Social Security

Good post on the false social security "crisis".
http://angrybear.blogspot.com/2008/03/bruce-webb-reads-social-security.html

This American Life - The Audacity of Govt

Good stuff from NPR's This American Life. Here is the key to this whole thing for me. The U.S. under Bush routinely breaks international law (treaties, WTO rulings, etc.), and they refuse to abide by international rulings of law. There is no question that the U.S. is in violation of law, because cases have gone to court and they have been adjudicated, and the U.S. has lost. But the key is that there is "no enforcement mechanism" as the lawyer says it. There is nothing that the U.N. or the WTO or the offended country or anybody else can do to punish the U.S. government or make the U.S. abide by the law, including its own laws.

Well, not entirely. We have exactly 1 and only 1 enforcement mechanism--impeachment.


===

Stories of the Bush Administration, its unique style of asserting presidential authority, and its quest to redefine the limits of presidential power.

Prologue.

Host Ira Glass talks with Yale law professor Jack Balkin about what he calls the Bush Administration's "lawyering style," a tendency to fight as hard as it can, on all fronts, to get what it wants. Ira also plays tape from a news conference with New York Senator Charles Schumer, in which he takes the Justice Department to task for refusing to pay death benefits to the families of two auxiliary policemen who were killed in the line of duty, even though federal law grants those benefits. (5 minutes)

Act One. The Prez vs. The Commish.

Ira Glass tells the story of a little-known treaty dispute with far-reaching ramifications for our understanding of executive power. The dispute is between the President and one of his appointees...to the International Boundary Commission with Canada. This little-known commission carried out its function without fanfare or incident for over a hundred years, until a couple of retirees in Washington State built a wall in their backyard and, quite literally, set off an international incident. (23 minutes)

Song: "Oh, Canada,"


Act Two. This American Wife.

This American Life contributor Jack Hitt uncovers a strange practice within the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service. If a foreign national marries a U.S. citizen and schedules an interview for a green card, but the U.S. citizen dies before the interview takes place, the foreign national is scheduled for deportation with no appeal—even if the couple has children who are U.S. citizens. Jack talks with Brent Renison, a lawyer who's representing over 130 people in this situation, mostly widows, who are seeking to overturn the Immigration Service's rule. (20 minutes)

Song: "Goodbye," The Postmarks


Act Three. 44.

Ira Glass interviews Charlie Savage, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for the Boston Globe, who's written a book called Takeover: The Return of the Imperial Presidency and the Subversion of American Democracy about the ways the Bush Administration claims executive powers that other presidents haven't claimed. Charlie talks with Ira about the current candidates for President and their views on the scope of executive power.

Charlie Savage's book comes out in paperback soon. (4 minutes)

Song: "Declare Independence," Bjork

National Geographic Atmosphere

If TV Were a Person

Click the picture to get it large.

Walmart...

There's a lot of things to dislike about Walmart, but this story doesn't seem to me to be one of them.

In any health insurance situation, if you get into an accident, and your health insurance pays, say, $50,000 of your medical bills, and you later sue the person at fault and win $75,000 from his auto insurer, your health insurer gets to be reimbursed the $50,000 they paid. To do otherwise means that the victim is paid twice for the same accident, and both health and liability insurance costs, for everybody, goes up. That seems pretty fair to me.

Of course the accident sucks. Of course it sucks that this woman is permanently disabled (for which long-term disability insurance would be helpful, and I believe Walmart provides that coverage, though it is not mentioned at all in the article). Of course I wish this woman didn't need to suffer. And of course, Walmart would be heroic if they didn't demand the money back. But I don't think it's evil for Walmart to expect it back and the family made things worse for themselves by trying to fight it and having to pay Walmart's court costs.

So, I guess I just don't get this latest flap against Walmart.

Update: Looks like Walmart doesn't like the bad press. They changed their mind. http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/law/04/02/walmart.decision/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

The Gift of Freedom

ROTFL!

Bill Gates on hurrying...

Just 10 minutes after I read Edward Hays' poem, I read this by Bill Gates:

"Just in terms of allocation of time resources, religion is not very efficient. There's a lot more I could be doing on a Sunday morning."

Hurrying

Hurrying...
from Pray All Ways by Edward Hays

Greetings, Fellow Criminals!
The salutation is a lucky guess.
Half the population breaks the law;
no matter the speed limit, we go faster.

Law breakers--a salutation that's an easy bet
addressing Kansans and Missourians--
of them, 70% break that law of limit.

Kansas with its long, lethargic miles of flat farm land:
why linger? Hurry-up to get from here to there
and from there to here.
Now, California, Indiana and Idaho, much more to see--
and yet, there, as here,
we're in a hurry to get from here to there--
and there to here.
Not 70% but 99 & 44/100% pulled over to the curb,
if speed limits were placed on eating lunch,
drinking coffee, drying dishes, making love, and praying.

Our lifestyle is R &R: rushing and running.
We've been programmed in Pampers to hurry.
"Hurry-up and eat your breakfast...you'll be late."
"Hurry-up and get dressed...everyone is waiting."
"Hurry-up, students...only five minutes left."
And now, today, when the little round light
turns from red to green
--before the electric eclipse is over--
honk-honk, hurry-up, hurry-up.

Brother Marx was wrong; it's not religion--
haste is the opium of the masses.
Haste makes waste, wrong again, haste makes fun.
Shoot up with speed, another fix of stimulation--
Hurry, hurry,
double your pleasure, double your fun
double your speed and get it done!
We pause, catch our breath, panting a pious petition--
"Lord, teach us how to pray...in a hurry!"

