Jesus as Rorschach

The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power by Jeff Sharlet is the kind of page turner that will keep you up at night reading it, and then give you nightmares if you do manage to fall asleep. But it explains so much of the inexplicable that the leaders of our country have done: from arming tyrants and ignoring governments whose people are under assault, to fighting against women's freedom of reproductive choice while refusing to provide health care to all children. Hillary Clinton on the same side as Sam Brownback? Ignoring the Israeli/Palestinian confict even as its leader were attempting to resolve it and asking for our help? And yes, sadly, it explains President Obama's choice of anti-gay rights pastor Rick Warren to give the invocation at his Inauguration.



This book tells the history of the path of conservative Christianity to radical right-wing Christianity, and describes how deeply entrenched in our nation's politics is this group. With the philosophy of "Jesus plus Nothing", this group's leaders have sought out world leaders of all faiths, or no faith, and for the price of giving it up for Jesus, brokered deals with the Christian right in our government for money, for power, for support, for arms. What is "Jesus plus Nothing"? Basically, it is Jesus without having to have any knowledge, or even any principles. It is Jesus without the shackles of religious study, Jesus as whoever you want Him to be. The convolutions of thought that allow "Christian" partnerships with tyrants and torturers, and deny aid to the poor and tortured are amazing. And yet, it all makes sense.



Give yourself to Jesus, ask Him for anything, and he will give it to you. Contrariwise, if you are poor, lost your home, your job, a loved one, no need for aid, because you are obviously suffering because it is God's Plan. Why do the wealthy not feel that they should help those who are less fortunate, and why do the less fortunate support the wealthy and powerful?



This chilling eye-opener takes us through the the history of this radical Christian movement, its populist and political branches, and how they both serve the leaders of the movement.



Invasion of the Body Snatchers may have been about communism in the 50's, but today its embodiment is very much the Christian Fundamentalist movement that calls itself "the Family".



So when you finish this book, maybe you should be thankful you can't sleep.

Whatever Happened to the Libraries?

It was a wonderful library, in a state not noted for particularly good government services. It was so wonderful that teachers would supply their students with books from that library that the school budget could not afford.


It's true that their Board of Directors was always struggling to try to find funds to try to raise staff salaries to something that wasn't totally shameful. Maybe the computer services at some of its branches lagged behind the times.


But, oh, you could get pretty much any book you wanted from that library! If it was a new book, they would buy it, and if it wasn't a new book, they would get it from this fabulous network of libraries outside of their own library system.


Then the cutbacks came. First came hiring, because people are always the most expendable part of any business in this country. And the library patrons were nice about it if the subject came up, but many of them basically thought that that just meant the library could get along with more volunteers. You can't blame the public for not having any idea how much very detailed work goes into putting many thousands of books into the community. They have never had to think about the very personal service they receive from this wonderful library.

When that wasn't enough, the book budget was cut. Now a library that could get just about anything in print, has to make more hard choices about what good books to purchase, and what to leave behind. And how many copies of best-sellers and school reading list books and notable books to provide.

Programs were cut, both for children and adult. Libraries have always had to beg for donations for public programming, but now that donors were suffering from a failed economy, donations are fewer. So the library will stretch its programs and be more creative, some of which is good, but with fewer staff it will be an uphill battle.

And then there were charges for things that once were free, like getting books from other far-away libraries. And there were higher fines, and more rules about paying the fines. So (and this is hard for us to believe, but it is true), some people will stop using some of the services, and some people will stop coming to the library altogether. We still think of it as a public library though, because as long as people bring their books back on time and don't ask for special services, it is still free to anyone who lives there.

But then, when that isn't enough, what could happen? The following have happened all over the country, and could eventually happen to that wonderful library:

Hours are cut, some branches closed. Some services are cut out entirely. Still, it's still a free (public) library. Anyone can use it, provided they can get to a branch that's open, when it's open.

All services would carry a charge. That's right, books would be "rented", not borrowed. At which point, it is really no longer a public library. If you can afford it, you can use it.

And that is what some people believe we should do with our libraries after all.

We live in a place where many people believe there should be no free government services. The governor of this poor state believes that the Haves have the wealth because the Lord meant it to be that way, and his priority cutting taxes for big business while selling out the children of the state.

It saddens me to see damage done to this wonderful library. The libraries in this country offer more to its people than any other institution. It is a bargain at any price, and more often than not run on a shoestring. Libraries are for everyone, and should be affordable to everyone. Those who have, need to support their communities, and libraries are the best way to do that. Literacy and creativity versus stagnation and depression, that is the choice.

Beware the Bureaucrats

It's Crunchtime. The pressure is on. We are all working really hard, worried about losing our jobs, proving to anyone out there who is interested that we are really, really needed.

Now that should be a good thing. But Beware of the Bureaucrats.

There are bureaucrats on all levels, and the more levels there are, the stupider your job will become.

Because bureaucrats don't so much need to prove that they are needed, but that they are important. And the actual fact is that, the higher up the bureaucrat tree, the less of importance is actually done.

And, like us folk down below, the bureaucrat is also trying to keep a job.

So when jobs go on the bottom, the people who do the supervising start to do all kinds of self-preservation stuff, stuff that just gets in the way of the rest of us doing our job. But they do it with attitude.

When things are going well, a boss will be happier letting you do your job, but when it's Crunchtime, you will be the one getting crunched. Crunched as in squeezed. New rules. New rules just for the sake of new rules. Just to prove that we need all those bosses. To make the new rules.

How does this happen? Look at the workplace as a series of concentric circles. Now the largest one, believe it or not, is for the biggest bosses. There are only a few, but their word covers a large area. They look down on the next concentric circle, which consists of a few more bosses, that are squeezed by the big guys. Depending on how well established your establishment is, there may be many concentric circles. And in the smallest concentric circles, being looked on and squeezed by all the levels of management circles, are us, the worker bees.

Now I know people think of government when they think of bureaucracy. But it happens in any business larger than one small store with a few employees. Because as soon as you start to add layers of management, you have people whose primary purpose is justifying their existence.

So when things get tough, what do the bosses do?

They have meetings. Lots of meetings. The big bosses talk about what needs to be done way down below, and then meet with the next layer of bosses and tell them what needs to be done, and this proceeds through each smaller (less powerful) circle. And as each less powerful group meets, in order to justify their importance, they will add new rules.

You can't question the boss. If you questioned the boss, you would be implying that you know more than they do. Or that they are wrong. Or, worst of all, that they are superfluous.

They rarely ask for input. If they do, this is to give the impression that they are the kind of managers that listen to their employees, which they don't. But again, it justifies their existence, as it is an excuse for ever more meetings.

Now here's the thing. If you people in the small circle were doing a great job, you can't anymore. Because then there truly would be no need for all those fat paychecks over you. They could leave and you'd still do a good job. So they have to change what you're doing. If you are coming to work early, you can't do that anymore. If you stock your shelves twice a week, you either have to do it three times or once.

And you have to let these bosses know what you are doing, otherwise they can't make new rules, and if they can't make (and monitor) the new rules, they might just as well go home, and save the company a whole lot of money. Which they aren't going to do. So they will micromanage, without ever trying to find out what works, and certainly not what you need. And when things start to go wrong, that will only justify the need for more supervision, and, yes, more rules.

How do you survive? The only possible way to keep your job is to keep your mouth shut and follow the rules. And not do a great job anymore.

So when you look around you at work, at the grocery store, in any of the places you do business, or at any government organization, and you see that things are working worse than ever, thank a bureaucrat.