Last January I really enjoyed President Obama's Presidential Inauguration. I enjoyed Kelly Clarkson, James Taylor and Beyonce's singing, and President Obama's speech was one of his most inspirational. One of the best and most intimate moments during the Inauguration was the poetry recital of Richard Blanco. Blanco's poem One Today referred to the work of his parents to give him the opportunities he has today, the tragedy of the Newton shootings, and the land and the work that binds us as a nation. Blanco was the fifth poet to give a reading at a Presidential Inauguration. Each poet has given a description of the spirit of the nation of their time.

A few months ago I found on my facebook the good work of Progressive Christian George Koukouris. Based in Indianapolis, Indiana, Koukouris is a Greek Orthodox who has studied other religious traditions to know how they are all interconnected. In his facebook page, he states as his goal to get people to let go of whatever hinders our ability to connect and see one another face to face. He is one of the founders of the Indiana Center for Progressive and Contemplative Christianity, an inclusive, life affirming organization built upon the desire to know God through authentic theological education and practice. He is also the administrator of the Progressive Christians facebook page and the Progressive Christian Alliance.

Today America and the world as a whole are approaching a set of problems that we all will inevitably have to deal with. We have an overpowering addiction to energy and most of that energy we currently use comes with many problems. The United States has, for a long time, enjoyed some of the cheapest and most abundantly available energy. Some figures show that a typical household of three in the United States averages a consumption of 6,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) of energy per year (Silverman, 2007). Fossil fuels, such as coal, natural gas and oil, make up the majority of what we rely on. In 2011, fossil fuels provided 87% of the world’s energy (“Renewable energy —," 09). Fossil fuel supplies around the world are dwindling as demand is increasing (US Senate, 2010). It is estimated that there are 10,800,000 terawatts (TW) of nonrenewable energy (nuclear and fossil fuels) left in the world today (Brenner Information Group, 01). As our fossil fuel supplies dwindle and we are forced to increasingly look overseas for further supplies, and especially as their supplies dwindle, we can expect two things to happen; costs are going to skyrocket and we are going to see dramatic increases in risks to our national security and economy (US Senate, 2010). Even worse are the major contributions to global warming. For every 1 kWh of electricity produced from fossil fuel plants, there are 1.2 to 1.4 pounds of CO2 added to the atmosphere (Brenner Information Group, 01). Just this month some very sad news hit headlines, including National Geographic:

Climate Milestone: Earth’s CO2 Level Passes 400 ppm, Greenhouse gas highest since the Pliocene, when sea levels were higher and the Earth was warmer.

Coal is cheap and domestically available, but has many of the same environmental hazards, plus the hazards faced by the miners who mine it. There is really no such thing as “Clean Coal” and there are many unintended consequences that come with the mining of coal.

Natural gas is plentiful and cleaner than oil or coal, but it still has environmental hazards and, as its use is becoming more popular, the efforts to collect it are raising new concerns in the environmental sense. Fracking will inevitably infiltrate our drinking water with the fracking chemicals and other contaminates from the ground. There are also national security implications with natural gas and there is evidence that switching to natural gas would provide the United States with the same, if not worse, situation as we have with oil (US Senate, 2010). Iran is actually a large holder of natural gas reserves, as well as other nations with similar relationships with the United States. If we end up invading Iran, it would be interesting to see how quick we move to “secure” the areas with high natural gas concentrations. This could likely be a repeat of the Iraq quagmire.

When I attended the Association of American Editorial Cartoonist convention last year in Washington D.C. I met many great cartoonists. One of the best cartoonists in the country is Gustavo Rodriquez, who is based in Florida. Born in Havana, Cuba in 1962, Rodriquez has been a cartoonist his entire life. In 2005, Gustavo entered the United States and has been a proud citizen ever since. He is a regular contributor to El Nuevo Herald newspaper, Martí Noticias and Yahoo! Noticias.

The never ending controversy over religion continues!

In the May 4 Salina Journal, Ariel, Koehler, and Martin responded to Prachta’s scathing criticism of their freedom of thought and privilege of sharing their minds with readers.

Well —— this old farmer will share his mind on all four of them. I believe in God. My God created the world. How, when, or why is not of any great concern of mine. He created all those writers, me, you, and everyone else. He created us with a mind capable of memory and planning for the future. We are not robots. He didn’t permanently program us, but gave us free will to act on our own. Some of us want to be “Gods” and rule the world to suit our whims. Some of us want to be like Cain, as described in Genesis, and declare we are not responsible for anyone or anything. Some of us egotistically declare our selves know it alls who have the facts or truth in every situation. (You just be still and I’ll declare what is!)

