A New Look at Some Classic Scripture... the twisted mind of James Martin...

From Jesuit priest James Martin... Enjoy... The Smart Samaritan 1. Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he said, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" 2. Jesus said to him, "What is written in the Law? What do you read there?" He answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." 3. And Jesus said to him, "You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live." 4. But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" 5. Jesus replied, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers. Fortunately, the man from Jerusalem was no fool and was carrying a big wooden club. So he beat the robbers senseless. Just then, a Samaritan came by to help him. 6. The man said to the Samaritan, "Don't worry. They got what they deserved." Later, though, the robbers' friends waylaid the man. Together they had four clubs, so they beat up the man from Jerusalem. 7. Immediately the Samaritan, who had now learned a lesson, ran away, and sold his field, and with the money he purchased ten clubs. 8. The Samaritan armed his entire family, including his wives, his sons, his slaves and all his cattle and sheep. Among his heavily armed family was his elder son, who was angry at his father for not treating him as well his younger brother, who had spent all his money on loose living and had returned and was given a feast." 9. "Lord, I'm getting confused," said the lawyer. "Weren't we talking about being a good neighbor?" 10. "Let me finish," said Jesus. "The father knew that his son was angry, and potentially dangerous, so the father purchased an even bigger club that he hid under his bed. 11. That night, when father was asleep, the son came to father to apologize for being envious. The father, thinking it was a robber, hit him over the head. 12. Now which of these three, do you think, was a wise person?" said Jesus. 13. The lawyer said, "Actually, none of them. If the father hadn't brought those weapons into his house, then no one would have gotten hurt." Jesus was grieved at the lawyer's blindness. 14. "You're missing the point." Jesus said. "It's a violent world out there, and my advice is to purchase as many clubs as you can." The lawyer was sad, for he was a peaceful man. 15. "Lord," he said, "are you saying I should be like the Samaritan who has a houseful of weapons?" "Yes," said Jesus. "Go and do likewise. And while you're at it, buy me a club too." Read the rest of his re-imagined parables...

GOP Whiffs... is the conservative movement in collapse?

The last month or so has not been kind to the Republican Party. Starting with an election they could have won, the GOP has had as much political competence as Barney Fife did with his one bullet in the fictional setting of Mayberry USA. All they had to do to defeat President Barack Obama was nominate a candidate who could seem at ease with common folk and was not afraid to be critical of some of the ways the party has treated minorities in the past. Instead, they put forth an auto-matron who was about as comfortable in his own skin as one of those guys in Disney’s Hall of Presidents.  Come to think of, most of those robots seem more life like than did Mitt Romney. This, along with some less than stellar Senate and Congressional candidates got them spanked pretty hard on November 6. Elections.  Strike 1. As we inched closer to the so-called fiscal cliff, essentially a self-imposed deadline to come up with a plan to address a growing federal deficit, they dropped the ball again. Mitch McConnell, trying to embarrass the Dems, as opposed to actually trying to legislate, decided to hold a vote on the pending debt ceiling.  This was a naked political stunt, and everybody knew it, but that did not dissuade McConnell, who is forever looking for ways to legislate gotchas, instead of actual policy. But a funny thing happened on the way to the vote.  Apparently Senator Mitch missed an episode of School House Rock.  If he had seen it, he would have known you needed a majority to get a bill passed.  Seemingly unfazed, or unaware of this little requirement, he forged ahead, only to find out late he did not have the votes. So what does Senator Mitch do?  Does he admit defeat?  No. He filibusters [a polite way of saying thanks, but no thanks to a bill] his own bill.  That’s right, he uses a stall tactic to essentially kill his own bill because he cannot get it passed. But Senator McConnell is small potatoes compared to the debacle Republican House Speaker John Boehner presided over last night.  Boehner you might recall has been “locked” in negotiations with President Obama over this fiscal cliff issue.  At some point he got frustrated and decided he, and the House of Representatives needed a backup plan, should those negotiations fail.  A sort of Plan B, if you will. Sadly, it appears our Speaker was with Senator McConnell when they ditched the showing of that School House Rock video, because he too forgot that you need a majority of votes to pass a bill. And so last night, Speaker Boehner, after his Plan B failed in his own party, turned out the lights on Congress and sent everyone home for the holidays, because the GOP would not support raising taxes on a few, to benefit the great majority of Americans. Legislating. Strike 2. Which brings us to this morning and the amazing press conference by NRA President and spokesman Wayne LaPierre. Mr. LaPierre said earlier this week, after the shootings in Newtown, Connecticut that the NRA was ready to offer “meaning contributions” to the ongoing dialogue about gun control and gun access in the United States. After numerous other shootings around the country, the NRA has typically followed a strategic formula that called for lying low a few days and then issuing a statement that said essentially that “now was not the time for any type of discussion.” But this was different.  Because most of the victims were children, many in the country are calling for something to be done to limit assault type weapons and over sized ammo clips.  The NRA heard this and signaled a few days ago that they were ready to respond. We were all waiting as the NRA President stepped up for his moment and then it happened.  Not only did he not offer any meaningful contributions, he essentially called on the federal government to fund armed guards at every school in America. Understand what he was saying.  A conservative leader in America was calling for more federal spending so that we could have a retired police office or an ex-war vet with a gun at every school in America. I’m not sure this could have gone worse for the gun lobby, the conservative movement, or the GOP.  It was breathtakingly bad. In essence, the conservative movement, and by extension the GOP, had a week to study for an open book test and failed... epically. Politics.  Strike 3. And with that, just like Mighty Casey, the Grand Old Party struck out.  Frequent Democratic critic and conservative columnist Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post says the Republican Party is incapable of governing. Sadly, at this point, I would have to agree.  What we are seeing is the schoolyard equivalent of a bully getting upset that everything is not going his way.  Rather than try to get along, he decides to just take his marbles and go home. That’s too bad because we need a strong two party system.  America functions better when both parties are serious and capable of governing.  It keeps the other guys honest. Too bad the GOP can’t seem to figure out how they can do that these days.

