Friday, August 31, 2018
Thursday, August 30, 2018
Free book excerpt #29 from Author Rev. Paul J. Bern
Coming this fall from Author Rev. Paul J. Bern, the Fourth Edition of his landmark 2011 book, "The Middle and Working Class Manifesto", the book of dissidence for all dissidents everywhere! Do you wish to become the change you seek, but don't know where to begin? Giving this book a good read first will definitely help clarify things for you!
(1st edition cover shown)
I
Dare To Dream
(excerpt
from “The
Middle and Working Class Manifesto 4th Edition”
by Pastor Paul J. Bern, in commemoration of the 55th anniversary of Rev. Dr. King's "I have a Dream" speech)
The
march of economic inequality, from which springs the source of
racism, poverty, crime, violence, and lack of access to healthcare
and higher education, has become the new civil rights issue of the
21st
century. (I like to call it Rev. Dr. MLK, Jr. 2.0.) King's dream of
unconditional equality throughout the country can finish becoming a
reality when the economic barriers that we all face on a daily basis
finally come down for good, like an economic Berlin Wall circa 1989.
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke to the masses during the 1963
civil rights march on Washington and said, “I have a dream...”.
By writing and publishing these words it is my intent to help take up
where King's Dream left off, and to do anything I can to help finish
the job that he started. And so let me slightly change that to, “I
dare to dream”.
I dare
to dream of a world in which the gap between rich and poor is gone
forever. We all deserve to live in a world where wealth has been
redistributed in a peaceful and orderly manner and not by the barrel
of a gun. I dare to dream of a country where wealth has been
redistributed in 4 ways. First, every worker earns a living wage so
poverty can be eliminated. Second, free higher education and
vocational retraining must be available to every worker for life,
including daycare available to all who need it, because everyone has
the right to better themselves at will. Third, I envision an America
where quality health care is available to every worker at nominal
cost for life. Single-payer healthcare based on the current Medicare
model must not be reserved only for those who can afford it, but it
must be a fundamental human right for all ages. Fourth, “we the
people” demand the abolition of the federal tax code, including
elimination of the despised federal withholding tax, which would give
every American worker or business owner an immediate 18% pay raise.
I dare
to dream of an America where there will be no such thing as someone
without health insurance, where every citizen will have lifetime
healthcare and prescription drug coverage without qualification, and
where there will be the fewest sick days for American workers and
their children of any country in the developed world.
I
dare to dream of a new America with a robust and viable economy. That
is why I have been insisting on a $14.00
per hour minimum wage since 2010.
I dare to dream of a new America where education will be subsidized
from the cradle to the grave so that the US develops the most
formidable work force the world has ever seen.
I
dare to dream of an America where all workers have the right to
organize, to a flexible work week and to paid family or maternity
leave. Most other developed countries already do this. The US is the
only exception and that has got to change. The only remaining
question in my mind is whether we can accomplish this peacefully or
otherwise, and it is looking more and more to me like it will be the
latter.
I dare
to dream of an America where affordable housing is the law of the
land, where home ownership becomes a right and not a privilege so we
can wipe out homelessness, and where the price of a house is limited
to the sum total of ten years income of any given individual or
household purchasers. I insist on a country where home ownership
isn't part of an exclusive club with the highest “credit scores”.
It is, and must become, a basic human right. Even the cave men lived
in caves of their own!
I dare
to dream of a country with new public works programs that put an end
to unemployment forever so the USA can have full employment all the
time. America's infrastructure needs to be rebuilt, and its inner
cities are in dire need of an overhaul. What a better way to
accomplish this!
I dare
to dream of a new America with an all-new public school and
university system that has an Internet-based curriculum that can be
updated at will, with a new and more intensive school year, that has
viable replacements for standardized testing, and where class size is
limited by law.
I dare
to dream of a country where teachers, police officers and
firefighters make what their Congressional representatives make, and
vice verse.
