The truth about poet Frank Marshall Davis and Barack Obama is rather inconvenient, but inconvenient for who?

It's not inconvenient for Frank Marshall Davis.  He's been dead for 21 years.

The accusations Republican activists have been making about Frank Marshall Davis certainly have been politically inconvenient for the Barack Obama presidential campaign. But, that's the accusations.  What about the truth about those accusations?

The truth about the accusations made about Frank Marshall Davis is inconvenient for the Republican activists who spread them around as if they were political wildfire sure to burn Barack Obama down to the ground.  The truth is inconvenient for these Republican activists, because the truth about the relationship between Barack Obama and Frank Marshall Davis is, like the relationship itself, not very alarming at all.

The Republican activists say that Barack Obama has "ties" to Frank Marshall Davis, and that those "ties" prove that Barack Obama is a Communist.

What's the truth?  As one blogger explains, there's a lot less to those Communist "ties" than the Republicans want you to believe.

Here are the facts:

- Frank Marshall Davis was a poet.

- During World War II, Frank Marshall Davis joined the Communist Party for a few years, but never went public with that membership.  Then, Davis left the Communist Party.
- Three decades later, Frank Marshall Davis had a few conversations about poetry and career choices with a very, very young Barack Obama.  Barack Obama was only somewhere between the ages of ten and eighteen years old at the time.
- 21 years ago, Frank Marshall Davis died
- Now, three decades after Barack Obama had his final conversation with Frank Marshall Davis, Republican activists say that Obama must be a Communist because Barack Obama has "been linked" with Frank Marshall Davis.

Think about that.

The Republicans want you to believe that because Barack Obama as a teenager talked a couple times with a man now dead who, three decades before that had been a member of the Communist Party, Obama must now have Communist ties - three more decades after he had any contact with the dead man in question.

The Republican activists blathering on about Frank Marshall Davis and Communist ties actually expect you to believe them when they cite this as their sole evidence that Barack Obama is an undercover Communist agent who will spread Marxism across the USA if elected President.

You're intelligent.  You know better.  That's why I'm telling you the facts.  It's too bad that Republican activists don't have a similar respect for your intelligence and integrity.  

Holy canoli!  Rarely is it that a news story can combine
a popular leader, a religious visionary, a secret terrorist plot, football and an allegation
of satanism in the United States Senate.

Yet, that's exactly what's happened over at Irregular Times, where they have begun a special report section on the growing hub-bub over Barack Obama, Islamic Jihad, the NFL, John McCain, Satanism, and Loren Davis, the preacher who ties them all together in a neat little conspiracy theory.

Here's how the news story has developed so far:

1. Loren Davis is cited as the source in an unfounded Internet rumor that Barack Obama of being a secret agent
2. Loren Davis is discovered to also be the source of rumors that public schools in the USA and the NFL are a satanic conspiracy
3. Loren Davis Ministries watches a little scandal brew about its bizarre attempts to link the National Football League and satanic worship
4. Loren Davis Ministries deletes its article accusing the NFL of being an agent of Satan in an attempt to quell the controversy, but they are caught in the process, and Irregular Times publishes a PDF of the deleted article
5. In the same article, Loren Davis is seen to claim that the 5 pointed star is a symbol of Satan, and guess what?  The primary symbol in the campaign of John McCain for President is a 5 pointed star. 
   

So, why is Loren Davis attacking Barack Obama instead of John McCain?  Shouldn't followers of Loren Davis, and the Republicans who have been perpetuating the Loren Davis rumors against Barack Obama now also start spreading the news that Loren Davis ministries has identified the campaign logo of the John McCain campaign as a satanic symbol?

Oh, that would require the Republican blogosphere to be consistent, logical and fair.

I'm issuing a truth alert for all politically-interested people on Gaia: Help me spread the <truth about the slurs against Barack Obama that are being spread in the name of a man named Loren Davis.

Celeste Davis and Loren Davis are missionaries in Africa.  According to an orchestrated rumor now circulating the Internet,
- Barack Obama is secretly a Muslim
- Barack Obama is part of a secret conspiracy to complete the agenda of the September 11 attacks
- Barack Obama and his family in Kenya are a socialist political powerhouse behind the recent violence there

None of this is remotely true, but that's not stopping anyone from spreading the rumor as if it was true.

