14: 1 - 10 (translation by R.B. Wright, 1985)
The Lord is faithful to those who truly love Him, to those who endure His discipline.
To those who live in the righteousness of His commandments,
in the Law, which He has commanded for our life.
The Lord's devout shall live by it forever;
the Lord's paradise, the trees of life, are his devout ones.
Their planting is firmly rooted forever;
they shall not be uprooted as long as the heavens shall last,
For Israel is the portion and inheritance of God.
But not so are sinners and criminals,
who love (to spend) the day in sharing their sin.
Their enjoyment is brief and decaying, and they do not remember God.
For the ways of men are known before Him always,
and He knows the secrets of the heart before they happen.
Therefore their inheritance is Hades, and darkness and destruction;
and they will not be found on the day of mercy for the righteous.
But the devout of the Lord will inherit life in happiness.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Language matters: Oct. 31 and Posting of 95 Theses (Writer's Almanac)
from Garrison Keillor's (Minnesota Public Radio list serv for Daily Birthdays/anniversaries / history):
It was on this day that a German priest and theology professor named Martin Luther published his 95 Theses, an event that led to the Protestant Reformation. At first, he was not trying to cause a split. He was hoping instead that his statements would shame the Church into mending its ways. He was upset by corruption within the Church, and especially upset by the practice of selling indulgences, which the Pope Leo X was then using to raise funds for the restoration and refurbishing of St. Peter's Basilica. But the selling of indulgences was actually the iceberg tip of a deeper theological issue: a debate over the doctrine of Justification and its role in salvation. The Roman Catholic Church's position was that man could not be saved by faith alone; good works must accompany the faith. And at the time, buying indulgences to save one's soul and help achieve salvation in the afterlife counted as something somewhere between good works and spiritual insurance.
Luther insisted that this was wrong, theologically so, because only God could grant salvation. The pope could not, Luther said; and the practice of selling and buying indulgences was harmful to Christianity because the false assurance misled people from being faithful Christians. His language grew stronger over time, and he wrote: 'All those who consider themselves secure in their salvation through letters of indulgence will be eternally damned, and so will their teachers.'
There were attempts at mediation and counseling by the Vatican, but slowly a virulent confrontation between Luther and Pope Leo X developed. He was excommunicated, declared a heretic and an outlaw. He was a hero of many German townspeople.
He went into hiding and translated the Bible from Latin into German, an act of great linguistic importance: It helped unify the different dialects of German. Goethe later said, 'It was Luther, who has awakened and let loose the giant: the German language.' He married a nun, breaking the chastity vow, and setting a precedent for married Protestant clergy. He continued to give Mass into his old age, but celebrated it in German rather than Latin.
It was on this day that a German priest and theology professor named Martin Luther published his 95 Theses, an event that led to the Protestant Reformation. At first, he was not trying to cause a split. He was hoping instead that his statements would shame the Church into mending its ways. He was upset by corruption within the Church, and especially upset by the practice of selling indulgences, which the Pope Leo X was then using to raise funds for the restoration and refurbishing of St. Peter's Basilica. But the selling of indulgences was actually the iceberg tip of a deeper theological issue: a debate over the doctrine of Justification and its role in salvation. The Roman Catholic Church's position was that man could not be saved by faith alone; good works must accompany the faith. And at the time, buying indulgences to save one's soul and help achieve salvation in the afterlife counted as something somewhere between good works and spiritual insurance.
Luther insisted that this was wrong, theologically so, because only God could grant salvation. The pope could not, Luther said; and the practice of selling and buying indulgences was harmful to Christianity because the false assurance misled people from being faithful Christians. His language grew stronger over time, and he wrote: 'All those who consider themselves secure in their salvation through letters of indulgence will be eternally damned, and so will their teachers.'
There were attempts at mediation and counseling by the Vatican, but slowly a virulent confrontation between Luther and Pope Leo X developed. He was excommunicated, declared a heretic and an outlaw. He was a hero of many German townspeople.
He went into hiding and translated the Bible from Latin into German, an act of great linguistic importance: It helped unify the different dialects of German. Goethe later said, 'It was Luther, who has awakened and let loose the giant: the German language.' He married a nun, breaking the chastity vow, and setting a precedent for married Protestant clergy. He continued to give Mass into his old age, but celebrated it in German rather than Latin.
At October 30 rally, humor and activism (Jon Stewart & Stephen Colbert)
from Washington Post coverage (10/31 online edition article):
Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, the founding fathers of fake news, drew throngs of exuberant supporters to Washington on Saturday for a joint rally that crowded streets, taxed the transit system and flooded the Mall.
With midterm elections looming and Democrats bracing for a historic thumping, the two comedians reined in their three-hour show to nonpartisan bits, musical entertainment and gentle ribbing of the purported enemies of incivility. The denizens of the Capitol, visible behind the stage, escaped their usual excoriation.
But at the rally's conclusion, Stewart changed his tone and his outfit. Having swapped a black T-shirt and blazer for a suit and tie, the comedian argued that the rally's target was the caustic level of discourse in Washington, and its nasty echoes on cable television's 24-hour news cycle. Stewart said that noisy debate obscured a reality that he perceived: that everyone throughout the country had found a way to work together.
"The only place we don't is here or on cable TV," said Stewart, putting much of the blame on Washington. In earnest terms that bordered on political rhetoric, he orated, "If we amplify everything, we hear nothing."
Stewart and Colbert built their stage on the opposite end of the Mall from the Lincoln Memorial steps, where conservative commentator Glenn Beck led a similarly vast and homogenous crowd two months ago. That rally, with its religious theme of "Restoring Honor," had conservative political undertones and prompted Saturday's satiric response.
The two rallies represented two distinct television audiences and self-identifying political constituencies.
"This is my comedy channel," read a sign emblazoned with the Fox News logo, hoisted by Steven Crawford of York, Pa. The other side of the sign, illustrated with a Comedy Central logo, read: "This is my news channel."
Young voters have increasingly turned to Comedy Central's Daily Show and Colbert Report for political news, but in the days before the rally, observers of the political-media complex sought the larger goal of this unusual gathering: Would visiting progressives of all ages actually take political marching orders from comedians?
The question turned out to be moot. In their closing remarks, neither Colbert nor Stewart was explicit in his demands. "Your presence is what I wanted," Stewart stated simply.
Showing up wasn't simple, in a weekend that was packed with activities related to Howard University's homecoming, the Marine Corps Marathon and Halloween. Many rally-goers encountered severe transportation delays. Metro's packed trains could not accommodate new passengers at stops approaching downtown. Red, Green, Orange and Yellow line trains all seemed at full capacity at 11:15 a.m. Rail riders arriving at stations at the end of Metro lines in Maryland and Virginia were confronted with unusually long lines.
Those who did get to the Mall found large portions closed off by metal fencing, leading to frustration at many usual entry points. Along one stretch, between Third and Fourth streets NW, dozens of people scaled fences and portable toilets to get a better stage view.
Authorities would not estimate the crowd size, though the National Park Service decided to open an extra section of the Mall that was not included on the initial 60,000-person rally permit, according to Bill Line, spokesman for the Park Service. By 2 p.m., Metro ridership had already reached 330,000 people, comparable to an entire day's tally for a usual Saturday, according to Metro spokeswoman Angela Gates.
The rally began as a variety show of shtick and song. The two Comedy Central anchors arrived onstage Saturday afternoon to present bits that pitted Stewart's wry rationalism against Colbert's warped right-wing bravado.
Stewart took the stage first and immediately needled the media metrics of the rally's success, saying it would be judged by its "size and color." In a reference to some exaggerated estimates of attendance at Beck's rally, he said, "I can see we have over 10 million people." As for the diversity of the crowd - the lack of which was the source of much criticism of Beck's event - Stewart joked that it was absurd to read any motives of racism in a crowd's demographics. But despite "Daily Show" correspondents dispatched in the crowd to cheekily interview an ethnically diverse sample of rally-goers, the crowd appeared overwhelmingly white.
"It's very white," said Tahir Messam, a 25-year-old computer expert from Brooklyn, who is African American and came with Pakistani and Chinese friends. "But most of America is white."
Colbert appeared in a red, white and blue jumpsuit in the style of Evel Knievel, bellowing that he expected the gathered "minions" to do his "bidding."
On stage, the TV personalities welcomed cross-genre musical acts that sang in harmony - Kid Rock with Sheryl Crow, Jeff Tweedy and Mavis Staples - or in mock discord, as when mellow folkie Yusuf Islam (formerly known as Cat Stevens) had an interruptive session with metalhead Ozzy Osbourne. Stewart bestowed "medals of reasonableness." The fake cleric Guido Sarducci, played by Don Novello, gave a benediction.
"I find it incredibly ironic," says Jim Neimeier, who drove to Washington from Wisconsin for the event, "that I had to come to a rally sponsored by a comedian to get at the truth."
"This is the most American thing I've ever done!" a young man screamed into a plastic megaphone, handed out by Comedy Central.
The event proved a mass demonstration of noncommittal cleverness, quirk and irony. Through signage, some rally-goers competed to be the most topical ("One man's socialism is another man's uninformed buzzword"), the most off-topical ("I love pineapples") and the most meta ("I am holding a sign").
Many Mall visitors toted signs with arch witticisms such as those identifying the carrier as a member of the "Decaf Party," or warning people "Don't Tread on Snakes," instead of "Don't Tread on Me." Plenty of gear from Obama's inauguration was exhumed from closets and worn again, and many posters borrowed Shepard Fairey's iconic "Hope" design from 2008 - but the visage staring out was of Stewart, not Obama.
It wasn't a singular, coherent movement on display as much as a rollicking expanse of nano-movements. Recycling enthusiasts mingled with D.C. voting rights advocates, who bumped shoulders with fusion-power activists who stepped on the heels of 9/11 truthers. One sign implored, "Vote Lawyers Out," and another insisted, "Vote Popped Collars Out." Some in the crowd wanted the troops to come home; others wanted the troops to be able to gay-marry.
Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, the founding fathers of fake news, drew throngs of exuberant supporters to Washington on Saturday for a joint rally that crowded streets, taxed the transit system and flooded the Mall.
With midterm elections looming and Democrats bracing for a historic thumping, the two comedians reined in their three-hour show to nonpartisan bits, musical entertainment and gentle ribbing of the purported enemies of incivility. The denizens of the Capitol, visible behind the stage, escaped their usual excoriation.
But at the rally's conclusion, Stewart changed his tone and his outfit. Having swapped a black T-shirt and blazer for a suit and tie, the comedian argued that the rally's target was the caustic level of discourse in Washington, and its nasty echoes on cable television's 24-hour news cycle. Stewart said that noisy debate obscured a reality that he perceived: that everyone throughout the country had found a way to work together.
"The only place we don't is here or on cable TV," said Stewart, putting much of the blame on Washington. In earnest terms that bordered on political rhetoric, he orated, "If we amplify everything, we hear nothing."
Stewart and Colbert built their stage on the opposite end of the Mall from the Lincoln Memorial steps, where conservative commentator Glenn Beck led a similarly vast and homogenous crowd two months ago. That rally, with its religious theme of "Restoring Honor," had conservative political undertones and prompted Saturday's satiric response.
The two rallies represented two distinct television audiences and self-identifying political constituencies.
"This is my comedy channel," read a sign emblazoned with the Fox News logo, hoisted by Steven Crawford of York, Pa. The other side of the sign, illustrated with a Comedy Central logo, read: "This is my news channel."
Young voters have increasingly turned to Comedy Central's Daily Show and Colbert Report for political news, but in the days before the rally, observers of the political-media complex sought the larger goal of this unusual gathering: Would visiting progressives of all ages actually take political marching orders from comedians?
The question turned out to be moot. In their closing remarks, neither Colbert nor Stewart was explicit in his demands. "Your presence is what I wanted," Stewart stated simply.
Showing up wasn't simple, in a weekend that was packed with activities related to Howard University's homecoming, the Marine Corps Marathon and Halloween. Many rally-goers encountered severe transportation delays. Metro's packed trains could not accommodate new passengers at stops approaching downtown. Red, Green, Orange and Yellow line trains all seemed at full capacity at 11:15 a.m. Rail riders arriving at stations at the end of Metro lines in Maryland and Virginia were confronted with unusually long lines.
Those who did get to the Mall found large portions closed off by metal fencing, leading to frustration at many usual entry points. Along one stretch, between Third and Fourth streets NW, dozens of people scaled fences and portable toilets to get a better stage view.
Authorities would not estimate the crowd size, though the National Park Service decided to open an extra section of the Mall that was not included on the initial 60,000-person rally permit, according to Bill Line, spokesman for the Park Service. By 2 p.m., Metro ridership had already reached 330,000 people, comparable to an entire day's tally for a usual Saturday, according to Metro spokeswoman Angela Gates.
The rally began as a variety show of shtick and song. The two Comedy Central anchors arrived onstage Saturday afternoon to present bits that pitted Stewart's wry rationalism against Colbert's warped right-wing bravado.
Stewart took the stage first and immediately needled the media metrics of the rally's success, saying it would be judged by its "size and color." In a reference to some exaggerated estimates of attendance at Beck's rally, he said, "I can see we have over 10 million people." As for the diversity of the crowd - the lack of which was the source of much criticism of Beck's event - Stewart joked that it was absurd to read any motives of racism in a crowd's demographics. But despite "Daily Show" correspondents dispatched in the crowd to cheekily interview an ethnically diverse sample of rally-goers, the crowd appeared overwhelmingly white.
"It's very white," said Tahir Messam, a 25-year-old computer expert from Brooklyn, who is African American and came with Pakistani and Chinese friends. "But most of America is white."
Colbert appeared in a red, white and blue jumpsuit in the style of Evel Knievel, bellowing that he expected the gathered "minions" to do his "bidding."
On stage, the TV personalities welcomed cross-genre musical acts that sang in harmony - Kid Rock with Sheryl Crow, Jeff Tweedy and Mavis Staples - or in mock discord, as when mellow folkie Yusuf Islam (formerly known as Cat Stevens) had an interruptive session with metalhead Ozzy Osbourne. Stewart bestowed "medals of reasonableness." The fake cleric Guido Sarducci, played by Don Novello, gave a benediction.
"I find it incredibly ironic," says Jim Neimeier, who drove to Washington from Wisconsin for the event, "that I had to come to a rally sponsored by a comedian to get at the truth."
"This is the most American thing I've ever done!" a young man screamed into a plastic megaphone, handed out by Comedy Central.
The event proved a mass demonstration of noncommittal cleverness, quirk and irony. Through signage, some rally-goers competed to be the most topical ("One man's socialism is another man's uninformed buzzword"), the most off-topical ("I love pineapples") and the most meta ("I am holding a sign").
Many Mall visitors toted signs with arch witticisms such as those identifying the carrier as a member of the "Decaf Party," or warning people "Don't Tread on Snakes," instead of "Don't Tread on Me." Plenty of gear from Obama's inauguration was exhumed from closets and worn again, and many posters borrowed Shepard Fairey's iconic "Hope" design from 2008 - but the visage staring out was of Stewart, not Obama.
It wasn't a singular, coherent movement on display as much as a rollicking expanse of nano-movements. Recycling enthusiasts mingled with D.C. voting rights advocates, who bumped shoulders with fusion-power activists who stepped on the heels of 9/11 truthers. One sign implored, "Vote Lawyers Out," and another insisted, "Vote Popped Collars Out." Some in the crowd wanted the troops to come home; others wanted the troops to be able to gay-marry.
Saturday, October 30, 2010
A Psalm of Solomon (#13): Comfort for the Righteous
13: 1 - 12 (translated by R.B. Wright, 1985)
The right hand of the Lord covered me;
the right hand of the Lord spared me.
The arm of the Lord saved us from the sword that passes through, from famine and the sinners' death.
Wild animals attacked them viciously,
they tore their flesh with their teeth,
and crushed their bones with their molars.
The Lord protected us from meeting all these things.
The godless person was terrified by his mistakes lest he be taken along with the sinners.
For the destruction of the sinner is terrible;
but nothing shall harm the righteous, of all these things.
For the discipline of the righteous (for things done) in ignorance
is not the same as the destruction of the sinners.
In secret the righteous are disciplined
lest the sinner gloat over the righteous.
For He will admonish the righteous as a beloved son
and His discipline is as for a firstborn.
For the Lord will spare His devout, and He will wipe away their mistakes with discipline.
For the life of the righteous (goes on) forever,
but sinners shall be taken away to destruction,
and no memory of them will ever be found.
But the Lord's mercy is upon the devout
and His mercy is upon those who fear Him.
The right hand of the Lord covered me;
the right hand of the Lord spared me.
The arm of the Lord saved us from the sword that passes through, from famine and the sinners' death.
Wild animals attacked them viciously,
they tore their flesh with their teeth,
and crushed their bones with their molars.
The Lord protected us from meeting all these things.
The godless person was terrified by his mistakes lest he be taken along with the sinners.
For the destruction of the sinner is terrible;
but nothing shall harm the righteous, of all these things.
For the discipline of the righteous (for things done) in ignorance
is not the same as the destruction of the sinners.
In secret the righteous are disciplined
lest the sinner gloat over the righteous.
For He will admonish the righteous as a beloved son
and His discipline is as for a firstborn.
For the Lord will spare His devout, and He will wipe away their mistakes with discipline.
For the life of the righteous (goes on) forever,
but sinners shall be taken away to destruction,
and no memory of them will ever be found.
But the Lord's mercy is upon the devout
and His mercy is upon those who fear Him.
226,000 relay via FACEBOOK that they will attend: 10/30/10 at Mall, Washington, D.C.
from "The Note" (ABC news listserv):
SANITY WEEKEND. Thousands are expected to descend on the National Mall in Washington today to take part in "Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear" -- the brain child of Comedy Central's Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. But as the AP's Hope Yen writes, "their fans just aren't certain what to expect." More from the preview of today's festivities: "A preliminary list of entertainers included musicians Sheryl Crow and The Roots. Actor Sam Waterston and Don Novello, who years ago played Father Guido Sarducci on Saturday Night Live, were also expected to appear. The rally has generated extensive buzz on the Internet, with more than 226,000 people on a Facebook page created for the event saying they would attend. The liberal Huffington Post was sending a caravan of 10,000 people on 200 buses from New York, while Oprah Winfrey expressed her support by providing travel expenses to a Daily Show studio audience of about 200 members so that they could attend."
SANITY WEEKEND. Thousands are expected to descend on the National Mall in Washington today to take part in "Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear" -- the brain child of Comedy Central's Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. But as the AP's Hope Yen writes, "their fans just aren't certain what to expect." More from the preview of today's festivities: "A preliminary list of entertainers included musicians Sheryl Crow and The Roots. Actor Sam Waterston and Don Novello, who years ago played Father Guido Sarducci on Saturday Night Live, were also expected to appear. The rally has generated extensive buzz on the Internet, with more than 226,000 people on a Facebook page created for the event saying they would attend. The liberal Huffington Post was sending a caravan of 10,000 people on 200 buses from New York, while Oprah Winfrey expressed her support by providing travel expenses to a Daily Show studio audience of about 200 members so that they could attend."
