Evolution Major Vanishes From Approved Federal List - New York Times

Evolution Major Vanishes From Approved Federal List - New York Times:

Can you believe this? Given the Bush regime's penchent for ignoring both due process and the law, we're supposed to believe that the removal of Evolutionary Science as an approved college major for students on government grants is an "accident?"

You know, Gravity is just a theory too. Maybe they'll get to work at repealing that next.

Bush trims this year's Texas stay to 10 days. Good thing nothing important is going on ...

USATODAY.com - Bush trims this year's Texas stay to 10 days: "'Last summer, he was not seen as being on top of the job,' says Merle Black, a political scientist at Emory University in Atlanta. 'He doesn't want to be seen taking a whole month off right now. It doesn't look good.'"

In DC, it's all about how it looks right?

This may be a cheap shot, but "last summer he was seen as not being on top of the job? Just last summer? Is anyone paying attention?

Memo to the White House - the entire Middle East is melting down. Oh, I forgot - they have a fax machine in Crawford. That was part of what the President helpfully told us when he said the American people "don't understand the definition of work."

(You may remember that comment came when he was asked about his month long vacation in 2001 during which he ignored the intelligence reports about the impending 9/11 attacks.)

I really don't have to say any more on this one - it speaks for itself...

Mel Gibson's Drunken Anti-Semitic Tirade.

Chalk it up to the tequila...

When arrested last weekend for drunken driving,* Mel Gibson, director of the jolly gorefest "Passion of the Christ" allegedly burst out in an anti Semitic rant. (Apropos of what? One wonders...)

He also allegedly verbally harassed the arresting officers. The LA County Sheriff's Dept. is believed to have expunged the description of the tirade from the arrest report.

Mel Gibson's anti-Semitic outburst was 'covered up' - World - Times Online: "the arresting officer'’s original report said: "“Gibson blurted out anti-Semitic remarks about "‘f***ing Jews"’ [and] yelled out "‘The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world," then asked [the arresting officer]"‘Are you a Jew?”"

Given the ineptitude and arrogance of the appointments made by the Bush administration, I'm expecting the President to nominate Mr. Gibson as the next US Ambassador to Israel.

Is it any weirder than Stephen Johnson as EPA Administrator, or John Bolton as UN Ambassador?

Maybe Mel could take "make nice" lessons from Mr. Bolton.
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* Clocked going 87 mph in a 40 zone with an open bottle of tequila on the rear seat. Oy!

The Faboo Refugee, or "we might miss a beach day?"

I became a refugee this week, albeit briefly, and with the full resources of Provincetown, Massachusetts at my disposal. (Espresso, Art Films, and T-shirt shops out the wazoo.)

Perhaps I should explain.

I'm spending a few weeks on a small island off the coast of Massachusetts. It's off the grid, so power is supplied by a generator. I bring everything I need across the channel in an 18" outboard.

It's spectacularly beautiful, but the channel becomes impassable in even moderate blows. So when tropical storm Beryl headed our way I decided to go ashore for the night. (I am a little gun shy of storms after losing my beloved dog Lucky to a seizure during a similar storm on the island last fall.)

So I fled, hurriedly packing a few modest effects and beating a hasty retreat to Provincetown. It was funny to me that when I mentioned the storm everyone there responded "what storm?" By and large, urban folks are so out of touch with the weather. When told a tropical storm was on track to the Cape most folks responded "We might miss a beach day?"

Now I am fully aware that this exodus hardly qualifies me for UN refugee status. On the scale of human suffering, breakfasting alfresco on Crepes Forestieré and Cappuchino ranks not one iota.

We in America are so divorced from the suffering caused by natural events, and especially by wars. It takes something on our own shores like Katrina to wake us up. How quickly those of us not on the Gulf coast have forgetten.

This is especially tragic given the blinkered worldview of our administration. Now more than ever, we are strangely divorced from the suffering our actions cause worldwide as well. (See my next post on Lebanon.)

