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Thursday, October 16, 2003
The Patriot Act comes to Boston
(Via David Weinbergers's JOHO blog) JOHO - October 15, 2003:
John Ashcroft had the chutzpah to stage the Boston leg of his pro-PATRIOT Act road show in Faneuil Hall, where Sam Adams proclaimed the liberties he was ready to die for. Apparently, this is the first time Faneuil Hall has been closed to the public for a political event since it was built in 1742.
Here are some of the signs I enjoyed:
The Bill of Rights is the real Patriot Act
Take your empire and shove it
Boston knows patriotism. This is no patriot act.
Hey Mr. Ashcroft, Little Brother is watching you!
Time for another Tea Party
Ashcroft is more evil than Steinbrenner "
John Ashcroft had the chutzpah to stage the Boston leg of his pro-PATRIOT Act road show in Faneuil Hall, where Sam Adams proclaimed the liberties he was ready to die for. Apparently, this is the first time Faneuil Hall has been closed to the public for a political event since it was built in 1742.
Here are some of the signs I enjoyed:
The Bill of Rights is the real Patriot Act
Take your empire and shove it
Boston knows patriotism. This is no patriot act.
Hey Mr. Ashcroft, Little Brother is watching you!
Time for another Tea Party
Ashcroft is more evil than Steinbrenner "
Which news is fair and balanced -- and truthful? Survey
**Apparently, your news source has a lot to do with the position you hold on controversial issues. Like the Iraq war. Check out this study, via Utne.com
The Power of Propaganda
Study shows mistaken impressions about Iraq war fed by TV news. A majority of Americans held at least one of three false perceptions about the war in Iraq, according to a recent study, and these contributed to popular support for the war.
...
Importantly, the study found that the misperceptions correlated greatly with the respondent's primary news source. Eighty percent of those who relied on Fox News and 71 percent of those who relied on CBS believed at least one of the mistaken perceptions. Comparably, 47 percent of those who said they relied on newspapers and magazines and 23 percent of PBS viewers or National Public Radio listeners held at least one of the three falsities to be true.
The Power of Propaganda (News) Frank Davies
The Power of Propaganda
Study shows mistaken impressions about Iraq war fed by TV news. A majority of Americans held at least one of three false perceptions about the war in Iraq, according to a recent study, and these contributed to popular support for the war.
...
Importantly, the study found that the misperceptions correlated greatly with the respondent's primary news source. Eighty percent of those who relied on Fox News and 71 percent of those who relied on CBS believed at least one of the mistaken perceptions. Comparably, 47 percent of those who said they relied on newspapers and magazines and 23 percent of PBS viewers or National Public Radio listeners held at least one of the three falsities to be true.
The Power of Propaganda (News) Frank Davies
Monday, October 13, 2003
Excerpts from "Beyond Belief - the Secret Gospel of Thomas"
** Synopsis
p. 34
…many scholars are now convinced that the New Testament Gospel of John, probably written at the end of the first cen-tury, emerged from an intense debate over who Jesus was -- or is. To my surprise, having spent many months comparing the Gospel of John and the Gospel of Thomas, which may have been written at about the same time, I have now come to see that John's gospel was written in the heat of controversy, to defend certain views of Jesus and to oppose others.
What John opposed, as we shall see, includes what the Gospel of Thomas teaches -- that God's light shines not only in Jesus but, potentially at least, in everyone. Thomas's gospel encourages the hearer not so much to believe in Jesus, as John requires, as to seek to know God through one's own, divinely given capacity, since all are created in the image of God. For Christians in later generations, the Gospel of John helped provide a foundation for a unified church, which Thomas, with its emphasis on each person's search for God, did not.
35
Nevertheless, I intended that book to raise certain questions: Why had the church decided that these texts were "hereti-cal" that only the canonical gospels were "orthodox"? Who made the decisions, and under what conditions? As my colleagues and I looked for answers, I began to understand the political concerns that shaped the early Christian move-ment.
NOTE:These are simply the passages in this book that appealed to me. Undoubtedly, you would have made other selections. My purpose in presenting these excerpts is not only to give an accounting of what I deemed interesting, but to present ideas you might find interesting through your own read-ing. I encourage you to get the book, make your own notes, and share them with me.
Beyond Belief excerpts.pdf
p. 34
…many scholars are now convinced that the New Testament Gospel of John, probably written at the end of the first cen-tury, emerged from an intense debate over who Jesus was -- or is. To my surprise, having spent many months comparing the Gospel of John and the Gospel of Thomas, which may have been written at about the same time, I have now come to see that John's gospel was written in the heat of controversy, to defend certain views of Jesus and to oppose others.
What John opposed, as we shall see, includes what the Gospel of Thomas teaches -- that God's light shines not only in Jesus but, potentially at least, in everyone. Thomas's gospel encourages the hearer not so much to believe in Jesus, as John requires, as to seek to know God through one's own, divinely given capacity, since all are created in the image of God. For Christians in later generations, the Gospel of John helped provide a foundation for a unified church, which Thomas, with its emphasis on each person's search for God, did not.
35
Nevertheless, I intended that book to raise certain questions: Why had the church decided that these texts were "hereti-cal" that only the canonical gospels were "orthodox"? Who made the decisions, and under what conditions? As my colleagues and I looked for answers, I began to understand the political concerns that shaped the early Christian move-ment.
NOTE:These are simply the passages in this book that appealed to me. Undoubtedly, you would have made other selections. My purpose in presenting these excerpts is not only to give an accounting of what I deemed interesting, but to present ideas you might find interesting through your own read-ing. I encourage you to get the book, make your own notes, and share them with me.
Beyond Belief excerpts.pdf
Friday, October 10, 2003
Book excerpts - "Small pieces loosely joined"
**If you haven't read David Weinberger's prophetic text on the Web, maybe these excerpts will whet your appetite. What I love about Weinberger is that he thinks about the deeper implications of technology - what the impact is on thought and experience and ultimate meanings.
SMALL PIECES LOOSELY JOINED.doc
SMALL PIECES LOOSELY JOINED.doc
Thursday, October 09, 2003
If pants could talk...
TROUSER SEMAPHORE
The acquired skill known as Trouser Semaphore is swiftly gaining currency as the only way for people of quality to communicate in an age of rapidly escalating background noise levels.
The acquired skill known as Trouser Semaphore is swiftly gaining currency as the only way for people of quality to communicate in an age of rapidly escalating background noise levels.
Tuesday, September 16, 2003
Another plausible explanation of what goes on "on the other side."
** An excerpt from “Life,” a sermon by Mary Baker Eddy
(As reprinted in the Christian Science Sentinel, Feb 2, 1918)
Since ever we investigated metaphysics and traversed in freedom the realm of Mind, we have been careful not to overrate our discoveries, or to state what we had not first understood. We have not demonstrated the actual state of man's existence beyond the limits of the observation of our senses, and only as we reason from deduction is it possible to define this state. Any hypothesis beyond this conclusion, presupposing the condition of the departed is fully understood, is a vain conjecture, unsupported by reason or revelation.
From facts apparent to the understanding and gathered from the Science of Soul we know that man is immortal, and that the shadow we call death is but a phase of mortal belief. No change has been wrought when we say, “My friend has just died;” that friend is saying in the full consciousness of existence and with its same surroundings, “I never died. It was but a dream I had; for life is going with me the same as before. I am not spirit; yet I am as much flesh and bones as I ever were [was]; the only change to me is, I cannot communicate with my friends,—and why? Because they do not understand me now. They call me spirit, but I am not; they say I died, but I did not; they do not know what I am, where I am, or what I am pursuing. I shall not be spirit until I lose all limits; they have lost their evidences of me through their personal senses, because they have said I changed, I died; their mistaken views of life have parted us; their belief that life ended with me, or took upon itself a new form, has prevented their under standing the reality of my present existence,—hence our separation through these opposite beliefs and our opposite conditions as the result thereof. Further communication between us is impossible, until their belief changes through the footsteps that mine has done and becomes like mine. This change will be named death, but that is their belief of it, not ours who have rent the veil that hides the mystery of a moment.”
Yes, we shall know each other there; we shall love and loved; we shall never lose our identity, but find it more and more in its order, beauty, and goodness. Men claim to know that pain is a fact, although it is unseen; they need know that peace and bliss are greater facts and that this world is the veil of brighter glory that lies beyond it.