I’m no theologian and I have no advanced intellectual degrees. What I do have is a lifetime of experience dealing with family, community, and the world. It is quite evident that God, or whoever created mankind didn’t use a cookie cutter and decorate us with the same color and flavor of icing. Environment and culture is ever changing and reshaping us. Some of those changes have been to the good and some have not.

What is good? Equal opportunity? Equal responsibility? Both those equalities are good, but, remember, we are not all the same color, same flavor, same size, same age, same gender, etc. Therefore, from birth to death we are subject to and dependent upon one another to sustain our finite existence. I’ll depend upon God (the one in whom I believe) to look after infinity and the hereafter.

On May 1, 2013, I dropped by San Jose's City Hall after my work to attend a rally for immigration reform. The crowd was mostly Hispanic, but it also included white, Asian-American and African American individuals who are passionate about the issue. It was a very friendly and hopeful crowd, and when I asked if I could photograph individuals, they were always very happy to oblige. The speakers at the rally told the crowd that this is their time, that the recent elections in 2012 have given the Hispanic American population the political clout to pressure Congress to pass fair and meaningful immigration reform. I'll put on this blog some of the photos that I took of the event.

When I heard about the Boston Marathon bombings I was shocked and saddened at the suffering of the victims of the bombing. Americans came together to help the victims of the bombings get medical attention, shelter, food and monetary donations. One of the sad things, though, is the use of this event by a small group of people to blame all Muslims for the actions of two extremists. On April 15, 2013, Max Fisher wrote about the the Muslim world condemning the Boston Marathon bombings and the sense of dread that they held about the potential Islamophobic response as a result of the bombing. One has to be reminded of the decades of work of Christians, Jews and Muslims to reach out to each other and overcome a history of hostility to try to gain a new understanding and gain a greater respect for each other. One of the seminal events in the history of interfaith relationship between Christians, Jews and Muslims was the release of the document Nostra Aetate in 1965.

Wichita, Kansas—In March, PBS ran a documentary series on the women’s movement in America. As I watched, I saw that women had joined together in a movement that changed their lives, even the lives of those not directly involved in the movement, all over the country. My thoughts turned to the early 1990s, when Operation Rescue first came to Wichita to mount its weeks-long protest at the three abortion clinics here. I had moved to Wichita in 1985 and wasn’t involved in the local groups that worked for women’s rights in the state and around the country. I soon joined Wichita NOW, though, as it seemed to be a strong force against the OR tactics. I also joined with those who counter-demonstrated against Randall Terry’s mob of anti-choice extremists who brought chaos to the streets of Wichita and cost the city more than $600,000 in taxpayer money before they left town.

After the outsiders left Wichita, local anti-choice extremists continued the harassment at the clinics, so many of us continued doing clinic support wherever we were needed. What came out of that period for me was not just the satisfaction of giving moral support to patients seeking to exercise their rights, but also the bonding that took place among the women who felt strongly about protecting those rights. I made many close friends during that time, most of whom I’m still close to today. Among those friends were men, as well, men who believed women had the right to control their own bodies. However, it was the women joining together that made me realize a sea change had taken place in America and in Wichita. Women were in charge of seeing to it that their rights were protected.

I haven't had much of a chance to do any Jasper the cat cartoons this year, but I have done a few quick color cartoons for the Cartoon Movement website that criticize the economic system. I've been influenced on my views on the capitalist system by the Papal encyclicals and by the writings of Charles Dickens. Both the Popes and Charles Dickens give a moral critique of the economic system, and both believe the flaws of the economic system lie somewhere in the root of the system. In their view, the flaws of the capitalist system are just a magnification of the flaws of human nature. I agree with that view. Any system based on competition and the pursuit of self interest will always be vulnerable to selfishness and greed.

Thanks Ken for the blog. I appreciate it. Many people do not think I'm a real Christian, and maybe they are right. I appreciate the fact that you treat me like a fellow Christian, even if we may have some theological differences. I'm still trying to figure out what I still believe right now, but I am grateful for how the best parts of Christianity has had a positive impact on my life. No amount of bad church experiences can take that away from me.

I like what you wrote about intellectuals and practicality. We need both intellectuals and practical pastoral leaders. Hopefully the church will keep this in mind when picking the new Pope.

Angelo, I really like your cartoons. Their messages are straight forward and the illustratios are good. Is my opinion influenced by the fact that I very much agree with your idea of social justice and equity? We most likely have some theological differences, but that doesn't mean we can't work together for our ideals of justice and individual freedom.

