Chalicefire

Mindful Mouthfuls

2009-07-07T23:39:00.002-04:00

Susan Daiss’s sermon on 6/28/09 at the Cobblestone church in Childs, NY.

In this place, where we come as congregation for one time a year, the poignant passage of time is especially clear. I think of the passages just in the short time that I’ve been with you. And I think of those who have faithfully climbed those stairs who attended this service and they are here in memory. So, with this as a prelude, I am bringing to you a meditation on being present to the present…a meditation in fact on meditation. The past eight weeks, I’ve been studying mindfulness meditation, an ancient practice from Eastern traditions that has been adapted for harried Westerners. I have just one of the many resources that I’ve used over the years, in the past, but because I’m not terrific at doing things by myself, I had to find someone to help me on my way..my teacher. I did find a teacher who is following the teachings of Jon Kabat-zinn, one of the best known of the contemporary meditation practitioners. His work on meditation is deeply connected to the medical community, that healing is enhanced by the reduction of stress and the cultivation of an inner life. Perhaps his most well known book is the best-selling ‘Wherever you go, There you are’. And this is from that book…mindfulness meditation, especially when it is understood as a way of being, as living a life as if it really mattered moment by moment by moment is a powerful vehicle for realizing such transformative and healing possibilities in ourselves and in our world. And what could be more important than to give to our very life in the fullness of it’s possibilities and it’s very actualities often unseen, unnoticed, and unused…to give us back to ourselves while we still have the chance. Mindfulness, he continues, cultivated for even a few minutes draws the heart toward itself. It invites the intimacy we yearn for and it’s calling to us because ultimately mindfulness is intimacy with ourselves and with our world.

The practice of mindfulness immediately makes available to us both the worlds and our heart’s intrinsic goodness and beauty, revealing throughout our direct experience the power and solace of resting in the present moment in awareness. I am a true beginner at this practice, but it’s been such a wonderful experience, learning techniques to be more keenly mindful in the moment. I want to share a bit of my journey with you. You already have a ‘taste’. My first class wasn’t in strawberry season, so I ate a raisin. I ate it thoughtfully and mindfully and, I think, for a period of over 20 minutes. So, the strawberry is for you, an introduction to mindful eating. Movement…not all meditation is still. So mindfully walking…the balance that it takes, the miracle of being able to stand upright and keep going was a revelation. To be mindful of walking, I was dangerously wobbly at first. I took off my shoes to bring out the contribution to the conference team the other day. And without shoes, walking on a spring path, I passed over the soft dampness of moss and I did not avoid the crumbling rocks. I walked thoughtfully and mindfully. And the memory is very clear. I was asked to choose a single activity every week over these eight weeks, and I was much too ambitious to begin with and my teacher said, “You know, maybe, you could pick something simpler?” So I thought about it, and I said “like putting on your shoes?” and she said, “Yes, like putting on your shoes”. So putting on my shoes is a brand new experience. Yes, of course I put them on and take them off and put them on and take them off, but every once in awhile, I feel what the foot-bed feels like as I slip my feet into my sandals. My slippers are very warm, so there are toe-grates that I nestle in when they are finally on. Then there are times when I have to be grown up and wear stockings and shoes, and it’s a brand new experience. The essence of this practice is something I would like you to practice right now. And you’ve been doing it since the beginning of your life and that is – breathing. So take note, and just focus on your breath (in and out, in and out). Focus on the air as it pulls in and the air as you press it out. This is for you at any moment at any time that you can draw attention to the gift of life by simply being mindful of the gift of breathing. Living mindfully..you won’t be able to keep paying attention to your breathing, or your shoes, or your walking all the time, but a moment now and then can connect you to the core of your being. And it can become the essential starting point of an understanding of living a more committed life. If you go to find Jon Kabat-zinn in the library or in a bookstore you will find him shown nearby with books on Buddhism. Much of his practice has been informed by Buddhist practice. And remember, I know you’ve heard this story before but in this context, let us remember the story of the Buddha following his enlightenment. It is said that soon after his enlightenment, the Buddha passed a man on the road who was struck by the Buddha’s extraordinary radiance and peaceful presence. The man stopped and asked, “My friend, what are you? Are you a celestial being ? Are you a God?”. “ No”, said the Buddha. “Well, then, are you some kind of magician or wizard?”. “No”, said the Buddha. “Are you a man?” “No”, said the Buddha. “I am awake”. Awake! The gift of enlightenment is to be awake. Now the Buddha never intended to start a religion. He simply answered his own interior yearning to live freed of anguish and suffering. He was not a mystic. His awakening was not a shattering instant into some transcendental truth that revealed him to the mysteries of God. He did not claim to have an experience that granted him privilege, esoteric knowledge of how the universe ticks. Only as Buddhism became more and more of a religion were such grandiose claims imputed to his awakening. And those were words taken from a book entitled ‘Buddhism Without Belief’. What began as his personal practice of meditation on understanding anguish and letting go of his origins, realizing its’ cessation and cultivating his eso-life path was transformed by his immediate followers and by the followers of those followers to this very day into a religion. One man’s practice and the experience of his journey became a religion when others accepted his personal findings as propositions they “believed to be truth”.

Now this story sounds familiar about the transformation of another individual’s personal practice into a religion. It might be that you are recalling the religious tradition that was originally celebrated in this movement. Jesus never intended to found a religion. He was a Jew who was challenging the status quo. He was always intentional in his summoning of his understanding of his call by separating himself into periods of mediation or prayer, whichever you want to call it, to define his understanding of how to live a life, he needed moments of peace and meditation. Walter Brueggemenn, who was an Old Testament scholar, said “The job of a prophet is to free people from their numbness”. If there is anything that I understand, Jesus to feel was his call, it was to shape the world out of its numbness. A Franciscan monk, Richard Rohr, writes, “This is also the task of the church…it is to wake people up, to bring them to consciousness, and not just to comfort them in their unconscious state. I’m afraid a lot of soft piety and too quick religious comfort does precisely that. The giveaway is when one finds no attitude of service, volunteerism, or compassion for the outsider emerging from one’s attendance at church services.”

So on this annual pilgrimage, and I think of this as a pilgrimage, to this beautiful place in the company of treasured community, I want to hold up the essential challenges I see today of living mindfully as individuals as a prelude to living thoughtfully and authentically with each other and with the world. The Buddha and Jesus both claim solitude and active practice, whether you call it meditation or prayer, as an essential component of their lives. Without their interior grounding, they had no ground to stand on. And without solid footing, they could not go forth and do the work they were called to do. So my message in introducing my very fledgling practice of mindful meditation is to consider how you might live more intentionally, moment by moment. Everything is open to this practice, to focusing on the cushion that you are sitting on to the focus of the feet within your shoes, and your feet on the floor…to sounds, to listening. What about fragrances? What fragrances? What scents come to you? And what about being mindful about the lingering taste of the strawberry that you ate not long ago? If there is an implied melete in this message it is that life is worth living well. From this intentional, thoughtful, mindful place, whatever words you may choose, we are positioned to better savor the gift of living. We began in a spirit of reflection and remembrance. May we go forward with a renewed commitment to cherish our one wild and precious life! And from that most intimate and authentic place, may we act in the sure knowledge that as we cherish the gift of life, our life, may that inform us to cherish the truth that that is shared by each of us and by everyone we are graced to meet. May we make it so. Amen.

Good-bye Michael and Thank-you

2009-07-02T22:50:00.003-04:00

I would just like to thank Michael Jackson for a lifetime of joy listening to all of his beautiful songs and watching his wonderful dancing. He has touched my heart for almost all of my 50 years. Try as I might, I can't recall a time in my life when I wasn't riveted by some song or dance of his. I would also like to thank him for all of his charity work, and for breaking racial barriers, and for writing lyrics that speak to ending wars, healing the world, feeding the hungry, and love for our fellow man. Thank-you for being a good-will ambassador all over the globe for so many years. My condolences, Michael, to your family, your children, and pretty much the entire world.

Invisible to Visible -How Far Have We Really Come?

2009-06-20T21:01:00.004-04:00

Rev. John Rex – sermon from 6/14/09 at PMUC.