(As reprinted in the Christian Science Sentinel, Feb 2, 1918)
Since ever we investigated metaphysics and traversed in freedom the realm of Mind, we have been careful not to overrate our discoveries, or to state what we had not first understood. We have not demonstrated the actual state of man's existence beyond the limits of the observation of our senses, and only as we reason from deduction is it possible to define this state. Any hypothesis beyond this conclusion, presupposing the condition of the departed is fully understood, is a vain conjecture, unsupported by reason or revelation.
From facts apparent to the understanding and gathered from the Science of Soul we know that man is immortal, and that the shadow we call death is but a phase of mortal belief. No change has been wrought when we say, “My friend has just died;” that friend is saying in the full consciousness of existence and with its same surroundings, “I never died. It was but a dream I had; for life is going with me the same as before. I am not spirit; yet I am as much flesh and bones as I ever were [was]; the only change to me is, I cannot communicate with my friends,—and why? Because they do not understand me now. They call me spirit, but I am not; they say I died, but I did not; they do not know what I am, where I am, or what I am pursuing. I shall not be spirit until I lose all limits; they have lost their evidences of me through their personal senses, because they have said I changed, I died; their mistaken views of life have parted us; their belief that life ended with me, or took upon itself a new form, has prevented their under standing the reality of my present existence,—hence our separation through these opposite beliefs and our opposite conditions as the result thereof. Further communication between us is impossible, until their belief changes through the footsteps that mine has done and becomes like mine. This change will be named death, but that is their belief of it, not ours who have rent the veil that hides the mystery of a moment.”
Yes, we shall know each other there; we shall love and loved; we shall never lose our identity, but find it more and more in its order, beauty, and goodness. Men claim to know that pain is a fact, although it is unseen; they need know that peace and bliss are greater facts and that this world is the veil of brighter glory that lies beyond it.
Friday, September 05, 2003
Having never been dead before...
** ...I can't verify the truth of the following - but it sure makes a lot of sense to me!
Death is nothing at all
Henry Scott Holland 1847-1918, canon of St Paul's Cathedral
Death is nothing at all.
It does not count.
I have only slipped away into the next room.
Nothing has happened.
Everything remains exactly as it was.
I am I, and you are you,
and the old life that we lived so fondly together
is untouched, unchanged.
Whatever we were to each other, that we are still.
Call me by the old familiar name.
Speak of me in the easy way which you always used.
Put no difference into your tone.
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.
Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes that we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household word that it always was.
Let it be spoken without an effort,
without the ghost of a shadow upon it.
Life means all that it ever meant.
It is the same as it ever was.
There is absolute and unbroken continuity.
What is death but a negligible accident?
Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?
I am but waiting for you,
for an interval,
somewhere very near,
just round the corner.
All is well.
Death is nothing at all
Henry Scott Holland 1847-1918, canon of St Paul's Cathedral
Death is nothing at all.
It does not count.
I have only slipped away into the next room.
Nothing has happened.
Everything remains exactly as it was.
I am I, and you are you,
and the old life that we lived so fondly together
is untouched, unchanged.
Whatever we were to each other, that we are still.
Call me by the old familiar name.
Speak of me in the easy way which you always used.
Put no difference into your tone.
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.
Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes that we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household word that it always was.
Let it be spoken without an effort,
without the ghost of a shadow upon it.
Life means all that it ever meant.
It is the same as it ever was.
There is absolute and unbroken continuity.
What is death but a negligible accident?
Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?
I am but waiting for you,
for an interval,
somewhere very near,
just round the corner.
All is well.
Monday, September 01, 2003
I THOUGHT I felt better!
A New York Times article says that researchers at the University of Wisconsin are reporting that the activation of brain regions associated with negative emotions appears to weaken people's immune response to a flu vaccine. Test subjects were asked contemplate an extremely meaningful event in their lives. Then they were given a flu vaccine. Six months later theywere tested for the presence of antibodies. Read more at: Power of Positive Thinking May Have a Health Benefit, Study Says
While the doctor is out, live a little.
Britain's Independent has a story that notes death rates actually fall during doctors strikes. No one is quite sure why, but the article ventures that with fewer doctors around there is less chance for catastrophic treatments. If true this would take "iatrogenic disease" to a startling new dimension. 'During the doctors' strike in the 1970s, death rates fell'
Thursday, August 28, 2003
Did Alabama break all ten Commandments at once?
** As workmen were strapping up the 3-ton granite monument of the Ten Commandments prior to its removal from the grounds of the Alabama Judiciary Building I kept thinking: Be careful - the last guy who broke the Commandments in stone had to go back up the mountain and get another set. Thankfully, the monument moved easily and got carted off in one piece.
Amazing how much passion went into this event. If people care this much about a symbol could they ever care enough about real problems that people are having? We need heartfelt activism on behalf of those among us who are hurting and needy and not on symbols. Let's get real, people.
Anyway, I had a hand in the following article, which I believe places the issue in proper perspective.
An immoveable monument to the Ten Commandments - a spirituality.com commentary
Amazing how much passion went into this event. If people care this much about a symbol could they ever care enough about real problems that people are having? We need heartfelt activism on behalf of those among us who are hurting and needy and not on symbols. Let's get real, people.
Anyway, I had a hand in the following article, which I believe places the issue in proper perspective.
An immoveable monument to the Ten Commandments - a spirituality.com commentary
Saturday, August 23, 2003
New book excerpts - From Science to God
** Through the magic of C-Pen I'm able to scan the parts of books I'm reading that are interesting to me, digitize them and share them online or by email. It helps me consolidate my sense of a book, as well as have good quotes ready to insert into an article I'm writing, etc. It also hope it helps others see if they want to get the book and read it for themselves.
So, here's my latest, excerpts from a short book by Peter Russell that has some interesting ways to look at consciousness and reality.
About the Author
Peter Russell gained an honors degree in physics and experimental psychology at the University of Cambridge England, and a postgraduate degree in computer science He studied meditation and Eastern philosophy in India, and on his return conducted research into the neurophysiology of meditation at the University of Bristol. As an author and lecturer, he has explored the potentials of human consciousness - integrating Eastern wisdom with the facts of Western science - and shared with audience worldwide his discoveries and insights about the nature of consciousness, global change, and human evolution. FROM SCIENCE TO God.doc
So, here's my latest, excerpts from a short book by Peter Russell that has some interesting ways to look at consciousness and reality.
About the Author
Peter Russell gained an honors degree in physics and experimental psychology at the University of Cambridge England, and a postgraduate degree in computer science He studied meditation and Eastern philosophy in India, and on his return conducted research into the neurophysiology of meditation at the University of Bristol. As an author and lecturer, he has explored the potentials of human consciousness - integrating Eastern wisdom with the facts of Western science - and shared with audience worldwide his discoveries and insights about the nature of consciousness, global change, and human evolution. FROM SCIENCE TO God.doc
Friday, August 22, 2003
Excerpts from THE NEXT CHRISTENDOM
** I think this is an important analysis of a global trend that will hve implications in every aspect of life in the near future. Phillip Jenkins details a looming clash between "northern" Christianity and the "southern" version which is growing at an incredibly fast pace.
This has implications beyond religion, because it attests to huge blocks of THOUGHT that are headed for conflict. This conflict is already seen in the apocalyptic terrorism of recent years, as characterized by military historian Ralph Peters in Beyond Terror and Paul Berman in Terror and Liberalism.
"Northern" Christianity is tightly associated with "Western" culture - which is in turn associated with modernity, democracy, the primacy of the individual and progress in general. "Southern" Christianity, by contrast, is growing in a reactionary context, with an intense drive to return the world to an earlier, simpler state.
Those in the West are hardly aware of these powerful movements, but Jenkins has laid it all out for peacemakers to see -- and do something about. Attached are my highlights from his book. The next Christendom - excerpts.doc
This has implications beyond religion, because it attests to huge blocks of THOUGHT that are headed for conflict. This conflict is already seen in the apocalyptic terrorism of recent years, as characterized by military historian Ralph Peters in Beyond Terror and Paul Berman in Terror and Liberalism.
"Northern" Christianity is tightly associated with "Western" culture - which is in turn associated with modernity, democracy, the primacy of the individual and progress in general. "Southern" Christianity, by contrast, is growing in a reactionary context, with an intense drive to return the world to an earlier, simpler state.
