Morning thoughts

When I wake up in the morning, some things call for my attention right away:  bodily needs, personal hygiene, whoever else in the house is moving about right then.  I usually step on the scale and note with dismay or pleasure what I have gained or lost overnight. But because most mornings this happens fairly early, without a need to rush out to meet the demands do the day for at least an hour or two, there is an opportunity for quiet time.  So I may compose a brief thought and tweet it, or focus on a bible verse and share that with my friends online.  

Today I am thinking about the possibilities a new day can bring. Of course it brings pressures:  pretty soon I'll look at my calendar or my to-do list, or remember something that was left unfinished yesterday, or, as happens many days, the phone will ring and call my attention in some unexpected direction. All those things will press on me; but I want to establish sooner rather than later: where in this day will God be at work? Everywhere the answer immediately comes.  God is in the calendar, in that undone task, working with that person on the other end of the phone call.  God is also in those places I will leave untouched. My task is to rest in his presence, whatever the activity may be.  It is a given that I will be inadequate, that my time, energy, money, and attention will come up short. When I know that to be true, I will also know that it is not all about me.  I am called to be a witness to the infinite power of God in a finite world... God has given me a ringside seat in an unfolding story, and I even get to play a small part.  As a member of his audience, I want to pay attention so I can applaud his performance.  This is worship, and it is also life. Sometimes I find myself part of a company who can see and applaud together. We call that church in the best sense, a foretaste of the great celebration when every creature in heaven and earth and under the earth, the sea and all that is in them, will unite in a spontaneous, joyful chorus of praise to the Creator and Redeemer for his brilliant performance. My goal today is to get in practice for that day.  Way to go, God!

A narrow window of opportunity?

So in the run up to military action in Syria, some interesting developments today. This morning Secretary Kerry, asked what might deter the U S from going forward, suggested that if the Assad regime were to turn over, this week, all of its chemical weapons stockpile to international control, that might do it, while hastening to add that of course Mr. Assad would never do this. Later in the day, Kerry's bluff was called on this very point:  by the Russians, who publicly suggested the Syrians should do that and also sign on to the chemical weapons convention. The Syrian foreign ministry made favorable comments and so did leadership at the UN. 

I am put in mind somehow of the George Aiken strategy for getting out of Vietnam. The then-senator from Vermont said we should declare victory and withdraw. I think there is a narrow window of opportunity to do just that.  The accompanying rhetoric would go something like this:

"In response to international pressure including the threat of immanent military action by te United States, the Syrian government has agreed to take the steps necessary for assuring that it will never in the future have the capacity to use chemical weapons, against its own people or anyone else. The Russians have offered to take an active role in enforcing and implementing the dismantling of Syria's chemical arsenal under UN supervision. Since our objective in the first instance has been to deter and prevent the use of such weapons by sending a strong and unmistakeable message to the regime, we now see that the message has indeed been heard.  We applaud the Russian initiative and will join with them in seeking UN support for supervision of compliance with this action.  We will not, however, accept any delay, and will stand ready to act should this agreement not be quickly finalized and implemented." 

Declare victory -- take credit for creating conditions that led to a diplomatic solution that changes the dynamic on the ground -- and withdraw.  

Of course, as in all such cases, some things would remain unresolved. There would still be a civil war in Syria. There would not necessarily be an admission of responsibility for the August chemical attacks. But the international prohibition on chemical weapons would be strengthened and enforced, and that specific threat reduced.  

Not Dead Yet

I haven't used this Blogger venue for quite a while.... looks like a year or so.  But not to worry, I'm still dancing...  Having found that one's presence on the Web can bloat like overcooked spaghetti, with Wordpress here , Blogger there, Twitter and Facebook and LinkedIn and who knows what else (ok, I do... LiveJournal, Tumblr, oh yes GooglePlus....)  well, it gets to be a bit of a chore to maintain. 

I did learn that even cyberspace does not equate to the Akashic Records.   Some things once posted no longer exist.  The Bridges Across the Divide website is down, and with it the various essays and comments I contributed to that once-cutting-edge bit of conversation.  Myspace turned into a special-interest space for entertainers mostly.  StumbleUpon stumbled, changing its format and losing many of its participants, including me.