Forty years ago this month…1969. The Vietnam War dragged on, with ever increasing protests back home. Dr. King was dead, with civil rights becoming a reality for African-Americans. Women were organizing to gain a neutral place at the table..remember the Equal Rights Amendment? And gay, lesbians, bi-sexual and transgender people were invisible! That is, until June 28th…Stonewall. On June 28, 1969 gays took to the streets in massive protest after eight policeman raided the Stonewall Inn bar to make arrests. It’s easy to forget or perhaps we never really knew how different it was THEN for gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender people. And I hope I don’t offend anyone when I refer to all of these people simply as ‘gay’. In 1969, the American Psychiatric Association included ‘homosexuality’ in the catalog of ‘mental diseases’. The United States Civil Service Commission enforced a ban on gay and lesbian federal employees that had been in place since the 1950’s. The armed forces, schools, movies, television, churches were all functions in which gays didn’t exist. And if a person dared to come out, he or she faced a great risk. And yet most experts today agree that gay people make up about 10% of the population..that is, any population in any race, ethnicity, or culture around the world. If there were 200 million people in the US in 1969 that means that there were 20 million gay people…most of them invisible. For a gay person at that time, there were few alternatives. He or she might commit suicide. He or she might deny being gay, stay in the closet, and make an effort to fit into the hetero-culture, perhaps getting married and having children. Many people I know did that. Or they might remain single and celibate. Or they might go off to the city from time to time to find other gay people living a double life, and I know a number of people who have done that. Or he or she might move to the city to be with gay people in the relative anonymity that city living provides. Even in the city, gay people were harassed. Stonewall is only one of many examples, although it is the most common item referred to. So where were the Unitarian-Universalists when all this was going on? In March 1967, the UU committee on goals published results of a survey on beliefs and attitudes within the denomination. 7.7% percent believed that homosexuality should be discouraged by law, 80.2% believed it should be discouraged by education, 12% felt it should not be discouraged by law or education, and 0 .1% that it should be encouraged. The results were pretty much in sync with the rest of our American culture at that time. This choice of words ‘to encourage or discourage’ homosexuality was added, as if showing disapproval might somehow make it all go away. Stonewall changed that. On Sept 5, 1969 a little over two months after Stonewall, the Rev. James Stoll, a UU minister came out publicly as a gay man. I know that because it is listed as a special event in our UU history. Of course, there have always been gay ministers in all denominations…that goes without saying. But to come out publicly was a big deal, even for a Unitarian-Universalist. By 1970, the General Assembly wrote a general resolution to end discrimination against homosexual and bi-sexuals, and in the years that followed the UUA followed up with the creation of the Office of Gay Affairs (don’t you love the name?) in 1973. None of prevented opposition voices from speaking up. At one General Assembly in the 70’s, a UU minister spoke out against supporting gays, equating the gay issue with bestiality. Some very brave people fought very hard for justice and we UU’s changed over time with General Assembly resolutions that fought negative propaganda against gays in 1977 to affirm the practice of UU clergy performing the services of union of same-sex couples in 1984, to work to overturn 1987..to adopt a Welcoming Congregation Program to combat homophobia in UU congregations in 1989. And to support the rights of same-sex couples to marry in 1996. Please understand that our general assembly resolutions are meant to represent the strongest agreement among us and to give direction to our leaders in Boston at the UUA, but that we are not a monolithic association of congregations and we do have individuals and even congregations who may disagree. When I was ordained as a Unitarian-Universalist minister in 1995, there were a number of ordained ministers who were openly gay, but there were issues then about whether a congregation would accept a gay minister, and there are still issues. Back then, many of our congregations had adopting the Welcoming Congregation curriculum and had worked very hard at raising awareness of gay issues and of achieving openness and justice for all people. I agree with UUA President Bill Sinkford’s statement (printed in the summer ‘09 UU World magazine) that “our congregations have been doing the work of welcoming BGLT (Bi-sexuals, gays, lesbians, and transgender people) for decades. “ I think Bill has chosen his words carefully, and a key phrase he uses is” doing the work”. Where we are today did not happen easily and there is still work to be done.

Our country’s attitudes have changed over the past 40 years, as well. What’s happened and how it’s happened is a long and complicated story. Over time, the invisible became visible. As gay people came out and demanded justice..instead of ‘gay shame’ we began to experience ‘gay pride’. First in the pride parades that were staged in major cities beginning in the 1970’s, the enormous tragedy of HIV Aids changed forever the of the gay presence in our lives as celebrities like Rock Hudson and Liberace were outed by their fatal illnesses. We became aware of gays in the military, who were eventually allowed to stay on the condition that they remain invisible…’don’t ask, don’t tell’. And attempts to return to the days before Stonewall, which was clearly a failing effort. In our American tradition of the pursuit of justice, of civil rights for racial minorities, of women’s lib, gay people learned to organize and fight for justice. There have been many set-backs, many tragedies along the way. Matthew Shepard is by no means the only victim, but progress has been extraordinary and last Sunday thousands of people lined down the avenue in Buffalo for the annual Pride parade… Buffalo’s main event for the month of June, which is Pride month. That’s the good news. The bad news is that this parade attracts gays and friends and others while the public is largely unaware that this is going on because the media chooses not to televise this occasion. Much of mainstream America continues to be ambivalent towards gay rights with a sometimes majority of people acting as if they would prefer that gay people go back to being invisible. Or at the very least, that they not have gay marriages. Our news media features articles, columns, editorials on gay marriage almost every day. Governor David Patterson has taken a stand for while various religious organizations have spoken out against it. Various polls show an equally divided public with one poll featured in the Buffalo news on April 21st showing 53% of NY backing gay marriage, while a more recent poll showing New Yorkers equally divided at 46%, both for and against. Some of my favorite columnists are for gay marriage, while our Buffalo news has editorialized in favor of gay marriage and has even gone calling for a gay divorce law. On May 7th a tiny item buried at the bottom of page 4, said the headline, ‘Maine is the 5th state to approve gay marriage’. And on June 4, another tiny item, this time at the top of page 4, declared that the same-sex marriage bill had been signed into law in New Hampshire. And it appears that all is going well. Unfortunately, such events inevitably fuel reaction, resistance, and sabotage. California voters rejected gay marriage after it had been put in place. Before losing her crown, Miss California was both praised and criticized for her stance against gay marriage. New York City welcomed a new Catholic Archbishop, who apparently is a warm and friendly leader, who vowed before his installation in April to fight efforts to legalize same-sex marriage. Governor Patterson’s position on same-sex marriage was rebuked by Rev. Sanders, Pastor of an influential black church in Buffalo, who said “we take our direction from the word of God”. Day after day there are letters to the editor for or against gay marriage. Statistically, the groups most opposed to gay marriage are black churches. The Buffalo black Pastors have taken strong stands ranging from claiming that the church is not a place to talk about sex to objecting to the classification of gay marriage as a civil right. Bishop Michael A Badger, Pastor of Bethesda World Harvest International church on Main St in Buffalo, said that he doesn’t doubt that there is discrimination against gay people, but that it is hardly on the order of what African-Americans have encountered and still face. In an interview in the Buffalo News, he stated “As an African American, I don’t have a choice in the color of my skin, but I have a choice as to whether I’m abstinent or not. I don’t think you can compare the two. Now I think we have made real good progress in having people speak out. We may not have known before what they thought, and why, and we couldn’t respond if we didn’t know what they were thinking, but now we can. This is a group of people speaking from the experiences of their lives and the depths of their beliefs. Clearly, we disagree on some matters beginning with church not being a place to talk about sex. Unitarian-Universalists have embraced the idea that our whole lives must include our sexuality, which is an essential, sacred, and spiritual part of our being. For us, church IS a place to talk about sex. Second, I agree that historically the gay experience and the black experiences of discrimination are very different, but one does not exclude the other. The problem is our ignorance of the history and present circumstances of both gays and blacks. Enormous cultural, religious, ethnic, and class barriers exist that have kept us isolated from each other, with the exception of the 10% of blacks who are gay and who find themselves locally isolated. Bishop Badger uses the word “choice” in a way that sets off alarms in any gay person, and should set off alarms in any person. He’s not the only one who speaks of being gay as a choice. It appears that a significant number of heterosexual Americans believe, deep down, that people choose to be gay and that in doing so go against God. There is overwhelming scientific evidence that disproves this, but the issue is an emotional one, not a logical one. Roughly the same number of Americans reject evolution as those who reject gay marriage…I’m not sure what the particular relationship is there, but there is one. Also, there is Badger’s reference to being abstinent, it appears that he considers gay sex bad and thinks gay people should abstain, which he considers to be their choice. When he says he doesn’t have such a choice about being black, I think he’s made a real unfortunate comparison. Yet, there are huge differences between being gay and being black. It might help to note that most gay people are born into heterosexual families, and those who grow up gay may most often have no role models in their homes. The most common comment I’ve heard from older gay folks as they speak of their childhoods is that each one thought that he or she was the only one. Unless their families followed a liberal religion, most gays learned at an early age of the evils of homosexuality and they learned early what might happen if they revealed their true selves to their friends and families. For many this has meant utter despair and teenage suicide. For others, alcohol and drugs might ease the pain of rejection while statistics showed about half of young people living in the streets of large cities are gay and running away from or thrown out of their homes. Years ago, I heard what was then told was a true story of a teenage boy who finally got enough nerve to tell his parents that he was gay. The story goes on to say that his father walked to the hall closet, pulled out a pistol, made sure it was loaded, handed it to the boy and said “I think you know what to do with this.” That’s a terrible story, but it contains a very significant truth that straight parents often destroy their gay children one way or another. I doubt that any black child ever had such rejection from his or her own family. As for choosing to be gay, I can only say “get real”!! Why in the name of all that’s good would anyone choose to be in the minority and face such discrimination and rejection? It cuts you off from the mainstream of family and friends. Gay people might respond with questions…when did you choose to be heterosexual? Is heterosexuality a phase that you are going through? As for being abstinent, I would also reject such hetero arrogance that allows the majority to live fully and the minority - not so. And as for religious objections to gay marriage, or what they call the gay lifestyle (whatever that may mean)…gay people have the same lifestyles as straight people. I suspect that the liberals will not win over the hearts and minds of religious conservatives. Our religious traditions are too far apart. For too long the religious right has been cherry picking the bible, selecting those passages that they believe support their particular cultural biases and prejudices. Most likely, sound biblical scholarship showing they are mistaken will not overcome such heartfelt beliefs. Statistics, numbers, and scientific methods won’t change hearts and minds that have been molded otherwise. Our independent, universal reliance on logic and reason is far from universal. And we are up against some extraordinarily powerful groups which oppose gay marriage, such as Mormons, Southern Baptists, Evangelical Christians, Catholics, and other so-called Christian organizations, most African American denominations and the list goes on. It’s not my intention to disparage these folks. Most are good people, devout in their beliefs. However, I think some of their beliefs perpetuate injustice. I feel obligated to speak out against their beliefs just as they feel obligated to speak out against mine. The news is that change is coming. Gay people are no longer invisible. PFLAG, parents, friends, family of lesbians and gays, has become an important catalyst to understanding and supporting gay youth. In Western New York, we have gay and lesbian youth services GLYS, encouraging and supporting gay youth and advocating for gay-straight alliances in our public schools. Around the country, many gay choruses, including the Buffalo gay men’s chorus, are bringing the message of love and understanding into middle America. Our young people are growing up in a very different cultural setting than what existed 40 years ago. They understand that parents, brothers, uncles, and other denominates may be gay. They have role models like Ellen, Elton John, Melissa Etheridge, and Lance Bass who are publicly gay and proud, and there are others like Dick Gephardt, Cher, and Marie Osmond who take pride in their gay children. When I spoke recently with a counselor at GLYS, he found out that people come out as gay as early as 12 years old. These young folks are learning to take pride in who they are as all of us must do as we grow into fully developed human beings. Two weeks from today, we celebrate the 40th anniversary of Stonewall. May all of us, young and old, gay and straight, take pride in who we are and continue our quest for equal justice for all. In preparing for this sermon, I began scrutinizing the Buffalo news that relates to gay rights, especially gay marriage. Among the many articles, editorials, columns I collected, there was one dated May 25th 2009, with the heading “Respect Rights of Those With Different Beliefs’ written by the Rev. Larry Eastlack, minister of the Oakfield United Methodist church who’s home is listed as Albion. Rev. Eastlack speaks out as a Christian in favor of gay marriage. And you know the the community better than I do, but my guess is that this was a very bold thing for Rev. Eastlack to do. I spoke at length with Rev. Eastlack on the phone, had a long conversation. He told that he has had much response to the letter, about equally divided between those who agree and those who disagree. I would like to publicly acknowledge and thank him for what he has done and for the stance that he has taken. And I encourage people in this congregation to give him your support and to seek out a day when we can all work together and act on the side of justice and love. Amen and blessed be.

