OUR SHIP OF STATE IN TROUBLE - illumination by Kathy Brahney
My article, Who to Choose, to Truly Respect Life? - as appears in the online Times Herald.
Monday, November 2, 2020
Monday, August 24, 2020
THE ATTEMPT TO WALL OUT SUFFERING, WILL ONLY BRING MISERY TO OURSELVES
Reuters photo from the El Paso border detentions
Today I post updates to the immigration situation at our border, and how the Statue of Liberty has been turned on her head. We close our gates and hearts to refugees at our own peril. A gated community dies from within. Joe Biden is not a perfect candidate, but read carefully the 8-24-20 Wall Street Journal article which contrasts his immigration stance against the current administration's policies that have appealed to racism and fear.
Joe Biden Would Likely Use a Familiar Tool—Executive Powers—to Reverse Trump Immigration Policies https://www.wsj.com/articles/joe-biden-would-likely-use-a-familiar-toolexecutive-powersto-reverse-trump-immigration-policies-11598108400?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=1
And more links to articles with the details of the current immigration crisis --
PBS video tells a difficult story. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/a-firsthand-report-of-inhumane-conditions-at-a-migrant-childrens-detention-facility?fbclid=IwAR15mz6MT6LsZ5yb0QMAQy6_I1VyPV81uHNwoX0aOEziJ3JxTh-DZtN0iLc
Failed policies, even in their quest to be impervious. After a Lull, the Number of Migrants Trying to Enter the U.S. Has Soared - The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/06/world/americas/mexico-immigration-usa.html
Adriana Zehbrauskas for The New York Times
Hovering the cursor on a link turns it blue, and ready to go to the article indicated.
Monday, August 10, 2020
NUCLEAR WEAPONS--THE MOST DESTRUCTIVE TAR BABY OF ALL TIME
"The (nuclear) arms race is an utterly treacherous trap for humanity, and one which ensnares the poor to an intolerable degree.”
- Second Vatican Council, Gaudium et Spes (The Church in the Modern World,) no. 81
Fr. Richard McSorley S.J., a respected Jesuit at Georgetown University, with whom my daughter Maura worked for a while there, wrote an article in 1977 Sojourners magazine, "It is a Sin to Build a Nuclear Weapon." Time is running out on our charge to heed his admonition, and free ourselves from these nuclear shackles, these occasions of mortal sin. There is renewed hope.
A Pope Francis Holy Card
Pray and Act -- Ora et Labora
What we can do to make a more peace filled future
The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, ICAN, won the Noble Peace Prize in 2017.
https://www.icanw.org/ -- Join them..
A film to promote discussion - The Beginning of the End of Nuclear Weapons - {submitted by Marty Habalewsky of our Blue Water Pax Christi group}
A book review on this spiritual problem - https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/risk-cross-reckons-our-nuclear-danger
A video of Pope Francis' message that needs to be taken to heart, esp. here in the USA
Pope in Hiroshima: nuclear weapons are immoral https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pChlH2SH2gw&feature=emb_rel_end
Current global status of UN nations' support for the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons --two thirds. -- counting yet none of the world's nuclear weapons possessors.
Don't let the world backslide on nuclear disarmament as our current administration intends - From the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops - Action Alert: Tell Your Members of Congress to Extend New START and Reduce the Nuclear Threat!
Illumination by Kathy Brahney
Hovering cursor on grey texts reveals links for click
Commemorate the 75 Years Since Nuclear Attacks: Tell Congress to Support Nuclear Nonproliferation.
Commemorate the 75 Years Since Nuclear Attacks: Tell Congress to Support Nuclear Nonproliferation.
Tuesday, August 4, 2020
FRENCH COUNTRY PRIEST--DESERTED WAR
When I was in 8th grade thinking of becoming a priest, I read a short book on the life of St. John Vianney, the Cure of Ars. He was a simple parish priest in France, and a child at the time of the French revolution, who was a mediocre preacher, yet sought out by a multitude of pilgrims to his remote parish, for his compassion and advice in the confessional, and as a counselor. He’d spend 12-16 hours a day giving absolution.
