The Line Between Church and State

This is an interesting case I have been reading about. A woman is suing a church for emotional distress caused by an exorcism done on her when she was 17 and led to her attempting suicide.

Mrs Schubert Pearson, 29, claims she was left bruised and traumatised after members of her church group allegedly kept her captive for two days so they could perform an exorcism in which was pinned to the ground and "pummelled".

The incident happened after fellow members of the church group became convinced she was possessed by demons. She was 17 at the time.

After the alleged ordeal, she dropped out of school and tried to slit her wrists.

A Texas court originally ruled in her favor, but a higher court overturned it and it may head to the Supreme Court. The church and those supporting it claim that the lower court overstepped its bounds and that the church's actions were protected by the First Amendment.

Mrs Schubert Pearson's claims were largely emotional and "so interwoven with religious practices" there was no way for a court to get involved, he added.

"The government can't get involved in overseeing religious practices. The best way to say it is it's not American.

"If she did prevail that would erase about 150 years of law in this country from the Supreme Court saying the government does not get involved in the internal affairs and operations of the church. It would effectively be the end of church independence and religious freedom in our country."

Here are some more articles: Left of Center, Religion News Blog, and RightJurist.com

This is certainly a tricky matter. I think the separation of church and state is vital for our country and important for both entities. They would each be diminished by an intermingling. That said, in this case I am inclined to come down on the woman's side. She was only 17 when this happened, still a minor, and her parents were not around, nor aware of this incident until afterward. I think it would set a dangerous precedent to sanction the church's actions under the guise of the First Amendment. Where would the line be drawn for similar cases?

It would be different if the woman had been an adult or if the parents had been a part of this. Neither is true, however, and so I think the lower court made the right decision in siding with the girl. She is vowing to take her case to the Supreme Court which would be very interesting indeed. Which side would the conservative leaning court take? Either way, this is one to watch.

Obama vs McCain: The Movie

An article from the LA Times looks at the two presidential candidates and what each of them represents.

Obama is a star in this sense too. As he reiterates endlessly, Obama brings idealism at a time when many Americans are despairing of making any headway against the problems the nation faces. Drawing on his own personal story of disadvantage that led to Columbia University, Harvard Law School and now to the Democratic nomination, Obama in his every gesture and utterance suggests that "Yes We Can." This idealism isn't inspiring adulation because Obama is already a star. Obama is a star precisely because he is inspiring. He is the anti-Bush, and what he's selling is hope.

It is axiomatic that the more powerful the theme a star embodies, the more powerful his or her stardom. Obama's theme is a potent one. Whether one buys into it or not, he promises to cross divides -- political, ideological, racial, geographic -- and to transcend the old politics of fear and hate that has commandeered recent elections. He believes that America can -- and should -- be the moral beacon for the world by returning to its core values. In analyzing his own appeal, Obama says he has become a symbol -- which, again, is exactly what all stars are. He is providing a really good, uplifting movie.
...
Of course McCain is a hero in his own right, but his narrative is familiar -- it's a war movie after all -- and his feat is that of having survived, which in a Hollywood film is not the same thing as having led the rescue. He hardly embodies the new-style heroism that Mailer saw in John Kennedy, which allowed the late president to extend the bounds of politics not only into stardom but into imagination as stars do. With Kennedy, anything seemed possible.

I think this is precisely the reason that Obama will win the White House in November. He is tapping into the current American zeitgeist in a powerful way, in a way that raises people's spirits. And those that try to label him as empty rhetoric are ignoring his record, his rising through Chicago politics, and the detailed policy proposals he has put forth. McCain is standing in the path of destiny and he is going to get bowled over.

Fight Fire With Fire

A couple of weeks ago, I happened to be camping right near the start of the Cascade Fire which broke out near Red Lodge. I had gone camping with my daughters as well as my friend, Jeromy, and his wife and two kids. We camped across from Timberline the previous night and that morning drove up to the start of the Quinnebaugh Meadows trail. We ended up cutting our hike a little short because the kids were tired. When we got back to our vehicles, we decided to refill our water bottles from the river. While we were doing that I noticed this...









That was our cue to leave. Now. Racing down the road, the fire was within fifty yards of the road. Once we were clear, though, I had to stop and take a few more pictures.





It was an incredible experience. Jeromy said he heard we were one of the last to get out on our own. Everyone else hiking the trail had to be evacuated by helicopter. Isn't it amazing how quickly things like this can happen? I'm grateful that we all got out okay, but also excited to have been so close. It was beautiful even as it was terrifying.

John Yoo Smacked Down

John Yoo, architect of much of the Bush policy on torture and executive power, has tried to use Thomas Jefferson to justify his thoughts and Bush's power grab. Unfortunately for him, some people out there seem to have a better grasp of Jefferson's thoughts than he does.

Jefferson did not claim plenary, exclusive, independent, or inherent presidential authority. He never argued, as did the Bush administration after 9/11, that presidential powers under Article II enabled him to violate any statute or treaty that stood in his way. I think it is false for Yoo to write: "Contrary to popular belief,Jefferson believed in an independent Presidency with inherent powers." Jefferson believed in the Lockean prerogative, subject to the conditions described above.

In reading this article, I wondered if John Yoo decided to look to earlier Presidents to determine whether their concept of the office might justify what President George W. Bush did after 9/11. Perhaps my suspicions are groundless, but the quote above did not help, nor the following: "Madison's low performance is attributable in part to his narrow view of his constitutional powers as President." Nothing in Jefferson's presidency lends support to the view widely circulated in the Bush administration that the President is endowed with inherent powers in national security that trump statutes, treaties, judicial decisions, and the Constitution.

There has been a definite strain of intellectual dishonesty on the right, especially in those slavishly devoted to Bush and his policies. You'd think that these people might remember that there are smart people out there who disagree with them and can easily pick apart the flimsy arguments they make. Of course, they were able to convince America to put Bush back in office, so maybe their tactics work.

Like a Zombie That...Just...Won't...Die

Clinton supporters are preparing to make a big splash at the Democratic Convention in Denver in order to...well, uh...uhm...who knows? I don't know what the hell they are trying to prove, but this is getting ridiculous. Of course, Hillary is not doing much to quash this and Bill is still whining about how he was treated during the primaries.

Can someone please figure out a way to make the Clintons just go away. Anyone out there with some alien contacts? Perhaps an abduction could be arranged? Something. Please.

Communal Yards

An idea that seems to be gaining some traction here in America is that of sharing back yards. (Articles here and here. I think it is a fantastic idea. Obviously it will not be for everyone, and it is quite a break from the traditional American lifestyle, but if it can be more eco-friendly and bring people closer together, then I think it is worth pursuing.

Star Wars Humor

Here is one of the best clips from Robot Chicken Star Wars.


via videosift.com

Love Vader as the whiny cry-baby. Of course, it's exactly what it felt like in the stupid prequels, so...

UPDATE: It appears the video was yanked from YouTube, so I found it somewhere else. Muahaha! I can't be stopped!

Baucus Update

So, I was unable to meet with Senator Baucus yesterday. Kyle (an occasional commenter here) and I went to the Senator's local office, and instead of getting a meeting, we got lots of confusion.

"Who are you?"
"Who were you meeting with?"
"Who set this up?"

Needless to say, we did not get to meet with anyone. The staff who was there informed us that August was a very busy month, but if we wanted to leave our contact information, they might be able to set up something in September. "Don't call us; we'll call you," was how it came across. That's okay. We'll keep bugging 'em until we get a meeting. I suppose it is only appropriate that my first attempt at getting into the political game (more than just writing here or to my representatives) ended this way. I'm just a nobody. For now.

Kyle called me a short time later to say he was supposed to meet with someone from Denny Rehberg's office later in the day. I couldn't make it to that and I haven't heard how it went. We're also supposed to meet with someone from Jon Tester's office next week.

Contraception Is Not Abortion

But, sadly, the White House is trying to paint it as such.

In a spectacular act of complicity with the religious right, the Department of Health and Human Services Monday released a proposal that allows any federal grant recipient to obstruct a woman's access to contraception. In order to do this, the Department is attempting to redefine many forms of contraception, the birth control 40 percent of Americans use, as abortion. Doing so protects extremists under the Weldon and Church amendments. Those laws prohibit federal grant recipients from requiring employees to help provide or refer for abortion services.

