Leading Man

Hollywood Quote of the Day:

"...I'm really lucky. Most people don't get to do what I do, and they certainly don't get movies that I'm trying to get made made. And you know, they'll take that away from me pretty soon. You only get it for a little bit. So when you do it, you might as well do it and get in some trouble."

- George Clooney, in a great interview at Salon.com

Remember what I said recently, about making movies that matter? Well, a few years back (God, have I really been writing on this blog for THAT long?!?!?), I posted an interview about the film Solaris, starring Clooney, directed by Steven Soderbergh, and produced by Soderbergh & the "King of the World" himself, James Cameron, under the banner of Clooney & Soderbergh's production company, Section Eight. Clooney & Soderbergh founded Section Eight with an eye to produce quality projects, the likes of which you'd probably only find among independent films, but, in this case, with studio money & the security of a studio environment.

Now, while they haven't made much money doing it (Ocean's 12 & 11 were their only big hits), they have managed to make some extremely interesting projects, including:

• Far From Heaven, with Julianne Moore & the criminally underrated Dennis Haysbert
  
  
• the HBO original series' K Street
  
  & Unscripted
  
  
• the english remake of Insomnia, by Bat-director Chris Nolan
  
  

The talk is that they intend to dissolve the company soon, but, they're definitely going out with a creative bang.

The first project, "Good Night and Good Luck", is Clooney's sophomore effort in the director's chair and details CBS News legend Edward R. Morrow (played by David Straithairn) kamikaze attack on Joe McCarthy & the Blacklist era. Morrow eventually helped McCarthy crash, but largely at the cost of his own career. In light of the mainstream press's recent appetite for speaking a tiny bit of truth to power, it couldn't be more timely.

The other, "Syriana", stars Clooney as real life CIA agent Robert Baer, and his account of the agency's 10 year war against Islamic extremists in the face of government inertia & oil industry resistence.

Both films are coproduced with a company called Participant Productions
, which ties socially conscious, activist marketing campaigns to the films.

For "Good Night", they've created "Report It Now", a site that encourages the audience to go out and actually shoot their own news reports on issues that each individual thinks is important and hasn't gotten enough attention. Then, like the old Farmclub.com website, on a regular basis, people will vote on the one they think is the best while giving these neglected issues a voice.



And, for "Syriana", they've sponsored the even more ambitious project called, simply "Oil Change", which continues to draw the link between oil & national security and is intended to promote the means by which we can ween ourselves off of foreign oil.

All and all, not bad. Billy Friedkin said "a movie can change a life". I think these guys have significantly upped the ante on these films. Check them out.

Supervillain Quote of the Day

"Well, I've TRIED to be a model citizen, General Lane. I KNOW I promised I wouldn't waste my intellect on Kryptonite robots and elaborate super-death traps. I KNOW that.

But three months ago, I looked in the mirror at those nasty little spiderwebs of lines around my eyes, and I realized something.

I'm getting older and...

...and HE ISN'T.

So, if I want to die happy, it's time to get serious about killing Superman.

Don't you think?"

- Lex Luthor, from Grant Morrison & Frank Quitely's "All-Star Superman", coming in November.

Morrison (the writer) & Quitely (the artist) are the same folks who brought you JLA:Earth 2, the sublimely sophisticated New X-Men, and, one of the most revolutionary comics (in terms of visual storytelling techniques) that I've ever had the pleasure to read, We3.

Click the link above to read Morrison's take on Superman and see just a taste of Quitely's mad art-fu.

Oh, and that's Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor in next year's "Superman Returns", directed by Bryan Singer, who did "The Usual Suspects" and the first two "X-Men" movies.

[UPDATE] Here's a link to Grant Morrison, talking about the story in a bit more detail, and Frank Quitely's artwork depicting the difference between Superman and Clark Kent.

In the meantime, feel free to snag these comic goodies at Amazon below:

Little CREAM

It's late, and I'm tired, but I wanted to get this out while it was still fresh in my mind:

So, the link above is about Micro-Credit, i.e. extending tiny loans to women in Third World countries to help them start basic businesses as a way to lift them out of poverty. When I say "basic businesses", I mean things like lending a woman in Bangladesh $50 so she can buy a cow, milk the cow, & sell the milk for profit. Or by a chicken and sell the eggs.

And, it seems to be working like gangbusters in some countries. The founder of the original MicroCredit bank is a good buddy of Bono's and he's been on Charlie Rose twice.

All very good.

And then I thought about Hurricane Katrina.

Or, more specifically, I thought about how the Hurricane revealed that large chunks of Black America live in conditions, by our standards, are closer to a third world country.

And, yet, the standing joke is how many credit cards and how much bad credit Black americans have.

So, the question in my mind is - if a woman in Bangladesh can borrow $50 and pay it back, plus profit, in a fairly short period of time, what are the barriers to replicating that success among the poor in the U.S.? What would be the urban American equivalent of buying a chicken and selling the eggs?

Bootleg t-shirts & videos?

What obvious opportunity are we overlooking?

Mission Accomplished, Part 2

More from Rev. Tillet on his mission of mercy to the Gulf Coast:

The first leg of our journey is over...but there is MUCH left to do. The rebuilding process will likely take several years and our kin in Alabama and Mississippi will need as much help and support as they can get.

In addition to the ministry we will continue to do locally, we must also heed the words the Apostle Paul received in a vision when he heard, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." Inasmuch as "the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and all that dwell therein" then as John Wesley said, "the earth is our parish" and we have a sacred obligation to provide assistance wherever the Lord enables us to go.

