Tyranny of the violent

I finally rented Roman Polanski's "The Pianist" last night. It's the story of a Polish concert pianist's struggle for survival in the Warsaw Ghetto during the Nazi occupation in the 40's. I've passed up this movie up time after time, thinking, "Yet another Holocaust movie that swept up all the Oscars - how typical." I've seen Schindler's List. I'm not a Jew, why should I still care, right? But I was riveted by the film and it scared the hell out of me.

Why? I realized for the first time just how easily the tyranny of the strong can lead to the slaughter of an entire class of people. And despite what we think we've learned about The Holocaust and genocide over the past sixty years, there's no shortage of recent examples: it happened in Cambodia in the seventies (the Pol Pot's elimination of "traitors"), Turkey (Turks vs Armenians), it happened in Bosnia (the Serbs vs the Croats & the Serbs vs the Muslims); it happened in Rwanda & Burundi (the Hutus vs the Tutsis), and it's happening in The Sudan (Arabs vs Africans). And some of Israel's behavior in the West Bank and Gaza is an example of just how easy it is for the oppressed to become the oppressor. Maintaining peace among humans requires a perilous balance of sociology, a veritable razor's edge of tolerance.

The danger is thinking that oppression or even genocide can't happen here in the good 'ole U.S.A. When I hear the venom with which "liberals" are described by certain "conservatives", it sends a shiver down my spine. The term "liberal" is becoming synonymous with "weak, undisciplined and immoral" - so much so that liberals have taken shelter behind the term "progressive" to avoid being branded as less-than-American.

Beware of shifting language in a shifting culture. "Zero Tolerance" can very easily lapse into "Intolerance". A "Patriot Act" can very easily become a legal excuse to interrogate suspected traitors to The Republic and whisk them away to locales unknown without charging them with an actual crime. The Constitution can suddenly becomes a "living document" that is conveniently maleable to fit the needs of the times - with all that talk of forefathers and their superior judgement going right out the window.

Referring again to the "progressive" talk-radio show that I mentioned in the post below, a particularly venomous caller used a playground analogy to describe, as he put it, "...the difference between Republicans and liberals" (sic). He said, in essence, when a playground bully confronts a Republican, the Republican punches him in the nose. When a playground bully confronts a liberal, the liberal runs back to class to go tell the teacher. The insinuation here is that the liberal will not stand up for himself, the liberal is a coward, the liberal is a tattle-tale (with the U.N. playing the part of the teacher, I would guess). The Republican, on the other hand, is a courageous hero who took "pre-emptive action" to dispatch with the bully for everyone's benefit. What the analogy doesn't address is the political affinity of the bully.

The show's guest chided the caller for his propensity toward violence and dismissed the argument. But I couldn't help but think of a photograph I saw in a local newspaper several years ago. It showed a black woman coming to the aid of a KKK sympathizer who was having the shit kicked out of him by a group of so-called liberals who showed up to protest the racist's parade. I wonder, was the black woman a liberal or a conservative?

CSPAN: Radio Talk Show Week

CSPAN 2 has been airing the studio action of radio talk shows all week. The camera is set up in front of the DJ's and pretty much left static for the entire program. As you might expect from a social liberal (yes, and I wear the label proudly), I could barely stand to watch the conservative talk shows with their ruthless character assasination of Kerry and indiscriminate support of the president and his failed policies. But it seems to be a staple of the right to goose-step right over the cliff of history, waving a flag right up until the heat of the apocalypse is cooking their face off. In any case, I tuned out after a few minutes of that. I like to keep up with the other side's arguments, but only when they actually have one.

Yesterday, a progressive talk radio program from Madioson, Wisconsin was featured and, though I didn't find the conversation quite as distasteful, I thought it was pretty dull. The host was dull, the guest was dull, the talk was dull. During the seemingly unlimited number of commercial breaks, the camera stayed on and caught the off-air talk between the DJ and the guest. The conversation turned to whether or not progressive radio had a future and the host concluded that it did, if it could be as entertaining as conservative radio. The example of (gasp) Rush Limbaugh was used who reportedly said that, first and foremost, he was an entertainer.