Matthew Dowd on "Devil's Night" in Detroit, MI (ABC news "The Note" posting)
MATTHEW DOWD: "Growing up in Detroit, on the evening before Halloween, October 30th, we would participate in what was called Devil¹s night. We would commit mischief in our neighborhoods by toilet papering trees, or soaping or egging windows of our neighbors, and we would also simultaneously try and protect our own home from the acts of other folks out on Devil¹s night. In the end, our house and every other house would suffer the consequences of that night no one was spared from the trouble brewing among frustrated youths. This election and Tuesday night I fear will be a further manifestation of that. Both parties have and will suffer from the frustration of voters young and old. Establishment Republicans have suffered in the primaries and Democrats will suffer in the general election. This has been one of the most interesting and curious I have ever seen. We simultaneously have two political parties who are disliked and distrusted by the voters. Both Democrats and Republicans in Congress have huge unfavorable numbers. We have candidates throughout the country who would be unelectable in any normal election environment. And Nevada is a perfect example of this where voters will basically decide whether Harry Reid will continue as majority leader. Both Reid and Republican Sharron Angle are unelectable, but since they are running against each other, someone has to win. And that is true throughout the country where even though Republicans are disliked as much as Democrats, they will win a majority of the contests because they just so happen to be not in charge. And when the election is over, most of these voters will continue to be dissatisfied and will be looking to take their frustration out again sometime soon in another election. So as Halloween approaches and Devil¹s Night is celebrated, whoever wins these elections, be prepared for either Trick or Treat from voters going forward."
Trick-or-Treating at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., Washington, DC - the People's Mansion
posted at Obama Food-o-rama blog also here at Google -- Blogger
President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will be at home in Washington, D.C., welcoming local children and military families for trick or treating, the White House just announced. The Sunday evening event is scheduled to begin at 6:30 P.M.
Last year, the President and First Lady also opened The People's House for Halloween. About 2,500fairies, pirates, princesses, Ninjas, and wizards--er, kids--trooped across the North Lawn and up to the elaborately decorated, orange-lit White House to trick or treat in front of the North Portico, where a huge black spider dangled from the outdoor chandelier. The kids were greeted by the President, who was "costumed" as a 50s-era dad, and Mrs. Obama, who was channeling Catwoman, with a leopard sweater set and little kitty ears.
http://obamafoodorama.blogspot.com/2010/10/white-house-halloween-2010-president.html
President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will be at home in Washington, D.C., welcoming local children and military families for trick or treating, the White House just announced. The Sunday evening event is scheduled to begin at 6:30 P.M.
Last year, the President and First Lady also opened The People's House for Halloween. About 2,500fairies, pirates, princesses, Ninjas, and wizards--er, kids--trooped across the North Lawn and up to the elaborately decorated, orange-lit White House to trick or treat in front of the North Portico, where a huge black spider dangled from the outdoor chandelier. The kids were greeted by the President, who was "costumed" as a 50s-era dad, and Mrs. Obama, who was channeling Catwoman, with a leopard sweater set and little kitty ears.
http://obamafoodorama.blogspot.com/2010/10/white-house-halloween-2010-president.html
Psalm Of Solomon - about the tongue of criminals (#12)
Lord, save my soul from the criminal and wicked man,
from the criminal and slandering tongue
that speaks lies and deceit.
The words of the wicked man's tongue (are) twisted so many ways;
(they are) as a fire among a people which scorches its beauty.
His visit fills homes with a false tongue,
cuts down trees of joy, inflaming criminals;
by slander he incites homes to fighting.
May God remove the lips of the criminals in confusion far from the innocent,
and (may) the bones of the slanderers be scattered far from those who fear the Lord.
May He destroy the slanderous tongue in flaming fire far from the devout.
May the Lord protect the quiet person who hates injustice;
may the Lord guide the person who lives peacefully at home.
May the salvation of the Lord be upon Israel His servant forever;
may the wicked perish once and for all from before the Lord.
And may the Lord's devout inherit the Lord's promises.
from the criminal and slandering tongue
that speaks lies and deceit.
The words of the wicked man's tongue (are) twisted so many ways;
(they are) as a fire among a people which scorches its beauty.
His visit fills homes with a false tongue,
cuts down trees of joy, inflaming criminals;
by slander he incites homes to fighting.
May God remove the lips of the criminals in confusion far from the innocent,
and (may) the bones of the slanderers be scattered far from those who fear the Lord.
May He destroy the slanderous tongue in flaming fire far from the devout.
May the Lord protect the quiet person who hates injustice;
may the Lord guide the person who lives peacefully at home.
May the salvation of the Lord be upon Israel His servant forever;
may the wicked perish once and for all from before the Lord.
And may the Lord's devout inherit the Lord's promises.
Friday was birthday of Iran's President - State Dept. official tweeted the dictatorial figure at TWITTER
PJCrowley
Your 54th year was full of lost opportunities. Hope in your 55th year you will open #Iran to a different relationship with the world.
2:31 PM Oct 28th via web .Happy birthday President #Ahmadinejad. Celebrate by sending Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer home. What a gift that would be. #Iran
2:30 PM Oct 28th via web
http://twitter.com/pjcrowley
Your 54th year was full of lost opportunities. Hope in your 55th year you will open #Iran to a different relationship with the world.
2:31 PM Oct 28th via web .Happy birthday President #Ahmadinejad. Celebrate by sending Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer home. What a gift that would be. #Iran
2:30 PM Oct 28th via web
http://twitter.com/pjcrowley
Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food (Obama Food-o-rama blog posting)
http://obamafoodorama.blogspot.com/2010/10/white-house-kitchen-garden-fall-harvest.html
The USDA is running Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food to encourage citizens across America to understand the food chain and eat locally; at the White House, the project could be called Know Your First Lady, Know Your Food. That's something all of America has been doing since Mrs. Obama launched Let's Move! last February, her broad national campaign against childhood obesity. She's drawn global attention to the importance of healthy food and fitness, bringing her message to everyone from world leaders--with vegetable-oriented State Dinners featuring Kitchen Garden crops--to school kids and parents, with visits to communities across America. Her campaign has been very personal: Mrs. Obama has described her experience with food and her family as the jumping-off point for her initiative. The Mom in Chief has expressed deep concern for the next generation, if there aren't changes--both large and small--in America's food system and the way everyone eats. At the Harvest, the First Lady, as she has been at every other Kitchen Garden event, was right down in the dirt with the kids. They got to know exactly how important fresh vegetables are, as the First Lady led the way in plucking and unearthing the crops, and chatted happily about these. (Above: Mrs. Obama and a pumpkin, among the first to ever be grown in the Kitchen Garden)
The USDA is running Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food to encourage citizens across America to understand the food chain and eat locally; at the White House, the project could be called Know Your First Lady, Know Your Food. That's something all of America has been doing since Mrs. Obama launched Let's Move! last February, her broad national campaign against childhood obesity. She's drawn global attention to the importance of healthy food and fitness, bringing her message to everyone from world leaders--with vegetable-oriented State Dinners featuring Kitchen Garden crops--to school kids and parents, with visits to communities across America. Her campaign has been very personal: Mrs. Obama has described her experience with food and her family as the jumping-off point for her initiative. The Mom in Chief has expressed deep concern for the next generation, if there aren't changes--both large and small--in America's food system and the way everyone eats. At the Harvest, the First Lady, as she has been at every other Kitchen Garden event, was right down in the dirt with the kids. They got to know exactly how important fresh vegetables are, as the First Lady led the way in plucking and unearthing the crops, and chatted happily about these. (Above: Mrs. Obama and a pumpkin, among the first to ever be grown in the Kitchen Garden)
Call to Reasonableness (Noon hour, today)
from Jon Stewart's and Stephen Colbert's joint website --
http://www.rallytorestoresanity.com/
We’d like you to join us in Washington, DC on October 30 — a date of no significance whatsoever — at the Daily Show’s “Rally to Restore Sanity.”
Ours is a rally for the people who’ve been too busy to go to rallies, who actually have lives and families and jobs (or are looking for jobs) — not so much the Silent Majority as the Busy Majority. If we had to sum up the political view of our participants in a single sentence… we couldn’t. That’s sort of the point.
Think of our event as Woodstock, but with the nudity and drugs replaced by respectful disagreement; the Million Man March, only a lot smaller, and a bit less of a sausage fest; or the Gathering of the Juggalos, but instead of throwing our feces at Tila Tequila, we’ll be actively *not* throwing our feces at Tila Tequila. Join us in the shadow of the Washington Monument. And bring your indoor voice. Or don’t. If you’d rather stay home, go to work, or drive your kids to soccer practice… Actually, please come anyway. Ask the sitter if she can stay a few extra hours, just this once. We’ll make it worth your while.
Watch Jon’s call-to-reasonableness on The Daily Show (Comedy Central TV network).
http://www.rallytorestoresanity.com/
We’d like you to join us in Washington, DC on October 30 — a date of no significance whatsoever — at the Daily Show’s “Rally to Restore Sanity.”
Ours is a rally for the people who’ve been too busy to go to rallies, who actually have lives and families and jobs (or are looking for jobs) — not so much the Silent Majority as the Busy Majority. If we had to sum up the political view of our participants in a single sentence… we couldn’t. That’s sort of the point.
Think of our event as Woodstock, but with the nudity and drugs replaced by respectful disagreement; the Million Man March, only a lot smaller, and a bit less of a sausage fest; or the Gathering of the Juggalos, but instead of throwing our feces at Tila Tequila, we’ll be actively *not* throwing our feces at Tila Tequila. Join us in the shadow of the Washington Monument. And bring your indoor voice. Or don’t. If you’d rather stay home, go to work, or drive your kids to soccer practice… Actually, please come anyway. Ask the sitter if she can stay a few extra hours, just this once. We’ll make it worth your while.
Watch Jon’s call-to-reasonableness on The Daily Show (Comedy Central TV network).
Friday, October 29, 2010
Psalm of Solomon - In anticipation (#11)
11: 1 - 9 (translated by R.B. Wright, 1985)
Sound in Zion the signal trumpet of the sanctuary;
announce in Jerusalem the voice of one bringing good news,
for God has been merciful to Israel in watching over them.
Stand on a high place, Jerusalem, and look at your children,
from the east and the west assembled together by the Lord.
From the north they come in the joy of their God;
from far distant islands God has assembled them.
He flattened high mountains into level ground for them;
the hills fled at their coming.
The forests shaded them as they passed by;
God made every fragrant tree to grow for them.
So that Israel might proceed under the supervision of the glory of their God.
Jerusalem, put on (the) clothes of your glory,
prepare the robe of your holiness,
for God has spoken well of Israel forevermore.
May the Lord do what He has spoken about Israel and Jerusalem;
may the Lord lift up israel in the name of His glory.
May the mercy of the Lord be upon Israel forevermore.
Sound in Zion the signal trumpet of the sanctuary;
announce in Jerusalem the voice of one bringing good news,
for God has been merciful to Israel in watching over them.
Stand on a high place, Jerusalem, and look at your children,
from the east and the west assembled together by the Lord.
From the north they come in the joy of their God;
from far distant islands God has assembled them.
He flattened high mountains into level ground for them;
the hills fled at their coming.
The forests shaded them as they passed by;
God made every fragrant tree to grow for them.
So that Israel might proceed under the supervision of the glory of their God.
Jerusalem, put on (the) clothes of your glory,
prepare the robe of your holiness,
for God has spoken well of Israel forevermore.
May the Lord do what He has spoken about Israel and Jerusalem;
may the Lord lift up israel in the name of His glory.
May the mercy of the Lord be upon Israel forevermore.
A Hymn of Solomon (#10)
Psalm 10: 1 - 8 (translated by R.B. Wright, 1985)
Happy is the man whom the Lord remembers with rebuking,
and protects from the evil way with a whip
(that he may) be cleansed from sin that it may not increase.
The one who prepares (his) back for the whip shall be purified,
for the Lord is good to those who endure discipline.
For He will straighten the ways of the righteous,
and will not bend (them) by discipline;
and the mercy of the Lord is upon those who truly love Him.
And the Lord will remember His servants in mercy,
for the testimony of it (is) in the Law of the eternal covenant,
and the testimony of the Lord (is) in the ways of men in (His) supervision.
Our Lord is just and holy in His judgments forever,
and Israel shall praise the Lord's name in joy.
And the devout shall give thanks in the assembly of the people,
and God will be merciful to the poor to the joy of Israel.
For God is good and merciful forever,
and the synagogues of Israel will glorify the Lord's name.
The Lord's salvation (be) upon the house of Israel
(that they may be) happy forever.
Happy is the man whom the Lord remembers with rebuking,
and protects from the evil way with a whip
(that he may) be cleansed from sin that it may not increase.
The one who prepares (his) back for the whip shall be purified,
for the Lord is good to those who endure discipline.
For He will straighten the ways of the righteous,
and will not bend (them) by discipline;
and the mercy of the Lord is upon those who truly love Him.
And the Lord will remember His servants in mercy,
for the testimony of it (is) in the Law of the eternal covenant,
and the testimony of the Lord (is) in the ways of men in (His) supervision.
Our Lord is just and holy in His judgments forever,
and Israel shall praise the Lord's name in joy.
And the devout shall give thanks in the assembly of the people,
and God will be merciful to the poor to the joy of Israel.
For God is good and merciful forever,
and the synagogues of Israel will glorify the Lord's name.
The Lord's salvation (be) upon the house of Israel
(that they may be) happy forever.
Psalm of Solomon - For proof (#9)
9: 1 - 11 (translated by R.B. Wright, 1985)
When Israel was taken into exile to a foreign country,
when they neglected the Lord, who had redeemed them,
They were expelled from the inheritance which the Lord had given them.
The dispersion of Israel (was) among every nation, according to the saying of God;
That Your righteousness might be proven right, O God, in our lawless actions.
For You are a righteous judge over all the peoples of the earth.
For none that do evil shall be hidden from Your knowledge,
and the righteousness of Your devout is before You, Lord.
Where, then will a person hide himself from Your knowledge, O God?
Our works (are) in the choosing and power of our souls,
to do right and wrong in the works of our hands,
and in Your righteousness You oversee human beings.
The one who does right saves up life for himself with the Lord,
and the one who does what is wrong causes his own life to be destroyed;
for the Lord's righteous judgments are according to the individual and the household.
To whom will You be good, O God, except to those who call upon the Lord?
He will cleanse from sins the soul in confessing, in restoring,
so that for all these things the same is on us,
and (it show) on our faces.
And whose sins will He forgive except those who have sinned?
You bless the righteous, and do not accuse them for what they sinned.
And Your goodness is upon those that sin, when they repent.
And now, You are God and we are the people whom You have loved;
look and be compassionate, O God of Israel, for we are Yours,
and do not take away Your mercy from us, lest they set upon us.
For You chose the descendants of Abraham above all the nations,
and You put your name upon us, Lord,
and it will not cease forever.
You made a covenant with our ancestors concerning us,
and we hope in You when we turn our souls toward You.
May the mercy of the Lord be upon the house of Israel forevermore.
When Israel was taken into exile to a foreign country,
when they neglected the Lord, who had redeemed them,
They were expelled from the inheritance which the Lord had given them.
The dispersion of Israel (was) among every nation, according to the saying of God;
That Your righteousness might be proven right, O God, in our lawless actions.
For You are a righteous judge over all the peoples of the earth.
For none that do evil shall be hidden from Your knowledge,
and the righteousness of Your devout is before You, Lord.
Where, then will a person hide himself from Your knowledge, O God?
Our works (are) in the choosing and power of our souls,
to do right and wrong in the works of our hands,
and in Your righteousness You oversee human beings.
The one who does right saves up life for himself with the Lord,
and the one who does what is wrong causes his own life to be destroyed;
for the Lord's righteous judgments are according to the individual and the household.
To whom will You be good, O God, except to those who call upon the Lord?
He will cleanse from sins the soul in confessing, in restoring,
so that for all these things the same is on us,
and (it show) on our faces.
And whose sins will He forgive except those who have sinned?
You bless the righteous, and do not accuse them for what they sinned.
And Your goodness is upon those that sin, when they repent.
And now, You are God and we are the people whom You have loved;
look and be compassionate, O God of Israel, for we are Yours,
and do not take away Your mercy from us, lest they set upon us.
For You chose the descendants of Abraham above all the nations,
and You put your name upon us, Lord,
and it will not cease forever.
You made a covenant with our ancestors concerning us,
and we hope in You when we turn our souls toward You.
May the mercy of the Lord be upon the house of Israel forevermore.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Psalm of Solomon - To Victory (#8)
8: 1 - 34 (translated by R.B. Wright, 1985)
My ear heard distress and the sound of war, the blast of the trumpet sounding slaughter and destruction.
The sound of many people as of a violent storm, as a raging fire storm sweeping through the wilderness.
And I said to my heart, Where then, will God judge it?
I heard a sound in Jerusalem, the holy city,
My stomach was crushed at what I heard;
my knees were weak, my heart was afraid,
my bones shook like reeds.
I said, They directed their ways in righteousness.
I thought about the judgments of God since the creation of heaven and earth;
I proved God right in His judgments in ages past.
God exposed their sins in the full light of day;
the whole earth knew the righteous judgments of God.
In secret places underground was their lawbreaking, provoking (Him),
son involved with mother and father with daughter.
Everyone committed adultery with his neighbor's wife;
they made agreements with them with an oath about these things.
They stole from the sanctuary of God
as if there were no redeeming heir.
They walked on the place of sacrifice of the Lord, (coming) from all kinds of uncleanness;
and (coming) with menstrual blood (on them), they defiled the sacrifices as if they were common meat.
There was no sin they left undone in which they did not surpass the gentiles.
Because of this God mixed them (a drink) of a wavering spirit,
and gave them a cup of undiluted wine to make them drunk.
He brought someone from the end of the earth, one who attacks in strength;
he declared war against Jerusalem, and her land.
The leaders of the country met him with joy. They said to him, "May your way be blessed.
Come, enter in peace." They graded the rough roads before his coming;
they opened the gates to Jerusalem, they crowned her city walls.
He entered in peace as a father enters his son's house; he set his feet securely.
He captured the fortified towers and the wall of Jerusalem, for God led him in securely while they wavered.
He killed their leaders and every (man) wise in counsel; he poured out the blood of the inhabitants
of Jerusalem like dirty water.
He led away their sons and daughters, those profanely spawned.
They acted according to their uncleanness, just as their ancestors;
they defiled Jerusalem and the things that had been consecrated to the name of God.
God was proven right in His condemnation of the nations of the earth,
and the devout of God are like innocent lambs among them.
Worthy of praise is the Lord, who judges the whole earth in His righteousness.
See, now, God, You have shown us how You rightly judge;
our eyes have seen Your judgments, O God.
We have proven Your name right, which is honored forever,
for You are the God of righteousness, judging Israel in discipline.
O God, turn Your mercy upon us and be compassionate to us.
Bring together the dispersed of Israel with mercy and goodness, for Your faithfulness is with us.
For we stiffened our necks, but You are the one who disciplines us.
Do not neglect us, Our God, lest the gentiles devour us as if there were no redeemer.