It is time for a response.  Here is the truth about Loren Davis:

- Loren Davis accuses Hillary Clinton of taking part in  a socialist satanic conspiracy to destroy Christianity.
- Loren Davis believes that the American Legion is displaying satanic symbols in an attempt undermine the second coming of Jesus
- Loren Davis says that the NFL is sending secret codes on behalf of Satan in order to secretly undermine society and to make way for a demonic agenda.

I'm not kidding.  All this, and more, is on the Loren Davis web Ministries web site.  Loren Davis has zero credibility.  Spread the word about the kind of person Loren Davis really is, and what that implies about the smears spread in his name against Barack Obama.  

I've been wondering a lot, lately, about where this Homeland is that everyone keeps on talking about. Growing up, I never heard anyone ever talk about the Homeland like they do so often now on the news, and in the government. In fact, I don't think that much of anyone was talking about the United States of America as the Homeland until George W. Bush grabbed the Presidency back in 2000. Honestly, the whole idea of the Homeland seems like nothing less than an attempt to convince the American people to think about who they are in a different light. Under the idea of a Homeland, we are no longer citizens in a country of laws that guarantees us freedom. We become, instead, inhabitants of a piece of land, a nation to which we belong and which must be defended from outsiders. The invention of the Homeland has come, not coincidentally, with a decrease in our freedom. Under the Patriot Act and Military Commissions Act, we have lost our right to habeas corpus, our protection from unreasonable search and seizure, the presumption of innocence, the right to a fair and speedy trial, and protection from cruel and unusual punishment. The Homeland regime does not make me feel secure. Rather, it seems to prey upon my insecurity. Thus, I am exploring the idea of the Department of Homeland Insecurity. Resources for this exploration online:

Homeland Insecurity news

Lens of Homeland Insecurity

Homeland Insecurity Supplies

Considering Homeland Insecurty on Gather

Homeland Insecurity Alert Plugin for Firefox

Discontent with the top-down, secretive leadership style of the Unity08 organization is growing. A new group of Unity08 members is forming, creating a coalition to challenge the leadership of Unity08 to be less exclusionary and restrictive of membership participation. Criticisms from this breakaway group within Unity08 have been focused on the steering committee of Unity08. Currently, the Unity08 steering committee is made up of "Founders" - an exclusive group of Washington D.C. political insiders. The rebellion within Unity08 is being led by those who expected Unity08 to follow through on its promise to be a true grassroots organization. They are demanding that the Unity08 organization reform its current anti-grassroots structure and give 3 seats of the 7-member steering committee to 3 online grassroots members who will be elected by a vote of the online grassroots members - not handpicked by the Founders insiders. "No Donation without Representation" is the rallying cry of the dissidents. One Unity08 member asks that Unity08 change its ways so that the organizaton "respects its cyber-activists by giving them seats at the table," and worries elsewhere that "we're losing momentum as well as some very thoughtful contriubtors" [sic]. "How can Unity '08 purport to reform American Democracy when it's founders won't even open up it's own processes - to select a "Rules Committee" or empower it's membership to vote on ... ANYTHING?!" he asks. Unity08 member Mark Green complains, "Unity'08 is not interactive in any 21st century measure - it is like the railroad signal house at the Aledo Texas crossing that each Sunday morning greets the sun with a fresh coat of student-generated graffitti. Cute, amusing, totally non-productive." Another member observes, "I am getting tired of talking without action, I see little progress on electing our president but a lot of gum beating about pet peeves. I am getting restless and tired of idle chat especially with this hard to use site." So far, the Unity08 political insiders who lead the organization are stonewalling. Eight months after Unity08 grassroots member first called for a seat at the table, the political insiders who form the Unity08 leadership are still shutting them out. Increasing discontent among Unity08 members comes as a series of other ethical failures of the Unity08 organization are coming to a head. These ethical lapses are being documented by Unity08 Watch, which has exposed the real work of the secretive Unity08 leadership: Lobbyists, lawyers, public relations executives and Washington D.C. powerbrokers. The series of revelations about Unity08 makes the organization appear to be less a grassroots political organization and more of a dishonest politics as usual campaign by powerful political insiders attempting to wield influence.