Water in acid, haste in prayer, don't mix!
hurry hurts our hearts and haste poisons our prayer.

Haste, in Old English-Saxon tongue meant violence,
once upon a time.
The meaning's changed, the effect's the same.
Haste is violence...to our prayer,
haste is violence...to our health,
to our marriages, friendships and contemplative communion.
We deplore violence on the screen and in the streets.
Then why promote haste at home
and rushing on the road?

Whirlin' round in the revolving door of life's department store,
we hear the voice of God whispering in the whirl,
"I will lead her into the desert and speak to her heart.
She shall respond there as in the days of her youth."
Into the desert to find a different pace--
in the desert...to hot to hurry, silly...in the sun to run.
Take your time, move s-l-o-w-l-y.
Watch the camel, learn a lesson, measure well the journey.
"Lord, can't we pray at home? Why lead us into the desert?"

"Why, my children?
Hustle, hustle, is the music of the marketplace, that's why---
Hurry, hurry, is the song of the city, that's why."

In the desert, ageless, clockless, still as sagebrush--
all moves at lizard's speed.
Time to sit and once again to hear.
"God speaks slowly," say the ancient ones--
a word an hour, a sentence a century.
Those in a hurry...hear not!
Jesus in the desert, said Mark, "absorbed in prayer"
Jesus in the desert, led by the Spirit--
soaked up in silence and sand,
responded as in his youth.
In the desert, no hurry to hear, no rush to respond.

Friends...contemplative prayer, in the Sinai or in Cincinnati--
always has the slow scent of sagebrush.
Why is it hard to pray?
Well, there's no time to pray.
It's a hurry, hurry, you'll be late.
Hurry is a habit and we have grown to hate to wait.
"Let's get this show on the road...let's go, what's the delay?"

Speed is our Holy Spirit, a virtue, not a vice.
Twice as much to do, so learn to double up.
"Blessed is the man who can do two things at once,"
open his e-mail and answer the phone,
brush his teeth and balance his budget,
watch TV and surf the Internet...
Why is this a virtue, and not a vice?
Words, like eggs, hold secrets, hide truths.
Drugstore, daily words, like haste,
once upon a time meaning violence...
Why is hurry a virtue and not a vice?
Take a word, a yellow word...SLOW...
Turn back the clock centuriese.
Slow first meant not less speed, but stupid!
If you're slow in getting the point, slow with the answer--
you're stupid, dull, and witless.
Smart people, we all know,
are fast with the answer, first to finish, swift with solutions.
Smart people can do two, three things at once.
Ah, so easy and so swift, and fast....
So, who wants to be slow and dull
and stand at the rear of the class?
Hurry-up and prove your worth!
Busy days and speedy answers,
all status signs of brilliant people.

Do you want to pray? Slow down!
Eat your green peas one by one--
Chew your food, don't wash it down.
Sip your wine and words slowly,
linger long on a friendship, pause and ponder, take your time.
Have the courage to cancel--the stomach to say "no"
so as to have the time
to taste your life, your loves and the 57 varietiese of prayer.
Taste...life...slowly.
And beware, the Devil of the Hyper Drive
is purring near your ear--
resist the temptation to rush around--
giving life but a harried glance,
taking only samples of friendship,
only samples of prayer and daily life.
Take your time, friends--
for in the ordinary hides the extra-ordinary,
in the daily, you'll find the divine...
"Blessed are those who live slowly for they shall see God."

Stop...look...and listetn...
We always overlook when we overbook.
United, Continental, you and I overbook our days.
Too many events, too many things to do--
hurry, hurry, and finish, then we'll pray.
Hurry, hurry, then, job done, we taste good times.
But when we overbook our days, who's let behind?
Who's left at the gate when all things significant have been seated?
The Divine Beloeved, our secret friend--
who never pushes, is always slow and silent--
Who else...is left behind?

Lord, there's so much to do--so little time--
teach us how to separate trash from treasure.
We pray that a modern vice might be converted
and return to a life of virtue.
Let us pray for discrimination. Let us distinguish
between the work of the blessed
and the work of the busy-busy.
Let us descriminate, then begin to eliminate.

Friends, resist the temptation,
don't look at your watches.
Let go of time and allow the Beloeved
to loead you lovely into the desert,
not the Sinai or the Sahara,
but into those quiet, empty spaces hidden in this day--
desert spaces devoid of ticking clocks
and lethal deadlines.

Children of God--
let each of us find a sand pile, a little desert lot,
behind he garage or at the beginning of the day,
silent and strong
with the slow scent of sagebrush,
and there, as in our younger days--
the Divine Friend will speak--
not to our heads, but to our hearts!
Free from haste and the violence of rushing,
we can do one thing, slowly, at a time.
Then we can respond as in the days of our youth--
with abundant affection,
dedication,
and dreams.

Coming forth from those empty spaces,
desert-places--kissed by silence,
we shall be able to savor--
The Spirit Supreme,
sip by sip
in every, every segment of our lives.

Obama's Economic Plan

Read here.

Bach's Bible

From Speaking of Faith:


Bach's Bible from Speaking of Faith on Vimeo.

I'm Telling Jesus...

"Nobody has any faith in me! I'm telling Jesus you weren't any help."
-- Luanne to Peggy on King of the Hill

Romance

I know I'm late with this, but...

