"Of course I'm respectable. I'm old. Politicians, public buildings, and whores all get respectable if they last long enough."
Former-President Jimmy Carter is now eighty-two years-old. He has survived Southern birth, a failed presidency, and a two-decade exile from any public role within his party. Notwithstanding, in his dotage, rather miraculously, he has ascended to the top of the "greasy pole" of public esteem. Give him credit. No previous or subsequent president worked harder during his post-presidential years to redeem his calamitous turn in office.
~~Noah Cross (John Huston) to Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson), Chinatown
Former-President Jimmy Carter is now eighty-two years-old. He has survived Southern birth, a failed presidency, and a two-decade exile from any public role within his party. Notwithstanding, in his dotage, rather miraculously, he has ascended to the top of the "greasy pole" of public esteem. Give him credit. No previous or subsequent president worked harder during his post-presidential years to redeem his calamitous turn in office.
29/01: Motivation of Militant Islam
Many in the West seem to think that Islam is simply reactive. That is, the motivation to war with others simply is a reaction to actions or characteristics of non-Muslims. While reactive motivation probably is present, it is simplistic reductionism to believe militant Islam is purely reactive. Similarly, here in the mostly secular West, many disbelieve in religious motivation. The actions of militant Muslims are explained simply in terms of social and economic factors. This also is simplistic reductionism. Islam, in all its forms, is a life-and-belief system with its own inner dynamism. To ignore this inner dynamism is to misunderstand. To prove my point, this BBC interview with a Taliban leader. Here is a portion of the interview. Link from Jihadwatch.
With a black-dyed beard, 34-year-old Baitullah greeted us in a big room with several of his armed men beside him. We sat on a new colourful quilt spread on the ground.
Baitullah seemed a man with only jihad (holy war) on his mind. During the interview he quoted several verses from the Koran to defend his stance that foreign forces must be evicted from Islamic countries.
"Allah on 480 occasions in the Holy Koran extols Muslims to wage jihad. We only fulfil God's orders. Only jihad can bring peace to the world," he says.
The militant leader on several occasions in the past had openly admitted crossing over into Afghanistan to fight foreign troops.
"We will continue our struggle until foreign troops are thrown out. Then we will attack them in the US and Britain until they either accept Islam or agree to pay jazia (a tax in Islam for non-Muslims living in an Islamic state)."
With a black-dyed beard, 34-year-old Baitullah greeted us in a big room with several of his armed men beside him. We sat on a new colourful quilt spread on the ground.
Baitullah seemed a man with only jihad (holy war) on his mind. During the interview he quoted several verses from the Koran to defend his stance that foreign forces must be evicted from Islamic countries.
"Allah on 480 occasions in the Holy Koran extols Muslims to wage jihad. We only fulfil God's orders. Only jihad can bring peace to the world," he says.
The militant leader on several occasions in the past had openly admitted crossing over into Afghanistan to fight foreign troops.
"We will continue our struggle until foreign troops are thrown out. Then we will attack them in the US and Britain until they either accept Islam or agree to pay jazia (a tax in Islam for non-Muslims living in an Islamic state)."
28/01: Freedom Writers: The Movie
As I mentioned earlier, the afternoon workshop I attended last week at the Cook school went to see the movie Freedom Writers one afternoon. The film is based on a true story.
In a nutshell: a young idealistic first-year teacher from a privileged background receives the cold smack of reality when she meets her Freshman English classes in Long Beach, California. The students have no interest in English literature, nor in being in school. Most of them have bigger problems. The community is divided into warring factions of black, Latino, and Cambodian, with drug use and gang violence common. Many families are broken. But, the teacher perseveres, eventually reaching her students when she has them start writing about their own lives in journals. She succeeds in creating a family, a safe and caring community, within her classroom. The students learn and grow as persons. (cont. below)
In a nutshell: a young idealistic first-year teacher from a privileged background receives the cold smack of reality when she meets her Freshman English classes in Long Beach, California. The students have no interest in English literature, nor in being in school. Most of them have bigger problems. The community is divided into warring factions of black, Latino, and Cambodian, with drug use and gang violence common. Many families are broken. But, the teacher perseveres, eventually reaching her students when she has them start writing about their own lives in journals. She succeeds in creating a family, a safe and caring community, within her classroom. The students learn and grow as persons. (cont. below)
28/01: Geico Cavemen Commercials
Category: American Culture
Posted by: an okie gardener
I don't know why, but I am fascinated by the series of insurance commercials featuring "cavemen." Evidently I am not the only one, as evidenced by the link to analysis with comments via Instapundit.