But You (have been) our God from the beginning,
and on You we have hoped, Lord.
And we will not leave you, for Your judgments upon us are good.
May (You) be pleased with us and our children forever;
Lord, our savior, we will not be troubled at the end of time.
Worthy of praise is the Lord for His judgments by the mouth of the devout,
and may Israel be blessed by the Lord forever.
My ear heard distress and the sound of war, the blast of the trumpet sounding slaughter and destruction.
The sound of many people as of a violent storm, as a raging fire storm sweeping through the wilderness.
And I said to my heart, Where then, will God judge it?
I heard a sound in Jerusalem, the holy city,
My stomach was crushed at what I heard;
my knees were weak, my heart was afraid,
my bones shook like reeds.
I said, They directed their ways in righteousness.
I thought about the judgments of God since the creation of heaven and earth;
I proved God right in His judgments in ages past.
God exposed their sins in the full light of day;
the whole earth knew the righteous judgments of God.
In secret places underground was their lawbreaking, provoking (Him),
son involved with mother and father with daughter.
Everyone committed adultery with his neighbor's wife;
they made agreements with them with an oath about these things.
They stole from the sanctuary of God
as if there were no redeeming heir.
They walked on the place of sacrifice of the Lord, (coming) from all kinds of uncleanness;
and (coming) with menstrual blood (on them), they defiled the sacrifices as if they were common meat.
There was no sin they left undone in which they did not surpass the gentiles.
Because of this God mixed them (a drink) of a wavering spirit,
and gave them a cup of undiluted wine to make them drunk.
He brought someone from the end of the earth, one who attacks in strength;
he declared war against Jerusalem, and her land.
The leaders of the country met him with joy. They said to him, "May your way be blessed.
Come, enter in peace." They graded the rough roads before his coming;
they opened the gates to Jerusalem, they crowned her city walls.
He entered in peace as a father enters his son's house; he set his feet securely.
He captured the fortified towers and the wall of Jerusalem, for God led him in securely while they wavered.
He killed their leaders and every (man) wise in counsel; he poured out the blood of the inhabitants
of Jerusalem like dirty water.
He led away their sons and daughters, those profanely spawned.
They acted according to their uncleanness, just as their ancestors;
they defiled Jerusalem and the things that had been consecrated to the name of God.
God was proven right in His condemnation of the nations of the earth,
and the devout of God are like innocent lambs among them.
Worthy of praise is the Lord, who judges the whole earth in His righteousness.
See, now, God, You have shown us how You rightly judge;
our eyes have seen Your judgments, O God.
We have proven Your name right, which is honored forever,
for You are the God of righteousness, judging Israel in discipline.
O God, turn Your mercy upon us and be compassionate to us.
Bring together the dispersed of Israel with mercy and goodness, for Your faithfulness is with us.
For we stiffened our necks, but You are the one who disciplines us.
Do not neglect us, Our God, lest the gentiles devour us as if there were no redeemer.
But You (have been) our God from the beginning,
and on You we have hoped, Lord.
And we will not leave you, for Your judgments upon us are good.
May (You) be pleased with us and our children forever;
Lord, our savior, we will not be troubled at the end of time.
Worthy of praise is the Lord for His judgments by the mouth of the devout,
and may Israel be blessed by the Lord forever.
A psalm of Solomon (#7). About restoring.
7: 1 - 10 (translated by R.B. Wright, 1985)
Do not move away from us, O God, lest those who hate us without cause should attack us.
For You have rejected them, O God; do not let their feet trample Your holy inheritance.
Discipline us as You wish, but do not turn (us) over to the gentiles.
For if You sent death (himself)
You would give him (special) instructions about us.
For You are kind,
and will not be angry enough to destroy us.
While Your name lives among us, we shall receive mercy
and the gentile will not overcome us.
For You are our protection,
and we will call to You, and You will hear us.
For You will have compassion on the people Israel forever
and You will not reject (them);
And we are under Your yoke forever,
and (under) the whip of Your discipline.
You will direct us in the time of Your support, showing mercy to the house of Jacob on the day
when You promised (it) to them.
Do not move away from us, O God, lest those who hate us without cause should attack us.
For You have rejected them, O God; do not let their feet trample Your holy inheritance.
Discipline us as You wish, but do not turn (us) over to the gentiles.
For if You sent death (himself)
You would give him (special) instructions about us.
For You are kind,
and will not be angry enough to destroy us.
While Your name lives among us, we shall receive mercy
and the gentile will not overcome us.
For You are our protection,
and we will call to You, and You will hear us.
For You will have compassion on the people Israel forever
and You will not reject (them);
And we are under Your yoke forever,
and (under) the whip of Your discipline.
You will direct us in the time of Your support, showing mercy to the house of Jacob on the day
when You promised (it) to them.
A Psalm in hope (#6). Of Solomon
6: 1 - 6 (translated by R.B. Wright, 1985)
Happy is the man whose heart is ready to call on the name of the Lord;
when he remembers the name of the Lord, he will be saved.
His ways are directed by the Lord,
and the works of his hands are protected by the Lord his God.
His soul will not be disturbed by the vision of evil dreams;
he will not be frightened when crossing rivers or rough seas.
He gets up from his sleep and blesses the name of the Lord;
when his heart is at rest he sings in honor of his God's name.
He prays to the Lord for all his household,
and the Lord has heard the prayers of all who fear God.
And the Lord fulfills every request from the soul that hopes in Him;
praised is the Lord, who shows mercy to those who truly love Him.
Happy is the man whose heart is ready to call on the name of the Lord;
when he remembers the name of the Lord, he will be saved.
His ways are directed by the Lord,
and the works of his hands are protected by the Lord his God.
His soul will not be disturbed by the vision of evil dreams;
he will not be frightened when crossing rivers or rough seas.
He gets up from his sleep and blesses the name of the Lord;
when his heart is at rest he sings in honor of his God's name.
He prays to the Lord for all his household,
and the Lord has heard the prayers of all who fear God.
And the Lord fulfills every request from the soul that hopes in Him;
praised is the Lord, who shows mercy to those who truly love Him.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Psalm of Solomon - fifth of 18 total
5: 1 - 19 (translated by R. B. Wright, 1985)
Lord God, I will joyfully praise Your name among those who know Your righteous judgments.
For You are good and merciful, the shelter of the poor.
When I cry out to You, do not ignore me.
For no one takes plunder away from a strong man,
so who is going to take (anything) from all that You have done, unless You give (it)?
For an individual and his fate (are) on the scales before You;
he cannot add any increase contrary to Your judgment, O god.
When we are persecuted, we call on You for help
and You will not turn away from our prayer;
for You are our god.
Do not weigh down Your hand on us, lest under duress we sin.
Even if You do not restore us,
we will not stay away, but will come to You.
For if I am hungry, I will cry out to You, O God,
and You will give me (something).
You feed the birds and the fish, as You send rain to the wilderness that the grass may sprout
To provide pasture in the wilderness for every living thing,
and if they are hungry, they will lift up their face to You.
You feed kings and rulers and peoples, O God,
and who is the hope of the poor and the needy, if not You, Lord?
And You will listen. For who is good and kind but You,
making the humble person happy by opening Your hand in mercy?
Human kindness (comes) sparingly and tomorrow,
and if (it comes) a second time without complaint, this is remarkable.
But Your gift is abundantly good and rich,
and the one whose hope is in You will not be lacking gifts.
Lord, Your mercy is upon the whole world in goodness.
Happy is (the person) whom God remembers with a moderate sufficiency;
for if one is excessively rich, he sins.
Moderate (wealth) is adequate -- with righteousness;
for with this comes the Lord's blessing:
to be (more than) satisfied with righteousness.
Those who fear the Lord are happy with good things.
In Your kingdom Your goodness (is) upon Israel.
May the glory of the Lord be praised, for He is our King.
Lord God, I will joyfully praise Your name among those who know Your righteous judgments.
For You are good and merciful, the shelter of the poor.
When I cry out to You, do not ignore me.
For no one takes plunder away from a strong man,
so who is going to take (anything) from all that You have done, unless You give (it)?
For an individual and his fate (are) on the scales before You;
he cannot add any increase contrary to Your judgment, O god.
When we are persecuted, we call on You for help
and You will not turn away from our prayer;
for You are our god.
Do not weigh down Your hand on us, lest under duress we sin.
Even if You do not restore us,
we will not stay away, but will come to You.
For if I am hungry, I will cry out to You, O God,
and You will give me (something).
You feed the birds and the fish, as You send rain to the wilderness that the grass may sprout
To provide pasture in the wilderness for every living thing,
and if they are hungry, they will lift up their face to You.
You feed kings and rulers and peoples, O God,
and who is the hope of the poor and the needy, if not You, Lord?
And You will listen. For who is good and kind but You,
making the humble person happy by opening Your hand in mercy?
Human kindness (comes) sparingly and tomorrow,
and if (it comes) a second time without complaint, this is remarkable.
But Your gift is abundantly good and rich,
and the one whose hope is in You will not be lacking gifts.
Lord, Your mercy is upon the whole world in goodness.
Happy is (the person) whom God remembers with a moderate sufficiency;
for if one is excessively rich, he sins.
Moderate (wealth) is adequate -- with righteousness;
for with this comes the Lord's blessing:
to be (more than) satisfied with righteousness.
Those who fear the Lord are happy with good things.
In Your kingdom Your goodness (is) upon Israel.
May the glory of the Lord be praised, for He is our King.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Psalm 4 - a conversation of Solomon with those trying to impress people
Psalm of Solomon 4: 1 - 25 (R.B. Wright translation, 1985)
Why are you sitting in the council of the devout, you profaner?
And your heart is far from the Lord,
provoking the God of Israel by lawbreaking;
Excessive in words, excessive in appearance above everyone,
he who is harsh in words in condemnig sinners at judgment.
And his hand is the first one against him as if in zeal,
yet he himself is guilty of a variety of sins and intemperance.
His eyes are on every woman indiscriminately,
his tongue lies when swearing a contract.
At night and in hiding he sins as if no one saw.
With his eyes he speaks to every woman of illict affairs,
he is quick to enter graciously every house as though innocent.
May God remove from the devout those who live in hypocrisy,
may his flesh decay and his life be impoverished.
May God expose the deeds of those who try to impress people,
(and expose) their deeds with ridicule and contempt.
And the devout will prove their God's judgment to be right
when sinners are driven out from the presence of the righteous, those who please men,
who deceitfully quote the Law.
And their eyes are on a man's peaceful house,
as a serpent destroys the wisdom of others with criminal words.
His words are deceitful that (he) may accomplish (his) evil desires;
he did not stop until he succeeded in scattering (them) as orphans.
He devastated a house because of his criminal desire;
he deceived with words; (as if) there were no one to see and to judge.
He is satiated with lawless actions at one (place), and (then) his eyes are on another house
to destroy it with agitating words.
With all this his soul, like Hades, is not satisfied.
Lord, let his part be in disgrace before you;
may he go out graoning and return cursing.
Lord, may his life be in pain and poverty and anxiety;
may his sleep be painful and his awakening be anxious.
May sleep be taken away from his temples at night;
may he fall disgracefully in all the work of his hands.
May he return to his house empty-handed;
may his house lack everything; let it not satisfy his soul.
May his old age be in lonely childlessness until his removal.
May the flesh of those who try to impress people be scattered by wild animlas,
and the bones of the criminals (lie) dishonored out in the sun.
Let crows peck out the eyes of the hypocrites,
for they disgracefully empty many people's houses and greedily scatter (them).
They have not remembered God,
nor have they feared God in all these things;
but they have angered God, and provoked him.
May he banish them from the earth, for they defrauded innocent people by pretense.
Blessed are those who fear God in their innocence;
the Lord shall save them from deceitful and sinful people and save us from every evil snare.
May God banish those who arrogantly commit all (kinds of) unrighteousness,
for the Lord our God is a great and powerful judge in righteousness.
Lord, let Your mercy be upon all those who love You!
Why are you sitting in the council of the devout, you profaner?
And your heart is far from the Lord,
provoking the God of Israel by lawbreaking;
Excessive in words, excessive in appearance above everyone,
he who is harsh in words in condemnig sinners at judgment.
And his hand is the first one against him as if in zeal,
yet he himself is guilty of a variety of sins and intemperance.
His eyes are on every woman indiscriminately,
his tongue lies when swearing a contract.
At night and in hiding he sins as if no one saw.
With his eyes he speaks to every woman of illict affairs,
he is quick to enter graciously every house as though innocent.
May God remove from the devout those who live in hypocrisy,
may his flesh decay and his life be impoverished.
May God expose the deeds of those who try to impress people,
(and expose) their deeds with ridicule and contempt.
And the devout will prove their God's judgment to be right
when sinners are driven out from the presence of the righteous, those who please men,
who deceitfully quote the Law.
And their eyes are on a man's peaceful house,
as a serpent destroys the wisdom of others with criminal words.
His words are deceitful that (he) may accomplish (his) evil desires;
he did not stop until he succeeded in scattering (them) as orphans.
He devastated a house because of his criminal desire;
he deceived with words; (as if) there were no one to see and to judge.
He is satiated with lawless actions at one (place), and (then) his eyes are on another house
to destroy it with agitating words.
With all this his soul, like Hades, is not satisfied.
Lord, let his part be in disgrace before you;
may he go out graoning and return cursing.
Lord, may his life be in pain and poverty and anxiety;
may his sleep be painful and his awakening be anxious.
May sleep be taken away from his temples at night;
may he fall disgracefully in all the work of his hands.
May he return to his house empty-handed;
may his house lack everything; let it not satisfy his soul.
May his old age be in lonely childlessness until his removal.
May the flesh of those who try to impress people be scattered by wild animlas,
and the bones of the criminals (lie) dishonored out in the sun.
Let crows peck out the eyes of the hypocrites,
for they disgracefully empty many people's houses and greedily scatter (them).
They have not remembered God,
nor have they feared God in all these things;
but they have angered God, and provoked him.
May he banish them from the earth, for they defrauded innocent people by pretense.
Blessed are those who fear God in their innocence;
the Lord shall save them from deceitful and sinful people and save us from every evil snare.
May God banish those who arrogantly commit all (kinds of) unrighteousness,
for the Lord our God is a great and powerful judge in righteousness.
Lord, let Your mercy be upon all those who love You!
Wind Storm Warning - Tuesday October 26 - Western Michigan (Grand Rapids among cities/counties)
posted at M-Live dot-com -- from Grand Rapids press accounts
The National Weather Service in Grand Rapids has issued a high wind warning in effect from 8 a.m. Tuesday to 8 p.m. Wednesday.
Winds could gust to near 60 mph or more, with sustained wind speeds of at least 40 mph.
That could have a lot of impacts, the service says, including:
* travel may be difficult in open areas and for high profile vehicles.
* falling trees and limbs.
* power outages.
* lawn furniture and loose objects blowing around.
When wind speeds are high, pieces of debris can also become "airborne missiles" that may damage your property and possibly cause injuries.
The National Weather Service in Grand Rapids has issued a high wind warning in effect from 8 a.m. Tuesday to 8 p.m. Wednesday.
Winds could gust to near 60 mph or more, with sustained wind speeds of at least 40 mph.
That could have a lot of impacts, the service says, including:
* travel may be difficult in open areas and for high profile vehicles.
* falling trees and limbs.
* power outages.
* lawn furniture and loose objects blowing around.
When wind speeds are high, pieces of debris can also become "airborne missiles" that may damage your property and possibly cause injuries.
A Psalm of Solomon concerning the righteous
3: 1 - 12 (Translated by R. B. Wright, 1985)
Why do you sleep, soul, and do not praise the Lord?
Sing a new song to God, who is worthy to be praised.
Sing and be aware of how He is aware of you,
for a good psalm to God is from a glad heart.
The righteous remember the Lord all the time,
by acknowledging and proving the Lord's judgments right.
The righteous does not lightly esteem discipline from the Lord;
his desire is (to be) always in the Lord's presence.
The righteous stumbles and proves the Lord right;
he falls and watches for what God will do about him;
he looks to where his salvation comes from.
The confidence of the righteous (comes) from God their Savior;
sin after sin does not visit the house of the righteous.
The righteous constantly searches his house, to remove his unintentional sins.
He atones for (sins of) ignorance by fasting and humbling his soul,
and the Lord will cleanse every devout person and his house.
The sinner stumbles and curses his life,
the day of his birth, and his mother's pains.
He adds sin upon sin in his life;
he falls -- his fall is serious -- and he will not get up.
The destruction of the sinner is forever,
but those who fear the Lord shall rise up to eternal life,
and their life shall be in the Lord's light, and it shall never end.
Why do you sleep, soul, and do not praise the Lord?
Sing a new song to God, who is worthy to be praised.
Sing and be aware of how He is aware of you,
for a good psalm to God is from a glad heart.
The righteous remember the Lord all the time,
by acknowledging and proving the Lord's judgments right.
The righteous does not lightly esteem discipline from the Lord;
his desire is (to be) always in the Lord's presence.
The righteous stumbles and proves the Lord right;
he falls and watches for what God will do about him;
he looks to where his salvation comes from.
The confidence of the righteous (comes) from God their Savior;
sin after sin does not visit the house of the righteous.
The righteous constantly searches his house, to remove his unintentional sins.
He atones for (sins of) ignorance by fasting and humbling his soul,
and the Lord will cleanse every devout person and his house.
The sinner stumbles and curses his life,
the day of his birth, and his mother's pains.
He adds sin upon sin in his life;
he falls -- his fall is serious -- and he will not get up.
The destruction of the sinner is forever,
but those who fear the Lord shall rise up to eternal life,
and their life shall be in the Lord's light, and it shall never end.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Psalm of Solomon - second of 18 total - Greek Old Testament
2: 1 - 37 (translated by R.B. Wright, 1985)
A Psalm of Solomon concerning Jerusalem
Arrogantly the sinner broke down the strong walls with a battering ram and You did not interfere.
Gentile foreigners went up to your place of sacrifice; they arrogantly trampled (it) with their sandals.
Because the sons of Jerusalem defiled the sanctuary of the Lord,
they were profaning the offerings of God with lawless acts;
Because of these things He said, "Remove them far from me;
they are not sweet-smelling."
The beauty of his glory was despised before God;
it was completely disgraced.
The sons and the daughters (were) in harsh captivity,
their neck in a seal, a spectacle among the gentiles.
He did (this) to them according to their sins,
so that He abandoned them to the hands of those who prevailed.
For He turned away His face from their mercy: (from) young and old and their children once again,
for they sinned once again by not listening.
And the heavens were weighed down, and the earth despised them,
for no one on (the earth) had done what they did.
And the earth shall know all your righteous judgments, O god.
They set up the sons of Jerusalem for derision because of her prostitutes.
Everyone passing by entered in broad daylight.
They derided their lawless actions even in comparison to what they themselves were doing;
before the sun they held up their unrighteousness to contempt.
And the daughters of Jerusalem were available to all, according to Your judgments,
because they defiled themselves with improper intercourse.
My heart and my belly are troubled over these things.
I shall prove You right, O God, in uprightness of heart; for Your judgments are right, O God.