I've seen other places pop up, mostly geared to random dating things which seem to cater to people more isolated and lonely than myself (MeetMe, Shtyle.com, MyDailyFlog) or very short-term postings (Instagram).  Time sinks, for which I have little time.  For my own (semi-) private conversations, there has been for a long time things like AIM, Yahoo messenger, and more particularly Jabber (and its Google implementation, Gtalk, now morphing into Hangouts.  And for really real-time, the long-fictional world of live video conferencing is now in place, more or less, with Skype and FaceTime. I don't use them much, but I do appreciate the potential there.

So a wise man once talked about purging or pruning what is fruitful, so that it may bear more fruit.  In ordinary human life this translates into cutting back, concentrating on doing fewer things better.  So wander on over to the Search for Integrity or if you are interested in poetry, to Fearless Symmetry, which are the two places most likely to have recent entries from me.  I've been less prolific in general over the last year or two, but that could change.  Anyhow, thanks for stopping by. 

Where is the Search for Integrity?

Most of this author's activity has been consolidated at a single website. Just for the record, here are my active sites, more or less arranged by how much I do with them these days.

I'm trying to keep all my stuff together at the site that has my name on it. This one used to be called Bob Buehler, A Country Preacher, but I have re-named it The Search for Integrity.

That name also belongs to a site that I've had for some years hosted by Wordpress.com. It is now inactive as of the end of 2011, but I'm leaving it up, because search engines know how to find it.

Also on Wordpress.com, is my poetry site, Fearful Symmetry.

I also have started a Tumblr blog mostly for photographs, which I call Peace Through Pictures. This takes the place of the one I had on StumbleUpon, which is now an embarrassment since they totally revamped their format.

I do some strictly Bible stuff on Red Letter Bible Readers.

Um, I have a presence on LiveJournal, where I bought a lifetime account and I do post there occasionally still.

Once upon a time there was MySpace. Still there. Oh, and you can find me on Facebook if you try. I even have a page there as a public figure.

Real Christianity

Posted this on YouTube a little while back. Tea party people might want to give it a listen.

Pastor Bob: Life Wins! - December 11, 2009, 08:24 PM

A few thoughts on life and death. Merry Christmas, everyone!

Sunset over Potomac

Sunset over Potomac
Originally uploaded by therevr

It's amazing what can be done with just a simple camera, no focus, no flash. I've been photographing things like mushrooms and flowers lately, but last week I was down by the water with some friends, and captured the shot you see here. I think it's the best picture I've ever taken. Thousand piece jigsaw puzzle, anyone?

False Prophets

I feel the need to quote myself again.  Consider whether this commentary on Jesus' warning against false prophets, penned by me back in 1998, resonates with anything concerning current news accounts surrounding "town hall" meetings this August.

Consider a preacher or politician who sets out to raise the alarm about some threat to the comfort or values of his audience. He tells stories of horror or atrocity designed to arouse fear or revulsion. He identifies as dangerous some individual or group that is clearly foreign to the persons to whom he speaks, whether it is a racial group, or an ideology, or an opposition political party, or a religious movement, or a foreign political or military leader. He calls his hearers neither to repentance nor to reconciliation, but instead seeks to arouse anger and indignation against the identified source of threat. He proposes ways his audience can protect themselves, warn their friends, and counterattack against the threat described. Note that the content of this type of preaching could be almost anything. The individual may be denouncing religion, or atheism, or big government, or liberalism, or conservatism, or Satanism, or pornography, or fundamentalism, or communism, or capitalism, or sexism, or feminism, or homosexuality, or homophobia, or militarism, or pacifism. The fruit he produces, however, is the same in all cases: fear, mistrust, alienation and ultimately hatred.

Or, in this instance, health care reform.

Who's in charge here?

On whether taxpayers have responsibility for the well-being of their neighbors, by means of government programs:

In the theocratic state envisioned by the Hebrew prophets (or even, in their critique of every nation) the responsibilities of kings was clear: plead the cause of the fatherless and widow, demand justice for the poor. See, for example, Psalm 82:3-4: Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless, maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked. Nations were judged by how well their rulers implemented these simple principles.

In the United States of America, "we the people" (the voters and, yes, the taxpayers) are sovereign. Therefore "we, the people" are under divine judgment if we fail to use our sovereign power to take care of the elderly, the disabled, the orphan and widows of our world. "We, the people" as sovereign refers to our corporate role as king, which is to say, the government. It is laudable for individual persons to do what they can by means of "charity," but "we, the people" are not just an aggregate of individual persons. We, together, are king, and as such are answerable to God for how well we rule.