Sometimes I wonder if the religious right is serious about ending abortions. Because if they were, they would strongly support contraceptives. People are going to have sex whether or not they can get birth control of some sort. It's human freakin' nature! More people using protection or contraceptives or whatever means fewer pregnancies means fewer chances for abortion. Only someone who has abandoned logic (such as many of the religious right) could not see the good in this.

The Earth is Flat

Let's have a big round of applause for human intelligence. Truly, it knows no boundaries.

"People are definitely prejudiced against flat-earthers," says John Davis, a flat earth theorist based in Tennessee, reacting to the new Microsoft commercial.

"Many use the term 'flat-earther' as a term of abuse, and with connotations that imply blind faith, ignorance or even anti-intellectualism."

Mr Davis, a 25-year-old computer scientist originally from Canada, first became interested in flat earth theory after "coming across some literature from the Flat Earth Society a few years ago".

"I came to realise how much we take at face value," he says. "We humans seem to be pleased with just accepting what we are told, no matter how much it goes against our senses."

Mr Davis now believes "the Earth is flat and horizontally infinite - it stretches horizontally forever".

"And it is at least 9,000 kilometres deep", he adds.

Oh, it gets better.

What about all the photos from space that show, beyond a shadow of doubt, that the Earth is round? "The space agencies of the world are involved in an international conspiracy to dupe the public for vast profit," says Mr McIntyre.

John Davis also says "these photos are fake".

And what about the fact that no one has ever fallen off the edge of our supposedly disc-shaped world?

Mr McIntyre laughs. "This is perhaps one of the most commonly asked questions," he says. "A cursory examination of a flat earth map fairly well explains the reason - the North Pole is central, and Antarctica comprises the entire circumference of the Earth. Circumnavigation is a case of travelling in a very broad circle across the surface of the Earth."

If ever there was evidence that Darwin may not have been correct, it would be found in people like these clowns.

McCain at a Loss for Words

I guess questions that aren't about war are tough to answer.



This was in no way a "gotcha" question and McCain should be better prepared for these sorts of questions. Presidential is not quite the adjective I would use for McCain after viewing something like this.

Senator Baucus, Tear Down That Base

I am meeting with Senator Baucus tomorrow as part of Amnesty International effort to close the base at Guantanamo Bay. I'm very excited about this and nervous, too. I've never done anything like this before so it should prove to be very interesting. And, with any luck, some good will come out of it and Gitmo will be shut down.

McCain Honorable?

Yeah, right. The hoopla the McCain camp raised against Obama for not visiting wounded troops? That was only one possible position he would have taken based on Obama's actions.

What the McCain campaign doesn’t want people to know, according to one GOP strategist I spoke with over the weekend, is that they had an ad script ready to go if Obama had visited the wounded troops saying that Obama was...wait for it...using wounded troops as campaign props. So, no matter which way Obama turned, McCain had an Obama bashing ad ready to launch. I guess that’s political hardball. But another word for it is the one word that most politicians are loathe to use about their opponents—a lie.

McCain pledged to run a civil campaign way back when. I guess he's decided that Rovian politics are the better path for him. Well, he has no hope of winning in the fall. Like him or not, Obama is riding a crest of American sentiment at the moment that will carry him right into the White House.

Hat tip to Andrew Sullivan.

Church of Jediism

Having trouble finding a church for you? You could try joining the Church of Jediism. They take their inspiration from the Jedi of the Star Wars films and the UK has just officially recognized them. You can take lessons in lightsaber use and Jedi mind-control (seriously). I might have to sign-up if only for these lessons which would no doubt be of critical value in the world.

Me (waving hand): I'm the best employee you have. I need a large raise while working fewer hours.
Boss: You are the best employee I have. You need a large raise while working fewer hours.

That would really come in handy.

Weekly Music Video

A classic 80's hit.

Taco - "Puttin' on the Ritz"



This is a cover of a very old song that was first released in 1929 and made famous by Fred Astaire in 1946 who performed it for the movie Blue Skies. I can't hear this song anymore without thinking about a time about ten years ago when I was working at Target. I was in the backroom, putting merchandise away. The radio was blasting, of course, and this song came on. Another employee was also in the back and she asked me, "Who's Gary Cooper?"

What? You don't know who Gary Cooper is? Are you not American? So, I gave her a brief overview and mentioned some of the movies he had been in. She was about my age, but I'm pretty sure anything before the 70s was ancient and she had no interest in any of it. Dang kids these days. No respect! Now, get off my lawn!

"Liberal Bias" in the Media

Liberal bias is a hot topic amongst conservatives (and a fact, of course), but a new study calls that assumption into question.

Haters of the mainstream media reheated a bit of conventional wisdom last week.

Barack Obama, they said, was getting a free ride from those insufferable liberals.

Such pronouncements, sorry to say, tend to be wrong since they describe a monolithic media that no longer exists. Information today cascades from countless outlets and channels, from the Huffington Post to Politico.com to CBS News and beyond.

But now there's additional evidence that casts doubt on the bias claims aimed -- with particular venom -- at three broadcast networks.

The Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University, where researchers have tracked network news content for two decades, found that ABC, NBC and CBS were tougher on Obama than on Republican John McCain during the first six weeks of the general-election campaign.

You read it right: tougher on the Democrat.

The whole thing is very interesting, even if there are some flaws with the methodology. Crying about liberal bias, real or not, is not conducive to problem solving anyway. People need to learn to be more discerning of information no matter its source. The fact is that a truly non-biased perspective is impossible. We are human beings, not robots. We are always going to have baggage from the mere fact that we exist, we think, we have emotions. Media outlets should work to minimize overt bias, but it will always be there.

Of course, those that cry about liberal bias in the mainstream news media never seem to complain that talk radio is overwhelmingly conservative. I wonder why that is?

Weekly Secret

PostSecret

"Surfer Dude" Rewrites Physics?

There is nothing significant about a man who spends his time adventuring, surfing, snowboarding, and hopping from job to job. Of course if that man has a PhD in theoretical physics and has just published a paper which may be the biggest breakthrough in physics since Einstein, well then you have a story.

A few weeks ago, Lisi posted an academic paper called "An Exceptionally Simple Theory of Everything" to arxiv.org, a site for scientists that's maintained by Cornell University. The paper outlined his attempt at a theory that would lay out the physics of the universe in one tidy package. For half a century, researchers have sought to reconcile gravity with the three forces that operate inside atoms, where gravity seems to hold no sway. No one—not even Einstein, who spent the later years of his life trying—has been able to explain how these four forces can coexist.

To understand fully Lisi's own stab at the problem requires a grasp of mathematics far beyond all but a handful of people, but the basic premise is that all physical forces and particles can be explained by mapping them onto an incredibly complex geometrical structure known as E8. If Lisi is right, his theory would give an elegant shape to the physics of the cosmos, and E8 would become as significant as E=MC2. This would be a remarkable feat coming from any of the most accomplished physicists alive. Coming from a surf bum, it would be beyond extraordinary.

Lisi began presenting his theory at conferences last year, and many well-regarded physicists found it interesting, even plausible. So he posted the paper, hoping for feedback. And with that, he set off a rogue wave of hype and backlash that he's having a hard time riding. SURFER DUDE STUNS PHYSICISTS WITH THEORY OF EVERYTHING, thundered London's Telegraph. Discover magazine asked, COULD THE NEXT EINSTEIN BE A SURFER DUDE?

Of course this is brand new and it will take awhile to be fully vetted, but this is still very exciting. Even if the whole theory does not pan out, breaking it down and debunking it could lead to a better understanding of our current physics models. I think it is great that this is coming from an outsider, too. Often it takes someone outside of the establishment, whatever it may be, to see something with a different perspective and shake things up.

If you are curious to learn more about physics, then I highly recommend Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time. It really is geared for the lay reader and Hawking does a fantastic job of explaining complicated theories in very understandable ways. It's also a beautiful eye-opener to many hidden wonders in our incredible universe.

