Staying Afloat in the New America

Friends,

We live in trying economic times!

I have this old, old photo (black & white) of my Grandpa King and my Grandma King. These two genteel southerners were blessed by having ten children.

Sadly, this was also the time of the Great Depression. So, similar to the TV show "The Waltons," the KING FAMILY learned to make ends meet.

The end result was a burgeoning blessed family.

Today, in 2007 - 2008, we do not QUITE live in a Depression Era, BUT, the economic prosperity that ONCE marked the U.S. is now gone.

2003 we invaded Iraq, rather than being content with our current use of Air Power and 'no fly zones.'

The end result is that our collective tax burden sky-rocketed while crooks in the military (to include civilian contractors!) have literally stolen much of our tax money!

Dick Cheney is obviously one of the chief architects behind this fiasco, and thus I stand FIRM with Senate Judiciary Chair, Patrick Leahy in calling for fiscal accountability of the War in Iraq.

But while the crooks prosper, children go without health insurance. But while the crooks prosper, women are left with little choice but to go without health care (pre and post natal . . .). But while the crooks prosper, hard working men (such as myself!) have to scrape together pennies to eat (university teaching usually pays LESS than the High School system . . .). But while the crooks prosper, Army reserve units have to make do with old, Vietnam era equipment to train with.

So, there you have it. Due to negligence (fiscal negligence by Dickie Cheney and crew!) we are now the capitalist equivalent of old, post-perestroika Russia! Roads go unfixed (South Bend, Indiana!). Dillapidated houses sit abandoned (ANY U.S. inner city) and the 'vaccuum' in leadership is filled with corruption, whether it is the corrupt politician OR the inner city drug lords . . .

BUT, there is a chance. Democracy still lives.

For a different voice, try Jesus Christ!

That's who calls all of MY shots, not some banker with a fat wad of cash to give out like lollipops to his puppet politicians . . .

Love in Jesus Christ THE KING of kings and THE LORD of lords,
Rob J. King

Why Ron Paul must LOSE!

Friends,

We live in dire times. Food banks are increasingly common. People in places like L.A. or St. Petersburg are becoming literal nomads in our formerly prosperous land, living under interstate overpasses, sleeping on the sidewalk in front of churches. One man I saw was literally digging through trash cans for items to shove into his shopping cart.

Well, if we ever had a direct biological or nuclear attack on our infrastructure, we would be in grave danger. National guard units deployed to Iraq. Army Reservists called up to Active Duty. Police Officers already strained to the max enforcing supposed 'immigration laws' that are nothing but anti-Hispanic pandemonium (caused by the secular right of Romney, Giuliani, et al . . . NOT the Religious Right, the SECULAR RIGHT!).

But in steps Ron Paul to supposedly "save the day . . ."

Will he now?

I do not think so.

The Libertarian Political Philosophy although to be admired for its staunch protection of Constitutional Freedoms and non-interventionist approaches to use of military dollars, men, women and arms, is nonetheless fatally flawed as an economic approach to government.

Take this one ill-advised Republican proposal of Senator John Sununu (New Hampshire). Senator Sununu, espousing the typical bourgeois, non-assistance approach to financial domination by free-market principles wants to cut Amtrak train subsidies by 10 billion dollars.

In theory, this Right Political move (saving money!) sounds GREAT! But, alas, like many good ideas, when in theory the work seems sound, the practice is horrific.

Does not Senator Sununu remember 9/11?

Everyone, including myself in travelling to a friend's wedding in Washington, D.C. was literally forced to ride the train!

I was even interviewed on television less than two weeks after 9/11 by a Washington, D.C. area news reporter who asked me about my fears, concerns, etc. with travel after 9/11 . . . The sight of the TV interview? You guessed it. An Amtrak train station!

So, if you want to see bankers run the country while they charge usurous interests rates and then have Libertarians and other Republicans stripping our nation of vital resources, especially back-up infrastructure, then jump aboard the Ringling Brothers Circus of a Campaign called Ron Paul for Prez.

If you want someone who is actually SMARTER than Federal reserve chairperson, Ben Bernanke (himself, a former Chair of the Economics Department at Princeton, but notoriously stupid nonetheless!), then please VOTE DUKE!

Duke University (two master's degrees!) is the only coalition of Religious Freedom, Human Rights Protection and Evangelical and Catholic demographics that can save our nation. Liberals do well at Duke as do 'conservatives.' But most of all, Duke produces the finest, most brilliant minds in the world, minds such as Professor Randy Jirtle, a candidate for Time magazine's "Man of the Year," due to his research in micro-biology.

VOTE DUKE. VOTE ROB KING '08

Love in Jesus Christ,
Rob J. King, concerned Democrat Christian (undeclared still . . .)

Ron Paul and the WORST possible politics for the U.S. . . .

I recently learned from an 'inside source' in the Ron Paul campaign (grass-roots) how the Ron Paul campaign actually has the audacity to have its volunteer staff 'self-fund' things like bumper stickers, campaign placards, etc.

When I heard this news, I kept my mouth closed quite shut, but inwardly a rage welled up inside of me . . .