It is my prayer that we begin to investigate options for purchasing (or receiving a gift of) a coach bus of our own to facilitate the several trips we will probably make to AL and MS the next 2-3 years to help folks to rebuild. We and many other congregations and organizations will need to be diligent to help people to reclaim their homes lest they lose them to moneyed land developers who will almost certainly try to profit from this disaster by buying discouraged residents out for a fraction of the value of their property near the Gulf. Others might lose their land in tax sales as a result of the economic hardships they experience in the wake of Katrina. Too many times in history African Americans have owned valuable and coveted land and lost them for a lack of resources or vision. We know how that game is played. We have seen it unfolding in Annapolis. We must develop strategies to prevent it both at home and on the Gulf Coast.

I pray your fervor and interest will not wane with the passage of time (another common occurrence) because this ministry effort will not be a sprint, but a marathon ("the race is not given to the quick or the strong, but to the one who endures...")

I want to thank members of Asbury Broadneck and our friends and supporters for the generous donation of your time, provisions and money that made our first trip a success. Special thanks is also due to our sister church in Baltimore, my former congregation Mt. Zion, for the truckload of donations, and money, they brought to Annapolis to send with us on our journey.

I hope to capture some of God's most profound blessings and miracles during this trip in my sermon this Sunday. The Lord truly showed off from beginning to end!

Thank you for your support. Your continued support and prayers are needed!

Peace,

Pastor T

Mission Accomplished, Part I

As I mentioned earlier, my former pastor and frequent unofficial Macroscope contributor, Rev. Stephen Tillet and his church, Asbury Broadneck United Methodist Church in Annapolis, MD, were organizing a trip down to the Mississippi Delta to distribute aid, services, and some grace to those stricken by the hurricane. Here's the trip, in his own words:

We began our journey with the intent to “go and see about our kin.” The reports emanating from the south about the disparities in aid and treatment of Hurricane Katrina’s survivors led us to make our thousand mile journey to see for ourselves how hurricane survivors were doing. During the fours days we spent on the Gulf Coast, we saw and experienced awe at the power of nature and at the power of the human spirit.

After Eric and Joel, our “road dogs” from The Capital were reassigned to New Orleans, we continued our ministry to the hurricane survivors in Mississippi and Alabama. Pat and Tenette, the mother and daughter we brought back from the sewage infected public housing complex the night before, stayed with us that evening and worked along side of us for the rest of our stay. Vivian, Paul and LaTosha, the organizers with whom we were working, were helping as many people as possible to relocate, especially those in public housing in Biloxi, MS whose homes were overrun during Katrina by sewage from the adjacent sewage treatment plant.

Sunday started with a return to the warehouse, an old cotton mill, to load up the truck and bus, again, for more deliveries. We had spent much of Saturday helping to organize the warehouse and it had undergone a tremendous transformation by Sunday. What had once been piles of bags and boxes were now rows of clothes, shoes, water and toiletries. The two tractor trailers had been emptied and were gone. We quickly loaded up the truck and the bus to begin our drive to Mississippi to visit some of the areas hardest hit by Katrina.

As a grandson of Mississippi, I was familiar with the geography of northern Mississippi, but was quickly learning about the geography of the gulf coast. Towns I’d never heard of before became our intended targets for the day: Bay St. Louis, Waveland, Long Beach and Pass Christian. After getting stuck in a traffic jam for about an hour on I-10 West, our bus driver displayed great skill in making a U-turn to get us out of the jam. We passed through Pascagoula, MS, found our way to the parallel state road (Route 90 West) and continued our journey to Bay St. Louis, MS. The closer we got to the coast, the more prominent the devastation. We even passed by a large military ship that was no longer in the water but now rested now on land.

The National Guard was directing traffic in that area and prevented everyone but locals and rescue vehicles from venturing in certain directions. We were allowed, however, to go into Bay St. Louis. Rhonda Labat, a local resident, led us into the heart of what remained of the close knit community. A local congregation was providing services to the community and after several days, the Red Cross was finally on the scene, as well. Residents sat in their carports and driveways, swapped stories of surviving the storm and shared provisions with one another. The hot, dry weather allowed most people to stay outside of their homes, since most homes were now developing mold. Extended exposure to mold can have toxic and deadly consequences, so one of the greatest challenges for residents with nowhere else to go or those who refuse to leave is remaining healthy until reconstruction is completed.

Byron Curry and his neighbor, Eric (who has lived with cancer five and a half years beyond the doctor’s estimate, so far) took me in their car to tour Waveland, the next town over, while the rest of our group talked with the people of Bay St. Louis and gave out a few provisions. I noted the smell of mildew in the car, which also had been overrun with water during the storm. It gave me a headache in the short time I was riding, and I wondered how much damage it was doing to the folks who had to endure it every day with no other options.

Though it didn’t seem possible, Waveland seemed to have suffered more damage than Bay St. Louis. Other conversations would reveal that Long Beach and Pass Christian had suffered even greater destruction and no one except residents and “official” organizations were being allowed in. In spite of the devastation, I was impressed with the resilience and humor of the hurricane survivors. Vera Barnes of Waveland spoke of the large screen TV her grandson had given her. She had always felt it was too large for her and that it took up too much room. During the storm, as her son pulled her to safety on the roof of her house she saw it float away, along with the freezer and other appliances. Yet she was grateful to be alive and glad to see that Byron and Eric had survived, too. There had been losses in these towns, so every time people would see old neighbors and friends who had survived the storm, there was a reason to rejoice. Most residents say they intend to rebuild, so it seems these communities will survive and thrive again.

When we returned to our “home” in Mobile, Alabama on Sunday night, there was a BBQ waiting. Our hosts, Mr. & Mrs. Austin, who opened two of their houses to us, had told us they wanted to do a cook out for us and they waited until we returned from Mississippi at 9 PM. The old adage about southern hospitality is true! They and several of their eight children and twenty three grandchildren served us delicious southern home cooking and fellowship. We are thankful to have met them. As we parted company they reiterated several times that “whenever you’re in Mobile, you have a home.”