Cars are the Instruments of Satan

I finally got my vehicle towed to the shop Monday Tuesday morning after my most recent mishap. They told me they would take a look at it later that day and give me a call with a prognosis. It is Thursday morning and I have yet to hear from them. This can't be a good sign.

UPDATE: Tuesday, not Monday. *sigh* It's been a long week.

I also got a call a couple of hours after I posted this. The shop got my vehicle running. They had to rewire the positive and ground cables off the battery. That's not so bad. What's worse is that I asked them to check out the oil leak and they said it's the transmission which is beyond their purview, though they recommended a place. If it's not one thing, it's another.

Just Say No

That's what the Disabled American Veterans told Dick Cheney who was supposed to speak at a convention for them in Vegas. They changed their minds after finding out about his "draconian and unreasonable" security demands, things like the vets having to be in the room two hours before Cheney came and not being able to leave until after he had (and there are no bathrooms in the room). Cheney's people said they were willing to work with the group, but they still said 'no.' Darth Cheney indeed. And the picture accompanying the article is great.

Getting a Degree in Comics

Geeks of the world unite! Colleges are now analyzing comics in the classroom and even instituting programs for the study of them.

But only graduate student Kate McClancy came armed with an analysis of how an asylum in the Caped Crusader's world reflects the American debate over treatment of the mentally ill.

It's an obscure topic, to be sure. But Ms. McClancy's treatise was right at home at Comic-Con International, which was held here this past weekend.

Dozens of other scholars were tackling arcane subjects from "the geek as melodramatic hero" to "the problem of vigilante justice" in the famed graphic novel "Watchmen."

Just 15 years ago, many professors would have scoffed at the in-depth study of comics.

Now, comics are coming into their own in classrooms of all kinds, gaining an unprecedented level of respect and spawning serious debate over their greater meaning.

"Comics have changed. They're not the comics that we grew up with," says Peter Coogan, an organizer of the academic-oriented panels at Comic-Con.

"They can stand up to literary and critical analysis," he says.

Across the country, hundreds of professors and college students spend their days analyzing comics, and the University of Florida even allows postgraduate English students to specialize in comics studies.

I think this is great. Anyone who scoffs should read Watchmen, Sandman, Maus, and The Dark Knight Returns and then decide whether or not comics can convey just as serious a story as any other medium. Of course there will always be elitists, but most people eventually (hopefully) realize that the medium itself is not what's important, but what the author/artist does with it. I would hold Watchmen up as one of the best stories I have ever read and I've read a lot.

America is Doomed!

A new blog is going to chronicle the "mountain of sin" that is destroying our great nation.

This blog is going to be committed to chronicling the ever increasing mountain of sin that threatens to destroy America.

America was once the greatest country in the world. We were wealthy, we were civilized, we were cultured, we were generous and kind-hearted, we loved others, and we tried to follow God.

But now we have seen decades of moral decline. Men of God have gone across this nation warning that the huge mountain of sin that America is building will bring the judgment of God.

But has America listened? Has America repented? No! Instead America has treated God's patience with contempt and has indulged in ever increasing sin year after year. Now America is absolutely loaded with evil and wickedness.....

Thank God we have this guy around to point out all of the things we're doing wrong. I'm pretty sure no one has ever said anything about America being full of sinners before *coughJeremiahWrightJerryFalwellBennyHinnFredPhelpsPatRobertson
JamesDobsoncough* No doubt this blog will serve as a catalyst to right the course of our sinking ship and sail us to Heaven. *sniff* I'm gettin' all choked up just thinking about it.

Anyway...I might have to check this blog out from time to time, especially when I'm not in a good mood 'cause it will serve as the perfect reminder that things could be worse. I could be as stupid as this guy.

Death by Taser

A man died in police custody down in Louisiana after being tasered nine times while handcuffed. A grand jury is being convened to determine if criminal charges will be filed.

I have been certified to carry a Taser at my job and I know what it's like to get hit by one. One of the things that was stressed in our training was that the Taser is not a pain compliance tool. It is to be used when lethal force is justified in order to protect the officer or someone else from serious bodily harm. You can't convince me that this was the case here. The man was handcuffed. Throw him on the ground and sit on him or get other officers to wrestle the man into a cell. There are control options available other than the Taser.

Unfortunately, because it is so easy and effective, not to mention it doesn't leave blood or bruises, it has become common for law enforcement officers to use it anytime a suspect gets mouthy or doesn't cooperate right away. Part of their training is learning how to cope with those situations, but for many all of that gets thrown out the window as soon as they have a Taser on their belt which leads to some tragic circumstances. It also amounts to torture, although I guess in this country that's probably a-okay to most.

Police departments need to start more strictly regulating Taser use before a hue and cry is raised that gets them taken away which would be unfortunate because they are an effective tool when used properly.

Doffing Your Clothes

New York has a new group, the "Optional Clothing Diners" club. The optional part seems to be a bit of a misnomer as clothes are not permitted when they rent out a restaurant for the evening. While I certainly feel our society is often too concerned with clothing, I wonder about the logistics of something like this, for example...

-Where do you keep your wallet?

-Wouldn't ordering something like soup become rather dangerous?

-If somebody spills something on their nether regions and misses a spot when wiping it up, is it kosher to point it out?

-What happens if someone needs the Heimlich maneuver?

-Is eying an attractive member of the opposite sex more or less acceptable?

-What about "Family Night"?

-Are the chairs washed afterwords?

No doubt there are other logistical issues to address, but, hey, if the members of this elite club are enjoying themselves, more power to them.

Weekly Music Video

Reaching way back for a great feel-good song (and a strange video that seems to be tapping into the 60's drug culture)...

The Turtles - "Happy Together"

Weekly Secret

PostSecret

Executive Branch Criminals

Slate has a helpful (if depressing) Venn diagram of "alleged" criminals surrounding Bush up to and including the Decider himself. Now, if only there was some sort of, oh, I don't know..."justice" system in this country whereby those accused of crimes could be brought forth and tried. Well, at least none of them got a blowjob in the White House. Now that's a serious issue that should be dealt with if ever it were to come up.

Gays in the Military

Hilzoy makes one of the best arguments for gays being allowed to openly serve in the military.

I imagine that it often happens that soldiers who are part of the same unit do not like one another. Sometimes, a soldier might even despise another member of his or her unit, or think that other soldier immoral or contemptible. And yet, when these feelings do not have to do with sexual orientation, we routinely expect soldiers to put their personal feelings aside and do their jobs. And when they don't, we assume that they, not the people they endanger, should be disciplined.

If, for instance, a soldier is racist, and cannot find a way to work with African-American soldiers, we do not discipline or expel the African-Americans. If a soldier dislikes another and cannot put her feelings aside and do her job, we do not punish the soldier she dislikes; we punish her. In all other cases, we assume that given a choice between two soldiers, one of whom is trying to complete his mission to the best of his ability, and one of whom is unable or unwilling to put his animosity aside and do his job, we choose the first. We expect this of our men and women in uniform, and we also expect that they will be given the training and the leadership they need to act like professionals.

I have never understood why it's different when gay men and lesbians enter the picture.

With any luck this appalling law will soon be repealed and gay people will be allowed to openly serve our country.

Ah, Government

Flint, Michigan is now regulating how people dress. And, no, it's not saying that people must be clothed in public. They have passed a law outlawing baggy pants.



I'm glad that Flint has solved all of its other problems and just had this little thing to make their town peachy keen. The city must be a haven of bliss especially with those damn kids and their saggy pants off the streets. I bet every citizen of the town is now holding hands and singing Kum-Bah-Ya while angels sound their harps.

Or maybe, the idiots running Flint should get their heads out of their asses and worry about things that really matter, say the shitty economy.

Would She Rather He Had Stuck Around?

A woman has successfully sued her ex-fiance for $150,000 because he broke off the engagement.

Shell argued her fiance's promise of marital bliss amounted to a binding contract. She said she left a high-paying job in Florida to be with Gibbs and she said she has suffered financial losses since their break-up. She also said she has suffered emotionally.
...
"People shouldn't be allowed to do that and hopefully he'll think twice before he does it to someone else," said Shell.

