The Weakley Report

American Idols

2008-07-18T23:58:00.004-04:00

Passion. No, feeling. That is the root cause of our present situation. We care too much about the lives of other people - and for saying it I am thought a heartless person.

I do care about people, I am concerned when I see a person consumed by consumerism and lost in the information age. I try to help who I can, and support others who do the same. Where I absolutely must draw the line is when it comes to bringing in the big "G" word -- Government.

Government has become a religion in this country. It grows out of chaos and conflict. Whether it is actual war, or a pervieved threat, like German and Japanese Americans, Blacks and their civil rights, whites and their cultural imperialism.

Everywhere today, and all through modern history there has and is a "war" being fought. Whether its soldiers, Mother Nature, black youth, unborn babies, gays, illegal immigrants, drugs being killed off or attacked, there is always someone somewhere telling us we need to fight the good fight and vote "X" for president.

I'm about sick of having to choose between poor and mediocre, knowing that half the country isn't going to like the decision any of us made. I see bumbper stickers that say "Don't blame me, I voted for Kerry." Whether reaslizing it or not, people who have those stickers and think like that are blaming half the country for whatever problems they are going through.

The problem is not with the other half of the country... its with the whole country. If we seriously believe that Democrats can do a better job if given the chance, or that Republicans will clean this place up once the Clintons are out of the White House, we have another thing coming.

Straight up: Americans worship the political system because we have faith it will one day work if we keep the present course. Americans worship at the alter of the Executive Branch, placing out hope and faith in the Office of the President to save this nation from itself (or rather the other half of the country which we dont consider to be part of the "itself" we need saving from).

Finally, we have committed idolatry and unfaithfulness in the eyes of the One True God for believing anyone but He could save any one of us or an entire nation from itself.

Should racism, sexism, and all forms of discrimination against people because of their differences end in this country, yes. Should people give 10% or more of their gross salaries before taxes to the benefit of society, yes. Should people stop having abortions and divorces, prefering to have children with a spouse and keep him or her and raise the child into a productive, and moral member of society, yes. Should debt be hard to get into, and easy to get out of, yes.

Should it be the responsibility of a government that changes leadership every 2 and 4 years, and which employs over 1 million people in a bureaucracy that is impersonal and slow to change? No.

This is the problem with our candidates. It is the problem with us. We want to hear someone say they can fix all these things, because we want them fixed... but had we ever stopped to think whether or not we were asking the right people to solve the problem we might have realized that all the politicians cared about was how many votes and dollars could be won by saying exactly what we want to hear.

"You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments."

Primary Conflicts

2008-01-28T20:42:00.000-05:00

There is an issue of fairness that I am becoming much more interested in since the 2008 election year. This has been an interesting year because the American people have become more educated about the process by which our states nominate presidential candidates by party. Along with the scrutiny of the myriad of candidates running for the White House has come a focus on this process, and I am sure for the benefit of the public.

Democrats in Florida, American citizens, have been punished by the Democratic National Committee, a private association, for the decision of their state legislature to hold the Democratic Primary election on a date that did not suit the DNC. The legality of this is questionable; a civil organization having sway over the decisions of a government body - I don't care what laws are in place. This scenario is also not fair since the Florida House of Representatives has 78 Republicans and 42 Democrats, and the Florida Senate has 26 Republicans and 14 Democrats. In essence the Republicans made the decision on the date of the primary, and the DNC has barred Democratic delegates to the Democratic National Convention.

It is ethically and constitutionally questionable for the DNC to demand that the Florida legislature direct the State Department of Florida, Division of Elections, to organize elections in any other way than Florida sees fit. It does not matter that the leaders of the DNC are members of Congress and other powerful elected officials in the country. The use of their offices to intimidate state legislatures is a conflict of interest that deserves legal attention.

Besides this point alone, the decision by the DNC is plainly unfair. You cannot punish the delegates and voters in Florida because of something their state legislature did when controlled by a Republican majority. The process by which primary dates are decided and the question of authority and the local autonomy of states is an important one as we consider the greater impact on the electoral process.

Speaking of the electoral process, it is imperative that the electoral process be preserved, yet we must make it a fair process in the sense that states and the citizens of those states are not deprived of their rights to vote and have their vote count.

Character Debate

2008-01-25T08:07:00.000-05:00

There are two main ways to judge a political candidate; on his or her record and platform, also known as "by the issues," or on character. Most people come up with their own system that combines these two methods in some way, but one will usually tip the scale more than the other.

I would like to challenge the voting by issues method since there one very important flaw, being that politicians will say anything to get elected, and we don't always know why someone takes a certain position.