If Rush Limbaugh is the yardstick by which progressive radio measures itself, it's doomed to failure. Popular mass media relies on shock, prurience and playing to base emotions and instincts that any self-respecting progressive would reject off hand. Progressives, I hope, would never revel in demeaning or demoralizing our opponents with the same fevered zealotry of radio conservatives - which, therefore, is less entertaining to the masses and less attractive to advertisers.

The Conservative Will

I heard an Interview with Jimmy Carter on Fresh Air the other day (President Carter Tries Hand @ Fiction) and learned something I didn't know. According to the former President, his Top Secret briefing book was stolen by the conservative columnist and speechwriter, George Will, who handed it over to Ronald Reagan so he could prepare for their only debate (quote occurs around 28 min in the interview). Of all the conservatives, I would have thought that George Will believed in fair play - but I guess he's just another immoral cheater who will do anything to win.

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Reasons that U.S. doesn't meet Carter Center criteria for fair elections:

1. All qualified candidates should have equal access to the public through the media and not have to pay for it. In the U.S., candidates have to solicit special interests (some benevolent, of course) for hundreds of millions of dollars to run a presidenttial campaign.

2. U.S. doesn't have centralized, non-partisan or bi-partisan, election commission. In Florida, former Secretary of State Catherine Harris, an avowed and fervent Republican activist, was largely responsible for the voting debacle in 2000 which led to Bush's victory. The new Secretary of State, again, has been appointed by George Bush's brother.

3. Votiing processes are not universal. Type of voting is dependent on county preferences. More affluent precincts are more likely to have their votes handled properly because of political will.

4. Because of modern voting techniques (i.e. touchscreen voting), there's no certain way to recount votes. There's no paper trail.


Of course, I know Jimmy Carter is biased towards the Democrats. I had nothing but respect for him until I heard him say that Nader shouldn't be on the ballot. Just can't find the quote - it happened sometime during the primaries.

Two Hands, One Vote

I've been vacillating about my intent to vote for Ralph Nader in the coming election. I'm very conflicted.

• On the one hand, I feel it's my right to vote for the candidate I feel best represents my interests. Vote for Ralph.
† On the other hand, I don't want George Bush making ANY Supreme Court nominations. Vote for John.

• On the one hand, I can't support a political system that is so corrupted by cash and bad for true democracy. Vote for Ralph.
† On the other hand, I don't want to allow The Bush Regime and Assoc. to continue looting OUR treasury. Vote for John.

• On the one hand, I feel it may be necessary to force the Democrats to help progressives reform the election process so there can be no spoiler effect in the next election and true representative democracy can be practiced. Vote for Ralph.
† On the other hand, that's probably hoping for too much from the Democrats and I should just take what I can get. Vote for John.

• On the one hand, do I really want to continue enabling the Democrats when they've become such cowards? Vote for Ralph.
† On the other hand, am I supporting the underdog, who doesn't have a chance in hell of being elected, because of some personality flaw on my part or because I'm some kind of political masochist? Vote for John.

• Is "The lesser of two evils" really the best we can do in America? Vote for Ralph.
† Yes, sadly, that may be the best we can do. Vote for John.


Do I vote with the courage of my convictions, no matter what happens, or with cynical resignation to continue the status quo?

Adventures in GROUPTHINK

Afert perusing my sample ballot for the upcoming election on Publius.org, I realized there are NO DEMOCRATS running in our local election. The Republicans are running completely unopposed. That must make them feel pretty confident about whatever plans they have in store for their little gentrified piece of heaven. Makes us trailer-folk a little nervous.

Campaign Fatigue

I stayed up last night to watch the last presidential debate in Tempe, Az. and couldn't even bring myself to watch it. Just more regurgitation of formulated positions, distortions of the facts and smearing your adversary. Made-for-t.v. politics. Blech! Can't we find anyone more honest to run OUR government? Yes, but then he/she would never get elected.