Wow. Isn't it better to break up before the marriage rather than get married and realize they weren't right for each other? I guess not according to this woman. This seems to be a clear case of inflated self-importance. "I'm special and I should always get what I want." Maybe the guy broke up with her in a rather distasteful manner; still, it shouldn't give her the ability to make him pay her $150,000. Guess what, lady? Life's a bitch. Grow up and deal with it.

Doubt

A great quote about doubt via the Dish.

Despite the common delusion to the contrary the philosophy of doubt is far more comforting than that of hope. The doubter escapes the worst penalty of the man of faith and hope; he is never disappointed, and hence never indignant. The inexplicable and irremediable may interest him, but they do not enrage him, or, I, may add, fool him. This immunity is worth all the dubious assurances ever foisted upon man. It is pragmatically impregnable. Moreover, it makes for tolerance and sympathy. The doubter does not hate his opponents; he sympathizes with them. In the end he may even come to sympathize with God. The old idea of fatherhood submerges in a new idea of brotherhood. God, too, is beset by limitations, difficulties, broken hopes. Is it disconcerting to think of Him thus? Well, is it any less disconcerting to think of Him as able to ease and answer, and yet failing?"- H.L. Mencken. From "Damn, a Book of Calumny" (now out of print, but available in "A Mencken Chrestomathy"; p.96)

Weekly Music Video

Who doesn't love church bells? They have such a big, rich sound that makes them a perfect fit for hard rock/heavy metal, so how about a two-fer this week?

Metallica - "For Whom the Bell Tolls"



AC/DC - "Hells Bells"



If those don't get your blood pumping, check your pulse.

Weekly Secret

I can relate to the sentiment behind this at times.

PostSecret

The Dark Knight. Best Superhero Movie Ever?

I saw The Dark Knight today with my mom and daughters. I was speechless when it was over.

This is not just a comic-book movie. Oh, sure it is rooted in familiar comic tropes, but they are just a stepping stone for a tale that transcends its origin to become a great movie period. The movie has garnered rave reviews and I'll add my voice to the chorus. Chris Nolan has assembled a brilliant film with the help of an excellent script and incredible acting.

Not enough praise can be heaped on Heath Ledger for his acting as the Joker. He doesn't go over the top as Nicholson did in 1989's Batman, but so thoroughly inhabits the role and makes the psychotic killer leap off the screen and grab you by the throat. This Joker is not just crazy, but an inhuman force of nature which is enhanced by Nolan's wise decision not to give details on Joker's origin. Doing so would have humanized him and dramatically decreased his impact.

Dark is certainly an apt description of this movie. It goes places that even "serious" movies dare to tread. Much of the film is a psychological examination of the type of person who would be Batman, but also the people who fight him, and the normal citizens around them. It's chilling watching Joker tell Batman that they are not that far apart and Batman realizes how true that is. The Joker also manages to pull off a clever twist on the prisoner's dilemma and the bleakness of the whole movie truly leaves the viewer in doubt as to the outcome.

I feel that The Dark Knight is easily the best superhero movie made to date. Christopher Nolan is proving himself to be one of the most talented filmmakers around and I can't wait to see what he comes up with next.

The Electoral College Needs To Go

I've been saying it for years and I'm not the only one who thinks so.

As proven definitively in FairVote's new reports The Shrinking Battleground and Who Picks the President?, the Electoral College system will, if not reformed, relegate two-thirds of Americans to the sidelines during presidential elections for years to come. Today, record-setting campaign resources are targeted at just a handful of states. Voter mobilization money, advertising dollars, campaign energy, candidate visits and almost certainly policy decisions are all spent to sway voters in roughly a dozen states. That number of competitive states is far smaller -and more consistent election to election- than it was just two decades ago. The result is rapidly growing inequality in voter turnout, especially among young people. Racial fairness is undermined because these states are disproportionately white.

The odds of this changing anytime soon? Yeah, not bloody likely.

George W. Bush Sewage Plant

Heh. San Franciscans will vote this November on whether or not to name a sewage treatment plant after our esteemed President. Personally, I think it gives Bush too much credit; at least the treatment plant cleans up its mess.

John Ashcroft Down With Torture

John Ashcroft told a House panel today yesterday that waterboarding serves a "valuable purpose" and does not constitute torture. This is, of course, in contrast to the opinion of most other people (aka the sane ones). I still find myself baffled that we are having this debate here in America. Where did our moral compass go? When did we start thinking it was okay to be just as sinister as the bad guys? How do people sleep at night knowing that they authorized/condoned/participated in torture?

I suppose it comes back to 9/11 as it so often does these days. Yes, the events of that day were horrific beyond imagining. That does not give us the green light to ditch our morals, though. Indeed, it is in times such as those that we need to staunchly reaffirm what we stand for, what we believe. Unfortunately we have let fear overrule our reason which has led to our leaders saying that it is okay to torture, but it's not really torture 'cause we're the good guys and we're doing it to protect America.

Well, I don't want to live in that America. I would rather see it fall than become a nation so corrupted morally. Thankfully, we can still undo this. We can elect politicians who do not support torture and will prosecute those who practice it. I'm not sure where they are, but they have to be out there, right? Right?

Vlogging My Health, Part I

"[S]he messed my head up pretty good..."

It's probably not a good idea for nurses to start getting involved with their patients, but it is doubly true at mental hospitals.

It started with an innocent game of chess between a patient and his nurse. But it quickly evolved.

Soon, the pair were having sex all over the hospital — in his room, the staff lounge, examination room. But their clandestine encounters went beyond the walls of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health on Queen St. W. When permitted to leave the hospital for a few hours on a community pass, the good-looking 6-foot-3 patient met the woman at a nearby hotel.

Although she was married, their relationship lasted about two years and remained intact even after she was fired from CAMH — an incident he blamed himself for and, in an act of penance, jumped into oncoming traffic.

When she became pregnant last fall, he slipped into a depression, which again landed him in hospital.
It’s an unusual tale that has been pieced together from his clinical notes, a CAMH report and an $850,000 lawsuit recently filed in an Ontario Superior Court.

The patient, identified only as John, is suing CAMH and the nurse, identified as Jane. The court has banned publication of their names to protect the identity of the child.

“I just know that she messed my head up pretty good and that I’ve done things to myself that I never did before,” John told Torstar News Service.

Sure, buddy. You had fun for two years and now you're thinking, "Hmmmm...she's pregnant and I'd rather not be responsible for that. Money sounds good, too. I think I'm gonna sue." Of course he's probably not playing with a full deck, but maybe the nurse should have thought of that before she decided to give him an some extra "therapy."

Recent Reading

I finished reading the Dragonlance Chronicles trilogy by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman with my daughters a few days ago. It is one of the earliest fantasy series I read as a kid and I have read it a few times since. Reading it again this time, it is obvious that these books were their first published works. Some of the prose is awkward and many events feel quite cliched.

Still, I recommend the books to any aficionado of fantasy fiction. The characters are fantastic and the books have a lot of...heart, for lack of a better term. Best of all this trilogy sets up events for the sophomore effort, the Legends trilogy. Vastly superior to Chronicles in plotting and prose, it is one of the best epic fantasy stories I have read. The girls clamored for this to be next up in our group reading so we started reading it yesterday.



I've been reading some Harlan Ellison for myself. I read Angry Candy which contains his award winning story "Paladin of the Lost Hour." I'm almost finished reading Shatterday which contains another award-winning story, "Jeffty is Five," one of the most heart-wrenching tales I have ever read. The story, especially the last images, have stuck with me like a bad dream. Ellison is one of the greatest authors around and if you haven't read any of his work, you really owe it to yourself to check 'em out.

A Third Child

Congrats to one of my favorite essayists, Amber Richardson, on being pregnant with her third kid.

Blood Test Results

I got the results today of the blood tests I had last week. The good news is that my A1C came in between 5 and 6. This is a measure of my average blood sugar over the past three months. It is supposed to be less than 7; the day I was diagnosed with diabetes, it was nearly 13, so I am definitely doing much better there.

The bad news is that my cholesterol is high for a diabetic. My LDL level is 81 which would be fine if I was normal did not have diabetes. Since I do, it is supposed to be under 70. So, I have to work on dropping my cholesterol levels. My diet is pretty good - plenty of fruits, veggies, grains, and such. I'll probably have to force myself to start a regular exercise regimen. I've tried to stay active (going for walks, taking the stairs at work, parking farther away at the store), but it obviously has not been enough.

