THE PERIL OF THE UNCERTAIN TRUMPET

. Let’s talk about General Motors going into chapter eleven bankruptcy, cince it’s the topic of the day. As with Chrysler, this arrangement should be of short duration, probably only a few months. Of course Pontiac will bit the dust so farewell to the G T O one of the legendary muscle cars of the ‘sixties. What Thom Hartman alerted me to today was the fact that these bond holders aren’t heroes but villains. This is because they aren’t real bond holders but have these hedge funds. According to Hartman, these people are actually holding these investment swap things. As you know the “uninsured” or un-secured” investment swaps are the ones that have caused so much of the trouble because these people are betting against the American economy and the very corporate structures they profess to be under-writing. It’s kind of like betting against your own baseball team. It’s unethical and should be illegal but isn’t.

I changed the screen saver today to “No Corporate Sellouts”. I wanted to put “Obama is a Corporate Sell-Out” but there wasn’t room. As you know the rant against Justice Sylvia Sotomayor is that she is a corporatist and has sided in many cases the way the corporitists want her to, and as such can’t be trusted by Obama’s liberal base to “storm the gates of the Establishment and break down the barriers”. Her views on abortion are the biggest mystery since Justice Suitor, whose lack of opinion bothered me at the time in 1990 but that’s because he was appointed by a Republican. With any appointment by a Democrat, possible waffeling on the abortion issue is just added gravy. It’s just a bonus we pro lifers hadn’t expected. But I’d like to reference Justice Sotomayor’s speech on race that people thought so troubling. Her quoted remarks didn’t bother me when I initially heard them, but now having heard all of her speech, in context I am more troubled by the things she said, because she appeared to be unambiguous in her view that race and background should be taken into account when rendering a decision from a bench. Again – Lady Justice is blindfolded for a reason. This is so she can weigh the evidence impartially without regard to race, color, creed, or socio-economic standing in society. Indeed, if a big corporation were being messed over, I would hope they too, as much as the poor man, would be confident in getting his day in court. Respect for the law and legal precedent benefits everybody and creates an aire of stability and certainty in society- -as it’s natural to human nature to respect basic fairness and impartiality. I hope she will speak of these things in her confirmation hearings.

One case that will be coming before the next Supreme Court is the new case that gay activists will be bringing to say that “equal protection” rights have been denied to gay couples who want to get married. The gay lobby has a Queen Esther type dilemma on its hands here. This was the Queen who dared to speak to the King knowing if he did not extend his royal septer tword her could have her head lopped off for speaking out of turn. The gay lobby has to ask themselves when filing this case, “Do I feel lucky today?” because if they lose, it will deal the whole gay marriage movement a major setback. I’m thinking in my own mind, “Bring it on!” because with this Supreme Court with the four far right justices on it, the gays have a better than even chance of falling flat on their ass. It’s like that Charlie Daniels song about Johnny bargaining with the devil for his Golden Fiddle. Future justice Thurgred Marshell filed the integration case in the early 1950’s. He gambled heavily and won - - so it can be done. But that court, as Alex Travek reminds us, had nine Roosevelt appointees on it. Only Washington himself appointed more justices. The smartest thing the gay lobby could say to themselves when filing this case is “Thy Will Be Done”, which will be a real fine accolade – if they win. Even a Warren Court style “win” may only avail them a phrase like “they should proceed with all deliberate speed”. Loving verses Virginia wasn’t decided till 1967.