Character is much more an important virtue that a person's position in the Iraq War, abortion, the environment. When I voted for Senator Bill Nelson (D) of Florida in 2006, I did so because of one thing I saw on a televised debate. He and his opponent Katherine Harris were debating the issues important to Florida and the nation. I know Nelson not to be a real activist in Congress so when I saw Harris verbally beating him with a stick for being just another Democrat aligned with his party bloc I knew how wrong she was. But it was the post-debate that decided my vote. When all was said and done and the candidates had ended their show, I got to see the real candidates. Thanks to the miracle that is local television the cameras were still rolling and I saw Nelson immediately walk over to the edge of the stage and greet those who came. Harris just stormed off, stage left. When it was apparent her absence was odd, she returned and greeted others as well.

Presidential elections are no different. When it comes to voting for someone, find out why they vote the way they do. Hillary Clinton votes for bills and hopes they won't pass. President Bush is the decider, having no time for debate - he knows what's best. I heard someone say that Ron Paul was in favor of abortions, but we live in a world where you can only be in favor of or opposed to abortions. Dr. Paul would rather see the federal government take no position on that issue, because when you have such a contentious issue like that, it is better to leave the decision up to the states, and even then if it is so contentious, leave it up to the counties and cities.

I am not trying to campaign for Ron Paul, but as someone with character he makes a good example. His position on the preemptive war strategy, or Bush Doctrine, is that this nation has no right to violate Just War Theory laid out by St. Augustine because it serves our national interests. An unruly empire behaves such a way.

When deciding who to vote for this year, consider the person's morals, values, and character. Do they have an overriding belief system or philosophy to government, or even religious convictions that guide every decision they make? Or do they change positions with the political winds? If you are not sure, research, if you still aren't sure they may be such shallow people they don't have any character. If your candidate is someone who you could have a debate with when you ask them, "why," then you might have someone good. Even if you disagree with them on a few important points, remember, they are the kind of person who will engage in debate once they enter office. Not like the current president who listens to no one and draws his own road map in the sand.

The "Clintons"

2008-01-24T08:23:00.000-05:00

In the press and on the news you will hear about the uncharted waters of this election year. The Democratic Party has some symbolically new faces in the race for president. The first woman, the first black person with a real chance at winning.

The women's vote is essential, so they say, because these two firsts are actually rivals for their party's nomination. Single women now outnumber married women. A fact which, while not celebrated, is nevertheless treated like a mile stone towards progress. This is another fact I think ironic because it originates from the very people who profess to be women's rights advocates, but who subconsciously presume that all married women are intellectual slaves to their husbands and will therefore vote how they are told.

From this camp of women's rights experts and other political analysts the talk centers around Hillary Clinton's, excuse me, Hillary Rodham Clinton's presentation of herself in relation to President William Jefferson Clinton, I mean her husband Bill.

First of all, I have to say that women voting for a woman just because of gender is a continuation of the same kind of divisive politics this country has succumbed to and will ultimately lead to what we see in parliamentary nations around the world where coalition governments are organized and dissolved with the changing of the winds. The same goes for ethnicity and race and even political party.

Spectators are concerned because they are not sure how women will respond to Hillary placing her husband on an equal plain with herself in her campaign. They say, "Why shouldn't Bill help out, all the other candidates wives are campaigning for them?" What should give all of the women's rights people pause is that Bill is not just Hillary's husband, he is a President of the United States of America. He has persuasive power like you wouldn't believe. Would any other woman in this country have a shot at the White House if her husband had been a nobody beforehand?

The fact that Hillary Clinton would be polling below the margin of error without her husband having been President should give us all pause. And consider what agenda the Clintons really have. The Obama campaign has hit the nail right on the head, and traditional Clinton supporters are not going to like it, because guess what, they are really Bill Clinton supporters, not Hillary supporters. Obama needs to call 'em like he sees 'em and take on Bill. It is the only way he is going to overcome Hillary as soon as Super Tuesday is over and the Republicans start beating down the war path in her direction. The Clintons won't be able to sustain attacks from both sides like that.

This is your 11th hour wake up call.

2007-11-27T08:01:00.000-05:00

There is a book I want to recommend called "Revolution in World Missions" (2003 ed.) which God is certainly speaking to me through.

The author calls Christians in the United States and other western nations to account because of our acceptance of materialism and postmodernism. In fact he doesn't just say we have accepted it, he says a lot of Christians serve both God and made, worshiping idols, because we believe in these other philosophies and worldviews as we believe in God - we are practitioners of the Social Gospel.

