Soapbox

Submitted to The Columbus Dispatch Saturday March 27th 2004

Editor:

The Bush administration has been running around “with their hair on fire” over the testimony of Richard Clarke to the 9/11 Commission about a lack of action in the fight against terrorism. In a panic to diffuse this election-year bomb, they are trying every weapon in their arsenal.

Clarke has been called “disgruntled” because he didn’t get the job he wanted. He has been called “clearly partisan” because a good friend works for the Kerry election team. He has been labeled “an opportunist” because of the timing of his book release, and “irresponsible” for speaking out when there’s a war and an election going on.

This is the same smoke-and-mirrors game of character assassination and stonewalling that the administration used after the exposure of Ambassador Joseph Wilson’s wife and the calls to investigate that incident. But let’s suppose for a moment that all the outraged accusations about Clarke are true this time. Let’s suppose, despite evidence to the contrary, that Clarke is a greedy, partisan slime-ball. What does that tell us about his testimony?

Nothing. For all their righteous indignation, no one has produced any meeting notes, transcripts, memos or any actual evidence to prove that Richard Clarke isn’t telling the truth!

One can only assume that they attack his character because they cannot attack his veracity.

Sadly, honesty is something that the Bush administration just doesn’t seem to get. It’s not the failure to show up for a few weekends’ duty in the Alabama National Guard; it’s the refusal to come clean about it. It’s not the failure to find WMD in Iraq; it’s the lies about having absolute proof. It’s not that anyone thinks President Bush deliberately allowed 9/11 to happen; it’s his inability to admit that, in hindsight, he might have done anything differently. On this subject most of all, America needs the truth.

When normal people make a mistake, they apologize and go on. When George Bush makes a mistake, he lies about it, and then lies about having lied, and then lies about having lied about having lied. A president who has never accepted personal responsibility cannot understand how gratifying it was for America to hear Mr. Clarke stand up and simply say, “I failed you…and I’m sorry”.

The Bush administration would do well to realize that, for the American electorate, deliberate dishonesty is much harder to forgive than a simple mistake.

The big story in the news this week is the furor caused by the revelations of Richard Clark, former terrorism expert to 7 presidents, including George W. Bush. In televised interviews and in his new book, Clark charges that the Bush team largely ignored his warnings about the imminent danger posed by al Quaeda in the months before the September 11th terrorist attacks. According to Clark, Condoleeza Rice, the National Security advisor seemed not to even have heard of bin Laden’s terrorist group.

Of course the White House flatly denies all of this, and has set their political dogs to maul Clark with a savagery that must make John Kerry nervous, knowing he surely is next.

The administration’s counterpoints against Clark are many and varied. Press secretary Scott MacClellan charges that Clark is a disgruntled opportunist because he retired over a year ago but is only now, “in the heat of the presidential campaign” coming out with these “irresponsible” statements. They complain that a friend of Clark works for the Kerry presidential campaign, so this clearly must make him biased. The point is also made that Clark worked for Bill Clinton for 8 years before September 11th, and only 9 months for George Bush, so clearly Clinton bears as much or more blame for any failure to stop the terrorists.
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Wish that I was on old Rocky Top,
down in the Tennessee hills.
Ain’t no smokey smog on Rocky Top,
Ain’t no telephone bills.

Well, I survived the great assault on Mt. LeConte, but only just. I am hobbling today because my calf muscles are so tight I can hardly walk.

Ted and I left Friday to climb Mt. LeConte, Tennessee with a group of 13 other great people from the Westerville Bike Club, most of whom I know from our fateful trip to Colorado in July when the plumbing flooded our house while we were away. We spent Friday night in a hotel in Gatlinburg and then climbed the mountain Saturday, spent the night at a primitive lodge on the top and came down the next morning. Other than lingering apprehension at what might happen to the house this time when we left the state, I was really looking forward to this trip.
The group I went with are, by and large, very different hikers than I am. They are destination hikers: the purpose of the trip is to get somewhere. For me, the point has always been an enjoyable journey. The trail we took up was not that hard, and not that long (8 miles) but I forgot I was with people who climb mountains on bikes all the time and compete to see who can get to the top first!