Monday our game plan was very clear, to return to Gulfport, MS, locate Katrina survivors in public housing, and distribute more of the provisions we had in the bus and truck. We also wanted to spend some time in fellowship with the residents, so we purchased two grills, some hot dogs and chips and cooked out for them while they gathered necessities for their families and friends. One teen age girl asked me where we were from and when I told her we were from Maryland she asked me why we had come so far and I told her, “to see you.” “Y’all came all this way to see about us? That’s alright!” she said with a big smile. That one conversation made the whole trip worthwhile. A teenager in Mississippi now has a personal understanding about the depths of Jesus’ proclamation that we should “do unto others as we would have them do unto us.” People from Annapolis, Maryland and elsewhere around the nation cared enough to travel hundreds or thousands of miles to see about their kin. We concluded our first mission trip to the south by dropping off the rest of our bounty at the Freewater Missionary Baptist Church in Bayou Le Batre, Alabama.

If we can somehow learn to maintain this sense of community throughout the rebuilding process and even once it’s completed, our nation will be better for it. At Asbury Broadneck, we will now make plans to buy our own coach bus for return trips to the Gulf Coast. There is much work left to do and it will likely take a few years to get it all done. We will be going back again...and again.

More in a bit....

THE SHOCK&AWEMASTER!!!

I'm an Ivy-League educated computer scientist.

I hold a Master's degree from one of the most respected film conservatories in the world.

And one of my most prized positions is a cushioned folding chair I took from the 5th row of Safeco Field during Wrestlemania 19.

In case that wasn't clear enough: yes, I'm also a life-long fan of professional wrestling.

Feel free to take a moment to work out that cognitive dissonance you may be experiencing right now.

Incongruous? Of course not, when you consider that pro wrestling isn't a sport, but really theatre - a spectacle somewhere between Cirque DeSoliel & Ringling Brothers. Yes, the outcomes are pre-ordained. Yes, the punches are pulled. But picking up a 300 1bs. man and throwing him somewhere, let alone BEING said flying 300 1bs. man requires a level of strength & agility that, quite frankly, is beyond any human being I have EVER met in the course of casual everyday events.

And, at it's most basic, its storytelling. In many ways, they're in the same business I am: generating emotions for us to experience. They do it in the most stark, primal, pure form: Will he win? Will he get away with it? Will he get the girl? Will that asshole FINALLY get his ass kicked?

You get the point.

Of course, alot of times, pro wrestling doesn't get it right at all.


Case in point - The Shockmaster!

A big huge scary wrestler with a painted Stormtrooper helmet on - the Shockmaster was suppose to terrify his opponents with his grand entrance - the wall would EXPLODE and then he would storm out and give them a piece of his mind! YEAH!

KABOOM! Big explosion!

And then the Shockmaster tripped over the hole in the wall, and his helmet popped off.

Oops.

"Shock & Awe", huh?

Consider that as you read this article about how the Iranians are viewing America these days? Somehow, between Iraq & Katrina, I don't think they've exactly had the fear of God put in them about "The Great Satan". Money quote:

“How could the White House, which is impotent in the face of a storm and a natural disaster, enter a military conflict with the powerful Islamic Republic of Iran, particularly with the precious experience that we gained in the eight-year war with Iraq?”

Films from the Holy Land

As most of you know, I spend a good chunk of the month of June in Israel, attending a class on Film Producing. In addition to praying at the Western Wall and standing on top of the hill where Jesus was crucified, I actually did do a lot of film related stuff there as well. Which included seeing some great films from the region.


Case in point: "The Syrian Bride", from director Eran Riklis, tells the story of a young woman from the Golan Heights who's engaged to be married to a soap opera star in Damascus. The Golan Heights is part of territory that the Israelis seized from Syria during The Six-Day War in 1967, and Syria still considers it part of their country. In fact, the Druze, the ethnic minority who live there, including our bride, also consider themselves Syrian and many of them have refused Israeli citizenship. Her family is hoping she can have a better life in Damascus, and have agreed to this arranged marriage. But, because of the political situation, once she crosses over the border into Syria, she can never come back to Israel to see her family again. So, in many ways, her wedding day is like a living funeral. It's just an incredibly beautiful film that makes the politics of the region deeply personal. I don't know if it has an American distributor yet, which is a real shame. If you manage to catch it on video or at a festival, I highly recommend checking it out.


On the opposite end of the spectrum is the intense drama, Paradise Now. Produced by an Israeli, but directed by a Palestinian, it follows two Palestinian men who volunteer to become suicide bombers. You watch them transform from a pair of shaggy, laid-back auto mechanics, into sleek, focused, living killing devices as they prepare for their last day on this Earth. Then, the plan goes totally wrong and the two of them are actually forced to confront their reasons for volunteering in the first place. Again, an instance where the political is simply a manifestation of the violently personal.

When we screened this film during the class, once of the producers came to speak afterwards. Needless to say, a number of Israeli students gave him a real tongue-lashing for glorifying the suicide bombers. One of the Jewish American students even went so far as to accuse the film of being anti-Semitic because she was unsatisfied with how it depicted the impact of the bombers on Israeli society. In the end, all of his detractors felt that the film was unbalanced.

To which, I say, "of course".

Film is not journalism. It has absolutely NO obligation to be balanced. It's a story, and every story is entitled to it's point of view. Personally, I didn't think the film was particularly anti-Semitic because, quite frankly, you never see the Israelis. The Palestinian characters talk about them like they're an abstraction, in much the way a lot of Black Americans talk about "The White Man". The film had no intention to be balanced - it's a Palestinian story. An unpleasant one, I'll grant you. But, let's be honest - it's not like there is anyone who DOESN'T know the impact of suicide bombers.

I'm much more interested in "why?". Why would someone, another human being, with a family and a job and a life, volunteer to die just so they could kill complete strangers? I suspect that the answers lie in a despair that is so pervasive, that one can begin to feel that they're one of the walking dead.

