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Controlling History's Narrative: Who Speaks for God Today?
Readings for 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Deuteronomy 18: 15-20; Psalm 95: 1-9; I Corinthians; 7: 32-35; Mark 1: 21-28
Today's readings once again raise the central biblical question of prophets and prophecy.
We should read them carefully remembering that prophets are not fortune tellers focused on the future. They were and today remain social critics focused on present injustices committed against the original beneficiaries of Life's covenant with Moses – the poor and oppressed (widows, orphans, and resident aliens). Insofar as they predict the future, the prophets' threat is usually that neglect of the poor will lead to national tragedy.
Yeshua the Christ, of course, appeared in the prophetic tradition which is always confused by the fact that the Great Mother's spokespersons are inevitably contradicted by their fake counterparts. This Sunday's readings highlight that point.
Prophets Then
I was reminded of all this last week during a Zoom "Talk Back" responding to our pastor's Sunday sermon on the fictional story of the prophet Jonah. That tale was centralized a week ago in the liturgy of the word. Towards the end, the pastor herself asked the question, "Who today is speaking the harsh truth that the Book of Jonah expressed?"
(As we saw last week the little Jonah parable (only 48 verses) is about a reluctant prophet who eventually has to face the fact that those imagining themselves to be the People of God (Israel) were quite the opposite. Meanwhile those whom Israel viewed as their corrupt enemies (Assyrians) were more responsive to God's word.
In my own response to our pastor's question, I observed "That would be like our hearing during the Cold War that Russians (communists) were more on God's side than Americans. Today, it would be like being told the same thing about the Chinese or Muslims, or (worse still) al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups."
Yes, that's the way the Book of Jonah would have been heard in the middle of the 8th century BCE – as the Assyrian hordes massed on Israel's borders ready to descend on "God's People." Eventually, they'd come (as Lord Byron would put it) "like the wolf on the fold." They'd destroy the Northern Kingdom and take large masses of its people off to the Assyrian capital, Nineveh – as slaves. The book of Jonah dares to identify Assyrians as godly.
Imagine if some prophetic preacher today actually echoed Jonah saying, "You American exceptionalists believe that you're especially pleasing to God. The exact opposite is true. In fact, your designated 'enemies,' Muslims, the Russians, the Chinese, and those you imagine as terrorists are actually God's favorites."
How hard would that be for Americans to hear?
Prophets Now
But (to answer our pastor's question directly) there actually have been and are religious prophets among us who have said such things and who are saying them today. I'm thinking of Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jeremiah Wright, William Barber II, the Rev. Liz Theoharis, Dorothy Day, and even Pope Francis. Here's what they've said in the name of God:
Malcolm X: "I'm not standing here speaking to you as an American, or a patriot, or a flag-saluter, or a flag-waver — no, not I. I'm speaking as a victim of this American system. And I see America through the eyes of the victim. I don't see any American dream; I see an American nightmare."
Martin Luther King: The United States is "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today."
Jeremiah Wright: "When it came to treating her citizens of African descent fairly, America failed. . . The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing "God Bless America". No, no, no, not God Bless America. God damn America. . . as she tries to act like she is God, and she is supreme"
William Barber II: ". . . I, too, am an atheist. . . if we were talking about the God who hates poor people, immigrants, and gay folks, I don't believe in that God either."
Liz Theoharis: "Jesus led a poor people's campaign."
Dorothy Day: "Our problems stem from our acceptance of this filthy rotten system."
Pope Francis: "This system is by now intolerable: Farmers find it intolerable; laborers find it intolerable; communities find it intolerable; people find it intolerable."
Those are not voices most of us are accustomed to hearing as representative of a Christian message that has been completely dominated by right-wingers who have effectively silenced the political voice of the one Christians pretend to recognize as the greatest of all prophets. They silence Yeshua's authentic voice by focusing exclusively on the fiction of American Exceptionalism and on personal "salvation."
The Prophet Yeshua
Instead, the very life of Yeshua the Christ was highly political from start to finish. He literally embodied God's prioritization of the needs of the poor while specifically condemning the rich and powerful of his day. That's why he had to be assassinated at a very young age — same as Malcolm, Martin Luther King, Fred Hampton. . .
Think of it this way: Isn't it true that Christian belief holds that Yeshua was the fullest revelation of God? If so, isn't it therefore significant that the revelation site supposedly chosen by God was a poor man from the working class? Isn't it theologically meaningful that he was born out-of-wedlock to a teenage mother (LK 1:34), was houseless at birth (LK 2:7), experienced immigrant status as an asylum seeker (MT 2: 13-15), traveled with a band of young people who had no visible means of support, was thought insane by his mother and close relatives (MK 3:21), was identified as a terrorist by the most powerful nation then on earth, and finished a victim of its torture and capital punishment?
I'd say that believers should find all of that extremely revealing.
Moreover, the highly political Yeshua is reported to have made radical statements about wealth and poverty, e.g.:
"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor" (Luke 4:16-22)
"Blessed are you poor, yours is the Kingdom of God" (Luke 6:20).
"Woe to you rich, you have had your reward" (Luke 6:24).
"It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God" (Matthew 19:24).
"So therefore, whoever of you does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:33)
"If you want to be whole, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me" (Matthew 19:21).
Still more, his followers took their teacher literally as they practiced a kind of primitive communism:
"All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need" (Acts 2: 44-47).
"Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common" (Acts 2: 32).
All of that identifies Yeshua as a great prophet in the tradition of Moses, the liberator of slaves in Egypt, of Amos who defended the poor and criticized the rich, of Karl Marx, the last of the great Jewish prophets, and of the contemporary troublemakers listed above.
Today's Readings
Keep all of that in mind as you review today's liturgy of the word which centralizes the question, "Who are the true prophets among us?" What follows are my "translations." You can find the originals here to see if I've got them right.
Deuteronomy 18: 15-20:
More than 500 years
After the Great Prophet's Death
Moses was remembered
As predicting the advent
Of another Great One
For a people deathly afraid
Of hearing God's voice directly.
Problem was:
There'd be false prophets too
Claiming to speak
In the name of Yahweh,
But actually representing
False gods
Whom, if listened to
Would bring to believers
Severe punishment.
(Hmm.
Where does that leave us?)
Psalm 95: 1-9
It leaves us confused
And in danger
Of letting our own self-interest
Harden our hearts
To the authentic voice
Of our loving Mother-Father God
Our firm refuge
Benefactor and guide.
Her wonderful handiwork
In creation itself
Reveals more
Than any prophet's words.
So, believe and embrace
With your own eyes.
I Corinthians 7: 32-35
The case of St. Paul
Illustrates our confusion
About what to believe –
What our eyes tell us
Or the words
Of an anxious
Celibate prophet
Who's been interpreted
To say that
Eros is somehow "improper"
And a huge "distraction"
For anyone serious
About what's truly important.
(For, doesn't Life Itself teach
That Eros is
A primary source
Of God's revelation
About the nature of Life
And Love?)
Jesus, on the other hand
Had no such reservations.
His followers believed
Him to be the Great Prophet
Predicted by Moses.
He taught astonishing truths
With authority and certainty
Unlike the temple scribes
(And the doubt-filled Paul).
He terrified unclean spirits
While delighting
The (married) women and men
Who hung on his every word.
The disparity between the nationalistic and exclusively personal understandings of the prophet Yeshua on the one hand and the highly political nature of his life and discourse on the other is extremely important to confront.
That's because (as Caitlin Johnstone has recently reminded us) those who control cultural narratives control the world. And no narrative is more important to history's control than the religious one we've just considered. That's because religious faith addresses life's most fundamental questions – the ones so thrillingly addressed by the prophets we've considered here: about the nature of life; our relations with one another, human connections with the environment, about foreigners, power, love, money, and justice.
I'll even venture to say that religious story supplies the popular "philosophy" of most people in the world. It organizes their experiences. They might not know much about history, economics, or political parties, but they know what they've been told about the Bible, the Bhagavad-Gita, or the Holy Koran.
To ignore this truism is tragically to surrender an essential tool of social justice to its enemies. On the other hand, exposing the radical social justice character of the Judeo-Christian narrative while challenging its domestication by false prophets represents an essential element of any attempts to shape the world by controlling its narrative.
Even completely secular social justice warriors should take note.
Posted on January 29, 2021 Categories Sunday HomiliesTags Dorothy Day, God, Homiletic helps, Jeremiah Wright, Jesus, Liz Theoharis, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Moses, Pope Francis, Prophecy, Prophets, Social Justice, Sunday Homilies, William Barber II2 Comments on Controlling History's Narrative: Who Speaks for God Today?
Don't Listen to Blinken: China's System Is More Just Than Ours
Readings for the 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time: Jonah 3: 1-5, 10; Psalm 25: 4-9, I Corinthians 7: 29-31; Mark 1: 14-20.
The liturgical readings for this Sunday are about designated enemies often being readier to recognize and respond to divine wisdom than are believers who consider themselves God's People.
Accordingly, the selections present the mind-blowing discovery of the reluctant chauvinist prophet Jonah (he of belly-of-the-whale fame) alongside the habitual people-centered attitude of the courageous universalist prophet Yeshua the Christ. Together, the readings' call is to open ourselves to the wisdom and goodness of despised foreigners and the non-elite.
That theme (explained below) reminds me of China and its bipartisan vilification by U.S. politicians and mainstream media. Like the Ninevites in today's first reading, China has gradually and unquestionably become the enemy du jour as described not only by outgoing Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo but by his incoming counterpart, Antony Blinken.
The Case of China
Like Jonah's assessment of Nineveh, neither can say a good word about China, even though (according to western polls) its government enjoys something like 90% approval by the Chinese people. (Furthermore, according to Dorinda Elliot of the China Institute, rather than diminishing its popularity, the government's success in dealing with Covid-19 has made it more popular than ever.)
Still, on his way out the State Department door, Mr. Pompeo denounced China not only for stealing western intellectual property, but for its policies on Muslims and ethnic minorities in its western Xinjiang region. According to Pompeo, those policies constitute "crimes against humanity" and "genocide."
In his testimony before the U.S. Senate, Antony Blinken fully agreed with Pompeo's assessment. Both painted China as an enemy rather than a hugely successful competitor with whom our country might well cooperate and from whom we might learn. Relative to crimes against humanity, both Pompeo and Blinken ignore the facts that their own country's policies:
Continue to kill Muslims every day in Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Yemen, and Somalia
Imprison and torture them in Guantanamo and other black sites
Have done so for nearly 20 years
While maintaining concentration camps and baby jails for immigrants and asylum seekers on its southern border.
Despite all of that, Mr. Blinken had the temerity to criticize China's use of reeducation camps as its particular method of dealing with Muslim terrorist threats rather than "our" method of endless wars, bombings and drone strikes. (In Iraq's illegal war, such have taken the lives of more than 1 million people — with no official mention of genocide or crimes against humanity.)
Moreover, Pompeo's and Blinken's denunciations ignore the facts that China's system of political economy has (in Jonah's terms) "repented." It has self-consciously departed from the inefficient and destructive ways of capitalism-as-we-know-it. Yes, China's way involves a large free-market sector. But a huge part of its economy is under direct government control. The results of that combination have been astoundingly successful.