The Susan Rice Nomination... another failing grade for Washington...

Finally a grownup has emerged in Washington.  Too bad she isn’t part of Congress and as such, is unable to help us avoid the fast approaching fiscal cliff.  No, the person I am talking about is not some powerful Senator or Congressman. The person I am talking about is UN Ambassador Susan Rice. Susan Rice for those of you who don’t live for politics as a hobby, was President Obama’s first choice to become Secretary of State when Hillary Clinton steps down in a few weeks. I say was because yesterday Susan Rice stepped up and did what a diplomat should do.  She analyzed the situation before her and made a decision that was based on what she thought was in the best interests of the United States. She took her name out of the running for the position, saying her nomination would lead to a battle royale in the politics of the Senate, where she must be confirmed, and in so doing, proved that she is clearly a better person than either President Barack Obama or the John McCain cabal that was clearly out to get her. Here’s the back-story. On Tuesday, September 11, one of our diplomatic outposts, in Libya, was attacked by what we now know to be terrorists.  In the attack and the aftermath, 4 Americans were tragically killed. On the following Sunday, five days later, UN Ambassador Susan Rice went on national television and told the American people what the intelligence community believed was correct about the attack at that time.  It turns out, the information she was given, and that she repeated, was wrong. And because of this, because she said on national television something that was later found to be incorrect, she was deemed unqualified by Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham. What was Susan Rice’s response to this?  She has said that she was sharing the assessment of the intelligence community, which included the CIA and the Director of National Security.  In effect, she was stating on all of those Sunday political talk shows what the intelligence community believed to be true. And for that, the political right has vilified her. But let’s not leave President Barack Obama out of this.  If he believed she was being treated unfairly, and judging from his post election presser that he did, he should have defended her.  Instead, without a formal nomination, and the administration behind her, Rice was hung out to dry by her friend, President Obama and left to twist in the wind.     Ambassador Rice saw the writing on the wall.  She correctly ascertained that President Obama was not going to wage a fight for her, and that Sens. McCain and Graham were prepared to block her nomination.  She was in a no win position and she knew it. Despite the fact that Susan Rice has been one of our best leaders in the State Department, serving two administrations, despite her having served on the National Security Council, and despite a sterling education that includes a Rhodes Scholarship at Oxford, Susan Rice had been deemed unqualified to be Secretary of State. It was only a few years back that Secretary Powell, Secretary Rumsfeld and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice told us that we had to attack Iraq and Saddam Hussein because that country had amassed a cache of WMD’s that made America vulnerable. We soon learned, after thousands of Americans died in that war that in fact the intelligence was wrong.  We believed it to be right, as did many others around the world, but as a point of fact, it was wrong as Director Rice has since admitted. Yet we heard no howls of protest and no questions about the intelligence of Secretary’s Powell, Rumsfeld, or Condoleezza Rice back then from anyone on the political right.  No one felt Director Rice was unqualified to become Secretary of State back then because she had gone on television numerous times and wrongly assured us that Iraq had WMD. Senators McCain and Graham, you should be ashamed for the way you have attacked this immensely qualified woman and torpedoed her nomination to be Secretary of State. President Obama, if this is how you treat your close friends, it is no wonder we hear so many stories about how hard it is to connect to you. All of you would at best receive a mark of needs to improve on a first grade report card for playing well with others. Ambassador Rice, thank you.  You have proved that in the growing cesspool that is our nations capital, there are still honorable people doing their best in trying circumstances to serve our countries interests, rather than their own.