K. P. Yohannan correctly diagnoses our spiritual illness as idolatry and rightly prescribes that we turn back to the Gospel of Jesus Christ crucified for the forgiveness of sins. We have strayed from the true Gospel and adopted the Social Gospel that claims government can solve all of our problems so long as it provides social programs (for Democrats) or leaves us alone and gives us tax breaks (for Republicans). Capitalism is the answer to our every need because the laws of supply and demand will provide for every need of the consumer if the free market economy is left alone. Socialism will provide for every need of the less fortunate who fall through the cracks of the capitalist machine. And communism will make us all equal.

Yohannan calls me back to the foundations of my faith in God, to question all the philosophies of which a degree in Political Science has bestowed upon me. He alludes this idolatry of materialism and postmodernism to the Tower of Babel. And are we not trying to create a utopia where man-made solutions are the prayer and hope of the people? Instead Yohannan calls the Western Church to throw out such teachings and come back to the truth about hell and eternal damnation for those who do not believe in the saving blood of Jesus Christ. Without the true Gospel all peoples are lost to hell, even the hell on earth we try to overcome.

So, do you live in the shadow of hell and death? If you don't, how then can you fear no evil, how can His rod and His staff comfort you - are you even aware that you need protection? I am regularly reminded of sin and hell, and the need for my own salvation. Praise Jesus for it! I am moved to great sadness for those who die without Christ as their savior for they have no one to stand between them and God in judgement, no one to say he or she belongs to Me and "I have known him/her."

Every single person you walk past, drive by, stand or sit next to today will one day face that very same situation, as will you. Your living in the presence of hell and death is essential to their salvation. (I almost typed "Your loving..." but isn't it just the same?) If you don't love those around you with the kind of Love God has for you, enough that he would DIE a most horrible death, innocent, and for no other reason than to be with you for all eternity... if you don't LIVE in the light of that truth how will others be saved from hell? I know I certainly need to live more like that.

Christians and Political Partisanship

2007-09-22T11:32:00.000-04:00

There are several issues that have a lot in common with each other. The Global Slave Trade, the heavy debts of African, Latin American, and South East Asian nations, Immigration, the Iraq War, and the 2008 presidential elections. The one thing that each of these issues have in common is the value we place on the quality of life for every single person.

When I say "we" I refer to Christians (those who truly are followers of Christ, and those who associate themselves with the label, or pretend, and therefore deceive others, leading them astray). If you follow logical thinking and believe Jesus Christ was a loving, peace seeking man you will be convinced of the truth of his teachings. But only until you understand the significance of what he did as the divine Son of God - sacrificing himself as a blameless atonement for the sins of the world will you see through the rhetoric of partisanship, Democratic and Republican politics.

I am always amazed by Christians who praise God for saving them from hell and judgement on Sunday and on Monday seek blood in Iraq. Now, I do not mean to say we should pull out or stay in, or whatever. But when a man says that the Iraq War is an unjust war, that Christians are supposed to be peace seekers and only willing to commit to the Augustinian guidelines for a just war after all other options to prevent war have been exhausted... when Christians scoff and boo and the idea of such an "unpatriotic" idea I seriously question their commitment to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I question how they can honestly call themselves evangelical, or even fundamental Christians (when you look up the definition of those words you strip off the connotations which have been attached to them).

When true Christians truly concern themsleves with being Salt and Light in this world and seek the righteousness of justice for all people they will immediately cast off what it means to be a Democrat or a Republican, finding that neither party comes close to the truth, and neither can be seen as the savior of the Christian voting block.

Would Christ not condemn a President or Congress for their strong arm tactics which keep billions of people impoverished around the world because of a fiscal foreign policy which emboldens the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to force Third World governments to accept unfair economic policies? I have heard people say that Africans do not know how to govern themselves, and jungle wars will be the future of this continent. Latin Americans are always loyal to radical communist dictators and military generals - they refuse to choose democracy and capitalism, in fact some are hotile to free enterprise and human rights. The only answer is to help these people by trying to govern them as much as possible from Washington.

Terrorists have emerged over the last 30 years and are now bent on destroying the United States, the most noble, peace loving, human rights oriented nation on earth. They hate us because we are free! I ask you, in all of history what nation has ever been attacked ONLY because they lived as free people? I can think of none. Do not deceive yourself into thinking the United States is an innocent nation, nor that Congress and the President are above corruption.

I don't mean to say all this to slander my country. I love this country. I love our Constitution and honest hard working and good hearted people I know in this country. However, I don't allow myself to think the good deeds and hard work of myself and my community are replicated in the Federal Government. I mean sure, a few good people are in government, but if they were all good people we wouldn't have scandal after scandal.

