Just In Time for Christmas...

...The Gathering 8: The Ina Coolbrith Cricle Poetry Anthology 2005.

Okay, this is a shameless plug. One of my poems is published in this volume. So my mother and at least one other friend will be receiving a copy. (In all fairness, my mother will be receiving hers for her birthday--which is Dec. 26.)

My next goal--which has been my "next goal" in writing for several years--is to actually be paid for what I write. I've come close...

Besides me, there are 107 other poets published. The poetry is as varied as we are and deal with the sacred and the mundane. Check out the website in my sidebar to find out more.

Cal: 27; Stanford: 3

I made it to the Big Game, loaded with decongestant and aspirin!

The Game itself was the kind my dad would have appreciated: a true defensive battle with no major mistakes on either side. The offensive plays were conservative, especially for two schools known for the "West Coast Offense." But there was a razzle-dazzle play at the end that especially warmed the hearts of those of us who knew that the halfback who threw the pass was a senior--and that the first play he had made as a freshman was the same play. Kind of a nice bookend.

Additionally, the students were well-behaved. No Drunk & Disorderly arrests that I saw. The goalposts stayed upright. The Stanford Band stayed until the bitter end and wound up playing to the Cal fans who won't leave until the lights go out--especially if we win.

When Hubs and I got home, DD#1 asked who won. When I told her, "Cal," she asked why we were home so early and how come we were sober. (She's been around too long...)

So now we're Bowl-bound. The family preference is for the Emerald Bowl, simply because travel expenses are minimal. In fact, Bro#2 and I were laughing that we could go to work for half a day, then walk to the game. But Cal will probably get invited to a bowl in El Paso or Las Vegas; so we'll just watch the game on TV and party at home.

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

Home Today, Blogging in Sweats

Hubs caught the cold from DD#1 and then generously shared it with me. Unfortunately, tomorrow is the Cal-Stanford Big Game and Hubs and I have tickets, not to mention the salad for the pre-game potluck with my family.

This is a Big Deal in my family. Several members just come for the party and skip the game altogether. We are all rabid Cal fans, with ten Cal alumni in my generation.

I started feeling punk last night and decided to skip my rubber stamp art class. Today, I'm home, sucking on Cold-Eeze with zinc and drinking TheraFlu, Sudafed, and Excedrin. My nose feels like it's in a C-clamp, but my throat isn't as sore.

Hubs has Fridays off, so he drove DD#2 to school and picked her up. He's now doing the warehouse shopping run with DD#1, who knows what we need because she does 80% of the dinnertime cooking.

So I'm upright and sort of dressed. This is progress. And I have lots of time to Think About Things, which is dangerous, of course.

As for tomorrow... Go Bears!

Book Review: The Last Voyage of Captain Cook

I haven't done a book review for awhile because I've been trying to finish this one.

The complete title is: The Last Voyage of Captain Cook: The Collected Writings of John Ledyard. John Ledyard was a New Englander who was a well-known explorer in his day and is obscure now. He sailed as a common marine (see Master & Commander for an example of what his life would be like) who was impressed by the British and sailed with Cook. The extraordinary thing about this was that it took place during the American Revolutionary War.

Ledyard's book is the only known account of that voyage, and of Cook's death in the Sandwich Islands (Hawai'i), written by an American and by someone who was not an officer.

This edition also includes Ledyard's letters from Paris, including his correspondence with Thomas Jefferson while Jefferson was the Ambassador for the fledging U.S. in Paris, as well as his journal of his experiences traveling through Siberia, and the start of his trip in Africa to find the Niger River.

Mr. Ledyard is a fascinating man. Because of his extensive travels, he is able to see the similiarities in the physical appearance of the indigenous groups he meets, as well as their customs and traditions. He makes vocabulary lists. He notes that the indigenous people are often smarter than the European explorers give them credit for.

What makes this book difficult to read, however, is Ledyard's complete disregard for punctuation and capitalization. His writings often read as they were written--hastily and incompletely. And, of course, there is the irregularities of 18th Century spelling to contend with, along with the changes in geographical names, particularly in the South Seas. (Maps that showed both the old and the new names would have been helpful.)

I enjoyed the book. But then, I'm a sucker for this kind of informal history, written by those who were there. I found it a fascinating look at the world through the eyes of an 18th Century man, one who saw more of it than probably any other man of his day.

This edition was edited by James Zug and published as part of the National Geographic Adventure Classics series.

On the March Hare scale: 3.5 bookmarks--but only if you have a taste for this sort of writing.

Combat Math

The MSM has made much of the deaths of our heroes and heroines in Iraq. The total, according to the latest count, is 2065. I suppose the magic number will be 3000--the same number that perished in the attack on the World Trade Towers.

Although it's a bit early, here are some stats on the previous attack on American soil. I found them by Googling Pearl Harbor & December 7 & casualties:

US PERSONNELL CASUALTIES:

Navy: 2008 killed, 710 wounded = 2718

Army: 218 killed, 364 wounded = 582

Marines: 109 killed, 69 wounded = 178

Civilians: 68 killed, 35 wounded = 103

Total of 2403 killed, 1178 wounded = 3581

Here is another website I found that lists the casualities for all U.S. combat actions, beginning with the Revolutionary War:

II. Casualties

                                    <------------Casualties------------>
                                 [-----Deaths---]                          
Conflict                Enrolled    Combat   Other   Wounded     Total           
Revolutionary War          200.0    4,435   *          6,188      10,623
War of 1812                286.0    2,260   *          4,505       6,765 
Mexican War                 78.7    1,733   11,550     4,152      17,435
Civil War: Union         2,803.3  110,070  249,458   275,175     634,703
        Confederate   1,064.2   74,524  124,000   137,000 +   335,524 
        Combined      3,867.5  184,594  373,458   412,175 +   970,227 
Spanish-American War       306.8      385    2,061     1,662       4,108 
World War I              4,743.8   53,513   63,195   204,002     320,710
World War II            16,353.7  292,131  115,185   670,846   1,078,162
Korean War               5,764.1   33,651   *        103,284     136,935
Vietnam War              8,744.0   47,369   10,799   153,303     211,471 
Gulf War                 2,750.0      148      145       467 ^       760

Combat deaths refers to troops killed in action or dead of wounds. Other includes deaths from disease, privation, and accidents, and includes losses among prisoners of war. Wounded excludes those who died of their wounds, who are included under Combat Deaths. Ratio is the proportion of wounded in action to combat deaths. Note that the wounded figures do not include cases of disease.

Notes:
* Non-battle deaths not known for these wars.
+ Confederate non-battle deaths and wounded estimated.
& Actually only six weeks of sustained combat.
^ There was only one month of combat.

Notice that WWII was officially 44 months long--nearly four years.

According to this website, the number of troops in Iraq may be as high as 150,000. This is, of course, the number of troops currently deployed and does not count those who may have rotated out of Iraq. But to keep the math easy, let's use that number.

So, if we look at the number of military personnel killed by the number of personnel deployed in Iraq, we get (2065/150,000) x 100, which equals 1.4%. For WWII, the totals were (292,131 killed in combat/ 1,635,370 enlisted) x 100, which equals 1.8%. This number does not include those who died while POWs nor does it include the figures for the U.S. Merchant Marine.

To sum it up, during WWII, the U.S. public was willing to allow a higher probability of death than during the current Gulf War. Remember, too, that there was a mandatory draft in the 1940's--my uncle came home from a trip to the World Series to find his notice from the President--a year before Pearl Harbor. Today's military is all volunteer.

Perhaps there is some latent racism operating here. The MSM and the liberal American public was willing to go to war in Europe because we were defending white Europeans, for the most part. Remember, it was Japan who attacked Pearl Harbor. And, although Hitler and the German government declared war on the U.S., they did so only after FDR had declared war on Japan. There were those in the U.S. who argued that attacking Japan should be our primary concern; that we did not have enough men or materiel to fight a war on two fronts. Most of the U.S. fleet had been destroyed in the attack on Pearl Harbor; there was also significant damage to the Army Air Corps fleet of planes.