Who the next Pope is and what his agenda will be should be of great concern and interest to all people, Protestant Christians, Catholics, other religious identities and those who claim no religious identification. The new Pope will be the leader of approximately 2 billion people. The Catholic organization is not Democratic. The Pope will be appointed by a hyerarchy of only a few men at the top of the order. He has the 'bully' pulpit for 6 or 7 times as many people as the President of the United States.

Your comments about him being more intellectual than practical or pastoral is true for many religious leaders of all faiths and denominations.

Some folks will say that 'practicality' has no place in religious theology or doctrine. How does Scripture or any religious history have any real value if we can't see practicality? If the Christian cannot make a rational comparison of culture and time when a particular scripture was written, how can we make it relate to our present situations? That doesn't take anything away from the idea that all Scripture was inspired by God. The stories and messages were given to a particular people in particular circumstances. Basic human nature has not changed, but circumstances, cultures, and technology have changed and those changes are coming more rapidly every year.

We need intellectuals to research and interpret history. Language changes are a tremendous challenge. Word meanings and phrases have done a lot of changing, just in my lifetime and can have great difference in application by regions. We, the common folks, have to rely on educated and dedicated research and interpretation. But, we also need dedicated pastoral leaders, who understand the real world of the present and leaders who can relate and communicate with all people of all faiths.

Among my facebook friends, there has been a lot of talk about the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI and their hopes for the next Pope. Many of my progressive friends dislike Benedict for his conservative views. If I met Pope Benedict, I'm sure I'd like him as a person. I deeply disagree, though, with his attempts to squash dissenting voices in his church and his push to make the Catholic Church smaller and more conservative. From my perspective, Pope Benedict seems like this shy bookwormy scholar who seems more comfortable talking about theology than in dealing with the pastoral needs of his flock. Unlike Pope John Paul II and Pope John XXIII, Pope Benedict had almost no pastoral experience, in taking care of the diverse needs of people in a church. Almost his entire experience has been in academia. In my cartoon, I'm hoping the next Pope reaches out to both Catholics and nonCatholics and offers a helping hand to the poor and the marginalized, like Jesus did 2,000 years ago.

When one looks at the great social movements that have changed America for the better, one of the things that becomes apparent is the diversity of viewpoints that are found among the various activists fighting for social change. Some activists are reformers who work within the political system to try to change laws and to elect political leaders who are sympathetic to their just cause. Some activists are more radical, who try to organize the marginalized and disenfranchised to empower them and bypass the existing political institutions to create more egalitarian systems of achieving justice. These radicals and reformers frequently disagree in their tactics and philosophies. Social change, though, is not possible without both radicals and reformers. A great example of this can be found in the civil rights movement.

Recently, I was interviewed by a young journalist, Katherine Joyce, who writes for Religion Dispatches, a liberal religious blog. She was interested in hearing from some of us in the pro-choice movement, particularly during the 1990s and early 2000s in Wichita, Kansas. As anyone who knows anything about that era, Wichita was the center of protests by Operation Rescue, then under the leadership of Randall Terry.

A lot of water has gone under, over, and around the bridge since those days of counter-demonstrating and clinic support that my pro-choice friends and I took part in. After Dr. George Tiller was murdered in his church by Scott Roeder, Troy Newman, who taken the Operation Rescue name for his anti-choice group, turned his attention to Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Missouri, hoping to continue to fatten his bank account, something that he had been able to do in the past by using Dr. Tiller as the big, bad, bogeyman of abortion. Now that Julie Burkhart, Dr. Tiller’s former spokesperson, is now opening a clinic, we in Wichita once again face the prospect of antis harassing and threatening abortion providers and anyone connected with the clinic. The Kansas State Legislature is already hard at work on bills that if passed will target abortion providers and make abortion access difficult for women.

Contempt is the weapon of the weak and a defense against one's own despised and unwanted feelings. -Alice Miller, psychologist and author (1923-2010)

Is this what we hear, when we listen to people talk about elected officials and how none of them are any good? Contempt is quite evident, when we see statistics showing poor ratings for all branches of our government. People have declared themselves to be weak and defenseless even in the election process. My one little vote leaves me weak and defenseless, so my contempt for the winning candidate is my answer?

Is the idea that everyone needs powerful weapons to defend themselves from government intrusion into their everyday lives a showing of contempt? Do those people advocating preparation to shoot anyone who crosses their path a contempt of life for anyone but themselves?

