Photograph by Stefan Wermuth/WPA Pool/Getty Images as it appeared in BloombergBusinessweek.com
It has been a while since I’ve written anything substantial.
I’ve been depressed and uninspired. However, today Pope Benedict XVI
announced that he will resign on February 28th at 10:00 PM Italian
time. This announcement took me and the rest of the world by surprise, just as
it did even the people close to the pope. I was in awe, a good awe since I
can’t stand the Catholic Church. This man, Benedict XVI was appointed by John Paul II to review the rape cases in the Catholic church, he was the one that tried to hide this from the public, that did absolutely nothing to bring those corrupt priests to justice, Benedict XVI was the one that implied that sexual relationships with children wasn't viewed as depraved in the 70s. Now, many are speculating as to the reason why
this pope has decided to do what no other pope has done since 1415 and incredibly
enough, apparently everyone is swallowing the excuse he is giving, not one
single mention to the scandal brought to light by the Vatileaks. Following is
a translation of his resignation, as it appears in the Vatican website:
“DECLARATIO
Dear Brothers,
I have convoked you to this Consistory, not only for the
three canonizations, but also to communicate to you a decision of great
importance for the life of the Church. After having repeatedly examined my
conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to
an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine
ministry. I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual
nature, must be carried out not only with words and deeds, but no less with
prayer and suffering. However, in today's world, subject to so many rapid
changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in
order to govern the barque of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both
strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months,
has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity
to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me. For this reason, and well
aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I
renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter, entrusted to
me by the Cardinals on 19 April 2005, in such a way, that as from 28 February
2013, at 20:00 hours, the See of Rome, the See of Saint Peter, will be vacant
and a Conclave to elect the new Supreme Pontiff will have to be convoked by
those whose competence it is.
Dear Brothers, I thank you most sincerely for all the love
and work with which you have supported me in my ministry and I ask pardon for
all my defects. And now, let us entrust the Holy Church to the care of Our
Supreme Pastor, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and implore his holy Mother Mary, so
that she may assist the Cardinal Fathers with her maternal solicitude, in
electing a new Supreme Pontiff. With regard to myself, I wish to also devotedly
serve the Holy Church of God in the future through a life dedicated to prayer.
What caught my attention is the part where he says “shaken by questions of deep relevance
for the life of faith.” It seems to me that the pope has doubts about
faith and that doesn’t surprise me. But I am more inclined to believe that the
Vatileaks and the investigation brought upon him and the Vatican by them is
what has prompted this pope to run and hide in what used to be a monastery
inside Vatican City and away from the public eye.
I have ordered the book, written by Gianluigi Nuzzi, “Sua
Santità. Le carte segrete di Benedetto XVI” (His Holiness: The secret papers
of Benedict XVI” in order to see first hand how incriminating these documents are;
I don’t believe that he is too ill or old to perform his Papal duties, previous
popes far older and weaker than he is, have held their positions until their
death – the difference between those and him is that none of them had their
twisted secrets exposed to the world and this Pope does, and as cowards usually
do, he is running to hide behind the cross not capable of facing what awaits
him… of course, he will be living comfortably without a care in the world.
Soon, another Pope – a carbon copy of this one – will take the throne and the
farce and corruption will continue as usual.
Those of you that follow my blog know that I never post material that is not my own... But I was so touched by this beautifully written piece, that I felt compelled to share it with you.
What it means to me as a Black man, a father of 3 boys to see President Obama in terms of race is simply VALIDATION of what I always knew about myself.
Everyone may not fully comprehend this validation in the same spirit as I and others like myself, speaking specifically of minorities, which includes women of any race as well. But for me it says that all of the unconscious discrimination and sociocultural obliviousness I've experience by the hands of Conservative White men and on rare occasion so-called Liberal White men as well may be a barrier, but an obstruction that I can overcome.