Ah, well, life would be boring if it always went smoothly, right?

Secret Executive Orders?

Jane Meyer's new book, The Dark Side, in addition to dealing with torture on Bush's watch, also reveals that it is suspected that a secret executive order exists that changes the rules of succession we currently have in place.

New Yorker writer Jane Mayer's new book, The Dark Side, opens with a shocker. Apparently sometime in the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan issued a "secret executive order" that in the event of the death of the president and the vice president "established a means of re-creating the executive branch." Reagan's order violated the express terms of the Constitution and governing statutes.
...
Congress last considered the problem of a dual vacancy in the presidency and the vice presidency when Harry Truman was in the White House. In the Presidential Succession Act of 1947, lawmakers stipulated that if both positions are empty, power passes first to the Speaker of the House or, if she, too, does not survive, to the president pro tem of the Senate. But relying on James Mann's earlier book Rise of the Vulcans, Mayer reports that Reagan "amended the process for speed and clarity … without informing Congress that it had been sidestepped." We don't know how. But if the order bypasses the speaker and the Senate president pro tempore in favor of an official in the executive branch, we have a recipe for a constitutional crisis.
...
Where does the Bush administration figure into all of this? Since Sept. 11 , the question of presidential succession has been a preoccupation of some of the most responsible statesmen in Washington. Most notably, James Baker joined the late Lloyd Cutler to chair a bipartisan AEI-Brookings Institution commission on the subject. But their recommendations went nowhere in Congress, and I have always wondered why the Bush administration was content to remain on the sidelines. After all, the administration is certainly serious about terrorism. Why, then, didn't it take energetic steps to make much-needed revisions to the law of presidential succession inherited from the days of Harry Truman?

Speaking of hubris.

Obama and Hubris

The arrogant moniker has been thrown at Obama frequently and now some are marveling at his hubris. As a firm Obama supporter, I am under no illusions about Obama's opinion of himself. However, I think the people leveling this charge seem to forget that it is practically a requirement of the job to think you are a cut above the rest. The people who run for President are attempting to become the leader of the most powerful nation on Earth. This is not typically the type of job aspired to by people who say, "Aw, shucks, little old me? I guess I'm an all right guy, nothing special, though." Snort. They may attempt to put on this air in order to seem "one of the guys," but in reality every one of them is thinking, "I am better than the schmo next to me and I expect the people to recognize that even if I have to draw it for 'em in crayon."

Would it be better to have leaders full of humility? Probably, but until humans are much different than they are now, I wouldn't expect it anytime soon.

Computers and Eye Problems

Too much time spent staring at the computer screen is not good for your eyes.

Ophthalmologists, optometrists and other eye professionals note a seeming link between myopia, also called nearsightedness, and "near work"—visual activities that take place at a distance of about 40 centimeters (16 inches) from the eye—such as reading a book. Staring at a computer screen qualifies as well, though monitors usually are around 50 centimeters (20 inches) away.
...
Eyestrain, says Mark Bullimore, a professor at The Ohio State University College of Optometry, results from staring at a screen over long periods of time. Such activity causes eye exhaustion: burning, dryness and muscle aches—all unpleasant and potentially incapacitating symptoms while they last.

As a self-professed computer geek, I don't anticipate getting away from my computer more. Of course, with the ubiquity of computers today, I don't think anyone is getting away from them anytime soon.

Do You Want to Be Batman?

It's gonna take some work.

In some of the timelines you see in the comics, the backstory is he goes away for five years—some it's three to five years, or eight years, or 12 years. In terms of the physical changes (strength and conditioning), that's happening fairly quickly. We're talking three to five years. In terms of the physical skills to be able to defend himself against all these opponents all the time, I would benchmark that at 10 to 12 years. Probably the most reality-based representation of Batman and his training was in Batman Begins.

Anyone have a few billion dollars to loan me so I can get started?

Car Update

I had someone I know look at my car today and...no dice. We had the battery tested. It's good. He spliced together the cable that was falling apart. No help. He found another cable that had fallen apart ("Are there any cables in here that are in one piece?" I asked). Nothing. He looked at all the fuses. They looked good.

We pushed the car to a different parking spot to hopefully keep it from getting towed. We are going to tow it to my house tomorrow with his Durango and he is going to call some people he knows to see if one of them can take a look at it.

In the meantime, I borrowed my dad's vehicle for one day and my good friend, Jeromy, has been letting me drive his car. Thanks to both of them for their help and to Travis, the guy who took a look at it today and is going to try to call in some favors. It's nice to know that there are people I can count on to give me a hand when I need it.

The Dark Side

A new book out, The Dark Side, shines a bright light on how torture became instituted under the Bush Administration. It makes it clear the Cheney was the major architect of the plan. Andrew Sullivan and Matt Yglesias both comment. The worst part is the fact that it seems no one is going to pay a price for having committed these heinous crimes.

Weekly Music Video

"Despite all my rage, I'm still just a rat in a cage." Who hasn't felt like that from time to time?

"Bullet with Butterfly Wings" - The Smashing Pumpkins

Weekly Secret

PostSecret

There Ain't No Such Thing As a Free Lunch

Whatever your feelings on the Iraq war, I think it is important to remember the costs of such endeavors.

The premature death of Joseph Dwyer at the age of 31 has highlighted the neglect many American veterans believe they face once they return home.

He was made famous by a photograph, taken in March 2003 during the first week of the war, in which he is seen running to a makeshift hospital.

In his arms, the soldier was cradling an injured Iraqi boy who he had rescued from crossfire.

The arresting image, held up by the war's supporters as the human face of the invasion, was reproduced around the world and Specialist Dwyer was hailed as a hero.

However, he was always uncomfortable with the media attention, attempting to deflect its focus on to his entire unit. He had done no more than any of the other soldiers in his unit, he told reporters.

It emerged that Mr Dwyer's post-war civilian life was also no different to that of many fellow veterans.

For years, he struggled against post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), drug abuse, unemployment and marital breakdown.

On June 28, Mr Dwyer, 31, called a taxi to take him to a hospital near his home in Pinehurst, North Carolina, after earlier taking presciption pills and inhaling fumes from a computer cleaner aerosol.

When the driver arrived, Mr Dwyer said he was too weak to open the door. Police had to kick it down and found he had collapsed. Within minutes, he had died.

Police in several states had been dealing with Mr Dwyer for several years as he suffered from violent delusions that he was being hunted by Iraqi soldiers.

He was in and out of psychiatric care, once being committed after he started firing at imagined attackers inside his home, leading to a three-hour police siege. He had also crashed his car several times after swerving to avoid imagined roadside bombs.

Mr Dwyer's family said he had also been struggling with depression and sleeplessness, symptoms associated with PTSD. He would spend nights hiding in a wardrobe clutching a knife, and started inhaling from aerosols to help him sleep.

Hat Tip: Rod Dreher

The Car Gods Are Displeased...Again

I don't know what I have done to them, but they are pissed at me again. Two days ago, I couldn't start my vehicle and I figured out it was because the cable running from the battery to the rest of the car had fallen apart. Literally. It had been held together by electrical tape which had slipped away and was now just hanging there. Digging up some electrical tape of my own, I did a quick job of taping it back together and off I went.

Except that I had to do it nearly every time I got back into the car because it kept falling apart. And then today, I hit the jackpot. Apparently a fuse blew or something shorted out along the line somewhere because I can't even get the thing to spark now when I put the pieces together. Oh, the battery is still good. Crossing a couple of screwdrivers touching the posts gets a good zap, but nothing comes from the damn wire.

So, the car is sitting behind the local mall. I'd love to just firebomb it, but, alas, I need a vehicle. Even if they hate me and go out of their way to make my life difficult.

Don't Baby Your Kids

'Cause they could turn out to be wimps. So says Hara Estroff Marano, an editor at Psychology Today who says we shield our kids from too much which only harms them in the long run. She offers some advice to parents.

One, back off and give kids some credit and some leeway to demonstrate their competence. Two, let kids play freely without monitoring. Three, eat dinner together at least five nights a week: aside from the sense of cohesiveness, it gives all that security that is the breeding ground for success. No matter where you are on the socioeconomic spectrum, it is more correlated with school adjustment and achievement than any other single thing that parents can do.

