John McCain's accelerated character attacks against Barack Obama took an ugly turn last week as McCain supporters sneered scathing epithets against Barack Obama, often right at running news cameras. Obama was most frequently called a "terrorist," an "Arab," with shouts of "Bomb Obama" and "Kill him" frequently permeating McCain/Palin rallies unchallenged by the candidates. This is the net product of John McCain's increasing desperation to discredit Obama by any means necessary. McCain and running mate Alaska Governor Sarah Palin have actively rallied hate and racism with the intent, perhaps, to discredit Obama or to at least make the American public fear an Obama administration. Washington Post: Yesterday, civil rights leader John Lewis, a Democratic congressman from Georgia, became the latest advocate to excite the racial debate, condemning Sen. John McCain for "sowing the seeds of hatred and division" and accusing the Republican nominee of potentially inciting violence. "I am deeply disturbed by the negative tone of the McCain-Palin campaign. What I am seeing reminds me too much of another destructive period in American history," Lewis, 68, wrote in a statement. McCain, who has repeatedly hailed Lewis as a personal hero, immediately called the comments "shocking and beyond the pale." It's a bit shocking to me to think the senator and governor are naive enough to not realize the actual product of their fear mongering would be hate, and that, should any harm come to Senator Obama, their disgraceful tactics would be the approximate cause. Inciting a crowd to violence is a criminal offense, and it was comically sad to see clips of McCain rallies this week, with McCain supporters spewing ignorance and hatred while tripping over themselves to find new ways to call Senator Obama a nigger without actually using that word. For his part, McCain seemed to have finally realized his tactic had crossed the line (actually, senator, the line is several miles behind you), when he was forced to actually defend Obama at a campaign stop, wherein McCain was booed by his own supporters for calling Obama, "a decent family man that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues." The overall improvisational method of the McCain campaign (i.e. they're making it up as they go) has landed the senator in a place where even his friends agree he's gone too far. His rallies are now not qualitatively different from those the Ku Klux Klan might host: an hour of people spewing irrational, uninformed and ignorant hatred of a man who has done them absolutely no harm. A man about whom they know only one thing for certain: he's black. Clean it up all you want, that's the bottom line of the McCain/Palin surge. McCain hoped to induce fear, but he has inspired hate. He has rallied thousands of Lee Harvey Oswalds while alienating his dwindling number of friends, with even Republicans now openly criticizing him. I am appalled by the McCain campaign and deeply offended by his crusade of fear and hatred, perhaps best summarized by his dismissive thumbing at Senator Obama, referring to him as, "That one," at last week's debate. Folks: if you've never in your life had a reason to get off the couch and actually *do* something, you have one now.

President Bush met with the G7 (Group Of Seven; finance ministers of seven industrialized nations) seeking to head off a global economic crisis, but left empty-handed as the member states offered only piecemeal solutions to what the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warns could be a "global economic meltdown." Last week, the U.S. Stock Exchange suffered its worst loss in history, worse even than The Great Depression, triggering, at the very least, a deep economic recession and possibly much worse. This has been described as the worst economic situation of our lifetimes. Pastors: if you are not discussing this with your congregation, I honestly don't know what it is you think you are called to do.