It was supposed to be Arts and Crafts for a week,
but when she came home
with the “Jesus Saves” button, we knew what art
was up, what ancient craft.

She liked her little friends. She liked the songs
they sang when they weren’t
twisting and folding paper into dolls.
What could be so bad?

Jesus had been a good man, and putting faith
in good men was what
we had to do to stay this side of cynicism,
that other sadness.

O.K. we said, one week. But when she came home
singing “Jesus loves me,
the Bible tells me so”, it was time to talk.
Could we say Jesus

doesn’t love you? Could I tell her the Bible
is a great book certain people use
to make you feel bad? We sent her back
without a word.

It had been so long since we believed, so long
since we needed Jesus
as our nemesis and friend, that we thought he was
sufficiently dead,

that our children would think of him like Lincoln
or Thomas Jefferson.
Soon it became clear to us: you can’t teach disbelief
to a child,

only wonderful stories, and we hadn’t a story
nearly as good.
On parents night there were the Arts and Crafts
all spread out

like appetizers. Then we took our seats
in the church
and the children sang a song about the Ark,
and Hallelujah

and one in which they had to jump up and down
for Jesus.
I can’t remember ever feeling so uncertain
about what’s comic, what’s serious.

Evolution is magical but devoid of heroes.
You can’t say to your child
“Evolution loves you”. The story stinks
of extinction and nothing

exciting happens for centuries. I didn’t have
a wonderful story for my child
and she was beaming. All the way home in the car
she sang the songs,

occasionally standing up for Jesus.
There was nothing to do
but drive, ride it out, sing along
in silence.

by
Stephen Dunn

So, America, what do you want us to do? Go away! is your answer but that’s not going to happen. We’ve already gone away and now we’re back. In some cases reformed, or “rehabilitated” and in other cases; hardened and pissed off. Either way here we are.

Every application for employment has a little box wherein ex-felons can check that they are. Of course they could also check that they aren’t but what would the use of that be? Most employers can run a criminal check for next to nothing anyway. Oddly enough I remember that back when that Couhey guy brutally murdered Jessica Lunsford he had been employed at a school. I did kinda wonder about that.

Only the most naive among you believe that any employment application is seriously considered if that felony box is checked yes. That little box is “employerspeak” for 'toss in trashcan'. And there is nothing that can be done.

A person can file, and often win, a case of discrimination if they are old or black or infirmed or female, etc. But there is no such remedy available for an ex-felon. And even if there were what attorney would take such a case? They would themselves be ostracized. So with no real prospects of employment what shall we do? Go away?

Many of us have no support systems on the outside so we are looking at going back to our old ways just to survive. And our old ways were against the law. It’s a vicious cycle that appears in your world as a recidivism rate. And in your world the recidivism rate means that felons, once convicted, never learn their lesson and can’t wait to get back on the streets to do more of what usually gets them back in.

Felons never seem to rehabilitate themselves because they can’t get a job. They are the unforgiven. A judge gives a sentence of one year in prison but society gives life. We are the throw-aways but we aren’t the go aways.

If you have lived long enough you have said to yourself, and perhaps to others, something to the effect that God sure has a mystical but weird sense of humor. Who among us hasn’t said “when I get to heaven I’m going to ask God ____________”?

I’ve lived the standard life of ups and downs, good and bad, hero and goat, rich and poor, sickness and health... . But when I get as close to Heaven as I’m going to, and if God makes his way to the cheap seats, I’m not going to ask Him about any of the occurrences that have both plagued and thrilled my life.

Islam, Christianity and Judaism are three of the worlds most enduring religions. These three have major issues among and between themselves. When my Savior died, and the veil was rent, Christianity was presented to the Jews. Vast numbers declined.

Five and one half centuries later Islam was presented to the Jews. There was a good chance that after waiting that long for their Messiah, Mohammed might fill the bill. Again vast numbers declined. Similar but different beliefs, hard feelings, simmering resentments for two thousand years.

During those two millennia the world has become dominated by a narrow scientism, materialism and consumerism that has pushed issues of morality, meaning, and truth to the outer margins of society. To the outer margins of our lives. Much of what passes for religion these days is a privatized and ungrounded debasement of true religion.

Still, during those two millennia one truth has held firm. The holiest and most sacred grounds of Judaism is Jerusalem. The holiest and most sacred grounds of Christianity is Jerusalem. Two of the holiest and most sacred grounds of Islam is Jerusalem. More specifically, in each case, behind the walled city of old Jerusalem, and to put a finer point on it; The Temple Mount, or the Al-Aqsa Mosque, or the Dome of the Rock.

