Coming of Age

2011-11-30T12:22:00.001-06:00

Cain and Rotten Tomatoes

The effectiveness of Cain's campaign staff has come under scrutiny. Politico, as well as other media outlets have criticized how poorly his staff handled the crises that has come about from Cain's alleged womanizing. I do not think that is fair.

If I have a rotten tomato I cannot sell it because it is, well, rotten. It is a bad product nobody wants. No matter how I market that tomato the fundamental inadequacy of the product is the real issue, not the way I am packaging it. Arguably Cain's staff was inexperienced, but I don't know if even a political master mind like Karl Rove could salvage him.

Message to Occupy: Change Tactics

In military tactics a fixed position is vulnerable. The physical tactic of occupying a given space by the Occupy movement makes it vulnerable. Also, police are adapting their tactics to the peaceful movement, and finding that a kinder gentler approach is more effective than the beat, pepper spray, grab, and snatch approach. Another issue is accessibility.

In Egypt the economy was, and is, even much worse than it is here. This left multitudes of people with nothing better to do with their time than to go to Tahrir Square and hang out. This is not Egypt. At least not yet.

Not everyone can actively participate - the way the movement works now excludes many of those who would like to do more. But, who can afford to camp out for weeks on end? Most occupy supporters have day jobs, families, kids, or at least gold fish that need some care. Therefore, the number of people who can participate is very limited. Expanding the protest toolbox might also might help what is at least a perceived problem. There is a perception that the the Occupy movement has a tendency to attract some people that are unemployed not because there is a bad economy, but for other reasons that are not so palatable.

I don't have the answer. All I know is that Occupy tactics need to change. The Occupy movement needs to involve more of the middle class, and also find a way to connect with the African American community as well as other minority groups. Those things will not happen on there own without deliberate steps being taken. Some tentative progress in that direction was taken when the unions became involved, but it was not enough.

I don't think the Occupy movement has the resources to take the next step. I think that it is time for such groups as the NAACP, and other truth & justice movements to reach out to join our brothers and sisters who have been out there alone putting themselves on the line.

2011-11-16T13:46:00.001-06:00

An Open Letter to Brutality

I am talking to the “authorities” in New York, and inBerkley

We are going to put our bodies on the gears.

You are not keepingthe peace when you order, and when you participate, in brutalizing the people.Following orders is not an excuse, and complaints about people peeing on thesidewalk are no excuse. In fact, you are looking for A NY excuse because you r masters, the oneswho have bought you, are demanding you do something to earn your keep. You are no better than the despots of the MiddleEast, nor the hate mongers of the south during the civil rights movement. In “just” doing your job, you are giving upyour humanity.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908//vp/45316180#45316274

The New Frugality and the Ruppie

2011-10-05T12:37:00.002-05:00

   The election of Ronald Reagan was a seminal shift in the American experience. That shift in thinking was reflected in Family Ties where Michael J. Fox portrayed an unabashedly materialistic young man by the name of Alex P. Keaton . Let us call Alex P. Keaton the first prototype of what we will now call a ruppie. I will define the term shortly.

       Around the time of Reagan, and the fictional ruppie Mr. Keaton, I witnessed the death of progressive thinking, and activism, on the college campus. This shift was not entirely due to Reagan, and certainly the character of Alex P. Keaton is a symptom rather than a cause. The mechanics, and logistics, of that shift is a fascinating thing to ponder. Regardless of the reason though, we have to deal with the effects. The effects have been enormous. This process of shifting to the right has continued to the point that any program to help ease the plight of the less fortunate is viewed as socialism, and the average American now identifies with the causes of the rich. We maintain our believe in the myth of a classless society. The shock troops for this move to the right have been the ruppie.

   Now it is not unusual to hear young authors, and thinkers, scold us while they pitch their book or views. We are called on the carpet for our excessive spending, and not living within our means as if social programs were a luxury we cannot afford. There are older critics to be sure, but the young modern day ruppie is more interesting. So, what is a ruppie? A ruppy is our modern equivalent of the old yippie. A ruppie is a yippie in elected office. Ruppies have the answers. Rand Paul, and Eric Cantor are poster boys for ruppies.

       Ruppies are wiser than us. They read Ayn Rand, they wear cuff links, and they smell good. They are fit. They are rich, and we know of course that the rich are smarter than us, work harder, and deserve everything they snatch out of our hands. We know that even though it is naughty to say it out loud. We all want desperately to be ruppies ourselves. Ruppies presume to tell us how we are like children who squandered our allowance for frivolous and childish things. We are told that we need "adults" to be in charge since we are incapable of running our own monetary affairs. American is going to hell in a hand basket because of our spendthrift ways. We have been bad. Not even God can help us, because God cannot make campaign contributions. Business and greed will save us with the help of well paid ruppies. Or at least those of us that are worth saving. Our evil socialist ways have been our downfall. Only the stern Calvinistic intervention of the very brave (and the very well funded) will save us all from disaster. They are our last hope.

       Most people in the establishment now parrot the ruppie message which has become our operative axiom. It has become accepted that healthcare, and social security are an extravagance, while every advantage is given to the monied class to rape and pillage us, the environment, and even the whole world financially in a scorched earth policy that is nothing but the gospel of greed.

    Extremism on the left and the right are dangerous. What alarms me now is how deviant our culture has become in its rush to embrace a materialistic worldview (which was, by the way, a legitimate criticism of Marxism). I object to the soulless ghouls who believe in social darwinism. The business of America should not be business. The business of America should be people, with business taking a supportive, but secondary role. I do know we have to pay the bills and I resent being talked down to by the ruppies and their elder allies. There is at least one possible antidote that I know of to the ruppie, and the nonsense they bring with them. That antidote is the Occupy Wall Street Movement. The youth are waking up, and they are concerned about what they see.So am I.

Everything is for Sale

2011-09-26T13:41:00.004-05:00

Interesting Dylan Ratigan interview with Tom Ferguson, Professor of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts Boston, about how "in politics everything is for sale."

If congress is for sale the question is who is buying them? It certainly isn't you or I unless we are a corperation or a multimillionaire. The plutocracy reigns.

Perry: Good News for Obama and Bad News for Romney

2011-09-02T13:07:00.000-05:00

     The Republican lineup for the upcoming presidential election is filled mostly with nut cases or dilettantes. Rick Perry, or "Bush on steroids" as one pundit called him, is now leading the pack in the Republican field for the nomination. However, Perry also calls to my mind the fictional character of Elmer Gantry. Despite all that there is one fatal flaw in Perry's campaign. Perry.
     Perry is so divorced from reality, having suffered sun stroke in the Texas heat (which is not caused by global warming by the way because that is a myth) that he will self-destruct in a general election. His new book, Fed Up, is a childish rant filled with nonsense, and his stance on the issues is so untenable to the average person that he will end up failing in his bid for the presidency if he wins the nomination. He could win the nomination though. That might be Obama's only hope. Perry is so bad he makes Romney look good. I am not kidding. We are scrapping the bottom of the barrel.
   Obama has shown himself to be all show and no go. He inherited a mess, but failed to capitalize on the fact that Bush created it. Even with the house and the White House his presidency faltered while Boehner continues to bully him. Boehner is disdainful and dismissive of Obama. Most Republicans hate the president, and are more concerned with seeming him fail than that you or I have a job.
   Richard Nixon was more liberal than Obama. And, despite his personality disorder issues, it seems maybe a better president when you factor out Watergate and Vietnam. Obama has decided to be everything for everybody and as a result he is nothing to anybody. Can he change this? Maybe, but this time around people are going to want to see action rather than words. Obama has talked enough. Time for him to be president and lead rather than try to mediate or build a consensus. The person who has the most power in a relationship is the one who cares about it the least.
     The Republicans, and their devil children the Tea Party, have no respect for the president and will hound him out of town if things continue to go the way they are now. That is unfortunate. Not because I am such a big fan of Obama anymore, but because he is maybe the lesser of two evils. The defeat of Obama could likely usher in the most right wing government this country has ever seen, and a government bought and paid for by the plutocracy which now mostly rules us anyway.

Gunslinger Wannabe Sen. Tom Coburn

2011-08-18T13:11:00.005-05:00

This brief quote from Politico says it all:

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) ripped his colleagues during a tour of northeast Oklahoma, calling them “career elitists,” “cowards” and said, “It’s just a good thing I can’t pack a gun on the Senate floor.”

Where do these people come from? Whatever happened to courtesy, and respect for others? Coburn is not only guilty of bad manners, he is guilty of inflammatory speech in the lowest form of demagoguery .It is very sad that a person elected to national office uses that type of language..

I grew up with guns, but parted ways with the NRA years ago because of this kind of thinking. I am not anti-gun - I just do not worship them. I have taught my kids how to shoot. Unfortunately, guns are a tool capable of doing much bad, and much bad they do in the hands of irresponsible people. Talk like this only trivializes the criminal use of guns. Now, Coburn will argue he is only kidding and that his words are not to be taken literally. I do not think that is totally true. I think there is a part of people, that he is appealing to and that he is exercising, which would like to resort to brutish behavior when handling disagreements.

Fox news, and talk radio have fanned these flames of anger for years. MSNBC is not much better. America is angry, the tea party is about anger, but anger is one of the most destructive emotions we have. Everyone is angry, but nobody is doing anything constructive. That includes the president.

I am told that Tom Coburn is a member of the First Baptist Church of Muskogee, Oklahoma. I would suppose then that he is a Christian, and believes in Christian values. Would you call his behavior Christian, or is this what Christian values go for these days? It is a sad day. It is a sad day when in this country our political rhetoric includes talk of getting a gun and going after those we disagree with.

Cameron Perfidity on London Riots

2011-08-11T23:22:00.002-05:00

David Cameron has been able to take cover, using the smoke rising from the London riots, from the attention that was being turned toward his administration regarding the cell phone hacking scandal in England. I think that his comments to Parliament are hypocritical.

In his address he blamed parents, and promised unprecedented police powers to get things under control. Cutting short his vacation he quickly tried to stake out the high moral ground sounding like a parson from the pulpit as he condemned the riots. The actions of the rioters are in fact deplorable, but his public explanation of what is going on is too simplistic. What he does not understand, or chooses to ignore, is the social conditions in England have led up to this riot with a large segment of the population feeling disenfranchised.

What concerns me is that the rich and powerful are getting away with their criminal behavior using their power, influence, and control over the political process. For them, the riots could not have come at a better time.

Riots like those that are happening in England, and those that occurred here in the United States during the tense days of the civil rights movement, do not happen in a vacuum. They are deplorable, and they do need to be controlled. But, there also needs to be an honest look at why people take to the streets. Look at the lame excuses that middle east tyrants used to explain why people were rioting in their countries! Their explanations were ludicrous, as are the explanations being given by David Cameron.

Riots do not occur because of bad parenting. They occur because of bad governing.

Truman University Students Pulled from Summer Jobs

2011-08-09T18:27:00.009-05:00

Correction to this story: The current president was NOT at the helm when John Ashcroft was invited to speak. My first version of this blog erroneously assumed that he was.

Under the guise of protecting students, Truman State University in Kirksville, Mo., pulled students from summer jobs which would have had them scientifically monitoring odor from corporate hog farms. The hog farms have long been viewed by some locals as a public nuisance, and possible health hazard. Please view the excellent article from the Kansas City Star that outlines the details. It is a complicated story, but deserves your attention. My point here is to address how a university, which should be a champion of truth, caved into political pressure when it ended up rejecting the $20,000 grant (that it had already agreed to) which would have paid the Truman students to perform the monitoring.

Here is an excerpt from the Kansas City Star article which quotes Truman's president:

"We came to the conclusion that by having our students participate, there was a risk they could be brought into the middle of ongoing legal disputes between PSF and the attorney general and citizen groups," Paino said. "We didn't think that would be in the best interest of the students."

In today's world everyone bows to money, and the will of the people is subverted through a political system that is available to the highest bidder. In the words of economist James Galbraith, we are now in a situation where "there are only lobbyists and the politicians who do their bidding" (The Predator State, p. 5). Instead of taking the opportunity to go against that trend Truman State University gave into pressure, and then gave the very weak excuse that it wanted to keep the students out of a difficult situation. I do not think that is true, or is at least only a small portion of the truth. By all appearances Truman University succumbed to political pressure orchestrated by a corporate lobbyist, and executed by elected representatives who did their masters biding. The excuse given was, well, hogwash.

We should expect more from academia. Academia serves as one of our searchlights, with its emphasis on academic freedom, assisting us as we explore diverse opinions in our search for truth.

I am sure the president of Truman is a good man. I am sure that he was in a difficult situation, and received lots of pressure. But, such crucial moments is when real leadership should come forward. Unfortunately this kowtowing to power and money has become part of academic culture as we experience the commodification of education at all levels.

What is going on with pensions?

2011-06-15T22:58:00.000-05:00

For years now companies have been finding ways to get out of pensions and recently the Pentagon has been complaining about pensions and rising healthcare costs. It is rare now for a company to even offer any kind of retirement plan other than the Russian roulette we call the 401K.

Back to the military. I find it disingenuous for this country to use and abuse the people, and families, in uniform with all of our foreign adventures and then complain about the long term costs. Didn't anyone think about that before we began our shenanigans in Afghanistan and Iraq? Clearly a commitment was made to those people we have put in harms way, those that have been wounded (physically, mentally, and spiritually) knowing that there would be a cost down the road. Rising health care is not some new phenomena that appeared all of a sudden taking us all by surprise.

All of a sudden decent pensions, good paying jobs, and good benefits are seen as luxury items. Conversely, insanely expensive weapons systems, policing the whole world, tax breaks for the wealthy, and tax breaks/subsidies for business with a made to order congress to do its bidding are seen as necessities.

Life is not about profit. It is not about power. It is about people. Yet, our political system ignores the plight of the average citizen while working overtime to create a system which is toxic morass for people, but in which greed and hubris flourish like the noxious weeds they are.

Congressional Investment Geniuses

2011-06-12T14:17:00.003-05:00

Evidently members of congress are investment geniuses as evidenced by this story that was covered by the Huffington Post:

Four university researchers examined 16,000 common stock transactions made by approximately 300 House representatives from 1985 to 2001, and found what they call "significant positive abnormal returns," with portfolios based on congressional trades beating the market by about 6 percent annually.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/24/members-of-congress-get-a_n_866387.html

Here is the citation for the article which was the source of the Huffinton Post story:

Ziobrowski, Alan J.; Boyd, James W.; Cheng, Ping; and Ziobrowski, Brigitte J. (2011) "Abnormal Returns From the Common Stock Investments of Members of the U.S. House of Representatives," Business and Politics: Vol. 13: Iss. 1, Article 4.

This article only added to my disgust of how power in this country has corrupted the political process and money is absolutely the king, or the god, to which we all now must bow. I read stories about people being charged with insider trading while congress has been doing this for years. I thank the authors of the study for their painstaking work which documents just one of the many abuses

I want elected officials who:

Do not have fake tans
Do not wear cuff links
Are not millionaires
Do not have better healthcare or retirement benefits than I do
Do not show naughty pictures of themselves on social media
Do not cheat on their wife, and take part in raising their kids

We continue to have a political process that elects people who are completely out of touch with the average citizen. The Tea Party folks are rightly upset at the current political process, but have hitched their wagon to the wrong star. Also, their movement is one that is being turned against the citizenry rather than one that will liberate it. Why is the middle class so enamored of cannibalism, so fond of fratricide, and so averse to seeing the truth of their situation?

Democracy In Egypt

2011-01-30T20:32:00.000-06:00

In Tunisia and Egypt we have seen unprecedented spontaneous popular revolts against moribund dictatorships. What kind of hubris makes a person think that they can rule over millions of their fellow citizens for decades without elections? These leaders not only rob the national wealth of their countries, they steal the national soul. Whenever the people rise up to throw off their chains of oppression it is a time for the rest of the world to support and applaud their efforts.

It is time for the American people to support these movements. Dr. Martin Luther King famously battled with President Kennedy and then President Johnson regarding civil rights reform. Both leaders urged patience cautioning that the time was not yet right. There is a famous picture of Johnson and King together at the White House and you can tell from that image things are not going well. They are disagreeing as to the pace of reforms. But, those reforms came in their own good time.

I have been disturbed to hear how it is not in the best interest of the United States for Mubarak to be kicked out of office. Some say that it will destabilize the region and cause problems for Israel. I do not buy that. It is immoral, it is evil, to stand in the way and block the will of the Egyptian people as they struggle to throw off their oppression. Years ago my ancestors strove to throw off the oppression of another Egyptian leader - Pharaoh.

If Mubarak is not removed from office he will go onto punish those who have participated in the uprising and take evasive action to prevent further revolt in the future. Egypt is not his private fiefdom. The future of Egypt is not dependent on Mubarak and he is not the savior of the Egyptian people. They will save themselves if he will only get out of the way. They will save themselves if we gave them our support.

Nothing but Victims

2011-01-11T22:40:00.007-06:00

A gentle reply turns away wrath, but a distressing word stirs up anger.
Mishlei (Proverbs) 15:1

The shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is such an immense tragedy because it leaves behind nothing but a trail of victims. This includes everyone killed, injured, witnesses, the community, and even the nation as it struggles to come to terms with it. Including Jared Loughner and his parents. The suspect, from all the information available so far, is mentally ill, and for whatever reason went untreated with tragic consequences.

Who is to blame? Not Sarah Palin, not the other conservative pundits, not thirty round clips, but rather a complex matrix of interrelated circumstances which have created an atmosphere not just of incivility, but something more sinister. We just do not give a damn about other people anymore. Everyone is mad as hell, everyone hates the other side (liberals hate conservatives and conservatives hate liberals) and the tone of the discourse is horrific. We use such strong rhetoric, myself included, and we forget that words are powerful.

The Torah teaches us that the world was created with words. Words are the basic technology of human communication and everything else, including this medium, are just variations of a theme. It still all comes to words. And we are careless with that precious gift.

When you start using words that talk about killing, "taking out", "in our sights", and all those other phrases that allude to violence you are asking for trouble. We carelessly use those euphemisms as if they have no real consequences. But, it is really not cute, and it is really not clever. Not anymore. It is dangerous. It is no longer just rhetoric, it is fighting words, and words that shape and form the way we deal with each other. It creates an attitude and an atmosphere. That atmosphere was something that Jared Loughner picked up on - it was in the vary highly charged and polarized air of Arizona he breathed in everyday. Then he acted upon what everyone else was just talking about. The symbolic talk of violence, and killing suddenly became real.

Society failed to respond to Loughner's decompensation because of our distraction. We have other things on our mind. Jared Loughner is a disturbed person in a society that has been at continuous war for ten years, where people use maps with gun sights (please Sarah, ... your better than that,... they were not surveyors symbols,... they were gun sights) on them in political advertisements, think they need thirty round clips for their pistol, and where materialism reigns. One thing by itself is not so insidious, but all together look at the big picture. It is heartbreaking. We are arrogant gun slinging cowboys and we scare the crap out of the rest of the world.

This is a great country that has squandered its wealth and reputation. We are broke. We cannot heal the sick, feed the hungry, and we are not even willing to try anymore. We have given up.

Ostensibly this is a nation guided, at least in large part, by Christian values. I am Jewish, but I admire very much what seems to me to be the core values of Christianity which are beautiful. Things like the Sermon on the Mount and the blessings it contains such as the Beatitudes. What would Jesus do? I don't think Jesus would have much use for a 9mm Glock, or spend the wealth of a great nation fighting wars in two countries. I don't think Jesus would talk about killing Michael Moore. I don't think Jesus would go to a political rally with an assault rifle. I think Jesus would have other things to do. Things that might make a positive difference. I think Jesus would try to heal rather than hurt or blame.

We appear to be a vindictive, mean spirited, nation of intolerant bigots. We sound like it, and we act like it. Maybe we are, but I am not ready to concede that yet. Not entirely. I think that we have allowed our values to be hijacked by leaders in politics and popular culture who are only after money and power. They steal our soul. The tea party is right about one thing - the leadership of this country has failed us.