Been meaning to say this for quite a while, but I think it is well worth bearing in mind this August as "we" (in the royal sense) debate with ourselves about health care.

Commanded to Love!

This is Pastor Bob's first attempt at producing a YouTube video. Basically a rambling rant on one of my favorite subjects, done while preparing for a Sunday sermon. Enjoy.

dream 12.13.08

A large gathering, a banquet, was assembling at which I was to be, for some reason, a guest of honor. Many of the people present, including the organizer of the event with whom I had previously spoken, were Oriental: Chinese perhaps. I had been told I was to take my seat at the center of one of the head tables. As I entered the hall, I was half carried by the crowd. S (my wife) was there, and she was also carrying me. In this fashion we swept past the most prominent tables and she set me down at the end of a table toward the back of the room. I told her that I had been told to sit at the center of a table nearer the front, and there ensued a brief altercation that went something like: “Well, how am I supposed to know that? you never told me!!” “I did, just now!.... How was I supposed to know that no one told you?” etc. In any case we made our way toward the front of the room again, and at the head table there were set up chairs and a microphone (apparently I was also to speak?) near which some workers were spray-painting a wall, last-minute touches to make the background white for videographers later in the program.

Before we could take our seats, something else happened. The perspective changed, and I could see and hear a series of vehicles arriving very quickly, up the road and through the woods. They were painted white and read, open on the sides like safari vehicles, and each carried a number of soldiers or police. These jumped out and quickly entered the hall from the sides (it was now more of a tent or pole building, open on at least three sides, and was arranged now more like a church with pews than like a banquet hall)), and people began to shrink away from them as they attacked. They attacked not with guns or other weapons but with something that looked like two-pronged wands, whose function seemed to be to inflict severe pain.

I was now outside the hall and a short distance away, watching from the shadows, when one of these official-looking attackers, an Oriental of indeterminate age or sex, overpowered me (I think I was knocked down by several at once, but this one took charge). I found that if I did not resist but went limp, it seemed as if this attacker did not feel the need to activate the pain-inducing device, but if I moved or looked like I would resist, this was threatened. The attacker appeared to be reporting my status, perhaps over a radio, as I lay helpless. I decided this weapon must be some kind of taser, and asked about that. “Am I going to get tased?”

At some point early in this exchange, my attacker and I had introduced ourselves to one another, I as “Robert” and my attacker also as “Robert.” Now, however, he/she responded to one of my questions calling me by the name of a dear friend who recently deceased. “M.” Here is the remainder of that exchange:

Me: M. is not here, she passed away
R: That’s right..... you were there, holding her hand
Me: (amazed that this person would know such a thing)
(more forgotten details in this exchange, revealing that the person I’m speaking to has access to recent events from a spiritual vantage point)
R: The baby is healthy, doing fine.
(more exchange verifying that I really knew M... including images of a newborn, and the sense of M’s re-entry into the world)
R: I know who you are now.
Me: That’s more than I know!

All this time, of course, I am still physically restrained by the threat of this weapon. R. now reports to superiors that I appear to have died. I am able to get up and head away from the commotion surrounding the cabin/hall, toward the woods and the road. As I am leaving, I hear a voice, turn my head and see my former attacker some distance away, saying: “Goodbye, Robert.” I respond with “Goodbye, Robert” and continue on my way.

I head through the woods to the nearby country road. It will be a long walk, but I know the way to where I have a hotel room, money, car, etc. . . but I am walking away in freedom, leaving my old life behind. I pass very close by a fawn that is resting by the side of the road.... this animal does not stir or startle, just observes me as a normal, non-threatening part of her landscape. I think this occurs with one or more other deer as well. Something has changed. I wake up feeling content.

Twisted Scripture

It is one thing to distort the record or facts concerning a candidate for political office; it is much, much worse to distort and even invent portions of the Word of God for such an end. A couple of different people have forwarded the following email to me within the last few weeks:

This will make you re-think: A Trivia question in Sunday School:
How long is the beast allowed to have authority in Revelations?

Revelations Chapter 13 tells us it is 42 months, and you know what that is.
Almost a four-year term of a Presidency.

All I can say is 'Lord, Have mercy on us!'