FDR did not lose focus, however, on who the real enemy was, nor on who were our true Allies.

Has the American character really changed so much in the last sixty years? Or is it merely buried under the flotsam and jetsam of modern life?

(H/T: The Anchoress, Sigmund, Carl, & Alfred)

Humiliation and Discipline

In Oklahoma:

(A mother) made Coretha (her daughter) stand at a busy Oklahoma City intersection Nov. 4 with a cardboard sign that read: "I don't do my homework and I act up in school, so my parents are preparing me for my future. Will work for food."

But the punishment prompted letters and calls to talk radio from people either praising the woman or blasting her for publicly humiliating her daughter.

But it was okay for the daughter to humiliate her parents with her behavior, right? And don't we want our children to realize their actions have consequences? Sometimes we have to help them visualize what those consequences might be.

Of course, there's always sackcloth & ashes. Or the public stockade.

The daughter's reaction to this?

Henderson said her daughter's attendance has been perfect and her behaviour has been better since the incident.

Coretha, a soft-spoken girl, acknowledged the punishment was humiliating but said it got her attention. "I won't talk back," she said quietly.

(H/T: Sigmund, Carl, & Alfred)

Bad Mommy Blues

DD#2 brought home Homework Deficiency #10 and #11 yesterday. Which means she now has two conduct referrals. Which means a phone call from the teacher to the parents. Which led to Hubs calling me.

"Her teacher wants to set up an appointment before Thanksgiving. Can you handle it, please?"

I wish I could be more upset about this whole thing. But I can't. Eleven deficiencies is an improvement over last year and the year before that. She does do her homework--but she misses parts or doesn't realize that something had to be turned in. She doesn't pay attention to everything that is said because she usually figures out where the conversation is headed before the conclusion. Most of the time, she's right. Or she gets so caught up in a project, especially if it is artsy-craftsy, that she spends far longer on it than she should. But she hates to turn in work that doesn't match her "vision."

The missing homework doesn't even impact her grades--not really. She'll drop from an "A" to an "A-" or a "B+".

After working in a open-plan office and growing up in a large family-small house situation, I don't feel guilty that she doesn't have her own "quiet space" to do her homework, either. She passes the public library on her way home. There are two bathrooms. She can use my bedroom and lock the door. She can use the room she shares with her older sister, as DD#1 is usually not there.

I want DD#2 to accept responsibility for her missing work. I want to know and, more importantly, I want her to know when she fails to complete an assignment. And I want her to make up the missing work.

But this particular problem is just not that significant on my parenting scale. She isn't deliberately avoiding her homework. Her missing assignments are scattered through several subjects. She isn't destroying school property or being defiant or bullying her classmates. She's being a scatterbrained 12-y.o. girl, who also happens to be blonde.

Of course, she's also Child #4. I was not nearly so sanguine with Child #1!

My Inner Action Hero

Which Action Hero Would You Be? v. 2.0
created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as William Wallace. The great Scottish warrior William Wallace led his people against their English oppressors in a campaign that won independence for Scotland and immortalized him in the hearts of his countrymen. With his warrior's heart, tactician's mind, and poet's soul, Wallace was a brilliant leader. He just wanted to live a simple life on his farm, but he gave it up to help his country in its time of need.

Which Action Hero Would You Be? v. 2.0
created with QuizFarm.com

William Wallace 88% Captain Jack Sparrow 71% Neo, the "One" 71% Lara Croft 67% Maximus 67% The Amazing Spider-Man 63% Indiana Jones 63% Batman, the Dark Knight 58% El Zorro 50% The Terminator 42% James Bond, Agent 007 42% Which Action Hero Would You Be? v. 2.0 created with QuizFarm.com

Oh, Yeah! I'll accept this! Even though it took ~way~ too long to fix the HTML so it would fit in my Blogger template...

(H/T: Julie D. at Happy Catholic)

My "Privates" Are Apolitical

From the website of the Michigan Daily, the newspaper of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor:

Elizabeth Campbell, a University alum and former producer of the monologues, added that while the script is not inherently racist, prejudices against minorities are woven into the monologues.

“When Eve started writing, I don’t think she realized how big (the monologues) would get and that (they) could and would be used to affect such a large range of people,” Campbell said. “But this is more than an ordinary play — it is a political movement.”

...

“For the white women who want to be involved, if I was in their position I would feel somewhat cheated,” Campbell said. “But I hope that they can understand that the movement is bigger than any individual person and see what is good for the collective movement.”

So now my vagina is a political movement? A collective politcal movement?

Silly me. I thought my vagina was unique. Like me.

(H/T: The Anchoress)

Homeless Giving and Catholic Guilt

Julie D. over at Happy Catholic has an excellent post about giving to the homeless face-to-face as well as giving to those organizations and institutions that care for them. It's a debate that I have had with myself for many years.

I was 14 when the "Summer of Love" came to San Francisco. By September, Summer was over and the Love was dying. But the people who came were still here. I just started high school and part of my growing independence was learning to take the streetcar from the front of school to downtown with my friends. Back then, the homeless came in two primary varieties: old winos and young druggies. Most of the time we skirted the storefronts they lounged in and they never seemed to notice us. We held canned food drives and raised money for St. Anthony's Dining Room and collected clothing to donate to St. Vincent de Paul.

There were fewer old winos when I went to college but more young druggies. Local cafes had signs "No Heroin Dealing Allowed." The dopers were mellow but the heroin addicts were unpredictable and could be violent. My boyfriend at the time was a student at UC Santa Cruz. On one visit I thought I recognized one of the "street people" from Telegraph Avenue. Apparently, these folks commuted: summering in Santa Cruz, wintering in Berkeley, following the flow of money and tourists.

I had a job with the dorm food service, checking IDs. Occasionally, a street person would wander in, looking for food. I'd apologize for not letting him (or her) in and direct them up the street to either the University Lutheran Center or the Catholic Newman Center, which both had programs. I donated what I could to the Newman Center, but, frankly, most of the street people scared me. So I avoided them.

When I went to work in the City, it seemed as though there were homeless on every corner. There were those who quietly held a cup or a hand out, sometimes with a crude sign. And then there were the crazies, who would chase you down the street, shouting incoherent obscenities. The City was divided on how to handle them. Arrest them and medicate them? Build more shelters? Put them up in residence hotels? We were told not to give money directly. Not only would they spend it on booze and/or drugs, but those who didn't would be beaten and robbed of what little they collected. Better the government take care of them.

When ATM machines became popular, some homeless became bolder, standing right behind you as you retrieved your money. If you refused to share, they became violent. So a law prohibiting panhandling within x feet of an ATM was enacted and enforced. And the problem moved away.

It's been about five years since I returned to work in the City. The homeless men and women seem to have claimed certain corners or areas as their own. I see my "regulars" almost every day. Their methods are as different as they are, although most of them stick to a cup and a sign.
I rarely give directly, though. Usually it's because I don't carry much cash. And because I know that for these folks, homelessness is chronic. I would rather contribue to Catholic Charities or the Campaign for Human Development because they have programs that will help these folks--I hope--get off the streets permanently.

Julie suggested handing out granola bars and bottled water. So do I lay in a supply for the four to six people I see every day? Do I hand out water daily? Weekly? What do I do if someone new shows up? (Not to mention that I have to schlep this all about six blocks.)

My children collect food through school and Scouts for the Food Bank, for St. Vincent de Paul, for the Souper Kitchen. The 8th Graders take turns going to the Souper Kitchen once a month to make sandwiches and pass out food to the homeless and families in our neck of the woods. The 35 dinner baskets they make for Thanksgiving and Christmas go to local families. We bundle our clothes and donate them to different organizations who run thrift stores as well as St. Vincent de Paul. Last year my Junior Troop collected sports equipment for one of the local schools that didn't have any.

