Amid a driving rain Air Force One touched down in Havana, Cuba on the afternoon of Sunday, March 20, 2016. The President and the First Family descended the steps under a family of stiff black umbrellas, and TV reporters and pundits struggled to find a metaphor that fit the historic occasion. Finally one commentator, steel in the voice, proclaimed. ‘A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall’—there you have it, a reference to Dylan’s song from 1963. Continue reading Bob Dylan and the Gospel Songs
‘I Believe’ is a music video on YouTube, based on one of my songs, that looks at the struggles people have faced for as long as we have been on this earth. It also imagines the positive things that are possible if we can somehow, someday, get it right.
Please check it out on my YouTube channel. 
Next month, ‘Romero’– an article on Oscar Romero, the Archbishop of El Salvador. Hero, martyr, a voice for the voiceless in a time of oppressive government rule.
Since announcing his bid to be the Republican Party’s nominee for President of the United States, Dr. Ben Carson has been at or near the top of the polls. Despite the success of his campaign thus far, he has actually said very little about his core values, why he’s running for president, in mainstream media interviews. One can only speculate as to why this is the case, but the media coverage that he has received thus far—concentrating on anecdotes that he has mentioned in his books, stories that have occurred over fifty years ago when he was a teenager–has probably played a role in the candidate’s ability to share his core values with a wide audience. In addition, some of his public statements, which some have called controversial, has overshadowed a candid discussion on why he wants to be president.
There is no shortage of information on his key values, however. The numerous books that he has either authored or co-authored provide a window into his beliefs about his country, where it has been, and where it’s going.
A lifelong physician, Dr. Carson has little experience on foreign policy issues, and some would argue that his executive experience—like running a large organization or creating jobs—is rather thin. He cites his experience as head of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins, a board member of a number of large organizations—including Costco and the Kellogg Company, as well as the president and co-founder of the Carson Scholars Fund, [1]. His competitors by contrast have all won statewide office or have run large businesses.
Dr. Carson’s view, by any examination, would be considered conservative, but even so, as recently as April 2, 2014 he was a registered Independent, [2]. He has however voted Republican since 1984 [3].
He is unique among candidates due to his inspirational story of overcoming poverty and racism to become one of the most renowned brain surgeons in the world. That, as well as a very bold Christian faith, has made him one of the most popular presidential candidates, of either party. It’s no surprise then that his personal values are playing a huge role in his campaign thus far. An examination of his books, interviews and speeches reveal several values that are particularly prominent. And these are the issues I will touch on in this paper.
My take on his key issues are the following:
On February 7, 2013, at the National Prayer Breakfast at the Washington Hilton in the U.S. capital, Dr. Ben Carson stood a few feet from the President of the United States, gave the keynote speech, [1] and stepped into the national spotlight. A little less than two years and three months later, on May 4, 2015, at Detroit’s Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts, Dr. Carson announced his bid to become the Republican Party’s nominee for the President of the United States. [2].
Since his announcement, Dr. Carson, who has never held political office, has consistently ranked at or near the top in the myriad of political polls, second only to the outspoken billionaire real-estate tycoon, Donald Trump, and way ahead of experienced elected officials like former Florida governor, Jeb Bush, Senator Marco Rubio, and current Ohio governor, John Kasich. What has propelled this unlikely freshman candidate to the top of the polls in the race to become the next President of the United States? Nothing less than a real-life Horatio Alger story of a poor inner-city kid from Detroit and Boston who would one day become one of the most renowned brain surgeons in the world.
As Dr. Ben Carson campaigns to become the Republican nominee for President, his backstory has become increasingly well known. Much has been written and broadcasted about him since his ascendancy to the top of the polls. In this article—which will examine his medical career, and the subsequent article—which will examine his social views—I will attempt to examine the portrait of the man that has emerged from his own pen, from his speeches, and interviews that he has granted. I’m primarily interested in understanding Dr. Carson from his point of view, not from the perspective of a journalist or pundit who may or may not have a built-in bias, or a personal, professional or political agenda.