According to The Book of Revelations the anti-Christ is:  The anti-Christ
will be a man, in his 40's, of MUSLIM descent, who will deceive the nations
with persuasive language, and have a MASSIVE Christ-like appeal....the
prophecy says that people will flock to him and he will promise false hope
and world peace, and when he is in power, will destroy everything..

Do we recognize this description??

I STRONGLY URGE each one of you to post this as many times as you can!  Each
opportunity that you have to send it to a friend or media outlet..do it! I refuse to take a chance on this unknown candidate who came out of nowhere.

This email seems designed to prey on the ignorance and fear of those who know a little bit, primarily by hearsay, rather than study, about certain limited interpretations (with elaborations and imaginative exaggerations) of that highly symbolic book of apocalyptic literature which ends with the warning: “I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book” (Revelation 22:18-19).

Let me just go through the errors in this line-by-line, because it is chock full of distortions and complete fabrications, misrepresenting the Word of God for the purpose of creating fear, mistrust, and confusion: none of which, last I looked, qualified as fruit of the Spirit.

Now let’s compare the fabrications with the actual text of scripture:

42 months: This number is referenced in Revelation (not “Revelations”) Chapter 13. That’s three years and six months, so it might be technically accurate, if you don’t care about details to say that forty-two is “almost” forty-eight. I’m only a little surprised that the letter-writer would argue that in divinely inspired prophecy, close is good enough.

a man: “I saw a beast rising out of the sea having ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on his horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion...One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was astonished and followed the beast.” (Revelation 13:1b-2a, 3) Interestingly, there is no reference to this entity being “a man” anywhere throughout this passage.  (And I missed the news accounts of Obama  —or, I guess, one-seventh of him — having recovered from a fatal wound.)

in his 40s: This is completely made up. Some things are taken out of context, but I can’t even find a false context for this one, in Revelation or anywhere else in the Bible.

of MUSLIM descent: Nope. Also completely made up. There are no references to Muslims in the Bible, as the religious movement known as Islam did not arise until six hundred years after this text was written.

who will deceive the nations with persuasive language, and have a MASSIVE Christ-like appeal
If by “Christ-like” is meant things like “He was given power to make war against the saints” “a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies” I’d like to see where Christ ever did anything like these.

the prophecy says that people will flock to him
No word about people flocking to him, although Rev. 13:8 says “All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.”

and he will promise false hope and world peace,
Once again, this comes from the letter-writer’s preconceptions and imagination. There is no mention in Revelation 13 about anyone promising anyone world peace, but “He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation.”

and when he is in power, will destroy everything
Good news — no he won’t! While there are terrible plagues and disasters described in the book of Revelation, they are attributed to God and his angels, as punishments poured out upon "anyone who worships the beast and his image“. This figure “is going to his destruction” according to Revelation 17:11.

Do we recognize this description??
Not if we are actually reading our Bibles.

Now, just suppose that despite my careful readings, I’m the one who is missing something, all these corrections of mine are inaccurate and the allegations of the email are true? What’s the appropriate action according to scripture?

I STRONGLY URGE each one of you ...
“This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God’s commandments and remain faithful to Jesus” (Revelation 14:12; see also 13:9-10).

Yep. Not frantic action, not fearful reaction. Patient endurance.

By the way, here's every verse in the Bible that actually mentions the antichrist (a term that does not appear in the Book of Revelation):

1 John 2:18 Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.

1 John 2:22 Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.

1 John 4:3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

2 John 7 For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.

The Real Problem

At the present moment in historical time, the United States government, and both political parties, are seeking, with a kind of quiet desperation, ways to shore up the financial system of Wall Street, and with it the national and even the global economy. The bailouts, recent and contemplated, stagger the imagination in their scope. The problem? Overwhelming debt based on risky corporate decisions, compounded by an alphabet soup of derivatives, swaps, and other schemes that make Enron’s in-house deceptions look like children messing with play money. The government is now taking on responsibility for huge amounts of debt, and everyone is talking about how much of this is going to become a liability for the taxpayer.

It’s time to talk about the one issue that no one is mentioning.

The best leadership (and the worst) is always by example. The United States Government has set a terrible example, and the markets have followed: it has put itself in increasing levels of debt, with no plan in place to repay the creditors. The guiding fiscal philosophy articulated by Vice President Richard B. Cheney that “deficits don’t matter” has been applied by large institutions, and unfortunately by many smaller entities including households, to their own situations. It’s that simple.