So why do I still feel that I'm not doing enough?

An old friend of mine blames it on "Catholic guilt," and there is that. Hubs (who is not Catholic, so doesn't bear that particular burden) reminds me that "Charity begins at home."

And so, I struggle with my moral obligation on a daily basis. Is this my particular cross to bear?

A Gift of Beauty

I left work last night by a different door and was struck by the color of light on the Bay and the Bridge. As I stood at the intersection, gaping, a stranger came up and asked, "Have you seen the full moon?"

No, I hadn't. But there it was, rising above the silver Bay Bridge, peeking through the top of a palm tree.

Another stranger joined us. "Isn't it beautiful?" he asked. "I wish I had a camera to capture it!"

None of us did.

So all we have is a memory of a shared moment at an intersection in San Francisco, enjoying a gift of beauty.

If It Means I Can Fight Next to Legolas...

...I'll take it!


Elvish


To which race of Middle Earth do you belong?
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Art Un-Appreciation

Besides Baseball, we also looked at the art collection at the Oakland Museum. One of the exhibits was "CaliVera: Days of the Dead Altars Remixed." I had seen a similar exhibit four years ago. This one featured art from a couple of schools in Oakland as well as some new artists. The exhibits were interesting, although my children didn't let me read much more than the title of each exhibit and skim the synopsis. My favorites, of the professional artists, were the personal ones. But, of course, being artists, many of the exhibits were also political.

Usually that doesn't bother me. But by the end of the exhibit, I was bugged. I couldn't figure out why. Finally it dawned on me.

"I wonder if it's possible to talk about art without sounding pretentious?" I asked DD#1. (A docent happened to walk by at that point--I don't know what he thought about my comment!)

"I don't think so," she answered.

It's not that I don't appreciate knowing and understanding the background of the piece. But too much explanation is like having a joke explained. If it needs that much explanation, then it failed.

Exhibit writers need to refer back to Strunk & White's Elements of Style, which I summarize as "Keep it short & simple."

I must be getting old. I just don't have the patience for this kind of "showing off," I guess!

Baseball As America--The Exhibit

Veterans’ Day was a rare treat:  all six of us were off at the same time.  I’d wanted to see the traveling exhibit from Cooperstown, NY, that was at the Oakland Museum of California History.  DD#1 had to visit the museum as an assignment for her California History class.  Hubs was up for an adventure.  Then I told the youngest two.

“But I don’t even like baseball!” DD#2 protested.  

“Mom, I don’t really want to go,” said DS#2.

That’s when I raised my motherly prerogative.

“You’re going,” I told them.

The exhibit is titled “Baseball As America” and looks at the role baseball plays in our culture, how so firmly entrenched it is that we often don’t recognize it.  Baseball is what America has used to get over crisis, both foreign—as in December 7 or September 11—and domestic—integration and assimilation.  There was a special emphasis on baseball in the Bay Area, from the old Pacific Coast League to the number of players who came from local high schools.  There was a side exhibit that talked about players coached by George Powles at McClymonds High School in Oakland and a photo exhibit about Latinos in baseball—those who have made it and those who are trying to break in.  

Besides presenting history, “Baseball As America” had exhibits about the physics of baseball, how the rules have encouraged players and fans to experiment with equipment designs to improve their performance (including some spectacularly failed concepts), how commercialization became inevitable, the role of the fans, the All-American Girls Professional Baseball team, and integration.  

The last was kind of a shock.  The San Francisco Giants team that I grew up with included Mays, McCovey, Marichal, Cepeda, and Alou (at one point, Felipe, Jesus, and Matty).  Since we rarely watched the games, but listened to them on the radio, I didn’t realize that Roy Campanella, of the hated Los Angeles Dodgers, was black.  I figured he was Italian and the reason folks didn’t like him was because all sensible folks hated the Dodgers!  

Oh, to be that young and innocent again!

I knew I had DD#2 when she brought me over to the exhibit on baseball fans and showed me a picture of a statue of Mark McGwire in a St. Louis mall.  The statue was made entirely out of Girl Scout cookies.

Hubs kept coming up to check on me.  

“Go ahead,” I told him.  “You know I read everything.  I’m going to be awhile.”

“Oh, I’m not done yet,” he answered.  “There’s just too much to see.  I need to go through a second time and pick up what I missed.”

I spent three hours at the exhibit; the rest of the family only slightly less.  

Then we went to see the sections on California history and California art.

After five hours, we finally went home.  Towards the end, the kids were telling me not to read any of the explanations on the exhibits.  They were worried we’d never make it home.  And they were getting hungry.

During one of our breaks, DD#2 said, “My class should come here.”

“Really?  Why?” I asked.

“Because it’s interesting,” she said.

“I thought you didn’t like baseball.”

“I don’t.  It was still interesting, though.”

DS#2 had much the same reaction.  His favorite part was the physics of baseball and watching the clips, especially Abbott & Costello’s “Who’s On First” routine.

As I walked through the exhibit, I thought of my uncle.  He is a true baseball fan and remembers the Pacific Coast League days.  Heck, he’s a contemporary of the DiMaggio brothers.  (Some of the teachers my mother had in junior high school had taught the DiMaggio’s and told stories about how the Italian kids would go home for lunch.  When they came back, they would fall asleep because of the pasta and vino they had consumed.)  Turns out my cousin and a friend had taken him a few weeks ago.  He may not remember the score of yesterday’s game, but he recognized the players by number and the equipment they used.  

If you live in the Bay Area, go.  If this exhibit travels to your area, go.  While this exhibit exposes the flaws in the American Dream through baseball, it also shows our dreams, our capacity for inventiveness, our ability to change.  Baseball has fielded teams as varied as the nations itself, working together; has brought together fans of different socio-economic-educational strata; has given us a common culture.  It’s more than “just a game.”

Immigrants vs. Illegal Immigrants

Why don't those who fight for Social Justice (always capitalized) realize there is a difference between a legal immigrant and an illegal immigrant?

Two recent articles in The Catholic Voice failed to see any difference.

The first one was a commentary, by Fr. Jesus Nieto-Ruiz. Titled It is time to change how we allocate this nation’s resources, Fr. Nieto-Ruiz relates the story of Maria:

"Maria came to church looking for assistance to fill out paperwork for child support because her husband had left her and her three young daughters, and she did not speak any English.

"During our conversation, she informed me that she was not documented. Her husband had physically abused her and threatened to call INS (now Homeland Security) if she called the police. He was only providing her with $400 a month."

Because Maria is not documented (i.e., she's here in the U.S. illegally), "it was difficult for her to get a job. And if she found one, she needed to place her 8-month-old daughter in daycare, which she couldn’t afford.

"She needed to get a restraining order on her abusive husband. And most pressing, she needed legal help to stop the sale of the home to avoid becoming homeless.
Maria was obviously distressed, but I couldn’t send her to get any help through county mental health services because they would not attend to her without a Social Security number."

Never once does Fr. Nieto-Ruiz state that if Maria had followed the rules in the first place, her troubles would be easier to resolve. She would have a Social Security number, her husband would not have threatened her with deportation, and her name would be on the title of her house and her husband would not be able to sell it without her consent.

Fr. Nieto-Ruiz also brings in Hurricane Katrina:

"After Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, we heard questions about the nation’s lack of quick response to the tremendous needs of evacuees and whether the slow response was because so many of the displaced were African Americans.

"What we should also be asking is how can we be at peace as a nation when we allowed 30 percent of the people in New Orleans to live below the poverty level. How can we continue to live with growing class inequalities? Inequality is not natural, nor inevitable; it is created very consciously by our social policy."