Moreover, according to economist Richard Wolff, accusations against China's alleged stealing of intellectual property are nonsensical. According to Wolff, the transfer of intellectual property was part and parcel of the bargain long since struck between U.S. companies and the Chinese government when those companies were given access to Chinese labor and the country's markets. On China's part, the understanding was: we give you access to our market and cheap labor; you share profits with us and give us the right to reverse engineer your technology. It was an at least implied quid pro quo agreement that everyone understood.
The result was the Chinese Way that enjoys huge success not only internationally, but domestically. According to Bloomberg News, the Chinese economy is set to grow by 2.5 percent this fiscal year, despite the ravages of Covid-19.
In other words, Chinese "repentance," its unprecedentedly rapid response (in just over 40 years) to the needs of its people, has saved it from the destruction our version of capitalism has arguably made inevitable for us. Like the prophet, Jonah, our politicians and business elite don't want to hear any of that.
As I've been saying here, all of this is closely connected with today's readings. In the first selection, the Spirit of Life sends Jonah to learn from Nineveh, Israel's archenemy. He's completely surprised to discover that the Ninevites, like China, are more responsive to the way of Yahweh than Jonah's own people.
Similarly, in today's Gospel selection, Jesus departs entirely from conventional wisdom. He selects illiterate workmen (rather than temple priests or members of his country's elite) as recruiters for his Kingdom of God Movement bent on creating a world governed by divine principle rather than Caesar's brute force.
Here's the way I translate today's readings about the superior ways of those (like China) whom we routinely despise as foreign and inferior. You can find their original forms here to see if I've got them right.
Jonah 3: 1-5, 10
The reluctant prophet Jonah
Braved Nineveh's
Hostile urban jungle
To announce Yahweh's
Urgent call
For Israel's Great Enemy
To change its entire
Unjust system.
To the patriotic prophet's
Great chagrin
The enemy listened
Changed completely
And transformed
Its destructive way
In just 40 days!
So, Great Mother-Father
Teach us the way
Of the Ninevites.
For the enemy's
Path of justice
Humility, love
Kindness, good
Truth and compassion
Is your way too.
Our time for such willing
Social transformation
Is quickly running out.
Choosing it
Is more important
Than sex,
Our little trials
And triumphs
Our trinkets
And work.
But actually,
Our Great Father-Mother's
Drastically New World
Is inevitable.
Yeshua recognized
That inevitability
After conservative forces
Arrested his mentor,
The Great prophet,
John the Baptist.
Ordinary workers
With simple names like
Simon, Andrew,
James and John
Saw it too.
So, they left everything:
Work and companions
Father and mother,
Wives and lovers
To join Yeshua's
Working class movement
To laborers like themselves
About the Great Mother-Father's
In-breaking New Order.
Like Yahweh in the days of Jonah and Jesus centuries later, the Spirit of Life today is calling us in so many ways to repent and imitate the equivalents of Jonah's Ninevites. Like Paul in Corinth, the Great Mother-Father tells us that the time is short. Climate chaos itself underlines that urgent message. Our task is more important than anything our culture presents as essential.
China's example of repentance, its departure from capitalism-as-we-know-it, its construction of an economy based above all on meeting the needs of its huge population represents a path forward – if not for imitation, for inspiration and instruction.
It tells us that we must reorient away from profits and wealth for the few towards the creation of a society with room for everyone and abundance for all – just what the working man, Yeshua, demonstrated in his choice of working-class people to introduce the Kingdom's new heaven and new earth.
We're called today to listen to the prophets of such unconventional wisdom rather than to Pompeo and Blinken's misdirection.
Posted on January 23, 2021 Categories Sunday HomiliesTags Antony Blinken, China, God, Homiletic helps, Jesus, Jonah, Kingdom of God, Mike Pompeo, Nineveh, Sunday Homilies2 Comments on Don't Listen to Blinken: China's System Is More Just Than Ours
What Joe Biden Should Learn from Obama's Autobiography: Listen to Jeremiah Wright
I've just finished Barack Obama's remarkable autobiography, A Promised Land. Its biblical title invites reflection about the theological orientation and resulting policies of the man the book portrays. By his own testimony, that direction was originally set by Jeremiah A. Wright, Mr. Obama's former pastor at Trinity United Church of Christ on Chicago's South Side.
James Cone, the father of Black liberation theology has described Dr. Wright as Black liberation theology's foremost contemporary exponent. So, in Mr. Obama, the United States experienced not only its first Black president, but its first chief executive to have been shaped spiritually by liberation theology.
With all of that in mind, the point of the following review of The Promised Land will be that had Mr. Obama employed what he learned at the feet of Jeremiah Wright, his policies would have been markedly different from their actual forms. Practically speaking, they would have more resembled those of Franklin Delano Roosevelt than a continuation of the neoliberal legacy of Bill Clinton. They would have set the country on a profoundly different and more widely beneficial trajectory from the one we are currently following.
Professed devout Catholic, Joe Biden, should take note. The radical biblical tradition espoused not only by Wright and Cone, but by King and William Barber – i.e., championed by thought leaders among Mr. Biden's most crucial constituents – won't support a return to "normalcy." It requires policies that prioritize the needs not of Wall Street, but of the poor. It demands departure from Barack Obama's business as usual.
And that brings me precisely to liberation theology.
In case you've forgotten, liberation theology is reflection on the following of Yeshua the Christ from the viewpoint of the poor and oppressed committed to improving their collective life economically, politically, socially, and spiritually.
Its Judeo-Christian orientation is about political and economic starting points and end points.
Sociologically speaking, it begins (as OpEdNews' Rob Kall would say) from the "bottom up." In the case of the Jewish tradition, it starts with the liberation of slaves in Egypt by a Life-Force they called "Yahweh." It ends with Yahweh's pledge to give the enslaved (as Mr. Obama's book title reminds us) "A Promised Land."
In its Christian form, the tradition starts with a poor houseless child who grows into a prophet. He promises dispossessed victims of the Roman Empire the end point of "the kingdom of God." By this he meant a world where God is king instead of Caesar – a world with room for everyone. For liberation theology, that's the North Star – the guiding vision meant to shape all of life, economically, politically, socially, and spiritually – a world where no one is excluded or marginalized
Following that star, liberation theology emphasizes what the Christian Testament's Paul of Tarsus calls "the wisdom of God" contrasted sharply with "the wisdom of the world" (I Cor. 2: 1-16). In modern terms, the wisdom of the world is trickle-down; it begins with the well-off. It holds that if the wealthy prosper, the tide that lifts their luxury yachts will lift all boats. By contrast, God's bottom-up wisdom begins with the well-being of the poor.
Unfortunately, the policies, Mr. Obama describes in A Promised Land ended up reflecting the former over the latter.
Jeremiah Wright's Influence on Mr. Obama
That reflection contrasts dramatically with what scandalized America's right wing when it first encountered Jeremiah Wright's liberation theology. The discovery occurred soon after they realized that Barack and Michelle Obama not only were parishioners of a fiercely radical black pastor, but that he had officiated at their wedding (A Promised Land 23).
That sent conservatives scurrying to unearth evidence of Wright's (and by extension Obama's) unacceptably extreme viewpoints. In fact, what their excavations uncovered nearly terminated Mr. Obama's political ambitions (140).
That's because (true to liberation theology's form) Wright's words explicitly foregrounded the experience of the poor as victims of what he called U.S. terrorism. His sermons often traced it from the genocide of Native Americans, through the enslavement of Africans, to Middle Eastern policies that, he said, invited the tragic events of 9/11/2001. It led him to refer to his country as the "USA of KKK," and to conclude, "Not God bless America," but "God damn America" (140).
Despite all of that, and notwithstanding his eventual repudiation of his former pastor, President Obama's testifies in A Promised Land that Rev. Wright remained an important part of his consciousness (142). And so, throughout his narrative, the former chief executive gives indications of critical truths often reminiscent those voiced (albeit more forcefully) by his one-time pastor. For instance, Mr. Obama recalls that:
As part of a generation willing to question the U.S. government (456), he frequently found Wright's black liberation theology inspiring and as channeling the understandable rage of black people in general (119, 141).
Not only did Rev. Wright's disturbing insights become part of his consciousness, but so did the radical thought of W.E.B. Dubois, Martin Luther King, John Lewis, Bob Moses, Fannie Lou Hamer and Diane Nash (11) – along with those of the Hindu Mahatma Gandhi and the belatedly revered socialist, Nelson Mandela (598).
He realized that despite the convictions of many liberals, America's race problems are far from being solved (128).
He felt impatient with having to soften blunt truths that whites find disturbing (121).
He himself had often experienced police harassment (395).
He found sympathy with the assessment of critics like Wright that America's ". . . ideals have always been secondary to conquest and subjugation, a racial caste system and rapacious capitalism, and that to pretend otherwise is to be complicit in a game that was rigged from the start" (xv).
In fact, after World War II, the U.S. had ". . . bent global institutions to serve Cold War imperatives or ignored them altogether . . . meddled in the affairs of other countries, sometimes with disastrous results;" and its ". . . actions often contradicted the ideals of democracy, self-determination and human rights. . ." (329).
America's war in Vietnam was no less brutal than the Soviet Union's repression of Hungary (469).
The criminal U.S.-supported Shah of Iran and his feared SAVAK secret police were typical of murderous client regimes supported by America in the Global South following World War II (310, 450-1).
The Shah's regime was part of U.S. Mideast policy that needlessly alienated Muslims throughout the world. That policy tolerated corruption and repression in the region and routinely humiliated Palestinians (358).
China represents an attractive alternative (to the United States') model for the developing world (481).
That's true especially after so many Global South countries embraced the illusory "wisdom" of the Washington Neoliberal Consensus and thus followed America over a fatal precipice (330).
Obama's Repudiation of Wright (and radical change)
Despite such insights, Mr. Obama's presidential ambitions not only made it necessary for him to repudiate Jeremiah Wright, but evidently to adopt a series of policies that contradicted the tenets of liberation theology. His policies prioritized the welfare of the rich over those of the working class and poor. Accordingly, the president ends up admitting that:
Because of the financial crisis, he did not follow through on his campaign promises to U.S. workers (177).
For him, the financial markets (presumably as opposed to wage earners) were the only audience that really mattered (304).
His interventions alone were responsible for saving bankers from wage earners' justified anger and retaliation (297).
Resulting white working-class anger, e.g., in Pennsylvania about jobs lost through such neoliberal policies, was justified (144).
In retrospect, bank nationalization and prosecution of crooked bankers might have been a better solution to the Crisis of 2008 than the bailouts favored by his economic team (280, 296, 305).
By avoiding that solution and bowing to bankers' interests, Obama consciously missed a once-in-a-generation chance to reengineer the overall economy in a bottom-up way reminiscent of FDR's New Deal (304).
He could have done so, because of his 70% approval rating coupled with the super majority he possessed in the Congress at the outset of his first term (225, 378, 243).
Nowhere in his autobiography does Mr. Obama reveal his repudiation of Wright's outspokenness than in the case of the Deepwater Horizon oil tragedy of 2010. There, BP Oil had unleashed the most devastating oil spill in the history of offshore drilling. It lasted for 87 days and pumped out into the ocean at least 20,000 (and possibly 50,000) barrels of oil daily (569).
As time wore on and scientists and engineers scrambled to cap the leaks, Republicans increasingly blamed the president for the failure to do so. They even referred to it as "Obama's Katrina" (569).
What Mr. Obama's best instincts told him to say in response was reminiscent of Wright's candor – this time in favor of perhaps the earth's most oppressed being, Mother Earth Herself. According to the former president, he should have said:
". . . the only way to truly guarantee that we didn't have another catastrophic oil spill in the future was to stop drilling entirely; but that wasn't going to happen because at the end of the day we Americans loved our cheap gas and big cars more than we cared about the environment except when a complete disaster was staring us in the face, and in the absence of such disaster, the media rarely covered efforts to shift America off fossil fuels or pass climate change legislation, since actually educating the public would be boring and bad for ratings; and the one thing I could be certain of was that for all the outrage being expressed at the moment about wetlands and sea turtles and pelicans, what the majority of us were really interested in was having the problem go away, for me to clean up yet one more mess decades in the making with some quick and easy fix, so that we could all go back to our carbon-spewing, energy-wasting ways without having to feel guilty about it" (570-71).
Again, that's what, Obama admits, he wanted to say: stop drilling altogether, get rid of your big SUVs, pay the true price of gasoline, and pass courageous climate change legislation despite effects on the "American Way of Life."
Instead, the president describes his Casper Milquetoast response with the following words: ". . . I somberly took responsibility and said it was my job to 'get this fixed.'"
In other words, in contrast to liberation theology's and Jeremiah Wright's "preferential option for the poor," Obama's policy preference supported the corporate status quo. He short-changed those represented by what he elsewhere describes as "his kind of crowd" from the days when he worshipped at Trinity United – "democracy activists, heads of nonprofits and community organizers working at a grassroots level on issues like housing, public health, and political access" (466).
That in a nutshell encapsulates Obama's choice not to follow the outspokenness not only of Jeremiah Wright, but of FDR's ghost with whom POTUS #44 wistfully compares himself throughout his memoir (177, 239, 240, 264, 388, 524, 547, 549).
Following Roosevelt, Mr. Obama's legacy could have been different. He could have bailed out wage earners instead of the bankers. He could have instituted a 21st century New Deal prioritizing health care, infrastructure renewal, clean energy technology, and a green counterpart to the Civilian Conservation Corps.
Moreover, Barack Obama was more up to selling those programs than any president within living memory. He was better equipped for game-changing fireside chatting than even Roosevelt himself. No chief executive since FDR enjoyed his natural charm, charisma or eloquence.
Yet by his own admission, he wasted what that other Roosevelt called his "bully pulpit" by failing to persuade the American people to support legislation in their own best interests regarding single-payer health care, immigration reform, clean energy, nuclear disarmament, and cessation of endless wars (594).
None of this is to say that his own words in A Promised Land reveal President Barack Obama as somehow nefarious or intentionally two-faced. As presidents go, he emerges as a decent man. And no one can deny the significance of his enormous achievement as the first black man to overcome the tremendous obstacles barring election to the highest office in the land. Moreover, once in office, #44 acquitted himself with impeccable moral integrity (595). His staff worked extremely hard. Mr. Obama was the kind of boss most of us would like to work for – upbeat, sensitive, inclusive and willing to laugh at himself (534). He is also a gifted writer.
Neither is any of this to say that Mr. Obama should have been as outspoken as Jeremiah Wright. Such style might be appropriate for a prophetic pastor on Chicago's south side, but it's surely not the way to get elected president.
As a theologian however, I find it regrettable that the former president so completely cut himself off from the lessons learned at the feet of his early mentor. (And this is where Catholic Joe Biden has something to learn from his boss' admitted regrets.) Had President Obama quietly embraced Dr. Wright's lessons, had he ignored the Geithners, Emanuels, and Sommers, had he prioritized the needs of the poor, had he offered us another New Deal, we'd likely be living in a far greener country with far less wealth disparity, injustice and anger ( 522, 524).
And judging by Mr. Roosevelt's success with the electorate, the Democrats would today enjoy much firmer standing in the White House and halls of Congress.
Biblically speaking, Barack Obama would have brought us all that much closer to A Promised Land.
Posted on January 21, 2021 January 21, 2021 Categories Book ReviewsTags A Promised Land, Barack Obama, Dr. William Barber II, FDR, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, James Cone, Jeremiah Wright, Liberation theology3 Comments on What Joe Biden Should Learn from Obama's Autobiography: Listen to Jeremiah Wright
In Defense of Revolutionary Violence
Thankfully, our country may at last be entering a pre-revolutionary period. Forces of both right and left are emerging hell bent on social change.
Of course, I'm referring to the recent riots in Washington DC and the threat of further violence this inauguration week. I'm also referencing last summer's largely peaceful Black Lives Matter (BLM) demonstrations mis-portrayed in the media as setting entire cities aflame.
Mis-portrayals or not, both rebellions have the United States government on the run and ready to tamp down the disturbances with drastic policy changes.
Moreover, participation in the uprising by DC police, former military, and psyop officers indicates that society's armed forces – local law enforcement and some military rank and file – are beginning to come over to the side of revolution. (Historically speaking, such switching of sides is an absolute prerequisite for any revolution's success.)
The whole configuration has government officials like Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Mitch McConnell and Mike Pence hiding under their desks for fear for the mobs with pitchforks.
After all, we should be clear about this: none of them, not Pence or McConnell, not Schumer or Pelosi is our friend. Quite the opposite. Their loyalties lie elsewhere – with the natural enemies of wage earners like us. They are friends of the one percent who have been exploiting the rest of us for decades. None of them deserves our sympathy or respect. It's gratifying to see them frightened out of their wits.
It's quite ironic, isn't it? Those whom Dr. King called the world's greatest purveyors of violence now have their tables turned. A week after voting to spend more than $2 billion a day on war and armaments, they've suddenly become pacifists obsessing about violence!
And the rest of us will be seduced by their outraged discourse unless we understand that the term "violence" is more complicated than most of us think. In fact, there's a lot to be said in favor of revolutionary violence.
Violence Is Multi-Dimensional
Sadly, as was the case with the birth of this country, revolution necessarily involves violence. But let's face it: so does maintenance of the system at hand. As we'll see below, the social arrangements we experience every day are based on a violence responsible for untold suffering and death. In the eyes of many, the only rational response is to defend ourselves in kind. And the violence is often justifiable.
Speaking precisely as a theologian, I'll say, they may be right. In fact, even Catholic bishops like Brazil's Dom Helder Camara and St. Oscar Romero of El Salvador made a similar argument years ago during their peoples' own revolutions against U.S.-supported dictatorships.
Both prelates pointed out that "violence" is more complicated than most of us think. It actually has four dimensions – and only one of them (the one usually most ardently vilified in our culture) is by any stretch justifiable. The levels include (1) structural violence, (2) the (often revolutionary) violence of self-defense, (3) reactionary police violence, and (3) terrorist violence. According to Camara and Romero, only the second level can claim any legitimacy.
The riots I've been referring to here are an indication that U.S. citizens are mad as hell and aren't going to take it anymore. Consciously or unconsciously, we're mad about unjust structures – about economic, social, and political arrangements – whose short-list includes:
A government that has criminally mishandled a pandemic it has allowed to kill 400,000 of us (and counting)
Completely inadequate health care that few can really afford
A rigged electoral system
Police repression unevenly targeting people of color
A bailout of the rich and powerful and a middle finger to the working class, unemployed, and uninsured during a crisis that has record numbers of us unemployed and plagued by inescapable debt
Inadequate wages that have most of us up to our ears in hock
Unaffordable education along with overwhelming student debt
Unpayable rents coming due
The maintenance of a military system that spends more than $2 billion each day, while increasing numbers of Americans are sleeping in the streets and under bridges
An embarrassing infrastructure that is falling apart before our eyes making our cities, transportation systems, breadlines and beggars on the street look like Brazil used to look.
Government inaction about climate change and immigration
Again: all of that (and more) represents structural violence. It causes untold suffering and kills people every day. However, it has been such a part of our daily lives that few of us even recognize it as deadly, criminal and even homicidal.
And if someone is trying to kill you, anyone has the right to self-defense.
Violence of Self-Defense
And that brings me to Camara's and Romero's second level of violence, the response of oppressed people to the first level.
Self-defense is a human right. Perhaps the heroic among us – like Gandhi, King and those who followed them – can forego its invocation. However, let's not fool ourselves, the vast majority of Americans – in fact the vast majority of Christians – is not and has never been pacifist.
Far from it, most of us – even religious people – are enthusiastic advocates of "just war," always rationalized as self-defense. (That $2 billion we allow our government to spend on "defense" each day is proof enough of that.)
Even more to the point, our nation's founding document, the Declaration of Independence, underlines the right of citizens to engage in the very type of violence displayed in Washington last week. Referring to the origins and aims of government, Jefferson and his co-signers declared: "That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."
Judging from the violent actions of our founders, those words arguably justify Americans' assuming arms, destroying property, and arresting criminally negligent officials administering a government as dysfunctional as the one described above.
Police Violence
The inevitable reactionary response of violent institutions to citizen rebellion constitutes the third level of violence. It's what we saw last summer in response to the (again) largely peaceful demonstrations of BLM activists precisely against out-of-control police forces.
This level of officially sanctioned violence took the form of tear gas, pepper spray, beatings, mass arrests, and running over protestors with squad cars.
It's here, of course, that the problematic differences between the revolutionary forces of the left and those of the right come under blindingly bright light. Our system's endemic racism and its accompanying white privilege prompt police and military forces to align with white revolutionaries, while crushing their black and brown counterparts.
The difference in response ignores the commonality of complaints shared by basically working-class protestors. (The disparity describes the arena of dialog and cooperation that must be recognized and entered by all participants. But that's another story.)
In any case, because this third level of violence supports a criminal status quo, it is just as illegitimate as the first level.
Terrorist Violence
The fourth level of violence is that represented by terrorism – in the case of the DC riots, domestic terrorism.
The FBI defines domestic terrorism as "violent, criminal acts committed by individuals and/or groups to further ideological goals stemming from domestic influences, such as those of a political, religious, social, racial, or environmental nature."
According to this characterization, what occurred in Washington on January 6th fits the category. Its acts were violent and against the law. They were committed by a group seeking to further goals stemming from domestic influences – in this case, that of a sitting U.S. president inciting action to reverse an officially sanctioned and repeatedly court-vetted election.
Likewise, the definition's parameters could justify classifying some of last summer's BLM protests as terroristic. After all, they sometimes involved property destruction and were motivated by religious, social and racial concerns.
All of this reveals however the system-serving nature of terrorism's official definition. It too supports the status quo and forbids revolutionary action of the type supported by the Declaration of Independence. Hence, like the system itself, the definition is entirely questionable.
Such conclusion is further justified given the fact that its proponents (the FBI and U.S. government) themselves stand accused of domestic and international terrorism on a scale that absolutely dwarfs the pre-revolutionary events of 2020. By all accounts, state terrorism is a far greater and more destructive problem than any domestic form.
So how should we look upon the pre-revolutionary events currently fomented by social activists at both ends of the U.S. political spectrum? The answer is: with both enthusiasm and caution.