So we are all victims of this shooting. We are all responsible as well. Whenever we gossip and use the power of language to degrade or dehumanize another for whatever reason we do great harm. Words count. This incident has renewed in me a respect for right speech. It must begin with me, then I must work with my family and those within my sphere of influence not by preaching but by example in curbing my own talk.

Preamble to the Shooting of Gabrielle Giffords

2011-01-09T20:14:00.004-06:00

Preamble to the Shooting of Gabrielle Giffords

(A found poem)

By Mike Perkins

Prelude

"Hang on, let me just tell you what I'm thinking. I'm thinking about killing Michael Moore, and I'm wondering if I could kill him myself, or if I would need to hire somebody to do it. No, I think I could." – Glen Beck

--------------------------------------------------------------------

We the People of the United States,

"This is just the first salvo in a fight to elect people across the nation who will bring common sense to Washington.” - Sarah Palin

in Order to form a more perfect Union,

"I just wish Katrina had only hit the United Nations building, nothing else, just had flooded them out, and I wouldn't have rescued them." - Bill O’Reilly

establish Justice,

“Capital punishment is our way of demonstrating the sanctity of life." - Orrin Hatch

insure domestic Tranquility,

''The feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians.'' —Pat Robertson

provide for the common defence,

"When I see a 9/11 victim family on television, or whatever, I'm just like, 'Oh shut up' I'm so sick of them because they're always complaining." – Glenn Beck

promote the general Welfare,

“God says, 'Earth is yours. Take it. Rape it. It's yours.' ” – Ann Coulter

and secure the Blessings of Liberty

“If you think the United States has stood still, who would have built the largest shopping center in the world?” - Richard M. Nixon

to ourselves and our Posterity,

"I tell people don't kill all the liberals. Leave enough so we can have two on every campus - living fossils - so we will never forget what these people stood for." - Rush Limbaugh

do ordain and establish

“Let the unskilled jobs that take absolutely no knowledge whatsoever to do — let stupid and unskilled Mexicans do that work. “ - Rush Limbough

this Constitution for the United States of America.

"We need somebody to put rat poisoning in Justice Stevens' creme brulee,’ That's just a joke, for you in the media." - Ann Coulter

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Epilogue

"I went to ~~Safeway~~ the movie this weekend with a gun." - Glenn Beck

Dinosauria, we

2010-12-11T17:35:00.001-06:00

The emphasis on the poem below, the bold font, is mine. It sums up were we are heading as the distinction of civil society, and the obfuscation of democracy, becomes more and more a reality.

Dinosauria, We by Charles Bukowski

Born like this
Into this
As the chalk faces smile
As Mrs. Death laughs
As the elevators break
As political landscapes dissolve
As the supermarket bag boy holds a college degree
As the oily fish spit out their oily prey
As the sun is masked
We are
Born like this
Into this
Into these carefully mad wars
Into the sight of broken factory windows of emptiness
Into bars where people no longer speak to each other
Into fist fights that end as shootings and knifings
Born into this
Into hospitals which are so expensive that it's cheaper to die
Into lawyers who charge so much it's cheaper to plead guilty
Into a country where the jails are full and the madhouses closed
Into a place where the masses elevate fools into rich heroes
Born into this
Walking and living through this
Dying because of this
Muted because of this
Castrated
Debauched
Disinherited
Because of this
Fooled by this
Used by this
Pissed on by this
Made crazy and sick by this
Made violent
Made inhuman
By this
The heart is blackened
The fingers reach for the throat
The gun
The knife
The bomb
The fingers reach toward an unresponsive god
The fingers reach for the bottle
The pill
The powder
We are born into this sorrowful deadliness
We are born into a government 60 years in debt
That soon will be unable to even pay the interest on that debt
And the banks will burn
Money will be useless
There will be open and unpunished murder in the streets
It will be guns and roving mobs
Land will be useless
Food will become a diminishing return
Nuclear power will be taken over by the many
Explosions will continually shake the earth
Radiated robot men will stalk each other
The rich and the chosen will watch from space platforms
Dante's Inferno will be made to look like a children's playground
The sun will not be seen and it will always be night
Trees will die
All vegetation will die
Radiated men will eat the flesh of radiated men
The sea will be poisoned
The lakes and rivers will vanish
Rain will be the new gold
The rotting bodies of men and animals will stink in the dark wind
The last few survivors will be overtaken by new and hideous diseases
And the space platforms will be destroyed by attrition
The petering out of supplies
The natural effect of general decay
And there will be the most beautiful silence never heard
Born out of that.
The sun still hidden there
Awaiting the next chapter.

URL: http://able2know.org/topic/91839-1

Denial of Freedom

2010-12-03T12:40:00.004-06:00

Are we in China? The government is now in the business of censoring what we can see on the internet. So information about what our government is doing, all that embarrassing stuff, is now effectively classified with such truely horrendous stuff as child porn. Here is what you get now instead of the Wikileaks page:

Why are all these extralegal steps being taken instead of using the courts? Why did the real attack on Wikileaks start not with the military information but with the release of the diplomatic information and the talk about the site releasing massive amounts of banking data? The argument that Wikileaks is risking lives is simply not true and is not the reason the site is being attacked. But, then again not only will we believe anything we will put up with anything this government decides to stick us with.

Is this the real reason we have this energetic attack on Wikileaks:

http://ktwop.wordpress.com/2010/11/30/next-target-for-wikileaks-will-be-a-megadump-of-banking-information/

The Portland Bomber

2010-11-30T13:37:00.001-06:00

Mohamed Mohamud was cynically used by the FBI as a terror weapon. Mohamed, a terrorist wannabe and overall sad case, was like putty in the hands of the agency which spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to create a threat that wasn't there yet. This unsophisticated kid could eventually have proven dangerous and some intervention needed to be made, but he is no terror master mind. By all accounts he was an emotionally unstable young man who was more angry at this family than anyone else after his parents divorce.

Who was the real victim? The people of Portland Oregon who were made to believe that somehow Mohamed was a real threat, and whose city was used for this theater of the absurd. Mohamed was used to scare the American people and as a means of intimidation for the Muslim population. An unintended, but not surprising, side effect has been the real fire bombing of the Salman Al Farisi Islamic Center in Corvallis, Oregon. That is widely believed to be related to the play acting drama that unfolded with such drama at a Christmas tree lighting ceremony. Even the venue of the "bomb," had to have been picked with cynical care as something sure to raise the hackles of every red blooded American as this vile foreign threat attempted to violate such a scene of goodwill and harmony as a Christmas tree lighting ceremony. Oh, it was probably a "holiday lighting ceremony."

This high profile media event which was, at least at first, announced with a bit of hysteria in the media was overplayed. There were many points earlier where he could have been arrested. Instead the event was carefully orchestrated for the largest amount of drama and media play. Kind of like a Sylvester Stallone movie. You can't tell me that when that kid dialed that cell phone number and nothing happened there were not some law enforcement officials setting around laughing their heads off.

$arah, how is that drilly baby drill working out for cha?

2010-06-04T18:07:00.000-05:00

In my last post I got after $arah Payme for making light of those who hope and think that things can change - for the better. Now, I want to point out that she was all for loose restrictions on offshore drilling and provide you some pictures courtesy of the Huffington Post. So, anyone that thinks that this is a disaster, and probably will soon morph into a global ecological disaster, is a greenie tree hugger.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/30/louisiana-oil-spill-2010_n_558287.html

Greed, arrogance, and stupidity know no bounds.

Palin Makes Fun of Hope and Change

2010-05-03T15:27:00.001-05:00

At a recent ~~Pitty Pott~~y Tea Party rally Sarah Palin mocking President Obama in her gum chewing breezy glib way said: "How is that hopey changey thing workin out for yah?" Is Ms Palin capable of using correct English? Anyway,... thank you Sarah now I realise what you and the tea party are all about. You have abandoned the hope of modernity that each day can be better than the day before, and that we can make the world a better place for everyone. It is the cynicism of Fox News and the usually fellow travellers of doom, gloom, and despair having given up hope. This was a remarkable revelation for me.

We have been indoctrinated through civics classes (do we even teach that any more?) that America is a place where you can make it, where you have a chance, and where hard work pays off. Even Ronald Reagan believed that. It was not too bad of a social construct! It provided the conscious of the civil rights movement and the women's movement. The current bunch of hard core conservatives do not believe that stuff anymore..

The current tide of conservatism is cynical, greedy, and has turned its back on American values instead embracing some kind of Christian capitalism, Ayn Rand philosophy of the damned. I opposed Ronald Reagan on some issues but I NEVER doubted his optimism. He was many things but not a cynic.

Our current struggle is not with communism, Islam, or any of that stuff. It is much more insidious and much more powerful. It is materialism. We have drank that hemlock. Is it a fatal dose?

Reading, Texting, and Mindfulness

2010-05-02T02:19:00.005-05:00

When I go to the park nobody is reading anymore. It used to be that you would see people reading under trees, or parents reading to their children. Now everyone is talking on the cell phone while they are in the park. I went into Barnes & Noble to get a copy of the Paris Review and there were two people outside smoking as they were texting on cell phones. Are they more addicted to cigarettes or their cell phones? As a matter of fact companion texting, texting while somebody else is with you, is probably our number one social interaction besides, well,... texting. Have our lives become defined by that little screen? Probably.

47 percent of teens can text with their eyes closed. Fact. And, I bet less than 17 percent can diagram a sentence. Texting is replacing talking.

I went to a meeting the other day and there was an executive setting there texting through the whole thing. Then a colleague tells me they go to a board meeting and there is someone there with not one, but two, phones texting throughout the meeting.

See a movie? Cell phones. Somebody is running or cycling? They are listening to music with those ear buds blocking out the world.We are not content to read, smoke, run, drive, or do any of life's little tasks which define us as human without a distraction. We have to be doing something else. Do people text while having sex? Apparently so. Scroll down to the comments: Weird Texting Moments from Womens Health Magazine: http://www.womenshealthmag.com/life/weird-texting-moments. The interesting thing is not so much that the women sent a text to her mom during sex but that she read it in the first place.

By the way, we are still a long way from understanding the social or even health consequences of cell phones. Here is an interesting article from GQ magazine: http://www.gq.com/cars-gear/gear-and-gadgets/201002/warning-cell-phone-radiation

Here are some more things to think about:
"The most precious gift we can offer others is our presence. When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers." Thich Nhat Hanh

So, turn off that cell phone and read Peace in Every Step by Thich Nhat Hanh, or the newspaper, or really talk and listen to someone for a change, or maybe even do nothing. Whatever you do, please don't text me. I will not text back.

As Much Free Speech As You Can Pay For

2010-01-22T18:07:00.002-06:00

The supreme court ruling which came out regarding corporate spending, not limiting the money corporations can spend in the political process, is a fraud and a scandal. It fails to recognize the fundamental fact that the nature of corporate entities to acquire and concentrate capital far accedes the ability of individuals to do so. It in fact limits the free speech of individuals and amplifies whatever message business wants to promote turning the arena of politics into just another marketing platform. Even more so than it was before.

Allowing corporations to spend at will in the political process dilutes the participation of the common citizen to the point of being inconsequential. The groans and cries for relief from the people will be drowned out by the shrill shilling of the business special interest.

America is no longer a democracy. It is a country where the will of the people has been suborned to the will of big business.

Now I Get It: What College Is Now

2010-01-21T21:49:00.001-06:00

I finally figured it out. I have been thinking about college in an outdated way and my new approach to understanding higher education now helps me to make sense out of all this. College is no longer the realm of the intellectual elite.

Of course I knew that college was now a mass institution and that the forces of commodification have worked their magic but the obvious implications of that alluded me. I kept assuming that higher education was still the realm of lofty thoughts, seeking after truth, and a meritocracy. I was, of course, wrong.

Now higher education is market driven and the key to market is increased production, and market growth as well as cost containment. The last frontier in the commodification of higher education is cost containment and we have yet to see the Walmart of higher education emerge. Instead, the cost of a college degree has continued to rise beyond all reasonableness fueled by usurious student loans where the government acts as the enforcer. Miss your payment and Bruno will come down and break your knees.

Cadillac Health Plans and Splitting the Democratic Alliance

2010-01-12T16:09:00.003-06:00

President Obama was elected because he manged to create an alliance of voters who might otherwise have strayed into the independent and Republican camps. These are marginal voters who often swing elections and they are incredibly difficult to define before-the-fact (as during an election or as an event is unfolding) since they are swayed by fractional micro-issues of an uncertain pattern or logic. One example would be a very liberal person who is adamantly against any kind of abortion, or conversely a very conservative person who was for gay marriage. Yet, those examples are more broad and predictable than what I am talking about. Obama won his election on the margins and inevitably those margins are too fragile to hold up under the stress of a volatile political environment with as much polarization as ours has. Complicating this issue is that the Republicans have utilized a scorched earth approach as to dealing with Obama with a profound inclination to disavow any legislation he proffers just because of it's pedigree. Now the Republicans are exploiting a fundamental weakness in Obama's support by working stealthily to alienate labor from the administration. It is an opportunistic work of genius worthy of that archdemon Karl Rove. The exquisitely ironic part of the whole debacle is that President Obama is doing the heavy lifting. The conservatives are just setting back reaping the benefits regardless of the outcome. The damage will have been done.

One of the pillars of organized labor has been to secure for its members good, no great, health care benefits. Labor has even given up wage increases and other benefits for better health care coverage. Desperately seeking a middle way to help the health care reform initiative pass the remaining hurdles the idea of taxing Cadillac health care benefits (see the excellent explanatory article by Slate: http://www.slate.com/id/2232434/) has gained significant purchase. Time magazine has a pretty good article explaining the basics of that strategy as well as their disapproval of it: http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1913147,00.html

Is it a good idea to initiate some kind of tax on the so called Cadillac health care plans? I do not know. I do know though that it creates some animosity between organized labor and the Obama administration. Even if labor leadership decides to stand with Obama on this emotional issue will the fabled "rank and file" stand? Isn't it strange and disconcerting how all issues are now emotional as if our whole society has the mentality of an immature adolescent? An emo? I think I liked hip hop better because I can not stand whining. Think about it, Rush Limbaugh is more emo than hip-hop.

Obama will probably get his health care reform. Unfortunately in our current system of spite and animosity there is the very real danger of it being a Golem with no soul. Keep in mind that in Hebrew golem has the literal meaning of a shapeless mass.

Health care reform has turned into a conflict between those that have (no matter how little they have), and those who have nothing. Those who have even a little bit have been cleverly convinced that health care reform is the hellish vision of a Muslim president who is not even a citizen out to destroy us all with the contradictory swords of Islam and socialism. So, relax, turn on Fox and make a list of how illegal aliens (code for anyone who is Hispanic, gay, or well,... just different than you the pure blooded American) is ruining this country. In the end you get exactly the government you deserve despite the efforts of those who would like to salvage some decency out of the ignorant morass we have become. If you are lucky there may even be a tea party within driving distance this Sunday after church.

Here is the problem with health care: It costs money. Even bad health care costs a lot of money. Providing health care at any level is exponentially more expensive than a can of beans and a bag of rice and arguably we are not doing such a great job of even feeding the hungry. So it is no surprise we are not willing to pay for their visit to the doctor. In the end, health care reform is really about sharing the cost and anything that does not promote rank selfishness, requiring us to help others, is called socialism. It is sad to see that we are a country that is more committed to the principles of Ayn Rand than Judeo-Christian values. When Cain killed Able he haughtily asked God "am I my brothers keeper?" In American we are increasingly answering that question with a resounding "NO."

Items Left Behind at WalMart or Where are the bananas?

2009-12-24T23:29:00.002-06:00

My wife just asked if anybody had seen the bananas she had purchased last night at Walmart. That is when we realized that she had left them behind last night with several other items. The ironic part of this is that she had gone back once already earlier today to claim a cartoon of eggs that had been left behind on that crazy carousel system for bagging they use. The lady at the "customer service" desk consulted a list of items she would not let my wife see. A list of items left behind by customers. So we got the eggs we left behind but instead of saying, "Oh, here are the other items you left behind." and giving them to us we got silence. There was a list and I am sure our bananas as well as other items we have not yet discovered missing were on it too. What else was left behind? We have no idea.

Enough with questions I cannot answer. Here is a question I can answer: What does Walmart do with the items that customers pay for and leave behind and do not claim? They put them back on the shelf and sell them again. I would feel a little better if those items were donated to local charities instead of enriching the pockets of multinational corporation which is already doing fine in a tough economy. Heck, they do well in a good economy.

This is a dishonorable business tactic. It is a mitzvah to return an item back to its proper owner and the practice as executed by Walmart is dishonest either through policy or oversight. Either way it is wrong. If a customer comes back with a receipt, and if the Walmart system works correctly and the left behind items are logged the way they are supposed to be (which does happen a reasonable amount of times) then the customer should get all their things back with no games.

There is a huge problem with items being left behind at Walmart. They are taking advantage of a confusing checkout system, the fact that most people will overlook forgotten items when they put their purchases away, and the fact that most people will not bother to put themselves through the ordeal of having to go back and hassle with them over a one or two dollar item. But, one or two dollar items ad up. The internet has many stories about this being a problem and our family looses dozens of items each year because they have a checkout system which is prone to error. I would estimate that we leave something behind 1 out of every 5 visits we make. Although some checkers are conscientious, and we have learned to check ourselves, it is still confusing - it is a system that needs to be fixed.

We have many friends who out of principle do not shop at Walmart and I think it is time that our family reconsiders our own shopping habits.

Fight Night at Ole Mizzou

2009-12-14T20:24:00.002-06:00

It starts out like a bad joke: "Three Missouri women's basketball players and one male Missouri cheerleader walk into a bar,...." It ends up with two young women arrested for suspicion of assault and duly suspended from the team and a young man suspended from cheerleading. I am not making this stuff up. It is even much more interesting than the mysterious settlement given to Coach Mark Mangino who was dismissed after a poor season and last minute concerns about verbal abuse and "inappropriate" physical contact. I never knew a coach who was above a little verbal abuse now and then. And, guess what? Had Coach Mangino taken his team to a decent bowl game all his sins, which may or may not have occurred, would have been miraculously forgiven. Such is the largess of big time college athletics, but I digress.

We will never know the whole truth about what happened on fight night, and that is just as well. We know enough. We know that alcohol was involved and that it probably played a huge part in the mess that ensued including creating legal and academic problems as well as public embarrassment.

We tend to forget just how problematic alcohol abuse is. In the very same issue of the paper where the story was carried about the Mizzou students and their fight night dirty laundry another incident was quietly reported that has received less media attention. Yet, that story is in many ways sadder. The story I am referring to was the third arrest of a local teenager for drunken driving including printing his picture.

Awareness of alcohol related problems and how to deal with them when confronting friends and loved ones is an important issue. You can learn more about this very serious disease at: https://health.google.com/health/ref/Alcoholism

Afghanistan or Health Care: Which One REALLY Matters?

2009-12-10T01:56:00.003-06:00

Health care. Health care reform really matters.

In the scheme of things Afghanistan is nothing but a holdover from the failed policies and adventures of President Bush. It is amazing to me how Republicans have attempted even now to rehabilitate the 43rd president. That effort to revive the cult of neo-conservatism is eerily like the ongoing attempts in Russia to rehabilitate Stalin (the only man in modern history to give Hitler a run for his money in terms of pure unadulterated evil and craziness).

In terms of Afghanistan in the end what will really matter is how effective the military will do its job and that is dependent on strategy and tactics as well as leadership. Does Obama have the generals he needs to do the job? One is of course reminded of President Lincoln's struggle to find the right person to lead the Union to victory. This quote is from a paper available at the Abraham Lincoln Association website:

Army leaders proved more frustrating. Lincoln resembled nothing so much as the owner of a big-league baseball team trying to find the right manager through the war’s early years, and the documents that your students examine will show Lincoln’s early frustrations, his prodding nature, and eventually, a growing confidence when he had finally found the men best suited for the work (paragraph 4). That paper is available in its entirety on the Association's web page.

There is of course another factor which weighs in heavily on what happens in Afghanistan, and that is of course Afghanistan itself. Arguably it is not even a country but a loosely associated grouping of tribes and ethnicities that do not play well together, and that has never functioned as a nation state. I often think that the only entity that really wants, and believes in, a united Afghanistan is the United States. We are certainly doing the heavy lifting and nobody is thanking us for it.