Those in the West are hardly aware of these powerful movements, but Jenkins has laid it all out for peacemakers to see -- and do something about. Attached are my highlights from his book. The next Christendom - excerpts.doc
Saturday, August 09, 2003
Still grumpy after all these months
** 
"
Grumpygirl is still my favorite blogger. Her posts are erratic (her last one as of this date was in June) but every one is a gem. And now that she's posted some pix of herself it's an even greater treat to know this fascinating person. Her wit and humor are outrageous and her command of the language is superb. I wonder how long she works on these pieces - they certainly seem to fall easily out of her keyboard. How I'd love to hear her reading her posts on "This American Life." Not that she needs another medium. I think she has developed the perfect style for blogdom. David Weinberger has said that the Web will force an alteration in Warhol's famous statement that TV enables everyone to be famous for at least 15 minutes - the Web, he says, means that now everyone will be famous to at least 15 people! I don't know what kind of following Grumpygirl has but if she keeps at it she could be a star to many more than 15 people.
"Grumpygirl is still my favorite blogger. Her posts are erratic (her last one as of this date was in June) but every one is a gem. And now that she's posted some pix of herself it's an even greater treat to know this fascinating person. Her wit and humor are outrageous and her command of the language is superb. I wonder how long she works on these pieces - they certainly seem to fall easily out of her keyboard. How I'd love to hear her reading her posts on "This American Life." Not that she needs another medium. I think she has developed the perfect style for blogdom. David Weinberger has said that the Web will force an alteration in Warhol's famous statement that TV enables everyone to be famous for at least 15 minutes - the Web, he says, means that now everyone will be famous to at least 15 people! I don't know what kind of following Grumpygirl has but if she keeps at it she could be a star to many more than 15 people.
Monday, June 09, 2003
Don't canonize old technology
** I get a little weary of people who view every technological innovation as a further slide down the steep slope to perdition. Sure, every innovation brings an explosion of mediocrity, silliness and even disastrous mistakes. But it's all part of the chemicalization of thought when it must move from one stage to another of progress. Things get messy because the entrenched systems are rocked at their foundations.
But I believe that whatever is good is permanent, so whatever is good in an old system somehow gets preserved - though it may take a while for this to show up. This article from The Observer gives an example from the world of digital photography - but it can be applied to any situation where proponents of the "old" system argue that it is better. They tend to forget that every innovation was revolutionary in its time and was probably opposed for the same reasons today's innovations are opposed. Technology is only a way of doing something - ultimately getting at the truth or reality of things. The medum is defintely NOT the message -- it's only a tool to the message. Anyway, check out this article: Call that a photograph?
But I believe that whatever is good is permanent, so whatever is good in an old system somehow gets preserved - though it may take a while for this to show up. This article from The Observer gives an example from the world of digital photography - but it can be applied to any situation where proponents of the "old" system argue that it is better. They tend to forget that every innovation was revolutionary in its time and was probably opposed for the same reasons today's innovations are opposed. Technology is only a way of doing something - ultimately getting at the truth or reality of things. The medum is defintely NOT the message -- it's only a tool to the message. Anyway, check out this article: Call that a photograph?
Friday, May 09, 2003
SADDAM: FOR $30 BILLION, I WILL ATTACK MYSELF
In a stunning development, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein today offered to attack himself in exchange for $30 billion from the U.S. government.
The surprising offer came in a day when President George W. Bush exhorted America’s allies to join what he called “a coalition of the willing to be bought.”
BOROWITZ report.com
The surprising offer came in a day when President George W. Bush exhorted America’s allies to join what he called “a coalition of the willing to be bought.”
BOROWITZ report.com
Tuesday, April 22, 2003
Handy item to have when we invade Transylvania
**A friend calls this "the strangest item I've ever seen on eBay." Alas, by the time you read this the item was sold - An anti-vampire kit.
Friday, April 18, 2003
Iraqi information minister gets too popular
Friday, April 18, 2003 Posted: 10:02 AM EDT (1402 GMT)
NEW YORK (Reuters) -- People who joined the cult-like following of Iraq's wartime spokesman Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf can now buy a talking doll and hear him say things like "our initial assessment is that they will all die" as often as they want.
CNN.com - And now, the Iraqi information minister talking doll - Apr. 18, 2003
NEW YORK (Reuters) -- People who joined the cult-like following of Iraq's wartime spokesman Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf can now buy a talking doll and hear him say things like "our initial assessment is that they will all die" as often as they want.
CNN.com - And now, the Iraqi information minister talking doll - Apr. 18, 2003
Wednesday, April 16, 2003
Friday, April 11, 2003
"My feelings -- as usual -- we will slaughter them all!"
** A member of Saddam Hussein's vanquished regime has sprung up as an unlikely hero in cyberspace on a Web site embraced by both supporters and foes of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, We love the Iraqi information minister. Iraqi Minister of Information Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf transfixed news junkies with his audiacious flaunting of reality, including such now-famous declarations as: "There are no American infidels in Baghdad. Never!"
The site describes itself as a "coalition effort of bloodthirsty hawks and ineffectual doves" united in their admiration for al-Sahaf and his pronouncements, such as: "I now inform you that you are too far from reality."
The site has become such a hit that it had to be shut down until it could be put on a heftier server. Here's a statement from the Webmaster on April 11, 2203:
The site describes itself as a "coalition effort of bloodthirsty hawks and ineffectual doves" united in their admiration for al-Sahaf and his pronouncements, such as: "I now inform you that you are too far from reality."
The site has become such a hit that it had to be shut down until it could be put on a heftier server. Here's a statement from the Webmaster on April 11, 2203:
Reuters story.Due to overwhelming support for welovetheiraqiinformationminister.com. We will be bringing it back on a brand new web server that will be dedicated to the task of serving this comical view of history's funniest straight man. This should be up in 24 hours from now.
Note: from the webmaster
The site was so popular that 4000 visitors per second showed up from around the world and overwhelmed this shared server for over 8 hours until we turned it off in self defense. It basically put a 100 other businesses out of business for a day. If we had known it was going to be this popular we would have put it on it's own server from the beginning.
What started out as a private joke to be shared by a small group of friends has turned into a hit. Check back in 24 hours or so while the internet routers figure out where the new web server is that replaces this old one. The site consists of lots of bandwidth hogging pictures and animations that you'll love once you see it on its new home server.
Tuesday, April 01, 2003
AFTERLIFE TELEGRAM
** Ain't the Internet grand?! Imagine this: for a fee of "just" $5 per word, a group of terminally ill patients will memorize your message and attempt to deliver it to your dearly departed when they have also left this world. Your message, if you so choose, can be dropped off at this Afterlife Telegrams site.
Wednesday, March 26, 2003
American-Iraqi-Palestinian-Lebanese peace effort
** via Salon.com
Lenny Kravitz has released an anti-war effort titled 'We Want Peace' as a free download, a track he recorded with Iraqi singer Kadim Al Sahir last week in Miami. The song also features Palestinian musician Simon Shaheen on strings and Lebanese artist Jamey Hadded on percussion.
The track is available to download on www.rockthevote.org, an organisation that encourages people to involve themselves with politics.
"I came to Rock the Vote because of its strong stance with young people as defenders of free expression," said Lenny Kravitz. "This song for me is about more than Iraq; It is about our role as people in the world and that we all should cherish freedom and peace."
A growing list of highly-respected stars have now released anti-war tracks, including REM, the Beastie Boys, John Mellencamp and former Rage Against the Machine frontman Zack de la Rocha.
Sunday, March 23, 2003
What most Iraq war protesters are missing
** Phillip Jenkins has forecasted a global conflict between two general religious movements, fundamentalism and liberalism (mentioned on this site earlier). Paul Berman is seeing a similar kind of conflict between Islamists who want to return the world to the state it was in in the 7th century, and practically everyone else. This context provides a perspective by which to view the current war in Iraq. Berman believes that while President Bush is doing it all wrong, something needs to be done to dismantle Saddam Hussein's regime. If not successful that country could become the staging area and power base for a reactionary Islamist state. The consequenses could be dire for modernity.
Berman groups Hussein with the thought patterns of Hitler and Stalin, whose intentions to establish a kind of fundamentalist state of their own were eventually thrwarted by armed resistance. Fortunately, Hitler and Stalin were stopped from fulfilling their intentions. This is an important point that he feels anti-war protesters are missing. Suzy Hansen of Salon interviews Berman in this thought-provoking article: Bush is an idiot, but he was right about Saddam
Berman groups Hussein with the thought patterns of Hitler and Stalin, whose intentions to establish a kind of fundamentalist state of their own were eventually thrwarted by armed resistance. Fortunately, Hitler and Stalin were stopped from fulfilling their intentions. This is an important point that he feels anti-war protesters are missing. Suzy Hansen of Salon interviews Berman in this thought-provoking article: Bush is an idiot, but he was right about Saddam
Thursday, March 13, 2003
On following our leaders to war
"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." ~Theodore Roosevelt
"Why of course the people don't want war ... But after all it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship ...Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger." ~Hermann Goering at the Nuremberg Trials after World War II
"Why of course the people don't want war ... But after all it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship ...Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger." ~Hermann Goering at the Nuremberg Trials after World War II
Monday, March 10, 2003
Let us pray for peace, or we soon will have to pray for forgiveness.