We, as a nation, claim to be a Christian nation. Aren’t we lucky that God doesn’t just show contempt toward us all? We are doing a very poor job of following the example of the gospel presented in our New Testament account of Jesus ministry and the teachings and practices of the early church. Man began showing contempt for anyone who didn’t pay homage to their superior knowledge of God’s intentions for worship and service. How was this showing contempt for the weak and defenseless? They first convinced the masses of people that they had the power to withhold God’s love and blessings. That put fear into the masses of people and their only defense then was to ignore their religious leaders. In today’s situation, masses of people are showing contempt for religion and especially for a branch of religion that is perceived to have allowed their leaders to abuse the weak and defenseless.

Is refusal to negotiate and compromise our defense? If we compromise we are weak, thus we refuse to compromise in order to prove we are not weak. How’s that working for everyone? Are we going to be stronger if we collapse our economy? Is blaming the other side for all our problems strengthening us? Or, is it just showing contempt for anyone we fear as being in control? And, in the end, we show contempt for ourselves.

Contempt is like hate, it doesn’t benefit anyone.

Incomes are flat in recovery, but not for the 1%. Incomes rose more than 11 percent for the top 1 percent of earners during the economic recovery, but not at all for everybody else, according to new data.

I'm not a research economist and I don't pretend to say the above is accurate to the nth degree. But as I observe the situation around me, I'm inclined to put a little trust in those figures.

The big farmers have gotten bigger, the small farmers have pretty much folded and become 'hobby' farmers. The total number of economic farm units have steadily decreased. Is that decrease an indication that the middle farm income units are losing while the biggest units are gaining? When will this trend end?

The 'mom & pop' entrepreneurs have, essentualy, dissappeared in the business world. Small companies have been swallowed up by bigger companies and those bigger companies have been forced to merge with conglomerate holding corporations. The compensation for the top level management of those merged entities have steadily increased while the floor level management and line workers have even been decreased in total compensation and benefits. Those decreases may not be reflected in paychecks, but the essentials those paychecks are expected to cover have increased.

This February we celebrate Black History Month, a time when we can celebrate the significant contributions of African Americans to our history. According to wikipedia, Black History Month had its beginnings in 1926, when historian Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History announced the second week of February to be "Negro History Week". This week was chosen because it marked the birthday of both Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. This idea grew in popularity over the decades, and in 1969, the Black United Students at Kent State University expanded the celebration of Black History from a week to a month. The first celebration of Black History Month occurred at Kent State in February of 1970. In 1976, the federal government recognized Black History Month. The United Kingdom first celebrated Black History Month in the month of October in 1987, with Canada recognizing February as Black History Month in 1995.

Here are some book suggestions that I found in the library for Black History Month. If possible, I tried to find youtube videos of the book.

Is it ‘separation of church & state’, ‘separation of Christian & state’, or is it ‘separation of religion and state’? None of those phrases are in the Constitution, but they are all three very much insinuated.

Our constitution clearly states that the Federal Government shall not favor any religious organization and that there shall not be any religious test to qualify for public office. That is in the U.S. Constitution. Does that apply to individual states within the union? Is there such a thing as the ‘supreme law of the land’? Can individual States ignore or overrule Federal law? Can individual States establish Christianity as their guiding principle in determining laws and regulations?

Angelo, those video clips are sad reminders of a period of time I well remember. I was born and raised in an all white and predominately Protestant community. There were a few negros in neighboring towns, but I never had any contact with any of them. The small school's league we were a part of had no negro students. Colby, our nearest large town wouldn't let colored folks eat in restaurants and wouldn't let them stay in the city limits over night. I had no reason to be racist, there was no one to be racist with.

When I moved to Wichita in the fall of 1953 was when I first really had any exposure to ethnic or religious minorities. The civil rights movement hadn't really taken off yet. A few bus seating and lunch counter protests were happening around the country. The Brown vs. Bd. of Education thing had not taken place yet.

When presidents Kennedy and Johnson led the Democrat party into supporting equal rights, the civil rights movement started gaining more traction. The Supreme Court made some landmark decisions in favor of equal rights. That was the beginning of the revolutionary turning of the South from solid Democrat to nearly solid Republican, today.

I never dreamt that I would have an opportunity to vote for a black man to be president of the U.S. His color has nothing to do with my voting for him. I like his positions on economics and civil rights. Economic issues play a decided role in a vast majority of people's fight for freedom to exercise equal rights in society. Race, gender, and sexual orientation should not have any bearing on an idividual's right to enjoy equal opportunity. I think President Obama has done a remarkable job in the face of bitter opposition from the conservative Republican establishment. Tea Party and Religious Right extemists have hollered louder than the Moderats of either party.

White male dominance in religion and politics is slowly being eroded away. Women's freedom of choice and both sex's freedom of orientation is slowly gaining traction. President Obama and the moderate to left of center Democratic majority are working toward an attempt to make freedom of choice a reality. Equal opportunity is still a dream for many.