The whole interview is worth reading. I know I find myself guilty of this at times. The world can be such a horrific place and I want to shield my beautiful daughters from all of the crap. Unfortunately, I or any other parent cannot do that completely. The best we can do is to slowly expose them to it, but educate them about it and guide them and be a rock for them to hold on to during the bad times. God knows it's not easy, but the effort is certainly worth it.

Not No, But Hell No.

Like Andrew, I hope this is a joke.

Yes, we can vote for George W. Bush in 2008. We have the right to write in the name of our chosen candidate, regardless of whether or not he is officially on the ballot.

We know that George Bush was God's Candidate in 2000. We know that George Bush was God's candidate again in 2004. And George Bush has been God's president for the last 8 years.

Trust in God and vote your faith. Keep America safe. Write-in George W. Bush for President in 2008.

Look At Me! I'm a Christian!

I've never understood the desire of some people to proclaim their belief in Christianity as loudly as possible, people like those in South Carolina who now have a license plate that says "I believe" and has a picture of a cross. Well, I suppose I shouldn't say that I don't understand, 'cause I do. It is a shallow declaration of faith that is much easier than, say, trying to live a quiet life of following Jesus's teachings. People might not figure out you are a Christian that way, not to mention that it's so hard striving to live virtuously. Much easier to shout from the rooftops, "Hey, I'm a Christian." Then people don't have to guess whether or not you are and you can go ahead and slide on some of those pesky Commandments.

Ancient Tablet Calls Into Question Current Theories of Early Christianity

A fascinating tablet dated to the first-century B.C. is forcing scholars to reexamine our current picture of early Christianity. The tablet talks about a three-day resurrection and blood being required for redemption. Most believed that this was an invention of early Christians, but this tablet which has yet to have any serious detractors to its authenticity may show that the idea was in the Middle East before Jesus.

A three-foot-tall tablet with 87 lines of Hebrew that scholars believe dates from the decades just before the birth of Jesus is causing a quiet stir in biblical and archaeological circles, especially because it may speak of a messiah who will rise from the dead after three days.

If such a messianic description really is there, it will contribute to a developing re-evaluation of both popular and scholarly views of Jesus, since it suggests that the story of his death and resurrection was not unique but part of a recognized Jewish tradition at the time.

The tablet, probably found near the Dead Sea in Jordan according to some scholars who have studied it, is a rare example of a stone with ink writings from that era — in essence, a Dead Sea Scroll on stone.

It is written, not engraved, across two neat columns, similar to columns in a Torah. But the stone is broken, and some of the text is faded, meaning that much of what it says is open to debate.

Still, its authenticity has so far faced no challenge, so its role in helping to understand the roots of Christianity in the devastating political crisis faced by the Jews of the time seems likely to increase.

Daniel Boyarin, a professor of Talmudic culture at the University of California at Berkeley, said that the stone was part of a growing body of evidence suggesting that Jesus could be best understood through a close reading of the Jewish history of his day.

“Some Christians will find it shocking — a challenge to the uniqueness of their theology — while others will be comforted by the idea of it being a traditional part of Judaism,” Mr. Boyarin said.

This is very interesting and I can't wait to read more about it.

Weekly Music Video

The biggest selling 12" single of all time.

New Order - "Blue Monday"

Weekly Secret

PostSecret

Religious Education Run Amok

I am all about studying different cultures in school. I don't think it gets addressed near enough and when it it, it is often too distant and remote for the student to get a solid grasp of the culture being examined (especially if it is not a Western culture). This lesson seems a little out of hand, though.

Two schoolboys were given detention after refusing to kneel down and 'pray to Allah' during a religious education lesson.
...
Parents said that their children were made to bend down on their knees on prayer mats which the RE teacher had got out of her cupboard and they were also told to wear Islamic headgear during the lesson on Tuesday afternoon.

I'm pretty sure that one can learn about Muslims and Islam without, you know, actually praying. How about visiting a mosque or something crazy like that? Maybe even talk to a real, live Muslim or two. That's just silly, I suppose.

I'd hate to see this teacher's lesson plan on current events and terrorism.

This Too Shall Pass

A coworker and good friend called me this morning to say that her husband had passed away. When she got out of the shower this morning she found him slumped over in his chair. She called 911 and performed CPR, but to no avail. The doctor said it was a "massive heart attack." He was only 53-years old.

Death is nothing new to our species and nothing I write about it now is going to offer any new insight into it. Today's event, though, reminds me of how fleeting and fragile our meager existence is. No matter what your religion, no matter what you believe about an afterlife (or lack thereof), you have to accept the fact that the life we have right now is tender and precious and gone all too quickly.

Tell the people you care about that you love them. Live every day as if it is your last, for no matter who you are this, too, shall pass.

Mark Twain Superstar

If you're a fan of Mark Twain (and you should be if you are not), then check out the cool article Time has on one of the most influential American authors. Here are some quotes of his that I particularly like.

"All generalizations are false, including this one."

"All you need is ignorance and confidence and the success is sure."

"But who prays for Satan? Who, in eighteen centuries, has had the common humanity to pray for the one sinner that needed it most?"

"'Classic.' A book which people praise and don't read."

"Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities. Truth isn't."

"Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company."

"I have been complimented many times and they always embarrass me; I always feel that they have not said enough."

"Often it does seem a pity that Noah and his party did not miss the boat."

Weekly Music Video

I have a thing for songs about heroes and here is a great one.

Foo Fighters - "My Hero"

Weekly Secret

PostSecret

Genghis Khan vs. George W. Bush

Matt Yglesias has the blistering takedown.

On the advice of some readers I picked up Jack Weatherford's Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World where I learned that Genghis Khan banned torture in his empire.

So, yes, under George W. Bush the United States of America is regressing to an understanding of humane treatment of people that doesn't reflect the enlightened views of Genghis Khan. That's your feel-good thought of the day.

Now, yes, you can say that Genghis had pragmatic reasons for this and not moral reasons. You can also say that Genghis perpetrated many atrocities in his time. Still, it's pretty sad when the President of the United States of America heartily embraces a practice banned by Genghis Khan.

Five Things to Keep in Mind

Jeromy quotes five things to keep in mind from a book, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality.

Life is Hard.
You are not that important.
Your life is not about you.
You are not in control.
You are going to die.

Those are some good guidelines for life, though I would modify a few of them.

You are not that important, but you can do important things.
Your life is not about you; it is about what you can do for others.
You are not in control of what happens to you, but you can control how you react to it.
You are going to die, but only physically. "Luminous beings are we. Not this crude matter."

I might also say "Life is hard. It's harder if you're stupid," but that's mean sarcasm and certainly not how I roll.

Vindication

No longer can anyone criticize the sarcasm that has been known to occasionally fall from my lips. I can just say, "Survival of the fittest, baby."

Evolutionary biologists claim that sociality is what has made humans such a successful species. We are masters at what anthropologists and others call "social intelligence." We recognize and keep track of hundreds of relationships, and we easily distinguish between enemies and friends.

More important, we run our lives by social calculation. A favor is mentally recorded and paid back, sometimes many years later. Likewise, insults are marked down on the mental score card in indelible ink. And we are constantly bickering and making up, even with people we love.

Sarcasm, then, is a verbal hammer that connects people in both a negative and positive way. We know that sense of humor is important to relationships; if someone doesn't get your jokes, they aren't likely to be your friend (or at least that's my bottom line about friendship). Sarcasm is simply humor's dark side, and it would be just as disconcerting if a friend didn’t get your snide remarks.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have survival traits to hone, not that I expect you to have a clue about anything like that.

The Dregs of Humanity

Another story to make me weep for humanity.

In the windowless front rooms of a former day care center in a tiny Texas community, children as young as 5 were fed powerful painkillers they knew as "silly pills" and forced to perform sex shows for a crowd of adults.

We better hope aliens do not decide to visit our little corner of the galaxy. If they heard about depravity like this, they'd nuke us from orbit. And we'd deserve it.

Weekly Music Video

The video this week should put Jeromy's mind to rest.

