President Obama Speaks in Indonesia

U.S.A. President Barack Obama gives an inspiring speech in Indonesia, on November 9, 2010. Obama's 30-minute talk describes America's partnership with Indonesia, sustainable development, how democracy promotes economic progress, and education for the future in a rapidly-changing world.

You can watch a video of the talk here:




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The Foreclosure Angel Foundation

Visit the Website of the Foreclosure Angel Foundation

"The Foreclosure Angel Foundation was born when Marilyn Mock saw a need
in November of 2008 to help her neighbor who was about to lose her home.
With no where else to turn but the streets, their home went up on the
auction block. Marilyn bought the home at the auction price and sold it
right back to the owners at the now lower cost."

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Raj Patel and His Book: The Value of Nothing

The Value of Nothing
How to reshape market society and redefine democracy

by Raj Patel
Paperback, 240 pages. $ 14
ISBN: 978-0-312-42924-9
Published by Picador, January 2010

In Walden, that incomparable work that connects economics to all aspects of a person's life, Henry David Thoreau writes:

"There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root ... "

In October 2008, Americans were told by all the experts that our economy had regressed 80 years, and was so weak it could crash and collapse like a bad soufflé. At that time, I had five thoughts:

1. The foundation of our economic system is thoroughly unsound.
2. If we survive this round of catastrophe, the same problems could strike gain.
3. Exploiting our health and our environment cannot be the foundation of economics of the future.
4. If anything is "too big to fail" then it must be made to regulated so that it is just the right size to succeed.
5. The Economy is too complex for any one person to understand.

I am thrilled to discover that I was wrong about the fifth item on my list. In The Value of Nothing, Raj Patel has not only explained the causes of our floundering economy, he has pointed to ways we can transform our floundering, ever-teetering and unjust economic system into a healthy, fair and stable one.

Part One of the book diagnoses our present peril. Patel calls back to that tense October 2008. In a telling moment, Alan Greenspan admitted to a Congressional Committee that his entire theory of laissez-faire capitalism was flawed. Patel then exposes and skewers other villains in the crisis: McDonalds, Monsanto, John Stuart Mill, psychopathic corporations, Goldman Sachs, and especially the misguided manifesto of deadly selfishness, Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.

There are a handful of heroes in this section, including Karl Polanyi, and his book The Great Transformation, which explains "how the most powerful groups in society tried to turn land and labor into 'fictitious commodities,' into things that were in principle very different from the goods that had previously been exchanged in markets."

In Part Two, Patel describes activities that have successfully challenged the free market system, and improved lives. La Via Campesina now operates in 69 nations and has 150 million members. Another organization, Abahlali baseMjondolo, in Durban, helps to prevent shackowners from being harassed and evicted. In Mexico, a group called the Zapatistas, run their political and monetary affairs using a slow-moving, Athenian-style democracy, where persons who serve in office wear ski masks to protect their identities.

Works such as The Soul of Man Under Socialism (Oscar Wilde), The Poverty of Affluence (Paul L. Wachtel), To Have or To Be (Erich Fromm) and to some extent Affluenza (film and book) argue that people are diminished -- intellectually, culturally, artistically, emotionally -- by lives devoted to acquiring too much money and things. Patel cannot be faulted for skimming past this dimension: there are too many urgent consequences to attend to. He reports that for American children born in the year 2000, one out of three will develop diabetes -- and for children of color, the odds jump to one out of every two.

This essential guide to a sustainable economy might have been called (if Schumacher had not already coined the phrase), "Economics as if people mattered." The Value of Nothing is a revelatory book, filled with indisputable facts and original insights. Most admirable in the author's approach is the balance. Patel sees the need for personal change (we must consume less and consume more wisely); we also need to change the big things, the free trade model of economics that exploits the many to enrich the few.

To complete the great thought of Thoreau:

"There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root, and it may be that he who bestows the largest amount of time and money on the needy is doing the most by his mode of life to produce that misery which he strives in vain to relieve."

--Michael Pastore


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The 12 Greatest Prison Escapes in History

This article lists the 10 greatest prison escapes in history; but forgets about two of the most amazing escapes. Casanova escaped from the Leads; and Papillion escaped from Devil's island.

http://listverse.com/2008/08/27/top-10-amazing-prison-escapes/

Casanova: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casanova
Papillon (Henry Charriere) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Charri%C3%A8

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Obama Delivers State of the Union Address

President Obama delivered the annual State of the Union address, focusing on the economy, and also touching on the subjects of health care, defense, climate change, human rights, and the crisis in Haiti.