While I was there, I also caught a free screening of The French Connection in honor of the director William Freidkin, who was in Tel Aviv directing an opera version of "Samson & Delilah". And, while that particular film is still fairly popcorn, the opportunity to hear Friedkin talk coincided nicely with these two Middle Eastern films. Freidkin told a story about his first film: when he was a young man working for a local TV station in Chicago, he met a priest at a party who worked on Death Row. Friedkin asked the priest if he thought any of those prisoners were actually innocent. When he told him yes, Friedkin grabbed a camera and a cameraman from his station and marched right down to the State Penitentiary. The end result was the TV documentary "The People vs. Paul Crump". Once that film found it's way into the hands of the Governor of Illinois, Paul Crump was granted a stay of execution.

In Freidkin's words:

"That's when I learned that a film can save a life."

Why am I saying all of this?

I am a filmmaker.

In fact, my first produced feature film could be coming to a theatre near you in 2006. But more about that much, much later.

I love movies, and I've loved them all my life. Perhaps they're why I don't really have a Baltimore accent - because I was spending more time with James Bond and Superman and Indiana Jones and Herbert West and Scotty Ferguson and Mike Church, than with the people across the street. But, I firmly believe that movies matter.

Vertigo matters to me.
Deeply. Emotionally.

Apocalypse Now matters to me.
Spiritually.

American Beauty matters to me. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon matters to me. Menace II Society matters to me.

Even genre films like Forbidden Planet and Star Trek II and John Carpenter's The Thing or comedies like 50 First Dates or even a deeply flawed movie like Ali matter to me. They matter in my life.

And they matter not because they're historically accurate or chock full o' facts or a bold indictment of some great wrong.

They matter because they move me. They move me to laugh, or cry, or cheer, or scream, from some place deep inside my heart.

I was asked recently about a film I'd just seen in the theatres, which was #1 at the box office, and I couldn't give it a ringing endorsement. It had it's moments, and the actors were fine and the production was sound.

But, when the credits rolled, the audience simply filed out in silence. No chatter. No applause. Nothing.

In the end, this particular movie simply didn't matter to me. And, I suspect that many of my fellow audience members felt the same way.

The Syrian Bride and Paradise Now matter to the lives of thousands of people I'll never meet across Israel, who's stories may have never been told.

And they remind me that, when I make films, they must matter. First and foremost, they must move my soul first.

Taking Care Of Our Own

Shouldn't someone be talking about giving tax incentives for any business that hires someone displaced by the hurricane, or any property owners who offer free room & board for someone displaced by the hurricane?

Yes, these people need health & food & water now, but their city is gone, and so are their livelihoods. Let's start planning now to re-integrate these folks back into society.

I'd at least like to see some bills introduced at the Federal level, and since folks are being shipped all over the country, it would be great if equivalent bills were presented in all the state legislatures as well.

Contact your local politicians here:
http://www.vote-smart.org/

[UPDATE]Nice to see I'm on the same wavelength as Howard Dean & the Democratic Party. Their new legislative agenda for the hurricane survivors is here:
http://www.democrats.org/a/2005/09/senate_democrat_13.php

The Secret is Out!

And now, a word from my good friend, Rev. Tillet:

Underneath the glittering statistics about “American wealth” there has always been the reality of the bare subsistence of the “have nots.” The fact that only one percent of US citizens control over eighty five percent of her wealth has always been shocking but distant statistical information. The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina has made that huge imbalance a reality for the entire world to see.

Now the secret is out that despite all of its pretensions of wealth and a fair and open society, a significant percentage of our fellow citizens have been living a third world reality for some time and were only one disaster away from being destitute, desperate and dangerous. The reality that many of our fellow citizens have been living just above squalor for years has been either the best kept secret or the most ignored reality of our economic “boom time” expansion. And now something as basic as the lack of resources to avoid an approaching Category Five hurricane has brought it all to light. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the option to grab their credit cards and hop into their cars or onto a plane to flee the coming storm. As a result, the “least, the last and the lost” are all that remains of a once proud city, and Hurricane Katrina has laid the lie of American opulence bare.

The key question now is: what will our nation do about it? Will she be satisfied to apply a flimsy bandage to a gaping wound and then rebuild the tenement-quality living for her own third world citizenry? Or, worst still, will she follow her historical commerce-first penchant and use this as an opportunity, to commandeer the abandoned land and turn it into high priced condominiums and office buildings? This is the time for the nation to correct a systemic wrong that continues to afflict the descendants of America’s shameful legacy of chattel slavery. Unfortunately, the history and legacy of this nation has always been about commerce before community and profits before people. The chickens have come home to roost. And lest we regard this as a unique or isolated incident, there are countless other urban and rural areas in the nation that are one disaster away from a similar level of suffering, neglect and anarchy.

In spite of our flowery pronouncements, the laws on the books and Amendments to the US Constitution, the shameful legacy of Jim Crow Apartheid in America is always with us and we have nowhere to hide or to hide the problem! And now that the secret is out, the recourse seems to be to blame the victim. One need only surf on the Web to find pictures of hurricane survivors with vastly different, yet telling captions. In two photos with people wading in waist-deep water we read that the African American person was carrying what he had “looted” from a store (who “loots” diapers and water, anyway?) while the white couple was carrying food that they had “found.” Say what? The offending photos and captions have since been removed, but the underlying and constant racist messages they relay remains. I doubt that if a majority of the hurricane victims were white they would be referred to in third-world terminology as “refugees.” I’m sure they would then be proudly referred to as “hurricane survivors.” And human nature being what it is, let any group of people be forced to wade around in putrid, contaminated water with no food, water or relief and anarchy will ensue, whether they are in New Orleans or Kennebunkport, Maine.