Enthusiasm because this country needs a revolution – even entailing destruction of property. Our government no longer represents anyone but the 1%. Its police forces support that government and terrorize black and brown people. Its electoral system is completely corrupt. "Our" representatives are standing by idly while literally thousands are needlessly dying every day. Etc., etc., etc. etc.
As Helder Camara, Oscar Romero and Thomas Jefferson posthumously suggest, the crucial moment may have thankfully arrived. And if history provides any indication, the moment may sadly witness desperate people doing desperate things – in ways that are completely understandable and arguably justified.
Those who recognize the need for revolutionary change are patriots, though many of them have been badly misinformed to the point that they are punching downward rather than above.
And that's where the caution comes in. For any revolution to serve all of the people, forces at both ends of the political spectrum must recognize their shared common ground. The short-list shared above makes that point quite clearly. Trump's supporters have far more in common with Black Lives Matter advocates than they do with their cult leader.
Rather than echoing the official chorus uncritically denouncing undifferentiated "violence," forces on both the left and right need to think more critically about the topic. We need to unify against our common enemy and threaten its supporters with consequences for their treasonous misrepresentation.
We've got to keep them under their desks.
Posted on January 18, 2021 Categories Current IssuesTags Chuck Schumer, DC Riots, Declaration of Independence, Dom Helder Camara, Donald Trump, FBI, Four Levels of Violence, Mike Pence, Mitch McConnell, Nancy Pelosi, St. Oscar Romero, Thomas Jefferson, Violence2 Comments on In Defense of Revolutionary Violence
The "Woke" Brotherhood of Eli, Samuel, John, Peter & Jesus
Readings for the 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time: I SAM 3: 3B-10, 19; PS 40: 4, 7-10; I COR 6: 13C-15A, 17-20; JN 35-42
This week's readings are about wakefulness. They tell the stories of five great prophets of the Judeo-Christian tradition. (Prophets, remember, are not fortune tellers. They're the spokespersons for the Great Father-Mother God however s/he is named.)
Prophets were never popular with the authorities of their day. But the poor loved them, because their words comforted the afflicted and afflicted the comfortable sleeping peacefully behind their temple and castle gates.
Prophetic words lit fires in those ready to hear them. They awakened those in oblivious slumber – sleepers like you and me.
As a disciple of the one he identified as the greatest man ever to draw breath (MT 11:11), Yeshua was like that. He passed his inherited mantle on to Peter – another working man like himself, just as Eli had willed his mantle to his disciple, Samuel.
Today's readings are specifically about the awakening of Samuel and Peter. They should sound alarm bells for us as well. Here are my translations of this Sunday's selections. (You can find the originals here.):
I Samuel 3: 3B-10, 19
Prophets sometimes fall asleep
Even telling would-be disciples
To ignore the summons
To fullness of life
In favor of slumber's cheap comfort.
Old Eli did that to young Samuel.
However, the Mother-God's persistence
Eventually awakened
Both the ancient mystic
And his young apprentice
Until their shared prayer became
"Speak, Great Mother,
For your servants are listening!"
From then on,
Neither permitted any Goddess word
To be spoken without its effect.
Psalm 40: 4, 7-10
Let that be our prayer as well:
"Here I am, Great Mother,
I come to do your will."
The invocation will give
New melody to our life's song.
It will replace old time religion
With sharp vision
And attentive ears
That reveal justice's demands
Already inscribed
In our very hearts
As the Goddess'
Inescapable Law of Life.
I Corinthians 6: 13C-15A, 17-20
Yeshua shared the awakened consciousness
Of old Eli and young Samuel.
He taught that
Placing ourselves at the Goddess' disposal
Would transform our lives too
Making us avoid the immorality
Of injustice towards others
As crimes against our own bodies
And against the Great Spirit
Who resides within each of us.
John 1: 35-40
For that reason
Even the Great John the Baptist
And his disciples
Recognized the unschooled
But wide-awakened Jesus
As rabbi, teacher, Messiah
And Goddess favorite.
One of them, changed his name
To signify his newly awakened self-consciousness
Wrought by
A single afternoon's conversation.
So, please speak to us too,
Dear rabbi Yeshua,
As you did to young Peter.
Your servants are listening indeed.
May none of your words
Remain without its effect.
Posted on January 16, 2021 January 13, 2021 Categories Sunday HomiliesTags Biblical Prophecy, Homiletic helps, Jesus, John the Baptist, Prophet Eli, Prophet Samuel, Simon Peter, Sunday, Sunday Homilies, Wakefulness, WokenessLeave a comment on The "Woke" Brotherhood of Eli, Samuel, John, Peter & Jesus
Should Progressives Be Inspired by the DC Rioters?
Last week, Michael Moore asked an important question on OpEdNews. He wondered "Why Are We Not Uprising?" His revolutionary issue was the lack of single-payer healthcare so relentlessly highlighted by the worldwide covid-19 pandemic. Why no revolution, he asked, when so many are dying from clearly remediable causes – when the vast majority of Americans want single-payer?
Response to Moore's article showed that he had indeed touched a revolutionary chord.
But then last Wednesday, when an actual uprising took place, everyone, it seemed, wanted to join hands across the proverbial aisle separating left and right. They jointly lamented the shocking breakdown of law and order. (The "Risings" Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti provide an example of that shared reaction.)
Think about it, everyone said: the rioters actually "desecrated" the Capitol Building' "sacred" space! They broke some windows. They took selfies of themselves standing at the podium of the House of Representatives. They ransacked poor Nancy Pelosi's office! They forced Mitch McConnell and Co. to run for their lives.
Washington policemen responded with a wink and a nod.
The horror of it all!
Something similar (with important differences) happened this summer, when Black Lives Matter (BLM) demonstrators took to the streets. Theirs' was a largely peaceful uprising in the spirit of Martin Luther King. But then, agents provocateurs (and perhaps some demonstrators themselves) had the temerity to break into and loot Wal-Mart's "sacred" precincts. Windows were smashed; fires were set.
That time, police responded with an iron fist. Demonstrators were beaten, tear-gassed and arrested.
Yes of course, there were those important differences between the two insurrections just cited. The DC protagonists were Trump supporters and right-wing fanatics. Their issue was election fraud. The cause of the BLM demonstrators was police brutality directed towards black and brown people.
Despite those distinctions however, don't you see what's happening? Michael Moore's wish has come true! The first phase of the revolution is unfolding before our very eyes. But even its protagonists don't recognize its portent and promise.
That's because they've been hoodwinked into seeing each other as the enemy. Rather than joining forces against their common overlords, they're punching down. The rightists think their enemy are blacks and immigrants whose numbers are rapidly changing U.S. demographics. Meanwhile, leftist demonstrators are the very ones mistakenly vilified by the rightists and their sympathizers among the police.
The empowering solution is for all of us to see the common revolutionary terrain on which we're standing, namely:
Citizen anger, be it left or right is entirely justified
Both what happened In DC this week and in streets across the country (and world) last summer are the initial stirrings of a widespread working-class revolution.
Michael Moore is right. He'd agree, I think, that the real violence in question here is not breaking windows or setting fires. It's a system that in the midst of a worldwide pandemic refuses (despite agreement between Democratic and Republican majorities) to refund our taxpayer dollars in the form of single-payer healthcare and guaranteed income for workers displaced by forces beyond our control.
That's our money they're not returning to us in this emergency!
Everyone can also agree with Trump supporters that our election system is entirely fraudulent. Voting machines are completely questionable; they should be replaced by paper ballots. Campaign contributions are nothing but legalized bribery. Voter suppression's many forms (from unnecessary ID laws to the dismantling of the U.S. post office) are a sad fact of American life. Gerrymandering is hideously anti-democratic. So is the Electoral College. The list of fraudulence goes on.
Pelosi and McConnell do not represent us, but their donors. Following the example of our Founders (cf. Jefferson on this!), we should force them all to flee for their lives from outraged citizens and their pitchforks whether the attack comes from the right or the left.
The offices of our mis-representatives deserve to be ransacked.
Ordinary people should seize congressional podia and make their voices heard.
The police too are working class people misled into identifying fellow workers as the enemy while defending their own natural enemies.
I'm currently reading Barack Obama's autobiography, The Promised Land. It's an account of a well-meaning ambitious young black man whose rise to the pinnacle of political power gradually but inexorably transforms him into the servant of a class he initially identified as inimical to the interests of the people he wanted to help. It's the story of an imperceptibly slow cooptation, early-onset blindness, and betrayal of ideals and common sense in favor of power, profit and prestige.
A similar cooptation threatens all of us at this pre-revolutionary moment. It will succeed if we allow our overlords to sell us a narrative that covers up the workers' revolution that has the Pelosis and McConnells of the world frightened out of their wits. Like young Mr. Obama, we're overlooking how the rich and powerful are blinding us to our common cause as wage-earning Americans.
Michael Moore (and the rest of us) should take note.
Posted on January 8, 2021 January 8, 2021 Categories Current IssuesTags "Rising", Black Lives Matter, COVID-19, DC Riots, Donald Trump, Krystal Ball, Michael Moore, Mitch McConnell, Nancy Pelosi, Pandemic, Police Brutality, Saagar Enjeti, The Promised Land16 Comments on Should Progressives Be Inspired by the DC Rioters?
For Peggy
Posted on January 6, 2021 February 14, 2021 Categories SongsTags "My Happiness", Fiona Prine, John Prine4 Comments on "My Happiness"
In Memoriam: Guy Patrick (1935-2021)
Guy (far left) posing with new homeowners in his capacity as director of Habitat for Humanity in Madison County, KY
I lost my best friend today. Guy Patrick died around 11:00 this morning, a couple of weeks after we celebrated his 85th birthday. For years, he had predicted his death "this Easter." And then when it didn't happen, he'd laugh and say, "I guess I've been given another year."
I had known Guy for more than 40 years. Also former priest, he had a kindred monk's spirit and was wonderful example of the deepest unshakable (though critical) faith. It let him settle for a date near Christmas rather than Easter.
I first met Guy (I forget exactly when) in the late 1970s. He was "in transition" as they say – exploring his exit from the priesthood and an anticipated move to Berea Kentucky. There, his future wife, Peggy Anibaldi (a former religious sister) had just secured employment as a head resident at Berea College where I ended up teaching all those years.
Earlier, Peggy had looked me up having got my name from the bulletin of CORPUS, a Catholic organization of ex-clergy and religious whose mission was to help members find employment and community.
I remember Guy's Peggy visiting my Peggy and me in our home in Buffalo Holler 5 miles outside the Berea city limits. No sooner was Ms. Anibaldi inside our doors, it seemed, than my Peggy was on the phone to Ruth Butwell (the director of Berea's residence halls) telling her of this wonderful woman who would make the perfect head resident. Ruth hired Peggy, it seemed, almost on the spot. (My Peggy is very persuasive!)
In any case, when Guy finally joined his Peggy in Berea, we hit it off immediately. And there in my office on the 4th floor of the Draper Building, began a conversation that lasted through Guy's final days. It was always the same: some about politics, yes, but mostly about God, philosophy, theology, church, life and death. Always the same. Always delightful. Usually over double Manhattans and popcorn. Sometimes quite animated. Never dull. I loved Guy.
And what was there not to love? He was a wise accomplished man. As he described it, his career path could be roughly divided into 10-year segments. It took him, he said:
From Catholic school and setting bowling pins as a kid in PA
To the seminary and ordination
To securing a degree in theology at DC's Catholic University
To teaching in his diocesan seminary and later in an associated high school
To working as a youth minister (with Sister Anibaldi) at Mercyhurst College in Erie, PA
To serving as a Berea College head resident and later as a factotum at Emmaus House, an intergenerational home for the elderly which Guy's Peggy directed as part of Fr. Ralph Beiting's Christian Appalachian Project
To assuming his role as the truly legendary director of Habitat for Humanity in Madison County, Kentucky