Flu Vaccine Gouging

The News: Less than a week after the report that there was 50 % shortage of flu vaccine due to contamination of our supply, several complaints have already surfaced from hospitals and doctors about price gouging by third party distributors who are claimed to be charging as much as a 1000 % mark-up, or $800 a vial. Apparently, the companies got the inside track about the contamination and held onto their uncontaminated stocks to cash in on the sellers-market wind-fall they knew would be coming.

The Views: Personally, I think the government should claim Eminent Domain, give those distributors a fair price and seize their stocks. It'd be refreshing if the government used Eminent Domain at least once for the public good, instead of using it for land giveawys to private interests like big-box stores and auto factories. But oh, that's right, we decided to out-source the productioin of our flu vaccines to another country. Now there's homeland security planning for you. Gee, too bad.

Race is heating up / Headlines & Punchlines

I've gotten into several heated debates in the last few days regarding the state of our country and the coming election. The whole political climate is making me sick. I can' imagine how I'll take another three weeks of this.
My mother says I shouldn't get so worked up about it. "It's not worth getting yourself sick over," she says. I asked, "Then what is?"

The more I argue about it, the more I'm convinced I'm voting for the right person . Once I found out about the Democratic National Campaign's dirty tricks to keep Nader out of the race altogether, to subvert his constitutional rights, that sealed my ballot. There's only one candidate who believes in fair play, and he isn't a Democrat or a Republican.


CNN Headlines & Punchlines:

Democracy at risk - Pennsylvania tries to remove Nader from the ballot. What a surprise.

Senator Mark Dayton (D) Minnesota, packed his shit and got out of Washington while the gettin was good. He said that if you don't need to be in Washington, you shouldn't come here because of terrorist threats. Others in Congress are calling him paranoid. Hey, if it'll get you home for Turkey Day, why not? Terrorism has been used as an excuse for everything else.

HHS's head, Tommy Thompson, giving Mexico's health system millions to help prevent immigrating diseases. I think they just want healthier illegal immigrants. They can't keep working, driving and paying taxes if they come here sick.

Gas Prices through the roof. Should've listened to those bleeding heart liberal environmentalists in the seventies and the need for alternative energy sources.

Health Care System's in the shitter: administrative chaos, poor care, no care, Book: "Critical Condition" offers fresh alternative and got Lou Dobb's seal of approval.

I wish Lou Dobbs were running for president.

Heard it on NPR: How liberals and conservatives think

Fascinating host on Talk of the Nation today. George Lakoff, author of "Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think" talked about the differing worldviews of the right and the left. Lakoff is a Professor of linguistics at the University of California at Berkeley (all my favorite people are linguists ). There's a link at the bottom so you can hear the conversation in RealAudio, but here's the gist of Lakoff's paradigm:


A family metaphor is used to describe how each side, liberal and conservative, sees our nation.

Two different paradigms:

1. Strict Father Family - Assumptions: the world is a dangerous and difficult place, there will always be winners and losers, there's competition, children are born bad (i.e. want to do only what they want to do and not what is right) and they need to be made good. You need a strict "father" (e.g. G.W. Bush) who will protect "the family", win competitions, and teach children what is right and wrong with punishment, physical or withdawl of affection.

Assumed Result: "children" will develop discipline through punishment. Moral discipline will allow them to make their way in the world, seek their self-interest, become self-reliant and prosperous. Morality=Prosperity. If you're not prosperous, you're not disciplined, and if you're not disciplined you're probably not moral - so you deserve not to be prosperous. You deserve your poverty. The result is that you go against social programs because they give people something they haven't earned and it causes even more dependence and less discipline - you hurt the people you try to help. That's the conservative argument.

