In Search of Words

    Yahya stood in the bathroom, looking into the mirror, trying to see the reflection of images in the television – a thousand hidden faces, twisting, kicking arms and legs captured by some impossible wreckage. He saw strangers and foreigners and pilgrims beyond the door.

    And he began to wonder

    about catacombs and cathedrals, soccer fields and train depots
    about the many multiplied paintings of Christ’s crucifixion
    about late night diners and midnight drone attacks

    And the glass shattered.

    “What is this?” he asked as a wave of panic washed over him. It was the same question he’d asked ten, twenty, a hundred times before. The same quiet exhaustion. He wiped his face with a towel and got dressed. That’s when he decided to go looking.

    ...he went in search of words
    but there were none to be found.

Proverbs 19:7b

The Weight of it All

The weight of it all is unbearable
of preemptive invasions
of grim Reaper drones and Hellfire missiles
of secret torture chambers
of all the clanking footgear
and uniforms rolled in blood;
the weight of it all is unbearable -
Even the son who has been given to us
could not, would not,
shoulder the weight of that government.

Christmas Reaper Drones #droneattacks

Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, the magi departed for their own country another way.

Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he launched a MQ-9 Reaper attack drone to launch AGM-114 Hellfire air-to-surface missiles into and drop laser guided bombs on the little town of Bethlehem.  In this way he put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under (along with an unrecorded number of other non-combatants and civilians).

Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying:

“A voice was heard in Ramah,
Lamentation, weeping, and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children,
Refusing to be comforted,
Because they are no more.

I Have Two Words For You: Predator Drones (You Think I'm Joking)

I don't think it's funny that he's not joking - and making a joke of it at the same time.

You can download it here.

Created in Ableton Live (8) using a few sounds from the Freesound Project: 

Totalwreckmix
Military Helicopter
Norwegian F-16 Passing Overhead
Whistling Firework
Police Siren
Distant Tank Shots
Ghost Carnival
Glitch Speech Beep

I Could Never Be Elected

It’s a good thing that I have no political ambition because I could never be elected.  Given the highly polarized and emotionally charged atmosphere of our political landscape there is no way I could be voted into public office – and, if by some magnificent fluke, I were, there would be no way I’d be allowed to get anything done.  I would be blocked, and attacked at every turn. 

I could never be elected because:

I embrace the term socialist.  I have no problem with that label. I wear it with pride.  (I suppose I could be elected mayor of Milwaukee.  They’ve had three socialist mayors…) I believe in a “redistribution of wealth” – but so do capitalists, they just prefer to see it moving in the other direction.

I don’t do patriotism.  I don’t wear a flag pin.  I don’t sing the national anthem.  I don’t salute the flag.  I don’t say the pledge of allegiance.

I’m a pacifist.  I would refuse to endorse military solutions to political problems. I would seek to defund the military as much as possible. I would completely curtail the use of attack drones. I would seek to eliminate our stockpile of nuclear weapons. And what is more, I would permit American military war leaders to be investigated by the International Criminal Court for war crimes.

I would hobble the CIA and the NSA. (The FBI is slightly more legitimate, but they’d face scrutiny and restrictions too.)

My sympathies lie with the Palestinians and not with Israel.  I have been known to wear a keffiyeh. 

I would push for a stronger EPA, more use of solar and wind power over coal and oil, and would refuse to consider drilling for oil in federally protected lands.

Gun control? You bet.  Assault weapons would be in my sights.  In fact I’d call into question anything more than legitimate hunting rifles and small caliber hand guns.

This list could go on, but it should already be clear: I could never be elected to public office. If President Obama is a “radical” then FOXNews would have to create a whole new category and a whole new vocabulary to castigate me.

Psalm 139 for the National Security Agency

For the Director of National Intelligence. Of David. A psalm.

¹ You have searched me, Oh NSA,
    and you know me.
² You know my internet history and listen to all my telephone conversations;
    you perceive my thoughts from afar.
³ You discern my going out and my lying down;
    you are familiar with all my credit card purchases.
⁴ Before an email is even sent
    you, oh NSA, know it completely.
⁵ You hem me in behind and before,
    and you lay your operatives upon me.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
    too lofty for me to attain.