For You have rewarded the sinners according to their actions,
and according to their extremely wicked sins.
You have exposed their sins, that Your judgment might be evident;
You have obliterated their memory from the earth.
God is a righteous judge and He will not be impressed by appearances.
For the gentiles insulted Jerusalem, trampling (her) down;
he/they dragged her beauty down from the throne of glory.
She put on sackcloth instead of beautiful clothes,
a rope around her head instead of a crown.
She took off the wreath of glory which God had put on her;
in dishonor her beauty was thrown to the ground.
And I saw and implored in the Lord's presence and said, "Let it be enough, Lord,
to make Your hand heavy on Jerusalem by bringing gentiles (upon her)."
For they ridiculed (her) and did not refrain in anger and vicious rage,
and they will be finished unless you, Lord, censure them ( = gentiles) in your anger.
For they have not done it in zeal, but in emotional passion,
to pour out their anger against us in plunder.
Do not delay, O god, to repay to them on (their) heards;
to declare dishonorable the arrogance of the dragon.
And I did not wait long until God showed me His insolence pierced on the mountains of Egypt,
more despised than the smallest thing on earth and sea.
His body was carried about on the waves in much shame,
and there was no one to bury (him) for He (God) had despised him with contempt.
He did not consider that he was a man, for the latter do not consider (this).
He said, "I shall be lord of land and sea"; and he did not understand that it is God who is great,
powerful in His great strength,
He is king over the heavens, judging even kings and rulers.
Raising me up to glory, but putting to sleep the arrogant for eternal destruction in dishonor,
because they did not know Him.
And now, officials of the earth, see the judgment of the Lord,
that He is a great and righteous King, judging what is under heaven.
Praise God, you who fear the Lord with understanding,
for the Lord's mercy is upon those who fear Him with judgment.
To separate between the righteous and the sinner
to repay sinners forever according to their actions
And to have mercy on the righteous (keeping him) from the humiliation of the sinner,
and to repay the sinner for what he has done to the righteous.
For the Lord is good to those who persistently call upon Him,
to treat His devout in accordnace with His mercy,
to bring them (constantly) before (Him) in strength.
Praised be the Lord forever before His servants.
A Psalm of Solomon concerning Jerusalem
Arrogantly the sinner broke down the strong walls with a battering ram and You did not interfere.
Gentile foreigners went up to your place of sacrifice; they arrogantly trampled (it) with their sandals.
Because the sons of Jerusalem defiled the sanctuary of the Lord,
they were profaning the offerings of God with lawless acts;
Because of these things He said, "Remove them far from me;
they are not sweet-smelling."
The beauty of his glory was despised before God;
it was completely disgraced.
The sons and the daughters (were) in harsh captivity,
their neck in a seal, a spectacle among the gentiles.
He did (this) to them according to their sins,
so that He abandoned them to the hands of those who prevailed.
For He turned away His face from their mercy: (from) young and old and their children once again,
for they sinned once again by not listening.
And the heavens were weighed down, and the earth despised them,
for no one on (the earth) had done what they did.
And the earth shall know all your righteous judgments, O god.
They set up the sons of Jerusalem for derision because of her prostitutes.
Everyone passing by entered in broad daylight.
They derided their lawless actions even in comparison to what they themselves were doing;
before the sun they held up their unrighteousness to contempt.
And the daughters of Jerusalem were available to all, according to Your judgments,
because they defiled themselves with improper intercourse.
My heart and my belly are troubled over these things.
I shall prove You right, O God, in uprightness of heart; for Your judgments are right, O God.
For You have rewarded the sinners according to their actions,
and according to their extremely wicked sins.
You have exposed their sins, that Your judgment might be evident;
You have obliterated their memory from the earth.
God is a righteous judge and He will not be impressed by appearances.
For the gentiles insulted Jerusalem, trampling (her) down;
he/they dragged her beauty down from the throne of glory.
She put on sackcloth instead of beautiful clothes,
a rope around her head instead of a crown.
She took off the wreath of glory which God had put on her;
in dishonor her beauty was thrown to the ground.
And I saw and implored in the Lord's presence and said, "Let it be enough, Lord,
to make Your hand heavy on Jerusalem by bringing gentiles (upon her)."
For they ridiculed (her) and did not refrain in anger and vicious rage,
and they will be finished unless you, Lord, censure them ( = gentiles) in your anger.
For they have not done it in zeal, but in emotional passion,
to pour out their anger against us in plunder.
Do not delay, O god, to repay to them on (their) heards;
to declare dishonorable the arrogance of the dragon.
And I did not wait long until God showed me His insolence pierced on the mountains of Egypt,
more despised than the smallest thing on earth and sea.
His body was carried about on the waves in much shame,
and there was no one to bury (him) for He (God) had despised him with contempt.
He did not consider that he was a man, for the latter do not consider (this).
He said, "I shall be lord of land and sea"; and he did not understand that it is God who is great,
powerful in His great strength,
He is king over the heavens, judging even kings and rulers.
Raising me up to glory, but putting to sleep the arrogant for eternal destruction in dishonor,
because they did not know Him.
And now, officials of the earth, see the judgment of the Lord,
that He is a great and righteous King, judging what is under heaven.
Praise God, you who fear the Lord with understanding,
for the Lord's mercy is upon those who fear Him with judgment.
To separate between the righteous and the sinner
to repay sinners forever according to their actions
And to have mercy on the righteous (keeping him) from the humiliation of the sinner,
and to repay the sinner for what he has done to the righteous.
For the Lord is good to those who persistently call upon Him,
to treat His devout in accordnace with His mercy,
to bring them (constantly) before (Him) in strength.
Praised be the Lord forever before His servants.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Psalms of Solomon (included in Septuagint - Greek version of Bible)
Psalm of Solomon 1: 1 - 8 (versification and translation by R.B. Wright for OT Pseudipigrapha, Vol. 2: 651-670)
I cried out to the Lord when I was severely troubled, to God when sinners set upon (me).
Suddenly, the clamor of war was heard before me; "He will hear me, for I am full of righteousness."
I considered in my heart that I was full of righteousness, for I had prospered and had many children.
Their wealth was extended to the whole earth, and their glory to the end of the earth.
They exalted themselves to the stars, they said they would never fall.
They were arrogant in their possessions, and they did not acknowledge (God).
Their sins were in secret, and even I did not know.
Their lawless actions surpassed the gentiles before them; they completely profaned the sanctuary of the Lord.
I cried out to the Lord when I was severely troubled, to God when sinners set upon (me).
Suddenly, the clamor of war was heard before me; "He will hear me, for I am full of righteousness."
I considered in my heart that I was full of righteousness, for I had prospered and had many children.
Their wealth was extended to the whole earth, and their glory to the end of the earth.
They exalted themselves to the stars, they said they would never fall.
They were arrogant in their possessions, and they did not acknowledge (God).
Their sins were in secret, and even I did not know.
Their lawless actions surpassed the gentiles before them; they completely profaned the sanctuary of the Lord.
A funny thing happened on the way to stop a Qur'an burning (9/11/2010 -- in Amarillo, TX)
Posted at WIKI article about "Pastor" Terry Jones of Gainesville, FL and such threats to "burn the Qur'an" --
Also, in Texas, on the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, a group of protesters made up of Christians, Muslims, Buddhists and atheists gathered at Sam Houston Park in order to challenge the plan of evangelist David Grisham, director of Christian activist group Repent Amarillo, to burn the Qur'an on a grill (the book had been doused with kerosene). While Grisham was arguing with them, a 23-year-old skateboarder named Jacob Isom snuck up from behind, grabbed the Qur'an from Grisham's hands, and ran off after saying, "Dude, you have no Qur'an"; afterwards, Isom handed the book to a religious leader from the Islamic Center of Amarillo. Isom recalled that Grisham was "just trying to start the Holy Wars," while Grisham said that he was exercising his right to freedom of speech. Upon Grisham's Qur'an-burning plans being thwarted, he reportedly left the park; he later recalled, "I kind of expected the reaction." Enjoying a "hero" status, Isom took advantage of the publicity to appear on the High Times website and to be featured some months later in the magazine.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Jones_(pastor)#Pastor_Terry_Jones
Also, in Texas, on the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, a group of protesters made up of Christians, Muslims, Buddhists and atheists gathered at Sam Houston Park in order to challenge the plan of evangelist David Grisham, director of Christian activist group Repent Amarillo, to burn the Qur'an on a grill (the book had been doused with kerosene). While Grisham was arguing with them, a 23-year-old skateboarder named Jacob Isom snuck up from behind, grabbed the Qur'an from Grisham's hands, and ran off after saying, "Dude, you have no Qur'an"; afterwards, Isom handed the book to a religious leader from the Islamic Center of Amarillo. Isom recalled that Grisham was "just trying to start the Holy Wars," while Grisham said that he was exercising his right to freedom of speech. Upon Grisham's Qur'an-burning plans being thwarted, he reportedly left the park; he later recalled, "I kind of expected the reaction." Enjoying a "hero" status, Isom took advantage of the publicity to appear on the High Times website and to be featured some months later in the magazine.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Jones_(pastor)#Pastor_Terry_Jones
Gainesville Baptist leader gets Hyundai Accent for not burning 200 copies of Quran -- AP account
at New Brunswick, NJ -- story posted online.
A Florida pastor who drew international criticism by threatening to burn a copy of the Quran picked up a free car on Friday, his reward from a New Jersey car dealer for calling it off.
Former New York Giants tackle Brad Benson, who is now New Jersey's largest car dealer, offered Florida pastor Terry Jones a 2011 Hyundai Accent worth $14,200 if he would agree to never burn the Muslim holy book. Jones had threatened to do it on the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
Jones never burned the Quran. On Friday, the Gainesville, Fla., pastor arrived at Brad Benson Mitsubishi Hyundai in South Brunswick to collect a gray 2011 Hyundai Accent, which he promptly donated to a charity.
The pastor said the offer Benson made in one of his dealership's quirky radio ads was not the reason he decided to cancel the Quran burning, and that he only heard about it a few weeks after Sept. 11.
"We thought if he wants to give a car, then why not take it and pass it on to another nonprofit organization," Jones said. Jones donated the car to a Jersey City shelter that helps abused women.
Paul Johnson, the chief financial officer for Women Rising, said he was surprised to hear that the shelter was getting the car and under such unusual circumstances.
"I couldn't believe it at first, I thought it was a prank," Johnson said.
Benson added giant removable vinyl American flag-emblazoned peace signs on the hood and roof, which he said were meant as a "little jab" at Jones.
"I'm just really glad that in the end something really good came out of all this," Benson said.
Benson paid for the pastor to fly out to New Jersey so that Jones could fill out paperwork.
Security was tight on Friday at the dealership. Jones said he has received more than 100 death threats since he first said he would burn a Quran.
When Jones threatened to burn the Quran - which many Muslims would view as sacrilege - his plan drew opposition across the world.
President Barack Obama appealed to him on television, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates called him personally. Gen. David Petraeus, head of the U.S. mission in Afghanistan, said carrying out the plan would have endangered American troops.
The Quran commercial was part of a regular "idiot award" segment Benson does which singles out newsmakers. Others have included actress Lindsey Lohan, actor Mel Gibson and baseball star Roger Clemens.
A Florida pastor who drew international criticism by threatening to burn a copy of the Quran picked up a free car on Friday, his reward from a New Jersey car dealer for calling it off.
Former New York Giants tackle Brad Benson, who is now New Jersey's largest car dealer, offered Florida pastor Terry Jones a 2011 Hyundai Accent worth $14,200 if he would agree to never burn the Muslim holy book. Jones had threatened to do it on the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
Jones never burned the Quran. On Friday, the Gainesville, Fla., pastor arrived at Brad Benson Mitsubishi Hyundai in South Brunswick to collect a gray 2011 Hyundai Accent, which he promptly donated to a charity.
The pastor said the offer Benson made in one of his dealership's quirky radio ads was not the reason he decided to cancel the Quran burning, and that he only heard about it a few weeks after Sept. 11.
"We thought if he wants to give a car, then why not take it and pass it on to another nonprofit organization," Jones said. Jones donated the car to a Jersey City shelter that helps abused women.
Paul Johnson, the chief financial officer for Women Rising, said he was surprised to hear that the shelter was getting the car and under such unusual circumstances.
"I couldn't believe it at first, I thought it was a prank," Johnson said.
Benson added giant removable vinyl American flag-emblazoned peace signs on the hood and roof, which he said were meant as a "little jab" at Jones.
"I'm just really glad that in the end something really good came out of all this," Benson said.
Benson paid for the pastor to fly out to New Jersey so that Jones could fill out paperwork.
Security was tight on Friday at the dealership. Jones said he has received more than 100 death threats since he first said he would burn a Quran.
When Jones threatened to burn the Quran - which many Muslims would view as sacrilege - his plan drew opposition across the world.
President Barack Obama appealed to him on television, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates called him personally. Gen. David Petraeus, head of the U.S. mission in Afghanistan, said carrying out the plan would have endangered American troops.
The Quran commercial was part of a regular "idiot award" segment Benson does which singles out newsmakers. Others have included actress Lindsey Lohan, actor Mel Gibson and baseball star Roger Clemens.
Wed. Oct. 27 / Monday Nov. 1: two Michigan Blood Drive events
Lake Michigan College from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. will host in the Student Center, Bertrand Crossing campus a Michigan Blood Organization drive for students, faculty, and community members/public. The requirements are that you be 17 or more years old, weight at least 110 pounds, and be in good health. Certain facts-conditions do cause a temporary deferment: prior donation since 56 days before the drive; dental procedures, and certain vaccinations/exposure to sick individuals.
You may need to wait if . . .
•Allergies – You may donate if symptoms are under control.
•Colds & Flu – Wait until you have no fever and you feel well.
•Dental Work – Wait 2 to 6 weeks after major procedures; OK after fillings and cleanings if symptom-free.
•Infectious Diseases – Check with our Donor Services staff if exposed to any contagious disease (measles, chicken pox, mumps, mononucleosis, whooping cough) in the past 4-6 weeks.
•Pregnancy – Wait 6 weeks after delivery or interrupted pregnancy.
•Ear/Body Piercing – You may donate if piercing was done with a disposable device or in a doctor’s office; otherwise, wait 12 months.
•Tattoos – Wait 12 months.
•Syphilis or gonorrhea – Wait 12 months.
•Skin Infections – Wait until wounds or burns are healed and infection-free.
•Medications – Many are acceptable but you must know the exact name.
•Vaccinations – Flu / can donate; Other vaccinations / check with Donor Services staff.
At the start of November, the Berrien Springs High School Student Council will sponsor a Blood Drive from 7:30 a.m. until 3 p.m. -- in the School Gymnasium. On Monday, Nov. 1, walk-ins are welcomed and the eligible Junior and Senior students will be joining those of us who have given for many years even decades as those who opt to willingly share life and health with those in emergency need and surgeries that may save their lives!
You may need to wait if . . .
•Allergies – You may donate if symptoms are under control.
•Colds & Flu – Wait until you have no fever and you feel well.
•Dental Work – Wait 2 to 6 weeks after major procedures; OK after fillings and cleanings if symptom-free.
•Infectious Diseases – Check with our Donor Services staff if exposed to any contagious disease (measles, chicken pox, mumps, mononucleosis, whooping cough) in the past 4-6 weeks.
•Pregnancy – Wait 6 weeks after delivery or interrupted pregnancy.
•Ear/Body Piercing – You may donate if piercing was done with a disposable device or in a doctor’s office; otherwise, wait 12 months.
•Tattoos – Wait 12 months.
•Syphilis or gonorrhea – Wait 12 months.
•Skin Infections – Wait until wounds or burns are healed and infection-free.
•Medications – Many are acceptable but you must know the exact name.
•Vaccinations – Flu / can donate; Other vaccinations / check with Donor Services staff.
At the start of November, the Berrien Springs High School Student Council will sponsor a Blood Drive from 7:30 a.m. until 3 p.m. -- in the School Gymnasium. On Monday, Nov. 1, walk-ins are welcomed and the eligible Junior and Senior students will be joining those of us who have given for many years even decades as those who opt to willingly share life and health with those in emergency need and surgeries that may save their lives!
More on WikiLeaks and what they show about the Bush-Cheney War on Iraq (use of contractors & killings of Iraqis)
from NY TIMES online posted article:
The first shots sailed past Iraqi police officers at a checkpoint. They took off in three squad cars, their lights flashing. It was early in the Iraq war, Dec. 22, 2004, and it turned out that the shots came not from insurgents or criminals. They were fired by an American private security company named Custer Battles, according to an incident report in an archive of more than 300,000 classified military documents made public by WikiLeaks.
The company’s convoy sped south in Umm Qasr, a grubby port city near the Persian Gulf. It shot out the tire of a civilian car that came close. It fired five shots into a crowded minibus. The shooting stopped only after the Iraqi police, port security and a British military unit finally caught up with the convoy. Somehow no one had been hurt, and the contractors found a quick way to prevent messy disciplinary action. They handed out cash to Iraqi civilians, and left.
The documents sketch, in vivid detail, a critical change in the way America wages war: the early days of the Iraq war, with all its Wild West chaos, ushered in the era of the private contractor, wearing no uniform but fighting and dying in battle, gathering and disseminating intelligence and killing presumed insurgents.
There have been many abuses, including civilian deaths, to the point that the Afghan government is working to ban many outside contractors entirely. The use of security contractors is expected to grow as American forces shrink. A July report by the Commission on Wartime Contracting, a panel established by Congress, estimated that the State Department alone would need more than double the number of contractors it had protecting the American Embassy and consulates in Iraq.
Contractors were necessary at the start of the Iraq war because there simply were not enough soldiers to do the job. In 2004, their presence became the symbol for Iraq’s descent into chaos, when four contractors were killed in Falluja, their bodies left mangled and charred.
Even now — with many contractors discredited for unjustified shootings and a lack of accountability amply described in the documents — the military cannot do without them. There are more contractors over all than actual members of the military serving in the worsening war in Afghanistan.
The archive, which describes many episodes never made public in such detail, shows the multitude of shortcomings with this new system: how a failure to coordinate among contractors, coalition forces and Iraqi troops, as well as a failure to enforce rules of engagement that bind the military, endangered civilians as well as the contractors themselves. The military was often outright hostile to contractors, for being amateurish, overpaid and, often, trigger-happy.
Contractors often shot with little discrimination — and few if any consequences — at unarmed Iraqi civilians, Iraqi security forces, American troops and even other contractors, stirring public outrage and undermining much of what the coalition forces were sent to accomplish.
The mayhem cropped up around Iraq, notably in one episode reported in March 2005 in which a small battle erupted involving three separate security companies.
At a notoriously dangerous checkpoint on the main road to the Baghdad airport, a cement truck entered a lane reserved for Department of Defense vehicles. A guard from Global, a British company, fired a warning shot, and when a man initially identified as an Iraqi opened the door and tried to flee, guards from a tower started firing, too. The man dropped to the ground. Then members of an Iraqi private security team parked nearby also opened fire, shooting through the chest not the driver but a worker from DynCorp International, an American security company.