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Michael Tobias Presents His Film: Ahimsa-Nonviolence

Michael Tobias, the renowned ecologist, author and film-maker, will moderate a discussion about non-violence, after a viewing of his memorable film, Ahimsa-Nonviolence, at the RUBIN MUSEUM OF ART in New York City, on Saturday afternoon, November 7. The presentation begins at 4:00 p.m.; the cost is $12 for non-members, and $10.80 for members of the Rubin Museum.

Another viewing of the film can be seen on Sunday, November 8, at 10:45 a.m., at Siddachalam, the Jain 120-acre animal sanctuary in New Jersey, two hours from New York City. There is no admission fee, but noone will be admitted after the film begins.

Michael Tobias' PBS film Ahimsa-Nonviolence premiered nationwide in the United States on Christmas Day in 1987 and was described by Southeast Asian Religions Professor Chris Chapple as a film “which elegantly portrays several Jain leaders and extols the religion as the great champion of animal rights and nonviolent living.”

Ahimsa in Jainism is a fundamental principle forming the cornerstone of its ethics and doctrine. The term means "nonviolence," "non-injury," or absence of desire to harm any life forms. Vegetarianism and other nonviolent practices and rituals of Jains flow from the principle of Ahimsa. According to Adian Rankin the concept of Ahimsa is so much intertwined with Jainism that it conjures up images of ascetics who cover their mouths and sweep the ground before them with small brushes to avoid injuring the most minuscule forms of life and Jain-owned animal sanctuaries where even the sickest, most deformed birds and beasts are protected and cherished. These overt manifestations of an ancient faith challenge the comfortable and near-universal assumption of human precedence over other creatures.


The Jain concept of Ahimsa is quite different from the concept of nonviolence found in other philosophies. In other religious traditions, violence is usually associated with causing harm to others. In Jainism violence refers primarily to injuring one's own self — behavior which inhibits the soul's own ability to attain liberation.

The film, which took three years of preparations and was filmed in nearly 100 locations across India, was one of the first to explore in depth the Jain religion, as well as portraying the life of Digambara, Shvetambara, and Sthanakavasi mendicants. In an essay on Jain conscience in 1997, Tobias described "the goal of absolute nonviolence" as an ideal that activists worldwide must take seriously at "every waking moment." Elsewhere he has argued that evolution does not condemn us; only our choices can do that, adding, "We have the capacity throughout our lives to give unstinting, unconditional love."

For more information, contact:

RUBIN MUSEUM OF ART
150 WEST 17 STREET, NEW YORK CITY
phone: 212.620.5000 x344
Web site: http://www.rmanyc.org

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Health Care Reform: A Commentary by Keith Olbermann

Keith Olbermann delivers an intelligent, impassioned comment about health care reform.

Watch it here:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

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Barack Obama is Sworn in as Our New President

This is the day!

Today, January 20, 2009, Barack Obama will be sworn in as the 44th president of the United States. Hundreds of thousands of people will attend the ceremony in Washington, D.C., and millions more persons around the world will be watching via television or the Internet.

You can watch the ceremony live, right here:



If this fails, go to the CBS news site:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/01/08/national/inauguration09/main4707733.shtml

Joy to the world!
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Earth-to-Obama: The Biggest Challenge Yet

Michael Tobias, our guest essayist this week, has written a passionate Open Letter to President-elect Obama. America needs to feed our hungry, to repair our financial system, and to help the middle class. Yet to be a truly great nation -- and a compassionate, forward-thinking nation -- we will need to focus on the essential goals which Dr. Tobias so eloquently describes.

"Earth-to-Obama: The Biggest Challenge Yet"

A Letter to President-Elect Barack Obama


November 18, 2008

Dear President-Elect Obama,

Congratulations! You now have a remarkable opportunity to enrich America’s environmental stewardship at home, and her influence abroad. Here are three suggested arenas for urgent action.