What I want my fellow Christians to realize is that if they are serious about their faith in Jesus Christ and his redemption, peace, and restorative work on this planet we have got to overcome the falsehoods, deceptions, brainwashing, and lies we have allowed oursleves to beleive and act upon.

Why do millions of people migrate and immigrate to and from countries every year? Basically its because they can't live a quality life in their home country. All people want the same basics of a quality life: employment, food, rest, medical care, education and a future for their children. People will sell their possessions and even themselves for even a glimmer of hope for social mobility. Unfortunately 27 million people have been trapped in slavery in our modern world. Extreem poverty has caused parents to sell their children, young single mothers to trust strangers to take them hundreds of miles in hopes of a job, only to be fooled and sold into slavery. Whole families have sold their life's possessions at a chance of stowing away in shipping containers and trucks comeing into the Unites States, hoping for a better life here in our country. Thousands have died when their "guides" abandoned them in port or a trucking depot when the authorities got too hot on the trail. Nearly 250,000 people are currently enslved int he U.S. because their "guides" turned out to be slave drivers, telling them they must work to pay off the cost of getting them into the country.

I'm not asking you to change your opinion about what is right when it comes to debts that are owed to the U.S. by the governments of other countries, or that illegal immigration should not be considered illegal. I am asking you to expand your mind to see why people want to come here, and how those nations incurred those debts in the first place. Did the United States strong arm its way into the internal politics of nations during the Cold War? Did we not overthrow the democratic government of Iran and install the Shah? How many military dictators has the U.S. supported in Latin America? Why did the U.S. support aparthied in South Africa? Billions of dollars went to these nations and to the dictators we put in power, when these nations defaulted on theor loans and failed to pay us back they accumulated monstrous fees and interest rates, plunging them further into debt, and subject to our will so long as we continued to offer minimal debt relief as long as they did our bidding. And we listen to religious leaders who call for the assasination of world leaders who try and throw the United States out of their country, or heaven forbid try and get American companies to pay taxes for being in their country. Leaders are threatened with economic sanctions when they dare to presume to treat the U.S. as an equal in trade negotiations and treaties.

If Christians in the U.S. were truely interested in the quality of life for all people, we would make sure our government, our financial institutions like the World Bank and IMF all dealt fairly with other nations. Trade agreements that force nations to do what we want and/or make it easy or manditory that American jobs be sent over seas are neither fair, free, nor trade.

I encourage you to learn more about these issues, and write actual snail mail letters to your Congressmen.

Find your Representative by entering your zip code in the top left corner, click here.

Find your Senator in the top right corner, click here.

How to write a letter to your Congressman, click here.

Learn more about debt cancellation for the Thrid World.

Learn more about modern day slavery.

The Housing Market and Federal Interest Rates

2007-08-09T18:46:00.000-04:00

The housing market is in trouble, and it does threaten to seriously hurt the rest of our economy. Listening to National Public Radio today I heard that people's spending habits are affected by the value of their home. In other words, if you have a house worth $300,000 and you only make $55,000 a year you tend to spend outside of your salary range. Now, this is disturbing all by itself, but the fact is that home appraisals are falling and freezing. Home sales are slowing dramatically, and it has become a buyers market. When it is a sellers market home values rise and people make lots of money on the sale of their homes. Not only are home sales going to continue to go down, but they are going to go down even more because home construction has almost stopped. The natural slowing down rate is going to get worse as the new homes that were going to be on the market do not go on the market because they were never built in the first place.

This is going to have an immediate effect on all industries that make the raw materials for homes. Lumber, electrical, stoneware, ceramics, chemicals. Tens of thousands of immigrant workers are going to seek work elsewhere, fewer jobs are going to be available for ALL people living in this country, and people are going to stop spending as much as economic conditions restrict and businesses respond by getting rid of or reducing bonuses. Management is going to get laid off.

The only thing that can make this housing market turn around is the Federal Reserve Bank lowering interest rates (actually they should have never raised them in the first place, and certainly not as high as they are). The unfortunate thing is that the Fed is a private bank, a company. They have no accountability to the public, to which they have so much control over. How then can they be made to stop the deterioration of the housing market?

Maybe the best way would be to return the control of our currency and its value to the U.S. Congress - as it is stated in the Constitution.

The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States; To borrow money on the credit of the United States; To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes; To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States; To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;

Does anyone want to write a letter to your Senators and Congresperson? What should we say in a letter? I would recommend a letter because having experieince with this, and working in a Florida State senator's office I know that letters are given more wieght than emails.