27/01: Top Religion Stories of 2006
I'm late with this for some reason, but here are the Top Ten Religion Stories in 2006 according to the Religion News Service.
1. Muslim rioting in response to publication of Muhammad cartoons in Europe.
2. Muslims infuriated by remarks made by Pope Benedict XVI and his subsequent apology and trip to Turkey.
3. Problems in the Episcopal Church related to the elevation of Katharine Jefferts Schori to the denomination's top position. She is the first woman to hold the post, and openly supported the consecration of an openly homosexual bishop.
4. Ted Haggard resigns as president of the National Association of Evangelicals, and is dismissed from his congregation, following exposure of his drug use and same-sex relationship.
5. Defeat of many Republican candidates backed by the Religious Right in the fall elections.
6. Religious voices grow louder in regard to situations and events in the Middle East.
7. Murder of five Amish girls in a Pennsylvania schoolhouse and the subsequent highlighting of the community's ethic of forgiveness.
8. (tie) The movie The Da Vinci Code and related controversy.
8. (tie) Same-sex marriage issue in New Jersey and on ballots.
10. President Bush's veto of a bill expanding stem-cell research.
my take below
1. Muslim rioting in response to publication of Muhammad cartoons in Europe.
2. Muslims infuriated by remarks made by Pope Benedict XVI and his subsequent apology and trip to Turkey.
3. Problems in the Episcopal Church related to the elevation of Katharine Jefferts Schori to the denomination's top position. She is the first woman to hold the post, and openly supported the consecration of an openly homosexual bishop.
4. Ted Haggard resigns as president of the National Association of Evangelicals, and is dismissed from his congregation, following exposure of his drug use and same-sex relationship.
5. Defeat of many Republican candidates backed by the Religious Right in the fall elections.
6. Religious voices grow louder in regard to situations and events in the Middle East.
7. Murder of five Amish girls in a Pennsylvania schoolhouse and the subsequent highlighting of the community's ethic of forgiveness.
8. (tie) The movie The Da Vinci Code and related controversy.
8. (tie) Same-sex marriage issue in New Jersey and on ballots.
10. President Bush's veto of a bill expanding stem-cell research.
my take below
Category: Politics
Posted by: A Waco Farmer
Friday morning on C-SPAN's Washington Journal:
Steve Scully moderated a discussion between Marcy Wheeler and Byron York in studio, both of whom are covering the I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby perjury trial related to the Valerie Plame-Joe Wilson controversy.
York is a correspondent for National Review covering the courtroom action, not surprisingly, in a way overtly friendly to the administration in general and Scooter Libby in particular.
Wheeler is a prolific and increasingly popular personality on the left-wing blogosphere. She sometimes blogs as "emptywheel" (you may read a sample of her reportage here via Daily Kos).
She is author of Anatomy of a Deceit, the product of her investigation of the Plame affair, which is due to be released during the next few days. You may buy it here from Common Language, "a Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Feminist bookstore," and the self-described "sole remaining GLBT/Feminist store in the State of Michigan." The site urges "support of us... [which] will help us survive and ensure that the NEXT book by Marcy Wheeler will have a place to be sold."
Wheeler earned her PhD from the University of Michigan in 1995 (although I was unable to discern in which discipline she attained her degree). On the net, she is often described as a consultant in Ann Arbor. According to her extremely sketchy unofficial bios, she has been a Democratic Party official in Michigan and was a staffer for Howard Dean in 2004.