Besides the repeating the falsehood that the lack of quick response was racist, Fr. Nieto-Ruiz blames our society in general without examining why 30% of New Orleans residents were living "below the poverty level." How much is social structure, including residual racism? How much is lack of opportunity? How much is it lack of effort to move up the economic ladder on the part of those living below the poverty level? Education is like water to the proverbial horse: you can lead people to it, but you can't make them partake.

The same issue has another article: CCHD funds non-profit’s efforts to empower immigrants.
Only later in the article do you find out what this group means by "Empower":

"Since 2003, EBASE has been zeroing in on immigration rights, explained Evelyn Sanchez, workplace immigrant and civil rights organizer. Members participated in the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride Coalition, which brought community organizers and labor leaders from 12 cities to Washington, D.C. to advocate for immigration reform. The bus project was organized to counter the backlash against immigrants, which arose after 9-11, Sanchez said.

But the backlash continues, she said. Congress is attempting to pass the Real ID Act – legislation that would force states to create a federal identification card for immigrants traveling between states to verify their status.

“The rhetoric claims the cards are for security purposes, but it will make it much more difficult for people to travel and to get drivers’ licenses,” said Sanchez. The proposal is also flawed because it doesn’t take into account such issues as legalization of undocumented workers, family reunification or workplace and civil rights issues, she said.

"In an effort to fight such anti-immigrant sentiment, EBASE opened its first annual Freedom Academy this fall to train new immigrants on effective community organizing and to provide them with the opportunity to participate in specific campaigns.

"The $30,000 CCHD grant will provide stipends for 23 immigrants to attend the classes. The students hail from Central America, Africa, Afghanistan, and Palestine and include physicians as well as farmers now living throughout the Bay Area. Each student receives $50 for each of the six four-hour sessions to cover the cost of gasoline, bridge tolls and bus fares. EBASE is also paying for interpreters who speak Farsi and Spanish, and for childcare."

Again, EBASE makes no distinction between legal vs. illegal immigrants. There is no concern about border security. It's all about immigration and only about immigration.

At the very end, there is perhaps the most telling paragraph:

"Mexican immigrants living in the United States send $13 billion dollars back to their relatives each year, said Sanchez. Fifteen percent of El Salvador’s gross national product consists of remittances from the U.S. “So immigrants are contributing to two economies.”

In other words, Mexico and El Salvador need immigrants, legal or not, in the U.S. to support their own economies. Rather than working with those governments to improve life there so people don't feel the need to risk their lives to come work in the States, we should recognize their important economic power.

But, if those immigrants are here illegally, they have broken the law. I'm sorry their lives back home are so miserable and they are so desperate they are willing to do anything to get to the U.S. But a look at France shows us what will happen if we ignore the rule of law.

Petition Sen. Feinstein to change Immigration Law. Argue for a completely open border with Mexico and abolishment of all immigration quotas. But obey the current law until it's changed. You are not doing anyone any favors by encouraging illegal immigrants to circumvent the law and continuing to break it.

Physics and Peace

From The Catholic Voice, the paper of the Diocese of Oakland, CA:

Abbey Engstrom of Woodland joins other students at Saint Mary’s College in a Nov. 2 protest of the Iraq war. Dressed in black to remember the war dead, the students did a peaceful walk-out of classes and gathered in front of the college chapel to hear student speeches and to sing. The SMC Democrats, a student club organized this year, sponsored the action, part of a nation-wide demonstration against the war, which has killed more than 2,000 Americans.

Notice the chic black t-shirt. notice the peace symbol carefully crafted to look hand drawn. Notice the word "Peace" written in several languages.

If only peace could be achieved so simply: by walking out of class and listening to speeches and singing. Such a contrast, isn't it, with the images of the rioting in Paris?



The problem is, one can only have a dialogue if all parties speak the same language and operate in the same frame of reference. In physics, if two observers have different frames of reference, they may obtain different results. In diplomacy--or in business negotiations, for that matter--what I say may not be what you hear. Or what you understand. If you believe to compromise means to capitulate, then my offer of compromise means you win.

I am willing to hazard a guess that most of us in the U.S. operate within a common frame of reference. Difficulties happen when we assume the rest of the world operates with the same references. They don't; at least, not always. Business deals have turned sour because the parties to the negotiations didn't realize this: "Yes" doesn't always mean agreement, measurements are not always in inches.

How much more likely that this type of misunderstanding will occur during negotiations between cultures? Especially when one culture feels threatened by the other?

We have two choices, as I see it: continue to operate in our frame of reference, regardless of what the enemy's is or recognize the enemy's frame of reference and consider that in our response. How can we best defend what we believe in language the enemy will recognize and understand?

Sometimes, you have to beat up the bully in order to get him to leave you alone.

And Criminals Would Obey, Why?

From the San Francisco Chronicle website:

Proposition H, which requires city residents who already own guns to turn them in to police by April 1, was winning 58 percent to 42 percent with 98 percent of precincts counted.
The measure also makes it illegal to buy, sell, distribute and manufacture firearms and ammunition in the city.

Once again, let's disarm the law-abiding. You know, the folks who can read, who go through the waiting period and who register their guns.

Only two other cities in the country -- Washington, D.C., and Chicago -- have similar bans.

And we know how well handgun bans have worked in those two cities.

"San Francisco voters are smart and believe in sensible gun control," said Supervisor Chris Daly, who was among the four board members who placed the measure on the ballot. "If Prop. H gets some handguns out of San Francisco and mitigates some of the violence, then it's a win."

I'm sure the gangbangers in Hunter's Point-Bayview and the Mission will be glad to hear that. The fewer people who have guns, the less likely they will be hurt during an armed robbery.

Prop. H opponents said a ban on handguns will not reduce crime, because criminals aren't likely to turn in their guns.

Really? You think? Maybe that's why they're called criminals.

They also said the measure will be subject to costly legal challenges in court.

"It's not a solution (to gun violence)," said Mike Ege, a board member of the Coalition Against Prohibition. "Most people don't like guns, but they don't want the opportunity to access them taken away, because sometimes bad things happen to good people."

Yeah, there's a little thing called The Second Amendment in The Constitution of the United States that mentionsthe right to keep and to bear arms. A rather pesky detail, that.

I'm not a big gun fan. However, Hubs owns two .22's and a BB gun. We have friends who collect handguns and a few who use them in their jobs. That's their choice and they should have it. In fact, a proposition like this one makes me want to go out and get a handgun just because "they" say I can't have one. Maybe get a concealed permit, too. Just 'cause.

Californians Say "No," But Not With Conviction

The headline in the front section of today's San Francisco Chronicle reads "CALIFORNIANS SAY NO TO SCHWARZENEGGER". No doubt, the headline would be shorter if Arnold's last name were Schmidt.

But I digress.

With 77% of precints reporting, at deadline this is the breakdown:

Prop. 73 (Parental notfication before a minor female could have an abortion):
Yes: 48.9% No: 51.1%

Prop. 74 (Extend the probationary period for teachers):
Yes: 46.6% No: 53.4%

Prop. 75 (Would require public sector union members to opt in before dues used for political purposes):
Yes: 48.8% No: 51.2%

Prop. 76 (Would give the governor new budget powers):
Yes: 39.6% No: 60.4%

Prop. 77 (Would take redistricting away from legislators):
Yes: 42.3% No: 57.7%

These are the four propositions Gov. Schwarzenegger proposed. According to the Chronicle: "The resounding defeat of the governor's self-styled reform effort leaves him weakened as he heads into his 2006 re-election campaign and forced to deal with a Democratic majority in the Legislature pumped up by Tuesday's victories."

Excuse me, Mr. Editor? With the exception of Prop. 76 and possibly Prop. 77, the others are still rather close to call, especially since 23% of the precints haven't reported in and the absentee ballots haven't been counted yet. In fact, barely two percentage points separate the Yays and the Nays in Prop. 73 and 75. Six percentage points separate the Yays and the Nays for Prop 77.