When the truck driver was finally questioned, he turned out to be a Filipino named José who worked with yet a third company, KBR, the American logistics and security giant.
The conclusion drawn from this chaos was, “IT IS BELIEVED THE DRIVER ENTERED THE DOD LANE BY ACCIDENT.” For all the contractors’ bravado — Iraq was packed with beefy men with beards and flak jackets — and for all the debates about their necessity, it is clear from the documents that the contractors appeared notably ineffective at keeping themselves and the people they were paid to protect from being killed.
In fact, the documents seem to confirm a common observation on the ground during those years in Iraq: far from providing insurance against sudden death, the easily identifiable, surprisingly vulnerable pickup trucks and S.U.V.’s driven by the security companies were magnets for insurgents, militias, disgruntled Iraqis and anyone else in search of a target.
Most of the documents are incident reports and match what is known of the few cases that have been made public, although even this cache is unlikely to be a complete record of incidents involving contractors. During the six years covered by the reports, at least 175 private security contractors were killed. The peak appeared to come in 2006, when 53 died. Insurgents and other malefactors kidnapped at least 70 security contractors, many of whom were later killed. Aegis, a British security company, had the most workers reported killed, more than 30. Most of those were Iraqi drivers, guards and other employees. Not only the military, but journalists and aid workers as well relied on contractors to help protect them.
The security contractors seemed overmatched, often incinerated or torn apart by explosions their vehicles had no chance of warding off. In August 2004, the corpses of two men who had worked with Custer Battles were found charred and abandoned in a truck that was still burning on the road between Tikrit and Mosul, after it was struck by an improvised explosive device and fired upon from a Volkswagen, one report said.
In July 2007, another report said, two were killed when a gun truck operated by ArmorGroup, a British company, flew like a wobbling discus 54 yards through the air, flipping approximately six times, after a huge I.E.D. exploded beneath it in northern Iraq.
And in May 2009, three Americans, including a senior Navy officer, were killed outside Falluja when an I.E.D. overturned a vehicle escorted by Aegis contractors during a visit to a water treatment plant financed by the United States, according to another report and American government statements at the time.
Death came suddenly, from all sides, in all forms.
In late 2004 in Tikrit, seven men emerged from two Daewoo vehicles and mowed down Iraqi workers for Buckmaster, a company hired to destroy old munitions, as the workers got out of a bus, a report said. The gunmen did not flee until they ran out of ammunition, killing 17 and wounding 20 as two Iraqis saved themselves by hiding under seats in the bus.
There were suicide bombings, desert ambushes, aviation disasters and self-inflicted wounds, as when a Ugandan guard working for EOD Technology, an American company, shot and killed his South African supervisor and then himself in 2008 after being terminated, a report said.
The first shots sailed past Iraqi police officers at a checkpoint. They took off in three squad cars, their lights flashing. It was early in the Iraq war, Dec. 22, 2004, and it turned out that the shots came not from insurgents or criminals. They were fired by an American private security company named Custer Battles, according to an incident report in an archive of more than 300,000 classified military documents made public by WikiLeaks.
The company’s convoy sped south in Umm Qasr, a grubby port city near the Persian Gulf. It shot out the tire of a civilian car that came close. It fired five shots into a crowded minibus. The shooting stopped only after the Iraqi police, port security and a British military unit finally caught up with the convoy. Somehow no one had been hurt, and the contractors found a quick way to prevent messy disciplinary action. They handed out cash to Iraqi civilians, and left.
The documents sketch, in vivid detail, a critical change in the way America wages war: the early days of the Iraq war, with all its Wild West chaos, ushered in the era of the private contractor, wearing no uniform but fighting and dying in battle, gathering and disseminating intelligence and killing presumed insurgents.
There have been many abuses, including civilian deaths, to the point that the Afghan government is working to ban many outside contractors entirely. The use of security contractors is expected to grow as American forces shrink. A July report by the Commission on Wartime Contracting, a panel established by Congress, estimated that the State Department alone would need more than double the number of contractors it had protecting the American Embassy and consulates in Iraq.
Contractors were necessary at the start of the Iraq war because there simply were not enough soldiers to do the job. In 2004, their presence became the symbol for Iraq’s descent into chaos, when four contractors were killed in Falluja, their bodies left mangled and charred.
Even now — with many contractors discredited for unjustified shootings and a lack of accountability amply described in the documents — the military cannot do without them. There are more contractors over all than actual members of the military serving in the worsening war in Afghanistan.
The archive, which describes many episodes never made public in such detail, shows the multitude of shortcomings with this new system: how a failure to coordinate among contractors, coalition forces and Iraqi troops, as well as a failure to enforce rules of engagement that bind the military, endangered civilians as well as the contractors themselves. The military was often outright hostile to contractors, for being amateurish, overpaid and, often, trigger-happy.
Contractors often shot with little discrimination — and few if any consequences — at unarmed Iraqi civilians, Iraqi security forces, American troops and even other contractors, stirring public outrage and undermining much of what the coalition forces were sent to accomplish.
The mayhem cropped up around Iraq, notably in one episode reported in March 2005 in which a small battle erupted involving three separate security companies.
At a notoriously dangerous checkpoint on the main road to the Baghdad airport, a cement truck entered a lane reserved for Department of Defense vehicles. A guard from Global, a British company, fired a warning shot, and when a man initially identified as an Iraqi opened the door and tried to flee, guards from a tower started firing, too. The man dropped to the ground. Then members of an Iraqi private security team parked nearby also opened fire, shooting through the chest not the driver but a worker from DynCorp International, an American security company.
When the truck driver was finally questioned, he turned out to be a Filipino named José who worked with yet a third company, KBR, the American logistics and security giant.
The conclusion drawn from this chaos was, “IT IS BELIEVED THE DRIVER ENTERED THE DOD LANE BY ACCIDENT.” For all the contractors’ bravado — Iraq was packed with beefy men with beards and flak jackets — and for all the debates about their necessity, it is clear from the documents that the contractors appeared notably ineffective at keeping themselves and the people they were paid to protect from being killed.
In fact, the documents seem to confirm a common observation on the ground during those years in Iraq: far from providing insurance against sudden death, the easily identifiable, surprisingly vulnerable pickup trucks and S.U.V.’s driven by the security companies were magnets for insurgents, militias, disgruntled Iraqis and anyone else in search of a target.
Most of the documents are incident reports and match what is known of the few cases that have been made public, although even this cache is unlikely to be a complete record of incidents involving contractors. During the six years covered by the reports, at least 175 private security contractors were killed. The peak appeared to come in 2006, when 53 died. Insurgents and other malefactors kidnapped at least 70 security contractors, many of whom were later killed. Aegis, a British security company, had the most workers reported killed, more than 30. Most of those were Iraqi drivers, guards and other employees. Not only the military, but journalists and aid workers as well relied on contractors to help protect them.
The security contractors seemed overmatched, often incinerated or torn apart by explosions their vehicles had no chance of warding off. In August 2004, the corpses of two men who had worked with Custer Battles were found charred and abandoned in a truck that was still burning on the road between Tikrit and Mosul, after it was struck by an improvised explosive device and fired upon from a Volkswagen, one report said.
In July 2007, another report said, two were killed when a gun truck operated by ArmorGroup, a British company, flew like a wobbling discus 54 yards through the air, flipping approximately six times, after a huge I.E.D. exploded beneath it in northern Iraq.
And in May 2009, three Americans, including a senior Navy officer, were killed outside Falluja when an I.E.D. overturned a vehicle escorted by Aegis contractors during a visit to a water treatment plant financed by the United States, according to another report and American government statements at the time.
Death came suddenly, from all sides, in all forms.
In late 2004 in Tikrit, seven men emerged from two Daewoo vehicles and mowed down Iraqi workers for Buckmaster, a company hired to destroy old munitions, as the workers got out of a bus, a report said. The gunmen did not flee until they ran out of ammunition, killing 17 and wounding 20 as two Iraqis saved themselves by hiding under seats in the bus.
There were suicide bombings, desert ambushes, aviation disasters and self-inflicted wounds, as when a Ugandan guard working for EOD Technology, an American company, shot and killed his South African supervisor and then himself in 2008 after being terminated, a report said.
Niles youth who murdered grandfather will be sentenced Monday to Life without Parole (Dakotah Eliason)
from coverage in South Bend Tribune online:
Family to speak against anticipated life without parole sentence for teen.
By TOM MOOR Tribune Staff Writer
NILES — Even if 15-year-old Dakotah Eliason is sentenced to life in prison without parole as scheduled Monday (October 25, 2010), it doesn't appear you've heard the last of his case. After the sentencing in Berrien County Trial Court, the family and attorney of Dakotah plan to hold a news conference to speak out against such judgments for juveniles.
Scott Elliott, Democratic candidate for Michigan State Senate for District 21, also will read a statement afterward to push for legislation to abolish the sentencing of juveniles to life without parole.
Dakotah was convicted of first-degree murder in August for fatally shooting his grandfather Jesse Miles in March. His original sentencing date of Oct. 4 was adjourned after defense attorney Lanny Fisher filed a brief stating sentencing a juvenile to life in prison without parole is unconstitutional.
First-degree murder convictions in Michigan come with an automatic life in prison without parole sentence, and do not give judges discretion when sentencing.
Fisher's main argument surrounds the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which states that cruel and unusual punishment is against the law. Fisher said sending a 14-year-old to prison for the rest of his life would qualify. He also referenced Article 37 of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Convention on the Rights of the Child. Article 37 essentially bans life in prison without parole for juveniles and has been signed by 180 countries, not including the United States.
According to a news release, Elliott has vowed to work to end such sentences if elected.
"He agrees that even teenagers must be held accountable for violent crimes, but he said that disallowing the possibility of rehabilitation and eventual release by sentencing children to die in prison is unworthy of any civilized society," according to the news release.
Michigan currently has the second highest percentage of juveniles serving life without parole and is one of 14 states in the country that allows such sentences.
The Michigan House of Representatives passed bills last year abolishing sentencing juveniles to life without parole, but they were not taken up by the state Senate. John Proos, the Republican candidate for the District 21 seat, was unavailable for comment.
Separate psychologists found nothing mentally wrong with Dakotah leading up to the trial. The boy reportedly spent several hours contemplating whether and how to kill his grandfather, and thought about killing his grandmother at one point as well.
Family to speak against anticipated life without parole sentence for teen.
By TOM MOOR Tribune Staff Writer
NILES — Even if 15-year-old Dakotah Eliason is sentenced to life in prison without parole as scheduled Monday (October 25, 2010), it doesn't appear you've heard the last of his case. After the sentencing in Berrien County Trial Court, the family and attorney of Dakotah plan to hold a news conference to speak out against such judgments for juveniles.
Scott Elliott, Democratic candidate for Michigan State Senate for District 21, also will read a statement afterward to push for legislation to abolish the sentencing of juveniles to life without parole.
Dakotah was convicted of first-degree murder in August for fatally shooting his grandfather Jesse Miles in March. His original sentencing date of Oct. 4 was adjourned after defense attorney Lanny Fisher filed a brief stating sentencing a juvenile to life in prison without parole is unconstitutional.
First-degree murder convictions in Michigan come with an automatic life in prison without parole sentence, and do not give judges discretion when sentencing.
Fisher's main argument surrounds the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which states that cruel and unusual punishment is against the law. Fisher said sending a 14-year-old to prison for the rest of his life would qualify. He also referenced Article 37 of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Convention on the Rights of the Child. Article 37 essentially bans life in prison without parole for juveniles and has been signed by 180 countries, not including the United States.
According to a news release, Elliott has vowed to work to end such sentences if elected.
"He agrees that even teenagers must be held accountable for violent crimes, but he said that disallowing the possibility of rehabilitation and eventual release by sentencing children to die in prison is unworthy of any civilized society," according to the news release.
Michigan currently has the second highest percentage of juveniles serving life without parole and is one of 14 states in the country that allows such sentences.
The Michigan House of Representatives passed bills last year abolishing sentencing juveniles to life without parole, but they were not taken up by the state Senate. John Proos, the Republican candidate for the District 21 seat, was unavailable for comment.
Separate psychologists found nothing mentally wrong with Dakotah leading up to the trial. The boy reportedly spent several hours contemplating whether and how to kill his grandfather, and thought about killing his grandmother at one point as well.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Oct. 22 new WIKILEAKS revelation -- bombshell of "secret death counts" (Iraq conflict 2004 - 9)
from Christian Science Monitor summarization (Friday online posting)
While American and British officials have long denied any official record of civilian deaths, the WikiLeaks documents reveal an official record of 66,081 noncombatant deaths out of a total of 109,000 fatalities from Jan. 1, 2004, to Dec. 31, 2009.
According to The New York Times, which also had early access to the WikiLeaks files, the death count appears to be greater than the numbers made public by the United States during the Bush administration. It falls roughly in line with independent estimates by Iraq Body Count, which was repeatedly discredited by the Bush administration.
According to The Guardian, another news organization with early access to the files, Public Interest Lawyers is looking to use the WikiLeaks material "in court to try to force the UK to hold a public inquiry into the unlawful killing of Iraqi civilians."
While American and British officials have long denied any official record of civilian deaths, the WikiLeaks documents reveal an official record of 66,081 noncombatant deaths out of a total of 109,000 fatalities from Jan. 1, 2004, to Dec. 31, 2009.
According to The New York Times, which also had early access to the WikiLeaks files, the death count appears to be greater than the numbers made public by the United States during the Bush administration. It falls roughly in line with independent estimates by Iraq Body Count, which was repeatedly discredited by the Bush administration.
According to The Guardian, another news organization with early access to the files, Public Interest Lawyers is looking to use the WikiLeaks material "in court to try to force the UK to hold a public inquiry into the unlawful killing of Iraqi civilians."
Health Officials fear a cholera epidemic from rural Haiti (Oct. 22, 2010)
By Joseph Guyler Delva (journalist-investigator)
PORT-AU-PRINCE
Fri Oct 22, 2010 6:26pm EDT
(Reuters) - Quake-hit Haiti and its aid partners fought on Friday to stem a cholera epidemic that has killed over 150 people and sickened hundreds, with experts saying more cases could be expected before it was contained. Although the main outbreak area was north of Port-au-Prince, which bore the brunt of the January 12 earthquake, humanitarian agencies were on high alert to prevent the disease from spreading to crowded survivors' camps in the capital.
The cholera epidemic, which had already affected more than 1,500 people in central Haiti, was the worst medical emergency to strike the poor, disaster-prone Caribbean nation since the devastating earthquake that killed up to 300,000 people. It was also the first cholera epidemic in Haiti in a century, the World Health Organization said. But no cases had been reported in Haiti's rubble-strewn capital, where 1.3 million quake homeless are living in tent cities. Health teams were closely monitoring the survivor camps and oral rehydration liquids were being prepared for quick use.
The Pan American Health Organization, the regional office for the WHO, said it had deployed medical teams, medicines and clean water to the outbreak zone around Saint-Marc in the central Artibonite region, and to the Central Plateau to deal with more cases of the virulent diarrheal disease. If left untreated, it can kill victims in hours through dehydration. "We expect it to get bigger, we have to expect that," PAHO Deputy Director Jon Andrus told a briefing in Washington. He added the neighboring Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, should be alert to the risk of cholera spreading across the border.
"So far, we have more than 1,500 cases and the number is increasing, and more than 150 deaths that we have confirmed," Dr. Carleene Dei, Haiti mission director for the U.S. Agency for International Development, said in a teleconference.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE69L21520101022?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FworldNews+(News+%2F+US+%2F+International
PORT-AU-PRINCE
Fri Oct 22, 2010 6:26pm EDT
(Reuters) - Quake-hit Haiti and its aid partners fought on Friday to stem a cholera epidemic that has killed over 150 people and sickened hundreds, with experts saying more cases could be expected before it was contained. Although the main outbreak area was north of Port-au-Prince, which bore the brunt of the January 12 earthquake, humanitarian agencies were on high alert to prevent the disease from spreading to crowded survivors' camps in the capital.
The cholera epidemic, which had already affected more than 1,500 people in central Haiti, was the worst medical emergency to strike the poor, disaster-prone Caribbean nation since the devastating earthquake that killed up to 300,000 people. It was also the first cholera epidemic in Haiti in a century, the World Health Organization said. But no cases had been reported in Haiti's rubble-strewn capital, where 1.3 million quake homeless are living in tent cities. Health teams were closely monitoring the survivor camps and oral rehydration liquids were being prepared for quick use.
The Pan American Health Organization, the regional office for the WHO, said it had deployed medical teams, medicines and clean water to the outbreak zone around Saint-Marc in the central Artibonite region, and to the Central Plateau to deal with more cases of the virulent diarrheal disease. If left untreated, it can kill victims in hours through dehydration. "We expect it to get bigger, we have to expect that," PAHO Deputy Director Jon Andrus told a briefing in Washington. He added the neighboring Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, should be alert to the risk of cholera spreading across the border.
"So far, we have more than 1,500 cases and the number is increasing, and more than 150 deaths that we have confirmed," Dr. Carleene Dei, Haiti mission director for the U.S. Agency for International Development, said in a teleconference.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE69L21520101022?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FworldNews+(News+%2F+US+%2F+International
Should NPR have fired Juan Williams for comments made on Bill O'Reilly talk show?
NPR commentator Juan Williams was fired by the media organization late Wednesday after he said on Fox News's "O'Reilly Factor" that he gets nervous when he sees people in Muslim dress on planes. Was NPR right to fire Williams?
asked in Washingtonpost dot-com online poll --
Results as of 7:50 p.m. Friday night = out of 13,835 online votes 74% said "No" and 25% said "Yes"
asked in Washingtonpost dot-com online poll --
Results as of 7:50 p.m. Friday night = out of 13,835 online votes 74% said "No" and 25% said "Yes"
Influence of IV Maccabees -- David deSilva "Introduction"
from the 2006 Septuagint Commentary series volume -- 4 Maccabees: Introduction and Commentary on the Greek Text in Codex Sinaiticus -- excerpts from pages xxxi - xxxviii (Brill Academic Publishers)
4 Maccabees appears to have exerted little influence within Judaism in the second century and beyond. The author of Lamentations Rabbah, which presents the story of the martyrdom of Miriam bat Tanhum and her seven sons under Hadrian, appears to have know the story of 4 Maccabees. The promises of the ancestors are held to bind the descendants (the martyrs), as if they had themselves sworn as well as in 4 Maccabees 5:29. . .The mother compares herself to Abraham, much as the mother of the seven sons is praised as the "woman of the same soul as Abraham" in 4 Macc. 14:20 (also 15:28 and 17:6), showing the growth of this tradition to a contest of "one-upmanship" between the mother and the patriarch: "You built one altar and did not sacrifice your son, but I built seven altars and sacrificed my sons on them. And for that matter, yours was a trial but mine was a fact" (Lamentations Rabbah 1:16). . .