I cannot imagine what it must be like to have a disaster bearing down on you and yet to have no viable option or means to escape it. Most people did not remain in their homes because they wanted to. They remained because they could not afford to leave. The continuing legacy of Apartheid America creates and sustains people who are too poor to leave yet are the most ill equipped to stay. An article written in my own local Annapolis newspaper, The Capital, by a native of Louisiana who is returning home to assist his family, referred to the situation in New Orleans as what happens when “the best” depart a city and leave it to “the worst.” I never knew that being born poor or in challenged family circumstances made one “the worst.” Conversely then, it would seem that living on the wealth built upon the suffering and sweat of people stolen from their native land and abused and neglected for centuries and then left to rot in urban ghettos makes one “the best.” That is curious and dubious logic.

When Jesus said, “the poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want” (Mark 14:7) he wasn’t saying that it was acceptable for people to be poor. He was saying that unless human beings learn how to overcome their sinful disposition to be selfish, arrogant and greedy, the victims of those sinful attitudes and actions would always be poor and would always be among us. I think Proverbs 28:13 gives us the direction we need to take to move to a new level of community and mutual accountability. It says, “He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.” Until our entire nation understands that it has committed crimes against humanity – its own citizens, no less – and confesses and seeks forgiveness and makes restitution for those sins, we will continue to remain stuck in a moral quicksand of our own making. There’s no need for further obfuscation, blaming the victim or cover up. The secret is already out. The next step is up to you…and God (and the world) will be watching.

Prepared by Pastor Stephen Andrew Tillett
Of the Asbury Broadneck UM Church, Annapolis MD
AsburyBroadneck1@aol.com

I recently read that some of the evacuees didn't want to leave because they were afraid they would have to pay for the helicopter ride out of harm's way.

I think that about says it all.

[UPDATE] when I last spoke to Rev. Tillet, he was organizing a bus trip down to the Mississippi Delta. In talking with my mother this weekend, she told me that he'd collected roughly 4 truckloads of clothes, canned goods, & the like to distribute among the afflicted. I believe they're on their way down there now. If you'd like more information, or, if you're near Annapolis and would like to contribute or even join them for the trip, try contacting him at his church.

Survivors Reunited

The name says it all.

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, some very good friends of mine created this totally free online database where folks who are looking for their loved ones or loved ones who are looking to be found can post their contact information.

If you, or anyone you know can benefit from this, please do so, and spread the word.

A Parable

When I was a boy, we had a new pastor in my church. He seemed good enough, until the day came that we had a special meeting of the entire congregation after service to appoint two chairmen for our annual "Eastern Shore Day" event. It was a weird process - anyone could nominate anyone else, but, if you were nominated, you could always decline before a vote was held. Which is exactly what happened. Lots of people nominated someone else, who immediately declined.

Finally, our new pastor grabbed the microphone and scolded the congregation: "Remember, this is for God."

And the very next person who was nominated sheepishly accepted the position.

I think I was only 13 at the time. But, I think it's safe to say that, in that moment, I knew what evil was.

I complained to my mother and father that our pastor had just manipulated the faith of our congregation to achieve his ends. Granted, we needed someone to head up the program. Yes, it was for a noble cause. But it was the WAY he did it.

A man who'll do anything is, by definition, a man who cannot be trusted.

Roughly 5 years later, I was off to Princeton, but my church was in shambles. The congregation had been reduced to a skeleton crew - many long time members were driven away by the irrational, vendictive, tactics and rank incompetence of the pastor. The parsonage was in disarray. The church was practically bankrupt from extravagant, yet totally unnecessary & irresponsible projects like installing central air throughout a 150 year old gothic cathedral. And the conference refused to heed the cries of those who remained, desperate for a new leader. It was only after those members who were left withheld their offerings and refused to financially support the church or the conference, that the bishop finally got the message and got us a new pastor. In time, the church rebuilt into something even better than it's past glory.

Many years later, my mother (one of the diehards who would NEVER let anyone, not even a whack pastor, run her out of HER church) told me that one of the other members had run into our old, whack pastor. Not only was he completely unrepentent about the damage he'd done to my church. He proudly proclaimed that God had sent him on a mission to break the church down.

Why am I telling this story today?



America lost a city this week.

Whoops.

As my girlfriend often says "everything is for you." It's either for your benefit, or it's for your education.

I think we have alot more learning in store over the next three years, y'all.


Paul Krugman says it best:

I don't think this is a simple tale of incompetence. The reason the military wasn't rushed in to help along the Gulf Coast is, I believe, the same reason nothing was done to stop looting after the fall of Baghdad. Flood control was neglected for the same reason our troops in Iraq didn't get adequate armor.

At a fundamental level, I'd argue, our current leaders just aren't serious about some of the essential functions of government. They like waging war, but they don't like providing security, rescuing those in need or spending on preventive measures. And they never, ever ask for shared sacrifice.

Amen.

New World Order

Yes, I know, it's been a long time, my friends.

So, just to recap what's happened since I last spoke through the 'Scope:

- I saw premium gas the other day for $3.30/gallon here in Los Angeles.
- Terrorists have attacked my sweetheart's home city of London. Twice.
- approaching 2000 dead American soldiers in Iraq
- did I mention that Iraq is about to become an Islamic Fundamentalist satellite of Iran?
- the President has completely dismissed the Kyoto accords for climate change because he falsely believes it will hurt America economically

In other words, the world's in a bit of a mess right now.

But, as usual, I have imminent faith in the genius of humanity to ultimately get us out of this mess.

Case in point - Brian Schweitzer is a former rancher who was elected the governor of Montana last year as a Democrat in a state where Bush beat Kerry by 20 points. Clearly, this dude has a bit more on the ball than most.



Now, Montana happens to be sitting on top of 120 BILLION tons of coal - nearly 1/3 of all the coal in the entire United States. Looking at ways to jumpstart the post-acrigultural economy in his state, Schweitzer may have just uncovered a potential gold mine.