As I write this health care reform is by no means an accomplished fact. The Republican party is fighting its own alarmist slash and burn policy of scare tactics and nay saying. Support for the president is wanning as a fickle American people forget how serious problems were the day the last Bush left the white house in one piece but the rest of the world in a shambles. This president has used up a lot of political capitol to get the initiative this far and if it fails it will fail not because of the Republicans but because of Democrats.

Once again extremeism, and the sheer hysteria of manic voices like Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coultier, and Glenn Beck (am I the only one that thinks the uniform he is wearing on the book cover pictured below makes him look like a Nazi Storm Trooper?) resonate with the American people. What is the matter with Kansas?!

Beck does look like some flavor of fascist - either that or an old fashioned elevator man or perhaps a bell hop at a posh hotel? Look at that photograph and tell me who looks like an idiot. And what about Ann Coulter and her obvious eating disorder?

My point is that the Republican party is being led by a group of mean spirited maniacs with serious personality disorders and worse yet people listen to them. Those people are not wise, they are just loud. But, maybe loud mean spiritedness ego-centric behaviors are now what passes as wisdom? Don't even get me started on Sarah Palin. But, what do they all, including Sarah Palin, have in common besides all that? They are all millionaires with good health insurance who are against health care reform.

Our health care system only works if you have money and/or insurance. If you want to live in a country where it is everyone for themselves then that is fine. If you aspire to something higher then we need a change. Lets get health care reform.

Making Grades Count

2009-11-17T00:22:00.001-06:00

I just finished reading a brilliant article in the October 2009 issue of the National Review by Robert Verbruggen entitled "Beyond the BA: Why Fewer People Should Get One." I am pretty ecumenical when it comes to looking for insight and erudition and the National Review does not disappoint. It is good to see that not all conservative "thinkers" come equipped with personality disorders, and that there are some important voices coming from the right. I highly recommend that article.

In my last post I discussed how many college students hate the process of higher education and merely endure it. I have some recommendations to make on how we can begin to change that by making grades really count and having a process of real accountability.

We hire students emerging from college without adequate evidence as to their abilities and especially as to their character and work habits. We know that grades earned in college may have no bearing on actual ability, and that letters of recommendation are from carefully picked persons who will at the very least damn them with faint praise. An acquaintance of mine, an editor at a magazine, told me how her publication inadvertently hired an intern who could not write. The managing editors suspect that the sample paper used in the application was professionally written because there is such a mismatch between the quality of that document and the subsequent inability of that person to form coherent sentences. They literally gave up on having the intern write stories since it was more work to rewrite (editing is too light a term) the articles than it was worth. Situations like that can be avoided with improved hiring practices and expanding how we grade. What to do?

First of all we need to not only award grades for academic performance but for such things as attendance and honesty. As an employer I would definitely like to know that the job applicant in front of me had atrocious attendance. I would like to know that the next candidate cheated on a biology exam, and the one after that routinely showed disrespect for the teacher or spent their class time texting. Is that better to know than they made an A in English Composition and a B in Biology? With such a system that C student with a stellar attendance record who worked full time while acquiring their degree might suddenly look better than the other candidates who cynically played the grade game with their constant mantra of: "Will we be getting a study guide?" and the perennial favorite "Will that be on the test?" Somethings are more important than the things we currently grade for.

Employers can do something too. Get tougher on checking things out. Ask for a recommendation from the students advisor, from two other faculty members including one outside their major. Ask tough questions about attendance, ability to work with others, and how they accepted responsibility. Ask for a couple of writing samples from old papers rather than something prepared especially for the hiring process. Then, require them to write something right there during the hiring process.

The current grading system is inadequite and designed for a different era. That era is dead. Grades no longer tell you enough about a student and many many things that you should know never make it onto a college transcript. Trust me on that.

Hating College

2009-11-15T01:54:00.000-06:00

I am amazed at the number of college students who despise going to college and are only doing so because of social/family pressures and their desire to "have a good job." When I survey any given class the vast majority admit that they are essentially in college because they feel they have to be, and that they are only enduring college because they think it is their ticket to a more lucrative future. They admit to no intellectual curiosity and find the whole experience mind numbing. Admittedly my sample is skewed and I have no idea what students would be like in the physical sciences. I have a theory though that there is a correlation between ACT and IQ scores and satisfaction with college as an intellectual experience but presently I have no data to support it.

With college rapidly becoming the new high school more and more people are coming to college that are marginally qualified by inclination and aptitude to attend. These students are in a kind of vocational holding pattern as they put in their time to get their ticket punched so they can enter the adult work force. In the meantime they take out student loans and work at low paying jobs in order to pay their way. What does this do to the college experience?

Do not be fooled. Qualitatively there is a difference between the college graduate of today and the one of ten or more years ago. The discourse and milieu of the current classroom is controlled not by students who are there to learn but by those who are there to endure. To most students today the college experience is an obstacle they must navigate with guile and cunning so they can "get on" with their real life. Grade inflation is in fact a result of what happens when the ideal of college is marketed with such spectacular success that college is seen as a necessity for even a modicum of success, and that in a society where success is mostly equated with higher incomes.

This is at a time when the cost of college continues to rise much faster than the cost of living while institutions of higher learning show little propensity, or skill, in curbing the rising cost by focusing on the core mission of education. Colleges are increasingly guilty of mission creep where the educational experience is subjugated to supplemental services while the growth in faculty numbers is fabulously dwarfed by the growth in staff. Colleges and universities have recently been forced to cut expenses because of the current recession but these revised budgets have included continued increases in tuition which are funded primarily through student loans.

When a student graduates from high school there are few jobs for them and most have been led to believe that their future happiness is best served by obtaining a college degree. There are "statistics" to support that claim but I am suspicious of those numbers. I do not think there is a direct cause and effect connection but that something else is happening. I suspect that those same persons without a higher education would have made more money than their unschooled peers for other reasons than having a college degree, and that those who do not have a college degree remain at a lower income level for reasons other than not having a college degree. Many students leave college and enter jobs for which they could have been trained in much less time and with much less expense had other options been available to them.

I do not think the college degree, at least as I envision it, was ever intended to be the universal experience that we are making it. It is like assuming that everyone who played high school sports is capable of performing at the level required for college. Also,I find it highly ironic that we are sending more and more students to college when the public education system is vastly inadequate and incapable of turning out students who are truly prepared to enter institutions of higher learning. What to do?

The biggest culprit is student loans which are a racket. Student loans guaranteed by the government are no longer the good deal they used to be but financial traps. Colleges and universities can count on a seemingly endless supply of tuition monies funded by student loans and have no incentive to cut costs and lower tuition. Currently, colleges and universities have no incentive to restrict the flow of students through their doors despite the empty rhetoric to the contrary. The next culprit is that we have no alternatives for young people and have created a myth that everyone is both obligated and capable of attending college no matter what. Let me end with a true story.

Several years ago I had a student in one of my classes that was having some extreme difficulties. That student showed me their Individual Education Plan from high school and their paper work from the Missouri Department of Vocational Rehabilitation. Both documents confirmed that the student was mentally retarded. Think about the implications of this last example and what it means.

2009-10-24T02:04:00.001-05:00

This week I had the honor of meeting Chanrithy Him at the National Organization for Human Services annual convention in Portland, Oregon, where she was the keynote speaker. After the keynote she held another question and answer session, and book signing session, which I also attended. Chanrithy Him is the author of When Broken Glass Floats which tells her story of growing up during the Viet Cong invasion of Cambodia and the subsequent American bombing under president Richard Nixon. When the weak Cambodian government finally fractured it was followed by the horror of Pol Pot and the Khamer Rouge which began a psychotic episode of horror and mayhem that swallowed up her family. You may be familiar with the Khamer Rouge from the movie The Killing Fields.

Being in her presence was being in the presence of history. When she spoke it was the voice of a witness who survived to tell the story for those who could not. It was an honor to meet her and I urge everyone to read her book.

Was is it about the human condition that brings about the ability to commit unspeakable atrocities? The Talmud teaches us that in this world good and evil is mixed together and we have to sort one out from the other. Isn't that the truth.

Good Teachers

2009-10-20T21:14:00.004-05:00

I had three teachers at Columbia College when I was there as an undergraduate. Polly Batterson taught me political science and she is still living. Ron Taylor taught me psychology and unfortunately he has passed away. The last one is Jim Metscher who died this year after a remarkable career of 35 years teaching mostly sociology. I love all three of them and they live forever in my heart and mind influencing what I do everyday. I am surprised at how much I reference their inner voice that they created in me. I also had two teachers in high school (Alan Charbeneau and Kathy Yount who taught me at Harrisburg), one in graduate school (Dr. Donaldson in the ELPA program), and none in elementary school. As a matter of fact that is where I had my worst teachers. So in over 20 years of teaching I have had six teachers. That is about right. Real teachers are rare and precious things.

I am sure that not everyone would agree with my choices and I have to tell you that they all pretty much had their own styles. What made them good teachers? Ron and Jim were polar opposites as to their approach to teaching.

At times I am a good teacher but often not. It takes a lot of spiritual and emotional energy to be a good teacher. You have to love your students and nurture them while at the same time challenging and pushing them to do more than they want to do. It is easier to just go through the motions. I guess most things in life are that way.

Teaching is a handicraft and despite all the technology it cannot be mass-produced. No video of the teachers I mentioned would do them justice. You had to have been there in person in the same room. Teaching is analog and exists in the present whereas training is digital and is infinitely reproducible. Training lends itself to mass production techniques and although it is valuable in and of itself the two are very different. Learning takes more energy and changes you on the inside in a way that training cannot touch.

In my other blog, Around Columbia, I am working on a tribute to Dr. Taylor. I call it "The Last Assignment," and it comes directly from a project he suggested somebody should do. I hope I get a good grade but really it doesn't matter because it is the process of doing it that really matters. You can check out that project at: Around Columbia.

I am going to write more about the difference between teaching and training in my next post. Please stay tuned.

The Forecloure Scam: How Lending Institutions Make Money on Foreclosed Homes

2009-10-11T21:21:00.002-05:00

How is it that financial institutions granted home loans without checking income or other key indicators of a buyers ability to pay back their loan? It is most peculiar when you take into consideration the fact that approach goes against decades of developed experience and documented best practices. Most of those loans were granted knowing that the buyer’s qualifications and the ruinous terms of the loan made it probably, not just likely, that at some point there would be a foreclosure. What is more puzzling is the fact that myriads of homes are sitting empty and deteriorating daily while lending institutions are not aggressively trying to prevent the damage done when a house sets empty.

Empty Houses

My contacts in the business, particularly in Kansas City, indicate that empty homes are being pillaged by highly skilled teams of thieves who come in and take anything of value including copper and other accouterments such as windows, doors, and appliances if they are worth stealing. These teams are very efficient and seem to operate with impunity with little public or private investigation into who they are and how they are disposing of the goods. You would think that banks would be aggressively attempting to protect empty houses and pressuring law enforcement to increase enforcement efforts to stop the thievery. It is fascinating that the holders of these mortgages have not raised a hue and cry in the media and through lobbying efforts to get something done.

Let me briefly summarize before going on. So, lending institutions aggressively pursued home loans known to be risky, and there is little creativity or aggressiveness to somehow generate some income from the abandoned homes. Instead houses languish abandoned to deteriorate, and creative ways of finding someone to live in them to generate some kind of income, even as a renter, have not really become popular. Everyone is assuming that these lenders are losing money at a horrific rate even as the lenders remain remarkably passive. That just does not make sense. The only thing that I can think of is that somehow many of these lending institutions counted on two strategies.

Two Strategies for Success

I think the first strategy was a cynical optimism that the “housing bubble” was a trend that would continue forever – or at least long enough for a terrific payday which indeed was the case at least for many individuals. I think many of the lending institutions counted on either huge profitability from usurious rate, or repossessing homes that had appreciated in value past the original loan value in order to resell at a profit. The other strategy became obvious when I learned about dead peasants insurance. Many lending institutions had probably hedged their bets using various insurance strategies with the tax payer as the patsy. How did that work?

Insurance as an Investment Strategy

Is it impossible to make insurance profitable over the long run as an investment strategy? Yes, unless something magic happens. The reason is that insurance companies are rather clever and design their rates such that they are not in the unfortunate possession of having to pay out more claim money than what they take in as premium payments. At best insurance would have been a conservative method of limiting losses in a worst case scenario. The problem is that companies would have been very hesitant to spend the money on premiums for marginal, or no, returns. The cost of the premiums would have come right out of profits. But, magic does happen for business in the form of tax breaks, and tax breaks change everything.

Tax Breaks

If insurance premiums are tax deductable for businesses then suddenly it becomes much more attractive for them to buy policies. You also gain an ally in the insurance company which rightly divines that it will sell more insurance if the price of the policy is severely discounted, cost you nothing, or perhaps even saves business money in taxes. That is the case with dead peasants insurance. Tax breaks make dead peasants insurance not just a method of limiting losses, but an investment tool. Turns out that lending institutions often take out policies themselves (often without letting the borrower know that it is happening and charging more interest), or have the consumer take out a policy to protect themselves from default. As it turns out these are standard industry practices.

The point is that there is a distinct possibility, actually a probability, that this bursting of the housing bubble was not the financial disaster for lending institutions that we thought. I am certain that the losses for many of those institutions has been minimal or nonexistent.

Blaming the Victim

When the “financial crisis” first started most of the blame was being put onto the shoulders of the consumer and the government. Pundits declared that banks and other lending institutions were perhaps guilty of nothing more than being a bit aggressive and under government pressure to liberalize loan policies. More and more evidence is mounting to show that the greed and avarice of lenders was the primary cause of the problem. What is really disturbing is that the lenders, at least in some cases, might have actually profited from the whole experience while allowing the public to believe that they had lost their shirts.

Capitalism: A Love Story

2009-10-08T13:06:00.001-05:00

Again I looked and saw all the oppression that was taking place under the sun:
       I saw the tears of the oppressed—
       and they have no comforter;
       power was on the side of their oppressors—
       and they have no comforter.(Ecclesiastes 4:1)

Michael Moore's latest movie, Capitalism: A Love Story, is truth telling at the highest level. For years I have said that capitalism in America has run amuck, running about in a murderous frenzy, trampling the vast majority of the American People. We are the pawns, or rather the peasants, deluded thinking we are living in some kind of capitalist utopia. Capitalism in and of itself is neither good nor evil - it just is. It is an economic tool that can be used for the good of the people or for the good of the top 1% who unfortunately do run this country now. As a citizen you have been voted out of office my friend. Right now capitalism is good for the top 1%. (roughly 100,000 families) and bad for everyone else. Very good for them, and getting better.

What is puzzling about all this is that through a well financed propaganda program, and the restructuring of laws and courts, that the elite has been able to convince the middle class (and even the poor) to do the heavy lifting for them. Why that happens was the question behind the book What's the Matter with Kansas? The current Tea Party movement is certainly right wing reactionary but it has several things right. For one, it conveys a sense that somehow we are getting screwed over, and those who have been elected to look out after our best interest are instead lining their pockets. With disturbingly few exceptions that is true. The other is that the movement is against the bailout which is the biggest con game ever perpetrated on the American people and a crime so large in magnitude that it makes Berny Madoff look like a jay walker. I think the movement is wrong on health care though and a few other issues. But, the Tea Party movement is a populist movement and populist movements tend to have real good ideas stained with bigotry. Just one example of that is the Know Nothings which were anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic, but otherwise did have a real agenda for reform.

What happened? It used to be that we put people first. Help people and all good will flow from that. Even the Republicans believed that. That got turned around to where we now bow to the god of market capitalism, a religion created by the elite, and declare that our duty is to help, preserve, and coddle capital interest. If we do not protect business, which certainly is not in the business of protecting you, with our own money then something "bad" will happen. What is so darn fascinating about that is that many people without a pot to piss in, and many who are heavily in debt maintaining a middle class facade, or the most avid worshipers at that alter. But, I digress.

Our current religion is Utopian Capitalism. Many churches give lip service to Jesus (who most decidedly was not a capitalist but someone with populist tendencies who believed in democracy) but in reality worship the modern day golden calf in the form of the dollar. Most of modern day Christianity has become a grotesque parody of what it once was. I am not a Christian, I am Jewish, but I recognize much wisdom and beauty in authentic Christianity which is so now so rare it is in danger of extinction. Money has become an end in and of itself. Even institutions of higher learning, churches, and other organizations which are pledged to help people are more interested in their own financial interest that there very purpose gets subverted. As modern capitalism has been allowed to run rampant democracy has suffered proportionately. That is the point of Michael Moore's brilliant movie.

The major prophet of utopian capitalism was Ayn Rand. Rand believed that we should all act selfishly in our own best interest rejecting any notion an obligation to help others. She believed blindly in lazzi faire capitalism which paradoxically has the mystical belief in the invisible wise hand of the market regulating and making things alright. And, this is important for you to know. Among her many acolytes are Rush Limbaugh and Alan Greenspan, So the next time you listen to ole Rush keep in mind that his philosophy according to the gospel of Ayn Rand (her term for it was Objectivism which is just about as weird as Scientology) is basically "I've got mine so screw you."

One last thing. Wake up to the fact that WalMart, GM, Citigroup, your health insurance carrier (if you are lucky to have one at least for now), or your local bank do not care about you or your family. They are not your friends. They are predators feeding on your hopes, dreams, and most of all your hard earned money and you my friend are the prey.

I started with a verse from Ecclesiastes and so it is perhaps a good idea to end with one too:

Whoever loves money never has money enough;
       whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income.
       This too is meaningless. (Ecclesiastes 5:10)

The Lost Consensus

2009-08-18T23:56:00.007-05:00

In Xanadu, an excellent travel book by William Dalrymple, the author retraces the steps of Marco Polo. There is a whole genre of books that do that, but In Xanadu does it particularly well. The book is often funny, spares no one or no place, and is written in an engaging style deserving all the accolades it has acquired and I would like to add yet another reason to read it.

In the book William Dalrymple is traveling through a good deal of the middle-east as the Islamic fundamentalist movement (a horrible term but one I am hard pressed to replace) is poised to explode into the world scene. The book was written in 1989 well after the Iranian revolution was well established (having occurred early in 1979) having wrecked one President in Jimmy Carter, and befuddled the successor Ronald Reagan. Carter of course having failed on multiple fronts to manage the Iranian Hostage Crisis. The seeds for 911 and a lot of other mischief had been planted but the world had yet to fully recognize what was coming.

Ayatollah Khomeini returns to Iran after 14 years exile on February 1, 1979. He is helped off the plane by one of the Air France pilots. The start of the rise of Islamic fundamentalism?

Within less than a year the United States was humiliated and the administration impotent to react effectively on either the diplomatic or the military front. It was a portent of things to come:

Iranian militants escort a blindfolded U.S. hostage to the media.

As the fundamentalist movement put down deep roots and branched out we were distracted with the death throes of the U.S.S.R. which ironically had not only been deeply wounded by the new movement but helped nurture it along with it's Afghanistan adventure. We were also distracted by a whole laundry list of short-termed crisis, both domestic and international, to include the Contra affair and Grenada. Yet there were hints, and that brings me back to a remarkable quote from In Xanadu that I read today and had to share. In Iran the author met a Christian Armenian by the name of Tadios in the town of Tabriz who had this to say:

Sometimes I am worried, though," he said. He spoke slowly, choosing his words carefully. "For the last century or so there has bee some sort of consensus across the world as to how civilized men behave You know. There is an agreement that men should not be killed for peacefully believing in an idea, that every man deserves a fair, impartial trial, that all men have a right to express what they think. Often these values have been ignored, but however evil a government may be, it has always paid lip service to them." He refilled our glasses. "Well it's different in Iran now." pg 123-124.

