centerist president who ran two Republican wars, and, thank God, our last centerist president."

"about who is truly "saved""

I skipped some time in my "sermon" about the Bible. When last I posted on the subject of Biblical literalism and inerrancy, I quoted from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. I remember parts of only two sermons from my preteen days. Both were delivered by Brother Grayson Glass, a highly educated Southern baptist preacher. One of them is very relevant to the Sermon on the Mount in that he was preaching not only about what a saved person does NOT do, but what they SHOULD do.

He said (excuse my parody), so you don't drink, you don't chew, and you don't go with girls who do. Fine. But what about all the things Jesus commanded us to do? Do you care for the poor? Do you hunger and thirst after righteousness? Do you turn the other cheek?

Since I am assuming an audience who is familiar with these expressions, today's can be a short blog. Brother Glass assured us that he took the Baptist stance which is that believing Jesus is the Son of God and He died for our sins and our salvation, but ... "... if you do not obey the commandments of Jesus, then it seems you DO NOT believe Jesus is the Son of God." If you play the game of sinning, sinning, sinning, and at the LAST moment give yourself to God, how can you claim you ever really believed HE died for your sins and salvation? So, if you do not live the life, walk the walk, what makes you think you're saved?

And why do we Americans who want a secular government shrink away from the legitimate Constitutional argument that religion (ALL of them) and our Government remain separate? Why do we give tax dollars to those "thousand points of light" who have had 2000 years to feed the poor and make a peaceable world? Why don't we tax those "religions" who own businesses and make a profit?