⁷ Where can I go from your drones?
    Where can I flee from your electronic surveillance devices?

Shall We Speak into the Night?

Shall we speak into the night
say all the things left unsaid,
shall we break the silence?
shall we speak the truth?
No, no, no.

We proclaim the power
of white Jesus who came to please us
and release us from our darkened skins
which Adam’s transgression had wrappéd us in

While another Herod ignites a militant display
of unmanned attack drones
sent out from the terrordome
to rocket little sister’s wedding party.

Why would we care?
She wasn’t one of us.

Lock up our enemies
until we can tame them,
reframe them upon their deaths
as unimpeachable saints
and heroes we can ignore;
rewrite their histories
till they’re one of us.

Blast the stars from that ordinary sky
lest Immanuel disrupt our plans
to sell a few more guns,
 and drop a few more bombs.

We can’t have a black man
teaching good (white) Americans
the meaning of civilization.
Tell us to turn the other cheek?
Beat our swords into plows?
Right…  Where’s the profit in that?

Meanwhile the words of the prophets
from long ages of the past

are sold at discount
in the Bible bookstore. 

The Cost of Doing Nothing

I have been, for several days now, increasingly nervous that the United States would begin launching military strikes into Syria.  When I saw the announcement that President Obama would be speaking today at 1:15 about the Syrian conflict I felt my stomach drop.  I waited and waited and waited as that 1:15 time came and went and President still hadn’t come out to the Rose Garden to make his announcement.   When finally he did, I was partially relieved. 

And, disappointed at the same time.

I voted for President Obama – in large part because of his opposition to and his pledge to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  I have, in the years since, hoped for more rapid progress in these promises.  I have also been angered by our increasing use of attack drones to target and kill our ‘enemies’ – as well as numerous other ‘unintended targets.’

This afternoon when President Barack Obama laid out his plans for Syria I was angered to hear him declare that he has “decided that the United States should take military action against Syrian regime targets.”  Even if, as he said, “[t]his would not be an open-ended intervention.  We would not put boots on the ground.  Instead, our action would be designed to be limited in duration and scope,” it felt like a betrayal of my vote. 

This is not what a Nobel Peace Prize recipient does.

And yet, I was partially relieved to hear the President continue, “But having made my decision as Commander-in-Chief based on what I am convinced is our national security interests, I'm also mindful that I'm the President of the world's oldest constitutional democracy.  I've long believed that our power is rooted not just in our military might, but in our example as a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.  And that’s why I've made a second decision:  I will seek authorization for the use of force from the American people's representatives in Congress.”

We can still stop any American escalation of this tragedy.  Please write, call, stalk your congressional representatives and let them know that you oppose any U.S. military action in Syria.

But the part of President Obama’s speech that disgusted and disappointed me the most was the following:

A country faces few decisions as grave as using military force, even when that force is limited.  I respect the views of those who call for caution, particularly as our country emerges from a time of war that I was elected in part to end.  But if we really do want to turn away from taking appropriate action in the face of such an unspeakable outrage, then we just acknowledge the costs of doing nothing.

Why is it that not “using military force” is automatically equated with “doing nothing”?  Are we so limited in our thinking?  To the one with a hammer, everything looks like a nail and to the nation with a massive military everything looks like a reason for war. 

But there must be alternatives. 

There can be no doubt that what is transpiring in Syria is “an assault on human dignity” but sending missile strikes will only further compound that situation.   (And, I am not at all convinced that missile strikes would be the end of it.  We may say “limited in duration and scope” now, but those who have lead nations into every war ever fought have promised that it would be over quickly…) 

As a Christian, as a follower of Jesus of Nazareth, I believe that we are called to be Peacemakers – and this is no easy thing.  War is easy.  Fighting is easy because it comes naturally to us.  It’s one of our two automatic responses – the other being to run away.  But being a Peacemaker requires us to find a different response.

I agree that we can’t “do nothing.”  We should do something – but this emotional plea to do something about the many thousands that have been murdered in Syria, should not be used to compel us to actions that will only lead to more death and suffering.  We must find another way – we should find many more other ways. 