2. Nurturing Parent Family - Liberal way to raise a family. Assumptions: Both parents are necessary and equal. Their job is to nurture their children and raise their children to be nurturers of others. Nurturing teaches empahty (how to connect to your children's needs) and responsibility (you have to be able to take care of yourself to care for others and be responsible for others).

Progressive moral system: All progressive principles follow from empathy and responsibility (e.g. empathizing with your child makes you want to protect your child, thus political values of worker protection, consumer protection, environmental protection. You want your child to be fulfilled in life - fulfillment become an important value which cannot come without freedom, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Fairness is also an important value for fulfillment. There's no freedom without opportunity and no opportunity without prosperity so opportunity and prosperity are important progressive values. "It takes a village" - Community building, community maintenance and community service are important progressive values. Cooperation, trust, honesty and open communication.

Other points:

•Most thought processes are unconscious. Cognitive science teaches that people think metaphorically first, then in conceptual frames (bundles of ideas about one thing). Using the conservative notion of "tax relief", the word "relief" is part of a conceptual frame that includes the idea of an "afflction". The tax is an "affliction" that needs "relief". The person that brings "relief" is a hero (i.e. the good guy) and anyone who tries to stop the relief is part of the "affliction" (i.e. the bad guy). That is a conservative idea.

• Each of these seemingly competing philosophies are internally consistent and define common sense to their respective paradigm. This is physically structured in your brain - you cannot change it. But everyone has both tendencies either passively (for understanding) or actively (for living). Most people have both tendencies in different parts of their lives.

• Liberals and conservatives use unique language that reflects their morality paradigm. e.g. Zell Miller's use of the phrase, "Spine of tempered steel, " to describe Bush reflects the "Strict Father" paradigm which requires that a leader be morally strong internally and that character is defined by internal strength. The opposite of "Spine of Tempered Steel" is "flip flopper" - an insult from somebody with a "Strict Father" paradigm. Conservative character is defined by internal moral strength and progressive character is defined by caring and responsibility.

Listen for yourself @ Talk Of The Nation (Tuesday, Oct 12th)

Heard it on NPR: Lazy Americans

I heard a statistic on NPR today that seven out of ten new immigrants to the U.S. think Americans are lazy (WASP Americans I'm assuming). They profiled a chinese guy that came to America two years ago with $20 and now he's about to open his first restaurant with the $25,000 he saved. Making me look bad. Unless he lived in a cardboard box and ate discarded hamburger buns from the fast-food restaurant he worked at, I can't imagine how he did it. Strong kin & cultural ties helped, I'd bet.

IMHOP, the nuclear family was the downfall of white working-class America. We alienated ourselves from our extended families, abandoning a precious resource to strike off on our own and boast about rugged individualism while droves of immigrants proved again and again that blood is thicker than water and there is strength in numbers. Where I live, it's quite common to see whole families of Asian Indians, Chinese and Arabs running major chain restaurants and convenience stores. But you almost never see a WASP family running one. It takes serious cash to open a franchise these days and I can' imagine that someone who can barely speak English in this country has the net worth to open one on his/her own ($450,000 for a Dunkin Donuts -and that was five years ago!). But with the whole family pooling their resources together, enonomic as well as information resources, it creates an opportunity for everyone in the group.

Hell, I haven't even seen my aunts, uncles or cousins since my grandparents died in the seventies and eighties. Couldn't even tell you where they live. Who knows what things I might have learned, skills I might have acquired, had I had the benefit of their company and/or guidance earlier in my life. But my parents were part of the post WWII white flight from Detroit in the fifties. Once the extended family scattered into the surrounding suburbs, nobody bothered to keep in touch. Not even a damn reunion.

If working-class WASPS are lazier than their newly immigrated counterparts, it's probably one part expectation (we assumed we'd have what our parents had - i.e. "The American Dream"); one part isolation (loss of opportunity without our extended families) and one part constitution (we feel 'the pursuit of happiness' is our birthright - and the more instant that hapiness is, all the better).

I've worked consistently for 24 years and don't have very much to show for it. I don't think I 'm lazy. I'm just tired.