It is different everywhere now. Even here. America has become a nation of angry and shrill voices worshiping materialism with unprecedented actions such as the mass suspension of civil rights in Guantanamo Bay and preemptive military action. Those values that Tadios was talking about are the values of a free and democratic nation - they are the values that we have somehow lost:

This is a great nation but we have indeed lost our way and have become cruel, boisterous, and barbaric. I hope, and actually I think, we might be on the mend but the next test is to see if we, the American people, will be bamboozled again by big business and refuse some kind of health care reform. We once had a consensus of humanity and the belief that we could make things better but we traded it in for one that is short-sighted and lacks a vision for the future. Can we find our way again and regain the consensus that we, and indeed the whole world, used to embrace?

Hilary Clinton Channeling her Rage

2009-08-17T15:02:00.011-05:00

I have been a big supporter of Hillary Clinton but her performance in Africa was not only puzzling but embarrassing. In my last post I spoke of the anger of the American right which is demonstrated on talk radio and in the angry combative reception given to Senator Arlen Specter during his town hall meetings. I was wrong. It is not just the right. This anger and incivility is endemic in our culture and you will see this kind of acting out on the left and the right as well as with our Secretary of State.

Here is the video of that shameful moment:

Hillary Clinton represents the United States and our country was not well represented with this tirade. I do not know the back story for this incident and I do not need to. We saw glimpses of this during the election when Obama started to overtake her in the polls but I gave her the benefit of the doubt. This time her behaviour cannot be ignored.

Secretary Clinton has long toiled under the shadow of her husband. Was it possible that Bill Clinton's involvement in affairs of state was one of the things that was bothering her? In the following video one of the freed women praises the "super cool team" that worked to free them. Bill, you dawg, young women still think of you as being cool and it looks like Uncle Al has loosened up a bit:

There are no excuses for this kind of behaviour at her level. It does not matter if her feet hurt, if she was upset that her 401K plan is tanking, if she was jet lagged, or just cranky for some unknown random reason. She is experienced enough to know that when your in the public eye and the cameras start rolling (for her they probably seldom stop rolling), it is time to cowboy up and smile nice. Also, she knows that Fox news is stalking her at every turn trying to find fodder for their kennel of attack dogs. Regrettably, I am starting to think maybe it was a good thing that she was not elected president since she does not have the poise and personal fortitude to sufficiently separate the professional and personal in her life.

The Be$t Health Care Money Can Buy

2009-08-16T23:14:00.012-05:00

If you do not think that our current health care system is irrevocably broken do not waste your time reading this post. Instead here is a link to Rush Limbaugh's web page. Go there instead.

I have been amazed at the hysteria created by the monied interest here in America regarding not only Obama but health care reform. The only thing more surprising is the number of people of much more modest means who act against their own best interest and fight health care reform. I finally decided to write something after what happened tonight.

I was out walking the dogs tonight and found this flyer attached (illegally) to a utility pole so on behalf of the people I confiscated it in the name of the Socialist Party of Greater North America (just kidding,... as far as I know there is no such thing but somebody will believe it anyway):

Oh my goodness. Obama's fiendish plan is to make this a socialist paradise like North Korea?! People will believe anything. It is interesting, albeit scary, to know that many people think that President Obama is a secret Muslim and/or a person who was not even born in this country. What is really weird is some of the stuff I have heard on television from "concerned citizens" who "on their own" have shown up at town hall meetings to demonstrate that in America you really can say almost any damn fool thing you want. Here are my two favorite:

1. Lady stands up with a clip board, somehow the clip board is important I think, and informs us that if the President's health care reform passes that it will "increase abortion by 30%." Humm. How do we know that? Let me state for the record that I am against abortion but I am also consistent in being against the death penalty but I digress.

2. Another older woman stands up and with a shaky voice, full of equal parts fear and rage, declares that she does not want the government to "decide when I die." Interesting. I did not know that. I did not know that as part of the health care plan we are going to just kill old people to save money. Well, as a person who gets older each and every day and who is related to many old people that I love I am against it! I say lets just cross the killing old people out of the plan - I think it was a bad idea in the first place.

Of course there is the famous incident with Senator Arlen Specter when a devout Christian in the loving spirit of Christianity told him:

"One day God's going to judge you, and he's going to judge you, and the rest of your damned cronies on the Hill and then you can get your just deserts."

That incident of grace and loving kindness is depicted on the following video:

Many Americans are angry and feeling sorry for themselves and it is these very people who elected George Bush twice. That anger is fueled by the Tea Party gang and the rest of the ultra-conservative right who make their living by being rabble rousers appealing to the most base of emotions and calling it a virtue when in reality it very much something else. They spread innuendo, fear, gossip, and outright falsehoods and call it truth. However, that is the subject of a whole new post.

Our current system is good if your healthy and/or if you have money. If you are poor and sick it goes downhill pretty fast. Why? Let me give you a lesson in business. Insurance companies are not here to give Grandpa Bob a pace maker, or to cure Little Sue's cancer. Nope. They exist to make money and the more money they have to pay out to sick people the worse their profit margins. If I was an insurance executive I would hate sick people and avoid them at all cost. As a matter of fact insurance companies are pretty good at avoiding sick people. They are clever ferreting out pre-existing conditions, and if you get sick they will start raising your premiums in order to drive you out. Insurance companies are not your friend and they begrudge each and every penny they pay out on you. Insurance companies operate on greed rather than faith, hope, and charity.

Obama's health care reform strategy has been to let a consensus build to do something and he knows that whatever plan for change we come up with will be neither perfect, not maintenance free. It will have to be adjusted and modified as we find out where the flaws are. What he knows is that this is an existential battle and if big money wins again we are in for another twenty years are so with a system that is good for certain businesses and bad for everyone else.

Think about this. There are some things that government should be involved in. What if you had to buy police protection insurance or the cops would not show up when you called? What if the courts would not prosecute people who committed crimes against you because that was not covered in your police protection insurance policy? What if your policy for police insurance did not cover misdemeanors but only felony crimes against you or if you were only allowed three calls to the police a year and after that you had to pay for it out of your own pocket? Then there is fire protection. What if you were required to have fire protection insurance in order for the fire department to respond to a fire at your home? What if you could not afford fire protection insurance so nobody would come to put out your house fire when you called 911 but they would come to prevent the fire from spreading to your neighbors house in the event they were insured? Communities and governments realize that it is in the best interest of everyone to provide police and fire protection to everyone. Shouldn't health care be one of those things that a civilized and humane society provides to its citizens?

Maybe a government sponsored health care plan, or some other kind of truly equitable plan for health care, is something democracies do for their people. Maybe it has nothing to do with socialism but rather responsible and responsive government for the people, by the people and of the people? I think that is the case. If you do not believe me make a comparison with China.

The largest remaining Communist country in the world (although it is really an oligarchy and there has never been a true communist country since they all end up being ran by tyrants or elites), China, has a horrible health care system that requires you pay as you go with no safety net for health care for the poor to speak of. Paradoxically, communist China has deliberately picked a market-based health care system just like us. So maybe a public health care system and socialism are not necessarily synonymous. But, maybe a market-based health care system and control by an elite are?

Following Your Rav to the Bathroom

2009-07-21T00:07:00.007-05:00

One of the giants of Torah, R. Akiba, told how he followed R. Joshua to the privy and learned three things (Berakoth 62a). I remember once following one of my teachers, Rabbi Yari, out of the bathroom at a seminar in St. Louis to ask a question and he very nicely held up a finger to delay the interaction and recited the asher yatzar benediction (prayer said after going to the bathroom) and then devoted his full attention to answering me. Instead of reading about it in a book I was able to see the mitzvah of that particular blessing demonstrated before me in real life. Seeing great teachers in private and perhaps intimate moments has a long tradition in Jewish life.

My own journey to Orthodox Judaism has been long, arduous, and even incomplete. However, despite that ongoing struggle I have learned much and would like to comment on that as well as my wife's return, בעלת תשובה, from the perspective of a social worker which I most certainly am, rather than a Talmudic scholar which I am most certainly not.

There are many excellent books, a plethora of outstanding web sites, and many wonderful outreach organizations for Jews, and even a few good resources for persons wanting to convert properly under Jewish law (Halacha). YouTube even has a huge collection of frum videos showing you how to say certain blessings and perform mitzvot. What is missing is hands on instruction and direct observation. Some things you just cannot learn from a book, or even a video. You have to be in a posistion to follow your Rav to the bathroom. The question is how to get there.

The obvious answer is to move to an observant community. That will be the subject of a whole other post but for now suffice it to say that in many cases that is much easier said than done. We are a case in point. The other is being allowed to be engaged in Jewish life rather than being a guest and assigning mentors that go beyond studying with you to show you how to get things done.

Case in point is when we went kosher. We learned some painful lessons (mostly of an economic nature), and hard lessons that could have been avoided with just good advice and living examples. If it was not for the practical advice of a Chabad rabbi in St. Louis and a set of methodical lectures, hours long in length, that I inadvertantly found on the internet we would have never gotten it done. What we needed was somebody to come here and say this is the way you do it and to walk us through the process. My wife would have benefited greatly by just being in someone's kitchen while they showed her how things were done, and ideally perhaps several people. It is one thing to be invited for Shabbos, very nice, but another to have someone say come over and let me show you how to run a kitchen. It was for this very reason that I taught extra classes last semester to be able to send my kids to a Jewish camp.

This summer my two daughters attended Camp Nageelah Midwest. It was a wonderful experience and it did everything I wanted it to do. My girls were exposed to wonderful female role models who guided them on a daily basis and worked with them on the practical aspects of living a Jewish life. A couple of days ago one of my daughters walked by while I was saying the morning prayer. I was facing Jerusalem, read that in a book, but she told me I was doing it wrong since I was not in front of a window. She just picked that up as part of the everyday routine from her camping experience.

It is one thing to have a study partner, anther to experience Shabbos hospitality, but seeing your rav come out of the bathroom and helping somebody peel potatoes in a kosher kitchen is important too. It is all about socialization. You do not get that from a book.

Camp Nageela

2009-06-25T15:44:00.009-05:00

These are the pictures from Hannah and Rachel's packing and first day at Camp Nageela Midwest where they will be for three weeks coming back home in mid July. It is a strange experience to drop your kids off for three weeks especially when the longest they have been away from home and/or family has been two days.

Jenifer and I drove fifteen kids from St. Louis to the camp in two very packed vans with LOTS of luggage. We started out that morning at 9 a.m. in St. Louis and arrived back home in Columbia at 2 a.m. in the morning.

Watching the Camp Nageela video one last time

Arriving

Checking In

Hannah's Cabin

Hannah's Room

Pictures of the Grounds

Rachel's Cabin

Israeli Scout Caravan 2009

2009-06-22T03:43:00.001-05:00

On 28 Sivan 5769, June 20th 2009 in the secular calendar, one of the Israeli Scout Caravans visited congregation Beth Shalom in Columbia, Missouri. These young people from Israel follow a grueling schedule with very little time for sightseeing. It is It was a wonderful experience for members of the congregation and our guest from the community. Here is a video tribute to that experience.

Please note that the original photographs are much sharper. In order to get the file size for this video under the allowed limit the quality of the images suffered.

John Ashcroft at Truman State University

2009-05-21T00:00:00.010-05:00

When my daughter graduated from Truman State University on 9 May 2009 I was able to witness John Ashcroft receiving an honorary doctorate and listen to his rather rambling speech. John Ashcroft is a former Missouri governor and was the United States Attorney General during George Bush's first term.

This is a picture taken from the stands of John Ashcroft as he was giving his speech.

Both the decision to award John Ashcroft the doctorate and the opposition of some faculty and students who disagreed is understandable. The issue even became a bit of a cause célèbre with the American Association of University Professers which is sort of like risking the ire of other such powerful, and influential, shapers of American public opinion as the American Communist Party - but I digress.

John Ashcroft was instrumental in the rivatalization of the Northeast Missouri State University as it transformed into Truman State University. Arguably he served with some distinction as a Missouri govenour. As a matter of fact, so far he is the only Republican to have been elected to the Missouri governors office for two consecutive terms. After that he was elected to the United States Senate but was defeated by his deceased opponent Mel Carnahan (eventually the senate seat was given to former Missouri Lieutenant Governor Roger Wilson). However he did take up with a bad crowd and ended up involved in all the shenanigans surrounding torture and the abridgment of constitutional rights we experienced under the last Bush administratioin.

John Ashcroft, pictured in the middle, walking off the field at Truman State University's May 2009 graduation.

As a member of the Bush team he supported the USA PATRIOT Act including the infamous Section 215.

Most of what I have written so far is commonly known. What is conveniently forgotten is that John Ashcroft had decided to stand up to the White House and oppose a National Security Agency wiretapping program. Evidently he was having concerns with how the White House was riding rough shod over civil liberties. Remember too that Ashcroft did not stick around for the next four years. Here is a quote from an outstanding article from the online magazone Salon:

So begins a remarkable tale that nearly led to the resignation of the Justice Department's senior leadership, an ordeal that was recounted in great detail for the first time Tuesday. Two senior White House officials, Andrew Card and Alberto Gonzales, were headed to Ashcroft's hospital bed, despite the instructions of his wife that there would be no phone calls or visitors. They wanted Ashcroft to sign off on the secret National Security Agency wiretapping program, a program that Ashcroft had already decided to reject before falling ill.
The Ashcroft-Gonzales Hospital Room Showdown

John Ashcroft as he walked past me just before exiting the venue.

In my book Alberto Gonzales operated at the same low level of integrity as Condolezza Rice whose blind ambition and ignorant loyalty to a president of mediocre talents will become legendary. The term henchman comes to mind. It seems clear that more powerful people who began to develop a difference of opinion with the President such as Ashcroft and Collin Powell were pushed out in favor of lesser lights who just told the president whatever he wanted to hear.

As we began to learn more about the dirty secrets of the Bush administration we will certainly hear more about Alberto Gonzales who was eventually forced to resign. In January of this year the New York Times carried an excellent editorial about Gonzales that I recommend you read.

This is what I have to say about Ashcroft. I do not agree with everything he has said or done but I do not think he is anywhere close to the level of the bottom-feeders that populated the White House during the second Bush administration. Also, he desperately needs a speech writer. I am not kidding. His rambling speeches are nearly incoherent and make him sound like an idiot. The mild protest that occurred at Truman were nothing compared to the treatment he received at Knox College where his speech was similarly reported to have been equally as incoherent as the speech at Truman.

I also think there are two reasons, at polar ends of the integrity scale, that keep him from telling all he knows. The first is that it would hurt his business propositions as he tries to make a buck leading the Ashcroft Group Consulting Services. The second? I think John Ashcroft might actually have some integrity bruised and battered as it may be. The whole story has yet to be told. Contact me John, ... I would love to hear it.

One final comment. Besides the hospital incident with John Ashcroft we have forgotten one other thing. 9-11 shook us up, and a lot of people are in denial now about that fact. 9-11 not only scared the bejesus out of us it scared the whole world. It was a desperate time and we were desperate to find a way to respond to what happened, and again let me emphasize that it was not only us. There was a visceral global response to a horrific act. It is perhaps understandable that we overreacted with water boarding and in other ways as well. Not right, but understandable. What is not understandable however is that instead of moderating and fine tuning our response something else happened. Our reaction become more hysterical, less defensible, and more fanatical as group think took over the White House and incompetency became the order of the day.

Hebrew Lessons

2009-02-22T22:31:00.008-06:00

The National Jewish Outreach Program runs a whole series of educational events throughout the United States and Canada. Perhaps the most well known is Shabbat Across America which Congregation Beth Shalom, of Columbia Missouri, has participated in during the last ten years and which is in the early planning stages for this year.

Currently the congregation is hosting a beginning Hebrew class using the material provided free of charge from the National Jewish Outreach Program.

Above is our head instructor, Irwin Kaye, instructing the Sunday morning class. On Sunday the first hour is a review and a tutorial and the second hour is the regularly scheduled class.

Two participants talk during the break between the tutorial and the regular class.

Below everyone gets back to work as learning commences after a short break.

Stay posted for a review of Alan Dershowitz's new video The Case for Israel coming soon.

Israel in Context: Congregation Beth Shalom Men's Club Lecture

2009-01-21T01:01:00.010-06:00

On 20 January 2009, the Men's Club of Congregation Beth Shalom here in Columbia Missouri hosted Dr. Ben Schwarz. Here are two pictures of Dr. Schwarz taken during that presentation:

In less than a half hour Dr. Schwarz provided a brilliant overview of the situation in Israel which placed that nation within a wider historical and political context. You can listen to that lecture, including the discussion after the formal lecture, by using this embedded player:

Below is a picture taken during the question and answer period showing Dan Goldschmidt, the president of the Men's Club, listening to Dr. Schwarz
This event was well attended and most persons in attendance were strong supporters of Israel including outside guest from the local Christian community.

Hiding behind political correctness and misguided liberalism is no protection to Jews and never has been. Rather, that timid tendency by a minority or our people to remain silent or even align with those who attack our brothers and sisters is a curious malady. I think that peace, and coexistence, with the Palestinian people is not only possible but preferable, However, the Torah never advocates for Jews to stand aside and just take it. It did not work well during the Shoah and it will not work well now.

Trouble in Gaza

2009-01-04T00:02:00.014-06:00

After our local interfaith Thanksgiving gathering world peace took a turn for the worse with the terror in Mumbai (formerly Bombay), and now the Israeli military action in Gaza.

The Gaza action began while I was on vacation with my family in Disney World (see my Facebook profile for pictures - you have to search I don't know how to create a unique URL for my facebook page,... yet). Then I discovered that on the Friday we returned, just hours before Shabbos, a demonstration against Israel was held right here in Columbia. Here is a link for that story: http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2009/01/02/more-200-march-peace-gaza/ .

Then today the first thing I hear after Shabbos is over is that the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) began ground action today in Gaza. The fighting is ongoing. Protest around the world against Israel are intensifying and plenty of videos about that are available for your viewing pleasure on YouTube. Here is one from the large protest in New York:

Interestingly enough the network and cable news noted that the Jewish counter protest in New York was small and overwhelmed by the anti-Israeli protest without noting an important fact. Today was the Sabbath and religious/serious Jews would be otherwise occupied.

Why would Israel WANT to go into Gaza? The real short answer is that Israel does not want anything to do with Gaza. Israel went into Gaza in response to increasing rocket attacks and all that entails. The statistics, the graphic is from Wikipedia, regarding the number of rocket attacks from Gaza from 2001 until this past November (when we were holding our local interfaith Thanksgiving) is pretty informative. Note the increase of attacks after Israel pulled out from Gaza and Hamas took control:

Hamas has not tried to curtail the rocket attacks but has encouraged them because the goal of Hamas is not coexistence but the destruction of Israel.

Here is a video from Fox News before the ground operation started:

Now for a video that you probably will not see in the popular media:

Around the world Israel is taking a public relation beating and the condemnation is still heating up. In the midst of all this emotion and knee jerk political correctness I want to examine the issue from a broader perspective. Please keep in mind that I was not only originally a supporter of the Israel withdrawal from Gaza but actually was naive enough to hope that Hamas might abandon terrorism and mature into a legitimate political organization to replace the corrupt Palestinian Authority.

Israel has done some incredibly stupid things and I do not support everything Israel does. But, as a Jewish person I support Israel, I support a two state solution, and an end to violence on both sides. What the world frequently ignores is that there is a large faction within Gaza, within Islam, which wants Israel destroyed. This is not a new development, but it is one the world frequently forgets.

Israel did not go into Gaza out of hatred, malice, or for fun. Israel will pay a heavy price spiritually, economically, politically, and in human terms. The decision to act militarily was made with much trepidation. Israel went into Gaza, reluctantly, out of desperation. Was going into Gaza the right thing for Israel to do? With G-d as my witness I don't know. I really don't. But, I understand it. I am sick of this conflict which has wrecked countless lives and wrecked the economy of Israel as well as the economic potential of the Palestinian people. I am tired of the animosity it creates in my community and I am tied of devoting time to worrying, writing, and talking about the conflict. Yet, I will not abandon Israel.

Right now it is easy to blame Israel for the misery of the Palestinian people. A misery which is very real but the blame is misplaced. Such blame ignores the historical realities of colonialism, and how the Palestinian people were used by other Arab nations as political pawns. The current excuse is that the residents of Gaza are victims of continuing Israeli control and aggression. The other view, my view, is that Gaza is like a crazy dance partner who insist they want to stop dancing but will not let go. A dance partner that pummels you regardless of if you hold them tight or try to push them away.

