Librarians

I’ve decided that the country should be governed by librarians. They are hard working, good researchers, know the latest technology, are very helpful and friendly, care about people instead of big bucks and would look at issues from multiple viewpoints. Am I wrong?

Four Thoughts

Four thoughts:

1. The Son of God was not a white man. What should we make of that?

2. Forget about race. Just compare Obama and Trump on the basis of truthfulness, compassion, leadership, eloquence, manhood and fatherhood and see what you get.

3. Every politician’s personal bodyguard team should be required to also have a personal fact-checker.

4. Mental illness is horrible enough without it being blamed for all mass shootings. Mental health care should be available to those who need it and not just to ferret out potential shooters.

White terrorism

The Crusades was white terrorism. Slavery was white terrorism. Colonialism was white terrorism. The abuse of cheap labor is white terrorism. The sex trade is white terrorism. Economic exploitation is white terrorism. Is what we are seeing in white supremacy just the legacy of all the forms of white terrorism?

Yes, I am a white male of privilege, which I had and earned as a responsible white male who worked hard within a system that supported me. And this is why it hurts me that so many “others” didn’t have and still don’t have that opportunity.

In the big picture, is there really so much of a difference between white privilege and white supremacy? Is one just an extreme form of the other?

Toledo

It is useless to compare Trump to Obama. But we can look at Trump on his own terms. In his remarks of the recent mass shootings, he talked about hate and death in an emotionless and monotone voice. He got the Ohio city of the shooting wrong. (Was it raining on the teleprompter again?) In a short time he will be back to his own hateful name calling. And twitter taunts.

Will he issue any meaningful executive orders to help stem the violence? Will he make any forceful recommendations to Congress on gun control? I doubt it.

He may be America’s President. But he is not America’s voice or America’s conscience.

Decent

Threats to our global climate endanger us as humans. But threats to our spiritual climate are just as serious.

We know how to produce as many weapons as possible and as much convenience packaging as possible and as much stuff as possible. What we have to figure out is how to produce as many decent human beings as possible.

Any suggestions?