Urban Wildlife Part 26

Yesterday I was riding the # 2 bus through Hollywood and spied a truly stellar bit of urban wildlife.

At Sunset and Crescent Heights, a demurely outfitted transvestite boarded the bus. Despite her wildly unkempt wig, she was conservatively attired in an immaculately pressed suit / skirt combo. The styling would have made Nancy Reagan proud, though the dress was in lavender, not red. I mused that Nancy would have probably skipped the lacy white cuffs, as they tend to drag in one's soup.

So far this is an everyday event in Hollywood, so common as to not even attract glances from the other passengers.

The "wildlife" part was created by her accessories. (As Diana Vreeland sagely noted - it's the accessories that make the ensemble.)

Her dress was accented by a frowzy eared stuffed bunny, peeking its grimy head out of the buttons in her cleavage. The bunny was wearing an old fashioned head-wrap, as you might see in Ub Iwerks cartoons for the treatment of toothache. The bunny faced her, as if whispering private advice as she moved though her day. (A Harvey for the 21st century?)

The whole ensemble was perfectly topped off by her reading material, a dog eared copy of the Book of Mormon.

She slipped off the bus as demurely as she had gotten on, at Sunset and Vine, as befits a star.

How I love Hollywood!

- Will.

The Most Irritating Saint in Christendom?

I'm returning from Italy, where I visited San Gimignano, the home of Santa Fina. One hagiographer has called Santa Fina "The Most Irritating Saint in all Christendom."

Santa Fina accepted the gift of an orange from a young man in her village, and was scolded by her mother for her wickedness. Overcome with regret, young Fina flung herself upon the kitchen table and spent the next five years praying for forgiveness, until she died. Upon her death, the table and the many towers of San Gimignano burst into bloom with violets.
Hmmm, amazing how many of the Saint's lives seem to primarily underscore a fear of sexuality.

If you visit the Duomo in San Gimignano, be sure to check out the horrific last judgement frescos - a masterpiece in the "fear of sexuality" genre.

Despite this sad tale, I beg to differ. I think the title "most irritating saint" has to go to St Triduana of Scotland - who gouged out her own eyes when a young man admired them. She then presented them to him, skewered on thorns.

Yuk!

A stream near St Triduana's burial site is said to restore sight to the blind...

The Undead of the Carolinas

I just spent a week at the beach with the family in NC. On passing through the airport at Myrtle Beach (SC) I am struck by the need for a memo to the good women of the Carolinas.

To wit - it is highly recommended that redheads, blondes and others of Scotch - Irish descent entirely eschew black eye makeup.

Black eyeliner is best left to raven haired beauties, the undead, 16 year old goth chicks, and the New York Dolls. (in that order...)

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | 'Ethics training' for US troops

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | 'Ethics training' for US troops:

"As military professionals, it is important that we take time to reflect on the values that separate us from our enemies."

- Lieutenant-General Peter Chiarelli, commander of Multinational Corps Iraq, commenting on the US Military's new ethics training initiatives.

Part of the problem is that the distinction of who the enemy is has been blurred from the onset at the very highest levels of government. The Vice President's deliberate slight of hand in tarring Saddam Hussein with the 9/11 brush has led to confusion at the rank and file levels of the military and among the citizenry.

I've met thoughtful, educated officers who understand the geopolitical complexities of the region and have a clear idea of the mission. But there are also a lot of 19 and 20 year olds, jacked up on heavy metal and Hannity and Colmes who equate being Muslim with being a terrorist. Add to that the daily stress of being a soldier engaged in the occupation and you have a recipe for disaster.

The reductivist television media doesn't help. In addition to ethics training for the military - I think we need Ethics in Government, Civics and Journalism training for the American public as well.

Pope Visits Nazi Death Camp - Los Angeles Times

Pope Visits Nazi Death Camp - Los Angeles Times: "'In a place like this, words fail,' Benedict said later at a memorial ceremony in Birkenau. 'In the end, there can only be a dread silence, a silence which is itself a heartfelt cry to God: Why, Lord, did you remain silent?"