I dare
to dream of a new nation where unconditional equality is the law of
the land for every citizen without exception, and this will include
economic equality. I dare to dream of a new America where there is no
more income tax, no capital gains tax, no alternative minimum tax, no
estate tax, no self-employment tax, and where families and businesses
can have a tax free income unless they are very wealthy. In its place
would be a national sales tax, such as a Consumption Tax, where
everyone pays proportionately the same tax rate on only what they
consume, plus an “excess wealth tax” for persons with annual
incomes exceeding $3 million, and for businesses with annual proceeds
exceeding $300 million, so America's budget can be balanced and fair.
I dare
to dream of a better USA where personal privacy is the law of the
land, where identity theft is a thing of the past, and where it will
be illegal for employers to obtain the credit files or credit scores
of any job applicant.
I dare
to dream of a more compassionate America where children have the
right to a challenging and progressive learning environment, and
where kids will be legally guaranteed freedom from hunger, sickness
and violence, and where all God's children will have the legislated
right to safe adoption, foster care and day care.
I dare
to dream of an all-new voting system, including the abolition of the
elitist Electoral College, that is Internet-based, paperless, and
that can be accessed from any location using any computer or wireless
device, instead of wasting our time and fuel and losing work time
going to polling stations, and instead of using unreliable and
unsecured voting machines.
I dare
to dream of an America of integrity where all of the dirty corporate
money and all the filthy lucre is abolished from our political
process. I dare to dream of an America where the Wall Street shysters
who crashed the US economy are brought to justice, and where the keys
to all of the fraudulently foreclosed homes are returned to their
rightful owners.
I dare
to dream of the end to America's sinister war on drugs, where all
convicted nonviolent drug offenders can qualify for alternative
sentences for their offenses so they may obtain early release, and
where any currently illegal drugs having medicinal value, such as
marijuana, psylocibin and peyote are legalized, regulated and taxed
by appropriate legislation.
Finally,
I dare to dream of a world in which all this is easily financially
achievable, since all the money that is being wasted currently on the
CIA's clandestine wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, and to a lesser
extent in Pakistan, Somalia, Libya and elsewhere will be redirected
towards all these dreams that I have just mentioned. The money is
already there, its just being budgeted in all the wrong places. Let
me tell you why.
If the
US military took all the money it spends occupying Afghanistan (don't
forget we've been there for 17 years) for just one day and put it
into an interest-bearing account, there would be enough money
available to send every American school kid from the first grade up
to senior high school, plus through 4 years of college fully paid
for, including tuition, dorms, books, food, access to the Internet
and to public transportation. Here's another example: If the US
government took all that money set aside from one days worth of
military expenditures in Afghanistan alone, there would be enough
money to build a 2,500 square feet house, fully furnished and stocked
with groceries, with all the utilities already turned on, for every
homeless person in the US, especially all the homeless kids. That's
how easily we can end homelessness in the richest country in the
world.
Just as
surely as there was an Arab Spring beginning in 2011 that is still
ongoing in Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia and Somalia, to name a few, so I
am telling you that there will be an American Spring, Summer of Fall
in her near future. In fact, I'm surprised it hasn't already begun.
Beginning in 2011 with the start-up of the “Occupy” and “99%”
Movements, of which I am still proud to be a part, this uprising of
the American people against the top 1% will explode like an atomic
mushroom cloud over the American political and economic elite,
obliterating them all in a bloodless coup without anyone having fired
a single shot – so that the remaining 99% of us can peacefully take
back what has been stolen from us over the last 100 years. We can
only accomplish this by uniting together as one and acting as one
body to break free from the shackles of oppression that have us all
enslaved. Who is with me today?
You
have just read the end of chapter 9 of my book, “The
Middle and Working Class Manifesto 4th Edition” by Rev. Paul J. Bern. To visit my author
landing page, go to www.authorrevpauljbern.com.
