Walking In Wisdom

Astonishing Thoughts by a Washington Insider

Dr. Jamie Mitchell — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 17:31:11 GMT

The following is an interesting article. You might ask how long Dr. Hunt can remain at NIH once the White House gets wind of this article.

Dr. Hunt is a social and cultural anthropologist. He has had nearly 30 years experience in planning, conducting, and managing research in the field of youth studies, and drug and alcohol research. Currently Dr. Hunt is a Senior Research Scientist at the Institute for Scientific Analysis and the Principal Investigator on three National Institutes on Health projects. He is also a writer for American Thinker.
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An article from American Thinker by Geoffrey P. Hunt

Anatomy of a Failing Presidency
Barack Obama is on track to have the most spectacularly failed presidency since Woodrow Wilson. In the modern era, we've seen several failed presidencies--led by Jimmy Carter and LBJ. Failed presidents have one strong common trait-- they are repudiated, in the vernacular, spat out. Of course, LBJ wisely took the exit ramp early, avoiding a shove into oncoming traffic by his own party. Richard Nixon indeed resigned in disgrace, yet his reputation as a statesman has been partially restored by his triumphant overture to China 20.

But, Barack Obama is failing. Failing big. Failing fast. And failing everywhere: foreign policy, domestic initiatives, and most importantly, in forging connections with the American people. The incomparable Dorothy Rabinowitz in the Wall Street Journal put her finger on it: He is failing because he has no understanding of the American people, and may indeed loathe them. Fred Barnes of the Weekly Standard says he is failing because he has lost control of his message, and is overexposed. Clarice Feldman of American Thinker produced a dispositive commentary showing that Obama is failing because fundamentally he is neither smart nor articulate; his intellectual dishonesty is conspicuous by its audacity and lack of shame.

But, there is something more seriously wrong: How could a new president riding in on a wave of unprecedented promise and goodwill have forfeited his tenure and become a lame duck in six months? His poll ratings are in free fall. In generic balloting, the Republicans have now seized a five point advantage. This truly is unbelievable. What's going on?

No narrative. Obama doesn't have a narrative. No, not a narrative about himself. He has a self-narrative, much of it fabricated, cleverly disguised or written by someone else. But this self-narrative is isolated and doesn't connect with us. He doesn't have an American narrative that draws upon the rest of us. All successful presidents have a narrative about the American character that intersects with their own where they display a command of history and reveal an authenticity at the core of their personality that resonates in a positive endearing way with the majority of Americans. We admire those presidents whose narratives not only touch our own, but who seem stronger, wiser, and smarter than we are. Presidents we admire are aspirational peers, even those whose politics don't align exactly with our own: Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, Harry Truman, Ike, and Reagan.

But not this president. It's not so much that he's a phony, knows nothing about economics, and is historically illiterate and woefully small minded for the size of the task--all contributory of course. It's that he's not one of us. And whatever he is, his profile is fuzzy and devoid of content, like a cardboard cutout made from delaminated corrugated paper. Moreover, he doesn't command our respect and is unable to appeal to our own common sense. His notions of right and wrong are repugnant and how things work just don't add up. They are not existential. His descriptions of the world we live in don't make sense and don't correspond with our experience.

In the meantime, while we've been struggling to take a measurement of this man, he's dissed just about every one of us--financiers, energy producers, banks, insurance executives, police officers, doctors, nurses, hospital administrators, post office workers, and anybody else who has a non-green job. Expect Obama to lament at his last press conference in 2012: "For those of you I offended, I apologize. For those of you who were not offended, you just didn't give me enough time; if only I'd had a second term, I could have offended you too."

Mercifully, the Founders at the Constitutional Convention in 1787 devised a useful remedy for such a desperate state--staggered terms for both houses of the legislature and the executive. An equally abominable Congress can get voted out next year. With a new Congress, there's always hope of legislative gridlock until we vote for president again two short years after that.

Yes, small presidents do fail, Barack Obama among them. The coyotes howl but the wagon train keeps rolling along.

Margaret Thatcher: "The trouble with Socialism is, sooner or later you run out of other people's money."

"When you subsidize poverty and failure, you get more of both." - James Dale Davidson, National Taxpayers Union

"The more corrupt the state, the more it legislates." Tacitus

"A Liberal is a person who will give away everything he doesn't own." - Unknown

Why I missed a few weeks of blogging?

Dr. Jamie Mitchell — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 19:49:28 GMT

Sorry for the FEW faithful followers of Walking in Wisdom, as things go, the first few weeks in January have been extremely busy and therefore blogging gets put on the back burner! With a trip to Chicago, a wedding in North Carolina and new year start up stuff -- I have been swamped. As a matter of fact, I looked over my archives from the blog and there are times each year - the same time - that there have been lags in my blogging!

One of the big reasons for my lack of bloggos - I am getting ready to go to Kenya on a mission trip. I will be speaking at a pastor's conference and so every "extra" minute has been spent on preparations for five hours of teaching. So pray for me and our NewSong team as we head to the village of Tseikuru.