The Lord remained silent? Didn't the Lord touch Anne Frank, Martin Neimoller, and countless others to resist the war and raise their voices against the atrocities of the holocaust?

The more pertinent question is why did Benedict remain silent? The Pope was a member of both the Hitler Youth and the German army during the holocaust. To give him a fair shake it should be noted that he joined the Hitler youth after it became compulsory, and that according to biographers - "he wasn't a very enthusiastic member."

I find it profoundly disturbing that the spiritual leader of one of the world's largest religions sat idly by while millions of fellow human beings were slaughtered.

To answer the Pope's question - when I think God isn't speaking, I usually find it is me who isn't listening.

ABC News: Bush Brothers No Longer Back Harris

ABC News: Bush Brothers No Longer Back Harris: "She retained ChoicePoint to remove felons from the voting rolls, ignoring complaints for years that the firm had continuously removed legitimate voters, ones who often had ethnic names."

Surprise!

What amazes me is that the woman who perpetrated one if the most public election frauds of this century expects to run for the Senate in the first place. Her name is so tainted by electoral scandal that even the Bushes won't back this horse anymore.

57,000 legitimate voters were denied the right to vote in Florida due to Katherine Harris' retention of choicepoint to purge felons from the voter rolls. These citizens were denied the right to vote simply for the crime of being black, and likely democratic votors in Jeb Bush's Florida. Katherine Harris' office instructed choicepoint to use the loosest possible matching standards - eliminating thousands of African - American votes.

As an example - if a white man named Samuel Walton Jr committed a felony in Texas, then an African American Sam Walker Sr might be disenfranchised in Florida. Harris instructed choicepoint to match on only three letters and to ignore suffixes like Jr, Sr the II nd etc.

Never mind her outrageously transparent partisan meddling in certifying the 2000 election result in Florida....

The telling thing is that the Bush's aren't backing her, not because she is a fraud and a cheat, but because they feel she wouldn't win.

This fits right in with the "get my way at any cost" ethical myopia of the Bush family, and the climate of corrution they have created in Washington.

Bush's Plan to Seal Border Worries Mexico - New York Times

Bush's Plan to Seal Border Worries Mexico - New York Times:

"White House officials said Mr. Bush assured Mr. Fox that a permanent National Guard presence on the border was not being considered."

Nah, surely the deployment is just just till the midterm elections are over...

George W’s Palace in Iraq – On Time & Under Budget….

In the chaos of Iraq, one project is on target: a giant US embassy - World - Times Online

(Photo - not the US Embassy in Iraq, but Kew Palace, the Palace of Mad King George III of England.)

The one aspect of the “Iraq Reconstruction” that is on time and under budget is the building of the new 104 acre US Embassy complex in Bagdad, which the Bagdadi’s refer to as “George W’s Palace”.

The US Embassy in Iraq is nearly as large as Vatican City, and will feature the largest swimming pool in Iraq, as well a movie theatres, a shopping mall and food court, and its own electrical generating plant and water pumping capacity. At 104 acres the US embassy under construction is nearly 6 times the size of the White House complex in Washington DC, and will be the largest embassy in the world.

Despite the political cover about bringing “Freedom” to Iraq, as is so often the case, our commitment to “Freedom” only applies to situations where involvement is conducive to US strategic (read business) interests. Mr. Bush’s commitment to spreading Freedom and Democracy seems to fail him utterly in dealing with the genocide in Darfur. The Bush administration's real aim with this war was to create a thinly veiled US protectorate in the Middle East to ensure the flow of oil into the 21^st century.

There will likely be an ongoing series of oil wars in this century as the world competes more and more for finite petroleum resources. China and India’s populations are growing at an exponential rate, and much of the third world is industrializing rapidly as well. All of this will place greater and greater importance on keeping oil flowing to maintain US strategic dominance. (One thing the Bush family understands all too well is ruthlessness in the preservation of empire.)