Pre-ordering available starting in October. Thanks so much. Shalom!
Monday, August 27, 2018
Sunday, August 26, 2018
The ongoing nuclear disaster in the western Pacific ocean, and why the US is to blame
The
Ongoing Nuclear Disaster in Fukushima,
Japan,
and the Culpability of the United States
in the
Destruction of the Pacific Ocean
by Pastor
Paul J. Bern
For
better phone, tablet or website viewing, click
here :-)
The
worst nuclear disaster to strike Japan since a single bomb fell over
Nagasaki in August 1945 occurred on March 11, 2011 at the Fukushima
nuclear power plant following the earthquake and epic tsunami of that
fateful day. The New York Times reported the disturbing news some
months afterwards that a wide area around the Fukushima plant "could
soon be declared uninhabitable, perhaps for decades, after a
government survey found radioactive contamination that far exceeded
safe levels. The formal announcement was the first official
recognition that the March accident could force the long-term
depopulation of communities near the plant, an eventuality that
scientists and some officials have been warning about for months."
Just two weeks later, it was reported that radiation readings at the
site had reached their highest points to date. The wide release of
radiation, and fear of same, has forced the Japanese and others all
over the world to reflect on what happened to the country in 1945,
and the continuing existential threat of nuclear weapons and energy
today.
In its
main story in August 2011 marking the 66th anniversary of the atomic
bombings, the Times highlighted the new activism of survivors of the
bombing (the “hibakusha”) this year; campaigning against nuclear
power, which has provided most of their country's energy needs. No
one in the world can relate to the fears of a wide populace terrified
that they (and perhaps the unborn) may be tainted forever by exposure
to airborne radiation. One may ask how it is possible that Japan,
after its experience with the atomic bombings, could allow itself to
draw so heavily on the same nuclear technology for the manufacture of
about a third of its energy? There was resistance, much of it from
Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors. But there was also a pattern of
denial, cover-up and cozy bureaucratic collusion between industry and
government, the last especially notorious in Japan but by no means
limited to that country.
Sumiteru
Taniguchi, now 82 and currently director of the Nagasaki A-Bomb
Survivors Council, recently commented about the above NYT article,
"When the conversation turns to the ongoing crisis at the
Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant it is as if the floodgates open,"
Taniguchi said. "Nuclear power and mankind cannot coexist. We
survivors of the atomic bomb have said this all along. And yet, the
use of nuclear power was camouflaged as 'peaceful' and
continued to progress. You never know when there's going to be a
natural disaster. You can never say that there will never be a
nuclear accident." Taniguchi is perhaps the main iconic
symbol of the “hibakusha” today, thanks to footage of him taken
after the bombing, showing him, months after the attack, still on a
floor, spread-eagled, his entire back an open wound, flaming red. It
was part of footage shot by a US film crew, and suppressed for
decades.
In
April, 2011, five survivors' organizations including Taniguchi's
Nagasaki group submitted a statement to the Japanese government
declaring the collapse of the "safety myth" around nuclear
power and demanding a change in the government's energy policy to
prevent creating any more “hibakusha”. Their statement further
demanded that it distribute health record booklets — similar to the
ones that are distributed to atomic bomb victims and can be used as
proof of radiation exposure — to nuclear power plant workers and
residents living close to them, and also provide periodic health
examinations to those populations. It is a well-hidden fact (thanks
to the lame stream media) that numerous A-bomb survivors over the
decades sought help from the government after falling ill or
suffering cancer and other diseases, allegedly from radiation
exposure, but by many accounts had been abandoned. Will the people
who are suffering from invisible dangers in Fukushima be subjected to
the same treatment? Probably, unless more people start speaking up.
