Tonight the President from the Oval Orifice (to paraphrase Rush) delivered the anticipated fifteen minute catch-all speech that he prays people will take time out of their pathetic lives to listen to. It was Thomas Jefferson who said that "The tree of liberty is a tree that must be occasionally watered with the blood of Tyrants and Patriots alike". In the photo of that tree one is reminded of several things. First of all other trees around the grounds have been removed. I'm wondering when this tree is going to be removed and want to make sure I have adequate photographs of it be this the case. The President has attempted to plant the seeds of liberty in Iraq. Tonight the president paid due homage to the brave troops who fought and died in this war and in Afghanistan. He spoke of the serge which he himself was against at the time in 2006 and I myself was haltingly in favor it. He spoke in terms of an unbroken tapistry of national war endorced by both the Bush and Obama administrations. This was has gone on so far for nearly seven & a half years. The President said all the remaining troops will be withdrawn from Iraq by the end of 2011. I highly doubt this date. The President believes that a government will prove stable that will be accepted by the citizens of Iraq. But unlike the old war horse who rears up at the sound of gun fire, can our President decide to "let it alone" when the bombs go off planted by terrorists that inevitably will happen? The President spoke of Afghanistan and how we can now devote our full energies to that war so it in turn can be ended or "begun" to be ended less than a year from now. Somehow I doubt that, too. Sarah Palin spoke of the sacrifices of our troops and gave three examples in her speech of unusual heroism by three servicemen, one in Afghanistan, one in Iraq, and one who did time at the Hanoi Hilton. We admire such acts of courage, of course. But sometimes we fixate on the micro and miss the macro. Jesus Christ praised two people who gave sacrificially - -one a rich prostitute and another a poor old widdow lady. In the praise of these two the fact omitted was that giant sucking sound of the guilded Catholic Church sucking up the resources of the world. The question it seems is never raised, "Should these people even be giving at all?" Jesus in his zeal to praise the prostitute kind of let slip the whole idea raised by Judas that there are multitudes of poor people out there far more deserving of the money. His response of "the poor you will have with you always" is not too far removed from Marie Antwenette's "Let them eat Cake". If something is doing something they should not ought to be doing does it make you feel better to say "Yeah, but they Did it so Heroically". Sure there are heroess in wars. If LA was struck by a plague of the ebola virus tomorrow I am certain there would be all sorts of heroic acts done by medical personell. We are slaughtering hundreds of thousands of innocent people in two countries but by golly, among those comitting these acts are real heroes who "are just following orders". I don't place such a premium on "just following orders". It was Bob Dylan who said "Don't follow leaders", but this of course, was before he got "Saved". People should be a little more macro, a little more utilitarian in their outlook. "What if everybody did what I am doing". Then we would have an army of three hundred million troops killing foreigners for our own national agrandizement, or rather for the agrandizement of those of whom Dylan says "You hide behind walls - -but I can see through your masks". After all of this the President, having more time and not yet out of Turtle Wax, decides to slather on a little more economic salve to the liberal constituancy out there hoping for a word or two about the economy. Knowing the President's fading numbers, it's hard to say when he will again have an audience to listen to him in Prime Time. At no time, and this won't escape the note of any trained psychologist or socialogist out there- - -at no time do we ever stop and think what we can do to prevent the Causes of war. As long as these, like un-attended weeds out there, are allowed to flurish- - we are doomed to perpetually fight losing wars of reactivity.
Glen Beck wanted this country to "Come Together". This song ranked number nine in the list of all time favorite Beatle songs according to the Rolling Stone. This is the song where we drew out 10-10-10 date from, "one, and one, and one, is three". I understand this song was originally intended to be given to Timothy Leary for some "campaign" of his. And then we have that other song, the one with the mythical "bare-foot sailor" in it, Bob Dylans 115th. St. Dream. This is the song that speaks of a sailor touring New York a few days before Columbus got there in his three ships. The end of the song speaks of getting a coin to flip to answer that age old question raised by the Clash, "Should I Stay or Should I Go". He decided to Go. In ZAC theology we talk a lot about the identity of "Sailor Sam", who appears in two Mc Cartney songs. The Apostle Paul spoke of the rapture of the faithful as like "setting out on a voyage by ship". Sailing on the waters rather than IN them can be likened to one who departs the body, but does not die, but is on a "Journey" never the less. "The future's uncertain and the end is always near". It's hard to say what the average Joe out there when confronted by a Force or a Dimension of Existance he is unaccostumed to. People like James Kirk seem to thrive under such a challenge. I suppose this can be a goal. One should be prepared for this particular "What if- " in my humble opinion.
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