Stonewall Inn (bar) - Pivotal Point in History

2009-06-20T20:58:00.002-04:00

This is the story of Stonewall, after which gays were no longer invisible.
Stonewall Riot
On june 28th 1969, a large gay community in greenwich village in New York reacted to a police raid by rioting. In New York at the time, it was illegal to kiss or hold hands with other people of the same gender. Police would regularly go undercover to entrap gay men and raid bars that knowingly served liqiuor to three or more homosexuals. Eight officers entered the Stonewall Inn(bar) and began making arrests. The riot started with a Transvestite threw a bear bottle and a lesbian made attempts to escape. Meeting with resistance, the police retreated back into the bar and sealed themselves in. At one point the police opened the door and dragged a heterosexual who was passing by into the bar and beat him severely. Eventually the crowd grew to 2000 and the riots stretched over about a week.
Stonewall riot took place at the stone wall inn.

Source taken from the following website:
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Stonewall%20Riot

Rethinking Memorial Day

2009-06-02T22:30:00.002-04:00

Here is the sermon submitted by Mark Dibelka at PMUC on 5/31/09.

The last weekend in May. Time to turn the calendar to a new month, and time for the sometimes chilly, sometimes steamy western New York Spring to give way to Summer. Interestingly, this is also one of the busier holiday seasons. Who'd have thought that the end of May who be a time of festivals? At least three religions are enjoying some type of celebration.

Before we go any further, I ask those of you with knowledge to provide a “pass” on my pronunciation of other languages. Although I have some training in Semitic languages, I am conversant in English and German – for some reason, I seem to return to Indoeuropean pronunciation unless I am practiced.

Today is Sunday, May 31, 2009.

At sunset on May 28 through sunset last night, the Jews celebrated Shavu'ot. Shavu'ot, the Festival of Weeks, is the second of the three major festivals with both historical and agricultural significance (the other two are Passover and Sukkot). Agriculturally, it commemorates the time when the first fruits were harvested and brought to the Temple, and is known as the Festival of the First Fruits. Historically, it celebrates the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, and is also known as the Festival of the Giving of Our Torah.

The period from Passover to Shavu'ot is a time of great anticipation. Each of the days is counted from the second day of Passover to the day before Shavu'ot. 49 days or 7 full weeks and may also be known as Pentecost, because it falls on the 50th day. The counting is a reminder of the important connection between Passover and Shavu'ot: Passover freed the Israelites from physical bondage, but it was the giving of Torah, on Shavu'ot, that spiritual redemption from the bondage to idolatry and immorality was granted.

It is noteworthy that the holiday is called the time of the giving of the Torah, rather than the time of the receiving of the Torah. It has been said that Jews are constantly in the process of receiving the Torah, that it is received every day, but it was first given at this time. Thus it is the giving, not the receiving, that makes this holiday significant.

Work is not permitted during Shavu'ot. It is customary to stay up the entire first night of Shavu'ot and study Torah, then pray as early as possible in the morning, as well as eating a dairy meal at least once during the celebration. The reasoning behind the dairy may be a reminder of the promise given to the Israelites to be granted a land flowing with "milk and honey," or perhaps it is because of the reception of Torah, and the dietary laws therein, providing for the separation of meat and dairy.

If we shift a bit further east from Canaan, into Persia, we find the seat of Bahai which celebrated the Ascension of Baha'u'llah on May 29th. May 29 marks the anniversary of the Ascension of Baha'u'llah, the founder of the Baha'i Faith. The day is one of nine holy days in the Baha'i calendar when Baha'is suspend work and school.

Baha’u’llah died after a brief illness in 1892 in the mansion of Bahji outside Acre, in what is now northern Israel. After spending most of His life in exile, He was able to live his later years at Bahji in relative tranquility. He was buried in a small stone house adjacent to the mansion. This Shrine is the holiest place on earth for Baha’is, the place toward which they turn in prayer each day.

Six days before His death, Baha’u’llah gathered his followers and family members and delivered what would be His last address to them:
"I am well pleased with you all. Ye have rendered many services, and been very assiduous in your labors. Ye have come here every morning and every evening. May God assist you to remain united. May He aid you to exalt the Cause of the Lord of being."

For a week after Baha’u’llah’s death, writes Shoghi Effendi, “a vast number of mourners, rich and poor alike, tarried to grieve with the bereaved family. . . Notables, among whom were numbered Shí'ahs, Sunnis, Christians, Jews and Druze, as well as poets, ulamas and government officials, all joined in lamenting the loss. . .”

Baha'u'llah's ministry came to an end in 1892. He left behind a heritage of spiritual and social teachings, which He claimed would lead humanity to true and abiding peace. In His own words:
"The Ancient Beauty hath consented to be bound with chains that mankind may be released from its bondage, and hath accepted to be made a prisoner within this most mighty Stronghold that the whole world may attain unto true liberty. He hath drained to its dregs the cup of sorrow, that all the peoples of the earth may attain unto abiding joy, and be filled with gladness. This is of the mercy of your Lord, the Compassionate, the Most Merciful. We have accepted to be abased, O believers in the Unity of God, that ye may be exalted, and have suffered manifold afflictions, that ye might prosper and flourish.
He Who hath come to build anew the whole world, behold, how they that have joined partners with God have forced Him to dwell within the most desolate of cities!"

Baha'u'llah died approximately eight hours after sunset on 29 May, 1892. Baha'i communities around the world typically commemorate his passing at 3:00 a.m. local, standard time.

In the Christian church, today is Pentecost Sunday. It is actually the oldest of Christian celebrations and is mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles as well as the first letter to the Corinthians. It is the 50th day after Easter, if both Easter and Pentecost are counted.

It is no coincidence that the Jewish and Christian celebrations should fall concurrent. In the Acts of the Apostles (2:2-4) we are told the story of the original, Christian Pentecost. Jews from all over were gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate the Jewish feast. On that Sunday, ten days after Jesus' Ascension, the Apostles and mother Mary were gathered in the Upper Room, where they had seen Jesus after His Resurrection:
Suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a mighty wind coming, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them parted tongues as it were of fire, and it sat upon every one of them: And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they began to speak with diverse tongues, accordingly as the Holy Ghost gave them to speak.

Jesus had promised the Apostles that He would sent His Holy Spirit, and, on Pentecost, the apostles granted the gifts of the Spirit. The Apostles began to preach the Gospel in all the languages of the gathered Jews, and it is reported that 3,000 people were converted and baptized that day.

Pentecost is often called "the birthday of the Church." On this day, with the descent of the Holy Spirit, the Jesus mission was completed, and the New Covenant was inaugurated.

In years past, Pentecost was celebrated with greater solemnity than it is today, being largely ignored by many churches. In fact, the entire period between Easter and Pentecost Sunday is known as Pentecost. Dependant upon the faith tradition, during these 50 days, both fasting and kneeling are strictly forbidden, because this period is supposed to provide a foretaste of the life of Heaven.