You see I was brought up in a very racially diverse environment at an early age. I was also brought up with first hand access to Black men of various levels of success and character. I got to see the person behind the pulpit, the local politician behind the podium and the businessman in his environment as well as the man who punched the clock everyday. I recognized their dignity and learned from it. So when I was told or treated like I was less than because of what I was, I never believed it. Perhaps it's why the gentleman who called me a Pompus Black Liberal Bastard was so mad at me. He realized I wasn't afraid or intimidated by what he was.
I had a very nice Muslim minister tell me many years ago, "Know who you are and where you're from." He didn't try to convert me to Islam, he respected my beliefs. I've had an obviously gay White man who received some terrible news while I was having a conversation with him cry on my shoulder in public. It wasn't about his relationship preferences, but that I validate who he is and not what others categorized him as. He was a good dude. I could keep on going, but to wrap this thought up, just like the Muslim minister who saw me for who I was and not what I was in terms of beliefs (Christian) he choose to validate my humanity with an encouraging action.
President Obama does that for me. I'm encouraged that I will make it too despite the hatred I've experience and continue to experience from primarily, from one segment of one group, Conservative White Men. I don't hate them, but just as aware of them as they are of me and so many others.
So as I read and listen to those who make excuses for why they've chosen to hate this President without addressing the questions they often seek to avoid or downplay, I've chosen to embrace this President, President Obama and Vice-President Biden because they've chosen to embrace me by validating who I am far above and beyond what I am.
Thank You Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., all who participated in the validation of me regardless of race and thank you again President Barack Obama for reenforcing those validations.
Vice President Biden, Mr. Chief Justice, Members of the United States Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow citizens:
Each time we gather to inaugurate a president, we bear witness to the enduring strength of our Constitution. We affirm the promise of our democracy. We recall that what binds this nation together is not the colors of our skin or the tenets of our faith or the origins of our names. What makes us exceptional — what makes us American — is our allegiance to an idea, articulated in a declaration made more than two centuries ago:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."
Today we continue a never-ending journey, to bridge the meaning of those words with the realities of our time. For history tells us that while these truths may be self-evident, they have never been self-executing; that while freedom is a gift from God, it must be secured by His people here on Earth. The patriots of 1776 did not fight to replace the tyranny of a king with the privileges of a few or the rule of a mob. They gave to us a Republic, a government of, and by, and for the people, entrusting each generation to keep safe our founding creed.
For more than two hundred years, we have.
Through blood drawn by lash and blood drawn by sword, we learned that no union founded on the principles of liberty and equality could survive half-slave and half-free. We made ourselves anew, and vowed to move forward together.
Together, we determined that a modern economy requires railroads and highways to speed travel and commerce; schools and colleges to train our workers.
Together, we discovered that a free market only thrives when there are rules to ensure competition and fair play.
Together, we resolved that a great nation must care for the vulnerable, and protect its people from life's worst hazards and misfortune.
Through it all, we have never relinquished our skepticism of central authority, nor have we succumbed to the fiction that all society's ills can be cured through government alone. Our celebration of initiative and enterprise; our insistence on hard work and personal responsibility, are constants in our character.
But we have always understood that when times change, so must we; that fidelity to our founding principles requires new responses to new challenges; that preserving our individual freedoms ultimately requires collective action. For the American people can no more meet the demands of today's world by acting alone than American soldiers could have met the forces of fascism or communism with muskets and militias. No single person can train all the math and science teachers we'll need to equip our children for the future, or build the roads and networks and research labs that will bring new jobs and businesses to our shores. Now, more than ever, we must do these things together, as one nation, and one people.
This generation of Americans has been tested by crises that steeled our resolve and proved our resilience. A decade of war is now ending. An economic recovery has begun. America's possibilities are limitless, for we possess all the qualities that this world without boundaries demands: youth and drive; diversity and openness; an endless capacity for risk and a gift for reinvention. My fellow Americans, we are made for this moment, and we will seize it — so long as we seize it together.
For we, the people, understand that our country cannot succeed when a shrinking few do very well and a growing many barely make it. We believe that America's prosperity must rest upon the broad shoulders of a rising middle class. We know that America thrives when every person can find independence and pride in their work; when the wages of honest labor liberate families from the brink of hardship. We are true to our creed when a little girl born into the bleakest poverty knows that she has the same chance to succeed as anybody else, because she is an American, she is free, and she is equal, not just in the eyes of God but also in our own.