Two moments in the conversation struck me:
1. Identifying himself as a citizen of "fly-over country," a caller wondered if Wheeler, in the event that Libby won acquittal, would then spend as much time and effort helping him to clear his name as she had asserting his perfidy.
She refused to admit any possibility of Libby's innocence, but, perhaps more telling, she took offense at the assumption that she was not from "fly-over country." The caller had mentioned "Katie Couric and the Washington establishment." Wheeler insisted she was from Michigan--not Washington.
Evidently, she did not understand that an academic from Ann Arbor was as foreign to this Heartlander as Katie Couric. In the mind of Red-State America, Wheeler is part of the Washington establishment.
2. At the conclusion of the segment, Scully asked the two guests to identify their favorite president. York, an Alabama native who doesn't seem quick to advertise that fact, picked Abraham Lincoln.
Wheeler seemed nonplussed by the question. "My favorite president?" she twice repeated. "I don't have a favorite American president," she finally said in a dismissive and disgusted tone. "My favorite president is the first woman president. My favorite president is the first African American president."
Evidently, all those white guys had been the agents of patriarchy and racial oppression and unworthy of her admiration. I can only infer that she impatiently awaits the revolution. Power to the people.
For background: What's Wrong With the Democratic Party: Part I.
Steve Scully moderated a discussion between Marcy Wheeler and Byron York in studio, both of whom are covering the I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby perjury trial related to the Valerie Plame-Joe Wilson controversy.
York is a correspondent for National Review covering the courtroom action, not surprisingly, in a way overtly friendly to the administration in general and Scooter Libby in particular.
Wheeler is a prolific and increasingly popular personality on the left-wing blogosphere. She sometimes blogs as "emptywheel" (you may read a sample of her reportage here via Daily Kos).
She is author of Anatomy of a Deceit, the product of her investigation of the Plame affair, which is due to be released during the next few days. You may buy it here from Common Language, "a Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Feminist bookstore," and the self-described "sole remaining GLBT/Feminist store in the State of Michigan." The site urges "support of us... [which] will help us survive and ensure that the NEXT book by Marcy Wheeler will have a place to be sold."
Wheeler earned her PhD from the University of Michigan in 1995 (although I was unable to discern in which discipline she attained her degree). On the net, she is often described as a consultant in Ann Arbor. According to her extremely sketchy unofficial bios, she has been a Democratic Party official in Michigan and was a staffer for Howard Dean in 2004.
Two moments in the conversation struck me:
1. Identifying himself as a citizen of "fly-over country," a caller wondered if Wheeler, in the event that Libby won acquittal, would then spend as much time and effort helping him to clear his name as she had asserting his perfidy.
She refused to admit any possibility of Libby's innocence, but, perhaps more telling, she took offense at the assumption that she was not from "fly-over country." The caller had mentioned "Katie Couric and the Washington establishment." Wheeler insisted she was from Michigan--not Washington.
Evidently, she did not understand that an academic from Ann Arbor was as foreign to this Heartlander as Katie Couric. In the mind of Red-State America, Wheeler is part of the Washington establishment.
2. At the conclusion of the segment, Scully asked the two guests to identify their favorite president. York, an Alabama native who doesn't seem quick to advertise that fact, picked Abraham Lincoln.
Wheeler seemed nonplussed by the question. "My favorite president?" she twice repeated. "I don't have a favorite American president," she finally said in a dismissive and disgusted tone. "My favorite president is the first woman president. My favorite president is the first African American president."
Evidently, all those white guys had been the agents of patriarchy and racial oppression and unworthy of her admiration. I can only infer that she impatiently awaits the revolution. Power to the people.
For background: What's Wrong With the Democratic Party: Part I.
As before, ""This week I am attending workshops in Tempe, Arizona, on topics related to leadership and ministry in Native Christian Churches. (Saying "Native American Churches" means another thing.) Here are a few random thoughts from today." Previous ruminations: Day One, and Two, and Three.