We have now touched on three religious holidays. This is also a time of a secular holiday as well, Memorial Day. It is curious that I would speak of Memorial Day a full week after it was celebrated by most Americans. To explain, let me share the tradition of the holiday. Memorial Day is primarily to honor the memory of those who have died in military service. This American holiday has its roots in the practice of women of decorating the graves of their loved ones who had died in the American Civil War, and was originally called Decoration Day. The first formal observance seems to have been on May 5, 1866, in Waterloo, New York. Memorial Day, as a national holiday, was originally celebrated on May 30 in the years after 1868, however, since 1971 it has been celebrated on the last Monday in May

Commander in Chief John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic issued the 1868 proclamation declaring the first Decoration Day. He credited his wife, Mary Logan, with the suggestion for the commemoration. But the idea had its roots in the decoration of the graves of Civil War dead by women, going back at least to 1864.

On May 30, 1870, General Logan gave an address in honor of the new commemorative holiday. In it he said: "This Memorial Day, on which we decorate their graves with the tokens of love and affection, is no idle ceremony with us, to pass away an hour; but it brings back to our minds in all their vividness the fearful conflicts of that terrible war in which they fell as victims.... Let us, then, all unite in the solemn feelings of the hour, and tender with our flowers the warmest sympathies of our souls! Let us revive our patriotism and love of country by this act, and strengthen our loyalty by the example of the noble dead around us...."

Now, we turn the clock forward from the 19th to the 20th century, the year is 1993. It is 18 years since the fall of Saigon, and the horrors of southeast Asia that not only turned a nation against its own military, but turned many of that nation's citizens, both willing and unwilling, into asocial, obviously troubled, people. It is also the same year that a newlywed bride faces her charming husband, bathed in the fresh light of the new dawn, in their bedroom. She leans over to give him a kiss good-bye, as she is leaving for work and he works evenings (3pm to midnight). Suddenly, he appears to be completely awake and both hands have come from under the covers – each taking hold of her in positions of control on her upper body and she is nearly taken to the floor in pain. Although she is well versed in physical confrontation herself, being a master karateka, she could easily take command of the situation and even, justifiably, hurt her husband – however, she knows that he must have been dreaming, facing some demon unknown that she has not yet met. Perhaps it wasn't being touched during a kiss, but the drop of a shoe has caused him to roll out of bed and take up a position of challenge, over top of the mattress, with an invisible rifle set in his hands. After a bit, she learns to speak before coming close while he's sleeping, or to pin him with the sheets when she needs to waken him.

Sometimes in my bed at night,I curse the dark and I pray for light.And sometimes, the light's no consolation.

In the full light of day, this couple is walking a path in the wilderness when a noise off in the trees causes the man to, soundlessly, stop moving, pivot his head in a desperate effort to locate the cause, then move off the path into concealment. The squirrel who dropped the pinecone sits in its tree, studiously plucking the nuts out of another cones and ignoring the actions of the odd creature below it. Once the man is satisfied there is no threat, he re-emerges and is immediately questioned by the wife. “What happened?” She knows better than to ask what kind of stupid, crazy idea was running through his head that would cause him to carry out such a bizarre action. She has seen it before, and is certain she will see it again. The question is an invitation to talk, not a demand for an explanation. There is not much to say in response, as he isn't ready to share. Instead he's left, unique to those who have been in his situation, alone with his thoughts.
Blinded by a memory.Afraid of what it might do to me,And the tears and the sweat only mock my desperation.

A sweaty mess of a man. Large, uncompromising, and completely disconnected. Disconnected from the empirical world around him. He does not see the flowers of the garden in which he stands. He cannot smell the faint whiff of hamburgers and hot dogs. He is all too aware of the sound of firecrackers, the sound of black powder rifles in a parade somewhere, the odor of smoke.... The desperation sets in – fight or flight – but there is no flight to be had. The stress builds and only one of two outlets will see this build-up of stress relieved: a psychotic break, or a return to reality and a mourning for an event as real as if it had just occurred rather than being nearly two decades gone. In the case of the psychotic break, society has witnessed the birth of its newest criminal as this kind of stress release is rarely constructive. The return to reality is just as ugly – this giant bear of a man turning into a sobbing, snotty mess, dealing with losses about which those around him may never know. If they are aware of the loss, they can never understand. Children see this raw emotion and are frightened. Adults have no idea how to deal with this apparent meltdown and are, themselves, uncomfortable. What causes people to be uncomfortable, is ignored by those in discomfort. At the time when this man is most vulnerable, there is nobody there to comfort him. A man who has done what society asks, and as a result is shunned by society.Don't you know me, I'm the boy next door.The one you find so easy to ignore.Is that what I was fighting for?

Fighting? Who said anything about fighting? In case you haven't figured it out, this man could be any one of the men within our communities who “enjoy” what was once known as cowardice in the Civil War era, the thousand yard stare during World War I, shell shocked by World War II and Korea, and more recently post-traumatic stress disorder. This man is a soldier, sailor, airman, marine who has seen the worst humanity has to offer and been told it shouldn't effect him. It could very well have been looking a 14 year old in the eye, down the length of a rifle barrel and iron sights, before pulling the trigger and sending three, .223 caliber slugs, traveling faster than the speed of sound, tearing into the flesh of that youth. Chalk up the first kill. We gasp with horror at the hellacious monster who would kill a 14 year old child. As we pass judgment on this person, let me finish the story – approximately five seconds after that young life ended, the body disintegrated into in a fireball. The bomb the child was carrying detonated well clear of the troop transport where it would have snuffed the life out of a squad of combat engineers.
Walking on a thin line.Straight off the front line.Labeled as freaks, loose on the streets of the city.

Perhaps it is the knowledge that his best friend had just died right next to him. 19 years old, some five thousand miles from home, and his best friend no more – to be completely honest, I'd be concerned if these situations didn't effect him.
Walking on a thin lineAngry all the time.Take a look at my face, see what its doing to me
Memorial day, a day when families and communities come together to hold picnics. Maybe the TV will be turned on and folks will notice how quaint the old men look wearing their out of date uniforms and American Legion caps. Is this the true legacy of Memorial Day? As we heard earlier, Memorial Day is to honor the memory of those who have passed in combat. The general greeting for the day is “Happy Memorial Day!” Now imagine approaching the man who slogged out of the troop carrier, listening to the bullets raining on the steel and bodies around him, then ran, as best he was able, through the surf zone of Normandy on June 6, 1944. How many friends were taken from him that day? How long has he had to remember? What is it exactly he is remembering, and is it reasonable to expect that he might find the memory happy in any way shape or form?
Taught me how to shoot to kill.A specialist with a deadly skill.A skill I needed to have to be a survivor.

No longer is combat the arena of men, and I honestly wonder how many of the women who fought for the equal right to bear arms on behalf of the nation have actually fought – and been glad they won the right. Take a person who is entering adulthood at age 18. They have no education beyond high school that will prepare them for a professional career, they can enjoy adult entertainment, vote for elected officials, and go to war – but they are not allowed alcohol. The only real skill they have is the ability to survive in hostile environments, both physical and mental, and place a cluster within a four inch circle at 50 yards. The Houghton-Mifflin Dictionary defines a profession as: An occupation that requires considerable training and specialized study. That being said, the United States has become quite skilled at generating professional soldiers – it is an occupation, in which the operators have undergone extensive training, and they are all specialists of some type.

If you have never been through military training, there is no way to understand the internal dilemmas that, hopefully, occur. All your life, that sanctity of human life is hammered into you. For most of us, murder is unthinkable. Look at our attitudes towards crime; somehow it is more acceptable to rape a woman, or forcibly sodomize a man, than it is to take a life. An 18 year old is taken from the background of sacred life, and trained into a person who can snuff human life as efficiently as possible. Lt. Col. David Grossman (retired after a quarter of a century as an Army infantry officer, a paratrooper, a Ranger, and a West Point Psychology Professor) tells us:
“Healthy members of most species have a powerful, natural resistance to killing their own kind. Animals with antlers and horns fight one another by butting heads. Against other species they go to the side to gut and gore. Piranha turn their fangs on everything, but they fight one another with flicks of the tail. Rattlesnakes bite anything, but they wrestle one another.
When we human beings are overwhelmed with anger and fear our thought processes become very primitive, and we slam head on into that hardwired resistance against killing. During World War II, we discovered that only 15-20 percent of the individual riflemen would fire at an exposed enemy soldier. This is not inconsistent with the numbers from the American Civil War.
That's the reality of the battlefield. Only a small percentage of soldiers are willing and able to kill. When the military became aware of this, they systematically went about the process of “fixing” this “problem.” Fix it they did. By Vietnam the firing rate rose to over 90 percent.”

The training methods the military uses are brutalization, operant conditioning, and role modeling.

Brutalization, or “values inculcation,” is what happens at boot camp. Your head is shaved, you are herded together naked, and dressed alike, losing all vestiges of individuality. You are trained relentlessly in a total immersion environment. In the end you embrace violence and discipline and accept it as a normal and essential survival skill in your brutal new world.

Operant conditioning is a powerful procedure of stimulus-response training. We see this with children in fire drills. When the fire alarm is set off, the children learn to file out in orderly fashion. One day there's a real fire and the frightened children do exactly what they've been conditioned to do. In World War II we taught our soldiers to fire at bullseye targets, but that training failed miserably because we have no known instances of any soldiers being attacked by bullseyes. Now soldiers learn to fire at realistic, man-shaped silhouettes that pop up in their field of view. That's the stimulus. The conditioned response is to shoot the target and then it drops. Stimulus-response, stimulus-response, repeated hundreds of times. Later, when they are in combat and somebody pops up with a gun, reflexively they will shoot and shoot to kill, 75 to 80 percent of the shooting on the modern battlefield is the result of this kind of training

In the military your role model is your drill sergeant. He personifies violence, aggression, and discipline. The drill sergeant, and heroes such as John Wayne, Audey Murphy, Sergeant York and Chesty Puller, have always been used as role models to influence young, impressionable recruits as a means of defining survival. Both individual and squad survival.
Its over now, or so they say.Well, sometimes, it don't turn out that way.'Cause your never the same when you've been under fire.