First: Biology Matters Most.
Our nation’s economic woes are an offspring of malfunctions at the very core of the planet’s life-support systems. We are in the midst of the sixth mass extinction spasm in the annals of biology. This fact is not on most lawmakers’ radar screens. Yet, it makes the present, and projected effects of global warming pale by comparison: at current trends, we will lose between 40-and-60% of all life on Earth by the end of this century; a staggering 43,000 individual populations of plants and animals going extinct every day.

Since passage of the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) in 1973, over 100 North American species have gone extinct. Despite this, the U.S. Government seems reluctant to take science at its word and grant protection to the more than 280 new candidates for the endangered species list.

By some estimates, global biodiversity is valued at about $400 trillion per year. This currency is the air we breathe, the water we drink and the neighborhood and neighbors we love. It is imperative that the U. S. finally ratify the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, a far-reaching outgrowth of the Rio Environmental Summit of 1992. America is virtually alone in the world of nations for not having ratified a treaty whose goal is the protection of life on Earth.


Second: A Population Policy.
Demographic trends and their consumption fallout, are huge factors in biodiversity loss. The United States of America has no population policy. Yet, U.S. census data forecasts a population of 500 million people in the U.S. by the end of this century; and a worldwide population of between 9 and 13 billion people. The Earth’s biological resources cannot sustain such numbers. We need compassionate guidance and legislation to curb this runaway population explosion - a formula for poverty and ecological disaster. Tax incentives for people choosing to have small families, or to adopt, would be an appropriate first step. Another would be an Executive Order reversing the Reagan/Bush “gag order” that denied women throughout the world assistance to obtain the fullest range of family planning services.

Third: Kindness to All Creatures, Great and Small.
America’s reliance on violence as an economic driver and political instrument of persuasion is surely not the best model of compassion to pass along to future generations. In ecological terms, human violence is disastrous. For example, Americans kill and profit by the lives of over ten billion animals each year just in the United States. Most of these are slaughtered in questionably “humane” circumstances. Most Americans may not be ready to “go vegetarian” as was the recommendation of the Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, recipient of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. But, a more non-violent administration could give tax support to companies that choose not to kill. Why not acknowledge the true cost of killing for our food? Scientific and medical communities acknowledge that meat-eating constitutes not merely a health issue for humans, but a huge burden on fast-shrinking fresh water resources. Meat production undermines our ability to divert plant foods and compact units of protein in greater abundance to the hungry (nearly a billion worldwide). Moreover, livestock emit their own considerable contribution to global warming in the form of methane gas.

By promising to bring a puppy to the White House for your family, you remind us of our close bonds with other species. That “mutt” symbolizes for many a path of peaceful reunification.

America cannot solve all of the world’s problems at once, nor can it stand by in worried isolation. But the United States of America has the power to promote virtue and true conscience. Extending the olive branch to all creatures great and small is our only way to realize true environmental security.

Kindest regards,
Dr. Michael Tobias
President, Dancing Star Foundation

Michael Tobias' latest feature film documentary is entitled "HOTSPOTS" now playing on public broadcast stations across the country. (www.hotspots-thefilm.org) Tobias' latest book, co-authored byJane Gray Morrison, was formally launched this Summer at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C., and is entitled, Sanctuary: Global Oases of Innocence. (www.sanctuary-thebook.org)

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Obama Is Our President

Obama! ... Barack Obama has been elected the 44th president of the United States. The American people have voted for world peace, for economic justice, for a green economy, and for genuine change.

Here is the text of Obama's victory speech in Chicago, at midnight.

Obama's Speech on November 4, 2008

If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.

Its the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen; by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the very first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different; that their voice could be that difference.

Its the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled - Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been a collection of Red States and Blue States: we are, and always will be, the United States of America.

Its the answer that led those who have been told for so long by so many to be cynical, and fearful, and doubtful of what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.

Its been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America.


I just received a very gracious call from Senator McCain. He fought long and hard in this campaign, and hes fought even longer and harder for the country he loves. He has endured sacrifices for America that most of us cannot begin to imagine, and we are better off for the service rendered by this brave and selfless leader. I congratulate him and Governor Palin for all they have achieved, and I look forward to working with them to renew this nations promise in the months ahead.

I want to thank my partner in this journey, a man who campaigned from his heart and spoke for the men and women he grew up with on the streets of Scranton and rode with on that train home to Delaware, the Vice President-elect of the United States, Joe Biden.

