Posts (page 2)
There's a lot of potential for wasting time on the internets. I know. And here's one more: a message board where the thotful and snarky and sincere and friendly all meet to slack off and share some web 2.0 time. It's where the neat meet to bleat. Sometimes elite, sometimes effete, sometimes Pete (if a guy named Pete registers), it's all there at The People's Republic of Aimless Chatter:
Linky:
MSNBC is the new FOX
Here's how I have to think about it the issue -- does it damage Obama's chances to call him on the carpet at this point?
What I say to everyone else:
I support the candidacy of Barack Obama. I think he is the best choice for president of the US and I will give my time, my money, and my effort to helping elect him. Wholeheartedly. Without equivocation.
What I say to Candidate Obama:
I think you are on the wrong side of these issues: ethanol, FISA, stereotyping Muslims, maybe Palestine, I'm sure there are others.
I expect you to run your campaign with integrity and without providing Republicans with the means to damage downticket races, or to somehow mobilize the deadenders to get behind John McCain.
In addition, I expect you to dance with those of us who brung you, when you get elected. Since 90% of your donations come from people who give $100 or less, that means continuing to reach out to, and "take the temperature of," we, the people.
And finally, when you get elected, move off the right-of-center spot that Democrats ALWAYS have to move to, to get elected.
I know you're not progressive, but you're not stupid and I believe you when you say all those inspirational things you say about how things can really be. I know you can't outline the costs, both literal and metaphorical, right now, or you'll never get elected. But I expect you to ask something of us after you get in. Like I said, you have me now, for what it's worth. And you have 4 years.
Obama problem This is shocking. Again, I will say, I am an Obama supporter. And I am actively looking for these stories. Because we don't make unimpeachable heroes out of our presidents anymore, at least Democrats don't. So, I'm 100% behind him during this general election, but he gets one 4 year term from me. He better be as forthright and honest and realistic and intelligent about these matters as he was in his books and as he was in his speech about race and as I expect he will be once he has won. If no, then no. Because I expect this intolerant game-playing bullshit from the other side, but not from MY president.
Beyond Yangon The people of Myanmar are expecting us to come and force a regime change. And why shouldn't they? Sorry, people of Myanmar, you have nothing we want and you're not strategically important to us or our allies. So, no regime change for you.
GAO report on Iraq "The unclassified version of the American plan, laid out by President Bush in January 2007 in what he called 'The New Way Forward in Iraq'.” The GAO says that the achievements and measures of improvement laid out in the president's plan (which were supposed to happen in 12-18 months, which means BY NOW) haven't happened. Really. I might not be able to do this "web logging" with Iraq stories. They make me feel like going to bed and never coming out. When I think about this and the KBR story from earlier, I just want to....I don't know.
Religion survey This is an interesting short piece, lots of good data. What I liked is the overall picture of a nation of people who, in the majority, consider themselves spiritual or religious AND espouse the political views I bolded below. I hope this is a trend.
"The nationwide survey, which is based on telephone interviews with more than 35,000 adults from May 8 to Aug. 13, 2007, is the second installment of a broad assessment Pew has undertaken of trends and characteristics of the country’s religious life. The first part of the report, published in February, depicted a fluid and diverse national religious life marked by people moving among denominations and faiths.
For all respondents, the survey’s margin of sampling error is plus or minus one percentage point. For smaller subgroups of religions or denominations, the margin of sampling error is larger, ranging from 2 to 11 points.
Nearly two-thirds [65%?] of respondents favored more government help for
the poor, even if it meant going deeper into debt.
Sixty-one percent of respondents also said “stricter environmental laws and regulations are worth the cost.”
A majority [51%?] said the United States should pay more attention to problems at home than those abroad, but in the area of foreign policy, 6 of 10 [60%] said that diplomacy, not military strength, was the best way to ensure peace."
I was just reading a section of the collaborative poem, Baby Democrats, by one of my favorite poets, Denise Duhamel.
Here is the relevant passage:
For Democrats, responsibility to Kennedy was bigger than responsibility to your own family. Aunt Bea had an 8 1/2 by 11 of Kennedy, framed in the same frames as Jesus and her sons. She braided palms she got from the church on Palm Sunday and put them around Kennedy's picture to protect his soul. She said after Kennedy was shot, nothing else would be good and I wished I could remember my country, those first two years of my life, that Democratic Catholic hope, that pre-Marilyn scandal, pre-Chappaquiddick time, that Cape Cod love, those pillbox hats and neatness.