To retiree status in which he continued to work for Habitat and (always with Peggy) to animate our local St. Clare's Catholic Church until he (along with other progressive Catholics) surrendered in the face of restorationist pastors rejecting the spirit of the Second Vatican Council
Through it all, Guy retained a wonderful self-deprecatory sense of humor. A laugh or a joking remark was never far from his lips. Some of his more memorable sayings included:
"As my dad used to say in similar circumstances, 'Meh. . .'"
"Well, we all have to be somewhere."
"Organize? Hell, I couldn't organize a two-car funeral."
"They say I'm a pessimist, but I'm really an optimist. A pessimist says things couldn't get worse. I always say, 'Oh yes they could!'"
"In marrying Peggy, I was just following the advice of Martin Luther. He said 'Every man should marry a nun.' And that's what I did. Never regretted it. Luther was right."
"In fact, (again quoting my dad) here's the way I'd summarize my life, 'I loved every minute of it!'"
"For that reason, I like what Woody Allen had to say about death: 'It's not that I'm afraid of dying. I just don't want to be there when it happens.'"
Woody Allen notwithstanding, Guy was indeed fully there when it happened. That became evident in meetings of "The Manhattan Club," a men's group in which 7 of us Berea types participated for years. At our meetings we each usually drank 2 Manhattans – as well as "cheating on our wives" (as guy put it) by eating non-vegetarian snacks. The conversations were always quite lively.
[And speaking of cheating on our wives. . . Guy and I loved to have our own men's night out at Richmond's "Golden Corral Steakhouse." There we'd select steak, ribs, chops and roast beef from the buffet — not to mention mashed potatoes, gravy and rich dessert samples. Then we'd waddle across the street and bowl a few lines at the alley that always evoked stories about his boyhood days setting pins. (Guy was a good bowler and quite the competitor.) We'd finish at the bowling alley bar for a nightcap.]
But towards the end, our evening Manhattan Club gatherings switched to mornings with coffee. And week by week, we witnessed Guy's health decline. Nevertheless, he always had reflections to share as well as gallows humor about his approaching end. To the very last he was reading Plato, Thomas Merton, and the postmodernist, Jacques Derrida. Guy went out puzzling over Derrida's reflections on "the gift of death."
And at our final Manhattan Club meeting with him, guess what Guy talked about? He was full of recollections of his 6 months spent in Americus GA with the great Millard Fuller, the founder of Habitat for Humanity. He expressed his intention to make one more appeal to his friends to contribute generously to the organization in his memory.
His final sentiments were characteristically prayerful. "After all of this," he said, "my only prayer is 'Oh God, be merciful to me, a sinner.' Along with that, it's just 'Thank you.'"
That's the kind of Guy he was.
A Blessing for Guy Patrick
Just before he left us, our men's Manhattan Club met via Zoom to say a formal farewell to Guy. I was asked to give a final blessing. As we all extended our hands, this is what I prayed:
I give this blessing
In the spirit of the conversations
All of us have shared
When we debated questions of life, meaning
God, and destiny.
Those were intellectual,
Head-centered conversations
Full of laughter and joy.
We absolutely loved them!
At this important moment however,
Let's set all of that aside
And enter the depths of our hearts.
Let's embrace the wisdom of sages
Who throughout the millennia
(Along with Guy)
Have insisted
That what awaits us all
Beyond the threshold humans call "death"
Is the fulfillment of everything
That any of us can hope for or desire.
Please enter that realm with me now.
Guy, we bless you
At this transcendent moment.
We send you with all our hopes
On your way –
Onto the path that all of us must trod.
We send you into the realm
Of all the wise people who have ever lived –
Of angelic beings and light beings
The realm of our Father-Mother God.
Please know that
You take with you
Everything positive, holy,
Constructive and good --
Every holy thought, word and act
That has ever crossed your mind,
Your lips and your heart.
(There are so many of them
That you yourself
Have blessed us with.)
Go in joy, confidence, assurance
And peace
Knowing that we are with you in spirit.
Ours is one of gratitude
For the blessed life you have lived
For the lives you have changed
For the students you have inspired
For the homes you have constructed
For the love you have shared
With Peggy, Gina, Anna, their babies
With the rest of us
And so many, many more.
You have especially blessed this group of men
Who now return the favor.
You are our brother, our friend, our companion,
And our inspiring conversation partner.
You have been our priest, dear Guy
You have always been that
And will remain so
(Dare I say it?)
Yes, I will:
Behold the Great Priest
Who in his days pleased God!
"Ecce sacerdos magnus
Qui in diebus suis placuit deo".
For all of that,
For your wonderful life
And for showing us
So marvelously
How to die.
Go in peace, dear beloved brother.
Posted on January 2, 2021 Categories PersonalTags Berea College, Christian Appalachian Project, CORPUS, Guy Patrick, Habitat for Humanity, Millard Fuller, Peggy Anibaldi, Peggy Patrick, Ralph Beiting20 Comments on In Memoriam: Guy Patrick (1935-2021)
Epiphany: How Small-God Christians & Jews Reject Arabs' Immense Cosmic Deity
Readings for Epiphany Sunday: Is. 60:1-6; Ps. 72: 1-2, 7-8, 10-11, 12-13; Eph. 3:2-3a, 5-6; Mt. 2: 1-12
Over the past four years, we've heard repeated ad nauseum:
Make America great again!"
"God bless America – land of the free and home of the brave!"
American Exceptionalism.
"U.S.A., U.S.A.!"
"America's the greatest country in the world."
"America's the world's indispensable nation."
Collin Kaepernick and others should stand for the national anthem.
Additionally (and poignantly on this Epiphany Sunday and its celebration of "Wisemen") our "leaders" have decided to ignore the world's best and wisest minds by rejecting climate science and its warning about the greatest threat the human race has ever faced.
None of this is new, of course. Hyper-patriotism and rejection of wisdom have been the order of the day for much longer than the duration of the Trump presidency.
And it has its religious dimension as well: it's as if American Christians actually believe that God is somehow opposed to the order of creation that S/he allegedly authored. It is as if S/he loves Christians more than Syrians, Mexicans, Iraqis, or Ethiopians. It's as if God loves Christians more than Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists or Jews.
Witness Michael Flynn, Donald Trump's disgraced and recently pardoned National Security Advisor. He once described Islam itself and its 1.7 billion followers as a "vicious cancer" that has to be excised. In Flynn's little mind, the wisdom of that Great Religion is completely ignored.
Even "liberals" like comedian, Bill Maher, are not far behind Flynn in their vilification of Muslims.
Ignored in all of this is the fact that the famous "Three Wise Men" of Matthew's well-known parable were probably the ancestors of Arabia's Muslims. In any case, they had a much broader understanding of God and the cosmos than Yeshua's own people. For sure, Judaea's King Herod shared Flynn's and Maher's constricted views of their seekers' mentality as dangerously malignant.
Epiphany's Message
The message of today's celebration of Jesus' Epiphany contradicts everything I've just described – the hyper-patriotism, the rejection of science, the othering of foreigners, and any attempt to fit the divine into narrow religious categories. Today's readings challenge Yeshua-followers to grow up – to transcend our blind ethnocentrism, expand our horizons, recognize the immensity of the Life Force some call "God," and at last become citizens of the world.
Remember: the word "epiphany" means the appearance or manifestation of God – a revelation of who God really is. Accordingly, today's feast recalls the time when wisemen from the East recognized in Yeshua the long-awaited manifestation of the Universal God announced in today's reading from the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah and today's responsorial Psalm 72 tell us clearly that God is not what ethnocentric believers expected or even wanted. S/he loves everyone equally, not just Jews, much less Americans.
That's part of why Herod "and all Jerusalem with him" were "troubled" when they unexpectedly met the travelers who were seeking the world-centric and cosmic-centered manifestation of God that Isaiah had foreseen. The God Herod and the Jerusalem establishment knew was like the one worshipped by America-firsters. He loved and favored Jews, the Hebrew language, and the Holy Land. He was pleased by Jewish customs and worship marked by animal sacrifice and lots of blood.
So, Herod and Jerusalem were "troubled" when the foreigners came seeking the Palestinian address of a newborn divine avatar. The astrologers claimed that the very cosmos (the Star!) had revealed God's Self to them even though they were not Jews. Evidently, the wise men had cosmic-centered consciousness. They realized God not only transcended themselves and their countries, but planet earth itself. All creation somehow spoke of God.
Today's selections from the prophet Isaiah, Psalm 72, and Paul's letter to the Ephesians agree with the Wise Men. All of them speak of a Divine Being who is universal, not belonging to a particular nation or religion. This God is recognizable and intelligible to all nations regardless of their language or culture. The Divine One brings light to the thick darkness which causes us to limit God to privileged nations, races, and classes. The universal God brings peace and justice and champions of the poor, oppressed, lowly and afflicted. The newly manifested deity leads the rich (like the three astronomers) to redistribute their wealth to the poor (like Jesus and his peasant parents). This God wants all to have their fair share.
Matthew's story says that Yeshua manifested such a God. Yeshua was the complete revelation of the God of peace and social justice – a world-centered, a cosmic-centered God.
Herod's and Jerusalem's response? Kill him! A universal God like that threatened Jerusalem's Temple and priesthood. The Epiphany meant that such a God was not to be found there exclusively. This God would not be tied down to time or place. What then would become of priestly status, temple treasure, the Jerusalem tourism industry?
Epiphany also threatened Herod's position. Recognizing a divinity who led the rich to transfer their treasure to the poor threatened class divisions. A God on the side of the poor would embolden the lazy and unclean to rebel against those who used religion to keep the under-classes in line and resigned to their lot in life.
No, there could only be one solution: ignore the Star's cosmic message, present a friendly face to these stupid foreigners, derive the crucial information from them, and then kill off as many impoverished babies as possible hoping in the process to stop God's threatening, unacceptable Self-disclosure.
All of this is expressed in this Sunday's readings. What follows are my "translations." The originals can be found here.
Isaiah 60: 1-6
Yes, God's revelation has enlightened you, Jerusalem!
It has been like a bright sun piercing dark clouds.
But know that same light has also graced
Making their inhabitants your own brothers and sisters.
Please, embrace that
Disclosure of God's immensity!
The resulting collapse of national barriers
Will enrich you beyond your wildest dreams
As all the earth's treasures are shared
Among members of a Single Human Family.
Psalm 72: 1-2, 7-8, 10-13
Thankfully (though very gradually)
The human race is coming to realize
That there is but a single God
Whose overriding concern is social justice
As it affects the poor and oppressed.
In fact, God's will
Is the redistribution of wealth
Across fictitious boundaries.
Ephesians 3: 2-3a,5-6
Jesus himself taught that lesson
As if for the first time:
All of us, Jews and Gentiles
Are members of a single body.
Living by that teaching
Will bring God's New Order where
(He said)
God reigns
Instead of earth's Caesars.
Matthew 2: 1-12
Recognizing God's immensity
Manifested in the very cosmos,
Arab astrologers
Accepted Yeshua's universal revelation
Not only before his own people,
But despite the plot of religious leaders
To deny and annihilate
Its Messenger.
Ironically, Arabs were more open
To God's Self disclosure
Than those who considered themselves
God's people!
(Doesn't the same seem true today?)
Symbolically (and lamentably), Herod's and Jerusalem's response to the "troubling" cosmic consciousness of the Eastern wise men mirrors that of our culture and church. Both keep us at the stage of childish ego-centrism – or at best, at the stage of ethno-centrism, which makes us see the other and the other's God as somehow foreign and threatening.
Both culture and immature beliefs prevent our inner child from growing up. Ironically, that's somehow related to infanticide. It's a form of psychological murder that freezes us at childish stages of consciousness and so prevents us from developing along the lines centralized in today's celebration of Epiphany.
Epiphany calls us to wake up – to grow up and to return home as the Magi did "by another way" that was not the way of ethnocentrism, wealth, power-over or cooperation with kings, priests and empire.
Posted on January 2, 2021 January 2, 2021 Categories Sunday HomiliesTags Bill Maher, Donald Trump, Ephiphany, Islam, King Herod, Matthew 2: 1-12, Michael Flynn, Three Kings4 Comments on Epiphany: How Small-God Christians & Jews Reject Arabs' Immense Cosmic Deity