I just have to say that there is something deeply, deeply disturbing about a President who thinks that going to war is romantic.

Long Live the Lowly Worm

"Prized by farmers through the ages for its ability to make soil rich and crumbly, the humble earthworm may get a brand new bag. Scientists searching for ways to clean up industrial waste sites are turning to earthworms--or more specifically, to their enzymes. It seems a Slovak scientist named Oto Sova has been able to remove contaminants like the carcinogen PCB by mixing the soil with earthworm enzymes, which break down the toxins and render them harmless. Yet to be approved stateside, the process could restore acres of contaminated land."
-- World Ark Magazine, March/April 2008

Mortgage Crisis

So, let me get this straight. We're in an economic downturn because of the mortgage crisis. So, to alleviate that economic downturn, the Bush Administration has:

(1) reduced the amount of capital that Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac are required to have in reserve to cover losses; and

(2) increased the amount of bad loans that mortgage companies are allowed to invest in.


Isn't that a little like taking out a loan to pay off your credit cards so that you can go out and charge more?

Oh, this makes my head hurt.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=arPWF4k4slUE&refer=home

Easter Triduum

Quite a busy Easter Triduum. Dean sang in the Maundy Thursday service, then sang again in the community Good Friday service. I worked on the altar/chancel for both. Then, we went to the Easter Vigil Saturday night at Grace Episcopal Cathedral. (Awesome service). That got us home pretty late.

Then, Dean and I made casseroles for the morning breakfast following sunrise service on Easter Sunday. Kind of at the last minute, I was asked to put together a powerpoint presentation to go with the pastor's theme on dandelions (are they beautiful flowers or are they weeds...all a matter of perspective). I also painted a lectern parament to go with it, and set up the Easter altar on Saturday afternoon.

After church Sunday, we went to Dean's mom's house for lunch. We had ham, corn, and blueberry muffins. Yum!

Ginger is back home

Woo hoo! Ginger is back home from the hospital. She seems to be back to her normal, energetic self. She's outside playing and barking (normally I would yell at her for barking, but today she's getting a free pass). We have about a week's worth of antibiotics and bland food to give to her as part of her recovery.

Of Palms

There is a palm that sits in my office. I've had it for years, maybe eight or nine. Probably the longest I've had any plant in the house.

I don't treat it very well. It's supposed to get a lot of sun, but with my north-facing window the only light in the room, it doesn't. And it's supposed to get fertilized occasionally. That hasn't happened since I got it.

I neglect it so much that often, the only time I notice it, is when half the leaves have turned brown and shriveled up, and I think surely this time, I've neglected it too long. I've nearly given up on it more times than I can count. It's so easy to forget. So easy to just give up on it and throw it away. Replace it with a fake. (There are a lot of things like that, aren't there?)

Each time I think about tossing it, I look in the soil and realize once more that I haven't watered it in a month-and-a-half, and wonder to myself what might happen if I give it a little water, a little TLC.

Every time, it comes back. It wants to live. It just needs a bit more attention than I give it.

It's very patient with me, and today I am thankful.

Mister Rogers' Birthday

Today is Mr. Rogers' birthday. He would be 80. Here is his farewell address on his show. In a world with very few good role models and heroes, I simply don't know a better one who lived in my lifetime.

Podcast Fr. Ed Hays on Prayer

Here are some great audio interviews on prayer from Fr Ed. Hays. Ed Hays has written several books I've enjoyed, including Prayers for a Domestic Church, Psalms for Zero Gravity: Prayers for Life's Emigrants, In Pursuit of the Great White Rabbit: Reflections on a Practical Spirituality, and most recently, Pray All Ways, a contemporary experience of Brother Lawrence's The Practice of the Presence of God.

Ed Hays is the founder of Shantivanam (Forest of Peace), an ecumenical Christian retreat house of prayer hidden in the woods near Leavenworth in Easton. The current director of Shantivanam, Sr. Eileen Haynes, is a first-year student with me at Souljourners.

Episode 1: Learning to pray (24 min.)

When asked for a photo of himself, Fr. Edward Hays sent this "self-portrait."

Over the years, Fr. Hays has prayed alongside Jews at the Wailing Wall, beside Buddhists in ashrams and with Hindus in Himalayan caves. "The experiences opened me to the catholicity, the universality of prayer and of the search for holiness," he tells Tom Fox. What's necessary to see god? You must have a pure heart. Wow. I was blown away. It was the exact same words as Jesus. … That's only one small experience that I have found repeated over and over. A great truth that I had found in my own religion, could be found in other religions too."
He also talks about building a church in a horse barn (13:30). Fr. Hays says an addiction to storytelling is in human DNA. That's why Jesus taught in parables.

Episode 2: Finding the foundation of faith (18 min.)
Fifty years ago when he was ordained, Fr. Hays says, he objected to be called a "secular priest," meaning a diocesan priest and not an order priest. "Secular" seemed to mean unreligious, he said. "Today, I am delighted be called 'secular,' 'worldly,' because that is exactly what the Master was," he tells Tom Fox. "Jesus came to give us a secular, worldly way of loving God, serving God and even worshipping God."
Fr. Hays said he has tried to help people live and prayer in the real world. Fr. Hays then begins some capsule reviews of his many books.