Interfaith Thanksgiving - Updated Video

2008-11-28T09:49:00.005-06:00

Here is an updated video for the Interfaith Thanksgiving. I redid it in Windows Movie Maker.

Dedicated to Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, his wife Rivka, their two year old son Moshe (who by the hand of God escaped), and the other victims of religious intolerance at the hands of fanatics in Mumbai. All persons who thirst after righteousness await the promise of Psalm 1.

1. The praises of a man are that he did not follow the counsel of the wicked, neither did he stand in the way of sinners nor sit in the company of scorners.
2. But his desire is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.
3. He shall be as a tree planted beside rivulets of water, which brings forth its fruit in its season, and its leaves do not wilt; and whatever he does prosper.
4. Not so the wicked, but [they are] like chaff that the wind drives away.
5. Therefore, the wicked shall not stand up in judgment, nor shall the sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
6. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked shall perish.
Psalm 1

Columbia Interfaith Thanksgiving Gathering

2008-11-25T22:34:00.010-06:00

The Columbia Interfaith Council sponsored their annual Thanksgiving Celebration on November 25th, 2008. Below is the program of events, some pictures, and a video of the event. Interestingly enough EVERY organization represented in the program had a web site:

_________________________________________________

Program of Events:

Welcome - Rev. John Prenger and Rashed Nizam
Presentation of Proclamation - Mayor Darwin Hindman
Introductions - Virginia Bzdek

St. Thomas More Newman Center
Newman Players: Nancy Daniels, Terry Foitz, Bob Heinz, Erin Keys, Martha Pezold

Calvary Episcopal Parish
"The Keeper of the Tune" A Parable of Hope and Co-operation - Paula Robinson

Islamic Center of Central Missouri
Thanksgiving: Islamic Perspective - Imam Abdullah Smith

Hindu Temple and Community Center of Mid-Missouri
Satkaar: A Hindu Perspective on Thanksgiving by Dr. H.R. Chandrasekhar
Deepanjall: An Invocation dance by Nilla Palanlappan and Suyanshi Rawat
Hey Dayamal: A Prayer song for peace, togetherness and faith by Shubna Ratneshwar accompnied by AartiNagaka, Nila Paianiappan, Sidarth Kukikkad, Umla Kutikkadd

Friends Meeting (Quaker)
Quaker Poetry and Worship
Sherry Monroe, Sylvia Spotts, Nancy Finke

Congregation Beth Shalom
"What should we be grateful for?" Rabbi Yossi Feintuch
Poems written for the occasion by Jerry Perkoff

Nichiren Buddhist
Prayer for Peace: A Medley of Music and Recitations by Saka Gakkal International - Columbia Members

Baha'i Faith
Scriptural Reading - Tyree Byndom
Seek no Further - sung by Mark Stannard (composer) and Jeani Driscoll
Listen - by Red Grammar - guitarists; Jesca Byndom, Tyree Byndam, Jeani Driscall, Jeanette Rast, Mark Stannard
The Katalyzt's - sharing an original Composition - "Raisem"

Closing Blessing
Rev. John Prenger

__________________________________________________

Stealing the show was Nilla Palanlappan and Suyanshi Rawat with their invocation dance "Deepanjali:

A close second was poet Jerry Perkoff who read a hauntingly beautiful poem alluding to the shoah:

Mayor Darwin Hindman presented a proclamation, shown being accepted by Rev. John Prenger, in recognition of the event:

Last year this event was held at Congregation Beth Shalom, the local synagogue, soon after the new building was completed. This year the event was held at the University of Missouri, Columbia campus under the sponsorship of the Islamic Center of Central Missouri.

I think this event should be better attended, and covered in the media, as it is the only ongoing formal effort to bring divergent faiths together.

Columbia is on my short list of places I want to live. The other places on that list include New York; San Diego; Paris; and perversely Manhattan, Kansas. One reason I love it so much, like Manhattan, is that it is a college town with lots of diversity and a good deal of tolerance. The Columbia Interfaith Council represents a lot of the good things that Columbia is all about. Now here is the video:

YES WE DID TRIBUTE: Obama in Columbia, Missouri

2008-11-04T20:14:00.015-06:00

Anticipation. The signs that appeared all over Columbia announcing the event.

The Story.

Background. My youngest daughter Rachel asked me if we could go see Barack Obama. I told her that if he came to town we would go.

Rachel. Inside our Succah the week before.

Then, out of the blue the campaign unexpectedly made a decision for Obama to come to Columbia. I kept my promise. I went to the event with Rachel, her sister Hannah, and their older sister Jessica as well as Jessica's boyfriend. My mother-in-law drove in from St. Louis to go with us.

Queuing. We get in line. 5 p.m.

And queuing. Still waiting in line. We have over an hour to go and have been waiting already for over an hour. Starting to get dark.

T-shirts. While waiting in line we buy some souvenirs. I really wish I had bought Hannah and Rachel another shirt! The ones I did buy they wore to school the next day. Neither girl complained once. They knew they were part of something big. They will never forget this. The line is not moving yet.

Moving. Line starts moving sometime after 7:30 p.m.

Inside. The venue - bright lights and crowds.

Waiting. Inside the venue is my oldest daughter Jessica with me and her little sisters. She drove all the way down from Truman to be a part of history. After 9 p.m.

Arrival. Obama arrives at 9:20 p.m. and even ten minutes early. I have never been at one of these events where the candidate was actually early! Is he a night owl? I think so.

The speech. An excerpt from then candidate, now President, Obama's speech.

Leaving. Heading North, that is Jesse Hall in the background, toward the now empty security tents. This is where we came in emptying our pockets and going through the metal detector.

This was all before the election. We were all hopeful and thankfully our dreams did come true.

Prologue. November 4th - on my way to work I stopped to vote.

Work. When I got to work their were two Obama booths set up in the lobby. Here is one of them with the two children that were there that day with their mother. Columbia Public schools had decided for various reasons to dismiss school for the day.

Perhaps the two most moving scenes latter that night were both at the victory celebration in Chicago latter that night. Here is the Rev. Jesse Jackson who is completely overcome with emotion at the sight of his brother achieving what he himself had not been able to do and fulfilling Dr. King's vision:

The other was Obama with his wife and two little girls - making history.

Text Messinging Gone Wild

2008-10-24T13:40:00.008-05:00

Let me begin with a true story.

A friend indicated that his daughter, attending a university here in Missouri, had 9000 text messages for one month and his bill for the text messaging alone was hundreds of dollars. Being a person of some life experience and of a curious nature he decided to investigate and to work something out with his cell phone carrier. In his conversation with the carrier not knowing what had happened (the charges were eventually dropped and text capability to his daughter's cell phone was disabled) he was able to get transcripts of the calls which were done mostly in class at university and mostly with friends who were in the class sitting next to her or in some close proximity. In other words many members of the class were text messaging each other.

Here are some excerpts from the transcripts of the calls he was able to procure from the cell phone company. Most of the messages where of this ilk:

"Hi"

"Sucks"

"What ya doin?"

My gosh, the elequence, the profound erudation of these young scholars as they indulge in their scholarly discourse.

Most of the messages to and from people she could have literally reached out and touched. So, 9000 text messages in thirty days works out to 300 text messages a day. His daughter was sending or receiving an average of 300 text messages a day. The interesting thing is that his daughter is not an isolated case.

There are some students where I teach that I literally never see without their cell phone. I am not exaggerating for rhetorical purposes or to make a point. They always have their phones out. Walking in the hallways, in class, wherever I see them. I think they have become expert at memorizing the keyboards and will look at you and talk while "participating" in class - all the time texting. Last year I went to a performance of a Chinese acrobatic troupe at Truman State University. As the lights dimmed spread across the large auditorium was the soft comforting green glow of cell phones. Many students text messaged there way through that performance.

Several times I have been driving and seen two people in the car, often couples, and both of them on cell phones. While driving. Besides a bike I drive a mini van and it sits high. When I drive it I can see lots of stuff from way up high in the drivers seat and I see people text messaging all the time while they drive.

Last week I was driving home on my bike when one individual pulled out in front of me twice. The first time she pulled into a four lane highway from a side road at Reactor Field at the University of Missouri, and then in front of the stadium complex she cut left into my lane to make a left turn. She did not see me. She was text messaging. It was getting dark and I could see the glow of her phone and her fingers feverishly moving across the keyboard. She had her right hand with the cell phone resting on the steering wheel and her head was inclined toward it. Not the road. So, she could have killed me two times. Killed the father of four kids because she was text messaging on the telephone having some inane pseudo conversation with acquaintances. What saved me is that I assume everybody is text messaging and will pull out in front of me.

As a young man I was lastingly influenced by the book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig. In that book he talks about taking a friends motorcycle into a motorcycle shop. Here is the beginning of that particular story:

'The shop was a different scene from the ones I remembered. The mechanics, who had once all seemed like ancient veterans, now looked like children. A radio was going full blast and they were clowning around and talking and seemed not to notice me. When one of them finally came over he barely listened to the piston slap before saying, "Oh yeah. Tappets."' (Pirsig)

The mechanics were distracted and working on motorcycles, what should have been their primary concern, was secondary to socializing and listening to the radio. In modern parlance they were multi-tasking.

As it turned out the repair job was botched, the motorcycle left in worse shape than it came in, and actually seized (a dangerous maneuver on a motorcycle to say the least), a few weeks later. To this day inattentiveness and horseplay in a place of business where I am buying some good or service will cause me to leave.

For those of you unfamiliar with the book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is not a work of fiction. So, Pirsig began to wonder what could have caused it. What caused the mechanical work done to his friends BMW to be so slipshod?

"Why did they butcher it so? These were not people running away from technology, like John and Sylvia. These were the technologists themselves. They sat down to do a job and they performed it like chimpanzees. Nothing personal in it. There was no obvious reason for it. And I tried to think back into that shop, that nightmare place, to try to remember anything that could have been the cause." (Pirsig)

I have never forgotten this incident from the book and to this day am alert to the danger of carlessness and inattentivness to task. He concludes:

"The radio was a clue. You can't really think hard about what you're doing and listen to the radio at the same time. Maybe they didn't see their job as having anything to do with hard thought, just wrench twiddling. If you can twiddle wrenches while listening to the radio that's more enjoyable.

Their speed was another clue. They were really slopping things around in a hurry and not looking where they slopped them. More money that way...if you don't stop to think that it usually takes longer or comes out worse.

But the biggest clue seemed to be their expressions. They were hard to explain. Good-natured, friendly, easygoing...and uninvolved. They were like spectators." (Pirsig)

The parallels are amazing. In many ways many, if not most, of my students are spectators to their education. They too are usually "... good-natured, friendly, easygoing, and uninvolved." They are not hostile to technology but for them it is a diversion. They are consumers of education rather than involved in a process. They are the result of the commodification of education into just another good and service.

I am more afraid of careless and inattentive people than I am of mean people. I can generally avoid the mean person or where they congregate. Generally mean people, criminals and the like who are out to purposefully hurt you, are relatively rare and you see them coming. Careless and inattentive people are all around us. They kill lots of people, cause untold grief, and trillions of dollars worth of damage. They are nice. They are friendly, and they are easy going. They would like to send you a text message.

Texting While Driving

Brittany Spears Caught Texting While Driving

Postscript

Tonight I picked up my daughter from a birthday party and stopped into the local Schnucks store.

There was a moonlighting policeman, a man, acting as security. Guess what he was doing? Texting. That reminded me of two weeks ago when I went to Daniel Boone Regional Library and again a police officer, this time a woman, spent the entire time I was there texting on her phone. So, this bad habit of texting while you should be doing something else is not confined to the young.

So is text messaging addictive?

"The Priory Clinic, one of Britain’s best known psychiatric clinics and a respected authority on addiction, announced Monday that there has been a huge rise in technology-related addictions recently, and in particular, addictions to text messaging and internet surfing."
http://badgerherald.com/news/2003/10/08/text_messaging_addic.php

Is it addiction or just irresponsible behavior? I think irresponsible behavior. So, if your sitting in class, driving, or being paid by a local business to act as security why not be responsible and do the right thing. Pay attention to what is in front of you. Pay attention to what it is that you should be doing.

George W. Bush: Administration Accomplishments

2008-09-26T00:51:00.003-05:00

Shocking Expose of Welfare Cheats!

2008-09-25T17:24:00.007-05:00

I have shocking, breaking news, with actual images of welfare cheats. Many times the Republican watchdogs and the big dog himself, President Bush, have warned us about how welfare cheats take money out of honest taxpayer pockets. I have to admit that I did not believe it until now.

I may sound like an ignoramus but these people need to go out and get a job just like I do. I work for my money and I don't want my tax dollars going to these bums who are too lazy to get off their rear ends and work. What is worse, is that this pattern is clearly generational with certain, unnamed, demographic and cultural groups that pass this behavior onto their offspring. We must find a way to break that cycle. So, imagine my delight in being able to offer you these exclusive images of actual welfare cheats. Yes, welfare cheats that are taking billions of dollars out of our pockets and holding our children's future ransom. Something needs to be done! Here are the shocking portraits. I wish I could have gotten them all but they are sneaky as heck and do not like to have their pictures taken - for obvious reasons:

You should be disgusted. We have yet another Bush "crisis" that has been years in the making. Once more Bush is urging us to make a hasty decision on the verge of a congressional recess about yet another ill defined problem with a sketchy thrown together solution.

What most American's do not realize is that we have just handed the auto industry 25 billion dollars, the government has already bailed out AIG, and we are asking to hurry up and hand over an additional 750 billion dollars.

Is the economy ready to collapse? All I know is that for many Americans it has already collapsed with record numbers of foreclosures. The same macho market capitalist that did not want to bail out the homeowners a couple of weeks ago are now begging on their knees for BILLIONS of dollars or they are being silent. They are absalutely shameless. No apologies, no statements from the wrong doers, no thanks, just a wane silence from those who have gone through the back doors of our political system.

I don't think the economic system would collapse. I think the economic system inhabited by the rich in this country would collapse but how does that effect most working Americans? I am not so sure that it does. There is a LOT of money to be made in usury and astute business people will find a way to make that happen.

I do give a tip of the hat though to the free market ideologist in the Republican party who have stuck to their guns and finally at this late hour in the Bush misadministration are balking at what has become known to us as "the plan." That mysterious deal which our leaders in their arrogance are making against the will of the American people - the left and the right. Here is a typical quote I found but the Internet is full of these self-righteous Patriots:

You do realise that if we stop being forced to contribute 30% of our paychecks to the federal government that we have to spend it? If we spend it, that boosts productivity, requiring the hiring of more individuals, thereby reducing the need for social programs?

You also do understand that it is absolutely NOT the federal governments requirement or obligation to provide a "safety net"?

How many times have I heard the following story:

I went to the grocery store and there was this fat women (they usually say fat because it helps drive home the point that the welfare recipiant is not only no good but a lazy no good) in front of me. She was buying steaks and other items with her food stamps that I can't afford and I have a job.

Unfortunately food stamps have gone the way of all flesh and have been replaced by some kind of swipe debit card system. It is a shame. Those stories were a hoot and a sure fire way of smoking bigots out. But, thanks to Google I found out that this genre of urban culture still exist! My question is how did the following sharp eyed observer know that it was a food stamp card?! I never pay attention to what kind of card a person is paying with and I could care less. Think maybe this story is false?

Well I just have to vent! I just came from the Food Market (had to pick up a few things)I was at the meat counter and this couple came running up to the counter with a buggy and loaded it down with almost all of the family pak size of ribeye steaks, well I get behind them at the check out, with my one small pak of pork chops and low and behold the couple pull out they're FOODSTAMP CARD! Anyone with common sense knows what they're going to do with them, sell them for Drugs or what ever! THIS MAKES ME SICK! I work everyday my paycheck gets smaller and smaller because of cost of living and taxes, and I just felt like I was being taken totally advantage of, I felt like it was coming out of my pocket ( which it was) I wanted to say something to them sooo bad, but they weren't the most decent looking people if you know what I mean, I know it is tuff times on people and I know some people need assistance,but I feel it should be limited to the items you can buy with the card like no junk food, no expensive meats etc. it should only be stables such as bread, milk, dry beans,flour, sugar, peanutbutter,eggs, canned fruit ext. Does anyone remember commodities that you used to get, well my grandmother got them we had to go help her pick them up and she was grateful for them and they were all stables they you used and cooked with. if we went back to that or only allowed stables to be bought with the foodstamp card I don't think there would be nearly as many people on them, they would have to cook, I do. They wouldn't be buying all these frozen meals, steaks, and junk food,I guess what I'm trying to say is they would learn to manage they're food purchases and prepare meals, and if they wanted anything else they would have to get off they're asses and go to work! I Do!
http://forums.timesdaily.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/5521043475/m/5831023177

Check out this post here some more information about food stamp users and obesity:

http://usfoodpolicy.blogspot.com/2005/01/food-stamps-and-obesity.html

Let me digress just a moment though. Stay with me because this is worth it. I found this out doing a Google search for nice quotes about food stamp users. There is actually a Rush Limbaugh Club in Orange County. You can't make this stuff up. Check it out.

Obama? Why didn't he come out against this and let the Bush administration finish its self inflicted self-destruction and take John McCain with him. Obama, I still support you but you missed an opportunity here buddy. You sided with the true Welfare Cheats.

Today I started thinking about how hard I have been on President Bush. So, tomorrow I am going to devote a whole blog column to the postive accomplishments of the present administration.

Obama for President - The Only Real Relief Pitcher We Have

2008-09-18T23:50:00.013-05:00

Lets call up this new left handed fastball pitcher up from the farm team. See if he can throw some heat across the plate.

With the economic melt down John McCain has suddenly decided, in a fox hole conversion, to convert to the side of those who see some government regulation as neccessary for a well ordered society. Here is a little quote not so very long ago:

I don’t think anyone who wants to increase the burden of government regulation and higher taxes has any real understanding of economics and the economy and what is needed in order to ensure the future of this country.”
– John McCain [McCain Town Hall in Inez, Kentucky, 4/23/08]

Throughout this presidential election process one voice of reason has appealed to me and that is that of Chris Matthews on Hardball. The Philadelphia native provided a great analogy, continuing with the baseball theme, of changing pitchers during the heat of a game. It is painfully obvious when a pitcher is failing and predictable when the coach goes to the bullpen for a replacement. Matthews noted that the coach is not watching the person warming up but the person on the mound. In other words, it is less of a matter of who is waiting in the wings than that a replacement is needed right away. When that person on the mound is clearly done whoever is in the bullpen comes in.

Bush is clearly done. His own team, the Republican party, is disgusted with him and they have already left the stadium. In our system the "pitcher" is elected to their position and they stay until their time is up. So we have to sit and wait for the clock on the absolute worst presidency of the United States to run down. The Democrats left that stadium about eight years ago. Now, I have this vision of Bush pathetically throwing to Dick Chaney and Condolezza Rice and nobody gives a damn. There is not even an opposing team anymore except that ghosty will-o-the-wisp Bin Laden. We are all just waiting for his time to end so we can get on with things. Get on with trying to put the entire world back together which that pathetic left hander will leave robbed and pillaged.

The problem with McCain is that he is indeed part of the old regime and part of the problem. As he tries to portray himself as a Washington outsider who wants to regulate the money and investment markets he makes a damn poor excuse of a Democrat. He is a an elephant in a donkey's clothing. That is not a pretty picture. His pick of Palin as a running mate is turning out to be nothing more than a very successful publicity stunt but the emerging economic crisis leaves McCain flat footed and out of his league. I have had enough of the Republicans who deserve to be punished, banished, for what they did to us with Bush. Four years was bad but eight years has been disastrous.

So, I am voting for Obama, but he had better produce. He needs to be more than glitz and glitter and show some grit and determination. He needs to get humble and wise real quick or we are all screwed. I am sick of the self-righteousness of the right, of their loud and obnoxious belligerence and outright mean spirited scorched earth policy which is exemplified by all the fanatical right wing talk shows. Time for them to go. McCain? The wrong party and the wrong year - he is eight years too late to help us out. God bless him, but please don't let him be our next president so lets not wave him out to the mound. Lets call him into the locker room, wrap a jacket around him, give him a hug, and talk about the good ole days but lets not elect him. Please.