No matter your apocalyptic view, it’s going to play out right there. It’s going to play out within the most hotly contested square mile in the world. The End of Days will find Judaism bending its’ knee to Jesus or to Mohammed, or the red heifer (Numbers 19) will be sacrificed and the Third Temple built.

So, God, knowing the thousands of lives that would be lost and the gallons of blood that would be spilled, why did you allow three of the worlds’ greatest religions to center themselves on the exact same spot?

Whether you are out in the cheap seats or sitting in the front row, when your chance comes what will you ask God?

Dear reader,
I am asking for your help. I don’t get many folks stopping by this blog. I am okay with that since these writings have a greater cathartic value. But if you know other folks please ask them to write to FOX news and complain about the use of the phrase “no spin zone”. Don’t ask them to write to Mr. O’Reilly, write to FOX news. Don’t ask that Mr. O’Reilly be taken off the air, just ask that he stop using their network to lie.

Now to call a person a liar or a manipulator is not to be taken lightly. On the other hand, to insult FOX viewers is also a matter not to be taken lightly. Early on Mr. O’Reilly did come off as more or less fair and balanced and the no spin zone seemed, at times, credible. But in the last year he has begun to believe what he reads about himself in the newspapers and has sacrificed truth and honesty for ratings. The program has deteriorated to an exercise in hyperbole and hyperbole, by it’s very nature, requires spin.

This latest example is the most blatant to date and the most egregious. How much hate and intolerance was Judge Cashman subjected to? How much damage was done to the State of Vermont through vindictive remarks and encouragement of boycotts? How big and strong did Mr. O’Reilly appear as he pounded his desk and demanded his decision be adhered to. How noble he appeared as he chastised the citizens of Vermont, the very seat of Transcendental thought in America, to take to the streets in a massive display of civil disobedience.

Mr. O’Reilly was looking for a “hero” in Vermont. A 21st century Thoreau. What he settled for was the local yokel on an AM station in what is most likely an idyllic little town, St. Albans. The yokel, one Paul Beaudry, put on his white sombrero and his red bandana and rode into the no spin zone. Much to Mr. O’Reilly’s delight the long awaited hero was on the set.

But in an interview with The St. Albans Messenger the day before Mr. Beaudry said “I didn’t really want to do it,” he told the Messenger. “I gave in to the peer pressure.” http://samessenger.com/12106.html.

The day before, Mr. O’Reilly played an audiotape interview of the victims parents. You may have seen that program. One of Mr. O’Reillys’ minions had schlepped up to Vermont and was on the case. The idea behind the audio tape was to evoke sympathy for the parents and further incense those premium viewers. After the tape was played Mr. O’Reilly lambasted every newspaper in Vermont with the exception of the Burlington Free Press. They alone were the beacon of truth in an otherwise lunatic left media.

It wasn’t that the Burlington Free Press spoke kindly of you so much as they didn’t laugh at you. But while you sang their praises you failed to mention some other reporting they did. Things like;

“The Free Press learned that in 2003 the victim reported being abused by two men to a para-educator at her school. An investigation was launched by police and the state's Department of Children and Families.

In a decision that's hard to imagine, the state dropped its investigation after the child recanted her statements -- although according to the parents, the department realized that Hulett was sleeping in the child's bed and advised them to put a plan in place to stop that behavior.” http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060127/OPINION/601270322/1006&theme=

Or things like; “One also wonders why this child's family failed to act immediately to stop the abuse. How could any parent allow an unrelated adult to repeatedly sleep in a child's bed (the girl has been removed from the home and is living with a foster family).

Children should be able to turn to trusted adults, police and social service agencies for help. If they are failing to do their jobs, there must be changes to ensure the next young victim doesn't slip through the cracks of these protections.” http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060127/OPINION/601270322/1006&theme=

We all know why. These truths, reported in a paper you endorse, would have dampened the pathetic tape of the victimized parents. On your singular list of people who let this little girl down Judge Cashman would have slipped from number one to number five. There was plenty of culpability before this mess was thrown at him.

But there would have been no desk pounding, no self righteous indignation and the hero of St. Albans could have left his horse in the barn. Even more repugnant was the parade of Vermonters who made their daily pilgrimage to your set without ever mentioning the truth. Fair and balanced? No spin? Not by a long shot. You, Billy boy, are but half the man you pretend to be. A liar who will stop at nothing to promote himself. On the kind of streets where I was raised you are a cheapshot punk.