If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. Romans 12:18,19 (NIV)
Background
We are inundated with images of violence from the time we are able to watch a television program, or play a video game. According to a 1999 report for the U.S Senate Committee on the Judiciary entitled, ‘Children, Violence, and the Media’, an American child will see 16,000 simulated murders and 200,000 acts of violence on television by their eighteenth birthday [1].
‘Action’ films as they are often called, and cop shows, with a steady drip of fisticuffs, gunplay and explosions into the culture’s bloodstream, have dominated Western—indeed world-wide entertainment–for years. If repetition is a marker of success, then violence in entertainment is undoubtedly one of the most successful business models in history, comparable, probably, only to the sex industry. But there is a significant difference between the two. While titillating images of scantily clad women abound on film, on television programs, commercials, and even news programs –the ‘real’ sex industry, pornography, is still taboo, primarily consumed in the privacy of one’s home. ‘Action films’ –I’m using the term to describe films that not only contain lots of physical stunts or car chases, but significant beatings, gunplay and/ or high body counts–are distributed openly in movie theatres and in your neighbourhood department stores, as acceptable forms of entertainment anyone can consume.
It was a wildly unexpected and incongruous rant, head-snapping from its bizarre perspective. The host of a primetime show on the left-leaning U.S television news network, MSNBC, publicly excoriating a film by an African-American director and boasting a primarily black cast, Selma—a film that presented the story of one of the pivotal chapters in the American struggle for civil rights. [1] Continue reading Selma
A Confession
By Leo Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) is regarded as one of the world’s greatest writers, and his most famous works, War and Peace (1869) and Anna Karenina (1877) are considered two of the greatest novels ever written, [1]. Authors as diverse as Anton Chekov, William Faulkner, and Fyodor Dostoyevsky have acknowledged his literary contributions. James Joyce has called his story ‘How Much Land Does a Man Need’ the greatest story in world literature, [2] and Virginia Woolf regarded him as the greatest of all novelists, [1] Continue reading Tolstoy’s Confession
Heaven is for Real is a motion picture released in 2014 based on the book, Heaven is for Real: A Little Boy’s Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back, published in 2010. It’s billed as the true life story of the Burpo family living in the small town of Imperial, Nebraska. Continue reading To Heaven and Back
935 Lies
The Future of Truth and the Decline of America’s Moral Integrity
By Charles Lewis
364 pages
Published by PublicAffairs, 2014
‘[I]n the two years after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, President George W. Bush and seven of his administration’s top officials made at least 935 false statements about the national security threat posed by Iraq.’ This statement, taken from a report published by a team of reporters and other contributors headed by Charles Lewis, the author of this book, is the starting point of this thought-provoking, meticulously researched examination of the lack of truth and integrity in the corridors of power: in government, private industry and in the commercial media.
Mr. Lewis structures his thesis in three major sections. First, significant lies in the recent past, including deceptions about the Vietnam War, the American Civil Rights Movement, and the business community are explored. The second is an examination of commercial journalism today, and how changes in that arena have affected the ‘quality and quantity’ of news coverage. The third is his vision of the ‘future of truth’, how the telling of truth through the vehicle of investigative journalism–to the masses of readers, listeners and viewers–can be preserved, given the tremendous pressures to the contrary.
The Mountaintop
By Katori Hall
Presented by the Shaw Festival
In association with the Obsidian Theatre
July 16 — September 7, 2014
Katori Hall was born in 1981 and grew up in Memphis, Tennessee. As a child her mother related stories of the Civil Rights Movement and of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr in particular. She is a graduate of The Julliard School, with an MFA in playwrighting. Before she turned 30 The Mountaintop had been performed in London, England, and in several cities in the United States.
The Mountaintop is a one-act play set in Martin Luther King’s room at the Lorraine motel, in Memphis, Tennessee, the night before he was assassinated. He had just delivered the speech in support of the city’s sanitation workers, the speech where he famously and presciently spoke of the ‘mountaintop’, where he said he ‘might not get there with you’, but he is not afraid of ‘any man’, because ‘mine eyes have seen the glory of the promised land’.
Continue reading The Mountaintop