Episode 3: Holy fools and clowns (30 min.)
"We'd have a far different church, if they had a court jester sitting at the foot of the papal throne making wish cracks at some of those solemn pronouncements," Fr. Hays tells Tom Fox. Fr. Hays continues talking about his books, one of which was mimeographed and shared clandestinely behind the Iron Curtain and another of which was read over the radio in Hong Kong.
Fr. Hays concludes the interview with this thought: "Any dream worth giving your life for that you can see in your lifetime isn't worth giving your life for. So you're always living out a dream, a hope, an aspiration, that you won't see, but if it's a great one and it's worth your life, then it's worth it."

Ginger improving, still in hospital

Ginger ate a little this morning and didnt have diarrhea or vomiting last night. She urinated once, which the doctor says is not enough given how much fluid they've given her. That means she was more dehydrated than he originally thought.

They're keeping her in the hospital the rest of the day, and they will call me in the afternoon to discuss further.

Ginger is sick

Poor Ginger is very sick.

She vomited last night in her kennel, then she vomited again this afternoon and got terrible diarrhea. She had also been listless and not wanting to play (she's usually very energetic). We took her to the vet and she's staying at least overnight at the animal hospital. The vet did some blood work and determined that she has Hemorrhagic GastroEnteritis (HGE). It's a disease that progresses very rapidly and is life-threatening. The vet said that in small dogs like chihuahuas, they can go from healthy to dead in 36 hours. However, we caught it early and she ought to respond to treatment (fluids and IV drip antibiotics).

Troy Anthony Davis

Last year, I wrote about Troy Anthony Davis, who is on death row in Atlanta. A temporary stay of execution was granted while Georgia Supreme Court considered his motion for a new trial based on evidence of his innocence, namely, the fact that 3 out of 4 eye witnesses have recanted their testimony, that evidence exists that another person was the shooter, and that Troy Davis was set up.

In all of his appeals, he has never been granted the right to present this evidence in court, based on technicalities.

Yesterday, the court that considered his latest appeal also chose to deny his appeal to present the evidence in a court hearing, on the basis that original evidence is always more compelling.

It also continues what previous appeal courts have done -- rule based on technicalities. Evidence presented too late (due to the failure of his court-appointed defense and lack of funds to hire private attorneys), some affidavits not containing a notary stamp, a failure of the appeal to include whether Troy Davis was left- or right- handed.

The court denied his motion to present his evidence 4-3.

I don't know if Troy Davis was the murderer or not, but I think it is really sad that, appeal after appeal, he continues to be denied even the ability to present evidence and hear testimony of those who recant their earlier testimony.

There is a myth in America that murderers get too many appeals, and many, many chances to prove their innocence. But that is just a myth. In appeal after appeal, many courts simply refuse to even hear the testimony on technical grounds.

Andrew Sullivan on Obama's speech...

I don't often agree with Andrew Sullivan, but I liked what he had to say:

http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/2224950/27213944

Happy anniversary, Iraq War!

Today is the 5th anniversary of the Iraq War. Happy anniversary! The 5th anniversary symbol is wood. Now, I wonder what gift I could give....

If Architects Worked Like Programmers...

This one is at least 10 years old, but it's one of my favorites. And it is spot-on to what is going on in my life at work right now.

If Architects Worked Like Programmers

Dear Mr. Architect:

Please design and build me a house. I am not quite sure of what I need, so you should use your discretion.

My house should have between two and forty-five bedrooms. Just make sure the plans are such that the bedrooms can be easily added or deleted. When you bring the blueprints to me, I will make the final decision of what I want. Also, bring me the cost breakdowns for each configuration so that I can arbitrarily pick one at a later time.

Keep in mind that the house I ultimately choose must cost less than the one I am currently living in. Make sure, however, that you correct all the deficiencies that exist in my current house (the floor of my kitchen vibrates when I walk across it, and the walls don't have nearly enough insulation in them). As you design, also keep in mind that I want to keep yearly maintenance costs as low as possible. This should mean the incorporation of extra-cost features like aluminum, vinyl, or composite siding. (If you choose not to specify aluminum, be prepared to explain your decision in detail.)

Please take care that modern design practices and the latest materials are used in construction of the house, as I want it to be a showplace for the most up-to-date ideas and methods. Be alerted, however, that kitchen should be designed to accommodate (among other things) my 1952 Gibson refrigerator. To assure that you are building the correct house for our entire family, you will need to contact each of my children, and also our in-laws. My mother-in-law will have very strong feelings about how the house should be designed, since she visits us at least once a year.

Make sure that you weigh all of these options carefully and come to the right decision. I, however, retain the right to overrule any decisions that you make. Please don't bother me with small details right now. Your job is to develop the overall plans for the house and get the big picture. At this time, for example, it is not appropriate to be choosing the color of the carpeting. However, keep in mind that my wife likes blue.

Also, do not worry at this time about acquiring the resources to build the house itself. Your first priority is to develop detailed plans and specifications. Once I approve these plans, however, I would expect the house to be under roof within 48 hours.

While you are designing this house specifically for me, keep in mind that sooner or later I will have to sell it to someone else. It therefore should have appeal to a wide variety of potential buyers. Please make sure before you finalize the plans that there is a consensus of the potential homebuyers in my area that they like the features this house has.

I advise you to run up and look at the house my neighbor build last year, as we like it a great deal. It has many things that we feel we also need in our new home, particularly the 75-foot swimming pool. With careful engineering, I believe that you can design this into our new house without impacting the construction cost.

