This Is How a Real President Responds to an Act of Racist Mass Murder

1 Picture, 1,000 Words: The Crusades (Way Back When?)

Clay Bennett on the Crusades:

Christianity, Islam, Violence: Three Thoughtful Reactions to Mr. Obama's National Prayer Breakfast Remarks

Three thoughtful quotes from three thoughtful articles responding to the manufactured right-wing outrage after President Obama told the attendees of the National Prayer Breakfast that Christianity, too, has its heritage of violence with which to contend:

Aletha Blayse's Essay on Child Abuse, War, and Need for a National Commission of Inquiry: A Footnote (and Recommendation)

Dear Readers,

I'm multi-tasking right now after a day of traveling, and apologize that I didn't take time (I didn't have time would be accurate) this morning to say more to you about the excellent essay of Aletha Blayse that I posted early in the day). Because Aletha ends her essay with some biographical information, I had counted on that information to introduce her to you, and to tell you where she is coming from as she comments on the issue of sexual abuse of minors — and something of her outstanding credentials.

Aletha Blayse: Child Abuse, War, and the Need for a National Commission of Inquiry into Child Abuse

We Are Losing the War

On the eve of the November 4 election, America is at war. I’m not talking about the war in the Middle East. I’m talking about a different war. On the one side of the battle lines are those who abuse children or allow children to be abused. On the other are those who have declared war on these monsters in a fight for a world in which children are safe from all forms of predation. If ever the doctrine of jus bellum iustum applied, it is here and now. Because the statistics are horrifying. This year, the US Department of Justice cited figures from the Centers for Disease Control that approximately 1 in 6 boys and 1 in 4 girls are sexually abused before the age of 18. Rates of other forms of abuse are also high. This is the here and the now. This is not historical. And it is totally and utterly unacceptable. 

Contraception and More Contraception: The Religious-Political Debate That Won't Subside

An interesting set of articles in just the past several days about the issue of contraception (and its political application in the U.S. elections in 2014):

Politics: Dueling Hymns in Congress, Paul Ryan and Contraception, Pat Buchanan on Shutdown, MSM and Centrist Myths, Anonymous and Maryville Rape Story, Malala's Meeting with Obama

1. As Peter Montgomery notes, yesterday appears to have been dueling hymn day in the U.S. Congress: House Republicans sang "Amazing Grace" as their latest plan to solve the government-shutdown crisis went up in flames, while a group of interfaith leaders gathered by Faith in Public Life sang the same hymn as the group walked through the halls of the House.

Pope Francis and a Catholic Springtime? But What About the Abuse Crisis and Women's Role in the Church?

As I listen to Leonardo Boff predict a new springtime in the Catholic church due to Pope Francis (see here and here), I don't want to take my eyes off what has happened up to now with the new pope vis-à-vis the biggest crisis the church has faced since the Reformation. This is the crisis provoked by sexual abuse of minors by Catholic religious authority figures.

The End of Summer(s), Plus Bros, Bros, More Bros: The World the Boys' Club Has Made for All of Us

As U.S. Is Poised for Another Cowboy War, Need for Expedited Action Remains Entirely Unexplained

Steve Benen at Maddow Blog on what Huffington Post's lead headline* this morning is calling the next in line of America's "cowboy wars":

President Obama's Inaugural Address on Stonewall and Gay Equality: Historic Affirmations

Ezra Klein has published a transcript of President Obama's second inaugural address in Washington Post. Two statements leap out at me:

President Obama's Re-Inauguration on Martin Luther King Day: Commentary on the Synchronicity

Very interesting commentary today on the synchronicity that brings together the second inauguration of President Obama and the Martin Luther King holiday: 

Quote for the Day: Joan Walsh at Salon on Democracy as Extension of Basic Rights

Joan Walsh, "Obama's Great Society," at Salon:

More Recent Commentary on "Fiscal Cliff" Deal: A Selection of Reactions

A wealth of recent good commentary on the "fiscal cliff" deal the Obama administration has just cut with the Republicans, much of it continuing to focus on the president's performance in the deal-cutting and what this may portend for future negotiations with the GOP hostage-takers:

Peter Laarman on Mr. Obama's Deal with the Devil on the Devil's Terms

At Religion Dispatches, Peter Laarman provides a much-needed religious-ethical perspective on the shoddy deal American top legislators have just made, re: the bogus "fiscal cliff" crisis. His opening salvo:

William Greider on Fiscal Cliff Outcome: Time for a New New Democratic Movement

And for a countervailing view on yesterday's fiscal cliff solution, here's William Greider at The Nation:

Commentary on New Year's Fiscal Cliff Deal: Entering New Year with Eyes Wide Open

The fate of peoples is made like this, two men in small rooms. Forget the coronations, the conclaves of cardinals, the pomp and processions. This is how the world changes: a counter pushed across a table, a pen stroke that alters the force of a phrase, a woman's sigh as she passes and leaves on the air a trail of orange flower or rose water; the hand pulling close the bed curtain, the discreet sigh of flesh against flesh (Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall [NY: Picador, 2009], p. 566).

Gerald T. Slevin: Mother Petitions President Obama to Combat Organizational Child Sexual Abuse

Another very important posting sent to me today by Jerry Slevin, which relates to his call for President Obama to establish a national commission to combat child sexual abuse.  This gives us something concrete we can do to make our voices heard--sign a petition and circulate it as widely as possible.  What follows is Jerry's text:

GOP's Southern Strategy and Race-Baiting: I Remember When

Integration Protest, 1957, Little Rock, Arkansas

In my mind, it's always 1957 sending the snatches of conversation, the turns of phrase I never hear any longer, back into my head.  Or is it 1964?  They all blur together, those years of the 1957 integration crisis in Little Rock, when Eisenhower had to order the federal troops in to quash our defiance, and 1964, when the defiance defeated by Eisenhower's troops met added humiliation in Johnson's passing of the Civil Rights act.

Gerald T. Slevin: Why President Obama Must Now Act to End Organized Child Abuse

Another extremely important essay by Harvard-trained former Wall Street lawyer Jerry Slevin.  Jerry argues that "it is the right time for President Obama to act" to protect children from childhood sexual abuse, as the Catholic hierarchy clearly remains intent on stonewalling, diverting, and covering up.  What follows is Jerry's essay: