The American Psychological Association seems to be all a-twitter about what some psychologists may or may not be doing for the US Military and Intelligence communities. In some quarters they are trying to run psychologists who work for our country out of the APA. Make sure that if they ever go into private practice they don't get any referrals. No invited talks. No academic appointments. Back when Joe McCarthy was a Senator, they called it blacklisting.
At issue is whether psychologists are helping the DoD and the CIA torture people detained as "illegal combatants" (as defined by the Geneva Convention). Let me point out a few things:
If you are going to torture someone, you do not waste months on sensory deprivation and disorientation. If you are going to torture someone, you do things like what the North Vietnamese did to John McCain. You will notice that he doesn't spend time combing his hair, because his arms won't reach that high.
If you are going to torture someone, you do not need the services of a psychologist. You only spend time and money on psychology if you are NOT going to torture someone, but you need to reduce their resistance to interrogation because you are reasonably sure they know something that could prevent the untimely deaths of your colleagues.
I guess I find it harder than some APA members to choose between making a select few illegal combatants unhappy on the one hand, and tallying the otherwise preventable deaths of our troops and operatives on the other.
I must note that al-Qaeda has its own form of Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape (SERE) training, which includes accusing their detainers of torture and inhumane treatment regardless of whether such treatment actually occurred, and regardless of the inhumane treatment that al-Qaeda and sympathizers use on their detainees, such as Daniel Pearl. (Or is cutting someone's throat and posting the video on the internet OK as long as non-Western people do it? Talk about the "bigotry of low expectations.")
I also note that those detained as illegal combatants or terrorists routinely swear to kill their interrogators and the interrogators' families should the detained ever be released. They could be aided by the terrorist cells operating in many Western countries, including the United States. It may feel brave to discuss one's objections to some fellow psychologists' possible activities, but by naming names, one may be fingering them for assassination.
Given the real risks of vilification by their colleagues and death at the hands of released detainees (or those acting for them) it seems to me that the real courage is that of those psychologists and sociologists who help, rather than hinder, our counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism efforts.
19 June 2008
Religious Calendar Script
If you would like to have a JavaScript application to show the current day, date, holiday, prayer times, and prayer orientation (e.g., direction and distance to Mecca or Jerusalem) for the Hebrew, Christian (Western, Eastern, or Coptic), Islamic, or Bahai faiths, you can save a copy of the one I wrote for dogchurch.org. Just click here, and use the "Save As" capability of your browser to save a copy to your local desktop. You can use and modify the file under the GNU Public License. If you use the script or a modified form of it, you must acknowledge The Virtual Church of the Blind Chihuahua or dogchurch.org.
No documentation is provided (other than the code itself - and you must know JavaScript to read it), and you use the file at your own risk. We do not assume any responsibility or liability for the correctness of the calculations. In fact, since the Hebrew and Islamic calendars are observational, not calculated, the above referenced script is only an approximation (but based on very good algorithms from Calendrical Calculations by Reingold and Dershowitz, as well as astronomical code from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). Rather than ask the user for his or her location, the script uses GeoIP services from MaxMind.com to estimate the latitude and longitude of the user, based on the user's IP address.
At the end of the script are two functions Salutation and Liturgical Salutation that you can call from your HTML to display the calendar information on your page. Examples of the script in action are
VCBC's Former Home Page
VCBC - Christianity
VCBC - Baha'i
VCBC - Islam
VCBC - Judaism
Contact us with errata, suggestions, or questions.
No documentation is provided (other than the code itself - and you must know JavaScript to read it), and you use the file at your own risk. We do not assume any responsibility or liability for the correctness of the calculations. In fact, since the Hebrew and Islamic calendars are observational, not calculated, the above referenced script is only an approximation (but based on very good algorithms from Calendrical Calculations by Reingold and Dershowitz, as well as astronomical code from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). Rather than ask the user for his or her location, the script uses GeoIP services from MaxMind.com to estimate the latitude and longitude of the user, based on the user's IP address.
At the end of the script are two functions Salutation and Liturgical Salutation that you can call from your HTML to display the calendar information on your page. Examples of the script in action are
VCBC's Former Home Page
VCBC - Christianity
VCBC - Baha'i
VCBC - Islam
VCBC - Judaism
Contact us with errata, suggestions, or questions.
18 June 2008
Thoughts for the Nation
I'm back. Just spent the past few weeks refactoring the JavaScript that computes Christian, Hebrew, Islamic and Baha'i calendars for dogchurch.org. The code is now 15% shorter and does more, including computing and displaying holidays, prayer times, and prayer direction for these major religions.
But to the business at hand. Friend Kay G. has sent a link to this 9-minute video from Joe American, on America's pathetic lack of an energy policy.
It's not the only policy we lack. For all its belligerence, the Bush Administration has yet to articulate a policy regarding nuclear weapons. Considering that America is one of the two largest holders of nuclear weapons on the planet, this is a serious omission.
What do we get instead? Mars.
I'm not buying it. Until we can get people and cargo from the ground to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and back for US $20 per pound, there is nothing up there that will ever be commercially viable. Which means that only governments will dabble in space, without any major impact on the survivability of the human species. Heck, the airlines are charging about $20 per pound, and are struggling to make a profit, because even when the destination is on earth (where we know its worth going) people can scarcely afford that much.
So, I would redirect NASA to research and fund efforts to achieve LEO affordability, and table wider manned space exploration until they succeed. The major national effort I would launch is toward US energy independence in the near term (say 10 years) and petroleum independence in the longer term (say 20 years). What Joe American says is pointing in the right direction, even though the situation in Iraq is more complicated than I think he realizes.
I also have another few radical proposals:
(1) Make peace on the Korean peninsula. It is shameful that the Truce of 1953 has yet to turn into an actual Peace - after 55 years! The major parties to the peace would need to be North and South Korea, of course, with the US and China as mostly silent partners to the negotiations. The goal would be to achieve unhindered movement of people between North and South. Perhaps the Demilitarized Zone could be converted to the world's largest wildlife refuge and made into a major money-making tourist attraction to help fund development of the North. Then, what do you think would happen to North Korea's nuclear weapons program? I doubt it would long survive in actual peacetime.
(2) Try a new solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Instead of two states, how about two states, one capital? Both parties want Jerusalem as a capital for religious reasons, so why not share it? Not only the same city, but the same capitol building complex. That way, if one party gets blown up, so does the other. Kind of like the patient who grabs the dentist by the groin and says, "Now, we aren't going to hurt each other, are we?"
(3) To start on the problem of health care insurance, create an assigned risk pool, state by state, just like we do for auto insurance. Don't let any company write policies in any state unless they contribute their fair share to that state's assigned risk pool. Everyone gets some coverage, and we still have capitalism. What a concept. Better yet, we all need to force Congress to use the same kinds of health insurance and the same kinds of health providers the rest of us get.
(4) Make the federal government delegate power, money, and responsibility back to the state and local governments. Nobody reads all of the federal budget or the funding bills, or most of the new laws enacted, because there are too many of them and they are too long. This is because the federal government has taken on more than it can manage. It has done so by arrogating powers that used to belong to state and local governments, or even to private citizens. The feds have bitten off more than they can chew. They are drowning in, choking on, too much stuff to do. Any business would delegate authority downward so that it could do its job more efficiently. Let's see some delegation. If the government wants to apply the business model to what it funds, let it apply it to itself first and foremost.
Yeah. I know it's a risk. Since there are so many laws and regulations on the books, it is now impossible to live without accidentally falling afoul of one or more of them. All it takes is for some government bureaucrat to capriciously enforce a few of them to get any chosen target. In other words, the principal guarantor of your liberty (if you are an American) is that the government is just too choked up to get to you. But it's our government. According to the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, we own it. Making it delegate back powers is a necessary part of making it work for us rather than just for itself.
Well, that's enough ranting for tonight.
But to the business at hand. Friend Kay G. has sent a link to this 9-minute video from Joe American, on America's pathetic lack of an energy policy.
It's not the only policy we lack. For all its belligerence, the Bush Administration has yet to articulate a policy regarding nuclear weapons. Considering that America is one of the two largest holders of nuclear weapons on the planet, this is a serious omission.
What do we get instead? Mars.
I'm not buying it. Until we can get people and cargo from the ground to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and back for US $20 per pound, there is nothing up there that will ever be commercially viable. Which means that only governments will dabble in space, without any major impact on the survivability of the human species. Heck, the airlines are charging about $20 per pound, and are struggling to make a profit, because even when the destination is on earth (where we know its worth going) people can scarcely afford that much.
So, I would redirect NASA to research and fund efforts to achieve LEO affordability, and table wider manned space exploration until they succeed. The major national effort I would launch is toward US energy independence in the near term (say 10 years) and petroleum independence in the longer term (say 20 years). What Joe American says is pointing in the right direction, even though the situation in Iraq is more complicated than I think he realizes.
I also have another few radical proposals:
(1) Make peace on the Korean peninsula. It is shameful that the Truce of 1953 has yet to turn into an actual Peace - after 55 years! The major parties to the peace would need to be North and South Korea, of course, with the US and China as mostly silent partners to the negotiations. The goal would be to achieve unhindered movement of people between North and South. Perhaps the Demilitarized Zone could be converted to the world's largest wildlife refuge and made into a major money-making tourist attraction to help fund development of the North. Then, what do you think would happen to North Korea's nuclear weapons program? I doubt it would long survive in actual peacetime.
(2) Try a new solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Instead of two states, how about two states, one capital? Both parties want Jerusalem as a capital for religious reasons, so why not share it? Not only the same city, but the same capitol building complex. That way, if one party gets blown up, so does the other. Kind of like the patient who grabs the dentist by the groin and says, "Now, we aren't going to hurt each other, are we?"
(3) To start on the problem of health care insurance, create an assigned risk pool, state by state, just like we do for auto insurance. Don't let any company write policies in any state unless they contribute their fair share to that state's assigned risk pool. Everyone gets some coverage, and we still have capitalism. What a concept. Better yet, we all need to force Congress to use the same kinds of health insurance and the same kinds of health providers the rest of us get.
(4) Make the federal government delegate power, money, and responsibility back to the state and local governments. Nobody reads all of the federal budget or the funding bills, or most of the new laws enacted, because there are too many of them and they are too long. This is because the federal government has taken on more than it can manage. It has done so by arrogating powers that used to belong to state and local governments, or even to private citizens. The feds have bitten off more than they can chew. They are drowning in, choking on, too much stuff to do. Any business would delegate authority downward so that it could do its job more efficiently. Let's see some delegation. If the government wants to apply the business model to what it funds, let it apply it to itself first and foremost.
Yeah. I know it's a risk. Since there are so many laws and regulations on the books, it is now impossible to live without accidentally falling afoul of one or more of them. All it takes is for some government bureaucrat to capriciously enforce a few of them to get any chosen target. In other words, the principal guarantor of your liberty (if you are an American) is that the government is just too choked up to get to you. But it's our government. According to the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, we own it. Making it delegate back powers is a necessary part of making it work for us rather than just for itself.
Well, that's enough ranting for tonight.
22 May 2008
Not Dead Yet
For those of you who recall the Plague scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Pongo is like the the old man who says, "I'm not dead yet. I'm gettin' better!" We have been through a couple of varieties of prescription food, and now have settled on homemade chicken soup with vegetables and brown rice. Our geriatric little German Shorthaired Pointer gets a first course of that, followed by bone dry (his preference, discovered by experimentation) prescription high fiber kibble (for his irritable bowel disease) mixed with torn pieces of rabbit jerky (which acts like a catalyst to get him eating). Then he has to run around outside and hunt things, whether he can smell them or not. Then it's back inside for another dry kibble and rabbit jerky course.
Why rabbit jerky? Because our Great Dane thinks that rodents are not food. The other category of things being, of course, food. This enables us to maintain discipline during Pongo's protracted feeding ritual, because the stuff he gets has limited appeal to her.
Anyway, his weight seems to have increased a little, despite his nasal and kidney diseases. He has now made it to the average survival time since first diagnosis for nasal cancer. So far, so good.
So far, so good for my career, too. Tomorrow I find out if I still have a job. If not, I'll shop myself around, and try to gin up a bit of consulting. If I stay, I'll continue to do my best for God and country.
And finally, so far, so good working through the Book of Mormon. I'm struck that the original plates were passed from father to son through so many generations. Each son added to the record, and passed it on to his own son. Very strong family values. And quite unlike the books of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) and the New Testament, which were written by people who usually had no relation to each other.
Why rabbit jerky? Because our Great Dane thinks that rodents are not food. The other category of things being, of course, food. This enables us to maintain discipline during Pongo's protracted feeding ritual, because the stuff he gets has limited appeal to her.
Anyway, his weight seems to have increased a little, despite his nasal and kidney diseases. He has now made it to the average survival time since first diagnosis for nasal cancer. So far, so good.
So far, so good for my career, too. Tomorrow I find out if I still have a job. If not, I'll shop myself around, and try to gin up a bit of consulting. If I stay, I'll continue to do my best for God and country.
And finally, so far, so good working through the Book of Mormon. I'm struck that the original plates were passed from father to son through so many generations. Each son added to the record, and passed it on to his own son. Very strong family values. And quite unlike the books of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) and the New Testament, which were written by people who usually had no relation to each other.
25 April 2008
So far in the Book of Mormon
As I mentioned back in February, I've been reading the Book of Mormon. I'm at Alma 22 now, for those of you who can appreciate that, and still plodding along. So far, a couple of things have jumped out at me.
The parable of the trees in Jacob 5 seems to be loaded with more meaning than I can make out at this time. I'm hoping to get some more explanation when I get to Doctrine & Covenants. But it seems to presage the entire history of the people who emigrated from the land around Jerusalem to the Americas. Certainly the imagery is evocative, and an echo of it appears in Orson Scott Card's "Ender" Quartet of science-fiction novels.
One very striking thing in the Book of Mormon (may I abbreviate it as BOM?) is that people can initiate covenants with God. In the Bible, God initiates the covenants. The other is the clarity with which predictions about Jesus Christ are stated. He is called by name, and the Christian "salvation history" is clearly laid out, up to 600 years before the coming of Christ! In the Hebrew Bible ( or Old Testament - henceforth abbreviated OT) allusions to Christ are so vague that one must be a Christian to interpret them as such.
Then there is the ebb and flow of the Church among the immigrants to the Americas. First the Church (and it is a distinctly Christian Church, even though it is centuries yet before the birth of Christ) grows among the Nephites, and then as it starts to decline among them, it blossoms among the Lamanites. The Nephites and Lamanites are related peoples, having separated after their landing in the Americas. Among the tribes of Israel in the OT, the belief in the God of Abraham pulsates, growing and shrinking, but is does not seem to slosh between tribes. And it is straight Judaism, that looks forward to some kind of Redeemer who will restore Israel and even resurrect its inhabitants (at least in the Book of Job), but it is specifically Jewish rather than the Christianized Judaism of the Nephites and eventually the Lamanites before the coming of Christ.
I also note that the quotations from Isaiah in 2 Nephi are altered slightly so as to make their meaning more obvious. (Not only did I read them Blain, I compared them with the King James Version).
I note the ubiquity of conversion or "Born Again" experiences as compared to the OT. In the BOM these are typically occur after prayer and fasting, or being taught by one of the prophets.
And then there is the voice of our friendly editor, Mormon. In the OT the final collectors, editors, and redactors take care not to intrude in the text. In the BOM, it seems to me that Mormon (who appears to have collected writings on metal plates from several sources and in several languages, and then translated them into his own language) occasionally comments, especially in the Book of Alma.
I wasn't really looking for these differences, but for the differences in theological perspective between the LDS and the rest of us Christians. I'm still looking, and still reading.
The parable of the trees in Jacob 5 seems to be loaded with more meaning than I can make out at this time. I'm hoping to get some more explanation when I get to Doctrine & Covenants. But it seems to presage the entire history of the people who emigrated from the land around Jerusalem to the Americas. Certainly the imagery is evocative, and an echo of it appears in Orson Scott Card's "Ender" Quartet of science-fiction novels.
