Recommended Reading

The New Jim Crow:
Michelle Alexander

Note on "Headline Views":
That was the weekend of the commuter train wreck in California (human error), Hurricane Ike hitting Texas (an act of God) and the Lehman Bros. implosion (no faith in the economy) Deut. Chap 28 etc.

Til next time -
"May your joys be as deep as the ocean and your cares as light as its foam." :)

Gary Field betweenthebars.org/blogs/1398

HEADLINE VIEWS
(Written 09/15 Based Upon Headlines For Weekend of 09/12-14 2008)

Human error, an act of God,
And no faith in the economy.
A commuter train, a hurricane,
And a page from Deuteronomy.

As politicians bicker
The stock markets ticker,
Shows a flicker of fear -
And the headline news,
Only hide the views,
That "The signs of the times" are here.

What could people possibly be thinking
Who say, "Your end of the boat is sinking"?

In just one 48 hour span,
In Iran, Indonesia and Japan
The Earth "quaked" in various places
Shattering more than just vases.

The tremors run through our tomorrows.
Like the beginning of our sorrows -
Blue chip stocks reduced to rubble
In the Times of Jacob's Troubles:

Bear Sterns and Lehman Brothers
Showed a weakness in the system.
Won't be long til some others,
Wonder how they could have missed them.

The tears being shed for Lehman,
I guess people have forgotten,
Had not started with "free" men,
But a fortune made trading cotton.

Something wicked this way blows,
Storm clouds on the horizon.
The times of Jacob's Troubles,
Should not be surprising.

I'm not trying to rattle nerves,
I hope no one feels disrespected.
I just hope this poem somehow serves
To show that we are "all connected".

You couldn't build prisons fast enough
Or throw up enough border fences.
Nor stop a moral decline with a handcuff,
It's time we all came to our senses.

Banks are nervous, people are scared.
Who has time for a "War on Terror"?
It's time the Gospel Truth be declared,
We've had enough of human error.

What could people possibly be thinking?
Could their heads be buried in the sand?
Who say, "YOUR end of the boat is sinking"
Could it be that they don't understand?

"That problem's up there in the hill", they say,
"We'll be safe down here in the Valley."
Or, "OUR streets are safe above the fray,
The problem's back there in the Alley."

My health insurance covered my kids' shots,
Regularly scheduled vaccinations.
While in the restaurant washing pots
With Hepatitis complications.

Is the guy who tossed her chef salad
With his slightly trembling hands,
Because his "Green Card" was never valid,
He can't get checked for his swollen glands.

She said, "MY kids go to private school"
And she said this all rather proudly.
The "drop out" drug dealer calls her a fool,
And walks away laughing loudly.

Her kids took her jewelry to the pawnshop,
When their allowance suddenly ran dry.
And tho they felt badly, they had to cop,
They couldn't face her if they weren't high.

See - whatever happens on that mountaintop,
Will surely roll down into the valley.
And your "safe streets" will never stop
The crimes born "back there" in the alley.

So now we chase the Taliban,
From the mountains of Afghanistan,
Across the Jordan to Pakistan,
How long until we bomb Iran!

People please! Come to your senses!
We need more than "border fences".
All this intrigue and suspense is
Just a part of our recompenses.

"The people shall labor in vain
And the high gates shall be burned with fire."
That's a fact that was made so plain
Way back there in Jeremiah.

"They shall impoverish Thy fenced cities
Where in Thou trusted with the sword"
Border patrols and vigilantes
Accomplish nothing without the Lord!

The front line in the "War on Terror"
Is in our hearts and in our minds.
To blame "Islam" would be an error,
Like squeezing juice from the rinds.

The rinds are just the cover
What's inside is the fruit
You must dig deeper to discover
The basis for the bitter root.

It may seem like a mystery
When in fact it's crystal clear.
Just make a look at history,
Man - a bomb can't stop an idea.

"Where do wars and fighting come for among you?"
So they not spring from your own desires?
Or someone speaking another tongue, who
May have something that the world requires.

As long as we continue to think
That only "our way" of thinking is best -
It will always bring us to the brink
Of waving swords as if we were possessed.

The stock market tanks, the major banks,
And investment firms begin to fail,
The president says, "They're Sacrosanct"
And got the taxpayers to "put up bail".

Now taxpayers who can't pay their mortgages,
Pay to bailout investment banks,
Digging out of debt the sand wedges
Finding spare change to fill their tanks.

But now "who will guard the guardians"
Who have their hands deep in our pocket.
The last stand of the Republicans,
Who take our future and just "hock it".

They want to patch it up and hope it floats,
Then jump the sinking ship like rats.
That way after the country votes,
They can blame it on the Democrats.

Well - I believe in the separation,
In theory, of the church from the state.
But we must seek reconciliation -
We have to differentiate.

The "word" says we must pray for our leaders,
I pray we get someone we can trust.
That way we, as interceders,
Won't have to look away in disgust.

As their policies enrich their friends,
While "We the People" bear the burden
And our "means" just justify their "ends",
Before "We" can even get a word in.

Our sons fight and die on foreign soil
As the victims of a great deception -
Turns out it WAS all about the oil
Just sleight of hand and misdirection.

The word "man" is the root of mankind,
But what kind of man would have expected,
That our roots were not all intertwined,
Overlapping and intersected.

If someone sneezes in Hong Kong,
You can get ready for the Hong Kong flu.
'Cause we swap diseases like ping pong,
That could land us in the I.C.U.

Sometimes we tend to take for granted,
That somehow we're living in a shell.
And our views somehow tend to get slanted,
Proudly our chests begin to swell.

"That problem's an ocean away", we say,
"Let those people find their own solution."
And then a "wave" starts to head our way,
That we can't stop with the Constitution.

Just as ripples reach for distant shores,
And just as a spark can start a raging fire.
Those problems won't stay behind closed doors,
They'll reach out and drag us into the mire.

Just as a rising tide can lift all boats,
A "storm surge" can sweep them all away.
Both yachts and dinghies can become footnotes,
About vessels floating in the Bay.

Open the eyes of your understanding
Or you'll be hit by the unexpected.
Finding they were not alone on quicksand
And that yes - we were all connected.

Yes, the word "man" is the root of mankind,
But it might have been a far better thing,
If we thought of the root as being kind;
Perhaps it would cause an awakening.

If we saw ourselves in a different light;
Let's say, as the "brotherhood" of man.
And we were all as CHILDREN in His sight,
We could get down with the Master's plan.

But - We must start with ourselves, as a nation,
Begin to find our strength from within.
We need spiritual "rejuvenation",
Turn back to God - and flee from sin.

II Chronicles makes it very clear,
OBEDIENCE brings on God's blessing.
But all those blessing quickly disappear,
When we "turn our backs" and start digressing.

Deuteronomy 28:2
Contains a very revealing verse...
As we face this nation's mounting debt,
We need THAT blessing and not THIS curse.

If we "hearken not" to the voice of God,
Our fields, stores, bodies and flocks,
Will fall under His wrath and His rod,
And our stocks will fall faster rocks.

"If my people who are called by my name"
Shall humble themselves, seek my face and pray
If we don't - we'll have ourselves to blame
For the misfortune that's headed our way.

We call ourselves "one nation" under God,
Yet we stand divided by our sin,
In a place where the "grapes of wrath" are trod,
Can we expect "healing" to begin?

Will He "hear from heaven" and heal our land
If we just try to do it on our own?
I pray to God that we may understand
We need the blessings that flow from His throne.

It's time the "gospel truth" be declared
We've had enough of human error
And if it's not too late we may be spared
His "divine wrath" and our "mortal terror".
A