Thurday: June 28, 2007 Dear Friends,
Moyers was a less polished, less charismatic speaker than the presidential candidate, but I found myself tearing up several times as he spoke and deeply moved by hope when he concluded. He talked about the widening gap between the rich and the poor in America and reported, again and again, how the U.S. ranked dead last among industrialized nations in many important measurements, including children’s healthcare. He talked about how our government has become a wholly-owned subsidiary of major corporations. The night before he spoke, I caught “NBC Nightly News,” which was reporting from Ft. Worth, Texas. I watched a story about the most recent military actions in Iraq, and I was struck by the fact that the story could have been produced by the U.S. Army. It was strikingly like the propaganda pieces produced during World War II. They talked repeatedly about how our forces are trying to defeat the forces of Al Qaeda in various provinces. I was struck by the fact that, less than an hour before, I had listened to a report on NPR about the same topic. The difference was NPR reported that we were fighting “Iraqi insurgents,” while NBC only used the term “Al Qaeda.” It was clear that we were supposed to be making the connection between the war in Iraq and the events of 9/11. No one at NBC bothered to note that before our invasion there were no members of Al Qaeda in Iraq. As I thought about the disparity in how this story was reported, I was struck by one fact: NPR is National Public Radio. As badly as I hate their pledge drives, I gained a new appreciation for them when I remembered that NBC is owned by General Electric, a major military contractor. In fact, in 2005 GE received more than $2.2 billion in military contracts. Interestingly, they tithed $220,900 of that back to our politicians in the form of contributions. www.corpwatch.org/article.php?list=type&type=16 So much for objective reporting … In a speech inflamed with passion, anger and the possibility of hope, Bill Moyers spoke to General Synod on Saturday morning about poverty and justice. His 57-minute keynote address called the UCC to act in the name of the Jesus who was a disturber of the peace who threw the rascals out. I have come to say that America’s revolutionary heritage and revolutionary spirit—“life, liberty and the pursuit of justice, through government of, by, and for the people”—is under siege. If churches of conscience don’t take the lead in their rescue and revival, we can lose our democracy! Concluding with an “altar call,” Moyers said, “Poverty and justice are religious issues, and Jesus moves among the disinherited.” He imagined Jesus “striding through the holy precincts that had been transformed into a market place, a stock exchange, upsetting the dealers, scattering their money across the floor, even bouncing them forcefully from the temple. Indignant at a profane violation of the sacred, Jesus threw the rascals out,” Moyers said. Challenging us all, he reminded us of that Jesus. “Let's call that Jesus back to duty, and drive the money changers from the temple of democracy,” he said. “If you don't, who will?” As I stood with the others to cheer at the end of his address, I remembered my favorite quote from the great anthropologist Margaret Mead:
Sincerely,
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I was privileged to spend last Saturday afternoon at the United Church of Christ’s General Synod listening to Senator Barack Obama. Although his youthfulness and inexperience bothered me more than anticipated, I found that I agreed with almost everything he had to say. Ten thousand of us stood and applauded when he finished, but most of the people I spoke to afterwards talked about feeling a little “disappointed.” That was my reaction too, but I realized that it really wasn’t the Illinois Senator’s fault. The fault lay in the fact that most of us had spent Saturday morning listening to Bill Moyers.
Immigration Reform