One very striking thing in the Book of Mormon (may I abbreviate it as BOM?) is that people can initiate covenants with God. In the Bible, God initiates the covenants. The other is the clarity with which predictions about Jesus Christ are stated. He is called by name, and the Christian "salvation history" is clearly laid out, up to 600 years before the coming of Christ! In the Hebrew Bible ( or Old Testament - henceforth abbreviated OT) allusions to Christ are so vague that one must be a Christian to interpret them as such.
Then there is the ebb and flow of the Church among the immigrants to the Americas. First the Church (and it is a distinctly Christian Church, even though it is centuries yet before the birth of Christ) grows among the Nephites, and then as it starts to decline among them, it blossoms among the Lamanites. The Nephites and Lamanites are related peoples, having separated after their landing in the Americas. Among the tribes of Israel in the OT, the belief in the God of Abraham pulsates, growing and shrinking, but is does not seem to slosh between tribes. And it is straight Judaism, that looks forward to some kind of Redeemer who will restore Israel and even resurrect its inhabitants (at least in the Book of Job), but it is specifically Jewish rather than the Christianized Judaism of the Nephites and eventually the Lamanites before the coming of Christ.
I also note that the quotations from Isaiah in 2 Nephi are altered slightly so as to make their meaning more obvious. (Not only did I read them Blain, I compared them with the King James Version).
I note the ubiquity of conversion or "Born Again" experiences as compared to the OT. In the BOM these are typically occur after prayer and fasting, or being taught by one of the prophets.
And then there is the voice of our friendly editor, Mormon. In the OT the final collectors, editors, and redactors take care not to intrude in the text. In the BOM, it seems to me that Mormon (who appears to have collected writings on metal plates from several sources and in several languages, and then translated them into his own language) occasionally comments, especially in the Book of Alma.
I wasn't really looking for these differences, but for the differences in theological perspective between the LDS and the rest of us Christians. I'm still looking, and still reading.
22 April 2008
Silly Barack, Rednecks are for Real
So, Barack Obama couldn't quite close the gap to Hillary Clinton in today's Pennsylvania Democratic Primary. As others have noted, there were two reasons: Reverend Wright and the "bitter" comment.
Now, in the game of Presidential Monopoly I find enough "typical white person's" guilt in the Community Chest to give Senator Obama a Get-Out-of-the-Wright-Association free card. But there is no card that lets you get elected President by insulting one of the most numerous and important groups of people in America.
Rednecks. If you want to learn what the word "passion" means, date a Redneck. As a corollary, you can't have a truer and more loyal friend than a Redneck, or a worse enemy. Rednecks pride themselves on living with an emotional intensity that makes your typical Ivy League educated politician seem tepid indeed.
Sure, they can be bitter. But not about lack of government intervention in their lives. If they "cling to their guns and religion" it's to keep the government from interfering too much in their lives. They got their guns from their fathers, and their fathers' fathers, back to the generation that used guns to feed and defend themselves because back then there was no government. And they have sustained their religion because their religion has sustained them through tougher times than most Americans can remember or imagine. But mostly, Rednecks are determined. Determined to be themselves no matter who likes it or not.
Barack, by talking as if you know them, you have shown that you don't. Well, you should get to know them. You're going to need their votes.
Now, in the game of Presidential Monopoly I find enough "typical white person's" guilt in the Community Chest to give Senator Obama a Get-Out-of-the-Wright-Association free card. But there is no card that lets you get elected President by insulting one of the most numerous and important groups of people in America.
Rednecks. If you want to learn what the word "passion" means, date a Redneck. As a corollary, you can't have a truer and more loyal friend than a Redneck, or a worse enemy. Rednecks pride themselves on living with an emotional intensity that makes your typical Ivy League educated politician seem tepid indeed.
Sure, they can be bitter. But not about lack of government intervention in their lives. If they "cling to their guns and religion" it's to keep the government from interfering too much in their lives. They got their guns from their fathers, and their fathers' fathers, back to the generation that used guns to feed and defend themselves because back then there was no government. And they have sustained their religion because their religion has sustained them through tougher times than most Americans can remember or imagine. But mostly, Rednecks are determined. Determined to be themselves no matter who likes it or not.
Barack, by talking as if you know them, you have shown that you don't. Well, you should get to know them. You're going to need their votes.
15 April 2008
Brother Jed has a Point
I think it was the spring of 1978 at The University of Texas at Austin when I first encountered the Preacher Man. Only later did I realize that he was probably the famous George Smock, aka "Brother Jed." He was saying something like
One of my students, Tawny, took him on. She argued boldly that a mature, responsible, and moral sexuality was possible without adhering blindly to the blanket prohibition of sex between people not married to each other. I admired her courage. And I thought she was right.
Thirty years later the Centers for Disease Control states that nineteen (19) million new STD (sexually transmitted disease) infections occur each year, almost half of them among young people ages 15 to 24. Whether you agree with Brother Jed or not, he has science on his side. If absolutely everyone abstained from any kind of sexual activity outside of marriage, STDs would die out. And if people resumed their present habits after the STD die-out, new ones would arise to take advantage of the ecological niche offered by networks of sexual contacts.
Simply put, abstinence and chastity are good public health. If you are screwing around, don't expect the rest of us to take you seriously when you admonish us about the environment, vegetarianism, or any issue demanding behavioral changes to improve public health, safety, or sustainability. First get your own act together.
Now I don't expect everyone to be abstinent outside of marriage. But I do expect you to keep the number of your sexual contacts low as part of your obligation to respect and preserve our human environment.
All the women on this campus are whores, and all the men are just boys!
One of my students, Tawny, took him on. She argued boldly that a mature, responsible, and moral sexuality was possible without adhering blindly to the blanket prohibition of sex between people not married to each other. I admired her courage. And I thought she was right.
Thirty years later the Centers for Disease Control states that nineteen (19) million new STD (sexually transmitted disease) infections occur each year, almost half of them among young people ages 15 to 24. Whether you agree with Brother Jed or not, he has science on his side. If absolutely everyone abstained from any kind of sexual activity outside of marriage, STDs would die out. And if people resumed their present habits after the STD die-out, new ones would arise to take advantage of the ecological niche offered by networks of sexual contacts.
Simply put, abstinence and chastity are good public health. If you are screwing around, don't expect the rest of us to take you seriously when you admonish us about the environment, vegetarianism, or any issue demanding behavioral changes to improve public health, safety, or sustainability. First get your own act together.
Now I don't expect everyone to be abstinent outside of marriage. But I do expect you to keep the number of your sexual contacts low as part of your obligation to respect and preserve our human environment.
03 April 2008
Lord of the Flies
Third graders in Waycross, GA, plotted to kill their teacher. At Yahoo News, the Associated Press story begins
It continues in that vein to leave the impression that the writers think this is an unusual and isolated incident. It is not. Just a few days before another group of kids about the same age were in the process of hatching a plot to kill their teacher in a public city school in Manhattan. This one didn't make the news, but I can report it here, because I know the teacher.
And now, just last evening my neighbor's teenaged son was mugged. The neighbor's email reads, in part
"Why can't the English teach their children how to speak?" laments Henry Higgins in the musical comedy, My Fair Lady. To which I reply, why can't the Americans teach their children how to behave?
What are we teaching our children? Where are they getting these ideas? Are we exposing morally immature minds to crime shows like The Sopranos, and Law & Order? Or are we simply not paying attention while they form their own little violent tribes or gangs, partly in cyberspace, partly all too really in this world?
William Golding knew what kids will do when left without close and powerful adult supervision. They act uncivilized because they are uncivilized. It takes constant effort on the part of their parents and their society to civilize children, and that effort must last for the first 18 to 25 years of the children's lives. If you don't know what I mean, go to your local library and check out a copy of Golding's short novel, Lord of the Flies.
I've read many pieces on the decline of the West, most of which are bulls--t, and none of which put their finger on one inescapable truth. If you want to have a civilization, you must civilize your kids. And don't assume you can delegate the task to your schools (which are overwhelmed with uncivilized kids) or even your churches.
So to the educators, psychiatrists, and parents out there: Get out of your denial, get control of your kids, and socialize them to norms of decent behavior. Otherwise, it will be every one for himself, and us aging boomers will have no choice but to get concealed-carry permits.