In a long Salon piece by Gary Kamiya, executive editor, Salon.com | Sleepwalking toward Baghdad, a poem by WH Auden provides the ominous backdrop for an analysis of the present crisis.
"September 1st, 1939"
By W.H. Auden
I sit in one of the dives
On Fifty-second Street
Uncertain and afraid
As the clever hopes expire
Of a low dishonest decade:
Waves of anger and fear
Circulate over the bright
And darkened lands of the earth,
Obsessing our private lives;
The unmentionable odour of death
Offends the September night.
Accurate scholarship can
Unearth the whole offence
From Luther until now
That has driven a culture mad,
Find what occurred at Linz,
What huge imago made
A psychopathic god:
I and the public know
What all schoolchildren learn,
Those to whom evil is done
Do evil in return.
Exiled Thucydides knew
All that a speech can say
About Democracy,
And what dictators do,
The elderly rubbish they talk
To an apathetic grave;
Analysed all in his book,
The enlightenment driven away,
The habit-forming pain,
Mismanagement and grief:
We must suffer them all again.
Into this neutral air
Where blind skyscrapers use
Their full height to proclaim
The strength of Collective Man,
Each language pours its vain
Competitive excuse:
But who can live for long
In an euphoric dream;
Out of the mirror they stare,
Imperialism's face
And the international wrong.
Faces along the bar
Cling to their average day:
The lights must never go out,
The music must always play,
All the conventions conspire
To make this fort assume
The furniture of home;
Lest we should see where we are,
Lost in a haunted wood,
Children afraid of the night
Who have never been happy or good.
The windiest militant trash
Important Persons shout
Is not so crude as our wish:
What mad Nijinsky wrote
About Diaghilev
Is true of the normal heart;
For the error bred in the bone
Of each woman and each man
Craves what it cannot have,
Not universal love
But to be loved alone.
From the conservative dark
Into the ethical life
The dense commuters come,
Repeating their morning vow;
"I will be true to the wife,
I'll concentrate more on my work,"
And helpless governors wake
To resume their compulsory game:
Who can release them now,
Who can reach the deaf,
Who can speak for the dumb?
All I have is a voice
To undo the folded lie,
The romantic lie in the brain
Of the sensual man-in-the-street
And the lie of Authority
Whose buildings grope the sky:
There is no such thing as the State
And no one exists alone;
Hunger allows no choice
To the citizen or the police;
We must love one another or die.
Defenceless under the night
Our world in stupor lies;
Yet, dotted everywhere,
Ironic points of light
Flash out wherever the Just
Exchange their messages:
May I, composed like them
Of Eros and of dust,
Beleaguered by the same
Negation and despair,
Show an affirming flame.
As the United States stands in rigid and increasingly pathological isolation, prepared to take an incredible gamble for no good reason, Auden's poem, with all its incredulity, bitterness, dread and humanity-lacerating guilt, resonates with uncanny power. It is music for the coming shadows.Complete article (May require subscription)
All I have is a voice
To undo the folded lie,
The romantic lie in the brain
Of the sensual man-in-the-street
And the lie of Authority
Whose buildings grope the sky:
There is no such thing as the State
And no one exists alone;
Hunger allows no choice
To the citizen or the police;
We must love one another or die.
We have become all too familiar with "the lie of Authority," which promulgates patriotic myths to ensure compliance with demands that the individual might reject: It is on Fox News and its imitator MSNBC nightly. But Auden's audacity in this stanza is to link this familiar lie with the "lie in the brain" -- a lie of which all humans, Americans and Iraqis and French alike, are guilty. This is the lie that we exist alone, the lie of egotism, the lie that we do not need to love our fellow man. In a brilliant stroke, Auden reveals that these two apparently separate untruths work in the same way, making us susceptible to demagoguery and fear-mongering, leaving us short of our full humanity. Indeed, they are identical. The resonance with Christianity is unmistakable: "Though I speak with the tongues of man and angels, if I have not love, I am but sounding brass and a clanging cymbal ..."
"September 1st, 1939"
By W.H. Auden
I sit in one of the dives
On Fifty-second Street
Uncertain and afraid
As the clever hopes expire
Of a low dishonest decade:
Waves of anger and fear
Circulate over the bright
And darkened lands of the earth,
Obsessing our private lives;
The unmentionable odour of death
Offends the September night.
Accurate scholarship can
Unearth the whole offence
From Luther until now
That has driven a culture mad,
Find what occurred at Linz,
What huge imago made
A psychopathic god:
I and the public know
What all schoolchildren learn,
Those to whom evil is done
Do evil in return.
Exiled Thucydides knew
All that a speech can say
About Democracy,
And what dictators do,
The elderly rubbish they talk
To an apathetic grave;
Analysed all in his book,
The enlightenment driven away,
The habit-forming pain,
Mismanagement and grief:
We must suffer them all again.
Into this neutral air
Where blind skyscrapers use
Their full height to proclaim
The strength of Collective Man,
Each language pours its vain
Competitive excuse:
But who can live for long
In an euphoric dream;
Out of the mirror they stare,
Imperialism's face
And the international wrong.
Faces along the bar
Cling to their average day:
The lights must never go out,
The music must always play,
All the conventions conspire
To make this fort assume
The furniture of home;
Lest we should see where we are,
Lost in a haunted wood,
Children afraid of the night
Who have never been happy or good.
The windiest militant trash
Important Persons shout
Is not so crude as our wish:
What mad Nijinsky wrote
About Diaghilev
Is true of the normal heart;
For the error bred in the bone
Of each woman and each man
Craves what it cannot have,
Not universal love
But to be loved alone.
From the conservative dark
Into the ethical life
The dense commuters come,
Repeating their morning vow;
"I will be true to the wife,
I'll concentrate more on my work,"
And helpless governors wake
To resume their compulsory game:
Who can release them now,
Who can reach the deaf,
Who can speak for the dumb?
All I have is a voice
To undo the folded lie,
The romantic lie in the brain
Of the sensual man-in-the-street
And the lie of Authority
Whose buildings grope the sky:
There is no such thing as the State
And no one exists alone;
Hunger allows no choice
To the citizen or the police;
We must love one another or die.
Defenceless under the night
Our world in stupor lies;
Yet, dotted everywhere,
Ironic points of light
Flash out wherever the Just
Exchange their messages:
May I, composed like them
Of Eros and of dust,
Beleaguered by the same
Negation and despair,
Show an affirming flame.
Monday, March 03, 2003
TISSUE ALERT! Military e-card from spirituality.com
**This card is much appreciated by those in the military and their families. The Military Moms Web site shows over 200 views so far, with most of them issuing "tissue alerts."
Wednesday, February 26, 2003
Let's hear it for the Singing Dictionary!
**This site features parodies of popular songs using karaoke-style backing music with vocals provided by audio pronunciation samples from online dictionaries. This is from their press release:
SPRINGFIELD, MASS., August 2001 — Listen up! Dictionaraoke is creating a real sonic boom this month. The award-winning website has sparked an international sensation by bringing together the word power of the dictionary with the fun of karaoke. And now the contents of this crazy "Singing Dictionary" are available for free MP3 download at a computer near you.
The project was conceived of by a diverse group of experimental musicians communicating through the Internet. Inspired by the recent addition of spoken word audio clips to the Merriam-Webster and Microsoft Encarta online dictionaries demonstrating the correct pronunciation of each word, these artists have used the samples to create artificial vocals that "sing" karaoke. James Brown's "I Feel Good" (reworked by Jim Allenspach) was the first song to be rendered in the dictionaraoke style, and many more tracks were soon to follow. Covering a wide range of hits from yesterday and today, the site now has over 30 different songs available for download. Many different styles are represented, featuring everything from the Beatles to the Beastie Boys. New songs are continually being added. In addition, the site offers features like the Song Of The Week, links to related topics, and all the information you need to start creating your own Dictionaraoke.
Tuesday, February 25, 2003
Bye-bye Blogger. Hello Bloogle.
**The best search engine, Google, just bought the best blog host, Blogger. What's to come of it? David Weinberger is nervous.