In the 1920's, a couple of German scientists invented a way to make synthetic petroleum out of coal, called the Fischer-Tropsch process. It was impractical to use in a large scale as long as crude oil cost under $30/barrel.

At the close of business today, crude oil hit an all-time high of $68/barrel.

And Schweitzer is calling everybody who'll listen to say, for $1.5 billion to built a Fischer-Tropsch processing plant, Montana can make 22,000 barrels of synthetic oil a day, for $32 a barrel - and could meet the fuel needs of the entire United States for 40 years.

Did I mention that the process appears to have no negative environmental side effects?

I've been saying for months now that it will take a technological breakthrough to alter the geopolitical framework of the world, i.e. if we didn't need Mid East oil so bad, the Saudis & Co. wouldn't have the money to finance militant Islamic fundamentalists, among lots of other things.

U.S. foreign policy for the last 50 years would be radically different.

And, thus, the world becomes radically different (i.e. war on terror, religious fundamentalism, Israel v. Palestine, neoconservative collapse, global warming, etc.).

Personally, if I was Schweitzer, I'd be having a sit-down with George Soros & Warren Buffet RIGHT NOW.

"PAY NO ATTENTION TO THAT MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN!!!"

"I - AM - OZ, THE GREAT AND POWERFUL!!!!!"

Still testing.

Kicking the Tires

I'm just trying out my nifty new "blog-by-email" feature here. Don't mind me.

Sacred Texts

The title of the book is "The Sins of Scripture: Exposing The Bible's Texts of Hate To Reveal The God of Love", to be found here at Amazon.com:



I'm not going to say too much about it (Yet), but I would recommend that you read the reader comments on Amazon about this book. I'm particularly struck by those who reject the thesis presented by the author, retired Episcopal Bishop John Spong, that sin is much less substantial than most people imagine. These critics feel that, without a concept of sin, we have no need for a savior.

In other words, they NEED their sin before they can allow themselves to love God.

Curious, isn't it?

The Conquering Son of Kings

YES!

As many of you have read before, Kweisi Mfume is one of my heroes. Another man who's not exactly my hero, but someone for whom I have nothing but respect and gratitude for his decades of service, is Paul Sarbanes, the senior U.S. Senator from my home state of Maryland.

That's "Sarbanes" as in "Sarbanes-Oxley", that bit of Federal legislation that tried to reign in some of the craziness in the Accounting industry in the wake of Enron. Did I mention that Sarbanes' wife, Christine, was my original Latin teacher back at the dear old Gilman Country Day School for Boys?

But I digress.

Senator Sarbanes is a Maryland institution, so it's a big deal that he's decided to retire at the end of his current senate term.


As a Baltimore boy, I'd like to say "Thank you."

And NOW, we can get into the nitty gritty, because Kwiesi Mfume wants to be the NEW junior Senator from the Line State.

YES!

Considering that a Black man hasn't sat in the US Senate in, like, ever, before Barack Obama, can the Federal government handle having TWO negroes up in there? 'Cause you know all we do when we get together is plot ways to slit massah's throat in his sleep? :-)

Granted, Mfume has a long way to go. Despite the aberration of its current governor, Maryland, as a state, is practically Navy Blue in its politics. (Observe the smackdown Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley

is about to lay on my fellow Gilman Greyhound, Gov. Robert Ehrlich

in next year's election). Point being, there are ALOT of Democratic congressmen in Maryland who want to change their pay grade.

And, sadly, there are whole counties of Maryland where Mfume might still be called "boy" or worse.

But Kweisi's a true hustler with national appeal. Watch the brother run.

Roll Up Your Sleeves

Every holiday, my family gets together and plays Monopoly. We have some dessert, spread out on the dining room table, and have a good natured round of cut-throat faux capitalism. I think I won one of these games once upon a time. In the end, winning is only incidental to me. I just like communing with my family.

Recently, I realized that, my brother Harold and my cousin Billy seem to always be among the last people standing towards the end of the game. Consequently, they tend to win more often than anyone else. Consistently. And I started thinking about why.

Typically, we'll start at around 8PM, and, with close to 10 people playing sometimes, the game can go well past 1AM on a Saturday night before we all have to drag our turkey-infused bodies to church the next morning. It's fun, but, after a while, it becomes draining. We all get a bit punch drunk and, slowly but surely, begin to mentally check out of the game. It's become a marathon and, consequently, no longer fun. Which is, of course, the whole point of playing.

For most of us.

Only then did I realize why Harold & Billy keep winning. It's because winning is FAR FAR FAR more important to either of them than simply playing or communing or having a good time. As I watch them, I can see both of them becoming more energized as the night goes on. As other people begin to fall away, Harold & Billy smell blood. They know that, with each bankruptcy, the win that they crave so much becomes that much closer. They work harder. They become more creative. They want it.

Winning.

It's all that matters.

And why these guys and not, say, my mother or, even me?

Billy was a finance major in college and is a few steps away from being a licensed stock broker.

Harold is a Republican.

The moral of this story?

The Republican Party has won the last few election cycles because they never sleep. I'm reminded of a scene in "The Insider", where Russell Crowe can see the office building of his old employers: it's night and the building is dark except for the 10th Floor. The legal department.

They don't sleep. They spend every waking hour trying to find a way to advance their agenda. Think tanks. Newsletters. School boards. Letters to the editor. Meetings. Calling in to talk shows. Writing their congresspeople. Going to city council meetings. Financing candidates. Boycotts. Protests. Lawsuits. Petitions. Bills.

By any means necessary.

The point is, the GOP shows up every time. They contest EVERY open elected office, right down to school librarian. And they've been doing it for years. Even those who aren't political operatives do their small parts where they are to effect the things that are important to them.

Not just complaints. Consistent, continuous action.