Allegations that third-graders hatched an elaborate plot to knock out, handcuff and stab their teacher were met with shock by neighbors and with doubt by psychiatry experts who said it is unlikely that children that young seriously intended to hurt anyone.
Police say the plot at Center Elementary School began because the children, ages 8 to 10, were apparently angry after the teacher disciplined one of the students for standing on a chair.
Students brought a crystal paperweight, a steak knife with a broken handle, steel handcuffs and other items as part of last week's plot, police said Tuesday. They said nine students were involved, but prosecutors are seeking juvenile charges against only three of them.
Experts said children that age are certainly imaginative and capable of creating elaborate games. But Dr. Louis Kraus, a child psychiatry expert at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, said he doubts they would have actually attacked.
It continues in that vein to leave the impression that the writers think this is an unusual and isolated incident. It is not. Just a few days before another group of kids about the same age were in the process of hatching a plot to kill their teacher in a public city school in Manhattan. This one didn't make the news, but I can report it here, because I know the teacher.
And now, just last evening my neighbor's teenaged son was mugged. The neighbor's email reads, in part
He was walking home from his girlfriend's house at 11:30 pm . A car (new Lexus) with 5 boys drove up, they jumped out of the car and surrounded him. They had baseball bats and golf clubs. All he had was his cell phone which they took. They did not believe that he didn't have anything else, so they patted him down. They also wanted his shoes, but didn't take them when they found out they weren't expensive ones.
He called 911 as soon as he got home. The police were there very quickly. They caught the guys at the Shell station by Lucky.
When they were caught they had a trunk full of shoes and other stolen goods. They confessed to the mugging and were linked to other crimes. They had been cruising PLS neighborhoods looking for open garages and people to steal from.
Two of them were over 18 so were taken to jail the other 3 were juveniles.
"Why can't the English teach their children how to speak?" laments Henry Higgins in the musical comedy, My Fair Lady. To which I reply, why can't the Americans teach their children how to behave?
What are we teaching our children? Where are they getting these ideas? Are we exposing morally immature minds to crime shows like The Sopranos, and Law & Order? Or are we simply not paying attention while they form their own little violent tribes or gangs, partly in cyberspace, partly all too really in this world?
William Golding knew what kids will do when left without close and powerful adult supervision. They act uncivilized because they are uncivilized. It takes constant effort on the part of their parents and their society to civilize children, and that effort must last for the first 18 to 25 years of the children's lives. If you don't know what I mean, go to your local library and check out a copy of Golding's short novel, Lord of the Flies.
I've read many pieces on the decline of the West, most of which are bulls--t, and none of which put their finger on one inescapable truth. If you want to have a civilization, you must civilize your kids. And don't assume you can delegate the task to your schools (which are overwhelmed with uncivilized kids) or even your churches.
So to the educators, psychiatrists, and parents out there: Get out of your denial, get control of your kids, and socialize them to norms of decent behavior. Otherwise, it will be every one for himself, and us aging boomers will have no choice but to get concealed-carry permits.
23 March 2008
Sunday of the Resurrection
I confess that my eyes tear each Easter Sunday when we sing "Jesus Christ is Risen Today." It isn't so much the words of the song as it is the triumphant melody and the exuberant singing of the congregation. It reminds me of what we as church should be, but are not. Called to testify of His Glorious Resurrection, to show its effect in us by becoming His ministering hands to his world, we fall short. We become dysfunctional social groups, combinations of feel-gooders, self-haters, do-gooders. And having fallen so short of the mark, we sometimes turn on each other and debate about theology. If church is the "body of Christ," we are a work unfinished.
And I am a work unfinished. Oh, I'm a good enough person compared to most, despite my working on "force multipliers" for the US military. Besides, not only has no one ever died (as far as I know) because of anything I've done (and on one or two projects not for my lack of effort), my particular history once put me in a position to help prevent a conflict that would have killed thousands. Yes, unlike the demonstrators in front of my lab on Good Friday, I have actually helped to make peace.
It's just that I want to be so much better than I am. And when I am in church, I want us all to be so much better than we are. Indeed, if we were as good as we are called to be, we would be almost unrecognizable. We would all radiate so much goodness, that you would have to spend some time in our presence to be able to tell that we were still really us.
Maybe that's why the followers of Jesus took so long to recognize him that first Easter morning, and in the days after. Maybe that's what Resurrection does to us. As our perfected, transformed, good unalloyed with bad, resurrected selves, maybe we are barely recognizable as having once been the masses of contradiction and compromise between good and evil (in other words ordinary human beings) that we once were.
Maybe that's what I yearn for — for myself and for all of us together. Resurrection. To follow our Lord, who on this day more than two thousand years ago by His Resurrection began the Resurrection of us all.
Surrexit Christus hodie! Alleluia!
And I am a work unfinished. Oh, I'm a good enough person compared to most, despite my working on "force multipliers" for the US military. Besides, not only has no one ever died (as far as I know) because of anything I've done (and on one or two projects not for my lack of effort), my particular history once put me in a position to help prevent a conflict that would have killed thousands. Yes, unlike the demonstrators in front of my lab on Good Friday, I have actually helped to make peace.
It's just that I want to be so much better than I am. And when I am in church, I want us all to be so much better than we are. Indeed, if we were as good as we are called to be, we would be almost unrecognizable. We would all radiate so much goodness, that you would have to spend some time in our presence to be able to tell that we were still really us.
Maybe that's why the followers of Jesus took so long to recognize him that first Easter morning, and in the days after. Maybe that's what Resurrection does to us. As our perfected, transformed, good unalloyed with bad, resurrected selves, maybe we are barely recognizable as having once been the masses of contradiction and compromise between good and evil (in other words ordinary human beings) that we once were.
Maybe that's what I yearn for — for myself and for all of us together. Resurrection. To follow our Lord, who on this day more than two thousand years ago by His Resurrection began the Resurrection of us all.
Surrexit Christus hodie! Alleluia!
22 March 2008
The Vigil of Easter
We Christians celebrate the Saturday between Good Friday and Easter Sunday as the "Vigil of Easter." In truth, there was no vigil for the first Christians, the frightened and depressed band of Jesus' followers. They spent this day hunkered down, wondering whether they would be caught in an oncoming wave of persecution, of whether this was all going to just blow over, now that their leader had been so brutally humiliated and executed. Some didn't wait to find out, and left Jerusalem on foot for Emmaus.
They were probably in a mixture of grief-stages: the horror of the past days must have seemed at once to be an unreal nightmare, and an all too real trauma. They didn't know whether to hide, flee, or fight and lose a hopeless last battle. Or just sit and wait, in mourning.
No doubt some prayed, even as Jesus had taught them. And the answer was a dead silence.
Yet life went on. The men cared for their wives, the women for their children. Meals had to be made, the little ones fed, the sick tended.
So, on this day, I took my elderly dogs (one of whom will likely die within weeks to months) for a walk, including a little off-lead time by a creek. I helped my elderly mother with her finances. I wished my sister a happy birthday.
Take care of those whom God has placed in your care, this Easter Vigil. And wait. Tomorrow is quite another day.
They were probably in a mixture of grief-stages: the horror of the past days must have seemed at once to be an unreal nightmare, and an all too real trauma. They didn't know whether to hide, flee, or fight and lose a hopeless last battle. Or just sit and wait, in mourning.
No doubt some prayed, even as Jesus had taught them. And the answer was a dead silence.
Yet life went on. The men cared for their wives, the women for their children. Meals had to be made, the little ones fed, the sick tended.
So, on this day, I took my elderly dogs (one of whom will likely die within weeks to months) for a walk, including a little off-lead time by a creek. I helped my elderly mother with her finances. I wished my sister a happy birthday.
Take care of those whom God has placed in your care, this Easter Vigil. And wait. Tomorrow is quite another day.
21 March 2008
Good Friday: The Sin of Indifference
When one contemplates the Crucifixion, one would be remiss not to contemplate the opportunities to have prevented it.
