In answer to Sam Harris

Sam Harris, in a recent article, makes the moral case for torture:

In defense of torture

I tried to post a comment but the site was full up so I shall leave my answer here. It is an issue that is terribly interesting and important enough that everyone ought to weigh in, don't you think?

Sam,

Since sadism often masquerades as piety it seems wise to be defensive about the notion of pious torturers (like the Inquisitors you mention).

The underlying assumption in the "ticking time bomb" scenario is that torture is the most effective way to extract the information. If that is a false assumption, then it would be doubly immoral to use it, particularly in the TTB scenario. If that is a true assumption, then it seems that torture is morally correct in theory.

Since the bedrock of morality is to treat others as you wish to be treated, the circumstances under which you would choose torture over a bomb for yourself should be investigated.

If approached from this direction, what father, what husband, what mother, what wife could resist the appeal of torture for themselves alone to the pain of losing their whole family to a bomb?

To save loved ones, then, seems again like a scenario under which it is forgivable to torture.


buT, bUT, BUT...

I am uncertain that defending torture in theory defends it in the outside world. Out here you do wind up with Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay which, as you say, are "a travesty" that "has done our country lasting harm". I suspect more harm than good.

In our "eye for an eye" world, the use of torture on others is an invitation to receive it on ourselves, and who can say if we have paid in full for these travesties.

Torture seems to be a technique to cause the sick to suffer, but not without poisoning the well. Perhaps if it were practiced by no one but Philosophers society could escape it's immoral application.

Hanging Rope

Economist Thomas Palley has a website and blog which I have recently discovered and have since enjoyed reading.

He is not a big fan of U.S. trade policy with China, and regularly lambastes it.

In this article, "The profit vs country dilemma" he pits patriotism against capitalism, broad national interest against narrow economic interest.

I hope you enjoy his articles as much as I do.

Quick hit

If the U.S. military did maintain casualty figures in Iraq, one benefit would be the ability to compare the number of Muslims killed by Muslims to those killed by U.S. forces.

I suspect, given the seemingly daily occurrence of this type of thing, the Muslims are well in the lead.

Would that cast our forces in a good light, or, do we get the blame because we are the "great Satan" no matter what?

Rainfall for the unrighteous

When Hamas took over the Gaza strip recently it established a militant Islamist terrorist organization on the border of a US ally and democracy.

This would be akin to Al Qaeda throwing out the government of Quebec. Wouldn't we be fools to expect anything but Trouble in that case?

It looks to me like our threats towards Iran, particularly those of John McCain, have emboldened the terrorists.

If our actions weaken our allies and strengthen our enemies can they be considered wise?

A consequence of Hamas' victory, at least in the short term, is attacks on Christians inside Gaza.

Jesus, we know, would turn the other cheek (Mathew 5:39) and perhaps offer Hamas a sandwich. I expect the response from president Bush will diverge slightly from that track.

I am left to wonder what tune the neocons will sing next.

IRV

One thing I would like to see when democrats pick a presidential candidate is the use of Instant Runoff Voting.

This is a voting technique that works better to represent the will of the electorate than our current techniques. Also, experience in San Francisco indicates that when candidates must appeal to the broadest number of voters they become less polarizing:

Details here

Since IRV is scientifically proven to choose the candidate with the most appeal among primary voters, then why wouldn't democratic advisors rush to embrace it?

Another virtue of IRV is that you can vote your conscience without worrying about casting your vote for a spoiler. A vote for Nader, in other words, does not become a vote for Bush. A vote for Ross Perot, to cite another example, does not become a vote for Bill Clinton.

Can anyone think of a reason not to use IRV in the primary process?

Musical practice

Sit down at a piano, place your right hand on a high D octave, then hammer it about every second.

You will find the noise familiar, although I cannot promise that familiarity will breed enjoyment.

This is the noise that heavy machinery makes when it backs up (PDF).

As far as I can tell all heavy equipment does this and it does so using the same sanity besieging tone.

There is a construction crew in my vicinity and it is interesting to me that the noise of pavement being peeled away cannot compete with this tonE, toNE, tONE, TONE!

Why D/D-minor, a key used to dramatic effect in horror movies (i.e. Phantom of the Opera - Bach's toccata and fugue in D-minor)?

Why not the sound of birds chirping, or that sedate squeak cars make to confirm it has been locked? Why not a sassy temptress of a voice telling us equipment is in reverse?

Why so loud that I can hear it far away?

Doesn't a thing that loud overpower the shouts likely to emanate from anyone in the danger zone?

Doesn't a thing that loud require site workers to wear ear-plugs?

Do site workers wearing ear-plugs necessitate louder warning beeps?

Are we in the midst of a cacophony cold-war?

Perhaps we need a war on backing up?

Surging Hamas

President Bush doesn't talk much about Israel these days, does he?

Here's why.

Remember the roadmap to peace?

Remember the two-state solution?

So much for them!

Maybe president Bush plans to pass this problem off to his successor as well as the war in Iraq?

Underlying assumptions

Whenever a person argues that we need to stay in Iraq the person usually harbors an underlying assumption, which is, our staying will make things better.

I see no evidence to back that claim, nor have I been able to extract any from people with this faith.

Where does it come from, this belief that our presence in Iraq is a good thing that is good for Iraq and good for America? How is it people believe that if we and Iraqis are patient enough through all the killing, and committed enough through all the chaos, that all will work out for the best in the end?

Why doesn't news, like this story coming out of Iraq, ever crack the battlements of this false assumption?

What does it take to expose these fantastic, fanatical, fatal illusions for what they are to them that cling to 'em?

It doesn't seem to be logic, for there was plenty of that pre-invasion which predicted the problems we face now.

It doesn't seem to be facts on the ground, those are dismissed as so many dead US soldiers.

Once you see that our occupation is the problem it is maddening to watch the US continue to pursue it.

Are people really unable to draw such an obvious conclusion from such a complete body of evidence, or are they lying?

How do people like Joe Lieberman muster the arrogance through it all?

Anger and fear seem to be what whip irrational behavior into a full gallop.

Where are the reins on these apocalyptic pachyderms?

Summer reading

George Bush de la Mancha, unrivaled in wit, unequaled in courtesy, supreme in gentleness of bearing, a model of friendship, generous without stint, grave without conceit, merry without being vulgar - in short, first in all that is good came upon a field of oilwells one day...

His squire, the loyal Sancho Powell, riding beside him on an ass, tried to dissuade his master from rushing into battle with so metallic a foe.

But the code of honor (or idealism) of the knights-errant insisted an unalterable course, and the brave good night took up his lance and charged...

Amen, brother Robinson

I like to say around the Ugly Moe homeland that the next president of the United States should be smarter than me. That is viewed, particularly by my closest friends and family, as setting the bar very low and I have been accused of perpetuating low expectations.

Eugene Robinson just wrote a column for the Washington Post in which he says, "One thing that should be clear, to anyone who’s been paying attention these last few years, is that we need to go out and get ourselves the smartest president we can find."

Here is a link to his article

I can't help but wonder what might have been if the last presidential ballot were worded this way:

If you wanted to cheat on a test, would you be more likely to look over George W. Bush's shoulder, or John F. Kerry's, for the answer?

Everyone likes an idiot until they need answers.

DEBKAfile: Turkey invades N. Iraq

According to DEBKAfile, Turkey has just invaded northern Iraq.

Is that good?


Northern Iraq is the only somewhat stable area of Iraq and the Kurds are the only population in Iraq that seem committed to a democracy, so it stands to reason that the Bush administration would allow this to happen with very little objection.

I can't wait to go to the gas-pumps now.

Digging for wisdom in the Middle East

Unwise actions are actions that have consequences which do not achieve desired results, whereas wise actions achieve desired results. In order to judge whether or not the actions of the Bush administration have been wise or unwise in Iraq, we must therefore examine the consequences of those actions.

According to the US state department's latest annual report on global terrorism,

"Iraq's sectarian warfare fueled a sharp increase in global terrorism in 2006", and terrorist attacks are "up more than 25%".

Source

If, then, increasing the number of terrorist attacks worldwide by 25% is desirable, then the president's actions are wise.


According to the Princeton Study on National Security, in a document entitled "Documenting the Phenomenon of Anti-Americanism" by Nicole Spedula one reads,

"Younger people express more antipathy for America than their older cohorts in most of the West. For example, in 2002 38% in France under age 30 had an unfavorable opinion of the U.S. and by 2005 64% view America negatively. In Britain, America’s closest ally in the war on terrorism, animosity among the young has double in the last three years—from one-in-six in 2002 to one-in-three in 2005. A similar rise in the dislike of America is seen in Germany and it is even more pronounced in Spain; fully 62% of Spaniards under age 30 have a negative view of the U.S. while just 39% of their elders say so."

Source

If, then, increasing anti-American sentiment among our allies youth is desirable, then we can consider the president's actions wise.

It is all too easy to go on in this manner, talking about the price of fuel in America today, or rising hostilities with Russia, Iran, China, Venezuela, and North Korea or our increasingly isolated positions on everything from global warming to acceptance of the rule of law.

Here is an alternative viewpoint that strikes me as wise, but it is difficult to say since I don't think it has ever been tried:

If the origins of terrorism are to be found in poverty and debt, it is not to be wondered at that military action is no solution but only serves to exacerbate the evil. It would be better, and far less costly, to cancel the debt and relieve the poverty.

Source: Michael Barratt Brown

My principal reason for rejecting a US military intervention in Iran is that you go to war with the leadership you have, which at present is unwise. Colloquially expressed, it is the "stop digging" argument (i.e. when you find yourself in a hole the first thing you need to do is stop digging).

Attention!

Here is a story that deserves all of the attention it can get, I think, so take a look already:

JFK terror plot

Good work kos. Every candidate for president should consider themselves forearmed.

Proof the Yankees suck.

If mean people suck,
and these Yankees are mean,
then it stands to reason,
based upon the transitive property of equality,
that Yankees suck doesn't it?

Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, Iran?

Isn't executing an "end run" around the duly elected leader of a democracy treason?

Cheney's end-run


The vice president may be a lot of things, but I can't picture him as a traitor or in any way disloyal to the Bush family.

He would have to be both, wouldn't he, if this report were true?

Urgent Juxtaposition

From the past...

The Reichstag Fire Decree issued by German president Paul von Hindenburg in direct response to the Reichstag fire of February 27, 1933 ... nullified many of the key civil liberties of German citizens. With Nazis in powerful positions of the German government, the decree was used as the legal basis of imprisonment of anyone considered to be opponents of the Nazis, and was used to suppress publications not considered "friendly" to the Nazi cause. The decree is considered by historians to be one of the key steps in the establishment of a one-party Nazi state in Germany.

Source: Wikipedia

From the present...

The National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive, signed on May 9, 2007, would place all governmental power in the hands of the President and effectively abolish the checks and balances in the Constitution.

If a "catastrophic emergency" -- which could include a terrorist attack or a natural disaster -- occurs, Bush's new directive says: "The President shall lead the activities of the Federal Government for ensuring constitutional government."

Source: AlterNet

The future?

We will go where we are headed unless we abandon the present course.

I cannot think of a bigger "catastrophic emergency" than ceding even more constitutional power to herr Bush. I doubt, for instance, the Americans that were left behind after Katrina would look favorably on that remedy.

No responsible person would ever let an insane person or child play with loaded guns Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Reid. In this case, legislators, you have a convergence.

The cards are on the table.

Saving Family Farms

Republicans know the power of myth and normally place the cart of details in front of the horse of facts by building the myth first and trying to validate it second. They have found that this saves considerable time.

They have identified a powerful new myth, that of the family farm forced to go under by a brutal tax on their inherited wealth.

So, donning monkey bodies and bat wings, minions of Karl Rove fly out the windows of his dark keep scouring the heartland of America for a single instance of this myth. So far, they are all cart and no horse, but flying monkey hirelings work cheap and the will of the dark one is strong. The dark one is untroubled because he knows that by using his dark powers and his dark will he can conjure up facts that cast a spell on the electorate, but only for a short while because Truth the good witch watches over the munchkins.

Meanwhile the lollipop league chips in with facts and findings and reports, which do nothing to undermine the myth, but rather draw attention to it since the munchkins in munchkinland distrust "book smarts".

Oh, but how they love to sing and dance!

So...



Republicans searched high,
and they searched low,
lookin' for a farmer that had to go;
Cause the millions his dad left him somehow,
Weren't enough to buy seed nor' plow.

Democrats did hem and
Democrats did haw and
Watched the proceedings with an old slack jaw,
Till a singer barged in with his own refrain
Sayin', "Boys get aboard my Conga train".

Refrain:

You save family farms with healthcare
You save family farms with healthcare
You save family farms with healthcare
Keep the idle-rich tax!

You save family farms with healthcare
You save family farms with healthcare
You save family farms with healthcare
Keep the Wal-Mart heir tax!


A good myth does not engage the intellect which is why it is no use to combat it with scientific observation. Luckily, co-opting the myth always worked like a bucket of water on a witch for Bill Clinton.

Deterministic Disquiet

Determinism seems to be the belief that all human traits are biological and all human actions nothing more than mechanical responses to stimuli.

Mark Twain wrote about determinism in a short story called, "What is Man?"

I find something lacking in this idea but it is very difficult to express. When Lilly Tomlin said, "Accountants know the cost of everything but the value of nothing," she came close to expressing the flavor of my opposition to determinism.

I know it is childish to refuse to believe something because I find it objectionable, so that places me in a state of disharmony.

I accept that environment contributes greatly to a person's character. Those raised in Tibetan monasteries will turn out differently than those raised in jihadist enclaves. Those taught that it is wrong to kill and steal will turn out differently than those taught that it is the key to unlock a heavenly harem.

I accept that hereditary makeup contributes greatly to your opportunities and limitations. Those born severely disabled will not achieve athletic renown. Those born mentally disabled will not achieve cognitive renown.

Since training seems to influence behavior, bringing out valor in soldiers and inflaming cruelty in the practitioners of fundamentalist religions, then it seems possible to assert that your ethical makeup can be influenced. Since a man will act as he believes, then it seems possible to assert that your actions can be molded.

But how are emotions explained?

If I am stirred by a work of art while another is not, or I am awed by a landscape which another finds uninteresting is that wholly a matter of training and exposure? Is hope a wholly biological response?

What makes determinism so hard to address is that it makes the argument I am who I am because I had the biological and environmental experiences that I have had. That if I had had other traits or trips I would be different.

I can not escape my nature or trade my skin for another to test these claims can I?

And if I could would not the claims of determinism follow me still?

I cannot exist outside of my own experiences and neither can anyone else.

Therefore it seems determinism is a vexing opinion, but not a theory which can satisfy the falsifiability principle.

My desire to be more virtuous motivates a lot of my thoughts at present, and I find determinism an interesting way to think about the world and I hope that reflection upon its premises will train me to be more forgiving of other people's faults (I am sufficiently gracious with regard to mine own faults).

Why do we seem to instinctively distrust and dislike anyone that is seen as too calculating and insincere.

If determinism is true then there is no such thing as sincere or insincere since we are not capable of behaving in any way other than that which we have, do, or will behave.

In other words we could say that Hillary Clinton and Newt Gingrich are non-sincere people. We could say that a suicide bomber is non-sincere or a child that brings a flower for his mother is non-sincere.

Something tells me that this is false yet I cannot convince even myself that it is such.

There seems to me to be more to a person than a lamp-post. We experience we evaluate we feel. We disappoint ourselves and sometimes we redeem ourselves. We fall in love and hurt ourselves, and then we fall in love again. We are attracted by beauty. We desire to be happy and to avoid suffering.

Don't we?

Aren't there more to emotions than meets the I?

216 and 38

216 and 38 are important numbers, reflecting as they do the level of democratic House and Senate hypocrisy on the issue of Iraq (respectively).

In this excellent post David Sirota discusses what weakness looks like to the American people:

Let us count the ways...

In the last election cycle Americans looked at Iraq and viewed the election of Republican candidates as an obstacle to a solution to that problem. They then removed Republicans from office in race after race after race.

With the curtain drawn aside and the rug pulled out to boot what happens next?