Survivor's guilt. The looks of pity from those around you. The insensitive questions. The horrible slander heaped upon you. These are but four of the issues having to be dealt with by returning soldiers. How many of you have ever had to get over, and honestly think you could get over, looking down a rifle barrel and terminating the life of a 14 year old? How many of you would be able to get over brushing your buddy's brains off your shirt and pushing on to reach your goal? How about waking up every morning and wondering why, out of a platoon of 16 of the finest men you'll ever meet, you and one other are the only ones to make it out of a battle alive? Many of us have combat veterans in our families, or know a few people who have been activated and been sent “over there.” I would say that not a single one of those people who have marched into combat are the same person they were before facing their own mortality at light speed. Sometimes the catalyst is their own pulling of the trigger, and sometimes that catalyst is the unreproducable sound a bullet makes in flight.

Asked to do a job by the people of the United States, by you and me, the soldier dies. The physical death is the easiest. Those who return have died the mental death – they are either scorned for the horrible things they did in our name, or they are held up as heroes, when inside they are aware that they have gone places that the next generation should never have to go. The only people who want to be heroes end up dead.Don't you know me, I'm the boy next door.The one you find so easy to ignore.Is that what I was fighting for?

The mental death. The incessant mourning for lost companions. Fighting the devil inside their own head every minute of every day. Somehow keeping it together, and nobody around them knows the tempest threatening to shake apart the veneer of polite society. Yearning to put the ghosts to rest – let their dead companions be dead. Why do they continue to haunt after nearly 20 years in the dirt? Can we ever return and collect them from the dirt in which they lay to allow their family closure?

Perhaps Memorial Day shouldn't be about just the casualties of war. Perhaps Memorial Day should allow a nation to not only mourn its losses, but also to ensure the survivors receive the care they need – thereby avoiding turning them into casualties of a war that historically ended years before, but has raged in their mind ever since.
Walking on a thin line.Straight off the front line.Labeled as freaks, loose on the streets of the city.Walking on a thin line.Angry all the time.Take a look at my face, see what its doing to me.

When we see the folks with the POW-MIA vests, or the hats that declare them veterans – we all know who they are – it is time to stop wishing they would have a HAPPY Memorial Day. Instead, let each of us help them battle their demons – reach out a comforting hand and let them know they are welcome in society be telling them, “Welcome home.” You just might be surprised at their gratitude.

“Walking on a Thin Line” - Huey Lewis and the News
Information regarding Pentacost – catholic.about.com
Information regarding Baha'u'llah – bahai.us
Information regarding Shavu'ot – jewfax.org

A Call for Commitment to Ethical Eating

2009-05-24T18:27:00.003-04:00

Here are some highlights from Susan Daiss' sermon on 5/24/09.

Susan begins by referencing an issue that was presented and passed at the General Assembly in 2008:

The following is a portion of the CSAI—Ethical Eating: Food and Environmental Justice for 2008–2012 Issue which can be accessed on the following website - http://www.uua.org/socialjustice/issuesprocess/currentissues/ethicaleating/55648.shtml
Delegates at the 2008 General Assembly in Fort Lauderdale, FL, selected "Ethical Eating" to be the 2008-2012 Congregational Study/Action Issue (CSAI) of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations.
The Congregational Study/Action Issue is an invitation for congregations and districts to take a topic of concern and confront it, reflect on it, learn about it, respond to it, comment on it take action—each in their own way. A CSAI is NOT a statement—it is a question.

Issue
Religious organizations throughout the world have discussed the production, distribution, and use of food. Some people enjoy many food choices while others remain hungry. The food industry produces wealth, but small farmers and farm workers are often poor. Food production and transportation contribute to many environmental problems.
Background and Reasons for Study
Congregations can develop effective strategies to address two of the world's biggest problems: social inequality and environmental destruction. This Congregational Study/Action Issue is inspired by the work of the several Unitarian Universalist (UU) affiliate and associate organizations that work with congregations in support of environmental justice.
Hunger is both a community problem and an international problem that can be approached in a variety of ways. There is a need for political advocacy in support of government programs that try to feed the hungry. There is a need also for involvement with service programs that deliver food to individuals and families - for example, Meals on Wheels programs.

Possible Actions
Support sustainable agriculture and farmers' markets. Encourage organic community gardening.
Volunteer in support of community food pantries, Meals on Wheels programs, and similar projects that address the problem of hunger.
Become an advocate for social and economic justice. Support labor unions, farmers' cooperatives, "fair trade" associations, and other organizations that help the farmers and other workers who produce and distribute food in the global market.

Unitarian Universalists have a vision of environmental justice. One of our principles acknowledges "the interdependent web." Others affirm the importance of human rights. Together our principles form one holistic statement that helps to define liberal religion.

Susan continues:
-there is nothing more basic to human survival than eating, the air we breath, and the water we drink.
-We are among the privileged 20% of people on the planet who have ease in finding any kind of food we want when we want. This same 20% of people are utilizing 67% of the planet's resources.
-As UU's the question becomes, 'how do we put our theology where our mouth is'?
-Ethical eating has been proven to be within the reach of even those in the lower income brackets, but we have to do so creatively.
-UU's cite Principle #7 as our contribution to the ethical eating dilemna, and here is the Principle - We believe in the ethical application of religion. Good works are the natural product of a good faith, the evidence of an inner grace that finds completion in social and community involvement.
-Here are some suggestions for mindful eating:
1). When you eat a piece of bread, see it as the privilege that it is.
2). The next time you share a meal with someone you love, be mindful of that dinner from beginning to end and regard it as the miracle that it is.
3). Pause with gratitude before we eat a single grain of rice.
4). Make a commitment to each other to share and embrace ethical eating.
5). Ask the question of ourselves and each other 'what is ethical eating?'.
6). Make ethical eating part of our daily lives.
7). Vow to begin to put our theology where our mouth is.
You are invited to share your thoughts on how you practice ethical and mindful eating! Have you joined an organic co-op? Do you plant a garden? What are your thoughts.

Rebirth

2009-04-20T11:16:00.002-04:00

I was grateful to have the opportunity to give the sermon at the church on Easter Sunday. I want to share one reading today from my sermon. It is a reading from UU Wayne B. Arnason regarding Spring:
How easy it is to speak your name and offer this prayer at the season of rebirth and renewal!
The sprit of life is everywhere, evident in every bud and shoot. We pray that our lives may be blessed with that same renewal we see all around us in nature's celebration.
We ask that our eyes be opened to gifts and companions that are part of our journey whom we may be taking for granted.
It is easy to walk the way of life with our eyes on the road ahead, and to forget to look over into the eyes of those who share the way with us. Whether they are friends, family or partners, it is good to remember that a holy spirit can be found in familiar and unexpected people and places.
The last place we expect to find that spirit is the tomb within ourselves where hopes and possibilites have lain buried, killed by time and circumstance and potential unfulfilled. Maybe that tomb is empty today. Maybe those possibilities walk beside you. Maybe something unexpected and unheard of awiats you this season.
Be with us, Spirit of Life, and help us to be open and awake to the springtime miracle that is in each one of us.
Wayne B. Arnason

Other thoughts from my sermon to follow...
May everyone be feeling the excitment of spring inside and coming out... to a rejuvination or rebirth in this life.
Amanda

Guilt In The Skies

2009-02-18T09:14:00.002-05:00

While waiting to board a return flight at an airport last week, I had a sudden epiphany while listening to a boarding announcement that rows 1-15 were reserved for those passengers who spoke only fluent English. I thought of someone who only spoke Spanish, French, German, Russian, Chinese, Arabic, etc, for they would have to be excluded from this area of the plane as they could not effectively communicate emergency needs.

How would this mesh with our litigious society in it's constant quest for political correctness? Then I said to myself that maybe the answer is to have interpreters available on all flights to cover the world's languages, thereby disregarding the host country's language for this makes for sound political correctness (guilt)!

Go Placidly,
Dan Miller

And The Executive Perks Are Still Excessive

2009-02-14T17:21:00.002-05:00

Congress trumps Obama, cuffs CEO bonuses
Stimulus restricts compensation, erases massive Wall Street pay package.

MSNBC

WASHINGTON - The stimulus package Congress passed last night imposes new limits on executive compensation that could significantly curb multimillion dollar pay packages on Wall Street and goes much further than restrictions proposed by the Obama administration last week.

The bill, which President Obama is expected to sign into law next week, limits bonuses for executives at all financial institutions receiving government funds to no more than a third of their annual compensation. The bonuses must be paid in company stock that can be redeemed only when the government investment has been repaid. With the measure, lawmakers seek to address public outrage over extravagant Wall Street paydays even as taxpayers bail out the industry.

Unlike the rules issued by the White House, the limits in the stimulus bill would apply to top executives and the highest-paid employees at all 359 banks that have already received government aid.
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"This is a big deal. This is a problem," said Scott Talbott, chief lobbyist for the nation's largest financial services firms. "It undermines the current incentive structure."