Thirsty for Leadership

2007-08-08T21:09:00.000-04:00

Are you thirsty for leadership? Over the past few months I have been learning and being reminded of things about my own generation, and the generations that are following mine. We are thirsty for leadership, the kind that sticks around and does what is right and good.

When I went to the Florida Annual Conference in June I heard from someone my age portray the general attitudes and beliefs of my generation. The one thing that struck me was that he mentioned how broken this generation is by its experience with leadership. This generation knows all too well the deterioration of institutions. We have seen American presidents lie, cheat, steal, and kill, all in the name of "upholding the Constitution of the United States." We have seen our parents divorce, we have gone through broken public schools, we have very little assurance of Social Security, even less assurance of a good career and the American dream.

You can argue against Social Security, say that the American dream comes at the expense of slave labor and sweat shops, politicians lie, and all sorts of things can be said. But the fact still remains that the things were were told were good, and reliable have been yanked away or left us standing alone in the proverbial shopping mall too many times to be forgotten and forgiven. Many in our generation are embittered, cynical, lost, and hopeless.

I refuse. I will not, can not live in a world where the hope of Jesus Christ's work on this earth is ignored and forgotten. He came to start the new creation. We are in the in-between times right before the New Heaven and New Earth are going to come and take away the evils and corruption of this world. I have that hope, but it overflows into this world as well. Christians are already in that world, but we live here. We have a house in New Jerusalem but we pay homestead taxes on our residence here.

So the question is how do we begin to make things better? Do we envision a world where one day life will be cherished and sacred? How do we start down that road? How do you teach society how to honor life?

I hear people talk about what is the right thing to do, how something should be done. I hear commercials on the radio say that their organization is dedicated to a just and more equitable society. The truth is, everyone wants a world where its safe to leave your door unlocked, where people are polite and friendly at the grocery store, where neighbors care about you, your family, and your property. Police and authorites would probably prefer corporations to be honest book keepers if it meant more Americans had secure jobs, which might lead to less people commiting crimes out of despiration. Waitresses might appreciate more Social Security if it means old ladies would leave a better tip so they could afford to put more food on the table at home. And teachers would appreciate it if parents would realize that public education is not a substitute for parenting and can never replace the impact of a parent reading to their child, helping with homework, and heaven forbid actualy assigning their own homework to add to and supplement their education at school.

This is sort of what I am talking about. Ways of thinking about society and how the actions or inactions of people affects the whole society on an individual basis. One person's greed in a corporation leads to the laying off of thousands or the fact that they no longer have retirement benefits. How are things like this fought, and how do we start making it better?

The Battle Won

2007-07-25T15:57:00.000-04:00

The following are some excerpts from "Following Jesus" by N. T. Wright. I wanted to include these quotations because they shape my thinking about my responsibility as a Christian to be salt and light in society (which includes political issues).

I highly encourage you to buy this book. It is a short 114 page book of reflections on Christian discipleship taken from scripture and applied to our modern historical context. The quotes below come from N. T. Wright's reflections on Colossians.

Paul wrote from prison a stunning short letter, in which the victory of Christ over the powers becomes and central and vital theme. But what are these 'powers'?... force, power, climate, entities bigger than the sum total of the human beings involved... All things were made in Christ, through Christ, and for Christ. All things - including the 'powers'! The world is not ultimately divided into bits that are irreducibly good and bits that are irreducibly bad. Everything - the invisible things as well as the visible - was made by the creator, through the agency of his eternal Son...

What happens to people who stand up to the powers? It looks fine for a while; and then the tanks roll in. Anyone looking at the crucified Jesus would draw the conclusion that that's what had happened. The powers killed him: that's what they do to people who challenge them. The powers nailed up above his head the charge of which he was guilty: he was a rebel... And he goes on his way, the way of the cross, the way which totally subverts all the earthly powers.

I would like to thank Nick Read Brown for helping me to understand that the way to prepare myself mentally for living out faith in light of the very powerful 'powers' of this earth is not to ignore them, but to defy them, subvert them. My intentions were on the right path, but Nick helped me to see that a battle plan for subversion and defiance is guaranteed more success than ignoring the strength of the 'powers'.

And so the third point that Paul makes about the powers, astonishingly, is that they have been reconciled to Christ. Having been defeated, they are not annihilated. God is in Christ making a new world; now, however, brought into new order under the authority of Christ. God intends the powers to serve him, and to serve and sustain his human creatures.