Will Republican blowback turn into incumbent blowback?

Disease and class

Doctors like Paul Farmer have been saying for years that a selfish reason to see to it that the poor have access to a decent standard of living and medical care is that disease does not respect class boundaries.

This epidemic in Chicago seems to show the arguments' validity:

MRSA on the march

Here is a disease that got it's start, or found an ideal launching pad, in an over-crowded prison.

Because we didn't care about the prisoners conditions, the disease spread among the prisoners.

Because 350 prisoners a day are released to poor neighborhoods, the disease found a new launching pad among the Chicago poor.

Because we didn't care about the living conditions of the poor, the disease spread among the poor.

Because the poor intermingle with the rich, at least as far as cleaning their homes, doing their laundry and other "remedial" tasks are concerned, the disease will likely spread among the rich.

Will anyone care then?

This is just another good argument in favor of universal health care, but one that even the most selfish, heard-hearted, individual can agree with if possessed with a sense of self-preservation.

I am reminded of the adage, "Whatsoever you do to the least of your brothers, that you do unto you."

I fear we are living in an age of consequences.

ADDENDUM: Michael Moore has a new movie out called Sicko which highlights the inefficiencies of our current health care system. You can see his first live interview in 2.5 years below:

Sicko out soon

Cosmoes

This morning I was walking through a park/cemetery near my home. Early cemeteries were often made for both the living and the dead and my walk was enjoyable.

As I was walking I looked up at an impressive maple tree in the morning light. It's leaves were bright (spring) green and as I was gazing at it my mind wandered...

When light strikes an object, such as a leaf, what we see is the light which was not absorbed by the object. In the case of our friend the leaf, this means red and blue wavelengths are absorbed by the leaf and green is reflected to my eyes.

That is simple enough and I've known that for a long time, but this morning it struck me that if there was any color this leaf existed as in reality, it most definitely is not green. In actuality it should be a shade of magenta (a color defined by it's absence of green).

If you want a better sense of what I am talking about, think of a photographic negative.

I am still curious about what happens when light is absorbed by an object, and why reflection of a particular wavelength happens at all. It seems like it could be similar to the way two magnets can be made to attract or repel each other depending upon their polarity alignment.

However, back to my wandering...

There are some colors of particular interest. Black is black because it absorbs all wavelengths of light. White is white because it reflects all wavelengths of light.

In other words, black is white and white is no color at all.

Poetically it seems fitting that the whitehouse is a place where light does not enter.

But, stars would be pin-points of blackness in an otherwise bright white sky.

Black holes are white holes.

Black people are white and white people are black.

Nothing is as it appears and I've been looking at the world all wrong.

This little light of mine seems to be emitting darkness.

Spooky thoughts for a cemetery stroll.

Re: Yesterday's post

Yesterday it seemed clear to me that the democratic calculus regarding the betrayal of their mandate to end the war in Iraq was a clarion call to ridicule.

Americans across the nation have been obliging this call, and none louder or better than MSNBC's Keith Olbermann:

You call that leadership?

What are Americans to think of our state of affairs when those we worked hard for and had such hope for betrayed that work and that vision in less than one year and after a single test of their will?

What are our troops to think of our state of affairs when they give and give and give and Washingtonians vacillate and vacillate and vacillate in the face of back door drafts, secondary surges, and rapidly expanding chaos in Iraq?

When lives and blood are on the line it is doubly immoral to knowingly pursue what is clearly the wrong course. This applies to republican and democratic legislators alike. Each delay of one day means 3 more American GIs killed (on average), and an uncounted number of Iraqis killed.

I, like Keith, cannot imagine these elected representatives will be warmly received in their home districts over Memorial Day weekend. I hope San Francisco in particular spares no tar or feathers for Ms. Pelosi.

Motives

Currently the democratic party is having a fight. Unlike fights in hockey where the outcome is usually a minor injury to a single person, this fight has grave consequences for our soldiers currently in Iraq or in transition to Iraq.

On one side of this fight are the democratic legislators that think fighting means asking, "How high?" when the president says, "Jump!".

On the other side of this fight are the democratic legislators that wish to check the president's power and begin ending this war in Iraq sooner rather than later.

Conventional wisdom says the American people strongly support the second group of legislators because they are sick and tired of being mired in a Nixonian quagmire and being led by a "meatball mind".

Senator Russ Feingold falls squarely in the second camp and is trying to challenge the first camp to "cowboy up" as people of western persuasion like to say:

Russ's statment

I, myself, fall in the second camp. I believe that republican legislators want to game the war and postpone it enough, say to the fall of 2008, to make the reality of our failure there apparent only after the next election cycle.

I know that sounds cynical of me, but it's not like the very same thing hasn't been done before (specifically on the advice of Henry Kissenger to Richard Millhouse Nixon).

Here is an excerpt from Robert Dallek's new book, Nixon and Kissinger: Partner's in Power:

"Nixon wanted to plan the removal of all US troops by the end of 1971, but Henry cautioned that if North Vietnam then destabilized Saigon in 1972, it could have an adverse effect on the president's re-election. He recommended a pullout in the fall of 1972, "so that if any bad results follow they will be too late to affect the election." He had nothing to say about the American lives that would be lost in the service of Nixon's reelection."

Christopher Hitchens, that prince of politeness, that man of reserved manner, has this to say about Robert's new book:

Partners in
Crime

ADDENDUM: While Group 1 democratic legislators are busily trying to frame their timidity as a courageous moral victory, a Google news search of the words "democrats cave timetable" seems to provide an insurmountable counter-argument to that theme. Another blow to that marketing campaign would be to mention that the whitehouse is characterizing this new democratic approach as a "victory" that gives them "what we've wanted all along"

Does the democratic leadership feel the American people want to see more of the same?

Do they feel the best way to make a fool of a fool is to let him have his way? If so, the potential for education seems exhausted with respect to Mr. Bush.

I think democratic leadership underestimates the patience of the American people in the face of American blood spilling unjustly.

Open letter to Republicans

Scrap the field of candidates that you have running for president and convince William Sebastian Cohen to run. He's smart, unlike McCain or Lieberman he's truly bipartisan, and he has a strong track record with national defense.

He's also good on T.V. and is socially progressive enough to support the E.R.A., which could bring the Republican Party out of the 1800s and into the 1900s.

I think he would salvage a little dignity for true conservatives who've had to bear a big-government, borrow and spend, secretive...oh I could go on.

Bill Cohen '08
A better man and a better way forward.

No?

A confession

I believe that global warming is real. I believe this because Venus is further from the sun than Mercury, but is hotter due to what science calls "Run away global warming."

Yet...

When I went out car shopping recently I didn't buy a hybrid vehicle. In fact, once I found out that all they came in were automatic transmissions, I didn't even test-drive one.

In my defense I live in a rugged climate and standard transmissions are superior in snow.

But, that wasn't what anchored my purchasing choice.

It was all about the turning, and the speed, and the look, and the feel, and the power.

How can one aware of global warming and it's causes be so selfish as to indulge in a terrestrial rocket?

Perhaps, through our car, we project our identity and I am too insecure to drive a glorified golf-cart and feel good inside.

I ask for forgiveness from future generations who will no doubt pay a heavy price for choices like mine.

It is always easier to confront someone else's moral shortcomings. When confronting my own I desperately try to make excuses for myself, "But it's a near-zero emission vehicle!", "You don't drive that much!", "The gas mileage is actually pretty good!", "Those hybrids have batteries that will probably wind up in some land fill!"...

All self-deception.

I was selfish and I am sure future generations will find my selfishness appalling, coming as it does at their expense.

Lucky for me I know there is no pleasure like a guilty pleasure and I know a nice lake road in the country where I can indulge it.

Vrooooom.

Life imitates Art

"But the Emperor has nothing at all on!", said a little child.

"Listen to the voice of innocence!", exclaimed his father; and what the child has said was whispered from one to another.

"But he has nothing at all on!", at last cried out all the people. The Emperor was vexed, for he knew that the people were right; but he thought the procession must continue it's course! And the lords of the bedchamber took greater pains than ever, to appear holding up a trian, although, in reality, there was no train to hold."

