tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81114702009-12-02T21:05:31.198-08:00An blog by a member of the Catholic peace movement, Pax Christi, to explore the nexus between contemplation and resistance. "The Christian must discover in contemplation, and in the giving of his life, those symbolic actions which will ignite the people's faith to resist injustice with their whole lives,lives coming together a a united force of truth and thus releasing the liberating power of the God within them." - James Douglass, Contemplation and Resistance.Boydhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01919570539643599204noreply@blogger.comBlogger468125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8111470.post-60801513757901346172009-11-15T15:05:00.000-08:002009-11-21T20:56:45.022-08:00

History is constructed from the building blocks of material fact, not "hope" or "change". But those blocks can be moved by the human mind and the human spirit and their triumph will be eternal. One of the fantasies that currently dominates the debate on climate change is that of "green capitalism". The idea is essentially that we can keep the current economic system and maintain its growth

Boydhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01919570539643599204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8111470.post-28145562196669312702009-11-10T20:16:00.000-08:002009-11-13T23:02:24.408-08:00

Why would the very countries who originated ecological science, who make their plans according to best scientific advice be so slow to deal with the latest findings of the world's leading researchers? Surely the irrationality of a Beck or Palin doesn't reach into the highest levels of the Western powers? According to the most widespread faith today, global capitalism, market mechanisms should

Boydhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01919570539643599204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8111470.post-5679506172461363902009-11-07T10:30:00.001-08:002009-11-08T20:37:59.409-08:00

The capitalist system that has evolved over the past five hundred years represents a test of our capacity for self-awareness and imagination. The system that brought us unparalleled material abundance has also directly caused massive degradation of our natural and human ecology. Our challenge at this moment is to recognize the threat posed by our own behavior and counter it decisively. The

Boydhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01919570539643599204noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8111470.post-91444567149585524232009-11-07T10:02:00.001-08:002009-11-07T10:13:37.729-08:00

My admiration for Barack Obama continues to grow as he emerges as the master of the post-modern power grab. America has orchestrated a Latin American coup with the smooth efficiency of an executive's image makeover. The term Eva Gollinger uses for the new imperial strategy is "smart power" and she describes it as follows: "The Obama administration has opted for a mutation of these two concepts,

Boydhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01919570539643599204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8111470.post-56521336793714912202009-11-05T19:33:00.000-08:002009-11-05T21:38:55.926-08:00

My admiration for Barack Obama continues to grow as he emerges as the master of the post-modern power grab. For the first time in U.S. history, America has orchestrated a Latin American coup with the smooth efficiency of an executive's well-managed image makeover. The term Eva Gollinger uses for the new imperial strategy is "smart power" and she describes it as follows: "The Obama

Boydhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01919570539643599204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8111470.post-7577621577233994362009-11-01T14:24:00.000-08:002009-11-17T21:12:18.228-08:00

So far the accomplishments of Obama have been impressive:1) The defeat of the public option for health care and the guarantee of 46 million new customers to enhance health insurance industry profits.2) The rapid escalation of the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan to the delight of military contractors.3) The continuation of the war in Iraq when it faced almost certain termination.4) The expansion

Boydhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01919570539643599204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8111470.post-24345954323724052922009-11-01T13:36:00.000-08:002009-11-07T10:23:37.511-08:00

Rage can be refreshing. For instance, contemplate the latest outrage by the Obama administration, "The Obama administration has, yet again, asserted the broadest and most radical version of the 'state secrets' privilege -- which previously caused so much controversy and turmoil among loyal Democrats (when used by Bush/Cheney) -- to attempt to block courts from ruling on the legality of the

Boydhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01919570539643599204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8111470.post-20403593184548877312009-10-31T13:47:00.000-07:002009-10-31T14:08:18.031-07:00

The common wisdom about the current economic crisis is summed up well in a recent speech by David Korten of YES! Magazine: "From the late 70s onward, Wall Street market fundamentalists mobilized to roll back the rules to unleash a consolidation of corporate power and de-link it from public accountability. Their right-wing social-engineering experiment allowed Wall Street to colonize the Main

Boydhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01919570539643599204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8111470.post-51270727735555624812009-10-29T19:44:00.000-07:002009-11-03T22:33:47.225-08:00

Clinton's words should send chills down the spine of lovers of peace, "I’m very pleased to announce that we’ve had a breakthrough in negotiations in Honduras. I want to congratulate the people of Honduras as well as President Zelaya and Mr. Micheletti for reaching an historic agreement." Zelaya and Micheletti have signed an agreement following the intervention in Tegucigalpa of a high-level

Boydhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01919570539643599204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8111470.post-38670662219448734002009-10-17T13:54:00.001-07:002009-10-17T19:19:12.808-07:00

Either worshiping or hating the man Obama plays directly into the power strategy that is currently being implemented by the financial elite. Gandhi has shown us how to conduct the spiritual warfare that leads to genuine victory. Here he describes the physical qualifications required for a Satyagrahi (one who struggles nonviolently): "In the dictionary of the non-violent there is no such word as

Boydhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01919570539643599204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8111470.post-48822258327702825202009-10-17T11:46:00.000-07:002009-10-17T13:54:36.255-07:00

Another rousing Obama success was recently noted by Glenn Greenwald: "...the surviving banks are bigger and more powerful than ever, thus maximizing our dependence on them, and the primary stated goal of the bailout (increasing lending) has not been achieved." The stated goal will not be achieved because it was never intended. More lending would lead to greater empowerment for those at the

Boydhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01919570539643599204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8111470.post-63136619729035697482009-10-16T17:59:00.000-07:002009-10-26T19:17:58.007-07:00

The key insight of Naomi Klein's recent article "Obama's Bad Influence" is here: "Within forty-eight hours of the US announcement Italy, Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Poland had pulled out. Unlike the United States, these governments had all signed the 2001 declaration, so they had no reason to object to a document that reaffirmed it. It didn't matter. As with the climate

Boydhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01919570539643599204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8111470.post-10955413050135093882009-10-10T00:19:00.000-07:002009-11-07T10:29:00.750-08:00

"You have sacrificed nearly ten thousand American lives—the flower of our youth. You have devastated provinces. You have slain uncounted thousands of the people you desire to benefit. You have established reconcentration camps. Your generals are coming home from their harvest bringing sheaves with them, in the shape of other thousands of sick and wounded and insane to drag out miserable lives,

Boydhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01919570539643599204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8111470.post-34077081956850212662009-10-03T14:19:00.000-07:002009-10-03T14:25:59.414-07:00

The news media serves many purposes for the ruling elite. However, these purposes would suffer damage if the media were to be too easily accused of propaganda. Therefore, dissident voices are tolerated and even rewarded because they provide the necessary contrast that is needed to reinforce the preferred voices. Viewers are conditioned to fall helpless victims to what is offered them. The

Boydhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01919570539643599204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8111470.post-32439316154831777412009-10-03T10:31:00.000-07:002009-10-03T14:17:16.734-07:00

"Because a people disorganized becomes a mass that can be toyed with, but a people that organizes itself and fights for its values and for justice is a people that demands respect." - Oscar Romero, Archbishop of El Salvador, murdered by U.S. trained paramilitary fighters during Mass in 1980Only when our Christian resistance becomes serious enough to be reckoned with the transgressors, as Jesus

Boydhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01919570539643599204noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8111470.post-5633928013249019362009-09-27T17:32:00.000-07:002009-09-27T21:08:50.190-07:00

The typical U.S. anti-socialism meme resembles this recent post in Common Dreams: "Socialism goes against human nature. Humans are greedy creatures, just look at a toddler crying if it doesn't get the toy someone else has. In adults, the greed becomes more sophisticated and predatory. So I hate to agree with the scums on the Right, socialism IS utopia." - Common Dreams, "Is Obama a Socialist?"

Boydhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01919570539643599204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8111470.post-49076083829306242712009-09-26T20:50:00.000-07:002009-09-26T21:10:27.420-07:00

Erich Fromm, who has a section in the "Sane Society" called "The Principle of Nonfrustration" seems particularly relevant to the current ecological crisis. As Aldous Huxley said in Brave New World, the principle of the current world order is: "Never put off till tomorrow the fun you can have today." Happiness has become the instant realization of wishes, and these wishes, moreover, are largely

Boydhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01919570539643599204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8111470.post-6755320293315155552009-09-26T14:46:00.001-07:002009-09-26T21:11:06.350-07:00

I applaud Robert Jensen's spirited defense of the "narrow gate," in his recent article, Is Obama a Socialist? Reflection on the Degradation of Politics and the Ecosystem. His is one of many efforts to break through the constricted vision of twentieth century ideologies to embrace the many dimensions of liberation: economic, political, and even religious.The demonization of "socialism" plays a

Boydhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01919570539643599204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8111470.post-52612693221301829092009-09-12T21:08:00.000-07:002009-09-14T10:29:47.464-07:00

If only it were just a matter of a squandered summer. Frank Rich's editorial in the New York Times this Sunday "Obama's Squandered Summer" focuses on the tactical and strategic errors of the Obama administration, but a shift of perspective quickly unblurs the actual scenery and highlights the superb successes Obama has achieved this summer. His behavior this summer appears incompetent only if one

Boydhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01919570539643599204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8111470.post-12938702057577761952009-09-05T19:52:00.000-07:002009-09-05T19:56:03.074-07:00

Many liberal pundits have fallen into a frenzy of Obama-bashing, but they’re blasting at the wrong target. Obama is not the cause of this crisis. He stands at the end of a long trail of decisions made by powerful elites in business and government over many decades. These decisions box the type of decisions that can be made into tight crevices, into one of which Obama is now cramped. One man, even

Boydhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01919570539643599204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8111470.post-18482939173485646122009-08-23T21:54:00.000-07:002009-08-23T21:55:37.020-07:00

There is a pattern in Obama's behavior. First, he makes a strong rhetorical flourish that apparently contains a ringing endorsement of liberal policy. However, on close examination, it is found to contain subtle hedging, a slight obscuring of the issue inserted to provide cover for later. This is usually followed by a lengthy phase in which right wing forces accuse him of "socialism" in various

Boydhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01919570539643599204noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8111470.post-73817047580972260502009-08-23T21:53:00.000-07:002009-08-23T21:54:08.497-07:00

The best way to understand this idea and its power is by considering a product such as a Nike tennis shoe. In some societies, teenagers have killed for a Nike. No one dies for not having a Nike, but having one fills a psychological need so powerful that it can sweep away moral inhibitions, even those regarding human life. There seems to be a mysterious and infinite being behind this commodity

Boydhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01919570539643599204noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8111470.post-91626456696200358512009-08-14T18:09:00.000-07:002009-08-16T11:47:17.719-07:00

The illusion that prevents the acceptance of liberation theology is that spirituality involves turning away from this world to another world where we will one day make our home. God has already given us our home. It surrounds us on all sides. In the conventional view of Christianity the things of this world are of little value or moment because they are destined shortly to be transcended by

Boydhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01919570539643599204noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8111470.post-52790763218629219332009-08-08T18:19:00.001-07:002009-08-10T01:16:51.192-07:00

The starting point of a Christian political system originates from the Fathers of the Church such as St. John Chrysostom: "There is something terrible about greed, any guilty of it shall be be expelled from the Church." The central principle of Christian communism can be described as follows: "Enjoying goods alone means losing them, harming both the social whole and oneself. The crucial idea here

Boydhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01919570539643599204noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8111470.post-66854564853944500082009-08-02T17:54:00.000-07:002009-08-02T19:51:46.824-07:00

The following is the first part of an essay which seeks to probe the empire for weaknesses arising from the economic crisis in order to identify a way forward for leftists. In the first part, I sketch out the current situation.The current economic “crisis” is a crisis only for the poor and the middle class, which is scheduled for extinction. This “crisis” represents the consolidation of the

Boydhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01919570539643599204noreply@blogger.com0