As I
write this, Japan and TEPCO, the Japanese utility company that has
been in charge of this ever-widening disaster, are making futile
attempts to stop the gushing leakage of many tons of radioactive
seawater that is coming from the three melted-down reactors. The
entire northern Pacific ocean is now contaminated by this radioactive
seawater. It will remain this way for a very long time afterward –
decades at the very least. Contrast this to God's original
instructions that he gave to us at the creation of the earth. “Then
God said, 'Let us make man in our image, in our likeness and let them
rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the
livestock over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move
along the ground.' So God created man in his own image, in the image
of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed
them and said to them, 'Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the
earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of
the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground'.”
(Genesis chapter 1, verses 26-28)
In other words, God put humankind in charge of the planet right from
the start. If a manager did to a company what we have done to the
earth, we'd all be in jail!
The
book of Revelation states quite clearly what will ultimately happen
to those who pollute the earth, such as what happened at Chernobyl in
the 1980's and in 2011 at Fukushima – and what America did to Japan
in 1945. “And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on
their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God,
saying: 'We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, the One who is and
who was, because you have taken your great power and have begun to
reign. The nations were angry, and your wrath has come. The time has
come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the
prophets and your saints and those who reverence your name, both
small and great – and for destroying those who destroy the earth'”
(Rev. chapter 11, verses 16-18).
'Destroy those who destroy the earth'? So much radioactive leakage
from Fukishima, Japan has polluted the northern Pacific ocean that it
is now effectively dead. All life from Japan eastward to Midway atoll
and beyond, all the way north to the Aleutian islands and as far away
as the Canadian west coast have been wiped out. And it's all our
fault!
When it
comes to nuclear issues — from atomic weapons to nuclear power —
no two nations could be more irredeemably intertwined than Japan and
the US. The United States is the country that 'introduced' the world
to the splitting of the atom. This has resulted in the proliferation
of nuclear weapons and atomic energy, and it has threatened to wipe
us out as a species ever since. After the atomic destruction of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, despite dissenting voices of some of its own
citizens, America drew mostly wrong conclusions as it plunged into
nuclear expansion. There was a relentless public relations campaign —
unleashed by the Truman administration almost within hours of the
Hiroshima bombing — that led to the erroneous conclusion that
blinded the Americans (and later the Japanese) to the insidious,
long-term damage of radiation. Prominent journalists and media
outlets of the time embraced, with enthusiasm, the so-called “Dawn
of the Atomic Age” and America fell into a kind of nuclear trance
that remains with us to this day.
Psalm
24, verse 1 says, “The earth is the Lord's and everything in
it”, and Psalm 108 verse 5 finishes the thought with, “and
let your (God's) glory fill all the earth”. This planet isn't
ours, we're supposed to be caretakers. We didn't make this place, God
did. So who are we to just wantonly ruin the earth for the shallow
and meaningless goal of profit? Is there anybody who seriously thinks
that God is pleased with us because we have ruined the planet? I will
tell you this much, because this is all I know about what God thinks.
God is furious and thoroughly enraged at what humanity has done. I
warn you all with a sternness you don't always see and hear from me
that the consequences of our actions will define and make manifest
God's response. The first two sets of people God is coming for are
the militaries and rich industrialists of the world. They're the ones
who financed and developed nuclear power. So, when world war three
commences, and it will sooner or later, God is going to let it happen
so He can destroy them all at once. That what Jesus really meant when
he said, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth”
(Matt. 5: 5) What a great day that will be!
Friday, August 24, 2018
Sunday, August 19, 2018
Ever put a nail through your hand? I've had one, but Jesus got triple that amount.