Sharpton vs Hitchens

You may have heard about the Al Sharpton vs Christopher Hitchens debate due to Al's derogatory remarks towards Mitt Romney.

But if you haven't seen the debate you are missing out on one of the better defenses of God that I have seen.

What makes Al's case so strong?

He refuses to defend the Bible or the Koran or any other denominational dogma, but rather posits what I call the Morality from Design argument:

Smackdown on Slate

I suspect Al knows that making the claim "God is not great" is a curious claim for an atheist to make (supposing as it does God's existence), and is too good a lawyer to get off a bone with meat like that on it.

Christopher Hitchens does assault religion with gusto and style, but he never did address Al's main thrust and so I give the edge to Al Sharpton.

I think that Socrates addressed Dr. Sharpton's argument in Euthyphro, or at least could provide Dr. Sharpton with a good puzzle to sort out.

His analysis went something like this:

Does God approve of my actions because they are good, or are my actions good because God approves of them?

If my actions are good only because God approves of them, then good is entirely arbitrary, depending upon the whims of God.

If, on the other hand, God approves of my actions because they are intrinsically good, then there must be some divine source of values which we might come to know independently of God.


See what you think of the debate. I enjoyed it.

I'll add one final thought. I feel that Bill Clinton is at his best when being attacked, for instance by Amy Goodman, because it is a chance for him to expose his value judgements and they are usually sound. I feel that Al Sharpton, and perhaps religious leaders in general, grow in my esteem when speaking frankly about their sprirituality rather than their "denominational dogma" (i.e. religious habits).

See what you think.

Falwell falls

Conventional wisdom says you should never speak ill of the dead and as of today that includes Jerry Falwell.

Details here

Here are some of his quotes to mark his passing:

"AIDS is not just God's punishment for homosexuals; it is God's punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals."

"Homosexuality is Satan's diabolical attack upon the family that will not only have a corrupting influence upon our next generation, but it will also bring down the wrath of God upon America."

"Billy Graham is the chief servant of Satan in America."

"Scientology has a terrible track record of bigotry."

"I think the Moslem faith teaches hate."

"If you're not a born-again Christian, you're a failure as a human being."

"There's been a concerted effort to steal Christmas."

Shortly after 9/11 on the 700 club he had this to say:

"I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen.'"


It seems that sometimes misfortune befalls the wholly virtuous.

Juxtaposition Disorder

On January 27, 2005 president Bush was asked if the United States would pull it's troops out of Iraq if requested to do so by the duly, newly elected government. His response was, "Absolutely. This is a sovereign government. They're on their feet."

Source: New York Times, Jan 28, 2005


On May 10, 2007 "A majority of members of Iraq's parliament have signed a draft bill that would require a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. soldiers from Iraq and freeze current troop levels."

Source: Washington Post, May 11, 2007

Is it likely president Bush will keep his word if this bill becomes law?

For McCain's take on this issue see this commentary by Arianna Huffington.

The Jamaican Threat

While "rogue state" Jamaica does not have the potential to hit Europe with nuclear warheads yet, the US State Department has begun proceeding with plans to deploy elements of an anti-ballistic missile defense system in Antillean nations in preparation for the inevitable confrontation.

Exchange the word Iran for the word Jamaica above and you have real news.

I am not sure it is much more realistic.

The reality of war

Most people killed in war are civilian women and children.

Iraq is no exception.

Infant mortality rate in Iraq rises 125%

Lightly

When I throw a javelin it has a front (point) a middle (shaft) and an end (the feathered bit).

Does the same hold true for light? When I shine a flashlight, for instance, and then turn it off, is there a beginning and a middle and an end similar to the javelin?

What happens when this light hits a wall? It doesn't go through the wall, but does the middle and the end collapse into the beginning in a type of wave-canceling erasure?

I know what happens when a javelin hits a wall.

Imagine I am outside with my flashlight and I shine it "straight up". Suppose that a beam of light does have a beginning, middle, and end. Let's call it a light javelin. As I understand it, the mass in our universe will eventually warp our javelin so that it orbits our galaxy at some point.

Is this what cosmic background radiation is?

What happens when two light javelins collide? Can a light quanta, or photon, from one javelin be dislodged by another and sent ricocheting off in another direction?

Are these neutrinos?

I think I'm going to look at the intersection of two flashlights and see what it looks like.

The pot calls the kettle black

Now that Iraq is viewed as a quackmire by most observers, the people that beat the drums of war loudest are starting to turn on each other.

Here is a letter to the editor of the Washington Post by Richard Perle entitled:

How the CIA failed America

After reading his letter it is worth recalling some of the gems uttered by Richard Perle:

"A year from now, I'll be very surprised if there is not some grand square in Baghdad that is named after President Bush."

"If we just let our vision of the world go forth, and we embrace it entirely, and we don't try to piece together clever diplomacy but just wage a total war, our children will sing great songs about us years from now."

"There is no doubt that, with the exception of a very small number of people close to a vicious regime, the people of Iraq have been liberated and they understand that they've been liberated. "

"I've known Ahmed Chelabi for more than a dozen years. He is a man, in my experience, of absolute integrity and courage, and he would be a great Iraqi leader."

"If Iraq turns out to be the success I'm confident it will be, I think others in the region will look at Iraq and say, Why can't we rid ourselves of a regime that's rather similar in some ways to the Iraqi regime? So the precedential effect of liberating Iraq may assist in bringing about democratic reform elsewhere."

Without this context you might consider Richard Perle a blameless victim after reading his letter. With context you might realize there is plenty of blame to go around for this costly mistake.

Primarily the blame seems to be the firmly held notion that external societies can be redesigned with warfare to suit our ends, and that ghastly means justify those ends. A lot of over-confidence in one's own opinion also seems to have played a role. I suppose one should not discount a lack of sympathy for the suffering of others.

As ugly as the past few years have been, the back-biting, legacy-inflating, egotistical lashings of the Bush administration officials towards each other shall undoubtedly surpass them.

Sony Reader

Here are some more comments on my Sony Portable Reader System (PRS-500).

1. There must be a law which says, the more careful you are with something the more likely you are to drop it. Having satisfied this law I can now say that a reader dropped from table height does not appear to suffer any damage.

2. The naming scheme for purchased books is a hodge-podge of letters and number like, cbuscerhi0014p0j.lrx, rather than "My Life.lrx". I find this matters when trying to confirm if a backup was successful.

3. The computer-based Connect Reader software has a lovely search capability built-in. It is very fast and works well. While I don't feel the need for that on my device, I must admit it is nice to search the book on my computer.

But...

Once you search for and find what you are looking for you may select text but cannot then do anything with it if said text is in a "Secure BBeB book".

My expectation is that I should be able to copy the text out of the book I paid for and paste it to the clipboard complete with properly formatted citation.

Why else allow me to select the text?

Why else allow me to search?

Without this I imagine the reader is a lot less attractive to students.

4. People that are far-sighted really love demonstrations of scalable fonts.

I am finding that the more I use my reader the more I like it. I think that if Sony can drop their desire to rule the world and instead manage to hear what their customer's want the device will continue to grow in popularity.

Cosmoes Too

This new book about Einstein has got me thinking once again about the universe.

Einstein's theory of relativity predicted that gravity would affect light and make it bend. The theory was confirmed with observation during a solar eclipse.

That brings up two questions to my mind:

1. Does light have mass since gravity affects it?

2. If light will bend, then theoretically it ought to be possible to:

a. Make it orbit

b. Catapult it around a massive body and increase it's speed as is done with satellite launches. This would mean light ought to be able to travel at speeds faster than the speed of light.

A simple fact

Since February 1st, 2007 - the date of our troop surge began, the US casualty rate has surged to 3.25 per day.

This has happened right under the careful watch of a newly elected democratic Congress with a mandate to change the course.

I am getting impatient and I am not alone.

Cosmoes

I've been reading Einstein: His life and Universe by Walter Isaacson and have arrived at a section on general relativity.

As I understand it the theory of general relativity predicts that the amount of matter in our universe causes space and time to curve back in on itself and our universe can be thought of as existing on the surface of an expanding balloon.

As I thought about that I wondered if it were possible that our universe were inside a black hole, and if other black holes were universes that we are on the outside of.