text:
@implementation VoucherTableViewCell
{
    UIImageView *_backView;
    UILabel *voucherName;
    UILabel *voucherDetail;
    UILabel *voucherID;
    UILabel *validate;
    OHAttributedLabel *limitAmount;
    OHAttributedLabel *ruleLabel;
    UILabel *reuseLabel;

}
- (void)awakeFromNib {
    [super awakeFromNib];
    // Initialization code
}

- (id)initWithStyle:(UITableViewCellStyle)style
    reuseIdentifier:(NSString *)reuseIdentifier
{
    self = [super initWithStyle:style reuseIdentifier:reuseIdentifier];
    if (self)
    {
        self.frame=CGRectMake(0, 0, [UIScreen mainScreen].bounds.size.width, [UIScreen mainScreen].bounds.size.height);
        [self loadView];

    }
    return self;
}

-(void)loadView{

    _backView = [[UIImageView alloc]initWithFrame:CGRectMake(20, 5, self.width - 30, 100)];
    voucherName = [[UILabel alloc]initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, 150, 20)];
//    voucherName.text = @"优惠券名称测试";
    voucherName.numberOfLines = 1;
    voucherName.font = [UIFont systemFontOfSize:14];
    [_backView addSubview:voucherName];

    voucherDetail = [[UILabel alloc]initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, voucherName.bottom+5, self.width*2/3-20, 40)];
    voucherDetail.text = @"优惠券详情测试优惠券详情测试优惠券详情测试";
    voucherDetail.numberOfLines = 0;
    voucherDetail.lineBreakMode = NSLineBreakByWordWrapping;
    voucherDetail.font = [UIFont systemFontOfSize:12];
    [_backView addSubview:voucherDetail];

    voucherID = [[UILabel alloc]initWithFrame:CGRectMake(self.width - 200, 0, 150, 20)];
//    voucherID.text = @"ID:65363366363621";
    voucherID.textAlignment = NSTextAlignmentRight;
    voucherID.font = [UIFont systemFontOfSize:12];
    [_backView addSubview:voucherID];

    limitAmount = [[OHAttributedLabel alloc]init ];
    limitAmount.frame = CGRectMake(self.width - 150, voucherID.bottom+5, 100, 15);
    limitAmount.centerVertically = YES;
    limitAmount.adjustsFontSizeToFitWidth = YES;