Virtual Presidential Debate w/Ralph

Here's something entertaining: Ralph Nader has created a mock presidential debates using audio clips to distinguish each candidates position on a given topic, including his own - since 57% of the people polled still doesn't seem to be enough of a majority to get him into the debates.

Too bad Ralph couldn't have used the actual audio from the debates - but I'm sure those ruthless Democratic trial lawyers would have sued him if he tried. Instead, Bush & Kerry's voices are played by a stand-in with a tongue-in-cheek delivery.

Mock Presidential Debate W/Ralph Nader

Page 23, Sentence 5 meme

meme task:

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 23.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.

inspired by ± blog.

"But if he can clear them himself, we need not torment him with tubes."

Extracted from, "Your Baby & Child: From birth to age 5" by Penelope Leach

Vote for neither. Vote for nie-ther. Vote for Nader.

10/06/04

Given the current choices in the 2004 presidential race, I'm afraid I'm going to have to vote for neither the Republicans nor the Republican Lights (a.k.a. Democrats).

That's right - I'm voting for Ralph Nader. Why? Several reasons:

1. Becuase I honestly feel Ralph Nader is the only one who isn't lying to me to get elected. True, he's got nothing to lose by telling the truth, since he doesn't have a rats-ass chance of becoming president. But at least he has a forty year consistent record of looking out for the American people through consumer advocacy. He fights the good fight no matter what.

2. I don't believe Ralph's in it for the money like Bush/Cheney and their corporate malefactors who want to rule the world, or rather, who already rule the world. And I don't believe Ralph's in if for the glory, like those political opportunists Kerry & Edwards (if you point that thumb at me one more time during a speech, so help me God...!).
If this is the best the Democratic party can do, we're up Shit's Creek without a paddle. Can't we get Dick Gephardt to come back? Please? He dropped out of the primary way too early. Gotta wonder about that.

3. Yeah, I know. Voting for Ralph will help George Bush get re-elected. Maybe things have to get really, really, really bad before the American people (i.e. the people who were born here, or were naturalized LEGALLY) will get off their asses, rescue their idealism and proclaim that their lives, their liberty and their laws are NOT FOR SALE. Perhaps it will take another four years of "Compassionate Conservatism" (the lie) or a revolution brought on by same to bring the American people to their senses. Will we ever rein-in the Corpo-Culture fascists who are dissolving our privacy rights, depressing our wages (by suggesting we naturalize illegal aliens), deporting our jobs and dividing the classes? What kind of world are we creating?

4. Finally, I feel it's one of my few remaining rights - to vote my conscience for the candidate I feel best represents my interests. If that skews the results of the election in a way that wasn't intended, that's a failure of the system - not my vote. For far too long this de-mock-racy has been ruined by the same few people colluding with those who would enslave us for a profit.

Media: Fahrenheit 911 on DVD

Just got done watching Fahrenheit 911 for the first time. My wife bought it for me on DVD at Wal*Mart in South Lyon the day it came out. She often buys DVD's there when she knows they're coming out because they're on sale for the first few days after their released; $15 instead of $21. She got the sale price, but this particular movie was not given the prominent placement in the front of the store the way other new releases usually are.

"It was all the way in the back of the store, " she complained to me.. "The first thing I thought was, 'damn, they don't have it." But she proceeded to the back of the store where the DVD's were kept and she got her Wal•Mart deal. You can always count on greed in the end, even if a product does not fit with a company's political ideology.

Another reason for poor placement in the store might be the completely unjustified "R" (restricted) rating Fahrenheit 911 recieved from the MPAA. It was restricted for, "violent and disturbing images and for language." There were violent and disturbing images, but they're real and the direct result of U.S. foreign policy decisions; dead, wounded and mangled bodies of U.S. servicemen and gruesome images of dead Iraqi women and children being carted away in a pick-up truck. But that's the reality of war. That's what happens when you drop bombs and fire missiles close to, if not directly on, civilian targets. War is the pornography of power and it is obscene. But I can't even recall one "fuck you" or "fuck that" in the entire film so I don't understand the "language" part of the restriction unless any language that questions the motives of the current administration are considered obscene. (After reading online about the restriction, it turns out that a G.I. in the film is reciting song lyrics that contain the term "mother-fucker." Like young teens aren't already surrounded by that language in their music. In any case, I don't think it hurt that fiim's exposure).