At his trial before Caiaphas and some part of the Sanhedrin, nobody spoke in defense of Jesus. Nobody said, "If he is a heretic, then so am I. You will have to take me with him." When given the cruel choice of which of the condemned should be freed, the supporters of Barabbas shouted, but the New Testament records no shouts for Jesus. And it probably took at most three Roman soldiers to nail Jesus to the cross and raise it up. Supposedly a crowd watched this, yet nobody is recorded to have raised a hand against this small force.
It didn't take much force at all to crucify Jesus, or any of the thousands that the Romans crucified during their history. That's because it was enabled by the cowardice of the few and the indifference of the many who might have acted, or at least spoken up.
We've seen it again. The Nazis slaughtered six million Jews and millions of others, including Roma (Gypsies), Poles, Jehovah' Witnesses, and homosexuals. It took relatively few Nazis to do the actual killing, or to run the extermination camps. That's because it was enabled by what was effectively the cowardice or indifference of everyone who might have done something about it, but did not.
But many times, the alternative to cowardice and indifference amounts to suicide. We become hostage to our natural desire to live just one more day, to see if we can live until the horror passes. Can any of us who are thus normal honestly claim that we are good?
Ah, but sin is an insidious thing, and if we free ourselves from one sin, we often substitute another in its place. Those who free themselves from their natural desire to live — they become suicide bombers, prey to the Islamofacist Industrial Complex that makes the explosives, the vests, the triggers, that gives the instructions, that points to the targets, most of whom are non-combatants.
Yes, there are occasional saints, moved by the Spirit, who desire to live, who desire not to kill, and yet have the courage to speak and act. But odds are, dear reader, that you and I are not among them.
You and I are more likely to be among the indifferent crowd, who just want to pursue their lives as best they can. Can anyone say, "Darfur," or "Lhasa" (to name the two the media mentions of God knows how many current conflicts there are)? You and I are more likely to be among those watching while the nails are driven in, while the sky darkens, while the last breath is gasped.
And that is why, when Jesus gasped, "Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do," he was pleading for us as well.
It is now sundown. The Vigil of Easter has begun. Peace and mercy be upon you.
At his trial before Caiaphas and some part of the Sanhedrin, nobody spoke in defense of Jesus. Nobody said, "If he is a heretic, then so am I. You will have to take me with him." When given the cruel choice of which of the condemned should be freed, the supporters of Barabbas shouted, but the New Testament records no shouts for Jesus. And it probably took at most three Roman soldiers to nail Jesus to the cross and raise it up. Supposedly a crowd watched this, yet nobody is recorded to have raised a hand against this small force.
It didn't take much force at all to crucify Jesus, or any of the thousands that the Romans crucified during their history. That's because it was enabled by the cowardice of the few and the indifference of the many who might have acted, or at least spoken up.
We've seen it again. The Nazis slaughtered six million Jews and millions of others, including Roma (Gypsies), Poles, Jehovah' Witnesses, and homosexuals. It took relatively few Nazis to do the actual killing, or to run the extermination camps. That's because it was enabled by what was effectively the cowardice or indifference of everyone who might have done something about it, but did not.
But many times, the alternative to cowardice and indifference amounts to suicide. We become hostage to our natural desire to live just one more day, to see if we can live until the horror passes. Can any of us who are thus normal honestly claim that we are good?
Ah, but sin is an insidious thing, and if we free ourselves from one sin, we often substitute another in its place. Those who free themselves from their natural desire to live — they become suicide bombers, prey to the Islamofacist Industrial Complex that makes the explosives, the vests, the triggers, that gives the instructions, that points to the targets, most of whom are non-combatants.
Yes, there are occasional saints, moved by the Spirit, who desire to live, who desire not to kill, and yet have the courage to speak and act. But odds are, dear reader, that you and I are not among them.
You and I are more likely to be among the indifferent crowd, who just want to pursue their lives as best they can. Can anyone say, "Darfur," or "Lhasa" (to name the two the media mentions of God knows how many current conflicts there are)? You and I are more likely to be among those watching while the nails are driven in, while the sky darkens, while the last breath is gasped.
And that is why, when Jesus gasped, "Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do," he was pleading for us as well.
It is now sundown. The Vigil of Easter has begun. Peace and mercy be upon you.
20 March 2008
Good Friday: The Bomb vs The Sopranos
Probably the most ridiculous thing I can say about myself is that I work at a US defense research lab, but I can't stand to watch the Sopranos, because the show is just too violent for me. It's ridiculous because the US military, with its nuclear arsenal, can dish out way more violence than the mob.
The work I do — designing some of the tools of the military trade, be they material or just software — is done to create so-called "force multipliers" which amplify the ability of our uniformed men and women to break things and kill people. It is one of those activities that His Holiness John Paul II would have classified as intrinsece malum — intrinsically evil. And indeed, tomorrow morning protesters will stage a demonstration at my lab, as they do each Good Friday.
It is as if they are trying to communicate that by pursuing my line of work I crucify Christ. But in large ways and small, we all do that. Their fantasy is that if the US just lays down its arms there will be peace on earth. The reality is that war is all too normal a part of the human condition, and that if you get rid of your own military, you will have to get comfortable with some other country's military.
In other words, if nobody did what I do, if nobody stepped into the moral gray zone of keeping our military well-armed, liberal democracy might have already have perished from the earth. Huge portions of humanity would be less free and less prosperous, if they would be alive at all. The effect of what I do is good, even if the intrinsic intent is bad.
Conversely, even though the intrinsic intent of the protesters is good, the effect of their policy, if put into effect, would be bad. This is because they are not actually making peace by what they do. They are merely making war on war itself. If their cause were chastity, they would be fornicating for it.
I can't really blame them. Fighting against war is almost infinitely easier than making peace. But fighting against war will not reduce or eliminate the need for a large, well-armed military. Only making peace can do that.
What I take from the protesters is that they don't like the way I crucify Christ. They want me to crucify Christ the way they do. That's the message of Good Friday. We all stand together on the same side of the cross. The side into which we hammer the nails.
So, in light of the Crucifixion, I have no problems with "right livelihood." But in light of the Resurrection, I have no answer except to say that the Spirit has not led or kicked me elsewhere. At least, not yet.
But I've said all this before, and another guy has said it at greater length. I guess as long as the protesters keep repeating their message, I may as well keep repeating mine.
The work I do — designing some of the tools of the military trade, be they material or just software — is done to create so-called "force multipliers" which amplify the ability of our uniformed men and women to break things and kill people. It is one of those activities that His Holiness John Paul II would have classified as intrinsece malum — intrinsically evil. And indeed, tomorrow morning protesters will stage a demonstration at my lab, as they do each Good Friday.
It is as if they are trying to communicate that by pursuing my line of work I crucify Christ. But in large ways and small, we all do that. Their fantasy is that if the US just lays down its arms there will be peace on earth. The reality is that war is all too normal a part of the human condition, and that if you get rid of your own military, you will have to get comfortable with some other country's military.
In other words, if nobody did what I do, if nobody stepped into the moral gray zone of keeping our military well-armed, liberal democracy might have already have perished from the earth. Huge portions of humanity would be less free and less prosperous, if they would be alive at all. The effect of what I do is good, even if the intrinsic intent is bad.
Conversely, even though the intrinsic intent of the protesters is good, the effect of their policy, if put into effect, would be bad. This is because they are not actually making peace by what they do. They are merely making war on war itself. If their cause were chastity, they would be fornicating for it.
I can't really blame them. Fighting against war is almost infinitely easier than making peace. But fighting against war will not reduce or eliminate the need for a large, well-armed military. Only making peace can do that.
What I take from the protesters is that they don't like the way I crucify Christ. They want me to crucify Christ the way they do. That's the message of Good Friday. We all stand together on the same side of the cross. The side into which we hammer the nails.
So, in light of the Crucifixion, I have no problems with "right livelihood." But in light of the Resurrection, I have no answer except to say that the Spirit has not led or kicked me elsewhere. At least, not yet.
But I've said all this before, and another guy has said it at greater length. I guess as long as the protesters keep repeating their message, I may as well keep repeating mine.
17 March 2008
The Words of Jeremiah
Read now the words of Jeremiah:
The words of Jeremiah Wright? They could be. But they are actually my paraphrase of Jeremiah 4:15-18, of the Holy Bible, Jewish Publication Society translation.