When I read this I feel bitter. Because we will never have this. Johnson ruined it and Boomers ruined it and Nixon ruined it and Ford ruined it and Carter ruined it and we became cynics and distrustful and that's probably appropriate because Kennedy wasn't a saint, nor was FDR, nor Lincoln, nor John Adams. But no matter how similar to these important and historic history-changing men Barack Obama is, we will never all get behind him, not like people were behind Kennedy. And it's not because he's black. And it's not because he's white. It's not because he's not progressive enough or too progressive or has a funny name or associates with republicans and radicals. It's because we can't love the way we did before. Our country will never feel that for a president again. And I want to blame the assassins and the media and the generals and all the presidents since then (especially the last two). But maybe there's no one to blame. And that makes me feel sad. I would so love it if we had that again. It wasn't just respect for the office (which, in my opinion, deadender Bush supporters have conflated with respect for the man -- to their detriment), it was respect for the person of Kennedy. And maybe no president since then has merited that respect (though I think President Carter does now) but maybe Barack Obama does. And he won't get it because we don't do that anymore. Did the man on the street agree with Kennedy's every policy? Were people somehow more informed or more tolerant of policy difference then? I would say not likely. I think people were inspired by his intelligence, his oratory, his aliveness, his genuineness. And I venture to say that's what's inspiring people today. So why doesn't he get to be the next Kennedy? Even Dems are too cynical for that. And so, I remain bitter and sad.
King Corn demands fealty from everyone As much as I have drunk the Barackool-aid, I think he's wrong on this issue. I don't know why he would oppose the sugar cane ethanol that is more efficient and cheaper to produce, but I guess I should educate myself on that issue. And it sucks that he might be on the wrong side of ethanol because of influence etc, but I guess that had to happen some time. ::Sigh::
Ferry disaster A ferry can't be moving that fast, right? And they could see it sticking out of the water, so the water couldn't be that deep, right? I'll just go ahead and hope for a miracle that most everyone on it will be found alive. OK.
Commercial media vs internet AGAIN I don't mean to sound harsh, but is there an obligation to hold back news of death as a courtesy? It is a kindness, for sure. But is it possible anymore? And some poor guy got fired over this. That's kind of rude. As an aside, in a link on this story it says Tom Brokaw to host Meet The Press. I don't watch much network news, and I don't watch any Sunday Talking Head shows. But I have always liked Tom Brokaw and his tendency to swallow his Ls like Ira Glass. I approve.
Modern day slavery First, before the content, let me just say, they live in Muttontown? In Muttontown Knolls?? That's even a place? LOL.
OK, on to the: This article was in the "regional" section. It is Long Island news, not necessarily national news. But I picked it to read because I know that human trafficking and slavery still happen, even here in this country. How come we feel justified using people to take care of us and our children in the most basic and personal ways, and value that so little? How come "domestics" are often little more than slaves? That's weird. I guess because no one would want to do it unless they were desperate or thought they were born to it and nothing else, so the wealthy take advantage of that desperation or ignorance? This is a sad story for the women who were basically enslaved and abused, for the children of the couple, for the community who feels the need to defend the couple, and for the couple themselves. Sad.
Ataturk v Mohammed This editorial was very moving to me for some reason. I think it's because last night we were watching the Daily Show from last week with Richard Engel, a journalist who has been in Iraq for 5 years because he thinks that covering that story is the biggest most important thing he'll ever do. He's written a book: War Journal. What he said carried (to me) a lot of moral authority. His perspective seemed to be that we won't know, until some future point when we do know, whether Islam and democracy are reconcilable. Which is ultimately the question for the Middle East, maybe. Can the people be free and govern themselves and be an Islamist society? So, this editorial about Turkey's struggle with this very question gives me chills. If they can work it out over time, it'll be like a ray of hope in what is otherwise such a dark and bleak picture. I know there are lots of other factors going on in the region, not the least of which the ancient and modern land war over Pisrastine. It's just interesting to me to think about whether democracy is natural and right for everyone, and if so, can it exist where there isn't freedom of religion? I think it's hard to conceive of, for us, but maybe it's not hard to conceive of for the Turks. This quote, I like: "Let the party [the AKP- the ruling Justice and Development party, (the Islamists)] pay its dues, if necessary in repeated confrontations with the court. Turkey is a laboratory of a moderate Muslim democracy; do not rush the experiment. It’s easier to don a veil than remove it. Reversibility is not Islam’s forte."
Today is Sunday which is a day of rest in our familia. BUT we're starting a new schedule, part of which entails getting up at 5am. SO we were torn on whether to start today (because the day off is sacred in our minds) or start tomorrow. But it's not going to be easy to get up at 5am, not for a long time, whether we start today or some time in the future. So, it was decided to start today.