The idea of an escalation of the Iraq War that George W. Bush is prepared to propose tonight is so bafflingly blind that it makes me want to vomit. Hold on a minute - there's a rhyme in there. I guess you could say that the surge makes me want to purge. That's kind of a slogan, isn't it? How about Purge the Surge? Seriously, slogans aside, please sign the petition against the Bush escalation policy sponsored over at The Petition Site by the Council for a Livable World. We know that President George W. Bush is beyond reason. It is the Congress that we must attempt to persuade, as many Democrats fear offering anything but vocal opposition to the Bush agenda. Thousands of citizens have come together to sign the petition over the last couple of days, but time is running out for you to join them. Post Script: The petition gives people the space to add their personal comments. I particular admire the spirit of the comment offered by Shawn Austin, from Massachusetts: "Mr. President we will accept your resignation immediately. It is clear you are unfit to fulfill your job." I think he's onto something there. The time has come for Bush to resign

As America begins to consider which candidate to elect as its new President in 2008, it's important to consider how each candidate's priorities would effect the shape of the national budget. Such decisions have life and death consequences. Just two dollars, for example, can purchase effective treatment for 5 people suffering from schistosomiasis. A total of 200 million people worldwide are infected with schistosomiasis. That means that it would cost only 80 million dollars to pay for enough treatments to purge schistosomiasis from every infected human being on Earth. The American government is projected to spend over 219 million dollars every day on the war in Iraq in 2007. With what it costs to fight less than half a day of the Iraq War, the Bush Administration could have provided all the medicine necessary to rid every human being on earth suffering from schistosomiasis of the parasites that cause the disease. This shift in budget priorities hasn't happened, of course, and it won't happen as long as a war enthusiast like George W. Bush is in the White House. Across sub-Saharan Africa, efforts to eliminate schistosomiasis are either extremely limited or do not exist at all. A truly progressive President will end the Iraq War and shift the new peace dividend to fund programs that will provide real and reliable relief from suffering, without having to shoot people of drop bombs on cities.

Ram Bomjon, also called Palden Dorje by his supporters, is a teenage boy from the village of Ratanpuri, Nepal. Now 17 years old, but starting in 2005 at the age of 15, Bomjon claimed to have sat in one place under a pipal tree for ten months straight, without eating or drinking, and without moving at all even to go to the bathroom. This supposed accomplishment has earned Ram Bomjon the popular title Buddha Boy, with Bomjon's supporters saying that he was a new incarnation of the Buddha himself.

Suspicions arose that the supposed marathon meditation was a fraud when Ram Bomjon's supporters covered up the site of the meditation and would not allow anyone to see him during the night. A set of physicians sent to inspect the boy's claims were unable to do so when they were allowed to examine him only from a distance of 15 meters. Ram Bomjon's supporters said that any closer observation would interfere with the meditation, although the original Buddha was able to maintain his meditation even with thunderbolts, elephants, and angry armies hurled against him.

Just when scrutiny of all the donations, and of investigations of the veracity of Bomjon's meditation were becoming impossible to avoid, Ram Bomjon suddenly ran off into the forest. He appeared once more before a small group of his central group of supporters, who oddly just happened to have a video camera with them to film the appearance. Bomjon declared that he would go away deep into the forest to meditate for many years more, and then would make a new appearance.

Well, only a matter of months have gone by, but Ram Bomjon has been spotted again, with a change of plans. Ram Bomjon was found by villagers searching for him on the night of December 24, and then appeared more formally before villagers on the morning of December 25. Ram Bomjon was carrying a sword that he said was for his protection, although Buddha needed no such protection during the period of meditation that led to his own enlightenment.

Bomjon declared that he would set up a permanent spot of meditation near a pond five kilometers outside of the village where his original meditation took place. For the sake of not being disturbed by noise, however, Bomjon asked that no visitors be allowed to come within more than ten meters of him. Once again, there will be no opportunity to scrutinize the details of Ram Bomjon's claims. Those claims have changed, however. Now, Ram Bomjon acknowledges that he has taken medicinal herbs for nourishment.

Where will the donations to the new site of pilgrimage go? Ram Bomjon says he doesn't want the money to be used for business purposes or otherwise abused, but who will check on it? Who will audit the books? Who will stand to profit? We cannot know that now. We will, however, keep a close eye out for further reports.