. . . here are two tempting ways Google could violate the trust they've earned: They could start charging for all Blogger accounts, and they could weight searches towards Blogger blogs.Read Complete entry
. . . .
Weighting searches would clearly violate the principle that has built Google's presence: rankings that try to reflect the Web's own preferences. Charging for all Blogger accounts would violate the implicit bond that has made Google not only known and used but loved, for it would make the Web a worse place overall. Google's record so far has been great: Whatever the business reasons for rescuing Deja, the purchase also preserved the UseNet archives, making the Net a better place. And, of course, the superiority of Google's searching ability has made the Web a far better place than it was before.
Many companies get stupid when they get big. So far, Google has bucked the trend. Let's hope it doesn't give in to the temptation to get stupid now.
Saturday, February 22, 2003
Soy about that!
** More and more research is indicating that soy is not the "miracle food" that the big agricultural companies would like you to think it is.
OTHER RESOURCES:
Do Soy Foods Negatively Affect Your Thyroid? / Downsides of Soy / Thyroid Disease Information Source - Articles/FAQs
Note: More information on soy and its negative impact on health can be found at the Soy Online Service, and in particular, its page on phytoestrogenic effects of soy, and impact on the thyroid.
The Dangers of Soy Formulas
Since the late 1950's, it has been known that soy formulas contain anti-thyroid agents. Infants on soy formula are particularly vulnerable to developing autoimmune thyroid disease when exposed to high exposure of isoflavones over time. ( Breast and soy-formula feedings in early infancy and the prevalence of autoimmune thyroid disease in children. Fort P; Moses N; Fasano M; Goldberg T; Department of Pediatrics, North Shore University Hospital-Cornell University Medical College, Manhasset, New York 11030. J Am Coll Nutr, 1990 Apr, 9:2, 164-7) This study found that the frequency of feedings with soy-based milk formulas in early life was noticeably higher in children with autoimmune thyroid disease, and thyroid problems were almost triple in those soy formula-fed children compared to their siblings and healthy unrelated children. Dr. Fitzpatrick even believes that long-term feeding with soy formulas inhibits TPO to such an extent that long-term elevated TSH levels can also raise the risk of thyroid cancer.
Not much is being done in the U.S. to make parents aware of the thyroid-related dangers of soy formulas, or to alert the public that heavy soy consumption may be a danger to thyroid function. Other countries, however, are far ahead of the U.S. In July of 1996, the British Department of Health issued a warning that the phytoestrogens found in soy-based infant formulas could adversely affect infant health. The warning was clear, indicating that soy formula should only be given to babies on the advice of a health professional. They advised that babies who cannot be breastfed or who have allergies to other formulas be given alternatives to soy-based formulas.
Why more information is not available about these concerns is probably a function of the tremendous strength of the large agricultural companies that dominate America's soy market. One thing is clear, however. At the same time that health experts, and nearly every radio and television health program in the nation touts soy as the miracle health food of the new millenium, the United States pediatric and medical community needs to get more on top of this issue, and begin to counsel their patients regarding the serious impact use of soy products can have on thyroid function.
How Much Soy is Safe?
According to the Soy Online Service, for infants, any soy is too much. For adults, just 30 mg of soy isoflavones per day is the amount found to have a negative impact on thyroid function. This amount of soy isoflavones is found in just 5-8 ounces of soy milk, or 1.5 ounces of miso. For more information on how much soy is too much, see the Soy Online Service guidance page.
The USDA has launched a website that is promoting the health benefits of use of soy and soy foods. The USDA site lists the isoflavone content of a total of 128 foods, including foods such as vegetarian hot dogs soybeans, chickpeas and tofu. This can help you in deciding how much soy to include in your diet.
OTHER RESOURCES:
Do Soy Foods Negatively Affect Your Thyroid? / Downsides of Soy / Thyroid Disease Information Source - Articles/FAQs
Note: More information on soy and its negative impact on health can be found at the Soy Online Service, and in particular, its page on phytoestrogenic effects of soy, and impact on the thyroid.
Thursday, February 20, 2003
At last! Someone starting to make sense out the Iraq situation
**Blogs are a nice way to practice another language. In this case, Engrish. Go Natsuko!
What a cute! Natsuko has a weblog! Hooday! My name is the Natsuko Murakami! As for me there is from Japan. I who investigate computer programming have lived in Ottawa, Canada. My English still it is not complete and therefore I practiced and began this webpage. The Blogging is large! Enjoy my place!
What a cute! Natsuko has a weblog! Hooday! My name is the Natsuko Murakami! As for me there is from Japan. I who investigate computer programming have lived in Ottawa, Canada. My English still it is not complete and therefore I practiced and began this webpage. The Blogging is large! Enjoy my place!
We five minutes found evidence exactly before!!!
In order to make the Americans for the war for Iraq, he is Mr. Powell the UN is some small-numbered thing which it should place in the mind when you lecture.
The Powell is sent in order to carry the water. As for him it is large: the conscience which gives the impression of the person then he takes that order. That is that role. In play of stage, he ends with respect to the thing where every good human everyone does the thing in other things.
Him: "Being to be before several months, if the Powell is in the team, the people must be correct!" You think!
Certainty, there is a supermarket on the sun. RIGHT!
Evidence of the Iraqi person whom the inspector of the weapon at that time moves, has hidden "the illegal material." Having found, as for the Hans Blix? You insist, it's denied!
He? Not finding the decisive evidence that Mr. Saddam kept accompanying the scientist of the Iraqi weapon to the interview person of escaping from the country, you call the Blix. The Iraqi representative being the scientist of the weapon shaking it denies the Blix. The inspection team of that weapon in addition as for him it denies permeating due to the representative of the Iraqi. The Bush of that state of onion message insisted both request.
After the public has known, if, making the opinion for the Iraqi war has died being the large quantity to be hard, if Whitehouse has died has known the large box which stacked the load, now, him, interest another item, it was soon grasped to the tidbit best the large box which stacked the load dying. The myth of the necessity which stacked the load of the large box which is supported between war of this " terrorism. "
Iraq vs. Monty Python
**A letter to the London Observer from Terry Jones, of Monty Python fame.
Sunday January 26, 2003
I'm really excited by George Bush's latest reason for bombing Iraq: he's running out of patience. And so am I! For some time now I've been really pissed off with Mr Johnson, who lives a couple of doors down the street. Well, him and Mr Patel, who runs the health food shop. They both give me queer looks, and I'm sure Mr Johnson is planning something nasty for me, but so far I haven't been able to discover what. I've been round to his place a few times to see what he's up to, but he's got everything well hidden.
That's how devious he is. As for Mr Patel, don't ask me how I know, I just know - from very good sources - that he is, in reality, a Mass Murderer. I have leafleted the street telling them that if we don't act first, he'll pick us off one by one.
Some of my neighbours say, if I've got proof, why don't I go to the police? But that's simply ridiculous. The police will say that they need evidence of a crime with which to charge my neighbours. They'll come up with endless red tape and quibbling about the rights and wrongs of a pre-emptive strike and all the while Mr Johnson will be finalising his plans to do terrible things to me, while Mr Patel will be secretly murdering people. Since I'm the only one in the street with a decent range of automatic firearms, I reckon it's up to me to keep the peace. But until recently that's been a little difficult.
Now, however, George W. Bush has made it clear that all I need to do is run out of patience, and then I can wade in and do whatever I want! And let's face it, Mr Bush's carefully thought-out policy towards Iraq is the only way to bring about international peace and security.
The one certain way to stop Muslim fundamentalist suicide bombers targeting the US or the UK is to bomb a few Muslim countries that have never threatened us. That's why I want to blow up Mr Johnson's garage and kill his wife and children. Strike first! That'll teach him a lesson. Then he'll leave us in peace and stop peering at me in that totally unacceptable way.
Mr Bush makes it clear that all he needs to know before bombing Iraq is that Saddam is a really nasty man and that he has weapons of mass destruction - even if no one can find them. I'm certain I've just as much justification for killing Mr Johnson's wife and children as Mr Bush has for bombing Iraq. Mr Bush's long-term aim is to make the world a safer place by eliminating 'rogue states' and 'terrorism'. It's such a clever long-term aim because how can you ever know when you've achieved it?
How will Mr Bush know when he's wiped out all terrorists? When every single terrorist is dead? But then a terrorist is only a terrorist once he's committed an act of terror. What about would-be terrorists?