Now, when 5am came, (actually, it was 4:45 when I had to get up to *insert acceptable euphemism here* and then of course I'm dreading the alarm to come) we did one hit of the snooze button, and then got up (after some "discussion"). Because why? Because it's NEVER going to be easy to get up then. There's always going to be some reason, excuse, justification to stay in bed. But our goal requires that we do get up. So we did.
And then I uploaded one bajillion photos to flickr from my phone. Because my lovely husband got me a flickr pro account with UNLIMITED UPLOADS. Yippee! I have taken a lot of photos since I got my iPhone, but I never really do anything with them. Maybe I will start posting them various places. The new upload is not all fixed up yet (hey, that's what I'll do with these weird "extra" hours) but here's my public stream that has a few previous photos:
I just want to say out loud that I'm nervous and discomfited when I write Christiany stuff. I know there will be people for whom I am Too Much Christian and others for whom I am heretical and Not Christian Enough. I'm not trying to preach to anyone who doesn't want to hear it, and I'm not trying to downplay my beliefs. I am simply trying to articulate my own thoughts and feelings and beliefs. I tend to be bossy and pedantic in real life and in writing, so I apologize upfront to anyone who feels lectured or badgered.
Finally, I hope anyone who reads this will understand that my particular understanding of God is mine and I do not expect it to be the same for anyone else whether they be Christian or not. I believe with my whole heart that God was there through my best and worst times, even when I didn't believe. And that God ignited in me the desire to know God and I came to believe. It is my hope that anyone who wants it gets to experience that same thing, in whatever fashion is meaningful to them, and it is my faith that God wants that for anyone who wants it as well.
So, this brief note is by way of saying I am always afraid when I write Christiany stuff, because I'm no spokesperson for the tradition...not by a long shot. But I'm not going to let that fear stop me from being who I am. Fear, you are on notice!!
In order to find some special treasure in my Zelda game on DS, I had to adjust my system calendar ahead a day more than once! Now I'm all confused! Yes, that's cheating!
Missed yesterday's headlines because I didn't even TOUCH this computer!
But here's some stuff for today:
It's hot here and we want rain Here's one year of ABQ Weather (let us begin in "Spring" with March):
Mar WIND (Like Chicago??? WORSE!)
Apr WIND
May WIND
June HOT (Like Las Vegas??? NO!)
July RAIN (Like the Pacific NW??? NO! Just pm thundershowers that cool the day nicely.)
Aug RAIN
Sept the most BEAUTIFUL FALL anywhere
Oct INDIAN SUMMER
Nov COLD (Like Michigan or Wisconsin??? NO!)
Dec MAYBE SNOW (Like Denver or Buffalo? NO!)
Jan COLD
Feb COLD
Aaaaaaand begin again with WIND!
Not only did I not post yesterday, I didn't read any news. I'm not going to go back and read, just moving forward always moving forward.
Burning cross Okay. I'm trying to think about this story from the teacher's perspective. Maybe he really feels called by God to evangelize his students. Maybe he was just a regular old public school science teacher and he had a religious conversion and felt that he must take a stand. (although I will say, in my own humble opinion, the question of creationism vs established evolutionary science is one that is not really a winner for my team. I mean, how is forcing someone to accept an origin of life story that doesn't make sense to them seen as anything other than at best backward and ignorant, and at worst hostile and willfully ignorant? Besides, I find this weird fever for enforcing Christian beliefs on non-Christians strange and faithless. Do you not believe in the holy spirit and the power of God to work in people without you MAKING them believe? I guess this can come out of these parenthesis because it's my point:) Evangelizing adult humans who can make their own decisions about their faith and beliefs is one thing. I think that I'm called to talk about what I believe and what I have experienced following Jesus. I will answer questions to the best of my ability. And if I am put to some scary test or commanded to renounce my faith in order to keep a job (or my life), I won't do it. But this guy is charged with a particular job. In a secular public school, he is charged with the responsibility of teaching the publicly approved science curriculum to children. Does he really REALLY believe in a god who would have him BURN CROSSES on those children? I want to dismiss him and say, well, clearly he's crazy. But I think there are evangelical Christians for whom this does not pose a problem. And who will say and believe that Mr Burn Cross is being persecuted for his faith. And that makes me feel so sad inside. He's doing something wrong and harmful, not because he loves God, but because, in my opinion, he's twisted and filled with hate. Chinese Christians who are tortured or killed because they want to meet in someone's house to read the Book, they are being persecuted for their faith. A guy who burns crosses on kids and won't remove religious materials from a public school classroom gets caught and gets in trouble: not.