Democracy is a full-time job. It requires, at the very least, active information gathering and engagement in the issues. But, it's a bit silly to know all and do nothing.

We may call ourselves Progressives, but this is really the first election in a generation when we actively pushed forward in a coordinated effort. Yes, they won. By two points. And one of those points went to Ralph Nader.

We matched them in fundraising, and we very nearly matched them in voter mobilization.

But now the election is over. Now, that same work has to be devoted to the day-to-day operation of actually governing. And that requires daily, active involvement of SOME kind.

We don't all need to run for office (although some of us definitely should). But we can all do something to create the America we want.

Rev. Tillet is in total agreement with me on this:

It's Time To Step Up

In the world of sports, whenever there is a big game or a critical situation in the game, the players and coaches will often say that, "it's time to step up." The more there is on the line, the more imperative it is that the team and its coaches "step up and bring their A Game." It is such a time for the African American community in the "United" States of America. If what is past is truly prologue, then the election results from November 2 should inform us that we can no longer have any reasonable expectation of assistance or even a sympathetic ear from the Federal government. History has also taught us that the less sympathetic the Feds are, the less support we will find at the state level, either.

So here we are, on the cusp of reaping the whirlwind from George W. Bush's first actual election to the White House, in 2004. Armed with a self-proclaimed "mandate," the courts are going to be damaged by the appointments and rulings by ideological jurists for the next generation. The government, designed to provide a Balance of Powers, won't be balancing anything. Even if the Democrats reclaim their progressive voice in 2008, it will take decades to undo the damage wreaked by these judges with lifetime appointments.

In the face of all this bad news, what are African Americans to do? I would suggest, hold ourselves accountable, set some standards and expectations in our own communities, and stop looking to government to "deliver" us. No matter who is in office, until we learn how to be producers rather than consumers, and become financially self sufficient by harnessing the power of our collective one-half trillion-dollar buying power each year, we will continue to be beggars. In a nation built on the backs of the enslaved labor of our foreparents, we continue to look for help that's not going to come from outside our own communities.

Are you unhappy with the schools? Support them with your time, presence and expectations. Better yet, open your own! But even our own schools will fail unless we have our children turn off the TV, the radio and the video games, open a book, and insist upon respectful performance from our children. Expectations begin in the home and are enforced in the home. Parents shouldn't look to "the schools" to do our job! Even if you are a parent who feels ill equipped, there are community programs, churches and mosques that will provide parenting assistance.

Are you tired of banks and insurance companies and their prejudicial loan and policy practices? Open and support honest and efficient Black banks and insurance companies. Weary of disinterested, businesses profiting on the African American community? Support honest and respectful African American businesses and stop asking for a special discount price. When "the man" comes to your house and quotes a price, you don't bargain, you pull out your checkbook. Do our own businesses deserve to be treated differently?

Perhaps you feel like the inner city and your neighborhoods have been abandoned? Start by cleaning up your own yard and your own block and hold your neighbors accountable to do likewise. We have seen the power of negative peer pressure in the decline of our communities. Positive peer pressure can also galvanize change. It's time to step up!

At this point, we have no reasonable expectation for help from those in power, who demonize us for campaign advantage and stand guard at the polls to try to keep us from voting. By managing our own schools, neighborhoods and families, African Americans can begin to take some baby steps toward self-sufficiency. No matter who is in the White House, the Congress or the courts, our destiny largely resides with us, where it belongs. It is time to stop looking for help from others when we won't help ourselves. It's time to step up!

Wondering what you can do? Here are some places to start:

Democracy for America (formerly known as Dean for America, one of my favorites)
MoveOn - they even have a manual...



New Democratic Network

Or just look for ways to infect the populace with new, progressive ideas:




There's work to do.

He's Ba-aaack!

I've been suggesting this since February.

Howard Dean is considering a run for chair of the Democratic National Committee after Terry McAuliffe's tenure ends in January.

And I say "Thank God".

After all, Dean was the one who figured out a year and a half ago that it was pointless to run to the center when Bush & Rove were simply going to fire up their natural base to swell the voter roles in their favor. As the good governor has been saying, if the people can't tell the difference between you and the GOP, and you're talking about the GOP's issues, they'll always vote for the GOP because they KNOW you're only talking like them to get their vote.

On the other hand, if you fire up your own base, on your own issues, with your own identity, NOW we can have a fight.

Dean's already doing party-building through his political action committee, Democracy For America. His mind is already on down-ticket races with an eye for a future progressive majority. Why not take it to the next level. Instead of being the leader of the self-proclaimed "Democratic wing of the Democratic Party", why not just cut to the chase and be the leader of the whole f'n party?

After all, we've proven that the Clinton cronies (yes, that's you, Terry McAuliffe) can't get the job done unless Clinton himself is the candidate. This is 3 Federal elections in a row that DLC centrism has gotten is a "moral" victory (i.e. jack squat).

Dean was and continues to be the only national figure talking about being proud to be a Democrat. He's already the Democratic Party's biggest cheerleader.

Give Dean the ball. Let him inspire candidates and partisans led by a moral, progressive vision so we can continue to reclaim local & state government. When we control a majority of the state houses & state legislatures, THEN we'll have a strong enough crop of candidates from which to pick a potential winning Presidential nominee.

More importantly, he seemed to be the only Democrat who was serious about retaking the South back from the Republicans (even if he didn't quite say it in the most polite way).

Reclaim the ethics issue (more on that later....)

Dean brings passion and integrity to the party. Even if you think he's a too intense to be president, you know EXACTLY where the man stands.

Let's have some of THAT trickle down the party ranks. A little conviction can go a long way.

From The Pulpit

So, in case you haven't noticed, we've undergone a bit of an upgrade here at Macroscope. Now, you can comment on anything we have to say here, and feel free to e-mail the posts in all their multimedia glory to your friends and neighbors.