These are the ones you really want to eliminate, since most of the known terrorists, being suicide bombers, have already eliminated themselves. Perhaps Mr Bush needs to wipe out everyone who could possibly be a future terrorist? Maybe he can't be sure he's achieved his objective until every Muslim fundamentalist is dead? But then some moderate Muslims might convert to fundamentalism. Maybe the only really safe thing to do would be for Mr Bush to eliminate all Muslims?
It's the same in my street. Mr Johnson and Mr Patel are just the tip of the iceberg. There are dozens of other people in the street who I don't like and who - quite frankly - look at me in odd ways. No one will be really safe until I've wiped them all out. My wife says I might be going too far but I tell her I'm simply using the same logic as the President of the United States. That shuts her up.
Like Mr Bush, I've run out of patience, and if that's a good enough reason for the President, it's good enough for me. I'm going to give the whole street two weeks - no, 10 days - to come out in the open and hand over all aliens and interplanetary hijackers, galactic outlaws and interstellar terrorist masterminds, and if they don't hand them over nicely and say `Thank you', I'm going to bomb the entire street to kingdom come.
Tuesday, February 18, 2003
These Navy "seals" to spot anything fishy in the Persian Gulf
**Real seals are being drafted for special ops work in the event of a war in the Persian Gulf. Via Salon News:
Full article: Sea lions deployed to Persian Gulf with U.S. Navy
Brought to the Persian Gulf to swim alongside naval vessels and key facilities in this kingdom, Zachary and the other whiskered sea mammals will guard against attack, providing early warning of enemy saboteurs.
``If there is somebody down there who shouldn't be there, the sea lions will find them,'' said Lt. J.G. Josh Frey, a spokesman for the Navy's 5th Fleet.
The need for the stealthy sea lion was highlighted after the Oct. 12, 2000, attack on the USS Cole. The bombing, blamed on al-Qaida, occurred when a seemingly harmless dinghy eased up to the destroyer and blew a hole in its hull, killing 17 sailors and injuring 39.
A sea lion patrol, had it been there, might not have been able to detect the Cole attackers because they were above the surface, but the bombing demonstrated the vulnerability of navy ships to small-scale assault.
The U.S. military has used intelligent sea creatures for three decades, including dolphins that patrolled Persian Gulf waters during the late 1980s. But it is the first time sea lions are being used in an operation.
Full article: Sea lions deployed to Persian Gulf with U.S. Navy
Byrd: Reckless Administration May Reap Disastrous Consequences
**Senator Robert Byrd gave a speech on the floor of the Senate on Wednesday, February 12, 2003. The text of this speech was carried in some form on about 700 Web sites. Here's the first half of it:
To contemplate war is to think about the most horrible of human experiences. On this February day, as this nation stands at the brink of battle, every American on some level must be contemplating the horrors of war.Full text of speech
Yet, this Chamber is, for the most part, silent -- ominously, dreadfully silent. There is no debate, no discussion, no attempt to lay out for the nation the pros and cons of this particular war. There is nothing.
We stand passively mute in the United States Senate, paralyzed by our own uncertainty, seemingly stunned by the sheer turmoil of events. Only on the editorial pages of our newspapers is there much substantive discussion of the prudence or imprudence of engaging in this particular war.
And this is no small conflagration we contemplate. This is no simple attempt to defang a villain. No. This coming battle, if it materializes, represents a turning point in U.S. foreign policy and possibly a turning point in the recent history of the world.
This nation is about to embark upon the first test of a revolutionary doctrine applied in an extraordinary way at an unfortunate time. The doctrine of preemption -- the idea that the United States or any other nation can legitimately attack a nation that is not imminently threatening but may be threatening in the future -- is a radical new twist on the traditional idea of self defense. It appears to be in contravention of international law and the UN Charter. And it is being tested at a time of world-wide terrorism, making many countries around the globe wonder if they will soon be on our -- or some other nation's -- hit list. High level Administration figures recently refused to take nuclear weapons off of the table when discussing a possible attack against Iraq. What could be more destabilizing and unwise than this type of uncertainty, particularly in a world where globalism has tied the vital economic and security interests of many nations so closely together? There are huge cracks emerging in our time-honored alliances, and U.S. inten-tions are suddenly subject to damaging worldwide speculation. Anti-Americanism based on mistrust, misinformation, suspicion, and alarming rhetoric from U.S. leaders is fracturing the once solid alliance against global terrorism which existed after September 11.
Thursday, February 13, 2003
What if Saddam cries Uncle?
** Columnist Steve Chapman of the Chicago Tribune posits Saddam's last chance -- and why he'll likely take it.
President Bush has put a gun to Saddam Hussein's head, and no one doubts that in the near future, he will be happy to pull the trigger. So there is only one other choice left to the Iraqi dictator: capitulation.Full text of article: In the drive toward war, a last exit
No one seems to regard that as a possibility. But judging from his past, it would not be a total surprise to see Hussein choose humiliation and survival over death and glory.
. . .
If Bush is hoping to force Hussein into submission, he's handled this showdown perfectly. But he has to be prepared to take yes for an answer.
Tuesday, February 11, 2003
Tom Petty is pissed.
** There's a great interview in Rolling Stone where rocker Tom Petty takes on radio, the record companies, TV and even music artists themselves and demands a firmer moral grounding.
Tom Petty's determined, sometimes defiant attitude has collided with the music business throughout the years. ... That same spirit is alive and well on Petty's latest album, The Last DJ, which takes a hard look at the lack of moral grounding in the music business. The title track has kicked up considerable controversy, with some radio stations seeing the song as a slap in the face and banning it. But Petty is not just biting the hand that feeds him. Music is only the beginning of what's pissing him off these days. "The Last DJ is a story about morals more than the music business," he says. "It's really about vanishing personal freedoms."
Toward an informed and balanced approach to war with Iraq
** The Christian Science Monitor summarizes "without fear or favor" the major pros and cons about the invasion of Iraq."
War against Iraq: questions and answers
War against Iraq: questions and answers
More detail on the oil grab scenario
** Via the Christian Science Monitor: Oil plays starring role in plans for post-Hussein Iraq
One thing is certain: Even if oil is not America's prime motive in confronting Iraq (as some Bush critics allege), the resource figures centrally in US plans.
Monday, February 10, 2003
'To love where others hate': Peacemakers lauded
Via St. Paul Minnesota Pioneer Press | 02/03/2003 |
As the U.S. prepares for war, a group gathered Sunday afternoon at Hamline University to note a lesson of compassion and selflessness from last century's bloodiest war.Complete article
Sixty years ago today, the U.S. Army troopship Dorchester sank off the coast of Greenland after being torpedoed by a German U-boat, killing 672 men. In the tragedy, four chaplains of different faiths gave up their life preservers so that others might live, an act that emerged as one of World War II's enduring stories.
On Sunday, the Immortal Chaplains Foundation awarded its fifth-annual Immortal Chaplains Prize for Humanity for those who risked their lives to protect others of a different faith or ethnic origin.
In a showing of reconciliation, among those attending was the first officer of the U-boat that sank the Dorchester.
"We the sailors of U-223 regret the deep sorrow and pain caused by the torpedo. Wives lost their husbands and parents lost their sons,'' said Gerhard Buske. "I ask for forgiveness. We had to fight for our country, as your soldiers had to do.''
Buske, who spent two years in a Canadian prisoner of war camp, also said it was important to apply what happened in 1943 to today's world.
"We all should try to live in the sense of these immortal chaplains. We ought to learn to love where others hate,'' Buske said.
Saturday, February 08, 2003
It's the oil, stupid
** After Colin Powell's presentation to the UN last week, it would have been easy to conclude that it's worth sending troops, mostly US, into Iraq to rid the world of that bad, bad guy, Saddam, because he has lots of bad, bad stuff hidden away. But wait, what's new about that? The US gave Saddam all that bad, bad stuff in the first place. Now we want it back? What for?
Oil.
It's so obvious it's easy to overlook: Saddam controls Iraq's huge oil reserves and we want that oil for ourselves, without restriction. Many US companies stand to profit handsomely from a regime change in Iraq. That alone should make us cautious about wasting our youth in the streets of Baghdad.
That's what the organization Target Oil thinks. Here are a few highlights from an article on their Web site:
Full article
See also:
Fueling war - Christian Science Monitor
December 05, 2002
With the cold war over, more global conflicts are being spurred by a scramble for natural resources rather than by geopolitics, and poor countries rich in mineral deposits are the new focal point.
Oil.
