Category: Teenage Angst

Murder in the Cathedral

As has been written lately, in the 1960 Presidential election, JFK had to prove that he wouldn’t take orders from the Pope. But in the 2004 election, JFK will have to prove that he will take orders from the Pope.

Fascist FunDumbMentalists are increasingly using an ages-old religio-political tool to influence the state: Giving communion to politicians the church approves of and publicly threatening to withhold it from those it doesn’t (or at least intimidating them into not taking it).

The latest (but not the first nor the last) is « New Jersey Governor James E. McGreevey », who …

’… at odds with the Roman Catholic Church over his support for abortion rights, said Wednesday he will honor the wishes of the Newark archbishop and not receive communion. Archbishop John J. Myers said in a statement that abortion rights supporters should not seek communion when they attend Mass. Myers stopped short of saying that priests would refuse to serve it to Catholics who disagree with the church’s position. … The governor said he is committed to both his Catholic faith and his pro-choice stance on abortion and believes strongly in the separation of church and state. “I believe it’s a false choice in America between one’s faith and constitutional obligation,” McGreevey said.’
—SFGate.com

Indeed it is.

Of course, McGreevey is a Democrat, which means that the FFs are out to score political points. I wonder what would have happened if former New Jersey Governor Christie Todd Whitman, a pro-choice Republican, had been a Catholic? I’m betting on nothing, nothing at all …

Under Pressure

I’m struggling valiantly to get back in the swim of things here. Between « substitute teaching and preparing for grad school » and working for « clients » and dealing with the increasing bugginess I’m feeling as spring inches ever so slowly forward (this is the first week that I’ve begun to really be creeped a bit by the lack of sunshine) in « Ann Arbor », I’ve been neglecting my posting.

Let’s rectify that this afternoon, shall we?

The Energy Crisis and Its Effect on America (1981)

The American Energy Crisis has had profound effects on us all. Past, present, and, most assuredly, future American presidents have shaped, and will continue to shape, the energy policies of this nation in a direction so as to increase production of domestic energy and to exploit alternate energy sources to decrease our dependence on foreign oil resources.

The American public, the consumer of energy, has changed its ideas also. Citizens have been repeatedly victimized by energy deficiencies and gargantuan prices. The average American has become skeptical about the truthfulness, the reality, of the crisis. They have begun to believe that today’s energy situations are simply the fabrications of large, profit-motivated oil conglomerates that are seeking ways to combat ever-growing government regulations concerning the accumulation of their carefully hoarded corporate earnings.

The American citizenry is struggling for answers to energy difficulties, but they are being hampered by endless bureaucracy; a slow-moving government delayed by its own laws of necessity and an obligation to be cautious when approaching sensitive, controversial issues; and the oil industries that refuse to divulge the truths of their operations and means of gaining profit. These interminable, incessant impediments to justice are adding to the public frustration.

The effects of today’s energy crisis on America cannot be summarized briefly. The crisis, real or imagined, has had profound effects on the people of the United States. It has driven our presidents to update our energy policies. It has made us look around ourselves—we must drive more fuel-efficient cars; carpool or use public transportation; and seek new and varied alternative energy sources. And it has forced Americans to think, to look at our situation objectively and face it with the courage and spirit of the United States of America.

—Written for senior honors English, 1-Dec-1981

Tomorrow Today Yesterday (c. 1978)

Dreams, trials, memories
Hopes, fears, memories
Desires, defeats, memories
Isn’t yesterday anything but memories?
No, tomorrow is always a memory
     a scent a taste a touch

Why then is tomorrow nothing but dreams?
Why then is today always realizations?

God only knows, only He knows among everyone

Futile dreams, frustrating realities, bitter memories.

Is that ALL?

—Undated; probably 1978