These folks shouldered their packs and headed up. No stopping to enjoy the scenery (what we could see through the dense fog), to take pictures or notice the flora and fauna, or the wonderful smells…no no, there was a mountain to climb!
For the first 2 miles we went mostly up, and I’m embarrassed to admit, I thought I was gonna die. My legs were Ok but I was gasping like a fish out of water! I kept dropping to the back of the line and then falling behind the group. I don’t think it was the climb itself but I just wasn’t up to the pace they set. They’d stop after a while for water and snacks and by the time I caught up, they were about ready to go again, so I didn’t get much chance to sit and rest. Ted loyally stayed with me to keep me company and said encouraging things.
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The following essay appeared in the Columbus Dispatch on Sunday, Sept. 7th. 2003. I felt the letter was poorly edited, as they removed the paragraph most important to my thesis. This is the full text as I submitted it.

Editor:

To heck with the needs of the citizens of Alabama. Chief Justice Roy Moore thinks a couple of chunks of rock are more important. And what does that say about Moore: that he is a faithful child of God, or that he likes to get his name in the paper?

What exactly is the great cause over which Christians are asked to take on the Constitution? No one is trying to abolish the 10 Commandments, as Moore claims. The prohibition or removal of a religious artifact or observance is not a denial of anyone’s faith: it is an affirmation of all faiths! No person, Moore included, is ever denied the right in this country to make the Bible and its 10 Commandments the mainstay of their life. Moore’s followers behave as if removal of their “pet rocks” would damage God, yet if you believe in God, surely you believe He is cannot be damaged by mere words or laws of man.

There is another fundamental truth about the separation of church and state in this country that people like Chief Justice Moore conveniently ignore. A display of faith, be it prayer in school, a nativity scene at a government building or the 10 Commandments in a courthouse, does not equal faith itself! External displays do not create internal righteousness. God is not contained in a book, or a monument, and these items should not be revered as if He were.

The Gospel of Matthew admonishes us not to make a show of our worship by standing in the streets to be seen by men, but to keep it a private thing. Moore and his followers have made their worship into a parade, and the focus of attention is them, not God. As they declare their own righteousness for all the assembled TV cameras they not only flout the law Moore is sworn (and paid) to uphold but they act against the Gospel as well.

The proper place for God is not in our laws, but in our hearts. If we keep Him there, then God will be with us in everything we do, be it teaching children, conducting business or interpreting the nation’s code of law. And if God is not in our hearts, then no statue, no engraving, menorah or nativity scene will change that. The power of the 10 Commandments comes from how you live your life, not how you decorate your buildings.

Now churches from all over the nation are being asked to send their faithful to join the circus in Alabama. I have another suggestion. Instead of making speeches and posing for TV cameras, I ask concerned Christians to live their faith as Christ asks, feeding the poor or reaching out to the lost and lonely of this world. Rather than suing the US Circuit Court and turning our laws into a sideshow attraction, pray for peace and work for healing among God’s people.

Chief Justice Moore, keep the commandments in your life, and let the display go. They’re just rocks, after all.

Written for us all, shortly after September 11th. I’m proud to say it was performed at the one year commemoration by the relief department (temporary housing) that my sister Barb worked tirelessly for.
It was written in a spirit of hope. I just wish it seemed a little more true.

Some days feel like roses, and some days taste like ash:
There are days when young men die alone,
When buildings fall and airplanes crash.
And though it’s hard, we must lift our heads
And see what hate has done.
A monstrous task is before us now, but we must not be overcome:
We WILL overcome!

For we must rise up from the ashes
Of this world spun out of control:
We will not succumb to the darkness,
We will not let it into our souls.

We must be united by difference, for freedom depends on us all.
We are citizens of humanity, and we all hear the human call
And answer the call.
Only justice can slay cruelty; only love can lift our fears.
With a flame a faith from caring hearts
This one thing is very clear…

That we must rise up from the ashes
of this world spun out of control.
We will not succumb to the darkness:
We will not let it into our souls.
Evil will not be our master, and hate must Not be our guide!
We owe it to the ones coming after us,
We owe it to the ones who have died… too many have died!

So I’m drawing a line in the ashes of the concrete,
the steel and the blood,
On the hallowed ground that knows hatred and death,
I’m taking a stand,
I’m taking a stand…for…love!