Because of the possibility that 4 Maccabees was written later than many of the NT documents, it is difficult to speak decisively about "influence" on the apostolic church in earliest decades. . .The Pastoral epistles share with 4 Maccabees the conviction that "desires," a subset of the "passions" impede moral virtue (2 Timothy 2:22; 3:6; Titus 2:12; 3:3; 4 Macc. 1:1, 3, 31-32; 2:1-6; 3:2), the elevation of "self-control" and "piety," the rare word "incontrovertibility" (I Timothy 3:16; 4 Maccabees 6:31; 7:16; 16:1) and the designation of the struggle to keep "faith" as a "noble contest" (I Timothy 6:12; 2 Timothy 4:7; 4 Macc. 16:16, 22). Against 4 Maccabees, the Pastor (author of the Pastoral Letters/Epistles) asserts that the distinction between clean and unclean food is meaningless rather than a God-given expedient for the inculcation of virtue and a suitable diet (I Timothy 4:3-5; versus 4 Macc. 1:31-35; 5:25-26). . .Scholars never fail to observe that the Maccabean martyrs stand among the exemplars of faith in the Letter to the Hebrews (see 11:35b), referring consistently to 2 Maccabees 6:18 - 7:42 (resurrection is featured in both but is absent from 4 Maccabees; the verb used in Hebrews 11:35 for "torture" recalls specifically the t-y-m-p-a-n-o-n upon which Eleazar is executed in 2 Macc. 6:19, 28; while "release" from torture is also prominent in 4 Maccabees 6:12 - 23; 9:16, it is not absent from 2 Maccabees, as in 7:1-2,7). However, there are numerous connections with the tradition of the martyrs in 4 Maccabees as well throughout the sermon (chapter 11, Letter to the Hebrews). Both conceive of p-i-s-t-i-s (i.e. faith) in terms of faithfulness toward God and fixedness in regard to God's promises, and all this specifically within the context of the inviolable obligations of beneficiaries to their benefactor (4 Macc. 16: 18-22; Hebrews 6:4 - 8, 12; 10:29- 31, 39; 11:6; 12:28; 13:17). Hebrews also introduces (usually in terms of "abiding," "lasting") throughout his discourse (especially 11:24-27), reflecting the same antithesis that figures so prominently in the martyrs' deliberations (4 Maccabees 13:14 - 17; 15:2- 8, 27). . .The benedictions in Hebrews 13:21 and 4 Maccabees 18:24 are almost identical, though this last parallel is the least impressive since it could easily arise from independent development of a common liturgical formula. . .Influence on Christian martyrologies continues to be felt into the third and fourth centuries. . .The example of the mother in 4 Maccabees appears to have left its stamp upon the portrayal of several female martyrs. In Martyrdom of Montanus and Lucius 16: 3-4, the mother of these two martyrs is praised as a "daughter of Abraham," and is addressed in apostrophe: "O mother, dutiful in regard to piety!. . .O Maccabean mother!" The vocabulary, the rhetorical convention of apostrophe and the direct reference to the story of the Maccabean mother all point to the author's familiarity with 4 Maccabees 14:10 - 17:6. Among the martyrs of Lyons, Blandina is likened to "a well-born mother who had encouraged her children and sent them as victorious ones to the King, while also having measured out to her all the contests of her children, she sped after them" (Eusebius, History of the Church V.i.55). Her role in those martyrdoms is very similar to the role of the mother in 4 Maccabees, providing encouragement for the other martyrs even while suffering herself (though psychologically and emotionally in 4 Maccabees, and not physically, as in Eusebius' account), before going to death herself at the last. . .Tertullian's "On Patience" 13 moves from a discussion of patience with simple diet and drink, patience in regard to controlling sexual desires, and finally climaxing in a discussion of patience under physical torture and execution, "the final proof of blessedness." It is noteworthy that 4 Maccabees moves through such a gradatio as well, focusing first on "self-control" in regard to diet (1:31-35), then sexual drives (2:1-6), through a variety of other passions, and finally to the "proof of the pudding" in the martrys' mastery of physical pain.
4 Maccabees appears to have exerted little influence within Judaism in the second century and beyond. The author of Lamentations Rabbah, which presents the story of the martyrdom of Miriam bat Tanhum and her seven sons under Hadrian, appears to have know the story of 4 Maccabees. The promises of the ancestors are held to bind the descendants (the martyrs), as if they had themselves sworn as well as in 4 Maccabees 5:29. . .The mother compares herself to Abraham, much as the mother of the seven sons is praised as the "woman of the same soul as Abraham" in 4 Macc. 14:20 (also 15:28 and 17:6), showing the growth of this tradition to a contest of "one-upmanship" between the mother and the patriarch: "You built one altar and did not sacrifice your son, but I built seven altars and sacrificed my sons on them. And for that matter, yours was a trial but mine was a fact" (Lamentations Rabbah 1:16). . .
Because of the possibility that 4 Maccabees was written later than many of the NT documents, it is difficult to speak decisively about "influence" on the apostolic church in earliest decades. . .The Pastoral epistles share with 4 Maccabees the conviction that "desires," a subset of the "passions" impede moral virtue (2 Timothy 2:22; 3:6; Titus 2:12; 3:3; 4 Macc. 1:1, 3, 31-32; 2:1-6; 3:2), the elevation of "self-control" and "piety," the rare word "incontrovertibility" (I Timothy 3:16; 4 Maccabees 6:31; 7:16; 16:1) and the designation of the struggle to keep "faith" as a "noble contest" (I Timothy 6:12; 2 Timothy 4:7; 4 Macc. 16:16, 22). Against 4 Maccabees, the Pastor (author of the Pastoral Letters/Epistles) asserts that the distinction between clean and unclean food is meaningless rather than a God-given expedient for the inculcation of virtue and a suitable diet (I Timothy 4:3-5; versus 4 Macc. 1:31-35; 5:25-26). . .Scholars never fail to observe that the Maccabean martyrs stand among the exemplars of faith in the Letter to the Hebrews (see 11:35b), referring consistently to 2 Maccabees 6:18 - 7:42 (resurrection is featured in both but is absent from 4 Maccabees; the verb used in Hebrews 11:35 for "torture" recalls specifically the t-y-m-p-a-n-o-n upon which Eleazar is executed in 2 Macc. 6:19, 28; while "release" from torture is also prominent in 4 Maccabees 6:12 - 23; 9:16, it is not absent from 2 Maccabees, as in 7:1-2,7). However, there are numerous connections with the tradition of the martyrs in 4 Maccabees as well throughout the sermon (chapter 11, Letter to the Hebrews). Both conceive of p-i-s-t-i-s (i.e. faith) in terms of faithfulness toward God and fixedness in regard to God's promises, and all this specifically within the context of the inviolable obligations of beneficiaries to their benefactor (4 Macc. 16: 18-22; Hebrews 6:4 - 8, 12; 10:29- 31, 39; 11:6; 12:28; 13:17). Hebrews also introduces (usually in terms of "abiding," "lasting") throughout his discourse (especially 11:24-27), reflecting the same antithesis that figures so prominently in the martyrs' deliberations (4 Maccabees 13:14 - 17; 15:2- 8, 27). . .The benedictions in Hebrews 13:21 and 4 Maccabees 18:24 are almost identical, though this last parallel is the least impressive since it could easily arise from independent development of a common liturgical formula. . .Influence on Christian martyrologies continues to be felt into the third and fourth centuries. . .The example of the mother in 4 Maccabees appears to have left its stamp upon the portrayal of several female martyrs. In Martyrdom of Montanus and Lucius 16: 3-4, the mother of these two martyrs is praised as a "daughter of Abraham," and is addressed in apostrophe: "O mother, dutiful in regard to piety!. . .O Maccabean mother!" The vocabulary, the rhetorical convention of apostrophe and the direct reference to the story of the Maccabean mother all point to the author's familiarity with 4 Maccabees 14:10 - 17:6. Among the martyrs of Lyons, Blandina is likened to "a well-born mother who had encouraged her children and sent them as victorious ones to the King, while also having measured out to her all the contests of her children, she sped after them" (Eusebius, History of the Church V.i.55). Her role in those martyrdoms is very similar to the role of the mother in 4 Maccabees, providing encouragement for the other martyrs even while suffering herself (though psychologically and emotionally in 4 Maccabees, and not physically, as in Eusebius' account), before going to death herself at the last. . .Tertullian's "On Patience" 13 moves from a discussion of patience with simple diet and drink, patience in regard to controlling sexual desires, and finally climaxing in a discussion of patience under physical torture and execution, "the final proof of blessedness." It is noteworthy that 4 Maccabees moves through such a gradatio as well, focusing first on "self-control" in regard to diet (1:31-35), then sexual drives (2:1-6), through a variety of other passions, and finally to the "proof of the pudding" in the martrys' mastery of physical pain.
IV Maccabees chapter 18
18: 6 - 24 (NRSV Translation, 1989) -- the mother's last words and the entire book's conclusion
The mother of seven sons expressed also these principles to her children: "I was a pure virgin and did not go outside my father's house; but I guarded the rib from which woman was made/ the rib that was built. No seducer corrupted me on a desert plain, nor did the destroyer, the deceitful serpent, defile the purity of my virginity. In the time of my maturity I remained with my husband, and when these sons had grown up their father died. A happy man was he, who lived out his life with good children, and did not have the grief of bereavement. While he was still with you, he taught you the Law and the Prophets. He read to you about Abel slain by Cain, and Isaac who was offered as a burnt offering, and about Joseph in prison. He told you of the zeal of Phinehas, and he taought you about Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael in the fire. He praised Daniel in the den of the lions and blessed him. He reminded you of the scripture of Isaiah, which says, 'Even though you go through the fire, the flame shall not consume you' (Isaiah 43:2). He sang to you songs of the psalmist David, who said, 'Many are the afflications of the righteous' (Psalm 34:19). He recounted to you Solomon's proverb, 'There is a tree of life for those who do His will' (Proverbs 3:18 modified). He confirmed the query of Ezekiel, 'Shall these dry bones live?' (Ezekiel 37:2-3) For he did not forget to teach you the song that Moses taught, which says, 'I kill and I make alive: this is your life and the length of your days' (Deuteronomy 32:39)."
O bitter was that day -- and yet not bitter -- when that bitter tyrant of the Greeks quenched fire with fire in his cruel caldrons, and in his burning rage brought those seven sons of the daughter of Abraham to the catapult and back again to more/to all his tortures pierced the pupils of their eyes and cut out their tongues, and put them to death with various tortures. For these crimes divine justice pursued and will pursue the accursed tyrant. But the sons of Abraham with their victorious mother are gathered together into the chorus of the fathers, and have received pure and immortal/victorious souls from God, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
The mother of seven sons expressed also these principles to her children: "I was a pure virgin and did not go outside my father's house; but I guarded the rib from which woman was made/ the rib that was built. No seducer corrupted me on a desert plain, nor did the destroyer, the deceitful serpent, defile the purity of my virginity. In the time of my maturity I remained with my husband, and when these sons had grown up their father died. A happy man was he, who lived out his life with good children, and did not have the grief of bereavement. While he was still with you, he taught you the Law and the Prophets. He read to you about Abel slain by Cain, and Isaac who was offered as a burnt offering, and about Joseph in prison. He told you of the zeal of Phinehas, and he taought you about Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael in the fire. He praised Daniel in the den of the lions and blessed him. He reminded you of the scripture of Isaiah, which says, 'Even though you go through the fire, the flame shall not consume you' (Isaiah 43:2). He sang to you songs of the psalmist David, who said, 'Many are the afflications of the righteous' (Psalm 34:19). He recounted to you Solomon's proverb, 'There is a tree of life for those who do His will' (Proverbs 3:18 modified). He confirmed the query of Ezekiel, 'Shall these dry bones live?' (Ezekiel 37:2-3) For he did not forget to teach you the song that Moses taught, which says, 'I kill and I make alive: this is your life and the length of your days' (Deuteronomy 32:39)."
O bitter was that day -- and yet not bitter -- when that bitter tyrant of the Greeks quenched fire with fire in his cruel caldrons, and in his burning rage brought those seven sons of the daughter of Abraham to the catapult and back again to more/to all his tortures pierced the pupils of their eyes and cut out their tongues, and put them to death with various tortures. For these crimes divine justice pursued and will pursue the accursed tyrant. But the sons of Abraham with their victorious mother are gathered together into the chorus of the fathers, and have received pure and immortal/victorious souls from God, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Kitchen Garden Fall Harvest (White House, Washington, D.C.) - mid-October
from blog here in Google Blogger (Obama Food-o-rama):
First Lady Michelle Obama's 2010 Fall Harvest of the Kitchen Garden was a full-circle experience in the critical links of the food chain. On Wednesday afternoon, joined by thirty fifth graders from Bancroft and Tubman Elementary Schools and a handful of acclaimed guest chefs, Mrs. Obama led a veggie-gathering extravaganza in the 1,500 square foot garden, which included harvesting the first-ever presidential pumpkins. The kids also got a lesson in food preservation, with a garden-side pickling class from Executive Pastry Chef Bill Yosses. That was followed by a fresh feast, as the kids and chefs dined, family style, on the very fresh produce, also garden side. Throughout, the kids heard about why what they were experiencing was not only special, but vitally important!
photo and more details at this web location : http://obamafoodorama.blogspot.com/2010/10/white-house-kitchen-garden-fall-harvest.html
First Lady Michelle Obama's 2010 Fall Harvest of the Kitchen Garden was a full-circle experience in the critical links of the food chain. On Wednesday afternoon, joined by thirty fifth graders from Bancroft and Tubman Elementary Schools and a handful of acclaimed guest chefs, Mrs. Obama led a veggie-gathering extravaganza in the 1,500 square foot garden, which included harvesting the first-ever presidential pumpkins. The kids also got a lesson in food preservation, with a garden-side pickling class from Executive Pastry Chef Bill Yosses. That was followed by a fresh feast, as the kids and chefs dined, family style, on the very fresh produce, also garden side. Throughout, the kids heard about why what they were experiencing was not only special, but vitally important!
photo and more details at this web location : http://obamafoodorama.blogspot.com/2010/10/white-house-kitchen-garden-fall-harvest.html
IV Maccabees 17
17: 2 - 18: 5 (Panegyric on the mother: NRSV Translation, 1989)
O mother, who with your seven nullified the violence of the tyrant, frustrated his evil designs, and showed the courage of your faith! Nobly set like a roof on the pillars of your sons, you held firm and unswerving against the earthquake of the tortures. Take courage, therefore, holy-minded mother, maintaining firm an enduring hope in God. The moon in heaven, with the stars, does not stand so august as you, who, after lighting the way of your star-like seven sons to piety, stand in honor before God and are firmly set in heaven with them. for your children were true descendants of father Abraham / for your childbearing was from Abraham, the father/servant.
If it were possible for us to paint the history of your religion as an artist might, would not those who first beheld it have shuddered as they saw the mother of the seven children enduring their varied tortures to death for the sake of religion? Indeed it would be proper to inscribe on their tomb these words as a reminder to the people of our nation: "HERE LIE BURIED an aged priest and an aged woman and seven sons, because of the violence of the tyrant who wished to destroy the way of life of the Hebrews. They vindicated their nation, looking to God and enduring torture even to death."
Truly the contest in which they were engaged was divine, for on that day virtue gave the awards and tested them for their endurance. The prize was immortality in endless life. Eleazar was the first contestant, the mother of the seven sons entered the competition, and the brothers contended. The tyrant was the antagonist, and the world and the human race were the spectators. Reverence for God was victor and gave the crown to its own athletes. who did not admire the athletes of the divine/true legislation? Who were not amazed?
The tyrant himself and all his council marveled at their endurance/virtue and endurance; because of which they now stand before the divine throne and live the life of eternal blessedness. For Moses says, "All who are consecrated are under your hands" (Deuteronomy 33:3, LXX). These, then who have been consecrated for the sake of God, are honored, not only with this honor, but also by the fact that because of them our enemies did not rule over our nation, the tyrant was punished, and the homeland purified -- they having become, as it were, a ransom for the sin of our nation. And through the blood of those devout ones and their death as an atoning sacrifice, divine Providence preserved Israel that previously had been mistreated.
For the tyrant Antiochus, when he saw the courage of their virtue and their endurance under the tortures, proclaimed them to his soldiers as an example for their own endurance, and this made them brave and courageous for infantry battle and siege, and he ravaged and conquered all his enemies.
(18:1) O Israelite children, offspring of the seed of Abraham, obey this law and exercise piety in every way, knowing that devout reason is master of all emotions, not only of sufferings from within, but also of those from without.
Therefore those who gave over their bodies in suffering for the sake of religion were not only admired by mortals, but also were deemed worthy to share in a divine inheritance. Because of them the nation gained peace, and by reviving observance of the law in the homeland they ravaged the enemy. The tyrant Antiochus was both punished on earth and is being chastised after his death. Since in no way whatever was he able to compel the Israelites to become pagans and to abandon their ancestral customs, he left Jerusalem and marched against the Persians.
O mother, who with your seven nullified the violence of the tyrant, frustrated his evil designs, and showed the courage of your faith! Nobly set like a roof on the pillars of your sons, you held firm and unswerving against the earthquake of the tortures. Take courage, therefore, holy-minded mother, maintaining firm an enduring hope in God. The moon in heaven, with the stars, does not stand so august as you, who, after lighting the way of your star-like seven sons to piety, stand in honor before God and are firmly set in heaven with them. for your children were true descendants of father Abraham / for your childbearing was from Abraham, the father/servant.
If it were possible for us to paint the history of your religion as an artist might, would not those who first beheld it have shuddered as they saw the mother of the seven children enduring their varied tortures to death for the sake of religion? Indeed it would be proper to inscribe on their tomb these words as a reminder to the people of our nation: "HERE LIE BURIED an aged priest and an aged woman and seven sons, because of the violence of the tyrant who wished to destroy the way of life of the Hebrews. They vindicated their nation, looking to God and enduring torture even to death."
Truly the contest in which they were engaged was divine, for on that day virtue gave the awards and tested them for their endurance. The prize was immortality in endless life. Eleazar was the first contestant, the mother of the seven sons entered the competition, and the brothers contended. The tyrant was the antagonist, and the world and the human race were the spectators. Reverence for God was victor and gave the crown to its own athletes. who did not admire the athletes of the divine/true legislation? Who were not amazed?
The tyrant himself and all his council marveled at their endurance/virtue and endurance; because of which they now stand before the divine throne and live the life of eternal blessedness. For Moses says, "All who are consecrated are under your hands" (Deuteronomy 33:3, LXX). These, then who have been consecrated for the sake of God, are honored, not only with this honor, but also by the fact that because of them our enemies did not rule over our nation, the tyrant was punished, and the homeland purified -- they having become, as it were, a ransom for the sin of our nation. And through the blood of those devout ones and their death as an atoning sacrifice, divine Providence preserved Israel that previously had been mistreated.
For the tyrant Antiochus, when he saw the courage of their virtue and their endurance under the tortures, proclaimed them to his soldiers as an example for their own endurance, and this made them brave and courageous for infantry battle and siege, and he ravaged and conquered all his enemies.
(18:1) O Israelite children, offspring of the seed of Abraham, obey this law and exercise piety in every way, knowing that devout reason is master of all emotions, not only of sufferings from within, but also of those from without.