In fact, the Nays are stronger in rejecting both discount prescription drug programs and the proposed reregulation of the electricity market. Especially the reregulation of the electricity market (Yes: 34%; No: 66%)

But the final percentages won't matter to the Dems. They won't look at the fact that, in a heavily Democratic, highly unionized state, there is a large part of the population who does not agree with their agenda. They ignore those voices at their own peril.

Youth and Testosterone

A quick (really quick) post before I drop DD#2 at school and head to BART and work...

Most of the news reports--indeed, most bloggers--have referred to those rioting in Paris as "youths." Reading more closely, I find that most of these "youths" are in their late teens (18, 19) and early-to-mid-20's.

This age happens to be when testosterone levels peak in young males. In an earlier age, these young men would not be sitting around watching videos and playing video games. They would be earning a living with hard, physical labor and starting their families.

Instead, they are rioting.

Biology won't be denied. All their extra energy has to go somewhere. And modern society has precious few outlets to challenge them.

Cheap Chic

Okay, a little something not about the riots in France…

From The San Francisco Chronicle:

Customers have flocked to the stores, enticed by the changing selection and affordable prices. Cheap chic also lends itself to the idea of disposable fashion, where clothes are worn only a handful of times before being relegated to the backs of closets or handed off to the Salvation Army.

Lois Huff, senior vice president for Retail Forward, a market research firm in Columbus, Ohio, said that cheap chic represents the future of retail…

"Once you change consumer expectations, it's hard to move back," Huff said. "The idea of disposable as opposed to building a wardrobe is more popular now."

Retailers that specialize in cheap chic have to get the merchandise into the stores and sell it quickly. Peter Brown, vice chairman of Kurt Salmon Associates, a retail consulting company, said that these stores turn around inventory at a somewhat higher rate than a traditional retailer, moving merchandise seven or eight times a year instead of the typical six.

What cheap chic does not necessarily emphasize is quality. Fabrics tend to wear out after a few months, but it doesn't matter much, said Harry Bernard, a partner with the independent San Francisco fashion-marketing and consulting firm Colton Bernard Inc. "It's worth whatever it costs," he said.

Is it any coincidence that this trend is aimed at those from 20-45, with women being a particular target? Forget classic and timeless design. Everything is disposable. What Ikea has done for furniture, these retailers are doing to fashion.

What happened to “Reduce, Recycle, Reuse,” the mantra this demographic chanted every Earth Day?

And there’s a social cost, too:

The Internet has pushed fashion trends to great speeds, but it is global sourcing that has put the cheap in cheap chic. Retailers are increasingly tapping the resources of Third World countries to manufacture their merchandise at the lowest costs possible, allowing them to keep their prices down.

Workers are constantly expected to fill big orders without being paid overtime, a problem that predates cheap chic but one that is growing as more retailers follow that model, Kernaghan said. "As the system gets faster and faster, it gets more brutal," he said.

With the cost of living rising in many of the countries where labor is an export, workers' wages are being squeezed in order to keep prices low in places like the United States. "The system is almost set up now to encourage the race to the bottom," Kernaghan said.

"If the American people could see the faces behind these bargains, they may not want it," he added.

Sorry. I don’t think these folks are terribly interested in where or how their clothing is made. Style is the operative word here.

Thus, the degradation of the social fabric continues. Style trumps substance. Flash over practicality. Immediate gratification over thoughtful consideration.

I’m not surprised. These young adults (and some not-so-young) have been conditioned to get what they want now. Take out a second mortgage for an exotic vacation because, damn it, I deserve it! My clothes, my spouse/significant other/friends bore me—so change them. Take a cruise and put the kids in daycare. Give them their own cash card so they won’t bug me every five minutes.

Of course, the above is exaggerated. Some outfits, like swim suits or summer clothes, practically beg to be disposable. Time away from loved ones can be a source of renewal. Cruises are truly relaxing.

But how long before the exaggeration becomes the reality?

We've Heard This Before

From Sigmund, Carl, & Alfred:

The words of Sheikh Omar Bakri, are not as marginal as some would have you believe. Indeed, in word and actions, his beliefs are being played out nightly, in France and elsewhere.

"We don't make a distinction between civilians and non-civilians, innocents and non-innocents. Only between Muslims and unbelievers. And the life of an unbeliever has no value. It has no sanctity.

"We will use your democracy to destroy your democracy."

Where have I heard that before? Oh, yes:

When we hang the capitalists they will sell us the rope we use.

Joseph Stalin
from BrainyQuote

And, thanks to sympathizers in Western Europe and the U.S., he almost did.

The Prince and the Duchess Come to Town

"Don't drive in to work tomorrow," my SIL warned me at brunch yesterday.

"Why not?" I asked.

"Prince Charles is hosting a luncheon at the Ferry Building," she answered. Her office is in the building and she then told us about the security measures being put in place. "There's FBI, CIA, Secret Service, MI-3 or 5 or whatever the British security is," she said.

Sure enough, there were barricades this morning around the entrance. At lunch time, the plazas in front and across the street were empty. The restaurant was deserted. And there were police cars prominently parked for a block in either direction, from several Bay Area cities.

The first floor of the Ferry Building has several commercial shops as well as restaurant and a cafeteria. I wonder how much revenue they lost since their regular customers were not allowed inside during lunch hour. I noticed that there was a lot of traffic where there usually isn't much and, judging by their horns, the drivers were a bit more impatient.

On some level it must be a bit galling to realize that people are more peeved by the inconvenience of your visit than honored. And that organic farming is not high on most people's list of social concerns.

In other words, that you are completely useless, even though you are the Crown Prince of England.

My Hero

Her question was a homework assignment: "Who is your hero?"

DD#2 asked me as I walked over to the kitchen counter to drop off my lunch bag. Several names ran through my head, most of them people whom she's never met. And, I quickly realized, many of these people weren't really my hero. They were teachers, mentors, guides. To me, a hero is something bigger.

After a moment, I answered, "My mother."

She didn't ask me for my reasons right then and the conversation moved on. When she did, we were in the car, on the way to school. And I found it difficult to express my reasons in words she'd understand.

My flip answer is, "Because she raised six kids and still speaks in complete sentences." That's true, but not nearly complete.

"Because she's my guide to getting older," I finally answered.

"What do you mean?" DD#2 asked.

So I told DD#2 a bit about her grandmother's life. Some of it she knew, like the fact that my parents lost two children--one shortly after birth, one in utero. But what I pointed out is that didn't stop my mother from living. My mother once told me she's done more things after the age of 40 than she did her first 40 years, which was quite reassuring when I faced that particular birthday.

"She still reads. She's still active in the community: garden club, ICF. She goes to the symphony. Even though she doesn't drive anymore, she takes the bus. She's going to be 80 this winter and she's planning on flying to England on her own this spring."

"But your sister is there," DD#2 pointed out.

"True. But Gran still has to get there. That's 8,000 miles she'll be traveling." I looked over at my daughter. "Many people would have given up; stayed close to home. Gran hasn't. Do you understand?"

"Kind of," she said.

"Well, I want to be like that. I want to keep living and keep growing. Grandpere was like that, too. So I had two good examples."

DD#2 is 12. I know I didn't appreciate the magnitude of what my mother had accomplished until I was in my mid-20's. I mean, she was Mom, right? And she just did what all mothers did--or were supposed to do. Until I had been out and about in the world, met other mothers, and, most importantly, became a mother myself, I didn't know how difficult it could be. She makes growing older look easy, even the parts that aren't.

A Quote for President Bush

"One man with courage makes a majority."