Devo - "Whip It"



If you're curious, Wikipedia has a good article on the song and the video.

Weekly Secret

PostSecret

Spiritually Bankrupt

Jeromy at Seeking Goliath recently linked to a blog where the author talked about feeling "spiritually bankrupt.

Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven." I'm not sure what that means. But I think Dallas Willard was the one writing about how "Blessed are the poor in spirit" really means, "Good news! In MY Kingdom, even the spiritually bankrupt get invites!"

Oh, man, I hope he's right. That would be great news for me. Because I'm not very spiritual. Never have been. I've tried. And I'll keep trying. But I'm just not. I don't feel much of anything a lot of the time. I'm sorry.

I know; I probably won't be writing old-school hymns: "And He walks with me, I think, and He talks with me, probably in some way, and He tells me I am His own, but generally not through an audible voice that I hear, at least in a non-metaphorical sense, and none other has ever known just how awkward it even is for me to talk about my faith, personally, and I know I should feel bad about that, too."

Maybe I'm still doing something wrong. I've never come by faith easily. I don't get swept up in swirling "powerful worship". Shoot, I'm not even comfy in it. I don't like praying out loud, even among friends.

Read the whole thing. Brant writes very movingly about his inability to feel moved spiritually. I don't think Brant is alone, either. In my own sphere of experience, I have heard people express similar feelings and the internet is certainly full of people expressing the same sentiment.

For many of these people, I believe their feelings stem from a common source. In our age of sensationalism it is easy to trip over people on TV, in the newspaper, or in books proclaiming their profound spirituality and connection with God. They cry and shout and proclaim how deeply they feel God's presence in their lives, how he moves in them, touches them, and is always right there with them through all of their trials and tribulations. Leaving aside that much of this often seems exaggerated and not real, how can people have faith when it seems like this is the only way to have real faith.

I think faith comes in many forms and for some it is not going to be the charismatic, emotional, "I feel God's hand on me" sort of faith. For some, faith will be a quiet belief that there is a higher power of some sort and that life is not a meaningless exercise. Unfortunately, in our society it is easy to fall prey to marketing which tells you how you are supposed to feel. When people see some preacher on TV talking about how he literally feels God's presence regularly, no doubt some question their own faith, asking, "Why don't I feel like that."

And the answer is, "Because you're different." Just as we all like different foods or are attracted to different people, we are each going to feel faith in a different way and that's just the way it should be.

Those Crazy Canucks

I've never had an inclination to live in Canada, but stories like this ensure that I would not ever do more than visit.

A Canadian court has lifted a 12-year-old girl's grounding, overturning her father's punishment for disobeying his orders to stay off the internet, his lawyer said.

The girl had taken her father to Quebec Superior Court after he refused to allow her to go on a school trip for chatting on websites he tried to block, and then posting "inappropriate" pictures of herself online using a friend's computer.

What kind of world do we live in wherein a court can overturn a child's grounding by their parents?

Bush is a War Criminal

While it has been known for awhile that torture has been practiced by our soldiers and intelligence officers and that it has been authorized and condoned all the way up the chain of command, we continue to gather evidence of how deep it was. This was not the practice of a few rogue elements. Torture was signed off on by all of the major player's in this administration.

Pete concedes that the administration originally seized far, far more detainees than it could prove guilty (or ever tried to prove guilty) and has released thousands falsely imprisoned. Of the thousands seized, Pete concedes many were abused and tortured, with over a hundred deaths occurring during interrogation, two score of whom the administration has itself conceded were murder-by-interrogation. All this occurred after the president decided his actions as commander-in-chief could not be constrained by the law, after he had waived the baseline Geneva Convention protections for prisoners in wartime - in violation of the policy of every previous president of the United States from Washington on - and after critical memos were signed allowing American interrogators to do anything to prisoners short of death or loss of a major organ. Larry Wilkerson, Colin Powell's former chief of staff explains what this means in terms any morally responsible person would understand:

Andrew continues.

And all this was done not in the chaos of a battlefield or even by rogue units or POW camps. It was not done in a war with anything like as many soldiers and battles as World War II. It was done in a closely managed war by a professional military and intelligence service in every theater of combat as a concerted policy to get more intelligence about Jihadist terror and the Iraq insurgency. It was authorized directly in the chain of command by the president, who knowingly broke the law and hired lawyers to tell him he hadn't. No clever argumentation that "only" 270 prisoners remain at Gitmo can gainsay that. And it is not, by the way, evidence against the fact that this administration seized countless innocents and tortured them to say that they eventually released most of them. It is no consolation to the torture victims at Abu Ghraib that they were eventually set free and their innocence confirmed. Those are the standards of benign dictatorships, not democracies.

Now, you could argue that the administration, after initial understandable over-reach, has tried to set things right. But you would be wrong.

They still refuse to take responsibility for torture and abuse and murder on their watch; and the CSRTs they eventually came up with have been revealed as kangaroo courts in which acquittals are deemed out of bounds and in which countless military lawyers have cried foul. It would be great if we had had a chance to set up clear guidelines in advance, with Congressional support, to give prisoners Geneva protections and non-habeas but robust military trials in what is, as everyone concedes, a very challenging conflict. But this president decided against that, to ignore the advice from the professionals and from the military lawyers, and to do it his own way, with appalling results. Once this record has been compiled and the indecency of Bush's "new kind of war" revealed, it seems to me that no Supreme Court that gives a damn about the Constitution or the ancient traditions of Anglo-American justice or humane warfare would give the benefit of the doubt to a president like this one. Not if the word "court" and "justice" are to be deemed within the same universe.

Sometimes I wonder if I still live in America or if I have somehow been transported to Bizzaro World where this is actually the norm.

Our President authorized torturing people.

Our President locked up innocent people and did not allow them the means to prove their innocence or free them immediately upon knowing their innocence.

Our President's decisions have led to the death of dozens of people - not on the battlefield, but in shadowy torture chambers.

Our President has lied about all of this and seems completely nonplussed by the results of his orders.

Our President, George W. Bush, is a war criminal and should be held accountable along with all of the other knowing architects of this unbelievably morally bankrupt scheme. This is not the kind of America we want.

Max Baucus, Senator Extraordinaire

Matt Yglesias says that the biggest obstacle in getting "good health care reform" is none other than our very own Max Baucus.

One thing I'd forgotten during the long debate about Clinton versus Obama on health care, and in speculation about the Senate filibuster, is that the key legislative player, the chokepoint through which health care reform must pass, is Max Baucus, Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. But he's not just Finance Committee Chairman, he's also a terrible Senator! Indeed, on core economic policy issues he's probably the worst Senator -- a little bit right-wing, a lot corrupt and unprincipled. Ezra Klein has a piece on Baucus and health reform that nods in the direction of Baucus' critics but then waxes optimistic:

Sadly, even Baucus recognizes his own inteptitude.

It's Okay to Use the Web at Work

So says a new study. That's good news for me 'cause I read this story and posted about here on my blog while at work.

Of course, the people who did this study are probably just a bunch of lazy slackers who always get in trouble for surfing the net instead of working. This was a way of justifying it all to their bosses. For their hard work in order to justify slacking off, I applaud them.

Firefox 3

Mozilla has released the newest version of the supreme internet browser. And it's still free! If you're still using IE, you owe it to yourself to check it out.

The Supporters of Torture Aren't Supporters of Truth Either

Glenn Greenwald excoriates John Yoo for his appalling WSJ op-ed supporting Bush's policies of endless detention.

Yoo, for instance, claims that the Supreme Court in Boumediene allows "an alien who was captured fighting against the U.S. to use our courts to challenge his detention." But huge numbers of detainees in U.S. custody weren't "captured fighting against the U.S." at all. Many were taken from their homes. Others were just snatched off the street while engaged in the most mundane activities. Still others were abducted while in airports or at work.
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The other deeply misleading claim in Yoo's Op-Ed is even more transparent. He characterizes the Court's decision as "grant[ing] captured al Qaeda terrorists the exact same rights as American citizens to a day in civilian court." What minimally self-respecting law professor would be willing to make this claim with a straight face?