Doing nothing is not an option.  Neither is military intervention.  But these are not our only alternatives.  This is not a binary, black or white, all or nothing situation. 

Let us be Peacemakers for a change.

To read a full transcript of the President’s remarks click here:

Just as Obscene as…

Killing done with chemical weapons is just as obscene as killing done with attack drones is just as obscene as killing with land mines is just as obscene as killing with AR 15 rifles is just as obscene as killing with M-1 Abrams tanks is just as obscene as killing with fighter jets is just as obscene as killing with smart bombs and cruise missiles is just as obscene as killing with machetes is just as obscene as killing with hand grenades is just as obscene as killing with hand guns is just as obscene as killing with …

Strike the Phrase IN GOD WE TRUST From Our Currency

The other night I heard a friend of mine comment that he is worried that it may not be too long before “IN GOD WE TRUST” is removed from our currency.  For him this would be further evidence of the decline of our country.  For me this would be a refreshing breath of honesty.

Because, honestly, as a nation we don’t trust God. If we did we wouldn’t spend such an ungodly amount on militarization and weapons of war. 

Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed;

    he will answer him from his holy heaven

    with the saving might of his right hand.

Some trust in chariots and some in horses,

    but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.

They collapse and fall,

    but we rise and stand upright.

Psalm 20: 6 – 8

The “chariots and horses” of this Psalm were the ancient battle vehicles – the armored attack weapons.  They were built and used by kings to demonstrate their power and to ensure their victory.  But the psalmist dismissed them.  They collapse and fall.  They are worthless.

I say, strike the words IN GOD WE TRUST from our currency. (It’s only been the national motto since 1956 – and that was only to spite those ‘godless atheists’ during the cold war… ) They’re evidently not true, so erase them. 

Or - what would be even better-

Let’s make them true.  Let’s get rid of our Attack Drones, our M1 Abrams Tanks, and our M16 rifles.  Let’s put away our mortars and missiles. Let’s ground the F-16s and the helicopter gunships.  Then we could say with honesty “In God We Trust.”

A Letter to President Barack Obama on Inauguration Day 2013

Mr. President,

I am one of the millions of Americans praying for you as you begin your second term as President of these United States.  I am encouraged by your vision and hopeful for the days, and weeks, and months and years to come as we work together as citizens all across this country to make the world, and not just our country alone, a better place. 

But, Mr. President, it is not enough to declare that a “decade of war is now ending,” as you did in your inaugural address this morning.  Not while we continue to launch unmanned attack drones against our enemies.  Not while we continue to detain and torture ‘enemy combatants’ in secret prisons.  Not while we continue to maintain the world’s largest standing army.  Not while we continue to outspend the rest of the world combined on weapons of war and high powered killing machines.

We have squandered the great wealth our country in protracted and bloody conflicts around the globe that have not brought any improved measure of security or goodwill to our country or the world.  We have sacrificed the lives of too many men and woman and children – those of our nation and in those countries where we have stationed our soldiers – and not gained anything from their sacrifice.

I know that you must be aware of the irony of your inauguration day coming on the celebration of the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.– who declared that “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom. “   How can we honor him and his great work and still continue to pour our vast resources into the bottomless abyss of continued militarism? 

We cannot fix the broken things by breaking them even more.  We will not make peace in the world by killing our enemies.  This has never worked and never will.  There is no redemption in violence.  Mr. President, it is not enough to declare that a decade of war is ending if we continue to operate in the same manner.  We must begin to do things differently.

The voters of our country, and myself among them, have chosen to give you another four years as the President of our country.  Do right in them.  Make good upon the words you spoke this morning.  Honor and continue the work of Martin Luther King Jr.  Bring the militarism and warring of the United States to an end.  Bring our soldiers home, close the military bases around the world, close the torture prisons, discontinue the use of unmanned attack drones, and turn the resources and the energy and the vitality our nation toward those programs of social uplift that will bring about a more just and equitable society.

Sincerely,

Jeff Carter

A Letter to the White House

The President
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Washington, D.C. 20500

November 9, 2012
Dear Mr. President,

Congratulations to you and Vice-President Biden on your recent re-election.  I was pleased to cast my vote for you in this, and the previous election. I believe in the vision of America that you have described – where we, together, all of us, make this country strong.