Yes, Jeremiah Wright was and is full of himself, more than he is of the Holy Spirit. Yes, he is the Man of Words, out of ancient African tradition, that gives the church in Africa as well as the African-American church its voice and its power. And yet, he is also speaking out of the ancient tradition of the Hebrew prophets, who reviled their societies for their shortcomings. Indeed, the original Jeremiah blamed the destruction of Solomon's temple and the expulsion of the Israel into captivity in Babylon on the conduct of Israel itself. And as you would expect, he was "repeatedly imprisoned and castigated as a traitor for his views," according to the Introduction to Jeremiah in the Jewish Study Bible.
It is thus misleading to judge Jeremiah Wright (and Barack Obama for his association with Wright) without the contexts of the historical development of politically black Christian rhetoric, the development of Black Liberation Theology, and their roots in the Old Testament and African oral stylistic tradition.
Still, blaming America for 9/11 is blaming the victim. It is on the same moral level as white people blaming black people for white people's prejudices and stereotypes. It is as ugly for a black man to say it as for a white man to say it. And it is just as wrong. And blaming the US government for AIDS, particularly claiming that it introduced AIDS into African-Americans is a vicious lie (i.e, it is morally and factually wrong), and Wright is morally culpable for believing it and promulgating it from the pulpit.
One has to ask what Barack Obama, as a sitting senator — a man already holding a national office , a position of trust with respect to all Americans — was thinking when he continued to associate with Wright. The most likely answer, given what I've been trying to explain in this and the previous post, is that Obama was simply desensitized to this style of rhetoric. In other words, Obama was probably not thinking at all.
So I doubt that Barak Obama's association with Wright serves as evidence that Obama is anti-American, anti-military, anti-white, or anti-Semitic. But I have to wonder how far to the left Obama might actually be, given that this style of rhetoric didn't faze him enough to get him to go find another church.
Note added on 3/18: Here is the text of Obama's speech on this subject. And you can watch the video here.
Listen, destruction has come upon you! Foreign fighters have come from a distant land, and raised their hands and bodies against your towers... Your conduct and your acts have brought this upon you. This is your bitter punishment.
The words of Jeremiah Wright? They could be. But they are actually my paraphrase of Jeremiah 4:15-18, of the Holy Bible, Jewish Publication Society translation.
Yes, Jeremiah Wright was and is full of himself, more than he is of the Holy Spirit. Yes, he is the Man of Words, out of ancient African tradition, that gives the church in Africa as well as the African-American church its voice and its power. And yet, he is also speaking out of the ancient tradition of the Hebrew prophets, who reviled their societies for their shortcomings. Indeed, the original Jeremiah blamed the destruction of Solomon's temple and the expulsion of the Israel into captivity in Babylon on the conduct of Israel itself. And as you would expect, he was "repeatedly imprisoned and castigated as a traitor for his views," according to the Introduction to Jeremiah in the Jewish Study Bible.
It is thus misleading to judge Jeremiah Wright (and Barack Obama for his association with Wright) without the contexts of the historical development of politically black Christian rhetoric, the development of Black Liberation Theology, and their roots in the Old Testament and African oral stylistic tradition.
Still, blaming America for 9/11 is blaming the victim. It is on the same moral level as white people blaming black people for white people's prejudices and stereotypes. It is as ugly for a black man to say it as for a white man to say it. And it is just as wrong. And blaming the US government for AIDS, particularly claiming that it introduced AIDS into African-Americans is a vicious lie (i.e, it is morally and factually wrong), and Wright is morally culpable for believing it and promulgating it from the pulpit.
One has to ask what Barack Obama, as a sitting senator — a man already holding a national office , a position of trust with respect to all Americans — was thinking when he continued to associate with Wright. The most likely answer, given what I've been trying to explain in this and the previous post, is that Obama was simply desensitized to this style of rhetoric. In other words, Obama was probably not thinking at all.
So I doubt that Barak Obama's association with Wright serves as evidence that Obama is anti-American, anti-military, anti-white, or anti-Semitic. But I have to wonder how far to the left Obama might actually be, given that this style of rhetoric didn't faze him enough to get him to go find another church.
Note added on 3/18: Here is the text of Obama's speech on this subject. And you can watch the video here.
16 March 2008
Is Barack Obama "Wright" for America?
Palm Sunday, or the Sunday of the Passion, and I should be blogging about Christianity. And sinner though I am, I just might get to it by way of writing about Barack Obama's pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright.
To many white people, unused to the more passionate rhetoric of many African-American preachers, Wright's words after 9/11, such as, "Some of America's chickens are coming home to roost," and his passionate condemnation of America's racism at home and in its foreign policy, such as "not God bless America, but God damn America," sound crudely, rabidly anti-American. To black audiences, it just isn't radical. It's part of the discourse by which one shows that one is reliably left-wing enough to be black. Or rather, politically black. Failing to assent to such rhetoric is why Shelby Steele, for example, who is darker than Barak Obama, is not really — meaning not politically — black.
So, looking to burnish his Christian credentials to mitigate his Islamic middle name, and to make the challenge of black Americans his own — Barack came of age well after America's racial racial struggles of the 1960s and 1970s — it was natural for Barack to gravitate to a predominately black church that practiced a social gospel, sponsoring and doing service to the community in which it was set. As to the preaching of his pastor, the consensus of the community was and is that his preaching is not particularly radical. It is not that African Americans are anti-American. It's just that African-Americans experience America differently than Americans whose ancestors came to this country voluntarily.
In my lifetime, this perspective was most famously and succinctly given voice by a Muslim lay person, Malcom X.
What was on that plate was freedom and opportunity, but to America's white heartland, this sort of rhetoric sounds ambivalent about America at best, and anti-American at worst. And they can't be expected to turn out to vote for someone whom they suspect might be reluctant to do what it takes to further the American agenda when the chips are down. That's what the heartland will wonder as they contemplate that Barack Obama was a member of Jeremiah Wright's church for 20 years, that he gave it over US $20,000, and that Jeremiah Wright was part of an advisory committee for Obama's campaign until last week.
Indeed, even to me, Barack Obama has some explaining to do. But all this should be old news. Who dug this up, and why is it coming out now? Let's see... it can't be the McCain campaign, because the timing is all wrong. The McCain campaign would want to save this for the general election, after the Democrats had already committed themselves to Obama. On the other hand, the timing is perfect for an act of desperation by the Clinton campaign, because Hillary is running a little behind Barak, and with just enough uncommitted delegates left to swing the Democratic presidential nomination to her, now would be the time to use this story to raise Democratic voters' concern that, if nominated, Barack may not be able to win the general election.
Many African-American voters will think, as I do, that this is a manipulation by the Hillary and Bill Clinton machine, to whom they gave crucial support for many years, and many will feel betrayed. In other words, it's hard to tell just who will be hurt more by this, Hillary or Barack. But I'll bet that the Clintons have counted up the number of black vs white Democratic voters in the remaining primaries.
But what spooks me about the timing is that this is the day we Christians remember Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, with a crowd cheering him and throwing palm fronds under the donkey's feet — making the equivalent of the modern-day "red carpet." Only a few days later they were shouting, "Give us Barabbas!" and leaving Jesus to the Romans.
I doubt that Barack Obama is un-American, even if he has become desensitized to rhetoric that is. Whether polls of likely Democratic primary voters will show them abandoning Obama this week, and whether his campaign can resurrect itself, remains to be seen.
Note Added: See also A Black Theology of Liberation, by James H. Cone. It will give you a better idea of where Wright has been coming from.
To many white people, unused to the more passionate rhetoric of many African-American preachers, Wright's words after 9/11, such as, "Some of America's chickens are coming home to roost," and his passionate condemnation of America's racism at home and in its foreign policy, such as "not God bless America, but God damn America," sound crudely, rabidly anti-American. To black audiences, it just isn't radical. It's part of the discourse by which one shows that one is reliably left-wing enough to be black. Or rather, politically black. Failing to assent to such rhetoric is why Shelby Steele, for example, who is darker than Barak Obama, is not really — meaning not politically — black.