Therefore those who gave over their bodies in suffering for the sake of religion were not only admired by mortals, but also were deemed worthy to share in a divine inheritance. Because of them the nation gained peace, and by reviving observance of the law in the homeland they ravaged the enemy. The tyrant Antiochus was both punished on earth and is being chastised after his death. Since in no way whatever was he able to compel the Israelites to become pagans and to abandon their ancestral customs, he left Jerusalem and marched against the Persians.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
The Order of the Polar Star -- to outgoing Michigan governor Granholm
STOCKHOLM (AP) — King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden has honored Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm with the Order of the Polar Star for her work to promote a clean energy economy.
Granholm was bestowed Thursday with the Insignia of Commander First Class at a ceremony at the Royal Palace in Stockholm.
Granholm has received the award for fostering relations between her home state and Sweden by using clean energy technologies to create jobs. She says it represents "the effort Michigan is making in renewable energy."
In 2008, Granholm and King Carl XVI Gustaf co-hosted a conference on climate change in Dearborn, Michigan.
Sweden's Order of the Polar Star was created in 1798 and is awarded to foreigners and members of the country's royal family for services to Sweden.
from http://www.wsbt.com/ / news release
Granholm was bestowed Thursday with the Insignia of Commander First Class at a ceremony at the Royal Palace in Stockholm.
Granholm has received the award for fostering relations between her home state and Sweden by using clean energy technologies to create jobs. She says it represents "the effort Michigan is making in renewable energy."
In 2008, Granholm and King Carl XVI Gustaf co-hosted a conference on climate change in Dearborn, Michigan.
Sweden's Order of the Polar Star was created in 1798 and is awarded to foreigners and members of the country's royal family for services to Sweden.
from http://www.wsbt.com/ / news release
IV Maccabees 15 - 16
15: 1 - 32; 16: 1 - 25: 17: 1 (Death of the mother: NRSV Translation, 1989)
O reason of the children, tyrant over the emotions! O religion, more desirable to the mother than her children! Two courses were open to this mother, that of religion, and that of preserving her seven sons for a time, as the tyrant had promised. She loved religion more, the religion that preserves them for eternal life according to God's promise. In what manner might I express the emotions of parent who love their children? We impress upon the character of a small child a wondrous likeness both of mind and of form. Especially is this true of mothers, who because of their birthpangs have a deeper sympathy toward their offspring than do the fathers. Considering that mothers are the weaker sex and give birth to many, they are more devoted to their children. In seven pregnancies she had implanted in herself tender love toward them, and because of the many pains she suffered with each of them she had sympathy for them; yet because of the fear of God she disdained the temporary safety of her children. Not only so, but also because of the nobility of her sons and their ready obedience to the law, she felt a greater tenderness toward them. For they were righteous and self-controlled and brave and magnanimous, and loved their brothers and their mother, so that they obeyed even to death in keeping the ordinances.
Nevertheless, though so many factors influenced the mother to suffer with them out of love for her children, in the case of none of them were the various tortures strong enough to pervert her reason. But each child separately and all of them together the mother urged on to death for religion's sake. O sacred nature and affection of parental love, yearning of parents toward offspring, nurture and indomitable suffering by mothers! This mother, who saw them tortured and burned one by one, because of religion did not change her attitude. She watched the flesh of her children being consumed by fire, their toes and fingers scattered/quivering on the ground, and the flesh of the head to the chin exposed like masks.
O mother, tried now by more bitter pains than even the birthpangs you suffered for them! O woman, who alone gave birth to such complete devotion! When the firstborn breathed his last, it did not turn you aside, not when the second in torments looked at you piteously nor when the third one expired; nor did you weep when you looked at the eyes of each one in his tortures gazing boldly at the same agonies, and saw in their nostrils the signs of the approach of death. When you saw the flesh of children burned upon the flesh of other children; severed hands upon hands; scalped heads upon head, and corpses fallen on other corpses, and when you saw the place filled with many spectators of the torturings, you did not shed tears. Neither the melodies of sirens nor the songs of swans attract the attention of their hearers as did the voices of the children in torture calling to their mother. How great and how many torments the mother then suffered as her sons were tortured on the wheel and with the hot irons! But devout reason, giving her heart a man's courage in the very midst of her emotions, strengthened her to disregard, for the time, her parental love.
Although she witnessed the destructions of seven children and the ingenious and various rackings, this noble mother disregarded all these because of faith in God. For as in the council chambers of her own soul she saw mighty advocates -- nature, family, parental love, and the rackings of her children -- this mother held two ballots, one bearing death and the other deliverance for her children. She did not approve the deliverance that would preserve the seven sons for a short time, but as the daughter of God-fearing Abraham she remembered his fortitude. O mother of the nation, vindicator of the law and champion of religon, who carried away the prize of the contest in your heart! O more noble than males in steadfastness, and more courageous than men in endurance! Just as Noah's ark, carrying the world in the universal flood, stoutly endured the waves, so you, O guardian of the law, overwhelmed from every side by the flood of your emotions and the violent winds, the torture of your sons, endured nobly and withstood the wintry storms that assail religon.
(chapter 16) If, then a woman, advanced in years and mother of seven sons, endured seeing her children tortured to death, it must be admitted that devout reason is sovereign over the emotions/passions. Thus I have demonstrated not only that men have ruled over the emotions, but also that a woman has despised the fiercest tortures. The lions surround Daniel were not so savage, nor was the raging fiery furnace of Mishael so intensely hot (Daniel 3:19-30), as was her innate parental love, inflamed as she saw her seven sons tortured in such varied ways. But the mother quenched so many and such great emotions by devout reason.
Consider this also: If this woman, though a mother, had been fainthearted, she would have mourned over them and perhaps spoken as follows: "O how wretched am I and many times unhappy! After bearing seven children, I am not the mother of none! O seven childbirths all in vain, seven profitless pregnancies, fruitless nurturings and wretched nursings! In vain, my sons, I endured many birthpangs for you, and the more grievous anxieties of your upbringing. Alas for my children, some unmarried, others married and without offspring. I shall not see your children or have the happiness of being called grandmother. Alas, I who had so many and beautiful children am a widow and alone, with many sorrows/ much to be pitied. And when I die, I shall have none of my sons to bury me."
Yet that holy and God-fearing mother did not wail with such a lament for any of them, nor did she dissuade any of them from dying, nor did she grieve as they were dying. On the contrary, as though having a mind like adamant and giving rebirth for immortality to the whole number of her sons, she implored them and urged them on to death for the sake of religion. O mother, soldier of God in the cause of religion, elder and woman! By steadfastness you have conquered even a tyrant, and in word and deed you have proved more powerful than a man. For when you and your sons were arrested together, you stood and watched Eleazar eing tortured, and said to your sons in the Hebrew language, "My sons, noble is the contest to which you are called to bear witness for the nation. Fight zealously for our ancestral law. For it would be shameful if, while an aged man endures such agonies for the sake of religion, you young men were to be terrified by tortures. Remember that it is through God that you have had a share in the world and have enjoyed life, and therefore you ought to endure any suffering for the sake of God. For his sake also our father Abraham was zealous of our nation; and when Isaac saw his father's hand wielding a knife and descending upon him, he did not cower. Daniel the righteous was thrown to the lions, and Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael were hurled into the fiery furnace and endured it for the sake of God. You too must have the same faith in God and not be grieved. It is unreasonable for people who have religious knowledge not to withstand pain."
By these words the mother of the seven encouraged and persuaded each of her sons to die rather than violate God's commandment. They knew also that those who die for the sake of God live to God, as do Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the patriarchs.
(17:1) Some of the guards said that when she also was about to be seized and put to death she threw herself into the flames so that no one might touch her body.
O reason of the children, tyrant over the emotions! O religion, more desirable to the mother than her children! Two courses were open to this mother, that of religion, and that of preserving her seven sons for a time, as the tyrant had promised. She loved religion more, the religion that preserves them for eternal life according to God's promise. In what manner might I express the emotions of parent who love their children? We impress upon the character of a small child a wondrous likeness both of mind and of form. Especially is this true of mothers, who because of their birthpangs have a deeper sympathy toward their offspring than do the fathers. Considering that mothers are the weaker sex and give birth to many, they are more devoted to their children. In seven pregnancies she had implanted in herself tender love toward them, and because of the many pains she suffered with each of them she had sympathy for them; yet because of the fear of God she disdained the temporary safety of her children. Not only so, but also because of the nobility of her sons and their ready obedience to the law, she felt a greater tenderness toward them. For they were righteous and self-controlled and brave and magnanimous, and loved their brothers and their mother, so that they obeyed even to death in keeping the ordinances.
Nevertheless, though so many factors influenced the mother to suffer with them out of love for her children, in the case of none of them were the various tortures strong enough to pervert her reason. But each child separately and all of them together the mother urged on to death for religion's sake. O sacred nature and affection of parental love, yearning of parents toward offspring, nurture and indomitable suffering by mothers! This mother, who saw them tortured and burned one by one, because of religion did not change her attitude. She watched the flesh of her children being consumed by fire, their toes and fingers scattered/quivering on the ground, and the flesh of the head to the chin exposed like masks.
O mother, tried now by more bitter pains than even the birthpangs you suffered for them! O woman, who alone gave birth to such complete devotion! When the firstborn breathed his last, it did not turn you aside, not when the second in torments looked at you piteously nor when the third one expired; nor did you weep when you looked at the eyes of each one in his tortures gazing boldly at the same agonies, and saw in their nostrils the signs of the approach of death. When you saw the flesh of children burned upon the flesh of other children; severed hands upon hands; scalped heads upon head, and corpses fallen on other corpses, and when you saw the place filled with many spectators of the torturings, you did not shed tears. Neither the melodies of sirens nor the songs of swans attract the attention of their hearers as did the voices of the children in torture calling to their mother. How great and how many torments the mother then suffered as her sons were tortured on the wheel and with the hot irons! But devout reason, giving her heart a man's courage in the very midst of her emotions, strengthened her to disregard, for the time, her parental love.
Although she witnessed the destructions of seven children and the ingenious and various rackings, this noble mother disregarded all these because of faith in God. For as in the council chambers of her own soul she saw mighty advocates -- nature, family, parental love, and the rackings of her children -- this mother held two ballots, one bearing death and the other deliverance for her children. She did not approve the deliverance that would preserve the seven sons for a short time, but as the daughter of God-fearing Abraham she remembered his fortitude. O mother of the nation, vindicator of the law and champion of religon, who carried away the prize of the contest in your heart! O more noble than males in steadfastness, and more courageous than men in endurance! Just as Noah's ark, carrying the world in the universal flood, stoutly endured the waves, so you, O guardian of the law, overwhelmed from every side by the flood of your emotions and the violent winds, the torture of your sons, endured nobly and withstood the wintry storms that assail religon.
(chapter 16) If, then a woman, advanced in years and mother of seven sons, endured seeing her children tortured to death, it must be admitted that devout reason is sovereign over the emotions/passions. Thus I have demonstrated not only that men have ruled over the emotions, but also that a woman has despised the fiercest tortures. The lions surround Daniel were not so savage, nor was the raging fiery furnace of Mishael so intensely hot (Daniel 3:19-30), as was her innate parental love, inflamed as she saw her seven sons tortured in such varied ways. But the mother quenched so many and such great emotions by devout reason.
Consider this also: If this woman, though a mother, had been fainthearted, she would have mourned over them and perhaps spoken as follows: "O how wretched am I and many times unhappy! After bearing seven children, I am not the mother of none! O seven childbirths all in vain, seven profitless pregnancies, fruitless nurturings and wretched nursings! In vain, my sons, I endured many birthpangs for you, and the more grievous anxieties of your upbringing. Alas for my children, some unmarried, others married and without offspring. I shall not see your children or have the happiness of being called grandmother. Alas, I who had so many and beautiful children am a widow and alone, with many sorrows/ much to be pitied. And when I die, I shall have none of my sons to bury me."
Yet that holy and God-fearing mother did not wail with such a lament for any of them, nor did she dissuade any of them from dying, nor did she grieve as they were dying. On the contrary, as though having a mind like adamant and giving rebirth for immortality to the whole number of her sons, she implored them and urged them on to death for the sake of religion. O mother, soldier of God in the cause of religion, elder and woman! By steadfastness you have conquered even a tyrant, and in word and deed you have proved more powerful than a man. For when you and your sons were arrested together, you stood and watched Eleazar eing tortured, and said to your sons in the Hebrew language, "My sons, noble is the contest to which you are called to bear witness for the nation. Fight zealously for our ancestral law. For it would be shameful if, while an aged man endures such agonies for the sake of religion, you young men were to be terrified by tortures. Remember that it is through God that you have had a share in the world and have enjoyed life, and therefore you ought to endure any suffering for the sake of God. For his sake also our father Abraham was zealous of our nation; and when Isaac saw his father's hand wielding a knife and descending upon him, he did not cower. Daniel the righteous was thrown to the lions, and Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael were hurled into the fiery furnace and endured it for the sake of God. You too must have the same faith in God and not be grieved. It is unreasonable for people who have religious knowledge not to withstand pain."
By these words the mother of the seven encouraged and persuaded each of her sons to die rather than violate God's commandment. They knew also that those who die for the sake of God live to God, as do Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the patriarchs.
(17:1) Some of the guards said that when she also was about to be seized and put to death she threw herself into the flames so that no one might touch her body.
IV Maccabees chapter 14
14: 1 - 20 (NRSV Translation, 1989)
Furthermore, they encouraged them to face the torture, so that they not only despised their agonies, but also mastered the emotions of brotherly love.
O reason / O minds, more royal than kings and freer than the free! O sacred and harmonious concord of the seven brothers on behalf of religion! None of the seven youths proved coward or shrank from death, but all of them as though running the course toward immortality, hastened to death by torture. Just as the hands and feet are moved in harmony with the guidance of the mind, so thoat holy youths, as though moved by an immortal spirt of devotion, agreed to go to death for its sake. O most holy seven, brothers in harmony! For just as the seven days of creation move in choral dance around religion, so these youths, forming a chorus, encircled the sevenfold fear of tortures and dissolved it. Even now, we ourselves shudder as we hear of the suffering of these young men; they not only saw what was happening, not only heard the direct word of threat, but also bore the sufferings patiently, and in agonies of fire at that. What could be more excruciatingly painful than this? For the power of fire is intense and swift, and it consumed their bodies quickly.
Do not consider it amazing that reason had full command over these men in their tortures, since the mind of woman despised even more diverse agonies, for the mother of the seven young men bore up under the rackings of each one of her children.
Observe how complex is a mother's love for her children, which draws everything toward an emotion felt in her inmost parts. Even unreasoning animals, as well as human beings, have a sympathy and parental love for their offspring. For example, among birds, the ones that are tame protect their young by building on the housetops, and the others, by building in precipitous chasms and in holes and tops of trees, hatch the nestlings and ward off the intruder. If they are not able to keep the intruder away, they do what they can to help their young by flying in circles around them in the anguish of love, warning them with their own calls. And why is it necessary to demonstrate sympathy for children by the example of unreasoning animals, since even bees at the time for making honeycombs defend themselves against intruders and, as though with an iron dart, sting those who approach their hive and defend it even to the death? But sympathy for her children did not sway the mother of the young men; she was of the same mind as Abraham.
Furthermore, they encouraged them to face the torture, so that they not only despised their agonies, but also mastered the emotions of brotherly love.
O reason / O minds, more royal than kings and freer than the free! O sacred and harmonious concord of the seven brothers on behalf of religion! None of the seven youths proved coward or shrank from death, but all of them as though running the course toward immortality, hastened to death by torture. Just as the hands and feet are moved in harmony with the guidance of the mind, so thoat holy youths, as though moved by an immortal spirt of devotion, agreed to go to death for its sake. O most holy seven, brothers in harmony! For just as the seven days of creation move in choral dance around religion, so these youths, forming a chorus, encircled the sevenfold fear of tortures and dissolved it. Even now, we ourselves shudder as we hear of the suffering of these young men; they not only saw what was happening, not only heard the direct word of threat, but also bore the sufferings patiently, and in agonies of fire at that. What could be more excruciatingly painful than this? For the power of fire is intense and swift, and it consumed their bodies quickly.
Do not consider it amazing that reason had full command over these men in their tortures, since the mind of woman despised even more diverse agonies, for the mother of the seven young men bore up under the rackings of each one of her children.
Observe how complex is a mother's love for her children, which draws everything toward an emotion felt in her inmost parts. Even unreasoning animals, as well as human beings, have a sympathy and parental love for their offspring. For example, among birds, the ones that are tame protect their young by building on the housetops, and the others, by building in precipitous chasms and in holes and tops of trees, hatch the nestlings and ward off the intruder. If they are not able to keep the intruder away, they do what they can to help their young by flying in circles around them in the anguish of love, warning them with their own calls. And why is it necessary to demonstrate sympathy for children by the example of unreasoning animals, since even bees at the time for making honeycombs defend themselves against intruders and, as though with an iron dart, sting those who approach their hive and defend it even to the death? But sympathy for her children did not sway the mother of the young men; she was of the same mind as Abraham.
Monday, October 18, 2010
David A. deSilva: comparison of IV Maccabees with imagery of Origen's EXHORTATION TO MARTYRDOM
(from deSilva's "Introduction" pp. xxxv - xxxvi; 4 Maccabees - a 2006 commentary in the Brill Septuagint Commentary series)
As martyrdom became a more pervasive challenge in the early church, one finds increasing attention being given to 4 Maccabees and to the resources it provides for promoting perseverance unto death and for speaking in honorific terms about the martyrs' suffering and death. Origen's Exhortation to Martyrdom, written to two deacons in Caesarea during the persecution of Christian clergy by Maximin in 235 C.E., draws at length from the story of the Maccabean martyrs in order to encourage Christians as they continue the contest for faith. . .Origen frequently uses the image of the athletic contest, drawing not only on New Testament texts that feature this imagery (II Timothy 4:7-8; Hebrews 12:1-4) but also 4 Maccabees. Origen consistently uses the term ATHLETE (Greek a-th-l-e-t-e-s) and even the term "noble" (g-e-nn-a-i-o-s) ATHLETE to describe the martyr as does the author of 4 Maccabees (6:10; 17:15,16) but no New Testament author. Origen in Exhortation 23:23, 27-28 describes the seven brothers as "devotees for piety" (4 Maccabees 12:11) and "contestants for virtue" (cp. 4 Macc. 12:4). Both documents call attention to part of the ordeal for each; both observe that it is more prudent to fear God than to fear mortals; though this could also be derived from Matthew 10:28. Finally, Origen specifically recommends remaining faithful to God to the point of death as the best way in which to make a fair return to God, who has so greatly benfitted the individual (Exhortation 28), logic that had been made explicit in 4 Maccabees 13:13; 16:18-19.