It's so obvious it's easy to overlook: Saddam controls Iraq's huge oil reserves and we want that oil for ourselves, without restriction. Many US companies stand to profit handsomely from a regime change in Iraq. That alone should make us cautious about wasting our youth in the streets of Baghdad.
That's what the organization Target Oil thinks. Here are a few highlights from an article on their Web site:
Weeks before a prospective invasion of Iraq, the oil-rich state has doubled its exports of oil to America, helping US refineries cope with a debilitating strike in Venezuela.
Saddam has offered lucrative contracts to companies from France, China, India and Indonesia as well as Russia.
It is only the oil majors based in Britain and America - now the leading military hawks - that don't have current access to Iraqi contracts.
A leaked oil analyst report from Deutsche Bank said ExxonMobil was in 'pole position in a changed-regime Iraq'.
Chevron used to employ the hawkish Condoleezza Rice, Bush's National Security Adviser, as a member of its board. Five years ago the then Chevron chief executive Kenneth Derr, a colleague of Rice, said: 'Iraq possesses huge reserves of oil and gas - reserves I'd love Chevron to have access to.'
Full article
See also:
Fueling war - Christian Science Monitor
December 05, 2002
With the cold war over, more global conflicts are being spurred by a scramble for natural resources rather than by geopolitics, and poor countries rich in mineral deposits are the new focal point.
Ten Reasons Why Many Gulf War Veterans Oppose Re-Invading Iraq
** By an anonymous Gulf war veteran
Article via Veterans for Common Sense
Article via Veterans for Common Sense
Wednesday, February 05, 2003
Take a wild ride from the infinite to the infinitesimal
Powers Of 10: Interactive Java Tutorial
View the Milky Way at 10 million light years from the Earth. Then move through space towards the Earth in successive orders of magnitude until you reach a tall oak tree just outside the buildings of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee, Florida. After that, begin to move from the actual size of a leaf into a microscopic world that reveals leaf cell walls, the cell nucleus, chromatin, DNA and finally, into the subatomic universe of electrons and protons.
Also see Cosmic Zoom an 8-minute film made in 1968. This film probes the infinite magnitude of space, and its reverse, the ultimate minuteness of matter. Animation art and animation camera achieve this journey to the farthest conceivable point of the universe and then into the tiniest particle of existence--an atom of a living human cell--with a freshness and clarity that would seem impossible with other means of exposition. Film without words.
View the Milky Way at 10 million light years from the Earth. Then move through space towards the Earth in successive orders of magnitude until you reach a tall oak tree just outside the buildings of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee, Florida. After that, begin to move from the actual size of a leaf into a microscopic world that reveals leaf cell walls, the cell nucleus, chromatin, DNA and finally, into the subatomic universe of electrons and protons.
Also see Cosmic Zoom an 8-minute film made in 1968. This film probes the infinite magnitude of space, and its reverse, the ultimate minuteness of matter. Animation art and animation camera achieve this journey to the farthest conceivable point of the universe and then into the tiniest particle of existence--an atom of a living human cell--with a freshness and clarity that would seem impossible with other means of exposition. Film without words.
Missing the Meaning of Success
When Hamilton College celebrated its centennial, one of its most famous
alumni, Alexander Woolcott, was asked to give a major address. Horace Fenton
Jr., remembers that Wolcott opened his speech in this way: "I send my
greetings today to all my fellow alumni of Hamilton College, scattered all
over the world. Some of you are successes, and some of you are
failures--only God knows which are which!"
We don't always know success when we see it.
J. Ellsworth Kalas, If Experience Is Such A God Teacher Why Do I Keep
Repeating The Course, Nashville: Dimensions, 1994, p. 88.
alumni, Alexander Woolcott, was asked to give a major address. Horace Fenton
Jr., remembers that Wolcott opened his speech in this way: "I send my
greetings today to all my fellow alumni of Hamilton College, scattered all
over the world. Some of you are successes, and some of you are
failures--only God knows which are which!"
We don't always know success when we see it.
J. Ellsworth Kalas, If Experience Is Such A God Teacher Why Do I Keep
Repeating The Course, Nashville: Dimensions, 1994, p. 88.
Tuesday, February 04, 2003
McDonald's Coffee Case - What are the Facts?
Via Siegfried and Jensen law firm Web site
The now infamous case of a lawsuit against the McDonald's Corporation for serving dangerously hot coffee generated an extraordinary amount of public outcry. Every time I question potential jury members before a trial, I always hear the same thing. The potential jurors all say that the civil justice system is out of control and they refer to the McDonald's case. Then when I question them as to what they really know about the case, again, I always hear the same thing. All they know is that a jury awarded $2.7 million in damages to some little old lady who spilt coffee on herself while driving away from McDonald's drive through line. Unfortunately, just about none of this is what happened.
Here are the facts:
Friday, January 31, 2003
Prayer and physical healing
A roundup of several cases and studies that examine the role of prayer in physical healing. (Via bakersfield.com)
Sunday, January 19, 2003
About About Schmidt
About Schmidt is a film that has been on my mind a lot lately. Maybe this is why. Louis Begley, who wrote the novel on which the film is based, notes that
for all the radical changes in the plot and milieu, my most important themes were treated with great intelligence and sensitivity. These are Schmidt's frightful and, I believe, lifelong loneliness; the devastating realization that we can botch a relationship that matters to us above all others — in the event, that between Schmidt and his daughter — even though we have worked hard to make it succeed and believe with some reason that we have done a good job; the way in which our fears of the Other and prejudices against the Other imprison us.
NYTimes article: 'About Schmidt' Was Changed, but Not Its Core
Wednesday, January 15, 2003
Harvard and the Pyramid
** From a post on the lowcarbfriends.com site by Laura Richards:
There is a brand-new, must-read statement from Harvard's Willett and Stampfer dated December 15, 2002 published at ScientificAmerican.com The title is "Rebuilding the Food Pyramid." Whether or not you are well-versed in Harvard's opposition to the USDA's food pyramid, you will be happy to find that this statement is a comprehensive, yet condensed statement of their position. It is a great article to share with people in your life who are still extolling the low-fat, high-carb mantra.Read it.
The article begins with a very good summary of how the recommendations for low-fat, high-carb diets evolved -- including the flaws in the thinking of those who started the movement. They continue to strongly condemn the USDA and nutrition community for failing to recognize the negative health affects of carbohydrate, particularly high GI/GL carbohydrate and for failing to recognize that fats are health. Yes, they are still recommending that we avoid sat fats, but they are backing down a *bit*. They now say that trans fats raise heart disease risk substantially and sat fats only *slightly*. They also go into some detail about their proposed food pyramid.
I'll give you $20 for that Blackwing
**Life after death for the legendary No. 2 pencil. [via Boston Globe]
Writers like to think that it is the man or woman sitting upstream from the pencil who may become immortal. But here is the story of a pencil that has achieved immortality all by itself.Full article: Fans of pencils pocket No. 2, opt for their No. 1: Blackwing 602
We are talking about the legendary Eberhard Faber Blackwing 602, which went out of production in 1998. Up in Writers' Valhalla, John Steinbeck, Thomas Wolfe, and Archibald MacLeish are shedding a silent tear. Down here on Earth, Stephen Sondheim, Andre Gregory, and Roger Rosenblatt are scrounging to locate leftover 602s. The pencils once cost 50 cents; now they are selling for as much as $20 apiece on the Internet.
Sunday, January 12, 2003
Obesity: solution to a marketing problem
**Yet another book detailing causes for the growing crisis of obesity in America. Michael Pollan in the NY Times Books section tells how the food industry induces people to eat more than they need.
Read full review: 'Fat Land': Supersizing America
There's only so much food one person can consume (unlike shoes or CD's), or so you would think. But Big Food has been nothing short of ingenious in devising ways to transform its overproduction into our overconsumption -- and body fat. The best parts of this book show how, in the space of two decades, Americans learned to eat, on average, an additional 200 calories a day. In the words of James O. Hill, a physiologist Critser interviewed, getting fat today is less an aberration than ''a normal response to the American environment.''
Some of the credit for creating this new environment belongs to an unheralded businessman by the name of David Wallerstein, the man Critser says introduced ''supersizing'' to America. Today Wallerstein is an executive with McDonald's, but back in the 1960's he worked for a chain of movie theaters, where he labored to expand sales of soda and popcorn -- the high-markup items that theaters depend on for their profitability. Wallerstein tried everything he could think of to goose sales -- two-for-one deals, matinee specials -- but found he couldn't induce customers to buy more than one soda and one bag of popcorn. Why? Because going for seconds makes people feel like pigs.