It is interesting to me that a black hole is known to form after a super novae, which means there is a mighty big bang.

As I understand it matter comes from stars too.

I haven't got the math skills to investigate the idea, or the background to know if this is an absurd idea, yet isn't it lovely to consider such questions even for a moment?

It is said that not even light can escape a black hole. This is because the gravitational mass bends it back on itself is it not?

Could it be...

Sugar-coated caskets?

On May 6th, 2007 (Sunday) 12 US soldiers were killed.

This means there have been 25 US soldiers killed in the first 7 days of May.

Does that sound like success to you?

How about the death of 20 Iraqis trying to shop at a market?

It seems to me that all the killing is more a force of habit than a force of hope. They kill us because we're there, and we kill them for the same reason. Meanwhile, lunatics are blowing themselves up at the markets in order to show-off to Allah.

How does presidential stubbornness make a thing like that better?

Isn't it time for a political surge that ends this war before it gets even worse?

I prefer donuts to the dozen over deaths.

Perhaps with Roadblock Republicans it is the other way around?

Isn't it better to have a sugar-coated donut than a sugar-coated presidential pronouncement prolonging a problematic war?

I think so, but I'm partial to donuts.

911 Revisited

I remember watching the twin towers fall on 9/11. My first impression was that I was witnessing a demolition, not a collapse.

But...

The experts came on TV and talked about melting I-beams and latent heat and what-not and I accepted the explanation.

However, many people, including an engineer from MIT, call into question the official story of what happened on 9/11.

They've put together a documentary revisiting 911 that raises questions about the official story:

911 Revisited

I don't know enough to say whether my initial impression was correct. I do know I don't trust that which emanates from the lips of this president, but a cover-up of this magnitude requires too much complicity to seem realistic to me.

What do you think?

Democrats lend me your ears

30 Republicans lost their seats in the last national election and 0 Democrats did. That is America speaking loud and clear about the war in Iraq. It is a mandate for change.

Americans didn't give you a majority so you could pretend to oppose the president and then "back down" at the very first road-block.

Washington Post: Democrats Back Down On Iraq Timetable

Giving the president what he wants is the problem.

Perhaps you should reflect that what you compromise is our troops lives.

You should also reflect on the language in the Washington Post story above. President Bush expects to secure an agreement, while Democrats hope to reach a compromise.

ADDENDUM: Pelosi and Reid say that Washington Post story saying Democrats "Backed Down" to Bush's demands is false. Details here

Remember when...

Remember when conservative pundits went nutty because John Kerry suggested that we needed tough police action to fight al Qaeda?

Well, it turns out that:

Police officers worldwide have arrested five times as many suspects linked to al-Qaeda as military operations have captured or killed: in Asia, excluding Iraq and Afghanistan, the proportion rounded up by police is believed to be as high as 70%.

Source: Fighting the global insurgency

John Kerry and Howard Dean have pretty good track records with their public statements. Too bad that doesn't matter a whit in "Not your father's America".

Fleeting Wisdom

Governor George W. Bush
June 5th, 1999
Scripps Howard/Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Criticizing President Clinton for not setting a timetable for exiting Kosovo

“I think it’s important for the president to lay out a timetable as to how long they will be involved and when they would be withdrawn.”

Source: Bush demanding a time table


Governor George W. Bush
April 9th, 1999
Houston Chronicle
Also criticizing president Clinton about the war in Kosovo.

"Victory means exit strategy, and it’s important for the president to explain to us what the exit strategy is.”

Source: Bush demanding exit strategy

It seems that president George W. Bush would accuse governor George W. Bush of failing to support the troops in harms way and of being guilty of trying to tie the hands of the commander in chief.

The veto in context

How does one put president Bush's veto of the new Iraq war funding bill into context?

Bill Scher offers this advice:

Monumental snubbing of the public will

I think democrats need to start trotting out words like "sad", "stubborn", "delusional" and "pathetic" to describe the president at this point.

It is criminal that people are dying so he can pretend he's the last gun blazing at the Alamo.

ADDENDUM: Two generals get it

Does this apply to us?

I began reading an article on the Winograd report, which analyzed Israel's attack on Lebanon last year. After a couple of paragraphs I began to have deja vu all over again.

...we are not talking about mere failures. We are talking about this country's continued existence being a true miracle. Because a country whose prime minister failed in exercising judgment, whose defense minister failed in doing his job, whose chief of staff made false presentations and contributed decisively to the flaws and failures, whose General Staff suffered from lack of creativity, and whose government voted without understanding what it was voting on – is a country that was abandoned.

This is a country without leadership. This is a country whose army disappointed it. It is a country whose government is pathetic and whose ministers are unworthy of serving in their posts.

Source: Ynet news

Those Israeli editorial writers sure are feisty. I suppose the same tone would be considered radical here, or unprofessional.

Simplification

Here is a tiny tune, badly sung, which attempts to simplify the situation in Iraq for politicians.

If you don't bring them home...

Wouldn't it be swell if crowds of people sang this song, perhaps holding hands and swaying, to passing politicians?

Perhaps it should be sung for the denizens of the press too?

I think I have no shame.

Buying the War

Bill Moyers put together a nice little program on PBS that I think you are going to like. It is an expose on the press complicity which turned the hunt for Osama into a problematic nation-building exercise in Iraq.

Buying the war

Enjoy the show.

Be a homefront hero

Isn't it time to make the Iraq war history?

Scientific Govermental Method

I wonder how government would change if it were forced to apply the principles of Scientific Method to legislation.

What if laws were subjected to peer review for possible mistakes before being accepted?

What if each law had to adhere to the falsifiability principle by including a series of objective benchmarks that would invalidate the law? That is, what if a law were invalidated if it's predictions were contradicted by reality?

What if important positions in government could not be obtained without satisfying certain merit requirements?

What if results had to be reproducible by others within the governmental community?

What if government workers were expected to maintain detailed records of their experimental procedures in order to provide evidence of the effectiveness of the tactic?

The Achilles Heel of this concept is that it demands the intellectual honesty of the participants.

But I can dream, can't I?

Sometimes the boat needs to rock

Even though we have what is arguably the most corrupt administration in American history very few legislators in Washington talk about impeachment.

This is a moral failure, since impeachment is accountability.

One Congressperson, Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, has decided to rock the boat and introduce House Resolution 333 whose purpose is to Impeach vice-president Richard Cheney.

Why such a resolution should be considered boat rocking is beyond me.

Perhaps Ms. Pelosi feels it would be a conflict of interest for her to publicly support impeachment since she would be the primary beneficiary?

If that's how she views the issue she should reconsider, since it is we, the American people, that would have the most to gain by ridding ourselves of president Bush.

Perhaps Ms. Pelosi doesn't want a Democrat to be saddled with the unwinnable situation that is Iraq?

That would be a shame since that attitude places party ahead of country, and that is precisely what makes the Bush administration so bad for America.

The choice is either impeach president Bush or wait him out. Dennis Kucinich seems to favor the former, while Nancy Pelosi seems to favor the latter.

Waiting him out likely involves more catastrophes for America and quite possibly for Iran and Israel as well. Waiting him out means his corrupt cronies get off Scott-free (via presidential pardons) and Americans pay the penalty (via higher taxes or a lower quality of life).

I say impeach because there ought to be penalties for abusing trust and power. Without that it won't be long until the next pampered prince of privilege comes along and treats the United States government like an unguarded candy store.

Sony PRS-500 Reader Review

Here is a picture of my Sony PRS-500 reader. I set this outside in the noonday sun and snapped off a digital picture. What should strike you right away is that the text is legible and that is due to something new...

Sony PRS-500

ADDENDUM: Here is another link

This reader uses a new display technology called E-Ink, also known as an electronic paper display. My layman understanding of it goes like this. Imagine magnetic ball-bearings painted half-black and half-white. Imagine that beneath these ball-bearings is a magnet whose polarity can be reversed. Imagine that when this polarity is reversed the black half of the ball-bearing is either attracted to the magnet or repulsed by it (thereby showing the white half).

