Archives

It’s early morning in the heart of Oakland’s Skid Row, and Steve F. is coming toward us, me and Artie G., from across the street, bouncing from leg to leg, waving at us with one hand and balancing a styrofoam plate with a few pancakes in the other hand, grinning his maniac drug grin.

The dictatorship in Honduras used the weapons of fear and repression to suppress the people’s freedom to search for a just solution in faith and hope.  Our inter-faith delegation went to strengthen faith, hope, freedom and peaceful solutions.

The Roman Catholic Church still has a long way to go to develop a respectful relationship of equality with the Jewish people and Judaism as a religion. Vestiges of Christian superiority reveal  our unacknowledged fear that we crucify Christ everyday by our shameful behavior.  – Excerpt of Unpublished Thesis for Master of Arts. For full thesis, send request to

Easter is traditionally a joyous time for Christians – and a time of terror for Jews. For centuries Christians left Good Friday services on murderous rampages  against Jesus’ own Jewish people, claiming revenge on the “Christ-killers.”

But if we Christians looked in the mirror, we would see we ourselves are the true “Christ-killers,” nailing Jesus to the Cross every day by our sins. Imagine history reverses itself and the armies of persecution turn against Christian churches and neighborhoods.

If you find some references in “A Journey of Passion” unfamiliar to you, this Commentary and Guide is  intended to provide context.  The boldfaced words in the main story refer to brief explanations below, following the style of ancient biblical commentaries.

The wounds of the Holocaust, particularly in the relations between the Roman Catholic Church and worldwide Jewry, will not be healed until they are healed in Poland.

Excerpt of Unpublished Thesis, Master of Theological Studies
For full thesis, send request by email to

The LORD said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. – Gen. 4:10

In 2005, after years of reading about the U.S. military’s bombing  campaigns and torture around the world, I could take it no longer. El Salvador. Guatemala. Then Iraq. So I quit my job at the San Jose Mercury News and made one tiny effort to reclaim a shred of integrity as a U.S. citizen

The decline of the middle class began more than 30 years ago when social values eroded and the traditional warnings against debt were cast aside.  Our way of life slid slowly into bankruptcy long before the current crisis. This essay calls for basic changes in our way of living. 

Many readers responded to my original essay on our debt-driven way of living in “Going Broke on $44,500 a Year,” published in the San Jose Mercury News. Here are some of the suggestions that they offered to solve the middle class debt crisis.

Try this Financial Worksheet!  1. Add up your total assets. 2. Add up your total assets a month later. 3. Calculate the change: 2-1 = 3. Is #3 positive? You’ve saved money, and your income is greater than your expenses. If #3 negative, you’re in the hole and sliding down the rabbit hole of debt and illusion. All the rest is details.