We understand that outworn programs are inadequate to the needs of our time. We must harness new ideas and technology to remake our government, revamp our tax code, reform our schools, and empower our citizens with the skills they need to work harder, learn more, and reach higher. But while the means will change, our purpose endures: a nation that rewards the effort and determination of every single American. That is what this moment requires. That is what will give real meaning to our creed.
We, the people, still believe that every citizen deserves a basic measure of security and dignity. We must make the hard choices to reduce the cost of health care and the size of our deficit. But we reject the belief that America must choose between caring for the generation that built this country and investing in the generation that will build its future. For we remember the lessons of our past, when twilight years were spent in poverty, and parents of a child with a disability had nowhere to turn. We do not believe that in this country, freedom is reserved for the lucky, or happiness for the few. We recognize that no matter how responsibly we live our lives, any one of us, at any time, may face a job loss, or a sudden illness, or a home swept away in a terrible storm. The commitments we make to each other — through Medicare, and Medicaid, and Social Security — these things do not sap our initiative; they strengthen us. They do not make us a nation of takers; they free us to take the risks that make this country great.
We, the people, still believe that our obligations as Americans are not just to ourselves, but to all posterity. We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations. Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires, and crippling drought, and more powerful storms. The path towards sustainable energy sources will be long and sometimes difficult. But America cannot resist this transition; we must lead it. We cannot cede to other nations the technology that will power new jobs and new industries — we must claim its promise. That is how we will maintain our economic vitality and our national treasure — our forests and waterways; our croplands and snowcapped peaks. That is how we will preserve our planet, commanded to our care by God. That's what will lend meaning to the creed our fathers once declared.
We, the people, still believe that enduring security and lasting peace do not require perpetual war. Our brave men and women in uniform, tempered by the flames of battle, are unmatched in skill and courage. Our citizens, seared by the memory of those we have lost, know too well the price that is paid for liberty. The knowledge of their sacrifice will keep us forever vigilant against those who would do us harm. But we are also heirs to those who won the peace and not just the war, who turned sworn enemies into the surest of friends, and we must carry those lessons into this time as well.
We will defend our people and uphold our values through strength of arms and rule of law. We will show the courage to try and resolve our differences with other nations peacefully — not because we are naïve about the dangers we face, but because engagement can more durably lift suspicion and fear. America will remain the anchor of strong alliances in every corner of the globe; and we will renew those institutions that extend our capacity to manage crisis abroad, for no one has a greater stake in a peaceful world than its most powerful nation. We will support democracy from Asia to Africa; from the Americas to the Middle East, because our interests and our conscience compel us to act on behalf of those who long for freedom. And we must be a source of hope to the poor, the sick, the marginalized, the victims of prejudice — not out of mere charity, but because peace in our time requires the constant advance of those principles that our common creed describes: tolerance and opportunity; human dignity and justice.
We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths — that all of us are created equal — is the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall; just as it guided all those men and women, sung and unsung, who left footprints along this great Mall, to hear a preacher say that we cannot walk alone; to hear a King proclaim that our individual freedom is inextricably bound to the freedom of every soul on Earth.
It is now our generation's task to carry on what those pioneers began. For our journey is not complete until our wives, our mothers, and daughters can earn a living equal to their efforts. Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law — for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well. Our journey is not complete until no citizen is forced to wait for hours to exercise the right to vote. Our journey is not complete until we find a better way to welcome the striving, hopeful immigrants who still see America as a land of opportunity; until bright young students and engineers are enlisted in our workforce rather than expelled from our country. Our journey is not complete until all our children, from the streets of Detroit to the hills of Appalachia to the quiet lanes of Newtown, know that they are cared for, and cherished, and always safe from harm.
That is our generation's task — to make these words, these rights, these values — of Life, and Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness — real for every American. Being true to our founding documents does not require us to agree on every contour of life; it does not mean we will all define liberty in exactly the same way, or follow the same precise path to happiness. Progress does not compel us to settle centuries-long debates about the role of government for all time — but it does require us to act in our time.