I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last sixteen years, the rock of our family and the love of my life, our nations next First Lady, Michelle Obama. Sasha and Malia, I love you both so much, and you have earned the new puppy thats coming with us to the White House. And while shes no longer with us, I know my grandmother is watching, along with the family that made me who I am. I miss them tonight, and know that my debt to them is beyond measure.

To my campaign manager David Plouffe, my chief strategist David Axelrod, and the best campaign team ever assembled in the history of politics - you made this happen, and I am forever grateful for what youve sacrificed to get it done.

But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to - it belongs to you.

I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didnt start with much money or many endorsements. Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington - it began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston.

It was built by working men and women who dug into what little savings they had to give five dollars and ten dollars and twenty dollars to this cause. It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generations apathy; who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep; from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter cold and scorching heat to knock on the doors of perfect strangers; from the millions of Americans who volunteered, and organized, and proved that more than two centuries later, a government of the people, by the people and for the people has not perished from this Earth. This is your victory.

I know you didnt do this just to win an election and I know you didnt do it for me. You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime - two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century. Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives for us. There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after their children fall asleep and wonder how theyll make the mortgage, or pay their doctors bills, or save enough for college. There is new energy to harness and new jobs to be created; new schools to build and threats to meet and alliances to repair.

The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America - I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you - we as a people will get there.

There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who wont agree with every decision or policy I make as President, and we know that government cant solve every problem. But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And above all, I will ask you join in the work of remaking this nation the only way its been done in America for two-hundred and twenty-one years - block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.

What began twenty-one months ago in the depths of winter must not end on this autumn night. This victory alone is not the change we seek - it is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were. It cannot happen without you.

So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism; of service and responsibility where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves, but each other. Let us remember that if this financial crisis taught us anything, its that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers - in this country, we rise or fall as one nation; as one people.

Let us resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long. Let us remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House - a party founded on the values of self-reliance, individual liberty, and national unity. Those are values we all share, and while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress. As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, We are not enemies, but friends...though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn - I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your President too.

And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of our world - our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand. To those who would tear this world down - we will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security - we support you. And to all those who have wondered if Americas beacon still burns as bright - tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from our the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope.

For that is the true genius of America - that America can change. Our union can be perfected. And what we have already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.

This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one thats on my mind tonight is about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. Shes a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing - Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.

She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldnt vote for two reasons - because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.

And tonight, I think about all that shes seen throughout her century in America - the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we cant, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.

At a time when womens voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.

When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs and a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.

When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.

She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that We Shall Overcome. Yes we can.

A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination. And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change. Yes we can.

America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves - if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?

This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment. This is our time - to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth - that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we cant, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people:

Yes We Can. Thank you, God bless you, and may God Bless the United States of America.
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A Halloween Surprise Promotes Fair Trade

Imagine, for a moment, answering your door on Halloween night to this scenario: a smiling child hands you a shard of chocolate. Not an ordinary chunk of chocolate, but a bit made with chocolate that has been grown and harvested by workers who are not under-age, not under-paid, and not exploited in any manner.

Sponsored by a human rights group called Global Exchange, this game of Reverse Halloween is now in its second year. You can find out more about this new twist on a weary ritual, by visiting the website of Reverse-Trick-or-Treating, at


http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/fairtrade/cocoa/reversetrickortreating/

The website tells us more, including this ...

Thousands of costumed trick-or-treaters across all fifty states in the US, as well as Canada, are turning the traditional Halloween ritual on its head; for the second year in a row, it is the trick-or-treaters who are handing out chocolate...hundreds of thousands of Fair Trade Certified™ chocolate samples to raise awareness of: the persistent problems of poverty in cocoa-growing communities; the use of exploited child labor in the cocoa fields of countries like Cote D'Ivoire, which produces 40 percent of the world's cocoa; and environmental damage from unsustainable farming practices.

Participants will reach out to nearly a quarter of a million households in the United States and Canada in a single night with their important message: Fair Trade Certified™ chocolate provides Americans, who consume nearly half the world's chocolate, with a path toward resolving these problems.