1. In the workshops I often am the only white person. Other participants tend to make remarks that assume that everyone in the room is tribal. "On our reservations . . .", "Our people", etc. I'm not offended. But it is educational to be a minority once in a while. Everyone should try it. (fyi, I'm a blue-eyed white boy with greying reddish-brown hair and a ruddy complexion)
2. Afternoons I've been in the session on Meth and Youth Gangs. Even the remote rez's are seeing gang recruitment and meth abuse. You can run but you can't hide. The toxic aspects of the dominant culture are corroding every corner of our country. There are no simple answers because there are no simple explanations. But, nothing will get better without involvement. If our lives are work, play, sleep, without community involvement, we are doomed. The government cannot save us from this one, though there are ways in which it might help.
3. One former gang member in the workshop said that gangs now are using the internet to recruit, including myspace.
4. One motivation to join a gang is the need to belong, to have a family. The former gang member I mentioned above said that he needed someone to want him, to appreciate him. He found this in a gang. He also said that though he would not have said it this way at the time, he also needed discipline in his life and the gang gave him discipline, a structure with its own rewards and punishments.
5. To end on a more positive note. This former gang member was not the leader of the workshop. He was an attendee from an Indian Presbyterian church on the West Coast. God's grace had changed his life. He and his wife brought their infant son along with them. Both were abused as children, and are determined to break the chain between their generation and the baby's. Things do not always go from bad to worse. Sometimes they go from bad to better. God bless.
1. In the workshops I often am the only white person. Other participants tend to make remarks that assume that everyone in the room is tribal. "On our reservations . . .", "Our people", etc. I'm not offended. But it is educational to be a minority once in a while. Everyone should try it. (fyi, I'm a blue-eyed white boy with greying reddish-brown hair and a ruddy complexion)
2. Afternoons I've been in the session on Meth and Youth Gangs. Even the remote rez's are seeing gang recruitment and meth abuse. You can run but you can't hide. The toxic aspects of the dominant culture are corroding every corner of our country. There are no simple answers because there are no simple explanations. But, nothing will get better without involvement. If our lives are work, play, sleep, without community involvement, we are doomed. The government cannot save us from this one, though there are ways in which it might help.
3. One former gang member in the workshop said that gangs now are using the internet to recruit, including myspace.
4. One motivation to join a gang is the need to belong, to have a family. The former gang member I mentioned above said that he needed someone to want him, to appreciate him. He found this in a gang. He also said that though he would not have said it this way at the time, he also needed discipline in his life and the gang gave him discipline, a structure with its own rewards and punishments.
5. To end on a more positive note. This former gang member was not the leader of the workshop. He was an attendee from an Indian Presbyterian church on the West Coast. God's grace had changed his life. He and his wife brought their infant son along with them. Both were abused as children, and are determined to break the chain between their generation and the baby's. Things do not always go from bad to worse. Sometimes they go from bad to better. God bless.
25/01: Important News
Category: America and the World
Posted by: an okie gardener
I think these items need to be a bigger deal on the American media
Here. Shia kill and threaten Palestinians in Iraq, prompting exodus. From Gulfnews. Link from Instapundit.
NIBRAS KAZIMI in the New York Sun, points to evidence that "staying the course" may have reached a tipping point against the insurgency in Iraq. Here.
Here. Shia kill and threaten Palestinians in Iraq, prompting exodus. From Gulfnews. Link from Instapundit.
NIBRAS KAZIMI in the New York Sun, points to evidence that "staying the course" may have reached a tipping point against the insurgency in Iraq. Here.
As we turn to the business of electing a new president, we can not help but note that an African American candidate, for the first time in our history, enters the contest as a serious contender to win the biggest prize in American politics.