The MPAA's rating is consistent with the Bush administration's policy of suppressing the realities of war from the American people. The one valuable lesson that was gleaned from the Viet Nam era is that, if you want to sell an unjustified war to the American people to reap profits for defense contractors and reconstruction firms (with more than questionable ties to administratioin officials), you sure as hell can't allow images of dead civilians and servicemen to be shown on the nightly news. Thanks to the consolidation of media power in the hands of the few rich white guys, the Bush Administratioin has achieved that delicate balance of creating a largely unquestioned perpetual money machine. With the proper controls, the war on terror could last forever. Images of James Baker wringing his hands together at that thought are haunting. Don't know who James Baker is? Shame on you.

I didn't bother to see Fahrenheit 911 at the theatre because I was already aware of the factual materials that went into creating it. But I do think it is a useful and entertaining consolidation of the events that led up to the War in Iraq and the "American interests" that are being served by it. You can question Moore's stylistic choices in presenting the material (left-leaning, duh), but I think it would be difficult to challenge the validity of the facts he presents. Everybody should see this movie at least once before election day. That way, we can't pretend we didn't know where this all was heading.

Bush vs Kerry: Round II - Town Hall

Watched the debate on CSPAN tonight and was slightly more pleased with the format, with the exception of the glaring absence of my preferred candidate. At least in the town hall setting Bush & Kerry seemed to engage one another - even though, behind the scenes, everything and everyone, I'm sure, went through a rigorous scripting process.

Both candidates were more at ease in this setting and both candidates were showing their strengths and weaknesses - which is good. That's what a debate is for.

Bush is crystal clear in his position and never waivers - he's a strong leader, if not a smart leader, who knows what he believes in - or at least knows how to repeat it over and over again no matter what the pressures are to reconsider his position. He has a very simplistic, black and white, good vs evil duality that's easily digested by people who don't enjoy arguing and those who believe in their heart of hearts that wealthy business owners should enjoy special priveleges and tax exemptions that are not shared by the working class. In other words, Core Repbulicans.

Kerry, on the other hand, covers all the grey areas in an argument that any self-respecting thinker (I'd use the term "intellectual" here, but like "liberal" it's been so demonized by the right) would consider. His mistake, or his burden rather, is that he has to convey complex arguments and concepts to the general public - the same general public who made Jerry Springer, Big Time Wrestling and Rush Limbaugh a smashing success. Legislation is extremely complex and it's too easy for Bush to say Kerry voted for or against some important issue when any given bill is hundreds or thousands of pages long and littered with pork appendages and issues that have nothing to do at all with that bill's title. Try explaining that in a soundbite. It sounds like a piss poor excuse.

But like Bush in the first debate, Kerry started to sound like a parrot with his tedious "I have a plan..." line. But it's obvious, to me anyway, that he doesn't plan on doing much differently on at least two issues. He's going to stay the course in Iraq, while hoping some new European or UN international help will improve the situation. And he's going to continue to allow the exporting of American jobs and the erosion of our standard of living with a fix to pander EVEN MORE to corporations to keep their jobs here. That's bullshit. How long do we have to suck the corporate dick in this country? How many more tax breaks and government giveaways do we have to endure? Don't want to pay your fair share for freedom, Supercitizen Inc.? Then pack your bags and get the fuck out, you traitorous profiteer.

Some things are becoming more clear as the debates continue. It's finally official: George Bush will never admit he was wrong about anything no matter what the evidence is against his position. I think that he thinks that's what makes a good leader; Never show weakness, not for a second. Some of us view that as being less than human, other believe it makes him larger than life.