What makes this technology especially well-suited to books, aside from it's black-and-white nature, is that it works in bright sun or the direct glare of a reading lamp. In fact, I would say that the contrast improves with light, as opposed to a normal laptop which glares illegibly. Also, the Reader only needs to consume power when reversing the polarity of the tiny magnets and therefore boasts a long life per charge.

While there are reviews "out there on the web", many of them seem to miss an important distinction. The Sony reader is not meant to be a replacement for a laptop computer, but rather a replacement for a book. As such, the interface to the device consists mainly in menus to navigate your library and to turn pages. I feel that is a strength, rather than a weakness, having seen countless confusing contraptions collapse under the weight of all their functionality.

Some of the most common complaints seem to be:

1. The book cannot be searched.
2. You cannot double-click on a word and jump to a dictionary definition.
3. The book does not have it's own light source.

These complaints can all be directed at Shakespeare's "Merchant of Venice" in traditional book form.

When you compare the Reader to a book, rather than to a computer, you arrive at different conclusions.

The Major Advantages
--------------------------

1. Sony claims that the e-book can store 80 normal books. I cannot personally vouch for that fact, but it can easily store the 11 I currently have on it.
   
2. At the press of a button you can increase or decrease the font size, so near-sighted people (or is that far-sighted people), ought to be able to read a book at a more natural distance (particularly relevant on a plane or bus I imagine).
3. The battery life ought to be sufficient to cover a normal vacation without the need of dragging cumbersome chords that may not work at your destination anyway.
4. In addition to handling Sony's e-book format, the reader can also store RTF documents and PDF files. It can also store unencrypted MP3 and AAC files. The audio file format support means you may store audio books on the device, although you may want to spring for...
5. The Reader supports removable memory sticks and SD memory cards to increase the storage space.
6. You can authorize a book for 6 machines, one of which must be a computer.
   

The Cons
-----------

1. When you change the font size you will notice that the necessary and expected reformat causes the number of pages to change. After thinking about this I realized it could be a problem, since how is one supposed to cite a quote in a bibliography?
2. When you purchase books it must be through Sony's storefront. That is a real shame since they don't have an impressive catalog (no Richard Dawkins for instance, who seems everywhere but in Sony's bookstore). I am certain someone at Sony saw Apples's success with iTunes and decided to duplicate it. I am not certain that this same someone knew what they were looking at, since the MP3 format is ubiquitous. I seem not to be alone in stating that this is the biggest limitation of using the Sony Reader. To stifle competition from the get-go seems a no-no to me.
   
3. I am finding footnotes difficult, if not downright cumbersome, to deal with. I am currently reading a book by Walter Isaacson on Einstein and I haven't figured out how to view a footnote that I encounter. To navigate up, then into the table of contents, then to the footnotes at the end of the book is distracting and time-consuming. Worse, however, is that you always "continue reading" from the last viewed page which in this case would now be the footnote you just viewed. That means you need to navigate to the history and find the page you were on there and jump back to it. All this means that footnotes are too bothersome to reference which is a shame. The process would be much smoother if the reader had a hyperlink and a back button.
4. Since the reader is dependent upon Sony's PC-based software to purchase books, that makes purchasing books while traveling unfeasible unless you drag along a computer too. The trick, then, will be to purchase all your books ahead-of-time unless Sony finds a way to sell a book outside their current strategy. This is perhaps why it is unwise of Sony to stifle content competition from the start.
   

This review will very likely be supplemented in the future with additional reviews. For instance, I haven't told you about the Reader's support for RSS feeds.

All-in-all let me sum up by saying the reader sports a revolutionary display technology (albeit black-and-white), long battery life, ample space to store many books, and is comfortable to read.

Juxtaposition Disorder

Speaking before a world affairs forum in Michigan, Bush said the two-month-old security crackdown under which he is adding 28,000 more U.S. troops to Iraq was "meeting expectations" and the ongoing violence reflected an expected reaction by insurgents.

Source: Sunshine and lollipops

In one of the deadliest attacks on American ground forces since the Iraq war started more than four years ago, a suicide car bomber struck a patrol base northeast of Baghdad and killed nine U.S. soldiers and wounded 20, officials said.

Source: 9 more deaths

How many "expected reactions by insurgents" should we put up with before demanding a change of course?

What are the expected rewards by which we are dismissing ever-increasing costs and casualties as mere tokens to be paid lightly?

Do boasts of progress without reference to maps reduce the wanderings of the lost?

Are these deaths for nothing?

Joe Klein nails Bush administration

President Bush seems to be held in rather low regard right now, but with extensive justification.

I hope to never again see such a petulant, under-achieving, pridefully ignorant, and unfit leader elected president of the US again. The fact that such an obvious moron could be reelected implies my desire could go unrealized, yet I am ready to hope, especially when I see an article like this one by Joe Klein in Time magazine:

Epic Collapse

Reid talks sense to the president

Apparently Harry Reid sat down with president Bush and told him he thought the surge wasn't working and the conflict in Iraq won't be resolved with military force.

The angry Bush minions (they are always angry it seems) railed that Harry doesn't support the troops.

Story here

It is president Bush that Harry Reid doesn't support anymore, and for the sensible reason that he has a track record of failure that is costing our country and our soldiers too much.

Is placing our young men and women in a dangerous situation where staying won't help the only way to look out for their best interests?

Is unflagging allegiance to doomed policies required of me to be considered in support of the troops?

It is my view that no amount of stubbornness will turn the surging disaster that is Iraq into a flower and candy strewn beacon of democracy.

Demonstrating what I like to call outhouse diplomacy, this administration fed lies to the American people and to our allies to get the war it wanted, then turned it all to crap.

Our troops are the ones paying the price for these lies every day. They are dying and
everything.


What a price that we pay when a life bleeds away.
Oh, Goodbye.
Oh, Goodbye.

I'm sorry to say that you die on this day...
For a lie!
For a lie!

What a price that we pay when we look on this day
In their eye.
In their eye.

I wish I could say this war stops today
We will try.
We will try.

Juxtaposition Disorder, 2

CNN's headline for the recent murder of 32 students at Virginia Tech:

"Massacre at Virginia Tech"

Their coverage of the event can be described as extensive.


CNN's headline when 4 bombs kill 157 people in Iraq:

Phrase "Iraq" not found



Has American media become overly nationalistic?

Iraqi's are Soylent Green!

Being still

Have you ever thought about the fact that nothing is ever still?

Even when you're standing still you're still on the Earth which is orbiting the sun at about 29.7 kilometers per second.

And of course the sun travels around the center of the galaxy, and the galaxy moves through space.

And if you move in the other direction, even the cells which make up your body are moving, and the molecules which make those up have orbiting bits, and the sub-atomic particles comprising them are like jumbly, nervous packets of photons.

So, it is move, move, move always and everywhere. Nothing is still, or at rest.

It used to drive me crazy, like a claustrophobia sufferer caught in a coffin with no way out scratching and scratching at the lid...

Well, maybe not that crazy, but it was unsettling to think about. We live in a bumping and grinding, cause-and-effect, whirling dervish of a universe.

But then it occurred to me that there is one place which can possibly be still and that is the focal-point of the big bang.

That's a modest comfort.

Nothing is ever still.

Juxtaposition Disorder

McCain to Obama: Iraq Surge Plan Working

Republican presidential candidate John McCain, who has criticized the conduct of the Iraq war, said Wednesday the situation in Iraq is changing under a new commander and strategy.

And Democratic rival Barack Obama, for one, ought to take notice, the Arizona senator said.

"We are now executing a new counterinsurgent strategy. We have a new general in command who believes in it," McCain said during a campaign swing in Florida.

March 29, 07

Two killed in Iraq parliament blast

A blast ripped through a canteen in the Iraqi parliament complex inside Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone today, killing two MPs, state television said.

April 12, 07

The problem is not that we have leaders insufficiently committed to following the president's policies, but the opposite.

We could be saving American lives by getting out of Iraq right now, and I care more about that than exhausting the stubbornness of every politician unable to admit they are wrong.

Perhaps a meteoric rise like Obama is what we need to rid the swamp of its dinosaurs?

Darn

From the New York Times...

