Ten Commandments Reflections

  ON EATING FAT, LIVER AND KIDNEY BY DAVID ARTHUR WALTERS During a cursory review of sacrosanct cooking rituals, I encountered the ancient origins of my early dislike of fat, liver, and kidney, evidently an instinctive repugnance, similar to that for killing and eating humans, rooted in the sacred Unconscious. I already knew I was ancient when I was a little boy, so remarks by grownups that I was 7-years old were extremely annoying, but not as annoying as having fat, liver, and kidney put on my plate at that age. Today, fat is out and lean is in, but in those days, at least in my foster home, fat was often literally the order of the day for growing boys. I'll never forget how many times I was told, "Eat your fat, David, it's good for you." And the bountiful Lord had provided for that purpose some of the fattiest meat in Oklahoma. The elders who found too much fat on their beef would trim it off and put it on my plate with the mature observation that growing boys need ...

    Editorial Reflections on Religious Democracy David Arthur Walters | 14.02.2005 The neoconservative spin on the most popular political religion and its roots in fascist thinking. The United States wants to liberate the world from tyranny whether the world likes it or not. The current United States government, a neoconservative government sometimes loosely referred to as a fascist-style government (OED: right-wing authoritarian government) would destroy all those sovereign nations that are “on the wrong side of freedom,” thus freeing the world for exploitation of the “free” market dominated by the United States and its allies. All that would be accomplished in the holy name of democracy. Of course religious democracy has never been adequately defined to everyone's satisfaction, although it has been claimed by almost everyone modern to be the best form of government. “Chaos,” stated the historian Guizot in La Democratie en France, is now hiding under one word – democracy. Thi...

  PRESIDENT BUSH'S HOLY CRUSADE BY DAVID ARTHUR WALTERS President George W. Bush saved his best for last during a rare press conference: "One of the interesting things people ask me, now that we're asking questions, is, can you ever win the war on terror? Of course, you can. That's why it's important for us to spread freedom throughout the Middle East.... That's why I'm pressing the Greater Middle East Reform Initiative, to work to spread freedom. And we will continue on that. So long as I'm the President, I will press for freedom. I believe so strongly in the power of freedom.... I also have this belief, strong belief, that freedom... is the Almighty's gift to every man and woman in this world. And as the greatest power on the face of the Earth, we have an obligation to help the spread of freedom.... That's our obligation. That is what we have been called to do, as far as I'm concerned.... And my job as the President is to lead this nation ...

THOMAS JEFFERSON'S RELIGIOUS CONTRADICTIONS BY DAVID ARTHUR WALTERS Thomas Jefferson, the most popular founding father of the United States, learned much and said much about various subjects during the course of his illustrious career, and he naturally contradicted himself from time to time for one reason or another. Perhaps he changed his mind, just as people change or amend their constitutions. Perchance his opinion was unsettled. He might have been unaware of certain contradictions. Or maybe he found it politically expedient to reverse himself for a greater or higher cause. Therefore we are, fortunately for our independence as individuals, given a number of occasions to employ Jefferson's corpus to contradict each other: to cite him, for instance, in support of free trade; yet, on the other hand, or at least for the time being, he says trade must be restrained. We claim our founding fathers as we do our gods, with all their goods and evils - and we often disagree over which ...