One blogger criticized Obama quoting Cain about being my brother's keeper,. because Cain was being sarcastic, misses the fundamental point, for a debating point.

The story of Cain slaying Abel is in the very first book of the Bile, Genesis, which even St. Augustine read as allegory.

The fact is, that other than eating the forbidden fruit, the story of Cain and Abel is the story of the first crime:murder.

Cain's question may have been defiant: "Am I my brother's keeper?" but it was the first step in scripture towards what many regard as the universal law of morality: To treat other as we would be treated as ourselves, which is in turn corollary of a deeper command: to love our neighbor as ourselves.

In the New Testament, Mathews telling of the "parable" of the Last Judgment is lecture on what loving your neighbor really means. We demonstrate our love by what we do to the neediest of our fellow human beings. Among other things: "I was sick when you visited me."

The inanity of some fundamentalists who insist that world is only 6,000 years old, and the excesses of religious authoritarians have turned many off to the message of the scriptures, but I can not understand how the self-styled Christians on the Right can so blithely ignore the commandment of love upon which "all the law and prophets" depend. Or as Rabbi Hillel said a generation earlier than Christ: All the rest is commentary.

To those who so mindlessly echo the right wing attack themes, and so easily turn their backs on the stricken among us, and who so openly flaunt their Christianity: be afraid not of Obama, but of the judgment of your God. Be very afraid.

http:johnklotz@johnklotz.com

History is a little more complex than some, including Joan, want to admit.

First: No, Bill Clinton is not a racist, but yes, his invoking of Jesse Jackson after South Carolina was a cynical attempt to manipulate he Florida primary vote that followed South Carolina. The antipathy of Jewish voters, particularly older ones, to Jesse Jackson had a long history. Clinton, a very shrewd politician knew hat. The tying of Obama to Jackson was a smart, but treacherous, maneuver.

Second: Remember NAFTA and most favored nation treatment for China? Remember Al Gore carrying the Clinton coals in the debate withy Ross Perot who predicted "a joint sucking sound" as American jobs were drawn over seas. Remember the way the media and the Clinton administration mocked him.

Third, lest we forget, the regulatory freeing of Wall Street from "out-moded" regulations like the Glass-Segal act, was also a pert of the Clinton Administration agenda. BUT

Fourth, Clinton is absolutely right about the vast right=wing conspiracy. Only thing is, it's much older than publicized.

Some have already remarked that the vitriol now present in our politics reminds them of the JFK years. That vitriol had a history that dated back at least to the end of WWII and what became known as the "China Lobby" that birthed Joe McCarthy and Roy Cohn.

Honor Bill Clinton for his real accomplishments. Rue that, like Nixon, he gave his enemies a sword. Pray that only person on earth that Barak Obama really fears, is Michelle.

http://johnklotz.blogspot.com

Having been excoriated as a "communist" and abandoned by my community for supporting mixed housing, I guess I have given the impression, on occasion, of being "left wing." But after reading the comments in Salon today, I guess I will never make the grade. It is of course a valid exercise of free speech for people like Glen Greenwald and the never elected dog-catcher Robrt Reich to keep nipping at Obama's heels. Not only have they never been elected, but they never have had the responsibility that comes when your opinion really counts for more than blather.

The Nobel citation mentioned two items, one of which I have a little experience on: Obama's plain commitment to stop nuclear proliferation, including nuclear disarmament of the United States.

This is an epic change in American policy. In 1997, I was an observer for Sierra Club at a meeting of the UN's Prepcom on the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty. Because I was there for the Sierra Club, Bill Richardson granted us an audience which included not just me, but a dozen or so other ant-nuclear activist from around the world.

Richardson brought in a State Department "expert" who when it came to nuclear disarmament was well versed in what I call "Kissinger-speak." Nuclear disarmament was a bad thing because it would be "destabilizing."

Words have power, and when it comes to both Moslem-Christian relationships and nuclear disarmament, Obama's words have had a powerful effect already. And, oh yes, there's the Palestinian question.

The world community recognizes the incredible force his words and actions have had to date. I am not surprised that the Republicans are choking on his Nobel, I am dismayed, and frankly irate, at the dismissive nature of the left wing.

Maybe I shouldn't be. After all, at the same time the right was calling me a "communist," the Marxists in my community, who were in fact a faction in the local Reform Democratic Club, thought I was an infilltrator from the FBI.

I hope Obama takes some solace from my experience. When both sides are shooting at you, you are probably in the right place.

http://johnklotz.blogspot.com