Thom Hartman opened his show this morning by having Randell Terry on, the militant anti-abortionist. He weighed in about the gunning down of that late term abortion doctor in a church working as an usher in the morning service. As I said higher up, I don’t believe people should call themselves Christian is they don’t have the goods. There are Bible cases to illustrate my point. In the New Testament a man was violently attacked by demons because he professed to be a Christian and yet wasn’t. Bob Dylan once had a song about going down south and “You could get killed down here so you better get your story straight”. In the OT there is the saga of a profit who was to prophesy against the Northern Kingdom, and he was told neither to turn aside on the trail neither to the right nor to the left. The man failed to follow Jehovah’s explicit instructions and got himself killed. I only say this to say that people should take their commitments to the Lord seriously. I’d like to address another erronius point that Hartman and callers raised. There was the implication that Randell Terry believed that your own blood had to atone for your sins in any case of murder, and that this would justify the man in the afterlife. He couldn’t be more wrong. In the first place I’m not aware of Jesus ever forgiving a murderer as he did with other people. In the Bible it says “There is a sin that leads to death” but the Greeks are vague about indefinite articles. They can be either used or dropped at the descression of the translator, and one should not believe this expression denotes singularity. It could just as easily be rendered “There is sin that leads unto death”. But I’d also like to say that the only sacrificial blood that counts in Christian theology is the blood of Christ. After all, how can the sin of an imperfect man bring about perfection? (Selah) I heartily agree with Randell Terry’s remark about this guy should be put on trial for Nazi like war crimes. This is where the man deserved to rise or fall in the eyes of justice. He should have been found guilty and then promptly executed “in a manner prescribed by law”. But also know this. People will ask, “Was it God’s will for the man to die the way he did?”. You know my answer to this. It’s an emphatic “Yes”. Everything that happens is God’s will. God’s will will never be the subject of mockery. But on the other hand it follows that the deaths of all those late term babies was also God’s will. And this I cannot logically justify. Only know that the decision to take the lives of all those late term fetuses was made before the creation of the Universe, indeed before Time Itself was created. (Selah)

Increasingly I am hearing rumblings of the idea that this economy is in a false recovery. Randy Rhodes is correct in her statement this afternoon, of course. All of this bailing out of the banks is undermining the strength of the dollar. Up till now being a holder of dollars hasn’t been that bad of a deal since this recession has been an occasion for the dollar to gain in value. But I could not expect this to continue. The world is an uncertain place. Both in Iran and North Korea there are the distant echoes of war drums. I continue to say that astrological indications are that we will be in a war, I believe with Iran, before the Obama administration’s first term is concluded. Nothing makes the traders in dollars more skiddish than the possibility of war. If I were President I would engage in a staring down match with Kin Jung Il. What do you do with such a self-deluded leader? He is surrounded by his enemies, and if I were President I would make him painfully aware of that fact by turning up the heat. I would oh so delicately remind him of what we did to two major cities of his neighbor to the east, Japan. And I’d just say “You know we have a lot bigger bombs now than we did then.” In the immortal words of Rush Limbaugh, "We are the ones who actually used the A Bomb. And it was a good thing. We used it to end a war". In terms of Iran, you’ve heard my remarks over the years. I believe we have screwed things up and acted at the wrong times and not acted at the wrong times. Once the preacher gave a sermon on “The uncertain trumpet” and I do not believe we are sending clear signals to Iran. I do not hold out much hope that Achmadenijab is going to be turned out of power in next month’s elections. Remember Zimbabue!

I’d like to close this file and this blog with a reflection on the milk of human kindness. Dr. Levy extended me the courtesy of three dollars today because I told him I was out of cigarettes and couldn’t afford another pack. With this money now I can pay off my debts to others and also be able to extend generosity to others. We need more one on one charity. We need to do things for others to brighten their day, and hope that the gesture is catching. Many times recessions like we are having brings out the generosity in certain people, while revealing the greed in others. Randy Rhodes today remarked that our work force is the best educated best trained work force we have ever had. Our nation should utilize this national resource as much as it would utilize “green” new sources of energy. People can be put to work building new, “greener” more efficient cars, and also rail systems for transportation within and between cities. These corridors themselves will be utilized to further our commerce getting people where they need to go- - so that they can earn and spend money. By contrast all the money we spent on the Iraq War is only wasted and there is no infra-structure to show for it. These are priorities we need to change. One would hope that President Obama would be a conduit for change instead of an obstacle to change that needs to be overcome. Think about that. Is Obama one of those working diligently to clear the log jam, or is he part of the problem? Which side is Berock Obama on, when it comes to “the inevitable march tword enlightenment?