For now decisions are upon us, and we cannot afford delay. We cannot mistake absolutism for principle, or substitute spectacle for politics, or treat name-calling as reasoned debate. We must act, knowing that our work will be imperfect. We must act, knowing that today's victories will be only partial, and that it will be up to those who stand here in four years, and forty years, and four hundred years hence to advance the timeless spirit once conferred to us in a spare Philadelphia hall.
My fellow Americans, the oath I have sworn before you today, like the one recited by others who serve in this Capitol, was an oath to God and country, not party or faction – and we must faithfully execute that pledge during the duration of our service. But the words I spoke today are not so different from the oath that is taken each time a soldier signs up for duty, or an immigrant realizes her dream. My oath is not so different from the pledge we all make to the flag that waves above and that fills our hearts with pride.
They are the words of citizens, and they represent our greatest hope.
You and I, as citizens, have the power to set this country's course.
You and I, as citizens, have the obligation to shape the debates of our time — not only with the votes we cast, but with the voices we lift in defense of our most ancient values and enduring ideals.
Let each of us now embrace, with solemn duty and awesome joy, what is our lasting birthright. With common effort and common purpose, with passion and dedication, let us answer the call of history, and carry into an uncertain future that precious light of freedom.
Thank you, God Bless you, and may He forever bless these United States of America.
I just returned from watching the acclaimed film “Lincoln.” Daniel Day-Lewis and Sally Fields did a great job portraying the 16th President and First Lady, but I found that the movie lacked substance. It could have been better, certainly Lincoln’s life was much more than just the civil war and the Emancipation Proclamation.
Among all the Presidents in the history of the United States, the one I have admired the most is Abraham Lincoln. Not only because of the Emancipation Proclamation, which is what the film concentrates on; but because against all odds, against adversity he reached the pinnacle in life and this alone should serve as an example.
I regret that the movie didn’t show the audience a little bit of Lincoln’s earlier life because I think it played such an important factor in shaping the morals and views of this president.
We all know that President Lincoln was born into poverty in a log cabin in Kentucky. Many might even know that his family acquired a small fortune that they lost when he was a child and caused the family to move from Kentucky to Indiana and life at Indiana was not an easy one.
The fact that influenced me and which I admired the most was the fact that Lincoln learned how to read and write by himself when he reached puberty and English is by no means an easy language to learn. He walked miles just so he could borrow a book; such was his insatiable desire to learn and to better himself.
By the time he was 21 years old, his family moved once again, this time to Illinois. After holding many different jobs that helped him develop some social skills he ventured into politics and by the time he was 25 years old he had been elected to the Illinois legislature as a member of the Whig Party. It is incredible that a self-taught man with no financial means reached such a position. Once elected, he decided to teach himself law by reading William Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England and he was admitted to the bar in 1837, when he was 28 years old. He practiced law for a few years before he became a one-term Representative for the State of Illinois. His political views and openly speaking against the Mexican-American war made him very unpopular and once his term was over he returned to practice law, including serving as a lobbyist for the Illinois Central Railroad.
Lincoln was never in favor of slavery, nor was his family. It has been said that he didn’t consider black people his equals – we have to bare in mind the times he lived in – but he certainly believed that according to the Constitution all men were created with certain inalienable rights and that included black people or “negroes” as they were called back then.
I like to believe that he felt so strongly about this because of his own roots. He was not born into the lap of luxury and he had taught himself everything he knew and besides his personal freedom, his childhood and youth was parallel to those of the emancipated slaves of the times.
Lincoln didn’t live to see the fruits of his harvest, his life was cut short on the fateful night of April 14th, 1865 where was shot by John Wikes Booth while attending the play “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theater in Washington and was declared dead the next morning.
When Lincoln was President, he belonged to the Republican Party, sadly the Republican Party of today is fighting with all their might against the first black man elected President in the United States and by their actions, they’re going against the principle of the best President in the history of the Republican Party and the United States of America.