So, looking to burnish his Christian credentials to mitigate his Islamic middle name, and to make the challenge of black Americans his own — Barack came of age well after America's racial racial struggles of the 1960s and 1970s — it was natural for Barack to gravitate to a predominately black church that practiced a social gospel, sponsoring and doing service to the community in which it was set. As to the preaching of his pastor, the consensus of the community was and is that his preaching is not particularly radical. It is not that African Americans are anti-American. It's just that African-Americans experience America differently than Americans whose ancestors came to this country voluntarily.
In my lifetime, this perspective was most famously and succinctly given voice by a Muslim lay person, Malcom X.
Sitting at the table doesn't make you a diner, unless you eat some of what's on that plate. Being here in America doesn't make you an American. Being born here in America doesn't make you an American. — Malcom X, 1965
What was on that plate was freedom and opportunity, but to America's white heartland, this sort of rhetoric sounds ambivalent about America at best, and anti-American at worst. And they can't be expected to turn out to vote for someone whom they suspect might be reluctant to do what it takes to further the American agenda when the chips are down. That's what the heartland will wonder as they contemplate that Barack Obama was a member of Jeremiah Wright's church for 20 years, that he gave it over US $20,000, and that Jeremiah Wright was part of an advisory committee for Obama's campaign until last week.
Indeed, even to me, Barack Obama has some explaining to do. But all this should be old news. Who dug this up, and why is it coming out now? Let's see... it can't be the McCain campaign, because the timing is all wrong. The McCain campaign would want to save this for the general election, after the Democrats had already committed themselves to Obama. On the other hand, the timing is perfect for an act of desperation by the Clinton campaign, because Hillary is running a little behind Barak, and with just enough uncommitted delegates left to swing the Democratic presidential nomination to her, now would be the time to use this story to raise Democratic voters' concern that, if nominated, Barack may not be able to win the general election.
Many African-American voters will think, as I do, that this is a manipulation by the Hillary and Bill Clinton machine, to whom they gave crucial support for many years, and many will feel betrayed. In other words, it's hard to tell just who will be hurt more by this, Hillary or Barack. But I'll bet that the Clintons have counted up the number of black vs white Democratic voters in the remaining primaries.
But what spooks me about the timing is that this is the day we Christians remember Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, with a crowd cheering him and throwing palm fronds under the donkey's feet — making the equivalent of the modern-day "red carpet." Only a few days later they were shouting, "Give us Barabbas!" and leaving Jesus to the Romans.
I doubt that Barack Obama is un-American, even if he has become desensitized to rhetoric that is. Whether polls of likely Democratic primary voters will show them abandoning Obama this week, and whether his campaign can resurrect itself, remains to be seen.
Note Added: See also A Black Theology of Liberation, by James H. Cone. It will give you a better idea of where Wright has been coming from.
15 March 2008
The Point of Eliot Spitzer
If you go to the office of the Governor of New York website, you find this charming quotation:
Now we know that Eliot Spitzer, once New York's Attorney General, was not what he presented himself to be — a knight in shining armor riding to avenge the downtrodden little guy. In case you have been in a cave the last couple of weeks, Eliot was caught laundering money to pay for his visits to $5000/night prostitutes. It's the very same kind of corruption Eliot fought against when he was a prosecutor. One could say that Eliot was a hypocrite, but that doesn't tell us much. The point is that all the while Eliot was fighting corruption, he was actually fighting his own inner demons — by attacking them as he found them in other people.
His fall is well-deserved, considering the suffering he brought via his overzealous prosecutions of people, not all of whom had committed crimes. But it is also pathetic, considering that he fell prey to the most common of temptations — not the sex — the urge to fight one's demons in other people, rather than face them in himself. To illustrate how common it is, that particular urge plays a big part in making war, policing our communities, preaching, prejudice, etc. It is a bad thing that can be harnessed to get us to do good things, but only when it is channeled and checked.
So, I view Eliot as a kind of Everyman. I do not rejoice at his fall. But I am relieved that one can still so fall, even if one is a Democrat. Indeed, contrary to the example set by Bill Clinton, Spitzer has come clean, and resigned his office. I hope he seeks psychotherapy to root out those inner demons and become a free man.
Certainly we, a free people, must insist on having free leaders. Not leaders who are slaves to their own desires or other temptations.
Eliot Spitzer was inaugurated as New York’s 54th Governor on January 1, 2007. In his inaugural address, Governor Spitzer said: "Every policy, every action and every decision we make in this administration will further two overarching objectives: We must transform our government so that it is as ethical and wise as all of New York, and we must rebuild our economy so that it is ready to compete on the global stage in the next century".
Now we know that Eliot Spitzer, once New York's Attorney General, was not what he presented himself to be — a knight in shining armor riding to avenge the downtrodden little guy. In case you have been in a cave the last couple of weeks, Eliot was caught laundering money to pay for his visits to $5000/night prostitutes. It's the very same kind of corruption Eliot fought against when he was a prosecutor. One could say that Eliot was a hypocrite, but that doesn't tell us much. The point is that all the while Eliot was fighting corruption, he was actually fighting his own inner demons — by attacking them as he found them in other people.
His fall is well-deserved, considering the suffering he brought via his overzealous prosecutions of people, not all of whom had committed crimes. But it is also pathetic, considering that he fell prey to the most common of temptations — not the sex — the urge to fight one's demons in other people, rather than face them in himself. To illustrate how common it is, that particular urge plays a big part in making war, policing our communities, preaching, prejudice, etc. It is a bad thing that can be harnessed to get us to do good things, but only when it is channeled and checked.
So, I view Eliot as a kind of Everyman. I do not rejoice at his fall. But I am relieved that one can still so fall, even if one is a Democrat. Indeed, contrary to the example set by Bill Clinton, Spitzer has come clean, and resigned his office. I hope he seeks psychotherapy to root out those inner demons and become a free man.
Certainly we, a free people, must insist on having free leaders. Not leaders who are slaves to their own desires or other temptations.
12 March 2008
Fade to Black
I come home from picking up prescription food at vet, and there sits Pongo, a long bloody booger hanging from his nose. Why is this dog bleeding? Drop the food, pick up the dog, go back to the vet and ask her. After another visit and some diagnostic work, bad news. The two most likely possibilities are nasal cancer, and fungal disease. Both are treatable, but we must make a definitive diagnosis first, which involves anesthesia, scopes, biopsies, at least 48 hours at the vet, and several more days of bleeding.And then what? Treatment. If it's cancer we could board Pongo for 3 or 4 weeks at a specialist vet in another city for radiation treatments. Most dogs have a 50% chance of living a year after that. If it's fungal disease, its one or more 24 hour vet stays during which Pongo gets anesthesia and has his nose filled with Lotrimin, with a 60% to 80% chance of cure, but with a chance of recurrence.
On the other hand, Pongo is 14, and he has kidney disease, too. Even without nasal disease, he is on his way out. It isn't clear that further diagnosis and treatment would significantly prolong his life, or even add to its quality.
You see, Pongo has lost 1/5 of his body weight over the past year. He hasn't been eating much, not even what were once his favorite foods. And now we know why. He has been losing his sense of smell. To a dog, if it doesn't smell like food, it isn't food. He has been starving, and wondering why we keep offering him this inedible cardboard stuff that just looks like food.
So, we have a temporary fix: stinkier food. Pongo is eating well again. His nosebleed and snuffling/snorting symptoms appear to be in remission for now. He is happier than he has been in a long time.
It is not clear that treatment of any kind would restore his sense of smell. Whether it's cancer or fungus, the damage may already have been done. What's more, cancer treatment may cause nerve damage that could make the sense of smell worse, as well as cause blindness. Not a recipe for a happy dog. Especially for a dog who just wants to be with us.
Pongo has stopped sleeping in his chair downstairs (a long story - if you're able to keep your pets off the furniture, you probably don't own a German Shorthaired Pointer) and moved upstairs to sleep next to us. He can no longer smell us from downstairs, and if he can't smell us, we're not there. So he's moved upstairs to be less lonely and insecure.