Talbott said banking executives expected certain restrictions would be applied to them but are concerned that some of the most highly paid employees, such as top traders, who bring in hefty sums for the company, would flee to hedge funds or foreign banks that have not accepted U.S. government funds.

The White House restrictions capped executive pay at $500,000 and allowed companies to award unlimited stock. Those rules applied only to institutions that receive government funds in the future and under limited circumstances.

Significant impact seen
Bonuses make up much of financial executives' take-home pay, so the new rules could significantly diminish their compensation. For example, Goldman Sachs chief executive Lloyd Blankfein made $68.5 million in 2007 -- a Wall Street record -- but $67.9 million of that was in bonus and other incentive pay that analysts said would be subject to the new rules.

Video
Boehner: 'Spending, spending'
Feb. 13: House minority leader John Boehner says the stimulus bill has become nothing more than bloated government spending.

MSNBC
Citigroup's top executive, Vikram Pandit, has voluntarily agreed to a $1 salary until his company returns to profitability. In theory, this means that Pandit would be allowed an annual bonus of pennies.

Critics of excessive executive pay assert that companies have always found ways around compensation rules. Yesterday, they noted that more stringent measures -- such as a $400,000 cap on all forms of compensation -- did not survive last-minute wrangling by House and Senate leaders on the final compromise stimulus bill. To offset the new rules, inserted by Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), compensation boards could just significantly raise the base salary of executives, the critics said.

"Congress missed a huge opportunity to set a strict and measurable limit on executive pay," said Sarah Anderson, a director at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington. "I'm afraid companies will find ways to shift compensation to other pots and continue to make massive payouts that have so outraged the American people."

But several compensation experts said that is unlikely, given the glaring spotlight on an issue that is not expected to go away anytime soon. Excessive compensation has received increasing scrutiny as the pay gap between executives and average workers widened in recent years. Public furor reached a boiling point with news that billions of dollars in bonuses were paid to Wall Street employees last year even as the banks took billions in taxpayer bailout money.

Personal Commentary:
What I find truly amazing is that the executive's "golden parachute" has little sail taken out of it yet as loopholes still persist after all these trails and tribulations.
Another example of "change" with Obama as he finds himself pandering off to the Chicago crowd.

Go Placidly,
Dan Miller

Pork Barreling In The Guise Of...............

2009-02-02T18:52:00.002-05:00

Key Democrat Says Lawmakers Should Strip 'Tens of Billions' From Stimulus
President Obama is downplaying lawmakers' disagreements over the economic stimulus package, but Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson says the legislation must be significantly revised.

FOXNews.com

Monday, February 02, 2009

A key Democratic senator told FOX News on Monday that he wants to strip "tens of billions" of dollars from the economic stimulus proposal, rejecting the White House claim that senators are complaining about just a tiny fraction of the package.

Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson, who sits on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said Republicans and Democrats alike want to gut the nearly $900 billion program of items that he says will not stimulate job growth.

President Obama and his aides have downplayed disagreements over the package as it comes before the Senate for debate. Obama said Monday that "modest differences" should not stall the package, and Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said GOP objections center on about $700 million worth of items -- or "seven one-hundredths of one percent" of the total package.

Not so, said Nelson.

"It's more money than that," he said. "We're talking in the billions, and tens of billions, that we're looking to exclude from this particular program."

He singled out provisions in the bill for programs like U.S. Department of Agriculture computers and medical research as items that are worth funding -- but not in a stimulus package.

Lawmakers like Nelson, along with Republican congressional leaders who are noisily slamming the program, could complicate the administration's efforts to push through the stimulus in the days ahead.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said Monday that the plan must do more to address housing and make mortgages more affordable. He said the package his colleagues would support must be "dramatically different" than the $819 billion version that passed on the House side last week without any Republican support.

"Nobody that I know of is trying to keep a package from passing," McConnell said. "We're trying to reform it."

Wisconsin Democrat Russ Feingold also released a statement saying the bill must not include wasteful spending and should direct funding to job-creating projects.

"Any amendments or provisions that would add to our deficit need to stimulate the economy; otherwise, they should be paid for," the senator said.

Gibbs would not say how the bill might be re-shaped on the Senate side.

"The bottom line is this -- you've got a piece of legislation that creates jobs," Gibb said. "I'm gonna leave the legislating to the legislators."

Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, said part of the problem for Obama is that some Democrats, and many Republicans, can't afford to vote for the measure.

"Some people will lose their jobs for voting for this measure. Nobody will be harmed by voting against it," he said.

Norquist, who vehemently opposes the stimulus package, said he expects the Senate to craft a plan that is "slightly less horrific."

Personal Comment:

This is in the Tens of BILLIONS of dollars that is being wasted away, all in the name of urgency. Why not do better planning and actually see what will stimulate our economy? I honestly shake my head in exasperation here, for even the Democrats are saying now we need a bipartisan effort here.

Go Placidly,
Dan Miller

More Social Engineering.............

2009-01-30T09:52:00.002-05:00

From MSNBC.com

WASHINGTON - The Democratic-controlled Congress moved a step closer to handing President Barack Obama an early health care victory Thursday as the Senate passed a bill extending government-sponsored health insurance coverage to about 4 million uninsured children.

The bill, which was approved 66-32, authorizes an additional $32.8 billion over the next 4 1/2 years for the State Children's Health Insurance Program. The House plans to take up the same measure next week.

Even with the added spending, an estimated 5 million children still would be without health insurance. During his election campaign, Obama called for requiring all children to have health coverage.
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"When President Obama signs this bill, the real victory will belong not to politicians, but to kids," said Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont.

The bill pays for expanding SCHIP by increasing the federal excise tax on cigarettes from 39 cents to $1 a pack. Opponents argued that the tax would hit the poor the hardest.

The Democratic majority turned back Republican amendments to limit expansion of the program. Among the failed amendments were a prohibition on using federal money to cover children of newly arrived legal immigrants and a stricter income limit in some states for participating families.

Current law requires a five-year waiting period before legal immigrants become eligible for coverage under Medicaid and SCHIP. Democrats said that removing the ban would help children before small health problems became big ones.

"It is likely many of these children are already U.S. citizens and many will become U.S citizens, and their being unhealthy doesn't make sense for that family, and it certainly does not make sense for our nation." said Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill.

Support for expanding SCHIP has had bipartisan backing. In 2007, former President George W. Bush twice vetoed bills to expand the program. The Senate voted to override Bush, but the House fell about 15 votes short of an override.

Backing SCHIP
Scores of interest groups have lined up in support of more money for SCHIP, including trade groups representing insurers, hospitals, doctors, unions and the pharmaceutical industry.

Some Republican senators complained that Democrats had worked closely with many of them on SCHIP in the past but had ignored them this year when crafting the bill.

"I think we could have had 95 votes," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. "That would have sent a tremendous, tremendous message that hasn't been sent around here for a long time.

Nine Republicans joined 57 Democrats in voting for the bill. No Democrat voted against it.

More than 7 million children were enrolled in SCHIP at some point in 2008. The program was created more than a decade ago as a way to provide health care to children in families with incomes too high to quality for Medicaid but too low to afford private coverage. Federal funding for SCHIP is set to expire March 31 unless Congress acts.

The House already has approved a bill to expand SCHIP. It's comparable to the Senate bill, except it included a provision opposed by physicians and supported by the influential American Hospital Association. That provision would have prevented new physician-owned hospitals from opening, but it's not part of the Senate bill.

Click for related content
House backs kids’ health bill
Bush's letter to Congress on SCHIP veto
First Read: As promised, Bush vetoes SCHIP

The House will vote on the Senate bill and then send it on to the president for his signature.

Republicans said they are fearful that Democrats are using SCHIP to increase the government's role in providing health care. They said about 2.4 million children who otherwise could get private insurance will get government-sponsored coverage instead.

Democrats responded to those concerns by requiring any state covering families earning more than three times the federal poverty level, or $66,150 for a family of four, to be paid at Medicaid levels rather than the higher SCHIP level.

But the bill allowed an exception for New Jersey and New York. Lawmakers said a family of four in New York could potentially qualify for SCHIP even if the family's income came to about $88,000.

"These are certainly not low-income families," said Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., who unsuccessfully tried to remove the exemption for the two states.

My Personal Commentary:
This is truly amazing how current and future immigrants, even the illegal one's, are being planned for in the rush to provide everyone with insurance. So the next generation can have their backs weighted down in advance. Meantime, the politicos all have their respective agendas into play as more time goes by and our coffers empty out even more. What makes sense anymore, for when you go into your local hospital's emergency department, it is brimming with everyone using it as their doctor's office causing 5 hour waits!

Go Placidly,
Dan Miller

The Next Generations Legacy

2009-01-24T16:35:00.002-05:00

Foxnews.com

Freddie Mac To Ask Treasury For Billions In Additional Funds

Sue Chang
MarketWatch Pulse

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Federal Housing Finance Agency, Freddie Mac's conservator, will ask the Treasury Department for additional funds of up to $35 billion from the Senior Preferred Stock Purchase Agreement, the mortgage giant said in a regulatory filing Friday. Based on a preliminary evaluation of its fourth-quarter operations, Freddie Mac's management believes that it will need $30 billion to $35 billion to offset the impact of operating losses as well as other items that could affect the company's net worth. Freddie Mac has already drawn $13.8 billion under the $100 billion agreement.

My Personal Commentary:
This seems to be yet another venue for socialization of the Banking Industry on our children's backs. It is as if no one cares just so a few make millions of the taxpayers.