    [_backView addSubview:limitAmount];

    ruleLabel = [[OHAttributedLabel alloc]init ];
    ruleLabel.frame = CGRectMake(self.width - 150, limitAmount.bottom+5, 100, 20);
    ruleLabel.centerVertically = YES;
    ruleLabel.adjustsFontSizeToFitWidth = YES;
    [_backView addSubview:ruleLabel];

    reuseLabel = [[UILabel alloc]initWithFrame:CGRectMake(self.width - 150, ruleLabel.bottom+5, 100, 15)];
    reuseLabel.font = [UIFont systemFontOfSize:10];
    reuseLabel.textAlignment = NSTextAlignmentRight;
    [_backView addSubview:reuseLabel];

    validate = [[UILabel alloc]initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, voucherDetail.bottom+5, 180, 15)];
//    validate.text = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"有效期:%@",@"20170102~20171231"];
    validate.font = [UIFont systemFontOfSize:12];
    validate.adjustsFontSizeToFitWidth = YES;
    validate.textColor = HEX_RGB(0xa9a9a9);
    [_backView addSubview:validate];

    UIView *line = [[UIView alloc]initWithFrame:CGRectMake(15, 99, self.width, 1)];
    line.backgroundColor = HEX_RGB(0xe4e4e4);
    [self addSubview:line];

    _backView.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];
    [self addSubview:_backView];
}

-(void)setCheckedIcon:(BOOL)selected{

    UIView *back = [[UIView alloc]initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, 40, 40)];
    UIImageView *selectView = [[UIImageView alloc]initWithFrame:CGRectMake(30, 5, 25, 25)];
    //selectView.contentMode = UIViewContentModeScaleAspectFit;
    selectView.image = [UIImage getImageFromBundle:@"checked"];
    //back.backgroundColor = [UIColor redColor];
    [back addSubview:selectView];
    if (selected) {

        self.accessoryView = back;
    }else{
        self.accessoryView = nil;
    }

}

-(void)loadContent{
    if (self.voucher.superposeType) {
        reuseLabel.text = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"可叠加使用"];
    }else{
        reuseLabel.text = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"不可叠加使用"];
    }
    voucherName.text = self.voucher.voucherName;
    voucherDetail.text = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@,使用时间:%@-%@",self.voucher.voucherDescription,self.voucher.availableStartTime,self.voucher.availableEndTime];
    voucherID.text = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"ID:%@", self.voucher.voucherId];
    validate.text = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"有效期:%@~%@",self.voucher.startTime,self.voucher.expirationTime];
    NSMutableAttributedString *str1 = [[NSMutableAttributedString alloc]initWithString:@"满"];
    [str1 setFont: [UIFont systemFontOfSize:10]];
    NSString *money = [self moneyTran:self.voucher.satisfyOrderAmount ownType:1];
    NSMutableAttributedString *str2 = [[NSMutableAttributedString alloc]initWithString:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@元",money]];
    [str2 setFont: [UIFont boldSystemFontOfSize:10]];
    [str2 setTextColor:HEX_RGB(0xfc6a08)];

    [str1 appendAttributedString:str2];
    [str1 setTextAlignment:CTTextAlignmentFromUITextAlignment(NSTextAlignmentRight) lineBreakMode:CTLineBreakModeFromUILineBreakMode(NSLineBreakByCharWrapping)];
    [limitAmount setAttributedText:str1];

    NSMutableAttributedString *str3 = [[NSMutableAttributedString alloc]init ];
    [str3 setFont: [UIFont systemFontOfSize:10]];
    NSMutableAttributedString *str4 = [[NSMutableAttributedString alloc]init];
    if ([self.voucher.voucherType isEqualToString:@"4"]) {
        str3 = [[NSMutableAttributedString alloc]initWithString:@"折扣"];
        int discount =  [self.voucher.discount floatValue]*100;
        str4 = [[NSMutableAttributedString alloc]initWithString:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%d%%",discount]];
    }else if ([self.voucher.voucherType isEqualToString:@"2"]||[self.voucher.voucherType isEqualToString:@"5"]){
        str3 =[[NSMutableAttributedString alloc]initWithString: @"减"];
        NSString *money2 = [self moneyTran:self.voucher.voucherAmount ownType:1];
        str4 = [[NSMutableAttributedString alloc]initWithString:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@元",money2]];
    }

    [str4 setTextColor:HEX_RGB(0xfc6a08)];
    [str4 setFont: [UIFont systemFontOfSize:10]];
    [str3 appendAttributedString:str4];
    [str3 setTextAlignment:CTTextAlignmentFromUITextAlignment(NSTextAlignmentRight) lineBreakMode:CTLineBreakModeFromUILineBreakMode(NSLineBreakByCharWrapping)];
    [ruleLabel setAttributedText:str3];

    [self setCheckedIcon:self.voucher.selected];

}

-(NSString *)moneyTran:(NSString *)yM ownType:(int)type{

    if (!yM) return @"0";
    NSNumberFormatter *nf = [[NSNumberFormatter alloc] init];

    if(type==0){

        if ([yM doubleValue]>DBL_MAX) {
            return @"";
        }

        nf.positiveFormat = @"0";
        double h=(double) ([yM doubleValue])*100;
        return  [nf stringFromNumber: [NSNumber numberWithDouble:h]];
    }
    else if(type==1){
        double h=(double) ([yM doubleValue])/100;
        nf.positiveFormat = @"0.00";
        return [nf stringFromNumber: [NSNumber numberWithDouble:h]];
    }else if (type == 2){
        double h=(double) ([yM doubleValue])/100;
        nf.positiveFormat = @"0";
        return [nf stringFromNumber: [NSNumber numberWithDouble:h]];
    }
    else return @"";
}

- (void)setSelected:(BOOL)selected animated:(BOOL)animated {
    [super setSelected:selected animated:animated];

    // Configure the view for the selected state
}

@end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Newsletters Business Crime & Financial Services	9th Oct 2017
Regulatory D-Day for Hong Kong's Insurance Industry
On 26 June 2017, the Insurance Authority (IA) assumed its regulatory responsibilities and replaced the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance (OCI) in regulating insurers in Hong Kong. Described as "D-Day" by the Hong Kong Government, the institutional change marks an inflection point for the Hong Kong insurance industry.
The IA was created by the Insurance Ordinance (Cap. 41) (the Ordinance),[1] which brings wide-ranging changes to the regulation of insurance and insurance companies in Hong Kong. All the facts indicate that the IA will be a much more powerful regulator than its predecessor, and one with enhanced authorisation and supervisory powers.[2]
The new Levy to the IA
Unlike the OCI, which was a government department, the IA was created as an entity independent of Government. A second layer of independence was established through an Insurance Appeals Tribunal, creating a new regulatory framework to review the IA's decisions.
An important objective underpinning the change is the desire for the regulatory regime to become self-funding, rather than relying on taxpayers, reflecting a global trend in regulation. The IA will generate funds from the insurance industry by charging a Levy on premiums from 1 January 2018. The Levy is payable by policyholders but will be collected by insurers. Insurers may absorb the cost of the new Levy if they feel that it is practical to do so, but economics tells us that in practice the end consumer will ultimately bear the cost. Although the Levy has been described as minimal, with the initial rate set at 0.04 per cent of each premium, legal practitioners should still explain to insurers that there remains an obligation on them to update their policy documents and communicate the imposition of the Levy to policy holders in advance of January 2018.
Enhanced powers over insurers
The IA's powers over insurers are much broader than those available to its predecessor, the OCI, and are largely modelled on the regime for regulating licensed corporations by the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC). The key persons regime and the extension of personal liability that it brings is perhaps the most consequential change at this stage of the regime's implementation. The Ordinance increases scrutiny and supervision over key persons, such as controllers and directors, and individuals introduced by the new concept of "key persons in control functions".
Furthermore, under the new regime the IA will now have additional powers to:
Conduct investigations where there is reasonable cause to believe that there may have been a breach of the Ordinance, fraud or misfeasance, or if it has reason to enquire in an insurer is guilty of misconduct or is no longer fit and proper;
Impose disciplinary sanctions;
Conduct compliance inspections on authorised insurers;
Apply to a Magistrate for a search warrant;
Prosecute in its own name offences which are triable summarily under the Ordinance.[3]
Section 41P of the Ordinance sets out the definition of misconduct:
misconduct means:
(a) a contravention of a provision of this Ordinance;
(b) a contravention of a term or condition of an authorization granted under section 8;
(c) a contravention of any other condition imposed on an authorized insurer under a provision of this Ordinance; or
(d) an act or omission relating to the carrying on of a class of insurance business by an authorized insurer which, in the [Insurance] Authority's opinion, is or is likely to be prejudicial to the interests of policy holders or potential policy holders or the public interest, and guilty of misconduct is to be construed accordingly.
Key Persons in Control Functions
Under the changed regime, the Ordinance introduces the requirement that an authorised insurer must not appoint individuals as "key persons in control functions" of the insurer unless the IA has approved the appointment. Section 13AE (12) of the Ordinance outlines the definition of a control function of an insurer as:
Control function
in relation to an authorized insurer, means any of the following functions that is likely to enable the individual responsible for the performance of the function to exercise a significant influence on the business carried on by the insurer:
risk management function, which is a function to establish the strategies, policies and procedures to manage different types of key risks of the insurer;
financial control function, which is a function to oversee all financial matters (including investments, accounting and financial reporting) of the insurer;
compliance function, which is a function to establish and formulate the standards, policies and procedures to ensure the compliance with legal and regulatory requirements that are applicable to the insurer;
internal audit function, which is a function to establish and implement an audit plan to examine and evaluate the adequacy and effectiveness of the controls to manage risks of the insurer;
actuarial function, which is a function to evaluate and monitor:
the technical provisions, premium and pricing strategies of the insurer;
the reserving and investment policies and reinsurance arrangements of the insurer; and
the policies and controls in respect of the insurer's vulnerability to fluctuations in risk exposures and distribution policies…
Legal practitioners should be aware that applications for the approval of existing key persons in each of these functions should have been submitted by 30 September 2017. A new Form A1 has been issued by the IA for these purposes. This form requires the insurer to provide details of key persons' reporting lines and where they fit within the management organisation. It also requires the insurer to demonstrate that the proposed key person meets the "fit and proper" requirements set out in the new Guideline On "Fit and Proper" Criteria under the Insurance Ordinance (Cap. 41) issued by the IA.[4]
For the first time, the Ordinance extends personal liability for regulatory breaches beyond insurance company directors. A key person can be held liable for offences under the Ordinance attributable to neglect or omission on their part.[5] Extending personal liability to an individual member of senior management beyond Directors and the Chief Executive Officer is a principal mechanism by which the new regimes seeks to restrain undesirable behavior by insurance companies. This change reflects a global trend towards enhanced scrutiny of individual conduct in regulatory enforcement.
Regulation of agents and brokers
The most significant expansion of regulatory power under the Ordinance is still to come. So significant in fact, that the industry has been given potentially two years to prepare itself. At some point during this two-year period, the current self-regulatory regime for insurance agents and insurance brokers will be replaced with direct regulation by the IA, in addition to their oversight of insurance companies. Further, this new licensing regime is expanding beyond existing brokers and agents to encompass any person carrying on "regulated activities".
It is recommended that intermediaries should begin to review practices to ensure that adequate compliance policies are in place. Particular focus should be paid to the Insurance Core Principles published by the International Association of Insurance Supervisors,[6] which the Ordinance attempts to enshrine.
Following "D-Day", the global trend in financial regulation to enhance responsibility and accountability for the conduct, culture and compliance of individual professionals is now reflected in the regulatory framework of Hong Kong. The new framework has been heralded as a positive way to ensure that the quality and accountability of individuals working in leadership positions in the insurance industry continues to develop. It is therefore important that industry stakeholders should familiarise themselves with the new regulatory landscape and the fresh obligations that it places on them, in particular reflecting on how they can demonstrate compliance and whether it is necessary to adapt their current practices.
David Whittaker
[1] See https://www.elegislation.gov.hk/hk/cap41.
[2] The IA's new website has been launched and can be accessed at www.ia.org.hk.
[3] See Section 41P of the Ordinance.
[4] See https://www.ia.org.hk/en/supervision/reg_insurers_lloyd/files/GL4.pdf.
[5] See section 124 of the Ordinance.
[6] See https://www.iaisweb.org/file/58067/insurance-core-principles-updated-november-2015.
Categories: Newsletters
David Whittaker QC clerks@2harecourt.com linkedin

