Francis, A Pope For All of Us

When I was young, although I was Protestant, I felt warm emanations from Rome in the presence of Pope John the 23rd. It seemed to me that Jesus had a true friend in the Holy See.

After his death,  I once asked my dissertation advisor, Michael O. Sawyer, what the Catholic Church was all about. He'd grown up in Baldwinsville, New York with Father Ted Hesburgh, the President of Notre Dame, and was knowledgeable about many things. He said the Catholic Church was all about money.

Today, when I read about Pope Francis and his many comments I get a hope for all of Christianity. As much as I thought at times that I had drifted from my beliefs. I've ended up in the same place I was  when I was helping my mother count the collection plates in Erwin Methodist Church. I can't not believe that Jesus died so we could be  better people.

In his Evangeli Gaudium, Pope Francis talks about a world where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. He says, despite all I see on Wall Street, we are not headed  to an economy of exclusion. We all have a responsibility to care about those who have less than we have

This is a man who refuses to condemn the usual suspects and believes in a religion of love for all mankind. He inspires someone like me to hold on to my hopes and dreams for a better world. As we head towards the birthday of God's Son he restoreth my soul.

Garth Brooks is Back

After my father died at seven and we lost the farm, I guess I was primed for country music. So when I ran away from home at 15 in Upstate New York and hitchhiked to Miami, I had my transistor radio tuned to a 50,000 watt clear channel radio station where the most popular song was Hank Snow's "Rocking, Rolling Ocean." The station sold the Lord's Prayer inscribed on the head of a pin.

I went back home because I kept remembering the Kappa Alpha Theta composite I'd seen and knew if I didn't return and go to college I'd never end up with someone who looked like one of them.

In the North no one cared about country music, but I did.

I know Hadyn wrote 104 symphonies, Mozart 41 and Beethoven 9. I've listened and enjoyed most all of them, but one of my greatest vacations was in Yosemite when they renamed the local station K-Garth and I heard "Friends in Low Places," "Daddy Loved Momma, Momma Loved Men," and that God's greatest gift was "Unanswered Prayers."

He's the greatest showman in the history of Country Music and he recently released a boxed album that's announcing his return. I applaud his soon-to-be arrival, but won't buy the boxed set. I've got almost everything Garth Brooks recorded. I know that his best recording was of an old Bob Wills' song "Deep Water," on an album made with "Asleep at the Wheel."

Now if they just bring back K-Garth, I'll move to Yosemite.

Christmas Gifts to Reconsider

There are some Christmas gifts you may want to give a second thought about before gifting. They are:

JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon's new tome, "If you can't trust your banker, who can you trust?"

Barack Obama's book of management tips.

"Affluenza, an historical perspective"

Kim Jung Un's new book "never say Uncle; a guide to governing"

And finally when thinking of what you'd like for Christmas, you're probably thinking of the Korean wives you've admired on Hulu, but do you really want a Korean mother-in-law under your tree?

Rich Whitney Turner: Start Christmas On Labor Day to get the country mo...

Rich Whitney Turner: Start Christmas On Labor Day to get the country mo...: Labor Day, 2016, American Pie, Rhode Island Rev. Roger Williams today decried using Labor Day as the beginning of the Christmas season. ...

Bye Bye Karzai

In the last few days, Afghanistan's alleged leader, Hamid Karzai, has tried different tricks to force America to bend to his will in order to remain in his country. A Council utilized to approve an agreement which would allow the US to stay in Afghanistan, said yes to a pact. However Karzai has refused to sign it.

Who cares. The American people would like to leave the country referred to as "the graveyard of empires." Let's look at some of the mistakes other countries have made there over the centuries.

The 19th century saw an England that wanted to protect its control over India. So they spent most of the century sparring with Russia over Afghanistan and the surrounding area. It was pretty clearly a mess, with many men dying in the process.

In the First Anglo-Afghan War (which began in 1838) Britain tried to impose a puppet regime on the country. Of the 4500 British troops only 690 were Europeans. The rest were Indians who'd been enslaved by the British Empire. By the time the Afghans had driven them out, only one European was alive, accompanied by a few Indians. It was an example of the deathtrap that is Afghanistan.

The British and the Russians skirmished over Afghanistan for the rest of the  19th century. In 1979 the Russians invaded Afghanistan, only eventually to retreat and lick their wounds.

Karzai's brother is a major drug smuggler. Karzai himself doesn't have much to recommend him. It's time to say "bye-bye Karzai," and adios to a country in which tribes really control what happens there.

We Were Warned

You can't say we weren't warned. My generation was forced to read "1984," and "Brave New World." These novels told in the most abject terms what happened when oppressive societies and technologies get together to monitor the lives of everyone.

Many of us went to see the movie, "the Social Network," and walked out chilled by  Zuckerberg and his machinations. Then we bought shares of Facebook.

So now we live in a world in which the national security agency monitors our calls and Facebook sells our information online. This week they told us they will use our children in advertising, no matter what we say.

I remember my daughter telling me how old I was because of my concerns about privacy. I dropped Facebook three years ago after they sold my name in conjunction with other personal information. It could only have come from Facebook.

So we have no privacy, and most of us don't seem concerned. Those novels and warnings did no good. In the end we turned over our private lives to giant corporations and big government. So much for universal education. Like lemmings to the sea we gave away our rights without looking back. Now we have to live with this brave new world.

I'm Sorry, I Forgot How Important You Are

There are days when you start to feel like you've become invisible, and the likeliest place to be invisible is in a large city. I've got a big enough ego that I can transcend this feeling, but it takes me a few minutes to recover sometimes.

I'm disabled and have braces on both ankles and my right knee. I work out an hour every morning and then like to get in a walk. For reasons that you'll see, I usually drive to the drycleaner that is a block and a half away.

This morning I said to myself that there shouldn't be any reason I can't walk to the cleaners. The fact that I have to cross Westwood Boulevard, I thought, shouldn't be an impediment. Picking up my dry-cleaning I headed out. I stepped into the crosswalk and moved into the intersection. I was gratified when one car stopped for me. Unfortunately it was the last car that would.

By the time I was two steps into the intersection, I counted 19 cars that had crossed the crosswalk at about 40 mph. The further I got into the intersection, I thought, the safer I'd be. This was not to be the case. I was in West Los Angeles and I was prey.

I thought about how this section of Los Angeles frequently supported action against Arabs who would pick on people in Darfur, worry about the plight of those in our inner cities, and disrupt this area in their eagerness to greet Obama. A lot of money can be raised in this area for liberal social causes.

I laud all these actions but at that moment I just wanted to walk across a city street. In California, it's against the law to enter a crosswalk with a car when someone is trying to cross the street. This isn't supposed to be New York, where every pedestrian has a target on his back. People here used to obey the law.

However, this part of town is full of rich people with expensive cars. There are agents and lawyers on the way to important meetings. There are people who see pedestrians as somehow of lesser value. The BMWs the Mercedes and Lexus are all indicative of their high social status.

I've decided to accept their heightened status and promise next time to drive to the dry cleaners. I need to respect my betters.