Go Placidly,
Dan Miller

"Character"

2009-01-23T10:04:00.002-05:00

The sun set, but not on his hope.
Stars rose; his faith was earlier up:
Fixed on the enormous galaxy,
Deeper and older seemed his eye;
And matched his sufferance sublime
The taciturnity of time.
He spoke, and words more soft than rain
Brought the Age of Gold again:
His action won such reverence sweet
As hid all measure of the feat.
-R.W.Emerson (Transcendentalist and Unitarian)
This was what I read when I got up today, and I wanted to put it out there... thoughts...
Enjoy the day,
Amanda

How Safe Will We Be?

2009-01-22T22:04:00.002-05:00

MSNBC.Com from the AP

President Barack Obama issued sweeping orders Thursday to rein in secretive U.S. counterterrorism policies and end harsh interrogations, prompting immediate skepticism over how and whether they would work to keep Americans safe.

Obama’s three executive orders, coming on Day Two of his presidency, sought to show that the United States does not torture and abides by domestic and international laws governing the treatment of detainees.

“The message that we are sending the world is that the United States intends to prosecute the ongoing struggle against violence and terrorism,” the president said. “And we are going to do so vigilantly, and we are going to do so effectively, and we are going to do so in a manner that is consistent with our values and our ideals.”
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New rules raise questions
Shortly afterward, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs acknowledged that the new rules raise “very complex, very detailed questions” about how they will be carried out.

Rep. Pete Hoekstra, top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, called the orders “putting hope ahead of reality” because of the yet-unanswered concerns.

“Given the stakes and unanswered questions, it seems premature for the president to have signed the orders today,” said Hoekstra, R-Mich. “One of the biggest challenges we face is that many decisions made early on after 9/11 were made without a clear plan. Is the president risking the same mistakes by making decisions before having a clear plan in place?”

Taken together, the orders would:

* Shut down the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, within one year.
* Prohibit the CIA from using coercive interrogation techniques that already are banned by the Pentagon.
* Shutter secret CIA “black site” prisons abroad where terror suspects have been held.
* End the practice of “extraordinary renditions” that transfer detainees to countries where they can be tortured.
* Scrap every legal opinion or memo issued during the presidency of George W. Bush that justify interrogation programs, including the use of waterboarding and other techniques, the CIA’s black sites and extraordinary renditions.

Task force to study issues
But questions abound over how the orders will work — a mission handed over to review groups that have only a few months to come up with answers.

Under Obama’s executive orders, one task force will study where the estimated 245 detainees now at Guantanamo should be sent when the prison closes, and under what kind of court system they could be prosecuted. Even before Obama took office, the government was wrestling with the question of whether the terror suspects were due the same legal rights accorded to U.S. citizens.

The American Civil Liberties Union was not immediately satisfied.

“There are ... ambiguities in the orders regarding treatment of certain detainees that could either be the result of the swiftness with which these orders were issued or ambivalence within the Obama administration. We are hopeful that as the process unfolds and gets clarified, there will be no doubt that detainees must either be charged, prosecuted and convicted or they need to be released,” said Executive Director Anthony D. Romero.

House Republicans introduced legislation Thursday to bar Guantanamo detainees from being released or transferred to detention facilities inside the United States.

My Personal Commentary:

If we continue to allow our hands to be shackled and tied, time will be of the essence before unnecessary terror is unleashed on this country. Maybe a campaign promise can give way to liberal ideology in the name of national security.

Go Placidly,
Dan Miller

Ideology versus The Best Interest of The Child

2009-01-22T11:15:00.003-05:00

Supreme Court Kills Internet Pornography Law

Thursday, January 22, 2009

WASHINGTON — The government lost its final attempt Wednesday to revive a federal law intended to protect children from sexual material and other objectionable content on the Internet.

The Supreme Court said it won't consider reviving the Child Online Protection Act, which lower federal courts struck down as unconstitutional.

The law has been embroiled in court challenges since it passed in 1998 and never took effect. It would have barred Web sites from making harmful content available to minors over the Internet.

A federal appeals court in Philadelphia ruled that would violate the First Amendment, because filtering technologies and other parental control tools are a less restrictive way to protect children from inappropriate content online.

The act was passed the year after the Supreme Court ruled that another law intended to protect children from explicit material online — the Communications Decency Act — was unconstitutional.

The Bush administration had pressed the justices to take the case. They offered no comment on their decision to reject the government's appeal.

Five justices who ruled against the Internet blocking law in 2004 remain on the court.
Related

The case is Mukasey v. ACLU. 08-565.

My Personal Commentary:
Here is yet but another example of how children don't matter and we have the ACLU to thank for this! Maybe the ACLU could take off their myopic lenses and visit the eye doctor for a new script! What do you think about this?

Go placidly,
Dan Miller

To Bail or Not Bail?

2009-01-22T09:46:00.002-05:00

From MSNBC.com

Experts say one big problem is it hasn't addressed the root cause of the trouble: the mortgages and other bad assets sitting on the banks' books.

When the government announced the bailout three months ago, the plan was to buy those bad assets so banks could start lending again. But that approach was quickly scrapped, partly over concerns it would take too long to work.

Plan B, injecting banks with cash, hasn't worked as Wall Street had hoped.
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The government has so far provided $192.3 billion to 257 large and small financial institutions in 42 states and Puerto Rico. But banks are mainly sitting on the money, not ramping up lending.

"The capital injections haven't worked," said Edward Yardeni, an independent market analyst. "It's been like giving blood thinner to a patient who needs to have their wounds clotted. The bleeding hasn't stopped."

Some lawmakers want to force banks to boost lending if they accept taxpayer money, but none of the leading plans being debated on Capitol Hill include such requirements.

If Washington decides to give banks more money, the question is how much.

Bert Ely, an independent banking analyst in Alexandria, Virginia, has estimated the price could swell to as much as $1.5 trillion. "There's no reason why it couldn't go that high," Ely said.

But many on Wall Street are uncomfortable with the government's giving banks more money, believing it would amount to a federal takeover of the U.S. banking system that could wipe out shareholders.

"What we're heading for is the dirty word of de facto nationalization of U.S. banks if we continue on the current path," Chuck Gabriel, managing director of Capital Alpha Partners in Washington. "How are you going to attract private capital to the banking system? That's the question they haven't come close to answering."

One alternative to giving banks more cash is setting up a government-run bank to buy banks' bad assets. The idea is that by removing the assets weighing down the banks, they'll stop hoarding cash and start lending again.

Gabriel said that could assure nervous investors that Obama's team is pursuing a new course of action.

"They need to come out and do something that's a departure" from only capital infusions, he said. "You could spend another $700 billion and some folks might think that's not enough."

Experts say there's no option guaranteed to spur more lending.

For one thing, banks have tightened lending standards, shrinking the pool of qualified borrowers. That makes it much harder for the government to "force-feed credit into the economy," Ely said.

Economy in Turmoil
Is this another Great Depression?
Economists think things will get better this year. But no one really knows. So what are the odds that we’re the early stages of what will eventually become another Great Depression?
Microsoft to cut 5,000 jobs amid lower profit
New home construction at record low
Jobless claims soar in latest week
Pay freezes spread during recession
So what if the government decides not to give the banks more money? Experts say the consequences could be dire.

In a report last week, Goldman Sachs estimated that financial institutions and investors worldwide will ultimately absorb $2 trillion in losses on U.S. loans — but have recognized only half those losses so far.

Unless the banking sector has a way to offset those losses, troubled banks could fall — possibly triggering a panic.

"You could see a total erosion of confidence among the government's ability to stave off another crisis," said Richard Sparks, senior equities analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research in Cincinnati. "I can't conceive of the government not doing anything."

My Personal Commentary:
We have bailed the banks already and other institutions all to little avail yet, to the tune of well over $700 BILLION. I wonder if it is time to stop the "income redistributions" (giveaways) and let them float as they will and eliminate the weak/inefficient ones. What we are really doing is positing a terrible financial future for the younger generations here.

Go Placidly,
Dan Miller

Another Scam with a New Leader?

2009-01-21T20:55:00.002-05:00

Neil Cavuto, Managing Editor & Anchor
FOXBusiness

Tim Geithner gets a grilling on the taxes he didn't pay.

And not nearly so much on failed financial rescues for which "we" continue to pay.

Welcome, everybody, I’m Neil Cavuto and here's the deal:

Tim Geithner will be Treasury secretary of the United States.

Not because charges of sloppy book-keeping aren't serious.

But because this financial crisis is.

Yet at his Senate confirmation hearing today, mister Geithner got more of a pummeling on "his" books than how he's helped handled the "nation's" books.

He wasn't in charge of those books, mind you, but at the very least, he was a co-author.

A co-signee, if you will, on financial rescues that didn't rescue, and bailouts that themselves had to be bailed out.

I'd have liked to hear more on how he botched those numbers than bungled his own numbers.

Some senators would carp about tarp, but few asked how Mr. Geithner would avoid another lark "with" TARP.

And all because fear grips us and gosh, Tim knows this stuff.

He's smart. And seasoned. And ready.

Just like Robert McNamara, who led us into Vietnam and couldn't get us out.

And Don Rumsfeld, who led us into an Iraq without a plan "to" get out.

So i'm trying to figure this obsession with brainiacs out.

Taking nothing away from how smart they are.

But how dumb maybe "we" are.