What is not being adequately addressed is the impact in furthering and fostering terrorism that Bush policy is having. The annual State Department report on Terrorism documents a threefold increase in the number of terrorist incidents worldwide in the past year, with most of the increases related to the war in Iraq. While statistical methods account for some of the difference – it is clear nonetheless that Bush’s war is making the world a far more dangerous place.

The primary reason Osama Bin Laden declared Jihad against the US is the presence of US Troops in Saudi Arabia. Bush has now laid the groundwork for a permanent US base in another Middle Eastern country. (The military is also building extensive “temporary” forward bases in Iraq.) Bear in mind that the “temporary” forward bases built in Europe and the Philippines during reconstruction after WWI are still operating nearly fifty years later.

Bush has also imprisoned and tortured hundreds of Muslims without charges or trial, many of whom the military and state department have now determined are not, nor ever were terrorists. This is breeding growing resentment toward the US worldwide, and assures a constant supply of disaffected people willing to engage in terrorist attacks in desperation.

Imagine if we had a leader of vision, who had the courage to allocate even a portion of the 811 billion this war is costing to development of energy alternatives. Imagine also if the US had spent that money building wells and helping the poor around the world to become self sufficient, rather than propping up vile and corrupt tribal empires who abuse their own people to enrich themselves and their corporate lackeys in the US. We would have been able to retire the terrorists permanently when their funding from oil sales dried up.

The Bush administration speaks of spreading democracy, yet continues to protect, fund and defend some of the vilest oligarchies in the world.

CNN.com - Bush rejects tax on oil companies' windfall profits - Apr 28, 2006

CNN.com - Bush rejects tax on oil companies' windfall profits - Apr 28, 2006

When asked about a windfall tax on big oil's record breaking profits, the wishful Alice in Wonderland logic of this administration surfaces again. (The tax would fund development of domestically produced energy sources.)


Rather than taking responsibility for an active role in our future energy security through prudent reinvestment, our Decider in Chief would prefer to leave it to his buddies in big oil.

"My attitude is that the oil companies need to be mindful that the American people expect them to reinvest their cash flows in such a way that it enhances our energy security."

and then later in the same statement -

"One reason there's tight gasoline supplies is we haven't built any new refineries since the 1970s."

By this odd wish-logic, the same companies that haven't reinvested a dime in new refineries in forty years will now auto-magically forgo the profit motive and begin to reinvest in alternative energy. Perhaps the president has detected a sudden upwelling of community spiritedness in his big oil cronies?

Let's not forget that corporations exist solely to increase their own profits, and are legally prevented from taking actions that would reduce their own profitability. In the current climate of gargantuan CEO salaries, consolidation of privilege and energy robber-baronism the reinvestment Bush imagines will simply never take place.

Look how well the policy of "just trust big business" worked for the Enron employees who lost everything.

It appears that on this extremely sensible proposal Mr Bush is still the decider and he decides no.

BBC NEWS | Business | US war costs 'could hit $811bn'

BBC NEWS | Business | US war costs 'could hit $811bn'

Gosh!

811 billion here and 811 billion there; pretty soon you're talking a real deficit....

Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools

Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools

I'm a HUGE political junkie - to a degree that many of my aquaintences find somewhat odd. (I watch C-Span, can name my Senators, House Reps, and the Prime Minister of Canada for example.)

I am repeatedly dismayed by how little my peers seem to care about our government and its institutions. Young people seem to have no idea how our government works, or even what democracy is. (Neither does our president, so maybe that is where the trickle down theory actually works.) For the record Mr. Bush, "democracy" does NOT equal "freedom". Egypt is a nominal "democracy" and also one of the most brutally repressive regimes in the world. Sometimes they co-exist, and other times they do not.