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


North Narrabeen Beach lies (NSW 310a) at the northern end of a 10 m high sand barrier, it is backed by the eastern channel of Narrabeen Lagoon, with the shallow mouth flowing over rocks and sand to enter the ocean 200 m north of the surf club (Fig. 4.207). The North Narrabeen SLSC (formed in 1912) is adjacent to a large car park, park and picnic area. Strong rips and higher waves dominate this end, with an often heavy plunging wave at low tide. Also the lagoon entrance can be a problem when deep at high tide and with swift currents on a falling tide. So stay between the flags. If swimming down the beach avoid the persistent rips and stay on the bars. Behind the lagoon entrance is the last remaining beachfront caravan park in Sydney, a popular place year round and always full during the summer holidays. The lagoon entrance offers safer swimming and has its own kiddies corner on the southern side with an adjoining car park. A swimming club and large rock pool are located on the rock platform with a reserve, walkway and lookout on the headland.
Narrabeen ranges from the more hazardous rip-dominated North Narrabeen to the usually lower waves of Collaroy. However summer northerly seas do induce strong rips at Collaroy. Best is between the flags at the four surf clubs.
Narrabeen is best known for the world famous North Narrabeen break, breeding ground of some of the world's best surfers, including world champions. It is also the site of numerous local, national and international events. North Narrabeen has five waves. A heavy but short left breaking over a ledge on the Point; the Alley rights; the longer North Narra left. The famous long lefts are best in moderate to high northeast swell. In front of the car park is the Carie rights, a fast tubing wave, while further out in bigger south swell is the Narrabeen bombie, which offers both lefts and is now a tow-in site. Beach breaks abound down the beach, with the central Gardens area the most popular, while at Collaroy the smaller waves attract the learners and inexperienced. However during big south-east swell Collaroy Point starts to work with an inside section off the pool called The Kick, and a fuller section off the point.
A very popular beach with rock, inlet and beach fishing at North Narrabeen, and gutters down the beach following high seas. Boats launched at Fishermans beach are also commonly seen on the inshore reefs.


Before going towards the store to pick out the papers you will use, sit down and sketch out what you think the invitation should be like, or what you want it to look like. Once you are at the retail outlet, it is easier to choose papers if you know what the overall design is going to look like. You can even help to make a few different sketches and next when you are picking the documents, you may end up liking the style more of one sketch instead of another. Keep your options open up and look online and in magazines and books for inspiration.
Menshealtharts - What size plywood do i use for a subfloor? home guides. The subfloor is the decking installed on top of flooring joists; the finished floor is then installed on top of the subfloor the thickness of plywood panels in a subfloor is regulated by the. A guide to subfloors used under wood flooring wood floor. 2 thickness: usually manufactured in 4 by 8 foot sheets, plywood panels and osb are acceptable subfloors for hardwood flooring as long as they are the proper thickness keep in mind that for mechanically fastened floors, osb doesn't hold fasteners as well as plywood, so you need to use a thicker material to get the same holding power. What thickness of plywood to use on a floor? ehow. What thickness of plywood to use on a floor? when it comes to subfloors that go down on top of the floor joists between the joists and the finish material, plywood is the preferred choice it is an ideal building material for subfloors depending on if what the floor finish will be tile, hardwood or carpet there are different recommendations. What are the thicknesses of subflooring? ehow. What are the thicknesses of subflooring? plywood is the most common type of subflooring plywood comes in a variety of thicknesses, beginning at 1 8 inch and increasing to 1 inch the thickness needed for subflooring depends on the type of floor that will go on top and the primary purpose for the subfloor in some cases, being a support structure. Plywood underlayment: plywood type, thickness & fasteners. The original flooring was vct which has been covered with vinyl sheet the adjacent floor not being replaced is the original solid hardwood i plan to remove the existing underlayment vct vinyl and replace with a new plywood underlayment however, in order to match the thickness of the adjacent hardwood, the underlayment will need to be 3 4". What is the best shed floor plywood thickness plasticine. Building a shed floor is actually pretty straightforward for many handymen, it's a doable job in a day and a half, from picking up the materials to fastening the final screw using 3 4 inch thick pressure treated plywood for your shed floor is the most economical choice and will last you 20 years if done well. Plywood or osb for flooring? the spruce. The best plywood for installing under flooring may not be plywood at all when used as flooring sub floor or underlayment, osb runs neck and neck with plywood, according to the opinion of contractors, tradespeople, and other industry influencers. Subfloor thickness this old house. Instead of building a sub floor with joist then decking, i'm using the cut out walls and ceilings as the structural decking over the bare steel beamed floor of the container this will save me on waist and the cost of wood for the framed subfloor that being the case, when i deck it, what thickness of plywood should i use?. Windsor plywood doors floors mouldings home improvement. Rustic wood flooring spokane, windsor plywood doors floors mouldings home improvement painting plywood floors painted plywood floors painting. Plywood thickness ? plywood guide. Just like dimensional lumber, most plywood is rated at a nominal thickness; that is the thickness before it is sanded the actual thickness is just like it sounds, the actual thickness of the plywood panels you buy, after sanding typically, the actual thickness of plywood is 1 32 inch less than the nominal thickness.


text:
Tim Pitch Comedy Magician
Daycare / Pre-schools
Tim's EPK
"Discover How to Make Your Next Assembly Program Powerful, Unforgettable and FUN!"
Tim Piccirillo's Themed Magic and Comedy Shows for Elementary Schools Is The Perfect Assembly Program to Educate and Entertain Your Students…
"In my almost 30 years of education I don't believe I have seen a more appropriate assembly. Tim's humor and magic were outstanding as both brought tears of joy and laughter to kids and adults alike!"
Dennis Ledebur, Principal
Main Street Elementary School, Titusville, PA
Timothy has performed at elementary schools all over the US, and currently presents professional comedy and magic shows for Kids in the Tampa Bay area. Using his usual blend of comedy, magic and audience involvement — always with an educational message — Tim's school assembly programs are always a hit with the little ones.
Timothy has 4 different themed shows:
"You Are Special—The Magic of Believing in Yourself"– This is a show aimed at boosting the self-esteem of every child in the audience.
"I Love to Read"– This program focuses on the importance of reading and what knowledge can do for you.
"The Say No Show"– This is Timothy's anti-drug program that stresses the benefits of being drug-free and how to avoid peer pressure.
School principals and counselors in Tampa and beyond just love Timothy's programs. All of his shows are age-appropriate, have a timely and relevant message and are self-contained meaning, all you need to provide are the space and the audience!
"Thank you again this year for a fantastic show! Your comedy and magic show was a real crowd-pleaser again. It is rare to find such a family entertainer!"
Jane Wirt, Volunteer
Montandon Elementary PSA, Montandon, PA
BOOK TIMOTHY TODAY!!!!
TIM@TIMOTHYPITCH.COM (352) 638-4284
www.TimothyPitch.com | e: Tim@TimothyPitch.com | p: (352) 638-4284
Copyright © 2023 Tim Pitch Comedy Magician. All Rights Reserved.


On April 4, the tour bus housing bands Citizen Way and I Am They caught fire. At the time of this article, no known reason has been released revealing the cause of the fire. The two bands were traveling together on the "He Still Moves Mountains" tour. On Facebook, Citizen Way and I Am They released related statements pertaining to the unfortunate incident.
A fundraising page has been established by Citizen Way towards a new form of reliable transportation. The tour bus in question was a total loss. The goal is $250,000. You can check out the campaign or donate at https://www.generosityrocks.com/bus-fire-campaign.
You can follow up with Citizen Way and I Am They on Facebook for future updates.