But Wallerstein discovered that people would spring for more popcorn and soda -- a lot more -- as long as it came in a single gigantic serving. Thus was born the Big Gulp and, in time, the Big Mac and jumbo fries. Though Ray Kroc himself took some convincing: the McDonald's founder had naively assumed that if people wanted more fries they'd buy another bag. He didn't appreciate how social taboos against gluttony (one of the seven deadly sins, after all) were holding us back. Wallerstein's dubious achievement was to devise the dietary equivalent of a papal dispensation: Supersize it!
Read full review: 'Fat Land': Supersizing America
Friday, January 10, 2003
Repentance
** I got this from an extract of a sermon on esermons.com
Perhaps in our life time the most public statement of repentance was that of President Bill Clinton's. The one he made before a Prayer Breakfast on September 10, 1998. He summed up the task perfectly when he said, "I don't think there is a fancy way to say that I have sinned." Then he quoted from a book given him by a Jewish friend in Florida. The book is called "Gates of Repentance."Full text of sermon (Requires signup)
Clinton read this passage from the book: "Now is the time for turning. The leaves are beginning to turn from green to red to orange. The birds are beginning to turn and are heading once more toward the south. The animals are beginning to turn to storing their food for the winter. For leaves, birds and animals, turning comes instinctively. But for us, turning does not come so easily. It takes an act of will for us to make a turn. It means breaking old habits. It means admitting that we have been wrong, and this is never easy. It means losing face. It means starting all over again. And this is always painful. It means saying I am sorry. It means recognizing that we have the ability to change. These things are terribly hard to do. But unless we turn, we will be trapped forever in yesterday's ways."
Clinton's quote ended with this prayer: "Lord help us to turn, from callousness to sensitivity, from hostility to love, from pettiness to purpose, from envy to contentment, from care-lessness to discipline, from fear to faith. Turn us around, O Lord, and bring us back toward you. Revive our lives as at the beginning and turn us toward each other, Lord, for in isolation there is no life."
Thursday, January 09, 2003
Instinctual democracy
**All those in favor of moving to the next veldt, raise your right hoof.
Democracy beats despotism in the animal world.
via NewScientist.com news service 19:00 08 January 03
Democracy beats despotism in the animal world.
via NewScientist.com news service 19:00 08 January 03
Democracy wins hands down over despotism when it comes to making choices in an animal group, according to a new theoretical model of collective decisions.
Tuesday, January 07, 2003
Will naked mail go through?
**Neither rain nor snow nor sleet nor lack of package can keep the US Postal Service from getting the mail through. HOT AIR conducted an interesting experiment, which they document in the following article.
Postal ExperimentsRest of article
by Jeff Van Bueren San Francisco, California
Having long been genuine admirers of the United States Postal Service (USPS), which gives amazingly reliable service especially compared with many other countries, our team of investigators decided to test the delivery limits of this immense system. We knew that an item, say, a saucepan, normally would be in a package because of USPS concerns of entanglement in their automated machinery. But what if the item were not wrapped? How patient are postal employees? How honest? How sentimental? In short, how eccentric a behavior on the part of the sender would still result in successful mail delivery?
Testing the Limits
We sent a variety of unpackaged items to U.S. destinations, appropriately stamped for weight and size, as well as a few items packaged as noted. We sent items that loosely fit into the following general categories: valuable, sentimental, unwieldy, pointless, potentially suspicious, and disgusting. We discovered that although some items were never delivered, most of the objects of even highly unusual form did get delivered, as long as the items had a definitely ample value of stamps attached. The Postal Service appears to be amazingly tolerant of the foibles of its public and seems occasionally willing to relax specific postal regulations.
Friday, January 03, 2003
Personal consequence and leadership
**Is it unrealistic to expect that members of Congress would make decisions based, at least in part, on consequences to themselves or their families? Rep. Charles Rangel of New York thinks not. On CNN, Rangel said he wants to introduce legislation that would require all young people in the US, men and women with no exceptions, to serve in the military.
But this is simplistic. One would hope that enlightened leadership wouldn’t need personal consequence as a basis for decisions. Major policy decisions, especially with regard to foreign affairs, need to be made in a wider context including historical, legal, cultural, military and economic factors.
I wouldn't necessarily be opposed to a universal military draft, as it would be one way to insure that everyone would serve their country. But I would be worried if my government were acting on the basis of personal consequences to the individuals in charge. There’s already too much evidence of self-interest in that sphere.
I agree with Tom Black in his article in the Christian Science Sentinel (Jan. 6, 2003) that those who believe in the power of spirituality need to direct their prayers toward supporting the innate ability of policymakers to know and do the right thing.
When you talk about a war, you're talking about ground troops, you're talking about enlisted people, and they don't come from the kids and members of Congress. . . . I believe that if those calling for war knew their children were more likely to be required to serve and to be placed in harm's way there would be more caution and a greater willingness to work with the international community in dealing with Iraq.It’s an intriguing prospect, especially the part about including women in the draft. Makes one wonder how President Bush would feel, and what he might do differently, if his daughters would be required to be part of the armed forces that would storm Baghdad.
But this is simplistic. One would hope that enlightened leadership wouldn’t need personal consequence as a basis for decisions. Major policy decisions, especially with regard to foreign affairs, need to be made in a wider context including historical, legal, cultural, military and economic factors.
I wouldn't necessarily be opposed to a universal military draft, as it would be one way to insure that everyone would serve their country. But I would be worried if my government were acting on the basis of personal consequences to the individuals in charge. There’s already too much evidence of self-interest in that sphere.
I agree with Tom Black in his article in the Christian Science Sentinel (Jan. 6, 2003) that those who believe in the power of spirituality need to direct their prayers toward supporting the innate ability of policymakers to know and do the right thing.
. . . there are many people who instinctively believe that prayer can unfold God’s wisdom to the vox populi, reveal a wise and intelligent foreign policy for any country, and give policy-makers the wisdom, meekness, and courage to follow God’s direction rather than their own inclinations.Doing the right thing doesn’t have to be the absolutely best and final right thing -- that smacks of arrogance and self-righteousness. Mary Baker Eddy believed that
Wisdom in human action begins with what is nearest right under the circumstances, and thence achieves the absolute.(Mis 288:13)All I ask is that decisions involving the general welfare of the country and the world be made from a higher perspective than personal consequence. And that’s what I’m praying for.
Wednesday, January 01, 2003
Hard-wired for faith, not fear
** I like this meditation from a site that provides ideas for pastoral sermons, part of the christianglobe network.
I am inwardly fashioned for faith, not for fear. Fear is not my native land; faith is. I am so made that worry and anxiety are sand in the machinery of life; faith is the oil. I live better by faith and confidence than by fear, doubt and anxiety. In anxiety and worry, my being is gasping for breath--these are not my native air. But in faith and confidence, I breathe freely--these are my native air. A John Hopkins University doctor says, "We do not know why it is that worriers die sooner than the non-worriers, but that is a fact." But I, who am simple of mind, think I know; We are inwardly constructed in nerve and tissue, brain cell and soul, for faith and not for fear. God made us that way. To live by worry is to live against reality.ChristianGlobe.com :: Illustrations
--Dr. E. Stanley Jones, Transformed by Thorns, p. 95.
The most underrated force in global affairs is ...?
**The NY Times for Saturday, Dec 28, 2002 has a major piece on what subjects were "In" and "Out" in 2002 (On Target and Off in 2002.) First in the list of "underrated" is Christianity
NOTE: For more on Jenkins' thesis, see our entry here for December 11, 2002, What is Christianity coming to?
Philip Jenkins is professor of history and religious studies, Pennsylvania State University
It is by far the world's largest religion, and it will continue to hold this position into the foreseeable future; but few of us notice how the character of that faith is being transformed. Over the past century, Christian numbers have been booming in the global south, in Africa, Asia and Latin America. For example, since 1900, the number of African Christians has grown spectacularly from around 10 million to over 360 million. Just within my baby-boomer lifetime, "Western Christianity" has become ever less significant as the faith's center of gravity has shifted.
And as Christianity has been, so to speak, going south, the religion has been adapting very rapidly to the cultures in which it operates. We see an upsurge of charismatic and supernatural-oriented forms of belief and practice. The emergence of southern Christianity constitutes a religious and cultural revolution quite comparable to the Reformation of the 16th century, though on a far vaster scale.
NOTE: For more on Jenkins' thesis, see our entry here for December 11, 2002, What is Christianity coming to?
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