Also my niece got married two weeks ago. As the favorite uncle and aunt, we needed to be available and involved in the big weekend. It was outstanding. My sister did a FAB-U-LOUS job with the party and all the details. Kristy was a stunning bride and Kenny was STUNNED! It was a God honoring ceremony and celebration!

Then, I was also in Chicago for a conference on how to inject a deep understanding of Christ and his ministry into the life of any church. Dann Spader and our Sonlife friends did a great job, very informative and inspiring. This is on my radar for 2010.

Well I knew I needed to take a few minutes and get you up to speed. I am leaving next Friday - will be out of communique for ten days. Mid February should be back to normal!!

Woods Needs Christ, not Buddha

Dr. Jamie Mitchell — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 02:14:22 GMT

TAMPA, Fla. (AP)—When Fox News analyst Brit Hume suggested last weekend that Tiger Woods turn to Jesus to deal with his sins, critics argued that Hume showed little knowledge about Buddhism, the faith that has been a major influence in the golfer’s life.

“I don’t think that faith offers the kind of forgiveness and redemption that is offered by the Christian faith,” Hume said. “So my message to Tiger would be, “Tiger, turn to the Christian faith and you can make a total recovery and be a great example to the world.”

That rankled many American Buddhists, who say Hume is missing the point of the 2,500-year-old Eastern faith.

“I think it’s ridiculous to make those statements,” said Robert Thurman, a professor of Tibetan studies at Columbia University. “It is insulting to Buddhism to indicate that Buddhism doesn’t take care of its own believers and followers. But I think he will discover that Buddhists are very forgiving about his stupid statements.”

Woods, a married father of two, hasn’t been seen since a bizarre Thanksgiving weekend car crash outside his Florida home unleashed a torrent of reports about his numerous alleged mistresses.

On Monday during an interview with Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly, Hume addressed the topic again, but didn’t apologize to Buddhists: “My sense about Tiger is that he needs something that Christianity, especially, provides and gives and offers. And that is redemption and forgiveness.”

Woods’ spokesman declined comment for this story. But in past interviews Woods credited his mother and her Thai Buddhism with giving him the focus needed on the golf course and throughout his life, about how it teaches that people have to work out their own problems.

“I believe in Buddhism. Not every aspect, but most of it,” Woods told Sports Illustrated in 1996. “So I take bits and pieces. I don’t believe that human beings can achieve ultimate enlightenment, because humans have flaws.”

Sex scandals in American society are nothing new, of course, and the Christian faith of many of the fallen is mentioned with their revelations. In the last couple years, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, former presidential candidate John Edwards and Nevada Sen. John Ensign are a few of the recent examples of men who have cheated on their wives. All spoke of their faith in God and Jesus and finding forgiveness in the wake of the affairs.

So how do the world’s 350 million Buddhists deal with infidelity, marital strife and sin?

They follow the example of Siddhartha Gautama—the Buddha—a wealthy prince they believe became enlightened in the sixth century B.C.

“Buddhism starts with the premise that we suffer,” said James Shaheen, editor and publisher of Tricycle, a Buddhist magazine. “At the foundation of Buddhism is ethics. An ethical life leads to a life of less suffering.”

Buddhism’s code of personal conduct is just as strong as other major religions: followers should not kill, steal, gossip, use intoxicants like drugs or alcohol or commit sexual misconduct.

“Adultery is as much of a sin in Buddhism as it is in Christianity,” Thurman said. “The ethics are the same in both traditions. Adultery is a sin and causes the kinds of problems that Tiger Woods is in.”

Where many Westerners stumble is that Buddhists’ definition of sin—and what happens after it—differs from the Judeo-Christian tradition, as the consequences of Buddhists’ actions are a result of a person’s thoughts and deeds rather than divine punishment. Believers have to look to themselves and turn to an ethical way of life for redemption, although there are savior figures within the faith who do their best to help a Buddhist in need. There is no one, omnipotent “creator god” to bestow redemption as in Christianity.

Said Stephen Prothero, a Boston University professor on Buddhism and the author of “Religious Literacy: What Americans Need to Know:”

“You have the law of karma, so no matter what Woods says or does, he is going to have to pay for whatever wrongs he’s done,” said Prothero. “There’s no accountant in the sky wiping sins off your balance sheet, like there is in Christianity.”

Certain Buddhist traditions believe that if a person misbehaves, he or she will be reborn into various realms of hell. Others believe the justice is much swifter, that the penalties will be suffered in this life.

“What causes you to do what Tiger Woods did is ignorance,” said James William Coleman, a professor of Buddhist studies at Cal Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, Calif. “If you do what he’s done, it comes back and hurts you. You wouldn’t do that if you weren’t ignorant.”

Brad Warner, a California-based Zen priest and the author of the book “Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate” suggests that Woods return to his Buddhism roots and become introspective.

“I would first tell him to sit with the problem, look into himself and try to see clearly for himself what he needs to do,” Warner said. “The problem is something he’s got to work out for himself.”This is a great article - amazingly the buddha professor helps Brit Hume make his point. If a buddhist commits a sin they are doomed! Way to go Brit!!! Pray for Tiger!!!