Hands reach for rice packets

Hands reach for packets of rice being distributed.

Last fire of the year 2004

Cats by the hearth on New Year's Eve

Cats,
originally uploaded by Jean Dudley.

Friday Cat blogging. Quatchi and Gohan wish to say "Yeah, yeah, happy whatever. Now get out of our bedroom."

Note to Bill O'Reilly

Note to Bill O'Reilly:



Intravenous bag. This is for medical treatment.



Wine glass. This is for drinking wine.



Loofah. This is for exfoliation and personal hygiene.


Falafel. This is for eating. (Note the fork--that's a tool for eating, and not usually for sexual stimulation)



Human being who doesn't deserve getting unwelcome phone calls detailing your sexual fantasies (involving intravenous wine, loofahs and falafel) about her.

Now you know, and knowing is half the battle.

HTH, HAND,

Jean.

Even with the increase to $350M, U.S. contributes less per capita to the SEA-EAT disaster

U.S. contributes less per capita:
startribune.com
Last update: December 31, 2004 at 12:04 AM
Charles M. Sennott
Boston Globe
Published December 31, 2004

LONDON -- The U.S. government is contributing $35 million of the half-billion dollars that the world's developed nations are donating to the tsunami relief effort, and many Americans believe -- as President Bush said this week -- that their country is being its typical "generous, kindhearted" self.

By total money, the United States donates more than any other country. But both on a per capita basis and as a percentage of the nation's wealth, America's emergency relief in Asia and development aid to poor countries ranks at the bottom of developed nations, economists and analysts said Thursday.

The amount the United States has pledged to Asia is eclipsed by the $96 million promised by Britain, a country with one-fifth the population, and by the $75 million vowed by Sweden, which amounts to $8.40 for each of its 9 million people. Denmark's pledge of $15.6 million amounts to roughly $2.90 per capita.

The U.S. donation is 12 cents per capita.*

Amid criticism of the U.S. government's response, the White House announced that Secretary of State Colin Powell and the president's brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, would travel to Asia Sunday "to assess what additional aid can be provided by the United States."

Jeffrey Sachs, an economist at Columbia University and a specialist on aid to developing countries, said, "There is a very big difference between American attitudes, which are generous; beliefs, which is that we do a lot; and the reality. ... The reality is we actually do very little by comparative measures.

"There is going to be even more shock when the U.S. government asks for an additional $80 billion in Iraq and the American public juxtaposes that with what was given in one of the worst natural disasters the world has ever seen," Sachs said.

After World War II, the U.S. government gave as much as 2 percent of its total gross national product to help countries rebuild. That dropped to about 0.5 percent of GNP during the 1960s and 1970s, and it fell precipitously during the Reagan administration to its current level, according to Sachs and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

In 2003, the United States ranked last on OECD's list, spending only 0.15 percent of its national income. Norway spent 0.9 percent, France 0.4 percent and Britain 0.3 percent.

Bush and Clinton officials have argued that the OECD statistics are misleading because they do not measure assistance other than formal foreign aid.

*Update: It's since been announced that the US Government is pledging $350 million, increasing the aid by ten times. This amounts to $1.20 per capita, still a meager amount compared to the per capita giving of other developed nations. Keep trying George. Let's try for $10/person, shall we?

A Difficult Pregnancy.

OK, this is assinine.:

Shawnna Hughes divorced her abusive husband. But four days later a judge revoked her divorce because Shawnna Hughes was pregnant-- and pregnant women in Washington, according to this judge, can't get divorced.

Greg Seims, director of United Fathers, Inc., a fathers' rights group, agrees with this analysis. "Even though there's domestic violence, staying married until the baby is born is the best option," says Seims. His point is that if she doesn't formally deestablish paternity after the birth, this man will have the right to reenter the life of the child until the child is 18 years old. Seims notes, "He could be the scum of the earth but he'll always have the rights to this child."

This is a complex legal situation, with rights of the "child" being balanced against the problem of lack of financial support. I think, thought, that Mr. Seims chose his words poorly. It is never in the best interest of the child for the mother to remain married to an abusive husband.

As the article points out, this could be used by abusive men to ensure that their victims don't divorce them by impregnating them. I find the very notion of this bone-chilling.

Oh, this infuriates me.

Sex-assault treatment guidelines omit pill

Sex-assault treatment guidelines omit pill:
Posted on Fri, Dec. 31, 2004

Sex-assault treatment guidelines omit pill
Victims' advocates call emergency contraception key, seek Justice changes.
By Marie McCullough
Inquirer Staff Writer

The U.S. Department of Justice has issued its first-ever medical guidelines for treating sexual-assault victims - without any mention of emergency contraception, the standard precaution against pregnancy after rape.

The omission of the so-called morning-after pill has frustrated and angered victims' advocates and medical professionals who have long worked to improve victims' care.

Gail Burns-Smith, one of several dozen experts who vetted the protocol during its three-year development by Justice's Office on Violence Against Women, said emergency contraception was included in an early draft, and she does not know of anyone who opposed it.

"But in the climate in which we are currently operating, politically it's a hot potato," said Burns-Smith, retired director of Connecticut Sexual Assault Crisis Services.

For two weeks, Justice officials were unavailable to talk about the new 141-page protocol, published in September. But in an e-mail, department spokesman Eric Holland reiterated points made in the document.

"The goals of the protocol are to ensure that all victims, regardless of differences in background or location of service, receive the same high quality medical and forensic exam, while being treated with respect and compassion, and to improve prosecution of sexual assault cases through the appropriate collection of evidence," he wrote. "The protocol is not intended to supercede the many state, local, and tribal protocols that are currently in practice."

Lynn Schollet, a lawyer with the Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault, said that without emergency contraception, the trauma of rape could be compounded by an unplanned pregnancy.

"It is very unfortunate to set forth a model national standard that is not giving women the best care available," Schollet said.

The controversy has erupted just weeks before the Food and Drug Administration is scheduled to reconsider whether to make it easier to get emergency contraception. A year ago, the FDA rejected nonprescription sales of Plan B, an emergency contraceptive. The ruling delighted conservative groups that had lobbied the Bush administration but went against the FDA's own staff, advisory panels and major medical societies.

The manufacturer's latest application would make Plan B available without a doctor's orders to females 16 and over.

Responding to the Justice Department guidelines, the Pennsylvania chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union is collecting signatures on a petition urging the department to fix the "glaring omission in an otherwise thorough document."

In the half-page on pregnancy "risk evaluation and care," the protocol says to take victims' pregnancy fears "seriously," give a pregnancy test, and "discuss treatment options, including reproductive health services."

Advocates say emergency contraception, which is high-dose birth-control pills, reduces the chance of pregnancy 75 to 90 percent - but only if taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex.

"This narrow window of effectiveness makes timely access to emergency contraception critical," declares the petition.

Five states - New York, Illinois, California, Washington and New Mexico - have laws requiring hospitals to provide the contraception to victims, or at least tell them how to get the pills.

The development of national guidelines was required under the 2000 renewal of the decade-old federal Violence Against Women Act to develop uniform, quality care for sexual-assault victims.

"In too many hospitals, the nurses and doctors are still reading the rape kit directions while they're doing the exam," said Linda Ledray, a sexual-assault exam trainer who directs the Sexual Assault Resource Service in Minneapolis.

One of the most inconsistent aspects of care is the morning-after pill. A 2002 analysis of national emergency-room data by the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey found that only 21 percent of sexual-assault victims received it. In a 1998 survey of urban Catholic hospitals, a University of Pennsylvania study found that 12 out of 27 centers had rules against informing rape victims about the method.

The risk of pregnancy after rape is small - less than 5 percent - but the vulnerable group is large. Of 333,000 sexual assaults and rapes reported in 1998, about 25,000 resulted in pregnancies - of which 22,000 could have been prevented, estimated James Trussell, a Princeton University population researcher.

Emergency contraception is controversial because, like stem cells and cloning, it has become tangled in the politics of abortion. The method usually works by keeping an egg from being released or being fertilized. However, it may sometimes prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus - equated with murder by some conservative groups and the Catholic Church (which opposes all forms of contraception).

"I think it's very smart not to put that in the guidelines," said Dr. George Isajiw of Lansdowne, a board member of Physicians for Life, a Philadelphia antiabortion group.

By giving emergency contraception, he said, "you're giving a dangerous drug that's not doing any good, or else you're causing an abortion. As a moral principle, a woman has the right to defend herself against an aggressor. But she doesn't have the right to kill the baby."

Anne Liske, executive director of the New York State Coalition Against Sexual Assault, said the decision should be left to the woman. "The victim needs to be in charge of decisions about her care," she said.

New York state - which mandates that hospitals, regardless of religious affiliation, provide the contraception to rape victims - recently fined a Coney Island hospital $46,000 for not giving it correctly and mishandling forensic evidence needed for prosecution.

"We've just started to get successful lawsuits" against hospitals that don't provide emergency contraception, said Ledray in Minneapolis. "I'm afraid such lawsuits will fail if the national protocol doesn't treat emergency contraception as the standard of care."

Some experts who reviewed the protocol think it is a huge step forward - just not the last step.

Dr. Michael Weaver of Kansas City, Mo., helped write the American College of Emergency Physicians' sexual-assault response protocol, which prominently includes emergency contraception.

"If we can get this national protocol out there," he said, "we can gather evidence more appropriately and prosecute more cases, and it will be a much healthier society."

Contact staff writer Marie McCullough at 215-854-2720 or mmccullough@phillynews.com.

This scares me. I see this as a means of keeping women ignorant of their choices, and denying them the right to make a fully informed decision. When a woman has been assaulted, trauma sets in, and even if she knows about RU-486, she may not remember it. Part of treatment should include empowering her to take charge of her life, helping her to reclaim her sense of self-ownership. Rape is a violation of self. "Your body is not your own" is one of the messages sent by the act of rape.

When a woman is made pregnant by rape, it reinforces this message. "Your body is not your own, but is now the residence of another 'human being'". The point of contention, as I see it, is just how do you define "human being"? I'm of the opinion that at that stage, it is NOT a human-being, it is a mass of cells. There are some that argue that it doesn't matter, that a woman's right to choose supersedes any "rights" of the contents of her uterus. I'm not sure of that. I'm not dead against it, but I simply have questions about the ethics of aborting a fetus that is developed enough to survive outside the womb. Let's just say the jury is out on it still.

Still, I am squarely against denying women knowledge and the right to make informed decision.

Number one quote of the year

AlterNet: The 25 Dumbest Quotes of 2004:
"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." -President Bush

Oh, the truth is often told by children, drunks and idiots.

The Rude Pundit has some highbrow poetry to end the year.

The Rude Pundit:
12/31/2004

The Year In Haiku (i):
(Throughout the day, the Rude Pundit will be posting haiku in remembrance of this awful year.)

i.
All rotting corpses
Smell the same, in Fallujah,
Darfur, or Aceh.

// posted by Rude One @ 8:59 AM

Beauty blogging

"Who Knows Where the Time Goes?"
by Bruce Barone
http://www.livejournal.com/users/mylastsigh/

Rising count...

125,000

Google weighs in on philanthropy

(click for larger view)

Oddly work-safe

(click for larger version)
Automated Pornography detection

I dunno, sorta hafta wonder how these folks would determine erogenous zones.

An odd thought in the midst of disaster.

Not once in all my news consumption so far, have I heard the incorrect term "tidal wave". I suppose I'm the sort to give thanks for small favors.

Thank you to the Japanese language for giving English the word "tsunami", or "port wave".

I'm damn proud to be a Mac user.

This makes me glad that I am a Mac user. This has caused me to become even more loyal to Apple.



Microsoft has other priorities than tsunami disaster relief. This is why Microsoft will have better profits this year.

Both images where taken within minutes of each other, and uploaded within minutes of each other.

I have to wonder how the two compare in giving to the relief efforts.

Bob Harris has done my legwork and presented another list of organizations to accept donations.

BobHarris.com:

How to help folks on the wrong end of a tsunami

Sunday, 26 December 2004

Very weird to be sitting in a hotel here in Melbourne, completely safe, as if nothing has happened, when just a plane ride away tens of thousands of lives have just been destroyed.

Not sure how to help, but there are people who know what to do and are directly on the scene. These people can make your dollars work in ways most of us have never had to think about:

Doctors Without Borders is already firing up teams to provide medical assistance and assist with clean water and sanitation systems and will probably have people on the ground with 24 hours. You can donate online here.

Telecoms San Frontieres is relatively new organization created to bring satellite phone lines and other communications equipment to help other relief organizations get organized. They're already sending people. Bizarrely, however, these high-tech types don't have an online donation thing set up (another victory for progressive logistics!), but you can send donations to:

Télécoms sans Frontières
20, Avenue Garcia Lorca
64000 Pau France

Mercy Corps is unusually efficient at converting donated dollars into aid, and they already had people in Sumatra, so their folks are already on the scene. They'll be working on food supplies, shelters, and medicine. You can contribute online here.

And of course, you can't go wrong with the Red Cross and Red Crescent, whose online donation thingy allows you to target your contribution in a depressingly handy scroll-down pop-up menu of hellish tragedy.

It's hard for me to imagine what's happening right now, even with news pictures and such. Last year I had the chance to walk along the shore at Batu Ferringhi, a not-very-big beach area where tourists in paddle boats mingled with local kids bobbing in the surf and older fishermen endlessly heading out to sea. I really loved it there. Last night, dozens of people were killed, and they're still trying to figure out how many of the fishing boats never came back. When I picture the boats I saw with my own eyes, OK, I get it. That's pretty horrible.

So to grok Sri Lanka or Sumatra I guess I just have to picture a hundred Batu Ferringhis all along Asian coastlines, with sometimes five or ten stacked up in one spot...

Words shouldn't have to exist to describe things like this.

UPDATE: Oxfam is another terrific group, who so far seem mostly to be involved in getting injured people proper medical attention. You can donate to their Asian relief efforts here. Thanks to several emailers for the suggestion.

CARE, meanwhile, is already feeding about 14,000 people in the hardest-hit parts of Sri Lanka. You can help them keep survivors properly fed here.

It's times like these that I wish I were a believer again.

Back when I was a young girl, I was a devout Seventh-Day Adventist. I poured over the bible, reading and re-reading the prophecies in Revelations, in the gospels, in the epistles, in the Old Testament.

Wars and rumors of war, famine, pestilence, the moon red as blood, earthquakes. The antichrist. All of these foretold the immanent return of Jesus. I listened to the preachers and believed. Oddly, I looked forward to it with misguided belief in the armor of my faith; death and destruction would come near, but would not touch me, I believed. I imagined my lord and savior coming in clouds of glory to snatch up the faithful and the righteous to his bosom. Oh, how I longed for that day.

But then I became disillusioned with Christianity, and with the Seventh-Day Adventist church. I left it, drifted spiritually for years, embraced Neo-Paganism. Even now, I'm still ambivalent about religion in general.

But with George W. Bush set to begin another 4 years in January, with the war in Iraq, and the possibility of another war (Syria? Iran? North Korea? Take your pick, the speculation is diverse) with the atrocities of Darfur, and now with the dead either close to or over 100,000, I am reminded of those sermons, those predictions.

I look longingly at the days of my childhood, the joy I had in knowing that Jesus would come to judge the quick and the dead.

But I can't bring myself to believe again.

I think that the list of signs and portents is more a list of human characteristics and the mindless violence of nature than prophecy, now. And while I agree that Bush probably *is* the antichrist, it's not because of convoluted and obscure manipulations of his name to produce the number "666", but because he stands for everything that is diametrically opposed to the teachings of Jesus. There have been a long line of antichrists reaching back into history, and there will be many more to come.

Oh, I do wish Jesus would come riding in the clouds like a white knight to rescue us. But he didn't in the time of Hitler, or Idi Amin Dada, or Saddam Hussain, or other monsters of history. But there is something from the bible that is pertinent to this situation. I give you I Corinthians 13.

The First Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians
Chapter 13

Love

1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

4 ¶ Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
5 doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
6 rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
7 beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

8 ¶ Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
12 For now we see through a glass, darkly, but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

Let's play "Spot the Irony!"

The Bush Inauguration

Thursday, Dec. 30
Toe-tappin' to a Texas beat
01/18/2001

By Mario Tarradell / The Dallas Morning News

The list of performers at George W. Bush's inauguration includes pop and rock superstars – from Ricky Martin to Van Morrison. But, as expected, country is the main groove. After all, when Texas goes to Washington, there's gotta be a fiddle in the band.

Here's a look at five Texas country artists offering musical salutes to the nation's new leader.

Mario Tarradell

Brooks & Dunn

Kix Brooks and Texan Ronnie Dunn remain the most celebrated duo in country music history. (Yes, they are more successful than the Judds.) The pair's high-octane honky-tonk sound has sold more than 20 million albums. In between the record sales, B&D have won nine Country Music Association awards, nine Academy of Country Music trophies and a couple of Grammys. Expect the boys' follow-up to 1999's Tightrope this spring. The still-untitled album's first single, "Ain't Nothing 'Bout You," hits radio this month.

Tanya Tucker

Ms. Tucker, a rare singer who made a successful transition from child sensation to adult star, is no longer the toast of Nashville. But this is a woman who has endured career and personal setbacks with minor scratches. Plus, she has a repertoire of classics, from "Delta Dawn" to "Down to My Last Teardrop."

*Asleep at the Wheel

Ray Benson and his entourage continue to be the modern-day torchbearers of Bob Wills' beloved Western swing sound. The group got a lot of mileage out of 1999's wonderful Ride With Bob album, including a Grammy and a handful of Country Music Association and Academy of Country Music award nominations. Up next: A greatest-hits compilation should surface this spring.

Clint Black

Back in 1989, when Mr. Black released his debut album, Killin' Time, he was heralded as Texas' response to Merle Haggard. A dozen years later, the comparison has lost some validity, given the pop-polished stuff Mr. Black has recorded. But he's still an exceptional talent who usually writes and produces his CDs, specifically 1999's refreshing D'lectrified. Expect a new studio disc this year.

Aztex

OK, they aren't exactly a country act, but vocalist Sarah Fox and accordionist-keyboardist Joel Guzman play an intriguing brand of roots music. The husband-and-wife duo's 1999 debut album, Short Stories, offered songs in English and Spanish that fused rock, blues, jazz, tropical rhythms and Mexican conjunto elements. Think of it as South-of-the-border songs steeped in rich Texas music traditions.

How ironically apropos.

Gods, I love "Unconfirmed Sources".

Unconfirmed Sources:

President George W. Bush, stung by criticism that the United States was being "Stingy" with relief efforts has vowed that his country would spearhead relief efforts. The President, speaking from the Oval Office said, "We are not stingy. We are the sweetest, most gentlest, kindest nation on Earth and we will lead the world in helping those less fortunate than us." In a related story, little Jimmy Hymen in Billings, Montana, stung that he got a lump of coal in his stocking for Christmas for being stingy with his toys said in a letter to Santa Claus, "I promise this year to be the sweetest, most gentlest, kindest kid on Earth and will lead others in helping those less fortunate than me." Jimmy was shortly afterward sent to his room for breaking his mothers lamp during a temper tantrum. There is no word as of yet what will happen to Mr. Bush for breaking Iraq.

The best answer yet.

"Why did you do this, God?"

It is a question that clergy have to deal with nearly every day, not just at times of great catastrophe but when providing consolation for the daily sorrows of life, said U.S. Rabbi Daniel Isaak, of Congregation Neveh Shalom, in Portland, Oregon.

"It is really difficult to believe in a God that not only creates a tsunami that kills 50 or 60 thousand people, (Edit: Numbers are now over 120K dead, and climbing) but that puts birth defects in children," he said. "Often the first question people ask on an individual basis is that question that that Indian woman asked. Why is God doing this to me?"

In one modern view, he said, God does not interfere in the affairs of his creation. Disasters like the tsunami occur for the natural reasons scientists say they do.

"This is not something that God has done. God hasn't picked out a certain group of people in a certain area of the world and said: 'I am going to punish them,"' he said.

"The world has certain imperfections built into the natural order, and we have to live with them. The issue isn't 'Why did God do this to us?' but 'How do we human beings care for one another?"'

You know it's bad when the fundies speak out against the Religious Right.

I Am A Conservative Christian, And The Religious Right Scares Me, Too:

By Chuck Baldwin
The Covenant News ~ December 15, 2004

For those readers who are unfamiliar with my biography, let me here provide a thumbnail sketch of my conservative bona fides:

I attended, graduated, or received degrees from fundamentalist Christian schools such as Midwestern Baptist College in Pontiac, Michigan, Thomas Road Bible Institute (now known as Liberty Bible Institute at Liberty University) in Lynchburg, Virginia, Christian Bible College in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, and Trinity Baptist College in Jacksonville, Florida.

I am currently in my thirtieth year as the Senior Pastor of the Crossroad Baptist Church (Independent) in Pensacola, Florida. I was the Executive Director of the Florida Moral Majority in the early 1980's. I was an active member of the local Christian Coalition.

I have marched and protested against abortion clinics. I have led several pro-life rallies and even led our church to construct A Memorial To Aborted Babies. I have conducted small and large (some drawing crowds numbering in the thousands) pro-life, pro-family rallies and meetings in the Pensacola area and in many towns and cities across the state of Florida.

When Ronald Reagan was running for President, I helped Dr. Jerry Falwell register more than fifty thousand new conservative voters in my state. I have attended White House functions with former President Reagan and former Vice President George H.W. Bush.

I supported and defended Chief Justice Roy Moore and his fight to display a Ten Commandments monument at a pro-Ten Commandments rally in Montgomery, Alabama and even on national television.

I am an annual member of the National Rifle Association and a life member of Gun Owners of America. I have been the featured speaker at several pro-Second Amendment rallies.

No one can honestly question my commitment to pro-life, pro-family, conservative causes. That being said, the Religious Right, as it now exists, scares me.

For one reason, on the whole, the Religious Right has obviously and patently become little more than a propaganda machine for the Republican Party in general and for President G.W. Bush in particular. This is in spite of the fact that both Bush and the Republican Party in Washington, D.C., have routinely ignored and even trampled the very principles which the Religious Right claims to represent.

Therefore, no longer does the Religious Right represent conservative, Christian values. Instead, they represent their own self-serving interests at the expense of those values.

It also appears painfully obvious to me that in order to sit at the king's table, the Religious Right is willing to compromise any principle, no matter how sacred. As such, it has become a hollow movement. Sadly, the Religious Right is now a movement without a cause, except the cause of advancing the Republican Party.

Beyond that, the Religious Right is actively assisting those who would destroy our freedoms. On the whole, the Religious Right comports with those within the Bush administration and within the Republican Party who, in the name of "fighting terrorism," are actually terrorizing constitutional protections of our liberties.

The Religious Right offered virtually no resistance to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, the passage of the Patriot Act, or the recently created position of National Intelligence Director. Neither did the Religious Right offer even a whimper of protest as President Bush and Republicans in Congress created a first-ever national ID card in the new intelligence bill, which eerily has more in common with early Twentieth Century German and Russian intelligence institutions than anything envisioned by America's Founding Fathers.

Another disconcerting feature of today's Religious Right is its attempt to Christianize political entities which it supports and to demonize political entities which it opposes. This trend is especially scary.

When people are told that they are voting "Christian" by voting for Republican Party candidates, it is being intimated that they are voting non-Christian by voting for any other candidate. This is not only silly on its face, it is downright dangerous!

I don't remember anyone saying people voted "Christian" when they elected the outspoken Christian candidate, Jimmy Carter, President. Yet, Carter, in his personal life, demonstrated as much, if not more, Christianity than does George W. Bush. If you recall, Carter even taught Sunday School in a Southern Baptist Church while President.

However, in spite of the fact that President Bush and the Republican Party in Washington, D.C., have repeatedly supported copious unchristian (not to mention unconstitutional) programs and policies, Christians act as if Bush and his fellow Republicans have ushered in the Millennial Kingdom.

More than that, the Religious Right appears to believe that G.W. Bush is the anointed vicar of Christ. But instead of wearing the garb of a religious leader, he wears the shroud of a politico and a military commander-in-chief.

As such, in the minds of the Religious Right, Bush's war in Iraq is a holy crusade. America is fast taking on the shape of the old Holy Roman Empire and President Bush is quickly morphing into a modern day Caesar.

The willingness of the Religious Right to give President Bush king-like subservience is easily seen in the way they demonize anyone who dares to oppose him. This is very unnerving.

Are we heading for a modern day religious inquisition, this one led not by the Catholic Church but by the Religious Right? Are we witnessing the type of marriage between Church and State that America's founders originally feared?

I used to believe that liberals were paranoid for being fearful of conservative Christians gaining political power. Now, I share their trepidation.

Of course, the sad truth is, neither George W. Bush nor the Republican Party in Washington, D.C. represents genuine Christian or even conservative principles. If they did, they would take their oaths to the Constitution seriously and then neither liberals nor conservatives would have anything to fear, for the U.S. Constitution protects the rights and freedoms of all men.

Unfortunately, when the seed of Bush's unconstitutional policies come to fruition, it will produce large scale fallout economically, socially, and politically. And sadder still will be that, instead of blaming Bush's infidelity to constitutional government and conservative principles, people will blame Christianity and conservatism itself. The result of this miscalculation will doubtless be a massive tide of support for more and greater unconstitutional government, but only under a different name.


Chuck Baldwin
chuck@chuckbaldwinlive.com

Covenant News | Pro-Life News | Freedom of Speech | Politics | Aboms.com | Family Topics

Good news! And boy, can we use it.

Reuters News Article:

Arkansas Judge Ends State Ban on Gay Foster Parents
Wed Dec 29, 2004 06:49 PM ET

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (Reuters) - An Arkansas circuit judge on Wednesday threw out the state's ban against foster parenthood by gay couples or by households that include a gay adult.

The judge, Tim Fox of Little Rock, side-stepped the issue of whether the ban unconstitutionally discriminated against gay couples. Instead he ruled that the state administrative board, which imposed the ban, was not authorized to do so.

"That's good enough. We'll take it," said Rita Sklar, director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Arkansas, which challenged the ban.

Sklar said expert testimony during the trial demonstrated that the children of gay foster parents were no more likely to suffer psychological damage or exhibit anti-social traits than the children of heterosexuals.

The state's Child Welfare Agency Review Board imposed the ban on gay foster parenting in 1999.

The regulation was challenged by a gay man and a lesbian woman who argued that the ban violated their rights under the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution.

I bet Condi smacked him upside the hayd...

"I'm not stingy!" Bush cries

Bush seems to have taken offense at being called "stingy". Frankly, while I admit to a bit of schadenfreude at Dubbya's wounded sense of self importance, the lives of millions in the affected areas are at stake. This isn't a time to be engaging in Bush-beating. This is a time to be urging, cajoling, demanding that the US Government send more to help. we need to be sending in the BILLIONS of dollars, not the mere pitance of $35 million we've offered so far.

Get Congress back in session. Start sending troops, supplies, experts, and money to help. We have a prime opportunity to rebuild relations with the rest of the world. But for the gods' sake, don't try to take over all the aid efforts, work *WITH* the rest of the world.

And Mr. Bush, if you're reading this (ha!), it's time to leave your ranch, and come back to Washington to take charge. Appoint Bill Clinton to head a coordination effort. Mobilize the resources of America to mount an aid effort.

Hell, make a trip over there to console this woman:

Kwan Yin, mother or mercy, hear our prayers.

Rising Count

120,000:

How to help

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BuzzFlash; Contributor; My Fight With Clear Channel:
My Fight With Clear Channel

A BUZZFLASH READER CONTRIBUTION
by Robert Millman


Like a lot of people, I think our country is in trouble. Fundamental issues about war and social equity are largely ignored by the main stream media.


I decided I had to do something about it, for myself and my family's sake, and set out to create a series of thirty second audio recordings, Issue Ads to frame basic questions about our country. With the help of my wife and several like minded friends I produced seven "Paid Radio Moments," and contacted WGY, the big AM radio station in Albany, New York. It should be no surprise that WGY is a Clear Channel station.


Through an advertising representative I set up a schedule and gave them my credit card authorizing a $710.00 charge. Believe me, that's a lot of money for me and my wife. The plan was to put six of the ads on the morning drive program over two days and end with the "Christianity Spot" on Rush Limbaugh's program.


Within minutes of sending the audio files to the Clear Channel I was informed by e-mail that my issue ads were rejected by the programming staff. I wrote back to Clear Channel twice. I asking for an explanation as to why the ads were rejected. Was it a specific ad? Was it specific language? So far, I have received no answer. A newspaper reporter from the Schenectady Daily Gazette called WGY and requested a reason for the rejection of my ads. He also asked if they had a company policy on advertising. He also received no answers.


I can understand that this is a two edged sword. I would not want to hear radio commercials from the Ku Klux Klan, but surely there is some middle ground. And if the FCC can censure broadcasters for indecent speech, there should be some standard for what is acceptable. If publicly owned air-waves can be used for the financial benefit of Clear Channel, then I believe Clear Channel has an obligation to define a standard for acceptable advertising.


Regardless of what happens at Clear Channel, my hope is that people in this country will start asking hard questions, and ask them out loud. I truly believe that once we get past the labels, many conservatives and liberals will find they share the same convictions about fair play and equal rights. Social equity is not a luxury in a free society, it is the life blood, and we will perish without it.


Last, but not least, I encourage people who are concerned about vote suppression to financially support the statisticians at www.uscountvotes.org. If we can first turn the public discussion back to basic issues like the right to vote, we want to have real information ready when that discussion takes place.


Robert Millman - 12/29/04


A BUZZFLASH READER CONTRIBUTION

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Quote of the day

Hometown of Steinbeck Is Closing Its Libraries:

"'Operating a library isn't as simple as selling cans of tomato soup at a retail store.'"

--Ms. Neal, administrative manager at the Steinbeck branch library, Salinas Ca.

More perspective on the stingy relief aid offered by Bush

Atrios offers a harsh perspective on the $15M offered for relief aid: Next month inaugural event is budgeted at $30-40M. That doesn't include "security". Call your congressional representatives and let them know you want more of your tax money to go to Asia for disaster relief. Tell them to take it out of the inaugural funding.

Thoughts on the Asian Disaster

I've been following the news regarding the Dec 26th earthquake and tsunami in the Indian Ocean with growing horror and disbelief. I can't imagine bodies stacked like cordwood without my mind's eye closing in grief and sorrow.

Over on Michael J. Totten's blog, a commentator said the following:
"It won't take long before someone blames the Bush Administration for this."

I was struck by the callousness of the remark. Who would blame Bush for a natural disaster? Certainly no Democrat, Liberal or Progressive I know. But I will say this: I find it horrifying that we have spent over $147 BILLION on the war in Iraq, have killed an estimated 20-100,000 citizens, and we are sending a paltry $15 million in relief?

Where are our priorities as a nation? No doubt the American Red Cross and other disaster-relief agencies will be rushing to provide assistance, but just where will the money come from? Most of it won't be from the US Government, I'd be willing to bet. And if it does come from the government, it had better be a lot more than a mere $15 million.

As American citizens, we have a reputation for being the most generous and caring people in the world. Let's live up to it, shall we? Give what you can. Make a trip to your local Red Cross Chapter and give them your contribution, even if it's a handful of change.

Some agencies I'd recommend:

Save the Children
Oxfam America
American Red Cross (You might want to consider giving blood if you can instead of money)

Bill Clinton has urged that a coordinator be set up to oversee relief distribution. Frankly, I think Bush should appoint Bill to do it.

Diego Garcia, a small atoll in the Indian Ocean is the location of a Naval Air Base. It is the southernmost island of the Chagos Archipeligo, and is located about 2000 miles from the epicenter of the quake. They reported no damage from the tsunami. It may have been averted by a thriving coral reef. I think a contingent of service members from the 2000 or so stationed there should be sent to help in other areas.


The Seychelles, home of incredible granite boulders reminiscent of the scenes in the second Myst game "Riven" was also hit.



I recently read an article about Robert Graf, an American searching for pirate treasure on Mahe, in the Seychelles. I hope he's safe. I doubt his efforts were spared.

Near the epicenter, the small island of Aceh is eerily silent. I'd never even heard of this island before this tragedy struck. Already wracked by rebellion and corruption, the news from the island is sparse. A beautiful Mosque has been badly damaged by the quake and tsunami. Thousands are dead on this one island alone. For more information on the history, I'd recommend this article: Disaster compounds Aceh's Misery, from the Sydney Morning Herald, Australia. For a first-hand account by Rachel Harvey of the disaster there, read this article: Tragic Calm Follows Aceh Chaos from the BBC.

I've purposely not included pictures of the devastation in this article. If you would like to see some, I'd recommend this article in Michael J. Totten's log: Thousands of miles of hell.

I will be updating as I can. The gods won't save us, it's up to us to help Asia to recover. There but for fortune go you or I.

Judge wants Ashcroft to write a letter explaining pursuit of dealth penalty

Explanation for Death Penalty Sought in Fatal Smuggling Case

Judge asks prosecutors whether racism played a role in requesting capital punishment only for the truck driver, who is black.
By Scott Gold
Times Staff Writer

December 26, 2004

HOUSTON — The roots of an immigrant smuggling operation that left 19 dead last year stretched through Texas, across the Mexican border and deep into Central America. Amid those associated with the incident — convicted smugglers, suspects, victims and survivors — one man has stood out.

Tyrone Williams was a working-class truck driver from Schenectady, N.Y., who typically spent his days hauling milk south and watermelons north. In May 2003, however, he allegedly was promised $5,000 to carry a truckload of undocumented immigrants to Houston. Fourteen suspects were indicted in connection with the operation, but Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft announced that the government would seek the death penalty against just one — Williams.

Now, a judge wants prosecutors to explain that decision.

Williams, 33, has pleaded not guilty to charges of transporting and harboring illegal immigrants and conspiracy to transport immigrants. He is scheduled to go to trial Jan. 5, charged in connection with the incident in which more than 70 people were brought to "safe houses" in West Texas and then crammed into the back of a locked and unventilated tractor-trailer.

U.S. District Judge Vanessa D. Gilmore recently asked Assistant U.S. Atty. Tony R. Roberts for a letter, to be written by Ashcroft, explaining why they "sought the death penalty on this guy, the only black guy, and not on the others." Gilmore's request came after Williams' attorneys argued that he had been targeted because of his race. Gilmore threatened to hold prosecutors in contempt if she did not receive the letter.

Roberts and Michael T. Shelby, the U.S. attorney for the southern district of Texas, are bound by a gag order not to discuss the case. Justice Department officials did not return phone calls.

In documents filed with the court, prosecutors said that they would not be able to produce the letter. The judge's demand, they wrote, raises "serious separation of powers concerns." The U.S. attorney's office, they said, has "discretion on how to proceed in matters of prosecuting the laws in federal courts." Ashcroft, they wrote, is busy, and his ability to do his job would be "severely hampered by requiring him to personally respond."

Prosecutors also argued that Williams' case was unique because he "was the only person in control of the tractor-trailer when the aliens' situation deteriorated."

"None of the other co-defendants had the power to release the aliens and possibly save their lives," they wrote.

Prosecutors allege that when Williams pulled into a truck stop near Victoria, Texas, and opened the trailer doors, he panicked and fled. Authorities found 17 people, including a 5-year-old boy, dead in the truck or on the ground nearby. Two others died at area hospitals. As temperatures inside reached 173 degrees, authorities said, people scratched through the truck's walls in an attempt to breathe.

In court documents, Williams' attorney Craig A. Washington argued that 12 other suspects were eligible for the death penalty and that Williams had fallen victim to "selective prosecution."

Included in the filing was a summary of research done by Kevin McNally, a Kentucky attorney who works with the Federal Death Penalty Resource Council, a group that monitors capital cases. McNally concluded that the Justice Department — in the cases of 68 previous defendants charged with smuggling that resulted in death — had never sought the death penalty. Of those 68, McNally said, 61 were Latino, three were white, two were black and two were of unknown ethnicity.

"Every other similarly situated individual in the history of the death penalty as it related to alien smuggling has been treated differently," Washington wrote. He did not return phone calls seeking further comment.

Federal prosecutors have pointed out that they did not seek the death penalty against the other black defendant in the Texas case, Fatima Holloway, who was riding in the cab with Williams. But Williams' attorneys call that argument disingenuous, since by all accounts Holloway was unaware of the horror unfolding in the trailer behind her. According to an affidavit filed by a federal investigator, Williams had met Holloway at another truck stop and had given her a ride.

The same affidavit suggests that Williams also was unaware of the scope of the operation. It says that he remained in the cab while the immigrants were loaded in. Williams had been told that there were 16 people, not 74 or more, inside. And when Williams pulled over and saw what was happening, he gave the immigrants 20 bottles of water before fleeing, the affidavit says.

In the first trial stemming from the smuggling ring, two men were found guilty Thursday of conspiracy and aiding in the transport of immigrants leading to their deaths. Both could face life in prison.

Williams' attorneys have sought to compare his role to that of Karla Patricia Chavez Joya, a Honduran and the admitted ringleader of the operation. U.S. residents paid her at least $1,500 apiece to bring relatives across the border. She pleaded guilty in June and faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without possibility of parole, though she could receive a lighter sentence because she has agreed to cooperate with the government.

CBC News: Mission secures Buddhas of Bamiyan site in Afghanistan

CBC News: Mission secures Buddhas of Bamiyan site in Afghanistan

With thanks to DM for sharing this. The Afghani Buddhas site is catalogued. Will they ever try to rebuild the blasted Buddhas?

I can only hope so.

Whatever: Yes Virginia, There Are Christian ACLU Lawyers

Whatever: Yes Virginia, There Are Christian ACLU Lawyers

I'm not going to post the blog entry, but I do suggest that you go read it. In brief, John Scalzi is looking for lawyers who profess Christianity and are ALSO ACLU layers. Pass the word along. Call your local ACLU and ask if there are any lawyers who self-identify as Christian within their ranks.

I'm hoping they step forward.

Woo-hoo! I've got discussion! *gleeful dance*

*Ahem*.

Sorry for the jubiliation, but I've got my first post from a reader that I don't know. In recognition, I'd like to present the comment here, and respond to it rather than keep it buried in the archives.

Avinash Modi said...



I might not know a lot about American politics but I do feel that any activity which uses up tax money so that people can halt legislation without a strong argument must be stopped. What sort of a message does it send to the people if the leaders argue about names in telephone directories and oyster recipes to stall a motion? In the same way I totally agree to the limit of damages based on "pain and suffering". Far too often we see frivolous lawsuits being brought against anything and everything like the recent lawsuit against the Florida government because a woman wanted to display Christmas decorations. Would appreciate your thoughts on this.

First off, thanks for commenting, Avinash. I was begining to think I only had one reader, and a similarly-thinking one, at that. I appreciate your comment.

Now, to begin.

I'm not that familiar with American politics either, but recent events (the last 4 years) have made me sit up and take notice. I've begun taking the time to learn, albeit in a haphazard way. I know there are great gaps in my knowledge, and even greater gaps in my understanding. But it's a fascinating path, and I recommend that you begin your own journey to knowledge.

You used the phrase "uses up tax money...". I'm not sure what you mean by this. The filibuster is used in congressional session, by congressional representatives who are indeed paid by taxpayers. That is what they are paid to do, represent the interests of their constituents with the tools at their disposal. I may not agree with the particular use each time, but I wouldn't call it a waste of taxpayer money.

Yes, I'd agree that filibusters are sometimes used instead of strong argument--but that's a very subjective term, I think. I'd say that Strom Thurman's famous 24+ hours was used in place of strong argument because in my opinion, there is no argument strong enough to justify the continued legal codification of racism in America. On the flip side, strong arguments sometimes cannot sway a majority with an irrational goal.

Remember, it's not about "arguing about names in a phonebook"--in fact, during a filibuster, there is no argument at all. It's one representative taking up time on the floor of congress in an effort to stop a vote on proposed legislature.

The filibuster is a tool; a better analogy would be a wall. That wall can protect a minority from an attack on their freedoms, or it can block minorities from access to civil rights under the constitution. I don't advocate taking away the bricks.

In my perspective, the Radical Religious Right wants complete power over America. Yes, they may be a majority (I doubt it, I think that most Christians are not out to control America) but as an American citizen who's also a member of several minorities, I have rights that I am denied, and now more of my rights are being threatened by that radical group. They want to do this by replacing impartial judges with judges that will rule in favor of religion over democracy. And the only thing that the opposition has to stop it is the filibuster.

Taking the filibuster away isn't about saving money, it's about forcing a religious agenda on America.

Now, regarding "frivolous lawsuits". I distrust the word "frivolous" used here. Granted, there may be lawsuits filed with greed as a motivator, or even lawsuits designed to silence dissent. Neither of those motivations are "frivolous", in my opinion. They are both symptoms of a larger sickness in society, and not the fault of the justice system. I'm not sure I support limits on awards for pain and suffering. I'd have to know more about each particular case to decide.

In closing, thank you once again for your comment, Avinash. I welcome the chance to discuss these important issues with you.

Jean Dudley.

The cruelst words are "I told you so"

Note: This article is published with permission of the author. The Author has agreed to anonymity. I'd like to thank the author for their generousity.

"We tried to do what we could," [Pacific Tsunami Warning] centre director Charles McCreery said. "But we don't have contacts in our address book for anybody in that part of the world."

- from The Australian, Dec. 28, 2004

We've never been affected by a thing like this before, so probably we got very lax about it. That's not an excuse, but that should be the reason.

- President Chandrika Kumaratunga of Sri Lanka, BBC News, Dec. 28, 2004

For years they and their fellow scientists had been trying to convince complacent governments and decision makers of the need and the danger. Now on the morning of the 26th of December, they were helpless but to watch as their warnings were about to come to fruition in nearly the most horrific manner possible.



For more than fifty years, the nations of the Pacific Rim have collaborated on an ocean-spanning alliance -- the International Co-ordinating Group for the Tsunami Warning System in the Pacific -- to try to mitigate the devastating damage caused by the monsterous killer waves spawned by undersea earthquakes. Tsunamis, unlike most major natural disasters, are one of the few that you can literally run from. There is no escaping an earthquake that explodes underneath your feet; but from a tsunami a few simple measures and enough warning could save tens of thousands of lives. As fast as the killer tsunami waves are, modern light-speed communications are faster yet. Tens of minutes -- even hours -- can pass between the time a devastating tsunami is born and the time it hits distant shores with walls of water -- time in which, if you know it's coming, you can run for your life. Further, unlike disasters like volcanoes, which require each individual threat to be wired up and monitored, tsunamis are something that one center can monitor worldwide, calculating threats worldwide based on the rumbles that are carried through the entire volume of the planet.

In the beginning, major technical challenges limited the ability of scientists to warn. You had to be able to detect with precision the location of powerful earthquakes; you then had to be able to model which few of those would actually generate powerful tsunamis; and finally you had to figure out where, amongst the complex interplay of undersea mountains and ocean channels, those waves would go. But the march of technology, from the deployment of planetary networks of seismographs to the development of previously unimaignable supercomputing speeds, has made what was once an insurmountable technical challenge -- detecting and predicting giant tsunamis in enough time to actually do something about them -- an essentially solved one. Today, from a command center in Honolulu, Hawaii, scientists maintain a 24/7 watch at the Pacific Tsuanmi Warning Center, able to instantly flash warnings to civil defense networks from California to Chiba. From Seattle to Shanghai to Sydney, within minutes of a major event sirens would sound, television and radio networks would broadcast emergency warnings, and people would be ordered to flee inland or upstairs as fast as they could.

The system, is, of course, nowhere near perfect. Tsunamis close to shore would hit before any humanly possible warning could be sounded. Even in areas where the alarm did go out, panicked traffic would clog up choke points, buildings people sought refuge in would collapse, remote areas would not get warned, and thousands would die anyway. But thousands of others might have at least a fighting chance, getting precious minutes to climb up roofs or trees, run up hills, get off the beach. To give vulnerable millions at least that fighting chance was why the Pacific Tsuanami network was created and has maintained a ceaseless vigil for decades.

In October 2003, discussions were begun about whether the equally seismically active Indian Ocean needed a similar system. The scientific infrastructure already existed: seismographs and supercomputers dedicated to detecting Pacific earthquakes could just as easily do Indian ocean ones. It was, after all, all the same Earth: earthquake waves travelled through the solid rock of the planet just as easily from the Indian as the Pacific; the Indian Ocean was every bit as well mapped as the Pacific, and the modeling supercomputers didn't really care where the data was from. All that was necessary was the political will and the, relatively speaking, modest financial committment to set up a system to take the warnings generated by the scientists and get them to local authorities. In the poor third world, it would be utterly impossible to be able to warn every coastal village, many of which didn't even have radio or electricity; but at the least it would be possible to give warning to the big cities, the major ports, the western tourist resorts, the places that *did* have telephones, radios, internet connections. All you needed was a little advance planning and the money to do it.

The topic was still being studied in committee (see here) the morning of 26 December, 2004, when the scientists who had warned of the danger months before within fifteen minutes had calculated exactly where and which coastlines would be struck over the next two hours by the devastating quake they had detected... and literally had nobody they could pass the warning to.

Austalian authorities, already linked into the Pacific tsunami defense network, were able to warn Western Australian communities and those on the isolated islands of Maruitus and La Reunion. For Indonesia, no warning was possible against the earthquake which hit point-blank against their shores. But across the rest of the Indian ocean basin -- especially Sri Lanka and India, which would take almost an hour to be hit -- the scientists in the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center literally didn't know who to pick up the phone to call, because the governments they were trying to reach had never bothered to address the question. In desperation, phones lit up in US Embassies and State Department units. But it was simply too little, too late. Largely, the scientists in their Honolulu command center could only watch, helplessly, as the computers dispassionately updated the inexorable march of the devastating tsunami across nations, shorelines, and uncountable casulalties.

Many of the scientists in the command center that day were literally the same scientists who had participated in the discussions over a year ago about the need for Indian Ocean governments to do as the Pacific Ocean governments had done. There surely were many reasons why their warnings had been put on the back burner. Governments have many reasons for not doing things. There are many reasons for not taking precautions -- indeed, it is not physically or financially possible to cover every possibility. One chooses which risks you choose to cover and which ones you choose to ignore. It is the responsibility of governments to make risk-benefit, cost-benefit calculations. Whether the one made here was a justifiable one will almost certainly be explored in some depth in the terrible weeks to come.

Such is the challenge of decision making, be it by governments or by individuals: how paranoid is too paranoid, and how paranoid is not paranoid enough? Where should limited resources be deployed? How many contingency plans can one reasonably make? The borderline between overzealous paranoia and appropriate caution is just too fuzzy for anyone to possibly have the definitive answer for. In the end, we endure the consequences of the choices we ourselves make. Disasters happen to even the most paranoid, prepared individual, for the universe can throw more at someone than any human can possibly prepare against. Worse yet is when the grief of loss is compounded with the self-punishment of regret. And only the most inhuman would feel a thrill of vindication at being proven right instead of crushing grief at the scale of tragedy; none but the most cold-hearted could ever take pleasure from the dark words: "Told you so."

Listen to the Bill of Rights

The good folks over at BoingBoing have pointed to a page featuring a free recording of the Bill of Rights, also known as the First Ten Amendments of the Constitution of the United States of America.

So do I.

Telltaleweekly.org Audio books: The Bill of Rights

Go, listen, and understand what's in jeopardy under the Radical Religious Right.

Conservative Students Target Liberal Profs

Yahoo! News - Conservative Students Target Liberal Profs

Conservative Students Target Liberal Profs

Sat Dec 25,12:22 PM ET
By JUSTIN POPE, AP Education Writer

Traditionally, clashes over academic freedom have pitted politicians or administrators against instructors who wanted to express their opinions and teach as they saw fit. But increasingly, it is students who are invoking academic freedom, claiming biased professors are violating their right to a classroom free from indoctrination.

For example, at the University of North Carolina, three incoming freshmen sued over a reading assignment they said offended their Christian beliefs.

In Colorado and Indiana, a national conservative group publicized student allegations of left-wing bias by professors. Faculty received hate mail and were pictured in mock "wanted" posters; at least one college said teacher received a death threat.

And at Columbia University in New York, a documentary film alleging that teachers intimidate students who support Israel drew the attention of administrators.

The three episodes differ in important ways, but all touch on an issue of growing prominence on college campuses.

In many ways, the trend echoes past campus conflicts — but turns them around. Once, it was liberal campus activists who cited the importance of "diversity" in pressing their agendas for curriculum change. Now, conservatives have adopted much of the same language in calling for a greater openness to their viewpoints.

Similarly, academic freedom guidelines have traditionally been cited to protect left-leaning students from punishment for disagreeing with teachers about such issues as American neutrality before World War II and U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Now, those same guidelines are being invoked by conservative students who support the war in Iraq (news - web sites).

To many professors, there's a new and deeply troubling aspect to this latest chapter in the debate over academic freedom: students trying to dictate what they don't want to be taught.

"Even the most contentious or disaffected of students in the '60s or early '70s never really pressed this kind of issue," said Robert O'Neil, former president of the University of Virginia and now director of the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression.

Those behind the trend call it an antidote to the overwhelming liberal dominance of university faculties. But many educators, while agreeing students should never feel bullied, worry that they just want to avoid exposure to ideas that challenge their core beliefs — an essential part of education.

Some also fear teachers will shy away from sensitive topics, or fend off criticism by "balancing" their syllabuses with opposing viewpoints, even if they represent inferior scholarship.

"Faculty retrench. They are less willing to discuss contemporary problems and I think everyone loses out," said Joe Losco, a professor of political science at Ball State University in Indiana who has supported two colleagues targeted for alleged bias. "It puts a chill in the air."

Conservatives say a chill is in order.

A recent study by Santa Clara University researcher Daniel Klein estimated that among social science and humanities faculty members nationwide, Democrats outnumber Republicans by at least seven to one; in some fields it's as high as 30 to one. And in the last election, the two employers whose workers contributed the most to Sen. John Kerry's presidential campaign were the University of California system and Harvard University.

Many teachers insist personal politics don't affect teaching. But in a recent survey of students at 50 top schools by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, a group that has argued there is too little intellectual diversity on campuses, 49 percent reported at least some professors frequently commented on politics in class even if it was outside the subject matter.

Thirty-one percent said they felt there were some courses in which they needed to agree with a professor's political or social views to get a good grade.

Leading the movement is the group Students for Academic Freedom, with chapters on 135 campuses and close ties to David Horowitz, a one-time liberal campus activist turned conservative commentator. The group posts student complaints on its Web site about alleged episodes of grading bias and unbalanced, anti-American propaganda by professors — often in classes, such as literature, in which it's off-topic.

Instructors "need to make students aware of the spectrum of scholarly opinion," Horowitz said. "You can't get a good education if you're only getting half the story."

Conservatives claim they are discouraged from expressing their views in class, and are even blackballed from graduate school slots and jobs.

"I feel like (faculty) are so disconnected from students that they do these things and they can just get away with them," said Kris Wampler, who recently publicly identified himself as one of the students who sued the University of North Carolina. Now a junior, he objected when all incoming students were assigned to read a book about the Quran before they got to campus.

"A lot of students feel like they're being discriminated against," he said.

So far, his and other efforts are having mixed results. At UNC, the students lost their legal case, but the university no longer uses the word "required" in describing the reading program for incoming students (the plaintiffs' main objection).

In Colorado, conservatives withdrew a legislative proposal for an "academic bill of rights" backed by Horowitz, but only after state universities agreed to adopt its principles.

At Ball State, the school's provost sided with Professor George Wolfe after a student published complaints about Wolfe's peace studies course, but the episode has attracted local attention. Horowitz and backers of the academic bill of rights plan to introduce it in the Indiana legislature — as well as in up to 20 other states.

At Columbia, anguished debate followed the screening of a film by an advocacy group called The David Project that alleges some faculty violate students' rights by using the classroom as a platform for anti-Israeli political propaganda (one Israeli student claims a professor taunted him by asking, "How many Palestinians did you kill?"). Administrators responded this month by setting up a new committee to investigate students complaints.

In the wider debate, both sides cite the guidelines on academic freedom first set out in 1915 by the American Association of University Professors.

The objecting students emphasize the portion calling on teachers to "set forth justly ... the divergent opinions of other investigators." But many teachers note the guidelines also say instructors need not "hide (their) own opinions under a mountain of equivocal verbiage," and that their job is teaching students "to think for themselves."

Horowitz believes the AAUP, which opposes his bill of rights, and liberals in general are now the establishment and have abandoned their commitment to real diversity and student rights.

But critics say Horowitz is pushing a political agenda, not an academic one.

"It's often phrased in the language of academic freedom. That's what's so strange about it," said Ellen Schrecker, a Yeshiva University historian who has written about academic freedom during the McCarthy area. "What they're saying is, 'We want people to reflect our point of view.'"

Horowitz's critics also insist his campaign is getting more attention than it deserves, riling conservative bloggers but attracting little alarm from most students. They insist even most liberal professors give fair grades to conservative students who work hard and support their arguments.

Often, the facts of particular cases are disputed. At Ball State, senior Brett Mock published a detailed account accusing Wolfe of anti-Americanism in a peace studies class and of refusing to tolerate the view that the U.S. invasion of Iraq might have been justified. In a telephone interview, Wolfe vigorously disputed Mock's allegations. He provided copies of a letter of support from other students in the class, and from the provost saying she had found nothing wrong with the course.

Horowitz, who has also criticized Ball State's program, had little sympathy when asked if Wolfe deserved to get hate e-mails from strangers.

"These people are such sissies," he said. "I get hate mail every single day. What can I do about it? It's called the Internet."

____

On the Net:

Students for Academic Freedom: http://www.studentsforacademicfreedom.org

American Association of University Professors: http://www.aaup.org/

This is what happens when you give a mathematician a crochet hook.

BBC NEWS | Education | Mathematicians crochet chaos

Mathematicians crochet chaos


Click for a larger view.

Mathematicians have made a crochet model of chaos - and are challenging anyone else to repeat the effort.

Dr Hinke Osinga and Professor Bernd Krauskopf, of Bristol University's engineering mathematics department, used 25,511 crochet stitches to represent the Lorenz equations.

The equations describe the nature of chaotic systems - such as the weather or a turbulent river.

The academics are offering a bottle of champagne to anyone who cares to follow the pattern published in the journal Mathematics Intelligencer.

Floating leaves

The idea for the Lorenz manifold model came to the couple during the Christmas break two years ago.

Dr Osinga, who learnt to crochet when she was seven, was relaxing by crocheting some hexagonal lace motifs.

Prof Krauskopf asked her: 'Why don't you crochet something useful?'

Eighty-five hours of work and some supporting steel wire later, they had something almost a metre across which looks not unlike a big Christmas decoration - which is what they are using it as.

Dr Osinga, said: 'Imagine a leaf floating in a turbulent river and consider how it passes either to the left or to the right around a rock somewhere downstream.

'Those special leaves that end up clinging to the rock must have followed a very unique path in the water.

'Each stitch in the crochet pattern represents a single point - a leaf - that ends up at the rock.'

The more serious side to the work was developing a computer model to describe complex surfaces.

Oh, the Irony.

WZZM13.com - NEWS ARTICLESunday, December 26, 2004:

"IRAQ: Gas tanker explosion injures 20 After Rumsfeld Visits Iraq

Created: 12/24/2004 7:43:53 PM
Updated: 12/24/2004 7:44:24 PM

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) _ A doctor at a Baghdad hospital now says 20 people have been hurt in the explosion of a gas tanker in western Baghdad.

The doctor says most of the injured have second-degree burns, and some have been sent to burn centers in other hospitals.

A police commander says it appears that a bomb had been planted inside the butane tanker, which blew up near a communications tower and the embassies of Libya and Morocco.

It sent a fireball into the sky above an upscale neighborhood.

The police officer says three homes were damaged.

The explosion took place hours after Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld left Baghdad, wrapping up a 12-hour visit to Iraq."

The events are probably unrelated, but I can't help shake my head over the irony of a tanker exploding only hours after Rumsfeld left Baghdad.

Noam Chomsky said recently that terrorists will take a long time to catch up to the estimated 100,000 dead Iraqis at the hands of America. I agree with him. Of course, that number is only an estimate. There is no official US count of the Iraqi dead. The "leaders" don't want it known just how brutal they are. I think that they would probably say it was "The price of freedom is not as important as freedom itself", or some-such jingoism.

I can't find the particular article, but I read that the US is targeting clerics and doctors who count the Iraqi dead. I'm not sure about this; It's a charge that certainly deserves independant research and verification, though.

In any case, we need to take responsibility for the deaths we've caused. And $2000 wrongful-death payouts for signed waivers is an insult to the memory of the dead.

Quote of the day

Newgrange casts spell on the press
:

"The genius of Newgrange, we must remember, is that it was constructed to let light in, not obscure it."
--Liam Fay

Scoop: Kerry Edwards Lawyer's Letter To Kenneth Blackwell

Scoop: Kerry Edwards Lawyer's Letter To Kenneth Blackwell: "Kerry Edwards Lawyer's Letter To Kenneth Blackwell
Friday, 17 December 2004, 3:09 pm
Press Release:

(SOURCING NOTE: The text below was transcribed by hand and posted on Democratic Underground forums. The original letter is posted in image form by RawStory.com.)

December 15, 2004

The Honorable J. Kenneth Blackwell
Ohio Secretary of State
180 E. Broad Street, 16th Floor
Columbus, OH 43215

Re: Compromised Hocking County Recount

Dear Secretary Blackwell:

I am writing to you on behalf of John Kerry and John Edwards, the Democratic Party candidates for President and Vice-President of the United States at the November 2, 2004 general election.

Given the information that has come to light regarding activity that occurred on December 10, 2004 at the Hocking County Board of Elections, the integrity of using the Board’s computerized tabulating system to conduct the recount of the presidential election has been seriously compromised. I assume that by now your office is fully aware of the affidavit by the Deputy Director of the Hocking County Board of Elections regarding what she observed and heard. Based upon this affidavit, I hereby request that you conduct a thorough investigation of the matter. In the meantime, the tabulating system should not be used for the recount and I hereby request that you order the Hocking County Board of Elections to conduct a full hand recount of the ballots and not use the tabulating system for the recount. I also request that you immediately impound the tabulating equipment and programming, and preserve it in its present state, and prohibit access to the same.

I also request that your office immediately review with all other boards of elections whether representatives of any company that may have been employed to program or prepare their tabulating equipment for the recount were made aware of the precinct or precincts that would be included in the three percent hand count. If such is the case, I request that you take corrective action, including ordering full hand recounts or allowing the candidates to have the systems tested by outside independent experts.

As the state’s Chief Elections Official, you have both the authority and responsibility to take these actions. Time is of the essence and your immediate attention is required. I look forward to your response.

Very truly yours,

Donald J. McTigue


Cc: Daniel J. Hoffheimer

Kerry-Edwards State Counsel, Ohio"

Why would you like me?

Why would you like me?,
originally uploaded by efatima.

The photographer says:

These girl's younger brother and father died in Middle East war last month.

When I requested their mother if I could take their picture, she said "why? who would want to see us? We are so hated by the world - when all we want to do is live."

Why I read newspapers.

EPIC 2014

Why I read newspapers.

Flash movie of a possible future history on what happens to journalism in a the brave new blogosphere.

Well worth the time to view and think about.

"Now? Wow!"

"Now? Wow!",
originally uploaded by Jean Dudley.

Sasquatch would like to wish you a Merry Christmas, and wants to know where his smoked salmon is.

Friday Cat Blogging

Sasquatch2,
originally uploaded by Jean Dudley.

Polydactyled Sasquatch, looking wistful as only a cat can.

XmasQuatchy

XmasQuatch,
originally uploaded by Jean Dudley.

Happy cat blogging, from Sasquatch the polydactyled cat.

"Merry Christmas. Do you like the decorated eyes?"

It's a beautiful world.

"...With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world."
Max Ehrman's "Desiderata", 1954











All Photos from http://www.mccullagh.org/. Please visit his site and let him know you found him through my blog.

Merry Christmas,
Jean Dudley.

Tamales

Tamales. I miss tamales. When I was a young girl, our neighbor Sal Vargas and wife Evangelina would bring over a big tray of home-made tamales on Christmas Eve. They were fragrant and tender, steamed, swimming in what was probably canned enchilada sauce, but it didn't matter. To this day I wish I could find tamales as good as those were.

Ain't gonna happen.

Because even the best tamales on the east coast aren't brought by gentle, generous neighbors. They aren't made by people who care about you, who offer their good will and assistance in hard times.

Cherish your neighbors. Go introduce yourself, and remember that we as a species are social creatures. There's a reason why we live in communities. It's to offer friendship and companionship and assistance to one another.

And that's year-round, not only on the celebration of one of the world's greatest liberal radical preachers.

Merry Christmas, everybody. God bless us, every one!

Jean Dudley.

Was Jesus a Liberal? Was Paul a Right-Wingnut?

"I want my faith back!"

A liberal Christian stands up for her faith and what Jesus preached.

I'm begining to wonder if Paul was the father of Right-Wing Christianity, and Jesus was a Left Winger.

I might have to do some research on this, and write it up.

Because we need a little bit of beauty in our world

Ashore,
originally uploaded by efatima.

eFatima posts beautifully composed photos of stunning beauty. Her images are mostly macro shots of textiles, jewelry and desserts, and display a talented eye for the elegant details of her world. Color is rich and varied, and striking.

Visit her flicr account by clicking on the image.