And, I'd like to stress the word "we" here because this marks the first in a series of outside columns by my dear friend, Rev. Stephen Andrew Tillett, the Senior pastor at Asbury Broadneck United Methodist Church in Annapolis, MD.



Today, the Rev, an avowed Progressive, talks about the election and faith....

Silent No More
My late grandmother used to have a saying: "Enough is enough and too much smells!" I have been the recipient of numerous articles and commentaries from grieving progressive friends since Tuesday's election. The post mortems are beginning to circulate and there is much hand-wringing over how the Democrats allowed themselves to get punked, yet again, because of a made-for-election-year "issue." Largely because of the gay marriage "issue," John Kerry's loss is being credited to the evangelical religious right who turned out in record numbers in response to their concerns - some would say fears - over the subject.

As a member of the heretofore exceedingly courteous Religious Left, I can no longer be silent and assume that "common sense will prevail." Though I find that the whole right/left, red/blue designation inadequately captures the complexity of this nation called the United States, I will use it, for now, since it is more easily (superficially) understood. The "Religious Right" has crowned themselves as the voice for spiritual people in this country and have sought to position themselves at the very gates of Heaven to determine who gets in and who doesn't - who speaks for God and who doesn't. This is not only ludicrous, but also insulting. No more! The Progressive Religious Left has just as much of a claim to the teachings of Jesus and the Bible as anyone. Indeed, I would argue that it is more Christlike to live as Jesus lived and to try to "love my neighbor as myself" rather than to exclude as many people as I can if their sins are different from mine. (Their Big sins versus my little ones.)

Somehow, according to these folks, homosexuality has made it to the very top of the Lord's hit list of sins and now commands an inordinate amount of attention given the scant attention it receives in Scripture. Let's see what the Bible has to say. Based on my study of the issue, homosexuality is mentioned specifically a grand total of three times in the entire Bible, in Leviticus 18:22 (in the midst of an entire chapter of sexual prohibitions), Leviticus 20:13 and Romans 1:26-27. There are, of course, numerous other verses that refer to sexual immorality, fornication and the like, but these are usually attributed to depraved heterosexual behavior. Interestingly enough, there are over seven hundred prohibitions in Scripture against lying, yet millions of voters came to the polls to keep homosexuals in check while lies and misrepresentations have resulted in the deaths and maimings of several thousand US military personnel and tens of thousands of Iraqis (yes, their deaths count, too!) We are more concerned that a homosexual couple may move into the neighborhood than we are that our children may get sent to the desert to fight a war we started and cannot win. As long as those gays don't move in down the street, we can live with job losses, no health care and trillion dollar deficits. No more!

Some analysts indicate that a significant number of African American voters, spurred by their pastors, voted for George Bush on Tuesday. Rather than voting their hopes, they voted out of fear and voted for the candidate whose record indicates that the policies of his administration are anathema to a great majority of our community. Yet the GOP correctly discerned that African Americans are among the more socially conservative citizens of this nation and astutely drove a make-believe wedge right between them and their own best interests. And now they will have a president for the next four years who will do his best to keep the homosexuals in check, while he appoints judges to the courts of this land who will set us back for a generation. But as long as my gay neighbors can't get married…

Just in case anyone is paying attention, the GOP has mastered the art of manipulating legislation and ballot referenda during election years to "frighten out" (turnout) their constituency. In 2004, that "issue" was same sex marriage. In every other election cycle it is their concern for the sanctity of embryonic life. Apparently, life is precious as long as it is in the womb, but once it hits the light of day, it can be snuffed out by a semi automatic weapon on any street in our great but troubled country because everyone should be able to own as many guns as they want with no limits and no background checks. Life is precious in the womb, but if that life grows to become a retarded adult who commits a crime they don't even understand, they can be executed in one of the new state of the art prisons built for us by our booming Prison Industrial Complex. The Bible says we should care for widows and orphans, but instead we live by the world's non-Biblical credo that "the Lord helps those who help themselves." Embryonic life is precious, but Lord help them if they're born on the wrong side of town, have too much melanin in their skin, dare to want equal pay for equal work or access to credit and home loans at reasonable rates.

I, too, value the sanctity of life. I believe that abortion, as a form of after-the-fact contraception is reprehensible. I also understand that circumstances arise in everyone's life (e.g., rape, incest, or the health of the mother) where it may regrettably be necessary. I just don't think that the State should insert itself between a woman and her doctor. Also, in case you hadn't noticed, women can order pills online from the comfort of their homes that will induce a miscarriage and all the health establishment will be able to do is treat those women when they arrive at the hospital. That horse is out of the corral. As much as we might like to, we will never be able to exert as much control over that issue ever again. I also think it is short sighted to vilify and oppose a candidate over that one, personal issue, when the candidate is right on most of the issues facing our families and our future. No more!

I am a proud member of the Progressive Religious Left, otherwise known as the Body of Christ. I will no longer allow others who practice an intolerant, exclusionary brand of religiosity to be understood to speak for me. It's time we, the silent majority, rise up and allow ourselves to be heard. If we sit back and expect for common sense to prevail without our input, we will continue to reap the same results we always have. "If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always got!" No more!

Frankly, I couldn't agree more. And, as a guy who's STILL, to this day, angry about the 2000 Florida Recount, I'm sure Rev. Tillett will have alot more to say in the coming weeks. Glad to have him aboard.

Mommy / Daddy Syndrome

I'm a Democrat. My brother's a Republican.
I'm a progressive. My brother's a conservative.

Clearly, we see the the world VERY differently. Given the fact that we're 12 years apart, could the differences in our politics come from changes in Mom & Dad's parenting skills in the intervening decade? After all, he spent his formative years as an Army brat born in Texas, while I was the child of a bus driver and a state bureaucrat born in the working class suburbs of Baltimore.

This article seems tho think so.