My fellow Americans, and you know who you are, I have come here tonight to let you know how things are going in the U.S. of A. Let me start by telling you that things just couldn’t be better.
The unemployment rates continue to rise in all 50 states and that’s a good thing.

I mean, well, look at it this way. If the unemployment rates went down then there wouldn’t be any jobs to fill. If that happened the employment rates wouldn’t go up because you have to have the job before you can hire the worker. This administration could not add two million jobs to the economy unless there were two million openings. You see?

Small businesses continue to thrive, thanks to a lot of tax breaks that this administration got for them. It’s important for small businesses to thrive because that’s where all the terminations come from, and it’s those terminations that make the jobs. You have to fire somebody in order to hire somebody.

We weren’t in Iraq on 9/11 but the terrorists attacked us anyway. So I decided to go to where the terrorists were. Our intelligence told us that they were all in Iraq and piling up a whole lot of weapons of mass destruction. You see?, There are two kinds of weapons. Weapons of minimal destruction and weapons of mass destruction.

The United States is always prepared for weapons of minimal destruction. Why, heck, the streets are full of them. So I, as the President, made the decision to activate 100,000 national guard and reservists to go over to Iraq and get all those weapons before they could be used against us.

Well, those fine young men and women looked and looked but they couldn’t find any. So I told them all to stay another year and to look harder. They still couldn’t find any WMD, that’s White House jargon for weapons of mass destruction, but that was alright because I really sent them to fight terrorists. You see?

If I had sent them to fight terrorists then the terrorists would have hidden. Wouldn’t you? So I had to fool the terrorists, kinda like sneaking up on them. That strategy worked because we have the terrorists cornered in Iraq. That’s why we lob the occasional missile into Pakistan. Because Pakistan is close to Iraq.

And that gets us right back to our economy because if we don’t use up these missiles then we won’t be making any and if we don’t need to make any then there won’t be a job to fill. You see? It’s all interrelated. The war on terror has a lot to do with our economy.

When I was coronated the stock market was a mess. Fiscal spending had been reigned in by my predecessor and the markets were slumping. Now Wall Street is flourishing, thanks in part to the success of the oil companies. When the cost of oil goes up the cost of everything goes up and that is a boost to our economy. You see?

Now I know that the nay-sayers and the pessimists in this country say that I have a vested interest in oil company profits. And I know they say the Vice President is invested in Haliburton up to his armpits, but that simply isn’t the case. It is vital to our nations’ interest that we keep instability alive in the middle east.

It’s kinda like basic economics. As long as the middle east is unstable the price of oil will continue to rise. And as long as the price of oil rises the cost of everything rises. That means that Americans have to spend more to buy stuff and that means the economy goes up. You see? The more Americans have to pay for stuff the more the economy goes up. It’s all interrelated.

Two years ago we faced a threat from the liberal government of our friends to the north, Canada. American citizens were getting their drugs on the cheap because Canada was sly enough to bargain with American drug manufacturers and buy drugs for next to nothing. Then they would sell those drugs to Americans for less than they would have had to pay at a drug store in the United States. Canada was undermining our drug companies and their middlemen, the pharmacies.

This administration acted quickly by pushing the Medicare part D program through the Congress. As a result the drug manufacturers are seeing increased profits and Canada has been taken out of the equation. Those increased profits help bolster Wall Street just like oil does. The more people have to spend on drugs the more the economy rises.

Because of Medicare part D the federal government has saved millions of dollars and the drug companies are selling millions of pills which the middlemen mark-up which means there is more money being spent which means the economy rises. You see? It’s all interrelated. The additional expense is being picked up by the individual states which is the way it’s supposed to be. Afterall we fought a civil war over states rights, didn’t we?

This administration is committed to keeping our borders porous and that’s important to our economy as well. Illegal aliens are willing to do jobs Americans won’t do for $15.00 a day. And before they go back across the border they usually stop at the mini market or liquor store and spend some of that money right here in the U.S. of A. That helps our economy too because they have to pay taxes on all that beer and chips and cigarettes.

I know that this is running kinda long and I know you all have parties to get to so let me just sum it all up by saying that this nation is strong, the outlook is bright and as long as I am president we will stay the course. Our economy is booming and we are winning the war on terror. Everything else is doing okay but is pretty much on the back burner. Thanks for coming and may Gods’ right hand bless America.