As his sense of smell fades, we will fade. He will be living in a house of people who look and sound like us, but we will have vanished. He will stop eating. And then, for him, everything will fade. Fade to black.
05 March 2008
A Chancre on the Face of Islam
In "Worshippers of Death," WSJ 3 March 2008, Alan M. Dershowitz discusses the case of Zahra Maladan, an educated and accomplished Lebanese Muslim woman who edits a magazine, and who was quoted in the New York Times as telling her son, "If you're not going to follow in the steps of the if the Islamic resistance martyrs, then I don't want you." By "Islamic resistance martyrs, she is taken to mean suicide bombers. Dershowitz characterizes her attitude as worshipping death.
I think it's worse than that. Let's go back more than 2000 years to the ancient Middle East. A cult existed throughout the region involving the sacrifice of children to a god called Moloch (also known as Molech). The Hebrew prophets (all of whom are also accepted by Muslims as Muslim prophets) struggled to abolish this idolatrous practice from the time of Moses - "You shall not give any of your children to devote them by fire to Moloch, and so profane the name of your God." - Leviticus 18:21 - to the time of Jeremiah and beyond.
Indeed, it seems that not even the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) could finally put a stop to this practice. Instead of abandoning child sacrifice, some Muslims have simply grafted the idolatrous worship of Moloch onto the worship of Allah. That is to say, they associate an attribute of Moloch with Allah, even though the association of anything with Allah is expressly forbidden in Islam. By raising their children for sacrifice they have contaminated their Islam with a custom from the Time of Ignorance before the coming of the Prophet.
Now such people are a minority of Muslims, so this contamination is only superficial. Since idolatry was often compared to harlotry in the Hebrew Bible, it is thus fair to call this modern version of child sacrifice a chancre on the face that Islam presents to the world.
I think it's worse than that. Let's go back more than 2000 years to the ancient Middle East. A cult existed throughout the region involving the sacrifice of children to a god called Moloch (also known as Molech). The Hebrew prophets (all of whom are also accepted by Muslims as Muslim prophets) struggled to abolish this idolatrous practice from the time of Moses - "You shall not give any of your children to devote them by fire to Moloch, and so profane the name of your God." - Leviticus 18:21 - to the time of Jeremiah and beyond.
Indeed, it seems that not even the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) could finally put a stop to this practice. Instead of abandoning child sacrifice, some Muslims have simply grafted the idolatrous worship of Moloch onto the worship of Allah. That is to say, they associate an attribute of Moloch with Allah, even though the association of anything with Allah is expressly forbidden in Islam. By raising their children for sacrifice they have contaminated their Islam with a custom from the Time of Ignorance before the coming of the Prophet.
Now such people are a minority of Muslims, so this contamination is only superficial. Since idolatry was often compared to harlotry in the Hebrew Bible, it is thus fair to call this modern version of child sacrifice a chancre on the face that Islam presents to the world.
04 March 2008
Sniffing the Competition
We are currently experimenting with hosting this blog at Wordpress and at Superb.net (our web host for our main site). We'll let you know if we decide to move.
24 February 2008
The Man in the Mirror
Whenever I look in a mirror, a graying man looks back at me. He surprises me every time. I suppose it's only natural for eternal in us to rebel against our getting old.
Is the eternal in me my real soul, made by God in His Image? Or is it just the puer aeternus, the eternal child - a mere psychological holdover, the little boy in me who never grew up? Perhaps only death can part them, as it does our marriages.
Maybe my rebellion against my aging appearance is about all the things I have left undone or untried - most of which I now will never do, because I no longer can. And yet, I can still get on a bicycle and leave an out-of-shape twenty-something in the dust. Or am I just crying, in Monty Python fashion, "Not dead yet!"
Or maybe it's about the things I've left unthought. If so, and if I survive with my mind intact, aging may be a blessing. I hope to do my own research again someday, funded by my pension.
How strange life is, though. At times, I feel so connected to the boy I once was, and yet my memories of childhood are discontinuous. The most meaningful moments are all there, but the rest are lost. When I was a boy, frustrated by adult incomprehension, I swore I would never forget what it was like to be a child. But adolescence intervened, rearranged my brain, and made other things so urgent. Getting a girl, learning about love, getting an education, getting a job, growing up. As has everyone else, I have forgotten what childhood was like, and I forgot it long ago. I retain only a loose web of intensely felt fragments, a disconnected narrative.
If we are no more than our memories, then we are not very much. But if we lose our memories, we are not nothing. "Show me the face you had before your parents were born," goes the Zen koan. Perhaps we show that face when we have no memories.
The graying man in the mirror shows me that much time has passed, that youth's dreams of becoming something have become the middle-aged fantasies of a Walter Mitty. And the time remaining may be short.
But, hey thanks, glad to be here. Glad for every gray hair. I've earned each one so far, and none has come cheap. Glad to wonder, glad to experience. Grateful to God to have lived longer than the previous two generations of men on my father's side of the family. Hoping to turn into a really old fart on a bicycle over decades to come, but willing to take what I get, because none of us has the wisdom to do otherwise.
Is the eternal in me my real soul, made by God in His Image? Or is it just the puer aeternus, the eternal child - a mere psychological holdover, the little boy in me who never grew up? Perhaps only death can part them, as it does our marriages.
Maybe my rebellion against my aging appearance is about all the things I have left undone or untried - most of which I now will never do, because I no longer can. And yet, I can still get on a bicycle and leave an out-of-shape twenty-something in the dust. Or am I just crying, in Monty Python fashion, "Not dead yet!"
Or maybe it's about the things I've left unthought. If so, and if I survive with my mind intact, aging may be a blessing. I hope to do my own research again someday, funded by my pension.
How strange life is, though. At times, I feel so connected to the boy I once was, and yet my memories of childhood are discontinuous. The most meaningful moments are all there, but the rest are lost. When I was a boy, frustrated by adult incomprehension, I swore I would never forget what it was like to be a child. But adolescence intervened, rearranged my brain, and made other things so urgent. Getting a girl, learning about love, getting an education, getting a job, growing up. As has everyone else, I have forgotten what childhood was like, and I forgot it long ago. I retain only a loose web of intensely felt fragments, a disconnected narrative.
If we are no more than our memories, then we are not very much. But if we lose our memories, we are not nothing. "Show me the face you had before your parents were born," goes the Zen koan. Perhaps we show that face when we have no memories.
The graying man in the mirror shows me that much time has passed, that youth's dreams of becoming something have become the middle-aged fantasies of a Walter Mitty. And the time remaining may be short.
But, hey thanks, glad to be here. Glad for every gray hair. I've earned each one so far, and none has come cheap. Glad to wonder, glad to experience. Grateful to God to have lived longer than the previous two generations of men on my father's side of the family. Hoping to turn into a really old fart on a bicycle over decades to come, but willing to take what I get, because none of us has the wisdom to do otherwise.
17 February 2008
Sunday Blizzard
Here's an oldie for those of you in the Frozen North:
One winter Sunday there was a blizzard so intense that only one parishoner made it to the service. The pastor met the man and suggested that since it was just going to be the two of them, that they might as well just skip it.
"Well," said the parishoner," if I was goin' to feed my flock, but only one sheep came out, I'd still sure feed it."
Ashamed, the pastor did the service, played the organ parts himself, and sang the liturgy as best he could. He preached a full length sermon, followed by a proper Eucharist.
After the service the pastor thanked the parishoner for teaching him a valuable lesson, and asked what he thought of the service.
"Well, answered the parishoner, "If only one sheep came out to be fed, I'd sure feed it, but I wouldn't give it my full load."
One winter Sunday there was a blizzard so intense that only one parishoner made it to the service. The pastor met the man and suggested that since it was just going to be the two of them, that they might as well just skip it.
"Well," said the parishoner," if I was goin' to feed my flock, but only one sheep came out, I'd still sure feed it."
Ashamed, the pastor did the service, played the organ parts himself, and sang the liturgy as best he could. He preached a full length sermon, followed by a proper Eucharist.
After the service the pastor thanked the parishoner for teaching him a valuable lesson, and asked what he thought of the service.
"Well, answered the parishoner, "If only one sheep came out to be fed, I'd sure feed it, but I wouldn't give it my full load."
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