I wanted to reference "Christ & Culture" by H. Richard Niebuhr here. There are "types" of Christian ethics as defined by this book; 'Christ above culture' is one of those types. I recommend this book to anyone up for a challenge that stretches theological understanding and knowledge of the English language. Secondly, I want to point out N. T. Wright's subtle reference to the concept of a 'New World Order' that has been coined by 'powers' of this earth for their own motives.

Paul's vision of the Christian life is thus of a life lived between D-Day and VE-Day. We are called to thanksgiving, where we stand at last in the truly human relationship to the creator and the world; and we are called to thanksliving, where we behave as the free subjects of the true king, and owe the powers nothing at all.

How can we celebrate and put into practice this victory today? How can we follow this Jesus into the genuine victory? It is surprisingly simple. Every time you kneel down to pray, especially when you pray the prayer of the kingdom (which we call the Lord's Prayer), you are saying that Jesus is Lord and that the 'powers' aren't... And every time we celebrate the Eucharist, we celebrate the victory of Jesus Christ in a way which , by the power of its symbolic action, resonates out, into the city, into the country, into the world, into our homes, into our marriages, into our bank accounts... And if we grasped that vision and lived by it, we would be able at last to address some of the problems in the Church and the world that loom so large and seem so intractable. The battle has been won; let's get on and implement it.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales

2007-07-24T15:44:00.000-04:00

For those of you who do not know a lot about the travesties going on in the Department of Justice (DOJ) I strongly encourage you to search for videos of Congressional hearings that have been held in the last months, and the one which was held today by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Sen. Patrick Leahy's opening statement was a good summary of the shocking things that threaten the things which make this country good like the separation of powers, the balance within the separation of powers that divides our government into three balances with checks and balances over the others. A system I know that you are aware was designed to keep the abuses of an absolute tyrant from oppressing free citizens of a republic, a public that governs the government by the absolute authority of law written down on paper. The very thing implied in the strength of this system is transparency, not secrecy. Abuses of power thrive on secrecy. The most threatening force to the DOJ is the influence from the White House to politicize decisions that should be made based upon the ideals of justice. It is after a very simply named department of justice. It has no other name. It's mission is evident in its name.

If you watch the footage from the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings from the Attorney General (AG) Alberto Gonzales of June 24, 2007 you will know of the closeness with which the White House and the DOJ have worked during the terms of President Bush. Previously, there was authorization that allowed for only a handful of people authorized to communicate from the offices of the Chief Executive of the United States and the offices of the Attorney General. Under Alberto Gonzales' predecessor's direction these safety valves were removed and now virtually anyone from the White House can communicate with anyone in the DOJ and assign any task or collect any information he or she many deem necessary.

In other words, corruption, and at the very least an imbalance in focus on issues of law enforcement. Justice, by nature is an impartial force, yet the executive branch is charged with the execution of the law. The DOJ then should be under the direction of the President, but operating on a daily basis with a degree of autonomy incorporating the broad directives, if any, from the White House into its constant an unwavering duty to the guiding principles of justice, not the selective ambitions and ideologies of one man or group of men in he executive.

The Office of the Attorney General does have the potential to be an autonomous office of government. And no new laws are necessary. We already require the position to be filled by appointment of the president and with the advice and consent of the Senate. This is the system of checks and balances working through its designed purposes. It the Senate could be persuaded to hire an AG only once they have been satisfied he or she has met certain requirements and passed their scrutiny then the deserving candidate should become AG.

The problem is that appointments are generally made because Congress is seeking favor with the White House, either with new presidents, or at other times when appointments are traded for vetoes and votes are traded for funding.

The government is screwed up, but there are ways to improve it. Should the Senate design a list of questions, an examination process, to be built upon by successive classes of the Senate - after which the successful candidate will be the appointed AG? As I understand it the President places an ad for applicants to vacant positions. Whether or not the president wishes to appoint friends and neighbors, or only the most qualified people to offices of government it should be the final decision of the Senate to accept or deny the nominations of the president. All candidates for the position of AG should be subject to the same scrutiny. What makes such a public list or written job description so important is that the Senate conducts the interviewing process and they are subject to our public pressure.

What then can we do to make ourselves active in this process and attempt to bring more salt and light to the Department of Justice?

Link to C-SPAN video of Gonzales hearings: http://www.c-span.org/

For Fun

2007-07-11T22:15:00.000-04:00

I thought that there should be some designated space for fun in this blog, so this post will be devoted to quotes. Please comment and add your favorite quotes.