Please prepare a complete set of blueprints. It is not necessary at this time to do the real design, since they will be used only for construction bids. Be advised, however, that you will be held accountable for any increase of construction costs as a result of later design changes.

You must be thrilled to be working on as interesting a project as this! To be able to use the latest techniques and materials and to be given such freedom in your designs is something that can't happen very often. Contact me as soon as possible with your ideas and completed plans.

PS: My wife has just told me that she disagrees with many of the instructions I've given you in this letter. As architect, it is your responsibility to resolve these differences. I have tried in the past and have been unable to accomplish this. If you can't handle this responsibility, I will have to find another architect.

PPS: Perhaps what I need is not a house at all, but a travel trailer. Please advise me as soon as possible if this is the case.

Obama's Speech

I did not listen to Obama's speech, but I did read the entire transcript. I have to say, it is very, very good (brilliant?). It is nuanced, it is intelligent, it is moving (towards the end, I even teared up a bit). I think it will work to quiet the unrest and reinvigorate the campaign, not just for him, but for Hillary too. Maybe we can stop talking about Ferraro and Wright.

If Obama can keep doing this--responding to criticism, not with dismissal and "hope it goes away"--but with great, hopeful speeches that get on youtube and television and print, then I think he can mop the floor with McCain. Cuz I really don't think that McCain can do it.

It will be interesting to see what pieces and parts the media pick out of Obama's speech to highlight. Will they just pick up the pieces where he criticizes Wright? Or only the pieces that praise him? Will they ignore what he says about white struggles and single mothers and immigrants? They shouldn't, but they probably will.

Update: I saw him on video just now. It's, unfortunately, a poor delivery, especially at the beginning. He hasn't had enough time to practice the speech, he's not comfortable with the teleprompter, and he looked nervous. He loosens up about a 1/3 of the way through. It also looked like the teleprompter wasn't moving the text as fast as he was speaking at several moments. He doesn't have the emotional strength in his voice that the words convey. Part of the problem is that there is no audience that is clapping at the right points. It's just silent. There isn't a single clap until half way through.

Wonders of the World

A few people have been asking me about the various Wonders of the World that I mentioned in my life list. Here they are:

The 7 Natural Wonders of the World

1. Mount Everest in Nepal
2. Victoria Falls in Zambia/Zimbabwe
3. Grand Canyon in Arizona, USA
4. Great Barrier Reef in Australia
5. Northern Lights
6. Paricutin volcano in Mexico
7. Harbor of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

8 Sacred Wonders of the World

Holiest site in Christianity: Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Jerusalem
Holiest site in Catholicism: St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City
Holiest site in Buddhism: Bodh Gaya, India
Holiest site in Islam: Ka'ba, Mecca, Saudi Arabia
Holiest site in Judaism: Western Wall, Jerusalem
Holiest site in Sikhism: Golden Temple, Amritsar, India
Holiest site in Thai Buddhism: Wat Phra Kaew, Bangkok, Thailand
Holiest site in Tibetan Buddhism: Jokhang Temple, Lhasa, Tibet7 Medieval Wonders of the World

1. Stonehenge
2. The Colosseum
3. The Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa
4. The Great Wall of China
5. The Porcelain Tower of Nanjing
6. The Hagia Sophia
7. The Leaning Tower of Pisa

Vicar of Dibley

I've never seen this show, but a friend of mine told me about this Brit Comedy. Don't think it's made its way to PBS in KS yet, but I'll look for it. It's on Channel 7 at 6pm on Saturday, 3/29/08.

Weekend Curtains...

So this weekend I intended to do laundry and do some painting. Didn't happen.

Instead, Dean and I saw the movie Horton Hears a Who (very cute film), and then on Sunday we shopped for curtains for the living room. This was something that Dean has been wanting to get. We found what we liked at the JC Penney at Legends. AND...it was on clearance...AND we got there during the KU game, so there was some special 30%-off special going on during the game. So we got our curtains for less than half price. Dean ended up saving something like $170 or some outrageous amount like that. It's a red, green and ivory tapestry-style curtain.

We got the old curtains down, and we got the valance up, but we stopped there. Basically we need to charge up the drill and start drilling some new holes for the brackets before we go any further. Will probably work on that this evening.

Life List

A little earlier, inspired by a magazine (Body + Soul), I spent a few minutes writing a Life List--a list of things I want to do before I die. I added a few more to the list just now. Here it is:

Life List

• Visit Ireland
• Visit all 7 of the natural wonders of the world
• Visit the sacred wonders of the world
• Visit the 7 medieval wonders of the world
• Learn to play piano well
• Learn to play guitar well
• Paint well enough to sell things
• Learn to sing well enough to be in a choir
• Ride a train
• Be a Certified Spiritual Director
• Go on a 30-day Ignatian Retreat
• Become physically fit
• Write a published article, then a book – perhaps a devotional or similar work
• Get a bit-part in a local play
• Learn to make pottery
• Learn Liturgical Latin well enough to understand Gregorian Chant
• Own a home free-and-clear
• Learn Biblical Greek well enough to read the NT without a dictionary
• Play competitive ping-pong
• Take a cooking class
• Design and lead prayer retreats
• Go snorkeling/scuba dive anywhere that a beautiful reef exists
• Get over my fear of what others think of me (perfectionism, etc.)
• Visit a rainforest (that isn’t part of a zoo)
• Find a way to keep the house clean
• Learn to not obsess over the things that piss me off

Some things that strike me about the list: there's a lot of traveling at the beginning. I didn't think I wanted to travel that much, but I really would love to see all those things, just once. Also, there's a lot of learning. That doesn't surprise me--I love learning. Finally, the majority of the list seems to me to be a lot about beauty. I am captivated by awesome and beautiful things--nature, art, music, and yes, God & prayer are beautiful to me too.