Being married to a Korean-American, I will say that he, as a representative of his people, likes beef. I think Korean cuisine might be the most beef-heavy of all Asian cooking. So, I think there's more to this story than meets the eye. I think Korean beef producers might like it if they didn't have to compete with cheap imported beef. I think there's a good chance that it's true that Bush supported the installation of a government who would be compliant to his whims vis a vis N Korea. And in the editorial (second link), we get to a big part of the real issue: the USDA has made it illegal for American beef producers to test their own stock for mad cow because "if you get to do it then everyone will want to do it and then demand will go up for tested (NOT DISEASED) beef and then prices will go up." WELCOME TO A FREE MARKET ECONOMY, USDA. Big Beef does not want this test. It will turn up sick cows with no symptoms. It will cause their insanely cheap production costs to go up. They will have to hire people. It will allow smaller farms to compete. And the public will get one more glimpse into the flesh farming industry in this country that neither the USDA nor the giant food conglomerates can afford. Knowledge is power, and things might change the more people see.
So, funny enough, the US isn't giving the Koreans anything. "Under the probable agreement, the United States would not, strictly speaking, change its trade rules, according to the officials close to the talks." But they'll pretend to: "But officials close to the talks, who declined to be identified because they said the South Koreans had not been briefed, said the agreement relied on a voluntary arrangement by private exporters and importers not to ship American beef from cattle more than 30 months old for consumption in South Korea." I wonder what the enforcement will be of such a voluntary arrangement.
Also: good for S. Koreans. They know how to protest!! They're focused and committed AND ran a whole government out over this issue.
Well Vox has that handy feature (or is it Firefox?) that lets you view a snapshot of a link in text. But not if you just paste all shortened moourls! Then you just see the moourl page and not a webpage at all. ooops! Today I'll post regular links.
1. New First Lady makeover Just in case they fix it later, here's a quote from the second graf of this article: "Conservative columnists accuse her of being unpatriotic and say she simmers with undigested racial anger." (Bolding mine because...undigested?? Really? Maybe they meant undisguised? Or is racial anger something that's supposed to be eaten and digested? Or is there some other meaning of that word, some metaphoric meaning, that is eluding me?)
This article was inspiring -- how can anyone read of the life she's had and not feel some equal measure of awe in her and shame in one's own lack of effort to make a difference in the world? She's a person, flawed like each of us, but damn, I think she will make a fine strong first lady. I hope she can play the bullshit game Sen McCaskill describes:
"Senator Claire McCaskill, Democrat of Missouri, a close ally of the Obama campaign, says Mrs. Obama must stop sounding like a lawyer trying to win an argument. The trick, she said, is 'not pushing so hard to persuade people that Barack is the right one...all she has to do is be likable,' Mrs. McCaskill said."
And then, once they're in, I hope she'll be the forthright, no BS person described in the article, and that she continues to "talk about the elephant in the room" as first lady.
2. CA weddings I don't have any ranting and railing. I hope the ballot initiative fails. I pray the people in this article and the people who have been getting married this week and those who will do so in the future have long healthy marriages full of love and challenge and growth and security and the opportunity to love and serve at least one other person whose needs you put before you own. That's what marriage is to me. I read some comment somewhere from a guy who said this decision was oppressing his religion. I can only assume he is Christian, though, to be fair, most of the world's organized religions are anti-homosexuality. I still think they're wrong, and he's wrong, and if that's all it takes to oppress his religion, he ought to pick up his Book, because he's sorely lacking in wisdom, faith, and spirit, as well as the basic understanding of the suffering he should be expecting if he wants to follow Jesus. It's pretty much spelled out in that Book...if he hates gays and their religion-oppressing marriages, he's commanded to love and serve them. By his God.
3. The anti-Myspace Linked In IS seriously boring. This struck me as funny, though: "The four-year-old site is decidedly antisocial: only last fall, after what executives describe as a year of intense debate, did the company ask members to add photos to their profiles." A YEAR of intense debate? What are they, Quakers?? Also, was this necessary: "Dan Nye, the buttoned-down chief executive of LinkedIn ... would not be caught dead in the Birkenstocks and rumpled T-shirts favored by MySpace and Facebook employees." Sheesh!
4. To Kindle or not to Kindle? Question posed by the editorial: "There are darker questions about e-books, like whether these innocent-looking things will kill off the book publishing industry. Carolyn Reidy, the chief executive of Simon & Schuster (and the publisher of some of my husband’s works), said recently that e-books were only $1 million of her company’s $1 billion business last year. But, she added, this segment is growing so fast that it is at a tipping point. For somebody who still loves book books, this does not sound terrific."