The "No Child Left Behind" Act has made this alarming trend even worse with its focus on testing in math and science. Schools are teaching what they need the kids to test well in. This focus helps retain their funding, and alas, civics is nowhere on the list. Every teacher I know says "No Child Left Behind" is the worst thing to happen to our schools in decades.

Sandra Day O'Connor recently said:

...Civics "was routinely required at several levels in high school, and it was integrated into the grade-school curriculum as well. And that just has disappeared."

The Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools is seeking to reverse this trend. This is an important idea, as what we teach in grade school and high school "sticks" more than we know.

I am getting ready to attend my 25th year high school reunion. At my 20th I was stuck by how politically engaged my classmates were. Our school had a very stong emphasis on both civics and on social responsibility, and it has paid off in a group of engaged, aware and committed adults. (many of whom can name the Prime Minister of Canada, fer instance...)

Mahler and grief...

I just returned from a trip to New York, where I went to a performance of Mahler’s 2^nd Symphony (The Resurrection Symphony) at Riverside church in Harlem.

It was a reunion of sorts, as my stepfather and both of my brothers and their wives were there. There were also many family friends.

This part of my personal universe revolved to a great extent around my mother, who died of liver cancer four years ago. This made our reunion a time of both joy and sadness for all of us.

Those of you who know the symphony will know the music is beautiful and transcendent. Mahler’s themes of death and resurrection, loss and questions of faith are so deeply suited to holy week and springtime. The group of us who shared a common loss gathered together. Memory was our constant yet unspoken companion, a melancholy and beautiful undercurrent.

Beautiful because my mother died, as is often said and rarely experienced, “with dignity.” Due to her diabetes, she had been preparing herself and all of us for the fact of her passing for many years. She died quietly at home, surrounded by loved ones, at the time and place of her choosing, and in the kind care of Dan my stepfather and an amazing hospice team.

I realized that for many of her friends I was a gentle reminder of the loss. My face carries the contours of hers in a way that those of my brother’s, who favor their father more strongly, does not.

I was escorting a family friend to the church. As I stepped out of the elevator to meet her in the lobby, she commented on how much I look like my mother. After that she remained still – savoring the fleeting moment of resurrection.

At the church, swept along in the strains of the Mahler's music, I saw one after another of us lost in memory.

As the symphony lilted and crashed through the church, I sensed a nearly sanctified energy of loss and rememberance among our guests.

I wandered the valley of doubt as I observed my youngest brother Adam weeping deeply. Something in Adam’s gentle nature makes him the most profoundly marked by loss. Who creates a world with this much pain?

The music reached its glorious crescendo; Mahler’s strangely coherent cacophony of faith overcoming darkness. I felt a a gentle awareness growing.

The reminder I provided to our guests of my mother’s face wasn’t just for them. Running my hand across my check I had an inner realization - she is in me, and always will be.

We left the church, sweeping into the soft April night in near silence. Each one of us had been moved by something more graceful than a piece of music.

The Mind Boggles, or the death of civility….

On the death of civility….

I’m flying to New York today, and have yet again been stunned by the lack of civility in public life.

Onboard the plane, I was asked by a mother and daughter if I would vacate my coveted right side, exit-aisle seat so they could sit together. They offered a seat across the aisle in exchange. Though I don’t particularly like that seat, I was moved by their mother-daughter bond, (or acute codependency) so I agreed.

The seat next to the one they offered was empty – which I figured was an instant karmic dividend.

I stood to get my bag and coat out of the overhead compartment. Meanwhile, a tiny woman from several rows back switched seats and took the empty seat next to the one I had been offered.

While I was dealing with my carry on bag, and faster than I would have believed possible, the mercenary mom sold the exit row seat I had vacated for her to another passenger for 60 dollars. She then plunked herself back down in her original seat; this crass maneuver left me with no seat in the exit row at all.

When I asked her to vacate the seat, she merely pointed at the seat the tiny woman had vacated two rows back, indicating I should sit there.