2012... Marking the death of three great musical innovators...

They say it comes in threes.  If that's true, then the death this week of Indian music legend Ravi Shankar ends the trend, at least for this year. You see, 2012 will go down as the year that the music world lost not just three talented gifted performers, because many more were lost that fit that category.  No, 2012 will forever be known as the year that we lost three of the greatest innovators ever in music. The deaths this year not only of Ravi Shankar but last week of jazz legend Dave Brubeck and earlier this year of bluegrass pioneer Earl Scruggs are the marks of the end of an age. Each of these three, in their own way, forever changed the music scene. If you like listening to world music, thank Ravi Shankar, who along with former Beatle George Harrison did much to show that there was a lot of great music that was not just centered around guitars, drums, rock and roll, the US and Britain.  Shankar, the father of Norah Jones played the sitar, an instrument foreign to the west before he came along and made it popular. Dave Brubeck was a master of time.  A great jazz pianist, Brubeck was not content to rest on the status quo.  At a time when most music followed a certain beat and time, think 4/4 or 3/4, Brubeck wasted that idea and soon we had music being played in 6/4, 7/8 and even 9/8 time.  Trust me here, if you've never played music, you have no idea how hard those beats are.  He was a genius. Finally, Earl Scruggs was beyond compare.  I heard one of his contemporaries state that after Earl, there is nothing to learn about the banjo.  And no one will ever play it the same.  Earl Scruggs made the banjo cool with his distinctive three finger picking style.  Perhaps best known for The Ballad of Jed Clampett, Earl Scruggs brought bluegrass music into the mainstream when he joined Lester Flatt and the Foggy Mountain Boys. Each of these men were great musicians.  But the mark of an innovator is a legacy that lives on.  Shankar, Brubeck and Scruggs can all lay claim to being forces that changed music for generations. Who knows when we will see a trio of innovators such as these again who have meant so much musically to so many people around the world. Here are performances by each of these great artists... Earl Scruggs, Dave Brubeck and Ravi Shankar. Enjoy...

Pass me a taco... getting my fill at The Taste of Mexico in Los Angeles...

I was recently in Los Angeles helping a friend of mine who is an executive with the MultiCultural Cooking Network. Our "job" was to cover The Taste of Mexico event held at Vibiana's, a wonderful old church that has been converted to an event space in downtown Los Angeles.  This is an annual event that brings together some of the best Mexican restaurants in Los Angeles for a night of incredible gastronomy. Tacos, tortas, mole, sopes, chiles en nogada, seafood and even kosher Mexican food from Chef Katsuji Tanabe of Mexikosher... it was all on display here, held together by some great mariachi music, and of course tequila. This was Mexican food Los Angeles style where authenticity is king.  No Tex-Mex or yellow cheese here covering up the wonderful tastes of the chiles, spices and flavors of Mexico.  All of the founders of this event, each of them from Mexico and who return home frequently to spot new trends and recipes, are aiming for that "authentic" taste you'll find only as you travel in Mexico. Take it from me, as one who spends considerable time visiting our neighbors to the south, if you can't get there, the restaurants represented at The Taste are the next best thing. Here are a couple of videos from the event, you can't taste the food, but hopefully you'll get the flavor!

Notes on a napkin... quick takes on the world this week...

Last week Javon Belcher of the Kansas City Chiefs shot his girl friend and then himself... Sportscaster Bob Costas stated a fact on air, when he said that without a gun, Belcher could not have done this... he was immediately pilloried by people that did not hear what he said... here's a great article on the controversy... Vin Scully, longtime, in fact almost eternal, voice of the Los Angeles Dodgers, turned 85 last week.  Guess what, he loves the television show Homeland, as evidenced by his new Twitter obsession... President Obama called for 1.6 trillion in new tax revenue and Speaker Boehnor called for 800 billion in new tax revenue in their negotiations to avoid the "fiscal cliff."  As a Vegas guy, I think they will settle somewhere around 1.2 trillion, the number predicted before all the posturing began... I find it odd that Democrats love states rights when they agree with them... think gay marriage, but less so when they disagree, think abortion.  And yes, this can easily go the other way too.  The GOP hates a strong federal government when they agree with it... think DOMA, but less so when they disagree, think Obamacare... interesting isn't it? Jon Stewart nailed it when he took on the annual "War on Christmas."  As Christmas sales seemingly have extended into summer and Black Friday now begins on Thursday, aren't we really in a war on Thanksgiving and Halloween? Finally, here's a great stat I came across preparing for a class I was teaching... as we cram down thousands of extra, useless, obesity inducing calories, consider this... there is enough food produced in the world today for every man woman and child to receive a daily portion of 2500 calories...