My prediction: yes, this reader (and whatever follows it) will significantly wound, if not fatally injure, the book publishing industry. I look at Amazon all day, every day. Content is content, and now there's a way to get the content cheaper and faster. Also, content is becoming a strange combo of permanant and ultimately utterly disposable. You can delete files and recover them, or you can store vast VAST (roomsful) amounts of data in something the size of a sandwich (or smaller) and never ever look at it again, just having it into perpetuity. Book publishing may not die in my lifetime, or teh Morgan's lifetime (my nephew who is 5) but I think one day ALL books will be oldey olde books. Artifacts that kids will marvel at and say... ?? why??
5. Yes, we have no bananas When I saw this editorial, it reminded me of this depressing documentary about Jamaica: Life and Debt. I recommend it to anyone who (like me) didn't know/understand how the IMF works and what Western nations have done to contribute to the crushing poverty in the so-called developing world. And also, great, now we have to stop eating bananas! Ah well, that's okay.
OK, today's post took a lot less time than yesterdays! Maybe I'll get good at this!
Listening:
Hotel California (Spanish Mix) - The Gipsy Kings - The Very Best of The Gipsy Kings
Ballantines - Aimee Mann - Smilers
KCRW Today's Top Tune podcast
MPR The Current Song of the Day podcast
I've started having NYT headlines emailed to me. I know I'm late to the party. So, I'm going to link to the things I read and add such meagre commentary as I am able to produce. (I spelled meager that way on purpose since I feel like I'm in a Jane Austen novel for some reason.)
Here's today's stuff:
KBR steals billions I appreciate that people are even coming out to talk about this stuff, but is anything being done? CAN anything be done?
Thank God for Jon Stewart Not NYT, but I'm trying to record what I look at.
Wiki on Aimee Mann's new album I looked this up because I wanted to see who is singing with her on Ballantines, which is: Sean Hayes
What? The appendix might have a function? B was outraged by this article's tone -- that some part in the human body might have a purpose is so shocking that we have to do studies and write articles about it? He even yelled. It's an interesting hypotheis, that helpful bacteria hides out in there during a bout with intestinal distress so it can come out after all the diarrhea flows through and clean up the gut.
What? But the other article said shoes are BAD! I don't believe this anti-flipflops article. And the so called doctor who pimps some book in the comments does it in the next article I read, too.
Once and for all, IT'S NOT TRUE Whew!
I was born too late Copy no longer has to be right the first time. Now you can correct, clarify, reverse, update...all with the click of a mouse. But back in the day, it had to be beautiful and perfect and CORRECT because it was about to be fixed, in the sense of "located," for all time, on the printed page. You could run corrections or errata later, but you had one chance to make that first impression. Literally. I love editing copy, and sometimes wish I had just focused on and pursued that in some alternate version of my life. It's one of the few things that put me in The Zone.
That's enough reading for the day! Now, enjoy a song: (and after, some fun facts about my stomach!)
I Love You And Buddha Too
Mason Jennings In The Ever
Oh Jesus, I love you
And I love Buddha too
Ramakrishna, Guru Dev
Tao Te Ching and Mohammed
Why do some people say
There there is just one way
To love you God and come to you
We are all a part of you
You are un-nameable
You are unknowable
All we have is metaphor
That's what time and space are for
Is the universe your thought
You are and you are not
You are many, You are one
Ever ending, just begun
Alright, alright, alright
I love you and Buddha too
In other news, I seem to have developed a problem eating eggs. This is weird because: A. I like eggs, and B. Now that I am eating very little animal protein in the form of muscle meat, I eat clean eggs pretty regularly.
So recently when B cooked an egg dish we've had one kajillion times before and I was overcome with severe nausea, I first thought it was food poisoning because A. I don't get nauseated, and B. The mushrooms smelled weird to me when he was cooking them. And we briefly thought of pregnancy. But no, it was just nausea. And I must say, as someone who doesn't get nauseated, it was scary. Not having control over your body's physical response is shocking. I didn't throw up, but I kept thinking and talking about it because I was so confounded by the involuntaryness of my mouth filling with water (euphemism for spit) as I struggled to not vomit.
An egg-containing meal after that passed just fine. And those eggs were over easy! But this morning, a small plate of scrambled eggs sent me racing to the sink as my body immediately sent the signals to violently reject even the first bite. And that's the end of eggs for me for a while. But it's so mysterious to me that I'm mad. What the crap!? Also, I reiterate, I DO NOT GET NAUSEATED. I have an iron stomach (gut = ok, a different story, but stomach = iron). So I feel oddly victimized by my own body's refusal to obey my command to not feel nausea. Again: not pregnant.