By now the entire plane was waiting on us to depart, and the captain was making the “we can’t go till everyone is seated” announcement. When the flight attendant arrived to try and sort out the mess, the mercenary mom showed her boarding pass, and feigned ignorance. Her pass showed the seat she was in as hers.

The attendant asked me to take the seat the tiny woman had left two rows back. I protested, explaining that Thumbelina had jumped rows to grab the exit row seat, and that I was ticketed for the exit row.

Now the people around us were getting irritable, and it appeared that I was the troublemaker, so I went ahead and took the seat two rows back. (I am six one – and the exit row makes a real difference to me, while Thumbelina could have lain crosswise in her seat.)

By now the flight attendant realized what had happened, came to me and apologized profusely, offering complimentary meals, snacks and anything I wanted from the beverage cart. (This was a low fare carrier – so all the meals and snacks are on a pay as you go basis.)

Being not without sin myself, I conspicuously enjoyed the freebies as the Mom of Fortune complained bitterly about having to pay for her chips. The flight attendant played along, grandly showering me with perks while she barely helped the exit row brigade.

It was a small comfort at least...

Yeeesh!

Bush Was Set on Path to War, British Memo Says - New York Times

Bush Was Set on Path to War, British Memo Says - New York Times

Just last week Mr Bush told Helen Thomas that it was "wrong to assume he wanted to go to war."

Now it is clear that he was lying.

This has been the core obsession of this administration from the earliest days.

In January of 2000, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice (then a National Security Advisor) wrote in Foreign Affairs -

“"Saddam Hussein's regime is isolated, his conventional military power has been severely weakened, his people live in poverty and terror, and he has no useful place in international politics. He is therefore determined to develop WMD. Nothing will change until Saddam is gone, so the United States must mobilize whatever resources it can, including support from his opposition, to remove him."

Does this sound like the cooing of doves?

SAN FRANCISCO / Voter group sues to ban touch-screen system / It's called vulnerable to hackers seeking to change results

SAN FRANCISCO / Voter group sues to ban touch-screen system.

Is it any wonder? The Diebold voting machines change long standing electoral traditon, and may be unconstitutional, in that they leave no verifiable paper trail of the vote. In many states it is illegal to use a voting system without a verifiable recount mechanism, yet Diebold machines have been deployed and used in these states anyway.

Computer consultants have extensively documented the "hackability" of these machines. In less than 10 minutes hackers paid to test the machines by the state of Maryland broke in and were able to change votes, leaving no traces or record of the changes.

I work with and computers on a daily basis. I relentlessly back up and print out my work. I am privy to a simple truth - computers fail, and a back up record is essential when they do. Why is Diebold, a Republican owned and backed company so resistant to building in a paper trail so votes can be properly counted?

Stalin said that "The people who cast the votes don't decide the election, the people who count the votes do."

I never thought I'd be saying this, but "Right on Stalin!"

House votes to dump state food safety laws

House votes to dump state food safety laws

Have they no shame dept. -

This is a truly stunning story. You'd think that in the wake of the Abramoff scandal there would be at least an attempt to camouflage the wholesale purchase of our legislators by industry, but as usual in Washington it's back to the status quo.

How can any sane person justify the idea that food manufacturers* should not have to let their customers know when the food contains potentially dangerous ingredients. This is insanity of the highest order.

For years the FDA has been an industry shill. The Bush administration has engaged in an full frontal assault aimed at weakening protection of consumers from the interests of mega-corporations.

Clearly Congress can't be trusted to keep their hands out of the (chemically laced) cookie jar.
This country need a COMPLETE ban on corporate donations of any kind to politicians - it seems to be the only way to stop the wholesale purchase of our elected officials.
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* I've always found the term "food manufacturers" to be inordinately creepy. There was a time when food was farmed or raised, not manufactured. It always amazes me when restaurant staff say something like "we serve coca cola products." As much as I like a Coke now and then, I always cringe at the idea of eating and drinking "products."