Just like places such as the University of Phoenix-Online (former employer), now the U.S. Post Office (another "inside source") and it seems likely the military even, such "out-sourcing" of expenses seems to be "all the rage" in our POST-REPUBLICAN ERA FINANCIAL MELT-DOWN!

From utility companies to pay phones being ripped out of storefronts it seems like the move towards 'privatization' has left a GAPING HOLE in the U.S. domestic economy!

Whether it is the University of Phoenix-Online expecting its professors to 'front the bill' for their own computer access or the military similarly expecting Reserve soldiers to 'pay for their own mass transit' to show up for drill duty (TRUE STORY and against ARMY REGS apparently!!!), this 'privatized society' is a colossal nightmare and a looming ECONOMIC DISASTER WAITING TO HAPPEN!!!

Well, friends, whether it is the Public Library system (where my Mom supplemented my Catholic parochial school education with regular trips to check out books in order to learn how to READ!) or whether it is our Parks & Services (now often a place where only the homeless camp out indefinitely due to no Government oversight other than to arrest these poor folks . . .) it seems like the days of the American "Commonwealth" are OVER . . . OR, if the Democrats can have a TEN YEAR REIGN over the polluting, wealth-at-all-costs Republikaaners (left of center Christian democracy is my own affiliation!!!) then MAYBE our nation can be saved fiscally . . .

So, if you want to be shelling out your own hard earned dollars for your own light poles, manhole covers, running water, electricity and food because Armageddon has just arrived and the Ron Paul-ites have taken over with their "back-stabbing don't pay tax to support your fellow man" rogue political philosophy ("good in theory, but without taxes, we don't have public utilities anymore . . ."), then cast a vote for the libertarians . . .

OR, if you want a Pro-life, but corporate slut known as Republicanism, vote Romney.

BUT, if you want a TRUE grass-roots candidate, then get the ball rolling. My rich friends from Duke will actually PAY for the bumper stickers so that you don't have to . . .

Love in Jesus Christ,
Rob J. King, Christian Radical politician and wanna-be scholar who still needs to finish a dissertation! ;-)

Why Islam is a tricky situation, politically speaking

The New York Times (Friday November 30, 2007, A-3) reported today how a British school teacher has been sitting in a jail cell in the Islamic nation of the Sudan.

Her crime?

She teaches 7 year olds in the Sudan and had the brazenness to actually name the class teddy bear "Muhammad."

In the U.S. we can sell cabbage patch dolls at Christian bookstores that are modelled after Jesus Christ, but apparently the prophet Muhammad must be rolling over in his grave that a teddy bear has been named for him!

Oh, and by the way this school teacher will now be deported back to Britain and this is the lenient administration of Shariah (Islamic Theocratic) Law. Her maximum penalty under Shariah Law would have been 6 months in jail and 40 lashes.

Well, folks, I am an American. Whether Islamic, Jewish, Christian (or even Buddhist!), we are protected by our secular government whose Constitution says that Congress shall make NO law creating an establishment of religion, nor prohibiting the free exercise of religion!

So, go ahead and buy some stuffed baby Jesus dolls for your kids at Christmas! Jesus Christ will actually like it . . .

Love in Jesus Christ,
Rob J. King, Theocrat under the Sovereign Reign of Jesus Christ promoting a Democrat-led secular Constitutional representative Republic

The Right Use of Practical Reason: Greek Philosophy & the Physical Body

I was just reading in Michel Foucault's Use of Pleasure: History of Sexuality Volume II how the Greek philosophical tradition placed an extreme importance on physical conditioning as part of 'training' for public political leadership. In the tradition of Socrates, according to Foucault (and as I learned at the University of Notre Dame in a doctoral seminar in "Christian Asceticism"), the budding politician would learn how to best lead not only through reading the classics, but also through concrete physical conditioning that trained the body in the very Virtue of leadership that one needed to rule with.

As I read this section of Foucault, I could not help but reflect upon my own 'ascetic training' regimen that has prepared me to lead in various walks of life. Whether it was physical training for playing College Football (I-AA Davidson College) OR later in the military during army endurance courses, the way that our bodies were trained was also intended to make us 'fit to command.'

Granted, intellectual gifts are also needed to serve as an excellent political leader (otherwise, we would just let our Olympic gold medalists run the entire country! :-), and so such athletic training can only be a training in Virtue in order to more effectively lead.

Does one learn how to "hold one's position" either as a defensive end allowing the linebacker to make the tackle OR as a State Senator allowing the President to pass vitally important funding, say for Relief efforts to Africa?

Does one learn to "work as a team" such as a unified Offensive Line in order to protect the quarterback (e.g. the U.S.F. Bulls, the new 'Cinderella story' of college football) OR as a unified campaign to get someone elected as President?

Does one learn to "lean on another's expertise" such as a quarterback trusting his Offensive Center's blocking technique to manhandle the 300 pound nose guard OR as the Candidate leaning on the research skills of his staff in order to demolish an opposing candidate in a public debate?

ALL of these skills are to be learned both mentally and physically according to the Ancient Greek Socratic tradition that emphasized a type of asceticism in order to lead.

Love in Jesus,
Rob J. King, Christian Ascetic for Jesus Christ's Kingdom Rule