That was all I knew of him, a good solid unassuming model for
the priesthood. Today I’ve learned on
his feast day, that he was also a conscientious objector to war. This wasn’t mentioned in the book, or any of
the other articles I’ve read on him through the years. Our Sunday Visitor [a national Catholic publication
I’ve come to respect for its balance] has a short note on him as their saint of
this week: “His studies were
interrupted when he was drafted into the army to fight in the Napoleonic Wars. Deserting, he returned home and when to Lyons
seminary.”
There are so many saints who’ve chosen to follow the way of
Jesus out of the fog of war, “Put away the sword.” We’re seldom told the full measure of their
stories. The duty of defending the
countries of the world is redeemed by our God who comes to earth saving us by
dying on a cross, rising beyond all worldly
kingdoms, defeating death by loving and forgiving the enemy. Death is not the end. Do you believe? A young man, who was to become a small town
priest in war torn France, visited by multitudes for his straight forward wisdom,
knew the answer.
Jane Kopecky, author or "World War II Conscientious Objectors Germfask, Michigan, The Alcatraz Camp", next to the Camp Germfask CCC camp sign. (Photo: Susanne Barr
Because of good example and encouragement by many, including
a priest in a rural parish with farmers and migrant farmworkers, I became a C.O. during
the Vietnam War.
References
https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-john-vianney/ This
is the usual biography, made more complete by the Our Sunday Visitor entry in their
Aug. 2-8, 2020 issue.
Sunday, July 19, 2020
DIALOGUE ON TRUTH, IN A TIME OF FAKE NEWS
A dialogue continued from my article two weeks ago on the
problems of discerning truth in the media, FOURTH
OF JULY ADVISORY—BEWARE THE FATHER OF ALL LIES. It came from a long-time friend at our local
St. Mary parish who often takes the time to respond to my messages. Jim is a conservative, competent,
compassionate businessman who has travelled widely. Our viewpoints are often different, but our
discussions remain thoughtful and respectful.
That’s a blessing.
Mike,
I see you’ve started writing a bit of comedy.
“If good reliable sources of news can be regularly
discredited, then we are hostages to the political leadership.”
Haha, “good reliable sources of news”. Funny stuff.
Name one...
Your friend,
Jim
Jim,
WSJ, the AP, and NYT, and NPR on the airwaves. They
have journalistic standards and editors who guard the store in terms of
reliable, confirmed stories. Respectable journalism does exist in a
few national and local newspapers. None are absolutely infallible, but
these, and others like the San Jose Mercury News, have good editors, and a very
good record. These all contrast the liberal and conservative perspectives
in search of the truth. If we have no trustworthy news, we have no democracy.
Your friend,
Mike
Mike,
I do not trust much that comes from any of the
organizations you name, especially the NY Times (the “old gray lady” died
decades ago) , and I do not know the San Jose Mercury News. In fact, I don’t
trust much of anything that is reported in the media today, and that includes
Fox News if you’re wondering.
They’re all in the same boat. It’s all entertainment and
sensationalism.
They should not have to balance the liberal and
conservative views. In news reporting there should NOT be any liberal or conservative
views. It is news. It is facts. They should be reporting the facts. Facts and
truth do not have a liberal or conservative bent to it. It is what it is. Tell
us what happened and only tell us what happened. Nothing more and nothing less.
Show us the pictures and the video and let us decide what we want to do with
that information. Let the viewer decide what to think of it.
Do not try and tell me your opinion or your side of the
issue. Get rid of these so-called “panels of experts” (I love the word
“expert”. It tells me that the person is nothing more than an “ex-spurt” if you
know what I mean) and just tell us what is happening in the world without a
slant right or left.
Journalism is dead in this country and has been for
years. They all want to be the next Woodward and Bernstein. So called
journalists today are all about trying to catch someone doing something wrong
and to be the “first” to get the story told. Even if that story is untrue or
they don’t know all the facts. It is more important to be first than to be
correct. No one reports the news anymore, they try to invent it.
It is unfortunate as the country does need a news source
(I agree with you there) and none exist at the moment. All of today’s media
outlets are nothing more than vendors selling a product. Every one of them. And
do you know what that product is? It is you and me. We are the product. We are
sold by the networks to advertisers when they show them their ratings. They
tell them they have “X” number of millions of viewers or listeners and that
they should advertise on their network. We are the product, the media is the
vendor, and the advertiser is the customer. So they try to make the news as
sensational as possible in order to raise their viewership numbers and sell
their air time to the advertisers.
