--- Justice & Peace

She's the one that may have inspired Dorothy Day. She could be the patron saint of workers rights. She spoke up for workers and children in more cities and at more rallies than any other living or dead American. Few bishops know her name. Presidents called her dangerous. Because she was a woman who spoke out like a man she was marginalised. I know of no statue or memorial erected in her name,in Memphis,Chicago,Colorado,NewYork or Cork Ireland-these are all places that should remember her.

"...in summer 2007 the Arctic lost in a single week an area of ice almost twice the size of Britain." - John Simon, "The Moment of Truth - An Introduction", Monthly Review, July - August, 2008

The depth of the crisis can be measured by the depth of the response by Pope Benedict XVI. "In fact, environmentalism has emerged as perhaps the most distinctive new feature of Benedict XVI’s social teaching. Benedict touched upon the environment seven times during his July 12-21 trip to Australia, more often than he mentioned sexual abuse, the right to life, relativism, or any other social or cultural concern." - John L. Simon, "Catholic Environmentalism: Green teachings, initiatives take hold among Catholics worldwide", NCR, Aug. 8, 2008

The present day dire global eco-social crises of Planet Earth document the bad accounting of Earth's self-reflective inhabitants. Planet Earth is radically imperiled by the self-destruction of greed, resource consumption and warfare.

This terminal effrontery of humankind and the pusuits of RELIGIOUS/ POLITICAL MISDIRECTION need to be reversed if the precipitous and radical degradation of Earthlife, including human, is to reversed.

Paraguay, one of the poorest countries of Latin America, with a tragic history rarely mentioned in the reports on ex-bishop Fernando Lugo’s assumption of the presidency, was welcomed into the light on August 15 after the longest one-party rule anywhere in the world, 61 years of the repressive Colorado Party. To assess the meaning of this event, both for Paraguay and Latin America as a whole, it is necessary to uncover a tragedy whose long night may at last be lifting. According to Eduardo Galeano, “The woes of the Paraguayans stem from a war of extermination which was the most infamous chapter in South American history, the War of the Triple Alliance, they called it. Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay joined in committing genocide. They left no stone unturned, nor male inhabitants amid the ruins. Although Britain took no direct part in the ghastly deed, it was in the pockets of British merchants, bankers, and industrialists that the loot ended up.” Eduardo Galeano, “The Open Veins of Latin America”. Before the invasion, Paraguay “was the only Latin American country where begging, hunger, and stealing were unknown” (Galeano). In Paraguay in 1845, every child could read and write. Its economy flourished despite its landlocked confinement, “The economic surplus from agricultural production was not squandered by an oligarchy (which did not exist); nor did it pass into the pockets of middlemen and loan sharks, or swell the profits of the British Empire’s freight and insurance men. ..Ninety eight percent of Paraguayan territory was public property: the state granted holdings to peasants in return for permanently occupying and farming them, without the right to sell them…The lively encouragement of Jesuit traditions undoubtedly contributed to this creative process.” (Galeano). To those who say there is no alternative to savage capitalism, Paraguay before 1865 shines as a beacon of what is possible.

Progressive political movements often speak about history as if it were a conscious agent. Marxists in particular personify history by making economics deterministic. But a materialistic viewpoint cannot really sustain a personified historical tendency because it cannot consistently attribute personal agency to what after all is simply transient conglomerations of material forces.

Those of us who are not materialists, however, can see an intelligent hand working in the midst of historical forces, bending the universe toward justice in the words of Martin Luther King. Those of us who continue to develop the insights of liberation theology use Moltmann's words as a guidepost, "...theological concepts do not limp after reality... They illuminate reality by displaying its future." And Gustavo Gutierrez, "...[Theology] is to penetrate the present reality, the movement of history, that which is driving history toward the future. To reflect on the basis of the historical praxis of liberation is to reflect in the light of the future which is believed in and hoped for. It is to reflect with a view to action which transforms the present. But it does not mean doing this from an armchair; rather it means sinking roots where the pulse of history is beating at this moment and illuminating history with the Word of the Lord of History, who irreversibly committed himself to the present moment of humankind to carry it to its fulfillment." - Gustavo Gutierrez, "A Theology of Liberation"

Jane Mayer has authored a new book called , ' The Dark Side ; The Inside Story of How The War On Terror Turned Into A War On American Ideals ' . This painstakingly researched study of the policy of ' Enhanced Interrogation ' and ' Extraordinary Rendition ' , could easily be used by interested parties to identify targets for war crimes trials. This noted New Yorker reporter has documented a program of disgusting behavior by our agents that betray the America I was taught to know and love. The back jacket of the book juxtaposes two illuminating quotes :

Milton Friedman, Nobel Economics Prize winner, has left a trail of death and destruction wherever he, his students or admirers advised countries to implement his plan that involved privatization, government deregulation and deep social spending cuts. Advocating a free market economy, he thought that an unregulated market would maximize freedom and prosperity. Although he wrote a book in 1962, Capitalism and Freedom, he found no democratically elected government, including President Richard Nixon’s administration, would implement his program. The Keynesian model including a safety net, unions, workers protections and government spending helped the United States and other countries recover from the Great Depression and continue prosperity after the Second World War. Milton Friedman and his Chicago Boys (former students at the University of Chicago economics department) found that they could only persuade dictatorships or democracies in crisis to adopt his planned misery program.

Author Barbara Enrenreich wondered what is was like to live on $7 an hour after the 1996 welfare reform. Her bestseller Nickel and Dimed On (Not) Getting By in America describes her work as a waitress, cleaning lady, and a Wal Mart employee in different cities. Her book reminded me of John Howard Griffin, a white man who changed his skin color for six weeks in the early 1960s to find out what it was like a black person. His book Black Like Me was a sensation.

About one year ago Fr. Andrew Greeley published an article questioning why we don't hold war crimes trials in the USA. I would like to apply the rationale that the Surveillance Policy supporters used to justify their activities. " If you haven't done anything wrong , what do you have to worry about ? " . Greeley posts another criticism of Phony Patriotism on his site. The Statue of Liberty was highlighted with great enthusiasm but with no mention of the great sonnet she holds on a tablet rejecting ' Storied Pomp ' and welcoming the wretched huddled masses.