The whole point of the habeas corpus right is that without a meaningful hearing, we don't know if the individuals our Government is imprisoning are really "al Qaeda terrorists" or something else. That ought to be too basic even to require pointing out. As this recent superb McClatchy article documents, scores of individuals detained at Guantanamo for years weren't "Al Qaeda terrorists" -- or any other kind of terrorists -- at all.

While disgusting, I cannot say I find this surprising. Once you start compromising basic moral principles, the slope becomes quite slippery and you find yourself compromising more and more in order to justify your actions. Yoo, Feith, Rumsfeld, Cheney and the other architects of the current administration's policies will continue to spout garbage like this until long after they are gone from the national stage. I hope that our next President can work to restore some of moral integrity.

The Persecution Myth

Internetmonk has a great post debunking the oft repeated cry among evangelicals that Christians are persecuted in America.

Are American Christians justified in saying they are persecuted? It seems like a difficult case to make when we compare the experience of American evangelicals with the experiences of those in Africa and India who are genuinely persecuted. American Christians may experience persecution from time to time in unusual situations, but the vast majority of American Christians will never know anything of the real experience of imprisonment, violence or hostility that genuinely threatens their well-being.

American Christians may know a bit about harassment, ridicule or even prejudicial bias and intimidation. These aren’t to be discounted. And within some cultural subgroups- such as zealous political atheists or strict Muslims living in America- actual persecution of a Christian convert might occur. I don’t want to ignore those genuine episodes of violence and persecution that do occur.

These episodes, however, are extremely rare. Even if we are to give some credence to the likelihood that western culture is moving toward more frequent and acceptable persecution of Christians (and other religions), we are still faced with how American Christians use the statement in 2 Timothy 3.

I would suggest that the culture war mentality of American evangelicals proceeds on an exaggerated sense of persecution based on Christian mythology. The nature of American history and society makes a certain tension with a pronounced sense of specific religious entitlement inevitable. When Christians seem to expect that they be given a privileged place they also give themselves an excuse for claiming “persecution” when that is hardly the case.

A visitor from Sudan or India would find most of our discussions of persecution to be rather odd when compared to their own.

Sadly, I don't expect any amount of logic or reason to make this falsehood go away. Far too many evangelicals don't have time for such foolishness as "thinking."

William Shatner is Not Slowing Down

CNN has a great article about William Shatner.

Why did William Shatner cross the road? Why has he ever? To get to the other side. To see what's out there. To find out stuff and inhale the universe in his singular Shatnerian way. It's the story of his life -- and the lives of the characters he has breathed, spoken and shouted into existence over a 50-year performing career.

It's the story of "Boston Legal" bombast Denny Crane, racing to experience all life's pleasures before Alzheimer's drags him not-so-gentle into that good night. It's the story of the Priceline Negotiator, that discount-travel maniac who barnstorms across the planet to get us better deals on hotels and flights. It's the story of James T. Kirk, the wise and womanizing starship captain who led a crew of 23rd-century explorers across interstellar backroads.

And it's the story of Shatner himself -- a man governed by his passions and interests, a man who crosses new roads every day, gleefully ignoring those who dismiss him and conquering frontiers he never dreamed possible. A cultural phenomenon who, despite tales of his galactic ego, seems strikingly down to Earth as he shapes and basks in the third golden age of his career.

Say what you will about the man, but you can't call him dull.

Man's Inhumanity to Man

I'm not in the greatest of moods right now and it doesn't help reading stuff like this story.

Police killed a 27-year-old man as he kicked, punched and stomped a toddler to death despite other people's attempts to stop him on a dark, country road, authorities said.

Or this one.

The abuse-case that caused the Pope to lose his temper - to the point of a prissy smack - was Father Marcial Maciel. Until his death earlier this year, Maciel ran a large, far-right Catholic cult called the Legionaries of Christ. The Legionaries and their lay counterpart, Regnum Christi, are very powerful entities in the new Catholicism, given special protection by Pope John Paul II and much favor under his successor. And at the core of the Legionaries, like many religious cults, was a sexual abuse ring designed to please the founder. Secrecy was maintained by indoctrinating many members at a young age, and enforcing vows of silence on all topics related to Maciel. This cult-like stricture is still causing grief and suspicion in many parts of the Catholic world, most recently in the Baltimore archdiocese.

If I believed in hell, I'd think humanity was on the express train heading there.

Weekly Music Video

Some classic 80's metal - Dio with "Rainbow in the Dark"

Weekly Secret

PostSecret

Was World War II Unneccessary?

A new book out is claiming it was. Nicholson Baker writes in his book Human Smoke that it was the belligerence of Churchill and Roosevelt that allowed Hitler to solidly his power and authority in Germany and a major reason for the war.

Now I have often rolled my eyes at the level of adulation often given to World War II as if it was this neat little event where we, the good guys, just rolled up our sleeves and said, "We're going to teach the bad guys a lesson." The Allies certainly committed some atrocious acts and we should be able to look back on them with a critical eye and objective judge our actions without blindly resorting to, "Hitler was evil. We were the good guys fighting him so we could do no wrong."

However, it is ludicrous to go so far as to say that non-violence would have successfully dealt with Hitler as Baker tries to claim. Taking human life should never be done lightly and should without a doubt be the absolute last resort, but I don't think there's any doubt that the Nazis aligned with the Japanese presented a grave danger to the entire world and a military solution was the only one that was going to work. We can quibble on the details of how it should have been carried out (was it necessary to carpet bomb German cities? Drop the atomic bomb?), but you can't make a serious argument that holding hands and singing Kum Bah Ya would have curtailed Hitler.

Should We Have a Space Program?

Rod Dreher rails against McCain's talk of putting a man on Mars.

I know it's obligatory for American politicians to come up with new goals in the space race. It's also obligatory to tell people who criticize this kind of thing that they're a bunch of plodders who have no sense of adventure, and who fail to honor something deep in the human spirit.

But you know what? Plodder that I am, I don't want this country to put a thin dime toward sending a man to Mars until we have figured out what to do about the long-term energy crisis in this country. I know, I know, you could substitute any cause you want to for space exploration (How can we send a man to the moon when there are people going without health care?!, etc.). But get this: oil just closed today a smidge shy of $140 a barrel -- up over $10 in a single day. Biggest one-day jump ever.
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The only point I want to make here is that the idea that the US should commit itself to a manned mission to Mars strikes me as so 20th century. Not a fantasy we can afford today.

Rants like this always annoy me. I've heard many people claim that the space program is a waste of money and we need to "solve the problems here on Earth first", but they don't seem to realize that the program has led to many advances not just in areas such as rocketry and computers, but in all sorts of areas such as communications, weather forecasting or even home cookware. The point is that the space program as with any cutting edge research can yield enormous benefits outside of its intended scope.

That said, I'm not sure our government should have an extensive space program. I think it is better left in the hands of private corporations. Let the government give out some grants and such, but it is too inefficient and unwieldy to continue being on the cutting edge of technology here (witness the debacle that is the space shuttle program).

I will vehemently disagree with anyone who claims, though, that we need to solve Earth's problems first. There will always be problems here and scientific research including that into space can help with some of them.

Better Go Buy Some Country Crock

'Cause you don't want to get on this guy's bad side.

Consumerism

I was chatting with Jeromy recently and one of the topics that came up was the consumerist mentality here in America. As an example of this, he sent me this link. On this page, you can buy an iPod from Revival Ministries International that comes "loaded" with many of their materials - videos and music - all for the low, low price of $2195.

Yes, two-thousand ninety-five dollars for an iPod full of their evangelistic garbage teachings. Your purchase lets you achieve "personal growth and [stay] plugged into revival" and support "Revival Ministries International's crusades in North America and abroad." They don't mention that it also allows anyone with common sense to mock you loudly and frequently, though.

The saddest part of the page, however, is the mention that this iPod is "Out of stock." There really is a sucker born every minute.

A Discombobulated Week

You can blame the lack of posting around here over the last week on my daughters. I get to see them a bit more in the summer and so they spent the last ten days with me. It was wonderful, of course, and I did not want to take them home tonight. Anyway, since I am not used to having them here so much, my typical routines get thrown into chaos and I found myself not getting on here to post anything even after they had gone to bed. But, now that they are gone until next weekend, I should be back to posting regularly again.