Britt Hume asserted this week on Fox News Sunday (transcript via RCP) that, "Barack Obama's race was an asset." Is that true? Is Hume right that Obama's race is the key component in his portfolio that explains his meteoric rise? In other words, can you imagine the Obama juggernaut if the candidate presented identical credentials sans his race?
What role does race play in our culture today?
Consider this wire story via Drudge, which highlights a college party on the campus of Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas, in which white students held a "Martin Luther King Jr. Day party that mocked black stereotypes by featuring fried chicken, malt liquor and faux gang apparel."
Are we in danger of losing our balance between two positive values: protecting and pepetuating free and reasonable discourse and embracing racial sensitivity?
An aside: In college, I once attended a "come as your favorite dead celebrity" party in which one of my fraternity brothers arrived as the crucified Christ. It was tasteless, and I was offended. But it didn't make the papers.
The right to free speech generally includes the right to be wrong, imbecilic and vulgar.
Michael Richards. He could have called a white heckler a m-f-ing, a-hole, son of a whore from Hell, and I wager there would not have been any repercussions within the room, much less a national reaction.
Is it rational that certain words elicit such disproportionate reflexive cultural responses?
Should it bother us that the Congressional Black Caucus reserves the right to refuse entry to white representatives?
The Duke Rape Case?
The intense coverage of two black coaches in the Super Bowl?
Joab's House of Blog wonders if the intense focus on race doesn't perpetuate racism:
"When I see Lovie Smith and Tony Dungy I see the head coach of the Bears and the Colts respectively. I do not see two black men, unless someone points out that they are black. Then my focus is directed toward their skin color. Doing that is what keeps race an issue in our society" (read entire post here).
I am not ignorant of the historical realities that bring us to these questions. Notwithstanding, considering the American past, and looking toward a harmonious future, is our present racial reality healthy and just?
These questions only scratch the surface. Please accept this brief post as notice of my intentions to consider this broader topic in greater detail in the weeks and months to come. I welcome your comments and your ideas.
Britt Hume asserted this week on Fox News Sunday (transcript via RCP) that, "Barack Obama's race was an asset." Is that true? Is Hume right that Obama's race is the key component in his portfolio that explains his meteoric rise? In other words, can you imagine the Obama juggernaut if the candidate presented identical credentials sans his race?
What role does race play in our culture today?
Consider this wire story via Drudge, which highlights a college party on the campus of Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas, in which white students held a "Martin Luther King Jr. Day party that mocked black stereotypes by featuring fried chicken, malt liquor and faux gang apparel."
Are we in danger of losing our balance between two positive values: protecting and pepetuating free and reasonable discourse and embracing racial sensitivity?
An aside: In college, I once attended a "come as your favorite dead celebrity" party in which one of my fraternity brothers arrived as the crucified Christ. It was tasteless, and I was offended. But it didn't make the papers.
The right to free speech generally includes the right to be wrong, imbecilic and vulgar.
Michael Richards. He could have called a white heckler a m-f-ing, a-hole, son of a whore from Hell, and I wager there would not have been any repercussions within the room, much less a national reaction.
Is it rational that certain words elicit such disproportionate reflexive cultural responses?
Should it bother us that the Congressional Black Caucus reserves the right to refuse entry to white representatives?
The Duke Rape Case?
The intense coverage of two black coaches in the Super Bowl?
Joab's House of Blog wonders if the intense focus on race doesn't perpetuate racism:
"When I see Lovie Smith and Tony Dungy I see the head coach of the Bears and the Colts respectively. I do not see two black men, unless someone points out that they are black. Then my focus is directed toward their skin color. Doing that is what keeps race an issue in our society" (read entire post here).
I am not ignorant of the historical realities that bring us to these questions. Notwithstanding, considering the American past, and looking toward a harmonious future, is our present racial reality healthy and just?
These questions only scratch the surface. Please accept this brief post as notice of my intentions to consider this broader topic in greater detail in the weeks and months to come. I welcome your comments and your ideas.