But Bush cannont reconcile fiscal conservatism, a staple of the Republican Party, and the massive deficit he's running up with tax breaks for the rich. Also, his position on importing pharmeceuticals, the same pharmeceuticals that we're exporting, is indefensible. It's ok for corporations to make huge gains by importing cheap overseas goods and using cheap overseas labor, but it's not ok for the American people to do the same? Bush boasted about his tripling of the National Institute of Health's (NIH) budget. The truth is that the majority of pharmaceutical breakthroughs (i.e. new pills) come from the NIH, are paid for by U.S. taxpayers (i.e. you), and are GIVEN AWAY to the pharmaceutical companies free of charge!!! These companies suck at the Federal tit while they tell you that all those bushels of cash they have go into research when they actually go into those "tell your doctor" t.v. commercials you can't seem to escape.

Are you tired of the revolving door of corporate politics?

Vote neither. Vote niether. Vote Nader!

Home: Haystacks, Pigtails, Small-talk & Dirty Fingernails

Took my daughter and a neighbor girl to a state park for a Girl Scout hayride tonight. There were about a dozen screaming girls throwing hay in every direction and a half-dozen parents. When the ride was over, donuts and cider were served around a campfire and the girls were given glow-sticks to run around with. The girls had a riot running around and jumping on the enormous cylindrical hay bales.

At one point, the girls spontaneously formed a line, marched and sang some song with which I wasn't familiar. I think it was from Disney. It was cute, if not a little surreal.

I didn't really talk to anyone during the entire evening. More and more, I find it difficult to socialize with the other parents at these events. The dads talked about their jobs , sports and the latest vehicles on the market. The moms talked about raising their kids. I never felt the need to jump in and add my two cents about either. I just don't care for small talk and usually come-off awkward when jump in. Pretty S.A.D.

The things I care about are usually too loaded to discuss in polite company anyway; politics, popular culture, religion & spiritual matters. Of course, there's always arts and humanities, those things pique my interest and they're not loaded - but I usually find myself sitting in the sewing circle while the husbands eye my suspiciously from afar. It's just my temperment - strong feminine side. You'd never know I was the type to practice the manly arts on a daily basis; welding, plumbing, carpentry, roofing, HVAC repair, mechanical repairs - you name it. What kind of a fruitcake keeps a self-involved blog, anyway?

Did you ever get the feeling you were living the wrong life?

The Presinator

Senator Orin Hatch (R-Utah) introduced legislation that would allow Arnold Swarzi....Schwartza....Oh you know, The Terminator!...to make a run for president in 'O8. Hatch's legislation would allow naturalized citizens of any nationality to run for president.

I can't believe that the people of "Collie-Fornia"(that's Arnold-speak) elected this musclehead to run their state. I suspect the populace is so resigned to their political fecklessness that, if they can't get what they need from the politicians, they settle for some good 'ole fashioned entertainment instead (forget about balancing budgets, Arnold, just say "girly-man" for me one more time!).

If Bush tortures us for another four years I think it's perfectly appropriate that we follow-up with the son of a Nazi. If that happens (and I have no reason to believe it won't) I'm moving to Austria.

Baptists In the house

Went to Torque's baptism last night. He was baptized with about eight other people. One by one they entered the baptismal (like a big jacuzzi) and witnessed to the entire church why they were accepting Jesus as their saviour. The whole experience was very touching. The sense of community, confession, repentance and humility was overwhelming. I hadn't realized how insulated I've become from the local community.

Music included a karaoke-styled sing-a-long with acoustic guitar accompaniment, a single female singing a hymn acapella, traditional hymns sang by the congregation out of the hymn book and an oboe soloist accompanied by a prerecorded orchestra. Cool instrument, the oboe. The church is in serious need of a decent PA system with monitors.

The baptism was followed by a nice pot-luck feast in the basement.

Perhaps I should make some time to go to church again.