Just asking...

36 years after Watergate, we're still asking questions about what happened. I wonder, 36 years from now, will America still be asking questions about the Bush Administration?

Just asking.

Interview with Nicholas Wolterstorff

Nicholas Wolterstorff is a Christian philosopher and theologian. Here is an excerpt from a recent interview in Christian Century:

Q: You have argued that Christians (along with other believers) have every right to make religious arguments in the public sphere...can you explain?

Nicholas Wolterstorff: I think it is appropriate in our liberal democracy for Christians, along with adherents of other religions, to make decisions about political issues on the basis of whatever considerations they find true and relevant....Sometimes...these reasons will be distinctly religious reasons....Of course, if you want to persuade your fellow citizens who don't accept your religious reasons to adopt some policy that you favor, you will have to try to find some reasons that they find compelling.

I don't agree, then, with the view of many political theorists that when making up our minds about political issues or debating them in public, we have to appeal to some body of principles that we all accept....I don't believe that there is any such body of principles.

Q: In light of that stance, how would you evaluate the way that religious views and identities have entered into electoral politics in the United States in recent years?

NW: There are better and worse ways of employing religious reasons in deciding and debating political issues....The religion that politicians profess often seems to have little if anything to do with their political positions. Here's an example: it seems to me obvious that deep within Christianity and Judaism is the injunction to welcome the stranger; yet a good many of the recent crop of presidential candidates seem to have no difficulty at all fervently affirming their Christian piety while at the same time launching attacks on immigrants. They make no attempt...to show how these two fit together. I find myself led to conclude that it was not for Christian reasons that they adopted the immigration policy that they espouse. Their professed Christian piety is a mere add-on to a deeply entrenched nativism.

I think the fundamental considerations that we ougt to employ in debating political issues are justice and the common good....But I find, to my dismay, that when politicians do seem genuinely motivated by their religion, often their goal is not to secure justice and promote the common good but to secure power for their party. They try to use the levers of power for their own disadvantage.

Vice President Odds

It's hard to find because there aren't many bookies taking bets on VP, but here is what I found from a Canadian outfit. I don't find it very convincing, really:

Bill Richardson: 2 to 3 (60%)
Barack Obama: 1.85 to 1 (35%)
Evan Bayh: 4 to 1 (20%)
John Edwards: 4 to 1 (20%)
Tim Pawlenty: 6 to 1 (14%)
Mitt Romney: 7 to 1 (12.5%)
Rudy Guiliani: 7 to 1 (12.5%)
Joe Biden: 8 to 1 (11%)
Chris Dodd: 10 to 1 (11%)
Hillary Clinton: 10 to 1 (9%)
Dennis Kucinich: 15 to 1
Sam Brownback: 20 to 1
Newt Gingrich: 25 to 1

Odds for President haven't changed much:
Obama: 5 to 6 (54%)
McCain: 29 to 20 (41%)
Clinton: 4 to 1 (20%)
Nader: 500 to 1 (.2%)

Update:
Found one more outfit making bets on VP. Here's their line. I don't have much confidence in them either.
Hillary Clinton 9/4 (31%)
Barack Obama 3/1 (25%)
Mike Huckabee 4/1 (20%)
Tim Pawlenty 15/2 (12%)
Bill Richardson 14/1 (7%)
Ted Strickland 14/1 (7%)
John Edwards 16/1 (6%)
Chuck Hagel 18/1 (5%)
Condoleeza Rice 20/1 (4.5%)
Joe Lieberman 25/1 (4%)
Mitt Romney 20/1 (4.5%)
Michael Bloomberg 30/1
Dennis Kucinich 30/1
Rudolph Giuliani 20/1
Ted Kennedy 50/1
Dick Cheney 50/1
John McCain 50/1
Bill Clinton 1000/1

What Bush Has Been Up To...

I'm several years late on this one, but it's still funny to watch. Since we're coming up on the 5th anniversary of the war, maybe this is a good way to look back....

News that hurts...

...just a few tidbits of things that irritate the heck out of me.

• NSA has revived Total Information Awareness
• White House not releasing unfavorable Pentagon report
• KBR quadrupled cost of military towels by forcing them to be embroidered with their logo
• KBR feeds untreated sewage water to troops, making them sick, and we pay them to do it
  
• torture is called "enhanced interrogation techniques" not just as a euphemism, but because "enhanced interrogation techniques" has no legal definition, and therefore, cannot be legally torture
• Hagee is the new face of Christianity in America--just what we needed
  
• Feds pay off failing banks for participating in the housing loan scam
• Britain refuses asylum to Iranian gay teen on the basis that there is no absolute proof that Iran will kill him if he is deported, even though they've already executed his boyfriend

Washington Monthly on Waterboarding

This month Washington Monthly offers a special, theme-oriented issue. The editors write:

In most issues of the Washington Monthly, we favor articles that we hope will launch a debate. In this issue we seek to end one. The unifying message of the articles that follow is, simply, Stop. In the wake of September 11, the United States became a nation that practiced torture. Astonishingly—despite the repudiation of torture by experts and the revelations of Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib—we remain one. As we go to press, President George W. Bush stands poised to veto a measure that would end all use of torture by the United States. His move, we suspect, will provoke only limited outcry. What once was shocking is now ordinary.