Z. And here is the rest of it.
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The War Prayer by Mark Twain

Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain: 1835--1910) strongly opposed the Philippine-American War (1899--1902). Adding to his outrage was the fact that American troops remained in the Phillipines long after the mission was declared accomplished (in 1902), until 1913. Twain wrote “The War Prayer”, but could not get it published because it was deemed too radical. It was published at last in Harper’s Monthly, in the November 1916 issue. The full text appears in this post below.

An animated version can be viewed at The War Prayer website, at http://thewarprayer.com/war_film.html

The War Prayer

It was a time of great and exalting excitement. The country was up in arms, the war was on, in every breast burned the holy fire of patriotism; the drums were beating, the bands playing, the toy pistols popping, the bunched firecrackers hissing and spluttering; on every hand and far down the receding and fading spread of roofs and balconies a fluttering wilderness of flags flashed in the sun; daily the young volunteers marched down the wide avenue gay and fine in their new uniforms, the proud fathers and mothers and sisters and sweethearts cheering them with voices choked with happy emotion as they swung by; nightly the packed mass meetings listened, panting, to patriot oratory which stirred the deepest deeps of their hearts, and which they interrupted at briefest intervals with cyclones of applause, the tears running down their cheeks the while; in the churches the pastors preached devotion to flag and country, and invoked the God of Battles beseeching His aid in our good cause in outpourings of fervid eloquence which moved every listener. It was indeed a glad and gracious time, and the half dozen rash spirits that ventured to disapprove of the war and cast a doubt upon its righteousness straightway got such a stern and angry warning that for their personal safety's sake they quickly shrank out of sight and offended no more in that way.

Sunday morning came -- next day the battalions would leave for the front; the church was filled; the volunteers were there, their young faces alight with martial dreams -- visions of the stern advance, the gathering momentum, the rushing charge, the flashing sabers, the flight of the foe, the tumult, the enveloping smoke, the fierce pursuit, the surrender! Then home from the war, bronzed heroes, welcomed, adored, submerged in golden seas of glory! With the volunteers sat their dear ones, proud, happy, and envied by the neighbors and friends who had no sons and brothers to send forth to the field of honor, there to win for the flag, or, failing, die the noblest of noble deaths. The service proceeded; a war chapter from the Old Testament was read; the first prayer was said; it was followed by an organ burst that shook the building, and with one impulse the house rose, with glowing eyes and beating hearts, and poured out that tremendous invocation:


God the all-terrible! Thou who ordainest! Thunder thy clarion and lightning thy sword!

Then came the "long" prayer. None could remember the like of it for passionate pleading and moving and beautiful language. The burden of its supplication was, that an ever-merciful and benignant Father of us all would watch over our noble young soldiers, and aid, comfort, and encourage them in their patriotic work; bless them, shield them in the day of battle and the hour of peril, bear them in His mighty hand, make them strong and confident, invincible in the bloody onset; help them to crush the foe, grant to them and to their flag and country imperishable honor and glory --

An aged stranger entered and moved with slow and noiseless step up the main aisle, his eyes fixed upon the minister, his long body clothed in a robe that reached to his feet, his head bare, his white hair descending in a frothy cataract to his shoulders, his seamy face unnaturally pale, pale even to ghastliness. With all eyes following him and wondering, he made his silent way; without pausing, he ascended to the preacher's side and stood there waiting. With shut lids the preacher, unconscious of his presence, continued with his moving prayer, and at last finished it with the words, uttered in fervent appeal, "Bless our arms, grant us the victory, O Lord our God, Father and Protector of our land and flag!"

The stranger touched his arm, motioned him to step aside -- which the startled minister did -- and took his place. During some moments he surveyed the spellbound audience with solemn eyes, in which burned an uncanny light; then in a deep voice he said:

"I come from the Throne -- bearing a message from Almighty God!" The words smote the house with a shock; if the stranger perceived it he gave no attention. "He has heard the prayer of His servant your shepherd, and will grant it if such shall be your desire after I, His messenger, shall have explained to you its import -- that is to say, its full import. For it is like unto many of the prayers of men, in that it asks for more than he who utters it is aware of -- except he pause and think.