The comments of Mother Davis at Irregular Times on the significance of the Bush White House's request for 170 billion dollars to pay for the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan can be read below. Perhaps 170 billion dollars seems like an arbitrary threshold in the expense of these wars. Certainly, it is long past the time when President Bush promised that the Iraq War would only cost the United States between 50 and 60 billion dollars total. The larger context of this cost seems to be what Mother Davis feels is most important: There is no plausible scenario for an American victory in Iraq or Afghanistan. In fact, the longer these wars go on, the further away from victory we get. Conditions in Iraq and Afghanistan become more anti-American the more we fight against the Islamic radicalsin those countries. The more we strike at militant fundamentalism, the stronger it becomes. If this 170 billion dollars were going to an effective effort to combat terrorism and spread freedom, it would be worth the expense. Given that war has proven an ineffective tool, however, this expense is a wasteful insult to the American people. It's time for an honest admission that the military adventures in Afghanistan and Iraq alike have failed. Here's what Mother Davis had to say on the matter:

170 billion dollars more are about to be thrown away into wars that the United States military is losing in Iraq and Afghanistan. That's the amount that's being requested by the Bush White House for the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, to be spent in 2007 alone. Remember when 87 billion dollars seemed like a scandalous amount? Every year, the costs of the wars in Afghanistan and iraq get bigger. Every year, America's loss in both countries gets deeper. The Taliban in Afghanistan gets stronger the longer Americans stay there. The insurgents in Iraq get more violent the longer we stay there. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have failed. There will be no democratic, free and stable Iraq. Osama Bin Laden will not be captured. Opium production won't be stopped. The Taliban will not be defeated. I'm not saying this because I want it to be true. I'm saying it because it is true. It is stubborn foolishness to spend 170 billion dollars on the continuation of two failed wars. War has been an ineffective tool that has increased our insecurity and made the United States one of the most reviled nations on the planet. It is time for a new approach. No more staying the course. It is time to say no to these two failed wars. It is time for Congress to respond to President Bush's request for 170 billion dollars with a note that his credit is no longer any good. The only war budget President Bush should submit for 2007 is a request for the money necessary to bring our soldiers and their equipment back home.

Use your imagination to picture Elizabeth Kucinich as First Lady, and you will have one of the most entertaining experiences possible in the entire 2008 presidential election season. Don't use your eyes. Just use your imagination now. it is true that Dennis Kucinich has the most stunningly beautiful mate of any presidential candidate, but there's more to her than just that. Elizabeth Kucinich is someone who dares to be a different kind of political wife than anything America has seen before. She doesn't follow the conventional model of the prospective First Lady. She expresses herself in a fresh and honest way, and with a radically different cultural perspective. Consider how she writes about what she believes to be the spiritual context of the 5th anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001:

"It is said in physics that every action causes a reaction. Similar too is the concept of Karma. These can be understood to be the material and spiritual laws of balance. When they are translated into our day to day life experiences, every action indeed causes a reaction, a karmic narrative. To awaken vision and to touch balance in Justice’s scales, we must introduce sincere reflection between the phases of action and reaction. This year marks the fifth anniversary of 9/11, a series of events that marked a day of awakening for the people of the world to the revelation of the very real and powerful forces at play in these times. Not falling prey to the black hole of 9/11 rhetoric which highlights the evil of otherness, rhetoric into which our lives have been sacrificed, together with our freedom and liberty. No, I am speaking of the forces at play within the depths of each of our hearts and the dark side of our souls traveling the shamanic journey into the underworld and the opportunity for our transformation into beings of light. "

What Elizabeth Kucinich writes here is not the kind of formulaic consideration we'd often hear from politicians about how the Christian God wants America to prevail, and will smite down evildoers. I'm not a believer in karma, and I'm not sure if the American public has really been going on a shamanic journey into the underworld, but I appreciate someone who is willing to deviate from the standard recipe for mixing politics and religion. Personally, I don't think that religious commentaries are helpful for dealing with secular issues, because religion divides Americans rather than uniting us in a common vision. However, if a political figure is going to get religious, it's certainly much more interesting when they do it from a perspective that is outside the cultural mainstream. I'm looking forward to seeing how the Religious Right reacts to Elizabeth Kucinich, showing us what they really think about freedom of religion. Lest you think that I'm getting too personal about Elizabeth Kucinich, let me note that this piece of writing is on a blog written by Elizabeth Kucinich that is part of the Kucinich for President in 2008 web site. What Elizabeth Kucinich has written about karma and shamanic journeys is part of the Kucinich presidential campaign. That's a pretty brave move for Dennis Kucinich to make, demonstrating a good deal of confidence in his wife, and in himself. Say what you like about the chances of the Kucinich for President campaign, but you can't say that it isn't earnest. Above all else, the Kucinich for President campaign should be imaginative and interesting. That alone makes it worth watching.