John McCain has been in a position where he could have helped avoid two of our largest problems - the war in Iraq and the economic crisis. He was part of the system as Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Armed Services and the Ranking Member and former Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce. He is now crying for more regulation in the commerce sector but as I mentioned earlier he is a last minute convert to government supervision of the investment and banking sectors which he did nothing to regulate as a senator. Also, he has no plan for getting out of Iraq, a war which is draining trillions of dollars out of our faltering economy, other than staying the course with what is basically the Bush doctrine.

Time for a change. I can't wait. We cannot take a third Bush term in office. For the American people to replace that old screwball pitcher Bush with a tired ole knuckle baller (a baseball pitch with an erratic unpredictable motion) like McCain would be a travesty. Lets go for the younger relief pitcher. Lets wave Obama out to the mound and bid a fond adieu to McCain before sending him back down to the minors for what is left of his career. You treat a hall of famer with respect. Now, lets see what this new kid can do.

Play ball.

Cyber War by Russia

2008-08-10T03:06:00.006-05:00

First things first. Since this story is so depressing go to this link of a short parody movie Putting on the Ritz staring those two bozos who scare the beejesus out of us - Bush and Putin.

I went online to read the news about the conflict in the Republic of Georgia and found most of the websites DOWN. This included most of the sources on the following list which is available at: http://www.world-newspapers.com/georgia.html

Georgia News Sources

Caucaz.com
Tbilisi-based weekly online magazine. Find articles, investigative reports and analysis of the news in the South Caucasus.

Civil Georgia
Independent online magazine providing daily news and analysis.

EurasiaNet: Georgia
New York based news and comment service. Funded by the Soros foundation.

Financial
Business newspaper written for Georgian opinion leaders and top business decision-makers.

Georgia Today
Weekly newspaper.

Georgian Times
Quality newspaper featuring daily news, investigative reports, business, culture, sports, and more.

Messenger
English language daily.

Prime News Agency
News agency in Tbilisi, Georgia, providing daily news on Georgia, Caucasus and Former Soviet Union (NIS).

Rustavi2
Leading, independent Georgian TV channel.

Sarke Information Agency
News service covering all major events in Georgia. Full text available by subscription.

Sound suspicious? Yep. So I went to slashdot and sure enough someone had already reported something bad going on. A slashdot story also reports widespread evidence of Russian cyber war.

As our intrepid President sits in China lecturing them on religion our country is impotent to act. While we have dulled the claws of the American Eagle the Russian Bear has emerged from hibernation hungry, cranky, and with a new growth of dangerous claws to go forth and do damage with. Is there really NO end to the damage that this president can do as he makes a mockery out of us? I don't think so. Now we have another crisis and there is not a thing we can do about it.

Putin has had Bush's number for a long time. While Putin is an evil bastard he is a smart one and knows that Bush is a dufus. It is pathetic to see Bush's goofy grin when he is around Putin and thinks that he has Putin's number. Then you see Putin's sly KGB grin as he uses his Judo/Sambo skills to slam George around without mercy on the mat.

Here is a cheesecake picture of Putin who is wildly popular with the women and young people in Russia. Believe it or not this picture is not fake. He really did pose for it:

Enjoy this little clip about how Bush has communicated with the Russians:

Very quickly I found two blogs that might help you keep informed beyond the usual suspects like CNN, Reuters, etc:

http://wordpress.com/tag/republic-of-georgia/

http://blogs.takepart.com/2008/08/08/russia-attacks-republic-of-georgia/

Scooter Columbia - Upcoming Short Documentary Movie

2008-07-16T18:12:00.003-05:00

I am currently working on a short documentary, probably about a half hour, on motor scooters here in Columbia, Missouri. Since I purchased mine last year the number of scooters on the road have increased. This is a rough cut, barely edited, that I posted on YouTube so that I could share it with some key people. This is the same scooter that I posted a picture of a few weeks ago.

After a rather long investigation as to possible alternative modes of transpertation I decided to get a scooter. A moped, under 50cc and slow at a top end of 35 mph, did not work out. I bought a 150cc Tank scooter which for licensure purposes anyway is considered a motorcycle so I needed a motorcycle operators license and to license my new scooter. The scooter was made in China and reasonably priced.

The 150 cc motor is the scooter and motorcycle workhorse engine in China because it is the maximum engine size allowed for motorcycles and scooters. Three wheeled vehicles can have bigger motors, and they do, but two wheeled transport is limited to the 150cc limit. So, it is an engine design which has a long and successful history in China and elsewhere around the world.

I did a through web search and the only real criticism I found on the Tank scooters was by people who don't own one. People who own the Tank scooters, at least the bigger ones, seemed to love them. So far I have not been disappointed in the one I purchased. The only problem I have had is keeping the battery charged but it has only stranded me once.

George Bush: The Best President Big Oil Ever Had

2008-07-16T14:40:00.000-05:00

If you work in the oil industry, or if you depend on that industry for your lively hood, you should build a little shrine in your home for our current president. The best president big oil has ever had.

Not everything in this speech is wrong although a good deal of it is. The main problem with the speech is how unimaginative it is and what President Bush is really trying to do. This speech provides support to the argument that our president is biased, for whatever reason, toward oil companies which are now enjoying record profits in the slash and burn economics of the free market economy in its current manifestation.

In an effort to take the blame off of his administration's shoulders President Bush in essence is blaming the Democrats for the current high energy costs while providing an essentially useless "solution." Allowing off shore exploration and exploitation of whatever oil resources may, or may not, be lurking there is an anemic stopgap measure at best which will not have any major effect in the longterm energy needs of the nation. Also, from what I can gather those resources, whatever they may or may not be, would not even start to end up at the gas pump until two presidential elections from now.

Who stands to gain by lifting the exploration ban? The American consumer would see a relatively poor return as energy and energy production costs continue to rise. Those resources off our shores in the global market would be literally a drop in the bucket and do little to relieve our underlying systemic problems - such as the fact we are running out of oil and that we are poisoning our planet. The only entities to gain from the lifting of these bans are the oil companies. As oil prices continue to increase historically, which they will, any known reserve will be enormously profitable even if the world can begin the process of weening itself from petroleum. The real purpose of this speech was to set the agenda in the remaining six months of his administration for the lifting of the restrictions of off shore oil exploration which still has the final hurdle of being given a green light by congress.

So why this speech? This speech was designed as an attempt take the pressure off of the current administration for its lack of stewardship in looking after the interest of the American people, and to begin the process of allowing oil companies access to offshore oil deposits. To the very end Bush is proving his loyalty to big business, his lack of vision, and his disregard for the American people. The question is why?

The one explanation that makes the most sense to me is that this guy really believes that whatever is good for business is in the end somehow good for the country. Business comes first and if business prospers that will somehow magically make things good for the rest of us (not paying attention to the fact that corporations are very careful to prevent profit leaks and pay smart people a lot of money to contain profits rather than let them leak to the unwashed masses). Putting business first is not a new idea but it is one that is increasingly becoming the creed and mantra of our society. I would call it a religion. Even those who stand to loose from such a proposition, meaning about 90 percent of the population, are starting to buy into it. See the book What's the Matter with Kansas. Bush is certainly not alone in this magical belief in the inherit good of profitability and in another column I will show how a good many members of the Democratic party have learned to put business first and people second.

I don't agree with her completely but I do think that in light of President Bush's speech you should at least take a look at Naomi Klein's theories:

Why We Will Loose In Iraq: The Algeria Connection

2008-07-11T01:41:00.000-05:00

What does the title of this blog Coming of Age mean? I am 51 years old and find myself in a different world than the one I entered in 1956 and even a different one than the one I was living in two or three years ago. To be sure, the change did not come overnight but gradually. However there are many markers which indicate that the geography has shifted under our feet. Here they are in no particular order and certainly this is not an exhaustive list:

Obama earns the Democratic nomination - consider this the only good thing on my list and in fairness need to include Hillery Clinton's showing as well.
911
Proliferation of nuclear weapons (do NOT kid yourself here)
Definitive indications of climate change
Energy costs steeply increasing and creating a cascade of rising cost for industry and consumer alike
The war in Iraq

I want to focus on the war in Iraq but first a disclaimer. Of course Saddam was a tyrant, a dictator, and a degenerative evil man. Also, you need to understand that it is my firm belief that Iraq is most definitively not better off now than it was earlier, and that the military situation in the Middle East has worsened due to our involvement. In addition to that, we have literally squandered our wealth, reputation, and integrity on that effort which will come to naught. As proof I offer two good books for your consideration.

The Battle of Algiers

My Battle of Algiers: A Memoir by Ted Morgan offers an intelligent and insightful guide to what happened in Algeria as the French desperately tried to hang onto their colony. The French won all the battles but lost the war and wounded their own soul. Assassination and torture were regularly and systematically employed by the French in their loosing effort. By the way, the author emphatically insists that torture did work. I think that is an important point since he shows that the reason we need to avoid torture is not one of efficiency but morality. Rightly so. Torture is not a business decision as we so often try to make things. In this country we have an alarming tendency to judge things on their effectiveness rather than if they are right or wrong. Why can't we just say torture is just wrong and we should not do it?

In Algeria the French exhausted their military strength as the war drained the very lifeblood out of the French military and infected French political life and politics with much bile and poison eventually leading to the fall of one republic and the rise of another. The war resulted in de Gaulle being dusted off one last time to yet again be the savior of France for one last time. An important fact about that war: In its loosing effort France at one point had 450,000 troops in the country. That is more than twice the amount that we have ever had in Iraq. Like us the French also tried unsuccessfully to manipulate and create a friendly political structure in Algeria. This is a book you should read if you want to have some deep background understanding of the historic trends we are facing in Iraq.

The Sirens of Baghdad

The second book is very different. It is a book of fiction written by Mohammed Moulessehoul who writes under the nom de plume of Yasmina Khadra. Unfortunately Monsieur Moulessehoul has some unpleasant things to tell us here in America. Things that are not fun to hear but things which we need to hear as we come of age are the subjects he writes about. The Algerian connection continues since Mohammed Moulessehoul is a former Algerian army officer. The second book is The Sirens of Baghdad.

It starts out well enough. Then about a fourth of the way through I was ready to put it aside as being too predictable. Fortunately I did not set it aside and finished it. Why do so many Iraq's hate us and see our activity as heavy handed? How are terrorist and insurgents (whatever you call them) created? Read this book. This book takes you outside our viewpoint here in the U. S. and into another context which provides another way of seeing things (which by the way is the purpose of education if you do it right).

I remember when we invaded Iraq. I was angry and adamantly against an invasion until troops went over the berms in Kuwait. Then I was supportive and like most Americans watched what I could of a war which was ingeniously censored by the concept of embedding journalist. I remember my wife commenting on my change of attitude. I told her that I had opposed the invasion but now we were in a fight and I hoped that despite my many many misgivings I was hoping against hope that Bush was being honest with us. Much to my sorrow I was wrong. Much to our collective sorrow here in the United States the president was dishonest and wrong. Like a used car salesman he sold us a lemon of a war and we will never ever get our money back. In his vanity and ignorance, ignoring wise consul from many of our allies and friends, he pushed his own agenda and has brought this country on the verge of bankruptcy. Today is July 11th, 2008. Name one thing that is better today than it was before our current president took office. He has been nothing but a force for destruction.

The French walked away in tatters from Vietnam and Algeria. We walked away in tatters from Vietnam and I am predicting the outcome in Iraq will be no different. To blindly believe in ultimate victory in Iraq out of some ignorant and misplaced patriotism, or worse yet just plain old fashioned ignorance, is folly. The world is not that simple anymore. We need to grow up and learn to live and function with new realities and take heed of the new problems which were not all caused by the present administration but which were certainly made worse by the present administrations mismanagement.

We are in trouble and Iraq is a symptom of that. The old status quo is not going to work because it is ran by the same group that failed us. We have too many problems to go back to the old ways and the old names. I like McCain but I don't think he can do it. He cannot help it, but he is a bastion of the old school. He doesn't know any better. At best he might improve some things but he does not have the vision that we need. At best he is a stopgap measure and I am not sure we can afford even that. As a matter of fact, I am sure we cannot. Is Obama the answer? I don't know.

If elected Obama has the potential to be one of the best presidents we have had since Franklin Roosevelt bringing in a fresh perspective with new ideas. He can make us believe in ourselves again, and restore our dignity that has been buried under the shame of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay. Being the populist he is, he also has the potential to be an absolute disaster.

We are forced to elect these people without really knowing who they are since they are shielded behind a public relations machine that is not only well skilled but well financed. They can put a shine on piece of dirt. Voting for McCain would be a stopgap measure with limited expectations and potential. Probably not a disaster but not much improvement on key issues such as energy, climate change, and the eroded status of the United States as a rogue/bully nation. Voting for Obama is a roll of the dice at the craps table and we can win big or loose big. The Who optimistically sang "Won't Get Fooled Again." I am not that optimistic. We are asking to purchase yet another used car without being able to test drive it first. Being a senator is one thing. Being a president is another thing altogether.

Who should we vote for? Eleanor Roosevelt had this to say about John Kennedy (whom she disliked by the way): "Positions change but character remains the same." Out of the two men who has the character we need? I wish I knew.

So sit back and listen to The Who and ponder this question of being fooled. Will we be fooled again?

The Visitor

2008-06-16T01:37:00.000-05:00

My scooter parked in the alley outside of Ragtag waiting for a jump.

When both girls suddenly decided to spend the night at my parents house my wife and I were suddenly left alone together to do as we please. A rare occurrence. We rode the scooter around downtown Columbia to eat and then off to the Ragtag cinema for a movie. We saw The Visitor. I used IMBD's web site as a link instead of the official movie site because the official site crashed both FireFox and Micro$oft's browser at least twice on my computer. Don't know why. But, back to the movie.

The Visitor is the best movie I have seen in years, and certainly in my top ten list. Smart, well constructed, incredible casting, incredible script, and not an ounce of fat on it. It told a story and except perhaps for some language I don't even remember hearing, that earned the film a PG-13 rating, it is a movie I would not be afraid to show to my young daughters. No car crashes, no special effects - just a good story well told about people.

A very nice night and a very good movie. The evening was only marred a little bit by one incident. Oddly enough my Tank 150 Touring machine, that I had been riding around all day, would not start. The battery was dead. I had to call my son to come and give us a jump since I have not yet successfully kick-started that beast. However, Jenifer was a good sport about it and it was a beautiful summer evening made especially nice by being comfortably cool.

What is the Rush?

2008-03-26T23:34:00.000-05:00

Last Friday I had two incidents which reminded me how silly most of us are as we rush from one activity to another.

I gave a test, a fairly difficult test which besides the objective questions had numerous short answer, or short essay, questions. It was the Friday that spring break started and most of the students were out in less than a half hour. Some in about twenty minutes. They could not even take the fifty minutes alloted for the test and instead were looking past it. A trick I learned from another teacher is to write the time a test is turned in on the back and when the student complains of their low grade you can use that little visual aide to instruct them on more prudent test taking practices. I haven't decided yet if I will say something to the whole class, a measure of economy, or on the individual test. I think individually because embarrassing people in public is not right.

Then on the way home I was turning left, across traffic, and having to delay because coming up a hill which restricted vision in the oncoming lane there was an unusual amount of traffic. What I learned when I arrived home latter was that there had been a mishap on the highway and drivers were avoiding it by cutting across town. In other words, a normally placid street as far as traffic goes was unusually busy. So, I hesitated in making that left turn into my neighborhood. Then, from two cars back a small black compact car bypassed me and the other car in front of them to make the left turn into my neighborhood. What?!

I was curious. Nobody would turn into that neighborhood unless they lived there and I am always curious to see what careless and inconsiderate people look like. Especially a neighbor. So I followed and tried to catch up. I think the driver panicked seeing someone "following" them and sped up. They exited the neighborhood and before I could figure all this out I followed. Then they really sped up and darting in and out of traffic zoomed ahead of me and out of sight. So this time saving strategy of essentially jumping ahead of the line ended up costing that driver a lot more time because they ended up in the flow of congestion that was diverting from the accident on the highway.

In the space of less than an hour I had experienced people placing their grade in peril in their haste to save a few minutes, and a driver placing other peoples life in peril in their haste to get home a few minutes early. I don't think either incident was worth it.

Hurry for what? Hurry to what? In my life I want to avoid things like that. I want to avoid being a jerk, I want to avoid bad karma and to do the right thing. I want to be a human being who enjoys every breath and takes life as it comes. You can not rush the seasons of nature or your life. I don't think slowing down a bit would hurt anyone.

India for Dummies

2008-03-20T16:17:00.000-05:00

I have always been fascinated by India and that fascination refuses to subside. Rather, it is increasing. Some systems of thought within Judaism believe in reincarnation and given my comfort with all things India and Indian food it does make me wonder.

Do you want to learn about India? If so, I want to share three books with you that I highly recommend. The two things all these books have in common is that they are about some facet of India and they are big books with many pages. Not quick reads. Also, I suppose I should mention one other item. All three authors are excellent epic writers. I rather prefer long books and I absolutely love each one of these works. I was disappointed and a little sad when I finished each and every one of them. I suggest reading them in the order I have listed here:

Start your reading with a sumptuous four course banquet courtesy of Paul Scott who wrote a set of four novels collectively titled the Raj Quartet. This is the only item on my reading list which is not written by somebody from India but rather from an Englishman who ended up serving the Crown in India during World War II. Scott ended his military service as a captain in the Indian Army Service Corps and writes knowledgeable about British Imperialism and India as it breaks free from that grip. Scott does a remarkable job of creating some of the most memorable characters and then weaving them together. None of the characters seem to be thrown away as they come back and interact with other characters in different ways and from different directions. For instance, somebody may be introduced in one book and then disappear only to reappear again two or even three books latter. The characters are also multifacated and you have the opportunity to examine them from many critical perspectives. I have never read anything like it. The Raj Quartet chronicles the transistion of Colonial India into a democracy and the main character is Daphne Manners, her Indian lover, and their nemesis in the form of Ronald Merrick a British police officer serving with the Indian Police Services. Although this is a work of fiction it provides a good historical introduction to modern Indian before the British left and sets up the other two books nicely.

A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth is a work of art and I think that Vikram Seth is a genius. This is a novel that opens the door to India for you to walk in and explore. This book artfully compares and contrasts different pairs of seemingly opposed but yet connected ideas or entities such as Hinduism and Islam, India and Pakistan, religious and profane, rural and urban, man and woman, duty and love. This is a book that helps you to at least begin exploring the complexities of India. The main topic of the book, everything else sort of revolves around it, is the search for a suitable boy for young Lata to marry. However, as Lata and her family search for that suitable boy you learn a lot about India in the process. You will learn that these marriages are not arranged but rather negotiated as events which the whole family has an interest in. Frankly, I kind of like the way it works out since it views marriage on a much larger and important scale than just some romantic tryst.

Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found by Suketu Mehta. By far this is the least romantic book on the list and the only nonfiction one as well. In this book the author's experience as a journalist is put to good use and as far as I can see he holds nothing back - neither the good nor the bad. Explore Bombay, now named Mumbai, with the author who returns to his original homeland with his family from the United States for an extended stay. Read about police methods (rather heavy handed), the slums, Bollywood, organized crime, and how they are all linked together. Along the way you will meet killers both Muslim and Hindu, poets, rogue police officers, everyday people, and even a family of wealthy Jains who renounce everything to find salvation.

If you like to read these three books will provide you with an outstanding introduction to all facets of Indian culture and society which is exceedingly complex. Systems theory holds that as systems age they become more complex and that is surely the reason for India's complexity. India is a mixture of very old cultures and civilizations where the very modern and the very ancient influence life on the same level at any given moment. This happens elsewhere but not with the magnitude that you will find in India. And, somehow it seems to work.