--Andrew Jackson

(H/T: LaShawn Barber's Corner)

Paris At War

''French youths,'' huh? You mean Pierre and Jacques and Marcel and Alphonse? Granted that most of the "youths" are technically citizens of the French Republic, it doesn't take much time in les banlieus of Paris to discover that the rioters do not think of their primary identity as ''French'': They're young men from North Africa growing ever more estranged from the broader community with each passing year and wedded ever more intensely to an assertive Muslim identity more implacable than anything you're likely to find in the Middle East. After four somnolent years, it turns out finally that there really is an explosive ''Arab street,'' but it's in Clichy-sous-Bois.

--Mark Steyn, Chicago Sun-Times
http://www.suntimes.com/output/steyn/cst-edt-steyn06.html

Mark Steyn asks the telling question: If you had millions of seething unassimilated Muslim youths in lawless suburbs ringing every major city, would you be so eager to send your troops into an Arab country fighting alongside the Americans?


Especially if your economy was stagnant and these youths were unemployed or, worse, underemployed. With nothing better to do with their time, they hang around the neighborhood and complain about how miserable their lives are. Meanwhile, the greedy, decadent, uncultured, ignorant Americans live better than they do. It’s not fair!


I worry about the French. The Muslim Taliban brought down Buddhist statues that were centuries old. The world cried out in horror, but the Taliban did not care. It’s only a matter of time before the treasures of the Louvre or the D’Orsay museum are trashed. Diana the Huntress, the Winged Victory, the Mona Lisa—all decadent representative art that is offensive to Allah and must be destroyed. The bronzes of Degas and Rodin melted down. And Chirac calls for ''a spirit of dialogue and respect.” Doesn’t respect require some reciprocity? How can I respect you if you do not respect me? Or is this an American ideal, one the rest of the world has yet to come to?

(H/T: Neal Boortz)

The More Things Change...

The Merry Minuet

"They're rioting in Africa.
They're starving in Spain.
There's hurricanes in Florida
And Texas needs rain.

"The whole world is festering with unhappy souls.
The French hate the Germans; the Germans hate the Poles.
Italians hate Yugoslavs; South Africans hate the Dutch
and I don't like anybody very much!

"But we can be tranquil and thankful and proud
For man's been endowed with a mushroom-shaped cloud.
And we know for certain that some lovely day
Someone will set the spark off
And we will all be blown away.

"They're rioting in Africa.
There's strife in Iran.
What Nature doesn't do to us
Will be done by our fellow man."

lyrics by Unknown; sung by the Kingston Trio, ca. mid-1960's

I was actually looking for the French phrase that states "The more things change, the more they stay the same." I thought, considering what's been happening in the suburbs of Paris over the last eight days, that French would be most appropriate language for the title of this post.

It's been 40 years since The Merry Minuet had any air play time on the radio. Sadly, not much has changed since I first heard it.

"We have seen the enemy and he is us," Pogo proclaimed.

But we keep going--at least many of us do. For me, it's as simple as wanting to leave the world a better place, for my children and my grandchildren. I wage war against the popular culture, where "hella" and "fuck" are mere adjectives, where there is a difference between doing the right thing and doing the easy thing, where there is value in ideas of morality that have been with us for millenium because these ideas have stood the test of time.

I feel like The Sorcerer's Apprentice sometimes. The water is coming in faster than I can bail.

But then one of my children will say something that makes me stop in my tracks and realize that they have been listening after all. And that makes my work worth the effort.

Talking With Liberals

Dr. Sanity has an excellent rant on her blog about the intellectual and moral bankruptcy of the Left.

I, too, came of age during the "Second Wave" of the feminist movement. I knew of young women who were discouraged from going to college, from pursuing their dreams because, after all, they were "only going to get married and have babies." I believed that I was as able as any man, intellectually... until I went to University and realized that there were others more talented in my chosen field than I. But many of those more gifted were, in fact, women.

I never bought the "Men are the enemy" argument, though. I enjoy the company of men. In fact, I married one. And when our sons were born, I realized I had given birth to what many considered the Darth Vaders/Lords Voldemort of Modern Society: white males. Somehow, that square with my new reality. Actually, since I also have three brothers, that view of white males didn't square with my old reality.

Lately I've noticed that even many self-proclaimed Liberals take issue with some of the dogmas of the Left. There are grumblings about people being promoted not because of competence but to satisfy a quota. About people who come to this country but do not bother to learn English or our customs. About those who would scam the system rather than work. Who don't bother to show up for classes and complain that they're being held back. About the money taken out of their paychecks.

But they don't make the connection.

They point to France and exclaim about the paid maternity leave and free preschools and don't connect it to the high unemployment rate. They talk about the wonders of Canadian health care, but not about how long it takes to get bypass surgery. They complain daily in blogs and in the MSM about the lack of protest in this country and how dissent is muffled by The Establishment.

They don't see any contradiction.

The United States is evil. But people are coming in every day, legally or illegally. The reason those immigrants give? To have a better life for themselves and for their children.

I listen to otherwise intelligent, well-educated people compare Bush to Hitler, the Republicans to Nazis and fascists, and I wonder what planet they are on. Why do I see things so very, very differently? Is it me? Is my perspective warped or is it them?

Is Ted Rall right about Middle America/the Heartland/Flyover Country? Is all they care about NASCAR, beer, and Paris Hilton?

That doesn't square with the blogs I read, the newsgroups I belong to, the people I know.

So it's good to read that someone else--several someones, as it turns out--also see the same things, feel the same way, think the same thoughts.

I don't feel quite so alone.

Another Day, Another CIA Secret

From today's San Francisco Chronicle:
Washington -- The Bush administration's policies for holding and detaining suspected terrorists came under sharp scrutiny and criticism Wednesday after disclosure that the CIA has set up covert prisons in several Eastern European democracies and other countries.

The U.N. special rapporteur on torture said he will seek more information about the covert prisons, referred to in classified documents as "black sites." Congressional Democrats and human rights groups warned that the secret system will damage the U.S. image overseas.

A couple of questions, if I may...

Where was the U.N. special rapporteur when Saddam Hussein was running his secret prisons? Has the U.N. special rapporteur been to inspect Castro's prisons in Cuba? What about Argentina? Russia? Somalia? Rwanda? China? North Korea? Or does the U.N. special rapporteur only check out democratic countries who regularly hang out their dirty laundry for all to see? If that's the case, why do we need a special rapporteur? Couldn't the U.N. save the money spent on salary, staff, and travel and use it for AIDS education or vaccinations or the eradication of Female Genital Mutation? (And why isn't NOW making a fuss about FGM? But I digress...)

Congressional Democrats warned that the secret system will damage the U.S. image overseas? Isn't the U.S. "The Great Satan" anyway? How much more damage to our image can possibly be done? With friends like the Congressional Democrats (I wonder which ones), who needs enemies anyway?

Manfred Nowak, the U.N. special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, said he had heard allegations of secret detention facilities sponsored by the United States, but had not heard of any in Eastern Europe before Wednesday.

"Every secret place of detention is usually a higher risk for ill treatment. That's the danger of secrecy," Nowak said, adding that he wants to pursue access to all U.S. detention facilities outside its territory.

Nowak and his predecessor have been trying to gain access to the U.S. military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay since it opened in early 2002.

Right. So why is Mr. Nowak wasting his time on the U.S.? Why isn't he checking out the detention facilities of Al Queda? Isn't beheading usually considered torture and "ill-treatment"?
And since when has the facility at Guantanamo Bay been secret? I thought the entire world knew about it, thanks to the MSM and their never-ending quest for Truth and Justice.

We might as well shut down the CIA. Not only is there a freeway sign to their office in Langley, VA, they can't seem to keep their mouths shut about anything anymore.

"Wild Bill" Donovan is rolling in his grave.

(H/T: Dr. Sanity)

A Unique Ministry

From today’s Contra Costa Times:

“The baby's birth was not the joyous occasion it was supposed to be. Shortly after the little boy was born, doctors gave his parents, Jannie and Steve Lovell of Walnut Creek, somber news. Young Quinton had a rare heart defect. He would not -- could not -- survive.