To start us out, and I think most appropriate for embodying a Christian value, and thus one embraced by truth and this blog:

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."—Edmund Burke

The Ideals of Rep. Ron Paul (R)

2007-07-11T19:46:00.001-04:00

Corruption and Government

2007-07-05T21:03:00.000-04:00

There are many issues that we can focus in on when we talk about bad government. There is everything from celebrity justice for the powerful, pork barrelling, partisanship, congressional seniority, preemptive war, the quest for the soundbite, propaganda, etc. etc.

What I would like to do with this post is try to understand corruption's nature, which includes putting it into a historical perspective. I'd also like to put government, and the American government specifically into that same perspective and understanding. In doing so I hope that it can be determined how to reduce the causes and effects of corruption. This is not a crusade for the idealist. Instead I hope that some real truth will come out of this exploration and a plan of action to follow.

In order to put corruption and government into perspective we must first begin with God's making of a good creation. That is the beginning of a story, the story, that defines truth for the world we live in. Following the creation we fell and messed everything up. Therefore I believe and I think it is safe to assume that government is/was good, and just like everything else it has been corrupted by the Fall (Genesis 1:26, 31; and chapter 3). Jesus also calls his followers to be salt and light in Matthew 5:13-20. Logically, there is a degree to which something can be salty, and how bright a light can be. There is a spectrum. Obviously the government could use more salt and more light. Which is why I say this is not an idealist's crusade. But there is another truth I want to point out, it is also mentioned in Matthew 5:17-20 when Jesus talks about salt and light. He calls us to be purifiers and illuminators in this world as the governors of this world, a responsibility since creation, and in the very next sentences reminds us that only God is capable of bringing about the end of the earth - fulfilling the consummation he began in the redemptive work of the cross. So, I also do not believe we Christians can speed up or usher in the New Creation by making sure all our government employees are Christians, and our whole society revolves around Christ's teachings. I don't think God ever told us to do that, he said he would do it. For example, the 1st century church was too small to have done anything about the military dictatorship of the Roman Empire and all the evils of its society. Rome continued as a civilization and a world power for another several hundred years.

Now I am not trying to preach the American gospel here, but Christians, because of the saltiness and luminescence of Christians throughout history who challenged tyranny and injustice, preserved the written word, invented and used the printing press, asserted their rights to worship God freely. All of that began to change Western civilization for the better. America is but one step along that evolutionary process. We have the formations of a good nation in our Constitution. Now 218 years after its passage we can be improving on that government and the society that chooses to live according to its principles. There are degrees to which we can brighten and season this country and society. How can we do that by focusing on the government specifically?

I am hoping to challenge you to think in such a way that we do not just think of things to combat partisanship specifically, but rather what is an area(s) that needs salt and light that once seasoned and illumined will begin to change many things. I can think of three off the top of my head: public schools and colleges, print and television media, and families (raising children with certain values and habits). This kind of saltiness could be described as adding salt to the soup, since it affects the flavor of all the vegetables, meat, and broth.

It is also good to apply salt directly to the meat however, so I also want to focus on how to do that. This kind of saltiness could be called salting a ham (for those who are not from the American South or ever ordered a ham breakfast from Cracker Barrel, I assure its good).

So maybe we should start by identifying things that need direct salt application and what that really translates into with our actions, and then identify things that we can do to add salt to the soup.

Here are some things that interest me: (We can think of ways to apply salt later)

The fact that the presidency has become more important and powerful than Congress in a country that is stated to be a republic and supposedly values the separation of powers.
The fact that every two years only a small portion of Congress members are voted out, creating Congressional Stagnation, with several disadvantages and advantages, however the advantages could be addressed/preserved by several of the solutions to the fundamental disadvantages of this problem.
Preemptive War doctrine and the growing acceptance of warfare as the reflexive first choice to solving our nation's problems.
Partisanship and the belief that two political parties, or rather political parties in general are "the way to do things."
Campaign finance - since when did giving money to a politician become an act of free speech? Can the same be said about freedom of the press? If I purchase a newspaper, watch a news channel, or have news articles emailed to me is it considered an act on my part of exercising my right of un-infringed press? Therefore, if campaign finance is a major source of a candidate's strength for remaining in office, and this prolonged incumbency is a source of low voter turnout and feelings of dissatisfaction from the public about Congressional job approval would it not make sense to fairly regulate the financing of campaigns? My suggestion is that every single person wishing to run for office (naturally, meeting the Constitutional requirements of office) should be given federal funding in equal proportion to all other persons running for that same office. In such a system the incumbent, as well as all others contending for the numbered district of any given state would each receive an equal share of all funds donated to a specified bank account.

Well, I have added enough food for thought to this post. Please comment with any thoughts of your own, and if you wish to add to list of things that need to be addressed in regards to corruption in America.