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I suppose I need to offer a fourth book to complete your journey. This is not a book about India but a book that does help you place India within its context of the modern world. It is also considerably shorter than the other three works I have recommended to you. The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century by Thomas Friedman explains the modern and emerging India. Friedman focuses not on the slums and the poverty but the rise of technology and a nation emerging as an economic and scientific power. You will understand why India has so many call centers and the importance that those centers have as a source of prestigious employment with excellent benefits. It places India in perspective on a world wide basis. As China and India become more and more influential and powerful, and make no mistake that is inevitable, those of us from America and the Western world need to learn more about our neighbors.

Here are two movies for your enjoyment:

Protocols of the Elders of Zion

2007-12-15T21:51:00.000-06:00

I love this video! Dedicated to all the bigots and ignoramuses out there for they are legion.

Hiring A President

2007-10-30T16:47:00.000-05:00

We vote for presidential candidates without knowing who they really are.

Sure, I know that supposedly there is a lot of information out there about the candidates, their past, and their views on the issues. But, it is very hard to get a sense of what kind of person they are. Also, most of the information is either carefully orchestrated image building, or venomous character attacks of partisan snipers from the opposing party. For example, Hillery Clinton is either the savior of our country or a devious and conniving witch. I can not make up my mind about her or a lot of the other candidates! Also, I am fairly well educated, a prolific reader, and a news junkie. The information I am looking for is either not there or hiding in plain sight among a lot of just plain junk. Unfortunately, I don't trust the image I have of the candidates. I have learned that the image is too often carefully orchestrated and polished having little, or nothing, to do with who the person actually is. This is particularly vexing when there are so many people viaing for their parties nomination.

I remember that after Bob Dole's disastrous presidential bid, against Bill Clinton in 1996, something mysterious happened. The stiff and awkward candidate disappeared and was replaced by a witty and much more relaxed persona. He seemed human and a lot of the people I talked to back then commented on what a positive impression he had made after the fact. Many said that had he come across as positively during the election they would have voted for him. Was this a "new" Bob Dole or the real Bob Dole that had been hidden from view by the mechanisms of his campaign organization?

We have all these job applicants who want to run the most powerful country in the world during a time when America's place in the world is evolving (thanks in part to a big push by George Bush). It is an understatement to say it is an important decision. The one bright spot is that the debates seem to be helping now that the strangle hold by the League of Women Voters has been broken. The sheer number of debates has made it increasingly harder to put up a false front and we are beginning to see the facade crack and peel allowing us to catch a glimpse of what is under all that pancake makeup.

It's Official! United States and Iraq are Breaking Up

2007-08-24T00:32:00.001-05:00

One of the things I have learned in social work is that the person who is the least invested in a relationship has the most power. Another thing I have learned is that when a relationship begins to disintegrate that one, or both, of the parties will become disenchanted with the other. This makes the breakup easier. Inevitably when friends or couples part ways something comes up to fight about which makes the parting easier. It provides an excuse. It is easier to stomp off mad, than it is to come to some reasonable understanding of what went wrong in a relationship. Much easier. It occurred to me tonight that these dynamics are what is happening with the United States and Iraq. They are also what is happening with President Bush and both political parties.

Clearly the Democrats are not invested in the Iraq fiasco and their past support is an embarrassment that few have been able to explain away. Hillary Clinton is a prime example. The Republicans have steadily grown weary with a president whose stubbornness is only matched by lack of clear and intelligent thinking. The war is a political liability with absolutely no redeeming value since we are clearly loosing the peace. John McCain who has a good deal of integrity has become shipwrecked on the war because although he has disagreed and criticized the present administration on a regular basis he believes that Iraq is our mess to clean up. That has most certainly cost him any chance he ever had of being the Republican presidential candidate. As the conflict drags on with absolutely no sign that there is any improvement whatsoever with anything the war is becoming an administration only concern. The Democrats, and now even the Republican Party, will be able to successfully decouple their selves from the conflict. President Bush will find his administration increasingly isolated from the rest of the world, nationally and internationally, as everyone counts down the days until he leaves.

The criticism of the Maliki government has slowly but surely increased. Rather than trying to fix it or engage as a friend and ally we are criticizing it. Never mind that the criticism may be justified. That is not even the point. What matters is that the Iraq of today is our creation, our Frankenstein, and we are disavowing ourselves of it. It is a shameful and cowardly thing to do but we will do it. We will do it because it allows us the excuse to blame the Iraq’s for our failure – a failure that the rest of the world predicted. Instead of asking for help, instead of engaging other nations in the area in a reasonable dialogue, we are going to let Iraq fall. Then we will blame it on a government which was totally and completely our creation and which was totally dependent on us.

We will abandon Iraq. For a long time I wondered how we would justify it but now I know. The headlines shout out the solution. After a marriage of convenience we are breaking up. It is not us but Maliki and his government. In typical modern fashion everyone is scrambling to get into a new relationship before the old one is dead. Maliki has already been to Iran and Syria looking for a new partnership. Already some Republican politicians are calling for a partial troop withdrawal as a punishment to the Maliki government. Interesting, since the problem all along has been too few troops as we allowed the country to disintegrate into chaos.

We made this mess and we have a moral obligation to do whatever we can to help clean it up. It is to President Bush’s everlasting shame that he made Iraq worse than it was under Saddam Hussein. What truly sickens me is that we will abandon Iraq and not pay child support. Iraq will struggle and suffer because of our actions and we will deride and gossip about her like a wife we left behind who was once the apple of our eye.

Make no mistake about it. We went into Iraq largely because one man wanted to redeem his father. It was not about oil and it was not about Iraq supporting terrorist or developing weapons of mass destruction. Everything else was just an excuse to provide cover for George Bush’s neurotic and adolescent need to overthrow Saddam. The stampede for the exit sign is now on. Get out of the way because the donkeys have been joined by the elephants and anyone who gets in their way during this panic will be trampled. I predict that we will be well on our way out of Iraq in time for the election.

Wikipedia is not the Devil

2007-08-20T23:38:00.000-05:00

Higher education has a fascination and a love/hate relationship with Facebook and Wikipedia. Today I want to focus on Wikipedia. In the case of Wikipedia it is mostly hate. As a matter of fact, in an act that would be laughable if it were not so pathetic, the history department at Middlebury College has boldly proclaimed thier stand against Wikipedia. How is that for academic freedom?

A recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education discusses a web site , designed and maintained by Virgil Griffith, that will show you "who" edited a particular Wikipedia article. Not really who but maybe just what domain they came from. If you are interested Wired has a more detailed and technical oriented article which I recommend.

It is no secret that the information in Wikipedia has at times been fiendishly skewed to reflect a particular bias. Here is a quote from the Chronicle of Higher Education article: You " gasp as an official with Diebold, the company that makes a controversial line of e-voting machines, deletes wholesale a 15-paragraph section describing computer scientists’ concerns with the devices." Gasp? Pretty melodramatic stuff. Doesn't surprise me at all though. But, it does scare me. If an official at Diebold is so ignorant as to the workings of Wikipedia that they think they can get away with deleting information which might reflect negatively on the company the have no business working on any kind of e-voting initiative. As a matter of fact, if I was a disgruntled employee with Diebold I just might use my work internet connection to do that kind of editing just to make the company look bad.

Wikipedia is a battle ground for influence and ideas. All media and forms of communication are. What the articles don't say is that edits and revisions are tracked, and Wikipedia is feature rich including the ability to undo such malicious nonsense. Everything has been done to make the whole process democratic and transparent. You have to register to edit an article and although you can certainly use a fake name and open up a freebie web email account, everything on the web is tracked. So, it is possible to tell which domain you came from. So you can tell that the deletions about the Diebold voting machine came from somebody from the Diebold domain. Anonymity is a pretty rare commodity on the web nowdays. I might not be able to know everything about you, but I can know a lot. The article at Wikipedia about Diebold now mentions the deletion of the information, and the whole history of edits, including the infamous deletion of information back in 2005, can be found online for you to read: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Diebold&action=history

Personally I think that bias is a normal part of life. As a social worker I know that most social work journals reflect a particular bias. Walk into any academic library and the stacks and the shelves are full of material that has a bias. We are starting to discover that the "hard sciences" are not immune to bias. It is not just something that infects the social sciences or the humanities. What gets researched, funded, and published is in large part a political question rather than an empirical one. Don't kid yourself.

Many professors hate it when students use Wikipedia. Why don't those same critics put their expensive education to productive use and go online and become editors in their specialized field instead of just being critical? Most in academia struggle for the privilege to write articles for academic journals that will be read by fewer than one hundred people, but bulk at the idea of writing an article that will be available to millions? I also think it would be a pretty good assignment to give to students. Have students become contributers to an article and participate under the guidance of their professor. As far as I know that has not been done yet.

The quality of articles does vary wildly but I am at times awed at how much time and effort some of the contributors devote to the cause, and how knowledgeable they can be. An article from the Wall Street Journal eloquently describes the editorial wars that go on behind the scenes. These are not secret debates, but are open and available for anyone to read in the discussion section attached to any article. I don't think that Wikipedia was ever intended to be the authoritative answer on anything, and it isn't. It is one source. However, it is a remarkable and unprecedented achievement with over two million articles online in the English edition. Lets teach students to use it responsibly. Wikipedia is a good place to begin a search particularly when you do not know much about a topic. It is indeed foolish for anyone beyond grade 3 to stop at Wikipedia and not pursue other sources. Wikipedia is nothing more than a large dynamic open source encyclopedia.

Encyclopedias are known to be full of errors, ignorance, and even bias or prejudice. Wikipedia is full of errors, ignorance, and even bias or prejudice. Not surprising. But, encyclopedias are also beautiful things. Encyclopedias are reflections of the human spirits desire to know, discover, and learn about the world around us. Many times we miss the real point of what Wikipedia is about.

Wikipedia is a dynamic way of knowing, sharing, collaborating, communicating, and organizing information. Perhaps the operative word here is dynamic. While older versions of encyclopedias had to wait for new editions to correct omissions or errors, Wikipedia is in a constant state of growth and development. The Wikipedia of tomorrow will be very much different than the Wikipedia of today. I believe it will also be a little bit better. Now, more than ever we need to teach our students about information literacy.

You can not fight this technology, all of the technology we are developing (including the powerful social networking infrastructure which includes Wikipedia, Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube) but you can influence it. Universities and colleges should be encouraging their faculty and students to contribute to the effort rather than deride it.

By the way, do you want to know how to cite Wikipedia for your APA, MLA, or Turabian style paper? Here is an excellent article, from Wikipedia, on how to do just that: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citing_Wikipedia#APA_style

NAACP Protest Rally Against Neo-Nazi Parade of Fools

2007-03-12T22:46:00.000-05:00

Hate came to Missouri in the form of a neo-Nazi group on 10 March 2007. They obtained a permit, and marched for about 45 minutes before leaving.

About an hour before that scheduled march, the NAACP held a rally to protest. I attended and the link above takes you to some pictures and speaker comments.

The city of Columbia spent a fortune on providing a police presence and there is some question as to why the city did not deny the permit. There is no absolute right for freedom of speech under all possible circumstances. You can not yell fire in a crowded theater.

History of Israel

2006-08-18T06:10:00.000-05:00

The History of Israel in a Nutshell

The situation in Israel is more complex than most people realize. For example, most people do not know that certain elements of UN forces have been implicated in taking bribes and assisting Hezballah in years past. Also, that in the past UN forces witnessed and videotaped the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers but would not turn over the information to Israel in a timely fashion. When information was turned over the faces of the kidnappers were obscured.
Great short, and visual, history of Israel. - post by mrperkin

2006-08-10T23:04:00.000-05:00

No Left or Right: Good vs. Evil

Today the Brits, our on-again-off-again allies, shattered a plot that would have sent many innocent airline travelers to their death. We truly are in a new era with new rules, and we are being slow in catching onto what must be done. This new era started well before the tragic events of 9-11. So, that begs the question: what is going on? For one thing, any meaningful dichotomy between the left and the right has disappeared. Forget about it. Forget about Democrat and Republican and all that nonsense. It goes deeper now, and it has gotten very strange. The old political lines mean nothing now as we emerge and transcend from the postmodern world (that bastard child of liberalism) into a new era.

Weird Allies

We have reached a state of ultimate polarization where we go beyond disagreement to vilification. It is an existential battle between two sides composed of seemingly odd, even paradoxical, allies. Each side agrees who the enemy is, on the "big picture," and vaguely on what needs to be done. Yet the future as envisioned by these allies would have no place for their current partners of convenience. For example, on one side you have militant Islam and what used to be the radical left. This side is converging on a world vision where the United States is the bully of the world, and Israel is an aggressive apartheid state. In essence the enemy is the United States and the Jews. At the end of the day, Israel is nothing but a codeword for Jews anyway. This side sees terrorism as a logical, inevitable, and even welcomed (opportunity for joyful martyrdom), outgrowth of oppression. This side is very much into the belief that the ends do justify the means. This side also sees market capitalism as a degenerate cancer on humankind creating an erotic world of material indulgence. Oddly enough, Islamic fundamentalist think that erotic and material indulgence on this world is sinful, but erotic and material indulgence is the reward of heaven in the world to come. You figure it out. Anyway, an example of these strange bedfellows would be Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Interestingly enough, radical Islam is emerging with a strong penchant for socialism. Now that I think about it, maybe there is not that great a difference between the practitioners of world terrorism, and their fellow travelers who gleefully encourage them in their wanton vandalism of civilization.

We are also facing a new paradigm where the enemies of freedom have learned to rape democracy and use it as a means to achieve totalitarian goals. The best example of that is the Palestinian election of Hamas, and the increasing voter appeal of other Islamic fundamentalist groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood and Hezbollah.

Jews and Christians

On the other side you have the conservative Christian evangelicals who are into Jew hugging these days. At the synagogue that I attend we can't keep the Christians out. They come all starry eyed to participate and are awed by the use of Hebrew and ancient prayers. You have to admit that this is kind of disconcerting when the history of Jews and Christians has not been a pretty one for most of our history together. Yet, you really must take this at face value. They want to draw near to Jews, to hear our payers, and are honored to participate in our services. That my friend is powerful. Many Jews, particularly the ultra-religious and the ultra-liberal, are uncomfortable with all of this for very different reasons. The ultra-religious are uncomfortable for theological reasons and a healthy suspicion of anything that Christians do (this was learned through years of persecution and getting kicked out of every Christian nation I can think of). Orthodox Jews have long memories. On the other hand, liberal Jews have no memory. Liberal Jews are very much pained by the conservative views of evangelical Christians and see their advances as embarrassing. Evangelicals are against abortion, support the death penalty, join the National Rifle Association, they tear up when they see the flag, and they like to vote Republican. Liberal Jews cringe at all that, and are embarrassed to be seen with their new found best buddies. They better get over that aversion real quick. The reason is that Evangelical Christians, as opposed to the more liberal protestant denominations, are really and truly among the only real friends Jews (and remember Jews and Israel are synonymous) have. Forget about the political left as well. The political left will, and are, turning on Israel and profess ignorance in the fact that to turn on Israel is to turn on Jews as well. That is the bitter truth.

My Apologies

As a witness to all this I hereby take back every negative thought and comment I have made about evangelical Christians. I hereby apologize for all of it. The past is the past. We must work from this point on with the realities that are before us. The first order of business as we get our bearings in this new reality, which is beyond the petty arguments of conservatism and liberalism, is to understand very clearly who is with us, and who is against us.

2006-07-28T17:17:00.000-05:00

Still Life: Boy Underneath a Tree Reading

A couple of weeks ago I saw something startling on the campus where I teach. It was an adolescent boy sitting under a tree reading a book. Just reading. Not a textbook, not listening to his I-Pod, not using a laptop, not taking notes, but just reading a book for the sheer pleasure of it. It is sad that it is such an unusual sight nowadays even for a college campus. You usually see students outside smoking, talking, using their cell phones, or some combination of the three. If they have a test that day they might franticly be going over their notes or exploring a neglected text book which heretofore has severed no other purpose than a profitable commodity for some publisher or as ballast in a backpack. Think about that, on a college campus it is unusual to see somebody just sitting under a tree reading a book. He wasn't even a student, but I hope one day he will be. It is nice to have students that actually like to read, or even students that will read if pressed.

When I was a young man I spent several weeks in France. Most of that time I was in Paris, and one thing impressed me. The street people in Paris always had paperback books. Say what you want about France, but that impressed me, and I have never heard anyone else mention it. Every single street person I saw had a book, and usually they were even reading it.

My oldest daughter, to my surprise, was deficient in her reading when she finished the third grade. That summer I launched one of my most successful parenting initiatives ever. That summer I took her and my son to the library each week, and they were allowed to check out anything they wanted. I also selected various books for each of them. Everyday they had an hour of sustained silent reading. No television, no stereo or radio, but just reading whatever they liked. The books were stored in milk crates at the end of the hallway. The one thing I asked was that they try to remember to put the books back in the crate so that our cards would not be blocked. The first few days were tough. They complained, they were inattentive, and I spent more time redirecting them than they did reading. But, by the end of the week they were into it. I never told them when the hour was up and before long they were going way over the required time. My daughter today is an English major and an avid reader.

Of all the inventions and gadgets we have produced as a species I doubt if anything has been, or will be, as marvelous as the written word. I also think it will stand the test of time. Audio recordings and video are nice, but there is something very very special about books. After that I think the next best innovation we have come up with is the public lending library.

In my own life I have been profoundly moved, educated, and inspired by books of all kinds. To me reading is one of life's sweetest pleasures, and it opens up the world. I can read about what it is like to live in Casablanca and restore an old house that was once occupied by a caliph (Tahir Shah's outstanding A Year in Casablanca: The Caliph's House). I can read the exquisite science fiction of Arthur C. Clark, the visionary/prophetic science fiction of Isaac Asimov, and sweeping historical novels such as the Raj Quartet. I do not understand people that do not read. They are as mysterious to me as country music.

This summer, many years after my oldest daughter had her successful summer of reading, I have two younger daughters. As a family we have severely curtailed television, and are very near the point of eliminating it altogether. Frankly it was a hard thing to do for all of us. It is so easy to just park kids in front of the television and have their minds turned into mush rather than finding something productive for them to do. Something like playing outside, conversing, writing a letter, or reading. I shudder to think of the time we have all wasted preoccupied with something as totally useless as television, and frankly sports comes in a close second.

I wonder what that boy was reading. I wish now I had asked him, but at the time I did not want to disturb him.

2006-07-27T18:18:00.000-05:00

White Bread Television

Sitting in the shade at the pool I was waiting for my daughter to finish swim class. Sitting on the sidelines a couple of chairs down was another parent talking on her cell phone. She was involved in a detailed conversation about that inane talk show The View.

The focus of the conversation was on the controversy surrounding Barbra Walters, that faux newsperson, along with what various web sites or articles were saying about this riveting issue. In order not to overhear I would have had to have gotten up and moved to another location – I was not trying to eavesdrop. It is amazing how people will have these open conversations in public as if their cell phone emits some kind of privacy screen. Anyway, this was obviously a conversation between experts who were well informed and big fans of the show. It was amazing to me that I was sharing my time on this earth with two adults who actually had nothing else better to do with their time than:

A: Watch The View

B: Read articles and related information about the show.

C: Actually cared about what happened concerning the show, and if Barbra Walters was an asset or liability (seems like they approved of her).

D: Would spend well over a half hour discussing it.

As I write this there are several major crises in the world including the ongoing agony of the train wreck of our involvement in Iraq, and a new crisis between Hezbollah and Israel. Not to mention the possibility of global warming, the Sudan, and dozens of other tragedies playing themselves out throughout the world. Forget about other such issues as homelessness, the debate over minimum wage, and the chronically under funded mental health infrastructure. These fans were not bad people, they are just numb people. Let me explain.

I have noticed that many Americans just don't want to hear it. Any of it. We have already forgotten about 9-11 as if it happened in another era and maybe it did. We are on the fast track with short memories caught up in the moment consumed by consumerism. So we tune it out. We have no efficient filter mechanism and we either hear too much about some issue or too little. It seems like that most people, except cranks and those who show up at city council meetings, opt for hearing less rather than more. Otherwise it is too overwhelming. Yet, what bothers me the most is what people choose to do instead. I call it White Bread Television.