Until we do the hard thing that was done in the waning years of the Bush I presidency, and come up with a bipartisan plan to balance the budget (even if it violates someone’s sacred “read my lips” pledge), and go further and return to the action of the Clinton administration (in cooperation with a Republican congress) by coming up with a workable and working plan to begin in the present tense the task of paying down the national debt, all we have done is kicked this ball further down the field, and the next thing you know it will be the U. S. Treasury that people will be talking about with comforting (?) words like “too big to fail.”

When the Bush II tax cuts were put in place, enough members of Congress recognized this fact that there had to be promises for some of those giveaways to the wealthiest among us (call it income redistribution) to expire beginning in 2010, or some of those who voted to thus eliminate the surplus (remember surpluses?) would never have signed on. Thus, any call to “make those tax cuts permanent” represents a deliberate breach of promise, and a betrayal of the trust of the American people, because no one can show how, with such an action, the debt will ever be repaid.

Until the United States gets its fiscal house in order, and enacts policies like we had in the 1990s, when there was prosperity, low interest rates, surplus budgets and no threat to Social Security in the process, global financial markets will be understandably and justifiably nervous. This is the reality that will face the next President of the United States, and the incoming Congress. Somebody is going to have to show some real spine.

Police? What about the soldiers?

I just saw an item on CNN about a 15 year old Iraqi girl wearing an explosive vest who was apprehended by police, and police were now interrogating her and her family. And it made me think that someone in Washington must be livid, reacting something like this:

"Police???? What the *&())(^&*^ are police doing stopping terrorists???? Haven't they got the memo that law enforcement is the wimpy, wrong-headed approach here? This is war!!!! We must immediately go on the airwaves and denounce this misguided slippage into the idea that using law enforcement against terrorists can have any effect whatsoever!!! Here is proof that we can never leave Iraq, they just don't get it over there!!"

Just like Mayor Bloomberg of New York doesn't get it; like the Spanish, the French, the Germans and the British, don't get it, all of whom have prevented terrorist attacks on their own soil using good police work.

My point here is, of course, that the whole approach to terrorism as a "war" is wrong-headed. Osama Bin Laden has been elevated to the status of a head of state, instead of hunted down as the murderous criminal he is. The "war on Terra" has failed in its objective, has promoted more terrorism, especially in Iraq, where there were, for example, no suicide bombers until well after the US invasion there. Treating terrorism as an object of war has promoted more terrorism. Treating it as criminal activity has proved successful. The British government last year quietly abandoned "war on terror" rhetoric as a matter of policy. It's time for the Americans to do the same. Let the police in every country go about their business, and bring our American soldiers home.

portrait

Rev. Bob Buehler

CATHOLIC WORKER 75th ANNIVERSARY STATEMENT

A press release like this ought to get some attention... but because it doesn't fit the media storyline about religious priorities in the United States, this probably won't get nearly as much airtime as any statements that might be made in religious circles about personal choice.... still I ask: is this any less a "pro-life" issue?

CATHOLIC WORKER 75^th ANNIVERSARY STATEMENT

[Full text version]

We are Catholic Workers from communities throughout the U.S. and Europe who have come to Worcester, Massachusetts to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Catholic Worker. At this critical point in history, as we face unending war, including U.S. plans to attack Iran, ecological destruction and economic collapse, we call on our church and nation to join us in repenting our affronts to God.

The U.S. has become the wealthiest nation on earth at the price of the collective loss of our souls through our acceptance of the sins of war, torture, racism, discrimination, killing, nuclearism and environmental destruction - - all in the name of profit. We live a lifestyle that demands war and distracts from our true calling of loving and caring for one another.

We urge our church to heed the nonviolent example of Dorothy Day and the critique of modern war by Vatican II. Taking God’s command "Thou shalt not kill" and the Sermon on the Mount as our Christian manifesto, we commit ourselves to upholding the sacredness of all life wherever it is threatened. We recommit ourselves to the Catholic Worker vision of creating a new society in the shell of the old.

Saint Paul tells us that when one member of our community is suffering, the health of the whole body is affected. In our various communities we have daily contact with the victims of our society, including homeless veterans and our undocumented sisters and brothers. Many of us have been arrested and jailed for nonviolent acts of resistance to state-sanctioned injustice and killing. We strive to do the works of mercy and to follow Jesus' command to be nonviolent witnesses for peace and justice.