A Place for Friends

2007-06-29T17:23:00.001-04:00

Hello Friends,

As this blog gets going I want to let all of my friends, relatives, and acquaintances know that I have put this blog up as part of my purpose in life. God has given me certain passions and abilities, and given all the guidance and knowledge I have been blessed with in college I believe that this blog is part of my ministry on earth.

Therefore, I want to tackle issues and current events coming from the perspective that I am a Christian and an American, and a person, alive, on this planet, at this time in history. And so are a lot of all the people I know. If they are not a Christian or an American they are still all the other things. What I want to do, together with whomever will join me is recognize that we live in God's creation. It was once created good, but human beings disobeyed God and brought about the Fall. This has significant consequences for how we must address our world's problems.

I think then that the only way to approach issues is from the true realist perspective. The perspective that God does exist, he cares for his creation, we have been given characteristics of his image/personality, we corrupted that gift, Jesus innitiated the restoration of God's creation, but the time has not yet come when this redemptive act will be completed.

So, we must live in the meantime. I ask that all my friends continue to participate in the discussions that I will post on this blog, and that we can somehow strengthen our voices together and begin to shape real change in this country.

I can only hope that what you read about, write about, and think about in this blog will bring you to do something. Write letters to people, certainly pray for people and events, and get involved locally and nationally with organizations and with your vote.

Finally, I just want to thank all of the people I know for how you have contributed to my life and learning, and I can only hope that we can focus on things that challenge our world today and discover the wisdom necessary to be salt and light in this world.

God bless,

Jason Weakley

New and Improved - TheWeakleyReport blog

2007-06-29T11:24:00.001-04:00

I have decided to start over in the blogging world. For many reasons this was necessary and some others just convenient.

Over the past few years since I started my website and blog I have thought I had a good purpose to what I was doing. Not to say that I did not, rather I now have gained more knowledge and a greater understanding of who I am in God's creation. And so I will be working to incorporate much of my newfound understandings – points of views and ways of organizing and presenting portions of my website – into the new WeakleyReport.com and The Weakley Report blog.

Specifically I am redirecting my attention from a target audience of the whole world interested in politics to a new audience of Christians of various stages along the journey towards Christ's likeness. A secondary audience will be those who are not yet Christians, however are familiar with Western civilization and the cultural impact of the Christian church.

My goal in redirecting the focus of my website and blog is to help renew in Christians a sense of duty to be salt and light in this world (Matthew 5:12-14). And to my secondary audience my goal is to help make them aware that they truly do live in God's creation, and what the implications of that are.

There is a story, a great story, to history that continues to be written even today. Humans have created a world of cynicism, and hopelessness that leads to relativism, apathy, and resignation. Every time society has tried to solve the world's problems by putting trust in the human spirit or collective strength of humanity, or whatever language you wish to put to it, the result has been an overwhelming failure followed by a disbursement.

For example, the world in 1914 thought that WWI would be the war to end all wars. Afterwards a League of Nations was established, and the economic growth of the Roaring 20's seemed to be the fruit of that generation's labor to usher in a utopian world. Yet the greed for power and money by the leading rulers and upper classes of victorious nations led to the downfall of this early intergovernmental organization after The Great Depression threatened international stability. The greed of men eroded everything which that same generation had thought was possible to build on a foundation of human achievement. The world was divided up between axis and allied powers, and again after WWII into the Free World and the Communist Bloc.

One problem facing this generation is that many of the divisions of the past generation have disappeared. Globalization offers promise for the future of humanity's potential to finally be able to build a good and just society. I believe that the window for this humanist optimism has or is closing. I do not think it is possible for such misguided optimism to last very long, in this case more than a decade. The period from 1919, the end of WWI, to 1929, the start of the Great Depression, is very similar to the period from 1991-2001. The period beginning in 1991 saw the fall of Communist Russia, the opening of markets, and the beginning of globalization. Economic growth around the world, but especially in the United States was punctured and punctuated by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

One thing in particular that I want to leave you with in this post is that if we are to descend into another period of history where cultures are separated by some circumstance like they have been in recent history by German, Japanese, and communist fascism (by the way, the democratic nations that opposed such forces are also known for their modern-day imperialism in the Global South). If this cycle is to continue, then hopelessness, apathy, relativism, and cynicism will continue as well. Christians have a choice. We can either sit by and do nothing (notice I do not say "stand by and do nothing"), or we can be the purifying and preservative salt of the earth and the illuminating and guiding light of the world.

So I am hoping you will participate in this blog and actively with the issues. Tell your friends because the "political things" which are of importance to the world are just that: important to the world.