Ever look at the ingredients for store bought manufactured white bread? Probably the only people who really know what is in it are the manufacturers, a handful of nutritionist or food scientist, and the Orthodox Union. It is a bland, unhealthy, staple of the American diet. Just like television. It contains additives, we consume it without thinking, we consume a lot of it, and while there are better alternatives we just keep shoving it down our gullets. White bread numbs the pallet just as television numbs the mind.

There are better alternatives to store bought white bread. There are also better alternatives on television other than The View but somehow we just consume what is in front of us that does not make us think or call for any effort on our part. It is truly amazing that most cable channels are as horrific as network television so that the promise of some kind of redemption for television arising out of cable has just not materialized.

If you have ever made homemade bread, even white bread, you know how good it tastes, but also how much trouble it is to make it. You have to be mindful, you have to plan ahead, and you have to actually do something. Good television is like that. Good television is something that inspires and informs. Yes, good television can even entertain.

My next posting will be about reading.

Bush Lost The Debate

2004-09-30T20:45:00.000-05:00

I am watching the debate between Kerry and Bush. Man. Kerry kicked Bush's ass. Bush's voice is cracking, he is befuddled, and so angry. He becomes lost for words. He reminds me of a bully who somebody is standing up to. If anybody ever doubted the intellectual and character capacity of Bush that should now be over. Bush is weak. I can not believe how he folds and how weak he appears. Sticking his little pouty lip out like some spoilt brat. Our president is truely a horses ass.

I'll Take Sir Fergus Montgomery Any Day

2004-09-21T23:12:00.000-05:00

Today the news reported that two American's were beheaded in Iraq. Today "President" Bush spoke to the United Nations and jutted out his jaw - the tough cowboy sticking to his guns still defying the opinion of the rest of the world. Bush still insists that Iraq and Afghanistan will be shining examples of democracy, but the military is having to go into next year's budget to finance the call up for troops that are going to be required for the elections. Gosh, those Iraq's sure show their gratitude in strange ways (beheading, and car bombs - those guys party scary). All of this and Bush is still leading in the polls.

Bush has had his chance. He was 100% right about Afghanistan although we have not finished the job. I was not sure going into Iraq if it was the right thing to do, but I thought that maybe Bush was right. I support the missile defense initiative, and I mention that to show that I am not 100% a liberal nut. What is wrong with being able to shoot down incoming missiles? Yet, Bush has blown it on Iraq. He has made our nation an outcast, he LIED about why we should be going into Iraq, and he has bungled the rebuilding of Iraq.

Will Kerry be better? I have no idea, but he will not be worse. Bush is a failed president who has LIED to us, and mismanaged our military might. Why are we so stupid about this?

Last night I heard a local newsperson say that 90% of the Iraq people support us. Why in the world did that bonehead say that? Is he some expert on Iraq? Does he have some inside information that nobody else has? How many people believed the stupid thing that said?

Well, Bush is leading in the polls and one thing remains absolutely true. The American people always get the president they deserve.

I met Sir Fergus Montgomery today. He is a member of the Conservative Party in England and a friend of Margaret Thatcher. He was a Conservative MP for many a year. He is living proof that conservatives do not have to be stupid, and that they can have a sense of humor. It is not conservatism that is dangerous, not at all, but a lack of intellectual depth. I'll take Sir Fergus Montgomery any day.

God bless Sir Fergus Montgomery, God bless England, God bless America, and God save us from George Bush. I'm not kidding. Ask yourself this. Is it pleasing in the eyes of God for us to do what we have done Iraq? I really do not think so.

2004-09-16T23:34:00.000-05:00

Ted Koppel - Tell Us It Ain't So!

Is Ted Koppel sleeping with Barbara Walters? Does Barbara Walters have some kind of dirt on Ted Koppel?

I like Ted Koppel but I'm worried. No, I'm scared - please hold me. Ted (notice I'm writing like he and I know each other when in actuality we have never met) is one of the last true news reporters on network TV. Oh, he has his little flaws like that hair piece (Ted, we know it is a hair piece so be a man and go bare headed we don't gave damn) but you can overlook that. True confession: I experimented with Grecian Formula this year so who am I to throw stones. Yet, he has been a real news person when everybody else is doing crap. He is no Jim Lehrer but who is?

Tonight he actually did a special on Barbara Walters. Do you realize tonight that we actually had a one hour news special about nothing more than another blindly ambitious half-talented news person? Is that metanews? I do not think I have to say anything more than that.

Why is it that people like Ted Koppel and Barbara Walters are so vain that they think we actually want to hear drivel about them? I am so tired of people who think they are "stars" being so full of themselves that they actually interview each other.

Important things are going on. No wonder the American public is profoundly stupid. You are what you eat and the networks are feeding us shit.

Cheny A Coward? No, Just A Hypocrite

2004-09-16T23:24:00.000-05:00

Okay. Let's see if we can straighten this out. Sen Harkin called Cheney a coward! Now, where I come from those are fighting words, and Tom Harkin hadn't ought of called our vice president a coward unless there is evidence to back it up. In the public interest I have decided to set down and attempt to sort of cypher out this mystery. The following is the result of my exhaustive examination of the evidence at hand:

Part 1
Kerry - volunteered for Vietnam and actually experienced combat.
Bush - "served proudly" in the Air National Guard but never attempted to actually prove his mettle in combat (unlike his father who DID put his life on the line).
Cheney - received five deferments and never served in the military.

Part 2
Kerry - after firsthand experience, actually in Vietnam, decided that he was against the war.
Bush - kept his mouth shut and partied his ass off.
Cheney - kept going to school and NEVER served in the military.

Part 3
Kerry - least Hawkish
Bush - moderately Hawkish
Cheney - extremely Hawkish

Discussion:

If anybody has evidence of Cheney actually showing physical courage such as rescuing someone at the peril of his own life, standing up to a bully, or any other act that would demonstrate real courage please let me know. "Standing up to the democrats" or "those commie bastards" is only rhetorical so we can not count that kind of nonsense. Until then, I will have to stick with my conviction that if I was going into a real fight Kerry would be the one who I would want on my side. Oh, he would probably whine about it latter but at least he would be there for you. Bush and Cheney have not been proven in any kind of real trial by fire. But, is Cheney a coward? No, he is just a hypocrite.

Conclusions:

A. At least with these three men their tendency to be war mongers is inversely related to their actual military experience.
B. Republicans send democrats into combat to actually do the fighting .
B. Sen. Tom Harkin was incorrect to call Cheney a coward. He is just a belligerent, bullying, pathetic hypocrite.

Don't even tell me that Bush or Cheney have shown their courage in the fight against terrorism. Please. It is easy to act big with the Secret Service guarding you, and the whole United States military at your beck and call.

You know what I would pay good money to see? Let Cheney prove he is a big man. Put him and Saddam Hussein in their underwear and let them wrestle in pay-per-view. Just image what kind of world audiance that would have. Every Arab, and every red blooded American would be glued to their seats. I know I would. Who do you think would win?

2004-09-10T03:05:00.000-05:00

Culture of Fear
Part 1: Christianity

This country, the United States, is controlled by fear. Stephen King is one of our best selling writers and the underlying theme of his books is fear. We tote guns out of fear. Americans demand the "right" to keep guns in their homes to shoot criminals that just might happen by, and those same criminals often carry guns because they are afraid of being shot by homeowners who keep guns because of criminals. What is interesting about that situation is that more children, the very ones we are trying to protect from the criminals who might have guns, are killed by those guns we use for their very protection than are actual criminals! Everybody is armed. It is some kind of pistol packing mutually assured destruction - just like MAD from the cold war days. More on guns at a future date.

Then there is Christianity. But, not just any kind of Christianity because Christianity as a whole is really a pretty good religion. I admire it a lot. Who on earth could argue with the Golden Rule or the Sermon on the Mount! Unfortunately here in the U. S. we have a special kind of Christianity that scares the bejesus out of the rest of the world that sees us as a nation populated by trained marksman (remember we have to have guns at home to protect our children from the possibility of criminals who are armed because we are ... anyway), and we have a born again president in the form of a rather dull witted George Bush Jr, who is not shy about bitch slapping whatever country gets in our way. You see, George had kind of a substance abuse problem awhile back. Instead of AA he went to Jesus because he was afraid of his own out of control behavior (Jesus is a whole lot easier than AA which requires reading and regular ongoing attendance at meetings). He was also motivated by fear of going to hell. You see, George Bush is an Evangelical Christian. Let us take a look at Evangelical Christianity.

Evangelical Christianity is the dominant religious bent, besides indifference, in the United States and it has a peculiarity about it that is not characteristic of Christianity in the rest of the world. Our homegrown flavor of evangelical Christianity is full of apocalypse, hell, and visions of doom unless you accept Jesus as your Saviour. We are all going to hell because we can not meet God's standards. Think about this sequence:

1. You are a sinner and deserve to go to hell for breaking the rules even if you were never told what the rules actually are.
2. Even if you tried like heck to be good and made up all kinds of rules (like Jews and Muslims) to govern your behavior it is a vain attempt to please G-d because we can never be good enough. And my kids think I am hard to please.
2. People go to hell for eternity. So, there is NO end to their punishment no matter how short their life was on earth.
3. G-d came down here to earth in the form of Jesus who was really G-d (evidently there are three versions of G-d but there is really one - you figure it out but this drives Muslims to distraction as they trip over the logic while Jews just try to ignore the shennanegans of those wacky goyim who have always been so well armed, and Buddhist just smile politely as they walk quickly away).
4. Jesus died and Mel Gibson made a documentary of G-d's death. There is something fundamental to our nature in that scary film.
5. Jesus died so you do not have to go to hell but there is a catch.
6. The fine print, the catch, is that you have to believe and accept that Jesus died for you. If you do not accept it then the whole deal is null and void and you go straight to hell because you are a sinner no matter what you do or do not do.

That is kind of how it works. Now, what is the net effect of this form of Christianity? What effect does it have when the emphasis is on avoiding hell rather than being a decent neighbor, an honest person, and a competant person? Pardon the sexist language but it is kind of an "every man for themself" type of thing. You gotta grab onto Jesus first and hold tight before anything else.

The first effect is that this creates the illusion of their being only ONE path to heaven and you are either on that path or not. Buddhist, Jews, Muslim, Hindus, and folks too confused or hungry to declare an official religion are all going to hell. You are either with us or against us. Now, you tell me. How far does this type of thinking go into creating a tolerant, diverse world? I think not very far. Maybe that is why we are so dogmatic about everything else. America is the best, democracy is the best, our way is the best (no matter what others say or what kind of logic you may try to trick us with). Everybody else is going to hell anyway so how could they possibly offer us anything culturally, politically, or especially on a spiritual level. Oh, they may have oil, gold, aluminum, uranium, or some other natural resource that we need. They may have lots of cheap labor, poor souls going to hell anyway, that we can exploit, but we really must not take them seriously as people. We are willing to do business with them but we can not leave it at that because fundamentally we are missionairies spreading the gospel of Jesus and market capitalism (market capitalism is sort of tangled up in all of the relegious stuff in a way that is hard to sort through). We are obligated to correct their misguided behavior, and particularly their misguided beliefs.

Don't believe me? Why is the rest of the world so pissed off at us? It is not because we bought their oil or whatever they had to sell. Nobody had an argument with that. It was because we could not stay out of their business, we were arrogant, and we tried to tell everybody else what to do. Not only that, we had the will, resources, and skill (remember we are a nation of excellent marksman) to try to make others into our own image. In other words, the proselytizing we learned in church, saving sinners from hell, carried over into our diplomacy, foreign trade, and world view.

2002-04-11T23:38:00.000-05:00

blogger.com

2002-04-10T23:28:00.000-05:00

INTERNET & Digital FREEDOM UNDER SIEGE

First of all I want to give my sincere thanks to the Berkman
Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School. Their
latest newsletter, The Filter (issue No. 50) is the source
for all of the factual information listed here. The opinions
are my own.

The biggest threat to the internet and the open distribution of
information is the entertainment industry.

Now down to business. Boycott Sony and ANY other company that
sells music CDs that will not play on your computer. A recent
release of a Celine Dion CD sold in Europe is copy protected and
will not play on a PC. In addition, it will cause your system to
crash and lock up. If we put up with this they will only become
more mean-spirited and controlling. This is a TEST to how far
consumers can be pushed.

Anything digital can eventually be copied. The entertainment
industry has lost the battle unless they can persuade government
to institute the most Draconian methods possible. Digital means
a whole new paradigm where newer, and more creative, models are
required. Instead of looking at newer business models the enter-
tainment industry is seeking to mold the information revolution
into a contorted shape that will only serve their purposes.

Michael Eisner of Disney is also waging a high profile battle for
restrictive copy protection advocating for such technology to be
manufactured into computers and software.

Where is all of this headed? The internet and the information
technology revolution is in danger of being yanked out of the
hands of the people, and turned into nothing more than a revenue stream.

I am calling for a world-wide boycott of companies that are
selling CDs that can not be played on a computer (without the use
of proprietary software available from the producer or some
other ruse), and that disable our ability to make copies of
the music we buy.

2002-03-05T19:56:00.000-06:00

Why We Have Not Found Bin Ladin

It's hard. Consider this. I looked at the FBI's
ten most wanted but from the information provided
could not find how long the individuals have been
on the loose even though I am sure that most of
them have been on the lam for years. I looked at the
U. S. Marshall's 15 most wanted and found the following
information about some less notorious desperados who
have eluded law enforcement:

*Vincent L. Walters since 1989
*Larry P. Chism since 1988
(even though he escaped in 1978)
*Reginald D. Boxley since 1998

These were the FIRST three people that I looked at!
In less than five minutes on the Internet I found three
people who have eluded capture for years. Some for
over ten years! Even in the United States where we
have sophisticated communication, law enforcement, and
overall national infrastructure we have a hard time
finding people who do not want to be found. Especially
those who are clever, determined, and resourceful.

Supposidly in Afghanistan we have something less than 10,000
personnel (including military and spooks), and Afghanistan
is certainly a nation wannabe - most certainly a work in
progress where the future is unfortunately still in doubt.
Here in America their are neighborhoods where the police
seldom venture, and even small pockets of relative lawless-
ness. In Afghanistan you find small pockets of relative
lawfullness.

I'm certainly no law enforcement expert but I imagine that
most criminals who make a run for it are caught for three
basic reasons. They are stupid, do not change their old
ways, and eventually their luck runs out. Those that do
make it on the run are a bit smarter (certainly more
cunning), make a concerted effort to change their ways,
and make their own luck. I suppose that many also have
resources such as cash or associates that can be trusted.

We have not found Bin Laden because he has friends, resources,
and he is clever. In addition, despite all of our technology
the world can still be a very big place to hide. It is nothing
new for outlaws to evade detection, and some do it forever. If
we do find him it will be because we got lucky (even though we
will be able to make the odds a bit more in or favor), because
he is betrayed by someone close to him, or because he makes a
mistake. Of course we have to keep looking but it is more
important for us to address the injustices, and despair, that
fuel terrorism.

If we have a hard time finding people right here in the United
States, on our homefield, it is little wonder that a determined
fanatic such as Osoma can remain on the prowl.

2002-02-14T01:20:00.000-06:00

blog2

The Gentrification of the Internet

There have always been barriers to Internet access for low income persons. However, hardware prices have gone down, and perfectly serviceable second-hand computers became available as users upgraded their systems. One of my old computers went to my sister before it finally ended up at my parents (where it is still working), and I am sure this is now a rather common pattern. At one point it even looked as if free Internet service might become available, and even Microsoft was looking at the possibility of drastically slashing their prices or offering free dial-up access. During that time the Internet was an open, anarchistic, and largely democratic
community, and it was becoming accessible to persons with even relatively modest means. That Internet was designed to share, and facilitate, the transfer of information. In that Internet what was available to one person was largely available to another. That era, which many of us thought would last forever, has passed, because not all Internet access is created equal. Another development is that the Internet is starting to become stratified.

Now we are starting to see a trend where the singular "Internet" is being replaced by a stratified system. Citing security concerns the U. S. government will almost assuredly carry through with plans to create a separate self-contained web for itself sealed off from the outside world. That means that our government is basically going to opt out of the web as we know it and create their own system. The availability of DSLand Cable hookups for Internet access has begun the process of gentrifying the Internet. Now, instead of having to fiddle with a relatively slow dial-up connection those who can afford it can opt for faster, and more convenient,always on connection. Although I am not sure that the faster connections are worth the money (I can do everything I want on my home network which connects to the web with an old fashioned dial-up line running through a Linux box) it is an increasingly popular trend which supports using the Internet as a metered conveyance of entertainment (just like cable television and pay-per-view). The dream for business, I think it will eventually be the reality, is that people will access premium services for a price. Those premium services will be movies, music, and games that can be downloaded or streamed to the user for a fee. Without the increased bandwidth of DSL and cable connections such enterprises would not be very practical. Also, I suspect that premium information web "channels" will also develop that will only be available to subscribers. It is the cable tv model applied to the Internet. The end result will be something like that which happened to the last Super Bowl.

Nobody is talking about it but our society went through a major transition with the last Super Bowl. The Super Bowl, which has long been a fixture of popular culture, was suddenly unavailable for those who could not payfor it. The year before anyone with an old black and white television could watch the Super Bowl on network television. This year the Super Bowl was largely available only to those who had access to cable television. I am not a big football fan but it was a little weird to spend Super Bowl Sunday without the game on because we do not have cable television.

Another development is wireless. Although far from being fully developed wireless computing, including access to the Internet and email, is already starting to mutate into something that will eventually take on its own identity. It is also pretty expensive for the average person. The Internet is changing. Just as television showed much promise in the early days as a tool for doing much good for society (particularly in terms of helping educate and inform us) the Internet is in great danger of becoming nothing more than a commercial venue for making money rather than for doing good. Pardon my strong language, but the Internet is being reshaped into a whore, business is the pimp, and the government is being paid off to look the other way. As this trend continues the Internet will continue to become more stratified, and the gentrificationwill continue. There will still be some kind of low quality service for the have-nots but you will not be able to watch the Super Bowl on it. If you like infomercials you will absolutely love the new Internet coming your way.

Mike Perkins

2002-02-11T01:58:00.000-06:00

Now instead of studying religion we embrace a nebulous concept called "spirituality." For the life of me I have never been able to figure out exactly what spirituality is. I think that is the point. It is vague enough to cover anything, avoids specific reference to G-d, and is highly customizable. It is the ultimate in political correctness. Today, unless you are a priest or a Muslim, it is somewhat impolite to show your colors by wearing religious garb. Orthodox Jews, and others who wear particular clothing with a religious meaning, are rarely seen outside the confines of large urban areas. Even then they are dismissed as kooks or quaint curiosities. I kind of admire Muslims for the fact that even after September 11th the are not too shy to signify who they are by what they wear. My daughter attended a Catholic elementary school (that my friends is a LONG story), and despite the fact that she scored 25 on the ACT in 7th grade she is almost completely ignorant about the Bible. She is also somewhat puzzled as to what Catholicism is all about even though she had a religion class.
Religion has become associated with every vile, and corrupt thing that has ever transpired. We look at the excesses of the Catholic Church and dismiss it's legitimacy. We experience the radical extremism in the Muslim world and suspect fundamental flaws in their faith. Of course we blame Jews for just about everything (I would really like to compile a list of all the things Jews have ever been blamed for and post it here). It is like blaming radioactivity for Hiroshima.
I think the thing that did religion in was "us" versus "them." Us is right, and those fellows over there are heretics, unbelievers, goy, or infidels. Since the others are unbelievers they must either be converted or killed. At the very least we should walk on the other side of the street from them. Although we might not care who is elected for office, we will become hysterically argumentative about how many angels can dance on the point of a needle. Too often we have substituted zealousness for faith. G-d save us from the fanatics of all faiths.
By their fruit you shall know them. That is one of the wisest sayings I have ever heard. Although a tree may bear some bad fruit, or even have a bad year, over time a good tree will be true to its nature and bear a preponderance of quality fruit over bad. One final thing. It has become a truism that we should avoid all talk of religion. Maybe the opposite is true, and what we really need is to learn how to talk about it.

2002-02-10T19:18:00.000-06:00

This is my first posting. stay turned.