As martyrdom became a more pervasive challenge in the early church, one finds increasing attention being given to 4 Maccabees and to the resources it provides for promoting perseverance unto death and for speaking in honorific terms about the martyrs' suffering and death. Origen's Exhortation to Martyrdom, written to two deacons in Caesarea during the persecution of Christian clergy by Maximin in 235 C.E., draws at length from the story of the Maccabean martyrs in order to encourage Christians as they continue the contest for faith. . .Origen frequently uses the image of the athletic contest, drawing not only on New Testament texts that feature this imagery (II Timothy 4:7-8; Hebrews 12:1-4) but also 4 Maccabees. Origen consistently uses the term ATHLETE (Greek a-th-l-e-t-e-s) and even the term "noble" (g-e-nn-a-i-o-s) ATHLETE to describe the martyr as does the author of 4 Maccabees (6:10; 17:15,16) but no New Testament author. Origen in Exhortation 23:23, 27-28 describes the seven brothers as "devotees for piety" (4 Maccabees 12:11) and "contestants for virtue" (cp. 4 Macc. 12:4). Both documents call attention to part of the ordeal for each; both observe that it is more prudent to fear God than to fear mortals; though this could also be derived from Matthew 10:28. Finally, Origen specifically recommends remaining faithful to God to the point of death as the best way in which to make a fair return to God, who has so greatly benfitted the individual (Exhortation 28), logic that had been made explicit in 4 Maccabees 13:13; 16:18-19.
IV Maccabees chapter 13
13: 1 - 27 (translation from NRSV, 1989)
Since, then, the seven brothers despised sufferings even unto death, everyone must concede that devout reason is sovereign over the emotions. For if they had been slaves to their emotions and had eaten defiling food, we would say that they had been conquered by these emotions. but in fact it was not so. Instead, by reason, which is praised before God, they prevailed over their emotions. The supremacy of the mind over these cannot be overlooked, for the brothers mastered both emotions and pains. How then can one fail to confess the sovereignty of right reason over emotions in those who were not turned back by fiery agonies? For just as towers jutting out over harbors hold back the threatening waves and make it calm for those who saild into the inner basin, so the seven-towered right reason of the youths, by fortifying the harbor of religion, conquered the tempest of the emotions. For they constituted a holy chorus of religion and encouraged on another, saying, "Brothers, let us die like brothers for the sake of the law; let us imitate the three youths in Assyria who despised the same ordeal of the furnace. Let us not be cowardly in the demonstration of our piety." While one said, "Courage, brother," another said "Bear up nobly," and another reminded them, "Remember whence you came, and the father by whose hand Isaac would have submitted to being slain for the sake of relgion." Each of them and all of them together looking at one another, cheerful and undaunted, said, "Let us with all our hearts consecrate ourselves to God, who gaves us our lives, and let us use our bodies as a bulwark for the law. Let us not fear him who thinks he is killing us, for great is the struggle of the soul and the danger of eternal torment lying before those who transgress the commandment of God. Therefore let us put on the full armor of self-control, which is divine reason. For if we so die/suffer, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob will welcome us, and all teh fathers will praise us." Those who were left behind said to each of the brothers who were being dragged away, "Do not put us to shame, brother, or betray the brothers who have died before us."
You are not ignorant of the affection of family ties, which the divine and all-wise Providence has bequeathed through the fathers to their descendants and which was implanted in the mother's womb. There each of the brothers spent the same length of time and was shaped during the same period of time; and growing from the same blood and through the same life, they were brought to the light of day. When they were born after an equal time of gestation, they drank milk from the same fountains. From such embraces brotherly-loving souls are nourished; and they grow stronger from this common nurture and daily companionship, and from both general education and our discipline in the law of god.
Therefore, when sympathy and brotherly affection had been so established, the brothers were the more sympathetic to one another. Since they had been educated by the same law and trained in the same virtues and brought up in right living, they loved one another all the more. A common zeal for nobility strengthened their goodwill toward one another, and their concord, because they could make their brotherly love more fervent with the aid of their religion. But although nature and companionship and virtuous habits had augmented the affection of family ties, those who were left endured for the sake of religion, while watching their brothers being maltreated and tortured to death.
Since, then, the seven brothers despised sufferings even unto death, everyone must concede that devout reason is sovereign over the emotions. For if they had been slaves to their emotions and had eaten defiling food, we would say that they had been conquered by these emotions. but in fact it was not so. Instead, by reason, which is praised before God, they prevailed over their emotions. The supremacy of the mind over these cannot be overlooked, for the brothers mastered both emotions and pains. How then can one fail to confess the sovereignty of right reason over emotions in those who were not turned back by fiery agonies? For just as towers jutting out over harbors hold back the threatening waves and make it calm for those who saild into the inner basin, so the seven-towered right reason of the youths, by fortifying the harbor of religion, conquered the tempest of the emotions. For they constituted a holy chorus of religion and encouraged on another, saying, "Brothers, let us die like brothers for the sake of the law; let us imitate the three youths in Assyria who despised the same ordeal of the furnace. Let us not be cowardly in the demonstration of our piety." While one said, "Courage, brother," another said "Bear up nobly," and another reminded them, "Remember whence you came, and the father by whose hand Isaac would have submitted to being slain for the sake of relgion." Each of them and all of them together looking at one another, cheerful and undaunted, said, "Let us with all our hearts consecrate ourselves to God, who gaves us our lives, and let us use our bodies as a bulwark for the law. Let us not fear him who thinks he is killing us, for great is the struggle of the soul and the danger of eternal torment lying before those who transgress the commandment of God. Therefore let us put on the full armor of self-control, which is divine reason. For if we so die/suffer, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob will welcome us, and all teh fathers will praise us." Those who were left behind said to each of the brothers who were being dragged away, "Do not put us to shame, brother, or betray the brothers who have died before us."
You are not ignorant of the affection of family ties, which the divine and all-wise Providence has bequeathed through the fathers to their descendants and which was implanted in the mother's womb. There each of the brothers spent the same length of time and was shaped during the same period of time; and growing from the same blood and through the same life, they were brought to the light of day. When they were born after an equal time of gestation, they drank milk from the same fountains. From such embraces brotherly-loving souls are nourished; and they grow stronger from this common nurture and daily companionship, and from both general education and our discipline in the law of god.
Therefore, when sympathy and brotherly affection had been so established, the brothers were the more sympathetic to one another. Since they had been educated by the same law and trained in the same virtues and brought up in right living, they loved one another all the more. A common zeal for nobility strengthened their goodwill toward one another, and their concord, because they could make their brotherly love more fervent with the aid of their religion. But although nature and companionship and virtuous habits had augmented the affection of family ties, those who were left endured for the sake of religion, while watching their brothers being maltreated and tortured to death.
STEM at the White House (Week of Oct. 18 - 22, 2010): Science Fair projects
noticed at PBS.org/newshour blog: "Students explain science to President" NewsHour rundown
They're too young to vote, but they're already designing cancer-fighting therapies, solar-powered cars and robots to combat distracted driving. One team of students cooked and sold tamales to raise enough money to build a better wheelchair for a classmate with disabilities. Another designed a water-efficient toilet out of bubble wrap, plexiglass and PVC piping.
President Obama honored these and other students at the first-ever White House Science Fair on Monday, kicking off a week of events focused on science, math, engineering and technology (STEM) education. The award-winning projects were plucked from a series of nationwide competitions. They are part of an effort to show that the White House is taking science seriously.
In the State Dining Room, students explained the science of rocketry, photodynamic therapy and hydroelectric power to the president, using poster board diagrams and model simulations. At one point, he proposed testing a soccer ball-kicking robot by directing it toward the press pool. "Let's just point it this way and see what happens," he joked.
Obama followed the exhibit with a speech in the East Room to an audience that included Energy Secretary Steven Chu and National Science Foundation Director Subra Suresh. In science and math, "we've been outpaced by our competitors," he said, adding that his goal is to move America from the middle to the top in science education.
The U.S. lags behind other nations in K-12 STEM education: International comparisons consistently place U.S. students at the middle of the pack or lower on science and math profiency, according to a report released in September by the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. The report calls for training 100,000 new science and math teachers and creating 1,000 new science-focused schools.
"When you win first place at a science fair, nobody's rushing the field or pouring Gatorade on your head, but in many ways, our future depends on what happens in these contests," the president said.
Obama also announced that he will appear on an episode of the Discovery Channel show, Mythbusters on December 8. Science Week will culminate with the USA Science and Engineering Expo in downtown Washington, D.C. on October 23 and 24.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2010/10/students-explain-science-to-president.html#more
They're too young to vote, but they're already designing cancer-fighting therapies, solar-powered cars and robots to combat distracted driving. One team of students cooked and sold tamales to raise enough money to build a better wheelchair for a classmate with disabilities. Another designed a water-efficient toilet out of bubble wrap, plexiglass and PVC piping.
President Obama honored these and other students at the first-ever White House Science Fair on Monday, kicking off a week of events focused on science, math, engineering and technology (STEM) education. The award-winning projects were plucked from a series of nationwide competitions. They are part of an effort to show that the White House is taking science seriously.
In the State Dining Room, students explained the science of rocketry, photodynamic therapy and hydroelectric power to the president, using poster board diagrams and model simulations. At one point, he proposed testing a soccer ball-kicking robot by directing it toward the press pool. "Let's just point it this way and see what happens," he joked.
Obama followed the exhibit with a speech in the East Room to an audience that included Energy Secretary Steven Chu and National Science Foundation Director Subra Suresh. In science and math, "we've been outpaced by our competitors," he said, adding that his goal is to move America from the middle to the top in science education.
The U.S. lags behind other nations in K-12 STEM education: International comparisons consistently place U.S. students at the middle of the pack or lower on science and math profiency, according to a report released in September by the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. The report calls for training 100,000 new science and math teachers and creating 1,000 new science-focused schools.
"When you win first place at a science fair, nobody's rushing the field or pouring Gatorade on your head, but in many ways, our future depends on what happens in these contests," the president said.
Obama also announced that he will appear on an episode of the Discovery Channel show, Mythbusters on December 8. Science Week will culminate with the USA Science and Engineering Expo in downtown Washington, D.C. on October 23 and 24.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2010/10/students-explain-science-to-president.html#more
IV Maccabees chapter 12
12: 1 - 19 (translation by NRSV, 1989)
When he too, thrown into the caldron, had died a blessed death, the seventh and youngest of all came forward. Even though the tyrant had been vehemently reproached by the brethren, he felt strong compassion for this child when Antiochus saw that he was already in fetters. He summoned him to come nearer and tried to persuade him, saying, "You see the result of your brothers' stupidity, for they died in torments because of their disobedience. You too, if you do not obey, will be miserably tortured and die before your time, but if you yield to persuasion, you will be my friend and a leader in the government of the kingdom." When he had thus appealed to him, he sent for the boy's mother to show compassion on her who had been bereaved of so many sons and to influence her to persuade the surviving son to obey and save himself. But when his mother had exhorted him in the Hebrew language, as we shall tell a little later, he said, "Let me loose, let me speak to the king and to all his friends that are with him." Extremely pleased by the boy's declaration, they freed him at once. Running to the nearest of the braziers, he said, "You profane tyrant, most impious of all the wicked, since you have received good things and also your kingdom from God, were you not ashamed to murder His servants and torture on the wheel those who practice religion (asketas: "athletes of religion")? Because of this, justice has laid up for you intense and eternal fire and tortures, and these throughout all time / throughout the whole age will never let you go. As a man, were you not ashamed, you most savage beast, to cut out the tongues of men who have feelings like yours and are made of the same elements as you, and to maltreat and torture them in this way? Surely they by dying nobly fulfilled their service to God, but you will wail bitterly for having killed without cause the contestants for virtue."
Then because he too was about to die, he said, "I do not desert the excellent example / the witness of my brothers, and I call on the God of our ancestors to be merciful to our nation / my race; but on you he will take vengeance both in this present life and when you are dead." After he had uttered these imprecations, he flung himself into the braziers and so ended his life / and so gave up; / and gave up his spirit/soul.
When he too, thrown into the caldron, had died a blessed death, the seventh and youngest of all came forward. Even though the tyrant had been vehemently reproached by the brethren, he felt strong compassion for this child when Antiochus saw that he was already in fetters. He summoned him to come nearer and tried to persuade him, saying, "You see the result of your brothers' stupidity, for they died in torments because of their disobedience. You too, if you do not obey, will be miserably tortured and die before your time, but if you yield to persuasion, you will be my friend and a leader in the government of the kingdom." When he had thus appealed to him, he sent for the boy's mother to show compassion on her who had been bereaved of so many sons and to influence her to persuade the surviving son to obey and save himself. But when his mother had exhorted him in the Hebrew language, as we shall tell a little later, he said, "Let me loose, let me speak to the king and to all his friends that are with him." Extremely pleased by the boy's declaration, they freed him at once. Running to the nearest of the braziers, he said, "You profane tyrant, most impious of all the wicked, since you have received good things and also your kingdom from God, were you not ashamed to murder His servants and torture on the wheel those who practice religion (asketas: "athletes of religion")? Because of this, justice has laid up for you intense and eternal fire and tortures, and these throughout all time / throughout the whole age will never let you go. As a man, were you not ashamed, you most savage beast, to cut out the tongues of men who have feelings like yours and are made of the same elements as you, and to maltreat and torture them in this way? Surely they by dying nobly fulfilled their service to God, but you will wail bitterly for having killed without cause the contestants for virtue."
Then because he too was about to die, he said, "I do not desert the excellent example / the witness of my brothers, and I call on the God of our ancestors to be merciful to our nation / my race; but on you he will take vengeance both in this present life and when you are dead." After he had uttered these imprecations, he flung himself into the braziers and so ended his life / and so gave up; / and gave up his spirit/soul.
Peter Baker (NY TIMES White House reporter) on Education of President Obama (NY Times Magazine cover story)
EXCERPT of interview and reporter's overview of this Chief Executive:
While proud of his record, Obama has already begun thinking about what went wrong — and what he needs to do to change course for the next two years. He has spent what one aide called “a lot of time talking about Obama 2.0” with his new interim chief of staff, Pete Rouse, and his deputy chief of staff, Jim Messina. During our hour together, Obama told me he had no regrets about the broad direction of his presidency. But he did identify what he called “tactical lessons.” He let himself look too much like “the same old tax-and-spend liberal Democrat.” He realized too late that “there’s no such thing as shovel-ready projects” when it comes to public works. Perhaps he should not have proposed tax breaks as part of his stimulus and instead “let the Republicans insist on the tax cuts” so it could be seen as a bipartisan compromise.
Most of all, he has learned that, for all his anti-Washington rhetoric, he has to play by Washington rules if he wants to win in Washington. It is not enough to be supremely sure that he is right if no one else agrees with him. “Given how much stuff was coming at us,” Obama told me, “we probably spent much more time trying to get the policy right than trying to get the politics right. There is probably a perverse pride in my administration — and I take responsibility for this; this was blowing from the top — that we were going to do the right thing, even if short-term it was unpopular. And I think anybody who’s occupied this office has to remember that success is determined by an intersection in policy and politics and that you can’t be neglecting of marketing and P.R. and public opinion.”
That presumes that what he did was the right thing, a matter of considerable debate. The left thinks he did too little; the right too much. But what is striking about Obama’s self-diagnosis is that by his own rendering, the figure of inspiration from 2008 neglected the inspiration after his election. He didn’t stay connected to the people who put him in office in the first place. Instead, he simultaneously disappointed those who considered him the embodiment of a new progressive movement and those who expected him to reach across the aisle to usher in a postpartisan age. On the campaign trail lately, Obama has been confronted by disillusionment — the woman who was “exhausted” defending him, the mother whose son campaigned for him but was now looking for work. Even Shepard Fairey, the artist who made the iconic multihued “Hope” poster, says he’s losing hope.
Perhaps that should have come as no surprise. When Obama secured the Democratic nomination in June 2008, he told an admiring crowd that someday “we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last, best hope on earth.”
I read that line to Obama and asked how his high-flying rhetoric sounded in these days of low-flying governance. “It sounds ambitious,” he agreed. “But you know what? We’ve made progress on each of those fronts.” He quoted Mario Cuomo’s line about campaigning in poetry and governing in prose. “But the prose and the poetry match up,” he said. “It would be very hard for people to look back and say, You know what, Obama didn’t do what he’s promised. I think they could say, On a bunch of fronts he still has an incomplete. But I keep a checklist of what we committed to doing, and we’ve probably accomplished 70 percent of the things that we talked about during the campaign. And I hope as long as I’m president, I’ve got a chance to work on the other 30 percent.”
EXCERPT of this article
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/17/magazine/17obama-t.html?ref=magazine&pagewanted=all
While proud of his record, Obama has already begun thinking about what went wrong — and what he needs to do to change course for the next two years. He has spent what one aide called “a lot of time talking about Obama 2.0” with his new interim chief of staff, Pete Rouse, and his deputy chief of staff, Jim Messina. During our hour together, Obama told me he had no regrets about the broad direction of his presidency. But he did identify what he called “tactical lessons.” He let himself look too much like “the same old tax-and-spend liberal Democrat.” He realized too late that “there’s no such thing as shovel-ready projects” when it comes to public works. Perhaps he should not have proposed tax breaks as part of his stimulus and instead “let the Republicans insist on the tax cuts” so it could be seen as a bipartisan compromise.
Most of all, he has learned that, for all his anti-Washington rhetoric, he has to play by Washington rules if he wants to win in Washington. It is not enough to be supremely sure that he is right if no one else agrees with him. “Given how much stuff was coming at us,” Obama told me, “we probably spent much more time trying to get the policy right than trying to get the politics right. There is probably a perverse pride in my administration — and I take responsibility for this; this was blowing from the top — that we were going to do the right thing, even if short-term it was unpopular. And I think anybody who’s occupied this office has to remember that success is determined by an intersection in policy and politics and that you can’t be neglecting of marketing and P.R. and public opinion.”
That presumes that what he did was the right thing, a matter of considerable debate. The left thinks he did too little; the right too much. But what is striking about Obama’s self-diagnosis is that by his own rendering, the figure of inspiration from 2008 neglected the inspiration after his election. He didn’t stay connected to the people who put him in office in the first place. Instead, he simultaneously disappointed those who considered him the embodiment of a new progressive movement and those who expected him to reach across the aisle to usher in a postpartisan age. On the campaign trail lately, Obama has been confronted by disillusionment — the woman who was “exhausted” defending him, the mother whose son campaigned for him but was now looking for work. Even Shepard Fairey, the artist who made the iconic multihued “Hope” poster, says he’s losing hope.
Perhaps that should have come as no surprise. When Obama secured the Democratic nomination in June 2008, he told an admiring crowd that someday “we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last, best hope on earth.”
I read that line to Obama and asked how his high-flying rhetoric sounded in these days of low-flying governance. “It sounds ambitious,” he agreed. “But you know what? We’ve made progress on each of those fronts.” He quoted Mario Cuomo’s line about campaigning in poetry and governing in prose. “But the prose and the poetry match up,” he said. “It would be very hard for people to look back and say, You know what, Obama didn’t do what he’s promised. I think they could say, On a bunch of fronts he still has an incomplete. But I keep a checklist of what we committed to doing, and we’ve probably accomplished 70 percent of the things that we talked about during the campaign. And I hope as long as I’m president, I’ve got a chance to work on the other 30 percent.”
EXCERPT of this article
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/17/magazine/17obama-t.html?ref=magazine&pagewanted=all
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