Some
Reflections On Nail Scarred Hands
by Pastor
Paul J. Bern
For
better phone, tablet, or a website viewing, click
here :-)
I
spent an unplanned 27- hour visit to the emergency room this past
week after slipping on a tarp that was laying across the ground and
landing on my shoulder blades just before the rest of me came
crashing down with it. I don't own a car right now, so I use public
transit and the occasional “Lyft” ride to get around. But, I was
on my way to rent a car that morning when all this occurred. After I
got off the morning train and discovering that my bus wasn't at the
station yet (when it should have been), I found myself suddenly
needing to take a quick personal break. It's a side effect of some of
the medicine I take for my medical issues. So, I ducked behind a
large electrical transformer and finished my little 'break', and I'm
about to cross the bus lane to go back into the station. I'm walking
across an old tarp that covered the ground near where I had been
when, without warning, it suddenly gave way, partially rolling up
while my feet went up in the air, and I landed on my shoulder blades
before the rest of me caught up them. I hit my head hard enough to
get a mild concussion. If mine was mild, I sure would hate to ever
get a really bad one!
But
that wasn't the part that really hurt. When I rolled over on my
stomach to pick myself up, I put my left hand part-way through a
rusty nail that was embedded in the tarp. I never even saw the darn
thing, but I sure did feel it! Even though my entire left arm
recoiled from the sharp pain sensation, that nail still went about
halfway through my left hand. Now here's where things get a little
dicey. I'm a stroke survivor, by the grace and mercy of Almighty God.
I have a history of embolisms, or blood clots, in my legs, one lung,
and once in my head which caused my stroke to occur back in 2006. As
before, I thank God wholeheartedly for allowing me to survive all
these things. To counteract this tendency, I take a blood thinner
call Coumadin. So the puncture wound in my left hand was bleeding
like crazy from the effects of this drug. Fortunately, I carry a
washcloth in my pocket to wipe the sweat off my brow during the hot
summer months here in Atlanta. So I used it to apply pressure to the
wound, but it still bled for a very long time.
Just
before getting back on the train, I called the gentleman who I was
going to rent the car from, explained everything including my being
headed to the hospital, and canceled the rental before boarding. I
vividly recall the throbbing pain in my hand as I rode the public
transit train back towards midtown Atlanta where my doctors are
located. There was a dull kind of pain in my head that was half there
and half not, an sensation that turned out to be the concussion I
mentioned above. Since I was already in that particular hospital's
computer system, it made no sense to go anywhere else since I knew in
advance that my insurance would be accepted. So I spent roughly 27
hours in Emory Hospital's midtown Atlanta location, and emerged none
the worse for the experience. Many thanks and blessings to all the
doctors and nurses who took care of me, you are all appreciated so
much!
While
in the hospital, I found myself unable to grasp things or pick them
up with my left hand. Although I'm normally ambidextrous, having
spent 2 decades as a computer and Windows network service tech, I
have had to temporarily go back to being strictly right-handed like I
was as a much younger man. But none of this has given me pause as has
this one thing – knowing first hand what it's like to have a nail
pierce the palm of your hand like it did mine. You know, just like
what Jesus Christ experienced when those Roman soldiers were nailing
him to that rugged old cross. For just a split second of excruciating
pain, I was privileged enough to experience what Jesus must have felt
as he was hanging on that cross for three agonizing hours of searing
pain throughout his entire body, since his feet were nailed too. In a
very small way, I know what it's like to have a nail-scarred hand,
and I just like to say I am humbled by this experience.
Having
the privilege to experience the same kind of pain Christ did, even if
only for a brief moment, it's now been 3 days since I experienced
this. My hand is slowly healing, but it has caused me to reflect on
this occurrence in my life a great deal. We never know when things
will go wrong in our lives, but the way it knocks us down doesn't
count for much. It's how we pick ourselves up afterward – that is,
I believe, the true measure of every man and woman. Our ability to
bounce back from adversity says a lot more about us than how or where
we fell. Our ability to extract the lessons learned from those kinds
of experiences, while leaving the negative results behind us as we
move forward – it is precisely this that is closest to how God sees
us. Above all, never forget that Jesus died for you by allowing
himself to be nailed to a rough old wooden cross, and that he offered
no resistance. In the same way, let's all not resist when God is
trying to teach us something, but let's all let in sink in –
literally!
Saturday, August 18, 2018
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