Or perhaps we can call it, as the New York Times does, Bush’s “legacy.” They seem to think that it points to the “legacy” of a “powerful president.” I suspect history will see it differently. It points to a man who disrespects the rule of law, his nation’s most fundamental traditions, and is drunk with power. It points to a man who will be known to posterity as the “Torture-President.”

Contributors to this issue include: Bob Barr, Rand Beers, Peter Bergen, Jimmy Carter, Steve Cheney, Amy Chua, Richard Cizik, Wesley K. Clark, Jack Cloonan, Chris Dodd, Kenneth M. Duberstein & Richard Armitage, Eric Fair, Carl Ford, Lee F. Gunn, Chuck Hagel, Lee H. Hamilton & Thomas H. Kean, Gary Hart, John Hutson, Claudia Kennedy, John Kerry, Harold Hongju Koh, Carl Levin, Richard Lugar, Leon E. Panetta, Nancy Pelosi, William J. Perry, Paul R. Pillar, Tim Roemer. John Shattuck, Anne-Marie Slaughter, Theodore C. Sorensen, William H. Taft IV, Thomas G. Wenski, Lawrence B. Wilkerson and Steve Xenakis. Every piece in it is worth reading, and the whole product is a treasure—and another measure of how low the country has sunk.

Second Muslim in Congress

Hagee & Dobson must be having fits.

--

INDIANAPOLIS (Reuters) - Indiana voters on Tuesday elected a Muslim to Congress, only the second of that faith chosen in U.S. history.

Andre Carson, grandson of the late Democrat Rep. Julia Carson, was elected to serve the balance of her term in the U.S. House of Representatives in a special election.

The younger Carson, 33, a member of the Indianapolis City Council who converted to Islam about a decade ago, will serve out the remainder of his grandmother's term through calendar 2008. He beat Republican Jon Elrod and a third party candidate with 52 percent of the vote to 44 percent for Elrod.

Spitzer resigns

So riddle me this, batman. How come Spitzer resigns (under threat of impeachment from his state's legislature), but Vitter and Craig get a pass?!

Geraldine Ferraro

Geraldine's comments and subsequent defense may or may not have been racist, but certainly strike me as idiotic.

Dolphin Saves Whale

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -- A dolphin swam up to two distressed whales that appeared headed for death in a beach stranding in New Zealand and guided them to safety, witnesses said Wednesday.

The actions of the bottlenose dolphin -- named Moko by residents who said it spends much of its time swimming playfully with humans at the beach -- amazed would-be rescuers and an expert who said they were evidence of the species' friendly nature.

The two pygmy sperm whales, a mother and her calf, were found stranded on Mahia Beach, about 500 kilometers (300 miles) northeast of the capital of Wellington, on Monday morning, said Conservation Department worker Malcolm Smith.

Rescuers worked for more than one hour to get the whales back into the water, only to see them strand themselves four times on a sandbar slightly out to sea. It looked likely the whales would have to be euthanized to prevent them suffering a prolonged death, Smith said.

"They kept getting disorientated and stranding again," said Smith, who was among the rescuers. "They obviously couldn't find their way back past (the sandbar) to the sea."

Along came Moko, who approached the whales and led them 200 meters (yards) along the beach and through a channel out to the open sea.

"Moko just came flying through the water and pushed in between us and the whales," Juanita Symes, another rescuer, told The Associated Press. "She got them to head toward the hill, where the channel is. It was an amazing experience. The best day of my life."

Anton van Helden, a marine mammals expert at New Zealand's national museum, Te Papa Tongarewa, said the reports of Moko's rescue were "fantastic" but believable because the dolphins have "a great capacity for altruistic activities."

These included evidence of dolphins protecting people lost at sea, and their playfulness with other animals.

"We've seen bottlenose dolphins getting lifted up on the noses of humpback whales and getting flicked out of the water just for fun," van Helden said.

"But it's the first time I've heard of an inter-species refloating technique. I think that's wonderful," said van Helden, who was not involved in the rescue but spoke afterward to Smith.

Smith speculated that Moko responded after hearing the whales' distress calls.

"It was looking like it was going to be a bad outcome for the whales ... then Moko just came along and fixed it," he said. "They had arched their backs and were calling to one another, but as soon as the dolphin turned up they submerged into the water and followed her."

After the rescue, Moko returned to the beach and joined in games with local residents, he said.

Bets...

...So the betting going on right now says:

Obama wins nomination - 74%
Clinton wins nomination - 26%

Democrat wins general election - 55%
Republican wins general election - 45%

just saw an episode of Bill Moyer's Journal about McCain. Scary stuff. He was neocon before neocon was cool.

Fallon resigns

Centcom Commander Fallon resigned just now. Here's an interesting article I found with background:

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JC11Ak02.html


(P.S. Asia Times is increasingly becoming a good source of news you can't get on CNN. Christian Science Monitor is doing okay too.)

Let Me In!

Dean found this. Love it!



Chi Chi is just like this -- she scratches the door to come inside, and then when you open the door, she just stands there.

Congress sues...

Real quick: Congress has taken the next step by suing Josh Bolton and Harriet Miers for defying their subpoenas. Read the complaint.