Category: General
Posted by: an okie gardener
As before, ""This week I am attending workshops in Tempe, Arizona, on topics related to leadership and ministry in Native Christian Churches. (Saying "Native American Churches" means another thing.) Here are a few random thoughts from today." First day. Second day.
1. I had a glimpse tonight of the World to Come. Some of us attended Prayer Meeting at the Gila Crossing Presbyterian Church on the Gila River Reservation near Phoenix. The members there were mostly Pima. In our group from the Cook Training School were Nez Pierce, two bands of the Dakota/Lakota, Puyallup, Winnebago, and I think one or two more, plus a couple of us Anglos. We sang together, prayed together, listened to Scripture together, and ate together. In the Book of Revelation we are given a vision of the World to Come in which members of every tongue, tribe, and nation, unite in praise to God. We need to do it more now.
2. Jesus promised that those who left all to follow him would receive a new family--fathers and mothers and brothers and sisters in Israel. I met one of my brothers this evening, a member of the Gila Crossing church. He was an older man (an "elder" not necessarily in office, but according to the respect given in tribal churches to older members) who told me of the history of the Pima and Maricopa tribes: the Pima farming and fishing along the Gila and Salt Rivers (the rivers had flowing water even in his memory, today they are used so hard that the water rarely flows), joined in confederation by the Maricopa who moved into the area from California after conflict with other tribes there, the confederated tribes defending their homeland against other tribes such as the Apache who would raid down from the mountains after harvest (war seems a human universal), coming under white rule, enduring, living now on the Gila River Reservation. Official website. "We are a desert people," he said, "and always will be." He spoke somewhat of his service in the Korean War. Then, he talked of Scripture, and of the Christian life. My family is big.
3. When Jesus promised us a new family, he did not promise us a perfect family. The downside of family life is that you do not get to choose your family, and some of the characters are odd, or even abrasive. So too my Christian family. We've had some friction among us at the conference. Some members of the family are easier to like than others. But, who am I to complain. I ain't always easy either.
4. One of the workshops I am attending this week is on Gangs and Meth. Perhaps more on that later. This afternoon our class went together to see the movie Freedom Writers. I recommend it.
1. I had a glimpse tonight of the World to Come. Some of us attended Prayer Meeting at the Gila Crossing Presbyterian Church on the Gila River Reservation near Phoenix. The members there were mostly Pima. In our group from the Cook Training School were Nez Pierce, two bands of the Dakota/Lakota, Puyallup, Winnebago, and I think one or two more, plus a couple of us Anglos. We sang together, prayed together, listened to Scripture together, and ate together. In the Book of Revelation we are given a vision of the World to Come in which members of every tongue, tribe, and nation, unite in praise to God. We need to do it more now.
2. Jesus promised that those who left all to follow him would receive a new family--fathers and mothers and brothers and sisters in Israel. I met one of my brothers this evening, a member of the Gila Crossing church. He was an older man (an "elder" not necessarily in office, but according to the respect given in tribal churches to older members) who told me of the history of the Pima and Maricopa tribes: the Pima farming and fishing along the Gila and Salt Rivers (the rivers had flowing water even in his memory, today they are used so hard that the water rarely flows), joined in confederation by the Maricopa who moved into the area from California after conflict with other tribes there, the confederated tribes defending their homeland against other tribes such as the Apache who would raid down from the mountains after harvest (war seems a human universal), coming under white rule, enduring, living now on the Gila River Reservation. Official website. "We are a desert people," he said, "and always will be." He spoke somewhat of his service in the Korean War. Then, he talked of Scripture, and of the Christian life. My family is big.
3. When Jesus promised us a new family, he did not promise us a perfect family. The downside of family life is that you do not get to choose your family, and some of the characters are odd, or even abrasive. So too my Christian family. We've had some friction among us at the conference. Some members of the family are easier to like than others. But, who am I to complain. I ain't always easy either.
4. One of the workshops I am attending this week is on Gangs and Meth. Perhaps more on that later. This afternoon our class went together to see the movie Freedom Writers. I recommend it.