What a person has to do today is read and watch many
sources and decide for themselves what makes sense. Do not blindly listen and
believe. Be a skeptic and dig further. And use what is in such short supply
today…. common sense. If a story seems unreal or unlikely then it probably is.
I try to do that but at times I have to step back from any news before it
drives me crazy.
Your friend,
Jim
Jim,
I don't have quite the negative view
that you have on the character of many of our reporters and news agencies, but
agree with your premise and sentiment, and commitment to do our own diligent
search for the facts. I've read your note here just after having written
my latest web article which I think you'll appreciate. Would you agree to
my adding your words here to my article as a guest commentator of often
different opinions than my own?
Your friend,
Mike
Jim agrees to my publishing our back and forth on this
issue, and, after his read of my second article on the subject of the media, THE
TRUTH THE WHOLE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH?, responded—
Well written, Mike.
Jim
May all of us keep striving to reach some common ground
on the problems that confront our country and world. Grounded in the truth, firm yet forgiving, so
help us God.
Jesus before Pilate - "What is Truth?"
Monday, July 13, 2020
THE TRUTH THE WHOLE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH?
Discerning truth in our times of prolific fragmented media
can be very difficult. In a drawn out
discussion with my nephew this past weekend, we went back and forth on whether
Fox News commentators, or NYT and WSJ editors, were to be trusted for the
facts. He’s a committed young evangelical
pastor in South Florida who believes very much in Jesus, and also that
President Trump is the best choice to lead our country. Our faith in God is the same, the way in which
God would have us direct our political lives starkly different, as are our
sources of information.
t is problematic for us people of faith to confront parts
of our traditions, and secular histories, that are myth, or misdirections of
true faith in a merciful nonviolent God of unconditional love. God’s truth can open the way. The way of Jesus is not the way of the
world. We are all caught between this world
or Jesus ways in countless little decisions we face each day. We can help discover ever more of God’s love and
mercy in our lives, or we can try to conquer and overwhelm truth playing into
the hands of evil means because we think our goals, personal or as a country,
are so important.
The mass media, relying on seductive fleeting audiovisual messages
that you must follow at their speed with little time for reflection, has brought
us to a dangerous juncture. Print media
is being abandoned. Yet when you read,
you can much better compare and substantiate the opinion you are forming and its
factual basis. Words have to stay there in
front of you, ready while you determine their worth.
Video seeing and hearing on an electronic screen is not
believing. The truth required for belief
takes much deeper thought, work and prayer.
Consider all the alternatives. Take
time to make up your mind and heart. Then
may we be given the courage to act positively on our decisions.
We need to be well informed, researching and comparing
sources, listening to and contrasting information presented by the other sides
on issues. Wise as serpents gentle as
doves. Sheep of responsibility, following
the Good Shepherd, and not the blind purveyors of the latest powerful political
product line.
Op-ed on media bias by the Columbia Journalism Review
From CJR also, article on TV commentator affiliation disclosure
Illumination by Kathy Brahney
Tuesday, July 7, 2020
FOURTH OF JULY ADVISORY—BEWARE THE FATHER OF ALL LIES
Does anyone remember reading in George Orwell’s “1984” about the memory holes. Out of print, shredded, down a hole—it virtually never happened—out of sight out of mind erased from the public consciousness. Modernize this with current electronic media manipulation possibilities and the massive amount of mind-diversion info flooding towards us daily, and you have an informed-democracy destroying poison.
This national administration’s outcry of “fake news”
whenever its script is challenged, has an eerie ring to it, often creating a
real fake news in its own crying wolf. If
good reliable sources of news can be regularly discredited, then we are hostages
to the political leadership. This tactic
has been employed all too often worldwide and in the land of the free.
It was first made most obvious to me, and those paying attention,
in the Iran-Contra trials of the mid-1980’s.
Colonel Oliver North testified [paraphrased] -- I lied to serve my
country. He, and many others, promoted
the concept of disinformation as a common acceptable method for achieving
America’s valued objectives.
Disinformation directed outwardly, and also towards our own nation’s
citizenry.
But to quote Jesus, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” We must be on guard
against disinformation, another tool of the father of all lies. It’s a
free press, a balanced search for the facts, and a full gospel of justice and mercy faithfully lived, that can
make us a free people.
A balanced bio on Oliver North
More opinions - We all fail to some degree in living the truth [to be continued next week]
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