The New York Times | DINITIA SMITH | April 11, 2007 11:46 PM

Kurt Vonnegut, whose dark comic talent and urgent moral vision in novels like "Slaughterhouse-Five," "Cat's Cradle" and "God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater" caught the temper of his times and the imagination of a generation, died last night in Manhattan. He was 84 and had homes in Manhattan and in Sagaponack on Long Island.

Source: NYT

I've enjoyed the writing of Kurt Vonnegut over the years, to the point which I am sad to see him go. He reminded me of Mark Twain fused with a beat poet, and it was his book Breakfast of Champions that first captured my heart.

My favorite book by him is Bluebeard.

Since your happiness depends upon the quality of the objects of your affections, it is no wonder that Mr. Vonnegut always made me smile.

So long Mr. Vonnegut, and thanks for all the books. I'm sure Kilgore Trout will live on.

We vote to end it and...

In November Americans overwhelmingly voted to elect Democrats and end this war in Iraq. In poll after poll since then Americans list the war in Iraq as the number one issue of concern.

In response to these concerns, and in light of the fact this is a democracy, president Bush has essentially said, "F.U."

Today, in like fashion, the defense department announced:

"Beginning immediately, all active-duty Army soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan will serve 15-month tours _ three months longer than the usual standard, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday."

Translation: F.U.

The reason we need a back-door draft (as John Kerry called it), is because Americans don't want to fight for empire.

I expect there are a lot of soldiers that can't wait for 2008.

Dieting Dunno Work

Between 1980 and 2000, the proportion of obese Americans has doubled, from 15 to 31 per cent of the population.

Source: Diet Study

Only one in seven Americans exercises enough and eats enough fruits and vegetables, and men are worse than women...

Source: Dumb-eatin' sloths?

I read an article in the Scientific American recently which said if you want to diet you should think about what you can add to your diet that is healthy (i.e. vegetables), rather than focus on what you are taking away (i.e. Whoopie Pies and beer).

Maybe a genetic bio-engineer needs to make vegetables taste like whoopie pies so the kids will eat 'em?

The diet I use is to drink strong black coffee (no sugar and no cream - it must be black). I believe it keeps my heart-rate up as if I were exercising without all the arm-waving, knee-pounding, bother of moving around. Since caffeine is also a well-known appetite suppressant I believe I am getting a double health benefit.

I am told that a variant of this diet includes smoking cigarettes as well, but have not tried that. Perhaps this adds additional strain (or exercise) on the ol' ticker with each rattling breath.

If you Google it you will find it: Coffee and weight loss

.XXX

It is difficult for me to escape the conclusion that leaders of the Christian right are either dumber than I thought, or more disingenuous than I thought, after seeing them gloat about ICANN rejecting a .XXX domain.

Story here

If porn were relegated to an .XXX domain it would be dead-easy to filter out e-mail originating from it and also to steer your browser clear of it. So, if you were morally opposed to the sight of, say, hot lesbian sex, your job of diverting your attention from it would be much easier with an internet red-light district.

My apologies to anyone looking for hot lesbian sex or naughty porn that wound up here instead.

New Rules

I've heard a lot of rants against the Bush administration. I suppose this is because I seek them out. I enjoy knowing that other people, other Americans, realize that W. is a pampered prince of priviledge and an ineffective promoter of America's security, prosperity, and cohesiveness.

It helps to know that I am not isolated enough in my opinion to be considered crazy, I guess, and these days I feel down-right compatible with the public sentiment.

But...

If you can take a few vulgar words and would like to see the new benchmark for dissing Mr. Bush, then click the link below to watch Bill Maher bring it on:

Hoopie Doopie

Goodly, Godly, Gosh

Since it is impossible to disprove anything, for instance that an invisible pink unicorn is watching me type, some people believe that disbelief in God is as much a matter of faith as belief in God.

Are they correct?

Many philosophers claim that knowledge is a justified true opinion, that is, a learned opinion formed from observation and in accordance with reality.

For instance, you might believe the earth is round without being able to explain your position. That is not considered knowledge by the philosophers, since it isn't based upon any evidence. If, however, you could assert that you know the earth is round because of the round shadow it makes on the moon, or that ships disappear over the horizon, or you've seen the photos of earth viewed from space, then you would have a right to make the claim that you are knowledgeable about the earth's shape.

Since when it comes to God there is a lack of evidence either way, it seems philosophers would argue neither position can claim to be based upon knowledge.

Given this logic you can see why I feel religious leaders speak of "faith" when they are well-meaning and "belief" when they are not.

Given this logic you can see why I feel the same way about atheists that "know" God doesn't exist (or invisible pink unicorns for that matter).

You can think that God exists if you cannot know him.
You can know that God exists if you cannot think him.


All this is food for thought as I direct you to a recent article by Sam Harris, who asks readers to reconsider their strongly-held beliefs:

Tyrant of the Bible

Zbig news

Zbigniew Brzezinski has a new book out and it is called Second Chance: Three Presidents and the Crisis of American Superpower.

Jon Stewart interviewed Z.B. and Zee carried himself well. Here's a link:

Big-news Brew-zinski

During the course of the interview he describes George W. Bush as having Manichean Paranoia, which is not to be confused with Neo-Manichaeism, but perhaps loosely based upon it.

Footsteps of the Fuhrer?

This article by Chris Hedges about America's militant Christians suggests they are using Hitler's methods when it comes to America's gay population:

Gott Mit Uns

When does the evil that one does overcome feelings of self-righteousness?

How strong a force is self-delusion?

Is evil a force like gravity which can be measured with mathematical precision - and can it bend light?

How does a person claiming to believe every word of the Bible believe in a phrase as ignorant of their content as "enemies of Christ"?

If all the world is but a stage where can we hire new screenwriters?

An unsettling feeling...

When the US Supreme Court delivered it's decision which installed George W. Bush as president I remember an uneasy feeling in my bones. I felt as if alarm bells were clanging but I couldn't make out where, like a fireman that lost their sight in the midst of a call.

The source of the alarm bells was soon identified as George W. Bush but I remember wondering why that should be. I didn't know anything about him and America did need a president to function properly...

And yet this feeling persisted and if anything grew stronger as the days went by. All I was sure of was that something was very, very wrong.

So, after a while of this I quieted my mind and studied my emotions. What was it that was driving these alarm bells in my mind? After all, here was a candidate adverse to foreign occupation, concerned about education, and even using the word compassion.

Then I figured out where the alarms were coming from and it is something I don't understand. What I realized is that I was alarmed because I was remembering president George W. Bush, and this remembrance was fueling my uneasiness.

That doesn't make much sense to me. This would mean that somehow I knew from past experience, or perhaps future experience, that president Bush would turn out unfavorable in my eyes (to put it mildly).

Of course you can't have this happen to you without seeing the world anew.

For instance, when I see how the world health organization is reacting to outbreaks of bird flu (H5N1) I find myself wondering if there isn't someone there with a hard-to-describe bad feeling in their bones.

The trouble is, for me, why did I have this memory and what was I supposed to do with it? After all, George W. Bush's incompetence should have been self-evident after a few months in office, let alone years, but he was reelected by tens of millions (winning the popular vote).

What chance have I got to change that kind of mass delusion?

The trouble is, lately, new alarms are sounding, clanging, and banging in my mind. Something is about to get worse, I think, but I am like a blind fireman waiting for the heat.

Do you suppose there's any point to such memories?

The Draft

In this segment for 60 minutes Andy Rooney promotes the draft:

Andy says

I know I wouldn't mind it if the Bush twins were drafted.

The Washington Post March

Editors at the Washington Post made the wrong call in the run-up to the Iraq war, taking the word of the administration over it's critics, and presenting many lies as news to the American public.

One would hope that such a series of public mistakes, which had the effect of promoting one of our nation's greatest blunders, would generate some soul-searching and some humility and some use as a teaching moment.

But, instead, they're still peddling Bush administration talking points discredited as lies in front page stories in their own publication. These lies may very well lead to further harm to our nation.

Story here

Their role is to lie and ours is to be lied to?

Is it fulfilling to work in a newsroom where the editors set a dishonest example?

Changing ideology

I have often wondered about Republicans these last few years, but never more than when hearing a hag like Ann Coulter speak.

I sez if you need a bottom feeder like that to represent your ideology then you probably ought to change your ideology.