Weekend

This weekend was nice. On Saturday, I met with my spiritual director (which I haven't done since January), and with my oblate group (which I haven't done since October!). On Sunday afternoon, Dean, his mom, and I went to Weston, MO, visited the shops and had lunch at the silk art museum/restaurant there. We didn't buy much. Dean got a cross-type thing made out of railroad nails and I got some black currant tea.

Annie's Song

You fill up my senses like a night in the forest,
like the mountains in springtime, like a walk in the rain,
like a storm in the desert, like a sleepy blue ocean.
You fill up my senses, come fill me again.

Come let me love you, let me give my life to you,
let me drown in your laughter, let me die in your arms,
let me lay down beside you, let me always be with you.
Come let me love you, come love me again.

You fill up my senses like a night in the forest,
like the mountains in springtime, like a walk in the rain,
like a storm in the desert, like a sleepy blue ocean.
You fill up my senses, come fill me again.

Bush vetoes bill banning waterboarding

It is moments like this that make me ashamed to be an American. Bush is not even pretending to not torture. His reasoning contradicts the conclusions of his own administration which said that it "yields unreliable results." Even if it DID yield results would not make it acceptable. Torture is NEVER okay. I don't see why moral, upright, Christian conservatives (or anybody else) doesn't understand that. I am stunned, flabbergasted.

This is so intolerable that I can hardly see straight. That American citizens DO tolerate it (because they are not avalanching their Representatives to override the veto or recalling them out of office or rising up in massive protests), that our representatives are kowtowing to Bush, that our Churches (of all faiths) remain very nearly silent is all loathsomely shameful.



http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/08/bush.torture.ap/index.html
President Bush said Saturday he vetoed legislation that would ban the CIA from using harsh interrogation methods such as waterboarding to break suspected terrorists because it would end practices that have prevented attacks.

Reef restoration provides passion for diver

After witnessing the rapid devastation of a Cayman Island coral reef where he had been diving since childhood, Todd Barber was moved from horror to action.

He gave up a six-figure salary as a marketing consultant and dedicated his life to restoring the world's ocean reef ecosystems.

"I had been following this reef since I had been 14; it was where my first dive was," recalls Barber. "When that one little tiny reef was lost, that sparked something in me. If we lost one and it took that tens of thousands of years to get here, how fast is this happening?"

Barber had caught a small glimpse of a larger global issue -- the destruction of the world's coral reefs -- and it scared him. According to the Nature Conservancy, if the present rate of destruction continues, 70 percent of the world's coral reefs will be destroyed by the year 2050. Not only are they home to 25 percent of all marine fish species, but the organization states that 500 million people rely on coral reefs for their food and livelihoods.

Rest of article: CNN Heroes

Support the cause: Reefball Foundation

Florida & Michigan

I've thought a lot about Florida & Michigan, and I just don't see any way for those votes to count. People who "knew" their vote would not count didn't bother voting. Obama wasn't even on the ballot in MI. None of them campaigned in either state. A "do over" is not only too expensive, but a bad solution. Relying on past primaries is foolish. A new delegate-only "caucus-style" primary doesn't reflect the mind of the people.

FL & MI made their bed. Now they have to lie in it.

If that means that nobody gets enough votes to clinch the nomination, then so be it--that means that whatever "other" rules there are for that situation (and surely there are some), apply (plurality, delegate re-vote during the convention, whatever).

Update: I've read on CNN that there are enough as-yet uncommitted superdelegates who could bring one of the candidates "over the top". I've read on some blogs that if the superdelegates don't create a majority, then the delegates would vote again, and in the second round they would all be"uncommitted" (e.g. those that are committed to Edwards would then be free to choose either Obama or Clinton). That would ultimately decide things. Given that, I really see no reason to worry about MI and FL.

It's all a bit of a farce really--there are so many superdelegates and so many states whose delegates remain "undedicated" that it's really hard to say that this process is democratic or reflects the will of the people.

Brian & Stewie at the Emmy's

Clinton has a big night

So Clinton got a much-needed big win yesterday. It would be interesting if the race stayed so close that there isn't a winner without counting the Michigan and Florida votes that aren't supposed to count (is that possible? I don't know).

Gary Gygax Dies

Gary Gygax, the creator of Dungeons & Dragons died today at age 69. I was one of those nerds who grew up playing D&D. Started when I was about 10 years old and played until I was a Sophomore in college before I stopped. I remember owning most of the original books and game modules, which in mint condition, are sometimes worth quite a lot today.

Anyway, the one thing I remember most about playing, besides the geeky fun, is the creativity involved. I remember it being one of the few outlets I had for creativity, and from time-to-time, even wrote and dungeon mastered my own game modules.

Gary Gygax's control of his company was taken from him by his business partners in a sad string of events in the mid 80s. He continued developing on his own, but he never achieved quite the same kind of prominence again--the original name and brand stuck and Gary Gygax's name was forgettable to many.

Government Secrecy

This is from Bill Moyers' Journal.



Overall, I find myself undecided about the whole issue of journalists testifying about their sources. This feature makes the same case that Judith Miller made for not wanting to reveal her source re: Valerie Plame.

I'm not sure how to judge this catch-22 -- I don't like the idea of journalists using the sacrosanct "anonymous source" to keep a lawbreaker from being held accountable, or for journalist's revealing their sources being the reason why whistleblowers stop talking.

But, one thing I am clear about: our "whistleblower protection" laws suck big time. Over and over again we hear stories of whistleblowers getting fired, and worse, for revealing the terrible things our government does.

Funny