Too intimidated to think maybe they aren't so smart.

Especially when we all can clearly see the fallout of a financial rescue.

And assess it for what it really is.

Dumb.

My personal opinion:
I believe that when you weed out all the Obama hoopla, you will unfortunately have the same financial malfeasance but with a different crew. Neil is correct in why are we "buying the farm" all over again? Another story is the selection of Eric Holder as Attorney General which will put our country at risk for terrorism.
Go Placidly,
Dan Miller

Knowing Bloggers

2009-01-21T07:47:00.001-05:00

To the person who just posted How Many, How Much, I would ask that you sign your posts.
Thanks in advance.
Go Placidly,
Dan Miller

"How many, How much"

2009-01-20T15:22:00.002-05:00

My first posting is a poem written by Shel Silverstein. A poet who is primarily geared toward children, but in my years as a UU youth he served a profound impact.

How many slams in a old screen door?
Depends on how loud you shut it.
How many slices in a bread?
Depends on how thin you cut it.
How much good inside a day?
Depends how good you live 'em.
How much love inside a friend?
Depends on how much you give 'em.

-Shel Silverstein

Musings Of A Congregant

2009-01-18T17:43:00.002-05:00

Since our February 5th meeting, I feel that a new positive "flavor" emanates forth now in the Congregation by having civility and warmth returning anew. The silver lining in a crisis is that the "cream" rises to the surface and a new perspective can begin. This has already manifested itself!

At least 2 members have officially resigned by their choice, and they will be forever responsible for their endeavors. It would be nice if the ones that remain out of the half-dozen or so can act in an adult-like manner and deal with the remorseful behavior they exhibited. Least they say otherwise, I am separating their beliefs from their actions..........a big difference!

Enough said about this and I shall close this chapter as I wanted all of you out in blogger land to get this message.

Go Placidly,
Dan Miller

An Update

2009-01-16T12:25:00.002-05:00

I am happy to report that our meeting was held over two weeks ago and all but one of the dissenting members attended. It was cathartic to get those feelings out, even though one of the dissenters said "I do not like all this touchy-feely stuff".

The outcome was that we agreed to disagree and two members so far have officially resigned while others are in contemplation. The irony here is that what the dissenters wanted may ultimately come to pass, just that they could not, then and now, hear that it was in both the method and tactics of the message that caused the schism.

Go placidly,
Dan Miller

A Healthy Dose Of Remorse

2009-01-05T08:41:00.003-05:00

As I approach the meeting tonight, two notions are at the central part of my brain: that child-like anger not prevail and that real hearing might evolve into mutual discourse.

We have an opportunity here!

Go Placidly,
Dan Miller

Working together.

2009-01-04T10:16:00.002-05:00

Folks,

While it wasn't unexpected, there have been ramifications as a result of the recent vote on the ministerial call. I won't go too far out on a limb here and say that there would have been some type of fall-out regardless of which direction the vote had swung.

This is no secret.

What happens next is something I've never seen before in a church, ever. The board of PMUC has asked for an independent moderator to come in and facilitate a discussion between all sides (I have come to learn there are more than two sides to this issues) in an effort to heal the congregation and allow it to move on without the three decade long defining situation that happened in the 70s.

I encourage EVERYBODY to attend and, with the help of a neutral facilitator in a safe environment, be heard - and maybe even be surprised by the actual reasoning of those who did not share your point of view (as opposed to what you might be assuming).

Food will be provided.

Date: January 5
Time: 6pm
Location: PMUC

Hopefully somebody will keep me updated as to what happened, as that is my first evening of class for January intensives (three weeks of 12 hour days, here I come).

What next?

2008-12-26T14:07:00.002-05:00

Autoworkers Union Keeps $6 Million Golf Course for Members at $33 Million Lakeside Retreat

Friday, December 26, 2008

An aerial view of the Black Lakes Golf Club, a $6 million golf course owned and operated by the United Auto Workers.

An aerial view of the Black Lakes Golf Club, a $6 million golf course owned and operated by the United Auto Workers.

The United Auto Workers may be out of the hole now that President Bush has approved a $17 billion bailout of the U.S. auto industry, but the union isn't out of the bunker just yet.

Even as the industry struggles with massive losses, the UAW brass continue to own and operate a $33 million lakeside retreat in Michigan, complete with a $6.4 million designer golf course. And it's costing them millions each year.

• Click here to see photos of the UAW's $33 million retreat.

The UAW, known more for its strikes than its slices, hosts seminars and junkets at the Walter and May Reuther Family Education Center in Onaway, Mich., which is nestled on "1,000 heavily forested acres" on Michigan's Black Lake, according to its Web site.

But the Black Lake club and retreat, which are among the union's biggest fixed assets, have lost $23 million in the past five years alone, a heavy albatross around the union's neck as it tries to manage a multibillion-dollar pension plan crisis.

Critics call it a resort for union leaders that wastes money from union dues.
Related

*
Photo Essays
o Auto Union's Golf Course

"It's their members' money that they're spending on this thing," said Justin Wilson, managing director of the Center for Union Facts, a union watchdog group. "The union has bigger issues at hand than managing a golf course."

Managing the course may become a burden for the union. The UAW covers costs for the Reuther Center from the interest it earns on its strike fund, according to tax documents, but massive losses in the past five years have forced the union to make heavy loans to keep the center afloat. Critics call it a poor investment for a group with over $1.25 billion in assets.

"Unions certainly have had real estate investments in the past, but investments are supposed to make money, not bleed money," said Wilson.

The UAW did not return calls from FOXNews.com, and a spokesman could not be reached for comment.

The Reuther Center is open 11 months of the year to offer courses on leadership, political action, civil rights and other topics; it hosts nearly 10,000 visitors annually. The UAW says it sends workers there to "learn, experience unionism (and) commit to labor's cause," according to their Web site.

The center was purchased in 1967 and underwent massive renovations in the '90s under the careful watch of former UAW president Steve Yokich. "Today's Black Lake might not exist if not for Steve Yokich," said union member Bob Reidt, whom Yokich appointed as Black Lake's director. "Yokich is responsible for rebuilding Black Lake."

The UAW erected a monument to its longtime president Walter Reuther — the center's namesake — which bears an inscription of his words: "There is no greater calling than to serve your brother. There is no greater satisfaction than to have done it well."

But Reuther, who died in a plane crash en route to the center in 1970, never knew the satisfaction of Black Lake's "well-groomed fairways," a course that Michigan Golf Magazine called a "stunning visual marvel."

Union members can play golf at discounted rates on one of the country's top 100 courses, designed in 2000 by famed course architect Rees Jones at a cost of $6 million.

The center has a storied history. Reuther had his ashes scattered at the site, and Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz honeymooned there in 1940, well before it was bought by the UAW.

"It's funny that they call it an education center — it's a resort," said Wilson. "If I was a union member, I would prefer that they rented out a room at the Ramada Inn."

My Personal Commentary:

So much for wise use of union dues, or like the 3 big automakers, is it business as usual? And the government did a bailout here too!

Go placidly,
Dan Miller

Obama's Political Quid Pro Quo

2008-12-24T11:21:00.003-05:00

Warren Says Opposition to Gay Marriage Does Not Mean He's Anti-Gay
Pastor Rick Warren releases a video message responding to some of the criticism he fielded after Barack Obama chose him to pray at his inauguration.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Pastor Rick Warren, chosen by President-elect Barack Obama to pray at his inauguration, said in a video message to his church that he doesn't equate gay relationships with incest or pedophilia, but opposes redefining marriage just as any conservative Christian would.

Warren said that disagreeing with gay-rights activists on same-sex marriage does not qualify as hate speech and doesn't mean he is anti-gay. He said Obama chose him to give the invocation at the swearing-in to show that people with different views don't have to demonize each other.

"We're both willing to be criticized in order to try to bring America into a new day of civil discourse and to create a new model that says you don't have to agree only with your side on everything," Warren said in the video posted Monday night by Saddleback Community Church.

Gay-rights advocates were enraged that Obama had given the evangelical clergyman a prominent role at the Jan. 20 inauguration. Obama said he wanted the event to reflect diverse views and insisted he remains a "fierce advocate" of equal rights for gays.

Warren had backed Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in his home state of California, where he founded Saddleback. He had recently said that he opposed any redefinition of marriage, including a brother marrying a sister, or an adult marrying a child.

In his video, he insisted he wasn't equating gay marriage with incest or child molestation.

"I have in no way ever taught that homosexuality is the same thing as a forced relationship between an adult and a child, or between siblings," Warren said. "I was trying to point out I'm not opposed to gays having their partnership. I'm opposed to gays using the term marriage for their relationship."

On Tuesday, the church replaced a brief article on the Bible and homosexuality with an audio message on Saddlebackfamily.com to better explain the church's view that Scripture prohibits sex outside of marriage between a man and a woman, according to Larry Ross, a Warren spokesman.

Anyone can attend Saddleback worship services. But the church article had said that gays "unwilling to repent of their homosexual lifestyle would not be accepted" as members.

Saddleback members must sign a broadly worded covenant in which they agree to follow Bible teachings. While gay relationships aren't mentioned in the pledge, it is meant to cover the spectrum of conservative Christian belief.

Personal Comment:

I sense the President-elect is returning a favor for the Christian Conservatives under the guise of "presenting all viewpoints". It is truly amazing how positions MUST change for all politicians once in office! This it seems to me it the reality of it all.

Go placidly,
Dan Miller