"Every moment the couple spent with their first born became a million times more precious. They had to find a lifetime of love and living in what turned out to be two short days.

"For Karen Henrich, watching her best friend struggle with her joy-turned-to-grief, was torturous. Henrich wanted to be able to do something tangible for her friend. So Henrich, who had been on hand to photograph the birth, stayed to document Quinton's life.”

The article is accompanied by pictures that are warm and beautiful and heartbreaking because you know these children are not long for this world.

Karen Henrich’s ministry is unique and is not one that I would have thought of. Obviously God did.

“Through her studio, Custom Moments Photography, Henrich works with hospitals and hospices to offer a free sitting and photographs of children whose lives will end too soon.

"Henrich has enlisted several friends in the endeavor, which she has called Moment by Moment, a nonprofit foundation that operates through the donations of time, money and materials. Families never are charged for either the sitting or the prints.

"Photographs, Henrich says, are the last thing parents facing that sort of loss think about. But when the child is gone, pictures become more precious than gold.”

Unfortunately, Ms. Henrich doesn’t have a website. But I did find a listing for her photography business. I’m sure donations would be appreciated.

This might be something for other shutterbugs to consider.

Corporate Tentacles

Julie D. at Happy Catholic linked to this article at De Civitate Dei who links with this MSNBC news article.

Mattel Inc. bought American Girl Dolls and also sponsors a club called Girls Inc. According to the news article Girls Inc. "Girls Inc. offers a wide range of programs and resources to help educate and encourage girls in everything from science to health. That includes information about abortion and contraception along with sexual abstinence. The organization also affirms lesbian sexual orientation."

Swell.

DD#1 & DD#2 currently own three American Girl dolls: Felicity, Josefina, and Kit. Between them, they have almost all of the books about the historical dolls and quite a few of the craft kits and advice books. DD#2 subscribes to American Girl Magazine. I read AG and I've found nothing offensive in it. There are maybe too many articles about "boyfriends" and boy-girl relationship issues, especially considering the target age is 12-15, but the advice concerning girlfriends (the "best friend" issue) and parents is pretty solid.

And I really like the fact that Mattel hasn't over-comercialized the American Girl doll line. When Pleasant Howard founded the company, her goal was to keep girls playing with dolls longer--and not Barbies or Bratz or similar types. My mother bought Kit for DD#2 because Kit's era is the 1930's and provides DD#2 an insight into what my mother's childhood was like. (Besides, Kit looks like both of them!) This is an important connection for the two of them.

Girls, Inc. does have a lot of good programs for young girls, especially in urban areas.

But...

Several of my cousins are deep into Social Justice. When one of them had to buy a refrigerator, she looked at the corporate business policies as well as energy efficiency. I know women who won't go to Curves because the founder contributes to pro-life and Fundamentalist Christian causes. According to CAIR, the President of Starbucks is anti-Muslim, based on some remarks he has made about the Arab-Israeli conflict over the years.

I can't win.

Somebody's fingers are always in somebody's pie that includes something I don't like. If it was one of my kids eating a salad, I'd say "Pick out the stuff you don't like." But I can't. And I don't even want to begin to think about what kinds of stuff the Presidents and CEOs of the corporations that my retirement plan holds stock in are up to. (Awkward sentence--I hope it makes sense!)

There is a company that advertises on BART called "BuyBlue." They claim to invest only in companies that match a "progressive" agenda. I wonder who the heck that is? And if a "progressive" company is bought by a non-progressive company (a "red" company?), then do they immediately divest all their customers' stock? Can they do that without violating fiduciary trust?

How much of Mattel's support of Girls, Inc. is to improve their corporate identity (and counteract the effects of Barbie on girls' self-image) and how much of it is what the Board truly believes?

Corruption in the White House

(H/T: The Anchoress)

The MacRanger has kept score (or found someone who has) on Clinton Administration indictments versus Bush Administration indictments. But first he starts with a recap from the Washington Post:

"A majority of Americans say the indictment of senior White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby signals broader ethical problems in the Bush administration, and nearly half say the overall level of honesty and ethics in the federal government has fallen since President Bush took office, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News survey."

Read the whole article. I knew Mr. Clinton had problems while he was President, but I'd forgotten how extensive they were.

The record that struck me: - Most number of witnesses to die suddenly.

Civil Discourse

There are several people I refer to as “Internet friends.” I met them in a newsgroup I’ve belonged to for several years. All we had in common is that we were computer and Internet geeks (although our expertise varied), helping out the “newbies” and gathering in the “teachers’ lounge” to ask the primary question: “Don’t these people read?”

The discussions were wide-ranging: politics, music, sex, fantasy, God. The participants were mostly men, with a few women to keep it interesting. Most of us were American, though we had several Brits and one young German woman who had come to the U.S. as an exchange student. Some of us were straight, some of us were married, some of us have children.

I have never met any of these folks face-to-face, so if I bumped into them on the street I wouldn’t know it and neither would they. Yet I know as much about some of them as I know about the people I work with. More, even, because I’ve been “talking” with these folks longer.

Yesterday, one of these Internet friends contacted me because he’s concerned about another member. From there, we moved into a discussion about politics. He is liberal, in the classic sense; I am a classic small-government conservative. We had an extensive and polite discussion—a classic interchange of ideas.

By the end of the discussion, we found that we agreed on many points, disagreed on others, but still respected each other and valued our friendship. Neither of us wants friends who only mirror our positions. We do want friends who are able to respect our differences and who realize that we are not “looney” or “evil” for having them.

I’ve missed this type of discourse. One reason I don’t watch News Shows is because there is too much screaming at each other rather than debating. Speakers are interrupted and the moderator is trying to make points rather than clarifying them. I’m turned off by the Right and the Left when they behave like this.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a solution—my magic wand is out of spark and plot to take over the World hasn’t come to fruition. Once again, my influence is limited to my small pond. I hope the ripples travel far.

The First Pinewood Derby--in Iraq

I wonder why this didn’t make the news. Surely, even Mrs. Sheehan, whose son, Casey, was a Scout, would recognize the significance of this event?

Maybe not.

Read the whole article.

(H/T: Mudville Gazette Open Post link to Peace Like A River)

Contrasts

The Embarcadero runs along the edge of San Francisco Bay. On the Bay side, it is one long sidewalk, unbroken by stoplights and intersections. Because of that, and because it is level, the Embarcadero is a favorite place for lunchtime walkers, joggers, runners, and skaters.

This afternoon there was also a cyclist. She was young, probably about five or six, riding her red bike complete with training wheels in the plaza in front of the Ferry Building. Running along behind her was her dad. She had a big grin as she pedaled furiously, trying to escape, but knowing, like Margaret Wise Brown's Runaway Bunny, that there was no escape. At the end of the plaza, she turned her handlebars and steered her bike into a wide arc.

"Aha!" laughed dad, slightly out of breath. "I've caught you!"

About a quarter mile down is Pier 7. The Pier has green wrought iron railing, about 3-1/2 feet tall, and lamps that look like old-fashioned streetlights. At the end of the Pier there are usually several fishermen, most older, of all different ethnicities. Their sea poles are out as they wait for bottom fish. During the season, they have crab pots over the side, hoping for Dungeness.

There were no fishermen today.

Along the railing, someone has places several glass hearts, the kind that you find used for flower arranging. Mylar ballons are tied on the posts, along with angels, a teddy bear, and a big rubber duck. The bench in front of the railing is covered with flowers and more teddy bears. Another bench has still more flowers and several candles. There are some poems and several stickers that say "Fragile--Handle with Care."

This is where LaShaun Harris threw her three boys into the cold Bay water. The voices in her head told her to.

Why here? Why come all the way across the Bay from Oakland?