"God's servant and yours has prayed his prayer. Has he paused and taken thought? Is it one prayer? No, it is two -- one uttered, the other not. Both have reached the ear of Him Who heareth all supplications, the spoken and the unspoken. Ponder this -- keep it in mind. If you would beseech a blessing upon yourself, beware! lest without intent you invoke a curse upon a neighbor at the same time. If you pray for the blessing of rain upon your crop which needs it, by that act you are possibly praying for a curse upon some neighbor's crop which may not need rain and can be injured by it.

"You have heard your servant's prayer -- the uttered part of it. I am commissioned of God to put into words the other part of it -- that part which the pastor -- and also you in your hearts -- fervently prayed silently. And ignorantly and unthinkingly? God grant that it was so! You heard these words: 'Grant us the victory, O Lord our God!' That is sufficient. the whole of the uttered prayer is compact into those pregnant words. Elaborations were not necessary. When you have prayed for victory you have prayed for many unmentioned results which follow victory -- must follow it, cannot help but follow it. Upon the listening spirit of God fell also the unspoken part of the prayer. He commandeth me to put it into words. Listen!

"O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle -- be Thou near them! With them -- in spirit -- we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe. O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it -- for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen.

(After a pause.) "Ye have prayed it; if ye still desire it, speak! The messenger of the Most High waits!"

It was believed afterward that the man was a lunatic, because there was no sense in what he said.

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Race Prejudice, Frickin' Chicken and the Need for Change

Some months ago I drove south of the border (from New York State into Pennsylvania) to try to understand why some Pennsylvanians claimed that race (as in Caucasian, Hispanic, Asian, and African American) would be a significant factor in their choice for U.S. President. Shortly after entering Pennsylvania, I stopped for gas beside a restaurant with this sign, that offered "Crispy Frickin' Chicken." Frick, of course, was a notorious American industrialist, "known for his uncompromising and cruel tactics". The lower-case word "frick", is slang for a four-letter word, unspeakable on daytime TV. Here then, was a not-so-subtle clue about food choices and political choices.

The vegetarian in me passed on the chicken, and then, arriving in the city of muggerly love, I spoke with a number of older residents. Some were for Clinton; others would support whoever won the Democratic nomination; one 84-year-old Republican was so disgusted at the current state of national affairs that he vowed to vote Democratic, for the first time in his life.

Yet the news, during the Pennsylvania primaries, reported that for a number of voters "race is a factor" in their choice of candidates. In blunter words, they would not vote for a non-white. Every day these Pennsylvanians worship and cheer for black athletes such as Jimmy Rollins, Allen Iverson, and Donovan McNabb. They have elected black men as mayors of their largest city. But never in a million years would they want to see a President of color: a non-white in the White House.

This foolish and perilous attitude -- this racial prejudice --




has been with us since the ancient world of Babylon. Today, there are three requirements to vote for U.S. President: you must be a U.S. citizen, 18 years old, and register to vote. In the year 2000 we learned than anyone can become president; and now we understand that the reason for that is that anyone can vote for president. A "voter's license" is not required: no tests must be passed, no training given, no skills or knowledge must be demonstrated. And perhaps it is better that way, because noone is wise enough to determine what these mental skills should be. Yet there is one thing we might ask: in order to vote, you must promise to your God, or your own deep self, or swear on your holy book (be it a bible or Hamlet or Leaves of Grass) that your vote shall not in any way be influenced by race.

Racial prejudice in America will not evaporate until long after November 2008. What can we do until then? Find someone you know -- your friend, your colleague, your bus driver -- who will not vote for a black candidate. And then talk with them about why they need to change this way of thinking. Explain how prejudice harms other persons, harms society in general, and harms the person who does not believe that all human beings deserve equal rights.

Change, of course, is what this 2008 presidential election is all about. Not only a change in Washington,D.C. -- which is of the utmost significance -- but a change, an expansion of consciousness, a great opening in the American mind.


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Martin Luther King, Jr. — Born January 15, 1929

Martin Luther King, Jr., was born on January 15, 1929. King revolutionized the world with his work for civil rights, and equal rights, for all Americans. Inspired by Henry David Thoreau and Mahatma Gandhi, King's method for creating social change can be epitomized in three words: non-violent civil disobedience.


No Turning Back, a new book by Gurdon Brewster (shown seated beside King in the photograph) tells the story of Brewster's encounter with King and King's family, during the summer of 1961. Filled with original photographs and amusing anecdotes, the book reveals a personal glimpse of a genuinely remarkable man.

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