We once again implore the leadership of the Catholic Church in the United States, now and without evasion, to break its silence and to wield the authority provided by the nonviolent gospel of Jesus Christ, by calling the entire nation to repent for the war crimes we have committed in the so-called War on
Terror.

We yearn to be part of a church that prays and works for peace, loves our neighbors and enemies alike, and embraces the redemptive power of forgiveness. We cry out for a church that speaks without fear of consequences, including loss of revenue. We implore our church leadership to follow the example of Jesus and unequivocally renounce the sins of our empire's warmaking, the possession and use of weapons of mass destruction, oppression, scapegoating and aspirations of global domination.

When our body issued its last national plea in 2006, the response was profoundly disappointing and no less than tragic. Rather than a clear pronouncement condemning the illegal and immoral nature of our current wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as the evil wrought by torture and other crimes against humanity, the U.S. Catholic Bishops merely stated that "our nation's military forces should remain in Iraq only as long as their presence contributes to a responsible transition."

The insufficiency of this response has been demonstrated, not only by the continuation of these wars in the face of a clear public desire to end the war in Iraq, but also by the reality of US covert actions aimed at destabilizing Iran and the apparently imminent military attack on that nation.

Out of our shared and abiding love, we remind the Bishops that we continue to wait for their clear call to our nation to end these threats and provocations that carry no other outcome than an ever-widening sea of agony and death. In this prayer we invoke the spirit and witness of Blessed Franz Jagerstatter who exemplified Christ's instruction to peacemakers that, as children of God, we may be required to give up our lives rather than participate in evil.

In the name of God, who calls us to love and not to kill, we appeal to the church and all people of good will to:

• Call for prayer, fasting, vigils and nonviolent civil resistance to immediately end the U.S. military occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

• Advise all soldiers to refuse to participate in these wars.

• Denounce and actively resist U.S. plans to attack Iran.

• Embrace the nonviolent witness of Blessed Franz Jagerstatter and actively support and encourage all conscientious objectors.

• Urge Congress and the military to offer appropriate care and support to returning soldiers.

• Call for an immediate end to the use of torture.

• Call for the closing of Guantanamo and other secret U.S. military prisons.

• Call for the redirection of our resources from war making and exploitation to meeting human needs and preserving life on Earth.

• Call for an equitable redistribution of resources and simplification of our materialistic lifestyle.

• Call for disarmament and the abolition of all weapons of mass destruction.

We call on our church to be a prophetic voice, a sanctuary, and a source of encouragement to those who want to work in community toward peace, justice and reconciliation.

Affirmed in assembly Catholic Worker 75^th Anniversary Gathering

Our Lady of Mount Carmel / Saint Anne Parish Center,

Worcester, Massachusetts USA

On the Feast of St. Benedict

July 11,
2008

quick testy thing

These are not the droids you're looking for.

Tragedy in Pakistan

A complex, sordid story

A meltdown in personal integrity

This note on integrity deserves a wide readership. It's written by the first person to go to jail for crimes committed on behalf of the White House in the Nixon Administration.  An excerpt:

In November 1973, I pleaded guilty to criminal conspiracy in depriving Dr. Fielding of his civil rights, specifically his constitutional right to be free from an unwarranted search. I no longer believed that national security could justify my conduct. At my sentencing, I explained that national security is “subject to a wide range of definitions, a factor that makes all the more essential a painstaking approach to the definition of national security in any given instance.”

Judge Gerhard Gesell gave me the first prison sentence of any member of the president’s staff: two to six years, of which I served four and a half months.

I finally realized that what had gone wrong in the Nixon White House was a meltdown in personal integrity. Without it, we failed to understand the constitutional limits on presidential power and comply with statutory law.

That was over three decades ago.  Is anybody paying attention?

Moving Day

First posted back in August of '06; date changed as a reminder to my even vaster current readership.

I'd like to let my vast readership know that I've migrated this site because I like Wordpress better. Will likely keep this one also, cross-posting etc as I see fit, but there will be more stuff there, I think, over the long haul.

Edit 5/24/07: There have been a few crossposts, and there might be more when and as I get around to it; but really, friends, The Search For Integrity is where the action is.