Two containerships glide under the Bay Bridge to the cranes at the Port of Oakland. A ferry pulls into its dock. The air is remarkably clear--I can see the facades of the Navy and Marine Museums on Treasure Island. The bells of the Ferry Building sound. I have to get back to the office, back to work, where a picture of my family is the wallpaper on my computer. The voices in my head, usually nagging me about something I need to do, are quiet.

At Last, My Age Can Be Revealed!

You Are 29 Years Old

Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe. 13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. 20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. 30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! 40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.

What Age Do You Act?

Hey--I'll take it!

(H/T: Epiphany at Minivan Mom)

Just for Julie D...

“I’ve created Lutherans!” Lisa Simpson, one of the Simpson Hallowe’en Special.

Helping Out With Physics Homework

DS#1 sent me an IM at work.

“Will you be home tonight? I need help with my Physics class.”

I had to take DS#2 and DD#2 out to buy shoes for school and pick up fruit and pumpkins at the grocery store, but I was home by 8:00 p.m. I warned DS#1 it had been a loooong time since I took Physics.

“Don’t worry, Mom. That won’t matter,” he reassured me. Then he handed me his take home test. “I need help with the last two questions.”

I read them. Then I read them out loud. It didn’t help.

“I know what a concept is. I know what a metaphor is in literature. I know what a cipher is. What do these have to do with Physics? And I have no idea what ‘Maya’s Veil’ is.”

DS#1 laughed and handed me his textbook. It was written by the instructor. I always hated when the instructor used his textbook because it means that if you didn’t understand the lecture, the textbook won’t be any help.

On the cover is a picture of the Hindu Goddess, Maya, superimposed on a series of triangles. I flip to the index.

“Don’t bother, Mom,” DS#1 says. “It won’t help. I tried that.”

He was right, so I began skimming the textbook from the beginning. In the notes, the author discusses his educational background: undergraduate degree from the Sorbonne; Ph.D. in Physics from a prestigious university (Heidelberg, if I remember correctly) in Germany.

“Tell me the truth,” said DS#1. “Do you think this guy is a pothead?”

Potheads don’t usually write 500+ page textbooks. Reading further, I discover that after graduation, the author went backpacking in Oaxaca, Mexico, with all twelve volumes of Nietzsche’s philosophical works. And the author ended up living in Mexico for six months and read Carlos Castaneda’s works.

“Not pot,” I answered. “Peyote.”

We eventually worked out answers to the test questions. I felt a little bit like Alice talking to Humpty Dumpty: the words mean whatever it is I decide they will mean. What this instructor/author/physicist is trying to do, I think, is bring together physics and metaphysics in a Grand Unification Theory of sorts. There is the known world of concepts, the unknown world of ciphers, and the world that bridges both of these, metaphors.

Just for fun, DS#1 asked Hubs to explain one of the paragraphs. Hubs read it and gave his pronouncement that it was meaningless bovine by-products.

This morning I was doing a web search, since I could not remember the title of the textbook, and what I found when I searched Google for “Maya and physics” astounded me. Apparently there really is serious scholarship linking (or trying to) physics to the Eastern Religions of Hinduism and Buddhism. The connection seems to be that, on the quantum level of physics, what appears to be solid and real is, in fact, insubstantial and unknowable. For example, we perceive, and therefore think, that a rock is stable. In reality, a rock is merely a bunch of buzzing atoms, filled with parts like quarks, electrons, protons, charm, etc., etc. We can know where a particle is and its size or we can know its velocity and direction. We can’t know all its size and its velocity.

Okay, so we can’t know everything about the Universe, including everything about ourselves. Seems to me that is what religion, in general, has always claimed. Apparently it is au courant, however, to focus on Eastern and/or mystical religions, such as the ancient Mayans, rather than Christianity. Curiously, in my search, all the papers were written by scientists with European last names and seemed to be all male. My guess, and it’s only that, is that Christianity suffers from being “too familiar” for these men and they are looking for something more exotic.

They are searching for meaning in their lives and in their research and, unlike Dorothy, have not discovered that the answers may be in their own backyard.

The Penultimate Peril

"Oh, Mom, I've got something bad for you," DD#2 tells me after our troop meeting last night.

"What is it? A deficiency?" I ask. She is notorious for not completing all of her homework or for leaving a piece of it at home.

She hands me a book. It's kind of a peach and orange. The title is The Penultimate Peril.

DD#2 loves A Series of Unfortunate Events. These are a series of books written by "Lemony Snicket." The first in the series is titled The Bad Beginning chronicles the travails of the Baudelaire orphans. Mr. Snicket throws big words, like "penultimate," into his narrative and then adds somewhat humorous (but accurate) definitions.

Violet, the eldest, is also an inventor. Klaus, the middle child, is a reader. And Sunny is the baby who likes to bite things.

The movie came out last spring or summer and captured the feeling of the first three books quite well, although DD#2 was upset that the ending of the movie was not the same as the ending of the books. The actors who played Violet, Klaus, and Sunny were wonderful, but I'm afraid will grow up too fast to continue to play them. Unlike Harry Potter, the orphans in A Series of Unfortunate Events do not seem to age. The tone of the series is different as well. It's kind of tongue-in-cheek bleak.

Also, there is no magic. And the books are under 200 pages. But there are 12 of them, so far, with #13 expected to be the last one.

Barnes & Noble had a "Misfortune Teller" (also known as a "cootie catcher") that you could print and cut out on their e-mail announcement. But I can't seem to find it on their web page. So DD#2 and I knew the book was out. Little did I expect to find it at her school book fair the next day, which, as it happened, is also our penultimate Parent-Student-Teacher conference at that school. Next year she will be in 8th Grade and that will be her last one. And the last for Hubs and I as well.

Before then, however, there is the book.

"You know where it goes," I told her.

"In your room. It's for Christmas," she sighs. She won't have time to read it until vacation, anyway. And I'll do my best not to read it ahead of time. Although I can read a book without cracking the binding. A very useful skill!

Mother's Day

Sunday was Mother's Day here at the Rabbit Warren.

DS#1 was born, my first child, and I worried that I was going to blow it.

He's 22 and still here. So far, so good!

His wish? That I would bake him a birthday cake.

It's not that I hate baking, particularly. It's just that it's not an activity I take particular joy in doing. I have baked him birthday cakes in the past and they were okay. But they were kind of thrown together at the last minute. Or first thing in the morning, if I was sending cupcakes to school.

The local grocery store was having a 10/$10 on cake mixes, so I bought several.

"Pick one," I told him when I got home. (And that was something of a surprise. His schedule seldom matches the rest of the household's.) I knew he likes white cake, so I had picked up a box of that. I had also picked up a box of "Funfetti"--you know, white cake with sprinkles in the batter. That was what he picked.

I also bought Spiderman(tm) decorations--the crunchy kind made of pure sugar that you peel off the paper. And a can of frosting. Hubs had bought an aerosol can of frosting so that we could write on the cake. I made spiderwebs and connected the Spiderman(tm) decorations.

DS#1 was truly impressed. He loved the Spiderman(tm) touch.

Hubs and I also had bought numeral candles. And we had a 2 left over from my birthday and DD#2's. (She's 12. I'm older. :)

"So," DD#1 asked DS#1, "do you want to be 22222?"

For his birthday dinner, we had potstickers, sushi, edame, and shrimp. (I love our local warehouse store!) DS#1 had gone out to brunch with friends and was too full to each much dinner, which meant there was plenty for the rest of us.

Hubs and DD#1 picked out his birthday present: an i-Pod Nano.

"Now I'm a real college student!" he laughed. "I'm totally plugged in."

To top it off, yesterday he found out he got a B on his Advanced Calculus class. If he had to choose between that and the Nano, the B might actually win.

Other than the fact that I'm too young to have a child who is 22 (I wish!), it was a very satisfying birthday, for all those involved.