At long last it seems that a few conservatives might be beginning to wonder if maybe Ms. Coulter isn't one of America's 1,000 points of light.

Story here

It's a start. A slow start, but a start.

Getting poorer faster

It looks like compassionate conservatism was compassion reserved for the rich.

According to Andrew Gumbel in Los Angeles:

"The numbers of severely poor have increased faster than any other segment of the population."

According to Steven Woolf of Virginia:

"We're not seeing as much moderate poverty as a proportion of the population. What we're seeing is a dramatic growth of severe poverty."

You can read all about it here:

Accelerated growth of inequality

There are two disturbing facts which accompany this data:

1. A large middle class keeps a society stable.

2. As poverty rates rise the number of abortions rise.

Chomsky

I enjoy reading Noam Chomsky and AlterNet has published an interview by Michael Shank which you can read...

Right here

Here is a sample quote:

"Seventy five percent of the population here favors improving relations with Iran, instead of threats. But this is disregarded. We don't have polls from the business world, but it's pretty clear that the energy corporations would be quite happy to be given authorization to go back into Iran instead of leaving all that to their rivals. But the state won't allow it. And it is setting up confrontations right now, very explicitly. Part of the reason is strategic, geo-political, economic, but part of the reason is the mafia complex. They have to be punished for disobeying us."

'bout time

One thing that always bugged me about Donald Rumsfeld was his callous disregard for the welfare of his own soldiers. He sent them into battle without proper training and with insufficient armour, then made excuses rather than commitments to our boys and girls.

I hated that about him. I hated the way he had a machine sign letters to the families of the fallen. And I especially hated hearing how our wounded soldiers were treated.

However, until now I haven't seen signs that Robert M. Gates was any better, and if you don't understand this you don't understand anything. The one thing a potential recruit should ever hear is that his commitment to serve is a one-way commitment.

Unless Mr. Gates is full of hot air, which is always possible in this do-nothing-right Bush administration, then at long last our wounded will be treated with the respect they earned.

"The men and women recovering at Walter Reed and at other military hospitals have put their lives on the line and paid a considerable price for defending our country," Gates said. "They battled our foreign enemies. They should not have to battle an American bureaucracy."

Good words Mr. Gates. May you live up to them.

Full story: Click here

Peace is not the question...

"The searing truth is that in the 20th century, more than 100 million members of the human community, most of them civilian noncombatants, perished in wars. At the dawn of the 21st century, violence seems to be an overarching theme in the world, encompassing personal, group, national, and international conflict. It now extends to the production of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons of mass destruction for use on land and sea, in air and outer space. Real and anticipated conflict is accepted, even glorified, as intrinsic to the human condition, with few questions about whether the structures of thought, word, and deed that we have inherited are relevant to the maintenance, growth, and survival of our entire civilization. Our national policy dialogue is infected with war metaphors: the war on poverty, the war on drugs, the war on illiteracy, the war on this or that. Our children are immersed in video war games. Our sports are rife with war talk. Our media often glorify war. How did we as a society develop such an ardor for arms? Our Founders, while providing for the Common Defense, did not envision America as a land of conquistadores. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, at the beginning of World War II, encouraged steadfastness among the American people: "We have nothing to fear but fear itself." As the war wound down, FDR aspired to ending the beginning of all wars: "Today we are faced with the pre-eminent fact that, if civilization is to survive, we must cultivate the science of human relationships, the ability of all peoples, of all kinds, to live together and work together in the same world, at peace." As we stand on the threshold of a new millennium, it is time to free ourselves, to jettison our illusions and fears and transform age-old challenges with new thinking. We can conceive of peace as not simply the absence of violence but the active presence of the capacity for a higher evolution of human awareness, of respect, trust, and integrity. Of peace, wherein we all may tap the infinite capabilities of humanity to transform consciousness and conditions that impel or compel violence at a personal, group, or national level toward creating understanding, compassion, and love. We can bring forth new understandings where peace, not war, becomes inevitable. Can we move from wars to end all wars to peace to end all war?"


- U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich -

Source: Imagine - Essay on Government

Osama who?

Larry Johnson over at No Quarter points out that while Iran is working with many Shia groups inside Iraq that it is the Sunni that are primarily responsible for killing US troops.

He also analyzes why it is a bad idea to alienate Moqtada al Sadr, rather than try to use him as an ally.

Article: Iran in Iraq

It is an interesting read and it clarifies many aspects of the war in Iraq. It also clarifies how war with Iran would make the situation in Iraq much more deadly for our own troops.

And so it begins...

Border skirmishes with Iran?

Joe Biden once delivered the biting line, "There is no potential for education in the second kick from a mule."

That is all that needs to be said on the subject of attacking Iran.

Progress is progress

One of the first things the Bush administration did when coming into office was scrap the hard work done by former president Bill Clinton on the Korean peninsula. Soon after the president labeled North Korea a member of an "axis of evil" and has refused talks ever since.

The upshot has been that North Korea developed a nuclear bomb amidst Bush's bluster.

Somewhat belatedly someone at the whitehouse arrived at the conclusion that a nuclear-armed North Korea is contrary to US interests. This someone must have decided to eat a little crow, and we sat down with North Korea and hammered out an agreement that essentially restores the Clinton-era policies.

Source: Clinton vindicated

This is a stunning turn of events, since it means that somehow the Bush whitehouse is willing to abandon the perfect (as they see it) for the good. This also means that the whitehouse is willing to change a course that isn't working.

I find this very encouraging news and hope it is the beginning of a new trend, since there are more than a few courses initiated from the whitehouse in need of change.

On this day in history

On this day in history, (February 12, 2006), Vice President Dick Cheney shot Harry Whittington in the face while quail hunting.

Source: People shootin' people

Welcome to corporatocracy

Here's a link to a Liberty News cartoon that promotes a progressive tax code (Windows Media Player required):

Enjoy the fun

On fate if you will

If you believe that there is a supernatural micro-manager in the sky that controls every facet of reality, then that leads to some interesting conclusions.

For instance, there are those that argue that if a thing has happened it must have happened because it was God's will. After all, the logic goes, God is all-powerful and all-knowing. He set the whole works in motion and his will is directing the show.

I suppose you cannot hold that view without believing, then, that the fate of every life is pre-determined and the outcome unavoidable.

Doesn't that mean, then, that thought is inconsequential to action?

After all if you are in the process of raping and murdering a child, say, you must be doing it because it is God's will since it is happening.

Do I have the logic right?

If I do, then wouldn't it be wrong to punish the child molesting rapist in the above scenario since he is carrying out God's will, and furthermore potentially suffers greatly if he is alarmed by his actions yet unable to control them (since they are predetermined by God)?

To use a milder example, aren't the overweight being force-fed by God?

I'll wager that fundamentalists would find this ridiculous, yet how can it be refuted unless an admission is made that the will of Man has meaning?

Would they say that, like the rapist, when they throw him in jail they are also following God's will?

If so that takes some of the nobility out of your deed doesn't it?

If you are to get into Heaven by accomplishing good deeds, however can you point one out that isn't pre-determined and therefore not admissable as morally relevant?

Rene Descarte, discarding everything he was uncertain of, said "I think, therefore I am".

Perhaps God will judge us by our thoughts, then, and not our actions since I am told he is goodly in nature.

This would mean that a child-molesting rapist, who was repulsed by his actions, would receive entrance into the kingdom of heaven.

This would mean that a child-molesting rapist, who delighted in his actions, would receive for his wickedness eternal burning sensations.

What would it mean for the man that delighted in the act, yet knew it was wrong and made sure the molester was jailed, and therefore prevented from harming others?

Why that person would be considered wicked by a morally consistent deity would he not?

I suppose if you hold these views then one way to view the world is as an ethical video game. Your spirit is placed into different scenarios and you are viewing the action but unable to direct it. You score points when repulsed by wickedness and lose points when you enjoy wicked deeds. Perhaps you also score points when delighting in Good deeds and lose them when repulsed by good deeds.

When the game is over perhaps you and God will laugh and laugh at all the silliness you went through (har, har, a bleedin' idiot was your president - how'd you like them apples?).

I wonder what kind of a score you need to have Saint Peter pat you on the back.