I pray for you and your staff as you face the challenges and difficulties of the office to which the American people have elected you.  I pray also for your family; that they would be a source of comfort and peace for you, and that you would continue to be a loving husband and father to them.

But, Mr. President, I am also writing to plead with you to live up to the ideals valued in the Nobel Peace Prize that you have been awarded. 

Mr. President, the strength of our nation is not to be found in our military, but in the strength of our values.  The biblical psalmist says that “some trust in chariots and horses” (Psalm 20:7) – in the armored vehicles of war in the ancient world, but this trust is misplaced.  The anointed leader, the psalmist says, puts his trust in the name of the Lord God. 

We do not make the world a safer place with unending wars.  We cannot end terrorism with remote controlled attack drones.  We cannot afford the ever increasing militarism of the United States.  We cannot continue to spend billions on weapons of war, while ignoring the poor among us.  To quote President Eisenhower, “This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.”

One of the reasons that I voted for you in 2008 was that you opposed the war in Iraq.  And I have watched as you have brought to an end our involvement there.  I anticipate that you will continue to work towards a conclusion to our involvement in Afghanistan as well.  But I would urge you to do more to halt the rampant militarism of the United States.  Cut back the amount of military spending – every gun, and tank, and attack drone that is made is a theft from hungry children and struggling families.

Prove to us, and to the world, that you are a supporter of peace.

Thank you.
Sincerely,
Jeff Carter

The Election Post I Have to Write

Jon Acuff over at the Stuff Christians Like blog has written about the “law that says all Christian bloggers have to write one of the following two posts the day after an election: "

1. If your candidate lost, you have to write:

God is sovereign and will provide. He is still in control. Everything is going to be all right.

2. If your candidate won, you have to write:

God is good and has provided. He is still in control. Everything is going to be all right.

So I am writing this obligatory post now – as my family is watching the election results coming in.  My 13 year old daughter has an assignment for class to report on the results and my 11 year old son has taken a bit of an interest in the election process this year.  He watched some of the debates with me.  We've had several question and answer dialogues in our family this year.  It has been important in our house to talk about these things.

I have shared with my friends on the facebook and via this blog my qualified endorsement of President Barack Obama (but I never discussed it from the pulpit of my church... never.)  I cast my vote for President Barack Obama and I am fairly confident that by the end of this evening we will be hailing him as our next president.

I say that I have a qualified endorsement of President Barack Obama – and this is my qualification.  I cannot endorse our continued use of armed drones to hunt down individuals – even those declared to be “terrorists.”  I realize that the drones obviate the need to send human resources into conflict zones and reduce the number of American casualties.  But the drones are increasingly being used in countries that have not attacked the United States and are not actually in a state of war with the United States.  These remotely controlled attack vehicles make war too easy – too convenient.  The area of violence grows and the danger increases.   Our enemies become faceless and dehumanized.  I cannot and will not support Obama (or any president) in any expansion of our military conflicts. 

If (when) President Barack Obama wins the 2012 election I will thank God and pray for him; that he will continue to be a good leader for our country following in the example of Psalm 72’s Ideal King.   I will continue to support him in his leadership, while at the same time continue to challenge him to live up to the ideals valued in the Peace Prize that he has been awarded. 

But

If Governor Mitt Romney should win the election I will thank God and pray for him; that he will be a good leader for our country.  I will pray that my fear that Romney will not be concerned for the poor will be unfounded.  I will pray that my concern that Romney will lead us into further and expanded conflict around the world will be baseless.  I will pray that my doubt about his leadership will be proven to be without any founding and that he will, indeed, be the leader that we need at this time.

The world will not end if Romney wins.  The sky will not fall if Obama wins.  We will continue to live and work for the good of this country.

I will also pray for those in the Senate and the House of Representatives – that they will put aside the animosity and bickering.  I will pray that they too will work for the good of the country rather than working only to obstruct the plans and programs of the President (whoever wins). 

God is good.  I trust in him.  And everything will be all right.